马斯格雷夫礼典07（在线收听）

“‘Brunton, the butler, was in the library. He was sitting, fully dressed, in  an easy-chair, with a slip of paper which looked like a map upon his knee, and  his forehead sunk forward upon his hand in deep thought. I stood dumb with  astonishment, watching him from the darkness. A small taper on the edge of the  table shed a feeble light which sufficed to show me that he was fully dressed.  Suddenly, as I looked, he rose from his chair, and walking over to a bureau at  the side, he unlocked it and drew out one of the drawers. From this he took a  paper, and returning to his seat he flattened it out beside the taper on the  edge of the table, and began to study it with minute attention. My indignation  at this calm examination of our family documents overcame me so far that I took  a step forward, and Brunton, looking up, saw me standing in the doorway. He  sprang to his feet, his face turned livid with fear, and he thrust into his  breast the chart-like paper which he had been originally studying.

“‘“So!” said I. “This is how you repay the trust which we have reposed in  you. You will leave my service to-morrow.”

“‘He bowed with the look of a man who is utterly crushed, and slunk past me  without a word. The taper was still on the table, and by its light I glanced to  see what the paper was which Brunton had taken from the bureau. To my surprise  it was nothing of any importance at all, but simply a copy of the questions and  answers in the singular old observance called the Musgrave Ritual. It is a sort  of ceremony peculiar to our family, which each Musgrave for centuries past has  gone through on his coming of age—a thing of private interest, and perhaps of  some little importance to the archaeologist, like our own blazonings and  charges, but of no practical use whatever.’

“‘We had better come back to the paper afterwards,’ said I.

“‘If you think it really necessary,’ he answered, with some hesitation. ‘To  continue my statement, however: I relocked the bureau, using the key which  Brunton had left, and I had turned to go when I was surprised to find that the  butler had returned, and was standing before me.

“‘原来是管家布伦顿呆在藏书室里。他衣着整齐地坐在一把安乐椅里，膝上摊着一张纸， 看上去好象是一张地图，手托前额，正在沉思。我瞠目结舌地立在那里，暗中窥一探他的动 静。只见桌边放着一支小蜡烛，我借着那微弱的烛光，瞧见他衣着整齐，又见他突然从椅上 站起来，走向那边一个写字台，打开锁，拉开一个一抽一屉。他从里面取出一份文件，又回 到原来的座位，把文件平铺在桌边蜡烛旁，开始聚一精一会神地研究起来。看到他那样镇静 自若地检查我们家的文件，我不禁勃然大怒，便一步跨向前去。这时布伦顿抬起头来，见我 站在门口，便跳起来，脸吓得发青，连忙把刚才研究的那张海图一样的文件塞一进怀中。

“‘我说：“好哇！你就这样报答我们对你的信任。明天你就离职辞行吧。”

“‘他垂头丧气地一鞠躬，一言不发地从我身边溜走了。

蜡烛依然摆在桌上，借助烛光，我瞥了一眼，看布伦顿从写字台里取出的文件到底是什么。 出乎我的意料，那文件根本无关紧要，只是一份奇异的古老仪式中的问答词抄件而已。这种 仪式叫“马斯格雷夫礼典”，是我们家族的特有仪式。过去几世纪以来，凡是马斯格雷夫家 族的人，一到成年就要举行这种仪式——这只同我们家族的私事有关，就象我们自己的纹章 图记一样，或许对考古学家有些重要作用，但是毫无实际用处。’

“‘我们最好还是回头再谈那份文件的事吧，’我说道。

“‘如果你认为确有必要的话，’马斯格雷夫也有些迟疑地答道，‘好，我就继续讲下去： 我用布伦顿留下的钥匙重新把写字台锁好，刚要转身走开，突然发现管家已经走回来站在我 面前，这使我吃了一惊。