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贝姨 Cousin Bette
  巴尔扎克(1799~1850)是法国现实主义文学大师,他一生创作的91部长、中、短篇小说,全部收入《人间喜剧》中,除了广为人知的《欧也妮·葛朗台》、《高老头》等,还有《贝姨》、《都兰趣话》等。
  《贝姨》是他的一部著名小说。本书的主人公贝姨,是一个生在乡下的姑娘,带着一身的乡里气息,由于美丽善良又得到高贵的堂姐的关切来到了法国巴黎城里,性格倔强的贝姨一方面满怀着对堂姐的妒忌,一方面又以自己好胜的忘我勤奋学习,成立了属于自己的家庭,然而时代社会的动荡万变和本性的顽固不得不又一次下贬成工人,接下来的故事并不会就此平淡度过,贝姨没有放弃和屈服于现状,为着自己的目标继续活着,坚强地拼搏,最终得到了他的满足——有了一份自己的事业。
  贝姨是巴尔扎克笔下相当特殊的一个形象。小说以其命名,可见作家对她的重视。她为某种情欲所左右,但色调构成却十分复杂。集“丑”与“恶”于一身,是这个人物给读者的第一印象。作家为她勾画了一幅令人生厌、令人生畏的漫画像,又赋予她同样令人生厌、令人生畏的嫉妒心。这种仿佛与生俱来的怪癖心理,侵扰着她自己的灵魂,也破坏着别人的幸福;在与瓦莱丽的淫荡结合后,更形成为一种巨大的,甚至能“毁灭整个城市”的邪恶力量。 但是,贝姨的形象又远非“恶”的化身。


  La Cousine Bette (English: Cousin Betty or Cousin Bette) is an 1846 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac. Set in mid-19th century Paris, it tells the story of an unmarried middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended family. Bette works with Valérie Marneffe, an unhappily married young lady, to seduce and torment a series of men. One of these is Baron Hector Hulot, husband to Bette's cousin Adeline. He sacrifices his family's fortune and good name to please Valérie, who leaves him for a tradesman named Crevel. The book is part of the Scènes de la vie parisienne section of Balzac's novel sequence La Comédie humaine.
  
  In the 1840s, a serial format known as the roman-feuilleton was highly popular in France, and the most acclaimed expression of it was the socialist writing of Eugène Sue. Balzac wanted to challenge Sue's supremacy, and prove himself the most capable feuilleton author in France. Writing quickly and with intense focus, Balzac produced La Cousine Bette, one of his longest novels, in two months. It was published in Le Constitutionnel at the end of 1846, then collected with a companion work, Le Cousin Pons, the following year.
  
  The novel's characters represent polarities of contrasting morality. The vengeful Bette and disingenuous Valérie stand on one side, with the merciful Adeline and her patient daughter Hortense on the other. The patriarch of the Hulot family, meanwhile, is consumed by his own sexual desire. Hortense's husband, the Polish exile Wenceslas Steinbock, represents artistic genius, though he succumbs to uncertainty and lack of motivation. Balzac based the character of Bette in part on his mother and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. At least one scene involving Baron Hulot was likely based on an event in the life of Balzac's friend, the novelist Victor Hugo.
  
  La Cousine Bette is considered Balzac's last great work. His trademark use of realist detail combines with a panorama of characters returning from earlier novels. Several critics have hailed it as a turning point in the author's career, and others have called it a prototypical naturalist text. It has been compared to William Shakespeare's Othello as well as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. The novel explores themes of vice and virtue, as well as the influence of money on French society. Bette's relationship with Valérie is also seen as an important exploration of homoerotic themes. A number of film versions of the story have been produced, including a 1971 BBC mini-series starring Margaret Tyzack and Dame Helen Mirren, and a 1998 feature film with Jessica Lange in the title role.
  
  By 1846 Honoré de Balzac had achieved tremendous fame as a writer, but his finances and health were deteriorating rapidly. After writing a series of potboiler novels in the 1820s, he published his first book under his own name, Les Chouans, in 1829. He followed this with dozens of well-received novels and stories, including La Peau de chagrin (1831), Le Père Goriot (1835), and the two-volume Illusions perdues (1837 and 1839). Because of his lavish lifestyle and penchant for financial speculation, however, he spent most of his life trying to repay a variety of debts. He wrote tirelessly, driven as much by economic necessity as by the muse and black coffee. This regimen of constant work exhausted his body and brought reprimands from his doctor.[2]
  
  As his work gained recognition, Balzac began corresponding with a Polish Baronness named Ewelina Hańska, who first contacted him through an anonymous 1832 letter signed "L'Étrangère". They developed an affectionate friendship in letters, and when she became a widow in 1841, Balzac sought her hand in marriage. He visited her often in Poland and Germany, but various complications prohibited their union. One of these was an affair Balzac had with his housekeeper, Louise Breugniot. As she became aware of his affection for Mme. Hanska, Breugniot stole a collection of their letters and used them to extort money from Balzac. Even after this episode, however, he grew closer to Mme. Hanska with each visit and by 1846 he had begun preparing a home to share with her. He grew hopeful that they could marry when she became pregnant, but she fell ill in December and suffered a miscarriage.[3]
  
  The mid-nineteenth century was a time of profound transformation in French government and society. The reign of King Charles X ended in 1830 when a wave of agitation and dissent forced him to abdicate. He was replaced by Louis-Philippe, who named himself "King of the French", rather than the standard "King of France" – an indication that he answered more to the nascent bourgeoisie than the aristocratic Ancien Régime. The change in government took place while the economy in France was moving from mercantilism to industrial development. This opened new opportunities for individuals hoping to acquire wealth, and led to significant changes in social norms. Members of the aristocracy, for example, were forced to relate socially to the nouveau riche, usually with tense results. The democratic spirit of the French Revolution also affected social interactions, with a shift in popular allegiance away from the church and the monarchy.[4]
  
  In the mid-nineteenth century, a new style of novel became popular in France. The serial format known as the roman-feuilleton presented stories in short regular installments, often accompanied by melodramatic plots and stock characters. Although Balzac's La Vielle fille (1836) was the first such work published in France,[5] the roman-feuilleton gained prominence thanks mostly to his friends Eugène Sue and Alexandre Dumas, père.[6] Balzac disliked their serial writing, however, especially Sue's socialist depiction of lower-class suffering.[7] Balzac wanted to dethrone what he called "les faux dieux de cette littérature bâtarde" ("the false gods of this bastard literature").[8] He also wanted to show the world that, despite his poor health and tumultuous career, he was "plus jeune, plus frais, et plus grand que jamais" ("younger, fresher, and greater than ever").[8] His first efforts to render a quality feuilleton were unsuccessful. Even though Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (published in segments from 1838 to 1847) was celebrated by critics, Balzac complained to Mme. Hanska that he was "doing pue Sue".[9] He tried again in 1844 with Modeste Mignon, but public reactions were mixed.[10] Two years later Balzac began a new project, determined to create something from his "own old pen again".[9]
  Writing and publication
  Balzac first visited the Château de Saché in 1832, when he wrote the autobiographical novel Louis Lambert.[11]
  
  After resting for a week in June 1846 at the Château de Saché in Tours, Balzac returned to Paris and began working on a short story called "Le Parasite", which he eventually developed into the novel Le Cousin Pons. He intended from the start to pair it with another novel, collecting them under the title Les Parents pauvres ("The Poor Relations"). He based the second book on a story his sister Laure Surville had written called "La Cousine Rosalie" and published in 1844 in Le Journal des enfants.[12] Writing intensively, he produced the entire novel, named La Cousine Bette after the main character, in two months. This was a significant accomplishment owing to his bad health, but its length made Balzac's writing speed especially remarkable.[13] One critic calls the writing of Les Parents pauvres Balzac's "last explosion of creative energy".[14] Another suggests that this effort was "almost the last straw which broke down Balzac's gigantic strength".[15]
  
  Balzac's usual mode of revision involved vast, complicated edits made to galley proofs he received from the printer. When creating La Cousine Bette, however, he submitted the work to his editor piece by piece, without viewing a single proof.[15] The book was serialized in Le Constitutionnel from 8 October to 3 December, and Balzac rushed to keep up with the newspaper's rapid printing schedule. He produced an average of eight pages each day, but was struck by the unexpected enormity of the story as it evolved.[16] Balzac was paid 12,836 francs for the series, which was later published with Le Cousin Pons as a twelve-volume book by Chiendowski and Pétion.[17] The first collected edition of La Cousine Bette was organized into 132 chapters, but these divisions were removed when Balzac added it to his massive collection La Comédie humaine in 1848.[18]
  Plot summary
  While caring for him, Bette refers to Wenceslas Steinbock as "mon enfant ... un garçon qui se relève du cercueil" ("my child ... a son risen from the grave").[19]
  
  The first third of the novel provides a lengthy exploration of the characters' histories. Balzac makes this clear after 150 pages: "Ici se termine, en quelque sorte, l'introduction de cette histoire." ("Here ends what is, in a way, the introduction to this story.")[20] At the start of the novel, Adeline Hulot – wife of the successful Baron Hector Hulot – is being pressured into an affair by a wealthy perfumer named Célestin Crevel. His desire stems in part from an earlier contest in which the adulterous Baron Hulot had won the hand of the singer Josépha Mirah, also favored by Crevel. The Hulots' daughter, Hortense, has begun searching for a husband; their son Victorin is married to Crevel's daughter Celestine. Mme. Hulot resists Crevel's advances, and he turns his attention elsewhere.
  
  Mme. Hulot's cousin, Bette (also called Lisbeth), harbors a deep but hidden resentment of her relatives' success. A peasant woman with none of the physical beauty of her cousin, Bette has rejected a series of marriage proposals from middle-class suitors, and remains unmarried at the age of 42. One day she comes upon a young unsuccessful Polish sculptor named Wenceslas Steinbock, attempting suicide in the tiny apartment upstairs from her own. As she nourishes him back to health, she develops a maternal fondness for him. She also befriends Valérie, the wife of a War Department clerk named Marneffe; the two women form a bond of mutual affection and protection.
  
  Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is rejected by Josépha, who explains bluntly that she has chosen another man because of his larger fortune. Hulot's despair is quickly alleviated when he meets and falls in love with Valérie Marneffe. He showers her with gifts, and soon establishes a luxurious house for her and M. Marneffe, with whom he works at the War Department. These debts, compounded by the money he borrowed to lavish on Josépha, threaten the Hulot family's financial security. Panicked, he convinces his uncle Johann Fischer to quietly embezzle funds from a War Department outpost in Algiers. Hulot's woes are momentarily abated and Bette's happiness is shattered, when – at the end of the "introduction" – Hortense Hulot marries Wenceslas Steinbock.
  
