马斯格雷夫礼典17

“And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama? Clearly, only  one could fit into the hole, and that one was Brunton. The girl must have waited  above. Brunton then unlocked the box, handed up the contents presumably—since  they were not to be found—and then—and then what happened?

“What smouldering fire of vengeance¹ had suddenly sprung into flame in this  passionate² Celtic woman's soul when she saw the man who had wronged her—wronged  her, perhaps, far more than we suspected—in her power? Was it a chance that the  wood had slipped, and that the stone had shut Brunton into what had become his  sepulchre? Had she only been guilty of silence as to his fate? Or had some  sudden blow from her hand dashed the support away and sent the slab³ crashing  down into its place? Be that as it might, I seemed to see that woman's figure  still clutching at her treasure trove⁴ and flying wildly up the winding⁵ stair,  with her ears ringing perhaps with the muffled⁶ screams from behind her and with  the drumming of frenzied⁷ hands against the slab of stone which was choking her  faithless lover's life out.

“Here was the secret of her blanched⁸ face, her shaken nerves, her peals⁹ of  hysterical¹⁰ laughter on the next morning. But what had been in the box? What had  she done with that? Of course, it must have been the old metal and pebbles¹¹ which  my client had dragged from the mere¹². She had thrown them in there at the first  opportunity to remove the last trace of her crime.

“For twenty minutes I had sat motionless, thinking the matter out. Musgrave  still stood with a very pale face, swinging his lantern and peering down into  the hole.

“‘These are coins of Charles the First,’ said he, holding out the few which  had been in the box; ‘you see we were right in fixing our date for the Ritual. ’

“‘We may find something else of Charles the First,’ I cried, as the probable  meaning of the first two question of the Ritual broke suddenly upon me. ‘Let me  see the contents of the bag which you fished from the mere.’

“We ascended¹³ to his study, and he laid the debris¹⁴ before me. I could understand  his regarding it as of small importance when I looked at it, for the metal was  almost black and the stones lustreless¹⁵ and dull. I rubbed one of them on my  sleeve, however, and it glowed afterwards like a spark in the dark hollow of my  hand. The metal work was in the form of a double ring, but it had been bent¹⁶ and  twisted out of its original shape.

“现在的问题是我如何重现那天夜里发生的事情。很显然，这地窖只能钻进一个人，那就是 布伦顿。姑一娘一一定是在上面等候。然后布伦顿打开了木箱，把箱子里面装的东西递上去 （因为他们未被发现），后来，后来发生了什么呢？

“我想，或许那个一性一情急躁的凯尔特族姑一娘一一见亏待过她的人（或许他待她比我们 猜想的还要坏得多），可以任自己摆一布的时候，那郁积在心中的复仇怒火突然发作起来？ 或者是木头偶然滑倒，石板自己落下，把布伦顿关死在自找的石墓之中，而她的过错只是隐 瞒真情未报？还是她突然把顶木推开，让石板落回洞一口？不管是什么情况，反正在我眼前 ，似乎现出一个女人抓住宝物，拚命奔跑在曲折的阶梯上，充耳不听背后传来的闷声瓮气的 叫喊声，以及双手疯狂捶打石板的声音，正是那块石板窒死了那个对她薄幸的情一人。

“难怪第二天早晨她面色苍白，吓得发一抖，歇斯底里地笑个不停；原来秘密就在于此。可 是箱子里又是什么东西呢？这些东西和她又有什么关系呢？当然，箱子里一定是我的委托人 从湖里打捞上来的古金属和水晶石了。她一有机会就把这些东西扔到湖中，以便销赃灭迹。

“我在那里坐了二十分钟左右，一动也不动，彻底思考着案子。马斯格雷夫依然站在那里， 面色苍白，摆一动着提灯，向石洞里凝视着。

“‘这些是查理一世时代的硬币，’他从木箱中取出几枚金币，说道，‘你看，我们把礼典 写成的时间推算得完全正确。’

“‘我们还可以找到查理一世时代其他的东西，’我突然想到这个礼典的头两句问答可能是 什么涵义，便大声喊道，‘让我们来看看你从湖里捞出的口袋里装的东西吧。’

“我们回到他的书房，他把那些破烂东西摆在我面前。一见那些破烂，我就明白他并不看重 它们，因为金属几乎都变成黑色，石块也暗无光泽。然而我拿起一块用袖子擦了擦，它在我 手中，竟然象火星一样闪闪发光。金属制品样式象双环形，不过已经折弯扭曲，再不是原来 的形状了。

1 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

2 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

3 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

4 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

5 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

6 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 frenzied   

a.激怒的；疯狂的

参考例句：

• Will this push him too far and lead to a frenzied attack? 这会不会逼他太甚，导致他进行疯狂的进攻？
• Two teenagers carried out a frenzied attack on a local shopkeeper. 两名十几岁的少年对当地的一个店主进行了疯狂的袭击。

8 blanched   

v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮

参考例句：

• The girl blanched with fear when she saw the bear coming. 那女孩见熊（向她）走来，吓得脸都白了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Their faces blanched in terror. 他们的脸因恐惧而吓得发白。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 peals   

n.（声音大而持续或重复的）洪亮的响声( peal的名词复数 )；隆隆声；洪亮的钟声；钟乐v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She burst into peals of laughter. 她忽然哈哈大笑起来。
• She went into fits/peals of laughter. 她发出阵阵笑声。 来自辞典例句

10 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。

11 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

12 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。

13 ascended   

v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He has ascended into heaven. 他已经升入了天堂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The climbers slowly ascended the mountain. 爬山运动员慢慢地登上了这座山。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

15 lustreless   

adj.无光泽的，无光彩的，平淡乏味的

参考例句：

• The early autumn was lustreless and slack. 初秋的日子是黯淡、萧条的。 来自辞典例句
• The day was cool and rather lustreless; the first note of autumn had been struck. 这天天气阴凉，光线暗淡，秋色已开始来临。 来自辞典例句

16 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。