登陆注册
4708300000094

第94章

'But,' thought Edward, 'suppose--and Heaven forgive me, I cannot help supposing it--that Manston is not that honourable man, what will a young and inexperienced fellow like Owen do? Will he not be hoodwinked by some specious story or another, framed to last till Manston gets tired of poor Cytherea? And then the disclosure of the truth will ruin and blacken both their futures irremediably.'

However, he proceeded to execute his commission. This he put in the form of a simple request from Owen to Manston, that Manston would come to the Southampton platform, and wait for Owen's arrival, as he valued his reputation. The message was directed as the rector had suggested, Edward guaranteeing to the clerk who sent it off that every expense connected with the search would be paid.

No sooner had the telegram been despatched than his heart sank within him at the want of foresight shown in sending it. Had Manston, all the time, a knowledge that his first wife lived, the telegram would be a forewarning which might enable him to defeat Owen still more signally.

Whilst the machine was still giving off its multitudinous series of raps, Edward heard a powerful rush under the shed outside, followed by a long sonorous creak. It was a train of some sort, stealing softly into the station, and it was an up-train. There was the ring of a bell. It was certainly a passenger train.

Yet the booking-office window was closed.

'Ho, ho, John, seventeen minutes after time and only three stations up the line. The incline again?' The voice was the stationmaster's, and the reply seemed to come from the guard.

'Yes, the other side of the cutting. The thaw has made it all in a perfect cloud of fog, and the rails are as slippery as glass. We had to bring them through the cutting at twice.'

'Anybody else for the four-forty-five express?' the voice continued.

The few passengers, having crossed over to the other side long before this time, had taken their places at once.

A conviction suddenly broke in upon Edward's mind; then a wish overwhelmed him. The conviction--as startling as it was sudden--was that Manston was a villain, who at some earlier time had discovered that his wife lived, and had bribed her to keep out of sight, that he might possess Cytherea. The wish was--to proceed at once by this very train that was starting, find Manston before he would expect from the words of the telegram (if he got it) that anybody from Carriford could be with him--charge him boldly with the crime, and trust to his consequent confusion (if he were guilty) for a solution of the extraordinary riddle, and the release of Cytherea!

The ticket-office had been locked up at the expiration of the time at which the train was due. Rushing out as the guard blew his whistle, Edward opened the door of a carriage and leapt in. The train moved along, and he was soon out of sight.

Springrove had long since passed that peculiar line which lies across the course of falling in love--if, indeed, it may not be called the initial itself of the complete passion--a longing to cherish; when the woman is shifted in a man's mind from the region of mere admiration to the region of warm fellowship. At this assumption of her nature, she changes to him in tone, hue, and expression. All about the loved one that said 'She' before, says 'We' now. Eyes that were to be subdued become eyes to be feared for: a brain that was to be probed by cynicism becomes a brain that is to be tenderly assisted; feet that were to be tested in the dance become feet that are not to be distressed; the once-criticized accent, manner, and dress, become the clients of a special pleader.

6. FIVE TO EIGHT O'CLOCK P.M.

Now that he was fairly on the track, and had begun to cool down, Edward remembered that he had nothing to show--no legal authority whatever to question Manston or interfere between him and Cytherea as husband and wife. He now saw the wisdom of the rector in obtaining a signed confession from the porter. The document would not be a death-bed confession--perhaps not worth anything legally--but it would be held by Owen; and he alone, as Cytherea's natural guardian, could separate them on the mere ground of an unproved probability, or what might perhaps be called the hallucination of an idiot. Edward himself, however, was as firmly convinced as the rector had been of the truth of the man's story, and paced backward and forward the solitary compartment as the train wound through the dark heathery plains, the mazy woods, and moaning coppices, as resolved as ever to pounce on Manston, and charge him with the crime during the critical interval between the reception of the telegram and the hour at which Owen's train would arrive--trusting to circumstances for what he should say and do afterwards, but making up his mind to be a ready second to Owen in any emergency that might arise.

At thirty-three minutes past seven he stood on the platform of the station at Southampton--a clear hour before the train containing Owen could possibly arrive.

Making a few inquiries here, but too impatient to pursue his investigation carefully and inductively, he went into the town.

At the expiration of another half-hour he had visited seven hotels and inns, large and small, asking the same questions at each, and always receiving the same reply--nobody of that name, or answering to that description, had been there. A boy from the telegraph-office had called, asking for the same persons, if they recollected rightly.

He reflected awhile, struck again by a painful thought that they might possibly have decided to cross the Channel by the night-boat.

Then he hastened off to another quarter of the town to pursue his inquiries among hotels of the more old-fashioned and quiet class.

His stained and weary appearance obtained for him but a modicum of civility, wherever he went, which made his task yet more difficult.

