It was a house in the Rue3 de Seine, a hundred years old at least. Never beautiful, it had grown uglier with age. The porte cochère opened humbly4 on a damp courtyard between a shoemaker’s shop and a carrier’s office. Monsieur Bergeret’s rooms were on the second floor, and on the same floor lived a picture-restorer through whose open door glimpses could be caught of little unframed canvases set about an earthenware5 stove, landscapes, old portraits, and an amber-skinned woman asleep in a dark wood under a green sky. The staircase was fairly well lighted. Cobwebs hung in the corners, and at the turns the wooden stairs were embellished6 with tiles. Stray lettuce-leaves, dropped from some housewife’s string bag, were to be found there of a morning.
Such things had no charm for Monsieur Bergeret, but he could not help feeling sad at the thought that he would become oblivious7 of these things as he had of so many others which, though they were not of any value, had made up the course of his life.
Every day, when his work was done, he went house-hunting. He thought of living for preference on the left bank of the Seine, where his father had dwelt before him, where it seemed to him one breathed an atmosphere of quiet life and peaceful study. What made his search more difficult was the state of the roads, broken with deep trenches8 and covered with mounds9 of earth. There were also the impassable and eternally disfigured quays11.
It will, of course, be remembered that, in the year 1899, the surface of Paris underwent a complete upheaval12, either because the new conditions of life necessitated13 the execution of a great number of municipal undertakings14, or because the approach of a huge international exhibition gave rise on every side to an exaggerated activity and a sudden ardour of enterprise. Monsieur Bergeret was grieved to see the town upset, for he did not sufficiently15 understand the necessity of such a proceeding16, but, as he was a wise man, he endeavoured to console himself, to reassure17 himself by meditation18. When he passed along his beautiful Quai Malaquais, so cruelly ravaged19 by merciless engineers, he pitied the uprooted20 trees and the banished21 keepers of bookstalls, and he reflected, not without a certain depth of feeling:
“I have lost my friends, and now all that gave me delight in this city, her peace, her grace and her beauty, her old-time elegance22 and her noble historical vistas23, is being violently swept away. It is always right and fitting, however, that reason should prevail over sentiment. We must not dally24 with vain regrets for the past, nor commiserate25 with ourselves over the changes that thrust themselves upon us, since change is the very condition of life. Perhaps these upheavals26 are necessary; it is needful that this city should lose some of her traditional beauty, so that the lives of the greater number of her inhabitants may become less painful and less hard.”
And, in the company of idle errand-boys and indolent police-sergeants, Monsieur Bergeret would watch the navvies digging deep into the soil of the famous quay10, and once again he would tell himself:
“Here I see a vision of the city of the future, whose noblest buildings are as yet indicated only by deep excavations27, which would suggest, to a shallow mind, that the labourers who are toiling28 to rear the city which we shall never behold29 are merely excavating30 abysmal31 pits, when in reality they may be laying the foundations of a prosperous home, the abode32 of joy and peace.”
Thus did Monsieur Bergeret, who was a man of goodwill33, look with a favouring eye upon the building of the ideal city; but he was much less at home amid the building operations of the real city, seeing that at every step he risked falling, through absence of mind, into a pit.
Nevertheless he continued to go house-hunting, but he did so in a whimsical fashion. Old houses pleased him, in that their stones had for him a tongue. The Rue G?t-le-C?ur had a particular attraction for him, and whenever he saw beside the keystone of a gateway34 or on a door which had once been flanked by a wrought-iron railing a notice to the effect that there was a flat to let, he would mount the stairs, accompanied by a sordid35 concierge36, in an atmosphere that reeked37 of countless38 generations of rats, which was aggravated39 from floor to floor by the smell of cooking from poverty-stricken kitchens. The workshops of bookbinders or box-makers enriched it at times with the horrible odour of sour glue, and Monsieur Bergeret would depart filled with sadness and discouragement.
Home again, he would tell his sister and daughter, at the dinner-table, of the unfavourable results of his inquiries40; Mademoiselle Zoe would listen calmly to his story. She had made up her mind to seek and to find a house herself. She regarded her brother as a superior person, but as one quite incapable41 of reasonable ideas concerning the practical affairs of life.
“I went over a flat to-day on the Quai Conti. I don’t know what you two would think of it. It looks out on a courtyard with a well, some ivy42, and a statue of Flora43, moss-grown, mutilated, and headless, perpetually weaving a garland of flowers. I also saw a small flat in the Rue de la Chaise. That looks out on a garden with a great lime-tree, one branch of which, when the leaves have grown, would enter my study. There is a big room that Pauline could have; she would make it charming with a few yards of coloured cretonne.”
