马斯格雷夫礼典09

“‘“He is gone. No one has seen him. He is not in his room. Oh, yes, he is  gone, he is gone!” She fell back against the wall with shriek¹ after shriek of  laughter, while I, horrified² at this sudden hysterical³ attack, rushed to the  bell to summon help. The girl was taken to her room, still screaming and  sobbing⁴, while I made inquiries⁵ about Brunton. There was no doubt about it that  he had disappeared. His bed had not been slept in, he had been seen by no one  since he had retired⁶ to his room the night before, and yet it was difficult to  see how he could have left the house, as both windows and doors were found to be  fastened in the morning. His clothes, his watch, and even his money were in his  room, but the black suit which he usually wore was missing. His slippers⁷, too,  were gone, but his boots were left behind. Where then could butler Brunton have  gone in the night, and what could have become of him now?

“‘Of course we searched the house from cellar to garret, but there was no  trace of him. It is, as I have said, a labyrinth⁸ of an old house, especially the  original wing, which is now practically uninhabited; but we ransacked⁹ every room  and cellar without discovering the least sign of the missing man. It was  incredible to me that he could have gone away leaving all his property behind  him, and yet where could he be? I called in the local police, but without  success. Rain had fallen on the night before and we examined the lawn and the  paths all round the house, but in vain. Matters were in this state, when a new  development quite drew our attention away from the original mystery.

“‘For two days Rachel Howells had been so ill, sometimes delirious¹⁰, sometimes  hysterical, that a nurse had been employed to sit up with her at night. On the  third night after Brunton's disappearance¹¹, the nurse, finding her patient  sleeping nicely, had dropped into a nap in the arm-chair, when she woke in the  early morning to find the bed empty, the window open, and no signs of the  invalid¹². I was instantly aroused, and, with the two footmen, started off at once  in search of the missing girl. It was not difficult to tell the direction which  she had taken, for, starting from under her window, we could follow her  footmarks easily across the lawn to the edge of the mere¹³, where they vanished  close to the gravel¹⁴ path which leads out of the grounds. The lake there is eight  feet deep, and you can imagine our feelings when we saw that the trail of the  poor demented girl came to an end at the edge of it.

“‘她说：“他走了，没有人看见他。他不在房里。啊，是的，他走了，他走了！”雷切尔 说着，靠在墙上，发出一阵阵尖声狂笑，这种歇斯底里的突然发作，使我一毛一骨悚然，我 急忙按铃叫人帮忙。仆人们把姑一娘一搀回房去。我向她询问布伦顿的情况，她依然尖一叫 着，一抽一泣不止。毫无疑问，布伦顿确实不见了。他的一床一昨夜没有人睡过，从他前夜 回房以后，再没有人见到过他。也很难查明他是怎样离开住宅的，因为早晨门窗都是闩着的 。他的衣服、表，甚至钱钞，都在屋里原封没动，只有常穿的那套黑衣服不见了。他的拖鞋 穿走了，长统靴子却留下来。那么管家布伦顿夤夜到哪里去了呢？他现在又怎么样了呢？

“‘我们当然把整个庄园从地下室到阁楼都搜索了一遍，可是连他的影子都没有。正如我说 过的，这是一所象迷宫一样的老宅邸，特别是那些古老的厢房，现在实际上已无人居住。可 是我们反复搜查了每个房间和地下室，结果连失踪者的蛛丝马迹也没有。我很难相信他能丢 弃所有财物空手而去，再说他又能到什么地方去呢？我叫来了当地警察，但也无济无事。前 夜曾经下过雨，我们察看庄园四周的草坪与小径，依然徒劳无益。情况就是这样。后来事情 又有了新进展，把我们的注意力从这个疑一团一上引开了。

“‘雷切尔-豪厄尔斯两天来病得很厉害，有时神志昏迷，有时歇斯底里，我便雇了一个护 一士给她陪夜。在布伦顿失踪后的第三个夜晚，护一士发现病人睡得香甜，便坐在扶手椅上 打盹，第二天大清早醒来，发现病一床一上空空如也，窗户大开，病人已无影无踪。护一士 立即叫醒了我，我带领两个仆人立即出发去寻找那个失踪的姑一娘一。她的去向并不难辨认 ，因为从她窗下开始，我们可以沿着她的足迹，毫不费力地穿过草坪，来到小湖边，在这里 ，足迹就在石子路附近消失了，而这条石子路是通往宅旁园地的。这个小湖水深八英尺，我 们看到可怜的疯姑一娘一的足迹在湖边消失，当时的心情就可想而知了。

1 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

2 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

3 hysterical   

adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的

参考例句：

• He is hysterical at the sight of the photo.他一看到那张照片就异常激动。
• His hysterical laughter made everybody stunned.他那歇斯底里的笑声使所有的人不知所措。

4 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

5 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

8 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

9 ransacked   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The house had been ransacked of all that was worth anything. 屋子里所有值钱的东西都被抢去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 delirious   

adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的

参考例句：

• He was delirious,murmuring about that matter.他精神恍惚，低声叨念着那件事。
• She knew that he had become delirious,and tried to pacify him.她知道他已经神志昏迷起来了，极力想使他镇静下来。

11 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

12 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

13 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

14 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。