Chapter 118 The Fifth Female Prisoner (2)

At the same time, I took advantage of many occasions and many opportunities to have fun, creating an illusion of happiness for her in the relationship between the two of us, and I thought I could not really give her this kind of happiness.As soon as I recover, I shall go to Venice; but if I marry Albertina, how can I do it?I was so suspicious of her that even in Paris I always took her with me when I decided to go for a walk.Even if I stayed at home all afternoon, my thoughts followed her all the way, and I would see a blue and distant scene before my eyes, forming a vague empty and drifting area around me. "If Albertine," I said to myself, "had some time during the drive, thought that I would never speak of marriage to her again, and would not come back in the next moment, she might as well go to her aunt's and not ask me to do anything to her." She said goodbye, and she would save me a lot of trouble, lest I worry so much about the separation!" My heart, since its wounds healed, began to part ways with this girlfriend of mine; I can easily move her away in my imagination, keep her away from me.Without me, nine times out of ten someone else would marry her, and she, freed, might go off on one of those absurd adventures that terrify me.But, with the weather being so nice at the moment, I'm sure she'll be back that night, so even if the idea that she might have done something stupid crosses my mind, I'm free to brush it aside and let it go. In some corner of my mind, it stays silently, as if it is some imaginary character who has done bad things and has nothing to do with my real life; my mind works easily and freely, and I feel I have a power that is both physical and psychological. It is like a kind of muscular activity, a kind of spiritual excitement, which makes me go beyond the state of worry that has always fettered me, and start to move in a free atmosphere. , and once I entered this atmosphere, I felt that whether it was desperately trying to prevent Albertine from marrying someone else, or trying to prevent her from dating other women, in my own eyes, they were just like a stranger who didn't know her. The same seems unreasonable in the eyes of humans.

Jealousy, however, is one of those unpredictable and uncontrollable episodes of triggers which are often one in one patient and quite another in another.When some asthma patients get sick, they have to open the windows and stand in the vent to breathe the fresh air blowing from the hills, so that their condition can be relieved, while some asthma patients have to stay in the city and hide in smoky rooms to get relief. Row.But since they both suffer from jealousy, they both have a temper that they can follow the rules for certain things.Some people don't care about being cheated, as long as others tell him the truth and let him know the truth, while others hope that others can keep the truth from him. In fact, these two kinds of people are equally ridiculous, because if the latter A person is more truly deceived because others have concealed the truth from him, so the former kind of person wants to know the truth only to let troubles breed, continue, and repeat.

Moreover, the two different paranoid manifestations of jealousy, be it pleading to tell the secret or refusing to hear it, often lead to the point of paranoia.We have seen some jealous man, who has been neglected by his mistress, still allow her to commit herself to another man, as long as the thing has his permission, and is close at hand, if not under his watch, at least on his roof. proceed below.This is not uncommon among men who are older and whose mistresses are still young.This kind of man feels that it is difficult for him to please his mistress, and sometimes he can't even meet her requirements, so instead of letting her deceive him, it is better to put a man who can make her happy but not give her bad ideas. , into a neighboring room at home.For others, the situation is quite the opposite: in a city he is familiar with, he will never allow his mistress to leave him for half a step, and treat her as a slave, but he can allow her to run away for a month to a city. To a country completely unfamiliar to him, where he could never imagine how she would live there.For Albertine, I had both these paranoid peace-of-minds at the same time.If she's in my neighbourhood, and I've encouraged her to do it, I can watch her every move, and I don't have to worry about being tricked by her, so I won't be jealous; if she goes to a And perhaps I wouldn't be jealous if I couldn't imagine how she behaved in a faraway country so completely unknown to me.In either case, either from knowing or not knowing, doubts cannot arise.

