He was ushered4 by Benoit, the elderly body-servant, rather grandiloquently5 called the seneschal, into the ground-floor room known traditionally as the library. It still contained several shelves of neglected volumes, from which it derived6 its title, but implements7 of the chase — fowling-pieces, powder-horns, hunting-bags, sheath-knives — obtruded8 far more prominently than those of study. The furniture was massive, of oak richly carved, and belonging to another age. Great massive oak beams crossed the rather lofty whitewashed9 ceiling.
Here the squat10 Seigneur de Gavrillac was restlessly pacing when Andre–Louis was introduced. He was already informed, as he announced at once, of what had taken place at the Breton arme. M. de Chabrillane had just left him, and he confessed himself deeply grieved and deeply perplexed11.
“The pity of it!” he said. “The pity of it!” He bowed his enormous head. “So estimable a young man, and so full of promise. Ah, this La Tour d’Azyr is a hard man, and he feels very strongly in these matters. He may be right. I don’t know. I have never killed a man for holding different views from mine. In fact, I have never killed a man at all. It isn’t in my nature. I shouldn’t sleep of nights if I did. But men are differently made.”
“The question, monsieur my godfather,” said Andre–Louis, “is what is to be done.” He was quite calm and self-possessed, but very white.
M. de Kercadiou stared at him blankly out of his pale eyes.
“Why, what the devil is there to do? From what I am told, Vilmorin went so far as to strike M. le Marquis.”
“Under the very grossest provocation12.”
“Which he himself provoked by his revolutionary language. The poor lad’s head was full of this encyclopaedist trash. It comes of too much reading. I have never set much store by books, Andre; and I have never known anything but trouble to come out of learning. It unsettles a man. It complicates13 his views of life, destroys the simplicity14 which makes for peace of mind and happiness. Let this miserable15 affair be a warning to you, Andre. You are, yourself, too prone16 to these new-fashioned speculations17 upon a different constitution of the social order. You see what comes of it. A fine, estimable young man, the only prop18 of his widowed mother too, forgets himself, his position, his duty to that mother — everything; and goes and gets himself killed like this. It is infernally sad. On my soul it is sad.” He produced a handkerchief, and blew his nose with vehemence19.
Andre–Louis felt a tightening20 of his heart, a lessening21 of the hopes, never too sanguine22, which he had founded upon his godfather.
“Your criticisms,” he said, “are all for the conduct of the dead, and none for that of the murderer. It does not seem possible that you should be in sympathy with such a crime.”
“Crime?” shrilled23 M. de Kercadiou. “My God, boy, you are speaking of M. de La Tour d’Azyr.”
“I am, and of the abominable24 murder he has committed . . . ”
“Stop!” M. de Kercadiou was very emphatic25. “I cannot permit that you apply such terms to him. I cannot permit it. M. le Marquis is my friend, and is likely very soon to stand in a still closer relationship.”
“Notwithstanding this?” asked Andre–Louis.
M. de Kercadiou was frankly26 impatient.
“Why, what has this to do with it? I may deplore27 it. But I have no right to condemn28 it. It is a common way of adjusting differences between gentlemen.”
“You really believe that?”
“What the devil do you imply, Andre? Should I say a thing that I don’t believe? You begin to make me angry.”
“‘Thou shalt not kill,’ is the King’s law as well as God’s.”
“You are determined29 to quarrel with me, I think. It was a duel30 . . . ”
Andre–Louis interrupted him. “It is no more a duel than if it had been fought with pistols of which only M. le Marquis’s was loaded. He invited Philippe to discuss the matter further, with the deliberate intent of forcing a quarrel upon him and killing31 him. Be patient with me, monsieur my god-father. I am not telling you of what I imagine but what M. le Marquis himself admitted to me.”
Dominated a little by the young man’s earnestness, M. de Kercadiou’s pale eyes fell away. He turned with a shrug32, and sauntered over to the window.
“It would need a court of honour to decide such an issue. And we have no courts of honour,” he said.
“But we have courts of justice.”
With returning testiness33 the seigneur swung round to face him again. “And what court of justice, do you think, would listen to such a plea as you appear to have in mind?”
