“That’s it,” she said to her brother, stopping before a new house overlooking the Luxembourg garden.
“The stairs look decent enough,” said Monsieur Bergeret, “but it’s rather a stiff climb.”
“Nonsense, Lucien. You are quite young enough to go up five short flights of stairs without getting exhausted2.”
“Do you really think so?” said Lucien, flattered.
She was careful to point out that the stair-carpet ran right to the top of the house, and he smilingly accused her of being susceptible3 to trifling4 vanities.
“But it is possible,” he added, “that I myself should feel slightly offended were the carpet to stop short at the floor below ours. We profess5 to be wise, but we still have our weak points. That reminds me of what I noticed yesterday, after lunch, as I was passing a church. The outer steps were covered with a red carpet which had been trodden, after the ceremony, by the guests at some great wedding. A working-class couple with their party were waiting for the last of the wealthy company to leave so that they might enter the church. They were laughing at the idea of climbing the steps upon this unexpected splendour. The little bride’s white feet were already on the edge of the carpet when the beadle waved her away. The men in charge of the trappings of the wealthy wedding slowly rolled up the carpet of honour, and only when it formed a huge cylinder6 did they allow the humble7 wedding party to mount the bare steps. I stood for a moment and watched the worthy8 folk, who seemed greatly amused by the incident. Humble folk surrender with admirable equanimity9 to social inequality, and Lamennais was quite right to say ‘that the whole social order rests on the resignation of the poor.’”
“Here we are,” said Mademoiselle Bergeret.
“I’m out of breath,” remarked Monsieur Bergeret.
“Because you would talk,” replied Mademoiselle Bergeret. “You shouldn’t tell anecdotes10 while you are going upstairs.”
“After all,” said Monsieur Bergeret, “it is the common destiny of men of learning to live close under the roof. Science and meditation11 are often hidden away in garrets, and when we come to think of it, no marble hall is worth an attic12 filled with beautiful thoughts.”
“This room,” replied Mademoiselle Bergeret, “is not a garret. It is lighted by a big window and is to be your study.”
On hearing this, Monsieur Bergeret looked at the four walls in alarm, like a man on the brink13 of a precipice14.
“What is the matter?” asked his sister uneasily.
But he did not reply. The little square room, hung with light paper, seemed to him dark with the unknown future. He entered with a slow and fearful step as though he were entering upon a hidden destiny. Then, measuring on the floor the position of his work-table, he said:
“I shall sit there. It is a mistake to be too sentimental15 over the past and the future. They are nothing but abstract ideas, which were not originally possessed16 by primitive17 man; he acquired them only after long effort, to his great misfortune. The thought of the past in itself is sufficiently18 painful. I do not think anyone would be willing to begin life again if he had to go over precisely19 the same ground. That there are delightful20 hours and exquisite21 moments I do not deny, but they are pearls and precious stones sparsely22 sprinkled on the harsh and dismal23 web of life. The course of the years is, for all its brevity, of tedious slowness, and if it be sometimes sweet to remember it is because we are able to make our minds dwell upon certain moments. And even then the sweetness is pale and melancholy24. As for the future, we dare not look it in the face, so threatening is its gloomy countenance25. And when you told me a moment since, Zoe, that this was to be my study, I saw myself in the future, and I could not bear the sight. I am not without courage, I think, but I am given to reflection, and reflection and fearlessness are not the best of friends.”
“The most difficult thing of all,” put in Zoe, “was to find three bedrooms.”
“It is certain,” rejoined Monsieur Bergeret, “that humanity, in its youth, did not conceive of the future and the past as we do. Now these ideas that devour26 us have no reality outside ourselves. We know nothing of life, and the theory of its development through time is pure illusion. It is by some infirmity of our senses that we do not see to-morrow realized as we see yesterday. We can very well conceive of beings so organized as to be capable of the simultaneous perception of phenomena27 which to us appear to be separated from one another by an appreciable28 interval29 of time. We ourselves do not perceive light and sound in the order of time. We ourselves take in at a single glance, when we raise our eyes to the sky, aspects which are by no means contemporaneous. The beams of light from the stars seem indistinguishable to our eyes, yet they mingle30 in them, in a fraction of a second, centuries and thousands of centuries. With instruments other than those we now possess we might see ourselves lying dead in the very midst of our own life. For, as time does not in reality exist, and as the succession of facts is only an appearance, all facts are realized simultaneously31 and there is no such thing as the future. The future has already been; we merely discover it. Now, perhaps, you have some idea, Zoe, why I stopped short at the door of the room where I am to live. Time is a pure idea, and space is no more real than time.”
