巴斯克威尔的猎犬 巴斯克维尔庄园（15）

 

I drew aside my curtains before I went to bed and looked out from my window. It openedupon the grassy space which lay in front of the hall door. Beyond, two copses of trees moaned andswung in a rising wind. A half moon broke through the rifts of racing clouds. In its cold light I sawbeyond the trees a broken fringe of rocks, and the long, low curve of the melancholy moor. Iclosed the curtain, feeling that my last impression was in keeping with the rest.

我在上床以前拉开了 窗帘， 由窗内向外眺望了一番。 这窗是向厅前草地开着的， 再远一些又有两丛树， 在愈刮愈大的风中呻吟摇摆。 由竞相奔走的云朵的缝隙之中露出了半圆的月亮。 在惨淡的月光之下， 在树林的后面， 我看到了残缺不齐的山岗边缘和绵长低洼、 缓缓起伏的阴郁的沼地。 我拉上了窗帘， 觉得我当时的印象和以先所得的印象还是一致的。

And yet it was not quite the last. I found myself weary and yet wakeful, tossing restlesslyfrom side to side, seeking for the sleep which would not come. Far away a chiming clock struckout the quarters of the hours, but otherwise a deathly silence lay upon the old house. And thensuddenly, in the very dead of the night, there came a sound to my ears, clear, resonant, andunmistakable. It was the sob of a woman, the muffled, strangling gasp of one who is torn by anuncontrollable sorrow. I sat up in bed and listened intently. The noise could not have been faraway and was certainly in the house. For half an hour I waited with every nerve on the alert, butthere came no other sound save the chiming clock and the rustle of the ivy on the wall.

可是这还不算是最后的印象呢。 我虽感疲倦， 可是又不能入睡， 辗转反侧， 愈想睡愈睡不着。 古老的房屋被死一般的沉寂笼罩了， 远处传来了报时的钟声， 一刻钟一刻钟地打着。

可是后来， 突然间， 在死寂的深夜里， 有一种声音传进了我的耳鼓， 清晰而又响亮。 决不会弄错， 是个妇女啜泣的声音， 象是一个被按捺不住的悲痛折磨着的人所发出的强忍着的和哽噎的喘息。 我在床上坐了起来， 聚精会神地听着。 这声音不可能是来自远处的， 而且可以肯定， 就是在这所房子里。 我就这样， 每根神经都紧张地等了 半小时， 可是除了 钟的敲打声和墙外常春藤的窸窣声之外， 再也没有传来别的声音。