雙語·邦斯舅舅 二十、好日子回來了

XX

Next morning the President went out fairly early to pay a call on his cousin before going down to the court. The apparition of M. le President de Marville, announced by Mme. Cibot, was an event in the house. Pons, thus honored for the first time in his life saw reparation ahead.

At last, my dear cousin, said the President after the ordinary greetings; "at last I have discovered the cause of your retreat. Your behavior increases, if that were possible, my esteem for you. I have but one word to say in that connection. My servants have all been dismissed. My wife and daughter are in despair; they want to see you to have an explanation. In all this, my cousin, there is one innocent person, and he is an old judge; you will not punish me, will you, for the escapade of a thoughtless child who wished to dine with the Popinots? especially when I come to beg for peace, admitting that all the wrong has been on our side?... An old friendship of thirty-six years, even suppose that there had been a misunderstanding, has still some claims. Come, sign a treaty of peace by dining with us to-night—"

Pons involved himself in a diffuse reply, and ended by informing his cousin that he was to sign a marriage contract that evening; how that one of the orchestra was not only going to be married, but also about to fling his flute to the winds to become a banker.

Very well. To-morrow.

Mme. la Comtesse Popinot has done me the honor of asking me, cousin. She was so kind as to write—

The day after to-morrow then.

M. Brunner, a German, my first flute's future partner, returns the compliment paid him to-day by the young couple—

You are such pleasant company that it is not surprising that people dispute for the honor of seeing you. Very well, next Sunday? Within a week, as we say at the courts?

On Sunday we are to dine with M. Graff, the flute's father-in-law.

Very well, on Saturday. Between now and then you will have time to reassure a little girl who has shed tears already over her fault. God asks no more than repentance; you will not be more severe than the Eternal father with poor little Cecile?—

Pons, thus reached on his weak side, again plunged into formulas more than polite, and went as far as the stairhead with the President. An hour later the President's servants arrived in a troop on poor Pons' second floor. They behaved after the manner of their kind; they cringed and fawned; they wept. Madeleine took M. Pons aside and flung herself resolutely at his feet.

It is all my fault; and monsieur knows quite well that I love him, here she burst into tears. "It was vengeance boiling in my veins; monsieur ought to throw all the blame of the unhappy affair on that. We are all to lose our pensions.... Monsieur, I was mad, and I would not have the rest suffer for my fault.... I can see now well enough that fate did not make me for monsieur. I have come to my senses, I aimed too high, but I love you still, monsieur. These ten years I have thought of nothing but the happiness of making you happy and looking after things here. What a lot!... Oh! if monsieur but knew how much I love him! But monsieur must have seen it through all my mischief-making. If I were to die to-morrow, what would they find?—A will in your favor, monsieur.... Yes, monsieur, in my trunk under my best things."

Madeleine had set a responsive chord vibrating; the passion inspired in another may be unwelcome, but it will always be gratifying to self-love; this was the case with the old bachelor. After generously pardoning Madeleine, he extended his forgiveness to the other servants, promising to use his influence with his cousin the Presidente on their behalf.

It was unspeakably pleasant to Pons to find all his old enjoyments restored to him without any loss of self-respect. The world had come to Pons, he had risen in the esteem of his circle; but Schmucke looked so downcast and dubious when he heard the story of the triumph, that Pons felt hurt. When, however, the kind-hearted German saw the sudden change wrought in Pons' face, he ended by rejoicing with his friend, and made a sacrifice of the happiness that he had known during those four months that he had had Pons all to himself. Mental suffering has this immense advantage over physical ills—when the cause is removed it ceases at once. Pons was not like the same man that morning. The old man, depressed and visibly failing, had given place to the serenely contented Pons, who entered the Presidente's house that October afternoon with the Marquise de Pompadour's fan in his pocket. Schmucke, on the other hand, pondered deeply over this phenomenon, and could not understand it; your true stoic never can understand the courtier that dwells in a Frenchman. Pons was a born Frenchman of the Empire; a mixture of eighteenth century gallantry and that devotion to womankind so often celebrated in songs of the type of Partant pour la Syrie. So Schmucke was fain to bury his chagrin beneath the flowers of his German philosophy; but a week later he grew so yellow that Mme. Cibot exerted her ingenuity to call in the parish doctor. The leech had fears of icterus, and left Mme. Cibot frightened half out of her wits by the Latin word for an attack of the jaundice.

