名著·简.爱 - 第154节


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  没有--要是有倒也许还好些?"

   "What do you mean?""

  你这话是什么意思?"

   "Poor Mr. Edward!" he ejaculated, "I little thought ever to haveseen it! Some say it was a just judgment on him for keeping hisfirst marriage secret, and wanting to take another wife while he hadone living: but I pity him, for my part.""

  可怜的爱德华,"他失声叫道,"我从来没有想到会见到这样的事情!有人说那不过是对他瞒了第一次婚姻,妻子活着还想再娶的报应。但拿我来讲,我是怜悯他的。"

   "You said he was alive?" I exclaimed."

  你说了他还活着?"我叫道。

   "Yes, yes: he is alive; but many think he had better he dead.""

  是呀,是呀,他还活着。但很多人认为他还是死了的好。"

  为什么?怎么会呢?"我的血又冰冷了。"他在哪儿?"我问。"在英国吗?"

   "Ay--ay--he's in England; he can't get out of England, I fancy--he'sa fixture now.""

  呵--呵--他是在英国,他没有办法走出英国,我想--现在他是寸步难行了。"

   What agony was this! And the man seemed resolved to protract it.

  那是什么病痛呀?这人似乎决意吞吞吐吐。

   "He is stone-blind," he said at last. "Yes, he is stone-blind, isMr. Edward.""

  他全瞎了,"他终于说。"是呀,他全瞎了--爱德华先生。"

   I had dreaded worse. I had dreaded he was mad. I summoned strengthto ask what had caused this calamity.

  我担心更坏的结局,担心他疯了。我鼓足勇气问他造成灾难的原因。

  全是因为他的胆量,你也可以说,因为他的善良,小姐。他要等所有的人在他之前逃出来了才肯离开房子。罗切斯特夫人跳下城垛后,他终于走下了那个大楼梯,就在这时,轰隆一声,全都塌了下来。他从废墟底下被拖了出来,虽然还活着,但伤势严重。一根大梁掉了下来,正好护住了他一些。不过他的一只眼睛被砸了出来,一只手被压烂了,因此医生卡特不得不将它立刻截了下来。另一只眼睛发炎了,也失去了视力。如今他又瞎又残,实在是束手无策了。"

   "Where is he? Where does he now live?""

  他在哪儿?他现在住在什么地方?"

   "At Ferndean, a manor-house on a farm he has, about thirty milesoff: quite a desolate spot.""

  在芬丁,他的一个庄园里,离这里三十英里,是个很荒凉的地方。"

   "Who is with him?""

  谁跟他在一起?"

   "Old John and his wife: he would have none else. He is quitebroken down, they say.""

  老约翰和他的妻子。别人他都不要。他们说,他身体全垮了。"

  你有什么车辆吗?"

   "We have a chaise, ma'am, a very handsome chaise.""

  我们有一辆轻便马车,小姐,很好看的一辆车。"

   "Let it be got ready instantly; and if your post-boy can drive me toFerndean before dark this day, I'll pay both you and him twice thehire you usually demand.""

  马上把车准备好。要是你那位驿车送信人肯在天黑前把我送到芬丁,我会付给你和他双倍的价钱。"

   The manor-house of Ferndean was a building of considerableantiquity, moderate size, and no architectural pretensions, deepburied in a wood. I had heard of it before. Mr. Rochester oftenspoke of it, and sometimes went there. His father had purchased theestate for the sake of the game covers. He would have let thehouse, but could find no tenant, in consequence of its ineligibleand insalubrious site. Ferndean then remained uninhabited andunfurnished, with the exception of some two or three rooms fitted upfor the accommodation of the squire when he went there in the seasonto shoot.

  芬丁庄园掩藏在林木之中,是一幢相当古老的大楼,面积中等,建筑朴实,我早有所闻。罗切斯特先生常常谈起它,有时还上那儿去。他的父亲为了狩猎购下了这份产业。他本想把它租出去,却因为地点不好,环境欠佳,而找不到租户。结果除了两三间房子装修了一下,供这位乡绅狩猎季节住宿用,整个庄园空关着,也没有布置。

   To this house I came just ere dark on an evening marked by thecharacteristics of sad sky, cold gale, and continued smallpenetrating rain. The last mile I performed on foot, havingdismissed the chaise and driver with the double remuneration I hadpromised. Even when within a very short distance of the manor-house, you could see nothing of it, so thick and dark grew thetimber of the gloomy wood about it. Iron gates between granitepillars showed me where to enter, and passing through them, I foundmyself at once in the twilight of close-ranked trees. There was agrass-grown track descending the forest aisle between hoar andknotty shafts and under branched arches. I followed it, expectingsoon to reach the dwelling; but it stretched on and on, it would farand farther: no sign of habitation or grounds was visible.

