英语听力 学英语,练听力,上听力课堂! 注册 登录
> 在线听力 > 有声读物 > 世界名著 > 书虫6级 白衣女人 >  内容

书虫6级《白衣女人》15.证据

所属教程:书虫6级 白衣女人

浏览:

2022年10月15日

手机版
扫描二维码方便学习和分享
https://online2.tingclass.net/lesson/shi0529/10000/10491/15.mp3
https://image.tingclass.net/statics/js/2012

15.The proof

When the half hour had passed, I returned home. After a brief explanation to Laura and Marian, I hurried back to St John's Wood to find the cab-driver whom the Count had hired to collect Laura at the station. He wrote me a statement, which he and a witness signed, saying that on 26th July 1850 he had driven a Count Fosco to the railway station where they had collected a Lady Glyde. He remembered Lady Glyde's name, he said, from the labels on her luggage.

Then I went to Mr Kyrle's office and presented him with the proof of Laura's identity — the letter from Sir Percival, the statement by the cab-driver, the confession by the Count, and the death certificate. Amazed, he congratulated me, and agreed to accompany us to Limmeridge the next day, where I intended to have Laura publicly received and recognized.

Early the next morning Laura, Marian, Mr Kyrle and I took the train to Limmeridge. Laura and Marian stayed at first in a hotel while Mr Kyrle and I went to the house to deal with Mr Fairlie. He complained like a child, saying how was he to know his niece was alive when he was told she was dead? Between us, the lawyer and I made him sign letters calling all those who had attended the false funeral to come to the house the next day.

As I led Laura into her childhood home the following morning, there was a murmur of surprise and interest from the waiting crowd of villagers and neighbours. The business was soon done. I read out the story of the plot against Laura, and Mr Kyrle announced that everything I had said was proved by the strongest evidence. I put my arm around Laura, raised her up, and called to the crowd:

Are you all agreed that this is the Laura Fairlie you knew?'

There she is, alive and well — God bless her!' It was an old man at the back of the room who began it, and in an instant everybody was shouting and cheering together.

Later, in the churchyard, we watched a stone worker remove Laura's name from the gravestone. In its place he put this:

ANNE CATHERICK

25TH JULY 1850

We returned to London the following day, happy in the thought that the long struggle was now over.

*  *  *

Several days later Pesca came to see me, and asked for a quiet word in my ear. He had just returned from Paris.

I have news for you, my friend,' he said. 'You need not worry any more about the man at the opera. His body was found in the river Seine yesterday and now lies in the morgue in Paris. He was killed by knife wounds to the heart.'

Count Fosco is dead?' I said, amazed. 'Are you sure?'

I saw the body with my own eyes. He was wearing a French workman's clothes, and had a different name, of course, but he was the fat man we saw at the opera that night. No question.'

But how do you know this?' I asked.

Pesca hesitated. 'A man brought me some information,' he said. 'I had to see the body, and send a report about it.'

A man,' I said. 'What kind of man?'

A stranger,' said Pesca. 'I didn't know him. A man with a scar on his left cheek.' He saw the understanding in my face, and held up his hand. 'No more questions, my friend. Please!'

We never spoke about it again, but I think Pesca was telling me that the Brotherhood had taken their revenge. And so Count Fosco, that extraordinary, evil man, passed from this world.

*  *  *

The following year our first child was born — a son. Six months later my newspaper sent me to Ireland and, when I returned, I found a note from my wife saying she and Marian and little Walter had gone to Limmeridge House. She begged me to follow as soon as possible. Very surprised, I caught the next train. When I got there, Marian and Laura told me Mr Fairlie was dead and that Mr Kyrle had advised them to go to Limmeridge House.

Laura came close to me and I half realized some great change was happening in our lives.

Do you know who this is, Walter?' Marian asked, holding up my little son, with tears of happiness in her eyes. 'This is the boy who will one day inherit Limmeridge House.'

So she spoke. In writing those last words, I have written everything. Marian was the good friend of our lives — let Marian end our story.

