第 9 节
作者:人生几何      更新:2021-08-28 17:14      字数:9322
  present general disclosure。  Agitated by a multitude of curious
  thoughts; I retired to my room; that night; prepared to encounter
  some new experience of a spectral character。  Nor was my preparation
  needless; for; waking from an uneasy sleep at exactly two o'clock in
  the morning; what were my feelings to find that I was sharing my bed
  with the skeleton of Master B。!
  I sprang up; and the skeleton sprang up also。  I then heard a
  plaintive voice saying; 〃Where am I?  What is become of me?〃 and;
  looking hard in that direction; perceived the ghost of Master B。
  The young spectre was dressed in an obsolete fashion:  or rather;
  was not so much dressed as put into a case of inferior pepper…and…
  salt cloth; made horrible by means of shining buttons。  I observed
  that these buttons went; in a double row; over each shoulder of the
  young ghost; and appeared to descend his back。  He wore a frill
  round his neck。  His right hand (which I distinctly noticed to be
  inky) was laid upon his stomach; connecting this action with some
  feeble pimples on his countenance; and his general air of nausea; I
  concluded this ghost to be the ghost of a boy who had habitually
  taken a great deal too much medicine。
  〃Where am I?〃 said the little spectre; in a pathetic voice。  〃And
  why was I born in the Calomel days; and why did I have all that
  Calomel given me?〃
  I replied; with sincere earnestness; that upon my soul I couldn't
  tell him。
  〃Where is my little sister;〃 said the ghost; 〃and where my angelic
  little wife; and where is the boy I went to school with?〃
  I entreated the phantom to be comforted; and above all things to
  take heart respecting the loss of the boy he went to school with。  I
  represented to him that probably that boy never did; within human
  experience; come out well; when discovered。  I urged that I myself
  had; in later life; turned up several boys whom I went to school
  with; and none of them had at all answered。  I expressed my humble
  belief that that boy never did answer。  I represented that he was a
  mythic character; a delusion; and a snare。  I recounted how; the
  last time I found him; I found him at a dinner party behind a wall
  of white cravat; with an inconclusive opinion on every possible
  subject; and a power of silent boredom absolutely Titanic。  I
  related how; on the strength of our having been together at 〃Old
  Doylance's;〃 he had asked himself to breakfast with me (a social
  offence of the largest magnitude); how; fanning my weak embers of
  belief in Doylance's boys; I had let him in; and how; he had proved
  to be a fearful wanderer about the earth; pursuing the race of Adam
  with inexplicable notions concerning the currency; and with a
  proposition that the Bank of England should; on pain of being
  abolished; instantly strike off and circulate; God knows how many
  thousand millions of ten…and…sixpenny notes。
  The ghost heard me in silence; and with a fixed stare。  〃Barber!〃 it
  apostrophised me when I had finished。
  〃Barber?〃 I repeatedfor I am not of that profession。
  〃Condemned;〃 said the ghost; 〃to shave a constant change of
  customersnow; menow; a young mannow; thyself as thou artnow;
  thy fathernow; thy grandfather; condemned; too; to lie down with a
  skeleton every night; and to rise with it every morning〃
  (I shuddered on hearing this dismal announcement。)
  〃Barber!  Pursue me!〃
  I had felt; even before the words were uttered; that I was under a
  spell to pursue the phantom。  I immediately did so; and was in
  Master B。's room no longer。
  Most people know what long and fatiguing night journeys had been
  forced upon the witches who used to confess; and who; no doubt; told
  the exact truthparticularly as they were always assisted with
  leading questions; and the Torture was always ready。  I asseverate
  that; during my occupation of Master B。's room; I was taken by the
  ghost that haunted it; on expeditions fully as long and wild as any
  of those。  Assuredly; I was presented to no shabby old man with a
  goat's horns and tail (something between Pan and an old clothesman);
  holding conventional receptions; as stupid as those of real life and
  less decent; but; I came upon other things which appeared to me to
  have more meaning。
  Confident that I speak the truth and shall be believed; I declare
  without hesitation that I followed the ghost; in the first instance
  on a broom…stick; and afterwards on a rocking…horse。  The very smell
