《德伯家的苔丝》第四章

　　Tess！' he said in a preparatory tone, after a silence.

　　`Yes, Abraham.'

　　`Bain't you glad that we've become gentlefolk?'

　　`Not particular glad.'

　　`But you be glad that you `m going to marry a gentleman?'

　　`What?' said Tess, lifting her face.

　　`That our great relation will help `ee to marry a gentleman.'

　　`I? Our great relation? We have no such relation. What has put that into your head?'

　　`I heard `em talking about it up at Rolliver's when I went to find father. There's a rich lady of our family out at Trantridge, and mother said that if you claimed kin with the lady, she'd put `ee in the way of marrying a gentleman.'

　　His sister became abruptly still, and lapsed into a pondering silence. Abraham talked on, rather for the pleasure of utterance than for audition, so that his sister's abstraction was of no account. He leant back against the hives, and with upturned face made observations on the stars, whose cold pulses were beating amid the black hollows above, in serene dissociation from these two wisps of human life. He asked how far away those twinklers were, and whether God was on the other side of them. But ever and anon his childish prattle recurred to what impressed his imagination even more deeply than the wonders of creation. If Tess were made rich by marrying a gentleman, would she have money enough to buy a spyglass so large that it would draw the stars as near to her as Nettlecombe-Tout?

　　The renewed subject, which seemed to have impregnated the whole family, filled Tess with impatience.

　　`Never mind that now！' she exclaimed.

　　`Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?'

　　`Yes.'

　　`All like ours?'

　　`I don't know; but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like apples on our stubbard tree. Most of them splendid and sound a few blighted.'

　　`Which do we live on - a splendid one or a blighted one?'

　　`A blighted one.'

　　`'Tis very unlucky that we didn't pitch on a sound one, when there were so many more of `em！'

　　`Yes.'

　　`Is it like that really, Tess said Abraham, turning to her much impressed, on reconsideration of this rare information. `How would it have been if we had pitched on a sound one?'

　　`Well, father wouldn't have coughed and creeped about as he does, and wouldn't have got too tipsy to go this journey; and mother wouldn't have been always washing, and never getting finished.'

　　`And you would have been a rich lady read-ymade, and not have had to be made rich by marrying a gentleman?'

　　`O Aby, don't - don't talk of that any more！'

　　Left to his reflections Abraham soon grew drowsy. Tess was not skilful in the management of a horse, but she thought that she could take upon herself the entire conduct of the load for the present, and allow Abraham to go to sleep if he wished to do so. She made him a sort of nest in front of the hives, in such a manner that he could not fall, and, taking the reins into her own hands, jogged on as before.

　　Prince required but slight attention, lacking energy for superfluous movements of any sort. With no longer a companion to distract her, Tess fell more deeply into reverie than ever, her back leaning against the hives. The mute procession past her shoulders of trees and hedges became attached to fantastic scenes outside reality, and the occasional heave of the wind became the sigh of some immense sad soul, conterminous with the universe in space, and with history in time.

　　Then, examining the mesh of events in her own life, she seemed to see the vanity of her father's pride; the gentlemanly suitor awaiting herself in her mother's fancy; to see him as a grimacing personage, laughing at her poverty, and her shrouded knightly ancestry. Everything grew more and more extravagant, and she no longer knew how time passed. A sudden jerk shook her in her seat, and Tess awoke from the sleep into which she, too, had fallen.

　　They were a long way further on than when she had lost consciousness, and the waggon had stopped. A hollow groan, unlike anything she had ever heard in her life, came from the front, followed by a shout of `Hoi there！'

　　The lantern hanging at her waggon had gone out, but another was shining in her face - much brighter than her own had been. Something terrible had happened. The harness was entangled with an object which blocked the way.

　　In consternation Tess jumped down, and discovered the dreadful truth. The groan had proceeded from her father's poor horse Prince. The morning mail-cart, with its two noiseless wheels, speeding along these lanes like an arrow, as it always did, had driven into her slow and unlighted equipage. The pointed shaft of the cart had entered the breast of the unhappy Prince like a sword, and from the wound his life's blood was spouting in a stream, and falling with a hiss into the road.

　　In her despair Tess sprang forward and put her hand upon the hole, with the only result that she became splashed from face to skirt with the crimson drops. Then she stood helplessly looking on. Prince also stood firm and motionless as long as he could; till he suddenly sank down in a heap,

　　By this time the mail-cart man had joined her, and began dragging and unharnessing the hot form of Prince. But he was already dead, and, seeing that nothing more could be done immediately, the mail-cart man returned to his own animal, which was uninjured.

