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I imagined, for a moment, that this piece of eloquence was addressed to me; and, sufficiently enraged, stepped towards the aged rascal with an intention of kicking him out of the door. Mrs. Heathcliff, however, checked me by her answer. “You scandalous old hypocrite!” she replied. “Are you not afraid of being carried away bodily, whenever you mention the devil’s name? I warn you to refrain from provoking me, or I’ll ask your abduction as a special favour! Stop! look here, Joseph,” she continued, taking a long, dark book from a shelf; “I’ll show you how far I’ve progressed in the Black Art: I shall soon be competent to make a clear house of it. The red cow didn’t die by chance; and your rheumatism can hardly be reckoned among providential visitations!” “Oh, wicked, wicked!” gasped the elder; “may the Lord deliver us from evil!” “No, reprobate! you are a castaway—be off, or I’ll hurt you seriously! I’ll have you all modelled in wax and clay! and the first who passes the limits I fix shall—I’ll not say what he shall be done to—but, you’ll see! Go, I’m looking at you!” The little witch put a mock malignity into her beautiful eyes, and Joseph, trembling with sincere horror, hurried out, praying, and ejaculating “wicked” as he went. I thought her conduct must be prompted by a species of dreary fun; and, now that we were alone, I endeavoured to interest her in my distress. “Mrs. Heathcliff,” I said earnestly, “you must excuse me for troubling you. I presume, because, with that face, I’m sure you cannot help being good-hearted. Do point out some landmarks by which I may know my way home: I have no more idea how to get there than you would have how to get to London!” “Take the road you came,” she answered, ensconcing herself in a chair, with a candle, and the long book open before her. “It is brief advice, but as sound as I can give.” “Then, if you hear of me being discovered dead in a bog or a pit full of snow, your conscience won’t whisper that it is partly your fault?” “How so? I cannot escort you. They wouldn’t let me go to the end of the garden wall.” “You! I should be sorry to ask you to cross the threshold, for my convenience, on such a night,” I cried. “I want you to tell me my way, not to show it: or else to persuade Mr. Heathcliff to give me a guide.” “Who? There is himself, Earnshaw, Zillah, Joseph and I. Which would you have?” “Are there no boys at the farm?” “No; those are all.” “Then, it follows that I am compelled to stay.” “That you may settle with your host. I have nothing to do with it.” “I hope it will be a lesson to you to make no more rash journeys on these hills,” cried Heathcliff’s stern voice from the kitchen entrance. “As to staying here, I don’t keep accommodations for visitors: you must share a bed with Hareton or Joseph, if you do.” “I can sleep on a chair in this room,” I replied. “No, no! A stranger is a stranger, be he rich or poor: it will not