Chapter 45 Chapter Nine Scenes and Sounds Lead All Walkers to One Place

At eight o'clock Wildoff saw Eustacia's signal from the hill, and at once he made preparations to help her go, and, as he hoped, to accompany her.He was somewhat disturbed, and the very act of telling Thomasy that he was going out was enough to arouse her suspicions.After she went to sleep, he packed up a few things that he had to bring, and then went to the money box upstairs, and took out a considerable sum of money from it, which he thought would be available soon A sum of money borrowed against that estate was prepared to cover the additional expenses required for the move. Then he came to the stables and coach-house, and saw that the horses, the buggy, and all the harness were in good condition for a long journey.It took him nearly half an hour to do this, and when he got back into the house, Wildoff was sure that Thomasy was in bed.He had told the groom not to stay, and let the boy know that he would not leave until three or four o'clock in the morning; although this time was a bit special, it seemed more reasonable than starting at midnight, which was their time. Really chosen, because the cruise from Beileikou sets sail at one to two o'clock.

Finally, there was silence all around, and he had nothing to do but wait patiently.No matter how hard he tried, he could not get rid of the mental oppression that had elapsed since his last meeting with Eustacia, but he hoped that money would help him change his situation.He had persuaded himself that it would be a very generous act to leave half of his inheritance to a docile wife, so that he might share his fate with another, more beautiful woman, and show her Own chivalry too.Though he wanted to do exactly what Eustacia told her to do, to take her where she wanted to be, and to leave her, if it was her will, yet her incredible charm for him produced and the expression on her face of such an order seemed to him to express the meaning he expected not to be followed, mingled with the wish that they should share the risk, which made His heart was beating wildly.

He would not allow himself to dwell on such speculations, rules of conduct, and hopes, and at twenty to twelve he crept softly to the stable, got the horses ready, and lighted the lanterns; and then he He took the horse by the head and let it pull the covered buggy out of the yard and out to the side of the road about a quarter of a mile from the inn. Here Wilderf waited, standing under an earthen dam high above the road for a little shelter from the pouring rain.On the road illuminated by the lantern, loose pebbles and small stones bumped against each other under the blowing of the strong wind. After the wind blew them into piles, they were thrown into the wilderness, hitting the bushes, With a crackling sound, it flew into the boundless darkness.Only one voice drowned out the tumult of the storm, and that was the roar of the barrage with ten locks on the river in the southern meadow, which bounded the moor to the south.

He waited quite calmly, until he began to feel that the clock must have struck midnight.A strong doubt arose in his mind whether Eustacia would venture down in such bad weather; but knowing her character he felt that she would.Poor man!It was like her unlucky fate, he murmured. Finally, he turned around and looked at his watch against the lantern.He was startled to find that it was almost a quarter past twelve.At this moment he wished he should have driven the car over the winding path to Misty Heights, because it was much longer than the path down the empty hillside, and the The result is bound to increase the horse's level of fatigue.

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps approaching; but because the lantern was placed on the other side, it was impossible to see who was coming.The footsteps stopped, and then came again. Eustacia?Wildeve said. The other party stepped forward, and in the light it appeared that it was Clem, drenched all over, and Wildeff recognized him at once; It was him. He stood there as if wondering whether the carriage here had anything to do with his wife's departure.At the sight of Yeobright, Wildoff's head lost his cool, and he already regarded him as a formidable adversary from whom he must risk Eustacia's separation, at any risk.Because of the situation in front of him, Wildef didn't say a word, hoping that Climb would walk away without asking any more questions.

Just as the two stood there hesitantly, a dull voice overwhelmed the sound of the storm and entered their ears.The sound was so clear that it was the sound of a man falling into the river that adjoined the meadow, and it was clearly near the dam. Both were taken aback.God!Could that be her?Clem said. Why should it be her?In his panic, Wildoff said, he forgot that he hadn't shown his face until now. ah!It's you, you treacherous man, is that you?exclaimed Yeobright, why should it be her?If so, she had taken her own life last week.He should have been watching her all the time!Take down a lamp and follow me.

