登陆注册
5150400000050

第50章

A ring of flame was round her waist; every limb was bathed in lambent light; all the multitudinous life of the autumn sea, stirred by her approach, had flashed suddenly into glory;--"And around her the lamps of the sea nymphs, Myriad fiery globes, swam heaving and panting, and rainbows, Crimson and azure and emerald, were broken in star-showers, lighting Far through the wine-dark depths of the crystal, the gardens of Nereus, Coral and sea-fan and tangle, the blooms and the palms of the ocean."She could see every shell which crawled on the white sand at her feet, every rock-fish which played in and out of the crannies, and stared at her with its broad bright eyes; while the great palmate oarweeds which waved along the chasm, half-seen in the glimmering water, seemed to beckon her down with long brown hands to a grave amid their chilly bowers.She turned to flee; but she had gone too far now to retreat; hastily dipping her head three times, she hurried out to the sea-marge, and looking through her dripping locks at the magic mirror, pronounced the incantation--"A maiden pure, here I stand, Neither on sea, nor yet on land;Angels watch me on either hand.

If you be landsman, come down the strand;If you be sailor, come up the sand;

If you be angel, come from the sky, Look in my glass, and pass me by;Look in my glass, and go from the shore;

Leave me, but love me for evermore."

The incantation was hardly finished, her eyes were straining into the mirror, where, as may be supposed, nothing appeared but the sparkle of the drops from her own tresses, when she heard rattling down the pebbles the hasty feet of men and horses.

She darted into a cavern of the high rock, and hastily dressed herself: the steps held on right to the boat.Peeping out, half-dead with terror, she saw there four men, two of whom had just leaped from their horses, and turning them adrift, began to help the other two in running the boat down.

Whereon, out of the stern sheets, arose, like an angry ghost, the portly figure of Lucy Passmore, and shrieked in shrillest treble--"Eh! ye villains, ye roogs, what do ye want staling poor folks'

boats by night like this?"

The whole party recoiled in terror, and one turned to run up the beach, shouting at the top of his voice, "'Tis a marmaiden--a marmaiden asleep in Willy Passmore's boat!""I wish it were any sich good luck," she could hear Will say; "'tis my wife, oh dear!" and he cowered down, expecting the hearty cuff which he received duly, as the White Witch, leaping out of the boat, dared any man to touch it, and thundered to her husband to go home to bed.

The wily dame, as Rose well guessed, was keeping up this delay chiefly to gain time for her pupil: but she had also more solid reasons for making the fight as hard as possible; for she, as well as Rose, had already discerned in the ungainly figure of one of the party the same suspicious Welsh gentleman, on whose calling she had divined long ago; and she was so loyal a subject as to hold in extreme horror her husband's meddling with such "Popish skulkers"(as she called the whole party roundly to their face)--unless on consideration of a very handsome sum of money.In vain Parsons thundered, Campian entreated, Mr.Leigh's groom swore, and her husband danced round in an agony of mingled fear and covetousness.

"No," she cried, "as I am an honest woman and loyal! This is why you left the boat down to the shoore, you old traitor, you, is it?

To help off sich noxious trade as this out of the hands of her majesty's quorum and rotulorum? Eh? Stand back, cowards! Will you strike a woman?"This last speech (as usual) was merely indicative of her intention to strike the men; for, getting out one of the oars, she swung it round and round fiercely, and at last caught Father Parsons such a crack across the shins, that he retreated with a howl.

"Lucy, Lucy!" shrieked her husband, in shrillest Devon falsetto, "be you mazed? Be you mazed, lass? They promised me two gold nobles before I'd lend them the boot!""Tu?" shrieked the matron, with a tone of ineffable scorn."And do yu call yourself a man?""Tu nobles! tu nobles!" shrieked he again, hopping about at oar's length.

"Tu? And would you sell your soul under ten?""Oh, if that is it," cried poor Campian, "give her ten, give her ten, brother Pars--Morgans, I mean; and take care of your shins, Offa Cerbero, you know--Oh, virago! Furens quid faemina possit!

