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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age; and not the golden age either; it comprised an irksome struggle with difficulties in habituating myself to new rules and unwonted tasks. The fear of failure in these points harassed me worse than the physical hardships of my lot; though these were no trifles. During January, February, and part of March, the deep snows, and, after their melting, the almost impassable roads, prevented our stirring beyond the garden walls, except to go to church; but within these limits we had to pass an hour every day in the open air. Our clothing was insufficient to protect us from the severe cold: we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes and melted there: our ungloved hands became numbed and covered with chilblains, as were our feet: I remember well the distracting irritation I endured from this cause every evening, when my feet inflamed; and the torture of thrusting the swelled, raw, and stiff toes into my shoes in the morning. Then the scanty supply of food was distressing: with the keen appetites of growing children, we had scarcely sufficient to keep alive a delicate invalid. From this deficiency of nourishment resulted an abuse, which pressed hardly on the younger pupils: whenever the famished great girls had an opportunity, they would coax or menace the little ones out of their portion. Many a time I have shared between two claimants the precious morsel of brown bread distributed at tea-time; and after relinquishing to a third half the contents of my mug of coffee, I have swallowed the remainder with an accompaniment of secret tears, forced from me by the exigency of hunger. Sundays were dreary days in that wintry season.

We had to walk two miles to Brocklebridge Church, where our patron officiated. We set out cold, we arrived at church colder: during the morning service we became almost paralysed. It was too far to return to dinner, and an allowance of cold meat and bread, in the same penurious proportion observed in our ordinary meals, was served round between the services. At the close of the afternoon service we returned by an exposed and hilly road, where the bitter winter wind, blowing over a range of snowy summits to the north, almost flayed the skin from our faces. I can remember Miss Temple walking lightly and rapidly along our drooping line, her plaid cloak, which the frosty wind fluttered, gathered close about her, and encouraging us, by precept and example, to keep up our spirits, and march forward, as she said, “like stalwart soldiers.” The other teachers, poor things, were generally themselves too much dejected to attempt the task of cheering others. How we longed for the light and heat of a blazing fire when we got back!

But, to the little ones at least, this was denied: each hearth in the schoolroom was immediately surrounded by a double row of great girls, and behind them the younger children crouched in groups, wrapping their starved arms in their pinafores. A little solace came at tea-time, in the shape of a double ration of bread—a whole, instead of a half, slice—with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath. I generally contrived to reserve a moiety of this bounteous repast for myself; but the remainder I was invariably obliged to part with. The Sunday evening was spent in repeating, by heart, the Church Catechism, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew; and in listening to a long sermon, read by Miss Miller, whose irrepressible yawns attested her weariness. A frequent interlude of these performances was the enactment of the part of Eutychus by some half-dozen of little girls, who, overpowered with sleep, would fall down, if not out of the third loft, yet off the fourth form, and be taken up half dead. The remedy was, to thrust them forward into the centre of the schoolroom, and oblige them to stand there till the sermon was finished. Sometimes their feet failed them, and they sank together in a heap; they were then propped up with the monitors' high stools. I have not yet alluded to the visits of Mr. Brocklehurst; and indeed that gentleman was from home during the greater part of the first month after my arrival; perhaps prolonging his stay with his friend the archdeacon: his absence was a relief to me. I need not say that I had my own reasons for dreading his coming: but come he did at last. One afternoon (I had then been three weeks at Lowood), as I was sitting with a slate in my hand, puzzling over a sum in long division, my eyes, raised in abstraction to the window, caught sight of a figure just passing: I recognised almost instinctively that gaunt outline; and when, two minutes after, all the school, teachers included, rose en masse , it was not necessary for me to look up in order to ascertain whose entrance they thus greeted. A long stride measured the schoolroom, and presently beside Miss Temple, who herself had risen, stood the same black column which had frowned on me so ominously from the hearthrug of Gateshead. I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture. Yes, I was right: it was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever. I had my own reasons for being dismayed at this apparition; too well I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed about my disposition, &c.; the promise pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst to apprise Miss Temple and the teachers of my vicious nature. All along I had been dreading the fulfilment of this promise,—I had been looking out daily for the “Coming Man,” whose information respecting my past life and conversation was to brand me as a bad child for ever: now there he was. He stood at Miss Temple's side; he was speaking low in her ear: I did not doubt he was making disclosures of my villainy; and I watched her eye with painful anxiety, expecting every moment to see its dark orb turn on me a glance of repugnance and contempt. I listened too; and as I happened to be seated quite at the top of the room, I caught most of what he said: its import relieved me from immediate apprehension. “I suppose, Miss Temple, the thread I bought at Lowton will do; it struck me that it would be just of the quality for the calico chemises, and I sorted the needles to match. You may tell Miss Smith that I forgot to make a memorandum of the darning needles, but she shall have some papers sent in next week; and she is not, on any account, to give out more than one at a time to each pupil: if they have more, they are apt to be careless and lose them. And, O ma'am! I wish the woollen stockings were better looked to!—when I was here last, I went into the kitchen-garden and examined the clothes drying on the line; there was a quantity of black hose in a very bad state of repair: from the size of the holes in them I was sure they had not been well mended from time to time.” He paused.