The setting sun spit out the afterglow, and the memory brought me into a long and fresh atmosphere. I felt this atmosphere, just like Orpheus's joy when he breathed the wonderful breath from heaven that had never been seen on earth.But twilight finally fell, and I was immersed in melancholy. I subconsciously looked at the wall clock to see how long it would be before Albertine came back. I realized that I still had time to get dressed and go downstairs. Mme. de Guermantes, the landlady, because I'm going to buy something for Albertine.Sometimes I met the Duchess in the yard going shopping on foot, and even when the weather was bad she was always wearing a cap and fur coat.I know very well that in the eyes of many intelligent people, this lady is nothing at all, and since there are no duchies or princely fiefdoms, the title Duchess de Guermantes has no meaning at all. ; but I have a different opinion about dukes and princes, and castle fiefs.This lady, who wears a fur coat in all weathers, seems to me that the castle plots that she once owned as a duchess, prince's wife, and countess are still in her hands, just like the lintels on the huge stone lintels of buildings. The engraved figures hold up the cathedrals they build or the cities they protect.But these castles and forests, only the eyes of my mind can see them in the hand of this lady in fur coat and gloves, the king's cousin.My naked eyes, on a cloudy day, could only see an umbrella with which the Duchess dared to arm herself. "Unfortunate things happen, I'd better take some insurance, otherwise what should I do if I go a long way and the price of the car is too expensive." "Too expensive", "I can't afford it" Ah, these words are what the Duchess keeps talking about all day long, and there is another sentence: "I am too poor." It is difficult to distinguish her saying this, because she feels that as a rich person, say It's interesting that she is poor, but it's because she thinks that being a nobleman (even though she pretends to be a country woman) doesn't regard money as her life like those upstarts who have a little money and look down on the poor. mean.But maybe it's just a habit of her at a certain stage of life. She is rich, but not rich enough to support the scene. She felt that she wanted to hide it from others, so she simply said it herself.Often what a man says in a jesting tone is the very thing that upsets him, but he does not want to appear troubled, and perhaps secretly hopes that the other party will hear it. With his joking tone, he thought it couldn't be taken seriously.

But at this hour of the evening, I was glad to know that the Duchess was usually at home, because it would be more convenient for me to ask her in detail all kinds of knowledge that Albertine could use.When I went downstairs, I almost didn't think about how strange it was to say: this Madame de Guermantes, who had been so mysterious to me in my childhood, I was going to her house now. Just for practical purposes, trying to use her is like making a phone call. The phone used to be an incredible thing. Its miracles once made us feel fascinated and amazed. When it came time to ask for a tailor or a store to deliver ice cream, we would pick up the phone and call without thinking about the phone at all.

Albertine had a passion for all sorts of gadgets.I can't help but buy her something new every day.Whenever she told me happily about her eyes that could tell whether a certain piece of clothing was elegant, she saw Mrs. de Gelmont wrapped around her neck and draped over her shoulders through the window or in the yard. Or holding a boa or fur shawl or parasol in my hand, I know very well that this lady has a difficult taste (talking to Elstier, influenced by her taste, the more so to be refined), not to mention a thing that is only passable in appearance, even if it is really beautiful, it is already very elegant in the eyes of ordinary people, but as long as it is not quite so in fact, it will never suit her I quietly went to ask the Duchess where, how, and in what manner the dress Albertine liked was made, and how I could get it exactly like it, including the making of it. The author's secret, his peculiarities (what Albertine called "grace," "manner"), the exact name--it is also important to have a good name--and the texture of the material I had to have chosen.

