前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

VIII

June 19th.—I had only got as far as the top of the stairs 楼梯 when the locking of Laura's door suggested to me the pre‧caution 预防 of also locking my own door, and keeping the key safely about me while I was out of the room. My journal 日志 was already secured 安全 with other papers in the table drawer 抽屉, but my writing materials were left out. These included a seal 封上，海豹 bearing the common device 设备 of two doves 鸽子 drinking out of the same cup, and some sheets of blotting 斑点-paper, which had the impression 印象 on them of the closing lines of my writing in these pages traced 跟踪 during the past night. Distorted by the suspicion 怀疑 which had now become a part of myself 我, even such trifles 琐事 as these looked too dangerous 危险 to be trusted without a guard—even the locked table drawer 抽屉 seemed to be not sufficiently 充分地 protected in my absence 缺席 until the means of access 访问 to it had been carefully 小心 secured 安全 as well.

I found no appearance of any one having entered the room while I had been talking with Laura. My writing materials (which I had given the servant 仆人 instructions 指令 never to meddle with) were scattered 散落 over the table much as usual. The only circumstance 环境 in connection with them that at all struck strike me was that the seal 封上，海豹 lay lie tidily 整洁的 in the tray 盘子 with the pencils 铅笔 and the wax 蜡. It was not in my care‧less 粗心 habits 习惯 (I am sorry 对不起的 to say) to put it there, neither did I remember putting it there. But as I could not call to mind, on the other hand, where else I had thrown throw it down, and as I was also doubtful 疑 whether I might not for once have laid it mechanically 机械 in the right place, I abstained from adding to the perplexity with which the day's events had filled my mind by troubling it afresh about a trifle 琐事. I locked the door, put the key in my pocket 口袋, and went downstairs 楼下.

Madame Fosco was alone in the hall looking at the weather-glass.

"Still falling," she said. "I am afraid we must expect more rain."

Her face was composed again to its customary 习惯的 expression and its customary colour. But the hand with which she pointed to the dial 拨号 of the weather-glass still trembled 发抖.

Could she have told her husband already that she had over‧hear 偷听 Laura reviling him, in my company, as a "spy 间谍?" My strong suspicion 怀疑 that she must have told him, my irresistible 不可抗拒 dread 恐惧 (all the more over‧power 压倒 from its very vagueness) of the consequences 后果 which might follow, my fixed conviction 定罪, derived 派生 from various little self 自己-betrayals 辜负 which women notice in each other, that Madame Fosco, in spite 恶意 of her well-assumed 承担 external 外面的；外表的；来自外部的 civility, had not forgiven 原谅:forgive her niece 外甥女 for innocently 无辜 standing between her and the legacy 遗产 of ten 十 thou‧sand 千 pounds—all rushed 仓促 upon my mind together, all impelled me to speak in the vain 徒劳的 hope of using my own influence and my own powers of persuasion 劝说 for the atonement of Laura's offence.

"May I trust to your kindness 善良 to excuse 原谅 me, Madame Fosco, if I venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to speak to you on an exceedingly 非常 painful 痛苦 subject?"

She crossed her hands in front of her and bowed 弓 her head solemnly 庄严的, without uttering 说出 a word, and without taking her eyes off mine for a moment.

"When you were so good as to bring me back my handkerchief 手帕," I went on, "I am very, very much afraid you must have accidentally 偶然 heard Laura say something which I am unwilling 不甘 to repeat, and which I will not attempt to defend. I will only venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to hope that you have not thought it of sufficient 足够 importance to be mentioned to the Count?"

"I think it of no importance whatever," said Madame Fosco sharply and suddenly. "But," she added, resuming 恢复 her icy 冷冰冰 manner in a moment, "I have no secrets from my husband even in trifles 琐事. When he noticed just now that I looked distressed 苦难, it was my painful 痛苦 duty to tell him why I was distressed 苦难, and I frankly 坦率地说 acknowledge 确认 to you, Miss Halcombe, that I have told him."

I was prepared to hear it, and yet she turned me cold all over when she said those words.

"Let me ear‧nest 热心的 entreat you, Madame Fosco—let me earnestly entreat the Count—to make some allowances 津贴；补贴 for the sad 悲哀的 position in which my sister 姐妹 is placed. She spoke speak while she was smarting 聪明 under the insult 侮辱 and injustice 不公正 inflicted 造成 on her by her husband, and she was not her‧self 她自己 when she said those rash 皮疹 words. May I hope that they will be considerately and generously 慷慨的 forgiven?"

"Most assuredly," said the Count's quiet voice behind me. He had stolen on us with his noise‧less 噪音‧少 tread 踏 and his book in his hand from the library.

"When Lady Glyde said those hasty 匆 words," he went on, "she did me an injustice 不公正 which I lament 哀叹—and for‧give 原谅. Let us never return to the subject, Miss Halcombe; let us all comfort‧able 舒服 combine to forget it from this moment."

"You are very kind," I said, "you relieve 解除 me inexpressibly."

I tried to continue, but his eyes were on me; his deadly smile that hides everything was set, hard, and unwavering on his broad, smooth face. My distrust 怀疑 of his unfathomable falseness, my sense of my own degradation 降解 in stooping 哈腰 to conciliate his wife and himself, so disturbed 打扰 and confused 使困窘 me, that the next words failed on my lips, and I stood there in silence.

"I beg 乞讨 you on my knees to say no more, Miss Halcombe—I am truly 真 shocked that you should have thought it necessary to say so much." With that polite 有礼貌的 speech he took my hand—oh, how I despise 讨厌 myself 我! oh, how little comfort there is even in knowing that I submitted 给 to it for Laura's sake 缘故!—he took my hand and put it to his poisonous 有毒 lips. Never did I know all my horror 恐怖 of him till 到 then. That innocent 无辜 familiarity 熟悉 turned my blood as if it had been the vilest insult 侮辱 that a man could offer me. Yet I hid hide my disgust 反感 from him—I tried to smile—I, who once mercilessly despised 讨厌 deceit 欺骗 in other women, was as false 虚伪的 as the worst 生病:ill of them, as false as the Judas whose 谁的 lips had touched my hand.

I could not have maintained 保持 my degrading 降级 self 自己-control—it is all that redeems 赎回 me in my own estimation 估计 to know that I could not—if he had still continued to keep his eyes on my face. His wife's tigerish jealousy 妒忌 came to my rescue 营救 and forced his attention away from me the moment he possessed 拥有 himself of my hand. Her cold blue eyes caught catch light, her dull 钝的；没兴趣 white cheeks 脸颊 flushed 红晕 into bright colour, she looked years younger than her age in an instant 瞬间.

"Count!" she said. "Your foreign forms of politeness 礼貌 are not understood understand by Englishwomen."

" Pardon 宽恕；说啥？ me, my angel 天使! The best and dearest Englishwoman in the world understands them." With those words he dropped my hand and quietly raised his wife's hand to his lips in place of it.

I ran back up the stairs to take refuge 避难所 in my own room. If there had been time to think, my thoughts, when I was alone again, would have caused me bitter suffering. But there was no time to think. Happily for the preservation 保存 of my calmness and my courage 勇气 there was time for nothing but action.

The letters to the lawyer and to Mr. Fairlie were still to be written, and I sat sit down at once without a moment's hesitation 犹豫 to devote 奉献 myself 我 to them.

There was no multitude 苠 of resources 资源 to perplex 困扰 me—there was absolutely no one to depend on, in the first instance 例, but myself 我. Sir 先生 Percival had neither friends nor relatives in the neighbourhood whose 谁的 intercession I could attempt to employ. He was on the coldest terms—in some cases on the worst terms with the families of his own rank 排列 and station who lived near him. We two women had neither father nor brother to come to the house and take our parts. There was no choice but to write those two doubtful 疑 letters, or to put Laura in the wrong and myself 我 in the wrong, and to make all peace‧able 和平‧能够的 negotiation 谈判 in the future impossible by secretly escaping from Blackwater Park. Nothing but the most imminent 即将来临 personal 个人 peril 岌 could justify 为…辩护；证明…正当；是…的正当理由 our taking that second course. The letters must be tried first, and I wrote them.

I said nothing to the lawyer about Anne Catherick, because (as I had already hinted 暗示 to Laura) that topic 话题 was connected 连接 with a mystery which we could not yet explain, and which it would therefore be use‧less 无用 to write about to a professional 专业的 man. I left my correspondent 通信者 to attribute 特性；特质；属性 Sir 先生 Percival's disgraceful conduct 进行, if he pleased, to fresh disputes 争议 about money matters, and simply consulted 咨询；请教；查阅 him on the possibility 可能性 of taking legal 法律 proceedings 继续 for Laura's protection in the event of her husband's refusal 拒绝 to allow her to leave Blackwater Park for a time and return with me to Limmeridge. I referred him to Mr. Fairlie for the details of this last arrangement 安排—I assured 向…保证；肯定地说 him that I wrote with Laura's authority 权威—and I ended by entreating him to act in her name to the utmost 极 extent of his power and with the least possible loss of time.

The letter to Mr. Fairlie occupied 占据 me next. I appealed 上诉 to him on the terms which I had mentioned to Laura as the most likely to make him bestir himself; I enclosed 围起来 a copy of my letter to the lawyer to show him how serious the case was, and I represented our removal 切除 to Limmeridge as the only compromise 妥协 which would prevent the danger and distress 苦难 of Laura's present position from inevitably 必将 affecting 影响 her uncle 叔叔 as well as her‧self 她自己 at no very distant 遥远的 time.

When I had done, and had sealed 封上，海豹 and directed the two envelopes 信封, I went back with the letters to Laura's room, to show her that they were written.

"Has any‧body 任何人 disturbed you?" I asked, when she opened the door to me.

"Nobody has knocked 敲," she replied. "But I heard some one in the outer room."

"Was it a man or a woman?"

"A woman. I heard the rustling 沙沙 of her gown 袍."

"A rustling 沙沙 like silk 丝?"

"Yes, like silk."

Madame Fosco had evidently 明显地 been watching outside. The mischief 恶作剧 she might do by her‧self 她自己 was little to be feared. But the mischief 恶作剧 she might do, as a willing instrument in her husband's hands, was too formidable 强大 to be over‧look 俯瞰.

"What became of the rustling 沙沙 of the gown 袍 when you no longer heard it in the ante-room?" I inquired 打听. "Did you hear it go past your wall, along the passage?"

"Yes. I kept still and listened, and just heard it."

"Which way did it go?"

"Towards your room."

I considered again. The sound had not caught my ears. But I was then deeply absorbed 吸收 in my letters, and I write with a heavy hand and a quill pen 笔, scraping 擦 and scratching 刮 noisily 嘈杂 over the paper. It was more likely that Madame Fosco would hear the scraping of my pen than that I should hear the rustling 沙沙 of her dress. Another reason (if I had wanted one) for not trusting my letters to the post-bag 袋 in the hall.

Laura saw me thinking. "More difficulties!" she said wearily 厌倦; "more difficulties and more dangers!"

"No dangers," I replied. "Some little difficulty, perhaps. I am thinking of the safest way of putting my two letters into Fanny's hands."

"You have really written them, then? Oh, Marian, run no risks—pray, pray run no risks!"

"No, no—no fear. Let me see—what o' clock 钟 is it now?"

It was a quarter to six. There would be time for me to get to the village inn 小旅馆, and to come back again before dinner. If I waited till 到 the evening I might find no second opportunity of safely leaving the house.

"Keep the key turned in the lock. Laura," I said, "and don't be afraid about me. If you hear any inquiries 调查 made, call through the door, and say that I am gone out for a walk."

"When shall you be back?"

"Before dinner, without fail. Courage 勇气, my love. By this time to-morrow you will have a clear-headed, trust‧worthy 可靠 man acting for your good. Mr. Gilmore's partner 伙伴 is our next best friend to Mr. Gilmore himself."

A moment's reflection 反映, as soon as I was alone, convinced 说服 me that I had better not appear in my walking-dress until I had first discovered what was going on in the lower part of the house. I had not ascertained 探明 yet whether Sir 先生 Percival was indoors 室内的 or out.

The singing of the canaries in the library, and the smell of tobacco 烟草-smoke that came through the door, which was not closed, told me at once where the Count was. I looked over my shoulder as I passed the door‧way 门口, and saw to my surprise that he was exhibiting 展示 the docility of the birds in his most engagingly polite 有礼貌的 manner to the house‧keep 管家. He must have specially invited her to see them—for she would never have thought of going into the library of her own accord. The man's slightest actions had a purpose of some kind at the bottom of every one of them. What could be his purpose here?

It was no time then to inquire 打听 into his motives 动机. I looked about for Madame Fosco next, and found her following her favourite circle round and round the fish-pond 池塘.

I was a little doubtful 疑 how she would meet me, after the out‧break 暴发 of jealousy 妒忌 of which I had been the cause so short a time since. But her husband had tamed 驯服的 her in the interval 间隔, and she now spoke to me with the same civility as usual. My only object in addressing myself 我 to her was to ascertain 探明 if she knew what had become of Sir 3 Percival. I contrived 图谋 to refer to him indirectly 间接, and after a little fencing 栅栏 on either side she at last mentioned that he had gone out.

"Which of the horses has he taken?" I asked care‧less 粗心.

"None of them," she replied. "He went away two hours since on foot. As I understood it, his object was to make fresh inquiries about the woman named Anne Catherick. He appears to be unreasonably 不合理 anxious 焦急的 about tracing 跟踪 her. Do you happen to know if she is dangerously 危险 mad 疯狂的, Miss Halcombe?"

"I do not, Countess."

"Are you going in?"

"Yes, I think so. I suppose it will soon be time to dress for dinner."

We entered the house together. Madame Fosco strolled 漫步 into the library, and closed the door. I went at once to fetch 取 my hat and shawl. Every moment was of importance, if I was to get to Fanny at the inn 小旅馆 and be back before dinner.

When I crossed the hall again no one was there, and the singing of the birds in the library had ceased 停止. I could not stop to make any fresh investigations 调查. I could only assure 向…保证；肯定地说 myself 我 that the way was clear, and then leave the house with the two letters safe in my pocket 口袋.

On my way to the village I prepared myself 我 for the possibility 可能性 of meeting Sir Percival. As long as I had him to deal with alone I felt certain of not losing my presence of mind. Any woman who is sure of her own wits 风趣 is a match at any time for a man who is not sure of his own temper 性情. I had no such fear of Sir Percival as I had of the Count. Instead of fluttering 扑, it had composed me, to hear of the errand 使命 on which he had gone out. While the tracing 跟踪 of Anne Catherick was the great anxiety 焦虑 that occupied 占据 him, Laura and I might hope for some cessation 戒烟 of any active persecution 迫害 at his hands. For our sakes 缘故 now, as well as for Anne's, I hoped and prayed fervently that she might still escape him.

I walked on as briskly 轻快 as the heat would let me till I reached the cross-road which led to the village, looking back from time to time to make sure that I was not followed by any one.

Nothing was behind me all the way but an empty country waggon. The noise 噪音 made by the lumbering 木料 wheels annoyed 打扰 me, and when I found that the waggon took the road to the village, as well as myself 我, I stopped to let it go by and pass out of hearing. As I looked toward it, more attentively 注意的 than before, I thought I detected 发现，察觉，看出 at intervals 间隔 the feet of a man walking close behind it, the carter 运货马车 being in front, by the side of his horses. The part of the cross-road which I had just passed over was so narrow that the waggon coming after me brushed the trees and thickets on either side, and I had to wait until it went by before I could test the correctness 正确性 of my impression 印象. Apparently 据…所知；看来；据说；听说 that impression 印象 was wrong, for when the waggon had passed me the road behind it was quite clear.

I reached the inn 小旅馆 without meeting Sir Percival, and without noticing anything more, and was glad 高兴的 to find that the land‧lady 陆地；着陆‧女士 had received Fanny with all possible kindness 善良. The girl had a little parlour to sit in, away from the noise 噪音 of the tap‧room 敲；龙头；汲取（液体）‧房间, and a clean bed‧chamber 床‧房间 at the top of the house. She began crying again at the sight of me, and said, poor soul, truly 真 enough, that it was dreadful 可怕 to feel her‧self 她自己 turned out into the world as if she had committed 承诺 some unpardonable fault 缺点, when no blame 指责 could be laid at her door by any‧body 任何人—not even by her master, who had sent send her away.

"Try to make the best of it, Fanny," I said. "Your mistress 情妇 and I will stand your friends, and will take care that your character shall not suffer. Now, listen to me. I have very little time to spare 节省；多余的；备用件, and I am going to put a great trust in your hands. I wish you to take care of these two letters. The one with the stamp 邮票 on it you are to put into the post when you reach London to-morrow. The other, directed to Mr. Fairlie, you are to deliver to him your‧self 你自己 as soon as you get home. Keep both the letters about you and give them up to no one. They are of the last importance to your mistress 情妇's interests."

Fanny put the letters into the bosom of her dress. "There they shall stop, miss," she said, "till I have done what you tell me."

"Mind you are at the station in good time to-morrow morning," I continued. "And when you see the house‧keep 管家 at Limmeridge give her my compliments 赞扬, and say that you are in my service until Lady Glyde is able to take you back. We may meet again sooner than you think. So keep a good heart, and don't miss the seven 七 o' clock 钟 train."

"Thank you, miss—thank you kindly. It gives one courage 勇气 to hear your voice again. Please to offer my duty to my lady, and say I left all the things as tidy 整洁的 as I could in the time. Oh, dear! dear! who will dress her for dinner to-day? It really breaks my heart, miss, to think of it."

When I got back to the house I had only a quarter of an hour to spare 节省；多余的；备用件 to put myself 我 in order for dinner, and to say two words to Laura before I went downstairs 楼下.

"The letters are in Fanny's hands," I whispered 低声说 to her at the door. "Do you mean to join us at dinner?"

"Oh, no, no—not for the world."

"Has anything happened? Has any one disturbed you?"

"Yes—just now—Sir Percival——"

"Did he come in?"

"No, he frightened 使惊恐 me by a thump 扑通 on the door outside. I said, 'Who's there?' 'You know,' he answered. 'Will you alter 改变 your mind, and tell me the rest? You shall! Sooner or later I'll wring 拧 it out of you. You know where Anne Catherick is at this moment.' 'Indeed, indeed,' I said, 'I don't.' 'You do!' he called back. 'I'll crush 压破 your obstinacy—mind that!—I'll wring 拧 it out of you!' He went away with those words—went away, Marian, hardly five minutes ago."

He had not found Anne! We were safe for that night—he had not found her yet.

"You are going downstairs 楼下, Marian? Come up again in the evening."

"Yes, yes. Don't be uneasy 不安 if I am a little late—I must be careful 小心 not to give offence by leaving them too soon."

The dinner-bell 钟 rang and I hastened 加速 away.

Sir Percival took Madame Fosco into the dining 吃饭-room, and the Count gave me his arm. He was hot and flushed 红晕, and was not dressed with his customary 习惯的 care and completeness. Had he, too, been out before dinner, and been late in getting back? or was he only suffering from the heat a little more severely 严峻的 than usual?

However this might be, he was unquestionably troubled by some secret annoyance 恼怒 or anxiety 焦虑, which, with all his powers of deception 骗局, he was not able entirely to conceal 隐藏. Through the whole of dinner he was almost as silent as Sir Percival himself, and he, every now and then, looked at his wife with an expression of furtive uneasiness which was quite new in my experience of him. The one social obligation 义务；责任；职责 which he seemed to be self-possessed enough to perform as carefully 小心 as ever was the obligation of being persistently 一贯 civil 国内 and attentive 注意的 to me. What vile object he has in view I cannot still discover, but be the design what it may, invariable politeness 礼貌 towards myself 我, invariable humility 谦逊 towards Laura, and invariable suppression 抑制 (at any cost) of Sir Percival's clumsy 笨拙 violence 暴力, have been the means he has resolutely and impenetrably used to get to his end ever since he set foot in this house. I suspected 怀疑；嫌疑犯 it when he first interfered 干预 in our favour, on the day when the deed 行为 was produced in the library, and I feel certain of it now.

When Madame Fosco and I rose rise to leave the table, the Count rose also to accompany 陪 us back to the drawing-room.

"What are you going away for?" asked Sir Percival—"I mean you, Fosco."

"I am going away because I have had dinner enough, and wine enough," answered the Count. "Be so kind, Percival, as to make allowances for my foreign habit 习惯 of going out with the ladies, as well as coming in with them."

"Nonsense! Another glass of claret won win't hurt 损害 you. Sit down again like an Englishman. I want half an hour's quiet talk with you over our wine."

"A quiet talk, Percival, with all my heart, but not now, and not over the wine. Later in the evening, if you please—later in the evening."

"Civil 国内!" said Sir Percival savagely 野蛮人. "Civil 国内 behaviour, upon my soul, to a man in his own house!"

I had more than once seen him look at the Count uneasily 不安 during dinner-time, and had observed that the Count carefully 小心 abstained from looking at him in return. This circumstance 环境, coupled with the host 主人's anxiety for a little quiet talk over the wine, and the guest's obstinate resolution 解析度 not to sit down again at the table, revived 复活 in my memory the request which Sir Percival had vainly 徒劳的 addressed to his friend earlier in the day to come out of the library and speak to him. The Count had deferred 延缓 granting 发放 that private interview 访问, when it was first asked for in the afternoon, and had again deferred 延缓 granting 发放 it, when it was a second time asked for at the dinner-table. Whatever the coming subject of discussion between them might be, it was clearly an important subject in Sir Percival's estimation 估计—and perhaps (judging from his evident 明显 reluctance 不情愿 to approach it) a dangerous 危险 subject as well, in the estimation 估计 of the Count.

These considerations 考虑 occurred 发生 to me while we were passing from the dining-room to the drawing-room. Sir Percival's angry 生气的 commentary 评论 on his friend's desert‧ion 沙漠；抛弃‧离子 of him had not produced the slightest effect. The Count obstinately accompanied 陪 us to the tea 茶水-table—waited a minute or two in the room—went out into the hall—and returned with the post-bag 袋 in his hands. It was then eight 八 o' clock 钟—the hour at which the letters were always despatched from Blackwater Park.

"Have you any letter for the post, Miss Halcombe?" he asked, approaching me with the bag.

I saw Madame Fosco, who was making the tea, pause 暂停, with the sugar 食糖-tongs in her hand, to listen for my answer.

"No, Count, thank you. No letters to-day."

He gave the bag to the servant 仆人, who was then in the room; sat down at the piano 钢琴, and played the air of the lively Neapolitan street-song, "La mia Carolina," twice 两次 over. His wife, who was usually the most deliberate 商榷 of women in all her movements 运动, made the tea as quickly as I could have made it myself 我—finished her own cup in two minutes, and quietly glided 滑行 out of the room.

I rose to follow her example—partly because I suspected her of attempting some treachery upstairs 楼上 with Laura, partly because I was resolved 解决 not to remain alone in the same room with her husband.

Before I could get to the door the Count stopped me, by a request for a cup of tea. I gave him the cup of tea, and tried a second time to get away. He stopped me again—this time by going back to the piano 钢琴, and suddenly appealing 上诉 to me on a musical 音乐 question in which he declared that the honour of his country was concerned.

I vainly pleaded 求情 my own total ignorance 无知 of music, and total want of taste in that direction. He only appealed 上诉 to me again with a vehemence which set all further protest 抗议 on my part at defiance 蔑视. "The English and the Germans (he indignantly declared) were always reviling the Italians for their inability 无力 to cultivate 耕作 the higher kinds of music. We were perpetually 永动的 talking of our Oratorios, and they were perpetually 永动的 talking of their Symphonies. Did we forget and did they forget his immortal 不朽 friend and country‧man 农村人, Rossini? What was Moses in Egypt but a sublime 升华 oratorio, which was acted on the stage instead of being coldly sung sing in a concert 音乐会-room? What was the overture to Guillaume Tell but a symphony 交响乐 under another name? Had I heard Moses in Egypt? Would I listen to this, and this, and this, and say if anything more sublimely 升华 sacred 神圣的 and grand 宏大的 had ever been composed by mortal 凡人 man?"—And without waiting for a word of assent 同意 or dissent 异议 on my part, looking me hard in the face all the time, he began thundering 雷声 on the piano 钢琴, and singing to it with loud 响亮的 and lofty 高远 enthusiasm 热情—only interrupting 打断 himself, at intervals 间隔, to announce 宣布 to me fiercely 凶猛的 the titles of the different pieces of music: "Chorus of Egyptians in the Plague of Darkness, Miss Halcombe!"—"Recitativo of Moses with the tables of the Law."—"Prayer of Israelites, at the passage of the Red Sea. Aha! Aha! Is that sacred 神圣的? is that sublime 升华?" The piano 钢琴 trembled under his powerful 强大 hands, and the teacups on the table rattled 霸王鞭, as his big bass 低音 voice thundered 雷声 out the notes, and his heavy foot beat time on the floor.

There was something horrible 可怕—something fierce 凶猛的 and devilish—in the out‧burst 突发 of his delight at his own singing and playing, and in the triumph 胜利 with which he watched its effect upon me as I shrank nearer and nearer to the door. I was released 发布 at last, not by my own efforts, but by Sir Percival's inter‧position 间‧位置. He opened the dining-room door, and called out angrily 生气的 to know what "that infernal noise" meant. The Count instantly 瞬间 got up from the piano 钢琴. "Ah! if Percival is coming," he said, "harmony 和谐 and melody 旋律 are both at an end. The Muse of Music, Miss Halcombe, deserts 沙漠；抛弃 us in dismay 沮丧, and I, the fat old minstrel, exhale the rest of my enthusiasm 热情 in the open air!" He stalked 茎 out into the verandah, put his hands in his pockets 口袋, and resumed 恢复 the Recitativo of Moses, sotto voce, in the garden.

I heard Sir Percival call after him from the dining-room window. But he took no notice—he seemed determined not to hear. That long-deferred 延缓 quiet talk between them was still to be put off, was still to wait for the Count's absolute will and pleasure.

He had detained 扣留 me in the drawing-room nearly half an hour from the time when his wife left us. Where had she been, and what had she been doing in that interval 间隔?

I went upstairs 楼上 to ascertain 探明, but I made no discoveries 发现, and when I questioned Laura, I found that she had not heard anything. Nobody had disturbed her, no faint 微弱的 rustling 沙沙 of the silk 丝 dress had been audible 听得见, either in the ante-room or in the passage.

It was then twenty 二十 minutes to nine 九. After going to my room to get my journal 日志, I returned, and sat with Laura, sometimes writing, sometimes stopping to talk with her. Nobody came near us, and nothing happened. We remained together till ten 十 o'clock 3. I then rose, said my last cheering 欢呼 words, and wished her good-night. She locked her door again after we had arranged that I should come in and see her the first thing in the morning.

