第 11 节
作者:
人生几何 更新:2021-08-28 17:14 字数:9320
Griffin; and; after walking on at her side for a little while and
talking with her; looked at me。 Supposing him to be a minion of the
law; and that my hour was come; I instantly ran away; with the
general purpose of making for Egypt。
The whole Seraglio cried out; when they saw me making off as fast as
my legs would carry me (I had an impression that the first turning
on the left; and round by the public…house; would be the shortest
way to the Pyramids); Miss Griffin screamed after me; the faithless
Vizier ran after me; and the boy at the turnpike dodged me into a
corner; like a sheep; and cut me off。 Nobody scolded me when I was
taken and brought back; Miss Griffin only said; with a stunning
gentleness; This was very curious! Why had I run away when the
gentleman looked at me?
If I had had any breath to answer with; I dare say I should have
made no answer; having no breath; I certainly made none。 Miss
Griffin and the strange man took me between them; and walked me back
to the palace in a sort of state; but not at all (as I couldn't help
feeling; with astonishment) in culprit state。
When we got there; we went into a room by ourselves; and Miss
Griffin called in to her assistance; Mesrour; chief of the dusky
guards of the Hareem。 Mesrour; on being whispered to; began to shed
tears。 〃Bless you; my precious!〃 said that officer; turning to me;
〃your Pa's took bitter bad!〃
I asked; with a fluttered heart; 〃Is he very ill?〃
〃Lord temper the wind to you; my lamb!〃 said the good Mesrour;
kneeling down; that I might have a comforting shoulder for my head
to rest on; 〃your Pa's dead!〃
Haroun Alraschid took to flight at the words; the Seraglio vanished;
from that moment; I never again saw one of the eight of the fairest
of the daughters of men。
I was taken home; and there was Debt at home as well as Death; and
we had a sale there。 My own little bed was so superciliously looked
upon by a Power unknown to me; hazily called 〃The Trade;〃 that a
brass coal…scuttle; a roasting…jack; and a birdcage; were obliged to
be put into it to make a Lot of it; and then it went for a song。 So
I heard mentioned; and I wondered what song; and thought what a
dismal song it must have been to sing!
Then; I was sent to a great; cold; bare; school of big boys; where
everything to eat and wear was thick and clumpy; without being
enough; where everybody; largo and small; was cruel; where the boys
knew all about the sale; before I got there; and asked me what I had
fetched; and who had bought me; and hooted at me; 〃Going; going;
gone!〃 I never whispered in that wretched place that I had been
Haroun; or had had a Seraglio: for; I knew that if I mentioned my
reverses; I should be so worried; that I should have to drown myself
in the muddy pond near the playground; which looked like the beer。
Ah me; ah me! No other ghost has haunted the boy's room; my
friends; since I have occupied it; than the ghost of my own
childhood; the ghost of my own innocence; the ghost of my own airy
belief。 Many a time have I pursued the phantom: never with this
man's stride of mine to come up with it; never with these man's
hands of mine to touch it; never more to this man's heart of mine to
hold it in its purity。 And here you see me working out; as
cheerfully and thankfully as I may; my doom of shaving in the glass
a constant change of customers; and of lying down and rising up with
the skeleton allotted to me for my mortal companion。
THE TRIAL FOR MURDER。
I have always noticed a prevalent want of courage; even among
persons of superior intelligence and culture; as to imparting their
own psychological experiences when those have been of a strange
sort。 Almost all men are afraid that what they could relate in such
wise would find no parallel or response in a listener's internal
life; and might be suspected or laughed at。 A truthful traveller;
who should have seen some extraordinary creature in the likeness of
a sea…serpent; would have no fear of mentioning it; but the same
traveller; having had some singular presentiment; impulse; vagary of
thought; vision (so…called); dream; or other remarkable mental
impression; would hesitate considerably before he would own to it。
To this reticence I attribute much of the obscurity in which such
subjects are involved。 We do not habitually communicate our
experiences of these subjective things as we do our experiences of
objective creation。 The consequence is; that the general stock of
experience in this regard appears exceptional; and really is so; in
respect of being miserably imperfect。
In what I am going to relate; I have no intention of setting up;
opposing; or supporting; any theory whatever。 I know the history of
the Bookseller of Berlin; I have studied the case of the wife of a
late Astronomer Royal as related by Sir David Brewster; and I have
followed the minutest details of a much more remarkable case of
Spectral Illusion occurring within my private circle of friends。 It
may be necessary to state as to this last; that the sufferer (a
lady) was in no degree; however distant; related to me。 A mistaken
assumption on that head might suggest an explanation of a part of my
own case;but only a part;which would be wholly without
foundation。 It cannot be referred to my inheritance of any
developed peculiarity; nor had I ever before any at all similar
experience; nor have I ever had any at all similar experience since。
It does not signify how many years ago; or how few; a certain murder
was committed in England; which attracted great attention。 We hear
more than enough of murderers as they rise in succession to their
atrocious eminence; and I would bury the memory of this particular
brute; if I could; as his body was buried; in Newgate Jail。 I
purposely abstain from giving any direct clue to the criminal's
individuality。
When the murder was first discovered; no suspicion fellor I ought
rather to say; for I cannot be too precise in my facts; it was
nowhere publicly hinted that any suspicion fellon the man who was
afterwards brought to trial。 As no reference was at that time made
to him in the newspapers; it is obviously impossible that any
description of him can at that time have been given in the
newspapers。 It is essential that this fact be remembered。
Unfolding at breakfast my morning paper; containing the account of
that first discovery; I found it to be deeply interesting; and I
read it with close attention。 I read it twice; if not three times。
The discovery had been made in a bedroom; and; when I laid down the
paper; I was aware of a flashrushflowI do not know what to
call it;no word I can find is satisfactorily descriptive;in
which I seemed to see that bedroom passing through my room; like a
picture impossibly painted on a running river。 Though almost
instantaneous in its passing; it was perfectly clear; so clear that
I distinctly; and with a sense of relief; observed the absence of
the dead body from the bed。
It was in no romantic place that I had this curious sensation; but
in chambers in Piccadilly; very near to the corner of St。 James's
Street。 It was entirely new to me。 I was in my easy…chair at the
moment; and the sensation was accompanied with a peculiar shiver
which started the chair from its position。 (But it is to be noted
that the chair ran easily on castors。) I went to one of the windows
(there are two in the room; and the room is on the second floor) to
refresh my eyes with the moving objects down in Piccadilly。 It was
a bright autumn morning; and the street was sparkling and cheerful。
The wind was high。 As I looked out; it brought down from the Park a
quantity of fallen leaves; which a gust took; and whirled into a
spiral pillar。 As the pillar fell and the leaves dispersed; I saw
two men on the opposite side of the way; going from West to East。
They were one behind the other。 The foremost man often looked back
over his shoulder。 The second man followed him; at a distance of
some thirty paces; with his right hand menacingly raised。 First;
the singularity and steadiness of this threatening gesture in so
public a thoroughfare attracted my attention; and next; the more
remarkable circumstance that nobody heeded it。 Both men threaded
their way among the other passengers with a smoothness hardly
consistent even with the action of walking on a pavement; and no
single creature; that I could see; gave them place; touched them; or
looked after them。 In passing before my windows; they both stared
up at me。 I saw their two faces very distinctly; and I knew that I
could recognise them anywhere。 Not that I had consciously noticed
anything very remarkable in either face; except that the man who
went first had an unusually lowering appearance; and that the face
of the man who followed him was of the colour of impure wax。