La Cibot met Schmucke on the staircase.
Come here, sir, she said. "There is bad news, that there is! M. Pons is going off his head! Just think of it! he got up with nothing on, he came after me—and down he came full-length. Ask him why—he knows nothing about it. He is in a bad way. I did nothing to provoke such violence, unless, perhaps, I waked up ideas by talking to him of his early amours. Who knows men? Old libertines that they are. I ought not to have shown him my arms when his eyes were glittering like carbuckles."
Schmucke listened. Mme. Cibot might have been talking Hebrew for anything that he understood.
I have given myself a wrench that I shall feel all my days, added she, making as though she were in great pain. (Her arms did, as a matter of fact, ache a little, and the muscular fatigue suggested an idea, which she proceeded to turn to profit.) "So stupid I am. When I saw him lying there on the floor, I just took him up in my arms as if he had been a child, and carried him back to bed, I did. And I strained myself, I can feel it now. Ah! how it hurts!—I am going downstairs. Look after our patient. I will send Cibot for Dr. Poulain. I had rather die outright than be crippled."
La Cibot crawled downstairs, clinging to the banisters, and writhing and groaning so piteously that the tenants, in alarm, came out upon their landings. Schmucke supported the suffering creature, and told the story of La Cibot's devotion, the tears running down his cheeks as he spoke. Before very long the whole house, the whole neighborhood indeed, had heard of Mme. Cibot's heroism; she had given herself a dangerous strain, it was said, with lifting one of the "nutcrackers." Schmucke meanwhile went to Pons' bedside with the tale. Their factotum was in a frightful state. "What shall we do without her?" they said, as they looked at each other; but Pons was so plainly the worse for his escapade, that Schmucke did not dare to scold him.
Gonfounded pric-a-prac! I would sooner purn dem dan loose mein friend! he cried, when Pons told him of the cause of the accident. "To suspect Montame Zipod, dot lend us her safings! It is not goot; but it is der illness—"
Ah! what an illness! I am not the same man, I can feel it, said Pons. "My dear Schmucke, if only you did not suffer through me!"
Scold me, Schmucke answered, "und leaf Montame Zipod in beace."
As for Mme. Cibot, she soon recovered in Dr. Poulain's hands; and her restoration, bordering on the miraculous, shed additional lustre on her name and fame in the Marais. Pons attributed the success to the excellent constitution of the patient, who resumed her ministrations seven days later to the great satisfaction of her two gentlemen. Her influence in their household and her tyranny was increased a hundred-fold by the accident. In the course of a week, the two nutcrackers ran into debt; Mme. Cibot paid the outstanding amounts, and took the opportunity to obtain from Schmucke (how easily!) a receipt for two thousand francs, which she had lent, she said, to the friends.
Oh, what a doctor M. Poulain is! cried La Cibot, for Pons' benefit. "He will bring you through, my dear sir, for he pulled me out of my coffin! Cibot, poor man, thought I was dead.... Well, Dr. Poulain will have told you that while I was in bed I thought of nothing but you. 'God above,' said I, 'take me, and let my dear Mr. Pons live—'"
Poor dear Mme. Cibot, you all but crippled yourself for me.
Ah! but for Dr. Poulain I should have been put to bed with a shovel by now, as we shall all be one day. Well, what must be, must, as the old actor said. One must take things philosophically. How did you get on without me?
Schmucke nursed me, said the invalid; "but our poor money-box and our lessons have suffered. I do not know how he managed."
Calm yourself, Bons, exclaimed Schmucke; "ve haf in Zipod ein panker—"
Do not speak of it, my lamb. You are our children, both of you, cried La Cibot. "Our savings will be well invested; you are safer than the Bank. So long as we have a morsel of bread, half of it is yours. It is not worth mentioning—"
Boor Montame Zipod! said Schmucke, and he went.
