Chapter 43 CHAPTER VII THE NIGHT OF NOVEMBER 6

Having resolved to go away, Eustacia sometimes appeared rather anxious lest something should happen to prevent her from carrying out her plans.The only thing that can really change her situation is Clem's presence.The halo which had hung over him as her favorite was gone now; but sometimes some good quality in him would come up in her mind, and arouse for a moment the hope that he would reappear in the in front of her.But with peace of mind, it seemed as though the split between the two of them was not going to end there: she would have to live a lonely, utterly out of place life like a man full of pain.She had always thought the moor a loathsome place to live in; now she felt that the whole world was like that.

On the evening of the 6th, her determination to leave was revived.About four o'clock she repacked the few simple things which she had brought with her when she left Eldworth, and some which had been left at her grandfather's; Enough for her to carry for a mile or two without much trouble.It was not yet very dark, and the sky was heavy with dark clouds, like a huge cot hanging across the sky, and as the night grew darker, a storm blew up; but the rain had not yet fallen. Eustacia could not stay in the house, and had nothing to do, so she walked up and down the hill not far from the house from which she was leaving.While she was walking aimlessly like this, she passed Susan.Nasaqi's hut, this hut is not far from her grandfather's house.The door of the hut was ajar, and a bright firelight fell on the ground outside.Just as Eustacia walked through this beam, her figure was as clear as a figure in a vision, like a luminous figure surrounded by darkness; The night engulfs.

A woman sitting in a hut saw her in this brief flicker of light and recognized her.The woman was Susan herself, and she was making a milk rum for her little boy who was often ill, for he was very ill at the moment.Susan put down her spoon, shook her fist at the disappearing figure, and then went about her own business thoughtfully and absent-mindedly. It was eight o'clock, the hour at which Eustacia had promised Wildeff that if she finally decided to send the signal, it would be at this hour.She looked round the house, saw that no one was there, went to the woodpile, and drew a long log from it.She took the firewood to the corner of the earth dam to see if the windows behind her were closed tightly, and then she struck a match and lit the bramble.When it was sufficiently ablaze, Eustacia took the stick above his head, and waved it in the air, till the bramble was completely consumed.

She was glad (if in such a frame of mind) to see the same light of fire at Wilderf's house a minute or two later.He had promised to watch at this time of night, ready for her to help, and this immediate response proved how true he was to his promise.Four hours from now, that is to say, at midnight, he will drive her to Bei Leikou as originally agreed. Eustacia went back into the house.After dinner, she returned to her bedroom earlier than usual, where she sat waiting for the time to leave.The night was dark and a little frightening, and Captain Vee did not wander, as he used to sometimes, to some cottage, to chat, or to visit a tavern, on such a long autumn night; Downstairs, sipping grog.About ten o'clock there was a knock at the door.When the servant went to open the door, Fareway's figure was seen in the candlelight.

I had to go to Lower Mist Hill to-night, he said: Mr Yeobright bade me leave this letter as I passed here; but, to tell the truth, I put it in the inner lining of my hat, and waited I didn't think of it until I got home and was about to close the door of my room and go to sleep.So I immediately ran back with it. He delivered the letter, then turned and left.The maid took the letter to the captain, who found it addressed to Eustacia.He turned the letter over and over and guessed it was her husband's handwriting, though he wasn't quite sure.However, he decided that he would give her the letter at once, if possible, so he took it upstairs; but when he reached her door, and peeped through the keyhole, he found that there was no light in No, the truth was that Eustacia was lying in bed, fully clothed, resting and recharging her energy for the journey ahead.And her grandfather, from what he had seen, thought he ought not to disturb her; and he went downstairs again into the drawing-room, where he put the letter on the mantelpiece, to give it to her in the morning.

At eleven o'clock he went to bed, smoked for a while in the bedroom, did not put out the light until half past eleven, and then, in his old habit, drew the blinds fully before going to bed. so that when he woke up in the morning he could see what the wind was blowing, and from his bedroom window he could see the flagpole and the weather vane.As he lay down, he was very surprised to see that the white flagpole was like a morning star, drawing a white light in the dark night outside.There can only be one explanation for this. A beam of light from the direction of the house suddenly shines outward on the flagpole.Like everyone who is already lying down, the old man felt the need to get out of bed, opened the window slightly, and looked to the left and right.The light in Eustacia's bedroom was on, and it was the light from her window that illuminated the flagpole.He was standing at the window hesitatingly, wondering why she had gotten up again, and wondering whether to slip the letter under her door, when he heard a voice in the passage outside his bedroom door. There came the soft rustling of clothes.

