双语·面纱 第五十三章

53

Since she had been working at the convent Kitty had seen less of Waddington. Two or three times he had come down to the river bank to meet her and they had walked up the hill together. He came in to drink a whisky and soda, but he would seldom stay to dinner. One Sunday, however, he suggested that they should take their luncheon with them and go in chairs to a Buddhist monastery. It was situated ten miles from the city and had some reputation as a place of pilgrimage. The Mother Superior, insisting that Kitty must have a day's rest, would not let her work on Sundays and Walter of course was as busy then as usual.

They started early in order to arrive before the heat of the day and were carried along a narrow causeway between the rice-fields. Now and then they passed comfortable farm-houses nestling with friendly intimacy in a grove of bamboos. Kitty enjoyed the idleness; it was pleasant after being cooped up in the city to see about her the wide country. They came to the monastery, straggling low buildings by the side of the river, agreeably shaded by trees, and were led by smiling monks throughout courtyards, empty with a solemn emptiness, and shown temples with grimacing gods. In the sanctuary sat the Buddha, remote and sad, wistful, abstracted and faintly smiling. There was about everything a sense of dejection; the magnificence was shoddy and ruined; the gods were dusty and the faith that had made them was dying. The monks seemed to stay on sufferance, as though they awaited a notice to quit; and in the smile of the abbot, with his beautiful politeness, was the irony of resignation. One of these days the monks would wander away from the shady, pleasant wood, and the buildings, crumbling and neglected, would be battered by fierce storms and besieged by the surrounding nature. Wild creepers would twine themselves about the dead images and the trees would grow in the courtyards. Then the gods would dwell there no longer, but evil spirits of darkness.

第五十三章

自从一直在修道院帮忙，凯蒂就很少再见到威廷顿了。有两三次，他来到河边接她，然后他们一起走上山。他到凯蒂的家总会喝上一杯苏打水加威士忌，但是很少留下来吃晚饭。可是，有一个星期天，他建议他们应该随身带着午饭，坐轿椅去一所佛家寺院。这所寺院距离城镇有十英里远，作为一个朝圣之地还有一些名气。院长嬷嬷坚持让凯蒂一周休息一天，不让她在周日还在工作。当然，沃尔特周日仍然同往常一样忙碌。

为了赶在一天的炎热到来之前到达那里，他们很早就动身了。轿夫们抬着轿椅在狭窄的稻田田埂上行走，偶尔他们还经过很恬静的农家院落，一丛丛竹子友好而亲密地依偎在院子的周围。凯蒂很喜欢这种田园气息，被禁锢在拥挤的城镇中，冷不丁来到视野宽阔的乡间，让人心旷神怡。他们来到了寺院，这寺院是由河边零星散落着的一些低矮建筑组成的，庙宇都在树荫之下。面带笑容的僧人们把他们领进了院子，这里空寂而又肃穆，庙里的众神像是各种鬼脸的造型。佛祖的神像端坐在一座大殿中，脸上挂着遥远和悲伤的、沉思的、高深莫测的、淡淡的微笑。这里的每一件东西都有一种忧郁的感觉，昔日的富丽堂皇已经变成了虚骄假饰和冷落破败，神像身上布满灰尘，它们所代表的信仰已经行将就木。僧人们似乎在苦捱度日，好像他们正在等着遣散通知。主持和尚的微笑和彬彬有礼，仿佛是对辞职的嘲讽。某一天，僧人们会远离阴凉的、令人愉快的树林去远游，而这些斑驳和荒凉的庙宇，会受到猛烈暴风雨的打击和周围大自然的围困。野生的爬山虎会盘绕在那些没有生命的神像上，而树木会在院落中自生自灭，到了那时，各种神灵不会在此驻留，只有邪恶的黑暗精灵在此游荡。