双语·面纱 第七章

7

Mrs. Garstin was a hard, cruel, managing, ambitious, par-simonious and stupid woman. She was the daughter, one of five, of a solicitor in Liverpool and Bernard Garstin had met her when he was on the Northern Circuit. He had seemed then a young man of promise and her father said he would go far. He hadn't. He was painstaking, industrious and capable, but he had not the will to advance himself. Mrs. Garstin despised him. But she recognised, though with bitterness, that she could only achieve success through him, and she set herself to drive him on the way she desired to go. She nagged him without mercy. She discovered that if she wanted him to do something which his sensitiveness revolted against she had only to give him no peace and eventually, exhausted, he would yield. On her side she set herself to cultivate the people who might be useful. She flattered the solicitors who would send her husband briefs and was familiar with their wives. She was obsequious to the judges and their ladies. She made much of promising politicians.

In twenty-five years Mrs. Garstin never invited any one to dine at her house because she liked him. She gave large dinner parties at regular intervals. But parsimony was as strong in her as ambition. She hated to spend money. She flattered herself that she could make as much show as any one else at half the price. Her dinners were long and elaborate, but thrifty, and she could never persuade herself that people when they were eating and talking knew what they drank. She wrapped sparkling Moselle in a napkin and thought her guests took it for champagne.

Bernard Garstin had a fair, though not a large practice. Men who had been called after him had long outstripped him. Mrs. Garstin made him stand for parliament. The expense of the election was borne by the party, but here again her parsimony balked her ambition, and she could not bring herself to spend enough money to nurse the constituency. The subscriptions Bernard Garstin made to the innumerable funds a candidate is expected to contribute to were always just a little less than adequate. He was beaten. Though it would have pleased Mrs. Garstin to be a member's wife she bore her disappointment with fortitude. The fact of her husband's standing had brought her in contact with a number of prominent persons and she appreciated the addition to her social consequence. She knew that Bernard would never make his mark in the House. She wanted him to be a member only that he might have a claim on the gratitude of his party and surely to fight two or three losing seats would give him that.

But he was still a junior and many younger men than he had already taken silk. It was necessary that he should too, not only because otherwise he could scarcely hope to be made a judge, but on her account also; it mortified her to go into dinner after women ten years younger than herself. But here she encountered in her husband an obstinacy which she had not for years been accustomed to. He was afraid that as a K.C. he would get no work. A bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, he told her, to which she retorted that a proverb was the last refuge of the mentally destitute. He suggested to her the possibility that his income would be halved and he knew that there was no argument which could have greater weight with her. She would not listen. She called him pusillanimous. She gave him no peace and at last, as always, he yielded. He applied for silk and it was promptly awarded him.

His misgivings were justified. He made no headway as a leader and his briefs were few. But he concealed any disappointment he may have felt, and if he reproached his wife it was in his heart. He grew perhaps a little more silent, but he had always been silent at home, and no one in his family noticed a change in him. His daughters had never looked upon him as anything but a source of income; it had always seemed perfectly natural that he should lead a dog's life in order to provide them with board and lodging, clothes, holidays, and money for odds and ends; and now, understanding that through his fault money was less plentiful, the indifference they had felt for him was tinged with an exasperated contempt. It never occurred to them to ask themselves what were the feelings of the subdued little man who went out early in the morning and came home at night only in time to dress for dinner. He was a stranger to them, but because he was their father they took it for granted that he should love and cherish them.