Certainly she is some Lamia, some Gorgon, some--""Take that, for your Lamys and Gorgons to an honest woman!" and in a moment poor Campian's thin legs were cut from under him, while the virago, "mounting on his trunk astride," like that more famous one on Hudibras, cried, "Ten nobles, or I'll kep ye here till morning!" And the ten nobles were paid into her hand.

And now the boat, its dragon guardian being pacified, was run down to the sea, and close past the nook where poor little Rose was squeezing herself into the farthest and darkest corner, among wet sea-weed and rough barnacles, holding her breath as they approached.

They passed her, and the boat's keel was already in the water; Lucy had followed them close, for reasons of her own, and perceiving close to the water's edge a dark cavern, cunningly surmised that it contained Rose, and planted her ample person right across its mouth, while she grumbled at her husband, the strangers, and above all at Mr.Leigh's groom, to whom she prophesied pretty plainly Launceston gaol and the gallows; while the wretched serving-man, who would as soon have dared to leap off Welcombe Cliff as to return railing for railing to the White Witch, in vain entreated her mercy, and tried, by all possible dodging, to keep one of the party between himself and her, lest her redoubted eye should "overlook" him once more to his ruin.

同类推荐
  • 四川青羊宫碑铭

    四川青羊宫碑铭

    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。
  • 道德真经注

    道德真经注

    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。
  • 燕兰小谱

    燕兰小谱

    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。
  • 敏树禅师语录

    敏树禅师语录

    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。
  • The Crystal Stopper

    The Crystal Stopper

    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
  • 孽情:情是何物

    孽情:情是何物

    她,被骗嫁入豪门,只因仇人痛恨她死去的母亲,想要变着方儿折磨她;她,为了拆散分开多年、陷入不伦恋的双胞胎弟妹,却被误解,最终与他们反目;她,生孩子后惨被整容遗弃,却被夫家宣布死亡,办了隆重的葬礼;失去身份,她再入夫家,甘心为保姆,只为能守在儿子身边;丈夫终于玩火自焚,死于非命;婆婆继而发疯。夫家衰落,公公苦苦支撑,因为被整容,她和母亲的容貌一模一样,一直钟情于自己母亲的公公将她当作母亲。母爱和善心两难抉择,如何面对儿子,如何面对公公,她左右为难。一切烟消云散,弟妹相认,一家团聚,她带着儿子坚强地活着。
  • 底牌

    底牌

    著名富商夏塔纳先生邀请波洛参加一次特殊的私人聚会,同时还邀请了另外三位侦探,包括著名的侦探小说作家、苏格兰场的警司与政府密探。与此同时,到场的还有夏塔纳要展示的特别的收藏:四位完美的凶手。
  • 万事儒医

    万事儒医

    中医学教授彦波希,在离开学院后的悬壶生涯中,屡遇种种疑惑。面对世间的伪医泛滥,假道盛行,执守中正的他,又将经历怎样的人间烟火戏虐,演绎世间怎样的冷暖眷念.......
  • 绝世战帝

    绝世战帝

    战灵大陆,百族林立,万道争锋,无数天才在这里撒尽汗水。万年前至尊战帝杀上九天,称霸一世。万年后,少年陈凌从战帝走出。一代战帝之辉煌,再入九天。
  • 留根和志军

    留根和志军

    你涉嫌多起诈骗案,现在,跟我们走吧。警察面无表情地说。警察们押着朱志军往外走。朱志军拼命地扭回头看着朱留根,走得磕磕绊绊的,像一个醉酒的人。展厅里的人都被这一幕弄得不知所措,呆呆地看着警察和朱志军,过了好一会才反应过来。有人说,那不是那个少年英雄朱志军吗?他怎么了被警察干上了?有人说,嗨,我早从网上看到了,网上有人举报说他利用抗震英雄身份到处骗人钱财,骗了有几十万呢,看来这是真的确有其事了。
  • 粤囧

