《巴黎圣母院》——《Notre Dame cathedral》(中英文对照)未完_派派后花园

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[Novel] 《巴黎圣母院》——《Notre Dame cathedral》(中英文对照)未完

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《BOOK FIFTH CHAPTER II.THIS WILL KILL THAT. Page 1》
Our lady readers will pardon us if we pause for a moment to seek what could have been the thought concealed beneath those enigmatic words of the archdeacon: "This will kill that.The book will kill the edifice."
To our mind, this thought had two faces.In the first place, it was a priestly thought.It was the affright of the priest in the presence of a new agent, the printing press.It was the terror and dazzled amazement of the men of the sanctuary, in the presence of the luminous press of Gutenberg.It was the pulpit and the manuscript taking the alarm at the printed word: something similar to the stupor of a sparrow which should behold the angel Legion unfold his six million wings. It was the cry of the prophet who already hears emancipated humanity roaring and swarming; who beholds in the future, intelligence sapping faith, opinion dethroning belief, the world shaking off Rome.It was the prognostication of the philosopher who sees human thought, volatilized by the press, evaporating from the theocratic recipient.It was the terror of the soldier who examines the brazen battering ram, and says:--"The tower will crumble." It signified that one power was about to succeed another power.It meant, "The press will kill the church."
But underlying this thought, the first and most simple one, no doubt, there was in our opinion another, newer one, a corollary of the first, less easy to perceive and more easy to contest, a view as philosophical and belonging no longer to the priest alone but to the savant and the artist.It was a presentiment that human thought, in changing its form, was about to change its mode of expression; that the dominant idea of each generation would no longer be written with the same matter, and in the same manner; that the book of stone, so solid and so durable, was about to make way for the book of paper, more solid and still more durable.In this connection the archdeacon's vague formula had a second sense. It meant, "printing will kill architecture."
In fact, from the origin of things down to the fifteenth century of the Christian era, inclusive, architecture is the great book of humanity, the principal expression of man in his different stages of development, either as a force or as an intelligence.
When the memory of the first races felt itself overloaded, when the mass of reminiscences of the human race became so heavy and so confused that speech naked and flying, ran the risk of losing them on the way, men transcribed them on the soil in a manner which was at once the most visible, most durable, and most natural.They sealed each tradition beneath a monument.
The first monuments were simple masses of rock, "which the iron had not touched," as Moses says.Architecture began like all writing.It was first an alphabet.Men planted a stone upright, it was a letter, and each letter was a hieroglyph, and upon each hieroglyph rested a group of ideas, like the capital on the column.This is what the earliest races did everywhere, at the same moment, on the surface of the entire world.We find the "standing stones" of the Celts in Asian Siberia; in the pampas of America.
Later on, they made words; they placed stone upon stone, they coupled those syllables of granite, and attempted some combinations.The Celtic dolmen and cromlech, the Etruscan tumulus, the Hebrew galgal, are words.Some, especially the tumulus, are proper names.Sometimes even, when men had a great deal of stone, and a vast plain, they wrote a phrase. The immense pile of Karnac is a complete sentence.
At last they made books.Traditions had brought forth symbols, beneath which they disappeared like the trunk of a tree beneath its foliage; all these symbols in which humanity placed faith continued to grow, to multiply, to intersect, to become more and more complicated; the first monuments no longer sufficed to contain them, they were overflowing in every part; these monuments hardly expressed now the primitive tradition, simple like themselves, naked and prone upon the earth.The symbol felt the need of expansion in the edifice. Then architecture was developed in proportion with human thought; it became a giant with a thousand heads and a thousand arms, and fixed all this floating symbolism in an eternal, visible, palpable form.While Daedalus, who is force, measured; while Orpheus, who is intelligence, sang;--the pillar, which is a letter; the arcade, which is a syllable; the pyramid, which is a word,--all set in movement at once by a law of geometry and by a law of poetry, grouped themselves, combined, amalgamated, descended, ascended, placed themselves side by side on the soil, ranged themselves in stories in the sky, until they had written under the dictation of the general idea of an epoch, those marvellous books which were also marvellous edifices: the pagoda of Eklinga, the Rhamseion of Egypt, the Temple of Solomon.
The generating idea, the word, was not only at the foundation of all these edifices, but also in the form.The temple of Solomon, for example, was not alone the binding of the holy book; it was the holy book itself.On each one of its concentric walls, the priests could read the word translated and manifested to the eye, and thus they followed its transformations from sanctuary to sanctuary, until they seized it in its last tabernacle, under its most concrete form, which still belonged to architecture: the arch.Thus the word was enclosed in an edifice, but its image was upon its envelope, like the human form on the coffin of a mummy.
And not only the form of edifices, but the sites selected for them, revealed the thought which they represented, according as the symbol to be expressed was graceful or grave. Greece crowned her mountains with a temple harmonious to the eye; India disembowelled hers, to chisel therein those monstrous subterranean pagodas, borne up by gigantic rows of granite elephants.
Thus, during the first six thousand years of the world, from the most immemorial pagoda of Hindustan, to the cathedral of Cologne, architecture was the great handwriting of the human race.And this is so true, that not only every religious symbol, but every human thought, has its page and its monument in that immense book.
All civilization begins in theocracy and ends in democracy. This law of liberty following unity is written in architecture. For, let us insist upon this point, masonry must not be thought to be powerful only in erecting the temple and in expressing the myth and sacerdotal symbolism; in inscribing in hieroglyphs upon its pages of stone the mysterious tables of the law.If it were thus,--as there comes in all human society a moment when the sacred symbol is worn out and becomes obliterated under freedom of thought, when man escapes from the priest, when the excrescence of philosophies and systems devour the face of religion,--architecture could not reproduce this new state of human thought; its leaves, so crowded on the face, would be empty on the back; its work would be mutilated; its book would he incomplete.But no.
Let us take as an example the Middle Ages, where we see more clearly because it is nearer to us.During its first period, while theocracy is organizing Europe, while the Vatican is rallying and reclassing about itself the elements of a Rome made from the Rome which lies in ruins around the Capitol, while Christianity is seeking all the stages of society amid the rubbish of anterior civilization, and rebuilding with its ruins a new hierarchic universe, the keystone to whose vault is the priest--one first hears a dull echo from that chaos, and then, little by little, one sees, arising from beneath the breath of Christianity, from beneath the hand of the barbarians, from the fragments of the dead Greek and Roman architectures, that mysterious Romanesque architecture, sister of the theocratic masonry of Egypt and of India, inalterable emblem of pure catholicism, unchangeable hieroglyph of the papal unity.All the thought of that day is written, in fact, in this sombre, Romanesque style.One feels everywhere in it authority, unity, the impenetrable, the absolute, Gregory VII.; always the priest, never the man; everywhere caste, never the people.
But the Crusades arrive.They are a great popular movement, and every great popular movement, whatever may be its cause and object, always sets free the spirit of liberty from its final precipitate.New things spring into life every day.Here opens the stormy period of the Jacqueries, pragueries, and Leagues.Authority wavers, unity is divided. Feudalism demands to share with theocracy, while awaiting the inevitable arrival of the people, who will assume the part of the lion: ~Quia nominor leo~.Seignory pierces through sacerdotalism; the commonality, through seignory.The face of Europe is changed.Well! the face of architecture is changed also.Like civilization, it has turned a page, and the new spirit of the time finds her ready to write at its dictation. It returns from the crusades with the pointed arch, like the nations with liberty.
Then, while Rome is undergoing gradual dismemberment, Romanesque architecture dies.The hieroglyph deserts the cathedral, and betakes itself to blazoning the donjon keep, in order to lend prestige to feudalism.The cathedral itself, that edifice formerly so dogmatic, invaded henceforth by the bourgeoisie, by the community, by liberty, escapes the priest and falls into the power of the artist.The artist builds it after his own fashion.Farewell to mystery, myth, law.Fancy and caprice, welcome.provided the priest has his basilica and his altar, he has nothing to say.The four walls belong to the artist.The architectural book belongs no longer to the priest, to religion, to Rome; it is the property of poetry, of imagination, of the people.Hence the rapid and innumerable transformations of that architecture which owns but three centuries, so striking after the stagnant immobility of the Romanesque architecture, which owns six or seven. Nevertheless, art marches on with giant strides.popular genius amid originality accomplish the task which the bishops formerly fulfilled.Each race writes its line upon the book, as it passes; it erases the ancient Romanesque hieroglyphs on the frontispieces of cathedrals, and at the most one only sees dogma cropping out here and there, beneath the new symbol which it has deposited.The popular drapery hardly permits the religious skeleton to be suspected.One cannot even form an idea of the liberties which the architects then take, even toward the Church.There are capitals knitted of nuns and monks, shamelessly coupled, as on the hall of chimney pieces in the palais de Justice, in paris.There is Noah's adventure carved to the last detail, as under the great portal of Bourges. There is a bacchanalian monk, with ass's ears and glass in hand, laughing in the face of a whole community, as on the lavatory of the Abbey of Bocherville.There exists at that epoch, for thought written in stone, a privilege exactly comparable to our present liberty of the press.It is the liberty of architecture.
This liberty goes very far.Sometimes a portal, a fa?ade, an entire church, presents a symbolical sense absolutely foreign to worship, or even hostile to the Church.In the thirteenth century, Guillaume de paris, and Nicholas Flamel, in the fifteenth, wrote such seditious pages.Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie was a whole church of the opposition.
Thought was then free only in this manner; hence it never wrote itself out completely except on the books called edifices. Thought, under the form of edifice, could have beheld itself burned in the public square by the hands of the executioner, in its manuscript form, if it had been sufficiently imprudent to risk itself thus; thought, as the door of a church, would have been a spectator of the punishment of thought as a book.Having thus only this resource, masonry, in order to make its way to the light, flung itself upon it from all quarters. Hence the immense quantity of cathedrals which have covered Europe--a number so prodigious that one can hardly believe it even after having verified it.All the material forces, all the intellectual forces of society converged towards the same point: architecture.In this manner, under the pretext of building churches to God, art was developed in its magnificent proportions.
Then whoever was born a poet became an architect. Genius, scattered in the masses, repressed in every quarter
under feudalism as under a ~testudo~ of brazen bucklers, finding no issue except in the direction of architecture,--gushed forth through that art, and its Iliads assumed the form of cathedrals.All other arts obeyed, and placed themselves under the discipline of architecture.They were the workmen of the great work.The architect, the poet, the master, summed up in his person the sculpture which carved his fa?ades, painting which illuminated his windows, music which set his bells to pealing, and breathed into his organs.There was nothing down to poor poetry,--properly speaking, that which persisted in vegetating in manuscripts,--which was not forced, in order to make something of itself, to come and frame itself in the edifice in the shape of a hymn or of prose; the same part, after all, which the tragedies of AEschylus had played in the sacerdotal festivals of Greece; Genesis, in the temple of Solomon.
Thus, down to the time of Gutenberg, architecture is the principal writing, the universal writing.In that granite book, begun by the Orient, continued by Greek and Roman antiquity, the Middle Ages wrote the last page.Moreover, this phenomenon of an architecture of the people following an architecture of caste, which we have just been observing in the Middle Ages, is reproduced with every analogous movement in the human intelligence at the other great epochs of history.Thus, in order to enunciate here only summarily, a law which it would require volumes to develop: in the high Orient, the cradle of primitive times, after Hindoo architecture came phoenician architecture, that opulent mother of Arabian architecture; in antiquity, after Egyptian architecture, of which Etruscan style and cyclopean monuments are but one variety, came Greek architecture (of which the Roman style is only a continuation), surcharged with the Carthaginian dome; in modern times, after Romanesque architecture came Gothic architecture.And by separating there three series into their component parts, we shall find in the three eldest sisters, Hindoo architecture, Egyptian architecture, Romanesque architecture, the same symbol; that is to say, theocracy, caste, unity, dogma, myth, God: and for the three younger sisters, phoenician architecture, Greek architecture, Gothic architecture, whatever, nevertheless, may be the diversity of form inherent in their nature, the same signification also; that is to say, liberty, the people, man.
In the Hindu, Egyptian, or Romanesque architecture, one feels the priest, nothing but the priest, whether he calls himself Brahmin, Magian, or pope.It is not the same in the architectures of the people.They are richer and less sacred. In the phoenician, one feels the merchant; in the Greek, the republican; in the Gothic, the citizen.
The general characteristics of all theocratic architecture are immutability, horror of progress, the preservation of traditional lines, the consecration of the primitive types, the constant bending of all the forms of men and of nature to the incomprehensible caprices of the symbol.These are dark books, which the initiated alone understand how to decipher. Moreover, every form, every deformity even, has there a sense which renders it inviolable.Do not ask of Hindoo, Egyptian, Romanesque masonry to reform their design, or to improve their statuary.Every attempt at perfecting is an impiety to them.In these architectures it seems as though the rigidity of the dogma had spread over the stone like a sort of second petrifaction.The general characteristics of popular masonry, on the contrary, are progress, originality, opulence, perpetual movement.They are already sufficiently detached from religion to think of their beauty, to take care of it, to correct without relaxation their parure of statues or arabesques.They are of the age.They have something human, which they mingle incessantly with the divine symbol under which they still produce.Hence, edifices comprehensible to every soul, to every intelligence, to every imagination, symbolical still, but as easy to understand as nature.Between theocratic architecture and this there is the difference that lies between a sacred language and a vulgar language, between hieroglyphics and art, between Solomon and phidias.
If the reader will sum up what we have hitherto briefly, very briefly, indicated, neglecting a thousand proofs and also a thousand objections of detail, be will be led to this: that architecture was, down to the fifteenth century, the chief register of humanity; that in that interval not a thought which is in any degree complicated made its appearance in the world, which has not been worked into an edifice; that every popular idea, and every religious law, has had its monumental records; that the human race has, in short, had no important thought which it has not written in stone.And why? Because every thought, either philosophical or religious, is interested in perpetuating itself; because the idea which has moved one generation wishes to move others also, and leave a trace.Now, what a precarious immortality is that of the manuscript!How much more solid, durable, unyielding, is a book of stone!In order to destroy the written word, a torch and a Turk are sufficient.To demolish the constructed word, a social revolution, a terrestrial revolution are required. The barbarians passed over the Coliseum; the deluge, perhaps, passed over the pyramids.
In the fifteenth century everything changes.
Human thought discovers a mode of perpetuating itself, not only more durable and more resisting than architecture, but still more simple and easy.Architecture is dethroned. Gutenberg's letters of lead are about to supersede Orpheus's letters of stone.
*The book is about to kill the edifice*.
The invention of printing is the greatest event in history. It is the mother of revolution.It is the mode of expression of humanity which is totally renewed; it is human thought stripping off one form and donning another; it is the complete and definitive change of skin of that symbolical serpent which since the days of Adam has represented intelligence.
In its printed form, thought is more imperishable than ever; it is volatile, irresistible, indestructible.It is mingled with the air.In the days of architecture it made a mountain of itself, and took powerful possession of a century and a place.Now it converts itself into a flock of birds, scatters itself to the four winds, and occupies all points of air and space at once.
We repeat, who does not perceive that in this form it is far more indelible?It was solid, it has become alive. It passes from duration in time to immortality.One can demolish a mass; bow can one extirpate ubiquity?If a flood comes, the mountains will have long disappeared beneath the waves, while the birds will still be flying about; and if a single ark floats on the surface of the cataclysm, they will alight upon it, will float with it, will be present with it at the ebbing of the waters; and the new world which emerges from this chaos will behold, on its awakening, the thought of the world which has been submerged soaring above it, winged and living.

《BOOK FIFTH CHAPTER II.THIS WILL KILL THAT. Page 2》
And when one observes that this mode of expression is not only the most conservative, but also the most simple, the most convenient, the most practicable for all; when one reflects that it does not drag after it bulky baggage, and does not set in motion a heavy apparatus; when one compares thought forced, in order to transform itself into an edifice, to put in motion four or five other arts and tons of gold, a whole mountain of stones, a whole forest of timber-work, a whole nation of workmen; when one compares it to the thought which becomes a book, and for which a little paper, a little ink, and a pen suffice,--how can one be surprised that human intelligence should have quitted architecture for printing? Cut the primitive bed of a river abruptly with a canal hollowed out below its level, and the river will desert its bed.
Behold how, beginning with the discovery of printing, architecture withers away little by little, becomes lifeless and bare.How one feels the water sinking, the sap departing, the thought of the times and of the people withdrawing from it!The chill is almost imperceptible in the fifteenth century; the press is, as yet, too weak, and, at the most, draws from powerful architecture a superabundance of life.But practically beginning with the sixteenth century, the malady of architecture is visible; it is no longer the expression of society; it becomes classic art in a miserable manner; from being Gallic, European, indigenous, it becomes Greek and Roman; from being true and modern, it becomes pseudo-classic.It is this decadence which is called the Renaissance.A magnificent decadence, however, for the ancient Gothic genius, that sun which sets behind the gigantic press of Mayence, still penetrates for a while longer with its rays that whole hybrid pile of Latin arcades and Corinthian columns.
It is that setting sun which we mistake for the dawn.
Nevertheless, from the moment when architecture is no longer anything but an art like any other; as soon as it is no longer the total art, the sovereign art, the tyrant art,--it has no longer the power to retain the other arts.So they emancipate themselves, break the yoke of the architect, and take themselves off, each one in its own direction.Each one of them gains by this divorce.Isolation aggrandizes everything. Sculpture becomes statuary, the image trade becomes painting, the canon becomes music.One would pronounce it an empire dismembered at the death of its Alexander, and whose provinces become kingdoms.
Hence Raphael, Michael Angelo, Jean Goujon, palestrina, those splendors of the dazzling sixteenth century.
Thought emancipates itself in all directions at the same time as the arts.The arch-heretics of the Middle Ages had already made large incisions into Catholicism.The sixteenth century breaks religious unity.Before the invention of printing, reform would have been merely a schism; printing converted it into a revolution.Take away the press; heresy is enervated. Whether it be providence or Fate, Gutenburg is the precursor of Luther.
Nevertheless, when the sun of the Middle Ages is completely set, when the Gothic genius is forever extinct upon the horizon, architecture grows dim, loses its color, becomes more and more effaced.The printed book, the gnawing worm of the edifice, sucks and devours it.It becomes bare, denuded of its foliage, and grows visibly emaciated.It is petty, it is poor, it is nothing.It no longer expresses anything, not even the memory of the art of another time.Reduced to itself, abandoned by the other arts, because human thought is abandoning it, it summons bunglers in place of artists.Glass replaces the painted windows.The stone-cutter succeeds the sculptor. Farewell all sap, all originality, all life, all intelligence. It drags along, a lamentable workshop mendicant, from copy to copy.Michael Angelo, who, no doubt, felt even in the sixteenth century that it was dying, had a last idea, an idea of despair.That Titan of art piled the pantheon on the parthenon, and made Saint-peter's at Rome.A great work, which deserved to remain unique, the last originality of architecture, the signature of a giant artist at the bottom of the colossal register of stone which was closed forever.With Michael Angelo dead, what does this miserable architecture, which survived itself in the state of a spectre, do?It takes Saint-peter in Rome, copies it and parodies it.It is a mania. It is a pity.Each century has its Saint-peter's of Rome; in the seventeenth century, the Val-de-Grace; in the eighteenth, Sainte-Geneviève.Each country has its Saint-peter's of Rome.London has one; petersburg has another; paris has two or three.The insignificant testament, the last dotage of a decrepit grand art falling back into infancy before it dies.
If, in place of the characteristic monuments which we have just described, we examine the general aspect of art from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, we notice the same phenomena of decay and phthisis.Beginning with Fran?ois II., the architectural form of the edifice effaces itself more and more, and allows the geometrical form, like the bony structure of an emaciated invalid, to become prominent.The fine lines of art give way to the cold and inexorable lines of geometry.An edifice is no longer an edifice; it is a polyhedron.Meanwhile, architecture is tormented in her struggles to conceal this nudity.Look at the Greek pediment inscribed upon the Roman pediment, and vice versa.It is still the pantheon on the parthenon: Saint-peter's of Rome.Here are the brick houses of Henri IV., with their stone corners; the place Royale, the place Dauphine.Here are the churches of Louis XIII., heavy, squat, thickset, crowded together, loaded with a dome like a hump.Here is the Mazarin architecture, the wretched Italian pasticcio of the Four Nations. Here are the palaces of Louis XIV., long barracks for courtiers, stiff, cold, tiresome.Here, finally, is Louis XV., with chiccory leaves and vermicelli, and all the warts, and all the fungi, which disfigure that decrepit, toothless, and coquettish old architecture.From Fran?ois II. to Louis XV., the evil has increased in geometrical progression.Art has no longer anything but skin upon its bones.It is miserably perishing.
Meanwhile what becomes of printing?All the life which is leaving architecture comes to it.In proportion as architecture ebbs, printing swells and grows.That capital of forces which human thought had been expending in edifices, it henceforth expends in books.Thus, from the sixteenth century onward, the press, raised to the level of decaying architecture, contends with it and kills it.In the seventeenth century it is already sufficiently the sovereign, sufficiently triumphant, sufficiently established in its victory, to give to the world the feast of a great literary century.In the eighteenth, having reposed for a long time at the Court of Louis XIV., it seizes again the old sword of Luther, puts it into the hand of Voltaire, and rushes impetuously to the attack of that ancient Europe, whose architectural expression it has already killed.At the moment when the eighteenth century comes to an end, it has destroyed everything. In the nineteenth, it begins to reconstruct.
Now, we ask, which of the three arts has really represented human thought for the last three centuries? which translates it? which expresses not only its literary and scholastic vagaries, but its vast, profound, universal movement? which constantly superposes itself, without a break, without a gap, upon the human race, which walks a monster with a thousand legs?--Architecture or printing?
It is printing.Let the reader make no mistake; architecture is dead; irretrievably slain by the printed book,--slain because it endures for a shorter time,--slain because it costs more.Every cathedral represents millions.Let the reader now imagine what an investment of funds it would require to rewrite the architectural book; to cause thousands of edifices to swarm once more upon the soil; to return to those epochs when the throng of monuments was such, according to the statement of an eye witness, "that one would have said that the world in shaking itself, had cast off its old garments in order to cover itself with a white vesture of churches." ~Erat enim ut si mundus, ipse excutiendo semet, rejecta vetustate, candida ecclesiarum vestem indueret~.(GLABER RADOLpHUS.)
A book is so soon made, costs so little, and can go so far! How can it surprise us that all human thought flows in this channel?This does not mean that architecture will not still have a fine monument, an isolated masterpiece, here and there.We may still have from time to time, under the reign of printing, a column made I suppose, by a whole army from melted cannon, as we had under the reign of architecture, Iliads and Romanceros, Mahabahrata, and Nibelungen Lieds, made by a whole people, with rhapsodies piled up and melted together.The great accident of an architect of genius may happen in the twentieth century, like that of Dante in the thirteenth.But architecture will no longer be the social art, the collective art, the dominating art.The grand poem, the grand edifice, the grand work of humanity will no longer be built: it will be printed.
And henceforth, if architecture should arise again accidentally, it will no longer be mistress.It will be subservient to the law of literature, which formerly received the law from it.The respective positions of the two arts will be inverted.It is certain that in architectural epochs, the poems, rare it is true, resemble the monuments.In India, Vyasa is branching, strange, impenetrable as a pagoda.In Egyptian Orient, poetry has like the edifices, grandeur and tranquillity of line; in antique Greece, beauty, serenity, calm; in Christian Europe, the Catholic majesty, the popular naivete, the rich and luxuriant vegetation of an epoch of renewal. The Bible resembles the pyramids; the Iliad, the parthenon; Homer, phidias.Dante in the thirteenth century is the last Romanesque church; Shakespeare in the sixteenth, the last Gothic cathedral.
Thus, to sum up what we have hitherto said, in a fashion which is necessarily incomplete and mutilated, the human race has two books, two registers, two testaments: masonry and printing; the Bible of stone and the Bible of paper.No doubt, when one contemplates these two Bibles, laid so broadly open in the centuries, it is permissible to regret the visible majesty of the writing of granite, those gigantic alphabets formulated in colonnades, in pylons, in obelisks, those sorts of human mountains which cover the world and the past, from the pyramid to the bell tower, from Cheops to Strasburg. The past must be reread upon these pages of marble.This book, written by architecture, must be admired and perused incessantly; but the grandeur of the edifice which printing erects in its turn must not be denied.
That edifice is colossal.Some compiler of statistics has calculated, that if all the volumes which have issued from the press since Gutenberg's day were to be piled one upon another, they would fill the space between the earth and the moon; but it is not that sort of grandeur of which we wished to speak.Nevertheless, when one tries to collect in one's mind a comprehensive image of the total products of printing down to our own days, does not that total appear to us like an immense construction, resting upon the entire world, at which humanity toils without relaxation, and whose monstrous crest is lost in the profound mists of the future?It is the anthill of intelligence.It is the hive whither come all imaginations, those golden bees, with their honey.
The edifice has a thousand stories.Here and there one beholds on its staircases the gloomy caverns of science which pierce its interior.Everywhere upon its surface, art causes its arabesques, rosettes, and laces to thrive luxuriantly before the eyes.There, every individual work, however capricious and isolated it may seem, has its place and its projection. Harmony results from the whole.From the cathedral of Shakespeare to the mosque of Byron, a thousand tiny bell towers are piled pell-mell above this metropolis of universal thought.At its base are written some ancient titles of humanity which architecture had not registered.To the left of the entrance has been fixed the ancient bas-relief, in white marble, of Homer; to the right, the polyglot Bible rears its seven heads.The hydra of the Romancero and some other hybrid forms, the Vedas and the Nibelungen bristle further on.
Nevertheless, the prodigious edifice still remains incomplete. The press, that giant machine, which incessantly pumps all the intellectual sap of society, belches forth without pause fresh materials for its work.The whole human race is on the scaffoldings.Each mind is a mason.The humblest fills his hole, or places his stone.Retif dè le Bretonne brings his hod of plaster.Every day a new course rises.Independently of the original and individual contribution of each writer, there are collective contingents.The eighteenth century gives the _Encyclopedia_, the revolution gives the _Moniteur_.Assuredly, it is a construction which increases and piles up in endless spirals; there also are confusion of tongues, incessant activity, indefatigable labor, eager competition of all humanity, refuge promised to intelligence, a new Flood against an overflow of barbarians.It is the second tower of Babel of the human race.

《第五卷 二 这个将毁灭那个》
"这个将毁灭那个.书籍将毁灭建筑."副主教这谜语般的话语有什么深刻含义,不妨在这里略做探讨,请阅读此书的女士多加包涵.
据我们看来,这话包含有两方面的意思.首先这是教士的一种思想状况,反映了僧侣对着印刷术这一新事物的出现所产生的恐惧心理.看到古腾堡发明的那光芒四射的印刷机,让圣殿里的人全看得惊恐万状,眼花缭乱,教坛和手稿,口说的话语和书写的话语,均由于印刷的话语的出现而惊慌失措,这有点像一只燕雀看见莱日翁天使张开其六百万支翅膀目瞪口呆.这是预言家的惊呼:他已听见得到解放的人类欢腾的喧闹,看见未来睿智将破坏信条的根基,舆论将推翻信仰的宝座,世界将摆脱罗马的控制.哲学家的测断是这样的:他看到人类思想随着印刷机的问世而四处扩散,势必会像蒸汽一样从神权容器中冒了出来.这是士兵在察看羊头青铜撞锤时,不由地发出"炮台定会被撞倒的"惊叫所表现出来的那种恐怖心情.这意味着一种威力将取代另一种威力.这也就是说:印刷机将毁灭教会.
然而,在我们看来,在这种无疑是最基本和最简单的思想当中还蕴藏着另一种更新颖的想法,源自头一种思想,比较不易觉察,却更易引起异议;这也纯粹是一种哲学观点,不再仅是教士的观点,而且也是学者和艺术家的观点.这是预感到,人的思维随着思维方式的改变,也改变其表达方式;每一代人的主要思想不要再用同样的材料和同样的方式来进行书写;石刻书,何等坚固,那么持久,即将让位给纸书,相比之下还更加持久,更加坚固.这方面,副主教含糊之词还有另一层意思,那就是一个艺术将取代另一种艺术,即:印刷术将毁灭建筑艺术.
其实,自开天辟古直至基督纪元十五世纪(包括十五世纪在内),建筑艺术向来就是人类最伟大的书,是人类在其力量或者才智发展的不同阶段的主要表达手段.
随着最初的人感到记忆力负担过重,随着人类各种记忆的包袱变得太混杂.太沉重,以至于光凭直接和飘忽的言词就有可能在传递的途中丧失一部分的时候,人们就以最经久.最显现.最自然的方式,把各种记忆记载在地面上.每种传统都凝结成为一座纪念物.
早先的纪念物是一堆堆石头,就象摩西所说的,尚未被铁触及过.建筑艺术也像任何文字一样,先从字母开始:竖起一块石头,就成了一个字母;每个字母是个象形,每个象形承受一组意念,好象圆柱承受着柱头一般.原始部落在全世界地面上到处都同时这样做的.在亚洲的西伯利亚,在美洲的潘帕斯草原,都可见到凯尔特人的那种擎天石.
而后造出一个个词.把石头垒石头,把花岗岩音节加以连结,进行言词某种组合的尝试.克尔特人的平石坟和独石垣,伊特鲁立亚人的古冢,希伯来人的墓穴,这些全都是词.其中有些是专有名词,尤其是古墓.有时候有的地方的石头又多又宽广,人们就书写一个句子.卡尔纳克的广大石堆群,就已是一个完整的语句了.
最后才写出书来.传统滋生象征,反面被象征淹没了,这好像树干被树叶渐渐遮住一样.所有这一切为人类所崇奉的象征,随着岁月的变迁,愈来愈繁多,愈来愈增加,愈来愈交错,越来愈复杂,早期的纪念物再也没法容纳了,遂从四面八方泛溢开来.早期的那种纪念物勉强还能表达原始传统,由于原始传统如同其纪念物一样,纯朴,简单,匍匐在地面上.象征需要在建筑物上得到充分发展.这样,建筑艺术随着人类思想的发展而突飞猛进,变成千首千臂的巨人,用一种永不磨灭.看得见,摸得着的形式,把这整个飘忽不定的象征主义全固定下来.当力量的化身代达洛斯忙着测量,正当智慧的奥尔浦斯放声歌唱一样,此时作为字母的支柱,作为音节的拱廊,作为单词的金字塔,在几何规则和诗律的双重作用下,都活动起来了,聚集.组合.交融.升降.在地面上层层重叠.层层迭起高入云霄,直到在某一时代总观念的授意下,写出了那些令人叹止的奇书,就是座座奇妙的建筑物:埃克林加塔,埃及的朗塞伊翁陵墓,所罗门的神庙.
这种观念,即真谛,不仅仅存在于所有这些建筑物的内部,而且还寓于其外部的形式.例如所罗门的神庙,它不仅仅是经书的精装封面,而且就是经书本身.祭司从每一道同一圆心的墙垣上,可以释读出呈现在眼前它所表达的真谛.祭司就这样从这个圣殿到那个圣殿,逐一读出真谛的演变,直至最后的圣龛,通过体现真谛的最具体形式,仍然还是建筑物的圆拱,才终于掌握住真谛的含义.所以,真谛寓于建筑物中,而其形象却体现在其外壳,正如死者的形象描画在木乃伊的棺木上面.
且不仅是建筑物的形式,而且建筑物所选择的地点,都反映它们所要表现的思想.根据所要表达的象征是优雅或是阴暗,希腊人把赏心悦目的神庙建造在山顶上,印度人则劈开山峦,在地里开凿出奇形怪状的塔,由一排排巨行的花岗岩大象驮着.
这样,自开天辟地以后的最初六千年间,从印度斯坦最远古的宝塔起,直到科隆的大教堂,建筑艺术一直是人类的伟大文字.不单是任何宗教象征,且一切人类思想,都在建筑艺术这部巨作中占有其一页,拥有丰碑,这是千真万确的事实.
所以文明均始自神权,终归为民主.先统一后自由这一规律,也写在建筑艺术中.我们必须强调,那种认为建造术仅仅在于能筑起神庙,能表达神话和宗教象征,会用象形文字在石头书页上记载法之神秘图解,不能要这种观点.要是如此,由于在任何人类社会中,神圣象征会在自由思想冲击下消耗.磨灭,世人会逃脱教士的控制,层出不穷的哲学和体系会如赘疣一样腐蚀宗教的面孔,那么,建筑艺术就不可能再现人类的新精神面貌,尽管正面字迹密布于它的每一天,反面却大概是空白,它的合作就可能不全,建筑艺术作为一本书便会不完整了.其实并非如此.
不妨以中世纪为例,它距离我们较近,可以看得更清楚.中世纪早期,神权政治正在缔造欧洲,梵蒂冈用坍倒在朱庇特神庙周围的古罗马残迹正聚集和组合各种因素来缔造一个新的罗马.基督教日益忙于在昔日文明的废墟上寻找社会各个阶层,并利用残迹重建一个以僧侣制度为拱顶石的新等级制度的社会.恰恰会在那个时期,神秘的罗曼建筑艺术这个埃及和印度神权筑造术的姐妹.正宗天主教的永恒徽记.教宗一统天下的亘古不变的象形文字,在那片混乱中先露出端倪,再逐渐在基督教潜移默化的影响下,经过蛮族劳作,才从衰亡的古希腊.古罗马建筑艺术的残迹中脱颖而出.那里的任何思想,其实都反映在那阴沉沉的罗曼风格中.我们可以感觉到无处不存在权威.奥秘.绝对.统一.格列高利七世的遗风;无处不存在教士的作用,而丝毫没有世人的位置;无处不存在种姓等级,而丝毫无人民.但是,发生了十字军远征.这是一场大规模的民众运动,而任何大规模的民众运动,不论其始因和目的是什么,总是从它的最后沉淀中产生出自由思想.便应运而生了革新运动.因此开始了雅克团.布拉格派和联盟那风起云涌的时期.权威摇摇欲坠,统一分崩离析.封建制度要求与神权政治平分权力,而其后是人民突如其来,并且一如既往,并占有了狮子的那一份.因为狮子是王.所以,领主制度冲破了僧侣制度,村社制度冲破了领主制度.欧洲的面貌改变了.可不!建筑艺术的面貌也改变了.如文明一样,建筑艺术也翻开了新的一页,随时准备为新的时代精神谱写新的篇章.随着十字军远征带回来了尖拱艺术,建筑艺术得到了复兴,和十字军远征带回来了自由样,各民族因而得到了复兴一样.于是,随着罗马帝国逐渐解体,罗曼建筑艺术也日渐衰亡.象形文字离开了大教堂,作为徽志去装饰城堡主塔,给封建制度增添一点光彩.大教堂本身,往日是道貌岸然的建筑物,从此受到市民.村社.自由的侵袭,摆脱了教士控制,落入艺术家的手里.艺术家随意建造.什么神话,什么奥秘,什么法度,统统弃之不顾了.如今,取而代之的是奇思异想和别出心裁.教士只要有了教堂和祭坛,就万事大吉了.教堂的四面垣墙,都是艺术家的.建筑艺术这本书已不再属于僧侣.教会和罗马了,而属于想象力,属于诗歌,属于人民.这种只有三百年历史的建筑艺术,迅速产生了无数的变化,这变化发生在已经有六.七百年历史之久的罗曼建筑艺术长期停滞之后,真令人胆颤心寒!与此同时,艺术阔步前进.过去主教们才能干的活计,现在具有天才和独创精神的人民也能干了.每个种族经过时,都在这本书上写下特有的一行文字,并将大教堂正面的罗曼象形文字涂掉,因而在各种族所留下的新象征下面,原来教条的痕迹偶尔还依稀可辨.既然建筑艺术被人民披上了罗锦,几乎难以猜想出其宗教的骨架了.当时建筑家们对教堂也如此放肆妄为,现在真是无法设想的.比如,巴黎司法宫壁炉厅里柱头上装饰着男女僧侣羞羞答答交欢的雕刻;再比如,布尔日大教堂高大门廊下清清楚楚雕塑着挪亚的奇遇;还有,博舍维尔修道院漱洗室墙上画着一个长着驴耳的醉修士,手执酒杯,使从僧被当面嘲笑.当时,在石头书写的思想方面存在着一种特权,完全可以同我们现在的出版自由相提并论,就是建筑艺术的自由.
这种自由四处远扬,有时是一道门廊.一堵门面.整座教堂,都带着某种象征意义,它和宗教崇拜截然风马牛不相及,与教会甚至不能相容.在十三世纪巴黎的吉约姆,十五世纪的尼古拉.弗拉梅尔,都写下这类叛逆的篇章.屠宰场圣雅各教堂就全是一座叛经背道的教堂.
当时,只有通过这种方式思想才是自由的,所以它只好全部都写在那些被称为建筑物的书籍上面.倘若不是采用建筑物这种形式,而是冒然写成书稿的形式,那它早就遭刽子手的毒手,当众被焚毁了;教堂门廊所体现的思想,早就目睹书籍所表现的思想所蒙受的苦难.既然只有营造术这条出路,思想要得见天日,就从四面八方急速汇集到建造术上来了.于是出现了许许多多大教堂,遍布整个欧洲,数目大的惊人,即使在核对之后,也令人难以置信.社会的全部物质力量和一切精神力量都会聚到同一点上:建筑艺术.这样,假借给上帝建造教堂,建筑艺术便发展起来,其规模蔚为壮观.
任何生为诗人的哪个人,都能成为建筑家.分散在群众当中的天才,处于封建制度统治下,就好象处在青铜盾牌硬壳下那般,各方受到压制,唯有从建筑艺术可以找到出路,便通过这门艺术纷纷涌现出来,于是其《伊利亚德》就采纳了大教堂这种形式.其他所有艺术,也随之甘拜下风,作为分支受建筑艺术所统辖.大师,诗人.建筑家.全部把雕刻.绘画.钟乐集中于一身:亲自为大教堂这伟大作品镌刻门面,为大教堂着色窗玻璃,为其击钟和奏鸣管风琴.就连那执意要在手稿中苟且偷生的可怜的诗歌本身,除非它不想有所作为,也必须以圣歌或散文的形式纳入教堂这建筑物.总而言之,这与希腊祭神节日演出埃斯库罗斯的悲剧以及所罗门寺庙演出《创世纪》一样,起着相等的作用.
所以,在古腾堡发明印刷术之前,主要的文字形式一直都是建筑艺术,普遍的文字形式.这本花岗岩的书始自东方,后被古希腊和古罗马所继承,中世纪给它写下了最后一页.再说,上面我们已经看到,在中世纪一种民众的建筑艺术取代了一种种姓等级制度的建筑艺术,这现象在历史上其他伟大时代里,随着人类智力相似的发展也曾有过.所以,这是仅仅叙述一种普遍规律,若是详述,得写成许多巨卷才行.在那原始时代摇篮的上古东方,继印度建筑之后的是腓尼基建筑,即体态丰盈的阿拉伯建筑之母;在古代,继埃及建筑-伊特鲁立亚风格与蛮石建筑物无非是其变种而已-希腊建筑在其后,后来的罗马风格只是一种延伸,加上许许多多迦太基圆顶而已;在近代,继罗曼建筑之后的是哥特式建筑.假如将这三个系列各分成两半,便可以在印度建筑.埃及建筑.罗曼建筑这三位姐姐身上发现相同的象征,即统一.等级.神权.教条.神话.上帝;至于腓尼基建筑.希腊建筑和哥特式建筑这三位妹妹,不论它们本质所固的形式如何千变万化,其含义是相同的,即民众.自由.人.
不论叫做婆罗门.袄教僧侣还是教皇,人们在印度建筑.埃及建筑或是罗马建筑中,总感到教士到处都是,除了教士别无其他.民众建筑便不是如此.这类建筑更为丰富多彩,且也不那么圣洁.腓尼基建筑有商人的气息;希腊建筑带有共和的气息;哥特式建筑则带有市民的气息.
任何神权建筑的普遍特征,是一成不变,墨守传统,惧怕进步的线条,崇奉原始的式样,常常莫名其妙地别出心裁,用象征来歪曲人和自然的一切形状.这是一些晦涩的书,只有那班被授以神秘教义的人方能读得懂.况且,不管什么形式,甚至任何奇形怪状,都含有某种意义,因而所有形式都成为不可侵犯的了.切莫要求埃及的.印度的.罗曼的营造术去改造其设计图,或者去改善其雕塑艺术.对它们来说,任何完善的尝试都是大逆不道的.这些建筑艺术中,僵化的教条似乎已扩散到石头上,仿佛再度石化一般.然而,与此相反,民众建筑的普遍特征是多样性,进步,新颖,丰富,恒动.宗教的束缚已被摆脱,可以考虑到建筑的优美,精心美化,不断提高塑像或花纹图案的装饰.这类建筑是世俗的,具有人的某种情趣,而又不断与神的象征相混合,依然在神的象征掩盖下呈现出来.所以不少建筑物是随便任何人.任何智力.任何想象力都能领悟的,尽管依旧带有象征性,却像大自然一样易于理解.在神权建筑与民众建筑之间,存在着从神圣语言到通俗语言.从所罗门到菲狄亚斯从象形到艺术的区别.
我们前面所说的一切极其简略,许许多多论据和成百上千种琐碎的非议均未涉及.如果是加以概括,便能得到如下的结论:直至十五世纪,建筑艺术一向是人类活动的主要记载;在此期间,世上出现任何复杂一些的思想,都化作了建筑物;任何人民性的观念,如同任何宗教法度一样,都有其宏伟的纪念碑;最后,人类任何重要的想法,全不被用石头记载了下来.那是什么缘故呢?因为任何思想,无论是宗教的还是哲学的,其所关注的是永世长存;曾震撼一代人心灵的观念,都希望能震撼其他世代,且留下痕迹.况且,听得的不朽的书稿,那是何等靠不住呀!一座建筑物才是一本结结实实的书,持久,坚固!一把火或者一个残暴之徒,就可以把书写的言词毁尽;而要把建筑的言词毁掉,那就得一场社会革命,一场尘世革命.野蛮人确曾践踏过古罗马竞技场,或许古埃及金字塔也经历过挪亚时代大洪水的泛滥哩.
到了十五世纪,一切都变了.
人类思想发现了一种可以永存的方法,它比建筑不但更坚固耐久,并且变得更简单了.建筑艺术遂失去了其宝座.奥尔甫斯的石头文字随即将被古腾堡的铅印文字所取代.
书籍将会毁灭建筑.
印刷术的发明,能称得上最伟大的事.那是革命母机,是人类表达方式的全面更新,是人类思想抛弃一种形式采用另一种形式的转换,是自从亚当以来代表着智慧.具有象征性的那条蛇最后一次彻头彻尾的改变.
在印刷形式下,思想比以往任何时候都更难以磨灭;它是飞翔的,逮也逮不住,毁也毁不了.它与空气混合在一起.在建筑艺术统治时代,思想变成一座座大山,气势雄伟地控制一个世纪,镇住一方地域.现在,思想变成一群鸟儿,四处飞散,既占据整个空间,又占领全部地面.
重复一遍也无妨,这样一来,思想就益发不可磨灭了,对此有谁还看不清楚?它从原先的坚实牢固,变成现在的朝气蓬勃,从有期变成不朽.一个庞大建筑物尽可夷平,然而那无所不在的思想,却如何根除呢?即使有大洪水来,大山会早被滚滚洪涛吞没了,那成群鸟儿却将依然凌空飞翔;而且,只要有一叶方舟在洪水上漂浮,群鸟便会飞来停下,同方舟一起漂流,一道观看洪水退去.从这场混乱中出现的新世界,一醒来就将看见那被淹没的世界的思想,长着翅膀,生气勃勃,在新世界的上空上翱翔.
只要人们一看到这种表达方式不但最易保存,而且还最简单.最方便.最易于大家所实行;只要人们一想到这种表达方式无须拖带粗大的铺盖卷,搬动一大堆笨工具是没必要的;只要人们把下述两个事实比较一下:思想为了变成建筑物,必须动用其他四.五种艺术.一吨吨的黄金.整座大山似的石料.整座森林般的木材.一整群一整群的工人,而思想化为书,只要少量的纸张.少许的墨水.一支鹅毛笔;那么,人类智慧舍弃建筑艺术而拥护印刷术,这有什么可大惊小怪的呢?要是在河床水位下挖一条渠道,截断原来的河床,河流定将舍弃原来的河床而改道.
由此可见,自从发明了印刷术,建筑艺术便逐渐干枯.衰微和败落了.人们多么强烈地感觉到,元气丧失,江河日下,各个时代和各个民族的思想都离开建筑艺术而去!这种冷落在十五世纪还几乎觉察不出来,那时候印刷机太弱小,最多只从强大的建筑艺术稍稍汲取一点过剩的生命力而已.可是从十六世纪起,建筑艺术的病症便显而易见,基本上不能再表达社会思潮了,怪可怜见地成为古典艺术,从高卢风格.欧洲风格.本地风格蜕变成为希腊和罗马风格,从真实和现代的风格成为假冒的古代风格.被称做文艺复兴的正是这种没落.话又说回来,这种没落倒也不失其壮丽,因为古老哥特风格的精灵,这轮沉落在美因兹巨大印刷机背后的夕阳,然而有时以其余晖,仍照射着那拉丁式拱廊和考林辛式柱廊互相混杂的整堆建筑物.
这分明是夕阳残照,我们却当做黎明的曙光.
而且,自从建筑艺术只是普普通通像其他任何艺术,自从它不再是包罗万象的艺术.至高无尚的艺术.独霸天下的艺术,再阻拦其他艺术它便没有力量了.因此其他艺术纷纷得到解放,粉碎建筑师的枷锁,各奔一方.每种艺术都在这分离中得到益处.各自分离,整体也就壮大了.雕刻变成了雕塑艺术,彩画变成了绘画艺术,卡农变成了音乐.这好象一个帝国在其亚历山大死后分崩离析,每个省份分别立为王国.
所以出现了拉斐尔.米凯朗琪罗.让.古戎.帕列斯特里纳这些在灿烂十六世纪赫赫有名的艺术家.
在艺术解放的同时,也解放了很多思想.中世纪的异端先辈们早把天主教打开了很大的缺口,十六世纪把宗教的一统天下粉碎了.印刷术出现之前,宗教改革无非是教派的分裂,有了印刷术,宗教改革却成了一场革命.即使还没有印刷机,异端邪说就会软弱无力.不论是注定也罢,天意也好,反正古腾堡是路德的先驱.
但是,中世纪的太阳已经完全沉落,哥特艺术的精灵已在艺术的天际殒灭,这时候,建筑艺术遂日益暗淡褪色,逐渐消失了.印刷的书籍简直是建筑物的蛀虫-,就吮吸其血液,啃蛀其骨肉.建筑艺术随即像树木一样,树皮剥落,树叶纷坠,明显地干瘪下去,成了庸俗,贫乏,毫无价值.它什么也不能表达,甚至连表示对一个时代艺术的回忆都不可能了.人类思想丢弃了它,其他各门艺术也就把它摒弃了,它沦落到孤家寡人的境况,由于没有艺术家问津,只得求助于工匠.于是,普通的白玻璃代替了教堂窗户上的彩绘玻璃,雕塑家被石匠接替了.什么活力啦,特色啦,生命力啦,智慧啦,都丧失殆尽了.建筑艺术成为可怜巴巴的工场乞丐,专靠模仿抄袭,赖以苟延残喘.还在十六世纪时,米凯朗琪罗大约就感到建筑艺术正在衰亡,最后灵机一动,孤注一掷,这位艺术巨人把万神祠堆砌在巴特农神庙上面,建筑了罗马的圣彼得教堂.这座教堂堪称至今仍然是举世无双的伟大作品,是建筑艺术史上最后的独创,是一位艺术泰斗在那本行将合上的宏伟石头史册下端留下的签名.米凯朗琪罗去世以后,建筑艺术在幽灵和阴影状态中苟延残喘,悲惨不堪,还能有什么作为呢?它就照抄圣彼得教堂,原封不动加以抄袭,不伦不类加以模仿.这成了一种怪癖,真是悲观无比.这样一来,每个世纪各有其罗马的圣彼得教堂,十七世纪有圣恩谷教堂,十八世纪有圣日芮维埃芙教堂.每个国家也都各有其罗马的圣彼得教堂,伦敦有伦敦的,彼得堡有彼得堡的,巴黎有巴黎的两三座.这是一种衰老的伟大艺术临终前回到童年时代的最后谵语,毫无含义的遗言.
诸如刚才提到的这些特点鲜明的古老建筑物,我们姑且不论,只对十六至十八世纪的艺术概貌稍加考察,便会发现同样衰颓和败落的现象.自从弗朗索瓦二世起,建筑物的艺术形式便逐渐消失了,几何形式崛起了,那模样真像一个瘦得皮包骨头的病人的骨架.建筑艺术的优美线条,让位给几何图形那种冷漠无情的线条.建筑物不再成为一座建筑物,而是一个多面体.但是,为了掩饰这种赤身裸体的丑态,建筑艺术倒也煞费苦心.看一看倒也无妨,罗马式的三角楣当中镶嵌着那希腊式的三角楣,或者相互错杂.千篇一律老是万神祠混和着巴特农神庙,总是罗马圣彼得教堂的式样.不妨再看一看亨利四世时代那种边角以石头砌成的砖房.王宫广场.太子广场.再看一后路易十三时代的那些教堂,扁塌塌,矮墩墩,胖嘟嘟,蜷缩一团,还加上一个大圆顶,活像一个驼背一样.再看一看那马扎兰式的建筑艺术,那座四邦大学真是意大利式的劣制品.瞧一瞧路易十四时代的那些宫殿,堪称朝臣们的长排营房,死板,阴森,让人生厌.最后,还再瞧一下路易十五时代的宫殿,饰满菊苣花形和通心粉似的细条纹,古老的建筑艺术原本已是风烛残年,缺牙豁口,却要被打扮的花里花俏,加上那般疣子和霉菌,结果反而面目皆非了.从弗朗索瓦二世到路易十五,建筑艺术的病症正以几何级数剧增,艺术只成了裹在骨头上的一层皮罢了,悲惨地奄奄一息了.
与此同时,印刷术的景况又怎样呢?全部离开建筑艺术的生命力,都来归附于印刷术.随着建筑艺术每况愈下,扩展壮大了印刷术.人类思想原来花费在建筑上面的大批力量,从此全用于书籍.于是从十六世纪起,在建筑艺术败落的同时而壮大起来的印刷术,就与它进行角逐,并把它置于死地.到了十七世纪,印刷术的天下已定,大功告成,坐稳了江山,可以令人欢欢喜喜,向世界宣称一个伟大文艺世纪的到来.到了十八世纪,在路易十四宫廷里长期得到休养的印刷术,重新操起路德的古剑,武装了伏尔泰,气势汹汹地猛冲过去,向古老的欧洲发起进攻,事实上,印刷术早已把欧洲的建筑表现方式消灭了.到了十八世纪行将结束时,印刷术已经摧毁了一切.直到十九世纪,重建才开始了.
然而,我们不妨目前要问一下,三个世纪以来,这两种艺术中到底是哪一种真正代表了人类思想呢?人类思想是怎么被表达出来?是哪一种不仅表现了人类思想对文学和经院哲学的种种癖好,并且还表现了其广阔.深刻和普遍的运动规律呢?是哪一种既不间断又不留空隙.时时刻刻和人类这行走着的千足怪物相迭合呢?究竟是建筑艺术还是印刷术?
当然是印刷术.可不要搞错了,建筑艺术已经死了,永远也不存在了,它是被印刷的书消灭的,是因为它不能那么耐久而被消灭的,也是由于它过于昂贵而被消灭的.任何大教堂,造价就达十亿之巨.请设想一下,需要投资多少,才能重写建筑艺术这部书,才能重新在大地上星罗棋布地盖起千万座建筑,方能重返昔日的鼎盛时代,那时宏伟的建筑物成群,正如一个目击者所云,"仿佛这个世界晃动着身子,脱掉原来的衣服,穿上一身教会的白衣裳."(格拉贝.拉杜尔菲斯)
一本书一下子就印好了,所费不多,而且还可以远为流传!人类的全部思想,如同水往低处流,都沿着这斜坡倾注,这也没什么奇怪的?这并不是说建筑艺术再也不会在其它地方造起一座美丽的宏传建筑,一件单独的杰作.在印刷术统治之下,确实还有可能不时看到一根圆柱,我想那是由全军用缴获的大炮熔铸而成的,就像在建筑艺术统治时期的《伊利亚特》和《罗芒斯罗》.《摩诃婆罗多》和《尼伯龙根之歌》一样,都由全体民众对许多行吟史诗加之兼收并蓄和融合而成的.二十世纪突然出现一位天才建筑家是可能的,就好比十三世纪突然出现但丁一样.但到了那时,建筑艺术不再是社会的艺术,集体的艺术,支配的艺术了.人类的伟大诗篇,伟大建筑,伟大作品,不必再通过建筑形式去修建,而是利用印刷就行了.
从此之后,可能再复兴建筑艺术,但再也不可能以它为主了.它将接受文学规律的支配,就像文学过去接受建筑艺术规律的支配那样.这两种艺术的各自地位是能够互相转换的.在建筑艺术的统治时代,伟大的诗篇虽然寥寥无几,却有如雄伟的建筑,这倒是千真万确的.印度的毗耶娑冗长繁杂,风格奇异,难以识透,就如一座巨塔一般,埃及东部的诗歌,好比建筑物一样,线条雄伟又稳重;古希腊的诗歌,平稳,安谧,瑰丽.基督教欧洲的诗歌,拥有天主教的威严,民众的朴实,一个复兴时代的那种丰富多采和欣欣向荣.《圣经》好像金字塔,《伊利亚德》好像巴特农神庙,荷马好像菲狄亚斯.十三世纪,但丁成为最后一座罗曼式教堂;十六世纪,莎士比亚是最后一座哥特式大教堂.
到此为止,我们所说的必定是挂一漏万,有失偏颇,但概括起来,人类有两种书籍,两种纪事,两种约典,也就是印刷术和营造术,也即是石写的圣经和纸写的圣经.这两部圣经在各个时代都是大大敞开着的,当今我们注视他们,不免会缅怀花岗岩字体那种显而易见的壮丽,缅怀那用柱廊.方尖.塔门碑写成的巨大字母,缅怀那遍布世界的一座座人类筑成的高山,缅怀从金字塔直到钟楼.从凯奥甫斯直到斯特拉斯堡那悠悠岁月.应该重温一下那写在大理石书页上的往昔历史,应当不断赞赏和翻阅建筑艺术这部巨著,但是,可别否认由继起的印刷术所筑成的这座建筑物之伟大.
这座建筑物庞大无比.不知是哪位自命不凡的统计员曾经计算过,如果把古腾堡以来所印出来的全部书籍,一本本累在一本上面,可以从地球一直堆到月球上去.但是,我们要说的并不是这种伟大.话又说回来,如果我们千方百计想对迄今为止的印刷全貌有个总的印象,这全貌难道不像一座竖立在全球上的广大无边的建筑吗?至今人类对这一建筑还不懈从事,它那庞大无朋的头部还隐没在未来的茫茫的云雾里哩.这是想象力的蜂窝,这是智慧的蚁巢;人类各种想象力好像金色的蜜蜂,带着花蜜纷纷飞来了.这座建筑有千百层,到处可以看到其内部纵横交错.非常巧妙的暗穴,每个都向着栏杆楼梯.表面上,蔓藤花纹.圆花窗和花边装饰,比比皆是,令人目不暇接.每一作品,看起来仿佛是那么随心所欲,那么形单影只,其实都有自己的位置,各有其特点.整体是和谐的.从莎士比亚的大教堂直到拜伦的清真寺,成千上万小钟楼杂沓纷陈,充斥着这座一切思想结晶的大都市.在其底层,往身建筑艺术未曾记录过的人类某些古老篇名,也被添写上了.入口的左边,刻着荷马白大理石的古老浮雕,右边刻着抬起七个头的多种文字写的《圣经》.再过去是罗芒斯罗那七头蛇,还有另外一些混杂的怪物,诸如《吠陀》和《尼伯龙根之歌》.而且,这座奇妙的建筑物一直并没有竣工.印刷机这一庞大的机器,社会的智依不停地被某吸取,不断为这座建筑吐出新的材料.全人类都在手脚架上忙碌着,有才智的人个个都是泥水匠,最低下的人也堵洞的堵洞,垒石的垒石.雷蒂夫.德.拉.布雷东纳也背来他那一筐灰泥.每天都有新的一层砖石砌高起来.除非全部作家都出钱投资,还有集体的贡献.十八世纪贡献了《百科全书》,大革命贡献了《导报》.的确,那也是一项与日俱增.永无止境地螺旋式往上堆积的工程;也是各种语言的混合,持续不懈的劳作,永不停息的活动,全人类的通力合作,保障智慧可以应付再次大洪水的泛滥和应付蛮族入侵的避难所.这是人类第二座通天的巴别塔.

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凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK SIXTH CHAPTER I.AN IMPARTIAL GLANCE AT THE ANCIENT MAGISTRACY.》
A very happy personage in the year of grace 1482, was the noble gentleman Robert d'Estouteville, chevalier, Sieur de Beyne, Baron d'Ivry and Saint Andry en la Marche, counsellor and chamberlain to the king, and guard of the provostship of paris.It was already nearly seventeen years since he had received from the king, on November 7, 1465, the comet year,* that fine charge of the provostship of paris, which was reputed rather a seigneury than an office.~Dignitas~, says Joannes Loemnoeus, ~quoe cum non exigua potestate politiam concernente, atque proerogativis multis et juribus conjuncta est~.A marvellous thing in '82 was a gentleman bearing the king's commission, and whose letters of institution ran back to the epoch of the marriage of the natural daughter of Louis XI. with Monsieur the Bastard of Bourbon.
*This comet against which pope Calixtus, uncle of Borgia, ordered public prayers, is the same which reappeared in 1835.
The same day on which Robert d'Estouteville took the place of Jacques de Villiers in the provostship of paris, Master Jehan Dauvet replaced Messire Helye de Thorrettes in the first presidency of the Court of parliament, Jehan Jouvenel des Ursins supplanted pierre de Morvilliers in the office of chancellor of France, Regnault des Dormans ousted pierre puy from the charge of master of requests in ordinary of the king's household.Now, upon how many heads had the presidency, the chancellorship, the mastership passed since Robert d'Estouteville had held the provostship of paris.It had been "granted to him for safekeeping," as the letters patent said; and certainly he kept it well.He had clung to it, he had incorporated himself with it, he had so identified himself with it that he had escaped that fury for change which possessed Louis XI., a tormenting and industrious king, whose policy it was to maintain the elasticity of his power by frequent appointments and revocations.More than this; the brave chevalier had obtained the reversion of the office for his son, and for two years already, the name of the noble man Jacques d'Estouteville, equerry, had figured beside his at the head of the register of the salary list of the provostship of paris.A rare and notable favor indeed!It is true that Robert d'Estouteville was a good soldier, that he had loyally raised his pennon against "the league of public good," and that he had presented to the queen a very marvellous stag in confectionery on the day of her entrance to paris in 14... Moreover, he possessed the good friendship of Messire Tristan l'Hermite, provost of the marshals of the king's household. Hence a very sweet and pleasant existence was that of Messire Robert.In the first place, very good wages, to which were attached, and from which hung, like extra bunches of grapes on his vine, the revenues of the civil and criminal registries of the provostship, plus the civil and criminal revenues of the tribunals of Embas of the Chatelet, without reckoning some little toll from the bridges of Mantes and of Corbeil, and the profits on the craft of Shagreen-makers of paris, on the corders of firewood and the measurers of salt. Add to this the pleasure of displaying himself in rides about the city, and of making his fine military costume, which you may still admire sculptured on his tomb in the abbey of Valmont in Normandy, and his morion, all embossed at Montlhéry, stand out a contrast against the parti-colored red and tawny robes of the aldermen and police.And then, was it nothing to wield absolute supremacy over the sergeants of the police, the porter and watch of the Chatelet, the two auditors of the Chatelet, ~auditores castelleti~, the sixteen commissioners of the sixteen quarters, the jailer of the Chatelet, the four enfeoffed sergeants, the hundred and twenty mounted sergeants, with maces, the chevalier of the watch with his watch, his sub-watch, his counter-watch and his rear-watch? Was it nothing to exercise high and low justice, the right to interrogate, to hang and to draw, without reckoning petty jurisdiction in the first resort (~in prima instantia~, as the charters say), on that viscomty of paris, so nobly appanaged with seven noble bailiwicks?Can anything sweeter be imagined than rendering judgments and decisions, as Messire Robert d'Estouteville daily did in the Grand Chatelet, under the large and flattened arches of philip Augustus? and going, as he was wont to do every evening, to that charming house situated in the Rue Galilee, in the enclosure of the royal palace, which he held in right of his wife, Madame Ambroise de Lore, to repose after the fatigue of having sent some poor wretch to pass the night in "that little cell of the Rue de Escorcherie, which the provosts and aldermen of paris used to make their prison; the same being eleven feet long, seven feet and four inches wide, and eleven feet high?"*
*Comptes du domaine, 1383.
And not only had Messire Robert d'Estouteville his special court as provost and vicomte of paris; but in addition he had a share, both for eye and tooth, in the grand court of the king.There was no head in the least elevated which had not passed through his hands before it came to the headsman.It was he who went to seek M. de Nemours at the Bastille Saint Antoine, in order to conduct him to the Halles; and to conduct to the Grève M. de Saint-pol, who clamored and resisted, to the great joy of the provost, who did not love monsieur the constable.
Here, assuredly, is more than sufficient to render a life happy and illustrious, and to deserve some day a notable page in that interesting history of the provosts of paris, where one learns that Oudard de Villeneuve had a house in the Rue des Boucheries, that Guillaume de Hangest purchased the great and the little Savoy, that Guillaume Thiboust gave the nuns of Sainte-Geneviève his houses in the Rue Clopin, that Hugues Aubriot lived in the H?tel du pore-Epic, and other domestic facts.
Nevertheless, with so many reasons for taking life patiently and joyously, Messire Robert d'Estouteville woke up on the morning of the seventh of January, 1482, in a very surly and peevish mood.Whence came this ill temper?He could not have told himself.Was it because the sky was gray? or was the buckle of his old belt of Montlhéry badly fastened, so that it confined his provostal portliness too closely? had he beheld ribald fellows, marching in bands of four, beneath his window, and setting him at defiance, in doublets but no shirts, hats without crowns, with wallet and bottle at their side? Was it a vague presentiment of the three hundred and seventy livres, sixteen sous, eight farthings, which the future King Charles VII. was to cut off from the provostship in the following year?The reader can take his choice; we, for our part, are much inclined to believe that he was in a bad humor, simply because he was in a bad humor.
Moreover, it was the day after a festival, a tiresome day for every one, and above all for the magistrate who is charged with sweeping away all the filth, properly and figuratively speaking, which a festival day produces in paris.And then he had to hold a sitting at the Grand Chatelet.Now, we have noticed that judges in general so arrange matters that their day of audience shall also be their day of bad humor, so that they may always have some one upon whom to vent it conveniently, in the name of the king, law, and justice.
However, the audience had begun without him.His lieutenants, civil, criminal, and private, were doing his work, according to usage; and from eight o'clock in the morning, some scores of bourgeois and ~bourgeoises~, heaped and crowded into an obscure corner of the audience chamber of Embas du Chatelet, between a stout oaken barrier and the wall, had been gazing blissfully at the varied and cheerful spectacle of civil and criminal justice dispensed by Master Florian Barbedienne,
auditor of the Chatelet, lieutenant of monsieur the provost, in a somewhat confused and utterly haphazard manner.
The hall was small, low, vaulted.A table studded with fleurs-de-lis stood at one end, with a large arm-chair of carved oak, which belonged to the provost and was empty, and a stool on the left for the auditor, Master Florian.Below sat the clerk of the court, scribbling; opposite was the populace; and in front of the door, and in front of the table were many sergeants of the provostship in sleeveless jackets of violet camlet, with white crosses.Two sergeants of the parloir- aux-Bourgeois, clothed in their jackets of Toussaint, half red, half blue, were posted as sentinels before a low, closed door, which was visible at the extremity of the hall, behind the table.A single pointed window, narrowly encased in the thick wall, illuminated with a pale ray of January sun two grotesque figures,--the capricious demon of stone carved as a tail-piece in the keystone of the vaulted ceiling, and the judge seated at the end of the hall on the fleurs-de-lis.
Imagine, in fact, at the provost's table, leaning upon his elbows between two bundles of documents of cases, with his foot on the train of his robe of plain brown cloth, his face buried in his hood of white lamb's skin, of which his brows seemed to be of a piece, red, crabbed, winking, bearing majestically the load of fat on his cheeks which met under his chin, Master Florian Barbedienne, auditor of the Chatelet.
Now, the auditor was deaf.A slight defect in an auditor. Master Florian delivered judgment, none the less, without appeal and very suitably.It is certainly quite sufficient for a judge to have the .air of listening; and the venerable auditor fulfilled this condition, the sole one in justice, all the better because his attention could not be distracted by any noise.
Moreover, he had in the audience, a pitiless censor of his deeds and gestures, in the person of our friend Jehan Frollo du Moulin, that little student of yesterday, that "stroller," whom one was sure of encountering all over paris, anywhere except before the rostrums of the professors.
"Stay," he said in a low tone to his companion, Robin poussepain, who was grinning at his side, while he was making his comments on the scenes which were being unfolded before his eyes, "yonder is Jehanneton du Buisson.The beautiful daughter of the lazy dog at the Marché-Neuf!--Upon my soul, he is condemning her, the old rascal! he has no more eyes than ears.Fifteen sous, four farthings, parisian, for having worn two rosaries!'Tis somewhat dear.~Lex duri carminis~.Who's that?Robin Chief-de-Ville, hauberkmaker.For having been passed and received master of the said trade!That's his entrance money.He! two gentlemen among these knaves!Aiglet de Soins, Hutin de Mailly Two equerries, ~Corpus Christi~!Ah! they have been playing at dice.When shall I see our rector here?A hundred livres parisian, fine to the king!That Barbedienne strikes like a deaf man,--as he is!I'll be my brother the archdeacon, if that keeps me from gaming; gaming by day, gaming by night, living at play, dying at play, and gaming away my soul after my shirt.Holy Virgin, what damsels!One after the other my lambs.Ambroise Lécuyere, Isabeau la paynette, Bérarde Gironin!I know them all, by Heavens!A fine! a fine! That's what will teach you to wear gilded girdles! ten sous parisis! you coquettes!Oh! the old snout of a judge! deaf and imbecile!Oh!Florian the dolt!Oh!Barbedienne the blockhead!There he is at the table!He's eating the plaintiff, he's eating the suits, he eats, he chews, he crams, he fills himself.Fines, lost goods, taxes, expenses, loyal charges, salaries, damages, and interests, gehenna, prison, and jail, and fetters with expenses are Christmas spice cake and marchpanes of Saint-John to him!Look at him, the pig!--Come! Good!Another amorous woman!Thibaud-la-Thibaude, neither more nor less!For having come from the Rue Glatigny!What fellow is this?Gieffroy Mabonne, gendarme bearing the crossbow.He has cursed the name of the Father.A fine for la Thibaude!A fine for Gieffroy!A fine for them both!The deaf old fool! he must have mixed up the two cases!Ten to one that he makes the wench pay for the oath and the gendarme for the amour!Attention, Robin poussepain!What are they going to bring in?Here are many sergeants!By Jupiter! all the bloodhounds of the pack are there.It must be the great beast of the hunt--a wild boar.And 'tis one, Robin, 'tis one.And a fine one too! ~Hercle~! 'tis our prince of yesterday, our pope of the Fools, our bellringer, our one-eyed man, our hunchback, our grimace! 'Tis Quasimodo!"
It was he indeed.
It was Quasimodo, bound, encircled, roped, pinioned, and under good guard.The squad of policemen who surrounded him was assisted by the chevalier of the watch in person, wearing the arms of France embroidered on his breast, and the arms of the city on his back.There was nothing, however, about Quasimodo, except his deformity, which could justify the display of halberds and arquebuses; he was gloomy, silent, and tranquil.Only now and then did his single eye cast a sly and wrathful glance upon the bonds with which he was loaded.
He cast the same glance about him, but it was so dull and sleepy that the women only pointed him out to each other in derision.
Meanwhile Master Florian, the auditor, turned over attentively the document in the complaint entered against Quasimodo, which the clerk handed him, and, having thus glanced at it, appeared to reflect for a moment.Thanks to this precaution, which he always was careful to take at the moment when on the point of beginning an examination, he knew beforehand the names, titles, and misdeeds of the accused, made cut and dried responses to questions foreseen, and succeeded in extricating himself from all the windings of the interrogation without allowing his deafness to be too apparent.The written charges were to him what the dog is to the blind man.If his deafness did happen to betray him here and there, by some incoherent apostrophe or some unintelligible question, it passed for profundity with some, and for imbecility with others.In neither case did the honor of the magistracy sustain any injury; for it is far better that a judge should be reputed imbecile or profound than deaf.Hence he took great care to conceal his deafness from the eyes of all, and he generally succeeded so well that he had reached the point of deluding himself, which is, by the way, easier than is supposed.All hunchbacks walk with their heads held high, all stutterers harangue, all deaf people speak low.As for him, he believed, at the most, that his ear was a little refractory.It was the sole concession which he made on this point to public opinion, in his moments of frankness and examination of his conscience.
Having, then, thoroughly ruminated Quasimodo's affair, he threw back his head and half closed his eyes, for the sake of more majesty and impartiality, so that, at that moment, he was both deaf and blind.A double condition, without which no judge is perfect.It was in this magisterial attitude that he began the examination.
"Your name?"
Now this was a case which had not been "provided for by law," where a deaf man should be obliged to question a deaf man.
Quasimodo, whom nothing warned that a question had been addressed to him, continued to stare intently at the judge, and made no reply.The judge, being deaf, and being in no way warned of the deafness of the accused, thought that the latter had answered, as all accused do in general, and therefore he pursued, with his mechanical and stupid self-possession,--
"Very well.And your age?"
Again Quasimodo made no reply to this question.The judge supposed that it had been replied to, and continued,--
"Now, your profession?"
Still the same silence.The spectators had begun, meanwhile, to whisper together, and to exchange glances.
"That will do," went on the imperturbable auditor, when he supposed that the accused had finished his third reply."You are accused before us, ~primo~, of nocturnal disturbance; ~secundo~, of a dishonorable act of violence upon the person of a foolish woman, ~in proejudicium meretricis; tertio~, of rebellion and disloyalty towards the archers of the police of our lord, the king.Explain yourself upon all these points.---Clerk, have you written down what the prisoner has said thus far?"
At this unlucky question, a burst of laughter rose from the clerk's table caught by the audience, so violent, so wild, so contagious, so universal, that the two deaf men were forced to perceive it.Quasimodo turned round, shrugging his hump with disdain, while Master Florian, equally astonished, and supposing that the laughter of the spectators had been provoked by some irreverent reply from the accused, rendered visible to him by that shrug of the shoulders, apostrophized him indignantly,--
"You have uttered a reply, knave, which deserves the halter. Do you know to whom you are speaking?"
This sally was not fitted to arrest the explosion of general merriment.It struck all as so whimsical, and so ridiculous, that the wild laughter even attacked the sergeants of the parloi- aux-Bourgeois, a sort of pikemen, whose stupidity was part of their uniform.Quasimodo alone preserved his seriousness, for the good reason that he understood nothing of what was going on around him.The judge, more and more irritated, thought it his duty to continue in the same tone, hoping thereby to strike the accused with a terror which should react upon the audience, and bring it back to respect.
"So this is as much as to say, perverse and thieving knave that you are, that you permit yourself to be lacking in respect towards the Auditor of the Chatelet, to the magistrate committed to the popular police of paris, charged with searching out crimes, delinquencies, and evil conduct; with controlling all trades, and interdicting monopoly; with maintaining the pavements; with debarring the hucksters of chickens, poultry, and water-fowl; of superintending the measuring of fagots and other sorts of wood; of purging the city of mud, and the air of contagious maladies; in a word, with attending continually to public affairs, without wages or hope of salary!Do you know that I am called Florian Barbedienne, actual lieutenant to monsieur the provost, and, moreover, commissioner, inquisitor, controller, and examiner, with equal power in provostship, bailiwick, preservation, and inferior court of judicature?--"
There is no reason why a deaf man talking to a deaf man should stop.God knows where and when Master Florian would have landed, when thus launched at full speed in lofty eloquence, if the low door at the extreme end of the room had not suddenly opened, and given entrance to the provost in person.At his entrance Master Florian did not stop short, but, making a half-turn on his heels, and aiming at the provost the harangue with which he had been withering Quasimodo a moment before,--
"Monseigneur," said he, "I demand such penalty as you shall deem fitting against the prisoner here present, for grave and aggravated offence against the court."
And he seated himself, utterly breathless, wiping away the great drops of sweat which fell from his brow and drenched, like tears, the parchments spread out before him.Messire Robert d'Estouteville frowned and made a gesture so imperious and significant to Quasimodo, that the deaf man in some measure understood it.
The provost addressed him with severity, "What have you done that you have been brought hither, knave?"
The poor fellow, supposing that the provost was asking his name, broke the silence which he habitually preserved, and replied, in a harsh and guttural voice, "Quasimodo."
The reply matched the question so little that the wild laugh began to circulate once more, and Messire Robert exclaimed, red with wrath,--
"Are you mocking me also, you arrant knave?"
"Bellringer of Notre-Dame," replied Quasimodo, supposing that what was required of him was to explain to the judge who he was.
"Bellringer!" interpolated the provost, who had waked up early enough to be in a sufficiently bad temper, as we have said, not to require to have his fury inflamed by such strange responses."Bellringer!I'll play you a chime of rods on your back through the squares of paris!Do you hear, knave?"
"If it is my age that you wish to know," said Quasimodo, "I think that I shall be twenty at Saint Martin's day."
This was too much; the provost could no longer restrain himself.
"Ah! you are scoffing at the provostship, wretch!Messieurs the sergeants of the mace, you will take me this knave to the pillory of the Grève, you will flog him, and turn him for an hour.He shall pay me for it, ~tête Dieu~!And I order that the present judgment shall be cried, with the assistance of four sworn trumpeters, in the seven castellanies of the viscomty of paris."
The clerk set to work incontinently to draw up the account of the sentence.
"~Ventre Dieu~! 'tis well adjudged!" cried the little scholar, Jehan Frollo du Moulin, from his corner.
The provost turned and fixed his flashing eyes once more on Quasimodo."I believe the knave said '~Ventre Dieu~' Clerk, add twelve deniers parisian for the oath, and let the vestry of Saint Eustache have the half of it; I have a particular devotion for Saint Eustache."
In a few minutes the sentence was drawn up.Its tenor was simple and brief.The customs of the provostship and the viscomty had not yet been worked over by president Thibaut Baillet, and by Roger Barmne, the king's advocate; they had not been obstructed, at that time, by that lofty hedge of quibbles and procedures, which the two jurisconsults planted there at the beginning of the sixteenth century.All was clear, expeditious, explicit.One went straight to the point then, and at the end of every path there was immediately visible, without thickets and without turnings; the wheel, the gibbet, or the pillory.One at least knew whither one was going.
The clerk presented the sentence to the provost, who affixed his seal to it, and departed to pursue his round of the audience hall, in a frame of mind which seemed destined to fill all the jails in paris that day.Jehan Frollo and Robin poussepain laughed in their sleeves.Quasimodo gazed on the whole with an indifferent and astonished air.
However, at the moment when Master Florian Barbedienne was reading the sentence in his turn, before signing it, the clerk felt himself moved with pity for the poor wretch of a prisoner, and, in the hope of obtaining some mitigation of the penalty, he approached as near the auditor's ear as possible, and said, pointing to Quasimodo, "That man is deaf."
He hoped that this community of infirmity would awaken Master Florian's interest in behalf of the condemned man. But, in the first place, we have already observed that Master Florian did not care to have his deafness noticed.In the next place, he was so hard of hearing That he did not catch a single word of what the clerk said to him; nevertheless, he wished to have the appearance of hearing, and replied, "Ah! ah! that is different; I did not know that.An hour more of the pillory, in that case."
And he signed the sentence thus modified.
"'Tis well done," said Robin poussepain, who cherished a grudge against Quasimodo."That will teach him to handle people roughly."

《第六卷 一 古时司法公正一瞥》
一四八二年,贵人罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔确实是官运亨通,身兼骑士.贝纳领地的领主.芒什省伊弗里和圣安德里两地的男爵.巴黎的司法长官.国王的参事和侍从.事实上,约在十年前,在一四六五年也就是彗星出现的那一年十一月七日,他就奉谕担任了司法长官这一美差了.这差使之所以名扬远近,与其说是官职,倒不如说是所赏赐的领地.若阿纳.勒姆纳斯就说过,这一官职不仅在治安方面权力不小,而且还兼有许多司法特权一个宫内侍从得到王上的委派,而且委派的诏书却远在和波旁的私生子殿下联姻的路易十一的私生女时期,这在一四八二年可是一件不可思议的事情.罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔接替雅克.德.维利埃为巴黎司法长官的职位的同一天,让.多维老爷代替埃利.德.托雷特老爷为大理寺正卿;让.儒弗内尔.德.于尔森取代皮埃多尔.德.莫维利埃,继任法兰西掌玺大臣;任命雷尼奥.德尔芒取替皮埃尔.毕伊,继任王宫普通案件的审查主管,叫毕伊懊恼万分.不过,自从罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔担任巴黎司法长官以来,正卿.掌玺大臣.主管不知更迭了多少人呵!但给他的诏书上明明白白地写着赐予连任,他当然始终保持着其职位.他拼命抓住这个职位不放,同它化为一体,合而为一,以至于竟能逃脱了路易十一疯狂撤换朝臣的厄运.这位国王猜疑成性,爱耍弄人,却又非常勤奋,热衷于以频繁的委任和撤换的方式来保持其权力的弹性.除此外,这位勇敢的骑士还为其子已经求得承袭他职位的封荫,其子雅克.德.埃斯杜特维尔贵人作为骑士侍从,两年前已经列在其父名字的旁边.到巴黎司法衙门俸禄簿之首了.当然啦,这真是少有的隆恩!的确,罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔是个好士兵,曾经忠心耿耿,高举三角旗反对过公益同盟,曾在一四××年王后莅临巴黎的那天,献给她一只奇妙无比的蜜饯雄鹿.还有,他同宫廷的御马总监特里斯唐.莱尔米特老爷的交情很好.所以罗贝尔老爷的日子过得非常称心如意,十分快活.首先,他有十分丰厚的官俸,还额外加上司法衙门民事案件和刑事案件书记室的收入,就好似其葡萄园里挂满一串串好似葡萄,附的附,垂的垂;还有小堡的昂巴法庭民事和刑事诉讼案的收入,还不算芒特桥和科尔贝伊桥其种小额过桥税,还有巴黎的柴禾捆扎税.食盐过秤税.此外,还有一种乐趣,那就是带着马队在城里巡视时,混杂在那群穿着半红半褐色的助理法官和区警官们中间,夸耀他那身漂亮战袍的乐趣,这战袍雕刻在诺曼底地区瓦尔蒙修道院他的坟墓上,至今还可以见到,他那顶布满花饰的头盔,在蒙列里.再则,他大权在握,能称王称霸,手下掌管十二名捕头,小堡的一名门卫兼警戒,小堡法庭的两名办案助理,巴黎十六个地区的十六个公安委员,四名有采邑的执达吏,小堡的狱吏,一百二十名骑马捕快,一百二十名执仗捕快,巡夜骑士以及巡逻队.巡逻分队.巡逻检查队和巡逻后卫队,所有这些难道算不了什么吗?他行使高级司法权和初级司法权,施展碾刑.绞刑和拖刑的权力,姑且不说宪章上所规定的给予对巴黎子爵领地.包括无尚荣光地及其所属七个典吏封邑的初审司法权,难道这也称不上什么吗?像罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔老爷每天都坐在大堡里那座菲利浦—奥古斯特式宽阔而扁平的圆拱下,做出种种判决,难道能想象得出有什么比这更美妙的吗?他的妻子昂布鲁瓦丝.德.洛蕾夫人名下所有一座精巧而别致的宅第,座落在加利利街王宫的附近,罗贝尔老爷白天忙于把某个可怜虫打发到"剥皮场街那间小笼子"里去过夜,每天晚上习惯到那座别致的宅第去消除一天的劳苦,难道有什么比这更让人惬意的吗?那种小笼子是"巴黎的司法官和助理法官们都情愿做为牢房用的,只有七尺四寸宽,十一尺长,十一尺高."
罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔老爷不但拥有巴黎司法官和子爵的特别审判权,而且还使出浑身解数,插手国王的最高判决.一个略居高位的人一个也没有,不是先经由他的手才交给刽子手斩首的.到圣安东的巴士底监狱去把德.纳穆尔公爵大人带到菜市场断头台的是他,将德.圣皮尔元帅大人带到河滩断头台的仍是他;这位元帅被押赴刑场时满腹愤恨,又叫又嚷,这叫同法官大人眉开眼笑,乐不可支,他原本就不喜欢这位提督大人.
诚然,要论荣华富贵,要论名留青史,终有一日能在那部有趣的巴黎司法官史册上占有显著的一页,上面所描述的这一切已绰绰有余了.从那部史册上可以得知,乌达尔.德.维尔内夫只在屠宰场街有一座府第,吉约姆.德.昂加斯特就购置大小萨瓦府第,吉约姆.蒂布将他在克洛潘街所有的房屋赠送给圣日芮维埃芙教堂的修女们,于格.奥布里奥才住在豪猪街大厦,以及另外一部分家事记载.
可是,虽然有这么多理由可以安安稳稳.高高兴兴过日子,罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔老爷一四八二年一月七日清晨醒来,却闷闷不乐,心情坏极了.这种心情从何而来的呢?他自己要说也说不清.是不是由于天色灰暗?是不是由于他那条蒙列里式旧皮条不合适,束得太紧,司法官发福的贵体感到难受?是不是因为他看见窗下有帮游民,紧身短上衣里没穿衬衫,帽子没有了顶,腰挂酒瓶,肩搭褡裢,四个一排从街上走过去,还敢嘲笑他?是不是由于隐约预感到未来的国君查理八世来年将从司法官薪俸中扣除三百七十利弗尔十六索尔八德尼埃?看官可以随便选择.至于我们,我们倒倾向于认为,他之所以心情欠佳,就是仅仅只是因为他心情欠佳而已.再则,这是节日的第二天,大家都感到厌倦的日子,特别对于负责把节日给巴黎造成的全部垃圾-本意和引义的垃圾-清除干净的官吏来说更是这样,何况他还得赶去大堡开庭哩.话说回来,我们已经留心到,法官们经常在出庭的那一天,设法使自己心情不好,其目的是可以随时找个人,借国王.法律和正义的名义,痛痛快快地往他身上发泄怒气.
但是,法庭没有等他就开庭了.他那班管刑事诉讼.民事诉讼和特别诉讼的副长官们,照例代他干了起来.自从早上八点起,小堡的昂巴法庭的一个阴暗角落里,在一道坚实的橡木栅栏和一堵墙壁中间,挤压着几十个男女市民,从心旷神怡,旁听司法长官大人的副手以及小堡法庭预审法官弗洛里昂.巴伯迪安老爷对民事和刑事案件有点颠三倒四和随随便便的判决,这的确是五花八门.让人愉悦的一出好戏.
审判厅狭小,低矮,拱顶.大厅深处摆放着一张百合花饰的桌子,一张雕花的橡木高靠背椅,那是司法长官的尊座,当时没人坐.左边是一只给预审法官弗洛里昂老爷坐的凳子.下边坐着书记官,只见他漫不经心地涂写着.对面是旁听的民众.门前和桌前站着司法衙门的许多捕快,人人穿着缀有白十字的紫毛绒的短披褂.市民接待室的两个捕快身穿半蓝半红的万圣节的短衣,站在大厅深处桌子后面一道紧闭的矮门前放哨.厚墙上只有一扇尖拱小窗,从窗上射进来一道的惨白光线,正照着两张古怪的面孔:一张是作为悬饰的石头怪魔刻在拱顶石上,另外一张是坐在审判厅深处百合花上面的法官.
这位小堡的预审法官弗洛里昂.巴伯迪安老爷高坐在司法长官的公案上,身子两侧堆着两叠卷宗,双肘支着头,一只脚踏在纯棕色呢袍子的下摆上,脸孔缩在白羊羔皮衣领里,两道眉毛被衣领一衬托,仿佛显得格外分明,脸色通红,神态粗暴,眼睛巴拉巴拉直眨着,一脸横肉,威风凛凛,两边腮帮直垂到颔下连在一起.说句实话,你们不妨把这一切综合起来想象一下,便可清楚这位法官的尊容了.
但是,预审法官是个聋子.这对一个预审法官来说,不过是一个轻微的缺陷罢了.弗洛里昂虽然耳聋,却照样终审判决,而且判得十分恰如其份.真的,当一个审判官,只要装做在听的样子就够了,但这位可敬的预审法官对公正审判这唯一的基本条件是恰当不过了,因为他的注意力是绝对不会受任何声音所打扰的.
而且在听众席上有一个人,铁面无情,严密监视着预审法官的举止言行,他就是我们的朋友磨坊的约翰.弗罗洛,这个往日的学子,这个行人,在巴黎肯定随时随地都能不能遇见他,只有在教授的讲台前面除外,就不见其踪影.
"喂!"他对身旁冷冷笑着的同伴罗班.普斯潘悄悄说道,就眼前的情景议论开了."看,那是雅内敦.德.比松,新市场那个懒家伙的漂亮小妞!-活见鬼,这个老东西还判她的罪!这么说来,他不仅没有耳朵,连也没有眼睛啦.她戴了两串珠子,就罚了她十五索尔四德尼埃!这有点太重吧.法律严酷的条款.那个是谁?是铠甲匠罗班.谢夫—德—维尔!-就由于他满师而成了这一行的师傅吗?-那可是他交的入场费呗.-嘿!那些坏蛋当中还有两位贵族哩!艾格莱.德.苏安和于丁.德.马伊.两个骑士侍从,基督的身子呀!啊!他们是由于赌骰子来着.什么时候才能在这里看到我们的学董受审呢?看见他被罚一百巴黎利弗尔送给国王才好哩!作为一个聋子-巴伯迪安的确是聋得可以-这种巴伯迪安式的聋子可是稳扎稳打呐!-我真如果想成了我当副主教的哥哥,如果那样的话,我就不会去赌博,白天也赌,夜里也赌,活着赌,死也赌,连衬衣都输光了,就以我的灵魂做赌注!-圣母啊!这么多美丽姑娘!一个接一个,可爱的小妞们!那是昂布鲁瓦丝.莱居埃尔!那是芳名叫佩依芮特的伊莎博!那是贝拉德.吉罗宁!上帝可作证,她们个个我都认识!罚款!罚款!这下真是太棒了,谁教你们扎着镀金的腰带呢!十个巴黎索尔!骚娘们!-唉!这个老丑八怪法官,又聋又蠢!唉!弗洛里昂这笨蛋!唉!巴伯迪安这蠢货!着他俨然在宴席上!吃着官司案件,吃着诉讼人的肉,嚼着,吃着,吃得肚胀,撑得肠满.什么罚金啦,什么无主物没收啦,奉钱啦,捐税啦,薪俸啦,损害赔偿啦,拷问费啦,牢房费啦,监狱看守费啦,镣铐费啦,不一而论,对他来说,这种种榨取就像圣诞节的蛋糕和圣约翰节的小杏仁饼!瞧瞧他,这头猪!-哎哟,好呀!又是一个卖弄风情的娘儿!那是芳名叫做蒂波德的蒂波,丝毫不爽,正是她!-因为她是从格拉提尼街出来的!-那个少爷是谁?吉埃弗鲁瓦.马波纳,执大弩的精骑兵.他是为咒骂上帝.-处以罚金,蒂波德!处以罚金,吉埃弗鲁瓦!两人都被罚款!这个老聋子!他准把两个案子搞混了,十拿九稳,肯定是罚那姑娘骂人,罚那精骑兵卖淫了!-注意,罗班.普斯潘!他们要带那些人来啦?瞧那么多捕快!丘必特啊!全部的猎犬都出动了,想必打到一只大猎物.一个野猪吧!-果然是一头野猪,罗班!真是野猪一头.-况且还是一头呱呱叫的哩!-赫拉克勒斯啊!原来竟是我们昨天的君王,我们的教皇,我们的那个敲钟人,那个独眼龙,那个驼子,那个丑八怪!竟然是卡齐莫多!......"
确实不错.
这正是卡齐莫多,被缚得紧紧的,扎得实实的,捆得牢牢的,绑得死死的,而且还严加看守.一队捕快把他团团围住,巡防骑士也亲自冲锋上了阵.这位骑士披铠带甲,胸前绣有法兰西纹章,后背绣有巴黎的纹章.卡齐莫多身上除了畸形以外,则丝毫没有什么足以说明值得人家如此大动干戈的理由了.他脸色阴沉,默不作声,安安静静,只有那只独眼不时稍微瞅下身上的五花大绑,目光阴郁又而愤怒.
他用同样的目光环视了一下四周,但是眼神如此暗淡无光,如此无精打采,女人们见了都对他指指点点,一个劲地笑开了.
此时,预审法官弗洛里昂老爷认真翻阅着由书记官递给他的对卡齐莫多的控告状,而且匆匆过目之后,看上去聚精会神地沉思了一会儿.他每次审讯时,总要这样小心谨慎地准备一下,对被告人的身份.姓名和犯罪事实,都事先做到心中有数,甚至被告人会如何回答,应当如何予以驳斥,也都事先设想好了,所以审讯时无论如何迂回曲折,最终还是能脱身出来,而不会太露出他耳聋的破绽,对他来说,状纸就像盲人犬.万一有什么牛头不对马嘴,或者有什么难以理解的提问,从而暴露了其耳聋的残疾,有些人却把这些情况看成莫测高深,另有些人看成是愚不可及.深奥也罢,愚蠢也罢,反正丝毫也无损于司法官的体面,因为一个法官不论是被看成莫测高深或者愚不可及,总比被认为是聋子要好得多.所以他老是小心翼翼地在众人面前掩饰其耳聋的毛病,而且通常瞒得天衣无缝,竟连他对自己也产生了错觉.事实上,这比人们想象得要容易得多.驼子个个都爱昂首挺胸地走路,结巴子个个都爱高谈阔论,聋子个个都爱低声说话.至于弗洛里昂呢,他最多只认为自己的耳朵有一丁点儿聋罢了.关于这一点,这还是他在扪心自问和开诚布公时向公众舆论所做的唯一让步呢.
于是,他反复推敲卡齐莫多的案子之后,就把脑袋往后一仰,半闭起眼睛,装出一副更加威严.更加公正的模样,这样一来,此时此刻,他就完全又聋又瞎了.这是两个必备的条件,不然,他就成不了十全十美的法官啦.他就是摆出这副威严的姿态,就开始审讯了.
"姓名?"
但是,这倒是一桩从未为"法律所预见"的情况:一个聋子将审讯另外一个聋子.
卡齐莫多根本听不到在问他什么,照样盯着法官没有应声.法官由于耳聋,并且根本不知道被告也耳聋,便以为他像通常所有被告那样已经回答了问题,接着又照旧刻板和笨拙地往下问:"很好.年龄呢?"
卡齐莫多依旧没有回答.法官以为这个问题已经得到了满意的回答,便接着问下去.
"现在要回答,你的身份呢?"
依旧是默不作声.这时听众开始交头接耳,面面相觑.
"行了,"泰然自若的预审法官认为被告已经答完了他的第三个问题,便继续说道:"你站在本庭面前,被指控:第一,深夜扰乱治安;第二,想行侮辱一个疯女子的人身,犯有嫖娼罪;第三,图谋不轨,认为国王陛下的弓箭侍卫大逆不道.上面各点,你必须一一说明清楚.-书记官,被告刚才的口供,你全记录在案了吗?"
这个不伦不类的问题一旦提出来,从书记官到听众,都哄堂大笑,这笑声是那么强烈,那么疯狂,那么富有感染力,那么异口同声,就连两个聋子也觉察到了.卡齐莫多耸了耸驼背,轻蔑地转过头来,而弗洛里昂老爷,也和他一样感到惊讶,却以为是被告出言不逊,答了什么话才引起听众哄笑的,又看见他耸肩,认为他回嘴顶撞是明摆着啦,于是怒冲冲地斥责道:
"坏家伙,你回答什么话来着的,凭你这一回答就该判绞刑!你知道在对什么人讲话吗?"这种呵斥并不能阻止全场爆发的笑闹声.大家反而觉得这一呵斥荒唐之极,而且牛头不对马嘴,甚至连市民接待室的捕头们也狂笑了起来,原本这种人可以说是扑克牌的黑桃丁钩,呆头呆脑那副蠢相是他们身上的共同本色.只有卡齐莫多独自很庄重,因为周围发生的事,他根本一无所知.法官大人越来越发火了,认为应该用同样的腔调继续审问,指望通过这一招来刹一刹被告的气焰,迫使他慑服,并反过来影响听众,迫使听众恢复对公堂的尊重.
"那么就是说,你明明是恶棍和盗贼,却胆敢对本庭不恭,藐视小堡的预审法官,藐视巴黎民众治安的副司法长官,他负责追究重罪.轻罪和不端行为,监督各行各业,取消垄断,维护道路,禁止倒卖家禽和野禽,管理木柴和各种木材的重量,清除城里的污垢以及空气中的传染病毒,总之,孜孜不倦地从事公益事业,既无报酬,也不要指望有薪俸!我叫弗洛里昂.巴伯迪安,司法长官大人的直接助理,另外又是巡察专员.调查专员.监督专员.考察专员.在司法公署.裁判所.拘留所和初审法庭等方面都拥有同等的权力,你可知晓!......"聋子对聋子说话,哪能有个完.若不是大堂深处那道矮门突然打开了,司法长官本人走了进来,那么弗洛里昂老爷已经如何打开了话匣,滔滔不绝,高谈阔论,鬼才知道要说到什么地方.什么时候才能止住.
看见他进来,弗洛里昂老爷并没有突然住口,而是半转过身去,把刚对卡齐莫多盖头劈脑的训斥,忽然掉转话锋,对准司法长官,厉声说道:"大人,在庭的被告公然严重藐视法庭,请大人严惩不贷."
话音一落,一屁股坐下,上气不接下气,擦了擦汗,汗珠从额头上一大滴一大滴不断地往下流,好像扑簌簌的眼泪,把摆在他面前的案卷都弄湿了.罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔大人皱了一下眉头,对卡齐莫多做了一个手势,以示警告,手势专横武断,用意十分明白,那个聋子这才多少有点明白了.
司法长官声色俱厉,厉声对他说道:"你究竟干了什么勾当才在这里的,狂徒?"
可怜的家伙以为司法长官是问他的姓名,便打破始终保持着的沉默,用嘶哑的喉音应道:"卡齐莫多."
这一回答与司法长官的提问真是风马牛不相及,又惹起哄堂大笑,把罗贝尔大人气得满脸通红,喊道:"你连我也敢嘲弄吗,十恶不赦的恶棍!"
"圣母院的敲钟人."卡齐莫多再回话,以为该向法官说明他到底是什么人了.
"敲钟人!"司法长官接着说道.前面我们已经说过,他一早醒来就心情坏透了,动辄可以使他火冒三丈,难道用得着这样离奇古怪的应答呢!"敲钟的!我要叫人把你拉去巴黎街头示众,用鞭子抽打,将你脊肩当钟敲.你到底听见了没有,恶棍?"
"您想要知道我有多大了,我想,到今年圣马丁节就满二十岁了."卡齐莫多说道.
这下子,真是没有道理,司法长官再也忍受不了了.
"啊!坏蛋,你胆敢嘲弄本堂!执仗的众捕快们,快给我把这家伙拉到河滩广场的耻辱柱去,给我狠狠鞭打,在轮盘上旋转他一个多钟头.这笔账非和他清算不可!本官命令四名法庭指定的号手,将本判决告谕巴黎子爵采邑的七个领地."
书记官随后马上迅速草拟判决公告.
"上帝肚皮呵!瞧这判得有多公正呀!"磨坊的约翰.弗罗洛这小个儿学子在角落里喊叫了起来.司法长官回过头来,两只闪闪发亮的眼睛又直勾瞪着卡齐莫多,说:"我相信这坏家伙说了上帝肚皮!书记官,再写上因亵渎圣灵罚款十二巴黎德尼埃,其中的一半捐赠圣厄斯塔舍教堂,以资修缮,我是特别崇敬圣厄斯塔舍."
不一会儿功夫,判决书拟好了.内容简单扼要.那时,巴黎子爵司法衙门的例行判决书,还没有经过庭长蒂博.巴伊耶和皇上的律师罗歇.巴尔纳的加工修饰,还没有受到十六世纪初期这两个法学家在判决书中那种俨如密林般文体的影响,满纸充斥诡辩遁辞和繁琐程序.一切都是明确,简便,直截了当.人们从中可以径直走向目的地,每条小道看不忍荆丛和弯曲,一眼便可以望见尽头是轮盘呢,还是绞刑架,或者是耻辱柱.总而言之,人们至少知道自己向何处去.
书记官把判决书递给司法长官.司法长官盖了大印,随后走出去继续巡视其他法庭,当时的心态想必恨不得就在那一天把巴黎的所有监牢都挤满人.约翰.弗罗洛和罗班.普斯潘偷偷发笑.卡齐莫多把这一切都看在眼里,神情冷漠而又诧异.
恰好弗洛里昂.巴伯迪安老爷宣读判决书并准备签字的时候,书记官突然对被判罪的那个可怜虫动了恻隐之心,希望能给他减点刑,便尽可能凑近预审法官的耳边,指着卡齐莫多对他说:"这是个聋子."
他原本希望,这种共同的残疾会唤起弗洛里昂老爷的关心,对那个犯人开恩,但是,我们前面已经注意到,首先,弗洛里昂老爷并不愿意人家发觉他耳聋;事实上,他的耳朵实在太不中用了,书记官对他说的话儿,他连都没有听清一个字,而他却偏要装出听见的样子,因此应道:"啊!啊!那就不同了.我原来还不知道此事哩.既然是这样,那就示众增加一个小时."
随后就在修改过的判决书上签了字.
"活该!"罗班.普斯潘说道,他总是对卡齐莫多怀恨在心."这可以教训教训他,看他以后还有没有这个胆量欺侮人!"

