目 录 上一节 下一节 
第三幅画的是一座冰山的尖顶，刺破了北极冬季的天空，一束束北极光举起了它们毫无光泽、密布在地平线上的长矛。在画的前景上，一个头颅赫然入目，冰山退隐到了远处，一个巨大无比的头，侧向冰山，枕在上面。头部底下伸出一双手，支撑着它，拉起了一块黑色的面纱。罩住下半部面孔。额头毫无血色，苍白如骨。深陷的眼睛凝视着，除了露出绝望的木然神色，别无其他表情。在两鬓之上，黑色缠头布的皱裥中，射出了一圈如云雾般变幻莫测的白炽火焰，镶嵌着红艳艳的火星，这苍白的新月是"王冠的写真"，为"无形之形"加冕。 "Were you happy when you painted these pictures?" asked Mr.Rochester presently." 你创作这些画时愉快吗？"罗切斯特先生立刻问。 "I was absorbed, sir: yes, and I was happy. To paint them, inshort, was to enjoy one of the keenest pleasures I have ever known."" 我全神贯注，先生。是的，我很愉快。总之，画这些画无异于享受我从来没有过的最大乐趣。" "That is not saying much. Your pleasures, by your own account, havebeen few; but I daresay you did exist in a kind of artist'sdreamland while you blent and arranged these strange tints. Did yousit at them long each day?"" 那并不说明什么问题，据你自己所说，你的乐趣本来就不多。但我猜想，你在调拌并着上这些奇怪的颜色时，肯定生活在一种艺术家的梦境之中，你每天费很长时间坐着作这些画吗？" "I had nothing else to do, because it was the vacation, and I sat atthem from morning till noon, and from noon till night: the lengthof the midsummer days favoured my inclination to apply."" 在假期里我没有别的事情可做，我坐着从早上画到中午，从中午画到晚上。仲夏白昼很长，有利于我专心致志。" 
你对自己饱含热情的劳动成果表示满意吗？" "Far from it. I was tormented by the contrast between my idea andmy handiwork: in each case I had imagined something which I wasquite powerless to realise."" 很不满意。我为自己的思想和手艺之间存在的差距而感到烦恼。每次我都想象了一些东西，但却无力加以表达。" "Not quite: you have secured the shadow of your thought; but nomore, probably. You had not enough of the artist's skill andscience to give it full being: yet the drawings are, for a school-girl, peculiar. As to the thoughts, they are elfish. These eyes inthe Evening Star you must have seen in a dream. How could you makethem look so clear, and yet not at all brilliant? for the planetabove quells their rays. And what meaning is that in their solemndepth? And who taught you to paint wind. There is a high gale inthat sky, and on this hill-top. Where did you see Latmos? For thatis Latmos. There! put the drawings away!"" 不完全如此。你己经捕捉到了你思想的影子，但也许仅此而已。你缺乏足够的艺术技巧和专门知识，淋漓尽致地把它表达出来。不过对一个女学生来说，这些画已经非同一般了。至于那些思想，倒是有些妖气。金星中的眼睛你一定是在梦中看见的，你怎么能够使它既那么明亮，而又不耀眼呢？因为眼睛上端的行星淹没了它们的光。而那庄严的眼窝又包含着什么意思？是谁教你画风的，天空中和山顶上都刮着大风。你在什么地方见到拉特莫斯山的？--因为那确实是拉特莫斯山。嗨，把这些画拿走！" I had scarce tied the strings of the portfolio, when, looking at hiswatch, he said abruptly - 我还没有把画夹上的绳子扎好，他就看了看表，唐突地说： "It is nine o'clock: what are you about, Miss Eyre, to let Adelesit up so long? Take her to bed."" 己经九点了，爱小姐，你在磨蹭些啥，让阿黛勒这么老呆着？带她去睡觉吧。" 
