eugenie grandet(欧也妮·葛朗台)-第15章
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
that。 In a minute the bargain was made。 He takes my vintage at two
hundred francs the puncheon; half down。 He paid me in gold; the notes
are drawn。 Here are six louis for you。 In three months wines will have
fallen。〃
These words; uttered in a quiet tone of voice; were nevertheless so
bitterly sarcastic that the inhabitants of Saumur; grouped at this
moment in the market…place and overwhelmed by the news of the sale
Grandet had just effected; would have shuddered had they heard them。
Their panic would have brought the price of wines down fifty per cent
at once。
〃Did you have a thousand puncheons this year; father?〃
〃Yes; little one。〃
That term applied to his daughter was the superlative expression of
the old miser's joy。
〃Then that makes two hundred thousand pieces of twenty sous each?〃
〃Yes; Mademoiselle Grandet。〃
〃Then; father; you can easily help Charles。〃
The amazement; the anger; the stupefaction of Belshazzar when he saw
the /Mene…Tekel…Upharsin/ before his eyes is not to be compared with
the cold rage of Grandet; who; having forgotten his nephew; now found
him enshrined in the heart and calculations of his daughter。
〃What's this? Ever since that dandy put foot in MY house everything
goes wrong! You behave as if you had the right to buy sugar…plums and
make feasts and weddings。 I won't have that sort of thing。 I hope I
know my duty at my time of life! I certainly sha'n't take lessons from
my daughter; or from anybody else。 I shall do for my nephew what it is
proper to do; and you have no need to poke your nose into it。 As for
you; Eugenie;〃 he added; facing her; 〃don't speak of this again; or
I'll send you to the Abbaye des Noyers with Nanon; see if I don't; and
no later than to…morrow either; if you disobey me! Where is that
fellow; has he come down yet?〃
〃No; my friend;〃 answered Madame Grandet。
〃What is he doing then?〃
〃He is weeping for his father;〃 said Eugenie。
Grandet looked at his daughter without finding a word to say; after
all; he was a father。 He made a couple of turns up and down the room;
and then went hurriedly to his secret den to think over an investment
he was meditating in the public Funds。 The thinning out of his two
thousand acres of forest land had yielded him six hundred thousand
francs: putting this sum to that derived from the sale of his poplars
and to his other gains for the last year and for the current year; he
had amassed a total of nine hundred thousand francs; without counting
the two hundred thousand he had got by the sale just concluded。 The
twenty per cent which Cruchot assured him would gain in a short time
from the Funds; then quoted at seventy; tempted him。 He figured out
his calculation on the margin of the newspaper which gave the account
of his brother's death; all the while hearing the moans of his nephew;
but without listening to them。 Nanon came and knocked on the wall to
summon him to dinner。 On the last step of the staircase he was saying
to himself as he came down;
〃I'll do it; I shall get eight per cent interest。 In two years I shall
have fifteen hundred thousand francs; which I will then draw out in
good gold;Well; where's my nephew?〃
〃He says he doesn't want anything to eat;〃 answered Nanon; 〃that's not
good for him。〃
〃So much saved;〃 retorted her master。
〃That's so;〃 she said。
〃Bah! he won't cry long。 Hunger drives the wolves out of the woods。〃
The dinner was eaten in silence。
〃My good friend;〃 said Madame Grandet; when the cloth was removed; 〃we
must put on mourning。〃
〃Upon my word; Madame Grandet! what will you invent next to spend
money on? Mourning is in the heart; and not in the clothes。〃
〃But mourning for a brother is indispensable; and the Church commands
us to〃
〃Buy your mourning out of your six louis。 Give me a hat…band; that's
enough for me。〃
Eugenie raised her eyes to heaven without uttering a word。 Her
generous instincts; slumbering and long repressed but now suddenly and
for the first time awakened; were galled at every turn。 The evening
passed to all appearance like a thousand other evenings of their
monotonous life; yet it was certainly the most horrible。 Eugenie sewed
without raising her head; and did not use the workbox which Charles
had despised the night before。 Madame Grandet knitted her sleeves。
Grandet twirled his thumbs for four hours; absorbed in calculations
whose results were on the morrow to astonish Saumur。 No one came to
visit the family that day。 The whole town was ringing with the news of
the business trick just played by Grandet; the failure of his brother;
and the arrival of his nephew。 Obeying the desire to gossip over their
mutual interests; all the upper and middle…class wine…growers in
Saumur met at Monsieur des Grassins; where terrible imprecations were
being fulminated against the ex…mayor。 Nanon was spinning; and the
whirr of her wheel was the only sound heard beneath the gray rafters
of that silent hall。
〃We don't waste our tongues;〃 she said; showing her teeth; as large
and white as peeled almonds。
〃Nothing should be wasted;〃 answered Grandet; rousing himself from his
reverie。 He saw a perspective of eight millions in three years; and he
was sailing along that sheet of gold。 〃Let us go to bed。 I will bid my
nephew good…night for the rest of you; and see if he will take
anything。〃
Madame Grandet remained on the landing of the first storey to hear the
conversation that was about to take place between the goodman and his
nephew。 Eugenie; bolder than her mother; went up two stairs。
〃Well; nephew; you are in trouble。 Yes; weep; that's natural。 A father
