第48页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第48页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
character. Who would think that the Evil One had already found a
servant and agent in her? Yet such, I grieve to say, is the case.'
A pause- in which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves, and
to feel that the Rubicon was passed; and that the trial, no longer
to be shirked, must be firmly sustained.
'My dear children,' pursued the black marble clergyman, with
pathos, 'this is a sad, a melancholy occasion; for it becomes my
duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs,
is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an
interloper and an alien. You must be on your guard against her; you
must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her
from your sports, and shut her out from your converse. Teachers, you
must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words,
scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if,
indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I
tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian land,
worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and
kneels before Juggernaut- this girl is- a liar!'
Now came a pause of ten minutes, during which I, by this time in
perfect possession of my wits, observed all the female Brocklehursts
produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics,
while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro, and the two
younger ones whispered, 'How shocking!'
Mr. Brocklehurst resumed.
'This I learned from her benefactress; from the pious and
charitable lady who adopted her in her orphan state, reared her as her
own daughter, and whose kindness, whose generosity the unhappy girl
repaid by an ingratitude so bad, so dreadful, that at last her
excellent patroness was obliged to separate her from her own young
ones, fearful lest her vicious example should contaminate their
purity: she has sent her here to be healed, even as the Jews of old
sent their diseased to the troubled pool of Bethesda; and, teachers,
superintendent, I beg of you not to allow the waters to stagnate round
her.'
With this sublime conclusion, Mr. Brocklehurst adjusted the top
button of his surtout, muttered something to his family, who rose,
bowed to Miss Temple, and then all the great people sailed in state
from the room. Turning at the door, my judge said-
'Let her stand half an hour longer on that stool, and let no one
speak to her during the remainder of the day.'
There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not
bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the
room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy. What my
sensations were, no language can describe; but just as they all
rose, stifling my breath and constricting my throat, a girl came up
and passed me: in passing, she lifted her eyes. What a strange light
inspired them! What an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through