　　`You was on the wrong side,'he said.'I am bound to go on with the mail-bags, so that the best thing for you to do is to bide here with your load. I'll send somebody to help you as soon as I can. It is getting daylight, and you have nothing to fear.'

　　He mounted and sped on his way; while Tess stood and waited. The atmosphere turned pale, the birds shook themselves in the hedges, arose, and twittered; the lane showed all its white features, and Tess showed hers, still whiter. The huge pool of blood in front of her was already assuming the iridescence of coagulation; and when the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from it. Prince lay alongside still and stark; his eyes half open, the hole in his chest looking scarcely large enough to have let out all that had animated him.

　　`'Tis all my doing - all mine！' the girl cried, gazing at the spectacle. `No excuse for me none - What will mother and father live on now? Aby, Aby！' She shook the child, who had slept soundly through the whole disaster. `We can't go on with our load - Prince is killed！'

　　When Abraham realized all, the furrows of fifty years were extemporized on his young face.

　　`Why, I danced and laughed only yesterday！' she went on to herself. `To think that I was such a fool！'

　　`Tis because we be on a blighted star, and not a sound one, isn't it, Tess?' murmured Abraham through his tears.

　　In silence they waited through an interval which seemed endless. At length a sound, and an approaching object, proved to them that the driver of the mail-cart had been as good as his word. A farmer's man from near Stourcastle came up, leading a strong cob. He was harnessed to the waggon of beehives in the place of Prince, and the load taken on towards Casterbridge.

　　The evening of the same day saw the empty waggon reach again the spot of the accident. Prince had lain there in the ditch since the morning; but the place of the blood-pool was still visible in the middle of the road, though scratched and scraped over by passing vehicles. All that was left of Prince was now hoisted into the waggon he had formerly hauled, and with his hoofs in the air, and his shoes shining in the setting sunlight, he retraced the eight or nine miles to Marlott.

　　Tess had gone back earlier. How to break the news was more than she could think. It was a relief to her tongue to find from the faces of her parents that they already knew of their loss, though this did not lessen the self-reproach which she continued to heap upon herself for her negligence.

　　But the very shiftlessness of the household rendered the misfortune a less terrifying one to them than it would have been to a striving family, though in the present case it meant ruin, and in the other it would only have meant inconvenience. In the Durbeyfield countenances there was nothing of the red wrath that would have burnt upon the girl from parents more ambitious for her welfare. Nobody blamed Tess as she blamed herself.

　　When it was discovered that the knacker and tanner would give only a very few shillings for Prince's carcase because of his decrepitude, Durbeyfield rose to the occasion.

　　`No,' said he stoically, `I won't sell his old body. When we d'Urbervilles was knights in the land, we didn't sell our chargers for cat's meat. Let `em keep their shillings！ He've served me well in his lifetime, and I won't part from him now.'

　　He worked harder the next day in digging a grave for Prince in the garden than he had worked for months to grow a crop for his family. When the hole was ready, Durbeyfield and his wife tied a rope round the horse and dragged him up the path towards it, the children following in funeral train. Abraham and `Liza-Lu sobbed, Hope and Modesty discharged their griefs in loud blares which echoed from the walls; and when Prince was tumbled in they gathered round the grave. The breadwinner had been taken away from them; what would they do?

　　`Is he gone to heaven?' asked Abraham, between the sobs.

　　Then Durbeyfield began to shovel in the earth and the children cried anew. All except Tess. Her face was dry and pale, as though she regarded herself in the light of a murderess.

　　“苔丝！”沉默了一会儿，他叫了一声，预备说话。

　　“什么呀，亚伯拉罕。”

　　“我们已经成了有身分的人了，你兴奋吗？”

　　“不怎么特别兴奋。”

　　“可是你要是嫁给了一个名流，你一定会兴奋的了？”

　　“你说什么？”苔丝说，抬起了她的脸。

　　“我是说我们的那个阔亲戚会帮忙，让你嫁给一个名流。”

　　“我？我们的那个阔亲戚？我可没有这样的亲戚。你头脑里怎么会有了这种想法？”

　　“我往找父亲的时候，我闻声他们正在罗利弗酒店谈论这件事。在特兰里奇那边有我们家的一个阔亲戚，母亲说要是你同那位夫人认了亲戚，她就会帮你嫁给一个名流。”

