Two Cities

Chapter 22 Gokang's Head (2)
"Death has parted us!" said the Marquis. "And left me," replied the nephew, "to bind me to a system I dislike and hate, and to hold me accountable for it, for which I can do nothing. To obey my dear mother's last dying words." Plea, obey my dear mother's last wishes, ask me to have mercy, ask me to make amends, but leave me without support and strength, to suffer."

"If you want my support and strength, nephew," the Marquis pointed to his nephew's chest with his index finger—they were standing in front of the fireplace at this time, "you will never be able to do it, you must know."

Every thin, straight line on his fair face was mercilessly, slyly, and tightly knit together.He stood without saying a word, looking at his nephew, with a snuff-box in his hand.He pointed to his nephew's breast again, as if the tip of his finger was like a sharp knife with which he was deftly piercing his nephew's body.He said:
"My friends, I will cling to this system until the moment of my death."

With that he took a last pinch of snuff and stuffed the snuffbox into his pocket.

"Better to be sensible," he added, pressing a little bell on the table, "to accept your fate! But you are hopeless, Mr. Charles, I know."

"I will never have the estate and France again," said the nephew sadly. "I have given them up."

"Does the family property and France belong to you? What right do you have to give it up? France may be yours. But is the property also yours? This is a matter that does not need to be mentioned at all. Is it yours at this moment?"

"I didn't say that to make a demand. But tomorrow it will be my inheritance—"

"I don't think it's possible." "—in 20 years——"

"You have done me a great honor," said the Marquis, "but I still stand by my assumption."

"—I would give up my property, and go to another place and live by another way. I have given up so little, and what is there but unspeakable lies of pain and destruction?"

"Ah!" said the Marquis, looking at the luxurious house.

"The house looks very nice, but in broad daylight it is nothing more than a edifice on the whole. There is only waste, tyranny, extortion, debt, mortgages, oppression, hunger, nakedness and pain .”

"Ah!" repeated the Marquis, feeling quite satisfied. "Even if it could be mine, it would have to go into the hands of someone more qualified (if it was possible) to liberate it and free it from its oppression, The next generation of people who can suffer here will suffer less. But this has nothing to do with me, the scourge of God has fallen on this property, and it has also fallen on this entire country."

"What about you?" said the uncle, "forgive me for my curiosity. According to your new theory, do you still plan to live?"

"To survive, I will continue to work like my countrymen - and my countrymen of aristocratic blood will one day do the same."

"Like, in England?"

"Yes, I will not stain my family's honor in this country, and I will not tarnish my family name in other countries, because I will not use it abroad."

The ringing of the bell just now had ordered the lights in the next room to be lit.Now the light is coming in from outside.The Marquis looked over there, and heard the servant's footsteps gradually receding.

"England appeals to you, judging from your troubles there," he said, smiling at his nephew with a calm countenance.

"As I have already said, I have long guessed that all my troubles there will be in your care. For the rest, it is my refuge." "Those big-mouthed Englishmen say that it is Do you know a doctor? A fellow Frenchman who also lives there?" "Yes."

"With my daughter?" "Yes."

"Yes," said the Marquis. "You're tired. Good night!" As he saluted in the most courteous manner, something secret was revealed on his smiling face, and he gave his words a certain mysterious secret, which clearly fell into the In his nephew's ears, in his eyes.At the same time, the fine straight lines around his eyes and the dimple on his nose also took on an ironic meaning, making him look a bit evil.

"Yes," said the Marquis again. "A doctor, and a daughter. Yes, a new philosophy is about to begin! You are tired, good night!"

If you want to find out the answer from his face, you might as well ask the stone statue in the manor.The nephew glanced at him as he approached the door, but couldn't see why.

"Good night!" said the uncle. "I'll talk to you again in the morning. Go to sleep! Take the torch and send my nephew to his house!—If you will, burn my nephew on his bed." He said himself Yan Ziyu added a sentence, then rang the small bell, and summoned the servant to his room.

The waiter came for a while and then left again.His Excellency the Marquis put on a loose nightgown and walked around the room, preparing for sleep peacefully on that quiet and hot night.Wearing soft slippers on his feet, he stepped on the ground quietly, like an elegant tiger—as if the marquis in the story who is always changing has been enchanted to change at regular intervals, or has just changed from a tiger to a man, or is about to Become a tiger.

As he paced up and down in his luxurious bedroom, the scenes of his daytime travels gradually enveloped him and broke into his mind.The slow and difficult uphill road at dusk, the sun at sunset, the downhill, the windmill, the prison on the top of the cliff, the village in the valley, the peasants by the spring, and the road patcher pointing at the road repairer with his blue hat .The spring reminds one of Parisian springs, the cloth wraps lying on the steps, the woman sprawled on top of it, and the tall man who keeps raising his hands and yelling "Dead!"

