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i and my chimney-第6节

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have noted that I frequently applied my rule to it in a manner

apparently unnecessary。 Possibly; also; at the same time; you

might have observed in me more or less of perplexity; to which;

however; I refrained from giving any verbal expression。 



I now feel it obligatory upon me to inform you of what was then

but a dim suspicion; and as such would have been unwise to give

utterance to; but which now; from various subsequent calculations

assuming no little probability; it may be important that you

should not remain in further ignorance of。 

 

It is my solemn duty to warn you; sir; that there is

architectural cause to conjecture that somewhere concealed in

your chimney is a reserved space; hermetically closed; in short; 

a secret chamber; or rather closet。 How long it has been there;

it is for me impossible to say。 What it contains is hid; with

itself; in darkness。 But probably a secret closet would not have

been contrived except for some extraordinary object; whether for

the concealment of treasure; or for what other purpose; may be

left to those better acquainted with the history of the house to

guess。 



But enough: in making this disclosure; sir; my conscience is

eased。 Whatever step you choose to take upon it; is of course a

matter of indifference to me; though; I confess; as respects the

character of the closet; I cannot but share in a natural

curiosity。 Trusting that you may be guided aright; in determining

whether it is Christian…like knowingly to reside in a house;

hidden in which is a secret closet; I remain; with much respect; 

Yours very humbly; 



HIRAM SCRIBE。 





My first thought upon reading this note was; not of the alleged

mystery of manner to which; at the outset; it alluded…for none

such had I at all observed in the master…mason during his

surveysbut of my late kinsman; Captain Julian Dacres; long a

ship…master and merchant in the Indian trade; who; about thirty

years ago; and at the ripe age of ninety; died a bachelor; and in

this very house; which he had built。  He was supposed to have

retired into this country with a large fortune。  But to the

general surprise; after being at great cost in building himself

this mansion; he settled down into a sedate; reserved and

inexpensive old age; which by the neighbors was thought all the

better for his heirs: but lo! upon opening the will; his property

was found to consist but of the house and grounds; and some ten

thousand dollars in stocks; but the place; being found heavily

mortgaged; was in consequence sold。 Gossip had its day; and left

the grass quietly to creep over the captain's grave; where he

still slumbers in a privacy as unmolested as if the billows of

the Indian Ocean; instead of the billows of inland verdure;

rolled over him。 Still; I remembered long ago; hearing strange

solutions whispered by the country people for the mystery

involving his will; and; by reflex; himself; and that; too; as

well in conscience as purse。 But people who could circulate the

report (which they did); that Captain Julian Dacres had; in his


day; been a Borneo pirate; surely were not worthy of credence in

their collateral notions。 It is queer what wild whimsies of

rumors will; like toadstools; spring up about any eccentric

stranger; who settling down among a rustic population; keeps

quietly to himself。 With some; inoffensiveness would seem a prime

cause of offense。 But what chiefly had led me to scout at these

rumors; particularly as referring to concealed treasure; was the

circumstance; that the stranger (the same who razeed the roof and

the chimney) into whose hands the estate had passed on my

kinsman's death; was of that sort of character; that had there

been the least ground for those reports; he would speedily have

tested them; by tearing down and rummaging the walls。 



Nevertheless; the note of Mr。 Scribe; so strangely recalling the

memory of my kinsman; very naturally chimed in with what had been

mysterious; or at least unexplained; about him; vague flashings

of ingots united in my mind with vague gleamings of skulls。 But

the first cool thought soon dismissed such chimeras; and; with a

calm smile; I turned towards my wife; who; meantime; had been

sitting nearby; impatient enough; I dare say; to know who could

have taken it into his head to write me a letter。 



〃Well; old man;〃 said she; 〃who is it from; and what is it

about?〃 



〃Read it; wife;〃 said I; handing it。



 Read it she did; and thensuch an explosion! I will not pretend

to describe her emotions; or repeat her expressions。 Enough that

my daughters were quickly called in to share the excitement。

Although they had never dreamed of such a revelation as Mr。

Scribe's; yet upon the first suggestion they instinctively saw

the extreme likelihood of it。 In corroboration; they cited first

my kinsman; and second; my chimney; alleging that the profound

mystery involving the former; and the equally profound masonry

involving the latter; though both acknowledged facts; were alike

preposterous on any other supposition than the secret closet。 



But all this time I was quietly thinking to myself: Could it be

hidden from me that my credulity in this instance would operate

very favorably to a certain plan of theirs? How to get to the

secret closet; or how to have any certainty about it at all;

