himself out of breath, but Dona Rita muttering; "Too late, too

late," got her hands away from my grip and slipping altogether out



of her fur coat seized some garment lying on a chair near by (I

think it was her skirt), with the intention of dressing herself, I



imagine, and rushing out of the house. Determined to prevent this,

but indeed without thinking very much what I was doing, I got hold



of her arm. That struggle was silent, too; but I used the least

force possible and she managed to give me an unexpected push.



Stepping back to save myself from falling I overturned the little

table, bearing the six-branched candlestick. It hit the floor,



rebounded with a dull ring on the carpet, and by the time it came

to a rest every single candle was out. He on the other side of the



door naturally heard the noise and greeted it with a triumphant

screech: "Aha! I've managed to wake you up," the very savagery of



which had a laughable effect. I felt the weight of Dona Rita grow

on my arm and thought it best to let her sink on the floor, wishing



to be free in my movements and really afraid that now he had

actually heard a noise he would infallibly burst the door. But he



didn't even thump it. He seemed to have exhausted himself in that

scream. There was no other light in the room but the darkened glow



of the embers and I could hardly make out amongst the shadows of

furniture Dona Rita sunk on her knees in a penitential and



despairing attitude. Before this collapse I, who had been

wrestling desperately with her a moment before, felt that I dare



not touch her. This emotion, too, I could not understand; this

abandonment of herself, this conscience-stricken humility. A



humbly imploring request to open the door came from the other side.

Ortega kept on repeating: "Open the door, open the door," in such



an amazingvariety of intonations, imperative, whining, persuasive,

insinuating, and even unexpectedly" target="_blank" title="ad.意外地；突然地">unexpectedly jocose, that I really stood



there smiling to myself, yet with a gloomy and uneasy heart. Then

he remarked, parenthetically as it were, "Oh, you know how to



torment a man, you brown-skinned, lean, grinning, dishevelled imp,

you. And mark," he expounded further, in a curiously doctoral tone



- "you are in all your limbs hateful: your eyes are hateful and

your mouth is hateful, and your hair is hateful, and your body is



cold and vicious like a snake - and altogether you are perdition."

This statement was astonishingly deliberate. He drew a moaning



breath after it and uttered in a heart-rending tone, "You know,

Rita, that I cannot live without you. I haven't lived. I am not



living now. This isn't life. Come, Rita, you can't take a boy's

soul away and then let him grow up and go about the world, poor



devil, while you go amongst the rich from one pair of arms to

another, showing all your best tricks. But I will forgive you if



you only open the door," he ended in an inflated tone: "You

remember how you swore time after time to be my wife. You are more



fit to be Satan's wife but I don't mind. You shall be my wife!"

A sound near the floor made me bend down hastily with a stern:



"Don't laugh," for in his grotesque, almost burlesque discourses

there seemed to me to be truth, passion, and horror enough to move



a mountain.

Suddenly suspicion seized him out there. With perfectly farcical



unexpectedness he yelled shrilly: "Oh, you deceitful wretch! You

won't escape me! I will have you. . . ."



And in a manner of speaking he vanished. Of course I couldn't see

him but somehow that was the impression. I had hardly time to



receive it when crash! . . . he was already at the other door. I

suppose he thought that his prey was escaping him. His swiftness



was amazing, almost inconceivable, more like the effect of a trick

or of a mechanism. The thump on the door was awful as if he had



not been able to stop himself in time. The shock seemed enough to

stun an elephant. It was really funny. And after the crash there



was a moment of silence as if he were recovering himself. The next

thing was a low grunt, and at once he picked up the thread of his



fixed idea.

"You will have to be my wife. I have no shame. You swore you



would be and so you will have to be." Stifled low sounds made me

bend down again to the kneeling form, white in the flush of the



dark red glow. "For goodness' sake don't," I whispered down. She

was struggling with an appalling fit of merriment, repeating to



herself, "Yes, every day, for two months. Sixty times at least,

• anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)


• contact [´kɔntækt] n.接触；联系 v.联络 (初中英语单词)


• mystery [´mistəri] n.神秘；秘密；故弄玄虚 (初中英语单词)


• gently [´dʒentli] ad.温和地；静静地 (初中英语单词)


• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)


• instantly [´instəntli] ad.立即，立刻 (初中英语单词)


• preparation [,prepə´reiʃən] n.准备；预习(时间) (初中英语单词)


• thrill [θril] v.震惊；激动；刺激 (初中英语单词)


• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地，彻底地 (初中英语单词)


• objection [əb´dʒekʃən] n.反对；异议；缺点 (初中英语单词)


• advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)


• anywhere [´eniweə] ad.无论何处；任何地方 (初中英语单词)


• absolute [´æbsəlu:t] a.绝对的 n.绝对 (初中英语单词)


• stupid [´stju:pid] a.愚蠢的；糊涂的 (初中英语单词)


• savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)


