目 录 上一节 下一节 
这太不像话了，我的天！这太不像话了！" He had accepted every situation but he could do so no longer. He had come to the end of his strength and was plunged in the dark void where man and his reason are together overthrown. In an extravagant access of faith he raised his hands ever higher and higher, searching for heaven, calling on God. 他什么都容忍下来了。可是这一次他再也不能容忍了，他感到浑身精疲力竭，眼前一片漆黑，仿佛连人带理智都栽倒在黑暗之中。突然间，他脑子冲动起来，两手高高举着，他在寻找上天，呼唤天主。 "Oh no, I do not desire it! Oh, come to me, my God! Succor me; nay, let me die sooner! Oh no, not that man, my God! It is over; take me, carry me away, that I may not see, that I may not feel any longer! Oh, I belong to you, my God! Our Father which art in heaven--"" 啊！不，我不能忍受！……啊！来救救我吧，我的天主！拯救我吧，最好还是让我死吧！……啊！不，不要让我做人吧，我的天主！完了，接纳我吧，把我带走吧，别让我再看了，别让我再有感觉了……啊！我是属于你的，我的天主！我们的天父！" And burning with faith, he continued his supplication, and an ardent prayer escaped from his lips. But someone touched him on the shoulder. He lifted his eyes; it was M. Venot. He was surprised to find him praying before that closed door. Then as though God Himself had responded to his appeal, the count flung his arms round the little old gentleman's neck. At last he could weep, and he burst out sobbing and repeated: 他继续祈祷着，信仰像火一般在他心中燃烧着，热烈的祈祷词从他的嘴边出来。这时一个人拍了他一下肩膀。他抬头一看，原来是韦诺先生，他见他伫立在紧关着的门前祈祷，惊讶万分。仿佛天主听见了他的呼救声，来到了他身边，伯爵一下子扑过去，抱住小老头的脖子。他终于哭了，他抽抽噎噎，一再说道： "My brother, my brother."" 我的老哥……我的老哥……" 
这一喊叫使他痛苦不堪的身心一下子轻松多了。他的眼泪沾湿了韦诺先生的面颊，他吻韦诺先生，断断续续对他说道： "Oh, my brother, how I am suffering! You only are left me, my brother. Take me away forever--oh, for mercy's sake, take me away!"" 啊！兄弟，我多么痛苦呀！……现在你是我唯一的知心人了，老哥……把我永远带走吧，啊！发慈悲吧，把我带走吧……" Then M. Venot pressed him to his bosom and called him "brother" also. But he had a fresh blow in store for him. Since yesterday he had been searching for him in order to inform him that the Countess Sabine, in a supreme fit of moral aberration, had but now taken flight with the manager of one of the departments in a large, fancy emporium. It was a fearful scandal, and all Paris was already talking about it. Seeing him under the influence of such religious exaltation, Venot felt the opportunity to be favorable and at once told him of the meanly tragic shipwreck of his house. The count was not touched thereby. His wife had gone? That meant nothing to him; they would see what would happen later on. And again he was seized with anguish, and gazing with a look of terror at the door, the walls, the ceiling, he continued pouring forth his single supplication: 韦诺先生把他紧紧搂在怀里，也称他为兄弟。可是他又要给伯爵带来一个新的打击。从昨天起，他就到处寻找伯爵，要告诉他一件事，萨比娜伯爵夫人由于精神过分失常，跟一家大时装店的一个柜台部经理私奔了，这是一个可怕的丑闻，巴黎人都在议论这件事。他见伯爵的精神处在宗教狂热状态之下，觉得这正是有利时机，便马上告诉他这件不幸事件，这件事是他家庭的悲惨结局。伯爵听了却无动于衷，他的老婆私奔了，对他算不了什么，走着瞧吧。接着，他又忧伤起来，用恐怖的神态瞧瞧门，瞧瞧墙壁，瞧瞧天花板，他仍然一股劲儿央求韦诺先生： "Take me away! I cannot bear it any longer! Take me away!"" 