“You don’t come to the house any more, Se?orito.”
“I’ve had lots to do these days.”
“Have you heard the important news?”
“What is it?”
“The Se?orita is going to be married.”
“Rafaela?”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“To Juan de Dios.”
Quentin felt as if all his nerves had let go at once.
“The Marquis is getting worse every day,” the gardener continued, “so he thought the Se?orita ought to get married as soon as possible.”
“And she.... What does she say?”
“Nothing, at present.”
“But will she oppose it?”
“How do I know?”
“Are the family affairs in such bad shape that the Marquis was forced to take this course?”
“They are very bad. The grandfather hasn’t much longer to live; the Se?orita’s father is a profligate1; and El Pollo Real doesn’t care to do anything at all. To whom will they leave the girls? Their stepmother, La[164] Aceitunera, is no good. Have you ever heard of a Se?ora Patrocinio who has a house in Los Tejares? Well, she goes there every day. Why, it’s a shame.”
“And this Juan de Dios ... is he rich?” asked Quentin.
“Very; but he is very coarse. When he was a little boy he used to say: ‘I want to be a horse,’ and he used to go out to the stable, pick up some filth2 in his hands, and say to the people, ‘Look, look what I did.’”
“He is coarse, then—eh?”
“Yes; but he’s got noble blood in him.”
Quentin left Juan and went home perplexed3. Indubitably, he was no B?otian, but a vulgar sentimentalist, a poor cadet, an unhappy wretch4, without strength enough to set aside, as useless and prejudicial, those gloomy ideas and sentiments: love, self-denial, and the rest.
And he had thought himself an Epicurean! One of the few men capable of following the advice of Horace: “Pluck today’s flower, and give no thought to the morrow’s!” He! In love with a young lady of the aristocracy; not for her money, nor even for her palace; but for her own sake! He was on a level with any romantic carpenter of a provincial5 capital. He was unworthy of having been in Eton, near Windsor, for eight years; or of having walked through Piccadilly; or of having read Horace.
In the miserable6 state in which Quentin found himself, only nonsensical ideas occurred to him. The first was to go to Rafaela and demand an explanation; the second was to write her a letter; and he was as pleased with this idiotic7 plan as if it had been really brilliant. He made several rough drafts in succession, and was satis[165]fied with none of them. Sometimes his words were high-sounding and emphatic8; again, he unwittingly gave a clumsy and vulgar tone to his letter: one could read between the lines a common and uncouth9 irony10, as often as extraordinary pride, or abject11 humility12.
At last, seeing that he could not find a form clear enough to express his thoughts, he decided13 to write a laconic14 letter, asking Rafaela to grant him an interview.
He gave Juan the letter to give to his young mistress. He was waiting at the door for some one to answer his ring, when Remedios appeared.
“See here,” said the child.
“What’s the matter?”
“Don’t you know? Rafaela is going to marry Juan de Dios.”
“Does she love him?”
“No; I don’t think she does.”
“Then why does she marry him?”
“Because Juan de Dios is very rich, and we have no money.”
“But will she want to do it?”
“She hasn’t said anything about it. Juan de Dios spoke15 to grandfather, and grandfather spoke to Rafaela. Are you going to see sister?”
“Yes, this very minute.”
“She’s in the sewing-room.”
They went to the door.
“Tell her not to marry Juan de Dios.”
“Don’t you like him?”
“No. I hate him. He’s vulgar.”
Quentin went in, glided16 along the gallery, and knocked upon the door of the sewing-room.
“Come in!” said some one.[166]
Rafaela and the old woman servant were sewing. As Quentin appeared a slight flush spread over the girl’s cheeks.
“What a long time it is since you have been here!” said Rafaela. “Won’t you sit down?”
Quentin gave her to understand with a gesture that he preferred to remain standing17.
“Have you been so very busy?” asked the girl.
“No; I’ve had nothing to do,” answered Quentin gruffly. “I’ve spent my time being furious these days.”
“Furious! At what?” said she with a certain smiling coquetry.
“At you.”
“At me?”
“Yes. Will you let me speak to you alone a minute?”
“You may speak here, before my nurse. She will defend me in case you accuse me of anything.”
“Accuse you? No, not that.”
“Well, then, why were you so furious?”
“I was furious, first because they told me that you once had a sweetheart whom you loved; and second, because they say that you are going to get married.”
Rafaela, who perhaps did not expect such a brusque way of putting the matter, dropped her sewing and rose to her feet.
“You, too, are a child,” she murmured at length. “What can one do with what is gone by? I had a sweetheart, it is true, for six years—and I was in love with him.”
“Yes; I know it,” said Quentin furiously.
