登陆注册
3554300000039

第39章 BOOK THE SECOND:THE GOLDEN THREAD(22)

'Why does he make that abominable noise?Is it his child?'

'Excuse me,Monsieur the Marquis—it is a pity—yes.'

The fountain was a little removed;for the street opened,where it was,into a space some ten or twelve yards square. As the tall man suddenly got up from the ground,and came running at the carriage,Monsieur the Marquis clapped his hand for an instant on his sword-hilt.

'Killed!'shrieked the man,in wild desperation,extending both arms at their length above his head,and staring at him.'Dead!'

The people closed round,and looked at Monsieur the Marquis. There was nothing revealed by the many eyes that looked at him but watchfulness and eagerness;there was no visible menacing or anger.Neither did the people say anything;after the first cry,they had been silent,and they remained so.The voice of the submissive man who had spoken,was flat and tame in its extreme submission.Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes over them all,as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes.

He took out his purse.

'It is extraordinary to me,'said he,'that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in the way.How do I know what injury you have done my horses?See!Give him that.'

He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up,and all theheads craned forward that all the eyes might look down as it fell. The tall man called out again with a most unearthly cry,'Dead!'

He was arrested by the quick arrival of another man,for whom the rest made way. On seeing him,the miserable creature fell upon his shoulder,sobbing and crying,and pointing to the fountain,where some women were stooping over the motionless bundle,and moving gently about it.They were as silent,however,as the men.

'I know all,I know all,'said the last comer.'Be a brave man,my Gaspard!It is better for the poor little plaything to die so,than to live. It has died in a moment without pain.Could it have lived an hour as happily?'

'You are a philosopher,you there,'said the Marquis,smiling.'How do they call you?'

'They call me Defarge.'

'Of what trade?'

'Monsieur the Marquis,vendor of wine.'

'Pick up that,philosopher and vendor of wine,'said the Marquis,throwing him another gold coin,'and spend it as you will. The horses there;are they right?'

Without deigning to look at the assemblage a second time,Monsieur the Marquis leaned back in his seat,and was just being driven away with the air of a gentleman who had accidentally broken some common thing,and had paid for it,and could afford to pay for it;when his ease was suddenly disturbed by a coin flying into his carriage,and ringing on its floor.

'Hold!'said Monsieur the Marquis.'Hold the horses!Who threw that?'

He looked to the spot where Defarge the vendor of wine hadstood,a moment before;but the wretched father was grovelling on his face on the pavement in that spot,and the figure that stood beside him was the figure of a dark stout woman,knitting.

'You dogs,'said the Marquis,but smoothly,and with an unchanged front,except as to the spots on his nose:'I would ride over any of you very willingly,and exterminate you from the earth. If I knew which rascal threw at the carriage,and if that brigand were sufficiently near it,he should be crushed under the wheels.'

So cowed was their condition,and so long and hard their experience of what such a man could do to them,within the law and beyond it,that not a voice,or a hand,or even an eye was raised. Among the men,not one.But the woman who stood knitting looked up steadily,and looked the Marquis in the face.It was not for his dignity to notice it;his contemptuous eyes passed over her,and over all the other rats;and he leaned back in his seat again,and gave the word,'Go on!'

He was driven on,and other carriages came whirling by in quick succession;the Minister,the State-Projector,the Farmer-General,the Doctor,the Lawyer,the Ecclesiastic,the Grand Opera,the Comedy,the whole Fancy Ball in a bright continuous flow,came whirling by. The rats had crept out of their holes to look on,and they remained looking on for hours;soldiers and police often passing between them and the spectacle,and making a barrier behind which they slunk,and through which they peeped.The father had long ago taken up his bundle and hidden himself away with it,when the women who had tended the bundle while it lay on the base of the fountain,sat there watching the running of the water and the rolling of the Fancy Ball—when the one woman who had stood conspicuous,knitting,still knitted onwith the steadiness of Fate.The water of the fountain ran,the swift river ran,the day ran into evening,so much life in the city ran into death according to rule,time and tide waited for no man,the rats were sleeping close together in their dark holes again,the Fancy Ball was lighted up at supper,all things ran their courses.