把我带走吧……我再也不能忍受了，把我带走吧。" M. Venot took him away as though he had been a child. From that day forth Muffat belonged to him entirely; he again became strictly attentive to the duties of religion; his life was utterly blasted. He had resigned his position as chamberlain out of respect for the outraged modesty of the Tuileries, and soon Estelle, his daughter, brought an action against him for the recovery of a sum of sixty thousand francs, a legacy left her by an aunt to which she ought to have succeeded at the time of her marriage. Ruined and living narrowly on the remains of his great fortune, he let himself be gradually devoured by the countess, who ate up the husks Nana had rejected. Sabine was indeed ruined by the example of promiscuity set her by her husband's intercourse with the wanton. She was prone to every excess and proved the ultimate ruin and destruction of his very hearth. After sundry adventures she had returned home, and he had taken her back in a spirit of Christian resignation and forgiveness. She haunted him as his living disgrace, but he grew more and more indifferent and at last ceased suffering from these distresses. Heaven took him out of his wife's hands in order to restore him to the arms of God, and so the voluptuous pleasures he had enjoyed with Nana were prolonged in religious ecstasies, accompanied by the old stammering utterances, the old prayers and despairs, the old fits of humility which befit an accursed creature who is crushed beneath the mire whence he sprang. In the recesses of churches, his knees chilled by the pavement, he would once more experience the delights of the past, and his muscles would twitch, and his brain would whirl deliciously, and the satisfaction of the obscure necessities of his existence would be the same as of old. 韦诺先生像领小孩一样把他领走了。从那以后，缪法又完全属于他了。他重新履行严格的宗教责职。他的一生完了。他的行为激怒了杜伊勒里宫，他只好辞去了侍从长官的职务。他的女儿爱丝泰勒对他又提出了起诉，说她姑妈留给她六万法郎的遗产，她结婚时就应当拿到这笔钱。他已经倾家荡产了，现在只好缩紧裤带，靠昔日的万贯家产的残剩部分生活，并且听凭伯爵夫人把娜娜看不上眼的剩余财产一点一点花得精光。萨比娜是受娜娜这个妓女的淫荡行为的影响而变坏的，什么有伤风化的事都干得出来，成了家庭的腐蚀剂，致使家庭最后崩溃。她在外面风流了一段时间后，回到了家里，缪法带着基督教的逆来顺受的宽恕胸怀，接受了她。她与他生活在一起，成了他的耻辱的活见证。不过，他越来越无所谓了，竟然对这类事情不感到痛苦了。上天把他从娜娜的手里夺回来，交到了上帝的怀抱里。他现在享受宗教的快乐是享受娜娜肉体快乐的继续。他像一个被碾碎在自己出身的污泥里的可诅咒的造物，口中念念有词，他祈祷，他感到失望、自卑。他跪在教堂后边的石板地上，虽然膝盖都跪凉了，却重新获得了过去的快乐，他感到肌肉在抽搐，心灵在微妙地震动，他的身心的不可名状的需要同样得到了满足。 
就在伯爵同娜娜决裂的那天晚上，米尼翁来到了维里埃大街。他已习惯于同福什利共处了，终于发觉老婆有个野丈夫在家里，给自己带来很多好处。他可以把家里的一切家务琐事交给他干，让他积极地照管家庭，还可把他写剧本挣来的钱用于家庭的日常开支。另外，福什利为人也很通情达理，没有可笑的嫉妒心，对罗丝在外面另有情人，他像米尼翁一样好说话。两个男人相处得越来越融洽，对他们的合作而带来的各种幸福感到高兴，在一个家庭里，他们互不妨碍，齐心协力地各建自己的安乐窝。一切事情都安排得有条不紊，进行得很顺利，为了共同的幸福，他们竞相干活。那天晚上，米尼翁听从福什利的建议来到娜娜家里，他要看看是否能把娜娜的贴身女仆挖到自己家里，新闻记者很欣赏佐爱的超群智力。罗丝很烦恼，一个月来，她雇用的女仆都是没有经验的，总是把她搞得狼狈不堪。佐爱出来接待他时，他立刻把她拉到饭厅里。佐爱听到他的第一句话，就笑着说："这可不行。"她要离开太太，自己经营生意；她还带着几分自负的口气补充说，每天都有人来找她，太太们都争着要她，布朗瑟太太说，要以重金重新雇佣她。佐爱真正想从事的是老虔婆拉特里贡那样的行当，这是她考虑已久的一项计划，她要把自己的积蓄全部用上去，以实现她的发财梦想。她的思路很宽广，幻想把场面铺得大大的，租一座公馆，里面同时经营各种娱乐活动。她就是怀着这样的计划才竭力拉拢萨丹，可这个小蠢货拼命糟蹋自己，在医院里病得快要死了。 Mignon still insisted with his offer and spoke of the risks run in the commercial life, but Zoe, without entering into explanations about the exact nature of her establishment, smiled a pinched smile, as though she had just put a sweetmeat in her mouth, and was content to remark: 米尼翁执意要她去，说做生意要冒风险。佐爱并没有说出要做什么生意，只勉强一笑，嘴里像有一块糖果，说道： "Oh, luxuries always pay. You see, I've been with others quite long enough, and now I want others to be with me."And a fierce look set her lip curling. At last she would be "Madame," and for the sake of earning a few louis all those women whose slops she had emptied during the last fifteen years would prostrate themselves before her." 