不平静的坟墓中英文对照(46页).doc

-不平静的坟墓中英文对照-第 45 页Chapter 1 Casting the Runes15th April 1902Dear Mr KarswellI am turning your paper on'The Truth of Alchemy'， which you have kindly offered to read at our next club meetingUnfortunately，we do not feel able to accept your offerWGayton，Secretary18th April 1902Dear Mr KarswellI am afraid that I am not able to arrange a meeting with you to discuss your offer to read a paper on alchemyHowever， the club considered your offer most carefully，and we did not refuse it until we had asked for the opinion of an expert in these mattersWGayton，Secretary20th April 1902The Secretary writes to inform Mr Karswell that it is impossible for him to give the name of any person or persons who were asked for an opinion on Mr Karswell's paper on alchemyThe Secretary also wishes to say that he cannot reply to any further letters on this matter'And who is Mr Karswell？'asked the Secretary's wifeShe had called at his office and had just picked up and read the last of these letters'Well，my dear，'replied her husband，'just at present Mr Karswell is a very angry manAll I know abut him is that he's rich，lives at Lufford Abbey in Warwickshire，and considers himself to be an alchemistAnd I don't want to meet him for the next week or twoNow，shall we go？''What have you been doing to make him angry？'asked the Secretary's wife'The usual thing，my dearHe sent us a paper which he wanted to read at our next meetingWe showed it to Edward Dunningalmost the only man in England who knows about these thingsand he said it was no good，so we refused it Now Karswell wants to see me about it and to find out whose opinion we asked forWell，you've seen my reply to thatOf course，you mustn't say anything about it to anyone''You know very well that I would never do a thing like thatIndeed，I hope he doesn't discover that it was poor Mr Dunning''Why do you say“poor”Mr Dunning？'said the Secretary 'He's a very happy man and quite rich，I believeHe has a comfortable home and plenty of time to spend on his hobbies''I only meant that I would be sorry for him if Mr Karswell discovered his name and made trouble for him''Oh yes！He would be poor Mr Dunning then，'agreed her husbandThe Secretary and his wife were lunching with friends that day，a Mr and Mrs Bennett，who came from Warwickshire Mrs Gayton decided to ask them if they knew Mr Karswell However，before she could do so，Mrs Bennett said to her hus band：'I saw Mr Karswell this morningHe was coming out of the British Museum as I was driving past''Did you really？'said her husband'I wonder what brings him up to London''Is he a friend of yours？'asked the Secretary，smiling at his wife'Oh no！'said Mr and Mrs Bennett together'He's one of our neighbours in Warwickshire，'explained Mrs Bennett，'but he's not at all popularNobody knows what he does with his time and they say he believes in all kinds of strange and unpleasant thingsIf he thinks you have been impolite to him，he never forgets it，and he never does anything kind for his neighbours''But，my dear，'said her husband，'you're forgetting the Christmas party he gave for the children''Oh no，I'm not，'replied his wife'That's a good exam ple of what I mean'She turned to the Secretary and his wife'The first winter he was at Lufford this horrible man invited all the village children to a Christmas party at his houseHe said that he had some of these new moving pictures to show themEveryone was rather surprised because they thought hat he didn't like children；he used to be very angry if any of the village children came on to his landHowever，the chil dren all went and a friend of ours，Mr Farrer，went with them to see that everything was all right''And was it？'asked the Secretary'Indeed it was not！'replied Mrs Bennett'Our friend said it was obvious that Mr Karswell wanted to frighten the children to death，and he very nearly did soThe first film was “Red Riding Hood”，and the wolf was so terrible that several of the smaller children had to leave the roomThe other films were more and more frighteningAt the end Mr Karswell showed a film of a little boy in the park surrounding Lufford Abbeyevery child in the room could recognize the place There was a horrible creature in white following the little boy At first you could see it hiding in the trees，then it became clearer and clearer and at last it caught the little boy and pulled him to piecesOur friend said that it gave him some very bad dreams，so you can imagine how the children feltOf course， this was too much and Mr Farrer told Karswell that he must stop itAll Mr Karswell said was：“Oh！The dear children want to go home to bed，do they？