Meantime the two friends went out to dinner together, perhaps for the first time in their lives. For Schmucke it was a return to the Fatherland; for Johann Graff of the Hotel du Rhin and his daughter Emilie, Wolfgang Graff the tailor and his wife, Fritz Brunner and Wilhelm Schwab, were Germans, and Pons and the notary were the only Frenchmen present at the banquet. The Graffs of the tailor's business owned a splendid house in the Rue de Richelieu, between the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs and the Rue Villedo; they had brought up their niece, for Emilie's father, not without reason, had feared contact with the very mixed society of an inn for his daughter. The good tailor Graffs, who loved Emilie as if she had been their own daughter, were giving up the ground floor of their great house to the young couple, and here the bank of Brunner, Schwab and Company was to be established.

The arrangements for the marriage had been made about a month ago; some time must elapse before Fritz Brunner, author of all this felicity, could settle his deceased father's affairs, and the famous firm of tailors had taken advantage of the delay to redecorate the first floor and to furnish it very handsomely for the bride and bridegroom. The offices of the bank had been fitted into the wing which united a handsome business house with the hotel at the back, between courtyard and garden.

二十、好日子回來了

第二天，庭長很早就出門，以便上法院之前去看他的舅舅。在西卜太太通報之下，瑪維爾庭長的出現(xiàn)簡直是件大事。邦斯還是破天荒第一次受到這樣的榮譽，覺得這一定是重修舊好的預(yù)兆。

庭長寒暄了幾句，就說：“親愛的舅舅，我終于知道了你杜門不出的原因。你的行為使我對你更敬重了。關(guān)于那樁事，我只告訴你一句話：下人全給打發(fā)了。內(nèi)人和小女都急得沒了主意；她們想見見你，跟你解釋一番。舅舅，在這件事情里頭，我這個老法官是無辜的；小姑娘為了想上包比諾家吃飯，一時糊涂，沒了規(guī)矩，可是請你別為此而責(zé)罰我，尤其現(xiàn)在我來向你求情，承認(rèn)所有的錯都在我們這方面……咱們?nèi)甑睦辖磺?，即使受了傷害，總還能使你給個面子吧。得啦！今晚請到我們家吃飯去，表示大家講和……”

邦斯不知所云地回答了一大堆。結(jié)果說他樂隊里一位同事辭了職要去辦銀行，今晚請他去參加訂婚禮。

“那么明天吧?！?/p>

“外甥，明天我得上包比諾家吃飯，伯爵夫人寫了封信來，真是客氣得……”

“那么后天……”

“后天，我那位樂師的合伙人，一個姓勃羅納的德國人，請新夫婦吃飯……”

“哦，你人緣多好，這么些人都爭著請你，”庭長說，“好吧，那么下星期日，八天之內(nèi)，像我們法院里說的?！?/p>

“哎，那天我們要到樂師的丈人葛拉夫家里吃飯……”

“那么就下星期六吧！這期間，請你抽空去安慰安慰我那小姑娘，她已經(jīng)痛哭流涕地懺悔過了。上帝也只要求人懺悔，你對可憐的賽西爾總不至于比上帝更嚴(yán)吧？……”

邦斯被人抓到了弱點，不由得說了一番謙遜不遑的話，把庭長一直送到樓梯頭。一小時以后，庭長家的那些仆役來了，拿出下人們卑鄙無恥、欺善怕惡的嘴臉，居然哭了！瑪特蘭納特意把邦斯先生拉在一邊，跪倒在他腳下，哭哭啼啼地說：

