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第67部分

雨果 悲惨世界 英文版2-第67部分

小说: 雨果 悲惨世界 英文版2 字数: 每页4000字

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out three francs。〃
  Jondrette replied sweetly:
  〃Have you your pocket…book with you?
  I should be satisfied with a thousand crowns。〃
  M。 Leblanc sprang up; placed his back against the wall; and cast a rapid glance around the room。
  He had Jondrette on his left; on the side next the window; and the Jondrette woman and the four men on his right; on the side next the door。
  The four men did not stir; and did not even seem to be looking on。
  Jondrette had again begun to speak in a plaintive tone; with so vague an eye; and so lamentable an intonation; that M。 Leblanc might have supposed that what he had before him was a man who had simply gone mad with misery。
  〃If you do not buy my picture; my dear benefactor;〃 said Jondrette; 〃I shall be left without resources; there will be nothing left for me but to throw myself into the river。
  When I think that I wanted to have my two girls taught the middle…class paper…box trade; the making of boxes for New Year's gifts!
  Well!
  A table with a board at the end to keep the glasses from falling off is required; then a special stove is needed; a pot with three partments for the different degrees of strength of the paste; according as it is to be used for wood; paper; or stuff; a paring…knife to cut the cardboard; a mould to adjust it; a hammer to nail the steels; pincers; how the devil do I know what all?
  And all that in order to earn four sous a day!
  And you have to work fourteen hours a day! And each box passes through the workwoman's hands thirteen times! And you can't wet the paper!
  And you mustn't spot anything!
  And you must keep the paste hot。
  The devil; I tell you!
  Four sous a day! How do you suppose a man is to live?〃
  As he spoke; Jondrette did not look at M。 Leblanc; who was observing him。 M。 Leblanc's eye was fixed on Jondrette; and Jondrette's eye was fixed on the door。
  Marius' eager attention was transferred from one to the other。 M。 Leblanc seemed to be asking himself:
  〃Is this man an idiot?〃 Jondrette repeated two or three distinct times; with all manner of varying inflections of the whining and supplicating order: 〃There is nothing left for me but to throw myself into the river! I went down three steps at the side of the bridge of Austerlitz the other day for that purpose。〃
  All at once his dull eyes lighted up with a hideous flash; the little man drew himself up and became terrible; took a step toward M。 Leblanc and cried in a voice of thunder:
  〃That has nothing to do with the question!
  Do you know me?〃


