登陆注册
5371300000129

第129章

She paused for a moment in doubt and terror; then suddenly it flashed across her recollection that there was another passage which was little used except for the admission of the fair partakers of the Egyptian's secret revels, and which wound along the basement of that massive fabric towards a door which also communicated with the garden. By good fortune it might be open. At that thought, she hastily retraced her steps, descended the narrow stairs at the right, and was soon at the entrance of the passage. Alas! the door at the entrance was closed and secured. While she was yet assuring herself that it was indeed locked, she heard behind her the voice of Calenus, and, a moment after, that of Arbaces in low reply. She could not stay there; they were probably passing to that very door. She sprang onward, and felt herself in unknown ground. The air grew damp and chill; this reassured her.

She thought she might be among the cellars of the luxurious mansion, or, at least, in some rude spot not likely to be visited by its haughty lord, when again her quick ear caught steps and the sound of voices. On, on, she hurried, extending her arms, which now frequently encountered pillars of thick and massive form. With a tact, doubled in acuteness by her fear, she escaped these perils, and continued her way, the air growing more and more damp as she proceeded; yet, still, as she ever and anon paused for breath, she heard the advancing steps and the indistinct murmur of voices. At length she was abruptly stopped by a wall that seemed the limit of her path.

Was there no spot in which she could hide? No aperture? no cavity? There was none! She stopped, and wrung her hands in despair; then again, nerved as the voices neared upon her, she hurried on by the side of the wall; and coming suddenly against one of the sharp buttresses that here and there jutted boldly forth, she fell to the ground. Though much bruised, her senses did not leave her; she uttered no cry; nay, she hailed the accident that had led her to something like a screen; and creeping close up to the angle formed by the buttress, so that on one side at least she was sheltered from view, she gathered her slight and small form into its smallest compass, and breathlessly awaited her fate.

Meanwhile Arbaces and the priest were taking their way to that secret chamber whose stores were so vaunted by the Egyptian. They were in a vast subterranean atrium, or hall; the low roof was supported by short, thick pillars of an architecture far remote from the Grecian graces of that luxuriant period. The single and pale lamp, which Arbaces bore, shed but an imperfect ray over the bare and rugged walls, in which the huge stones, without cement, were fitted curiously and uncouthly into each other. The disturbed reptiles glared dully on the intruders, and then crept into the shadow of the walls.

Calenus shivered as he looked around and breathed the damp, unwholesome air.

'Yet,' said Arbaces, with a smile, perceiving his shudder, 'it is these rude abodes that furnish the luxuries of the halls above. They are like the laborers of the world--we despise their ruggedness, yet they feed the very pride that disdains them.'

'And whither goes yon dim gallery to the left asked Calenus; 'in this depth of gloom it seems without limit, as if winding into Hades.'

'On the contrary, it does but conduct to the upper rooms,' answered Arbaces, carelessly: 'it is to the right that we steer to our bourn.'

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 智慧书:修身之道与处世之术

    智慧书:修身之道与处世之术

    在格拉西安的著作中,《智慧书》被评介的次数最多,其影响也最大。该书仅于1686年至1934年间就在德国先后出现过十种译本,而叔本华的译本从1935年到1953年竟然接连再版了十二次。《智慧书》主要讨论各种谨慎的行为,由300条绝妙的格言警句组成。此书出版于1641年,直到今天仍然受到人们很高的评价。它以简洁精辟的语言,与读者探讨如何以一种智慧的方式生存于世。《智慧书》的行文句法也简单到了不能再简单的程度,如:“简洁,会使好的更好,坏的更坏”。这种行文方式确实收到了很好的效果,但有时却不大容易让人理解。
  • 华裔身份的追索与建构:美国华裔文学流散叙事研究

    华裔身份的追索与建构:美国华裔文学流散叙事研究

    近年来,美国华裔文学研究成为一种显学,受到了国内外特别是国内专家和学者持续关注和重视,其研究成果层出不穷,研究视角丰富多彩。但本书在批判性地汲取前人研究的基础上从流散叙事视角出发,结合后殖民理论,对若干具有代表性的美国华裔作家和华裔文学作品所体现出的漂泊精神意向、心理状态、身份意识、身份归属、身份重构、不可避免的跨文化交流和多元特质新文化景观进行了深度的、系统的、别样的阐释和研究。本书共包括6个章节:导论、美国华裔文学中的文化身份焦虑与认同危机、美国华裔文学中文化之根的追寻、美国华裔文学中文化身份的建构、美国华裔作家的现代视域与融合态势、结论。
  • 将本红妆