“Your directions shall be attended to, sir,” said Miss Temple. “And, ma'am,” he continued, “the laundress tells me some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week: it is too much; the rules limit them to one.” “I think I can explain that circumstance, sir.

Agnes and Catherine Johnstone were invited to take tea with some friends at Lowton last Thursday, and I gave them leave to put on clean tuckers for the occasion.” Mr.

Brocklehurst nodded. “Well, for once it may pass; but please not to let the circumstance occur too often. And there is another thing which surprised me; I find, in settling accounts with the housekeeper, that a lunch, consisting of bread and cheese, has twice been served out to the girls during the past fortnight. How is this? I looked over the regulations, and I find no such meal as lunch mentioned. Who introduced this innovation? and by what authority?” “I must be responsible for the circumstance, sir,” replied Miss Temple: “the breakfast was so ill prepared that the pupils could not possibly eat it; and I dared not allow them to remain fasting till dinner-time.” “Madam, allow me an instant.

You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence, but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying. Should any little accidental disappointment of the appetite occur, such as the spoiling of a meal, the under or the over dressing of a dish, the incident ought not to be neutralised by replacing with something more delicate the comfort lost, thus pampering the body and obviating the aim of this institution; it ought to be improved to the spiritual edification of the pupils, by encouraging them to evince fortitude under temporary privation. A brief address on those occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the primitive Christians; to the torments of martyrs; to the exhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; to His divine consolations, “If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye.” Oh, madam, when you put bread and cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children's mouths, you may indeed feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal souls!” Mr.

Brocklehurst again paused—perhaps overcome by his feelings. Miss Temple had looked down when he first began to speak to her; but she now gazed straight before her, and her face, naturally pale as marble, appeared to be assuming also the coldness and fixity of that material; especially her mouth, closed as if it would have required a sculptor's chisel to open it, and her brow settled gradually into petrified severity. Meantime, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands behind his back, majestically surveyed the whole school. Suddenly his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in more rapid accents than he had hitherto used— “Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what— what is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma'am, curled—curled all over?” And extending his cane he pointed to the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so. “It is Julia Severn,” replied Miss Temple, very quietly. “Julia Severn, ma'am!

And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly—here in an evangelical, charitable establishment—as to wear her hair one mass of curls?” “Julia's hair curls naturally,” returned Miss Temple, still more quietly. “Naturally!

Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. Miss Temple, that girl's hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow: and I see others who have far too much of the excrescence—that tall girl, tell her to turn round. Tell all the first form to rise up and direct their faces to the wall.” Miss Temple passed her handkerchief over her lips, as if to smooth away the involuntary smile that curled them; she gave the order, however, and when the first class could take in what was required of them, they obeyed. Leaning a little back on my bench, I could see the looks and grimaces with which they commented on this manoeuvre: it was a pity Mr. Brocklehurst could not see them too; he would perhaps have felt that, whatever he might do with the outside of the cup and platter, the inside was further beyond his interference than he imagined. He scrutinised the reverse of these living medals some five minutes, then pronounced sentence. These words fell like the knell of doom— “All those top-knots must be cut off.”