XIV.MONSEIGNEUR IN THE COUNTRY

A beautiful landscape,with the corn bright in it,but not abundant. Patches of poor rye where corn should have been,patches of poor peas and beans,patches of most coarse vegetable substitutes for wheat.On inanimate nature,as on the men and women who cultivated it,a prevalent tendency towards an appearance of vegetating unwillingly—a dejected disposition to give up,and wither away.

Monsieur the Marquis in his travelling carriage(which might have been lighter),conducted by four post-horses and two postilions,fagged up a steep hill. A blush on the countenance of Monsieur the Marquis was no impeachment of his high breeding;it was not from within;it was occasioned by an external circumstance beyond his control—the setting sun.

The sunset struck so brilliantly into the travelling carriage when it gained the hill-top,that its occupant was steeped in crimson.'It will die out,'said Monsieur the Marquis,glancing at his hands,'directly.'

同类推荐
  • 后画录

    后画录

    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。
  • 珂雪词

    珂雪词

    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。
  • 左史谏草

    左史谏草

    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。
  • 莅蒙平政录

    莅蒙平政录

    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。
  • 太上元始天尊证果真经

    太上元始天尊证果真经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 农家媳妇的古代日常

    农家媳妇的古代日常

    李青暖穿越了,而且穿成了一棵在后娘手下讨生活的小白菜。李青暖嫁人了,嫁给了村里五大三粗,会疼媳妇,能种田,敢打架的憨厚汉子。总被后爹后娘压榨的另一粗壮大白菜。田铁石,憨憨的挠了挠后脑勺,“俺媳妇说啥都是对的。”有力气,蛮汉子,大忠犬,样样有!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 快穿之奇妙之旅

    快穿之奇妙之旅

    传闻掌管三千世界的主神冷血无情,殊不知主神只是很无聊。系统表示:我只是想谈恋爱。
  • 家政须知

    家政须知

    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。
  • 民国通俗演义

    民国通俗演义

    《民国演义》是《中国历史通俗演义》中的民国部分,内容翔实、深入浅出地为我们讲述了民国历史。
  • 达磨大师悟性论

    达磨大师悟性论

    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。
  • 花开在冬天里

    花开在冬天里

    愿爱情有始有终有归宿愿岁月有情有义不迷途愿梦想是你前行的路愿你前行的路永不孤独谨以此书,献给心中有故事和心中有爱的人们,献给那稍纵即逝的青春。
  • 冬水主藏

    冬水主藏

    两晋南北朝时期,中华大地烽烟四起,战火连天。从公元379年到386年,7年时间,李穆然下山入仕,凭经天纬地之能,游走于北朝各国之中,平步青云,称王拜相。
  • 恶人秘事所

    恶人秘事所

    这是一个名叫恶人秘事所的神奇地方,据说进去的人从未有人出来过……
  • 渡河

    渡河

    溽热像一贴膏药,紧贴着小县城。和往年不同,湖面吹来的风,又潮又粘,散发着枯枝败叶初腐的气味。傍晚的街上,行人多了起来,背心、蒲扇、薄衫、短裙在暮色里流动。经一天炙烤的路灯们,无精打采低垂着头,睁着半迷糊的眼。灯影下的罗显辉,西装笔挺,打着领带,显得有些不合时宜。他在树影里张望了好一会,吐掉烟蒂,大步穿过马路,走进了这家新开张不久的咖啡馆。还没进门,罗显辉就冲着柜台喊,小姐,来一碗加啡。服务员听他直呼自己小姐,有些不悦,说,是咖啡,不是加啡。罗显辉说,管你哪样啡,来一碗。服务员说,我们这里咖啡用杯子装,不用碗。
  • 盛京疆域考

    盛京疆域考

    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。