In the process of recalling my college days, I am reminded of that momentous1 occasion during my first year at St Montague's, when, by some irksome and malign2 fate, I discovered myself sharing the confines of the school library with three well-read scholars of that time. These loathsome3 fellows I normally would avoid at all costs, but owing to the atrocious February weather I was compelled to gain welcome warmth beside that roaring fire.
"What is your name, young chap?" I was asked, by a large scholar wearing a three-piece suit of pin-stripes. His enquiry wore a ghastly cloak of supposed superiority and rank, which I kind of expected, as I was a mere5 first year student at that particular time.
"Grim Shaw," I told him, and as I uttered my name I surveyed the three pairs of beady eyes which were fixed6 upon my being. I detected a vast amount of arrogance7 beyond those staring sockets8.
"A common name," sneered9 the fellow, whose own name I knew to be Rhodes-Fotheringham. As I have mentioned, he was large, with a reddened, chubby10 face and whiskers that hid his stiff upper lip completely. It appeared as if he owned the bottom one only, and I reckoned this to be quite comical, although I dared not to chuckle11 in their presence.
"Well, Grim Shaw," snarled12 the second chap, whose name was Blake, and who was exactly as tiresome13 as Rhodes-Fotheringham, "my chums and I were in the process of recounting horrific tales of ghosts and apparitions15. If you wish to remain in our company, you must endure this."
"And not go fleeing from the room in fright!" added the third monster, a scoundrel by the name of Atkinson.
I endeavored not to be afraid, which was not a simple task, as the trio themselves were sufficient to cause a shivering sensation inside me. We were all seated, with discreet16 distances between each, in huge Victorian armchairs facing the blazing flames of the log fire. The library itself was enormous, and must have contained thousands of books on all subjects. Including the topic of ghosts.
"I remember one chap," said Rhodes-Fotheringham, a cigar of eager proportions in his ample hand, "whose name I cannot recall. He regularly encountered the ghostly figure of an old man in a pale-colored nightgown, who was prone17 to walking up and down the stairs of the chap's home, and with his head held under his arm!"
Excessive gasps18 left the mouths of Blake and Atkinson, whilst I myself remained silent and breathless. Rhodes-Fotheringham's features became hidden in the midst of an awful-smelling cloud of cigar smoke, providing an eerie19 vision of his face, and at that moment I wondered whether he himself was a dreadful phantom20.
"Anyway," he continued, with the smoke drifting in the direction of the fireplace, "this chap could stand it no longer and subsequently decided21 to take his own life by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. Now it is rumored22 that he himself haunts that house."
His two companions seemed quite unsettled by this story, and as the flames crackled in the hearth23 they each took a copious24 mouthful of the brandy that was readily available nearby. Then Blake appeared to decide that he was not to be outdone by his friend.
"That is a pretty gruesome tale, old chap," he said in a quavering voice, "but allow me to relate the story of the man whose wife gave birth to an apparition14."
"By Jove!" exclaimed Rhodes-Fotheringham, with peculiar25 puffed26 cheeks. He appeared to be somewhat perturbed27 by Blake's proclamation, and I noticed how agitated28 he became as his companion continued the tale.
"It is indeed true," said Blake, who, in contrast to Rhodes-Fotheringham, was of a thin shape, and was clutching his brandy glass tightly the whole time. "This apparition grew to a fine old age, until he reached a maturity29 he could not improve on, and now he haunts the church in which his parents had married."
Again, a strange air filled the room, and an odd nervousness prevailed in the three figures that flanked me. I remember thinking how chilling and sinister30 were those three fellows, to the point where I began to feel rather frightened me. However, I attempted not to reveal this, as I sat with clenched31 fists upon that armchair, gazing into the leaping flames opposite my position in that library.
"That is an impressive story," said Atkinson. I had never seen a chap as tall and gangly as he was. His weird-looking legs protruded32 from that chair, stretched out before him like two huge clothes-props, and behind his gold-rimmed spectacles I observed the most evil pair of grey eyes.#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
"What about this then, chaps," he said, grasping the opportunity to tell his own grotesque33 tale. "A soldier in the Great War was lurking34 in the trenches35, with bullets whizzing around his ears, when suddenly he noticed beside him his own ghost. It was identical in every detail, and he was naturally astonished. Seconds later this poor chap was struck in the head by an enemy shot, and was killed instantly. But strangely, he recalls then holding his own dying figure in his arms, for he had taken over the form of the apparition that was beside him!"