  Crushed at having lost Steinbock's company, Bette swears vengeance on the Hulot family. She works behind the scenes with Valérie to extract more money from Baron Hulot. Valérie also seduces Crevel and watches with delight as they vie for her attention. With Bette's help, Valérie turns to Steinbock and draws him into her bedroom. When Hortense learns of his infidelity, she leaves Steinbock and returns with their son to live with her mother Adeline. Valérie also proclaims her love to a Brazilian Baron named Henri Montès de Montéjanos, and swears devotion constantly to each of the five men.
  When Baron Hulot marries the kitchen maid Agathe, his son Victorin concludes: "les enfants ne peuvent pas empêcher la folie des ancêtres en enfance" ("children cannot interfere with the insane acts of their parents in their second childhood").[21]
  
  Baron Hulot's brother, known as "le maréchal" ("the Marshal"), hires Bette as his housekeeper, and they develop a mild affection. He learns of his brother's infidelities (and the difficulties they have caused Adeline, who refuses to leave her husband), and promises to marry Bette if she will provide details. She agrees eagerly, delighted at the prospect of finally securing an enviable marriage. While investigating his brother's behavior, however, the Marshal discovers Baron Hulot's scheme in Algiers. He is overwhelmed by the disgrace, and his health deteriorates. Bette's last hope for a brighter future dies with him.
  
  When Valérie becomes pregnant, she tells each of her lovers (and her husband) that he is the father. She gives birth to a stillborn child, however, and her husband dies soon thereafter. Hulot and Crevel are ecstatic when they hear this news, each believing that he will become her only love once the official mourning period has passed. Valérie chooses Crevel for his comfortable fortune, and they quickly wed. This news outrages Baron Montès, and he devises a plot to poison the newlyweds. Crevel and Valérie die slowly, their bodies devoured by an exotic Brazilian toxin.
  
  Victorin Hulot is later visited by the Prince of Wissembourg, who delivers news of economic good fortune. The Marshal, prior to his death, had made arrangements for repayment of the Baron's debts, as well as employment for Adeline in a Catholic charity. Baron Hulot has disappeared, and Adeline spends her free time searching for him in houses of ill repute. She eventually finds him living with a fifteen-year-old courtesan, and begs him to return to the family. He agrees, but as he climbs into the carriage, Hulot asks: "mais pourrai-je emmener la petite?" ("But can I take the girl?")[22] The Hulot home is reunited for a time, and Bette's fury at their apparent happiness hastens her death. One evening after the funeral, Adeline overhears Hulot seducing a kitchen maid named Agathe. On her deathbed, Adeline delivers her first rebuke to her husband: "[D]ans un moment, tu seras libre, et tu pourras faire une baronne Hulot." ("In a moment, you will be free, and you can make another Baronne Hulot.")[23] Soon after burying his wife, Hulot marries Agathe.
  Characters and inspirations
  The death of Marshal Hulot has been called "one of the most moving in all of Balzac".[24]
  
  Balzac had written more than seventy novels when he began La Cousine Bette, and populated them with recurring characters. Many of the characters in the novel, therefore, appear with extensive back-stories and biographical depth. For example, Célestin Crevel first appeared in Balzac's 1837 novel César Birotteau, working for the title character. Having accumulated a considerable fortune in that book, Crevel spends his time in La Cousine Bette enjoying the spoils of his labor. Another important recurring character is Marshal Hulot, who first appeared as a colonel in Les Chouans. In the years between that story and La Cousine Bette, he became the Count of Forzheim; in a letter to the Constitutionnel, Balzac described how Marshal Hulot gained this title. The presence of Crevel and Marshal Hulot – among others – in La Cousine Bette allows a continuation of each character's life story, adding emphasis or complexity to earlier events.[25]
  
  Other recurring characters appear only briefly in La Cousine Bette; previous appearances, however, give deep significance to the characters' presence. This is the case with Vautrin, the criminal mastermind who tutors young Eugene de Rastignac in Balzac's 1835 novel Le Père Goriot. When he resurfaces in La Cousine Bette, he has joined the police and introduces the Hulot family to his aunt, Mme. Nourrison, who offers a morally questionable remedy for their woes. Although Vautrin's presence in La Cousine Bette is brief, his earlier adventures in Le Père Goriot provide instant recognition and emotional texture. Elsewhere, Balzac presents an entire world of experience by including characters from a particular sphere of society. For example, several scenes feature artists like Jean-Jacques Bixiou, who first appeared in 1837's Les Employés and in many other books thereafter. The world of Parisian nightlife is quickly brought to mind with the inclusion of several characters from Les Comédiens sans le savoir (1846), and Bianchon appears – as always – when a doctor is needed.[26]
  
  Balzac's use of recurring characters has been identified as a unique component of his fiction. It enables a depth of characterization that goes beyond simple narration or dialogue. "When the characters reappear", notes the critic Samuel Rogers, "they do not step out of nowhere; they emerge from the privacy of their own lives which, for an interval, we have not been allowed to see."[27] Some readers, however, are intimidated by the depth created by these interdependent stories, and feel deprived of important context for the characters. Detective novelist Arthur Conan Doyle said that he never tried to read Balzac, because he "did not know where to begin".[28] The characterization in La Cousine Bette is considered especially skillful. Anthony Pugh, in his book Balzac's Recurring Characters, says that the technique is employed "for the most part without that feeling of self-indulgence that mars some of Balzac's later work. Almost every example arises quite naturally out of the situation."[29] Biographer Noel Gerson calls the characters in La Cousine Bette "among the most memorable Balzac ever sketched".[30]
  Bette Fischer
  Lisbeth Fischer (Cousin Bette) is described as "maigre, brune ... les sourcils épais et réunis par un bouquet ... quelques verrues dans sa face longue et simiesque" ("lean, brown, with ... thick eyebrows joining in a tuft ... and some moles on her narrow simian face").[31]
  
  Descriptions of Bette are often connected to savagery and animal imagery. Her name, for example, is a homophone in French for "bête" ("beast"). One passage explains that "elle ressemblait aux singes habillés en femmes" ("she sometimes looked like one of those monkeys in petticoats");[32] elsewhere her voice is described as having "une jalousie de tigre" ("tiger-like jealousy").[33] Her beastly rage comes to the surface with ferocity when she learns of Steinbock's engagement to Hortense:
  
   La physionomie de la Lorraine était devenue terrible. Ses yeux noirs et pénétrants avaient la fixité de ceux des tigres. Sa figure ressemblait à celles que nous supposons aux pythonisses, elle serrait les dents pour les empêcher de claquer, et une affreuse convulsion faisait trembler ses membres. Elle avait glissé sa main crochue entre son bonnet et ses cheveux pour les empoigner et soutenir sa tête, devenue trop lourde; elle brûlait! La fumée de l'incendie qui la ravageait semblait passer par ses rides comme par autant de crevasses labourées par une éruption volcanique.
  
   The peasant-woman's face was terrible; her piercing black eyes had the glare of the tiger's; her face was like that we ascribe to a pythoness; she set her teeth to keep them from chattering, and her whole frame quivered convulsively. She had pushed her clenched fingers under her cap to clutch her hair and support her head, which felt too heavy; she was on fire. The smoke of the flame that scorched her seemed to emanate from her wrinkles as from the crevasses rent by a volcanic eruption.[34]
  
  When she learns that her cousin Adeline has been welcoming Steinbock into the Hulot home, Bette swears revenge: "Adeline! se dit Lisbeth, ô Adeline, tu me le payeras, je te rendrai plus laide que moi!" ("'Adeline!' muttered Lisbeth. 'Oh, Adeline, you shall pay for this! I will make you uglier than I am.'")[34] Her cruelty and lust for revenge lead critics to call her "demonic"[35] and "one of Balzac's most terrifying creations".[36] Because of her willingness to manipulate the people around her, Bette has been compared to Iago in William Shakespeare's play Othello.[37] Her fierce persona is attributed partly to her peasant background, and partly to her virginity, which provides (according to Balzac) "une force diabolique ou la magie noire de la volonté" ("diabolical strength, or the black magic of the Will").[38][39]
  
  In a letter to Mme. Hanska, Balzac indicated that he based the character of Bette on three women from his life: his mother, Mme. Hanska's aunt Rosalie Rzewuska, and the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. Balzac had a tumultuous relationship with his mother for most of his life, and he incorporated some of her personality (particularly her "obstinate persistence in living",[40] as one critic calls it) into Bette.[41] Rosalie Rzewuska disapproved of Mme. Hanska's relationship with Balzac; biographers agree that her cold determination was part of the author's recipe for Bette.[42] Elements taken from Marceline Desbordes-Valmore are more complex; she faced many setbacks in life and she and Balzac became friends after she left the theatre to take up poetry.[43]
  Valérie Marneffe
  
  Bette's co-conspirator in the destruction of the Hulot family is beautiful and greedy Valérie Marneffe, the unsatisfied wife of a War Department clerk. They develop a deep friendship, which many critics consider an example of lesbian affection.[44] Because of their relationship and similar goals, the critic Frederic Jameson says that "Valérie serves as a kind of emanation of Bette".[45]
  Valérie Marneffe "attirait tous les regards, excitait tous les désirs, dans le cercle où elle rayonnait" ("attracted every eye, and excited every desire in the circle she shone upon").[46]
  
  Valérie is repulsed by her ugly husband and has gone five years without kissing him.[47] She explains bluntly that her position as a married woman provides subtleties and options unavailable to the common prostitute who has one set price; after Marneffe dies, Valérie jockeys for position between Hulot and Montés (while also sleeping with Steinbock), then discards them all to marry Crevel, who offers the most wealth. She amuses herself by mocking her lovers' devotion, and this wickedness – not to mention her gruesome demise – has led some critics to speculate that she is actually the focus of Balzac's morality tale.[48]
  
  In one important scene, Valérie models for Steinbock as Delilah, standing victorious over the ruined Samson. With obvious parallels to her own activities, she describes her vision for the piece: "Il s'agit d'exprimer la puissance de la femme. Samson n'est rien, là. C'est le cadavre de la force. Dalila, c'est la passion qui ruine tout." ("What you have to show is the power of woman. Samson is a secondary consideration. He is the corpse of dead strength. It is Delilah—passion—that ruins everything.")[49]
  
  Although Balzac did not draw specifically from the women in his life to create Valérie, parallels have been observed in some areas. The tumultuous end of his affair with Louise Breugniot and the advantage she gains from his devotion to Mme. Hanska is similar in some ways to Valérie's manipulation of Steinbock.[50] Critics also connect the pride and anguish felt by Balzac during Mme. Hanska's pregnancy and miscarriage to the same emotions felt by Baron Hulot when Valérie conceives and loses her child.[51] Although he never ascribed to Mme. Hanska any of the traits in Valérie's treacherous character, he felt a devotion similar to that of Hulot. He once wrote to her: "je fais pour mon Eve toute les folies qu'un Hulot fait pour une Marneffe, je te donnerai mon sang, mon honneur, ma vie" ("I commit for [you] all the follies that a Hulot commits for Madame Marneffe; I give you my blood, my honor, my life").[52]
  Hector and Adeline Hulot
  
  Baron Hector Hulot is a living manifestation of male sexual desire, unrestrained and unconcerned with its consequences for the man or his family. As the novel progresses, he becomes consumed by his libido, even in a physical sense. When Valérie tells him to stop dyeing his hair, he does so to please her. His financial woes and public disgrace lead him to flee his own home; by the end of the book he is an elderly, decrepit shell of a man. Baron Hulot is so overcome by his taste for female flesh that he even asks his wife – without irony – if he can bring home his fifteen-year-old mistress.[53]
  
