空幻之屋39

时间：2024-12-31 10:13:04

（单词翻译:单击）

Twenty-eight
Midge, lying dry-eyed and awake in the darkness, turned restlessly on her pillows. She heard a
door unlatch, a footstep in the corridor outside passing her door. It was Edward’s door and
Edward’s step. She switched on the lamp by her bed and looked at the clock that stood by the
lamp on the table. It was ten minutes to three.
Edward passing her door and going down the stairs at this hour in the morning. It was odd.
They had all gone to bed early, at half past ten. She herself had not slept, had lain there with
burning eyelids1 and with a dry, aching misery2 racking her feverishly3.
She had heard the clock strike downstairs—had heard owls4 hoot5 outside her bedroom window.
Had felt that depression that reaches its nadir6 at 2 a.m. Had thought to herself: “I can’t bear it—I
can’t bear it. Tomorrow coming—another day. Day after day to be got through.”
Banished7 by her own act from Ainswick—from all the loveliness and dearness of Ainswick
which might have been her very own possession.
But better banishment8, better loneliness, better a drab and uninteresting life, than life with
Edward and Henrietta’s ghost. Until that day in the wood she had not known her own capacity for
bitter jealousy9.
And after all, Edward had never told her that he loved her. Affection, kindliness10, he had never
pretended to more than that. She had accepted the limitation, and not until she had realized what it
would mean to live at close quarters with an Edward whose mind and heart had Henrietta as a
permanent guest, did she know that for her Edward’s affection was not enough.
Edward walking past her door, down the front stairs. It was odd—very odd. Where was he
going?
Uneasiness grew upon her. It was all part and parcel of the uneasiness that The Hollow gave her
nowadays. What was Edward doing downstairs in the small hours of the morning? Had he gone
out?
Inactivity at last became too much for her. She got up, slipped on her dressing11 gown, and,
taking a torch, she opened her door and came out into the passage.
It was quite dark, no light had been switched on. Midge turned to the left and came to the head
of the staircase. Below all was dark too. She ran down the stairs and after a moment’s hesitation12
switched on the light in the hall. Everything was silent. The front door was closed and locked. She
tried the side door but that, too, was locked.
Edward, then, had not gone out. Where could he be?
And suddenly she raised her head and sniffed13.
A whiff, a very faint whiff of gas.
The baize door to the kitchen quarters was just ajar. She went through it—a faint light was
shining from the open kitchen door. The smell of gas was much stronger.
Midge ran along the passage and into the kitchen. Edward was lying on the floor with his head
inside the gas oven, which was turned full on.
Midge was a quick, practical girl. Her first act was to swing open the shutters14. She could not
unlatch the window, and, winding15 a glass cloth round her arm, she smashed it. Then, holding her
breath, she stooped down and tugged16 and pulled Edward out of the gas oven and switched off the
taps.
He was unconscious and breathing queerly, but she knew that he could not have been
unconscious long. He could only just have gone under. The wind sweeping17 through from the
window to the open door was fast dispelling18 the gas fumes19. Midge dragged Edward to a spot near
the window where the air would have full play. She sat down and gathered him into her strong
young arms.
She said his name, first softly, then with increasing desperation. “Edward, Edward, Edward….”
He stirred, groaned20, opened his eyes and looked up at her. He said very faintly: “Gas oven,” and
his eyes went round to the gas stove.
“I know, darling, but why—why?”
He was shivering now, his hands were cold and lifeless. He said: “Midge?” There was a kind of
wondering surprise and pleasure in his voice.
She said: “I heard you pass my door. I didn’t know…I came down.”
He sighed, a very long sigh as though from very far away. “Best way out,” he said. And then,
inexplicably21 until she remembered Lucy’s conversation on the night of the tragedy, “News of the
World.”
“But, Edward, why, why?”
He looked up at her, and the blank, cold darkness of his stare frightened her.