啊！奢侈豪华的东西总能赚钱的……你知道，我替人家干活干了很久了，我也要让别人到我家里来干干。"她把嘴一噘，露出一副凶相。她终于要当"太太"了，她为这些女人洗了十五年碗碟，她也要只花几个金路易，把她们踩在脚下。 Mignon wished to be announced, and Zoe left him for a moment after remarking that Madame had passed a miserable day. He had only been at the house once before, and he did not know it at all. The dining room with its Gobelin tapestry, its sideboard and its plate filled him with astonishment. He opened the doors familiarly and visited the drawing room and the winter garden, returning thence into the hall. This overwhelming luxury, this gilded furniture, these silks and velvets, gradually filled him with such a feeling of admiration that it set his heart beating. When Zoe came down to fetch him she offered to show him the other rooms, the dressing room, that is to say, and the bedroom. In the latter Mignon's feelings overcame him; he was carried away by them; they filled him with tender enthusiasm.That damned Nana was simply stupefying him, and yet he thought he knew a thing or two. Amid the downfall of the house and the servants' wild, wasteful race to destruction, massed-up riches still filled every gaping hole and overtopped every ruined wall. And Mignon, as he viewed this lordly monument of wealth, began recalling to mind the various great works he had seen. Near Marseilles they had shown him an aqueduct, the stone arches of which bestrode an abyss, a Cyclopean work which cost millions of money and ten years of intense labor. At Cherbourg he had seen the new harbor with its enormous works, where hundreds of men sweated in the sun while cranes filled the sea with huge squares of rock and built up a wall where a workman now and again remained crushed into bloody pulp. But all that now struck him as insignificant. Nana excited him far more. Viewing the fruit of her labors, he once more experienced the feelings of respect that had overcome him one festal evening in a sugar refiner's chateau. This chateau had been erected for the refiner, and its palatial proportions and royal splendor had been paid for by a single material--sugar. It was with something quite different, with a little laughable folly, a little delicate nudity--it was with this shameful trifle, which is so powerful as to move the universe, that she alone, without workmen, without the inventions of engineers, had shaken Paris to its foundations and had built up a fortune on the bodies of dead men. 米尼翁要她去通报一声，佐爱说太太白天一天心情不好，叫他稍等片刻。他只来过一次，对公馆里的一切很不熟悉。这间挂着戈贝兰挂毯，里面摆着餐具柜和银餐具的饭厅使他非常谅讶。他信手打开几扇门，观看了客厅和冬季花园，然后回到前厅。这种穷奢极侈，这些镀金家具，这些绸缎和天鹅绒，他越看越羡慕，惊叹得心怦怦直跳。佐爱下楼来叫他，带他参观其它房间棗梳妆室和卧室。米尼翁到了卧室，心潮激荡，无比兴奋。这个神奇的娜娜使他这个见过世面的人惊呆了。这个家已濒临崩溃，奢侈无度，仆人走马灯似的，他们大肆搜刮公馆的财富，然而这里堆积起来的财富还足以填补亏空，这财富很难耗尽。面对这间金壁辉煌的卧室，米尼翁不禁回忆起一些宏伟工程。曾经有人带他参观过马赛附近的一条引水渠，渠上的每座石拱桥横跨深渊之上，工程浩大，耗资数百万法郎，建了十年之久。在瑟堡，他参观过兴建中的一个港口，工地一眼望不到边，数百个工人在烈日下挥汗如雨，一些机器把大块石头往海里填，要在海里筑起一道围墙，不时有工人被压成肉酱。可是现在看来，那些工程都算不了什么，娜娜使他更加兴奋。面对娜娜的成就，他的崇敬之情油然而生。有一次，他参加一个晚会，曾经产生过这种崇敬之情，那次晚会是在一座由一位炼糖厂主出资兴建的府邸里举行的。兴建这座府邸的资金来源于唯一的东西棗食糖。而娜娜靠的却是另一种东西，一个令人嘲笑的小东西，她娇嫩的裸体上的一个小东西，这个不能见人、威力无穷的小东西足以把整个社会搅得天翻地覆。她不需要工人，不需要工程师发明的机器，一个人用这个小东西，就震撼了巴黎，建立了这样的财富，在这些财富里，躺着无数尸体。 "Oh, by God, what an implement!"Mignon let the words escape him in his ecstasy, for he felt a return of personal gratitude." 哎！他妈的！多么厉害的玩意！"米尼翁出神地观看时，脱口说道，还带着一种感恩的心情。 