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK SIXTH CHAPTER II.THE RAT-HOLE.》
The reader must permit us to take him back to the place de Grève, which we quitted yesterday with Gringoire, in order to follow la Esmeralda.
It is ten o'clock in the morning; everything is indicative of the day after a festival.The pavement is covered with rubbish; ribbons, rags, feathers from tufts of plumes, drops of wax from the torches, crumbs of the public feast.A goodly number of bourgeois are "sauntering," as we say, here and there, turning over with their feet the extinct brands of the bonfire, going into raptures in front of the pillar House, over the memory of the fine hangings of the day before, and to-day staring at the nails that secured them a last pleasure. The venders of cider and beer are rolling their barrels among the groups.Some busy passers-by come and go.The merchants converse and call to each other from the thresholds of their shops.The festival, the ambassadors, Coppenole, the pope of the Fools, are in all mouths; they vie with each other, each trying to criticise it best and laugh the most. And, meanwhile, four mounted sergeants, who have just posted themselves at the four sides of the pillory, have already concentrated around themselves a goodly proportion of the populace scattered on the place, who condemn themselves to immobility and fatigue in the hope of a small execution.
If the reader, after having contemplated this lively and noisy scene which is being enacted in all parts of the place, will now transfer his gaze towards that ancient demi-Gothic, demi-Romanesque house of the Tour-Roland, which forms the corner on the quay to the west, he will observe, at the angle of the fa?ade, a large public breviary, with rich illuminations, protected from the rain by a little penthouse, and from thieves by a small grating, which, however, permits of the leaves being turned.Beside this breviary is a narrow, arched window, closed by two iron bars in the form of a cross, and looking on the square; the only opening which admits a small quantity of light and air to a little cell without a door, constructed on the ground-floor, in the thickness of the walls of the old house, and filled with a peace all the more profound, with a silence all the more gloomy, because a public place, the most populous and most noisy in paris swarms and shrieks around it.
This little cell had been celebrated in paris for nearly three centuries, ever since Madame Rolande de la Tour-Roland, in mourning for her father who died in the Crusades, had caused it to be hollowed out in the wall of her own house, in order to immure herself there forever, keeping of all her palace only this lodging whose door was walled up, and whose window stood open, winter and summer, giving all the rest to the poor and to God.The afflicted damsel had, in fact, waited twenty years for death in this premature tomb, praying night and day for the soul of her father, sleeping in ashes, without even a stone for a pillow, clothed in a black sack, and subsisting on the bread and water which the compassion of the passers-by led them to deposit on the ledge of her window, thus receiving charity after having bestowed it.At her death, at the moment when she was passing to the other sepulchre, she had bequeathed this one in perpetuity to afflicted women, mothers, widows, or maidens, who should wish to pray much for others or for themselves, and who should desire to inter themselves alive in a great grief or a great penance.The poor of her day had made her a fine funeral, with tears and benedictions; but, to their great regret, the pious maid had not been canonized, for lack of influence.Those among them who were a little inclined to impiety, had hoped that the matter might be accomplished in paradise more easily than at Rome, and had frankly besought God, instead of the pope, in behalf of the deceased.The majority had contented themselves with holding the memory of Rolande sacred, and converting her rags into relics.The city, on its side, had founded in honor of the damoiselle, a public breviary, which had been fastened near the window of the cell, in order that passers-by might halt there from time to time, were it only to pray; that prayer might remind them of alms, and that the poor recluses, heiresses of Madame Rolande's vault, might not die outright of hunger and forgetfulness.
Moreover, this sort of tomb was not so very rare a thing in the cities of the Middle Ages.One often encountered in the most frequented street, in the most crowded and noisy market, in the very middle, under the feet of the horses, under the wheels of the carts, as it were, a cellar, a well, a tiny walled and grated cabin, at the bottom of which a human being prayed night and day, voluntarily devoted to some eternal lamentation, to some great expiation.And all the reflections which that strange spectacle would awaken in us to-day; that horrible cell, a sort of intermediary link between a house and the tomb, the cemetery and the city; that living being cut off from the human community, and thenceforth reckoned among the dead; that lamp consuming its last drop of oil in the darkness; that remnant of life flickering in the grave; that breath, that voice, that eternal prayer in a box of stone; that face forever turned towards the other world; that eye already illuminated with another sun; that ear pressed to the walls of a tomb; that soul a prisoner in that body; that body a prisoner in that dungeon cell, and beneath that double envelope of flesh and granite, the murmur of that soul in pain;--nothing of all this was perceived by the crowd. The piety of that age, not very subtle nor much given to reasoning, did not see so many facets in an act of religion. It took the thing in the block, honored, venerated, hallowed the sacrifice at need, but did not analyze the sufferings, and felt but moderate pity for them.It brought some pittance to the miserable penitent from time to time, looked through the hole to see whether he were still living, forgot his name, hardly knew how many years ago he had begun to die, and to the stranger, who questioned them about the living skeleton who was perishing in that cellar, the neighbors replied simply, "It is the recluse."
Everything was then viewed without metaphysics, without exaggeration, without magnifying glass, with the naked eye. The microscope had not yet been invented, either for things of matter or for things of the mind.
Moreover, although people were but little surprised by it, the examples of this sort of cloistration in the hearts of cities were in truth frequent, as we have just said.There were in paris a considerable number of these cells, for praying to God and doing penance; they were nearly all occupied.It is true that the clergy did not like to have them empty, since that implied lukewarmness in believers, and that lepers were put into them when there were no penitents on hand.Besides the cell on the Grève, there was one at Montfau?on, one at the Charnier des Innocents, another I hardly know where,--at the Clichon House, I think; others still at many spots where traces of them are found in traditions, in default of memorials. The University had also its own.On Mount Sainte-Geneviève a sort of Job of the Middle Ages, for the space of thirty years, chanted the seven penitential psalms on a dunghill at the bottom of a cistern, beginning anew when he had finished, singing loudest at night, ~magna voce per umbras~, and to-day, the antiquary fancies that he hears his voice as he enters the Rue du puits-qui-parle--the street of the "Speaking Well."
To confine ourselves to the cell in the Tour-Roland, we must say that it had never lacked recluses.After the death of Madame Roland, it had stood vacant for a year or two, though rarely.Many women had come thither to mourn, until their death, for relatives, lovers, faults.parisian malice, which thrusts its finger into everything, even into things which concern it the least, affirmed that it had beheld but few widows there.
In accordance with the fashion of the epoch, a Latin inscription on the wall indicated to the learned passer-by the pious purpose of this cell.The custom was retained until the middle of the sixteenth century of explaining an edifice by a brief device inscribed above the door.Thus, one still reads in France, above the wicket of the prison in the seignorial mansion of Tourville, ~Sileto et spera~; in Ireland, beneath the armorial bearings which surmount the grand door to Fortescue Castle, ~Forte scutum, salus ducum~; in England, over the principal entrance to the hospitable mansion of the Earls Cowper: ~Tuum est~.At that time every edifice was a thought.
As there was no door to the walled cell of the Tour-Roland, these two words had been carved in large Roman capitals over the window,--
TU, ORA.
And this caused the people, whose good sense does not perceive so much refinement in things, and likes to translate _Ludovico Magno_ by "porte Saint-Denis," to give to this dark, gloomy, damp cavity, the name of "The Rat-Hole."An explanation less sublime, perhaps, than the other; but, on the other hand, more picturesque.

《第六卷 二 老鼠洞》
昨天为了跟踪爱斯梅拉达,我们和格兰古瓦一道离开了河滩广场,现在请看官您允许我们再回过来说一说这个广场吧.
这时是上午十点钟.广场上一切表明这是节后的第二天.石板地面上,满目是垃圾.绸带.破布.冠饰的羽毛.火炬的蜡滴,公众饕餮的残滓.正如前所述,许多市民到处游荡,用脚踢着焰火的余烬,站在柱子阁前面心荡神移,回想昨日那些华丽的帏幔,至今还余兴未尽,把悬挂帏幔的钉子也尽情观赏.卖苹果酒和草麦酒的商人,滚动着酒桶在人群中穿来穿去,一些有事在身的行人来往匆匆.店家站在店铺门前交谈,彼此打招呼.大家七口八舌,谈论节日啦,使臣啦,科珀诺尔啦,狂人教皇啦,人人争先恐后,看谁能说得最详细,笑得最开心.就在这时候,耻辱柱的四边刚有四个骑马的捕快设岗,不一会儿将分散在广场上的一大部分民众吸引到他们周围来了.这些民众为了观看一次小小的施刑,只好活受罪,站在那里纹丝不动,心里闷得慌.
看官已观赏了广场上各处正在上演的这幕热烈的闹剧,假如现在把视线移向河岸西边角上那座半哥特式半罗曼式的古老的罗朗塔楼,便会发现其正面拐角处有一本公用的祈祷书,装饰华丽,顶上有披檐能挡雨,周围有道栅栏可以防盗,但可以让人伸手进去翻阅.这本祈祷书旁边有尖拱形的一个小窗洞,窗外有两根铁条交叉护住,窗口面向广场;这是一间小屋子的唯一窗洞,空气和阳光就从这窗洞进到屋里面的;这间斗室没有门,是从塔楼底层的厚墙上开凿而成的.室内清幽,寂静,特别外面恰好是全巴黎最拥挤.最喧闹的广场,这时游人云集,人声沸腾,因而室内的清幽显得越发深沉,寂静也愈加死气沉沉了.
将近三百年来,这间小屋在巴黎是名闻遐迩的.起初,罗朗塔楼的主人罗朗德夫人为了悼念在十字军征战中阵亡的父亲,在自家宅第的墙壁上让人开凿了这间小屋,把自己幽禁在里面,至此发誓永远闭门不出,后来索性把门也堵死了,无论严冬炎夏,只有那个窗洞一直开着.整座宅第,她仅仅留下这间小屋,其他的全献给穷人和上帝.这个悲痛欲绝的贵妇就在这提前准备好的坟墓里等死,等了整整二十年,日夜为父亲的亡灵祷告,睡时就倒在尘灰里,甚而至于将块石头做枕头也不肯,成天穿着一身黑色粗布衣,只靠好心的过路人放在窗洞边沿上的面包和水度日.这样,她在施舍别人之后,也接受别人的施舍了.临终时,也就是在迁入另一座坟墓之时,她把原先的这个坟墓就永远留给了那些伤心的母亲.寡妇或女儿,因为她们会有许多悔恨要替别人或者自己祈求上帝宽恕,宁肯把自己活活在极度痛苦或严酷忏悔之中埋葬.她同时代的穷人用眼泪和感恩来哀悼她,但他们深为遗憾的是这位虔诚女子,因为没有靠山,没能被列为圣徒.他们当中那些有点叛经离道的人,希望天堂里办事会比罗马稍微容易些,既然教宗不予恩准,便干脆为亡人祈求上帝了.大多数人纪念罗朗德夫人只是把它看做是神圣的,把他的破旧衣裳当成圣物.巴黎城也为了纪念这位贵妇,特意安放了一本公用的祈祷书在那间小屋的窗洞旁边,让过路的行人随时停下来,哪怕仅仅祈祷一下也好;让人们在祷告时想到给予布施,以便那些在罗朗德夫人之后隐居在这个洞穴的可怜隐修女,不至于完全由于饥饿和被遗忘而死掉.
中世纪的都市里,这类坟墓并不少见.就在最熙来攘往的街道,最繁华喧闹的市场,甚至就在路中央,在马蹄下,在车轮下,经常可以发现那么一口井.一个地洞.一间堵死并围着栅栏的小屋,里面有个生灵日夜在祈祷,甘愿在某种无休无止的悲叹之中,在某种莫大的悔罪之中度过一生.这种介于房屋与坟墓.市区与墓地之间类似中间环节的可怕小屋,这隔绝于人世.生如同死的活人,这盏在黑暗中耗尽最后一滴油的灯,这线摇荡在墓穴里的余生之光,这石匣里的呼吸声.说话声和无休无止的祷告声,这张永远面向冥间的脸孔,以及这双已被另一个太阳照亮的眼睛,这对紧贴着墓壁的耳朵,这禁锢在躯壳中的灵魂,这禁锢在囚牢里的躯体,这紧裹在躯壳与花岗岩双重压迫下的痛苦灵魂的呻吟,所有这一切离奇古怪的现象在现在可以引起我们各式各样的思考,然而在当时却一点也不为群众所觉察.那个时代,人们虔诚有余,却缺乏推理和洞察力,对于一件信教行为,是不会考虑这么多方面的.他们笼统看待事物,对牺牲推崇至极,敬仰之至,必要时还奉为神圣,但对这牺牲所遭受的痛苦,却从不加分析,只是微不足道地表示一点怜悯罢了.他们不时送给悲惨的苦修者一点食物,从窗洞口看一看他是不是还仍然活着,从不过问其姓名,也不清楚他奄奄待毙已经多少年头了.要是陌生人问起这个地洞里逐渐腐烂的活骷髅的什么人,假若是男的,旁边的人便简单地应了一声:"是个隐修士."假若是女的,就应一声:"是个隐修女."
人们那时就是这样看待一切的,用不着什么玄学,用不着夸夸其谈,用不着放大镜,一切都凭肉眼观察.不管对于物质世界,还是精神世界,当时还没有发明出来显微镜哩.
况且,虽说人们对遁世隐修不足为奇,这类事例如前所述,在各个城市当中也的确司空见惯.巴黎这类专为祈祷上帝进行忏悔的小屋子就相当多,差不多全有人居住.真的,教士们处心积虑,不让这类小屋子空着,如果空着,那就意味着信徒们的热情冷却了,因此一旦没有忏悔的人,便把麻风病人关进去.除了河滩广场那间小屋之外,鹰山还有一间小屋,圣婴公墓的墓穴里还有一间,另一间已搞不懂在什么地方了,我想也许在克利雄府邸吧.还有好些在其他许多地方,由于其建筑已经湮没,只能在传说中才能找到其痕迹.大学城也有其隐修所,就在圣日芮维埃芙山上,住着中世纪一个像约伯那样的人,每天在一道水槽深处的粪堆上唱着忏悔的首诗,唱完了又从头开始,夜间唱得更响亮,就这样唱了整整三十年.到了今天,考古学家走进了能言井街,感觉还能听见他的歌声呢!
我们这里单表罗朗塔楼的那间小屋,应该说它从来没有断过隐修女.罗朗德夫人死后,难得空过一两年.不计其数的女人到这里来,哭父母的哭父母,哭情人的哭情人,哭自己过失的哭自己过失,一直哭到死为止.爱说俏皮话的巴黎人,什么都要插手,甚至与他们毫不相干的事情也要管,硬说在这些女人之中很少看到黑衣寡妇.
按当时的风尚,用拉丁文在墙上刻着一个题铭,向识字的过路人指明这间小屋的虔诚用途.在门的上端写着一句简短的格言来说明一座建筑物的用途,这种习俗一直延续到十六世纪.因而,今天在法国,人们还可以看到在图维尔领主府邸的牢房小门上写着肃穆等候;在爱尔兰的福特斯居城堡大门上方的纹章下,写着强大的盾牌,领袖的救星;在英格兰,好客的库倍伯爵府邸的大门上写着宾至如归.这是因为在那时,任何一座建筑物都是一种思想的体现.
罗朗塔楼那间砌死的小屋子没有一扇门,所以就在窗洞上方用罗曼粗大字母刻着两个词:你,祈祷.
老百姓看事物都只凭见识,不会讲究那么多微妙之处,宁愿把路易大王说成是圣德尼门,就把这个阴黯潮湿的洞穴取名为老鼠洞.这个叫法虽不如前面那一个高雅,倒反而生动得多.

若流年°〡逝

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凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK SIXTH CHAPTER III.HISTORY OF A LEAVENED CAKE OF MAIZE. Page 1》
At the epoch of this history, the cell in the Tour-Roland was occupied.If the reader desires to know by whom, he has only to lend an ear to the conversation of three worthy gossips, who, at the moment when we have directed his attention to the Rat-Hole, were directing their steps towards the same spot, coming up along the water's edge from the Chatelet, towards the Grève.
Two of these women were dressed like good ~bourgeoises~ of paris.Their fine white ruffs; their petticoats of linsey- woolsey, striped red and blue; their white knitted stockings, with clocks embroidered in colors, well drawn upon their legs; the square-toed shoes of tawny leather with black soles, and, above all, their headgear, that sort of tinsel horn, loaded down with ribbons and laces, which the women of Champagne still wear, in company with the grenadiers of the imperial guard of Russia, announced that they belonged to that class wives which holds the middle ground between what the lackeys call a woman and what they term a lady.They wore neither rings nor gold crosses, and it was easy to see that, in their ease, this did not proceed from poverty, but simply from fear of being fined.Their companion was attired in very much the same manner; but there was that indescribable something about her dress and bearing which suggested the wife of a provincial notary.One could see, by the way in which her girdle rose above her hips, that she had not been long in paris.--Add to this a plaited tucker, knots of ribbon on her shoes--and that the stripes of her petticoat ran horizontally instead of vertically, and a thousand other enormities which shocked good taste.
The two first walked with that step peculiar to parisian ladies, showing paris to women from the country.The provincial held by the hand a big boy, who held in his a large, flat cake.
We regret to be obliged to add, that, owing to the rigor of the season, he was using his tongue as a handkerchief.
The child was making them drag him along, ~non passibus Cequis~, as Virgil says, and stumbling at every moment, to the great indignation of his mother.It is true that he was looking at his cake more than at the pavement.Some serious motive, no doubt, prevented his biting it (the cake), for he contented himself with gazing tenderly at it.But the mother should have rather taken charge of the cake.It was cruel to make a Tantalus of the chubby-checked boy.
Meanwhile, the three demoiselles (for the name of dames was then reserved for noble women) were all talking at once.
"Let us make haste, Demoiselle Mahiette," said the youngest of the three, who was also the largest, to the provincial, "I greatly fear that we shall arrive too late; they told us at the Chatelet that they were going to take him directly to the pillory."
"Ah, bah! what are you saying, Demoiselle Oudarde Musnier?" interposed the other parisienne."There are two hours yet to the pillory.We have time enough.Have you ever seen any one pilloried, my dear Mahiette?"
"Yes," said the provincial, "at Reims."
"Ah, bah!What is your pillory at Reims?A miserable cage into which only peasants are turned.A great affair, truly!"
"Only peasants!" said Mahiette, "at the cloth market in Reims!We have seen very fine criminals there, who have killed their father and mother!peasants!For what do you take us, Gervaise?"
It is certain that the provincial was on the point of taking offence, for the honor of her pillory.Fortunately, that discreet damoiselle, Oudarde Musnier, turned the conversation in time.
"By the way, Damoiselle Mahiette, what say you to our Flemish Ambassadors?Have you as fine ones at Reims?"
"I admit," replied Mahiette, "that it is only in paris that such Flemings can be seen."
"Did you see among the embassy, that big ambassador who is a hosier?" asked Oudarde.
"Yes," said Mahiette."He has the eye of a Saturn."
"And the big fellow whose face resembles a bare belly?" resumed Gervaise."And the little one, with small eyes framed in red eyelids, pared down and slashed up like a thistle head?"
"'Tis their horses that are worth seeing," said Oudarde, "caparisoned as they are after the fashion of their country!"
"Ah my dear," interrupted provincial Mahiette, assuming in her turn an air of superiority, "what would you say then, if you had seen in '61, at the consecration at Reims, eighteen years ago, the horses of the princes and of the king's company?Housings and caparisons of all sorts; some of damask cloth, of fine cloth of gold, furred with sables; others of velvet, furred with ermine; others all embellished with goldsmith's work and large bells of gold and silver!And what money that had cost!And what handsome boy pages rode upon them!"
"That," replied Oudarde dryly, "does not prevent the Flemings having very fine horses, and having had a superb supper yesterday with monsieur, the provost of the merchants, at the H?tel-de-Ville, where they were served with comfits and hippocras, and spices, and other singularities."
"What are you saying, neighbor!" exclaimed Gervaise. "It was with monsieur the cardinal, at the petit Bourbon that they supped."
"Not at all.At the H?tel-de-Ville.
"Yes, indeed.At the petit Bourbon!"
"It was at the H?tel-de-Ville," retorted Oudarde sharply, "and Dr. Scourable addressed them a harangue in Latin, which pleased them greatly.My husband, who is sworn bookseller told me."
"It was at the petit Bourbon," replied Gervaise, with no less spirit, "and this is what monsieur the cardinal's procurator presented to them: twelve double quarts of hippocras, white, claret, and red; twenty-four boxes of double Lyons marchpane, gilded; as many torches, worth two livres a piece; and six demi-queues* of Beaune wine, white and claret, the best that could be found.I have it from my husband, who is a cinquantenier**, at the parloir-aux Bourgeois, and who was this morning comparing the Flemish ambassadors with those of prester John and the Emperor of Trebizond, who came from Mesopotamia to paris, under the last king, and who wore rings in their ears."
*A Queue was a cask which held a hogshead and a half.
**A captain of fifty men.
"So true is it that they supped at the H?tel-de-Ville," replied Oudarde but little affected by this catalogue, "that such a triumph of viands and comfits has never been seen."
"I tell you that they were served by Le Sec, sergeant of the city, at the H?tel du petit-Bourbon, and that that is where you are mistaken."
"At the H?tel-de-Ville, I tell you!"
"At the petit-Bourbon, my dear! and they had illuminated with magic glasses the word hope, which is written on the grand portal."
"At the H?tel-de-Ville!At the H?tel-de-Ville!And Husson-le-Voir played the flute!"
"I tell you, no!"
"I tell you, yes!"
"I say, no!"
plump and worthy Oudarde was preparing to retort, and the quarrel might, perhaps, have proceeded to a pulling of caps, had not Mahiette suddenly exclaimed,--"Look at those people assembled yonder at the end of the bridge!There is something in their midst that they are looking at!"
"In sooth," said Gervaise, "I hear the sounds of a tambourine.I believe 'tis the little Esmeralda, who plays her mummeries with her goat.Eh, be quick, Mahiette! redouble your pace and drag along your boy.You are come hither to visit the curiosities of paris.You saw the Flemings yesterday; you must see the gypsy to-day."
"The gypsy!" said Mahiette, suddenly retracing her steps, and clasping her son's arm forcibly."God preserve me from it!She would steal my child from me!Come, Eustache!"
And she set out on a run along the quay towards the Grève, until she had left the bridge far behind her.In the meanwhile, the child whom she was dragging after her fell upon his knees; she halted breathless.Oudarde and Gervaise rejoined her.
"That gypsy steal your child from you!" said Gervaise. "That's a singular freak of yours!"
Mahiette shook her head with a pensive air.
"The singular point is," observed Oudarde, "that ~la sachette~ has the same idea about the Egyptian woman."
"What is ~la sachette~?" asked Mahiette.
"Hé!" said Oudarde, "Sister Gudule."
"And who is Sister Gudule?" persisted Mahiette.
"You are certainly ignorant of all but your Reims, not to know that!" replied Oudarde."'Tis the recluse of the Rat-Hole."
"What!" demanded Mahiette, "that poor woman to whom we are carrying this cake?"
Oudarde nodded affirmatively.
"precisely.You will see her presently at her window on the Grève.She has the same opinion as yourself of these vagabonds of Egypt, who play the tambourine and tell fortunes to the public.No one knows whence comes her horror of the gypsies and Egyptians.But you, Mahiette--why do you run so at the mere sight of them?"
"Oh!" said Mahiette, seizing her child's round head in both hands, "I don't want that to happen to me which happened to paquette la Chantefleurie."
"Oh! you must tell us that story, my good Mahiette," said Gervaise, taking her arm.
"Gladly," replied Mahiette, "but you must be ignorant of all but your paris not to know that!I will tell you then (but 'tis not necessary for us to halt that I may tell you the tale), that paquette la Chantefleurie was a pretty maid of eighteen when I was one myself, that is to say, eighteen years ago, and 'tis her own fault if she is not to-day, like me, a good, plump, fresh mother of six and thirty, with a husband and a son. However, after the age of fourteen, it was too late!Well, she was the daughter of Guybertant, minstrel of the barges at Reims, the same who had played before King Charles VII., at his coronation, when he descended our river Vesle from Sillery to Muison, when Madame the Maid of Orleans was also in the boat.The old father died when paquette was still a mere child; she had then no one but her mother, the sister of M. pradon, master-brazier and coppersmith in paris, Rue Farm- Garlin, who died last year.You see she was of good family. The mother was a good simple woman, unfortunately, and she taught paquette nothing but a bit of embroidery and toy-making which did not prevent the little one from growing very large and remaining very poor.They both dwelt at Reims, on the river front, Rue de Folle-peine.Mark this: For I believe it was this which brought misfortune to paquette. In '61, the year of the coronation of our King Louis XI. whom God preserve! paquette was so gay and so pretty that she was called everywhere by no other name than "la Chantefleurie"--blossoming song.poor girl!She had handsome teeth, she was fond of laughing and displaying them.Now, a maid who loves to laugh is on the road to weeping; handsome teeth ruin handsome eyes.So she was la Chantefleurie.She and her mother earned a precarious living; they had been very destitute since the death of the minstrel; their embroidery did not bring them in more than six farthings a week, which does not amount to quite two eagle liards.Where were the days when Father Guybertant had earned twelve sous parisian, in a single coronation, with a song?One winter (it was in that same year of '61), when the two women had neither fagots nor firewood, it was very cold, which gave la Chantefleurie such a fine color that the men called her paquette!* and many called her pàquerette!** and she was ruined.--Eustache, just let me see you bite that cake if you dare!--We immediately perceived that she was ruined, one Sunday when she came to church with a gold cross about her neck. At fourteen years of age! do you see?First it was the young Vicomte de Cormontreuil, who has his bell tower three leagues distant from Reims; then Messire Henri de Triancourt, equerry to the King; then less than that, Chiart de Beaulion, sergeant-at-arms; then, still descending, Guery Aubergeon, carver to the King; then, Mace de Frépus, barber to monsieur the dauphin; then, Thévenin le Moine, King's cook; then, the men growing continually younger and less noble, she fell to Guillaume Racine, minstrel of the hurdy gurdy and to Thierry de Mer, lamplighter.Then, poor Chantefleurie, she belonged to every one: she had reached the last sou of her gold piece.What shall I say to you, my damoiselles?At the coronation, in the same year, '61, 'twas she who made the bed of the king of the debauchees!In the same year!"
*Ox-eye daisy.
**Easter daisy.
Mahiette sighed, and wiped away a tear which trickled from her eyes.
"This is no very extraordinary history," said Gervaise, "and in the whole of it I see nothing of any Egyptian women or children."
"patience!" resumed Mahiette, "you will see one child.--In '66, 'twill be sixteen years ago this month, at Sainte- paule's day, paquette was brought to bed of a little girl. The unhappy creature! it was a great joy to her; she had long wished for a child.Her mother, good woman, who had never known what to do except to shut her eyes, her mother was dead.paquette had no longer any one to love in the world or any one to love her.La Chantefleurie had been a poor creature during the five years since her fall.She was alone, alone in this life, fingers were pointed at her, she was hooted at in the streets, beaten by the sergeants, jeered at by the little boys in rags.And then, twenty had arrived: and twenty is an old age for amorous women.Folly began to bring her in no more than her trade of embroidery in former days; for every wrinkle that came, a crown fled; winter became hard to her once more, wood became rare again in her brazier, and bread in her cupboard.She could no longer work because, in becoming voluptuous, she had grown lazy; and she suffered much more because, in growing lazy, she had become voluptuous. At least, that is the way in which monsieur the cure of Saint-Remy explains why these women are colder and hungrier than other poor women, when they are old."
"Yes," remarked Gervaise, "but the gypsies?"
"One moment, Gervaise!" said Oudarde, whose attention was less impatient."What would be left for the end if all were in the beginning?Continue, Mahiette, I entreat you. That poor Chantefleurie!"
Mahiette went on.
"So she was very sad, very miserable, and furrowed her cheeks with tears.But in the midst of her shame, her folly, her debauchery, it seemed to her that she should be less wild, less shameful, less dissipated, if there were something or some one in the world whom she could love, and who could love her.It was necessary that it should be a child, because only a child could be sufficiently innocent for that.She had recognized this fact after having tried to love a thief, the only man who wanted her; but after a short time, she perceived that the thief despised her.Those women of love require either a lover or a child to fill their hearts.Otherwise, they are very unhappy.As she could not have a lover, she turned wholly towards a desire for a child, and as she had not ceased to be pious, she made her constant prayer to the good God for it.So the good God took pity on her, and gave her a little daughter.I will not speak to you of her joy; it was a fury of tears, and caresses, and kisses.She nursed her child herself, made swaddling-bands for it out of her coverlet, the only one which she had on her bed, and no longer felt either cold or hunger.She became beautiful once more, in consequence of it.An old maid makes a young mother.Gallantry claimed her once more; men came to see la Chantefleurie; she found customers again for her merchandise, and out of all these horrors she made baby clothes, caps and bibs, bodices with shoulder-straps of lace, and tiny bonnets of satin, without even thinking of buying herself another coverlet.--Master Eustache, I have already told you not to eat that cake.--It is certain that little Agnes, that was the child's name, a baptismal name, for it was a long time since la Chantefleurie had had any surname--it is certain that that little one was more swathed in ribbons and embroideries than a dauphiness of Dauphiny!Among other things, she had a pair of little shoes, the like of which King Louis XI. certainly never had!Her mother had stitched and embroidered them herself; she had lavished on them all the delicacies of her art of embroideress, and all the embellishments of a robe for the good Virgin.They certainly were the two prettiest little pink shoes that could be seen.They were no longer than my thumb, and one had to see the child's little feet come out of them, in order to believe that they had been able to get into them.'Tis true that those little feet were so small, so pretty, so rosy! rosier than the satin of the shoes!When you have children, Oudarde, you will find that there is nothing prettier than those little hands and feet."
"I ask no better," said Oudarde with a sigh, "but I am waiting until it shall suit the good pleasure of M. Andry Musnier."
"However, paquette's child had more that was pretty about it besides its feet.I saw her when she was only four months old; she was a love!She had eyes larger than her mouth, and the most charming black hair, which already curled.She would have been a magnificent brunette at the age of sixteen! Her mother became more crazy over her every day.She kissed her, caressed her, tickled her, washed her, decked her out, devoured her!She lost her head over her, she thanked God for her.Her pretty, little rosy feet above all were an endless source of wonderment, they were a delirium of joy! She was always pressing her lips to them, and she could never recover from her amazement at their smallness.She put them into the tiny shoes, took them out, admired them, marvelled at them, looked at the light through them, was curious to see them try to walk on her bed, and would gladly have passed her life on her knees, putting on and taking off the shoes from those feet, as though they had been those of an Infant Jesus."
"The tale is fair and good," said Gervaise in a low tone; "but where do gypsies come into all that?"
"Here," replied Mahiette."One day there arrived in Reims a very queer sort of people.They were beggars and vagabonds who were roaming over the country, led by their duke and their counts.They were browned by exposure to the sun, they had closely curling hair, and silver rings in their ears.The women were still uglier than the men.They had blacker faces, which were always uncovered, a miserable frock on their bodies, an old cloth woven of cords bound upon their shoulder, and their hair hanging like the tail of a horse.The children who scrambled between their legs would have frightened as many monkeys.A band of excommunicates. All these persons came direct from lower Egypt to Reims through poland.The pope had confessed them, it was said, and had prescribed to them as penance to roam through the world for seven years, without sleeping in a bed; and so they were called penancers, and smelt horribly.It appears that they had formerly been Saracens, which was why they believed in Jupiter, and claimed ten livres of Tournay from all archbishops, bishops, and mitred abbots with croziers. A bull from the pope empowered them to do that.They came to Reims to tell fortunes in the name of the King of Algiers, and the Emperor of Germany.You can readily imagine that no more was needed to cause the entrance to the town to be forbidden them.Then the whole band camped with good grace outside the gate of Braine, on that hill where stands a mill, beside the cavities of the ancient chalk pits.And everybody in Reims vied with his neighbor in going to see them. They looked at your hand, and told you marvellous prophecies; they were equal to predicting to Judas that he would become pope.Nevertheless, ugly rumors were in circulation in regard to them; about children stolen, purses cut, and human flesh devoured.The wise people said to the foolish: "Don't go there!" and then went themselves on the sly.It was an infatuation.The fact is, that they said things fit to astonish a cardinal.Mothers triumphed greatly over their little ones after the Egyptians had read in their hands all sorts of marvels written in pagan and in Turkish.One had an emperor; another, a pope; another, a captain.poor Chantefleurie was seized with curiosity; she wished to know about herself, and whether her pretty little Agnes would not become some day Empress of Armenia, or something else.So she carried her to the Egyptians; and the Egyptian women fell to admiring the child, and to caressing it, and to kissing it with their black mouths, and to marvelling over its little band, alas! to the great joy of the mother.They were especially enthusiastic over her pretty feet and shoes.The child was not yet a year old.She already lisped a little, laughed at her mother like a little mad thing, was plump and quite round, and possessed a thousand charming little gestures of the angels of paradise.

《BOOK SIXTH CHAPTER III.HISTORY OF A LEAVENED CAKE OF MAIZE. Page 2》
She was very much frightened by the Egyptians, and wept. But her mother kissed her more warmly and went away enchanted with the good fortune which the soothsayers had foretold for her Agnes.She was to be a beauty, virtuous, a queen. So she returned to her attic in the Rue Folle-peine, very proud of bearing with her a queen.The next day she took advantage of a moment when the child was asleep on her bed, (for they always slept together), gently left the door a little way open, and ran to tell a neighbor in the Rue de la Séchesserie, that the day would come when her daughter Agnes would be served at table by the King of England and the Archduke of Ethiopia, and a hundred other marvels.On her return, hearing no cries on the staircase, she said to herself: 'Good! the child is still asleep!'She found her door wider open than she had left it, but she entered, poor mother, and ran to the bed.---The child was no longer there, the place was empty.Nothing remained of the child, but one of her pretty little shoes.She flew out of the room, dashed down the stairs, and began to beat her head against the wall, crying: 'My child! who has my child?Who has taken my child?'The street was deserted, the house isolated; no one could tell her anything about it.She went about the town, searched all the streets, ran hither and thither the whole day long, wild, beside herself, terrible, snuffing at doors and windows like a wild beast which has lost its young.She was breathless, dishevelled, frightful to see, and there was a fire in her eyes which dried her tears.She stopped the passers-by and cried: 'My daughter! my daughter! my pretty little daughter! If any one will give me back my daughter, I will he his servant, the servant of his dog, and he shall eat my heart if he will.'She met M. le Curé of Saint- Remy, and said to him: 'Monsieur, I will till the earth with my finger-nails, but give me back my child!'It was heartrending, Oudarde; and IL saw a very hard man, Master ponce Lacabre, the procurator, weep.Ah! poor mother!In the evening she returned home.During her absence, a neighbor had seen two gypsies ascend up to it with a bundle in their arms, then descend again, after closing the door.After their departure, something like the cries of a child were heard in paquette's room.The mother, burst into shrieks of laughter, ascended the stairs as though on wings, and entered.--A frightful thing to tell, Oudarde!Instead of her pretty little Agnes, so rosy and so fresh, who was a gift of the good God, a sort of hideous little monster, lame, one-eyed, deformed, was crawling and squalling over the floor.She hid her eyes in horror.'Oh!' said she, 'have the witches transformed my daughter into this horrible animal?'They hastened to carry away the little club-foot; he would have driven her mad.It was the monstrous child of some gypsy woman, who had given herself to the devil.He appeared to be about four years old, and talked a language which was no human tongue; there were words in it which were impossible.La Chantefleurie flung herself upon the little shoe, all that remained to her of all that she loved.She remained so long motionless over it, mute, and without breath, that they thought she was dead. Suddenly she trembled all over, covered her relic with furious kisses, and burst out sobbing as though her heart were broken. I assure you that we were all weeping also.She said: 'Oh, my little daughter! my pretty little daughter! where art thou?'--and it wrung your very heart.I weep still when I think of it.Our children are the marrow of our bones, you see.---My poor Eustache! thou art so fair!--If you only knew how nice he is! yesterday he said to me: 'I want to be a gendarme, that I do.'Oh! my Eustache! if I were to lose thee!--All at once la Chantefleurie rose, and set out to run through Reims, screaming: 'To the gypsies' camp! to the gypsies' camp!police, to burn the witches!'The gypsies were gone.It was pitch dark.They could not be followed. On the morrow, two leagues from Reims, on a heath between Gueux and Tilloy, the remains of a large fire were found, some ribbons which had belonged to paquette's child, drops of blood, and the dung of a ram.The night just past had been a Saturday.There was no longer any doubt that the Egyptians had held their Sabbath on that heath, and that they had devoured the child in company with Beelzebub, as the practice is among the Mahometans.When La Chantefleurie learned these horrible things, she did not weep, she moved her lips as though to speak, but could not.On the morrow, her hair was gray.On the second day, she had disappeared.
"'Tis in truth, a frightful tale," said Oudarde, "and one which would make even a Burgundian weep."
"I am no longer surprised," added Gervaise, "that fear of the gypsies should spur you on so sharply."
"And you did all the better," resumed Oudarde, "to flee with your Eustache just now, since these also are gypsies from poland."
"No," said Gervais, "'tis said that they come from Spain and Catalonia."
"Catalonia? 'tis possible," replied Oudarde."pologne, Catalogue, Valogne, I always confound those three provinces, One thing is certain, that they are gypsies."
"Who certainly," added Gervaise, "have teeth long enough to eat little children.I should not be surprised if la Sméralda ate a little of them also, though she pretends to be dainty. Her white goat knows tricks that are too malicious for there not to be some impiety underneath it all."
Mahiette walked on in silence.She was absorbed in that revery which is, in some sort, the continuation of a mournful tale, and which ends only after having communicated the emotion, from vibration to vibration, even to the very last fibres of the heart.Nevertheless, Gervaise addressed her, "And did they ever learn what became of la Chantefleurie?" Mahiette made no reply.Gervaise repeated her question, and shook her arm, calling her by name.Mahiette appeared to awaken from her thoughts.
"What became of la Chantefleurie?" she said, repeating mechanically the words whose impression was still fresh in her ear; then, ma king an effort to recall her attention to the meaning of her words, "Ah!" she continued briskly, "no one ever found out."
She added, after a pause,--
"Some said that she had been seen to quit Reims at nightfall by the Fléchembault gate; others, at daybreak, by the old Basée gate.A poor man found her gold cross hanging on the stone cross in the field where the fair is held.It was that ornament which had wrought her ruin, in '61.It was a gift from the handsome Vicomte de Cormontreuil, her first lover. paquette had never been willing to part with it, wretched as she had been.She had clung to it as to life itself.So, when we saw that cross abandoned, we all thought that she was dead.Nevertheless, there were people of the Cabaret les Vantes, who said that they had seen her pass along the road to paris, walking on the pebbles with her bare feet.But, in that case, she must have gone out through the porte de Vesle, and all this does not agree.Or, to speak more truly, I believe that she actually did depart by the porte de Vesle, but departed from this world."
"I do not understand you," said Gervaise.
"La Vesle," replied Mahiette, with a melancholy smile, "is the river."
"poor Chantefleurie!" said Oudarde, with a shiver,--"drowned!"
"Drowned!" resumed Mahiette, "who could have told good Father Guybertant, when he passed under the bridge of Tingueux with the current, singing in his barge, that one day his dear little paquette would also pass beneath that bridge, but without song or boat.
"And the little shoe?" asked Gervaise.
"Disappeared with the mother," replied Mahiette.
"poor little shoe!" said Oudarde.
Oudarde, a big and tender woman, would have been well pleased to sigh in company with Mahiette.But Gervaise, more curious, had not finished her questions.
"And the monster?" she said suddenly, to Mahiette.
"What monster?" inquired the latter.
"The little gypsy monster left by the sorceresses in Chantefleurie's chamber, in exchange for her daughter.What did you do with it?I hope you drowned it also."
"No." replied Mahiette.
"What?You burned it then?In sooth, that is more just. A witch child!"
"Neither the one nor the other, Gervaise.Monseigneur the archbishop interested himself in the child of Egypt, exorcised it, blessed it, removed the devil carefully from its body, and sent it to paris, to be exposed on the wooden bed at Notre- Dame, as a foundling."
"Those bishops!" grumbled Gervaise, "because they are learned, they do nothing like anybody else.I just put it to you, Oudarde, the idea of placing the devil among the foundlings!For that little monster was assuredly the devil. Well, Mahiette, what did they do with it in paris?I am quite sure that no charitable person wanted it."
"I do not know," replied the Rémoise, "'twas just at that time that my husband bought the office of notary, at Bern, two leagues from the town, and we were no longer occupied with that story; besides, in front of Bern, stand the two hills of Cernay, which hide the towers of the cathedral in Reims from view."
While chatting thus, the three worthy ~bourgeoises~ had arrived at the place de Grève.In their absorption, they had passed the public breviary of the Tour-Roland without stopping, and took their way mechanically towards the pillory around which the throng was growing more dense with every moment.It is probable that the spectacle which at that moment attracted all looks in that direction, would have made them forget completely the Rat-Hole, and the halt which they intended to make there, if big Eustache, six years of age, whom Mahiette was dragging along by the hand, had not abruptly recalled the object to them: "Mother," said he, as though some instinct warned him that the Rat-Hole was behind him, "can I eat the cake now?"
If Eustache had been more adroit, that is to say, less greedy, he would have continued to wait, and would only have hazarded that simple question, "Mother, can I eat the cake, now?" on their return to the University, to Master Andry Musnier's, Rue Madame la Valence, when he had the two arms of the Seine and the five bridges of the city between the Rat-Hole and the cake.
This question, highly imprudent at the moment when Eustache put it, aroused Mahiette's attention.
"By the way," she exclaimed, "we are forgetting the recluse!Show me the Rat-Hole, that I may carry her her cake."
"Immediately," said Oudarde, "'tis a charity."
But this did not suit Eustache.
"Stop! my cake!" said he, rubbing both ears alternatively with his shoulders, which, in such cases, is the supreme sign of discontent.
The three women retraced their steps, and, on arriving in the vicinity of the Tour-Roland, Oudarde said to the other two,--
"We must not all three gaze into the hole at once, for fear of alarming the recluse.Do you two pretend to read the _Dominus_ in the breviary, while I thrust my nose into the aperture; the recluse knows me a little.I will give you warning when you can approach."
She proceeded alone to the window.At the moment when she looked in, a profound pity was depicted on all her features, and her frank, gay visage altered its expression and color as abruptly as though it had passed from a ray of sunlight to a ray of moonlight; her eye became humid; her mouth contracted, like that of a person on the point of weeping.A moment later, she laid her finger on her lips, and made a sign to Mahiette to draw near and look.
Mahiette, much touched, stepped up in silence, on tiptoe, as though approaching the bedside of a dying person.
It was, in fact, a melancholy spectacle which presented itself to the eyes of the two women, as they gazed through the grating of the Rat-Hole, neither stirring nor breathing.
The cell was small, broader than it was long, with an arched ceiling, and viewed from within, it bore a considerable resemblance to the interior of a huge bishop's mitre.On the bare flagstones which formed the floor, in one corner, a woman was sitting, or rather, crouching.Her chin rested on her knees, which her crossed arms pressed forcibly to her breast. Thus doubled up, clad in a brown sack, which enveloped her entirely in large folds, her long, gray hair pulled over in front, falling over her face and along her legs nearly to her feet, she presented, at the first glance, only a strange form outlined against the dark background of the cell, a sort of dusky triangle, which the ray of daylight falling through the opening, cut roughly into two shades, the one sombre, the other illuminated.It was one of those spectres, half light, half shadow, such as one beholds in dreams and in the extraordinary work of Goya, pale, motionless, sinister, crouching over a tomb, or leaning against the grating of a prison cell.
It was neither a woman, nor a man, nor a living being, nor a definite form; it was a figure, a sort of vision, in which the real and the fantastic intersected each other, like darkness and day.It was with difficulty that one distinguished, beneath her hair which spread to the ground, a gaunt and severe profile; her dress barely allowed the extremity of a bare foot to escape, which contracted on the hard, cold pavement. The little of human form of which one caught a sight beneath this envelope of mourning, caused a shudder.
That figure, which one might have supposed to be riveted to the flagstones, appeared to possess neither movement, nor thought, nor breath.Lying, in January, in that thin, linen sack, lying on a granite floor, without fire, in the gloom of a cell whose oblique air-hole allowed only the cold breeze, but never the sun, to enter from without, she did not appear to suffer or even to think.One would have said that she had turned to stone with the cell, ice with the season.Her hands were clasped, her eyes fixed.At first sight one took her for a spectre; at the second, for a statue.
Nevertheless, at intervals, her blue lips half opened to admit a breath, and trembled, but as dead and as mechanical as the leaves which the wind sweeps aside.
Nevertheless, from her dull eyes there escaped a look, an ineffable look, a profound, lugubrious, imperturbable look, incessantly fixed upon a corner of the cell which could not be seen from without; a gaze which seemed to fix all the sombre thoughts of that soul in distress upon some mysterious object.
Such was the creature who had received, from her habitation, the name of the "recluse"; and, from her garment, the name of "the sacked nun."
The three women, for Gervaise had rejoined Mahiette and Oudarde, gazed through the window.Their heads intercepted the feeble light in the cell, without the wretched being whom they thus deprived of it seeming to pay any attention to them."Do not let us trouble her," said Oudarde, in a low voice, "she is in her ecstasy; she is praying."
Meanwhile, Mahiette was gazing with ever-increasing anxiety at that wan, withered, dishevelled head, and her eyes filled with tears."This is very singular," she murmured.
She thrust her head through the bars, and succeeded in casting a glance at the corner where the gaze of the unhappy woman was immovably riveted.
When she withdrew her head from the window, her countenance was inundated with tears.
"What do you call that woman?" she asked Oudarde.
Oudarde replied,--
"We call her Sister Gudule."
"And I," returned Mahiette, "call her paquette la Chantefleurie."
Then, laying her finger on her lips, she motioned to the astounded Oudarde to thrust her head through the window and look.
Oudarde looked and beheld, in the corner where the eyes of the recluse were fixed in that sombre ecstasy, a tiny shoe of pink satin, embroidered with a thousand fanciful designs in gold and silver.
Gervaise looked after Oudarde, and then the three women, gazing upon the unhappy mother, began to weep.
But neither their looks nor their tears disturbed the recluse. Her hands remained clasped; her lips mute; her eyes fixed; and that little shoe, thus gazed at, broke the heart of any one who knew her history.
The three women had not yet uttered a single word; they dared not speak, even in a low voice.This deep silence, this deep grief, this profound oblivion in which everything had disappeared except one thing, produced upon them the effect of the grand altar at Christmas or Easter.They remained silent, they meditated, they were ready to kneel.It seemed to them that they were ready to enter a church on the day of Tenebrae.
At length Gervaise, the most curious of the three, and consequently the least sensitive, tried to make the recluse speak:
"Sister!Sister Gudule!"
She repeated this call three times, raising her voice each time.The recluse did not move; not a word, not a glance, not a sigh, not a sign of life.
Oudarde, in her turn, in a sweeter, more caressing voice,--"Sister!" said she, "Sister Sainte-Gudule!"
The same silence; the same immobility.
"A singular woman!" exclaimed Gervaise, "and one not to be moved by a catapult!"
"perchance she is deaf," said Oudarde.
"perhaps she is blind," added Gervaise.
"Dead, perchance," returned Mahiette.
It is certain that if the soul had not already quitted this inert, sluggish, lethargic body, it had at least retreated and concealed itself in depths whither the perceptions of the exterior organs no longer penetrated.
"Then we must leave the cake on the window," said Oudarde; "some scamp will take it.What shall we do to rouse her?"
Eustache, who, up to that moment had been diverted by a little carriage drawn by a large dog, which had just passed, suddenly perceived that his three conductresses were gazing at something through the window, and, curiosity taking possession of him in his turn, he climbed upon a stone post, elevated himself on tiptoe, and applied his fat, red face to the opening, shouting, "Mother, let me see too!"
At the sound of this clear, fresh, ringing child's voice, the recluse trembled; she turned her head with the sharp, abrupt movement of a steel spring, her long, fleshless hands cast aside the hair from her brow, and she fixed upon the child, bitter, astonished, desperate eyes.This glance was but a lightning flash.
"Oh my God!" she suddenly exclaimed, hiding her head on her knees, and it seemed as though her hoarse voice tore her chest as it passed from it, "do not show me those of others!"
"Good day, madam," said the child, gravely.
Nevertheless, this shock had, so to speak, awakened the recluse.A long shiver traversed her frame from head to foot; her teeth chattered; she half raised her head and said, pressing her elbows against her hips, and clasping her feet in her hands as though to warm them,--
"Oh, how cold it is!"
"poor woman!" said Oudarde, with great compassion, "would you like a little fire?"
She shook her head in token of refusal.
"Well," resumed Oudarde, presenting her with a flagon; "here is some hippocras which will warm you; drink it."
Again she shook her head, looked at Oudarde fixedly and replied, "Water."
Oudarde persisted,--"No, sister, that is no beverage for January.You must drink a little hippocras and eat this leavened cake of maize, which we have baked for you."
She refused the cake which Mahiette offered to her, and said, "Black bread."
"Come," said Gervaise, seized in her turn with an impulse of charity, and unfastening her woolen cloak, "here is a cloak which is a little warmer than yours."
She refused the cloak as she had refused the flagon and the cake, and replied, "A sack."
"But," resumed the good Oudarde, "you must have perceived to some extent, that yesterday was a festival."
"I do perceive it," said the recluse; "'tis two days now since I have had any water in my crock."
She added, after a silence, "'Tis a festival, I am forgotten. people do well.Why should the world think of me, when I do not think of it?Cold charcoal makes cold ashes."
And as though fatigued with having said so much, she dropped her head on her knees again.The simple and charitable Oudarde, who fancied that she understood from her last words that she was complaining of the cold, replied innocently, "Then you would like a little fire?"
"Fire!" said the sacked nun, with a strange accent; "and will you also make a little for the poor little one who has been beneath the sod for these fifteen years?"
Every limb was trembling, her voice quivered, her eyes flashed, she had raised herself upon her knees; suddenly she extended her thin, white hand towards the child, who was regarding her with a look of astonishment."Take away that child!" she cried."The Egyptian woman is about to pass by."
Then she fell face downward on the earth, and her forehead struck the stone, with the sound of one stone against another stone.The three women thought her dead.A moment later, however, she moved, and they beheld her drag herself, on her knees and elbows, to the corner where the little shoe was. Then they dared not look; they no longer saw her; but they heard a thousand kisses and a thousand sighs, mingled with heartrending cries, and dull blows like those of a head in contact with a wall.Then, after one of these blows, so violent that all three of them staggered, they heard no more.
"Can she have killed herself?" said Gervaise, venturing to pass her head through the air-hole."Sister!Sister Gudule!"
"Sister Gudule!" repeated Oudarde.
"Ah! good heavens! she no longer moves!" resumed Gervaise; "is she dead?Gudule!Gudule!"
Mahiette, choked to such a point that she could not speak, made an effort."Wait," said she.Then bending towards the window, "paquette!" she said, "paquette le Chantefleurie!"
A child who innocently blows upon the badly ignited fuse of a bomb, and makes it explode in his face, is no more terrified than was Mahiette at the effect of that name, abruptly launched into the cell of Sister Gudule.
The recluse trembled all over, rose erect on her bare feet, and leaped at the window with eyes so glaring that Mahiette and Oudarde, and the other woman and the child recoiled even to the parapet of the quay.
Meanwhile, the sinister face of the recluse appeared pressed to the grating of the air-hole."Oh! oh!" she cried, with an appalling laugh; "'tis the Egyptian who is calling me!"
At that moment, a scene which was passing at the pillory caught her wild eye.Her brow contracted with horror, she stretched her two skeleton arms from her cell, and shrieked in a voice which resembled a death-rattle, "So 'tis thou once more, daughter of Egypt!'Tis thou who callest me, stealer of children!Well!Be thou accursed! accursed! accursed! accursed!"

《第六卷 三 一块玉米饼的故事》
这个故事发生的时候,罗朗塔楼的那间小室是有人居住着的.看官要是想知道是谁住在里面,那只需听一听三个正派的妇道人家的谈话就明白了.在我们把看官的注意力引到老鼠洞时,这三个妇道人家正好沿着河岸,一起从小堡向河滩广场走了过来.
其中两个从衣着来看,是巴黎的殷实市民.柔软的雪白绉领,红蓝条纹相杂的混纺粗呢裙子,腿部紧裹着羊毛编织的白袜子,脚踝处饰着彩绣,黑底方头的褐色皮鞋,尤其是她们的帽子,就是香帕尼地区妇女到如今还带的那种尖角帽,饰满绸带.花边和金属箔片,简直可以同俄国禁卫军的榴弹兵的帽子相匹敌,这一切的一切都表示这两个女子属于富裕的商妇阶层,其身份介于如今仆役们称之为太太和夫人之间.她们既没戴金戒指,也没戴金十字架,这很容易看出,那并非因为她们家境贫寒,而只是天真质地害怕被罚款的缘故.另一个同伴的打扮也不差上下,只是在衣着和姿态方面有着某种难以名状的东西,散发着外省公证人妻子的气质.从她把腰带高束在臀部之上的样子来看,她很久没到巴黎来了.而且,她的绉领是打褶的,鞋子上打着绸带结子,裙子的条纹是横的而不是直的,还有其他许多不伦不类的装束,令高雅趣味的人大倒胃口.
头两位往前走着,迈着巴黎女子带领外省妇女游览巴黎的那种特别步履.那外省女子手拉着一个胖胖的男孩,男孩手里拿着一大块饼.
我们很抱歉还得加上一笔:因为季节严寒,他竟把舌头作手帕使用了.
这孩子硬是被拖着才走,恰如维吉尔所说的,步子并不稳重,老是绊跤,惹得他母亲大声嚷叫,实际上,他眼睛只盯着手里的饼,并不注意看路.大约由于某种的重大的原由,他才没有去咬那块饼,只是恋恋不舍地把它看来看去.其实,这块饼本来应该由他母亲来拿的,却把胖娃娃变成了坦塔洛斯,真有点太过于残忍了.这时三位佳妇(因为"夫人"一词那时只用于贵妇)一起说开了.
"快点走,马伊埃特大嫂."三人中最年轻也是最胖的一个对外省来的那个女子说."我真怕我们去晚了,刚才听小堡的人说,马上就要带他到耻辱柱去啦."
"唔!得了,乌达德.缪斯尼埃大嫂,瞧你说什么来的呀!"另个巴黎女子接着说道."他要在耻辱柱消磨两个钟头哩.我们有时间.亲爱的马伊埃特,你见过刑台示众吗?"
"见过,在兰斯."外省女子回答道.
"呵,得了!你们兰斯的耻辱刑柱那算什么东西?不过是一只蹩脚笼子,只用来惩罚一些乡下人罢了.那才真是了不起呀!"
"何止乡下人!"马伊埃特说."在呢绒市场!在兰斯!我们见过许多罪大恶极的杀人犯,他们弑父杀母呐!哪里只有乡下人!你把我们看成什么啦,热尔维丝?"
这外地女子为家乡耻辱柱的名声,真的马上就要生气了,幸亏乌达德.缪斯尼埃大嫂识趣,及时改变了话题.
"对啦,马伊埃特大嫂,你想那些弗朗德勒御使如何?兰斯也见过这么漂亮的御使吗?"
"我承认,想要看这样的弗朗德勒人,只有在巴黎呐."马伊埃特应道.
"御使团当中有个身材魁梧的使臣是卖袜子的,你看见了吗?"乌达德问.
"看到了."马伊埃特答道."他好像个萨图尔努斯."
"还有那个大胖子,面孔像个光溜溜的大肚皮,你也看见啦?"热尔维丝又问道."还有那个矮个子,小眼睛,红眼皮,眼皮像缺刻的叶子,睫毛蓬乱,象毛球似的?"
"他们的马那才好看哩,全遵照他们国家的方式打扮的!"乌达德说道.
"啊!亲爱的,"外省来的马伊埃特打断她的话,轮到她摆出一副神气活现的样子."要是你在六一年,也就是十八年前在兰斯举行加冕典礼时,亲眼看见那班王侯和王上随从的乘骑,不知道你会有何感想呢!马鞍和马披,形形色色,有大马士革呢的,金丝细呢的,都镶有黑貂皮;也有天鹅绒的,镶着白鼬皮;还有的缀满金银制品,挂着粗大的金铃银铃!那到底要用掉多少钱呀!骑在马上的年轻侍从,一个个多么标致呀!"
"就算是这样,"乌达德大嫂冷冷地反驳道,"还是弗朗德勒使臣的马比较漂亮,而且他们昨天到市政厅参加巴黎府尹大人的晚宴,酒肴才丰盛哩,有糖杏仁啦,肉桂酒啦,珍馐啦,以及其他各式各样的山珍海味啦."
"说到哪儿去啦,我的好邻居?"热尔维丝嚷道,"弗朗德勒使臣们是在小波旁宫红衣主教大人府用餐的."
"不对,是在市政厅!"
"不是.是在小波旁宫!"
"明明在市政厅,"乌达德尖着声音刻薄地接着说道,"还是斯古拉布尔大夫用拉丁文向他们致词的,把他们听了心里乐滋滋的.这是我丈夫-由法院指定的书商-亲自告诉我的."
"明明是在小波旁宫,"热尔维丝也激动地回敬说,"红衣主教大人的总管赠送他们的礼品有:十二瓶半升的肉桂滋补酒,有白的,朱红的,还有淡红的;二十四大盒里昂的蛋黄双层杏仁糕;二十四支大蜡烛,每支足足有两磅重;六桶两百升的波纳葡萄酒,白的和淡红的,那是世上最好的美酒.这可是千真万确的,是从我丈夫那里听来的,他是市民接待室的五什长,今早他还把弗朗德勒使臣同博雷特—约翰的使臣以及特雷比宗德皇帝的使臣做了一番比较,这些使臣是前些时从美索不达米亚到巴黎来的,耳朵上还都戴耳环哩."
"他们的确是在市政厅用膳的,"乌达德听到这番炫耀的话有点按捺不住了,反驳道,"从没有人曾见过那么阔绰的酒肉和杏仁糕."
"我呀,还可以告诉你,他们是在小波旁府邸由城防捕头勒.塞克服侍用膳的,而你正好在这一点弄错了."
"是在市政厅,错不了!"
"在小波旁,亲爱的!绝对没错,而且还用幻灯照亮大门廊上希望那两个字哩."
"在市政厅!市政厅!准没错,于松.勒.瓦尔而且还吹奏笛子来着呢."
"告诉你,不对的!"
"我也告诉你,就是!"
"听着,绝对不是!"
肉墩墩的乌达德正要回嘴,眼看这场争吵就可能要变成动手互相揪头发了,正在这当儿,幸亏马伊埃特突然叫道:"你们快看呀,那边桥头上挤着那么多人!他们正在围观什么事.""真的呢,"热尔维丝说,"我听见手鼓声哩.我看,一定是爱斯梅拉达同她的小山羊在耍把戏啦.快,马伊埃特!放开脚步,攥着孩子快走.你到巴黎的目的就是来看新奇玩艺儿的,昨日看过了弗朗德勒人,今天该看一看埃及女郎."
"埃及女郎!"马伊埃特一边说,一边猛然折回去抓住儿子的胳膊,"上帝保佑!她说不定会拐走我孩子的!-快点,厄斯塔舍!"
话音刚落,马伊埃特拔腿沿着河岸向河滩广场跑去,直到远远离开了那座桥.这时她拽着的孩子跌倒了,她这才停了下来,上气不接下气.乌达德和热尔维丝也赶了上来.
"那埃及女郎会偷你的孩子!你真能胡思乱想,离奇古怪."热尔维丝微笑着说道.
马伊埃特听后,若有所思地摇了摇头.
"说来也怪,那个麻衣女对埃及女人也有一样的看法."乌达德提醒了一句.
"谁是麻衣女?"马伊埃特问.
"哦!是古杜尔修女嘛."乌达德回答道.
"古杜尔修女是谁?"马伊埃特又再问.
"你真是地道的兰斯人,这也不知道!"乌达德答道."就是老鼠洞的那个归隐修女呗!""怎么!就是我们带这个饼给她的那个可怜女人吗?"马伊埃特问道.
乌达德立即点了一下头.
"正是.你等一下到了河滩广场,就可以从她小屋的窗洞口看到她.她对那些敲着手鼓给人算命的埃及浪人,看法跟你一样.她对吉普赛人和埃及人的这种恐惧心理,不知道是什么原因.可是你,马伊埃特,一听见吉普赛人和埃及人,就这样没命地逃跑,到底为什么?"
"唉!"马伊埃特双手搂着儿子的圆脑袋瓜,说道."我可不想遭到像那个叫花喜儿的帕盖特的那境遇."
"啊!那肯定是一个动人的故事,赶快给我们讲一讲,我的好人儿马伊埃特."热尔维丝边说边挽起她的胳臂.
"我倒是愿意,"马伊埃特应道,"不过,你真是地道的巴黎人,才会不知道这件事.那我就说给你听吧,可是用不着站在这里讲呀.帕盖特是个十八岁的俊俏姑娘,那时我也是,即十八年前我也是,如今我却是个三十六岁的母亲,体态丰满,容光焕发,有丈夫,儿子,如果说帕盖特今天不像我这样,那都怪她自己,况且,打从十四岁起,她就悔之晚矣!其父亲叫居贝托,兰斯船上吟游诗人和乐师;查理七世加冕的时候,乘船沿维尔河顺流而下,从西勒里驾临缪宗,贵妇人贞女也在船上,那个在圣驾面前献过艺的就是居贝托.老父亲去世时,帕盖特还小得很呢,身边只剩母亲了.她母亲有个哥哥,马蒂厄.普拉东先生,是巴黎帕兰一加兰街一个黄铜器皿匠和锅匠,去年刚亡故.你们看,她出身怪不错的.可惜她母亲是个老实巴交的妇道人家,只教帕盖特做点针线活和小玩意儿,别的什么也没有教她,然而她还是长大了,仍然很穷.母女俩就住在兰斯沿河那条名为'苦难街’上.请注意这一点,我相信那正是帕盖特不幸的根源.在六一年,即我们圣上路易十一愿上帝保佑-加冕的那一年,帕盖特长得活泼又俊俏,真是百里挑一没得说,到处都叫她花喜儿.可怜的姑娘!她有着一口漂亮的牙齿,老是笑盈盈的,好露给人看.话说回来,红颜美女多薄命.花喜儿正是如此.她同母亲相依为命,度日艰难.自乐师死后,家境一落千丈,完全败了,母女俩做一星期的针线活,所挣的钱多不过六德尼埃,还折合不到两个鹰里亚.想当年,居贝埃老爹逢到一次仅有绝无的加冕典礼,唱一支歌便能挣到十二巴黎索尔,这种良机到哪儿去找呢?有一年冬天,就是六一年那个冬天,母女俩连根柴火棍儿也没有,天气又异常寒冷,把花喜儿冻得脸色分外红艳,男人们嘴上都挂着她名字:帕盖特!有些人叫她作帕盖丽特!她就走上堕落的道路了.-厄斯塔舍,看你还敢咬那个饼!-有一个星期天,她到教堂去,脖子上挂着饰有金十字架的项链,一看就明白她完了.才十四岁!你们看看这种事!头一个勾搭上的是住在兰斯三公里外的科蒙雷伊的年轻子爵.接着是御前侍骑亨利.德.特里昂古老爷.然后,就不那么再露面了,是击剑侍卫希亚尔.德.博利翁;再然后,每况愈下,是御膳的切肉侍仆格里.奥贝尔戎,太子殿下的理发师马塞.德.弗雷皮,外号'修士’的厨子王泰弗南;最后,一个不如一个,连岁数大的.地位低的也成,随便倒给了弦琴手吉约姆.拉辛,管路灯的蒂埃里.德.梅尔.可怜的花喜儿,于是成了众人的玩物.她这块金币的价值早就丧失,一文不值了.还有什么好说的呢,两位大嫂?就在六一年王上加冕的那一年,她还替丐帮大王垫被呢!-不错,就是那一年!"
说到这儿,马伊埃特眼泪盈眶,叹息了一声,揩掉一滴泪水.
"这称不上什么惊心动魄的故事,"热尔维丝说,"我也看不出这一切与埃及人有何关系,与孩子有什么关系."
"别急!"马伊埃特接着说下去."说到孩子嘛,立刻就会有一个的.-在六六年,到这个月为止圣保罗节已十六个年头了,帕盖特生了一个小女孩.不幸的女人!她高兴得很.她早就期盼生个孩子.她的母亲,那个只知道闭着眼睛装做一无所知的老实女人,早就死了.在这世间,帕盖特再也没有什么人可爱了,也没有什么人爱她的了.自从开始堕落后五年间,花喜儿真是怪可怜见的,茕茕孑立形影相吊一身,在这红尘中无依无靠,到处被人指指戳戳,被街上的人叫骂,被捕役殴打,被那些一身破旧的男娃嘲弄.接着,年到二十,而对于卖弄风情的娘儿来说,二十岁就已经人老珠黄了.放荡营生越来越掉价,并不比从前卖针线活挣得多,每增添一条皱纹,就少了一个金埃居.到了冬天又变得很艰难了,炉子里又难得有木柴,食橱里又难得有面包了.什么活计也干不了,因为纵欲,人也懒了,而变懒也就越纵欲,也就越陷越深,再不能自拔了.-圣雷米的本堂神父在解释为什么这类女人比别的穷苦女人在年老时更受饥寒的折磨,他至少是这么说的."
"丝毫不爽,"热尔维丝说,"可是埃及人呢?"
"等一下嘛,热尔维丝!"乌达德比较耐心听,就说道."要是一开头就和盘托出,那结尾还有什么可说的呢?接着往下讲吧,马伊埃特,我求求你啦.这个可怜的花喜儿!"
马伊埃特又往下讲.
"她确实很伤心,好不悲惨,终日以泪洗面,哭得两边腮帮都凹陷下去了.不过,由于蒙羞受辱,放荡形骸,遭人唾弃,不由萌发一种念头:如果这世上有某种东西或是某个人能让她爱,也能爱她,那么她就不会那样丢人现眼,不会那样恣意轻薄,也不会那么被人遗弃.这必须是个孩子,因为唯有稚童才能那么天真无邪,对此毫不在意.-她好不容易才意识到这一点的.在此之前她曾经全心爱过一个小偷,他也是唯一可能会要她的男人,可是没有多久,她发现这个小偷也瞧不起她.-大凡痴情女子,都需要一个情郎或一个孩子来填补她们的心灵,要不然就非常凄惨了.-既然不可能有个情郎,她就回心转意,一心想有个孩子,而且她虔诚之心始终并未泯灭,便把想生个孩子的愿望不断祷告慈悲的上帝.诚之所至,慈悲的上帝可怜了她,便赐给她一个女儿.她那快活的样子,就不必细说了,又是眼泪,又是爱抚,又是亲吻,简直发疯了.亲自给孩子喂奶,把自己床上唯一的一条被子拿去做襁褓,而她却不再感到寒冷和饥饿了.她于是恢复了美貌,老姑娘又成为年轻的母亲.奸情复起,又有人来找花喜儿了,她那货色再次有人光顾了.她将这些下流勾当挣来的钱,统统拿去给女儿买小衣衫.小软帽.围涎.花边衬衣.缎帽,却连想也没有想过给自己重买一条被子.-厄斯塔舍先生,让你别吃那个饼,你是怎么搞的!-小阿妮丝,就是那个女孩洗礼时的教名,因为花喜儿不再有什么姓了,说起来一点不假,小阿妮丝穿绸着锦,打扮得比多菲内的公主还要花枝招展!尤其是她那双小鞋恐怕连国王路易十一肯定也没有这样的鞋子!那双小鞋,是当母亲的亲手缝的和刺绣的,精细,各种装饰之讲究,不亚于慈悲圣母身上的袍子.这双粉红小鞋,真是说要有多可爱就有多可爱!仅我大拇指这么长,若不是看见孩子的小脚丫脱去鞋子露了出来,真难相信那双小脚能穿得进去.千真万确,那双小脚是多么小巧,多么漂亮,多么粉红呀!真是赛过鞋面的粉红缎子!-乌达德,等你有了孩子,那你就会知道没什么能比得上那些小手小脚更好看的了."
"我求之不得哩."乌达德叹气道,"不过,得等安德里.缪斯尼埃先生乐意呀."
"而且,"马伊埃特又说,"帕盖特的孩子不光是一双脚好看而已.我见到这孩子时她才四个月,那真是心肝宝贝!一双眼睛比嘴巴还大,一头秀发又柔软又乌黑,都已卷曲了.她十六岁时,肯定是一个神气活现.肤色深褐的美人儿!她母亲一天比一天更加发疯地爱她,抚摸她,亲吻她,咯吱她,为她洗澡,把她打扮得花里花俏,差点没把吞吃她下去!她为女儿高兴得糊里糊涂,念念不忘上帝的恩德.尤其是女儿那双玫瑰色的漂亮小脚,真让她无限惊讶,乐得发狂!老是把嘴唇贴在那双小脚上面,再也没法放开.忽而给她穿上小鞋,忽而又把它脱下,道不尽的赞赏,说不完的惊奇,看一整天也嫌看不够,满怀爱怜,试着在床上教她学步,心甘情愿一辈子跪着,替这双好似圣婴耶稣的小脚穿鞋脱鞋."
"这故事倒是怪动人挺好听的,可是哪有埃及人呢?"急性子的热尔维丝嘀咕道.
"就有啦!"马伊埃特回了她一声."有一天,兰斯来了一伙骑马的人,样子很古怪.这是一帮叫化子和流浪汉,由他们的公爵和伯爵带领,浪迹天涯.他们皮肤都晒得发黑,头发卷曲,耳朵上挂着银耳环,女人比男人还要丑,脸更黑,头上什么也不戴,抱着一个丑恶的小鬼,肩上披着一块用麻线织的粗布旧披巾,头发扎成马尾巴形状.那些在她们腿上爬过来爬过去的孩子,连猴子见了都能吓跑的.这是一群被逐出教门的人,直接从下埃及经过波兰来到兰斯.据说,教皇听了他们忏悔后,要他们在凡尘中连续漂泊七年,不许睡在床上,以表示赎罪.所以他们称为'悔罪者’,一身臭气.看样子他们原是萨拉森人,因此信奉朱庇特,并且有权向所有戴十字架和法冠的大主教.主教和修道院主持索取十图利弗尔,是教皇一道训谕为他们这样规定的.他们是打着阿尔及尔国王与德意志皇帝的招牌来兰斯给人算命的.你们可以想见单凭这一点,便足以禁止他们进入兰斯城.于是,整队人马倒也乐意在布雷纳城门边安营,就住在迄今为止还可以看见一座磨坊紧靠着从前石灰坑的那个土丘上.他们给人看手相,说得天花乱坠,真能够预言犹大会当上教皇呢.不过,种种有关的流言蜚语也传开了,说他们拐小孩,吃人肉,扒钱包.审慎的人劝那班傻瓜说道:'千万可别去!’但自己却悄悄跑去了.那真是一种狂热.事实上,他们所说的一些事情,会叫红衣主教吃惊的.虽然那些埃及婆娘给孩子们看手相,按照异教徒和土耳其人的相术征象,头头是道,说出万般奇迹来,做母亲的听了,无不为自己子女的富贵命道而扬眉吐气,得意洋洋.这个孩子会当皇帝,那一个会当教皇,另个会当将领.可怜的花喜儿,心里痒痒的,很想知道自己的命运如何,漂亮的小阿妮丝有一天会不会当上亚美尼亚女皇或别的什么的,就把女儿抱去见那伙埃及人.那些个埃及女人一眼见到这个女娃,交口称赞,用手轻轻摸她,是用污黑的嘴唇吻她,对她的小手惊叹不已.咳!真是把花喜儿说得心里乐开了花!埃及娘们对这小女孩的美丽小脚和美丽小鞋更是赞不绝口.这孩子还没满一岁,已经开始叽哩咕噜学讲话了,像小傻瓜似地朝她母亲直笑.她胖乎乎,圆滚滚的,会做出许许多多天使般的可爱小动作来.可是,一看到那些埃及婆娘,吓得哇哇哭了起来.母亲更热烈地亲她,听到那班算命婆说小阿妮丝命中大贵,立刻抱着她走开.小阿妮丝将会成为一个绝代佳人,一个贞操女子,一个王后.花喜儿回到了苦难街的阁楼上,觉得是抱着一个王后回来,说无比自豪.第二天,孩子在她床上睡觉-她一向同孩子睡在一起,她趁一会儿功夫,轻轻推开房门,让它半掩着,悄悄跑到干旱街去找一个女街坊,将她女儿阿妮丝以及终有一天会由英王和埃塞俄比亚大公亲自服侍用膳,以及其他种种惊人的事情,都搬给这女邻听.等她回到家,上楼时没有听到孩子的哭闹声,心想:'这可好!孩子还没有醒呢.’忽然间,发现房门大开,开得比她刚离开时大得多,不管三七二十一,还是走了进去,可怜的母亲,慌忙跑到床上......孩子不见了,床上空空的.孩子已经无影无踪了,只见一只漂亮的小鞋掉在那儿.她一下子冲出门外,扑到楼下,用头撞墙,呼天唤地嚷道:'我的孩子!谁看着我的孩子?谁抱走了我的孩子?’街上空空荡荡,她家的房子冷冷凄凄惨惨戚戚,没有一个人能告诉她什么.她跑遍全城,找遍大街小巷,整天到处乱窜,疯了似的,神情恍惚,相貌可怕,活像一头丢了小仔们发疯的野兽,到各家各户的门窗上乱嗅一气.她直喘粗气,头发散乱,样子怪吓人的,眼睛像冒着火,把眼泪都烧干了.见到行人,拦住嚷道:'我的女儿!我的女儿!我那漂亮的小女儿!谁要把她还给我,我情愿做她的奴婢,做他的狗的奴婢,要是他愿意,吃我心肝也行.’遇到了圣雷米教堂的神甫,对他说:'神甫先生,我可以用手指头去刨地,可你得把我的孩子还给我!’-乌达德,这真叫人撕心裂肺,讼师蓬斯.拉卡布尔老爷是个铁石心肠人,我看见他都哭了.-'啊!可怜的母亲!’晚上,她刚回到家里来,就在她不在家时,有个女邻看见两个埃及婆娘抱着一包什么东西偷偷上楼去,然后重新把门关好,走下楼来,就匆匆溜走了.她俩走后,听见帕蓝特房里好像有孩子的哭叫声.母亲回来一听,放声哈哈大笑,立刻像长了翅膀似地飞快奔上楼去,又好像炮弹轰然一响,破门而入......-乌达德,那可真是骇人听闻!那呈露在她眼前的并不是她那娇小可爱的阿妮丝,绝不是仁慈的上帝恩赐给她的那个何等红润.何等鲜艳的心肝宝贝,而是一个活像小妖怪似的丑八怪,跛脚,独眼,畸形,瞎嚷嚷在地板上爬来爬去.把她吓得连忙捂住眼睛.她说:'唉!会不会是巫婆把我的女儿变成了这么可怕的畜生了?’人们赶紧把那个小罗圈腿抱开,要不,非叫她发疯不可.这准是某个把灵魂卖给魔鬼的埃及女人生下的孽障,看样子大概四岁左右,说起话来不像人话,而只是一些无法听懂的词儿.花喜儿一头扑向那只小鞋,这是她以前一切所爱留下的所有了.她呆在那里许久许久,不开口,不喘气,大家都以为她已经断气了.猛然间,她浑身直打哆嗦,疯狂地把那只圣物般的小鞋吻个遍,才放声大哭起来,仿佛心都碎了.我敢说,如果是换了我们,也会一样悲恸的.她声连喊道:'咳!我的小女儿呀!我漂亮的小女儿呀!你在哪里?’让人听了肝肠欲断.我现在一想起来还要哭哩.你们不知道,我们的孩子,那可是我们的骨肉呵.-我的可怜的厄斯塔舍!你呀你,长得有多俊!你们不知道那孩子有多乖巧呀!昨天她对我说:'我呀,长大了要当近卫骑兵!’哦,我的宝贝厄斯塔舍呀!要是你丢了,让我怎么活呀!-花喜儿猛地站起身来,随即在兰斯城奔跑,一边嚷叫:'到埃及人营地去!到埃及人营地去!捕役们快去烧死那些巫婆!’然而埃及人已经走了,天也已经黑了,追赶他们是没有可能的.第二天,在离兰斯八公里外的丐地和蒂鲁瓦之间的灌木丛中,发现了篝火的残迹.帕盖特孩子的几根绸带.点点血斑和一些山羊粪.刚过去的这个夜晚,正是周末六之夜,可以确信无疑埃及人就在灌木丛里举行过巫魔会,同鬼王别西卜一道把那个小女孩生吞活吃了,现在回教徒仍然保留着这种习俗呐.花喜儿听到这些可怕的事情后并没有哭,只动了动嘴唇像要说话,可是什么也说不出来.隔天,她满头黑发顿时全花白了.再隔天,她就失踪了."
"这的确是一个骇人听闻的故事,"乌达德说道,"连连勃艮第人听了也会落泪的."
"难怪你一听到埃及人就怕得要命!"热尔维丝插上一句.
"你刚刚带着你的儿子赶紧逃走,这样做很正确,因为这伙埃及人也是从波兰来的."乌达德接着又说.
"不对."热尔维丝说,"听说是从西班牙和卡塔卢尼亚来的."
"卡塔卢尼亚?这倒有可能."乌达德应道."波兰,卡塔卢尼亚,瓦卢尼亚,我老是把这三个地方弄混的.但是有一点是确信无疑的,他们一定都是埃及人."
"而且,他们肯定都长着獠牙,吃起小孩来才行."热尔维丝加油添醋地说."要是爱斯梅拉达也吃一点,一边却噘起小嘴作出一副轻蔑的样子,那我才不会感到意外的.她身边的那只白山羊耍的把戏太鬼了,这里头必有歪门邪道."
马伊埃特默然地走着.她沉浸在遐思之中,这种遐思简直是某个悲惨故事的延续,并引起精神上的阵阵震撼,直到触及心灵深处,它才会停止.这时,热尔维丝对她说:"花喜儿的下落怎么样,没人知道吗?"马伊埃特没有应声.直到热尔维丝摇着她的胳膊,叫着她的名字,又问了一遍,马伊埃特这才似乎从沉思中惊醒.
"花喜儿的下落吗?"她机械地重复这句话,好像刚听到这问题似的.然后,她尽力集中精神,注意弄明白这话的意思,于是急速应道:"啊!无人知晓."
马伊埃特停了一下接着说:
"有人说看见她傍晚时从弗莱尚博门出了兰斯城,也有人说她是在天刚亮时从老巴泽门出城的.有个穷人在今天某市场的那块地里的石十字架上,然后找到了她挂在上面的那金十字架,也就是六一年毁了她的那件金首饰,是她的第一个情郎.英俊的科蒙雷伊子爵送给她的礼物.那帕盖特哪怕再穷,也从舍不得把它脱手,把它当命根子一样珍惜.因此一看见她把这金十字架也扔了,我们妇道人家都相信她已经自尽了.可是,旺特酒店的人说,曾在通往巴黎的那条石子路上,看见她赤着脚走着.不过,如果真的是这样的话,那她就得从维尔门出城,但这看法并不一致.换种说法会明白些,我相信她确实是从维尔门出去的,不过也就从这个人世间出去的."
"我不明白."热尔维丝说.
"维尔,那是一条河呀."马伊埃特用着忧伤的笑容应道.
"可怜的花喜儿!"乌达德说,禁不由一阵颤抖,"投河死了!"
"投河死了!"马伊埃特紧接着说道."想当初,居贝托这个好老爹坐船顺流而下,唱着歌经过丹格桥下,有谁知道日后有一天,他亲爱的小帕盖特也从这桥下经过,既没歌声,也无船只呢?"
"还有那只小鞋呢?"热尔维丝问.
"也同那母亲一起消失了."马伊埃特回答道.
"可怜的小鞋呀!"乌达德说道.
乌达德,肥胖而又容易动感情,随着马伊埃特唉声叹气,本来到此也就心满意足了,可是热尔维丝好奇得很,问题还没有穷究到底呐.
"那妖怪呢?"她突然问马伊埃特道.
"哪个妖怪?"马伊埃特问.
"就是巫婆扔在花喜儿家里换走了她女儿的那个小埃及怪物呗!你们把他弄成什么样了?我巴不得你们把他也淹死才好呢."
"没有."马伊埃特回答.
"怎么!那是烧死的?其实,理当如此,一个妖孽嘛!"
"既没有淹死,也没有烧死,热尔维丝.大主教大人十分关心这埃及孩子,替他驱了邪,洗了礼,仔细地祛除了附在他身上的魔鬼,然后将他送到巴黎来,作为一个弃婴,放在圣母院前的木床上,叫人收养了."
"这班主教呀!"热尔维丝嘀咕着."他们满肚子学问,做起事来非同一般.我倒要请教你,乌达德,把魔鬼算做弃婴,这是怎么一回事呀!这个小怪物准是个魔鬼,算了,马伊埃特,那这小怪物在巴黎又怎么了?我相信,没有一个好心肠的人会要收留他的."
"不知道."这个兰斯女人回答道."正好那时我丈夫买下了伯吕公证事务所,离兰斯城有八公里远,我们就不再关心这件事了,再说,伯吕前面有两座塞尔内土丘,挡住视线,望不见兰斯大教堂的钟楼."
这三个可敬的女市民就这么说说谈谈,已经来到了河滩广场.由于全神贯注谈论她们的故事,经过罗朗塔楼公用祈祷书前也没停步,就下意识地径直朝耻辱柱走去,周围的观众每时每刻都在不停增多,很有可能此时吸引着众人视线的景象,使她们完全忘记了老鼠洞和打算在那里祈祷的事儿.想不到马伊埃特手中牵着那个六岁的胖墩厄斯塔舍,突然提醒了她们那东西."妈妈,"他说道,好像某种本能告诉他老鼠洞已经走过了."现在可以吃饼了吗?"
若是厄斯塔舍机智一点,就是说不那么嘴馋,他就会再等一等,等到回去时,回到了大学城,到了瓦朗斯夫人街安德里.缪斯尼埃的家里,等到老鼠洞和玉米饼中间隔着塞纳河的两道河弯和老城的五座桥,那时才放大胆子,提出这样一个让人难为情的问题:"妈妈,现在能吃饼了吗?"
厄斯塔舍此刻提出这个问题是很冒失的,却引了马伊埃特的注意.
"对啦,"她一下子叫了起来,"我们竟把隐修女给忘了!快点告诉我老鼠洞在哪儿,我给她送饼去."
"马上就去."乌达德说道."这可真是一件善事."
但对厄斯塔舍却不是好事了.
"哎呀,我的饼!"他说着,一下子高耸左肩,一下子又高耸右肩,连连直碰着各边耳朵,那是表示他相当不快.
三个妇女转身往回走,到了罗朗塔楼附近,乌达德对另外两个人说:"三个人可别同时都往洞里看,免得把麻衣女吓坏了.你俩装念着祈祷书的赞主篇,而我就把脸孔贴到窗洞口去看.麻衣女有点认得我.你们何时可以过去,我会告诉你们的."
她独个儿走到窗洞口.她的眼睛刚往里面一瞄,一种悲天悯人的表情立即露在了脸上,原来又快活又开朗的面容顿时改变了表情和脸色,似乎从阳光下走到了月光下.眼睛湿了,嘴巴抽搐着像快要哭了起来.不久后,她把一只手指按在嘴唇上示意叫马伊埃特过去看.
马伊埃特心情激动,就悄悄地踮起脚尖走了过去,就像走近一个垂死的人的床前那样.
两个女子立在老鼠洞装有栅栏的窗口前,一动也不动,不敢出大气,朝洞里瞧着,眼前的景象实是悲惨.
那间斗室又窄又浅,顶上尖拱状,朝里面看很像一顶主教的大法冠.在光秃秃石板地面的一个角落里,有个女人,与其说是坐着,倒不如说是蹲着.下巴靠在膝盖上,两臂交叉,紧紧地合抱在胸前.她就这样蜷缩成一团,有一件麻袋状的褐色粗布长衫把她全身裹住,宽大的皱褶层叠着,花白的长发从前面披下来,遮住面孔,顺着双腿直拖到脚上.乍一看,她好像映托在小屋阴暗底部的一个怪异的物体,一种非黑似黑的三棱体,被从窗洞口透进来的日光一映照,她身上有两种反差强烈的色调,一半明亮,而一半阴暗,宛如人们在梦中或是在戈雅的非凡作品中所见到那种半暗半明的幽灵,苍白,呆板,阴森,蹲在坟墓上或靠在牢房的铁栅上,这既非女人,也非男人;既不是活人,也不是确定的形体,这是一个影象,是真实与虚幻交错.黑暗与光明交叉的一种幻影.在那垂至地上的头发掩盖下,几乎分辨不出一个消瘦和冷峻的身影;自她的长袍下,隐隐约约露出一只挛缩在坚硬冰冷的石板地面上的光脚.这紧裹在丧服下若隐若现的依稀形体,让人看了不寒而栗.
这个似乎被牢牢砌在石板上的形体,看上去没有动作,没有呼吸,没有思想.时值一月,穿着那状如麻袋的单薄粗布衫,赤着脚瘫坐在花岗石地面上,没有火取暖,呆在一间阴暗的黑牢里,通风口是歪斜的,从外面进来的只是寒风,而不是阳光;对于没有这一切,她好像并不痛苦,甚至连感觉都没有.仿佛她跟着这黑牢已化作石头,随着这季节已变成冰.她双手合掌,两眼直直地愣着.第一眼看上去以为是个鬼魂,第二眼以为是个石像.
但是,她那发青的嘴唇偶尔微开,好透口气,又不时颤抖,好像随风飘荡的树叶,死气沉沉,死板木然.
但是,她那双暗淡的眼睛却露出一种难以形容的目光,一种阴郁.冷静.深沉的目光,不停地盯着小屋中一个无法从外面看得清的角落.这一目光仿佛紧系悲惨灵魂的一切伤感在什么奇异的事物上.
这就是那个因其住处而被称之为隐修女.又因她的衣裳而被叫做麻衣女的人儿.
热尔维丝也走过来和马伊埃特及乌达德在一起了,三个女子都打窗洞口往里张望.她们的头挡住了照进土牢里的微弱光线,那个不幸的女人虽然没有了光,但是似乎并没有注意到她们.乌达德低声说:"别打扰她.她出神入定,正在祈祷哩."
这时,马伊埃特仔细察看那张憔悴.消瘦.披头散发的脸孔,心里益发惴惴不安,眼里充满着泪水,不由悄悄嘀咕了一句道:"要是真的,那可太奇怪了!"
她将脑袋从通气孔的栏栅当中伸进去,好容易才看得见那悲惨女人一直盯着的那个角落.她把头从窗洞缩回来的时候,只见她泪流满脸.
"这个女人叫什么来着?"她问乌达德道.
"古杜尔修女."
"而我呀,叫她花喜儿帕盖特."马伊埃特继续说.
于是,伸出一根指头按住嘴唇,朝呆若木鸡的乌达德示意,要她把头也伸进窗洞里去看一看.
乌达德看了一眼,只见在隐修女阴沉的眼光死盯着的角落里,有一只绣满金银箔片的粉红色小缎鞋.
热尔维丝也随着去看,于是三个女子一起仔细瞧着那悲惨的母亲,情不自禁都哭了起来.
但是,她们端视也罢,落泪也罢,丝毫没有分散隐修女的注意力.她仍旧双掌紧合,双唇纹丝不动,两眼发呆.凡是知道她底细的人,看见她这样死盯着那只小鞋心都碎了.
三位女子没说一句话儿,她们不敢作声,甚至连轻声细语也不敢.看见这种极度的沉默,这种极度的痛苦,这种极度的丧失记忆-除了一件东西外,其他的一切统统忘却了-,她们仿佛觉得置身在复活节或圣诞节的正祭台前,沉思默想,肃然起敬,随时准备下跪了.她们好像在耶稣受难纪念日刚刚走进了教堂一般.
最后,还是三个人当中最好奇.因而也最不易动感情的热尔维丝,试图让隐修女开口,就叫道:"嬷嬷!古杜尔嬷嬷!"
她这么叫了三遍,声音一遍比一遍高.隐修女纹丝不动,没应一声,没看一眼,也没叹一口气,没有一丝反应.
这回由乌达德来喊,声音变得更加甜蜜温柔:"嬷嬷!圣古杜尔嬷嬷!"
同样的沉默,同样的静寂.
"一个怪女人!"热尔维丝叫道."炮轰都无动于衷!"
"或许聋了."乌达德唉声叹气.
"也许瞎了."热尔维丝添上一句.
"也许死了."马伊埃特继续说道.
说得也对,灵魂即使还没有离开这麻木.沉睡.死气沉沉的躯体,至少早已退却并隐藏到深处去了,外部器官的感知就再也没有用处了.
"那么只好把这块饼放在这窗口上啦."乌达德说."不过,小孩会把饼拿走的.怎样才能将叫醒她呢?"
直到这时,厄斯塔舍一直很开心,有只大狗拖着一辆小车刚经过那里,把他深深吸引住了,但忽然发现他母亲和两个阿姨正凑在窗洞口看什么东西,不由得也好奇起来,便爬上一块界石,踮起脚尖,把红润的小胖脸贴到窗口上,喊道:"妈妈,看吧,我也要瞧一瞧!"
一听到这纯真.清脆.响亮的童声,隐修女不由颤抖了一下,猛然转过头来,动作迅猛,好比钢制弹簧那般;她伸出两只嶙峋的长手,把披在额头上的头发掠开来,用惊讶.苦楚.绝望的目光紧紧盯着孩子.但这目光只不过像道闪电,一闪即逝.
"哦,我的上帝啊!"她突然叫了一声,同时又将脑袋藏在两膝中间,听那嘶哑的声音,它经过胸膛时仿佛把胸膛都撕裂了."上帝求求你,至少别叫我看见别人的孩子!"
"你好,太太."孩子神情严肃地说.
这个震撼有如山崩地裂,可以说把隐修女完完全完惊醒过来了.只见她从头到脚,全身一阵哆嗦,牙齿直打冷颤,格格作响,半抬起头来,两肘紧压住双腿,双手紧握住两脚,像要焐暖似的,她说:"噢!我好冷!"
"可怜的人,你要点火吗?"乌达德满怀怜悯地问道.
她却摇了摇头,以示不要.
"那好吧,"乌达德又说道,递给她一只小瓶子."这是一点肉桂酒,可以给你暖暖身子,喝吧!"
她又摇头,眼睛定定地望着乌达德,应声道:"水."
乌达德坚持道:"不,嬷嬷,一月里喝不得凉水.应该喝一点酒,吃这块我们特地为你做的玉米发面饼."
她推开马伊埃特给她的饼,说道:"我要黑面包."
"来吧,这里有件大衣,比你身上的要暖和些.快披上吧!"热尔维丝也顿生怜悯之心,脱下身上的羊毛披风,说.
正象拒绝酒和饼一样,她不愿收下这件大衣,说:"一件粗布衣."
"不过,你多少也应该看出来了吧,昨天是节日呀!"好心肠的乌达德又说.
"看出来了."隐修女回答道,"我水罐里已经两天没有水了."
她停了一下又说:"大家过节,将我给忘了.人家做得对.我不想世人,世人为什么要想我呢?冷灰对灭炭."
话音刚落,她好像说了这么多话感到疲乏了,又垂下头,靠在膝盖上.乌达德,头脑简单而心地善良,自以为听懂了她最后几句话的意思,认为她还在埋怨寒冷,就天真地答道:"这么说,你要点火啦?"
"火!"麻衣女说道,腔调怪里怪气,"那个已在地下十五年之久的可怜小娃娃,难道你也能给她生上一个火吗?"
她手脚哆嗦,声音发颤,眼睛闪亮,一下子跪了起来.突然,伸出惨白枯瘦的手,指着那个正惊诧望着她的孩子喊道:"快把这孩子带走!埃及婆娘就要来了!"
她随即一头扑倒在地下,额头碰在地面石板上,其响声就好比石头相击那般.那三个女子都以为她死了,但过了一会儿,她又动起来了,只见她趴在地上,手脚并用,爬到放小鞋的那个角落去.这时她们三人不敢看下去了,再也看不见她了,只听到接连不断的亲吻声,连连不断的叹息声,夹杂着撕心裂肺的哭叫声,一下又一下好像是头撞墙的闷浊声.接着,传来一个猛烈的撞声,将三个女子都吓得摇摇晃晃,随后就无声无息了.
"保不定撞死了?"热尔维丝说着,一边冒然把头伸到窗洞口去张望."嬷嬷!古杜尔嬷嬷!"
"古杜尔嬷嬷!"乌达德喊着.
"啊!我的天呀!她不动了!"热尔维丝接着说道."她真的死了?古杜尔!古杜尔!"
马伊埃特一直哽咽在那里,话也说不出来,这时使劲振作起精神来,说道:"等一下."随即弯身向着窗洞喊道:"帕盖特!花喜儿帕盖特!"
就是一个孩子放鞭炮,看见没点燃,楞头楞脑去吹,结果鞭炮竟对着他眼睛炸开了,即便如此,也没有像马伊埃特冷不防高喊古杜尔修女的真名实姓,将她吓得魂不附体.
隐修女浑身战抖,光脚站起,一下子跳到窗洞口,两眼直冒火,把马伊埃特.乌达德,另一个女子同孩子吓得连忙往后退,一直退到河岸的栏杆边去了.
这当儿,隐修女那张阴森的脸孔出现在窗洞口,紧贴着窗栏.她发出阴森恐怖地笑声,叫道:"嗬!嗬!这是那个埃及婆娘在喊我吧!"
就在这时,她狂乱的目光被耻辱柱那边的情景吸引住了.她憎恶地皱起额头,把两只骷髅般的胳膊伸到黑牢外,像垂死的人那样喘着粗气,声音嘶哑地吼道:"还是你,埃及妞!是你在叫我吧,你这个偷小孩的贼婆娘!好呀!该死!该死!你该死!该死!"