  Adeline Hulot, on the other hand, is mercy personified. Like her cousin Bette, she comes from a peasant background, but has internalized the ideals of 19th-century womanhood, including devotion, grace, and deference. She reveals in the first scene that she has known for years about her husband's infidelities, but refuses to condemn him. Adeline's forgiving nature is often considered a significant character flaw. Some suggest that she is partly to blame for Hulot's wandering affection. C.A. Prendergast, for example, calls her forgiveness "an inadequate and even positively disastrous response" to her situation.[54] He further suggests that Adeline, by choosing the role of quiet and dutiful wife, has excised from herself the erotic power to which the Baron is drawn. "[O]ne could at the very least offer the tentative speculation that Hulot's obsessional debauchery is in part the result of a certain poverty in Adeline, that the terrible logic of Hulot's excess is partially shaped by a crucial deficiency in his wife."[55] Others are less accusatory; Adeline's nearly infinite mercy, they say, is evidence of foolishness. Critic Herbert J. Hunt declares that she shows "more imbecility than Christian patience",[56] and David Bellos points out that, like her husband, she is driven by passion – albeit of a different kind: "Adeline's desire (for good, for the family, for Hector, for God) is so radically different from the motivating desires of the other characters that she seems in their context to be without desire...."[57]
  
  Balzac's inspiration for the characters of Hector and Adeline remain unclear, but several critics have been eager to speculate. Three officers named Hulot were recognized for their valor in the Napoleonic Wars, and some suggest that Balzac borrowed the name of Comte Hector d'Aure. None of these men, however, were known for the sort of philandering or thievery exhibited by Baron Hulot in the novel. Instead, Balzac may have used himself as the model; his many affairs with women across the social spectrum lead some to suggest that the author "found much of Hulot in himself".[58] Balzac's friend Victor Hugo, meanwhile, was famously discovered in bed with his mistress in July 1845. The similarity of his name to Hector Hulot (and that of his wife's maiden name, Adèle Foucher, to Adeline Fischer) has been posited as a possible indication of the characters' origins.[59]
  Wenceslas Steinbock
  "Quoique Steinbock eût vingt-neuf ans, il paraissait, comme certains blonds, avoir cinq ou six ans de moins ... cette jeunesse ... avait cédé sous les fatigues et les misères de l'exil" ("Though Steinbock was nine-and-twenty, like many fair men, he looked five or six years younger ... his youth ... had faded under the fatigue and stress of life in exile".)[60]
  
  The Polish sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock is important primarily because of Bette's attachment to him. He offers Bette a source of pride, a way for her to prove herself worthy of her family's respect. When Hortense marries Steinbock, Bette feels as though she has been robbed. Prendergast insists that the incident "must literally be described as an act of theft".[61]
  
  Steinbock's relevance also lies in his background and profession, illustrating Balzac's conception of the Polish people, as well as himself. Having spent more than a decade befriending Mme. Hanska and visiting her family in Poland, Balzac believed he had insight into the national character (as he felt about most groups he observed). Thus, descriptions of Steinbock are often laced with commentary about the Polish people: "Soyez mon amie, dit-il avec une de ces démonstrations caressantes si familières aux Polonais, et qui les font accuser assez injustement de servilité." ("'Be my sweetheart,' he added, with one of the caressing gestures familiar to the Poles, for which they are unjustly accused of servility.")[62][63]
  
  Critics also consider Steinbock important because of his artistic genius. Like Louis Lambert and Lucien Chardon in Illusions perdues, he is a brilliant man – just as Balzac considered himself to be. Before he is nurtured and directed by Bette, however, Steinbock's genius languishes under his own inertia and he attempts suicide. Later, when he leaves Bette's circle of influence, he fails again. Thus he demonstrates Balzac's conviction that genius alone is useless without determination.[64] Bellos organizes Steinbock and Bette into a duality of weakness and strength; whereas the Polish artist is unable to direct his energies into productive work, Bette draws strength from her virginity and thus becomes powerful by denying the lust to which Steinbock falls prey.[65] Steinbock's drive is further eroded by the praise he receives for his art, which gives him an inflated sense of accomplishment. One critic refers to the artist's downfall as "vanity ... spoiled by premature renown".[66]
  Style
  
  If Balzac's goal was (as he claimed) to write a realist novel from his "own old pen" rather than mimic the style of Eugène Sue, history and literary criticism have declared him successful. William Stowe calls La Cousine Bette "a masterpiece of classical realism"[67] and Bellos refers to it as "one of the great achievements of nineteenth-century realism", comparing it to War and Peace.[68] Some sections of the book are criticized for being melodramatic, and Balzac biographer V. S. Pritchett even refers to a representative excerpt as "bad writing".[69] Most critics, however, consider the moralistic elements of the novel deceptively complex, and some point out that the roman-feuilleton format required a certain level of titillation to keep readers engaged.[70] Others indicate that Balzac's interest in the theatre was an important reason for the inclusion of melodramatic elements.[71]
  Émile Zola said that Balzac's fiction was "uniquement le compte-rendu brutal de ce que l'écrivain a observé" ("only the brutal report of what the writer has observed").[72]
  
  Balzac's trademark realism begins on the first page of the novel, wherein Crevel is described wearing a National Guard uniform, complete with the Légion d'honneur. Details from the 1830s also appear in the novel's geographic locations. The Hulot family home, for example, is found in the aristocratic area of Paris known as the Faubourg Saint-Germain.[73] Bette's residence is on the opposite end of the social spectrum, in the impoverished residential area which surrounded the Louvre: "Les ténèbres, le silence, l'air glacial, la profondeur caverneuse du sol concourent à faire de ces maisons des espèces de cryptes, des tombeaux vivants." ("Darkness, silence, an icy chill, and the cavernous depth of the soil combine to make these houses a kind of crypt, tombs of the living.")[74] Descriptions of her meager quarters are – as usual in Balzac's work – an acute reflection of her personality. The same is true of the Marneffe home at the outset: it contains "les trompeuses apparences de ce faux luxe" ("the illusory appearance of sham luxury"),[75] from the shabby chairs in the drawing-room to the dust-coated bedroom.[76]
  
  Precise detail is not spared in descriptions of decay and disease, two vivid elements in the novel. Marneffe, for example, represents crapulence. His decrepit body is a symbol of society's weakness at the time, worn away from years of indulgence. The poison which kills Valérie and Crevel is also described in ghastly detail. The doctor Bianchon explains: "Ses dents et ses cheveux tombent, elle a l'aspect des lépreux, elle se fait horreur à elle-même; ses mains, épouvantables à voir, sont enflées et couvertes de pustules verdâtres; les ongles déchaussés restent dans les plaies qu'elle gratte; enfin, toutes les extrémités se détruisent dans la sanie qui les ronge." ("She is losing her hair and teeth, her skin is like a leper's, she is a horror to herself; her hands are horrible, covered with greenish pustules, her nails are loose, and the flesh is eaten away by the poisoned humors.")[77]
  
  La Cousine Bette is unapologetic in its bleak outlook, and makes blunt connections between characters' origins and behavior. For these reasons, it is considered a key antecedent to naturalist literature. Novelist Émile Zola called it an important "roman expérimental" ("experimental novel"),[78] and praised its acute exploration of the characters' motivations.[79][80] Some critics note that La Cousine Bette showed an evolution in Balzac's style – one which he had little time to develop. Pointing to the nuance of plot and comprehensive narration style, Stowe suggests that the novel "might in happier circumstances have marked the beginning of a new, mature 'late Balzac'".[81]
  Themes
  Passion, vice, and virtue
  
  Valérie's line about Delilah being "la passion qui ruine tout" ("passion which ruins everything") is symbolic, coming as it does from a woman whose passion accelerates the ruin of most people around her – including herself. Baron Hulot, meanwhile, is desire incarnate; his wandering libido bypasses concern for his wife, brother, children, finances, and even his own health. Bette, of course, is living vengeance, and Adeline desperately yearns for the happy home she imagined in the early years of marriage. Each character is driven by a fiery passion, which in most cases consumes the individual.[82] As Balzac puts it: "La passion est un martyre." ("Passion is martyrdom.")[83]
  After acknowledging herself as Delilah, Valérie warns her guests: "Prenez garde à vos toupets, messieurs!" ("Take care of your wigs, gentlemen!")[84]
  
  The intensity of passion, and the consequences of its manifestation, result in a stark contrast of vice and virtue. Bette and Valérie are pure wickedness, and even celebrate the ruin of their targets. As one critic says, "life's truths are viewed in their most atrocious form".[85] Mocking the use of the guillotine during the French Revolution while acknowledging her own malicious intent, Valérie says with regard to Delilah: "La vertu coupe la tête, le Vice ne vous coupe que les cheveux." ("Virtue cuts off your head; vice only cuts off your hair.")[84] Hulot is not intentionally cruel, but his actions are no less devastating to the people around him.[86]
  
  On the other side of the moral divide, Adeline and her children stand as shining examples of virtue and nobility – or so it would seem. Hortense ridicules her aunt when Bette mentions her protégé Wenceslas Steinbock, providing a psychological catalyst for the ensuing conflict.[87] Victorin repeatedly expresses outrage at his father's philandering, yet crosses a significant moral boundary when he agrees to fund Mme. Nourrison's plan to eradicate Valérie. As one critic puts it, Victorin's decision marks a point in the novel where "the scheme of right versus wrong immediately dissolves into a purely amoral conflict of different interests and passions, regulated less by a transcendent moral law than by the relative capacity of the different parties for cunning and ruthlessness."[88] The cruelties of the Hulot children are brief but significant, owing as much to their obliviousness (intentional in the case of Victorin, who asks not to learn the details of Mme. Nourrison's scheme) as to malicious forethought.[89]
  
  The question of Adeline's virtue is similarly complicated. Although she is forgiving to the point of absurdity, she is often considered more of a dupe than a martyr. Some have compared her to Balzac's title character in Le Père Goriot, who sacrifices himself for his daughters.[90] As Bellos puts it: "Adeline's complicity with Hector certainly makes her more interesting as a literary character, but it undermines her role as the symbol of virtue in the novel."[91] This complicity reaches an apex when she unsuccessfully attempts to sell her affections to Crevel (who has since lost interest) in order to repay her husband's debts. Her flirtation with prostitution is sometimes considered more egregious than Valérie's overt extortion, since Adeline is soiling her own dignity in the service of Baron Hulot's infidelity. For the remainder of the novel, Adeline trembles uncontrollably, a sign of her weakness.[92] Later, when she visits the singer Josépha (on whom her husband once doted), Adeline is struck by the splendor earned by a life of materialistic seduction. She wonders aloud if she is capable of providing the carnal pleasures Hulot seeks outside of their home.[93]
  
  Ultimately, both vice and virtue fail. Valérie is devoured by Montés' poison, a consequence of her blithe attitude toward his emotion. Bette is unsuccessful in her effort to crush her cousin's family, and dies (as one critic puts it) "in the margins".[94] Adeline's Catholic mercy, on the other hand, fails to redeem her husband, and her children are similarly powerless – as Victorin finally admits on the novel's last page. Like Raphael de Valentin in Balzac's 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin, Hulot is left with nothing but "vouloir": desire, a force which is both essential for human existence and eventually apocalyptic.[95]
  Gender and homoeroticism
  