  天黑之前,我来到了这座花园。那是个阴霾满天,冷风呼呼,细雨霏霏的黄昏。我守信付了双倍的价钱,打发走了马车和马车夫,步行了最后一英里路。庄园周围的树林枝繁叶茂,郁郁葱葱,即使走得很近,也不见庄园的踪影。两根花岗石柱之间的铁门,才使我明白该从什么地方进去。进门之后,我便立即置身于密林的晦暗之中了。有一条杂草丛生的野径,沿着林荫小道而下,两旁是灰白多节的树干,顶上是枝桠交叉的拱门。我顺着这条路走去,以为很快就会到达住宅。谁知它不断往前延伸,逶迤盘桓,看不见住宅或庭园的痕迹。

  我想自己搞错了方向,迷了路。夜色和密林的灰暗同时笼罩着我,我环顾左右,想另找出路。但没有找到,这里只有纵横交织的树枝、园柱形的树干和夏季浓密的树叶--没有哪儿有出口。

   I proceeded: at last my way opened, the trees thinned a little;presently I beheld a railing, then the house--scarce, by this dimlight, distinguishable from the trees; so dank and green were itsdecaying walls. Entering a portal, fastened only by a latch, Istood amidst a space of enclosed ground, from which the wood sweptaway in a semicircle. There were no flowers, no garden-beds; only abroad gravel-walk girdling a grass-plat, and this set in the heavyframe of the forest. The house presented two pointed gables in itsfront; the windows were latticed and narrow: the front door wasnarrow too, one step led up to it. The whole looked, as the host ofthe Rochester Arms had said, "quite a desolate spot." It was asstill as a church on a week-day: the pattering rain on the forestleaves was the only sound audible in its vicinage.

  我继续往前走去。这条路终于有了出口,树林也稀疏些了。我立刻看到了一排栏杆。随后是房子--在暗洞洞的光线中,依稀能把它与树木分开。颓败的墙壁阴湿碧绿。我进了一扇只不过上了栓的门,站在围墙之内的一片空地上,那里的树木呈半园形展开。没有花草,没有苗圃。只有一条宽阔的砂石路绕着一小片草地,藏于茂密的森林之中。房子的正面有两堵突出的山墙。窗子很窄,装有格子,正门也很窄小,一步就到了门口,正如"罗切斯特纹章"的老板所说,整个庄园显得"十分荒凉",静得像周日的教堂。落在树叶上的哗哗雨声是附近入耳的唯一声音。

   "Can there be life here?" I asked."

  这儿会有生命吗?"我暗自问道。

   Yes, life of some kind there was; for I heard a movement--thatnarrow front-door was unclosing, and some shape was about to issuefrom the grange.

  不错,是存在着某种生命,因为我听见了响动--狭窄的正门打开了,田庄里就要出现某个人影了。

   It opened slowly: a figure came out into the twilight and stood onthe step; a man without a hat: he stretched forth his hand as if tofeel whether it rained. Dusk as it was, I had recognised him--itwas my master, Edward Fairfax Rochester, and no other.

  门慢慢地开了。薄暮中一个人影走了出来,站在台阶上。一个没有戴帽子的男人。他伸出手仿佛要感觉一下是不是在下雨。尽管已是黄昏,我还是认出他来了--那不是别人,恰恰就是我主人,爱德华·费尔法克斯·罗切斯特。

  我留住脚步,几乎屏住了呼吸,站立着看他--仔细打量他,而不让他看见,呵,他看不见我。这次突然相遇,巨大的喜说已被痛苦所制约。我毫不费力地压住了我的嗓音,免得喊出声来,控制了我的脚步,免得急乎乎冲上前去。

   His form was of the same strong and stalwart contour as ever: hisport was still erect, his heir was still raven black; nor were hisfeatures altered or sunk: not in one year's space, by any sorrow,could his athletic strength be quelled or his vigorous primeblighted. But in his countenance I saw a change: that lookeddesperate and brooding--that reminded me of some wronged andfettered wild beast or bird, dangerous to approach in his sullenwoe. The caged eagle, whose gold-ringed eyes cruelty hasextinguished, might look as looked that sightless Samson.

  他的外形依然象往昔那么健壮,腰背依然笔直、头发依然乌黑。他的面容没有改变或者消瘦。任何哀伤都不可能在一年之内消蚀他强劲的力量,或是摧毁他蓬勃的青春。但在他的面部表情上,我看到了变化。他看上去绝望而深沉--令我想起受到虐待和身陷囹圄的野兽或鸟类,在恼怒痛苦之时,走近它是很危险的。一只笼中的鹰,被残酷地割去了金色的双眼,看上去也许就像这位失明的参孙。

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名著·简.爱 - 第154节