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 24楼  发表于: 2013-10-27 0

《BOOK SIXTH CHAPTER IV.A TEAR FOR A DROP OF WATER.》
These words were, so to speak, the point of union of two scenes, which had, up to that time, been developed in parallel lines at the same moment, each on its particular theatre; one, that which the reader has just perused, in the Rat-Hole; the other, which he is about to read, on the ladder of the pillory.The first had for witnesses only the three women with whom the reader has just made acquaintance; the second had for spectators all the public which we have seen above, collecting on the place de Grève, around the pillory and the gibbet.
That crowd which the four sergeants posted at nine o'clock in the morning at the four corners of the pillory had inspired with the hope of some sort of an execution, no doubt, not a hanging, but a whipping, a cropping of ears, something, in short,--that crowd had increased so rapidly that the four policemen, too closely besieged, had had occasion to "press" it, as the expression then ran, more than once, by sound blows of their whips, and the haunches of their horses.
This populace, disciplined to waiting for public executions, did not manifest very much impatience.It amused itself with watching the pillory, a very simple sort of monument, composed of a cube of masonry about six feet high and hollow in the interior.A very steep staircase, of unhewn stone, which was called by distinction "the ladder," led to the upper platform, upon which was visible a horizontal wheel of solid oak.The victim was bound upon this wheel, on his knees, with his hands behind his back.A wooden shaft, which set in motion a capstan concealed in the interior of the little edifice, imparted a rotatory motion to the wheel, which always maintained its horizontal position, and in this manner presented the face of the condemned man to all quarters of the square in succession.This was what was called "turning" a criminal.
As the reader perceives, the pillory of the Grève was far from presenting all the recreations of the pillory of the Halles. Nothing architectural, nothing monumental.No roof to the iron cross, no octagonal lantern, no frail, slender columns spreading out on the edge of the roof into capitals of acanthus leaves and flowers, no waterspouts of chimeras and monsters, on carved woodwork, no fine sculpture, deeply sunk in the stone.
They were forced to content themselves with those four stretches of rubble work, backed with sandstone, and a wretched stone gibbet, meagre and bare, on one side.
The entertainment would have been but a poor one for lovers of Gothic architecture.It is true that nothing was ever less curious on the score of architecture than the worthy gapers of the Middle Ages, and that they cared very little for the beauty of a pillory.
The victim finally arrived, bound to the tail of a cart, and when he had been hoisted upon the platform, where he could be seen from all points of the place, bound with cords and straps upon the wheel of the pillory, a prodigious hoot, mingled with laughter and acclamations, burst forth upon the place.They had recognized Quasimodo.
It was he, in fact.The change was singular.pilloried on the very place where, on the day before, he had been saluted, acclaimed, and proclaimed pope and prince of Fools, in the cortege of the Duke of Egypt, the King of Thunes, and the Emperor of Galilee!One thing is certain, and that is, that there was not a soul in the crowd, not even himself, though in turn triumphant and the sufferer, who set forth this combination clearly in his thought.Gringoire and his philosophy were missing at this spectacle.
Soon Michel Noiret, sworn trumpeter to the king, our lord, imposed silence on the louts, and proclaimed the sentence, in accordance with the order and command of monsieur the provost. Then he withdrew behind the cart, with his men in livery surcoats.
Quasimodo, impassible, did not wince.All resistance had been rendered impossible to him by what was then called, in the style of the criminal chancellery, "the vehemence and firmness of the bonds" which means that the thongs and chains probably cut into his flesh; moreover, it is a tradition of jail and wardens, which has not been lost, and which the handcuffs still preciously preserve among us, a civilized, gentle, humane people (the galleys and the guillotine in parentheses).
He had allowed himself to be led, pushed, carried, lifted, bound, and bound again.Nothing was to be seen upon his countenance but the astonishment of a savage or an idiot. He was known to be deaf; one might have pronounced him to be blind.
They placed him on his knees on the circular plank; he made no resistance.They removed his shirt and doublet as far as his girdle; he allowed them to have their way.They entangled him under a fresh system of thongs and buckles; he allowed them to bind and buckle him.Only from time to time he snorted noisily, like a calf whose head is hanging and bumping over the edge of a butcher's cart.
"The dolt," said Jehan Frollo of the Mill, to his friend Robin poussepain (for the two students had followed the culprit, as was to have been expected), "he understands no more than a cockchafer shut up in a box!"
There was wild laughter among the crowd when they beheld Quasimodo's hump, his camel's breast, his callous and hairy shoulders laid bare.During this gayety, a man in the livery of the city, short of stature and robust of mien, mounted the platform and placed himself near the victim.His name speedily circulated among the spectators.It was Master pierrat Torterue, official torturer to the Chatelet.
He began by depositing on an angle of the pillory a black hour-glass, the upper lobe of which was filled with red sand, which it allowed to glide into the lower receptacle; then he removed his parti-colored surtout, and there became visible, suspended from his right hand, a thin and tapering whip of long, white, shining, knotted, plaited thongs, armed with metal nails.With his left hand, he negligently folded back his shirt around his right arm, to the very armpit.
In the meantime, Jehan Frollo, elevating his curly blonde head above the crowd (he had mounted upon the shoulders of Robin poussepain for the purpose), shouted: "Come and look, gentle ladies and men! they are going to peremptorily flagellate Master Quasimodo, the bellringer of my brother, monsieur the archdeacon of Josas, a knave of oriental architecture, who has a back like a dome, and legs like twisted columns!"
And the crowd burst into a laugh, especially the boys and young girls.
At length the torturer stamped his foot.The wheel began to turn.Quasimodo wavered beneath his bonds.The amazement which was suddenly depicted upon his deformed face caused the bursts of laughter to redouble around him.
All at once, at the moment when the wheel in its revolution presented to Master pierrat, the humped back of Quasimodo, Master pierrat raised his arm; the fine thongs whistled sharply through the air, like a handful of adders, and fell with fury upon the wretch's shoulders.
Quasimodo leaped as though awakened with a start.He began to understand.He writhed in his bonds; a violent contraction of surprise and pain distorted the muscles of his face, but he uttered not a single sigh.He merely turned his head backward, to the right, then to the left, balancing it as a bull does who has been stung in the flanks by a gadfly.
A second blow followed the first, then a third, and another and another, and still others.The wheel did not cease to turn, nor the blows to rain down.
Soon the blood burst forth, and could be seen trickling in a thousand threads down the hunchback's black shoulders; and the slender thongs, in their rotatory motion which rent the air, sprinkled drops of it upon the crowd.
Quasimodo had resumed, to all appearance, his first imperturbability.He had at first tried, in a quiet way and without much outward movement, to break his bonds.His eye had been seen to light up, his muscles to stiffen, his members to concentrate their force, and the straps to stretch.The effort was powerful, prodigious, desperate; but the provost's seasoned bonds resisted.They cracked, and that was all.Quasimodo fell back exhausted.Amazement gave way, on his features, to a sentiment of profound and bitter discouragement.He closed his single eye, allowed his head to droop upon his breast, and feigned death.
From that moment forth, he stirred no more.Nothing could force a movement from him.Neither his blood, which did not cease to flow, nor the blows which redoubled in fury, nor the wrath of the torturer, who grew excited himself and intoxicated with the execution, nor the sound of the horrible thongs, more sharp and whistling than the claws of scorpions.
At length a bailiff from the Chatelet clad in black, mounted on a black horse, who had been stationed beside the ladder since the beginning of the execution, extended his ebony wand towards the hour-glass.The torturer stopped.The wheel stopped.Quasimodo's eye opened slowly.
The scourging was finished.Two lackeys of the official torturer bathed the bleeding shoulders of the patient, anointed them with some unguent which immediately closed all the wounds, and threw upon his back a sort of yellow vestment, in cut like a chasuble.In the meanwhile, pierrat Torterue allowed the thongs, red and gorged with blood, to drip upon the pavement.
All was not over for Quasimodo.He had still to undergo that hour of pillory which Master Florian Barbedienne had so judiciously added to the sentence of Messire Robert d'Estouteville; all to the greater glory of the old physiological and psychological play upon words of Jean de Cumène, ~Surdus absurdus~: a deaf man is absurd.
So the hour-glass was turned over once more, and they left the hunchback fastened to the plank, in order that justice might be accomplished to the very end.
The populace, especially in the Middle Ages, is in society what the child is in the family.As long as it remains in its state of primitive ignorance, of moral and intellectual minority, it can be said of it as of the child,--
'Tis the pitiless age.
We have already shown that Quasimodo was generally hated, for more than one good reason, it is true.There was hardly a spectator in that crowd who had not or who did not believe that he had reason to complain of the malevolent hunchback of Notre-Dame.The joy at seeing him appear thus in the pillory had been universal; and the harsh punishment which he had just suffered, and the pitiful condition in which it had left him, far from softening the populace had rendered its hatred more malicious by arming it with a touch of mirth.
Hence, the "public prosecution" satisfied, as the bigwigs of the law still express it in their jargon, the turn came of a thousand private vengeances.Here, as in the Grand Hall, the women rendered themselves particularly prominent.All cherished some rancor against him, some for his malice, others for his ugliness.The latter were the most furious.
"Oh! mask of Antichrist!" said one.
"Rider on a broom handle!" cried another.
"What a fine tragic grimace," howled a third, "and who would make him pope of the Fools if to-day were yesterday?"
"'Tis well," struck in an old woman."This is the grimace of the pillory.When shall we have that of the gibbet?"
"When will you be coiffed with your big bell a hundred feet under ground, cursed bellringer?"
"But 'tis the devil who rings the Angelus!"
"Oh! the deaf man! the one-eyed creature! the hunch- back! the monster!"
"A face to make a woman miscarry better than all the drugs and medicines!"
And the two scholars, Jehan du Moulin, and Robin poussepain, sang at the top of their lungs, the ancient refrain,--
"~Une hart pour le pendard! Un fagot pour le magot~!"*
*A rope for the gallows bird!A fagot for the ape.
A thousand other insults rained down upon him, and hoots and imprecations, and laughter, and now and then, stones.
Quasimodo was deaf but his sight was clear, and the public fury was no less energetically depicted on their visages than in their words.Moreover, the blows from the stones explained the bursts of laughter.
At first he held his ground.But little by little that patience which had borne up under the lash of the torturer, yielded and gave way before all these stings of insects.The bull of the Asturias who has been but little moved by the attacks of the picador grows irritated with the dogs and banderilleras.
He first cast around a slow glance of hatred upon the crowd. But bound as he was, his glance was powerless to drive away those flies which were stinging his wound.Then he moved in his bonds, and his furious exertions made the ancient wheel of the pillory shriek on its axle.All this only increased the derision and hooting.
Then the wretched man, unable to break his collar, like that of a chained wild beast, became tranquil once more; only at intervals a sigh of rage heaved the hollows of his chest. There was neither shame nor redness on his face.He was too far from the state of society, and too near the state of nature to know what shame was.Moreover, with such a degree of deformity, is infamy a thing that can be felt?But wrath, hatred, despair, slowly lowered over that hideous visage a cloud which grew ever more and more sombre, ever more and more charged with electricity, which burst forth in a thousand lightning flashes from the eye of the cyclops.
Nevertheless, that cloud cleared away for a moment, at the passage of a mule which traversed the crowd, bearing a priest. As far away as he could see that mule and that priest, the poor victim's visage grew gentler.The fury which had contracted it was followed by a strange smile full of ineffable sweetness, gentleness, and tenderness.In proportion as the priest approached, that smile became more clear, more distinct, more radiant.It was like the arrival of a Saviour, which the unhappy man was greeting.But as soon as the mule was near enough to the pillory to allow of its rider recognizing the victim, the priest dropped his eyes, beat a hasty retreat, spurred on rigorously, as though in haste to rid himself of humiliating appeals, and not at all desirous of being saluted and recognized by a poor fellow in such a predicament.
This priest was Archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo.
The cloud descended more blackly than ever upon Quasimodo's brow. The smile was still mingled with it for a time, but was bitter, discouraged, profoundly sad.
Time passed on.He had been there at least an hour and a half, lacerated, maltreated, mocked incessantly, and almost stoned.
All at once he moved again in his chains with redoubled despair, which made the whole framework that bore him tremble, and, breaking the silence which he had obstinately preserved hitherto, he cried in a hoarse and furious voice, which resembled a bark rather than a human cry, and which was drowned in the noise of the hoots--"Drink!"
This exclamation of distress, far from exciting compassion, only added amusement to the good parisian populace who surrounded the ladder, and who, it must be confessed, taken in the mass and as a multitude, was then no less cruel and brutal than that horrible tribe of robbers among whom we have already conducted the reader, and which was simply the lower stratum of the populace.Not a voice was raised around the unhappy victim, except to jeer at his thirst.It is certain that at that moment he was more grotesque and repulsive than pitiable, with his face purple and dripping, his eye wild, his mouth foaming with rage and pain, and his tongue lolling half out.It must also be stated that if a charitable soul of a bourgeois or ~bourgeoise~, in the rabble, had attempted to carry a glass of water to that wretched creature in torment, there reigned around the infamous steps of the pillory such a prejudice of shame and ignominy, that it would have sufficed to repulse the good Samaritan.
At the expiration of a few moments, Quasimodo cast a desperate glance upon the crowd, and repeated in a voice still more heartrending: "Drink!"
And all began to laugh.
"Drink this!" cried Robin poussepain, throwing in his face a sponge which had been soaked in the gutter."There, you deaf villain, I'm your debtor."
A woman hurled a stone at his head,--
"That will teach you to wake us up at night with your peal of a dammed soul."
"He, good, my son!" howled a cripple, making an effort to reach him with his crutch, "will you cast any more spells on us from the top of the towers of Notre-Dame?"
"Here's a drinking cup!" chimed in a man, flinging a broken jug at his breast."'Twas you that made my wife, simply because she passed near you, give birth to a child with two heads!"
"And my cat bring forth a kitten with six paws!" yelped an old crone, launching a brick at him.
"Drink!" repeated Quasimodo panting, and for the third time.
At that moment he beheld the crowd give way.A young girl, fantastically dressed, emerged from the throng.She was accompanied by a little white goat with gilded horns, and carried a tambourine in her hand.
Quasimodo's eyes sparkled.It was the gypsy whom he had attempted to carry off on the preceding night, a misdeed for which he was dimly conscious that he was being punished at that very moment; which was not in the least the case, since he was being chastised only for the misfortune of being deaf, and of having been judged by a deaf man.He doubted not that she had come to wreak her vengeance also, and to deal her blow like the rest.
He beheld her, in fact, mount the ladder rapidly.Wrath and spite suffocate him.He would have liked to make the pillory crumble into ruins, and if the lightning of his eye could have dealt death, the gypsy would have been reduced to powder before she reached the platform.
She approached, without uttering a syllable, the victim who writhed in a vain effort to escape her, and detaching a gourd from her girdle, she raised it gently to the parched lips of the miserable man.
Then, from that eye which had been, up to that moment, so dry and burning, a big tear was seen to fall, and roll slowly down that deformed visage so long contracted with despair. It was the first, in all probability, that the unfortunate man had ever shed.
Meanwhile, be had forgotten to drink.The gypsy made her little pout, from impatience, and pressed the spout to the tusked month of Quasimodo, with a smile.
He drank with deep draughts.His thirst was burning.
When he had finished, the wretch protruded his black lips, no doubt, with the object of kissing the beautiful hand which had just succoured him.But the young girl, who was, perhaps, somewhat distrustful, and who remembered the violent attempt of the night, withdrew her hand with the frightened gesture of a child who is afraid of being bitten by a beast.
Then the poor deaf man fixed on her a look full of reproach and inexpressible sadness.
It would have been a touching spectacle anywhere,--this beautiful, fresh, pure, and charming girl, who was at the same time so weak, thus hastening to the relief of so much misery, deformity, and malevolence.On the pillory, the spectacle was sublime.
The very populace were captivated by it, and began to clap their hands, crying,--
"Noel!Noel!"
It was at that moment that the recluse caught sight, from the window of her bole, of the gypsy on the pillory, and hurled at her her sinister imprecation,--
"Accursed be thou, daughter of Egypt!Accursed! accursed!"

《第六卷 四 一滴水,一滴泪》
隐修女的这几句话,可说是两幕戏的汇合点.在此之前,这两幕戏同时在各自特别的舞台上并行展开,一幕是我们刚刚看过的,发生在老鼠洞里,另一幕我们马上就要看到,发生在耻辱柱架子上.头一幕的目击者只有读者才认识的那三个女子,后一幕的观众则是我们在前面见过的那些聚集在河滩广场耻辱柱与绞刑架周围的观众.
这群人看见四名捕快自早上九点起就分立在耻辱柱四角,便料想到快行刑了,大概不是绞刑,却会是笞刑,或者是耳刑,总而言之,某种玩意儿吧.于是顷刻间,围观的人群急剧增多,把四名捕快紧紧围住,四名捕快只得不止一次地用皮鞭猛抽和用马屁股推挡,按当时的说法,把人群挤一挤.
民众等候观看公开行刑倒是安份守己的,并不显得急不可待的样子.他们闲着无聊,就以观看耻辱柱来消遣.所谓耻辱柱,其实是非常简单的一种石碑,呈立方形,高大约一丈,中间是空的.有一道叫做梯子的陡峭的粗糙石级,直通顶上的平台,台上平放着一轮橡木板转盘.犯人跪着,双臂反剪,给绑在转盘上面.平台里面暗藏着一个绞盘,绞盘一转动,推动着一杆木头轮轴,轮盘随之转动起来,始终保持在一个平面上,如此这般,犯人的面孔就连续不断地呈现在观众面前,广场上随便哪一个角落都能看得见.这就叫做车转罪犯.
正如人们所见,就供人娱乐而言,河滩广场的耻辱柱远远不如菜市场的那么好玩.没有一丝一毫的建筑艺术性,没有一星半点的宏伟气派.见不到竖着铁十字架的屋顶,看不到八角灯,见不到那些直耸屋檐上的精致小圆柱顶端花形斗拱和叶板斗拱争妍争艳,也看不到奇形怪状的神秘水槽.精雕细刻的屋架.还有玲珑剔透的石刻.
如果想看的话,就只好看看碎石的四片台壁.砂岩的台顶和台底,还有旁边一个凶相毕露的石柱绞刑架,干瘪瘪,赤裸裸.
对于喜好哥特式建筑艺术的人来说,这种赏心乐事未免大煞风景了吧.的确,中世纪那班爱看热闹的闲汉,对什么建筑物都没有兴趣,才不管耻辱柱美不美呐.
犯人被绑在一辆大车屁股后面,最后终于来了.随即被拖上平台,自广场四面八方都能看见他被绳子和皮条牢牢地绑在耻辱柱的转盘上面,这时候,广场上爆发了一阵震天价响的嘘声,混杂着狂笑声同欢呼声.大家一眼就认出来了,那就是卡齐莫多.
果然是他.他这次回来真是今非昔比,太让人不可思议了.昨天同样在这广场上,在埃及公爵.狄纳王与加利列皇帝的陪同下,万众一齐向他欢呼致敬,拥立他为愚人教皇,而今天他竟成了耻辱柱上的囚犯!有一点可以肯定的是,人群中没一个人,甚至连忽而是胜利者忽而又是罪犯的卡齐莫多自己,脑子里会清楚地把前后不同的处境进行这种对照.格兰古瓦和他的人生哲学也没经历过这种场面.
不久,我们国王陛下指定的号手米歇尔.努瓦雷叫大家肃静,并根据司法长官大人的裁决和命令,扯着嗓子宣读判决书.然后,便率领手下身著盔甲的一班人退到大车子后面去了.
卡齐莫多毫无表情,眉头都没皱一下.任何反抗都是不可能的,按照刑事司法的文体用语来说,捆绑毫不容情而坚实,意思是说皮条和铁链很可能直陷入皮肉里去了.再者,这是监狱和苦刑船的一种传统,至今依然起着作用,而且在我们这样文明.温和.人道的民族之中,镣铐岂不是还将这种传统当成宝贝保留至今么(顺便说一句,苦役所和断头台就是例证)!
卡齐莫多任别人拖呀,扛呀,推呀,抬呀,绑了又绑.他的表情除了流露出野人或是白痴般的惊愕外,别的一点也猜想不出来.人们知道他是聋子,似乎还是瞎子.
人家将他按在轮盘上跪下,他任凭别人摆布,要跪就跪;人家扒掉他的上衣和衬衫,直到赤裸着上身,他也听凭摆布,要扒就让人扒去;人家用皮带和环扣重新把他五花大绑,他也依旧听任摆布,要绑就让人绑去.只见他不时喘着粗气,好象一头被绑在屠夫大车上的小牛,脑袋耷拉在车沿上摇来晃去的.
"这个傻瓜蛋!"磨坊的约翰.弗罗洛对其朋友罗班.普斯潘说(这两个学子理所当然似地跟着犯人来到这里)."他简直是一只关在盒子里的金龟子,啥子都不懂!"
观众一看到卡齐莫多赤裸的驼背.鸡胸.满是老茧和毛茸茸的两肩,不由一阵狂笑.正在大家乐不可支的时候,平台上爬上了一个身穿号衣.五短三粗的汉子,走过去朝犯人旁边一站,他的名字立刻在群众中传开了,此人就是小堡法定的刽子手皮埃拉.托特吕老爷.
他先将一只黑色沙漏放在耻辱柱的一个角落.沙漏上端的瓶子里装满红沙子,向下端的容器漏下去.随后脱掉身上的两色外衣,只看他右手悬着一根用白色长皮条绞成的细长皮鞭,油光闪亮,尽是疙瘩,末端有着一些金属爪.他用左手漫不经心地卷起右臂衬衫的袖子,一直撩到腋下.
这时,约翰.弗罗洛爬到罗班.普斯潘的肩上,把他那长满金色卷发的脑袋伸出人群之上,高声叫道:"先生们,太太们,快来看呀!这儿马上就要专横地鞭打我哥哥若札副主教大人的敲钟人卡齐莫多,一个东方建筑艺术的怪物,你们看他的脊背是圆盖,双脚是弯曲的柱子!"
话音刚落,人群哈哈大笑,尤其是孩子们和姑娘们.
末了,刽子手一跺脚,圆轮立即旋转起来.卡齐莫多被绑得扎扎实实,大大地摇晃了一下.畸形的脸孔顿时惊惶失色,周围的观众笑得更厉害了.
旋转的轮盘把卡齐莫多的驼峰一送到皮埃拉老爷的面前,皮埃拉老爷抬起右臂,细长的皮条有如一条毒蛇,在空中发出嘶嘶的刺耳声,死命地抽打在那可怜虫的肩上.
卡齐莫多如猛然惊醒,身子不由自主地跳动了一下,这才逐渐明白过来了.他痛得直往绑索里缩,由于吃惊和苦痛的缘故,脸上肌肉一阵猛烈抽搐,脸孔都变了形.但是他没有呻吟一声,只是将头往后一仰,向左一转,再向左一闪,摇来晃去,恰似一头公牛被牛虻叮着肋部,痛得摇头摆尾.
紧跟着是第二鞭,第三鞭,一鞭接一鞭,连连不断.轮盘不停旋转,皮鞭雨点般不断落下,卡齐莫多顿时鲜血直冒,驼子黝黑的肩背上淌出一道道血丝,然而细长的皮条在空中挥动时,血滴四溅,飞溅到人群之中.
卡齐莫多又恢复了原本冷漠的神态,至少表面上是如此.他先是不露声色,在外表上也一八儿看不出什么动静,暗地里却竭力要挣断身上的镣铐.只看他那只独眼发亮,肌肉紧绷,四肢蜷缩,皮带和链条拉得紧紧的.这种挣扎奇妙,有力,然而却又无望.然而司法衙门那些陈旧的镣铐倒是坚固得很,只是轧轧响了一下,也仅此而已.卡齐莫多精疲力竭,一头又栽倒了.脸上的表情顿时由惊愕变成了苦楚和沮丧.他闭起了那只独眼,脑袋一下子垂到胸前,仿佛断了气似的.
随后,他不再动弹了.不管他身上血流不止也罢,鞭挞一鞭狠过一鞭也罢,愈来愈兴奋.沉醉在行刑淫威中的刽子手火冒三丈也罢,比魔爪更要锐利.发出嘶鸣声更尖厉的可怕皮鞭呼啸不已也罢,没什么能让他再稍稍动一下.
行刑刚开始,小堡一个穿黑衣骑黑马的执达吏就守候在梯子旁边.他这时伸出手上的乌木棒,指了指沙漏.刽子手这才停手,转盘也才停住.卡齐莫多慢慢地再张开眼睛.
鞭笞算是打完了.法定刽子手的两个隶役过来替犯人擦洗肩背上的血迹,给他涂上一种立即可以愈合各种伤口的什么油膏,并且往他背上扔了一块状如祭披的黄披布.与此同时,皮埃拉.托特吕挥动着他那被鲜血浸湿并染红的皮鞭,血便一滴滴落在地面石板上.
对于卡齐莫多,事情并没了结,还得在台上示众一个钟头,这是弗洛里昂.巴伯迪安老爷极其明智地在罗贝尔.德.埃斯杜特维尔大人所作的判决之外附加的.他记得让.德.居梅纳说过聋即荒谬,这一做法真使得这包含生理学和心理学的古老戏言大放光彩.
于是又把沙漏翻转过来,将捆绑着的驼子留在刑台上,好把惩罚贯彻到底.
民众,特别在中世纪,他们在社会上就像孩子在家庭里一样.只要他们依然停留在原始的愚昧状态,停留在精神上和智力上未成熟的状态,那就完全可以用形容稚童的话来形容他们:这个年龄不具同情心.
从我们前面叙述中已经可以看出,卡齐莫多是到处招人怨惹人恨的,怨恨的理由不止一个,倒也不假.群众之中几乎各有各的有理由,或者自认为有理由可以抱怨圣母院这个驼背大坏蛋.起初看见他出现在耻辱柱台上,大家欢天喜地,一片欢腾,之后看见他受到酷刑和受刑后惨不忍睹的境况,大家非但不可怜他,反更增添几分乐趣,怨恨更加刻毒了.
按那班戴方形帽的法官们至今仍沿用的行话来说,公诉一结束,就轮到成千上万种私人的伸冤报仇了.在这儿也像在司法大厅里一样,妇女闹得特别凶,她们个个对卡齐莫多都怀着某种怨恨,有的恨他狡诈,有的恨他丑恶,而后一种女人最狠,真恨得咬牙切齿.
"呸!反基督的丑陋东西!"一个嚷道.
"骑帚把的魔鬼!"另一个喊道.
"多好看的鬼脸!"第三个说."今天如果是昨天的话,凭这张鬼脸,就能当上狂人教皇啦!"
"好呀!"一个老太婆接着说道."那是耻辱柱上的鬼脸,什么时候才能看到他在绞刑架上做鬼脸呀?"
"你这个该死的敲钟人,什么时候才会在九泉之下顶着你那大钟呢?"
"敲三更钟的可正是这个魔鬼呀!"
"呸!聋子!驼背!独眼!丑八怪!"
"这副丑相可以让孕妇吓得流产,任何为人堕胎的医生和药剂师都得甘拜下风!"
说到这儿,磨坊的约翰和罗班.普斯潘这两个学子扯着嗓门,大声地唱起古老民歌的迭句来:一根绞绳吊死绞刑的罪人!一捆柴火烧死极丑的家伙!
其他各式各样的咒骂,顿时如倾盆大雨;诅咒声,笑声,嘘声,连成一片;这里那里,到处都是石块在纷飞.
卡齐莫多虽耳聋,却看得一清二楚,公众流露在脸上的怒气,其强烈的程度一点儿也不亚于言词.况且,砸过来的石头,也比哄笑声听得清楚.
起先他忍住了.然而,原先咬紧牙关硬顶住刽子手皮鞭的那种忍耐力,这时却在这些虫豸一齐叮螫下,却渐渐减弱,再顶不住了.阿斯图里亚的公牛,几乎对斗牛士的进攻无动于衷,但被狗叫和投熗给激怒了.
他先是用威吓的目光缓慢地傲视人群,但由于被捆绑得死死的,他的目光并不足以驱赶开那群叮着他伤口的苍蝇.于是不顾绳捆索绑,猛力挣扎,狂怒挣动,震得那陈旧的轮盘在木轴上轧轧直响.对于这些,嘲笑辱骂声越来越凶狠了.
这个悲惨的人好像头被锁住的野兽,既然无法打碎身上的锁链,只得又平静下来了.只是不时发出一声愤怒的叹息,整个胸膛都鼓胀起来.脸上毫无羞赧之色.他平常离社会状态太远,靠自然状态又太近,不知羞耻是什么玩意儿.再说,他畸形到这种程度,羞耻不羞耻,又怎私能看得出来呢?然而,绝望,愤怒,仇恨,为这张奇丑的脸孔慢慢罩上一层阴云,它越来越阴暗,越来越充满电流,这个独眼巨人的那只眼睛遂迸发出万道闪电的光芒.
此时,有头骡子驮着一个教士穿过人群走来了,卡齐莫多阴云密布的脸上明朗了一会儿.他老远就瞥见骡子和教士,这可怜的犯人顿时和颜悦色起来,原来愤怒得紧绷的脸孔浮现出一种奇怪的微笑,充满了难以形容的宽容.温柔和深情.随着教士越走越近,这笑容也就益发清晰,越发分明,益发焕发了.这不幸的人迎候的仿佛是一位救星降临,可是等骡子走近耻辱柱,骑骡的人能够看清犯人是谁时,教士立即低下眼睛,猛然折回,用踢马刺一踢,马上溜掉了,仿佛怕丑八怪提出什么请求,急于要脱身似的,至于处在这样地步的的一个可怜虫致敬也好,感激也好,他不在乎哩.
这个教士正是堂.克洛德.弗罗洛副主教.
卡齐莫多的脸上又笼罩上了阴云,而且更加晦暗了.阴云中虽一时还夹杂着一丝笑容,但那是辛酸的微笑,失望的微笑,无限悲哀的微笑.
时间逐渐过去.他待在那里至少有一个半钟头了,肝肠寸断,备受凌辱,受尽嘲弄,而且差点被人用石头活活砸死.
霍然间,他怀着双倍绝望的心情,一点也不顾身上戴着镣铐,又一次拼命挣扎,连身下整个轮盘木架都被震得抖动起来.他本来一直不吭一声,这时竟打破沉默,嗓门嘶哑而又凶狠,与其说像人叫,倒不如说似狗吠,压过了众人的嘲骂声,只是听到一声吼叫:"水!"
这声悲惨的呼喊,不但没有打动群众的恻隐之心,反而给刑台四周巴黎围观的善良百姓增加一个笑料.应当指出,这些乌合之众,就整体而言,残忍和愚蠢并不低于那伙可怕的乞丐帮.我们在前面已经带读者去见过了,那伙人彻头彻尾是民众中最底下的一层人.那不幸的罪人叫喊口渴之后,周遭应声而起的只是一片冷嘲热讽,再没有别的声音了.这点倒是真的,他此时此刻的模样子,不仅可怜巴巴的,而更显得滑稽可笑,令人生厌.只见他脸涨得发紫,汗流如注,目光迷惘,愤怒和痛苦得嘴上直冒白沫,舌头伸在外面大半截了.还该指出,在这群乌合之众的市民当中,纵然有个把好心肠的男子或女人大发善心,有意要送一杯水给这个受苦受难的可怜虫,但是耻辱柱那可恶台阶的周围弥漫着这样一种丢人现眼和无耻的偏见,足以使乐善好施的人望而却步的.
过了一会儿,卡齐莫多用绝望的目光环视了一下人群,并用更加令人心碎的声音又喊道:"水!"
回应声又只是一阵哄笑.
"喝这个吧!"罗班.普斯潘叫着,并对着他的面掷过去一块在阴沟里浸过的抹布."拿去,可恶的聋子!算是我欠你的人情呐!"
有个女人向他的脑袋扔去一个石块:"给你尝尝这个,看你还敢不敢深夜敲那丧门钟,把我们都闹醒!"
"喂,小子!"一个跛脚一边嚎叫,一边吃力地想用拐杖打他."看你还敢不敢从圣母院钟楼顶上向我们施展魔法不?"
"这是一只碗,让你舀水喝!"一个汉子把一只破瓦罐朝他胸脯扔过去,叫道:"就因为你从我老婆跟前走过,她才生了一个双脑袋的崽子!"
"还有我的猫下了一只长着六个脚的猫崽!"一个老太婆捡来一块瓦片朝他砸去,尖声地叫道.
"水!"卡齐莫多上气不接下气,叫了第三遍.
正在这关头,他看见人群中突然闪开一条路,走出一个打扮奇怪的少女,身边领着一只金色犄角的小白山羊,手中拿着一只巴斯克手鼓.
卡齐莫多那只眼睛立时亮了.这正是昨夜他千方百计想要抢走的那个吉卜赛女郎.他脑子里模模糊糊意识到,自己正是为了这起袭击事件,此刻才受到惩罚的.其实绝非如此,他之所以受到惩罚,只因为他倒霉是个聋子,且由一个聋子来审判他.他毫不怀疑,这个吉卜赛姑娘也来报仇的,也同其他人一样来揍他.
果然,只见她快步登上台阶.他愤怒与悔恨交加,连气都透不过来.他真恨不得一下子能把耻辱柱的台子震塌,假如他那只独眼能够电闪雷劈就不等埃及女郎爬上平台,就把她轰成齑粉.
她一言不发,默默走近那个扭动着身子妄图避开她的罪人,然后她腰带上轻轻地解下一个水壶,轻轻地将水壶送到那可怜人干裂的嘴唇边.
这时,只见他那只干涸.焦灼的眼睛里,滚动着一大滴泪珠,然后沿着那张因失望而长时间皱成一团的丑脸,缓缓地流下来.这不幸的人掉眼泪,也许还是平生第一遭吧.
但是,他竟忘记了喝水.埃及女郎不耐烦地噘起小嘴,脸带笑容,把水壶紧紧地靠在卡齐莫多张开的嘴上,他实在渴得口干舌焦,一口接一口地喝着.
一喝完,可怜人伸长污黑的嘴唇,大约想吻一吻那只刚援救过他的秀手.可是,姑娘也许有所戒备,而且想起昨夜那件未遂的暴行,便像一个孩子怕被野兽咬着那样,吓得连忙把手缩回去.
于是可怜的聋子盯着她瞧,目光充满无可表达的悲伤和责备的神情.
这样一个美女,纯真,妩媚,娇艳,然而又如此纤弱,竟这样诚心诚意地跑来援救一个惨遭横祸.奇丑无比.心肠歹毒的家伙,这或许是世上感人肺腑的一幕了,尤其发生在耻辱柱上,这真是绝无伦比的了.
所有的民众无不为之感动,一齐鼓掌而且高呼:"妙极了!妙极了!"
恰在这个时候,隐修女从地洞的窗口上望见站在耻辱柱台上的埃及女郎,立刻又刻毒地诅咒着:"你该千刀万剐,埃及妞!千刀万剐!千刀万剐!"
五玉米饼故事的尾声
爱斯梅拉达脸色发白,踉踉跄跄走下耻辱柱平台.隐修女的声音仍旧萦绕在她耳边:"滚下!滚下!你这埃及女贼,终有一天你也会在上面遭受同样的下场!"
"麻衣女又胡思乱想了."民众喃喃地说道,但也仅此而已.因为这美女人总是令人望而生畏的,因而也就显得神圣不可侮.谁也不想去惹日夜祈祷的人.
放卡齐莫多的时刻到了.他被解了下来,于是人群也就散开了.
马伊埃特同着两个女友回头走,来到大桥边,忽然站住:"对啦,厄斯塔舍!你的饼呢?"
"妈妈,"小孩应道,"您跟地洞里那个太太说话时,有一条大狗咬我的饼,于是我也就吃了."
"怎么,先生,你都吃了?"她接着说道.
"妈妈,是狗吃的.我让它别吃,它不听,我也就咬了,就是这样子的!"
"这孩子真是要命!"母亲一边微笑一边责备道."你瞧,乌达德,在我们夏尔朗日园子里有一棵樱桃树,他自己就把一树的樱桃吃个精光.所以他祖父说他长大了准是个将才.-厄斯塔舍先生,我真的是上你的当了!走吧,胖狮子!"

若流年°〡逝

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等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 25楼  发表于: 2013-10-27 0

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER I.THE DANGER OF CONFIDING ONE'S SECRET TO A GOAT. Page 1》
Many weeks had elapsed.
The first of March had arrived.The sun, which Dubartas, that classic ancestor of periphrase, had not yet dubbed the "Grand-duke of Candles," was none the less radiant and joyous on that account.It was one of those spring days which possesses so much sweetness and beauty, that all paris turns out into the squares and promenades and celebrates them as though they were Sundays.In those days of brilliancy, warmth, and serenity, there is a certain hour above all others, when the fa?ade of Notre-Dame should be admired. It is the moment when the sun, already declining towards the west, looks the cathedral almost full in the face.Its rays, growing more and more horizontal, withdraw slowly from the pavement of the square, and mount up the perpendicular fa?ade, whose thousand bosses in high relief they cause to start out from the shadows, while the great central rose window flames like the eye of a cyclops, inflamed with the reflections of the forge.
This was the hour.
Opposite the lofty cathedral, reddened by the setting sun, on the stone balcony built above the porch of a rich Gothic house, which formed the angle of the square and the Rue du parvis, several young girls were laughing and chatting with every sort of grace and mirth.From the length of the veil which fell from their pointed coif, twined with pearls, to their heels, from the fineness of the embroidered chemisette which covered their shoulders and allowed a glimpse, according to the pleasing custom of the time, of the swell of their fair virgin bosoms, from the opulence of their under-petticoats still more precious than their overdress (marvellous refinement), from the gauze, the silk, the velvet, with which all this was composed, and, above all, from the whiteness of their hands, which certified to their leisure and idleness, it was easy to divine they were noble and wealthy heiresses.They were, in fact, Damoiselle Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier and her companions, Diane de Christeuil, Amelotte de Montmichel, Colombe de Gaillefontaine, and the little de Champchevrier maiden; all damsels of good birth, assembled at that moment at the house of the dame widow de Gondelaurier, on account of Monseigneur de Beaujeu and Madame his wife, who were to come to paris in the month of April, there to choose maids of honor for the Dauphiness Marguerite, who was to be received in picardy from the hands of the Flemings.Now, all the squires for twenty leagues around were intriguing for this favor for their daughters, and a goodly number of the latter had been already brought or sent to paris.These four maidens had been confided to the discreet and venerable charge of Madame Aloise de Gondelaurier, widow of a former commander of the king's cross-bowmen, who had retired with her only daughter to her house in the place du parvis, Notre- Dame, in paris.
The balcony on which these young girls stood opened from a chamber richly tapestried in fawn-colored Flanders leather, stamped with golden foliage.The beams, which cut the ceiling in parallel lines, diverted the eye with a thousand eccentric painted and gilded carvings.Splendid enamels gleamed here and there on carved chests; a boar's head in faience crowned a magnificent dresser, whose two shelves announced that the mistress of the house was the wife or widow of a knight banneret.At the end of the room, by the side of a lofty chimney blazoned with arms from top to bottom, in a rich red velvet arm-chair, sat Dame de Gondelaurier, whose five and fifty years were written upon her garments no less distinctly than upon her face.
Beside her stood a young man of imposing mien, although partaking somewhat of vanity and bravado--one of those handsome fellows whom all women agree to admire, although grave men learned in physiognomy shrug their shoulders at them.This young man wore the garb of a captain of the king's unattached archers, which bears far too much resemblance to the costume of Jupiter, which the reader has already been enabled to admire in the first book of this history, for us to inflict upon him a second description.
The damoiselles were seated, a part in the chamber, a part in the balcony, some on square cushions of Utrecht velvet with golden corners, others on stools of oak carved in flowers and figures.Each of them held on her knee a section of a great needlework tapestry, on which they were working in company, while one end of it lay upon the rush mat which covered the floor.
They were chatting together in that whispering tone and with the half-stifled laughs peculiar to an assembly of young girls in whose midst there is a young man.The young man whose presence served to set in play all these feminine self- conceits, appeared to pay very little heed to the matter, and, while these pretty damsels were vying with one another to attract his attention, he seemed to be chiefly absorbed in polishing the buckle of his sword belt with his doeskin glove. From time to time, the old lady addressed him in a very low tone, and he replied as well as he was able, with a sort of awkward and constrained politeness.
From the smiles and significant gestures of Dame Aloise, from the glances which she threw towards her daughter, Fleur-de-Lys, as she spoke low to the captain, it was easy to see that there was here a question of some betrothal concluded, some marriage near at hand no doubt, between the young man and Fleur-de-Lys.From the embarrassed coldness of the officer, it was easy to see that on his side, at least, love had no longer any part in the matter.His whole air was expressive of constraint and weariness, which our lieutenants of the garrison would to-day translate admirably as, "What a beastly bore!"
The poor dame, very much infatuated with her daughter, like any other silly mother, did not perceive the officer's lack of enthusiasm, and strove in low tones to call his attention to the infinite grace with which Fleur-de-Lys used her needle or wound her skein.
"Come, little cousin," she said to him, plucking him by the sleeve, in order to speak in his ear, "Look at her, do! see her stoop."
"Yes, truly," replied the young man, and fell back into his glacial and absent-minded silence.
A moment later, he was obliged to bend down again, and Dame Aloise said to him,--
"Have you ever beheld a more gay and charming face than that of your betrothed?Can one be more white and blonde? are not her hands perfect? and that neck--does it not assume all the curves of the swan in ravishing fashion?How I envy you at times! and how happy you are to be a man, naughty libertine that you are!Is not my Fleur-de-Lys adorably beautiful, and are you not desperately in love with her?"
"Of course," he replied, still thinking of something else.
"But do say something," said Madame Aloise, suddenly giving his shoulder a push; "you have grown very timid."
We can assure our readers that timidity was neither the captain's virtue nor his defect.But he made an effort to do what was demanded of him.
"Fair cousin," he said, approaching Fleur-de-Lys, "what is the subject of this tapestry work which you are fashioning?' "Fair cousin," responded Fleur-de-Lys, in an offended tone, "I have already told you three times.'Tis the grotto of Neptune."
It was evident that Fleur-de-Lys saw much more clearly than her mother through the captain's cold and absent-minded manner.He felt the necessity of making some conversation.
"And for whom is this Neptunerie destined?"
"For the Abbey of Saint-Antoine des Champs," answered Fleur-de-Lys, without raising her eyes.
The captain took up a corner of the tapestry.
"Who, my fair cousin, is this big gendarme, who is puffing out his cheeks to their full extent and blowing a trumpet?"
"'Tis Triton," she replied.
There was a rather pettish intonation in Fleur-de-Lys's-- laconic words.The young man understood that it was indispensable that he should whisper something in her ear, a commonplace, a gallant compliment, no matter what.Accordingly he bent down, but he could find nothing in his imagination more tender and personal than this,--
"Why does your mother always wear that surcoat with armorial designs, like our grandmothers of the time of Charles VII.?Tell her, fair cousin, that 'tis no longer the fashion, and that the hinge (gond) and the laurel (laurier) embroidered on her robe give her the air of a walking mantlepiece. In truth, people no longer sit thus on their banners, I assure you."
Fleur-de-Lys raised her beautiful eyes, full of reproach, "Is that all of which you can assure me?" she said, in a low voice.
In the meantime, Dame Aloise, delighted to see them thus bending towards each other and whispering, said as she toyed with the clasps of her prayer-book,--
"Touching picture of love!"
The captain, more and more embarrassed, fell back upon the subject of the tapestry,--"'Tis, in sooth, a charming work!" he exclaimed.
Whereupon Colombe de Gaillefontaine, another beautiful blonde, with a white skin, dressed to the neck in blue damask, ventured a timid remark which she addressed to Fleur-de-Lys, in the hope that the handsome captain would reply to it, "My dear Gondelaurier, have you seen the tapestries of the H?tel de la Roche-Guyon?"
"Is not that the hotel in which is enclosed the garden of the Lingère du Louvre?" asked Diane de Christeuil with a laugh; for she had handsome teeth, and consequently laughed on every occasion.
"And where there is that big, old tower of the ancient wall of paris," added Amelotte de Montmichel, a pretty fresh and curly-headed brunette, who had a habit of sighing just as the other laughed, without knowing why.
"My dear Colombe," interpolated Dame Aloise, "do you not mean the hotel which belonged to Monsieur de Bacqueville, in the reign of King Charles VI.? there are indeed many superb high warp tapestries there."
"Charles VI.!Charles VI.!" muttered the young captain, twirling his moustache."Good heavens! what old things the good dame does remember!"
Madame de Gondelaurier continued, "Fine tapestries, in truth.A work so esteemed that it passes as unrivalled."
At that moment Bérangère de Champchevrier, a slender little maid of seven years, who was peering into the square through the trefoils of the balcony, exclaimed, "Oh! look, fair Godmother Fleur-de-Lys, at that pretty dancer who is dancing on the pavement and playing the tambourine in the midst of the loutish bourgeois!"
The sonorous vibration of a tambourine was, in fact, audible. "Some gypsy from Bohemia," said Fleur-de-Lys, turning carelessly toward the square.
"Look! look!" exclaimed her lively companions; and they all ran to the edge of the balcony, while Fleur-de-Lys, rendered thoughtful by the coldness of her betrothed, followed them slowly, and the latter, relieved by this incident, which put an end to an embarrassing conversation, retreated to the farther end of the room, with the satisfied air of a soldier released from duty.Nevertheless, the fair Fleur-de-Lys's was a charming and noble service, and such it had formerly appeared to him; but the captain had gradually become blase'; the prospect of a speedy marriage cooled him more every day.Moreover, he was of a fickle disposition, and, must we say it, rather vulgar in taste.Although of very noble birth, he had contracted in his official harness more than one habit of the common trooper.The tavern and its accompaniments pleased him.He was only at his ease amid gross language, military gallantries, facile beauties, and successes yet more easy.He had, nevertheless, received from his family some education and some politeness of manner; but he had been thrown on the world too young, he had been in garrison at too early an age, and every day the polish of a gentleman became more and more effaced by the rough friction of his gendarme's cross-belt.While still continuing to visit her from time to time, from a remnant of common respect, he felt doubly embarrassed with Fleur-de-Lys; in the first place, because, in consequence of having scattered his love in all sorts of places, he had reserved very little for her; in the next place, because, amid so many stiff, formal, and decent ladies, he was in constant fear lest his mouth, habituated to oaths, should suddenly take the bit in its teeth, and break out into the language of the tavern.The effect can be imagined!
Moreover, all this was mingled in him, with great pretentions to elegance, toilet, and a fine appearance.Let the reader reconcile these things as best he can.I am simply the historian.
He had remained, therefore, for several minutes, leaning in silence against the carved jamb of the chimney, and thinking or not thinking, when Fleur-de-Lys suddenly turned and addressed him.After all, the poor young girl was pouting against the dictates of her heart.
"Fair cousin, did you not speak to us of a little Bohemian whom you saved a couple of months ago, while making the patrol with the watch at night, from the hands of a dozen robbers?"
"I believe so, fair cousin,." said the captain.
"Well," she resumed, "perchance 'tis that same gypsy girl who is dancing yonder, on the church square.Come and see if you recognize her, fair Cousin phoebus."
A secret desire for reconciliation was apparent in this gentle invitation which she gave him to approach her, and in the care which she took to call him by name.Captain phoebus de Chateaupers (for it is he whom the reader has had before his eyes since the beginning of this chapter) slowly approached the balcony."Stay," said Fleur-de-Lys, laying her hand tenderly on phoebus's arm; "look at that little girl yonder, dancing in that circle.Is she your Bohemian?"
phoebus looked, and said,--
"Yes, I recognize her by her goat."
"Oh! in fact, what a pretty little goat!" said Amelotte, clasping her hands in admiration.
"Are his horns of real gold?" inquired Bérangère.
Without moving from her arm-chair, Dame Aloise interposed, "Is she not one of those gypsy girls who arrived last year by the Gibard gate?"
"Madame my mother," said Fleur-de-Lys gently, "that gate is now called the porte d'Enfer."
Mademoiselle de Gondelaurier knew how her mother's antiquated mode of speech shocked the captain.In fact, he began to sneer, and muttered between his teeth: "porte Gibard!porte Gibard!'Tis enough to make King Charles VI. pass by."
"Godmother!" exclaimed Bérangère, whose eyes, incessantly in motion, had suddenly been raised to the summit of the towers of Notre-Dame, "who is that black man up yonder?"
All the young girls raised their eyes.A man was, in truth, leaning on the balustrade which surmounted the northern tower, looking on the Grève.He was a priest.His costume could be plainly discerned, and his face resting on both his hands.But he stirred no more than if he had been a statue. His eyes, intently fixed, gazed into the place.
It was something like the immobility of a bird of prey, who has just discovered a nest of sparrows, and is gazing at it.
"'Tis monsieur the archdeacon of Josas," said Fleur-de-Lys.
"You have good eyes if you can recognize him from here," said the Gaillefontaine.
"How he is staring at the little dancer!" went on Diane de Christeuil.
"Let the gypsy beware!" said Fleur-de-Lys, "for he loves not Egypt."
"'Tis a great shame for that man to look upon her thus," added Amelotte de Montmichel, "for she dances delightfully."
"Fair cousin phoebus," said Fleur-de-Lys suddenly, "Since you know this little gypsy, make her a sign to come up here. It will amuse us."
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed all the young girls, clapping their hands.
"Why! 'tis not worth while," replied phoebus."She has forgotten me, no doubt, and I know not so much as her name.Nevertheless, as you wish it, young ladies, I will make the trial."And leaning over the balustrade of the balcony, he began to shout, "Little one!"
The dancer was not beating her tambourine at the moment. She turned her head towards the point whence this call proceeded, her brilliant eyes rested on phoebus, and she stopped short.
"Little one!" repeated the captain; and he beckoned her to approach.
The young girl looked at him again, then she blushed as though a flame had mounted into her cheeks, and, taking her tambourine under her arm, she made her way through the astonished spectators towards the door of the house where phoebus was calling her, with slow, tottering steps, and with the troubled look of a bird which is yielding to the fascination of a serpent.
A moment later, the tapestry portière was raised, and the gypsy appeared on the threshold of the chamber, blushing, confused, breathless, her large eyes drooping, and not daring to advance another step.
Bérangère clapped her hands.
Meanwhile, the dancer remained motionless upon the threshold.Her appearance had produced a singular effect upon these young girls.It is certain that a vague and indistinct desire to please the handsome officer animated them all, that his splendid uniform was the target of all their coquetries, and that from the moment he presented himself, there existed among them a secret, suppressed rivalry, which they hardly acknowledged even to themselves, but which broke forth, none the less, every instant, in their gestures and remarks. Nevertheless, as they were all very nearly equal in beauty, they contended with equal arms, and each could hope for the victory.--The arrival of the gypsy suddenly destroyed this equilibrium.Her beauty was so rare, that, at the moment when she appeared at the entrance of the apartment, it seemed as though she diffused a sort of light which was peculiar to herself.In that narrow chamber, surrounded by that sombre frame of hangings and woodwork, she was incomparably more beautiful and more radiant than on the public square.She was like a torch which has suddenly been brought from broad daylight into the dark.The noble damsels were dazzled by her in spite of themselves.Each one felt herself, in some sort, wounded in her beauty.Hence, their battle front (may we be allowed the expression,) was immediately altered, although they exchanged not a single word.But they understood each other perfectly.Women's instincts comprehend and respond to each other more quickly than the intelligences of men.An enemy had just arrived; all felt it--all rallied together.One drop of wine is sufficient to tinge a glass of water red; to diffuse a certain degree of ill temper throughout a whole assembly of pretty women, the arrival of a prettier woman suffices, especially when there is but one man present.
Hence the welcome accorded to the gypsy was marvellously glacial.They surveyed her from head to foot, then exchanged glances, and all was said; they understood each other.Meanwhile, the young girl was waiting to be spoken to, in such emotion that she dared not raise her eyelids.
The captain was the first to break the silence."Upon my word," said he, in his tone of intrepid fatuity, "here is a charming creature!What think you of her, fair cousin?"
This remark, which a more delicate admirer would have uttered in a lower tone, at least was not of a nature to dissipate the feminine jealousies which were on the alert before the gypsy.

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER I.THE DANGER OF CONFIDING ONE'S SECRET TO A GOAT. Page 2》
Fleur-de-Lys replied to the captain with a bland affectation of disdain;--"Not bad."
The others whispered.
At length, Madame Aloise, who was not the less jealous because she was so for her daughter, addressed the dancer,--"Approach, little one."
"Approach, little one!" repeated, with comical dignity, little Bérangère, who would have reached about as high as her hips.
The gypsy advanced towards the noble dame.
"Fair child," said phoebus, with emphasis, taking several steps towards her, "I do not know whether I have the supreme honor of being recognized by you."
She interrupted him, with a smile and a look full of infinite sweetness,--
"Oh! yes," said she.
"She has a good memory," remarked Fleur-de-Lys.
"Come, now," resumed phoebus, "you escaped nimbly the other evening.Did I frighten you!"
"Oh! no," said the gypsy.
There was in the intonation of that "Oh! no," uttered after that "Oh! yes," an ineffable something which wounded Fleur-de-Lys.
"You left me in your stead, my beauty," pursued the captain, whose tongue was unloosed when speaking to a girl out of the street, "a crabbed knave, one-eyed and hunchbacked, the bishop's bellringer, I believe.I have been told that by birth he is the bastard of an archdeacon and a devil. He has a pleasant name: he is called ~Quatre-Temps~ (Ember Days), ~paques-Fleuries~ (palm Sunday), Mardi-Gras (Shrove Tuesday), I know not what!The name of some festival when the bells are pealed!So he took the liberty of carrying you off, as though you were made for beadles!'Tis too much. What the devil did that screech-owl want with you? Hey, tell me!"
"I do not know," she replied.
"The inconceivable impudence!A bellringer carrying off a wench, like a vicomte! a lout poaching on the game of gentlemen! that is a rare piece of assurance.However, he paid dearly for it.Master pierrat Torterue is the harshest groom that ever curried a knave; and I can tell you, if it will be agreeable to you, that your bellringer's hide got a thorough dressing at his hands."
"poor man!" said the gypsy, in whom these words revived the memory of the pillory.
The captain burst out laughing.
"Corne-de-boeuf! here's pity as well placed as a feather in a pig's tail!May I have as big a belly as a pope, if--"
He stopped short."pardon me, ladies; I believe that I was on the point of saying something foolish."
"Fie, sir" said la Gaillefontaine.
"He talks to that creature in her own tongue!" added Fleur-de-Lys, in a low tone, her irritation increasing every moment.This irritation was not diminished when she beheld the captain, enchanted with the gypsy, and, most of all, with himself, execute a pirouette on his heel, repeating with coarse, na?ve, and soldierly gallantry,--
"A handsome wench, upon my soul!"
"Rather savagely dressed," said Diane de Christeuil, laughing to show her fine teeth.
This remark was a flash of light to the others.Not being able to impugn her beauty, they attacked her costume.
"That is true," said la Montmichel; "what makes you run about the streets thus, without guimpe or ruff?"
"That petticoat is so short that it makes one tremble," added la Gaillefontaine.
"My dear," continued Fleur-de-Lys, with decided sharpness, "You will get yourself taken up by the sumptuary police for your gilded girdle."
"Little one, little one;" resumed la Christeuil, with an implacable smile, "if you were to put respectable sleeves upon your arms they would get less sunburned."
It was, in truth, a spectacle worthy of a more intelligent spectator than phoebus, to see how these beautiful maidens, with their envenomed and angry tongues, wound, serpent-like, and glided and writhed around the street dancer.They were cruel and graceful; they searched and rummaged maliciously in her poor and silly toilet of spangles and tinsel.There was no end to their laughter, irony, and humiliation.Sarcasms rained down upon the gypsy, and haughty condescension and malevolent looks.One would have thought they were young Roman dames thrusting golden pins into the breast of a beautiful slave.One would have pronounced them elegant grayhounds, circling, with inflated nostrils, round a poor woodland fawn, whom the glance of their master forbade them to devour.
After all, what was a miserable dancer on the public squares in the presence of these high-born maidens?They seemed to take no heed of her presence, and talked of her aloud, to her face, as of something unclean, abject, and yet, at the same time, passably pretty.
The gypsy was not insensible to these pin-pricks.From time to time a flush of shame, a flash of anger inflamed her eyes or her cheeks; with disdain she made that little grimace with which the reader is already familiar, but she remained motionless; she fixed on phoebus a sad, sweet, resigned look. There was also happiness and tenderness in that gaze.One would have said that she endured for fear of being expelled.
phoebus laughed, and took the gypsy's part with a mixture of impertinence and pity.
"Let them talk, little one!" he repeated, jingling his golden spurs."No doubt your toilet is a little extravagant and wild, but what difference does that make with such a charming damsel as yourself?"
"Good gracious!" exclaimed the blonde Gaillefontaine, drawing up her swan-like throat, with a bitter smile."I see that messieurs the archers of the king's police easily take fire at the handsome eyes of gypsies!"
"Why not?" said phoebus.
At this reply uttered carelessly by the captain, like a stray stone, whose fall one does not even watch, Colombe began to laugh, as well as Diane, Amelotte, and Fleur-de-Lys, into whose eyes at the same time a tear started.
The gypsy, who had dropped her eyes on the floor at the words of Colombe de Gaillefontaine, raised them beaming with joy and pride and fixed them once more on phoebus.She was very beautiful at that moment.
The old dame, who was watching this scene, felt offended, without understanding why.
"Holy Virgin!" she suddenly exclaimed, "what is it moving about my legs?Ah! the villanous beast!"
It was the goat, who had just arrived, in search of his mistress, and who, in dashing towards the latter, had begun by entangling his horns in the pile of stuffs which the noble dame's garments heaped up on her feet when she was seated.
This created a diversion.The gypsy disentangled his horns without uttering a word.
"Oh! here's the little goat with golden hoofs!" exclaimed Bérangère, dancing with joy.
The gypsy crouched down on her knees and leaned her cheek against the fondling head of the goat.One would have said that she was asking pardon for having quitted it thus.
Meanwhile, Diane had bent down to Colombe's ear.
"Ah! good heavens! why did not I think of that sooner? 'Tis the gypsy with the goat.They say she is a sorceress, and that her goat executes very miraculous tricks."
"Well!" said Colombe, "the goat must now amuse us in its turn, and perform a miracle for us."
Diane and Colombe eagerly addressed the gypsy.
"Little one, make your goat perform a miracle."
"I do not know what you mean," replied the dancer.
"A miracle, a piece of magic, a bit of sorcery, in short."
"I do not understand."And she fell to caressing the pretty animal, repeating, "Djali!Djali!"
At that moment Fleur-de-Lys noticed a little bag of embroidered leather suspended from the neck of the goat,-- "What is that?" she asked of the gypsy.
The gypsy raised her large eyes upon her and replied gravely,-- "That is my secret."
"I should really like to know what your secret is," thought Fleur-de-Lys.
Meanwhile, the good dame had risen angrily,--" Come now, gypsy, if neither you nor your goat can dance for us, what are you doing here?"
The gypsy walked slowly towards the door, without making any reply.But the nearer she approached it, the more her pace slackened.An irresistible magnet seemed to hold her.Suddenly she turned her eyes, wet with tears, towards phoebus, and halted.
"True God!" exclaimed the captain, "that's not the way to depart.Come back and dance something for us.By the way, my sweet love, what is your name?"
"La Esmeralda," said the dancer, never taking her eyes from him.
At this strange name, a burst of wild laughter broke from the young girls.
"Here's a terrible name for a young lady," said Diane.
"You see well enough," retorted Amelotte, "that she is an enchantress."
"My dear," exclaimed Dame Aloise solemnly, "your parents did not commit the sin of giving you that name at the baptismal font."
In the meantime, several minutes previously, Bérangère had coaxed the goat into a corner of the room with a marchpane cake, without any one having noticed her.In an instant they had become good friends.The curious child had detached the bag from the goat's neck, had opened it, and had emptied out its contents on the rush matting; it was an alphabet, each letter of which was separately inscribed on a tiny block of boxwood.Hardly had these playthings been spread out on the matting, when the child, with surprise, beheld the goat (one of whose "miracles" this was no doubt), draw out certain letters with its golden hoof, and arrange them, with gentle pushes, in a certain order.In a moment they constituted a word, which the goat seemed to have been trained to write, so little hesitation did it show in forming it, and Bérangère suddenly exclaimed, clasping her hands in admiration,--
"Godmother Fleur-de-Lys, see what the goat has just done!"
Fleur-de-Lys ran up and trembled.The letters arranged upon the floor formed this word,--
pHOEBUS.
"Was it the goat who wrote that?" she inquired in a changed voice.
"Yes, godmother," replied Bérangêre.
It was impossible to doubt it; the child did not know how to write.
"This is the secret!" thought Fleur-de-Lys.
Meanwhile, at the child's exclamation, all had hastened up, the mother, the young girls, the gypsy, and the officer.
The gypsy beheld the piece of folly which the goat had committed.She turned red, then pale, and began to tremble like a culprit before the captain, who gazed at her with a smile of satisfaction and amazement.
"phoebus!" whispered the young girls, stupefied: "'tis the captain's name!"
"You have a marvellous memory!" said Fleur-de-Lys, to the petrified gypsy.Then, bursting into sobs: "Oh!" she stammered mournfully, hiding her face in both her beautiful hands, "she is a magician!"And she heard another and a still more bitter voice at the bottom of her heart, saying,-- "She is a rival!"
She fell fainting.
"My daughter! my daughter!" cried the terrified mother. "Begone, you gypsy of hell!"
In a twinkling, La Esmeralda gathered up the unlucky letters, made a sign to Djali, and went out through one door, while Fleur-de-Lys was being carried out through the other.
Captain phoebus, on being left alone, hesitated for a moment between the two doors, then he followed the gypsy.