suit me to permit any one the range of the place while I am off guard!” said the unmannerly wretch. With this insult my patience was at an end. I uttered an expression of disgust, and pushed past him into the yard, running against Earnshaw in my haste. It was so dark that I could not see the means of exit; and, as I wandered round, I heard another specimen of their civil behaviour amongst each other. At first the young man appeared about to befriend me. “I’ll go with him as far as the park,” he said. “You’ll go with him to hell!” exclaimed his master, or whatever relation he bore. “And who is to look after the horses, eh?” “A man’s life is of more consequence than one evening’s neglect of the horses: somebody must go,” murmured Mrs. Heathcliff, more kindly than I expected. “Not at your command!” retorted Hareton. “If you set store on him, you’d better be quiet.” “Then I hope his ghost will haunt you; and I hope Mr. Heathcliff will never get another tenant till the Grange is a ruin,” she answered, sharply. “Hearken, hearken, shoo’s cursing on ’em!” muttered Joseph, towards whom I had been steering. He sat within earshot, milking the cows by the light of a lantern, which I seized unceremoniously, and, calling out that I would send it back on the morrow, rushed to the nearest postern. “Maister, maister, he’s staling t’ lanthern!” shouted the ancient, pursuing my retreat. “Hey, Gnasher! Hey, dog! Hey Wolf, holld him, holld him!” On opening the little door, two hairy monsters flew at my throat, bearing me down, and extinguishing the light; while a mingled guffaw from Heathcliff and Hareton put the copestone on my rage and humiliation. Fortunately, the beasts seemed more bent on stretching their paws, and yawning, and flourishing their tails, than devouring me alive; but they would suffer no resurrection, and I was forced to lie till their malignant masters pleased to deliver me: then, hatless and trembling with wrath, I ordered the miscreants to let me out—on their peril to keep me one minute longer—with several incoherent threats of retaliation that, in their indefinite depth of virulency, smacked of King Lear. The vehemence of my agitation brought on a copious bleeding at the nose, and still Heathcliff laughed, and still I scolded. I don’t know what would have concluded the scene, had there not been one person at hand rather more rational than myself, and more benevolent than my entertainer. This was Zillah, the stout housewife; who at length issued forth to inquire into the nature of the uproar. She thought that some of them had been laying violent hands on me; and, not daring to attack her master, she turned her vocal artillery against the younger scoundrel. “Well, Mr. Earnshaw,” she cried, “I wonder what you’ll have agait next? Are we going to murder folk on our very door-stones? I see this house will never do for me—look at t’ poor lad, he’s fair choking! Wisht, wisht; you mun’n’t go on so. Come in, and I’ll cure that: