第 35 节
作者:温暖寒冬      更新:2024-04-09 19:50      字数:9213
  some minutes; she suddenly paused and said aloud to herself; “I’ll
  go an’ see arter Adam; for I canna think where he’s   gotten;   an’   I
  want him to go upstairs wi’ me afore it’s dark; for the minutes to
  look at the corpse is like the meltin’ snow。”
  Seth overheard this; and coming into the kitchen again; as his
  mother      rose    from    her   chair;   he   said;   “Adam’s      asleep    in   the
  workshop;        mother。     Thee’dst      better    not   wake      him。    He    was
  o’erwrought with work and trouble。”
  “Wake him? Who’s a…goin’ to wake him? I shanna wake him wi’
  lookin’ at him。 I hanna seen the lad this two hour—I’d welly forgot
  as he’d e’er growed up from a babby when’s feyther carried him。”
  Adam was seated on a rough bench; his head supported by his
  arm;   which   rested   from   the   shoulder   to   the   elbow   on   the   long
  planing…table in the middle of the workshop。 It seemed as if he had
  sat   down   for   a   few   minutes’   rest   and   had   fallen   asleep   without
  slipping  from   his   first  attitude   of  sad;   fatigued   thought。   His   face;
  unwashed since yesterday; looked pallid and clammy; his hair was
  tossed   shaggily   about   his   forehead;   and   his   closed   eyes   had   the
  sunken look   which   follows   upon   watching  and   sorrow。   His   brow
  was knit; and his whole face had an expression   of  weariness and
  pain。 Gyp was evidently uneasy; for he sat on his haunches; resting
  his   nose  on   his   master’s   stretched…out   leg;   and   dividing   the   time
  between   licking  the   hand   that  hung listlessly  down   and   glancing
  with   a   listening   air   towards   the   door。   The   poor   dog   was   hungry
  George Eliot                                                          ElecBook Classics
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  Adam Bede                                      142
  and   restless;   but   would     not   leave   his  master;    and   was   waiting
  impatiently   for   some   change   in   the   scene。   It   was   owing   to   this
  feeling on Gyp’s part that; when Lisbeth came into the workshop
  and     advanced     towards     Adam     as   noiselessly    as  she   could;    her
  intention not to awaken him was immediately defeated; for Gyp’s
  excitement was too great to find vent in anything short of a sharp
  bark; and in a moment Adam opened his eyes and saw his mother
  standing before him。 It was not very unlike his dream; for his sleep
  had     been   little  more    than    living   through    again;    in  a  fevered
  delirious     way;   all  that   had   happened      since   daybreak;      and   his
  mother with her fretful grief was present to him through it all。 The
  chief difference between the reality and the vision was that in his
  dream       Hetty    was    continually     coming      before    him    in   bodily
  presence—strangely   mingling   herself   as   an   actor   in   scenes   with
  which she had nothing to do。 She was even by the Willow Brook;
  she made his mother angry by coming into the house; and he met
  her with her smart clothes quite wet through; as he walked in the
  rain to Treddleston; to tell the coroner。 But wherever Hetty came;
  his mother was sure to follow soon; and when he opened his eyes;
  it was not at all startling to see her standing near him。
  “Eh;    my    lad;  my    lad!”   Lisbeth    burst   out   immediately;       her
  wailing impulse returning; for grief in its freshness feels the need
  of   associating   its   loss   and   its   lament   with   every   change   of   scene
  and   incident;     “thee   ’st  got  nobody     now   but    thy  old   mother    to
  torment thee and be a burden to thee。 Thy poor feyther ’ull ne’er
  anger thee no more; an’ thy mother may ’s well go arter him—the
  sooner  the   better—for  I’m   no  good   to  nobody   now。   One   old   coat
  ’ull do to patch another; but it’s good for nought else。 Thee ’dst like
  t’ ha’ a wife to mend thy clothes an’ get thy victual; better nor thy
  George Eliot                                                        ElecBook Classics
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  Adam Bede                                       143
  old    mother。     An’   I  shall   be   nought     but   cumber;     a…sittin’   i’  th’
