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双语·欧也妮·葛朗台 如此人生

所属教程:译林版·欧也妮·葛朗台

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2022年05月21日

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VI

At thirty years of age Eugenie knew none of the joys of life. Her pale, sad childhood had glided on beside a mother whose heart, always misunderstood and wounded, had known only suffering. Leaving this life joyfully, the mother pitied the daughter because she still must live; and she left in her child’s soul some fugitive remorse and many lasting regrets. Eugenie’s first and only love was a wellspring of sadness within her. Meeting her lover for a few brief days, she had given him her heart between two kisses furtively exchanged; then he had left her, and a whole world lay between them. This love, cursed by her father, had cost the life of her mother and brought her only sorrow, mingled with a few frail hopes. Thus her upward spring towards happiness had wasted her strength and given her nothing in exchange for it. In the life of the soul, as in the physical life, there is an inspiration and a respiration; the soul needs to absorb the sentiments of another soul and assimilate them, that it may render them back enriched. Were it not for this glorious human phenomenon, there would be no life for the heart; air would be wanting; it would suffer, and then perish.

Eugenie had begun to suffer. For her, wealth was neither a power nor a consolation; she could not live except through love, through religion, through faith in the future. Love explained to her the mysteries of eternity. Her heart and the Gospel taught her to know two worlds; she bathed, night and day, in the depths of two infinite thoughts, which for her may have had but one meaning. She drew back within herself, loving, and believing herself beloved.For seven years her passion had invaded everything. Her treasuries were not the millions whose revenues were rolling up; they were Charles’s dressing-case, the portraits hanging above her bed, the jewels recovered from her father and proudly spread upon a bed of wool in a drawer of the oaken cabinet, the thimble of her aunt, used for a while by her mother, which she wore religiously as she worked at a piece of embroidery—a Penelope’s web, begun for the sole purpose of putting upon her finger that gold so rich in memories.

It seemed unlikely that Mademoiselle Grandet would marry during the period of her mourning. Her genuine piety was well known. Consequently the Cruchots, whose policy was sagely guided by the old abbe, contented themselves for the time being with surrounding the great heiress and paying her the most affectionate attentions.

Every evening the hall was filled with a party of devoted Cruchotines, who sang the praises of its mistress in every key. She had her doctor in ordinary, her grand almoner, her chamberlain, her first lady of honor, her prime minister; above all, her chancellor, a chancellor who would fain have said much to her. If the heiress had wished for a train-bearer, one would instantly have been found. She was a queen, obsequiously flattered. Flattery never emanates from noble souls; it is the gift of little minds, who thus still further belittle themselves to worm their way into the vital being of the persons around whom they crawl. Flattery means self-interest. So the people who, night after night, assembled in Mademoiselle Grandet’s house (they called her Mademoiselle de Froidfond) outdid each other in expressions of admiration. This concert of praise, never before bestowed upon Eugenie, made her blush under its novelty; but insensibly her ear became habituated to the sound, and however coarse the compliments might be, she soon was so accustomed to hear her beauty lauded that if any new-comer had seemed to think her plain, she would have felt the reproach far more than she might have done eight years earlier. She ended at last by loving the incense,which she secretly laid at the feet of her idol. By degrees she grew accustomed to be treated as a sovereign and to see her court pressing around her every evening.

Monsieur de Bonfons was the hero of the little circle, where his wit, his person, his education, his amiability, were perpetually praised. One or another would remark that in seven years he had largely increased his fortune, that Bonfons brought in at least ten thousand francs a year, and was surrounded, like the other possessions of the Cruchots, by the vast domains of the heiress.

“Do you know, mademoiselle,” said an habitual visitor, “that the Cruchots have an income of forty thousand francs among them!”

“And then, their savings!” exclaimed an elderly female Cruchotine, Mademoiselle de Gribeaucourt. “A gentleman from Paris has lately offered Monsieur Cruchot two hundred thousand francs for his practice,” said another. “He will sell it if he is appointed juge de paix.”

“He wants to succeed Monsieur de Bonfons as president of the Civil courts, and is taking measures,” replied Madame d’Orsonval.“Monsieur le president will certainly be made councillor.”

“Yes, he is a very distinguished man,” said another, “don’t you think so, mademoiselle?”

Monsieur de Bonfons endeavored to put himself in keeping with the role he sought to play. In spite of his forty years, in spite of his dusky and crabbed features, withered like most judicial faces, he dressed in youthful fashions, toyed with a bamboo cane, never took snuff in Mademoiselle de Froidfond’s house, and came in a white cravat and a shirt whose pleated frill gave him a family resemblance to the race of turkeys. He addressed the beautiful heiress familiarly, and spoke of her as “Our dear Eugenie.”

In short, except for the number of visitors, the change from loto to whist, and the disappearance of Monsieur and Madame Grandet, the scene was about the same as the one with which this history opened. The pack were still pursuing Eugenie and her millions; but the hounds, more in number, lay better on the scent, and beset the prey more unitedly. If Charles could have dropped from the Indian Isles, he would have found the same people and the same interests. Madame des Grassins, to whom Eugenie was full of kindness and courtesy, still persisted in tormenting the Cruchots. Eugenie, as in former days, was the central figure of the picture; and Charles, as heretofore, would still have been the sovereign of all. Yet there had been some progress. The flowers which the president formerly presented to Eugenie on her birthdays and fete-days had now become a daily institution. Every evening he brought the rich heiress a huge and magnificent bouquet, which Madame Cornoiller placed conspicuously in a vase, and secretly threw into a corner of the court-yard when the visitors had departed.

Early in the spring, Madame des Grassins attempted to trouble the peace of the Cruchotines by talking to Eugenie of the Marquis de Froidfond, whose ancient and ruined family might be restored if the heiress would give him back his estates through marriage. Madame des Grassins rang the changes on the peerage and the title of marquise, until, mistaking Eugenie’s disdainful smile for acquiescence, she went about proclaiming that the marriage with“Monsieur Cruchot” was not nearly as certain as people thought.

“Though Monsieur de Froidfond is fifty,” she said, “he does not look older than Monsieur Cruchot. He is a widower, and he has children, that’s true. But then he is a marquis; he will be peer of France; and in times like these where you will find a better match? I know it for a fact that Pere Grandet, when he put all his money into Froidfond, intended to graft himself upon that stock; he often told me so. He was a deep one, that old man!”

“Ah! Nanon,” said Eugenie, one night as she was going to bed,“how is it that in seven years he has never once written to me?”

While these events were happening in Saumur, Charles was making his fortune in the Indies. His commercial outfit had sold well. He began by realizing a sum of six thousand dollars. Crossing the line had brushed a good many cobwebs out of his brain; he perceived that the best means of attaining fortune in tropical regions, as well as in Europe, was to buy and sell men. He went to the coast of Africa and bought Negroes, combining his traffic in human flesh with that of other merchandise equally advantageous to his interests. He carried into this business an activity which left him not a moment of leisure. He was governed by the desire of reappearing in Paris with all the prestige of a large fortune, and by the hope of regaining a position even more brilliant than the one from which he had fallen.

By dint of jostling with men, travelling through many lands, and studying a variety of conflicting customs, his ideas had been modified and had become sceptical. He ceased to have fixed principles of right and wrong, for he saw what was called a crime in one country lauded as a virtue in another. In the perpetual struggle of selfish interests his heart grew cold, then contracted, and then dried up. The blood of the Grandets did not fail of its destiny; Charles became hard, and eager for prey. He sold Chinamen, Negroes, birds’ nests, children, artists; he practised usury on a large scale; the habit of defrauding custom-houses soon made him less scrupulous about the rights of his fellow men. He went to the Island of St. Thomas and bought, for a mere song, merchandise that had been captured by pirates, and took it to ports where he could sell it at a good price.

