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 Marriage Contract-Part6_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


ought, none the less, to inflame the ardor of her champion Solonet.

The mother and daughter were therefore under arms when Paul arrived,



bearing the bouquet which for the last few months he had daily offered

to his love. All three conversed pleasantly while awaiting the arrival



of the notaries.

This day brought to Paul the first skirmish of that long and wearisome



warfare called marriage. It is therefore necessary to state the forces

on both sides, the position of the belligerent bodies, and the ground



on which they are about to manoeuvre.

To maintain a struggle, the importance of which had wholly escaped



him, Paul's only auxiliary was the old notary, Mathias. Both were

about to be confronted, unaware and defenceless, by a most unexpected



circumstance; to be pressed by an enemy whose strategy was planned,

and driven to decide on a course without having time to reflect upon



it. Where is the man who would not have succumbed, even though

assisted by Cujas and Barthole? How should he look for deceit and



treachery where all seemed compliant and natural? What could old

Mathias do alone against Madame Evangelista, against Solonet, against



Natalie, especially when a client in love goes over to the enemy as

soon as the rising conflict threatens his happiness? Already Paul was



damaging his cause by making the customary lover's speeches, to which

his passion gave excessive value in the ears of Madame Evangelista,



whose object it was to drive him to commit himself.

The matrimonial condottieri now about to fight for their clients,



whose personal powers were to be so vitally important in this solemn

encounter, the two notaries, on short, represent individually the old



and the new systems,--old fashioned notarial usage, and the new-

fangled modern procedure.



Maitre Mathias was a worthy old gentleman sixty-nine years of age, who

took great pride in his forty years' exercise of the profession. His



huge gouty feet were encased in shoes with silver buckles, making a

ridiculous termination to legs so spindling, with knees so bony, that



when he crossed them they made you think of the emblems on a

tombstone. His puny little thighs, lost in a pair of wide black



breeches fastened with buckles, seemed to bend beneath the weight of a

round stomach and a torso developed, like that of most sedentary



persons, into a stout barrel, always buttoned into a green coat with

square tails, which no man could remember to have ever seen new. His



hair, well brushed and powdered, was tied in a rat's tail that lay

between the collar of his coat and that of his waistcoat, which was



white, with a pattern of flowers. With his round head, his face the

color of a vine-leaf, his blue eyes, a trumpet nose, a thick-lipped



mouth, and a double-chin, the dear old fellow excited, whenever he

appeared among strangers who did not know him, that satirical laugh



which Frenchmen so generouslybestow on the ludicrous creations Dame

Nature occasionally allows herself, which Art delights in exaggerating



under the name of caricatures.

But in Maitre Mathias, mind had triumphed over form; the qualities of



his soul had vanquished the oddities of his body. The inhabitants of

Bordeaux, as a rule, testified a friendly respect and a deference that



was full of esteem for him. The old man's voice went to their hearts

and sounded there with the eloquence of uprightness. His craft



consisted in going straight to the fact, overturning all subterfuge

and evil devices by plain questionings. His quick perception, his long



training in his profession gave him that divining sense which goes to

the depths of conscience and reads its secret thoughts. Though grave



and deliberate in business, the patriarch could be gay with the gaiety

of our ancestors. He could risk a song after dinner, enjoy all family



festivities, celebrate the birthdays of grandmothers and children, and

bury with due solemnity the Christmas log. He loved to send presents



at New Year, and eggs at Easter; he believed in the duties of a

godfather, and never deserted the customs which colored the life of



the olden time. Maitre Mathias was a noble and venerable relic of the

notaries, obscure great men, who gave no receipt for the millions



entrusted to them, but returned those millions in the sacks they were

delivered in, tied with the same twine; men who fulfilled their trusts



to the letter, drew honest inventories, took fatherly interest in




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