There was dancing going on. Andy Peters was dancing with Miss Jennson.
He held her close to him, and seemed to be murmuring in her ear. As theyrevolved slowly near where Hilary was standing1 he caught her eye andimmediately gave her an outrageous2 wink3.
Hilary, biting her lip to avoid a smile, averted4 her eyes quickly.
Her glance fell on Betterton who was standing just across the room talk-ing to Torquil Ericsson. Hilary frowned a little as she watched them.
“Have a turn with me, Olive?” said Murchison’s voice at her elbow.
“Yes, of course, Simon.”
“Mind you, I’m not very hot at dancing,” he warned her.
Hilary concentrated on keeping her feet where he could not possiblytread on them.
“It’s exercise, that’s what I say,” said Murchison, panting slightly. He wasan energetic dancer.
“Awfully jolly frock you’ve got on, Olive.”
His conversation seemed always to come out of an old-fashioned novel.
“I’m glad you like it,” said Hilary.
“Get it out of the Fashion Department?”
Resisting the temptation to reply: “Where else?” Hilary merely said,“Yes.”
“Must say, you know,” panted Murchison, as he capered5 perseveringlyround the floor, “they do you jolly well here. Said so to Bianca only theother day. Beats the Welfare State every time. No worries about money, orincome tax—or repairs or upkeep. All the worrying done for you. Must bea wonderful life for a woman, I should say.”
“Bianca finds it so, does she?”
“Well, she was restless for a bit, but now she’s managed to get up a fewcommittees and organize one or two things—debates, you know, and lec-tures. She’s complaining that you don’t take as much part as you might inthings.”
“I’m afraid I’m not that kind of person, Simon. I’ve never been very pub-lic spirited.”
“Yes, but you girls have got to keep yourselves amused one way or an-other. At least I don’t mean amused exactly—”
“Occupied?” suggested Hilary.
“Yes—I mean the modern woman wants to get her teeth into something.
I quite realize that women like you and Bianca have made a definite sacri-fice coming here—you’re neither of you scientists, thank goodness—really,these scientific women! Absolutely the limit, most of them! I said to Bi-anca, ‘Give Olive time, she’s got to get tuned6 in.’ It takes a little time gettingused to this place. To begin with, one gets a kind of claustrophobic feeling.
But it wears off—it wears off. .?.?.”
“You mean—one can get used to anything?”
“Well, some people feel it more than others. Tom, now, seems to take ithard. Where’s old Tom tonight? Oh yes, I see, over there with Torquil.
Quite inseparable, those two.”
“I wish they weren’t. I mean, I shouldn’t have thought they had verymuch in common.”
“Young Torquil seems fascinated by your husband. He follows himround everywhere.”
“I’ve noticed it. I wondered—why?”
“Well, he’s always got some outlandish theory to get off his chest—it’sbeyond my power to follow him—his English isn’t too good, as you know.
But Tom listens and manages to take it all in.”
The dance ended. Andy Peters came up and claimed Hilary for the nextone.
“I observed you suffering in a good cause,” he said. “How badly did youget trampled7?”
“Oh, I was fairly agile8.”
“You noticed me doing my stuff?”
“With the Jennson?”
“Yes. I think I may say without undue9 modesty10 that I have made a hit, apalpable hit in that quarter. These plain, angular, shortsighted girls re-spond immediately when given the treatment.”
“You certainly gave the impression of having fallen for her.”
“That was the idea. That girl, Olive, properly handled, can be very use-ful. She’s in the know about all the arrangements here. For instance, to-morrow there’s a party of various V.I.P.s due here. Doctors and a few Gov-ernment officials and a rich patron or two.”
“Andy—do you think there might be a chance. .?.?.”
“No, I don’t. I bet that’s going to be taken care of. So don’t cherish falsehopes. But it will be valuable because we’ll get an idea of the procedure.
And on the next occasion—well, there might be something doing. So longas I can keep the Jennson eating out of my hand, I can get a lot of miscel-laneous information out of her.”
“How much do the people who are coming know?”
“About us—the Unit, I mean—nothing at all. Or so I gather. They just in-spect the settlement and the medical research laboratories. This place hasbeen deliberately11 built like a labyrinth12, just so that nobody coming into itcan possibly guess its extent. I gather there are kinds of bulkheads thatclose, and that shut off our area.”
“It all seems so incredible.”
“I know. Half the time one feels one must be dreaming. One of the un-real things here is never seeing any children about. Thank goodness therearen’t. You must be thankful you haven’t got a child.”
