名著·茶花女 - 第53节

　　“先生，对于人生我总比您有经验些。只有真正贞洁的女人才谈得上真正纯洁的爱情。任何一个玛侬都会有一个德·格里欧的。现在时代和风尚都不同了，人要是年纪大了仍不长进，那他也只能算是虚度岁月了。您必须离开您的情妇。”

'It distresses me to disobey you, father, but that is out of the question.'

　　“很遗憾我不能听从您，爸爸，这是不可能的。”

'I shall compel you.'

　　“我要强迫您同意。”

'Unfortunately, father, there aren't any St-Margaret's Islands nowadays where courtesans can be transported, and, even if there were, I should follow Mademoiselle Gautier there if you managed to have her sent away. I'm sorry, it may be wrong of me, but I can be happy only on the condition that I remain her lover.'

　　“不幸的是，爸爸，放逐妓女的圣玛格丽特岛已经没有了，而且即使它还存在，您又能把她发送到那里去的话，我也会随着戈蒂埃小姐一起去的。您说怎么办？也许是我错了，但是我只有在做这个女人的情人时才感到有幸福。”

'Come, Armand, open your eyes and see your father who has always loved you and who wants only your happiness. Is it honourable for you to live as man and wife with a woman who's been had by everybody?'

　　“啊，阿尔芒，您要睁大眼睛看看清楚，您得承认您父亲一直在爱着您，他一心盼望您得到幸福。您像做丈夫似的跟一个和大家都睡过的姑娘同居，难道不觉得羞耻吗？”

　　“只要她以后不再跟别人睡，爸爸，那又有什么关系？只要这个姑娘爱我，只要她由于我们相互的爱情而得到新生，总之，只要她已经改邪归正，那又有什么关系！”

'And do you think, sir, that the mission of a gentleman is to bring about spiritual changes in courtesans? Do you imagine that God has given life so grotesque a purpose, and that a man's heart must have no other zeal than this? How will this miraculous cure end? And what will you make of what you're saying now, when you're forty? You'll laugh at this affair, if you are still able to laugh, if, that is, it hasn't left an indelible mark on your past. Where would you be now if your father had thought as you do, if he'd surrendered his life to the enticements of love instead of setting it unshakeably upon a belief in honour and integrity? Think, Armand, and stop talking nonsense. Come, you shall leave this woman. Your father begs you to.'

　　“啊！先生，那么您认为一个有身分的男人，他的任务就是使妓女改邪归正吗？难道您相信天主赋予人生的竟是这么一个怪诞的使命吗？一个人心里就不该有其他方面的热情吗？到您四十岁的时候，这种神乎其神的治疗将会得到什么样的结果呢？您将对您今天讲的话又会有些什么想法？如果这种爱情在您已经度过的岁月中还没有留下太深的痕迹，如果到时候您还笑得出来的话，您自己也会对这种爱情感到可笑的。如果您父亲过去也跟您一样想法，听任他的一生被这类爱情冲动所摆布，而不是以荣誉和忠诚的思想去成家立业的话，您现在又是怎么样的一个人呢？您想一想吧，阿尔芒，别再讲这些蠢话了。好吧，离开这个女人吧，您的父亲恳求您。”

I made no reply.

　　我什么也不回答。

'Armand, ' continued my father, 'in the name of your saintly mother, listen to me: give up this way of life. You will forget it far more quickly than you think and, in any case, you are kept chained to it by a philosophy which is quite absurd. You are twenty-four: think of the future. You won't always be in love with this woman, nor will she love you forever. You have both exaggerated what you feel for each other. You're shutting all the doors to a career. Take one more step, and you'll never be able to get off the path you're on, and you'll regret your misspent youth for the rest of your life. Leave now. Come and stay for a month or two with your sister. Rest and devoted family love will soon cure you of this infatuation, for it is nothing else.

　　“阿尔芒，”我父亲继续说，“看在您圣洁的母亲份上，相信我，放弃这种生活，您马上会把它丢到脑后的，比您现在想象的还要快些。您对待这种生活的理论是行不通的。您已经二十四岁，想想您的前途吧。您不可能永远爱这个女人，她也不会永远爱您的。你们两个都把你们的爱情夸大了。您断送了一生的事业。再走一步您就会陷入泥坑不能自拔，一辈子都会为青年时期的失足而后悔。走吧，到您妹妹那里去，过上一两个月。休息和家庭的温暖很快就会把您这种狂热医好，因为这只不过是一种狂热而已。

'Meanwhile, your mistress will get over it. She'll take another lover and then, when you see what kind of person almost made you quarrel with your father and forfeit his affection, you will say I was quite right to come and fetch you, and you will bless me for having done so.

