Chapter 37

CHAPTER XXXVII The Reaper Whose Name Is Death "Matthew-Matthew-what is the matter? Matthew, are you sick?" It was Marilla who spoke, alarm in every jerky word. Anne came through the hall, her hands full of white narcissus,-it was long before Anne could love the sight or odor of white narcissus again,-in time to hear her and to see Matthew standing in the porch doorway, a folded paper in his hand, and his face strangely drawn and gray. Anne dropped her flowers and sprang across the kitchen to him at the same moment as Marilla. They were both too late; before they could reach him Matthew had fallen across the threshold. "He's fainted," gasped Marilla. "Anne, run for Martin-quick, quick! He's at the barn." Martin, the hired man, who had just driven home from the post office, started at once for the doctor, calling at Orchard Slope on his way to send Mr. and Mrs. Barry over.

第三十七章 那名叫死神的收割者 “马修——马修，你怎么了？ 马修，你不舒服吗？” 这话是玛丽拉说的，每个发颤的词都透着惊慌。 安妮捧着一束白水仙穿过厅房，刚好听见这话，也看见马修站在门廊门口，手里攥着一张折好的纸，脸色奇怪地紧绷泛白——在那之后，安妮过了很久都没法再看、再闻白水仙了。 安妮掉了花，和玛丽拉同时冲进厨房奔向马修。 她们都晚了一步，还没跑到他身边，马修就倒在了门槛上。 “他晕过去了，”玛丽拉喘着气说。 “安妮，快去叫马丁——快，快去！ 他在谷仓呢。” 雇农马丁刚从邮局驾车回来，立刻动身去找医生，还顺路绕去果园坡，叫巴里夫妇过来。

Mrs. Lynde, who was there on an errand, came too. They found Anne and Marilla distractedly trying to restore Matthew to consciousness. Mrs. Lynde pushed them gently aside, tried his pulse, and then laid her ear over his heart. She looked at their anxious faces sorrowfully and the tears came into her eyes. "Oh, Marilla," she said gravely. "I don't think-we can do anything for him." "Mrs. Lynde, you don't think-you can't think Matthew is- is-" Anne could not say the dreadful word; she turned sick and pallid. "Child, yes, I'm afraid of it. Look at his face. When you've seen that look as often as I have you'll know what it means." Anne looked at the still face and there beheld the seal of the Great Presence. When the doctor came he said that death had been instantaneous and probably painless, caused in all likelihood by some sudden shock. The secret of the shock was discovered to be in the paper Matthew had held and which Martin had brought from the office that morning.

本来有事来这儿的林德太太，也跟着过来了。 她们看见安妮和玛丽拉慌得手忙脚乱，想把马修救醒过来。 林德太太轻轻把她们推开，摸了摸他的脉搏，又把耳朵贴在他心口听。 她忧伤地望着两人焦急的脸，眼泪涌了上来。 “唉，玛丽拉，”她沉重地说。 “我觉得……我们救不了他了。” “林德太太，你不会是觉得……你不会想说马修他……他……” 安妮说不出那句可怕的话，她难受得脸色惨白。 “孩子，没错，我怕是这样。 你看他的脸。 你要是像我一样见过好多次这种神情，就知道这意味着什么了。” 安妮望向那张一动不动的脸，看见了死神的印记。 医生来后说，死亡是瞬间发生的，大概率没有痛苦，应该是突发休克导致的。 人们发现，休克的原因就在马修攥着的那张纸里，就是马丁那天早上从邮局带回来的那张。

It contained an account of the failure of the Abbey Bank. The news spread quickly through Avonlea, and all day friends and neighbors thronged Green Gables and came and went on errands of kindness for the dead and living. For the first time shy, quiet Matthew Cuthbert was a person of central importance; the white majesty of death had fallen on him and set him apart as one crowned. When the calm night came softly down over Green Gables the old house was hushed and tranquil. In the parlor lay Matthew Cuthbert in his coffin, his long gray hair framing his placid face on which there was a little kindly smile as if he but slept, dreaming pleasant dreams. There were flowers about him-sweet old-fashioned flowers which his mother had planted in the homestead garden in her bridal days and for which Matthew had always had a secret, wordless love. Anne had gathered them and brought them to him, her anguished, tearless eyes burning in her white face. It was the last thing she could do for him.

纸上写着艾比银行破产的消息。 消息很快传遍了埃文利，一整天朋友们邻居都涌到绿山墙，忙着为逝者和生者张罗各种暖心的事。 腼腆沉静的马修·卡斯伯特，第一次成了所有人在意的核心； 死亡的庄严圣洁笼罩着他，让他像被加冕一般，格外与众不同。 当静谧的夜晚轻轻笼住绿山墙，这座老房子变得安安静静。 客厅里，马修·卡斯伯特躺在棺材里，长长的灰发衬着他平和的脸，脸上带着一丝温柔的笑意，仿佛他只是睡着了，在做甜美的梦。 他身边摆着鲜花——都是亲切的老式花，是马修的母亲当新娘时在老家花园种下的，马修一直悄悄默默爱着这些花。 安妮把花采来放到他身边，她痛苦得哭不出来，苍白的脸上双眼发烫。 这是她能为他做的最后一件事了。