Yeobright took down a lamp that was near him, and hurried on; Wildoff followed him without waiting for the other, and walked along the grassy path leading to the dam. , a little behind Climb. At the foot of the Shedwater Dam is a large pool, fifty feet in diameter, into which the river discharges through ten large gates, which are raised and lowered on ordinary days by a winch and gear.All sides of the pond are built with stones to prevent the river from washing away the soil on the banks; but in winter, the river sometimes washes under the retaining wall and makes a big hole.Climb ran to the gate, and the force of the rapids broke the bottom of the gate frame loose.Nothing could be seen in the inlet below but the foam of the waves.He ran up the wooden bridge over the aqueduct, and holding on to the railing so the wind wouldn't blow him off, he walked on to the other side of the river.Then he bent over the retaining wall and lowered the lantern, but saw only eddies in the swirling rapids.

At this time, Wilderf came to the front of the bend, and the light from the lantern in Yeobright's hand only illuminated a small piece of restless water on the bend of the sluice. The turbulent flow that tumbled down the gate.On this narrow and undulating mirror surface, there is a swarthy figure slowly undulating in a winding torrent. oh my dear!Wildoff cried out in a voice of anguish; without thinking, and before he even took off his coat, he plunged into the bubbling cauldron. At this moment, Yeobright also saw the figure writhing in the water, though not very clearly; and after Wildoff jumped into the water, it occurred to him that there was a man to be rescued, and he intended to follow him too. Jump into the water behind.He had a better plan in mind, and leaning the lantern against a stake to keep it from falling, he went round the lower part of the inlet, where there was no retaining wall, and plunged into the water, wading boldly. The water goes to a deeper place.When his feet did not touch the ground, he swam up and was carried into the center of the inlet, where he saw Wildoff struggling.

While they were tensely moving here, Wayne and Thomasy were struggling to walk toward the light in the lower corner of the wasteland.They were too far from the river to hear the jumping, but they saw the lantern move, and saw it go right into the meadow.When they came to the carriage, Wayne guessed that something was wrong just now, and hurried towards the direction where the light moved.Wayne walked faster than Thomasy, and reached the edge of the dam alone. The lamp Clem had placed by the stake was still shining on the river, and the red clay dealer saw something floating motionless on the surface.With the baby in his hands he ran back to meet Thomasy.

Excuse me, Mrs. Wilderf, please hold the child, he said hastily, and hurry home with her, and wake up the groom, and tell him to call the nearest neighbor here to help me.Someone fell into the dam. Thomasy took the baby and ran away.When she came up to the covered carriage, though not long after the horse had been drawn out of the stable, she stood motionless, as if aware of something unfortunate that had happened.For the first time she saw whose horse it was.She almost fainted, and if her nerves were not in a constant state of tension, and she did not want to hurt her little baby, which gave her an amazing self-control, she would not be able to lift her feet and walk again. step by step.She entered the house in such a hurry, put the child in a safe place, woke up the groom and maid, and then ran to the nearest farmhouse to call the police.