阿黛勒走出房间之前过去吻了吻他，他忍受了这种亲热，但似乎并没比派洛特更欣赏它，甚至还不如派洛特。 "I wish you all good-night, now," said he, making a movement of thehand towards the door, in token that he was tired of our company,and wished to dismiss us. Mrs. Fairfax folded up her knitting: Itook my portfolio: we curtseyed to him, received a frigid bow inreturn, and so withdrew." 现在，我祝你们大家晚安，"他说，朝门方向做了个手势，表示他对我们的陪伴已经感到厌烦，希望打发我们走。费尔法克斯太太收起了织物，我拿了画夹，都向他行了屈膝礼。他生硬地点了点头，算是回答，这样我们就退了出去。 "You said Mr. Rochester was not strikingly peculiar, Mrs. Fairfax,"I observed, when I rejoined her in her room, after putting Adele tobed." 你说过罗切斯特先生并不特别古怪，费尔法克斯太太。"安顿好阿黛勒上床后，我再次到了费尔法克斯太太的房间里时说。 "Well, is he?"" 嗯，他是这样？" "I think so: he is very changeful and abrupt."" 我想是这样，他变幻无常，粗暴无礼。" 
不错。毫无疑问，在一个陌生人看来，她似乎就是这样。但我已非常习惯于他的言谈举止，因此从来不去想它。更何况要是他真的脾气古怪的话，那也是应当宽容的。" "Why?"" 为什么？" "Partly because it is his nature--and we can none of us help ournature; and partly because he has painful thoughts, no doubt, toharass him, and make his spirits unequal."" 一半是因为他生性如此，--而我们都对自己的天性无能为力；一半是因为他肯定有痛苦的念头在折磨着他，使他的心里不平衡。" "What about?"" 什么事情？" "Family troubles, for one thing."" 一方面是家庭纠葛。" 
可是他压根儿没有家庭。" "Not now, but he has had--or, at least, relatives. He lost hiselder brother a few years since."" 不是说现在，但曾有过--至少是亲戚。几年前他失去了哥哥。" "His ELDER brother?"" 他的哥哥？" "Yes. The present Mr. Rochester has not been very long inpossession of the property; only about nine years."" 是的，现在这位罗切斯特先生拥有这份财产的时间并不长，只有九年左右。" "Nine years is a tolerable time. Was he so very fond of his brotheras to be still inconsolable for his loss?"" 九年时间也不算短了，他那么爱他的哥哥，直到现在还为他的去世而悲伤不已吗？" 
唉，不--也许不是。我想他们之间有些隔阂。罗兰特.罗切斯特先生对爱德华先生不很公平，也许就是他弄得他父亲对爱德华先生怀有偏见。这位老先生爱钱，急于使家产合在一起，不希望因为分割而缩小。同时又很想让爱德华先生有自己的一份财产，以保持这名字的荣耀。他成年后不久，他们采取了一些不十分合理的办法，造成了很大麻烦。为了使爱德华先生获得那份财产，老罗切斯特先生和罗兰特先生一起，使爱德华先生陷入了他自认为痛苦的境地，这种境遇的确切性质，我从来都不十分清楚，但在精神上他无法忍受不得不忍受的一切。他不愿忍让，便与家庭决裂。多年来，他一直过着一种漂泊不定的生活。我想打从他哥哥没有留下遗嘱就去世，他自己成了房产的主人后，他从来没有在桑菲尔德一连住上过二周。说实在，也难怪他要躲避这个老地方。" "Why should he shun it?"" 他干嘛要躲避呢？" "Perhaps he thinks it gloomy."" 也许他认为这地方太沉闷。" The answer was evasive. I should have liked something clearer; butMrs. Fairfax either could not, or would not, give me more explicitinformation of the origin and nature of Mr. Rochester's trials. Sheaverred they were a mystery to herself, and that what she knew waschiefly from conjecture. It was evident, indeed, that she wished meto drop the subject, which I did accordingly. 她的回答闪烁其辞。我本想了解得更透彻些，但费尔法克斯太太兴许不能够，抑或不愿意，向我进一步提供关于罗切斯特先生痛苦的始末和性质。她一口咬定，对她本人来说也是个谜，她所知道的多半是她自己的猜测，说真的，她显然希望我搁下这个话题，于是我也就不再多问了。
| 