  Gender roles, especially the figure of the ideal woman, are central to La Cousine Bette. The four leading female characters (Bette, Valérie, Adeline, and Hortense) embody stereotypically feminine traits. Each pair of women revolves around a man, and they compete for his attention: Valérie and Adeline for Baron Hulot; Bette and Hortense for Wenceslas Steinbock. Balzac's study of masculinity is limited to the insatiable lust of Hulot and the weak-willed inconstancy of Steinbock, with the occasional appearance of Victorin as a sturdy patriarch in his father's absence.[96]
  French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec depicted lesbian relationships similar to (though more explicit than) that of Bette and Valérie, as in his 1893 painting "In Bed".[97]
  
  Critics pay special attention to Bette's lack of traditional femininity, and her unconventional relationships with two characters. She is described from the outset as having "des qualités d'homme" ("certain manly qualities"),[98] with similar descriptions elsewhere. Her relationship and attitude toward Steinbock, moreover, hint at her masculinity. She commands him into submission, and even binds him with economic constraints by lending him the money to develop his sculpture. Her domination is tempered by maternal compassion, but the couple's relationship is compared to an abusive marriage: "Il fut comme une femme qui pardonne les mauvais traitements d'une semaine à cause des caresses d'un fugitif raccommodement." ("He was like a woman who forgives a week of ill-usage for the sake of a kiss and a brief reconciliation.")[99][100]
  
  Bette's relationship with Valérie is layered with overtones of lesbianism. Early in the book Bette is "captée" ("bewitched")[101] by Valérie, and quickly declares to her: "Je vous aime, je vous estime, je suis à vous!" ("I love you, I esteem you, I am wholly yours!")[102] This affection may have been platonic, but neighbors of the Marneffes – along with many readers – suspect that their bond transcends friendship.[103] As with Steinbock, Bette and Valérie assume butch and femme roles; the narration even mentions "Le contraste de la mâle et sèche nature de la Lorraine avec la jolie nature créole de Valérie" ("The contrast between Lisbeth's dry masculine nature and Valerie's creole prettiness").[104] The homoeroticism evolves through the novel, as Bette feeds on Valérie's power to seduce and control the Hulot men. As one critic says: "Valérie's body becomes, at least symbolically, the locus of Bette's only erotic pleasure."[105]
  Wealth and society
  Balzac once wrote: "The worst fault of the July Revolution is that it did not allow Louis-Philippe three months of dictatorship in which to put the rights of the people and the throne on a secure basis."[106]
  
  As with many of his novels, Balzac analyzes the influence of history and social status in La Cousine Bette. The book takes places between 1838 and 1846, when the reign of Louis-Philippe reflected and directed significant changes in the social structure. Balzac was a legitimist favoring the House of Bourbon, and idolized Napoleon Bonaparte as a paragon of effective absolutist power. Balzac felt that French society under the House of Orléans lacked strong leadership, and was fragmented by the demands of parliament. He also believed that Catholicism provided guidance for the nation, and that its absence heralded moral decay.[107]
  
  Balzac demonstrated these beliefs through the characters' lives in La Cousine Bette. The conflict between Baron Hulot and the perfumer Crevel mirrors the animosity between the aristocracy of the Ancien Régime and the newly-developed bourgeoisie of traders and industrial entrepreneurs. Although he despised the socialist politics of Eugène Sue, Balzac worried that bourgeois desperation for financial gain drove people from life's important virtues. The characters – especially Bette, Valérie, and Crevel – are fixated on their need for money, and do whatever they must to obtain it.[108] As Crevel explains to Adeline: "Vous vous abusez, cher ange, si vous croyez que c'est le roi Louis-Philippe qui règne ... au-dessus de la Charte il y a la sainte, la vénérée, la solide, l'aimable, la gracieuse, la belle, la noble, la jeune, la toute-puissante pièce de cent sous!" ("You are quite mistaken, my angel, if you suppose that King Louis-Philippe rules us ... supreme above the Charter reigns the holy, venerated, substantial, delightful, obliging, beautiful, noble, ever-youthful, and all-powerful five-franc piece!")[109]
  
  Themes of corruption and salvation are brought to the fore as Valérie and Crevel lie dying from the mysterious poison. When his daughter urges him to meet with a priest, Crevel angrily refuses, mocking the church and indicating that his social stature will be his salvation: "la mort regarde à deux fois avant de frapper un maire de Paris!" ("Death thinks twice of it before carrying off a Mayor of Paris.")[110] Valérie, meanwhile, makes a deathbed conversion and urges Bette to abandon her quest for revenge. Ever the courtesan, Valérie describes her new Christianity in terms of seduction: "je ne puis maintenant plaire qu'à Dieu! je vais tâcher de me réconcilier avec lui, ce sera ma dernière coquetterie!" ("I can please no one now but God. I will try to be reconciled to Him, and that will be my last flirtation...!")[111]
  Reception and adaptations
  In 1921 actor Bette Davis, born Ruth Elizabeth Davis, chose Bette as her stage name in honor of Balzac's character.[112]
  
  The critical reaction to La Cousine Bette was immediate and positive, which Balzac did not expect. Whether due to the intensity of its creation or the tumult of his personal life, the author was surprised by the praise he received. He wrote: "I did not realize how good La Cousine Bette is.... There is an immense reaction in my favour. I have won!"[113] The collected edition sold consistently well, and was reprinted nineteen times before the turn of the century. 20th-century critics remain enthusiastic in their praise for the novel; Saintsbury insists it is "beyond all question one of the very greatest of [Balzac's] works".[114] Biographer Graham Robb calls La Cousine Bette "the masterpiece of his premature old age".[115]
  
  Some 19th-century critics attacked the book, on the grounds that it normalized vice and corrupt living. Chief among these were disciples of the utopian theorist Charles Fourier; they disapproved of the "immorality" inherent in the novel's bleak resolution. Critics like Alfred Nettement and Eugène Marron declared that Balzac's sympathy lay with Baron Hulot and Valérie Marneffe. They lambasted him for not commenting more on the characters' degenerate behavior – the same stylistic choice later celebrated by naturalist writers Émile Zola and Hippolyte Taine.[116]
  
  Balzac's novel has been adapted several times for the screen. The first was in 1927, when French filmmaker Max DeRieux directed Alice Tissot in the title role.[117] Margaret Tyzack played the role of Bette in the five part serial Cousin Bette aired on the BBC, which also starred Helen Mirren as Valérie Marneffe.[118] The film Cousin Bette was released in 1998, directed by Des McAnuff. Jessica Lange starred in the title role, joined by Bob Hoskins as Crevel, and Elisabeth Shue as the singer Jenny Cadine. Screenwriters Lynn Siefert and Susan Tarr changed the story significantly, and eliminated Valérie. The 1998 film was panned by critics for its generally poor acting and awkward dialogue. Stephen Holden of the New York Times commented that the movie "treats the novel as a thoroughly modern social comedy peopled with raging narcissists, opportunists and flat-out fools".[119][120]
  
