When the baron stepped into the hall next morning, he saw the boy engaged in conversation with the two lift attendants who were showing him the pictures in one of Karl May’s juvenile books. Since his mother was not present, it might be inferred that she was still engrossed in the cares of her person. For the first time, Sternfeldt took conscious notice of the child, who appeared to be about twelve years old, underdeveloped, shy, nervous, jerky in his movements, and possessed of a pair of dark, roving eyes. Like so many youngsters of his age, he gave the impression of being scared, as if he had suddenly been roused from sleep and placed in unfamiliar surroundings. He was by no means plain, but his face was still undifferentiated; the struggle between the man that was to be and the child that had been was hardly begun; his features were moulded but not finally set; there was no clear line, no striking silhouette, only a pale and somewhat uncouth mass. In addition, being at the awkward age, his clothes did not seem to belong to him; his thin arms and frail legs were lost in the folds of jacket and trousers; he lacked interest in his appearance.
The lad created a very poor impression. He was constantly getting in the way. At one moment it was the hall-porter who pushed him aside; at another he would be mixed up in the revolving door. The outer world was unfriendly. But he tried to compensate for this by futile and incessant chatter with the hotel servants. When they had time they would endeavour to answer his numerous questions, but would break off as soon as possible and go about their business. The baron contemplated the boy, a compassionate smile curling his lips. Poor child, he examined everything with curiosity, only to be fobbed off with roughness. If another human eye caught his inquisitive look, he would cringe away, unhappy at being observed, miserable that he had been detected in the act of investigating. Sternfeldt was amused; he began to feel his interest waxing. Then a thought struck him: why not make friends with the lad and utilize this friendship in order to get acquainted with the mother? It was only fear that made the youngster so shy. Well, a fellow could try. Unobtrusively he followed Edgar, who had gone outside and was stroking the soft nose of a cab-horse. Ill-luck dogged him even in this innocent pastime, for the cabby unceremoniously ordered him to leave the beast alone. Ruffled and bored, Edgar was again reduced to standing about with his vacant expression of countenance, not knowing what next to be at.
The baron seized his chance, and said in a jovial voice:
“Well, young man, how do you like this place?”
The boy flushed, and looked up anxiously. He rubbed his hands on the seat of his trousers in his embarrassment. This was his first experience of a gentleman opening conversation with him.
“Very much, thank you,” he answered awkwardly, gulping down the last two words.
“You surprise me. I should say it was a rotten hole, especially for a young man such as you. What on earth can you find to do all day?”
The boy was still too flustered to find a speedy response. How was it possible that this stranger should take notice of a small boy about whom nobody ever bothered? He felt immensely shy and immensely proud likewise of what was happening to him. With an effort he pulled himself together.
“I like reading, and we go for walks. Sometimes we hire a carriage for a drive. I’ve been ill, and Mother brought me here for my health. The doctor said I was to sit about a lot in the sun.”
As he spoke, an accent of self-confidence came into his voice. Children are invariably proud of their illnesses, for they guess that the danger makes them doubly important to their relatives.
“Yes the sun is most beneficial for a young gentleman in your state of health. You ought to burn to a fine brown. But it’s not good to be sitting about all day. A big boy like you would do better to go for rambles on his own, to be a bit uppish, and to play all kinds of pranks. It seems to me you are too obedient and well behaved. You look like a regular bookworm, always going about with a ponderous tome tucked under your arm. When I think of the young scamp I was at your age...Why, d’you know, every evening I came home with torn breeches;a terrible pickle I was in. No use for a man to be too good.”
In spite of himself Edgar smiled, and on the instant his shyness vanished. He would have loved to respond to the baron’s advances, but was afraid of appearing cheeky. How friendly this smartly tailored gentleman was! It was splendid to be talking on equal terms with him. The boy’s pleasure in the encounter tied his tongue for very happiness. What would he not have given to find suitable words to continue the conversation! But his thoughts were in a whirl. As luck would have it, the hotel manager’s Saint Bernard loped by at this crucial moment. Then it stopped still, came to sniff both boy and man, allowed itself to be patted and fondled.
“D’you like dogs?” the baron inquired abruptly.
