Would she live? These nervous creatures are as tough as cats. But, poor soul, were it not perhaps best for her were she to pass? What a situation! Great gods, what a situation! There was not one of these searchers after psychological enigmas2, not one of these implacable exponents3 of the weaknesses of the human heart, not a Maupassant, not a Mirbeau, not a d'Annunzio who could have devised the story of this impasse4. To die would be too absolutely commonplace a solution. If he, Chatelard, could help it, she should not die, were it only for the proper working-out of the problem.
Propping5 his chin on his hand and his elbow on the bed, the savant leaned forward, gazing at his patient, till his keen eyes, piercing the gloom, were able to trace the lines of the unconscious face.
"It is not that she is so beautiful—there are many in this country who possess the same incredible purity of outline, the same delicate wealth of feminine charm—but c'est une ensorceleuse! Did I not say it to the young man? One of those women who create passions that become historic. One of those whose fate is to make havoc7 as they go. The three men here—they are mad of her, each in his different way. The poor Gerardine, he could have cried like a child, as we turned him from the room ... and the sly, quiet, relentless8 Bethune, that man of granite9 ... the lover, he's devoured10; the very stone wastes in the furnace. How thin he has grown since that Indian night! And the third—the most surprising of all—the real husband! Oh, the strange story! the husband—the first husband par11 dessus le marché, as though matters were not sufficiently12 entangled13 already! Ah, ?a! mais d'où sort-il, celui-là? C'est qu'il faisait pitié—c'est encore lui le plus atteint des trois! One could feel the frenzied14 soul under that air of calm command." ...
Then enthusiastically following the trail of his own Gallic deductions15, M. Chatelard began to reconstruct, con6 amore, the threads of the drama.
"Un beau gaillard, malgré sa paleur de revenant.... Avec lui, sans doute, elle a appris ce que c'est que l'amour. Ils se sont aimés jeunes et beaux.... Ils se valaient bien l'un l'autre, certes! Idylle parfaite, heures parfumées! Then comes the cyclone16. He is swept from her by relentless duty. He dies, a hero in war as he was a hero in love. She is alone, desolate17. She mourns. At the psychological moment, enters upon the scene the handsome, rich, powerful Sir Gerardine. He offers her ease, position, comfort, a home, his protection. She turns to him as a child to a father. She places her hand in his. And thereafter follows the inevitable18. The years have gone by; she becomes more and more a woman; the demands of her nature expand; and the old husband who is—and I don't blame him—not content to be father.... Sapristi, how he bores her, the old husband! Then arrives the man, the young man, the man of her own age. (He has loved her already as his friend's wife, in the secret of his own soul, all in honour and loyalty19.) He seeks her now, knowing that his hour has come." ...
"L'oublierai-je, jamais telle qu'elle était ce soir-là, au moment de la première tentation? Ruisselante du feu vert de ses émeraudes; superbe dans sa beauté, sa chasteté insolente; mais couvant déjà sous la neige de sa blanche beauté, le feu destructeur de la passion renaissante. Elle a lutté. Oh, oui, celle-là a lutté! Son ame et son corps20 se sont entredéchirés.... Mais, poursuivie jusque dans cette solitude21 même par l'implacable qui l'a traquée comme le tigre sa proie, la fin1 est inévitable!"
"Et au moment suprême où, femme au zénith des a gloire, elle cède à la seconde passion—voilà l'objet de la première qui rèsuscite, et vient la rèclamer! Ah, dieux, quel cri! Les oreilles m'en tintent encore. Jamais je ne l'oublierai, ce cri d'un coeur qui s'effondre...."
"And the resuscitated22 man? The devil! where does he come from? Springing up in the old house in the middle of the night. Another tragedy there! He misdoubts, as yet, nothing. Strong in his right, in the memory of their love, he comes to claim her of the old husband—Of the third, of the lover, he has no suspicion. My God, with what eyes of trouble and wonder did he not look at me when I bade him leave her! Unhappy fellow, why 'tis his very existence that's killing23 her! How long will it be before he finds out the truth, finds out that, at the very moment of regaining24 his treasure, he has been robbed, robbed by him who was his friend? And the friend, then, that man of granite, how will he bear himself? Will even his relentless determination stand before that terrible double knowledge of his own unconscious treachery to his comrade and of the mortal danger to his beloved? A stronger man, even than he, might well go mad! ... As for the pitiable second husband, the old man, who counts for so little in the midst of these three young lives, and is yet so stricken in all he holds most dear—his dignity, his honour, his pathetic senile confidence and affection—what of him? Oh, antique, silent house, what palpitating drama do you not hold, this desolate dawn! Those three men, each with his passion and his claim—his just claim—and the woman there, lying so still! ..."
So M. Chatelard mused25, with ever and anon a keen eye to the patient, a stealthy touch on the pulse.
A pale shaft26 of light pierced in between the curtains, and, like a slowly shifting finger, moved straightly till it pointed27 to the bed. M. Chatelard started, rubbed his eyes, adjusted his spectacles, and stared again. The heavy, half-loosened tress that lay across the sheet shone silver in the light—the tress that had been so richly golden, crown of that haughty28 head, only the evening before.
"I have heard of such a thing," said the doctor to himself, "but it is the first time that I have seen it with my own eyes." He bent29 over the pillow and curiously30 lifted the strand31 of hair. There was no illusion about it. Rosamond's glorious hair was white.
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1
fin
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| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
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enigmas
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| n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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exponents
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| n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 )；说明者；指数；能手 | |
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4
impasse
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| n.僵局；死路 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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7
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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12
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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13
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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deductions
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| 扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演 | |
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16
cyclone
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| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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20
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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22
resuscitated
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| v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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31
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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