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

The Duchesse de Langeais-Part14_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
more fail in it than you can fail in honour. _I_ cannot blind



myself. If I am yours, how, in any sense, can I be M. de

Langeais's wife? Can you require the sacrifice of my position,



my rank, my whole life in return for a doubtful love that could

not wait patiently for seven months? What! already you would rob



me of my right to dispose of myself? No, no; you must not talk

like this again. No, not another word. I will not, I cannot



listen to you."

Mme de Langeais raised both hands to her head to push back the



tufted curls from her hot forehead; she seemed very much excited.

"You come to a weak woman with your purpose definitely planned



out. You say--`For a certain length of time she will talk to me

of her husband, then of God, and then of the inevitable



consequences. But I will use and abuse the ascendancy I shall

gain over her; I will make myself indispensable; all the bonds of



habit, all the misconstructions of outsiders, will make for me;

and at length, when our liaison is taken for granted by all the



world, I shall be this woman's master.'--Now, be frank; these are

your thoughts! Oh! you calculate, and you say that you love.



Shame on you! You are enamoured? Ah! that I well believe! You

wish to possess me, to have me for your mistress, that is all!



Very well then, No! The DUCHESSE DE LANGEAIS will not descend so

far. Simple bourgeoises may be the victims of your treachery--I,



never! Nothing gives me assurance of your love. You speak of my

beauty; I may lose every trace of it in six months, like the dear



Princess, my neighbour. You are captivated by my wit, my grace.

Great Heavens! you would soon grow used to them and to the



pleasures of possession. Have not the little concessions that I

was weak enough to make come to be a matter of course in the last



few months? Some day, when ruin comes, you will give me no

reason for the change in you beyond a curt, `I have ceased to



care for you.'--Then, rank and fortune and honour and all that

was the Duchesse de Langeais will be swallowed up in one



disappointed hope. I shall have children to bear witness to my

shame, and----" With an involuntarygesture she interrupted



herself, and continued: "But I am too good-natured to explain

all this to you when you know it better than I. Come! let us



stay as we are. I am only too fortunate in that I can still

break these bonds which you think so strong. Is there anything



so very heroic in coming to the Hotel de Langeais to spend an

evening with a woman whose prattle amuses you?--a woman whom you



take for a plaything? Why, half a dozen young coxcombs come here

just as regularly every afternoon between three and five. They,



too, are very generous, I am to suppose? I make fun of them;

they stand my petulance and insolence pretty quietly, and make me



laugh; but as for you, I give all the treasures of my soul to

you, and you wish to ruin me, you try my patience in endless



ways. Hush, that will do, that will do," she continued, seeing

that he was about to speak, "you have no heart, no soul, no



delicacy. I know what you want to tell me. Very well,

then--yes. I would rather you should take me for a cold,



insensible woman, with no devotion in her composition, no heart

even, than be taken by everybody else for a vulgar person, and be



condemned to your so-called pleasures, of which you would most

certainly tire, and to everlastingpunishment for it afterwards.



Your selfish love is not worth so many sacrifices. . . ."

The words give but a very inadequate idea of the discourse which



the Duchess trilled out with the quick volubility of a

bird-organ. Nor, truly, was there anything to prevent her from



talking on for some time to come, for poor Armand's only reply to

the torrent of flute notes was a silence filled with cruelly



painful thoughts. He was just beginning to see that this woman

was playing with him; he divined instinctively that a devoted



love, a responsive love, does not reason and count the

consequences in this way. Then, as he heard her reproach him



with detestable motives, he felt something like shame as he

remembered that unconsciously he had made those very



calculations. With angelichonesty of purpose, he looked within,




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