酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Maid Marian-Part9_Thomas Love Peacock(1785-1866)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
them both: their position towards the fire favoured the scrutiny;



and the hawk's eye of love very speedily discovered that the

latter was the fair Matilda. The forester he did not know:



but he had sufficient tact to discern that his success would be very much

facilitated by separating her from this companion, above all others.



He therefore formed a party of men into a wedge, only taking especial

care not to be the point of it himself, and drove it between them



with so much precision, that they were in a moment far asunder.

"Lady Matilda," said John, "yield yourself my prisoner."



"If you would wear me, prince," said Matilda, "you must win me:"

and without giving him time to deliberate on the courtesy of fighting



with the lady of his love, she raised her sword in the air, and lowered

it on his head with an impetus that would have gone nigh to fathom



even that extraordinary depth of brain which always by divine grace

furnishes the interior of a head-royal, if he had not very dexterously



parried the blow. Prince John wished to disarm and take captive,

not in any way to wound or injure, least of all to kill, his fair opponent.



Matilda was only intent to get rid of her antagonist at any rate:

the edge of her weapon painted his complexion with streaks of very



unloverlike crimson, and she would probably have marred John's hand

for ever signing Magna Charta, but that he was backed by the advantage



of numbers, and that her sword broke short on the boss of his buckler.

John was following up his advantage to make a captive of the lady,



when he was suddenly felled to the earth by an unseenantagonist.

Some of his men picked him carefully up, and conveyed him to his tent,



stunned and stupified.

When he recovered, he found Harpiton diligently assisting in his recovery,



more in the fear of losing his place than in that of losing his master:

the prince's first inquiry was for the prisoner he had been on the point



of taking at the moment when his habeas corpus was so unseasonably suspended.

He was told that his people had been on the point of securing the said



prisoner, when the devil suddenly appeared among them in the likeness

of a tall friar, having his grey frock cinctured with a sword-belt,



and his crown, which whether it were shaven or no they could not see,

surmounted with a helmet, and flourishing an eight-foot staff,



with which he laid about him to the right and to the left, knocking down

the prince and his men as if they had been so many nine-pins: in fine,



he had rescued the prisoner, and made a clear passage through friend and foe,

and in conjunction with a chosen party of archers, had covered the retreat



of the baron's men and the foresters, who had all gone off in a body

towards Sherwood forest.



Harpiton suggested that it would be desirable to sack the castle,

and volunteered to lead the van on the occasion, as the defenders were



withdrawn, and the exploit seemed to promise much profit and little danger:

John considered that the castle would in itself be a great acquisition to him,



as a stronghold in furtherance of his design on his brother's throne;

and was determining to take possession with the first light of morning,



when he had the mortification to see the castle burst into flames in several

places at once. A piteous cry was heard from within, and while the prince



was proclaiming a reward to any one who would enter into the burning pile,

and elucidate the mystery of the doleful voice, forth waddled the little






文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号