I had a few sentences 句子 more to add to my diary 日记 before going to bed myself 我, and as I went down again to the drawing-room after leaving Laura for the last time that weary 厌倦 day, I resolved 解决 merely to show myself 我 there, to make my excuses 原谅, and then to retire an hour earlier than usual for the night.

Sir Percival, and the Count and his wife, were sitting together. Sir Percival was yawning 打哈欠 in an easy-chair, the Count was reading, Madame Fosco was fanning 扇子 her‧self 她自己. Strange to say, her face was flushed 红晕 now. She, who never suffered from the heat, was most undoubtedly 无疑 suffering from it to-night.

"I am afraid, Countess, you are not quite so well as usual?" I said.

"The very remark I was about to make to you," she replied. "You are looking pale, my dear."

My dear! It was the first time she had ever addressed me with that familiarity 熟悉! There was an insolent smile too on her face when she said the words.

"I am suffering from one of my bad head‧ache 头痛," I answered coldly.

"Ah, indeed? Want of exercise, I suppose? A walk before dinner would have been just the thing for you." She referred to the "walk" with a strange emphasis 重点. Had she seen me go out? No matter if she had. The letters were safe now in Fanny's hands.

"Come and have a smoke, Fosco," said Sir Percival, rising, with another uneasy 不安 look at his friend.

"With pleasure, Percival, when the ladies have gone to bed," replied the Count.

" Excuse 原谅 me, Countess, if I set you the example of retiring," I said. "The only remedy 治疗法 for such a head‧ache 头痛 as mine is going to bed."

I took my leave. There was the same insolent smile on the woman's face when I shook shake hands with her. Sir Percival paid no attention to me. He was looking impatiently 不耐烦 at Madame Fosco, who showed no signs of leaving the room with me. The Count smiled to himself behind his book. There was yet another delay 延迟 to that quiet talk with Sir Percival—and the Countess was the impediment 障碍 this time.

IX

June 19th.—Once safely shut 关闭 into my own room, I opened these pages, and prepared to go on with that part of the day's record which was still left to write.

For ten 十 minutes or more I sat idle 无意义的, with the pen 笔 in my hand, thinking over the events of the last twelve 十二 hours. When I at last addressed myself 我 to my task 任务, I found a difficulty in proceeding 继续 with it which I had never experienced before. In spite 恶意 of my efforts to fix my thoughts on the matter in hand, they wandered 漫步 away with the strangest persistency in the one direction of Sir Percival and the Count, and all the interest which I tried to concentrate 集中 on my journal 日志 cent‧red 分‧红色的 instead in that private interview 访问 between them which had been put off all through the day, and which was now to take place in the silence and solitude 孤独 of the night.

In this per‧verse 悖 state of my mind, the recollection 回忆 of what had passed since the morning would not come back to me, and there was no resource 资源 but to close my journal 日志 and to get away from it for a little while.

I opened the door which led from my bed‧room 卧室 into my sitting-room, and having passed through, pulled it to again, to prevent any accident 意外事件 in case of draught with the candle 蜡烛 left on the dressing-table. My sitting-room window was wide open, and I leaned lean out listlessly to look at the night.

It was dark and quiet. Neither moon nor stars were visible 可以看见的；可视的. There was a smell like rain in the still, heavy air, and I put my hand out of window. No. The rain was only threatening, it had not come yet.

I remained leaning on the window-sill for nearly a quarter of an hour, looking out absently 缺席的 into the black darkness 黑暗, and hearing nothing, except now and then the voices of the servants 仆人, or the distant 遥远的 sound of a closing door, in the lower part of the house.

Just as I was turning away wearily 厌倦 from the window to go back to the bed‧room 卧室 and make a second attempt to complete the unfinished 未完成 entry 条目 in my journal 日志, I smelt smell the odour of tobacco 烟草-smoke stealing 偷 towards me on the heavy night air. The next moment I saw a tiny 小 red spark 火花 advancing from the farther end of the house in the pitch 沥青 darkness 黑暗. I heard no foot‧step 脚步, and I could see nothing but the spark 火花. It travelled along in the night, passed the window at which I was standing, and stopped opposite my bedroom window, inside which I had left the light burning on the dressing-table.

The spark 火花 remained stationary 静止的 for a moment, then moved back again in the direction from which it had advanced. As I followed its progress I saw a second red spark 火花, larger than the first, approaching from the distance. The two met together in the darkness 黑暗. Remembering who smoked cigarettes 香烟，纸烟 and who smoked cigars 雪茄, I inferred 推断 immediately that the Count had come out first to look and listen under my window, and that Sir Percival had after‧ward 之后 joined him. They must both have been walking on the lawn 草坪—or I should certainly have heard Sir Percival's heavy foot‧fall 脚；英尺‧落下, though the Count's soft step might have escaped me, even on the gravel 碎石 walk.

I waited quietly at the window, certain that they could neither of them see me in the darkness 黑暗 of the room.

"What's the matter?" I heard Sir Percival say in a low voice. "Why don't you come in and sit down?"

"I want to see the light out of that window," replied the Count softly.

"What harm 损害 does the light do?"

"It shows she is not in bed yet. She is sharp enough to suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯 something, and bold 胆大的；醒目的 enough to come downstairs 楼下 and listen, if she can get the chance. Patience 耐心, Percival—patience."

"Humbug! You're always talking of patience."

"I shall talk of something else presently. My good friend, you are on the edge of your domestic 国内 precipice, and if I let you give the women one other chance, on my sacred word of honour they will push you over it!"

"What the devil 魔鬼 do you mean?"

"We will come to our explanations 说明, Percival, when the light is out of that window, and when I have had one little look at the rooms on each side of the library, and a peep 窥视 at the stair‧case 楼梯 as well."

They slowly moved away, and the rest of the conversation between them (which had been conducted 进行 through‧out 始终 in the same low tones 音) ceased 停止 to be audible 听得见. It was no matter. I had heard enough to determine me on justifying 为…辩护；证明…正当；是…的正当理由 the Count's opinion of my sharpness and my courage 3. Before the red sparks 火花 were out of sight in the darkness 黑暗 I had made up my mind that there should be a listener when those two men sat down to their talk—and that the listener, in spite of all the Count's pre‧caution 预防 to the contrary 相反, should be myself 我. I wanted but one motive 动机 to sanction 制裁 the act to my own conscience 良心, and to give me courage enough for performing it—and that motive 动机 I had. Laura's honour, Laura's happiness 幸福—Laura's life itself 本身—might depend on my quick ears and my faithful 可信 memory to-night.

I had heard the Count say that he meant to examine the rooms on each side of the library, and the stair‧case 楼梯 as well, before he entered on any explanation 说明 with Sir Percival. This expression of his intentions was necessarily sufficient 足够 to inform me that the library was the room in which he proposed that the conversation should take place. The one moment of time which was long enough to bring me to that conclusion 结论 was also the moment which showed me a means of baffling 障 his pre‧caution 预防—or, in other words, of hearing what he and Sir Percival said to each other, without the risk of descending 下来 at all into the lower regions 地区 of the house.

In speaking of the rooms on the ground grind floor I have mentioned incidentally 顺便 the verandah outside them, on which they all opened by means of French windows, extending from the corn‧ice 玉米‧冰 to the floor. The top of this verandah was flat, the rain-water being carried off from it by pipes 管子 into tanks 容器 which helped to supply the house. On the narrow leaden roof, which ran along past the bed‧room 卧室, and which was rather less, I should think, than three feet below the sills of the window, a row 行 of flower-pots 罐 was ranged, with wide intervals 间隔 between each pot 罐—the whole being protected from falling in high winds by an ornamental 装饰 iron 铁器 railing 围栏；钢轨 along the edge of the roof.

The plan which had now occurred 发生 to me was to get out at my sitting-room window on to this roof, to creep 爬行 along noiselessly till I reached that part of it which was immediately over the library window, and to crouch 蹲伏 down between the flower-pots, with my ear against the outer railing. If Sir Percival and the Count sat and smoked to-night, as I had seen them sitting and smoking many nights before, with their chairs close at the open window, and their feet stretched on the zinc 锌 garden seats which were placed under the verandah, every word they said to each other above a whisper 低声说 (and no long conversation, as we all know by experience, can be carried on in a whisper) must inevitably 必将 reach my ears. If, on the other hand, they chose choose to-night to sit far back inside the room, then the chances were that I should hear little or nothing—and in that case, I must run the far more serious risk of trying to outwit them downstairs 楼下.

Strongly as I was fortified 强化 in my resolution 解析度 by the desperate 殊死 nature of our situation, I hoped most fervently that I might escape this last emergency 急. My courage was only a woman's courage after all, and it was very near to failing me when I thought of trusting myself 我 on the ground floor, at the dead of night, within reach of Sir Percival and the Count.

I went softly back to my bedroom to try the safer experiment of the verandah roof first.

A complete change in my dress was imperatively 势在必行 necessary for many reasons. I took off my silk 3 gown 袍 to begin with, because the slightest noise from it on that still night might have betrayed 背叛 me. I next removed 去掉 the white and cumbersome 笨重 parts of my under‧clothing 在…下面‧衣服；服装, and replaced them by a petticoat of dark flannel. Over this I put my black travelling cloak 披风, and pulled the hood 引擎罩 on to my head. In my ordinary evening costume 服装 I took up the room of three men at least. In my present dress, when it was held close about me, no man could have passed through the narrowest spaces more easily than I. The little breadth 宽度 left on the roof of the verandah, between the flower-pots on one side and the wall and the windows of the house on the other, made this a serious consideration 考虑. If I knocked anything down, if I made the least noise, who could say what the consequences 后果 might be?

I only waited to put the matches near the candle 蜡烛 before I extinguished 扑灭 it, and groped 摸索 my way back into the sitting-room, I locked that door, as I had locked my bedroom door—then quietly got out of the window, and cautiously 小心的 set my feet on the leaden roof of the verandah.

My two rooms were at the inner 里面的 extremity of the new wing 翅膀 of the house in which we all lived, and I had five windows to pass before I could reach the position it was necessary to take up immediately over the library. The first window belonged to a spare 节省；多余的；备用件 room which was empty. The second and third windows belonged to Laura's room. The fourth window belonged to Sir Percival's room. The fifth belonged to the Countess's room. The others, by which it was not necessary for me to pass, were the windows of the Count's dressing-room, of the bath‧room 浴室, and of the second empty spare 3 room.

No sound reached my ears—the black blinding darkness 黑暗 of the night was all round me when I first stood on the verandah, except at that part of it which Madame Fosco's window over‧look 俯瞰. There, at the very place above the library to which my course was directed—there I saw a gleam 闪光 of light! The Countess was not yet in bed.

It was too late to draw back—it was no time to wait. I determined to go on at all hazards 冒险, and trust for security 安全 to my own caution 小心 and to the darkness 黑暗 of the night. "For Laura's sake 缘故!" I thought to myself 我, as I took the first step forward on the roof, with one hand holding my cloak 披风 close round me, and the other groping 摸索 against the wall of the house. It was better to brush close by the wall than to risk striking my feet against the flower-pots within a few inches of me, on the other side.

I passed the dark window of the spare room, trying the leaden roof at each step with my foot before I risked resting my weight on it. I passed the dark windows of Laura's room ("God bless 祝福 her and keep her to-night!"). I passed the dark window of Sir Percival's room. Then I waited a moment, knelt 跪:kneel down with my hands to support me, and so crept 爬行:creep to my position, under the protection of the low wall between the bottom of the lighted window and the verandah roof.

When I ventured 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to look up at the window itself 本身 I found that the top of it only was open, and that the blind inside was drawn draw down. While I was looking I saw the shadow of Madame Fosco pass across the white field of the blind—then pass slowly back again. Thus far she could not have heard me, or the shadow would surely have stopped at the blind, even if she had wanted courage enough to open the window and look out?

I placed myself 我 sideways 侧身 against the railing of the verandah—first ascertaining 探明, by touching them, the position of the flower-pots on either side of me. There was room enough for me to sit between them and no more. The sweet-scented 香味 leaves of the flower on my left hand just brushed my cheek 脸颊 as I lightly rested my head against the railing.

The first sounds that reached me from below were caused by the opening or closing (most probably the latter) of three doors in success‧ion 演替—the doors, no doubt, leading into the hall and into the rooms on each side of the library, which the Count had pledged 保证 himself to examine. The first object that I saw was the red spark 火花 again travelling out into the night from under the verandah, moving away towards my window, waiting a moment, and then returning to the place from which it had set out.

"The devil 魔鬼 take your restlessness! When do you mean to sit down?" growled 吠声 Sir Percival's voice beneath 之下 me.

"Ouf! how hot it is!" said the Count, sighing 叹 and puffing 噗 wearily 厌倦.

His exclamation was followed by the scraping of the garden chairs on the tiled 瓦 pavement 路面 under the verandah—the welcome sound which told me they were going to sit close at the window as usual. So far the chance was mine. The clock in the turret struck the quarter to twelve 十二 as they settled themselves in their chairs. I heard Madame Fosco through the open window yawning 打哈欠, and saw her shadow pass once more across the white field of the blind.

Meanwhile 同时, Sir Percival and the Count began talking together below, now and then dropping their voices a little lower than usual, but never sinking 淹没 them to a whisper. The strangeness and peril 岌 of my situation, the dread 恐惧, which I could not master, of Madame Fosco's lighted window, made it difficult, almost impossible, for me, at first, to keep my presence of mind, and to fix my attention solely 独自 on the conversation beneath 之下. For some minutes I could only succeed in gathering the general substance 物质 of it. I understood the Count to say that the one window alight 落 was his wife's, that the ground floor of the house was quite clear, and that they might now speak to each other without fear of accidents 意外事件. Sir Percival merely answered by upbraiding his friend with having unjustifiably slighted his wishes and neglected 疏忽 his interests all through the day. The Count there‧upon 在那里‧在…上面 defended himself by declaring that he had been beset by certain troubles and anxieties 焦虑 which had absorbed 吸收 all his attention, and that the only safe time to come to an explanation 说明 was a time when they could feel certain of being neither interrupted 打断 nor over‧hear 偷听. "We are at a serious crisis 危机 in our affairs, Percival," he said, "and if we are to decide on the future at all, we must decide secretly to-night."

That sentence 句子 of the Count's was the first which my attention was ready enough to master exactly as it was spoken speak. From this point, with certain breaks and interruptions 中断, my whole interest fixed breath‧less 咋舌 on the conversation, and I followed it word for word.

"Crisis 危机?" repeated Sir Percival. "It's a worse crisis 危机 than you think for, I can tell you."

"So I should suppose, from your behaviour for the last day or two," returned the other coolly. "But wait a little. Before we advance to what I do not know, let us be quite certain of what I do know. Let us first see if I am right about the time that is past, before I make any proposal to you for the time that is to come."

"Stop till I get the brandy 白兰地 and water. Have some your‧self 你自己."

"Thank you, Percival. The cold water with pleasure, a spoon 匙, and the basin 盆 of sugar 食糖. Eau sucree, my friend—nothing more."

" Sugar-and-water for a man of your age!—There! mix your sickly mess 不整洁；弄乱. You foreigners 外国人 are all alike 同样的."

"Now listen, Percival. I will put our position plainly before you, as I understand it, and you shall say if I am right or wrong. You and I both came back to this house from the Continent with our affairs very seriously embarrassed 阻碍—"

"Cut it short! I wanted some thou‧sand 千 and you some hundreds 百, and without the money we were both in a fair way to go to the dogs together. There's the situation. Make what you can of it. Go on."

"Well, Percival, in your own solid English words, you wanted some thou‧sand 千 and I wanted some hundreds 百, and the only way of getting them was for you to raise the money for your own necessity 必须 (with a small margin 差额 beyond for my poor little hundreds 百) by the help of your wife. What did I tell you about your wife on our way to England?—and what did I tell you again when we had come here, and when I had seen for myself 我 the sort of woman Miss Halcombe was?"

"How should I know? You talked nine‧teen 十九 to the dozen, I suppose, just as usual."

"I said this: Human ingenuity 创造力, my friend, has hitherto 迄今 only discovered two ways in which a man can manage a woman. One way is to knock 敲 her down—a method 方法 largely adopted by the brutal 野蛮 lower orders of the people, but utterly 完全 abhorrent to the refined 提炼 and educated 教育 classes above them. The other way (much longer, much more difficult, but in the end not less certain) is never to accept a provocation 挑衅 at a woman's hands. It holds with animals, it holds with children, and it holds with women, who are nothing but children grown grow up. Quiet resolution 解析度 is the one quality the animals, the children, and the women all fail in. If they can once shake this superior 优越 quality in their master, they get the better of him. If they can never succeed in disturbing 打扰 it, he gets the better of them. I said to you, Remember that plain truth when you want your wife to help you to the money. I said, Remember it doubly and trebly 三重 in the presence of your wife's sister 姐妹, Miss Halcombe. Have you remembered it? Not once in all the implications 意义 that have twisted 扭成一束 themselves about us in this house. Every provocation 挑衅 that your wife and her sister could offer to you, you instantly accepted from them. Your mad temper lost the signature 签名 to the deed 行为, lost the ready money, set Miss Halcombe writing to the lawyer for the first time."

"First time! Has she written again?"

"Yes, she has written again to-day."

A chair fell fall on the pavement 路面 of the verandah—fell with a crash 碰撞, as if it had been kicked 踢 down.

It was well for me that the Count's revelation 启示 roused 唤醒 Sir Percival's anger 生气 as it did. On hearing that I had been once more discovered I started so that the railing against which I leaned cracked 破裂 again. Had he followed me to the inn 小旅馆? Did he infer 推断 that I must have given my letters to Fanny when I told him I had none for the post-bag. Even if it was so, how could he have examined the letters when they had gone straight from my hand to the bosom of the girl's dress?

"Thank your lucky 幸运 star," I heard the Count say next, "that you have me in the house to undo 解开 the harm 损害 as fast as you do it. Thank your lucky 幸运 star that I said No when you were mad enough to talk of turning the key to-day on Miss Halcombe, as you turned it in your mischievous folly 蠢事 on your wife. Where are your eyes? Can you look at Miss Halcombe and not see that she has the fore‧sight 前面‧视力 and the resolution 解析度 of a man? With that woman for my friend I would snap 卡 these fingers of mine at the world. With that woman for my enemy, I, with all my brains and experience—I, Fosco, cunning 狡猾 as the devil 魔鬼 himself, as you have told me a hundred 百 times—I walk, in your English phrase 短语, upon egg 鸡蛋-shells 壳! And this grand 宏大的 creature 动物；生物—I drink her health in my sugar 3-and-water—this grand creature, who stands in the strength of her love and her courage, firm as a rock, between us two and that poor, flimsy 单薄, pretty blonde 金发 wife of yours—this magnificent 华丽的 woman, whom 谁 I admire with all my soul, though I oppose her in your interests and in mine, you drive to extremities as if she was no sharper and no bolder 胆大的；醒目的 than the rest of her sex 性别. Percival! Percival! you deserve 应受 to fail, and you have failed."

There was a pause 暂停. I write the villain 恶棍's words about myself 我 because I mean to remember them—because I hope yet for the day when I may speak out once for all in his presence, and cast 投 them back one by one in his teeth.

Sir Percival was the first to break the silence again.

"Yes, yes, bully 欺负 and bluster as much as you like," he said sulkily; "the difficulty about the money is not the only difficulty. You would be for taking strong measures with the women your‧self 你自己—if you knew as much as I do."

"We will come to that second difficulty all in good time," rejoined 归队 the Count. "You may confuse 使困窘 your‧self 你自己, Percival, as much as you please, but you shall not confuse me. Let the question of the money be settled first. Have I convinced 说服 your obstinacy? have I shown you that your temper will not let you help your‧self 你自己?—Or must I go back, and (as you put it in your dear straight‧forward 直截了当 English) bully 欺负 and bluster a little more?"

"Pooh! It's easy enough to grumble 叽 at me. Say what is to be done—that's a little harder."

"Is it? Bah! This is what is to be done: You give up all direction in the business from to-night—you leave it for the future in my hands only. I am talking to a Practical British man—ha? Well, Practical, will that do for you?"

"What do you propose if I leave it all to you?"

"Answer me first. Is it to be in my hands or not?"

"Say it is in your hands—what then?"

"A few questions, Percival, to begin with. I must wait a little yet, to let circumstances 环境 guide me, and I must know, in every possible way, what those circumstances 环境 are likely to be. There is no time to lose. I have told you already that Miss Halcombe has written to the lawyer to-day for the second time."

"How did you find it out? What did she say?"

"If I told you, Percival, we should only come back at the end to where we are now. Enough that I have found it out—and the finding has caused that trouble and anxiety which made me so inaccessible 人迹罕至 to you all through to-day. Now, to refresh 使恢复 my memory about your affairs—it is some time since I talked them over with you. The money has been raised, in the absence 缺席 of your wife's signature 签名, by means of bills at three months—raised at a cost that makes my poverty 贫穷-stricken foreign hair stand on end to think of it! When the bills are due, is there really and truly 真 no earthly way of paying them but by the help of your wife?"

"None."

"What! You have no money at the bankers 银行家?"

"A few hundreds 百, when I want as many thou‧sand 千."

"Have you no other security 安全 to borrow 借 upon?"

"Not a shred 撕碎."

"What have you actually got with your wife at the present moment?"

"Nothing but the interest of her twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds— barely 光秃秃的 enough to pay our daily expenses."

"What do you expect from your wife?"

"Three thou‧sand 千 a year when her uncle 叔叔 dies."

"A fine for‧tune 命运, Percival. What sort of a man is this uncle? Old?"

"No—neither old nor young."

"A good-tempered 性情, freely-living man? Married? No—I think my wife told me, not married."

"Of course not. If he was married, and had a son, Lady Glyde would not be next heir 继承者 to the property. I'll tell you what he is. He's a maudlin, twaddling, selfish 自私的 fool, and bores everybody who comes near him about the state of his health."

"Men of that sort, Percival, live long, and marry malevolently when you least expect it. I don't give you much, my friend, for your chance of the three thou‧sand 千 a year. Is there nothing more that comes to you from your wife?"

"Nothing."

"Absolutely nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing—except in case of her death."

"Aha! in the case of her death."

There was another pause. The Count moved from the verandah to the gravel 碎石 walk outside. I knew that he had moved by his voice. "The rain has come at last," I heard him say. It had come. The state of my cloak 披风 showed that it had been falling thickly for some little time.

The Count went back under the verandah—I heard the chair creak 吱吱 beneath his weight as he sat down in it again.

"Well, Percival," he said, "and in the case of Lady Glyde's death, what do you get then?"

"If she leaves no children——"

"Which she is likely to do?"

"Which she is not in the least likely to do——"

"Yes?"

"Why, then I get her twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds."

"Paid down?"

"Paid down."

They were silent once more. As their voices ceased 停止 Madame Fosco's shadow darkened 变暗 the blind again. Instead of passing this time, it remained, for a moment, quite still. I saw her fingers steal round the corner of the blind, and draw it on one side. The dim 暗淡 white out‧line 概述；轮廓线 of her face, looking out straight over me, appeared behind the window. I kept still, shrouded 裹尸布 from head to foot in my black cloak 披风. The rain, which was fast wetting 湿的 me, dripped 滴 over the glass, blurred 模糊 it, and prevented her from seeing anything. "More rain!" I heard her say to her‧self 她自己. She dropped the blind, and I breathed 呼吸 again freely.

The talk went on below me, the Count resuming 恢复 it this time.

"Percival! do you care about your wife?"

"Fosco! that's rather a down‧right 彻头彻尾 question."

"I am a down‧right 彻头彻尾 man, and I repeat it."

"Why the devil 3 do you look at me in that way?"

"You won't answer me? Well, then, let us say your wife dies before the summer is out——"

"Drop it, Fosco!"

"Let us say your wife dies——"

"Drop it, I tell you!"

"In that case, you would gain twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds, and you would lose——"

"I should lose the chance of three thou‧sand 千 a year."

"The remote 远程 chance, Percival—the remote 远程 chance only. And you want money, at once. In your position the gain is certain—the loss doubtful 疑."

"Speak for your‧self 你自己 as well as for me. Some of the money I want has been borrowed 借 for you. And if you come to gain, my wife's death would be ten 十 thou‧sand 千 pounds in your wife's pocket. Sharp as you are, you seem to have conveniently 方便的 forgotten forget Madame Fosco's legacy 遗产. Don't look at me in that way! I won't have it! What with your looks and your questions, upon my soul, you make my flesh 肉 creep 爬行!"

"Your flesh? Does flesh mean conscience 良心 in English? I speak of your wife's death as I speak of a possibility 可能性. Why not? The respect‧able 可敬 lawyers who scribble 涂-scrabble your deeds 行为 and your wills look the deaths of living people in the face. Do lawyers make your flesh creep? Why should I? It is my business to-night to clear up your position beyond the possibility 可能性 of mistake, and I have now done it. Here is your position. If your wife lives, you pay those bills with her signature 签名 to the parchment. If your wife dies, you pay them with her death."

As he spoke the light in Madame Fosco's room was extinguished 扑灭, and the whole second floor of the house was now sunk 淹没:sink in darkness 黑暗.

"Talk! talk!" grumbled 叽 Sir Percival. "One would think, to hear you, that my wife's signature to the deed 行为 was got already."

"You have left the matter in my hands," retorted 反驳 the Count, "and I have more than two months before me to turn round in. Say no more about it, if you please, for the present. When the bills are due, you will see for your‧self 你自己 if my 'talk! talk!' is worth something, or if it is not. And now, Percival, having done with the money matters for to-night, I can place my attention at your disposal 处置, if you wish to consult 咨询；请教；查阅 me on that second difficulty which has mixed itself 本身 up with our little embarrassments 困窘, and which has so altered 改变 you for the worse, that I hardly know you again. Speak, my friend—and pardon 宽恕；说啥？ me if I shock your fiery 火热 national 国民 tastes by mixing myself 我 a second glass of sugar-and-water."

"It's very well to say speak," replied Sir Percival, in a far more quiet and more polite 有礼貌的 tone 音 than he had yet adopted, "but it's not so easy to know how to begin."

"Shall I help you?" suggested the Count. "Shall I give this private difficulty of yours a name? What if I call it—Anne Catherick?"

"Look here, Fosco, you and I have known each other for a long time, and if you have helped me out of one or two scrapes 擦 before this, I have done the best I could to help you in return, as far as money would go. We have made as many friendly sacrifices 牺牲, on both sides, as men could, but we have had our secrets from each other, of course—haven't we?"

"You have had a secret from me, Percival. There is a skeleton 骨架 in your cup‧board 橱柜 here at Blackwater Park that has peeped 窥视 out in these last few days at other people besides your‧self 你自己."

