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Before I came to live here, she commenced—waiting no farther invitation to her story—I was almost always at Wuthering Heights; because my mother had nursed Mr. Hindley Earnshaw, that was Hareton’s father, and I got used to playing with the children: I ran errands too, and helped to make hay, and hung about the farm ready for anything that anybody would set me to. One fine summer morning—it was the beginning of harvest, I remember—Mr. Earnshaw, the old master, came downstairs, dressed for a journey; and, after he had told Joseph what was to be done during the day, he turned to Hindley, and Cathy, and me—for I sat eating my porridge with them—and he said, speaking to his son, “Now, my bonny man, I’m going to Liverpool to-day, what shall I bring you? You may choose what you like: only let it be little, for I shall walk there and back: sixty miles each way, that is a long spell!” Hindley named a fiddle, and then he asked Miss Cathy; she was hardly six years old, but she could ride any horse in the stable, and she chose a whip. He did not forget me; for he had a kind heart, though he was rather severe sometimes. He promised to bring me a pocketful of apples and pears, and then he kissed his children, said good-bye, and set off. It seemed a long while to us all—the three days of his absence—and often did little Cathy ask when he would be home. Mrs. Earnshaw expected him by supper-time on the third evening, and she put the meal off hour after hour; there were no signs of his coming, however, and at last the children got tired of running down to the gate to look. Then it grew dark; she would have had them to bed, but they begged sadly to be allowed to stay up; and, just about eleven o’clock, the door-latch was raised quietly, and in stepped the master. He threw himself into a chair, laughing and groaning, and bid them all stand off, for he was nearly killed—he would not have such another walk for the three kingdoms. “And at the end of it to be flighted to death!” he said, opening his great-coat, which he held bundled up in his arms. “See here, wife! I was never so beaten with anything in my life: but you must e’en take it as a gift of God; though it’s as dark almost as if it came from the devil.” We crowded round, and over Miss Cathy’s head I had a peep at a dirty, ragged, black-haired child; big enough both to walk and talk: indeed, its face looked older than Catherine’s; yet when it was set on its feet, it only stared round, and repeated over and over again some gibberish that nobody could understand. I was frightened, and Mrs. Earnshaw was ready to fling it out of doors: she did fly up, asking how he could fashion to bring that gipsy brat into the house, when they had their own bairns to feed and fend for? What he meant to do with it, and whether he were mad? The master tried to explain the matter; but he was really half dead with fatigue, and all that I could make out, amongst her scolding, was a tale of his seeing it starving, and houseless, and as good as dumb, in the streets of Liverpool, where he picked it up and inquired for its owner. Not a soul knew to whom it belonged, he said; and his money and time being both limited, he thought it better to take it home with him at once, than run into vain expenses there: because he was determined he would not leave it as he found it. Well, the conclusion was, that my mistress grumbled herself calm; and Mr. Earnshaw told me to wash it, and give it clean things, and let it sleep with the children. Hindley and Cathy contented themselves with looking and listening till peace was restored: then, both began searching their father’s pockets for the presents he had promised them. The former was a boy of