名著·茶花女 - 第71节


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  从这个字开始,玛格丽特勉强写下的几个字母已看不清楚了。是朱利·迪普拉接着写下去的。

   18 February

  二月十八日

   Monsieur Armand,

  阿尔芒先生:

   Since the day Marguerite insisted on going to the theatre, she has grown steadily worse. Her voice went completely, and then she lost the use of her limbs. What our poor friend has to bear is impossible to describe. I am not used to coping with such suffering, and I go in constant fear.

  自从玛格丽特坚持要去看戏的那天起,她的病势日渐加重,嗓子完全失音,接着四肢也不能动弹了。我们那可怜的朋友所忍受的痛苦是无法描述的。我可没经受过这样的刺激,我一直感到害怕。

   Oh, how I wish you were here with us! She is delirious for most of the time, but whether her mind is wandering or lucid, your name is the one which she says when she manages to say anything at all.

  我多么希望您能在我们身边,她几乎一直在说胡话,但不论是在昏迷还是在清醒的时候,只要她能讲出几个字来,那就是您的名字。

  医生对我说她已经没有多少时间了,自从她病危以来,老公爵没有再来过。

   He told the doctor that seeing her like this was too much for him.

  他对医生说过,这种景象使他太痛苦了。

   Madame Duvernoy has not behaved very well. She thought she would still be able to go on getting money out of Marguerite, at whose expense she has been living on a more or less permanent basis, and she took on obligations which she cannot meet. Seeing that her neighbour is no further use to her, she does not even come to see her any more. Everyone has deserted her. Monsieur de G, harried by his debts, has been forced to return to London. Before going, he sent us money. He has done all he could, but the men have been back with repossession orders, and the creditors are only waiting for her to die before selling her up.

  迪韦尔诺瓦太太的为人真不怎么样。这个女人一向几乎完全是靠着玛格丽特生活的,她以为在玛格丽特那里还可以搞到更多的钱,曾欠下了一些她无力偿还的债。当她看到她的邻居对她已毫无用处的时候,她甚至连看也不来看她了。所有的人都把她抛弃了。G先生被债务逼得又动身到伦敦去了。临走的时候他又给我们送了些钱来;他已经尽力而为了。可是又有人来查封了,债主们就等着她死,以便拍卖她的东西。

   I wanted to use the last of my own money to stop her things being taken back, but the bailiff told me there was no point, for he had other orders to serve on her. Since she is going to die, it is better to let everything go than to try and save it for her family, given that she does not want to see any of them and, in any case, they never cared for her. You can have no idea of the gilded poverty in which the poor girl lies dying. Yesterday, we had no money at all. Plate, jewels, Indian shawls-everything has been pawned and the rest has been sold or seized. Marguerite is still aware of what is happening around her, and she suffers in body, mind and heart. Great tears run down her cheeks which are now so thin and pale that, if you saw her now, you would not recognize the face of the woman you once loved so much. She made me promise to write to you when she was no longer able to do so herself, and she is watching as I write this. She turns her eyes in my direction, but she cannot see me, for her sight is already dimmed by approaching death. And yet she smiles, and all her thoughts, all her soul, are for you, I am sure.

  我原来想用我仅剩的一些钱来阻止他们查封,但是执达吏对我说这没有用,而且他还要执行别的判决。既然她就要死了,那还是把一切都放弃了的好,又何必去为那些她不愿意看见,而且从来也没有爱过她的家属保留下什么东西呢。您根本想象不出可怜的姑娘是怎样在外表富丽、实际穷困的境况中死去的。昨天我们已经一文不名了。餐具,首饰,披肩全都当掉了,其余的不是卖掉了就是被查封了。玛格丽特对她周围发生的事还很清楚。她肉体上、精神上和心灵上都觉得非常痛苦,豆大的泪珠滚下她的两颊,她的脸那么苍白又那么瘦削,即使您能见到的话,您也认不出这就是您过去多么喜爱的人的脸庞。她要我答应在她不能再写字的时候写信给您,现在我就在她面前写信。她的眼睛望着我,但是她看不见我,她的目光被行将来临的死亡遮住了,可她还在微笑,我可以断定她的全部思想、整个灵魂都在您身上。

   Each time the door opens, her eyes light up, for each time she believes that you will walk in. Then, when she sees that it is not you, her face reverts to its expression of suffering, breaks into a cold sweat and her cheeks turn crimson.