“What about my room?” demanded Mademoiselle Zoe. “You never think of my room. Besides——”
She did not finish her sentence, as she took no particular notice of her brother’s reports.
“We may be obliged to move into a new house,” said Monsieur Bergeret, for he was a sensible man accustomed to subject his desires to reason.
“I’m afraid so, papa,” said Pauline. “But never mind, we will find you a tree reaching up to your window, I promise you.”
She followed her father’s investigations44 with perfect good nature, but without much personal interest, as a young girl undismayed by change, who vaguely45 feels that her fate is not yet determined46, and lives the while in a species of anticipation47.
“The new houses are better fitted up than the old ones,” continued Monsieur Bergeret, “but I do not like them, perhaps because I am more conscious, in the midst of a luxury that one can measure, of the vulgarity of a straitened life. Not that the mediocrity of my fortune distresses48 me, even on your account. It is the banal49 and commonplace that I detest50.... But you will think me absurd.”
“Oh no, papa.”
“What I dislike in new houses is the precise sameness of their arrangement. The structure of the apartment is only too visible from the outside. For a long while dwellers51 in cities have been accustomed to live one above another, and as your aunt won’t hear of a small house in the suburbs I am quite willing to put up with a third or fourth-story flat, and that is precisely52 why I cannot but regret giving up the idea of an old house. The irregularity of old houses makes the piling of flat upon flat more endurable. When I walk down a new street I find myself thinking that this superposition of households in modern buildings is, in its uniformity, ridiculous. The small dining-rooms perched one above the other with the same little windows and the self-same copper53 gaselier lighted every evening at exactly the same time; the same tiny kitchens with larders54 looking on the yard, the same extremely dirty maidservants; the same drawing-rooms, with their pianos one over the other. To my mind, the precision of modern houses reveals the daily functions of the creatures enclosed in them as plainly as though the floors and ceilings were of glass. And all these people who dine one above another, play the piano one above another, and go to bed one above another, in a perfectly55 symmetrical fashion—when one thinks of it, they offer a spectacle both comical and humiliating.”
“The tenants56 themselves would hardly think so,” said Mademoiselle Zoe, who had quite decided57 to settle in a new house.
“It is true,” said Pauline thoughtfully, “it is true, it is comical.”
“Of course, here and there, I see rooms that I like,” continued Monsieur Bergeret. “But the rent is always too high. And that makes me doubt the truth of a principle laid down by the admirable Fourier, which assures us that our tastes are so diverse that if only we lived in harmony with one another hovels would be as much in demand as palaces. It is quite true that we do not live in harmony; or we should all possess prehensile58 tails, so that we could hang suspended from the trees. Fourier has expressly said so. Another man of equal merit, the gentle Prince Kropotkin, has assured us more recently that some day we shall live rent-free in the mansions59 on the great avenues, for their owners will abandon them when they can no longer procure60 servants to keep them up. In those days, says the benevolent61 prince, they will be delighted to hand them over to the worthy62 women of the working-classes who will not object to a kitchen in the basement. In the meanwhile, the question of a house is both arduous63 and difficult. Zoe, please come with me to see that suite64 of rooms on the Quai Conti of which I told you. It is rather dilapidated, having served for thirty years as a chemical warehouse65. The landlord won’t do any repairs as he expects to let the place as a warehouse. The windows are oval dormer-windows, but from them you see an ivy-covered wall, a moss-grown well and a headless statue of Flora which still seems to smile. Such things are not easily found in Paris.”
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1
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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12
upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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13
necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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reassure
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| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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19
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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20
uprooted
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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21
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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23
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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dally
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| v.荒废(时日)，调情 | |
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commiserate
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| v.怜悯，同情 | |
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upheavals
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| 突然的巨变( upheaval的名词复数 )； 大动荡； 大变动； 胀起 | |
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27
excavations
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| n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹 | |
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28
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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excavating
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| v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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31
abysmal
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| adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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concierge
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| n.管理员；门房 | |
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reeked
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| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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38
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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39
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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40
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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41
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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42
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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43
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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44
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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45
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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46
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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47
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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48
distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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49
banal
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| adj.陈腐的，平庸的 | |
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50
detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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51
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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52
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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53
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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54
larders
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| n.（家中的）食物贮藏室，食物橱( larder的名词复数 ) | |
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55
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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56
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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58
prehensile
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| adj.（足等）适于抓握的 | |
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mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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60
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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61
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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62
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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63
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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64
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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65
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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