酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

Modeste Mignon-Part18_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页


roost, take Butscha to watch outside,--poor Butscha, who doesn't ask

for anything, not so much as a bone."



"Well, I've give you a trial," said Modeste, whose strongest desire

was to get rid of so clever a watcher. "Please go at once to all the



hotels in Graville and in Havre, and ask if a gentleman has arrived

from England named Monsieur Arthur--"



"Listen to me, mademoiselle," said Butscha, interrupting Modeste

respectfully. "I will go and take a walk on the seashore, for you



don't want me to go to church to-day; that's what it is."

Modeste looked at her dwarf with a perfectlystupid astonishment.



"Mademoiselle, you have wrapped your face in cotton-wool and a silk

handkerchief, but there's nothing the matter with you; and you have



put that thick veil on your bonnet to see some one yourself without

being seen."



"Where did you acquire all that perspicacity?" cried Modeste,

blushing.



"Moreover, mademoiselle, you have not put on your corset; a cold in

the head wouldn't oblige you to disfigure your waist and wear half a



dozen petticoats, nor hide your hands in these old gloves, and your

pretty feet in those hideous shoes, nor dress yourself like a beggar-



woman, nor--"

"That's enough," she said. "How am I to be certain that you will obey



me?"

"My master is obliged to go to Sainte-Adresse. He does not like it,



but he is so truly good he won't deprive me of my Sunday; I will offer

to go for him."



"Go, and I will trust you."

"You are sure I can do nothing for you in Havre?"



"Nothing. Hear me, mysterious dwarf,--look," she continued, pointing

to the cloudless sky; "can you see a single trace of that bird that



flew by just now? No; well then, my actions are pure as the air is

pure, and leave no stain behind them. You may reassure Dumay and the



Latournelles, and my mother. That hand," she said, holding up a pretty

delicate hand, with the points of the rosy fingers, through which the



light shone, slightly turning back, "will never be given, it will

never even be kissed by what people call a lover until my father has



returned."

"Why don't you want me in the church to-day?"



"Do you venture to question me after all I have done you the honor to

say, and to ask of you?"



Butscha bowed without another word, and departed to find his master,

in all the rapture of being taken into the service of his goddess.



Half an hour later, Monsieur and Madame Latournelle came to fetch

Modeste, who complained of a horrible toothache.



"I really have not had the courage to dress myself," she said.

"Well then," replied the worthy chaperone, "stay at home."



"Oh, no!" said Modeste. "I would rather not. I have bundled myself up,

and I don't think it will do me any harm to go out."



And Mademoiselle Mignon marched off beside Latournelle, refusing to

take his arm lest she should be questioned about the outward trembling



which betrayed her inwardagitation at the thought of at last seeing

her great poet. One look, the first,--was it not about to decide her



fate?

CHAPTER XIII



A FULL-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF MONSIEUR DE LA BRIERE

Is there in the life of man a more delightful moment than that of a



first rendezvous? Are the sensations then hidden at the bottom of our

hearts and finding their first expression ever renewed? Can we feel



again the nameless pleasures that we felt when, like Ernest de La

Briere, we looked up our sharpest razors, our finest shirt, an



irreproachable collar, and our best clothes? We deify the garments

associated with that all-supreme moment. We weave within us poetic



fancies quite equal to those of the woman; and the day when either

party guesses them they take wings to themselves and fly away. Are not



such things like the flower of wild fruits, bitter-sweet, grown in the

heart of a forest, the joy of the scant sun-rays, the joy, as Canalis



says in the "Maiden's Song," of the plant itself whose eyes unclosing

see its own image within its breast?



Such emotions, now taking place in La Briere, tend to show that, like

other poor fellows for whom life begins in toil and care, he had never



yet been loved. Arriving at Havre overnight, he had gone to bed at




文章总共2页
文章标签:翻译  译文  翻译文  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号