Chapter 3 Chapter Two (1)

After a long and unhappy love affair, after Fermina irretrievably rejected his marriage proposal, Florentino Ariza thought of her all the time.Since then, fifty-one years, nine months and four days have passed.He doesn't need to make a calculation on the wall of the cell every day for memorizing, because something will happen every day to remind him of her.He was twenty-two when they broke up, living with his mother, Transito Ariza, in a rented half-house in Via Ventanas.My mother had run a small department store there since she was young, and besides that, she also sold old clothes as cotton to the wounded in the war.Florentino Ariza was her only son, born of a chance union with the famous shipowner, Mr. Loaiza.This Mr. Loaisa was the eldest of three brothers who founded the Caribbean Inland Waterway Company.They relied on this shipping company to promote the development of shipping on the Magdalena River.

Mr. Loaiza died when his son was ten years old.He has been covering his expenses secretly, but has never legally recognized him as his son, nor has his future been resolved.Therefore, Ariza has always been only maternal, who is his real father, the public has always been clear.After his father's death, Ariza had to drop out of school to become an apprentice at the post office, where he opened the mail bags, sorted the letters, and hoisted the flags of the countries concerned at the door to let people know which country's mail had arrived. His wit caught the attention of the telegraph operator.The telegraph operator was a German expatriate named Lotrio Teugut, who besides working at the post office also played the organ at important church ceremonies and served as a family music teacher.

Teugut taught him Morse code and mastered the telegraph system.After only taking the first few violin lessons, Ariza was able to listen to the lessons and play other pieces like a professional player.He had met Fermina at the age of eighteen, when he was arguably the most visible and popular young man in his social class.He can dance to fashionable music, recite poems affectionately, and as long as someone asks him, he is willing to bring a violin to serenade their favorite at any time.Since then, he has been thin and bony, his Indian hair is silvery with balsam, and the myopia on the bridge of his nose has deepened his impression of being a loner.In addition to his visual impairment, he was chronically constipated and required laxative enemas throughout his life.The only good change of clothes he had was an inheritance from his late father, which, thanks to Transito's good preservation, looked like new every Sunday.Although he was slender, withdrawn, and modestly dressed, the girls in the class had to draw lots in private for the chance to spend time with him.He often played with them too, and those innocent actions were not over until he got to know Fermina.

He first saw her one afternoon.That afternoon, Teugut sent him to send a telegram to a man named Lorenzo Daza whose postal address was unclear.He found the man in an old half-collapsed house in the small park of Evangelios.The courtyard of the house was like a monastery, with flower beds overgrown with weeds and a dry spring in the center.Ariza heard nothing as he followed the barefoot maid through the arches of the corridor, which was full of unopened moving boxes, masons' tools, piles of unused cement and Lime, the house was being renovated at the time.At the end of the yard, there is a temporary office. In the room, a big fat man is sitting in front of the desk and taking a nap, his curly sideburns and beard are mixed together.

This person was Lorenzo Daza, who was not yet well known in the town, because he had been here for less than two years and he did not have many acquaintances. The arrival of the telegram seemed to be the continuation of his nightmare.With the sympathy of a civil servant, Ariza watched his leaden eyes, noticed his trembling fingers tearing the seal, and the fear in him. This fear he had seen in many people, because the recipient inevitably associated it with death before opening the telegram.Immediately after reading the telegram, he recovered his composure and sighed: "Good news!" He gave Ariza the five reals as was customary, and he made him understand with a reassuring smile that if the news brought him bad news, it would be good news. He wouldn't spend five reals.Then he bade him farewell with a firm handshake, which was unnecessary for the sender of the telegram.The maid kept sending him outside the gate, not only to guide him, but also to keep an eye on him.However, he followed the maid down the same corridor again.Ariza noticed someone else inside: a woman's voice repeating the text in the bright courtyard.As he passed across the sewing room, he saw through the window a grown woman and a girl, sitting in two chairs side by side, while reading a book that lay open on the grown woman's lap.The sight struck him as strange: the girl was teaching her mother to read.This estimate was only a little inaccurate, because the woman was the girl's aunt, not her mother, although she had raised her like a mother.The sound of reading continued, but the girl raised her head, wondering who was passing by the window.No one expected that this accidental Yidu would cause a catastrophe of love, which lasted for half a century and has not ended yet.

The only thing Ariza could find out about Lorenzo Daza was that he had moved here from San Juan in the swamp shortly after the cholera with his only daughter and celibate sister.Those who saw him disembark had no doubt that he would settle here, for he had brought with him all that was necessary to furnish a family.The girl was young, but his wife was dead. His sister, Escolástica, was forty years old.When she went out she always dressed in the Franciscan fashion, and when she stayed at home she wore a sash around her waist.The girl was thirteen years old and had the same name as her dead mother: Fermina.

It appeared that Lorenzo Daza was a man of property, who lived well without a proper occupation. He bought Evan Helios' old house for two hundred gold pesos, and it cost him at least double the purchase price to renovate the house.The daughter attended the Feast of the Virgin school, which for two centuries had taught ladies how to be good wives and mothers in home economics.During the colonial period and the early years of the Republic, the school only accepted girls from noble families.However, as the old families, ruined by independence, had to bow to the realities of the new age, the gates of this school were finally opened to all female students who could pay the tuition fees, no matter whether they had noble titles or not, as long as they were of parents married in a Catholic ceremony. Legal daughters can go to school.It was an expensive school, and the mere fact that Fermina attended there showed, if not her family's social status, at least her family's wealth.These news made Florentino Ariza extremely excited. The beautiful girl with round eyes was exactly the one he had dreamed of.Unfortunately, that father was very strict with his daughter, which was an insurmountable obstacle for Ariza to get close to Fermina.While other female students usually go to school together or accompanied by older maids, Fermina is always accompanied by her single aunt, so that her every move must not have any deviant behavior.