is a father; but we must bear our troubles patiently。 I am a good
uncle to you; remember that。 Come; take courage! Will you have a
little glass of wine?〃 (Wine costs nothing in Saumur; and they offer
it as tea is offered in China。) 〃Why!〃 added Grandet; 〃you have got no
light! That's bad; very bad; you ought to see what you are about;〃 and
he walked to the chimney…piece。 〃What's this?〃 he cried。 〃A wax
candle! How the devil did they filch a wax candle? The spendthrifts
would tear down the ceilings of my house to boil the fellow's eggs。〃
Hearing these words; mother and daughter slipped back into their rooms
and burrowed in their beds; with the celerity of frightened mice
getting back to their holes。
〃Madame Grandet; have you found a mine?〃 said the man; coming into the
chamber of his wife。
〃My friend; wait; I am saying my prayers;〃 said the poor mother in a
trembling voice。
〃The devil take your good God!〃 growled Grandet in reply。
Misers have no belief in a future life; the present is their all in
all。 This thought casts a terrible light upon our present epoch; in
which; far more than at any former period; money sways the laws and
politics and morals。 Institutions; books; men; and dogmas; all
conspire to undermine belief in a future life;a belief upon which
the social edifice has rested for eighteen hundred years。 The grave;
as a means of transition; is little feared in our day。 The future;
which once opened to us beyond the requiems; has now been imported
into the present。 To obtain /per fas et nefas/ a terrestrial paradise
of luxury and earthly enjoyment; to harden the heart and macerate the
body for the sake of fleeting possessions; as the martyrs once
suffered all things to reach eternal joys; this is now the universal
thoughta thought written everywhere; even in the very laws which ask
of the legislator; 〃What do you pay?〃 instead of asking him; 〃What do
you think?〃 When this doctrine has passed down from the bourgeoisie to
the populace; where will this country be?
〃Madame Grandet; have you done?〃 asked the old man。
〃My friend; I am praying for you。〃
〃Very good! Good…night; to…morrow morning we will have a talk。〃
The poor woman went to sleep like a schoolboy who; not having learned
his lessons; knows he will see his master's angry face on the morrow。
At the moment when; filled with fear; she was drawing the sheet above
her head that she might stifle hearing; Eugenie; in her night…gown and
with naked feet; ran to her side and kissed her brow。
〃Oh! my good mother;〃 she said; 〃to…morrow I will tell him it was I。〃
〃No; he would send you to Noyers。 Leave me to manage it; he cannot eat
me。〃
〃Do you hear; mamma?〃
〃What?〃
〃/He/ is weeping still。〃
〃Go to bed; my daughter; you will take cold in your feet: the floor is
damp。〃
*****
Thus passed the solemn day which was destined to weight upon the whole
life of the rich and poor heiress; whose sleep was never again to be
so calm; nor yet so pure; as it had been up to this moment。 It often
happens that certain actions of human life seem; literally speaking;
improbable; though actual。 Is not this because we constantly omit to
turn the stream of psychological light upon our impulsive
determinations; and fail to explain the subtile reasons; mysteriously
conceived in our minds; which impelled them? Perhaps Eugenie's deep
passion should be analyzed in its most delicate fibres; for it became;
scoffers might say; a malady which influenced her whole existence。
Many people prefer to deny results rather than estimate the force of
ties and links and bonds; which secretly join one fact to another in
the moral order。 Here; therefore; Eugenie's past life will offer to
observers of human nature an explanation of her naive want of
reflection and the suddenness of the emotions which overflowed her
soul。 The more tranquil her life had been; the more vivid was her
womanly pity; the more simple…minded were the sentiments now developed
in her soul。
Made restless by the events of the day; she woke at intervals to
listen to her cousin; thinking she heard the sighs which still echoed
in her heart。 Sometimes she saw him dying of his trouble; sometimes
she dreamed that he fainted from hunger。 Towards morning she was
certain that she heard a startling cry。 She dressed at once and ran;
in the dawning light; with a swift foot to her cousin's chamber; the
door of which he had left open。 The candle had burned down to the
socket。 Charles; overcome by nature; was sleeping; dressed and sitting
in an armchair beside the bed; on which his head rested; he dreamed as
men dream on an empty stomach。 Eugenie might weep at her ease; she
might admire the young and handsome face blotted with grief; the eyes
swollen with weeping; that seemed; sleeping as they were; to well
forth tears。 Charles felt sympathetically the young girl's presence;
he opened his eyes and saw her pitying him。
〃Pardon me; my cousin;〃 he said; evidently not knowing the hour nor
the place in which he found himself。
〃There are hearts who hear you; cousin; and /we/ thought you might
need something。 You should go to bed; you tire yourself by sitting
thus。〃
〃That is true。〃
〃Well; then; adieu!〃
She escaped; ashamed and happy at having gone there。 Innocence alone
can dare to be so bold。 Once enlightened; virtue makes her
calculations as well as vice。 Eugenie; who had not trembled beside her
cousin; could scarcely stand upon her legs when she regained her
chamber。 Her ignorant life had suddenly come to an end; she reasoned;
she rebuked herself with many reproaches。
〃What will he think of me? He will think that I love him!〃
That was what she most wished him to