“Very much. Grandma has one at her place in Baden, and when we go there on a visit he spends the whole day with me. It’s topping. But we’re only there in summer.”
“I’ve a couple of dozen dogs on my estate, and maybe I’ll give you one, a brown chap with white ears, little more than a puppy, but well trained. How’d you like that?”
The lad blushed with delight.
“Fine!” he exclaimed spontaneously. But then a revulsion of feeling overtook him, and he stuttered bashfully: “But Mother will never agree. She hates dogs about the house, they make so much work.”
The baron chuckled, well pleased, for he had at length guided the talk on to the lady who interested him.
“Is your mother very strict?”
Edgar reflected for a moment, looked up at his new friend questioningly as if to see whether the stranger could be trusted, and then answered cautiously:
“No, can’t exactly say she’s strict. She lets me do anything I like just now because I’ve been ill. Perhaps she’d let me have a dog...”
“Shall I put in a good word for you?”
“Oh, golly!” cried the boy delightedly. “She’d be sure to agree. What’s the dog like? White ears, did you say? Can he beg and retrieve?”
“He can do any and every trick you can think of.”
It was tickling to Otto’s vanity to watch the spark he had kindled in the youngster’s eyes. All trace of shyness disappeared; and the child’s spontaneity, no longer crippled by anxiety and fear, bubbled up like a spring of fresh water. The awkward boy had been replaced by a natural and exuberant creature. If only the mother could prove similar to her son, thought the baron. A score of questions were showered upon him at this instant by the youth.
“What’s it called?”
“Caro.”
“Caro! Caro!”
Edgar seemed to revel in the word, and to be intoxicated with delight at having acquired a friend so unexpectedly. The baron himself was no little surprised at his easy conquest, and decided to strike while the iron was hot. He invited Edgar to go for a stroll, and the lad, who for weeks had hungered after companionship, was in the seventh heaven of delight. He gave free rein to his tongue, responding innocently to his new friend’s subtle questions and assumed interest. It was not long before the baron knew all he needed concerning the family: that Edgar was the only son of a Viennese lawyer belonging to the well-to-do Jewish stratum. Plying the boy with adroit questions, he further learned that the mother was not particularly pleased with their stay in Semmering, that she had grumbled at the lack of society. Moreover, it would appear from the evasive answers given by Edgar that Mother was not particularly fond of Father, so that Sternfeldt surmised the situation to a nicety. He felt almost ashamed of himself for extracting these scraps of information thus easily from his decoy who, unused to finding anyone interested in what he had to say, allowed himself to be inveigled into confidence after confidence. Edgar’s youthful heart beat quick with pride, especially when, in the course of the walk the baron took his arm affectionately. It was an infinite delight for the child to be seen in such company. Soon he forgot his juvenility, and prattled disingenuously as to an equal. His conversation proved him to be a bright lad, somewhat precocious intellectually as is usual with sickly children who pass a large part of their time among elders, and prone to like or to dislike persons and things to excess. He seemed, so far as his emotional life was concerned, to be unbalanced, feeling either hatred towards or passionate love for objects and individuals. The golden mean did not exist for him and his tender face would at times become contorted with the excess of his emotions. There was something wild and resilient in his mode of expression which coloured his words with fanatical ardour, and his gawkiness might possibly be explained as an outcome of a painfully repressed anxiety at the violence of his own passions.
The baron soon won Edgar’s confidence. In half an hour he held the child’s warm and palpitating heart in his hand. Children are so easily hoaxed, for grown-ups seldom try to ingratiate themselves and when they do they catch the innocents unawares. Sternfeldt merely had to think himself back into his own boyhood, and the puerile conversation immediately seemed the most natural in the world. Edgar, for his part, had by now quite accepted the elder man as a chum, and very soon lost any sense of inferiority. All he was aware of was that he had found a friend—and what a friend! His relatives and friends in Vienna were forgotten, his pals with their squeaky voices, their idiotic chatter, might never have existed! They were submerged beneath this new and unprecedented experience. He had become an intimate of the stranger, his wonderful friend; and he swelled with pride when at parting, he was invited to a further ramble on the morrow. They separated as brothers and this farewell was, perhaps, the most glorious of Edgar’s life. Children are so easily hoaxed....
