12.Love and revenge

London, of course, was where Lorna was, but it was five weeks before I saw her. Because I was a kind of prisoner, I was not allowed to move freely around the city and I had to report every day to the judges' rooms. However, I came before Judge Jeffreys at last. He remembered me, believed my story, and gave me papers which said I was a free man and an honest servant of the King.

I was now free to go and see Lorna but, to tell the truth, I was a little afraid. It had been a year since she left Exmoor — a year without one word or letter from her. Did she remember the old days in our farmhouse? Did she still love her poor, simple farmer, a man without great riches or a famous family name? It was true that the Ridds had held their own land on Exmoor for hundreds of years, but Lorna came from a family that had Scottish kings in its history.

Everybody in London knew Lady Lorna Dugal. They spoke of her great beauty, and told me how rich she was, and that the Queen was very friendly with her. But if Lorna still loved me, then neither riches nor a proud family would keep me away from her.

So, with fear and hope in my heart, I went to Earl Brandir's house. It was a very grand place. I was taken upstairs to a little sitting-room, and told to wait. Then, suddenly, the door opened and Lorna was standing before me, in a simple white dress, with her long black hair falling down her back. She was more beautiful than ever.

She came towards me, holding out her hand. Gently, I took her hand in mine, then bent and kissed it.

Is that all?' she whispered. I saw the shine of tears in her eyes, and in another second she was crying in my arms.

Darling Lorna,' I cried, holding her close to me. 'I love you dearly, but surely, you don't care for me now.'

Yes, I do, John. Yes, I do. Oh, why have you behaved so unkindly?'

I am behaving,' I replied, 'as well as I can. No other man in the world could hold you like this, without kissing you.'

Then why don't you do it, John?' asked Lorna, looking up at me, with a laugh in her bright eyes.

After that, of course, there was no more talking, for about five minutes. Then my darling pulled away from me, and began to question me.

John Ridd, you must tell me the truth, the whole truth. Why have you never, for more than a year, taken any notice of your old friend, Lorna Doone?'

Because,' I answered, 'my old friend, and true love, sent me not one word or letter in all that time.'

What!' cried Lorna. 'Oh no, my poor John! I have often suspected something like this, but she always said —' With these words, she rang a bell very violently, and a few seconds later her servant, little Gwenny, came in.

Gwenny,' said Lorna, 'what have you done with all the letters I gave you to send to Mr Ridd? No more lies, now.'

Gwenny gave me a very black look. 'I didn't send them,' she said. 'You're a grand lady now, mistress. You should marry some grand lord, not a poor farmer from Exmoor. I was only thinking of you.'

Gwenny, you may go,' said Lorna, her voice full of quiet anger. 'I don't want to see you or speak to you for at least three days.'

At this, Gwenny ran out of the room, crying noisily, and Lorna turned to me. 'Oh John, try not to be too angry with her. She loves me very much, and I'm afraid that if you take me, you'll still have to take Gwenny too.'

I'll take fifty Gwennies,' I said, 'if you want me to.'

After this, we spoke of ourselves. I tried to tell Lorna that, when she was free to decide her own future, she must think very carefully. The world would say she was mad if she chose to become a farmer's wife. Of course, at Plover's Barrows farm she would have a comfortable home, plenty of good food, and all the love and care I could give her. But it was not the same as being a grand lady, who owned half of Scotland and who could marry any lord she wanted.

Lorna could not wait for me to finish. 'I decided long ago, dear John,' she said, very seriously, 'that you must be my husband. I think it was the day you climbed up the waterfall, with your shoes off, and a bag of fish for your mother. So, after all these years of loving, shall little things like money and a family name separate us? They mean nothing. I have not been here a year, John, without learning something. Oh, how I hate it! Only my uncle and Gwenny really care for me. All the rest are only interested in my land and money. Oh John, you must never leave me — it would break my heart.'

Of course, I gave in at once, and said, 'Darling, you must do exactly what you please.'

For that she gave me the sweetest of kisses; and as I left, I went grandly down the great stairs of Earl Brandir's house, thinking of nothing else except that.

*　　*　　*

For the rest of my time in London I went to see Lorna every day, forgetting all about my poor mother and the work that needed doing on the farm. Then one day I received a letter from Lizzie, and I realized that I must get home as quickly as possible. My darling Lorna cried and held me close, but she understood why I had to go.

