登陆注册
5154800000019

第19章

He rose and placed his candle unsuspectingly on the floor near his loom, swept away the sand without noticing any change, and removed the bricks.The sight of the empty hole made his heart leap violently, but the belief that his gold was gone could not come at once--only terror, and the eager effort to put an end to the terror.He passed his trembling hand all about the hole, trying to think it possible that his eyes had deceived him; then he held the candle in the hole and examined it curiously, trembling more and more.At last he shook so violently that he let fall the candle, and lifted his hands to his head, trying to steady himself, that he might think.Had he put his gold somewhere else, by a sudden resolution last night, and then forgotten it? A man falling into dark waters seeks a momentary footing even on sliding stones; and Silas, by acting as if he believed in false hopes, warded off the moment of despair.He searched in every corner, he turned his bed over, and shook it, and kneaded it; he looked in his brick oven where he laid his sticks.When there was no other place to be searched, he kneeled down again and felt once more all round the hole.There was no untried refuge left for a moment's shelter from the terrible truth.

Yes, there was a sort of refuge which always comes with the prostration of thought under an overpowering passion: it was that expectation of impossibilities, that belief in contradictory images, which is still distinct from madness, because it is capable of being dissipated by the external fact.Silas got up from his knees trembling, and looked round at the table: didn't the gold lie there after all? The table was bare.Then he turned and looked behind him--looked all round his dwelling, seeming to strain his brown eyes after some possible appearance of the bags where he had already sought them in vain.He could see every object in his cottage--and his gold was not there.

Again he put his trembling hands to his head, and gave a wild ringing scream, the cry of desolation.For a few moments after, he stood motionless; but the cry had relieved him from the first maddening pressure of the truth.He turned, and tottered towards his loom, and got into the seat where he worked, instinctively seeking this as the strongest assurance of reality.

And now that all the false hopes had vanished, and the first shock of certainty was past, the idea of a thief began to present itself, and he entertained it eagerly, because a thief might be caught and made to restore the gold.The thought brought some new strength with it, and he started from his loom to the door.As he opened it the rain beat in upon him, for it was falling more and more heavily.

There were no footsteps to be tracked on such a night--footsteps?

When had the thief come? During Silas's absence in the daytime the door had been locked, and there had been no marks of any inroad on his return by daylight.And in the evening, too, he said to himself, everything was the same as when he had left it.The sand and bricks looked as if they had not been moved._Was_ it a thief who had taken the bags? or was it a cruel power that no hands could reach, which had delighted in making him a second time desolate? He shrank from this vaguer dread, and fixed his mind with struggling effort on the robber with hands, who could be reached by hands.His thoughts glanced at all the neighbours who had made any remarks, or asked any questions which he might now regard as a ground of suspicion.There was Jem Rodney, a known poacher, and otherwise disreputable: he had often met Marner in his journeys across the fields, and had said something jestingly about the weaver's money;nay, he had once irritated Marner, by lingering at the fire when he called to light his pipe, instead of going about his business.Jem Rodney was the man--there was ease in the thought.Jem could be found and made to restore the money: Marner did not want to punish him, but only to get back his gold which had gone from him, and left his soul like a forlorn traveller on an unknown desert.The robber must be laid hold of.Marner's ideas of legal authority were confused, but he felt that he must go and proclaim his loss; and the great people in the village--the clergyman, the constable, and Squire Cass--would make Jem Rodney, or somebody else, deliver up the stolen money.He rushed out in the rain, under the stimulus of this hope, forgetting to cover his head, not caring to fasten his door; for he felt as if he had nothing left to lose.He ran swiftly, till want of breath compelled him to slacken his pace as he was entering the village at the turning close to the Rainbow.

The Rainbow, in Marner's view, was a place of luxurious resort for rich and stout husbands, whose wives had superfluous stores of linen; it was the place where he was likely to find the powers and dignities of Raveloe, and where he could most speedily make his loss public.He lifted the latch, and turned into the bright bar or kitchen on the right hand, where the less lofty customers of the house were in the habit of assembling, the parlour on the left being reserved for the more select society in which Squire Cass frequently enjoyed the double pleasure of conviviality and condescension.But the parlour was dark to-night, the chief personages who ornamented its circle being all at Mrs.Osgood's birthday dance, as Godfrey Cass was.And in consequence of this, the party on the high-screened seats in the kitchen was more numerous than usual;several personages, who would otherwise have been admitted into the parlour and enlarged the opportunity of hectoring and condescension for their betters, being content this evening to vary their enjoyment by taking their spirits-and-water where they could themselves hector and condescend in company that called for beer.

