| CHAPTER V
In the course of time Mr. Earnshaw began to fail. He had been active and healthy, yet his strength left him suddenly; and when he was confined to the chimney-corner he grew grievously irritable. A nothing vexed him; and suspected slights of his authority nearly threw him into fits. This was especially to be remarked if any one attempted to impose upon, or domineer over, his favourite: he was painfully jealous lest a word should be spoken amiss to him; seeming to have got into his head the notion that, because he liked Heathcliff, all hated, and longed to do him an ill-turn. It was a disadvantage to the lad; for the kinder among us did not wish to fret the master, so we humoured his partiality; and that humouring was rich nourishment to the child’s pride and black tempers. Still it became in a manner necessary; twice, or thrice, Hindley’s manifestation of scorn, while his father was near, roused the old man to a fury: he seized his stick to strike him, and shook with rage that he could not do it.
At last, our curate (we had a curate then who made the living answer by teaching the little Lintons and Earnshaws, and farming his bit of land himself) advised that the young man should be sent to college; and Mr. Earnshaw agreed, though with a heavy spirit, for he said—“Hindley was nought, and would never thrive as where he wandered.”
I hoped heartily we should have peace now. It hurt me to think the master should be made uncomfortable by his own good deed. I fancied the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements; as he would have it that it did: really, you know, sir, it was in his sinking frame. We might have got on tolerably, notwithstanding, but for two people—Miss Cathy, and Joseph, the servant: you saw him, I daresay, up yonder. He was, and is yet most likely, the wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself and fling the curses to his neighbours. By his knack of sermonising and pious discoursing, he contrived to make a great impression on Mr. Earnshaw; and the more feeble the master became, the more influence he gained. He was relentless in worrying him about his soul’s concerns, and about ruling his children rigidly. He encouraged him to regard Hindley as a reprobate; and, night after night, he regularly grumbled out a long string of tales against Heathcliff and Catherine: always minding to flatter Earnshaw’s weakness by heaping the heaviest blame on the latter.
Certainly she had ways with her such as I never saw a child take up before; and she put all of us past our patience fifty times and oftener in a day: from the hour she came downstairs till the hour she went to bed, we had not a minute’s security that she wouldn’t be in mischief. Her spirits were always at high-water mark, her tongue always going—singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same. A wild, wicked slip she was—but she had the bonniest eye, the sweetest smile, and lightest foot in the parish: and, after all, I believe she meant no harm; for when once she made you cry in good earnest, it seldom happened that she would not keep you company, and oblige you to be quiet that you might comfort her. She was much too fond of Heathcliff. The greatest punishment we could invent for her was to keep her separate from him: yet she got chided more than any of us on his account. In play, she liked exceedingly to act the little mistress; using her hands freely, and commanding her companions: she did so to me, but I would not bear slapping and ordering; and so I let her know.