"It's not hot now," His Excellency the Marquis said, "you can rest." Then, he put down the spun bed curtains around him, settled down and fell asleep.At this time, he heard the sound of a long sigh in the night, which broke the tranquility of the night.

The stone face on the outer wall looked at the night in puzzlement for three hours.The horses in the stables kept bumping against the troughs for three hours.The barking of dogs, the hooting of owls.The owl's chirping sound is very different from the owl's chirping voice mentioned by poets, but owl has a stubborn habit: it often does not speak according to other people's rules.

The stone faces (faces of lions, faces of men) in the manor looked at the night in bewilderment for three hours.A lifeless night enveloped everything.The lifeless night made the dead dust on the road even more dead, and the weeds in the cemetery were desolate, and the pitiful bits of turf were inseparable from each other.Jesus on the cross walks down no matter what he sees.Everyone in the village (tax collectors and tax payers) fell asleep.Hungry villagers may often dream of sumptuous feasts, perhaps of the relief and rest that driven slaves and animals often dream of.In short, I fell asleep deeply, and in my dream I was well fed and free.

In the village, the spring water flows, neither seen nor heard.In the manor, the fountain splashed, neither seen nor heard.Both seemed to be spouted from the fountain of time for a moment, and the spout disappeared, spraying the night for three hours.Then the spouts of both gleamed ghostly in the morning, and the stone faces of the manor opened their eyes slightly.

The morning was getting brighter, and the sun finally disturbed the calm treetops and shone its light on the mountain.In the morning glow, the fountain of the manor seemed to have turned a blood-like color, and the face of the stone statue was dyed red.The birds chirped softly and joyfully.On the lattice of the huge window of the Marquis' bedroom, where day after day was, a little bird was singing the sweetest song with all its might.The stone statue closest to the window seemed to be stupefied, with its mouth wide open and its chin drooping, listening mesmerizingly.

At this moment, the sun rose, and the people in the village moved.The windows opened, as did the rickety doors, and people came out listlessly—shivering from the fresh air.So, the busy work began again every day.Some went to the springs, others to the fields.There were men and women, some digging here, others tending the poor animals there, leading the lean cows to the grazing pastures.In the church, several figures knelt firmly in front of the cross.The cows that were led out as they began to pray barely ate their breakfast in the weeds next to them.

The manor woke up a little later, which was commensurate with its status, but it also slowly woke up.The wild boar spears and hunting knives used for cold hunting first glowed red as before, and then shone clearly in the morning light.The doors and windows were thrown open, and the horses in the stalls turned their heads to see the light and fresh air coming from the door.The green leaves shone and rattled on the iron grille.The dog tugged desperately on the chain, stood up impatiently, and wanted to be free.

All these ordinary things are the routine of life for a moment when the morning light appears.At this time, the big bell of the manor rang, people walked up and down the steps, and people flickered, and then noisy footsteps sounded everywhere, and the horses hurriedly saddled and left.Is all this part of everyday life?
What could make the gray-haired mender of roads so hasty?He had started working on the top of the slope outside the village, his small lunch bag on a pile of stones where even the cows did not want to touch it.Had the bird carried his lunch a long way, and dropped it on his head like a seed by accident?In short, he ran downhill that sweltering morning as if fleeing for his life, and the dust was flying in all directions at a strange height, and he did not rest until he reached the spring.

All the people in the village stood by the spring with expressionless faces, talking quietly, showing no other emotion except the curiosity and surprise that people often have.Some of the cows that were brought in hastily and tied up looked stupidly, and some lay lazily, chewing the not very tasty food that stopped at their feet and gnawed into their mouths.Some people from the manor, some people from the inn, and all the tax collectors got ready and crowded aimlessly on the other side of the side street, all looking restless, but they had nothing to do.The mender of roads was already with a group of fifty very good friends, beating himself across the chest with a blue hat.What does all this mean?Mr. Garber now hastily mounted again behind a servant who was already on the horse, and the horse galloped away despite the burden, like another version of the German folk song Leonora.What does this mean?
This shows that there is another stone-carved human face in the manor.Sure enough, I took another look at the building at night and added this stone-carved human face to it.The building seems to have let it wait for what it seems like 200 years.The stone-carved human face rested on the Marquis's pillow and grew on the Marquis's body, like an exquisite mask, suddenly frightened, lost his temper, and then turned into a stone sculpture.A knife was stabbed into the stone statue's heart, and a note was hung on the knife handle, on which was written a line: "Let him enter the grave as soon as possible. Jacques presents it."

(End of this chapter)