Next the tale tells of how Jurgen and the ghost of Queen Sylvia Tereu came into the White Turret1. The Lady of the Lake was in bed: she slept unaccompanied, as Jurgen noted2 with approval, for he wished to intrude3 upon no more tête-à-têtes. And Dame4 Anaïtis did not at first awake.
Now this was a gloomy and high-paneled apartment, with exactly the traditional amount of moonlight streaming through two windows. Any ghost, even an apprentice5, could have acquitted6 himself with credit in such surroundings, and Jurgen thought he did extremely well. He was atavistically brutal7, and to improvise8 the accompanying dialogue he did not find difficult. So everything went smoothly9, and with such spirit that Anaïtis was presently wakened by Queen Sylvia's very moving wails10 for mercy, and sat erect11 in bed, as though a little startled. Then the Lady of the Lake leaned back among the pillows, and witnessed the remainder of the terrible scene with remarkable12 self-possession.
So it was that the tragedy swelled13 to its appalling14 climax15, and subsided16 handsomely. With the aid of Caliburn, Jurgen had murdered his temporary wife. He had dragged her insensate body across the floor, by the hair of her head, and had carefully remembered first to put her comb in his pocket, as Queen Sylvia had requested, so that it would not be lost. He had given vent17 to several fiendish "Ha-ha's" and all the old high imprecations he remembered: and in short, everything had gone splendidly when he left the White Turret with a sense of self-approval and Queen Sylvia Tereu.
The two of them paused in the winding18 stairway; and in the darkness, after he had restored her comb, the Queen was telling Jurgen how sorry she was to part with him.
"For it is back to the cold grave I must be going now, Messire Jurgen, and to the tall flames of Purgatory19: and it may be that I shall not ever see you any more."
"I shall regret the circumstance, madame," says Jurgen, "for you are the loveliest person I have ever seen."
The Queen was pleased. "That is a delightfully20 boyish speech, and one can see it comes from the heart. I only wish that I could meet with such unsophisticated persons in my present abode21. Instead, I am herded22 with battered23 sinners who have no heart, who are not frank and outspoken24 about anything, and I detest25 their affectations."
"Ah, then you are not happy with your husband, Sylvia? I suspected as much."
"I see very little of Smoit. It is true he has eight other wives all resident in the same flame, and cannot well show any partiality. Two of his Queens, though, went straight to Heaven: and his eighth wife, Gudrun, we are compelled to fear, must have been an unrepentant sinner, for she has never reached Purgatory. But I always distrusted Gudrun, myself: otherwise I would never have suggested to Smoit that he have her strangled in order to make me his queen. You see, I thought it a fine thing to be a queen, in those days, Jurgen, when I was an artless slip of a girl. And Smoit was all honey and perfume and velvet26, in those days, Jurgen, and little did I suspect the cruel fate that was to befall me."
"Indeed, it is a sad thing, Sylvia, to be murdered by the hand which, so to speak, is sworn to keep an eye on your welfare, and which rightfully should serve you on its knees."
"It was not that I minded. Smoit killed me in a fit of jealousy27, and jealousy is in its blundering way a compliment. No, a worse thing than that befell me, Jurgen, and embittered28 all my life in the flesh." And Sylvia began to weep.
"And what was that thing, Sylvia?"
Queen Sylvia whispered the terrible truth. "My husband did not understand me."
"Now, by Heaven," says Jurgen, "when a woman tells me that, even though the woman be dead, I know what it is she expects of me."
So Jurgen put his arm about the ghost of Queen Sylvia Tereu, and comforted her. Then, finding her quite willing to be comforted, Jurgen sat for a while upon the dark steps, with one arm still about Queen Sylvia. The effect of the potion had evidently worn off, because Jurgen found himself to be composed no longer of cool imponderable vapor29, but of the warmest and hardest sort of flesh everywhere. But probably the effect of the wine which Jurgen had drunk earlier in the evening had not worn off: for now Jurgen began to talk wildishly in the dark, about the necessity of his, in some way, avenging30 the injury inflicted31 upon his nominal32 grandfather, Ludwig, and Jurgen drew his sword, charmed Caliburn.
"For, as you perceive," said Jurgen, "I carry such weapons as are sufficient for all ordinary encounters. And am I not to use them, to requite33 King Smoit for the injustice34 he did poor Ludwig? Why, certainly I must. It is my duty."
"Ah, but Smoit by this is back in Purgatory," Queen Sylvia protested, "And to draw your sword against a woman is cowardly."
"The avenging sword of Jurgen, my charming Sylvia, is the terror of envious35 men, but it is the comfort of all pretty women."
"It is undoubtedly36 a very large sword," said she: "oh, a magnificent sword, as I can perceive even in the dark. But Smoit, I repeat, is not here to measure weapons with you."
