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IV
Vera had been restless all the morning. She had avoided Emily Brent with a kind of shuddering1
aversion.
Miss Brent herself had taken a chair just round the corner of the house so as to be out of
the wind. She sat there knitting.
Every time Vera thought of her she seemed to see a pale drowned face with seaweed
which was now beyond the reach of pity or terror.
hair and blue eyes and a bewildered frightened face. Edward Seton. And in imagination she saw
the judge’s old hands put the black cap on his head and begin to pronounce sentence….
After a while Vera strolled slowly down to the sea. She walked along towards the extreme
end of the island where an old man sat staring out to the horizon.
General Macarthur stirred at her approach. His head turned—there was a queer mixture of
questioning and apprehension7 in his look. It startled her. He stared intently at her for a minute
or two.
She thought to herself:
“How queer. It’s almost as though he knew.…”
He said:
“Ah, it’s you! You’ve come….”
Vera sat down beside him. She said:
“Do you like sitting here looking out to sea?”
He nodded his head gently.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s pleasant. It’s a good place, I think, to wait.”
“To wait?” said Vera sharply. “What are you waiting for?”
He said gently:
“The end. But I think you know that, don’t you? It’s true, isn’t it? We’re all waiting for the
end.”
She said unsteadily:
“What do you mean?”
General Macarthur said gravely:
“None of us are going to leave the island. That’s the plan. You know it, of course,
Vera said wonderingly:
“The relief?”
He said:
“Yes. Of course, you’re very young … you haven’t got to that yet. But it does come! The
blessed relief when you know that you’ve done with it all—that you haven’t got to carry the
burden any longer. You’ll feel that too, someday….”
“I don’t understand you.”
Her fingers worked spasmodically. She felt suddenly afraid of this quiet old soldier.
“You see, I loved Leslie. I loved her very much….”
Vera said questioningly:
“Was Leslie your wife?”
“Yes, my wife … I loved her—and I was very proud of her. She was so pretty—and so
gay.”
He was silent for a minute or two, then he said:
“Yes, I loved Leslie. That’s why I did it.”
Vera said:
“You mean—” and paused.
General Macarthur nodded his head gently.
“It’s not much good denying it now—not when we’re all going to die. I sent Richmond to
his death. I suppose, in a way, it was murder. Curious. Murder—and I’ve always been such a
law-abiding man! But it didn’t seem like that at the time. I had no regrets. ‘Serves him damned
well right!’—that’s what I thought. But afterwards—”
In a hard voice, Vera said:
“Well, afterwards?”
“I don’t know. I—don’t know. It was all different, you see. I don’t know if Leslie ever
guessed … I don’t think so. But, you see, I didn’t know about her anymore. She’d gone far
away where I couldn’t reach her. And then she died—and I was alone….”
Vera said:
“Alone—alone—” and the echo of her voice came back to her from the rocks.
General Macarthur said:
“You’ll be glad, too, when the end comes.”
Vera got up. She said sharply:
“I don’t know what you mean!”
He said:
“I know, my child. I know.…”
“You don’t. You don’t understand at all….”
General Macarthur looked out to sea again. He seemed unconscious of her presence behind
him.
He said very gently and softly:
“Leslie …?”
4
维拉整个上午都无法安心，她躲着埃米莉·布伦特。她讨厌布伦特，那让她感到恐惧。
而布伦特小姐则端了把椅子放在房子的角落里，避开风口，坐在那里织着什么东西。
维拉只要一想到她，就仿佛看到一张溺水而亡的灰白色死人脸，头发上还缠挂着海
草。这张脸曾经很美，美得不可方物。可如今，无论是怜悯或是恐吓都对这张脸不起作用
了。
埃米莉·布伦特一如既往地平静，一本正经地坐在那里织毛衣。
露台上，瓦格雷夫法官蜷缩在一把门卫用的椅子里，脑袋几乎缩进了脖子里。
维拉看着他，就仿佛看到了站在被告席上的爱德华·塞顿。他有一双蓝眼睛，好看的头
发和一张困惑惊恐的脸。想象之中，她似乎看到法官用苍老的双手戴上法官帽，开始宣读
判决。
过了一会儿，维拉缓缓地向海边走去。她沿着海边一直走到了小岛尽头，只见一个老
人正坐在那里，呆呆地望着天边。
麦克阿瑟将军见她走近，挪动了一下身子，他扭过头来，脸上露出既疑惑又惶恐的复
杂神情。维拉吓了一跳。将军久久地盯着她。
她心里想：他真奇怪，仿佛已经知道了……
他说：
“啊！原来是你！你来了……”
维拉在他身边坐下，说：
“你喜欢坐在这儿看海，对吗？”
他礼貌地点点头。
“是啊，”他说，“这里让人舒心。我想，这真是一个等待的好地方。”
“等待？”维拉立刻说，“你在等什么？”
他仍旧彬彬有礼地说：
“末日。我以为你早就知道了。难道不是吗？我们都在等待自己的末日。”
维拉颤抖着说：
“这话是什么意思？”
麦克阿瑟将军严肃地说：
“我们之中没人能够活着离开这座岛。这是命运的安排。当然，其实你心里完全清楚，
但也许你还不明白这是一种解脱。”
维拉还是没听懂：
“解脱？”
他说：
“是的。当然，你还太年轻，没想过这个问题。不过，命运已经落在每个人头上！解脱
的那一瞬间你就会明白，从此以后再也没有负担。有一天你会感受到的——”
维拉声音沙哑地说：
“我不知道你在说什么。”
她感到手指在发抖。突然，她害怕起这个彬彬有礼的老将军了。
他微笑着说：
“告诉你吧，我是爱莱斯利的。我非常爱她——”
维拉问：
“莱斯利是你太太吗？”
“是的，她是我妻子……我爱她——拥有她这样一位妻子，我感到无比自豪，她是那么
美，那么开朗。”
片刻沉静后，他接着说：
“是的，我爱莱斯利，正是因为我爱她，我才那样做。”
维拉说：
“你是说——”她停住了。
麦克阿瑟将军平静地点点头，说：
“事到如今，不承认也没有用了，一切都要结束了。我是故意把里奇蒙送上了死路。我
想，这大概也算是谋杀。谋杀，听起来多可笑，像我这样守法的人，说什么也不会和谋杀
联系在一起。我不后悔。‘他罪有应得！’事后我这样想。可后来——”
维拉的声音变了，她问道：
“后来？”
他摇了摇脑袋，看上去失魂落魄。
“我不知道。我……不知道。后来一切都变了，我不知道莱斯利是不是发现了……应该
没有吧。可是，你知道吗，从此以后我再也无法走进她的心，我们渐行渐远。再后来，她
就去世了，只剩下我一个人——”
维拉说：
“一个人……一个人……”回音在岩石间回荡。
麦克阿瑟将军说：
“末日来临时，你也会感到欣慰。”
维拉站起来，尖声说：
“我不明白你的意思。”
麦克阿瑟将军说：
“我明白，我的孩子，我明白——”
“你不明白，你什么也不明白。”
麦克阿瑟将军转过头看着大海，似乎不知道她就在他身后。
他声音轻柔地说：
“莱斯利……”
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