有声名著之简爱Jene Eyer Chapter17

　　CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Day of the Wedding
No friends of family went with Mr. Rochester and I to the church. I had not told my Reed¹ cousins about my wedding, because I knew they would not care. However, I had written to my uncle, John Eyre, in Madeira. Mr. Rochester was in such a hurry that I had only a few minutes to put on my wedding dress!
“Jane, you look beautiful!” he said. “But you can only have ten minutes for breakfast!” We went quickly to the church, Mr. Rochester’s strong hand holding mine. His face looked worried, and firm. He did not speak. I wondered why he did not look happy.
The priest² was waiting for us in the church. There was no one else there, except for two men who stood by the door. Mr. Rochester did not seem to notice them, but I did. The wedding began, and soon I heard the priest ask a common question. “is there any reason why these two people should not be married?
Suddenly, I heard a voice say clearly,
“There is a reason. These people cannot be married.”
The priest stared at the man who had spoken, and said nothing. Mr. Rochester did not turn around, but only said, “continue with the wedding.” The priest shock his head. “No, sir. I must let this man speak.” The man came forward and said, calmly and quietly,
“They cannot be married, because Edward Rochester already has a wife.”
I felt as if I had been hit. Mr. Rochester’s face was like stone.
“Who are you?” he said to the stranger. “And tell me why you think I am already married!”
“I am a lawyer, sir. I have a paper here, which says that fifteen years ago, you married Bertha Mason in the West Indies.”
“That may prove I’ve been married,” Mr. Rochester said coldly and angrily, “but it doesn’t prove that she’s still alive.”
“There is a man here who has seen her alive.” The lawyer stared at Mr. Rochester as if he hated him.
“Show him to me---or go to hell³!” said Mr. Rochester.
“Mr. Mason1” called the lawyer. The second man came forward. His face was pale, but firm. Mr. Rochester shouted, “Mason!” and raised his strong arm. For a second I thought he was going to hit Mason.
“Edward, no!” shouted Mason. Mr. Rochester dropped his arm and turned away from us. “Sir,” said the priest, frowning⁴, do not forget we are in the house of God! Now, Mr. Mason, please tell us what you know.”
“His wife is alive, and she’s living at Thornfield Hall,” said mason in a strong voice. I cried out in shock. How could this be? “I’m her brother, and I’ve seen her there!”
“She lives at Thornfield Hall?” said the priest. “I have lived here for years, and I never knew Edward Rochester had a wife.”
“I was careful to keep her a secret.” Said Mr. Rochester, frowning. Then he said,
“I must tell the truth, I suppose. There will be no wedding today. God will punish me for this. These men are telling you the truth. I am married, and my wife is alive! I was tricked into marrying her when I was young, in the West Indies. There is much madness in her family, but they did not tell me that. Now it is too late. For many years. Bertha has been more like an animal than a human being. I keep her hidden in my house, and the servant Grace⁵ Poole watches her. Come to my house to see her, and decide whether I had the right to ask this innocent⁶ young woman to marry me. Follow me!”
He held my hand tightly⁷, without speaking, and we all left the church. At the door of Thornfield Hall, all the servants and Adele were waiting for us.
“Too late!” cried Mr. Rochester. “Your congratulations⁸ are fifteen years too late!” we went up to the top floor, and entered the room where Mason had been attacked. As I watched, Mr. Rochester opened the secret door and showed us a little room inside. Grace Poole was making soup over a fire, and behind her a woman crawled⁹ on the floor. She growled¹⁰ like a wild animal, but wore clothes, and had long, thick, dark hair! This was the woman I had seen! Mr. Rochester’s wife!
“How are you, Mrs. Poole?” said Mr. Rochester. “And how is your patient today?”
“Not bad, sir,” said Grace, “but be careful. She is upset, so don’t let her see you!” suddenly, the woman turned and attacked Mr. Rochester! I recognized her face. It was pale, and I thought that once, long ago, it might have been pretty. With Grace Poole’s help, Mr. Rochester was able to tie the woman to a chair. Then he turned to us, with a bitter¹¹ smile. “You see, gentlemen, this is my wife. This is the partner I must live with forever. And instead, I wanted to have Jane Eyre, this young girl. Can you honestly blame me? Compare the two, and then tell me you think I am wrong!”
We all left the room silently¹². As we went downstairs the lawyer said to quietly, “Miss Eyre, I know you did not know about Bertha Mason. None of this is your fault; it is Edward Rochester’s terrible mistake. Mr. Mason will tell your uncle what happened when he returns to Madeira.”
“Do you know my uncle?” I asked, surprised.
“I am John Eyre’s lawyer, also. Your uncle and Mr. Mason know each other. On his way back to the West Indies, Mr. Mason stopped in Madeira and stayed with Mr. Eyre. He told Mason that you were going to marry a Mr. Rochester in England.”
“Yes, I wrote to tell I was getting married,: I said.
“Well, when Mr. Mason told him that Mr. Rochester was already married, your uncle told him to return here immediately, to stop you from marring Rochester. I’m afraid your uncle is ill, and he may die soon. I think you should stay in England, until he or I write you a letter.”
After the men had left, I went to my room and locked the door. Slowly I took off my wedding dress and veil¹³. I was tired, and my head hurt as I began to think about what had happened. Could I ever trust Mr. Rochester again? Had he ever really loved me? My hopes were all dead, and my future was empty. I lay on my bed, and wanted to die.