Very well，just one last picture ”'And then he showed a short film of horrible creatures with wings and lots of legsThey seemed to be crawling out of the picture to get among the childrenOf course，the children were terribly frightened and they all started screaming and running out of the roomSome of them were quite badly hurt because they were all trying to get out of the room at the same timeThere was the most awful trouble in the village after- wardsSeveral of the fathers wanted to go to Lufford Abbey and break all the windows，but the gates were locked when they got thereSo you see why Mr Karswell is not one of our friends''Yes，'agreed her husband'I think Karswell is a very dangerous manI feel sorry for anyone who makes an enemy of him''Is he the man，'asked the Secretary，'who wrote a History of Witchcraft about ten years ago？''Yes，that's the man，'replied Mr Bennett'Do you re- member what the newspaers said about it？''Yes，I do，'said the Secretary'They all said that it was a really bad bookIn fact，I knew the man who wrote the sharpest report of them allSo did you，of courseYou re- member John Harrington？He was at Cambridge with us''Oh，very well indeedBut I had heard nothing of him between the time we left university and the day I read about his accident in the newspaper''What happened to him？'asked one of the ladies'It was very strange，'said Mr Bennett'He fell out of a tree and broke his neckThe mystery was why he had climbed the tree in the first placeThere he was，an ordinary man walking home along a country road late one evening，and suddenly he began to run as fast as he couldFinally he climbed up a tree beside the road；a dead branch broke，he fell and was killedWhen they found him the next morning，he had a terrible expression of fear on his faceIt was quite clear that he had been chased by something and people talked about mad dogs and so on，but no one ever found the answerThat was in 1889 and ever since then his brother，Henry，who was also at Cambridge with us，has been trying to find out the truth of what happenedHe thinks that someone wanted to harm his brother but，of course，he has never been able to prove anything'After a pause Mr Bennett asked the Secretary，'Did you ever read Karswell's History of Witchcraft？''Yes，I did，'said the Secretary'And was it as bad as Harrington said？''Oh yesIt was badly written but what it said was very bad too，although Karswell seemed to believe every word of what he was saying''I didn't read the book but I remember what Harrington wrote about it，'said Mr Bennett'If anyone wrote like that about one of my books，I would never write another，I'm sure''I don't think Karswell feels the same way，'replied the Secretary'But it's half past three；we must goThank you for an excellent lunch'On the way home Mrs Gayton said，'I hope that horrible man Karswell doesn't discover that it was Mr Dunning who said his paper was no good''I don't think he's likely to do that，'replied her husband'Dunning won't tell him and neither shall IThe only way Karswell might find out is by asking the people at the British Museum Library for the name of anyone who studies all their old books about alchemyLet's hope he won't think of that'But Mr Karswell was a very clever manOne evening，later in the same week，Mr Edward Dunning was returning from the British Museum Library，where he had been working all day，to his comfortable homeHe lived alone there，except for the two women who cooked and cleaned for himA train took him most of the way home，then he caught a bus for the last mile or twoHe had finished reading his newspaper by the time he got on the bus so he amused himself by reading the different notices on the windows opposite him He already knew most of them quite well，but there seemed to be a new one in the corner that he had not seen beforeIt was yellow with blue letters，and all he could read was the name 'John Harrington'Soon the bus was nearly empty and he changed his seat so that he could read the rest of itIt said：REMEMBER JOHN HARRINGTON OF THE LAURELS，ASHBROOKE， WARWICKSHIRE，WHO DIED 18TH SEPTEMBER 1889HE WAS AL- LOWED THREE MONTHSMr Dunning stared at this notice for a long timeHe was the only passenger on the bus when it reached his stop，and as he was getting off，he said to the driver，'I was looking at that new notice on the window，the blue and yellow oneIt's rather strange，isn't it？''Which one is that，sir？asked the driver'I don't think I know it''why，this one here，'said Mr Dunning，turning to point to itThen he suddenly stoppedthe window was now quite clearThe blue and yellow notice，with its strange message， had completely disappeared'But I'm sure'Mr Dunning began，staring at the windowThen he turned back to the driver'I'm sorryPerhaps I imagined it，'he saidHe hurried off the bus and walked home，feeling rather worriedThe notice had been there on the window；he was sure of itBut what possible explanation could there be for its disappearing like that？