  La Cousine Bette was adapted for the stage by Jeffrey Hatcher, best known for his screenplay Stage Beauty (based on his stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty). The Antaeus Company in North Hollywood produced a workshop in 2008 and presented the world premiere of Cousin Bette in early 2010 in North Hollywood, California.[121] The adaptation retains many of the main characters but places Bette as the story's narrator.
贝姨 一-1
  一八三八年七月中旬,一辆在巴黎街头新流行的叫做爵爷的马车,在大学街上走着,车上坐了一个中等身材的胖子,穿着国民自卫军上尉的。
   在那般以风雅为人诟病的巴黎人中间,居然有一些自以为穿上军服比便服不知要体面多少,并且认为女人们目光浅陋,只消羽毛高耸的军帽和全副武装,便会给她们一个好印象。
   这位第二军团的上尉,眉宇之间流露出一派心满意足的神气,使他红堂堂的皮色和着实肥胖的脸庞显得更光彩。单凭这道靠买卖挣来的财富罩在退休的小店老板们额上的金光,我们便可猜到他是个巴黎的得意人物,至少也是本区的助理区长之类。所以,象普鲁士人那样鼓得老高的胸脯上,荣誉勋位的绶带是决计少不了的。趾高气扬的坐在车厢的一角,这个佩带勋饰的男子左顾右盼;巴黎的行人往往就在这种情形下遇到一些满面春风的笑脸,其实那副笑脸是为他心中的美人儿的。
   爵爷到了狩猎街和勃艮第大街中间的一段,在一座大房子门前停下;那是在附有花园的旧宅空地上新起的,旧宅本身并没改动,在去掉了一半的院子另一头保持原状。
   只要看上尉下车时怎样接受马夫的侍候,便可知道他是五十开外的人了。有些显而易见的笨重的举动,象出生证一样藏不了秘密。上尉把黄手套重新戴上右手,也不向门房问讯,径自朝屋子底层的石级走去,神气仿佛是说:“她是我的了!”巴黎看门人的眼力是很高明的,凡是佩带勋饰,穿着蓝衣服①,脚步沉重的人,他们决不阻拦;总之他们认得出有钱的人。
   ①蓝色是国民自卫军的颜色。
   底层全部是于洛·德·埃尔维男爵一家住的。男爵在共和政府时代当过后勤司令兼军法官,在队伍里当过军需总监,现任陆军部某个极重要的署的署长,兼参议官,荣誉勋位二级勋章获得者,其他头衔,不胜备载。
   于洛男爵改用他的出生地埃尔维做姓氏,以便和他的哥哥区分开来。哥哥是有名的于洛将军,前帝国禁卫军上校,一八○九年战役之后由拿破仑册封为福芝罕伯爵。这位长兄为照顾弟弟起见,以父亲那样周密的心思,老早把他安插在军事机关,后来由于弟兄两人的劳迹,男爵得到了拿破仑应有的赏识。从一八○七年起,他已经是驻西班牙大军的军需总监。
   按过门铃,民团上尉①费了好大劲才把他凸起的肚子牵动得前翻后卷的衣服恢复原状。一个穿号衣的当差一看见他,马上请进,这个威风十足的要人便跟着进去,仆人打开客厅的门通报:
   “克勒韦尔先生到!”
   ①当时的国民自卫军全由中产阶级及工商界组成,故亦称民团。
   一听到这个名副其实的姓氏①,一位高身量,金头发,保养得很好的女子象被电击了似地忙不迭的站起,急急忙忙对在旁刺绣的女儿说:
   “奥棠丝,好孩子,跟你贝姨到花园里去吧。”
   奥棠丝·于洛小姐很文雅的对上尉行过礼,带着一个老处女从玻璃门出去了。那干瘪的老姑娘虽然比男爵夫人小五岁,看上去却苍老得多。
   “那是关系你的亲事呢,”贝姨附在甥女奥棠丝耳边说。男爵夫人打发她们时对她随随便便的态度,她似乎并没有生气。
   这种不拘礼数的待遇,可以从她的衣着上得到解释。
   老处女穿一件科林斯②葡萄干颜色的毛料衣衫,裁剪和滚边都是王政复辟时代的款式,一条挑绣领围大概值三法郎,一顶系着旧缎带结子的草帽,结子周围镶着草辫,象巴黎中央菜市场上的女菜贩戴的。看到那双式样明明是起码鞋匠做的羊皮鞋,生客就不敢把贝姨当做主人的亲戚招呼,因为她完全象个做零工的女裁缝。可是老姑娘出去之前,照样对克勒韦尔先生打一个亲热的招呼,克勒韦尔先生会心的点点头,说:“你明天来的吧,斐歇尔小姐?”
   ①Crevol(克勒韦尔)与Crevé,读音相仿,前者是姓氏,后者意思是大胖子。
   ②科林斯,希腊地名,以盛产葡萄著称。
   “没有外客吗?”贝姨问。
   “除了你,就是我几个孩子。”客人答道。
   “那么,”她回答说,“我一定去。”
   民团上尉对男爵夫人重新行了一个礼,说道:
   “夫人,我特来听你的吩咐,”说话之间他向男爵夫人飞了一个眼风,活象饰演答尔丢夫①的外省戏子,在普瓦捷或库唐斯一类的城里,以为非这样望一眼艾尔密耳,就显不出他角色的意义。
   ①答尔丢夫,莫里哀喜剧《伪君子》中的主人公,是一个招摇撞骗的伪君子,想把奥尔恭的太太艾尔密耳和她的女儿一齐骗到手。
   “先生,请随我来,谈正经事还是那儿比客厅好,”于洛夫人一边说一边指着隔壁的一间房,从屋子的格局来看,那应当是打牌的房间。
   和小房隔开一道薄薄的板壁,另有一间窗子临着花园的上房。于洛太太让克勒韦尔等着,因为她觉得上房的窗和门应当关严,免得有人偷听。她还郑重其事的关上大客厅的玻璃门,顺便对坐在花园深处旧亭子里的女儿和贝姨微微一笑。回来,她敞开打牌间的门,以便有人进来,就可听见大客厅的门声。这样来来往往的时候,没有什么旁观的人在场,所以男爵夫人的心事全都摆明在脸上;要是有人看到她,一定会因她的慌乱而吃惊的。但她从客厅的大门走向打牌间时,脸上立刻挂起一道莫测高深的幕,那是所有的亥子,连最爽直的在内,都会运用自如的。
   她这些准备工作看起来真是古怪得很。那时,上尉正在打量小客厅里的家具陈设。本是红色的绸窗帘,给太阳晒成了紫色,绉褶快要磨破,地毯的颜色已经褪尽,家具上的金漆已经剥落完了,布满污点的花绸面子露出大块的经纬:看到这些,暴发商人平板的脸上,天真地流露出先是鄙夷,再是自满,而后是希望的表情。他照着帝国式旧座钟上面的镜子,把自己上上下下端详一番,忽然一阵子衣衫窸窣的声音报告男爵夫人来了,于是他立刻摆好姿势。
   男爵夫人拣了一张三十年前当然很漂亮的小双人沙发坐下,让客人坐在一张靠手尽头雕着斯芬克司①的头、的漆已经剥落而露出白木的靠椅上。
   ①斯芬克司,即狮身人面像。
   “太太,你这样的防范周密,倒很象招待一个……”
   “招待一个情人是不是?”她截住了他的话。
   “这样说还差点儿劲,”他把右手放在心口,眨巴着眼睛,那神气在一个冷静的女子看来是永远要发笑的,“情人!情人!
   应当说神魂颠倒的情人……”
   “听我说,克勒韦尔先生,”男爵夫人一股正经劲儿使他笑也笑不出来,“我知道你今年五十,比于洛小十岁;可是在我的年纪,一个女人再要胡闹,必需有些特殊的理由,不是为了美貌,便是为了年轻,为了名望,为了功迹,为了一点子冲昏我们的头脑、使我们忘掉一切,甚至忘掉我们年纪的烜赫的光华。你虽然有五万法郎的收入,你的年龄也把你的财富抵销了;女人认为必不可少的条件,你一样也没有……”
   “有爱情还不成吗?”他站起身来向前走了一步,“而且那爱情……”
   “不,先生,那是你死心眼儿!”男爵夫人打断了他的话,不让他老是无聊。
   “对啊,就是爱情的死心眼儿呀,并且还不止这一点,还有权利……”
   “权利?”于洛太太嚷道。她又是鄙薄,又是轻蔑,又是愤慨。“得了吧,这一套说下去是没得完的;我请你来,也不是旧话重提,要谈当初使你这位至亲不能上门的那回事……”
   “我倒以为……”
   “又来了!先生,我能这样轻松的,满不在乎的提到情人,爱情,那些使女人最为难的题目,你难道还看不出我完全把得住自己吗?我甚至毫无顾忌,不怕跟你两人关在这间屋里。
   没有把握的女人会这样吗?你明明知道我为什么请你来!……”
   “不知道,太太,”克勒韦尔扮起一副冰冷的脸,抿紧了嘴,重新摆好姿势。
   “好吧,我的话不会多,省得彼此多受罪,”男爵夫人望着克勒韦尔说。
   克勒韦尔带着讥讽意味行了个礼。这一下,内行人就可看出他从前当过跑街的气派。
   “我们的儿子娶了你的女儿……”
   “怎么,还要重新来过吗?”克勒韦尔说。
   “那我怕这头亲事不会成功的了,”男爵夫人很快当的回答。“可是你也没有什么好抱怨。我的儿子不但是巴黎第一流的律师,并且已经当了一年议员,在国会里初期的表现相当精彩,不久就有当大臣的希望。维克托兰做过两次重要法案的报告员,要是他愿意,他早已当上最高法院的首席检察官。
   所以,倘使你的意思是说你搅上了一个没有财产的女婿……”
   “哼,一个要我维持的女婿,”克勒韦尔回答,“我觉得这个比没有财产更糟,太太。我给女儿的五十万法郎陪嫁,二十万天知道花到哪儿去了……令郎拿去还债,把屋子装扮得金碧辉煌,——一所五十万法郎的屋子,收入还不到一万五,因为他自己住了最好的一部份;他还欠二十六万法郎的屋价……收来的房租只够付屋价的利息。今年我给了女儿两万法郎,她才敷衍过去。我女婿当律师的收入一年有三万,哎,听说他为了国会倒不在乎业务了……”
   “先生,这些仍不过是闲文,只能岔开我们的本题。总括一句,倘使我儿子当了大臣,给你的荣誉勋位勋章晋一级,再给你弄一个巴黎市政府参议,那么,象你这样花粉商出身的人也没有什么好抱怨的了……”
   “啊!太太,提到这个来了。对,我是做小买卖的,开铺子的,卖杏仁饼,葡萄牙香水跟头痛油的,我应当觉得很荣幸,把独养女儿攀上了于洛·德·埃尔维男爵的公子,小女将来是男爵夫人呀。这是摄政王派,路易十五派,宫廷派!好极……我喜欢赛莱斯蒂纳,就象人家喜欢一个独养女儿一样,因为我疼她,因为连兄弟姊妹都不想给她添一个,所以虽是在巴黎鳏居多么不方便,(而且在我年富力强的时候,太太!)我照样忍受;可是请你明白,尽管我溺爱女儿,我却不肯为了你的儿子动摇我的产业,在我做过买卖的人看来,他的用度有些不清不楚……”
   “先生,在商务部里,眼前就有一位包比诺先生,从前在伦巴第街上开药铺的……”
