Suzanne stood at attention before him in the hall of the Mont de Piété. If she had been inexorable before, she was now doubly so beneath the eyes of the veritable officials. The sight of them,[101] and the half-official status of go-between and interpreter, urged her to ape-like importance.
With flushed and angry face, raised eyebrows1, shocked at his questioning the verdict, she repeated, “Five francs; it’s the most.”
“No, that’s no good; give me the portmanteau,” he said.
She gave it him in silence, eyebrows still raised, eyes fixed2, staring with intelligent disapproval3 right in front of her. She did not look at her eminent4 countrymen behind the large counter. But her intelligent and significant stare, lost in space, was meant to meet and fraternize with probable similar stares of theirs, lost in the same intelligent void.
Her face fixed in distended5, rubicund6, discontentedly resigned mask, she walked on beside him, the turkey-like backward-forward motion of fat neck marking her ruffled7 state. Kreisler sat down on a bench of the Boulevard du Paradis, she beside him.
“Dis! couldn’t you have borrowed the rest?” she said at last.
Kreisler was tired. He got up.
“No, of course I couldn’t. I hate people who lend money as I hate pawnbrokers8.”
Suzanne listened, with protesting grin. Her head nodded energetically.
“Eh bien! si tout9 le monde pensait comme toi?!”
He pushed his moustache up and frowned pathetically.
“Où est Monsieur Volker?” she asked.
“Volker? I don’t know. He has no money.”
“Comment! Il n’a pas d’argent? C’est pas vrai! Tu ne le vois plus?”
“Good-bye.” Kreisler left Suzanne seated, staring after him.
The portmanteau dragged along, he strode past a distant figure. Suzanne saw him turn round and examine the stranger’s face. Then she lost sight of them round a corner of the boulevard.
“Quel type!” she exclaimed to herself, nearly as[102] the concierge10 had done. She sauntered back home, giving Kreisler the benefit of several sour reflections.
In a little room situated11 behind the Rue12 de la Gaieté, she pulled open one of two drawers in her washstand, which contained a little bread, tea, potatoes, and a piece of cold fish. She spread out a sheet of the Petit Parisian beside the basin. Having peeled the potatoes and put them on the gas, she took off those outdoor things that just enabled her to impart a turkey-like movement to her person. Then, dumpy, in a salmon-check petticoat, her legs bowed backwards13 and her stomach stuck out, she stood moodily14 at the window. A man she knew, now in the Midi, sent her now and then a few francs.
This rueful spot, struck in image of this elementary dross15 of humanity, was Kreisler’s occasional haunt. Cell of the unwieldy, tragic16 brain of the city, with million other similar cells, representing overwhelming uniform force of brooding in that brain, attracted him like a desert or ocean.
He would listen solemnly, like a great judge, to Suzanne’s perpetual complaints, sitting on the edge of her bed, hat on head. She was so humble17 and so pretentious18. Her imagination was arrogant19 and constantly complaining. The form her complaints took was always that of lies—needless, dismal20 lies. She could not grumble21 without inventing and she never stopped grumbling22. This, then, was one of Kreisler’s dwellings23. He lived at large. Some of his rooms, such as this, the Café de Berne, and Juan Soler’s School of Art, he shared with others. On very troubled days his body, like the finger of a weather-glass, would move erratically24. When found in Suzanne’s room it might be taken as an indication of an unsettled state. A tendency to remain at home, on the contrary, denoted mostly a state of equilibrium25 and peace.
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1
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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2
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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3
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rubicund
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| adj.(脸色)红润的 | |
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7
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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8
pawnbrokers
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| n.当铺老板( pawnbroker的名词复数 ) | |
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9
tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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10
concierge
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| n.管理员；门房 | |
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11
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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12
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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13
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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14
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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15
dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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16
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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pretentious
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| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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20
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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21
grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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22
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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23
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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24
erratically
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| adv.不规律地，不定地 | |
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25
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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