"Well, suppose it has. If it doesn't concern you, you needn't be curious about it, need you?"

"Do I look curious about it?"

"Yes, you do."

"So! so! my face speaks the truth, then? What an immense 极大的 foundation 基础 of good there must be in the nature of a man who arrives at my age, and whose 谁的 face has not yet lost the habit 习惯 of speaking the truth!—Come, Glyde! let us be candid 坦率 one with the other. This secret of yours has sought me: I have not sought it. Let us say I am curious—do you ask me, as your old friend, to respect your secret, and to leave it, once for all, in your own keeping?"

"Yes—that's just what I do ask."

"Then my curiosity 好奇心 is at an end. It dies in me from this moment."

"Do you really mean that?"

"What makes you doubt me?"

"I have had some experience, Fosco, of your round‧about 迂回 ways, and I am not so sure that you won't worm 虫 it out of me after all."

The chair below suddenly creaked 吱吱 again—I felt the trellis-work pillar 支柱 under me shake from top to bottom. The Count had started to his feet, and had struck it with his hand in indignation 愤慨.

"Percival! Percival!" he cried passionately 热情, "do you know me no better than that? Has all your experience shown you nothing of my character yet? I am a man of the antique 古董 type! I am cap‧able 能 of the most exalted acts of virtue 美德—when I have the chance of performing them. It has been the misfortune 不幸 of my life that I have had few chances. My concept‧ion 概念 of friend‧ship 友情 is sublime 升华! Is it my fault 缺点 that your skeleton 骨架 has peeped 窥视 out at me? Why do I confess 供认 my curiosity 好奇心? You poor superficial 浅 Englishman, it is to magnify 放大 my own self-control. I could draw your secret out of you, if I liked, as I draw this finger out of the palm 棕榈 of my hand—you know I could! But you have appealed 上诉 to my friend‧ship 友情, and the duties of friendship are sacred to me. See! I trample 践踏 my base curiosity 好奇心 under my feet. My exalted sentiments 情绪 lift me above it. Recognise them, Percival! imitate 模仿 them, Percival! Shake hands—I for‧give 原谅 you."

His voice faltered 衰退 over the last words—faltered 衰退, as if he were actually shedding 棚 tears!

Sir Percival confusedly attempted to excuse 原谅 himself, but the Count was too magnanimous to listen to him.

"No!" he said. "When my friend has wounded 创伤 me, I can pardon 宽恕；说啥？ him without apologies 道歉认错. Tell me, in plain words, do you want my help?"

"Yes, badly 很糟地 enough."

"And you can ask for it without compromising 妥协 your‧self 你自己?"

"I can try, at any rate."

"Try, then."

"Well, this is how it stands:—I told you to-day that I had done my best to find Anne Catherick, and failed."

"Yes, you did."

"Fosco! I'm a lost man if I don't find her."

"Ha! Is it so serious as that?"

A little stream of light travelled out under the verandah, and fell over the gravel 碎石-walk. The Count had taken the lamp 灯 from the inner 里面的 part of the room to see his friend clearly by the light of it.

"Yes!" he said. "Your face speaks the truth this time. Serious, indeed—as serious as the money matters themselves."

"More serious. As true as I sit here, more serious!"

The light disappeared 不见 again and the talk went on.

"I showed you the letter to my wife that Anne Catherick hid hide in the sand 沙," Sir Percival continued. "There's no boasting 自夸 in that letter, Fosco—she does know the Secret."

"Say as little as possible, Percival, in my presence, of the Secret. Does she know it from you?"

"No, from her mother."

"Two women in possession 所有物 of your private mind—bad, bad, bad, my friend! One question here, before we go any farther. The motive 动机 of your shutting 关闭 up the daughter in the asylum 避难所 is now plain enough to me, but the manner of her escape is not quite so clear. Do you suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯 the people in charge of her of closing their eyes purposely, at the instance 例 of some enemy who could afford 买得起 to make it worth their while?"

"No, she was the best-behaved 表现 patient they had—and, like fools, they trusted her. She's just mad enough to be shut 关闭 up, and just sane 明智的 enough to ruin 破坏 me when she's at large—if you understand that?"

"I do understand it. Now, Percival, come at once to the point, and then I shall know what to do. Where is the danger of your position at the present moment?"

"Anne Catherick is in this neighbourhood, and in communication 通讯 with Lady Glyde—there's the danger, plain enough. Who can read the letter she hid hide in the sand 沙, and not see that my wife is in possession 所有物 of the Secret, deny 拒绝 it as she may?"

"One moment, Percival. If Lady Glyde does know the Secret, she must know also that it is a compromising 妥协 secret for you. As your wife, surely it is her interest to keep it?"

"Is it? I'm coming to that. It might be her interest if she cared two straws 稻草 about me. But I happen to be an encumbrance in the way of another man. She was in love with him before she married me—she's in love with him now—an infernal vagabond of a drawing-master, named Hartright."

"My dear friend! what is there extra‧ordinary 非凡的 in that? They are all in love with some other man. Who gets the first of a woman's heart? In all my experience I have never yet met with the man who was Number One. Number Two, sometimes. Number Three, Four, Five, often. Number One, never! He exists, of course—but I have not met with him."

"Wait! I haven't done yet. Who do you think helped Anne Catherick to get the start, when the people from the mad-house were after her? Hartright. Who do you think saw her again in Cumberland? Hartright. Both times he spoke to her alone. Stop! don't interrupt 打断 me. The scoundrel's as sweet on my wife as she is on him. He knows the Secret, and she knows the Secret. Once let them both get together again, and it's her interest and his interest to turn their information against me."

"Gently, Percival—gently! Are you insensible to the virtue 美德 of Lady Glyde?"

"That for the virtue of Lady Glyde! I believe in nothing about her but her money. Don't you see how the case stands? She might be harm‧less 无害 enough by her‧self 她自己; but if she and that vagabond Hartright——"

"Yes, yes, I see. Where is Mr. Hartright?"

"Out of the country. If he means to keep a whole skin 皮 on his bones 骨头, I recommend him not to come back in a hurry."

"Are you sure he is out of the country?"

"Certain. I had him watched from the time he left Cumberland to the time he sailed 航行；帆. Oh, I've been careful 小心, I can tell you! Anne Catherick lived with some people at a farm‧house 农家 near Limmeridge. I went there myself 我, after she had given me the slip, and made sure that they knew nothing. I gave her mother a form of letter to write to Miss Halcombe, exonerating me from any bad motive 动机 in putting her under restraint 克制. I've spent spend, I'm afraid to say how much, in trying to trace 跟踪 her, and in spite of it all, she turns up here and escapes me on my own property! How do I know who else may see her, who else may speak to her? That prying 撬 scoundrel, Hartright, may come back without my knowing it, and may make use of her to-morrow——"

"Not he, Percival! While I am on the spot, and while that woman is in the neighbourhood, I will answer for our laying hands on her before Mr. Hartright—even if he does come back. I see! yes, yes, I see! The finding of Anne Catherick is the first necessity 必须—make your mind easy about the rest. Your wife is here, under your thumb 拇指—Miss Halcombe is inseparable from her, and is, therefore, under your thumb also—and Mr. Hartright is out of the country. This invisible 无形 Anne of yours is all we have to think of for the present. You have made your inquiries?"

"Yes. I have been to her mother, I have ransacked the village—and all to no purpose."

"Is her mother to be depended on?"

"Yes."

"She has told your secret once."

"She won't tell it again."

"Why not? Are her own interests concerned in keeping it, as well as yours?"

"Yes—deeply concerned."

"I am glad 高兴的 to hear it, Percival, for your sake. Don't be discouraged 不鼓励, my friend. Our money matters, as I told you, leave me plenty of time to turn round in, and I may search for Anne Catherick to-morrow to better purpose than you. One last question before we go to bed."

"What is it?"

"It is this. When I went to the boat-house to tell Lady Glyde that the little difficulty of her signature 4 was put off, accident 意外事件 took me there in time to see a strange woman parting in a very suspicious 可疑的 manner from your wife. But accident did not bring me near enough to see this same woman's face plainly. I must know how to recognise our invisible 无形 Anne. What is she like?"

"Like? Come! I'll tell you in two words. She's a sickly likeness 像 of my wife."

The chair creaked 吱吱, and the pillar 支柱 shook once more. The Count was on his feet again—this time in astonishment 惊愕.

"What!!!" he exclaimed 喊叫 eagerly 渴望的.

" Fancy 想像 my wife, after a bad illness 疾病, with a touch of something wrong in her head—and there is Anne Catherick for you," answered Sir Percival.

"Are they related to each other?"

"Not a bit 一点 of it."

"And yet so like?"

"Yes, so like. What are you laughing about?"

There was no answer, and no sound of any kind. The Count was laughing in his smooth silent internal 内部 way.

"What are you laughing about?" reiterated 重申 Sir Percival.

"Perhaps at my own fancies 想像, my good friend. Allow me my Italian humour—do I not come of the illustrious nation which invented 发明 the exhibition 展览 of Punch? Well, well, well, I shall know Anne Catherick when I see her—and so enough for to-night. Make your mind easy, Percival. Sleep, my son, the sleep of the just, and see what I will do for you when day‧light 日光 comes to help us both. I have my projects 项目 and my plans here in my big head. You shall pay those bills and find Anne Catherick—my sacred word of honour on it, but you shall! Am I a friend to be treasured 金银财宝 in the best corner of your heart, or am I not? Am I worth those loans of money which you so delicately 微妙的；纤弱的 reminded me of a little while since? Whatever you do, never wound 创伤 me in my sentiments 情绪 any more. Recognise them, Percival! imitate 模仿 them, Percival! I forgive you again—I shake hands again. Good-night!"

Not another word was spoken. I heard the Count close the library door. I heard Sir Percival barring up the window-shutters 快门. It had been raining, raining all the time. I was cramped 抽筋 by my position and chilled 寒意 to the bones. When I first tried to move, the effort was so painful 痛苦 to me that I was obliged 责成 to desist. I tried a second time, and succeeded in rising to my knees on the wet 湿的 roof.

As I crept to the wall, and raised myself 我 against it, I looked back, and saw the window of the Count's dressing-room gleam 闪光 into light. My sinking courage flickered 闪烁 up in me again, and kept my eyes fixed on his window, as I stole my way back, step by step, past the wall of the house.

The clock struck the quarter after one, when I laid my hands on the window-sill of my own room. I had seen nothing and heard nothing which could lead me to suppose that my retreat 撤退 had been discovered.

X

June 20th.—Eight 八 o'clock. The sun is shining 发光 in a clear sky. I have not been near my bed—I have not once closed my weary 厌倦 wakeful eyes. From the same window at which I looked out into the darkness 黑暗 of last night, I look out now at the bright stillness of the morning.

I count the hours that have passed since I escaped to the shelter of this room by my own sensations 感觉—and those hours seem like weeks.

How short a time, and yet how long to me—since I sank 淹没:sink down in the darkness 黑暗, here, on the floor—drenched to the skin 皮, cramped 抽筋 in every limb 肢, cold to the bones, a use‧less 无用, help‧less 无助, panic 恐慌-stricken creature 动物；生物.

I hardly know when I roused 唤醒 myself 我. I hardly know when I groped 摸索 my way back to the bedroom, and lighted the candle 蜡烛, and searched (with a strange ignorance 无知, at first, of where to look for them) for dry clothes to warm me. The doing of these things is in my mind, but not the time when they were done.

Can I even remember when the chilled 寒意, cramped 抽筋 feeling left me, and the throbbing 搏动 heat came in its place?

Surely it was before the sun rose? Yes, I heard the clock strike three. I remember the time by the sudden brightness 亮度 and clearness, the feverish strain 压力 and excitement 激动 of all my faculties 学院 which came with it. I remember my resolution 解析度 to control myself 我, to wait patiently hour after hour, till the chance offered of removing 去掉 Laura from this horrible 可怕 place, without the danger of immediate discovery 发现 and pursuit 追求. I remember the persuasion 劝说 settling itself 本身 in my mind that the words those two men had said to each other would furnish us, not only with our justification 理由 for leaving the house, but with our weapons of defence against them as well. I recall 召回 the impulse 冲动 that awakened 憬 in me to preserve those words in writing, exactly as they were spoken, while the time was my own, and while my memory vividly 生动地 retained 保留 them. All this I remember plainly: there is no confusion 混乱 in my head yet. The coming in here from the bedroom, with my pen 3 and ink 墨水 and paper, before sun‧rise 日出—the sitting down at the widely-opened window to get all the air I could to cool me—the cease‧less 停止‧少 writing, faster and faster, hotter and hotter, driving on more and more wake‧fully 醒‧完全地, all through the dreadful 可怕 interval 间隔 before the house was astir again—how clearly I recall 召回 it, from the beginning by candle 蜡烛-light, to the end on the page before this, in the sun‧shine 阳光 of the new day!

Why do I sit here still? Why do I weary 厌倦 my hot eyes and my burning head by writing more? Why not lie down and rest myself 我, and try to quench the fever 发热 that consumes 消耗 me, in sleep?

I dare 敢 not attempt it. A fear beyond all other fears has got possession 所有物 of me. I am afraid of this heat that parches my skin. I am afraid of the creeping 爬行 and throbbing 搏动 that I feel in my head. If I lie down now, how do I know that I may have the sense and the strength to rise again?

Oh, the rain, the rain—the cruel 残酷的 rain that chilled 寒意 me last night!

Nine 九 o'clock. Was it nine 九 struck, or eight 八? Nine 九, surely? I am shivering 发抖 again—shivering 发抖, from head to foot, in the summer air. Have I been sitting here asleep 睡着的? I don't know what I have been doing.

Oh, my God! am I going to be ill 生病?

Ill, at such a time as this!

My head—I am sadly 悲哀的 afraid of my head. I can write, but the lines all run together. I see the words. Laura—I can write Laura, and see I write it. Eight 八 or nine 九—which was it?

So cold, so cold—oh, that rain last night!—and the strokes 一击;轻抚 of the clock, the strokes I can't count, keep striking in my head——

---

Note [At this place the entry 条目 in the Diary ceases 停止 to be legible. The two or three lines which follow contain fragments 分段 of words only, mingled 交融 with blots 斑点 and scratches 刮 of the pen. The last marks on the paper bear some resemblance 相似 to the first two letters (L and A) of the name of Lady Glyde.

On the next page of the Diary, another entry 条目 appears. It is in a man's hand‧write 书法, large, bold 胆大的；醒目的, and firmly regular, and the date is "June the 21st." It contains these lines—]

POSTSCRIPT BY A SINCERE 真诚的 FRIEND

The illness 疾病 of our excellent Miss Halcombe has afforded 买得起 me the opportunity of enjoying an unexpected 意外 intellectual 知识分子 pleasure.

I refer to the perusal (which I have just completed) of this interesting Diary.

There are many hundred 百 pages here. I can lay my hand on my heart, and declare that every page has charmed 魔力；使陶醉, refreshed 使恢复, delighted me.

To a man of my sentiments 情绪 it is unspeakably gratifying 取悦 to be able to say this.

Admirable woman!

I allude 暗示 to Miss Halcombe.

Stupendous effort!

I refer to the Diary.

Yes! these pages are amazing 使大为惊奇，使惊愕. The tact which I find here, the discretion 慎重, the rare courage, the wonderful 精彩 power of memory, the accurate 准确的；精确的；正确的 observation 意见 of character, the easy grace 优雅；惠赐 of style 样式, the charming 魔力；使陶醉 out‧burst 突发 of womanly feeling, have all inexpressibly increased my admiration 钦佩 of this sublime 升华 creature 3, of this magnificent 华丽的 Marian. The presentation 介绍 of my own character is masterly in the extreme. I certify 证明, with my whole heart, to the fidelity 保真度 of the portrait 肖像. I feel how vivid 生动 an impression 印象 I must have produced to have been painted in such strong, such rich, such massive 大规模的 colours as these. I lament 哀叹 afresh the cruel 残酷的 necessity which sets our interests at variance 方差, and opposes us to each other. Under happier circumstances 环境 how worthy 值得 I should have been of Miss Halcombe—how worthy 值得 Miss Halcombe would have been of ME.

The sentiments 情绪 which animate 活跃 my heart assure 向…保证；肯定地说 me that the lines I have just written express a Profound Truth.

Those sentiments 情绪 exalt me above all merely personal 个人 considerations 考虑. I bear witness, in the most disinterested manner, to the excellence 优秀 of the stratagem by which this unparalleled woman surprised the private interview 访问 between Percival and myself 我—also to the marvellous accuracy 准确性 of her report of the whole conversation from its beginning to its end.

Those sentiments 情绪 have induced 促使 me to offer to the unimpressionable doctor who attends on her my vast 广大 knowledge of chemistry 化学, and my luminous experience of the more subtle 微妙 resources 资源 which medical and magnetic 磁性 science have placed at the disposal 处置 of man‧kind 人类. He has hitherto 迄今 declined 下降 to avail 果 himself of my assistance 帮助. Miserable 悲惨的 man!

Finally, those sentiments 情绪 dictate 听写 the lines— grateful 感激的, sympathetic 同情的, paternal 父亲的 lines—which appear in this place. I close the book. My strict 严格的 sense of propriety restores 修复；使复位；使复职 it (by the hands of my wife) to its place on the writer's table. Events are hurrying me away. Circumstances are guiding me to serious issues. Vast 广大 perspectives 透视 of success unroll themselves before my eyes. I accomplish 完成；实现；达到；做到 my destiny 命运 with a calmness which is terrible to myself 我. Nothing but the homage 尊敬 of my admiration 钦佩 is my own. I deposit 留下 it with respectful 尊敬的 tenderness 压痛 at the feet of Miss Halcombe.

I breathe 呼吸 my wishes for her recovery 失而复得.

I condole with her on the inevitable 必然 failure of every plan that she has formed for her sister's benefit 效益. At the same time, I entreat her to believe that the information which I have derived 派生 from her Diary will in no respect help me to contribute 有助于 to that failure. It simply confirms 确认 the plan of conduct 进行 which I had previously 先前 arranged. I have to thank these pages for awakening 憬 the finest sensibilities 感性 in my nature—nothing more.

To a person of similar 类似 sensibility 感性 this simple assertion 断言 will explain and excuse 3 everything.

Miss Halcombe is a person of similar 类似 sensibility 感性.

In that persuasion 劝说 I sign myself 我,
Fosco.

THE STORY CONTINUED BY FREDERICK FAIRLIE, ESQ., OF LIMMERIDGE HOUSE[2]

[2] The manner in which Mr. Fairlie's Narrative and other Narratives that are shortly to follow it, were originally 本来 obtained 获得, forms the subject of an explanation 说明 which will appear at a later period.

It is the grand misfortune 不幸 of my life that nobody will let me alone.

Why—I ask everybody—why worry me? Nobody answers that question, and nobody lets me alone. Relatives, friends, and strangers 陌生人 all combine to annoy 打扰 me. What have I done? I ask myself 我, I ask my servant 仆人, Louis, fifty 五十 times a day—what have I done? Neither of us can tell. Most extra‧ordinary 非凡的!

The last annoyance 恼怒 that has assailed me is the annoyance of being called upon to write this Narrative. Is a man in my state of nervous 担心的 wretchedness cap‧able 能 of writing narratives 叙述? When I put this extremely reasonable objection 反对, I am told that certain very serious events relating to my niece 外甥女 have happened within my experience, and that I am the fit person to describe them on that account. I am threatened if I fail to exert 发挥 myself 我 in the manner required, with consequences 后果 which I cannot so much as think of without perfect prostration. There is really no need to threaten me. Shattered by my miserable 悲惨的 health and my family troubles, I am incapable 无法 of resistance 抵抗. If you insist 咬定, you take your unjust 不公 advantage of me, and I give way immediately. I will endeavour to remember what I can (under protest 抗议), and to write what I can (also under protest 抗议), and what I can't remember and can't write, Louis must remember and write for me. He is an ass, and I am an invalid 无效, and we are likely to make all sorts of mistakes between us. How humiliating 羞辱!

I am told to remember dates. Good heavens 天! I never did such a thing in my life—how am I to begin now?

I have asked Louis. He is not quite such an ass as I have hitherto 迄今 supposed. He remembers the date of the event, within a week or two—and I remember the name of the person. The date was towards the end of June, or the beginning of July, and the name (in my opinion a remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的 vulgar 庸俗 one) was Fanny.

At the end of June, or the beginning of July, then, I was reclining in my customary 3 state, surrounded by the various objects of Art which I have collected about me to improve the taste of the barbarous people in my neighbourhood. That is to say, I had the photographs 照片 of my pictures, and prints, and coins 硬币, and so forth, all about me, which I intend, one of these days, to present (the photographs, I mean, if the clumsy 笨拙 English language will let me mean anything) to present to the institution 机构 at Carlisle (horrid place!), with a view to improving the tastes of the members (Goths and Vandals to a man). It might be supposed that a gentle‧man 先生 who was in course of conferring 授予 a great national 国民 benefit 效益 on his countrymen was the last gentleman in the world to be unfeelingly worried about private difficulties and family affairs. Quite a mistake, I assure 向…保证；肯定地说 you, in my case.

However, there I was, reclining, with my art-treasures 金银财宝 about me, and wanting a quiet morning. Because I wanted a quiet morning, of course Louis came in. It was perfectly natural 自然 that I should inquire 打听 what the deuce he meant by making his appearance when I had not rung mybell 钟. I seldom 很少 swear 发誓—it is such an ungentlemanlike habit—but when Louis answered by a grin 微笑, I think it was also perfectly natural 自然 that I should damn 该死的 him for grinning 微笑. At any rate, I did.

This rigorous 严格 mode 方式 of treatment 治疗, I have observed, invariably 不变地 brings persons in the lower class of life to their senses. It brought Louis to his senses. He was so obliging 责成 as to leave off grinning 微笑, and inform me that a Young Person was outside wanting to see me. He added (with the odious talkativeness of servants), that her name was Fanny.

"Who is Fanny?"

"Lady Glyde's maid 女佣, sir."

"What does Lady Glyde's maid 女佣 want with me?"

"A letter, sir——"

"Take it."

"She refuses to give it to anybody but you, sir."

"Who sends the letter?"

"Miss Halcombe, sir."

The moment I heard Miss Halcombe's name I gave up. It is a habit of mine always to give up to Miss Halcombe. I find, by experience, that it saves noise. I gave up on this occasion. Dear Marian!

"Let Lady Glyde's maid 女佣 come in, Louis. Stop! Do her shoes creak 吱吱?"

I was obliged 责成 to ask the question. Creaking shoes invariably 不变地 upset 打翻 me for the day. I was resigned 辞职 to see the Young Person, but I was not resigned to let the Young Person's shoes upset me. There is a limit even to my endurance 耐力.

Louis affirmed 确认 distinctly 历历 that her shoes were to be depended upon. I waved my hand. He introduced her. Is it necessary to say that she expressed her sense of embarrassment 困窘 by shutting up her mouth and breathing 呼吸 through her nose? To the student of female human nature in the lower orders, surely not.

Let me do the girl justice. Her shoes did not creak 吱吱. But why do Young Persons in service all perspire at the hands? Why have they all got fat noses and hard cheeks 脸颊? And why are their faces so sadly unfinished 未完成, especially about the corners of the eyelids 眼皮? I am not strong enough to think deeply myself 我 on any subject, but I appeal 上诉 to professional 专业的 men, who are. Why have we no variety in our breed 养育；繁殖 of Young Persons?

"You have a letter for me, from Miss Halcombe? Put it down on the table, please, and don't upset 打翻 anything. How is Miss Halcombe?"

"Very well, thank you, sir."

"And Lady Glyde?"

I received no answer. The Young Person's face became more unfinished 未完成 than ever, and I think she began to cry. I certainly saw something moist 湿 about her eyes. Tears or perspiration? Louis ( whom 谁 I have just consulted) is inclined 倾斜 to think, tears. He is in her class of life, and he ought to know best. Let us say, tears.

Except when the refining 提炼 process of Art judiciously removes 去掉 from them all resemblance 相似 to Nature, I distinctly 历历 object to tears. Tears are scientifically described as a Secretion. I can understand that a secret‧ion 分泌 may be healthy 健康 or unhealthy 不良, but I cannot see the interest of a secret‧ion 分泌 from a sentimental 感伤 point of view. Perhaps my own secret‧ion 分泌 being all wrong together, I am a little prejudiced 成见 on the subject. No matter. I behaved, on this occasion, with all possible propriety and feeling. I closed my eyes and said to Louis—

"Endeavour to ascertain 探明 what she means."

Louis endeavoured, and the Young Person endeavoured. They succeeded in confusing 使困窘 each other to such an extent that I am bound 必定；跳 in common gratitude 感谢 to say, they really amused 使人发笑 me. I think I shall send for them again when I am in low spirits. I have just mentioned this idea to Louis. Strange to say, it seems to make him uncomfortable 不舒服. Poor devil!

Surely I am not expected to repeat my niece 外甥女's maid 女佣's explanation 说明 of her tears, interpreted 翻译，弄清含义 in the English of my Swiss valet? The thing is manifestly 表现 impossible. I can give my own impressions 印象 and feelings perhaps. Will that do as well? Please say, Yes.

My idea is that she began by telling me (through Louis) that her master had dismissed 解雇 her from her mistress 情妇's service. (Observe, through‧out 始终, the strange irrelevancy of the Young Person. Was it my fault 缺点 that she had lost her place?) On her dismissal 解雇, she had gone to the inn 4 to sleep. (I don't keep the inn 5—why mention it to me?) Between six o'clock and seven 七 Miss Halcombe had come to say good-bye 再见, and had given her two letters, one for me, and one for a gentleman in London. (I am not a gentleman in London—hang the gentleman in London!) She had carefully 小心 put the two letters into her bosom (what have I to do with her bosom?); she had been very unhappy 不快乐, when Miss Halcombe had gone away again; she had not had the heart to put bit 一点 or drop between her lips till it was near bed‧time 就寝时间, and then, when it was close on nine 九 o'clock, she had thought she should like a cup of tea. (Am I responsible for any of these vulgar 庸俗 fluctuations 波动, which begin with unhappiness 不幸 and end with tea?) Just as she was warming the pot 罐 (I give the words on the authority 权威 of Louis, who says he knows what they mean, and wishes to explain, but I snub him on principle 原理)—just as she was warming the pot the door opened, and she was struck of a heap 堆 (her own words again, and perfectly unintelligible 不知所云 this time to Louis, as well as to myself 我) by the appearance in the inn parlour of her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess. I give my niece 外甥女's maid 女佣's description of my sister's title with a sense of the highest relish 滋味. My poor dear sister is a tire‧some 使…疲惫‧一些 woman who married a foreigner. To resume 恢复: the door opened, her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess appeared in the parlour, and the Young Person was struck of a heap 堆. Most remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的!