Digory returned to the steep bank of the inlet again, and saw the little gates drawn up.He found a small lock gate lying on the grass, picked one up with one arm, and held the lantern in the other, and, like Clem, came down to the lower part of the inlet.Once in deep water, he straddled the small gate so he could float on the surface at will.With one free hand, he held the lantern aloft.He paddled with his feet in the water, circling incessantly in the inlet, each time being carried upstream by a backwashing current, and then returned to the middle of the current. At first he could see nothing.Then among the shimmering swirls and white foam he could make out a woman's hat floating.Then he began to search under the left retaining wall, and something surfaced almost beside him.This person was not a woman, as he had thought, but a man.The red clay dealer put his teeth on the handle of the lantern, grabbed the collar of the man floating on the water, and then held the small gate with his other hand, and rushed into the most turbulent current, so the man lost consciousness. The man, the small gate, and himself were all carried downstream by the current.As soon as Wayne's feet touched the pebbles at the bottom of the shallow water, he found his footing and walked towards the steep bank.When the water reached his waist, he threw away the small gate and tried to drag the man forward.It was a laborious affair, and he found that it was because the feet of the unfortunate stranger were held tightly by the arms of another man, who was still completely submerged in the water. Now he heard footsteps running towards him, his heart beat violently, and then two men, awakened by Thomasy, appeared on the steep bank above.They ran to where Wayne was and helped him lift the two apparently drowned men, separated them and set them on the grass.Wayne picked up the lantern and shone it on the faces of the two.The one who had been up there earlier was Yeobright; the one who was completely submerged was Wildoff. Now we have to search the whole inlet again, said Wayne, there is a woman there.Take a pole. A man ran to the footbridge and removed the handrail.Then the red soil dealer and the two men entered the water from the lower reaches as before, and joined forces to search the water inlet until they reached the place where the water inlet slopes toward the center.Wayne was right. Anyone who had been in the water before would have been swept to this place, because they were about halfway there when something blocked their progress. Pull it forward, Wayne said, and they jogged it with the stick until it was close to them. Wayne dived into the river and brought up a handful of wet clothes, wrapped in the cold body of a woman, the corpse of Eustacia, who felt hopeless. They came back to the shore, and there was Thomasy, in a state of utter grief, bending over the two unconscious men who lay there.The horses and carts were already brought to the nearest road, and it took only a few minutes to lift the three of them into the cart.Wayne led the horse, supported Thomasy with his hand, and the other two followed behind, all the way to the small inn. The maid who was awakened by Tomasi hurriedly dressed and lit a fire, while the rest of the servants slept soundly in the back of the house.The unconscious Eustacia, Clym, and Wildeve were carried in, placed on the hearth rug with their feet toward the fire, and immediately resorted to every conceivable method, Want to restore them to consciousness, at the same time, send the groom to ask for a doctor.However, there seems to be no sign of the three of them surviving.The commotion calmed the grief-stricken Tomasy, who held a bottle of ammonia under Clem's nose, a method that had been tried on two others to no avail. use.Unexpectedly, Climb sighed. Clem is alive!she screamed. Soon his breathing became rhythmic, and she tried again and again to save her husband's life in the same way; but Wildef made no response.There was good reason to think that he and Eustacia would never be able to feel the pungent odor again.But they kept doing what they could until the doctors arrived, and then the three unconscious people were carried upstairs one by one and placed on warm beds. It didn't take long for Wayne to realize that he no longer needed to be by his side, so he came to the door.He could hardly believe that such an unacceptable tragedy fell on the family he cared about so much.There was no doubt that Thomasy would be overwhelmed by this sudden and intolerable event.Mrs. Yeobright, firm and sober-minded, was now gone to support the tender woman through the blow; How such a husband must feel, but there can be no doubt that at the moment the shock is driving her out of her wits and terrifying her.As for himself, he had no right to comfort her. He felt that he had no reason to stay here any longer, because he was just a stranger in this house. He made his way across the moor to his carriage.The fire had not been extinguished, and everything in the carriage remained as it had been when he left.Until then, Wayne didn't think about his clothes, which were completely soaked in water and felt as heavy as lead.He changed his clothes, spread them out in front of the fire, and fell asleep.However, what came to his mind was a scene of vivid scenes, full of scenes of people in the house he left were suffering, which made him unable to sleep, so he blamed himself and walked away , got up and put on another set of clothes, locked the door, and hurried back to the small inn.When he entered the kitchen, the rain was still pouring down.The fire was burning brightly in the stove, and two women were busy, one of them was Ollie.Dalton. Hey, what's the situation now?Wayne asked quietly. Mr. Yeobright was much better; but Mrs. Yeobright and Mr. Wildoff were both dead and cold.Doctors said they were both dead before being pulled out of the water. ah!I thought about that as I dragged them out.And what about Mrs. Wildford? Her situation is almost as imagined, and it's okay.The doctor told her to cover her with a quilt and go to sleep, because she was almost as soaked as those who fell into the river, poor young man.You look wet enough, red clay dealer. Oh, it's ok.I have changed my clothes.Now I just got a little wet from the rain when I got here. Come to the fire quickly.My wife said that you can do whatever you want, and she felt very sorry when she heard that you had left. Wayne walked to the fire and stared blankly at the flames for a moment.The steam from his leggings rose with the smoke up the chimney, and he thought