登陆注册
14885500000030

第30章

He ate a little, three or four spoonfuls, without appetite, as it were mechanically. His head ached less. After his meal he stretched himself on the sofa again, but now he could not sleep; he lay without stirring, with his face in the pillow. He was haunted by day-dreams and such strange day-dreams; in one, that kept recurring, he fancied that he was in Africa, in Egypt, in some sort of oasis. The caravan was resting, the camels were peacefully lying down; the palms stood all around in a complete circle; all the party were at dinner. But he was drinking water from a spring which flowed gurgling close by. And it was so cool, it was wonderful, wonderful, blue, cold water running among the parti-coloured stones and over the clean sand which glistened here and there like gold. … Suddenly he heard a clock strike. He started, roused himself, raised his head, looked out of the window, and seeing how late it was, suddenly jumped up wide awake as though someone had pulled him off the sofa. He crept on tiptoe to the door, stealthily opened it and began listening on the staircase. His heart beat terribly. But all was quiet on the stairs as if everyone was asleep. … It seemed to him strange and monstrous that he could have slept in such forgetfulness from the previous day and had done nothing, had prepared nothing yet. … And meanwhile perhaps it had struck six. And his drowsiness and stupefaction were followed by an extraordinary, feverish, as it were distracted haste. But the preparations to be made were few. He concentrated all his energies on thinking of everything and forgetting nothing; and his heart kept beating and thumping so that he could hardly breathe. First he had to make a noose and sew it into his overcoat—a work of a moment. He rummaged under his pillow and picked out amongst the linen stuffed away under it, a worn out, old unwashed shirt. From its rags he tore a long strip, a couple of inches wide and about sixteen inches long. He folded this strip in two, took off his wide, strong summer overcoat of some stout cotton material (his only outer garment) and began sewing the two ends of the rag on the inside, under the left armhole. His hands shook as he sewed, but he did it successfully so that nothing showed outside when he put the coat on again. The needle and thread he had got ready long before and they lay on his table in a piece of paper. As for the noose, it was a very ingenious device of his own; the noose was intended for the axe. It was impossible for him to carry the axe through the street in his hands. And if hidden under his coat he would still have had to support it with his hand, which would have been noticeable. Now he had only to put the head of the axe in the noose, and it would hang quietly under his arm on the inside. Putting his hand in his coat pocket, he could hold the end of the handle all the way, so that it did not swing; and as the coat was very full, a regular sack in fact, it could not be seen from outside that he was holding something with the hand that was in the pocket. This noose, too, he had designed a fortnight before.

When he had finished with this, he thrust his hand into a little opening between his sofa and the floor, fumbled in the left corner and drew out the pledge, which he had got ready long before and hidden there. This pledge was, however, only a smoothly planed piece of wood the size and thickness of a silver cigarette case. He picked up this piece of wood in one of his wanderings in a courtyard where there was some sort of a workshop. Afterwards he had added to the wood a thin smooth piece of iron, which he had also picked up at the same time in the street. Putting the iron which was a little the smaller on the piece of wood, he fastened them very firmly, crossing and re-crossing the thread round them; then wrapped them carefully and daintily in clean white paper and tied up the parcel so that it would be very difficult to untie it. This was in order to divert the attention of the old woman for a time, while she was trying to undo the knot, and so to gain a moment. The iron strip was added to give weight, so that the woman might not guess the first minute that the “thing” was made of wood. All this had been stored by him beforehand under the sofa. He had only just got the pledge out when he heard someone suddenly about in the yard.

“It struck six long ago.”

“Long ago! My God!”

He rushed to the door, listened, caught up his hat and began to descend his thirteen steps cautiously, noiselessly, like a cat. He had still the most important thing to do—to steal the axe from the kitchen. That the deed must be done with an axe he had decided long ago. He had also a pocket pruning-knife, but he could not rely on the knife and still less on his own strength, and so resolved finally on the axe. We may note in passing, one peculiarity in regard to all the final resolutions taken by him in the matter; they had one strange characteristic: the more final they were, the more hideous and the more absurd they at once became in his eyes. In spite of all his agonising inward struggle, he never for a single instant all that time could believe in the carrying out of his plans.

同类推荐
  • 益部谈资

    益部谈资

    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。
  • 雪岩祖钦禅师语录

    雪岩祖钦禅师语录

    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。
  • THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

    THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

    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。
  • 十三日备尝记

    十三日备尝记

    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。
  • 咏怀

    咏怀

    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。
热门推荐
  • 鬼将独宠:商妻不客气

    鬼将独宠:商妻不客气

    他是威震八方的鬼将,据说乃是修罗鬼转世,不然为何长了一双红眼眸?他是定国公唯一后人,据说性格暴戾弑杀无情,皇帝都忌惮!确定这是在说眼前这位?一张俊脸笑得风-骚,一双黑眸闪着魅-惑,一张订单甩的帅气,”一月之内准备不齐,就等着上花轿吧!“刀,戈,戟,弓,弩,火药……这就是打十年仗那也用不完啊!你是把我的武器设计局当军品库了吧?嘁,本老板不吃这一套!
  • 爱我,请放开我吧!