He felt the sudden stiffening13 of her body.
“Here—I’m sorry—I said the wrong thing!” He led her off the dancefloor and to a couple of chairs.
“I’m very sorry,” he repeated. “I hurt you, didn’t I?”
“It’s nothing—no, really not your fault. I did have a child—and it died—that’s all.”
“You had a child?—” he stared, surprised. “I thought you’d only beenmarried to Betterton six months?”
Olive flushed. She said quickly:
“Yes, of course. But I was — married before. I divorced my first hus-band.”
“Oh, I see. That’s the worst of this place. One doesn’t know anythingabout people’s lives before they came here, and so one goes and says thewrong thing. It’s odd to realize sometimes that I don’t know anythingabout you at all.”
“Or I anything about you. How you were brought up—and where—yourfamily—”
“I was brought up in a strictly14 scientific atmosphere. Nourished on testtubes, you might say. Nobody ever thought of anything else. But I wasnever the bright boy of the family. Genius lay elsewhere.”
“Where exactly?”
“A girl. She was brilliant. She might have been another Madame Curie.
She could have opened up new horizons.”
“She—what happened to her?”
He said shortly:
“She was killed.”
Hilary guessed at some wartime tragedy. She said gently:
“You cared for her?”
“More than I have ever cared for anybody.”
He roused himself suddenly.
“What the heck—we’ve got enough troubles in the present, right hereand now. Look at our Norwegian friend. Apart from his eyes, he alwayslooks as though he were made from wood. And that wonderful little stiffbow of his—as though you’d pulled a string.”
“It’s because he’s so very tall and thin.”
“Not so very tall. About my height — five- foot- eleven or six foot, notmore.”
“Height is deceptive15.”
“Yes, it’s like descriptions on passports. Take Ericsson. Height six foot,fair hair, blue eyes, face long, demeanour wooden, nose medium, mouthordinary. Even add what a passport wouldn’t — speaks correctly butpedantically—you still wouldn’t have the first idea what Torquil reallylooked like. What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
She was staring across the room at Ericsson. That description of BorisGlydr! Almost word for word as she had heard it from Jessop. Was thatwhy she had always felt nervous of Torquil Ericsson? Could it possibly bethat—
Turning abruptly16 to Peters she said:
“I suppose he is Ericsson? He couldn’t be someone else?”
Peters looked at her in astonishment17.
“Someone else? Who?”
“I mean—at least I think I mean—could he have come here pretendingto be Ericsson?”
Peters considered.
“I suppose—no, I don’t think that would be feasible. He’d have to be ascientist .?.?. and anyway, Ericsson is quite well known.”
“But nobody here seems ever to have met him before—or I suppose hecould be Ericsson, but be someone else as well.”
“You mean Ericsson could have been leading some kind of double life?
That’s possible, I suppose. But it’s not very likely.”
“No,” said Hilary. “No, of course it isn’t likely.”
Of course Ericsson was not Boris Glydr. But why should Olive Bettertonhave been so insistent18 on warning Tom against Boris? Could it have beenbecause she knew that Boris was on his way to the Unit? Supposing the manwho had come to London calling himself Boris Glydr was not Boris Glydrat all? Supposing that he was really Torquil Ericsson. The description fit-ted. Ever since he arrived at the Unit, he had focused his attention on Tom.
Ericsson, she was sure, was a dangerous person—you didn’t know whatwent on behind those pale dreamy eyes. .?.?.
She shivered.
“Olive—what’s the matter? What is it?”
“Nothing. Look. The Deputy Director is going to make an announce-ment.”
Dr. Nielson was holding up his hand for silence. He spoke19 into the mi-crophone on the platform of the Hall.
“Friends and colleagues. Tomorrow you are asked to remain in theEmergency Wing. Please assemble at eleven a.m. when there will be a rollcall. Emergency orders are for twenty-four hours only. I much regret theinconvenience. A notice has been posted on the board.”
He retired20 smiling. Then music began again.
“I must pursue the Jennson again,” said Peters. “I see her looking earn-est by a pillar. I want to hear just what these Emergency quarters consistof.”
He moved away. Hilary sat thinking. Was she an imaginative fool?
Torquil Ericsson? Boris Glydr?
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收听单词发音
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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3
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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4
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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5
capered
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| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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7
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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8
agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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9
undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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10
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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11
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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12
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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13
stiffening
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| n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式 | |
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14
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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15
deceptive
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| adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的 | |
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16
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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17
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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18
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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19
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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