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Two benches, shaped in sections of a circle, nearly enclosed the hearth; on one of these I stretched myself, and Grimalkin mounted the other. We were both of us nodding ere any one invaded our retreat, and then it was Joseph, shuffling down a wooden ladder that vanished in the roof, through a trap: the ascent to his garret, I suppose. He cast a sinister look at the little flame which I had enticed to play between the ribs, swept the cat from its elevation, and bestowing himself in the vacancy, commenced the operation of stuffing a three-inch pipe with tobacco. My presence in his sanctum was evidently esteemed a piece of impudence too shameful for remark: he silently applied the tube to his lips, folded his arms, and puffed away. I let him enjoy the luxury unannoyed; and after sucking out his last wreath, and heaving a profound sigh, he got up, and departed as solemnly as he came. A more elastic footstep entered next; and now I opened my mouth for a “good-morning,” but closed it again, the salutation unachieved; for Hareton Earnshaw was performing his orison sotto voce, in a series of curses directed against every object he touched, while he rummaged a corner for a spade or shovel to dig through the drifts. He glanced over the back of the bench, dilating his nostrils, and thought as little of exchanging civilities with me as with my companion the cat. I guessed, by his preparations, that egress was allowed, and, leaving my hard couch, made a movement to follow him. He noticed this, and thrust at an inner door with the end of his spade, intimating by an inarticulate sound that there was the place where I must go, if I changed my locality. It opened into the house, where the females were already astir; Zillah urging flakes of flame up the chimney with a colossal bellows; and Mrs. Heathcliff, kneeling on the hearth, reading a book by the aid of the blaze. She held her hand interposed between the furnace-heat and her eyes, and seemed absorbed in her occupation; desisting from it only to chide the servant for covering her with sparks, or to push away a dog, now and then, that snoozled its nose overforwardly into her face. I was surprised to see Heathcliff there also. He stood by the fire, his back towards me, just finishing a stormy scene with poor Zillah; who ever and anon interrupted her labour to pluck up the corner of her apron, and heave an indignant groan. “And you, you worthless—” he broke out as I entered, turning to his daughter-in-law, and employing an epithet as harmless as duck, or sheep, but generally represented by a dash—. “There you are, at your idle tricks again! The rest of them do earn their bread—you live on my charity! Put your trash away, and find something to do. You shall pay me for the plague of having you eternally in my sight—do you hear, damnable jade?” “I’ll put my trash away, because you can make me if I refuse,” answered the young lady, closing her book, and throwing it on a chair. “But I’ll not do anything, though you should swear your tongue out, except what I please!” Heathcliff lifted his hand, and the speaker sprang to a safer distance, obviously acquainted with its weight. Having no desire to be entertained by a cat-and-dog combat, I stepped forward briskly, as if eager to partake the warmth of the hearth, and innocent of any knowledge of the interrupted dispute. Each had enough decorum to suspend further hostilities: Heathcliff placed his fists, out of temptation, in his pockets; Mrs. Heathcliff curled her lip, and walked to a seat far off, where she kept her word by playing the part of a statue during the remainder of my stay. That was not long. I declined joining their breakfast, and, at the first gleam of dawn, took an opportunity of escaping into the free air, now clear, and still, and cold as impalpable ice. My landlord halloed for me to stop ere I reached the bottom of the garden, and offered to accompany me across the moor. It was well he did, for the whole hill-back was one billowy, white ocean; the swells and falls not indicating corresponding