“先生，一切都是我做的，先生知道我是愛您的。那樁該死的事，只怪我惱羞成怒，迷了心竅?，F(xiàn)在我們連年金都要丟了！……先生，我固然瘋了，可不愿意連累同伴……現(xiàn)在我知道沒有高攀先生的福分。我想明白了，當(dāng)初不該有那么大的野心，可是先生，我是永遠愛您的。十年工夫，我只想使您幸福，到這兒來服侍您。那才是好福氣呢！……噢，要是先生能知道我的心！……我做的一切缺德的事，先生早該發(fā)覺……倘使我明兒死了，您知道人家會找到什么？……一張遺囑！我在遺囑上把一切都送給先生……真的，遺囑就藏在我箱子里，壓在首飾底下！”

瑪特蘭納這番話打動了老鰥夫的心，使他覺得非常舒服；有人為你顛倒，哪怕是你不喜歡的人，你的自尊心總很得意。老人寬宏大量地原諒了瑪特蘭納，又原諒了其余的人，說他會向庭長夫人說情，把他們?nèi)苛粝碌摹?/p>

邦斯看到不失身份而能重享昔日之樂，真有說不出的歡喜。這一回是人家來求他的，他的尊嚴(yán)只會增加；但他把這些得意事兒說給許?？寺牭臅r候，看到朋友悒郁不歡，嘴上不說而明明在懷疑的神氣，他覺得很難受?？墒呛眯牡牡聡?，發(fā)覺邦斯臉色突然之間轉(zhuǎn)好了，終于也很快慰，而情愿犧牲他四個月來獨占朋友的那種幸福。

心病比身病有個大占便宜的地方：只要不能滿足的欲望得到了滿足，它就會霍然而愈。邦斯在那天早上完全變了一個人。愁眉苦臉、病病歪歪的老人，立刻變得心滿意足，神魂安定，跟以前拿著蓬巴杜夫人的扇子，去送給庭長太太時一樣。可是許?？藢@個現(xiàn)象只覺得莫名其妙，不由得左思右想地出神了。真正清心寡欲的人，是永遠不能了解法國人逢迎吹拍的習(xí)氣的。邦斯徹頭徹尾是個帝政時代的法國人，一方面講究上一世紀(jì)的風(fēng)流蘊藉，一方面極崇拜女性像“動身上敘利亞……”那個流行歌曲所稱道的那種風(fēng)氣。于是許?？税驯裨谛睦?，用他德國人的哲學(xué)遮蓋起來；可是一個星期后他臉色發(fā)黃了，西卜太太用了些小手段把本區(qū)的醫(yī)生請了來。醫(yī)生怕許?？耸呛Φ狞S疸病，但他不說黃疸而說了一個醫(yī)學(xué)上的專門名詞，把西卜太太嚇壞了。

兩個朋友一同在外邊吃飯也許還是破題兒第一遭，但許?？擞X得仿佛回到德國去玩了一次。萊茵旅館的主人，約翰·葛拉夫，他的女兒哀彌麗，裁縫伏弗更·葛拉夫和他的太太，弗列茲·勃羅納和威廉·希華勃，全是德國人。請的來賓只有邦斯和公證人兩位是法國人。葛拉夫裁縫，在小新田街與維勒杜街之間的黎塞留街上有所華麗的大宅子，他們的侄女就在這兒長大的；因為做父親的怕旅館里來往的人太雜，不愿意讓女兒接觸。裁縫夫婦對侄女視同己出，決意把屋子的底層讓給小夫妻倆；而勃羅納—希華勃銀行將來也設(shè)在這里。

以上的計劃才不過決定了一個月光景，因為這些喜事的主角勃羅納，執(zhí)管遺產(chǎn)也得等待相當(dāng)時間。裁縫給新夫婦置辦家具，把住房粉刷一新。老屋子坐落在花園與院子之間，側(cè)面有一進屋子預(yù)備做銀行的辦公室，從那兒可以通到臨街一幢出租的漂亮屋子。