If the pure and noble face of Eugenie went with him on his first voyage, like that image of the Virgin which Spanish mariners fastened to their masts, if he attributed his first success to the magic influence of the prayers and intercessions of his gentle love, later on women of other kinds—blacks, mulattoes, whites, and Indian dancing-girls—orgies and adventures in many lands, completely effaced all recollection of his cousin, of Saumur, of the house, the bench, the kiss snatched in the dark passage. He remembered only the little garden shut in with crumbling walls, for it was there he learned the fate that had overtaken him; but he rejected all connection with his family. His uncle was an old dog who had filched his jewels; Eugenie had no place in his heart nor in his thoughts, though she did have a place in his accounts as a creditor for the sum of six thousand francs. Such conduct and such ideas explain Charles Grandet’s silence. In the Indies, at St. Thomas, on the coast of Africa, at Lisbon, and in the United States the adventurer had taken the pseudonym of Shepherd, that he might not compromise his own name. Charles Shepherd could safely be indefatigable, bold, grasping, and greedy of gain, like a man who resolves to snatch his fortune quibus cumque viis, and makes haste to have done with villany, that he may spend the rest of his life as an honest man. With such methods, prosperity was rapid and brilliant;and in 1827 Charles Grandet returned to Bordeaux on the “Marie Caroline,” a fine brig belonging to a royalist house of business. He brought with him nineteen hundred thousand francs worth of gold-dust, from which he expected to derive seven or eight per cent more at the Paris mint. On the brig he met a gentleman-in-ordinary to His Majesty Charles X., Monsieur d’Aubrion, a worthy old man who had committed the folly of marrying a woman of fashion with a fortune derived from the West India Islands. To meet the costs of Madame d’Aubrion’s extravagance, he had gone out to the Indies to sell the property, and was now returning with his family to France. Monsieur and Madame d’Aubrion, of the house of d’Aubrion de Buch, a family of southern France, whose last captal, or chief, died before 1789, were now reduced to an income of about twenty thousand francs, and they possessed an ugly daughter whom the mother was resolved to marry without adot—the family fortune being scarcely sufficient for the demands of her own life in Paris. This was an enterprise whose success might have seemed problematical to most men of the world, in spite of the cleverness with which such men credit a fashionable woman; in fact, Madame d’Aubrion herself, when she looked at her daughter, almost despaired of getting rid of her to any one, even to a man craving connection with nobility.

Mademoiselle d’Aubrion was a long, spare, spindling demoiselle, like her namesake the insect; her mouth was disdainful;over it hung a nose that was too long, thick at the end, sallow in its normal condition, but very red after a meal—a sort of vegetable phenomenon which is particularly disagreeable when it appears in the middle of a pale, dull, and uninteresting face. In one sense she was all that a worldly mother, thirty-eight years of age and still a beauty with claims to admiration, could have wished. However, to counterbalance her personal defects, the marquise gave her daughter a distinguished air, subjected her to hygienic treatment which provisionally kept her nose at a reasonable flesh-tint, taught her the art of dressing well, endowed her with charming manners, showed her the trick of melancholy glances which interest a man and make him believe that he has found a long-sought angel, taught her the manoeuvre of the foot—letting it peep beneath the petticoat, to show its tiny size, at the moment when the nose became aggressively red;in short, Madame d’Aubrion had cleverly made the very best of her offspring. By means of full sleeves, deceptive pads, puffed dresses amply trimmed, and high-pressure corsets, she had obtained such curious feminine developments that she ought, for the instruction of mothers, to have exhibited them in a museum. Charles became very intimate with Madame d’Aubrion precisely because she was desirous of becoming intimate with him. Persons who were on board the brig declared that the handsome Madame d’Aubrion neglected no means of capturing so rich a son-in-law. On landing at Bordeaux in June, 1827, Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle d’Aubrion, and Charles lodged at the same hotel and started together for Paris. The hotel d’Aubrion was hampered with mortgages; Charles was destined to free it. The mother told him how delighted she would be to give up the ground-floor to a son-in-law. Not sharing Monsieur d’Aubrion’s prejudices on the score of nobility, she promised Charles Grandet to obtain a royal ordinance from Charles X. which would authorize him, Grandet, to take the name and arms of d’Aubrion and to succeed, by purchasing the entailed estate for thirty-six thousand francs a year, to the titles of Captal de Buch and Marquis d’Aubrion. By thus uniting their fortunes, living on good terms, and profiting by sinecures, the two families might occupy the hotel d’Aubrion with an income of over a hundred thousand francs.

“And when a man has a hundred thousand francs a year, a name, a family, and a position at court—for I will get you appointed as gentleman-of-the-bedchamber—he can do what he likes,” she said to Charles. “You can then become anything you choose—master of the rolls in the council of State, prefect, secretary to an embassy, the ambassador himself, if you like. Charles X. is fond of d’Aubrion;they have known each other from childhood.”

Intoxicated with ambition, Charles toyed with the hopes thus cleverly presented to him in the guise of confidences poured from heart to heart. Believing his father’s affairs to have been settled by his uncle, he imagined himself suddenly anchored in the Faubourg Saint-Germain—that social object of all desire, where, under shelter of Mademoiselle Mathilde’s purple nose, he was to reappear as the Comte d’Aubrion, very much as the Dreux reappeared in Breze. Dazzled by the prosperity of the Restoration, which was tottering when he left France, fascinated by the splendor of aristocratic ideas, his intoxication, which began on the brig, increased after he reached Paris, and he finally determined to take the course and reach the high position which the selfish hopes of his would-be mother-in-law pointed out to him. His cousin counted for no more than a speck in this brilliant perspective; but he went to see Annette.

True woman of the world, Annette advised her old friend to make the marriage, and promised him her support in all his ambitious projects. In her heart she was enchanted to fasten an ugly and uninteresting girl on Charles, whose life in the West Indies had rendered him very attractive. His complexion had bronzed, his manners had grown decided and bold, like those of a man accustomed to make sharp decisions, to rule, and to succeed. Charles breathed more at his ease in Paris, conscious that he now had a part to play.

Des Grassins, hearing of his return, of his approaching marriage and his large fortune, came to see him, and inquired about the three hundred thousand francs still required to settle his father’s debts.

He found Grandet in conference with a goldsmith, from whom he had ordered jewels for Mademoiselle d’Aubrion’s corbeille, and who was then submitting the designs. Charles had brought back magnificent diamonds, and the value of their setting, together with the plate and jewelry of the new establishment, amounted to more than two hundred thousand francs. He received des Grassins, whom he did not recognize, with the impertinence of a young man of fashion conscious of having killed four men in as many duels in the Indies. Monsieur des Grassins had already called several times. Charles listened to him coldly, and then replied, without fully understanding what had been said to him—

“My father’s affairs are not mine. I am much obliged, monsieur, for the trouble you have been good enough to take—by which, however, I really cannot profit. I have not earned two millions by the sweat of my brow to fling them at the head of my father’s creditors.”

“But suppose that your father’s estate were within a few days to be declared bankrupt?”

“Monsieur, in a few days I shall be called the Comte d’Aubrion;you will understand, therefore, that what you threaten is of no consequence to me. Besides, you know as well as I do that when a man has an income of a hundred thousand francs his father has never failed.” So saying, he politely edged Monsieur des Grassins to the door.