BOOK EIGHTH。THE WICKED POOR MAN
CHAPTER XX (1)
  THE TRAP
  The door of the garret had just opened abruptly; and allowed a view of three men clad in blue linen blouses; and masked with masks of black paper。
  The first was thin; and had a long; iron…tipped cudgel; the second; who was a sort of colossus; carried; by the middle of the handle; with the blade downward; a butcher's pole…axe for slaughtering cattle。
  The third; a man with thick…set shoulders; not so slender as the first; held in his hand an enormous key stolen from the door of some prison。
  It appeared that the arrival of these men was what Jondrette had been waiting for。
  A rapid dialogue ensued between him and the man with the cudgel; the thin one。
  〃Is everything ready?〃 said Jondrette。
  〃Yes;〃 replied the thin man。
  〃Where is Montparnasse?〃
  〃The young principal actor stopped to chat with your girl。〃
  〃Which?〃
  〃The eldest。〃
  〃Is there a carriage at the door?〃
  〃Yes。〃
  〃Is the team harnessed?〃
  〃Yes。〃
  〃With two good horses?〃
  〃Excellent。〃
  〃Is it waiting where I ordered?〃
  〃Yes。〃
  〃Good;〃 said Jondrette。
  M。 Leblanc was very pale。
  He was scrutinizing everything around him in the den; like a man who understands what he has fallen into; and his head; directed in turn toward all the heads which surrounded him; moved on his neck with an astonished and attentive slowness; but there was nothing in his air which resembled fear。
  He had improvised an intrenchment out of the table; and the man; who but an instant previously; had borne merely the appearance of a kindly old man; had suddenly bee a sort of athlete; and placed his robust fist on the back of his chair; with a formidable and surprising gesture。
  This old man; who was so firm and so brave in the presence of such a danger; seemed to possess one of those natures which are as courageous as they are kind; both easily and simply。 The father of a woman whom we love is never a stranger to us。 Marius felt proud of that unknown man。
  Three of the men; of whom Jondrette had said:
  〃They are chimney…builders;〃 had armed themselves from the pile of old iron; one with a heavy pair of shears; the second with weighing…tongs; the third with a hammer; and had placed themselves across the entrance without uttering a syllable。
  The old man had remained on the bed; and had merely opened his eyes。
  The Jondrette woman had seated herself beside him。
  Marius decided that in a few seconds more the moment for intervention would arrive; and he raised his right hand towards the ceiling; in the direction of the corridor; in readiness to discharge his pistol。
  Jondrette having terminated his colloquy with the man with the cudgel; turned once more to M。 Leblanc; and repeated his question; acpanying it with that low; repressed; and terrible laugh which was peculiar to him:
  〃So you do not recognize me?〃
  M。 Leblanc looked him full in the face; and replied:
  〃No。〃
  Then Jondrette advanced to the table。
  He leaned across the candle; crossing his arms; putting his angular and ferocious jaw close to M。 Leblanc's calm face; and advancing as far as possible without forcing M。 Leblanc to retreat; and; in this posture of a wild beast who is about to bite; he exclaimed:
  〃My name is not Fabantou; my name is not Jondrette; my name is Thenardier。
  I am the inn…keeper of Montfermeil! Do you understand?
  Thenardier!
  Now do you know me?〃
  An almost imperceptible flush crossed M。 Leblanc's brow; and he replied with a voice which neither trembled nor rose above its ordinary level; with his accustomed placidity:
  〃No more than before。〃
  Marius did not hear this reply。
  Any one who had seen him at that moment through the darkness would have perceived that he was haggard; stupid; thunder…struck。 At the moment when Jondrette said: 〃My name is Thenardier;〃 Marius had trembled in every limb; and had leaned against the wall; as though he felt the cold of a steel blade through his heart。
  Then his right arm; all ready to discharge the signal shot; dropped slowly; and at the moment when Jondrette repeated; 〃Thenardier; do you understand?〃 Marius's faltering fingers had e near letting the pistol fall。 Jondrette; by revealing his identity; had not moved M。 Leblanc; but he had quite upset Marius。
  That name of Thenardier; with which M。 Leblanc did not seem to be acquainted; Marius knew well。 Let the reader recall what that name meant to him!
  That name he had worn on his heart; inscribed in his father's testament! He bore it at the bottom of his mind; in the depths of his memory; in that sacred injunction:
  〃A certain Thenardier saved my life。 If my son encounters him; he will do him all the good that lies in his power。〃
  That name; it will be remembered; was one of the pieties of his soul; he mingled it with the name of his father in his worship。
  What!
  This man was that Thenardier; that inn…keeper of Montfermeil whom he had so long and so vainly sought!
  He had found him at last; and how?
  His father's saviour was a ruffian! That man; to whose service Marius was burning to devote himself; was a monster!
  That liberator of Colonel Pontmercy was on the point of mitting a crime whose scope Marius did not; as yet; clearly prehend; but which resembled an assassination! And against whom; great God! what a fatality!
  What a bitter mockery of fate!
  His father had manded him from the depths of his coffin to do all the good in his power to this Thenardier; and for four years Marius had cherished no other thought than to acquit this debt of his father's; and at the moment when he was on the eve of having a brigand seized in the very act of crime by justice; destiny cried to him:
  〃This is Thenardier!〃
  He could at last repay this man for his father's life; saved amid a hail…storm of grape…shot on the heroic field of Waterloo; and repay it with the scaffold! He had sworn to himself that if ever he found that Thenardier; he would address him only by throwing himself at his feet; and now he actually had found him; but it was only to deliver him over to the executioner!
  His father said to him:
  〃Succor Thenardier!〃 And he replied to that adored and sainted voice by crushing Thenardier! He was about to offer to his father in his grave the spectacle of that man who had torn him from death at the peril of his own life; executed on the Place Saint…Jacques through the means of his son; of that Marius to whom he had entrusted that man by his will! And what a mockery to have so long worn on his breast his father's last mands; written in his own hand; only to act in so horribly contrary a sense!
  But; on the other hand; now look on that trap and not prevent it!
  Condemn the victim and to spare the assassin! Could one be held to any gratitude towards so miserable a wretch? All the ideas which Marius had cherished for the last four years were pierced through and through; as it were; by this unforeseen blow。
  He shuddered。
  Everything depended on him。
  Unknown to themselves; he held in his hand all those beings who were moving about there before his eyes。
  If he fired his pistol; M。 Leblanc was saved; and Thenardier lost; if he did not fire; M。 Leblanc would be sacrificed; and; who knows?
  Thenardier would escape。
  Should he dash down the one or allow the other to fall?
  Remorse awaited him in either case。
  What was he to do?
  What should he choose?
  Be false to the most imperious souvenirs; to all those solemn vows to himself; to the most sacred duty; to the most vene

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