《第七卷 一 给山羊透露秘密的危险》
转眼过去了好几个星期.
三月初.太阳,虽然还没有被迪巴塔斯称为众烛的王,但其明媚与灿烂却没有丝毫减弱.每当风和日丽的春日,巴黎就会倾城而出,广场上和供人散步的地方,到处是人山人海,像欢度节日那样热闹.在这样和煦.光明.晴朗的日子里,有某个时刻特别适合去观赏圣母院的门廊.那就是太阳西斜,差不多正面照着这座大教堂的时.夕阳的余晖逐渐与地平线拉平,慢慢远离广场的石板地面,顺着教堂笔直的正面上升,在阴影衬托下,正面的浮雕个个凸起,而正中那个巨大的圆花窗恰似独眼巨人的眼睛,在雷神熔炉熊熊烈火的反照下,射出火焰一样的光芒.
现在正好是这样的时刻.
夕阳映红的威严大教堂的对面,教堂广场和前庭街的交角处,是一座哥特风格的华丽宅院.门廊上端的阳台上,几个俏丽的姑姐谈笑风生,真是千种风流,万般温柔.她们珠环翠绕的尖帽上,面纱低垂着,一直拖到脚后跟;精美的绣花胸衣遮住了双肩,并依照当时风尚,露出处女那刚刚丰满美妙的胸脯;罩衣也考究得出奇,蓬松宽大的下裙更是珍贵;个个衣著绫罗丝绒,尤其白嫩如脂般纤手,足见终日生活.从这一切不难看出,她们都是富贵人家的娇小姐.确实如此,她们百合花.德.贡德洛里埃小姐及其同伴狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊.阿梅洛特.德.蒙美榭尔.科伦布.德.卡伊丰丹娜,以及德.香榭弗里埃的小女儿.这些人都是名门闺秀,此时聚贡德洛里埃的遗孀家里,等候着博热殿下及其夫人四月间来巴黎,为玛格丽特公主遴选伴娘,到庇卡底从弗朗德勒人手里把公主迎接过来.于是方圆几百里外,所有的乡绅早就纷纷活动开了,图谋为自己的闺女争得这一恩宠,其中许多人早把女儿亲自带到或托人送到巴黎来,托付给管教审慎,令人敬佩的阿洛依丝.德.贡德洛里埃夫人,这位夫人的丈夫以前是禁军的弓弩师,她居孀后带着独生女儿退居巴黎,住在圣母院前面广场边自己的住宅里.
这些小姐所在的阳台,背连一间富丽的房间,室内挂着出自弗朗德勒的印有金叶的浅黄皮幔.天花板上一根根平行的横梁上,有无数彩绘描金的雕刻,叫人看了赏心悦目.一只只衣橱精雕细刻,这儿那儿,闪耀着珐琅的光泽;一只华丽的食橱上摆放着一个陶瓷的野猪头,食橱分两级,这些都表示女主人是方旗骑士的妻子或遗孀.房间深处,一个高大壁炉从上到下饰满纹章和徽记,旁边有一张铺着红丝绒的华丽的安乐椅,上面端坐着贡德洛里埃夫人.从衣著和相貌上可以看出她已年已五十.她身旁站着一位少年,神态甚是自命不凡,虽然有点轻浮和好强,却令所有的女子无不为之倾倒,而那些严肃和善于看相貌的男子却很是不屑.这位年轻骑士穿着御前侍卫弓手队长的灿烂服装,很像朱庇特的装束,我们在本书第一卷中已描述过了,这里就不再重复了.
小姐们全都坐着,有的坐在房间里,有的坐在阳台上,有的坐在镶着金角的乌德勒支丝绒锦团上,有的坐在雕着人物花卉的橡木小凳上.她们正在一起刺绣一幅巨大的壁毯,每人拉着一角,摊放在自己的膝盖上,还有一大截拖在铺地板的席子上.
她们不时交谈着,就像平常姑娘家说悄悄话,见到有个青年男子在场时那样.这位少年,虽说他在场足以引起这些女子各种各样的虚荣心,他自己却似乎并不在意;他置身在这些美女当中,个个都争着引起他的注意,可是他却好像格外专心用麂皮手套揩着皮带上的环扣.
老夫人不时低声向他说句话儿,他虽然回答得彬彬有礼,但明眼人能看到周到中显得有些笨拙和勉强.阿洛伊丝夫人面带笑容,同这个队长低声说话,一面向女儿百合花眨眨眼睛.从这些神态中可以很容易看出,他们之间有某种已定的婚约,大概这少年与百合花即将缔结良缘.然而从这位军官尴尬和冷淡的神情来看,显而易见,至少在他这方面没有什么爱情可言了.他整个神色显得又窘又烦,这样一种心情,要是换上城防部队的那班官长,准会妙语惊人,说:"真***活受罪!"
这位和善的夫人,或许疼爱闺女迷了心窍,可怜的她,哪能觉察得出这军官压根没有什么热情,还一个劲地轻轻叫他注意,说百合花穿针引线多么心灵手巧.
"喂,侄儿呀,"她轻轻地拉了拉他的袖子,凑近他耳边说道."你快看看!瞅她弯腰的模样儿!""看着哩."那位少年应道,随即又默不作声,完全一副心不在焉.冷冰冰的样子.
过了片刻,他不得不又俯下身来听阿洛伊丝夫人说:
"您哪里见过像您未婚妻这样讨人喜欢.活泼可爱的姑娘?有谁比她的肌肤更白嫩,比她的头发更金黄?她那双手,简直十全十美?还有,她那脖子,简直像天鹅的脖子那样仪态万端,谁见到都会心醉?有时候我也十分嫉妒您呀!您这放荡的小子,身为男人真是幸运!我的百合花,难道不是美貌绝伦,叫人爱慕不已,使你意乱心迷吗?"
"那还用着说!"他这样答道,心里却在想别的事.
"那您还不去跟她说说话儿!"阿洛伊丝夫人突然说道,并推了一下他的肩膀."快去跟她随便说点什么,您变得越来越怕羞了."
谁都可以看出,怯生并不是这位队长的美德,也不是他的缺点,不过他还是硬着头皮照办了.
"好表妹,"他走近百合花的身边说道."告诉我,你们在绣什么?"
"好表哥,"百合花应道,声调中明显带着懊恼."我已经告诉您三遍了,是海神的洞府."
队长那种冷淡和心不在焉的样子,百合花显然看在眼里.他觉得必须交谈一下,随即又问:
"给谁绣的?"
"田园圣安东修道院."百合花答道,眼睛连抬都没抬一下.
队长伸手抓起挂毯的一角,再问:
"我的好表妹,这是谁,就是那个鼓着腮帮,使劲吹着海螺的肥头大耳的军士?"
"那是小海神特里通."她应道.
百合花的答话老是只言片语,腔调中有点赌气的味道.少年立刻明白了必须对她咬耳朵说点什么,无聊的话,献殷勤的话,随便胡扯什么都行.于是他俯下身去挖空心思,却怎么也想象不出更温柔更亲密的话儿来,只听见他说:"您母亲为什么老穿着查理七世时代绣有纹章的长袍呢?好表妹,请您告诉她,这种衣服现在不时兴了,那袍子上的门键和月桂树,使她看上去就像会走动的壁炉台.实际上,现在谁也不会这样坐在自家旌旗上,我向您发誓."
百合花抬起漂亮的眼睛,责备地瞅着他,低声说道:"您就为这个向我发誓吗?"
心地善良的阿洛伊丝夫人看见他俩这样紧挨着絮絮细语,真是欣喜若狂,她摆弄着祈祷书的扣钩,说:"多么动人的画图呀!"
队长不知怎样才好,只得又重提壁毯这个话题,大声嚷道:"这件挂毯手工真是优美呀!"
一听这话,另一个皮肤白皙的金发美人儿,身穿低开领蓝缎袍子的科伦布.德.卡伊丰丹纳,怯生生地开了口,话是说给百合花听的,心里却巴望英俊的队长答腔,只听见她说:"亲爱的贡德洛里埃,您见过罗舍-吉翁府里的壁毯吗?"
"不就是卢浮宫洗衣女花园所在的那座府邸吗?"狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊笑呵呵问道,她自认为长着一口漂亮的牙齿,所以很爱笑.
"那儿还有巴黎古城墙的一座臃肿的旧塔楼呐."阿梅洛特.德.蒙米榭尔插嘴说.这位女郎水灵灵的,头发赤褐而鬈曲,总是莫名其妙地唉声叹气,就像狄安娜小姐喜欢笑一样.
"亲爱的科伦布,"阿洛伊丝夫人接口说."莫非您是指国王查理六世时期巴克维尔大人的府邸吧?那里的壁毯才是华美无比哩,全是竖纹织的."
"查理六世!国王查理六世!"年轻队长捋着胡子嘟哝道."天啊!老太太对这些老古董记得多清楚!"
贡德洛里埃夫人继续往下说:"那些壁毯,确实绚丽!那令人观止的手工,堪称世上独有!"
身材苗条的七岁小女孩贝朗日尔.香榭弗里埃,本来从阳台栏杆的梅花格子里望着广场,此时突然嚷道:"啊!快来呀,百合花教母,那个漂亮的舞女在石板地面上敲着手鼓跳舞,一大堆市民围在那里看哩!"
果真传来巴斯克手鼓响亮的颤音.
"大概是个波希米亚的埃及女郎."百合花边说边扭头向广场张望.
"看去!看去!"那几位活泼的同伴齐声喊拥到阳台边.百合花心里揣摸着未婚夫为什么那么冷淡,慢吞吞跟了过去.而这个未婚夫看到拘窘的谈话被意外的事情打断了,松了一口气,宛如一个被换下岗的士兵,一身轻松地回到房间里.给美丽的百合花放哨,在往日是一件可爱的.令人喜悦的差使,但年轻队长却早已腻烦了,并随着婚期日益临近,一天比一天更加冷淡.况且,他生性朝三暮四,而且-是否得着点破?-情趣有点庸俗不堪.虽说出身高贵,但在行伍中却染上了兵痞的恶习.他喜欢酒家以及随之而来的一切:下流话,军人式吊膀子,水性杨花的美女,轻而易举的情场得意.话说回来,他曾从家庭中受到过一点教育,也学过一些礼仪,但他年轻轻就走南闯北,过着戎马生涯,在军士的武器肩带的磨擦下,他那一层贵族的光泽外表也就黯然失色了.好在他还知道礼貌,不时来看望百合花小姐,可是每次到了她家里,总是倍感难堪,一来是因为到处寻欢作乐,把爱情滥抛,结果留给百合花小姐的就所剩无几了;二来是因为置身在这些刻板.深居闺阁.循规蹈矩的美人当中,一直提心吊胆,深怕自己说惯了粗话的那张嘴,突然会像脱缰的马,无意中漏出小酒馆那般不三不四的话儿来.设想一下,要是如此,后果会是怎样!
并且,他身上还混杂着一些值得称道的奢望:附庸风雅,衣着出众,神采奕奕.要把这些德性集中于一身,那可真是有的说.
于是,他静静地站在那里好一会儿,默默地靠在雕花的壁炉框上.这时,百合花小姐突然回头对他说起话来.可怜的姑娘生他的气,毕竟不是情愿的.
"表哥,您不是说过,两个月前您查夜时,从强盗手里救下了一个吉卜赛小姑娘吗?"
"我想是的,表妹."队长应道.
"那好,"她接着说道."现在广场上跳舞的说不定就是那个吉卜赛姑娘.您过来看一下,是不是还认得出来,弗比斯表哥."
他看出,她热情地邀请他到她身边去,还有意叫他的名字,这其中明显含着重归于好的意思.弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔缓步走近阳台,百合花含情脉脉,把手搭在弗比斯的胳膊上,对他说道:"喏,看那边正在跳舞的小姑娘,是不是您说的那个吉卜赛姑娘?"
弗比斯望了望,应道:
"没错,我从那只山羊就认得出."
"哦!真是只漂亮的小山羊!"阿梅洛特合起双掌赞叹道.
"它的角是真金的吗?"贝朗日尔问道.
阿洛伊丝夫人坐在安乐椅上没动,开口说:"去年从吉巴尔城门来了一帮吉卜赛女人,会不会是她们当中的一个?"
"母亲大人,那道城门如今叫地狱之门了."百合花柔声细气地说道.
贡德洛里埃小姐深知,她母亲提起这些老皇历定会那个队长感到不快.果然如此,他轻声挖苦起她来了:"吉巴尔门!吉巴尔门!那有着说哩,可以扯到国王查理六世啦!"
"教母,"贝朗日尔的眼睛一直不停地转动,突然向圣母院钟楼顶上望去,不由惊叫起来."那是谁,顶上那个黑衣人?"
姑娘们个个抬起眼睛.果真在朝向河滩广场的北边钟楼顶端的栏杆上,倚着一个男子.那是一个教士,从他的衣裳和双手托住的脸孔,都可以看得一清二楚.而且,他像一尊雕像,纹丝不动.他的眼睛直勾勾地盯着广场.
这情景真有点像一只鹞鹰刚发现一窝麻雀,死死盯着,一动也不动.
"那是若札的副主教大人."百合花答道.
"您从这里就一眼认出他来,您的眼睛真好呀!"卡伊丰丹纳说道.
"他瞅着那个跳舞的小姑娘多么入神呀!"狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊接着说.
"那个埃及姑娘可得当心!"百合花说."他不喜欢埃及人."
"那个人这样瞅着她,真是大煞风景!瞧她舞跳得多棒,把人的眼睛都看花了."阿梅洛特.德.蒙米榭尔插嘴说.
"弗比斯好表哥,"百合花突然说道."既然您认识这个吉卜赛小姑娘,那就打个手势叫她上来吧!这会叫我们开心的."
"说得很好!"小姐们全拍手喊道.
"真是荒唐!"弗比斯答道."她大概早把我忘了,而且我连她的名字也不知道.不过,既然小姐们高兴,那我就试试看."于是,探身到阳台栏杆上喊道:"小妞!"
跳舞的姑娘这时恰好没有敲手鼓,随即转头向喊声的方向望去,炯炯的目光落在弗比斯身上,一下子停了下来.
"小妞!"队长又喊道,并用手示意叫她过来.
那个少女再望了他一眼,脸上顿时浮起红晕,仿佛双颊着了火似的.她把小鼓往腋下一夹,穿过目瞪口呆的观众,向弗比斯所在的那幢房子走去,步履缓慢而摇曳,目光迷乱,就像一只鸟儿经不住一条毒蛇的诱惑.
片刻后,帷幔门帘撩开了,吉卜赛女郎出现在房间门槛上,只见她脸色通红,手足无措,气喘嘘嘘,一双大眼睛低垂着,不敢再上前一步.
贝朗日尔高兴得拍起手来.
跳舞的姑娘站在门坎上不动.她的出现对这群小姐产生了一种奇特的影响.诚然,所有在场的小姐心中都同时萌发出一种朦胧不清的念头,设法取悦那个英俊的军官,他那身华丽的军服是她们卖弄风情的主要目标;并且,自从他出现,她们之间就悄悄展开了一场暗斗,虽然她们自己不肯承认,但她们的一举一动.一言一行,无时无刻不暴露出来.但是,她们的美貌彼此不相上下,角逐起来,也就势均力敌,每人都有取胜的希望.吉卜赛女郎的到来,猝然打破了这种均衡.她的艳丽,真是世上罕见,她一出现在房门口,就仿佛散发出一种特有的光辉.在这间拥挤的房间里,在幽暗的帷幔和炉壁板环绕之中,她比在广场上更丰姿标致,光彩照人,好比从大白天阳光下被带到阴暗中来的一把火炬.几位高贵的小姐不由得眼花缭乱,一个个都多少感到自己的姿色受到了损害.因此,她们的战线-请允许我用这个词语-即刻改变了,尽管她们之间连一句话也没有说,但彼此却心照不宣,默契得很.女人在本能上互相心领神会,总是要比男人串通一气快得多.她们都感觉到,刚才进来了一个敌人,于是便联合起来.只需一滴葡萄酒,就足以染红一杯水;只需突然间到来一个更妖艳的女人,便可以给群芳染上某种不佳的心绪,尤其只有一个男子在场的时候.
因此,吉卜赛女郎所受到的接待是雪里加霜.小姐们把她从头到脚打量一番后,互相丢了个眼色,千言万语尽在这眼色中,彼此一下子心领神会了.这期间,吉卜赛少女一直等待着人家发话,心情激动万分,连抬一下眼皮都不敢.
倒是队长先打破沉默,他用惯常的那种肆无忌惮的狂妄腔调说道:"我发誓,这儿来了个尤物!您说呢,表妹?"
换上一个比较有心眼的赞美者,发表议论时至少应该把声音放低些.这样的品评是不可能消除小姐们观察吉卜赛少女而油然产生的那种女人嫉妒心的.
百合花装模作样,带着轻蔑的口吻假惺惺地应道:"嗯,还不错."
其他几个小姐在交头接耳.
阿洛伊丝夫人因为自己的闺女,也同样心怀嫉妒.她终于对跳舞的姑娘发话了:"过来,小乖乖!"
"过来,小乖乖!"贝朗日尔重说了一遍,摆出一副滑稽可笑的庄严架势,其实她还没有吉卜赛姑娘的半腰高呢!
埃及姑娘向贵夫人走过来.
"好孩子,"弗比斯夸张地说,同时也朝她走近几步."我不知是否三生有幸您能认出我来......"
没等他说完,她就打断他的话,满怀无限的柔情蜜意,抬起眼睛对他微笑,说道:
"啊!是的."
"她记性可真好."百合花说道.
"喂,那天晚上,您急速溜跑了.是不是我吓着您了?"弗比斯接着说.
"噢!不."吉卜赛女郎答道.
先是一句"啊!是的,"接着又是一声"噢!不,"声调中蕴藏着难以言表的某种情韵,百合花听了顿觉不快.
"我的美人儿,"队长每当同街头卖笑女郎搭讪,总是摇唇鼓舌,说得天花乱坠,随即继续往下说:"您走了,留给我一个凶神恶煞般的家伙,独眼.驼背,我相信是主教的敲钟人.听说他是某个副主教的私生子,天生的魔鬼,名字很可笑,叫什么四季斋啦,圣枝主日啦,狂欢节啦,我记也记不清!反正是群钟齐鸣的节日名称呗!他狗胆包天,竟敢抢您,好像您生来就该配给教堂听差似的!真是岂有此理!那只猫头鹰想对您搞什么鬼?嗯,说呀!"
"我不知道."她答道.
"想不到他竟敢如此胆大妄为!一个敲钟的,竟像一个子爵一样,公然绑架一个姑娘!一个贱民,竟敢偷猎贵族老爷们的野味!真是天下少有!不过,他吃了大苦头啦.皮埃拉.托特吕老爷是世上最粗暴最无情的,哪个坏蛋一旦落在他手里,非被揍得死去活来不可.如果您喜欢,我可以告诉您,那个敲钟人的皮都被他巧妙地剥下来了."
"可怜的人!"吉卜赛女郎听了这番话,又回想起耻辱柱的那幕情景,不由说道.
队长纵声哈哈大笑起来:"牛角尖的见识!瞧这种怜悯的样子,就像一根羽毛插在猪屁股上!我情愿像教皇那样挺着大肚子,假如......"
他猛然住口."对不起,小姐们!我想,我差点就要说蠢话了."
"呸,先生!"卡伊丰丹纳小姐说道.
"他是用他的下流语言跟那个下流女人说话哩!"百合花心中越来越恼怒,轻声添了一句.队长被吉卜赛女郎.尤其被他自己迷住了,脚跟转来转去,显出一副粗俗而天真的兵痞式媚态,一再反复说:"一个绝色美人,我以灵魂起誓!"百合花把这一切看在眼里,心中的恼怒更增一倍.
"穿得不伦不类!"狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊说,依然露出美丽的牙齿.
对其他几个小姐来说,这一看法简直是一线光明,她们立刻看清了埃及女郎的薄弱环节.既然啃不动她的美貌,便向她的服装猛扑过去.
"不过这话倒是说得很对,小妞."蒙米榭尔小姐说."你从哪里学来了不披头巾.不戴胸罩就这样满街乱跑呢?"
"裙子还短得吓人."卡伊丰丹纳小姐插上一句.
"亲爱的,"百合花酸溜溜的接着说."您身上那镀金的腰带,叫那班巡捕看见了会把您抓起来的."
"小妞,小妞,"克里斯特伊小姐皮笑肉不笑地说."你要是给你的胳膊套上袖子,就不会给太阳晒得那么黑了."
这一情景,确实值得比弗比斯更灵光的一个人来看,看这些淑女如何用恶毒和恼怒的语言,像一条条毒蛇围着这个街头舞女缠来缠去,滑来滑去,绕来绕去.她们既冷酷而文雅,把街头舞女那身缀满金属碎片的寒伧而轻狂的装束,恶意地尽情挑剔,一丝一毫也不放过.她们又是讥笑,又是挖苦,又是侮辱,简直没完没了.冷言冷语,傲慢的关怀,凶狠的目光,一古脑儿向埃及姑娘倾泻,就像古罗马那帮年青的命妇拿金别针去刺一个漂亮女奴的乳房玩耍取乐,又好似一群美丽的母猎犬,眼睛冒火,鼻翼张开,围着树林里一只牝鹿团团转,而主人的目光却禁止它们把牝鹿吞吃掉.
在这些名门闺秀面前,一个在公共场所跳舞的可怜少女算得上什么!她们似乎对她的在场毫不在意,竟当着她的面,对着她本人,就如此地高声品头论足,好像在议论一件不洁.下流.却又好看的什么玩意儿.
对这些如针扎一般的伤害,吉卜赛女郎并非毫无感觉,她的眼睛和脸颊,都不时燃烧着愤怒的,浮现出羞愧;嘴唇颤动,似乎支支吾吾说着什么轻蔑的话儿;噘着小嘴,鄙视地做着读者所熟悉的那种娇态.不过,最终还是没有开口,一动也不动,目光无可奈何,忧伤而又温柔,一直望着弗比斯.这目光中也包含着幸福和深情.好像她由于害怕被赶走,才竭力克制住自己.
至于弗比斯,他笑着,神态鲁莽而又怜悯,站到了吉卜赛女郎一边.
"让她们说去吧,小妞!"他把金马刺碰得直响,一再说道."您这身打扮确实有点离奇和粗野,不过,话又说回来像您这样俊俏的姑娘,有什么值得大惊小怪的呢!"
"我的天啊!"满头金发的卡伊丰丹纳小姐挺直她那天鹅似的长脖子,脸带苦笑,叫嚷起来."依我看呀,王家弓箭手老爷们碰上埃及女人的漂亮眼睛,也太容易着火啦."
"为什么不?"弗比斯说.
队长的这句回答本来是丝毫无心的,就像随便扔出一个石子而不管它会落到哪里去,可是小姐们一听,科伦布笑了起来,狄安娜也笑了,阿梅洛特也笑了,百合花也笑了-同时眼睛里闪动着一滴晶莹的泪珠.
吉卜赛女郎听到科伦布.德.卡伊丰丹纳的话儿,眼睛一下子耷拉下来,紧盯着地面,这时又抬起头来,目光闪烁,充满着喜悦自豪,紧盯着弗比斯.这时,她真是艳丽绝伦.
老夫人见此情景,深感受到了触犯,却又不明白是怎么一回事.
"圣母啊!"她忽然嚷了起来."是什么东西在动我的腿?哎呀!可恶的畜生!"
原来是山羊过来找女主人,向她冲过去时,被坐在那里的贵夫人拖到脚上的一大堆蓬蓬松松的衣裙给缠住了两只角.
大家的注意力一下子被分散开了.吉卜赛女郎一言不发,走过去把山羊解脱出来.
"哦!瞧这小山羊,蹄子还是金的呢!"贝朗日尔嚷着,高兴得直跳起来.
吉卜赛女郎跪了下来,腮帮紧偎着山羊温顺的头,仿佛是在请求山羊原谅她刚才把它丢在一旁.
这当儿,狄安娜探身贴在科伦布的耳边说:
"哎呀!天啊!我怎么没有早想到呢?这不就是那个带着山羊的吉卜赛姑娘吗!人家都说她是女巫,还说她的山羊会耍种种魔法."
"那太好不过了,"科伦布说道."那就叫山羊也给我们耍一个魔法吧,让我们也开开心."
狄安娜和科伦布赶忙对吉卜赛女郎说:"小姑娘,叫你的山羊变一个魔法吧."
"我不知道你们在说什么."跳舞的姑娘应声道.
"一个奇迹,一个戏法,总之一个妖术吧."
"不明白."她又轻轻抚摸着漂亮的山羊,连声喊着,"佳丽!佳丽!"
这时候,百合花注意到山羊的脖子上挂着一个皮做的绣花小荷包,便问吉卜赛女郎道:"那是什么东西?"
吉卜赛女郎抬起一双大眼睛望着她,严肃地应道:"那是我个人的秘密."
"我倒很想知道你葫芦里卖的什么药."百合花心里想着.
这时候那个夫人脸带愠色站了起来:"喂喂,吉卜赛姑娘,既然你和你的山羊连给我们跳个舞都不行,那你们还待在这里干嘛?"
吉卜赛女郎没有应声,慢慢地朝门口走去.然而,越靠近门口,脚步越慢,似乎有难以抗拒的磁石在吸引着她.突然间,她把噙着泪花的湿润眼睛移向弗比斯,随即就站住了.
"真是天晓得!"队长喊道,"不能就这样走了.您回来,随便给我们跳个什么舞.噢!对了,我心上的美人,您叫什么来着?"
"爱斯梅拉达."跳舞的姑娘应道,眼睛依然动不动地看着他.
听到这古怪的名字,小姐们都笑疯了.
"真是的,一个小姐叫如此一个可怕的名字!"狄安娜说.
"您还不明白,这是一个巫女呗."阿梅洛特接着说.
"亲爱的,"阿洛伊丝夫人一本正经地说道,"肯定不是你父母给你取的这个名字的吧."
她们说话的时候,贝朗日尔趁人不注意,用一块小杏仁饼逗引小山羊,拉它到角落去了.她俩顿时就成了好朋友.好奇的小女孩把挂在小山羊脖子上的荷包解下,打开来一抖,里面的东西掉在了席子上.原来是一组字母,每个字母都被分开单独写在一小片黄杨木上.这些玩具似的字母刚摊在席子上,贝朗日就吃惊地看见了一个奇迹出现:小山羊用金蹄从中选出几个字母,轻轻地推着,排列这些字母成一种特殊的顺序.不一会儿工夫,就排成一个词,山羊好象很熟悉拼写,不假思索就拼写成了.贝朗日尔赞叹不已,一下子合掌惊叫起来:
"百合花教母,你快来看呀,瞧山羊在干什么!"
百合花跑过去一看,不由得全身战栗.地板上那些排列有序的字母组成一个词:弗比斯."这真是山羊写的?"百合花变了声音,急忙问道.
"是的,教母."贝朗日尔说.
毫无疑问,小女孩还不会写字.
"这就是她所谓的秘密呀!"百合花心里揣摩着.
听到小女孩的叫喊声,所有的人跑了过去,母亲,几位小姐,吉卜赛女郎,还有那位军官.
吉卜赛女郎看见山羊干的荒唐事儿,脸色红一阵白一阵,像个罪犯站在队长面前,浑身哆嗦着,可是队长却露出得意而又惊讶的笑容,定定地瞅着她.
"弗比斯!"小姐们简直惊呆了,喃喃说道."这是队长的名字呀!"
"您的记性可真好呀!"百合花向呆若木鸡的吉卜赛女郎说道,随即放声哭了起来,双手捂住脸,痛苦地呐呐道:"这是一个巫女!"她听见心灵深处有个声音告诉她说:"这是一个情敌!"
她一下子晕倒了.
"我的女儿呀!我的女儿呀!"母亲喊道,顿时吓得魂不附体."滚开,该死的吉卜赛丫头!"
斯梅拉达转眼间把那些晦气的字母捡了起来,向佳丽作了个手势,从一道门里走了出去,而人们把百合花从另一道门抬了出去.
弗比斯队长独自站在那里,不知该走哪道门,犹豫了片刻,跟着吉卜赛女郎走了.

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《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER I.THE DANGER OF CONFIDING ONE'S SECRET TO A GOAT. Page 1》
Many weeks had elapsed.
The first of March had arrived.The sun, which Dubartas, that classic ancestor of periphrase, had not yet dubbed the "Grand-duke of Candles," was none the less radiant and joyous on that account.It was one of those spring days which possesses so much sweetness and beauty, that all paris turns out into the squares and promenades and celebrates them as though they were Sundays.In those days of brilliancy, warmth, and serenity, there is a certain hour above all others, when the fa?ade of Notre-Dame should be admired. It is the moment when the sun, already declining towards the west, looks the cathedral almost full in the face.Its rays, growing more and more horizontal, withdraw slowly from the pavement of the square, and mount up the perpendicular fa?ade, whose thousand bosses in high relief they cause to start out from the shadows, while the great central rose window flames like the eye of a cyclops, inflamed with the reflections of the forge.
This was the hour.
Opposite the lofty cathedral, reddened by the setting sun, on the stone balcony built above the porch of a rich Gothic house, which formed the angle of the square and the Rue du parvis, several young girls were laughing and chatting with every sort of grace and mirth.From the length of the veil which fell from their pointed coif, twined with pearls, to their heels, from the fineness of the embroidered chemisette which covered their shoulders and allowed a glimpse, according to the pleasing custom of the time, of the swell of their fair virgin bosoms, from the opulence of their under-petticoats still more precious than their overdress (marvellous refinement), from the gauze, the silk, the velvet, with which all this was composed, and, above all, from the whiteness of their hands, which certified to their leisure and idleness, it was easy to divine they were noble and wealthy heiresses.They were, in fact, Damoiselle Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier and her companions, Diane de Christeuil, Amelotte de Montmichel, Colombe de Gaillefontaine, and the little de Champchevrier maiden; all damsels of good birth, assembled at that moment at the house of the dame widow de Gondelaurier, on account of Monseigneur de Beaujeu and Madame his wife, who were to come to paris in the month of April, there to choose maids of honor for the Dauphiness Marguerite, who was to be received in picardy from the hands of the Flemings.Now, all the squires for twenty leagues around were intriguing for this favor for their daughters, and a goodly number of the latter had been already brought or sent to paris.These four maidens had been confided to the discreet and venerable charge of Madame Aloise de Gondelaurier, widow of a former commander of the king's cross-bowmen, who had retired with her only daughter to her house in the place du parvis, Notre- Dame, in paris.
The balcony on which these young girls stood opened from a chamber richly tapestried in fawn-colored Flanders leather, stamped with golden foliage.The beams, which cut the ceiling in parallel lines, diverted the eye with a thousand eccentric painted and gilded carvings.Splendid enamels gleamed here and there on carved chests; a boar's head in faience crowned a magnificent dresser, whose two shelves announced that the mistress of the house was the wife or widow of a knight banneret.At the end of the room, by the side of a lofty chimney blazoned with arms from top to bottom, in a rich red velvet arm-chair, sat Dame de Gondelaurier, whose five and fifty years were written upon her garments no less distinctly than upon her face.
Beside her stood a young man of imposing mien, although partaking somewhat of vanity and bravado--one of those handsome fellows whom all women agree to admire, although grave men learned in physiognomy shrug their shoulders at them.This young man wore the garb of a captain of the king's unattached archers, which bears far too much resemblance to the costume of Jupiter, which the reader has already been enabled to admire in the first book of this history, for us to inflict upon him a second description.
The damoiselles were seated, a part in the chamber, a part in the balcony, some on square cushions of Utrecht velvet with golden corners, others on stools of oak carved in flowers and figures.Each of them held on her knee a section of a great needlework tapestry, on which they were working in company, while one end of it lay upon the rush mat which covered the floor.
They were chatting together in that whispering tone and with the half-stifled laughs peculiar to an assembly of young girls in whose midst there is a young man.The young man whose presence served to set in play all these feminine self- conceits, appeared to pay very little heed to the matter, and, while these pretty damsels were vying with one another to attract his attention, he seemed to be chiefly absorbed in polishing the buckle of his sword belt with his doeskin glove. From time to time, the old lady addressed him in a very low tone, and he replied as well as he was able, with a sort of awkward and constrained politeness.
From the smiles and significant gestures of Dame Aloise, from the glances which she threw towards her daughter, Fleur-de-Lys, as she spoke low to the captain, it was easy to see that there was here a question of some betrothal concluded, some marriage near at hand no doubt, between the young man and Fleur-de-Lys.From the embarrassed coldness of the officer, it was easy to see that on his side, at least, love had no longer any part in the matter.His whole air was expressive of constraint and weariness, which our lieutenants of the garrison would to-day translate admirably as, "What a beastly bore!"
The poor dame, very much infatuated with her daughter, like any other silly mother, did not perceive the officer's lack of enthusiasm, and strove in low tones to call his attention to the infinite grace with which Fleur-de-Lys used her needle or wound her skein.
"Come, little cousin," she said to him, plucking him by the sleeve, in order to speak in his ear, "Look at her, do! see her stoop."
"Yes, truly," replied the young man, and fell back into his glacial and absent-minded silence.
A moment later, he was obliged to bend down again, and Dame Aloise said to him,--
"Have you ever beheld a more gay and charming face than that of your betrothed?Can one be more white and blonde? are not her hands perfect? and that neck--does it not assume all the curves of the swan in ravishing fashion?How I envy you at times! and how happy you are to be a man, naughty libertine that you are!Is not my Fleur-de-Lys adorably beautiful, and are you not desperately in love with her?"
"Of course," he replied, still thinking of something else.
"But do say something," said Madame Aloise, suddenly giving his shoulder a push; "you have grown very timid."
We can assure our readers that timidity was neither the captain's virtue nor his defect.But he made an effort to do what was demanded of him.
"Fair cousin," he said, approaching Fleur-de-Lys, "what is the subject of this tapestry work which you are fashioning?' "Fair cousin," responded Fleur-de-Lys, in an offended tone, "I have already told you three times.'Tis the grotto of Neptune."
It was evident that Fleur-de-Lys saw much more clearly than her mother through the captain's cold and absent-minded manner.He felt the necessity of making some conversation.
"And for whom is this Neptunerie destined?"
"For the Abbey of Saint-Antoine des Champs," answered Fleur-de-Lys, without raising her eyes.
The captain took up a corner of the tapestry.
"Who, my fair cousin, is this big gendarme, who is puffing out his cheeks to their full extent and blowing a trumpet?"
"'Tis Triton," she replied.
There was a rather pettish intonation in Fleur-de-Lys's-- laconic words.The young man understood that it was indispensable that he should whisper something in her ear, a commonplace, a gallant compliment, no matter what.Accordingly he bent down, but he could find nothing in his imagination more tender and personal than this,--
"Why does your mother always wear that surcoat with armorial designs, like our grandmothers of the time of Charles VII.?Tell her, fair cousin, that 'tis no longer the fashion, and that the hinge (gond) and the laurel (laurier) embroidered on her robe give her the air of a walking mantlepiece. In truth, people no longer sit thus on their banners, I assure you."
Fleur-de-Lys raised her beautiful eyes, full of reproach, "Is that all of which you can assure me?" she said, in a low voice.
In the meantime, Dame Aloise, delighted to see them thus bending towards each other and whispering, said as she toyed with the clasps of her prayer-book,--
"Touching picture of love!"
The captain, more and more embarrassed, fell back upon the subject of the tapestry,--"'Tis, in sooth, a charming work!" he exclaimed.
Whereupon Colombe de Gaillefontaine, another beautiful blonde, with a white skin, dressed to the neck in blue damask, ventured a timid remark which she addressed to Fleur-de-Lys, in the hope that the handsome captain would reply to it, "My dear Gondelaurier, have you seen the tapestries of the H?tel de la Roche-Guyon?"
"Is not that the hotel in which is enclosed the garden of the Lingère du Louvre?" asked Diane de Christeuil with a laugh; for she had handsome teeth, and consequently laughed on every occasion.
"And where there is that big, old tower of the ancient wall of paris," added Amelotte de Montmichel, a pretty fresh and curly-headed brunette, who had a habit of sighing just as the other laughed, without knowing why.
"My dear Colombe," interpolated Dame Aloise, "do you not mean the hotel which belonged to Monsieur de Bacqueville, in the reign of King Charles VI.? there are indeed many superb high warp tapestries there."
"Charles VI.!Charles VI.!" muttered the young captain, twirling his moustache."Good heavens! what old things the good dame does remember!"
Madame de Gondelaurier continued, "Fine tapestries, in truth.A work so esteemed that it passes as unrivalled."
At that moment Bérangère de Champchevrier, a slender little maid of seven years, who was peering into the square through the trefoils of the balcony, exclaimed, "Oh! look, fair Godmother Fleur-de-Lys, at that pretty dancer who is dancing on the pavement and playing the tambourine in the midst of the loutish bourgeois!"
The sonorous vibration of a tambourine was, in fact, audible. "Some gypsy from Bohemia," said Fleur-de-Lys, turning carelessly toward the square.
"Look! look!" exclaimed her lively companions; and they all ran to the edge of the balcony, while Fleur-de-Lys, rendered thoughtful by the coldness of her betrothed, followed them slowly, and the latter, relieved by this incident, which put an end to an embarrassing conversation, retreated to the farther end of the room, with the satisfied air of a soldier released from duty.Nevertheless, the fair Fleur-de-Lys's was a charming and noble service, and such it had formerly appeared to him; but the captain had gradually become blase'; the prospect of a speedy marriage cooled him more every day.Moreover, he was of a fickle disposition, and, must we say it, rather vulgar in taste.Although of very noble birth, he had contracted in his official harness more than one habit of the common trooper.The tavern and its accompaniments pleased him.He was only at his ease amid gross language, military gallantries, facile beauties, and successes yet more easy.He had, nevertheless, received from his family some education and some politeness of manner; but he had been thrown on the world too young, he had been in garrison at too early an age, and every day the polish of a gentleman became more and more effaced by the rough friction of his gendarme's cross-belt.While still continuing to visit her from time to time, from a remnant of common respect, he felt doubly embarrassed with Fleur-de-Lys; in the first place, because, in consequence of having scattered his love in all sorts of places, he had reserved very little for her; in the next place, because, amid so many stiff, formal, and decent ladies, he was in constant fear lest his mouth, habituated to oaths, should suddenly take the bit in its teeth, and break out into the language of the tavern.The effect can be imagined!
Moreover, all this was mingled in him, with great pretentions to elegance, toilet, and a fine appearance.Let the reader reconcile these things as best he can.I am simply the historian.
He had remained, therefore, for several minutes, leaning in silence against the carved jamb of the chimney, and thinking or not thinking, when Fleur-de-Lys suddenly turned and addressed him.After all, the poor young girl was pouting against the dictates of her heart.
"Fair cousin, did you not speak to us of a little Bohemian whom you saved a couple of months ago, while making the patrol with the watch at night, from the hands of a dozen robbers?"
"I believe so, fair cousin,." said the captain.
"Well," she resumed, "perchance 'tis that same gypsy girl who is dancing yonder, on the church square.Come and see if you recognize her, fair Cousin phoebus."
A secret desire for reconciliation was apparent in this gentle invitation which she gave him to approach her, and in the care which she took to call him by name.Captain phoebus de Chateaupers (for it is he whom the reader has had before his eyes since the beginning of this chapter) slowly approached the balcony."Stay," said Fleur-de-Lys, laying her hand tenderly on phoebus's arm; "look at that little girl yonder, dancing in that circle.Is she your Bohemian?"
phoebus looked, and said,--
"Yes, I recognize her by her goat."
"Oh! in fact, what a pretty little goat!" said Amelotte, clasping her hands in admiration.
"Are his horns of real gold?" inquired Bérangère.
Without moving from her arm-chair, Dame Aloise interposed, "Is she not one of those gypsy girls who arrived last year by the Gibard gate?"
"Madame my mother," said Fleur-de-Lys gently, "that gate is now called the porte d'Enfer."
Mademoiselle de Gondelaurier knew how her mother's antiquated mode of speech shocked the captain.In fact, he began to sneer, and muttered between his teeth: "porte Gibard!porte Gibard!'Tis enough to make King Charles VI. pass by."
"Godmother!" exclaimed Bérangère, whose eyes, incessantly in motion, had suddenly been raised to the summit of the towers of Notre-Dame, "who is that black man up yonder?"
All the young girls raised their eyes.A man was, in truth, leaning on the balustrade which surmounted the northern tower, looking on the Grève.He was a priest.His costume could be plainly discerned, and his face resting on both his hands.But he stirred no more than if he had been a statue. His eyes, intently fixed, gazed into the place.
It was something like the immobility of a bird of prey, who has just discovered a nest of sparrows, and is gazing at it.
"'Tis monsieur the archdeacon of Josas," said Fleur-de-Lys.
"You have good eyes if you can recognize him from here," said the Gaillefontaine.
"How he is staring at the little dancer!" went on Diane de Christeuil.
"Let the gypsy beware!" said Fleur-de-Lys, "for he loves not Egypt."
"'Tis a great shame for that man to look upon her thus," added Amelotte de Montmichel, "for she dances delightfully."
"Fair cousin phoebus," said Fleur-de-Lys suddenly, "Since you know this little gypsy, make her a sign to come up here. It will amuse us."
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed all the young girls, clapping their hands.
"Why! 'tis not worth while," replied phoebus."She has forgotten me, no doubt, and I know not so much as her name.Nevertheless, as you wish it, young ladies, I will make the trial."And leaning over the balustrade of the balcony, he began to shout, "Little one!"
The dancer was not beating her tambourine at the moment. She turned her head towards the point whence this call proceeded, her brilliant eyes rested on phoebus, and she stopped short.
"Little one!" repeated the captain; and he beckoned her to approach.
The young girl looked at him again, then she blushed as though a flame had mounted into her cheeks, and, taking her tambourine under her arm, she made her way through the astonished spectators towards the door of the house where phoebus was calling her, with slow, tottering steps, and with the troubled look of a bird which is yielding to the fascination of a serpent.
A moment later, the tapestry portière was raised, and the gypsy appeared on the threshold of the chamber, blushing, confused, breathless, her large eyes drooping, and not daring to advance another step.
Bérangère clapped her hands.
Meanwhile, the dancer remained motionless upon the threshold.Her appearance had produced a singular effect upon these young girls.It is certain that a vague and indistinct desire to please the handsome officer animated them all, that his splendid uniform was the target of all their coquetries, and that from the moment he presented himself, there existed among them a secret, suppressed rivalry, which they hardly acknowledged even to themselves, but which broke forth, none the less, every instant, in their gestures and remarks. Nevertheless, as they were all very nearly equal in beauty, they contended with equal arms, and each could hope for the victory.--The arrival of the gypsy suddenly destroyed this equilibrium.Her beauty was so rare, that, at the moment when she appeared at the entrance of the apartment, it seemed as though she diffused a sort of light which was peculiar to herself.In that narrow chamber, surrounded by that sombre frame of hangings and woodwork, she was incomparably more beautiful and more radiant than on the public square.She was like a torch which has suddenly been brought from broad daylight into the dark.The noble damsels were dazzled by her in spite of themselves.Each one felt herself, in some sort, wounded in her beauty.Hence, their battle front (may we be allowed the expression,) was immediately altered, although they exchanged not a single word.But they understood each other perfectly.Women's instincts comprehend and respond to each other more quickly than the intelligences of men.An enemy had just arrived; all felt it--all rallied together.One drop of wine is sufficient to tinge a glass of water red; to diffuse a certain degree of ill temper throughout a whole assembly of pretty women, the arrival of a prettier woman suffices, especially when there is but one man present.
Hence the welcome accorded to the gypsy was marvellously glacial.They surveyed her from head to foot, then exchanged glances, and all was said; they understood each other.Meanwhile, the young girl was waiting to be spoken to, in such emotion that she dared not raise her eyelids.
The captain was the first to break the silence."Upon my word," said he, in his tone of intrepid fatuity, "here is a charming creature!What think you of her, fair cousin?"
This remark, which a more delicate admirer would have uttered in a lower tone, at least was not of a nature to dissipate the feminine jealousies which were on the alert before the gypsy.

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER I.THE DANGER OF CONFIDING ONE'S SECRET TO A GOAT. Page 2》
Fleur-de-Lys replied to the captain with a bland affectation of disdain;--"Not bad."
The others whispered.
At length, Madame Aloise, who was not the less jealous because she was so for her daughter, addressed the dancer,--"Approach, little one."
"Approach, little one!" repeated, with comical dignity, little Bérangère, who would have reached about as high as her hips.
The gypsy advanced towards the noble dame.
"Fair child," said phoebus, with emphasis, taking several steps towards her, "I do not know whether I have the supreme honor of being recognized by you."
She interrupted him, with a smile and a look full of infinite sweetness,--
"Oh! yes," said she.
"She has a good memory," remarked Fleur-de-Lys.
"Come, now," resumed phoebus, "you escaped nimbly the other evening.Did I frighten you!"
"Oh! no," said the gypsy.
There was in the intonation of that "Oh! no," uttered after that "Oh! yes," an ineffable something which wounded Fleur-de-Lys.
"You left me in your stead, my beauty," pursued the captain, whose tongue was unloosed when speaking to a girl out of the street, "a crabbed knave, one-eyed and hunchbacked, the bishop's bellringer, I believe.I have been told that by birth he is the bastard of an archdeacon and a devil. He has a pleasant name: he is called ~Quatre-Temps~ (Ember Days), ~paques-Fleuries~ (palm Sunday), Mardi-Gras (Shrove Tuesday), I know not what!The name of some festival when the bells are pealed!So he took the liberty of carrying you off, as though you were made for beadles!'Tis too much. What the devil did that screech-owl want with you? Hey, tell me!"
"I do not know," she replied.
"The inconceivable impudence!A bellringer carrying off a wench, like a vicomte! a lout poaching on the game of gentlemen! that is a rare piece of assurance.However, he paid dearly for it.Master pierrat Torterue is the harshest groom that ever curried a knave; and I can tell you, if it will be agreeable to you, that your bellringer's hide got a thorough dressing at his hands."
"poor man!" said the gypsy, in whom these words revived the memory of the pillory.
The captain burst out laughing.
"Corne-de-boeuf! here's pity as well placed as a feather in a pig's tail!May I have as big a belly as a pope, if--"
He stopped short."pardon me, ladies; I believe that I was on the point of saying something foolish."
"Fie, sir" said la Gaillefontaine.
"He talks to that creature in her own tongue!" added Fleur-de-Lys, in a low tone, her irritation increasing every moment.This irritation was not diminished when she beheld the captain, enchanted with the gypsy, and, most of all, with himself, execute a pirouette on his heel, repeating with coarse, na?ve, and soldierly gallantry,--
"A handsome wench, upon my soul!"
"Rather savagely dressed," said Diane de Christeuil, laughing to show her fine teeth.
This remark was a flash of light to the others.Not being able to impugn her beauty, they attacked her costume.
"That is true," said la Montmichel; "what makes you run about the streets thus, without guimpe or ruff?"
"That petticoat is so short that it makes one tremble," added la Gaillefontaine.
"My dear," continued Fleur-de-Lys, with decided sharpness, "You will get yourself taken up by the sumptuary police for your gilded girdle."
"Little one, little one;" resumed la Christeuil, with an implacable smile, "if you were to put respectable sleeves upon your arms they would get less sunburned."
It was, in truth, a spectacle worthy of a more intelligent spectator than phoebus, to see how these beautiful maidens, with their envenomed and angry tongues, wound, serpent-like, and glided and writhed around the street dancer.They were cruel and graceful; they searched and rummaged maliciously in her poor and silly toilet of spangles and tinsel.There was no end to their laughter, irony, and humiliation.Sarcasms rained down upon the gypsy, and haughty condescension and malevolent looks.One would have thought they were young Roman dames thrusting golden pins into the breast of a beautiful slave.One would have pronounced them elegant grayhounds, circling, with inflated nostrils, round a poor woodland fawn, whom the glance of their master forbade them to devour.
After all, what was a miserable dancer on the public squares in the presence of these high-born maidens?They seemed to take no heed of her presence, and talked of her aloud, to her face, as of something unclean, abject, and yet, at the same time, passably pretty.
The gypsy was not insensible to these pin-pricks.From time to time a flush of shame, a flash of anger inflamed her eyes or her cheeks; with disdain she made that little grimace with which the reader is already familiar, but she remained motionless; she fixed on phoebus a sad, sweet, resigned look. There was also happiness and tenderness in that gaze.One would have said that she endured for fear of being expelled.
phoebus laughed, and took the gypsy's part with a mixture of impertinence and pity.
"Let them talk, little one!" he repeated, jingling his golden spurs."No doubt your toilet is a little extravagant and wild, but what difference does that make with such a charming damsel as yourself?"
"Good gracious!" exclaimed the blonde Gaillefontaine, drawing up her swan-like throat, with a bitter smile."I see that messieurs the archers of the king's police easily take fire at the handsome eyes of gypsies!"
"Why not?" said phoebus.
At this reply uttered carelessly by the captain, like a stray stone, whose fall one does not even watch, Colombe began to laugh, as well as Diane, Amelotte, and Fleur-de-Lys, into whose eyes at the same time a tear started.
The gypsy, who had dropped her eyes on the floor at the words of Colombe de Gaillefontaine, raised them beaming with joy and pride and fixed them once more on phoebus.She was very beautiful at that moment.
The old dame, who was watching this scene, felt offended, without understanding why.
"Holy Virgin!" she suddenly exclaimed, "what is it moving about my legs?Ah! the villanous beast!"
It was the goat, who had just arrived, in search of his mistress, and who, in dashing towards the latter, had begun by entangling his horns in the pile of stuffs which the noble dame's garments heaped up on her feet when she was seated.
This created a diversion.The gypsy disentangled his horns without uttering a word.
"Oh! here's the little goat with golden hoofs!" exclaimed Bérangère, dancing with joy.
The gypsy crouched down on her knees and leaned her cheek against the fondling head of the goat.One would have said that she was asking pardon for having quitted it thus.
Meanwhile, Diane had bent down to Colombe's ear.
"Ah! good heavens! why did not I think of that sooner? 'Tis the gypsy with the goat.They say she is a sorceress, and that her goat executes very miraculous tricks."
"Well!" said Colombe, "the goat must now amuse us in its turn, and perform a miracle for us."
Diane and Colombe eagerly addressed the gypsy.
"Little one, make your goat perform a miracle."
"I do not know what you mean," replied the dancer.
"A miracle, a piece of magic, a bit of sorcery, in short."
"I do not understand."And she fell to caressing the pretty animal, repeating, "Djali!Djali!"
At that moment Fleur-de-Lys noticed a little bag of embroidered leather suspended from the neck of the goat,-- "What is that?" she asked of the gypsy.
The gypsy raised her large eyes upon her and replied gravely,-- "That is my secret."
"I should really like to know what your secret is," thought Fleur-de-Lys.
Meanwhile, the good dame had risen angrily,--" Come now, gypsy, if neither you nor your goat can dance for us, what are you doing here?"
The gypsy walked slowly towards the door, without making any reply.But the nearer she approached it, the more her pace slackened.An irresistible magnet seemed to hold her.Suddenly she turned her eyes, wet with tears, towards phoebus, and halted.
"True God!" exclaimed the captain, "that's not the way to depart.Come back and dance something for us.By the way, my sweet love, what is your name?"
"La Esmeralda," said the dancer, never taking her eyes from him.
At this strange name, a burst of wild laughter broke from the young girls.
"Here's a terrible name for a young lady," said Diane.
"You see well enough," retorted Amelotte, "that she is an enchantress."
"My dear," exclaimed Dame Aloise solemnly, "your parents did not commit the sin of giving you that name at the baptismal font."
In the meantime, several minutes previously, Bérangère had coaxed the goat into a corner of the room with a marchpane cake, without any one having noticed her.In an instant they had become good friends.The curious child had detached the bag from the goat's neck, had opened it, and had emptied out its contents on the rush matting; it was an alphabet, each letter of which was separately inscribed on a tiny block of boxwood.Hardly had these playthings been spread out on the matting, when the child, with surprise, beheld the goat (one of whose "miracles" this was no doubt), draw out certain letters with its golden hoof, and arrange them, with gentle pushes, in a certain order.In a moment they constituted a word, which the goat seemed to have been trained to write, so little hesitation did it show in forming it, and Bérangère suddenly exclaimed, clasping her hands in admiration,--
"Godmother Fleur-de-Lys, see what the goat has just done!"
Fleur-de-Lys ran up and trembled.The letters arranged upon the floor formed this word,--
pHOEBUS.
"Was it the goat who wrote that?" she inquired in a changed voice.
"Yes, godmother," replied Bérangêre.
It was impossible to doubt it; the child did not know how to write.
"This is the secret!" thought Fleur-de-Lys.
Meanwhile, at the child's exclamation, all had hastened up, the mother, the young girls, the gypsy, and the officer.
The gypsy beheld the piece of folly which the goat had committed.She turned red, then pale, and began to tremble like a culprit before the captain, who gazed at her with a smile of satisfaction and amazement.
"phoebus!" whispered the young girls, stupefied: "'tis the captain's name!"
"You have a marvellous memory!" said Fleur-de-Lys, to the petrified gypsy.Then, bursting into sobs: "Oh!" she stammered mournfully, hiding her face in both her beautiful hands, "she is a magician!"And she heard another and a still more bitter voice at the bottom of her heart, saying,-- "She is a rival!"
She fell fainting.
"My daughter! my daughter!" cried the terrified mother. "Begone, you gypsy of hell!"
In a twinkling, La Esmeralda gathered up the unlucky letters, made a sign to Djali, and went out through one door, while Fleur-de-Lys was being carried out through the other.
Captain phoebus, on being left alone, hesitated for a moment between the two doors, then he followed the gypsy.

《第七卷 一 给山羊透露秘密的危险》
转眼过去了好几个星期.
三月初.太阳,虽然还没有被迪巴塔斯称为众烛的王,但其明媚与灿烂却没有丝毫减弱.每当风和日丽的春日,巴黎就会倾城而出,广场上和供人散步的地方,到处是人山人海,像欢度节日那样热闹.在这样和煦.光明.晴朗的日子里,有某个时刻特别适合去观赏圣母院的门廊.那就是太阳西斜,差不多正面照着这座大教堂的时.夕阳的余晖逐渐与地平线拉平,慢慢远离广场的石板地面,顺着教堂笔直的正面上升,在阴影衬托下,正面的浮雕个个凸起,而正中那个巨大的圆花窗恰似独眼巨人的眼睛,在雷神熔炉熊熊烈火的反照下,射出火焰一样的光芒.
现在正好是这样的时刻.
夕阳映红的威严大教堂的对面,教堂广场和前庭街的交角处,是一座哥特风格的华丽宅院.门廊上端的阳台上,几个俏丽的姑姐谈笑风生,真是千种风流,万般温柔.她们珠环翠绕的尖帽上,面纱低垂着,一直拖到脚后跟;精美的绣花胸衣遮住了双肩,并依照当时风尚,露出处女那刚刚丰满美妙的胸脯;罩衣也考究得出奇,蓬松宽大的下裙更是珍贵;个个衣著绫罗丝绒,尤其白嫩如脂般纤手,足见终日生活.从这一切不难看出,她们都是富贵人家的娇小姐.确实如此,她们百合花.德.贡德洛里埃小姐及其同伴狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊.阿梅洛特.德.蒙美榭尔.科伦布.德.卡伊丰丹娜,以及德.香榭弗里埃的小女儿.这些人都是名门闺秀,此时聚贡德洛里埃的遗孀家里,等候着博热殿下及其夫人四月间来巴黎,为玛格丽特公主遴选伴娘,到庇卡底从弗朗德勒人手里把公主迎接过来.于是方圆几百里外,所有的乡绅早就纷纷活动开了,图谋为自己的闺女争得这一恩宠,其中许多人早把女儿亲自带到或托人送到巴黎来,托付给管教审慎,令人敬佩的阿洛依丝.德.贡德洛里埃夫人,这位夫人的丈夫以前是禁军的弓弩师,她居孀后带着独生女儿退居巴黎,住在圣母院前面广场边自己的住宅里.
这些小姐所在的阳台,背连一间富丽的房间,室内挂着出自弗朗德勒的印有金叶的浅黄皮幔.天花板上一根根平行的横梁上,有无数彩绘描金的雕刻,叫人看了赏心悦目.一只只衣橱精雕细刻,这儿那儿,闪耀着珐琅的光泽;一只华丽的食橱上摆放着一个陶瓷的野猪头,食橱分两级,这些都表示女主人是方旗骑士的妻子或遗孀.房间深处,一个高大壁炉从上到下饰满纹章和徽记,旁边有一张铺着红丝绒的华丽的安乐椅,上面端坐着贡德洛里埃夫人.从衣著和相貌上可以看出她已年已五十.她身旁站着一位少年,神态甚是自命不凡,虽然有点轻浮和好强,却令所有的女子无不为之倾倒,而那些严肃和善于看相貌的男子却很是不屑.这位年轻骑士穿着御前侍卫弓手队长的灿烂服装,很像朱庇特的装束,我们在本书第一卷中已描述过了,这里就不再重复了.
小姐们全都坐着,有的坐在房间里,有的坐在阳台上,有的坐在镶着金角的乌德勒支丝绒锦团上,有的坐在雕着人物花卉的橡木小凳上.她们正在一起刺绣一幅巨大的壁毯,每人拉着一角,摊放在自己的膝盖上,还有一大截拖在铺地板的席子上.
她们不时交谈着,就像平常姑娘家说悄悄话,见到有个青年男子在场时那样.这位少年,虽说他在场足以引起这些女子各种各样的虚荣心,他自己却似乎并不在意;他置身在这些美女当中,个个都争着引起他的注意,可是他却好像格外专心用麂皮手套揩着皮带上的环扣.
老夫人不时低声向他说句话儿,他虽然回答得彬彬有礼,但明眼人能看到周到中显得有些笨拙和勉强.阿洛伊丝夫人面带笑容,同这个队长低声说话,一面向女儿百合花眨眨眼睛.从这些神态中可以很容易看出,他们之间有某种已定的婚约,大概这少年与百合花即将缔结良缘.然而从这位军官尴尬和冷淡的神情来看,显而易见,至少在他这方面没有什么爱情可言了.他整个神色显得又窘又烦,这样一种心情,要是换上城防部队的那班官长,准会妙语惊人,说:"真***活受罪!"
这位和善的夫人,或许疼爱闺女迷了心窍,可怜的她,哪能觉察得出这军官压根没有什么热情,还一个劲地轻轻叫他注意,说百合花穿针引线多么心灵手巧.
"喂,侄儿呀,"她轻轻地拉了拉他的袖子,凑近他耳边说道."你快看看!瞅她弯腰的模样儿!""看着哩."那位少年应道,随即又默不作声,完全一副心不在焉.冷冰冰的样子.
过了片刻,他不得不又俯下身来听阿洛伊丝夫人说:
"您哪里见过像您未婚妻这样讨人喜欢.活泼可爱的姑娘?有谁比她的肌肤更白嫩,比她的头发更金黄?她那双手,简直十全十美?还有,她那脖子,简直像天鹅的脖子那样仪态万端,谁见到都会心醉?有时候我也十分嫉妒您呀!您这放荡的小子,身为男人真是幸运!我的百合花,难道不是美貌绝伦,叫人爱慕不已,使你意乱心迷吗?"
"那还用着说!"他这样答道,心里却在想别的事.
"那您还不去跟她说说话儿!"阿洛伊丝夫人突然说道,并推了一下他的肩膀."快去跟她随便说点什么,您变得越来越怕羞了."
谁都可以看出,怯生并不是这位队长的美德,也不是他的缺点,不过他还是硬着头皮照办了.
"好表妹,"他走近百合花的身边说道."告诉我,你们在绣什么?"
"好表哥,"百合花应道,声调中明显带着懊恼."我已经告诉您三遍了,是海神的洞府."
队长那种冷淡和心不在焉的样子,百合花显然看在眼里.他觉得必须交谈一下,随即又问:
"给谁绣的?"
"田园圣安东修道院."百合花答道,眼睛连抬都没抬一下.
队长伸手抓起挂毯的一角,再问:
"我的好表妹,这是谁,就是那个鼓着腮帮,使劲吹着海螺的肥头大耳的军士?"
"那是小海神特里通."她应道.
百合花的答话老是只言片语,腔调中有点赌气的味道.少年立刻明白了必须对她咬耳朵说点什么,无聊的话,献殷勤的话,随便胡扯什么都行.于是他俯下身去挖空心思,却怎么也想象不出更温柔更亲密的话儿来,只听见他说:"您母亲为什么老穿着查理七世时代绣有纹章的长袍呢?好表妹,请您告诉她,这种衣服现在不时兴了,那袍子上的门键和月桂树,使她看上去就像会走动的壁炉台.实际上,现在谁也不会这样坐在自家旌旗上,我向您发誓."
百合花抬起漂亮的眼睛,责备地瞅着他,低声说道:"您就为这个向我发誓吗?"
心地善良的阿洛伊丝夫人看见他俩这样紧挨着絮絮细语,真是欣喜若狂,她摆弄着祈祷书的扣钩,说:"多么动人的画图呀!"
队长不知怎样才好,只得又重提壁毯这个话题,大声嚷道:"这件挂毯手工真是优美呀!"
一听这话,另一个皮肤白皙的金发美人儿,身穿低开领蓝缎袍子的科伦布.德.卡伊丰丹纳,怯生生地开了口,话是说给百合花听的,心里却巴望英俊的队长答腔,只听见她说:"亲爱的贡德洛里埃,您见过罗舍-吉翁府里的壁毯吗?"
"不就是卢浮宫洗衣女花园所在的那座府邸吗?"狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊笑呵呵问道,她自认为长着一口漂亮的牙齿,所以很爱笑.
"那儿还有巴黎古城墙的一座臃肿的旧塔楼呐."阿梅洛特.德.蒙米榭尔插嘴说.这位女郎水灵灵的,头发赤褐而鬈曲,总是莫名其妙地唉声叹气,就像狄安娜小姐喜欢笑一样.
"亲爱的科伦布,"阿洛伊丝夫人接口说."莫非您是指国王查理六世时期巴克维尔大人的府邸吧?那里的壁毯才是华美无比哩,全是竖纹织的."
"查理六世!国王查理六世!"年轻队长捋着胡子嘟哝道."天啊!老太太对这些老古董记得多清楚!"
贡德洛里埃夫人继续往下说:"那些壁毯,确实绚丽!那令人观止的手工,堪称世上独有!"
身材苗条的七岁小女孩贝朗日尔.香榭弗里埃,本来从阳台栏杆的梅花格子里望着广场,此时突然嚷道:"啊!快来呀,百合花教母,那个漂亮的舞女在石板地面上敲着手鼓跳舞,一大堆市民围在那里看哩!"
果真传来巴斯克手鼓响亮的颤音.
"大概是个波希米亚的埃及女郎."百合花边说边扭头向广场张望.
"看去!看去!"那几位活泼的同伴齐声喊拥到阳台边.百合花心里揣摸着未婚夫为什么那么冷淡,慢吞吞跟了过去.而这个未婚夫看到拘窘的谈话被意外的事情打断了,松了一口气,宛如一个被换下岗的士兵,一身轻松地回到房间里.给美丽的百合花放哨,在往日是一件可爱的.令人喜悦的差使,但年轻队长却早已腻烦了,并随着婚期日益临近,一天比一天更加冷淡.况且,他生性朝三暮四,而且-是否得着点破?-情趣有点庸俗不堪.虽说出身高贵,但在行伍中却染上了兵痞的恶习.他喜欢酒家以及随之而来的一切:下流话,军人式吊膀子,水性杨花的美女,轻而易举的情场得意.话说回来,他曾从家庭中受到过一点教育,也学过一些礼仪,但他年轻轻就走南闯北,过着戎马生涯,在军士的武器肩带的磨擦下,他那一层贵族的光泽外表也就黯然失色了.好在他还知道礼貌,不时来看望百合花小姐,可是每次到了她家里,总是倍感难堪,一来是因为到处寻欢作乐,把爱情滥抛,结果留给百合花小姐的就所剩无几了;二来是因为置身在这些刻板.深居闺阁.循规蹈矩的美人当中,一直提心吊胆,深怕自己说惯了粗话的那张嘴,突然会像脱缰的马,无意中漏出小酒馆那般不三不四的话儿来.设想一下,要是如此,后果会是怎样!
并且,他身上还混杂着一些值得称道的奢望:附庸风雅,衣着出众,神采奕奕.要把这些德性集中于一身,那可真是有的说.
于是,他静静地站在那里好一会儿,默默地靠在雕花的壁炉框上.这时,百合花小姐突然回头对他说起话来.可怜的姑娘生他的气,毕竟不是情愿的.
"表哥,您不是说过,两个月前您查夜时,从强盗手里救下了一个吉卜赛小姑娘吗?"
"我想是的,表妹."队长应道.
"那好,"她接着说道."现在广场上跳舞的说不定就是那个吉卜赛姑娘.您过来看一下,是不是还认得出来,弗比斯表哥."
他看出,她热情地邀请他到她身边去,还有意叫他的名字,这其中明显含着重归于好的意思.弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔缓步走近阳台,百合花含情脉脉,把手搭在弗比斯的胳膊上,对他说道:"喏,看那边正在跳舞的小姑娘,是不是您说的那个吉卜赛姑娘?"
弗比斯望了望,应道:
"没错,我从那只山羊就认得出."
"哦!真是只漂亮的小山羊!"阿梅洛特合起双掌赞叹道.
"它的角是真金的吗?"贝朗日尔问道.
阿洛伊丝夫人坐在安乐椅上没动,开口说:"去年从吉巴尔城门来了一帮吉卜赛女人,会不会是她们当中的一个?"
"母亲大人,那道城门如今叫地狱之门了."百合花柔声细气地说道.
贡德洛里埃小姐深知,她母亲提起这些老皇历定会那个队长感到不快.果然如此,他轻声挖苦起她来了:"吉巴尔门!吉巴尔门!那有着说哩,可以扯到国王查理六世啦!"
"教母,"贝朗日尔的眼睛一直不停地转动,突然向圣母院钟楼顶上望去,不由惊叫起来."那是谁,顶上那个黑衣人?"
姑娘们个个抬起眼睛.果真在朝向河滩广场的北边钟楼顶端的栏杆上,倚着一个男子.那是一个教士,从他的衣裳和双手托住的脸孔,都可以看得一清二楚.而且,他像一尊雕像,纹丝不动.他的眼睛直勾勾地盯着广场.
这情景真有点像一只鹞鹰刚发现一窝麻雀,死死盯着,一动也不动.
"那是若札的副主教大人."百合花答道.
"您从这里就一眼认出他来,您的眼睛真好呀!"卡伊丰丹纳说道.
"他瞅着那个跳舞的小姑娘多么入神呀!"狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊接着说.
"那个埃及姑娘可得当心!"百合花说."他不喜欢埃及人."
"那个人这样瞅着她,真是大煞风景!瞧她舞跳得多棒,把人的眼睛都看花了."阿梅洛特.德.蒙米榭尔插嘴说.
"弗比斯好表哥,"百合花突然说道."既然您认识这个吉卜赛小姑娘,那就打个手势叫她上来吧!这会叫我们开心的."
"说得很好!"小姐们全拍手喊道.
"真是荒唐!"弗比斯答道."她大概早把我忘了,而且我连她的名字也不知道.不过,既然小姐们高兴,那我就试试看."于是,探身到阳台栏杆上喊道:"小妞!"
跳舞的姑娘这时恰好没有敲手鼓,随即转头向喊声的方向望去,炯炯的目光落在弗比斯身上,一下子停了下来.
"小妞!"队长又喊道,并用手示意叫她过来.
那个少女再望了他一眼,脸上顿时浮起红晕,仿佛双颊着了火似的.她把小鼓往腋下一夹,穿过目瞪口呆的观众,向弗比斯所在的那幢房子走去,步履缓慢而摇曳,目光迷乱,就像一只鸟儿经不住一条毒蛇的诱惑.
片刻后,帷幔门帘撩开了,吉卜赛女郎出现在房间门槛上,只见她脸色通红,手足无措,气喘嘘嘘,一双大眼睛低垂着,不敢再上前一步.
贝朗日尔高兴得拍起手来.
跳舞的姑娘站在门坎上不动.她的出现对这群小姐产生了一种奇特的影响.诚然,所有在场的小姐心中都同时萌发出一种朦胧不清的念头,设法取悦那个英俊的军官,他那身华丽的军服是她们卖弄风情的主要目标;并且,自从他出现,她们之间就悄悄展开了一场暗斗,虽然她们自己不肯承认,但她们的一举一动.一言一行,无时无刻不暴露出来.但是,她们的美貌彼此不相上下,角逐起来,也就势均力敌,每人都有取胜的希望.吉卜赛女郎的到来,猝然打破了这种均衡.她的艳丽,真是世上罕见,她一出现在房门口,就仿佛散发出一种特有的光辉.在这间拥挤的房间里,在幽暗的帷幔和炉壁板环绕之中,她比在广场上更丰姿标致,光彩照人,好比从大白天阳光下被带到阴暗中来的一把火炬.几位高贵的小姐不由得眼花缭乱,一个个都多少感到自己的姿色受到了损害.因此,她们的战线-请允许我用这个词语-即刻改变了,尽管她们之间连一句话也没有说,但彼此却心照不宣,默契得很.女人在本能上互相心领神会,总是要比男人串通一气快得多.她们都感觉到,刚才进来了一个敌人,于是便联合起来.只需一滴葡萄酒,就足以染红一杯水;只需突然间到来一个更妖艳的女人,便可以给群芳染上某种不佳的心绪,尤其只有一个男子在场的时候.
因此,吉卜赛女郎所受到的接待是雪里加霜.小姐们把她从头到脚打量一番后,互相丢了个眼色,千言万语尽在这眼色中,彼此一下子心领神会了.这期间,吉卜赛少女一直等待着人家发话,心情激动万分,连抬一下眼皮都不敢.
倒是队长先打破沉默,他用惯常的那种肆无忌惮的狂妄腔调说道:"我发誓,这儿来了个尤物!您说呢,表妹?"
换上一个比较有心眼的赞美者,发表议论时至少应该把声音放低些.这样的品评是不可能消除小姐们观察吉卜赛少女而油然产生的那种女人嫉妒心的.
百合花装模作样,带着轻蔑的口吻假惺惺地应道:"嗯,还不错."
其他几个小姐在交头接耳.
阿洛伊丝夫人因为自己的闺女,也同样心怀嫉妒.她终于对跳舞的姑娘发话了:"过来,小乖乖!"
"过来,小乖乖!"贝朗日尔重说了一遍,摆出一副滑稽可笑的庄严架势,其实她还没有吉卜赛姑娘的半腰高呢!
埃及姑娘向贵夫人走过来.
"好孩子,"弗比斯夸张地说,同时也朝她走近几步."我不知是否三生有幸您能认出我来......"
没等他说完,她就打断他的话,满怀无限的柔情蜜意,抬起眼睛对他微笑,说道:
"啊!是的."
"她记性可真好."百合花说道.
"喂,那天晚上,您急速溜跑了.是不是我吓着您了?"弗比斯接着说.
"噢!不."吉卜赛女郎答道.
先是一句"啊!是的,"接着又是一声"噢!不,"声调中蕴藏着难以言表的某种情韵,百合花听了顿觉不快.
"我的美人儿,"队长每当同街头卖笑女郎搭讪,总是摇唇鼓舌,说得天花乱坠,随即继续往下说:"您走了,留给我一个凶神恶煞般的家伙,独眼.驼背,我相信是主教的敲钟人.听说他是某个副主教的私生子,天生的魔鬼,名字很可笑,叫什么四季斋啦,圣枝主日啦,狂欢节啦,我记也记不清!反正是群钟齐鸣的节日名称呗!他狗胆包天,竟敢抢您,好像您生来就该配给教堂听差似的!真是岂有此理!那只猫头鹰想对您搞什么鬼?嗯,说呀!"
"我不知道."她答道.
"想不到他竟敢如此胆大妄为!一个敲钟的,竟像一个子爵一样,公然绑架一个姑娘!一个贱民,竟敢偷猎贵族老爷们的野味!真是天下少有!不过,他吃了大苦头啦.皮埃拉.托特吕老爷是世上最粗暴最无情的,哪个坏蛋一旦落在他手里,非被揍得死去活来不可.如果您喜欢,我可以告诉您,那个敲钟人的皮都被他巧妙地剥下来了."
"可怜的人!"吉卜赛女郎听了这番话,又回想起耻辱柱的那幕情景,不由说道.
队长纵声哈哈大笑起来:"牛角尖的见识!瞧这种怜悯的样子,就像一根羽毛插在猪屁股上!我情愿像教皇那样挺着大肚子,假如......"
他猛然住口."对不起,小姐们!我想,我差点就要说蠢话了."
"呸,先生!"卡伊丰丹纳小姐说道.
"他是用他的下流语言跟那个下流女人说话哩!"百合花心中越来越恼怒,轻声添了一句.队长被吉卜赛女郎.尤其被他自己迷住了,脚跟转来转去,显出一副粗俗而天真的兵痞式媚态,一再反复说:"一个绝色美人,我以灵魂起誓!"百合花把这一切看在眼里,心中的恼怒更增一倍.
"穿得不伦不类!"狄安娜.德.克里斯特伊说,依然露出美丽的牙齿.
对其他几个小姐来说,这一看法简直是一线光明,她们立刻看清了埃及女郎的薄弱环节.既然啃不动她的美貌,便向她的服装猛扑过去.
"不过这话倒是说得很对,小妞."蒙米榭尔小姐说."你从哪里学来了不披头巾.不戴胸罩就这样满街乱跑呢?"
"裙子还短得吓人."卡伊丰丹纳小姐插上一句.
"亲爱的,"百合花酸溜溜的接着说."您身上那镀金的腰带,叫那班巡捕看见了会把您抓起来的."
"小妞,小妞,"克里斯特伊小姐皮笑肉不笑地说."你要是给你的胳膊套上袖子,就不会给太阳晒得那么黑了."
这一情景,确实值得比弗比斯更灵光的一个人来看,看这些淑女如何用恶毒和恼怒的语言,像一条条毒蛇围着这个街头舞女缠来缠去,滑来滑去,绕来绕去.她们既冷酷而文雅,把街头舞女那身缀满金属碎片的寒伧而轻狂的装束,恶意地尽情挑剔,一丝一毫也不放过.她们又是讥笑,又是挖苦,又是侮辱,简直没完没了.冷言冷语,傲慢的关怀,凶狠的目光,一古脑儿向埃及姑娘倾泻,就像古罗马那帮年青的命妇拿金别针去刺一个漂亮女奴的乳房玩耍取乐,又好似一群美丽的母猎犬,眼睛冒火,鼻翼张开,围着树林里一只牝鹿团团转,而主人的目光却禁止它们把牝鹿吞吃掉.
在这些名门闺秀面前,一个在公共场所跳舞的可怜少女算得上什么!她们似乎对她的在场毫不在意,竟当着她的面,对着她本人,就如此地高声品头论足,好像在议论一件不洁.下流.却又好看的什么玩意儿.
对这些如针扎一般的伤害,吉卜赛女郎并非毫无感觉,她的眼睛和脸颊,都不时燃烧着愤怒的,浮现出羞愧;嘴唇颤动,似乎支支吾吾说着什么轻蔑的话儿;噘着小嘴,鄙视地做着读者所熟悉的那种娇态.不过,最终还是没有开口,一动也不动,目光无可奈何,忧伤而又温柔,一直望着弗比斯.这目光中也包含着幸福和深情.好像她由于害怕被赶走,才竭力克制住自己.
至于弗比斯,他笑着,神态鲁莽而又怜悯,站到了吉卜赛女郎一边.
"让她们说去吧,小妞!"他把金马刺碰得直响,一再说道."您这身打扮确实有点离奇和粗野,不过,话又说回来像您这样俊俏的姑娘,有什么值得大惊小怪的呢!"
"我的天啊!"满头金发的卡伊丰丹纳小姐挺直她那天鹅似的长脖子,脸带苦笑,叫嚷起来."依我看呀,王家弓箭手老爷们碰上埃及女人的漂亮眼睛,也太容易着火啦."
"为什么不?"弗比斯说.
队长的这句回答本来是丝毫无心的,就像随便扔出一个石子而不管它会落到哪里去,可是小姐们一听,科伦布笑了起来,狄安娜也笑了,阿梅洛特也笑了,百合花也笑了-同时眼睛里闪动着一滴晶莹的泪珠.
吉卜赛女郎听到科伦布.德.卡伊丰丹纳的话儿,眼睛一下子耷拉下来,紧盯着地面,这时又抬起头来,目光闪烁,充满着喜悦自豪,紧盯着弗比斯.这时,她真是艳丽绝伦.
老夫人见此情景,深感受到了触犯,却又不明白是怎么一回事.
"圣母啊!"她忽然嚷了起来."是什么东西在动我的腿?哎呀!可恶的畜生!"
原来是山羊过来找女主人,向她冲过去时,被坐在那里的贵夫人拖到脚上的一大堆蓬蓬松松的衣裙给缠住了两只角.
大家的注意力一下子被分散开了.吉卜赛女郎一言不发,走过去把山羊解脱出来.
"哦!瞧这小山羊,蹄子还是金的呢!"贝朗日尔嚷着,高兴得直跳起来.
吉卜赛女郎跪了下来,腮帮紧偎着山羊温顺的头,仿佛是在请求山羊原谅她刚才把它丢在一旁.
这当儿,狄安娜探身贴在科伦布的耳边说:
"哎呀!天啊!我怎么没有早想到呢?这不就是那个带着山羊的吉卜赛姑娘吗!人家都说她是女巫,还说她的山羊会耍种种魔法."
"那太好不过了,"科伦布说道."那就叫山羊也给我们耍一个魔法吧,让我们也开开心."
狄安娜和科伦布赶忙对吉卜赛女郎说:"小姑娘,叫你的山羊变一个魔法吧."
"我不知道你们在说什么."跳舞的姑娘应声道.
"一个奇迹,一个戏法,总之一个妖术吧."
"不明白."她又轻轻抚摸着漂亮的山羊,连声喊着,"佳丽!佳丽!"
这时候,百合花注意到山羊的脖子上挂着一个皮做的绣花小荷包,便问吉卜赛女郎道:"那是什么东西?"
吉卜赛女郎抬起一双大眼睛望着她,严肃地应道:"那是我个人的秘密."
"我倒很想知道你葫芦里卖的什么药."百合花心里想着.
这时候那个夫人脸带愠色站了起来:"喂喂,吉卜赛姑娘,既然你和你的山羊连给我们跳个舞都不行,那你们还待在这里干嘛?"
吉卜赛女郎没有应声,慢慢地朝门口走去.然而,越靠近门口,脚步越慢,似乎有难以抗拒的磁石在吸引着她.突然间,她把噙着泪花的湿润眼睛移向弗比斯,随即就站住了.
"真是天晓得!"队长喊道,"不能就这样走了.您回来,随便给我们跳个什么舞.噢!对了,我心上的美人,您叫什么来着?"
"爱斯梅拉达."跳舞的姑娘应道,眼睛依然动不动地看着他.
听到这古怪的名字,小姐们都笑疯了.
"真是的,一个小姐叫如此一个可怕的名字!"狄安娜说.
"您还不明白,这是一个巫女呗."阿梅洛特接着说.
"亲爱的,"阿洛伊丝夫人一本正经地说道,"肯定不是你父母给你取的这个名字的吧."
她们说话的时候,贝朗日尔趁人不注意,用一块小杏仁饼逗引小山羊,拉它到角落去了.她俩顿时就成了好朋友.好奇的小女孩把挂在小山羊脖子上的荷包解下,打开来一抖,里面的东西掉在了席子上.原来是一组字母,每个字母都被分开单独写在一小片黄杨木上.这些玩具似的字母刚摊在席子上,贝朗日就吃惊地看见了一个奇迹出现:小山羊用金蹄从中选出几个字母,轻轻地推着,排列这些字母成一种特殊的顺序.不一会儿工夫,就排成一个词,山羊好象很熟悉拼写,不假思索就拼写成了.贝朗日尔赞叹不已,一下子合掌惊叫起来:
"百合花教母,你快来看呀,瞧山羊在干什么!"
百合花跑过去一看,不由得全身战栗.地板上那些排列有序的字母组成一个词:弗比斯."这真是山羊写的?"百合花变了声音,急忙问道.
"是的,教母."贝朗日尔说.
毫无疑问,小女孩还不会写字.
"这就是她所谓的秘密呀!"百合花心里揣摩着.
听到小女孩的叫喊声,所有的人跑了过去,母亲,几位小姐,吉卜赛女郎,还有那位军官.
吉卜赛女郎看见山羊干的荒唐事儿,脸色红一阵白一阵,像个罪犯站在队长面前,浑身哆嗦着,可是队长却露出得意而又惊讶的笑容,定定地瞅着她.
"弗比斯!"小姐们简直惊呆了,喃喃说道."这是队长的名字呀!"
"您的记性可真好呀!"百合花向呆若木鸡的吉卜赛女郎说道,随即放声哭了起来,双手捂住脸,痛苦地呐呐道:"这是一个巫女!"她听见心灵深处有个声音告诉她说:"这是一个情敌!"
她一下子晕倒了.
"我的女儿呀!我的女儿呀!"母亲喊道,顿时吓得魂不附体."滚开,该死的吉卜赛丫头!"
斯梅拉达转眼间把那些晦气的字母捡了起来,向佳丽作了个手势,从一道门里走了出去,而人们把百合花从另一道门抬了出去.
弗比斯队长独自站在那里,不知该走哪道门,犹豫了片刻,跟着吉卜赛女郎走了.

[ 此帖被若流年°〡逝在2013-10-27 12:10重新编辑 ]
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凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER II.A PRIEST AND A PHILOSOPHER ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.》
The priest whom the young girls had observed at the top of the North tower, leaning over the place and so attentive to the dance of the gypsy, was, in fact, Archdeacon Claude Frollo.
Our readers have not forgotten the mysterious cell which the archdeacon had reserved for himself in that tower.(I do not know, by the way be it said, whether it be not the same, the interior of which can be seen to-day through a little square window, opening to the east at the height of a man above the platform from which the towers spring; a bare and dilapidated den, whose badly plastered walls are ornamented here and there, at the present day, with some wretched yellow engravings representing the fa?ades of cathedrals.I presume that this hole is jointly inhabited by bats and spiders, and that, consequently, it wages a double war of extermination on the flies).
Every day, an hour before sunset, the archdeacon ascended the staircase to the tower, and shut himself up in this cell, where he sometimes passed whole nights.That day, at the moment when, standing before the low door of his retreat, he was fitting into the lock the complicated little key which he always carried about him in the purse suspended to his side, a sound of tambourine and castanets had reached his ear. These sounds came from the place du parvis.The cell, as we have already said, had only one window opening upon the rear of the church.Claude Frollo had hastily withdrawn the key, and an instant later, he was on the top of the tower, in the gloomy and pensive attitude in which the maidens had seen him.
There he stood, grave, motionless, absorbed in one look and one thought.All paris lay at his feet, with the thousand spires of its edifices and its circular horizon of gentle hills--with its river winding under its bridges, and its people moving to and fro through its streets,--with the clouds of its smoke,--with the mountainous chain of its roofs which presses Notre-Dame in its doubled folds; but out .of all the city, the archdeacon gazed at one corner only of the pavement, the place du parvis; in all that throng at but one figure,--the gypsy.
It would have been difficult to say what was the nature of this look, and whence proceeded the flame that flashed from it.It was a fixed gaze, which was, nevertheless, full of trouble and tumult.And, from the profound immobility of his whole body, barely agitated at intervals by an involuntary shiver, as a tree is moved by the wind; from the stiffness of his elbows, more marble than the balustrade on which they leaned; or the sight of the petrified smile which contracted his face,-- one would have said that nothing living was left about Claude Frollo except his eyes.
The gypsy was dancing; she was twirling her tambourine on the tip of her finger, and tossing it into the air as she danced proven?al sarabands; agile, light, joyous, and unconscious of the formidable gaze which descended perpendicularly upon her head.
The crowd was swarming around her; from time to time, a man accoutred in red and yellow made them form into a circle, and then returned, seated himself on a chair a few paces from the dancer, and took the goat's head on his knees.This man seemed to be the gypsy's companion.Claude Frollo could not distinguish his features from his elevated post.
From the moment when the archdeacon caught sight of this stranger, his attention seemed divided between him and the dancer, and his face became more and more gloomy.All at once he rose upright, and a quiver ran through his whole body: "Who is that man?" he muttered between his teeth: "I have always seen her alone before!"
Then he plunged down beneath the tortuous vault of the spiral staircase, and once more descended.As he passed the door of the bell chamber, which was ajar, be saw something which struck him; he beheld Quasimodo, who, leaning through an opening of one of those slate penthouses which resemble enormous blinds, appeared also to be gazing at the place.He was engaged in so profound a contemplation, that he did not notice the passage of his adopted father.His savage eye had a singular expression; it was a charmed, tender look."This is strange!" murmured Claude."Is it the gypsy at whom he is thus gazing?"He continued his descent.At the end of a few minutes, the anxious archdeacon entered upon the place from the door at the base of the tower.
"What has become of the gypsy girl?" he said, mingling with the group of spectators which the sound of the tambourine had collected.
"I know not," replied one of his neighbors, "I think that she has gone to make some of her fandangoes in the house opposite, whither they have called her."
In the place of the gypsy, on the carpet, whose arabesques had seemed to vanish but a moment previously by the capricious figures of her dance, the archdeacon no longer beheld any one but the red and yellow man, who, in order to earn a few testers in his turn, was walking round the circle, with his elbows on his hips, his head thrown back, his face red, his neck outstretched, with a chair between his teeth.To the chair he had fastened a cat, which a neighbor had lent, and which was spitting in great affright.
"Notre-Dame!" exclaimed the archdeacon, at the moment when the juggler, perspiring heavily, passed in front of him with his pyramid of chair and his cat, "What is Master pierre Gringoire doing here?"
The harsh voice of the archdeacon threw the poor fellow into such a commotion that he lost his equilibrium, together with his whole edifice, and the chair and the cat tumbled pell-mell upon the heads of the spectators, in the midst of inextinguishable hootings.
It is probable that Master pierre Gringoire (for it was indeed he) would have had a sorry account to settle with the neighbor who owned the cat, and all the bruised and scratched faces which surrounded him, if he had not hastened to profit by the tumult to take refuge in the church, whither Claude Frollo had made him a sign to follow him.
The cathedral was already dark and deserted; the side-aisles were full of shadows, and the lamps of the chapels began to shine out like stars, so black had the vaulted ceiling become. Only the great rose window of the fa?ade, whose thousand colors were steeped in a ray of horizontal sunlight, glittered in the gloom like a mass of diamonds, and threw its dazzling reflection to the other end of the nave.
When they had advanced a few paces, Dom Claude placed his back against a pillar, and gazed intently at Gringoire. The gaze was not the one which Gringoire feared, ashamed as he was of having been caught by a grave and learned person in the costume of a buffoon.There was nothing mocking or ironical in the priest's glance, it was serious, tranquil, piercing.The archdeacon was the first to break the silence.
"Come now, Master pierre.You are to explain many things to me.And first of all, how comes it that you have not been seen for two months, and that now one finds you in the public squares, in a fine equipment in truth!Motley red and yellow, like a Caudebec apple?"
"Messire," said Gringoire, piteously, "it is, in fact, an amazing accoutrement.You see me no more comfortable in it than a cat coiffed with a calabash.'Tis very ill done, I am conscious, to expose messieurs the sergeants of the watch to the liability of cudgelling beneath this cassock the humerus of a pythagorean philosopher.But what would you have, my reverend master? 'tis the fault of my ancient jerkin, which abandoned me in cowardly wise, at the beginning of the winter, under the pretext that it was falling into tatters, and that it required repose in the basket of a rag-picker. What is one to do?Civilization has not yet arrived at the point where one can go stark naked, as ancient Diogenes wished.Add that a very cold wind was blowing, and 'tis not in the month of January that one can successfully attempt to make humanity take this new step.This garment presented itself, I took it, and I left my ancient black smock, which, for a hermetic like myself, was far from being hermetically closed.Behold me then, in the garments of a stage-player, like Saint Genest.What would you have? 'tis an eclipse. Apollo himself tended the flocks of Admetus."
"'Tis a fine profession that you are engaged in!" replied the archdeacon.
"I agree, my master, that 'tis better to philosophize and poetize, to blow the flame in the furnace, or to receive it from carry cats on a shield.So, when you addressed me, I was as foolish as an ass before a turnspit.But what would you have, messire?One must eat every day, and the finest Alexandrine verses are not worth a bit of Brie cheese.Now, I made for Madame Marguerite of Flanders, that famous epithalamium, as you know, and the city will not pay me, under the pretext that it was not excellent; as though one could give a tragedy of Sophocles for four crowns! Hence, I was on the point of dying with hunger.Happily, I found that I was rather strong in the jaw; so I said to this jaw,--perform some feats of strength and of equilibrium: nourish thyself.~Ale te ipsam~.A pack of beggars who have become my good friends, have taught me twenty sorts of herculean feats, and now I give to my teeth every evening the bread which they have earned during the day by the sweat of my brow.After all, concede, I grant that it is a sad employment for my intellectual faculties, and that man is not made to pass his life in beating the tambourine and biting chairs.But, reverend master, it is not sufficient to pass one's life, one must earn the means for life.''
Dom Claude listened in silence.All at once his deep-set eye assumed so sagacious and penetrating an expression, that Gringoire felt himself, so to speak, searched to the bottom of the soul by that glance.
"Very good, Master pierre; but how comes it that you are now in company with that gypsy dancer?"
"In faith!" said Gringoire, "'tis because she is my wife and I am her husband."
The priest's gloomy eyes flashed into flame.
"Have you done that, you wretch!" he cried, seizing Gringoire's arm with fury; "have you been so abandoned by God as to raise your hand against that girl?"
"On my chance of paradise, monseigneur," replied Gringoire, trembling in every limb, "I swear to you that I have never touched her, if that is what disturbs you."
"Then why do you talk of husband and wife?" said the priest. Gringoire made haste to relate to him as succinctly as possible, all that the reader already knows, his adventure in the Court of Miracles and the broken-crock marriage.It appeared, moreover, that this marriage had led to no results whatever, and that each evening the gypsy girl cheated him of his nuptial right as on the first day."'Tis a mortification," he said in conclusion, "but that is because I have had the misfortune to wed a virgin."
"What do you mean?" demanded the archdeacon, who had been gradually appeased by this recital.
"'Tis very difficult to explain," replied the poet."It is a superstition.My wife is, according to what an old thief, who is called among us the Duke of Egypt, has told me, a foundling or a lost child, which is the same thing.She wears on her neck an amulet which, it is affirmed, will cause her to meet her parents some day, but which will lose its virtue if the young girl loses hers.Hence it follows that both of us remain very virtuous."
"So," resumed Claude, whose brow cleared more and more, "you believe, Master pierre, that this creature has not been approached by any man?"
"What would you have a man do, Dom Claude, as against a superstition?She has got that in her head.I assuredly esteem as a rarity this nunlike prudery which is preserved untamed amid those Bohemian girls who are so easily brought into subjection.But she has three things to protect her: the Duke of Egypt, who has taken her under his safeguard, reckoning, perchance, on selling her to some gay abbé; all his tribe, who hold her in singular veneration, like a Notre-Dame; and a certain tiny poignard, which the buxom dame always wears about her, in some nook, in spite of the ordinances of the provost, and which one causes to fly out into her hands by squeezing her waist.'Tis a proud wasp, I can tell you!"
The archdeacon pressed Gringoire with questions.
La Esmeralda, in the judgment of Gringoire, was an inoffensive and charming creature, pretty, with the exception of a pout which was peculiar to her; a na?ve and passionate damsel, ignorant of everything and enthusiastic about everything; not yet aware of the difference between a man and a woman, even in her dreams; made like that; wild especially over dancing, noise, the open air; a sort of woman bee, with invisible wings on her feet, and living in a whirlwind.She owed this nature to the wandering life which she had always led.Gringoire had succeeded in learning that, while a mere child, she had traversed Spain and Catalonia, even to Sicily; he believed that she had even been taken by the caravan of Zingari, of which she formed a part, to the kingdom of Algiers, a country situated in Achaia, which country adjoins, on one side Albania and Greece; on the other, the Sicilian Sea, which is the road to Constantinople.The Bohemians, said Gringoire, were vassals of the King of Algiers, in his quality of chief of the White Moors.One thing is certain, that la Esmeralda had come to France while still very young, by way of Hungary.From all these countries the young girl had brought back fragments of queer jargons, songs, and strange ideas, which made her language as motley as her costume, half parisian, half African.However, the people of the quarters which she frequented loved her for her gayety, her daintiness, her lively manners, her dances, and her songs.She believed herself to be hated, in all the city, by but two persons, of whom she often spoke in terror: the sacked nun of the Tour-Roland, a villanous recluse who cherished some secret grudge against these gypsies, and who cursed the poor dancer every time that the latter passed before her window; and a priest, who never met her without casting at her looks and words which frightened her.
The mention of this last circumstance disturbed the archdeacon greatly, though Gringoire paid no attention to his perturbation; to such an extent had two months sufficed to cause the heedless poet to forget the singular details of the evening on which he had met the gypsy, and the presence of the archdeacon in it all.Otherwise, the little dancer feared nothing; she did not tell fortunes, which protected her against those trials for magic which were so frequently instituted against gypsy women.And then, Gringoire held the position of her brother, if not of her husband.After all, the philosopher endured this sort of platonic marriage very patiently.It meant a shelter and bread at least.Every morning, he set out from the lair of the thieves, generally with the gypsy; he helped her make her collections of targes* and little blanks** in the squares; each evening he returned to the same roof with her, allowed her to bolt herself into her little chamber, and slept the sleep of the just.A very sweet existence, taking it all in all, he said, and well adapted to revery.And then, on his soul and conscience, the philosopher was not very sure that he was madly in love with the gypsy.He loved her goat almost as dearly.It was a charming animal, gentle, intelligent, clever; a learned goat.Nothing was more common in the Middle Ages than these learned animals, which amazed people greatly, and often led their instructors to the stake.But the witchcraft of the goat with the golden hoofs was a very innocent species of magic.Gringoire explained them to the archdeacon, whom these details seemed to interest deeply.In the majority of cases, it was sufficient to present the tambourine to the goat in such or such a manner, in order to obtain from him the trick desired.He had been trained to this by the gypsy, who possessed, in these delicate arts, so rare a talent that two months had sufficed to teach the goat to write, with movable letters, the word "phoebus."
*An ancient Burgundian coin.
** An ancient French coin.
"'phoebus!'" said the priest; "why 'phoebus'?"
"I know not," replied Gringoire."perhaps it is a word which she believes to be endowed with some magic and secret virtue.She often repeats it in a low tone when she thinks that she is alone."
"Are you sure," persisted Claude, with his penetrating glance, "that it is only a word and not a name?"
"The name of whom?" said the poet.
"How should I know?" said the priest.
"This is what I imagine, messire.These Bohemians are something like Guebrs, and adore the sun.Hence, phoebus."
"That does not seem so clear to me as to you, Master pierre."
"After all, that does not concern me.Let her mumble her phoebus at her pleasure.One thing is certain, that Djali loves me almost as much as he does her."
"Who is Djali?"
"The goat."
The archdeacon dropped his chin into his hand, and appeared to reflect for a moment.All at once he turned abruptly to Gringoire once more.
"And do you swear to me that you have not touched her?"
"Whom?" said Gringoire; "the goat?"
"No, that woman."
"My wife?I swear to you that I have not."
"You are often alone with her?"
"A good hour every evening."
porn Claude frowned.
"Oh! oh! ~Solus cum sola non cogitabuntur orare pater Noster~."
"Upon my soul, I could say the ~pater~, and the ~Ave Maria~, and the ~Credo in Deum patrem omnipotentem~ without her paying any more attention to me than a chicken to a church."
"Swear to me, by the body of your mother," repeated the archdeacon violently, "that you have not touched that creature with even the tip of your finger."
"I will also swear it by the head of my father, for the two things have more affinity between them.But, my reverend master, permit me a question in my turn."
"Speak, sir."
"What concern is it of yours?"
The archdeacon's pale face became as crimson as the cheek of a young girl.He remained for a moment without answering; then, with visible embarrassment,--
"Listen, Master pierre Gringoire.You are not yet damned, so far as I know.I take an interest in you, and wish you well.Now the least contact with that Egyptian of the demon would make you the vassal of Satan.You know that 'tis always the body which ruins the soul.Woe to you if you approach that woman!That is all."
"I tried once," said Gringoire, scratching his ear; "it was the first day: but I got stung."
"You were so audacious, Master pierre?" and the priest's brow clouded over again.
"On another occasion," continued the poet, with a smile, "I peeped through the keyhole, before going to bed, and I beheld the most delicious dame in her shift that ever made a bed creak under her bare foot."
"Go to the devil!" cried the priest, with a terrible look; and, giving the amazed Gringoire a push on the shoulders, he plunged, with long strides, under the gloomiest arcades of the cathedral.