At the beginning of August in the same year, Eugenie was sitting on the little wooden bench where her cousin had sworn to love her eternally, and where she usually breakfasted if the weather were fine. The poor girl was happy, for the moment, in the fresh and joyous summer air, letting her memory recall the great and the little events of her love and the catastrophes which had followed it. The sun had just reached the angle of the ruined wall, so full of chinks, which no one, through a caprice of the mistress, was allowed to touch, though Cornoiller often remarked to his wife that “it would fall and crush somebody one of these days.” At this moment the postman knocked, and gave a letter to Madame Cornoiller, who ran into the garden, crying out—

“Mademoiselle, a letter!” She gave it to her mistress, adding, “Is it the one you expected?”

The words rang as loudly in the heart of Eugenie as they echoed in sound from wall to wall of the court and garden.

“Paris—from him—he has returned!”

Eugenie turned pale and held the letter for a moment. She trembled so violently that she could not break the seal.

La Grande Nanon stood before her, both hands on her hips, her joy puffing as it were like smoke through the cracks of her brown face.

“Read it, mademoiselle!”

“Ah, Nanon, why did he return to Paris? He went from Saumur.”

“Read it, and you’ll find out.”

Eugenie opened the letter with trembling fingers. A cheque on the house of “Madame des Grassins and Coret, of Saumur,” fluttered down. Nanon picked it up.

My dear Cousin—

“No longer ‘Eugenie,’” she thought, and her heart quailed.

You—

“He once said ‘thou.’” She folded her arms and dared not read another word; great tears gathered in her eyes.

“Is he dead?” asked Nanon.

“If he were, he could not write,” said Eugenie.

She then read the whole letter, which was as follows:

My dear Cousin—You will, I am sure, hear with pleasure of the success of my enterprise. You brought me luck; I have come back rich, and I have followed the advice of my uncle, whose death, together with that of my aunt, I have just learned from Monsieur des Grassins. The death of parents is in the course of nature, and we must succeed them. I trust you are by this time consoled. Nothing can resist time, as I am well aware. Yes, my dear cousin,the day of illusions is, unfortunately, gone for me. How could it be otherwise? Travelling through many lands, I have reflected upon life. I was a child when I went away—I have come back a man. To-day, I think of many I did not dream of then. You are free, my dear cousin, and I am free still. Nothing apparently hinders the realization of our early hopes; but my nature is too loyal to hide from you the situation in which I find myself. I have not forgotten our relations; I have always remembered, throughout my long wanderings, the little wooden seat—

Eugenie rose as if she were sitting on live coals, and went away and sat down on the stone steps of the court.

—the little wooden seat where we vowed to love each other forever, the passage, the gray hall, my attic chamber, and the night when, by your delicate kindness, you made my future easier to me. Yes, these recollections sustained my courage; I said in my heart that you were thinking of me at the hour we had agreed upon. Have you always looked at the clouds at nine o’clock? Yes, I am sure of it. I cannot betray so true a friendship—no, I must not deceive you. An alliance has been proposed to me which satisfies all my ideas of matrimony. Love in marriage is a delusion. My present experience warns me that in marrying we are bound to obey all social laws and meet the conventional demands of the world. Now, between you and me there are differences which might affect your future, my dear cousin, even more than they would mine. I will not here speak of your customs and inclinations, your education, nor yet of your habits, none of which are in keeping with Parisian life, or with the future which I have marked out for myself. My intention is to keep my household on a stately footing, to receive much company—in short, to live in the world; and I think I remember that you love a quiet and tranquil life. I will be frank, and make you the judge of my situation; you have the right to understand it and to judge it. I possess at the present moment an income of eighty thousand francs. This fortune enables me to marry into the family of Aubrion, whose heiress, a young girl nineteen years of age, brings me a title, a place of gentleman-of-the-bed-chamber to His Majesty, and a very brilliant position. I will admit to you, my dear cousin, that I do not love Mademoiselle d’Aubrion; but in marrying her I secure to my children a social rank whose advantages will one day be incalculable: monarchical principles are daily coming more and more into favor. Thus in course of time my son, when he becomes Marquis d’Aubrion, having, as he then will have, an entailed estate with a rental of forty thousand francs a year, can obtain any position in the State which he may think proper to select. We owe ourselves to our children. You see, my cousin, with what good faith I lay the state of my heart, my hopes, and my fortune before you. Possibly, after seven years’ separation, you have yourself forgotten our youthful loves; but I have never forgotten either your kindness or my own words. I remember all, even words that were lightly uttered—words by which a man less conscientious than I, with a heart less youthful and less upright, would scarcely feel himself bound. In telling you that the marriage I propose to make is solely one of convenience, that I still remember our childish love, am I not putting myself entirely in your hands and making you the mistress of my fate? Am I not telling you that if I must renounce my social ambitions, I shall willingly content myself with the pure and simple happiness of which you have shown me so sweet an image?

Your devoted cousin, Charles.

“Tan, ta, ta—tan, ta, ti,” sang Charles Grandet to the air of Non piu andrai, as he signed himself—

“Thunder! That’s doing it handsomely!” he said, as he looked about him for the cheque; having found it, he added the words—

P.S.—I enclose a cheque on the des Grassins bank for eight thousand francs to your order, payable in gold, which includes the capital and interest of the sum you were kind enough to lend me. I am expecting a case from Bordeaux which contains a few things which you must allow me to offer you as a mark of my unceasing gratitude. You can send my dressing-case by the diligence to the hotel d’Aubrion, rue Hillerin-Bertin.

“By the diligence!” said Eugenie. “A thing for which I would have laid down my life!”

Terrible and utter disaster! The ship went down, leaving not a spar, not a plank, on a vast ocean of hope!

Some women when they see themselves abandoned will try to tear their lover from the arms of a rival, they will kill her, and rush to the ends of the earth—to the scaffold, to their tomb. That, no doubt, is fine; the motive of the crime is a great passion, which awes even human justice. Other women bow their heads and suffer in silence;they go their way dying, resigned, weeping, forgiving, praying, and recollecting, till they draw their last breath. This is love—true love, the love of angels, the proud love which lives upon its anguish and dies of it. Such was Eugenie’s love after she had read that dreadful letter. She raised her eyes to heaven, thinking of the last words uttered by her dying mother, who, with the prescience of death, had looked into the future with clear and penetrating eyes: Eugenie, remembering that prophetic death, that prophetic life, measured with one glance her own destiny. Nothing was left for her; she could only unfold her wings, stretch upward to the skies, and live in prayer until the day of her deliverance.

“My mother was right,” she said, weeping. “Suffer—and die!”

Eugenie came slowly back from the garden to the house, and avoided passing, as was her custom, through the corridor. But the memory of her cousin was in the gray old hall and on the chimney-piece, where stood a certain saucer and the old Sevres sugar-bowl which she used every morning at her breakfast. This day was destined to be solemn throughout and full of events. Nanon announced the cure of the parish church. He was related to the Cruchots, and therefore in the interests of Monsieur de Bonfons. For some time past the old abbe had urged him to speak to Mademoiselle Grandet, from a purely religious point of view, about the duty of marriage for a woman in her position. When she saw her pastor, Eugenie supposed he had come for the thousand francs which she gave monthly to the poor, and she told Nanon to go and fetch them;but the cure only smiled.

“To-day, mademoiselle,” he said, “I have come to speak to you about a poor girl in whom the whole town of Saumur takes an interest, who, through lack of charity to herself, neglects her Christian duties.”

“Monsieur le cure, you have come to me at a moment when I cannot think of my neighbor, I am filled with thoughts of myself. I am very unhappy; my only refuge is in the Church; her bosom is large enough to hold all human woe, her love so full that we may draw from its depths and never drain it dry.”

“Mademoiselle, in speaking of this young girl we shall speak of you. Listen! If you wish to insure your salvation you have only two paths to take—either leave the world or obey its laws. Obey either your earthly destiny or your heavenly destiny.”