娜娜渐渐陷入极度忧伤之中。首先，侯爵被伯爵撞见，使她神经非常紧张，紧张中几乎带几分快乐。另外，她还想到那个半死不活的老头子坐着出租马车走了，想到她那可怜的小傻瓜，她惹怒了他，再也见不到他了，想到这里，她不禁伤感起来。再说，她听说萨丹在拉利布瓦兹埃医院里病得很厉害，又气得要命，萨丹失踪已经半个月了，她是被罗贝尔太太折腾病了的。她吩咐人去套车，准备去最后一次看望这个小娼妇，这时佐爱不动声色地跑来向她提出辞职。霎时娜娜的心都凉了，仿佛家庭失去了一个亲人。天呀！她就要剩下一个人啦！接着她恳求佐爱别走，佐爱见太太露出一副沮丧的神色，心里乐滋滋的，最后吻了吻太太，意思是她不是因为生太太的气才要走的，而是因为她一定要去做买卖，同情太太也不行了。 But that day was one of annoyances. Nana was thoroughly disgusted and gave up the idea of going out. She was dragging herself wearily about the little drawing room when Labordette came up to tell her of a splendid chance of buying magnificent lace and in the course of his remarks casually let slip the information that Georges was dead. The announcement froze her. 这一天，烦恼的事接踵而来。娜娜心绪不宁，再也不想出去了。她在小客厅里迈着沉重的步伐踱来踱去，这时拉博德特来了，他告诉她一个好消息，说可以买到漂亮的花边，可是谈话中无意说到乔治已经死了。娜娜顿时浑身凉了。 "Zizi dead!" she cried." 治治！他死了！"她惊叫道。 And involuntarily her eyes sought the pink stain on the carpet, but it had vanished at last; passing footsteps had worn it away. Meanwhile Labordette entered into particulars. It was not exactly known how he died. Some spoke of a wound reopening, others of suicide. The lad had plunged, they said, into a tank at Les Fondettes. Nana kept repeating: 她的目光不由自主地转到地毯上的那道淡红色的血迹上，但是血迹终于消失了，是被过往人的鞋底擦掉的。尔后拉博德特讲得更具体了：乔治的死因现在还不太清楚，有人说是伤口复发而死，还有人说是自杀身亡，是在丰岱特的一个池塘里投水自尽的。娜娜连连说道： "Dead! Dead!"" 死啦！死啦！" 
从早上起，她的喉咙就像哽住似的，她嚎啕大哭了一阵，觉得轻松了。她内心无限悲哀，仿佛觉得被什么巨大沉重的东西压得喘不过气来。对于乔治的死，拉博德特想安慰她几句，她向他摆摆手，叫他别说了，她结结巴巴说道： "It isn't only he; it's everything, everything. I'm very wretched. Oh yes, I know! They'll again be saying I'm a hussy. To think of the mother mourning down there and of the poor man who was groaning in front of my door this morning and of all the other people that are now ruined after running through all they had with me! That's it; punish Nana; punish the beastly thing! Oh, I've got a broad back! I can hear them as if I were actually there! 'That dirty wench who lies with everybody and cleans out some and drives others to death and causes a whole heap of people pain!'"" 不仅是乔治，而是一切，一切……我真不幸……啊！我明白了，他们又要说我是坏女人了……在丰岱特的那个心情惆怅的母亲，今天早上在我门前呻吟的那个可怜的男人，还有那些同我一起把钱花光、现在一无所有的其他男人……一点不错，让他们背后骂娜娜吧，让他们骂这个畜生吧！啊！我才不在乎呢，我像在他们面前一样，他们说什么我都一清二楚：这个臭婊子跟所有的男人睡觉，她把一些男人的钱掏得精光，逼死另一些男人，给许多人造成痛苦……" She was obliged to pause, for tears choked her utterance, and in her anguish she flung herself athwart a divan and buried her face in a cushion. The miseries she felt to be around her, miseries of which she was the cause, overwhelmed her with a warm, continuous stream of self-pitying tears, and her voice failed as she uttered a little girl's broken plaint: 泪水哽住了她的喉咙，她不得不停住嘴，痛苦得一下子横倒在长沙发上，头埋在沙发垫子里。