雙語·面紗 第四十二章

42

“Monsieur ne mange rien,” said Sister St. Joseph.

“Monsieur's palate is ruined by Manchu cooking,” replied the Mother Superior.

The smile left Sister St. Joseph's face and she assumed an expression of some primness. Waddington, a roguish glance in his eyes, took another cake. Kitty did not understand the incident.

“To prove to you how unjust you are, ma mère,I will ruin the excellent dinner that awaits me.”

“If Mrs. Fane would like to see over the convent I shall be glad to show her.” The Mother Superior turned to Kitty with a deprecating smile. “I am sorry you should see it just now when everything is in disorder. We have so much work and not enough Sisters to do it. Colonel Yü has insisted on our putting our infirmary at the disposal of sick soldiers and we have had to make the réfectoire into an infirmary for our orphans.”

She stood at the door to allow Kitty to pass and together, followed by Sister St. Joseph and Waddington, they walked along cool white corridors. They went first into a large, bare room where a number of Chinese girls were working at elaborate embroideries. They stood up when the visitors entered and the Mother Superior showed Kitty specimens of the work.

“We go on with it notwithstanding the epidemic because it takes their minds off the danger.”

They went to a second room in which younger girls were doing plain sewing, hemming and stitching, and then into a third where there were only tiny children under the charge of a Chinese covert. They were playing noisily and when the Mother Superior came in they crowded round her, mites of two and three, with their black Chinese eyes and their black hair; and they seized her hands and hid themselves in her great skirts. An enchanting smile lit up her grave face, and she fondled them; she spoke little chaffing words which Kitty, ignorant though she was of Chinese, could tell were like caresses. She shuddered a little, for in their uniform dress, sallow-skinned, stunted, with their flat noses, they looked to her hardly human. They were repulsive. But the Mother Superior stood among them like Charity itself. When she wished to leave the room they would not let her go, but clung to her, so that, with smiling expostulations, she had to use a gentle force to free herself. They at all events found nothing terrifying in this great lady.

“You know of course,” she said, as they walked along another corridor, “that they are only orphans in the sense that their parents have wished to be rid of them. We give them a few cash for every child that is brought in, otherwise they will not take the trouble, but do away with them.” She turned to the Sister. “Have any come to-day?” she asked.

“Four.”

“Now, with the cholera, they are more than ever anxious not to be burdened with useless girls.”

She showed Kitty the dormitories and then they passed a door on which was painted the word infirmerie. Kitty heard groans and loud cries and sounds as though beings not human were in pain.

“I will not show you the infirmary,” said the Mother Superior in her placid tones. “It is not a sight that one would wish to see.” A thought struck her. “I wonder if Dr. Fane is there?”

She looked interrogatively at the Sister and she, with her merry smile, opened the door and slipped in. Kitty shrank back as the open door allowed her to hear more horribly the turmult within. Sister St. Joseph came back.

“No, he has been and will not be back again till later.”

“What about number six?”

“Pauvre gar?on, he's dead.”

The Mother Superior crossed herself and her lips moved in a short and silent prayer.

They passed by a courtyard and Kitty's eyes fell upon two long shapes that lay side by side on the ground covered with a piece of blue cotton. The Superior turned to Waddington.

“We are so short of beds that we have to put two patients in one and the moment a sick man dies he must be bundled out in order to make room for another.” But she gave Kitty a smile. “Now we will show you our chapel. We are very proud of it. One of our friends in France sent us a little while ago a life-size statue of the Blessed Virgin.”

第四十二章

“先生一點兒也沒吃?！盵1]圣約瑟夫修女說道。

“先生的口味被滿族人的烹飪徹底毀了?！痹洪L嬤嬤回答道。

圣約瑟夫修女的臉上笑容不見了，開始顯得一本正經(jīng)了。威廷頓很調(diào)皮地瞥了她一眼，又拿起一塊小點心，一口吃了下去。凱蒂還有點兒摸不著頭腦。

“為了證明您對我的評價是多么的不公正，嬤嬤，我將在晚餐時大吃一頓，把我面前的美味一掃而光?！?/p>

“如果費恩太太想?yún)⒂^修道院，我很樂意領她轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)。”院長嬤嬤轉(zhuǎn)身沖著凱蒂說道，臉上帶著對威廷頓的話不以為然的微笑?！昂苓z憾，你會看到現(xiàn)在一切都是亂糟糟的，我們有太多的工作要做，而沒有足夠的修女。余上校堅持讓我們的醫(yī)院收治患病的士兵，所以我們不得不把餐廳改成了醫(yī)院，用來收留孤兒?！?/p>

