第七章
FOUR days after these curious incidents a funeral started from Canterville Chase at about eleven o'clock at night. The hearse was drawn by eight black horses, each of which carried on its head a great tuft of nodding ostrich-plumes, and the leaden coffin was covered by a rich purple pall, on which was embroidered in gold the Canterville coat-of-arms. By the side of the hearse and the coaches walked the servants with lighted torches, and the whole procession was wonderfully impressive. Lord Canterville was the chief mourner, having come up specially from Wales to attend the funeral, and sat in the first carriage along with little Virginia. Then came the United States Minister and his wife, then Washington and the three boys, and in the last carriage was Mrs. Umney. It was generally felt that, as she had been frightened by the ghost for more than fifty years of her life, she had a right to see the last of him. A deep grave had been dug in the corner of the churchyard, just under the old yew-tree, and the service was read in the most impressive manner by the Rev. Augustus Dampier. When the ceremony was over, the servants, according to an old custom observed in the Canterville family, extinguished their torches, and, as the coffin was being lowered into the grave, Virginia stepped forward and laid on it a large cross made of white and pink almond-blossoms. As she did so, the moon came out from behind a cloud, and flooded with its silent silver the little churchyard, and from a distant copse a nightingale began to sing. She thought of the ghost's description of the Garden of Death, her eyes became dim with tears, and she hardly spoke a word during the drive home.
这些怪事发生的四天后，大约晚上十一点的时候，一支出殡行列从坎特维尔庄园出发。灵车由八匹黑马拉着，每一匹马的头上都佩戴着一大簇摇摇欲坠的鸵鸟羽毛，铅制的灵柩上覆盖着深紫色的棺罩，上面有用金线绣着的坎特维尔盾徽。佣人举着点燃的火把走在灵车和马车队伍的旁边，整个队伍给人留下了非常深刻的印象。坎特维尔勋爵是首要的送葬者，他专程从威尔士赶来参加葬礼，他和小弗吉尼亚同坐第一辆马车。跟着是美国公使夫妇，再接着是华盛顿和三个男孩，最后的一辆马车里坐的是厄姆尼夫人。大家普遍认为，她这一辈子被幽灵吓唬了五十多年，因此她有权利去送他入土。在墓地角落里的那棵老紫杉树下已经挖好了一个很深的墓穴。尊敬的奥古斯塔斯·丹皮尔以感人至深的方式宣读了悼词。仪式结束后，佣人按照坎特维尔家族古老的习俗熄灭了所有人手中的火把。在灵柩缓缓地放入墓穴时，弗吉尼亚向前走了几步，把用白色和粉红色巴旦杏花做成的大十字架放在了上面。当她完成这一动作后，月亮就从云后出来了，给宁静的小墓园洒满了一片银光，远处的矮树丛里夜莺唱起了歌。她回想起了幽灵描述的死亡园，变得泪眼迷离，在开车回家的路上，她几乎一句话都没说。
The next morning, before Lord Canterville went up to town, Mr. Otis had an interview with him on the subject of the jewels the ghost had given to Virginia. They were perfectly magnificent, especially a certain ruby necklace with old Venetian setting, which was really a superb specimen of sixteenth-century work, and their value was so great that Mr. Otis felt considerable scruples about allowing his daughter to accept them.
第二天早上，在坎特维尔勋爵回城之前，奥蒂斯先生就幽灵送给弗吉尼亚珠宝一事和他进行了交谈。那些珠宝华丽夺目，特别是那一条古威尼斯样式的红宝石项链，那真是十六世纪的经典作品，价值巨大，以至于奥蒂斯先生对是否让女儿接受这份礼物颇有顾虑。
'My lord,' he said, 'I know that in this country mortmain is held to apply to trinkets as well as to land, and it is quite clear to me that these jewels are, or should be, heirlooms in your family. I must beg you, accordingly, to take them to London with you, and to regard them simply as a portion of your property which has been restored to you under certain strange conditions. As for my daughter, she is merely a child, and has as yet, I am glad to say, but little interest in such appurtenances of idle luxury. I am also informed by Mrs. Otis, who, I may say, is no mean authority upon Art—having had the privilege of spending several winters in Boston when she was a girl—that these gems are of great monetary worth, and if offered for sale would fetch a tall price. Under these circumstances, Lord Canterville, I feel sure that you will recognize how impossible it would be for me to allow them to remain in the possession of any member of my family; and, indeed, all such vain gauds and toys, however suitable or necessary to the dignity of the British aristocracy, would be completely out of place among those who have been brought up on the severe, and I believe immortal, principles of Republican simplicity. Perhaps I should mention that Virginia is very anxious that you should allow her to retain the box as a memento of your unfortunate but misguided ancestor. As it is extremely old, and consequently a good deal out of repair, you may perhaps think fit to comply with her request. For my own part, I confess I am a good deal surprised to find a child of mine expressing sympathy with mediaevalism in any form, and can only account for it by the fact that Virginia was born in one of your London suburbs shortly after Mrs. Otis had returned from a trip to Athens.'
