Justine 淑女的眼泪 Chapter 41

" Superfluous ¹ efforts," he cries, "this is not what I must have... to the business... the business... however pitiable my state... I can hold back no longer... come, Countess, your arms!", ,He seizes her ferociously ², places her as I was placed, arms suspended by two black straps ³; mine is the task of securing the bands; he inspects the knots: finding them too loose, he tightens ⁴ them, "So that," he says, "the blood will spurt ⁵ out under greater pressure"; he feels the veins ⁶, and lances them, on each arm, at almost the same moment. Blood leaps far: he is in an ecstasy ⁷; and adjusting himself so that he has a clear view of these two fountains, he has me kneel between his legs so I can suck him; he does as much for first one and then the other of his little friends, incessantly ⁸ eyeing the jets of blood which inflame ⁹ him. For my part, certain the instant at which the hoped for crisis occurs will bring a conclusion to the Countess' torments ¹⁰, I bring all my efforts to bear upon precipitating ¹¹ this denouement ¹², and I become, as, Madame, you observe, I become a whore from kindness, a libertine ¹³ through virtue ¹⁴. The much awaited moment arrives at last; I am not familiar with its dangers or violence, for the last time it had taken place I had been unconscious... Oh, Madame! what extravagance! Gernande remained delirious ¹⁵ for ten minutes, flailing ¹⁶ his arms, staggering, reeling like one falling in a fit of epilepsy, and uttering screams which must have been audible for a league around; his oaths were excessive; lashing ¹⁷ out at everyone at hand, his strugglings were dreadful. The two little ones are sent tumbling head over heels; he wishes to fly at his wife, I restrain him: I pump the last drop from him, his need of me makes him respect me; at last I bring him to his senses by ridding him of that fiery ¹⁸ liquid, whose heat, whose viscosity ¹⁹, and above all whose abundance puts him in such a frenzy ²⁰ I believe he is going to expire; seven or eight tablespoons would scarcely have contained the discharge, and the thickest gruel ²¹ would hardly give a notion of its consistency ²²; and with all that, no appearance of an erection at all, rather, the limp look and feel of exhaustion ²³: there you have the contrarieties which, better than might I, explain artists of the Count's breed. The Count ate excessively and only dissipated each time he bled his wife, every four days, that is to say. Would this be the cause of the phenomenon? I have no idea, and not daring to ascribe a reason to what I do not understand, I will be content to relate what I saw., ,However, I rush to the Countess, I stanch ²⁴ her blood, untie ²⁵ her, and deposit her upon a couch in a state of extreme weakness; but the Count, totally indifferent to her, without condescending ²⁷ to cast even a glance at this victim stricken by his rage, abruptly ²⁸ goes out with his aides, leaving me to put things in whatever order I please. Such is the fatal apathy ²⁹ which better than all else characterizes the true libertine soul: if he is merely carried away by passion's heat, limned ³⁰ with remorse ³¹ will be his face when, calmed again, he beholds ³² the baleful effects of delirium ³³; but if his soul is utterly ³⁴ corrupt ³⁵? then such consequences will affright him not: he will observe them with as little trouble as regret, perhaps even with some of the emotion of those infamous ³⁶ lusts ³⁷ which produced them., , ,But I had discovered the secret of winning this man's very highest esteem ⁴²: he frankly ⁴³ avowed ⁴⁴ to me that few women had pleased him so much; and thereby ⁴⁵ I acquired the right to his confidence, which I only exploited in order to serve my mistress., ,One morning Gernande called me to his room to inform me of some new libertine schemes; after having listened closely and approved enthusiastically, and seeing him in a relatively ⁴⁶ calm state, I undertook to persuade him to mitigate ⁴⁷ his poor wife's fate. "Is it possible, Monsieur," I said to him, "that one may treat a woman in this manner, even setting aside all the ties which bind ⁴⁸ you to her ? Condescend ²⁶ to reflect upon her sex's touching ⁴⁹ graces."#p#分页标题#e#, ,That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举 。,The buck shook his antlers ferociously. 那雄鹿猛烈地摇动他的鹿角
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