Ariza began to secretly follow Fermina's life in the following innocent way-at seven o'clock in the morning, he sat alone on an unnoticed bench in the park, pretending to read poetry under the almond tree, until that time. A girl walked in front of him indifferently.She wore a blue-striped uniform, knee-high socks with elastic bands, and men's high-waisted leather shoes.A thick braid trailed down her back, tied in a knot at the end.When she walks, she has a kind of natural arrogance, with her head raised high, her eyes fixed, her steps brisk, her nose pointed, her arms crossed, and her bulging schoolbag hugged to her chest.Really, she walked like a doe, with ease.Beside her, my aunt, in her tan school uniform and a Franciscan sash, followed the girl so closely that no one could get close to her.Florentino Ariza watched them go back and forth four times a day and once on Sundays when she came out of high mass in church.He was content just to see that girl.Gradually he idealizes her, attaching to her impossible virtues and imaginary emotions.Two weeks later, she was the only existence in his mind.He decided to write her a letter, on both sides of a sheet of paper in the delicate hand of a professional scribe.The letter sat in his pocket for several days.While figuring out how to deliver the letter to her, he wrote a few more pages every day before going to bed.As a result, that initial sheet of paper gradually expanded into a dictionary of love words, which he memorized from the many books he read while waiting for girls to pass by in the park.

In order to find a way to deliver the letter, he wanted to get acquainted with some female students of the "Marine Presentation" school.However, their world was too far away from his.Besides, on reflection, he did not think it wise to let his intentions be known.He heard that a few days after Fermina arrived here, someone invited her to a weekend dance, but her father firmly rejected her: "It's not the time to do such a thing." Florentino Ariza couldn't stand it any longer To keep his love a secret, his letter has reached seventy sheets, and both sides are densely written.He presented the letter unreservedly in front of his mother, who was the only one he was willing to speak his heart to.Transcito was moved to tears by his son's innocent love.She wants to guide him with her wisdom and experience.She first persuaded him not to deliver that long, lyrical letter to the girl, who she believed to be as inexperienced in love as her son, which would only startle her in a dream.She told him that the first step should be to make her aware that he was interested in her, so that he would not surprise her with his confession of love and have time to think about it.

"However, more importantly," she said to her son, "the first person you want to win over should not be her, but her aunt." These two pieces of advice are undoubtedly wise, but belated.In fact, the moment Fermina was reading absently to her aunt that day and looked up to see who was passing in the corridor, Ariza's dejected demeanor made a deep impression on her.At dinner in the evening, when her father talked about the telegram, she knew what Florentino Ariza was doing at her house and what his profession was.These news greatly increased her interest, because she, like many people at the time, believed that the invention of the telegraph should have something to do with magic.Therefore, the first time she saw Florentino Ariza sitting under a tree in the small park reading a book, she recognized him immediately and did not cause her the slightest uneasiness.

In fact, her aunt had discovered that Ariza was there a few weeks earlier, but she had not let her niece know.After that, they would see him every Sunday when they came out of church after mass.At that time, my aunt realized that it was not accidental that the young man met them so frequently.She said: "He is pestering us deliberately, probably not for me." Although she wears a school uniform and behaves seriously, she still has the instinct of life and complex psychology, which are her virtues.She couldn't contain her excitement at the thought of a man taking an interest in her niece. Fermina was not yet curious about love, Ariza only aroused a little pity in her, he seemed to her a sick man.But her aunt told her that one had to live together for a long time to understand a man's true character, and she was convinced that the young man who sat watching them in the park must be suffering from lovesickness. Fermina is the only daughter of a couple without love.Her aunt both understood and loved her.This aunt has been raising her since her mother died.She was more like a mother than an aunt to Lorenzo Daza.The presence of Florentino Ariza, therefore, added a secret pastime to them.In order to pass the long time, they invented many entertainments that are not known to