双语·面纱 第三十三章

33

Her night was tortured with strange dreams. She seemed to be carried in her chair and she felt the swaying motion as the bearers marched with their long, uneven stride. She entered cities, vast and dim, where the multitude thronged about her with curious eyes. The streets were narrow and tortuous and in the open shops, with their strange wares, all traffic stopped as she went by and those who bought and those who sold, paused. Then she came to the memorial arch and its fantastic outline seemed on a sudden to gain a monstrous life; its capricious contours were like the waving arms of a Hindu god, and, as she passed under it, she heard the echo of mocking laughter. But then Charlie Townsend came towards her and took her in his arms, lifting her out of the chair, and said it was all a mistake, he had never meant to treat her as he had, for he loved her and he couldn't live without her. She felt his kisses on her mouth and she wept with joy, asking him why he had been so cruel, but though she asked she knew it did not matter. And then there was a hoarse, abrupt cry and they were separated, and between, hurrying silently, coolies passed in their ragged blue and they bore a coffin.

She awoke with a start.

The bungalow stood half way down a steep hill and from her window she saw the narrow river below her and opposite, the city. The dawn had just broken and from the river rose a white mist shrouding the junks that lay moored close to one another like peas in a pod. There were hundreds of them, and they were silent, mysterious in that ghostly light, and you had a feeling that their crews lay under an enchantment, for it seemed that it was not sleep, but something strange and terrible, that held them so still and mute.

The morning drew on and the sun touched the mist so that it shone whitely like the ghost of snow on a dying star. Though on the river it was light so that you could discern palely the lines of the crowded junks and the thick forest of their masts, in front it was a shining wall the eye could not pierce. But suddenly from that white cloud a tall, grim, and massive bastion emerged. It seemed not merely to be made visible by the all-discovering sun but rather to rise out of nothing at the touch of a magic wand. It towered, the stronghold of a cruel and barbaric race, over the river. But the magician who built worked swiftly and now a fragment of coloured wall crowned the bastion; in a moment, out of the mist, looming vastly and touched here and there by a yellow ray of sun, there was seen a cluster of green and yellow roofs. Huge they seemed and you could make out no pattern; the order, if order there was, escaped you; wayward and extravagant, but of an unimaginable richness. This was no fortress, nor a temple, but the magic palace of some emperor of the gods where no man might enter. It was too airy, fantastic and unsubstantial to be the work of human hands; it was the fabric of a dream.

The tears ran down Kitty's face and she gazed, her hands clasped to her breast and her mouth, for she was breathless, open a little. She had never felt so light of heart and it seemed to her as though her body were a shell that lay at her feet and she pure spirit. Here was Beauty. She took it as the believer takes in his mouth the wafer which is God.

第三十三章

整个晚上她被一个接着一个奇怪的梦所惊扰，似乎是被轿椅抬着，随着轿夫们漫长、不稳的步伐，她感觉到了摇晃的节奏。她穿过一座座城市，空旷而昏暗，成群的人挤在一起用好奇的目光盯着她。街道狭窄而且弯弯曲曲，在开着的商店中，摆满了奇怪的商品。当她经过的时候，所有的车辆行人都停了下来，那些买和卖的人也暂停了交易。然后，她又来到了牌坊跟前，它怪诞的造型好像突然变成了庞然大物，它变化无常的外形就像一尊印度神在挥动着多条手臂，而且，她从底下路过的时候，分明听到了嘲笑声在回荡。但就在这时，查理来到了她身旁，把她揽入怀中，把她从轿椅上抱起，告诉她一切都是个错误，他那样对待她绝非他的本意，因为他爱她，没有她活不下去。她觉得他的吻印在了她的唇上，她喜极而泣，责怪他为什么那么残忍，但是虽然她嘴上质问他，心中早就不当回事了。就在这时，她突然听见一声沙哑的哭喊，他们分开了，在他们中间，匆忙地走来一群沉默的苦力，他们穿着蓝色的破衣烂衫，正抬着一口棺材。

她猛地惊醒了。

她住的平房矗立在一个陡峭山丘的半山腰，从窗户可以看到下面狭长的河流，以及对面的城镇。刚刚破晓，河面上升起了一团白色的雾气，就像白色的寿衣笼罩着停泊在河上的平底帆船，这些小船一个挨一个地紧紧靠在一起，如同豆荚里的一粒粒豌豆，数量达到了数百艘之多，在鬼魅般的光线下，它们安静、神秘。而且你会产生一种错觉，船夫们好像被施了魔法，因为看上去并不像在睡梦当中，而是有种诡异和可怕的东西把他们牢牢地定在那里，寂静无声。

随着清晨的临近，阳光接触到了雾气，雾气映射着白光，就像在一个垂死星球上雪白的幽灵。虽然河面上有了亮光，你能够分辨出拥挤的帆船白色的轮廓，还有如林般的桅杆，但是在这些船的前面是闪亮的雾墙，肉眼无法看透。突然在白色的团雾中，一座高大威严的巨型堡垒出现了，好像不仅仅会因光芒四射的太阳照耀才能让人看见，而是因为魔杖的一点它才升起于无形当中，它像塔一样高高耸立在河面上，是残酷和野蛮种族的据点。然而，修建它的魔术师工程完成得太快，现在只剩下堡垒顶部的彩色砖墙的残迹。一会儿工夫，在团雾之外，出现了巨大的海市蜃楼景象，太阳金黄色的光线到处漫射，似乎还能看到一排排绿色和黄色相间的屋顶，它们似乎很大，你无法判断出是哪一种建筑风格；井井有条，如果说它们井井有条的话，你也无法察觉到。一切都是放任自流和肆意挥霍的，一切都是无法想象的丰富多彩。实际上，根本没有什么堡垒，没有什么庙宇，有的只是某位神灵的神奇宫殿，没人涉足过。它悬在空中，金碧辉煌、虚无缥缈，绝非出自凡人之手，它是梦的产物。

泪水滑过凯蒂的脸庞，她凝视着前方的景物，一只手紧贴胸口，一只手紧捂着嘴，因为无法呼吸，她的嘴略微张开着。她从来没有觉得心有如此轻飘，对她来说，身体只是一个躯壳，剩下的是纯粹的灵魂，美丽就驻留在这儿，她把它当作信徒正在往嘴里放的圣饼，而圣饼就是上帝的化身。