I must really rest a little before I can get on any farther. When I have reclined for a few minutes, with my eyes closed, and when Louis has refreshed my poor aching 疼痛 temples 庙 with a little eau-de-Cologne, I may be able to proceed 继续.

Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess——

No. I am able to proceed 继续, but not to sit up. I will recline and dictate 听写. Louis has a horrid accent 口音, but he knows the language, and can write. How very convenient 方便的!

Her lady‧ship 女士‧船, the Countess, explained her unexpected 意外 appearance at the inn by telling Fanny that she had come to bring one or two little messages which Miss Halcombe in her hurry had forgotten. The Young Person there‧upon 在那里‧在…上面 waited anxiously 焦急的 to hear what the messages were, but the Countess seemed disinclined to mention them (so like my sister's tire‧some 使…疲惫‧一些 way!) until Fanny had had her tea. Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 was surprisingly 出奇 kind and thoughtful 周到 about it (extremely unlike 不像 my sister), and said, "I am sure, my poor girl, you must want your tea. We can let the messages wait till after‧ward 之后. Come, come, if nothing else will put you at your ease 轻松, I'll make the tea and have a cup with you." I think those were the words, as reported excitably, in my presence, by the Young Person. At any rate, the Countess insisted 咬定 on making the tea, and carried her ridiculous 荒谬 ostentation of humility 谦逊 so far as to take one cup her‧self 她自己, and to insist 咬定 on the girl's taking the other. The girl drank drink the tea, and according to her own account, solemnised the extra‧ordinary 非凡的 occasion five minutes after‧ward 之后 by fainting 微弱的 dead away for the first time in her life. Here again I use her own words. Louis thinks they were accompanied 陪 by an increased secret‧ion 分泌 of tears. I can't say myself 我. The effort of listening being quite as much as I could manage, my eyes were closed.

Where did I leave off? Ah, yes—she fainted 微弱的 after drinking a cup of tea with the Countess—a proceeding 继续 which might have interested me if I had been her medical man, but being nothing of the sort I felt bored by hearing of it, nothing more. When she came to her‧self 她自己 in half an hour's time she was on the sofa 沙发, and nobody was with her but the land‧lady 陆地；着陆‧女士. The Countess, finding it too late to remain any longer at the inn, had gone away as soon as the girl showed signs of recovering 恢复, and the land‧lady 陆地；着陆‧女士 had been good enough to help her upstairs 楼上 to bed.

Left by her‧self 她自己, she had felt in her bosom (I regret 后悔 the necessity of referring to this part of the subject a second time), and had found the two letters there quite safe, but strangely crumpled 弄皱. She had been giddy in the night, but had got up well enough to travel in the morning. She had put the letter addressed to that obtrusive stranger, the gentleman in London into the post, and had now delivered the other letter into my hands as she was told. This was the plain truth, and though she could not blame 指责 her‧self 她自己 for any intentional 故意的 neglect 疏忽, she was sadly troubled in her mind, and sadly in want of a word of advice 劝告. At this point Louis thinks the secret‧ion 分泌 appeared again. Perhaps they did, but it is of infinitely 无限地 greater importance to mention that at this point also I lost my patience 耐心, opened my eyes, and interfered.

"What is the purport 旨趣 of all this?" I inquired.

My niece 4's irrelevant 不相干 maid 女佣 stared, and stood speech‧less 演说‧少.

"Endeavour to explain," I said to my servant 3. " Translate 翻译 me, Louis."

Louis endeavoured and translated 翻译. In other words, he descended 下来 immediately into a bottom‧less 底部‧少 pit 坑 of confusion 混乱, and the Young Person followed him down. I really don't know when I have been so amused. I left them at the bottom of the pit 坑 as long as they diverted 转移 me. When they ceased 停止 to divert 转移 me, I exerted 发挥 my intelligence 情报, and pulled them up again.

It is unnecessary 不必要 to say that my interference 干涉 enabled 启用 me, in due course of time, to ascertain 探明 the purport 旨趣 of the Young Person's remarks.

I discovered that she was uneasy 不安 in her mind, because the train of events that she had just described to me had prevented her from receiving those supplementary 补充 messages which Miss Halcombe had intrusted to the Countess to deliver. She was afraid the messages might have been of great importance to her mistress 情妇's interests. Her dread 恐惧 of Sir Percival had deterred 阻止 her from going to Blackwater Park late at night to inquire 打听 about them, and Miss Halcombe's own directions to her, on no account to miss the train in the morning, had prevented her from waiting at the inn the next day. She was most anxious 焦急的 that the misfortune 不幸 of her fainting-fit should not lead to the second misfortune 不幸 of making her mistress 情妇 think her neglectful, and she would humbly 谦逊的 beg to ask me whether I would advise her to write her explanations 说明 and excuses to Miss Halcombe, requesting to receive the messages by letter, if it was not too late. I make no apologies for this extremely prosy paragraph 段. I have been ordered to write it. There are people, unaccountable as it may appear, who actually take more interest in what my niece 5's maid 女佣 said to me on this occasion than in what I said to my niece's maid 女佣. Amusing perversity!

"I should feel very much obliged 责成 to you, sir, if you would kindly tell me what I had better do," remarked the Young Person.

"Let things stop as they are," I said, adapting 改变；适应于 my language to my listener. "I invariably 不变地 let things stop as they are. Yes. Is that all?"

"If you think it would be a liberty 自由 in me, sir, to write, of course I wouldn't venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to do so. But I am so very anxious 焦急的 to do all I can to serve my mistress 情妇 faithfully 忠实——"

People in the lower class of life never know when or how to go out of a room. They invariably 不变地 require to be helped out by their betters. I thought it high time to help the Young Person out. I did it with two judicious words—

"Good-morning."

Something outside or inside this singular 单数 girl suddenly creaked 吱吱. Louis, who was looking at her (which I was not), says she creaked 吱吱 when she curtseyed. Curious. Was it her shoes, her stays, or her bones? Louis thinks it was her stays. Most extraordinary 3!

As soon as I was left by myself 我 I had a little nap 小憩—I really wanted it. When I awoke 醒着的:awake again I noticed dear Marian's letter. If I had had the least idea of what it contained I should certainly not have attempted to open it. Being, unfortunately 不幸 for myself 我, quite innocent 无辜 of all suspicion 怀疑, I read the letter. It immediately upset 3 me for the day.

I am, by nature, one of the most easy-tempered creatures 动物；生物 that ever lived—I make allowances for everybody, and I take offence at nothing. But as I have before remarked, there are limits to my endurance 耐力. I laid down Marian's letter, and felt myself 我—justly felt myself 我—an injured 损伤 man.

I am about to make a remark. It is, of course, applicable 适用 to the very serious matter now under notice, or I should not allow it to appear in this place.

Nothing, in my opinion, sets the odious selfishness of man‧kind 人类 in such a repulsively vivid 生动 light as the treatment 治疗, in all classes of society, which the Single people receive at the hands of the Married people. When you have once shown your‧self 你自己 too considerate and self-denying 拒绝 to add a family of your own to an already over‧crowd 过度拥挤 population, you are vindictively marked out by your married friends, who have no similar 类似 consideration 考虑 and no similar 类似 self-denial 否认, as the recipient 接受者 of half their conjugal troubles, and the born bear friend of all their children. Husbands and wives talk of the cares of matrimony, and bachelors 单身汉 and spinsters bear them. Take my own case. I considerately remain single, and my poor dear brother Philip inconsiderately marries. What does he do when he dies? He leaves his daughter to me. She is a sweet girl—she is also a dreadful 可怕 responsibility 责任. Why lay her on my shoulders? Because I am bound 必定；跳, in the harm‧less 无害 character of a single man, to relieve 解除 my married connections of all their own troubles. I do my best with my brother's responsibility 责任—I marry my niece, with infinite 无穷 fuss 小题大作 and difficulty, to the man her father wanted her to marry. She and her husband disagree 不同意, and unpleasant 不愉快 consequences 后果 follow. What does she do with those consequences 后果? She transfers 转让 them to me. Why transfer 转让 them to me? Because I am bound 必定；跳, in the harm‧less 无害 character of a single man, to relieve my married connections of all their own troubles. Poor single people! Poor human nature!

It is quite unnecessary 不必要 to say that Marian's letter threatened me. Everybody threatens me. All sorts of horrors 恐怖 were to fall on my devoted 奉献 head if I hesitated 犹豫 to turn Limmeridge House into an asylum 避难所 for my niece and her misfortunes 不幸. I did hesitate 犹豫, nevertheless 虽然.

I have mentioned that my usual course, hitherto 迄今, had been to submit 给 to dear Marian, and save noise. But on this occasion, the consequences 后果 involved in her extremely inconsiderate proposal were of a nature to make me pause. If I opened Limmeridge House as an asylum 避难所 to Lady Glyde, what security 安全 had I against Sir Percival Glyde's following her here in a state of violent 猛烈 resentment 怨恨 against me for harbouring his wife? I saw such a perfect labyrinth of troubles involved in this proceeding 继续 that I determined to feel my ground, as it were. I wrote, therefore, to dear Marian to beg (as she had no husband to lay claim to her) that she would come here by her‧self 她自己, first, and talk the matter over with me. If she could answer my objections 反对 to my own perfect satisfaction 满足, then I assured her that I would receive our sweet Laura with the greatest pleasure, but not otherwise.

I felt, of course, at the time, that this temporising on my part would probably end in bringing Marian here in a state of virtuous 贤 indignation 愤慨, banging 砰 doors. But then, the other course of proceeding 继续 might end in bringing Sir Percival here in a state of virtuous 贤 indignation 愤慨, banging 砰 doors also, and of the two indignations 愤慨 and bangings 砰 I preferred Marian's, because I was used to her. Accordingly I despatched the letter by return of post. It gained me time, at all events—and, oh dear me! what a point that was to begin with.

When I am totally prostrated (did I mention that I was totally prostrated by Marian's letter?) it always takes me three days to get up again. I was very unreasonable 不合理—I expected three days of quiet. Of course I didn't get them.

The third day's post brought me a most impertinent letter from a person with whom 谁 I was totally unacquainted. He described himself as the acting partner 伙伴 of our man of business—our dear, pig 猪-headed old Gilmore—and he informed me that he had lately 近来 received, by the post, a letter addressed to him in Miss Halcombe's hand‧write 书法. On opening the envelope 信封, he had discovered, to his astonishment 惊愕, that it contained nothing but a blank 空白 sheet of note-paper. This circumstance 环境 appeared to him so suspicious 可疑的 (as suggesting to his rest‧less 不安 legal 法律 mind that the letter had been tampered 篡改 with) that he had at once written to Miss Halcombe, and had received no answer by return of post. In this difficulty, instead of acting like a sensible 明智 man and letting things take their proper course, his next absurd 荒诞 proceeding 继续, on his own showing, was to pester 虫害 me by writing to inquire 3 if I knew anything about it. What the deuce should I know about it? Why alarm 警告 me as well as himself? I wrote back to that effect. It was one of my keenest 热切的 letters. I have produced nothing with a sharper epistolary edge to it since I tendered 纤弱的 his dismissal 解雇 in writing to that extremely trouble‧some 麻烦 person, Mr. Walter Hartright.

My letter produced its effect. I heard nothing more from the lawyer.

This perhaps was not altogether 全部地 surprising. But it was certainly a remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的 circumstance 环境 that no second letter reached me from Marian, and that no warning signs appeared of her arrival 到达. Her unexpected 意外 absence did me amazing 使大为惊奇，使惊愕 good. It was so very soothing 缓和 and pleasant to infer 推断 (as I did of course) that my married connections had made it up again. Five days of undisturbed tranquillity, of delicious 美味的 single blessedness, quite restored 修复；使复位；使复职 me. On the sixth day I felt strong enough to send for my photographer 照片, and to set him at work again on the presentation 介绍 copies of my art-treasures, with a view, as I have already mentioned, to the improvement 起色 of taste in this barbarous neighbourhood. I had just dismissed him to his work‧shop 作坊, and had just begun coquetting with my coins, when Louis suddenly made his appearance with a card in his hand.

"Another Young Person?" I said. "I won't see her. In my state of health Young Persons disagree 不同意 with me. Not at home."

"It is a gentleman this time, sir."

A gentleman of course made a difference. I looked at the card.

Gracious Heaven 天! my tire‧some 使…疲惫‧一些 sister's foreign husband, Count Fosco.

Is it necessary to say what my first impression 印象 was when I looked at my visitor 访问者's card? Surely not! My sister having married a foreigner, there was but one impression 印象 that any man in his senses could possibly feel. Of course the Count had come to borrow 借 money of me.

"Louis," I said, "do you think he would go away if you gave him five shillings 一毛钱?"

Louis looked quite shocked. He surprised me inexpressibly by declaring that my sister's foreign husband was dressed superbly 高超, and looked the picture of prosperity 繁荣. Under these circumstances 环境 my first impression 印象 altered to a certain extent. I now took it for granted 发放 that the Count had matrimonial difficulties of his own to con‧tend 抗衡 with, and that he had come, like the rest of the family, to cast 投 them all on my shoulders.

"Did he mention his business?" I asked.

"Count Fosco said he had come here, sir, because Miss Halcombe was unable 无法 to leave Blackwater Park."

Fresh troubles, apparently. Not exactly his own, as I had supposed, but dear Marian's. Troubles, anyway 无论如何. Oh dear!

"Show him in," I said resignedly.

The Count's first appearance really startled 惊吓 me. He was such an alarmingly large person that I quite trembled. I felt certain that he would shake the floor and knock 敲 down my art-treasures. He did neither the one nor the other. He was refreshingly dressed in summer costume 服装—his manner was delightfully 愉快 self-possessed and quiet—he had a charming smile. My first impression 印象 of him was highly favourable. It is not credit‧able 学分；信用；表扬‧能够的 to my penetration 渗透—as the sequel 续集 will show—to acknowledge 确认 this, but I am a naturally 自然地 candid 坦率 man, and I do acknowledge 确认 it notwithstanding 虽然.

"Allow me to present myself 我, Mr. Fairlie," he said. "I come from Blackwater Park, and I have the honour and the happiness 幸福 of being Madame Fosco's husband. Let me take my first and last advantage of that circumstance 环境 by entreating you not to make a stranger of me. I beg you will not disturb 打扰 your‧self 你自己—I beg you will not move."

"You are very good," I replied. "I wish I was strong enough to get up. Charmed to see you at Limmeridge. Please take a chair."

"I am afraid you are suffering to-day," said the Count.

"As usual," I said. "I am nothing but a bundle 捆 of nerves 神经 dressed up to look like a man."

"I have studied many subjects in my time," remarked this sympathetic 同情的 person. "Among others the inexhaustible subject of nerves 神经. May I make a suggestion 建议, at once the simplest and the most profound 深刻? Will you let me alter 改变 the light in your room?"

"Certainly—if you will be so very kind as not to let any of it in on me."

He walked to the window. Such a contrast 对比 to dear Marian! so extremely considerate in all his movements 运动!

"Light," he said, in that delightfully 愉快 confidential 秘密的 tone 音 which is so soothing 缓和 to an invalid 无效, "is the first essential. Light stimulates 刺激, nourishes 滋养, preserves. You can no more do without it, Mr. Fairlie, than if you were a flower. Observe. Here, where you sit, I close the shutters 快门 to compose you. There, where you do not sit, I draw up the blind and let in the invigorating sun. Admit the light into your room if you cannot bear it on your‧self 你自己. Light, sir, is the grand decree 法令 of Providence. You accept Providence with your own restrictions 受限制的，受约束的. Accept light on the same terms."

I thought this very convincing 说服 and attentive 注意的. He had taken me in up to that point about the light, he had certainly taken me in.

"You see me confused," he said, returning to his place—"on my word of honour, Mr. Fairlie, you see me confused in your presence."

"Shocked to hear it, I am sure. May I inquire why?"

"Sir, can I enter this room (where you sit a sufferer), and see you surrounded by these admirable 令人钦佩 objects of Art, without discovering that you are a man whose 谁的 feelings are acutely 急性 impression‧able 印象，意见‧能够的, whose 4 sympathies 同情 are perpetually 永动的 alive 活的；有生命的? Tell me, can I do this?"

If I had been strong enough to sit up in my chair I should, of course, have bowed. Not being strong enough, I smiled my acknowledgments 承认 instead. It did just as well, we both understood one another.

"Pray follow my train of thought," continued the Count. "I sit here, a man of refined 提炼 sympathies myself 我, in the presence of another man of refined 提炼 sympathies also. I am conscious of a terrible necessity for lacerating those sympathies by referring to domestic 国内 events of a very melancholy 愁绪 kind. What is the inevitable 必然 consequence 后果? I have done myself 我 the honour of pointing it out to you already. I sit confused."

Was it at this point that I began to suspect he was going to bore bear me? I rather think it was.

"Is it absolutely necessary to refer to these unpleasant 不愉快 matters?" I inquired. "In our homely English phrase 短语, Count Fosco, won't they keep?"

The Count, with the most alarming 警告 solemnity, sighed 叹 and shook his head.

"Must I really hear them?"

He shrugged 耸 his shoulders (it was the first foreign thing he had done since he had been in the room), and looked at me in an unpleasantly 不愉快 penetrating 穿透 manner. My instincts 直觉 told me that I had better close my eyes. I obeyed 服从 my instincts 直觉.

"Please break it gently," I pleaded 求情. "Anybody dead?"

"Dead!" cried the Count, with unnecessary 不必要 foreign fierceness. "Mr. Fairlie, your national 国民 composure terrifies 惊吓 me. In the name of Heaven 天, what have I said or done to make you think me the messenger 信使 of death?"

"Pray accept my apologies," I answered. "You have said and done nothing. I make it a rule in these distressing 苦难 cases always to anticipate 预期 the worst. It breaks the blow by meeting it half-way, and so on. Inexpressibly relieved 解除, I am sure, to hear that nobody is dead. Anybody ill?"

I opened my eyes and looked at him. Was he very yellow when he came in, or had he turned very yellow in the last minute or two? I really can't say, and I can't ask Louis, because he was not in the room at the time.

"Anybody ill?" I repeated, observing that my national 国民 composure still appeared to affect 影响 him.

"That is part of my bad news, Mr. Fairlie. Yes. Somebody is ill."

"Grieved, I am sure. Which of them is it?"

"To my profound 深刻 sorrow 悲痛, Miss Halcombe. Perhaps you were in some degree prepared to hear this? Perhaps when you found that Miss Halcombe did not come here by her‧self 她自己, as you proposed, and did not write a second time, your affectionate 亲热 anxiety may have made you fear that she was ill?"

I have no doubt my affectionate 亲热 anxiety had led to that melancholy 愁绪 apprehension 顾虑 at some time or other, but at the moment my wretched 不幸的人 memory entirely failed to remind me of the circumstance 环境. However, I said yes, in justice to myself 我. I was much shocked. It was so very uncharacteristic of such a robust 强大的 person as dear Marian to be ill, that I could only suppose she had met with an accident. A horse, or a false 虚伪的 step on the stairs, or something of that sort.

"Is it serious?" I asked.

"Serious—beyond a doubt," he replied. "Dangerous 危险—I hope and trust not. Miss Halcombe unhappily 不快乐 exposed 暴露 her‧self 她自己 to be wetted 湿的 through by a heavy rain. The cold that followed was of an aggravated 加剧 kind, and it has now brought with it the worst consequence 后果— fever 发热."

When I heard the word fever, and when I remembered at the same moment that the unscrupulous person who was now addressing me had just come from Blackwater Park, I thought I should have fainted on the spot.

"Good God!" I said. "Is it infectious 传染病?"

"Not at present," he answered, with detestable composure. "It may turn to infection 感染—but no such deplorable complication 复杂化 had taken place when I left Blackwater Park. I have felt the deepest interest in the case, Mr. Fairlie—I have endeavoured to assist 帮助；协助；援助 the regular medical attend‧ant 服务员 in watching it—accept my personal 个人 assurances 保证 of the uninfectious nature of the fever 3 when I last saw it."

Accept his assurances 保证! I never was farther from accepting anything in my life. I would not have believed him on his oath 誓言. He was too yellow to be believed. He looked like a walking-West-Indian-epidemic 疫情. He was big enough to carry typhus by the ton 吨, and to dye 染料 the very carpet 地毯 he walked on with scar‧let 猩红 fever. In certain emergencies 急 my mind is remarkably soon made up. I instantly determined to get rid 使摆脱 of him.

"You will kindly excuse an invalid 无效," I said—"but long conferences 会议 of any kind invariably 不变地 upset me. May I beg to know exactly what the object is to which I am indebted 感激的 for the honour of your visit?"

I fervently hoped that this remarkably broad hint 暗示 would throw him off his balance—confuse him—reduce him to polite 3 apologies—in short, get him out of the room. On the contrary 相反, it only settled him in his chair. He became additionally 另外 solemn 庄严的, and dignified 褒, and confidential 秘密的. He held up two of his horrid fingers and gave me another of his unpleasantly 不愉快 penetrating 穿透 looks. What was I to do? I was not strong enough to quarrel 争吵 with him. Conceive my situation, if you please. Is language adequate 足够的；合格的；合乎需要的 to describe it? I think not.

"The objects of my visit," he went on, quite irrepressibly, "are numbered on my fingers. They are two. First, I come to bear my testimony 见证, with profound 深刻 sorrow 悲痛, to the lament‧able 哀叹‧能够的 disagreements 异议 between Sir Percival and Lady Glyde. I am Sir Percival's oldest friend—I am related to Lady Glyde by marriage—I am an eye-witness of all that has happened at Blackwater Park. In those three capacities 容量 I speak with authority 权威, with confidence 信心, with honourable regret 后悔. Sir, I inform you, as the head of Lady Glyde's family, that Miss Halcombe has exaggerated 夸大 nothing in the letter which she wrote to your address. I affirm 确认 that the remedy 治疗法 which that admirable 令人钦佩 lady has proposed is the only remedy that will spare you the horrors 恐怖 of public scandal 丑闻. A temporary 临时 separation 分离 between husband and wife is the one peace‧able 和平‧能够的 solution of this difficulty. Part them for the present, and when all causes of irritation 刺激 are removed 去掉, I, who have now the honour of addressing you—I will under‧take 承担 to bring Sir Percival to reason. Lady Glyde is innocent 无辜, Lady Glyde is injured 损伤, but—follow my thought here!—she is, on that very account (I say it with shame 羞愧), the cause of irritation 刺激 while she remains under her husband's roof. No other house can receive her with propriety but yours. I invite you to open it."

Cool. Here was a matrimonial hail‧storm 冰雹‧暴风雨 pouring 淋；倒 in the South of England, and I was invited, by a man with fever in every fold 折叠 of his coat, to come out from the North of England and take my share of the pelting. I tried to put the point forcibly 强制, just as I have put it here. The Count deliberately 故意 lowered one of his horrid fingers, kept the other up, and went on—rode ride over me, as it were, without even the common coach 教练-man‧like 男人‧喜欢；象 attention of crying "Hi 嗨!" before he knocked me down.

"Follow my thought once more, if you please," he resumed 恢复. "My first object you have heard. My second object in coming to this house is to do what Miss Halcombe's illness 疾病 has prevented her from doing for her‧self 她自己. My large experience is consulted on all difficult matters at Blackwater Park, and my friendly advice 劝告 was requested on the interesting subject of your letter to Miss Halcombe. I understood at once—for my sympathies are your sympathies—why you wished to see her here before you pledged 保证 your‧self 你自己 to inviting Lady Glyde. You are most right, sir, in hesitating 犹豫 to receive the wife until you are quite certain that the husband will not exert 发挥 his authority 权威 to reclaim 回收 her. I agree to that. I also agree that such delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 explanations 说明 as this difficulty involves are not explanations 说明 which can be properly disposed 部署 of by writing only. My presence here (to my own great inconvenience 不方便) is the proof 证明 that I speak sincerely 真诚的. As for the explanations 说明 themselves, I—Fosco—I, who know Sir Percival much better than Miss Halcombe knows him, affirm 确认 to you, on my honour and my word, that he will not come near this house, or attempt to communicate 通信 with this house, while his wife is living in it. His affairs are embarrassed 阻碍. Offer him his freedom by means of the absence of Lady Glyde. I promise you he will take his freedom, and go back to the Continent at the earliest moment when he can get away. Is this clear to you as crystal 水晶? Yes, it is. Have you questions to address to me? Be it so, I am here to answer. Ask, Mr. Fairlie—oblige 责成 me by asking to your heart's content."

He had said so much already in spite of me, and he looked so dreadfully 可怕 cap‧able 能 of saying a great deal more also in spite of me, that I declined 下降 his amiable 可亲 invitation 邀请 in pure self-defence.

"Many thanks," I replied. "I am sinking fast. In my state of health I must take things for granted 发放. Allow me to do so on this occasion. We quite understand each other. Yes. Much obliged 责成, I am sure, for your kind interference 干涉. If I ever get better, and ever have a second opportunity of improving our acquaintance 熟人—"

He got up. I thought he was going. No. More talk, more time for the development of infectious 传染病 influences—in my room, too—remember that, in my room!

"One moment yet," he said, "one moment before I take my leave. I ask per‧mission 允许 at parting to impress 给…留下深刻印象；使钦佩 on you an urgent 急迫的 necessity. It is this, sir. You must not think of waiting till Miss Halcombe recovers 恢复 before you receive Lady Glyde. Miss Halcombe has the attendance 勤 of the doctor, of the house‧keep 管家 at Blackwater Park, and of an experienced nurse 护士 as well—three persons for whose 5 capacity 容量 and devotion 忠诚 I answer with my life. I tell you that. I tell you, also, that the anxiety and alarm 警告 of her sister's illness 疾病 has already affected 影响 the health and spirits of Lady Glyde, and has made her totally unfit 不适当 to be of use in the sick-room. Her position with her husband grows more and more deplorable and dangerous 危险 every day. If you leave her any longer at Blackwater Park, you do nothing whatever to hasten 加速 her sister's recovery 失而复得, and at the same time, you risk the public scandal 丑闻, which you and I, and all of us, are bound 3 in the sacred interests of the family to avoid. With all my soul, I advise you to remove 去掉 the serious responsibility 责任 of delay 延迟 from your own shoulders by writing to Lady Glyde to come here at once. Do your affectionate 亲热, your honourable, your inevitable 必然 duty, and whatever happens in the future, no one can lay the blame on you. I speak from my large experience—I offer my friendly advice. Is it accepted—Yes, or No?"