Now, Mr. Earnshaw did not understand jokes from his children: he had always been strict and grave with them; and Catherine, on her part, had no idea why her father should be crosser and less patient in his ailing condition than he was in his prime. His peevish reproofs wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him: she was never so happy as when we were all scolding her at once, and she defying us with her bold, saucy look, and her ready words; turning Joseph’s religious curses into ridicule, baiting me, and doing just what her father hated most—showing how her pretended insolence, which he thought real, had more power over Heathcliff than his kindness: how the boy would do her bidding in anything, and his only when it suited his own inclination. After behaving as badly as possible all day, she sometimes came fondling to make it up at night. “Nay, Cathy,” the old man would say, “I cannot love thee, thou’rt worse than thy brother. Go, say thy prayers, child, and ask God’s pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee!” That made her cry, at first; and then being repulsed continually hardened her, and she laughed if I told her to say she was sorry for her faults, and beg to be forgiven. | 第5章
随着时间的推移，俄韶老爷的身体开始变得大不如从前了。他本来充满活力而且健康结实，但是突然变得力气全失。当他只能被迫困在壁炉角落时，脾气变得暴躁，而且样子非常痛苦。无关紧要的一件事都会令他心烦，而且怀疑到自己的威严多多少少受到损害时，几乎会令他大发雷霆。尤其是如果有人企图刁难或者欺负他的宠儿，大家就都会注意到这一点——他内心痛苦，小心提防着，生怕有人对他言辞不当。好像他的脑子里钻进去这么个观念——因为他喜欢黑思克里夫，所有人就都记恨这孩子，并且想办法要给这孩子使坏。这对那孩子并不是件好事，因为我们中间心肠较好的人并不愿招惹老爷，所以我们大家都迁就老爷对他的偏心。那种迁就大大助长了孩子的傲慢和乖戾。不过从某种意义上讲，这又变得很有必要。有两三回，亨得利当着他父亲的面，流露出对那孩子一脸瞧不起的神色，惹得老爷大动肝火，他抓起拐杖要打亨得利，却又打不动，只是气得浑身发抖。
最后，我们的副牧师（那时候我们有个副牧师，靠教林腾家和俄韶家的孩子们读书，自己还种了一块地为生）出主意说，该把这年轻人送到大学去。俄韶老爷同意了，虽然心情很沉重，因为他说“亨得利没出息，不管他荡到哪儿也永远不会发迹”。
我打心眼里希望我们现在应该可以消停太平了。老爷本来做好事，反而把自己搞得心里不痛快，一想到这我就伤心。我真是没想到，他晚年的不顺和疾病，都是由于家庭不和引起。他自己也那么想——真的，先生，你知道这块心病就一直在他那把逐渐衰败的老骨头里。要不是因为两个人——阚思小姐和仆人周思福，我们也许可以将就忍让着过下去。我敢说，你在那边见过周思福。他过去是，现在八成还是那个最讨人厌、自以为是的法利赛人，他曾翻遍《圣经》，为自己搜刮希望，把诅咒扔给邻里。凭着自己的布道和虔诚说教的能耐，周思福巧妙地谋划着，终于给俄韶先生留下了很好的印象。老爷身体越衰弱，周思福的权力就会越大。他肆无忌惮地让老爷关心自己的灵魂问题，对孩子们要严加管束。他鼓动老爷把亨得利看作被上帝遗弃的败家子，而且捏造有关黑思克里夫和阚思睿一长串的故事，一晚上接一晚上地在老爷面前告他们两人的状，为了迎合老爷的弱点，还总是忘不了把最重的罪状安到阚思睿的头上。
当然，阚思睿身上有些行为，是我在别的孩子身上之前从未见到过的。一天之内我们所有人对她失去耐心有五十次，甚至不下五十次，从她早上下楼那一刻起直到晚上上床睡觉那一刻为止，我们片刻都无法保证她不在闹腾。她永远都精神高涨，舌头总是动个不停——一边唱，一边笑，谁要是不理她，她就缠住谁不放，真是个又疯又恶的野丫头。可是在整个教区内她的眼睛最漂亮，微笑最甜美，脚步最轻盈。话说回来，我相信她并非要有意伤害人，因为一旦把你真惹哭了，她很少丢下你不管，而且会讨你欢心，令你静下来反而去安慰她。她太喜欢黑思克里夫了。我们能想出最能惩罚她的办法就是把他俩分开——可是为了黑思克里夫，她受到的责骂可比我们多。大家玩过家家时，她极其喜欢扮演小主妇，随便动手打人，对伙伴们发号施令。她也这样对待我，我可不受她的拍打和使唤，所以我让她明白这一点。
不过俄韶先生不理解孩子们的嬉笑。和孩子们在一起时，他的表情总是严肃庄重。阚思睿不明白父亲为什么在身体生病期间，比在精力旺盛时脾气要更坏，更不耐心烦。他对她的暴躁斥责反而激起她故意地去惹他生气，从而她内心有一种恶作剧带来的畅快。我们大家一起骂她时，从来没见过她会那样高兴。她胆大无礼的表情，以及张口就来的言语公然向我们发起挑战。她把周思福宗教上的诅咒编成笑话，捉弄我，干她父亲最痛恨的事情——炫耀她假装出来的傲慢无礼（而她父亲却信以为真），如何比他对黑思克里夫的慈爱更有力量；炫耀她能使这个男孩如何对自己唯命是从。而对他的命令，黑思克里夫只有在合自己心意时才肯去干。在一整天坏事干尽后，有时到晚上她又来撒娇想和解。“不，阚思，”老爷说，“我不能爱你。你比你哥哥还糟糕。去，祷告去吧，孩子，求上帝饶恕你。我想你母亲和我一定会悔恨当初生养了你！”最初这话令她大哭一场，后来，由于经常受训斥，她的心肠也就变硬了。要是我叫她去向她父亲说，因为自己的过错而觉得不好意思，请求父亲原谅，她倒反而大笑起来。 |
