The banker recalled all this, and thought:
“To-morrow at twelve o’clock he receives his freedom. Under the agreement, I shall have to pay him two millions. If I pay, it’s all over with me. I am ruined for ever ...”
Fifteen years before he had too many millions to count, but now he was afraid to ask himself which he had more of, money or debts. Gambling1 on the Stock-Exchange, risky2 speculation3, and the recklessness of which he could not rid himself even in old age, had gradually brought his business to decay; and the fearless, self-confident, proud man of business had become an ordinary banker, trembling at every rise and fall in the market.
“That cursed bet,” murmured the old man clutching his head in despair... “Why didn’t the man die? He’s only forty years old. He will take away my last farthing, marry, enjoy life, gamble on the Exchange, and I will look on like an envious4 beggar and hear the same words from him every day: ‘I’m obliged to you for the happiness of my life. Let me help you.’ No, it’s too much! The only escape from bankruptcy5 and disgrace—is that the man should die.”
The clock had just struck three. The banker was listening. In the house every one was asleep, and one could hear only the frozen trees whining6 outside the windows. Trying to make no sound, he took out of his safe the key of the door which had not been opened for fifteen years, put on his overcoat, and went out of the house. The garden was dark and cold. It was raining. A damp, penetrating7 wind howled in the garden and gave the trees no rest. Though he strained his eyes, the banker could see neither the ground, nor the white statues, nor the garden wing, nor the trees. Approaching the garden wing, he called the watchman twice. There was no answer. Evidently the watchman had taken shelter from the bad weather and was now asleep somewhere in the kitchen or the greenhouse.
“If I have the courage to fulfil my intention,” thought the old man, “the suspicion will fall on the watchman first of all.”
In the darkness he groped for the steps and the door and entered the hall of the garden-wing, then poked8 his way into a narrow passage and struck a match. Not a soul was there. Some one’s bed, with no bedclothes on it, stood there, and an iron stove loomed9 dark in the corner. The seals on the door that led into the prisoner’s room were unbroken.
In the prisoner’s room a candle was burning dimly. The prisoner himself sat by the table. Only his back, the hair on his head and his hands were visible. Open books were strewn about on the table, the two chairs, and on the carpet near the table.
Five minutes passed and the prisoner never once stirred. Fifteen years’ confinement11 had taught him to sit motionless. The banker tapped on the window with his finger, but the prisoner made no movement in reply. Then the banker cautiously tore the seals from the door and put the key into the lock. The rusty12 lock gave a hoarse13 groan14 and the door creaked. The banker expected instantly to hear a cry of surprise and the sound of steps. Three minutes passed and it was as quiet inside as it had been before. He made up his mind to enter.
Before the table sat a man, unlike an ordinary human being. It was a skeleton, with tight-drawn skin, with long curly hair like a woman’s, and a shaggy beard. The colour of his face was yellow, of an earthy shade; the cheeks were sunken, the back long and narrow, and the hand upon which he leaned his hairy head was so lean and skinny that it was painful to look upon. His hair was already silvering with grey, and no one who glanced at the senile emaciation15 of the face would have believed that he was only forty years old. On the table, before his bended head, lay a sheet of paper on which something was written in a tiny hand.
“Poor devil,” thought the banker, “he’s asleep and probably seeing millions in his dreams. I have only to take and throw this half-dead thing on the bed, smother16 him a moment with the pillow, and the most careful examination will find no trace of unnatural17 death. But, first, let us read what he has written here.”
The banker took the sheet from the table and read:
“To-morrow at twelve o’clock midnight, I shall obtain my freedom and the right to mix with people. But before I leave this room and see the sun I think it necessary to say a few words to you. On my own clear conscience and before God who sees me I declare to you that I despise freedom, life, health, and all that your books call the blessings18 of the world.
“For fifteen years I have diligently19 studied earthly life. True, I saw neither the earth nor the people, but in your books I drank fragrant20 wine, sang songs, hunted deer and wild boar in the forests, loved women... And beautiful women, like clouds ethereal, created by the magic of your poets’ genius, visited me by night and whispered to me wonderful tales, which made my head drunken. In your books I climbed the summits of Elbruz and Mont Blanc and saw from there how the sun rose in the morning, and in the evening suffused21 the sky, the ocean and the mountain ridges22 with a purple gold. I saw from there how above me lightnings glimmered23 cleaving24 the clouds; I saw green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, cities; I heard syrens singing, and the playing of the pipes of Pan; I touched the wings of beautiful devils who came flying to me to speak of God... In your books I cast myself into bottomless abysses, worked miracles, burned cities to the ground, preached new religions, conquered whole countries...
“Your books gave me wisdom. All that unwearying human thought created in the centuries is compressed to a little lump in my skull25. I know that I am cleverer than you all.
“And I despise your books, despise all worldly blessings and wisdom. Everything is void, frail26, visionary and delusive27 as a mirage28. Though you be proud and wise and beautiful, yet will death wipe you from the face of the earth like the mice underground; and your posterity29, your history, and the immortality30 of your men of genius will be as frozen slag31, burnt down together with the terrestrial globe.
“You are mad, and gone the wrong way. You take falsehood for truth and ugliness for beauty. You would marvel32 if suddenly apple and orange trees should bear frogs and lizards33 instead of fruit, and if roses should begin to breathe the odour of a sweating horse. So do I marvel at you, who have bartered34 heaven for earth. I do not want to understand you.
“That I may show you in deed my contempt for that by which you live, I waive35 the two millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise, and which I now despise. That I may deprive myself of my right to them, I shall come out from here five minutes before the stipulated36 term, and thus shall violate the agreement.”
When he had read, the banker put the sheet on the table, kissed the head of the strange man, and began to weep. He went out of the wing. Never at any other time, not even after his terrible losses on the Exchange, had he felt such contempt for himself as now. Coming home, he lay down on his bed, but agitation and tears kept him a long time from sleeping...
The next morning the poor watchman came running to him and told him that they had seen the man who lived in the wing climb through the window into the garden. He had gone to the gate and disappeared. The banker instantly went with his servants to the wing and established the escape of his prisoner. To avoid unnecessary rumours37 he took the paper with the renunciation from the table and, on his return, locked it in his safe.
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1
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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6
whining
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| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
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7
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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8
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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10
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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11
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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15
emaciation
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| n.消瘦，憔悴，衰弱 | |
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16
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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19
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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suffused
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cleaving
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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delusive
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| adj.欺骗的，妄想的 | |
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28
mirage
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| n.海市蜃楼，幻景 | |
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29
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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30
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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31
slag
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| n.熔渣，铁屑，矿渣；v.使变成熔渣，变熔渣 | |
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32
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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33
lizards
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| n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 ) | |
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34
bartered
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| v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
waive
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| vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等) | |
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36
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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