Baron Otto von Sternfeldt grinned as Edgar ran off. An intermediary had been found. The boy would doubtless regale his mother to satiety with every word, every gesture of this amazing encounter. The woman-hunter preened himself upon the subtle compliments he had conveyed through the son to the mother. He had invariably spoken of her as “Your lovely mother”—Edgar would do what was necessary; he, the baron, need make no further advances. The charming unknown would come to him. Not requisite to lift a finger. The baron could muse over the landscape from morning to night, from night till morning...A child’s warm hands, he knew, were building a bridge between his heart and the heart of the woman he coveted.
第二天早晨,男爵走進(jìn)大廳,他看見那位漂亮女人的孩子正在那兒和兩位開電梯的仆人聊得起勁,孩子正給他們看卡爾·梅依的一本書里的插圖。他媽媽不在,顯然還在梳妝哩。男爵現(xiàn)在才仔細(xì)地觀察這個(gè)男孩。這是個(gè)靦腆的孩子,發(fā)育得不太好,有點(diǎn)神經(jīng)質(zhì),大約十二歲,手腳老是不停,有一雙到處窺視的黑眼睛。如同這樣年齡的孩子常有的那樣,他顯出無緣無故受到驚嚇的樣子,就像剛被叫醒又突然被置于陌生的環(huán)境中似的。他的面孔不算不好看,但是還沒有定型,在他身上成人和兒童的斗爭還剛剛開始,勝負(fù)未定;他臉上的一切好像是手捏出來的,尚未成型,線條輪廓很不分明,只是把蒼白和不安糅合在一起。此外他正處于那種不利的年齡,這時(shí)他們的衣服總不合身,袖子和褲子在瘦削的肢體上松弛地晃動(dòng)著,而他們也從沒有去注意修飾外表,講究穿著。
這男孩在這里猶豫不決地晃來晃去,樣子怪可憐的。他站在這里老礙別人的事。門房被他用各種問題糾纏得煩死了,一會兒就把他推開,但是一會兒他又擋住了大門,顯然他缺少友好的伙伴。孩子喜歡問東問西,因此就去找旅館的仆役。要是他們正好有時(shí)間,就回答他,但當(dāng)看見有人來了,或者有什么緊急的事要做,談話就立即中斷。男爵面帶笑容,饒有興味地注視著這個(gè)不幸的男孩,孩子對一切都好奇地打量著,但一切都不友好地躲開他。有一次男爵緊緊抓住了這個(gè)好奇的目光,但是那黑溜溜的眼睛一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)自己探索的眼光被抓住,就立即怯生生地將目光收了回去,躲在下垂的眼皮后面。男爵覺得這很有意思。他開始對男孩產(chǎn)生了興趣,他自忖,這孩子僅僅是由于膽怯才這么靦腆的,能不能把他作為去接近那女人最迅速的媒介呢?無論如何,他要試一試。男孩剛剛又跑到門外去了,他悄悄地跟著。這孩子需要溫柔與愛撫,只見他撫摸著白馬的玫瑰色的鼻孔??伤鏇]運(yùn)氣,馬車夫也相當(dāng)粗暴地把他攆走了?,F(xiàn)在他又傷心又無聊地蕩來蕩去,空虛的眼神里含著一絲兒悲哀。這時(shí)男爵就同他搭話了:
“喂,小家伙,你喜歡這兒嗎?”他突如其來地說,竭力使他的口氣平易近人,毫無架子。
孩子的臉漲得緋紅,怯生生地在發(fā)愣。有點(diǎn)害怕似的用手按著心口,難為情地來回轉(zhuǎn)著身子。一位陌生的先生和他談話聊天,這在他的生活中還是第一次。
“謝謝,很喜歡?!彼Y(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說了這么一句,最后一個(gè)字只在喉嚨里咕嚕了一下,就咽了回去。
“我覺得很奇怪,”男爵笑著說,“這本來就是個(gè)很乏味的地方,尤其是對像你這樣的年輕人。你整天干什么呢?”這男孩依然不知所措,不能爽快地回答。這位漂亮的陌生先生來找他這個(gè)無人過問的孩子聊天,這真可能嗎?這使他既羞澀又驕傲。他費(fèi)力地鼓足了勇氣。
“我看書,然后我們散步,有時(shí)候我們也坐車,媽媽和我。我是來這里休養(yǎng)的,我生過病,大夫說我得多曬太陽?!弊詈髱拙湓捤呀?jīng)說得相當(dāng)鎮(zhèn)定了。孩子們對自己生病總感到很驕傲,因?yàn)槲kU(xiǎn)使得他們在家人眼里顯得倍加寶貴。
“是啊,太陽對于像你這樣的年輕人非常必要,它一定會把你曬得黑黑的。但是你也不能整天坐著曬太陽,你應(yīng)該到處跑跑,痛快地玩玩,也可以來點(diǎn)兒惡作劇。我覺得你太老實(shí)了。你看起來像是個(gè)整天待在家里、手里捧著又厚又大的書本啃個(gè)不停的書呆子。我記得我在你這么大的時(shí)候簡直是個(gè)淘氣包,每晚回家時(shí)褲子都撕破了。你別太老實(shí)了?!?/p>
孩子下意識地笑了,這一笑可解除了他的恐懼心理。他本想也說幾句,但覺得在一個(gè)如此友好親切的陌生先生面前這樣隨便就顯得太放肆了。別人說話他從來不插嘴,而且老是容易發(fā)窘;現(xiàn)在由于幸福和羞怯,他更不知所措。他很希望和這位先生的談天繼續(xù)下去,可是卻什么話也想不出來。幸好這時(shí)旅館的那條大黃狗走了過來,嗅了嗅他們倆人,并乖乖地?fù)u著尾巴讓人撫摸。
“你喜歡狗嗎?”男爵問。
“噢,很喜歡。我祖母在巴登的別墅里養(yǎng)了一條狗,我們在那里住的時(shí)候,它整天都跟著我。不過我們只是夏天才到那里去玩?!?/p>
“我家里,在我們莊園里,有二十多條狗,如果在這里你聽話,我就送你一只狗,送你一只白耳朵的棕毛小狗。你要嗎?”
孩子高興得臉都紅了。
“嗯,要的?!?/p>
這句話脫口而出,說得熱切而貪婪,但接著又膽怯地,像嚇著一樣,吞吞吐吐地說出他的擔(dān)心。
“可是媽媽不會同意的。她說她不能讓人在家里養(yǎng)狗。狗太使人討厭了?!?/p>
男爵不覺喜形于色,終于把話題轉(zhuǎn)到了他媽媽身上。
“媽媽那么嚴(yán)厲嗎?”
孩子思索著,對他注視了片刻,似乎在自問,對這位陌生的先生是否可以信賴?;卮鹗侵?jǐn)慎的:
“不,媽媽并不嚴(yán)厲。因?yàn)槲覄偵瞬?,現(xiàn)在她什么都允許我的。甚至她也許會同意我養(yǎng)條狗呢?!?/p>
“要我為你說情嗎?”
“要,請您給說說吧!”男孩高興得叫了起來,“這樣?jì)寢尶隙〞饝?yīng)的。這條狗是什么樣的?白耳朵,是嗎?它會把捕獲物找到叼回來嗎?”
“會,它什么都會。”男爵如此迅速地就從男孩的眼里發(fā)現(xiàn)了閃爍著的熱切的光輝,他為此粲然一笑。開始時(shí)的拘謹(jǐn)一下就消失了,由于害怕而收斂起來的熱情一下子就噴涌而出。這個(gè)原來靦腆的、羞澀的孩子轉(zhuǎn)瞬間就變成一個(gè)熱情嬉鬧的男孩子。男爵不由自主地想,要是那位母親也是這樣,在膽怯之后也這么熱烈就好了。剛這么想,那男孩就蹦到他身上,向他提出了二十個(gè)問題:
“這只狗叫什么名字?”