outsiders.Four times a day, as they walked through the small park of Los Evangelios, both of them eagerly caught the thin, shy, inconspicuous Sentinel with a quick glance.No matter how hot the weather is, he always wears black clothes and pretends to read under the tree. "He's here." Among the aunts and nieces who was the first to spot him, he said that with a smile.Only then did he raise his head and watch the two serious women walk through the park without looking away.They were very far from his life. "Poor boy," said the aunt, "I am with you, and he dares not come. But if he really loves you, he will come someday and give you a letter." Foreseeing all the trials and tribulations that love would entail, my aunt taught her to learn handwriting, an indispensable means of communicating with each other.Fermina's new curiosity was aroused by Ariza's unexpected tricks, both clever and innocent, but months passed and she could not think further.She didn't know when her emotions would suddenly turn into anxiety, and the blood in her whole body would boil, creating an eager desire to see him.One night, she woke up with a start, and she saw him standing by the bed in the dark, watching her.At that time, she hoped from the bottom of her heart that her aunt would be right.She prayed to God to give him courage to give her the letter, and she wanted to know what it said. But her entreaties were not heeded, on the contrary, because this happened at the time when Florentino Ariza was talking to his mother, who advised him not to hand over the seventy-page love letter at once.As a result, Fermina had to wait until the end of the year, and as the winter holidays in December approached, her anxiety turned to despair, and she asked uneasily what she had done so that they could meet during the three months of her vacation. What should I do?The problem was not resolved until Christmas night.A premonition struck her that night, and she thought he was gazing at her from the crowd at midnight mass.She felt uneasy, her heart seemed to be jumping out of her mouth.She dared not turn her head, because she was sitting between her father and her aunt.She had to try to restrain herself so that they would not perceive her panic.But she felt him evidently right next to her in the chaotic crowd as people swarmed out of the church.On leaving the nave an irresistible force compelled her to look over people's shoulders, and she saw two icy eyes, a purple face, and lips frozen with love's terror.Dazed by his audacity, she hastened to grab her aunt's arm so as not to fall.The aunt, feeling the cold sweat on her hands through the lace mitts, made an almost imperceptible signal of her unconditional support and spurred her to cheer.Under the colorful lights on the colonnade, amidst the sound of firecrackers, drums, and the shouts of the crowd yearning for peace, Ariza was in a trance like a somnambulist, with tears in his eyes, watching the grand occasion of the festival, Wandering until dawn.It seemed to him that it was not the Savior who was born that night, but himself. The next week, when he passed hopelessly in front of the Fermi steel door at siesta time, he was even more dazed when he saw the girl sitting with her aunt under the almond tree on the front porch.The scene was exactly the same as what he saw in front of the sewing room on the first afternoon: the girl was reading a text for her aunt.However, Fermina changed into a new outfit, she did not wear the school uniform, she wore a multi-cup muslin dress.The length of the long skirt hung down from her shoulders like the wide sleeveless shirt worn by women in ancient Greece.The corolla woven with japonica flowers on her head makes her look like a goddess.Florentino Ariza sat down in the park, where he was sure they would see him, so instead of pretending to read, he opened the book and fixed his eyes on the girl he was thinking of.However, the girl did not give him a look of pity. At first he thought that their reading under the almond tree was an accidental change, perhaps due to the endless repairs that had been going on in the house, but then he realized that Fermina spent the three-month vacation at the same time every afternoon. Staying there all the time, the purpose is to enable him to see her.This conclusion gave him renewed courage. The girl showed no attention to him, no expression of interest or dislike.But a different brilliance appeared on her indifferent face, which seemed to encourage him to persevere.One afternoon at the end of January, my aunt suddenly put her work on the chair and left, leaving the niece alone in the colonnade covered with dead almond leaves.Florentino Ariza thought, without thinking, that it was an arrangement they had agreed upon, and taking courage, she crossed the street and went up to Fermina.He was so close to her that he could hear her breathing and smell