In cutting this diamond, a clumsy jeweller removed some of its brightest sparkles. In the Middle Ages, what am I saying? Even under Richelieu, a Frenchman still had the power to desire.

MIRABEAU

在打磨这块钻石时,一个笨拙的宝石工人使它失去了一些最强烈的闪光。在中世纪,我说什么?甚至地黎塞留时代,法国人还有意志力。

米拉波

Julien found the Marquis furious: for the first time in his life, perhaps,this gentleman was guilty of bad taste; he heaped on Julien all the insults that came to his lips. Our hero was astonished, irritated, but his sense of gratitude was not shaken. 'How many fine projects long cherished in his secret thoughts, the poor man sees crumble in an instant. But I owe it to him to answer him, my silence would increase his rage.' His answer was furnished for him from the part of Tartuffe.

于连发现侯爵大怒,也许这位贵人主平第一次顾不上文雅了,他破口大骂于连,嘴上来什么就骂什么。我们的英雄吃惊了,不耐烦了,不过他的感激之情丝毫不曾动摇。“这可怜的人,长久以来思想深处盘算着多少美好的计划,如今竟眼睁睁地看着它们倾刻间垮台了!不过我应该回答他,我的沉默会增加他的愤怒。回答是达尔杜弗这个角色提供的。

'I am no angel… I have served you well, you have rewarded me generously … I was grateful, but I am twenty-two years old … In this household, my thoughts were intelligible only to yourself, and to that obliging person … '

“我不是天使……我尽力地为您效劳,您慷慨地给我报酬……我很感激,但是我二十二岁了……在这个家里,理解我的思想的只有您和这个可爱的人……”

'Monster!' cried the Marquis. 'Obliging! Obliging! On the day when you found her obliging, you ought to have fled.'

“恶魔!”侯爵叫道,“可爱的!可爱的!您觉得她可爱的那一天,您就该滚蛋。”

'I made an attempt; I asked you if I might go to Languedoc.'

“我曾经试过,那时,我请求您让我去朗格多克。”

Tired of pacing the room in fury, the Marquis, broken by grief, threw himself into an armchair; Julien heard him murmur to himself: 'This is no scoundrel.'

侯爵气得走来走去,累了,也被痛苦压倒,一屁股坐在椅子上;于连听见他低声自语:“这倒也不是个坏人。”

'No, I am not one to you,' cried Julien, falling at his feet. But he felt extremely ashamed of this impulse and rose quickly.

“不,我对您不是个坏人,”于连大声说,跪下了。然而他感到这一举动极为可耻,很快又站了起来。

The Marquis was really out of his mind. On seeing this movement he began again to shower upon Julien atrocious insults worthy of a cab-river. The novelty of these oaths was perhaps a distraction.

侯爵的确是气糊涂了。看见他跪下,侯爵又百般辱骂起来,骂得凶且俗,与车夫无异。辱骂用词新奇,也许能化解愤怒。

What? My daughter is to be called Madame Sorel! What! My daughter is not to be a Duchess!' Whenever these two ideas presented themselves in such clear terms, the Marquis was in torment, and his impulses were uncontrolled. Julien began to fear a thrashing.

“怎么!我的女儿叫索莱尔太太!怎么!我的女儿不是公爵夫人!”每当这两个念头同样清晰地呈现,德·拉莫尔先生就痛苦难耐,他的 情绪也就无法控制了。于连担心要挨揍了。

In his lucid intervals, and when the Marquis began to grow accustomed to his disgrace, his reproaches became quite reasonable.

侯爵渐渐习惯他的不幸了,在清醒的间隙,他也对于连提出相当合情合理的指责:

You ought to have gone, Sir,' he said. 'It was your duty to go … You are the meanest of mankind… '

“您早该走啊,先生,”他对他说,“走是您的责任……您是最卑鄙的人……”

Julien went to the table and wrote:

于连走近桌子,写道:

For a long time my life has been insupportable, I am putting an end to it. I beg Monsieur le Marquis to accept, with my expression of a gratitude that knows no bounds, my apologies for the trouble which my death in his house may ause.'

“很久以来,生活于我已不堪忍受,现在该结束它了。我请求侯爵先生允许我表示无限的感激之情,并允许我因死在府中而给他造成的麻 烦深表歉意。”

Will Monsieur le Marquis deign to peruse this paper… Kill me,' said Julien, 'or have me killed by your valet. It is one o'clock in the morning, I am going to stroll in the garden towards the wall at the far end.'

