Chapter 23　A chain of tragedies 第23章 連環悲劇

Mary Shelley

為什么把“我”的遭遇叫作“連環悲劇”？這些悲劇究竟降臨到了哪些人身上呢？

On the bed， Elizabeth lay still， in the cold sleep of death. I took her in my arms... and saw the marks of the murderers fingers on her neck.

Other people in the hotel had heard the screams and came into our room. I sent one of them to call the police. The others left me alone with my misery. I held Elizabeth close， and as I held her， I saw the monster watching me through the open window of the room. There was an evil laugh on his face. I pulled my gun from my coat and fired at him. I missed， and he ran away from the window and jumped into the lake. The other people heard the noise of the shot and came back into the room. I showed them the place where the monster had jumped into the lake. We searched the edge of the lake， but we could not find him. I returned to our room and lay on the bed next to my dear wife.

Suddenly I had another terrible thought. At this very moment， perhaps my father was fighting the monster， with Ernest dead at his feet.

I left the hotel and returned to Geneva as fast as I could. My father and Ernest were safe， but the awful news of Elizabeths death killed my father. He loved Elizabeth dearly. He became ill， and after a few days he died in my arms. So the evil monster had brought unhappiness and death to a dear old man who had never hurt anybody.

I do not know what happened next. I think I left the real world， and entered a dangerous world of dreams and madness. Later I found that they had put me in prison because of my madness.

After many months， they let me free. I had only one wish—to find and kill the monster.

What constant tragedies happened to me in this chapter？

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