• performance [pə´fɔ:məns] n.履行；行为；工作 (初中英语单词)


• absurd [əb´sə:d] a.荒谬的，可笑的 (初中英语单词)


• thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)


• vision [´viʒən] n.视觉；想象力；幻影 (初中英语单词)


• wicked [´wikid] a.邪恶的；不道德的 (初中英语单词)


• altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)


• garment [´gɑ:mənt] n.衣服，外衣 (初中英语单词)


• intention [in´tenʃən] n.意图；打算；意义 (初中英语单词)


• carpet [´kɑ:pit] n.地毯 vt.铺地毯 (初中英语单词)


• emotion [i´məuʃən] n.感情；情绪；激动 (初中英语单词)


• amazing [ə´meiziŋ] a.惊人的；惊奇的 (初中英语单词)


• variety [və´raiəti] n.变化；多样(性)；种类 (初中英语单词)


• curiously [´kjuəriəsli] ad.好奇地；稀奇古怪地 (初中英语单词)


• forgive [fə´giv] vt.原谅，谅解，宽恕 (初中英语单词)


• hastily [´heistili] ad.急速地；草率地 (初中英语单词)


• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)


• horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)


• suspicion [sə´spiʃən] n.怀(猜)疑；嫌疑 (初中英语单词)


• impression [im´preʃən] n.印刷；印象；效果 (初中英语单词)


• elephant [´elifənt] n.象 (初中英语单词)


• literally [´litərəli] ad.逐字地；实际上 (高中英语单词)


• bronze [brɔnz] n.青铜(器) (高中英语单词)


• positively [´pɔzətivli] ad.确实；断然；绝对 (高中英语单词)


• stillness [´stilnis] n.不动；无声，寂静 (高中英语单词)


• illusion [i´lu:ʒən] n.幻觉；幻影；错觉 (高中英语单词)


• incredible [in´kredəbəl] a.不能相信的；惊人的 (高中英语单词)


• repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)


• precisely [pri´saisli] ad.精确地；刻板地 (高中英语单词)


• amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)


• horseback [´hɔ:sbæk] n.马背 (高中英语单词)


• unexpected [ʌniks´pektid] a.突然的；意外的 (高中英语单词)


• bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)


• collapse [kə´læps] vi.&n.崩溃；病倒；衰败 (高中英语单词)


• desperately [´despəritli] ad.绝望地；拼命地 (高中英语单词)


• gloomy [´glu:mi] a.昏暗的；忧郁的 (高中英语单词)


• uneasy [ʌn´i:zi] a.不安的；不自在的 (高中英语单词)


• deliberate [di´libəreit] a.慎重的；故意的 (高中英语单词)


• perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)


• odious [´əudiəs] a.可憎的；丑恶的 (英语四级单词)


• carving [´kɑ:viŋ] n.雕刻(术)；雕刻品 (英语四级单词)


• warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)


• upstairs [,ʌp´steəz] ad.在楼上 a.楼上的 (英语四级单词)


• knives [naivz] knife的复数 (英语四级单词)


• barbarous [´bɑ:bərəs] a.野蛮的；不规范的 (英语四级单词)


• unexpectedly [´ʌniks´pektidli] ad.意外地；突然地 (英语四级单词)


• bodily [´bɔdili] a.身体的 ad.亲自 (英语四级单词)


• varied [´veərid] a.各种各样的 (英语四级单词)


• uproar [´ʌprɔ:] n.喧嚣；骚动；轰鸣，轰动 (英语四级单词)


• instinctively [in´stiŋktivli] ad.本能地 (英语四级单词)


• humility [hju:´militi] n.谦逊，谦让 (英语四级单词)


• imperative [im´perətiv] a.紧急的 n.命令式 (英语四级单词)


• hateful [´heitfəl] a.可恨的，可憎的 (英语四级单词)


• vicious [´viʃəs] a.不道德的；刻毒的 (英语四级单词)


• grotesque [grəu´tesk] a.奇异的，想象中的 (英语四级单词)


• mechanism [´mekənizəm] n.机械装置；机制 (英语四级单词)


• appalling [ə´pɔ:liŋ] a.令人震惊的 (英语四级单词)


• merriment [´merimənt] n.欢乐 (英语四级单词)


• ghostly [´gəustli] a.鬼的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)


• entreaty [in´tri:ti] n.恳求，哀求 (英语六级单词)


• abject [´æbdʒekt] a.卑鄙的；可怜的 (英语六级单词)


• condescend [,kɔndi´send] vi.屈尊；堕落 (英语六级单词)


• candlestick [´kændl,stik] n.烛台 (英语六级单词)


• burlesque [bə:´lesk] n.&a.滑稽戏(的) (英语六级单词)


• shrilly [´ʃrili] ad.尖声地 (英语六级单词)


• deceitful [di´si:tful] a.欺骗的，骗人的 (英语六级单词)


• speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)