登陆注册
15698900000058

第58章

"Tomorrow, at sunrise," he repeated, taking his lamp to retire tobed, "I'll see whether this treasure be hid in the wall of thegarret.""And as we're out of wood, Mr. Peter," said Tabitha, puffing andpanting with her late gymnastics, "as fast as you tear the house down,I'll make a fire with the pieces."Gorgeous that night were the dreams of Peter Goldthwaite! At onetime he was turning a ponderous key in an iron door not unlike thedoor of a sepulchre, but which, being opened, disclosed a vault heapedup with gold coin, as plentifully as golden corn in a granary. Therewere chased goblets, also, and tureens, salvers, dinner dishes, anddish covers of gold, or silver gilt, besides chains and otherjewels, incalculably rich, though tarnished with the damps of thevault; for, of all the wealth that was irrevocably lost to man,whether buried in the earth or sunken in the sea, Peter Goldthwaitehad found it in this one treasure-place. Anon, he had returned tothe old house as poor as ever, and was received at the door by thegaunt and grizzled figure of a man whom he might have mistaken forhimself, only that his garments were of a much elder fashion. Butthe house, without losing its former aspect, had been changed into apalace of the precious metals. The floors, walls, and ceiling wereof burnished silver; the doors, the window-frames, the cornices, thebalustrades, and the steps of the staircase, of pure gold; and silver,with gold bottoms, were the chairs, and gold, standing on silver legs,the high chests of drawers, and silver the bedsteads, with blankets ofwoven gold, and sheets of silver tissue. The house had evidentlybeen transmuted by a single touch; for it retained all the marksthat Peter remembered, but in gold or silver instead of wood; andthe initials of his name, which, when a boy, he had cut in thewooden door-post, remained as deep in the pillar of gold. A happyman would have been Peter Goldthwaite except for a certain oculardeception, which, whenever he glanced backwards, caused the house todarken from its glittering magnificence into the sordid gloom ofyesterday.

Up, betimes, rose Peter, seized an axe, hammer, and saw, which hehad placed by his bedside, and hied him to the garret. It was butscantily lighted up, as yet, by the frosty fragments of a sunbeam,which began to glimmer through the almost opaque bull's-eyes of thewindow. A moralizer might find abundant themes for his speculative andimpracticable wisdom in a garret. There is the limbo of departedfashions, aged trifles of a day, and whatever was valuable only to onegeneration of men, and which passed to the garret when that generationpassed to the grave, not for safe keeping, but to be out of the way.

Peter saw piles of yellow and musty account-books, in parchmentcovers, wherein creditors, long dead and buried, had written the namesof dead and buried debtors in ink now so faded that their moss-growntombstones were more legible. He found old moth-eaten garments allin rags and tatters, or Peter would have put them on. Here was a nakedand rusty sword, not a sword of service, but a gentleman's smallFrench rapier, which had never left its scabbard till it lost it. Herewere canes of twenty different sorts, but no gold-headed ones, andshoe-buckles of various pattern and material, but not silver nor setwith precious stones. Here was a large box full of shoes, with highheels and peaked toes. Here, on a shelf, were a multitude of phials,half filled with old apothecaries' stuff, which, when the other halfhad done its business on Peter's ancestors, had been brought hitherfrom the death chamber. Here- not to give a longer inventory ofarticles that will never be put up at auction- was the fragment of afull-length looking-glass, which, by the dust and dimness of itssurface, made the picture of these old things look older than thereality. When Peter, not knowing that there was a mirror there, caughtthe faint traces of his own figure, he partly imagined that the formerPeter Goldthwaite had come back, either to assist or impede his searchfor the hidden wealth. And at that moment a strange notion glimmeredthrough his brain that he was the identical Peter who had concealedthe gold, and ought to know whereabout it lay. This, however, he hadunaccountably forgotten.

"Well, Mr. Peter!" cried Tabitha, on the garret stairs. "Have youtorn the house down enough to heat the teakettle?""Not yet, old Tabby," answered Peter; "but that's soon done- as youshall see."With the word in his mouth, he uplifted the axe, and laid about himso vigorously that the dust flew, the boards crashed, and, in atwinkling, the old woman had an apron full of broken rubbish.

"We shall get our winter's wood cheap," quoth Tabitha.

The good work being thus commenced, Peter beat down all before him,smiting and hewing at the joists and timbers, unclinching spike-nails,ripping and tearing away boards, with a tremendous racket, frommorning till night. He took care, however, to leave the outsideshell of the house untouched, so that the neighbors might notsuspect what was going on.

Never, in any of his vagaries, though each had made him happy whileit lasted, had Peter been happier than now. Perhaps, after all,there was something in Peter Goldthwaite's turn of mind, which broughthim an inward recompense for all the external evil that it caused.