“Ah! your voice speaks to me when I need to hear a voice. Yes, God has sent you to me; I will bid farewell to the world and live for God alone, in silence and seclusion.”

“My daughter, you must think long before you take so violent a step. Marriage is life, the veil is death.”

“Yes, death—a quick death!” she said, with dreadful eagerness.

“Death? but you have great obligations to fulfil to society, mademoiselle. Are you not the mother of the poor, to whom you give clothes and wood in winter and work in summer? Your great fortune is a loan which you must return, and you have sacredly accepted it as such. To bury yourself in a convent would be selfishness; to remain an old maid is to fail in duty. In the first place, can you manage your vast property alone? May you not lose it? You will have law-suits, you will find yourself surrounded by inextricable difficulties. Believe your pastor: a husband is useful; you are bound to preserve what God has bestowed upon you. I speak to you as a precious lamb of my flock. You love God too truly not to find your salvation in the midst of his world, of which you are noble ornament and to which you owe your example.”

At this moment Madame des Grassins was announced. She came incited by vengeance and the sense of a great despair.

“Mademoiselle,” she said—”Ah! here is monsieur le cure; I am silent. I came to speak to you on business; but I see that you are conferring with—”

“Madame,” said the cure, “I leave the field to you.”

“Oh! monsieur le cure,” said Eugenie, “come back later; your support is very necessary to me just now.”

“Ah, yes, indeed, my poor child!” said Madame des Grassins.

“What do you mean?” asked Eugenie and the cure together.

“Don’t I know about your cousin’s return, and his marriage with Mademoiselle d’Aubrion? A woman doesn’t carry her wits in her pocket.”

Eugenie blushed, and remained silent for a moment. From this day forth she assumed the impassible countenance for which her father had been so remarkable.

“Well, madame,” she presently said, ironically, “no doubt I carry my wits in my pocket, for I do not understand you. Speak, say what you mean, before monsieur le cure; you know he is my director.”

“Well, then, mademoiselle, here is what des Grassins writes me. Read it.”

Eugenie read the following letter—

My dear Wife—Charles Grandet has returned from the Indies and has been in Paris about a month—

“A month!” thought Eugenie, her hand falling to her side. After a pause she resumed the letter—

I had to dance attendance before I was allowed to see the future Vicomte d’Aubrion. Though all Paris is talking of his marriage and the banns are published—

如此人生

到了三十岁,欧也妮还没有尝到一点儿人生乐趣。黯淡凄凉的童年,是在一个有了好心而无人识得、老受欺侮而永远痛苦的母亲身旁度过的。这位离开世界只觉得快乐的母亲,曾经为了女儿还得活下去而发愁,使欧也妮心中老觉得有些对不起她,永远地悼念她。欧也妮第一次也是仅有的一次爱情,成为她痛苦的根源。情人只看见了几天,她就在匆忙中接受了而回敬了的亲吻中间,把心给了他;然后他走了,整个世界把她和他隔开了。这场被父亲诅咒的爱情,差不多送了母亲的命,她得到的只有苦恼与一些渺茫的希望。所以至此为止,她为了追求幸福而消耗了自己的精力,却没有地方好去补充她的精力。精神生活与肉体生活一样,有呼也有吸:灵魂要吸收另一颗灵魂的感情来充实自己,然后以更丰富的感情送回给人家。人与人之间要没有这点美妙的关系,心就没有了生机:它缺少空气,它会受难,枯萎。

欧也妮开始痛苦了。为她,财富既不是一种势力,也不是一种安慰;她只能靠了爱情,靠了宗教,靠了对前途的信心而生活。爱情给她解释了永恒。她的心与福音书,告诉她将来还有两个世界好等。她日夜沉浸在两种无穷的思想中,而这两种思想,在她也许只是一种。她把整个的生命收敛起来,只知道爱,只知道被人爱。七年以来,她的热情席卷一切。她的宝物并非收益日增的千万家私,而是查理的那口匣子,而是挂在床头的两张肖像,而是向父亲赎回来、放在棉花上、藏在旧木柜抽斗中的金饰,还有母亲用过的叔母的针箍。单单为了要把这满是回忆的金顶针套在手指上,她每天都得诚诚心心地戴了它做一点儿绣作——正如潘奈洛泼等待丈夫回家的活计。

看光景葛朗台小姐绝不会在守丧期间结婚。大家知道她的虔诚是出于真心。所以克罗旭一家在老神父高明的指挥之下,光是用殷勤恳切的照顾来包围有钱的姑娘。

她堂屋里每天晚上都是高朋满座,都是当地最热烈最忠心的克罗旭党,竭力用各种不同的语调颂赞主妇。她有随从御医,有大司祭,有内廷供奉,有侍候梳洗的贵嫔,有首相,特别是枢密大臣,那个无所不言的枢密大臣。如果她想有一个替她牵裳曳袂的侍从,人家也会替她找来的。她简直是一个王后,人家对她的谄媚,比对所有的王后更巧妙。谄媚从来不会出自伟大的心灵,而是小人的伎俩,他们卑躬屈膝,把自己尽量地缩小,以便钻进他们趋附的人物的生活核心。而且谄媚背后有利害关系。所以那些每天晚上挤在这儿的人,把葛朗台小姐唤作特·法劳丰小姐,居然把她捧上了。这些众口一词的恭维,欧也妮是闻所未闻的,最初不免脸红;但不论奉承的话如何过火,她的耳朵不知不觉也把称赞她如何美丽的话听惯了,倘使此刻还有什么新来的客人觉得她丑陋,她绝不能再像八年前那样满不在乎。而且临了,她在膜拜情人的时候暗中说的那套甜言蜜语,她自己也爱听了。因此她慢慢地听任人家夜夜来上朝似的,把她捧得像王后一般。

特·篷风所长是这个小圈子里的男主角,他的才气,人品,学问,和蔼,老是有人在那儿吹捧。有的说七年来他的财产增加了不少:篷风那块产业至少有一万法郎收入,而且和克罗旭家所有的田产一样,周围便是葛朗台小姐广大的产业。

“你知道吗,小姐,”另外一个熟客说,“克罗旭他们有四万法郎收入!”

“还有他们的积蓄呢,”克罗旭党里的一个老姑娘,特·格里鲍果小姐接着说,“最近巴黎来了一位先生,愿意把他的事务所以二十万法郎的代价盘给克罗旭。这位巴黎人要是谋到了乡镇推事的位置,就得把事务所出盘。”

“他想填补特·篷风先生当所长呢,所以先来布置一番,”特·奥松华太太插嘴说,“因为所长先生不久要升高等法院推事,再升庭长;他办法多得很,保险成功。”

“是啊,”另外一个接住了话头,“他真是一个人才,小姐,你看是不是?”

