I came to myself slowly and painfully. I was conscious of an aching headand a shooting pain down my left arm when I tried to move, andeverything seemed dreamlike and unreal. Nightmare visions floated be-fore me. I felt myself falling—falling again. Once Harry1 Rayburn’s faceseemed to come to me out of the mist. Almost I imagined it real. Then itfloated away again, mocking me. Once, I remember, someone put a cup tomy lips and I drank. A black face grinned into mine — a devil’s face, Ithought it, and screamed out. Then dreams again—long troubled dreamsin which I vainly sought Harry Rayburn to warn him—warn him—whatof? I did not know myself. But there was some danger—some great danger—and I alone could save him. Then darkness again, merciful darkness andreal sleep.
I woke at last myself again. The long nightmare was over. I rememberedperfectly everything that had happened: my hurried flight from the hotelto meet Harry, the man in the shadows and the last terrible moment offalling. .?.?.
By some miracle or other I had not been killed. I was bruised2 andaching, and very weak, but I was alive. But where was I? Moving my headwith difficulty I looked round me. I was in a small room with roughwooden walls. On them were huge skins of animals and various tusks3 ofivory. I was lying on a kind of rough couch, also covered with skins, andmy left arm was bandaged up and felt stiff and uncomfortable. At first Ithought I was alone, and then I saw a man’s figure sitting between me andthe light, his head turned towards the window. He was so still that hemight have been carved out of wood. Something in the close- croppedblack head was familiar to me, but I did not dare to let my imaginationrun astray. Suddenly he turned, and I caught my breath. It was Harry Ray-burn. Harry Rayburn in the flesh.
He rose and came over to me.
“Feeling better?” he said a trifle awkwardly.
I could not answer. The tears were running down my face. I was weakstill, but I held his hand in both of mine. If only I could die like this, whilsthe stood there looking down on me with that new look in his eyes.
“Don’t cry, Anne. Please don’t cry. You’re safe now. No one shall hurtyou.”
He went and fetched a cup and brought it to me.
“Drink some of this milk.”
I drank obediently. He went on talking, in a low coaxing4 tone such as hemight have used to a child.
“Don’t ask any more questions now. Go to sleep again. You’ll be strongerby and by. I’ll go away if you like.”
“No,” I said urgently. “No, no.”
“Then I’ll stay.”
He brought a small stool over beside me and sat there. He laid his handover mine, and, soothed5 and comforted, I dropped off to sleep once more.
It must have been evening then, but when I woke again the sun washigh in the heavens. I was alone in the hut, but as I stirred an old nativewoman came running in. She was hideous6 as sin, but she grinned at meencouragingly. She brought me water in a basin and helped me wash myface and hands. Then she brought me a large bowl of soup, and I finishedit every drop! I asked her several questions, but she only grinned and nod-ded and chattered7 away in a guttural language, so I gathered she knew noEnglish.
Suddenly she stood up and drew back respectfully as Harry Rayburnentered. He gave her a nod of dismissal and she went out leaving us alone.
He smiled at me.
“Really better today!”
“Yes, indeed, but very bewildered still. Where am I?”
“You’re on a small island on the Zambesi about four miles up from theFalls.”
“Do—do my friends know I’m here?”
He shook his head.
“I must send word to them.”
“That is as you like, of course, but if I were you I should wait until youare a little stronger.”
“Why?”
He did not answer immediately, so I went on:
“How long have I been here?”
His answer amazed me.
“Nearly a month.”
“Oh!” I cried. “I must send word to Suzanne. She’ll be terribly anxious.”
“Who is Suzanne?”
“Mrs. Blair. I was with her and Sir Eustace and Colonel Race at the hotel—but you knew that, surely?”
He shook his head.
“I know nothing, except that I found you, caught in the fork of a tree, un-conscious and with a badly wrenched8 arm.”
“Where was the tree?”
“Overhanging the ravine. But for your clothes catching9 on the branches,you would certainly have been dashed to pieces.”
I shuddered10. Then a thought struck me.
“You say you didn’t know I was there. What about the note then?”
“What note?”
“The note you sent me, asking me to meet you in the clearing.”
He stared at me.
“I sent no note.”
I felt myself flushing up to the roots of my hair. Fortunately he did notseem to notice.
“How did you come to be on the spot in such a marvellous manner?” Iasked, in as nonchalant a manner as I could assume. “And what are youdoing in this part of the world, anyway?”
“I live here,” he said simply.
“On this island?”
“Yes, I came here after the War. Sometimes I take parties from the hotelout in my boat, but it costs me very little to live, and mostly I do as Iplease.”
“You live here all alone?”
“I am not pining for society, I assure you,” he replied coldly.
“I am sorry to have inflicted11 mine upon you,” I retorted, “but I seem tohave had very little to say in the matter.”
To my surprise, his eyes twinkled a little.
