第 61 节
作者:散发弄舟      更新:2021-02-21 16:20      字数:9322
  As; however; it was not yet near the time when ghosts are to be
  expected; and as he felt very tired; he drank one glass of the wine;
  and throwing himself on the couch; drew Euphra's shawl over him;
  opened his book; and began to read。  But the words soon vanished in
  a bewildering dance; and he slept。
  He started awake in that agony of fear in which I suppose most
  people have awaked in the night; once or twice in their lives。  He
  felt that he was not alone。  But the feeling seemed; when he
  recalled it; to have been altogether different from that with which
  we recognise the presence of the most unwelcome bodily visitor。  The
  whole of his nervous skeleton seemed to shudder and contract。  Every
  sense was intensified to the acme of its acuteness; while the powers
  of volition were inoperative。  He could not move a finger。
  The moment in which he first saw the object I am about to describe;
  he could not recall。  The impression made seemed to have been too
  strong for the object receiving it; destroying thus its own traces;
  as an overheated brand…iron would in dry timber。  Or it may be that;
  after such a pre…sensation; the cause of it could not surprise him。
  He saw; a few paces off; bending as if looking down upon him; a face
  which; if described as he described it; would be pronounced as far
  past the most liberal boundary…line of art; as itself had passed
  beyond that degree of change at which a human countenance is fit for
  the upper world no longer; and must be hidden away out of sight。
  The lips were dark; and drawn back from the closed teeth; which
  were white as those of a skull。  There were spotsin fact; the face
  corresponded exactly to the description given by Funkelstein of the
  reported ghost of Lady Euphrasia。  The dress was point for point
  correspondent to that in the picture。  Had the portrait of Lady
  Euphrasia been hanging on the wall above; instead of the portrait of
  the unknown nun; Hugh would have thought; as far as dress was
  concerned; that it had come alive; and stepped from its
  frameexcept for one thing: there was no ring on the thumb。
  It was wonderful to himself afterwards; that he should have observed
  all these particulars; but the fact was; that they rather burnt
  themselves in upon his brain; than were taken notice of by him。
  They returned upon him afterwards by degrees; as one becomes
  sensible of the pain of a wound。
  But there was one sign of life。  Though the eyes were closed; tears
  flowed from them; and seemed to have worn channels for their
  constant flow down this face of death; which ought to have been
  lying still in the grave; returning to its dust; and was weeping
  above ground instead。  The figure stood for a moment; as one who
  would gaze; could she but open her heavy; death…rusted eyelids。
  Then; as if in hopeless defeat; she turned away。  And then; to
  crown the horror literally as well as figuratively; Hugh saw that
  her hair sparkled and gleamed goldenly; as the hair of a saint
  might; if the aureole were combed down into it。  She moved towards
  the door with a fettered pace; such as one might attribute to the
  dead if they walked;to the dead body; I say; not to the living
  ghost; to that which has lain in the prison…hold; till the joints
  are decayed with the grave…damps; and the muscles are stiff with
  more than deathly cold。  She dragged one limb after the other slowly
  and; to appearance; painfully; as she moved towards the door which
  Hugh had locked。
  When she had gone half…way to the door; Hugh; lying as he was on a
  couch; could see her feet; for her dress did not reach the ground。
  They were bare; as the feet of the dead ought to be; which are
  about to tread softly in the realm of Hades; But how stained and
  mouldy and iron…spotted; as if the rain had been soaking through the
  spongy coffin; did the dress show beside the pure whiteness of those
  exquisite feet!  Not a sign of the tomb was upon them。  Small;
  living; delicately formed; Hugh; could he have forgot the face they
  bore above; might have envied the floor which in their nakedness
  they seemed to caress; so lingeringly did they move from it in their
  noiseless progress。
  She reached the door; put out her hand; and touched it。  Hugh saw it
  open outwards and let her through。  Nor did this strike him as in
  the smallest degree marvellous。  It closed again behind her;
  noiseless as her footfalls。
  The moment she vanished; the power of motion returned to him; and
  Hugh sprang to his feet。  He leaped to the door。  With trembling
  hand he inserted the key; and the lock creaked as he turned it。