    将本红妆

    父仇难报,女儿身当男儿养!平南蛮,定九州,谁说女子不如男,丁香结子芙蓉绦,不系明珠系宝刀。奈何情关难过,纵使红颜封侯,不及兴亡温柔乡。她是一个女将军,也是个弱女子,看她如何在这朝廷,在这沙场一扭乾坤!
  • 整个城市都寂寞

    整个城市都寂寞

    璎珞在19岁的时候遇见了21岁欧阳落,她愿意为他去改变,他甘心包容她的一切,可是看似坚不可摧的爱情,在现实面前变得不堪一击,幼年的遭遇,让她过早成熟,成年的境地,让他无奈放弃爱人离去,她放弃幸福去等待爱人归来,她忘掉伤痛继续爱然而,在这个城市里她注定孤独在微凉的夜灯下期待着那个敢像她一样用力去爱的人出现······
  • 学长,认栽吧

    学长,认栽吧

    在唐缘的认知里,校草都是霸道多金冷酷到底的,谁能告诉她为什么卫鸣秀这只校草如此接地气?最初,他向她索赔:“你的狗咬了我,你要请我吃饭作为补偿。”后来,唐缘问他借器材完成作业,他趁此敲诈:“借器材可以,请我吃饭。”再后来,卫鸣秀因为救她而摔伤,他对她碰瓷:“我还没吃饭,不吃饭伤口不会好哦。”对这种没脸没皮的蹭饭行为,唐缘终于忍无可忍:“卫鸣秀,我跟你什么愁什么怨,你连我的伙食费都不放过?
  • 总裁宝贝太撩人

    总裁宝贝太撩人

    “看着我,女人。”粗犷的大手把她的巴掌大的小脸掰正,鹰隼似的眼眸,目光炯炯有神的望着她,炽热的目光,似乎想要把她的所有热情给点燃……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 牵着爹爹去找娘

    牵着爹爹去找娘

    夜,静谧而安详,风,轻轻吹起一阵叶乐。在冷家庄冷府的一个房间里面,微微透射出淡淡的烛光,如此静谧的夜,依然有人难以入眠。冷家庄的庄主冷傲云,披着一件灰色裘衣,正埋首在案桌上面,对着一本帐本微微隆起了那双英气浓黑的剑眉,轻喃道:“怎么今年的出入如此之大?看来,有必要去瞧瞧了!”正在他算的入神的时候,一声声深切的呼唤打破了夜的静谧。“娘,娘,别走,别走……呜呜呜,我要娘……”一声……
  • 帝尊请三思呆萌帝后又跑了

    帝尊请三思呆萌帝后又跑了

    整个天地分为四类,仙界,魔界,妖族,人族,传说中,妖王娶后三万年无儿无女,却在一个雪天捡到一名女童,取名“郁雯汐”,此女单纯可爱,聪明机智,深受妖王和妖后的喜爱,因疼爱她,妖王把她禁锢在一个地方,不许她出去。若不是一次意外碰到了恰巧下界的他,怕是她永远也只会是那个什么都不懂,集宠爱于一身单纯的“妖族公主”吧。待身份一点点被解开,身边的人一个一个离她而去,她堕落了,入了魔道,杀红了眼,却突然被某个曾疼她入骨的人抱住“我不管你是谁,都是吾的至爱,永远都是!”
  • 千门之千手观音

    千门之千手观音

    千门正、提、反、脱、风、火、除、谣八将齐聚后,等待这些江湖人的不是风平浪静而是杀机陡起,门主高阳等人纷纷遭袭,江湖外八行其余七门(盗门、索命门、兰花门、神调门、蛊门、红手绢、机关门)也蠢蠢欲动,一时间江湖乱象横生,最终所有人的目光都聚集在了千手观音身上,到底是什么让千手观音像有这么大的魔力能让人人争夺?千手观音像又和千门有怎样错综复杂的渊源呢?到底千门想干什么?
  • 下堂悍妇:君王前夫惹不得

    下堂悍妇:君王前夫惹不得

    若是不相逢,又将如何?今夕何夕,君已陌路。心生乱,意难忘,理不清寸寸愁绪;恨只恨,情之一字误苍生。这是一个由电视剧宝莲灯观后感叹延续出来的故事