第 22 节
作者:随便看看      更新:2022-07-12 16:23      字数:9322
  outside; among his grey hair。
  The  night   had   turned   so   cold;   to   Mr。   Goodchild's   sensations;   that   he
  shivered。     He remarked lightly; and half apologetically; 'I think somebody
  is walking over my grave。'
  'No;' said the weird old man; 'there is no one there。'
  Mr。 Goodchild looked at Idle; but Idle lay with his head enwreathed in
  smoke。
  'No one there?' said Goodchild。
  'There is no one at your grave; I assure you;' said the old man。
  He had come in and shut the door; and he now sat down。                   He did not
  bend himself to sit; as other people do; but seemed to sink bolt upright; as
  if in water; until the chair stopped him。
  'My friend; Mr。 Idle;' said Goodchild; extremely anxious to introduce a
  third person into the conversation。
  'I am;' said the old man; without looking at him; 'at Mr。 Idle's service。'
  'If you are an old inhabitant of this place;' Francis Goodchild resumed。
  'Yes。'
  'Perhaps you can decide a point my friend and I were in doubt upon;
  this morning。      They hang condemned criminals at the Castle; I believe?'
  'I believe so;' said the old man。
  'Are their faces turned towards that noble prospect?'
  'Your face is turned;' replied the old man; 'to the Castle wall。 When you
  are tied up; you see its stones expanding and contracting violently; and a
  similar   expansion   and   contraction   seem   to   take   place   in   your   own   head
  and breast。     Then; there is a rush of fire and an earthquake; and the Castle
  springs into the air; and you tumble down a precipice。'
  His cravat appeared to trouble him。          He put his hand to his throat; and
  moved   his   neck   from   side   to   side。   He   was   an   old   man   of   a   swollen
  character of face; and his nose was immoveably hitched up on one side; as
  if by a little hook inserted in that nostril。        Mr。 Goodchild felt exceedingly
  uncomfortable; and began to think the night was hot; and not cold。
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  'A strong description; sir;' he observed。
  'A strong sensation;' the old man rejoined。
  Again; Mr。 Goodchild looked to Mr。 Thomas Idle; but Thomas lay on
  his   back   with   his   face   attentively   turned   towards   the   One   old   man;   and
  made no sign。       At this time Mr。 Goodchild believed that he saw threads of
  fire   stretch    from    the  old   man's    eyes    to  his   own;    and   there    attach
  themselves。        (Mr。      Goodchild        writes    the   present    account     of   his
  experience;      and;   with   the   utmost    solemnity;    protests    that  he   had   the
  strongest sensation upon him of being forced to look at the old man along
  those two fiery films; from that moment。)
  'I must tell it to you;' said the old man; with a ghastly and a stony stare。
  'What?' asked Francis Goodchild。
  'You know where it took place。           Yonder!'
  Whether he pointed to the room above; or to the room below; or to any
  room in that old house; or to a room in some other old house in that old
  town;   Mr。   Goodchild   was   not;   nor   is;   nor   ever   can   be;   sure。  He   was
  confused by the circumstance that the right forefinger of the One old man
  seemed to dip itself in one of the threads of fire; light itself; and make a
  fiery    start   in  the   air;   as  it  pointed     somewhere。        Having       pointed
  somewhere; it went out。
  'You know she was a Bride;' said the old man。
  'I know they still send up Bride…cake;' Mr。 Goodchild faltered。 'This is
  a very oppressive air。'
  'She was a Bride;' said the old man。             'She was a fair; flaxen… haired;
  large…eyed   girl;   who   had   no   character;  no   purpose。     A  weak;   credulous;
  incapable; helpless nothing。          Not like her mother。         No; no。      It was her
  father whose character she reflected。
  'Her mother had taken care to secure everything to herself; for her own
  life;   when   the   father   of   this   girl   (a   child   at   that   time)   died   …   of   sheer
  helplessness;   no   other   disorder   …   and   then   He   renewed   the   acquaintance
  that had once subsisted between the mother and Him。                     He had been put
  aside   for   the   flaxen…haired;   large…eyed   man   (or   nonentity)   with   Money。
  He could overlook that for Money。             He wanted compensation in Money。
  'So; he returned to the side of that woman the mother; made love to her
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  again;   danced   attendance   on   her;   and   submitted   himself   to   her   whims。
  She wreaked upon him every whim she had; or could invent。 He bore it。
  And the more he bore; the more he wanted compensation in Money; and
  the more he was resolved to have it。
  'But; lo!    Before he got it; she cheated him。          In one of her imperious
  states; she froze; and never thawed again。            She put her hands to her head
  one   night;   uttered   a   cry;   stiffened;  lay  in   that   attitude   certain   hours;   and
  died。    And he had got no compensation from her in Money; yet。                    Blight
  and Murrain on her!         Not a penny。
  'He had hated her throughout that second pursuit; and had longed for
  retaliation on her。      He now counterfeited her signature to an instrument;
  leaving all she had to leave; to her daughter … ten years old then … to whom
  the   property    passed    absolutely;    and   appointing    himself    the  daughter's
  Guardian。      When He slid it under the pillow of the bed on which she lay;
  He bent down in the deaf ear of Death; and whispered:                 〃Mistress Pride; I
  have    determined     a  long   time   that;  dead   or  alive;   you   must   make    me
  compensation in Money。'
  'So; now there were only two left。           Which two were; He; and the fair
  flaxen…haired;   large…eyed   foolish   daughter;   who   afterwards   became           the
  Bride。
  'He put her to school。       In a secret; dark; oppressive; ancient house; he
  put her to school with a watchful and unscrupulous woman。 〃My worthy
  lady;〃 he said; 〃here is a mind to be formed; will you help me to form it?〃
  She   accepted     the   trust。  For   which     she;  too;  wanted    compensation       in
  Money; and had it。
  'The   girl   was   formed   in   the   fear   of   him;   and   in   the   conviction;   that
  there was no escape from him。            She was taught; from the first; to regard
  him as her future husband … the man who must marry her … the destiny that
  overshadowed   her   …   the   appointed   certainty   that   could   never   be   evaded。
  The poor fool was soft white wax in their hands; and took the impression
  that   they   put   upon   her。  It   hardened    with   time。   It   became   a   part   of
  herself。    Inseparable from herself; and only to be torn away from her; by
  tearing life away from her。
  'Eleven years she had lived in the dark house and its gloomy garden。
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  He was jealous of the very light and air getting to her; and they kept her
  close。    He stopped the wide chimneys; shaded the little windows; left the
  strong…stemmed   ivy   to   wander   where   it   would   over   the   house…front;   the
  moss to accumulate on the untrimmed fruit…trees in the red…walled garden;
  the   weeds   to   over…run   its   green   and   yellow   walks。  He   surrounded   her
  with   images   of  sorrow   and  desolation。      He  caused her  to be   filled   with
  fears of the place and of the stories that were told of it; and then on pretext
  of correcting them; to be left in it in solitude; or made to shrink about it in
  the dark。     When her mind was most depressed and fullest of terrors; then;
  he would come out of one of the hiding…places from which he overlooked
  her; and present himself as her sole resource。
  'Thus;    by  being    from   her   childhood    the   one   embodiment      her   life
  presented to her of power to coerce and power to relieve; power to bind
  and power to loose; the ascendency over her weakness was secured。                     She
  was twenty…one years and twenty…one days old; when he brought her home
  to the gloomy house; his half…witted; frightened; and submissive Bride of
  three weeks。
  'He had dismissed the governess by that time … what he had left to do;
  he   could   best   do   alone   …   and   they   came   back;   upon   a   rain   night;   to   the
  scen