fourteen, but when he drew out what had been a fiddle, crushed to morsels in the great-coat, he blubbered aloud; and Cathy, when she learned the master had lost her whip in attending on the stranger, showed her humour by grinning and spitting at the stupid little thing; earning for her pains a sound blow from her father, to teach her cleaner manners. They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room; and I had no more sense, so I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it might be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw’s door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. This was Heathcliff’s first introduction to the family. On coming back a few days afterwards (for I did not consider my banishment perpetual), I found they had christened him “Heathcliff”: it was the name of a son who died in childhood, and it has served him ever since, both for Christian and surname. Miss Cathy and he were now very thick; but Hindley hated him: and to say the truth I did the same; and we plagued and went on with him shamefully: for I wasn’t reasonable enough to feel my injustice, and the mistress never put in a word on his behalf when she saw him wronged. He seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley’s blows without winking or shedding a tear, and my pinches moved him only to draw in a breath and open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident, and nobody was to blame. This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor fatherless child, as he called him. He took to Heathcliff strangely, believing all he said (for that matter, he said precious little, and generally the truth), and petting him up far above Cathy, who was too mischievous and wayward for a favourite. |
我來這兒居住之前——她開始說道，等不及我的邀請，她就講開了故事——我差不多這輩子都沒有離開過呼嘯山莊。因為我母親把亨得利•俄韶先生一手從小帶大，也就是海瑞騰的父親，過去我和孩子們在一起玩慣了——我也跑跑腿，幫著曬幹草，在莊園裏晃來蕩去，誰叫我做點什麽我都會去做。一個晴朗的夏日早晨——我記得那是莊稼收獲季剛開始——老東家俄韶先生下樓來，穿著要出遠門的衣服。他給周思福安排完一天要幹的活計之後，轉過身來看著亨得利、闞思和我——因為我正在跟他們一塊兒喝粥——他對兒子說：“喂，寶貝兒子，我今天要去趟利物浦。你要我給你帶個什麽東西回來？喜歡什麽你就挑什麽——隻是要挑個小東西，因為我要走著去走著回——單趟二百裏，挺長一段路呢！”亨得利點名說要一把小提琴，然後老爺就問闞思小姐。當時她還不到六歲，可是馬號裏的任何一匹馬她都敢騎，她選了一根鞭子。老爺沒忘記我，因為他心地善良，雖然有時候他有點嚴。他答應給我帶回一口袋蘋果和梨，然後親親孩子們，說了聲再見，就動身走了。 他出門走了三天，我們大夥都覺得時間好長啊，小闞思常常問起她爸爸什麽時候回來。第三天晚上，俄韶太太想著他會在晚飯時回來，她把晚飯往後推了一個鍾頭又一個鍾頭。可是仍不見他回來的跡象。最後，孩子們等不耐煩了，都懶得再跑到大門口張望了。接著天黑了，俄韶太太本該要他們上床睡覺，可是他們苦苦哀求，讓他們一直熬下去。差不多晚上十一點鍾時，門閂被輕輕抬了起來，主人走了進來。他一頭栽倒在椅子上，一邊笑著一邊喘著粗氣，叫大家都站得遠一些，因為他都快累死了——就是給他英倫三島，他也不會再去走一趟了。 “走到最後，就跟要了命似的！”他說著打開他的大衣，他把這件大衣裹成一個包袱抱在懷裏。“瞧這兒，太太！這輩子還沒有什麽東西把我搞得這麽狼狽過，可是你一定得把他當成是上帝賜給的禮物來接受，雖然他黑得好像是從魔鬼那兒來的。” 我們圍攏過來，我從闞思小姐的頭上看過去，瞥見一個肮裏肮髒、穿著破爛、一頭黑發的孩子。年齡已經不小了，該能走路會說話了。的確，他的臉看上去比闞思睿年齡還顯得大些。可是，讓他站到地上時，他隻會呆呆地四下張望，嘰哩咕嚕地重複一些沒人能懂的話。我很害怕，俄韶太太打算把他扔出門外。她可真跳起來了，質問他哪根筋抽上了，把個吉普賽野孩子帶到家來，自己的孩子已夠他們喂他們養了。他到底打算要幹什麽，他是不是瘋了？老爺極力想做解釋，可是他真地累得半死。在俄韶太太的責罵聲中，我隻能分辨出來是這麽回事——在利物浦的大街上，老爺看見這孩子快要餓死了，無家可歸，像個啞巴。於是他抱起這孩子，四處詢問這孩子的父母。他說，沒一個人知道這是誰家的孩子。老爺身上帶的錢不夠，在利物浦的時間也有限，想想還不如馬上帶他回家，總比在那兒白白浪費錢和時間好些。因為他已經決定既然撿到這孩子就不能丟下不管。那麽，結果是我的女主人罵夠了，人也安靜了下來。老爺吩咐我給這孩子洗個澡，換上幹淨衣服，讓他跟孩子們一塊睡。 亨得利和闞思在一旁心甘情願地看著聽著，直到一切恢複平靜，兩個人就開始搜他們父親的口袋，找他答應給他們的禮物。亨得利是男孩子，當時十四歲，當他從大衣裏拉出那隻小提琴，發現已經被擠成一堆碎片了，他就放聲大哭。至於闞思，她聽說主人隻顧照料這個陌生孩子而把給她的鞭子弄丟了，就呲牙咧嘴向這個小笨蛋啐了一口，以發泄她的不滿。然而，她這種放肆行為卻贏來他父親一記響亮的耳光，教訓她以後要多懂點禮節。兄妹倆絕對不和他同睡一張床，甚至和他倆睡在一個屋都不行。我也不比他倆理智多少，因此就把他放在樓梯口上，希望他明天會走掉。或許是湊巧，或許是他聽見了老爺的聲音，他爬到老爺的房門口，而老爺一出房門就看到了他。當然老爺追問他怎麽到那兒去的，我隻好照實回答。就因為我膽小懦弱、不近人情，我遭到報應，被主人攆出家門。 這就是黑思克裏夫剛到這家的情形。沒過幾天我回來了（因為我覺得我被攆出門隻是暫時的），發現他們已經給他取了名，叫“黑思克裏夫”。那原是主人之前夭折了的另一個兒子的名字，從此這就算是他的名，也算是他的姓。闞思小姐和他感情深厚，可是亨得利恨他。說實話，我也恨他，於是我們就折磨他，繼續毫無顧忌地欺負他，因為我還沒有意識到我的不厚道，而女主人看見他受委屈時也從未替他說過一句公道話。 他看上去是個鬱鬱寡歡、逆來順受的孩子，也許是由於受盡虐待而變得冷酷麻木。他能忍受亨得利的拳頭，眼睛都不眨一下，眼淚也不掉一顆。我掐他，他也隻是吸一口氣，睜大雙眼，好像是他不小心自己弄傷了自己，誰也不能怪罪似的。當老俄韶先生發現他的兒子這樣虐待他這個所謂的可憐沒爹孩子時，這種逆來順受使老俄韶火冒三丈。令人費解的是，他特別喜歡黑思克裏夫，相信他所說的一切（關於說話這件事，黑思克裏夫真地是金口難開，通常說的都是實話），而愛他遠勝過愛闞思，闞思太淘氣、反複無常，算不上最受寵的孩子。 |