“叫卡羅?!?/p>
“卡羅!”孩子歡天喜地地叫道。
大概他說每句話都在笑,都在歡叫,被這喜出望外的喜訊陶醉了。事情竟進(jìn)展得出人預(yù)料地神速,連男爵本人都感到很吃驚。他決心趁熱打鐵。他邀請這孩子跟他一塊散散步,而這可憐的孩子呢,幾個(gè)星期以來就渴望著有人跟他一起玩玩,聽了這個(gè)邀請,他簡直欣喜若狂。這孩子被他的新朋友用一些像是偶然想到的問題所引誘,喋喋不休地把什么事都講了出來。一會兒工夫,男爵對這個(gè)家庭的一切就一清二楚了,尤其是知道了埃德加是維也納某律師的獨(dú)生子,出身于一個(gè)富有的猶太資產(chǎn)階級家庭。他通過巧妙的詢問,馬上就打聽到,他母親對塞默林完全不感興趣,她曾抱怨這里沒有談得來的朋友,他甚至覺得,從埃德加回答他媽媽是不是喜歡他爸爸這個(gè)問題時(shí)的支支吾吾的神氣,可以推測到關(guān)系準(zhǔn)不那么妙。他對自己的做法幾乎感到羞愧了,他輕而易舉地就從這天真無邪的孩子嘴里把這些細(xì)微的家庭秘密套了出來。因?yàn)榘5录油耆湃瘟怂男屡笥?,并為自己講的事情居然能引起一個(gè)大人的興趣而感到自豪。再加上散步時(shí)男爵曾把胳膊搭在他的肩上,大家都會看到他和一個(gè)大人的關(guān)系是多么親密,埃德加那顆幼稚的心靈由于這種自豪感而劇烈地跳動(dòng)起來,他漸漸忘了自己是個(gè)孩子,無拘無束地像同年齡相仿的人那樣滔滔不絕地談個(gè)不休。從他的談吐中可以看出,埃德加很聰明,正如大多數(shù)病弱的孩子一樣,由于跟成人在一起的時(shí)間比跟同學(xué)在一起的時(shí)間多而有些早熟,對于自己傾慕或敵視的人或事,反應(yīng)出奇的激烈。他對任何事情都不能心平氣和,談到任何人或事時(shí),不是特別喜愛,就是極端仇恨,甚至恨到臉都會扭曲得兇狠、難看。也許因?yàn)閯偵瞬〉脑虬桑f話帶點(diǎn)粗野和突如其來的味道,這使他的言談如火樣的熾熱,看來他的笨拙只不過是對自己激情的一種恐懼,一種他費(fèi)力加以壓抑的恐懼而已。
男爵輕而易舉地得到了他的信任。僅僅半個(gè)小時(shí),他就掌握了這顆火熱的不安地顫動(dòng)著的童心。欺騙孩子,欺騙這些難得被人愛的天真無邪的孩子真是輕而易舉的事。他只要把自己的身份忘掉就行了,這樣同孩子說起話來就會自然而然,無拘無束,使孩子也覺得他是個(gè)小伙伴,于是幾分鐘之后兩人之間任何感情上的距離也沒有了。埃德加簡直欣喜若狂。在這寂寞的地方突然找到了一位朋友,一位多好的朋友啊!他把維也納的小男孩全都忘了,連同他們細(xì)聲細(xì)氣的聲音和幼稚可笑的廢話,他們的形象好像都讓位給這位新的大朋友了。當(dāng)這位大朋友告別時(shí)又一次邀請他明天上午再來的時(shí)候,當(dāng)這位新朋友像大哥哥似的從老遠(yuǎn)向他招手的時(shí)候,他自豪得連心都要跳出來了。這一刻也許是他生活中最美好的時(shí)刻。欺騙孩子真是易如反掌?!芯粝蜻@個(gè)跑著走開的孩子微笑著。現(xiàn)在他有了介紹人。他知道,孩子一定會去講給他母親聽,一直要把他母親折騰得筋疲力盡方才罷休,他準(zhǔn)要每句話都復(fù)述一遍——這時(shí)他怡然自得地想到,他在提到她的時(shí)候加了一些奉承話,譬如每次他都用埃德加的“漂亮的媽媽”這個(gè)詞來稱呼。這位健談的孩子不把他媽媽和他引到一起是不會安靜的。對這一點(diǎn)他確信無疑。他無需自己動(dòng)手就可以縮小他和這位漂亮的女人之間的距離,現(xiàn)在他可以安安靜靜地做他的夢,眺望一番景色,因?yàn)樗溃浑p熱烈的小手就會為他筑起一座通向她的心扉的橋梁。
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