of those who were upstairs.Two became corpses, one narrowly escaped the clutches of death, and the other was weakened and became a widow.The last time he was at that fire it was a lottery; Wildoff was alive and well; Thomasy was working and smiling in the next room; Yeobright and Eustacia was just married, and Mrs. Yeobright lived at Whispering Village.The circumstances seemed to indicate that all this would continue safely for at least twenty years.However, among all the people in this circle, he was the only one whose situation had not changed in the slightest. Just as he was thinking like this, there was a sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.It was the nurse, holding a soggy roll in her hand.The woman was so focused on what she was holding that she didn't notice Wayne at all.She took out some thin threads from a cabinet, stretched them one by one in front of the fire, tied the two ends of the thin threads to the firewood stand specially placed in front of the fire, then spread out the wet papers, and started Pin them one by one to the string, like drying clothes on a line. what is that?Wayne asked. It was the poor master's money, she answered, finding it in his pocket as he was undressing him. So, he was planning to come back after a while?Wayne said. We'll never know.she says. Wayne really didn't want to leave, because in this world, the person he cared about the most lived under this roof.No one in the house slept that night except for the two people who had slept forever, so he had no reason not to stay.So he retreated to his usual place by the fire, and he continued to watch the steam rise from the two rows of banknotes that hung to dry, swaying back and forth up the chimney until the floppy banknotes were completely dry. .Then the woman came in, took them off, rolled them together, and went upstairs with the roll of bills.At this moment the doctor appeared from above, with a look of nothing to do but resign himself to his fate, then put on his gloves and went out of the house, the clattering of his horse quickly disappearing from the road. At four o'clock there was a soft knock at the door.That was Charlie, sent by Captain Vey to inquire if there was any news of Eustacia.The girl who opened the door for him looked at his face and didn't seem to know what to say to him, so she let him in, took him to where Wayne was, and said to the red clay dealer, I'm sorry, please tell him okay? Wayne told it all.All Charlie could utter was a feeble cry of surprise.He stood there frozen; then cried nervously, may I see her again? I daresay you could see her, said Digory sadly, but wouldn't it be better if you went and told Captain Vey at once? Yes Yes.It's just that I really wish I could see her again. No problem, a low voice came from behind; the two were taken aback, turned around, and saw a pale, almost ghost-like slender figure in the dim light, wrapped in a blanket, looking It looks like Lazarus coming out of the grave [Note: Jesus' disciples and friends; "New Testament.According to the Gospel of John, Jesus was miraculously resurrected after his death. 】. This is about Bright.Neither Wayne nor Charlie spoke, and Clem went on to say: You can go and see her.There is still plenty of time to tell the old captain about it when it is daylight.You want to see her too, don't you, Digory?Now she looks very beautiful. Wayne stood up in agreement, and Clem went ahead, followed by Charlie and Wayne, to the foot of the stairs, where Wayne took off his boots; Charlie followed suit.They followed Yeobright upstairs to the landing, where a candle was burning, which Yeobright took in his hand, and with it led the way into an adjoining room.He went to the bed and pulled up the sheets. They stood silently looking at Eustacia, who lay dead and silent, all the splendor of her life overshadowed.The pallor doesn't account for the whole of her complexion, it seems whiter than normal white, almost glowing.There was a kind of elegance in her finely lined lips, as if out of a kind of dignity she didn't want to speak anymore.The eternal stiffness seized this expression, completing the transformation from fiery to helpless in a short time.The jet-black hair was looser than any of them had ever seen before, wrapping around her forehead like a forest.This stately expression, which had always seemed too characteristic to the eyes of the country people, did not at last find a befitting, artistic, happy background. No one spoke, and finally Clem put the sheet back over her face and turned away.Come up here now.He said. They went to an alcove in the same room where there was a smaller bed on which lay another Wildeff.There was no such serene emotion as Eustacia's in his face, but there was a youthful brilliance in it, which the most unsympathetic spectator would feel when he saw it. Man is born to pursue a higher purpose.The only sign that he had just struggled to survive were his fingernails, which had worn away as he struggled to grab onto the dam wall as he died. Yeobright's demeanor had been rather quiet, and since his reappearance he had barely said a word, and Wayne thought he was broken by the incident.It wasn't until they left the room and stood on the landing that his true heart came out fully.He turned his head toward the little room in which Eustacia lay, and said with a wild smile, She is the second woman I have killed this year.My mother died because of me; I was the main cause of her death. Why?Wayne said. I said some cruel things to her and she left my house.I didn't ask her to come back, it would be too late if I wanted to.It was I who should drown.What a blessing it would be to the living if the river submerged me and she survived.But I am not dead.Those who should live are dead; but I am alive and well! You shouldn't condemn yourself with such guilt, Wayne said, you might as well say that the cause of a murderer is that his parents gave birth to this child, because without parents, there is no way for this child to commit suicide. this kind of thing. Yes, Wayne, that's very true; but you don't know everything.If it pleases God to end my life, it would be a great thing for everyone.But I'm getting used to the fear I have for my own existence.It's said that when a man has suffered for a long time, he will one day laugh at the pain.There is no doubt that for me, this moment will come soon! Your goals have been good, Wayne said, why do you say such depressing things? No, these are not words of despair.Just lost hope; and to my greatest dismay, why no one or no law can punish me for what I have done!