“阁下，”他说，“我知道贵国的永久管业不但包括土地，还包括饰物。我很清楚这些珠宝是，或者应该是您家族的传家宝。因此，我必须请求您把它们带回伦敦，还请求您简单地把它们看作您财产的一部分，就当是在某种奇特的情况下交还给您的。而我的女儿，她还只是一个小孩，并且，至今，我很高兴地说，她对于如此闲置的贵重的身外之物没有什么兴趣。另外，我可以说，我夫人对艺术品有相当的鉴赏力——在出嫁前曾享受特权在波士顿呆过几年——她告诉我，那些珠宝价值连城，可以卖出很高的价钱。在这种情形下，坎特维尔勋爵，我确信你也明白，我不可能允许我家任何一个成员拥有它。何况，那全是不实用的玩意儿，尽管对于保持英国贵族的尊严是合适或必要的，但对于我们这些从小受严格的，而且我相信是不朽的共和主义的简朴原则教育的人来说，是不相称的。也许我应该提及，弗吉尼亚很希望你能允许她保留这个盒子，作为对你那不幸却又误入歧途的先辈的纪念。由于它已经年代久远，因此破旧不堪，所以你也许可以考虑满足她的请求。对于我个人来说，当我发现我的孩子对中世纪各方面的文化如此感兴趣，我承认连我自己都感到很惊讶，我只能把这归因于一个事实，那就是弗吉尼亚是在奥蒂斯夫人去雅典旅行回来后不久在贵国伦敦郊区生下的。”
Lord Canterville listened very gravely to the worthy Minister's speech, pulling his grey moustache now and then to hide an involuntary smile, and when Mr. Otis had ended, he shook him cordially by the hand, and said, 'My dear sir, your charming little daughter rendered my unlucky ancestor, Sir Simon, a very important service, and I and my family are much indebted to her for her marvellous courage and pluck. The jewels are clearly hers, and, egad, I believe that if I were heartless enough to take them from her, the wicked old fellow would be out of his grave in a fortnight, leading me the devil of a life. As for their being heirlooms, nothing is an heirloom that is not so mentioned in a will or legal document, and the existence of these jewels has been quite unknown. I assure you I have no more claim on them than your butler, and when Miss Virginia grows up I daresay she will be pleased to have pretty things to wear. Besides, you forget, Mr. Otis, that you took the furniture and the ghost at a valuation, and anything that belonged to the ghost passed at once into your possession, as, whatever activity Sir Simon may have shown in the corridor at night, in point of law he was really dead, and you acquired his property by purchase."
坎特维尔勋爵十分严肃地听完了尊敬的公使的这番话，不时捻着斑白的胡髭，来掩饰自己无意识的微笑。等奥蒂斯先生说完后，勋爵友好地握住他的手说：“亲爱的先生，您可爱的小女儿对我那不幸的先辈西蒙爵士给予了非常重要的帮助，我和我的家人十分感激她非凡的勇气和胆量。那些珠宝显然是属于她的，而且，天啊，我相信如果我无情地从她那里把珠宝拿走，那位邪恶的老先生不到两个星期就会从他的墓穴出来，使我不得安宁。对于它们是否是传家宝，凡是遗嘱或法律文件没有提及的东西，都不属于传家宝，而且大家也不知道这些珠宝的存在。我向您保证，我如同您的管家一样，没理由认领它们。等弗吉尼亚小姐长大以后，我敢说她会很乐意佩戴漂亮的东西的。另外，奥蒂斯先生，您别忘记了您是把房子连同家具和幽灵一同估价的。任何属于幽灵的东西都立即过到您的名下。而且，不论西蒙爵士晚上在走廊里做了些什么，在法律上他确实已经死了，而您已经通过购买获取了他的财产。”
Mr. Otis was a good deal distressed at Lord Canterville's refusal, and begged him to reconsider his decision, but the good-natured peer was quite firm, and finally induced the Minister to allow his daughter to retain the present the ghost had given her, and when, in the spring of 1890, the young Duchess of Cheshire was presented at the Queen's first drawing-room on the occasion of her marriage, her jewels were the universal theme of admiration. For Virginia received the coronet, which is the reward of all good little American girls, and was married to her boy-lover as soon as he came of age. They were both so charming, and they loved each other so much, that every one was delighted at the match, except the old Marchioness of Dumbleton, who had tried to catch the Duke for one of her seven unmarried daughters, and had given no less than three expensive dinner-parties for that purpose, and, strange to say, Mr. Otis himself. Mr. Otis was extremely fond of the young Duke personally, but, theoretically, he objected to titles, and, to use his own words, 'was not without apprehension lest, amid the enervating influences of a pleasure-loving aristocracy, the true principles of republican simplicity should be forgotten.' His objections, however, were completely overruled, and I believe that when he walked up the aisle of St. George's, Hanover Square, with his daughter leaning on his arm, there was not a prouder man in the whole length and breadth of England.
