At the start he had demanded justice and loudly protested hisinnocence. But he had come to realize at last that justice hadno concern with his case or that of the priests and gendarmesconfined within the same walls. He had given up all thought ofpersuading the savage3 frenzy4 of the Commune to listen to reason,and deemed it the wisest thing to hold his tongue and the bestto be forgotten. He trembled to think how easily it might endin tragedy, and his anguish5 seemed to choke him.
Sometimes, as he sat dreaming, he could see a tree against a patchof blue sky, and great tears would rise to his eyes.
It was there, in his prison cell, Jean learned to know the shadowyjoys of memory.
He thought of his good old father sitting at his work-bench ortightening the screw of the press; he thought of the shop packedwith bound volumes and bindings, of his little room where ofevenings he read books of travel--of all the familiar things ofhome. And every time he reviewed in spirit the poor thin romanceof his unpretending life, he felt his cheeks burn to think howit was all dominated, almost every episode controlled, by thisdrunken parasite6 of a Tudesco! It was true nevertheless! Paramountover his studies, his loves, his dangers, over all his existence,loomed the rubicund7 face of the old villain8! The shame of it!
He had lived very ill! but what a meagre life it had been too.
How cruel it was, how unjust! and there was more of self-pityin the poor, sore heart than of anger.
Every day, every hour he thought of Gabrielle; but how changedthe complexion9 of his love for her! Now it was a tender, tranquilsentiment, a disinterested10 affection, a sweet, soothing11 reverie.
It was a vision of a wondrous12 delicacy13, such as loneliness andunhappiness alone can form in the souls they shield from therude shocks of the common life--the dream of a holy life, a lifedim and overshadowed, vowed14 wholly and completely, without rewardor recompense, to the woman worshipped from afar, as that of thegood country _curé_ is vowed to the God who never steps downfrom the tabernacle of the altar.
His gaoler was a good-natured _sous-officier_ who, amazed andhorrified at what was going forward, clung to discipline as asheet-anchor in the general shipwreck15. He felt a rough, uncouthpity for his prisoners, but this never interfered16 with the strictperformance of his duties, and Jean, who had no experience ofsoldiers' ways, never guessed the man's true character. However,he grew less and less unbending and taciturn the nearer the armyof order approached the city.
"Courage, lad! something's going to turn up soon."The same afternoon Jean heard a distant sound of musketry; then,all in a moment, the door of his cell opened and he saw an avalancheof prisoners roll from one end of the corridor to the other. Thegaoler had unlocked all the cells and shouted the words, "Everyman for himself; run for it!" Jean himself was carried along,down stairs and passages, out into the prison courtyard, andpitched head foremost against the wall. By the time he recoveredfrom the shock of his fall, the prisoners had vanished, and hestood alone before the open wicket.
Outside in the street he heard the crackle of musketry and sawthe Seine running grey under the lowering smoke-cloud of burningParis. Red uniforms appeared on the _Quai de l'école_. The_Pont-au-Change_ was thick with _fédérés_. Not knowing whereto fly, he was for going back into the prison; but a body of_Vengeurs de Lutèce_, in full flight, drove him before theirbayonets towards the _Pont-au-Change_. A woman, a _cantinière_,kept shouting: "Don't let him go, give him his gruel19. He's aVersaillais." The squad20 halted on the _Quai-aux-Fleurs_, and Jeanwas pushed against the wall of the _H?tel-Dieu_, the _cantinière_dancing and gesticulating in front of him. Her hair flying looseunder her gold-laced _képi_, with her ample bosom21 and her elasticfigure poised22 gallantly23 on the strong, well-shaped limbs, she hadthe fierce beauty of some magnificent wild animal. Her littleround mouth was wide open, yelling menaces and obscenities, as shebrandished a revolver. The _Vengeurs de Lutèce_, hard-pressedand dispirited, looked stolidly24 at their white-faced prisoneragainst the wall, and then looked in each other's faces. Herfury redoubled; threatening them collectively, addressing eachman by some vile25 nickname, pacing in front of them with a boldswing of the powerful hips26, the woman dominated them, intoxicatedthem with her puissant27 influence.
They formed up in platoon.
"Fire!" cried the _cantinière_.
Jean threw out his arms before him.
"Fire! fire!" The woman repeated the cry in the voice of an angry,self-willed child.
She had been through the fighting, this girl, she had drunk herfill from staved-in wine-casks and slept on the bare ground,pell-mell with the men, out in the public square reddened withthe glare of conflagration29. They were killing30 all round her,and nobody had been killed yet _for her_. She was resolved theyshould shoot her someone, before the end! Stamping with fury,she reiterated31 her cry:
"Fire! Fire! Fire!"Again the guns were cocked and the barrels levelled. But the_Vengeurs de Lutèce_ had not much heart left; their leader hadvanished; they were disorganized, they were running away;sobered and stupefied, they knew the game was up. They were quitewilling all the same to shoot the bourgeois32 there at the wall,before bolting for covert33, each to hide in his own hole.
Jean tried to say: "Don't make me suffer more than need be!" buthis voice stuck in his throat.
One of the _Vengeurs_ cast a look in the direction of the_Pont-au-Change_ and saw that the _fédérés_ were losing ground.
"Let's clear out of the bl--y place, by God!"The men hesitated; some began to slink away.
"Bl--sted hounds! Then _I'll_ have to do his business for him!"She threw herself on Jean Servien and spat35 in his face; she abandonedherself to a frantic36 orgy of obscenity in word and gesture andclapped the muzzle37 of her revolver to his temple.
Then he felt all was over and waited.
A thousand things flashed in a second before his eyes; he sawthe avenues under the old trees where his aunt used to take himwalking in old days; he saw himself a little child, happy andwondering; he remembered the castles he used to build with stripsof plane-tree bark... The trigger was pulled. Jean beat the airwith his arms and fell forward face to the ground. The men finishedhim with their bayonets; then the woman danced on the corpsewith yells of joy.
The fighting was coming closer. A well-sustained fire swept the_Quai_. The woman was the last to go. Jean Servien's body laystretched in the empty roadway. His face wore a strange look ofpeacefulness; in the temple was a little hole, barely visible;blood and mire38 fouled39 the pretty hair a mother had kissed withsuch transports of fondness.
THE END
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1
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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2
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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3
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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4
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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5
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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7
rubicund
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| adj.(脸色)红润的 | |
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8
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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9
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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10
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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11
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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12
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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13
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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14
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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15
shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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16
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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17
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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18
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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19
gruel
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| n.稀饭，粥 | |
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20
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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21
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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22
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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23
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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24
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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25
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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26
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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27
puissant
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| adj.强有力的 | |
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28
flatten
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| v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽 | |
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29
conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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30
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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31
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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33
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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34
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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36
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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37
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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38
mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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39
fouled
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| v.使污秽( foul的过去式和过去分词 )；弄脏；击球出界；（通常用废物）弄脏 | |
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