Nineteen
IIt’s extraordinary how difficult it is for me to remember what happenedafter that. I mean, the sequence of it all. Up to then, you see, it’s all clear inmy mind. I was a little doubtful where to begin, that was all. But fromthen on it was as though a knife fell, cutting my life into two halves. WhatI went on to from the moment of Ellie’s death seems to me now like some-thing for which I was not prepared. A confusion of thrusting people andelements and happenings where I wasn’t myself in control of anythingany more. Things happened not to me, but all around me. That’s what itseemed like.
Everybody was very kind to me. That seems the thing I remember best. Istumbled about and looked dazed and didn’t know what to do. Greta, I re-member, came into her element. She had that amazing power that womenhave to take charge of a situation and deal with it. Deal, I mean, with allthe small unimportant details that someone has to see to. I would havebeen incapable1 of seeing to them.
I think the first thing I remembered clearly after they’d taken Ellie awayand I’d got back to my house—our house—the house—was when Dr. Shawcame along and talked to me. I don’t know how long after that was. Hewas quiet, kind, reasonable. Just explaining things clearly and gently.
Arrangements. I remember his using the word arrangements. What ahateful word it is and all the things it stands for. The things in life thathave grand words—Love—sex—life—death—hate—those aren’t the thingsthat govern existence at all. It’s lots of other pettifogging, degrading things.
Things you have to endure, things you never think about until they hap-pen to you. Undertakers, arrangements for funerals, inquests. And ser-vants coming into rooms and pulling the blinds down. Why should blindsbe pulled down because Ellie was dead? Of all the stupid things!
That was why, I remember, I felt quite grateful to Dr. Shaw. He dealtwith such things so kindly2 and sensibly, explaining gently why certainthings like an inquest had to be. Talking rather slowly, I remember, so thathe could be quite sure I was taking them in.
II
I didn’t know what an inquest would be like. I’d never been to one. Itseemed to me curiously3 unreal, amateurish4. The Coroner was a smallfussy little man with pincenez. I had to give evidence of identification, todescribe the last time I had seen Ellie at the breakfast table and her depar-ture for her usual morning ride and the arrangement we had made tomeet later for lunch. She had seemed, I said, exactly the same as usual, inperfectly good health.
Dr. Shaw’s evidence was quiet, inconclusive. No serious injuries, awrenched collar bone and bruises5 such as would result from a fall fromthe horse—not of a very serious nature, and inflicted6 at the time of death.
She did not appear to have moved again after she had fallen. Death, hethought, had been practically instantaneous. There was no specific or-ganic injury to have caused death, and he could give no other explanationof it than that she had died from heart failure caused by shock. As far as Icould make out from the medical language used Ellie had died simply as aresult of absence of breath—of asphyxia of some kind. Her organs werehealthy, her stomach contents normal.
Greta, who also gave evidence, stressed rather more forcibly than shehad done to Dr. Shaw before, that Ellie had suffered from some form ofheart malady7 three or four years ago. She had never heard anything defin-ite mentioned but Ellie’s relations had occasionally said that her heart wasweak and that she must take care not to overdo8 things. She had neverheard anything more definite than that.
Then we came to the people who had seen or been in the vicinity at thetime the accident happened. The old man who had been cutting peat wasthe first of them. He had seen the lady pass him, she’d been about fiftyyards or so away. He knew who she was though he’d never spoken to her.
She was the lady from the new house.
“You knew her by sight?”
“No, not exactly by sight but I knew the horse, sir. It’s got a white fet-lock. Used to belong to Mr. Carey over at Shettlegroom. I’ve never heard itanything but quiet and well behaved, suitable for a lady to ride.”
“Was the horse giving any trouble when you saw it? Playing up in anyway?”
“No, it was quiet enough. It was a nice morning.”
There hadn’t been many people about, he said. He hadn’t noticed many.