Lizzie's news was this: Jeremy Stickles and his soldiers had finally made their attack on Doone valley — but it had failed, and Jeremy had been injured. This was the worst possible thing for Exmoor. Now the Doones would make more trouble than ever before — and of course they would attack our farm.

When I got home, I learnt that the Doones were robbing everyone around them, and the whole of Exmoor was living in fear of them. Then a few weeks later something even more terrible happened.

The Doones came one evening to the farmhouse of Kit Badcock, a neighbour of ours, while he was out working in his fields. They broke down the door and stole his young wife Margery. Two of them carried her, screaming and fighting, to their horses, and then rode away. Meanwhile, the other Doones were searching the house for food and drink to steal, and one of them found the Badcocks' little son crying in the kitchen. He picked the baby up, threw him into the air, and let him fall on to the hard stone floor. The child's neck was broken, and he died at once.

It made me sick just to think of the cruelty of this man, and when people heard this terrible story, they were very angry. They said it was time for the people of Exmoor to take their own revenge.

Men from all the farms and villages of Exmoor came to see me. 'We cannot expect any more help from the King against the Doones,' they told me. 'Because Jeremy Stickles's attack failed, the King has refused to send any more soldiers. But we've had enough of the Doones. We want to attack them ourselves, and we want you to lead us, John.'

I said I was no leader, but they would not listen to this. 'Try to lead us,' they said, 'and we will try to follow.'

In the end I agreed to do as they asked. I thought we had a chance against the Doones, if enough of us decided to fight. There were fewer of them now — some had been killed in the rebel fighting, and some during Jeremy's attack. We arranged to meet again and make a plan. Tom Faggus, now quite well, rode over to join us — and he soon had a very clever idea.

We're not soldiers,' he said, 'and we'll never defeat the Doones if we try to fight all of them in their valley. So we must lay a trap. You know the caves on Exmoor where gold was once found? Well, we'll tell a story around Exmoor that men have been digging secretly and have found a new cave, with rocks full of gold. We'll say that the gold will be taken away on a certain night, at a certain time. The Doones will naturally plan to attack and steal this gold, but some of us will make a trap for them in the caves. Meanwhile, the rest of us will attack the valley, as soon as we know that some of the robbers have left.'

The second part of our plan was this: Tom would take some of our men and pretend to attack the Doone gate, while our main attack would really come from the waterfall end of the valley — the route I had discovered so long ago.

The plan went well. The story about the gold was whispered in the right ears, and on the agreed night our spies watched a large group of robbers leave Doone valley on their way to the caves. Meanwhile, as the moon rose above the hills, I was leading my twenty men to the bottom of the waterfall. John Fry, our old farm-worker, was in the mountains which looked down into the valley. When he saw the fighting start at the Doone-gate, he would fire his gun as a signal to us.

Soon the sound of John's gun rang around the mountains, and I and my men climbed up the waterfall and into the valley. Tom's men were making as much noise as possible at the Doone-gate, and all the Doones had run to join the fight there. We went quietly along the valley, keeping to the shadows under the trees, until we came to the Doone-town. Then we got to work with our fire sticks, and before long every Doone house was on fire. We took good care, however, to burn no women or children, and we made sure that they were all out of the houses first.

When they saw the flames and smoke rising from their houses, the Doone men came running back from the gate. By the time they reached us, the whole valley was burning — houses, trees, everything, right up to the sides of the mountains. As the men came towards us, we saw that there were only twelve of them. In the bright firelight, they could not see us, but we had them right in front of our guns. There were so few of them that I thought we could take them as prisoners. But my men did not wait for a word from me — they saw the chance of revenge on the men who had burnt their homes and stolen their women for so many years. They fired, and five Doones fell dead.

The robbers fired back wildly, but they could not see us clearly in the shadows. Soon all the guns were empty and the battle became hand-to-hand fighting, with knives and sticks. I stood to one side — the only Doone I wanted to meet was Carver. But as I started-to look for him, I saw something white in the grass, moving close to the ground. I ran to see what it was, and found the Counsellor. I recognized him from Lorna's descriptions, and here he was, on his hands and knees, trying to escape from the fighting. The white thing I had seen was his long white hair. When he saw me, he got to his feet. He knew at once who I was.

John Ridd!' he said. 'Won't you be kind to an old man? Let me get away from this violence, John.'

I will let you go free, sir,' I said, 'but on one condition. Tell me honestly, which Doone killed my father?'

I will tell you honestly,' he said, 'though it hurts me to say it. It was my son, Carver.'

