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Two benches, shaped in sections of a circle, nearly enclosed the hearth; on one of these I stretched myself, and Grimalkin mounted the other. We were both of us nodding ere any one invaded our retreat, and then it was Joseph, shuffling down a wooden ladder that vanished in the roof, through a trap: the ascent to his garret, I suppose. He cast a sinister look at the little flame which I had enticed to play between the ribs, swept the cat from its elevation, and bestowing himself in the vacancy, commenced the operation of stuffing a three-inch pipe with tobacco. My presence in his sanctum was evidently esteemed a piece of impudence too shameful for remark: he silently applied the tube to his lips, folded his arms, and puffed away. I let him enjoy the luxury unannoyed; and after sucking out his last wreath, and heaving a profound sigh, he got up, and departed as solemnly as he came. A more elastic footstep entered next; and now I opened my mouth for a “good-morning,” but closed it again, the salutation unachieved; for Hareton Earnshaw was performing his orison sotto voce, in a series of curses directed against every object he touched, while he rummaged a corner for a spade or shovel to dig through the drifts. He glanced over the back of the bench, dilating his nostrils, and thought as little of exchanging civilities with me as with my companion the cat. I guessed, by his preparations, that egress was allowed, and, leaving my hard couch, made a movement to follow him. He noticed this, and thrust at an inner door with the end of his spade, intimating by an inarticulate sound that there was the place where I must go, if I changed my locality. It opened into the house, where the females were already astir; Zillah urging flakes of flame up the chimney with a colossal bellows; and Mrs. Heathcliff, kneeling on the hearth, reading a book by the aid of the blaze. She held her hand interposed between the furnace-heat and her eyes, and seemed absorbed in her occupation; desisting from it only to chide the servant for covering her with sparks, or to push away a dog, now and then, that snoozled its nose overforwardly into her face. I was surprised to see Heathcliff there also. He stood by the fire, his back towards me, just finishing a stormy scene with poor Zillah; who ever and anon interrupted her labour to pluck up the corner of her apron, and heave an indignant groan. “And you, you worthless—” he broke out as I entered, turning to his daughter-in-law, and employing an epithet as harmless as duck, or sheep, but generally represented by a dash—. “There you are, at your idle tricks again! The rest of them do earn their bread—you live on my charity! Put your trash away, and find something to do. You shall pay me for the plague of having you eternally in my sight—do you hear, damnable jade?” “I’ll put my trash away, because you can make me if I refuse,” answered the young lady, closing her book, and throwing it on a chair. “But I’ll not do anything, though you should swear your tongue out, except what I please!” Heathcliff lifted his hand, and the speaker sprang to a safer distance, obviously acquainted with its weight. Having no desire to be entertained by a cat-and-dog combat, I stepped forward briskly, as if eager to partake the warmth of the hearth, and innocent of any knowledge of the interrupted dispute. Each had enough decorum to suspend further hostilities: Heathcliff placed his fists, out of temptation, in his pockets; Mrs. Heathcliff curled her lip, and walked to a seat far off, where she kept her word by playing the part of a statue during the remainder of my stay. That was not long. I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn, took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now clear, and still, and cold as impalpable ice. My landlord halloed for me to stop ere I reached the bottom of the garden, and offered to accompany me across the moor. It was well he did, for the whole hill-back was one billowy, white ocean; the swells and falls not indicating corresponding rises