the fragrance she exuded--in the days to come, he would recognize her by various fragrances.He raised his head to address her with a look of determination that he only repeated half a century later, and for the same reason. "I have a request, please accept a letter from me," he said to her. Fermina felt that his voice was not the voice she had expected.It was clear, measured, and bore no resemblance to his listless mind.The girl, without taking her eyes off the embroidery, replied: "I cannot accept your letter without my father's permission." The gentle and friendly voice made Florentino Ariza tremble with emotion, and the deep tone was one he would never forget.He stood still and said again: "Please take it." He changed the tone of order into a tactful pleading: "This is a matter of life and death." Fermina did not look at him, nor did he stop his hand. Embroidery work, she secretly opened the door of determination ajar, where the whole world can be accommodated. "Ching comes here every afternoon," she told him, "waiting for me to change chairs." It was not until the following Monday that Florentino Ariza understood what she meant.That day, sitting on a bench in the small park, he saw a change in addition to the usual scene: when the aunt went back to the room, Fermina got up and sat on another chair .So Florentino Ariza put a camellia in the buttonhole of her frock coat, crossed the street, stopped in front of her, and said: "This is the best chance of my life." Scan around.In the sweltering heat of the dry season, the streets are deserted except for the wind-blown leaves dancing on the ground. "Give me the letter," she said. Florentino Ariza wanted to hand over the entire seventy-page letter that he had read by heart, but in the end he decided to send only half of the letter, which was clearly and properly written, and its main meaning was that he would be loyal and loyal. Two, love her forever.He took the letter out of the inside pocket of his frock coat and placed it before the anguished embroiderer girl, who dared not look him in the eye.Seeing the blue envelope trembling in one of his frightened hands, the girl wanted to lift the embroidery frame to receive it, for she could not let him notice that her fingers were trembling too.Then something unexpected happened: a pool of bird droppings fell from the branches of the almond tree and landed on the embroidery frame precisely.Fermina hastily hid the blanket behind the chair so as not to attract his attention, flushed with shame, and glanced at him. Florentino Ariza took the letter in her hand and said nonchalantly: "This is a sign of happiness." Hearing this for the first time, she was honored and grateful.She snatched the letter from him, folded it, and tucked it inside the vest.At that time, he offered the white camellias inserted in the buttonholes.She refused, saying, "This is the love flower." She then realized that the time had come and resumed her original position. "You may go now," she said, "and please do not come again without my notice." Mother finds out what's on her son's mind before he confides in her.Because he didn't speak a word, didn't care about eating and drinking, and tossed and turned in bed at night, it was difficult to sleep.Anxiety compounded his physical condition while he waited for her first letter back, with diarrhea, green spitting, loss of direction and frequent blackouts.Mother panicked. These symptoms were not like a love disorder, but like a terrible cholera infection.Florentino Ariza's godfather, an old homeopath who had been her confidant since she secretly fell in love with Transito, felt helpless when he saw these symptoms of the patient, whose pulse was weak, His breathing was hoarse, his face was as pale as a dying patient, and he was sweating nightly, but he didn't have a fever, and he didn't feel any pain anywhere.The old man asked the patient himself and his mother about the situation in detail, and concluded that he had a kind of lovesickness with exactly the same symptoms as cholera.The old man suggested using popcorn water to calm his nerves, and suggested that he go to other places to change the air and adjust his spirit.But Ariza would rather endure torture and suffering than leave here. Transito, a celibate mulatto woman, believes that poverty has ruined her happiness.The son's pain seemed to be her own pain, and she also found joy and satisfaction in this torture.Seeing that her son was in a state of disorientation, she gave him some popcorn water.My son felt chilly, so I covered him with some blankets.At the same time, she also advised him to cheer up and enjoy himself while he was sick. "You have to taste all kinds of tastes while you are young," she said to him, "this kind of thing is once in a lifetime." Of course, colleagues at the post office didn't think so.Florentino Ariza had grown so lazy and