“请侯爵先生屈尊看看这张纸……杀死我吧,”于连说,“或者让您的仆人杀死我。现在是凌晨一点钟,我到花园里,慢慢朝后墙走。”

Go to the devil,' the Marquis shouted after him as he left the room.

“见鬼去吧,”他离去的时候,侯爵吼道。

I unerstand,' thought Julien; 'he would not be sorry to see me spare his valet the responsibility for my death… Let him kill me, well and good, it is a satisfaction that I am offering him … But, by Jove, I am in love with life … I owe myself to my child.'

“我明白,”于连想,“看到我不把我的死栽到他的仆人头上,他也许会高兴的……让他杀死我吧,也好,这是我给他的一个满足……可 是,当然啦,我爱生活……我对我的儿子负有责任。”

his idea, which for the first time appeared thus clearly before his imagination, completely absorbed him after the first few minutes of his stroll had been devoted to the sense of danger.

这个念头第一次如此清晰地呈现在他的想象中,他的散步过了开始时充满危险感的几分钟之后,他就不再想别的了。

his entirely novel interest made a prudent creature of him. 'I need advice to guide me in dealing with that fiery man… He has no judgment,he is capable of anything. Fouque is too far off, besides he would not understand the sentiments of a heart like the Marquis's.

这种关切如此新奇,使他成了个谨慎的人。“我得有个人商量如何对付这个狂暴的人……他毫无理智,什么事都干得出来。富凯离得太远 。再说他也不会理解侯爵这种人的感情。

Conte Altamira… Can I be sure of eternal silence? My request for advice must not be a definite action, nor complicate my position. Alas!??? There is no one left but the sombre abbe Pirard … His mind is narrowed by Jansenism … A rascally Jesuit would know the world better, and would be more to my purpose… M. Pirard is capable of beating me, at the mere mention of my crime.'

“阿尔塔米拉伯爵……我有把握他永远保持沉默吗?我的讨主意不应横生枝节,使我的处境复杂化。唉!就剩下阴郁的彼拉神甫了……詹森主义让他的头脑变得狭隘……一个混蛋耶稣会士懂得人情世故,对我倒更合适些……我一说到这桩罪孽,彼拉神甫就能揍我。”

The genius of Tartuffe came to Julien's aid: 'Very well, I shall go and confess to him.' This was the resolution to which he finally came in the garden, after pacing it for fully two hours. He no longer thought that he might be surprised by a gunshot; sleep was overpowering him.

达尔杜弗的天才又来救于连了:“好吧,我去向他忏悔。”这是他在花园里整整走了两个钟头之后的最后决定。他不再想他可能挨枪子儿了,他困得不行。

Next morning, before daybreak, Julien was several leagues from Paris,knocking at the door of the stern Jansenist. He found, greatly to his astonishment, that the other was not unduly surprised at his confession.

第二天一大早,于连就到了巴黎儿法里之外,去敲严厉的詹森派的门。他大为惊讶,他发现神甫对他的忏悔并无过分的惊奇之感。

'I ought perhaps to blame myself,' the abbe said to himself, more anxious than angry. 'I had thought that I detected this love affair. My affection for yourself, you little wretch, restrained me from warning her father… '

“我也许有该自责的地方,”神甫对自己说,担心多于气愤。“我相信我已猜到这桩恋情,我对您的友情,不幸的孩子,阻止我告诉她父 亲……”

'What will he do?' Julien asked him boldly.

“他会怎么样呢?”于连急忙问。

(At that moment, he loved the abbe and a scene would have been most painful to him.)

(他此刻爱这神甫,而一顿责骂对他将是很痛苦的。)

'I can see three courses of action,' Julien continued: 'First of all, M. de La Mole may have me put to death'; and he told the abbe of the letter announcing his suicide which he had left with the Marquis; 'secondly, he may have me shot down by Comte Norbert, who will challenge me to a duel.'

“我看有三种可能,”于连说,“第一,德·拉莫尔先生让我自杀,”他谈了那封留给侯爵的绝命书;“第二,诺贝尔伯爵要求跟我决斗 ,我当他的靶子。”

'You would accept?' said the abbe in a fury, rising to his feet.

“您会接受吗?”神甫大怒,站了起来。

'You do not allow me to finish. Certainly I should never fire at the son of my benefactor.

“您还没有让我说完呢。我当然不会向我的恩人的儿子开枪。

'Thirdly, he may send me away. If he says to me: "Go to Edinburgh, to New York," I shall obey. Then they can conceal Mademoiselle de La Mole's condition; but I shall never allow them to destroy my child.'