“None whatever. I slung12 you across my shoulders like a sack of coal andcarried you to my boat. Quite like a primitive13 man of the Stone Age.”
“But for a different reason,” I put in.
He flushed this time, a deep burning blush. The tan of his face was suf-fused.
“But you haven’t told me how you came to be wandering about so con-veniently for me?” I said hastily, to cover his confusion.
“I couldn’t sleep. I was restless—disturbed—had the feeling somethingwas going to happen. In the end I took the boat and came ashore14 andtramped down towards the Falls. I was just at the head of the palm gullywhen I heard you scream.”
“Why didn’t you get help from the hotel instead of carting me all theway here?” I asked.
He flushed again.
“I suppose it seems an unpardonable liberty to you—but I don’t thinkthat even now you realize your danger! You think I should have informedyour friends? Pretty friends, who allowed you to be decoyed out to death.
No, I swore to myself that I’d take better care of you than anyone elsecould. Not a soul comes to this island. I got old Batani, whom I cured of afever once, to come and look after you. She’s loyal. She’ll never say aword. I could keep you here for months and no one would ever know.”
I could keep you here for months and no one would ever know! How somewords please one!
“You did quite right,” I said quietly. “And I shall not send word to any-one. A day or so more anxiety doesn’t make much difference. It’s not asthough they were my own people. They’re only acquaintances really—even Suzanne. And whoever wrote that note must have known—a greatdeal! It was not the work of an outsider.”
I managed to mention the note this time without blushing at all.
“If you would be guided by me—” he said, hesitating.
“I don’t expect I shall be,” I answered candidly15. “But there’s no harm inhearing.”
“Do you always do what you like, Miss Beddingfeld?”
“Usually,” I replied cautiously. To anyone else I would have said “Al-ways.”
“I pity your husband,” he said unexpectedly.
“You needn’t,” I retorted. “I shouldn’t dream of marrying anyone unlessI was madly in love with him. And of course there is really nothing a wo-man enjoys so much as doing all the things she doesn’t like for the sake ofsomeone she does like. And the more self-willed she is, the more she likesit.”
“I’m afraid I disagree with you. The boot is on the other leg as a rule.”
He spoke16 with a slight sneer17.
“Exactly,” I cried eagerly. “And that’s why there are so many unhappymarriages. It’s all the fault of the men. Either they give way to their wo-men—and then the women despise them—or else they are utterly18 selfish,insist on their own way and never say ‘thank you.’ Successful husbandsmake their wives do just what they want, and then make a frightful19 fuss ofthem for doing it. Women like to be mastered, but they hate not to havetheir sacrifices appreciated. On the other hand, men don’t really appreci-ate women who are nice to them all the time. When I am married, I shallbe a devil most of the time, but every now and then, when my husbandleast expects it, I shall show him what a perfect angel I can be.”
Harry laughed outright20.
“What a cat-and-dog life you will lead!”
“Lovers always fight,” I assured him. “Because they don’t understandeach other. And by the time they do understand each other they aren’t inlove any more.”
“Does the reverse hold true? Are people who fight each other alwayslovers?”
“I—I don’t know,” I said, momentarily confused.
He turned away to the fireplace.
“Like some more soup?” he asked in a casual tone.
“Yes, please. I’m so hungry that I would eat a hippopotamus21.”
“That’s good.”
He busied himself with the fire, I watched.
“When I can get off the couch, I’ll cook for you,” I promised.
“I don’t suppose you know anything about cooking.”
“I can warm up things out of tins as well as you can,” I retorted, pointingto a row of tins on the mantelpiece.
“Touché,” he said and laughed.
His whole face changed when he laughed. It became boyish, happy—adifferent personality.
I enjoyed my soup. As I ate it I reminded him that he had not, after all,tendered me his advice.
“Ah, yes, what I was going to say was this. If I were you I would stayquietly perdu here until you are quite strong again. Your enemies will be-lieve you dead. They will hardly be surprised at not finding the body. Itwould have been dashed to pieces on the rocks and carried down with thetorrent.”
I shivered.
“Once you are completely restored to health, you can journey quietly onto Beira and get a boat to take you back to England.”
“That would be very tame,” I objected scornfully.
“There speaks a foolish schoolgirl.”
“I’m not a foolish schoolgirl,” I cried indignantly. “I’m a woman.”
He looked at me with an expression I could not fathom22, as I sat upflushed and excited.
“God help me, so you are,” he muttered and went abruptly23 out.
My recovery was rapid. The two injuries I had sustained were a knockon the head and a badly wrenched arm. The latter was the most seriousand, to begin with, my rescuer had believed it to be actually broken. Acareful examination, however, convinced him that it was not so, and al-though it was very painful I was recovering the use of it quite quickly.
