Thirty-one HE SEVEN DIALS

Thirty-one HE SEVEN DIALS
Very slowly Bundle returned to consciousness. She was aware of a dark,spinning blackness, the centre of which was a violent, throbbing¹ ache.
Punctuating² this were sounds. A voice that she knew very well saying thesame thing over and over again.
The blackness span less violently. The ache was now definitely locatedas being in Bundle’s own head. And she was sufficiently³ herself to take aninterest in what the voice was saying.
“Darling, darling Bundle. Oh, darling Bundle. She’s dead; I know she’sdead. Oh, my darling. Bundle, darling, darling Bundle. I do love you so.
Bundle—darling—darling—”
Bundle lay quite still with her eyes shut. But she was now fully⁴ con-scious. Bill’s arms held her closely.
“Bundle darling—Oh, dearest, darling Bundle. Oh, my dear love. Oh,Bundle—Bundle. What shall I do? Oh, darling one—my Bundle—my owndearest, sweetest Bundle. Oh, God, what shall I do? I’ve killed her. I’vekilled her.”
Reluctantly—very reluctantly—Bundle spoke⁵.
“No, you haven’t, you silly idiot,” she said.
Bill gave a gasp⁶ of utter amazement⁷.
“Bundle—you’re alive.”
“Of course I’m alive.”
“How long have you been—I mean when did you come to?”
“About five minutes ago.”
“Why didn’t you open your eyes—or say something?”
“Didn’t want to. I was enjoying myself.”
“Enjoying yourself?”
“Yes. Listening to all the things you were saying. You’ll never say themso well again. You’ll be too beastly self-conscious.”
Bill had turned a dark brick-red.
“Bundle—you really didn’t mind? You know, I do love you so. I have forages⁸. But I never have dared to tell you so.”
“You silly juggins,” said Bundle. “Why?”
“I thought you’d only laugh at me. I mean—you’ve got brains and allthat—you’ll marry some bigwig.”
“Like George Lomax?” suggested Bundle.
“I don’t mean a fatuous⁹ ass¹⁰ like Codders. But some really fine chapwho’ll be worthy¹¹ of you — though I don’t think anyone could be that,”
ended Bill.
“You’re rather a dear, Bill.”
“But, Bundle, seriously, could you ever? I mean, could you ever bringyourself to?”
“Could I ever bring myself to do what?”
“Marry me. I know I’m awfully¹² thickheaded—but I do love you, Bundle.
I’d be your dog or your slave or your anything.”
“You’re very like a dog,” said Bundle. “I like dogs. They’re so friendlyand faithful and warmhearted. I think that perhaps I could just bring my-self to marry you, Bill—with a great effort, you know.”
Bill’s response to this was to relinquish¹³ his grasp of her and recoil¹⁴ viol-ently. He looked at her with amazement in his eyes.
“Bundle—you don’t mean it?”
“There’s nothing for it,” said Bundle. “I see I shall have to relapse intounconsciousness again.”
“Bundle—darling—” Bill caught her to him. He was trembling violently.
“Bundle—do you really mean it—do you?—you don’t know how much Ilove you.”
“Oh, Bill,” said Bundle.
There is no need to describe in detail the conversation of the next tenminutes. It consisted mostly of repetitions.
“And do you really love me?” said Bill, incredulously, for the twentiethtime as he at last released her.
“Yes—yes—yes. Now do let’s be sensible. I’ve got a racking head still,and I’ve been nearly squeezed to death by you. I want to get the hang ofthings. Where are we and what’s happened?”
For the first time, Bundle began to take stock of her surroundings. Theywere in the secret room, she noted¹⁵, and the baize door was closed and pre-sumably locked. They were prisoners, then!
Bundle’s eyes came back to Bill. Quite oblivious¹⁶ of her question he waswatching her with adoring eyes.
“Bill, darling,” said Bundle, “pull yourself together. We’ve got to get outof here.”
“Eh?” said Bill. “What? Oh, yes. That’ll be all right. No difficulty aboutthat.”
“It’s being in love makes you feel like that,” said Bundle. “I feel ratherthe same myself. As though everything’s easy and possible.”
“So it is,” said Bill. “Now that I know you care for me—”
“Stop it,” said Bundle. “Once we begin again any serious conversationwill be hopeless. Unless you pull yourself together and become sensible, Ishall very likely change my mind.”
“I shan’t let you,” said Bill. “You don’t think that once having got you I’dbe such a fool as to let you go, do you?”
“You would not coerce¹⁷ me against my will, I hope,” said Bundle grandi-loquently.
“Wouldn’t I?” said Bill. “You just watch me do it, that’s all.”
“You really are rather a darling, Bill. I was afraid you might be toomeek, but I see there’s going to be no danger of that. In another half houryou’d be ordering me about. Oh, dear, we’re getting silly again. Now, lookhere, Bill. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“I tell you that’ll be quite all right. I shall—”