The following afternoon Mr Dunning was walking from the British Museum to the station when he saw，some way ahead of him，a man holding some leaflets，ready to give to people as they passedHowever，Mr Dunning did not see him give any- one a leaflet until he himself reached the placeOne was pushed into his hand as he passedThe man's hand touched his，and gave Mr Dunning an unpleasant surpriseThe hand seemed unnaturally rough and hotAs Mr Dunning walked on，he looked quickly at the leaflet and noticed the name HarringtonHe stopped in alarm，and felt in his pocket for his glasses，but in that second someone took the leaflet out of his handHe turned quicklybut whoever it was had disappeared，and so had the man with the leafletsThe next day in the British Museum he was arranging his papers on the desk when he thought he heard his own name whispered behind himHe turned round hurriedly，knocking some of his papers on to the floor，but saw no one he recognizedHe picked up his papers and was beginning to work when a large man at the table behind him，who was just getting up to leave，touched him on the shoulder'May I give you these？'he said，holding out a number of papers'I think they must be yours''Yes，they are mineThank you，'said Mr DunningA moment later the man had left the roomLater，Mr Dunning asked the librarian if he knew the large man's name'Oh yesthat's Mr Karswell，'said the librarian'In fact， he asked me the other day who were the experts on alchemy， so I told him that you were the only one in the countryI'll introduce you if you like；I'm sure he'd like to meet you''No，no，please don't，'said Dunning'He is someone I would very much prefer to avoid'On the way home from the museum Mr Dunning felt strangely unwellUsually he looked forward to an evening spent alone with his books，but now he wanted to be with other peopleUnfortunately，the train and the bus were unusually emptyWhen he reached his house，he was surprised to find the doctor waiting for him'I'm sorry，Dunning，'said the doctor'I'm afraid I've had to send both your servants to hospital''Oh dear！'said Mr Dunning'What's the matter with them？''They told me they'd bought some fish for their lunch from a man who came to the door，and it has made them quite ill''I'm very sorry to hear that，'said Mr Dunning'It's strange，'said the doctor'I've spoken to the neighbours and no one else has seen anyone selling fishNow，don't worryThey're not seriously ill，but I'm afraid they won't be home for two or three daysWhy don't you come and have dinner with me this evening？Eight o'clockYou know where I live'Mr Dunning enjoyed his evening with the doctor and re- turned to his lonely house at half past elevenHe had got into bed and was almost asleep when he heard quite clearly the sound of his study door opening downstairsAlarmed，he got out of bed，went to the top of the stairs，and listenedThere were no sounds of movements or footsteps，but he suddenly felt warm，even hot，air round his legsHe went back and decided to lock himself into his room，and then suddenly，the electric lights all went outHe put out his hand to find the matches on the table beside the bedand touched a mouth， with teeth and with hair around it，and not，he said later，the mouth of a human beingIn less than a second he was in an- other room and had locked the doorAnd there he spent a miserable night，in the dark，expecting every moment to hear something trying to open the doorBut nothing cameWhen it grew light，he went nervously back into his bed- room and searched itEverything was in its usual placeHe searched the whole house，but found nothingIt was a miserable day for Mr DunningHe did not want to go to the British Museum in case he met Karswell，and he did not feel comfortable in the empty houseHe spent half an hour at the hospital where he found that the two women were feeling much betterThen he decided to go to the Club for lunch There，he was very glad to find his friend the Secretary and they had lunch togetherHe told Gayton that his servants were in hospital，but he was unwilling to speak of his other problems'You poor man，'said the Secretary'We can't leave you alone with no one to cook your mealsYou must come and stay with usMy wife and I will be delighted to have youGo home after lunch and bring your things to my house this after- noonNo，I won't let you refuse'In fact，Mr Dunning was very happy to accept his friend's invitationThe idea of spending another night alone in his house was alarming him more and moreAt dinner that evening Mr Dunning looked so unwell that the Gaytons felt sorry for him and tried to make him forget his troublesBut later，when the two men were alone，Dunning became very quiet againSuddenly he said：'Gayton，I think that man Karswell knows that I was the person who advised you to refuse his paper'Gayton looked surprised'What makes you think that？'he askedSo Dunning explained'I don't really mind，'he continued， 'but I believe that he's not a very nice person and it could be difficult if we met'After this Dunning sat in silence，looking mo