That particular track across the moor9 wasn’t much used except as a shortcut10 occasionally to one of the farms. Another track crossed it about a milefarther away. He’d seen one or two passers-by that morning but not to no-tice. One man on a bicycle, another man walking. They were too far awayfor him to see who they were and he hadn’t noticed much anyway.
Earlier, he said, before he’d seen the lady riding, he’d seen old Mrs. Lee, orso he thought. She was coming up the track towards him and then sheturned off and went into the woods. She often walked across the moorsand in and out of the woods.
The Coroner asked why Mrs. Lee was not in court. He understood thatshe’d been summoned to attend. He was told, however, that Mrs. Lee hadleft the village some days ago—nobody knew exactly when. She had notleft any address behind. It was not her habit to do so, she often went awayand came back without notifying anyone. So there was nothing unusualabout this. In fact one or two people said they thought she’d already leftthe village before the day the accident happened. The Coroner asked theold man again.
“You think, however, that it was Mrs. Lee you saw?”
“Couldn’t say, I’m sure. Wouldn’t like to be certain. It was a tall womanand striding along, and had on a scarlet11 cloak, like Mrs. Lee wears some-times. But I didn’t look particular. I was busy with what I was doing. Couldhave been she, it could have been someone else. Who’s to say?”
As for the rest he repeated very much what he had said to us. He’d seenthe lady riding nearby, he’d often seen her riding before. He hadn’t paidany particular attention. Only later did he see the horse galloping12 alone. Itlooked as though something had frightened it, he said. “At least, it could bethat way.” He couldn’t tell what time that was. Might have been eleven,might have been earlier. He saw the horse much later, farther away. Itseemed to be returning towards the woods.
Then the Coroner recalled me and asked me a few more questions aboutMrs. Lee, Mrs. Esther Lee of Vine Cottage.
“You and your wife knew Mrs. Lee by sight?”
“Yes,” I said, “quite well.”
“Did you talk with her?”
“Yes, several times. Or rather,” I added, “she talked to us.”
“Did she at any time threaten you or your wife?”
I paused a moment or two.
“In a sense she did,” I said slowly, “but I never thought—”
“You never thought what?”
“I never thought she really meant it,” I said.
“Did she sound as though she had any particular grudge13 against yourwife?”
“My wife said so once. She said she thought she had some special grudgeagainst her but she couldn’t see why.”
“Had you or your wife at any time ordered her off your land, threatenedher, treated her roughly in any way?”
“Any aggression14 came from her side,” I said.
“Did you ever have the impression that she was mentally unbalanced?”
I considered. “Yes,” I said, “I did. I thought she had come to believe thatthe land on which we had built our house belonged to her, or belonged toher tribe or whatever they call themselves. She had a kind of obsessionabout it.” I added slowly, “I think she was getting worse, more and moreobsessed by the idea.”
“I see. She never offered your wife physical violence at any time?”
“No,” I said, slowly, “I don’t think it would be fair to say that. It was all—well all a sort of gipsy’s warning stuff. ‘You’ll have bad luck if you stayhere. There’ll be a curse on you unless you go away.’”
“Did she mention the word death?”
“Yes, I think so. We didn’t take her seriously. At least,” I corrected my-self, “I didn’t.”
“Do you think your wife did?”
“I’m afraid she did sometimes. The old woman, you know, could berather alarming. I don’t think she was really responsible for what she wassaying or doing.”
The proceedings15 ended with the Coroner adjourning17 the inquest for afortnight. Everything pointed18 to death being due to accidental causes butthere was not sufficient evidence to show what had caused the accident tooccur. He would adjourn16 the proceedings until he had heard the evidenceof Mrs. Esther Lee.
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1
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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2
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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3
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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4
amateurish
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| n.业余爱好的，不熟练的 | |
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5
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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6
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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8
overdo
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| vt.把...做得过头，演得过火 | |
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9
moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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10
shortcut
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| n.近路，捷径 | |
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11
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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12
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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13
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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14
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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15
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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16
adjourn
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| v.（使）休会，（使）休庭 | |
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17
adjourning
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的现在分词 ) | |
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18
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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