I looked at him—merely looked at him—with my sense of his amazing 使大为惊奇，使惊愕 assurance 保证, and my dawning 黎明 resolution 解析度 to ring for Louis and have him shown out of the room expressed in every line of my face. It is perfectly incredible 难以置信, but quite true, that my face did not appear to produce the slightest impression 印象 on him. Born without nerves 神经—evidently 明显地 born without nerves 神经.

"You hesitate 犹豫?" he said. "Mr. Fairlie! I understand that hesitation 犹豫. You object—see, sir, how my sympathies look straight down into your thoughts!—you object that Lady Glyde is not in health and not in spirits to take the long journey 旅行, from Hampshire to this place, by her‧self 她自己. Her own maid 女佣 is removed 去掉 from her, as you know, and of other servants fit to travel with her, from one end of England to another, there are none at Blackwater Park. You object, again, that she cannot comfort‧able 舒服 stop and rest in London, on her way here, because she cannot comfort‧able 舒服 go alone to a public hotel where she is a total stranger. In one breath, I grant 发放 both objections—in another breath, I remove 去掉 them. Follow me, if you please, for the last time. It was my intention, when I returned to England with Sir Percival, to settle myself 我 in the neighbourhood of London. That purpose has just been happily accomplished 完成；实现；达到；做到. I have taken, for six months, a little furnished house in the quarter called St. John's Wood. Be so obliging 责成 as to keep this fact in your mind, and observe the programme I now propose. Lady Glyde travels to London (a short journey 旅行)—I myself 我 meet her at the station—I take her to rest and sleep at my house, which is also the house of her aunt 阿姨—when she is restored I escort 护送 her to the station again—she travels to this place, and her own maid 女佣 (who is now under your roof) receives her at the carriage 运输-door. Here is comfort consulted—here are the interests of propriety consulted—here is your own duty—duty of hospitality 待客, sympathy 同情, protection, to an unhappy 不快乐 lady in need of all three—smoothed and made easy, from the beginning to the end. I cordially invite you, sir, to second my efforts in the sacred interests of the family. I seriously advise you to write, by my hands, offering the hospitality 待客 of your house (and heart), and the hospitality 待客 of my house (and heart), to that injured 损伤 and unfortunate 不幸的 lady whose cause I plead 求情 to-day."

He waved his horrid hand at me—he struck his infectious 传染病 breast 乳房—he addressed me oratorically, as if I was laid up in the House of Commons. It was high time to take a desperate 殊死 course of some sort. It was also high time to send for Louis, and adopt the pre‧caution 预防 of fumigating the room.

In this trying emergency 急 an idea occurred 发生 to me—an inestimable idea which, so to speak, killed two intrusive 侵入 birds with one stone. I determined to get rid of the Count's tire‧some 使…疲惫‧一些 eloquence, and of Lady Glyde's tire‧some 使…疲惫‧一些 troubles, by complying 执行 with this odious foreigner's request, and writing the letter at once. There was not the least danger of the invitation 邀请 being accepted, for there was not the least chance that Laura would consent 同意 to leave Blackwater Park while Marian was lying there ill. How this charmingly convenient 方便的 obstacle 障碍 could have escaped the officious penetration 渗透 of the Count, it was impossible to conceive 构想—but it had escaped him. My dread 恐惧 that he might yet discover it, if I allowed him any more time to think, stimulated 刺激 me to such an amazing 使大为惊奇，使惊愕 degree, that I struggled into a sitting position— seized 抓住, really seized, the writing materials by my side, and produced the letter as rapidly as if I had been a common clerk 店员 in an office. "Dearest Laura, Please come, when‧ever 随时 you like. Break the journey 旅行 by sleeping in London at your aunt 阿姨's house. Grieved to hear of dear Marian's illness 疾病. Ever affectionately 亲热 yours." I handed these lines, at arm's length, to the Count—I sank back in my chair—I said, "Excuse me—I am entirely prostrated—I can do no more. Will you rest and lunch 午餐 downstairs 楼下? Love to all, and sympathy 同情, and so on. Good-morning."

He made another speech—the man was absolutely inexhaustible. I closed my eyes—I endeavoured to hear as little as possible. In spite of my endeavours I was obliged 责成 to hear a great deal. My sister's end‧less 无穷 husband congratulated 祝贺 himself, and congratulated me, on the result of our interview 访问—he mentioned a great deal more about his sympathies and mine—he deplored 痛惜 my miserable 悲惨的 health—he offered to write me a prescription 处方—he impressed 给…留下深刻印象；使钦佩 on me the necessity of not forgetting what he had said about the importance of light—he accepted my obliging 责成 invitation 邀请 to rest and lunch 午餐—he recommended me to expect Lady Glyde in two or three days' time—he begged 乞讨 my per‧mission 允许 to look forward to our next meeting, instead of paining himself and paining me, by saying fare‧well 告别—he added a great deal more, which, I rejoice 欢庆 to think, I did not attend to at the time, and do not remember now. I heard his sympathetic voice travelling away from me by degrees—but, large as he was, I never heard him. He had the negative 负 merit 值得 of being absolutely noise‧less 噪音‧少. I don't know when he opened the door, or when he shut it. I ventured to make use of my eyes again, after an interval 间隔 of silence—and he was gone.

I rang for Louis, and retired to my bath‧room 浴室. Tepid water, strengthened 加强 with aromatic vinegar 尖酸刻薄, for myself 我, and copious fumigation for my study, were the obvious 明显 pre‧caution 预防 to take, and of course I adopted them. I rejoice 欢庆 to say they proved successful 成功. I enjoyed my customary siesta. I awoke moist 湿 and cool.

My first inquiries were for the Count. Had we really got rid of him? Yes—he had gone away by the afternoon train. Had he lunched 午餐, and if so, upon what? Entirely upon fruit-tart 酸 and cream 乳霜. What a man! What a digestion 消化!

Am I expected to say anything more? I believe not. I believe I have reached the limits assigned 分配 to me. The shocking circumstances 环境 which happened at a later period did not, I am thankful 感谢 to say, happen in my presence. I do beg and entreat that nobody will be so very unfeeling as to lay any part of the blame of those circumstances 环境 on me. I did everything for the best. I am not answer‧able 答复‧能够的 for a deplorable calamity, which it was quite impossible to fore‧see 预料. I am shattered 打碎 by it—I have suffered under it, as nobody else has suffered. My servant, Louis (who is really attached 连接 to me in his unintelligent way), thinks I shall never get over it. He sees me dictating 听写 at this moment, with my handkerchief 手帕 to my eyes. I wish to mention, in justice to myself 我, that it was not my fault 3, and that I am quite exhausted 排气 and heartbroken. Need I say more?

THE STORY CONTINUED BY ELIZA MICHELSON

(Housekeeper at Blackwater Park)

I

I am asked to state plainly what I know of the progress of Miss Halcombe's illness 疾病 and of the circumstances 环境 under which Lady Glyde left Blackwater Park for London.

The reason given for making this demand on me is, that my testimony 见证 is wanted in the interests of truth. As the widow 寡妇 of a clergy‧man 牧师 of the Church of England (reduced by misfortune 不幸 to the necessity of accepting a situation), I have been taught teach to place the claims of truth above all other considerations 考虑. I therefore comply 执行 with a request which I might otherwise, through reluctance 不情愿 to connect 连接 myself 我 with distressing 苦难 family affairs, have hesitated to grant 发放.

I made no memorandum 备忘录 at the time, and I cannot therefore be sure to a day of the date, but I believe I am correct in stating that Miss Halcombe's serious illness 疾病 began during the last fort‧night 两星期 or ten 十 days in June. The break‧fast 早餐 hour was late at Blackwater Park—sometimes as late as ten 十, never earlier than half-past nine 九. On the morning to which I am now referring, Miss Halcombe (who was usually the first to come down) did not make her appearance at the table. After the family had waited a quarter of an hour, the upper house‧maid 房屋‧女佣 was sent to see after her, and came running out of the room dreadfully 可怕 frightened. I met the servant on the stairs, and went at once to Miss Halcombe to see what was the matter. The poor lady was incapable 无法 of telling me. She was walking about her room with a pen in her hand, quite light-headed, in a state of burning fever.

Lady Glyde (being no longer in Sir Percival's service, I may, without impropriety, mention my former mistress 情妇 by her name, instead of calling her my lady) was the first to come in from her own bedroom. She was so dreadfully 可怕 alarmed 警告 and distressed 苦难 that she was quite use‧less 无用. The Count Fosco, and his lady, who came upstairs 楼上 immediately after‧ward 之后, were both most service‧able 服务‧能够的 and kind. Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 assisted 帮助；协助；援助 me to get Miss Halcombe to her bed. His lord‧ship 贵族身份 the Count remained in the sitting-room, and having sent for my medicine 医学-chest 胸部, made a mixture 混合 for Miss Halcombe, and a cooling lotion 洗剂 to be applied to her head, so as to lose no time before the doctor came. We applied the lotion 洗剂, but we could not get her to take the mixture. Sir Percival undertook to send for the doctor. He despatched a groom 马夫, on horse‧back 马背, for the nearest medical man, Mr. Dawson, of Oak Lodge 存放.

Mr. Dawson arrived in less than an hour's time. He was a respect‧able 可敬 elderly 年老的；上了年纪的 man, well known all round the country, and we were much alarmed when we found that he considered the case to be a very serious one.

His lord‧ship 贵族身份 the Count affably entered into conversation with Mr. Dawson, and gave his opinions with a judicious freedom. Mr. Dawson, not over-courteously, inquired if his lord‧ship 贵族身份's advice was the advice of a doctor, and being informed that it was the advice of one who had studied medicine 医学 unprofessionally, replied that he was not accustomed 使习惯 to consult 咨询；请教；查阅 with amateur 业余 physicians 医师. The Count, with truly 真 Christian meekness of temper, smiled and left the room. Before he went out he told me that he might be found, in case he was wanted in the course of the day, at the boat-house on the banks of the lake. Why he should have gone there, I cannot say. But he did go, remaining away the whole day till seven 七 o'clock, which was dinner-time. Perhaps he wished to set the example of keeping the house as quiet as possible. It was entirely in his character to do so. He was a most considerate noble‧man 高尚的‧男人.

Miss Halcombe passed a very bad night, the fever coming and going, and getting worse towards the morning instead of better. No nurse 护士 fit to wait on her being at hand in the neighbourhood, her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess and myself 我 undertook the duty, relieving 解除 each other. Lady Glyde, most unwisely 失策, insisted 咬定 on sitting up with us. She was much too nervous 担心的 and too delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 in health to bear the anxiety of Miss Halcombe's illness 疾病 calmly 镇定的. She only did her‧self 她自己 harm 损害, without being of the least real assistance 帮助. A more gentle and affectionate 亲热 lady never lived—but she cried, and she was frightened, two weaknesses 弱点 which made her entirely unfit 不适当 to be present in a sick-room.

Sir Percival and the Count came in the morning to make their inquiries.

Sir Percival (from distress 苦难, I presume 假设, at his lady's affliction and at Miss Halcombe's illness 疾病) appeared much confused and unsettled 搞糟 in his mind. His lord‧ship 贵族身份 testified 作证, on the contrary 相反, a becoming composure and interest. He had his straw 稻草 hat in one hand, and his book in the other, and he mentioned to Sir Percival in my hearing that he would go out again and study at the lake. "Let us keep the house quiet," he said. "Let us not smoke indoors, my friend, now Miss Halcombe is ill. You go your way, and I will go mine. When I study I like to be alone. Good-morning, Mrs. Michelson."

Sir Percival was not civil 国内 enough—perhaps I ought in justice to say, not composed enough—to take leave of me with the same polite attention. The only person in the house, indeed, who treated me, at that time or at any other, on the footing of a lady in distressed 苦难 circumstances 环境, was the Count. He had the manners of a true noble‧man 高尚的‧男人—he was considerate towards every one. Even the young person (Fanny by name) who attended on Lady Glyde was not beneath his notice. When she was sent away by Sir Percival, his lord‧ship 贵族身份 (showing me his sweet little birds at the time) was most kindly anxious 3 to know what had become of her, where she was to go the day she left Blackwater Park, and so on. It is in such little delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 attentions that the advantages of aristocratic 贵族的 birth always show themselves. I make no apology 道歉认错 for introducing these particulars—they are brought forward in justice to his lord‧ship 贵族身份, whose character, I have reason to know, is viewed rather harshly 粗暴地 in certain quarters. A noble‧man 高尚的‧男人 who can respect a lady in distressed 苦难 circumstances 环境, and can take a fatherly interest in the for‧tune 命运 of an humble 谦逊的 servant girl, shows principles 原理 and feelings of too high an order to be lightly called in question. I advance no opinions—I offer facts only. My endeavour through life is to judge not that I be not judged. One of my beloved 心爱 husband's finest sermons 讲道 was on that text 文本. I read it constantly 总是；经常地，不断地—in my own copy of the edition 版 printed by subscription 订阅, in the first days of my widow‧hood 寡妇‧引擎罩—and at every fresh perusal I derive 派生 an increase of spiritual 精神 benefit 效益 and edification.

There was no improvement 起色 in Miss Halcombe, and the second night was even worse than the first. Mr. Dawson was constant 不变 in his attendance 勤. The practical duties of nursing 护士 were still divided between the Countess and myself 我, Lady Glyde persisting 坚持 in sitting up with us, though we both entreated her to take some rest. "My place is by Marian's bed‧side 床头," was her only answer. "Whether I am ill, or well, nothing will induce 促使 me to lose sight of her."

Towards midday 正午 I went downstairs 楼下 to attend to some of my regular duties. An hour after‧ward 之后, on my way back to the sick-room, I saw the Count (who had gone out again early, for the third time) entering the hall, to all appearance in the highest good spirits. Sir Percival, at the same moment, put his head out of the library door, and addressed his noble 高尚的 friend, with extreme eagerness, in these words—

"Have you found her?"

His lord‧ship 贵族身份's large face became dimpled all over with placid smiles, but he made no reply in words. At the same time Sir Percival turned his head, observed that I was approaching the stairs, and looked at me in the most rudely 粗鲁的 angry 生气的 manner possible.

"Come in here and tell me about it," he said to the Count. " Whenever 随时 there are women in a house they're always sure to be going up or down stairs."

"My dear Percival," observed his lord‧ship 贵族身份 kindly, "Mrs. Michelson has duties. Pray recognise her admirable 令人钦佩 performance of them as sincerely as I do! How is the sufferer, Mrs. Michelson?"

"No better, my lord, I regret 后悔 to say."

" Sad 悲哀的—most sad!" remarked the Count. "You look fatigued 疲劳, Mrs. Michelson. It is certainly time you and my wife had some help in nursing. I think I may be the means of offering you that help. Circumstances have happened which will oblige 责成 Madame Fosco to travel to London either to-morrow or the day after. She will go away in the morning and return at night, and she will bring back with her, to relieve you, a nurse of excellent conduct 进行 and capacity 容量, who is now disengaged. The woman is known to my wife as a person to be trusted. Before she comes here say nothing about her, if you please, to the doctor, because he will look with an evil eye on any nurse of my providing. When she appears in this house she will speak for her‧self 她自己, and Mr. Dawson will be obliged 责成 to acknowledge 确认 that there is no excuse for not employing her. Lady Glyde will say the same. Pray present my best respects and sympathies to Lady Glyde."

I expressed my grateful 感激的 acknowledgments 承认 for his lord‧ship 贵族身份's kind consideration 考虑. Sir Percival cut them short by calling to his noble 高尚的 friend (using, I regret 3 to say, a profane expression) to come into the library, and not to keep him waiting there any longer.

I proceeded 继续 upstairs 楼上. We are poor erring 呃 creatures, and however well established 建立 a woman's principles 原理 may be she cannot always keep on her guard against the temptation 诱惑 to exercise an idle 无意义的 curiosity 好奇心. I am ashamed 惭愧的 to say that an idle curiosity 好奇心, on this occasion, got the better of my principles 原理, and made me unduly 过度地 inquisitive about the question which Sir Percival had addressed to his noble 高尚的 friend at the library door. Who was the Count expected to find in the course of his studious morning rambles 漫谈 at Blackwater Park? A woman, it was to be presumed 假设, from the terms of Sir Percival's inquiry 调查. I did not suspect the Count of any impropriety—I knew his moral character too well. The only question I asked myself 我 was—Had he found her?

To resume 恢复. The night passed as usual without producing any change for the better in Miss Halcombe. The next day she seemed to improve a little. The day after that her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess, without mentioning the object of her journey 3 to any one in my hearing, proceeded 继续 by the morning train to London—her noble 3 husband, with his customary attention, accompanying 陪 her to the station.

I was now left in sole 唯一 charge of Miss Halcombe, with every apparent 清晰可见的；显而易见的；明白易懂的 chance, in consequence 后果 of her sister's resolution 解析度 not to leave the bed‧side 床头, of having Lady Glyde her‧self 她自己 to nurse next.

The only circumstance 环境 of any importance that happened in the course of the day was the occurrence 发生 of another unpleasant 不愉快 meeting between the doctor and the Count.

His lord‧ship 贵族身份, on returning from the station, stepped up into Miss Halcombe's sitting-room to make his inquiries. I went out from the bedroom to speak to him, Mr. Dawson and Lady Glyde being both with the patient at the time. The Count asked me many questions about the treatment 治疗 and the symptoms 症状. I informed him that the treatment 治疗 was of the kind described as "saline 盐水," and that the symptoms, between the attacks of fever, were certainly those of increasing 增加 weakness 弱点 and exhaustion 衰竭. Just as I was mentioning these last particulars, Mr. Dawson came out from the bedroom.

"Good-morning, sir," said his lord‧ship 贵族身份, stepping forward in the most urbane manner, and stopping the doctor, with a high-bred 养育；繁殖:breed resolution 解析度 impossible to resist 抵抗, "I greatly fear you find no improvement 起色 in the symptoms to-day?"

"I find decided improvement 起色," answered Mr. Dawson.

"You still persist 坚持 in your lowering treatment 治疗 of this case of fever?" continued his lord‧ship 贵族身份.

"I persist 坚持 in the treatment 治疗 which is justified 为…辩护；证明…正当；是…的正当理由 by my own professional 专业的 experience," said Mr. Dawson.

"Permit me to put one question to you on the vast 广大 subject of professional 专业的 experience," observed the Count. "I presume 假设 to offer no more advice—I only presume 假设 to make an inquiry 调查. You live at some distance, sir, from the gigantic 巨大 centres of scientific activity—London and Paris. Have you ever heard of the wasting effects of fever being reasonably and intelligibly repaired 修理 by fortifying 强化 the exhausted 排气 patient with brandy 白兰地, wine, ammonia, and quinine? Has that new heresy of the highest medical authorities 权威 ever reached your ears—Yes or No?"

"When a professional 专业的 man puts that question to me I shall be glad to answer him," said the doctor, opening the door to go out. "You are not a professional 专业的 man, and I beg to decline 下降 answering you."

Buffeted in this inexcusably uncivil way on one cheek 脸颊, the Count, like a practical Christian, immediately turned the other, and said, in the sweetest manner, "Good-morning, Mr. Dawson."

If my late beloved 心爱 husband had been so fortunate 侥幸的 as to know his lord‧ship 贵族身份, how highly he and the Count would have esteemed 尊重 each other!

Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess returned by the last train that night, and brought with her the nurse from London. I was instructed 指导 that this person's name was Mrs. Rubelle. Her personal 个人 appearance, and her imperfect 不完善 English when she spoke, informed me that she was a foreigner.

I have always cultivated 耕作 a feeling of humane 人道 indulgence 放纵 for foreigners 外国人. They do not possess 拥有 our blessings 祝福 and advantages, and they are, for the most part, brought up in the blind errors 错误 of Popery. It has also always been my precept and practice, as it was my dear husband's precept and practice before me (see Sermon XXIX. in the Collection by the late Rev. Samuel Michelson, M.A.), to do as I would be done by. On both these accounts I will not say that Mrs. Rubelle struck me as being a small, wiry, sly person, of fifty 五十 or thereabouts, with a dark brown or Creole complex‧ion 肤色 and watchful light grey 灰色:gray eyes. Nor will I mention, for the reasons just alleged 断言, that I thought her dress, though it was of the plainest black silk, inappropriately 不当 costly in texture 质地 and unnecessarily 不必要的 refined 提炼 in trimming 修剪 and finish, for a person in her position in life. I should not like these things to be said of me, and therefore it is my duty not to say them of Mrs. Rubelle. I will merely mention that her manners were, not perhaps unpleasantly 不愉快 reserved, but only remarkably quiet and retiring—that she looked about her a great deal, and said very little, which might have arisen arise quite as much from her own modesty 谦虚 as from distrust 怀疑 of her position at Blackwater Park; and that she declined 下降 to par‧take 平价‧拿 of supper 晚饭 (which was curious perhaps, but surely not suspicious 可疑的?), although I myself 我 politely 有礼貌的 invited her to that meal 餐 in my own room.

At the Count's particular suggestion 建议 (so like his lord‧ship 贵族身份's for‧give 原谅 kindness 善良!), it was arranged that Mrs. Rubelle should not enter on her duties until she had been seen and approved by the doctor the next morning. I sat up that night. Lady Glyde appeared to be very unwilling 不甘 that the new nurse should be employed to attend on Miss Halcombe. Such want of liberality towards a foreigner on the part of a lady of her education and refinement 精致 surprised me. I ventured to say, "My lady, we must all remember not to be hasty 匆 in our judgments 判断 on our inferiors 下—especially when they come from foreign parts." Lady Glyde did not appear to attend to me. She only sighed 叹, and kissed 接吻 Miss Halcombe's hand as it lay on the counter‧pane 反；表面‧窗格. Scarcely a judicious proceeding 继续 in a sick-room, with a patient whom 谁 it was highly desirable 合意 not to excite. But poor Lady Glyde knew nothing of nursing—nothing whatever, I am sorry 对不起的 to say.

The next morning Mrs. Rubelle was sent to the sitting-room, to be approved by the doctor on his way through to the bedroom.

I left Lady Glyde with Miss Halcombe, who was slumbering at the time, and joined Mrs. Rubelle, with the object of kindly preventing her from feeling strange and nervous 担心的 in consequence 后果 of the uncertainty 不确定 of her situation. She did not appear to see it in that light. She seemed to be quite satisfied, before‧hand 预先, that Mr. Dawson would approve of her, and she sat calmly looking out of window, with every appearance of enjoying the country air. Some people might have thought such conduct 进行 suggestive 提示 of brazen assurance 保证. I beg to say that I more liberally 自由主义的 set it down to extraordinary strength of mind.

Instead of the doctor coming up to us, I was sent for to see the doctor. I thought this change of affairs rather odd 奇, but Mrs. Rubelle did not appear to be affected 影响 by it in any way. I left her still calmly looking out of the window, and still silently enjoying the country air.

Mr. Dawson was waiting for me by himself in the break‧fast 早餐-room.

"About this new nurse, Mrs. Michelson," said the doctor.

"Yes, sir?"

"I find that she has been brought here from London by the wife of that fat old foreigner, who is always trying to interfere 干预 with me. Mrs. Michelson, the fat old foreigner is a quack."

This was very rude 粗鲁的. I was naturally 自然地 shocked at it.

"Are you aware 知道的, sir," I said, "that you are talking of a noble‧man 高尚的‧男人?"

"Pooh! He isn't the first quack with a handle to his name. They're all Counts—hang 'em!"

"He would not be a friend of Sir Percival Glyde's, sir, if he was not a member of the highest aristocracy 贵族—excepting the English aristocracy 贵族, of course."

"Very well, Mrs. Michelson, call him what you like, and let us get back to the nurse. I have been objecting to her already."

"Without having seen her, sir?"

"Yes, without having seen her. She may be the best nurse in existence, but she is not a nurse of my providing. I have put that objection 反对 to Sir Percival, as the master of the house. He doesn't support me. He says a nurse of my providing would have been a stranger from London also, and he thinks the woman ought to have a trial, after his wife's aunt 阿姨 has taken the trouble to fetch 取 her from London. There is some justice in that, and I can't decently 正经 say No. But I have made it a condition that she is to go at once, if I find reason to complain 抱怨 of her. This proposal being one which I have some right to make, as medical attend‧ant 服务员, Sir Percival has consented 同意 to it. Now, Mrs. Michelson, I know I can depend on you, and I want you to keep a sharp eye on the nurse for the first day or two, and to see that she gives Miss Halcombe no medicines 医学 but mine. This foreign noble‧man 高尚的‧男人 of yours is dying to try his quack remedies 治疗法 (mesmerism included) on my patient, and a nurse who is brought here by his wife may be a little too willing to help him. You understand? Very well, then, we may go upstairs 楼上. Is the nurse there? I'll say a word to her before she goes into the sick-room."

We found Mrs. Rubelle still enjoying her‧self 她自己 at the window. When I introduced her to Mr. Dawson, neither the doctor's doubtful 疑 looks nor the doctor's searching questions appeared to confuse her in the least. She answered him quietly in her broken break English, and though he tried hard to puzzle 使迷惑 her, she never betrayed 背叛 the least ignorance 无知, so far, about any part of her duties. This was doubt‧less 毫无疑问， the result of strength of mind, as I said before, and not of brazen assurance 保证, by any means.

We all went into the bedroom.

Mrs. Rubelle looked very attentively at the patient, curtseyed to Lady Glyde, set one or two little things right in the room, and sat down quietly in a corner to wait until she was wanted. Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 seemed startled 惊吓 and annoyed by the appearance of the strange nurse. No one said anything, for fear of rousing 唤醒 Miss Halcombe, who was still slumbering, except the doctor, who whispered a question about the night. I softly answered, "Much as usual," and then Mr. Dawson went out. Lady Glyde followed him, I suppose to speak about Mrs. Rubelle. For my own part, I had made up my mind already that this quiet foreign person would keep her situation. She had all her wits 风趣 about her, and she certainly understood her business. So far, I could hardly have done much better by the bed‧side 床头 myself 我.

Remembering Mr. Dawson's caution 小心 to me, I subjected Mrs. Rubelle to a severe 严峻的 scrutiny 审查 at certain intervals 间隔 for the next three or four days. I over and over again entered the room softly and suddenly, but I never found her out in any suspicious 3 action. Lady Glyde, who watched her as attentively as I did, discovered nothing either. I never detected a sign of the medicine 医学 bottles being tampered 篡改 with, I never saw Mrs. Rubelle say a word to the Count, or the Count to her. She managed Miss Halcombe with unquestionable care and discretion 慎重. The poor lady wavered 动摇 backwards 向后的 and forwards between a sort of sleepy 困 exhaustion 衰竭, which was half faintness and half slumbering, and attacks of fever which brought with them more or less of wandering 漫步 in her mind. Mrs. Rubelle never disturbed her in the first case, and never startled 惊吓 her in the second, by appearing too suddenly at the bed‧side 床头 in the character of a stranger. Honour to whom 4 honour is due (whether foreign or English)—and I give her privilege 特权 impartially 公正 to Mrs. Rubelle. She was remarkably uncommunicative about her‧self 她自己, and she was too quietly independent 独立 of all advice from experienced persons who understood the duties of a sick-room—but with these draw‧back 退税, she was a good nurse, and she never gave either Lady Glyde or Mr. Dawson the shadow of a reason for complaining 抱怨 of her.