It must be, the Captain thought, that Eustacia, unable to sleep, was getting up and looking for a book, and would have regarded her up as a sign of trouble, had he not heard her sobbing distinctly as she passed. an insignificant matter.She was thinking of her husband, he said to himself, alas, you little fool!She really had no reason to marry him.I really wonder if this letter is his? He got up, put on his ship's great-coat, opened the door, and said, Eustacia!No one answered.Eustacia!He called again, raising his voice. There is a letter from you on the mantelpiece. But no one answered his question, except for the sound of the wind that seemed to have something imaginary gnawing at the corner of the house, and the sound of a few raindrops hitting the windows.

He went to the landing and waited there for almost five minutes.She still hasn't come back.He went back into the room, lit a lamp, and was about to go out to find her; but first he looked in her bedroom.The figure of her lying down was left on the outside of the quilt, indicating that the quilt had never been opened; it was even more clear that she did not go downstairs with a candlestick.Then he was really taken aback; hurriedly dressed, and went downstairs to the front door, which he had bolted and locked with his own hands.But now the latch is open.Doubt no longer, Eustacia left the house at this midnight; where could she go?It was almost impossible to keep up with her.If the house was located on a normal road, and two people were sent out to look for it at both ends of the road, they might overtake her; To do a hopeless thing, it is possible to walk across the wasteland from any direction, just as there are countless meridians passing through from the pole.He didn't know what to do for a moment, but looked into the living room and was troubled to see that the letter was still there untouched.

At eleven-thirty Eustacia found the house still and quiet, so she lit her candle, put on some warm coats, took her bundle, and blew out the candle again. , went downstairs.As soon as she got outside, she found that it had started to rain. When she stayed at the door, the rain was falling more densely, which foreshadowed that more rain was about to come.But she has already taken this action, no matter how bad the weather is, there is no way out.Even getting Climb's letter couldn't stop her now.The gloomy night is like a funeral, and everything in nature seems to be veiled in black.The spiers of the fir trees behind the house pierced the sky like mansions and spiers of a monastery.Except Susan.There was still a fire in the Nasaqi family's hut, and the sky and the earth were completely dark.

Eustacia opened the umbrella, came out of the yard, and crossed the earthen dam step by step along the earthen steps. After that, she had no fear of being seen.She skirted the pond and followed the path to Rainbrick, staggering now and then over tangles of wattle roots, tufts of rushes, or thick fungus that covered the hills (in this season , they are like the rotting entrails of some giant beast, lying all over the wasteland).The dark clouds and heavy rain completely covered the moon and stars, and there was no trace of light shining through.Such a night immediately reminds the traveler instinctively of those tragic scenes recorded in the annals of the world and circulated in various legends, all of which took place in the terrible night like the last catastrophe of Egypt. According to the Bible.According to the Book of Exodus, the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in Egypt on the night when Moses asked Moses to take the Jews away. ], the destruction of the armies of Sennacherib [Note: King of Assyria, he sent a great army against the cities of the Jews.According to the Bible.Old Testament.According to Kings (2), the angel of the Lord went out that night and killed 1.85 million people in the Assyrian camp. ], and the great tribulation that took place in Gethsemane [Note: A garden near Jerusalem, "Bible.According to Matthew, the place where Jesus was caught and tortured at night. 】.Eustacia arrived at Rainmound at last, and stood motionless in thought.The intensity of the turmoil in her heart is completely no different from the stormy world in front of her.At this time, she suddenly remembered one thing: she did not have enough money to make a long trip.Her restlessness during the day, combined with her inexperience in real life, had never occurred to her to be fully prepared in this direction, and now, conscious of her situation, she sighed bitterly, unable to Standing straight again, she slowly squatted down under the umbrella, as if a hand stretched out from the ground, pulling her down a little bit to the ground of the rain mound.Could it be that she still could not be a free man?Money, she had never felt its worth before.Even if she wanted to disappear herself from this barren village, money was indispensable.And to speak to Wildeve, to ask for his financial assistance, without making him her companion, was impossible for a woman who still had traces of her pride; It was disgraceful for him to love her.

