| CHAPTER V
In the course of time Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and healthy, yet his strength left him suddenly; and when he was confined to the chimney-corner he grew grievously irritable. A nothing vexed him; and suspected slights of his authority nearly threw him into fits. This was especially to be remarked if any one attempted to impose upon, or domineer over, his favourite: he was painfully jealous lest a word should be spoken amiss to him; seeming to have got into his head the notion that, because he liked Heathcliff, all hated, and longed to do him an ill-turn. It was a disadvantage to the lad; for the kinder among us did not wish to fret the master, so we humoured his partiality; and that humouring was rich nourishment to the child’s pride and black tempers. Still it became in a manner necessary; twice, or thrice, Hindley’s manifestation of scorn, while his father was near, roused the old man to a fury: he seized his stick to strike him, and shook with rage that he could not do it.
At last, our curate (we had a curate then who made the living answer by teaching the little Lintons and Earnshaws, and farming his bit of land himself) advised that the young man should be sent to college; and Mr. Earnshaw agreed, though with a heavy spirit, for he said—“Hindley was nought, and would never thrive as where he wandered.”
I hoped heartily we should have peace now. It hurt me to think the master should be made uncomfortable by his own good deed. I fancied the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements; as he would have it that it did: really, you know, sir, it was in his sinking frame. We might have got on tolerably, notwithstanding, but for two people—Miss Cathy, and Joseph, the servant: you saw him, I daresay, up yonder. He was, and is yet most likely, the wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself and fling the curses to his neighbours. By his knack of sermonising and pious discoursing, he contrived to make a great impression on Mr. Earnshaw; and the more feeble the master became, the more influence he gained. He was relentless in worrying him about his soul’s concerns, and about ruling his children rigidly. He encouraged him to regard Hindley as a reprobate; and, night after night, he regularly grumbled out a long string of tales against Heathcliff and Catherine: always minding to flatter Earnshaw’s weakness by heaping the heaviest blame on the latter.
Certainly she had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day: from the hour she came downstairs till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minute’s security that she wouldn’t be in mischief. Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going—singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild, wicked slip she was—but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish: and, after all, I believe she meant no harm; for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company, and oblige you to be quiet that you might comfort her. She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account. In play, she liked exceedingly to act the little mistress; using her hands freely, and commanding her companions: she did so to me, but I would not bear slapping and ordering; and so I let her know.