Miss Temple seemed to remonstrate.

“Madam,” he pursued, “I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel; and each of the young persons before us has a string of hair twisted in plaits which vanity itself might have woven; these, I repeat, must be cut off; think of the time wasted, of—” Mr.

Brocklehurst was here interrupted: three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls. These ladies were deferentially received by Miss Temple, as Mrs. and the Misses Brocklehurst, and conducted to seats of honour at the top of the room. It seems they had come in the carriage with their reverend relative, and had been conducting a rummaging scrutiny of the room upstairs, while he transacted business with the housekeeper, questioned the laundress, and lectured the superintendent. They now proceeded to address divers remarks and reproofs to Miss Smith, who was charged with the care of the linen and the inspection of the dormitories: but I had no time to listen to what they said; other matters called off and enchanted my attention. Hitherto, while gathering up the discourse of Mr. Brocklehurst and Miss Temple, I had not, at the same time, neglected precautions to secure my personal safety; which I thought would be effected, if I could only elude observation. To this end, I had sat well back on the form, and while seeming to be busy with my sum, had held my slate in such a manner as to conceal my face: I might have escaped notice, had not my treacherous slate somehow happened to slip from my hand, and falling with an obtrusive crash, directly drawn every eye upon me; I knew it was all over now, and, as I stooped to pick up the two fragments of slate, I rallied my forces for the worst. It came. “A careless girl!” said Mr. Brocklehurst, and immediately after—“It is the new pupil, I perceive.” And before I could draw breath, “I must not forget I have a word to say respecting her.” Then aloud: how loud it seemed to me! “Let the child who broke her slate come forward!” Of my own accord I could not have stirred; I was paralysed: but the two great girls who sit on each side of me, set me on my legs and pushed me towards the dread judge, and then Miss Temple gently assisted me to his very feet, and I caught her whispered counsel— “Don't be afraid, Jane, I saw it was an accident; you shall not be punished.” The kind whisper went to my heart like a dagger.

“Another minute, and she will despise me for a hypocrite,” thought I; and an impulse of fury against Reed, Brocklehurst, and Co. bounded in my pulses at the conviction. I was no Helen Burns. “Fetch that stool,” said Mr. Brocklehurst, pointing to a very high one from which a monitor had just risen: it was brought. “Place the child upon it.”

And I was placed there, by whom I don't know: I was in no condition to note particulars; I was only aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of Mr. Brocklehurst's nose, that he was within a yard of me, and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage extended and waved below me. Mr.