同类推荐
  • 摩诃般若波罗蜜经释论

    摩诃般若波罗蜜经释论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 华严经明法品内立三宝章

    华严经明法品内立三宝章

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 闲居编

    闲居编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 妇科玉尺

    妇科玉尺

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 杨维桢集

    杨维桢集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 穿越之独爱极品妃

    穿越之独爱极品妃

    莫名其妙穿越了,而且还是穿越到了偏僻的小山村,我的网络、我的汉堡、我的披萨、还有我的国学圣手,美好的现代生活、永别了。还遇上了传说中心如冰块、心狠手辣、杀人不眨眼,不近女色的男人,可是怎么跟传说的不一样,是遇上一个假传吗?不过这个桃花运也太多了吧?
  • 洞玄灵宝五岳古本真形图

    洞玄灵宝五岳古本真形图

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 狼烟起胭脂灭

    狼烟起胭脂灭

    四国共存的战争之巅,执剑,旋身,回首,目光所及,狼烟四起,那一抹胭脂般的薄媚血色,紧锁住他们的眼睛……她是胭脂,铁血般冷烈的女子,且歌、且叹、且悲、且怜!流浪沧桑的烈皇,予她相扶相伴之爱;不可一世的桓帝,给她唯一无二之宠;玩世不恭的瀚王,赋她不能逾越之痛;疾电、幻光;追风、逐月;满弦长弓;武士中的武士,杀手中的杀手,只为胭脂如雪灵慧的女子!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 月韵西昌

    月韵西昌

    每个人心中都有一轮明月,不论圆缺;每一轮明月都是一个梦想,不论贫富。因为人生短暂,遨游宇宙的明月便有了传世的价值;因为沧海桑田,独立行走的明月便有了歌咏的榜样。何时醉酒邀明月,为孤独的心灵注入温暖的力量?应为落寞寻独处,为移离的诗意增添前行的勇气。
  • 赛尔号之偶遇战联

    赛尔号之偶遇战联

    就是一个偶然的机遇,让我与战神联盟成为了朋友。朋友?可笑,我世界没有这个词,我却不知,这个改变了我的一生,我原先心中的冰被他们所融化。
  • 幼儿礼仪图画故事

    幼儿礼仪图画故事

    本书是一本通过故事影响和培养孩子礼仪规范的亲子读物。内容包括甜蜜的语言、问候鸟、长颈鹿的新衣服、会飞的虾片、迪迪家的宴会和不插话的小章鱼。每一个故事都有情节、冲突、隐喻、成长,故事中不仅涉及礼仪知识,还兼有科学知识。
  • 双姝情

    双姝情

    巫衣和巫霏,年龄相仿的表姐妹,一个命硬克亲,一个贵不可言。巫衣因为二娘连天雪一句无意有心的话,被太后指婚给病弱王爷沈天予。巫霏对赐婚深感不忿,冒名顶替巫衣嫁入王府。巫衣得知真相后,隐瞒身份混入王府,却被皇上带回皇宫。此后,姐妹俩互换身份,一个身在后宫,一个是冒名王妃。当身份被揭穿后,姐妹俩又该如何面对自己的感情?
  • 慢慢来,修行就是修理自己

    慢慢来,修行就是修理自己

    本书是台湾千佛山开山宗师白云禅师弘法数十年来首部演讲集,涵盖了他1999至2003年间在海内外的精辟演讲。他以平常事物为切入点、以聊天的形式阐述佛的智慧,告诉我们,学佛不是背经典,是用佛法修正自己的身口意。佛法不是保存起来的佛经,修行不是打坐、念经,是修理自己,让人生更为圆满、智慧。
  • 世界儿童故事经典:影响你一生的100个历史故事

    世界儿童故事经典:影响你一生的100个历史故事

    古今中外丰富多彩的故事是世界各国社会和生活的结晶,是高度艺术化的精神产品,具有永久的闪光魅力,非常集中、非常形象,是中小学生了解世界和社会的窗口,是走向世界、观摩社会的最佳捷径。这些著名故事,伴随着世界各国一代又一代的青少年茁壮成长,具有广泛而深远的影响。我们青少年只要带着有趣的欣赏的心态阅读这些美丽的故事,便非常有利于培养积极的和健康向上的心理、性格、思维和修养,便有利于了解世界各国的社会和生活,并能不断提高语言表达和社会交往的才能。
  • 月光倾城

    月光倾城

    那一天的事情发生得太过突然、太过严重,许多年之后,何果儿每每回想起那一幕情景,后背还是立马就起一层鸡皮疙瘩,头皮嗖嗖地直发麻。她仿佛再次看见1983年夏天的自己,小小地傻傻地站在那里,被平地而起的飓风打蒙了头。而身边的李菲菲,是那么猝不及防地挣脱开她的手,像一道白色的光,冲出人群,以令人眩晕的速度和力量,冲向后患无穷的青春。原本,那是一个极为稀松平常的日子。上午第二节下课铃响过,天气很好,豁亮的太阳光中稠密地插进了波涛汹涌的课间操队伍。值周老师站在高台上,扯着嗓子呵斥站队不整齐的班级,班主任们跟在队伍后面,也开始懒懒地伸伸腿弯弯腰起来。