droll stories-3-第39章
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contented to see her only at his side; happy at being able to touch
but the hem of her garment。
She replied; bursting into tears; 〃that she would rather die than lose
one iota of his love; that she would die as she had lived; since
luckily she could make a man embrace her when such was her desire
without having to put her request into words。〃
Here it must be stated that the cardinal of Ragusa had given her as a
present an article; which this holy joker called /in articulo mortis/。
It was a tiny glass bottle; no bigger than a bean; made at Venice; and
containing a poison so subtle that by breaking it between the teeth
death came instantly and painlessly。 He had received it from Signora
Tophana; the celebrated maker of poisons of the town of Rome。
Now this tiny bottle was under the bezel of a ring; preserved from all
objects that could break it by certain plates of gold。 Poor Imperia
put it into her mouth several times without being able to make up her
mind to bite it; so much pleasure did she take in the moment that she
believed to be her last。 Then she would pass before her in mental
review all her methods of enjoyment before breaking the glass; and
determined that when she felt the most perfect of all joys she would
bite the bottle。
The poor creature departed this life on the night on the first day of
October。 Then was there heard a great clamour in the forests and in
the clouds; as if the loves had cried aloud; 〃The great Noc is dead!〃
in imitation of the pagan gods who; at the coming of the Saviour of
men; fled into the skies; saying; 〃the great Pan is slain!〃 A cry
which was heard by some persons navigating the Eubean Sea; and
preserved by a Father of the Church。
Madame Imperia died without being spoiled in shape; so much had God
made her the irreproachable model of a woman。 She had; it was said; a
magnificent tint upon her flesh; caused by the proximity of the
flaming wings of Pleasure; who cried and groaned over her corpse。 Her
husband mourned for her most bitterly; never suspecting that she had
died to deliver him from a childless wife; for the doctor who embalmed
her said not a word concerning the cause of her death。 This great
sacrifice was discovered six years after marriage of l'Ile Adam with
Mademoiselle de Montmorency; because she told him all about the visit
of Madame Imperia。 The poor gentleman immediately fell into a state of
great melancholy and finished by dying; being unable to banish the
remembrance of those joys of love which it was beyond the power of a
novice to restore to him; thereby did he prove the truth of that which
was said at that time; that this woman would never die in a heart
where she had once reigned。
This teaches us that virtue is well understood by those who have
practised vice; for among the most modest women few would thus have
sacrificed life; in whatever high state of religion you look for them。
EPILOGUE
Oh! mad little one; thou whose business it is to make the house merry;
again hast thou been wallowing; in spite of a thousand prohibitions;
in that slough of melancholy; whence thou hast already fished out
Bertha; and come back with thy tresses dishevelled; like a girl who
has been ill…treated by a regiment of soldiers! Where are thy golden
aiglets and bells; thy filigree flowers of fantastic design? Where
hast thou left thy crimson head…dress; ornamented with precious
gewgaws that cost a minot of pearls?
Why spoil with pernicious tears thy black eyes; so pleasant when
therein sparkles the wit of a tale; that popes pardon thee thy sayings
for the sake of thy merry laughter; feel their souls caught between
the ivory of thy teeth; have their hearts drawn by the rose point of
thy sweet tongue; and would barter the holy slipper for a hundred of
the smiles that hover round thy vermillion lips? Laughing lassie; if
thou wouldst remain always fresh and young; weep no more; think of
riding the brideless fleas; of bridling with the golden clouds thy
chameleon chimeras; of metamorphosing the realities of life into
figures clothed with the rainbow; caparisoned with roseate dreams; and
mantled with wings blue as the eyes of the partridge。 By the Body and
the Blood; by the Censer and the Seal; by the Book and the Sword; by
the Rag and the Gold; by the Sound and the Colour; if thou does but
return once into that hovel of elegies where eunuchs find ugly women
for imbecile sultans; I'll curse thee; I'll rave at thee; I'll make
thee fast from roguery and love; I'll
Phist! Here she is astride a sunbeam with a volume that is ready to
burst with merry meteors! She plays in their prisms; tearing about so
madly; so wildly; so boldly; so contrary to good sense; so contrary to
good manners; so contrary to everything; that one has to touch her
with long feathers; to follow her siren's tail in the golden facets
which trifle among the artifices of these new pearls of laughter。 Ye
gods! but she is sporting herself in them like a hundred schoolboys in
a hedge full of blackberries; after vespers。 To the devil with the
magister! The volume is finished! Out upon work! What ho! my jovial
friends; this way!
End