“Because I know I’ve never been any good. Always a failure. Always ineffectual. It’s men like
Christow who do things. They get there and women admire them. I’m nothing—I’m not even
quite alive. I inherited Ainswick and I’ve enough to live on—otherwise I’d have gone under. No
good at a career—never much good as a writer. Henrietta didn’t want me. No one wanted me.
That day—at the Berkeley—I thought—but it was the same story. You couldn’t care either,
Midge. Even for Ainswick you couldn’t put up with me. So I thought better get out altogether.”
Her words came with a rush. “Darling, darling, you don’t understand. It was because of
Henrietta—because I thought you still loved Henrietta so much.”
“Henrietta?” He murmured it vaguely23, as though speaking of someone infinitely24 remote. “Yes, I
loved her very much.”
And from even farther away she heard him murmur22:
“It’s so cold.”
“Edward—my darling.”
Her arms closed round him firmly. He smiled at her, murmuring:
“You’re so warm, Midge—you’re so warm.”
Yes, she thought, that was what despair was. A cold thing—a thing of infinite coldness and
loneliness. She’d never understood until now that despair was a cold thing. She had thought of it
as something hot and passionate25, something violent, a hot-blooded desperation. But that was not
so. This was despair—this utter outer darkness of coldness and loneliness. And the sin of despair,
that priests talked of, was a cold sin, the sin of cutting oneself off from all warm and living human
contacts.
Edward said again: “You’re so warm, Midge.” And suddenly with a glad, proud confidence she
thought: “But that’s what he wants — that’s what I can give him!” They were all cold, the
Angkatells. Even Henrietta had something in her of the will-o’-the-wisp, of the elusive26 fairy
coldness in the Angkatell blood. Let Edward love Henrietta as an intangible and unpossessable
dream. It was warmth, permanence, stability that was his real need. It was daily companionship
and love and laughter at Ainswick.
She thought: “What Edward needs is someone to light a fire on his heart—and I am the person
to do that.”
Edward looked up. He saw Midge’s face bending over him, the warm colouring of the skin, the
generous mouth, the steady eyes and the dark hair that lay back from her forehead like two wings.
He saw Henrietta always as a projection27 from the past. In the grown woman he sought and
wanted only to see the seventeen-year-old girl he had first loved. But now, looking up at Midge,
he had a queer sense of seeing a continuous Midge. He saw the school-girl with her winged hair
springing back into two pigtails, he saw its dark waves framing her face now, and he saw exactly
how those wings would look when the hair was not dark any longer but grey.
“Midge,” he thought, “is real. The only real thing I have ever known…” He felt the warmth of
her, and the strength—dark, positive, alive, real! “Midge,” he thought, “is the rock on which I can
build my life.”
He said: “Darling Midge, I love you so, never leave me again.”
She bent28 down to him and he felt the warmth of her lips on his, felt her love enveloping29 him,
shielding him, and happiness flowered in that cold desert where he had lived alone so long.
Suddenly Midge said with a shaky laugh:
“Look, Edward, a blackbeetle has come out to look at us. Isn’t he a nice blackbeetle? I never
thought I could like a blackbeetle so much!”
She added dreamily: “How odd life is. Here we are sitting on the floor in a kitchen that still
smells of gas all amongst the black-beetles, and feeling that it’s heaven.”
He murmured dreamily: “I could stay here forever.”
“We’d better go and get some sleep. It’s four o’clock. How on earth are we to explain that
broken window to Lucy?” Fortunately, Midge reflected, Lucy was an extraordinarily30 easy person
to explain things to!
Taking a leaf out of Lucy’s own book, Midge went into her room at six o’clock. She made a
bald statement of fact.
“Edward went down and put his head in the gas oven in the night,” she said. “Fortunately I
heard him, and went down after him. I broke the window because I couldn’t get it open quickly.”
Lucy, Midge had to admit, was wonderful.
She smiled sweetly with no sign of surprise.
“Dear Midge,” she said, “you are always so practical. I’m sure you will always be the greatest
comfort to Edward.”