The next circumstance 环境 of importance that occurred 发生 in the house was the temporary 临时 absence of the Count, occasioned by business which took him to London. He went away (I think) on the morning of the fourth day after the arrival 到达 of Mrs. Rubelle, and at parting he spoke to Lady Glyde very seriously, in my presence, on the subject of Miss Halcombe.

"Trust Mr. Dawson," he said, "for a few days more, if you please. But if there is not some change for the better in that time, send for advice from London, which this mule 马骡 of a doctor must accept in spite of himself. Offend 触怒 Mr. Dawson, and save Miss Halcombe. I say this seriously, on my word of honour and from the bottom of my heart."

His lord‧ship 贵族身份 spoke with extreme feeling and kindness 善良. But poor Lady Glyde's nerves 神经 were so completely broken down that she seemed quite frightened at him. She trembled from head to foot, and allowed him to take his leave without uttering 说出 a word on her side. She turned to me when he had gone, and said, "Oh, Mrs. Michelson, I am heartbroken about my sister, and I have no friend to advise me! Do you think Mr. Dawson is wrong? He told me himself this morning that there was no fear, and no need to send for another doctor."

"With all respect to Mr. Dawson," I answered, "in your lady‧ship 女士‧船's place I should remember the Count's advice."

Lady Glyde turned away from me suddenly, with an appearance of despair 绝望, for which I was quite unable 无法 to account.

"His advice!" she said to her‧self 她自己. "God help us—his advice!"

The Count was away from Blackwater Park, as nearly as I remember, a week.

Sir Percival seemed to feel the loss of his lord‧ship 贵族身份 in various ways, and appeared also, I thought, much depressed 压抑 and altered by the sickness 疾病 and sorrow 悲痛 in the house. Occasionally 偶尔，间或；有时 he was so very rest‧less 不安 that I could not help noticing it, coming and going, and wandering here and there and every‧where 到处 in the grounds. His inquiries about Miss Halcombe, and about his lady (whose failing health seemed to cause him sincere 真诚的 anxiety), were most attentive 注意的. I think his heart was much softened 软的:soft. If some kind clerical 牧师 friend—some such friend as he might have found in my late excellent husband—had been near him at this time, cheering moral progress might have been made with Sir Percival. I seldom 很少 find myself 我 mistaken 错误 on a point of this sort, having had experience to guide me in my happy married days.

Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 the Countess, who was now the only company for Sir Percival downstairs 楼下, rather neglected him, as I considered—or, perhaps, it might have been that he neglected her. A stranger might almost have supposed that they were bent bend, now they were left together alone, on actually avoiding one another. This, of course, could not be. But it did so happen, nevertheless 虽然, that the Countess made her dinner at luncheon 午餐-time, and that she always came upstairs 楼上 towards evening, although Mrs. Rubelle had taken the nursing duties entirely off her hands. Sir Percival dined 吃饭 by himself, and William (the man out of livery) make the remark, in my hearing, that his master had put himself on half rations 配给 of food and on a double allowance 津贴；补贴 of drink. I attach 连接 no importance to such an insolent observation 意见 as this on the part of a servant. I reprobated it at the time, and I wish to be understood as reprobating it once more on this occasion.

In the course of the next few days Miss Halcombe did certainly seem to all of us to be mending 修理 a little. Our faith in Mr. Dawson revived 复活. He appeared to be very confident 确信的 about the case, and he assured Lady Glyde, when she spoke to him on the subject, that he would himself propose to send for a physician 医师 the moment he felt so much as the shadow of a doubt crossing his own mind.

The only person among us who did not appear to be relieved by these words was the Countess. She said to me privately, that she could not feel easy about Miss Halcombe on Mr. Dawson's authority 权威, and that she should wait anxiously for her husband's opinion on his return. That return, his letters informed her, would take place in three days' time. The Count and Countess corresponded 对应 regularly 经常 every morning during his lord‧ship 贵族身份's absence. They were in that respect, as in all others, a pattern to married people.

On the evening of the third day I noticed a change in Miss Halcombe, which caused me serious apprehension 顾虑. Mrs. Rubelle noticed it too. We said nothing on the subject to Lady Glyde, who was then lying asleep 睡着的, completely over‧power 压倒 by exhaustion 衰竭, on the sofa 沙发 in the sitting-room.

Mr. Dawson did not pay his evening visit till later than usual. As soon as he set eyes on his patient I saw his face alter 改变. He tried to hide it, but he looked both confused and alarmed. A messenger 信使 was sent to his residence 住宅 for his medicine 3-chest 胸部, disinfecting preparations 制备 were used in the room, and a bed was made up for him in the house by his own directions. "Has the fever turned to infection 感染?" I whispered to him. "I am afraid it has," he answered; "we shall know better to-morrow morning."

By Mr. Dawson's own directions Lady Glyde was kept in ignorance 无知 of this change for the worse. He himself absolutely forbade 禁止:forbid her, on account of her health, to join us in the bedroom that night. She tried to resist 抵抗—there was a sad scene—but he had his medical authority 权威 to support him, and he carried his point.

The next morning one of the men-servants was sent to London at eleven 十一 o'clock, with a letter to a physician 医师 in town, and with orders to bring the new doctor back with him by the earliest possible train. Half an hour after the messenger 信使 had gone the Count returned to Blackwater Park.

The Countess, on her own responsibility 责任, immediately brought him in to see the patient. There was no impropriety that I could discover in her taking this course. His lord‧ship 贵族身份 was a married man, he was old enough to be Miss Halcombe's father, and he saw her in the presence of a female relative, Lady Glyde's aunt 3. Mr. Dawson nevertheless 虽然 protested 抗议 against his presence in the room, but I could plainly remark the doctor was too much alarmed to make any serious resistance 抵抗 on this occasion.

The poor suffering lady was past knowing any one about her. She seemed to take her friends for enemies. When the Count approached her bed‧side 床头 her eyes, which had been wandering incessantly round and round the room before, settled on his face with a dreadful 可怕 stare of terror 恐怖, which I shall remember to my dying day. The Count sat down by her, felt her pulse 脉冲 and her temples, looked at her very attentively, and then turned round upon the doctor with such an expression of indignation 愤慨 and con‧tempt 鄙视 in his face, that the words failed on Mr. Dawson's lips, and he stood for a moment, pale with anger 生气 and alarm 警告—pale and perfectly speech‧less 演说‧少.

His lord‧ship 贵族身份 looked next at me.

"When did the change happen?" he asked.

I told him the time.

"Has Lady Glyde been in the room since?"

I replied that she had not. The doctor had absolutely forbidden 禁止:forbid her to come into the room on the evening before, and had repeated the order again in the morning.

"Have you and Mrs. Rubelle been made aware 知道的 of the full extent of the mischief 恶作剧?" was his next question.

We were aware 知道的, I answered, that the malady was considered infectious 传染病. He stopped me before I could add anything more.

"It is typhus fever," he said.

In the minute that passed, while these questions and answers were going on, Mr. Dawson recovered 恢复 himself, and addressed the Count with his customary firmness.

"It is not typhus fever," he remarked sharply. "I protest 抗议 against this intrusion 侵扰, sir. No one has a right to put questions here but me. I have done my duty to the best of my ability—"

The Count interrupted him—not by words, but only by pointing to the bed. Mr. Dawson seemed to feel that silent contradiction 矛盾 to his assertion 断言 of his own ability, and to grow only the more angry under it.

"I say I have done my duty," he reiterated 重申. "A physician 医师 has been sent for from London. I will consult 咨询；请教；查阅 on the nature of the fever with him, and with no one else. I insist 咬定 on your leaving the room."

"I entered this room, sir, in the sacred interests of humanity 人性," said the Count. "And in the same interests, if the coming of the physician 医师 is delayed 延迟, I will enter it again. I warn you once more that the fever has turned to typhus, and that your treatment 治疗 is responsible for this lament‧able 哀叹‧能够的 change. If that unhappy 不快乐 lady dies, I will give my testimony 见证 in a court of justice that your ignorance 无知 and obstinacy have been the cause of her death."

Before Mr. Dawson could answer, before the Count could leave us, the door was opened from the sitting-room, and we saw Lady Glyde on the threshold 阈.

"I must and will come in," she said, with extraordinary firmness.

Instead of stopping her, the Count moved into the sitting-room, and made way for her to go in. On all other occasions he was the last man in the world to forget anything, but in the surprise of the moment he apparently forgot forget the danger of infection 感染 from typhus, and the urgent 急迫的 necessity of forcing Lady Glyde to take proper care of her‧self 她自己.

To my astonishment 惊愕 Mr. Dawson showed more presence of mind. He stopped her lady‧ship 女士‧船 at the first step she took towards the bed‧side 床头. "I am sincerely sorry, I am sincerely grieved 悼," he said. "The fever may, I fear, be infectious 传染病. Until I am certain that it is not, I entreat you to keep out of the room."

She struggled for a moment, then suddenly dropped her arms and sank forward. She had fainted. The Countess and I took her from the doctor and carried her into her own room. The Count preceded 优于 us, and waited in the passage till I came out and told him that we had recovered 恢复 her from the swoon.

I went back to the doctor to tell him, by Lady Glyde's desire, that she insisted 咬定 on speaking to him immediately. He withdrew at once to quiet her lady‧ship 女士‧船's agitation 搅动, and to assure 向…保证；肯定地说 her of the physician 医师's arrival 到达 in the course of a few hours. Those hours passed very slowly. Sir Percival and the Count were together downstairs 楼下, and sent up from time to time to make their inquiries. At last, between five and six o'clock, to our great relief, the physician 医师 came.

He was a younger man than Mr. Dawson, very serious and very decided. What he thought of the previous 以前 treatment 治疗 I cannot say, but it struck me as curious that he put many more questions to myself 我 and to Mrs. Rubelle than he put to the doctor, and that he did not appear to listen with much interest to what Mr. Dawson said, while he was examining Mr. Dawson's patient. I began to suspect, from what I observed in this way, that the Count had been right about the illness 疾病 all the way through, and I was naturally 自然地 confirmed 确认 in that idea when Mr. Dawson, after some little delay, asked the one important question which the London doctor had been sent for to set at rest.

"What is your opinion of the fever?" he inquired.

"Typhus," replied the physician 医师 "Typhus fever beyond all doubt."

That quiet foreign person, Mrs. Rubelle, crossed her thin brown hands in front of her, and looked at me with a very significant 重大 smile. The Count himself could hardly have appeared more gratified 取悦 if he had been present in the room and had heard the confirmation 确认 of his own opinion.

After giving us some useful 有用 directions about the management 管理 of the patient, and mentioning that he would come again in five days' time, the physician 医师 withdrew to consult 咨询；请教；查阅 in private with Mr. Dawson. He would offer no opinion on Miss Halcombe's chances of recovery 失而复得—he said it was impossible at that stage of the illness 疾病 to pronounce 发音 one way or the other.

The five days passed anxiously.

Countess Fosco and myself 我 took it by turns to relieve Mrs. Rubelle, Miss Halcombe's condition growing worse and worse, and requiring our utmost 极 care and attention. It was a terribly trying time. Lady Glyde (supported, as Mr. Dawson said, by the constant 不变 strain 压力 of her suspense 悬念 on her sister's account) rallied 团结 in the most extraordinary manner, and showed a firmness and determination 决心 for which I should myself 我 never have given her credit 信用. She insisted 咬定 on coming into the sick-room two or three times every day, to look at Miss Halcombe with her own eyes, promising not to go too close to the bed, if the doctor would consent 同意 to her wishes so far. Mr. Dawson very unwillingly 不甘 made the concession 让步 required of him—I think he saw that it was hope‧less 绝望 to dispute 争议 with her. She came in every day, and she self-denyingly kept her promise. I felt it personally 亲自 so distressing 苦难 (as reminding me of my own affliction during my husband's last illness 疾病) to see how she suffered under these circumstances 环境, that I must beg not to dwell 住 on this part of the subject any longer. It is more agree‧able 合适的 to me to mention that no fresh disputes 争议 took place between Mr. Dawson and the Count. His lord‧ship 贵族身份 made all his inquiries by deputy 副, and remained continually 不断 in company with Sir Percival downstairs 楼下.

On the fifth day the physician 医师 came again and gave us a little hope. He said the tenth day from the first appearance of the typhus would probably decide the result of the illness 疾病, and he arranged for his third visit to take place on that date. The interval 间隔 passed as before—except that the Count went to London again one morning and returned at night.

On the tenth day it pleased a merciful Providence to relieve our house‧hold 家庭 from all further anxiety and alarm 警告. The physician 医师 positively 积极 assured us that Miss Halcombe was out of danger. "She wants no doctor now—all she requires is careful 小心 watching and nursing for some time to come, and that I see she has." Those were his own words. That evening I read my husband's touching sermon 讲道 on Recovery 失而复得 from Sickness, with more happiness 幸福 and advantage (in a spiritual 精神 point of view) than I ever remember to have derived 派生 from it before.

The effect of the good news on poor Lady Glyde was, I grieve 悼 to say, quite over‧power 压倒. She was too weak to bear the violent 猛烈 reaction 反应, and in another day or two she sank into a state of debility and depression 忧闷，压抑，不快乐 which obliged 责成 her to keep her room. Rest and quiet, and change of air after‧ward 之后, were the best remedies which Mr. Dawson could suggest for her benefit 效益. It was fortunate 侥幸的 that matters were no worse, for, on the very day after she took to her room, the Count and the doctor had another disagreement 异议—and this time the dispute 争议 between them was of so serious a nature that Mr. Dawson left the house.

I was not present at the time, but I understood that the subject of dispute 争议 was the amount of nourishment which it was necessary to give to assist 帮助；协助；援助 Miss Halcombe's convalescence after the exhaustion 衰竭 of the fever. Mr. Dawson, now that his patient was safe, was less inclined 倾斜 than ever to submit 给 to unprofessional interference, and the Count (I cannot imagine why) lost all the self-control which he had so judiciously preserved on former occasions, and taunted 嘲讽 the doctor, over and over again, with his mistake about the fever when it changed to typhus. The unfortunate 不幸的 affair ended in Mr. Dawson's appealing 上诉 to Sir Percival, and threatening (now that he could leave without absolute danger to Miss Halcombe) to with‧draw 撤回 from his attendance 勤 at Blackwater Park if the Count's interference was not peremptorily sup‧press 压制 from that moment. Sir Percival's reply (though not designedly uncivil) had only resulted in making matters worse, and Mr. Dawson had there‧upon 在那里‧在…上面 withdrawn from the house in a state of extreme indignation 愤慨 at Count Fosco's usage 用法 of him, and had sent in his bill the next morning.

We were now, therefore, left without the attendance 勤 of a medical man. Although there was no actual necessity for another doctor—nursing and watching being, as the physician 医师 had observed, all that Miss Halcombe required—I should still, if my authority 权威 had been consulted, have obtained 获得 professional 专业的 assistance 帮助 from some other quarter, for form's sake.

The matter did not seem to strike Sir Percival in that light. He said it would be time enough to send for another doctor if Miss Halcombe showed any signs of a relapse 复发. In the mean‧while 同时 we had the Count to consult 4 in any minor 次要 difficulty, and we need not unnecessarily 不必要的 disturb 打扰 our patient in her present weak and nervous 担心的 condition by the presence of a stranger at her bed‧side 床头. There was much that was reasonable, no doubt, in these considerations 考虑, but they left me a little anxious nevertheless 虽然. Nor was I quite satisfied in my own mind of the propriety of our concealing 隐藏 the doctor's absence as we did from Lady Glyde. It was a merciful deception 骗局, I admit—for she was in no state to bear any fresh anxieties. But still it was a deception 骗局, and, as such, to a person of my principles 原理, at best a doubtful 疑 proceeding 继续.

A second perplexing 困扰 circumstance 环境 which happened on the same day, and which took me completely by surprise, added greatly to the sense of uneasiness that was now weighing 称重 on my mind.

I was sent for to see Sir Percival in the library. The Count, who was with him when I went in, immediately rose and left us alone together. Sir Percival civilly 国内 asked me to take a seat, and then, to my great astonishment 惊愕, addressed me in these terms—

"I want to speak to you, Mrs. Michelson, about a matter which I decided on some time ago, and which I should have mentioned before, but for the sickness 疾病 and trouble in the house. In plain words, I have reasons for wishing to break up my establishment 机构 immediately at this place—leaving you in charge, of course, as usual. As soon as Lady Glyde and Miss Halcombe can travel they must both have change of air. My friends, Count Fosco and the Countess, will leave us before that time to live in the neighbourhood of London, and I have reasons for not opening the house to any more company, with a view to economising as carefully 小心 as I can. I don't blame you, but my expenses here are a great deal too heavy. In short, I shall sell the horses, and get rid of all the servants at once. I never do things by halves 对分, as you know, and I mean to have the house clear of a pack of use‧less 无用 people by this time to-morrow."

I listened to him, perfectly aghast with astonishment 惊愕.

"Do you mean, Sir Percival, that I am to dismiss 解雇 the indoor 室内的 servants under my charge without the usual month's warning?" I asked.

"Certainly I do. We may all be out of the house before another month, and I am not going to leave the servants here in idleness, with no master to wait on."

"Who is to do the cooking, Sir Percival, while you are still staying here?"

"Margaret Porcher can roast 烤 and boil 煮沸—keep her. What do I want with a cook if I don't mean to give any dinner-parties?"

"The servant you have mentioned is the most unintelligent servant in the house, Sir Percival."

"Keep her, I tell you, and have a woman in from the village to do the cleaning and go away again. My weekly expenses must and shall be lowered immediately. I don't send for you to make objections, Mrs. Michelson—I send for you to carry out my plans of economy 经济. Dismiss 解雇 the whole lazy 懒惰的 pack of indoor 室内的 servants to-morrow, except Porcher. She is as strong as a horse—and we'll make her work like a horse."

"You will excuse me for reminding you, Sir Percival, that if the servants go to-morrow they must have a month's wages in lieu 代替 of a month's warning."

"Let them! A month's wages saves a month's waste and gluttony in the servants' hall."

This last remark conveyed 传达 an aspersion of the most offensive 进攻 kind on my management 管理. I had too much self-respect to defend myself 我 under so gross 毛 an imputation. Christian consideration 考虑 for the help‧less 无助 position of Miss Halcombe and Lady Glyde, and for the serious inconvenience 不方便 which my sudden absence might inflict 造成 on them, alone prevented me from resigning 辞职 my situation on the spot. I rose immediately. It would have lowered me in my own estimation 估计 to have permitted the interview 访问 to continue a moment longer.

"After that last remark, Sir Percival, I have nothing more to say. Your directions shall be attended to." Pronouncing those words, I bowed my head with the most distant 遥远的 respect, and went out of the room.

The next day the servants left in a body. Sir Percival himself dismissed the grooms 马夫 and stablemen, sending them, with all the horses but one, to London. Of the whole domestic 国内 establishment 机构, indoors and out, there now remained only myself 我, Margaret Porcher, and the gardener—this last living in his own cottage 小屋, and being wanted to take care of the one horse that remained in the stables 稳定.

With the house left in this strange and lonely 孤独的 condition—with the mistress 情妇 of it ill in her room—with Miss Halcombe still as help‧less 无助 as a child—and with the doctor's attendance 勤 withdrawn from us in enmity—it was surely not unnatural 不自然 that my spirits should sink 淹没, and my customary composure be very hard to maintain 保持. My mind was ill at ease 轻松. I wished the poor ladies both well again, and I wished myself 我 away from Blackwater Park.

II

The next event that occurred 发生 was of so singular 单数 a nature that it might have caused me a feeling of superstitious surprise, if my mind had not been fortified 强化 by principle 原理 against any pagan 异教徒 weakness 弱点 of that sort. The uneasy 不安 sense of something wrong in the family which had made me wish myself 我 away from Blackwater Park, was actually followed, strange to say, by my departure 离开 from the house. It is true that my absence was for a temporary 临时 period only, but the coincidence 巧合 was, in my opinion, not the less remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的 on that account.

My departure 离开 took place under the following circumstances 环境—

A day or two after the servants all left I was again sent for to see Sir Percival. The undeserved slur 诽谤 which he had cast 投 on my management 管理 of the house‧hold 家庭 did not, I am happy to say, prevent me from returning good for evil to the best of my ability, by complying 执行 with his request as readily and respectfully 尊敬 as ever. It cost me a struggle with that fallen fall nature, which we all share in common, before I could sup‧press 压制 my feelings. Being accustomed to self-discipline 训练, I accomplished the sacrifice 牺牲.

I found Sir Percival and Count Fosco sitting together again. On this occasion his lord‧ship 贵族身份 remained present at the interview 访问, and assisted in the development of Sir Percival's views.

The subject to which they now requested my attention related to the healthy 健康 change of air by which we all hoped that Miss Halcombe and Lady Glyde might soon be enabled 启用 to profit. Sir Percival mentioned that both the ladies would probably pass the autumn 秋 (by invitation 邀请 of Frederick Fairlie, Esquire) at Limmeridge House, Cumberland. But before they went there, it was his opinion, confirmed 确认 by Count Fosco (who here took up the conversation and continued it to the end), that they would benefit 效益 by a short residence 住宅 first in the genial climate 气候 of Torquay. The great object, therefore, was to engage 从事 lodgings 存放 at that place, affording 买得起 all the comforts and advantages of which they stood in need, and the great difficulty was to find an experienced person cap‧able 能 of choosing the sort of residence 住宅 which they wanted. In this emergency 急 the Count begged to inquire, on Sir Percival's behalf 代表, whether I would object to give the ladies the benefit 效益 of my assistance 帮助, by proceeding 继续 myself 我 to Torquay in their interests.

It was impossible for a person in my situation to meet any proposal, made in these terms, with a positive 正 objection 反对.

I could only venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to represent the serious inconvenience 不方便 of my leaving Blackwater Park in the extraordinary absence of all the indoor 室内的 servants, with the one exception of Margaret Porcher. But Sir Percival and his lord‧ship 贵族身份 declared that they were both willing to put up with inconvenience 不方便 for the sake of the invalids 无效. I next respectfully 尊敬 suggested writing to an agent at Torquay, but I was met here by being reminded of the imprudence of taking lodgings without first seeing them. I was also informed that the Countess (who would otherwise have gone to Devonshire her‧self 她自己) could not, in Lady Glyde's present condition, leave her niece, and that Sir Percival and the Count had business to trans‧act 反式‧行动；起作用 together which would oblige 责成 them to remain at Blackwater Park. In short, it was clearly shown me that if I did not under‧take 承担 the errand 使命, no one else could be trusted with it. Under these circumstances 环境, I could only inform Sir Percival that my services were at the disposal 处置 of Miss Halcombe and Lady Glyde.

It was there‧upon 在那里‧在…上面 arranged that I should leave the next morning, that I should occupy 占据 one or two days in examining all the most convenient 方便的 houses in Torquay, and that I should return with my report as soon as I conveniently could. A memorandum 备忘录 was written for me by his lord‧ship 贵族身份, stating the requisites 必要 which the place I was sent to take must be found to possess 拥有, and a note of the pecuniary limit assigned 分配 to me was added by Sir Percival.

My own idea on reading over these instructions 指令 was, that no such residence 住宅 as I saw described could be found at any watering-place in England, and that, even if it could by chance be discovered, it would certainly not be parted with for any period on such terms as I was permitted to offer. I hinted 暗示 at these difficulties to both the gentlemen, but Sir Percival (who undertook to answer me) did not appear to feel them. It was not for me to dispute 争议 the question. I said no more, but I felt a very strong conviction 定罪 that the business on which I was sent away was so beset by difficulties that my errand 使命 was almost hope‧less 绝望 at starting.

Before I left I took care to satisfy myself 我 that Miss Halcombe was going on favourably.

There was a painful 痛苦 expression of anxiety in her face which made me fear that her mind, on first recovering 恢复 itself 本身, was not at ease. But she was certainly strengthening 加强 more rapidly than I could have ventured to anticipate 预期, and she was able to send kind messages to Lady Glyde, saying that she was fast getting well, and entreating her lady‧ship 女士‧船 not to exert 发挥 her‧self 她自己 again too soon. I left her in charge of Mrs. Rubelle, who was still as quietly independent 独立 of every one else in the house as ever. When I knocked at Lady Glyde's door before going away, I was told that she was still sadly weak and depressed 压抑, my inform‧ant 线人 being the Countess, who was then keeping her company in her room. Sir Percival and the Count were walking on the road to the lodge 存放 as I was driven drive by in the chaise. I bowed to them and quitted 放弃 the house, with not a living soul left in the servants' offices but Margaret Porcher.

Every one must feel what I have felt myself 我 since that time, that these circumstances 环境 were more than unusual 异常—they were! almost suspicious. Let me, however, say again that it was impossible for me, in my dependent position, to act otherwise than I did.

The result of my errand 使命 at Torquay was exactly what I had foreseen. No such lodgings as I was instructed 指导 to take could be found in the whole place, and the terms I was permitted to give were much too low for the purpose, even if I had been able to discover what I wanted. I accordingly 于是 returned to Blackwater Park, and informed Sir Percival, who met me at the door, that my journey had been taken in vain 徒劳的. He seemed too much occupied 占据 with some other subject to care about the failure of my errand 使命, and his first words informed me that even in the short time of my absence another remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的 change had taken place in the house.

The Count and Countess Fosco had left Blackwater Park for their new residence 住宅 in St. John's Wood.

I was not made aware 知道的 of the motive 动机 for this sudden departure 离开—I was only told that the Count had been very particular in leaving his kind compliments 赞扬 to me. When I ventured on asking Sir Percival whether Lady Glyde had any one to attend to her comforts in the absence of the Countess, he replied that she had Margaret Porcher to wait on her, and he added that a woman from the village had been sent for to do the work downstairs 楼下.

The answer really shocked me—there was such a glaring 强光 impropriety in permitting an under-house‧maid 房屋‧女佣 to fill the place of confidential 秘密的 attend‧ant 服务员 on Lady Glyde. I went upstairs 楼上 at once, and met Margaret on the bedroom landing. Her services had not been required ( naturally 自然地 enough), her mistress 情妇 having sufficiently 充分地 recovered 恢复 that morning to be able to leave her bed. I asked next after Miss Halcombe, but I was answered in a slouching, sulky way, which left me no wiser 明智的；聪明的 than I was before.