When I first arrived at Balbec, I told Albertina that the Duchess de Gelmont lived in the same building as us, and lived opposite us. Her air when she heard this prestigious title and surname, It would be an understatement to call it indifference, hostility, or contempt. It is an emotional outpouring of a person who is proud and passionate by nature when he is unable to realize his wishes.Great as it may be in Albertine's character, it contains only those virtues within the framework of our inclinations, those inclinations which we have to give up to ourselves (for Albertine they are In the midst of the lamentation of posing as elegance—this is what is usually called disgust—to seek development.Albertine's antipathy for people in her social circle was only a small part of her character, but it interested me as one of the most revolutionary aspects of it-that is, a kind of aristocracy. Resentful nostalgia-this just forms an interesting contrast with the French character expressed by Mrs. de Gelmont's aristocratic temperament.Albertine probably didn't take that aristocratic temperament very seriously because she couldn't reach it, but she remembered that Elstir had told her that the Duchess was the best-dressed woman in Paris, so in my case The republican disdain for a duchess gave way to a keen interest in an elegantly attired woman.She often asked me about Madame de Guermantes, and urged me to go to the Duchess for advice on her dress.In fact, I can go to Mrs. Swann for advice on these things, and I did send her a letter for this purpose, but I think Mrs. de Gelmont seems to be better at dressing art.If I was sure that she hadn't gone out, and had taken care to inform me as soon as Albertine came home, I would go downstairs and find the Duchess in a gray Chinese crepe dress that looked like a mist, and she looked like a fairy. I would feel that the reason why she appeared in front of me like this was due to some very complicated reasons, and it should be like this and could not be otherwise. I let myself soak in this comfortable atmosphere It was like being in some misty, still afternoon in pearl-gray tones; I will look at it with fascination, just like looking at a dazzling sunset; these clothes are not an indifferent decoration that can be changed at will, but a definite and poetic reality, like the weather of a day, like The specific light at that time of day.

Of all the dresses and dressing-gowns of Madame de Guermantes, those which most reflect a definite tendency and have a special significance are those made by Foodini after ancient Venetian patterns.I don't know whether it is because of their historical origin or because each of them is unique, these long skirts are endowed with a very special nature, making wearing these long skirts waiting for you to go or with you The woman you're talking to becomes extraordinarily important, as if the attire was the result of long deliberation, as if the conversation were a scene from a novel that transcends everyday life.In Balzac's novels we have seen the heroine donning this or that dress on the day of receiving a visitor.Clothes don't have as much individuality these days, but Foodini's gowns are an exception.When a novelist describes these dresses, there will be no ambiguity, because these dresses really exist, and the most subtle pattern on it can make you feel like a real work of art. Scrutinize.Faced with two long dresses that are by no means roughly the same, but each has a distinctive personality, and they can even be named respectively, this lady really has to make a decision whether to wear this one or the other. selected.

However, after talking about the long skirt, I have to talk about the lady.I think Madame de Guermantes is even more lovely now than when I was in love with her.As I had expected nothing from her (I had not gone there for the purpose of seeing her), when I put my feet on the firewood and listened to her, it was as if I were reading a book written in the style of the past. When I was reading, I was almost as free as if I was there alone, and my mind was peaceful and serene.My spiritual realm is detached, so I can carefully taste the French elegance in her conversation, and the purity of its charm can no longer be found in today's oral and written languages.Listening to her talk, it was like listening to a lovely French folk song with pure flavor, and I even felt that I could vaguely hear her criticism of Maeterlinck in it (however, in view of women's lack of independent opinions, it is easy to think swayed by the fashions of the literary world, and now she may have been swayed by the long overdue admiration for the Belgian playwright), as I can feel Mérimée for Baudelaire, Stendhal Balzac, Paul-Louis Gurière, Victor Hugo, and Merac all criticized Mallarme.I know that these detractors are more limited in thought than the object of their derision, yet their vocabulary is purer.Mrs. de Gelmont's vocabulary is almost on par with Saint-Loup's mother, to an admirable level.Today's people who like to say "actually" (instead of "actually"), "what's more" (instead of "especially"), "shocked" (instead of "surprised"), etc. Writers, not from their pale and dull vocabulary, but from conversations with a woman named Madame de Guermantes or Françoise. I learned from Françoise when I was five years old that everyone speaks Tal instead of Tarne, and Beard instead of Bearne.So when I entered society at twenty, I no longer had to be taught not to say "Madame de Béarna" like Madame Bontemps.