　　他的姐姐忽然坐在那儿一动也不动了，陷进沉思默想之中。亚伯拉罕继续说着，只图自己说得愉快，而不管听的人怎样，因此没有留意到他的姐姐在那儿出神。他仰身向后靠在蜂箱上，仰着脸观察天上的星星，星星冷清的脉搏在头顶上漆黑的夜空里搏动着，静寂无声，同人类生命中这两个小生命相隔远远。她问姐姐那些眨眼的星星离他们究竟有多远，问上帝是不是就在那些星星的背后。不过究竟他只是一个孩子，所以他的唠叨就又回到了比创造的奇迹更为深进的想象的话题上了。假如苔丝嫁给了一个名流而变得富有了，她会不会有足够多的钱买一架大看远镜，大得能够把星星拉到跟前来，就跟荨麻越一样近？

　　重新提起这个似乎充斥在全家人头脑中的话题，使苔丝很不耐烦。

　　“现在不要再提那个了！”苔丝大声说。

　　“苔丝，你说每一个星星都是每一个世界吗？”

　　“是的。”

　　“都跟我们的世界一样吗？”

　　“我不知道，不过我以为是这样的。有时候它们就似乎像我们家尖苹果树上的苹果。它们中间的大多数都是极好的，没有毛病的——有一些是有毛病的。”

　　“我们住的是哪一种——是没有毛病的还是有毛病的？”

　　“是有毛病的。”

　　“真是太不幸了，有这样多的极好的世界，我们却没有挑一个没有毛病的住。”

　　“是的。”

　　“真的是那样吗，苔丝？”亚伯拉罕把这句话印在脑子里，又想了想这个新鲜的观点，转身对他姐姐说。“要是我们选中的是一个没有毛病的，那又是什么样子呢？”

　　“哦，假如那样，父亲就不会像现在那样咳嗽和有气无力了，也不会喝醉了酒不能上路了。母亲也不会总是洗来洗往的，总是洗不完。”

　　“你也就会一生下来就是一个阔小姐了，也就用不着嫁给一个名流才能阔起来了，是吗？”

　　“哎呀，亚伯，不要——不要再说这件事啦！”

　　亚伯拉罕独自思考了一会儿，不久就打起瞌睡来。苔丝对驾车赶马并不熟练，但是她想自己暂时可以驾驭这辆车，假如亚伯拉罕想睡觉，就让他睡觉好了。她在蜂箱前面给他弄了一下小窝，这样他就不会从车上掉下往，然后就把缰绳拿在自己手里，像先前一样驾着车向前走。

　　王子没有力气作任何不必要的动作，所以根本不需要照看。她的同伴不再打搅她，她就向后靠在蜂箱上，比以前更加深沉地思考起来。无声的树木和树篱从身边擦过，变成了现实以外幻想景物中的东西，偶然刮起的风声，也变成了某个巨大的悲伤的灵魂的叹息，在空间上同宇宙连在一起，在时间上同历史连在一起。

　　接着，她仔细地回想了自己一生中纷乱无序的事情，似乎看见她父亲骄傲中的虚荣；在她母亲的幻想里，她看到了那个向她求婚的名流样子容貌的人；看见他像是一个怪笑着的怪人，在嘲笑她的贫穷，嘲笑她的已成枯骨的骑士祖先。一切都变得越来越荒诞离奇，她再也不知道时间是怎样过往的了。马车猛地把她的座位一震，苔丝才从睡梦中醒来，原来她也睡着了。

　　苔丝睡着以后，他们已经向前走了很长一段路，现在马车停了下来。前面传来一阵虚弱的呻吟，她一生中从来没有闻声过那种声音，随着又传来一声“哟，怎么回事”的喊叫。

　　挂在马车旁边的提灯已经不见了，但是有另外一个提灯在她的眼前闪着亮光，比她自己那个提灯要明亮得多。有件可怕的事情发生了。马具也同挡在路上的什么东西缠在一起。

　　苔丝大惊失色，跳下车来，看见了可怕的事情。呻吟声是从她父亲的可怜老马王子口中发出来的。一辆早班邮车驱动着它的两个无声无息的车轮，沿着这些单行车道像箭一样飞速驶来，几乎跟她这辆行走缓慢没有灯光的马车撞在了一起。邮车的尖把就像一把利剑，刺进了不幸王子的胸膛，它的生命的热血像溪流一样从伤口喷射而出，带着咝咝声落到地上。

　　苔丝在尽看中跑上前往，用手捂住那个洞口，唯一的结果只是她的脸上和裙子上都被喷上了殷红色的血迹。后来她只好站起来尽看地看着。王子也尽力一动也不动地坚强站着，直到忽然倒在地上，瘫成了一堆。