Anyone who stands by her at this time will pity her, not only because she sees her ravaged by bad weather, abandoned by everyone but the company of dead bones in the tombs ; and also because seeing her pain caused another pitiful appearance on her body: her whole body was trembling slightly and constantly.She could see in her the burden of extreme grief.In the sound of the raindrops dripping from her umbrella to her cloak, from her cloak to the heather, and from the heather to the ground, there was a sound similar to that from her lips; The scene of tears streaming down her face is simply a replica of the scene in the outside world.All these cruel and pitiless obstructions about her had quite broken the wings of her soul; and even though she had seen her, on her promising journey to Bud's Mouth, board a steamer, bound for some port on the other shore, She couldn't help much either, because everything else was so evil and frightening.She cried out loudly.It's always a very painful thing for a woman, so long as she's not old, deaf, crazy, or whimsical, to sob and talk to herself in such a situation. can i gocan i goShe moaned, he's not that great enough to commit me to him he can't do what I want!He is not Saul, nor is he a Napoleon-like figure!But what a poor luxury to break my wedding vows for him!But I'm penniless, so I can't travel alone!And even if I could, what relief would I get?I must live through the next year as I have already lived through this year, and the year after as I have done before.How again and again I try to be a brilliant woman, and fate keeps turning against me!Fate is so unfair to me!She cried frantically in a tone of pained rebellion.Oh, how cruel it is to expose me to such a world of deceit!I am capable of many things; but I have been hurt, tortured and devastated by things beyond my control!Oh, God made such a torture to torture me, but I didn't do anything to forgive God at all! When Eustacia was running away from home, as she guessed, the distant light she inadvertently saw was from Susan.From the window of the Nasaqi's cottage.But it did not occur to Eustacia what the woman in the room was doing at that moment.Just five minutes after Susan had seen her passing earlier in the evening, her sick little boy cried out, Mom, I'm sick of it!The cries of the child suggested to the mother that Eustacia must have been having an evil influence. Because of this, Susan didn't go to bed after finishing her evening work as usual.In order to counteract the hideous incantation she imagined poor Eustacia was working, the boy's mother hastened into a dreadful superstition which, upon whomsoever cast it, left the subject languid, Shrunk, and let him perish utterly.In those days the practice flourished on the Moor of Eden, and it has not quite died out until now. She went into the back room, candle in hand, and among other various vessels in that room were two large brown pans containing perhaps about a hundredweight That's about 50.8 kilograms. 】The honey is the fruit of the labor of the bees in the previous summer.On the shelf above the pan, there was a large semicircle of a smooth yellow solid, beeswax, also extracted from the hive.Susan took the wax, cut off pieces, and piled them in an iron ladle, which she took back into the living room, where she laid the ladle on the hot ashes in the fire.When the wax had softened into a sticky mass, she pinched the pieces together.At this time, her face became more focused.She began to shape the mass of wax; it was evident from her familiar movements that she was trying to shape it into a pre-determined shape.This shape is a human form. In about a quarter of an hour, she heated, kneaded, cut and twirled the beeswax to separate and pinch the rudimentary figure apart, and the final figure was recognizably a woman's figure about six inches tall. .She put the figure on the table to let it cool and harden.Meanwhile she took the candle and went upstairs to the little boy's bed. Did you notice, dear, what Mrs. Eustacia was wearing this afternoon besides that black dress? Around her head and neck was a red ribbon. anything else? Nothing but the loafers. A red ribbon and a pair of loafers.she said to herself. Mrs. Nasage went outside and searched, and at last she found the narrowest length of red ribbon, which she took downstairs and tied around the wax man's neck.Then she took ink and a quill from the rickety desk by the window, and blackened the wax figure's feet as if they were wearing shoes; , like the straps on loafers in those days.Finally she tied a bit of black thread around the upper part of the wax figure's head, simply indicating that a hairnet was worn over the head to cover the hair. Susan held the figure in her hands, stretched her arms, and gazed at it with satisfaction, without a smile on her face.To anyone familiar with the inhabitants of Eden Moor, this wax figure would be recognizable as Eustacia.About Bright. From the sewing basket on the windowsill the woman took out a sheet of paper covered with pins, the long yellow pins whose heads would fall off the first time they were used.She began to insert these needles all over the body of the wax figure, and she could see that she was doing it through gnashing of teeth.Probably about fifty needles were inserted, some in the head, some in the shoulders, some in the body, and some from the soles of the feet up until the whole body of the figure was covered with needles. . She turned to the stove.Peat was burned in the furnace; although the burned peat left a high pile of ash, the outside of the ash was somewhat blackened and extinguished, but when the outside was scraped away with a shovel, the peat inside still showed a red streak. Red fire.She took some fresh lumps of peat from the corner of the chimney and piled them on the fire, which began to blaze.She took the wax Eustacia with the tongs, put it in the fire, and watched it begin to melt.As she did so, she muttered aloud. These are quaint words. Reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards is usually used against an enemy, in order to gain the support of an evil power.Susan read the words three times in a slow, artificially mournful tone, and by the time she had finished the wax figure had almost melted.When the beeswax fell into the fire, a long flame rose up, and the flames further engulfed the figure.Now and then a needle fell with the wax and burned red in the embers of the fire.