所长先生竭力把自己收拾得和他想扮演的角色配合。虽然年纪已有四十,虽然那张硬绷绷的暗黄脸,像所有司法界人士的脸一样干瘪,他还装作年轻人模样,拿着藤杖满嘴胡扯,在特·法劳丰小姐府上从来不吸鼻烟,老戴着白领带,领下的大折裥颈围,使他的神气很像跟一班蠢头蠢脑的家伙是同门弟兄。他对美丽的姑娘说话的态度很亲密,把她叫作“我们亲爱的欧也妮”。

总之,除了客人的数目,除了摸彩变成韦斯脱,再除去了葛朗台夫妇两个,堂屋里晚会的场面和过去并没有什么两样。那群猎犬永远在追逐欧也妮和她的千百万家私,但是猎狗的数量增多了,叫也叫得更巧妙,而且是同心协力地包围它们的俘虏。要是查理忽然从印度跑回来,他可以发现同样的人物与同样的利害冲突。欧也妮依旧招待得很客气的台·格拉桑太太,始终跟克罗旭他们捣乱。可是跟从前一样,控制这个场面的还是欧也妮;也跟从前一样,查理在这儿还是高于一切。但情形究竟有了些进步。从前所长送给欧也妮生日的鲜花,现在变成经常的了。每天晚上,他给这位有钱的小姐送来一大束富丽堂皇的花,高诺阿莱太太有心当着众人把它插入花瓶,可是客人一转背,马上给暗暗地扔在院子角落里。

初春的时候,台·格拉桑太太又来破坏克罗旭党的幸福了,她向欧也妮提起特·法劳丰侯爵,说要是欧也妮肯嫁给他,在订立婚书的时候,把他以前的产业带回过去的话,他立刻可以重振家业。台·格拉桑太太把贵族的门第、侯爵夫人的头衔叫得震天价响,把欧也妮轻蔑的微笑当作同意的暗示,到处扬言,克罗旭所长先生的婚事不见得像他所想的那么成熟。

“虽然特·法劳丰先生已经五十岁,”她说,“看起来也不比克罗旭先生老;不错,他是鳏夫,他有孩子,可是他是侯爵,将来又是贵族院议员,嘿!在这个年月,你找得出这样的亲事来吗?我确确实实知道,葛朗台老头当初把所有的田产并入法劳丰,就是存心要跟法劳丰家接种。他常常对我说的。他狡猾得很呀,这老头儿。”

“怎么,拿侬,”欧也妮有一晚临睡时说,“他一去七年,连一封信都没有!……”

正当这些事情在索漠搬演的时候,查理在印度发了财。先是他那批起码货卖了好价,很快地弄到了六千美金。他一过赤道线,便丢掉了许多成见:发觉在热带地方的致富捷径,像在欧洲一样,是贩卖人口。于是他到非洲海岸去做黑人买卖,同时在他为了求利而去的各口岸间,拣最挣钱的货色贩运。他把全副精神放在生意上,忙得没有一点儿空闲,唯一的念头是发了大财回到巴黎去耀武扬威,爬到比从前一个跟头栽下来的地位更阔的地位。

在人堆中混久了,地方跑多了,看到许多相反的风俗,他的思想变了,对一切都取怀疑态度了。他眼见在一个地方成为罪恶的,在另一个地方竟是美德,于是他对是非曲直再没有一定的观念。一天到晚为利益打算的结果,心变冷了,收缩了,干枯了。葛朗台家的血统没有失传,查理变得狠心刻薄,贪婪到了极点。他贩卖中国人、黑人、燕窝、儿童、艺术家,大规模放高利贷。偷税走私的习惯,使他愈加藐视人权。他到南美洲圣多玛岛上贱价收买海盗的赃物,运到缺货的地方去卖。

初次出国的航程中,他心头还有欧也妮高尚纯洁的面貌,好似西班牙水手把圣母像挂在船上一样;生意上初期的成功,他还归功于这个温柔的姑娘的祝福与祈祷;可是后来,黑种女人,白种女人,黑白混血种女人,爪哇女人,埃及舞女……跟各种颜色的女子花天酒地,到处荒唐胡闹过后,把他关于堂姊、索漠、旧屋、凳子、甬道里的亲吻等等的回忆,抹得一干二净。他只记得墙垣破旧的小花园,因为那儿是他冒险生涯的起点;可是他否认他的家属:伯父是头老狗,骗了他的金饰;欧也妮在他心中与脑海中都毫无地位,她只是生意上供给他六千法郎的一个债主。这种行径与这种念头,便是查理·葛朗台杳无音信的原因。在印度、圣多玛、非洲海岸、里斯本、美国,这位投机家为免得牵连本姓起见,取了一个假姓名,叫作卡尔·赛弗。这样,他可以毫无危险地到处胆大妄为了;不择手段,急于捞钱的作风,似乎巴不得把不名誉的勾当早日结束,在后半世做个安分良民。这种办法使他很快地发了大财。一八二七年上,他搭了一家保王党贸易公司的一条华丽帆船,玛丽—加洛琳号,回到波尔多。他有三大桶箍扎严密的金屑子,值到一百九十万法郎,打算到巴黎换成金币,再赚七八厘利息。同船有一位慈祥的老人,查理十世陛下的内廷行走,特·奥勃里翁先生,当初糊里糊涂地娶了一位交际花。他的产业在墨西哥海湾中的众岛上,这次是为了弥补太太的挥霍,到那边去变卖家产的。特·奥勃里翁夫妇是旧世家特·奥勃里翁·特·皮克出身,特·皮克的最后一位将军在一七八九年以前就死了。现在的特·奥勃里翁,一年只有两万法郎左右的进款,还有一个奇丑而没有陪嫁的女儿,因为母亲自己的财产仅仅够住在巴黎的开销。可是交际场中认为,就凭一般时髦太太那样天大的本领,也不容易嫁掉这个女儿。特·奥勃里翁太太自己也看了女儿心焦,巴不得马上送她出去,不问对象,即使是想做贵族想迷了心的男人也行。

特·奥勃里翁小姐与她同音异义的昆虫一样,长得像一只蜻蜓[1];又瘦又细,嘴巴老是瞧不起人的模样,上面挂着一个太长的鼻子,平常是黄黄的颜色,一吃饭却完全变红,这种植物性的变色现象,在一张又苍白又无聊的脸上格外难看。总而言之,她的模样,正好叫一个年纪三十八而还有风韵还有野心的母亲欢喜。可是为补救那些缺陷起见,特·奥勃里翁侯爵夫人把女儿教得态度非常文雅,经常的卫生把鼻子维持着相当合理的皮色,教她学会打扮得大方,传授她许多漂亮的举动,会做出那些多愁多病的眼神,叫男人看了动心,以为终于遇到了找遍天涯无觅处的安琪儿;她也教女儿如何运用双足,赶上鼻子肆无忌惮发红的辰光,就该应时地伸出脚来,让人家鉴赏它们的纤小玲珑;总之,她把女儿琢磨得着实不错了。靠了宽大的袖子,骗人的胸褡,收拾得齐齐整整而衣袂往四下里鼓起来的长袍[2],束得极紧的撑裙,她居然制成了一些女性的特征,其巧妙的程度实在应当送进博物馆,给所有的母亲做参考。查理很巴结特·奥勃里翁太太,而她也正想交结他。有好些人竟说在船上的时期,美丽的特·奥勃里翁太太把凡是可以钓上这有钱女婿的手段,件件都做到家了。一八二七年六月,在波尔多下了船,特·奥勃里翁先生、太太、小姐和查理,寄宿在同一个旅馆,又一同上巴黎。特·奥勃里翁的府邸早已抵押出去,要查理给赎回来。丈母已经讲起把楼下一层让给女婿女儿住是多么快活的话。不像特·奥勃里翁先生那样对门第有成见,她已经答应查理·葛朗台,向查理十世请一道上谕,钦准他葛朗台改姓特·奥勃里翁,使用特·奥勃里翁家的爵徽;并且只要查理送一个岁收三万六千法郎的采邑给特·奥勃里翁,他将来便可承袭特·皮克大将军与特·奥勃里翁侯爵的双重头衔。两家的财产合起来,加上国家的干俸,一切安排得好好的话,除了特·奥勃里翁的府邸之外,大概可以有十几万法郎收入。

她对查理说:“一个人有了十万法郎收入,有了姓氏,有了门第,出入宫廷——我会给你弄一个内廷行走的差事——那不是要当什么就当什么了吗?这样,你可以当参事院请愿委员,当州长,当大使馆秘书,当大使,由你挑选就是。查理十世很喜欢特·奥勃里翁,他们从小就相熟。”

