And half the business of destruction done.”
GOLDSMITH.
Madame de Fleury was not disappointed in her pupils. When the public disturbances2 began, these children were shocked by the horrible actions they saw. Instead of being seduced3 by bad example, they only showed anxiety to avoid companions of their own age, who were dishonest, idle, or profligate4. Victoire’s cousin Manon ridiculed5 these absurd principles, as she called them; and endeavoured to persuade Victoire that she would be much happier if she followed the fashion.
“What! Victoire, still with your work-bag on your arm, and still going to school with your little sister, though you are but a year younger than I am, I believe! — thirteen last birthday, were not you? — Mon Dieu! Why, how long do you intend to be a child? and why don’t you leave that old nun6, who keeps you in leading-strings? — I assure you, nuns7, and schoolmistresses, and schools, and all that sort of thing, are out of fashion now — we have abolished all that — we are to live a life of reason now — and all soon to be equal, I can tell you; let your Mad. de Fleury look to that, and look to it yourself; for with all your wisdom, you might find yourself in the wrong box by sticking to her, and that side of the question. — Disengage yourself from her, I advise you, as soon as you can. — My dear Victoire! believe me, you may spell very well — but you know nothing of the rights of man, or the rights of woman.”
“I do not pretend to know any thing of the rights of men, or the rights of women,” cried Victoire; “but this I know, that I never can or will be ungrateful to Mad. de Fleury. Disengage myself from her! I am bound to her for ever, and I will abide8 by her till the last hour I breathe.”
“Well, well! there is no occasion to be in a passion — I only speak as a friend, and I have no more time to reason with you; for I must go home, and get ready my dress for the ball to-night.”
“Manon, how can you afford to buy a dress for a ball?”
“As you might, if you had common sense, Victoire — only by being a good citizen. I and a party of us denounced a milliner and a confectioner in our neighbourhood, who were horrible aristocrats9; and of their goods forfeited10 to the nation we had, as was our just share, such delicious marangles, and charming ribands! — Oh, Victoire, believe me, you will never get such things by going to school, or saying your prayers either. You may look with as much scorn and indignation as you please, but I advise you to let it alone, for all that is out of fashion, and may moreover bring you into difficulties. Believe me, my dear Victoire, your head is not deep enough to understand these things — you know nothing of politics.”
“But I know the difference between right and wrong, Manon: politics can never alter that, you know.”
“Never alter that! — there you are quite mistaken,” said Manon: “I cannot stay to convince you now — but this I can tell you, that I know secrets that you don’t suspect.”
“I do not wish to know any of your secrets, Manon,” said Victoire, proudly.
“Your pride may be humbled11, Citoyenne Victoire, sooner than you expect,” exclaimed Manon, who was now so provoked by her cousin’s contempt, that she could not refrain from boasting of her political knowledge. “I can tell you, that your fine friends will in a few days not be able to protect you. The Abbé Tracassier is in love with a dear friend of mine, and I know all the secrets of state from her — and I know what I know. Be as incredulous, as you please, but you will see that, before this week is at end, Monsieur de Fleury will be guillotined, and then what will become of you? Good morning, my proud cousin.”
Shocked by what she had just heard, Victoire could scarcely believe that Manon was in earnest; she resolved, however, to go immediately and communicate this intelligence, whether true or false, to Mad. de Fleury. It agreed but too well with other circumstances, which alarmed this lady for the safety of her husband. A man of his abilities, integrity, and fortune, could not in such times hope to escape persecution12. He was inclined to brave the danger; but his lady represented that it would not be courage, but rashness and folly13, to sacrifice his life to the villany of others, without probability or possibility of serving his country by his fall.
M. de Fleury, in consequence of these representations, and of Victoire’s intelligence, made his escape from Paris; and the very next day placards were put up in every street, offering a price for the head of Citoyen Fleury, suspected of incivisme.
Struck with terror and astonishment14 at the sight of these placards, the children read them as they returned in the evening from school; and little Babet in the vehemence15 of her indignation mounted a lamplighter’s ladder, and tore down one of the papers. This imprudent action did not pass unobserved: it was seen by one of the spies of Citoyen Tracassier, a man who, under the pretence16 of zeal17 pour la chose publique, gratified without scruple18 his private resentments19 and his malevolent21 passions. In his former character of an abbé, and a man of wit, he had gained admittance into Mad. de Fleury’s society. There he attempted to dictate22 both as a literary and religious despot. Accidentally discovering that Mad. de Fleury had a little school for poor children, he thought proper to be offended, because he had not been consulted respecting the regulations, and because he was not permitted, as he said, to take the charge of this little flock. He made many objections to Sister Frances, as being an improper23 person to have the spiritual guidance of these young people: but as he was unable to give any just reason for his dislike, Mad. de Fleury persisted in her choice, and was at last obliged to assert, in opposition24 to the domineering abbé, her right to judge and decide in her own affairs. With seeming politeness, he begged ten thousand pardons for his conscientious25 interference. No more was said upon the subject; and as he did not totally withdraw from her society till the revolution broke out, she did not suspect that she had any thing to fear from his resentment20. His manners and opinions changed suddenly with the times; the mask of religion was thrown off; and now, instead of objecting to Sister Frances as not being sufficiently26 strict and orthodox in her tenets, he boldly declared, that a nun was not a fit person to be intrusted with the education of any of the young citizens — they should all be des élèves de la patrie. The abbé, become a member of the Committee of Public Safety, denounced Mad. de Fleury, in the strange jargon27 of the day, as “the fosterer of a swarm28 of bad citizens, who were nourished in the anticivic prejudices de l’ancien régime, and fostered in the most detestable superstitions29, in defiance30 of the law.” He further observed, that he had good reason to believe that some of these little enemies to the constitution had contrived31 and abetted32 M. de Fleury’s escape. Of their having rejoiced at it in a most indecent manner, he said he could produce irrefragable proof. The boy who saw Babet tear down the placard was produced and solemnly examined; and the thoughtless action of this poor little girl was construed33 into a state crime of the most horrible nature. In a declamatory tone, Tracassier reminded his fellow-citizens, that in the ancient Grecian times of virtuous34 republicanism (times of which France ought to show herself emulous), an Athenian child was condemned35 to death for having made a plaything of a fragment of the gilding36 that had fallen from a public statue. The orator37, for the reward of his eloquence38, obtained an order to seize every thing in Mad. de Fleury’s school-house, and to throw the nun into prison.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
devastation
|
|
| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
disturbances
|
|
| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
seduced
|
|
| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
profligate
|
|
| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
ridiculed
|
|
| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
nun
|
|
| n.修女，尼姑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
nuns
|
|
| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
abide
|
|
| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
aristocrats
|
|
| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
forfeited
|
|
| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
humbled
|
|
| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
persecution
|
|
| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
vehemence
|
|
| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
pretence
|
|
| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
scruple
|
|
| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
resentments
|
|
| （因受虐待而）愤恨，不满，怨恨( resentment的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
resentment
|
|
| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
malevolent
|
|
| adj.有恶意的，恶毒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
dictate
|
|
| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
improper
|
|
| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
conscientious
|
|
| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
jargon
|
|
| n.术语，行话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
swarm
|
|
| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
superstitions
|
|
| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
abetted
|
|
| v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
construed
|
|
| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
virtuous
|
|
| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
gilding
|
|
| n.贴金箔，镀金 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
orator
|
|
| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
eloquence
|
|
| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |