Maxence was nearly twelve. He was a good little fellow, intelligent,studious at times, but thoughtless in the extreme, and of aturbulence which nothing could tame.
At the Massin School, where he had been sent, he made his teachers'
hair turn white; and not a week went by that he did not signalizehimself by some fresh misdeed.
A father like any other would have paid but slight attention to thepranks of a schoolboy, who, after all, ranked among the first of hisclass, and of whom the teachers themselves, whilst complaining, said,"Bash! What matters it, since the heart is sound and the mind sane4?"But M. Favoral took every thing tragically5. If Maxence was kept in,or otherwise punished, he pretended that it reflected upon himself,and that his son was disgracing him.
If a report came home with this remark, "execrable conduct," he fellinto the most violent passion, and seemed to lose all control ofhimself.
"At your age," he would shout to the terrified boy, "I was workingin a factory, and earning my livelihood6. Do you suppose that Iwill not tire of making sacrifices to procure7 you the advantagesof an education which I lacked myself? Beware. Havre is not faroff; and cabin-boys are always in demand there."If, at least, he had confined himself to these admonitions, which,by their very exaggeration, failed in their object! But he favoredmechanical appliances as a necessary means of sufficiently8 impressingreprimands upon the minds of young people; and therefore, seizinghis cane9, he would beat poor Maxence most unmercifully, the more sothat the boy, filled with pride, would have allowed himself to bechopped to pieces rather than utter a cry, or shed a tear.
The first time that Mme. Favoral saw her son struck, she was seizedwith one of those wild fits of anger which do not reason, and neverforgive. To be beaten herself would have seemed to her lessatrocious, less humiliating. Hitherto she had found it impossibleto love a husband such as hers: henceforth, she took him in utteraversion: he inspired her with horror. She looked upon her son asa martyr10 for whom she could hardly ever do enough.
And so, after these harrowing scenes, she would press him to herheart in the most passionate11 embrace; she would cover with her kissesthe traces of the blows; and she would strive, by the most deliriouscaresses, to make him forget the paternal13 brutalities. With him shesobbed. Like him, she would shake her clinched14 fists in the vacantspace; exclaiming, "Coward, tyrant15, assassin!" The little Gilbertemingled her tears with theirs; and, pressed against each other, theydeplored their destiny, cursing the common enemy, the head of thefamily.
Thus did Maxence spend his boyhood between equally fatalexaggerations, between the revolting brutalities of his father, andthe dangerous caresses12 of his mother; the one depriving him of everything, the other refusing him nothing.
For Mme. Favoral had now found a use for her humble16 savings17.
If the idea had never come to the cashier of the Mutual18 CreditSociety to put a few sous in his son's pocket, the too weak motherwould have suggested to him the want of money in order to have thepleasure of gratifying it.
She who had suffered so many humiliations in her life, she could notbear the idea of her son having his pride wounded, and being unableto indulge in those little trifling19 expenses which are the vanityof schoolboys.
"Here, take this," she would tell him on holidays, slipping a fewfrancs into his hands.
Unfortunately, to her present she joined the recommendation not toallow his father to know any thing about it; forgetting that she wasthus training Maxence to dissimulate20, warping21 his natural sense ofright, and perverting22 his instincts:
No, she gave; and, to repair the gaps thus made in her treasure, sheworked to the point of ruining her sight, with such eager zeal23, thatthe worthy24 shop-keeper of the Rue25 St. Denis asked her if she did notemploy working girls. In truth, the only help she received was fromGilberte, who, at the age of eight, already knew how to make herselfuseful.
And this is not all. For this son, in anticipation26 of growingexpenses, she stooped to expedients27 which formerly28 would have seemedto her unworthy and disgraceful. She robbed the household, cheatingon her own marketing29. She went so far as to confide30 to her servant,and to make of the girl the accomplice31 of her operations. Sheapplied all her ingenuity32 to serve to M. Favoral dinners in whichthe excellence33 of the dressing34 concealed36 the want of solid substance.
And on Sunday, when she rendered her weekly accounts, it was withouta blush that she increased by a few centimes the price of each object,rejoicing when she had thus scraped a dozen francs,, and finding, tojustify herself to her own eyes, those sophisms which passion neverlacks.
