Justine 淑女的眼泪 Chapter 23

I had just, on the 7th of August, left Auxerre; I shall never forget that date. I had walked about two leagues: the noonday heat beginning to incommode me, I climbed a little eminence ¹ crowned by a grove ² of trees; the place was not far removed from the road, I went there with the purpose of refreshing ³ myself and obtaining a few hours of sleep without having to pay the expense of an inn, and up there I was in greater safety than upon the highway. I established myself at the foot of an oak and, after a frugal ⁴ lunch, I drifted off into sweet sleep. Well did I rest, for a considerable time, and in a state of complete tranquillity ⁵; and then, opening my eyes, it was with great pleasure I mused ⁶ upon the landscape which was visible for a long distance. From out of the middle of a forest that extended upon the right, I thought I could detect, some three or four leagues from where I was, a little bell tower rising modestly into the air.... "Beloved solitude," I murmured, "what a desire I have to dwell a time in thee; and thou afar," said I, addressing the abbey, "thou must be the asylum ⁷ of a few gentle, virtuous ⁸ recluses ⁹ who are occupied with none but God... with naught ¹⁰ but their pious ¹¹ duties; or a retreat unto some holy hermits ¹² devoted ¹³ to Religion alone... men who, far removed from that pernicious society where incessant ¹⁴ crime, brooding heavily, threatfully over innocence ¹⁶, degrades it, annihilates ¹⁷ it... ah! there must all virtues ¹⁸ dwell, of that I am certain, and when mankind's crimes exile them out of the world, 'tis thither ²⁰ they go in that isolated ²¹ place to commune with the souls of those fortunate ones who cherish them and cultivate them every day.", ,I was absorbed in these thoughts when a girl of my age, keeper of a flock of sheep grazing upon the plateau, suddenly appeared before my eyes; I question her about that habitation, she tells me what I see is a Benedictine monastery ²² occupied by four solitary ²³ monks ²⁵ of peerless devotion, whose continence and sobriety are without example. Once a year, says the girl, a pilgrimage is made to a miraculous ²⁶ Virgin ²⁷ who is there, and from Her pious folk obtain all their hearts' desire. Singularly eager immediately to go and implore ²⁸ aid at the feet of this holy Mother of God, I ask the girl whether she would like to come and pray with me; 'tis impossible, she replies, for her mother awaits her; but the road there is easy. She indicates it to me, she assures me the superior of the house, the most respectable, the most saintly of men, will receive me with perfect good grace and will offer me all the aid whereof I can possibly stand in need. "Dom Severino, so he is called," continues the girl, "is an Italian closely related to the Pope, who overwhelms him with kindnesses; he is gentle, honest, correct, obliging, fifty-five years old, and has spent above two-thirds of his life in France... you will be satisfied with him, Mademoiselle," the shepherdess concluded, "go and edify ²⁹ yourself in that sacred quiet, and you will only return from it improved.", ,This recital ³⁰ only inflamed ³¹ my zeal ³² the more, I became unable to resist the violent desire I felt to pay a visit to this hallowed church and there, by a few acts of piety ³³, to make restitution ³⁴ for the neglect whereof I was guilty. However great was my own need of charities, I gave the girl a crown, and set off down the road leading to Saint Mary-in-the-Wood, as was called the monastery toward which I directed my steps., , ,"Mademoiselle," says he, "here is Dom Clement ⁵¹, steward ⁵² to the house; he has come to see whether what you desire merits interrupting the superior.", ,Clement, whose name could not conceivably have been less descriptive of his physiognomy, was a man of forty-eight years, of an enormous bulk, of a giant's stature ⁵³; somber ⁵⁴ was his expression, fierce his eye; the only words he spoke ⁵⁵ were harsh, and they were expelled by a raucous ⁵⁶ voice: here was a satyric personage indeed, a tyrant's exterior ⁵⁷; he made me tremble.... And then despite all I could do to suppress it, the remembrance of my old miseries ⁵⁸ rose to smite ⁵⁹ my troubled memory in traits of blood...., ,Many of the pilots were to achieve eminence in the aeronautical world.这些飞行员中很多人将会在航空界声名显赫。,On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林 。