她感到自己给周围的人带来了不幸，给许多人造成了痛苦，不禁无限惆怅，泪如雨下，像小女孩一样低声哭诉，声音越来越轻： "Oh, I'm wretched! Oh, I'm wretched! I can't go on like this: it's choking me. It's too hard to be misunderstood and to see them all siding against you because they're stronger. However, when you've got nothing to reproach yourself with and your conscious is clear, why, then I say, 'I won't have it! I won't have it!'"In her anger she began rebeling against circumstances, and getting up, she dried her eyes, and walked about in much agitation." 啊，我真痛苦！啊，我真痛苦……我受不了啦，气死我啦……没有人理解我，我太痛苦了，眼看着一些人一起攻击我，因为他们比我强大……不过，只要自己没有什么可指责的，只要自己问心无愧……唉！我受不了，唉！我受不了……"盛怒之下，她产生了反抗心理。她站起来，揩干眼泪，激动地来回走动。 "I won't have it! They can say what they like, but it's not my fault! Am I a bad lot, eh? I give away all I've got; I wouldn't crush a fly! It's they who are bad! Yes, it's they! I never wanted to be horrid to them. And they came dangling after me, and today they're kicking the bucket and begging and going to ruin on purpose."" 嘿，我才不在乎呢！他们爱怎么说就怎么说，反正我没有过错！难道我是坏女人？我把我的一切都拿出来了，连苍蝇都没有打死过一只……是他们自己的过错。是的，是他们自己的过错！……我从来不想缠住他们。他们总是缠住我，如今他们的钱花光了，他们乞讨了，他们每个人都装出一副失望的样子……" 
接着，她在拉博德特面前停下，拍拍他的肩膀，说道： "Look here," she said, "you were there all along; now speak the truth: did I urge them on? Weren't there always a dozen of 'em squabbling who could invent the dirtiest trick? They used to disgust me, they did! I did all I knew not to copy them: I was afraid to. Look here, I'll give you a single instance: they all wanted to marry me! A pretty notion, eh? Yes, dear boy, I could have been countess or baroness a dozen times over and more, if I'd consented. Well now, I refused because I was reasonable. Oh yes, I saved 'em some crimes and other foul acts! They'd have stolen, murdered, killed father and mother. I had onl to say one word, and I didn't say it. You see what I've got for it today. There's Daguenet, for instance; I married that chap off! I made a position for the beggarly fellow after keeping him gratis for weeks! And I met him yesterday, and he looks the other way! Oh, get along, you swine! I'm less dirty than you!"" 喂，这些事你都看见过，你说句公正话……难道是我硬要他们这样做？他们一来总是一大批，想出最下流的花招，是吗？他们真使我讨厌！我总是尽量控制自己，不学他们的样子，我真害怕。喂！我举一个例子，他们都想娶我，嗯？想得美！是的，亲爱的，如果我同意的话，不知当了多少次伯爵夫人或男爵夫人了。嘿！我都拒绝了，因为我是有理智的……啊！我使他们避免了多少肮脏行为和犯罪机会！……不然，他们就会去抢劫，去杀人，去谋害父母。我只要说一句话，他们就会去犯罪，但是我没有说……而如今你看到我得到的是什么样的回报。就以达盖内为例吧，他的婚姻是我促成的，当时他穷得饿肚皮，是我收留了他几个星期，分文未取，使他有了现在这个样子。昨天，我遇见他时，他把头一转。呸！滚你的蛋吧，猪猡！我没有你那么脏。" She had begun pacing about again, and now she brought her fist violently down on a round table. 她又开始踱步了，她朝一张独脚小圆桌上猛击一拳。 "By God it isn't fair! Society's all wrong. They come down on the women when it's the men who want you to do things. Yes, I can tell you this now: when I used to go with them--see? I didn't enjoy it; no, I didn't enjoy it one bit. It bored me, on my honor. Well then, I ask you whether I've got anything to do with it! Yes, they bored me to death! If it hadn't been for them and what they made of me, dear boy, I should be in a convent saying my prayers to the good God, for I've always had my share of religion. Dash it, after all, if they have dropped their money and their lives over it, what do I care? It's their fault. I've had nothing to do with it!"" 他妈的！这太不公正了！社会真不合理。明明是男人们想出来干的事情，却把责任推到女人身上……好吧，现在我坦率地对你说，我同他们干那种事儿，我并没有得到快乐，一点快乐也没有，我可以保证，反而使我讨厌……那么，我要问你一下，这样的事我有责任吗？……啊！是的，他们真把我厌烦死了！没有他们，亲爱的，不是他们把我搞成这个样子，我就进了一家修道院，向慈善的上帝祈祷，因为我向来是信仰宗教的……总之，他们花了钱又丧了命，活该！这是他们自己的过错！我一点责任也没有！" "Certainly not," said Labordette with conviction." 当然罗。"拉博德特说道，他被娜娜说服了。 
