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