介绍:
Chapter Nineteen
Mr Kirwin was a kind old gentleman. He asked one or the witnesses to tell his story. The man said he had been fishing the night before with a friend. The wind grew strong, so they landed their boat some distance from the harbour. On the beach they found the body of a young man. There were black finger-marks on his neck.
When I heard about the finger-marks, I began to tremble. The magistrate noticed my nervousness. The other fisherman said that, just before they found the body, he had seen a boat with one man in it not far from the shore. He believed it was the same boat in which I had just landed.
A woman said that she had been standing at the door of her cottage near the beach, about half an hour before the body was discovered. She had seen a boat with one man in it leave the shore near the place where the body was later found.
When Mr Kirwin had heard these witnesses, he took me to the room where the body lay. I was not worried, because I knew that I had been seen by people on the island at the time of the murder. I was sure that I could not be found guilty.
I entered the room. Imagine my horror when I saw on the table the body of my friend Clerval!'Oh Henry!' I cried. ' Have I been the cause of your death too?' I fainted. For two months I was very ill. They thought I was dying. I cried out in my illness, calling myself murderer of William, Justine, and Henry. Sometimes begged for help to kill the devil who was torturing me. At other limes I felt his fingers around my neck. Since I spoke in my own language only Mr Kirwin understood me. Why did I not die? What was I made of that I could suffer so much and still live? In two months I recovered to find myself in prison. Mr Kirwin was the only person to show me any kindness. One day he came into my prison cell.' How are you?' he asked gently.
'Nothing can comfort me,' I replied.
'When you were ill,' he said, 'I looked at the papers that were in your pockets. I found a letter from your father, so I wrote to Geneva to tell him what had happened.'
'Have you news from my family?' I asked eagerly, 'Has anything terrible happened?'
'Your family is well,' said Mr Kirwin, 'and someone has come to see you.'
For a moment I thought the monster had come to watch my suffering. 'Do not let him in!' I cried ' I cannot see him!' .
'Why? Do you not wish to see your father?' asked Mr Kirwin.
'My father!' I was weak with relief. 'Oh, please! Where is he?'
Mr Kirwin left the room, and a moment later, my father entered. I stretched out my hand to him.'Oh father, you are safe! And Elizabeth?'
'She is well. Poor Victor! What a terrible place this is! And poor Clerval!'
I wept. 'Yes, my dear father,' I said.'Some horrible destiny hangs over me!'
I recovered quickly. After the trial, I was released from prison, It was proved that I had been on the island at the time of the murder. I travelled home to Geneva with my father, feeling sad and hopeless. Often I thought of killing myself, but I had a duty to protect the people I loved from the monster I had created.
Ever since my illness I had taken opium I to help me sleep. The opium gave my body the rest it needed, but my mind still suffered in terrible dreams. Sometimes I dreamt that the monster's fingers were around my neck. Waking up to find no monster there, I felt relief. For the moment I was safe.
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