“That may be,” remarked Zoe, “but it is very expensive in Paris at any rate. You must have noticed that while you were house-hunting. I don’t expect you care to see my room; come, Pauline’s will interest you more.”
“Let us go and see them both,” said Monsieur Bergeret, as he obediently promenaded32 his animal mechanism33 through the little square rooms hung with flowered paper, pursuing the course of his reflections the while.
“The savages,” he said, “make no distinction between past, present and future. Languages, which are undoubtedly34 the oldest monuments of the human race, permit us to go back to the days when our ancestors had not yet accomplished35 this metaphysical operation. Monsieur Michel Bréal, who has just published an admirable essay on the subject, shows that the verb, so rich to-day in its resources for marking the priority of an action, had originally no means of expressing the past, and in order to perform this function forms were employed which implied a double affirmation of the present.”
As he spoke36, he returned to the room which was to be his study, which had at first sight seemed, in its emptiness, to be filled with the shadows of the ineffable37 future.
Mademoiselle Bergeret opened the window.
“Look, Lucien.”
And, seeing the bare tops of the trees, Monsieur Bergeret smiled.
“These black boughs,” he said, “will assume, in the timid April sunlight, the purple hue38 of their buds; then they will break forth39 into soft green foliage40. That will be delightful. It will, indeed, be charming. Zoe, you are full of wisdom and kindness, a worthy steward41 and a most endearing sister. Let me kiss you.”
Monsieur Bergeret kissed his sister, repeating:
“You are a good creature, Zoe.”
And Mademoiselle Bergeret’s reply was:
“Our father and mother were both good.”
Monsieur Bergeret would have embraced her a second time, but she protested:
“You’ll make my hair untidy, Lucien, and that I can’t bear.”
Monsieur Bergeret stretched out his hand as he stood by the open window.
“Look, Zoe, to the right. On the site of those ugly buildings used to be the Pépinière. There, our elders have told me, was a maze42 of paths bordered by green trelliswork windows among the shrubs43. Our father used to walk there when he was a young man. He used to read the philosophy of Kant and the novels of George Sand, seated on a bench behind the statue of Velléda. A dreaming Velléda, with hands folded over her mystic sickle44, and crossed legs, who was the object of much generous and youthful adoration45. The students used to sit at her feet discussing love, justice and liberty. They did not enlist46 in those days in the party of untruth, injustice47 and tyranny.
“The Empire destroyed the Pépinière. It was an evil deed, for there is a soul even in inanimate things. The noble ideas of many young men perished with the gardens. How many beautiful dreams and stupendous hopes have taken shape under the shadow of Maindron’s romantic Velléda! To-day our students have palaces with a bust48 of the President of the Republic over the mantelpiece in the principal room. Who will restore to them the winding49 alleys50 of the Pépinière, where they were wont51 to discuss the establishment of peace and happiness and the liberty of the world? Who will give back to them the garden where, amid the joyous52 songs of the birds, they repeated the generous sayings of their masters, Quinet and Michelet?”
“No doubt they were enthusiastic enough,” said Mademoiselle Bergeret, “but in the end they became doctors and lawyers in their own provinces. One must resign oneself to the mediocrity of life. You know well enough, it is very difficult to live, and one must not expect too much of one’s fellow-creatures. Anyhow, do you like the rooms?”
“Yes, and I’m sure Pauline will be delighted. She has a charming room.”
“She has, but young girls are never delighted with anything.”
“Pauline is not unhappy with us.”
“No, indeed. She is very happy, but she does not realize it.”
“I am going to the Rue53 Saint-Jacques,” announced Monsieur Bergeret, “to ask Roupart to put up some shelves in my study.”
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1
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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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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8
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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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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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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16
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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promenaded
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| v.兜风( promenade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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38
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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41
steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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42
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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43
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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44
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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45
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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46
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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47
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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48
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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49
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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50
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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51
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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52
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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53
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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