登陆注册
3553900000134

第134章 BOOK Ⅸ(1)

Chapter 1-Delirium

Claude Frollo was no longer in Notre-Dame when his adopted son so abruptly cut the fatal noose in which the unhappy Archdeacon had caught the Egyptian and himself at the same time.On entering the sacristy,he had torn off alb,cope,and stole,had tossed them into the hands of the amazed verger,escaped by the private door of the cloister,ordered a wherryman of the'Terrain'to put him across to the left bank of the Seine,and had plunged into the steep streets of the University,knowing not whither he went,meeting at every step bands of men and women pressing excitedly towards the Pont Saint-Michel in the hope of'still arriving in time'to see the witch hanged—pale,distraught,confused,more blinded and scared than any bird of night set free and flying before a troop of children in broad daylight.He was no longer conscious of where he was going,what were his thoughts,his imaginations.He went blindly on,walking,running,taking the streets at random,without any definite plan,save the one thought of getting away from the Grève,the horrible Grève,which he felt confusedly to be behind him.

In this manner he proceeded the whole length of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève,and at last left the town by the Porte Saint-Victor.He continued his flight so long as he could see,on turning round,the bastioned walls of the University,and the sparse houses of the faubourg;but when at last a ridge of rising ground completely hid hateful Paris from his view—when he could imagine himself a hundred leagues away from it,in the country,in a desert—he stopped and dared to draw a free breath.

Frightful thoughts now crowded into his mind.He saw clearly into his soul and shuddered.He thought of the unfortunate girl he had ruined and who had ruined him.He let his haggard eye pursue the tortuous paths along which Fate had driven them to their separate destinies up to the point of junction where she had pitilessly shattered them one against the other.He thought of the folly of lifelong vows,of the futility of chastity,science,religion,and virtue,of the impotence of God.He pursued these arguments with wicked gusto,and the deeper he sank in the slough the louder laughed the Satan within him.And discovering,as he burrowed thus into his soul,how large a portion Nature had assigned in it to the passions,he smiled more sardonically than before.He shook up from the hidden depths of his heart all his hatred,all his wickedness;and he discovered with the calm eye of the physician examining a patient that this same hatred and wickedness were but the outcome of perverted love—that love,the source of every human virtue,turned to things unspeakable in the heart of a priest,and that a man constituted as he was,by becoming a priest,made of himself a demon—and he laughed horribly.But suddenly he grew pale again as he contemplated the worst side of his fatal passion—of that corrosive,venomous,malignant,implacable love which had brought the one to the gallows and the other to hell—her to death,him to damnation.

And then his laugh came again when he remembered that P us was living;that,after all,the captain was alive and gay and happy,with a finer uniform than ever,and a new mistress whom he brought to see the old one hanged.And he jeered sardonically at himself to think that of all the human beings whose death he had desired,the Egyptian,the one creature he did not hate,was the only one he had succeeded in destroying.

From the captain,his thoughts wandered to the crowd of that morning,and he was seized with a fresh kind of jealousy.He reflected that the people,the whole population,had beheld the woman he loved—divested of all but a single garment—almost nude.He wrung his hands in agony at the thought that the woman,a mere glimpse of whose form veiled in shadows and seen by his eye alone would have afforded him the supreme measure of bliss,had been given thus,in broad daylight,at high noon,to the gaze of a whole multitude,clad as for a bridal night.He wept with rage over all these mysteries of love profaned,sullied,stripped,withered forever.He wept with rage to think how many impure eyes that ill-fastened garment had satisfied;that this fair creature,this virgin lily,this cup of purity and all delights to which he would only have set his lips in fear and trembling,had been converted into a public trough,as it were,at which the vilest of the populace of Paris,the thieves,the beggars,the lackeys,had come to drink in common of a pleasure—shameless,obscene,depraved.

Again,when he sought to picture to himself the happiness that might have been his had she not been a gipsy and he a priest;had P us not existed,and had she but loved him;when he told himself that a life of serenity and love would have been possible to him too;that at that very moment there were happy couples to be found here and there on earth,whiling away the hours in sweet communings,in orange groves,by the brook-side,under the setting sun or a starry night;and that had God so willed it,he might have made with her one of those thrice-blessed couples,his heart melted in tenderness and despair.