At first Maxence was too young to wonder from what sources his motherdrew the money she lavished37 upon his schoolboy fancies. Sherecommended him to hide from his father: he did so, and thought itperfectly natural.
As he grew older, he learned to discern.
The moment came when he opened his eyes upon the system under whichthe paternal household was managed. He noticed there that anxiouseconomy which seems to betray want, and the acrimonious38 discussionswhich arose upon the inconsiderate use of a twenty-franc-piece. Hesaw his mother realize miracles of industry to conceal35 the shabbinessof her toilets, and resort to the most skillful diplomacy39 when shewished to purchase a dress for Gilberte.
And, despite all this, he had at his disposition40 as much money asthose of his comrades whose parents had the reputation to be themost opulent and the most generous.
Anxious, he questioned his mother.
"Eh what does it matter?" she answered, blushingand confused. "Is that any thing to worry you?"And, as he insisted,"Go ahead," she said: "we are rich enough." But he could hardlybelieve her, accustomed as he was to hear every one talk of poverty;and, as he fixed41 upon her his great astonished eyes,"Yes," she resumed, with an imprudence which fatally was to bear itsfruits, "we are rich; and, if we live as you see, it is because itsuits your father, who wishes to amass42 a still greater fortune."This was hardly an answer; and yet Maxence asked no further question.
But he inquired here and there, with that patient shrewdness of youngpeople possessed43 with a fixed idea.
Already, at this time, M. Favoral had in the neighborhood, and everamong his friends, the reputation to be worth at least a million.
The Mutual Credit Society had considerably44 developed itself: he must,they thought, have benefitted largely by the circumstance; and theprofits must have swelled45 rapidly in the hands of so able, a man,and one so noted46 for his rigid47 economy.
Such is the substance of what Maxence heard; and people did not failto add ironically, that he need not rely upon the paternal fortuneto amuse himself.
M. Desormeaux himself, whom he had "pumped" rather cleverly, hadtold him, whilst patting him amicably48 on the shoulder,"If you ever need money for your frolics, young man, try and earnit; for I'll be hanged if it's the old man who'll ever supply it."Such answers complicated, instead of explaining, the problem whichoccupied Maxence.
He observed, he watched; and at last he acquired the certainty thatthe money he spent was the fruit of the joint49 labor50 of his motherand sister.
"Ah! why not have told me so?" he exclaimed, throwing his armsaround his mother's neck. "Why have exposed me to the bitter regretswhich I feel at this moment?"By this sole word the poor woman found herself amply repaid. Sheadmired the noblesse of her son's feelings and the kindness of hisheart.
"Do you not understand," she told him, shedding tears of joy, "doyou not see, that the labor which can promote her son's pleasure isa happiness for his mother?"But he was dismayed at his discovery.
"No matter!" he said. "I swear that I shall no longer scatter51 tothe winds, as I have been doing, the money that you give me.
For a few weeks, indeed, he was faithful to his pledge. But atfifteen resolutions are not very stanch52. The impressions he hadfelt wore off. He became tired of the small privations which he hadto impose upon himself.
He soon came to take to the letter what his mother had told him, andto prove to his own satisfaction that to deprive himself of apleasure was to deprive her. He asked for ten francs one day, thenten francs another, and gradually resumed his old habits.
He was at this time about leaving school.
"The moment has come," said M. Favoral, "for him to select a career,and support himself."
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收听单词发音
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1
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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tragically
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| adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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7
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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8
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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9
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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10
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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11
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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12
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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14
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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15
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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16
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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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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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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dissimulate
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| v.掩饰，隐藏 | |
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warping
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| n.翘面，扭曲，变形v.弄弯，变歪( warp的现在分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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perverting
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| v.滥用( pervert的现在分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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23
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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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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26
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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27
expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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28
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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marketing
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| n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西 | |
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30
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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31
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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32
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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33
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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34
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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35
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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36
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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37
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
acrimonious
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| adj.严厉的，辛辣的，刻毒的 | |
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39
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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40
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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41
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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42
amass
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| vt.积累，积聚 | |
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43
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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44
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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45
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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46
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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47
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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48
amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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49
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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50
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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51
scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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52
stanch
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| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
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