  每次有人开门,她的眼睛就闪出光来,总以为您要进来了,随后当她看清来人不是您,她的脸上又露出了痛苦的神色,并渗出一阵阵的冷汗,两颊涨得血红。

  二月十九日午夜

   Oh, poor Monsieur Armand! What a sad day today has been! This morning, Marguerite could not get her breath. The doctor bled her, and her voice came back a little. The doctor advised her to see a priest. She said she would, and he himself went off to find one at the Church of Saint Roch.

  今天这个日子是多么凄惨啊,可怜的阿尔芒先生!早上玛格丽特窒息了,医生替她放了血,她稍许又能发出些声音。医生劝她请一个神父,她同意了,医生就亲自到圣罗克教堂去请神父。

   Meanwhile, Marguerite called me close to her bedside, asked me to open her wardrobe, pointed out a lace cap and a long shift, also richly decked with lace, and then said in a weakened voice:

  这时,玛格丽特把我叫到她床边,请求我打开她的衣橱;她指着一顶便帽,一件镶满了花边的长衬衣,声音微弱地对我说:

   "I shall die after I have made my confession. When it's over, you are to dress me in these things. It is the whim of a dying woman."

  “我做了忏悔以后就要死了,那时候你就用这些东西替我穿戴上:这是一个垂死女人的化妆打扮。”

   Then, weeping, she kissed me and added:

  随后她又哭着拥抱我,她还说:

  “我能讲话了,但是我讲话的时候憋得慌,我闷死了!空气啊!”

   I burst into tears and opened the window. A few moments later, the priest walked in.

  我泪如雨下,我打开窗子,过不多久神父进来了。

   I went to greet him.

  我向神父走去。

   When he realized in whose apartment he was, he seemed afraid of the reception he might get.

  当他知道他是在谁的家里时,他似乎很怕受到冷待。

   "Come in, father, there's nothing to fear," I said.

  “大胆进来吧,神父,”我对他说。

  他在病人的房间里没有待多久,他出来的时候对我说:

   "She has lived a sinful life, but she will die a Christian death."

  “她活着的时候是一个罪人,但她将像一个基督徒那样死去。”

   A few moments later, he returned with an altar-boy carrying a crucifix, and a sacristan who walked before them ringing a bell to announce that the Lord was coming to the house of the dying woman.

  过不多久他又回来了,陪他一起来的是一个唱诗班的孩子,手里擎着一个耶稣受难十字架,在他们前面还走着一个教堂侍役,摇着铃,表示天主来到了临终者的家里。

   All three entered the bedroom which, in times gone by, had echoed with so many extravagant voices, and was now nothing less than a holy tabernacle.

  他们三个一起走进了卧室,过去在这个房间里听到的都是些奇怪的语言,如今这个房间却成了一个圣洁的神坛。

   I fell to my knees. I cannot say how long the effect of these proceedings on me will last, but I do not believe that any human thing will ever produce such an effect on me again until I myself reach the same pass.

  我跪了下来,我不知道这一幕景象给我的印象能保持多久;但是我相信,在那以前,人世间还没有发生过使我留下这么深刻印象的事情。

  神父在临终者的脚上、手上和前额涂抹圣油,背诵了一段短短的经文,玛格丽特就此准备上天了,如果天主看到了她生时的苦难和死时的圣洁,她无疑是可以进天堂的。

   Since that moment, she has not spoken or stirred. There were a score of times when I would have thought she was dead, had I not heard her laboured breathing.

  从那以后她没有讲过一句话,也没有做过一个动作,如果我没有听到她的喘气声,我有好多次都以为她已经死了。

   20 February, 5 o'clock in the afternoon

  二月二十日下午五时

   It is all over.

  一切都结束了。

   Marguerite began her mortal agony last night, around two o'clock. No martyr ever suffered such torment, to judge by the screams she uttered. Two or three times, she sat bolt upright in her bed, as though she would snatch at the life which was winging its way back to God.

  玛格丽特半夜两点钟光景进入弥留状态。从来也没有一个殉难者受过这样的折磨,这可以从她的呻吟声里得到证实。有两三次她从床上笔直地坐起来,仿佛想抓住她正在上升到天堂里去的生命。

  也有这么两三次,她叫着您的名字,随后一切都寂静无声,她精疲力竭地又摔倒在床上,眼泪默默地从她的眼里流出来,她死了。

   I went close to her, called her name and, when she did not answer, I closed her eyes and kissed her on the forehead.

  于是我向她走去,喊着她的名字,她没有回音,我就合上了她的眼皮,吻了吻她的额头。

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名著·茶花女 - 第71节