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Half an hour later I was back at the house,informing Miss Halcombe of all that had happened.
“Strange,” she said when I had done. “That place they’re staying at is actually one of Mr. Fairlie’s farms. Why don’t you and I go to pay them a visit tomorrow, so that I may speak with Anne myself?”
We then parted for the night.
The next morning, I sent a letter to Mr. Fairlie, asking for his permission to prematurely quit Limmeridge House. He wrote back, reluctantly granting his permission.
After breakfast, Miss Halcombe and I walked over to the farm. When we arrived, I waited outside, in order not to frighten Anne Catherick any further. To my surprise, however,five minutes later Miss Halcombe reappeared.
“Anne Catherick’s gone,” she said.
“Gone?”
“She and Mrs. Clements both left the farm at eight o’clock this morning.”
I could say nothing—I could only feel that our last chance of discovery had gone with them.
“Mrs. Todd told me that, last night, after coming back from the cemetery, Anne Catherick startled the household by being suddenly seized with faintness . She had had a similar attack on the day she arrived at the farm, just after reading something in our local newspaper, which lay on their table.”
“Does Mrs. Todd know what in the paper had upset her?” I inquired.
“No,” replied Miss Halcombe. “She had looked it over,and had seen nothing in it to agitate anyone. I asked to see it, however, and found that the editor had published the announcement of my sister’s marriage engagement. This must have been the source of her anxiety .”
“And what about yesterday’s faintness?”
“Well... It seems that one of the dairy maids, who often frequents Limmeridge House, commented on the fact that Sir Percival Glyde was soon coming to pay us a visit.”
“Well then, can there be any doubt in your mind, now, Miss Halcombe?” I asked.
“Sir Percival Glyde shall remove that doubt, Mr.Hartright—or Laura Fairlie shall never be his wife.”
As we were returning to Limmeridge House, a carriage from the railway met us along the drive. An old gentleman then briskly got out and shook hands with Miss Halcombe. Mr.Gilmore had arrived.
I let the two of them go off into the house together to discuss matters. In the meantime , I wandered about the garden.
Half an hour later, Mr. Gilmore came out into the garden looking for me.
“Hello, Mr. Hartright,” said the old gentleman. “I’ve come only to thank you for all the good work you’ve done in researching this most unfortunate matter, and to reassure you that the matter will now be placed in good hands. That is to say,mine.”
“You are, in every way, Mr. Gilmore, much more qualified to advise and to act in the matter than I am. Have you decided yet on a course of proceeding?”
“I’m sending a copy of the letter to Sir Percival Glyde’s solicitor in London. The letter itself I shall keep here to show to Sir Percival as soon as he arrives. And I’ve sent a man to follow after the two fugitive women. I feel quite easy about the whole thing, however. Things of this sort happen constantly in my experience.”
“I’m afraid, Mr. Gilmore, I have to differ with you there.”
“Of course. You’re a young man, and you take the romantic view. I’m more practical. But let’s not dispute over matters now.What a charming place. Good shooting?”
We dropped into general conversation, and I soon made the first civil excuse that occurred to me for leaving Mr. Gilmore,and returned at once to the house. I was now determined to leave that night, if possible. My further presence could not serve any purpose.
Before going, however, I had one last encounter with Miss Fairlie. I was taking one final look out the drawing room window, when from behind I heard the sound of the rustling of a woman’s dress on the carpet. My heart beat violently as I turned round. Miss Fairlie was approaching me from the farther end of the room.
“Here,” she said, holding out her hand. “It may remind you of your visit here, and of the friends you leave behind you.”
She turned her head away, and offered me a little sketch,drawn throughout by her own pencil, of the summerhouse in which we had first met. The paper trembled in her hand as she held it out to me—trembled in mine as I took it from her.
“Thank you. I shall treasure it. And it is my hope that, if a time should come, when the devotion of my whole heart and soul and strength will give you a moment’s happiness, or spare you a moment’s sorrow, you will remember the poor drawing master who has taught you.”
Tears flowed fast down her cheeks. She rested one trembling hand on the table to steady herself while she gave me the other. I took it in mine—I held it fast. My tears fell on it；my lips pressed it.
“For God’s sake, leave me!” she said faintly.
The confession of her heart’s secret burst from her in those pleading words. They were the words that banished me,in the name of her sacred weakness, from the room. It was all over. I dropped her hand, and went away. The door closed upon her, and the image of Laura Fairlie was a memory of the past already.
prematurely /ˌpreməˈtʃʊəlɪ/ adv. 过早地；提早地
reluctantly /rɪˈlʌktəntlɪ/ adv. 不情愿地
grant /ɡrɑ:nt/ vt. 同意，准予
household /ˈhaʊshəʊld/ n. 一家人；家庭
faintness /ˈfeɪntnɪs/ n. 眩晕，昏倒
agitate /ˈædʒɪteɪt/ vt. 使不安
anxiety / æŋˈzaɪətɪ/ n. 忧虑；焦急
dairy /ˈdeərɪ/ n. 牛奶场
briskly /ˈbrɪsklɪ/ adv. 轻快地；精神勃勃地
meantime /ˈmi:ntaɪm/ n. 其间，其时
dispute /dɪsˈpju:t/ vi. 争论，辩论
encounter /ɪnˈkaʊntə/ n. 遇到，相遇
pleading /ˈpli:dɪŋ/ adj. 恳求的
sacred /ˈseɪkrɪd/ adj. 庄严的，神圣的