“第三,他可能让我离开。如果他对我说:‘去爱丁堡,去纽约,’我会服从的,那时候,他们可以掩盖德·拉莫尔小姐的状况,不过我 不能容忍他们除掉我的儿子。”

'That, you may be sure, will be the first idea to occur to that corrupt man… '

“不必怀疑,这将是那个堕落的人的第一个念头……”

In Paris, Mathilde was in despair. She had seen her father about seven o'clock. He had shown her Julien's letter, she trembled lest he should?? have deemed it noble to put an end to his life: 'And without my permission?' she said to herself with an agony which partook of anger.

在巴黎,玛蒂尔德陷入绝望。她早晨七点钟见到父亲。他给她看了于连的绝命书,她发抖了,就怕他以为结束主命才是高贵的:“而且没 有我的允许吗?”她想,痛苦变成了愤怒。

'If he is dead, I shall die,' she said to her father. 'It is you that will be the cause of my death… You will rejoice at it, perhaps … But I swear to his ghost that I shall at once put on mourning, and shall be publicly Madame veuve Sorel [the widow of M. Sorel], I shall send out the usual announcements, you may count on that… You will not find me pusillanimous nor a coward.'

“如果他死了,我也死,”她对她父亲说。“您将是他的死因……您也许会高兴吧……但是我要向他的亡灵起誓,首先我将戴孝,我将公开我的索菜尔寡妇的身份,我还要散发讣告,您瞧着吧……您等着吧,我不会胆怯懦弱的。”

Her love rose to the pitch of madness. It was now M. de La Mole's turn to be left speechless.

她的爱情达到了疯狂的程度。这回是德·拉莫尔先生目瞪口呆了。

He began to look upon what had happened more reasonably. At luncheon Mathilde did not put in an appearance. The Marquis was relieved of an immense burden, and flattered as well, when he discovered that she had said nothing to her mother.

他开始稍许冷静地看待己经发生的事情。中午吃饭时,玛蒂尔德没有露面。侯爵如释重负。特别是他发现她什么也没有对母亲说,就更感 到宽慰了。

Julien dismounted from his horse. Mathilde sent for him, and flung herself into his arms almost in the sight of her maid. Julien was not unduly grateful for this transport, he had come away most diplomatic and most calculating from his long conference with the abbe Pirard. His imagination was extinguished by the calculation of possibilities. Mathilde,with tears in her eyes, informed him that she had seen the letter announcing his suicide.

于连下了马,玛蒂尔德让人把他叫去,几乎当着女仆的面投入他的怀抱。于连对她这种狂热并不大放在心上,他经过与彼拉神甫长谈之后,已变得很老练,很会算计了。他的想象力已被对各种可能的估计闷死。玛蒂尔德眼里噙着泪,说她已看见他的绝命书。

'My father may change his mind; oblige me by setting off instantly for Villequier. Mount your horse, leave the premises before they rise from table.'

“我的父亲会改变主意的,我求您立刻动身去维尔基埃。骑上马,赶在他们吃完饭之前走出府邸。”

As Julien did not in any way alter his air of cold astonishment, she burst into a flood of tears.

于连的神色始终是惊奇的,冷淡的,她一下子哭了出来。

'Allow me to manage our affairs,' she cried to him with a transport,clasping him in her arms. 'You know very well that it is not of my own free will that I part from you. Write under cover to my maid, let the address be in a strange hand; as for me, I shall write you volumes.Farewell! Fly.'

“让我来办我们的事,”她激动地嚷道,紧紧地抱住他。“你知道我不是有意离开你。给我写信,写给我的女仆,让别人写信封,我会给 你写很长很长的信。再见!逃吧。”

This last word wounded Julien, he obeyed nevertheless. 'It is fated,' he thought, 'that even in their best moments, these people must find a way of hurting me.'

这最后一句话刺伤了于连,不过他还是服从了。“命中注定,”他想,“就是在最好的时候,这些人也知道如何刺痛我。”

Mathilde put up a firm resistance to all her father's prudent plans. She steadfastly refused to set the negotiation upon any other basis than this: She was to be Madame Sorel, and would live in poverty with her husband in Switzerland, or with her father in Paris. She thrust from her the suggestion of a clandestine confinement. 'That would pave the way to the possibility of calumny and dishonour. Two months after our marriage, I shall travel abroad with my husband, and it will be easy for us to pretend that my child was born at a suitable date.'