  of the animal's paintespecially when I brought it out; by making
  him warmI am ready to swear to。  I followed the ghost; afterwards;
  in a hackney coach; an institution with the peculiar smell of which;
  the present generation is unacquainted; but to which I am again
  ready to swear as a combination of stable; dog with the mange; and
  very old bellows。  (In this; I appeal to previous generations to
  confirm or refute me。)  I pursued the phantom; on a headless donkey:
  at least; upon a donkey who was so interested in the state of his
  stomach that his head was always down there; investigating it; on
  ponies; expressly born to kick up behind; on roundabouts and swings;
  from fairs; in the first cabanother forgotten institution where
  the fare regularly got into bed; and was tucked up with the driver。
  Not to trouble you with a detailed account of all my travels in
  pursuit of the ghost of Master B。; which were longer and more
  wonderful than those of Sinbad the Sailor; I will confine myself to
  one experience from which you may judge of many。
  I was marvellously changed。  I was myself; yet not myself。  I was
  conscious of something within me; which has been the same all
  through my life; and which I have always recognised under all its
  phases and varieties as never altering; and yet I was not the I who
  had gone to bed in Master B。's room。  I had the smoothest of faces
  and the shortest of legs; and I had taken another creature like
  myself; also with the smoothest of faces and the shortest of legs;
  behind a door; and was confiding to him a proposition of the most
  astounding nature。
  This proposition was; that we should have a Seraglio。
  The other creature assented warmly。  He had no notion of
  respectability; neither had I。  It was the custom of the East; it
  was the way of the good Caliph Haroun Alraschid (let me have the
  corrupted name again for once; it is so scented with sweet
  memories!); the usage was highly laudable; and most worthy of
  imitation。  〃O; yes!  Let us;〃 said the other creature with a jump;
  〃have a Seraglio。〃
  It was not because we entertained the faintest doubts of the
  meritorious character of the Oriental establishment we proposed to
  import; that we perceived it must be kept a secret from Miss
  Griffin。  It was because we knew Miss Griffin to be bereft of human
  sympathies; and incapable of appreciating the greatness of the great
  Haroun。  Mystery impenetrably shrouded from Miss Griffin then; let
  us entrust it to Miss Bule。
  We were ten in Miss Griffin's establishment by Hampstead Ponds;
  eight ladies and two gentlemen。  Miss Bule; whom I judge to have
  attained the ripe age of eight or nine; took the lead in society。  I
  opened the subject to her in the course of the day; and proposed
  that she should become the Favourite。
  Miss Bule; after struggling with the diffidence so natural to; and
  charming in; her adorable sex; expressed herself as flattered by the
  idea; but wished to know how it was proposed to provide for Miss
  Pipson?  Miss Bulewho was understood to have vowed towards that
  young lady; a friendship; halves; and no secrets; until death; on
  the Church Service and Lessons complete in two volumes with case and
  lockMiss Bule said she could not; as the friend of Pipson;
  disguise from herself; or me; that Pipson was not one of the common。
  Now; Miss Pipson; having curly hair and blue eyes (which was my idea
  of anything mortal and feminine that was called Fair); I promptly
  replied that I regarded Miss Pipson in the light of a Fair
  Circassian。
  〃And what then?〃 Miss Bule pensively asked。
  I replied that she must be inveigled by a Merchant; brought to me
  veiled; and purchased as a slave。
  'The other creature had already fallen into the second male place in
  the State; and was set apart for Grand Vizier。  He afterwards
  resisted this disposal of events; but had his hair pulled until he
  yielded。'
  〃Shall I not be jealous?〃 Miss Bule inquired; casting down her eyes。
  〃Zobeide; no;〃 I replied; 〃you will ever be the favourite Sultana;
  the first place in my heart; and on my throne; will be ever yours。〃
  Miss Bule; upon that assurance; consented to propound the idea to
  her seven beautiful companions。  It occurring to me; in the course
  of the same day; that we knew we could trust a grinning and good…
  natured soul called Tabby; who was the serving drudge of the house;
  and had no more figure than one of the beds; and upon whose face
  there was always more o