佐爱领米尼翁进来，娜娜笑吟吟地接待他，她已哭够了，现在不哭了。米尼翁还没有平静下来，就对屋内的陈设恭维了几句。但是娜娜却说，她对公馆里的一切已感到厌腻，现在她另有打算，准备最近把里面的东西统统尽快卖掉。接着，米尼翁借口说他是为博斯克老头筹备一次义演而来的，博斯克现在瘫痪了，坐在椅子上不能动弹，娜娜很同情博斯克，订了两张包厢票。这时，佐爱告诉她马车已经准备好了。她叫佐爱把帽子拿来，她一边结帽带，一边把可怜的萨丹生病的事告诉他们，她补充道： "I'm going to the hospital. Nobody ever loved me as she did. Oh, they're quite right when they accuse the men of heartlessness! Who knows? Perhaps I shan't see her alive. Never mind, I shall ask to see her: I want to give her a kiss."" 我到医院去……谁也没有像她那样爱过我。啊！人家说男人没有良心，这话一点也不错！……谁知道呢？也许我再也见不到她了，那不要紧，我去要求见她一次，我想拥抱她。" Labordette and Mignon smiled, and as Nana was no longer melancholy she smiled too. Those two fellows didn't count; they could enter into her feelings. And they both stood and admired her in silent abstraction while she finished buttoning her gloves. She alone kept her feet amid the heaped-up riches of her mansion, while a whole generation of men lay stricken down before her. Like those antique monsters whose redoubtable domains were covered with skeletons, she rested her feet on human skulls. She was ringed round with catastrophes. There was the furious immolation of Vandeuvres; the melancholy state of Foucarmont, who was lost in the China seas; the smashup of Steiner, who now had to live like an honest man; the satisfied idiocy of La Faloise, and the tragic shipwreck of the Muffats. Finally there was the white corpse of Georges, over which Philippe was now watching, for he had come out of prison but yesterday. She had finished her labor of ruin and death. The fly that had flown up from the ordure of the slums, bringing with it the leaven of social rottenness, had poisoned all these men by merely alighting on them. It was well done--it was just. She had avenged the beggars and the wastrels from whose caste she issued. And while, metaphorically speaking, her sex rose in a halo of glory and beamed over prostrate victims like a mounting sun shining brightly over a field of carnage, the actual woman remained as unconscious as a splendid animal, and in her ignorance of her mission was the good-natured courtesan to the last. She was still big; she was still plump; her health was excellent, her spirits capital. But this went for nothing now, for her house struck her as ridiculous. It was too small; it was full of furniture which got in her way. It was a wretched business, and the long and the short of the matter was she would have to make a fresh start. In fact, she was meditating something much better, and so she went off to kiss Satin for the last time. She was in all her finery and looked clean and solid and as brand new as if she had never seen service before. 拉博德特和米尼翁都笑了。她不再难过了，也跟着笑了，他们两个人与其他男人不一样，对她很理解。她在扣手套的钮子时，两个男人一声不吭，神色敬佩地注视着她。她独自站在公馆里的堆积起来的财富中间，无数男人都倒毙在她的脚下了。她像古代的妖怪，在它们居住的可怕洞穴内，铺满白骨，脚下踩着头盖骨。她的周围灾祸频频发生：旺德夫尔放了一场大火自焚，富卡蒙凄惨地漂泊在中国海上，破产了的斯泰内不得不老老实实地过日子，拉法卢瓦兹的痴心得到满足后，回到了外省，缪法一家悲惨地败落了，菲利普刚刚刑满出狱，在乔治的惨白的尸体旁边守灵。让人破产和丧命的事她已做完了。这只从郊区垃圾堆里飞来的苍蝇，带着腐蚀社会的酵素，只要朝男人们身上一落，就把他们一个个毒死。她做得好，做得对，她为自己的社会阶层报了仇，为乞丐和被遗弃的人们报了仇。