   “是我的老朋友啊,太太!……”退休的花粉商人说:“因为我,赛莱斯坦·克勒韦尔,本是赛查·皮罗托老头手下的大伙计,他的铺子是我盘下的;皮罗托是包比诺的丈人,包比诺当时在店里不过是个小伙计,而这些还是他跟我提的,因为他,说句公平话,对有身家的人,对一年有六万法郎进款的人并不骄傲。”
   “那么先生,可见你所谓的摄政王派的观念已经过时了,现在大家看人只看他本身的价值;你把女儿嫁给我的儿子也是为此……”
   “你才不知道那头亲事是怎么成功的呢!……”克勒韦尔大声说道。“啊!单身汉的生活真是该死!要不是我生活乱七八糟,今天赛莱斯蒂纳早已当上包比诺子爵夫人了!”
   “告诉你,既成事实不用提了,”男爵夫人斩钉截铁的说。
   “我要谈的是我气不过你那种古怪的行为。小女奥棠丝的亲事是可以成功的,那完全操在你手里,我以为你宽宏大量,以为你对一个心中只有丈夫没有别人的女子,一定会主持公道,以为你能够体谅我不招待你,免得受你牵累,以为你能够顾到至亲的体面,而促成奥棠丝和勒巴参议官的婚事……却不料你先生竟坏了我们的事……”
   “夫人,我不过是老实人说老实话。人家问我奥棠丝小姐的二十万法郎陪嫁能不能兑现。我说:‘那我不敢担保。于洛家里把那笔陪嫁派给我的女婿负担,可是他自己就有债务,而且我认为,要是于洛·德·埃尔维先生明天故世,他的寡妇就要饿肚子。’就是这样,好太太。”
   于洛太太眼睛钉住了克勒韦尔,问道:
   “先生,倘使我为了你而有损妇道,你还会不会说这番话呢?……”
   “那我没有权利说了,亲爱的阿黛莉娜,”这个古怪的情人截住了男爵夫人的话,“因为在那个情形之下,你可以在我的荷包里找到那份陪嫁了。”
   为表示说到做到,胖子克勒韦尔当堂脆下,捧着于洛太太的手亲吻;她气得说不上话,他却当做她迟疑不决。
   “用这个代价来换我女儿的幸福?……噢!先生,你起来,要不然我就打铃了……”
   老花粉商很费事的站起身子,那种尴尬局面使他大为气愤,立刻摆好了姿势。差不多所有的男人都会装出某种功架,以为能够显出自己的美点。克勒韦尔的功架,是把手臂摆成拿破仑式,侧着四分之三的脑袋,学着画家在肖像上替拿破仑安排的目光,望着天边。他装做不胜愤慨的样子,说:
   “嚇!死心塌地的信任,信任一个好色……”
   “信任一个值得信任的丈夫,”于洛太太打断了克勒韦尔的话,不让他说出一个她不愿意听的字眼。
   “呃,太太,你写信叫我来,你要知道我为什么那样做,而你拿出王后一般的神气,用那么瞧不起人,欺侮人的态度逼我。你不是当我奴才看吗?真的,你可以相信,我有权利来,来……追求你……因为……呕,不,我太爱你了,不能说……”
   “说吧,先生,再过几天我就四十八岁了,我也不是什么假贞洁的傻女人,什么话都能听……”
   “那么你能不能拿贞洁做担保,——唉,算我倒霉,你的确是贞洁的女人,——你能不能担保不提我的名字,不泄露是我告诉你的秘密?”
   “假使这是揭穿秘密的条件,那么你等会告诉我的荒唐事儿,我发誓对谁都不说从哪儿听来的,对我丈夫也不说。”
   “对啦,因为这件事就跟你夫妇俩有关……”
   于洛太太立刻脸色发了白。
   “啊!要是你还爱于洛,你要难受的!我还是不说的好。”
   “说吧,先生,因为照你的说法,你应当表明一下为什么要对我讲那些疯话,为什么你死乞白赖,要折磨一个象我这等年纪的女人,我只要嫁了女儿,就可以安安心心的死了!”
   “你瞧你已经在伤心了……”
   “我?”
   “是啊,我的高贵美丽的人哪!”克勒韦尔叫道,“你就是太苦了,我的乖……”
   “先生,出去!要不然,放规矩些!”
   “哎,太太,你可知道于洛大人跟我是怎么认识的吗?……
   在咱们的情人家里哪,太太。”
   “噢!先生……”
   “在咱们的情人家里哪,太太,”克勒韦尔用舞台上说白似的音调重复了一遍,同时举起右手比了一个手势。
   “那么以后呢,先生?”男爵夫人语气的镇静,叫克勒韦尔愣住了。
   心思卑鄙的好色之徒,是永远不会了解伟大的心灵的。
   “那时我已经鳏居了五年,”克勒韦尔象讲故事一般的说,“我挺喜欢女儿,为了她的利益,我不愿意续娶,也不愿意在家里发生什么关系,虽然我当时有一个很漂亮的女账房;这样,我就弄了一处俗语所说的小公馆,养着一个十五岁的女工,简直是天仙似的美人儿,老实说,我爱她爱得魂都没有了。所以,太太,我把乡下的姨母接出来,跟小媳妇儿一块住,监督她,使她在这个……这个不三不四的地位上尽可能的安分守己。小乖乖很有音乐天才,我替她请了教师,给她受教育。(总得有点事儿给她解解闷啊。)再说,我想同时做她的父亲,恩人,兼带……推开天窗说亮话,情人;做了件好事,得了个情妇,不是一举两得吗?我快活了五年。小乖乖的嗓子可以教一家戏院发财,除了说她是女人之中的杜泼雷①,我没有法子形容。单为栽培她的歌唱,我每年就花上两千法郎。她使我对音乐着了迷,为了她和我的女儿,我在意大利剧院长期有一个包厢,今天带赛莱斯蒂纳去,明天带约瑟法去……”
   ①杜泼雷(1806—1896),当时有名的男高音歌唱家。
   “怎么,就是那个有名的歌唱家?……”
   “是啊,太太,”克勒韦尔很得意的回答,“这个有名的约瑟法哪一样不是靠了我……话说回来,一八三四年,小乖乖二十岁,我以为她对我永远不会变心了,我把她也宠得厉害,想给她一点儿消遣,介绍她认识了一个漂亮的女戏子珍妮·卡迪讷,珍妮的命运跟她有好些地方相象。她一切都靠一个后台费尽心机培养成功的。这后台便是于洛男爵……”
   “我知道,先生,”男爵夫人镇静的声音,一成不变。
   “噢……!”克勒韦尔越来越诧异了。“好吧!可是你知道没有,你那个老妖精的丈夫照顾珍妮·卡迪讷的时候,她只有十三岁?”
   “那么先生,以后呢?”
   “珍妮·卡迪讷认识约瑟法的时候,两人都是二十岁,男爵从一八二六年起,就象路易十五对待德·罗曼小姐,那时你比现在还要小十二岁……”
   “先生,我放任于洛是有我的理由的。”
   “太太,你这种谎话,没有问题可以把你所有的罪孽一笔勾销,使你堂,”克勒韦尔狡狯的神气,使男爵夫人红了脸。“我敬爱的伟大的太太,你这句话可以对旁人说,却不能对我克勒韦尔老头说。你得明白,我跟你那个坏蛋丈夫花天酒地,混得太久了,决不会不知道你的好处!两杯酒下肚,他有时会一五一十说出你的优点,把自己骂一顿。呃!我对你知道得太清楚了:你是一个天使。把你跟一个二十岁的少女放在一起,一个好色的人也许还委决不下,我可决不犹豫。”
   “先生!……”
   “好,我不说了……可是告诉你,圣洁的太太,做丈夫的一朝喝醉了,会把太太的事一古脑儿说给情妇们听,把她们笑痛肚子的。”
   于洛太太美丽的睫毛中间,亮起又羞又愤的泪珠,克勒韦尔顿时把话咽了下去,连摆姿势都忘记了。
   “言归正传,”他又说,“因为娘儿们的关系,我跟男爵交了朋友。象所有的好色鬼一样,男爵和气得很,人也痛快。噢!那时我多喜欢他,这小子!真的,他玩意儿多得很。过去的回忆不用提啦……总之,我们两个象弟兄一样……这坏蛋,一派摄政时期①的作风,拚命想教坏我,在男女关系上宣传那套各尽所能,各取所需的话,告诉我怎样叫做王爷气派,宫廷气派;可是我,凭我对那小姑娘的爱情,真想把她娶过来,要是不怕生孩子的话。以当时的交情,我们两老怎么不想结个儿女亲家呢?赛莱斯蒂纳嫁了三个月之后,于洛(我简直不知道叫他什么好,这混蛋!他把你我两个都欺骗了,太太!……),欧,这混蛋把我的小约瑟法偷上了。那时珍妮·卡迪讷在舞台上越来越走红,那坏东西知道她的心已经给一个年轻的参议官和一个艺术家(真是饥不择食!)占去了,他便来抢我可怜的小情人,一个如花似玉的美人儿;噢!你一定在意大利剧院看见过,那是靠他的情面进去的。你的丈夫可不象我有分寸,不比我井井有条的象一页五线谱,(他为了珍妮·卡迪讷已经破费不少,每年花上近三万法郎。)这一回,你知道,他为了约瑟法终于把钱搅光了。约瑟法,太太,是犹太人,姓弥拉(Mirah),是希兰(Hiram)一字的颠倒,人家为了辨认起见特意做的犹太标记,因为她是小时候被人丢在德国的。(我的调查,证明她是一个犹太银行家的私生女儿。)在我管教之下,她一向很规矩,不大花钱;可是一进戏院,再加珍妮·卡迪讷、匈兹太太,玛拉迦、卡拉比讷一伙人教会了她怎样应付老头儿,把她早期希伯来人喜欢金银珠宝,喜欢金犊的本性点醒了。成名以后的歌女,变成贪得无厌,只想搞钱,搞大钱。人家为她挥霍的,她决不拿来挥霍。她拿于洛老太爷做试验品,软骗硬诈,把他刮得精光。且不说那般专捧约瑟法的无名的群众;该死的于洛先得跟凯勒家里的一个弟兄和埃斯格里尼翁侯爵斗法,两人都是给约瑟法迷住了的;而后,来了一个大财主,自命为提倡艺术的公爵,把她抢了去。你们叫他什么的……矮东瓜是不是,那个埃鲁维尔公爵?这位阔佬存心要把约瑟法独占,风月场中的人都在谈论这件事,就剩男爵一个人不知道;在私情方面,好象别的方面一样,他完全蒙在鼓里:情人,跟丈夫一样,总是最后一个知道的。现在,我所谓的权利,你懂了吧?好太太,你丈夫把我的幸福,自从我鳏居以后唯一的乐趣夺去了。是的,要不是我倒霉,遇到这个老风流,到现在约瑟法还是我的;因为,告诉你,我永远不会送她进戏院,她不会出名,她会安安分分的守着我。噢!要是你在八年之前看到她:瘦瘦的,神经质的,金黄的皮肤安达卢西亚②美女,乌油油的头发象缎子,眼睛在褐色的睫毛中间发出闪光,举止大方,好比一个公爵夫人,又朴素,又庄重,象野鹿一般惹人怜爱。由于于洛大爷一人之过,这些风韵,这种纯洁,一切变了陷人坑,变了销金窟。这小女人象俗语所说的,变成了淫恶之母。现在她油腔滑调,从前她什么都不懂,连油嘴滑舌这个字眼都不知道的。”
   ①一七一五至一七二三年法国奥尔良公爵摄政时期,宫廷风习极为奢糜腐化。
   ②安达卢西亚,西班牙地名。
贝姨 一-2
  说到这里,老花粉商抹了抹眼泪。痛苦的真实性感动了于洛太太,把她恍恍惚惚的心收了回来。
   “你想,太太,一个人到了五十二岁,还能找到一个这样的宝贝吗?在这个年龄,爱情的代价要三万法郎一年,这个数目是从你丈夫那里知道的;而且我也太喜欢赛莱斯蒂纳了,不能让她的财产受到损害。在你第一次招待我们的晚会上一看见你,我就不明白于洛这小子为什么要养一个珍妮·卡迪讷……你气概象皇后……太太,你还不到三十岁,看上去年轻得很,而且真美。老实说,那天我真动了心,私下盘算着:‘要是我没有约瑟法,那么于洛老头既然把他的女人丢在一边,她对我倒象手套一样合适。’啊!对不起,又是一句生意人的口头禅。我常常要露出花粉商的马脚,吓得我不敢再想当议员。——对两个象我们这样的老伙计,朋友的情妇是神圣不可侵犯的;因此,一朝男爵把我那么卑鄙的欺骗了,我就发誓要把他的妻子弄上手。这才公道。男爵没有话说的,咱们俩应当扯直。不料我刚开口说出我心里的话,你就把我当癞狗一样赶了出去;可是你那一下更加强了我的爱情,加强了我的死心眼儿,如果你喜欢这么说;而且你迟早是我的。”