同类推荐
  • The Red Cross Girl

    The Red Cross Girl

    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。
  • 樵谈

    樵谈

    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。
  • 九转灵砂大丹

    九转灵砂大丹

    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。
  • 化书

    化书

    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。
  • Moral Emblems

    Moral Emblems

    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
  • 次界之旅

    次界之旅

    东启觉得自己有两回新生,一次在他醒到异世界时,另一次在他生活十年后。从小就常做的英雄梦在这一天终于发了芽,但他却不知道所谓强者的成长往往是先苦后甘的。神土大地外浩瀚无垠的大海上,有一图皇岛,东启的旅程就从这里开始。
  • 春劫

    春劫

    关于“年”很多人都以为那是一个带有传奇色彩的民间传说!在“无眠夜”之后!世界迎来了变革!常住“幽冥界”的“年”以及其眷属开始侵略人间!一些人们的身体产生了异变!开始能使用奇怪的力量!能与之对抗!政府为了约束,管制,利用这群有能力的!成立了“圣灵学院”,提供他们学习!栖身之地!也为了更好的对抗“年”的来袭!但一切都不是世人所想象的那么简单。。。。。。
  • 位面疯狂旅行

    位面疯狂旅行

    宅神降临了,在无节操的幻想之神的指引(拐骗)下,进入了各个位面。我们的宗旨是:拐卖萝莉,搞定御姐,全控万岁!反正拐回的女孩子们都在神界,谁敢抢!门前左边放一个奥丁,右边放一个宙斯。哈哈哈!
  • 光元素的战歌

    光元素的战歌

    能够使用光元素作战的人都想要来到这所学院。而最开始被判定为不能使用光元素的竹雨晨依靠机甲作战进入学院之后竟然发现自己能够使用光元素。也是在这所学院,他遇见了生命中那些重要的人。另外,和另一个国家的战争即将打响,他们会有什么样的表现呢?
  • 袖里乾坤

    袖里乾坤

    主人翁宋玉从小就学于当代隐士伯昕子门下,十五岁赴京赶考途中顺道回家省亲,不料父母亲人一家二十余人全都惨遭杀害,宋玉自己也被人劫持,受尽折磨,孤苦无援。手无缚鸡之力的他一直莫名其妙地被江湖黑白两道人追杀。历尽千辛万苦,偶得奇缘,学成武功。从此出走江湖,寻找杀害亲人的仇家,在追逐搏杀之中,发觉自己身世隐含着武林和朝廷之间的重大秘密,同时无意中他发觉还有个与自己长得一模一样的同孪生兄弟。在探查中频频渉险,越查越令人心惊,步步危机,处处陷阱,原来江湖中人频频追杀自己的原因是为了一本绝世武功秘籍《袖里乾坤》,而此书的秘密就在自己身上,在被追杀的途中无意间领悟了此书中的盖世神功……
  • 天上飘散的那朵云

    天上飘散的那朵云

    从下笔的第一天到现在时间跨度很长,两年有余,虽然故事不长,但融入了我全部情感。是的,我爱她,爱她每一个细微的动作,对,是她,飘散的那朵云。
  • 当流星飞过天空你我许下心愿

    当流星飞过天空你我许下心愿

    少女望着他那奔跑地背影,直到消失。从这一刻起,她就知道她喜欢上了他......他们在次见面,彼此诉说,在一起.少女问少年‘’你爱我吗‘’少年亲吻少女,说‘’这就是我的回答。‘’直到最后才知道这一切的她....原来一切都只是阴谋吗?你对我的爱是假的吗?难道我们一切的一切都是假的吗?我们的誓言都是假的吗?''你说过,你会爱我一辈子的,不欺骗我’‘少女泪流满面对着她最爱最爱的人,也是她最信任的人.他流泪着沉默,心痛..心里反复道‘我爱你、我爱你.....’少年的爷爷不愿看他这样下去,但最终还是....当流星划过天空时,你我许下心愿.
  • 远古之始

    远古之始

    那些年,不知何时,他离开了那里,一把黑剑,一身黑衣,一颗黑色的石头为他的心。九州,八荒,六界,世上什么是神?魔?仙?正与邪不过是一念之差,何为正?何为邪?只不过是世人平添的一种。
  • 离岸赋

    离岸赋

    我是谁?我是地狱里的一头恶鬼!脑中只存有历尽折磨的记忆,身上处处残余酷刑后留下的隐患,可我的心一直在驱使着我抬头仰望那蔚蓝色的天外天。我知道终有一日,我会爬出这血腥肮脏的地狱,去成为穹顶之下的至强者,掌御乾坤,九指翻天。这不是梦想,是渴望,因为有太多太多的事等待着我去完成,多到必须把梦想变成誓言和承诺。这是魂精与玄宠的世界,技法神通与法宝玄兵的天下,也是地狱小鬼妄想登天的传奇。
  • 画仙诀:乱世红颜

    画仙诀:乱世红颜

    作为一个心机颇深的太傅之女,她每天能做的事情,只有斗!斗!斗!当她和自己青梅竹马——双面深情大国臣擦出火花时,是什么画面?什么,她要嫁给那个不可一世的丞相之子?嫁过去后,分分钟美男聚在身旁,却还是忘不了他?他娶了倾国倾城的玛丽苏郡主后,竟然一直想爬墙去见她?唉,真可怕,作者无可奈何,大不了直接把他们俩掐死弃坑然后哭晕在厕所。【作者擦汗ing:剧情高虐带微甜,超级离奇,不喜勿喷,绝对坑品】