Before proceeding1 further, it will be well to tell who Pepe Rey was, and what were the affairs which had brought him to Orbajosa.
When Brigadier Rey died in 1841, his two children, Juan and Perfecta, had just married: the latter the richest land-owner of Orbajosa, the former a young girl of the same city. The husband of Perfecta was called Don Manuel Maria José de Polentinos, and the wife of Juan, Maria Polentinos; but although they had the same surname, their relationship was somewhat distant and not very easy to make out. Juan Rey was a distinguished2 jurisconsult who had been graduated in Seville and had practised law in that city for thirty years with no less honor than profit. In 1845 he was left a widower3 with a son who was old enough to play mischievous4 pranks5; he would sometimes amuse himself by constructing viaducts, mounds6, ponds, dikes, and trenches7 of earth, in the yard of the house, and then flooding those fragile works with water. His father let him do so, saying, “You will be an engineer.”
Perfecta and Juan had ceased to see each other from the time of their marriage, because the sister had gone to Madrid with her husband, the wealthy Polentinos, who was as rich as he was extravagant8. Play and women had so completely enslaved Manuel Maria José that he would have dissipated all his fortune, if death had not been beforehand with him and carried him off before he had had time to squander9 it. In a night of orgy the life of the rich provincial10, who had been sucked so voraciously11 by the leeches12 of the capital and the insatiable vampire13 of play, came to a sudden termination. His sole heir was a daughter a few months old. With the death of Perfecta’s husband the terrors of the family were at an end, but the great struggle began. The house of Polentinos was ruined; the estates were in danger of being seized by the money-lenders; all was in confusion: enormous debts, lamentable14 management in Orbajosa, discredit15 and ruin in Madrid.
Perfecta sent for her brother, who, coming to the distressed16 widow’s assistance, displayed so much diligence and skill that in a short time the greater part of the dangers that threatened her had disappeared. He began by obliging his sister to live in Orbajosa, managing herself her vast estates, while he faced the formidable pressure of the creditors17 in Madrid. Little by little the house freed itself from the enormous burden of its debts, for the excellent Don Juan Rey, who had the best way in the world for managing such matters, pleaded in the court, made settlements with the principal creditors and arranged to pay them by instalments, the result of this skilful18 management being that the rich patrimony19 of Polentinos was saved from ruin and might continue, for many years to come, to bestow20 splendor21 and glory on that illustrious family.
Perfecta’s gratitude22 was so profound that in writing to her brother from Orbajosa, where she determined23 to reside until her daughter should be grown up, she said to him, among other affectionate things: “You have been more than a brother to me, more than a father to my daughter. How can either of us ever repay you for services so great? Ah, my dear brother? from the moment in which my daughter can reason and pronounce a name I will teach her to bless yours. My gratitude will end only with my life. Your unworthy sister regrets only that she can find no opportunity of showing you how much she loves you and of recompensing you in a manner suited to the greatness of your soul and the boundless24 goodness of your heart.”
At the same time when these words were written Rosarito was two years old. Pepe Rey, shut up in a school in Seville, was making lines on paper, occupied in proving that “the sum of all the interior angles of any polygon25 is equal to twice as many right angles, wanting four, as the figure has sides.” These vexatious commonplaces of the school kept him very busy. Year after year passed. The boy grew up, still continuing to make lines. At last, he made one which is called “From Tarragona to Montblanch.” His first serious toy was the bridge, 120 metres in length, over the River Francoli.
During all this time Doña Perfecta continued to live in Orbajosa. As her brother never left Seville, several years passed without their seeing each other. A quarterly letter, as punctually written as it was punctually answered, kept in communication these two hearts, whose affection neither time nor distance could cool. In 1870, when Don Juan Rey, satisfied with having fulfilled his mission in society, retired26 from it and went to live in his fine house in Puerto Real, Pepe, who had been employed for several years in the works of various rich building companies, set out on a tour through Germany and England, for the purpose of study. His father’s fortune, (as large as it is possible for a fortune which has only an honorable law-office for its source to be in Spain), permitted him to free himself in a short time from the yoke27 of material labor28. A man of exalted29 ideas and with an ardent30 love for science, he found his purest enjoyment31 in the observation and study of the marvels32 by means of which the genius of the age furthers at the same time the culture and material comfort and the moral progress of man.