第七章

贾斯汀太太是个强硬、冷酷、控制欲强、野心勃勃、吝啬而又愚蠢的女人。她的父亲是利物浦的一位律师，生了五个女儿，贾斯汀太太是其中之一。伯纳德·贾斯汀是在北部巡回法庭的任上遇见她的，那时，他似乎年轻有为，而她的父亲说他日后会飞黄腾达的。然而，事与愿违，他一直默默无闻，虽然他很勤勉、努力、有能力，但没有向上爬的愿望。贾斯汀太太挺瞧不上他的，但她不得不酸溜溜地承认，她若想达到某种目的也只能通过自己的丈夫。于是，她把自己视为车夫，而她的丈夫则是那架载着她驶向自己想要的生活的马车。她在他的耳旁喋喋不休，毫不留情。她发现如果想让伯纳德做他不愿做的事情，她唯一需要做的就是让他片刻不得安生，最后在筋疲力尽之下，他也就屈服了。在她看来，她的使命就是栽培那些可能对自己有用的人，她会去巴结可能向她丈夫引介案子的律师们，跟这些律师的妻子们打成一片。她对法官和他们的太太卑躬屈膝，对有可能发达的政客们更是阿谀奉承。

二十五年来，贾斯汀太太从未因为喜欢某人而邀请他来家里吃饭。但每隔一段时间她就会举办盛大的晚宴。可是吝啬和野心在她的性格中同时占有很重要的地位，她对花钱深恶痛绝。她还自诩只花一半的钱就能办出同样豪华的晚会。她的晚宴冗长、花样众多，但是很省钱，她坚信当人们边吃边高谈阔论时，是不会知道自己喝的是什么的，所以她会把发泡的摩泽尔酒用餐巾包上，以为客人们会把它当成香槟酒喝掉。

伯纳德的业务规模不大，也还算不错，但很多他的后辈都远远地超越了他。贾斯汀太太想让他竞选议员，虽说竞选的花销由党内负担，但在这件事上，她的吝啬再次压倒了野心，她无法让自己投入足够的资金来取悦选民，而伯纳德作为一名候选人，在庞大的竞选基金中所出的资金总是少那么一点儿，所以落选了。虽然假如成为一名议员夫人会让贾斯汀太太很开心，但对落选的失望，她以坚忍的意志面对了。她丈夫的参选让她接触到了很多了不起的大人物，她很感激这增加了自己的社交资本。她其实心里明白伯纳德绝无可能进入议会的，她之所以想让他参选只是为了赚取他所属的党派对伯纳德的感激之情，因为肯定落选的两三席中必定有他的份儿。

然而，他依然还是个初级律师，很多比他年轻的人已经成了王室律师。他也应该成为王室律师，这是很必要的，不仅仅是因为不先成为王室律师，就不太可能有朝一日成为法官，而且不成为王室律师和她为丈夫设计的发展方向也不符。赴宴时要排在比她年轻十岁的妇人后面，让她感到屈辱。但是在这点上，她和自己丈夫的观点相左，而且他的固执己见让她多年来都没法适应。他害怕徒有王室律师的虚名，丢掉了实际的收入。他告诉她，一鸟在手，胜过双鸟在林。而她反驳说，这个谚语只是他没出息的托词。他暗示她，如果担任了王室律师，他的收入可能会减半，但他也明白她的大道理比他多得多，说什么她也不会听的。她称他优柔寡断，让他片刻不得安宁，最后跟以往一样，他还是投降了。他去申请了王室律师头衔，很快就得到了。

他的担心证明是对的，他向上爬的路径困难重重，而手头接的案子日渐减少，但他设法隐藏了他感觉到的失望，他如果想责怪自己的妻子也只是在心里默默念叨，虽然平常在家时，他总是不怎么吭声，但现在他变得更加沉默寡言了。家里没人注意到他身上的这种变化，女儿们除了把他看作是收入的来源以外，没人尊重他。他得养家糊口，当牛做马，这似乎是再自然不过的事了，他得给她们提供衣食住行的费用、度假的花销，以及日常的零花钱。而现在由于他的过错，钱来得比以前少了，除了对他漠不关心外，她们心里对他又多了一层埋怨和蔑视。她们从来不曾想过这位顺从的矮小男人心里想的是什么。他每天早早出门上班，晚上准时回家换衣吃饭。对于她们来说，他是个陌生人，但是因为他是她们的父亲，她们把他对她们的爱护和珍视视作天经地义、理所当然的事。