1 reed   

n.芦苇，芦丛，簧舌，簧片

参考例句：

• The river banks were overgrown with reed.河岸长满了芦苇。
• They inhabit reed huts built on stilts above the water.他们住在建于水中木桩之上的芦苇草屋里。

2 priest   

n.神父，牧师，司铎，司祭，领导者，神甫；vt.使成为神职人员

参考例句：

• He confessed to a priest that he had sinned.他向神父忏悔他犯了罪。
• The priest visited all the old people in the parish.牧师探望了教区里的所有老人。

3 hell   

n.地狱，阴间；用以咒骂或表示愤怒，不满

参考例句：

• It's a hell of a hike from Sydney to Perth.从悉尼到珀斯的徒步旅行简直苦死了。
• The boss really gave me hell today.老板今天着实数落了我一通。

4 frowning   

n. 皱眉, 不悦 v. 皱眉头, 不同意

参考例句：

• What are you frowning at me for? 你为什么朝我皱眉头？
• Why are you frowning at me? 你为什么对我皱眉头？

5 grace   

n.优雅，雅致，魅力，恩惠，慈悲

参考例句：

• She is a beautiful girl with the grace and poise.她是一位仪态优雅的佳丽。
• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。

6 innocent   

adj.无罪的，清白的；无害的；天真的，单纯的

参考例句：

• I'm not quite so innocent as to believe that.我还不至于简单到相信那种事的地步。
• I was very young,and very innocent.我那时非常年轻，幼稚无知。

7 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

8 congratulations   

n.祝贺；贺词；祝词

参考例句：

• I send you my warmest congratulations on your success. 我对你的成功致以最热烈的祝贺。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Please give her my congratulations when you see her. 见到她时请转达我的祝贺。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 crawled   

v.爬( crawl的过去式和过去分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
• She crawled onto the river bank and lay there gulping in air. 她爬上河岸，躺在那里喘着粗气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 bitter   

adj.激烈的，苦涩的，辛酸的，厉害的，悲痛的；n.辛酸，苦味，苦酒

参考例句：

• The bitter winter was coming.寒冬到了。
• The two countries fell out in a bitter wrangle over imports.这两个国家在有关进口问题的激烈争吵中闹翻了。

12 silently   

adv.沉默地，无声地

参考例句：

• She sat in the car,silently fuming at the traffic jam.她坐在汽车里，心中对交通堵塞感到十分恼火。
• He didn't shout,he just glared at me silently.他没有喊叫，只是默默地怒视着我。

13 veil   

n.面纱，掩饰物，修女；vt.给...戴面纱或面罩；vi.带面纱或面罩

参考例句：

• Please veil your face.请用面纱遮住脸。
• There was a veil of mist over the mountains.山上覆盖着一层薄雾。