她站在門口讓凱蒂和她一起進去，圣約瑟夫修女和威廷頓在后面跟著。他們沿著一個幽靜的白色回廊走著，首先進入了一間空曠的大屋子，里面有很多中國女孩正在做著精美的刺繡，當參觀者進來后，她們都站起身來，院長嬤嬤給凱蒂展示了一些刺繡樣品。

“盡管有瘟疫，但我們的工作照常進行，這樣還可以轉(zhuǎn)移注意力，不受危險的干擾?！?/p>

他們又走進第二間屋子，屋子里更年幼一點兒的女孩們正在做簡單的縫紉、卷邊、縫針腳等。隨后，他們進入了第三間屋子，這里只有一些很小的孩子，他們在一位中國教徒的照看下，大聲嚷嚷地玩耍著，看到院長嬤嬤進來，他們就圍在她身邊。三三兩兩的小孩，個個是烏溜溜的黑眼珠和黑頭發(fā)，有的抓著嬤嬤的手，有的在嬤嬤寬大的袍子下擺里玩捉迷藏。院長嬤嬤嚴肅的面孔上露出了迷人的微笑，她一邊愛撫著他們，一邊對他們說著逗笑的話，凱蒂雖然聽不懂漢語，但也能明白都是些哄孩子的話。她受到了震動，孩子們穿著統(tǒng)一的服裝，黃皮膚、發(fā)育不全的小身子、塌鼻梁，在她眼中幾乎都不像人類，是令人厭惡的動物，但院長嬤嬤站在他們中間就像圣母本身，當她要離開這間屋子時，他們都不愿意讓她走，緊緊地貼著她。所以，她一邊笑著勸慰孩子們，一邊不得不稍微用點兒勁讓自己脫身。無論如何，在這個偉大的女士身上，他們一點兒也沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)使他們害怕的東西，而只有善良和慈愛。

“當然，你知道，”當他們走到另外一個回廊時，她接著說道，“在某種意義上，他們只能說是棄兒，他們的父母不想要他們了，每個被帶到這兒的孩子我們都會付一些現(xiàn)鈔，否則的話，他們才不會費事把孩子送到這兒來，只是直接拋棄就行了?！彼D(zhuǎn)過身去問圣約瑟夫修女，“今天又送來了幾個？”

“四個?！?/p>

“現(xiàn)在瘟疫蔓延，他們就更加擔心孩子會成為負擔了，尤其是女孩?！?/p>

她領著凱蒂參觀了宿舍，隨后他們路過了一扇門，門上寫著兩個大字“醫(yī)院”。凱蒂能夠聽到門后傳來的痛苦的呻吟聲、喊叫聲，那聲音簡直就不像人類所發(fā)出的。

“我不打算領你參觀醫(yī)院了?！痹洪L嬤嬤用平靜的口吻說道，“沒人希望看到那樣的景象。”這時，一個念頭突然冒了出來，“我想知道費恩大夫是否在里面?！?/p>

她用疑問的目光看著圣約瑟夫修女，而后者帶著愉快的笑容，打開門溜了進去。當門打開后，凱蒂又往后縮了，因為里面?zhèn)鞒龅目膳碌泥须s聲聽得更真切了。這時，圣約瑟夫修女又出來了。

“沒有，他不在，而且有事不再過來了?！?/p>

“六號病床的病人怎么樣了？”

“可憐的孩子[2]，他死了?！?/p>

院長嬤嬤在胸前畫著十字，嘴里快速而又喃喃地禱告著。

他們穿過了院落，凱蒂的目光落在了兩個長長的東西上，這兩個東西并排放在地面上，上面覆蓋著一塊藍色的棉布。院長嬤嬤轉(zhuǎn)身向威廷頓說道：“我們現(xiàn)在床鋪很短缺，不得不把兩個病人放在一張床上，如果一個病人死了，就必須趕緊抬走，為了給另一個病人騰地兒?！钡?，她向凱蒂微微一笑?！艾F(xiàn)在我們領你去看一下我們的小教堂，我們很為此自豪呢，我們在法國的一位朋友前不久給我們送來了一座真人大小的圣母瑪利亞的雕像?！?/p>

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[1]原文為法語。

[2]原文為法語。