I thought it was him,' I said. 'But you were not there, so I don't blame you.'

I've always been against violence,' the Counsellor said, shaking his head sadly. 'And now, John, let me go.'

He was an evil, lying old man, but I let him go. I don't know what happened to him, but he was never seen again on Exmoor.

Then I went to look for Carver, but did not find him. Afterwards, I heard that he had led the Doones who had gone to the gold caves. Our trap was successful, and all the Doones had been killed — all except Carver, who had ridden his horse through the attackers and escaped.

The Doones were totally defeated, though. When the sun came up above their valley the next day, all their houses were nothing but blackened wood. We had lost sixteen men in the fighting, but out of nearly forty Doone men, only Carver and the Counsellor were left alive.

But the thought that Carver, that cruel and violent man, was still living somewhere on the moors, did not give me much peace.

Scottish adj. of or relating to Scotland or its people 苏格兰（人）的

question v. to ask questions to find out what they know about something 质问

black adj. full of feelings of anger or hate 生气的

think of take into account or consideration 着想；考虑

noisily adv. full of or making a lot of noise 大声地

care for look after and provide the needs of 关心

break one's heart overwhelm someone with sadness 让……心碎

give in cease fighting or arguing 屈服；让步

have enough of be thoroughly tired or sick of something and want it to stop 受够了

burn v. to hurt someone with fire or heat 烧伤

evil adj. someone who deliberately does very cruel things to harm other people 邪恶的

lying adj. not telling the truth 撒谎的

blackened adj. becoming or made black or dark 烧黑的

12．爱与复仇

伦敦，当然就是洛娜所在的地方，但我直到五个星期后才见到她。由于我算是一名犯人，所以不能随意在城中走动，还必须每天去法官们的办公室报到。但是，我最后还是见到了杰弗里斯法官。他还记得我，相信我说的事情，还给我开具了一些文件来证明我是自由人，是国王忠实的仆人。

我现在自由了，可以去见洛娜了，但是说实话，我有一点担心。她离开埃克斯莫尔已经一年了——一年以来音讯全无。她还记得在我家农舍里度过的那些日子吗？她还爱着她那个贫穷普通的农夫、那个既没有财富也没有显赫家世的人吗？尽管几百年来，里德一家的确一直在埃克斯莫尔拥有自己的土地，但洛娜可是出身于一个历史上曾出过苏格兰国王的家族。

在伦敦，人人都知道洛娜·杜加尔女勋爵。他们谈论着她那闭月羞花之貌，告诉我她是多么富有，还说女王对她非常友好。但是，如果洛娜依然爱我，那么无论是财富还是值得骄傲的家族都不能阻止我跟她在一起。

于是，我怀着担忧和希望来到了布兰迪尔伯爵的府第。这是个雄伟豪华的地方。我被带到了楼上的一间小起居室，并被告知在此等候。不久，门突然开了，洛娜穿着一袭简单的白衣站在我面前，长长的黑发垂在后背上。她比以前更美丽了。

她走向我，伸出手来。我温柔地握住她的手，弯腰吻了一下。

“就这些吗？”她柔声说。我看见了她眼中的莹莹泪光，紧接着她便倒在我臂弯中抽泣起来。

“亲爱的洛娜，”我将她紧紧拥在怀中大声说道，“我深爱着你，但你现在显然已经不在乎我了。”

“不，我还在乎你，约翰。真的，我在乎你。哦，你为什么这么冷淡呢？”

“我在尽力控制自己，”我回答道，“这世上没有别的男人能像这样抱着你，却不吻你。”

“那你为什么不吻我呢，约翰？”洛娜边问边抬起头望着我，明亮的眼中带着一丝笑意。

当然，此后大约五分钟内，我们没有任何言谈。接着，我亲爱的洛娜从我怀中抽出身，开始质问我。

“约翰·里德，你必须告诉我真相，全部的真相。为什么这一年多以来，你完全不顾念自己的老朋友洛娜·杜恩？”

“那是因为，”我回答道，“我的老朋友，也是我的挚爱，一直以来都没有给我捎去任何消息或是信件。”

“什么？”洛娜大喊道，“哦，不，我可怜的约翰！我一直都在怀疑是不是发生了这样的事，但她总是说——”说着，她使劲按动响铃。几秒钟后，她的仆人小格温妮走了进来。

“格温妮，”洛娜问道，“我让你寄给里德先生的信呢，你都怎么处理了？别再撒谎了，说。”

