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1、国外英文文学系列 The MoonstoneTitle: The MoonstoneAuthor: Wilkie CollinsPROLOGUETHE STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM (1799):(Extracted from a Family Paper.)II address these lineswritten in Indiato my relatives in England.My object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right hand of friendship
2、to my cousin, John Herncastle. The reserve which I have hitherto maintained in this matter has been misinterpreted by members of my family whose good opinion I cannot consent to forfeit. I request them to suspend their decision until they have read my narrative. And I declare, on my word of honour,
3、that what I am now about to write is, strictly and literally, the truth.The private difference between my cousin and me took its rise in a great public event in which we were both concernedthe storming of Seringapatam, under General Baird, on the 4th of May, 1799.In order that the circumstances may
4、be clearly understood, I must revert for a moment to the period before the assault, and to the stories current in our camp of the treasure in jewels and gold stored up in the Palace of Seringapatam.IIOne of the wildest of these stories related to a Yellow Diamonda famous gem in the native annals of
5、India.The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god who typifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar colour, partly from a superstition which represented it as feeling the influence of the deity whom it adorned, and growing and lesse
6、ning in lustre with the waxing and waning of the moon, it first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this daythe name of THE MOONSTONE. A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in India), to a diamond d
7、evoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems, supposed to be affected by the lunar influencesthe moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time.The adventures of the Yellow Diamond begin
8、 with the eleventh century of the Christian era.At that date, the Mohammedan conqueror, Mahmoud of Ghizni, crossed India; seized on the holy city of Somnauth; and stripped of its treasures the famous temple, which had stood for centuriesthe shrine of Hindoo pilgrimage, and the wonder of the Eastern
9、world.Of all the deities worshipped in the temple, the moon-god alone escaped the rapacity of the conquering Mohammedans. Preserved by three Brahmins, the inviolate deity, bearing the Yellow Diamond in its forehead, was removed by night, and was transported to the second of the sacred cities of Indi
10、athe city of Benares.Here, in a new shrinein a hall inlaid with precious stones, under a roof supported by pillars of goldthe moon-god was set up and worshipped. Here, on the night when the shrine was completed, Vishnu the Preserver appeared to the three Brahmins in a dream.The deity breathed the br
11、eath of his divinity on the Diamond in the forehead of the god. And the Brahmins knelt and hid their faces in their robes. The deity commanded that the Moonstone should be watched, from that time forth, by three priests in turn, night and day, to the end of the generations of men. And the Brahmins h
12、eard, and bowed before his will. The deity predicted certain disaster to the presumptuous mortal who laid hands on the sacred gem, and to all of his house and name who received it after him. And the Brahmins caused the prophecy to be written over the gates of the shrine in letters of gold.One age fo
13、llowed anotherand still, generation after generation, the successors of the three Brahmins watched their priceless Moonstone, night and day. One age followed another until the first years of the eighteenth Christian century saw the reign of Aurungzebe, Emperor of the Moguls. At his command havoc and
14、 rapine were let loose once more among the temples of the worship of Brahmah. The shrine of the four-handed god was polluted by the slaughter of sacred animals; the images of the deities were broken in pieces; and the Moonstone was seized by an officer of rank in the army of Aurungzebe.Powerless to
15、recover their lost treasure by open force, the three guardian priests followed and watched it in disguise. The generations succeeded each other; the warrior who had committed the sacrilege perished miserably; the Moonstone passed (carrying its curse with it) from one lawless Mohammedan hand to anoth
16、er; and still, through all chances and changes, the successors of the three guardian priests kept their watch, waiting the day when the will of Vishnu the Preserver should restore to them their sacred gem. Time rolled on from the first to the last years of the eighteenth Christian century. The Diamo
17、nd fell into the possession of Tippoo, Sultan of Seringapatam, who caused it to be placed as an ornament in the handle of a dagger, and who commanded it to be kept among the choicest treasures of his armoury. Even thenin the palace of the Sultan himselfthe three guardian priests still kept their wat
