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第17章

the lily of the valley-第17章

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gesture promised it。 For several days an explanation seemed to float

between us; a word would suffice to send it gushing from the spring;

overfull; in our souls。 What timidity had thus far delayed a perfect

understanding between us? Perhaps she loved; as I did; these

quiverings of the spirit which resembled emotions of fear and numbed

the sensibilities while we held our life unuttered within us;

hesitating to unveil its secrets with the modesty of the young girl

before the husband she loves。 An hour passed。 I was sitting on the

brick balustrade when the sound of her footsteps blending with the

undulating ripple of her flowing gown stirred the calm air of the

night。 These are sensations to which the heart suffices not。



〃Monsieur de Mortsauf is sleeping;〃 she said。 〃When he is thus I give

him an infusion of poppies; a cup of water in which a few poppies have

been steeped; the attacks are so infrequent that this simple remedy

never loses its effectMonsieur;〃 she continued; changing her tone

and using the most persuasive inflexion of her voice; 〃this most

unfortunate accident has revealed to you a secret which has hitherto

been sedulously kept; promise me to bury the recollection of that

scene。 Do this for my sake; I beg of you。 I don't ask you to swear it;

give me your word of honor and I shall be content。〃



〃Need I give it to you?〃 I said。 〃Do we not understand each other?〃



〃You must not judge unfavorably of Monsieur de Mortsauf; you see the

effects of his many sufferings under the emigration;〃 she went on。

〃To…morrow he will entirely forget all that he has said and done; you

will find him kind and excellent as ever。〃



〃Do not seek to excuse him; madame;〃 I replied。 〃I will do all you

wish。 I would fling myself into the Indre at this moment if I could

restore Monsieur de Mortsauf's health and ensure you a happy life。 The

only thing I cannot change is my opinion。 I can give you my life; but

not my convictions; I can pay no heed to what he says; but can I

hinder him from saying it? No; in my opinion Monsieur de Mortsauf

is〃



〃I understand you;〃 she said; hastily interrupting me; 〃you are right。

The count is as nervous as a fashionable woman;〃 she added; as if to

conceal the idea of madness by softening the word。 〃But he is only so

at intervals; once a year; when the weather is very hot。 Ah; what

evils have resulted from the emigration! How many fine lives ruined!

He would have been; I am sure of it; a great soldier; an honor to his

country〃



〃I know;〃 I said; interrupting in my turn to let her see that it was

useless to attempt to deceive me。



She stopped; laid one hand lightly on my brow; and looked at me。 〃Who

has sent you here;〃 she said; 〃into this home? Has God sent me help; a

true friendship to support me?〃 She paused; then added; as she laid

her hand firmly upon mine; 〃For you are good and generous〃 She

raised her eyes to heaven; as if to invoke some invisible testimony to

confirm her thought; and then let them rest upon me。 Electrified by

the look; which cast a soul into my soul; I was guilty; judging by

social laws; of a want of tact; though in certain natures such

indelicacy really means a brave desire to meet danger; to avert a

blow; to arrest an evil before it happens; oftener still; an abrupt

call upon a heart; a blow given to learn if it resounds in unison with

ours。 Many thoughts rose like gleams within my mind and bade me wash

out the stain that blotted my conscience at this moment when I was

seeking a complete understanding。



〃Before we say more;〃 I said in a voice shaken by the throbbings of my

heart; which could be heard in the deep silence that surrounded us;

〃suffer me to purify one memory of the past。〃



〃Hush!〃 she said quickly; touching my lips with a finger which she

instantly removed。 She looked at me haughtily; with the glance of a

woman who knows herself too exalted for insult to reach her。 〃Be

silent; I know of what you are about to speak;the first; the last;

the only outrage ever offered to me。 Never speak to me of that ball。

If as a Christian I have forgiven you; as a woman I still suffer from

your act。〃



〃You are more pitiless than God himself;〃 I said; forcing back the

tears that came into my eyes。



〃I ought to be so; I am more feeble;〃 she replied。



〃But;〃 I continued with the persistence of a child; 〃listen to me now

if only for the first; the last; the only time in your life。〃



〃Speak; then;〃 she said; 〃speak; or you will think I dare not hear

you。〃



Feeling that this was the turning moment of our lives; I spoke to her

in the tone that commands attention; I told her that all women whom I

had ever seen were nothing to me; but when I met her; I; whose life

was studious; whose nature was not bold; I had been; as it were;

possessed by a frenzy that no one who once felt it could condemn; that

never heart of man had been so filled with the passion which no being

can resist; which conquers all things; even death



〃And contempt?〃 she asked; stopping me。



〃Did you despise me?〃 I exclaimed。



〃Let us say no more on this subject;〃 she replied。



〃No; let me say all!〃 I replied; in the excitement of my intolerable

pain。 〃It concerns my life; my whole being; my inward self; it

contains a secret you must know or I must die in despair。 It also

concerns you; who; unawares; are the lady in whose hand is the crown

promised to the victor in the tournament!〃



Then I related to her my childhood and youth; not as I have told it to

you; judged from a distance; but in the language of a young man whose

wounds are still bleeding。 My voice was like the axe of a woodsman in

the forest。 At every word the dead years fell with echoing sound;

bristling with their anguish like branches robbed of their foliage。 I

described to her in feverish language many cruel details which I have

here spared you。 I spread before her the treasure of my radiant hopes;

the virgin gold of my desires; the whole of a burning heart kept alive

beneath the snow of these Alps; piled higher and higher by perpetual

winter。 When; bowed down by the weight of these remembered sufferings;

related as with the live coal of Isaiah; I awaited the reply of the

woman who listened with a bowed head; she illumined the darkness with

a look; she quickened the worlds terrestrial and divine with a single

sentence。



〃We have had the same childhood!〃 she said; turning to me a face on

which the halo of the martyrs shone。



After a pause; in which our souls were wedded in the one consoling

thought; 〃I am not alone in suffering;〃 the countess told me; in the

voice she kept for her little ones; how unwelcome she was as a girl

when sons were wanted。 She showed me how her troubles as a daughter

bound to her mother's side differed from those of a boy cast out upon

the world of school and college life。 My desolate neglect seemed to me

a paradise compared to that contact with a millstone under which her

soul was ground until the day when her good aunt; her true mother; had

saved her from this misery; the ever…recurring pain of which she now

related to me; misery caused sometimes by incessant faultfinding;

always intolerable to high…strung natures which do not shrink before

death itself but die beneath the sword of Damocles; sometimes by the

crushing of generous impulses beneath an icy hand; by the cold

rebuffal of her kisses; by a stern command of silence; first imposed

and then as often blamed; by inward tears that dared not flow but

stayed within the heart; in short; by all the bitterness and tyranny

of convent rule; hidden to the eyes of the world under the appearance

of an exalted motherly devotion。 She gratified her mother's vanity

before strangers; but she dearly paid in private for this homage。

When; believing that by obedience and gentleness she had softened her

mother's heart; she opened hers; the tyrant only armed herself with

the girl's confidence。 No 

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