“The dress-room is down here,” said the servant, pointing. “The regulation is that all demoiselles stir themselves together at the ringing of the morning-bell, so that the day’s tasks may be assigned.”
“Why?” said Lalette, sitting down on the edge of the bed (so glad to hear a voice without malice2 or innuendo3 in it that the words hardly mattered).
361
The eyes were round and the mouth was round; a series of rounds. Said Mircella; “It is the regulation. . . . You must dress your best for evening. It is the day of the diaconals.”
“Ah?”
“Oh, some of them are quite rich. We will have roast meat for supper. Wouldn’t it be nice if one of them would take you way up in the mountains?”
Lalette felt her heart contract. “What do you mean?” she asked. “I am from Dossola, and this is all new to me.”
“Why, the diaconals. Those learners who are in the second stage, almost Initiates4, so they can’t be married, and once a month they come—”
“Mircella!” came Dame Quasso’s voice, impatiently.
“I must go. You won’t have to work today. You never do on the first day.”
Lalette thought: what trap am I caught in? It was a diaconal that Tegval said he was, and that he had chosen me, that horrible night when—when—. A fierce surge of anger burned through her at the widow Domijaiek, who had babbled6 so of love and God, yet brought her to this dubious7 resort; and once more, as when she stood in the mask-maker’s parlor8, there was the feeling of being hemmed9 in by metal walls. But before her fury could rise to the performing of the black witchery already forming at the back of her mind, the door was tapped and a toothless old man brought in her chest and said Dame Quasso awaited her attendance.
The entrance broke a spell; Lalette was inwardly assuring herself there was some mistake, the thing might be better than appearances, while the mattern began in the most ordinary way to ask her what work she had done or might be fitted for. At last Dame Quasso said:
“I do not know what you Dossolan girls are trained for by your mothers, except marriage to counts. No one of you can earn the worth of her clothing. You know nothing; but I will place you with the stitchers who work on linen10 till you have learned something better. You will find your witchery of little value here. I suppose the charge is justified11?”
Lalette stamped her foot (all the fury returning at this treatment). “Madame,” she cried, “as I was brought up, a girl sold into prostitution had already earned the worth of her clothing and something else beside.”
362
There was a silence, in which the cool, hard eyes did not change, nor the face around them (and Lalette had the sensation that if she looked into them any longer, she would drown). Dame Quasso said; “Sit down. . . . We have had girls like you before, and always they make me doubtful of those who admit you to the company of the Myonessae. Nevertheless, it is our task, who conduct these couvertines, to see that you are instructed to a better way of life. Listen attentively12; there is in this domain13 of Mancherei and in our honorable order no question of prostitution, which concerns those who sell for money what they should give for love. But it is the wise ordinance14 of our Prophet that they who would attain15 to the state of Initiates shall not marry before quitting this material body for that life which is the God of love. For marriage is viewed with approval by the old churches as though it were something to be desired. Yet it is but a license16 to serve the god of Evil, in whose armory17 no weapon is so potent18 as the propagation of further mankind into this bodily world, which he wholly rules. Therefore it is ordered that when one who has reached the diaconal estate is overcome by the desires which the god of Evil has placed in all flesh, he shall seek out the Myonessae, choose one, and cohabit with her for as long as they both will. It is a matter of free choice and no compulsion. Yet during such time, the diaconal is not allowed to continue his studies, thus standing19 in danger of never becoming Initiate5, but of dying and being reborn into some ugly form, as a serpent or an insect.”
Said Lalette, nipping a lip in her little white teeth; “And what of us, who merely satisfy the lusts20 of these men?”
From severity, the mattern’s face turned to astonishment21. “Why, this is the very service of love, that we offer our bodies, not in exchange for the sustainment a man gives us and the satisfaction of our own desires, but in the name of the love of God, that all may benefit by learning the vanity of earthly wishes.”
“I was not told of this, and I do not think I like it.”
Dame Quasso’s face turned stern again. “Very well,” she said in an iron voice. “There are some who will not accept instruction. I will have the account made up of what you owe for the passage here. When it is paid, you may have a porter take your box wherever you please.”
(Where, indeed? And how pay? Panic mingled22 with the anger that boiled anew in Lalette’s mind.) “Ah,” she said, “you talk of love and holiness, and—” then burst into tears, leaning forward with her hands covering her face. The mattern came around and placed a surprisingly gentle hand on the girl’s shoulder.
363
“My child,” she said. “It is not I nor the Initiates of Mancherei that place you under hard compulsion, but this material world, in which the god of Evil has all power. All you have learned, all you have gained through witchery is straight from hell. Return to your room; meditate23 what I have said until supper, when some of the diaconals will come, and see for yourself whether it is as sour a fate to be of the Myonessae as you now think.”
II
Rodvard had no meal at noon (lacking money), his eyeballs ached from toiling25 under lamplight, and the others had finished their eating when he reached the Gualdis’ shop. The dame’s voice was not very pleasant (the Blue Star told him she hoped he was not going to be as much trouble as—something he could not make out). But Leece and Vyana, the oldest daughter, reheated for him some of the stew26 in a casserole, and made to entertain him by asking him about his work. (When he told them it was casting accounts for the Myonessae, there was something behind Vyana’s eyes that came to him as a shapeless whirl of fear and desire, but he could neither draw her thought more clear, nor cause the subject to be pursued.)