I did not choose to repeat the question, and perhaps provoke 惹 an impertinent reply. It was in every respect more becoming to a person in my position to present myself 我 immediately in Lady Glyde's room.

I found that her lady‧ship 女士‧船 had certainly gained in health during the last few days. Although still sadly weak and nervous 4, she was able to get up without assistance 帮助, and to walk slowly about her room, feeling no worse effect from the exertion than a slight sensation 感觉 of fatigue 疲劳. She had been made a little anxious that morning about Miss Halcombe, through having received no news of her from any one. I thought this seemed to imply 意味着 a blamable want of attention on the part of Mrs. Rubelle, but I said nothing, and remained with Lady Glyde to assist 帮助；协助；援助 her to dress. When she was ready we both left the room together to go to Miss Halcombe.

We were stopped in the passage by the appearance of Sir Percival. He looked as if he had been purposely waiting there to see us.

"Where are you going?" he said to Lady Glyde.

"To Marian's room," she answered.

"It may spare you a disappointment 失望," remarked Sir Percival, "if I tell you at once that you will not find her there."

"Not find her there!"

"No. She left the house yesterday morning with Fosco and his wife."

Lady Glyde was not strong enough to bear the surprise of this extraordinary statement 声明. She turned fearfully 可怕 pale, and leaned back against the wall, looking at her husband in dead silence.

I was so astonished 使惊讶 myself 我 that I hardly knew what to say. I asked Sir Percival if he really meant that Miss Halcombe had left Blackwater Park.

"I certainly mean it," he answered.

"In her state, Sir Percival! Without mentioning her intentions to Lady Glyde!"

Before he could reply her lady‧ship 女士‧船 recovered 恢复 her‧self 她自己 a little and spoke.

"Impossible!" she cried out in a loud 响亮的, frightened manner, taking a step or two forward from the wall. "Where was the doctor? where was Mr. Dawson when Marian went away?"

"Mr. Dawson wasn't wanted, and wasn't here," said Sir Percival. "He left of his own accord, which is enough of itself 本身 to show that she was strong enough to travel. How you stare! If you don't believe she has gone, look for your‧self 你自己. Open her room door, and all the other room doors if you like."

She took him at his word, and I followed her. There was no one in Miss Halcombe's room but Margaret Porcher, who was busy setting it to rights. There was no one in the spare rooms or the dressing-rooms when we looked into them after‧ward 之后. Sir Percival still waited for us in the passage. As we were leaving the last room that we had examined Lady Glyde whispered, "Don't go, Mrs. Michelson! don't leave me, for God's sake!" Before I could say anything in return she was out again in the passage, speaking to her husband.

"What does it mean, Sir Percival? I insist 咬定—I beg and pray you will tell me what it means."

"It means," he answered, "that Miss Halcombe was strong enough yesterday morning to sit up and be dressed, and that she insisted 咬定 on taking advantage of Fosco's going to London to go there too."

"To London!"

"Yes—on her way to Limmeridge."

Lady Glyde turned and appealed 上诉 to me.

"You saw Miss Halcombe last," she said. "Tell me plainly, Mrs. Michelson, did you think she looked fit to travel?"

"Not in my opinion, your lady‧ship 女士‧船."

Sir Percival, on his side, instantly turned and appealed 上诉 to me also.

"Before you went away," he said, "did you, or did you not, tell the nurse that Miss Halcombe looked much stronger and better?"

"I certainly made the remark, Sir Percival."

He addressed her lady‧ship 女士‧船 again the moment I offered that reply.

"Set one of Mrs. Michelson's opinions fairly against the other," he said, "and try to be reasonable about a perfectly plain matter. If she had not been well enough to be moved do you think we should any of us have risked letting her go? She has got three competent 胜任 people to look after her—Fosco and your aunt, and Mrs. Rubelle, who went away with them expressly for that purpose. They took a whole carriage 运输 yesterday, and made a bed for her on the seat in case she felt tired. To-day, Fosco and Mrs. Rubelle go on with her themselves to Cumberland."

"Why does Marian go to Limmeridge and leave me here by myself 我?" said her lady‧ship 女士‧船, interrupting Sir Percival.

"Because your uncle won't receive you till he has seen your sister first," he replied. "Have you forgotten the letter he wrote to her at the beginning of her illness 疾病? It was shown to you, you read it your‧self 你自己, and you ought to remember it."

"I do remember it."

"If you do, why should you be surprised at her leaving you? You want to be back at Limmeridge, and she has gone there to get your uncle's leave for you on his own terms."

Poor Lady Glyde's eyes filled with tears.

"Marian never left me before," she said, "without bidding 出价 me good-bye 再见."

"She would have bid 出价 you good-bye 再见 this time," returned Sir Percival, "if she had not been afraid of her‧self 她自己 and of you. She knew you would try to stop her, she knew you would distress 苦难 her by crying. Do you want to make any more objections? If you do, you must come downstairs 楼下 and ask questions in the dining-room. These worries upset me. I want a glass of wine."

He left us suddenly.

His manner all through this strange conversation had been very unlike 不像 what it usually was. He seemed to be almost as nervous 5 and fluttered 扑, every now and then, as his lady her‧self 她自己. I should never have supposed that his health had been so delicate 3, or his composure so easy to upset.

I tried to prevail 战胜 on Lady Glyde to go back to her room, but it was use‧less 无用. She stopped in the passage, with the look of a woman whose mind was panic 恐慌-stricken.

"Something has happened to my sister!" she said.

"Remember, my lady, what surprising energy 能源 there is in Miss Halcombe," I suggested. "She might well make an effort which other ladies in her situation would be unfit 不适当 for. I hope and believe there is nothing wrong—I do indeed."

"I must follow Marian," said her lady‧ship 女士‧船, with the same panic 恐慌-stricken look. "I must go where she has gone, I must see that she is alive 活的；有生命的 and well with my own eyes. Come! come down with me to Sir Percival."

I hesitated, fearing that my presence might be considered an intrusion 侵扰. I attempted to represent this to her lady‧ship 女士‧船, but she was deaf 聋的 to me. She held my arm fast enough to force me to go downstairs 楼下 with her, and she still clung to me with all the little strength she had at the moment when I opened the dining-room door.

Sir Percival was sitting at the table with a decanter of wine before him. He raised the glass to his lips as we went in and drained 排水 it at a draught. Seeing that he looked at me angrily when he put it down again, I attempted to make some apology 道歉认错 for my accidental 偶然 presence in the room.

"Do you suppose there are any secrets going on here?" he broke break out suddenly; "there are none—there is nothing under‧hand 在…下面‧手, nothing kept from you or from any one." After speaking those strange words loudly 响亮的 and sternly 严肃, he filled himself another glass of wine and asked Lady Glyde what she wanted of him.

"If my sister is fit to travel I am fit to travel" said her lady‧ship 女士‧船, with more firmness than she had yet shown. "I come to beg you will make allowances for my anxiety about Marian, and let me follow her at once by the afternoon train."

"You must wait till to-morrow," replied Sir Percival, "and then if you don't hear to the contrary 相反 you can go. I don't suppose you are at all likely to hear to the contrary 相反, so I shall write to Fosco by to-night's post."

He said those last words holding his glass up to the light, and looking at the wine in it instead of at Lady Glyde. Indeed he never once looked at her through‧out 始终 the conversation. Such a singular 单数 want of good breeding 养育；繁殖 in a gentleman of his rank 排列 impressed me, I own, very painfully 痛苦.

"Why should you write to Count Fosco?" she asked, in extreme surprise.

"To tell him to expect you by the midday 正午 train," said Sir Percival. "He will meet you at the station when you get to London, and take you on to sleep at your aunt's in St. John's Wood."

Lady Glyde's hand began to tremble 发抖 violently 猛烈 round my arm—why I could not imagine.

"There is no necessity for Count Fosco to meet me," she said. "I would rather not stay in London to sleep."

"You must. You can't take the whole journey to Cumberland in one day. You must rest a night in London—and I don't choose you to go by your‧self 你自己 to an hotel. Fosco made the offer to your uncle to give you house-room on the way down, and your uncle has accepted it. Here! here is a letter from him addressed to your‧self 你自己. I ought to have sent it up this morning, but I forgot. Read it and see what Mr. Fairlie himself says to you."

Lady Glyde looked at the letter for a moment and then placed it in my hands.

"Read it," she said faintly 微弱的. "I don't know what is the matter with me. I can't read it myself 我."

It was a note of only four lines—so short and so care‧less 粗心 that it quite struck me. If I remember correctly it contained no more than these words—

"Dearest Laura, Please come whenever you like. Break the journey by sleeping at your aunt's house. Grieved to hear of dear Marian's illness 疾病. Affectionately yours, Frederick Fairlie."

"I would rather not go there—I would rather not stay a night in London," said her lady‧ship 女士‧船, breaking out eagerly with those words before I had quite done reading the note, short as it was. "Don't write to Count Fosco! Pray, pray don't write to him!"

Sir Percival filled another glass from the decanter so awkwardly 难堪 that he upset it and spilt 溢出:spill all the wine over the table. "My sight seems to be failing me," he muttered 咕哝 to himself, in an odd 奇, muffled voice. He slowly set the glass up again, refilled 充值 it, and drained 排水 it once more at a draught. I began to fear, from his look and manner, that the wine was getting into his head.

"Pray don't write to Count Fosco," persisted 坚持 Lady Glyde, more earnestly than ever.

"Why not, I should like to know?" cried Sir Percival, with a sudden burst 爆裂 of anger that startled 惊吓 us both. "Where can you stay more properly in London than at the place your uncle himself chooses for you—at your aunt's house? Ask Mrs. Michelson."

The arrangement 安排 proposed was so unquestionably the right and the proper one, that I could make no possible objection 3 to it. Much as I sympathised with Lady Glyde in other respects, I could not sympathise with her in her unjust 不公 prejudices 成见 against Count Fosco. I never before met with any lady of her rank and station who was so lamentably narrow-minded on the subject of foreigners 外国人. Neither her uncle's note nor Sir Percival's increasing 增加 impatience 不耐烦 seemed to have the least effect on her. She still objected to staying a night in London, she still implored her husband not to write to the Count.

"Drop it!" said Sir Percival, rudely turning his back on us. "If you haven't sense enough to know what is best for your‧self 你自己 other people must know it for you. The arrangement 安排 is made and there is an end of it. You are only wanted to do what Miss Halcombe has done for you—-"

"Marian?" repeated her Ladyship, in a bewildered 困惑 manner; "Marian sleeping in Count Fosco's house!"

"Yes, in Count Fosco's house. She slept sleep there last night to break the journey, and you are to follow her example, and do what your uncle tells you. You are to sleep at Fosco's to-morrow night, as your sister did, to break the journey. Don't throw too many obstacles 障碍 in my way! don't make me repent of letting you go at all!"

He started to his feet, and suddenly walked out into the verandah through the open glass doors.

"Will your lady‧ship 女士‧船 excuse me," I whispered, "if I suggest that we had better not wait here till Sir Percival comes back? I am very much afraid he is over-excited with wine."

She consented 同意 to leave the room in a weary 厌倦, absent 缺席的 manner.

As soon as we were safe upstairs 楼上 again, I did all I could to compose her lady‧ship 女士‧船's spirits. I reminded her that Mr. Fairlie's letters to Miss Halcombe and to her‧self 她自己 did certainly sanction 制裁, and even render 给予 necessary, sooner or later, the course that had been taken. She agreed to this, and even admitted, of her own accord, that both letters were strictly 严格的 in character with her uncle's peculiar 奇怪的 disposition 性格—but her fears about Miss Halcombe, and her unaccountable dread 恐惧 of sleeping at the Count's house in London, still remained unshaken in spite of every consideration 考虑 that I could urge. I thought it my duty to protest 抗议 against Lady Glyde's unfavourable opinion of his lord‧ship 贵族身份, and I did so, with becoming forbearance and respect.

"Your lady‧ship 女士‧船 will pardon 宽恕；说啥？ my freedom," I remarked, in conclusion 结论, "but it is said, 'by their fruits ye shall know them.' I am sure the Count's constant 不变 kindness 善良 and constant 不变 attention, from the very beginning of Miss Halcombe's illness 疾病, merit 值得 our best confidence 信心 and esteem 尊重. Even his lord‧ship 贵族身份's serious misunderstanding 误解 with Mr. Dawson was entirely attributable 归属 to his anxiety on Miss Halcombe's account."

"What misunderstanding 误解?" inquired her lady‧ship 女士‧船, with a look of sudden interest.

I related the unhappy 不快乐 circumstances 环境 under which Mr. Dawson had withdrawn his attendance 勤—mentioning them all the more readily because I disapproved 不赞成 of Sir Percival's continuing to conceal 隐藏 what had happened (as he had done in my presence) from the knowledge of Lady Glyde.

Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 started up, with every appearance of being additionally 另外 agitated 激荡 and alarmed by what I had told her.

"Worse! worse than I thought!" she said, walking about the room, in a bewildered 困惑 manner. "The Count knew Mr. Dawson would never consent 同意 to Marian's taking a journey—he purposely insulted 侮辱 the doctor to get him out of the house."

"Oh, my lady! my lady!" I remonstrated.

"Mrs. Michelson!" she went on vehemently, "no words that ever were spoken will persuade 说服 me that my sister is in that man's power and in that man's house with her own consent 同意. My horror 恐怖 of him is such, that nothing Sir Percival could say and no letters my uncle could write, would induce 促使 me, if I had only my own feelings to consult 5, to eat, drink, or sleep under his roof. But my misery 痛苦 of suspense 悬念 about Marian gives me the courage to follow her any‧where 任何地方, to follow her even into Count Fosco's house."

I thought it right, at this point, to mention that Miss Halcombe had already gone on to Cumberland, according to Sir Percival's account of the matter.

"I am afraid to believe it!" answered her lady‧ship 女士‧船. "I am afraid she is still in that man's house. If I am wrong, if she has really gone on to Limmeridge, I am resolved 解决 I will not sleep to-morrow night under Count Fosco's roof. My dearest friend in the world, next to my sister, lives near London. You have heard me, you have heard Miss Halcombe, speak of Mrs. Vesey? I mean to write, and propose to sleep at her house. I don't know how I shall get there—I don't know how I shall avoid the Count—but to that refuge 避难所 I will escape in some way, if my sister has gone to Cumberland. All I ask of you to do, is to see your‧self 你自己 that my letter to Mrs. Vesey goes to London to-night, as certainly as Sir Percival's letter goes to Count Fosco. I have reasons for not trusting the post-bag downstairs 楼下. Will you keep my secret, and help me in this? it is the last favour, perhaps, that I shall ever ask of you."

I hesitated, I thought it all very strange, I almost feared that her lady‧ship 女士‧船's mind had been a little affected 影响 by recent anxiety and suffering. At my own risk, however, I ended by giving my consent 同意. If the letter had been addressed to a stranger, or to any one but a lady so well known to me by report as Mrs. Vesey, I might have refused. I thank God—looking to what happened after‧ward 之后—I thank God I never thwarted 阻挠 that wish, or any other, which Lady Glyde expressed to me, on the last day of her residence 住宅 at Blackwater Park.

The letter was written and given into my hands. I myself 我 put it into the post-box in the village that evening.

We saw nothing more of Sir Percival for the rest of the day.

I slept, by Lady Glyde's own desire, in the next room to hers, with the door open between us. There was something so strange and dreadful 可怕 in the loneliness 孤单 and emptiness 空虚 of the house, that I was glad, on my side, to have a companion 同伴 near me. Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 sat up late, reading letters and burning them, and emptying her drawers 抽屉 and cabinets 内阁 of little things she prized 奖赏, as if she never expected to return to Blackwater Park. Her sleep was sadly disturbed when she at last went to bed—she cried out in it several times, once so loud that she woke 醒:wake her‧self 她自己. Whatever her dreams were, she did not think fit to communicate 通信 them to me. Perhaps, in my situation, I had no right to expect that she should do so. It matters little now. I was sorry for her, I was indeed heartily 爽朗 sorry for her all the same.

The next day was fine and sunny 晴朗. Sir Percival came up, after breakfast, to tell us that the chaise would be at the door at a quarter to twelve 十二—the train to London stopping at our station at twenty 二十 minutes after. He informed Lady Glyde that he was obliged 责成 to go out, but added that he hoped to be back before she left. If any unforeseen accident delayed him, I was to accompany 陪 her to the station, and to take special care that she was in time for the train. Sir Percival communicated 通信 these directions very hastily 草草—walking here and there about the room all the time. Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 looked attentively after him wherever 随地 he went. He never once looked at her in return.

She only spoke when he had done, and then she stopped him as he approached the door, by holding out her hand.

"I shall see you no more," she said, in a very marked manner. "This is our parting—our parting, it may be for ever. Will you try to forgive me, Percival, as heartily 爽朗 as I forgive you?"

His face turned of an awful 糟糕的 whiteness all over, and great beads 珠子 of perspiration broke out on his bald 秃 fore‧head 前额. "I shall come back," he said, and made for the door, as hastily 草草 as if his wife's fare‧well 告别 words had frightened him out of the room.

I had never liked Sir Percival, but the manner in which he left Lady Glyde made me feel ashamed 惭愧的 of having eaten his bread 面包 and lived in his service. I thought of saying a few comforting and Christian words to the poor lady, but there was something in her face, as she looked after her husband when the door closed on him, that made me alter 改变 my mind and keep silence.

At the time named the chaise drew draw up at the gates 门. Her lady‧ship 女士‧船 was right—Sir Percival never came back. I waited for him till the last moment, and waited in vain 徒劳的.

No positive 正 responsibility 责任 lay on my shoulders, and yet I did not feel easy in my mind. "It is of your own free will," I said, as the chaise drove drive through the lodge 存放-gates, "that your lady‧ship 女士‧船 goes to London?"

"I will go any‧where 任何地方," she answered, "to end the dreadful 可怕 suspense 悬念 that I am suffering at this moment."

She had made me feel almost as anxious and as uncertain 不确定 about Miss Halcombe as she felt her‧self 她自己. I presumed 假设 to ask her to write me a line, if all went well in London. She answered, "Most willingly 甘心, Mrs. Michelson."

"We all have our crosses to bear, my lady," I said, seeing her silent and thoughtful 周到, after she had promised to write.

She made no reply—she seemed to be too much wrapped 包 up in her own thoughts to attend to me.

"I fear your lady‧ship 女士‧船 rested badly 很糟地 last night," I remarked, after waiting a little.

"Yes," she said, "I was terribly disturbed by dreams."

"Indeed, my lady?" I thought she was going to tell me her dreams, but no, when she spoke next it was only to ask a question.

"You posted the letter to Mrs. Vesey with your own hands?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Did Sir Percival say, yesterday, that Count Fosco was to meet me at the terminus in London?"

"He did, my lady."

She sighed 叹 heavily 很大，沉重地 when I answered that last question, and said no more.

We arrived at the station, with hardly two minutes to spare. The gardener (who had driven us) managed about the luggage 行李, while I took the ticket 票. The whistle 吹口哨 of the train was sounding when I joined her lady‧ship 女士‧船 on the platform 平台. She looked very strangely, and pressed her hand over her heart, as if some sudden pain or fright 恐怖 had over‧come 战胜 her at that moment.

"I wish you were going with me!" she said, catching eagerly at my arm when I gave her the ticket.

If there had been time, if I had felt the day before as I felt then, I would have made my arrangements 安排 to accompany 陪 her, even though the doing so had obliged 责成 me to give Sir Percival warning on the spot. As it was, her wishes, expressed at the last moment only, were expressed too late for me to comply 执行 with them. She seemed to understand this her‧self 她自己 before I could explain it, and did not repeat her desire to have me for a travelling companion 同伴. The train drew up at the platform 平台. She gave the gardener a present for his children, and took my hand, in her simple hearty 爽朗 manner, before she got into the carriage 运输.

"You have been very kind to me and to my sister," she said—"kind when we were both friend‧less 朋友‧少. I shall remember you gratefully 感激的, as long as I live to remember any one. Good-bye 再见—and God bless 祝福 you!"

She spoke those words with a tone 音 and a look which brought the tears into my eyes—she spoke them as if she was bidding me fare‧well 告别 for ever.

"Good-bye 再见, my lady," I said, putting her into the carriage 3, and trying to cheer 欢呼 her; "good-bye 再见, for the present only; good-bye 再见, with my best and kindest wishes for happier times."

She shook her head, and shuddered 不寒而栗 as she settled her‧self 她自己 in the carriage. The guard closed the door. "Do you believe in dreams?" she whispered to me at the window. "My dreams, last night, were dreams I have never had before. The terror 恐怖 of them is hanging over me still." The whistle 吹口哨 sounded before I could answer, and the train moved. Her pale quiet face looked at me for the last time—looked sorrow‧fully 悲痛‧完全地 and solemnly from the window. She waved her hand, and I saw her no more.

Towards five o'clock on the afternoon of that same day, having a little time to myself 我 in the midst 中间 of the house‧hold 家庭 duties which now pressed upon me, I sat down alone in my own room, to try and compose my mind with the volume 卷 of my husband's Sermons. For the first time in my life I found my attention wandering over those pious and cheering words. Concluding that Lady Glyde's departure 离开 must have disturbed me far more seriously than I had myself 我 supposed, I put the book aside, and went out to take a turn in the garden. Sir Percival had not yet returned, to my knowledge, so I could feel no hesitation 犹豫 about showing myself 我 in the grounds.

On turning the corner of the house, and gaining a view of the garden, I was startled 惊吓 by seeing a stranger walking in it. The stranger was a woman—she was lounging 休息室 along the path 小路 with her back to me, and was gathering the flowers.

As I approached she heard me, and turned round.

My blood curdled in my veins 静脉. The strange woman in the garden was Mrs. Rubelle!

I could neither move nor speak. She came up to me, as composedly as ever, with her flowers in her hand.

"What is the matter, ma 嘛'am?" she said quietly.

"You here!" I gasped 喘气 out. "Not gone to London! Not gone to Cumberland!"

Mrs. Rubelle smelt at her flowers with a smile of malicious 恶毒 pity 怜悯.

"Certainly not," she said. "I have never left Blackwater Park."

I summoned 召唤 breath enough and courage enough for another question.

"Where is Miss Halcombe?"

Mrs. Rubelle fairly laughed at me this time, and replied in these words—

"Miss Halcombe, ma 嘛'am, has not left Blackwater Park either."

When I heard that astounding 惊奇 answer, all my thoughts were startled 惊吓 back on the instant 瞬间 to my parting with Lady Glyde. I can hardly say I reproached 责备 myself 我, but at that moment I think I would have given many a year's hard savings to have known four hours earlier what I knew now.

Mrs. Rubelle waited, quietly arranging her nose‧gay 鼻子‧快乐的, as if she expected me to say something.

I could say nothing. I thought of Lady Glyde's worn wear-out energies 能源 and weakly health, and I trembled for the time when the shock of the discovery 发现 that I had made would fall on her. For a minute or more my fears for the poor ladies silenced me. At the end of that time Mrs. Rubelle looked up sideways 侧身 from her flowers, and said, "Here is Sir Percival, ma 嘛'am, returned from his ride."

I saw him as soon as she did. He came towards us, slashing 削减 viciously 恶毒 at the flowers with his riding-whip 鞭打. When he was near enough to see my face he stopped, struck at his boot 靴；鞋 with the whip, and burst 爆裂 out laughing, so harshly 粗暴地 and so violently that the birds flew fly away, startled 惊吓, from the tree by which he stood.

"Well, Mrs. Michelson," he said, "you have found it out at last, have you?"

I made no reply. He turned to Mrs. Rubelle.

"When did you show your‧self 你自己 in the garden?"

"I showed myself 我 about half an hour ago, sir. You said I might take my liberty 自由 again as soon as Lady Glyde had gone away to London."

"Quite right. I don't blame you—I only asked the question." He waited a moment, and then addressed himself once more to me. "You can't believe it, can you?" he said mockingly. "Here! come along and see for your‧self 你自己."

He led the way round to the front of the house. I followed him, and Mrs. Rubelle followed me. After passing through the iron 铁器 gates he stopped, and pointed with hiswhip 鞭打 to the disused middle wing 翅膀 of the building.

"There!" he said. "Look up at the first floor. You know the old Elizabethan bedrooms? Miss Halcombe is snug and safe in one of the best of them at this moment. Take her in, Mrs. Rubelle (you have got your key?); take Mrs. Michelson in, and let her own eyes satisfy her that there is no deception 骗局 this time."

The tone 音 in which he spoke to me, and the minute or two that had passed since we left the garden, helped me to recover 恢复 my spirits a little. What I might have done at this critical 危急 moment, if all my life had been passed in service, I cannot say. As it was, possessing 拥有 the feelings, the principles 原理, and the bringing up of a lady, I could not hesitate 犹豫 about the right course to pursue 追求. My duty to myself 我, and my duty to Lady Glyde, alike 同样的 forbade me to remain in the employment 雇用 of a man who had shamefully 可耻 deceived 欺诈 us both by a series 系列 of atrocious falsehoods.

"I must beg per‧mission 允许, Sir Percival, to speak a few words to you in private," I said. "Having done so, I shall be ready to proceed 继续 with this person to Miss Halcombe's room."

Mrs. Rubelle, whom 5 I had indicated 表明 by a slight turn of my head, insolently sniffed 吸气 at her nose‧gay 鼻子‧快乐的 and walked away, with great deliberation 审议, towards the house door.

"Well," said Sir Percival sharply, "what is it now?"

"I wish to mention, sir, that I am desirous of resigning the situation I now hold at Blackwater Park." That was literally 按照字面 how I put it. I was resolved 解决 that the first words spoken in his presence should be words which expressed my intention to leave his service.

He eyed me with one of his blackest looks, and thrust 推力 his hands savagely 野蛮人 into the pockets of his riding-coat.

"Why?" he said, "why, I should like to know?"

"It is not for me, Sir Percival, to express an opinion on what has taken place in this house. I desire to give no offence. I merely wish to say that I do not feel it consistent 一贯 with my duty to Lady Glyde and to myself 我 to remain any longer in your service."

"Is it consistent 一贯 with your duty to me to stand there, casting 种姓 suspicion 3 on me to my face?" he broke out in his most violent manner. "I see what you're driving at. You have taken your own mean, under‧hand 在…下面‧手 view of an innocent 无辜 deception 骗局 practised on Lady Glyde for her own good. It was essential to her health that she should have a change of air immediately, and you know as well as I do she would never have gone away if she had been told Miss Halcombe was still left here. She has been deceived in her own interests—and I don't care who knows it. Go, if you like—there are plenty of house‧keeper 管家 as good as you to be had for the asking. Go when you please—but take care how you spread scandals 丑闻 about me and my affairs when you're out of my service. Tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, or it will be the worse for you! See Miss Halcombe for your‧self 你自己—see if she hasn't been as well taken care of in one part of the house as in the other. Remember the doctor's own orders that Lady Glyde was to have a change of air at the earliest possible opportunity. Bear all that well in mind, and then say anything against me and my proceedings 继续 if you dare 敢!"

