CHAPTER 35 Gerard awoke, and found Denys watching him with some anxiety.

 “It is you for sleeping! Why, 'tis high noon.”

 

“It was a blessed sleep,” said Gerard; “methinks Heaven sent it me. It hath put as it were a veil between me and that awful night. To think that you and I sit here alive and well. How terrible a dream I seem to have had!”

 

“Ay, lad, that is the wise way to look at these things when once they are past, why, they are dreams, shadows. Break thy fast, and then thou wilt¹ think no more on't. Moreover, I promised to bring thee on to the town by noon, and take thee to his worship.”

 

Gerard then sopped² some rye bread in red wine and ate it to break his fast: then went with Denys over the scene of combat, and came back shuddering³, and finally took the road with his friend, and kept peering through the hedges, and expecting sudden attacks unreasonably⁴, till they reached the little town. Denys took him to “The White Hart”.

 

“No fear of cut-throats here,” said he. “I know the landlord this many a year. He is a burgess, and looks to be bailiff. 'Tis here I was making for yestreen. But we lost time, and night o'ertook us—and—

 

“And you saw a woman at the door, and would be wiser than a Jeanneton; she told us they were nought⁵.”

 

“Why, what saved our lives if not a woman? Ay, and risked her own to do it.”

 

“That is true, Denys; and though women are nothing to me, I long to thank this poor girl, and reward her, ay, though I share every doit in my purse with her. Do not you?”

 

“Parbleu.”

 

“Where shall we find her?”

 

“Mayhap the alderman will tell us. We must go to him first.”

 

The alderman received them with a most singular and inexplicable⁶ expression of countenance⁷. However, after a moment's reflection, he wore a grim smile, and finally proceeded to put interrogatories to Gerard, and took down the answers. This done, he told them that they must stay in the town till the thieves were tried, and be at hand to give evidence, on peril⁸ of fine and imprisonment⁹. They looked very blank at this.

 

“However,” said he, “'twill not be long, the culprits having been taken red-handed.” He added, “And you know, in any case you could not leave the place this week.”

 

Denys stared at this remark, and Gerard smiled at what he thought the simplicity¹⁰ of the old gentleman in dreaming that a provincial¹¹ town of Burgundy had attraction to detain him from Rome and Margaret.

 

He now went to that which was nearest both their hearts.

 

“Your worship,” said he, “we cannot find our benefactress in the town.”

 

“Nay, but who is your benefactress?”

 

“Who? why the good girl that came to you by night and saved our lives at peril of her own. Oh sir, our hearts burn within us to thank and bless her; where is she?”

 

 

 该作者的其它作品

《white lies》

 

1 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。

2 sopped   

adj.湿透的，浸透的v.将（面包等）在液体中蘸或浸泡( sop的过去式和过去分词 )；用海绵、布等吸起（液体等）

参考例句：

• The servant sopped up the water with a towel. 佣人用毛巾揩去水。 来自辞典例句
• She sopped up the spilt milk with a cloth. 她用一块布抹去溢出的牛奶。 来自辞典例句

3 shuddering   

v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动

参考例句：

• 'I am afraid of it,'she answered, shuddering. “我害怕，”她发着抖，说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She drew a deep shuddering breath. 她不由得打了个寒噤，深深吸了口气。 来自飘（部分）

4 unreasonably   

adv. 不合理地

参考例句：

• He was also petty, unreasonably querulous, and mean. 他还是个气量狭窄，无事生非，平庸刻薄的人。
• Food in that restaurant is unreasonably priced. 那家饭店价格不公道。

5 nought   

n.／adj.无，零

参考例句：

• We must bring their schemes to nought.我们必须使他们的阴谋彻底破产。
• One minus one leaves nought.一减一等于零。

6 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

7 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

8 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

9 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

10 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

11 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。