without making such fell work with my chimney as to render its

set destruction superfluous? That my wife wished to get rid of

the chimney; it needed no reflection to show; and that Mr。

Scribe; for all his pretended disinterestedness; was not opposed

to pocketing five hundred dollars by the operation; seemed

equally evident。 That my wife had; in secret; laid heads together

with Mr。 Scribe; I at present refrain from affirming。 But when I

consider her enmity against my chimney; and the steadiness with

which at the last she is wont to carry out her schemes; if by

hook or crook she can; especially after having been once baffled;

why; I scarcely knew at what step of hers to be surprised。 



Of one thing only was I resolved; that I and my chimney should

not budge。 



In vain all protests。 Next morning I went out into the road;

where I had noticed a diabolical…looking old gander; that; for

its doughty exploits in the way of scratching into forbidden

enclosures; had been rewarded by its master with a portentous;

four…pronged; wooden decoration; in the shape of a collar of the

Order of the Garotte。 This gander I cornered and rummaging out

its stiffest quill; plucked it; took it home; and making a stiff

pen; inscribed the following stiff note: 



CHIMNEY SIDE; April 2。 

MR。 SCRIBE

Sir:…For your conjecture; we return you our joint thanks and

compliments; and beg leave to assure you; that we shall remain; 

Very faithfully; 

The same; 

I AND MY CHIMNEY。 



Of course; for this epistle we had to endure some pretty sharp

raps。 But having at last explicitly understood from me that Mr。

Scribe's note had not altered my mind one jot; my wife; to move

me; among other things said; that if she remembered aright; there

was a statute placing the keeping in private of secret closets on

the same unlawful footing with the keeping of gunpowder。 But it

had no effect。 



A few days after; my spouse changed her key。 



It was nearly midnight; and all were in bed but ourselves; who

sat up; one in each chimney… corner; she; needles in hand;

indefatigably knitting a sock; I; pipe in mouth; indolently

weaving my vapors。 



It was one of the first of the chill nights in autumn。 There was

a fire on the hearth; burning low。 The air without was torpid and

heavy; the wood; by an oversight; of the sort called soggy。 



〃Do look at the chimney;〃 she began; 〃can't you see that

something must be in it?〃 



〃Yes; wife。 Truly there is smoke in the chimney; as in Mr。

Scribe's note。〃 



〃Smoke? Yes; indeed; and in my eyes; too。 How you two wicked old

sinners do smoke!this wicked old chimney and you。〃 



〃Wife;〃 said I; 〃I and my chimney like to have a quiet smoke

together; it is true; but we don't like to be called names。〃 



〃Now; dear old man;〃 said she; softening down; and a little

shifting the subject; 〃when you think of that old kinsman of

yours; you KNOW there must be a secret closet in this chimney。〃 



〃Secret ash…hole; wife; why don't you have it? Yes; I dare say

there is a secret ash…hole in the chimney; for where do all the

ashes go to that drop down the queer hole yonder?〃 

 

〃I know where they go to; I've been there almost as many times as

the cat。〃 



〃What devil; wife; prompted you to crawl into the ash…hole? Don't

you know that St。 Dunstan's devil emerged from the ash…hole? You

will get your death one of these days; exploring all about as you

do。 But supposing there be a secret closet; what then?〃 



〃What then? why what should be in a secret closet but〃 



〃Dry bones; wife;〃 b

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