Now the talk turned to Dossola, and especially to Count Cleudi, for the whole family became much excited when they learned Rodvard had actually seen that famous person in the flesh and even worked for him. It took him several moments to realize that here in Mancherei he need not withhold27 his tongue, for these people thought the Count as great a villain28 as did the Sons of the New Day. Rodvard related the trick Cleudi had played on Aiella of Arjen (keeping his own name out of it for a reason he did not quite know), whereupon Leece asked innocently what a “mistress” might be, and the elders laughed.
His own room was very small, with the window right over the bed and only space for a garderobe, a cabinet and one chair. The next morning the girl brought his breakfast very early, and it needed no Blue Star to see that she wanted to talk, so he made her sit on the chair and took the tray across his knees, as he asked why Vyana had been so strange about the Myonessae the night before.
“Her sweetheart is a learner who has now become diaconal and wishes to join the sisterhood. But father and mother want her to marry in the usual way.” She leaned close and in a voice that was little above a whisper said; “You won’t tell, will you? . . . But we are afraid he’ll bring an Initiate to persuade them, and then he’ll find out that father and mother really believe in the old religion, and he’ll send both of them away for instruction, and all three of us will have to go into the Myonessae, and I don’t want to.”
364
(So many questions whirled in Rodvard’s head that he could not find words fast enough; and all his senses were tingling29 with the sudden nearness of Leece’s red lips, the swelling30 breasts and the message that darted31 from her eyes, saying she was pleased with this same nearness, but not as Damaris the maid, she held herself high and. . . .) He said, rather stupidly, not thinking of his words; “And why not? I would think—”
She leaned back again; (the eyes went dead) the thick brows came together. “Ah, but you do not think like a woman. We—we—want—”
“What, charming Leece?”
She flashed a smile which accepted his tiny apology and announced they two would play the game so set in motion. “We want to be loved for ourselves, here in this world. There! I have said it. Now, when you make your fourth-day report before the stylarion, you have only to complain that I am out of the law of Love, and they’ll send me somewhere for instruction, and you won’t have to be bothered with my questions about Dossola.”
“Defend the day! But tell me, Leece, is it contrary to the law not to be Amorosian?”
“Oh, no, you don’t understand. It isn’t that hard, really. Only the Initiates have to see that people don’t do wrong things, and doing something wrong always begins with thinking, so they send people away for instruction when they begin to think the wrong way.”
She rattled32 this off like a lesson learned. Rodvard said;
“But who decides whether the Initiates themselves are right?”
“Why, they have to be! They learn everything through the God of love, and one of them couldn’t be wrong without the others finding it out. That was how they found out that the Prophet was falling under the power of the god of Evil, when he tried to change everything and had to leave us.”
Rodvard picked at the bedcover for a moment (deciding it was as well to change the subject). “But tell me—why can’t your Myonessae be loved for themselves? I am only two days here, and know so little about your customs.”
“By the diaconals who choose them, you mean? Ah, no. All the Myonessae know they are only second choice. The diaconals have already chosen the service of the God of love first.”
“Then the Myonessae are jealous of the church—or of your God of love?”
365
“Oh, no. Women think more spiritually than men. You must go to a service with me and then you’ll understand.” The corner of her mouth twitched33 slightly; she reached over to touch his hand. “I must go,” she said, and was gone.
This was the beginning of a custom, by which she came to him each morning to be his instructor34 in all that concerned Mancherei. Once or twice fat Dame Gualdis wheezed35 up the stair and smiled through the door at the two, wishing them good morning as she went past on some errand, real or pretended; she seemed to find it decorous that the girl often sat on the edge of Rodvard’s bed. Their conversation never seemed to fail, and they took delight in minor36 contacts, as when he showed Leece the fashion of sitting wrestle37 he had learned as a lad, with each opponent gripping the other’s right elbow and only that arm engaged. Leece was so nearly as strong as himself as to make the contest a true one (and she was as greedy as he of the almost-meeting of bodies, as the Blue Star told him. She would go a long way with him, it said, perhaps all the way if pressed, but felt a little fearful of her own desires, and would want him as a husband in permanence. When she left, he would think of Damaris the maid as he dressed, and how she also had sat on his bed, and the end of that meeting, sweet and terrifying, how she had killed his Blue Star, and how he would surely have been trapped into some regular connection with her, had not circumstance ordered his flight from Sedad Vix. At this it seemed to him, walking the street to his daily toil24, that there was nothing in the world so precious as that jewel and the use to which it must be put, and he must reach Dossola again, and by no means do the thing that would rob the Blue Star of its virtue38; and then he thought of the penalty Lalette had promised, which lay at the back of his mind like a dark cloud of dread39. But as he took his place on his stool, the thought came that he had already earned whatever penalty there was. It was not credible40 that the accident of having the Star’s power restored by the old woman in the hut would disannul what he had to bear; nor was it likely that the restoration would hide his action from one possessed41 of the witch-powers of the far-away girl to whom he was bound. But why was he bound to Lalette? Now the sweetness of the touch of Leece and the desire of her body ran through him like a liquid fire, and he felt as though he were running across a bridge no wider than a knife-blade over a yawning chasm42, toward a goal hidden in mist, and all his inner organs were wrung43.)
“Bergelin!” said the protostylarion. “You will remember that this work is given to you as a charity, which it will profit you not to abuse.”
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1
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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innuendo
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| n.暗指，讽刺 | |
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4
initiates
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| v.开始( initiate的第三人称单数 )；传授；发起；接纳新成员 | |
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initiate
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| vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入 | |
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6
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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10
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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13
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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ordinance
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| n.法令；条令；条例 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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armory
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| n.纹章，兵工厂，军械库 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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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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lusts
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| 贪求（lust的第三人称单数形式） | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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stew
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| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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wheezed
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| v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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wrestle
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| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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