    粤囧

    因为赵雅琪的误会,陈鹏飞生平第一次被送进了警察局。本以为这只是一个插曲,命运的捉弄却让陈鹏飞的人生发生了翻天覆地的变化,成为了网络上的名人,遭到众人非议,也因此丢了工作。这段意外,让陈鹏飞和赵雅琪成了欢喜冤家,他们每一次的见面都“惊心动魄”,状况百出,引发了一连串有趣的故事,两个心渐渐地走到了一起……
  • 世医得效方

    世医得效方

    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。
  • 极品奸商

    极品奸商

    一次莫名其妙的穿越,让他来到一个完全陌生的世界。他凭借着自己前世的本领,在另一个历史的洪流中留下自己浓重的笔墨。商场、战场、官场、情场,都是他纵横的舞台。日出东方,唯我不败……风姿冠绝的花魁、学富五车的才女、武功高绝的女侠、不落凡尘的仙子,或是纵横沙场的女将,谁会落入他的爱情陷阱?他无耻、他下流、他手段卑鄙让人瞠目结舌。可为何,这样的一个小人,却用他的肩膀,抗起了华夏的脊梁?
  • 靖蓉四世之绝恋重生

    靖蓉四世之绝恋重生

    郭靖与黄蓉驻守襄阳几十年,最终襄阳城破,黄蓉离郭靖先去,死前那一刻所说的话却成了他们接下来三世的恶梦,第二世他们是白颂娴和文靖昌,分分合合的岁月让她的内心苦受煎熬,第三世他们是分别是貌美如花的华娇郡主和轰动长安的诸葛正我,而他们的真实身份却不仅仅如此。第四世,一个是人人称叹的大英雄岳不群,一个是大家闺秀宁中则,为爱厮守,为他放弃自己的身份,那他们的爱情会擦出怎样的火花?--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 穿越红楼之林家双玉

    穿越红楼之林家双玉

    林紫玉怎么也没有想到,被牛头马面勾错魂的事居然发生在自己的身上林黛玉是谁啊是她最喜欢的人既然有机会去做她的姐姐又怎么会放弃这么好的机会呢看看有林紫玉的红楼将会是一个什么样的红楼整个红楼因她的出现,而发生了改变。可是等待着她自己的又将是什么样的命运呢?这具身体的母亲留给她的紫玉又意味着什么呢?当谜底被揭开后,等待着她的是什么?是幸还是不幸?小蝶新建了一个群,群号是:83839682,如果亲有意可以加群。验证码写紫玉(笑脸)小蝶隆重推出另外一个群红楼情思群,群号为:36840339欢迎光大红楼迷前来交流。希望大家多多支持笑蝶拜求点击+票票+留言+收藏!其实我一直想写有关红楼梦方面的穿越小说,看到一个个的都写得那么好,有点不太敢动笔,一直在想应该以什么样的身份写来,后来才决定虚构这样的人物来写,来圆自己的一个梦。借此机会,小蝶推荐自己的文:《一个女人三个老公》的下部《草根妈咪》粉墨登场,地址:《一个女人,三个老公》离婚了,没什么很平常净身出户,没什么大不了带着女儿,是天下最幸福的事离婚后的第一个愿望就是有份工资高的工作,把女儿接到身边来亲自教育,至于男人如果碰到合适的坚决不放过,当然最起码是在拥有一份固定的工作的情况下,谁叫咱是新世代的女性,谁叫咱是坚强的单妈呢?看着哥嫂的脸色过日子,那是没办法的,谁叫咱现在没有能力把女儿带在身边呢?面对前夫的骚扰,坚决反击,也不想想不离婚时忍那是为了家庭和睦,现在离婚了,就算是当炮灰的命,也不应该当你的炮灰。想和心爱的男人生活在一起,本以为水到渠成,谁知道天意弄人,真的是有缘无份吗?出去爬个山吧居然落水,欠了别人一条命。本想要个电话号码以后报答救命之恩,可是人家不稀罕。很好!是你不要报答的,可是为什么再次碰到时,非要逼着人报恩,什么世道!好友的文文:四兄妹的酷乐队:(小四酷=影子宝贝)穿越红楼之甄巧儿:(飞雪若影)红楼之玉落谁家:(玉人何处)