absent-minded from work that the wrong flag was often flown when the mail arrived.One Wednesday, the British Liverpool Leyland liner arrived, and he flew a German flag.Another day, the cruise ship of the French Saint-Nazaire Ocean Shipping Company arrived, and he flew an American flag.The confusion of love caused him to distribute the mail in a mess, which caused public protests. The reason why Ariza did not lose his job was because Teugut insisted on keeping him and wanted to take him to play the violin in the church choir.It is incomprehensible that their age difference is almost the same as that of grandfather and grandson, but they can be like-minded.They got along very well, both at work and in the tavern at the port. The small inn at the port is a place for people of all kinds to spend the night, from young masters in formal dresses to drunkards who live on charity.The young masters escaped from the luxurious ball of the "Social Club", and came here to try fried mahi and cocoa rice.Teugut used to arrive there right after the last telegram, and join the enthusiastic sailors on the small Antillean boats drinking Jamaican rum and playing the accordion until dawn.He was tall and strong, with a golden beard, and at night he wore a Phrygian hat, which, if you added a string of petunias, would have been exactly like St. Nicholas.He spends the night with at least one wild prostitute every week.There is a small inn, and there are many women like that, who sell themselves to passing sailors.After he met Florentino Ariza, the first thing he did was to encourage him to imitate himself and live that secret paradise life.He selected the best prostitutes for him, bargained with them, negotiated ways of enjoying themselves, and advanced money for him.But Ariza refused to accept his offer.He's a virgin, and he doesn't want to sleep with any woman until he finds true love. The inn was a nobleman's mansion in colonial times and is now crumbling.The spacious hall and the marble room are divided into small bedrooms by cardboard, and countless holes have been punctured on the cardboard wall.People who come here to open a room are not only for themselves, but also to peek at others.It is said that some peepers were blinded by the knitting needles poking over from the next door.Someone happened to recognize his wife while spying.Some well-to-do gentlemen who came here to enjoy themselves, disguised themselves as greengrocers and ship's bosuns, also met with bad luck.In short, the stories of the peepers and the watched are local anecdotes.Ariza was terrified out of his wits at the thought.Teugut had never been able to convince him that seeing and being seen was one of the great pleasures of European princes. Teugut's massive figure is attractive, but his face has a tumor like a rosebud.Although this is a physical defect, it has brought him good luck, and those experienced wild whores are vying to have sex with him.He became one of the most respected customers at the inn by virtue of his talent and his manners.Ariza's taciturn and elusive character also won the appreciation of the master.In the most difficult moments of his physical and mental exhaustion, he often locked himself in a suffocating cabin and read sentimental poems and serial novels.Then, in his dreams, there were swallows' nests on the balcony, there were kisses, there was the sound of birds flapping their wings in the silent siesta.When the heat subsides at dusk, you can always hear the conversations of men who come here to find wild food after a tiring day.In this way, Florentino Ariza heard many infidelities between husband and wife, and even some state secrets, told by important customers and even local government officials to their dewy lovers.He also heard that on the bottom of the sea, four nautical miles north of Sotavento, lay a Spanish galleon sunk in the seventeenth century, carrying a large number of precious stones worth more than 500 billion gold pesos.The incident surprised him, but at the time it did not cause him to think further, and it was months later, when a passion for love aroused his desire, to salvage the drowned treasure for Phil. Mina hit a gold bath. Years later, when he tried to recall what the girl he had idealized with poetic inspiration looked like, he still failed to recognize her.Even on the days when he waited anxiously for her letter and spied her movements surreptitiously, all he saw was an image distorted by the orange-yellow almond blossoms at two o'clock in the afternoon. The almond tree blooms all year round, and the surrounding area is always full of spring.At that time, the only thing he was interested in was to bring the violin and accompany Teugute to stand on the balcony of the choir, so that he could admire Fermina's long dress as the hymn sounded like a breeze. Floating like waves.But this opportunity for joy was ruined by his