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The next day I left for Cumberland. When I arrived at Limmeridge House, it was quite late at night, and I was received by a solemn servant. He informed me that the family had retired for the night, and then showed me to my room. I was told that breakfast would be at nine.
In the morning, a little before nine o’clock, I descended to the ground floor of the house. The solemn servant of the night before met me wandering among the passages, and compassionately showed me the way to the breakfast room.
As I entered the dining area, I saw that there was a lady standing at one of the windows with her back turned towards me. The instant my eyes rested on her, I was struck by the rare beauty of her form, and by the natural grace of her attitude.She then turned and began to walk toward me. How surprised I was, once she drew near, to find that the lady was ugly!
Her complexion was quite dark, and the hair on her upper lip was almost a moustache. She had a large, firm, masculine mouth and jaw; prominent , piercing , resolute brown eyes; and thick, coal-black hair. Her expression appeared, while she was silent, to be altogether wanting in feminine gentleness.
“Mr. Hartright?” asked the lady, her dark face lighting up with a smile, and growing womanly the moment she began to speak. “Allow me to introduce myself as one of your pupils.I’m afraid you’ll have only me to dine with this morning. My sister’s in her own room, nursing a slight headache; and her old governess, Mrs. Vesey, is attending on her with medicinal tea.My uncle, Mr. Fairlie, never joins us at any of our meals. He’s ill, and keeps to himself in his own apartments. There’s nobody else in the house but me.”
She handed me a cup of tea, laughing gaily.
“My name is Marian Halcombe; and I speak incorrectly when calling Mr. Fairlie my uncle, and Miss Fairlie my sister.My mother was twice married: the first time to Mr. Halcombe,my father, the second time to Mr. Fairlie, my half-sister’s father.My father was a poor man, and Miss Fairlie’s father was a rich man. I’ve got nothing, and she has a fortune. I’m dark and ugly, and she’s fair and pretty. Mr. Fairlie, the brother of the late Mr. Fairlie, is Miss Fairlie’s guardian . She and I can’t live without each other; and that’s how I come to be at Limmeridge House. We’re a quiet sort of people out here. If you’re the adventurous type, I’m afraid you’ll be rather disappointed with our company.”
The mention of “adventure” recalled my thoughts to the woman in white, and urged me to discover the connection between her and the former mistress of the house.
“No worries, I won’t be thirsting after adventures for some time to come. I experienced one only the night before last.”
“Really! May I hear it?”
I at once related the circumstances under which I had met the woman in white, exactly as they had occurred; and I repeated what she had said to me about Mrs. Fairlie and Limmeridge House, word for word. Miss Halcombe listened eagerly from the beginning of the narrative to the end.
“Are you quite sure of those words referring to my mother?”she asked.
“Quite sure,” I replied.
“And you entirely failed to find out her name?”
“Entirely.”
“Very strange. We must really clear up this mystery, in some way. You’d better not speak of it yet to Mr. Fairlie, or to my sister. They’re rather nervous and sensitive people. As for myself, I devote my whole energies to the business of discovery from this moment. The woman mentioned attending a school here. It can only be the one my mother founded. I might be able to find something—”
At this point the entrance of the servant interrupted us with a message from Mr. Fairlie, intimating that he would be glad to see me as soon as I had finished breakfast.
Miss Halcombe asked the servant to wait for me in the hallway, and then she continued where she left off.
“My sister has a large collection of our mother’s letters,addressed to her father. I’ll pass the morning looking over those. He was fond of London, and was constantly away from his country home. I’ll see you again at lunch and tell you what I’ve found. My sister will be joining us, and afterwards, we can all take a ride around the neighborhood.”
She nodded to me, and then disappeared by a door at the lower end of the room. As soon as she had left me, I turned my steps towards the hall, and followed the servant, on my way to meet Mr. Fairlie.
My conductor led me upstairs into a room with two curtains of pale sea-green silk hanging at the door. He raised one of the curtains noiselessly, softly uttered the words, “Mr. Hartright,”and left me.
I found the master of the house leaning back in a large chair, cleaning his coin collection. He looked to be over fifty and under sixty years. He had a fragile , nervous, over- refi ned look.
“So glad to possess you at Limmeridge, Mr. Hartright,” he said in a high, nervous voice. “Please, sit down. Have you found everything to your liking?”
“Everything, Mr. Fairlie, I assure you—”
He stopped me in the middle of the sentence by closing his eyes, and holding up one of his white hands.
“Excuse me, but could you speak in a lower key? In the wretched state of my nerves, loud sound of any kind is torture to me. Now, you were saying?”
“I could wish for nothing more comfortable,” I answered, dropping my voice.
“So glad. Do you mind ringing the bell there? In that corner.Yes. Thank you.”
I rang, and a new servant noiselessly made his appearance—a foreigner, with a set smile and perfectly brushed hair.
“Louis,” said Mr. Fairlie, “Give him that portfolio over there.” He pointed, as he spoke, to several portfolios placed near the window, on mahogany stands.”
The servant took down the portfolio and handed it to me. I opened it and found numerous valuable sketches.
“There you go then!” Mr. Fairlie said lazily. “Begin by framing those. Now, is there anything else to settle?”
“The only point, Mr. Fairlie, that remains to be discussed,”I said, “refers, I think, to my lessons with the young ladies.”
“Ah! I leave that entirely up to them. Now, if that’s everything, Louis can show you out. Thank you. So nice to have you here.”
Leaving the room, I felt rather offended by his curtness . I decided, from then on, to avoid Mr. Fairlie’s apartments as often as possible.
solemn /ˈsɒləm/ adj. 庄严的；严肃的
descend /dɪˈsend/ vi. 下来
compassionately /kəmˈpæʃənətlɪ/adv. 富有同情心地
complexion /kəmˈplekʃən/ n. 面色，肤色
masculine /ˈmæskjʊlɪn/ adj. 男性的；男子气概的；阳刚的
prominent /ˈprɒmɪnənt/ adj. 显著的，突出的
piercing /ˈpɪəsɪŋ/ adj. 敏锐的；刺穿的
resolute /ˈrezəlu:t/ adj. 坚决的
feminine /ˈfemɪnɪn/ adj. 娇柔的；女性的
guardian /ˈɡɑ:diən/ n. 保护人；（孤儿的）监护人
sensitive /ˈsensɪtɪv/ adj. 敏感的
intimate /ˈɪntɪmeɪt/ vt. 宣布；明白表示
lean /li:n/ vi. 倾斜；倾向
fragile /ˈfrædʒaɪl/ adj. 脆弱的
refi ned /rɪˈfaɪnd/ adj. 优雅的
wretched /ˈretʃɪd/ adj. 难受的；可怜的
torture /ˈtɔ:tʃə/ n. 折磨；痛苦
portfolio /pɔ:tˈfəʊlɪəʊ/ n. 画册
mahogany /məˈhɒɡənɪ/ n. ［植］桃花心木；红褐色
curtness /ˈkɜ:rtnəs/ n. 无礼行为；草率