第 4 节
作者:花旗      更新:2021-02-18 23:51      字数:9322
  with their cottages; and not held in vast homeless tracts by the nobles
  as in North Germany。
  The Bavarian who had imparted this fact to March at breakfast; not
  without a certain tacit pride in it to the disadvantage of the Prussians;
  was at the supper table; and was disposed to more talk; which he managed
  in a stout; slow English of his own。  He said he had never really spoken
  English with an English…speaking person before; or at all since he
  studied it in school at Munich。
  〃I should be afraid to put my school…boy German against your English;〃
  March said; and; when he had understood; the other laughed for pleasure;
  and reported the compliment to his wife in their own parlance。  〃You
  Germans certainly beat us in languages。〃
  〃Oh; well;〃 he retaliated; 〃the Americans beat us in some other things;〃
  and Mrs。 March felt that this was but just; she would have liked to
  mention a few; but not ungraciously; she and the German lady kept smiling
  across the table; and trying detached vocables of their respective
  tongues upon each other。
  The Bavarian said he lived in Munich still; but was in Ansbach on an
  affair of business; he asked March if he were not going to see the
  manoeuvres somewhere。  Till now the manoeuvres had merely been the
  interesting background of their travel; but now; hearing that the Emperor
  of Germany; the King of Saxony; the Regent of Bavaria; and the King of
  Wurtemberg; the Grand…Dukes of Weimar and Baden; with visiting potentates
  of all sorts; and innumerable lesser highhotes; foreign and domestic;
  were to be present; Mrs。 March resolved that they must go to at least one
  of the reviews。
  〃If you go to Frankfort; you can see the King of Italy too;〃 said the
  Bavarian; but he owned that they probably could not get into a hotel
  there; and he asked why they should not go to Wurzburg; where they could
  see all the sovereigns except the King of Italy。
  〃Wurzburg?  Wurzburg?〃 March queried of his wife。  〃Where did we hear of
  that place?〃
  〃Isn't it where Burnamy said Mr。 Stoller had left his daughters at
  school?〃
  〃So it is! And is that on the way to the Rhine?〃 he asked the Bavarian。
  〃No; no!  Wurzburg is on the Main; about five hours from Ansbach。  And it
  is a very interesting place。  It is where the good wine comes from。〃
  〃Oh; yes;〃 said March; and in their rooms his wife got out all their
  guides and maps and began to inform herself and to inform him about
  Wurzburg。  But first she said it was very cold and he must order some
  fire made in the tall German stove in their parlor。  The maid who came
  said 〃Gleich;〃 but she did not come back; and about the time they were
  getting furious at her neglect; they began getting warm。  He put his hand
  on the stove and found it hot; then he looked down for a door in the
  stove where he might shut a damper; there was no door。
  〃Good heavens!〃 he shouted。  〃It's like something in a dream;〃 and he ran
  to pull the bell for help。
  〃No; no! Don't ring!  It will make us ridiculous。  They'll think
  Americans don't know anything。  There must be some way of dampening the
  stove; and if there isn't; I'd rather suffocate than give myself away。〃
  Mrs。 March ran and opened the window; while her husband carefully
  examined the stove at every point; and explored the pipe for the damper
  in vain。  〃Can't you find it?〃  The night wind came in raw and damp; and
  threatened to blow their lamp out; and she was obliged to shut the
  window。
  〃Not a sign of it。  I will go down and ask the landlord in strict
  confidence how they dampen their stoves in Ansbach。〃
  〃Well; if you must。  It's getting hotter every moment。〃  She followed him
  timorously into the corridor; lit by a hanging lamp; turned low for the
  night。
  He looked at his watch; it was eleven o'clock。  〃I'm afraid they're all
  in bed。〃
  〃Yes; you mustn't go!  We must try to find out for ourselves。  What can
  that door be for?〃
  It was a low iron door; half the height of a man; in the wall near their
  room; and it yielded to his pull。  〃Get a candle;〃 he whispered; and when
  she brought it; he stooped to enter the doorway。
  〃Oh; do you think you'd better?〃 she hesitated。
  〃You can come; too; if you're afraid。  You've always said you wanted to
  die with me。〃
  〃Well。  But you go first。〃
  He disappeared within; and then came back to the doorway。  〃Just come in
  here; a moment。〃  She found herself in a sort of antechamber; half the
  height of her own room; and following his gesture she looked down where
  in one corner some crouching monster seemed showing its fiery teeth in a