"Now your arguments irritate me, whereas an honest woman would see to it that all the legacies37 of her dead husband were duly satisfied—"
"Oh, oh! and what do you mean—?"
"There is something in what you advance—"
"There is a great deal in what I advance, I can assure you. It is the most natural and most penetrating39 kind of logic40; and I wish merely to discharge a duty—"
"But you upset me, with that big sword of yours, you make me
nervous, and I cannot argue so long as you are flourishing it about.
Come now, put up your sword! Oh, what is anybody to do with you!
Here is the sheath for your sword," says she.
At this point they were interrupted.
"Duke of Logreus," says the voice of Dame Anaïtis, "do you not think it would be better to retire, before such antics at the door of my bedroom give rise to a scandal?"
For Anaïtis had half-opened the door of her bedroom, and with a lamp in her hand, was peering out into the narrow stairway. Jurgen was a little embarrassed, for his apparent intimacy41 with a lady who had been dead for sixty-three years would be, he felt, a matter difficult to explain. So Jurgen rose to his feet, and hastily put up the weapon he had exhibited to Queen Sylvia, and decided42 to pass airily over the whole affair. And outside, a cock crowed, for it was now dawn.
"I bid you a good morning, Dame Anaïtis," said Jurgen. "But the stairways hereabouts are confusing, and I must have lost my way. I was going for a stroll. This is my distant relative Queen Sylvia Tereu, who kindly43 offered to accompany me. We were going out to gather mushrooms and to watch the sunrise, you conceive."
"Messire de Logreus, I think you had far better go back to bed."
"To the contrary, madame, it is my manifest duty to serve as Queen
Sylvia's escort—"
"For all that, messire, I do not see any Queen Sylvia."
Jurgen looked about him. And certainly his grandfather's ninth wife was no longer visible. "Yes, she has vanished. But that was to be expected at cockcrow. Still, that cock crew just at the wrong moment," said Jurgen, ruefully. "It was not fair."
And Dame Anaïtis said: "Gogyrvan's cellar is well stocked: and you sat late with Urien and Aribert: and doubtless they also were lucky enough to discover a queen or two in Gogyrvan's cellar. No less, I think you are still a little drunk."
"Now answer me this, Dame Anaïtis: were you not visited by two ghosts to-night?"
"Why, that is as it may be," she replied: "but the White Turret is notoriously haunted, and it is few quiet nights I have passed there, for Gogyrvan's people were a bad lot."
"Upon my word," wonders Jurgen, "what manner of person is this Dame Anaïtis, who remains44 unstirred by such a brutal murder as I have committed, and makes no more of ghosts than I would of moths45? I have heard she is an enchantress, I am sure she is a fine figure of a woman: and in short, here is a matter which would repay looking into, were not young Guenevere the mistress of my heart."
Aloud he said: "Perhaps then I am drunk, madame. None the less, I still think the cock crew just at the wrong moment."
"Some day you must explain the meaning of that," says she. "Meanwhile I am going back to bed, and I again advise you to do the same."
Then the door closed, the bolt fell, and Jurgen went away, still in considerable excitement.
"This Dame Anaïtis is an interesting personality," he reflected, "and it would be a pleasure, now, to demonstrate to her my grievance46 against the cock, did occasion serve. Well, things less likely than that have happened. Then, too, she came upon me when my sword was out, and in consequence knows I wield47 a respectable weapon. She may feel the need of a good swordsman some day, this handsome Lady of the Lake who has no husband. So let us cultivate patience. Meanwhile, it appears that I am of royal blood. Well, I fancy there is something in the scandal, for I detect in me a deal in common with this King Smoit. Twelve wives, though! no, that is too many. I would limit no man's liaisons48, but twelve wives in lawful49 matrimony bespeaks50 an optimism unknown to me. No, I do not think I am drunk: but it is unquestionable that I am not walking very straight. Certainly, too, we did drink a great deal. So I had best go quietly back to bed, and say nothing more about to-night's doings."
As much he did. And this was the first time that Jurgen, who had been a pawnbroker51, held any discourse52 with Dame Anaïtis, whom men called the Lady of the Lake.
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1
turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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improvise
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| v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成 | |
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9
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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12
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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30
avenging
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| adj.报仇的，复仇的v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的现在分词 )；为…报复 | |
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31
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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33
requite
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| v.报酬，报答 | |
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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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envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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37
legacies
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| n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症 | |
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legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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40
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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41
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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42
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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43
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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44
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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45
moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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46
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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47
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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48
liaisons
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| n.联络( liaison的名词复数 )；联络人；（尤指一方或双方已婚的）私通；组织单位间的交流与合作 | |
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49
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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50
bespeaks
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| v.预定( bespeak的第三人称单数 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
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51
pawnbroker
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| n.典当商，当铺老板 | |
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52
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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