    爱我,请放开我吧!

    人与人之间很讲缘份!而感情还需要讲时机。有人曾经说过:在错的时间遇到对的人,叫爱情;在错的时间遇到错的人,叫婚姻。有多少人能在短暂的一生中,找到属于自己的那份真爱。而这份爱,又有多少能经得起考验,直到开花结果呢?他,有一个小鸟依人的女友;而她,有一个暖男男友。但老天总爱考验世人,硬把他和她牵在一起;也许,这就是对他们各自爱情的考验吧。在错的时间遇到对的人,确实很无奈;分分合合,她实在累了:爱我,请放开我吧!
  • 光华琉璃只为一笑

    光华琉璃只为一笑

    实力独尊,血之帝国,神秘血族,大漠之外,妖娆蛇族,阴阳轮回,舞天地,转乾坤!樱花布丁正式改名为:Sakula布丁
  • tf永远爱你

    tf永远爱你

    作者:我忘记了杨雪心的作者帐号和密码所以只有重新注册一个这篇小说就是《tf我爱你》我已经写了两章的发没发布我就不知道了
  • 顾皇武帝

    顾皇武帝

    “哎呦哎呦,文轩你就别生气了。我改还不行吗~”“哎呦哎呦,房简你怎么也不高兴了,我改还不行吗……”“这些美人一个接一个的出现我也没办法啊……哎呦!别揪我耳朵!我保证这是最后一个还不行吗?!真是最后一个!你们别不信啊……”众人走远中……呜呜呜……罗大人……他们都是坏人,他们都不要我了……顾女皇独自一人躲在角落里画圈圈罗老头:“陛下,别玩了。快收拾收拾吧!南陵还等着您去和亲呢!”
  • 逆袭:飞翔还是坠落

    逆袭:飞翔还是坠落

    作为“时代见证”系列丛书之一,《逆袭之路》通过对近两年来知名企业的市场表现进行分类,一类是在创意年代把握机会为消费者带来惊喜表现,在这场过山车的运动中成功的攀上更高位置;另一类是盛极而衰期待华丽转身的代表,他们更需要时间和市场来验证这一场运动是重上高峰还是荡到低谷。本书不是一般的企业案例书,它通过财经记者的专业分析,让读者看到企业的市场表现和战略特点,从中可以找到自已的判断分析。
  • 伤魂录

    伤魂录

    人死了一切便随风而去吗?恩怨情仇便随风飘散吗?他死了,他的魂得以残存,他的魂竟进了青鸟宿里,他的魂醒了,他的魂要报仇,他的魂要练魂……阴差阳错,他的魂消散了,却又回来了,只是却变了,成了不是魂的魂......机缘巧合,他居然多了一个魂,变成了千年不遇的再塑魂,结果会是如何......,两个同样的魂,最后又是什么样……心里最深处那人与他分散,相聚,又分离,为了她,他情愿魂儿飞散,结果呢……练魂的境界有:悟魂,聚魂,灵魂,离魂,阴魂,阳魂,化魂,地魂,天魂;还有不可知的境界,他到底会练到什么境界呢……
  • 御兽之灵

    御兽之灵

    金麟岂是池中物一遇风云便化龙九霄龙吟惊天变风云际会浅水游.........一位背负重剑的黑衫少年自偏僻地方而出,骑着青龙闯向纷乱的五彩世界。新书Q群:569559571欢迎大家加入交流
  • 霸道:校草,你走开

    霸道:校草,你走开

    谁会想到夏林月去倒一个垃圾,都会碰上惊心动魄的追杀案件啊!关键是对方还不由分说地拉着她跑,拜托!她只是个路过的啊!这不,从此惹上了一个大恶魔……还和她有娃娃亲,这日子,苦逼啊!
  • 五十二号特勤组

    五十二号特勤组

    一颗中子星的突然爆发揭示出遥远的一颗星球,暗藏着巨大的能量。为了探求这个神秘的能量,人类宇宙空间开发委员会派出51号特勤组前去勘察。但是51号特勤组经过几年的艰苦飞行,终于是来到了那个神秘的星球。可是就在51号特勤组登陆那个星球的瞬间,忽然与地球失去了联系,而最后传回来的却是一连串的神秘的无法破解的讯号。51号特勤组的突然消失让人类宇宙空间开发委员会和所有的关心此次飞行的人们大感震惊,不知道是他们出现了什么样的意外。有些人认为是那颗星球本身就是子虚乌有,而特勤组成员是被神秘的黑洞所吸入,而另外一些人认为是外星人绑架了51号特勤组的成员,但是不管怎么样,51号特勤组的消失的确是非常的扑朔迷离,令人匪夷所思。为了查清51号特勤组到底是遇到了什么样的状况,同时也是为了完成51号特勤组未完成的使命,人类委员会又派出了52号特勤组来执行,51号特勤组未完成的使命。