第 65 节
作者:
蒂帆 更新:2024-04-14 09:15 字数:9322
〃He will not smell at his bread like this any more;〃 said the
painter; mimicking the old man's little trick。
〃Oh; hang it all!〃 cried the tutor; 〃let Father Goriot drop; and
let us have something else for a change。 He is a standing dish;
and we have had him with every sauce this hour or more。 It is one
of the privileges of the good city of Paris that anybody may be
born; or live; or die there without attracting any attention
whatsoever。 Let us profit by the advantages of civilization。
There are fifty or sixty deaths every day; if you have a mind to
do it; you can sit down at any time and wail over whole hecatombs
of dead in Paris。 Father Goriot has gone off the hooks; has he?
So much the better for him。 If you venerate his memory; keep it
to yourselves; and let the rest of us feed in peace。〃
〃Oh; to be sure;〃 said the widow; 〃it is all the better for him
that he is dead。 It looks as though he had had trouble enough;
poor soul; while he was alive。〃
And this was all the funeral oration delivered over him who had
been for Eugene the type and embodiment of Fatherhood。
The fifteen lodgers began to talk as usual。 When Bianchon and
Eugene had satisfied their hunger; the rattle of spoons and
forks; the boisterous conversation; the expressions on the faces
that bespoke various degrees of want of feeling; gluttony; or
indifference; everything about them made them shiver with
loathing。 They went out to find a priest to watch that night with
the dead。 It was necessary to measure their last pious cares by
the scanty sum of money that remained。 Before nine o'clock that
evening the body was laid out on the bare sacking of the bedstead
in the desolate room; a lighted candle stood on either side; and
the priest watched at the foot。 Rastignac made inquiries of this
latter as to the expenses of the funeral; and wrote to the Baron
de Nucingen and the Comte de Restaud; entreating both gentlemen
to authorize their man of business to defray the charges of
laying their father…in…law in the grave。 He sent Christophe with
the letters; then he went to bed; tired out; and slept。
Next day Bianchon and Rastignac were obliged to take the
certificate to the registrar themselves; and by twelve o'clock
the formalities were completed。 Two hours went by; no word came
from the Count nor from the Baron; nobody appeared to act for
them; and Rastignac had already been obliged to pay the priest。
Sylvie asked ten francs for sewing the old man in his winding…
sheet and making him ready for the grave; and Eugene and Bianchon
calculated that they had scarcely sufficient to pay for the
funeral; if nothing was forthcoming from the dead man's family。
So it was the medical student who laid him in a pauper's coffin;
despatched from Bianchon's hospital; whence he obtained it at a
cheaper rate。
〃Let us play those wretches a trick;〃 said he。 〃Go to the
cemetery; buy a grave for five years at Pere…Lachaise; and
arrange with the Church and the undertaker to have a third…class
funeral。 If the daughters and their husbands decline to repay
you; you can carve this on the headstone'HERE LIES M。 GORIOT;
FATHER OF THE COMTESSE DE RESTAUD AND THE BARONNE DE NUCINGEN;
INTERRED AT THE EXPENSE OF TWO STUDENTS。' 〃
Eugene took part of his friend's advice; but only after he had
gone in person first to M。 and Mme。 de Nucingen; and then to M。
and Mme。 de Restauda fruitless errand。 He went no further than
the doorstep in either house。 The servants had received strict
orders to admit no one。
〃Monsieur and Madame can see no visitors。 They have just lost
their father; and are in deep grief over their loss。〃
Eugene's Parisian experience told him that it was idle to press
the point。 Something clutched strangely at his heart when he saw
that it was impossible to reach Delphine。
〃Sell some of your ornaments;〃 he wrote hastily in the porter's
room; 〃so that your father may be decently laid in his last
resting…place。〃
He sealed the note; and begged the porter to give it to Therese
for her mistress; but the man took it to the Baron de Nucingen;
who flung the note into the fire。 Eugene; having finished his
errands; returned to the lodging…house about three o'clock。 In
spite of himself; the tears came into his eyes。 The coffin; in
its scanty covering of black cloth; was standing there on the
pavement before the gate; on two chairs。 A withered sprig of
