登陆注册
5455200000029

第29章

THE doctor (like me) had his shoes off. The doctor (like me) had come in without making the least noise. He cocked the pistol without saying a word. I felt that I was probably standing face to face with death, and I too said not a word. We two Rogues looked each other steadily and silently in the face--he, the mighty and prosperous villain, with my life in his hands: I, the abject and poor scamp, waiting his mercy.

It must have been at least a minute after I heard the click of the cocked pistol before he spoke.

"How did you get here?" he asked.

The quiet commonplace terms in which he put his question, and the perfect composure and politeness of his manner, reminded me a little of Gentleman Jones. But the doctor was much the more respectable-looking man of the two; his baldness was more intellectual and benevolent; there was a delicacy and propriety in the pulpiness of his fat white chin, a bland bagginess in his unwhiskered cheeks, a reverent roughness about his eyebrows and a fullness in his lower eyelids, which raised him far higher, physiognomically speaking, in the social scale, than my old prison acquaintance. Put a shovel-hat on Gentleman Jones, and the effect would only have been eccentric; put the same covering on the head of Doctor Dulcifer, and the effect would have been strictly episcopal.

"How did you get here?" he repeated, still without showing the least irritation.

I told him how I had got in at the second-floor window, without concealing a word of the truth. The gravity of the situation, and the sharpness of the doctor's intellects, as expressed in his eyes, made anything like a suppression of facts on my part a desperately dangerous experiment.

"You wanted to see what I was about up here, did you?" said he, when I had ended my confession. "Do you know?"The pistol barrel touched my cheek as he said the last words. Ithought of all the suspicious objects scattered about the room, of the probability that he was only putting this question to try my courage, of the very likely chance that he would shoot me forthwith, if I began to prevaricate. I thought of these things, and boldly answered:

"Yes, I do know."

He looked at me reflectively; then said, in low, thoughtful tones, speaking, not to me, but entirely to himself:

"Suppose I shoot him?"

I saw in his eye, that if I flinched, he would draw the trigger.

"Suppose you trust me?" I said, without moving a muscle.

"I trusted you, as an honest man, downstairs, and I find you, like a thief, up here," returned the doctor, with a self-satisfied smile at the neatness of his own retort. "No," he continued, relapsing into soliloquy: "there is risk every way;but the least risk perhaps is to shoot him.""Wrong," said I. "There are relations of mine who have a pecuniary interest in my life. I am the main condition of a contingent reversion in their favor. If I am missed, I shall be inquired after." I have wondered since at my own coolness in the face of the doctor's pistol; but my life depended on my keeping my self-possession, and the desperate nature of the situation lent me a desperate courage.

"How do I know you are not lying?" he asked.

"Have I not spoken the truth, hitherto?"

Those words made him hesitate. He lowered the pistol slowly to his side. I began to breathe freely.

"Trust me," I repeated. "If you don't believe I would hold my tongue about what I have seen here, for your sake, you may be certain that I would for--""For my daughter's," he interposed, with a sarcastic smile.

I bowed with all imaginable cordiality. The doctor waved his pistol in the air contemptuously.

"There are two ways of making you hold your tongue," he said.

"The first is shooting you; the second is making a felon of you.

On consideration, after what you have said, the risk in either case seems about equal. I am naturally a humane man; your family have done me no injury; I will not be the cause of their losing money; I won't take your life, I'll have your character. We are all felons on this floor of the house. You have come among us--you shall be one of us. Ring that bell."He pointed with the pistol to a bell-handle behind me. I pulled it in silence.

Felon! The word has an ugly sound--a very ugly sound. But, considering how near the black curtain had been to falling over the adventurous drama of my life, had I any right to complain of the prolongation of the scene, however darkly it might look at first? Besides, some of the best feelings of our common nature (putting out of all question the value which men so unaccountably persist in setting on their own lives), impelled me, of necessity, to choose the alternative of felonious existence in preference to that of respectable death. Love and Honor bade me live to marry Alicia; and a sense of family duty made me shrink from occasioning a loss of three thousand pounds to my affectionate sister. Perish the far-fetched scruples which would break the heart of one lovely woman, and scatter to the winds the pin-money of another!

"If you utter one word in contradiction of anything I say when my workmen come into the room," said the doctor, uncocking his pistol as soon as I had rung the bell, "I shall change my mind about leaving your life and taking your character. Remember that;and keep a guard on your tongue."

The door opened, and four men entered. One was an old man whom Ihad not seen before; in the other three I recognized the workman-like footman, and the two sinister artisans whom I had met at the house-gate. They all started, guiltily enough, at seeing me.

"Let me introduce you," said the doctor, taking me by the arm.