I would be lying if I said that the Duchess was not aware of this rustic and half-village in herself, or that she displayed it without some affectation.But to her, it's not so much that a noblewoman pretends to be naive like a countryman, and it's not so much the pride of a duchess who scoffs at rich women who despise unknown peasant women, but rather a fact that she knows her own charm. , and does not want it to be spoiled by modern whitewashing, the somewhat artistic aesthetic taste of a woman.In an instance very similar to this, we all know a Norman innkeeper at Diver, proprietor of "William the Conqueror," who was determined not to have the luxury of a modern hotel in his inn, Although he is a millionaire, he still speaks and dresses like a Norman peasant, and just like in a country house, it is no worse than the most luxurious meal for customers to come into the kitchen to watch him cook a meal himself. Big restaurants are inferior, but dinners are much more expensive.

For an ancient aristocratic family, it is not enough to have the vitality of the locality. A smart and just right member must be born in the family, so as not to despise this vitality, and not let it be buried under the secular whitewash.Madame de Guermantes, unfortunately too talented and too Parisian, when I met her she had nothing but her accent, but she at least described herself as a young girl found a compromise (between the provincial accent, which seemed too vulgar, and the affectation of polite speech), the style of language which made George Sand's "Little Law" Diet, and some of the legends told by Chateaubriand in Memoirs at the Graveside, seem so lovely.My favorite thing is to hear Madame de Guermantes tell stories that have peasants appearing with her.The ancient names and distant customs make the villages against the backdrop of these castles attractive. Her way of pronouncing it, if there was nothing artificial about it, no attempt to create a vocabulary, would be a museum of the history of France whose exhibits are conversations. "My great-uncle Fate-James" would not surprise anyone, for we know that the Fitz-James family would have liked to affirm their status as a noble family in France, rather than being pronounced with an English accent. name.But some people, who had always thought they had to try their best to pronounce certain names according to the grammatical rules, suddenly heard that Madame de Guermantes pronounced them otherwise, and tried to pronounce them in a way that they had never heard of. Those names, it is astonishing how pathetic these people are.The Duchess, for example, had a great-grandfather who had been a page to the Comte de Chambord, and she liked to joke with her husband, who was later an Orleanist, "We old Froschdorfers."Those guests who thought they should pronounce "Froschdorf" immediately changed their doors and kept talking about "Froschdorf". -------- ① Fitz James (1670-1734), British nobleman and field marshal; in 1710, he was canonized as Duke of France by King Louis XIV of France. "Fitte-Jam" is the French pronunciation of the English name. I once asked Mrs. de Guermantes who was the handsome young man whom she introduced as her nephew, but whose name I did not catch, because the Duchess used her name when she said it. The deep guttural voice was loud, but the pronunciation was so vague that all I heard was "This is ... Weng, Robert ... brother. He believes that his skull is exactly like the Welsh people in ancient times." Later. Only then did I understand what she meant: "This is the little Leon (Prince Leon, in fact, Robert de Saint-Loup's brother-in-law)." "It is true that he really has such a skull," she went on, " I can't say, but his taste in dress puts the hell out of the way. When I was at Josselin with the Rohans, we went to church one day and met a lot of people who never Peasants from all over Brittany. There was a tall country fellow, a tenant of the Leon family, looking at the light-colored trousers of Brother Robert's fuss. 