The Barrys and Mrs. Lynde stayed with them that night. Diana, going to the east gable, where Anne was standing at her window, said gently: "Anne dear, would you like to have me sleep with you tonight?" "Thank you, Diana." Anne looked earnestly into her friend's face. "I think you won't misunderstand me when I say I want to be alone. I'm not afraid. I haven't been alone one minute since it happened-and I want to be. I want to be quite silent and quiet and try to realize it. I can't realize it. Half the time it seems to me that Matthew can't be dead; and the other half it seems as if he must have been dead for a long time and I've had this horrible dull ache ever since." Diana did not quite understand. Marilla's impassioned grief, breaking all the bounds of natural reserve and lifelong habit in its stormy rush, she could comprehend better than Anne's tearless agony. But she went away kindly, leaving Anne alone to keep her first vigil with sorrow. Anne hoped that the tears would come in solitude. It seemed to her a terrible thing that she

那天晚上，巴里夫妇和林德太太留下来陪她们。 黛安娜走到东厢房，看见安妮站在窗边，温柔地说：“亲爱的安妮，今晚你愿意我陪你睡吗？” “谢谢你，黛安娜。” 安妮真诚地望着朋友的脸。 “我想我说我想一个人待着，你不会误会我的。 我不害怕。 出事之后我没有一分钟独处过——我想要一个人待着。 我想要安安静静的，努力接受这件事。 我现在还接受不了。 一半时间我觉得马修不可能死； 另一半时间我又觉得他已经走了很久了，从那之后我心里就一直疼得厉害。” 黛安娜没有完全明白。 玛丽拉冲破了天生的内敛和一辈子的习惯，悲痛汹涌爆发，黛安娜更能理解这种悲痛，没法懂安妮哭不出来的痛苦。 但她还是体贴地离开了，留安妮一个人第一次独自守着悲伤。 安妮希望独处的时候能哭出来。 她觉得对她来说，哭不出来真是太可怕了

could not shed a tear for Matthew, whom she had loved so much and who had been so kind to her, Matthew who had walked with her last evening at sunset and was now lying in the dim room below with that awful peace on his brow. But no tears came at first, even when she knelt by her window in the darkness and prayed, looking up to the stars beyond the hills-no tears, only the same horrible dull ache of misery that kept on aching until she fell asleep, worn out with the day's pain and excitement. In the night she awakened, with the stillness and the darkness about her, and the recollection of the day came over her like a wave of sorrow. She could see Matthew's face smiling at her as he had smiled when they parted at the gate that last evening-she could hear his voice saying, "My girl-my girl that I'm proud of." Then the tears came and Anne wept her heart out. Marilla heard her and crept in to comfort her. "There-there-don't cry so, dearie. It can't bring him back. It-it-isn't right to cry so. I knew that today, but I couldn't help it then. He'd always been such a good, kind brother to me-but God knows best."

她怎么也掉不出一滴眼泪，她那么爱马修，马修也一直对她那么好，昨天日落时分他还陪她散步，如今却躺在楼下昏暗的房间里，眉宇间笼着骇人的沉寂。 可一开始眼泪就是落不下来，哪怕她在黑暗里跪在窗边祷告，望着山那边的星星，也掉不出一滴泪，只有可怕沉闷的痛苦不停折磨着她，直到她被一天的悲痛和激动耗尽力气，沉沉睡去。 半夜她醒过来，四周一片寂静漆黑，白天的回忆像悲伤的浪涛一样将她席卷。 她仿佛看见马修笑着对她，就是最后那晚在门口道别时的笑容，她还听见他说：“我的姑娘——我引以为傲的好姑娘。” 眼泪终于涌了出来，安妮哭得撕心裂肺。 玛丽拉听见哭声，悄悄进来安慰她。 “好了——好了，别哭成这样，宝贝。 哭也没法把他带回来了。 这——这样哭不对的。 其实我今天就明白，可我刚才就是控制不住。 他一直是那么好那么温柔的哥哥——不过上帝自有安排。”

"Oh, just let me cry, Marilla," sobbed Anne. "The tears don't hurt me like that ache did. Stay here for a little while with me and keep your arm round me-so. I couldn't have Diana stay, she's good and kind and sweet-but it's not her sorrow-she's outside of it and she couldn't come close enough to my heart to help me. It's our sorrow-yours and mine. Oh, Marilla, what will we do without him?" "We've got each other, Anne. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here-if you'd never come. Oh, Anne, I know I've been kind of strict and harsh with you maybe-but you mustn't think I didn't love you as well as Matthew did, for all that. I want to tell you now when I can. It's never been easy for me to say things out of my heart, but at times like this it's easier. I love you as dear as if you were my own flesh and blood and you've been my joy and comfort ever since you came to Green Gables." Two days afterwards they carried Matthew Cuthbert over his homestead threshold and away from the fields he had tilled and the orchards he had loved and the trees he had planted; and then Avonlea settled back to its usual placidity and

“哦，就让我哭吧，玛丽拉，”安妮抽泣着说。 “流泪可比那种心痛好受多了。 陪我待一会儿，抱着我——就这样。 我不能让黛安娜留下来，她善良又贴心，可这不是她的悲痛，她没法感同身受，走不到我心底来安慰我。 这是我们的悲痛——是你和我的。 哦，玛丽拉，没有他我们该怎么办呀？” “我们还有彼此，安妮。 如果你不在这儿——如果你从没来过，我真不知道我该怎么办。 哦，安妮，我知道我之前对你可能太严厉苛刻了——可你别以为我不像马修那样爱你，真的不是。 现在我终于能把话说出口了。 我向来不擅长说心里话，可这种时候反而更容易开口了。 我爱你就像爱亲生骨肉，你来到绿山墙之后，一直是我的快乐和慰藉。” 两天后，人们抬着马修·卡斯伯特走出庄园，离开了他耕种过的田野、他深爱的果园，还有他亲手种下的树； 之后埃文利便恢复了往日的平静，