《第七卷 二 一个教士和一个哲学家》
小姐们刚才看到的那个站在北边钟楼顶上,聚精会神探身望着吉卜赛女郎跳舞的教士,是克洛德.弗罗洛副主教.
副主教在这钟楼顶上为自己设置的那间神秘小室,读者们想必没有忘记吧.(顺便提一下,我不知道是不是就是今天从两座钟楼拔地而起的平台上面,透过朝东的方形小窗洞,可以望见内部的那一间.房间很简陋,如今光秃秃的,空空荡荡,破烂不堪,随随便便粉刷过的墙壁上,疏疏落落地装饰着几幅大教堂里面的发黄的蹩脚版画.我猜想,这个洞里现在的主人是蝙蝠和蜘蛛,因此苍蝇遭到双重的歼灭战.)
每天,太阳下山前一个小时,副主教就登上钟楼的楼梯,躲进这间小屋,有时整夜都在那里.这一天,他来到陋室的低矮小门前,从腰间荷包里掏出小钥匙,正要把钥匙插进锁孔里,忽然耳边传来了一阵手鼓和响板的声音.响声来自教堂前面的广场上.前面已经说过,这间小屋只有一扇朝向主教堂背部的窗洞.克洛德.弗罗洛连忙抽出钥匙,就来到钟楼顶上,这就是小姐们所看到的,神态阴郁的沉思.他呆在那里,神色庄严,一动不动,全神贯注地凝视着,沉思着.整个巴黎就在他脚下,连同全城无数楼房的无数尖顶,远处环绕着的柔弱的山丘,从一座座桥下蜿蜒流过的塞纳河,街上波涛汹涌般的民众,如云朵缭绕的烟雾,似链条起伏的屋顶,以及挤压着圣母院的重重叠叠的链环.但是,在这一整座城市中,副主教只盯着地面的一点:圣母院前面的广场;在这一整片人群中,只盯着一个身影:吉卜赛女郎.
要说清楚那是什么样的目光,目光中喷射出来的火焰又是从哪儿来的,实在是一件难事.这是一种呆板的目光,却又充满着纷乱和骚动.他全身木然不动,只有不时身不由己地颤抖一下,好像一棵树被风摇动;撑在大理石栏杆上的双肘,比大理石还要僵硬;直愣愣的笑容,连整张脸都绷紧了.仿佛克洛德.弗罗洛全身都僵死了,唯有两只眼睛还活着.
吉卜赛女郎翩翩起舞着,手鼓在指尖上旋转,而且一边跳着普罗旺斯的萨拉帮德舞,一边把手鼓抛向空中.欢快,矫捷,轻盈,丝毫没有感觉到那垂直投射在她头上的那可怕目光的压力.
群众聚集在她周围.不时有个怪里怪气穿着红黄两色外衣的男子出来帮她跑个圆场,然后又回到离舞女几步远的一张椅子上坐下,抱住山羊的头放在他的膝盖上.看上去那个男人像是吉卜赛女郎的伴侣.克洛德.弗罗洛从所站的高处向下望去,无法看清他的长相.
自从看见这个陌生人,副主教心猿意马,既要注意跳舞姑娘,还要注意那个男人,脸色越来越阴沉了.猛然他挺直身子,全身一阵哆嗦,嘟嚷道:"这个男人是谁?我从来都是看见她一个人的!"
一说完,就一头又钻到螺旋形楼梯曲曲折折的拱顶之下,冲了下楼去.在经过钟楼那道半开半闭的门前时,冷不防发现的一件事,不由的他一怔,只见卡齐莫多俯身在好似巨大百叶窗的石板屋檐的一个缺口处,也正在向广场眺望.他看得那样的入神,连他的养父走过那里都没有觉察.那只粗野的眼睛里,流露出一种奇异的表情.这是一种入了迷的温柔目光.克洛德情不自禁地喃喃道:"奇怪!难道他也在看那个埃及姑娘吗?"他接着往下走,刚过一会儿,心事重重的副主教就从钟楼底层的一道门走到了广场.
"吉卜赛姑娘到底怎么啦?"他混在那群被手鼓声吸引来的观众当中,问道.
"不知道."他旁边的一个人应道."她突然不见了,大概可能是到对面那幢房子里跳凡丹戈舞去了,是他们叫她去的."
吉卜赛女郎刚才婀娜多姿,舞步翩翩,遮掩了地毯上的花叶图案,此时就在她跳舞的地方,在同一张地毯上,副主教看到的只有穿着红黄两色上衣的那个男子.此人为了挣上几个小钱,正在绕着***走圆场,只见他双肘搁在屁股上,脑袋后仰,脸孔通红,脖子伸长,牙齿咬住一把椅子,椅子上拴着向旁边一个女子借来的一只猫,猫被吓得喵喵直叫.
这个江湖艺人汗流浃背,顶着由椅子和猫构成的高高金字塔,从副主教面前走过.副主教立刻喊道:"圣母啊!皮埃尔.格兰古瓦,你在做什么?"
副主教声色俱厉,把那个可怜虫吓了一大跳,一下子连同他的金字塔都失去了平衡,椅子和猫一古脑儿的砸在观众的头上,激起一阵经久不息的嘲骂声.
要不是克洛德.弗罗洛示意他跟着走,趁混乱之机,赶紧躲进教堂里去,皮埃尔.格兰古瓦(确实是他)可就麻烦大了.猫的女主人,以及周围所有脸上被划破擦伤的观众,很可能会一齐找他算帐的.
大教堂已一片昏暗,一个人没有.正殿四周的回廊黑没洞洞的,几处小礼拜堂的灯光开始像星星一样闪烁起来了,因为拱顶越来越漆黑了.唯有大教堂正面的大圆花窗仍在夕阳的余照下,色彩斑烂,犹如一堆璀璨的宝石,在阴暗中熠熠发亮,并反射耀眼的光辉到正殿的另一端.
他俩走了几步,堂.克洛德靠在一根柱子上,目不转睛地盯着格兰古瓦.这目光,格兰古瓦并不害怕,因为他觉得自己穿着这种小丑的服装,无意中被一个严肃的博学的人冷撞见了,真是丢人现眼.教士的这一瞥没有丝毫嘲笑和讽刺的意思,而是一本正经,心平气和,却又洞察入微.副主教先打破僵局,说:
"过来皮埃尔,许多事情得向我说说清楚.首先,将近两个月了,您连个影子也没有,现在可在街头找到您了,瞧您这一身装束真是太漂亮!半红半黄,与科德贝克的苹果无二,您说说,这是怎么回事?"
"大人,"格兰古瓦可怜巴巴地答道."这身穿着确实怪里怪气,您看我这副模样,比头戴葫芦瓢的猫还要狼狈哩.我自己也觉得这样做糟透了,等于自找苦吃,存心叫巡防捕役们把这个穿着奇装怪服的毕达哥拉斯派哲学家,抓去好好敲打肩胛骨.可是您要我如何做,我尊敬的大人?全怪我那件旧外褂,一入冬就毫不怜悯地把我抛弃了,借口说它成了破布条儿,到捡破烂的背篓里去享享清福啦.怎么办?文明总还没有发展到那种地步,像古代狄奥日内斯所主张的那样,可以赤身裸体到处走,再说,寒风冷凛,即使试图使人类迈出这新的一步,而取得成功,也不能在一月里呀!凑巧见到了这件上衣,我就拿了,这才把原来那件破旧黑外褂扔了.对我这样的一个神秘哲学家来说,破旧就不神秘了.这样一来,我就像圣惹内斯特那样穿小丑的衣裳.有什么法子呢?这是一时的落难罢了.阿波罗曾在阿德墨托斯家养过猪呢."
"您干的好行当呀!"副主教说道.
"我的大人,坐着论道,写写诗歌,对着炉子吹火,或者从天上接受馅饼,我同意,这比带着猫顶大盾要惬意得多.所以您刚才训斥我,我确实比待在烤肉铁叉前的驴子还要笨.可是有什么法子呢,大人?总得过活呀!最美的亚历山大体诗行,咀嚼起来总不如会布里奶酪来得可口哇.我曾给弗朗德勒的玛格丽特公主写了您所知道的那首精彩的赞婚诗,可是市府不给我报酬,借口说那首诗写得不好,就仿佛四个埃居就可以打发索福克列斯的一部悲剧似的.这样一来我都快饿死了,幸好我觉得自己的牙床倒挺实的,就向牙床说:'去玩玩力气,耍耍平衡戏法,自己养活自己吧.’有一群叫化子-现在都成了我的好友-传授给我二十来种耍力气的方法,所以如今我晚上可以靠白天满头大汗耍把式挣来的面包,喂我的牙齿了.我承认,这样使用我的才智,毕竟是可悲的,人活在世上,并不是专为敲手鼓和咬椅子来过活的.可话说回来,令人尊敬的大人,光度日子是不够的,还得挣口饭吃才行."
堂.克洛德静静听着.猛然间,他那凹陷的眼睛露出锐利.机敏的目光,可以说格兰古瓦顿时觉得这目光一直探到他灵魂深处去了.
"很好,皮埃尔您怎么现在和那个跳舞的埃及姑娘混在一起呢?"
"怎么着!"格兰古瓦说."她是我老婆,而我则是她老公."
教士阴森的眼睛一下子像火焰在燃烧.
"你怎么能干出这种事来,可怜虫?"他怒气冲冲地抓住格兰古瓦的胳膊,大声喊叫地."你居然被上帝唾弃到这个地步,对这个姑娘动手动脚?"
"凭我进天堂的份儿起誓,大人,"格兰古瓦浑身打着哆嗦,答道."我向您发誓,我从来没有碰过这个姑娘,如果这恰恰是您所担心的."
"那你说什么丈夫妻子呢?"教士说.
格兰古瓦赶忙把读者所知道的那些事情,奇迹宫廷的奇遇啦,摔罐子成亲啦,三言两语地讲了出来.还说,看来这门亲事还毫无结果,每天晚上,吉卜赛姑娘都像头一天新婚之夜那样避开他.最合他说:"真是有苦难言呀,都因为我晦气,讨了个贞洁圣女."
"您这话怎么说?"副主教问道,听到这番叙述,怒气渐渐消了.
"要说清楚可相当困难呀."诗人答道."这是一种迷信.一个被称为埃及公爵的老强盗告诉我,我妻子是一个捡来的孩子,或者说,是个丢失的孩子,反正都是一回事.她在脖子上挂着一个护身符,听说个这护身符日后可以使她与父母重逢,但是如果这姑娘失去了贞操,护身符随即将失去他的法力.因此我们两个人都一直洁身自好."
"那么,"克洛德接口说,脸孔越来越开朗了,"皮埃尔,您认为这个女人没有接近过任何男人?"
"堂.克洛德,您要一个男人怎么去对付迷信的事情呢?她整脑子里就装着这件事.在那些唾手可得的流浪女子中,能像修女般守身如玉的,确是少之又少.不过她有三样法宝防身:一是埃及公爵,把她置于直接保护之下;二是整个部落,人人把她尊敬得像圣母一般;三是一把小巧的匕首,从不离身,尽管司法长官三令五申禁止带凶器,这个小辣椒却总是找到能在身上隐蔽匕首的角落,有谁有这胆量敢碰她的腰身,那匕首马上就会拔出来.这真是一只野蛮的黄蜂!"
副主教并不就此罢休,接二连三向格兰古瓦盘问个没完.
依照格兰古瓦的评判,爱斯梅拉达这个靓女,温顺又迷人;俏丽,除了那种特具一格的噘嘴之外;天真烂漫,热情洋溢,对什么都不懂,却又对什么都热心;对男女之间的区别都还一无所知,甚至连在梦里也搞不懂;生就这付样子;特别喜欢跳舞,喜欢热闹,喜欢露天的活动;是一种蜜蜂似的女人,脚上长着看不见的翅膀,生活在不停的飞旋之中.这种性情是她过去一直过着漂泊的生活养成的.格兰古瓦好不容易才得知,她年幼时就已经跑遍西班牙和卡塔卢尼亚,一直到了西西里;他甚至认为,她曾经随着成群结队的茨冈人到过阿卡伊境内的阿尔及尔王国,阿卡伊一边与小小的阿尔巴尼亚和希腊接壤,而另一边濒临去君士坦丁堡的必经之路-西西里海.格兰古瓦说,阿尔及尔国王是白摩尔人的民族首领,这些流浪者都是他的臣民.有一点可以肯定是,爱斯梅拉达还很年轻时从匈牙利来到了法国.这个少女从这些地方带来零零碎碎的古怪方言.歌曲和奇异的思想,因而说起话来南腔北调,杂七杂八,有点像她身上的服装一半是巴黎式的.一半是非洲式的那样.不过,她经常来往的那些街区的民众倒很喜欢她,喜欢她快快乐乐和彬彬有礼.活泼敏捷,喜欢她的歌舞.她认为全城只有两个人恨她,一谈起这两个人就心惊肉跳:一个是罗朗塔楼的麻衣女,这个丑恶的隐修女不知对埃及女人有什么恩怨,每当这个可怜的跳舞姑娘走过那窗洞口时,就破口咒骂;另一个人是个教士,每次遇到时向她投射的目光和话语,每次都让她心里发怵.副主教听到最后这一情况,不禁心慌意乱,格兰古瓦却没有留心到,因为这个无所用心的诗人,仅用两个月的工夫就把那天晚上遇见埃及姑娘的各种各样的奇怪情况,以及副主教在这当中出现的情景,统统忘到九霄云外去了.不过,这个跳舞的小姑娘没有什么可害怕的,她从不替人算命,这就免遭一般吉卜赛女人经常吃巫术官司的苦头.再则,格兰古瓦如果算不上是丈夫,起码也称得上是兄长.总之,对这种柏拉图式的婚姻,这个哲学家倒也心平气和了,到可以有个地方可以安身,有面包可以活命了.每天早上,他跟埃及姑娘一块儿,到街头帮她把观众给的小钱收起来;晚上,同她一起回到他俩的共同住处,任凭她把自己锁在单独的小房间里,他却安然入睡了.他认为,总的说来,这种生活挺温馨的,也有利于冥思默想.再有,凭良心说,这个哲学家对这位吉卜赛女郎是否迷恋到发狂的程度,他自己也说不清楚.他爱那只山羊,几乎不亚于爱吉卜赛女郎.这只山羊真是可爱,又聪明,又温顺,又有才情,是一只训练有素的山羊.这类令人惊叹不已.常常导致驯养者遭受火刑的灵巧畜生,在中世纪是很常见的.这只金蹄山羊的魔法其实是些无伤大雅的把戏罢了.格兰古瓦把这些仔细把戏说给副主教听,副主教听得津津有味.通常,只要以这样或那样的方式把手鼓伸到山羊面前,就可以叫它变出想要的戏法.这都是吉卜赛女郎调教出来的,她对这类巧妙的手法具有罕见的才能,只用了两个月工夫就教会山羊用一些字母拼写出弗比斯这个词来."弗比斯!"教士说道,"为什么是弗比斯呢?"
"不清楚."格兰古瓦答道."也许是她认为具有某种神秘能量的一个词吧.她独自一人时,总是翻来复去低声就念着这个词."
"您有把握这仅仅是个词,而不是一个人的名字吗?"克洛德用他那特有的尖锐目光盯着他,又问.
"是谁的名字?"诗人问道.
"我怎么知道呢?"教士回答.
"那正是我所想知道的,大人.这帮流浪者多多少少都有点信奉拜火教,崇拜太阳.或许弗比斯就是从那儿来的吧."
"我可并不像您觉得那么清楚清楚,皮埃尔先生."
"反正这与我无关.她要念'弗比斯’就让她念去呗.有一点确实是无疑的,就是佳丽喜欢我已经差不多同喜欢她一样了."
"这个佳丽是谁?"
"母山羊呗."
副主教用手托着下巴,看上去已想入非非.过了一会儿,忽然猛转向格兰古瓦.
"你敢对我发誓,你真的没有碰过?"
"碰过谁?母山羊吗?"格兰古瓦反问.
"不,碰那个女人."
"碰我的女人!我向您发誓,绝过没有碰过."
"你不是经常单独跟她在一起吗?"
"每天晚上,整整一个钟头."
堂.克洛德一听,眉头紧锁.
"咳!咳!一个男人同一个女人单独在一起,是绝对不会想到念主祷文的."
"我以灵魂发誓,哪怕我念《圣母颂》.《主祷词》.《信仰上帝我们万能的父》,她对我的青睐,也不比母鸡对教堂更有兴趣呐."
"拿你母亲的肚皮起誓,"副主教粗暴地重复道,"发誓你手指尖没有碰过这个女人."
"我发誓,还可以拿我父亲的脑袋担保,因为这两者不止一种关系!不过,我尊敬的大人,请允许我也提个问题."
"讲,先生."
"这事跟您有什么关系?"
副主教苍白的脸孔毫无血色,顿时红得像少女的面颊似的.他好一会儿没作声,随后露出明显的窘态说道:
"您听着,皮埃尔.格兰古瓦先生,据我所知,您还没有被打入地狱.我关心您,并且希望您好.但是,您只要稍微接触一下那个埃及魔鬼姑娘,您就要变成撒旦的奴隶.您知道,总是肉体毁灭灵魂的.要是您亲近那个女人,那您就大祸临头!完蛋了!"
"我试过一回,"格兰古瓦搔着耳朵说道."就在新婚那一天,结果倒被刺了一下."
"皮埃尔先生,您居然如此厚颜无耻?"
教士的面孔随即又阴沉下来了.
"还有一回,"诗人笑咪咪地往下说道."我上床前从她房门的锁孔里瞅了一瞅,恰好看见穿着衬衫的那个绝世佳人,光着脚丫,想必偶而把床绷蹬得直响吧."
"滚,见鬼去吧!"教士目光凶狠,大喝一声,揪住格兰古瓦的肩膀,猛烈一推这个飘飘然的诗人,然后大步流星,一头扎进教堂最阴暗的穹窿下面去了.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 28楼  发表于: 2013-10-27 0

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER III.THE BELLS.》
After the morning in the pillory, the neighbors of Notre- Dame thought they noticed that Quasimodo's ardor for ringing had grown cool.Formerly, there had been peals for every occasion, long morning serenades, which lasted from prime to compline; peals from the belfry for a high mass, rich scales drawn over the smaller bells for a wedding, for a christening, and mingling in the air like a rich embroidery of all sorts of charming sounds.The old church, all vibrating and sonorous, was in a perpetual joy of bells.One was constantly conscious of the presence of a spirit of noise and caprice, who sang through all those mouths of brass.Now that spirit seemed to have departed; the cathedral seemed gloomy, and gladly remained silent; festivals and funerals had the simple peal, dry and bare, demanded by the ritual, nothing more.Of the double noise which constitutes a church, the organ within, the bell without, the organ alone remained.One would have said that there was no longer a musician in the belfry.Quasimodo was always there, nevertheless; what, then, had happened to him?Was it that the shame and despair of the pillory still lingered in the bottom of his heart, that the lashes of his tormentor's whip reverberated unendingly in his soul, and that the sadness of such treatment had wholly extinguished in him even his passion for the bells? or was it that Marie had a rival in the heart of the bellringer of Notre-Dame, and that the great bell and her fourteen sisters were neglected for something more amiable and more beautiful?
It chanced that, in the year of grace 1482, Annunciation Day fell on Tuesday, the twenty-fifth of March.That day the air was so pure and light that Quasimodo felt some returning affection for his bells.He therefore ascended the northern tower while the beadle below was opening wide the doors of the church, which were then enormous panels of stout wood, covered with leather, bordered with nails of gilded iron, and framed in carvings "very artistically elaborated."
On arriving in the lofty bell chamber, Quasimodo gazed for some time at the six bells and shook his head sadly, as though groaning over some foreign element which had interposed itself in his heart between them and him.But when he had set them to swinging, when he felt that cluster of bells moving under his hand, when he saw, for he did not hear it, the palpitating octave ascend and descend that sonorous scale, like a bird hopping from branch to branch; when the demon Music, that demon who shakes a sparkling bundle of strette, trills and arpeggios, had taken possession of the poor deaf man, he became happy once more, he forgot everything, and his heart expanding, made his face beam.
He went and came, he beat his hands together, he ran from rope to rope, he animated the six singers with voice and gesture, like the leader of an orchestra who is urging on intelligent musicians.
"Go on," said he, "go on, go on, Gabrielle, pour out all thy noise into the place, 'tis a festival to-day.No laziness, Thibauld; thou art relaxing; go on, go on, then, art thou rusted, thou sluggard?That is well! quick! quick! let not thy clapper be seen!Make them all deaf like me.That's it, Thibauld, bravely done!Guillaume!Guillaume! thou art the largest, and pasquier is the smallest, and pasquier does best.Let us wager that those who hear him will understand him better than they understand thee.Good! good! my Gabrielle, stoutly, more stoutly!Eli!what are you doing up aloft there, you two Moineaux (sparrows)?I do not see you making the least little shred of noise.What is the meaning of those beaks of copper which seem to be gaping when they should sing?Come, work now, 'tis the Feast of the Annunciation.The sun is fine, the chime must be fine also.poor Guillaume! thou art all out of breath, my big fellow!"
He was wholly absorbed in spurring on his bells, all six of which vied with each other in leaping and shaking their shining haunches, like a noisy team of Spanish mules, pricked on here and there by the apostrophes of the muleteer.
All at once, on letting his glance fall between the large slate scales which cover the perpendicular wall of the bell tower at a certain height, he beheld on the square a young girl, fantastically dressed, stop, spread out on the ground a carpet, on which a small goat took up its post, and a group of spectators collect around her.This sight suddenly changed the course of his ideas, and congealed his enthusiasm as a breath of air congeals melted rosin.He halted, turned his back to the bells, and crouched down behind the projecting roof of slate, fixing upon the dancer that dreamy, sweet, and tender look which had already astonished the archdeacon on one occasion.Meanwhile, the forgotten bells died away abruptly and all together, to the great disappointment of the lovers of bell ringing, who were listening in good faith to the peal from above the pont du Change, and who went away dumbfounded, like a dog who has been offered a bone and given a stone.

《第七卷 三 大钟》
自从那天上午在耻辱柱受刑以后,圣母院的邻里都认为,卡齐莫多对敲钟的热情锐减了.以前,钟声时刻充耳,悠扬动听的早祷钟和晚祷钟,震天响的弥撒钟,以及抑扬顿挫的婚礼钟和洗礼钟,这一连串的钟声在空中飘荡缭绕,仿佛是入耳动心的各种各样声音织成的一幅云锦.整座古老的教堂震颤不已,响声回荡不绝,永远沉浸在欢乐的钟声里.人们时时刻刻感觉到有个别出心裁而又喜欢喧闹的精灵,正通过这一张张铜嘴在放声歌唱.如今这个精灵似乎消失了,大教堂显得闷闷不乐,宁愿哑然无声了.只有在节日和葬礼还可以听到单调的钟声,干巴巴的,索然无味,除非是礼仪的需要,否则不敲而已.凡是一座教堂都有两种响声,里面是管风琴声,在外是钟声,现在只有管风琴声了.仿佛圣母院钟楼里再也没有乐师了.其实卡齐莫多一直在钟楼里.他到底有什么心事呢?难道在耻辱柱上所蒙受的耻辱与绝望的心情至今还难以忘怀?刽子手的鞭挞声无休止地在他心灵里回响?难道这种刑罚使他悲痛欲绝,万念俱灭,甚至对大钟的钟情也泯灭了呢?或者,是大钟玛丽遇到了情敌,圣母院敲钟人另有所欢,或者爱上什么更可爱更美丽的东西而冷落了这口大钟及其十四位姐妹?
公元1482年,圣母领报节到了,正好是3月25日,礼拜二.那天,空气是那么的清,那样轻柔,卡齐莫多突然觉得对那些钟又有了几分爱意,于是爬上北边的钟楼,恰恰在这时,教堂的听差正把下面每道大门打开.那时的圣母院大门全是用十分坚硬的大块木板做成的,而且外面包着皮革,四周钉有镀金的铁钉,边框装饰着"精心设计"的雕刻.
到达塔楼顶上高大钟楼后,卡齐莫多不由得一阵心酸,摇了摇头,端详了那六口大钟一会儿,仿佛有什么奇怪的东西把他与这些大钟间隔开,因而不胜悲叹.但是,他把这些钟猛力一摇,立刻感到这一群钟在他手底下摇来晃去,只是看到-因为听不见-那颤动的八度音在响亮音阶上忽上忽下,宛如一只鸟儿在枝头上跳来跳去,钟乐的精灵,那个摇动着金光闪烁的音符.拨动着颤音.琶音和密切和应的那个守护神,早已勾走了这可怜聋子的灵魂.这时,卡齐莫多又快活起来,忘记了一切,容光焕发,心花怒放.
他走来走去拍着手,从这根钟索跑到那根钟索,大声叫,指手划脚,鼓动着那六位歌手,犹如乐队指挥在激励聪明的演奏能手那样.
"奏吧,"他喊道,"奏吧,加布里埃!把你全部的声音倾注到广场上去.今天是节日呀!"-"蒂博尔,别偷懒.你慢下来啦.快,加把劲!难道你生锈了,懒东西?"-"好呀!赶快!快!最好别让人看见钟锤摆动!叫他们个个像我一样被震聋!就这样,蒂博尔,好样的!"-"吉约姆!吉约姆!你最胖,帕斯基埃最小,但帕斯基埃最洪亮.来我们打个赌:凡是听得见的人都听出它比你响亮得多了."-"棒!真棒!我的加布里埃,响些再响些!"-"嘿!你们两只麻雀,在上面干什么呢?我没有听见你们发出那怕是一丁点儿声响."-"那些铜嘴在该歌唱时却像在打呵欠,这是怎么回事呀?得啦,好好干活吧!这是圣母领报节,阳光真这么好好,也该有好听的钟乐才行.""可怜的吉约姆!瞧你上气不接下气的,我可爱的胖墩!"
他全神贯注地忙于激励那几个大钟,于是这六个大钟一个比一个更起劲地跳跃着,摇摆着它们光亮的臀部,就像几头套在一起的西班牙骡子,不时在骡夫吆喝声的驱策下,喧闹着狂奔.
钟楼笔直的墙壁,在一定高度上被一片片宽大的石板瓦遮掩着.忽然,卡齐莫多无意间从石板瓦中间向下望,看到一个打扮奇异的少女来到广场上,停了下来,把一条毯子铺在地上,一只小山羊随后走过来站在毯子上,四周立刻围拢了一群观众.这一看,卡齐莫多思绪顿时变了,对音乐的满腔热情猝然凝固了,仿佛熔化的树脂被风一吹,一下子冻结起来似的.他停住了,扭身背向那些钟,在石板瓦遮檐后面蹲了下来,目不转睛地凝望着那个跳舞的姑娘,目光迷惘.深情.温柔,曾经使副主教惊讶过一次的那样的目光.这会儿,那几口被遗忘的大钟顷刻都一齐哑然无声,叫那些爱听钟乐的人大失所望,他们本来站在钱币兑换所桥上,真心真意地聆听着圣母院群钟齐鸣,此时只好怏怏离去,仿佛一条狗,人家给它看的是一根骨头,扔给它的却是一块石头.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 29楼  发表于: 2013-10-27 0

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER IV.~ANArKH~. Page 1》
It chanced that upon a fine morning in this same month of March, I think it was on Saturday the 29th, Saint Eustache's day, our young friend the student, Jehan Frollo du Moulin, perceived, as he was dressing himself, that his breeches, which contained his purse, gave out no metallic ring."poor purse," he said, drawing it from his fob, "what! not the smallest parisis! how cruelly the dice, beer-pots, and Venus have depleted thee!How empty, wrinkled, limp, thou art!Thou resemblest the throat of a fury!I ask you, Messer Cicero, and Messer Seneca, copies of whom, all dog's-eared, I behold scattered on the floor, what profits it me to know, better than any governor of the mint, or any Jew on the pont aux Changeurs, that a golden crown stamped with a crown is worth thirty-five unzains of twenty-five sous, and eight deniers parisis apiece, and that a crown stamped with a crescent is worth thirty-six unzains of twenty-six sous, six deniers tournois apiece, if I have not a single wretched black liard to risk on the double-six!Oh!Consul Cicero! this is no calamity from which one extricates one's self with periphrases, ~quemadmodum~, and ~verum enim vero~!"
He dressed himself sadly.An idea had occurred to him as he laced his boots, but he rejected it at first; nevertheless, it returned, and he put on his waistcoat wrong side out, an evident sign of violent internal combat.At last he dashed his cap roughly on the floor, and exclaimed: "So much the worse! Let come of it what may.I am going to my brother!I shall catch a sermon, but I shall catch a crown."
Then be hastily donned his long jacket with furred half- sleeves, picked up his cap, and went out like a man driven to desperation.
He descended the Rue de la Harpe toward the City.As he passed the Rue de la Huchette, the odor of those admirable spits, which were incessantly turning, tickled his olfactory apparatus, and he bestowed a loving glance toward the Cyclopean roast, which one day drew from the Franciscan friar, Calatagirone, this pathetic exclamation: ~Veramente, queste rotisserie sono cosa stupenda~!*But Jehan had not the wherewithal to buy a breakfast, and he plunged, with a profound sigh, under the gateway of the petit-Chatelet, that enormous double trefoil of massive towers which guarded the entrance to the City.
*Truly, these roastings are a stupendous thing!
He did not even take the trouble to cast a stone in passing, as was the usage, at the miserable statue of that périnet Leclerc who had delivered up the paris of Charles VI. to the English, a crime which his effigy, its face battered with stones and soiled with mud, expiated for three centuries at the corner of the Rue de la Harpe and the Rue de Buci, as in an eternal pillory.
The petit-pont traversed, the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève crossed, Jehan de Molendino found himself in front of Notre- Dame.Then indecision seized upon him once more, and he paced for several minutes round the statue of M. Legris, repeating to himself with anguish: "The sermon is sure, the crown is doubtful."
He stopped a beadle who emerged from the cloister,--"Where is monsieur the archdeacon of Josas?"
"I believe that he is in his secret cell in the tower," said the beadle; "I should advise you not to disturb him there, unless you come from some one like the pope or monsieur the king."
Jehan clapped his hands.
"~Bécliable~! here's a magnificent chance to see the famous sorcery cell!"
This reflection having brought him to a decision, he plunged resolutely into the small black doorway, and began the ascent of the spiral of Saint-Gilles, which leads to the upper stories of the tower."I am going to see," he said to himself on the way."By the ravens of the Holy Virgin! it must needs be a curious thing, that cell which my reverend brother hides so secretly!'Tis said that he lights up the kitchens of hell there, and that he cooks the philosopher's stone there over a hot fire.~Bédieu~!I care no more for the philosopher's stone than for a pebble, and I would rather find over his furnace an omelette of Easter eggs and bacon, than the biggest philosopher's stone in the world."'
On arriving at the gallery of slender columns, he took breath for a moment, and swore against the interminable staircase by I know not how many million cartloads of devils; then he resumed his ascent through the narrow door of the north tower, now closed to the public.Several moments after passing the bell chamber, he came upon a little landing-place, built in a lateral niche, and under the vault of a low, pointed door, whose enormous lock and strong iron bars he was enabled to see through a loophole pierced in the opposite circular wall of the staircase.persons desirous of visiting this door at the present day will recognize it by this inscription engraved in white letters on the black wall: "J'ADORE CORALIE, 1823.SIGNE UGENE.""Signé" stands in the text.
"Ugh!" said the scholar; "'tis here, no doubt."
The key was in the lock, the door was very close to him; he gave it a gentle push and thrust his head through the opening.
The reader cannot have failed to turn over the admirable works of Rembrandt, that Shakespeare of painting.Amid so many marvellous engravings, there is one etching in particular, which is supposed to represent Doctor Faust, and which it is impossible to contemplate without being dazzled.It represents a gloomy cell; in the centre is a table loaded with hideous objects; skulls, spheres, alembics, compasses, hieroglyphic parchments.The doctor is before this table clad in his large coat and covered to the very eyebrows with his furred cap.He is visible only to his waist.He has half risen from his immense arm-chair, his clenched fists rest on the table, and he is gazing with curiosity and terror at a large luminous circle, formed of magic letters, which gleams from the wall beyond, like the solar spectrum in a dark chamber. This cabalistic sun seems to tremble before the eye, and fills the wan cell with its mysterious radiance.It is horrible and it is beautiful.
Something very similar to Faust's cell presented itself to Jehan's view, when he ventured his head through the half- open door.It also was a gloomy and sparsely lighted retreat. There also stood a large arm-chair and a large table, compasses, alembics, skeletons of animals suspended from the ceiling, a globe rolling on the floor, hippocephali mingled promiscuously with drinking cups, in which quivered leaves of gold, skulls placed upon vellum checkered with figures and characters, huge manuscripts piled up wide open, without mercy on the cracking corners of the parchment; in short, all the rubbish of science, and everywhere on this confusion dust and spiders' webs; but there was no circle of luminous letters, no doctor in an ecstasy contemplating the flaming vision, as the eagle gazes upon the sun.
Nevertheless, the cell was not deserted.A man was seated in the arm-chair, and bending over the table.Jehan, to whom his back was turned, could see only his shoulders and the back of his skull; but he had no difficulty in recognizing that bald head, which nature had provided with an eternal tonsure, as though desirous of marking, by this external symbol, the archdeacon's irresistible clerical vocation.
Jehan accordingly recognized his brother; but the door had been opened so softly, that nothing warned Dom Claude of his presence.The inquisitive scholar took advantage of this circumstance to examine the cell for a few moments at his leisure.A large furnace, which he had not at first observed, stood to the left of the arm-chair, beneath the window.The ray of light which penetrated through this aperture made its way through a spider's circular web, which tastefully inscribed its delicate rose in the arch of the window, and in the centre of which the insect architect hung motionless, like the hub of this wheel of lace.Upon the furnace were accumulated in disorder, all sorts of vases, earthenware bottles, glass retorts, and mattresses of charcoal.Jehan observed, with a sigh, that there was no frying-pan."How cold the kitchen utensils are!" he said to himself.
In fact, there was no fire in the furnace, and it seemed as though none had been lighted for a long time.A glass mask, which Jehan noticed among the utensils of alchemy, and which served no doubt, to protect the archdeacon's face when he was working over some substance to be dreaded, lay in one corner covered with dust and apparently forgotten.Beside it lay a pair of bellows no less dusty, the upper side of which bore this inscription incrusted in copper letters: SpIRA SpERA.
Other inscriptions were written, in accordance with the fashion of the hermetics, in great numbers on the walls; some traced with ink, others engraved with a metal point.There were, moreover, Gothic letters, Hebrew letters, Greek letters, and Roman letters, pell-mell; the inscriptions overflowed at haphazard, on top of each other, the more recent effacing the more ancient, and all entangled with each other, like the branches in a thicket, like pikes in an affray.It was, in fact, a strangely confused mingling of all human philosophies, all reveries, all human wisdom.Here and there one shone out from among the rest like a banner among lance heads. Generally, it was a brief Greek or Roman device, such as the Middle Ages knew so well how to formulate.--~Unde?Inde?--Homo homini monstrurn-Ast'ra, castra, nomen, numen.--Meya Bibklov, ueya xaxov.--Sapere aude.Fiat ubi vult~--etc.; sometimes a word devoid of all apparent sense, ~Avayxoqpayia~, which possibly contained a bitter allusion to the regime of the cloister; sometimes a simple maxim of clerical discipline formulated in a regular hexameter ~Coelestem dominum terrestrem dicite dominum~.There was also Hebrew jargon, of which Jehan, who as yet knew but little Greek, understood nothing; and all were traversed in every direction by stars, by figures of men or animals, and by intersecting triangles; and this contributed not a little to make the scrawled wall of the cell resemble a sheet of paper over which a monkey had drawn back and forth a pen filled with ink.
The whole chamber, moreover, presented a general aspect of abandonment and dilapidation; and the bad state of the utensils induced the supposition that their owner had long been distracted from his labors by other preoccupations. Meanwhile, this master, bent over a vast manuscript, ornamented with fantastical illustrations, appeared to be tormented by an idea which incessantly mingled with his meditations.That at least was Jehan's idea, when he heard him exclaim, with the thoughtful breaks of a dreamer thinking aloud,--
"Yes, Manou said it, and Zoroaster taught it! the sun is born from fire, the moon from the sun; fire is the soul of the universe; its elementary atoms pour forth and flow incessantly upon the world through infinite channels!At the point where these currents intersect each other in the heavens, they produce light; at their points of intersection on earth, they produce gold.Light, gold; the same thing! From fire to the concrete state.The difference between the visible and the palpable, between the fluid and the solid in the same substance, between water and ice, nothing more. These are no dreams; it is the general law of nature.But what is one to do in order to extract from science the secret of this general law?What! this light which inundates my hand is gold!These same atoms dilated in accordance with a certain law need only be condensed in accordance with another law.How is it to be done?Some have fancied by burying a ray of sunlight, Averro?s,--yes, 'tis Averro?s,-- Averro?s buried one under the first pillar on the left of the sanctuary of the Koran, in the great Mahometan mosque of Cordova; but the vault cannot he opened for the purpose of ascertaining whether the operation has succeeded, until after the lapse of eight thousand years.
"The devil!" said Jehan, to himself, "'tis a long while to wait for a crown!"
"Others have thought," continued the dreamy archdeacon, "that it would be better worth while to operate upon a ray of Sirius.But 'tis exceeding hard to obtain this ray pure, because of the simultaneous presence of other stars whose rays mingle with it.Flamel esteemed it more simple to operate upon terrestrial fire.Flamel! there's predestination in the name!~Flamma~! yes, fire.All lies there.The diamond is contained in the carbon, gold is in the fire.But how to extract it?Magistri affirms that there are certain feminine names, which possess a charm so sweet and mysterious, that it suffices to pronounce them during the operation.Let us read what Manon says on the matter: 'Where women are honored, the divinities are rejoiced; where they are despised, it is useless to pray to God.The mouth of a woman is constantly pure; it is a running water, it is a ray of sunlight.The name of a woman should be agreeable, sweet, fanciful; it should end in long vowels, and resemble words of benediction.'Yes, the sage is right; in truth, Maria, Sophia, la Esmeral--Damnation! always that thought!"
And he closed the book violently.
He passed his hand over his brow, as though to brush away the idea which assailed him; then he took from the table a nail and a small hammer, whose handle was curiously painted with cabalistic letters.
"For some time," he said with a bitter smile, "I have failed in all my experiments! one fixed idea possesses me, and sears my brain like fire.I have not even been able to discover the secret of Cassiodorus, whose lamp burned without wick and without oil.A simple matter, nevertheless--"
"The deuce!" muttered Jehan in his beard.
"Hence," continued the priest, "one wretched thought is sufficient to render a man weak and beside himself!Oh! how Claude pernelle would laugh at me.She who could not turn Nicholas Flamel aside, for one moment, from his pursuit of the great work!What!I hold in my hand the magic hammer of Zéchiélé! at every blow dealt by the formidable rabbi, from the depths of his cell, upon this nail, that one of his enemies whom he had condemned, were he a thousand leagues away, was buried a cubit deep in the earth which swallowed him.The King of France himself, in consequence of once having inconsiderately knocked at the door of the thermaturgist, sank to the knees through the pavement of his own paris.This took place three centuries ago.Well! I possess the hammer and the nail, and in my hands they are utensils no more formidable than a club in the hands of a maker of edge tools.And yet all that is required is to find the magic word which Zéchiélé pronounced when he struck his nail."
"What nonsense!" thought Jehan.
"Let us see, let us try!" resumed the archdeacon briskly. "Were I to succeed, I should behold the blue spark flash from the head of the nail.Emen-Hétan!Emen-Hétan! That's not it.Sigéani!Sigéani!May this nail open the tomb to any one who bears the name of phoebus!A curse upon it!Always and eternally the same idea!"
And he flung away the hammer in a rage.Then he sank down so deeply on the arm-chair and the table, that Jehan lost him from view behind the great pile of manuscripts.For the space of several minutes, all that he saw was his fist convulsively clenched on a book.Suddenly, Dom Claude sprang up, seized a compass and engraved in silence upon the wall in capital letters, this Greek word
~ANArKH~.
"My brother is mad," said Jehan to himself; "it would have been far more simple to write ~Fatum~, every one is not obliged to know Greek."
The archdeacon returned and seated himself in his armchair, and placed his head on both his hands, as a sick man does, whose head is heavy and burning.
The student watched his brother with surprise.He did not know, he who wore his heart on his sleeve, he who observed only the good old law of Nature in the world, he who allowed his passions to follow their inclinations, and in whom the lake of great emotions was always dry, so freely did he let it off each day by fresh drains,--he did not know with what fury the sea of human passions ferments and boils when all egress is denied to it, how it accumulates, how it swells, how it overflows, how it hollows out the heart; how it breaks in inward sobs, and dull convulsions, until it has rent its dikes and burst its bed.The austere and glacial envelope of Claude Frollo, that cold surface of steep and inaccessible virtue, had always deceived Jehan.The merry scholar had never dreamed that there was boiling lava, furious and profound, beneath the snowy brow of AEtna.
We do not know whether he suddenly became conscious of these things; but, giddy as he was, he understood that he had seen what he ought not to have seen, that he had just surprised the soul of his elder brother in one of its most secret altitudes, and that Claude must not be allowed to know it. Seeing that the archdeacon had fallen back into his former immobility, he withdrew his head very softly, and made some noise with his feet outside the door, like a person who has just arrived and is giving warning of his approach.
"Enter!" cried the archdeacon, from the interior of his cell; "I was expecting you.I left the door unlocked expressly; enter Master Jacques!"
The scholar entered boldly.The archdeacon, who was very much embarrassed by such a visit in such a place, trembled in his arm-chair."What! 'tis you, Jehan?"
"'Tis a J, all the same," said the scholar, with his ruddy, merry, and audacious face.
Dom Claude's visage had resumed its severe expression.
"What are you come for?"
"Brother," replied the scholar, making an effort to assume a decent, pitiful, and modest mien, and twirling his cap in his hands with an innocent air; "I am come to ask of you--"
"What?"
"A little lecture on morality, of which I stand greatly in need," Jehan did not dare to add aloud,--"and a little money of which I am in still greater need."This last member of his phrase remained unuttered.
"Monsieur," said the archdeacon, in a cold tone, "I am greatly displeased with you."
"Alas!" sighed the scholar.
Dom Claude made his arm-chair describe a quarter circle, and gazed intently at Jehan.
"I am very glad to see you."
This was a formidable exordium.Jehan braced himself for a rough encounter.
"Jehan, complaints are brought me about you every day. What affray was that in which you bruised with a cudgel a little vicomte, Albert de Ramonchamp?"
"Oh!" said Jehan, "a vast thing that!A malicious page amused himself by splashing the scholars, by making his horse gallop through the mire!"
"Who," pursued the archdeacon, "is that Mahiet Fargel, whose gown you have torn?~Tunicam dechiraverunt~, saith the complaint."
"Ah bah! a wretched cap of a Montaigu!Isn't that it?"
"The complaint says ~tunicam~ and not ~cappettam~.Do you know Latin?"
Jehan did not reply.
"Yes," pursued the priest shaking his head, "that is the state of learning and letters at the present day.The Latin tongue is hardly understood, Syriac is unknown, Greek so odious that 'tis accounted no ignorance in the most learned to skip a Greek word without reading it, and to say, '~Groecum est non legitur~.'"

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER IV.~ANArKH~. Page 2》
The scholar raised his eyes boldly."Monsieur my brother, doth it please you that I shall explain in good French vernacular that Greek word which is written yonder on the wall?"
"What word?"
"'~ANArKH~."
A slight flush spread over the cheeks of the priest with their high bones, like the puff of smoke which announces on the outside the secret commotions of a volcano.The student hardly noticed it.
"Well, Jehan," stammered the elder brother with an effort, "What is the meaning of yonder word?"
"FATE."
Dom Claude turned pale again, and the scholar pursued carelessly.
"And that word below it, graved by the same hand, '~Ayáyvela~, signifies 'impurity.'You see that people do know their Greek."
And the archdeacon remained silent.This Greek lesson had rendered him thoughtful.
Master Jehan, who possessed all the artful ways of a spoiled child, judged that the moment was a favorable one in which to risk his request.Accordingly, he assumed an extremely soft tone and began,--
"My good brother, do you hate me to such a degree as to look savagely upon me because of a few mischievous cuffs and blows distributed in a fair war to a pack of lads and brats, ~quibusdam marmosetis~?You see, good Brother Claude, that people know their Latin."
But all this caressing hypocrisy did not have its usual effect on the severe elder brother.Cerberus did not bite at the honey cake.The archdeacon's brow did not lose a single wrinkle.
"What are you driving at?" he said dryly.
"Well, in point of fact, this!" replied Jehan bravely, "I stand in need of money."
At this audacious declaration, the archdeacon's visage assumed a thoroughly pedagogical and paternal expression.
"You know, Monsieur Jehan, that our fief of Tirecbappe, putting the direct taxes and the rents of the nine and twenty houses in a block, yields only nine and thirty livres, eleven sous, six deniers, parisian.It is one half more than in the time of the brothers paclet, but it is not much."
"I need money," said Jehan stoically.
"You know that the official has decided that our twenty-one houses should he moved full into the fief of the Bishopric, and that we could redeem this homage only by paying the reverend bishop two marks of silver gilt of the price of six livres parisis.Now, these two marks I have not yet been able to get together.You know it."
"I know that I stand in need of money," repeated Jehan for the third time.
"And what are you going to do with it?"
This question caused a flash of hope to gleam before Jehan's eyes.He resumed his dainty, caressing air.
"Stay, dear Brother Claude, I should not come to you, with any evil motive.There is no intention of cutting a dash in the taverns with your unzains, and of strutting about the streets of paris in a caparison of gold brocade, with a lackey, ~cum meo laquasio~.No, brother, 'tis for a good work."
"What good work?" demanded Claude, somewhat surprised.
"Two of my friends wish to purchase an outfit for the infant of a poor Haudriette widow.It is a charity.It will cost three forms, and I should like to contribute to it."
"What are names of your two friends?"
"pierre l'Assommeur and Baptiste Croque-Oison*."
*peter the Slaughterer; and Baptist Crack-Gosling.
"Hum," said the archdeacon; "those are names as fit for a good work as a catapult for the chief altar."
It is certain that Jehan had made a very bad choice of names for his two friends.He realized it too late.
"And then," pursued the sagacious Claude, "what sort of an infant's outfit is it that is to cost three forms, and that for the child of a Haudriette?Since when have the Haudriette widows taken to having babes in swaddling-clothes?"
Jehan broke the ice once more.
"Eh, well! yes!I need money in order to go and see Isabeau la Thierrye to-night; in the Val-d' Amour!"
"Impure wretch!" exclaimed the priest.
"~Avayveia~!" said Jehan.
This quotation, which the scholar borrowed with malice, perchance, from the wall of the cell, produced a singular effect on the archdeacon.He bit his lips and his wrath was drowned in a crimson flush.
"Begone," he said to Jehan."I am expecting some one."
The scholar made one more effort.
"Brother Claude, give me at least one little parisis to buy something to eat."
"How far have you gone in the Decretals of Gratian?" demanded Dom Claude.
"I have lost my copy books.
"Where are you in your Latin humanities?"
"My copy of Horace has been stolen."
"Where are you in Aristotle?"
"I' faith! brother what father of the church is it, who says that the errors of heretics have always had for their lurking place the thickets of Aristotle's metaphysics?A plague on Aristotle!I care not to tear my religion on his metaphysics."
"Young man," resumed the archdeacon, "at the king's last entry, there was a young gentleman, named philippe de Comines, who wore embroidered on the housings of his horse this device, upon which I counsel you to meditate: ~Qui non laborat, non manducet~."
The scholar remained silent for a moment, with his finger in his ear, his eyes on the ground, and a discomfited mien.
All at once he turned round to Claude with the agile quickness of a wagtail.
"So, my good brother, you refuse me a sou parisis, wherewith to buy a crust at a baker's shop?"
"~Qui non laborat, non manducet~."
At this response of the inflexible archdeacon, Jehan hid his head in his hands, like a woman sobbing, and exclaimed with an expression of despair: "~Orororororoi~."
"What is the meaning of this, sir?" demanded Claude, surprised at this freak.
"What indeed!" said the scholar; and he lifted to Claude his impudent eyes into which he had just thrust his fists in order to communicate to them the redness of tears; "'tis Greek! 'tis an anapaest of AEschylus which expresses grief perfectly."
And here he burst into a laugh so droll and violent that it made the archdeacon smile.It was Claude's fault, in fact: why had he so spoiled that child?
"Oh! good Brother Claude," resumed Jehan, emboldened by this smile, "look at my worn out boots.Is there a cothurnus in the world more tragic than these boots, whose soles are hanging out their tongues?"
The archdeacon promptly returned to his original severity.
"I will send you some new boots, but no money."
"Only a poor little parisis, brother," continued the suppliant Jehan."I will learn Gratian by heart, I will believe firmly in God, I will be a regular pythagoras of science and virtue.But one little parisis, in mercy!Would you have famine bite me with its jaws which are gaping in front of me, blacker, deeper, and more noisome than a Tartarus or the nose of a monk?"
Dom Claude shook his wrinkled head: "~Qui non laborat~--"
Jehan did not allow him to finish.
"Well," he exclaimed, "to the devil then!Long live joy!I will live in the tavern, I will fight, I will break pots and I will go and see the wenches."And thereupon, he hurled his cap at the wall, and snapped his fingers like castanets.
The archdeacon surveyed him with a gloomy air.
"Jehan, you have no soul."
"In that case, according to Epicurius, I lack a something made of another something which has no name."
"Jehan, you must think seriously of amending your ways."
"Oh, come now," cried the student, gazing in turn at his brother and the alembics on the furnace, "everything is preposterous here, both ideas and bottles!"
"Jehan, you are on a very slippery downward road.Do you know whither you are going?"
"To the wine-shop," said Jehan.
"The wine-shop leads to the pillory."
"'Tis as good a lantern as any other, and perchance with that one, Diogenes would have found his man."
"The pillory leads to the gallows."
"The gallows is a balance which has a man at one end and the whole earth at the other.'Tis fine to be the man."
"The gallows leads to hell."
"'Tis a big fire.".
"Jehan, Jehan, the end will be bad."
"The beginning will have been good."
At that moment, the sound of a footstep was heard on the staircase.
"Silence!" said the archdeacon, laying his finger on his mouth, "here is Master Jacques.Listen, Jehan," he added, in a low voice; "have a care never to speak of what you shall have seen or heard here.Hide yourself quickly under the furnace, and do not breathe."
The scholar concealed himself; just then a happy idea occurred to him.
"By the way, Brother Claude, a form for not breathing."
"Silence!I promise."
"You must give it to me."
"Take it, then!" said the archdeacon angrily, flinging his purse at him.
Jehan darted under the furnace again, and the door opened.

《第七卷 四 命运》
凑巧就在这同一个三月里的一个阳光明媚的早晨,我想就是29日那个礼拜六,圣厄斯塔舍纪念日,我们年轻的学生朋友磨坊的约翰.弗罗洛起床穿衣服时,发觉他裤子口袋里的钱包没有半点钱币的响声了.于是把从裤腰小口袋里掏出钱包来,说道:"可怜的钱包!怎么!连一文钱也没有啦!掷骰子.喝啤酒.玩女人,这一切残酷地把你掏光!瞧你现在成了什么样子,空瘪瘪,皱巴巴,软塌塌!活像一个悍妇的乳房!塞内加老爷,西塞罗老爷,你们那些皱缩的书扔得满地都是,我倒向你们讨教讨教,虽然我比钱币兑换所的总监或比兑换所桥上的犹太人,更懂得一枚刻有王冠的金埃居值35乘11个25索尔零八德尼埃巴黎币,一枚有新月的埃居值36乘11个26索尔零六德尼埃图尔币,要是我身上连去压双六的一个小钱都没有,懂得再多又有什么用!啊!西塞罗执政官呀!这种灾难并不是可以凭委婉的说法,用'怎样’'但是’就能解决的!"
他愁眉苦脸地穿上衣服.在他系结鞋带时,忽然灵机一动,计上心来.但他先是把想法抛开了,可是它又回来,弄得把背心都穿反了,显然他头脑里正在展开激烈的思想斗争.最后,把帽子狠狠地往地上一摔,嚷道:"算了!管它三七二十一呢!我去找哥哥.这虽然可能会挨一顿训斥,我却可以捞到一个埃居."
主意下定,于是匆匆忙忙穿上那件缀皮上衣,捡起帽子,大有豁出一条命的架势,走出门.
他沿着竖琴街向老城走去.经过小号角街时,见那些令人赞叹不已的烤肉叉在不停转动,香气扑鼻,把他闻得直痒痒的,于是向那家庞大的烧烤店爱慕地看了一眼.正是这家烧烤店,曾经有一天使方济各会的修士卡拉塔吉罗纳好不容易发出一句感人的赞词:"确实,这烧烤店很了不起!"但是约翰没有分文可买早点,于是长长地叹了一口气,一头钻进了小堡的城门洞,小堡是进入老城的咽喉,由几座庞大的塔楼组成巨大的双梅花形.
他甚至都来不及按照当时的习俗,走过时要向佩里内.勒克莱克那可耻的雕像扔上一块石头.这个人在查理六世时拱手把巴黎交给了英国人,由于这一罪行,他模拟像的面孔被石头砸得稀巴烂,满身污泥,在竖琴街和比西街交角处赎罪三百年了,好像就是被钉在永恒的耻辱柱上一样.
穿过小桥,大步流星走过新圣日芮维埃芙街,磨坊的约翰来到了圣母院门前.他又踌躇起来,绕着灰大人的塑像磨蹭了一会,焦急不安地连声说道:"训斥是肯定的,埃居可就玄了!"
刚好有个听差从修道院走出来,他拦住问:"若札的副主教大人在什么地方?"
"我想他在钟楼上那间密室里."听差答道,"不过,我劝您最好别去打扰他,除非您是教皇,或是国王陛下那样了不起的人物派来的."
约翰一听,高兴得拍了一下手,说:"活见鬼!这可是千载难逢的良机,可以看一看那间赫赫有名的巫窟!"
这么一想,主意已打屋,毅然决然地闯入那道小黑门,沿着通往钟楼顶层的圣吉尔螺旋楼梯向上爬,同时自言自语:"就要看到啦!圣母娘娘呀!这间小屋,我尊敬的哥哥视若珍宝,把它隐藏起来,想必是挺奇怪的玩意儿!据说他在密室里生火做地狱般的饭菜,用烈火燃煮点金石.万能的上帝呀!在我眼里,点金点只不过是块石子,我才不在乎呢!与其要世界上最大的点金石,我倒可在他炉灶上能够找到一盘复活节的猪油炒鸡蛋!"
爬到柱廊,他停下来喘了一口气,连叫"见鬼",用几百万辆车子来都装不完,把那走不到尽头的楼梯骂得狗血喷头,随后从北钟楼那道如今禁止公众通行的小门接着往上走.走过钟笼不久,面前是一根从侧面加固的小柱子和一扇低矮的尖拱小门,迎面则是一孔开在螺旋楼梯内壁的熗眼,它正好可以监视门上那把偌大的铁锁和那道坚固的铁框.今天谁要是好奇,想去看一看这道小门,可以从那些刻在乌黑墙壁上的白字依稀辨认出来:"我崇敬科拉利.1829.于雨题.""题"这个字是原文所有的.
"喔唷!"学生说,"大概就是这儿了."
钥匙就插在锁孔里,门虚掩着.他蹑手蹑脚地轻轻推开门,从门缝里伸进头去.
那位被称做绘画大师中的莎士比亚的伦勃朗,读者不会没有翻阅过他那精美的画册吧!在许许多多美妙的画中,特别有一幅铜版腐蚀画,据猜测,画的是博学多才的浮士德,让人看了不由自主地惊叹不已.画面上是一间阴暗的小屋,当中有一张桌子,桌上摆满许多丑陋不堪的东西,比如骷髅啦,蒸馏瓶啦,地球仪啦,罗盘啦,象形文字的牛皮纸啦.那位学者站在桌前,身穿肥大的长袍,头戴毛皮帽子,帽子直扣到眉毛处.只能看见他的上半身.他从宽大的安乐椅上半抬起身子,两只紧握着的拳头撑在桌子上,好奇而又惶恐万分地凝视着一个由神奇字母组成的巨大光圈,这光圈在屋底的墙上,就像太阳的光谱在阴暗的房间里,闪耀着光芒.这个魔幻的太阳看起来好像在颤抖,并用其神秘的光辉照耀着整间幽暗的密室.这很恐怖,也真美丽.
约翰放大胆子把脑袋伸进那道门缝,映入眼帘的景象与浮士德的密室十分相像,也是一间阴沉沉.几乎没有一点亮光的陋室,有一把大扶手椅和一大桌子,无数罗盘,无数蒸馏瓶,无数吊在天花板上的动物骨骼,一个滚在地上的地球仪,乱七八糟的药水瓶,里面颤动着金叶片的短颈大口瓶,放在古怪离奇涂满图像和文字上的羊皮纸上的死人头盖骨,还有一大摞手稿,随便让羊皮纸的脆角边完全翘开.总之,全是科学的各种各样垃圾,而且在这堆乌七八糟的东西上面,到处是灰尘和蜘蛛网,只是没有发光的字母形成的光圈,也没那位出神的博学之士,像兀鹫望着太阳那样,凝视着那烈火熊熊的幻景.
但是,密室并非无人.安乐椅上坐着俯身在桌子上的一个男子,他背朝着约翰,来人只看到他的肩膀和后脑勺,但用不着费力,一眼就能认出这个秃头来,出于本性,这脑袋永远一成不变地留着剃光的圆顶,仿佛通过这种外表的象征,执意要表明副主教那不可抗拒的神职感召.
约翰就这样认出他哥哥来.由于他是轻轻推开门的,堂.克洛德丝毫没有觉察到他.好奇心十足的学生就乘机把密室不慌不忙地仔细察看了一番.窗洞下,在椅子左边,有一只大火炉,是他起先没有注意到的.从窗洞口射进来的日光,得先穿过一张圆形的蜘蛛网;它像一扇精巧的花格子窗,饶有情趣地嵌在尖拱形的窗洞之中;网的正中端坐着那个建筑师,一动也不动,就像是抽纱花边轮盘的轴心.火炉上零乱堆放着各式各样的瓶瓶罐罐,玻璃蒸馏瓶,粗陶小瓶子,装炭的长颈瓶.约翰发现这儿连一口锅也没有,不禁大失所望,心想:"这套厨房用具,真是新鲜呀!"
火炉里也没有火,甚至看上去好久没有生过火了.在那一大堆炼金器皿间,约翰发现一个玻璃面罩,大概是副主教炼制某种危险物质时用来防护面孔的.面罩丢在角落里,落满灰尘,在盖板上有铜刻的铭文:呼吸就是希望.
还有其他许多题铭,按照炼金术士的风尚,大部分都写在墙上,有的用墨水写,有的用金属尖器刻.而且字体混杂,有希伯来字母,哥特字母希腊字母和罗马字母,这些铭文胡乱涂写,互相掩盖,新的盖住旧的,彼此交错,如荆棘丛乱蓬蓬的枝杈,又似混战中横七竖八的长矛.这确实是集人间一切梦幻.一切哲学.一切智慧的大杂烩,其中偶尔有一个铭文比其余的高出一筹,闪耀着光辉,好似长矛林立在的一面旗帜.大多数是一句拉丁文或希腊文的简短格言,这在中世纪都是写得非常精彩的:源自何时?来自何方?-人自是怪物.-星辰,住所,名字,神意.-大书,大祸.-大胆求知.-骄傲寓于意志等等.有时只有一个词,表面看毫无意义:淫秽,这可能是痛苦地影射修道院的生活制度;有时是一句简单的教士戒律箴言,是用正规的六音步诗句写成的:上帝是统治者,世人是统治者.也还有些希伯来魔术书的零乱字句,约翰对希腊文懂得很少,对希伯来文就更加摸不着头脑了.所有字句都任意加上星星.人像或动物图形.三角符号,相互交错,这更起了推波助澜的作用,使字迹的那面墙壁被这间密室涂满,看上去活像猴子用蘸满墨汁的笔乱涂瞎画的一张纸.
此外,无人照管这整间密室的,破烂不堪;从用具的残缺状况就可想而知,密室的主人由于有其他心事,早已无心于自己的实验了.
此时,密室的主人正伏案在看一大本有古怪插图的书稿,似乎由于某种念头不断侵袭他的沉思,显得心慌意乱.至少约翰这样认为,因为他像梦想家那样,边做梦边时断时续发出沉思的呓语,只听见他高声嚷嚷:"对,玛努是这么说的,佐罗阿斯特是这样训导的,日生于火,月生于日.火乃宇宙之魂.其基本原子川流不息,不断倾注于世界.它们川流不息,不断倾注于世界.它们在空中交会点就是光;在地上的交会点就是金.......光和金,同一种东西,都是火的状态.......是同一物质也有可见与可触之分,流态与固态之分,如同水蒸汽与冰之分那样,如此而已.......这并非梦幻,而是大自然的普遍规律.......可是,怎样才能从科学中分离出这普遍规律的奥秘呢?什么!照在我手上的光,是金子!这些同样的原子,依某种规律膨胀开来,只要按照另一种法则把这些原子凝聚起来就行了!......怎么做才行呢?......有人曾设想把阳光埋藏在地下.......阿维罗埃斯,不错,是阿维罗埃斯.......阿维罗埃斯曾在科尔迪大清真寺古兰圣殿左边第一根柱子下面埋下了一道阳光,但是只能在八千年后才可以打开地穴,看一看试验是否成功."
"活见鬼!"约翰在一旁说道,"为一个埃居,等老半天了!"
"有些人却认为,"副主教依然想入非非,"倒不如用天狼星的光做试验更好些.但是要得到天狼星的纯光谈何容易,因为别的星光和它混杂在一起.弗拉梅尔认为,用地上的火做试验要方便得多.......弗拉梅尔!真是生来注定的好名字!弗拉梅尔,意思就是火焰!......对,是火,就是如此.......钻石寓于煤,黄金寓于火.......但怎样提取呢?马吉斯特里认为,有些女人的名字有着无比温馨.无比神秘的一种魅力,只要试验时念出来就行了.......看一看玛努是怎么说的:'女人受尊敬的地方,神明满怀喜悦;女人受歧视的地方,祈祷上帝也徒劳.女人的嘴总是纯洁的,是流水,是阳光.女人的名字应该是讨人喜欢的.异想天开的.温馨的;结尾应该是长元音,读起来就像念祝圣词一样.’......对,先哲说得极是;事实上,玛丽亚.索菲亚.爱斯梅拉,主都如此.......真该死真该死!老是纠缠着这种念头!"
说到这里,狠狠地把书合了起来.
他摸摸额头,似乎要把不停纠缠着他的那个念头走.接着,从桌子上拿起来一枚钉子和一把小铁锤,锤柄上离奇古怪地画着魔符般的文字.
"长期以来,"他苦笑着说."我的试验又接连不断地失败了!那个固执的想法老缠着我,像烙铁烙在我的脑子里一样.我连卡西奥多鲁斯的秘密都没法发现,他那盏灯不用灯芯.不用油就能点燃.这应该是轻而易举的事情!"
"放屁!"约翰暗自说道.
"所以,"教士接着说."只要脑子稍微开点窍,就能叫一个人懦弱而疯狂!咳!让克洛德.佩芮尔取笑我吧,她片刻都没能把尼古拉.弗拉梅尔的注意力从他追求的伟大事业中引开!怎么!我手里握的是泽希埃莱的魔锤!这个可怕的犹太教法师,在他密室的深处,正用这锤子敲打这根铁钉,每锤一下,哪怕在万里之外,也能将他所诅咒的仇人完全沉入土里.就连法兰西国王,一天晚上冒冒失失撞了一下这个魔法师的大门,立即在巴黎街上陷入地里,直到膝盖深.......这事发生还不到三百年呢.......怎么!我也有钉子和铁锤,可这些工具在我手中并不比刃具工匠手里的木槌更有威力.......最最重要是要找到泽希埃莱锤打钉子时念的咒语."
"废话!"约翰心想.
"得啦,试试看吧!"副主教兴奋地说."要是成功,钉头就会冒出蓝色的火光.......埃芒-埃当!......埃芒-埃当!错了.......西日阿尼!西日阿尼!......让这钉子给随便哪个名叫弗比斯的家伙挖掘坟墓吧!......该死!老是同一个念头,没完没了!"
说完,怒气冲冲地把铁锤一扔,一屁股瘫坐在椅子上,倒伏在桌上,因为高大的椅背挡住了,约翰看不见他.过了好一会儿,只看到他搁在一本书上的一只抽搐而攥紧的拳头.突然,堂.克洛德站起来,拿起一只圆规,悄悄地在墙上刻下大写的希腊词:’AN’ARKH.
"他疯了!"约翰想,"把它写成拉丁文,不是更省事吗!不是每个人都懂希腊文."
副主教走过来坐在椅子上,把头搁在双手上,像个发高烧的病人,头晕极了.
学子诧异地盯着哥哥.他,心胸坦荡,观察人世只凭纯粹的自然法则,强烈的情感凭着自己的爱好随意流淌,清晨都充分挖好一条条新沟渠,因此心中激情的湖泊总是干涸的.像他这样的一个人,自然无法理解:人欲的海洋一旦出口被堵住,将会怎样以雷霆万钧之势汹涌翻腾,将会怎样沉积,怎样泛滥,怎样膨胀,怎样叫人撕心裂肺,怎样迸发为内心的哭泣和暗暗的抽搐,一直到冲垮堤岸,毁坏河床.克洛德.弗罗洛那一向严厉冷峻的外表,那道貌岸然和拒人千里之外的冰冷面孔,蒙骗了约翰.这个生性快活的学子,压根儿就没有想到在埃特纳火山白雪覆盖的山巅下,竟会有沸腾的.狂执的.深沉的岩浆.
我们不知道他是否这时也突然萌发这些想法.可是,无论他怎么没头脑,还是明白自己看到了本不应该看见的事情,无意中发现了他哥哥的灵魂深处的秘密,也明白不应当让克洛德觉察到他在场.于是看见副主教又回到原先那种木然的状态中,就把头悄悄缩了回来,故意留在门外走了几步,弄出声响,好像有人刚刚到,在向屋里的人通报似的.
"进来!"副主教从密室里高声喊道,"我正等着您呢,故意把钥匙留在锁孔里.进来,雅克大人."
学子大着胆子走了进去.在这样的地方来了这样一个客人,这叫副主教感到十分尴尬,不由得在椅子上打了一个寒噤,说:"怎么!是你,约翰?"
"反正都是同一个J字母开头的."学子涨红着脸,厚着脸皮,轻轻地答道.
堂.克洛德又板起了面孔.
"你来这儿干什么?"
"我的哥呀,"学子答腔,竭力装出一副既得体,又可怜又谦恭的样子,带着天真无邪的神情,手里转动着帽子,"我是来向您请求......"
"什么?"
"一点我迫切需要的教诲."约翰不敢大声再说下去:"还有一点我更急需的钱."这后半句突然顿住,没有说出来.
"先生,我可对您很不高兴."副主教的语气很冷淡.
"唉!"学子叹了一口气.
堂.克洛德把坐椅转了四分之一圈,目不转睛地盯着约翰,说:"见到您可真高兴!"
这是一句十分可怕的开场白,约翰准备一顿挨狠狠训斥.
"约翰,每天都有人向我来告你的状.那次打架,你用棍子把一个叫阿贝尔.德.拉蒙尚的小子爵打得鼻青脸肿,那是怎么回事?......"
"噢!"约翰说,"小事一桩!是小侍从这个坏小子寻开心,骑着马在烂泥里猛跑,溅了同学们一身泥!"
"你把那个叫马伊埃.法尔热的袍子撕破了,又是怎么回事?"副主教继续说."那人诉苦说:长袍都撕破了."
"唔,呸!只不过是蒙泰居的蹩脚小斗篷罢了!"
"诉状上明明说是长袍,而不是小斗篷,你究竟懂不懂拉丁文?"
约翰一声不吭.
"是呀!"教士摇摇头,接着说."现在文科的学习竟到了这个地步!拉丁语几乎听不到,叙利亚语无人知晓,希腊语那样叫人厌烦,甚至连最博学的人碰到一个希腊字就跳过不念,也不以无知,反倒说:这是个希腊字,念不来."
听到这儿,学生毅然抬起头,说:"兄长大人,请您允许我用最纯正的法语,把墙上那个希腊字解释给您听."
"哪一个字?"
"’AN’ARKH."
副主教黄颧骨上顿时泛起淡淡的红晕,好象火山内部激烈的震动渲泄出来的一缕云烟.学生几乎没有觉察到.
"那敢情好,约翰."兄长勉强振作起精神,结结巴巴一说道."这字什么意思?"
"命运."
堂.克洛德的脸色一下子刷白,而学生却则漫不经心地往下说:
"还有下面那个希腊字,看得出来出自同一个人的手,意思是淫秽.您看我还懂得希腊文吧."
副主教缄默不语,这一堂希腊文课令他困惑不解.小约翰像一个从小被娇惯坏了的孩子,样样灵精,看出这正是大胆提出要求的大好时机,便装出柔声细语,说道:
"我的好哥哥呀,难道您真的恨我,才摆出恶狠狠的样子给我看,只是因为我跟人打架闹着玩玩,狠狠掴了谁几记耳光,踢了谁几下屁股,教训了一下那些什么毛头小伙子,什么臭小子?-您瞧,克洛德好哥哥,我的拉丁文挺不错的吧."
但是,这种假惺惺的亲热劲,丝毫也没有对严厉的大哥产生惯常的那种作用.地狱的守门犬克伯罗斯不吃蜜糕,副主教额上的皱纹一点也没有舒展开.
"你到底想干什么?"副主教干巴巴地问.
"好,实说吧!我要钱."约翰勇敢地回答.
一听到这毫不为难的表白,副主教马上换了一副面孔,显出老子教训儿子的表情.
"约翰先生,您知道,我们在蒂尔夏普的采邑,年贡和21所房屋的租金都算在内,每年总共是巴黎币39利弗尔11索尔6德尼埃.这比帕克莱兄弟那时候多了一半,但还是不够呀."
"我需要钱."约翰不以为然地说道.
"您知道宗教裁判官已经裁决,我们那21所房屋从属于主教的整个采邑,要赎回这种隶属关系,就得向尊敬的主教偿付两个镀金的银马克,价值两个巴黎利弗尔.然而,这两个马克,我还没凑齐哩.您是知道的."
"我知道我需要钱."约翰第三次重复道.
"你要钱干什么?"
听到这一问,约翰眼睛里掠过一线希望的曙光,于是又装出温顺和讨好的肉麻样子.
"啊,亲爱的克洛德哥哥,我朝您要钱绝无歹意.并不是想用您的钱装模作样到酒馆去出一下风头,也不是想骑着骏马,披锦缎的马,带着仆人到巴黎大街上去招摇过市.不是的,哥呀,是为了做件顶好的好事."
"什么好事?"克洛德感到有点意外,问道.
"我有两个朋友想给圣母升天会一个可怜寡妇的孩子买点穿着用品.这是一件善事,得花三个弗罗林,我也想出一份."
"你的两个朋友名字?"
"皮埃尔.拉索默尔和巴底斯蒂.克罗克瓦松."
"唔!"副主教说."这些名字可真是跟行善很相称呀,就仿佛在教堂主坛上安了一门射石炮."
显然,约翰挑选了糟糕透了的两个名字,可是发觉得太迟了.
"再说,"克洛德接着说,"什么样的孩子穿着用品要花三个弗罗林?还是给圣母升天会一个寡妇的孩子买的?我倒想要问一下,从什么时候起,圣母升天的寡妇们会有裹着襁褓的婴儿呢?"
约翰再一次打破尴尬的局面,说:"得啦,不错!我要钱是为了今晚到爱情谷去看伊莎博.蒂埃丽,好了吗?"
"不要脸的坏蛋!"教士立即喊叫起来.
"淫秽."约翰答道.
学生也许是调皮,借用了密室墙上的这个词,然而却对教士产生了一种奇特的作用.但见他咬着嘴唇,气得面红耳赤.
"你给我滚,我在等人."他对约翰说道.
学生试图再做一次努力:"克洛德哥哥,至少给我一个小钱吃饭吧."
"格拉田教令学得怎么样啦?"堂.克洛德问.
"本子丢了."
"那拉丁人文科学学得怎么样?"
"奥拉蒂乌斯的书本被人偷了."
"那亚里士多德学得怎么样?"
"说真的!哥呀,有个教堂神甫说过,任何时代的异端邪说都以亚里士多德的形而上学为渊源的,这神甫究竟是谁呢?见鬼去吧,亚里士多德!我才不愿意让他的形而上学来破坏我的宗教信仰."
"年青人,"副主教接着说,"在国王最后一次进城时,有一个侍从贵族叫菲利浦.德.科米纳的,马披上绣着他的一句格言,不妨劝您好好想一想:不劳动者不得食."
学生半天不作声,脸有愠色,用手指搔搔耳朵,眼睛盯着地上.猛然间,他急转身向着克洛德,其敏捷不亚于猴子.
"这么说,好哥哥,您连给我一个巴黎索尔,去面包铺买块面包皮钱都不肯给?"
"不劳动者不得食."
副主教毫不留情,约翰听了他这句回答,双手捂住头,像女人哭泣的一样,带着绝望的表情嚷叫:"Oτoτoτoτoτoi!"
"这是什么意思,先生?"克洛德听到怪叫声,不由一愣,问道.
学生刚用拳头揉过眼睛,看起来像哭红了似的,一听到克洛德的问话,厚着脸皮抬头望他,答道:"嗯,什么!这是希腊语呀!是埃斯库罗斯的抑扬格诗句,表示悲痛欲绝."
说到这儿,随即纵声哈哈大笑,笑得那样滑稽,那厉害,副主教也情不自禁地露出笑容.其实这都怪克洛德自己,为什么过去那样娇惯这孩子呢?
"哦!克洛德好哥哥,我的靴底都破得吐舌头了,世上还有比这更加悲惨的厚底靴吗?"
副主教一下子又恢复了原先的粗声厉色:"新靴子会给你送去,钱分文不给."
"哥呀,只要给几个小钱!"约翰苦苦哀求,"我一定好好用功,把格拉田教令背诵出来,一定好好信奉上帝,一定争取成为品学兼优的毕达哥拉斯.不过,给我一文小钱,行行好吧!饥饿张着大口,就在这儿,在我眼前,又深,又脏,又臭,连鞑靼人或是僧侣的鼻子都望尘莫及,难道您就忍心看我被饥饿吞噬掉?"
堂.克洛德晃了晃满是皱纹的脑袋,又说:"不劳者......"
约翰没等他说完就嚷:
"算了,见鬼去吧!欢乐万岁!我要去打架,去打碎酒坛,去喝洒,去找娘们!"
说着,把帽子往墙上一扔,把手指头扳得像响板那样响.
副主教脸色十分阴沉,瞟了他一眼.
"约翰,你没有一点灵魂."
"要是这样,接照伊壁鸠鲁的说法,我缺的是由某种莫名其妙的东西所形成的莫名其妙的玩意儿."
"约翰,应当认真想一想改过才行."
"这个嘛,"学生叫道,同时看看他哥哥,又瞧瞧炉子上面的蒸馏瓶,"怪不得这里的一切都是荒唐的,各种想法和瓶瓶罐罐!"
"约翰,您正站在滑溜溜的斜坡上,您知道会滑到哪去吗?"
"滑到酒馆去."约翰答道.
"酒馆是通向耻辱柱的."
"这只是一只像别的灯笼那样的灯笼,狄奥日内斯可以找到要找的人,如果打着这只灯笼的话."
"耻辱柱通向绞刑架."
"绞刑架只是一架天平,一端是整个大地,一端是人.能做那个人,那可太好了."
"绞刑架通往地狱."
"地狱是团大火."
"约翰呀约翰,你的下场会很惨的."
"开场倒是不错的."
这时,楼梯口传来脚步声.
"别作声!"副主教边说边把一根手指按在嘴上."雅克大人来了.听着,约翰,"他又低声添了一句."你在这里看到和听到的,千万别说出去.快躲到这个火炉下面去,一点也别出声."
学生蜷缩在火炉下面,灵机一动,计上心来:
"好吧,克洛德哥哥,给我一个弗罗林,我就不出声."
"住口!我答应你就是了."
"要马上给."
"拿去吧!"副主教气呼呼地把钱包扔给他.约翰又钻到炉底下,房门正好这时推开了.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 30楼  发表于: 2013-10-27 0

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER V.THE TWO MEN CLOTHED IN BLACK.》
The personage who entered wore a black gown and a gloomy mien.The first point which struck the eye of our Jehan (who, as the reader will readily surmise, had ensconced himself in his nook in such a manner as to enable him to see and hear everything at his good pleasure) was the perfect sadness of the garments and the visage of this new-corner. There was, nevertheless, some sweetness diffused over that face, but it was the sweetness of a cat or a judge, an affected, treacherous sweetness.He was very gray and wrinkled, and not far from his sixtieth year, his eyes blinked, his eyebrows were white, his lip pendulous, and his hands large.When Jehan saw that it was only this, that is to say, no doubt a physician or a magistrate, and that this man had a nose very far from his mouth, a sign of stupidity, he nestled down in his hole, in despair at being obliged to pass an indefinite time in such an uncomfortable attitude, and in such bad company.
The archdeacon, in the meantime, had not even risen to receive this personage.He had made the latter a sign to seat himself on a stool near the door, and, after several moments of a silence which appeared to be a continuation of a preceding meditation, he said to him in a rather patronizing way, "Good day, Master Jacques."
"Greeting, master," replied the man in black.
There was in the two ways in which "Master Jacques" was pronounced on the one hand, and the "master" by preeminence on the other, the difference between monseigneur and monsieur, between ~domine~ and ~domne~.It was evidently the meeting of a teacher and a disciple.
"Well!" resumed the archdeacon, after a fresh silence which Master Jacques took good care not to disturb, "how are you succeeding?"
"Alas! master," said the other, with a sad smile, "I am still seeking the stone.plenty of ashes.But not a spark of gold."
Dom Claude made a gesture of impatience."I am not talking to you of that, Master Jacques Charmolue, but of the trial of your magician.Is it not Marc Cenaine that you call him? the butler of the Court of Accounts?Does he confess his witchcraft?Have you been successful with the torture?"
"Alas! no," replied Master Jacques, still with his sad smile; "we have not that consolation.That man is a stone. We might have him boiled in the Marché aux pourceaux, before he would say anything.Nevertheless, we are sparing nothing for the sake of getting at the truth; he is already thoroughly dislocated, we are applying all the herbs of Saint John's day; as saith the old comedian plautus,--
~'Advorsum stimulos, laminas, crucesque, compedesque, Nerros, catenas, carceres, numellas, pedicas, boias~.'
Nothing answers; that man is terrible.I am at my wit's end over him."
"You have found nothing new in his house?"
"I' faith, yes," said Master Jacques, fumbling in his pouch; "this parchment.There are words in it which we cannot comprehend.The criminal advocate, Monsieur philippe Lheulier, nevertheless, knows a little Hebrew, which he learned in that matter of the Jews of the Rue Kantersten, at Brussels."
So saying, Master Jacques unrolled a parchment."Give it here," said the archdeacon.And casting his eyes upon this writing: "pure magic, Master Jacques!" he exclaimed. "'Emen-Hétan!''Tis the cry of the vampires when they arrive at the witches' sabbath.~per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso~!'Tis the command which chains the devil in hell. ~Hax, pax, max~! that refers to medicine.A formula against the bite of mad dogs.Master Jacques! you are procurator to the king in the Ecclesiastical Courts: this parchment is abominable."
"We will put the man to the torture once more.Here again," added Master Jacques, fumbling afresh in his pouch, "is something that we have found at Marc Cenaine's house."
It was a vessel belonging to the same family as those which covered Dom Claude's furnace.
"Ah!" said the archdeacon, "a crucible for alchemy."
"I will confess to you," continued Master Jacques, with his timid and awkward smile, "that I have tried it over the furnace, but I have succeeded no better than with my own."
The archdeacon began an examination of the vessel. "What has he engraved on his crucible?~Och! och~! the word which expels fleas!That Marc Cenaine is an ignoramus! I verily believe that you will never make gold with this!'Tis good to set in your bedroom in summer and that is all!"
"Since we are talking about errors," said the king's procurator, "I have just been studying the figures on the portal below before ascending hither; is your reverence quite sure that the opening of the work of physics is there portrayed on the side towards the H?tel-Dieu, and that among the seven nude figures which stand at the feet of Notre-Dame, that which has wings on his heels is Mercurius?"
"Yes," replied the priest; "'tis Augustin Nypho who writes it, that Italian doctor who had a bearded demon who acquainted him with all things.However, we will descend, and I will explain it to you with the text before us."
"Thanks, master," said Charmolue, bowing to the earth. "By the way, I was on the point of forgetting.When doth it please you that I shall apprehend the little sorceress?"
"What sorceress?"
"That gypsy girl you know, who comes every day to dance on the church square, in spite of the official's prohibition! She hath a demoniac goat with horns of the devil, which reads, which writes, which knows mathematics like picatrix, and which would suffice to hang all Bohemia.The prosecution is all ready; 'twill soon be finished, I assure you!A pretty creature, on my soul, that dancer!The handsomest black eyes!Two Egyptian carbuncles!When shall we begin?"
The archdeacon was excessively pale.
"I will tell you that hereafter," he stammered, in a voice that was barely articulate; then he resumed with an effort, "Busy yourself with Marc Cenaine."
"Be at ease," said Charmolue with a smile; "I'll buckle him down again for you on the leather bed when I get home. But 'tis a devil of a man; he wearies even pierrat Torterue himself, who hath hands larger than my own.As that good plautus saith,--
'~Nudus vinctus, centum pondo, es quando pendes per pedes~.'
The torture of the wheel and axle!'Tis the most effectual! He shall taste it!"
Dom Claude seemed absorbed in gloomy abstraction.He turned to Charmolue,--
"Master pierrat--Master Jacques, I mean, busy yourself with Marc Cenaine."
"Yes, yes, Dom Claude.poor man! he will have suffered like Mummol.What an idea to go to the witches' sabbath! a butler of the Court of Accounts, who ought to know Charlemagne's text; ~Stryga vel masea~!--In the matter of the little girl,--Smelarda, as they call her,--I will await your orders.Ah! as we pass through the portal, you will explain to me also the meaning of the gardener painted in relief, which one sees as one enters the church.Is it not the Sower?Hé! master, of what are you thinking, pray?"
Dom Claude, buried in his own thoughts, no longer listened to him.Charmolue, following the direction of his glance, perceived that it was fixed mechanically on the great spider's web which draped the window.At that moment, a bewildered fly which was seeking the March sun, flung itself through the net and became entangled there.On the agitation of his web, the enormous spider made an abrupt move from his central cell, then with one bound, rushed upon the fly, which he folded together with his fore antennae, while his hideous proboscis dug into the victim's bead."poor fly!" said the king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court; and he raised his hand to save it.The archdeacon, as though roused with a start, withheld his arm with convulsive violence.
"Master Jacques," he cried, "let fate take its course!" The procurator wheeled round in affright; it seemed to him that pincers of iron had clutched his arm.The priest's eye was staring, wild, flaming, and remained riveted on the horrible little group of the spider and the fly.
"Oh, yes!" continued the priest, in a voice which seemed to proceed from the depths of his being, "behold here a symbol of all.She flies, she is joyous, she is just born; she seeks the spring, the open air, liberty: oh, yes! but let her come in contact with the fatal network, and the spider issues from it, the hideous spider!poor dancer! poor, predestined fly!Let things take their course, Master Jacques, 'tis fate! Alas!Claude, thou art the spider!Claude, thou art the fly also!Thou wert flying towards learning, light, the sun. Thou hadst no other care than to reach the open air, the full daylight of eternal truth; but in precipitating thyself towards the dazzling window which opens upon the other world,--upon the world of brightness, intelligence, and science--blind fly! senseless, learned man! thou hast not perceived that subtle spider's web, stretched by destiny betwixt the light and thee--thou hast flung thyself headlong into it, and now thou art struggling with head broken and mangled wings between the iron antennae of fate!Master Jacques!Master Jacques! let the spider work its will!"
"I assure you," said Charmolue, who was gazing at him without comprehending him, "that I will not touch it.But release my arm, master, for pity's sake!You have a hand like a pair of pincers."
The archdeacon did not hear him."Oh, madman!" he went on, without removing his gaze from the window."And even couldst thou have broken through that formidable web, with thy gnat's wings, thou believest that thou couldst have reached the light?Alas! that pane of glass which is further on, that transparent obstacle, that wall of crystal, harder than brass, which separates all philosophies from the truth, how wouldst thou have overcome it?Oh, vanity of science! how many wise men come flying from afar, to dash their heads against thee!How many systems vainly fling themselves buzzing against that eternal pane!"
He became silent.These last ideas, which had gradually led him back from himself to science, appeared to have calmed him.Jacques Charmolue recalled him wholly to a sense of reality by addressing to him this question: "Come, now, master, when will you come to aid me in making gold?I am impatient to succeed."
The archdeacon shook his head, with a bitter smile."Master Jacques read Michel psellus' '~Dialogus de Energia et Operatione Daemonum~_.'What we are doing is not wholly innocent."
"Speak lower, master!I have my suspicions of it," said Jacques Charmolue."But one must practise a bit of hermetic science when one is only procurator of the king in the ecclesiastical court, at thirty crowns tournois a year.Only speak low."
At that moment the sound of jaws in the act of mastication, which proceeded from beneath the furnace, struck Charmolue's uneasy ear.
"What's that?" he inquired.
It was the scholar, who, ill at ease, and greatly bored in his hiding-place, had succeeded in discovering there a stale crust and a triangle of mouldy cheese, and had set to devouring the whole without ceremony, by way of consolation and breakfast. As he was very hungry, he made a great deal of noise, and he accented each mouthful strongly, which startled and alarmed the procurator.
"'Tis a cat of mine," said the archdeacon, quickly, "who is regaling herself under there with a mouse,"
This explanation satisfied Charmolue.
"In fact, master," he replied, with a respectful smile, "all great philosophers have their familiar animal.You know what Servius saith: '~Nullus enim locus sine genio est~,--for there is no place that hath not its spirit.'"
But Dom Claude, who stood in terror of some new freak on the part of Jehan, reminded his worthy disciple that they had some figures on the fa?ade to study together, and the two quitted the cell, to the accompaniment of a great "ouf!" from the scholar, who began to seriously fear that his knee would acquire the imprint of his chin.