'Why are you looking at me like that? I'll bet you said , you don't know who I am,' Leon said to him. Then, because the countryman said he didn't know, Leon went on: 'Listen, I'm your prince.' Oh!' The countryman Doffing his hat hastily in apology, he replied, 'I took you for an Englishman.'" If I took this opportunity to persuade Madame de Guermantes to tell me more about the Rohan family (her family and There were occasional marriages in the family), her account would be imbued with a pitiful melancholy, and, as the real poet Bambier might have said, "There is something in the gorse fire The choking smell of fried buckwheat pancakes.” -------- ①Josselin is a small town located in Morbihan, Brittany. It is famous for its churches and castles built in the 12th to 14th centuries. The Duchess told me about the Marquis of Dillot (we all know that the Marquis was in a very miserable state in his later years, and that after he was deaf he was often taken to the house of the blind Mrs. H...), the Duchess told me that his situation was slightly better. At that time, how could he casually wear slippers to drink tea with the King of England while he was hunting in Gelmont, without feeling that the king was more noble than himself, and it was obvious that he was in this king I didn't feel restrained at all in front of me.She described it all so well that she even made the Marquis wear a musketeer cap with a plume like a smug Perigoux squire. Moreover, even in such small matters as judging someone's origin, Madame de Guermantes exudes a strong local flavor-this is her charm-able to tell people from a certain province. In a certain place, a woman who grew up in Paris cannot do this anyway, and when she talks about the provincial scenery from a portrait with a charm of Saint-Simon, she often quotes Anjou, Poix, etc. Map, Perigo these place names. -------- ① Saint-Simon (1675-1755), a French aristocrat, wrote 21 volumes of "Memoirs" reflecting the life of Louis XIV's court, in which the portrayal of characters is quite lively. Let's go back to Mrs. de Gelmont's pronunciation and vocabulary.The so-called aristocratic temperament shows their true conservativeness in this respect.The word "conservative" here refers to the full meaning of the word which is a little childish, a little dangerous, a kind of closeness to all developments and changes, but at the same time attractive to artists.I wonder how the name Jean was spelled in the old days.I understood this when I received a letter from Mrs. de Villebalisis's nephew, who signed it—because he was baptized in Gotha and was famous there. -Jehan (John) de Villebarisis, with a beautiful and cumbersome, heraldic H, as we see painted in vermilion or ultramarine in prayer books or stained glass Admirable letters as well. -------- ① Gotha, a city in eastern Germany.The Gotha Almanac, which published the genealogy of European celebrities, was compiled and published there. It's a pity that I couldn't sit there and listen to her endlessly, because I had to try to get home before Albertine.However, I could only get, bit by bit, from Mme. de Gelmontes as much useful advice on dress as I needed in order to have Albertine cut to the same extent as was