  chimney…corner。 (Adam winced and moved   uneasily;   he   dreaded;
  of all things; to hear his mother speak of Hetty。) But if thy feyther
  had     lived;  he’d    ne’er   ha’   wanted     me   to   go  to   make     room    for
  another; for he could no more ha’ done wi’out me nor one side o’
  the scithers can do wi’out th’ tother。 Eh; we should ha’ been both
  flung away together; an’ then I shouldna ha’ seen this day; an’ one
  buryin’ ’ud ha’ done for us both。”
  Here Lisbeth paused; but Adam sat in pained silence—he could
  not   speak   otherwise   than   tenderly   to   his   mother   to…day;   but   he
  could not help being irritated by this plaint。 It was not possible for
  poor   Lisbeth   to   know   how   it   affected   Adam   any   more   than   it   is
  possible   for   a   wounded   dog   to   know   how   his   moans   affect   the
  nerves of his master。 Like all complaining women; she complained
  in the expectation of being soothed; and when Adam said nothing;
  she was only prompted to complain more bitterly。
  “I   know   thee   couldst   do  better   wi’out   me;   for   thee   couldst   go
  where   thee   likedst   an’   marry   them   as   thee   likedst。   But   I   donna
  want to say thee nay; let thee bring home who thee wut; I’d ne’er
  open my lips to find faut; for when folks is old an’ o’ no use; they
  may   think   theirsens   well   off   to   get   the   bit   an’   the   sup;   though
  they’n to  swallow  ill   words  wi’t。   An’   if  thee   ’st  set  thy  heart  on   a
  lass as’ll bring  thee   nought  and   waste   all;   when  thee   mightst  ha’
  them as ’ud make a man on thee; I’ll say nought; now thy feyther’s
  dead   an’   drownded;   for   I’m   no   better   nor   an   old   haft   when   the
  blade’s gone。”
  Adam;   unable   to   bear   this   any   longer;   rose   silently   from   the
  bench      and   walked     out   of  the   workshop       into   the   kitchen。    But
  Lisbeth followed him。
  George Eliot                                                           ElecBook Classics
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  Adam Bede                                     144
  “Thee   wutna   go   upstairs   an’   see   thy   feyther   then?   I’n    done
  everythin’ now; an’ he’d like thee to go an’ look at him; for he war
  allays so pleased when thee wast mild to him。”
  Adam   turned  round   at   once   and   said;   “Yes;   mother;   let   us   go
  upstairs。 Come; Seth; let us go together。”
  They went upstairs; and for five minutes all was silence。 Then
  the key was turned again; and there was   a sound  of  footsteps   on
  the stairs。 But Adam did not come down again; he was too weary
  and worn…out to encounter  more   of  his   mother’s   querulous   grief;
  and   he   went   to   rest   on   his   bed。   Lisbeth   no   sooner   entered   the
  kitchen and sat down than she threw her apron over her head; and
  began to cry and moan and rock   herself  as   before。 Seth  thought;
  “She will be quieter by and by; now we have been upstairs”; and
  he went into the back kitchen again; to tend his little fire; hoping
  that he should presently induce her to have some tea。
  Lisbeth had been rocking herself in this way for more than five
  minutes; giving a low moan with every forward movement of her
  body; when she suddenly felt a hand placed gently on hers; and a
  sweet treble voice said to her; “Dear sister; the Lord has sent me
  to see if I can be a comfort to you。”
  Lisbeth   paused;   in   a   listening   attitude;   without   removing   her
  apron from her face。 The voice was strange to her。 Could it be her
  sister’s spirit come back to her from the dead after all those years?
  She trembled and dared not look。
  Dinah; believing that this pause of wonder was in itself a relief
  for the sorrowing woman; said no more just  yet;   but  quietly  took
  off   her   bonnet;    and   then;   motioning      silence   to  Seth;   who;    on
  hearing her voice; had come in with a beating heart; laid one hand
  on the back of Lisbeth’s chair and leaned over her; that she might
  George Eliot                                                        ElecBook Classics
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  Adam Bede                                      145
  be aware of a friendly presence。
  Slowly Lisbeth drew down   her  apron; and   timidly  she   opened
  her   dim   dark   eyes。