It was a strange time. We were cut off from the world, alone together asAdam and Eve might have been—but with what a difference! Old Batanihovered about, counting no more than a dog might have done. I insistedon doing the cooking, or as much of it as I could manage with one arm.
Harry was out a good part of the time, but we spent long hours together ly-ing out in the shade of the palms, talking and quarrelling — discussingeverything under high heaven, quarrelling and making it up again. Webickered a good deal, but there grew up between us a real and lastingcomradeship such as I could never have believed possible. That — andsomething else.
The time was drawing near, I knew it, when I should be well enough toleave, and I realized it with a heavy heart. Was he going to let me go?
Without a word? Without a sign? He had fits of silence, long moody24 inter-vals, moments when he would spring up and tramp off by himself. Oneevening the crisis came. We had finished our simple meal and were sittingin the doorway25 of the hut. The sun was sinking.
Hairpins26 were necessities of life with which Harry had not been able toprovide me, and my hair, straight and black, hung to my knees. I sat, mychin on my hands, lost in meditation27. I felt rather than saw Harry lookingat me.
“You look like a witch, Anne,” he said at last, and there was something inhis voice that had never been there before.
He reached out his hand and just touched my hair. I shivered. Suddenlyhe sprang up with an oath.
“You must leave here tomorrow, do you hear?” he cried. “I—I can’t bearany more. I’m only a man after all. You must go, Anne. You must. You’renot a fool. You know yourself that this can’t go on.”
“I suppose not,” I said slowly. “But—it’s been happy, hasn’t it?”
“Happy? It’s been hell!”
“As bad as that!”
“What do you torment28 me for? Why are you mocking at me? Why doyou say that—laughing into your hair?”
“I wasn’t laughing. And I’m not mocking. If you want me to go, I’ll go.
But if you want me to stay—I’ll stay.”
“Not that!” he cried vehemently29. “Not that. Don’t tempt30 me, Anne. Doyou realize what I am? A criminal twice over. A man hunted down. Theyknow me here as Harry Parker—they think I’ve been away on a trek31 upcountry, but any day they may put two and two together—and then theblow will fall. You’re so young, Anne, and so beautiful—with the kind ofbeauty that sends men mad. All the world’s before you — love, life,everything. Mine’s behind me—scorched, spoiled, with a taste of bitterashes.”
“If you don’t want me—”
“You know I want you. You know that I’d give my soul to pick you up inmy arms and keep you here, hidden away from the world, forever andever. And you’re tempting32 me, Anne. You, with your long witch’s hair, andyour eyes that are golden and brown and green and never stop laughingeven when your mouth is grave. But I’ll save you from yourself and fromme. You shall go tonight. You shall go to Beira—”
“I’m not going to Beira,” I interrupted.
“You are. You shall go to Beira if I have to take you there myself andthrow you on to the boat. What do you think I’m made of ? Do you thinkI’ll wake up night after night, fearing they’ve got you? One can’t go oncounting on miracles happening. You must go back to England, Anne—and—and marry and be happy.”
“With a steady man who’ll give me a good home!”
“Better that than—utter disaster.”
“And what of you?”
His face grew grim and set.
“I’ve got my work ready to hand. Don’t ask what it is. You can guess, Idare say. But I’ll tell you this—I’ll clear my name, or die in the attempt,and I’ll choke the life out of the damned scoundrel who did his best tomurder you the other night.”
“We must be fair,” I said. “He didn’t actually push me over.”
“He’d no need to. His plan was cleverer than that. I went up to the pathafterwards. Everything looked all right, but by the marks on the ground Isaw that the stones which outline the path had been taken up and putdown again in a slightly different place. There are tall bushes growing justover the edge. He’d balanced the outside stones on them, so that you’dthink you were still on the path when in reality you were stepping intonothingness. God help him if I lay my hands upon him!”
He paused a minute and then said, in a totally different tone:
“We’ve never spoken of these things, Anne, have we? But the time’scome. I want you to hear the whole story—from the beginning.”
“If it hurts you to go over the past, don’t tell me,” I said in a low voice.
“But I want you to know. I never thought I should speak of that part ofmy life to anyone. Funny, isn’t it, the tricks Fate plays?”
He was silent for a minute or two. The sun had set, and the velvety33 dark-ness of the African night was enveloping34 us like a mantle35.
“Some of it I know,” I said gently.
“What do you know?”
“I know that your real name is Harry Lucas.”
Still he hesitated—not looking at me, but staring straight out in front ofhim. I had no clue as to what was passing in his mind, but at last he jerkedhis head forward as though acquiescing36 in some unspoken decision of hisown, and began his story.
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收听单词发音
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1
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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tusks
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| n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头 | |
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coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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7
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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9
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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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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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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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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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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hippopotamus
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| n.河马 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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hairpins
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| n.发夹( hairpin的名词复数 ) | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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trek
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| vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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enveloping
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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acquiescing
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的现在分词 ) | |
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