这女人挑逗查理的野心,弄得他飘飘然;她手段巧妙的,当作体己话似的,告诉他将来有如何如何的希望,使查理在船上一路想出了神。他以为父亲的事情有伯父料清了,觉得自己可以平步青云,一脚闯入个个人都想挤进去的圣日耳曼区,在玛蒂尔特小姐的蓝鼻子提携之下,他可以摇身一变而为特·奥勃里翁伯爵,好似特孪一家当初一变而为勃莱才一样。他出国的时候,王政复辟还是摇摇欲坠的局面,现在却是繁荣昌盛,把他看得眼花了,贵族思想的光辉把他怔住了,所以他在船上开始的醉意,一直维持到巴黎。到了巴黎,他决心不顾一切,要把自私的丈母娘暗示给他的高官厚爵弄到手。在这个光明的远景中,堂姊自然不过是一个小点子了。

他重新见到了阿纳德。以交际花的算盘,阿纳德极力怂恿她的旧情人攀这门亲,并且答应全力支援他一切野心的活动。阿纳德很高兴查理娶一位又丑又可厌的小姐,因为他在印度逗留过后,出落得更讨人喜欢了:皮肤变成暗黄,举动变成坚决、放肆,好似那些惯于决断、控制、成功的人一样。查理眼看自己可以成个角色,在巴黎更觉得如鱼得水了。

台·格拉桑知道他已经回国,不久就得结婚,并且有了钱,便来看他,告诉他再付三十万法郎便可把他父亲的债务偿清。

他见到查理的时候,正碰上一个珠宝商在那里拿了图样,向查理请示特·奥勃里翁小姐首饰的款式。查理从印度带回的钻石确是富丽堂皇,可是钻石的镶工,新夫妇所用的银器,金银首饰与小玩意儿,还得花二十万法郎以上。查理见了台·格拉桑已经认不得了,态度的傲慢,活现出他是一个时髦青年,曾经在印度跟人家决斗、打死过四个对手的人物。台·格拉桑已经来过三次。查理冷冷地听着,然后,并没把事情完全弄清楚,就回答说:

“我父亲的事不是我的事。谢谢你这样费心,先生,可惜我不能领情。我流了汗挣来不到两百万的钱,不是预备送给我父亲的债主的。”

“要是几天之内人家把令尊宣告了破产呢?”

“先生,几天之内我叫作特·奥勃里翁伯爵了。还跟我有什么相干?而且你比我更清楚,一个有十万法郎收入的人,他的父亲决不会有过破产的事。”他说着,客客气气把台·格拉桑推到门口。

这一年的八月初,欧也妮坐在堂兄弟对她海誓山盟的那条小木凳上,天晴的日子她就在这儿用早点的。这时候,在一个最凉爽最愉快的早晨,可怜的姑娘正在记忆中把她爱情史上的大事小事,以及接着发生的祸事,一件件地想过来。阳光照在那堵美丽的墙上——到处开裂的墙快要坍毁了,高诺阿莱老是跟他女人说早晚要压坏人的,可是古怪的欧也妮始终不许人去碰它一碰。这时邮差来敲门,授了一封信给高诺阿莱太太,她一边嚷一边走进园子:“小姐,有信哪!”

她授给了主人,问:“是不是你天天等着的信呀?”

这句话传到欧也妮心中的声响,其强烈不下于在园子和院子的墙壁中间实际的回声。

“巴黎!……是他的!他回来了。”

欧也妮脸色发白,拿着信愣了一会儿。她抖得太厉害了,简直不能拆信。

长脚拿侬站在那儿,两手叉着腰,快乐在她暗黄脸的沟槽中像一道烟似的溜走了。

“念呀,小姐……”

“啊!拿侬,他从索漠动身的,为什么回巴黎呢?”

“念呀,你念了就知道啦。”

欧也妮哆嗦着拆开信来。里面掉出一张汇票,是向台·格拉桑太太与高莱合伙的索漠银号兑款的,拿侬给捡了起来。

亲爱的堂姊……

——不叫我欧也妮了,她想着,心揪紧了。

您……

———用这种客套的称呼了!

她交叉了手臂,不敢再往下念,大颗的眼泪冒了上来。

“难道他死了吗?”拿侬问。

“那他不会写信了!”欧也妮回答。

于是她把信念下去:

亲爱的堂姊,您知道了我的事业成功,我相信您一定很高兴。您给了我吉利,我居然挣了钱回来。我也听从了伯父的劝告。他和伯母去世的消息,刚由台·格拉桑先生告诉我。父母的死亡是必然之事,我们应当接替他们。希望您现在已经节哀顺变。我觉得什么都抵抗不住时间。是的,亲爱的堂姊,我的幻象,不幸都已过去。有什么办法!走了许多地方,我把人生想过了。动身时是一个孩子,回来变了大人。现在我想到许多以前不曾想过的事。堂姊,您是自由了,我也还是自由的。表面上似乎毫无阻碍,我们尽可实现当初小小的计划;可是我太坦白了,不能把我的处境瞒您。我没有忘记我不能自由行动;在长途的航程中我老是想起那条小凳……

欧也妮仿佛身底下碰到了火炭,猛地站了起来,走去坐在院子里一级石磴上。

……那条小凳,我们坐着发誓永远相爱的小凳;也想起过道,灰色的堂屋,阁楼上我的卧房,也想起那天夜里,您的好意给了我很大的帮助。是的,这些回忆支持了我的勇气,我常常想,您一定在我们约定的时间想念我,正如我想念您一样。您有没有在九点钟看云呢?看的,是不是?所以我不愿欺骗我认为神圣的友谊,不,我绝对不应该欺骗您。此刻有一门亲事,完全符合我对于结婚的观念。在婚姻中谈爱情是做梦。现在,经验告诉我,结婚这件事应当服从一切社会的规律,适应风俗习惯的要求。而你我之间第一先有了年龄的差别,将来对于您也许比对我更有影响。更不用提您的生活方式,您的教育,您的习惯,都与巴黎生活格格不入,决计不能配合我以后的方针。我的计划是维持一个场面阔绰的家,招待许多客人,而我记得您是喜欢安静恬淡的生活的。不,我要更坦白些,请您把我的处境仲裁一下吧;您也应当知道我的情形,您有裁判的权利。如今我有八万法郎的收入。这笔财产使我能够跟特·奥勃里翁家攀亲,他们的独养女儿十九岁,可以给我一个姓氏,一个头衔,一个内廷行走的差使,以及声势显赫的地位。老实告诉您,亲爱的堂姊,我对特·奥勃里翁小姐没有一点儿爱情;但是和她联姻之后,我替孩子预留了一个地位,将来的便宜简直无法估计:因为尊重王室的思想慢慢地又在抬头了。几年之后,我的儿子承袭了特·奥勃里翁侯爵,有了四万法郎的采邑,他便爱做什么官都可以了。我们应当对儿子负责。您瞧,堂姊,我多么善意地把我的心,把我的希望,把我的财产,告诉给您听。可能在您那方面,经过了七年的离别,您已经忘记了我们幼稚的行为;可是我,我既没有忘记您的宽容,也没忘记我的诺言;我什么话都记得,即使在最不经意的时候说的话,换了一个不像我这样认真的,不像我这样保持童心而诚实的青年,是早已想不起的了。我告诉您,我只想为了地位财产而结婚,告诉您我还记得我们童年的爱情,这不就是把我交给了您,由您做主吗?这也就是告诉您,如果要我放弃尘世的野心,我也甘心情愿享受朴素纯洁的幸福,那种动人的情景,您也早已给我领略过了……

您的忠实的堂弟 查理

在签名的时候,查理哼着一阕歌剧的调子:“铛嗒嗒——铛嗒嘀——叮嗒嗒——咚!——咚嗒嘀——叮嗒嗒……”