“There is the court of the King’s Lieutenant34 at Rennes.”
“And do you think the King’s Lieutenant would listen to you?”
“Not to me, perhaps, Monsieur. But if you were to bring the plaint . . . ”
“I bring the plaint?” M. de Kercadiou’s pale eyes were wide with horror of the suggestion.
“The thing happened here on your domain35.”
“I bring a plaint against M. de La Tour d’Azyr! You are out of your senses, I think. Oh, you are mad; as mad as that poor friend of yours who has come to this end through meddling36 in what did not concern him. The language he used here to M. le Marquis on the score of Mabey was of the most offensive. Perhaps you didn’t know that. It does not at all surprise me that the Marquis should have desired satisfaction.”
“I see,” said Andre–Louis, on a note of hopelessness.
“You see? What the devil do you see?”
“That I shall have to depend upon myself alone.”
“And what the devil do you propose to do, if you please?”
“I shall go to Rennes, and lay the facts before the King’s Lieutenant.”
“He’ll be too busy to see you.” And M. de Kercadiou’s mind swung a trifle inconsequently, as weak minds will. “There is trouble enough in Rennes already on the score of these crazy States General, with which the wonderful M. Necker is to repair the finances of the kingdom. As if a peddling37 Swiss bank-clerk, who is also a damned Protestant, could succeed where such men as Calonne and Brienne have failed.”
“Good-afternoon, monsieur my godfather,” said Andre–Louis.
“Where are you going?” was the querulous demand.
“Home at present. To Rennes in the morning.”
“Wait, boy, wait!” The squat little man rolled forward, affectionate concern on his great ugly face, and he set one of his podgy hands on his godson’s shoulder. “Now listen to me, Andre,” he reasoned. “This is sheer knight-errantry — moonshine, lunacy. You’ll come to no good by it if you persist. You’ve read ‘Don Quixote,’ and what happened to him when he went tilting38 against windmills. It’s what will happen to you, neither more nor less. Leave things as they are, my boy. I wouldn’t have a mischief39 happen to you.”
Andre–Louis looked at him, smiling wanly40.
“I swore an oath to-day which it would damn my soul to break.”
“You mean that you’ll go in spite of anything that I may say?” Impetuous as he was inconsequent, M. de Kercadiou was bristling41 again. “Very well, then, go . . . Go to the devil!”
“I will begin with the King’s Lieutenant.”
“And if you get into the trouble you are seeking, don’t come whimpering to me for assistance,” the seigneur stormed. He was very angry now. “Since you choose to disobey me, you can break your empty head against the windmill, and be damned to you.”
Andre–Louis bowed with a touch of irony42, and reached the door.
“If the windmill should prove too formidable,” said he, from the threshold, “I may see what can be done with the wind. Good-bye, monsieur my godfather.”
He was gone, and M. de Kercadiou was alone, purple in the face, puzzling out that last cryptic43 utterance44, and not at all happy in his mind, either on the score of his godson or of M. de La Tour d’Azyr. He was disposed to be angry with them both. He found these headstrong, wilful45 men who relentlessly46 followed their own impulses very disturbing and irritating. Himself he loved his ease, and to be at peace with his neighbours; and that seemed to him so obviously the supreme47 good of life that he was disposed to brand them as fools who troubled to seek other things.
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1
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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2
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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3
agog
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| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
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4
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
grandiloquently
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6
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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7
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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8
obtruded
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| v.强行向前，强行，强迫( obtrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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11
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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12
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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13
complicates
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| 使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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14
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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15
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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16
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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17
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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18
prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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19
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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20
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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21
lessening
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| 减轻，减少，变小 | |
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22
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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23
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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25
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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26
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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27
deplore
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| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
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28
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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29
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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30
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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31
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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32
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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33
testiness
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| n.易怒，暴躁 | |
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34
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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35
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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36
meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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37
peddling
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| 忙于琐事的，无关紧要的 | |
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38
tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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39
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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40
wanly
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| adv.虚弱地；苍白地，无血色地 | |
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41
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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42
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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43
cryptic
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| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
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44
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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45
wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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46
relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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47
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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