On returning from his tour his father informed him that he had an important project to communicate to him. Pepe supposed that it concerned some bridge, dockyard, or, at the least, the draining of some marsh33, but Don Juan soon dispelled34 his error, disclosing to him his plan in the following words:
“This is March, and Perfecta’s quarterly letter has not failed to come. Read it, my dear boy, and if you can agree to what that holy and exemplary woman, my dear sister, says in it, you will give me the greatest happiness I could desire in my old age. If the plan does not please you, reject it without hesitation35, for, although your refusal would grieve me, there is not in it the shadow of constraint36 on my part. It would be unworthy of us both that it should be realized through the coercion37 of an obstinate38 father. You are free either to accept or to reject it, and if there is in your mind the slightest repugnance39 to it, arising either from your inclinations40 or from any other cause, I do not wish you to do violence to your feelings on my account.”
Pepe laid the letter on the table after he had glanced through it, and said quietly:
“My aunt wishes me to marry Rosario!”
“She writes accepting joyfully41 my idea,” said his father, with emotion. “For the idea was mine. Yes, it is a long time, a very long time since it occurred to me; but I did not wish to say anything to you until I knew what your sister might think about it. As you see, Perfecta receives my plan with joy; she says that she too had thought of it, but that she did not venture to mention it to me, because you are—you have seen what she says—because you are a young man of very exceptional merit and her daughter is a country girl, without either a brilliant education or worldly attractions. Those are her words. My poor sister! How good she is! I see that you are not displeased42; I see that this project of mine, resembling a little the officious prevision of the fathers of former times who married their children without consulting their wishes in the matter, and making generally inconsiderate and unwise matches, does not seem absurd to you. God grant that this may be, as it seems to promise, one of the happiest. It is true that you have never seen your cousin, but we are both aware of her virtue43, of her discretion44, of her modest and noble simplicity45. That nothing may be wanting, she is even beautiful. My opinion is,” he added gayly, “that you should at once start for that out-of-the-way episcopal city, that Urbs Augusta, and there, in the presence of my sister and her charming Rosarito, decide whether the latter is to be something more to me or not, than my niece.”
Pepe took up the letter again and read it through carefully. His countenance46 expressed neither joy nor sorrow. He might have been examining some plan for the junction47 of two railroads.
“In truth,” said Don Juan, “in that remote Orbajosa, where, by the way, you have some land that you might take a look at now, life passes with the tranquillity48 and the sweetness of an idyl. What patriarchal customs! What noble simplicity! What rural and Virgilian peace! If, instead of being a mathematician49, you were a Latinist, you would repeat, as you enter it, the ergo tua rura manebunt. What an admirable place in which to commune with one’s own soul and to prepare one’s self for good works. There all is kindness and goodness; there the deceit and hypocrisy50 of our great cities are unknown; there the holy inclinations which the turmoil51 of modern life stifles52 spring into being again; there dormant53 faith reawakens and one feels within the breast an impulse, vague but keen, like the impatience54 of youth, that from the depths of the soul cries out: ‘I wish to live!’”
A few days after this conference Pepe left Puerto Real. He had refused, some months before, a commission from the government to survey, in its mineralogical aspects, the basin of the River Nahara, in the valley of Orbajosa; but the plans to which the conference above recorded gave rise, caused him to say to himself: “It will be as well to make use of the time. Heaven only knows how long this courtship may last, or what hours of weariness it may bring with it.” He went, then, to Madrid, solicited55 the commission to explore the basin of the Nahara, which he obtained without difficulty, although he did not belong officially to the mining corps56, set out shortly afterward57, and, after a second change of trains, the mixed train No. 65 bore him, as we have seen, to the loving arms of Uncle Licurgo.