suitable for a young girl. clothing. "For example, Madame, the last time you had dinner at Saint-Defelthe's house and then went to the house of Mrs. Prince de Guermantes, it was really wonderful to wear a long red dress and a pair of red shoes. It looks like a bright red flower, a fiery red translucent gemstone, what kind of material is that? Can young girls wear it too?" The tired face of the Duchess suddenly became radiant, and this expression was the expression that had appeared on the face of the Prince's wife when Swann complimented the Prince's wife; Looking mockingly, inquiringly, and delightedly at M. de Bréaudé, the gentleman who must be there on such occasions, a smile flashed from behind his monocle, as if for what seemed to him entirely Tolerance is given to this intellectual bewilderment caused by the sensual frenzy which the young man forcibly restrains.The Duchess looked like she was saying, "What's the matter with him? He must be crazy." Then she turned to me tenderly and said, "I don't know if I was like a jewel that day, or Like a flower, but I do remember that I had a red dress: it was made of the red satin stuff that was just right for the season. If a young girl really wanted to wear it, but you told me, yours That girl never goes out at night. But this long dress is an evening dress, and you can't wear it when you go out during the day." The strangest thing is that, although that night was not so long ago, Madame de Guermantes had put one thing (as we shall see below) that she should have kept in her mind, except for the dress she wore. Forget it.It seems that for these activists (the people on the social scene are small and insignificant activists, but they are still activists), their minds are always focused on what will happen in an hour. Classes, and thus can hardly store much in memory anymore.For example, it often happens that when someone mentions to Mr. de Nobwa that he recently predicted that he would sign a peace treaty with Germany, but it turned out to be nothing, he will say the following: Come on, and the intention is not to divert the target or to justify yourself: "You must have heard wrong, I don't remember me saying such a thing at all, and it doesn't sound like I said it, because in this kind of conversation , I am always very cautious about what I say, and it is impossible for me to predict the success of so-called astonishing acts, which are often only impulsive and usually end in violent acts. There is no doubt that in a long time In the future, the relationship between France and Germany will become closer, which will benefit both countries. In this transaction, I think France will not suffer losses, but I have never said this, because I think The time is not yet ripe, and if you ask me how I feel about making a serious alliance with my old enemy, my answer is that it would be a failure, and we would suffer a great loss from it." De Nob When Mr. Wa said this, he was not lying, he was just too forgetful.Besides, things are forgotten very quickly that have not been carefully thought out, that you have acquired by imitation, or have been induced to accept by others.They change, and our memories change with them.Compared with diplomats, those politicians are worse than that. They can completely forget their views on a certain occasion. In some cases, their backsliding has no ambitious purpose. And really just forgetfulness.As for the characters in the social field, they never remember anything. Madame de Guermantes assured me that she did not remember that Madame de Chauspierre was there the night she wore the red dress, and