“If he acted badly,” Rafaela continued, as if talking to herself, “so much the worse for him. There is no[167] recollection of my childhood that is not connected with him. In his company I went to the theatre for the first time, and to my first dance. What little happiness I have had in my life, came to me during the time I knew him. My mother was living then; my family was considered wealthy.... Yet, if that man were free, and wished to marry me now, I would not marry him; not from spite, no—but because to me he is a different man.... I say this to you because I feel I know you, and because you are like my sister Remedios: you demand an exclusive affection.”
“And don’t you?” demanded Quentin brusquely.
“I do too; perhaps not as much as you; but neither do I believe that I could share my affection with another. I must not deceive you in this. You would be capable of being jealous of the past.”
“Probably,” said Quentin.
“I know it. I don’t believe that I have flirted18 with you; have I?”
Rafaela spoke at some length. She had that graciousness of those persons whose emotions are not easily stirred. Her heart needed time to feel affection; an impulse of the moment could not make her believe herself in love.
She was a woman destined19 for the hearth20; to be seen going to and fro, arranging everything, directing everything; to be heard playing the piano in the afternoons. In a burst of frankness, Rafaela said:
“Had I listened to your hints, I should have made you unhappy without wishing to, and you would have made me miserable.”
“Then how is it that you are going to marry Juan de Dios?” asked Quentin brutally21.[168]
Rafaela was confused.
“That’s different,” she stammered22; “in the first place, I have not decided yet; and besides, I have made my conditions. Then again, there is this great difference: Juan de Dios is not jealous of my past love affair ... he wants my title. [In this moment, Rafaela is sure that she is calumniating23 her betrothed24 in order to get out of her difficulty.] Moreover, my whole family is interested in my marrying him. If I do so, my grandfather, poor dear, will be easy in his mind; Remedios will be sure of being able to live according to her station,—and so shall I.”
“You are very discreet25; too discreet—and calculating,” said Quentin bitterly.
“No; not too much so. What would happen to us girls otherwise?”
“What about me?”
“You?”
“Yes, me; I would work for you if you loved me.”
“That could never be.”
“Why?”
“For many reasons. First of all, because I am older than you....”
“Bah!”
“Let me speak. First, because I am older than you; second, because you would be jealous of me and would continually mortify26 me; and lastly, most important of all, because you and I are both poor.”
“I shall make money,” said Quentin.
“How? With what? Why aren’t you making it now?”
“Now?” questioned Quentin after a pause. “Now I have no ideal; it’s all the same to me whether I’m rich[169] or poor. But if you believed in me, you’d find that I could snatch money from the very bowels27 of the earth.”
“Possibly, yes,” said Rafaela calmly; “because you are clever. But those are my reasons. Some day, when you recall our conversation, you will say: ‘she was right.’”
“You are very discreet,” said Quentin as he turned toward the door; “too discreet; and you have discreetly28 torn asunder29 all my illusions, and have left my soul in shreds30.”
“Do you hate me now?” she said sadly.
“Hate you, no!” exclaimed Quentin with emotion, effusively31 pressing the hand Rafaela held out to him. “You are an admirable woman in every respect!”
And trembling violently, he left the room.
As he went down the stairs Remedios rushed up to him.
“What did she say to you?” she asked.
“It’s no use; she’s going to marry him.”
“Did she tell you that herself?”
“Yes.”
“And you. What are you going to do?”
“What can I do?”
“I’d kill Juan de Dios,” murmured the girl resolutely32.
“If she wished it, I would, too,” replied Quentin, and he stepped into the street.
He walked along in a daze33; he repeated Rafaela’s words to himself, and discovered better arguments that he might have put forward in the interview, but which did not occur to him at the moment. Sometimes he thought, more rationally: “At least I came out of it[170] well;” but this consolation34 was too metaphysical to satisfy him.
He spent a sleepless35 night at his window watching the stars and thinking. He analyzed36 and studied his moral problem, proposing solutions, only to reject them.
At dawn he went to bed. He believed that he had hit upon a definite solution—the norm of his existence. Condensed into a single phrase, it was this:
“I must become a man of action.”
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收听单词发音
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1
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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5
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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6
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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7
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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8
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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9
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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10
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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11
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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12
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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13
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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14
laconic
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| adj.简洁的；精练的 | |
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15
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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16
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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17
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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18
flirted
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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20
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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21
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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22
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
calumniating
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| v.诽谤，中伤( calumniate的现在分词 ) | |
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24
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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25
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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26
mortify
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| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
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27
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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28
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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29
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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30
shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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31
effusively
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| adv.变溢地，热情洋溢地 | |
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32
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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33
daze
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| v.(使)茫然，(使)发昏 | |
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34
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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35
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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36
analyzed
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| v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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