Now, Mr. Earnshaw did not understand jokes from his children: he had always been strict and grave with them; and Catherine, on her part, had no idea why her father should be crosser and less patient in his ailing condition than he was in his prime. His peevish reproofs wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him: she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words; turning Joseph’s religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most—showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness: how the boy would do her bidding in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination. After behaving as badly as possible all day, she sometimes came fondling to make it up at night. “Nay, Cathy,” the old man would say, “I cannot love thee, thou’rt worse than thy brother. Go, say thy prayers, child, and ask God’s pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee!” That made her cry, at first; and then being repulsed continually hardened her, and she laughed if I told her to say she was sorry for her faults, and beg to be forgiven. | 第5章
隨著時間的推移，俄韶老爺的身體開始變得大不如從前了。他本來充滿活力而且健康結實，但是突然變得力氣全失。當他隻能被迫困在壁爐角落時，脾氣變得暴躁，而且樣子非常痛苦。無關緊要的一件事都會令他心煩，而且懷疑到自己的威嚴多多少少受到損害時，幾乎會令他大發雷霆。尤其是如果有人企圖刁難或者欺負他的寵兒，大家就都會注意到這一點——他內心痛苦，小心提防著，生怕有人對他言辭不當。好像他的腦子裏鑽進去這麽個觀念——因為他喜歡黑思克裏夫，所有人就都記恨這孩子，並且想辦法要給這孩子使壞。這對那孩子並不是件好事，因為我們中間心腸較好的人並不願招惹老爺，所以我們大家都遷就老爺對他的偏心。那種遷就大大助長了孩子的傲慢和乖戾。不過從某種意義上講，這又變得很有必要。有兩三回，亨得利當著他父親的麵，流露出對那孩子一臉瞧不起的神色，惹得老爺大動肝火，他抓起拐杖要打亨得利，卻又打不動，隻是氣得渾身發抖。
最後，我們的副牧師（那時候我們有個副牧師，靠教林騰家和俄韶家的孩子們讀書，自己還種了一塊地為生）出主意說，該把這年輕人送到大學去。俄韶老爺同意了，雖然心情很沉重，因為他說“亨得利沒出息，不管他蕩到哪兒也永遠不會發跡”。
我打心眼裏希望我們現在應該可以消停太平了。老爺本來做好事，反而把自己搞得心裏不痛快，一想到這我就傷心。我真是沒想到，他晚年的不順和疾病，都是由於家庭不和引起。他自己也那麽想——真的，先生，你知道這塊心病就一直在他那把逐漸衰敗的老骨頭裏。要不是因為兩個人——闞思小姐和仆人周思福，我們也許可以將就忍讓著過下去。我敢說，你在那邊見過周思福。他過去是，現在八成還是那個最討人厭、自以為是的法利賽人，他曾翻遍《聖經》，為自己搜刮希望，把詛咒扔給鄰裏。憑著自己的布道和虔誠說教的能耐，周思福巧妙地謀劃著，終於給俄韶先生留下了很好的印象。老爺身體越衰弱，周思福的權力就會越大。他肆無忌憚地讓老爺關心自己的靈魂問題，對孩子們要嚴加管束。他鼓動老爺把亨得利看作被上帝遺棄的敗家子，而且捏造有關黑思克裏夫和闞思睿一長串的故事，一晚上接一晚上地在老爺麵前告他們兩人的狀，為了迎合老爺的弱點，還總是忘不了把最重的罪狀安到闞思睿的頭上。
當然，闞思睿身上有些行為，是我在別的孩子身上之前從未見到過的。一天之內我們所有人對她失去耐心有五十次，甚至不下五十次，從她早上下樓那一刻起直到晚上上床睡覺那一刻為止，我們片刻都無法保證她不在鬧騰。她永遠都精神高漲，舌頭總是動個不停——一邊唱，一邊笑，誰要是不理她，她就纏住誰不放，真是個又瘋又惡的野丫頭。可是在整個教區內她的眼睛最漂亮，微笑最甜美，腳步最輕盈。話說回來，我相信她並非要有意傷害人，因為一旦把你真惹哭了，她很少丟下你不管，而且會討你歡心，令你靜下來反而去安慰她。她太喜歡黑思克裏夫了。我們能想出最能懲罰她的辦法就是把他倆分開——可是為了黑思克裏夫，她受到的責罵可比我們多。大家玩過家家時，她極其喜歡扮演小主婦，隨便動手打人，對夥伴們發號施令。她也這樣對待我，我可不受她的拍打和使喚，所以我讓她明白這一點。
不過俄韶先生不理解孩子們的嬉笑。和孩子們在一起時，他的表情總是嚴肅莊重。闞思睿不明白父親為什麽在身體生病期間，比在精力旺盛時脾氣要更壞，更不耐心煩。他對她的暴躁斥責反而激起她故意地去惹他生氣，從而她內心有一種惡作劇帶來的暢快。我們大家一起罵她時，從來沒見過她會那樣高興。她膽大無禮的表情，以及張口就來的言語公然向我們發起挑戰。她把周思福宗教上的詛咒編成笑話，捉弄我，幹她父親最痛恨的事情——炫耀她假裝出來的傲慢無禮（而她父親卻信以為真），如何比他對黑思克裏夫的慈愛更有力量；炫耀她能使這個男孩如何對自己唯命是從。而對他的命令，黑思克裏夫隻有在合自己心意時才肯去幹。在一整天壞事幹盡後，有時到晚上她又來撒嬌想和解。“不，闞思，”老爺說，“我不能愛你。你比你哥哥還糟糕。去，禱告去吧，孩子，求上帝饒恕你。我想你母親和我一定會悔恨當初生養了你！”最初這話令她大哭一場，後來，由於經常受訓斥，她的心腸也就變硬了。要是我叫她去向她父親說，因為自己的過錯而覺得不好意思，請求父親原諒，她倒反而大笑起來。 |