《第七卷 五 两个黑衣人》
来人身穿黑袍,神情阴沉.我们的朋友约翰(不出所料,他蜷缩在角落里尽量设法能随意看清和听到密室里的一切动静),他第一眼注意到的是来人的衣着面容十分寒碜,而脸上却略带几分温柔,不过那是好似猫或判官一样假惺惺的温柔,一种虚情假意,叫人肉麻的温柔.这个人头发花白,皱纹满脸,年近六十,眼睛巴拉巴拉直眨,大手,白眉,垂唇,.约翰一看,来人不过如此,就是说,大概是一个医生或是一位法官,而且此人鼻子离嘴巴老远,表明愚不可及.接着,约翰又缩回他的洞里了,心想这样狼狈不堪地蜷缩着,与这样一个丑恶的人作伴,何时才是终点,不禁暗自伤心.
对这个来客,副主教连站起来一下都没有,只是做了个手势,叫他在门边一只板凳上坐下,好一会儿都一声不吭,看上去像依然沉浸在冥思苦想之中,然后才用几分恩主的口气对他说:"日安,雅克大人."
"您好,大人!"黑衣人连忙回答.
一个称呼雅克大人.另一个意味深长地称呼大人,两种称呼虽然都是同一个大人,可是意思却有着天壤之别,就像称"阁下"的显赫人物与称"先生"的凡夫俗子,主人与下人那样的区别.
副主教又沉默了一会儿,雅克大人小心翼翼,不敢打扰他,然后才继续说:"喂,搞成了没有?"
"唉!我的大人!"对方苦笑着答道,"我不停地鼓风.灰也挺多的.就是一星半点金子也没有."
堂.克洛德不耐烦地摆摆手:"我说的不是这码事,雅克.夏尔莫吕大人,我问的是您承办的那件巫师案子.审计院的那膳食总管,您不是叫他马克.塞内纳吗?他有没有招供行妖作祟?拷问达到了目的没有?"
"唉,没有."雅克大人答道,脸上始终带着忧伤的微笑."我们并没有得到那种快慰.这个人实在是一块顽石,就是把他押到猪市去活活煮死,他也不会招一个字的.不过,我们会不惜采取一切手段,逼他把一切真相交待出来.他现在已经四肢残缺不全了.我们采用了各种酷刑,正如那个喜剧小丑老普洛图斯所说的:面对着刺棒.利刃.钉死.枷锁.暴力.锁链.绞索.脚镣.颈枷.
但一点作用也没有.这个人实在太可怕了,真拿他无计可施."
"他屋子里没搜到什么新名堂来?"
"当然搜到了."雅克大人答道,一边掏着裤袋."搜出二张羊皮纸.上面写了些字,我们一窍不通.刑事状师菲利浦.勒利埃先生倒懂得一点希伯来文,是他在承办布鲁塞尔康代斯坦街犹太人案件中学来了."
说着,雅克大人把羊皮纸慢慢打开.副主教立刻说:"拿来."然后往文卷上瞥了一眼,嚷道:"纯粹是妖术,雅克大人!埃芒-埃当!这是那帮吸血鬼赴巫魔夜会时喊叫的暗语.由己,同己,在己!这是命令把地狱魔鬼再拘锁起来的口令.哈嘶,吧嘶,吗嘶!这是医术,专治狂犬咬伤的一个药方.雅克大人呀!您是圣上宗教法庭检察官,单凭这张羊皮纸就十恶不赦."
"我们还要拷问那个家伙.还有这个......"雅克大人又在衣袋里掏来掏去,"也是在马克.塞内纳家里搜到的."
这是只罐子,与堂.克洛德火炉上那些瓶瓶罐罐没有什么两样.副主教一看,便说:"啊!一只炼金用的坩锅."
"我向您说实话吧,"雅克大人带着怯生生的傻笑说道:"我曾在火炉上试过,但比我自己的那只顶用."
副主教仔细打量起这只罐子来."这坩锅上刻着什么东西?噢嘘!噢嘘!驱赶跳蚤的咒语!这个马克.塞内纳真是大草包!我确信,您用这玩意儿想炼出金子,真是痴人作梦!夏天放在您的床龛里还差不多"
"我们显然是搞错了."国王代诉人说道."我刚才上来之前,研究了一下楼下的门廊;大人能否肯定,靠主宫医院那边的大门真的象征着一本打开的物理书吗?圣母院底层那七尊裸体雕像中,那尊脚后跟长着翅膀的是墨尔库里吗?"
"没错."教士答道,"这是意大利博学之人奥古斯丁.尼福说的,他拜过一个大胡子魔鬼为师,因此无所不知.不过,我们该下去了,我会根据上面的意思解释给您听."
"谢谢,我的大人."夏尔莫吕一躬到地,说道,"对啦,我差点忘记了!请问,我什么时候把那个小妖精抓起来?"
"哪个小妖精?"
"就是大人知道的那个不顾教廷禁令,每天到广场上来跳舞的吉卜赛小妞!她不有一只鬼魂附体的母山羊,长着魔鬼似的两个犄角,会认字,会写字,会算术,计算得就像毕卡特里那么精.单凭这只山羊,就能把全部流浪的波希米亚人都绞死.起诉状都已经准备好了,要办马上就能办,瞧吧!我敢打赌,这个跳舞姑娘可真是个美人儿,那双漂亮的黑眼睛天下无二!真是两颗光彩夺目的埃及宝石!何时动手?"
副主教脸色煞白.
"我会告诉您的."他结结巴巴,声音含混不清.随后用劲说道:"管您的马克.塞内纳就行了."
"请大人放心."夏尔莫吕微笑着答道,"我回去马上叫人把他绑到皮床上去.可是这家伙是个魔鬼,连皮埃拉.托特吕都打累了,他的手比我的还粗.如那位爱说俏皮话的普洛图所说的:把你光着身子绑起来,倒吊一称,足有百把镑重.
得用绞盘倒吊他起来拷问!那是我们最妙的办法,非叫他尝尝苦头不可."
堂.克洛德神情阴郁,看上去心不在焉.忽然掉头对夏尔莫吕说:
"皮埃拉大人......雅克大人,我的意思是说,管您的马克.塞内纳就得了!"
"是,是,堂.克洛德.可怜的家伙!他早该像穆莫尔吃点苦头.亏他想得出,去参加巫魔夜会!身为审计院的一个膳食总管,应当知道查理曼的文献,不是吸血鬼,就是害人精!对于那个小妞儿,大家叫她爱斯梅拉达,我恭候大人的吩咐.啊!等会儿走过门廊时,请您也给我讲一讲教堂入口处那个平雕的园丁是什么意思.莫非是播种者!......嘿!大人,您究竟在想什么呢?"
堂.克洛德只顾想自己的心事,并没有听到他在说什么.夏尔莫吕顺着克洛德的视线望去,发现他直勾勾地盯着窗洞口的一张大蜘蛛网.恰好就在这时,一只正在寻觅三月阳光的苍蝇,晕头转向,一头撞上蜘蛛网给粘住了.蜘蛛网一振动,那只大蜘蛛顿时冲出它在网中央的斗室,猛扑向苍蝇,用两只前触角折苍蝇成两段,又把丑恶的吻管刺进苍蝇的脑袋.国王的教廷检察官不由说道:"可怜的苍蝇!"并伸出手来要去救它.副主教一看,如突然惊醒,浑身剧烈痉挛,一把紧紧攥住他的胳膊,说:
"雅克大人,让命运去作主吧!"
教廷检察官回过头来,惊愕不已.他觉得胳膊好像被铁钳夹住一样.教士眼睛直勾勾的,惶恐不安,闪闪发光,一直盯着那对可怕的苍蝇和蜘蛛.
"啊!是的,"教士继续说着,声音仿佛从他腑脏里发出来似的,"这就是万物的象征.苍蝇刚出生不久,快活得很,飞来飞去;它寻找春天,寻找广阔的天地,寻找自由;哦!是的,可是命中注定,偏偏撞到了那扇花格窗,蜘蛛扑了出来,那丑恶的蜘蛛!可怜的舞女!命运注定该死的可怜苍蝇!雅克大人,随它去吧!这就是命!......唉!克洛德,你就是蜘蛛,克洛德,你也是苍蝇!......你飞向科学,飞向光明,飞向太阳,一心一意只想飞奔广阔的天地,飞奔向永恒真理,可是,当你扑向那扇光彩夺目的窗洞,扑向光明.聪慧和科学的另一个世界,盲目的苍蝇呀,荒唐的饱学之士,你竟然没有看见在光明与你之间,命运早已张挂了一张细薄的蛛网,而你却狂热地一头扑上去,可怜的疯子,现在你拼命挣扎,头也破了,翅膀也断了,被命运的铁钳夹住了!......雅克大人!雅克大人!一切都让命运去安排吧!"
"我向您保证,我绝不去碰它."夏尔莫吕答道,莫名其妙地看着他,"但是,请您放开我的胳膊,大人,求求您了!您的手简直就象一把铁钳."
副主教根本没有听见,仍然望着窗口说:"噢!荒唐!你可真是异想天开,想用你的小苍蝇翅膀,把那张可怕的蜘蛛网撞破,以为可以飞抵光明.唉!你哪里想到,前面稍远处还隔着一扇玻璃窗,这道透明的障碍物,这堵比黄铜还坚硬的水晶墙,把所有的哲学和真理分隔开,你怎么能跨越过去呢?啊,科学的真理!无数哲人从遥远的地方飞来,结果碰得头破血流!多少五花八门的体系撞到这扇永恒的玻璃窗,都和苍蝇似地嗡嗡作响!"
他突然止住了.最后这些想法,不知不觉使他又想起了科学,看上去他冷静了.雅克.夏尔莫吕向他问道:"喂,我的大人呀,您什么时候来帮我炼金子呢?我怎么老是炼不出来呢?"副主教听到这一问话,完全回到现实中来了.
副主教苦笑着,摇了摇头说:"雅克大人,读一读米歇尔.普谢吕所著的《能的对话与鬼的法术》吧.我们所做的并不是完全无罪的."
"轻点,大人!这我也料到了."夏尔莫吕说道,"不过,当你仅仅是国王的教廷检察官,年俸只三十图尔埃居,不搞点炼金术怎么行呢!我们还是小声点好."
就在这时,从炉底下传出一种吃东西的咀嚼声,夏尔莫吕本来就心神不定,一听这声音越发紧张了,问道:
"什么声音?"
原来是学子躲在炉底下觉得非常难受,也感到非常无聊,东摸西找,总算找到了一块老面包皮和一块发霉的奶酪,不管三七二十一,大嚼起来,权当一种安慰和一顿早餐.他饿极了,嚼得特别响,而且每吃一口,咀嚼声都非常清脆响亮,引起了检察官的警觉和惊恐.
"那是我的一只猫,在下面吃耗子,正饱餐一顿呢."副主教赶忙说道.
夏尔莫吕听他这么解释,就心安了.
"其实,大人,"他卑恭地笑着说,"所有的哲学家都有心爱的小动物.您是知道塞尔维乌斯这句话的:当然,无处不存在精灵".
这时,堂.克洛德担心约翰再耍什么新花招出来,于是提醒这位可敬的弟子说,他们还得到门廊去一起研究几个雕像呢,两人走出了密室,学子如释重负,"喔唷"了一声,松了一大口气.因为他正在发愁,深怕膝盖顶着下巴,会磨出老茧来.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 31楼  发表于: 2013-10-27 0

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER VI.THE EFFECT WHICH SEVEN OATHS IN THE OPEN AIR CAN PRODUCE.》
"~Te Deum Laudamus~!" exclaimed Master Jehan, creeping out from his hole, "the screech-owls have departed.Och! och!Hax! pax! max! fleas! mad dogs! the devil!I have had enough of their conversation!My head is humming like a bell tower.And mouldy cheese to boot!Come on!Let us descend, take the big brother's purse and convert all these coins into bottles!"
He cast a glance of tenderness and admiration into the interior of the precious pouch, readjusted his toilet, rubbed up his boots, dusted his poor half sleeves, all gray with ashes, whistled an air, indulged in a sportive pirouette, looked about to see whether there were not something more in the cell to take, gathered up here and there on the furnace some amulet in glass which might serve to bestow, in the guise of a trinket, on Isabeau la Thierrye, finally pushed open the door which his brother had left unfastened, as a last indulgence, and which he, in his turn, left open as a last piece of malice, and descended the circular staircase, skipping like a bird.
In the midst of the gloom of the spiral staircase, he elbowed something which drew aside with a growl; he took it for granted that it was Quasimodo, and it struck him as so droll that he descended the remainder of the staircase holding his sides with laughter.On emerging upon the place, he laughed yet more heartily.
He stamped his foot when he found himself on the ground once again."Oh!" said he, "good and honorable pavement of paris, cursed staircase, fit to put the angels of Jacob's ladder out of breath!What was I thinking of to thrust myself into that stone gimlet which pierces the sky; all for the sake of eating bearded cheese, and looking at the bell- towers of paris through a hole in the wall!"
He advanced a few paces, and caught sight of the two screech owls, that is to say, Dom Claude and Master Jacques Charmolue, absorbed in contemplation before a carving on the fa?ade.He approached them on tiptoe, and heard the archdeacon say in a low tone to Charmolue: "'Twas Guillaume de paris who caused a Job to be carved upon this stone of the hue of lapis-lazuli, gilded on the edges.Job represents the philosopher's stone, which must also be tried and martyrized in order to become perfect, as saith Raymond Lulle: ~Sub conservatione formoe speciftoe salva anima~."
"That makes no difference to me," said Jehan, "'tis I who have the purse."
At that moment he heard a powerful and sonorous voice articulate behind him a formidable series of oaths."~Sang Dieu!Ventre-.Dieu!Bédieu!Corps de Dieu!Nombril de Belzebuth!Nom d'un pape!Come et tonnerre~."
"Upon my soul!" exclaimed Jehan, "that can only be my friend, Captain phoebus!"
This name of phoebus reached the ears of the archdeacon at the moment when he was explaining to the king's procurator the dragon which is hiding its tail in a bath, from which issue smoke and the head of a king.Dom Claude started, interrupted himself and, to the great amazement of Charmolue, turned round and beheld his brother Jehan accosting a tall officer at the door of the Gondelaurier mansion.
It was, in fact, Captain phoebus de Chateaupers.He was backed up against a corner of the house of his betrothed and swearing like a heathen.
"By my faith!Captain phoebus," said Jehan, taking him by the hand, "you are cursing with admirable vigor."
"Horns and thunder!" replied the captain.
"Horns and thunder yourself!" replied the student."Come now, fair captain, whence comes this overflow of fine words?"
"pardon me, good comrade Jehan," exclaimed phoebus, shaking his hand, "a horse going at a gallop cannot halt short.Now, I was swearing at a hard gallop.I have just been with those prudes, and when I come forth, I always find my throat full of curses, I must spit them out or strangle, ~ventre et tonnerre~!"
"Will you come and drink?" asked the scholar.
This proposition calmed the captain.
"I'm willing, but I have no money."
"But I have!"
"Bah! let's see it!"
Jehan spread out the purse before the captain's eyes, with dignity and simplicity.Meanwhile, the archdeacon, who had abandoned the dumbfounded Charmolue where he stood, had approached them and halted a few paces distant, watching them without their noticing him, so deeply were they absorbed in contemplation of the purse.
phoebus exclaimed: "A purse in your pocket, Jehan! 'tis the moon in a bucket of water, one sees it there but 'tis not there.There is nothing but its shadow.pardieu!let us wager that these are pebbles!"
Jehan replied coldly: "Here are the pebbles wherewith I pave my fob!"
And without adding another word, he emptied the purse on a neighboring post, with the air of a Roman saving his country.
"True God!" muttered phoebus, "targes, big-blanks, little blanks, mailles,* every two worth one of Tournay, farthings of paris, real eagle liards!'Tis dazzling!"
*An ancient copper coin, the forty-fourth part of a sou or the twelfth part of a farthing.
Jehan remained dignified and immovable.Several liards had rolled into the mud; the captain in his enthusiasm stooped to pick them up.Jehan restrained him.
"Fye, Captain phoebus de Chateaupers!"
phoebus counted the coins, and turning towards Jehan with solemnity, "Do you know, Jehan, that there are three and twenty sous parisis! whom have you plundered to-night, in the Street Cut-Weazand?"
Jehan flung back his blonde and curly head, and said, half- closing his eyes disdainfully,--
"We have a brother who is an archdeacon and a fool."
"~Corne de Dieu~!" exclaimed phoebus, "the worthy man!"
"Let us go and drink," said Jehan.
"Where shall we go?" said phoebus; "'To Eve's Apple.'"
"No, captain, to 'Ancient Science.'An old woman sawing a basket handle*; 'tis a rebus, and I like that."
* ~Une vielle qui scie une anse~.
"A plague on rebuses, Jehan! the wine is better at 'Eve's Apple'; and then, beside the door there is a vine in the sun which cheers me while I am drinking."
"Well! here goes for Eve and her apple," said the student, and taking phoebus's arm."By the way, my dear captain, you just mentioned the Rue Coupe-Gueule* That is a very bad form of speech; people are no longer so barbarous.They say, Coupe-Gorge**."
*Cut-Weazand Street.
** Cut-Throat Street.
The two friends set out towards "Eve's Apple."It is unnecessary to mention that they had first gathered up the money, and that the archdeacon followed them.
The archdeacon followed them, gloomy and haggard.Was this the phoebus whose accursed name had been mingled with all his thoughts ever since his interview with Gringoire?He did not know it, but it was at least a phoebus, and that magic name sufficed to make the archdeacon follow the two heedless comrades with the stealthy tread of a wolf, listening to their words and observing their slightest gestures with anxious attention.Moreover, nothing was easier than to hear everything they said, as they talked loudly, not in the least concerned that the passers-by were taken into their confidence.They talked of duels, wenches, wine pots, and folly.
At the turning of a street, the sound of a tambourine reached them from a neighboring square.Dom Claude heard the officer say to the scholar,--
"Thunder!Let us hasten our steps!"
"Why, phoebus?"
"I'm afraid lest the Bohemian should see me."
"What Bohemian?"
"The little girl with the goat."
"La Smeralda?"
"That's it, Jehan.I always forget her devil of a name. Let us make haste, she will recognize me.I don't want to have that girl accost me in the street."
"Do you know her, phoebus?"
Here the archdeacon saw phoebus sneer, bend down to Jehan's ear, and say a few words to him in a low voice; then phoebus burst into a laugh, and shook his head with a triumphant air.
"Truly?" said Jehan.
"Upon my soul!" said phoebus.
"This evening?"
"This evening."
"Are you sure that she will come?"
"Are you a fool, Jehan?Does one doubt such things?"
"Captain phoebus, you are a happy gendarme!"
The archdeacon heard the whole of this conversation.His teeth chattered; a visible shiver ran through his whole body. He halted for a moment, leaned against a post like a drunken man, then followed the two merry knaves.
At the moment when he overtook them once more, they had changed their conversation.He heard them singing at the top of their lungs the ancient refrain,--
~Les enfants des petits-Carreaux Se font pendre cornme des veaux~*.
* The children of the petits Carreaux let themselves be hung like calves.

《第七卷 六 户外咒骂可能导致的后果》
"赞美主啊!"约翰从洞里爬出来叫嚷道,"两只猫头鹰总算走了.噢嘘!噢嘘!哈嘶!吧嘶!吗嘶!跳蚤!疯狗!魔鬼!他俩的谈话真把我烦死了!我的头简直就像钟楼敲钟似的,嗡嗡作响.还有那发霉的奶酪!快!赶紧下楼去带上大哥的钱袋,拿所有的钱统统去换酒喝."
他用深情而赞赏的目光,向宝贝钱袋里瞥了一眼,又拉了拉身上的衣裳,擦了擦皮靴,掸了掸沾满炉灰的袖子,打着唿哨,跳起来转了一圈后,仔细瞧了瞧密室里还有什么可拿的,顺手从火炉上捡起一颗像是护身符的彩色玻璃珠子,好作为珠宝拿去送给伊莎博.蒂埃丽,最后才把门推开.他哥哥出于最后一次宽容,开着门,而他出于最后一次恶作剧,也让门开着就走了,就像一只鸟儿,欢蹦乱跳,沿着螺旋楼梯直冲下去.
在黑暗的楼梯上,他碰到了一个什么东西,嘟嘟哝哝,退到一边去了.他猜想一定是卡齐莫多,不禁觉得挺可笑的,因此再沿着楼梯往下走时,一直笑得直不起腰来,到了广场还笑个不停.
一回到地面,跺了跺脚,喊道:"啊!巴黎的石板路真好,令人尊敬!这该死的楼梯,连雅各天梯上的天使也会爬得喘不过气来!我真是鬼迷心窍,怎么会想起钻到那高插云霄的石头螺旋楼梯里去,只是为了去吃长了毛的奶酪,到窗洞孔张望一下巴黎的钟楼!"
他走了几步,瞥见堂.克洛德和雅克.夏尔莫吕两只猫头鹰正在观赏门廊上的一座雕像,于是踮起脚尖走到他们跟前,只听见副主教悄声对夏尔莫吕说:"是巴黎的吉约姆叫人用这块镶着金边的天青石来雕刻约伯像的.之所以把约伯雕刻在这块点金石上,是因为这块点金石必须经受考验和磨难,才能臻于完善.恰似雷蒙.吕勒所说:用特殊形式加以保存,灵魂才能得救."
"反正对我都一样,拿着钱袋的是我."约翰心想道.
这时他听见背后有个人扯着响亮的大嗓门,连声破口大骂:"上帝的血!上帝的肚皮!假正经的上帝!上帝的肉体!***教皇!别西卜的肚脐!长角和天杀的!"
"十拿九稳,只能是我的朋友弗比斯队长!"约翰嚷了起来.
副主教此时正向国王的检察官津津有味地解释说,那条龙的尾巴藏在一个浴池里,于是浴池立刻升起青烟,出现一个像国王的脑袋,正说着,突然听到弗比斯这个名字,不由打了个寒噤,骤然顿住,这叫夏尔莫吕目瞪口呆,不知所措.副主教转过身去一眼看见了他的弟弟约翰站在贡德洛利埃宅第门口,正同一个魁梧的军官攀谈.
那正是弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔队长先生,背靠着未婚妻家的墙角,正像个异教徒似的在那里骂街.
"是您呀,弗比斯队长!"约翰拉起他的手说道,"您可骂得真带劲呀."
"长角和天杀的!"队长答了一句.
"您自己才是真正长角和天杀的!"学生回敬了一句.
"得啦,可爱的队长,谁惹您了,干吗这样滔滔不绝,妙语连珠呢?"
"对不起,哥们."弗比斯摆着他的手答道,"脱了缰的马,一下子停不住呀.刚才破口大骂,正像骑着马在狂奔喽.我刚从那帮假正经的女人那里出来,每次出来,胸总是堵得慌,塞满骂人的话儿,得吐出来才痛快,要不,就会活活憋死,简直肚皮和雷劈的!"
"那您想不想去喝两杯?"学生问道.
队长听到这话儿,顿时平静了下来.
"那敢情好,可是我身无分文."
"我有!"
"得啦!拿出来给我瞧瞧?"
约翰神气活现,直截了当地把钱袋掏出来放在队长的眼皮底下.正在这时,副主教把夏尔莫吕丢在一边,随他去惊讶得呆若木鸡,也尾随到他们身边,在几步外停了下来,仔细观察他们两个人的一举一动,而他俩却因全神贯注地看着那钱袋,压根儿没有注意到他.
弗比斯叫嚷了起来:"约翰,一只钱袋在您口袋里,这简直就是月亮映在一桶水里,看得见,摸不着,只不过是影子罢了.不信,我们打赌,里面装的准是石子!"
约翰冷冷地答道:"那您就瞧瞧我钱包里装的这些石子吧!"
话音一落,二话没说,就把钱袋往旁边界碑上一倒,那副神气俨如一个赴汤蹈火救国的罗马人.
"真正的上帝呀!"弗比斯嘟哝道."这么多盾币.小银币.大银币.每两个一个合图尔币的铜钱.巴黎德尼埃.真正的鹰钱!真叫人眼花缭乱!"
约翰仍然一副神气十足和无动于衷的样子.有几个小钱滚落到泥浆里去了,队长兴冲冲地弯下身去捡,约翰连忙阻止他说:"呸,弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔队长!"
弗比斯算了算钱,郑重其事地回头对约翰说道:
"您知道吗,约翰,一共是二十三个巴黎索尔!您昨夜到割嘴街抢了谁的钱啦?"
约翰一头鬈曲金发,把脑袋往后一昂,轻蔑地半眯起眼睛,说:"因为人家有个当副主教的傻蛋哥哥呗!"
"上帝的角呵!"弗比斯叫了一声,"你这个神气十足的家伙!"
"喝酒去吧."约翰说道.
"去哪里?夏娃苹果酒店吗?"弗比斯问.
"不,队长,去老科学酒家.老科学-老太婆锯壶把.这是个字谜.我就喜欢这个."
"呸,什么字谜,约翰!夏娃苹果的酒好,门边还有个向阳的葡萄架,每次在那儿我都喝得十分过瘾的."
"那好,就去找夏娃和她的苹果吧!"学生说道.然后挽起弗比斯的手臂又说:"好了,亲爱的队长,您刚才说到割嘴街,这太难听了,现在人们不那么野蛮了,管它叫割喉街."
于是两个难兄难弟向夏娃苹果酒家走去.他们先捡起了钱,副主教紧紧地尾随着他俩,这些都是无须交代的.
副主教跟着他们,神色阴沉而慌乱.自从他上次同格兰古瓦谈话以后,是不是弗比斯这个该死的名字就一直同他全部的思想混杂在一起的缘故?他自己也不清楚,但是,毕竟是一个弗比斯,单凭这魔术般的名字就足以使副主教悄悄地跟随这一对无牵无挂的伙伴,惶恐不安,全神贯注地偷听他们的谈话,仔细观察他们的一举一动.何况,要听他们所说的一切,真是再容易不过了,因为他们嗓门那么大,叫过往行人一大半听见他们的知心话儿,他们无论如何也不会感到怎么难堪.他们谈论决斗啦,妓女啦,喝酒啦,放荡啦.
走到一条街的拐弯处,他们听到从附近岔路口传来一阵巴斯克手鼓的响声.然后堂.克洛德听见军官对学生说:
"天杀的!赶快快走."
"为什么,弗比斯?"
"我害怕被那个吉卜赛姑娘看见了."
"哪个吉卜赛姑娘?"
"就是牵一只山羊的那个小妞."
"爱斯梅拉达?"
"正是,约翰.我老是记不住她那个鬼名字.快走,否则,她会认出我来的,我不想这姑娘在街上跟我搭讪."
"你认识她吗,弗比斯?"
听到这几,副主教看见弗比斯揶揄一笑,欠身贴近约翰的耳朵,轻声说了几句话.然后弗比斯哈哈大笑,洋洋得意,摇了摇头.
"此话当真?"约翰说.
"以我的灵魂打赌!"弗比斯说.
"今晚?"
"你有把握她会来吗?"
"这还用着问,难道您疯了不成,约翰?这种事儿有值得怀疑的?"
"弗比斯队长,您艳福不浅呀!"
这些谈话,副主教全听在耳朵里,把他气得咬牙切齿,浑身直打哆嗦.因此他不得不停了一会,像个醉汉似地靠着一块界石,然后又紧随着那对大活宝.
等到赶上时,他们已换了话题,只听见他们扯着喉咙,没命地正唱着一支古老歌谣的迭句:菜市场小摊的孩子,生来像小牛被吊死.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER VII.THE MYSTERIOUS MONK.》
The illustrious wine shop of "Eve's Apple" was situated in the University, at the corner of the Rue de la Rondelle and the Rue de la Batonnier.It was a very spacious and very low hail on the ground floor, with a vaulted ceiling whose central spring rested upon a huge pillar of wood painted yellow; tables everywhere, shining pewter jugs hanging on the walls, always a large number of drinkers, a plenty of wenches, a window on the street, a vine at the door, and over the door a flaring piece of sheet-iron, painted with an apple and a woman, rusted by the rain and turning with the wind on an iron pin.This species of weather-vane which looked upon the pavement was the signboard.
Night was falling; the square was dark; the wine-shop, full of candles, flamed afar like a forge in the gloom; the noise of glasses and feasting, of oaths and quarrels, which escaped through the broken panes, was audible.Through the mist which the warmth of the room spread over the window in front, a hundred confused figures could be seen swarming, and from time to time a burst of noisy laughter broke forth from it.The passers-by who were going about their business, slipped past this tumultuous window without glancing at it. Only at intervals did some little ragged boy raise himself on tiptoe as far as the ledge, and hurl into the drinking-shop, that ancient, jeering hoot, with which drunken men were then pursued: "Aux Houls, saouls, saouls, saouls!"
Nevertheless, one man paced imperturbably back and forth in front of the tavern, gazing at it incessantly, and going no further from it than a pikernan from his sentry-box.He was enveloped in a mantle to his very nose.This mantle he had just purchased of the old-clothes man, in the vicinity of the "Eve's Apple," no doubt to protect himself from the cold of the March evening, possibly also, to conceal his costume. From time to time he paused in front of the dim window with its leaden lattice, listened, looked, and stamped his foot.
At length the door of the dram-shop opened.This was what he appeared to be waiting for.Two boon companions came forth.The ray of light which escaped from the door crimsoned for a moment their jovial faces.
The man in the mantle went and stationed himself on the watch under a porch on the other side of the street.
"~Corne et tonnerre~!" said one of the comrades."Seven o'clock is on the point of striking.'Tis the hour of my appointed meeting."
"I tell you," repeated his companion, with a thick tongue, "that I don't live in the Rue des Mauvaises paroles, ~indignus qui inter mala verba habitat~.I have a lodging in the Rue Jean-pain-Mollet, ~in vico Johannis pain-Mollet~.You are more horned than a unicorn if you assert the contrary. Every one knows that he who once mounts astride a bear is never after afraid; but you have a nose turned to dainties like Saint-Jacques of the hospital."
"Jehan, my friend, you are drunk," said the other.
The other replied staggering, "It pleases you to say so, phoebus; but it hath been proved that plato had the profile of a hound."
The reader has, no doubt, already recognized our two brave friends, the captain and the scholar.It appears that the man who was lying in wait for them had also recognized them, for he slowly followed all the zigzags that the scholar caused the captain to make, who being a more hardened drinker had retained all his self-possession.By listening to them attentively, the man in the mantle could catch in its entirety the following interesting conversation,--
"~Corbacque~!Do try to walk straight, master bachelor; you know that I must leave you.Here it is seven o'clock. I have an appointment with a woman."
"Leave me then!I see stars and lances of fire.You are like the Chateau de Dampmartin, which is bursting with laughter."
"By the warts of my grandmother, Jehan, you are raving with too much rabidness.By the way, Jehan, have you any money left?"
"Monsieur Rector, there is no mistake; the little butcher's shop, ~parva boucheria~."
"Jehau!my friend Jehan!You know that I made an appointment with that little girl at the end of the pont Saint- Michel, and I can only take her to the Falourdel's, the old crone of the bridge, and that I must pay for a chamber.The old witch with a white moustache would not trust me.Jehan! for pity's sake!Have we drunk up the whole of the curé's purse?Have you not a single parisis left?"
"The consciousness of having spent the other hours well is a just and savory condiment for the table."
"Belly and guts! a truce to your whimsical nonsense!Tell me, Jehan of the devil! have you any money left?Give it to me, ~bédieu~!" or I will search you, were you as leprous as Job, and as scabby as Caesar!"
"Monsieur, the Rue Galiache is a street which hath at one end the Rue de la Verrerie, and at the other the Rue de la Tixeranderie."
"Well, yes! my good friend Jehan, my poor comrade, the Rue Galiache is good, very good.But in the name of heaven collect your wits.I must have a sou parisis, and the appointment is for seven o'clock."
"Silence for the rondo, and attention to the refrain,--
"~Quand les rats mangeront les cas, Le roi sera seigneur d'Arras; Quand la mer, qui est grande et le(e Sera a la Saint-Jean gele(e, On verra, par-dessus la glace, Sortir ceux d'Arras de leur place~*."
*When the rats eat the cats, the king will be lord of Arras; when the sea which is great and wide, is frozen over at St. John's tide, men will see across the ice, those who dwell in Arras quit their place.
"Well, scholar of Antichrist, may you be strangled with the entrails of your mother!" exclaimed phoebus, and he gave the drunken scholar a rough push; the latter slipped against the wall, and slid flabbily to the pavement of philip Augustus.A remnant of fraternal pity, which never abandons the heart of a drinker, prompted phoebus to roll Jehan with his foot upon one of those pillows of the poor, which providence keeps in readiness at the corner of all the street posts of paris, and which the rich blight with the name of "a rubbish- heap."The captain adjusted Jehan's head upon an inclined plane of cabbage-stumps, and on the very instant, the scholar fell to snoring in a magnificent bass.Meanwhile, all malice was not extinguished in the captain's heart."So much the worse if the devil's cart picks you up on its passage!" he said to the poor, sleeping clerk; and he strode off.
The man in the mantle, who had not ceased to follow him, halted for a moment before the prostrate scholar, as though agitated by indecision; then, uttering a profound sigh, he also strode off in pursuit of the captain.
We, like them, will leave Jehan to slumber beneath the open sky, and will follow them also, if it pleases the reader.
On emerging into the Rue Saint-André-des-Arcs, Captain phoebus perceived that some one was following him.On glancing sideways by chance, he perceived a sort of shadow crawling after him along the walls.He halted, it halted; he resumed his march, it resumed its march.This disturbed him not overmuch."Ah, bah!" he said to himself, "I have not a sou."
He paused in front of the College d'Autun.It was at this college that he had sketched out what he called his studies, and, through a scholar's teasing habit which still lingered in him, he never passed the fa?ade without inflicting on the statue of Cardinal pierre Bertrand, sculptured to the right of the portal, the affront of which priapus complains so bitterly in the satire of Horace, ~Olim truncus eram ficulnus~.He had done this with so much unrelenting animosity that the inscription, ~Eduensis episcopus~, had become almost effaced. Therefore, he halted before the statue according to his wont. The street was utterly deserted.At the moment when he was coolly retying his shoulder knots, with his nose in the air, he saw the shadow approaching him with slow steps, so slow that he had ample time to observe that this shadow wore a cloak and a hat.On arriving near him, it halted and remained more motionless than the statue of Cardinal Bertrand. Meanwhile, it riveted upon phoebus two intent eyes, full of that vague light which issues in the night time from the pupils of a cat.
The captain was brave, and would have cared very little for a highwayman, with a rapier in his hand.But this walking statue, this petrified man, froze his blood.There were then in circulation, strange stories of a surly monk, a nocturnal prowler about the streets of paris, and they recurred confusedly to his memory.He remained for several minutes in stupefaction, and finally broke the silence with a forced laugh.
"Monsieur, if you are a robber, as I hope you are, you produce upon me the effect of a heron attacking a nutshell.I am the son of a ruined family, my dear fellow.Try your hand near by here.In the chapel of this college there is some wood of the true cross set in silver."
The hand of the shadow emerged from beneath its mantle and descended upon the arm of phoebus with the grip of an eagle's talon; at the same time the shadow spoke,--
"Captain phoebus de Chateaupers!"
What, the devil!" said phoebus, "you know my name!"
"I know not your name alone," continued the man in the mantle, with his sepulchral voice."You have a rendezvous this evening."
"Yes," replied phoebus in amazement.
"At seven o'clock."
"In a quarter of an hour."
"At la Falourdel's."
"precisely."
"The lewd hag of the pont Saint-Michel."
"Of Saint Michel the archangel, as the pater Noster saith."
"Impious wretch!" muttered the spectre."With a woman?"
"~Confiteor~,--I confess--."
"Who is called--?"
"La Smeralda," said phoebus, gayly.All his heedlessness had gradually returned.
At this name, the shadow's grasp shook the arm of phoebus in a fury.
"Captain phoebus de Chateaupers, thou liest!"
Any one who could have beheld at that moment the captain's inflamed countenance, his leap backwards, so violent that he disengaged himself from the grip which held him, the proud air with which he clapped his hand on his swordhilt, and, in the presence of this wrath the gloomy immobility of the man in the cloak,--any one who could have beheld this would have been frightened.There was in it a touch of the combat of Don Juan and the statue.
"Christ and Satan!" exclaimed the captain."That is a word which rarely strikes the ear of a Chateaupers!Thou wilt not dare repeat it."
"Thou liest!" said the shadow coldly.
The captain gnashed his teeth.Surly monk, phantom, superstitions,--he had forgotten all at that moment.He no longer beheld anything but a man, and an insult.
"Ah! this is well!" he stammered, in a voice stifled with rage.He drew his sword, then stammering, for anger as well as fear makes a man tremble: "Here!On the spot!Come on!Swords!Swords!Blood on the pavement!"
But the other never stirred.When he beheld his adversary on guard and ready to parry,--
"Captain phoebus," he said, and his tone vibrated with bitterness, "you forget your appointment."
The rages of men like phoebus are milk-soups, whose ebullition is calmed by a drop of cold water.This simple remark caused the sword which glittered in the captain's hand to be lowered.
"Captain," pursued the man, "to-morrow, the day after to-morrow, a month hence, ten years hence, you will find me ready to cut your throat; but go first to your rendezvous."
"In sooth," said phoebus, as though seeking to capitulate with himself, "these are two charming things to be encountered in a rendezvous,--a sword and a wench; but I do not see why I should miss the one for the sake of the other, when I can have both."
He replaced his sword in its scabbard.
"Go to your rendezvous," said the man.
"Monsieur," replied phoebus with some embarrassment, "many thanks for your courtesy.In fact, there will be ample time to-morrow for us to chop up father Adam's doublet into slashes and buttonholes.I am obliged to you for allowing me to pass one more agreeable quarter of an hour.I certainly did hope to put you in the gutter, and still arrive in time for the fair one, especially as it has a better appearance to make the women wait a little in such cases.But you strike me as having the air of a gallant man, and it is safer to defer our affair until to-morrow.So I will betake myself to my rendezvous; it is for seven o'clock, as you know."Here phoebus scratched his ear."Ah.~Corne Dieu~!I had forgotten! I haven't a sou to discharge the price of the garret, and the old crone will insist on being paid in advance.She distrusts me."
"Here is the wherewithal to pay."
phoebus felt the stranger's cold hand slip into his a large piece of money.He could not refrain from taking the money and pressing the hand.
"~Vrai Dieu~!" he exclaimed, "you are a good fellow!"
"One condition," said the man."prove to me that I have been wrong and that you were speaking the truth.Hide me in some corner whence I can see whether this woman is really the one whose name you uttered."
"Oh!" replied phoebus, "'tis all one to me.We will take, the Sainte-Marthe chamber; you can look at your ease from the kennel hard by."
"Come then," said the shadow.
"At your service," said the captain, "I know not whether you are Messer Diavolus in person; but let us be good friends for this evening; to-morrow I will repay you all my debts, both of purse and sword."
They set out again at a rapid pace.At the expiration of a few minutes, the sound of the river announced to them that they were on the pont Saint-Michel, then loaded with houses.
"I will first show you the way," said phoebus to his companion, "I will then go in search of the fair one who is awaiting me near the petit-Chatelet."
His companion made no reply; he had not uttered a word since they had been walking side by side.phoebus halted before a low door, and knocked roughly; a light made its appearance through the cracks of the door.
"Who is there?" cried a toothless voice.
"~Corps-Dieu!Tête-Dieu!Ventre-Dieu~!" replied the captain.
The door opened instantly, and allowed the new-corners to see an old woman and an old lamp, both of which trembled. The old woman was bent double, clad in tatters, with a shaking head, pierced with two small eyes, and coiffed with a dish clout; wrinkled everywhere, on hands and face and neck; her lips retreated under her gums, and about her mouth she had tufts of white hairs which gave her the whiskered look of a cat.
The interior of the den was no less dilapitated than she; there were chalk walls, blackened beams in the ceiling, a dismantled chimney-piece, spiders' webs in all the corners, in the middle a staggering herd of tables and lame stools, a dirty child among the ashes, and at the back a staircase, or rather, a wooden ladder, which ended in a trap door in the ceiling.
On entering this lair, phoebus's mysterious companion raised his mantle to his very eyes.Meanwhile, the captain, swearing like a Saracen, hastened to "make the sun shine in a crown" as saith our admirable Régnier.
"The Sainte-Marthe chamber," said he.
The old woman addressed him as monseigneur, and shut up the crown in a drawer.It was the coin which the man in the black mantle had given to phoebus.While her back was turned, the bushy-headed and ragged little boy who was playing in the ashes, adroitly approached the drawer, abstracted the crown, and put in its place a dry leaf which he had plucked from a fagot.
The old crone made a sign to the two gentlemen, as she called them, to follow her, and mounted the ladder in advance of them.On arriving at the upper story, she set her lamp on a coffer, and, phoebus, like a frequent visitor of the house, opened a door which opened on a dark hole."Enter here, my dear fellow," he said to his companion.The man in the mantle obeyed without a word in reply, the door closed upon him; he heard phoebus bolt it, and a moment later descend the stairs again with the aged hag.The light had disappeared.

《第七卷 七 野僧》
夏娃苹果是一家驰名的酒馆,座落在行会旗手街与大学城环形街的交角处.这是底楼的一间大厅,相当宽敞,却很低矮,正中央有一根漆成黄色的大木柱支撑着拱顶.大厅里摆满了桌子,墙上挂着发亮的锡酒壶.经常座无虚席,坐满酒徒和妓女,临街足有一排玻璃窗,门旁有一排葡萄架,门上方有一块哗啦直响的铁皮,用彩笔画着一只苹果和一个女人,经过日晒雨淋,已经锈迹斑斑,它安插在一根铁扦上,随风转动.这种朝街的风标,就是酒店的招牌.
夜幕渐渐降临了,街口一片昏暗.酒馆***通明,从远远地方望去,好象黑暗中一家打铁铺子.透过窗上的破玻璃,可以听见酒杯声,咒骂声,吃骂声,吵架声.大厅里热气腾腾,铺面的玻璃窗上蒙着一层轻雾,可以看见厅里上百张密密麻麻.模糊不清的面孔,不时发出一阵哄笑声.那些有事在身的行人,从喧闹的玻璃窗前走过去,连瞅都不瞅一眼.唯独不时有个把衣衫褴褛的男娃,踮起脚尖,头伸到窗台上,向着酒馆里面嘲骂,嚷着当时流行的取笑酒鬼的顺口溜:"酒鬼,酒鬼,酒鬼,掉进河里做水鬼!"
可是,有个人却怡然自若,在这声音嘈杂的酒馆门前踱来踱去,不停地向里张望,并且一步也不离开,就像一个哨兵不能离开岗哨似的.他披着斗篷,一直遮到鼻子.这件斗篷是他刚刚从夏娃苹果酒家附近的旧衣店买来的,大概为了防御三月晚间的寒气,说不准为了掩饰身上的服装.这个人不时了下来,站在拉着铅丝网的那张模糊不清的玻璃窗前,侧耳倾听,凝目注视,还轻轻跺着脚.
酒店的门终于开了,他左等右等,似乎就是等这件事.从酒店走出来两个酒徒,快活的脸上映着门里透出的光线,脸色红得发紫.披斗篷的汉子连忙轻轻一闪,躲进街对面的一个门廊里,监视着他俩的动静.
"长角的和天杀的!"有个酒徒说道,"快敲七点了,我约会的时间到了."
"听我说,"这个酒徒的伙伴接着说,舌头有点转僵,"我不住在屁话街,住在屁话街的是卑鄙小人;我住在约翰-白面包街.......您要是说谎了,那您就比独角兽还更头上长角喽......人人都知道,只要一次敢骑上大狗熊的人,永远什么都不忙,可是瞧您吃东西挑剔的那副嘴脸,就像主宫医院的圣雅各像."
"约翰好友,您已经喝醉了."另一位说.
约翰踉踉跄跄,答道:"您高兴怎么说就怎么说吧,弗比斯,反正柏拉图的侧面像只猎犬,是被证实了的."
读者肯定已经认出卫队长和学生这一对志趣相投的朋友了吧.躲在暗处窥探他俩的那个人,似乎也认出他们来了,于是慢步跟随在他们后面.学生走起路来东扭西歪,曲曲折折,卫队长也跟着东蹭西颠,不过卫队长酒量大,头脑一直十分清醒.披斗篷的人留心细听,从他们津津有味的交谈中听到了下面这些话:
"笨蛋!您走直点好不好,先生!您知道,我该走了.都已经快七点了.我同一个女人有约了."
"那就别管我,您!我看见星星和火苗.你就跟唐马尔丹城堡一样,笑开了花啦!"
"凭我***疣子发誓,约翰,您这是起劲过了头,满口胡说八道.......对啦,约翰,您真的没剩一点钱吗?"
"校董大人,没错,小屠宰场."
"约翰,我的好人儿约翰!您知道嘛,我约好那个小妞在圣米歇尔桥头幽会,我只能把她带到桥头那个法露黛尔老太婆家里去,得付房钱呐.这个长着白胡子的老娼妇不肯让我赊账的.约翰,行行好吧!神甫一整钱袋的钱,我们都喝得精光了吗?您连一个小钱也不剩了吗?"
"想到曾痛痛快快地花钱,度过了那几个钟头的好时光,那美滋滋的味道,比得上一种真正的喷香的餐桌佐料."
"妈的肚皮和肠子!别放屁了,告诉我,鬼约翰,您是不是还剩点钱?快拿出来,要不,我就要搜身了,哪怕您像约伯害麻疯,像恺撒生疥癣!"
"先生,加利亚什街一头通向玻璃坊街,另一头通向织布坊街."
"没错,我的约翰好朋友,我可怜的伙伴,加利亚什街,对,很对.可是,看在老天爷的面上,醒一醒吧,我只要一个巴黎索尔,但就可以消磨七个钟头啦."
"别再老唱轮舞曲了,听我唱这一段:等到老鼠吃猫的时候,国王将成为阿拉斯君主;当辽阔无边的大海,在圣约翰节冻成冰,人们便会看到阿拉斯人,从冰上纷纷离开家园.
"那好,你这大逆不道的学子,让你妈的肠子把你勒死才好呢!"弗比斯叫嚷起来,并用劲把醉醺醺的学子一推,学子就势一滑,撞在墙上,浑身软绵绵地倒在菲利浦—奥古斯特的石板大路上了.酒徒们总怀有兄弟般的同情心,弗比斯多少还有一点这种怜悯心,便用脚把他推到一旁,让他靠在穷人的枕头上,那是上帝在巴黎每个街角给穷人准备的,有钱人贬称为垃圾堆.卫队长把约翰的脑袋枕在一堆白菜根的斜面上,约翰立刻呼噜呼噜打起鼾来,好比在哼着一支男低音的美妙曲子.不过,卫队长余怒未消,冲着沉睡的神学院学子说:"活该,让魔鬼的大车经过时把你捡走才好咧!"一说完,径自走了.
披斗篷的人一直跟踪着他,这时走过来在酣卧的学子跟前,停了片刻,好像犹豫不决,心烦意乱;随后一声长叹,也走开了,继续跟踪卫队长去了.
我们也像他们那样,让约翰在美丽星星的和霭目光下酣睡吧,请看官跟我们一道,也去跟踪他们两个人吧.
弗比斯卫队长走到了拱门圣安德烈街时,发现有人在跟踪他.偶然一回头,看见有个影子在他后面沿墙爬行.他停,影子也停;他走,影子也走.他对此并没有什么可担心的,暗自想道:"去***!反正我没有钱."
到了奥顿学堂门前,他突然歇住.想当初,他就是在这所学堂开始他所谓的修业的.他仍保留昔日淘气学子的捣蛋习惯,每次从这学堂的门前经过,总要把大门右边皮埃尔.贝尔特朗红衣主教的塑像侮辱一番,这种侮辱就像奥拉斯的讽刺诗《从前无花果树砍断了》中普里阿普满腹辛酸所抱怨的那样.他干起这种事劲头十足,结果塑像的题词"中高卢人主教"几乎被他砸得全看不见了.这一回,他像入学那样又停在塑像跟前,街上此时空无一人.正当他有气无力地迎风再结裤带时,看见那个影子慢慢向他走过来,脚步那样缓慢,卫队长可以看清这个人影披着斗篷,头戴帽子.这人影一挨近他身旁,陡然停住,一动不动,比贝尔特朗红衣主教的塑像还僵直.可是,这个人影的两只眼睛却定定地盯着弗比斯,目光朦胧,俨如夜间猫眼的瞳孔射出来的那种光.
卫队长生性胆大,又长剑在手,并没有把个小偷放在眼里.然而,看见这尊行走的塑像,这个化成石头般的人,不由心里发怵,手脚冰凉.当时到处流传,说有个野僧夜间在巴黎街头四处游荡,闹得满城风雨,此时此刻,有关野僧的许多莫名其妙的传闻,乱七八糟地全浮现在他的脑海里.他吓得魂不附体,呆立了片刻.最后打破沉默,勉强地笑了起来.
"先生,您要是像我所想的,是个贼,那就好比鹭鸶啄核桃壳,您白费劲.我是个破落户子弟,亲爱的朋友.到旁边去打主意吧,这所学校的小礼拜堂里倒有真正做木十字架的上等木料,全是镶银的."
那个人影从斗篷里伸出手来,像鹰爪似地重重一把抓住弗比斯的胳膊,同时开口说:"弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔队长!"
"怎么,活见鬼啦!"弗比斯说道."您知道我的名字!"
"我不仅知道您的名字,而且还知道今晚您有个约会."斗篷人接着说,他的声音像从坟墓里发出来似的.
"不错."弗比斯应道,目瞪口呆.
"是七点钟."
"就在一刻钟以后."
"在法露黛尔家里."
"一点不差."
"是圣米歇尔桥头那个娼妇."
"是圣米歇尔大天使,像经文所说的."
"大逆不道的东西!"那鬼影嘀咕道."跟一个女人幽会吗?"
"我承认."
"她叫什么名字?"
"爱斯梅拉达."弗比斯轻松地应道,又逐渐恢复了他那种满不在乎的模样.
一听到这个名字,那人影的铁爪狠狠地晃了一下弗比斯的胳膊.
"弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔队长,你撒谎!"
弗比斯赫然发怒,脸孔涨得通红,往后猛然一跃,挣脱了抓住他胳膊的铁钳,神气凛然,手按剑把,而斗篷人面对着这样的狂怒,依然神色阴沉,巍然不动.这种情景谁要是看了,定会毛骨悚然.这真有点像唐.璜与石像的生死搏斗.
"基督和撒旦呀!"卫队长叫道."很少有人胆敢冲着姓夏尔莫吕的这样大放厥词!料你不敢再说一遍!"
"你撒谎!"影子冷冷地说道.
卫队长牙齿咬得咯咯直响.什么野僧啦,鬼魂啦,乌七八糟的迷信啦,顷刻间全抛到九霄云外,他眼里只看到一个家伙,心里只想到一个所受的侮辱.
"好啊!有种!"他怒不可遏,连声音都哽住似的,结结巴巴地说道.他一下子拔出剑来,气得浑身直发抖,就如同恐惧时发抖那样,接着含糊不清地说道:"来!就在这儿!马上!呸!看剑!看剑!让血洒石板路吧!"
然而,对方却没动弹,看到对手摆开架势,准备好冲刺,便说:"弗比斯队长,别忘了您的约会."他说这话时,由于心中的苦楚,声调微微颤抖.
像弗比斯这样性情暴躁的人,宛如滚开的奶油汤,一滴凉水就可以立刻止沸.听到一句这么简单的话儿,卫队长立即放下手中寒光闪闪的长剑.
"队长,"那个人又说."明天,后天,一个月或者十年之后,您随时可以找我决斗的,我随时准备割断您的咽喉;不过现在您还是先去赴约吧."
"没错,"弗比斯说,好像给自己设法找个下台的台阶."一是决斗,一是姑娘,这倒是在一次约会中难得碰到的两件畅快的事情.但我不明白为什么不能两兼,顾了一头就得错过另一头呢!"
一说完,把剑再插入剑鞘."快赴您的约会去吧!"陌生人又说.
"先生,您这样有礼貌,我十分感谢.的确,明天有的是时间,够我们拼个你死我活,白刀子进红刀子出,把亚当老头子的这身臭皮囊切成碎块.我感谢您让我再快活一刻钟.本来我指望把您撂倒在阴沟里,还来得及赶去同美人幽会,特别是这种幽会让女人略等一等,倒是显得很神气的.不过,您这个人看起来是个男子汉,那就把这场决斗推迟到明天更稳当些.我就赴约去了,定在七点钟,您是知道的."说到这里,他搔了搔耳朵,再接着往下说:"啊!***!我倒忘了!我一分钱也没有,没法付那破房钱,那个死老婆子非得要先付房钱不可.她才不相信我呢."
"拿去付房租吧."
弗比斯感觉到陌生人冰凉的手往他手里塞了一枚大钱币,他忍不住收下这钱,并且握住那人的手.
"上帝啊!"他叫了起来."您真是个好孩子!"
"但有个条件,"那个人说."您得向我证明,是我说错了,而您说的是真话.这就要您把我藏在某个角落里,让我亲自看看那个女人,是否她果真就是您提到名字的那一个."
"唔!我才不在乎哩."弗比斯应道."我们要的是圣玛尔特那个房间,旁边有个狗窝,您可以躲在里面随便看个够."
"那就走吧."影子又说.
"尊便."卫队长说道."我不知道您是不是魔鬼老爷本人.不过,今晚我们就交个朋友吧,明天我所有的债跟您一起算清,包括钱和剑!"
他俩随即快步往前走.不一会儿,听见河水的汩汩声,他们知道已来到当时挤满房子的圣米歇尔桥上了.弗比斯对同伴说:"我先带您进屋去,然后再去找我的小美人,约好她在小堡附近等我."
那个人没有答腔.自从两个人并肩一起同行,他就一言不发.弗比斯在一家房子的矮门前停下,狠狠捶门.一线亮光随即从门缝里透了出来,只听见一个牙齿漏风的声音问道:"谁呀?"卫队长应道:"上帝身体!上帝脑袋!上帝肚皮!"门立即开了,只见一个老婆子提着一盏老油灯,人抖抖索索,灯也抖抖索索.老太婆弯腰曲背,一身破旧衣裳,脑袋摇来晃去,两个小眼窝,头上裹着一块破布,手上.脸上.脖子上,到处都是横七竖八的皱纹;两片嘴唇瘪了进去直陷到牙龈下面,嘴巴周围尽是一撮撮的白毛,看上去就像猫的胡须似的.屋内残破不堪,如同老太婆一样衰败.白垩的墙壁,天花板上发黑的椽条,拆掉的壁炉,每个角落挂满蜘蛛网,屋子正中摆着好几张缺腿断脚的桌子和板凳,一个肮脏的孩子在煤灰里玩耍,屋底有座楼梯-或者更确切地说是一张木梯子-通向天花板上一个翻板活门.一钻入这兽穴,弗比斯的那位神秘伙伴就把斗篷一直拉到眼睛底下,而弗比斯一边像撒拉逊人那样骂个不停,一边像可敬的雷尼埃所说的那样,让一枚埃居闪耀着太阳般的光辉,说道:"要圣玛尔特房间."
老太婆顿时把他看成大老爷,紧紧拽住那枚金币,放它进抽屉里.这枚金币就是披黑斗篷的人刚才塞给弗比斯的.老太婆刚一转身,那个在煤灰里玩耍的蓬头垢面.破衣烂衫的男孩,敏捷地走近抽屉,拿起金币,并在原处放下了一片刚从柴禾上扯下来的枯叶.
老太婆向两位称为先生的人打了手势,叫他们跟着她,自己先爬上梯子.随她上了楼,把灯放在一口大箱上.弗比斯是这里的常客,熟门熟路,便打开一道门,里面是一间阴暗的陋室,对伙伴说道:"亲爱的,请进吧."披斗篷的人二话没说,就走了进去.门一下子又关上了.他听见弗比斯从外面把门闩上,然后同老婆子一起下楼去了.灯光也被吹灭了.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 33楼  发表于: 2013-10-28 0

《BOOK SEVENTH CHAPTER VIII.THE UTILITY OF WINDOWS WHICH OPEN ON THE RIVER.》
Claude Frollo (for we presume that the reader, more intelligent than phoebus, has seen in this whole adventure no other surly monk than the archdeacon), Claude Frollo groped about for several moments in the dark lair into which the captain had bolted him.It was one of those nooks which architects sometimes reserve at the point of junction between the roof and the supporting wall.A vertical section of this kennel, as phoebus had so justly styled it, would have made a triangle. Moreover, there was neither window nor air-hole, and the slope of the roof prevented one from standing upright.Accordingly, Claude crouched down in the dust, and the plaster which cracked beneath him; his head was on fire; rummaging around him with his hands, be found on the floor a bit of broken glass, which he pressed to his brow, and whose cool- ness afforded him some relief.
What was taking place at that moment in the gloomy soul of the archdeacon?God and himself could alone know.
In what order was he arranging in his mind la Esmeralda, phoebus, Jacques Charmolue, his young brother so beloved, yet abandoned by him in the mire, his archdeacon's cassock, his reputation perhaps dragged to la Falourdel's, all these adventures, all these images?I cannot say.But it is certain that these ideas formed in his mind a horrible group.
He had been waiting a quarter of an hour; it seemed to him that he had grown a century older.All at once be heard the creaking of the boards of the stairway; some one was ascending.The trapdoor opened once more; a light reappeared. There was a tolerably large crack in the worm-eaten door of his den; he put his face to it.In this manner he could see all that went on in the adjoining room.The cat-faced old crone was the first to emerge from the trap-door, lamp in hand; then phoebus, twirling his moustache, then a third person, that beautiful and graceful figure, la Esmeralda. The priest beheld her rise from below like a dazzling apparition.Claude trembled, a cloud spread over his eyes, his pulses beat violently, everything rustled and whirled around him; he no longer saw nor heard anything.
When he recovered himself, phoebus and Esmeralda were alone seated on the wooden coffer beside the lamp which made these two youthful figures and a miserable pallet at the end of the attic stand out plainly before the archdeacon's eyes.
Beside the pallet was a window, whose panes broken like a spider's web upon which rain has fallen, allowed a view, through its rent meshes, of a corner of the sky, and the moon lying far away on an eiderdown bed of soft clouds.
The young girl was blushing, confused, palpitating.Her long, drooping lashes shaded her crimson cheeks.The officer, to whom she dared not lift her eyes, was radiant.Mechanically, and with a charmingly unconscious gesture, she traced with the tip of her finger incoherent lines on the bench, and watched her finger.Her foot was not visible.The little goat was nestling upon it.
The captain was very gallantly clad; he had tufts of embroidery at his neck and wrists; a great elegance at that day.
It was not without difficulty that Dom Claude managed to hear what they were saying, through the humming of the blood, which was boiling in his temples.
(A conversation between lovers is a very commonplace affair.It is a perpetual "I love you."A musical phrase which is very insipid and very bald for indifferent listeners, when it is not ornamented with some ~fioriture~; but Claude was not an indifferent listener.)
"Oh!" said the young girl, without raising her eyes, "do not despise me, monseigneur phoebus.I feel that what I am doing is not right."
"Despise you, my pretty child!" replied the officer with an air of superior and distinguished gallantry, "despise you, ~tête-Dieu~! and why?"
"For having followed you!"
"On that point, my beauty, we don't agree.I ought not to despise you, but to hate you."
The young girl looked at him in affright: "Hate me! what have I done?"
"For having required so much urging."
"Alas!" said she, "'tis because I am breaking a vow.I shall not find my parents!The amulet will lose its virtue. But what matters it?What need have I of father or mother now?"
So saying, she fixed upon the captain her great black eyes, moist with joy and tenderness.
"Devil take me if I understand you!" exclaimed phoebus. La Esmeralda remained silent for a moment, then a tear dropped from her eyes, a sigh from her lips, and she said,-- "Oh! monseigneur, I love you."
Such a perfume of chastity, such a charm of virtue surrounded the young girl, that phoebus did not feel completely at his ease beside her.But this remark emboldened him: "You love me!" he said with rapture, and he threw his arm round the gypsy's waist.He had only been waiting for this opportunity.
The priest saw it, and tested with the tip of his finger the point of a poniard which he wore concealed in his breast.
"phoebus," continued the Bohemian, gently releasing her waist from the captain's tenacious hands, "You are good, you are generous, you are handsome; you saved me, me who am only a poor child lost in Bohemia.I had long been dreaming of an officer who should save my life.'Twas of you that I was dreaming, before I knew you, my phoebus; the officer of my dream had a beautiful uniform like yours, a grand look, a sword; your name is phoebus; 'tis a beautiful name.I love your name; I love your sword.Draw your sword, phoebus, that I may see it."
"Child!" said the captain, and he unsheathed his sword with a smile.
The gypsy looked at the hilt, the blade; examined the cipher on the guard with adorable curiosity, and kissed the sword, saying,--
You are the sword of a brave man.I love my captain." phoebus again profited by the opportunity to impress upon her beautiful bent neck a kiss which made the young girl straighten herself up as scarlet as a poppy.The priest gnashed his teeth over it in the dark.
"phoebus," resumed the gypsy, "let me talk to you.pray walk a little, that I may see you at full height, and that I may hear your spurs jingle.How handsome you are!"
The captain rose to please her, chiding her with a smile of satisfaction,--
"What a child you are!By the way, my charmer, have you seen me in my archer's ceremonial doublet?"
"Alas! no," she replied.
"It is very handsome!"
phoebus returned and seated himself beside her, but much closer than before.
"Listen, my dear--"
The gypsy gave him several little taps with her pretty hand on his mouth, with a childish mirth and grace and gayety.
"No, no, I will not listen to you.Do you love me?I want you to tell me whether you love me."
"Do I love thee, angel of my life!" exclaimed the captain, half kneeling."My body, my blood, my soul, all are thine; all are for thee.I love thee, and I have never loved any one but thee."
The captain had repeated this phrase so many times, in many similar conjunctures, that he delivered it all in one breath, without committing a single mistake.At this passionate declaration, the gypsy raised to the dirty ceiling which served for the skies a glance full of angelic happiness.
"Oh!" she murmured, "this is the moment when one should die!"
phoebus found "the moment" favorable for robbing her of another kiss, which went to torture the unhappy archdeacon in his nook."Die!" exclaimed the amorous captain, "What are you saying, my lovely angel?'Tis a time for living, or Jupiter is only a scamp!Die at the beginning of so sweet a thing!~Corne-de-boeuf~, what a jest!It is not that.Listen, my dear Similar, Esmenarda--pardon!you have so prodigiously Saracen a name that I never can get it straight.'Tis a thicket which stops me short."
"Good heavens!" said the poor girl, "and I thought my name pretty because of its singularity!But since it displeases you, I would that I were called Goton."
"Ah! do not weep for such a trifle, my graceful maid! 'tis a name to which one must get accustomed, that is all. When I once know it by heart, all will go smoothly.Listen then, my dear Similar; I adore you passionately.I love you so that 'tis simply miraculous.I know a girl who is bursting with rage over it--"
The jealous girl interrupted him: "Who?"
"What matters that to us?" said phoebus; "do you love me?"
"Oh!"--said she.
"Well! that is all.You shall see how I love you also. May the great devil Neptunus spear me if I do not make you the happiest woman in the world.We will have a pretty little house somewhere.I will make my archers parade before your windows.They are all mounted, and set at defiance those of Captain Mignon.There are ~voulgiers, cranequiniers~ and hand ~couleveiniers~*.I will take you to the great sights of the parisians at the storehouse of Rully. Eighty thousand armed men, thirty thousand white harnesses, short coats or coats of mail; the sixty-seven banners of the trades; the standards of the parliaments, of the chamber of accounts, of the treasury of the generals, of the aides of the mint; a devilish fine array, in short!I will conduct you to see the lions of the H?tel du Roi, which are wild beasts.All women love that."
* Varieties of the crossbow.
For several moments the young girl, absorbed in her charming thoughts, was dreaming to the sound of his voice, without listening to the sense of his words.
"Oh! how happy you will be!" continued the captain, and at the same time he gently unbuckled the gypsy's girdle.
"What are you doing?" she said quickly.This "act of violence" had roused her from her revery.
"Nothing," replied phoebus, "I was only saying that you must abandon all this garb of folly, and the street corner when you are with me."
"When I am with you, phoebus!" said the young girl tenderly.
She became pensive and silent once more.
The captain, emboldened by her gentleness, clasped her waist without resistance; then began softly to unlace the poor child's corsage, and disarranged her tucker to such an extent that the panting priest beheld the gypsy's beautiful shoulder emerge from the gauze, as round and brown as the moon rising through the mists of the horizon.
The young girl allowed phoebus to have his way.She did not appear to perceive it.The eye of the bold captain flashed.
Suddenly she turned towards him,--
"phoebus," she said, with an expression of infinite love, "instruct me in thy religion."
"My religion!" exclaimed the captain, bursting with laughter, "I instruct you in my religion!~Corne et tonnerre~!What do you want with my religion?"
"In order that we may be married," she replied.
The captain's face assumed an expression of mingled surprise and disdain, of carelessness and libertine passion.
"Ah, bah!" said he, "do people marry?"
The Bohemian turned pale, and her head drooped sadly on her breast.
"My beautiful love," resumed phoebus, tenderly, "what nonsense is this?A great thing is marriage, truly!one is none the less loving for not having spit Latin into a priest's shop!"
While speaking thus in his softest voice, he approached extremely near the gypsy; his caressing hands resumed their place around her supple and delicate waist, his eye flashed more and more, and everything announced that Monsieur phoebus was on the verge of one of those moments when Jupiter himself commits so many follies that Homer is obliged to summon a cloud to his rescue.
But Dom Claude saw everything.The door was made of thoroughly rotten cask staves, which left large apertures for the passage of his hawklike gaze.This brown-skinned, broad- shouldered priest, hitherto condemned to the austere virginity of the cloister, was quivering and boiling in the presence of this night scene of love and voluptuousness.This young and beautiful girl given over in disarray to the ardent young man, made melted lead flow in his-veins; his eyes darted with sensual jealousy beneath all those loosened pins.Any one who could, at that moment, have seen the face of the unhappy man glued to the wormeaten bars, would have thought that he beheld the face of a tiger glaring from the depths of a cage at some jackal devouring a gazelle.His eye shone like a candle through the cracks of the door.
All at once, phoebus, with a rapid gesture, removed the gypsy's gorgerette.The poor child, who had remained pale and dreamy, awoke with a start; she recoiled hastily from the enterprising officer, and, casting a glance at her bare neck and shoulders, red, confused, mute with shame, she crossed her two beautiful arms on her breast to conceal it.Had it not been for the flame which burned in her cheeks, at the sight of her so silent and motionless, one would have. declared her a statue of Modesty.Her eyes were lowered.
But the captain's gesture had revealed the mysterious amulet which she wore about her neck.
"What is that?" he said, seizing this pretext to approach once more the beautiful creature whom he had just alarmed.
"Don't touch it!" she replied, quickly, "'tis my guardian. It will make me find my family again, if I remain worthy to do so.Oh, leave me, monsieur le capitaine!My mother! My poor mother!My mother!Where art thou?Come to my rescue!Have pity, Monsieur phoebus, give me back my gorgerette!"
phoebus retreated amid said in a cold tone,--
"Oh, mademoiselle!I see plainly that you do not love me!"
"I do not love him!" exclaimed the unhappy child, and at the same time she clung to the captain, whom she drew to a seat beside her."I do not love thee, my phoebus?What art thou saying, wicked man, to break my heart?Oh, take me! take all! do what you will with me, I am thine.What matters to me the amulet!What matters to me my mother! 'Tis thou who art my mother since I love thee!phoebus, my beloved phoebus, dost thou see me?'Tis I.Look at me; 'tis the little one whom thou wilt surely not repulse, who comes, who comes herself to seek thee.My soul, my life, my body, my person, all is one thing--which is thine, my captain. Well, no!We will not marry, since that displeases thee; and then, what am I? a miserable girl of the gutters; whilst thou, my phoebus, art a gentleman.A fine thing, truly!A dancer wed an officer!I was mad.No, phoebus, no; I will be thy mistress, thy amusement, thy pleasure, when thou wilt; a girl who shall belong to thee.I was only made for that, soiled, despised, dishonored, but what matters it?--beloved. I shall be the proudest and the most joyous of women.And when I grow old or ugly, phoebus, when I am no longer good to love you, you will suffer me to serve you still.Others will embroider scarfs for you; 'tis I, the servant, who will care for them.You will let me polish your spurs, brush your doublet, dust your riding-boots.You will have that pity, will you not, phoebus?Meanwhile, take me! here, phoebus, all this belongs to thee, only love me!We gypsies need only air and love."
So saying, she threw her arms round the officer's neck; she looked up at him, supplicatingly, with a beautiful smile, and all in tears.Her delicate neck rubbed against his cloth doublet with its rough embroideries.She writhed on her knees, her beautiful body half naked.The intoxicated captain pressed his ardent lips to those lovely African shoulders. The young girl, her eyes bent on the ceiling, as she leaned backwards, quivered, all palpitating, beneath this kiss.
All at once, above phoebus's head she beheld another head; a green, livid, convulsed face, with the look of a lost soul; near this face was a hand grasping a poniard.--It was the face and hand of the priest; he had broken the door and he was there.phoebus could not see him.The young girl remained motionless, frozen with terror, dumb, beneath that terrible apparition, like a dove which should raise its head at the moment when the hawk is gazing into her nest with its round eyes.
She could not even utter a cry.She saw the poniard descend upon phoebus, and rise again, reeking.
"Maledictions!" said the captain, and fell.
She fainted.
At the moment when her eyes closed, when all feeling vanished in her, she thought that she felt a touch of fire imprinted upon her lips, a kiss more burning than the red-hot iron of the executioner.
When she recovered her senses, she was surrounded by soldiers of the watch they were carrying away the captain, bathed in his blood the priest had disappeared; the window at the back of the room which opened on the river was wide open; they picked up a cloak which they supposed to belong to the officer and she heard them saying around her,
"'Tis a sorceress who has stabbed a captain."

《第七卷 八 临河窗子的用处》
克洛德.弗罗洛(我们设想,读者比弗比斯聪明,早在这整个历险中已经看出,那野僧不是别人,而是副主教),他在那间被弗比斯反闩上门的昏暗陋室里摸索了好一阵子.这是建筑师在盖房子时,偶或在屋顶与矮栏墙的连结处留下的一个隐蔽角落.恰似弗比斯其妙无比所叫的那样,这狗窝的纵剖面呈三角形,没有窗户,也没有透光的天窗,屋顶倾斜,人在里面都无法站直身子.克洛德只好蹲在尘灰和被他踩得粉碎的灰泥残片里.他的头滚烫,双手在身边周围到处摸,无意间在地上摸到一片破玻璃,赶紧把它贴在脑门上,顿感凉意,人也稍微舒服了一些.
此时,副主教的阴暗心灵里在想些什么?只有他和上帝才知道.
不知他内心里,究竟按照什么样的宿命的秩序,来安排爱斯梅拉达.弗比斯.雅克.夏尔莫吕.他那身副主教法衣.他爱之至深却被他抛弃在泥淖中的弟弟,也许还有他来到法露黛尔家里而受到连累的名声,总而言之,他如何安排所有这些形象,这些奇遇呢?这我可说不来,不过这些念头在他脑子里乱成一团,那倒是肯定无疑的.
他等了一刻钟,似乎觉得苍老了一百岁.忽然,听见木梯子的木板轧轧响,有人上来了.梯口盖板被推开了,一道亮光照了进来.狗窝那扇蛀痕斑斑的门上有一道相当宽的裂缝,他把脸贴了上去,这样就能看清隔壁房间里的动静了.猫脸老太婆先从活板门钻了出来,手里提着灯;接着是弗比斯,捋着小胡子,随后上来了第三个人,身影楚楚动人,风姿标致,正是爱斯梅拉达.克洛德一看见她从地下冒出来,好象看见光辉耀眼的显圣一般,情不自禁地浑身直打哆嗦,眼前一片云雾弥漫,心剧烈地扑通扑通直跳,只觉得天旋地转.他什么也看不见,什么也都听不见了.
等到他清醒过来,房间里只剩下了弗比斯和爱斯梅拉达,两个人坐在那只大木箱上,旁边放着那盏灯.灯光下两张青春焕发的面孔和陋室深处一张蹩脚的床,在副主教眼里显得格外刺目.
床边有一扇窗子,窗上的玻璃就像骤雨打过的蜘蛛网那样七零八落,透过残破的铅丝网,可以望见一角天穹,以及天边浮现在鸭绒般柔软云端上的落月.
那个少女羞答答,直愣愣,喘吁吁.长长的睫毛搭拉下来,遮盖在绯红的脸颊上.而那个年青军官,神采飞扬.她不敢抬头看他,只是机械地用一种傻得可爱的动作,用手指尖在板凳上胡乱划来划去,眼睛盯着自己的手指.看不见她的脚,小山羊蹲坐在她的脚上面.
卫队长打扮得特别潇洒,衣领和袖口上都缀着金银穗束,这在当时是十分漂亮的.
堂.克洛德的热血在沸腾,太阳穴嗡嗡作响,想听清楚他俩在说此什么,可不是轻而易举的,要费好大的劲儿.
(谈情说爱是相当乏味的,嘴上我爱你老是说个没完.如果不加点某种装饰音,在毫不相干的人听来,这句歌词枯燥得很,腻味得很.不过,克洛德并不是毫不相干的旁听者.)
"啊!"少女说道,眼睛仍然没有抬起,"别瞧不起我,弗比斯大人.我如此做,我觉得很不正派."
"瞧不起您,漂亮的小姐,怎么会呢!"军官回答着,那表情又巴结又骄傲又高雅,"瞧不起您,上帝呀!这从何说起呢?"
"因为我跟着您来到了这里."
"说到这个嘛,我的美人,我们还想不到一块去.瞧不起您是不应该的,可恨您却倒是理所当然的."
少女惊恐地瞧了他一眼:"恨我!我究竟做错了什么?"
"因为您老是推三阻四,便逼我百般苦求您."
"唉!"她说道,"那是因为许了个愿,要是不恪守......我就再也找不到我的父母......护身符就不灵啦.......不过,这有什么了不起呢?我现在还要父母做什么?"
她这样说着,两只乌黑的大眼睛,水汪汪,含情脉脉,喜盈盈直勾勾地盯着卫队长.
"鬼才懂得您说些什么!"弗比斯叫了起来.
爱斯梅拉达沉默了片刻,然后眼角流出一滴泪珠儿,嘴里吐出一声叹息,说道:"啊!大人,我爱您."
少女的身上有着一种纯洁的芳香,一种贞淑的魅力,弗比斯在她身旁多少感到有些不自在,可听到这句话儿,胆大顿时大了,心荡神驰,说:"您爱我!"并伸出胳膊一下子搂住埃及少女的腰身.他等待的就是这个时刻.
教士一看,用手指尖试了试藏在胸前的一那把匕首的尖锋.
"弗比斯,"吉卜赛女郎轻轻地推开队长紧搂着她腰身的那双手,继续说."您心好,慷慨,英俊.您救了我的命,我只不过是一个流落在波希米亚的可怜孩子.在很久以前我曾做了一个梦,梦见有个军官来搭救我.这就是说还没有认识您以前,我就梦见您了,我的弗比斯.我梦到的那个军官,跟您一模一样,也穿着一身漂亮的军服,也长得相貌堂堂英俊潇洒,也带着一把剑.您叫弗比斯,这个名字很好,我喜欢您的名字,喜欢您的剑.把您的剑抽出来给我看看,弗比斯!"
"真孩子气!"队长说,笑咪咪地拔出剑来.埃及少女看看剑把,瞧瞧剑身,好奇得实在十分可爱,仔细瞄着剑柄上队长姓名头个字母的缩写图案,深情地吻着剑说:"这真是一位勇士的佩剑,我爱我的队长."
弗比斯又一次抓住机会,趁她低头看剑,在她秀丽的脖子上吻了一下,少女猛一下抬起头来,脸羞得像樱桃那样透红.教士在黑暗中牙齿咬得咯咯响.
"弗比斯,"埃及少女接着说,"您听我说.您走一走吧,让我看一看您魁梧的身材,听一听您马刺的响声.您多么英俊呀!"
卫队长为了讨得的欢心,立刻站起身,踌躇满志,满是笑容,带着责备的口吻说:"您可真是孩子!......啊,对啦,宝贝,您见过我穿礼服吗?"
"唉!我没有."她答.
"那才叫漂亮呐!"
弗比斯走过来又坐在她身边,比刚才更挨近她.
"听着,亲爱的......"
埃及少女伸出秀丽的小手,在弗比斯的嘴巴上轻轻地拍了几下,那一副孩子气真是又痴情,又文雅,又快活,一边说:"不,不,我不听.您爱我吗?我要您亲口对我说,您是不是爱我?"
"是不是爱您,这还说嘛,我的天使!"弗比斯半跪着嚷道,"我的身体,我的血液,我的灵魂,一切都属于你,一切都为了你.我爱你,从来只爱你一人."
这些话,卫队长在许许多多类似的场合说过成千上万遍了,因此一口气便滔滔不绝全倒了出来,连一丁点儿差错都没有.听到这种情意缠绵的表白,埃及少女抬头望了望肮脏的天花板,好象那就是天穹,目光中充满着天使般的幸福神情.她喃喃道:"哦!要是现在死去那真是死得其时呀!"弗比斯觉得现在正好可以再偷吻她一下,这叫可真躲在角落里的可怜副主教心如刀割.
"死!"卫队长这情郎叫了起来."您说什么呀,美丽的天使!现在正是该好好活着的时候,否则,朱庇特就是一个捣蛋鬼!这样甜蜜的好事刚开头就死去!***,开什么玩笑!......不应该死......听我说,亲爱的西米拉......对不起......爱斯梅拉达......不过,您的名字真是怪得出奇,简直是撒拉逊人的名字,我老是记不住,就像冷不防碰到荆棘丛,一下子把我拦住了."
"天啊!"可怜的少女说道."我原以为这个名字很奇特,很漂亮!可是既然您不喜欢,那我就改名叫戈通好啦."
"啊!犯不着为鸡毛蒜皮的小事难过了,标致的小娘子!这是个名字,我应该叫惯它的.等我记住了,也就顺当啦.听我说,亲爱的西米拉,我爱您爱得入迷,我真心诚意地爱您,这真是天赐良缘.我知道有个小娘子会被活活气死的."
少女顿生嫉妒,打断他的话问道:"那是谁?"
"这跟咱们有什么相干?"弗比斯说道,"您爱我吗?"
"啊!......"她答道.
"算啦!不用再说了.我是多么爱您,您看好啦.要是我不能够使您成为世上最幸福的人,就叫大鬼内普图努力斯海王用钢叉把我叉死.我们会在某个地方有一座漂亮的小房子,我要叫我的弓箭队在您的窗前列队操演.他们个个全骑着马,压根儿就不把米尼翁的弓箭手们放在眼里.还有长矛手.短铳手.长铳手.我要带您去吕利谷库看巴黎人眼中的那些巨怪.那才好看哩.八万顶头盔,甲胄和锁子胸甲.三万套白鞍辔,六十七面各行业的旗子;大理寺.审计院.将军司库.铸币贡赋司的旗子;总而言之,是魔鬼一整套銮驾!我还要到王宫去看狮子,全是凶猛的野兽.女人个个都喜欢看这些."
少女早已沉浸在幸福的想象当中,随着他说话的声音想入非非,但没有听清他在说些什么.
"哦!您会幸福的!"队长继续说道,同时悄悄地解开埃及少女的腰带.
"您这是做什么呀?"她急速问道,这种作法把她从想入非非中一下子拉了回来.
"没什么."弗比斯答道,"我只是说,等以后您跟我在一起时,应当把这身街头卖艺的轻佻打扮全改掉."
"那得等我同你生活在一起的时候,我的弗比斯!"少女满怀深情地说道.她又沉思不语了.
见她柔情似水,队长色胆壮大,一把搂住她的腰,她并没有抗拒,接着动手解开这可怜少女紧身上衣的带子,瑟瑟作响,接着一使劲,把她的奶罩扯掉.直喘粗气的教士顿时看见了吉卜赛女郎赤裸的秀肩从轻纱衣裙中露出来,浑圆,赤褐,宛如从天边云雾中升起的明月.
少女任随弗比斯摆弄,似乎没有察觉.胆大妄为的队长大眼里闪烁着亮光.
她突然转向弗比斯,无限爱恋之情溢于言表,含情脉脉地说:"弗比斯,教我学你的宗教吧."
"我的宗教!"队长哈哈大笑,叫了起来,"我,把我的宗教传授给您!长角的和天杀的!您要我的宗教有啥屁用?"
"为了我们结婚呗."她说道.
队长脸上的表情又惊讶,又轻蔑,又满不在乎,又不健康.他说:"呸!结什么婚?"
吉卜赛女郎顿时脸色煞白,满脸哀愁,脑袋耷拉在胸前.
"我漂亮的心上人呀,"弗比斯温柔地说,"那种荒唐事儿有什么意思呢?结婚有什么!不上教士的店铺去疙疙瘩瘩念点拉丁经文,难道就不能倾心相爱吗?"
弗比斯一边用最甜蜜最缠绵的声音这样说着,一边挪动着身子紧挨着埃及少女,一双温存的手又放在原来的位置上,紧搂着少女的纤纤细腰,眼睛越来越亮,这一切表明弗比斯先生显然就要到了这样一个时刻:连朱比特自己也干出那么多蠢事来,而好心的荷马不得不召来一片云替他遮羞.
这一切堂.克洛德全看在眼里.门板是用桶板做的,全都腐烂了,板与板之间裂缝很宽,他那目光透过裂缝一览无余.这个教士皮肤棕褐,肩膀宽阔,在此之前一直被迫过着修道院禁欲生活,在这里眼见深夜里男女欢爱的情景,不由得浑身颤抖,热血沸腾.这俊俏的少女,衣衫零乱,委身于那个欲火中烧的青年,把他看得血管中流动的仿佛是熔化的铅水.他心潮澎湃,冲动异常,带着争风吃醋的一股劲,目光直钻到少女了那一枚枚被解开的别针底下.谁要是此时看见这个倒霉虫那张贴在蛀痕斑斑门板上的面孔,准以为看见一头猛虎正从笼子里注视着豺狼吞吃羚羊.他的瞳孔闪闪发亮,恰似穿过门缝的一道烛光.
突然见弗比斯一下子扯掉埃及少女的乳罩,可怜的孩子本来依旧脸色苍白,想入非非,这下子好象一惊,清醒过来了,猛然从的军官的怀抱中挣脱开去,看了一眼自己裸露的胸脯和肩膀,羞得满脸通红,神色慌乱,吓得都说不出话来.连忙伸出两只玉臂交叉在胸前,遮住自己的乳房.要不是她脸蛋通红,那么,看见她这样静静呆立着,还以为是一尊贞洁淑女的雕像哩.她依然眼睛低垂着.
然而,经队长这么一扯,她挂在脖子上的那个神秘的护身符立刻露了出来.他问道:"这是什么?"他用这个借口,想再次接近刚才被他吓跑的美人.
"别碰!"她急速答道,"那是我的保护神,它会保佑我找到亲人,如果我还配得上的话.啊,队长先生,放开我吧!我的母亲!我可怜的母亲!我的母亲!你在哪里?快来救救我呀!求求您,弗比斯先生!请您把胸罩还给我吧!"
弗比斯向后一退,冷冷地说:"小姐!我看得出来,您一点也不爱我."
"什么!"这可怜孩子叫了起来,同时扑过去勾住队长的脖子,叫他坐在她身旁."我不爱你,弗比斯!你胡说些什么?你坏死了!占有我吧,把一切都给你!你爱怎么就怎么吧!我是你的.护身符算得了什么!我母亲又算得了什么!既然我爱你,你就是我的母亲!弗比斯,我心爱的弗比斯,你看得见我吗?是我,你就看一看吧.是那个你不愿嫌弃的小姑娘,她来了,亲自找你来了.我的生命,我的灵魂,我的肉体,我整个的人,所有的一切全属于你,我的队长.唉,不结婚!我们不结婚就不结婚,既然你觉得讨厌.再说,我是什么人,我呀?一个从阴沟里出来的可怜的女孩子,而你,我的弗比斯,你是侍从贵族.想得真是美!一个街头跳舞的女子嫁一个军官!我真是发疯了.不,弗比斯,不,我情愿做你的情妇,你的玩物,供你寻欢作乐,只要你愿意.我是永远属于你的,我就是为你而生的.遭白眼,被污辱,受糟蹋,那算得了什么,只要被你爱!我将成为世上最幸福最快活的女人.等到我年老珠黄了,弗比斯,等到我配不上再爱你了,请允许我再接着服侍你.让别的女人给你刺绣绶带,而我-你的奴婢,让我来照料你,让我给你擦亮马刺,刷净你的披褂,掸净你的马靴.弗比斯,你会对我这样怜悯的,是不是?在这以前,那就先占有我吧!弗比斯,一切全属于你了,只要你爱我!我们埃及女人,我们需要的只是这个:空气和爱情!"
她说着,双臂勾住军官的脖子,用恳求的目光从下往上打量着他,泪眼汪汪,却露出美丽的笑容.她那娇嫩雪白的胸脯摩擦着军官的粗呢上装和粗糙的刺绣.她漂亮的身体半裸,在军官的膝盖上扭动着.卫队长如痴似醉,把他火热的嘴唇紧贴在埃及少女漂亮的肩膀上.而少女仰着头,眼神迷乱,望着天花板,在军官的亲吻下,全身都战栗不已.
突然间,她看见弗比斯头顶上方出现另一个脑袋,面色灰白.铁青,不断抽搐,魔鬼般的目光闪闪烁烁.这张面孔旁边有只手,手执一把匕首.这是教士的脸和手.原来他破门扑到这里来了.弗比斯没法看见.在这骇人的鬼影的恐吓下,少女一下子怔住了,手脚冰凉,叫不出声来,这情景正象一只鸽子猛抬头,冷不防发现老雕瞪圆着眼,正在窥视着鸽窝.
她连一声也喊不出来,眼睁睁看着那把匕首往弗比斯身上猛扎下去,再拔出来,鲜血四溅."晦气!"队长叫了一声,一下子倒了下去.
她昏死了过去.
正当他闭起眼睛,正当她心中任何情感都烟消云散时,切实觉得自己的嘴唇像被火炙了一下地样,那是比刽子手烧红的烙铁还更烫人的一个亲吻.
等她苏醒过来,只见自己已被巡夜的兵卒紧紧围住,人们正把倒在血泊里的卫队长抬走,教士早已无影无踪了,房间深处临河的那扇窗户敞开着,人们捡到一件斗篷,猜想这斗篷是军官的.她听到周围的人在窃窃私语:"巫婆刺杀了这位军官."

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER I.THE CROWN CHANGED INTO A DRY LEAF.》
Gringoire and the entire Court of Miracles were suffering mortal anxiety.For a whole month they had not known what had become of la Esmeralda, which greatly pained the Duke of Egypt and his friends the vagabonds, nor what had become of the goat, which redoubled Gringoire's grief.One evening the gypsy had disappeared, and since that time had given no signs of life.All search had proved fruitless.Some tormenting bootblacks had told Gringoire about meeting her that same evening near the pont Saint-Michel, going off with an officer; but this husband, after the fashion of Bohemia, was an incredulous philosopher, and besides, he, better than any one else, knew to what a point his wife was virginal.He had been able to form a judgment as to the unconquerable modesty resulting from the combined virtues of the amulet and the gypsy, and he had mathematically calculated the resistance of that chastity to the second power.Accordingly, he was at ease on that score.
Still he could not understand this disappearance.It was a profound sorrow.He would have grown thin over it, had that been possible.He had forgotten everything, even his literary tastes, even his great work, ~De figuris regularibus et irregularibus~, which it was his intention to have printed with the first money which he should procure (for he had raved over printing, ever since he had seen the "Didascalon" of Hugues de Saint Victor, printed with the celebrated characters of Vindelin de Spire).
One day, as he was passing sadly before the criminal Tournelle, he perceived a considerable crowd at one of the gates of the palais de Justice.
"What is this?" he inquired of a young man who was coming out.
"I know not, sir," replied the young man."'Tis said that they are trying a woman who hath assassinated a gendarme. It appears that there is sorcery at the bottom of it, the archbishop and the official have intervened in the case, and my brother, who is the archdeacon of Josas, can think of nothing else.Now, I wished to speak with him, but I have not been able to reach him because of the throng, which vexes me greatly, as I stand in need of money."
"Alas! sir," said Gringoire, "I would that I could lend you some, but, my breeches are worn to holes, and 'tis not crowns which have done it."
He dared not tell the young man that he was acquainted with his brother the archdeacon, to whom he had not returned after the scene in the church; a negligence which embarrassed him.
The scholar went his way, and Gringoire set out to follow the crowd which was mounting the staircase of the great chamber.In his opinion, there was nothing like the spectacle of a criminal process for dissipating melancholy, so exhilaratingly stupid are judges as a rule.The populace which he had joined walked and elbowed in silence.After a slow and tiresome march through a long, gloomy corridor, which wound through the court-house like the intestinal canal of the ancient edifice, he arrived near a low door, opening upon a hall which his lofty stature permitted him to survey with a glance over the waving heads of the rabble.
The hall was vast and gloomy, which latter fact made it appear still more spacious.The day was declining; the long, pointed windows permitted only a pale ray of light to enter, which was extinguished before it reached the vaulted ceiling, an enormous trellis-work of sculptured beams, whose thousand figures seemed to move confusedly in the shadows, many candles were already lighted here and there on tables, and beaming on the heads of clerks buried in masses of documents. The anterior portion of the ball was occupied by the crowd; on the right and left were magistrates and tables; at the end, upon a platform, a number of judges, whose rear rank sank into the shadows, sinister and motionless faces.The walls were sown with innumerable fleurs-de-lis.A large figure of Christ might be vaguely descried above the judges, and everywhere there were pikes and halberds, upon whose points the reflection of the candles placed tips of fire.
"Monsieur," Gringoire inquired of one of his neighbors, "who are all those persons ranged yonder, like prelates in council?"
"Monsieur," replied the neighbor, "those on the right are the counsellors of the grand chamber; those on the left, the councillors of inquiry; the masters in black gowns, the messires in red."
"Who is that big red fellow, yonder above them, who is sweating?" pursued Gringoire.
"It is monsieur the president."
"And those sheep behind him?" continued Gringoire, who as we have seen, did not love the magistracy, which arose, possibly, from the grudge which he cherished against the palais de Justice since his dramatic misadventure.
"They are messieurs the masters of requests of the king's household."
"And that boar in front of him?"
"He is monsieur the clerk of the Court of parliament."
"And that crocodile on the right?"
"Master philippe Lheulier, advocate extraordinary of the king."
"And that big, black tom-cat on the left?"
"Master Jacques Charmolue, procurator of the king in the Ecclesiastical Court, with the gentlemen of the officialty."
"Come now, monsieur, said Gringoire, "pray what are all those fine fellows doing yonder?"
"They are judging."
"Judging whom?I do not see the accused."
"'Tis a woman, sir.You cannot see her.She has her back turned to us, and she is hidden from us by the crowd. Stay, yonder she is, where you see a group of partisans."
"Who is the woman?" asked Gringoire."Do you know her name?"
"No, monsieur, I have but just arrived.I merely assume that there is some sorcery about it, since the official is present at the trial."
"Come!" said our philosopher, "we are going to see all these magistrates devour human flesh.'Tis as good a spectacle as any other."
"Monsieur," remarked his neighbor, "think you not, that Master Jacques Charmolue has a very sweet air?"
"Hum!" replied Gringoire."I distrust a sweetness which hath pinched nostrils and thin lips."
Here the bystanders imposed silence upon the two chatterers. They were listening to an important deposition.
"Messeigneurs," said an old woman in the middle of the hall, whose form was so concealed beneath her garments that one would have pronounced her a walking heap of rags; "Messeigneurs, the thing is as true as that I am la Falourdel, established these forty years at the pont Saint Michel, and paying regularly my rents, lord's dues, and quit rents; at the gate opposite the house of Tassin-Caillart, the dyer, which is on the side up the river--a poor old woman now, but a pretty maid in former days, my lords.Some one said to me lately, 'La Falourdel, don't use your spinning-wheel too much in the evening; the devil is fond of combing the distaffs of old women with his horns.'Tis certain that the surly monk who was round about the temple last year, now prowls in the City. Take care, La Falourdel, that he doth not knock at your door.' One evening I was spinning on my wheel, there comes a knock at my door; I ask who it is.They swear.I open. Two men enter.A man in black and a handsome officer.Of the black man nothing could be seen but his eyes, two coals of fire.All the rest was hat and cloak.They say to me,--'The Sainte-Marthe chamber.'--'Tis my upper chamber, my lords, my cleanest.They give me a crown.I put the crown in my drawer, and I say: 'This shall go to buy tripe at the slaughter-house of la Gloriette to-morrow.' We go up stairs. On arriving at the upper chamber, and while my back is turned, the black man disappears.That dazed me a bit.The officer, who was as handsome as a great lord, goes down stairs again with me.He goes out.In about the time it takes to spin a quarter of a handful of flax, be returns with a beautiful young girl, a doll who would have shone like the sun had she been coiffed.She had with her a goat; a big billy- goat, whether black or white, I no longer remember.That set me to thinking.The girl does not concern me, but the goat!I love not those beasts, they have a beard and horns. They are so like a man.And then, they smack of the witches, sabbath.However, I say nothing.I had the crown.That is right, is it not, Monsieur Judge?I show the captain and the wench to the upper chamber, and I leave them alone; that is to say, with the goat.I go down and set to spinning again--I must inform you that my house has a ground floor and story above.I know not why I fell to thinking of the surly monk whom the goat had put into my head again, and then the beautiful girl was rather strangely decked out.All at once, I hear a cry upstairs, and something falls on the floor and the window opens.I run to mine which is beneath it, and I behold a black mass pass before my eyes and fall into the water.It was a phantom clad like a priest.It was a moonlight night.I saw him quite plainly.He was swimming in the direction of the city.Then, all of a tremble, I call the watch.The gentlemen of the police enter, and not knowing just at the first moment what the matter was, and being merry, they beat me.I explain to them.We go up stairs, and what do we find? my poor chamber all blood, the captain stretched out at full length with a dagger in his neck, the girl pretending to be dead, and the goat all in a fright. 'pretty work!' I say, 'I shall have to wash that floor for more than a fortnight.It will have to be scraped; it will be a terrible job.'They carried off the officer, poor young man, and the wench with her bosom all bare.But wait, the worst is that on the next day, when I wanted to take the crown to buy tripe, I found a dead leaf in its place."
The old woman ceased.A murmur of horror ran through the audience.
"That phantom, that goat,--all smacks of magic," said one of Gringoire's neighbors.
"And that dry leaf!" added another.
"No doubt about it," joined in a third, "she is a witch who has dealings with the surly monk, for the purpose of plundering officers."
Gringoire himself was not disinclined to regard this as altogether alarming and probable.
"Goody Falourdel," said the president majestically, "have you nothing more to communicate to the court?"
"No, monseigneur," replied the crone, "except that the report has described my house as a hovel and stinking; which is an outrageous fashion of speaking.The houses on the bridge are not imposing, because there are such multitudes of people; but, nevertheless, the butchers continue to dwell there, who are wealthy folk, and married to very proper and handsome women."
The magistrate who had reminded Gringoire of a crocodile rose,--
"Silence!" said he."I pray the gentlemen not to lose sight of the fact that a dagger was found on the person of the accused.Goody Falourdel, have you brought that leaf into which the crown which the demon gave you was transformed?
"Yes, monseigneur," she replied; "I found it again.Here it is."
A bailiff banded the dead leaf to the crocodile, who made a doleful shake of the head, and passed it on to the president, who gave it to the procurator of the king in the ecclesiastical court, and thus it made the circuit of the hail.
"It is a birch leaf," said Master Jacques Charmolue."A fresh proof of magic.
A counsellor took up the word.
"Witness, two men went upstairs together in your house: the black man, whom you first saw disappear and afterwards swimming in the Seine, with his priestly garments, and the officer.Which of the two handed you the crown?" The old woman pondered for a moment and then said,-- "The officer."
A murmur ran through the crowd.
"Ah!" thought Gringoire," this makes some doubt in my mind."
But Master philippe Lheulier, advocate extraordinary to the king, interposed once more.
"I will recall to these gentlemen, that in the deposition taken at his bedside, the assassinated officer, while declaring that he had a vague idea when the black man accosted him that the latter might be the surly monk, added that the phantom had pressed him eagerly to go and make acquaintance with the accused; and upon his, the captain's, remarking that he had no money, he had given him the crown which the said officer paid to la Falourdel.Hence, that crown is the money of hell."
This conclusive observation appeared to dissipate all the doubts of Gringoire and the other sceptics in the audience.
"You have the documents, gentlemen," added the king's advocate, as he took his seat; "you can consult the testimony of phoebus de Chateaupers."
At that name, the accused sprang up, her head rose above the throng.Gringoire with horror recognized la Esmeralda.
She was pale; her tresses, formerly so gracefully braided and spangled with sequins, hung in disorder; her lips were blue, her hollow eyes were terrible.Alas!
"phoebus!" she said, in bewilderment; "where is he?O messeigneurs! before you kill me, tell me, for pity sake, whether he still lives?"
"Hold your tongue, woman," replied the president, "that is no affair of ours."
"Oh!for mercy's sake, tell me if he is alive!" she repeated, clasping her beautiful emaciated hands; and the sound of her chains in contact with her dress, was heard.
"Well!" said the king's advocate roughly, "he is dying. Are you satisfied?"
The unhappy girl fell back on her criminal's seat, speechless, tearless, white as a wax figure.
The president bent down to a man at his feet, who wore a gold cap and a black gown, a chain on his neck and a wand in his hand.
"Bailiff, bring in the second accused."
All eyes turned towards a small door, which opened, and, to the great agitation of Gringoire, gave passage to a pretty goat with horns and hoofs of gold.The elegant beast halted for a moment on the threshold, stretching out its neck as though, perched on the summit of a rock, it had before its eyes an immense horizon.Suddenly it caught sight of the gypsy girl, and leaping over the table and the head of a clerk, in two bounds it was at her knees; then it rolled gracefully on its mistress's feet, soliciting a word or a caress; but the accused remained motionless, and poor Djali himself obtained not a glance.
"Eh, why--'tis my villanous beast," said old Falourdel, "I recognize the two perfectly!"
Jacques Charmolue interfered.
"If the gentlemen please, we will proceed to the examination of the goat." He was, in fact, the second criminal. Nothing more simple in those days than a suit of sorcery instituted against an animal.We find, among others in the accounts of the provost's office for 1466, a curious detail concerning the expenses of the trial of Gillet-Soulart and his sow, "executed for their demerits," at Corbeil.Everything is there, the cost of the pens in which to place the sow, the five hundred bundles of brushwood purchased at the port of Morsant, the three pints of wine and the bread, the last repast of the victim fraternally shared by the executioner, down to the eleven days of guard and food for the sow, at eight deniers parisis each.Sometimes, they went even further than animals. The capitularies of Charlemagne and of Louis le Débonnaire impose severe penalties on fiery phantoms which presume to appear in the air.
Meanwhile the procurator had exclaimed: "If the demon which possesses this goat, and which has resisted all exorcisms, persists in its deeds of witchcraft, if it alarms the court with them, we warn it that we shall be forced to put in requisition against it the gallows or the stake. Gringoire broke out into a cold perspiration.Charmolue took from the table the gypsy's tambourine, and presenting it to the goat, in a certain manner, asked the latter,--
"What o'clock is it?"
The goat looked at it with an intelligent eye, raised its gilded hoof, and struck seven blows.
It was, in fact, seven o'clock.A movement of terror ran through the crowd.
Gringoire could not endure it.
"He is destroying himself!" he cried aloud; "You see well that he does not know what he is doing."
"Silence among the louts at the end of the hail!" said the bailiff sharply.
Jacques Charmolue, by the aid of the same manoeuvres of the tambourine, made the goat perform many other tricks connected with the date of the day, the month of the year, etc., which the reader has already witnessed.And, by virtue of an optical illusion peculiar to judicial proceedings, these same spectators who had, probably, more than once applauded in the public square Djali's innocent magic were terrified by it beneath the roof of the palais de Justice.The goat was undoubtedly the devil.
It was far worse when the procurator of the king, having emptied upon a floor a certain bag filled with movable letters, which Djali wore round his neck, they beheld the goat extract with his hoof from the scattered alphabet the fatal name of phoebus.The witchcraft of which the captain had been the victim appeared irresistibly demonstrated, and in the eyes of all, the gypsy, that ravishing dancer, who had so often dazzled the passers-by with her grace, was no longer anything but a frightful vampire.
However, she betrayed no sign of life; neither Djali's graceful evolutions, nor the menaces of the court, nor the suppressed imprecations of the spectators any longer reached her mind.
In order to arouse her, a police officer was obliged to shake her unmercifully, and the president had to raise his voice,--"Girl, you are of the Bohemian race, addicted to deeds of witchcraft.You, in complicity with the bewitched goat implicated in this suit, during the night of the twenty-ninth of March last, murdered and stabbed, in concert with the powers of darkness, by the aid of charms and underhand practices, a captain of the king's arches of the watch, phoebus de Chateaupers.Do you persist in denying it?"
"Horror!" exclaimed the young girl, hiding her face in her hands."My phoebus!Oh, this is hell!"
"Do you persist in your denial?" demanded the president coldly.
"Do I deny it?" she said with terrible accents; and she rose with flashing eyes.
The president continued squarely,--
"Then how do you explain the facts laid to your charge?"
She replied in a broken voice,--
"I have already told you.I do not know.'Twas a priest, a priest whom I do not know; an infernal priest who pursues me!"
"That is it," retorted the judge; "the surly monk."
"Oh, gentlemen!have mercy!I am but a poor girl--"
"Of Egypt," said the judge.
Master Jacques Charmolue interposed sweetly,--
"In view of the sad obstinacy of the accused, I demand the application of the torture."
"Granted," said the president.
The unhappy girl quivered in every limb.But she rose at the command of the men with partisans, and walked with a tolerably firm step, preceded by Charmolue and the priests of the officiality, between two rows of halberds, towards a medium-sized door which suddenly opened and closed again behind her, and which produced upon the grief-stricken Gringoire the effect of a horrible mouth which had just devoured her.
When she disappeared, they heard a plaintive bleating; it was the little goat mourning.
The sitting of the court was suspended.A counsellor having remarked that the gentlemen were fatigued, and that it would be a long time to wait until the torture was at an end, the president replied that a magistrate must know how to sacrifice himself to his duty.
"What an annoying and vexatious hussy," said an aged judge, "to get herself put to the question when one has not supped!"