The age of our hero was about thirty-four years. He was of a robust58 constitution, of athletic59 build, and so admirably proportioned and of so commanding an appearance that, if he had worn a uniform, he would have presented the most martial60 air and figure that it is possible to imagine. His hair and beard were blond in color, but in his countenance there was none of the phlegmatic61 imperturbability62 of the Saxon, but, on the contrary, so much animation63 that his eyes, although they were not black, seemed to be so. His figure would have served as a perfect and beautiful model for a statue, on the pedestal of which the sculptor64 might engrave65 the words: “Intellect, strength.” If not in visible characters, he bore them vaguely66 expressed in the brilliancy of his glance, in the potent67 attraction with which his person was peculiarly endowed, and in the sympathy which his cordial manners inspired.
He was not very talkative—only persons of inconstant ideas and unstable68 judgment69 are prone70 to verbosity71. His profound moral sense made him sparing of words in the disputes in which the men of the day are prone to engage on any and every subject, but in polite conversation he displayed an eloquence72 full of wit and intelligence, emanating73 always from good sense and a temperate74 and just appreciation75 of worldly matters. He had no toleration for those sophistries76, and mystifications, and quibbles of the understanding with which persons of intelligence, imbued77 with affected78 culture, sometimes amuse themselves; and in defence of the truth Pepe Rey employed at times, and not always with moderation, the weapon of ridicule79. This was almost a defect in the eyes of many people who esteemed80 him, for our hero thus appeared wanting in respect for a multitude of things commonly accepted and believed. It must be acknowledged, although it may lessen81 him in the opinion of many, that Rey did not share the mild toleration of the compliant82 age which has invented strange disguises of words and of acts to conceal83 what to the general eye might be disagreeable.
Such was the man, whatever slanderous84 tongues may say to the contrary, whom Uncle Licurgo introduced into Orbajosa just as the cathedral bells were ringing for high mass. When, looking over the garden wall, they saw the young girl and the Penitentiary85, and then the flight of the former toward the house, they put spurs to their beasts and entered the Calle Real, where a great many idlers stood still to gaze at the traveller, as if he were a stranger and an intruder in the patriarchal city. Turning presently to the right and riding in the direction of the cathedral, whose massive bulk dominated the town, they entered the Calle del Condestable, in which, being narrow and paved, the hoofs86 of the animals clattered87 noisily, alarming the people of the neighborhood, who came to the windows and to the balconies to satisfy their curiosity. Shutters88 opened with a grating sound and various faces, almost all feminine, appeared above and below. By the time Pepe Rey had reached the threshold of the house of Polentinos many and diverse comments had been already made on his person.
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1
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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3
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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6
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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squander
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| v.浪费，挥霍 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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voraciously
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| adv.贪婪地 | |
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leeches
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| n.水蛭( leech的名词复数 )；蚂蟥；榨取他人脂膏者；医生 | |
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vampire
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| n.吸血鬼 | |
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lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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16
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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17
creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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18
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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19
patrimony
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| n.世袭财产，继承物 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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24
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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polygon
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| n.多边形；多角形 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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28
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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29
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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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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repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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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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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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45
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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46
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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47
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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48
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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49
mathematician
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| n.数学家 | |
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50
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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51
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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52
stifles
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 )； 镇压，遏制 | |
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53
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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54
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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55
solicited
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| v.恳求( solicit的过去式和过去分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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56
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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62
imperturbability
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| n.冷静；沉着 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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engrave
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| vt.（在...上）雕刻，使铭记，使牢记 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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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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unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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verbosity
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| n.冗长，赘言 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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emanating
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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sophistries
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| n.诡辩术( sophistry的名词复数 )；（一次）诡辩 | |
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77
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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80
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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81
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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82
compliant
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| adj.服从的，顺从的 | |
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83
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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84
slanderous
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| adj.诽谤的，中伤的 | |
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85
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
参考例句： |
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86
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
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87
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
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88
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
参考例句： |
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