and depressions in the ground: many pits, at least, were filled to a level; and entire ranges of mounds, the refuse of the quarries, blotted from the chart which my yesterday’s walk left pictured in my mind. I had remarked on one side of the road, at intervals of six or seven yards, a line of upright stones, continued through the whole length of the barren: these were erected and daubed with lime on purpose to serve as guides in the dark, and also when a fall, like the present, confounded the deep swamps on either hand with the firmer path: but, excepting a dirty dot pointing up here and there, all traces of their existence had vanished: and my companion found it necessary to warn me frequently to steer to the right or left, when I imagined I was following, correctly, the windings of the road. We exchanged little conversation, and he halted at the entrance of Thrushcross Park, saying, I could make no error there. Our adieux were limited to a hasty bow, and then I pushed forward, trusting to my own resources; for the porter’s lodge is untenanted as yet. The distance from the gate to the Grange is two miles; I believe I managed to make it four, what with losing myself among the trees, and sinking up to the neck in snow: a predicament which only those who have experienced it can appreciate. At any rate, whatever were my wanderings, the clock chimed twelve as I entered the house; and that gave exactly an hour for every mile of the usual way from Wuthering Heights. My human fixture and her satellites rushed to welcome me; exclaiming, tumultuously, they had completely given me up: everybody conjectured that I perished last night; and they were wondering how they must set about the search for my remains. I bid them be quiet, now that they saw me returned, and, benumbed to my very heart, I dragged upstairs; whence, after putting on dry clothes, and pacing to and fro thirty or forty minutes, to restore the animal heat, I adjourned to my study, feeble as a kitten: almost too much so to enjoy the cheerful fire and smoking coffee which the servant had prepared for my refreshment. |
兩隻長條凳，擺成半圓形，幾乎把爐火圍了起來。我平躺在其中一隻凳子上，老母貓跳上了另一隻。我們倆都在打盹，不料有人闖入了我們的靜修之處，這人正是周思福，隻見他把隱藏在頂棚上的一架木梯子，經過一個活板門拖了下來，我猜想往上應該通到閣樓。他向著爐柵裏我撥弄起來的小火苗惡狠狠地瞄了一眼，把貓從它的高座上括下來，自己安坐在空出的位子上，開始把煙葉摁到三寸長的煙鬥裏。我在他的聖地出現，顯然被他看作是羞於提及的莽撞事情。他默默地把煙鬥放到兩唇之間，胳臂交叉著，噴雲吐霧。我讓他盡情享受這份奢華，不打攪他。他吸完最後一口，深深地呼出一口氣，站起來，像進來時那樣不苟言笑地走了出去。 接著傳來一陣輕快的腳步聲；我張開口正要說“早上好”還沒有說出口，我的嘴就閉上了。因為海瑞騰•俄韶正低沉著聲音做禱告，禱告的內容就是他碰到每樣東西都要發出的一連串謾罵，此時他正在屋子角落搜尋一把鏟子或是鐵鍁去鏟除積雪。他向長條凳後麵瞟了一眼，張大鼻孔，覺得不需要和我交換那些客套禮節，就像對和我作伴的貓一樣。看他做的這些準備，我猜我可以走了，於是我離開我的硬床，打算跟著他走。他注意到這點，就用他的鏟子頭戳戳一扇裏屋門，不露聲色地表示如果我要改變住處，就非從這個地方走不可。 那扇門通到正屋，女人們已經在那兒走動了——琦臘用一隻巨大的風箱把火苗吹出煙囪；黑思克裏夫太太跪在爐邊，借著火光看書。她用手遮在火爐的熱氣和她的眼睛中間，仿佛很投入地看著書。時不時仆人把火星弄到她身上，或者一條狗把鼻子向她臉上湊近時，她才停下來嗬斥著仆人，把狗推開。看見黑思克裏夫也在那兒，我感到很驚奇。他站在火邊，背對著我。剛剛對可憐的琦臘發了一通火，她時不時地放下手中的活計，扯起圍裙一角，發出氣憤的哼哼聲。 “還有你，你個沒用的——”我進去時，他正轉過身來對他的兒媳婦發火，並且在“沒用的”後麵加個無傷大雅的稱號，如鴨子、羊羔，可是通常隻用一個破折號“——”來代表。“你又在那兒，搞那些無聊的把戲！其他人都在自己掙口糧——你就隻靠我來養活！把你那沒用的東西扔掉，找點事做！你老是在我眼前晃得我都要得疫病了，到時候你得還我——你聽到了沒有？該死的小賤人！” “我會把我那些東西丟掉，因為如果我不丟，你還是會強迫我丟的。”那年輕女郎回答，合上她的書，把它扔到一把椅子上。“你就是把舌頭罵掉，除非我願意做的事，其他事情我絕不會幹！” 黑思克裏夫舉起手，剛才說話的人顯然熟悉那隻手的分量，馬上跳到一個遠一些比較安全的地方。我無心觀賞這一場貓狗之戰，便輕快地走向前去，裝著很想在爐邊取暖，完全不理會這場中斷的爭執。雙方都還算講理，暫時停止了進一步的敵對行為。黑思克裏夫不知不覺地把拳頭放在自己的口袋裏。黑思克裏夫太太撅著嘴，走到遠處，坐在一把椅子上，我呆在那兒的一段時間裏，她果然如她所說，像一座石雕坐在那兒。我沒停留多久。我謝絕與他們共進早餐。等到曙光初照，我抓緊機會，逃出屋外，呼吸著自由的空氣，那樣清爽、寧靜而又寒冷得像塊無法觸摸的冰一樣的空氣！ 還沒走出花園，我便被我的房東喊住，他主動要陪我走過曠野。幸虧有他陪，因為整個山脊已經成了波濤滾滾的白色海洋。其中的起起伏伏並不代表地麵對應的凸凹不平——至少許多坑是被雪填平了；而且整個丘陵山脈——礦石山的垃圾——我昨天走過時在我心中還留有印象，現在卻都從我心中的地圖中抹掉了。我曾注意到在路的一邊，每隔六七米就有一排直立的石頭，一直延伸到整個荒原。這些石頭都豎立著，上麵塗有石灰，為了在黑夜裏用作指路標誌；也是為了碰上像現在這樣的一場大雪而設，現在大雪把兩邊的深沼澤地和較堅實的小路弄得混淆不清。但是，除了零零落落看得見這兒那兒有個肮髒的點以外，那些石頭所在的痕跡全不見了。我本以為我是沿著蜿蜒的正確道路向前走時，我的同伴卻需要時不時地警告我向左轉或向右轉。 一路上我們很少說話，他站在畫眉園林門口，說到這兒我就不會走錯了。我們相互匆忙鞠了一躬算是道別，然後我就徑直向前走去。相信靠我自己的本領能找到回家的路，因為守門人的住處還沒賃出去。從大門到田莊有六七裏，我覺得最終我卻走了有十二三裏的路。由於在樹林裏迷了路，身體陷在雪裏一直到脖子——那種困境隻有同樣經曆的人才能體會到。總之，不論我怎樣遊蕩，在我進家門時，時鍾正敲十二下。這說明從呼嘯山莊按照通常走的路，每走三裏路我得花整整一個鍾頭。 我那位人形固定物件的女管家和她的隨從蜂擁而至歡迎我，亂哄哄地嚷著說她們都覺得我是徹底沒救了——大家都猜想我昨晚已經死掉了。她們不知道該如何著手找我的遺體。現在她們既然看見我回來了，我叫她們安靜些，我的心已經麻木了，我吃力地爬上了樓，換上幹衣服後，在房間裏來回走了三四十分鍾，好恢複身體的一點熱氣。我換到了書房，身體虛弱得像隻小貓。為了恢複我的元氣，仆人準備了火苗熊熊的爐子和熱氣騰騰的咖啡，可是我身體虛弱得卻無福享用。 |