　　“在这段时间里，您的情妇会想通的，她会另外找一个情人，而当您看到您差一点为了这样一个女人跟您父亲闹翻，失去他的慈爱，您就会对我说，我今天来找您是很有道理的，您就会感谢我的。

　　“好吧，阿尔芒，你会离开她的，是吗？”

I felt that my father was right about women in general, but I was convinced that he was wrong about Marguerite. However, he spoke these last words so gently, so beseechingly, that I dared not answer.

　　我觉得我父亲的话对所有其他的女人来说是对的，但是我深信他的话对玛格丽特来说却是错的。然而他跟我说最后几句话的语气是那么温柔，那么恳切，我都不敢回答他。

'Well?' he said, in a voice heavy with emotion.

　　“怎么样？”他用一种激动的声音问我。

'Look, father, I can't promise anything, ' I said at length. 'What you are asking is more than I can do. Please believe me, ' I continued, seeing him stir impatiently, 'you're making too much of the consequences of this affair. Marguerite isn't the kind of girl you think she is. Far from setting me on the wrong road, this love of ours, on the contrary, has the power to nurture the finest sentiments in me. True love always makes a man finer, whatever sort of woman inspires it. If you knew Marguerite, you'd see that there's no risk to me. She is as noble as the noblest women. She is as disinterested as the others are grasping.'

　　“怎么样，爸爸，我什么也不能答应您。”我终于说道，“您要求我做的事超出了我的能力范围，请相信我，”我看见他作了一个不耐烦的动作，我继续说道，“您把这种关系的后果看得过于严重了。玛格丽特并不是您想象中的那种姑娘。这种爱情非但不会把我引向邪路，相反能在我身上发展成最最崇高的感情。真正的爱情始终是使人上进的，不管激起这种爱情的女人是什么人。如果您认识玛格丽特，您就会明白我没有任何危险。她像最高贵的女人一样高贵。别的女人身上有多少贪婪，她身上就有多少无私。”

'Though that hasn't stopped her pocketing all your money, for the sixty thousand francs your mother left you, which you want to give her, represents ?and take note of what I'm saying ?all the money you have.'

　　“这倒并不妨碍她接受您全部财产，因为您把从母亲那儿得到的六万法郎全都给了她。这六万法郎是您仅有的财产，您要好好记住我对您讲的话。”

　　我父亲很可能有意把这句威胁的话留在最后讲，当作对我的最后一击。

I felt stronger against his threats than against his entreaties.

　　我在威胁面前比在婉言恳求面前更加坚强。

'Who told you that I was to make the money over to her?' I went on.

　　“谁对您说我要把这笔钱送给玛格丽特的？”我接着说。

'My solicitor. Would any honourable man have drawn up a deed of that kind without letting me know first? Well, it was to prevent you beggaring yourself for the benefit of some loose woman that brought me to Paris. When your mother died, she left you enough to live on decently, but not enough for you to go giving it away to your mistresses.'

　　“我的公证人。一个上流社会有教养的人能不通知我就办这样一件事吗？好吧，我就是为了不让您因一个姑娘而做败家子才到巴黎来的。您母亲在临死的时候给您留下的这笔钱是让您规规矩矩地过日子，而不是让您在情妇面前摆阔气的。”

'I swear to you, father, Marguerite knew nothing of this deed of gift.'

　　“我向您发誓，爸爸，玛格丽特根本不知道这回事。”

　　“那您为什么要这样做呢？”

'Because Marguerite, the woman you've slandered and want me to give up, has sacrificed everything she owns to live with me.'

　　“因为玛格丽特，这个受到您污蔑的女人，这个您要我抛弃的女人，为了和我同居牺牲了她所有的一切。”

'And you have accepted this sacrifice? What sort of man are you, sir, that you will allow a Mademoiselle Marguerite Gautier to make sacrifices for you? But, enough. You will leave this woman. A little while ago, I asked you to; now, I order you to. I will not have such obscenities in my family. Pack your trunks and get ready to come with me.'

　　“而您接受了这种牺牲？那么您算是什么人呢？先生，您竟同意一位玛格丽特小姐为您牺牲什么东西吗？好了，够了。您必须抛弃这个女人。刚才我是请求您，现在我是命令您。我不愿意在我家里发生这样的丑事。把您的箱子收拾好，准备跟我一起走。”

'Forgive me, father, ' I said, 'but I shall not leave here.'

　　“请原谅我，爸爸，”我说，“我不走。”

'Why not?'

　　“为什么？”