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The Duchesse de Langeais-Part18_Honore de Balzac(1799-1850)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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of him, only to refuse to make any in return. He should see the

light indeed before you put out his eyes! It is wonderful how



you found the heart to do it! Such villainies demand a display

of resource quite above the comprehension of those bourgeoises



whom you laugh at and despise. They can give and forgive; they

know how to love and suffer. The grandeur of their devotion



dwarfs us. Rising higher in the social scale, one finds just as

much mud as at the lower end; but with this difference, at the



upper end it is hard and gilded over.

"Yes, to find baseness in perfection, you must look for a noble



bringing up, a great name, a fair woman, a duchess. You cannot

fall lower than the lowest unless you are set high above the rest



of the world.--I express my thoughts badly; the wounds you dealt

me are too painful as yet, but do not think that I complain. My



words are not the expression of any hope for myself; there is no

trace of bitterness in them. Know this, madame, for a



certainty--I forgive you. My forgiveness is so complete that you

need not feel in the least sorry that you came hither to find it



against your will. . . . But you might take advantage of other

hearts as child-like as my own, and it is my duty to spare them



anguish. So you have inspired the thought of justice. Expiate

your sin here on earth; God may perhaps forgive you; I wish that



He may, but He is inexorable, and will strike."

The broken-spirited, broken-hearted woman looked up, her eyes



filled with tears.

"Why do you cry? Be true to your nature. You could look on



indifferently at the torture of a heart as you broke it. That

will do, madame, do not cry. I cannot bear it any longer. Other



men will tell you that you have given them life; as for myself, I

tell you, with rapture, that you have given me blank extinction.



Perhaps you guess that I am not my own, that I am bound to live

for my friends, that from this time forth I must endure the cold



chill of death, as well as the burden of life? Is it possible

that there can be so much kindness in you? Are you like the



desert tigress that licks the wounds she has inflicted?"

The Duchess burst out sobbing.



"Pray spare your tears, madame. If I believed in them at all,

it would merely set me on my guard. Is this another of your



artifices? or is it not? You have used so many with me; how can

one think that there is any truth in you? Nothing that you do or



say has any power now to move me. That is all I have to say."

Mme de Langeais rose to her feet, with a great dignity and



humility in her bearing.

"You are right to treat me very hardly," she said, holding out



a hand to the man who did not take it; "you have not spoken

hardly enough; and I deserve this punishment."



"_I_ punish you, madame! A man must love still, to punish, must

he not? From me you must expect no feeling, nothing resembling



it. If I chose, I might be accuser and judge in my cause, and

pronounce and carry out the sentence. But I am about to fulfil a



duty, not a desire of vengeance of any kind. The cruellest

revenge of all, I think, is scorn of revenge when it is in our



power to take it. Perhaps I shall be the minister of your

pleasures; who knows? Perhaps from this time forth, as you



gracefully wear the tokens of disgrace by which society marks out

the criminal, you may perforce learn something of the convict's



sense of honour. And then, you will love!"

The Duchess sat listening; her meekness was unfeigned; it was no



coquettish device. When she spoke at last, it was after a

silence.



"Armand," she began, "it seems to me that when I resisted

love, I was obeying all the instincts of woman's modesty; I



should not have looked for such reproaches from YOU. I was weak;

you have turned all my weaknesses against me, and made so many



crimes of them. How could you fail to understand that the

curiosity of love might have carried me further than I ought to



go; and that next morning I might be angry with myself, and

wretched because I had gone too far? Alas! I sinned in



ignorance. I was as sincere in my wrongdoing, I swear to you, as

in my remorse. There was far more love for you in my severity



than in my concessions. And besides, of what do you complain? I




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