“天哪!这就叫作略施小计。”他对自己说。

然后他找出汇票,添注了一笔:

附上汇票一张,请向台·格拉桑银号照兑,票面八千法郎,可用黄金支付。这是包括您慷慨惠借的六千法郎的本利。另有几件东西预备送给您,表示我永远的感激;可是那口箱子还在波尔多,没有运到,且待以后送上。我的梳妆匣,请交驿车带回,地址是伊勒冷—裴尔敦街,特·奥勃里翁府邸。

“交驿车带回!”欧也妮自言自语地说,“我为了它拼命的东西,交驿车带回。”

伤心残酷的劫数!船沉掉了,希望的大海上,连一根绳索、一块薄板都没有留下。

受到遗弃之后,有些女子会去把爱人从情敌手中抢回,把情敌杀死,逃到天涯海角,或是上断头台,或是进坟墓。这当然很美。犯罪的动机是一片悲壮的热情,令人觉得法无可恕,情实可悯。另外一些女子却低下头去,不声不响地受苦,她们奄奄一息地隐忍,啜泣,宽恕,祈祷,相思,直到咽气为止。这是爱,是真爱,是天使的爱,以痛苦生以痛苦死的高傲的爱。这便是欧也妮读了这封残酷的信以后的心情。她举眼望着天,想起了母亲的遗言。像有些临终的人一样,母亲是一眼之间把前途看清看透了的。然后欧也妮记起了这先知般的一生和去世的情形,一转瞬间悟到了自己的命运。她只有振翼高飞,努力往天上扑去,在祈祷中等待她的解脱。

“母亲说得不错,”她哭着对自己说,“只有受苦与死亡。”

她脚步极慢地从花园走向堂屋。跟平时的习惯相反,她不走甬道;但灰灰的堂屋里依旧有她堂兄弟的纪念物:壁炉架上老摆着那只小碟子,她每天吃早点都拿来用的,还有那赛佛旧瓷的糖壶。这一天为她真是庄严重大的日子,发生了多少大事。拿侬来通报本区的教士到了。他和克罗旭家是亲戚,也是关心特·篷风所长利益的人。几天以前老克罗旭神父把他说服了,叫他在纯粹宗教的立场上,跟葛朗台小姐谈一谈她必须结婚的义务。欧也妮一看见他,以为他来收一千法郎津贴穷人的月费,便叫拿侬去拿钱;可是教士笑道:

“小姐,今天我来跟你谈一个可怜的姑娘的事,整个索漠都在关心她,因为她自己不知爱惜,她的生活方式不够称为一个基督徒。”

“我的上帝!这时我简直不能想到旁人,我自顾还不暇呢。我痛苦极了,除了教会,没有地方好逃,只有它宽大的心胸才容得了我们所有的苦恼,只有它丰富的感情,我们才能取之不尽。”

“哎,小姐,我们照顾了这位姑娘,同时就照顾了你。听我说!如果你要永生,你只有两条路好走:或者是出家,或者是服从在家的规律;或者听从你俗世的命运,或者听从你天国的命运。”

“啊!好极了,正在我需要指引的时候,你来指引我。对了,一定是上帝派你来的,神父。我要向世界告别,不声不响地隐在一边为上帝生活。”

“取这种极端的行动,孩子,是需要长时期的考虑的。结婚是生,修道是死。”

“好呀,神父,死,马上就死!”她兴奋的口气叫人害怕。

“死?可是,你对社会负有重大的义务呢,小姐。你不是穷人的母亲,冬天给他们衣服柴火,夏天给他们工作吗?你巨大的家私是一种债务,要偿还的,这是你已经用圣洁的心地接受了的。往修道院一躲是太自私了,终身做老姑娘又不应该。先是你怎么能独自管理偌大的家业?也许你会把它丢了。一桩又一桩的官司会弄得你焦头烂额,无法解决。听你牧师[3]的话吧:你需要一个丈夫,你应当把上帝赐给你的加以保存。这些话,是我把你当作亲爱的信徒而说的。你那么真诚地爱上帝,绝不能不在俗世上求永生;你是世界上最美的装饰之一,给了人家多少圣洁的榜样。”

这时仆人通报台·格拉桑太太来到。她是气愤之极,存了报复的心思来的。

“小姐……啊!神父在这里……我不说了,我是来商量俗事的,看来你在谈重要的事情。”

“太太,”神父说,“我让你。”

“噢!神父,”欧也妮说,“过一会儿再来吧,今天我正需要你的支持。”

“不错,可怜的孩子。”台·格拉桑太太插嘴。

“什么意思?”葛朗台小姐和神父一齐问。

“难道你堂兄弟回来了,要娶特·奥勃里翁小姐,我还不知道吗?……一个女人不会这么糊涂的。”

欧也妮脸上一红,不出一声;但她决意从此要像父亲一般装作若无其事。

“哎,太太,”她带着嘲弄的意味,“我倒真是糊涂呢,不懂你的意思。你说吧,不用回避神父,你知道他是我的牧师。”

“好吧,小姐,这是台·格拉桑给我的信,你念吧。”

欧也妮接过信来念道:

贤妻如面:查理·葛朗台从印度回来,到巴黎已有一月……

——一个月!欧也妮心里想,把手垂了下来。停了一会儿,又往下念:

……我白跑了两次,方始见到这位未来的特·奥勃里翁伯爵。虽然全个巴黎都在谈论他的婚事,教会也公布了婚事征询……

——那么他写信给我的时候已经……欧也妮没有往下再想,也没有像巴黎女子般叫一声:“这无赖!”可是虽然面上毫无表现,她心中的轻蔑并没减少一点儿。

……这头亲事还渺茫得很呢:特·奥勃里翁侯爵绝不肯把女儿嫁给一个破产的人的儿子。我特意去告诉查理,我和他的伯父如何费心料理他父亲的事,用了如何巧妙的手段才把债权人按捺到今天。这傲慢的小子胆敢回我——为了他的利益与名誉,日夜不息帮忙了五年的我,说,他父亲的事不是他的事!为这件案子,一个诉讼代理人真可以问他要三万到四万法郎的酬金,合到债务的百分之一。可是,且慢,他的的确确还欠债权人一百二十万法郎,我非把他的父亲宣告破产不可。当初我接手这件事,完全凭了葛朗台那老鳄鱼一句话,并且我早已代表他的家属对债权人承诺下来。尽管特·奥勃里翁伯爵不在乎他的名誉,我却很看重我自己的名誉。所以我要把我的地位向债权人说明。可是我素来敬重欧也妮小姐——你记得,当初我们境况较好的时候,曾经对她有过提亲的意思——所以在我采取行动之前,你必须去跟她谈一谈……

念到这里,欧也妮立刻停下,冷冷地把信还给了台·格拉桑太太,说:

“谢谢你,慢慢再说吧……”

“哎哟,此刻你的声音和你从前老太爷的一模一样。”

“太太,你有八千法郎金子要付给我们哪。”拿侬对她说。

“不错;劳驾你跟我去一趟罢,高诺阿莱太太。”

欧也妮心里已经拿定主意,所以态度很大方、很镇静地说:

“请问神父,结婚以后保持童身,算不算罪过?”

