“Only extreme things are tolerable.”
Count Robert de Montesquiou.
I.
Madame Clarence’s Drawing-Room.
MADAME CLARENCE the widow of an exalted1 functionary2 of the Republic, loved to entertain. Every Thursday she collected together some friends of modest condition who took pleasure in conversation. The ladies who went to see her, very different in age and rank, were all without money and had all suffered much. There was a duchess who looked like a fortune-teller and a fortune-teller who looked like a duchess. Madame Clarence was pretty enough to maintain some old liaisons3 but not to form new ones, and she generally inspired a quiet esteem4. She had a very pretty daughter, who, since she had no dower, caused some alarm among the male guests; for the Penguins5 were as much afraid of portionless girls as they were of the devil himself. Eveline Clarence, noticing their reserve and perceiving its cause, used to hand them their tea with an air of disdain6. Moreover, she seldom appeared at the parties and talked only to the ladies or the very young people. Her discreet7 and retiring presence put no restraint upon the conversation, since those who took part in it thought either that as she was a young girl she would not understand it, or that, being twenty-five years old, she might listen to everything.
One Thursday therefore, in Madame Clarence’s drawing-room, the conversation turned upon love. The ladies spoke8 of it with pride, delicacy9? and mystery, the men with discretion10 and fatuity11; everyone took an interest in the conversation, for each one was interested in what he or she said. A great deal of wit flowed; brilliant apostrophes were launched forth12 and keen repartees were returned. But when Professor Haddock began to speak he overwhelmed everybody.
“It is the same with our ideas on love as with our ideas on everything else,” said he, “they rest upon anterior13 habits whose very memory has been effaced14. In morals, the limitations that have lost their grounds for existing, the most useless obligations, the cruelest and most injurious restraints, are because of their profound antiquity15 and the mystery of their origin, the least disputed and the least disputable as well as the most respected, and they are those that cannot be violated without incurring16 the most severe blame. All morality relative to the relations of the sexes is founded on this principle: that a woman once obtained belongs to the man, that she is his property like his horse or his weapons. And this having ceased to be true, absurdities17 result from it, such as the marriage or contract of sale of a woman to a man, with clauses restricting the right of ownership introduced as a consequence of the gradual diminution18 of the claims of the possessor.
“The obligation imposed on a girl that she should bring her virginity to her husband comes from the times when girls were married immediately they were of a marriageable age. It is ridiculous that a girl who marries at twenty-five or thirty should be subject to that obligation. You will, perhaps, say that it is a present with which her husband, if she gets one at last, will be gratified; but every moment we see men wooing married women and showing themselves perfectly19 satisfied to take them as they find them.
“Still, even in our own day, the duty of girls is determined20 in religious morality by the old belief that God, the most powerful of warriors21, is polygamous, that he has reserved all maidens22 for himself, and that men can only take those whom he has left. This belief, although traces of it exist in several metaphors23 of mysticism, is abandoned today by most civilised peoples. However, it still dominates the education of girls not only among our believers, but even among our free-thinkers, who, as a rule, think freely for the reason that they do not think at all.
“Discretion means ability to separate and discern. We say that a girl is discreet when she knows nothing at all. We cultivate her ignorance. In spite of all our care the most discreet know something, for we cannot conceal24 from them their own nature and their own sensations. But they know badly, they know in a wrong way. That is all we obtain by our careful education . . . ”
“Sir,” suddenly said Joseph Boutourle, the High Treasurer25 of Alca, “believe me, there are innocent girls, perfectly innocent girls, and it is a great pity. I have known three. They married, and the result was tragical26.”
“I have noticed,” Professor Haddock went on, “that Europeans in general and Penguins in particular occupy themselves, after sport and motoring, with nothing so much as with love. It is giving a great deal of importance to a matter that has very little weight.”
“Then, Professor,” exclaimed Madame Cremeur in a choking voice, “when a woman has completely surrendered herself to you, you think it is a matter of no importance?”
“No, Madam; it can have its importance,” answered Professor Haddock, “but it is necessary to examine if when she surrenders herself to us she offers us a delicious fruit-garden or a plot of thistles and dandelions. And then, do we not misuse27 words? In love, a woman lends herself rather than gives herself. Look at the pretty Madame Pensee . . . ”
“She is my mother,” said a tall, fair young man.
“Sir, I have the greatest respect for her,” replied Professor Haddock; “do not be afraid that I intend to say anything in the least offensive about her. But allow me to tell you that, as a rule, the opinions of sons about their mothers are not to be relied on. They do not bear enough in mind that a mother is a mother only because she loved, and that she can still love. That, however, is the case, and it would be deplorable were it otherwise. I have noticed, on the contrary, that daughters do not deceive themselves about their mothers’ faculty28 for loving or about the use they make of it; they are rivals; they have their eyes upon them.”
The insupportable Professor spoke a great deal longer, adding indecorum to awkwardness, and impertinence to incivility, accumulating incongruities29, despising what is respectable, respecting what is despicable; but no one listened to him further.
During this time in a room that was simple without grace, a room sad for the want of love, a room which, like all young girls’ rooms, had something of the cold atmosphere of a place of waiting about it, Eveline Clarence turned over the pages of club annuals and prospectuses30 of charities in order to obtain from them some acquaintance with society. Being convinced that her mother, shut up in her own intellectual but poor world, could neither bring her out nor push her into prominence31, she decided32 that she herself would seek the best means of winning a husband. At once calm and obstinate33, without dreams or illusions, and regarding marriage as but a ticket of admission or a passport, she kept before her mind a clear notion of the hazards, difficulties, and chances of her enterprise. She had the art of pleasing and a coldness of temperament34 that enabled her to turn it to its fullest advantage. Her weakness lay in the fact that she was dazzled by anything that had an aristocratic air.
When she was alone with her mother she said: “Mamma, we will go tomorrow to Father Douillard’s retreat.”
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1
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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2
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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3
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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4
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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5
penguins
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| n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 ) | |
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6
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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7
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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8
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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9
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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10
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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11
fatuity
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| n.愚蠢，愚昧 | |
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12
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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13
anterior
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| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
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14
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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15
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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16
incurring
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| 遭受，招致，引起( incur的现在分词 ) | |
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17
absurdities
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| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
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18
diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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19
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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20
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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21
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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22
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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23
metaphors
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| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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24
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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25
treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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26
tragical
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| adj. 悲剧的, 悲剧性的 | |
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27
misuse
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| n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用 | |
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28
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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29
incongruities
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| n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 )；不一致；不适合；不协调的东西 | |
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30
prospectuses
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| n.章程，简章，简介( prospectus的名词复数 ) | |
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31
prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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32
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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33
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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34
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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