  grin of derision。  This grin was the damper of their stove; and this was
  where the maid had kindled the fire which had been roasting them alive;
  and was still joyously chuckling to itself。  〃I think that Munich man was
  wrong。  I don't believe we beat the Germans in anything。  There isn't a
  hotel in the United States where the stoves have no front doors; and
  every one of them has the space of a good…sized flat given up to the
  convenience of kindling a fire in it。〃
  L。
  After a red sunset of shameless duplicity March was awakened to a rainy
  morning by the clinking of cavalry hoofs on the pavement of the long…
  irregular square before the hotel; and he hurried out to see the passing
  of the soldiers on their way to the manoeuvres。  They were troops of all
  arms; but mainly infantry; and as they stumped heavily through the groups
  of apathetic citizens in their mud…splashed boots; they took the steady
  downpour on their dripping helmets。  Some of them were smoking; but none
  smiling; except one gay fellow who made a joke to a serving…maid on the
  sidewalk。  An old officer halted his staff to scold a citizen who had
  given him a mistaken direction。  The shame of the erring man was great;
  and the pride of a fellow…citizen who corrected him was not less; though
  the arrogant brute before whom they both cringed used them with equal
  scorn; the younger officers listened indifferently round on horseback
  behind the glitter of their eyeglasses; and one of them amused himself by
  turning the silver bangles on his wrist。
  Then the files of soldier slaves passed on; and March crossed the bridge
  spanning the gardens in what had been the city moat; and found his way to
  the market…place; under the walls of the old Gothic church of St。
  Gumpertus。  The market; which spread pretty well over the square; seemed
  to be also a fair; with peasants' clothes and local pottery for sale;
  as well as fruits and vegetables; and large baskets of flowers; with old
  women squatting before them。  It was all as picturesque as the markets
  used to be in Montreal and Quebec; and in a cloudy memory of his wedding
  journey long before; he bought so lavishly of the flowers to carry back
  to his wife that a little girl; who saw his arm…load from her window as
  he returned; laughed at him; and then drew shyly back。  Her laugh
  reminded him how many happy children he had seen in Germany; and how
  freely they seemed to play everywhere; with no one to make them afraid。
  When they grow up the women laugh as little as the men; whose rude toil
  the soldiering leaves them to。
  He got home with his flowers; and his wife took them absently; and made
  him join her in watching the sight which had fascinated her in the street
  under their windows。  A slender girl; with a waist as slim as a corseted
  officer's; from time to time came out of the house across the way to the
  firewood which had been thrown from a wagon upon the sidewalk there。
  Each time she embraced several of the heavy four…foot logs and
  disappeared with them in…doors。  Once she paused from her work to joke
  with a well…dressed man who came by; and seemed to find nothing odd in
  her work; some gentlemen lounging at the window over head watched her
  with no apparent sense of anomaly。
  〃What do you think of that?〃 asked Mrs。 March。  〃I think it's good
  exercise for the girl; and I should like to recommend it to those fat
  fellows at the window。  I suppose she'll saw the wood in the cellar; and
  then lug it up stairs; and pile it up in the stoves' dressing…rooms。〃
  〃Don't laugh!  It's too disgraceful。〃
  〃Well; I don't know!  If you like; I'll offer these gentlemen across the
  way your opinion of it in the language of Goethe and Schiller。〃
  〃I wish you'd offer my opinion of them。  They've been staring in here
  with an opera…glass。〃
  〃Ah; that's a different affair。  There isn't much going on in Ansbach;
  and they have to make the most of it。〃
  The lower casements of the houses were furnished with mirrors set at
  right angles with them; and nothing which went on in the streets was
  lost。  Some of the streets were long and straight; and at rare moments
  they lay full of sun。  At such times the Marches were puzzled by the
  sight of citizens carrying open umbrellas; and they wondered if they had
  forgotten to put them down; or thought it not worth while in the brief
  respites from the rain; or were profiting by such rare occasions to dry
  them; and some other sights remained baffling to the last。  Once a man
  with his hands pinioned before him; and a gendarme marching stolidly
  after him with his musket on his shoulder; passed under their windows;
  but who he was; or what he; had