* * *

label n. a small piece of paper, card etc. attached to an object and giving information about it 标签

congratulate v. express pleasure at the happiness or good fortune or excellence of a person 祝贺

morgue n. a room or building in which dead bodies may be kept until burial or cremation 停尸间

15.证据

那半个小时过去了,我回到家里。简单地向劳拉和玛丽安说明了情况后,我立即赶回圣约翰伍德去找那个伯爵雇来到车站接劳拉的车夫。那人给我写了份证词,他和另一个证人都签了字。证词说,1850年7月26日他驾车送福斯科伯爵去车站,接了一位格莱德夫人。他说还记得格莱德夫人的名字,是在行李标签上看到的。

然后,我去了克尔先生的办公室,给他看了证明劳拉身份的证据——珀西瓦尔爵士的信、马车夫的证词、伯爵的认罪书和那份死亡证明。克尔先生很吃惊,接着向我表示祝贺并且答应第二天陪我们到利默里奇,我准备让人们公开地接受和认可劳拉。

转天的一大早,劳拉、玛丽安、克尔先生和我乘火车前往利默里奇。劳拉和玛丽安先在一家旅店里休息,克尔先生和我去庄园与费尔利先生交涉。费尔利先生像孩子一样抱怨说,有人告诉他他侄女死了,他怎么会知道他侄女还活着?在只有我们三个人的情况下,克尔先生和我让他在事先准备好的信上签字,邀请所有参加那场假葬礼的人第二天到费尔利家来。

第二天早晨,当我带着劳拉走进她儿时的家时,等候在那里的村民和邻居们发出惊奇的低语声。很快我们进入了正题。我大声宣读了针对劳拉的罪恶阴谋的全过程,克尔先生当众宣布我说的每一件事都证据确凿。我搂住劳拉,扶她起来,高声对众人说:

“你们说这是不是你们认识的劳拉·费尔利?”

“是她,她还好好地活着——上帝保佑她!”一位站在屋子后面的老人首先说,其他人也都立刻欢呼起来。

后来,在教堂墓地里,我们亲眼看着一位石匠把劳拉的名字从墓碑上凿去,在原来的地方刻上:

安妮·凯瑟里克

卒于1850年7月25日

转天,我们返回了伦敦,想到漫长的斗争终于结束了,我们都非常高兴。

*  *  *

过了几天,佩斯卡来看我,要跟我单独聊聊。他刚从巴黎回来。

“我有重要的消息要告诉你,我的朋友,”他说,“你不用再担心剧场里的那个人了,昨天在塞纳河发现了他的尸体,现在他的尸体停放在巴黎的停尸间。他是被人用刀子刺进心脏而死的。”

“福斯科伯爵已经死了?”我吃惊地问,“你能肯定吗?”

“我亲眼看了他的尸体,他穿着法国工人的制服,当然也换了名字,但他就是那天晚上我们在剧场见到的那个胖子。一点儿没错。”

“可你是怎么知道这个消息的呢?”我问。

佩斯卡犹豫了一下。“有人告诉我的,”他说,“我必须亲眼看到他的尸体,然后发一个报告。”

“有人,”我说,“是什么人?”

“一个陌生人,”佩斯卡回答,“我不认识那个人,他的左脸上有一道疤。”看到我脸上了然的表情,他抬了抬手,“请不要多问了,我的朋友!”

我们再没有提起这件事,不过我想佩斯卡是要告诉我兄弟社团已经采取了复仇行动。就这样,福斯科伯爵,那个能力不俗的恶徒从这个世界上消失了。

*  *  *

第二年,我们的第一个孩子出世了——是个儿子。6个月以后,我供职的那家报社派我去了爱尔兰。我回来的时候,看到妻子留给我的一封短信,信上说她和玛丽安还有小沃尔特去了利默里奇庄园。她让我尽快去找他们。我感到很惊讶,赶下一班火车去了那里。我到那儿之后,玛丽安和劳拉告诉我费尔利先生去世了,是克尔先生建议她们到利默里奇庄园去的。

劳拉走到我身边,我朦胧地意识到我们的生活将要发生什么大事。

“你知道这是谁吗,沃尔特?”玛丽安一边举起我的小儿子,一边问我,眼睛里充满了喜悦的泪水,“这个孩子将来有一天会继承利默里奇庄园。”

她就是这样说的。写完了最后几句话,我的讲述就到这里了。玛丽安是我们的终生好友——就让她结束我们的故事吧。

用户搜索

疯狂英语 英语语法 新概念英语 走遍美国 四级听力 英语音标 英语入门 发音 美语 四级 新东方 七年级 赖世雄 zero是什么意思保定市秀兰城市花园英语学习交流群

  • 频道推荐
  • |
  • 全站推荐
  • 推荐下载
  • 网站推荐