After Midge had gone, Lady Angkatell lay thinking. Then she got up and went into her
husband’s room, which for once was unlocked.
“Henry.”
“My dear Lucy! It’s not cockcrow yet.”
“No, but listen, Henry, this is really important. We must have electricity installed to cook by
and get rid of that gas stove.”
“Why, it’s quite satisfactory, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yes, dear. But it’s the sort of thing that gives people ideas, and everybody mightn’t be as
practical as dear Midge.”
She flitted elusively31 away. Sir Henry turned over with a grunt32. Presently he awoke with a start
just as he was dozing33 off. “Did I dream it,” he murmured, “or did Lucy come in and start talking
about gas stoves?”
Outside in the passage, Lady Angkatell went into the bathroom and put a kettle on the gas ring.
Sometimes, she knew, people liked an early cup of tea. Fired with self-approval, she returned to
bed and lay back on her pillows, pleased with life and with herself.
Edward and Midge at Ainswick—the inquest over. She would go and talk to M. Poirot again. A
nice little man….
Suddenly another idea flashed into her head. She sat upright in bed. “I wonder now,” she
speculated, “if she has thought of that.”
She got out of bed and drifted along the passage to Henrietta’s room, beginning her remarks as
usual long before she was within earshot.
“—and it suddenly came to me, dear, that you might have overlooked that.”
Henrietta murmured sleepily: “For heaven’s sake, Lucy, the birds aren’t up yet!”
“Oh, I know, dear, it is rather early, but it seems to have been a very disturbed night—Edward
and the gas stove and Midge and the kitchen window—and thinking of what to say to M. Poirot
and everything—”
“I’m sorry, Lucy, but everything you say sounds like complete gibberish. Can’t it wait?”
“It was only the holster, dear. I thought, you know, that you might not have thought about the
holster.”
“Holster?” Henrietta sat up in bed. She was suddenly wide awake. “What’s this about a
holster?”
“That revolver of Henry’s was in a holster, you know. And the holster hasn’t been found. And
of course nobody may think of it—but on the other hand somebody might—”
Henrietta swung herself out of bed. She said:
“One always forgets something—that’s what they say! And it’s true!”
Lady Angkatell went back to her room.
She got into bed and quickly went fast asleep.
The kettle on the gas ring boiled and went on boiling.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 eyelids 86ece0ca18a95664f58bda5de252f4e7     
n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色
参考例句：
  • She was so tired, her eyelids were beginning to droop. 她太疲倦了，眼睑开始往下垂。
  • Her eyelids drooped as if she were on the verge of sleep. 她眼睑低垂好像快要睡着的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 misery G10yi     
n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦
参考例句：
  • Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
3 feverishly 5ac95dc6539beaf41c678cd0fa6f89c7     
adv. 兴奋地
参考例句：
  • Feverishly he collected his data. 他拼命收集资料。
  • The company is having to cast around feverishly for ways to cut its costs. 公司迫切须要想出各种降低成本的办法。
4 owls 7b4601ac7f6fe54f86669548acc46286     
n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )
参考例句：
  • 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
  • The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句
5 hoot HdzzK     
n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭
参考例句：
  • The sudden hoot of a whistle broke into my thoughts.突然响起的汽笛声打断了我的思路。
  • In a string of shrill hoot of the horn sound,he quickly ran to her.在一串尖声鸣叫的喇叭声中，他快速地跑向她。
6 nadir 2F7xN     
n.最低点，无底
参考例句：
  • This failure was the nadir of her career.这次失败是她事业上的低谷。
  • The demand for this product will reach its nadir within two years.对此产品的需求在两年内将达到最低点。
7 banished b779057f354f1ec8efd5dd1adee731df     
v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • He was banished to Australia, where he died five years later. 他被流放到澳大利亚，五年后在那里去世。
  • He was banished to an uninhabited island for a year. 他被放逐到一个无人居住的荒岛一年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 banishment banishment     
n.放逐，驱逐
参考例句：
  • Qu Yuan suffered banishment as the victim of a court intrigue. 屈原成为朝廷中钩心斗角的牺牲品，因而遭到放逐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He was sent into banishment. 他被流放。 来自辞典例句
9 jealousy WaRz6     
n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌
参考例句：
  • Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
  • I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。
10 kindliness 2133e1da2ddf0309b4a22d6f5022476b     
n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为
参考例句：
  • Martha looked up into a strange face and dark eyes alight with kindliness and concern. 马撒慢慢抬起头，映入眼帘的是张陌生的脸，脸上有一双充满慈爱和关注的眼睛。 来自辞典例句