“这是一个宗教里的道德问题,我不能回答。要是你想知道那有名的桑凯士[4]在《神学要略》的《婚姻篇》内怎样说,明天我可以告诉你。”

神父走了。葛朗台小姐上楼到父亲的密室内待了一天,吃饭的时候,拿侬再三催促也不肯下来。直到晚上客人照例登门的时候,她才出现。葛朗台家从没有这一晚那样的宾客满堂。查理的回来,和奇蠢无比的忘恩负义的消息,早已传遍全城。但来客尽管聚精会神地观察,也无法满足他们的好奇心。早有准备的欧也妮,镇静的脸上一点儿都不露出在胸中激荡的惨痛的情绪。人家用哀怨的眼神和感伤的言语对她表示关切,她居然能报以笑容。她终于以谦恭有礼的态度,掩饰了她的苦难。

九点左右,牌局完了,打牌的人离开桌子,一边算账一边讨论最后的几局韦斯脱,走来加入谈天的圈子。正当大家一伙儿起身预备告辞的时候,忽然展开了富有戏剧性的一幕,震动了索漠,震动了一州,震动了周围四个州府。

“所长,你慢一步走。”欧也妮看见特·篷风先生拿起手杖的时候,这么说。

听到这句话,个个人都为之一怔。所长脸色发白,不由得坐了下来。

“千万家私是所长的了。”特·格里鲍果小姐说。

“还不明白吗,”特·奥松华太太接着嚷道,“特·篷风所长娶定了葛朗台小姐。”

“这才是最妙的一局哩。”老神父说。

“和了满贯哪。”公证人说。

每个人都有他的妙语,双关语,把欧也妮看作高踞在千万家私之上,好似高踞在宝座上一样。酝酿了八年的大事到了结束的阶段。当了整个索漠城的面,叫所长留下,不就等于宣布她决定嫁给他了吗?礼节体统在小城市中是极严格的,像这一类出乎常规的举动,当然成为最庄严的诺言了。

客人散尽之后,欧也妮声音激动地说道:

“所长,我知道你喜欢我的什么。你得起誓,在我活着的时候,让我自由,永远不向我提起婚姻给你的权利,那么我可以答应嫁给你。噢!我的话还没有完呢,”她看见所长跪了下去,便赶紧补充,“我不会对你不忠实,先生。可是我心里有一股熄灭不了的感情。我能够给丈夫的只有友谊:我既不愿使他难受,也不愿违背我心里的信念。可是你得帮我一次大忙,才能得到我的婚约和产业。”

“赴汤蹈火都可以。”所长回答。

“这儿是一百五十万法郎,”她从怀中掏出一张法兰西银行一百五十股的股票,“请你上巴黎,不是明天,不是今夜,而是当场立刻。你到台·格拉桑先生那里,去找出我叔父的全部债权人名单,把他们召集起来,把叔父所欠的本金,以及到付款日为止的全部息金,照五厘计算,一律付清,要他们立一张总收据,经公证人签字证明,一切照应有的手续办理。你是法官,这件事我只信托你一个人。你是一个正直的、有义气的男子:我将来就凭你一句话,靠你夫家的姓,挨过人生的危难。我们将来相忍相让。认识了这么多年,我们差不多是一家人了,想你一定不会使我痛苦的。”

所长扑倒在有钱的承继人脚下,又快活又凄怆地浑身哆嗦。

“我一定做你的奴隶!”他说。

“你拿到了收据,先生,”她冷冷地望了他一眼,“你把它和所有的借券一齐送给我的堂兄弟,另外把这封信交给他。等你回来,我履行我的诺言。”

所长很明白他的得到葛朗台小姐,完全是由于爱情的怨望;所以他急急要把她的事赶快办了,免得两个情人有讲和的机会。

特·篷风先生走了,欧也妮倒在沙发里哭作一团。一切都完了。所长雇了驿车,次日晚上到了巴黎。第二日清晨他去见台·格拉桑。法官邀请债权人到存放债券的公证人事务所会齐,他们居然一个也没有缺席。虽然全是债主,可是说句公道话,这一次他们都准时而到。然后特·篷风所长以葛朗台小姐的名义,把本利一并付给了他们。照付利息这一点,在巴黎商界中轰动一时。

所长拿到了收据,又依照欧也妮的吩咐,送了五万法郎给台·格拉桑做报酬,然后上特·奥勃里翁侯爵府。他进门的时候,查理正碰了丈人的钉子回到自己屋里。老爵爷告诉他,一定要等琪奥默·葛朗台的债务清偿之后,才能把女儿嫁给他。

所长先把下面的一封信交给查理:

堂弟大鉴:叔父所欠的债务,业已全部清偿,特由特·篷风所长送上收据一张。另附收据一张,证明我上述代垫的款项已由吾弟归还。外面有破产的传说,我想一个破产的人的儿子未必能娶特·奥勃里翁小姐。您批评我的头脑与态度的话,确有见地:我的确毫无上流社会的气息,那些计算与风气习惯,我都不知;您所期待的乐趣,我无法贡献。您为了服从社会的惯例,牺牲了我们的初恋,但愿您在社会的惯例之下快乐。我只能把您父亲的名誉献给您,来成全您的幸福。别了!愚姊永远是您忠实的朋友。

欧也妮

这位野心家拿到正式的文件,不由自主地叫了一声,使所长看了微笑。

“咱们现在不妨交换喜讯啦。”他对查理说。

“啊!你要娶欧也妮?好吧,我很高兴,她是一个好人。”

——他忽然心中一亮,接着说:“哎,那么她很有钱喽?”

“四天以前,”所长带着挖苦的口吻回答,“她有将近一千九百万;可是今天她只有一千七了。”

查理望着所长,发呆了。

“一千七百……万……”

“对,一千七百万,先生。结婚之后,我和葛朗台小姐总共有七十五万法郎收入。”

“亲爱的姊丈,”查理的态度又镇静了些,“咱们好彼此提携提携啦。”

“行!”所长回答,“这里还有一口小箱子,非当面交给你不可。”他把梳妆匣放在了桌上。

“喂,好朋友,”特·奥勃里翁侯爵夫人进来的当儿,根本没有注意到克罗旭,“刚才特·奥勃里翁先生说的话,你一点儿不用放在心上,他是给特·旭礼欧公爵夫人迷昏了。我再告诉你一遍,你的婚事绝无问题……”

“绝无问题,”查理应声回答,“我父亲欠的三百万,昨天都还清了。”

“付了现款吗?”

“不折不扣,连本带利:我还得替先父办复权手续呢。”

“你太傻了!”他的丈母叫道,“这位是谁?”她看到了克罗旭,咬着女婿的耳朵问。

“我的经纪人。”他低声回答。

侯爵夫人对特·篷风先生傲慢地点了点头,走了出去。

“咱们已经在彼此提携啦,”所长拿起帽子说,“再见吧,内弟。”

“他竟开我玩笑,这索漠的臭八哥。恨不得一剑戳破他的肚子才好。”

所长走了。三天以后,特·篷风先生回到索漠,公布了他与欧也妮的婚事。过了六个月,他升了安越法院的推事。

离开索漠之前,欧也妮把多少年来心爱的金饰熔掉了,加上堂兄弟偿还的八千法郎,铸了一口黄金的圣体匣,献给本区的教堂,在那里,她为他曾经向上帝祷告过多少年!

平时她在安越与索漠两地来来往往。她的丈夫在某次政治运动上出了力,升了高等法院庭长,过了几年又升了院长。他很焦心地等着大选,好进国会。他的念头已经转到贵族院了,那时……

“那时,王上跟他是不是称兄道弟了?”拿侬,长脚拿侬,高诺阿莱太太,索漠的布尔乔亚,听见女主人提到将来显赫的声势时,不禁说出这么一句。

注:

[1] 小姐一词,在法文中亦作蜻蜓解。

[2] 衣袂应作衣裾。袂即袖;裾为衣之边缘。原文此句作:robes bouffantes et soigneusement garnies。(本书责任编辑注)

[3] 牧师:此处所谓牧师,系指负责指导灵修的神父,非新教教士之牧师。

[4] 桑凯士:十六世纪西班牙神学家。

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