Oh,it was she!still and forever she!—that fixed idea that haunted him incessantly,that tortured him,gnawed his brain,wrung his very vitals!He regretted nothing,he repented of nothing;all that he had done he was ready to do again;better a thousand times see her in the hands of the hangman than the arms of the soldier;but he suffered,he suffered so madly that there were moments when he tore his hair in handfuls from his head to see if it had not turned white.

At one moment it occurred to him that this,perhaps,was the very minute at which the hideous chain he had seen in the morning was tightening its noose of iron round that fragile and slender neck.Great drops of agony burst from every pore at the thought.

同类推荐
  • 大集大虚空藏菩萨所问经

    大集大虚空藏菩萨所问经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 逸老堂诗话

    逸老堂诗话

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • New Arabian Nights

    New Arabian Nights

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Fancy of Hers

    A Fancy of Hers

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 金华直指女功正法

    金华直指女功正法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 陪伴孩子成长的历险探秘故事

    陪伴孩子成长的历险探秘故事

    浩瀚的宇宙无边无际。古往今来,它的浩瀚无穷让无数的学者为之苦苦探索,辗转难眠。那么,宇宙到底是怎么诞生的呢?它的浩瀚无穷,到底来自于哪里……
  • 深情她不知

    深情她不知

    有种深情她不知,盛晴晴因为一只拖鞋,和宁华年结缘。关于宁华年这个人,有人说他高冷无比,暗恋他的女孩鼓起勇气给他发消息:“男神,你属什么?”“属狗。”“不,你属于我。”“嗯,你是狗吗?”“……”聊天记录一经传出,宁华年就更是让人形容成了一朵“高岭之花”。可是谁能告诉盛晴晴,为什么她遇到的宁华年,是另外一个样子的?某一天宁华年双手支着下巴,冲着盛晴晴微笑:“我以后不养狗了。”“为什么?”“我养你,毕竟养猪能够发家致富。”
  • 百炼真的好难

    百炼真的好难

    你以为我在写科幻?不,其实我在写玄幻。你真以为我在写玄幻……别开玩笑了,我发的都是科幻区唉,当然科(玄)幻啦……额,好吧,其实我写的是披着*幻皮的*幻……
  • 精彩绚丽的宇宙时空

    精彩绚丽的宇宙时空

    现代社会的飞速发展很大程度上得益于科技的进步,“科技是第一生产力”已日益成为人们的共识。但是,由于现代科学的分工越来越细,众多的学科令人目不暇接。对于处于学习阶段的广大青少年而言,难免有“乱花渐欲迷人眼”的困扰。有鉴于此,我们组织了数十名在高等院校、教育科研机构的工作、有着丰富的青少年教育的专家学者,编选了这套《新编科技大博览》。
  • 穿越交易网

    穿越交易网

    开新书了,《诸天神秘商人》,希望大家能够支持一下!!!求收藏!求推荐!求支持!
  • 南诏德化碑

    南诏德化碑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 计划中的局外人(上)

    计划中的局外人(上)

    小刑警关琥在遭遇被空姐女友分手的当晚,遇到一起死状诡异的密室自杀案,同时也拉开了与神秘酒吧老板张燕铎冥冥中的纠葛的序幕?是血脉相连的兄弟,抑或不共戴天的仇人?一场场迷离诡谲的案件,伴随着精彩刺激的破案过程,张燕铎的身份也逐渐浮出水面;隐藏在案件背后的真相,更是令人意想不到……
  • 蓱沙王五愿经

    蓱沙王五愿经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 霞外杂俎

    霞外杂俎

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 格兰特船长的儿女 海底两万里 神秘岛(超值金版)

    格兰特船长的儿女 海底两万里 神秘岛(超值金版)

    《凡尔纳科幻三部曲:格兰特船长的儿女、海底两万里、神秘岛》是“现代科幻小说之父”儒勒·凡尔纳三部代表作品的合集,分别讲述了三段海上探险故事,人物也互有穿插。作为科幻小说的鼻祖,凡尔纳想象力丰富,文笔细腻,构思奇巧。难能可贵的是,他的想象不是异想天开,而是以科学为依据;当代的读者们可以从书中学习到有关海洋生物、气象、地理等各方面的丰富知识。