own whims. He felt that the mysterious religious music was too dull, and he planned to replace it with the waltz of love. As a result, Teugut had to drive him out of the choir .At this moment, he greedily ate the beetroot that his mother had planted on the flowerbed in the yard, and only then did he understand the fragrance of Fermina's body.At the same time, he accidentally found a large bottle of toilet water in his mother's box, which was smuggled by sailors on the Hamburg-America route.He had an irresistible desire. In order to know the other fragrances of the woman he loved, he tasted the bottle of toilet water bit by bit until the east was about to dawn.At first he was in the inn at the port.Then, in a daze, I ran to the jetty by the sea, where lovers without houses fell in love.In the end, he finally got drunk and passed out.Mother waited in fear until six o'clock in the morning, and then searched all the most hidden places.He was not found until after noon, somewhere in the harbor where drowned people often wash up on the beach.At the time, he was lying amidst a cloud of vomit, which smelled fragrant. While the son was recovering, the mother reproached him for just passively waiting for Fermina's reply.She warned him: the weak will never enter the kingdom of love, the kingdom of love is ruthless and stingy, women are only willing to commit themselves to men who dare to do something, because such men can give them the sense of security they desire , so that they can face up to life.Florentino Ariza took his mother's teachings and perhaps built on them.Transito couldn't hide his pride, which was less due to maternal love than to eroticism.When she saw her son stepping out of the haberdashery in black wool, a hard hat, and a cerulean collar, his mother asked him jokingly if he was going to the funeral.He blushed and replied, "Probably so." She saw that he was almost breathless with tension, but his determination was invincible.She gave him her last advice, blessed him, and said with a smile: "If you can conquer Fermina, I'll buy you another bottle of toilet water and celebrate together." Since he delivered his first letter to his love a month ago, he had repeatedly broken his promise not to go to the little park, only so discreetly that she did not notice it.Everything is as usual.Fermina and his aunt read under the tree until two o'clock in the afternoon, when the whole town woke up from their naps.Then they embroidered together until the heat wave dropped and the air gradually cooled.Ariza did not wait for his aunt to enter the inner room, but he crossed the street with a big stride, puffing out his chest, and he did this to embolden himself.But when he opened his mouth he did not face Fermina but her aunt. "Please allow me to be alone with this lady for a while," he said to her. "I have something important to tell her." "Presumptuous!" said the aunt. "There is nothing about her that I cannot tell me." "I cannot tell you," he replied, "but I must remind you that you are responsible for what happens." It was impossible for the aunt's niece's fiancé to speak like this, but she stood up uncomfortably, because for the first time she realized with amazement that Florentino Ariza was speaking according to the revelation of God.So she went into the room to change the needle, leaving the two young men alone under the almond tree on the verandah. In fact, Fermina knew very little about this taciturn suitor, who came into her life like a winter swallow, and she would not even have known his name if he hadn't signed the letter.She had inquired, and knew that he had no father, and lived only with a hardworking and serious single mother.Her mother, though a virtuous person, bore irrevocably the stigma of her youthful misguidance.She thought he was a messenger delivering telegrams, but now she knew that he was a proficient and promising assistant operator.She thought that he had condescended to deliver the telegram to his father himself only in order to find an opportunity to see her.This speculation moved her deeply.She also knew that he was one of the musicians in the choir, though he never dared to raise his eyes to confirm it during Mass.One Sunday, she discovered such a strange thing that the whole orchestra was playing for everyone, but the violin was only playing for her.He is not the man she would choose.His outcast eyes, priestly attire, and his mysterious actions all aroused her irresistible curiosity, but it never occurred to her that curiosity was also a variant of latent love. She herself did not have to explain why she accepted the letter.It cannot be blamed on him.But she had to fulfill her promise, to answer his letter, which made her restless.Every word of her father, every casual glance, his most common movements and expressions constituted a trap that might expose her secret.She was always cold and