《第八卷 一 金币变枯叶》
格兰古瓦和整个奇迹宫廷,人人提心吊胆惶惶不可终日.差不多整整一个月,谁也不清楚爱斯梅拉达的下落,埃及公爵及其丐帮的人都忧心忡忡,谁都不知道她那只山羊的下落,格兰古瓦倍加痛苦.一天晚上,埃及少女失踪了,从此便杳无音讯,四处寻找都如石沉大海,有几个爱捉弄人的捣蛋家伙告诉格兰古瓦,说那天晚上在圣米歇尔桥附近看见她跟一个军官走了,但是,这个吉卜赛式的丈夫倒不是个听风就是雨的哲学家,他曾从亲身的经历中可以断定:护身符和埃及女人这双重德行结合所产生的贞操,冰清玉洁,坚不可摧;并且他曾经用数学的方式精确地计算过,这种贞操的二次幂有多大的抵抗力.因此他在这方面是绝对放心的.
所以对她这次失踪,他百思不得其解,真是愁肠百结.倘若他能消瘦下去的话,他宁愿伤心得形销骨立.可他却伤心得把一切都忘掉了,甚至连他的文学爱好,连他那部大作《论规则与不规则的修辞法》统统忘到九霄云外去了.这部著作,他打算一旦有钱就去排印.(因为自从他看到雨格.德.圣维克多的《论学》一书用万德兰.德.斯皮尔的出名活字版印成之后,他便一天到晚唠叨着印刷术了.)
一天,他愁眉苦脸的,路过图尔内尔刑庭,瞥见司法宫的一道大门前拥着一小群人.
"什么事?"他看见一个列年从司法宫出来,向他问道.
"不清楚,先生,"那个青年答道."听说有个女人暗杀了一个近卫骑兵.这案件似乎牵涉到巫术,连主教和宗教审判官也都来过问这桩审判,我哥哥是若札的副主教,他毕生都干这种审判的.我想找他说点事,可是人太多,无法见到他,这真是把我给活活气死掉了,我正急着等钱花哩."
"唉,先生,"格兰古瓦说道,"我倒是很愿意借钱给您,但是,我的口袋全是破洞,当然并不是被金币戳破的罗."
他一点不敢告诉年轻人,说自己认识他那个当副主教的哥哥.自从那次在教堂里谈话之后,他再没有去找过副主教,一想到这种粗心大意,就怪不好意思的.
学生径自走了.格兰古瓦跟着人群,沿着通向大厅的阶梯拾级而上.他认为世间再有没有任何没有比观看审理刑事案件更能消愁解闷的了,因为常通法官都是愚不可及,叫人看了挺开心的.他混在群众当中,大家往前走着,你碰我,我碰你,悄然无声.司法宫里有条曲曲折折的阴暗长廊,宛如这座古老建筑物的肠管,顺着长廊缓慢而索然无味地走了好一阵子之后,好不容易到了开向大厅的一道矮门旁边,格兰古瓦个子高大,从那好似波涛汹涌的乱哄哄的人群的头顶上望过去,可以扫视整个大厅.
大厅宽阔而阴暗,因此看上去显得更加宽大.白日将尽,尖拱形的长窗上只透进来一线苍白的夕照,还没有照到拱顶上就已经消失了.拱顶是由雕镂镌刻的木架组成的巨大网络,上面千百个雕像仿佛隐隐约约在黑暗中动来动去.这儿那儿,几张桌子上已摆着几根点燃的蜡烛.照着正埋头在卷宗废纸堆中的书记官们的脑袋.大厅的前部被群众占据了,左右两侧有些身穿袍子的男人坐在桌前;大厅深处台子上坐着许多审判官,最后一排的被隐没在黑暗中;他们的脸孔一张张纹丝不动,阴森可怕,四周墙壁上装饰着无数百合花图案.还可以隐隐看见法官们头顶上方挂着一个巨大的耶稣像;到处都是长矛和戟,映着烛光,尖端好象火花闪闪烁烁.
"先生,那边坐着的那些人,活像开主教会议的主教一般,都究意是些什么人呀?"格兰古瓦向旁边的一个人打听道.
"先生,"旁边的那个人答道."右边是大法庭的审判官,左边的审问推事.教士大人们穿黑袍,法官老爷们穿红袍."
"那边,他们上首,那个满头大汗的红脸大胖子是什么人?"格兰古瓦问.
"是庭长先生."
"还有他背后的那群绵羊呢?"格兰古瓦继续问道.我们已经说过,他是非常不喜欢法官的,这也许是因为他的剧作在司法宫上演遭受挫折后一直对司法宫怀恨在心的缘故吧.
"是王宫审查官老爷们."
"他前面那头野猪呢?"
"那只是大理院刑庭的书记官先生."
"还有右边那头鳄鱼呢?"
"国王特别状师菲利浦.勒利埃老爷."
"左边那只大黑猫呢?"
"雅克.夏尔莫吕老爷,国王宗教法庭检察官和宗教法庭的审判官们."
"喂,先生,"格兰古瓦说道."所有这些人究竟在干什么?"
"审判."
"审判谁?我没有看到被告呀."
"是个女人,先生.您是看不到她的,她背朝着我们.并被群众挡住了.嗯,您看,那边有簇长矛,被告就在那里."
"这个女人是什么人?您知道得她的名字吗?"格兰古瓦问.
"不,先生,我刚到.我只是猜测而已,这案子准涉及到巫术魔法,连宗教审判官们都到庭参加审理了."
"得了吧!"我们的哲学家说道."我们马上就会看到这帮身穿法袍的家伙怎样吃人肉了.还是老一套,跟以往的把戏没什么不同."
"先生,"他身边的那个人说."难道您不认为雅克.夏尔莫吕老爷看起来很和蔼吗?"
"哼!"格兰古瓦答道:"那种人塌鼻翼.薄嘴皮,他会和蔼,我才不信哩."
说到这儿,周围的人喝令这两个喋喋不休的人住口,因为人们正在听一个重要证人的证词.
只见大厅中央站着一个老太婆,脸孔被衣服完全遮住,看上去就像一堆在行走的破布.她说道:"各位大人,确有其事,这事就和我是法露黛尔一样真实,住在圣米歇尔桥头四十年了,按时缴纳地租.土地转移税和贡金,家门对着河上游洗染匠塔森—卡伊阿尔的房屋.我现在成了可怜的老太婆,从前可是个十分俊俏的姑娘.各位大人!前几天,有人对我说:'法露黛尔,您晚上纺线可别纺得太迟了,魔鬼就喜欢用它的角来梳老太婆们纺锤上的纱线呀.那个野僧去年在圣殿那一边作祟,如今在老城游荡,这是绝对正确的.法露黛尔,当心他来捶您的门呵!’有天晚上,我正在纺线,有人来敲门.我问是谁.那人破口大骂.我把门打开.两个人走了进来.一个黑衣人和一个漂亮的军官.黑衣人除了露出两只像炭火一样的眼睛外,全身只看见斗篷和帽子.他们随后对我说:'要圣玛尔特的房间.’......诸位大人,那是我楼上的一间房间,是我最干净的房间.他们给了我一个金埃居.我把钱塞进抽屉里,心想明天可以到凉亭剥皮场去买牛羊下水吃.......然后我们上楼去.......到了楼上房间,我一转身,黑衣人不见了,差点没把我吓死.那个军官,像位大老爷那样仪表堂堂,跟我又下楼来,他出去了.大约过了纺四分之一绞线的功夫,他带着一个漂亮姑娘回来了.这姑娘活像一个玩具娃娃,要是经过梳妆打扮,一定会像太阳那样灿烂光辉.她牵着一只公山羊,好大好大,是白的还是黑的,我都印象很模糊了.这可叫我揣摩开啦.那个姑娘嘛,跟我不相干,可是那只公山羊!......我可不喜欢这种畜牲,这种畜牲长着胡子和犄角,像人似的,再说还有点邪,叫人联想到星期六的群魔夜会.但是,我什么也没有说.我收了人家的钱,那样做是对的,可不是吗,法官大人?我带着姑娘和队长到楼上房间去,就让他俩单独在一起,就是说,还有公山羊.我下楼来,继续纺我的线.应该告诉诸位大人,我的房子有两层,背临河,和桥上别的房屋一样,楼下和楼上的窗户都是傍水开的.我正在忙着纺纱,不知为什么,那只公山羊教我脑子里老想着那个野僧,而且那个美丽的姑娘打扮得十分地离奇古怪.......突然,我听到楼上一声惨叫,接着有什么东西倒在地上,又听到开窗户的响声.我冲到底楼窗户边,看见有团黑乎乎的东西从我眼前掉到水里去了.那是一个鬼魂,打扮成教士模样.那天晚上正好有月光,我看得明明白白,那鬼魂向老城那边游去.我吓得哆哆嗦嗦,赶紧去喊巡逻队.巡逻队先生来了.他们一到,不分青红皂白,就把我揍了一顿,因为他们高兴呗.我向他们说明了原由.我们一起上楼去,你们猜看到了什么呢?我那可怜的房间里全是血,队长直挺挺地倒在地板上,脖子上插着一把匕首,姑娘在一边装死,山羊吓得半死.我说,'这下可好,我得花两个礼拜来洗地板,还得使劲擦,这可真要我的命.’人家把军官抬走了,可怜的年轻人!姑娘的衣服乱糟糟地全被扒开了.......等一下,更惨的是隔日我要拿那枚金币去买牛羊肚肠吃,却发现在我原来放钱的地方却只有一片枯树叶."
说到这儿,老婆子住口了,听众无不骇然,四处是一片低低的嘀咕声.格兰古瓦旁边的一个人说,"那个鬼魂,那个公山羊,这一切真有点巫术的味道."另一个插嘴说:"还有那片枯叶!"又有一个说:"毫无疑问,一定是一个巫婆跟那个野僧勾结起来,专门抢劫军官们."连格兰古瓦自己也差不多认为整个事件既可怕又像真的.
"法露黛尔妇人,"庭长大人威严地说道,"您没有别的要向本庭陈述吗?"
"没有了,大人."老婆子答道,"不过有一点,报告中把我的房屋说成破烂房子,歪歪斜斜,臭气薰天,这说得太过分了.桥上的房子外表确实不怎么美观,因为住的人太多,可是话得说回来,那些卖肉的老板照旧住在桥上,他们可都是有钱人,全都是同规规矩矩的漂亮女人结了婚的."
这时候,格兰古瓦认为像条鳄鱼的那个法官站了起来,说:"安静!我请各位大人需要注意一件事实:人们在被告身上找到了一把匕首.......法露黛尔妇人,魔鬼把您的金币变成的枯叶,你带来了没有?"
"带来了,大人,"她答道,"我找到了,就在我这儿."
一个承发吏把枯叶递给了鳄鱼.鳄鱼阴险地点了点头,又将枯叶转递给庭长,庭长再转递给国王宗教法庭检察官.这样,枯叶在大厅里转了一圈.雅克.夏尔莫吕说,"这是一片桦树叶,是施展妖术的新证据."
一个审判官发言:"证人,您说有两个男人同时上您家去.穿黑衣的那个人,您先发现他不见了,后来穿着教士的衣服在塞纳河里游泳,另一个人是军官.这两个人当中是哪一个给您金币的?"
老婆子思索了一会,说道:"是军官."群众全都顿时哗然.
"啊!"格兰古瓦想,"这可叫我原来的信心也动摇了."
这时候,国王的特别状师菲利浦.勒利埃老爷又一次发言:"我提醒诸位大人注意,被害的军官在他的床前笔录的证词中宣称,当黑衣人上来同他搭讪时,他头脑里曾模模糊糊掠过一种想法,认为黑衣人很可能是野僧;他还补充说,正是这鬼魂拼命摧他去跟被告幽会的;据卫队长说,他当时没有钱,是鬼魂给了他那枚钱币,这个军官用这枚钱币付给法露黛尔的房钱.所以,这枚金币是一枚冥钱."
这个结论性的意见,看来消除了格兰古瓦和听众中其他持怀疑态度的人的一切疑虑.
"诸位大人手头上都有证件案卷,"国王的状师坐下说,"可以翻阅弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔的证词."
一听这个名字,被告一下子站了起来.她的头高出人群.格兰古瓦立即被吓得魂不附体,一眼认出被告就是爱斯梅拉达.
她脸色惨无血色;头发往常都是梳成十分漂亮的辫子,缀饰着金箔闪光片,此时却乱蓬蓬披垂下来;嘴唇发青,双眼深陷,挺吓人的.唉!说有多惨就有多惨!
"弗比斯!"她茫然地喊道:"他在哪儿?哦,各位大人!求求你们,请您们告诉我他是不是还活着,然后再处死我吧!"
"住口,女人,这不关我们的事."庭长喝斥她道.
"啊!行行好吧,告诉我他是不是还活着?"她一边说一边合起两只消瘦的秀手,同时顺着她袍子垂落下来的锁链发出轻微的响声.
"那好吧!"国王的状师冷淡地说."他快死了......现在您满意了吧?"
可怜的姑娘一听,瘫坐在被告席的小凳上,没有吭声,没有眼泪,脸色苍白得像蜡像一般.
庭长的脚下方有个汉子,身穿黑袍,头戴金帽,脖上套着锁链,手执笞鞭,只见庭长俯身对他说道:"承发吏,带第二个被告!"
众人的眼睛都转向一道小门.门打开了,只见从门里走出一只金角和金蹄的漂亮山羊,把格兰古瓦看得心怦怦直跳.这只标致的山羊在门槛上停了一下,然后伸长着脖子,宛如站在崖顶上眺望着广阔无垠的天际.忽然,它瞥见了吉卜赛女郎,纵身一跃,越过桌子和书记官的头顶,一蹦两跳,就跳到她的膝盖上.接着姿态优雅地滚到女主人的脚上,眼巴巴的希望她能说一声或抚摸它一下,可是被告仍然一动不动,对可怜的佳丽连看一眼也不看它一眼.
"嗨,这不就是我说的那只讨厌的畜生吗!"法露黛尔老婆子说道."她俩我可认得再清楚不过!"
雅克.夏尔莫吕插嘴说:"有劳诸位大人,让我们审讯山羊吧."
山羊确实是第二个被告.在当时,起诉动物的巫术案件是家常便饭.就拿1466年司法衙门的账目来说,其中就有趣而详尽地记载了审讯吉莱—苏拉尔及其母-因过失罪而被正法于科贝伊-所花费的费用,计开:挖坑监禁母猪的费用,从莫桑港拿来五百捆木材的费用,刽子手友好分享死囚最后一餐所开销的面包和三品脱葡萄酒的费用甚至看管以及饲养母猪十一天的费用,每天共八个巴黎德尼埃,一切都记录在案.有时比审讯还更有甚,根据查理曼和温厚汉路易的诏令,对胆敢出现在空中的火焰熊熊的鬼魂也一定严惩不贷.
这时,宗教法庭检察官嚷着:"附在这只山羊的魔鬼,施展其妖术顶住了一切驱魔法,如果胆敢以此恐吓法庭,我们现在就警告它,我们将必须对它施以绞刑或火刑."
格兰古瓦不禁出了一身冷汗.夏尔莫吕从桌上拿起吉卜赛女郎那只巴斯克手鼓,用某种方式伸到山羊跟前问她道:
"现在几点啦?"
山羊用聪慧的目光望了望他,抬起金色的脚,在手鼓上敲了七下.那时的的确确是七点钟,群众一阵骇然.
格兰古瓦再也忍受不了了,于是高声叫道:
"它是在害自己!你们很清楚,它根本不知道自己在干什么."
"大厅那一头的百姓们安静!"承发吏厉声道.
雅克.夏尔莫吕照样把手鼓摆弄来摆弄去,引诱山羊又变了几套把戏,如日期啦,月份啦,等等.其实,这些戏法读者们早已见过了.但是,同样是这些观众,过去曾在街头上不止一次地为佳丽那些无害的把戏喝采叫好,这时在司法宫的穹窿下,由于司法审讯所引起的幻觉,现在却吓得六神无主,坚信山羊就是魔鬼.
还更糟的是,国王检察官把山羊颈上的一个皮囊里面的活动字母,一古脑儿全倒在地上,大家顿时看见山羊从那些零乱的字母中,用蹄子把字母排成这个要命的名字:弗比斯.就是这样,是巫术害死了卫队长,看来已无可争辩地得到了证实,于是在众人的眼里,昔日曾无数次以其飘逸的风姿,叫过往行人眩目的那个迷人的吉卜赛舞女,顷刻间成了一个狰狞的巫婆.
况且,她毫无生气,无论是佳丽多姿多采的表演,还是检察官凶相毕露的恫吓,甚至听众的低声的咒骂,她什么都看不见,听不到了.
为了使她清醒过来,只得由一个捕快跑过去狠狠摇晃她,庭长也提高嗓门一本正经地说:
"那女子,你原为波西米亚族人,惯行妖术.您与本案有牵连的那只着魔的山羊共谋,于今年3月29日夜间,勾结阴间的势力,利用魔力和诡计,谋害并刺杀了侍卫弓箭队队长弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔,您还敢抵赖吗?"
"骇人听闻呀!"少女用手捂住脸喊道:"我亲爱的弗比斯!啊!这简直是地狱!"
"你还敢抵赖?"庭长冷冰冰地问道.
"不,我否认!"她的声调很可怕.只见她猛然站起来,两只大眼里闪着光.
庭长直截了当地追问:"那你如何解释控告你的这些事实呢?"
她断断续续地答道:
"我已经说过了.我不知道.是一个教士.一个我不认识的教士,一个老是跟踪我的凶神恶煞的教士!"
"这就对了.是野僧."法官接着又说.
"哦,各位大人!可怜可怜我吧!我只不过是一个可怜的女子......"
"埃及女子!"法官打断她的话,说道.
雅克.夏尔莫吕老爷温和地对她说:
"鉴于被告这种叫人头痛的顽抗,我请求动刑审问."
"允许."庭长说.
那悲惨的少女浑身直抖.在持槊的捕役们的喝令下,她还是站起来,迈着相当坚定的步伐,由夏尔莫吕和宗教法庭那帮教士带路,夹在两排长戟当中,向一道边门走去.边门猛然地打开,等她刚一走进去又立即关上了.满腹忧伤的格兰古瓦一看,仿佛那是一张血盆大口,一口就把她给吞吃了.
她的身影一消失,马上传来一阵悲伤的咩咩声.那是小山羊的悲叫声.
审讯中止了.有个审判官提醒注意,各位大人都累了,要等到刑讯结束实在太长了,庭长却不以为然,回答说:"做为官员,理应恪尽职守."
"这个讨厌可恶的下流女人,"一个年老的法官说,"大家还没吃晚饭呢,偏偏在这时候叫人给她上刑审讯."

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER II.CONTINUATION OF THE CROWN WHICH WAS CHANGED INTO A DRY LEAF.》
After ascending and descending several steps in the corridors, which were so dark that they were lighted by lamps at mid-day, La Esmeralda, still surrounded by her lugubrious escort, was thrust by the police into a gloomy chamber. This chamber, circular in form, occupied the ground floor of one of those great towers, which, even in our own century, still pierce through the layer of modern edifices with which modern paris has covered ancient paris.There were no windows to this cellar; no other opening than the entrance, which was low, and closed by an enormous iron door.Nevertheless, light was not lacking; a furnace had been constructed in the thickness of the wall; a large fire was lighted there, which filled the vault with its crimson reflections and deprived a miserable candle, which stood in one corner, of all radiance.The iron grating which served to close the oven, being raised at that moment, allowed only a view at the mouth of the flaming vent-hole in the dark wall, the lower extremity of its bars, like a row of black and pointed teeth, set flat apart; which made the furnace resemble one of those mouths of dragons which spout forth flames in ancient legends.By the light which escaped from it, the prisoner beheld, all about the room, frightful instruments whose use she did not understand.In the centre lay a leather mattress, placed almost flat upon the ground, over which hung a strap provided with a buckle, attached to a brass ring in the mouth of a flat-nosed monster carved in the keystone of the vault. Tongs, pincers, large ploughshares, filled the interior of the furnace, and glowed in a confused heap on the coals.The sanguine light of the furnace illuminated in the chamber only a confused mass of horrible things.
This Tartarus was called simply, The Question Chamber.
On the bed, in a negligent attitude, sat pierrat Torterue, the official torturer.His underlings, two gnomes with square faces, leather aprons, and linen breeches, were moving the iron instruments on the coals.
In vain did the poor girl summon up her courage; on entering this chamber she was stricken with horror.
The sergeants of the bailiff of the courts drew up in line on one side, the priests of the officiality on the other.A clerk, inkhorn, and a table were in one corner.
Master Jacques Charmolue approached the gypsy with a very sweet smile.
"My dear child," said he, "do you still persist in your denial?"
"Yes," she replied, in a dying voice.
"In that case," replied Charmolue, "it will be very painful for us to have to question you more urgently than we should like.pray take the trouble to seat yourself on this bed. Master pierrat, make room for mademoiselle, and close the door."
pierrat rose with a growl.
"If I shut the door," he muttered, "my fire will go out."
"Well, my dear fellow," replied Charmolue, "leave it open then."
Meanwhile, la Esmeralda had remained standing.That leather bed on which so many unhappy wretches had writhed, frightened her.Terror chilled the very marrow of her bones; she stood there bewildered and stupefied.At a sign from Charmolue, the two assistants took her and placed her in a sitting posture on the bed.They did her no harm; but when these men touched her, when that leather touched her, she felt all her blood retreat to her heart.She cast a frightened look around the chamber.It seemed to her as though she beheld advancing from all quarters towards her, with the intention of crawling up her body and biting and pinching her, all those hideous implements of torture, which as compared to the instruments of all sorts she had hitherto seen, were like what bats, centipedes, and spiders are among insects and birds.
"Where is the physician?" asked Charmolue.
"Here," replied a black gown whom she had not before noticed.
She shuddered.
"Mademoiselle," resumed the caressing voice of the procucrator of the Ecclesiastical court, "for the third time, do you persist in denying the deeds of which you are accused?"
This time she could only make a sign with her head.
"You persist?" said Jacques Charmolue."Then it grieves me deeply, but I must fulfil my office."
"Monsieur le procureur du Roi," said pierrat abruptly, "How shall we begin?"
Charmolue hesitated for a moment with the ambiguous grimace of a poet in search of a rhyme.
"With the boot," he said at last.
The unfortunate girl felt herself so utterly abandoned by God and men, that her head fell upon her breast like an inert thing which has no power in itself.
The tormentor and the physician approached her simultaneously. At the same time, the two assistants began to fumble among their hideous arsenal.
At the clanking of their frightful irons, the unhappy child quivered like a dead frog which is being galvanized."Oh!" she murmured, so low that no one heard her; "Oh, my phoebus!" Then she fell back once more into her immobility and her marble silence.This spectacle would have rent any other heart than those of her judges.One would have pronounced her a poor sinful soul, being tortured by Satan beneath the scarlet wicket of hell.The miserable body which that frightful swarm of saws, wheels, and racks were about to clasp in their clutches, the being who was about to be manipulated by the harsh hands of executioners and pincers, was that gentle, white, fragile creature, a poor grain of millet which human justice was handing over to the terrible mills of torture to grind.Meanwhile, the callous hands of pierrat Torterue's assistants had bared that charming leg, that tiny foot, which had so often amazed the passers-by with their delicacy and beauty, in the squares of paris.
"'Tis a shame!" muttered the tormentor, glancing at these graceful and delicate forms.
Had the archdeacon been present, he certainly would have recalled at that moment his symbol of the spider and the fly. Soon the unfortunate girl, through a mist which spread before her eyes, beheld the boot approach; she soon beheld her foot encased between iron plates disappear in the frightful apparatus. Then terror restored her strength.
"Take that off!" she cried angrily; and drawing herself up, with her hair all dishevelled: "Mercy!"
She darted from the bed to fling herself at the feet of the king's procurator, but her leg was fast in the heavy block of oak and iron, and she sank down upon the boot, more crushed than a bee with a lump of lead on its wing.
At a sign from Charmolue, she was replaced on the bed, and two coarse hands adjusted to her delicate waist the strap which hung from the ceiling.
"For the last time, do you confess the facts in the case?" demanded Charmolue, with his imperturbable benignity.
"I am innocent."
"Then, mademoiselle, how do you explain the circumstance laid to your charge?"
"Alas, monseigneur, I do not know."
"So you deny them?"
"All!"
"proceed," said Charmolue to pierrat.
pierrat turned the handle of the screw-jack, the boot was contracted, and the unhappy girl uttered one of those horrible cries which have no orthography in any human language.
"Stop!" said Charmolue to pierrat."Do you confess?" he said to the gypsy.
"All!" cried the wretched girl."I confess!I confess! Mercy!"
She had not calculated her strength when she faced the torture.poor child, whose life up to that time had been so joyous, so pleasant, so sweet, the first pain had conquered her!
"Humanity forces me to tell you," remarked the king's procurator, "that in confessing, it is death that you must expect."
"I certainly hope so!" said she.And she fell back upon the leather bed, dying, doubled up, allowing herself to hang suspended from the strap buckled round her waist.
"Come, fair one, hold up a little," said Master pierrat, raising her."You have the air of the lamb of the Golden Fleece which hangs from Monsieur de Bourgogne's neck."
Jacques Charmolue raised his voice,
"Clerk, write.Young Bohemian maid, you confess your participation in the feasts, witches' sabbaths, and witchcrafts of hell, with ghosts, hags, and vampires?Answer."
"Yes," she said, so low that her words were lost in her breathing.
"You confess to having seen the ram which Beelzebub causes to appear in the clouds to call together the witches' sabbath, and which is beheld by socerers alone?"
"Yes."
"You confess to having adored the heads of Bophomet, those abominable idols of the Templars?"
"Yes."
"To having had habitual dealings with the devil under the form of a goat familiar, joined with you in the suit?"
"Yes."
"Lastly, you avow and confess to having, with the aid of the demon, and of the phantom vulgarly known as the surly monk, on the night of the twenty-ninth of March last, murdered and assassinated a captain named phoebus de Chateaupers?"
She raised her large, staring eyes to the magistrate, and replied, as though mechanically, without convulsion or agitation,--
"Yes."
It was evident that everything within her was broken.
"Write, clerk," said Charmolue.And, addressing the torturers, "Release the prisoner, and take her back to the court."
When the prisoner had been "unbooted," the procurator of the ecclesiastical court examined her foot, which was still swollen with pain."Come," said he, "there's no great harm done.You shrieked in good season.You could still dance, my beauty!"
Then he turned to his acolytes of the officiality,-- "Behold justice enlightened at last!This is a solace, gentlemen!Madamoiselle will bear us witness that we have acted with all possible gentleness."

《第八卷 二 金币变枯叶(续)》
一道道走廊漆黑一团,大白天也得点灯照明;爱斯梅拉达一直被那些面目狰狞的捕役们押着,爬上爬下走完了几道梯级,最后被司法宫的捕快们推进了一间阴森可怕的房间.这个房间呈圆形,占据整个高大塔楼的底层.时到如今,旧的巴黎城已被新巴黎的现代高楼大厦淹没了,这些塔楼还依然高耸入云.那墓穴般的房间没有窗子,也没有别的洞口,只有一道入口,低低的,用一扇坚厚无比的铁门封住.但是,里面***通明,厚墙上有个壁炉,烈火熊熊,把墓穴照得明晃晃的;摆在角落里的一支可怜巴巴的蜡烛,相比之下也就暗淡无光了.用来关闭炉口的铁栅门此时已经吊起.映照着黑黝黝的墙壁,只能看到栅门上一根铁栅的下端,好象是一排乌黑的牙齿,尖利而间开,整个炉膛看上去就像神话中喷吐火焰的龙口.就着炉口射出来的火光,那女囚看见房间的四周摆列着许多形状可怕的器具,她不明白那是用来做什么的.房间正中横着一张皮革垫子,差不多快贴着地面,上面垂着一根带环扣的皮条,皮条顶端系在一个铜环上,铜环被拱顶石上一头雕刻的塌鼻怪物咬着.火炉里塞满大犁铲.烙钳.夹钳,横七竖八,都在炭火里烧得通红.炉膛射出来的血红的亮光,在房间里照着那一堆叫人不寒而栗的东西.
这个野蛮的场所,居然被轻飘飘地称之为讯问室.
那张皮床上没精打采地坐着法院指定的施刑吏皮埃拉.托特吕.他的两个隶役是两个方脸的侏儒,下身围着粗布条条,腰系皮围兜,正在拨弄着炭火上的那些铁器.
可怜的姑娘曾鼓足勇气来的,但终究无用.一走进这个房间,不由得魂飞魄散.
司法宫典吏的捕役们排在一边,宗教法庭的教士们在另一边.一套书写用具和一张桌子.一个书记官,安排在一个角落里.
雅克.夏尔莫吕老爷满脸笑容,和颜悦色,走近埃及少女身边,说:"亲爱的孩子,您还否认吗?"
"是."她答道,声音微弱得差不多听不见了.
"既然这样,"夏尔莫吕又说,"我们只得违背我们的意愿,忍痛对您进行更严厉的审讯了.......劳驾您坐到那张床上去.......皮埃拉,给小姐让位,去把门关上."
皮埃拉嘟嘟哝哝站了起来,嘀咕道:"把门一关上,火马上快灭了."
"那好吧,亲爱的,就让门开着."夏尔莫吕又说.
此时,爱斯梅拉达仍然站在那儿.那张皮床,多少不幸的人曾在这床上惨遭毒刑,这把她吓得魂不附体.由于恐惧,她感到非常冰冷,连骨髓都透凉.她站在那儿,六神无主,呆若木鸡.夏尔莫吕一示意,两个隶役一把抓住她,把她拖过去坐在床上.他们并没有把她弄痛,但这两个人一碰到她,那皮床一触到她身上,她顿时感到全身的血液都倒流到心脏去了.她茫然地环视了一下房间,仿佛看见所有那些奇形怪状的刑具全动起来,从四面八方向她走过来,并爬到她身上,咬的咬.掐的掐.她觉得在她有生以来见过的各种器具当中,那些刑一应具全有如虫鸟类里的蝙蝠.蜈蚣和蜘蛛."医生在什么地方?"夏尔莫吕问道.
"在这儿."一个穿黑袍的答道.她原先并没有发现有这个人.
她一阵战栗.
"小姐,"宗教法庭检察官用亲切的声调又说,"第三次问您,您对那些指控您的事实还拒不招认吗?"
这次,她只有摇头的力气,连声音都没有了.
"不招认?"雅克.夏尔莫吕说道,"那么,我深感失望,但我必须履行我的职责."
"检察官先生,先从哪儿开始?"皮埃拉忽然问道.
夏尔莫吕犹豫了一下,仿佛一个诗人在冥思苦想一个诗韵,眉头似皱非皱.
"先用铁鞋."他终于说道.
惨遭横祸的少女顿时觉得完全抛弃了上帝和世人自己,脑袋一下子耷拉在胸前,宛如一个堕性物体,自身毫无支撑力.
施刑吏和医生一起走到她身边.同时,两个隶役就在那丑恶不堪的武器库中翻来翻去.
听到那些可怕刑具的相互撞击的清脆响声,那可怜的孩子浑身直打哆嗦,如同一只死青蛙通了电似的.她喃喃自语,声音低微得没人听见."啊,我的弗比斯呀!"接着又像块大理石,一动不动,了无声息.见此情景,任何人都会撕心裂肺,唯独法官的心肠除外,这好象是一个可怜的罪恶灵魂,站在地狱入口那猩红的小门洞里经受撒旦的拷问.锯子.转轮和拷问架,这一大堆可怕的刑具就要把那可怜的肉体死死抓住,刽子手和铁钳的魔掌将要对那个人儿简直是可怜的黍粒肆意作践;这肉体,这人儿,竟是那个白嫩.温柔.娇弱的倩女!这,由世间的司法把它交给惨绝人寰的酷刑磨盘去研成粉末!
这时候,皮埃拉.托特吕的两个隶役伸出两只布满老茧的粗手,粗暴地一把扒去她的鞋袜,露出那迷人的小腿和脚丫.这腿和脚在巴黎街头曾经无数次以其美姿使行人叹为观止!
"可惜!"施刑吏打量着如此优雅.如此纤秀的腿和脚,不由得嘟哝着.如果副主教在场,此时此刻,准会想起那具有象征意义的蜘蛛与苍蝇吧.马上,不幸的少女透过眼前迷惘的云雾,看见铁鞋逼近过来;马上,看见自己的脚被套在铁板之间,完全被吓人的刑具盖住了.这时,恐惧反使她增添了力气.
"给我拿掉!"她狂叫着,并且披头散发直起身来,"饶命呀!"
话音一落,就向床外纵身一跳,想要扑倒在国王检察官的脚下,可是她的脚被用橡木和马蹄铁做成的一整块沉重的铁鞋夹住,一下子栽倒在铁鞋上,比翅膀上压着铅块的蜜蜂还让人惨不忍睹.
夏尔莫吕一挥手,隶役又把她扳倒在了皮床上,两只肥大的手把从拱顶上垂下来的皮条绑在她的细腰上.
"最后一次问您,对您所控的犯罪行为,您承认吗?"夏尔莫吕仍然装出那副和善的样子.
"我冤枉呀!"
"那么,小姐,对指控您的那些犯罪情状,您如何解释呢?"
"唉!大人!我确确实实不知道."
"那您否认啦?"
"否认一切!"
"上刑!"夏尔莫吕向皮埃拉说.
皮埃拉把起重杆的把手一扭动,铁鞋立刻收紧了,可怜的少女惨叫一声,这叫声是人类任何语言都无法描写的.
"停!"夏尔莫吕吩咐皮埃拉说,又问埃及少女:"招供吗?"
"全招!"可怜的少女叫道,"我招!我招!饶命呀!"
她面对刑讯,原先并没有正确估计自己的力量.可怜的孩子,在这之前一向过得快快活活,甜甜蜜蜜,舒舒服服,头一种苦刑就把她制服了.
"出于人道,我不得不对您说,"王上检察官提醒道."您一招认,您就等死吧."
"我巴不得死."她说道.一说完又瘫倒在皮床上,奄奄一息,身子折成两截,任凭扣在她胸间的皮条把她悬吊着.
"振作点,美人儿,再稍微熬一下."皮埃拉把她扶起来,说道."您那模样儿,就像挂在布尔戈尼老爷脖子上的金绵羊似的."
雅克.夏尔莫吕放声说:
"书记官,快记下来.听着,流浪女,您招认常跟假面鬼.恶鬼.吸血鬼一起参加地狱里的盛宴.群魔会和行妖吗?赶快回答!"
"是的."她应道,声音低得给喘气声盖过了.
"您招认见过别西卜为了行妖作法,召集群魔会,让云端出现那只唯有巫师才能看见的公山羊吗?"
"是的."
"你承认曾崇奉博福梅的那些头像,崇奉圣殿骑士团骑士那些穷凶极恶的骑士偶像吗?"
"是."
"你招认经常与本案有牵连的那个变成一只山羊的魔鬼有来往吗?"
"是."
"最后,你供认不讳,利用魔鬼和俗称野僧的鬼魂,在今年3月29日夜里,谋害并暗杀了一位名叫弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔的卫队长吗?"
听到这个名字,她抬起那双无神的大眼睛望着法官,没有抽搐,没有震动,一点反应也没有,只是机械地答道:"是."显然,她心中所有的一切全垮了.
"记下,书记官."夏尔莫吕吩咐道,然后又对施刑吏说:"把女犯人放下,再带去审问."
女犯人被脱下那鞋之后,宗教法庭检察官仔细瞧瞧看她那只痛得还麻木的脚,说道:"得啦!不太痛的.您喊叫得很及时.您兴许还可以跳舞的,美人!"
接着转向宗教法庭他那帮帮凶说:"到底真相大白了!这真叫人快慰,先生们!这位小姐可以替我们作证,我们刚才的行事,是和气得不能再和气了."

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 36楼  发表于: 2013-10-28 0

《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER III.END OF THE CROWN WHICH WAS TURNED INTO A DRY LEAF.》
When she re-entered the audience hall, pale and limping, she was received with a general murmur of pleasure.On the part of the audience there was the feeling of impatience gratified which one experiences at the theatre at the end of the last entr'acte of the comedy, when the curtain rises and the conclusion is about to begin.On the part of the judges, it was the hope of getting their suppers sooner.
The little goat also bleated with joy.He tried to run towards his mistress, but they had tied him to the bench.
Night was fully set in.The candles, whose number had not been increased, cast so little light, that the walls of the hall could not be seen.The shadows there enveloped all objects in a sort of mist.A few apathetic faces of judges alone could be dimly discerned.Opposite them, at the extremity of the long hail, they could see a vaguely white point standing out against the sombre background.This was the accused.
She had dragged herself to her place.When Charmolue had installed himself in a magisterial manner in his own, he seated himself, then rose and said, without exhibiting too much self-complacency at his success,--"The accused has confessed all."
"Bohemian girl," the president continued, "have you avowed all your deeds of magic, prostitution, and assassination on phoebus de Chateaupers."
Her heart contracted.She was heard to sob amid the darkness.
"Anything you like," she replied feebly, "but kill me quickly!"
"Monsieur, procurator of the king in the ecclesiastical courts," said the president, "the chamber is ready to hear you in your charge."
Master Charmolue exhibited an alarming note book, and began to read, with many gestures and the exaggerated accentuation of the pleader, an oration in Latin, wherein all the proofs of the suit were piled up in Ciceronian periphrases, flanked with quotations from plautus, his favorite comic author.We regret that we are not able to offer to our readers this remarkable piece.The orator pronounced it with marvellous action.Before he had finished the exordium, the perspiration was starting from his brow, and his eyes from his bead.
All at once, in the middle of a fine period, he interrupted himself, and his glance, ordinarily so gentle and even stupid, became menacing.
"Gentlemen," he exclaimed (this time in French, for it was not in his copy book), "Satan is so mixed up in this affair, that here he is present at our debates, and making sport of their majesty.Behold!"
So saying, he pointed to the little goat, who, on seeing Charmolue gesticulating, had, in point of fact, thought it appropriate to do the same, and had seated himself on his haunches, reproducing to the best of his ability, with his forepaws and his bearded head the pathetic pantomine of the king's procurator in the ecclesiastical court.This was, if the reader remembers, one of his prettiest accomplishments.This incident, this last proof, produced a great effect.The goat's hoofs were tied, and the king's procurator resumed the thread of his eloquence.
It was very long, but the peroration was admirable.Here is the concluding phrase; let the reader add the hoarse voice and the breathless gestures of Master Charmolue,
"~Ideo, domni, coram stryga demonstrata, crimine patente, intentione criminis existente, in nornine sanctoe ecclesioe Nostroe- Domince parisiensis quoe est in saisina habendi omnimodam altam et bassam justitiam in illa hac intemerata Civitatis insula, tenore proesentium declaremus nos requirere, primo, aliquamdam pecuniariam indemnitatem; secundo, amendationem honorabilem ante portalium maximum Nostroe-Dominoe, ecclesioe cathedralis; tertio, sententiani in virtute cujus ista styrga cum sua capella, seu in trivio vulgariter dicto~ la Grève, ~seu in insula exeunte in fluvio Secanoe, juxta pointam juardini regalis, executatoe sint~!"*
* The substance of this exordium is contained in the president's sentence.
He put on his cap again and seated himself.
"Eheu!" sighed the broken-hearted Gringoire, "~bassa latinitas~--bastard latin!"
Another man in a black gown rose near the accused; he was her lawyer.--The judges, who were fasting, began to grumble.
"Advocate, be brief," said the president.
"Monsieur the president," replied the advocate, "since the defendant has confessed the crime, I have only one word to say to these gentlemen.Here is a text from the Salic law; 'If a witch hath eaten a man, and if she be convicted of it, she shall pay a fine of eight thousand deniers, which amount to two hundred sous of gold.' May it please the chamber to condemn my client to the fine?"
"An abrogated text," said the advocate extraordinary of the king.
"Nego, I deny it," replied the advocate.
"put it to the vote!" said one of the councillors; "the crime is manifest, and it is late."
They proceeded to take a vote without leaving the room. The judges signified their assent without giving their reasons, they were in a hurry.Their capped heads were seen uncovering one after the other, in the gloom, at the lugubrious question addressed to them by the president in a low voice.The poor accused had the appearance of looking at them, but her troubled eye no longer saw.
Then the clerk began to write; then he handed a long parch- ment to the president.
Then the unhappy girl heard the people moving, the pikes clashing, and a freezing voice saying to her,--"Bohemian wench, on the day when it shall seem good to our lord the king, at the hour of noon, you will be taken in a tumbrel, in your shift, with bare feet, and a rope about your neck, before the grand portal of Notre-Dame, and you will there make an apology with a wax torch of the weight of two pounds in your hand, and thence you will be conducted to the place de Grève, where you will be hanged and strangled on the town gibbet; and likewise your goat; and you will pay to the official three lions of gold, in reparation of the crimes by you committed and by you confessed, of sorcery and magic, debauchery and murder, upon the person of the Sieur phoebus de Chateaupers.May God have mercy on your soul!"
"Oh!'tis a dream!" she murmured; and she felt rough hands bearing her away.

《第八卷 三 金币变枯叶(续完)》
她面无血色,一瘸一拐地回到审判大厅,一片欢快的呢喃声顿时不绝于耳.对听众来说,不耐烦的情绪终于缓解,就好比在剧院里好不容易等到一出喜剧最后幕间休息已经结束,帷幕又升起,结局的一幕戏就要开演了.对法官们来说,马上有望回家吃晚饭了.小山羊高兴得咩咩直叫,一下子要向女主人奔去,可是被绑在凳子上却挣脱不了.
夜幕完全降临了.大厅里的蜡烛并没有增多,光线十分微弱,连四周的墙壁也模糊不清了.黑暗笼罩着一切,各种东西像蒙上某种薄雾.有些法官的冷漠面孔都模糊不清了.他们可以看见大厅的另一端,正好在他们对面,有一个模模糊糊的白点,衬托着阴暗的背景,显得十分惹眼.那就是被告.
她连拖带爬回到位置上.夏尔莫吕也威风凛凛回到位置上,刚一屁股坐下,随后又站起,尽量不过分流露出沾沾自喜的心情,说道:"被告全供认不讳."
"流浪女,"庭长接着说,"您供认了卖淫.行妖.谋杀弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔等种种罪行吗?"
她心如刀割.只听见她在阴暗中抽抽噎噎哭泣着.她有气无力地答道:"凡是你们想要的所有一切我全招认,不过快把我处死吧!"
"国王宗教法庭检察官先生,"庭长说,"本庭已准备好听取您的公诉状."
夏尔莫吕老爷摊开一本可怕的本子,指手划脚,以公诉的夸张语调,开始宣读一篇拉丁文的演说词,其中凡是案件证据都是用西塞罗式迂回说法的句子七拼八凑起来的,穿插着他最宠爱的喜剧作家普洛特的名句摘引.非常遗憾,这篇绝妙奇文,我们不能与读者共赏了.这个演讲人滔滔不绝,说得绘声绘色,还没有念完开场白,额头上就已经冒出汗来.眼珠也从眼眶里凸出来了.突然,正念到某一个长句中间,蓦地顿住,通常那双相当温和又相当愚蠢的眼睛,立刻凶光毕露.他叫嚷起来(这回说的是法语,因为那本簿子上没有这些话):"先生们,撒旦插手了本案,他就在这里看审,并扮着鬼脸嘲弄本庭的尊严.看呀!"
他一边说着,一边用手指着小山羊.小山羊一看夏尔莫吕手划脚,竟以为要它学着比划,接着往后一坐,伸出两条前腿,晃着有胡须的脑袋贝,竭其所能,摹仿这个国王宗教法庭检察官的悲怆姿态.大家一定还记得,这可是佳丽最了不起的本领.这个偶然的小事件,这个最后的证据,后果可就严重了.人们手忙脚乱,赶紧把山羊的四脚捆绑起来,国王检察官这才又口若悬河,接着往下说.
他说的太冗长了,好在结尾倒是妙笔生花,令人叫绝.下面就是最后一句,请读者阅读时联想一下夏尔莫吕老爷嘶哑的声音和直喘粗气的神态:"因此,诸位大人,巫术业已当场证实,罪行业已昭彰,犯罪动机业已成立,兹以拥有老城岛上大小一切司法权的巴黎圣母院这一圣殿的名义,今按诸位要求,特判决如下:
一.缴付赔偿费.
二.在圣母院大教堂前当众认罪.
三.判决将该巫女及其母山羊在俗称的河滩广场或者突出于塞纳河中并与御花园毗邻的岛岬,就地正法."念完,他戴上帽子,又重新坐下.
格兰古瓦悲痛欲绝,唉声叹气道:"呸!多蹩脚的拉丁语!"
这时,从被告身边站起一个穿黑袍的人.这是被告的辩护律师.法官们肚子叽哩咕哝的响着,低声嘀嘀咕咕起来.
"律师,说得简短些."庭长说.
"庭长大人,"律师答道,"既然被告已经供认了罪行,我只有一句话要向诸位大人言明.这里有撒利克法典的一项条款:'如果一个女巫吃掉了一个男人,而且该女巫供认不讳,可课以八千德尼埃罚款,合两百金苏.’请法庭判处我的当事人这笔罚款."
"该条款已废除."国王的特别状师说道.
"我说不对!"辩护律师反驳说.
"表决吧."有位审判官说,"罪行确凿,时间也晚了."
接着当场表决,法官们随意举帽附和,他们正急着回家.庭长低声向他们提出这生死攸关的问题,只见昏暗中他们一个接一个脱下头上的帽子.孤立无援的被告好像在望着他们,其实她目光慌乱,看不见任何东西了.
接着书记官开始记录在案,然后把一张羊皮纸交给了庭长.
这时,可怜的少女听见矛戟碰击声,众人移动声,一个令人不寒而栗的声音在说:
"流浪女,您将在国王陛下指定的日子,中午时分,身穿内衣,赤着脚,脖子上套着绳子,由一辆囚车押到圣母院大门前,手执两斤重的大蜡烛,在那里当众认罪,再押送至河滩广场,在本城绞刑架上被吊起来绞死;您的这只母山羊也一样被处死;还得交给宗教法庭三个金狮币,作为您所犯并招认的魔法.巫术.卖淫.谋杀菲比斯.德.夏托佩尔先生本人等罪行的赔偿.愿上帝收留您的灵魂!"
"啊!真是一场梦!"她喃喃自语,并且立即感到有几只粗糙的大手把她拖着走了.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 37楼  发表于: 2013-10-28 0

《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER IV.~LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA~--LEAVE ALL HOPE BEHIND, YE WHO ENTER HERE. Page 1》
In the Middle Ages, when an edifice was complete, there was almost as much of it in the earth as above it.Unless built upon piles, like Notre-Dame, a palace, a fortress, a church, had always a double bottom.In cathedrals, it was, in some sort, another subterranean cathedral, low, dark, mysterious, blind, and mute, under the upper nave which was overflowing with light and reverberating with organs and bells day and night.Sometimes it was a sepulchre.In palaces, in fortresses, it was a prison, sometimes a sepulchre also, sometimes both together.These mighty buildings, whose mode of formation and vegetation we have elsewhere explained, had not simply foundations, but, so to speak, roots which ran branching through the soil in chambers, galleries, and staircases, like the construction above.Thus churches, palaces, fortresses, had the earth half way up their bodies. The cellars of an edifice formed another edifice, into which one descended instead of ascending, and which extended its subterranean grounds under the external piles of the monument, like those forests and mountains which are reversed in the mirror-like waters of a lake, beneath the forests and mountains of the banks.
At the fortress of Saint-Antoine, at the palais de Justice of paris, at the Louvre, these subterranean edifices were prisons. The stories of these prisons, as they sank into the soil, grew constantly narrower and more gloomy.They were so many zones, where the shades of horror were graduated.Dante could never imagine anything better for his hell.These tunnels of cells usually terminated in a sack of a lowest dungeon, with a vat-like bottom, where Dante placed Satan, where society placed those condemned to death.A miserable human existence, once interred there; farewell light, air, life, ~ogni speranza~--every hope; it only came forth to the scaffold or the stake.Sometimes it rotted there; human justice called this "forgetting."Between men and himself, the condemned man felt a pile of stones and jailers weighing down upon his head; and the entire prison, the massive bastille was nothing more than an enormous, complicated lock, which barred him off from the rest of the world.
It was in a sloping cavity of this description, in the ~oubliettes~ excavated by Saint-Louis, in the ~inpace~ of the Tournelle, that la Esmeralda had been placed on being condemned to death, through fear of her escape, no doubt, with the colossal court-house over her head.poor fly, who could not have lifted even one of its blocks of stone!
Assuredly, providence and society had been equally unjust; such an excess of unhappiness and of torture was not necessary to break so frail a creature.
There she lay, lost in the shadows, buried, hidden, immured. Any one who could have beheld her in this state, after having seen her laugh and dance in the sun, would have shuddered. Cold as night, cold as death, not a breath of air in her tresses, not a human sound in her ear, no longer a ray of light in her eyes; snapped in twain, crushed with chains, crouching beside a jug and a loaf, on a little straw, in a pool of water, which was formed under her by the sweating of the prison walls; without motion, almost without breath, she had no longer the power to suffer; phoebus, the sun, midday, the open air, the streets of paris, the dances with applause, the sweet babblings of love with the officer; then the priest, the old crone, the poignard, the blood, the torture, the gibbet; all this did, indeed, pass before her mind, sometimes as a charming and golden vision, sometimes as a hideous nightmare; but it was no longer anything but a vague and horrible struggle, lost in the gloom, or distant music played up above ground, and which was no longer audible at the depth where the unhappy girl had fallen.
Since she had been there, she had neither waked nor slept. In that misfortune, in that cell, she could no longer distinguish her waking hours from slumber, dreams from reality, any more than day from night.All this was mixed, broken, floating, disseminated confusedly in her thought.She no longer felt, she no longer knew, she no longer thought; at the most, she only dreamed.Never had a living creature been thrust more deeply into nothingness.
Thus benumbed, frozen, petrified, she had barely noticed on two or three occasions, the sound of a trap door opening somewhere above her, without even permitting the passage of a little light, and through which a hand had tossed her a bit of black bread.Nevertheless, this periodical visit of the jailer was the sole communication which was left her with mankind.
A single thing still mechanically occupied her ear; above her head, the dampness was filtering through the mouldy stones of the vault, and a drop of water dropped from them at regular intervals.She listened stupidly to the noise made by this drop of water as it fell into the pool beside her.
This drop of water falling from time to time into that pool, was the only movement which still went on around her, the only clock which marked the time, the only noise which reached her of all the noise made on the surface of the earth.
To tell the whole, however, she also felt, from time to time, in that cesspool of mire and darkness, something cold passing over her foot or her arm, and she shuddered.
How long had she been there?She did not know.She had a recollection of a sentence of death pronounced somewhere, against some one, then of having been herself carried away, and of waking up in darkness and silence, chilled to the heart.She had dragged herself along on her hands. Then iron rings that cut her ankles, and chains had rattled. She had recognized the fact that all around her was wall, that below her there was a pavement covered with moisture and a truss of straw; but neither lamp nor air-hole.Then she had seated herself on that straw and, sometimes, for the sake of changing her attitude, on the last stone step in her dungeon. For a while she had tried to count the black minutes measured off for her by the drop of water; but that melancholy labor of an ailing brain had broken off of itself in her head, and had left her in stupor.
At length, one day, or one night, (for midnight and midday were of the same color in that sepulchre), she heard above her a louder noise than was usually made by the turnkey when he brought her bread and jug of water.She raised her head, and beheld a ray of reddish light passing through the crevices in the sort of trapdoor contrived in the roof of the ~inpace~.
At the same time, the heavy lock creaked, the trap grated on its rusty hinges, turned, and she beheld a lantern, a hand, and the lower portions of the bodies of two men, the door being too low to admit of her seeing their heads.The light pained her so acutely that she shut her eyes.
When she opened them again the door was closed, the lantern was deposited on one of the steps of the staircase; a man alone stood before her.A monk's black cloak fell to his feet, a cowl of the same color concealed his face.Nothing was visible of his person, neither face nor hands.It was a long, black shroud standing erect, and beneath which something could be felt moving.She gazed fixedly for several minutes at this sort of spectre.But neither he nor she spoke.One would have pronounced them two statues confronting each other.Two things only seemed alive in that cavern; the wick of the lantern, which sputtered on account of the dampness of the atmosphere, and the drop of water from the roof, which cut this irregular sputtering with its monotonous splash, and made the light of the lantern quiver in concentric waves on the oily water of the pool.
At last the prisoner broke the silence.
"Who are you?"
"A priest."
The words, the accent, the sound of his voice made her tremble.
The priest continued, in a hollow voice,--
"Are you prepared?"
"For what?"
"To die."
"Oh!" said she, "will it be soon?"
"To-morrow."
Her head, which had been raised with joy, fell back upon her breast.
"'Tis very far away yet!" she murmured; "why could they not have done it to-day?"
"Then you are very unhappy?" asked the priest, after a silence.
"I am very cold," she replied.
She took her feet in her hands, a gesture habitual with unhappy wretches who are cold, as we have already seen in the case of the recluse of the Tour-Roland, and her teeth chattered.
The priest appeared to cast his eyes around the dungeon from beneath his cowl.
"Without light!without fire!in the water!it is horrible!"
"Yes," she replied, with the bewildered air which unhappiness had given her."The day belongs to every one, why do they give me only night?"
"Do you know," resumed the priest, after a fresh silence, "why you are here?"
"I thought I knew once," she said, passing her thin fingers over her eyelids, as though to aid her memory, "but I know no longer."
All at once she began to weep like a child.
"I should like to get away from here, sir.I am cold, I am afraid, and there are creatures which crawl over my body."
"Well, follow me."
So saying, the priest took her arm.The unhappy girl was frozen to her very soul.Yet that hand produced an impression of cold upon her.
"Oh!" she murmured, "'tis the icy hand of death.Who are you?"
The priest threw back his cowl; she looked.It was the sinister visage which had so long pursued her; that demon's head which had appeared at la Falourdel's, above the head of her adored phoebus; that eye which she last had seen glittering beside a dagger.
This apparition, always so fatal for her, and which had thus driven her on from misfortune to misfortune, even to torture, roused her from her stupor.It seemed to her that the sort of veil which had lain thick upon her memory was rent away. All the details of her melancholy adventure, from the nocturnal scene at la Falourdel's to her condemnation to the Tournelle, recurred to her memory, no longer vague and confused as heretofore, but distinct, harsh, clear, palpitating, terrible. These souvenirs, half effaced and almost obliterated by excess of suffering, were revived by the sombre figure which stood before her, as the approach of fire causes letters traced upon white paper with invisible ink, to start out perfectly fresh.It seemed to her that all the wounds of her heart opened and bled simultaneously.
"Hah!" she cried, with her hands on her eyes, and a convulsive trembling, "'tis the priest!"
Then she dropped her arms in discouragement, and remained seated, with lowered head, eyes fixed on the ground, mute and still trembling.
The priest gazed at her with the eye of a hawk which has long been soaring in a circle from the heights of heaven over a poor lark cowering in the wheat, and has long been silently contracting the formidable circles of his flight, and has suddenly swooped down upon his prey like a flash of lightning, and holds it panting in his talons.
She began to murmur in a low voice,--
"Finish! finish! the last blow!" and she drew her head down in terror between her shoulders, like the lamb awaiting the blow of the butcher's axe.
"So I inspire you with horror?" he said at length.
She made no reply.
"Do I inspire you with horror?" he repeated.
Her lips contracted, as though with a smile.
"Yes," said she, "the headsman scoffs at the condemned. Here he has been pursuing me, threatening me, terrifying me for months!Had it not been for him, my God, how happy it should have been!It was he who cast me into this abyss! Oh heavens!it was he who killed him!my phoebus!"
Here, bursting into sobs, and raising her eyes to the priest,--
"Oh! wretch, who are you?What have I done to you? Do you then, hate me so?Alas! what have you against me?"
"I love thee!" cried the priest.
Her tears suddenly ceased, she gazed at him with the look of an idiot.He had fallen on his knees and was devouring her with eyes of flame.
"Dost thou understand?I love thee!" he cried again.
"What love!" said the unhappy girl with a shudder.
He resumed,--
"The love of a damned soul."
Both remained silent for several minutes, crushed beneath the weight of their emotions; he maddened, she stupefied.
"Listen," said the priest at last, and a singular calm had come over him; "you shall know all I am about to tell you that which I have hitherto hardly dared to say to myself, when furtively interrogating my conscience at those deep hours of the night when it is so dark that it seems as though God no longer saw us.Listen.Before I knew you, young girl, I was happy."
"So was I!" she sighed feebly.
"Do not interrupt me.Yes, I was happy, at least I believed myself to be so.I was pure, my soul was filled with limpid light.No head was raised more proudly and more radiantly than mine.priests consulted me on chastity; doctors, on doctrines.Yes, science was all in all to me; it was a sister to me, and a sister sufficed.Not but that with age other ideas came to me.More than once my flesh had been moved as a woman's form passed by.That force of sex and blood which, in the madness of youth, I had imagined that I had stifled forever had, more than once, convulsively raised the chain of iron vows which bind me, a miserable wretch, to the cold stones of the altar.But fasting, prayer, study, the mortifications of the cloister, rendered my soul mistress of my body once more, and then I avoided women.Moreover, I had but to open a book, and all the impure mists of my brain vanished before the splendors of science.In a few moments, I felt the gross things of earth flee far away, and I found myself once more calm, quieted, and serene, in the presence of the tranquil radiance of eternal truth.As long as the demon sent to attack me only vague shadows of women who passed occasionally before my eyes in church, in the streets, in the fields, and who hardly recurred to my dreams, I easily vanquished him.Alas!if the victory has not remained with me, it is the fault of God, who has not created man and the demon of equal force.Listen.One day--
Here the priest paused, and the prisoner heard sighs of anguish break from his breast with a sound of the death rattle.
He resumed,--
"One day I was leaning on the window of my cell.What book was I reading then?Oh! all that is a whirlwind in my head.I was reading.The window opened upon a Square.I heard a sound of tambourine and music.Annoyed at being thus disturbed in my revery, I glanced into the Square.What I beheld, others saw beside myself, and yet it was not a spectacle made for human eyes.There, in the middle of the pavement,--it was midday, the sun was shining brightly,--a creature was dancing.A creature so beautiful that God would have preferred her to the Virgin and have chosen her for his mother and have wished to be born of her if she had been in existence when he was made man!Her eyes were black and splendid; in the midst of her black locks, some hairs through which the sun shone glistened like threads of gold.Her feet disappeared in their movements like the spokes of a rapidly turning wheel.Around her head, in her black tresses, there were disks of metal, which glittered in the sun, and formed a coronet of stars on her brow.Her dress thick set with spangles, blue, and dotted with a thousand sparks, gleamed like a summer night.Her brown, supple arms twined and untwined around her waist, like two scarfs.The form of her body was surprisingly beautiful. Oh! what a resplendent figure stood out, like something luminous even in the sunlight!Alas, young girl, it was thou! Surprised, intoxicated, charmed, I allowed myself to gaze upon thee.I looked so long that I suddenly shuddered with terror; I felt that fate was seizing hold of me."
The priest paused for a moment, overcome with emotion. Then he continued,--
"Already half fascinated, I tried to cling fast to something and hold myself back from falling.I recalled the snares which Satan had already set for me.The creature before my eyes possessed that superhuman beauty which can come only from heaven or hell.It was no simple girl made with a little of our earth, and dimly lighted within by the vacillating ray of a woman's soul.It was an angel! but of shadows and flame, and not of light.At the moment when I was meditating thus, I beheld beside you a goat, a beast of witches, which smiled as it gazed at me.The midday sun gave him golden horns.Then I perceived the snare of the demon, and I no longer doubted that you had come from hell and that you had come thence for my perdition.I believed it."
Here the priest looked the prisoner full in the face, and added, coldly,--
"I believe it still.Nevertheless, the charm operated little by little; your dancing whirled through my brain; I felt the mysterious spell working within me.All that should have awakened was lulled to sleep; and like those who die in the snow, I felt pleasure in allowing this sleep to draw on.All at once, you began to sing.What could I do, unhappy wretch?Your song was still more charming than your dancing. I tried to flee.Impossible.I was nailed, rooted to the spot.It seemed to me that the marble of the pavement had risen to my knees.I was forced to remain until the end. My feet were like ice, my head was on fire.At last you took pity on me, you ceased to sing, you disappeared.The reflection of the dazzling vision, the reverberation of the enchanting music disappeared by degrees from my eyes and my ears. Then I fell back into the embrasure of the window, more rigid, more feeble than a statue torn from its base.The vesper bell roused me.I drew myself up; I fled; but alas! something within me had fallen never to rise again, something had come upon me from which I could not flee."
He made another pause and went on,--
"Yes, dating from that day, there was within me a man whom I did not know.I tried to make use of all my remedies. The cloister, the altar, work, books,--follies!Oh, how hollow does science sound when one in despair dashes against it a head full of passions!Do you know, young girl, what I saw thenceforth between my book and me?You, your shade, the image of the luminous apparition which had one day crossed the space before me.But this image had no longer the same color; it was sombre, funereal, gloomy as the black circle which long pursues the vision of the imprudent man who has gazed intently at the sun.
"Unable to rid myself of it, since I heard your song humming ever in my head, beheld your feet dancing always on my breviary, felt even at night, in my dreams, your form in contact with my own, I desired to see you again, to touch you, to know who you were, to see whether I should really find you like the ideal image which I had retained of you, to shatter my dream, perchance, with reality.At all events, I hoped that a new impression would efface the first, and the first had become insupportable.I sought you.I saw you once more.Calamity!When I had seen you twice, I wanted to see you a thousand times, I wanted to see you always. Then--how stop myself on that slope of hell?--then I no longer belonged to myself.The other end of the thread which the demon had attached to my wings he had fastened to his foot.I became vagrant and wandering like yourself. I waited for you under porches, I stood on the lookout for you at the street corners, I watched for you from the summit of my tower.Every evening I returned to myself more charmed, more despairing, more bewitched, more lost!

《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER IV.~LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA~--LEAVE ALL HOPE BEHIND, YE WHO ENTER HERE. Page 2》
"I had learned who you were; an Egyptian, Bohemian, gypsy, zingara.How could I doubt the magic?Listen.I hoped that a trial would free me from the charm.A witch enchanted Bruno d'Ast; he had her burned, and was cured.I knew it.I wanted to try the remedy.First I tried to have you forbidden the square in front of Notre-Dame, hoping to forget you if you returned no more.You paid no heed to it. You returned.Then the idea of abducting you occurred to me.One night I made the attempt.There were two of us. We already had you in our power, when that miserable officer came up.He delivered you.Thus did he begin your unhappiness, mine, and his own.Finally, no longer knowing what to do, and what was to become of me, I denounced you to the official.
"I thought that I should be cured like Bruno d'Ast.I also had a confused idea that a trial would deliver you into my hands; that, as a prisoner I should hold you, I should have you; that there you could not escape from me; that you had already possessed me a sufficiently long time to give me the right to possess you in my turn.When one does wrong, one must do it thoroughly.'Tis madness to halt midway in the monstrous!The extreme of crime has its deliriums of joy. A priest and a witch can mingle in delight upon the truss of straw in a dungeon!
"Accordingly, I denounced you.It was then that I terrified you when we met.The plot which I was weaving against you, the storm which I was heaping up above your head, burst from me in threats and lightning glances.Still, I hesitated. My project had its terrible sides which made me shrink back.
"perhaps I might have renounced it; perhaps my hideous thought would have withered in my brain, without bearing fruit.I thought that it would always depend upon me to follow up or discontinue this prosecution.But every evil thought is inexorable, and insists on becoming a deed; but where I believed myself to be all powerful, fate was more powerful than I.Alas! 'tis fate which has seized you and delivered you to the terrible wheels of the machine which I had constructed doubly.Listen.I am nearing the end.
"One day,--again the sun was shining brilliantly--I behold man pass me uttering your name and laughing, who carries sensuality in his eyes.Damnation!I followed him; you know the rest."
He ceased.
The young girl could find but one word:
"Oh, my phoebus!"
"Not that name!" said the priest, grasping her arm violently."Utter not that name!Oh! miserable wretches that we are, 'tis that name which has ruined us! or, rather we have ruined each other by the inexplicable play of fate! you are suffering, are you not? you are cold; the night makes you blind, the dungeon envelops you; but perhaps you still have some light in the bottom of your soul, were it only your childish love for that empty man who played with your heart, while I bear the dungeon within me; within me there is winter, ice, despair; I have night in my soul.
"Do you know what I have suffered?I was present at your trial.I was seated on the official's bench.Yes, under one of the priests' cowls, there were the contortions of the damned.When you were brought in, I was there; when you were questioned, I was there.--Den of wolves!--It was my crime, it was my gallows that I beheld being slowly reared over your head.I was there for every witness, every proof, every plea; I could count each of your steps in the painful path; I was still there when that ferocious beast--oh!I had not foreseen torture!Listen.I followed you to that chamber of anguish. I beheld you stripped and handled, half naked, by the infamous hands of the tormentor.I beheld your foot, that foot which I would have given an empire to kiss and die, that foot, beneath which to have had my head crushed I should have felt such rapture,--I beheld it encased in that horrible boot, which converts the limbs of a living being into one bloody clod.Oh, wretch!while I looked on at that, I held beneath my shroud a dagger, with which I lacerated my breast.When you uttered that cry, I plunged it into my flesh; at a second cry, it would have entered my heart.Look!I believe that it still bleeds."
He opened his cassock.His breast was in fact, mangled as by the claw of a tiger, and on his side he had a large and badly healed wound.
The prisoner recoiled with horror.
"Oh!" said the priest, "young girl, have pity upon me! You think yourself unhappy; alas! alas! you know not what unhappiness is.Oh! to love a woman! to be a priest! to be hated! to love with all the fury of one's soul; to feel that one would give for the least of her smiles, one's blood, one's vitals, one's fame, one's salvation, one's immortality and eternity, this life and the other; to regret that one is not a king, emperor, archangel, God, in order that one might place a greater slave beneath her feet; to clasp her night and day in one's dreams and one's thoughts, and to behold her in love with the trappings of a soldier and to have nothing to offer her but a priest's dirty cassock, which will inspire her with fear and disgust!To be present with one's jealousy and one's rage, while she lavishes on a miserable, blustering imbecile, treasures of love and beauty!To behold that body whose form burns you, that bosom which possesses so much sweetness, that flesh palpitate and blush beneath the kisses of another! Oh heaven!to love her foot, her arm, her shoulder, to think of her blue veins, of her brown skin, until one writhes for whole nights together on the pavement of one's cell, and to behold all those caresses which one has dreamed of, end in torture!To have succeeded only in stretching her upon the leather bed!Oh! these are the veritable pincers, reddened in the fires of hell.Oh! blessed is he who is sawn between two planks, or torn in pieces by four horses!Do you know what that torture is, which is imposed upon you for long nights by your burning arteries, your bursting heart, your breaking head, your teeth-knawed hands; mad tormentors which turn you incessantly, as upon a red-hot gridiron, to a thought of love, of jealousy, and of despair!Young girl, mercy! a truce for a moment! a few ashes on these live coals!Wipe away, I beseech you, the perspiration which trickles in great drops from my brow!Child! torture me with one hand, but caress me with the other!Have pity, young girl!Have pity upon me!"
The priest writhed on the wet pavement, beating his head against the corners of the stone steps.The young girl gazed at him, and listened to him.
When he ceased, exhausted and panting, she repeated in a low voice,--
"Oh my phoebus!"
The priest dragged himself towards her on his knees.
"I beseech you," he cried, "if you have any heart, do not repulse me!Oh!I love you!I am a wretch!When you utter that name, unhappy girl, it is as though you crushed all the fibres of my heart between your teeth.Mercy!If you come from hell I will go thither with you.I have done everything to that end.The hell where you are, shall he paradise; the sight of you is more charming than that of God! Oh! speak! you will have none of me?I should have thought the mountains would be shaken in their foundations on the day when a woman would repulse such a love.Oh! if you only would!Oh! how happy we might be.We would flee--I would help you to flee,--we would go somewhere, we would seek that spot on earth, where the sun is brightest, the sky the bluest, where the trees are most luxuriant.We would love each other, we would pour our two souls into each other, and we would have a thirst for ourselves which we would quench in common and incessantly at that fountain of inexhaustible love."
She interrupted with a terrible and thrilling laugh.
"Look, father, you have blood on your fingers!"
The priest remained for several moments as though petrified, with his eyes fixed upon his hand.
"Well, yes!" he resumed at last, with strange gentleness, "insult me, scoff at me, overwhelm me with scorn! but come, come.Let us make haste.It is to be to-morrow, I tell you. The gibbet on the Grève, you know it? it stands always ready.It is horrible! to see you ride in that tumbrel!Oh mercy!Until now I have never felt the power of my love for you.--Oh!follow me.You shall take your time to love me after I have saved you.You shall hate me as long as you will.But come.To-morrow! to-morrow! the gallows! your execution!Oh! save yourself! spare me!"
He seized her arm, he was beside himself, he tried to drag her away.
She fixed her eye intently on him.
"What has become of my phoebus?"
"Ah!" said the priest, releasing her arm, "you are pitiless."
"What has become of phoebus?" she repeated coldly.
"He is dead!" cried the priest.
"Dead!" said she, still icy and motionless "then why do you talk to me of living?"
He was not listening to her.
"Oh! yes," said he, as though speaking to himself, "he certainly must be dead.The blade pierced deeply.I believe I touched his heart with the point.Oh! my very soul was at the end of the dagger!"
The young girl flung herself upon him like a raging tigress, and pushed him upon the steps of the staircase with supernatural force.
"Begone, monster!Begone, assassin!Leave me to die! May the blood of both of us make an eternal stain upon your brow!Be thine, priest!Never! never!Nothing shall unite us! not hell itself!Go, accursed man! Never!"
The priest had stumbled on the stairs.He silently disentangled his feet from the folds of his robe, picked up his lantern again, and slowly began the ascent of the steps which led to the door; he opened the door and passed through it.
All at once, the young girl beheld his head reappear; it wore a frightful expression, and he cried, hoarse with rage and despair,--
"I tell you he is dead!"
She fell face downwards upon the floor, and there was no longer any sound audible in the cell than the sob of the drop of water which made the pool palpitate amid the darkness.