格温妮向我怒目而视。“我没把它们寄出去，”她说，“您现在是有身份地位的女勋爵，小姐。您应该嫁给一位显赫的爵士，而不是埃克斯莫尔的穷苦农夫。我只是在为您着想。”

“格温妮，你可以走了，”洛娜说着，她的声音尽量压抑着心中的愠怒，“至少三天之内，我都不想见到你或是跟你说话。”

听到这番话，格温妮嚎啕大哭着跑出了房间。洛娜转向我说：“哦，约翰，别对她太生气。她很爱我，而且我想如果你想接受我，恐怕也得接受格温妮。”

“要我接受五十个格温妮都可以，”我说，“只要你愿意。”

此后，我们谈起了我俩的事。我试探着告诉洛娜，等到她可以自由决定自己的将来时，必须非常慎重地考虑。要是她选择做一名农夫的妻子，世人都会说她疯了。当然，她可以在普罗沃斯巴若斯农庄拥有一个舒适的家、丰富的美食以及我所能给予的全部的爱和呵护。但这样的生活同拥有半个苏格兰、能嫁给任何一名爵士的高贵女勋爵的生活是迥然不同的。

洛娜不等我把话说完。“我很久以前就已经决定了，亲爱的约翰，”她非常严肃地说，“你必须成为我的丈夫。我想应该就是在你光着脚、带着一包为你母亲抓的鱼爬上瀑布的那天吧。所以，经过了这么多年相亲相爱的日子，难道像金钱和家族声望这样的小事会将我们分开吗？它们一文不值。约翰，我在这里的一年，也让我体会到一些事情。哦，我真讨厌这样的生活！只有舅公和格温妮真的关心我，别人都只是对我的田产和财富感兴趣。哦，约翰，你永远都不要离开我——那样会让我心碎的。”

当然，我立刻就屈服了。我说：“亲爱的，你必须按照自己的意愿来做。”

听到这话，她给了我最甜蜜的吻。离开时，我愉快地走下布兰迪尔伯爵家宽大的楼梯，心中只想着那些甜蜜的吻。

*　　*　　*

接下来呆在伦敦的日子里，我每天都去看望洛娜，完全忘记了可怜的母亲和农庄里需要我干的活。直到有一天，我收到了莉齐的信，意识到自己必须尽快赶回家。我亲爱的洛娜哭着紧紧抱住我，但她理解我为什么必须要走。

莉齐信上写道：杰里米·斯蒂克尔斯和他的士兵们终于对杜恩山谷发动了袭击——但却惨遭失败，杰里米还受了伤。这对于埃克斯莫尔而言，是最糟糕的事。现在，杜恩家族的人将会比以前制造更多的麻烦——当然，他们一定会袭击我家的农庄。

我到家后，得知杜恩家族的人正在附近到处抢劫，整个埃克斯莫尔的人都生活在对他们的恐惧中。几个星期后，更可怕的事情发生了。

一天晚上，杜恩家族的人趁我们的邻居基特·巴德科克在田间劳作时来到了他家的农舍。他们破门而入，抢走了他年轻的妻子玛格丽。两个人将哭喊挣扎着的玛格丽带上马，扬长而去。与此同时，其他杜恩家族的人在屋里四下搜寻食物和酒，其中一人发现了巴德科克家的小儿子在厨房里哭泣。他将小孩子拎起来抛到空中，任其摔落到坚硬的石头地面上。小孩的脖子摔断了，当场毙命。

一想到那人的残忍，我就感到恶心。当人们听说了这个可怕的事情后，群情激愤。他们说，埃克斯莫尔的人复仇的时候到了。

埃克斯莫尔所有农庄和村落的男人们都来见我。“我们不能再指望国王援助我们来抗击杜恩家族了，”他们对我说，“杰里米·斯蒂克尔斯的袭击失败了，国王拒绝派遣更多的士兵来。但我们已经受够了杜恩家族的欺负。我们想自己发动袭击，希望你能领头，约翰。”

我说自己不是做头儿的料，但他们不肯听。“请试着领导我们，”他们说，“我们也会试着听从你的指挥。”

最后，我答应了他们的请求。我认为如果有足够多的人决定参加战斗，我们就有机会打败杜恩家族。现在对方的人数已经减少了——有些在叛乱中被杀掉了，另一些则在杰里米发动的袭击中战死了。我们又安排了一次会面，制定了一个计划。汤姆·费格斯已经恢复健康，他也骑马赶来加入了我们的行列——很快，他便想到了一个聪明的办法。

