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