Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve Eleanor
You are faithful...
Keep it a secret, no other woman keeps it tighter than you.
No, that's slander,
sharper than a sword,
The tongue is worse than all the vermin of the Nile.
It was Molly who opened the door.
"Miss Eleanor is in the reception room, sir," she said, letting me in.
I didn't know what was going to happen, so I followed the instructions to the reception room worriedly, and the hall was filled with unprecedented luxury.Antique floors, wood carvings, and bronze decorations. For the first time, I experienced the mockery of things outside me.I put my hand on the door of the reception room and listened carefully.There was silence.I slowly opened the door, lifted the heavy satin curtain hanging in front of me, and looked inside.How beautiful the scenery is!
I saw Eleanor sitting under a gas lamp, the light was weak and flickering, and I could only vaguely see the silk and marble in the luxurious room.Towering beside her was the statue of the goddess Psyche, her face as pale as a statue, sitting by the arched window through which the soft light of evening came in.Her beautiful face remained motionless, her body was bent over, her hands were stiff from praying for an unknown amount of time, apparently she was insensitive to the sounds and movements around her.Her fate is in turmoil, making her a hopeless and speechless statue.
Shocked by the sight, I couldn't help but stand holding the curtain, hesitating whether to move forward or retreat.At this time, she, who was motionless at first, suddenly trembled violently, her stiff hands loosened, and her stone-like stiff eyes softened.She stood up with a cry of stretch, and walked towards me.
"Miss Leavenworth!" As soon as I said it, I was shocked by my own voice.
She stopped and covered her face, as if just saying her name would bring back the mundane world and all the things she tried to forget.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
Her hands were lowered heavily.
"You know? They...they said I was..." She stopped, clutching her chest, "Look for yourself!"
Panting, she pointed to a newspaper lying on the floor at her feet.
I stooped to pick up the Evening Telegraph, and with a single glance I knew what she meant.Newspaper headlines read:
I have been mentally prepared for a long time. It can be said that I expected this situation from the beginning.However, I still couldn't help taking a step backwards.Standing in front of her, the newspaper in my hand fell to the ground. I really wanted to look at her face, but I was also afraid of seeing her.
"What does that mean?" she gasped. "What does it mean? Has the whole world gone mad?"
She stared at me blankly, as if unable to comprehend the meaning of it all.
I shook my head, unable to answer.
"How can you accuse me?" she murmured, "Why me, why me!" She clenched her fist and pounded on her chest, "I cherish every inch of ground he walks on. If I knew his life was in danger , I will defend him with my flesh. Oh!" She cried loudly, "What they said is not slander, but a dagger stabbed in my heart!"
Her grief overwhelmed me, but I resolved to hide my sympathy until I was fully convinced of her innocence before returning to comfort her.I paused and answered:
"You seem to be extremely surprised by the content of the report, Miss Leavenworth. Didn't you foresee such an outcome when you were determined not to tell the truth? Do you know that you are too ignorant of human nature? You even think that facing the people involved in the case Keep silent on any doubts, not only will it not arouse the resentment of the masses, but will it not arouse the suspicion of the police?"
"But, but..."
I waved quickly.
"When you refused to let the coroner find suspicious papers on you, when you..." I forced myself to say, "when you refused to tell Mr. Gritz how to get the keys..."
She backed away sharply.What I said was like a heavy coffin covering her.
"Stop talking!" She looked around in fear, and whispered, "Stop talking! Sometimes I always feel that walls have ears, and even shadows can eavesdrop."
"Oh," I responded, "so you hope the world doesn't know what the police already know?"
She didn't answer.
"Miss Leavenworth," I continued, "I'm afraid you still don't understand your situation. Try to look at the case from a neutral point of view, and try to see if there is any need for explanation..."
"But I can't explain it!" she murmured hoarsely.
"No way?"
I don't know if it was my tone of voice or the effect of those four words, but she seemed to be awakened.
"Oh!" she backed up and yelled, "You don't doubt me too, do you? I thought you..." She paused, "I never dreamed, I..." And then stopped again.Suddenly her whole body trembled, "Oh, I know! You didn't trust me from the beginning, because the external facts were too bad for me." Then she fell into thought, immersed in the shame and humiliation. deep. "Ah, I'm really desperate now!" she murmured.
Her cry went straight to my heart, and I suddenly leaned forward and cried out, "Miss Leavenworth, I'm just a human being, and I can't understand your grief. But as long as you say you are innocent, I believe it." You, regardless of external factors."
She straightened up and looked up at me.
"Who can accuse me of guilt by pointing my nose?"
I shook my head sadly.She sighed and then said: "You want further evidence!" She was so emotional that she rushed to the door tremblingly, "Come on!" she called, "Come here!" I.
Excited, scared, and touched, I walked across the room to where she was standing.Yet she was already in the hall.I ran after it, standing at the bottom of the stairs with unspeakable horror.She is halfway up the stairs.I followed her up the hall, and saw her standing erect and stately in the doorway of her uncle's bedroom.
"come over!"
She called out again, but this time her tone was calm and respectful.Then she flung open the door and entered the room.
I tried my best to suppress the doubts in my heart and followed her slowly.There was no light in the morgue, only the flames of gas lamps shone eerily from the other side of the hall.Through the flickering lights, I saw her kneeling beside the shrouded bed, looking down at the murdered man, then placing her hand on his chest.
"You said that if I insisted that I was innocent, you would believe me." When I entered the room, she looked up and sighed, "Look here..." She pressed her face against the innocent face of her dead benefactor. On the angry eyebrows, kissed the lips as cold as clay.The movement was light at first, then frenzied, then turned into anger and pain, and then stood up and shouted in a depressing and mournful tone, "If I killed the person, would I dare to do that? Wouldn't my breathing stop because of this? My Doesn’t blood coagulate in my veins? Doesn’t my heart stop beating when it touches a dead body? As a son of man, you should love and respect your father deeply. You believe that a woman with bloody hands can make The act of kissing a dead body?"
She knelt down again and wrapped her arms around the cold body, looking up at me.That expression is beyond comprehension by mortals, nor can it be described by tongue.
"Once upon a time," she went on, "the ancients used to say that if a murderer touched a dead body, it would bleed from the orifices. So, if I were really the beast they accused, what would happen? I am his daughter, His beloved child, I bear his grace, wear his jewels, and be nourished by his kisses. Will not this murdered corpse burst out of the shroud, and repel and resist me?"
I can't answer.In some cases, the tongue forgets what it does.
"Oh!" she went on, "if the God of heaven loves justice and hates evil, then please hear my heart. If my thoughts or actions cause the death of this dear elder, knowingly or unintentionally, if this There is a trace of guilt in the heart and hands of the weak woman, not to mention any factual basis. I hope that God will speak justice to the whole world, let the chest of the deceased fester, and make this sinner bow his head and confess his guilt, and never lift his head up! "
After her plea to God was over, there was an eerie silence all around.Then a long and comfortable sigh trembled from my chest, releasing all the feelings that had been suppressed in my heart so far.I leaned closer to her and took her hand.
"You don't believe now, and you can't believe that I have criminal stains on me?"
She whispered, showing a smile that did not touch her lips, sublimated directly from her facial features, as if the peace from her heart bloomed gently on her cheeks and eyebrows.
"Ashamed!" I couldn't help blurting out, "Ashamed!"
"No," she said calmly, "no one in the world can accuse me here."
I took her hand and placed it on the dead man's chest as my answer to her.
She bowed her head slowly and gratefully.
"Now, let the blows come!" she whispered. "No matter how bleak the prospects, there will always be someone who will believe what I say."
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