文档介绍：THE FROZEN DEEP
THE FROZEN DEEP
by Wilkie Collins
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THE FROZEN DEEP
First Scene
The Ball-room
Chapter 1.
The date is between twenty and thirty years ago. The place is an
English sea-port. The time is night. And the business of the moment is--
dancing.
The Mayor and Corporation of the town are giving a grand ball, in
celebration of the departure of an Arctic expedition from their port. The
ships of the expedition are two in number--the _Wanderer_ and the _Sea-
mew_. They are to sail (in search of the Northwest Passage) on the next
day, with the morning tide.
Honor to the Mayor and Corporation! It is a brilliant ball. The band is
complete. The room is spacious. The large conservatory opening out of it
is pleasantly lighted with Chinese lanterns, and beautifully decorated with
shrubs and flowers. All officers of the army and navy who are present
wear their uniforms in honor of the occasion. Among the ladies, the
display of dresses (a subject which the men don't understand) is
bewildering--and the average of beauty (a subject which the men do
understand) is the highest average attainable, in all parts of the room.
For the moment, the dance which is in progress is a quadrille. General
admiration selects two of the ladies who are dancing as its favorite objects.
One is a dark beauty in the prime of womanhood--the wife of First
Lieutenant Crayford, of the _Wanderer_. The other is a young girl, pale
and delicate; dressed simply in white; with no ornament on her head but
her own lovely brown hair. This is Miss Clara Burnham--an orphan. She is
Mrs. Crayford's dearest friend, and she is to stay with Mrs. Crayford
during the lieutenant's absence in the Arctic regions. She is now dancing,
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THE FROZEN DEEP
with the lieutenant himself for partner, and with Mrs. Crayford and
Captain Helding (commanding officer of the _Wanderer_) for vis-a-vis--in
plain English, for opposite couple.
The conversation between Captain Helding and Mrs. Cr