  • I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. 我想，我对伯顿印象最深之处主要还是这个人的和善。 来自辞典例句
11 dressing 1uOzJG     
n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料
参考例句：
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
12 hesitation tdsz5     
n.犹豫，踌躇
参考例句：
  • After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
  • There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。
13 sniffed ccb6bd83c4e9592715e6230a90f76b72     
v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说
参考例句：
  • When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 shutters 74d48a88b636ca064333022eb3458e1f     
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门
参考例句：
  • The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
  • The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。
15 winding Ue7z09     
n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈
参考例句：
  • A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
  • The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
16 tugged 8a37eb349f3c6615c56706726966d38e     
v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • She tugged at his sleeve to get his attention. 她拽了拽他的袖子引起他的注意。
  • A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. 他的嘴角带一丝苦笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
17 sweeping ihCzZ4     
adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的
参考例句：
  • The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
  • Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？
18 dispelling a117eb70862584fc23e0c906cb25e1a6     
v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • He succeeded in dispelling our suspicious and won our confidence. 他终于消除了我们的怀疑，得到了我们的信任。 来自辞典例句
  • Truth is a torch, which can pierce the mist without dispelling it. 真理是一个火炬，不用驱散大雾，其火炬即能透过。 来自互联网
19 fumes lsYz3Q     
n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体
参考例句：
  • The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
  • Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。
20 groaned 1a076da0ddbd778a674301b2b29dff71     
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦
参考例句：
  • He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
  • The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
21 inexplicably 836e3f6ed2882afd2a77cf5530fca975     
adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是
参考例句：
  • Inexplicably, Mary said she loved John. 真是不可思议，玛丽说她爱约翰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Inexplicably, she never turned up. 令人不解的是，她从未露面。 来自辞典例句
22 murmur EjtyD     
n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言
参考例句：
  • They paid the extra taxes without a murmur.他们毫无怨言地交了附加税。
  • There was a low murmur of conversation in the hall.大厅里有窃窃私语声。
23 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地，暖昧地
参考例句：
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。
24 infinitely 0qhz2I     
adv.无限地，无穷地
参考例句：
  • There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
  • The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。
25 passionate rLDxd     
adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的
参考例句：
  • He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
  • He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。
26 elusive d8vyH     
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的
参考例句：
  • Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
  • Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。
27 projection 9Rzxu     
n.发射，计划，突出部分
参考例句：
  • Projection takes place with a minimum of awareness or conscious control.投射在最少的知觉或意识控制下发生。
  • The projection of increases in number of house-holds is correct.对户数增加的推算是正确的。
28 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的
参考例句：
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
29 enveloping 5a761040aff524df1fe0cf8895ed619d     
v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. 那眼睛总是死死盯着你，那声音总是紧紧围着你。 来自英汉文学
  • The only barrier was a mosquito net, enveloping the entire bed. 唯一的障碍是那顶蚊帐罩住整个床。 来自辞典例句
30 extraordinarily Vlwxw     
adv.格外地；极端地
参考例句：
  • She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
  • The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。
31 elusively 9a91f0703deb103e5d2cfa0ebd48a274     
adv.巧妙逃避地，易忘记地
参考例句：
32 grunt eeazI     
v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝
参考例句：
  • He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
  • I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽，他只哼了一声。
33 dozing dozing     
v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡
参考例句：
  • The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
  • He never falters in his determination. 他的决心从不动摇。

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