奥蒂斯先生对坎特维尔勋爵的拒绝感到很苦恼，同时请求勋爵再考虑一下他的决定，但这位温厚的贵族十分坚决，最后劝服公使允许她的女儿留下幽灵给她的礼物。1890年的春天，这位年轻的柴郡公爵夫人结婚时，在第一会客室得到了女皇的接见，她的珠宝得到了大家的一致赞赏。弗吉尼亚接受了小冠冕，这是对所有品行善良的美国女孩的奖赏。她的小爱人一成年，他们就结婚了。他们双方都很有魅力，他们彼此非常相爱，所有人都为这段姻缘感到高兴，除了邓布尔顿侯爵夫人，因为她曾想方设法让自己七个未婚的女儿中的一个嫁给小公爵，为了达到这个目的，她还举办了三次豪华的宴会。还有，说来奇怪，奥蒂斯先生也不高兴。奥蒂斯先生个人非常喜欢小公爵，但是，理论上他是抗拒爵衔的，用他自己的话来说就是“追求享乐的贵族生活会让人变得萎靡不振，他担心在这种影响之下，真正的共和主义的简朴原则会被遗忘。”然而，他的反对完全被否决了。并且我相信，当他的女儿挽着他的手臂走过汉诺威广场上圣乔治教堂的长廊时，英国上上下下没有一个人会比他更自豪。
The Duke and Duchess, after the honeymoon was over, went down to Canterville Chase, and on the day after their arrival they walked over in the afternoon to the lonely churchyard by the pine-woods. There had been a great deal of difficulty at first about the inscription on Sir Simon's tombstone, but finally it had been decided to engrave on it simply the initials of the old gentleman's name, and the verse from the library window. The Duchess had brought with her some lovely roses, which she strewed upon the grave, and after they had stood by it for some time they strolled into the ruined chancel of the old abbey. There the Duchess sat down on a fallen pillar, while her husband lay at her feet smoking a cigarette and looking up at her beautiful eyes. Suddenly he threw his cigarette away, took hold of her hand, and said to her, 'Virginia, a wife should have no secrets from her husband.'
蜜月结束后，公爵和公爵夫人回到了坎特维尔庄园，第二天的下午，他们去了松树林旁寂静的墓园。起先，对于西蒙爵士墓碑上的碑文，人们感到颇为为难，最后他们决定在上面简单地刻上这位老先生的姓名的缩写，还有书房窗户上的那首诗。公爵夫人带去了些可人的玫瑰，把它们撒在坟墓上。他们在墓旁站了一阵子，随后慢步走上了那古老的修道院内荒废的高坛。公爵夫人在一根倒塌的柱子上坐了下来，她的丈夫躺在她的脚边，一边吸着烟，一边抬头望着她那对美丽的眼睛。突然，他扔掉手中的烟，握住她的手，对她说：“弗吉尼亚，一个妻子不应该和她的丈夫有秘密。”
'Dear Cecil! I have no secrets from you.'
“亲爱的塞西尔！我对你没有秘密。”
'Yes, you have,' he answered, smiling, 'you have never told me what happened to you when you were locked up with the ghost.'
“不，你有，”他笑着回答，“你从来没有告诉过我，你和幽灵被锁在一起时，到底发生了什么事。”
'I have never told any one, Cecil,' said Virginia gravely.
“我从来没有告诉任何人，塞西尔。”弗吉尼亚严肃地说。
'I know that, but you might tell me.'
“我知道，但你可以跟我说。”
'Please don't ask me, Cecil, I cannot tell you. Poor Sir Simon! I owe him a great deal. Yes, don't laugh, Cecil, I really do. He made me see what Life is, and what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both.'
“请不要问我，塞西尔，我不能告诉你。可怜的西蒙爵士！我欠他太多了。真的，别笑。塞西尔，我真的欠他很多。他使我看到什么是生命，死亡意味着什么，为什么爱比生和死更强大。”
The Duke rose and kissed his wife lovingly.
公爵站起身来，深情地吻着他的妻子。
'You can have your secret as long as I have your heart,' he murmured.
“只要你的心属于我，你就可以继续保守你的秘密。”他轻声呢喃道。
'You have always had that, Cecil.'
“我的心永远属于你，塞西尔。”
'And you will tell our children some day, won't you?'
“有一天，你会告诉我们的孩子，对吗？”
Virginia blushed.
弗吉尼亚的脸红了。