18、ch in secret. There were three officers of Tippoos household, strangers to the rest, who had won their masters confidence by conforming, or appearing to conform, to the Mussulman faith; and to those three men report pointed as the three priests in disguise.IIISo, as told in our camp, ran the fancifu
19、l story of the Moonstone. It made no serious impression on any of us except my cousinwhose love of the marvellous induced him to believe it. On the night before the assault on Seringapatam, he was absurdly angry with me, and with others, for treating the whole thing as a fable. A foolish wrangle fol
20、lowed; and Herncastles unlucky temper got the better of him. He declared, in his boastful way, that we should see the Diamond on his finger, if the English army took Seringapatam. The sally was saluted by a roar of laughter, and there, as we all thought that night, the thing ended.Let me now take yo
21、u on to the day of the assault.My cousin and I were separated at the outset. I never saw him when we forded the river; when we planted the English flag in the first breach; when we crossed the ditch beyond; and, fighting every inch of our way, entered the town. It was only at dusk, when the place wa
22、s ours, and after General Baird himself had found the dead body of Tippoo under a heap of the slain, that Herncastle and I met.We were each attached to a party sent out by the generals orders to prevent the plunder and confusion which followed our conquest. The camp-followers committed deplorable ex
23、cesses; and, worse still, the soldiers found their way, by a guarded door, into the treasury of the Palace, and loaded themselves with gold and jewels. It was in the court outside the treasury that my cousin and I met, to enforce the laws of discipline on our own soldiers. Herncastles fiery temper h
24、ad been, as I could plainly see, exasperated to a kind of frenzy by the terrible slaughter through which we had passed. He was very unfit, in my opinion, to perform the duty that had been entrusted to him.There was riot and confusion enough in the treasury, but no violence that I saw. The men (if I
25、may use such an expression) disgraced themselves good-humouredly. All sorts of rough jests and catchwords were bandied about among them; and the story of the Diamond turned up again unexpectedly, in the form of a mischievous joke. “Whos got the Moonstone?” was the rallying cry which perpetually caus
26、ed the plundering, as soon as it was stopped in one place, to break out in another. While I was still vainly trying to establish order, I heard a frightful yelling on the other side of the courtyard, and at once ran towards the cries, in dread of finding some new outbreak of the pillage in that dire
27、ction.I got to an open door, and saw the bodies of two Indians (by their dress, as I guessed, officers of the palace) lying across the entrance, dead.A cry inside hurried me into a room, which appeared to serve as an armoury. A third Indian, mortally wounded, was sinking at the feet of a man whose b
28、ack was towards me. The man turned at the instant when I came in, and I saw John Herncastle, with a torch in one hand, and a dagger dripping with blood in the other. A stone, set like a pommel, in the end of the daggers handle, flashed in the torchlight, as he turned on me, like a gleam of fire. The
29、 dying Indian sank to his knees, pointed to the dagger in Herncastles hand, and said, in his native language“The Moonstone will have its vengeance yet on you and yours!” He spoke those words, and fell dead on the floor.Before I could stir in the matter, the men who had followed me across the courtya
30、rd crowded in. My cousin rushed to meet them, like a madman. “Clear the room!” he shouted to me, “and set a guard on the door!” The men fell back as he threw himself on them with his torch and his dagger. I put two sentinels of my own company, on whom I could rely, to keep the door. Through the rema
31、inder of the night, I saw no more of my cousin.Early in the morning, the plunder still going on, General Baird announced publicly by beat of drum, that any thief detected in the fact, be he whom he might, should be hung. The provost-marshal was in attendance, to prove that the General was in earnest
32、; and in the throng that followed the proclamation, Herncastle and I met again.He held out his hand, as usual, and said, “Good morning.”I waited before I gave him my hand in return.“Tell me first,” I said, “how the Indian in the armoury met his death, and what those last words meant, when he pointed
33、 to the dagger in your hand.”“The Indian met his death, as I suppose, by a mortal wound,” said Herncastle. “What his last words meant I know no more than you do.”I looked at him narrowly. His frenzy of the previous day had all calmed down. I determined to give him another chance.“Is that all you hav