He broke off, obedient to a pressure from Bundle’s hand. She was lean-ing forward, listening intently. Yes, she had not been mistaken. A step wascrossing the outer room. The key was thrust into the lock and turned.
Bundle held her breath. Was it Jimmy coming to rescue them—or was itsomeone else?
The door opened and the black-bearded Mr. Mosgorovsky stood on thethreshold.
Immediately Bill took a step forward, standing¹⁸ in front of Bundle.
“Look here,” he said, “I want a word with you privately¹⁹.”
The Russian did not reply for a minute or two. He stood stroking hislong, silky black beard and smiling quietly to himself.
“So,” he said at last, “it is like that. Very well. The lady will be pleased tocome with me.”
“It’s all right, Bundle,” said Bill. “Leave it to me. You go with this chap.
Nobody’s going to hurt you. I know what I’m doing.”
Bundle rose obediently. That note of authority in Bill’s voice was new toher. He seemed absolutely sure of himself and confident of being able todeal with the situation. Bundle wondered vaguely²⁰ what it was that Bill had—or thought he had—up his sleeve.
She passed out of the room in front of the Russian. He followed her, clos-ing the door behind him and locking it.
“This way, please,” he said.
He indicated the staircase and she mounted obediently to the floorabove. Here she was directed to pass into a small frowsy room, which shetook to be Alfred’s bedroom.
Mosgorovsky said: “You will wait here quietly, please. There must be nonoise.”
Then he went out, closing the door behind him and locking her in.
Bundle sat down on a chair. Her head was aching badly still and she feltincapable of sustained thought. Bill seemed to have the sitaution well inhand. Sooner or later, she supposed, someone would come and let her out.
The minutes passed. Bundle’s watch had stopped, but she judged thatover an hour had passed since the Russian had brought her here. Whatwas happening? What, indeed, had happened?
At last she heard footsteps on the stairs. It was Mosgorovsky once more.
He spoke very formally to her.
“Lady Eileen Brent, you are wanted at an emergency meeting of theSeven Dials Society. Please follow me.”
He led the way down the stairs and Bundle followed him. He opened thedoor of the secret chamber²¹ and Bundle passed in, catching²² her breath insurprise as she did so.
She was seeing for the second time what she had only had a glimpse ofthe first time through her peephole. The masked figures were sittinground the table. As she stood there, taken aback by the suddenness of it,Mosgorovsky slipped into his place, adjusting his clock mask as he did so.
But this time the chair at the head of the table was occupied. No 7 was inhis place.
Bundle’s heart beat violently. She was standing at the foot of the tabledirectly facing him and she stared and stared at the mocking piece ofhanging stuff, with the clock dial on it, that hid his features.
He sat quite immovable and Bundle got an odd sensation of power radi-ating from him. His inactivity was not the inactivity of weakness—and shewished violently, almost hysterically²³, that he would speak—that he wouldmake some sign, some gesture—not just sit there like a gigantic spider inthe middle of its web waiting remorselessly for its prey²⁴.
She shivered and as she did so Mosgorovsky rose. His voice, smooth,silky, persuasive²⁵, seemed curiously²⁶ far away.
“Lady Eileen, you have been present unasked at the secret councils ofthis society. It is therefore necessary that you should identify yourself withour aims and ambitions. The place 2 o’clock, you may notice, is vacant. Itis that place that is offered to you.”
Bundle gasped²⁷. The thing was like a fantastic nightmare. Was it possiblethat she, Bundle Brent, was being asked to join a murderous secret soci-ety? Had the same proposition been made to Bill, and had he refused in-dignantly?
“I can’t do that,” she said bluntly.
“Do not answer precipitately²⁸.”
She fancied that Mosgorovsky, beneath his clock mask, was smiling sig-nificantly into his beard.
“You do not as yet know, Lady Eileen, what it is you are refusing.”
“I can make a pretty good guess,” said Bundle.
“Can you?”
It was the voice of 7 o’clock. It awoke some vague chord of memory inBundle’s brain. Surely she knew that voice?
Very slowly No 7 raised a hand to his head and fumbled²⁹ with the fasten-ing of the mask.
Bundle held her breath. At last—she was going to know.
The mask fell.
Bundle found herself looking into the expressionless, wooden face of Super-intendent Battle.