timid, afraid of losing the secret due to negligence, and often said nothing at the dinner table.She faltered even when speaking to her aunt, who was just as enthusiastic as she was and took her niece's business as her own, shutting herself in the bathroom needlessly to read the letter over and over again, trying to get out of fifty. What codes are found in the three hundred and fourteen letters of the eight sentences, what magical methods are hidden.She hoped to find something richer than the superficial language in that letter, but she searched repeatedly, but found nothing new except the same content as when she read it the first time.When she just got the letter, she hurried into the bathroom and closed the door. She was so nervous that she tore open the envelope as if her heart jumped out, imagining that it was a long and passionate letter, but all she saw was a A perfumed note with a vow that shocked her. At first she didn't think about answering, but the letter was so clear that she couldn't.At the same time, she felt very worried, why did the shadow of Ariza appear in her mind from time to time?Why the growing interest in him?She even asked herself painfully why he didn't show up in the small park on time as usual, but she forgot that it was she who asked him not to go again before she thought about how to answer.现在，她是那样思念他，她从来没有想到过她会如此钟情一个人。他本来不在那儿，她却觉得他在那儿；他本来不可能到的地方，她也希望他在那儿。有时她突然在梦中醒来，感到他正在黑暗中注视着她。所以，那天下午她听到在小公园中铺满黄叶的小径上响起坚定的脚步声时，她的确认为那是她的幻觉又在欺骗她。但是，当他一反萎靡不振的常态，以威严神情要求她作出回答时，她终于克制了自己的惶恐，企图逃避现实，因为她实在不知道怎样回答。尽管如此，阿里萨还是惊呆地听到了她的话：“我收到了您的来信，”她对他说，“不回答是不礼貌的。” 这便是那道难题的结局。费尔米纳完全控制了自己，她请求原谅她迟迟未作回答，并郑重告诉他，在假期结束之前他将得到回信。这个诺言后来真的实现了。在二月份最后一个星期五，也就是开学的前三天，姑妈到电报局去询问发到彼埃特拉斯?莫莱尔——这个镇在他们的服务册上没有出现过——的电报需要多少钱。她装得仿佛和阿里萨素未谋面似的，向他打听这件事。在离开电报局时，她故意把一本蜥蜴皮封面的《每日祈祷书》放在柜台上，那本书里夹着一个有着烫金图案的亚麻纸信封。阿里萨欣喜若狂，那天下午，他再也没做别的事，只是边吃玫瑰花边读信。 他把那封信字斟句酌地读了一遍又一遍，一直读到半夜，读的遍数越多，吃的玫瑰花也越多，以致他母亲不得不象对一头小牛犊那样哄着他，叫他吞服蓖麻油泻药。 那是他们如痴似狂地相爱的一年。他们天天都是白天思念，夜晚梦见，急切地等信和回信，除此之外他们什么也没有干。不管是在那个神魂颠倒的春天，还是在第二年，他们都没有见过面、说过话。甚至，从他们第一次相见，直到半个世纪后他向她重申他的至死不渝的爱情之前，他们没有单独见过一次面，谈过一次话。但是在最初三个月里，他们每天通信，有时一天写两封，那种如胶似漆的情景，就连帮助他们点燃那团炽烈情火的姑妈都感到吃惊。 自从她胸怀复仇的火焰——那位姑妈在爱情上曾遇到过不幸——把第一封信送到电报局之后，她几乎天天允许他们以似乎是偶然相遇的形式在小巷里交换信件。 但是，她没有勇气让他们见面交谈，这不仅是因为她认为那是一种轻浮的行为，而且也因为相见的时间过于短促。三个月之后她才明白，她侄女热恋着阿里萨，并非象她最初认为的那样，是年轻人的一时冲动，因此她自己的生活便受到了那场情焰的威胁。埃斯科拉斯蒂卡除了依靠哥哥的施舍外，没有任何的生活资助。她知道，哥哥暴躁的脾气是绝不会原谅她对他的信任的嘲弄的。但是，在这最后抉择的时刻，她没有勇气使侄女遭受她从年轻时代就遭受的那种无可挽回的不幸，而是任凭她用某种办法做一场天真无邪的梦。这种办法很简单：费尔米纳每天去学校时，把信放在途中的一个隐蔽之处，并且在信里告诉阿里萨，她希望在哪儿拿到他的回信。阿里萨也同样这么做。这样在这一年里，埃斯科拉斯蒂卡姑妈就把这个难题转移到了教堂的洗礼盆上、大树的空树千里，以及已经变为废墟的殖民地时期的碉堡的空隙里。有时候，他们的信件被雨水淋湿，沾满泥浆，拿到手时已被撕破。由于各种原因，有几封信已经丢失，但是他们总会找到办法重新建立起联系的。 阿里萨每天晚上不顾一切地拼命写信。在店铺的后室，他在椰油灯下一个字一个字地写着，无视从那萦绕的烟云中吸进多少毒物。他越是努力模仿人民图书馆里那些他所喜爱的诗人的作品，他的信就写得越冗长、越疯狂。此时，人民图书馆里已存有八十部诗集。一度热心鼓励他及时行乐的母亲，这时也开始为他的健康不安了。“你会弄伤脑子的。”当雄鸡引吭高歌时，她在卧室里对他喊道。“没有哪个女人值得你这样劳心费神。”她不记得有哪个男人被女人弄得这般神思恍格。但儿子并不理睬她的话，爱情使他忘记了一切。有时为了使费尔米纳去学校途中及时拿到信，当他把信放在预先讲好的隐蔽处，然后走进办公室时，连头发都来不及梳理。 费尔米纳却相反，在父亲和修女们严格的令人不快的监视下，她几乎难得从笔记本上撕下纸来藏在浴室里写上半页信，或者在课堂上佯装做笔记写上几句。这不仅是时间不允许和害怕，而且也由于她的性格，她的信从不拐弯抹角和无病呻吟，而是以航海日记那种讨人喜欢的风格讲述她日常生活中的遭遇。实际上那是消遣性的信，她通过它们保持清火如炽，但自己却没有陷进去。而阿里萨却是在每一行字的情火中自焚。他急不可待地要把自己的狂热传导给她，他在山茶花的花瓣上细心地用别针尖刻上诗文送给她。?是他，而不是她，大胆地把自己的一缕头发放在了信封里，却永远没有得到他所渴望的回答，亦即没有得到费尔米纳的一根完整的头发。不过，他这样做至少使她前进了一步，从那时起，她开始给他寄去放在字典里的做成标本的叶子、蝴蝶的翅膀和珍禽的羽毛，并在他生日时赠给他一个一千方厘米大小的圣?彼得的教服，那种教服那些天以极其昂贵的价格在当地偷偷出售，在她同样年纪的女学生中只有她一个人买到了。一天晚上，没有任何思想准备，费尔米纳被一支小夜曲惊醒了，那是一支小提琴演奏的华尔兹舞曲。她吃惊地发现，每个音符都是对她的植物标本花瓣的感谢，对她害怕考试的感谢，她在更多的时间里是在想念他，而不是去关注《自然科学》教科书，那琴声使她得到了安慰，但她不敢相信阿里萨竟是这样的鲁莽。 第二天早晨吃早饭的时候，父亲说那琴声使他感到奇异。首先，他不懂得这小夜曲意味着什么。其次，尽管他全神贯注地听小夜曲，到头来他还是没有听清是在什么地方演奏的。姑妈沉着冷静地为侄女遮掩，毫不含糊地声称她透过卧室的薄纱窗帘看到小提琴独奏者是在公园的另一边，并且说无论如何只奏一支舞曲那是通知决裂。在这一天的信中，阿里萨证实说，那个奏小夜曲的人就是他，华尔兹舞曲是他自己谱写的，曲名就是他心中的“戴王冠的仙女”费尔米纳。为了使她在卧室听到小夜曲不再害怕，他没有再到公园去拉小提琴，而是常常在月夜精心选择个地方去演奏。他最喜欢的地方之一是穷人的墓地。这墓地在一个贫瘠的小山头上，沐浴着阳光，吸吮着雨露，兀鹰在那儿安眠。在这里乐曲可以发出神奇的回响。后来，阿里萨学会了辨别风向，让风来传送他的乐曲，他肯定他演奏的乐曲声会传到应该到达的地方。 半个多世纪以来，国内战乱一直未停。这年八月，一场新的内战又有席卷全国的趋势。政府宣布在加勒比海岸的几个省实行国事管制法和从下午六点钟开始宵禁。 骚乱在不断地出现，军队犯下了种种镇压暴行，可是阿里萨仍是懵懵懂懂，对世态一无所知。一天清晨，一支军事巡逻队抓住了他，当时他正在以调情来扰乱亡灵们的贞洁。他奇迹般地逃脱了一次集体枪决。他被指控犯了间谍罪，用乐谱向三天两头出现在临近水域的自由党舰船通风报信。 “瞎扯，什么间谍？”阿里萨说，“我只不过是一个热恋中的穷光蛋。” 他戴着脚镣在地方警备队的牢房里睡了三个夜晚。当他被释放出来时，他又为只关了那么短时间感到失望，一直到了老年，当许多其它战争也混在他的记忆中时，他还在继续想着，他是这座城市里，乃至是全国唯一由于爱情的原因戴上五磅重铁镣的男人。 当阿里萨正式向费尔米纳提出结婚的建议时，他们狂热的通信已近两年了。在头六个月里，他给她寄去了几次白山茶花，她在回信时却把山茶花还给了他，为的是表明她将继续给他写信，只是还没有到定情的时刻。事实上，她一直把传递山茶花视为爱情的激越，她从来没有考虑过那表明她已到了命运的十字路口。但是，当她接到阿里萨正式建议时，她感到死神第一次在撕裂着她的心。她吓得六神无主，便把这事情告诉了姑妈。姑妈勇敢而聪明地担当起顾问的角色，可姑妈在她二十岁需要决定自己的命运时，却没有这样冷静的头脑和勇气。 “告诉他你答应他啦”，姑妈对她说，“尽管你怕得要死，但是如果你拒绝了他，你会后悔一辈子的。” 费尔米纳是那样心乱如麻，她要求对方给她一段时间，让她好好考虑一下。起先她要求一个月，以后要求两个月、三个月。在快满四个月时她还没有作出回答，她又接到了白山茶花。他这次不象往常那样，只是在信封里把山茶花寄来，而是在信中说明这是最后通谋：要么答应，要么告吹。于是，阿里萨收到了一封信，里面只装了从学生作业本上撕下来的一页纸，上面用铅笔写道：“好吧，如果您答应不让我吃苦头，我就跟您结婚。”然而，也正是在这天下午，阿里萨看到了死神的面孔。 阿里萨没有想到会得到那样的回答，但是他的母亲预料到了。自从六个月前他第一次告诉特兰西托他想结婚时开始，她就着手操办，把整座房子租下来。直到那时，他们一直跟另外两家人合住那座房子。那是一座十七世纪的民用建筑，分两层，在西班牙统治时期，曾做过烟草专卖商店。它的破产的主人，由于缺乏维修资金，只好将它分成几部分租出去。房子的一部分临街，以前是零售店，另一部分在方石铺的庭院尽头，以前是工厂。一个很大的马厩，目前让房客们共同使用洗晾衣服。 特兰西托?