He poured 淋；倒 out these words fiercely, all in a breath, walking backwards and forwards, and striking about him in the air with his whip 3.

Nothing that he said or did shook my opinion of the disgraceful series 系列 of falsehoods that he had told in my presence the day before, or of the cruel 残酷的 deception 骗局 by which he had separated Lady Glyde from her sister, and had sent her use‧less 无用 to London, when she was half distracted 转移 with anxiety on Miss Halcombe's account. I naturally 4 kept these thoughts to myself 我, and said nothing more to irritate 刺激 him; but I was not the less resolved 解决 to persist 坚持 in my purpose. A soft answer turneth away wrath 愤怒, and I sup‧press 压制 my own feelings accordingly 于是 when it was my turn to reply.

"While I am in your service, Sir Percival," I said, "I hope I know my duty well enough not to inquire into your motives 动机. When I am out of your service, I hope I know my own place well enough not to speak of matters which don't concern me—"

"When do you want to go?" he asked, interrupting me without ceremony 典礼. "Don't suppose I am anxious to keep you—don't suppose I care about your leaving the house. I am perfectly fair and open in this matter, from first to last. When do you want to go?"

"I should wish to leave at your earliest convenience 方便, Sir Percival."

"My convenience has nothing to do with it. I shall be out of the house for good and all to-morrow morning, and I can settle your accounts to-night. If you want to study anybody's convenience, it had better be Miss Halcombe's. Mrs. Rubelle's time is up to-day, and she has reasons for wishing to be in London to-night. If you go at once, Miss Halcombe won't have a soul left here to look after her."

I hope it is unnecessary 不必要 for me to say that I was quite incapable 无法 of deserting 沙漠；抛弃 Miss Halcombe in such an emergency 急 as had now befallen Lady Glyde and her‧self 她自己. After first distinctly 历历 ascertaining 探明 from Sir Percival that Mrs. Rubelle was certain to leave at once if I took her place, and after also obtaining 获得 permission 3 to arrange for Mr. Dawson's resuming 恢复 his attendance 勤 on his patient, I willingly 甘心 consented 同意 to remain at Blackwater Park until Miss Halcombe no longer required my services. It was settled that I should give Sir Percival's solicitor 律师 a week's notice before I left, and that he was to under‧take 承担 the necessary arrangements 安排 for appointing my successor 接班人. The matter was discussed in very few words. At its conclusion 结论 Sir Percival abruptly 突然 turned on his heel 脚跟, and left me free to join Mrs. Rubelle. That singular 单数 foreign person had been sitting composedly on the door-step all this time, waiting till I could follow her to Miss Halcombe's room.

I had hardly walked half-way towards the house when Sir Percival, who had withdrawn in the opposite direction, suddenly stopped and called me back.

"Why are you leaving my service?" he asked.

The question was so extraordinary, after what had just passed between us, that I hardly knew what to say in answer to it.

"Mind! I don't know why you are going," he went on. "You must give a reason for leaving me, I suppose, when you get another situation. What reason? The breaking up of the family? Is that it?"

"There can be no positive 正 objection, Sir Percival, to that reason——"

"Very well! That's all I want to know. If people apply for your character, that's your reason, stated by your‧self 你自己. You go in consequence 后果 of the breaking up of the family."

He turned away again before I could say another word, and walked out rapidly into the grounds. His manner was as strange as his language. I acknowledge 确认 he alarmed me.

Even the patience 耐心 of Mrs. Rubelle was getting exhausted 排气, when I joined her at the house door.

"At last!" she said, with a shrug 耸 of her lean foreign shoulders. She led the way into the inhabited 居住于 side of the house, ascended 登 the stairs, and opened with her key the door at the end of the passage, which communicated 通信 with the old Elizabethan rooms—a door never previously 先前 used, in my time, at Blackwater Park. The rooms themselves I knew well, having entered them myself 我 on various occasions from the other side of the house. Mrs. Rubelle stopped at the third door along the old gallery 画廊, handed me the key of it, with the key of the door of communication 通讯, and told me I should find Miss Halcombe in that room. Before I went in I thought it desirable 合意 to make her understand that her attendance 勤 had ceased 停止. Accordingly, I told her in plain words that the charge of the sick lady hence‧forth 今后 devolved entirely on myself 我.

"I am glad to hear it, ma 嘛'am," said Mrs. Rubelle. "I want to go very much."

"Do you leave to-day?" I asked, to make sure of her.

"Now that you have taken charge, ma 嘛'am, I leave in half an hour's time. Sir Percival has kindly placed at my disposition 性格 the gardener, and the chaise, whenever I want them. I shall want them in half an hour's time to go to the station. I am packed up in anticipation 预期 already. I wish you good-day, ma 嘛'am."

She dropped a brisk 轻快 curtsey, and walked back along the gallery 画廊, humming 哼 a little tune 曲调, and keeping time to it cheerfully 乐意 with the nose‧gay 鼻子‧快乐的 in her hand. I am sincerely thankful 感谢 to say that was the last I saw of Mrs. Rubelle.

When I went into the room Miss Halcombe was asleep 睡着的. I looked at her anxiously, as she lay in the dismal 惨淡, high, old-fashioned bed. She was certainly not in any respect altered for the worse since I had seen her last. She had not been neglected, I am bound to admit, in any way that I could perceive 认为. The room was dreary 凄凉, and dusty 尘土飞扬, and dark, but the window (looking on a solitary 孤 court-yard at the back of the house) was opened to let in the fresh air, and all that could be done to make the place comfort‧able 舒服；自在 had been done. The whole cruelty 残酷 of Sir Percival's deception 骗局 had fallen on poor Lady Glyde. The only ill-usage 用法 which either he or Mrs. Rubelle had inflicted 造成 on Miss Halcombe consisted 组成, so far as I could see, in the first offence of hiding her away.

I stole back, leaving the sick lady still peacefully 安然 asleep 3, to give the gardener instructions 指令 about bringing the doctor. I begged the man, after he had taken Mrs. Rubelle to the station, to drive round by Mr. Dawson's, and leave a message in my name, asking him to call and see me. I knew he would come on my account, and I knew he would remain when he found Count Fosco had left the house.

In due course of time the gardener returned, and said that he had driven round by Mr. Dawson's residence 住宅, after leaving Mrs. Rubelle at the station. The doctor sent me word that he was poorly in health himself, but that he would call, if possible, the next morning.

Having delivered his message the gardener was about to with‧draw 撤回, but I stopped him to request that he would come back before dark, and sit up that night, in one of the empty bedrooms, so as to be within call in case I wanted him. He understood readily enough my unwillingness 不愿意 to be left alone all night in the most desolate 荒凉 part of that desolate 荒凉 house, and we arranged that he should come in between eight 八 and nine 九.

He came punctually, and I found cause to be thankful 感谢 that I had adopted the pre‧caution 预防 of calling him in. Before mid‧night 午夜 Sir Percival's strange temper broke out in the most violent and most alarming manner, and if the gardener had not been on the spot to pacify him on the instant, I am afraid to think what might have happened.

Almost all the afternoon and evening he had been walking about the house and grounds in an unsettled 搞糟, excitable manner, having, in all probability 可能性, as I thought, taken an excessive 过度的 quantity 量 of wine at his solitary 孤 dinner. However that may be, I heard his voice calling loudly and angrily in the new wing of the house, as I was taking a turn backwards and forwards along the gallery 画廊 the last thing at night. The gardener immediately ran down to him, and I closed the door of communication 通讯, to keep the alarm 4, if possible, from reaching Miss Halcombe's ears. It was full half an hour before the gardener came back. He declared that his master was quite out of his senses—not through the excitement 激动 of drink, as I had supposed, but through a kind of panic 恐慌 or frenzy 发狂 of mind, for which it was impossible to account. He had found Sir Percival walking backwards and forwards by himself in the hall, swearing 发誓, with every appearance of the most violent passion 激情，热情；强烈情感, that he would not stop another minute alone in such a dungeon as his own house, and that he would take the first stage of his journey immediately in the middle of the night. The gardener, on approaching him, had been hunted out, with oaths 誓言 and threats 威胁, to get the horse and chaise ready instantly. In a quarter of an hour Sir Percival had joined him in the yard, had jumped into the chaise, and, lashing 睫毛 the horse into a gallop 驰骋, had driven himself away, with his face as pale as ashes 灰 in the moon‧light 月光. The gardener had heard him shouting and cursing 诅咒 at the lodge 3-keeper to get up and open the gate 门—had heard the wheels roll furiously 疯狂 on again in the still night, when the gate was unlocked 开锁—and knew no more.

The next day, or a day or two after, I forget which, the chaise was brought back from Knowlesbury, our nearest town, by the ostler at the old inn. Sir Percival had stopped there, and had after‧ward 之后 left by the train—for what destination 目的地 the man could not tell. I never received any further information, either from himself or from any one else, of Sir Percival's proceedings 继续, and I am not even aware 知道的, at this moment, whether he is in England or out of it. He and I have not met since he drove away like an escaped criminal 罪犯 from his own house, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that we may never meet again.

My own part of this sad family story is now drawing to an end.

I have been informed that the particulars of Miss Halcombe's waking 醒, and of what passed between us when she found me sitting by her bed‧side 床头, are not material to the purpose which is to be answered by the present narrative 叙述. It will be sufficient 足够 for me to say in this place, that she was not her‧self 她自己 conscious of the means adopted to remove 去掉 her from the inhabited 居住于 to the uninhabited part of the house. She was in a deep sleep at the time, whether naturally 5 or artificially 人造的 produced she could not say. In my absence at Torquay, and in the absence of all the resident 居民 servants except Margaret Porcher (who was perpetually 永动的 eating, drinking, or sleeping, when she was not at work), the secret transfer 转让 of Miss Halcombe from one part of the house to the other was no doubt easily performed. Mrs. Rubelle (as I discovered for myself 我, in looking about the room) had provisions 规定, and all other necessaries, together with the means of heating water, broth, and so on, without kindling a fire, placed at her disposal 处置 during the few days of her imprisonment 徒刑 with the sick lady. She had declined 下降 to answer the questions which Miss Halcombe naturally put, but had not, in other respects, treated her with unkindness or neglect 疏忽. The disgrace 耻辱 of lending 把…借给 her‧self 她自己 to a vile deception 骗局 is the only disgrace 耻辱 with which I can conscientiously 有良心 charge Mrs. Rubelle.

I need write no particulars (and I am relieved to know it) of the effect produced on Miss Halcombe by the news of Lady Glyde's departure 离开, or by the far more melancholy 愁绪 tidings 潮汐 which reached us only too soon after‧ward 之后 at Blackwater Park. In both cases I prepared her mind before‧hand 预先 as gently and as carefully 小心 as possible, having the doctor's advice to guide me, in the last case only, through Mr. Dawson's being too unwell to come to the house for some days after I had sent for him. It was a sad time, a time which it afflicts 折磨 me to think of or to write of now. The precious 宝贵的 blessings of religious 宗教 consolation 安慰 which I endeavoured to convey 传达 were long in reaching Miss Halcombe's heart, but I hope and believe they came home to her at last. I never left her till her strength was restored. The train which took me away from that miserable 3 house was the train which took her away also. We parted very mourn‧fully 悼‧完全地 in London. I remained with a relative at Islington, and she went on to Mr. Fairlie's house in Cumberland.

I have only a few lines more to write before I close this painful 痛苦 statement 声明. They are dictated 听写 by a sense of duty.

In the first place, I wish to record my own personal 个人 conviction 定罪 that no blame whatever, in connection with the events which I have now related, attaches 连接 to Count Fosco. I am informed that a dreadful 可怕 suspicion has been raised, and that some very serious constructions 施工 are placed upon his lord‧ship 贵族身份's conduct 进行. My persuasion 劝说 of the Count's innocence 无辜 remains, however, quite unshaken. If he assisted Sir Percival in sending me to Torquay, he assisted under a delusion 妄想, for which, as a foreigner and a stranger, he was not to blame. If he was concerned in bringing Mrs. Rubelle to Blackwater Park, it was his misfortune 不幸 and not his fault, when that foreign person was base enough to assist 帮助；协助；援助 a deception 骗局 planned and carried out by the master of the house. I protest 抗议, in the interests of morality 道德, against blame being gratuitously and want‧only 想要‧仅仅；唯一的 attached 连接 to the proceedings 继续 of the Count.

In the second place, I desire to express my regret at my own inability 无力 to remember the precise 精确 day on which Lady Glyde left Blackwater Park for London. I am told that it is of the last importance to ascertain 探明 the exact date of that lament‧able 哀叹‧能够的 journey, and I have anxiously taxed my memory to recall 召回 it. The effort has been in vain 徒劳的. I can only remember now that it was towards the latter part of July. We all know the difficulty, after a lapse 失误 of time, of fixing precisely 精确地 on a past date unless it has been previously 先前 written down. That difficulty is greatly increased in my case by the alarming and confusing events which took place about the period of Lady Glyde's departure 离开. I heartily 爽朗 wish I had made a memorandum 备忘录 at the time. I heartily 爽朗 wish my memory of the date was as vivid 生动 as my memory of that poor lady's face, when it looked at me sorrow‧fully 悲痛‧完全地 for the last time from the carriage window.

THE STORY CONTINUED IN SEVERAL NARRATIVES

1. THE NARRATIVE OF HESTER PINHORN,
COOK IN THE SERVICE OF COUNT FOSCO

[Taken down from her own statement]

I am sorry to say that I have never learnt learn to read or write. I have been a hard-working woman all my life, and have kept a good character. I know that it is a sin 罪 and wickedness to say the thing which is not, and I will truly 真 beware 谨防 of doing so on this occasion. All that I know I will tell, and I humbly beg the gentleman who takes this down to put my language right as he goes on, and to make allowances for my being no scholar 学者.

In this last summer I happened to be out of place (through no fault of my own), and I heard of a situation as plain cook, at Number Five, Forest Road, St. John's Wood. I took the place on trial. My master's name was Fosco. My mistress 情妇 was an English lady. He was Count and she was Countess. There was a girl to do house‧maid 房屋‧女佣's work when I got there. She was not over-clean or tidy 整洁的, but there was no harm 3 in her. I and she were the only servants in the house.

Our master and mistress 情妇 came after we got in; and as soon as they did come we were told, downstairs 楼下, that company was expected from the country.

The company was my mistress 情妇's niece, and the back bedroom on the first floor was got ready for her. My mistress 情妇 mentioned to me that Lady Glyde (that was her name) was in poor health, and that I must be particular in my cooking accordingly 于是. She was to come that day, as well as I can remember—but whatever you do, don't trust my memory in the matter. I am sorry to say it's no use asking me about days of the month, and such-like. Except Sundays, half my time I take no heed of them, being a hard-working woman and no scholar 学者. All I know is Lady Glyde came, and when she did come, a fine fright 恐怖 she gave us all surely. I don't know how master brought her to the house, being hard at work at the time. But he did bring her in the afternoon, I think, and the house‧maid 房屋‧女佣 opened the door to them, and showed them into the parlour. Before she had been long down in the kitchen again with me, we heard a hurry-skurry upstairs 楼上, and the parlourbell 钟 ringing like mad, and my mistress 情妇's voice calling out for help.

We both ran up, and there we saw the lady laid on the sofa 沙发, with her face ghastly 阴森 white, and her hands fast clenched 咬紧, and her head drawn down to one side. She had been taken with a sudden fright, my mistress 情妇 said, and master he told us she was in a fit of convulsions. I ran out, knowing the neighbourhood a little better than the rest of them, to fetch 取 the nearest doctor's help. The nearest help was at Goodricke's and Garth's, who worked together as partners 伙伴, and had a good name and connection, as I have heard, all round St. John's Wood. Mr. Goodricke was in, and he came back with me directly.

It was some time before he could make himself of much use. The poor unfortunate 不幸的 lady fell out of one fit into another, and went on so till she was quite wearied 厌倦 out, and as help‧less 无助 as a new-born babe 孩儿. We then got her to bed. Mr. Goodricke went away to his house for medicine, and came back again in a quarter of an hour or less. Besides the medicine he brought a bit of hollow 空的 mahogany 桃花心木 wood with him, shaped like a kind of trumpet 喇叭, and after waiting a little while, he put one end over the lady's heart and the other to his ear, and listened carefully 小心.

When he had done he says to my mistress 情妇, who was in the room, "This is a very serious case," he says, "I recommend you to write to Lady Glyde's friends directly." My mistress 情妇 says to him, "Is it heart-disease?" And he says, "Yes, heart-disease of a most dangerous 危险 kind." He told her exactly what he thought was the matter, which I was not clever 聪明的 enough to understand. But I know this, he ended by saying that he was afraid neither his help nor any other doctor's help was likely to be of much service.

My mistress 情妇 took this ill news more quietly than my master. He was a big, fat, odd 奇 sort of elderly man, who kept birds and white mice, and spoke to them as if they were so many Christian children. He seemed terribly cut up by what had happened. "Ah! poor Lady Glyde! poor dear Lady Glyde!" he says, and went stalking 茎 about, wringing 拧 his fat hands more like a play-actor 演员 than a gentleman. For one question my mistress 情妇 asked the doctor about the lady's chances of getting round, he asked a good fifty 五十 at least. I declare he quite tormented 折磨 us all, and when he was quiet at last, out he went into the bit of back garden, picking trumpery little nosegays, and asking me to take them upstairs 楼上 and make the sick-room look pretty with them. As if that did any good. I think he must have been, at times, a little soft in his head. But he was not a bad master—he had a monstrous 滔天 civil 国内 tongue 舌头 of his own, and a jolly 欢乐, easy, coaxing 哄 way with him. I liked him a deal better than my mistress 情妇. She was a hard one, if ever there was a hard one yet.

Towards night-time the lady roused 唤醒 up a little. She had been so wearied 厌倦 out, before that, by the convulsions, that she never stirred 搅动 hand or foot, or spoke a word to anybody. She moved in the bed now, and stared about her at the room and us in it. She must have been a nice-looking lady when well, with light hair, and blue eyes and all that. Her rest was troubled at night—at least so I heard from my mistress 情妇, who sat up alone with her. I only went in once before going to bed to see if I could be of any use, and then she was talking to her‧self 她自己 in a confused, rambling 漫谈 manner. She seemed to want sadly to speak to somebody who was absent 缺席的 from her somewhere. I couldn't catch the name the first time, and the second time master knocked at the door, with his regular mouthful of questions, and another of his trumpery nosegays.

When I went in early the next morning, the lady was clean worn out again, and lay in a kind of faint 微弱的 sleep. Mr. Goodricke brought his partner, Mr. Garth, with him to advise. They said she must not be disturbed out of her rest on any account. They asked my mistress 情妇 many questions, at the other end of the room, about what the lady's health had been in past times, and who had attended her, and whether she had ever suffered much and long together under distress 苦难 of mind. I remember my mistress 情妇 said "Yes" to that last question. And Mr. Goodricke looked at Mr. Garth, and shook his head; and Mr. Garth looked at Mr. Goodricke, and shook his head. They seemed to think that the distress 苦难 might have something to do with the mischief 恶作剧 at the lady's heart. She was but a frail 脆弱 thing to look at, poor creature! Very little strength at any time, I should say—very little strength.

Later on the same morning, when she woke, the lady took a sudden turn, and got seemingly 似乎 a great deal better. I was not let in again to see her, no more was the house‧maid 房屋‧女佣, for the reason that she was not to be disturbed by strangers 陌生人. What I heard of her being better was through my master. He was in wonderful 精彩 good spirits about the change, and looked in at the kitchen window from the garden, with his great big curly 卷曲-brimmed 边 white hat on, to go out.

"Good Mrs. Cook," says he, "Lady Glyde is better. My mind is more easy than it was, and I am going out to stretch my big legs with a sunny 晴朗 little summer walk. Shall I order for you, shall I market for you, Mrs. Cook? What are you making there? A nice tart 酸 for dinner? Much crust 脆皮, if you please—much crisp 脆 crust 脆皮, my dear, that melts 熔化 and crumbles 崩溃 delicious 美味的 in the mouth." That was his way. He was past sixty 六十, and fond 喜欢的 of pastry 糕点. Just think of that!

The doctor came again in the fore‧noon 前面‧正午, and saw for himself that Lady Glyde had woke up better. He forbid 禁止 us to talk to her, or to let her talk to us, in case she was that way disposed 部署, saying she must be kept quiet before all things, and encouraged to sleep as much as possible. She did not seem to want to talk whenever I saw her, except over‧night 过夜, when I couldn't make out what she was saying—she seemed too much worn down. Mr. Goodricke was not nearly in such good spirits about her as master. He said nothing when he came downstairs 楼下, except that he would call again at five o'clock.

About that time (which was before master came home again) the bell 3 rang hard from the bedroom, and my mistress 情妇 ran out into the landing, and called to me to go for Mr. Goodricke, and tell him the lady had fainted. I got on my bonnet 帽子 and shawl, when, as good luck would have it, the doctor himself came to the house for his promised visit.

I let him in, and went upstairs 楼上 along with him. "Lady Glyde was just as usual," says my mistress 情妇 to him at the door; "she was awake 醒着的, and looking about her in a strange, forlorn manner, when I heard her give a sort of half cry, and she fainted in a moment." The doctor went up to the bed, and stooped 哈腰 down over the sick lady. He looked very serious, all on a sudden, at the sight of her, and put his hand on her heart.

My mistress 情妇 stared hard in Mr. Goodricke's face. "Not dead!" says she, whispering 低声说, and turning all of a tremble 发抖 from head to foot.

"Yes," says the doctor, very quiet and grave 坟墓；严重的. "Dead. I was afraid it would happen suddenly when I examined her heart yesterday." My mistress 情妇 stepped back from the bed‧side 床头 while he was speaking, and trembled and trembled again. "Dead!" she whispers 低声说 to her‧self 她自己; "dead so suddenly! dead so soon! What will the Count say?" Mr. Goodricke advised her to go downstairs 楼下, and quiet her‧self 她自己 a little. "You have been sitting up all night," says he, "and your nerves 神经 are shaken shake. This person," says he, meaning me, "this person will stay in the room till I can send for the necessary assistance 帮助." My mistress 情妇 did as he told her. "I must prepare the Count," she says. "I must carefully 小心 prepare the Count." And so she left us, shaking from head to foot, and went out.

"Your master is a foreigner," says Mr. Goodricke, when my mistress 情妇 had left us. "Does he understand about registering 寄存器 the death?" "I can't rightly tell, sir," says I, "but I should think not." The doctor considered a minute, and then says he, "I don't usually do such things," says he, "but it may save the family trouble in this case if I register 寄存器 the death myself 我. I shall pass the district office in half an hour's time, and I can easily look in. Mention, if you please, that I will do so." "Yes, sir," says I, "with thanks, I'm sure, for your kindness 善良 in thinking of it." "You don't mind staying here till I can send you the proper person?" says he. "No, sir," says I; "I'll stay with the poor lady till then. I suppose nothing more could be done, sir, than was done?" says I. "No," says he, "nothing; she must have suffered sadly before ever I saw her—the case was hope‧less 绝望 when I was called in." "Ah, dear me! we all come to it, sooner or later, don't we, sir?" says I. He gave no answer to that—he didn't seem to care about talking. He said, "Good-day," and went out.

I stopped by the bed‧side 床头 from that time till the time when Mr. Goodricke sent the person in, as he had promised. She was, by name, Jane Gould. I considered her to be a respect‧able 可敬-looking woman. She made no remark, except to say that she understood what was wanted of her, and that she had winded a many of them in her time.

How master bore the news, when he first heard it, is more than I can tell, not having been present. When I did see him he looked awfully 糟糕的 over‧come 战胜 by it, to be sure. He sat quiet in a corner, with his fat hands hanging over his thick knees, and his head down, and his eyes looking at nothing. He seemed not so much sorry, as scared 惊恐 and dazed 迷乱 like, by what had happened. My mistress 情妇 managed all that was to be done about the funeral 葬礼. It must have cost a sight of money—the coffin 棺材, in particular, being most beautiful 美丽. The dead lady's husband was away, as we heard, in foreign parts. But my mistress 情妇 (being her aunt) settled it with her friends in the country (Cumberland, I think) that she should be buried 埋葬 there, in the same grave 坟墓；严重的 along with her mother. Everything was done hand‧some 英俊, in respect of the funeral 葬礼, I say again, and master went down to attend the burying 埋葬 in the country himself. He looked grand in his deep mourning 悼, with his big solemn 庄严的 face, and his slow walk, and his broad hat‧band 帽子‧带—that he did!

In conclusion 结论. I have to say, in answer to questions put to me—

(1) That neither I nor my fellow-servant ever saw my master give Lady Glyde any medicine himself.

(2) That he was never, to my knowledge and belief, left alone in the room with Lady Glyde.

(3) That I am not able to say what caused the sudden fright, which my mistress 情妇 informed me had seized the lady on her first coming into the house. The cause was never explained, either to me or to my fellow-servant.

The above statement 声明 has been read over in my presence. I have nothing to add to it, or to take away from it. I say, on my oath 誓言 as a Christian woman, this is the truth.

(Signed) HESTER PINHORN, Her + Mark.

2. THE NARRATIVE OF THE DOCTOR

To the Registrar of the Sub-District in which the undermentioned death took place.—I hereby 特此 certify 证明 that I attended Lady Glyde, aged Twenty-One last Birthday; that I last saw her on Thursday the 25th July 1850; that she died on the same day at No. 5 Forest Road, St. John's Wood, and that the cause of her death was Aneurism. Duration of disease not known.

(Signed) ALFRED GOODRICKE.

Prof. Title. M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A.
Address, 12 Croydon Gardens
St. John's Wood.

3. THE NARRATIVE OF JANE GOULD

I was the person sent in by Mr. Goodricke to do what was right and needful by the remains of a lady who had died at the house named in the certificate 证书 which precedes 优于 this. I found the body in charge of the servant, Hester Pinhorn. I remained with it, and prepared it at the proper time for the grave. It was laid in the coffin 棺材 in my presence, and I after‧ward 之后 saw the coffin 棺材 screwed 螺丝钉 down previous 以前 to its removal 切除. When that had been done, and not before, I received what was due to me and left the house. I refer persons who may wish to investigate 调查 my character to Mr. Goodricke. He will bear witness that I can be trusted to tell the truth.

(Signed) JANE GOULD.