Pons said nothing. "Would you believe it, my cherub?" said La Cibot, as the sick man tossed uneasily, "in my agony—for it was a near squeak for me—the thing that worried me most was the thought that I must leave you alone, with no one to look after you, and my poor Cibot without a farthing.... My savings are such a trifle, that I only mention them in connection with my death and Cibot, an angel that he is! No. He nursed me as if I had been a queen, he did, and cried like a calf over me!... But I counted on you, upon my word. I said to him, 'There, Cibot! my gentlemen will not let you starve—'"
Pons made no reply to this thrust ad testamentum; but as the portress waited for him to say something—
I shall recommend you to M. Schmucke, he said at last.
Ah! cried La Cibot, "whatever you do will be right; I trust in you and your heart. Let us never talk of this again; you make me feel ashamed, my cherub. Think of getting better, you will outlive us all yet."
Profound uneasiness filled Mme. Cibot's mind. She cast about for some way of making the sick man understand that she expected a legacy. That evening, when Schmucke was eating his dinner as usual by Pons' bedside, she went out, hoping to find Dr. Poulain at home.
西卜女人看見(jiàn)許??苏谏蠘?。
“你來(lái),先生……我有壞消息告訴你!邦斯先生瘋了!……你想得到嗎,他光著身子從床上起來(lái),跟著我……真的,他筆直地躺在那兒……你問(wèn)他為什么,他就說(shuō)不上來(lái)……他不行哪。我又沒(méi)有做什么事引起他這種神經(jīng)病,除非是提到了他從前的愛(ài)情,惹起了他的心火……男人的脾氣真是看不透的!哼,都是些老色鬼……我不該在他面前露出胳膊,使他眼睛亮得像一對(duì)紅寶石……”
許??寺?tīng)著西卜太太,好像她講的是希伯來(lái)文。
“我過(guò)分用了力,受了內(nèi)傷,怕一輩子不會(huì)好了!……”西卜女人說(shuō)著,裝出一陣陣劇烈的痛苦。原來(lái)她不過(guò)有些筋骨酸痛,隨便想到的;可是她靈機(jī)一動(dòng),覺(jué)得大可借題發(fā)揮,利用一下。“我真傻!看他躺在地上,我就一把抄起,直抱到床上,當(dāng)時(shí)只像抱個(gè)孩子。可是現(xiàn)在我覺(jué)得脫力了!哎??!好疼?。 乙聵橇?,你招呼病人吧。我要叫西卜去請(qǐng)波冷先生來(lái)給我瞧瞧!要是殘廢,我寧可死的……”
她抓著樓梯的欄桿,一步步地爬,嘴里不住地哼哼叫痛,嚇得每層樓上的房客都跑到了樓梯臺(tái)上。許模克流著眼淚扶著她,一路把看門女人奮不顧身的事跡講給大家聽(tīng)。不久,上上下下,四鄰八舍,都知道西卜太太如何英勇,如何為了抱一個(gè)榛子鉗而得了內(nèi)傷,據(jù)說(shuō)還有性命之憂呢。許模克回到邦斯身邊,把管家婆受傷的情形告訴了他,兩人都瞪著眼睛問(wèn):“沒(méi)有她,咱們?cè)趺崔k呢?……”許??丝匆?jiàn)邦斯跌了一跤以后的神色,不敢再埋怨他。