"My good God!" cried Rhodes-Fotheringham, with an obvious alarm.
I then looked at Blake, who appeared so petrified36 he was speechless. I found it quite odd that these three chaps knew so much about ghosts. They seemed to be more than mere students of the college, and indeed I morbidly37 started to fear what exactly they were. However, I quickly dismissed these thoughts, and seized the chance to reveal some ideas of my own.
"This is all preposterous38!" I shouted above the blaze of the fire.
"What?" demanded Blake, who suddenly regained39 his powers of speech upon hearing my unwelcome exclamation40.
"I have never hap4 that saw the ghost on the stairs. How do you know this if he shot himself? The same with the soldier in the war. He was dead just seconds after supposedly seeing his own ghost, so how do you know this? And as for the fellow whose wife gave birth to a phantom. That is pure drivel of the finest water!"
Rhodes-Fotheringham was in such an intolerable rage that I thought he would explode before my eyes, and the other two were not far behind in their ire. Each of them was blazing more intensely than the fire was!
"Get out of here!" yelled Rhodes-Fotheringham in a tremendous, booming voice. "And do not return! You are far from worthy41 of our company!"
This request -- or rather, this command -- seemed quite popular amongst the three of them, and so it was with a trembling demeanor42 that I proceeded to leave the library. A chilling silence ensued as I slowly stepped away from them and the fireplace. However, I believe I succeeded in astounding43 my trio of companions, for I departed from that room without opening the door.
回憶我在圣·蒙塔格大學(xué)的生活，我總是會想到我在那的第一年時發(fā)生的這件事。當(dāng)時，我非常郁悶得發(fā)現(xiàn)我得和三個當(dāng)時看來很博學(xué)的學(xué)生共享圖書館。若在平時，我會不惜一切代價躲避這些討厭的家伙，但那年二月的天氣實在是太糟糕了，我不得不呆在壁爐旁，享受那熊熊旺火的溫暖。
“你叫什么名字，小伙子？”一個穿著高大的排扣三件套西服的學(xué)生問。他詢問的語氣仿佛都透著股優(yōu)越感和居高臨下的感覺，這個我早有心理準(zhǔn)備，因為當(dāng)時我還只是個新生而已。
“格里姆·肖。”我回答。我看到三雙犀利的眼睛正盯著我瞧。從他們的眼神中，我能感覺到強(qiáng)烈的傲慢。
“名字真俗。”一個家伙嘲笑道，我后來知道他的名字是拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆。我說過，他的個子很高，面色發(fā)紅，滿是贅肉，上嘴唇完全被濃密的胡須蓋住，看起來就像他只長了下嘴唇似的。我覺得這真是太滑稽了，但又不敢在他們面前笑。
“好吧，格里姆·肖，”另一個和拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆一樣討厭的叫布萊克的家伙說，“我和哥們兒們正在講恐怖的鬼故事。如果你想和我們一起呆在這的話，那你就必須忍耐。”
“而且即使害怕也不許從這個房間跑出去。”第三個叫阿特肯森的無賴補(bǔ)充說。
我努力抑制自己的恐慌，但這還不是我要面對的惟一的任務(wù)，因為這三個人也足以讓我內(nèi)心打顫了。我們都坐在面向熾熱的爐火的維多利亞式靠背椅上，彼此間保持一定距離。圖書館很大，有關(guān)于各種主題的幾千本圖書，當(dāng)然，也有關(guān)于鬼魂的書。
拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆的大手里拿著根雪茄，說：“我記得有個人，他的名字我不記得了。他經(jīng)常能看到一個穿著淺色睡衣的鬼影，那鬼影總在他家樓梯上上上下下來回走，胳膊下夾著自己的頭!”
