eugenie grandet(欧也妮·葛朗台)-第34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!
long prayed for /him/。 She now spent her time between Angers and
Saumur。 Her husband; who had shown some public spirit on a certain
occasion; became a judge in the superior courts; and finally; after a
few years; president of them。 He was anxiously awaiting a general
election; in the hope of being returned to the Chamber of deputies。 He
hankered after a peerage; and then
〃The king will be his cousin; won't he?〃 said Nanon; la Grande Nanon;
Madame Cornoiller; bourgeoise of Saumur; as she listened to her
mistress; who was recounting the honors to which she was called。
Nevertheless; Monsieur de Bonfons (he had finally abolished his
patronymic of Cruchot) did not realize any of his ambitious ideas。 He
died eight days after his election as deputy of Saumur。 God; who sees
all and never strikes amiss; punished him; no doubt; for his sordid
calculations and the legal cleverness with which; /accurante Cruchot/;
he had drawn up his marriage contract; in which husband and wife gave
to each other; 〃in case they should have no children; their entire
property of every kind; landed or otherwise; without exception or
reservation; dispensing even with the formality of an inventory;
provided that said omission of said inventory shall not injure their
heirs and assigns; it being understood that this deed of gift is;
etc。; etc。〃 This clause of the contract will explain the profound
respect which monsieur le president always testified for the wishes;
and above all; for the solitude of Madame de Bonfons。 Women cited him
as the most considerate and delicate of men; pitied him; and even went
so far as to find fault with the passion and grief of Eugenie; blaming
her; as women know so well how to blame; with cruel but discreet
insinuation。
〃Madame de Bonfons must be very ill to leave her husband entirely
alone。 Poor woman! Is she likely to get well? What is it? Something
gastric? A cancer?〃〃She has grown perfectly yellow。 She ought to
consult some celebrated doctor in Paris。〃〃How can she be happy
without a child? They say she loves her husband; then why not give him
an heir?in his position; too!〃〃Do you know; it is really dreadful!
If it is the result of mere caprice; it is unpardonable。 Poor
president!〃
Endowed with the delicate perception which a solitary soul acquires
through constant meditation; through the exquisite clear…sightedness
with which a mind aloof from life fastens on all that falls within its
sphere; Eugenie; taught by suffering and by her later education to
divine thought; knew well that the president desired her death that he
might step into possession of their immense fortune; augmented by the
property of his uncle the notary and his uncle the abbe; whom it had
lately pleased God to call to himself。 The poor solitary pitied the
president。 Providence avenged her for the calculations and the
indifference of a husband who respected the hopeless passion on which
she spent her life because it was his surest safeguard。 To give life
to a child would give death to his hopes;the hopes of selfishness;
the joys of ambition; which the president cherished as he looked into
the future。
God thus flung piles of gold upon this prisoner to whom gold was a
matter of indifference; who longed for heaven; who lived; pious and
good; in holy thoughts; succoring the unfortunate in secret; and never
wearying of such deeds。 Madame de Bonfons became a widow at thirty…
six。 She is still beautiful; but with the beauty of a woman who is
nearly forty years of age。 Her face is white and placid and calm; her
voice gentle and self…possessed; her manners are simple。 She has the
noblest qualities of sorrow; the saintliness of one who has never
soiled her soul by contact with the world; but she has also the rigid
bearing of an old maid and the petty habits inseparable from the
narrow round of provincial life。 In spite of her vast wealth; she
lives as the poor Eugenie Grandet once lived。 The fire is never
lighted on her hearth until the day when her father allowed it to be
lighted in the hall; and it is put out in conformity with the rules
which governed her youthful years。 She dresses as her mother dressed。
The house in Saumur; without sun; without warmth; always in shadow;
melancholy; is an image of her life。 She carefully accumulates her
income; and might seem parsimonious did she not disarm criticism by a
noble employment of her wealth。 Pious and charitable institutions; a
hospital for old age; Christian schools for children; a public library
richly endowed; bear testimony against the charge of avarice which
some persons lay at her door。 The churches of Saumur owe much of their
embellishment to her。 Madame de Bonfons (sometimes ironically spoken
of as mademoiselle) inspires for the most part reverential respect:
and yet that noble heart; beating only with tenderest emotions; has
been; from first to last; subjected to the calculations of human
selfishness; money has cast its frigid influence upon that hallowed
life and taught distrust of feelings to a woman who is all feeling。
〃I have none but you to love me;〃 she says to Nanon。
The hand of this woman stanches the secret wounds in many families。
She goes on her way to heaven attended by a train of benefactions。 The
grandeur of her soul redeems the narrowness of her education and the
petty habits of her early life。
Such is the history of Eugenie Grandet; who is in the world but not of
it; who; created to be supremely a wife and mother; has neither
husband nor children nor family。 Lately there has been some question
of her marrying again。 The Saumur people talk of her and of the
Marquis de Froidfond; whose family are beginning to beset the rich
widow just as; in former days; the Cruchots laid siege to the rich
heiress。 Nanon and Cornoiller are; it is said; in the interests of the
marquis。 Nothing could be more false。 Neither la Grande Nanon nor
Cornoiller has sufficient mind to understand the corruptions of the
world。
End