“我们不是士兵，”他说，“若是跟杜恩家族的所有人在杜恩山谷中作战，我们永远也无法战胜他们。因此，我们必须设一个圈套。你们知道埃克斯莫尔那些曾发现过金矿的山洞吗？呃，我们就在埃克斯莫尔附近散布消息，说有些人一直在秘密挖掘，而且已经发现了一个满是金矿的新山洞。我们放出消息，说这些金矿石会在某一天夜里的某一个时刻被运走。杜恩家族的人自然会计划发动袭击、抢走金矿石，而我们当中的一部分人将在山洞中为他们布下陷阱。与此同时，剩下的人一旦得知部分强盗已离开山谷，就向山谷发动进攻。”

我们计划的第二部分是这样的：汤姆将带领我们当中的一部分人假装袭击杜恩大门，而我们的主要进攻点却是山谷尽头的瀑布那里——也就是我很久以前发现的路线。

计划进展得很顺利。关于金矿石的消息通过恰当的途径散布开来。在我们计划好的那天夜里，我们的探子观察到一大群强盗离开了杜恩山谷，踏上了前往山洞的路。与此同时，当月光照耀到山头时，我正带领手下的二十人前往瀑布下方。约翰·弗赖伊，我家农庄上的老伙计，正在山头俯视着山谷。等他一看到杜恩大门口的战斗打响，就会鸣枪给我们信号。

很快，约翰的枪声便在群山间回响了起来。我和我的手下爬上瀑布，冲进了山谷。汤姆的手下正在杜恩大门竭尽所能制造响动，杜恩家族所有的人都跑过去加入那里的战斗了。我们在树影下静悄悄地一路走进山谷，直捣杜恩镇。接着，我们开始用火把放火。没过多久，杜恩山谷里的每一栋房子都燃烧起来了。不过我们很小心，没有烧到任何妇女和儿童，并事先确保他们都出了房门。

当杜恩家族的男人们见到自家房子上升腾起火光和烟雾时，都从大门那儿跑了回去。等到他们靠近我们时，整个山谷都在燃烧——房屋、树木，所有的一切，一直烧到山边。当他们朝这边过来时，我们看到他们只有十二个人。在明亮的火光中，他们看不见我们，但我们的枪口却已瞄准了他们。他们的人数这么少，我觉得我们可以活捉他们。但我的手下没等我发号施令——他们瞅见了机会，能向这些多年来烧毁他们家园、抢夺他们妻子的仇人们报复。他们开了枪，五个杜恩家族的人倒地毙命。

强盗们疯狂地开枪还击，但却无法看清躲在树影中的我们。很快，所有的枪支都没有子弹了，战斗变成了使用刀棍的白刃战。我站在一旁——我唯一想见到的是卡弗·杜恩。但当我开始找寻他的踪影时，却发现草丛中有个白色的东西正贴着地面移动。我跑过去看个究竟，发现是亲王。我根据洛娜以前的描述认出了他，他在那儿试图爬着逃离战斗。我所看见的白色东西是他那长长的白胡子。当他看见我时，便站起身来。他立刻知道我是谁了。

“约翰·里德！”他说道，“你不会对一位老人不客气吧？让我离开这场混战吧，约翰。”

“我会让你离开的，先生，”我说，“但我有一个条件。老实告诉我，是杜恩家族的哪个人杀害了我的父亲？”

“我会跟你说实话，”他说，“虽然这么说让我很伤心。是我的儿子卡弗干的。”

“我就知道是他，”我说，“但你当时并不在场，所以我不怪你。”

“我一直都反对暴力，”亲王边说边哀伤地摇着头，“好了，约翰，让我走吧。”

他是个邪恶的、满嘴谎言的老头，但我还是放他走了。我不知道他后来怎么样了，但此后没人再在埃克斯莫尔见过他。

接着，我去找卡弗，但却没找到。后来我才听说他带领杜恩家族的人去金矿山洞了。我们的陷阱很成功，所有杜恩家族的人都被杀掉了——除了卡弗。他骑着马突破重围逃脱了。

不过，杜恩家族的人已被彻底击败了。第二天，当太阳照耀着他们的山谷时，所有房屋都已成了烧黑的木头。我们在战斗中牺牲了十六个人，但杜恩家族将近四十个人中，只有卡弗和亲王两人还活着。

可是，一想到卡弗这个残暴的家伙还活在这片沼泽地上，我就不得安宁。