hyssop was soaking in the holy water bowl of silver…plated
copper; there was not a soul in the street; not a passer…by had
stopped to sprinkle the coffin; there was not even an attempt at
a black drapery over the wicket。 It was a pauper who lay there;
no one made a pretence of mourning for him; he had neither
friends nor kindredthere was no one to follow him to the grave。
Bianchon's duties compelled him to be at the hospital; but he had
left a few lines for Eugene; telling his friend about the
arrangements he had made for the burial service。 The house
student's note told Rastignac that a mass was beyond their means;
that the ordinary office for the dead was cheaper; and must
suffice; and that he had sent word to the undertaker by
Christophe。 Eugene had scarcely finished reading Bianchon's
scrawl; when he looked up and saw the little circular gold locket
that contained the hair of Goriot's two daughters in Mme。
Vauquer's hands。
〃How dared you take it?〃 he asked。
〃Good Lord! is that to be buried along with him?〃 retorted
Sylvie。 〃It is gold。〃
〃Of course it shall!〃 Eugene answered indignantly; 〃he shall at
any rate take one thing that may represent his daughters into the
grave with him。〃
When the hearse came; Eugene had the coffin carried into the
house again; unscrewed the lid; and reverently laid on the old
man's breast the token that recalled the days when Delphine and
Anastasie were innocent little maidens; before they began 〃to
think for themselves;〃 as he had moaned out in his agony。
Rastignac and Christophe and the two undertaker's men were the
only followers of the funeral。 The Church of Saint…Etienne du
Mont was only a little distance from the Rue Nueve…Sainte…
Genevieve。 When the coffin had been deposited in a low; dark;
little chapel; the law student looked round in vain for Goriot's
two daughters or their husbands。 Christophe was his only fellow…
mourner; Christophe; who appeared to think it was his duty to
attend the funeral of the man who had put him in the way of such
handsome tips。 As they waited there in the chapel for the two
priests; the chorister; and the beadle; Rastignac grasped
Christophe's hand。 He could not utter a word just then。
〃Yes; Monsieur Eugene;〃 said Christophe; 〃he was a good and
worthy man; who never said one word louder than another; he never
did any one any harm; and gave nobody any trouble。〃
The two priests; the chorister; and the beadle came; and said and
did as much as could be expected for seventy francs in an age
when religion cannot afford to say prayers for nothing。
The ecclesiatics chanted a psalm; the Libera nos and the De
profundis。 The whole service lasted about twenty minutes。 There
was but one mourning coach; which the priest and chorister agreed
to share with Eugene and Christophe。
〃There is no one else to follow us;〃 remarked the priest; 〃so we
may as well go quickly; and so save time; it is half…past five。〃
But just as the coffin was put in the hearse; two empty
carriages; with the armorial bearings of the Comte de Restaud and
the Baron de Nucingen; arrived and followed in the procession to
Pere…Lachaise。 At six o'clock Goriot's coffin was lowered into
the grave; his daughters' servants standing round the while。 The
ecclesiastic recited the short prayer that the students could
afford to pay for; and then both priest and lackeys disappeared
at once。 The two grave diggers flung in several spadefuls of
earth; and then stopped and asked Rastignac for their fee。 Eugene
felt in vain in his pocket; and was obliged to borrow five francs
of Christophe。 This thing; so trifling in itself; gave Rastignac
a terrible pang of distress。 It was growing dusk; the damp
twilight fretted his nerves; he gazed down into the grave and the
tears he shed were drawn from him by the sacred emotion; a
single…hearted sorrow。 When such tears fall on earth; their
radiance reaches heaven。 And with that tear that fell on Father
Goriot's grave; Eugene Rastignac's youth ended。 He folded his
arms and gazed at the clouded sky; and Christophe; after a glance
at him; turned and wentRastignac was left alone。
He went a few paces further; to the highest point of the
cemetery; and looked out over Paris and the windings of the
Seine; the lamps were beginning to shine on either side of the
river。 His eyes turned almost eagerly to the space between the
column of the Place Vendome and the cupola of the Invalides;
there lay the shining world t