玛蒂尔德坚决地抵制她父亲的各种谨慎的计划。谈判的基础只有一个,其余的她都不愿意:她将是索莱尔太太,和她的丈夫在瑞士过清贫 的生活,或者在巴黎住在父亲家里。她断然拒绝秘密分娩的建议。“那样的话就有可能开始对我进行诽谤和悔辱。结婚后两个月,我和丈夫出门旅行,我们不难把儿子说成是在某个合适的日子出生的。”

Received at first with transports of rage, this firmness ended by inspiring the Marquis with doubts.

她的坚定开始碰到的是盛怒,最后竟使侯爵疑惑不决了。

In a weak moment: 'Here,' he said to his daughter, 'is a transfer of ten thousand livres a year in the Funds, send it to your Julien, and let him speedily make it impossible for me to reclaim it.'

有一次,他的心软了,对女儿说:“瞧!这是一万利弗尔年金的证书,把它送给你的于连,让他快办,别让我把它收回来。”

To obey Mathilde, whose love of giving orders he knew, Julien had made an unnecessary journey of forty leagues: he was at Villequier, examining the accounts of the agents; this generosity on the part of the Marquis was the occasion of his return.He went to seek asylum with the abbe Pirard, who, during his absence, had become Mathilde's most effective ally. As often as he was interrogated by the Marquis, he proved to him that any other course than a public marriage would be a crime in the sight of God.

于连知道玛蒂尔德喜欢发号施令,为了服从她,就赶了四十法里的冤枉路:他在维尔基埃和佃户们把账目算清,侯爵的恩惠给了他返回的 机会,他去求彼拉神甫收留他,彼拉神甫在他不在的那段时间里己经成了玛蒂尔德最有用的盟友了。侯爵每次问到他,他都证实公开结婚以外的一切办法在天主的眼里都是罪恶。

'And happily,' the abbe added, 'the wisdom of the world is here in accordance with religion. Could you reckon for an instant, knowing the fiery character of Mademoiselle de La Mole, upon a secrecy which she had not imposed on herself? If you do not allow the frank course of a public marriage, society will occupy itself for far longer with this strange misalliance. Everything must be stated at one time, without the least mystery, apparent or real.'

“幸好,”神甫补充说,“世俗的智慧在这一点上与宗教一致。德·拉莫尔小姐一副火爆脾气,自己都保不住秘密,别人还能指望秘密能保住一时一刻吗?如果不接受光明磊落的公开结婚,社会将在长得多的时间里关注这宗奇怪的门户不当的婚事,必须一次把什么都说出来,表面和实际上都没有任何秘密。”

'It is true,' said the Marquis, growing pensive. 'By this method, to talk of the marriage after three days becomes the chatter of a man who lacks ideas. We ought to profit by some great anti-Jacobin measure by the Government to slip in unobserved in its wake.'

“的确,”侯爵陷入沉思。“这样办的话,如果婚后三天还有人议论,那就成了糊涂人的嚼舌头了。应该利用政府采取重大的反雅各宾措施的机会,悄悄地跟着把事情办了。”

Two or three of M. de La Mole's friends shared the abbe Pirard's view.The great obstacle, in their eyes, was Mathilde's decided nature. But in spite of all these specious arguments, the Marquis could not grow reconciled to abandoning the hope of a tabouret for his daughter.

德·拉莫尔先生的两、三位朋友想的跟彼拉神甫一样,他们认为,重大的障碍是玛蒂尔德的果断的性格。不过,听了这么多好的意见之后,侯爵的心还是不能习惯于放弃让女儿坐小凳子的希望。

His memory and his imagination were full of all sorts of trickeries and pretences which had still been possible in his younger days. To yield to necessity, to go in fear of the law seemed to him an absurd thing and dishonouring to a man of his rank. He was paying dearly for those enchanting dreams in which he had indulged for the last ten years as to the future of his beloved daughter.

他的记忆和想象中充满了各种各样的花招和欺骗,那在他年轻时还是可能的。屈服于需要,害怕法律,他认为对他那种地位的人来说,是荒谬丢脸的事。十年来他为了这个心爱的女儿想入非非,美梦联翩,如今付出了高昂的代价。

'Who could have foreseen it?' he said to himself. 'A girl of so haughty a character, so elevated a mind, prouder than myself of the name she bears! One whose hand had been asked of me in advance by all the most illustratious blood in France!

“谁能料到?”他对自己说。“一个性格如此高傲、天赋如此超绝,对自己的姓氏比我还要骄傲的女孩子,法国最显赫的人家老早前来求婚的女孩子,竟会出这样的事!

'We must abandon all prudence. This age is destined to bring everything to confusion! We are marching towards chaos.'

“应该放弃一切谨慎。这个时代一切都乱了套!我们已走向混乱。”