可是等到他弄明白了原委,就大聲說(shuō)道:“該死的古董!我寧可把它們燒掉,總不能丟了我的朋友!西卜太太把積蓄都借給了我們,還疑心她?那太沒(méi)有道理了;可是也難怪,這是你的病……”
“唉!這個(gè)病??!我也覺(jué)得我自己變了。我可真不愿意教你難過(guò),親愛(ài)的許????!?/p>
“好吧,你要埋怨就埋怨我!別跟西卜太太找麻煩……”
西卜太太終身殘疾的危險(xiǎn)性,不消幾天就由波冷醫(yī)生給消滅了。這場(chǎng)病能治好,被認(rèn)為是奇跡,波冷在瑪萊區(qū)的聲望頓時(shí)大為提高。他在邦斯家里說(shuō)那是靠她的身體結(jié)實(shí)。從第七天起,她又在兩位先生家當(dāng)差了,他們倆為此都十分高興。經(jīng)過(guò)了這件事,看門女人對(duì)兩個(gè)榛子鉗生活上的影響與權(quán)力,憑空加了一倍。那一星期內(nèi)他們又欠了債,由她代還了。西卜女人借此機(jī)會(huì),毫不費(fèi)力地從許??耸掷锱揭粡垉汕Хɡ傻慕杵保瑩?jù)說(shuō)那是她替兩位朋友墊的錢。
“哦!波冷醫(yī)生的本領(lǐng)真了不得!”西卜女人對(duì)邦斯說(shuō),“放心,先生,他一定能把你治好,我的命就是他給救過(guò)來(lái)的!可憐的西卜已經(jīng)拿我當(dāng)死人了!……波冷先生想必告訴過(guò)你,我躺在床上一心一意只記掛你,我說(shuō):‘上帝啊,把我?guī)グ?,讓親愛(ài)的邦斯先生活著吧……’”
“可憐的好西卜太太,你差點(diǎn)兒為了我殘廢!……”
“唉!沒(méi)有波冷先生,我早已躺在棺材里了。像從前那戲子說(shuō)的,我只好聽(tīng)天由命!什么事總要看得開(kāi)。我不在這兒的時(shí)候,你怎么辦的?”
“全靠許??朔?;可是我們的錢跟我們的學(xué)生都受了影響……我不知道他怎么對(duì)付的?!?/p>
“急什么,邦斯!”許??嘶卮?,“有西卜老頭做我們的銀行老板呢……”
“這話甭提啦,親愛(ài)的綿羊!”西卜女人叫道,“你們倆是我們的孩子。我們的積蓄存在你們那兒不是頂好嗎?比法蘭西銀行還靠得住。只要我們有一塊面包,你們就有半塊……所以你那些話提也不值得提……”
“好西卜太太!”許??诉@么說(shuō)著,出去了。
邦斯一聲不出。西卜女人看他心里煩惱,就說(shuō):“你相信嗎,小寶貝?我在床上死去活來(lái)的時(shí)候——因?yàn)槲艺娴牟铧c(diǎn)兒回老家!——我最不放心的就是丟下你們,讓你們孤零零的,還有丟下兩手空空的可憐的西卜!我們的積蓄一共也沒(méi)多少,我不過(guò)隨便跟你提一句,因?yàn)橄氲搅宋业乃?,想到了西卜。他真是個(gè)天使,把我服侍得像王后,為了我一把鼻涕一把眼淚地哭得昏天黑地。我是相信你們的,我對(duì)他說(shuō):得了吧,西卜,我的兩位東家不會(huì)讓你沒(méi)有飯吃的……”
對(duì)于這個(gè)針對(duì)遺囑的攻勢(shì),邦斯一聲不出,看門女人靜靜地等他開(kāi)口。
“我會(huì)把你交托給許??说??!辈∪私K于說(shuō)了這一句。
“啊,你怎么辦都好!反正我相信你,相信你的良心……這些話都甭提啦,你要教我不好意思了,好貝貝;你快點(diǎn)兒好吧,你比我們都活得長(zhǎng)呢……”
西卜太太心里很嘀咕,決意要她東家說(shuō)明預(yù)備給她什么遺產(chǎn)。第一步,她等晚上許??嗽诓∪舜睬俺酝盹埖臅r(shí)候,出門去看波冷醫(yī)生了。
瘋狂英語(yǔ) 英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法 新概念英語(yǔ) 走遍美國(guó) 四級(jí)聽(tīng)力 英語(yǔ)音標(biāo) 英語(yǔ)入門 發(fā)音 美語(yǔ) 四級(jí) 新東方 七年級(jí) 賴世雄 zero是什么意思武漢市中航工業(yè)武儀陽(yáng)光社區(qū)英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流群