同类推荐
  • 明伦汇编人事典还归部

    明伦汇编人事典还归部

    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。
  • Miss or Mrs

    Miss or Mrs

    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。
  • 鬻子古文龙虎经

    鬻子古文龙虎经

    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。
  • 金七十论

    金七十论

    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。
  • The Autobiography of a Quack

    The Autobiography of a Quack

    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
  • 上清黄庭养神经

    上清黄庭养神经

    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。
  • 上山

    上山

    “上山?”老板娘忙着登记身份证,头都没抬。“上山?”“哦,不是去阿里?”“哦哦,是去阿里金小提还是眨巴眼皮,不敢相信老板娘说的“上山”是说走新藏线——国道219!用那么俏生生的语气。她回房间说给毕岸临听。毕岸临说:“上山?她就这么说?叶城人也太牛了吧。十六个达坂,四十四道冰沟,平均海拔4500米,跨越昆仑、喀喇昆仑、冈底斯、喜马拉雅四大山系……就说了个——上山,啊?”少顷又说:“那么,咱也上山?”金小提胳膊一挥说:“当然,上山。
  • 爱丽丝漫游奇境记(少年成长必读名著第四辑)

    爱丽丝漫游奇境记(少年成长必读名著第四辑)

    这童话自1865年出版以来,一直深受不同年纪的读者爱戴,相信是由于作者巧妙地运用不合逻辑的跳跃方式去铺排故事。《爱丽丝梦游仙境》这本书已经被翻译成至少125种语言,到20世纪中期重版300多次,其流传之广仅次于《圣经》和莎士比亚的作品。
  • 茶花女

    茶花女

    《茶花女》为我们塑造了一些生动、鲜明的艺术形象,而其中最突出、最令人难忘的自然是女主人公茶花女玛格丽特。读者们切莫把玛格丽特和阿尔丰西娜·普莱西小姐混为一谈,阿尔丰西娜的身世固然值得同情,但她的的确确是个堕落的女人,用小仲马的话来说,她“既是一个纯洁无瑕的贞女,又是一个彻头彻尾的娼妇”。
  • 符元战尊

    符元战尊

    符咒之术震裂天地,符战体镇压万古苍穹,熔炼己身,凌登绝顶尊位,俯视天下。
  • 傻鸟满大街

    傻鸟满大街

    我这本书全是拿开车说事,全是拿我的朋友们说事。借了握笔在手的便利,我举贤不避亲,趁机大曝朋友们的糗事,大占兄弟们的便宜。举凡大江南北的朋友,基本上都着了我的道儿,尽入我的毂中,被我三下五除二地调理成佐餐开胃小菜捧出来,为的是逗得众读者轻松一笑,好让他们慷慨解囊,痛痛快快地掏钱购阅,这就有些卖友求荣或者是卖友求利的嫌疑了。书中列举了我所认识的朋友们开车的种种丑态烂招,实在是有些不敬。但一来事实俱在不容抹杀,二来也好为后来者戒,三来毕竟只是开车也算不得多大的隐私。倘有得罪,在下我这里先告个不是了。其实我这都是千金难求的经验之谈。积我潜心开车十多年的研究心得,以我如椽之笔,坦承相告无私相授。读我此书,初学开车者肯定获益匪浅,江湖老手们也将受用无穷。就是不开车的人,细读之下,也会“笑一笑,十年少”的。当然说开车只是一方面,由开车进而论世事,也是我的一点小小初衷。
  • 特宠萌妃:废柴杀手一等妃

    特宠萌妃:废柴杀手一等妃

    百里宸曦是个杀手,有一天她和所有杀手前辈们一样穿越了。她表示穿越没关系,穿成亡国公主也不要紧,日子总是要过的。上辈子过的太辛苦,这辈子从来。还有妖孽美男,快到碗里来!!!
  • 贵女有恨

    贵女有恨

    大恩竟成仇?!封后前夜,渣妹渣母合力把她弄死,并代替她成为皇后?重来一世,她智斗渣母,恶整渣妹!不仅如此,还要找个硬靠山。等她拜了师,学了艺,却有更多的麻烦接踵而来……天!师傅救命!
  • 佛说大方广十轮经

    佛说大方广十轮经

    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。
  • 墓行差

    墓行差

    身世诡异的少女,身手不凡的少年,以及有各类优点特长的秘密团队队员。他们将会找寻那些墓地里所流承的故事……奇异的身世、神态各异的村民、还有不知名的红衣女子和各种奇奇怪怪的人.........少女仿佛走入了一个没有退路的征途