《第八卷 四 进此处者,抛弃一切希望!》
中世纪一座完整的建筑物,地下和地面大约各占一半.除非像圣母院这样的地基是建造在木桩之上的,其它任何一座教堂,一座宫殿,一座城堡,无不拥有双重地基.各大教堂里,可以说还有另一座地下大教堂,低矮,阴暗,神秘.密不透光,寂然无声,就在那光明透亮.日夜响着管风琴声和钟声的地上中堂底下;有时,地下大教堂就是一座墓穴.在宫殿和城堡下,则是一座监狱;有时也是一座墓穴,有时二者兼而有之.这些坚固的砖石建筑物,我们在前面曾经叙述了它形成和繁衍的方式,它们不只有地基,而且,还有根须分布于地下,构成房间.长廊和楼梯,完全和地上的建筑一模一样.所以,教堂也罢.宫殿也罢.城堡也罢,都是半截埋在地下的.一座建筑物的地窖就是另一座建筑,要到那里去只顾往下走,而无须往上爬,其地下各层就在地上那重重叠叠的各层下面,犹如森林和山峦倒映在山林下清澈如镜的湖水中.
在圣安东城堡,在卢浮宫,在巴黎司法宫,这些地下建筑物的地下都是监狱.这些监狱的各层直升地底,越往下去越阴暗.越狭窄.这也是越往下去越阴森恐怖的地区,但丁要描写的地狱,不可能找到更合适的地方了.那些类似漏斗形排列的牢房,通常直抵地牢深处一个盆底状的密牢.那里,但丁用来囚禁撒旦,社会用来囚禁死囚.任何一个悲惨的人一旦被埋在那里,就会永远与阳光.空气.生活诀别了:抛弃一切希望.休想从那里出来,除非是去上绞刑架或火刑台.有时,就在密牢里逐渐腐烂掉.人类的司法竟把这称为忘却.死囚感到,自己与人间完全隔绝,压在头顶上的是一大堆石头和狱卒,这一整座监狱,这一庞大的坟墓,只不过是一把复杂的大锁,把他牢牢锁住,与活生生的世界隔绝.
爱斯梅拉达被判处绞刑之后,大概害怕她逃跑,随后被扔在这样的一个盆底-在圣路易所挖掘的地牢里,在图尔内尔刑事法庭的密牢里,头顶上还镇着庞大的司法宫.实际上,这可怜的苍蝇连它最小的碎石也不能移动呀!
的确,上帝和社会都同样不公正,要粉碎一个这样柔弱的女子,何须如此大逞淫威,百般迫害和酷刑呢!
她待在那里,被黑暗吞没了,埋葬了,掩藏了,禁锢了.如果谁见过她昔日在明媚阳光下欢笑和跳舞,如今再目堵她这种惨状,准会不寒而栗.黑夜般的寒冷,死亡般的冰冷,秀发不再有清风吹拂,耳边不再有人声萦绕,眼里不再有明亮目光,她身子已弯成两截,拖着沉重的枷锁,蜷缩在一丁点儿稻草上,身边放着一只水罐和一块面包,身子下面是牢房渗出的水汇成的水泊,她没有动弹,几乎没有呼吸,甚至连痛苦也察觉不到了.弗比斯,阳光,晌午,野外,巴黎市井,博得一片喝采声的舞蹈,同那个军官缠绵细语的谈情说爱,还有尸首.血泊.教士.恶婆.毒刑.绞刑架,所有这一切不停地在她脑子里浮现,依然历历在目,忽而像愉悦的金色幻影,忽而又像怪异的可怕恶梦.可是,这一切无非是一种可怖而渺茫的挣扎,逐渐在黑暗中烟消雾散,要不然,那只是一种遥远的乐曲,在大地上凌空演奏,它的乐声是再也传不到这可怜少女所掉进的深渊里的.
自从被囚禁在这里,一直无所谓醒,无所谓睡.在这场横祸中,在这个地牢里,再也无法分清醒和睡,无法分清梦幻与现实,就如同分不清黑夜与白昼一样.在她心里,一切都是混杂的.支离破碎的.乱七八糟.飘忽不定的扩散开来的.她再也不能有感知,再也不能思考了,顶多只能想入非非.从来没有一个活人像她这样深深陷在虚无漂渺之中.
她就这样浑身麻木.四肢冰冷.僵如化石,连一道活门偶然的声响几乎也没有注意到.这道活门在她头顶上方某个地方,曾开过两三天,却连一点点光线也照不过来,每次有只手从那里扔给她一块坚硬的黑面包.狱卒这种定时的查巡,是她和人类唯一尚存的联系.
她唯一还能听到的,就是拱顶上那长满青苔的石板缝里沁出的水珠均匀地滴落下来的声音.她楞楞地听着,水滴掉落在她身旁水洼里的响声.水滴落在水洼里,那就是她周围绝无仅有的动静,是唯一标明时间的时钟,是地面上一切声响中唯一传到她耳边的声音.
她也不时感觉到在这漆黑的泥坑里,有冰凉的东西在她脚上或手臂上爬来爬去,把她吓得直打哆嗦.
她自己也不记得她在这里呆了多久了,在什么地方对一个人宣布死刑判决,接着人家就把她拖到这里来了,她一醒来周围就是黑夜.死寂,冰冷.她用手在地上爬着,脚镣的铁环划破了她的脚踝,锁链丁当作响.她辨认出周围都是坚墙厚壁,而身下是淹着水的石板,还有一把稻草.但是没有灯,没有通风孔.于是她在稻草上坐了下来,有时为了换一下姿势,就坐到牢房里最下面一级上.有一阵子,她试着通过水滴的次数来计算在黑暗中的分分秒秒.然而一个病弱的脑子,很快就自行中断了这种悲惨的活儿,她随后又呆若木鸡了.
终于有一天,或者有一夜(因为在墓穴里子夜和晌午都是同样的颜色),她听见头顶上有一阵声响,比平日看守带面包和水罐给她时开门的声音还大些,她抬头一看,只见一线似红非红的亮光,穿过密牢拱顶上那道门,换句话说,那扇翻板活门的缝隙照了进来.同时,沉重的铁门轧轧响了起来,生锈的铰链发出刺耳的磨擦声,活门的翻板转动了.她立刻看见一只灯笼,一只手.两个男人的下半截身子;门太低矮,她看不见他们的脑袋.灯光把她的双眼刺痛了,她随即把眼睛闭了起来.
等她再张开眼睛,活门已经关闭,灯被放在一级石阶上,一个男人独个儿站在她面前,黑僧衣一直拖到脚上,黑风帽遮住了面孔.看不见他整个人的身子,看不见脸.那真是一块长长的黑色裹尸布直立在那里,而尸布里面可以感觉到有什么东西在震动.她目不转睛地盯着这幽灵看了一阵子.期间两人谁都不吭声.在这地牢里,仿佛只有两样东西是活着的,那就是因空气潮湿而劈啪直响的灯芯,还有从牢顶上坠落下来的水滴.水滴那单调的汩汩声,打断了灯心劈哩啪啦不规则的爆响声;水滴一坠落下来,灯光反照在水洼油污水面上的光圈也随着它摇曳不定.
最后,女囚终于打破了沉默:"您是谁?"
"教士."
这答话,这腔调,这嗓音,让她听了直打哆嗦.
教士声音嘶哑,吐字却很清楚,说:"您准备好了吗?"
"准备好什么?"
"你去死."
"啊!"她说:"马上就去?"
"明天去."
她本来高兴得扬起头来,一下子又耷拉到胸前,喃喃道:"还要等那么久!何不就在今天呢?"
"这么说,您痛苦难忍了?"教士沉默了一会儿,又问.
"我很冷."她答道.
她随即用双手握住双脚,这种动作是不幸者寒冷时常有的,我在罗朗塔楼已经见过那个隐修女这样做了.同时,她的牙齿直打冷战.
教士眼睛从风帽底下悄悄地环视了一下这牢房.
"没有亮光!没有火!浸在水里!真是骇人听闻."
"是的,"她惊慌地说道,自从这场横祸,她就一直神色慌张,"白昼属于人,唯独给我黑夜,这是为什么?"
"为什么您在这里,你知道吗?"教士又沉默了片刻,问道.
"我想我原是知道的."她伸出瘦削的手指头,抹了一下眉头,像要帮助她自己的记忆似的."不过现在不知道了."
突然她像个小孩一样哭了起来:"我要出去,先生.我冷,我怕,还有什么虫子爬到我身上来了."
"那好,跟我走."
教士一面这样说着,一边拽住她的胳膊.那苦命的女子本来已冷到骨髓,可她觉得这只手却更冰冷.
"咳!这是死神冰冷的手."她自言自语,继续问道:"您到底是谁?"
教士一把掀掉风帽.她一看,原来是长久以来一直追踪她的那张阴险的脸孔,是在法露黛尔家里出现在她心爱的弗比斯头顶上的那个魔头,是她最后一次看见它在一把匕首旁边闪闪发亮的那双眼睛.
这个幽灵一直是她罹难的祸根,把她从一个灾难推到另一个灾难,甚至惨遭酷刑.这个幽灵的出现,反而使她从麻木状态中惊醒过来.她顿时仿佛觉得,蒙住她记忆的那层厚厚的布幕一下子撕裂开来了.她的悲惨遭遇,从法露黛尔家里夜间那一幕开始,直至在图尔内尔刑庭被判处死刑,一桩桩一件件,一齐涌上她的心头,不再像先前那样模糊不清,而是十分显露.清晰.鲜明.生动.可怕.这些记忆本来一半已经遗忘了,而且由于过度痛苦而几乎泯灭,如今看见面前出现的这个阴沉沉的人影.这些记忆顿时又复活了,就好像用隐写墨水写在白纸上的无形字迹,像火一烘就一清二楚显现出来了.她仿佛觉得,心头上一切创伤又裂开了,鲜血直淌.
"哎呀!"她喊叫了起来,双手捂住眼睛,浑身抽搐而战栗:"原来是那个教士!"
说完就泄气地垂下胳膊,一屁股瘫坐下去,耷拉着脑袋,眼睛盯着地,仍然颤抖不已.
教士瞅着她,那目光有如一只在高空盘旋的老鹰,紧紧围绕着一只躲在麦田里的可怜的云雀,悄悄地不断缩小可怕飞旋圈,倏然疾如闪电,向猎物猛扑下去,用利爪一把抓住了那喘息着的云雀.
她低声呢喃着:"结果我吧!结果我吧!快给最后一击!"她心惊胆战,头缩在双肩中间,仿佛一只羔羊正等待屠夫致命的当头一棒.
"是我让您厌恶吗?"他终于问道.
她一声不吭.
"是我让您厌恶吗?"他又问了一遍.
"不错,"她答道,痛苦得嘴唇在抽搐,看上去像在笑一样."这是刽子手拿死刑犯在开心.多少个月来,他跟踪我.威胁我.恐吓我!要不是他,上帝啊,我该是多么幸福啊!是他把我推下这万丈深渊.天啊,苍天!是他杀了......是他杀了他-我的弗比斯!"
说到这儿,她呜呜咽咽哭了起来,抬头望着教士,说:"呵!坏家伙!您是谁?我做了什么得罪您啦,您才对我恨之入骨?咳!您对我有什么深重的怨仇?"
"我爱你!"教士喊道.
她的眼泪突然打住,目光痴呆,瞅了他一眼.他跪了下来,目光如火,紧紧一动也不动地盯住她看.
"你听见了吗?我爱你!"他又叫道.
"什么样的爱?"不幸的少女直打冷战.
他紧接着说:"一个被打入地狱的人的爱."
有一阵子,两人都默不作声,双双被各自的激情压碎了,他是丧失理智,她是麻木不仁.
"听着,"教士终于说道,他又恢复了异常的平静,"你马上就会全知道的.在这深夜里,到处漆黑一团,似乎上帝也看不见我们,我悄悄扪心自问,有些事在此之前连对我自己都不敢启口,我要把这一切全向你倾吐.你听我说,姑娘,在遇见你之前,我可是过得很快活......"
"我也何尝不是!"她轻轻叹息了一声.
"别打断我的话......是的,我那时过得很快活,至少我自认为是那样的.我十分纯洁,心灵里明净似镜清澈如水.没有人比我更自豪,把头高高昂起.教士们来向我请教贞洁情操,博学之士来向我求教经学教义.是的,科学就是我的一切,科学就是我的姐妹,有个姐妹我就足够了.若非随着年龄的增长,我也不会有其它的念头.不止一次,只要看见女人形影走过,我的肉体便兴奋不已.男人性欲和男人血气这种力量,我本以为在狂热的少年时就已经终生将其扼杀了,其实不然,它不止一次地掀起狂澜,把我这个可怜人因立过铁誓而死死拴在祭台冰冷石头上的那条锁链掀动了.然而,通过祈祷.斋戒.学习和修道院的苦刑,灵魂重新成了肉体的主宰,于是我回避一切女人.再则,我只要一打开书本,在光辉灿烂的科学面前我头脑中的一切污烟瘴气的东西便烟消雾散了.不一会儿,我觉得尘世上一切浊物全逃之夭夭了,在永恒真理那祥和的光辉照耀下我恢复了平静,感觉到神清气爽满目灿烂.教堂里.大街上.田野中,女人的模糊身影零零落落浮现在我眼前,却几乎从没有在我梦中露面,只要魔鬼差遣它们来向我进攻,我轻而易举地就把魔鬼打败了.如果说我没有保持住胜利,那是上帝的过错,上帝并没有赋予人和魔鬼同等的力量.......听我说,有一天......"
说到这里,教士突然顿住.女囚听见从他胸膛里发出声音,好似垂死时的喘息,仿佛撕心裂肺的痛苦.
他接着往下说:
"......有一天,我倚在秘室的窗台上.我当时读什么书来着?啊!我这时脑子里乱成一团糟,记不清了.......反正当时我正在看书.窗子朝向广场,忽然我听见一阵手鼓声和音乐声,扰乱了我的遐思,我很生气,便向广场望了一眼.我看见的-当然其他人也看见了-那可不并是供世人肉眼睛观赏的一种景象.在那边,在铺石板的广场中间,时值晌午,阳光灿烂,有个人儿在跳舞.她是那样的秀丽,若与圣母相比,连上帝都会更喜欢这个女子,宁愿选她做母亲,如果在他化身为人时,她已在人间,定会情愿是她生的!她的眼睛又黑又亮,满头乌黑的头发,正中有几根照着阳光,像缕缕金丝闪闪发光.一双脚像轮辐一样在飞快旋转,全然看不清楚了.乌黑的发辫盘绕在头部周围,缀满金属饰片,在阳光下闪闪发光,好似额头上戴着一顶缀满星星的王冠.她的袍子点缀着许多闪光片,蓝光闪烁,又缝着许许多多亮晶晶的饰品,有如夏夜的星空.她两只柔软的褐色手臂,恰似两条飘带,绕着腰肢,忽而缠结忽而松开,她的身材,美丽惊人.啊!那光彩夺目的形体,甚至在阳光下,也像某种明亮的东西那样耀眼!......唉!姑娘!那就是你!......我,惊讶,沉醉,心迷意乱,不由自主地凝望着你,望呀望呀,我突然吓得浑身发抖,意识到命运把我抓住不放了."
教士透不过气来,又只停顿了片刻,接着又往下说:
"既然已经半着了魔,我就竭力想抓住什么东西,免得再坠落下去.突然想起撒旦过去曾经多次给我设下的圈套.我眼前的这个女子,美貌非凡,只能来自天堂或者地狱,绝不是用一点凡间的泥土捏成的普普通通的女子,内心也绝非像一个妇道人家那样浑浑噩噩,灵魂里只有颤悠悠的一点亮光照着而已.她是一个天使!然而,她却是一个黑暗天使,烈火天使,而不是光明的天使.在我这样想着的时候,我发现了你身边有只山羊,一只群魔会的畜牲,正笑着注视我.晌午的阳光把它的犄角照得像火燃烧一般.于是我隐约看到魔鬼设下的陷阱,我肯定你从地狱来的,是来引诱我堕落的.我对此深信不疑."
说到这里,教士直视女囚,冷冰冰地又说.
"我至今还深信不疑.......那时候,魔法逐渐起作用,你的舞姿一直在我头脑中旋转,我就感到神秘的巫术在我心中已实现其魔力,我灵魂中一切本应觉醒的反而沉沉入睡,就像雪地里濒于死亡的人,任凭这样沉睡过去反而觉得愉快那样.猛然间,你唱起歌来.可怜的我,我又能怎么样做呢?你的歌声比你的舞姿还迷人.我要拔腿逃走,但不可能.我被牢牢钉在那里,在地上生根了似的.仿佛觉得那大理石上的楼板早已高高上升,把我的膝盖全掩埋了.我实是无计可施,只得待在那里听到底.我的脚像冰,我的头嗡嗡响.末了,你也许可怜我啦,不唱了,消失了.那令人眼花缭乱的舞姿,那使人销魂荡魄的音乐的回响,逐渐在我眼里和耳际消失了.我一下子在窗脚下瘫倒了,比倒下的石像还僵直.还了无生气.晚祷的钟声把我惊醒了,我站立起来,拔腿逃走了.可是,咳!我心底里却有什么东西倒下了,再也无法直立起来了."
他再停顿了一下,接着又说:
"是的,从那天起,我心中闯进了一个陌生人.我用我熟悉的一切灵丹妙药来自我治疗,诸如修道院.工作.祭坛.读书.真是胡闹!咳!当你满脑子装满情欲,心灰意冷地拿脑袋去撞科学的大门,其响声是多么的空洞!你可知道,姑娘,从那以后,在书本和我之间,一直浮现在我眼前的是什么呢?是你,你的身影,某一天从天上降落到我面前的那个光辉灿烂的幽灵的形象.但是这个形象不再是原来的颜色,它变得昏暗.惨淡.阴森.好似一个冒失鬼凝望太阳之后视觉上久久浮现着一团的黑影.
"无法摆脱,你的歌声老是萦绕在我的脑际,你的双脚一直在我的祈祷书上飞舞,你的形体始终在夜里睡梦中悄悄地在我肉体上滑动,于是我迫切想再见到你,触摸你,了解你,看一看你是不是仍像你在我心中的完美无缺的形象,现实会粉碎我的梦幻也说不定.总而言之,我希望能有个新的印象,好把原先的印象抹掉,更何况原先的印象实在叫我受不了了.我四处寻找你,终于再和你在一起.灾难呀!我见到你两次,就恨不得见到你千次,恨不得永远一直见到你.于是-在这通向地狱的斜坡上,怎能刹住不往下滑呢?-于是,我再也无法自持了.魔鬼缚住我翅膀上的线,另一端系在你的脚上.我也像你一样,成了流浪者,到处漂泊.我在人家的门廊下等你,在街上拐角处伺候你,在钟楼的顶上窥探你.每天晚上,我都反省自己,益发感到更入迷.更沮丧了.更着魔了,我更没治了!
"我早就知道你是什么人,埃及人,波希米亚人,茨冈人,吉卜赛人.巫术有什么可怀疑的呢?听着,我曾希望有一场审讯能使我摆脱魔力的控制.有个女巫曾魔住了布吕诺.德.阿斯特,他把女巫烧死了,自己也得救了.这我是知道的.我拿定主意,要试一试这种疗法.首先,我设法不让你到圣母院前面的广场上来,只要你不来,我就能把你忘记.你却当做耳边风,还是来了.接着,我想把你抢走.有天夜里,我曾想把你抢走,我们是两个人,已经把你抓住了.谁能料到来了那个晦气军官,把你放了.他搭救了你,你的灾难也就开始了,也是我的灾难和他的灾难.最后,我不知道怎么办,也不知道事情会落个什么结果,所以向宗教法庭告发了你.当时我以为这样做,就会像布吕诺.德.阿斯特那样把病治好了.我也几乎认为,通过一场官司可以把你弄到手,我可以在牢房里抓住你,占有你,你在牢房里是无法逃脱我的掌心的;你缠住我这么久,也应该轮到我缠住你了.一个人作恶,就该把恶行做绝.半途撒手,那是脓包!罪恶到了极端,会有狂热的乐趣.一个教士和一个女巫可以在牢房的稻草上销魂荡魄,融为一体!"
"所以我告发了你.恰恰就在那个时候,我每次碰见你,都把你吓得魂不附体.我策划反对你的阴谋,我堆积在你头上的风暴,从我这里发出,变成威胁恫吓,变成电闪雷鸣.不过,我还是迟疑不决.我的计划中有些方面太可怕了,连我自己也吓得后退了.
"也许我本来可以放弃这个计划,也许我的丑恶的思想本会在我头脑中干涸而不付之实际.我也原以为继续或者中断这起案件完全取决于我.可是任何罪恶的思想是不可清除的,非要成为事实不可;但是,正是在我自以为万能的地方,命运却比我更强大.唉!咳!是命运抓住你不放,也是命运硬把你推到我偷偷设下的阴谋那可怕的诡计齿轮中碾得粉碎!......你听着,这就快说完了.
"有一天,又是阳光灿烂的另一个日子,我无意中看见面前走过一个男子,他喊叫着你的名字,大声笑着,眼神不健康.该死!我就跟踪着他.后来发生的一切你全知道了."
他住口了.那少女唯一说得出来的只有一句话:
"啊,我的弗比斯!"
"不要提这个名字!"教士说,同时猛烈地抓住她的胳膊,"不许提这个名字!唔!我们多么苦命,是这个名字毁了我们!更确切地说,我们彼此都受命运莫名其妙的捉弄而相互毁灭!你痛苦,是不是?你发冷,黑夜使你成为瞎子,牢房紧紧包围着你,不过也许还有点光明在你心灵深处,尽管那只是你对玩弄你感情那个行尸走肉的天真的爱情罢了!而我,我内心里是牢房,我内心里是严冬,是冰雪,是绝望,我灵魂里是黑夜.我遭受什么样的痛苦,你可知道?我参加了对你的审讯,坐在宗教审裁判官的席上.不错,在那些教士风帽当中,有一顶下面是一个被打入地狱.浑身不断抽搐的罪人.你被带进来时,我在那里;你被审讯时,我也在那里.......真是狼窝呀!......那都是我的罪行,那是为我准备的绞刑架,我却看见它在你的头上慢慢升起.每一证词,每一证据,每一指控,我都在那里;我可以计算出你在苦难历程上的每一个脚步,我也在那里;当那头猛兽......!我没有预料到会动用酷刑!......听我说,我跟着你走进了刑讯室.看见你被扒去衣服,施刑吏那双卑鄙下流的手在你半裸的身体上摸来摸去.我看见你的脚,这只我宁愿以一个帝国换取一吻而死去的脚,这只我觉得头颅被踩扁也其乐无穷的脚,我看见它被紧紧套在那可怕的铁鞋里,它可以把一个活人的肢体变成血酱肉泥.啊!悲惨的人!当我看见这一切时,我正用藏在道袍下面的一把匕首割自己的胸膛.听到你一声惨叫,我把匕首插入我的肉体里;听到你第二声惨叫,匕首刺进我的心窝里!你看,我想我的伤口还在流血."
他掀开道袍.果然他的胸膛好像被老虎利爪抓破了一般,侧边有一道很长的伤口,尚未愈合.
女囚吓得连忙直后退.
"啊!"教士说道,"姑娘,可怜可怜我吧!你以为自己很不幸,唉!唉!你并不知道什么东西才是不幸呢.咳,钟爱一个女人!却身为教士!被憎恨!但以他灵魂的全部狂热去爱她,觉得只要能换取她微微的一笑,可以献出自己的永福.鲜血.腑脏.名誉.不朽和永恒,今生和来世;恨不能身为国王.天才.皇帝.大天使.神灵,好作为更了不起的奴隶匍伏在她的脚下;只是想日日夜夜在梦想中紧紧拥抱着她,但眼睁睁看见她迷上一个武夫的戎装!而自己能奉献给他的只不过是一件污秽的教士法衣,令她害怕和厌恶!当她向一个可悲而愚蠢的吹牛大王慷慨献出宝贵的爱情和姿色时,我就在现场,怒火冲天,心怀嫉妒!目睹那令人欲火中烧的形体,那如此温柔细嫩的乳房,那在另一个人亲吻下颤动并泛起红晕的肉体!呵,天呀!迷恋她的脚,她的肩膀,她的胳膊,梦想她蓝色的脉,褐色的皮肤,以至于彻夜蜷伏在密室的石板地上自我折腾,竟导致了遭受毒刑!费了多少心思,其结果居然是使她躺在皮床上!嗯!那俨然是用地狱的烈火烧红了的实实在在的铁钳呀!唔!就是在夹板中间被锯成两半的人,被四马分尸的人,也比我更有福份!你哪里知道,在漫长的黑夜里,心儿破碎,脑袋炸裂,血管沸腾,牙齿咬住双手,这种酷刑那是什么滋味呀!有如穷凶极恶的刽子手把您放在烧红的烤架上不停地转来转去,倍受爱情.嫉妒及失望的煎熬!姑娘,发点善心吧!不要再折磨我,让我休息一下吧!请在这炽烈的炭火上撒点灰烬吧!我额头上汗流如注,我求你,擦掉这汗水吧!孩子!你就用一只手折磨我,用另只手抚慰我吧!发发慈悲,姑娘,可怜可怜我吧!"
教士滚倒在地面石板上的水洼里,脑袋一下又一下撞击台阶的石级角.少女听着,看着,等他筋疲力竭,气喘吁吁,一声不吭了,她才低声又说一遍:"啊,我的弗比斯!"
教士跪爬到她跟前,叫道:
"恳求你啦,你如果还有心肝,就别拒绝我!啊!我爱你!我是一个可怜虫!你一旦说出这个名字,不幸的人儿,就仿佛你用牙齿咬烂我的整个心肌!怜悯怜悯吧!倘若你从地狱来,我就跟你回地狱去.为了此目的,我要做的都已经做了,你的地狱就是我的天堂,你的目光比上帝的目光还具有魅力!啊,说吧!你到底要不要我?一个女人居然拒绝这样一种爱情,那可真是群山也会起舞啦.唔!只要你愿意!......噢!我们将会很美满的!我们可以逃走,我可以帮你逃走,我们一块几逃到某个地方去,去寻找这大地上的一片乐土,那里树木是最繁茂.阳光是最明媚.蓝天最湛蓝.我们相亲相爱,我们两人的灵魂将如琼浆玉露,互相倾注,我们永远渴望男欢女爱如饥似渴,永无尽期地共饮这永不干涸的爱情之美酒!"
她放声地大笑,笑声凄厉,打断了他的话说:
"看呀,神甫!您的指甲流血啦!"
教士一下子给愣住了,好一会儿木雕泥塑似的,死盯着自己的手,最后,用一种温柔得出奇的声调说道:
"那可不是!你就侮辱我,嘲弄我,压倒我吧!不过,来,快过来!我们得赶紧.我对你说了,就在明天,河滩上的绞刑架,知道吗?时刻都准备着.简直太可怕了!看见你走进囚车里!噢!求求你啦!我从来没有像现在这样爱你!噢,快跟我走.等把你救出去之后,你还来得及爱我.你要恨我多久就多久.但是来吧.明天!明天!绞刑架!你的极刑!啊!快逃!宽恕我吧!"
他一把抓住了她的胳膊,精神恍惚,似乎要把她拖走.
她瞪着眼睛呆呆看着他.
"我的弗比斯怎么样啦?"
"啊!"教士大叫了一声,松了她的胳膊,"您真是没有怜悯心!"
"弗比斯究竟怎么啦?"她冷冷地又问了一次.
"他死了!"教士叫道.
"死了!"她自始自终冷冰冰的,一动也不动,"那么,您为什么要劝我活下去呢?"
他并没有听她说,只是好象自言自语:"噢!是的,他一定死掉了,刀刃插过去很深.我想刀尖直刺到心脏!啊,我全身的力气都集中在了匕首的尖端上!"
少女一听,如狂怒的猛虎般地向他扑过去,并以一种超自然的力量把他推倒在楼梯上,嚷道:"滚吧,魔鬼!滚,杀人凶手!让我去死吧!让我同他的血变成你脑门上一个永不磨灭的污斑!要我服从于你,教士!休想!休想!我们绝无结合的可能,甚至在地狱里都不行.滚蛋,该死的家伙!你休想!"
教士踉踉跄跄来到石梯前,悄悄地把双脚从道袍皱褶的缠绕中解脱出来,捡起灯笼,慢慢爬上通向门口的石梯,然后打开门,走出去了.
突然,少女看见他从门口又探进头来,脸上的表情真可怕,狂怒,绝望,连声音都嘶哑了,向她怒叫着:"我告诉你,他死了!"
她扑倒在地上.地牢里再也听不到任何声响了,只有水滴在黑暗中坠落下来震动了水洼而发出声声的叹息.

若流年°〡逝

ZxID:9767709


等级: 文学之神
凡所有相皆是虚妄
举报 只看该作者 38楼  发表于: 2013-10-28 0

《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER V.THE MOTHER.》
I do not believe that there is anything sweeter in the world than the ideas which awake in a mother's heart at the sight of her child's tiny shoe; especially if it is a shoe for festivals, for Sunday, for baptism, the shoe embroidered to the very sole, a shoe in which the infant has not yet taken a step. That shoe has so much grace and daintiness, it is so impossible for it to walk, that it seems to the mother as though she saw her child.She smiles upon it, she kisses it, she talks to it; she asks herself whether there can actually be a foot so tiny; and if the child be absent, the pretty shoe suffices to place the sweet and fragile creature before her eyes.She thinks she sees it, she does see it, complete, living, joyous, with its delicate hands, its round head, its pure lips, its serene eyes whose white is blue.If it is in winter, it is yonder, crawling on the carpet, it is laboriously climbing upon an ottoman, and the mother trembles lest it should approach the fire.If it is summer time, it crawls about the yard, in the garden, plucks up the grass between the paving-stones, gazes innocently at the big dogs, the big horses, without fear, plays with the shells, with the flowers, and makes the gardener grumble because he finds sand in the flower-beds and earth in the paths.Everything laughs, and shines and plays around it, like it, even the breath of air and the ray of sun which vie with each other in disporting among the silky ringlets of its hair.The shoe shows all this to the mother, and makes her heart melt as fire melts wax.
But when the child is lost, these thousand images of joy, of charms, of tenderness, which throng around the little shoe, become so many horrible things.The pretty broidered shoe is no longer anything but an instrument of torture which eternally crushes the heart of the mother.It is always the same fibre which vibrates, the tenderest and most sensitive; but instead of an angel caressing it, it is a demon who is wrenching at it.
One May morning, when the sun was rising on one of those dark blue skies against which Garofolo loves to place his Descents from the Cross, the recluse of the Tour-Roland heard a sound of wheels, of horses and irons in the place de Grève. She was somewhat aroused by it, knotted her hair upon her ears in order to deafen herself, and resumed her contemplation, on her knees, of the inanimate object which she had adored for fifteen years.This little shoe was the universe to her, as we have already said.Her thought was shut up in it, and was destined never more to quit it except at death. The sombre cave of the Tour-Roland alone knew how many bitter imprecations, touching complaints, prayers and sobs she had wafted to heaven in connection with that charming bauble of rose-colored satin.Never was more despair bestowed upon a prettier and more graceful thing.
It seemed as though her grief were breaking forth more violently than usual; and she could be heard outside lamenting in a loud and monotonous voice which rent the heart.
"Oh my daughter!" she said, "my daughter, my poor, dear little child, so I shall never see thee more!It is over! It always seems to me that it happened yesterday!My God! my God! it would have been better not to give her to me than to take her away so soon.Did you not know that our children are part of ourselves, and that a mother who has lost her child no longer believes in God?Ah!wretch that I am to have gone out that day!Lord!Lord! to have taken her from me thus; you could never have looked at me with her, when I was joyously warming her at my fire, when she laughed as she suckled, when I made her tiny feet creep up my breast to my lips?Oh! if you had looked at that, my God, you would have taken pity on my joy; you would not have taken from me the only love which lingered, in my heart! Was I then, Lord, so miserable a creature, that you could not look at me before condemning me?--Alas!Alas! here is the shoe; where is the foot? where is the rest?Where is the child?My daughter! my daughter! what did they do with thee?Lord, give her back to me.My knees have been worn for fifteen years in praying to thee, my God!Is not that enough?Give her back to me one day, one hour, one minute; one minute, Lord!and then cast me to the demon for all eternity!Oh! if I only knew where the skirt of your garment trails, I would cling to it with both hands, and you would be obliged to give me back my child!Have you no pity on her pretty little shoe?Could you condemn a poor mother to this torture for fifteen years?Good Virgin! good Virgin of heaven! my infant Jesus has been taken from me, has been stolen from me; they devoured her on a heath, they drank her blood, they cracked her bones!Good Virgin, have pity upon me.My daughter, I want my daughter!What is it to me that she is in paradise?I do not want your angel, I want my child!I am a lioness, I want my whelp.Oh!I will writhe on the earth, I will break the stones with my forehead, and I will damn myself, and I will curse you, Lord, if you keep my child from me! you see plainly that my arms are all bitten, Lord!Has the good God no mercy?--Oh! give me only salt and black bread, only let me have my daughter to warm me like a sun!Alas!Lord my God.Alas!Lord my God, I am only a vile sinner; but my daughter made me pious. I was full of religion for the love of her, and I beheld you through her smile as through an opening into heaven.Oh! if I could only once, just once more, a single time, put this shoe on her pretty little pink foot, I would die blessing you, good Virgin.Ah! fifteen years! she will be grown up now! --Unhappy child! what! it is really true then I shall never see her more, not even in heaven, for I shall not go there myself.Oh! what misery to think that here is her shoe, and that that is all!"
The unhappy woman flung herself upon that shoe; her consolation and her despair for so many years, and her vitals were rent with sobs as on the first day; because, for a mother who has lost her child, it is always the first day.That grief never grows old.The mourning garments may grow white and threadbare, the heart remains dark.
At that moment, the fresh and joyous cries of children passed in front of the cell.Every time that children crossed her vision or struck her ear, the poor mother flung herself into the darkest corner of her sepulchre, and one would have said, that she sought to plunge her head into the stone in order not to hear them.This time, on the contrary, she drew herself upright with a start, and listened eagerly.One of the little boys had just said,--
"They are going to hang a gypsy to-day."
With the abrupt leap of that spider which we have seen fling itself upon a fly at the trembling of its web, she rushed to her air-hole, which opened as the reader knows, on the place de Grève.A ladder had, in fact, been raised up against the permanent gibbet, and the hangman's assistant was busying himself with adjusting the chains which had been rusted by the rain.There were some people standing about.
The laughing group of children was already far away.The sacked nun sought with her eyes some passer-by whom she might question.All at once, beside her cell, she perceived a priest making a pretext of reading the public breviary, but who was much less occupied with the "lectern of latticed iron," than with the gallows, toward which he cast a fierce and gloomy glance from time to time.She recognized monsieur the archdeacon of Josas, a holy man.
"Father," she inquired, "whom are they about to hang yonder?"
The priest looked at her and made no reply; she repeated her question.Then he said,--
"I know not."
"Some children said that it was a gypsy," went on the recluse.
"I believe so," said the priest.
Then paquette la Chantefleurie burst into hyena-like laughter.
"Sister," said the archdeacon, "do you then hate the gypsies heartily?"
"Do I hate them!" exclaimed the recluse, " they are vampires, stealers of children!They devoured my little daughter, my child, my only child!I have no longer any heart, they devoured it!"
She was frightful.The priest looked at her coldly.
"There is one in particular whom I hate, and whom I have cursed," she resumed; "it is a young one, of the age which my daughter would be if her mother had not eaten my daughter. Every time that that young viper passes in front of my cell, she sets my blood in a ferment."
"Well, sister, rejoice," said the priest, icy as a sepulchral statue; "that is the one whom you are about to see die."
His head fell upon his bosom and he moved slowly away.
The recluse writhed her arms with joy.
"I predicted it for her, that she would ascend thither! Thanks, priest!" she cried.
And she began to pace up and down with long strides before the grating of her window, her hair dishevelled, her eyes flashing, with her shoulder striking against the wall, with the wild air of a female wolf in a cage, who has long been famished, and who feels the hour for her repast drawing near.

《第八卷 五 母亲》
一位母亲看到自己孩子的小鞋,心中的思念便油然而生,我不敢相信世界上还有什么比这样的思念更使人眉开眼笑的了.尤其这是准备礼拜天.节日里.受洗礼时穿的鞋,连鞋底都绣着花,孩子还没有穿着走过一步路,那就更不用说了.这鞋是那样的优雅喜人,小巧玲珑,根本不能穿着走路,母亲看见它就象看见了自己的孩子.她朝它微笑,吻她,和它说话.她寻思现实中能否真有一只脚这么小,并且,孩子即使不在跟前,只要有了漂亮的鞋子,她眼前就会重新出现一个柔弱的小人儿.她认为见到了她,也确实见到了她,见到她的整个身子,欢快.活泼,还有她纤细精巧的手.圆圆的头.纯洁的嘴唇.眼白发蓝的明亮的眼睛.如果是在冬天,这小人儿就在那里,在地毯上爬,吃力地攀上一只凳子,但母亲提心吊胆,怕它靠近火边.若在夏天,她爬到院子里.花园里,拔石板缝里的草,天真地看着大狗.大马,一点儿也不害怕,还跟贝壳.花儿玩耍,把沙撒到花坛里,还把泥巴扔在小路上,避免不了挨园丁一顿责备.她周围的一切也像她一样在欢笑,在闪光,在玩耍,连风儿和阳光也是在她颈后的细发环中间尽情嬉戏.这鞋把这一切都呈现在母亲面前,将她的心融化了,尤如蜡烛融化了火.
但是,孩子丢失,那聚集在小鞋周围的万般欢乐.迷人.深情的形象,顷刻变成千百种可怕的东西.漂亮的绣花鞋便成了一种刑具,永远无休无止地绞碎母亲的心.颤动着的仍然是同样的心弦,最深沉.最敏感的心弦,不过已经不是天使在轻轻抚弄,而是魔鬼在狠劲弹拨.
五月的一天早上,太阳在深蓝色天空冉冉升起-加罗法洛喜欢将耶稣从十字架上解下来的情景画在这样的背景上-罗朗塔楼的隐修女听到河滩广场传来了吱吱的车轮声,萧萧的马嘶声和丁丁当当的铁器声.她的迷迷糊糊被吵醒了,把头发捋在耳边去不听,随后又跪到地下凝视着她就这样膜拜了十五年之久的没有生命的小东西.这只小鞋我们已说过,在她眼里就是整个宇宙.她的思绪已被禁闭在里面,只有死了才会出来,提到这玩具般的那可爱的粉红缎子鞋,她向苍天倾吐过多少感人肺腑的怨情.苦涩的诅咒祈祷及呜咽,只有罗朗塔楼的阴暗地洞才知道.就是在一件更优雅.更精致的物品前,也绝对没有人流露过如此强烈的失望.
那天早上,她的痛苦好像比以前更强烈了,从外面就听得见她单调而高亢的悲叹,实在是令人心碎.
"啊,我的女儿!"她说."我的女儿!我可怜的.亲爱的孩子啊!我再也不能不到你啦.这下子可完啦!我老是觉得这是昨天发生的事呀!我的上帝,我的上帝,既然您这么快要将她带走,倒不如当初就不要把它赐给我,孩子是我们身上掉下的肉哇,一个丢失孩子的母亲就不再相信上帝,难道你不知道吗?啊!我真倒霉呀,偏偏就在那天出去了!主啊!主啊!在我幸福地抱着她在火炉旁烤火的时候,在她吃着奶朝着*呢,在哪儿?其余的在哪儿?孩子在哪儿?我的女儿,我的女儿呀!他们把你怎么样了?主啊,请把她还给我吧.我跪着求您十五年了,膝盖磨破了,上帝呀,难道这还不够吗?把她还给我吧,哪怕只是一天.一个钟头.一分钟.就一分钟,主啊!然后再把我永远扔给魔鬼!啊!如果我知道你衣袍的下摆拖到什么地方,我就会用双手紧紧地抓住它,您可千万把我的孩子还给我呀!她漂亮的小鞋,难道您一点儿也不怜惜吗,主啊?您怎么能判一个可怜的母亲受十五年这样的苦刑呢?慈悲的圣母!天上慈悲的圣母!我的孩子,我的耶稣儿呀,有人将她从我这里夺走,从我这里偷走,在一块灌木丛里吃了她,喝干了她的鲜血,嚼碎了她的骨头!慈悲的圣母,可怜可怜我吧!我的女儿!我不能没有我的女儿呀!就算她在天堂里,这对我又能有什么用啦?我不要您的天使,我只要我的孩子!我是一头母狮,我需要我的小狮子.哦,主啊!您如果不把孩子还给我,我就要在地上自我作践,要用额头碰碎石头,要遭受天罚,要把您诅咒!您看得十分清楚,我的双臂完全损伤,主啊!难道慈悲的上帝没有丝毫怜悯心!啊!只要我找到我的女儿,只要她能像太阳一样温暖着我,哪怕您只给我盐和黑面包,我也心甘情愿!唉!上帝我主啊,我只是一个下贱的罪人,可是有了我的女儿,我也虔诚了.出于爱她,我一心一意信奉宗教,并且透过她的微笑我仿佛通过天堂的大门看见了您.天啊!我要是能把这鞋穿在那只漂亮的粉红色小脚上,只要一次,再有一次,唯一的一次,慈悲的圣母啊,我宁愿赞美着您而死去!啊!十五年!现在她该长大了!不幸的孩子呀!,这居然是真的,我再也见不到她了,哪怕在天堂也不会见到!因为,我,去不了天堂.啊,多么凄惨!只能说那是她的鞋,如此而已!"
不幸的女人扑向了这只鞋,多少年来使她绝望.使她慰藉的鞋,她的五脏六腑像第一天那样在抽噎声中撕碎了.因为对一个丢了孩子的母亲来说,那总是第一天,这种痛苦是不会过时.丧服虽然旧了,褪色了,然心里依然漆黑一团.
此时,从小屋前传来孩子们阵阵欢声笑语.每次看见孩子们或者听到他们的声音,可怜的母亲总是急急忙忙跑到这坟墓最幽暗的角落里,好像恨不得把耳朵钻进石头里,以避免听到这些声音.这一次正好相反,她好像猛然惊醒,一下子站了起来,聚精会神地听着,有一个小男孩仿佛说了这样一句:"今天要绞死埃及女."
我们曾经见到过蜘蛛在蛛网颤动中突然一跳扑向苍蝇,隐修女就这样一跳,就跑向窗洞口,看官知道,那窗口朝着河滩广场.的确有一架梯子倚立在终年竖立的绞刑架旁,执行绞刑的刽子手正在调整因为风吹雨打而生绣的铁链.四周站着一大群人.
那群欢笑的孩子已走远了.麻衣女用目光搜寻她能问讯的过路人.她发现就在她住处旁有一个神甫像在念公用祈祷书,可是他对铁网栅栏的祈祷书远不如对绞刑架那样关心,他不时朝绞刑架投去了阴暗.可怕的一瞥.她认出那是副主教大人-一个圣洁的人.
"我的神甫,"她问,"那边要绞死谁呀?"
教士看了看她,没有回答;她又问了一遍.他才说:"我不知道."
"刚才有些孩子说,是一个埃及女人."隐修女又说道.
"我想,是吧."教士.
此时,花喜儿帕盖特发出险恶地狂笑.
"嬷嬷,"副主教说,"这么说,您一定痛恨埃及女人啦?"
"我岂能不恨她们?"隐修女大声嚷道,"她们都是半狗半人的吸血鬼,偷孩子的贼婆!她们吞吃了我的小女儿,我的孩子,我的独生女儿呀!我的心也没有了,她们把我的心给吃光了!"
她的样子可怕极了.教士冷冰冰地看着她.
"其中有一个我非常恨,我诅咒过."她又说,"这是个年轻女人,如果她的母亲没有把我的女儿吃掉的话,她的年龄正同我的女儿相仿.这个小毒蛇每次经过我房前,我的血就在翻涌!"
"得啦!嬷嬷,这下您开心啦,"教士冷漠得像一座墓地的雕像,说道."你马上看到绞死的就是那个女人."
他的脑袋耷拉到胸前,慢慢地走掉了.
隐修女快活地扭动着双臂,叫道:"我早就向她说过,她会上绞刑架的!谢谢您,神甫!"
她披头散发,目光象火,肩膀撞着墙,在窗洞栅栏前大步走起来,就像一只笼子里饿了好久,感到用餐时刻快到的母狼那样.

若流年°〡逝

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凡所有相皆是虚妄
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《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER VI.THREE HUMAN HEARTS DIFFERENTLY CONSTRUCTED. Page 1》
phoebus was not dead, however.Men of that stamp die hard.When Master philippe Lheulier, advocate extraordinary of the king, had said to poor Esmeralda; "He is dying," it was an error or a jest.When the archdeacon had repeated to the condemned girl; "He is dead," the fact is that he knew nothing about it, but that he believed it, that he counted on it, that he did not doubt it, that he devoutly hoped it.It would have been too hard for him to give favorable news of his rival to the woman whom he loved. Any man would have done the same in his place.
It was not that phoebus's wound had not been serious, but it had not been as much so as the archdeacon believed.The physician, to whom the soldiers of the watch had carried him at the first moment, had feared for his life during the space of a week, and had even told him so in Latin.But youth had gained the upper hand; and, as frequently happens, in spite of prognostications and diagnoses, nature had amused herself by saving the sick man under the physician's very nose.It was while he was still lying on the leech's pallet that he had submitted to the interrogations of philippe Lheulier and the official inquisitors, which had annoyed him greatly.Hence, one fine morning, feeling himself better, he had left his golden spurs with the leech as payment, and had slipped away.This had not, however, interfered with the progress of the affair.Justice, at that epoch, troubled itself very little about the clearness and definiteness of a criminal suit.provided that the accused was hung, that was all that was necessary.Now the judge had plenty of proofs against la Esmeralda.They had supposed phoebus to be dead, and that was the end of the matter.
phoebus, on his side, had not fled far.He had simply rejoined his company in garrison at Queue-en-Brie, in the Isle-de-France, a few stages from paris.
After all, it did not please him in the least to appear in this suit.He had a vague feeling that be should play a ridiculous figure in it.On the whole, he did not know what to think of the whole affair.Superstitious, and not given to devoutness, like every soldier who is only a soldier, when he came to question himself about this adventure, he did not feel assured as to the goat, as to the singular fashion in which he had met La Esmeralda, as to the no less strange manner in which she had allowed him to divine her love, as to her character as a gypsy, and lastly, as to the surly monk. He perceived in all these incidents much more magic than love, probably a sorceress, perhaps the devil; a comedy, in short, or to speak in the language of that day, a very disagreeable mystery, in which he played a very awkward part, the role of blows and derision.The captain was quite put out of countenance about it; he experienced that sort of shame which our La Fontaine has so admirably defined,--
Ashamed as a fox who has been caught by a fowl.
Moreover, he hoped that the affair would not get noised abroad, that his name would hardly be pronounced in it, and that in any case it would not go beyond the courts of the Tournelle.In this he was not mistaken, there was then no "Gazette des Tribunaux;" and as not a week passed which had not its counterfeiter to boil, or its witch to hang, or its heretic to burn, at some one of the innumerable justices of paris, people were so accustomed to seeing in all the squares the ancient feudal Themis, bare armed, with sleeves stripped up, performing her duty at the gibbets, the ladders, and the pillories, that they hardly paid any heed to it.Fashionable society of that day hardly knew the name of the victim who passed by at the corner of the street, and it was the populace at the most who regaled themselves with this coarse fare.An execution was an habitual incident of the public highways, like the braising-pan of the baker or the slaughter-house of the knacker.The executioner was only a sort of butcher of a little deeper dye than the rest.
Hence phoebus's mind was soon at ease on the score of the enchantress Esmeralda, or Similar, as he called her, concerning the blow from the dagger of the Bohemian or of the surly monk (it mattered little which to him), and as to the issue of the trial.But as soon as his heart was vacant in that direction, Fleur-de-Lys returned to it.Captain phoebus's heart, like the physics of that day, abhorred a vacuum.
Queue-en-Brie was a very insipid place to stay at then, a village of farriers, and cow-girls with chapped hands, a long line of poor dwellings and thatched cottages, which borders the grand road on both sides for half a league; a tail (queue), in short, as its name imports.
Fleur-de-Lys was his last passion but one, a pretty girl, a charming dowry; accordingly, one fine morning, quite cured, and assuming that, after the lapse of two months, the Bohemian affair must be completely finished and forgotten, the amorous cavalier arrived on a prancing horse at the door of the Gondelaurier mansion.
He paid no attention to a tolerably numerous rabble which had assembled in the place du parvis, before the portal of Notre-Dame; he remembered that it was the month of May; he supposed that it was some procession, some pentecost, some festival, hitched his horse to the ring at the door, and gayly ascended the stairs to his beautiful betrothed.
She was alone with her mother.
The scene of the witch, her goat, her cursed alphabet, and phoebus's long absences, still weighed on Fleur-de-Lys's heart. Nevertheless, when she beheld her captain enter, she thought him so handsome, his doublet so new, his baldrick so shining, and his air so impassioned, that she blushed with pleasure. The noble damsel herself was more charming than ever.Her magnificent blond hair was plaited in a ravishing manner, she was dressed entirely in that sky blue which becomes fair people so well, a bit of coquetry which she had learned from Colombe, and her eyes were swimming in that languor of love which becomes them still better.
phoebus, who had seen nothing in the line of beauty, since he left the village maids of Queue-en-Brie, was intoxicated with Fleur-de-Lys, which imparted to our officer so eager and gallant an air, that his peace was immediately made.Madame de Gondelaurier herself, still maternally seated in her big arm- chair, had not the heart to scold him.As for Fleur-de-Lys's reproaches, they expired in tender cooings.
The young girl was seated near the window still embroidering her grotto of Neptune.The captain was leaning over the back of her chair, and she was addressing her caressing reproaches to him in a low voice.
"What has become of you these two long months, wicked man?"
"I swear to you," replied phoebus, somewhat embarrassed by the question, "that you are beautiful enough to set an archbishop to dreaming."
She could not repress a smile.
"Good, good, sir.Let my beauty alone and answer my question.A fine beauty, in sooth!"
"Well, my dear cousin, I was recalled to the garrison.
"And where is that, if you please?and why did not you come to say farewell?"
"At Queue-en-Brie."
phoebus was delighted with the first question, which helped him to avoid the second.
"But that is quite close by, monsieur.Why did you not come to see me a single time?"
Here phoebus was rather seriously embarrassed.
"Because--the service--and then, charming cousin, I have been ill."
"Ill!" she repeated in alarm.
"Yes, wounded!"
"Wounded!"
She poor child was completely upset.
"Oh! do not be frightened at that," said phoebus, carelessly, "it was nothing.A quarrel, a sword cut; what is that to you?"
"What is that to me?" exclaimed Fleur-de-Lys, raising her beautiful eyes filled with tears."Oh! you do not say what you think when you speak thus.What sword cut was that? I wish to know all."
"Well, my dear fair one, I had a falling out with Mahè Fédy, you know?the lieutenant of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and we ripped open a few inches of skin for each other.That is all."
The mendacious captain was perfectly well aware that an affair of honor always makes a man stand well in the eyes of a woman.In fact, Fleur-de-Lys looked him full in the face, all agitated with fear, pleasure, and admiration.Still, she was not completely reassured.
"provided that you are wholly cured, my phoebus!" said she."I do not know your Mahè Fédy, but he is a villanous man.And whence arose this quarrel?"
Here phoebus, whose imagination was endowed with but mediocre power of creation, began to find himself in a quandary as to a means of extricating himself for his prowess.
"Oh! how do I know?--a mere nothing, a horse, a remark! Fair cousin," he exclaimed, for the sake of changing the conversation, "what noise is this in the Cathedral Square?"
He approached the window.
"Oh!~Mon Dieu~, fair cousin, how many people there are on the place!"
"I know not," said Fleur-de-Lys; "it appears that a witch is to do penance this morning before the church, and thereafter to be hung."
The captain was so thoroughly persuaded that la Esmeralda's affair was concluded, that he was but little disturbed by Fleur- de-Lys's words.Still, he asked her one or two questions.
"What is the name of this witch?"
"I do not know," she replied.
"And what is she said to have done?"
She shrugged her white shoulders.
"I know not."
"Oh, ~mon Dieu~ Jesus!" said her mother; "there are so many witches nowadays that I dare say they burn them without knowing their names.One might as well seek the name of every cloud in the sky.After all, one may be tranquil. The good God keeps his register."Here the venerable dame rose and came to the window."Good Lord!you are right, phoebus," said she."The rabble is indeed great.There are people on all the roofs, blessed be God!Do you know, phoebus, this reminds me of my best days.The entrance of King Charles VII., when, also, there were many people.I no longer remember in what year that was.When I speak of this to you, it produces upon you the effect,--does it not?--the effect of something very old, and upon me of something very young.Oh! the crowd was far finer than at the present day. They even stood upon the machicolations of the porte Sainte- Antoine.The king had the queen on a pillion, and after their highnesses came all the ladies mounted behind all the lords.I remember that they laughed loudly, because beside Amanyon de Garlande, who was very short of stature, there rode the Sire Matefelon, a chevalier of gigantic size, who had killed heaps of English.It was very fine.A procession of all the gentlemen of France, with their oriflammes waving red before the eye.There were some with pennons and some with banners.How can I tell? the Sire de Calm with a pennon; Jean de Chateaumorant with a banner; the Sire de Courcy with a banner, and a more ample one than any of the others except the Duc de Bourbon.Alas! 'tis a sad thing to think that all that has existed and exists no longer!"
The two lovers were not listening to the venerable dowager.phoebus had returned and was leaning on the back of his betrothed's chair, a charming post whence his libertine glance plunged into all the openings of Fleur-de-Lys's gorget. This gorget gaped so conveniently, and allowed him to see so many exquisite things and to divine so many more, that phoebus, dazzled by this skin with its gleams of satin, said to himself, "How can any one love anything but a fair skin?"
Both were silent.The young girl raised sweet, enraptured eyes to him from time to time, and their hair mingled in a ray of spring sunshine.
"phoebus," said Fleur-de-Lys suddenly, in a low voice, "we are to be married three months hence; swear to me that you have never loved any other woman than myself."
"I swear it, fair angel!" replied phoebus, and his passionate glances aided the sincere tone of his voice in convincing Fleur-de-Lys.
Meanwhile, the good mother, charmed to see the betrothed pair on terms of such perfect understanding, had just quitted the apartment to attend to some domestic matter; phoebus observed it, and this so emboldened the adventurous captain that very strange ideas mounted to his brain.Fleur-de-Lys loved him, he was her betrothed; she was alone with him; his former taste for her had re-awakened, not with all its fresh- ness but with all its ardor; after all, there is no great harm in tasting one's wheat while it is still in the blade; I do not know whether these ideas passed through his mind, but one thing is certain, that Fleur-de-Lys was suddenly alarmed by the expression of his glance.She looked round and saw that her mother was no longer there.
"Good heavens!" said she, blushing and uneasy, "how very warm I am?"
"I think, in fact," replied phoebus, "that it cannot be far from midday.The sun is troublesome.We need only lower the curtains."
"No, no," exclaimed the poor little thing, "on the contrary, I need air."
And like a fawn who feels the breath of the pack of hounds, she rose, ran to the window, opened it, and rushed upon the balcony.
phoebus, much discomfited, followed her.
The place du parvis Notre-Dame, upon which the balcony looked, as the reader knows, presented at that moment a singular and sinister spectacle which caused the fright of the timid Fleur-de-Lys to change its nature.
An immense crowd, which overflowed into all the neighboring streets, encumbered the place, properly speaking.The little wall, breast high, which surrounded the place, would not have sufficed to keep it free had it not been lined with a thick hedge of sergeants and hackbuteers, culverines in hand.Thanks to this thicket of pikes and arquebuses, the parvis was empty.Its entrance was guarded by a force of halberdiers with the armorial bearings of the bishop.The large doors of the church were closed, and formed a contrast with the innumerable windows on the place, which, open to their very gables, allowed a view of thousands of heads heaped up almost like the piles of bullets in a park of artillery.
The surface of this rabble was dingy, dirty, earthy.The spectacle which it was expecting was evidently one of the sort which possess the privilege of bringing out and calling together the vilest among the populace.Nothing is so hideous as the noise which was made by that swarm of yellow caps and dirty heads.In that throng there were more laughs than cries, more women than men.
From time to time, a sharp and vibrating voice pierced the general clamor.
"Ohé!Mahiet Baliffre!Is she to be hung yonder?"
"Fool! t'is here that she is to make her apology in her shift! the good God is going to cough Latin in her face! That is always done here, at midday.If 'tis the gallows that you wish, go to the Grève."
"I will go there, afterwards."
"Tell me, la Boucanbry?Is it true that she has refused a confessor?"
"It appears so, La Bechaigne."
"You see what a pagan she is!"
"'Tis the custom, monsieur.The bailiff of the courts is bound to deliver the malefactor ready judged for execution if he be a layman, to the provost of paris; if a clerk, to the official of the bishopric."
"Thank you, sir."
"Oh, God!" said Fleur-de-Lys, "the poor creature!"
This thought filled with sadness the glance which she cast upon the populace.The captain, much more occupied with her than with that pack of the rabble, was amorously rumpling her girdle behind.She turned round, entreating and smiling.
"please let me alone, phoebus!If my mother were to return, she would see your hand!"
At that moment, midday rang slowly out from the clock of Notre-Dame.A murmur of satisfaction broke out in the crowd.The last vibration of the twelfth stroke had hardly died away when all heads surged like the waves beneath a squall, and an immense shout went up from the pavement, the windows, and the roofs,
"There she is!"
Fleur-de-Lys pressed her hands to her eyes, that she might not see.
"Charming girl," said phoebus, "do you wish to withdraw?"
"No," she replied; and she opened through curiosity, the eyes which she had closed through fear.
A tumbrel drawn by a stout Norman horse, and all surrounded by cavalry in violet livery with white crosses, had just debouched upon the place through the Rue Saint-pierre- aux-Boeufs.The sergeants of the watch were clearing a passage for it through the crowd, by stout blows from their clubs. Beside the cart rode several officers of justice and police, recognizable by their black costume and their awkwardness in the saddle.Master Jacques Charmolue paraded at their head.
In the fatal cart sat a young girl with her arms tied behind her back, and with no priest beside her.She was in her shift; her long black hair (the fashion then was to cut it off only at the foot of the gallows) fell in disorder upon her half-bared throat and shoulders.
Athwart that waving hair, more glossy than the plumage of a raven, a thick, rough, gray rope was visible, twisted and knotted, chafing her delicate collar-bones and twining round the charming neck of the poor girl, like an earthworm round a flower.Beneath that rope glittered a tiny amulet ornamented with bits of green glass, which had been left to her no doubt, because nothing is refused to those who are about to die.The spectators in the windows could see in the bottom of the cart her naked legs which she strove to hide beneath her, as by a final feminine instinct.At her feet lay a little goat, bound.The condemned girl held together with her teeth her imperfectly fastened shift.One would have said that she suffered still more in her misery from being thus exposed almost naked to the eyes of all.Alas! modesty is not made for such shocks.
"Jesus!" said Fleur-de-Lys hastily to the captain."Look fair cousin, 'tis that wretched Bohemian with the goat."
So saying, she turned to phoebus.His eyes were fixed on the tumbrel.He was very pale.
"What Bohemian with the goat?" he stammered.
"What!" resumed Fleur-de-Lys, "do you not remember?"
phoebus interrupted her.
"I do not know what you mean."
He made a step to re-enter the room, but Fleur-de-Lys, whose jealousy, previously so vividly aroused by this same gypsy, had just been re-awakened, Fleur-de-Lys gave him a look full of penetration and distrust.She vaguely recalled at that moment having heard of a captain mixed up in the trial of that witch.
"What is the matter with you?" she said to phoebus, "one would say, that this woman had disturbed you."
phoebus forced a sneer,--
"Me!Not the least in the world!Ah! yes, certainly!"
"Remain, then!" she continued imperiously, "and let us see the end."
The unlucky captain was obliged to remain.He was somewhat reassured by the fact that the condemned girl never removed her eyes from the bottom of the cart.It was but too surely la Esmeralda.In this last stage of opprobrium and misfortune, she was still beautiful; her great black eyes appeared still larger, because of the emaciation of her cheeks; her pale profile was pure and sublime.She resembled what she had been, in the same degree that a virgin by Masaccio, resembles a virgin of Raphael,--weaker, thinner, more delicate.

《BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER VI.THREE HUMAN HEARTS DIFFERENTLY CONSTRUCTED. Page 2》
Moreover, there was nothing in her which was not shaken in some sort, and which with the exception of her modesty, she did not let go at will, so profoundly had she been broken by stupor and despair.Her body bounded at every jolt of the tumbrel like a dead or broken thing; her gaze was dull and imbecile.A tear was still visible in her eyes, but motionless and frozen, so to speak.
Meanwhile, the lugubrious cavalcade has traversed the crowd amid cries of joy and curious attitudes.But as a faithful historian, we must state that on beholding her so beautiful, so depressed, many were moved with pity, even among the hardest of them.
The tumbrel had entered the parvis.
It halted before the central portal.The escort ranged themselves in line on both sides.The crowd became silent, and, in the midst of this silence full of anxiety and solemnity, the two leaves of the grand door swung back, as of themselves, on their hinges, which gave a creak like the sound of a fife.Then there became visible in all its length, the deep, gloomy church, hung in black, sparely lighted with a few candles gleaming afar off on the principal altar, opened in the midst of the place which was dazzling with light, like the mouth of a cavern.At the very extremity, in the gloom of the apse, a gigantic silver cross was visible against a black drapery which hung from the vault to the pavement.The whole nave was deserted.But a few heads of priests could be seen moving confusedly in the distant choir stalls, and, at the moment when the great door opened, there escaped from the church a loud, solemn, and monotonous chanting, which cast over the head of the condemned girl, in gusts, fragments of melancholy psalms,--
"~Non timebo millia populi circumdantis me: exsurge, Domine; salvum me fac, Deus~!"
"~Salvum me fac, Deus, quoniam intraverunt aquoe usque ad animam meam~.
"~Infixus sum in limo profundi; et non est substantia~."
At the same time, another voice, separate from the choir, intoned upon the steps of the chief altar, this melancholy offertory,-
"~Qui verbum meum audit, et credit ei qui misit me, habet vitam oeternam et in judicium non venit; sed transit a morte im vitam~*."
* "He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and hath not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life."
This chant, which a few old men buried in the gloom sang from afar over that beautiful creature, full of youth and life, caressed by the warm air of spring, inundated with sunlight was the mass for the dead.
The people listened devoutly.
The unhappy girl seemed to lose her sight and her consciousness in the obscure interior of the church.Her white lips moved as though in prayer, and the headsman's assistant who approached to assist her to alight from the cart, heard her repeating this word in a low tone,--"phoebus."
They untied her hands, made her alight, accompanied by her goat, which had also been unbound, and which bleated with joy at finding itself free: and they made her walk barefoot on the hard pavement to the foot of the steps leading to the door. The rope about her neck trailed behind her.One would have said it was a serpent following her.
Then the chanting in the church ceased.A great golden cross and a row of wax candles began to move through the gloom.The halberds of the motley beadles clanked; and, a few moments later, a long procession of priests in chasubles, and deacons in dalmatics, marched gravely towards the condemned girl, as they drawled their song, spread out before her view and that of the crowd.But her glance rested on the one who marched at the head, immediately after the cross-bearer.
"Oh!" she said in a low voice, and with a shudder, "'tis he again!the priest!"
It was in fact, the archdeacon.On his left he had the sub- chanter, on his right, the chanter, armed with his official wand.He advanced with head thrown back, his eyes fixed and wide open, intoning in a strong voice,--
"~De ventre inferi clamavi, et exaudisti vocem meam~.
"~Et projecisti me in profundum in corde mans, et flumem circumdedit me~*."
*"Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about."
At the moment when he made his appearance in the full daylight beneath the lofty arched portal, enveloped in an ample cope of silver barred with a black cross, he was so pale that more than one person in the crowd thought that one of the marble bishops who knelt on the sepulchral stones of the choir had risen and was come to receive upon the brink of the tomb, the woman who was about to die.
She, no less pale, no less like a statue, had hardly noticed that they had placed in her hand a heavy, lighted candle of yellow wax; she had not heard the yelping voice of the clerk reading the fatal contents of the apology; when they told her to respond with Amen, she responded Amen.She only recovered life and force when she beheld the priest make a sign to her guards to withdraw, and himself advance alone towards her.
Then she felt her blood boil in her head, and a remnant of indignation flashed up in that soul already benumbed and cold.
The archdeacon approached her slowly; even in that extremity, she beheld him cast an eye sparkling with sensuality, jealousy, and desire, over her exposed form.Then he said aloud,--
"Young girl, have you asked God's pardon for your faults and shortcomings?"
He bent down to her ear, and added (the spectators supposed that he was receiving her last confession): "Will you have me?I can still save you!"
She looked intently at him: "Begone, demon, or I will denounce you!"
He gave vent to a horrible smile: "You will not be believed. You will only add a scandal to a crime.Reply quickly!Will you have me?"
"What have you done with my phoebus?"
"He is dead!" said the priest.
At that moment the wretched archdeacon raised his head mechanically and beheld at the other end of the place, in the balcony of the Gondelaurier mansion, the captain standing beside Fleur-de-Lys.He staggered, passed his hand across his eyes, looked again, muttered a curse, and all his features were violently contorted.
"Well, die then!" he hissed between his teeth."No one shall have you."Then, raising his hand over the gypsy, he exclaimed in a funereal voice:--"~I nunc, anima anceps, et sit tibi Deus misenicors~!"*
*"Go now, soul, trembling in the balance, and God have mercy upon thee."
This was the dread formula with which it was the custom to conclude these gloomy ceremonies.It was the signal agreed upon between the priest and the executioner.
The crowd knelt.
"~Kyrie eleison~,"* said the priests, who had remained beneath the arch of the portal.
*"Lord have mercy upon us."
"~Kyrie eleison~," repeated the throng in that murmur which runs over all heads, like the waves of a troubled sea.
"Amen," said the archdeacon.
He turned his back on the condemned girl, his head sank upon his breast once more, he crossed his hands and rejoined his escort of priests, and a moment later he was seen to disappear, with the cross, the candles, and the copes, beneath the misty arches of the cathedral, and his sonorous voice was extinguished by degrees in the choir, as he chanted this verse of despair,--
"~Omnes gurgites tui et fluctus tui super me transierunt."*
*"All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me."
At the same time, the intermittent clash of the iron butts of the beadles' halberds, gradually dying away among the columns of the nave, produced the effect of a clock hammer striking the last hour of the condemned.
The doors of Notre-Dame remained open, allowing a view of the empty desolate church, draped in mourning, without candles, and without voices.
The condemned girl remained motionless in her place, waiting to be disposed of.One of the sergeants of police was obliged to notify Master Charmolue of the fact, as the latter, during this entire scene, had been engaged in studying the bas-relief of the grand portal which represents, according to some, the sacrifice of Abraham; according to others, the philosopher's alchemical operation: the sun being figured forth by the angel; the fire, by the fagot; the artisan, by Abraham.
There was considerable difficulty in drawing him away from that contemplation, but at length he turned round; and, at a signal which he gave, two men clad in yellow, the executioner's assistants, approached the gypsy to bind her hands once more.
The unhappy creature, at the moment of mounting once again the fatal cart, and proceeding to her last halting-place, was seized, possibly, with some poignant clinging to life. She raised her dry, red eyes to heaven, to the sun, to the silvery clouds, cut here and there by a blue trapezium or triangle; then she lowered them to objects around her, to the earth, the throng, the houses; all at once, while the yellow man was binding her elbows, she uttered a terrible cry, a cry of joy.Yonder, on that balcony, at the corner of the place, she had just caught sight of him, of her friend, her lord, phoebus, the other apparition of her life!
The judge had lied! the priest had lied! it was certainly he, she could not doubt it; he was there, handsome, alive, dressed in his brilliant uniform, his plume on his head, his sword by his side!
"phoebus!" she cried, "my phoebus!"
And she tried to stretch towards him arms trembling with love and rapture, but they were bound.
Then she saw the captain frown, a beautiful young girl who was leaning against him gazed at him with disdainful lips and irritated eyes; then phoebus uttered some words which did not reach her, and both disappeared precipitately behind the window opening upon the balcony, which closed after them.
"phoebus!" she cried wildly, "can it be you believe it?" A monstrous thought had just presented itself to her.She remembered that she had been condemned to death for murder committed on the person of phoebus de Chateaupers.
She had borne up until that moment.But this last blow was too harsh.She fell lifeless on the pavement.
"Come," said Charmolue, "carry her to the cart, and make an end of it."
No one had yet observed in the gallery of the statues of the kings, carved directly above the arches of the portal, a strange spectator, who had, up to that time, observed everything with such impassiveness, with a neck so strained, a visage so hideous that, in his motley accoutrement of red and violet, he might have been taken for one of those stone monsters through whose mouths the long gutters of the cathedral have discharged their waters for six hundred years.This spectator had missed nothing that had taken place since midday in front of the portal of Notre-Dame.And at the very beginning he had securely fastened to one of the small columns a large knotted rope, one end of which trailed on the flight of steps below.This being done, he began to look on tranquilly, whistling from time to time when a blackbird flitted past. Suddenly, at the moment when the superintendent's assistants were preparing to execute Charmolue's phlegmatic order, he threw his leg over the balustrade of the gallery, seized the rope with his feet, his knees and his hands; then he was seen to glide down the fa?ade, as a drop of rain slips down a window- pane, rush to the two executioners with the swiftness of a cat which has fallen from a roof, knock them down with two enormous fists, pick up the gypsy with one hand, as a child would her doll, and dash back into the church with a single bound, lifting the young girl above his head and crying in a formidable voice,--
"Sanctuary!"
This was done with such rapidity, that had it taken place at night, the whole of it could have been seen in the space of a single flash of lightning.
"Sanctuary!Sanctuary!" repeated the crowd; and the clapping of ten thousand hands made Quasimodo's single eye sparkle with joy and pride.
This shock restored the condemned girl to her senses.She raised her eyelids, looked at Quasimodo, then closed them again suddenly, as though terrified by her deliverer.
Charmolue was stupefied, as well as the executioners and the entire escort.In fact, within the bounds of Notre-Dame, the condemned girl could not be touched.The cathedral was a place of refuge.All temporal jurisdiction expired upon its threshold.
Quasimodo had halted beneath the great portal, his huge feet seemed as solid on the pavement of the church as the heavy Roman pillars.His great, bushy head sat low between his shoulders, like the heads of lions, who also have a mane and no neck.He held the young girl, who was quivering all over, suspended from his horny hands like a white drapery; but he carried her with as much care as though he feared to break her or blight her.One would have said that he felt that she was a delicate, exquisite, precious thing, made for other hands than his.There were moments when he looked as if not daring to touch her, even with his breath.Then, all at once, he would press her forcibly in his arms, against his angular bosom, like his own possession, his treasure, as the mother of that child would have done.His gnome's eye, fastened upon her, inundated her with tenderness, sadness, and pity, and was suddenly raised filled with lightnings.Then the women laughed and wept, the crowd stamped with enthusiasm, for, at that moment Quasimodo had a beauty of his own.He was handsome; he, that orphan, that foundling, that outcast, he felt himself august and strong, he gazed in the face of that society from which he was banished, and in which he had so powerfully intervened, of that human justice from which he had wrenched its prey, of all those tigers whose jaws were forced to remain empty, of those policemen, those judges, those executioners, of all that force of the king which he, the meanest of creatures, had just broken, with the force of God.
And then, it was touching to behold this protection which had fallen from a being so hideous upon a being so unhappy, a creature condemned to death saved by Quasimodo.They were two extremes of natural and social wretchedness, coming into contact and aiding each other.
Meanwhile, after several moments of triumph, Quasimodo had plunged abruptly into the church with his burden.The populace, fond of all prowess, sought him with their eyes, beneath the gloomy nave, regretting that he had so speedily disappeared from their acclamations.All at once, he was seen to re-appear at one of the extremities of the gallery of the kings of France; he traversed it, running like a madman, raising his conquest high in his arms and shouting: "Sanctuary!" The crowd broke forth into fresh applause.The gallery passed, he plunged once more into the interior of the church.A moment later, he re-appeared upon the upper platform, with the gypsy still in his arms, still running madly, still crying, "Sanctuary!" and the throng applauded. Finally, he made his appearance for the third time upon the summit of the tower where hung the great bell; from that point he seemed to be showing to the entire city the girl whom he had saved, and his voice of thunder, that voice which was so rarely heard, and which he never heard himself, repeated thrice with frenzy, even to the clouds: "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!Sanctuary!"
"Noel!Noel!" shouted the populace in its turn; and that immense acclamation flew to astonish the crowd assembled at the Grève on the other bank, and the recluse who was still waiting with her eyes riveted on the gibbet.

《第八卷 六 三人心不同》
事实上,弗比斯并没有死.这种人常常是经得起磨难的,国王特别讼师菲利浦.勒利埃老爷对可怜的爱斯梅拉达说他快要死了,那是出于口误或玩笑,副主教对女犯人说他死了,实际上他根本不知道实情,不过他相信,他估计,他确信不疑,他真心地希望他死了.要让他把情敌的好消息告诉他心爱的女人,那实在是受不了.任何男人处在他的位置都会这样做的.
这倒不是说弗比斯的伤不严重,只不过它不如副主教渲染得那么厉害而已.巡逻队士兵开头将他送到医生家,医生担心他活不了一个礼拜,甚至用拉丁话告诉了他.但是,青春的力量最后占了上风.这是常常有的事,尽管医生做了种种预测和诊断,大自然还是喜欢嘲弄医生,硬把病人救活了.当他还躺在医生的破床上的时候,就已经受到了菲利浦.勒利埃和宗教法庭审判官的初步盘问,这使他十分厌烦.所以,一天早晨,他感觉好了些,就留下他的金马刺抵了医药费,一声不响地溜了.但是,这并没有给案子的预审造成什么麻烦,那时的司法很少考虑一个刑事案件是否明晰和清楚,它所需要的仅仅是将被告绞死.何况,法官掌握着指控爱斯梅拉达的不少证据,他们认为弗比斯死了,那就没有什么可说的了.
弗比斯呢,并没有逃得很远,他只不过是回到了他的部队,离巴黎几驿站路的法兰西岛格-昂-勃里的驻军里.
总而言之,他觉得在这个案子中亲自到庭绝不是什么让人感到愉悦的事.他隐约感到他在里面会扮演一个很可笑的角色.说到底,怎样看待整个事件,他怎么想都不会过分的.如同任何头脑简单的武夫一样,他不信宗教,但又十分迷信,在寻思这一奇遇时,他对那山羊,对他遇到爱斯梅拉达的奇怪方式,对其让他猜到她爱他的奇怪手法,对她那埃及女子的品质,最后对那野僧,他都感到疑虑不安.他隐约地看见在这一艳遇中,巫术成分远远大于爱情.她可能是一个女巫,也许就是魔鬼;说到底,这是一出滑稽喜剧,或用那时的话说,一出很令人扫兴的圣迹剧,他在戏中扮演一个很拙劣的角色,挨打.遭人嘲笑.队长为此十分羞愧,他体会到我们的拉封丹绝妙地描绘的那种羞耻:
羞愧得像一只被母鸡捉住的狐狸.
何况,他希望这一事件不要张扬出去,他不出庭,因此他的名字就不会被人大声宣布,至少不会传出图尔内尔法庭审判范围以外.在这一点上,他并没有错误,那时还没有《法庭公报》哩,再说,在巴黎的无数次审判中,没有哪个星期不煮死造假币的人,不绞死女巫,或者不烧死异教徒的,在各个街口,人们早已经司空见惯那个封建制度的守护者泰米斯捋起袖子,光着胳膊在绞刑架.梯子和耻辱柱上干她的勾当,因此,对这些事漠不关心.那时的上流社会几乎不知道从街角经过的受刑者姓甚名谁,至多只有平民百姓享用这一粗鄙的盛宴.一次行刑只是市井生活的一件常见的小事,就如同烤肉店的烤锅或屠夫的屠宰场一样的平淡无奇.刽子手只不过比屠夫稍稍厉害一些罢了.
因此,弗比斯很快地就心安理得了,有关女巫爱斯梅拉达,或者如他所称呼的,西米拉,有关吉卜赛女郎或野僧(管他是谁)的那一刀,有关审讯的结果,就连想也不想了.但是,他的心在这方面一旦感到空虚,百合花小姐的形象就又回到他的心里.弗比斯队长的心和那时的物理学一样,十分厌恶真空.
何况,格-昂-勃里是一个枯燥乏味的村庄,居住着一些钉马蹄的铁匠和双手粗糙的放牛女人,一条大路,两边尽是破房子和茅屋,形成半法里长的长带,活似一条尾巴.
百合花在他的情欲世界里位居倒数第二.她是一个漂亮的姑娘,也有一笔迷人的陪嫁;因此,一天早晨,这位已痊愈的情场骑士,料想吉卜赛女人的案子已过去二个月,想必已了结并被人遗忘了,便策马踏着碎步来到了贡德洛里埃府邸的门前的台阶上.
他没有注意到聚集在圣母院大门前广场上乱哄哄的一大群人.他想起正是五月,设想人们正在举行什么巡列仪式,什么圣灵降临或赡礼等活动,因此将马拴在门环上,喜滋滋地上楼到了他漂亮未婚妻的家.
她正独自和她的妈妈呆在一起.
百合花心头一直纠缠着那个女巫.山羊.该诅咒的字母表.弗比斯长时间的不露面等一连串问题.这时,她看到她那位队长进来,发现他气色那么好,绶带那么亮,军服那么新,神态那么充满热情,她快乐地红起脸来.这位高贵的小姐自己比其它任何时候都更加迷人.她漂亮的金黄色头发编成发辫,益发迷人.她全身穿着一件与嫩白皮肤十分相配的天蓝色衣裳,这是科伦布教她的卖俏打扮,那双眼睛流露出迷恋的倦怠神情,更凭空增添了许多风韵.
弗比斯打从尝过格-昂-勃里的村姑以来就没有见过什么美色,此时立马被百合花迷住了,这使我们的军官显得格外殷勤,百般巴结,当初的龃龉立刻和解了.贡德洛里埃夫人一直慈母般地坐在她的大安乐椅上,鼓不起力量去责备他.对于百合花的嗔怪,则化作了温柔的绵绵絮语.
姑娘依窗口坐着,一直绣着她那海神的洞府.队长倚在椅背上,她嗔怪地低声数落他:
"坏东西,整整的两个月您都做了些什么?"
"我向您发誓."弗比斯给这个问题问得一时手忙脚乱,打岔地应道:"您这么美的,连大主教都会想入非非的."
她忍不住地笑了.
"好了,好了,先生.把我的美丢在一边,回答我的话.真的,那才美妙呢!"
"得啦!亲爱的表妹,我应召去驻防了."
"请告诉我,在哪儿?那您为什么不来向我道别一下呢?"
"在格-昂-勃里."
弗比斯心中暗喜,头一个问题帮助他避开了第二个问题.
"但是,那儿近得很呀,先生,为什么一次也不来看我?"
这下子弗比斯倒真的被难住了."因为......公务在身,而且,可爱的表妹,我病了."
"病了!"她被吓了一跳.
"是的......受伤了."
"受伤了!"
可怜的姑娘惊讶地大叫起来.
"啊!别怕."弗比斯一点也不在乎地说道,"这没什么.吵一次架,动一下刀子,这跟您有什么相干?"
"跟我有啥相干?"百合花抬起饱含热泪的美丽眼睛,大声说道,"啊!您说的不是心里话.动武是怎么回事?我全都想了解."
"那好吧!亲爱的美人,我同马埃.费狄吵了一架,您知道吗?他是圣日耳曼-昂-莱耶的副将,我们每人破了寸把长的皮,就是这回子事."
爱撒谎的队长心里十分清楚,一场决斗总会使男人在女人眼中显得特别突出.果然,百合花又赞叹又害怕.又快乐,兴奋不已,迎面注视着他,不过她还是有点放心不下.
"但愿您的确痊愈就好了,我的弗比斯!"她说道."我不认识您那个马埃.费狄,不过一定是个坏家伙.究竟是如何吵起来的?"
弗比斯的想象力一向只不过平平而已,一时间居然不知道如何从他杜撰的武功中脱身.
"啊!我怎么知道?......一点鸡毛蒜皮的小事,一句话.一匹马!美丽的表妹,"他大声叫起来,以便换一个话题,"教堂广场上吵吵闹闹的是怎么回事?"
他靠近窗前,"啊!我的上帝,漂亮的表妹,瞧,广场人很多呀!"
"不十分清楚,"百合花说,"好像有个女巫今天早上在教堂前当众请罪,然后上绞架."
队长真以为爱斯梅拉达的案子结束了,因此,他听了百合花的话并一点也不激动,不过还是提了一两个问题.
"这个女巫名字叫什么?"
"不太清楚."她回答.
"你有没有听说她干了些什么?"
这一次,她又耸了耸她那白皙的肩膀.
"我不知道."
"啊!我主耶稣啊!"母亲说,"现在有许多巫师,人们把他们活活烧死,我想连个姓名也不知道.想知道他们姓甚名谁,就如同想打听一下天上每片云彩的名字.总之,可以静静心了,仁慈的上帝掌握生死簿."这时,这位可敬的夫人站起身走向窗口."主啊!"她说,"您说得对,弗比斯.看,那边的平民闹哄哄的.感谢上帝!连屋顶上都是人.您知道吗?弗比斯.这情景让我回想起我过去的幸福时光.国王查理七世入城时,人也多得很呢.我记不得在哪一年了.我对您说这些的时候,您觉得这是老生常谈,难道不是吗?而我反倒觉得新鲜得很.哦,那时候人要比现在多得多.连圣安东门的突堞上都是人.国王骑着马,王后坐在他身后的马背上,紧接着是贵妇们全坐在贵族老爷的马后边.我记得人们哈哈乐得大笑,因为在五短身材的那位加朗德的阿马尼翁的旁边,是一个身材魁梧的骑士马特弗隆大人,他杀死过成堆的英国人.那才是妙不可言.法兰西所有侍从贵族都排列成行,打着红得耀眼的小红旗.有矛头三角旗,还有战旗,我呀,说都说不清.卡朗大人拿三角旗,让.德.夏托莫朗拿战旗,库西大人也拿战旗,神气活现得无与伦比,仅仅次于波旁公爵......咳!想到这一切曾经显赫一时,如今全都荡然无存,这是多么令人悲伤啊!"
那对情侣并没有倾听这可敬的富孀的一席话.弗比斯转过身,倚在未婚妻的椅背上.这是一个惬意的位置,他放肆的目光可以一直钻到百合花领饰的全部开口处里面,这个领口开得恰到好处,恰好让他看到好多美妙的部位,又让他联想其余许多的部位,所以,弗比斯望着这闪着绸缎般光泽的皮肤感到眼花缭乱,自言自语地说:"放着这么个白嫩的女人不爱,还能爱谁呢?"两人都默不吱声.姑娘时不时朝他抬起快乐.温和的眼睛,他们的头发像在春天阳光照耀下混杂在一起了.
"弗比斯,"百合花忽然低声说道."我们三个月后就要结婚了,您要向我发誓,除开我之外,从来没有爱过别的女人."
"我向您保证,美丽的天使!"弗比斯回答道.为了征服百合花,他的目光充满着情欲,语调十分真挚,这时或许连他自己也信以为真了.
在这会儿,善良的母亲,看见这对未婚男女如此情投意合,不由喜滋滋的,遂出去料理一些家务琐事去了.弗比斯见她走了,房里别无他人,色胆包天的队长顿时放大胆子,头脑中产生了种种荒唐的念头.百合花爱着他,他是她的未婚夫,此时,她和他单独在一起,他以前对她的兴趣又苏醒了,这种兴趣并不在其新鲜劲儿,而是在于欲火中烧;总之,在麦子未熟时提前吃一点儿算不得弥天大罪;我不知道他的脑瓜里是否想过这些念头,不过有一点确之无疑的,就是百合花完全被他的眼神惊呆了.她朝周围望了望,发现母亲不见了.
"我的上帝!"她红着脸,惊慌不安,"热死我了!"
"可不,我想快到中午了."弗比斯回答道,"太阳晒人,放下窗帘就会好的."
"别,别放,"可怜的姑娘大声说,"相反,我需要一点空气."
如同一只母鹿感到猎犬群的气息,她站起身,跑向窗口,打开窗户,一下子冲上了阳台.
弗比斯气又恼,跟她跑过去.
大家知道,阳台正对着圣母院前的广场.此时广场上呈现一派奇特.阴惨的景象,猛然使胆怯的百合花的恐惧改变了原来面目.
一大群人把附近各条街道都挤满了,连广场本身也挤被得水泄不通.假如不是二百二十名手执长熗的捕快和火熗手组成厚厚的人墙加固,前庭周围的齐肘矮墙是阻挡不了人流的.幸好熗戟林立,前庭才是空荡荡的.进口处被佩戴主教纹章的持戟步兵把守,主教堂的各道大门被关得紧紧的,这同广场四周数不清的窗户形成对照,连山墙上的窗子也敞开着,那些窗口露出成千上万个人头,几乎如一个炮库里重叠成堆的炮弹.
乱哄哄的那群人的脸上是灰蒙蒙的,肮脏而灰暗,人们等待观看的,明显是特别能触发及唤起民众中最邪恶的情感.最可憎的莫过于从这堆土黄色帽子与泥污头发的蠕动人群中发出的声响,人群中笑声多于喊叫声,女人比男人多得多.
时不时有一声颤抖的尖叫刺破这一片喧嚣.
............
"喂!马伊埃.巴利弗尔!就在这里绞死她吗?"
"笨蛋!只不过身穿内衣在这儿请罪!慈悲的上帝将把拉丁话啐在她脸上!以前一贯都是在这儿,中午.你如果想看绞刑的话,就到河滩广场去."
"我看完这就去."
............
"喂,说呀,布康勃里?她的确拒绝忏悔师吗?"
"好像是吧,贝歇尼."
"你看,女异教徒!"
............
"大人,这是惯例,歹徒判决后,司法宫的典吏必须交付他处决,如果是一个俗民,就交给巴黎司法长官,如果是一个教士,就交给主教法庭."
"谢谢你,大人."
............
"唉!我的上帝!"百合花说,"可怜的人啦!"
如此一想,她扫视人群的目光充满了痛苦.卫队长一心想的是她,哪顾得上那群衣衫褴褛的观众.他动情地从身后揽住了她的腰.她微笑着转过头,娇口真地乞求道:"求求您,放开我,弗比斯!母亲如果回来,她会看见您的手."
此时,圣母院的大钟慢悠悠地敲了十二点,人群中发出一阵欣慰的低语声,而第十二响的颤音刚停,所有人头如风推波涛似的攒动起来.大路.窗户和房顶上传出一阵巨大的喧哗:"她来了!"
百合花用手掩住眼睛不看一样.
"亲爱的,"弗比斯对她说,"您想回屋吗?"
"不."她回答道.她刚才被吓得闭上的眼睛,出于好奇又睁开来.
一辆双轮囚车,由一匹肥壮的诺曼底大马拉着,在身着绣有白色十字的紫红号衣的骑士簇拥下,从牛市圣彼得教堂街进了广场,巡逻队捕快在人群中使劲地挥着鞭子,替他们开路.几个司法官和警卫在囚车旁骑马押送,从他们的黑制服和骑马的笨拙姿势上可认得出来.雅克.夏尔莫吕老爷耀武扬威地走在最前面.
那不祥的囚车上坐着一个姑娘,双臂被反剪着,身边没有神甫.她身穿内衣,她的黑发(当时的规距是在绞刑架下才剪掉)散乱地披垂在脖子上及半裸的肩膀上.
透过比乌鸦羽毛还要闪亮的波浪状头发,可以看得见一根灰色粗绳,套在可怜姑娘的漂亮脖子上,扭扭曲曲,打着结,擦着她纤细的锁骨,如同蚯蚓爬在一朵鲜花上.在这根绳子下,闪耀着一个饰有绿色玻璃珠的小护身符,这大概允许她保留着,对于那些濒临死亡的人,他们的一些要求是不会遭受到拒绝的.观众从窗口上可望到囚车里头,瞥见她赤裸着的双腿.她仿佛出于女人最后的本能,尽量把脚藏到身子下.她脚边有一只被捆绑着的小山羊.女囚用牙齿咬住了没有扣好的内衣,在大难临头时,如同仍因几乎赤身裸体暴露在众目睽睽之下而感到痛苦.咳!羞耻心可不是为了如此的颤抖而产生的啊!
"耶稣啊!"百合花兴奋地对队长说."您瞧,好表哥!原来是那个带着山羊的吉普赛坏女人!"
话音刚一落,朝弗比斯转过身.他眼睛注视着载重车,脸色煞白.
"哪个带山羊的吉普赛女人?"他呐呐地说.
"怎么!"百合花又说,"您记不清啦?......"
弗比斯打断她的话:"我不明白您的意思."
他跨了一步想走进屋里.但是百合花,不久前曾因这个埃及少女而醋劲大发,此刻一下子清醒了,便用敏锐和狐疑的目光瞅了他一眼.这时,她模模糊糊地想起曾听人谈过,有个什么队长与这个女巫案件搅到了一块.
"您怎么啦?"她对弗比斯说道:"听说这个女人您动过心."
弗比斯强装笑脸.
"我动心!根本没有这回事儿!啊,哈,就算是吧!"
"那么,等着吧."她说一不二地吩咐道:"我们一起看到结束."
晦气的队长只好待下来.他稍微有些安心的是,女犯人的目光始终不离囚车的底板.千真万确,那就是爱斯梅拉达.就是在遭受这种耻辱和横祸的最后时刻,她仍旧是那么漂亮,那乌黑明亮的大眼睛因面颊瘦削,显得还要大些.她苍白的面容纯净.高尚,她仍旧像从前的模样,酷似马萨奇奥画的圣母像,又类似拉斐尔画的圣母,只不过虚弱些,单薄些,瘦削些.
何况,她心灵上没有一样不是在抖动,除了羞耻心外,她一概听之任之,因为在惊愕和绝望中她已精神崩溃了.囚车每颠簸一次,她的身体就颠簸一次,就如一件僵死或破碎的物件似和.她的目光暗淡而狂乱,还可看见她眼里有滴眼泪,却滞留着不动,简直可以说冻住了.
此时,阴森森的骑兵队在一片欢乐的叫喊声中和千奇百怪的姿态中穿过了人群.但是,作为忠实的吏官,我们不能不说,看到她那么标致,又那么痛苦不堪,许多人都动了恻隐之心,即使是心肠最硬的人对比也很同情.囚车已经进了前庭.
囚车在圣母院正门前停住.押解的队伍如遇大敌.人群一下子静下来了,在这片充满庄严和焦虑的沉默中,正门的两扇门在铰链发出短笛般的刺耳声中,好象自动打开了.因此,人们可以一直望到教堂深处黑黝黝的.阴惨惨的,挂着黑纱的主祭坛上几支蜡烛在远处闪烁,似明似暗.教堂洞开,在光线眩人眼目的广场中间好像一个偌大的洞口.在教堂尽头,半圆形后殿的暗影里,隐隐约约可看见一个巨大的银十字架,展现在从穹顶垂挂到地面的一条黑帷幕上,整个本堂阒无一人,不过在远处唱诗班的神甫座席上,有几个神甫的脑袋隐隐约约在挪动;当大门开启的时候,教堂里传出了一支庄严的歌声,单调,响亮,有如一声声朝囚犯头上射出的忧郁的圣诗碎片.
"......我决不怕包围我的人们:起来,主啊;救救我吧,上帝!"
"......救救我吧,上帝!因为众水已经进来,一直淹没了我的灵魂."
"......我深陷在淤泥中,没有立脚之地."
在合唱之外,同时有另外一种声音,在主祭坛的梯级上哼着那支悲哀的献歌:
"谁听我的话并深信派我来的人,谁就能永生,不是来受审判,并且死而复生."
几位老人隐没在黑暗中,为这个美丽的生灵在远处歌唱,为这个洋溢着青春和活力,被春天的温暖空气抚爱,被灿烂阳光照耀着的生灵歌唱,这就是追思弥撒.
人们肃穆地静听着.
不幸的姑娘魂不守舍,仿佛她的目光和思想都消失在教堂黑暗的深处.她那苍白的嘴唇在翕动,好象在祈祷.刽子手的隶役走到她跟前扶她下囚车时,听到她低声反复念着:弗比斯.
她的双手被松了绑,从囚车上下来,身旁跟着她的是山羊;山羊也松了绑,感到自由了,欢快地咩咩叫着.他们让她赤着脚,在坚硬的石板上一直走到大门的石阶下.她脖子上的粗绳子一直拖到背后,活似一条蛇跟在她身后.
这时,教堂里的合唱停止了,一个硕大的金十字架和一排蜡烛在暗影中摇曳起来,听得见身着杂色服装的教堂侍卫们熗戟的响声.一阵子后,一长列穿无袖长袍的教士和穿祭披的副祭唱着赞美诗,庄严地朝着犯人走来,在她及众人跟前排起了队.可是她的目光停在紧靠手执十字架的人后面那个领头的教士身上.她不禁打了个寒噤,低声说道:"哎呀!又是他!这个教士!"
他果真是副主教.他的左边是副领唱人,右边是手执指挥杖的领唱人.副主教则朝前走着,头向后仰,眼睛瞪得老大,目不转睛,高唱着:
"我从地下的深处呼喊,你就俯听我的声音."
"你将我投下的深渊,就是海的深处.大水环绕我."
副主教穿着胸前绣着黑十字架的袈裟出现在尖拱形大门廊外面的阳光下.这时,他面色煞白,人群中不止一个人还认为他是大理石主教雕像中的一个,本来跪在唱诗班墓石上,现在站起身到坟墓门口迎接那个将死去的女人,带她到阴间里去.
她呢,也是面色煞白,宛若石像.有人把一支点燃的黄色大蜡烛放在她手上,她差不多没有发现.她没有听书记官用尖声宣读那要命的悔罪书.别人要她回答"阿门",她便木然地跟着回答"阿门".当她看到那个教士示意要看守人走开,一个人自朝她走过来的时候,她才恢复了一点生气和力量.
因此,她感到血液在头脑中翻腾,已麻木.冰冷的灵魂中残存的一点义愤又重新燃烧起来.
副主教慢慢地走到她跟前.她身处绝境之中,仍然发现,他眼中闪烁着淫欲.嫉妒和渴望的目光,正扫视着她的裸体.尔后,他又高声问道:"姑娘,您请求上帝宽恕您的错误和失足吗?"他又凑到她耳边加上一句(旁观者以为他在听她最后的忏悔):"你需要我吗?我还能救你!"
她瞪着他说道:"滚开,恶魔!不然的话,我就要告发你."
他恶狠狠地笑了一笑,"谁也不会相信的,你只会在罪行外再加上一个诽谤罪!赶快回答!你要不要我?"
"你将我的弗比斯怎么样了?"
"他死了."教士说.
正好在这时候,倒霉的副主教机械地抬起头,看到在广场的另一边,贡德洛里埃府邸的阳台上,队长正站在百合花的身旁.副主教摇晃了一下,把手搭在额头上,又望了一会,低低骂了一句,整个脸剧烈地抽搐了起来.
"那好!你死吧,"他咬牙切齿地说,"任何人也别想再得到你."
于是,他把手放在埃及姑娘头上,用阴深深的声音说道:"现在去吧,罪恶的灵魂,愿上帝怜悯你!"这是人们通常用来结束这一凄惨仪式的可怕惯用语勿,这也是教士给刽子手的暗号.
所有民众都跪了下来.
"主啊,请宽恕我."仍旧站在大门尖拱下的神甫们念道.
"主啊,请宽恕我."群众跟着念了一遍,嗡嗡声掠过他们头顶,好象是汹涌波涛的拍击声.
"阿门."副主教说道.
他转过身背朝着女囚,脑袋耷拉在胸前,双手合十,走进了教士们的行列,过了一会,连同十字架.蜡烛和僧衣,一块消失在教堂那阴暗的拱顶下面.他那响亮的嗓音逐渐被淹没在这绝望的诗句的合唱声中:
"你的波浪洪涛,都漫过我身!"就在此时,教堂侍卫手中的矛戟铁柄的断断续续的碰击着,在本堂的柱廊间渐渐低微了下去,好像钟锤似的,敲响了女囚的丧钟.
此时,圣母院的每道大门仍然开着,可以看见空无一人的教堂里,阴森森的,没有蜡烛,也没有声音.
女囚仍旧待在原处,一动不动,等候处置.一个执棒的捕快不得不跑去通知夏尔莫吕老爷,他在整个这段时间内都在研究大门上的浮雕,有人说那代表着阿伯拉罕的献祭,也有的说那代表炼金术的实验,天使代表太阳,柴捆代表火,阿伯拉罕代表实验者.
花了老大的劲才将他从凝望静思中拔了出来,他终于转过身子,向两个黄衣人打了一个手势,刽子手的两个隶役马上走近埃及姑娘,把她的双手再捆起来.
不幸的姑娘重新登上囚车,在走向她生命的终点站时,想必也对生命仍然带着几分眷念而感到撕心裂肺的悲痛吧,她抬起通红.干涩的眼睛望着天空,望着太阳,望着把天空零零落落裁成四边形和三角形的白云,尔后她又低下头,望着房屋.大地.人群......在黄衣人来绑她双手的当儿,她突然发出一声可怕的叫喊,一声快乐的叫喊.她就在那边,在那个阳台上,她瞥见了,是他,她的朋友,她的主宰,弗比斯,她生命的另一个影子!教士撒了谎!法官撒了谎!正是他,她丝毫无法怀疑,他就在那儿,英俊,潇洒,神采奕奕,穿着那身鲜艳的军服,头上佩着翎毛,腰上佩着宝剑!
"弗比斯!"她高兴而心痛地叫道,"我的弗比斯!"
她想向他伸出因爱情和狂喜而颤抖的双臂,可是双臂被绑住了.
此时,她看到队长皱了皱眉头,一个漂亮的少女靠在他身上,嘴唇轻蔑地翕动,气恼地望着他.只见弗比斯说了几句她从远处听不到的话,两个人赶快就溜到了阳台的玻璃窗门后面,窗门旋即关上了.
"弗比斯!"她发疯地大声叫道,"难道你也相信吗?"
她的心中闪现出一个奇怪的念头,她想起她是因为被诬告谋害弗比斯.德.夏托佩尔而被判死刑的.
她在那以前一直全力支撑着,可这最后一击太厉害了.她一下子瘫倒在路上,一动不动.
"快,"夏尔莫吕道,"快把她抬上车去,马上了结!"
还没有人注意到,在门廊的尖形拱顶上面,刻有历代君王雕像的柱廊之间,一个古怪的旁观者一直不动声色地观望着.他的脖子伸得老长,相貌奇丑,如果不是穿半紫半红的奇怪衣服的话,准会被当作石头怪兽中的一个.六百年来,教堂的长长檐槽就是通过石兽的口流下来的.这个旁观者自从午起就在圣母院大门前,把所发生的一切都看在眼里记在心里.从一开始,趁着没有人注意,他就在柱廊的一根柱子上牢牢拴了一根打结的粗绳子,一头在下,拖到了石阶上.绑完以后,他心平气和地观看起来,时不时有一只乌鸦从他面前飞过,还打了一声唿哨呢.就在刽子手的两个隶役决定执行夏尔莫吕的冷酷命令的当儿,他跨过长廊的栏杆,手脚膝盖并用,抓住绳子,只见他似一滴顺着玻璃窗流淌下来的雨水,一下子从前墙滑落了下来,飞快地跑向两个隶役,然后挥动两只大拳头,一手一个将他们全打翻在地,用一只手托起埃及少女,好似一个孩子提起他的玩具娃娃,一个箭步跨到教堂,将姑娘举过头顶,以一种令人惊骇的口气喊道:圣地!
这一切是如此迅速,好似一道闪电划破黑夜,一切全都看得清清楚楚.
"圣地!圣地!"人群反复地喊道,千万只手拍着,卡齐莫多的独眼则闪耀着快乐.自豪的光芒.
这一阵震动使犯人清醒过来.她抬起眼睛,望一望卡齐莫多,随后突然闭上眼睛,好象被她的救命者吓住了.
夏尔莫吕一下子愣在那里,刽子手,所有随从,统统都愣住了.确实,在圣母院的围墙内,犯人是不可侵犯的.教堂是一个避难所整个人类司法制度不准越过教堂的门槛.
卡齐莫多在门廊下停了下来.他的一双大脚立在教堂石板地上,好象比沉重的罗曼式石柱更坚实.他那头发蓬乱的大脑袋瓜深深埋在双肩之间,有如埋在只有狮鬣,没有脖子的雄狮的双肩之间.他长满老茧的大手举着那还在心惊肉跳的姑娘,好似举着一条白练;他是那么小心翼翼地托着她,好像生怕把她打碎,或是把她像花一样弄枯萎了.他似乎觉得,这是一件精雅.优美.珍贵的宝贝,是为别人的手而不是为他的手而做成的.不过,他好像连碰都不敢碰她一下,甚至不敢对着她呼吸.到后来,他蓦地把她紧紧抱在怀里,紧贴他的鸡胸,仿佛那是他的珍宝,他的财富;好像他是这孩子的母亲一样,他的独眼低垂下来,看着她,把温柔.痛苦.怜悯倾泻在她脸上,然后又猛然抬起头来,眼中充满光芒.这时女人们哭的哭,笑的笑,人们兴奋得直跺脚,因为这时候,卡齐莫多真正显出他的美.他是美的,他,这个孤儿,这个被捡来的孩子,这个被遗弃的人,他感到自己孔武有力,他敢正面蔑视着这个将他驱逐,而他却如此强有力加以干预的社会,蔑视这个人类司法制度,敢于从中夺取其牺牲品,蔑视所有这帮豺狼虎豹,迫使他们只好空口乱嚷,蔑视这帮警卫,这帮刽子手,这帮法官,以及国王的全部权力,全部被他这个卑贱者借上帝的力量砸得粉碎.
况且,一个如此丑陋的人竟然去保护一个如此不幸的人,卡齐莫多居然救下一个死刑犯,这真是一件令人感动的事啊.这是自然界和人类社会中两个极端悲惨的人互相帮助,互相接触.
但是,在胜利过去几分钟之后,卡齐莫多突然带着他拯救的人钻进了教堂.民众总是崇尚一切壮举的,张大眼睛望着阴暗的教堂,想找到他,惋惜他如此快就在他们的欢呼声中走开了.忽然,人们看到他在法国列王雕像柱廊的一端又出现了.他发狂地奔跑,穿过柱廊,一边托着他的胜利品,一边叫喊着:"圣地!"群众中再次爆发出阵阵掌声.他跑完了整个柱廊,又钻进教堂里面.过了一会儿,在高处平台上又重新出现了.他一直把埃及姑娘抱在怀中,一面疯狂地跑着,一面喊道:"圣地!"群众再一次欢呼.未了,他在钟楼的塔顶上第三次出现,在那里他好像骄傲地把救下的姑娘炫耀给全城人看.他响亮的声音狂热地重复三遍:"圣地!圣地!圣地!"这种声音,人们以前很少听见,他自己从未听见,响彻云霄."妙极了!妙极了!"站在他一边的民众叫道.这巨大的欢呼声传至河对岸,震撼着河滩广场上的人群和那个眼瞪着绞刑架,一直等着看热闹的隐修女.

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