   “怎么会?”
   “我不知道,可是一定的。告诉你,太太,心中只有一个念头的,蠢头蠢脑的花粉商,(已经告老的,别忘了!)比那种念头成千累万、聪明伶俐的人,要强得多。我为你疯癫了,而且你是我报仇的工具!这等于把我的热情增加了一倍。我这是开诚布公对你说的,拿定了主意说的。正如你对我说:‘我决不会是你的’,我对你的说话也是一样的冷静。总之,象俗语所说的,我把牌摊明在桌上打。是的,到了某一个时期,你一定是我的……噢!哪怕你五十岁吧,你还是要做我的情妇,没有问题,因为我,我料到你丈夫有一天……”
   于洛太太对这个老谋深算的市侩,害怕得直瞪着眼,克勒韦尔以为她疯了,不敢再往下说。
   “这是你自己招来的,你瞧不起我,挑拨我,教我不得不说!”他觉得刚才几句狠毒的话,需要表白一下。
   “噢!我的女儿,我的女儿!”男爵夫人嚷着,声音象一个快要死去的人。
   “啊!我简直弄不明白了,”克勒韦尔接着说。“约瑟法给骗走的那一天,我好比一头雌虎给人抢去了小虎儿……对啦,就跟你现在一样。哼,你的女儿!便是我征服你的手段。不错,我破坏了你女儿的婚姻!……没有我帮忙,她休想嫁人!
   不管奥棠丝小姐生得多美,总得有一份陪嫁……”
   “唉!可怜,正是哪。”男爵夫人抹了抹眼睛。
   “你问男爵要一万法郎试试看,”克勒韦尔说着又摆好了姿势。
   他歇了一会,象戏子把道白特意表明段落似的。然后他尖着喉咙:
   “即使他有,也是要给替补约瑟法的女人的。走上了这条路,还会悬崖勒马吗?先是他太喜欢女人了!(咱们的王上说得好:一切都有个中庸之道。①)再加虚荣心作怪!他是一个美男子呀!他为了自己快活,会叫你们睡草垫的。而且,你们已经走上救济院的路了。你瞧,自从我不上门之后,你们就没有能换这客厅的家具。所有椅套的镶边上,都摆明着穷酸两字。上等人家的穷是最可怕的,你这种遮掩不了的窘相,哪个女婿见了不吓跑?我开过铺子,我是内行。巴黎的生意人只要眼睛一瞥,就能看出是真有钱还是假有钱……你是没有钱了,”他把声音放低了说。“处处看得出,从你们当差的衣服上也看得出。还有一件瞒着你的秘密,要不要我告诉你?……”
   ①法王路易-菲力浦即位初期曾经这样说明他的不左不右的对内政策。即:“我们将努力奉行中庸之道。”巴尔扎克在这里提到王上显然具有讽刺意味。
   “先生,够了!够了!”于洛太太哭得快把手帕都浸湿了。
   “哎,哪,我的女婿把钱给他老子呢,开头我说你儿子的用度,就是指这一点。可是我决不让我女儿吃亏……你放心。”
   “噢!女儿嫁了人,我就可以死了!……”可怜的女人叫着,没有了主意。
   “要嫁女儿,有的是办法呀!”老花粉商说。
   于洛太太抱着满腔希望,瞅着克勒韦尔,按说这一眨眼之间转悲为喜的表情,大可引起这个男人的怜悯,而放弃他可笑的计划的。
   “你还可以漂亮十年,”克勒韦尔说着,重新摆好了姿势,“只要你对我好,奥棠丝小姐的亲事就成功了。我已经说过,于洛给了我权利,可以老实不客气的提出我的条件,他不能生气的。三年以来,我在调度我的资金;因为我的荒唐是有节制的。除了原来的家产之外,我多了三十万法郎,这笔钱就是你的……”
   “出去,先生,出去,永远不许再在我面前出现。要不是你对奥棠丝的亲事行为卑鄙……是的,卑鄙……”她看见克勒韦尔做了一个姿势,便重复一遍。“你怎么能对一个可怜的女孩子,一个美丽的无辜的女孩子,下这种毒手?……要不是我想知道你这种行为的动机,要不是我受伤的母性逼得我非知道你的理由不可,你今天决不能再跟我说话,决不能再上我的门。一个女人三十二年的名誉,三十二年的清白,决不为你屈服,为你克勒韦尔先生……”
   “克勒韦尔,退休的花粉商,赛查·皮罗托的后任,圣奥诺雷街上玫瑰皇后的老板,前任助理区长,现任自卫军上尉,特授荣誉勋位五级勋章,跟我的老东家一模一样。”克勒韦尔嘻嘻哈哈的说。
   “先生,于洛规矩了二十年之后,可能对他的妻子厌倦,那只是我的事儿,跟旁人不相干;可是你瞧,他还把他的不忠实瞒得紧紧的,因为我不知道在约瑟法小姐的心里,是他接替了你的位置……”
   “噢!”克勒韦尔叫道,“用多少黄金买的,太太!……两年之中,这个歌女花了他不止十万。哼!哼!你的苦难还没有完呢……”
   “这些话都不用提了,克勒韦尔先生。我要在拥抱孩子们的时候,永远没有一点儿惭愧,我要受全家的敬重、爱戴,我要把我的灵魂一尘不染的还给上帝:这些我决不为你牺牲的。”
   “阿门!”克勒韦尔脸上恶狠狠的,又羞又恼,正如一般害单相思的人又碰了一个钉子一样。“你还没有咂摸到最后一步的苦处呢,羞愧,……耻辱……我本想点醒你,想救你跟你的女儿!……好吧,越老越昏的浪子这个新名词,你将来要一个字一个字的咂摸出它的滋味。你的眼泪跟你的傲气使我很感动,因为看一个心爱的人淌眼泪是最难受的!……”克勒韦尔说到这里,坐了下来。“我所能答应你的,亲爱的阿黛莉娜,是决不做一件难为你或是难为你丈夫的事;可是别打发人家来向我探听府上的虚实。如此而已。”
   “那可怎么办呢?”于洛太太嚷道。
   至此为止,男爵夫人很勇敢的熬住了三重刑罚,因为她在女性、母性、妻子三方面都受到耻辱。只要亲家傲慢无礼的威逼她,她为了抵抗市侩的凶横,倒还能鼓足勇气;可是失意的情人,受到屈辱的体面上尉,在无可奈何中忽然软化,却让她紧张到快要破裂的神经松弛了下来;她拧着自己的手,哭做一团,昏昏沉沉的,连克勒韦尔跪着吻她的手都不曾抗拒。
   “天哪!怎么办呢?”她抹了抹眼泪,“做母亲的能够硬着心肠眼看女儿憔悴吗?她将来怎办呢:这样的人品,天赋那么厚,在母亲旁边过着那么贞洁的生活!有些日子,她一个人在花园里散步,就无缘无故的悲伤;我还发现她眼睛泪汪汪的……”
   “她二十一岁啦,”克勒韦尔说。
   “要不要送她进修道院呢?遇到这等危机,宗教也往往压制不了天性,受过最虔诚的教养的姑娘,也会失掉理性的!——哎,先生,你起来呀,你还不明白,我们之间一切都完了吗?我对你厌恶到了极点,做母亲的最后的希望都给你毁掉了!……”
   “要是我把你的希望救回来呢?……”他说。
   于洛太太瞅着克勒韦尔,那副精神错乱的表情,使他的心软了一软;可是想到那句我对你厌恶到极点的话,他又把心中的怜悯压了下去。正人君子往往过于耿直,不知道利用性情气质,微言奥旨,去拐弯抹角的应付一个为难的局面。
   “这个年月,象奥棠丝小姐那样漂亮的姑娘,没有陪嫁就没有人要,”克勒韦尔板着脸说,“她那种美女,做丈夫的见了要害怕的;好比一匹名贵的马,需要太多的钱照料,决不会有多少买主。你能搀着这等女人在街上走吗?大家都要瞅着你,跟在你后面,打你太太的主意。这种招摇,凡是不想跟情敌决斗的男人都要觉得头痛,因为结果,情敌决不止一个两个。照你的处境,要嫁掉女儿只有三条路:由我帮忙,你却不愿意!这是一条;找一个六十岁的老头,很有钱,没有孩子而想要孩子的;这种人固然不容易找,可是还能碰上;养着约瑟法和珍妮·卡迪讷的老头儿有的是,干吗就找不到一个用明媒正娶的方法做这种傻事的人?……要是我没有赛莱斯蒂纳和两个外孙,我就会娶奥棠丝;这是第二条!最后一条路是最方便的……”
   于洛夫人抬起头来,不胜焦急的瞅着老花粉商。
   “巴黎是一切有魄力的人集中的地方,他们象野生的植物,在法国土地上自生自发的长起来;其中有的是无家无室的人才,有的是无所不为的勇气,发财的勇气……呕,那些人哪……(在下当年就是其中一个,我还认得不少呢!……二十年之前,杜·蒂耶有些什么?包比诺有些什么?……两个人都在皮罗托老头铺子里鬼混,除了向上爬的欲望以外,什么资金都没有!可是我认为,志气跟大资本一样值钱!……资本是吃得完的,志气是吃不完的!……我自己又有些什么?还不是一心向上,还不是一股勇气罢了!杜·蒂耶,今天跟哪个大人物都比得上。小家伙包比诺,伦巴第街上最殷实的药材商,当了议员,如今又当了大臣……)呕!巴黎只有那般做买卖的、写文章的、画画的冒险家,才会娶一个不名一文的漂亮女子,因为他们具备各种各样的勇气。包比诺先生娶皮罗托小姐的时候,根本没有想要一个钱的陪嫁。这些人都是疯子!他们相信爱情,就象他们相信自己的运气,相信自己的能力一样!……你不妨去找一个有魄力的人,他要是爱上了你女儿,会不顾眼前而娶她的。你得承认,我这种敌人是够慷慨的了,因为我给你出的主意对我是不利的。”
   “啊!克勒韦尔先生,如果你想做我的朋友,就应该放弃你荒谬的念头!……”
   “荒谬?太太,不要自暴自弃,你看看你自己吧……我爱你,你早晚会依我的!我要有朝一日能够对于洛说:“你抢了我的约瑟法,我占了你的老婆!……’这是以牙还牙的老法律!我一定要实现我的计划,除非你变得奇丑。而且我一定成功,你听我的理由,”他重新摆正姿势,瞅着于洛太太,停了一会,又说:“你既找不到一个老头儿,也找不到一个痴情的青年人。你疼你的女儿,决不肯把她送给一个老色鬼摆布;同时你,于洛男爵夫人,帝国禁卫军榴霰兵团司令的弟媳妇,决没有勇气招一个苦干的光棍做女婿,他眼前的地位就教你受不了,因为他也许只是一个普通工人——现在某个百万富翁,十年之前就不过是一个机器匠;——也许只是一个监工,一个什么厂里的工头之类。等到后来,眼见你二十岁的女儿很可能因冲动而失节的时候,你就会对自己说:‘那还不如让我来失节;如果克勒韦尔老头肯替我守秘密,我就好赚到女儿的陪嫁,二十万法郎,代价是十年的关系,跟这个从前的花粉商,克勒韦尔老头!……’我惹你心烦,我说的是极不道德的话,是不是?可是如果你疼女儿的热情揪着你的心,你自会跟一般爱儿女的母亲一样,想出理由来依我……总而言之,奥棠丝的利益,早晚会使你想出理由,逼你的良心投降的……”
   “奥棠丝还有个舅公呢。”
   “谁?斐歇尔老头吗?……他自顾还不周呢,而且又是受男爵的累,凡是他搜括得到的地方都给他搜括到了。”
   “还有于洛伯爵……”
   “噢!太太,你丈夫已经把老将军的积蓄挤干了,装修他歌女的公馆去了……呕,难道你不给我一点儿希望就让我走吗?”
   “再会,先生。你为我这种年纪的女人害的相思病,是容易治好的,你会弃邪归正。上帝保佑苦难的人……”
   男爵夫人站起身子,叫上尉非告辞不可,她把他逼进了大客厅。
   “这种破落地方是美丽的于洛太太住的吗?”