1 throbbing   

a. 跳动的,悸动的

参考例句：

• My heart is throbbing and I'm shaking. 我的心在猛烈跳动，身子在不住颤抖。
• There was a throbbing in her temples. 她的太阳穴直跳。

2 punctuating   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Finally, it all came to a halt, with only Leehom's laboured breathing punctuating the silence. 最后，一切静止，只剩力宏吃力的呼吸，打破寂静。 来自互联网
• Li, punctuating the air with her hands, her fingernails decorated with pink rose decals. 一边说着，一边用手在空中一挥，指甲上还画了粉红玫瑰图案。 来自互联网

3 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

7 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

8 forages   

n.牛马饲料( forage的名词复数 )；寻找粮草

参考例句：

• A long-term trial had been carried out on tropical forages. 选用热带主要牧草草种进行长期定位试验。 来自互联网
• A young fur seal forages amid bull kelp near Gansbaai, South Africa. 一只年轻的海豹在南非干斯拜附近的巨藻丛中觅食。 来自互联网

9 fatuous   

adj.愚昧的；昏庸的

参考例句：

• He seems to get pride in fatuous remarks.说起这番蠢话来他似乎还挺得意。
• After his boring speech for over an hour,fatuous speaker waited for applause from the audience.经过超过一小时的烦闷的演讲，那个愚昧的演讲者还等着观众的掌声。

10 ass   

n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人

参考例句：

• He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
• An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。

11 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

12 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

13 relinquish   

v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手

参考例句：

• He was forced to relinquish control of the company.他被迫放弃公司的掌控权。
• They will never voluntarily relinquish their independence.他们绝对不会自动放弃独立。

14 recoil   

vi.退却，退缩，畏缩

参考例句：

• Most people would recoil at the sight of the snake.许多人看见蛇都会向后退缩。
• Revenge may recoil upon the person who takes it.报复者常会受到报应。

15 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

16 oblivious   

adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的

参考例句：

• Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。
• He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。

17 coerce   

v.强迫，压制

参考例句：

• You can't coerce her into obedience.你不能强制她服从。
• Do you think there is any way that we can coerce them otherwise?你认为我们有什么办法强迫他们不那样吗？

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

19 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

20 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

21 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

22 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

23 hysterically   

ad. 歇斯底里地

参考例句：

• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。
• She sobbed hysterically, and her thin body was shaken. 她歇斯底里地抽泣着，她瘦弱的身体哭得直颤抖。

24 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

25 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

26 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

27 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

28 precipitately   

adv.猛进地

参考例句：

• The number of civil wars continued to rise until about 1990 and then fell precipitately. 而国内战争的数量在1990年以前都有增加，1990年后则锐减。 来自互联网
• His wife and mistress, until an hour ago and inviolate were slipping precipitately from his control. 他的妻子和情妇，直到一小时前还是安安稳稳、不可侵犯的，现在却猛不防正从他的控制下溜走。 来自互联网

29 fumbled   

（笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下

参考例句：

• She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief. 她在她口袋里胡乱摸找手帕。
• He fumbled about in his pockets for the ticket. 他（瞎）摸着衣兜找票。