而她的性器官在荣耀中冉冉升起，照耀着被她害倒的男人们，犹如一轮初升红日，照耀着杀戮后的战场，而她却像一头无意识的漂亮牲口，对自己所干的事全然无知，她始终是一个善良的妓女。她一直是胖胖的，一副富态相，身体健壮，神情欢快。公馆里的一切对她算不了什么，她觉得公馆不像样子，房子太小，塞满家具，碍手碍脚，一派寒碜景象，这只不过是她初次构思而成的。她幻想更好的东西；她身着盛装出发了，她要去最后一次拥抱萨丹，她浑身整洁，身体健壮，容光焕发，似乎不曾接过客。 Nana suddenly disappeared. It was a fresh plunge, an escapade, a flight into barbarous regions. Before her departure she had treated herself to a new sensation: she had held a sale and had made a clean sweep of everything--house, furniture, jewelry, nay, even dresses and linen. Prices were cited--the five days' sale produced more than six hundred thousand francs. For the last time Paris had seen her in a fairy piece. It was called Melusine, and it played at the Theatre de la Gaite, which the penniless Bordenave had taken out of sheer audacity. Here she again found herself in company with Prulliere and Fontan. Her part was simply spectacular, but it was the great attraction of the piece, consisting, as it did, of three POSES PLASTIQUES, each of which represented the same dumb and puissant fairy. Then one fine morning amid his grand success, when Bordenave, who was mad after advertisement, kept firing the Parisian imagination with colossal posters, it became known that she must have started for Cairo the previous day. She had simply had a few words with her manager. Something had been said which did not please her; the whole thing was the caprice of a woman who is too rich to let herself be annoyed. Besides, she had indulged an old infatuation, for she had long meditated visiting the Turks. 娜娜突然失踪了。她又一次溜走，离家出走，飞往异国他乡了。临行前，她心血来潮，搞了一次大拍卖，把公馆、家具、首饰，甚至化妆品和衣物卖得精光。据说，五项拍卖共得六十多万法郎。巴黎人最后一次见到她，是在快乐剧院上演的一出名叫《仙女梅侣茜娜》的幻梦剧里，这出戏是一文不名的博尔德纳夫大胆推出的。这次她又与普律利埃尔和丰唐同台演出，她扮演的虽是一个普通哑角，一个健壮、不说话的仙女，却是戏中最精彩的部分，她在剧中只做了三个造型姿势。这次演出获得了巨大成功，正当一向对宣传感兴趣的博尔德纳夫张贴许多巨幅海报，向巴黎大肆宣传这出戏的时候，一天早上，有人获悉她大概于前一天离开了巴黎，到开罗去了。出走原因是因为她听了经理博尔德纳夫一句逆耳的话，同他发生了口角，这个任性、太富有的女人，忍受不了这口气，一气之下便走了。而且，这次她如愿以偿，因为她早就梦想到土耳其去走一趟。 Months passed--she began to be forgotten. When her name was mentioned among the ladies and gentlemen, the strangest stories were told, and everybody gave the most contradictory and at the same time prodigious information. She had made a conquest of the viceroy; she was reigning, in the recesses of a palace, over two hundred slaves whose heads she now and then cut off for the sake of a little amusement. No, not at all! She had ruined herself with a great big nigger! A filthy passion this, which had left her wallowing without a chemise to her back in the crapulous debauchery of Cairo. A fortnight later much astonishment was produced when someone swore to having met her in Russia. A legend began to be formed: she was the mistress of a prince, and her diamonds were mentioned. All the women were soon acquainted with them from the current descriptions, but nobody could cite the precise source of all this information. There were finger rings, earrings, bracelets, a REVIERE of phenomenal width, a queenly diadem surmounted by a central brilliant the size of one's thumb. In the retirement of those faraway countries she began to gleam forth as mysteriously as a gem-laden idol. People now mentioned her without laughing, for they were full of meditative respect for this fortune acquired among the barbarians. 