34、e to tell me?” I asked.He answered, “That is all.”I turned my back on him; and we have not spoken since.IVI beg it to be understood that what I write here about my cousin (unless some necessity should arise for making it public) is for the information of the family only. Herncastle has said nothing
35、that can justify me in speaking to our commanding officer. He has been taunted more than once about the Diamond, by those who recollect his angry outbreak before the assault; but, as may easily be imagined, his own remembrance of the circumstances under which I surprised him in the armoury has been
36、enough to keep him silent. It is reported that he means to exchange into another regiment, avowedly for the purpose of separating himself from me.Whether this be true or not, I cannot prevail upon myself to become his accuserand I think with good reason. If I made the matter public, I have no eviden
37、ce but moral evidence to bring forward. I have not only no proof that he killed the two men at the door; I cannot even declare that he killed the third man insidefor I cannot say that my own eyes saw the deed committed. It is true that I heard the dying Indians words; but if those words were pronoun
38、ced to be the ravings of delirium, how could I contradict the assertion from my own knowledge? Let our relatives, on either side, form their own opinion on what I have written, and decide for themselves whether the aversion I now feel towards this man is well or ill founded.Although I attach no sort
39、 of credit to the fantastic Indian legend of the gem, I must acknowledge, before I conclude, that I am influenced by a certain superstition of my own in this matter. It is my conviction, or my delusion, no matter which, that crime brings its own fatality with it. I am not only persuaded of Herncastl
40、es guilt; I am even fanciful enough to believe that he will live to regret it, if he keeps the Diamond; and that others will live to regret taking it from him, if he gives the Diamond away.THE STORYFIRST PERIODTHE LOSS OF THE DIAMOND (1848)The Events related by Gabriel Betteredge, house-steward in t
41、he service of Julia, Lady Verinder.CHAPTER IIn the first part of Robinson Crusoe, at page one hundred and twenty-nine, you will find it thus written:“Now I saw, though too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost, and before we judge rightly of our own Strength to go through with
42、 it.”Only yesterday, I opened my Robinson Crusoe at that place. Only this morning (May twenty-first, eighteen hundred and fifty), came my ladys nephew, Mr. Franklin Blake, and held a short conversation with me, as follows:“Betteredge,” says Mr. Franklin, “I have been to the lawyers about some family
43、 matters; and, among other things, we have been talking of the loss of the Indian Diamond, in my aunts house in Yorkshire, two years since. Mr. Bruff thinks as I think, that the whole story ought, in the interests of truth, to be placed on record in writingand the sooner the better.”Not perceiving h
44、is drift yet, and thinking it always desirable for the sake of peace and quietness to be on the lawyers side, I said I thought so too. Mr. Franklin went on.“In this matter of the Diamond,” he said, “the characters of innocent people have suffered under suspicion alreadyas you know. The memories of i
45、nnocent people may suffer, hereafter, for want of a record of the facts to which those who come after us can appeal. There can be no doubt that this strange family story of ours ought to be told. And I think, Betteredge, Mr. Bruff and I together have hit on the right way of telling it.”Very satisfac
46、tory to both of them, no doubt. But I failed to see what I myself had to do with it, so far.“We have certain events to relate,” Mr. Franklin proceeded; “and we have certain persons concerned in those events who are capable of relating them. Starting from these plain facts, the idea is that we should
47、 all write the story of the Moonstone in turnas far as our own personal experience extends, and no farther. We must begin by showing how the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since. This prefatory narrative I have already got by me in
48、the form of an old family paper, which relates the necessary particulars on the authority of an eye-witness. The next thing to do is to tell how the Diamond found its way into my aunts house in Yorkshire, two years ago, and how it came to be lost in little more than twelve hours afterwards. Nobody k
49、nows as much as you do, Betteredge, about what went on in the house at that time. So you must take the pen in hand, and start the story.”In those terms I was informed of what my personal concern was with the matter of the Diamond. If you are curious to know what course I took under the circumstances, I be