雙語·面紗 第三十三章

33

Her night was tortured with strange dreams. She seemed to be carried in her chair and she felt the swaying motion as the bearers marched with their long, uneven stride. She entered cities, vast and dim, where the multitude thronged about her with curious eyes. The streets were narrow and tortuous and in the open shops, with their strange wares, all traffic stopped as she went by and those who bought and those who sold, paused. Then she came to the memorial arch and its fantastic outline seemed on a sudden to gain a monstrous life; its capricious contours were like the waving arms of a Hindu god, and, as she passed under it, she heard the echo of mocking laughter. But then Charlie Townsend came towards her and took her in his arms, lifting her out of the chair, and said it was all a mistake, he had never meant to treat her as he had, for he loved her and he couldn't live without her. She felt his kisses on her mouth and she wept with joy, asking him why he had been so cruel, but though she asked she knew it did not matter. And then there was a hoarse, abrupt cry and they were separated, and between, hurrying silently, coolies passed in their ragged blue and they bore a coffin.

She awoke with a start.

The bungalow stood half way down a steep hill and from her window she saw the narrow river below her and opposite, the city. The dawn had just broken and from the river rose a white mist shrouding the junks that lay moored close to one another like peas in a pod. There were hundreds of them, and they were silent, mysterious in that ghostly light, and you had a feeling that their crews lay under an enchantment, for it seemed that it was not sleep, but something strange and terrible, that held them so still and mute.

The morning drew on and the sun touched the mist so that it shone whitely like the ghost of snow on a dying star. Though on the river it was light so that you could discern palely the lines of the crowded junks and the thick forest of their masts, in front it was a shining wall the eye could not pierce. But suddenly from that white cloud a tall, grim, and massive bastion emerged. It seemed not merely to be made visible by the all-discovering sun but rather to rise out of nothing at the touch of a magic wand. It towered, the stronghold of a cruel and barbaric race, over the river. But the magician who built worked swiftly and now a fragment of coloured wall crowned the bastion; in a moment, out of the mist, looming vastly and touched here and there by a yellow ray of sun, there was seen a cluster of green and yellow roofs. Huge they seemed and you could make out no pattern; the order, if order there was, escaped you; wayward and extravagant, but of an unimaginable richness. This was no fortress, nor a temple, but the magic palace of some emperor of the gods where no man might enter. It was too airy, fantastic and unsubstantial to be the work of human hands; it was the fabric of a dream.

The tears ran down Kitty's face and she gazed, her hands clasped to her breast and her mouth, for she was breathless, open a little. She had never felt so light of heart and it seemed to her as though her body were a shell that lay at her feet and she pure spirit. Here was Beauty. She took it as the believer takes in his mouth the wafer which is God.

第三十三章

整個(gè)晚上她被一個(gè)接著一個(gè)奇怪的夢所驚擾，似乎是被轎椅抬著，隨著轎夫們漫長、不穩(wěn)的步伐，她感覺到了搖晃的節(jié)奏。她穿過一座座城市，空曠而昏暗，成群的人擠在一起用好奇的目光盯著她。街道狹窄而且彎彎曲曲，在開著的商店中，擺滿了奇怪的商品。當(dāng)她經(jīng)過的時(shí)候，所有的車輛行人都停了下來，那些買和賣的人也暫停了交易。然后，她又來到了牌坊跟前，它怪誕的造型好像突然變成了龐然大物，它變化無常的外形就像一尊印度神在揮動(dòng)著多條手臂，而且，她從底下路過的時(shí)候，分明聽到了嘲笑聲在回蕩。但就在這時(shí)，查理來到了她身旁，把她攬入懷中，把她從轎椅上抱起，告訴她一切都是個(gè)錯(cuò)誤，他那樣對(duì)待她絕非他的本意，因?yàn)樗麗鬯?，沒有她活不下去。她覺得他的吻印在了她的唇上，她喜極而泣，責(zé)怪他為什么那么殘忍，但是雖然她嘴上質(zhì)問他，心中早就不當(dāng)回事了。就在這時(shí)，她突然聽見一聲沙啞的哭喊，他們分開了，在他們中間，匆忙地走來一群沉默的苦力，他們穿著藍(lán)色的破衣爛衫，正抬著一口棺材。

她猛地驚醒了。

她住的平房矗立在一個(gè)陡峭山丘的半山腰，從窗戶可以看到下面狹長的河流，以及對(duì)面的城鎮(zhèn)。剛剛破曉，河面上升起了一團(tuán)白色的霧氣，就像白色的壽衣籠罩著停泊在河上的平底帆船，這些小船一個(gè)挨一個(gè)地緊緊靠在一起，如同豆莢里的一粒粒豌豆，數(shù)量達(dá)到了數(shù)百艘之多，在鬼魅般的光線下，它們安靜、神秘。而且你會(huì)產(chǎn)生一種錯(cuò)覺，船夫們好像被施了魔法，因?yàn)榭瓷先ゲ⒉幌裨谒瘔舢?dāng)中，而是有種詭異和可怕的東西把他們牢牢地定在那里，寂靜無聲。

隨著清晨的臨近，陽光接觸到了霧氣，霧氣映射著白光，就像在一個(gè)垂死星球上雪白的幽靈。雖然河面上有了亮光，你能夠分辨出擁擠的帆船白色的輪廓，還有如林般的桅桿，但是在這些船的前面是閃亮的霧墻，肉眼無法看透。突然在白色的團(tuán)霧中，一座高大威嚴(yán)的巨型堡壘出現(xiàn)了，好像不僅僅會(huì)因光芒四射的太陽照耀才能讓人看見，而是因?yàn)槟д鹊囊稽c(diǎn)它才升起于無形當(dāng)中，它像塔一樣高高聳立在河面上，是殘酷和野蠻種族的據(jù)點(diǎn)。然而，修建它的魔術(shù)師工程完成得太快，現(xiàn)在只剩下堡壘頂部的彩色磚墻的殘跡。一會(huì)兒工夫，在團(tuán)霧之外，出現(xiàn)了巨大的海市蜃樓景象，太陽金黃色的光線到處漫射，似乎還能看到一排排綠色和黃色相間的屋頂，它們似乎很大，你無法判斷出是哪一種建筑風(fēng)格；井井有條，如果說它們井井有條的話，你也無法察覺到。一切都是放任自流和肆意揮霍的，一切都是無法想象的豐富多彩。實(shí)際上，根本沒有什么堡壘，沒有什么廟宇，有的只是某位神靈的神奇宮殿，沒人涉足過。它懸在空中，金碧輝煌、虛無縹緲，絕非出自凡人之手，它是夢的產(chǎn)物。

淚水滑過凱蒂的臉龐，她凝視著前方的景物，一只手緊貼胸口，一只手緊捂著嘴，因?yàn)闊o法呼吸，她的嘴略微張開著。她從來沒有覺得心有如此輕飄，對(duì)她來說，身體只是一個(gè)軀殼，剩下的是純粹的靈魂，美麗就駐留在這兒，她把它當(dāng)作信徒正在往嘴里放的圣餅，而圣餅就是上帝的化身。