that I must have been mistaken.However, God knows whether the duke and even the duchess have been thinking about the Shawspierres all day long from now on!Here's the thing.M. de Guermantes was the oldest vice-president after the death of the president of the Jockey Club.There was a group of people in the club, who were not of much value themselves, and whose only pleasure was to vote against those who did not invite them to dinner. At this time, they formed a gang against the Duke de Guermantes, and the Duke himself He thought he was sure of winning, and he didn't take the position of chairman that was almost insignificant compared to his social status, so he stood still.The party went around telling the Duchess that she was a Dreyfusian (the Dreyfus case was closed long ago, but it was still being mentioned after twenty years, and it was only two years later), and had received Rothschild, and that people have been taking too much advantage of half-German, half-Gringo dignitaries like the Duke de Guermantes for a long time.The gang is in a good position, because the rest of the club is also jealous of these overly visible characters and their huge fortunes.Shospierre's family fortune was not small, but it was not unpleasant: he never squandered a penny, the husband and wife lived in a modest apartment, and the wife went out in black tweed.Mrs. Shawspierre loves music, and often holds some small concerts at home, and invites far more female singers than the Gelmont House.But usually no one would think of mentioning these concerts, because the attendees could not even have a cold drink, and the husbands were not present, and the whole performance was held in that inconspicuous corner of the Street of Chairs.At the Opera, Madame de Chauspierre came and went inconspicuously, and she was accompanied by no ordinary people, whose names reminded one of the most extreme royalists among the courtiers of Charles X. People, but they are very humble, never ostentatious.On the day of the election, beyond everyone's expectations, the illustrious and insignificant actually lost, while the dingy and inconspicuous won. However, the Duke of Special fell to Sun Shan, that is to say, he fell to the position of the first vice chairman and failed to climb up.Of course, being the president of the club was nothing to such powerful and powerful dignitaries as the Gelmonts.However, the chairman position that should be his vacancy but failed to fill, seeing that a guy named Shawspierre took it, made the Duke feel embarrassed. You know, this guy's wife, Ollie Not only did Ana disdain to say hello to her two years ago, but she also felt annoyed that this third-class guy who came out of nowhere dared to say hello to her.He claimed that he did not take this failure seriously at all, and believed that the root of the matter was that he had too much contact with Swann.In his bones, he was still angry.It is strange to say that no one had ever heard the Duke de Guermantes say "at all" such a vulgar word before; but since the election of the club, as soon as the Dreyfus case was brought up, , and immediately "at all" popped up: "Dreyfus Affair, Dreyfus Affair, it's easy to say, but the statement itself is a misnomer; it's not a religious event, it's a Political cases.” If there was no mention of the Dreyfus case in the next five years, you would never hear the word “at all” again, but if five years later, Dreyfus If the name Si is mentioned again, the three words "at all" will appear immediately.The duke could hardly stand anyone mentioning the case, "that's it," he said, "caused so much misfortune," although