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The Haunted Hotel-Part15_WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1899)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Adela Montbarry.'



Agnes folded up the letter; and, feeling the need of composing herself,

took refuge for a few minutes in her own room.



Her first natural sensations of surprise and excitement at the prospect

of going to Venice were succeeded by impressions of a less agreeable kind.



With the recovery of her customarycomposure came the unwelcome

remembrance of the parting words spoken to her by Montbarry's



widow:--'We shall meet again--here in England, or there in Venice

where my husband died--and meet for the last time.'



It was an odd coincidence, to say the least of it, that the march

of events should be unexpectedlytaking Agnes to Venice, after those



words had been spoken! Was the woman of the mysterious warnings

and the wild black eyes still thousands of miles away in America?



Or was the march of events taking her unexpectedly, too, on the

journey to Venice? Agnes started out of her chair, ashamed of



even the momentaryconcession to superstition which was implied

by the mere presence of such questions as these in her mind.



She rang the bell, and sent for her little pupils, and announced

their approaching departure to the household. The noisy delight



of the children, the inspiriting effort of packing up in a hurry,

roused all her energies. She dismissed her own absurd misgivings



from consideration, with the contempt that they deserved. She worked

as only women can work, when their hearts are in what they do.



The travellers reached Dublin that day, in time for the boat

to England. Two days later, they were with Lord and Lady Montbarry



at Paris.

THE FOURTH PART



CHAPTER XVI

It was only the twentieth of September, when Agnes and the children



reached Paris. Mrs. Norbury and her brother Francis had then already

started on their journey to Italy--at least three weeks before the date



at which the new hotel was to open for the reception of travellers.

The person answerable for this premature departure was Francis Westwick.



Like his younger brother Henry, he had increased his pecuniary

resources by his own enterprise and ingenuity; with this difference,



that his speculations were connected with the Arts.

He had made money, in the first instance, by a weekly newspaper;



and he had then invested his profits in a London theatre.

This latter enterprise, admirably conducted, had been rewarded



by the public with steady and liberalencouragement. Pondering over

a new form of theatricalattraction for the coming winter season,



Francis had determined to revive the languid public taste for the ballet

by means of an entertainment of his own invention, combining dramatic



interest with dancing. He was now, accordingly, in search of the

best dancer (possessed of the indispensable personal attractions)



who was to be found in the theatres of the Continent.

Hearing from his foreign correspondents of two women who had made



successful first appearances, one at Milan and one at Florence,

he had arranged to visit those cities, and to judge of the merits



of the dancers for himself, before he joined the bride and bridegroom.

His widowed sister, having friends at Florence whom she was anxious



to see, readily accompanied him. The Montbarrys remained at Paris,

until it was time to present themselves at the family meeting in Venice.



Henry found them still in the French capital, when he arrived from London

on his way to the opening of the new hotel.



Against Lady Montbarry's advice, he took the opportunity of

renewing his addresses to Agnes. He could hardly have chosen



a more unpropitious time for pleading his cause with her.

The gaieties of Paris (quite incomprehensibly to herself as well



as to everyone about her) had a depressing effect on her spirits.

She had no illness to complain of; she shared willingly in the ever-varying



succession of amusements offered to strangers by the ingenuity

of the liveliest people in the world--but nothing roused her:



she remained persistently dull and weary through it all.

In this frame of mind and body, she was in no humour to receive






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