Justine 淑女的眼泪 Chapter 11

It was toward four o'clock in the afternoon when we entered the forest. Until then Saint-Florent had not once contradicted himself: always the same propriety ¹, always the same eagerness to prove his sentiments for me; I should not have thought myself more secure had I been with my father. The shades of night began to descend ² upon the forest and to inspire that kind of religious horror which at once causes the birth of fear in timorous ³ spirits and criminal projects in ferocious ⁴ hearts. We followed mere ⁵ paths; I was walking ahead, and I turned to ask Saint-Florent whether these obscure trails were really the ones we ought to be following, whether perchance he had not lost his bearings, whether he thought we were going to arrive soon., ,"We have arrived, whore," the villain ⁶ replied, toppling me with a blow of his cane ⁷ brought down upon my head; I fell unconscious... Oh, Madame, I have no idea what that man afterward ⁸ said or did; but the state I was in when I returned to my senses advised me only too well to what point I had been his victim. I was darkest night when I awoke; I was at the foot of a tree, away from any road, injured, bleeding... dishonored, Madame; such had been the reward of all I had just done for the unlucky man; and carrying infamy ⁹ to its ultimate degree, the wretch ¹⁰, after having done to me all he had wished, after having abused me in every manner, even in that which most outrages ¹¹ Nature, had taken my purse... containing the same money I had so generously offered him. He had torn my clothing, most of it lay in shreds ¹² and ribbons about me, I was virtually naked, and several parts of my body were lacerated, clawed; you may appreciate my situation: there in the depths of the night, without resources, without honor, without hope, exposed to every peril ¹³: I wished to put an end to my days: had a weapon been presented to me, I would have laid hands on it and abridged ¹⁴ this unhappy life full only of plagues for me... the monster! What did I do to him, I asked myself, to have deserved such cruel treatment at his hands? I save his life, restore his fortune to him, he snatches away what is most dear to me! A savage ¹⁵ beast would have been less cruel! O man, thus are you when you heed ¹⁶ nothing but your passions! Tigers that dwell in the wildest jungles would quail ¹⁷ before such ignominies... these first pangs ¹⁸ of suffering were succeeded by some few minutes of exhaustion ¹⁹; my eyes, brimming over with tears, turned mechanically towards the sky; my heart did spring to the feet of the Master who dwelleth there... that pure glittering vault ²⁰... that imposing ²¹ stillness of the night... that terror which numbed ²² my senses... that image of Nature in peace, nigh unto my whelmed, distraught soul... all distilled ²³ a somber ²⁴ horror into me, whence there was soon born the need to pray. I cast myself down, kneeling before that potent ²⁵ God denied by the impious, hope of the poor and the downtrodden., ,"Holy Majesty ²⁶, Saintly One," I cried out in tears, "Thou Who in this dreadful moment deign ²⁷ to flood my soul with a celestial ²⁸ joy, Who doubtless hath prevented me from attempting my life; O my Protector and my Guide, I aspire ²⁹ to Thy bounties ³⁰, I implore ³¹ Thy clemency ³², behold ³³ my miseries ³⁴ and my torments ³⁵, my resignation, and hear Thou my entreaties ³⁶: Powerful God I Thou knowst it, I am innocent and weak, I am betrayed and mistreated; I have wished to do well in imitation of Thee, and Thy will hath punished it in me: may Thy will be done, O my God I all its sacred effects are cherished by me, I respect them and cease to complain of them; but if however I am to find naught ³⁷ but stings and nettles ³⁸ terrestrially, is it to offend Thee, O my Sovereign Master, to supplicate ³⁹ Thy puissance to take me into Thy bosom ⁴⁰, in order untroubled to adore Thee, to worship Thee far away from these perverse ⁴¹ men who, alas ⁴² I have made me meet with evils only, and whose bloodied ⁴³ and perfidious ⁴⁴ hands at their pleasure drown my sorrowful days in a torrent ⁴⁵ of tears and in an abyss of agonies.", , ,Very well, I said as I examined myself, it is then true that there are human creatures Nature reduces to the level of wild beasts! Lurking ⁵¹ in this forest, like them flying the sight of man, what difference now exists between them and me? Is it worth being born for a fate so pitiable?... And my tears flowed abundantly as I meditated ⁵² in sorrow; I had scarcely finished with my reflections when I heard sounds somewhere about; little by little, two men hove into view. I pricked ⁵³ up my ears:#p#分页标题#e#, ,"Come, dear friend," said one of them, "this place will suit us admirably; the cruel and fatal presence of an aunt I abhor ⁵⁴ will not prevent me from tasting a moment with you the pleasures I cherish.", ,The sensitive matter was handled with great propriety.这件机密的事处理得极为适当。,I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠 。