there now, hold ye still.” With these words she suddenly splashed a pint of icy water down my neck, and pulled me into the kitchen. Mr. Heathcliff followed, his accidental merriment expiring quickly in his habitual moroseness. I was sick exceedingly, and dizzy, and faint; and thus compelled perforce to accept lodgings under his roof. He told Zillah to give me a glass of brandy, and then passed on to the inner room; while she condoled with me on my sorry predicament, and having obeyed his orders, whereby I was somewhat revived, ushered me to bed. |
我一时还以为这番滔滔不绝的谩骂是对着我说的；我怒火中烧，于是迈开腿朝这个老混蛋走去，准备把他一脚踹出门去。但是黑思克里夫太太的回答把我制止住了。 “我把你这个说三道四、假眉三道、老不死的东西！”她答道。“你每回提到鬼，你就不怕鬼把你拖走？你给我听好了，要是你再敢惹我，看我专门把鬼召来一趟，把你绑起来拖走！站住！看我这儿，周思福，”她继续说着，从书架上取下一本大黑书，“今天就让你见识见识我的魔法已经炼到几成了——要不了多久我就完全掌握了这本书里所有的魔法。那头红奶牛并非偶然死掉；还有你那风湿病也不能算是天缘巧合！” “啊，反啦，反啦！”老头喘着粗气说道。“请上帝把咱们从罪恶中解救出来吧！” “不，我把你个烂货！我把你个天打雷劈的烂货，滚开，不然看我怎么狠狠地收拾你！我要用蜡和泥按照你们的模样捏成一个个小人！谁要是敢第一个越过我制定的界限谁就会——我现在不说他会倒什么霉——但现在你给我听好了！你还不快滚，我现在正瞅着你呢！” 这个小女巫漂亮的眼睛里露出一副嘲弄的恶毒神态，周思福这回真地被吓得浑身发抖，赶忙跑出去，一边跑，一边祷告，嘴里嚷着“反啦”。我想她的这个举动一定是瞎闹着玩而引起的，现在就剩下我们俩了，于是我就尽力让她关心一下我目前所处的困境。 “黑思克里夫太太，”我恳切地说道，“请原谅我的冒昧打扰。我想就凭您的容貌，我敢断定您一定心慈手软。请务必给我指几个路标，以便我能找到回去的路——我真不知道该如何能走到住处，就好比您不知道如何走到伦敦一样！” “顺着你来时的路走，”她答道，仍旧安坐在椅子上，面前点着一支蜡烛，还有那本摊开的大书。“办法很简单，可这也是我能给你的好办法。” “那么，要是以后我被人发现死在某块沼泽地里，或被雪埋在某个坑里，您听说后就不会扪心自问，在这个事情的处理上，部分原因是您的过错吗？” “这怎么会呢？我又不能陪你一起走。他们都不让我走到花园墙根。” “您陪我走！这大晚上的，为了让我方便，请您迈出门槛，我都不大好意思开这个口，”我叫道。“我想请您告诉我怎么走，而不是请您亲自领我走——要不就得劝劝黑思克里夫给我安排个向导。” “那让谁去？这里只有他自己、俄韶、琦腊、周思福和我。你想让谁去？” “庄上就没个伙计吗？” “没有，就这几个人。” “这么说，今晚我只好被迫呆在这儿了。” “那你得和主人商量解决，我管不了你这事。” “我希望这次对你是个教训，以后少再在这山里瞎逛荡。”厨房门口传来黑思克里夫严厉的声音：“至于要在这儿住嘛，我可没有招待客人的设施。你非要住的话，要么和海瑞腾，要么和周思福挤一张床！” “我可以在这屋子找张椅子睡。”我答道。 “那可不行，不行！无论贵贱，外人总归是外人——我不习惯让任何人呆在我提防不到的地方！”这家伙说道，这话说得也太没礼貌了。 受到如此这般的羞辱，我实在是按捺不住自己的性子。我骂了一句脏话，从他身旁冲到院子里，匆忙之中和俄韶撞了个满怀。这时屋外一片漆黑，我竟然连院门都没找到；我正在四处乱转，又听见他们之间的另一番谈话，谈话内容说明他们还算有教养。起初那个小伙子看起来对我还算友好。 “我可以陪他走出这片园子，”他说道。 “你那是陪他一起下地狱！”小伙子的主人（或者是他另外什么亲戚）嚷道，“你要是走了，谁来照管马，呃？” “人命总比一晚上没人照管马要紧些吧——总得有个人去啊，”黑思克里夫太太小声说道，语气比我预想得和善多了。 “用不着你来差遣我！”海瑞腾顶嘴道。“你要是放心不下他，最好别吭气。” “那么我希望他要是变成了鬼，他的魂缠着你，我还希望等画眉田庄变成了废墟，黑思克里夫先生都找不到第二个房客！”她刻薄地回应道。 “听听，听听，她在咒他们啦！”周思福嘴里嘟囔着，这时我正向他走去。 周思福在所坐的位置，能听得到我们刚才的谈话。他借着一盏马灯的光，正给牛挤奶。我上前毫不客气把马灯夺过来，大喊着对他说，第二天我会把马灯送回来，便冲向最近的一个角门。 “东家，东家，他把马灯偷走啦！”老头一边在我后面追，一边大喊到。“喂，楠猞（原文Gnasher，意思是“会咬人的东西”）！喂，狗崽！喂，狼崽！截住他，截住他！” 小门一开，两个浑身都是毛的怪物便扑到我的咽喉，把我扑倒在地，马灯也被弄灭了。同时我听到黑思克里夫和海瑞腾放声大笑，他俩的笑声混合在一起，给我此时心头的愤怒和羞辱重重地添了一笔。多亏这这俩畜生好像只想伸伸爪子，打打呵欠，摇摇尾巴，并不想把我活活给吞了。但是它们也不容许我再爬起来，我只好躺着等它们恶毒的主人高兴的时候再来解救我——这时我的帽子也给弄丢了，气得我浑身发抖。我呵斥这两个恶徒把我放开——这样把我再压着一分钟，我就让它们不得好活——我语无伦次、连恐带吓说了好多要报复的话，措词无比恶毒，颇有李尔王的风度。 由于过度不安，我的鼻子流了好多血，可是黑思克里夫还在笑，我也还在骂。要不是旁边有个人比我更理智，比我的房东更宽厚，我真不知道该如何收场。这人就是女管家——琦腊，她身材健壮。她挺身而出，询问这场喧闹的缘由。她以为他们当中必是有人对我下了狠手。她不敢冲撞她的主人，就转过脸来声讨那个坏小子。 “好啊，俄韶先生，”她嚷道，“不知道你下一回还能干出什么好事？你这是要在我们自己家门口杀人吗？我看我可再也不能在这屋子里住下去啦——瞧瞧这可怜的小子，他都要被噎死啦！嘘，嘘！你快别再骂下去了。进来，我给你治治。好啦，别动。” 她一边说着话，猛然把一大杯冰水顺着我的脖梗子上一倒，接着把我拉进厨房。黑思克里夫跟在我们身后，他脸上偶尔短暂的欢乐之色很快消失了，又恢复了平时惯有的阴郁神情。 我难受至极，头昏脑胀，几欲晕倒；因此被迫在他的屋檐下借住一宿。他叫琦腊给我倒杯白兰地酒，随后就进里屋了。对我遭此不幸，琦腊安慰了我一番，并遵照主人的吩咐，让我喝了杯白兰地酒，看见我体力渐渐有所恢复，便带我去了睡觉的地方。 |