   说罢他指着一盏旧灯,一座镀金褪尽的吊灯,经纬毕露的地毯,以及一切破烂东西,使这间白地描金的大客厅,成为帝政时代大场面的残骸。
   “先生,这些都照出贞洁的光辉。我不想要什么富丽堂皇的家具,而把承你夸奖的我的美貌,变了陷人坑,变了销金窟!”
   克勒韦尔咬咬嘴唇,听出那两句是他刚才骂约瑟法贪心的话。
   “苦苦守节,为着谁哟?”他说。
   这时男爵夫人已经把老花粉商打发到客厅门口。
   “为一个好色之徒!……”他补上一句,装出一副百万家私的正人君子的嘴脸。
   “要是你的话不错,先生,那么我的守节也就不无可取了。
   这不是说完了吗?”
   她象打发一个讨厌人似的,对上尉行了礼,急急忙忙回身进去,不曾看到他最后一次的摆姿势,也没有留神到他告别时带着威吓意味的态度。她跑去打开窗门,走路的神气高傲而庄严,仿佛罗马斗兽场中的殉道者。可是她筋疲力尽,在全部都是蓝颜色的上房中,望便榻上颓然坐下,好似一个快要病倒的人。她直瞪着眼,瞅着女儿和贝姨在那里唧唧哝哝的破亭子。
   从结婚的最初几天一直到这个时候,男爵夫人爱她的丈夫,象约瑟芬爱拿破仑一样,是那种钦佩的,母性的,一味护短的爱。她虽不知道克勒韦尔刚才说的细节,却很知道二十年来男爵几次三番的对她不忠实;她故意闭上眼睛装不看见,只是默默的流泪,嘴里从来不溜出一言半语的埋怨。这种天使般的温柔,博得了丈夫的敬重,把她当做神明一般的礼赞。一个妻子对丈夫的温情,把他捧得高高在上的敬意,在家庭中是有传染性的。奥棠丝一向把父亲当做一个模范丈夫。至于小于洛,从小只知道佩服男爵,——谁都当他是辅翼拿破仑的一个元勋。他知道靠了父亲的姓氏,地位和庇护,他才有今日。而且童年的印象往往有久远的影响,他还见了父亲害怕呢。因此,即使他猜疑到克勒韦尔所说的那些荒唐,他不但因为敬畏之故而不敢加以非难,并且为了自己在这种问题上对一般男人的看法,还会加以原谅。
   现在我们应当解释为什么这个又美丽又伟大的女子,对丈夫忠贞不二到这个地步。下面便是她一生简短的历史。
   在洛林省边境的极端,靠着孚日山脚的一个村子里,有三个姓斐歇尔的兄弟,都是农夫,在共和政府征兵的时候加入了莱茵部队。
   一七九九年,三兄弟中的老二,安德烈,于洛太太的父亲,因为妻子死了,把女儿交给长兄皮埃尔·斐歇尔照顾。皮埃尔在一七九九年受了伤不得不退伍之后,靠了后勤司令于洛·德·埃尔维男爵撑腰,在军事运输方面经营一小部分事业。于洛有事上斯特拉斯堡,碰巧见到了斐歇尔一家。那时阿黛莉娜的父亲和他的兄弟,都在阿尔萨斯省干供应粮秣的事。
   十六岁的阿黛莉娜,很可以跟大名鼎鼎的杜巴里夫人①相比,同样是洛林省出身。她是那种十全十美,动人心弦的美人,是塔利安夫人一流,造物主特别加工的出品;她有最宝贵的天赋:体面,高雅,妩媚,细腻,大方,与众不同的皮肤,调匀得特别美好的皮色。这一类的美女彼此都很相象。比昂加·卡佩洛(她的肖像是勃龙齐诺的杰作之一),狄安娜·德·普瓦蒂埃(冉·古戎把她作为维纳斯的素材),奥林匹亚夫人(她的画像藏在多里亚美术馆),还有尼侬,杜巴里夫人,塔利安夫人,乔治小姐,雷卡米埃夫人,所有这些女子,尽管上了年纪,尽管经过情海风波,尽管穷奢极欲,可是永远光艳照人;她们的身段、骨骼、美的品质,都有极明显的相似之处,仿佛一代又一代的人海中真有一股美女的潮流,在同一阵浪花中产生出这些维纳斯。②
   这般仙女群中最美的一个,阿黛莉娜·斐歇尔,象天生的后妃一般,具备最完美的优点,蜿蜒曲折的线条,简直是倾国倾城的人品,上帝传给夏娃的那种金黄头发,皇后般的身段,雍容华贵的气派,轮廓庄严的侧影,素淡的乡村情调,会教路上所有的男子凝眸注视,象鉴赏家遇到一幅拉斐尔作品那样悠然神往。后勤司令一见阿黛莉娜·斐歇尔小姐,便在法定期限满期之后立刻把她娶了过去③,使那几位崇拜上司的斐歇尔兄弟大为惊讶。
   ①杜巴里夫人(1743—1793),路易十五的情妇。
   ②据希腊神话传说,维纳斯是从海浪的水沫中出生的。
   ③法国民法规定,婚姻须先经区政府公开布告,满十日后方可举行婚礼。此言满期之后立刻……,谓其迫不及待。
   皮埃尔·斐歇尔,一七九二年入伍的军人,维桑布尔①一役中受了重伤,对拿破仑和有关大军的一切,一向是崇拜得五体投地的。安德烈和若安,提起于洛司令都敬重非凡,并且他们的地位是全靠这位拿破仑的亲信得来的;因为于洛·德·埃尔维觉得他们聪明诚实,把他们从运输队中提拔起来,当紧急工程的主管。在一八○四的战役中,三兄弟立了功,战后,于洛替他们在阿尔萨斯弄上这个供应粮秣的差事,当时并没想到自己后来会奉派到斯特拉斯堡准备一八○六年的战事。
   ①维桑布尔,德国城名,一八七○年八月四日普鲁士军队大破法军于此。
   这门亲事,对年轻的乡下姑娘简直是白日飞升。美丽的阿黛莉娜,从本村的泥淖中,平步青云,一脚踏进了帝室宫廷的天堂。那时后勤司令是一军中最能干、最诚实、最活跃的一个,封了男爵,被拿破仑皇帝召入中枢服务,编入帝国禁卫军。美丽的乡下姑娘爱丈夫爱得发疯一般,竟然为了他而鼓足勇气把自己教育起来。并且于洛就好似阿黛莉娜在男人身上的翻版。他是属于优秀的美男子群的。高大、结实、金黄头发、蓝眼睛里那股热情,那种变化,那些微妙的表情,自有不可抵抗的魅力。身腰秀美,在奥尔赛,福尔班,乌弗拉尔一流人中独具一格,总之他是帝政时代美男子队伍中的人物。情场得意的男子,对于女人又抱着十八世纪末期的观念,他为了夫妇之爱,居然有好几年把风流艳事搁过一边。
   因此,在阿黛莉娜心目中,一开场男爵便似神明一般,不会有错失的。她的一切都得之于丈夫:先是财富,她有了府第,有了车马,有了当时一切奢华的享用;然后是幸福,人人知道丈夫爱她;然后是头衔,她是男爵夫人;然后是声名,在巴黎大家称她为美丽的于洛夫人;最后她还很荣幸的谢绝了皇帝的青睐,他赐了她一条钻石项链,常常在人前提起她,不时问:“美丽的于洛夫人,还是那么安分吗?”言下大有谁要在他失败的事情上成功,他会加以报复的意思。
   所以,于洛夫人除了爱情以外对丈夫的迷信,用不到什么聪明的人,就能在她纯洁,天真,优美的心灵中,找出它的动机。她先是深信丈夫永远不会对不起她,而后她对她的创造者存心要做一个谦恭、忠诚、盲目的仆人。她生来就极明事理,象平民那样的明白事理,使她的教育更扎实。在交际场中她不大开口,不说任何人坏话,不露锋芒;她听着人家,对每件事情加以思索,以最规矩最有身分的女人为榜样。
   一八一五年,于洛和他的知交维桑布尔亲王采取一致行动,帮着组织那支临时凑合的军队,就是滑铁卢一仗把拿破仑的事业结束了的那支军队。一八一六年,男爵变成了费尔特大人①的眼中钉,直到一八二三年才重新起用,进了军需机构,因为对西班牙的战争需要他。一八三○年,路易-菲力浦起用拿破仑旧部时,于洛又在内阁中出现。他是拥护波旁王室的幼支②的,对路易-菲力浦的登台特别出过力,所以从一八三○年起,他成为陆军部中一个必不可少的署长。同时他已经得了元帅衔,除了任命他做部长或贵族院议员之外,王上也没有别的方法可以宠遇他了。
   ①费尔特(1765—1818),即克拉尔克将军,当时的陆军大臣。
   ②即路易-菲力浦的一支。
   在一八一八到一八二三这段赋闲的时期中,于洛男爵在脂粉队里大肆活动。于洛夫人知道,她的埃克托最早的不忠实要追溯到帝政结束的时代。由此可见男爵夫人的宠擅专房,一共是十二年功夫。之后,她照样受到往日的温情:凡是妻子自甘隐忍,只做一个温柔贤淑的伴侣时,丈夫当然会对她保持一种年深月久的感情。她明知只要一句埋怨的话,无论哪个情敌都打发得了,可是她闭上眼睛,蒙着耳朵,不愿知道丈夫在外边的行为。总之,她对她的埃克托有如一个母亲对待一个骄养的孩子。在上面那段对话的前三年,奥棠丝瞥见她的父亲在多艺剧院正厅的包厢里陪着珍妮·卡迪讷,不由得叫道:
   “呦!爸爸!”
   “你看错了,孩子,他今晚在元帅家里呢,”男爵夫人回答。
   其实她明明看到珍妮·卡迪讷;虽然发现她很美,男爵夫人并没感到醋意,只暗忖道:“埃克托这坏东西一定很快活哩。”可是她仍免不了心中难受,常常暗里气愤得要死;但一见埃克托的面,她又看到十二年纯粹的幸福,连一点点埋怨他的勇气都没有了。她很希望男爵对她推心置腹,但为了尊敬他,从来不让他觉察她知道他的荒唐。这种过分的体贴,只有受了打击不还手的、平民出身的女子才会有,她们的血里还保留一点儿初期殉道者的血统。世家出身的女人,因为和丈夫平等,存着睚眦必报的心,觉得需要把他们折磨一下,把她们的宽容象记录台球的输赢一般,用几句辛辣的话记下来,以便显出自己的优越,或是保留日后回敬的权利。
   钦佩男爵夫人到极点的是她的大伯于洛将军,前帝国禁卫军榴霰兵司令,德高望重,晚年眼见要晋升元帅的。一七九九到一八○○年之间,这位老人曾经在布列塔尼各省作过战,一八三○到一八三四年之间又当了一任同一地区的军司令长官,然后回到巴黎住下,靠近着兄弟,那是他一向象父亲对儿子一般关切的。老军人对弟媳妇极有好感,称赞她是女性中最圣洁最高尚的一个;他没有结婚,因为想找一个阿黛莉娜第二,而在他南征北讨跑过的地方从来没有能遇上。拿破仑提到他时曾经说:“于洛这个好汉是最固执的共和党,可是他永远不会反叛我的。”为了不辜负这个一生清白、无可指摘的老共和党的期许,阿黛莉娜即使遇到比刚才更惨酷的痛苦也肯忍受。然而这个七十二岁的老人,百战之余已经心力交瘁,滑铁卢一役又受了第二十七次的伤,只能做阿黛莉娜的一个崇拜者而非保护人。可怜的伯爵,除了别的残废之外,只有靠了听筒才能听见人家说话。
   只要于洛·德·埃尔维不失其为美男子,他的私情还不致影响他的财产;但到了五十岁,就得在外表和风度上做功夫了。在这个年纪,老年人的爱情已经成为恶癖;其中还有荒谬的虚荣心作祟。所以从那时起,阿黛莉娜发现丈夫对他自身的修饰出乎意外的苛求,他染着头发与鬓脚,束着腰带,穿着胸褡。他不顾一切的要保持他的美。从前他嘲笑人家的修饰,现在他自己就把这一套讲究得无微不至。最后,阿黛莉娜又发现男爵的情妇们挥金如土的用度,原来都是刮的她的钱。八年之间,很大的一笔家私给花得干干净净,以致两年前儿子成家的时候,男爵不得不告诉太太,他们的全部财产只有他的薪水了。阿黛莉娜说了句:
   “这样下去,我们如何得了?”
   “你放心,”男爵回答,“我把办公费留给你们;至于奥棠丝的陪嫁和我们将来的生活费,让我干些买卖来张罗。”
   丈夫的权势、声价、才能、勇气,都是她深信不疑的,所以她一时的忧虑也就过去了。
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