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 Vicar of Tours-Part11_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
the innocence and nobility of her soul, foresaw that she would issue

safely from her trials in spite of the accusations which blasted her



life. It may be that Providence has called her to the bosom of God to

withdraw her from those trials. Happy they who can rest here below in



the peace of their own hearts as Sophie now is resting in her robe of

innocence among the blest."



"When he had ended his pompous discourse," said Monsieur de Bourbonne,

after relating the incidents of the internment to Madame de Listomere



when whist was over, the doors shut, and they were alone with the

baron, "this Louis XI. in a cassock--imagine him if you can!--gave a



last flourish to the sprinkler and aspersed the coffin with holy

water." Monsieur de Bourbonne picked up the tongs and imitated the



priest's gesture so satirically that the baron and his aunt could not

help laughing. "Not until then," continued the old gentleman, "did he



contradict himself. Up to that time his behavior had been perfect; but

it was no doubt impossible for him to put the old maid, whom he



despised so heartily and hated almost as much as he hated Chapeloud,

out of sight forever without allowing his joy to appear in that last



gesture."

The next day Mademoiselle Salomon came to breakfast with Madame de



Listomere, chiefly to say, with deep emotion: "Our poor Abbe Birotteau

has just received a frightful blow, which shows the most determined



hatred. He is appointed curate of Saint-Symphorien."

Saint-Symphorien is a suburb of Tours lying beyond the bridge. That



bridge, one of the finest monuments of French architecture, is

nineteen hundred feet long, and the two open squares which surround



each end are precisely alike.

"Don't you see the misery of it?" she said, after a pause, amazed at



the coldness with which Madame de Listomere received the news. "It is

just as if the abbe were a hundred miles from Tours, from his friends,



from everything! It is a frightful exile, and all the more cruel

because he is kept within sight of the town where he can hardly ever



come. Since his troubles he walks very feebly, yet he will have to

walk three miles to see his old friends. He has taken to his bed, just



now, with fever. The parsonage at Saint-Symphorien is very cold and

damp, and the parish is too poor to repair it. The poor old man will



be buried in a living tomb. Oh, it is an infamous plot!"

To end this history it will suffice to relate a few events in a simple



way, and to give one last picture of its chief personages.

Five months later the vicar-general was made Bishop of Troyes; and



Madame de Listomere was dead, leaving an annuity of fifteen hundred

francs to the Abbe Birotteau. The day on which the dispositions in her



will were made known Monseigneur Hyacinthe, Bishop of Troyes, was on

the point of leaving Tours to reside in his diocese, but he delayed



his departure on receiving the news. Furious at being foiled by a

woman to whom he had lately given his countenance while she had been



secretly holding the hand of a man whom he regarded as his enemy,

Troubert again threatened the baron's future career, and put in



jeopardy the peerage of his uncle. He made in the salon of the

bishop" target="_blank" title="n.大主教">archbishop, and before an assembled party, one of those priestly



speeches which are big with vengeance and soft with honied mildness.

The Baron de Listomere went the next day to see this implacable enemy,



who must have imposed sundry hard conditions on him, for the baron's

subsequent conduct showed the most entire submission to the will of



the terrible Jesuit.

The new bishop made over Mademoiselle Gamard's house by deed of gift



to the Chapter of the cathedral; he gave Chapeloud's books and

bookcases to the seminary; he presented the two disputed pictures to



the Chapel of the Virgin; but he kept Chapeloud's portrait. No one

knew how to explain this almost total renunciation of Mademoiselle



Gamard's bequest. Monsieur de Bourbonne supposed that the bishop had

secretly kept moneys that were invested, so as to support his rank



with dignity in Paris, where of course he would take his seat on the

Bishops' bench in the Upper Chamber. It was not until the night before



Monseigneur Troubert's departure from Tours that the sly old fox

unearthed the hidden reason of this strange action, the deathblow



given by the most persistentvengeance to the feeblest of victims.

Madame de Listomere's legacy to Birotteau was contested by the Baron






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