　　这时候赶邮车的人也来到了她的身边，开始同她一起把王子还热着的身体拖开，卸下马具。不过它已经死了，看见没有什么更多的事情立即可做，赶邮车的人就回到自己的马的身边，他的马并没有受伤。

　　“你们走错道了，”他说，“我必须把这一车邮件送走，所以你最好就等在这儿，看着车上的货，我会尽快派人到这儿给你帮忙。天渐渐亮了，你也没有什么可怕的了。”

　　他上了车，就急忙上路了；苔丝就站在那儿等候着。天气已经发白，小鸟在树篱中抖擞着，飞起来，吱吱地叫着；道路完全显露出它的白色面目，苔丝的面目也显露出来，比道路还要灰白。她眼前的一摊血水已经凝固了，宛如彩虹的色彩；当太阳升起来时，上面就反射出一百种光谱的颜色。王子静静地躺在一边，已经僵硬了；它的眼睛半睁着，胸前的伤口看上往很小，似乎不足以让维持它生命的血液全部流出来。

　　“这都是我的错——都是我的错！”姑娘看见眼前的情景，哭着说。“我不能原谅自己——不能！现在爹妈怎么过呀？亚比，亚比！”她摇动着在整个灾难中一直熟睡未醒的孩子。

　　当亚伯拉罕明白了一切的时候，他年轻的脸上一下子增添了五十年的皱纹。

　　“哎，昨天我还在舞蹈还在笑啦！”她自言自语地说，“想想我真笨呀！”

　　“这是由于我们生活在一个有毛病的星球上，不是生活在一个没有毛病的星球上，是不是，苔丝？”亚伯拉罕眼睛里挂着泪水，嘟哝着说。

　　他们静静地等着，时间似乎没有止境似的。他们终于闻声了一种声音，看见有一个物体渐渐地接近他们，这证实赶邮车的人没有骗他们。斯图尔堡四周农场上的一个工人牵着一匹健壮的小马走了过来。他把那匹小马套上拉蜂箱的马车，代替了王子的位置，往卡斯特桥方向驶往了。

　　当天傍晚，我们看见那辆空车又走到了失事的地点。清晨以来，王子就躺在那条路边的沟里；但是路中间的一大摊血迹依然可见，尽管它被过往的车辆碾压过、磨擦过。剩下的只有王子了，他们就把它抬到原来它拉过的车上，四脚朝天，铁蹄在夕阳的余辉里熠熠闪光，走了八九英里路，又回到了马洛特村。

　　苔丝先前已经回往了。她简直不知道如何把这件事告诉给家里的人。不过当她从父母的脸上发现他们已经知道了他们的损失，她也就感到无需开口了。但是，这并不能减轻她内心的自责，她一直把对自己疏忽的责备堆积在心里。

　　但是，这件不幸的事对这户缺乏生机的人家说来，并不如像发生在一户兴旺发达的人家里那样可怕，固然对前者意味着毁灭，对后者仅仅只是意味着不便。德北菲尔德夫妇尽管对姑娘的幸福雄心勃勃，但他们并没有气得脸色发红，把愤怒发泄在姑娘的身上。没有人像苔丝自己那样责备苔丝。

　　德北菲尔德发现，由于王子朽迈枯瘦，屠户和皮匠只愿出几个先令买下它的尸体，他就站起来处理这件事。

　　“不卖啦，”他泰然自若地说，“我不卖它这副老骨头了。我们德北菲尔德家当英国骑士的时候，我们从没有把我们的战马卖了做猫食。让他们把先令留给自己吧！它为我辛劳了一辈子，现在我不会让它离开的。”

　　第二天，他在花园里为王子挖了一个坟坑，几个月来自己家里种庄稼，他干活也没有这样卖过力气。德北菲尔德把坟坑挖好了。就和他妻子用一根绳索把王子套上，向坟坑拖往，孩子们跟在后面为死马送葬。亚伯拉罕和丽莎·露低声哭着，盼盼和素素为了发泄他们的悲痛，就号啕大哭，声震四壁；王子被放进坟坑的时候，他们都站在坟坑的四周。为他们一家挣面包的老马没有了，他们怎么办呢？

　　“它上天堂往了吗？”亚伯拉罕呜咽着问。

　　接着，德北菲尔德开始往坟坑里铲土，孩子们又哭了起来。所有的孩子都在哭，只有苔丝没有哭。她的脸色淡漠惨白，仿佛她把自己当成了杀人凶手。