雙語·面紗 第三十九章

A few days later Waddington, sitting with Kitty, a long glass of whisky and soda in his hand, began to speak to her of the convent.

“The Mother Superior is a very remarkable woman,” he said.“The Sisters tell me that she belongs to one of the greatest families in France, but they won't tell me which; the Mother Superior, they say, doesn't wish it to be talked of.”

“Why don't you ask her if it interests you?” smiled Kitty.

“If you knew her you'd know it was impossible to ask her an indiscreet question.”

“She must certainly be very remarkable if she can impress you with awe.”

“I am the bearer of a message from her to you. She has asked me to say that, though of course you may not wish to adventure into the very centre of the epidemic, if you do not mind that it will give her great pleasure to show you the convent.”

“It's very kind of her. I shouldn't have thought she was aware of my existence.”

“I've spoken about you; I go there two or three times a week just now to see if there's anything I can do; and I dare say your husband has told them about you. You must be prepared to find that they have an unbounded admiration for him.”

“Are you a Catholic?”

His malicious eyes twinkled and his funny little face was puckered with laughter.

“Why are you grinning at me?” asked Kitty.

“Can any good come out of Galilee? No, I'm not a Catholic. I describe myself as a member of the Church of England, which I suppose is an inoffensive way of saying that you don't believe in anything very much… When the Mother Superior came here ten years ago she brought seven nuns with her and of those all but three are dead. You see, at the best of times, Mei-tan-fu is not a health resort. They live in the very middle of the city, in the poorest district, they work very hard and they never have a holiday.”

“But there are only three and the Mother Superior now?”

“Oh, no, more have taken their places. There are six of them now. When one of them died of cholera at the beginning of the epidemic two others came up from Canton.”

Kitty shivered a little.

“Are you cold?”

“No, it was only someone walking over my grave.”

“When they leave France they leave it for ever. They're not like the Protestant missionaries who have a year's leave every now and then. I always think that must be the hardest thing of all. We English have no very strong attachment to the soil, we can make ourselves at home in any part of the world, but the French, I think, have an attachment to their country which is almost a physical bond. They're never really at ease when they're out of it. It always seems to me very moving that these women should make just that sacrifice. I suppose if I were a Catholic it would seem very natural to me.”

Kitty looked at him coolly. She could not quite understand the emotion with which the little man spoke and she asked herself whether it was a pose. He had drunk a good deal of whisky and perhaps he was not quite sober.

“Come and see for yourself,” he said, with his bantering smile, quickly reading her thought. “It's not nearly so risky as eating a tomato.”

“If you're not frightened there's no reason why I should be.”

“I think it'll amuse you. It's like a little bit of France.”

幾天以后，威廷頓和凱蒂坐在一起，手里拿著一個(gè)長長的高腳杯，杯里盛滿了威士忌加蘇打水，開始向她談?wù)撈鹋薜涝旱囊恍┣闆r。

“修道院院長是個(gè)了不起的女人。”他說道，“修女們告訴我，她出身于法國的一個(gè)名門望族，但她們不愿意透露是哪一個(gè)家族，她們說，院長不希望談?wù)撍某錾??！?/p>

“假如這事令你感興趣，你為什么不親自問問她呢？”凱蒂笑著問道。

“如果你認(rèn)識(shí)她，你就會(huì)知道問她一個(gè)輕率的問題，是不可能得到回答的?！?/p>

“她能給你留下令人敬畏的印象，必定杰出非凡。”

“她讓我給你捎個(gè)口信，說你可能不希望冒險(xiǎn)進(jìn)入疫區(qū)的中心，她當(dāng)然能理解。但是如果你不介意的話，她會(huì)十分榮幸地領(lǐng)你參觀一下修道院?！?/p>

“她太好了，我應(yīng)該早想到她知道有我這么一個(gè)人?！?/p>

“我向她談起過你。我一周能去兩三次，去看看是否有什么我能做的事。另外，我敢說你丈夫也向她們說起過你，當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)她們對(duì)你丈夫有著毫不掩飾的崇拜時(shí)，你可得有心理準(zhǔn)備呀。”

“你是天主教徒嗎？”

他狡黠的眼睛眨了眨，滑稽的小臉因?yàn)榇笮Χ刮骞贁D在一起。

“你為什么沖著我傻笑？”凱蒂問道。

“從天主堂里出來會(huì)得到什么好處嗎？不，我不是個(gè)天主教徒。我把自己稱為新教教徒，我想這種自稱可以是一種不會(huì)冒犯上帝的方式，婉轉(zhuǎn)地說你不信任何東西……當(dāng)修道院院長十年前來到這兒時(shí)，她還帶著七個(gè)修女，現(xiàn)在只有三個(gè)了，其余的都死了。你瞧，即使在沒有瘟疫的時(shí)候，湄潭府也不是什么健康的勝地。她們住在城鎮(zhèn)的中心，在最貧困的地區(qū)，她們工作非常辛苦，從來沒有假期?！?/p>

“現(xiàn)在只有修道院院長和三個(gè)修女了？”

“哦，不，有些人填補(bǔ)了她們的位置，現(xiàn)在她們有六個(gè)人了。當(dāng)她們中的一個(gè)修女在瘟疫爆發(fā)之初就死于霍亂后，另外兩個(gè)修女從廣州過來幫忙了?！?/p>

凱蒂渾身顫抖了一下。

“你冷嗎？”

“不冷，也就是打了個(gè)寒戰(zhàn)[1]?！?/p>

“當(dāng)她們離開法國后，就永遠(yuǎn)地離開了祖國。她們不像新教的傳教士，時(shí)不時(shí)地可以有一年的假期。我總認(rèn)為這是最難的。我們英國人對(duì)于土地沒有那么強(qiáng)烈的依附感，我們能夠在世界上的每個(gè)地區(qū)安家落戶。但是法國人，我認(rèn)為他們對(duì)自己的國家有著很強(qiáng)的依附感，甚至可以說是血肉相連。一旦離開自己的國家，他們就絕對(duì)沒有真正地放松過。在我看來，這些女人做出這樣的犧牲真是很感人，我想如果我是個(gè)天主教徒的話，這樣的行為才會(huì)是十分自然的?！?/p>

凱蒂不動(dòng)聲色地看著他，她還不能十分理解這個(gè)小個(gè)兒男人說這話時(shí)的感情，她懷疑他是不是在故作姿態(tài)。他喝了那么多的威士忌，也許不是很清醒了。

“來吧，你親眼看看?！彼f道，帶著嘲弄的微笑，很快就讀出了她的心思，“幾乎不會(huì)冒什么風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的?！?/p>

“如果你不害怕，我也沒有理由害怕?！?/p>

“我認(rèn)為它會(huì)讓你覺得好玩的，那里就像一個(gè)微型的法國?！?/p>

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[1]這句話的直譯是“只是覺得有人走過了我的墳?zāi)埂?。這是西方人迷信的說法，當(dāng)你毫無來由地打寒戰(zhàn)時(shí)，是因?yàn)椤坝腥俗哌^你的墳?zāi)埂薄?/p>