几个月过去了，大家把娜娜渐渐淡忘了。当这些先生们和太太们又提起她时，种种离奇的传说不胫而走，众说纷纭，这些消息互相矛盾而又不可思议。有人说总督迷恋上了她，她住在深宫里，奴役着两百个奴隶，她还时常砍奴隶的头，以此取乐。也有人说，情况根本不是这样，她同一个身材高大的黑人鬼混，肮脏的热恋把她弄得钱财殆尽，连穿的衣服也没有，在开罗过着放荡的生活。过了两个星期，又传来了有关她惊人的消息，有人发誓说在俄国见到过她。于是这条消息逐渐变成了传说，说她成了一个王子的情妇，她拥有很多珠宝钻石，尽管谁也不知道消息的确切来源。时隔不久，女人们从不胫而走的绘声绘色的描写中，竟对那些珠宝钻石了解得一清二楚。她们说她有戒指，有耳环，有手镯，有一条两指宽的项链，还有一顶王后的冠冕，冠冕中央镶着一颗璀璨的钻石，足有大拇指那么宽。她虽然远走到这些异国他乡，依然像一尊饰满珠宝首饰的偶像，放射着神秘的光芒。现在人们提到她的名字时，都一本正经，带着几分敬意，对她在蛮族人那里发了迹感到迷惑不解。 
七月的一天晚上，将近八点钟时，吕西乘坐的马车行驶在福布尔·圣奥诺雷街上，她从车里瞥见卡罗利娜·埃凯从家里走出来，到邻近一家店里买东西，吕西叫住她，连忙说道：" "Have you dined? Are you disengaged? Oh, then come with me, my dear. Nana's back." 你吃过晚饭了吗？现在有空吗？……那么，亲爱的，跟我一道走吧……娜娜回来啦。" The other got in at once, and Lucy continued:"And you know, my dear, she may be dead while we're gossiping." 卡罗利娜随即上了马车，吕西继续说道："你知道，亲爱的，我们现在在这里谈话时，也许她已经死了。" "Dead! What an idea!" cried Caroline in stupefaction. "And where is she? And what's it of?"" 她死了！你胡说什么！"卡罗利娜听了惊愕不已，大声嚷道，"她在哪里？怎么死的？" "At the Grand Hotel, of smallpox. Oh, it's a long story!"" 她在格朗旅馆……是出天花……啊！说来真是一言难尽啊。" 
吕西叫车夫策马快奔。于是，马急速跑起来，马车驶过王家大道和几条林荫大道，一路上，她用断断续续的语句，一口气讲述了娜娜的情况。 "You can't imagine it. Nana plumps down out of Russia. I don't know why--some dispute with her prince. She leaves her traps at the station; she lands at her aunt's--you remember the old thing. Well, and then she finds her baby dying of smallpox. The baby dies next day, and she has a row with the aunt about some money she ought to have sent, of which the other one has never seen a sou. Seems the child died of that: in fact, it was neglected and badly cared for. Very well; Nana slopes, goes to a hotel, then meets Mignon just as she was thinking of her traps. She has all sorts of queer feelings, shivers, wants to be sick, and Mignon takes her back to her place and promises to look after her affairs. Isn't it odd, eh? Doesn't it all happen pat? But this is the best part of the story: Rose finds out about Nana's illness and gets indignant at the idea of her being alone in furnished apartments. So she rushes off, crying, to look after her. You remember how they used to detest one another--like regular furies! Well then, my dear, Rose has had Nana transported to the Grand Hotel, so that she should, at any rate, die in a smart place, and now she's already passed three nights there and is free to die of it after. It's Labordette who told me all about it. Accordingly I wanted to see for myself--"" 你真不会想到……娜娜从俄国回来了，我也不知道为什么，大概与她的王子吵了架……她把行里存放在火车站，跑到她姑妈家里，你还记得吗，就是那个老太婆……她刚到姑妈家里，就一下子扑到患天花的孩子身上。第二天，孩子就死了，她同姑妈大吵了一顿，她大概给姑妈寄过钱，但姑妈不曾收到一个子儿……娜娜认为孩子是因为没有钱治才死的；总之，这孩子被她丢下了，又无人照料……好啦！她跑到一家旅馆，刚想去取行李时，遇见了米尼翁……她突然感觉浑身不舒服，打起寒噤，想呕吐，米尼翁领她回到房间，并答应去替她取行李……嗯？这事说来真怪！难道他们是事先约定好的！可是还有更妙的事呢：罗丝得知娜娜生了病，孤身一人呆在带出租家具的房间后，感到很难过，赶紧跑去照料她，不为她伤心流泪呢……曾记得她们过去互相敌视，是一对冤家对头！可是，这一次罗丝却找人把她抬到格朗旅馆里，心想即使她死了，也要死在一个像样的地方，娜娜在那里已经住了三天了，现在正在等死……这些都是拉博德特告诉我的，我想去看看她……" "Yes, yes," interrupted Caroline in great excitement "We'll go up to her."" 你说得对，你说得对，"卡罗利娜听了心情很不平静，打断她的话，说道，"我们一起上楼去看看她吧。"
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