同类推荐
  • 伤寒论注

    伤寒论注

    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。
  • 观世音菩萨授记经

    观世音菩萨授记经

    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。
  • 坐禅三昧法门经

    坐禅三昧法门经

    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。
  • 中国古代风俗小说选

    中国古代风俗小说选

    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 FROZEN DEEP

    THE FROZEN DEEP

    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
  • 让我再看你一眼0

    让我再看你一眼0

    那年遇见,那年再见,那年那些人再也难见到却再也忘不了。
  • 左手老子右手孙子:千古成大事之道

    左手老子右手孙子:千古成大事之道

    本书以《老子》及《孙子兵法》中所阐述的中华传统文化的精髓所倡导的为人处事之道,通过大量的古今中外成就大事的人物的生动鲜活的故事,深入浅出的讲述了如何以老子的深邃智慧和孙子的超人谋略,从容应对人世间错综纷繁的屈辱与不幸、机遇与挑战,从而实现自己人生的理想。
  • 豪门缠爱:娇妻不好惹

    豪门缠爱:娇妻不好惹

    简而言之,这是一个不好惹先生与偏执狂小姐妻上夫下的温馨治愈系爱情故事。——苏陌浅有病——偏执地爱着一个男人,至死不渝。*都说,苏陌浅走了狗屎运,无父无母、带着拖油瓶,还能让高干子弟求娶。熟料订婚那日,令人大跌眼镜。当着众人面悔婚、气跑未婚夫不算,还对其小舅投怀送抱。……从此,苏陌浅又多了勾引舒城彦家四爷的狐狸精骂名。——彦锦深有病——病态地宠着一个女人,至死不休。*都说,彦四爷掌握舒城经济命脉、处事杀伐决断,却性情暴虐、反复无常。遇上她之后,生活搅得一团糟。经过投怀送抱、壁咚强吻,发现就这么宠着小狐狸也不错。……从此,舒城彦家四爷人设崩了,活脱脱成为护妻狂魔。*PS:一对一,婚恋宠文,欢迎各位美妞入坑。附上完结文:《军少独爱闪婚萌妻》《傅少诱爱重生小妻》《影后重生之豪门婚宠》
  • 总裁大叔:甜妻上线请签收

    总裁大叔:甜妻上线请签收

    高小米,其貌不扬却有一副侠骨柔肠。为了成全好友双宿双飞,不惜李代桃僵代其去相亲。熟料,相亲糗事一箩筐,惹来各路男人竞折腰。男人一曰:我老婆,女的,活的就行。男人二言:我爹说了,只要我结婚,就是娶回个男人都可以。男人三可怜巴巴:如果你愿意,把我娶了吧。女人无语望天
  • 爱情不设限

    爱情不设限

    力克胡哲在澳大利亚长大,他四肢皆无降临人世,曾心存疑惑,不知道自己能否拥有人生伴侣。在世界的另一端,墨西哥长大的日籍女孩宫原佳苗目睹了父母的分道扬镳,她怀疑相亲相爱、白头偕老的婚姻是否真的存在。两个人经历了感情挫折人,终于不可思议地相遇了。永不放弃的心,给了力克强大的勇气,他说这一生都无法抓住佳苗的手,但他只要抓住她的心,就可以将这遗憾填补。佳苗也终于知道了谁才值得陪伴一生:一个男人,在情感世界里拥有主动、强大、不放弃的精神,将超越一切外在的不完美!
  • 超越:董克仁杂文集

    超越:董克仁杂文集

    古时候,人们与自然作斗争的能力很低,为了趋利避祸,在取名时爱挑些吉利的字眼。汉代及以前,有“无忌、无咎、弃疾、去病”一类的命名,也有仰慕历史上的忠臣良将而尽量选些相近或相同的字眼,如汉高祖的第一谋士张良,后来便有姓张的取“学良、效良、忠良、新良”之类的名字。
  • 造化神火

    造化神火

    灵为天极,有天玄十二浩劫,魔为地级,分地藏六道黄昏。仙门秘境,造天罡三十六法,化地煞七十二术。道法自然,藏芥子三千须弥,普永生八部天龙。神驭诸天,衍天火以控万界,控星辰而掌乾坤。天地人皇、神魔仙道,凡俗的生灵如何碎裂虚空,凌驾众神之巅?龙魂妖狼、邪灵兽血,远古的种族怎样破除封印,打开星辉之门?
  • 雷之盾

    雷之盾

    他是强者,让神龙拜服,让魔王覆灭!西方天使,是他手下臣子!东方圣兽,是他脚下坐骑!纵有毁天灭世之能,却无法逃离轮回转生之苦!是妥协还是争斗?是反击还是防守?他今后的经历,是一场智谋和权势的角逐,是一次力量同勇气的比拼!谁主沉浮?让我们拭目以待……
  • 黑历史支配者

    黑历史支配者

    鲜血凝结的权杖在贵族手中辗转。边境的坟墓里传来死灵的低语。不可知之地的魔族蠢蠢欲动。灭国的阴影开始复苏。历史中诡异的变革开始了,王室的死尸复活、千人十字军遭遇吸血鬼团灭、数十年前的堕落法神向某国伸出了手,骷髅出现在人类的沙场。战争、王权、阴谋、酷刑……告死鸦羽翼的影子轻擦枝丫,将哀嚎刻在萧瑟的风里,我在腐朽的王座上睁开眼,看这个世界。群:391639616
  • 魏阉全传

    魏阉全传

    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。