rises and depressions in the ground: many pits, at least, were filled to a level; and entire ranges of mounds, the refuse of the quarries, blotted from the chart which my yesterday’s walk left pictured in my mind. I had remarked on one side of the road, at intervals of six or seven yards, a line of upright stones, continued through the whole length of the barren: these were erected and daubed with lime on purpose to serve as guides in the dark, and also when a fall, like the present, confounded the deep swamps on either hand with the firmer path: but, excepting a dirty dot pointing up here and there, all traces of their existence had vanished: and my companion found it necessary to warn me frequently to steer to the right or left, when I imagined I was following, correctly, the windings of the road. We exchanged little conversation, and he halted at the entrance of Thrushcross Park, saying, I could make no error there. Our adieux were limited to a hasty bow, and then I pushed forward, trusting to my own resources; for the porter’s lodge is untenanted as yet. The distance from the gate to the Grange is two miles; I believe I managed to make it four, what with losing myself among the trees, and sinking up to the neck in snow: a predicament which only those who have experienced it can appreciate. At any rate, whatever were my wanderings, the clock chimed twelve as I entered the house; and that gave exactly an hour for every mile of the usual way from Wuthering Heights. My human fixture and her satellites rushed to welcome me; exclaiming, tumultuously, they had completely given me up: everybody conjectured that I perished last night; and they were wondering how they must set about the search for my remains. I bid them be quiet, now that they saw me returned, and, benumbed to my very heart, I dragged upstairs; whence, after putting on dry clothes, and pacing to and fro thirty or forty minutes, to restore the animal heat, I adjourned to my study, feeble as a kitten: almost too much so to enjoy the cheerful fire and smoking coffee which the servant had prepared for my refreshment. |
两只长条凳，摆成半圆形，几乎把炉火围了起来。我平躺在其中一只凳子上，老母猫跳上了另一只。我们俩都在打盹，不料有人闯入了我们的静修之处，这人正是周思福，只见他把隐藏在顶棚上的一架木梯子，经过一个活板门拖了下来，我猜想往上应该通到阁楼。他向着炉栅里我拨弄起来的小火苗恶狠狠地瞄了一眼，把猫从它的高座上括下来，自己安坐在空出的位子上，开始把烟叶摁到三寸长的烟斗里。我在他的圣地出现，显然被他看作是羞于提及的莽撞事情。他默默地把烟斗放到两唇之间，胳臂交叉着，喷云吐雾。我让他尽情享受这份奢华，不打搅他。他吸完最后一口，深深地呼出一口气，站起来，像进来时那样不苟言笑地走了出去。 接着传来一阵轻快的脚步声；我张开口正要说“早上好”还没有说出口，我的嘴就闭上了。因为海瑞腾•俄韶正低沉着声音做祷告，祷告的内容就是他碰到每样东西都要发出的一连串谩骂，此时他正在屋子角落搜寻一把铲子或是铁锨去铲除积雪。他向长条凳后面瞟了一眼，张大鼻孔，觉得不需要和我交换那些客套礼节，就像对和我作伴的猫一样。看他做的这些准备，我猜我可以走了，于是我离开我的硬床，打算跟着他走。他注意到这点，就用他的铲子头戳戳一扇里屋门，不露声色地表示如果我要改变住处，就非从这个地方走不可。 那扇门通到正屋，女人们已经在那儿走动了——琦腊用一只巨大的风箱把火苗吹出烟囱；黑思克里夫太太跪在炉边，借着火光看书。她用手遮在火炉的热气和她的眼睛中间，仿佛很投入地看着书。时不时仆人把火星弄到她身上，或者一条狗把鼻子向她脸上凑近时，她才停下来呵斥着仆人，把狗推开。看见黑思克里夫也在那儿，我感到很惊奇。他站在火边，背对着我。刚刚对可怜的琦腊发了一通火，她时不时地放下手中的活计，扯起围裙一角，发出气愤的哼哼声。 “还有你，你个没用的——”我进去时，他正转过身来对他的儿媳妇发火，并且在“没用的”后面加个无伤大雅的称号，如鸭子、羊羔，可是通常只用一个破折号“——”来代表。“你又在那儿，搞那些无聊的把戏！其他人都在自己挣口粮——你就只靠我来养活！把你那没用的东西扔掉，找点事做！你老是在我眼前晃得我都要得疫病了，到时候你得还我——你听到了没有？该死的小贱人！” “我会把我那些东西丢掉，因为如果我不丢，你还是会强迫我丢的。”那年轻女郎回答，合上她的书，把它扔到一把椅子上。“你就是把舌头骂掉，除非我愿意做的事，其他事情我绝不会干！” 黑思克里夫举起手，刚才说话的人显然熟悉那只手的分量，马上跳到一个远一些比较安全的地方。我无心观赏这一场猫狗之战，便轻快地走向前去，装着很想在炉边取暖，完全不理会这场中断的争执。双方都还算讲理，暂时停止了进一步的敌对行为。黑思克里夫不知不觉地把拳头放在自己的口袋里。黑思克里夫太太撅着嘴，走到远处，坐在一把椅子上，我呆在那儿的一段时间里，她果然如她所说，像一座石雕坐在那儿。我没停留多久。我谢绝与他们共进早餐。等到曙光初照，我抓紧机会，逃出屋外，呼吸着自由的空气，那样清爽、宁静而又寒冷得像块无法触摸的冰一样的空气！ 还没走出花园，我便被我的房东喊住，他主动要陪我走过旷野。幸亏有他陪，因为整个山脊已经成了波涛滚滚的白色海洋。其中的起起伏伏并不代表地面对应的凸凹不平——至少许多坑是被雪填平了；而且整个丘陵山脉——矿石山的垃圾——我昨天走过时在我心中还留有印象，现在却都从我心中的地图中抹掉了。我曾注意到在路的一边，每隔六七米就有一排直立的石头，一直延伸到整个荒原。这些石头都竖立着，上面涂有石灰，为了在黑夜里用作指路标志；也是为了碰上像现在这样的一场大雪而设，现在大雪把两边的深沼泽地和较坚实的小路弄得混淆不清。但是，除了零零落落看得见这儿那儿有个肮脏的点以外，那些石头所在的痕迹全不见了。我本以为我是沿着蜿蜒的正确道路向前走时，我的同伴却需要时不时地警告我向左转或向右转。 一路上我们很少说话，他站在画眉园林门口，说到这儿我就不会走错了。我们相互匆忙鞠了一躬算是道别，然后我就径直向前走去。相信靠我自己的本领能找到回家的路，因为守门人的住处还没赁出去。从大门到田庄有六七里，我觉得最终我却走了有十二三里的路。由于在树林里迷了路，身体陷在雪里一直到脖子——那种困境只有同样经历的人才能体会到。总之，不论我怎样游荡，在我进家门时，时钟正敲十二下。这说明从呼啸山庄按照通常走的路，每走三里路我得花整整一个钟头。 我那位人形固定物件的女管家和她的随从蜂拥而至欢迎我，乱哄哄地嚷着说她们都觉得我是彻底没救了——大家都猜想我昨晚已经死掉了。她们不知道该如何着手找我的遗体。现在她们既然看见我回来了，我叫她们安静些，我的心已经麻木了，我吃力地爬上了楼，换上干衣服后，在房间里来回走了三四十分钟，好恢复身体的一点热气。我换到了书房，身体虚弱得像只小猫。为了恢复我的元气，仆人准备了火苗熊熊的炉子和热气腾腾的咖啡，可是我身体虚弱得却无福享用。 |