阿里萨占据着第一部分，尽管是最小的，但都是最有用、保持得最好的房间。在昔日烟草专卖商店的大厅里，如今开设着小百货店，宽大的店门冲街开着。 旁边有个旧仓库，除了无意之外，没有别的通风口，特兰西托?阿里萨就睡在那儿。 店铺的后房占了大厅的一半，用一道水屏风同前面的铺面隔开。那里有一张桌子，四把椅子，既用来吃饭，也用来写字。弗洛伦蒂诺?阿里萨在那儿挂了一个吊床，黎明停止写信时，他就在那上面休息。这部分房子对两口人来说是足够用了，但如果再增加一个人就显得拥挤，更何况来的是“圣母献瞻节”学校的一位高贵小姐。 她的父亲曾经把瓦砾上的一座房子整修一新，当时在那所房子里住着占有七个爵位的几个大户人家，他们惶惶不安，时时担心房顶塌下来压在他们身上。为了迎接未来的儿媳，特兰西托终于使房主答应她占用院里的走廊，其代价是把那座房子维修五年。 她有钱做这件事。除了小百货店和拆洗旧衣服做止血药棉卖出的实际收入外，她还把钱借给那些刚刚破产、羞于去沿街乞讨的无米下锅的人，这些人为了感激她为他们保守秘密，答应愿意付高额利息。这样，特兰西托?阿里萨就成倍地增长了她的积蓄。有着女王神态的夫人们，在小百货店的柱廊前从华丽的四辆马车中走下来，她们既没有保姆，也没有令人生厌的仆人，在那儿，她们假装购买荷兰花边和金银条带滚边，在几声抽抽咽咽中把她们已失去的天堂的最后象征物——华丽的服装和贵重首饰——典当掉。特兰西托出于对她们出身的莫大尊敬，帮助她们从窘境中解脱出来。她们中间许多人的感激心情更多的是出于保全了荣誉，而不是得到了恩惠。在不到十年的时间里，特兰西托把那些多次唤出、又多次重新含着眼泪典当了的首饰已经看成象自己的一样了。她把赚得的钱换成纯金，放在一只瓦罐里埋在床底下。当儿子决定结婚时，这笔钱完全可以做她的后盾了。她算了一下帐，发现她不仅能够在五年中间把那座房子掌管好，并且靠她的智慧，再加上点运气，也许在死之前能够从别人手中把它买下来，为她所希望有的十二个孙子安排下住处。与此同时，阿里萨已被任命为电报局临时首席助理。当他去领导准备于次年成立的电报和磁力学校时，特乌古特就打算安排他作办公室主任了。 结婚的筹备实际上已经就绪。然而，特兰西托认为还有最后两件事需要谨慎些。 第一，打听清楚洛伦索?达萨的身世。他的口音清清楚楚地表明他是什么地方人，关于他的身分和生活来源却没有谁能够确切的了解，而且恋爱期间双方的言行必须十分严肃和检点，以保障婚后感情的牢固。她建议待战争结束时再结婚。阿里萨赞成绝对保密，这一方面由于他母亲指出的理由，另一方面也由于他的缄默的性格。 他也同意推迟婚期，但是他认为到战争结束再结婚那是不现实的，因为自从摆脱西班牙统治半个多世纪以来，国家一天也没有安宁过。 “到那时再结婚，我们都变成老头老太太了。”他说。 他的教父，一个顺势疗法医生，在偶然的情况下参加了讨论这件事。他认为战争对结婚没有什么妨碍，照他看来，战争只不过是被地主象公牛一样起着的穷人和被政府赶着的打赤脚的士兵之间的武装冲突罢了。 “仗是在山上打的。”他说，“自我记事以来，在城里杀我们的不是子弹，而是法令。” 不管怎么说，关于结婚的细节问题在下一个星期的通信中全部解决了。费尔米纳接受了姑妈的劝告，同意两年后结婚，而且绝对保持贞洁，她还建议，到她在圣诞节假期中学升业时，阿里萨就向她求婚。他们将根据她父亲可能接受的程度商量出办法，通过适当的手续使订婚合法化。在这期间，他们还是那样热烈地、频繁地继续通信，只是不再象以前那样遮遮掩掩。他们的通信以家人的口气相称，仿佛两个人已经成为夫妻。至此，世上没有任何东西可以打乱他们的幻梦了。 阿里萨的生活已经有所改变。费尔米纳接受了他的爱情，使他对生活充满憧憬，感到浑身有一种从未有过的力量。他工作干得那样出色，以致特乌古特很快就把他当做了自己的继承人。那时，建立电报和磁力学校的计划已经告吹，这个德国人把他全部的空闲时间都用到了他最喜欢的事情上，那就是到港口去拉手风琴，和海员们一起喝啤酒，而这一切都是在客栈里做的。过了许久，阿里萨才明白特乌古特之所以在那个名为客栈实为妓院的地方有影响，是因为他终于变成了这家客栈的老板和港口上那些堕落女人的业主。他用多年和积蓄渐渐买下了客栈，替他出头露面的是一个瘦小的独眼龙。这个独眼龙见人笑脸相迎，一副慈善心肠，谁都想不到他会捞上客栈经理那件好差事。然而事实就是如此，至少阿里萨认为他不错，因为他对他的旨意心领神会，比如说，没等阿里萨开口，他就在客栈里给他准备了一个包间。 这间房子不仅可供他在需要时解决那种事，而且可供他安安静静地读书和写情书。 就这样，在正式办理结婚手续的那段漫长时间里，他在客栈里消磨的时间比在办公室和家里加在一起还多。有些时候，特兰西托只是在他回来换衣服时才看到他。 读书成了他的一种嗜好，不读书简直活不下去。母亲自从教会他识字起，就给他买一些北欧作家写的带插图的读物，这些书是作为儿童故事出售的，但事实上，却是些什么年龄的人都可以读的最残酷和邪恶的书籍。阿里萨五岁时，无论在课堂上还是在学校的晚会上都能背诵这些书里的篇章，不过熟读这些书籍并未减少他的恐惧，而是相反，愈发加剧了他的这种心理。因此，从阅读这类书籍转而读诗，对他的神经仿佛是一种缓冲剂。到了青春时期，他已按出版顺序读完了人民图书馆里的全部诗集。那些诗集是特兰西托?阿里萨从“代笔先生门洞”的书商们手里买来的，价钱便宜，从荷马到不太引人注意的地方诗人，无所不包。他读书没有选择，拿到什么就读什么，好像一切遵从天意办事。多年以来，他读了那么多书，到头来哪是好书，哪是坏书，他压根儿分不清楚。他头脑中唯一清楚的是，在散文和诗歌之间，他喜欢诗歌；在诗歌里面，他喜欢爱情诗。爱情诗只需读上两遍，他即可背得滚瓜烂熟，押韵押得越好，越有规律，越伤感，他就背得越容易。 这也是写给费尔米纳的最初几封信的源泉。在那些信里，他整段整段地抄录西班牙浪漫诗人的作品，连一个字都不改变。后来，直到现实生活迫使他关心更多的尘世之事，而不仅仅是关注心灵的痛苦，他才跳出了浪漫主义诗篇的圈圈。那时，他已经问伤感连载小说和一些世俗的散文跨进了一步。他能跟母亲在一起，一边朗读地方诗人的诗，一边伤心落泪。那些诗是在市场和街道往廊下出售的，两个生太伏一本。同时他也能背诵黄金时代最优秀的西班牙诗歌。一般说来，凡是到手的书他无一不读，先拿到什么就读什么，甚至在他第一次艰难曲折的恋爱之后，他已经不是年轻人了的时候，他还是从头到尾一页不漏地读完了二十卷的《青年文库》、全部翻译成西班牙文的德国经典著作，以及最通俗易懂的西班牙著名小说家伊马涅斯的文集。 阿里萨的青年时代，不仅是关在那家客栈里读书和写炽烈的情书，而且也偷偷地过起了没有爱情的爱情生活。客栈里生活从午后开始，那时，他的女友们，也就是那些妓女起床了。她们一丝不挂，就象妈妈生她们时一模一样。阿里萨从电报局下班来到这里，走进的是一座挤满裸体仙女的宫殿，她们高声评论着城市里的秘密，其实，那些秘密都是由导演者本人的不忠而披露出来的。很多女人在她们的裸体上展示着过去留下的痕迹：肚子上的刀疤、枪疤和残忍的剖腹产的缝合处。有些女人白天让人把她们年幼的孩子——那是她们年轻时绝望或疏忽大意的不幸产物一带来。 这些孩子一进到客栈，妈妈们便把他们的衣服剥光以便使他们在这个裸体天堂里不感到和别人有什么两样。每个女人都自己做饭，可没有一个人比阿里萨吃得好，因为所有的女人都邀请他吃饭，而他又选择每个人做的最好的菜来品尝。每天从午后到黄昏，客栈里就象节日一般热闹非凡。黄昏到了，那些裸体女人便唱着歌儿鱼贯走向浴室，她们互相借剪刀、肥皂、牙刷，互相剪头发，互相换衣服穿，互相把脸上徐得花里胡哨，象小丑一般难看。尔后，她们便上街去，捕捉她们晚上的第一批猪物。从那时起，客栈里的生活就变得残忍而不讲人格了。没有金钱，在那儿寸步难行。有了金钱，一切唾手可得。 自从阿里萨认识费尔米纳以来，没有任何一个地方比这家客栈更使他逍遥自在，那是他唯一不感到孤独的地方，甚至到了后来，他感到那是唯一他和她在一起的地方。也许由于同样的原因，那里也住着一个上了年纪的有着一头银白色秀发的漂亮女人。她不像那伙裸体女人过着放荡不羁的生活，然而那些女人都对她毕恭毕敬。 她在年轻的时候，一个早熟的未婚夫把她带到了那里，他把她占有了一段时间之后便随意把她抛弃了。不过，尽管她有过这一段经历，她后来的婚姻还是相当美满的。 丈夫去世时，她年纪已经大了，两个儿子和四个女儿都争着要她跟他们住在一起，但是她觉得没有一个地方比住在那个妓女们居住的客栈里更合心意。她年年包租一个房间，不到任何地方去。这使她很快就和阿里萨心心相印了。她对阿里萨很欣赏，说他有一天会成为世界上的著名学者，因为他居然能在那淫荡的天堂里，用读书丰富自己的心灵。而阿里萨竟也是如此喜欢她，不仅热情地帮助她在市场上买东西，而且常常几个下午都和她一个人谈话。他认为她在爱情上是个有智谋的女人，她在这方面给了他许多指导和启发，尽管他没有把自己的秘密告诉她。 如果说，在得到费尔米纳的爱情之前，他没有产生用手去抚摸女人的欲望，那么，当她成了她的正式未婚妻以后，他就更加没有这种想法了。阿里萨和姑娘们共同生活在客栈里，和她们同甘共苦，不管是他，还是她们，互相间保持着友好，都没有越轨的行为。一件意外的事情表明了他的意志坚强和严肃。一天，下午六点钟，当姑娘们穿好衣服准备接待晚上的顾客时，一位负责打扫该层楼地板的女仆走进了他的房间。那是一个未老先衰、神情推泞的年轻女子，在那个裸体女人的天堂里，她就象个宗教游行队伍中穿悔罪服的人。他天天看到她，他觉得他从未引起过她的注意，好象客栈里根本不存在他这个人。那女人拿着管帚，提着垃圾桶，带着专门捡那些不堪入目的胜东西的破布，从一个房间走到另一个房间，不停地串来串去。 她象往常一样，走进了阿里萨读书的房间，也象往常一样，小心翼翼地清扫了一遍。 为了不打扰他，她轻手轻脚，不弄出一点声响。突然，她走到他的床边，他感到有一只温暖而柔软的手伸到了他的小腹下面，在那儿摸索着寻找什么，而且终于寻找到了，接着便解他的扣子，与此同时，他感到她的呼吸充满了整个房间。他装作读书，不去理睬她，然而终于抵挡不住她的进攻，只好躲开她。 她很害怕，因为录用她做清扫工时，给她提出的第一个警告就是不能跟顾客胡来。其实无须跟她讲明这件事，因为她跟许多女人一样，卖淫不是为了钱，而是为了跟陌生的男人睡在一起。她有两个儿子，是跟两个不同的丈夫生的，那不是因为她喜欢逢场作戏，而是因为她未能得到一个男人的真正的爱情。她所爱的人跟她睡上两三个晚上就把她甩掉了，在进客栈做工之前，她并没有寻求男人安慰的急切欲望，她生性平和，耐心等待着，并不绝望。然而，那客栈的生活摧毁了她的贞节。'她下午六点钟开始来客栈工作，整个晚上从这个房间走到那个房间，匆匆忙忙清扫，抢走脏东西和更换床单。男人在寻欢作乐之后丢下的那些“垃圾”，多得难以想象。 他们留下呕吐物和眼泪，这在她是可以理解的。他们也留下许多钟情的隐语：血污、排泄物、玻璃球。金表、假牙、放着金色卷发的珍品盒、情书、贸易信函、吊唁信，以及其它各种各样的信件。有些人回来寻找丢失的东西，但大部分都留在那儿无人问津。特乌古特把这些东西锁起来保存好，他心想，那座倒霉的楼房，靠了那成千上万件个人失物，迟早会成为爱情的博物馆。 她工作很繁重，活干得很卖力气，报酬却很低。使她不能忍受的是那些啜泣、呻吟和床上弹簧的吱吱格格的响声，那些声音是如此热烈而痛苦地刺激着她的血液，以致天亮时她再也忍耐不住，真想一切不管不顾地跟在街上遇到的随便哪个乞丐或者无家可归的醉汉去睡上一觉。只要他们愿意就行了。一个象阿里萨那样年轻、诚实又没有妻子的男人出现在她的面前，对她来说无疑是上天的馈赠，从一开头她就发现，他跟她一样，需要爱情的抚慰。但是，他象一个木头人儿，对她的急迫心情毫无理解。他一直对费尔米纳保持着童贞，世上没有任何力量和理由能够使他改变主意。