  In proof of his being in tolerable possession of his faculties at
  the moment; and that what he was relating to me actually occurred;
  he told me that he remembered at once that he had heard that
  peculiar creak; a few moments before Euphra and he discovered that
  they were left alone in this very chamber。  He had never thought of
  it before。
  Still the door would not open: it was bolted as well; and the bolt
  was very stiff to withdraw。  But at length he succeeded。
  When he reached the passage outside; he thought he saw the glimmer
  of a light; perhaps in the picture…gallery beyond。  Towards this he
  groped his way。He could never account for the fact; that he left
  the candles burning in the room behind him and went forward into the
  darkness; except by supposing that his wits had gone astray; in
  consequence of the shock the apparition had occasioned them。When
  he reached the gallery; there was no light there; but somewhere in
  the distance he saw; or fancied; a faint shimmer。
  The impulse to go towards it was too strong to be disputed with。  He
  advanced with outstretched arms; groping。  After a few steps; he had
  lost all idea of where he was; or how he ought to proceed in order
  to reach any known quarter。  The light had vanished。  He stood。Was
  that a stealthy step he heard beside him in the dark?  He had no
  time to speculate; for the next moment he fell senseless。
  CHAPTER XXV。
  NEXT MORNING。
  Darkness is fled: look; infant morn hath drawn
  Bright silver curtains 'bout the couch of night;
  And now Aurora's horse trots azure rings;
  Breathing fair light about the firmament。
  Stand; what's that?
  JOHN MARSTON。Second Part of Antonio and Mellida。
  When he came to himself; it was with a slow flowing of the tide of
  consciousness。  His head ached。  Had he fallen down stairs?or had
  he struck his head against some projection; and so stunned himself?
  The last he remembered wasstanding quite still in the dark; and
  hearing something。  Had he been knocked down?  He could not
  tell。Where was he?  Could the ghost have been all a dream? and
  this headache be nature's revenge upon last night's wine?For he
  lay on the couch in the haunted chamber; and on his bosom lay the
  book over which he had dropped asleep。
  Mingled with all this doubt; there was another。  For he remembered
  that; when consciousness first returned; he felt as if he had seen
  Euphra's face bending down close over his。Could it be possible?
  Had Euphra herself come to see how he had fared?The room lay in
  the grey light of the dawn; but Euphra was nowhere visible。  Could
  she have vanished ashamed through the secret door?  Or had she been
  only a phantasy; a projection outwards of the form that dwelt in his
  brain; a phenomenon often occurring when the last of sleeping and
  the first of waking are indistinguishably blended in a vague
  consciousness?
  But if it was so; then the ghost?what of it?  Had not his brain;
  by the events of the preceding evening; been similarly prepared with
  regard to it?  Was it not more likely; after all; that she too was
  the offspring of his own imaginationthe power that makes
  imagesespecially when considered; that she exactly corresponded to
  the description given by the Bohemian?But had he not observed many
  points at which the Count had not even hinted?Still; it was as
  natural to expect that an excited imagination should supply the
  details of a wholly imaginary spectacle; as that; given the idea of
  Euphra's presence; it should present the detail of her countenance;
  for the creation of that which is not; belongs as much to the realm
  of the imagination; as the reproduction of that which is。
  It seemed very strange to Hugh himself; that he should be able thus
  to theorize; before even he had raised himself from the couch on
  which; perhaps; after all; he had lain without moving; throughout
  that terrible night; swarming with the horrors of the dead that
  would not sleep。  But the long unconsciousness; in which he had
  himself visited the regions of death; seemed to have restored him;
  in spite of his aching head; to perfect mental equilibrium。  Or; at
  least; his brain was quiet enough to let his mind work。  Still; he
  felt very ghastly within。  He raised himself on his elbow; and
  looked into the room。  Everything was the same as it had been the
  night before; only with an altered aspect in the dawn…light。  The
  dawn has a peculiar terror of its own; sometimes perhaps even more
  real in character; but very different from the terrors of the night
  and of candle…light。  The room looked as if no ghost could have
  passed through its still old musty atmosphere; so perfectly
  reposeful d