Sergius took a glass of red wine from the old attendant, and said:
"I should like your permission, O Princess, to make a confession1."
His manner was that of one unused to the society of women. He was conscious she was studying him, and spoke2 to divert her. As she was slow answering, he added: "That you may not think me disposed to abuse the acquaintance you honor me with, especially as you have not yet read the letter of the good Father Hilarion upon which I rely for your better regard, I ask the permission rather to show the degree of your kindness to me. It may interest you also to learn of the confirmation3 of a certain faith you are perhaps unwittingly lending a novice4 in the ways of the world."
She had been studying him, and her first impression was now confirmed. His head in shape and pose was a poet's; the long, wavy5, flaxen hair, parted in the middle, left small space for the forehead, which was nevertheless broad and white, with high-arched, well-defined brows for base. The eyes were gray. In repose6 they had a dreamy introspectional expression. The mustache and beard, the first growth of youth spent entirely7 indoors, were as yet too light to shade any part of the face. The nose was not enough retrousse to be irregular. In brief, the monk8 was of the type now well known as Russian. Aside from height and apparent muscularity, he very nearly realized the Byzantine ideal of Christ as seen in the cartoons excellently preserved in a mosque9 of Stamboul not far from the gate anciently San Romain now Top Kapoussi.
The appearance of the young monk, so strikingly suggestive of the being most sacred in the estimation of the Princess, was at the moment less curious to her than a certain habit observable in him. The look of brightness attendant upon the thought he was putting into form would, when the utterance10 was through, suffer a lapse11 which, for want of strictly12 definite words, may be described as a sombering of the eyes when they were widest open, a gazing beyond at something else than the opposite speaker; implying that the soul was become mysteriously occupied apart from the mind. The effect was as if she had before her two widely different characters making themselves present at the same time in one person. Unquestionably, though rarely, there is a duality of nature in men, by which, to put it extremely, a seeming incapable13 may be vastly capable, outward gentleness a mask for a spirit of Neronian violence, dulness a low-lying cloud surcharged with genius. What shall be done with such a nature? When may it be relied upon? Who shall ever come to really know it?
Occupied with the idea, the Princess heard but the conclusion of the monk's somewhat awkward apology, and she answered:
"The confession must be of something lighter14 than a sin. I will listen."
"A sin!" he exclaimed, with a blush. "Pardon me, O Princess. It was a trifle of which I spoke too seriously. I promise thou shalt take from it nothing worse than a laugh at my simplicity15. See thou these things?"
He gave her a glance full of boyish humor, and from a breast pocket of his cassock drew a bag of coarse yellow silk; thrusting a hand into its mouth, he then brought out a number of square leathern chips stamped with sunken letters, and laid them on the table before her.
"This you must know is our money." The Princess examined the pieces, and said:
"I doubt if our tradesmen would accept them."
"They will not. I am a witness to the fact. Nevertheless they will carry a traveller, go he either way, from one end of our Great Prince's realm to the other. When I left the Lavra, setting out on my journey, Father Hilarion gave me the bag, saying, as he put it into my hand, 'Now upon coming to the port where the ship awaits thee, be sure to exchange the money with the merchants there for Byzantine gold; else, unless God come to thy aid, thou wilt16 be turned into a mendicant17.' And so I fully18 meant to do; but when I reached the port, I found it a city large, and full of people and sights wonderful to me, demanding to be seen. I forgot the injunction. Indeed I never thought of it until this morning."
Here he laughed at himself, proving he was not yet seriously alive to the consequences of his negligence19. Presently he resumed:
"I landed only last night, and sick from the tossing of the sea, put up at an inn in the town yonder. I ordered breakfast, and, according to a custom of my people, offered to pay before tasting. The master of the house looked at my money, and told me to show him coin of gold; if not that, then copper20 or brass21, or even iron, in pieces bearing the name of the Emperor. Being told I had only this, he bade me look elsewhere for breakfast. Now I had designed going to the great city to kiss the hand of the Patriarch, of whom I have always heard as the wisest of men, before coming to thee; but the strait I was in was hard. Could I expect better of the innkeepers there? I had a button of gold--a memorial of my entry into the Lavra. That day Father Hilarion blessed it three times; and it bore a cross upon its face which I thought might make it acceptable as if it were lettered with the name of Constantine. A boatman consented to take it for rowing me to thy landing. Behold22! Thou hast my confession!"
His speech to this time had been in Greek singularly pure and fluent; now he hesitated, while his eyes, open to the full, sombered, as if from a field in the brain back of them a shadow was being cast through his face. When next he spoke it was in his native tongue.
The Princess observed her guest with increasing interest; for she was wholly unused to such artlessness in men. How could Father Hilarion have intrusted business of importance to an envoy23 so negligent24? His confession, as he termed it, was an admission, neither more nor less, that he had no money of the country into which he was come. And further, how could the habit of lapsing25 in thought, or more simply, of passing abruptly26 from the present subject, be explained except on the theory of something to which he had so given himself it had become overmastering and all absorbent? This, she saw intuitively, would prove the key to the man; and she set about finding it out.
"Your Greek, good Sergius, is excellent; yet I did not understand the words with which you concluded."
"I beg pardon," he replied, with a change of countenance27. "In my mother's tongue I repeated a saying of the Psalmist, which you shall have voice and look as Father Hilarion has given it to me oftener than I am days old." Then his voice lowered into a sweet intensity28 fitting the text: "'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.' Those were the words, Princess; and who shall say they do not comprehend all there is of religion?"
The answer was unexpected, the manner affecting; never had she heard conviction and faith more perfectly29 affirmed. More than a monk, the young man might be a preacher! And Father Hilarion might have grown wiser of his years! Perhaps he knew, though at a vast distance, that the need of the hour in Constantinople was not a new notable--a bishop30 or a legate--so much as a voice with power of persuasion31 to still the contentions32 with which her seven hills were then resounding33. The idea, though a surmise34, was strong enough to excite a desire to read the holy man's letter. She even reproached herself for not having done so.
"The worthy35 priest gave me the same saying in the same words," she said, rising, "and they lose nothing of their meaning by thy repetition. We may speak of them hereafter. For the present, to keep thee from breakfast were cruel. I will go and make terms with my conscience by reading what thou hast brought me from the Father. Help thyself freely as if thou wert the most favored of guests; or rather "--she paused to emphasize the meaning--"as though I had been bidden to prepare for thy coining. Should there be failure in anything before thee, scruple36 not to ask for more. Lysander will be at thy service. I may return presently."
The monk arose respectfully, and stood until she disappeared behind the vases and flowers, leaving in his memory a fadeless recollection of graciousness and beauty, which did not prevent him from immediately addressing himself as became a hungry traveller.
收听单词发音 |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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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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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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mosque
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| n.清真寺 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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mendicant
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| n.乞丐；adj.行乞的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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lapsing
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| v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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contentions
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| n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点 | |
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resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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35
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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36
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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