布萊克和阿特肯森開始大口喘息，而我則不敢出聲，摒住呼吸。拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆的臉掩在嗆人的雪茄煙霧后，讓他看起來有種奇異的虛幻感，那一刻，我都有點覺得他本身就是個可怕的鬼魂了。
“最后，”他繼續(xù)講著，吐出的雪茄煙霧向著壁爐的方向飄去，“那家伙再也受不了，就飲彈自盡了，現(xiàn)在有謠言說他的鬼魂就在那房子里出沒。”
另外兩個人聽了他的故事都顯得很不安，壁爐爐膛里傳出噼噼啪啪的木柴燃燒的聲音，他們都拿起身邊的白蘭地，大大地吞了一口。布萊克覺得自己不應(yīng)該輸給朋友。
“哥們，這故事真是可怕。”他顫著聲說：“但請聽我講講另外一個人的事，他老婆生了個鬼怪。”
“天呀!”拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆喊道。他臉上的肉松垮垮的，他像是被布萊克的話嚇到了，我注意到當(dāng)布萊克講故事的時候，他變得越來越不安。#p#分頁標(biāo)題#e#
“這是個真實的故事。”布萊克說。和拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆不同，他長得很瘦弱，講故事的時候手里一直緊握著白蘭地酒杯。“那鬼怪一直長到它成熟為止，現(xiàn)在，它就在它父母當(dāng)年結(jié)婚的那家教堂出沒。”
房間里的氛圍再次變得很奇怪，坐在我身邊的三個人有種怪異的緊張感。我還記得當(dāng)時他們的神情是多么害怕慌張，那神情讓我覺得很害怕。但我努力不把這種害怕表現(xiàn)出來，于是我坐在扶手椅上，緊握雙拳，緊盯著對面壁爐里跳動的火焰。
阿特肯森說：“這故事真是嚇人。”我從沒見過像他那樣又瘦又高的人。他那看起來怪怪的雙腿從椅子前突出來，像兩根曬衣繩支架似的。透過他的那副金邊眼鏡，我看見一雙至為邪惡的灰色的眼睛。
他抓緊機(jī)會講自己的靈異故事，說：“伙計們，你們聽聽這個怎么樣。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)時，有個士兵潛伏在戰(zhàn)壕里，子彈在他耳邊呼嘯而過。突然他看到了自己的魂魄，跟他長得一模一樣，他自然感到很驚訝了。幾秒鐘后，他就被敵軍的子彈擊中頭部，當(dāng)場死亡。但奇怪的是，他記得當(dāng)時是他自己抱著自己的尸體，因為他已經(jīng)附身在身邊的另一個鬼魂身上了！”
“我的老天！” 拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆喊道，聲音里明顯帶著驚恐。
我看了看布萊克，他已經(jīng)被嚇呆了，說不出話來。我覺得很奇怪，這三個人居然知道這么多關(guān)于鬼魂的故事，看起來他們不單只是大學(xué)學(xué)生，我突然對他們的真實身份感到很害怕。但我馬上把這些念頭揮去，抓緊機(jī)會說出我的觀點。
“這些都太荒謬了。”我喊道。
“什么?”布萊克問，聽到我這不怎么討人喜歡的話后，他似乎又有了說話的力氣。
“我從沒在樓梯上見過什么鬼魂，再說，如果他是自殺的，你們又怎么知道這個故事？那個士兵的故事也一樣，如果他在看到自己的魂魄幾秒鐘之后就死掉了，你又怎么知道？至于那個老婆生了個鬼怪的人，簡直是滿嘴胡話！”
拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆變得怒不可遏，仿佛就要在我面前氣炸了似的。其他兩個人也氣壞了，看起來，他們的怒火比壁爐里的火還要旺許多！
“滾出去！”拉霍斯·佛斯林漢姆大聲地喊道：“你不配和我們呆在一起！”
看起來這個請求，或者說這個命令是他們?nèi)齻€人一致認(rèn)同的，所以我只好戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)兢兢得離開了圖書館。我從他們身邊和溫暖的爐火旁離開的時候，身后一片死寂。但我確信我嚇到了我這三個伙伴，因為我不用打開門就從房間里消失不見了。