it was his failed bid for chairman of the club that really touched him. It turned out that on the afternoon I just mentioned, that is, at the party at which I told Mrs. de Guermantes that she wore a red dress at her cousin's house, Mr. de Bréaude was somewhat unpopular. The reason is that he has some secret association in his mind, and he still wants to say it, so he moved his lips like a hen's buttocks and said: "Speaking of the Dreyfus case..." (why did he want to say it? What about the Dreyfus case? Wasn't it just talking about the red dress? Of course, poor Braaude, he just wanted to make everyone laugh, and he said it without any malice, but it's just The name Dreyfus already made de Gelmont's two Jovian majestic brows frown) "... I was told that our friend Gartier once said a wonderful sentence , it is wonderful, (I must remind the reader that this Gartier is the brother of Madame de Villefranche, and has nothing to do with the jeweler of the same name!) But this did not surprise me, Because he's very clever." "Oh!" interrupted Orianne, "I don't appreciate his cleverness. I can't tell you how much I hate your Gartier, I always meet him whenever I go to La Tremoille's house, and I wonder why Charles La Tremoille and his wife are so interested in such a disgusting fellow." "I (dear) ) dear Duchess," replied Bréaudet, who had trouble pronouncing the C, "I think you are being too harsh on Gartier. Yes, he may go to La Tremoille.上是跑得太勤了些，可这毕意是对雅（夏）尔的一种，怎么说呢，一种忠诚的表示吧，眼下这样的人也是不多见的了。言归正传吧，人家告诉我的话是这样的。加蒂埃似乎是说，如果左拉先生要想卷进一桩诉讼案而且让自己给判刑的话，那他无非是想获得一种他还不曾有过的体验——坐牢的体验。” “所以他在被逮着以前就溜了，”奥丽阿娜接着说，“这种话可站不住脚。何况，即使情况真是这样，我也认为这句话说得再蠢也没有了。可您居然觉得它绝顶聪明！”“天哪，我竟（亲）爱的奥丽阿娜，”布雷奥代看见公爵夫人表示异议，就开始退缩了，“这话可不是我说的，我只是怎么听到就怎么说哪，咱们别管它得了。可不是，就为这，加蒂埃先生还让那位出色的拉特雷默伊耶狠狠地给克了一通呢，因为他有一百个理由不愿听到有人在他的客厅里谈论那些——怎么说好呢——那些眼下正在风头上的案件吧，尤其是因为有阿尔方斯·罗特希尔德夫人在场，他就更加不高兴了。加蒂埃挨拉特雷默伊耶这顿臭骂也是活该。”“当然咯，”公爵情绪极坏地说，“阿尔方斯·罗特希尔德夫妇虽说小心翼翼，绝口不提这桩讨厌的事件，可是他们心底里，就跟所有的犹太人一样，都是德雷福斯派。这确实是一种adhominem①（公爵有些乱用了adhominem这个词儿）的论据，以前被忽略了没拿来用作犹太人不可信的一个证明。如果一个法国人偷了东西、杀了人，我想我不会因为那个人象我一样是法国人而认为他是无罪的。可是那些犹太人，哪怕他们心里知道得一清二楚，也从来不会承认他们的某个同胞是卖国贼，而且根本不去考虑他们中间一个人所犯的罪行，会产生多么严重的后果（公爵自然是想到了肖斯比埃尔和那该死的选举）……，嗳，奥丽阿娜，您不会认为就凭这还不足以断定犹太人都会庇护一个卖国贼吧。您也不会对我说就因为他们是犹太人所以不能这么断定吧。”“当然会喽，”奥丽阿娜回答说（她心里暗暗有些恼火，只想要对这个声若洪钟的朱庇特抬个杠、顶个嘴，从而把“理智”置于德雷福斯案件之上），“也许正因为他们是犹太人并且了解自己的同胞，所以他们知道一个犹太人不一定就是卖国贼，不一定就是反法分子，好象德吕蒙先生就是这么说的吧。当然，要是他是个基督徒，那些犹太人是不会对他感兴趣的，可是他们这么做了，因为他们很清楚，如果他不是犹太人，人家就不会这么轻易地把他当作天生的卖国贼，我的侄儿罗贝尔敢情就会这么说吧。”“女人懂什么政治呢，”公爵目不转睛地瞅着公爵夫人喊道，“这桩耸人听闻的罪行，并不单单是个犹太人的案子，而压根儿是起重大的民族事件，它会给法国带来最可怕的后果，凭这一点就该把那些犹太人统统驱逐出境，虽说我也承认，直到目前为止所采取的惩罚措施全都（以一种亟需匡正的卑鄙的方式）并非针对他们，而是针对站在他们对面的那些最卓越的人，那些跟他们给我们可怜的国家所造成的不幸毫不相干的地位最显赫的人。 " -------- ①拉丁文，从字面直译为“针对此人”，公爵即按此义理解，但它的实际含义是“仅从个人爱好或偏见出发”。 我觉着再这么下去事情快要不对头了，所以赶忙又拾起裙子的话题。 “您还记得，夫人，”我说，“我有幸第一回见到您………”“他有幸有一回见到我，”她笑吟吟地瞧着德·布雷奥代先生说，这位先生的鼻尖变得玲珑了，脸上的微笑也由于对德·盖尔芒特夫人的礼貌而变得柔和了，但那刀子放在磨刀石上磨也似的嗓音，让人听到的只是些含糊的尖溜溜的声音。 “……您穿一件黑色大花头的黄裙子。”“我的孩子，那也一样，也是晚礼服。”“还有您那顶矢车菊颜色的帽子，我觉得好看极了！不过这些都是旧话了。我想给我提到过的那位姑娘定做一件皮大衣，就象您昨天早上穿的那件一样。不知道我能不能再看一下您那件大衣？”“那可不行，阿尼巴尔马上就得走了。您来我家吧，我的贴身女仆会都让您看的。就是有一点，我的孩子，您想要的我都可以借给您，不过要是您找那些小裁缝去定做加洛、杜塞、巴甘的款式，那就非得走样不可。”“我根本没想过去找小裁缝哪，我知道那非走样不可，不过我还是挺感兴趣想弄弄明白，究竟为什么会走样的呢。” “您也知道我向来不善于解释任何事情，我呀，笨嘴拙舌的，就象个乡下婆子。不过这里面有个手工和式样的问题；要说做皮大衣，我至少还可以写个便条给我做皮装的裁缝，别让他敲您竹杠。不过您知道，就这样您也还得花八九千法郎呢。”您在另一个晚上穿的那件有股挺特别的味儿的睡袍，就是毛茸茸的有碎花点儿和金色条纹，象个蝴蝶翅膀的那件呢？ " “哦！那件呀，是在福迪尼的店里做的。您的那位姑娘在家里穿那件挺合适的。我有好几件呢，回头我让您瞧瞧，要是您喜欢，我可以给您一两件。可是我很想让您看看我表妹塔列朗的那件。我得写信去向她借一下。”“您那些鞋子也漂亮极了，那也是在福迪尼店里做的吗？”“不是，我知道您说的是哪双鞋，您是说那双金面山羊皮的鞋子，那是当初孔絮洛·德·曼彻斯特陪我在伦敦采购时买到的。那可真是绝了。我总也不明白，这皮子是怎么染色的，看上去倒象这山羊长的就是金皮。在当中再配上那么一小粒钻石，简直就没治了。可怜的德·曼彻斯特公爵夫人已经死了，不过要是您愿意，我可以写信给德·沃里克夫人或者马尔勃罗夫人，让她们设法去一模一样的觅一双。我在想，说不定我还有些这种山羊皮呢。您也许在这儿也可以定做。我今晚就去瞧瞧，找到了会让人通知您的。”