Brocklehurst hemmed. “Ladies,” said he, turning to his family, “Miss Temple, teachers, and children, you all see this girl?” Of course they did; for I felt their eyes directed like burning-glasses against my scorched skin. “You see she is yet young; you observe she possesses the ordinary form of childhood; God has graciously given her the shape that He has given to all of us; no signal deformity points her out as a marked character. Who would think that the Evil One had already found a servant and agent in her? Yet such, I grieve to say, is the case.” A pause—in which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves, and to feel that the Rubicon was passed; and that the trial, no longer to be shirked, must be firmly sustained. “My dear children,” pursued the black marble clergyman, with pathos, “this is a sad, a melancholy occasion; for it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs, is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien. You must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse. Teachers, you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut—this girl is—a liar!” Now came a pause of ten minutes, during which I, by this time in perfect possession of my wits, observed all the female Brocklehursts produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics, while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro, and the two younger ones whispered, “How shocking!” Mr. Brocklehurst resumed. “This I learned from her benefactress; from the pious and charitable lady who adopted her in her orphan state, reared her as her own daughter, and whose kindness, whose generosity the unhappy girl repaid by an ingratitude so bad, so dreadful, that at last her excellent patroness was obliged to separate her from her own young ones, fearful lest her vicious example should contaminate their purity: she has sent her here to be healed, even as the Jews of old sent their diseased to the troubled pool of Bethesda; and, teachers, superintendent, I beg of you not to allow the waters to stagnate round her.” With this sublime conclusion, Mr. Brocklehurst adjusted the top button of his surtout, muttered something to his family, who rose, bowed to Miss Temple, and then all the great people sailed in state from the room. Turning at the door, my judge said— “Let her stand half-an-hour longer on that stool, and let no one speak to her during the remainder of the day.” There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy. What my sensations were no language can describe; but just as they all rose, stifling my breath and constricting my throat, a girl came up and passed me: in passing, she lifted her eyes. What a strange light inspired them! What an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through me! How the new feeling bore me up! It was as if a martyr, a hero, had passed a slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit. I mastered the rising hysteria, lifted up my head, and took a firm stand on the stool. Helen Burns asked some slight question about her work of Miss Smith, was chidden for the triviality of the inquiry, returned to her place, and smiled at me as she again went by. What a smile! I remember it now, and I know that it was the effluence of fine intellect, of true courage; it lit up her marked lineaments, her thin face, her sunken grey eye, like a reflection from the aspect of an angel. Yet at that moment Helen Burns wore on her arm “the untidy badge;” scarcely an hour ago I had heard her condemned by Miss Scatcherd to a dinner of bread and water on the morrow because she had blotted an exercise in copying it out. Such is the imperfect nature of man! such spots are there on the disc of the clearest planet; and eyes like Miss Scatcherd's can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb.

CHAPTER VII ГЛАВА VII BÖLÜM VII 第七章

My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age; and not the golden age either; it comprised an irksome struggle with difficulties in habituating myself to new rules and unwonted tasks. Mon premier quart à Lowood me parut un âge; et non pas l'âge d'or non plus; il s'agissait d'une lutte ennuyeuse avec des difficultés à m'habituer à de nouvelles règles et à des tâches inhabituelles. 我在洛伍德(Lowood)的第一季度似乎很老。也不是黄金时代;它包括一场艰苦的斗争,难以适应新的规则和不愿做的任务。 The fear of failure in these points harassed me worse than the physical hardships of my lot; though these were no trifles. La peur de l'échec sur ces points me harcelait pire que les difficultés physiques de mon sort; bien que ce ne soient pas des bagatelles. 对这些方面失败的恐惧使我比自己的身体苦恼更糟。尽管这些都不是小事。 During January, February, and part of March, the deep snows, and, after their melting, the almost impassable roads, prevented our stirring beyond the garden walls, except to go to church; but within these limits we had to pass an hour every day in the open air. Pendant les mois de janvier, février et une partie de mars, les neiges profondes et, après leur fonte, les routes presque impraticables, nous empêchèrent de bouger au-delà des murs du jardin, sauf pour aller à l'église; mais dans ces limites nous devions passer une heure chaque jour en plein air. Our clothing was insufficient to protect us from the severe cold: we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes and melted there: our ungloved hands became numbed and covered with chilblains, as were our feet: I remember well the distracting irritation I endured from this cause every evening, when my feet inflamed; and the torture of thrusting the swelled, raw, and stiff toes into my shoes in the morning. Nos vêtements étaient insuffisants pour nous protéger du grand froid: nous n'avions pas de bottes, la neige est entrée dans nos chaussures et y a fondu: nos mains non gantées se sont engourdies et couvertes d'engelures, tout comme nos pieds: je me souviens bien de l'irritation distrayante que j'ai endurée de cette cause chaque soir, quand mes pieds s'enflamment; et la torture de mettre les orteils gonflés, crus et raides dans mes chaussures le matin. Then the scanty supply of food was distressing: with the keen appetites of growing children, we had scarcely sufficient to keep alive a delicate invalid. Puis la rareté de la nourriture était angoissante: avec l'appétit aigu des enfants qui grandissaient, nous avions à peine assez pour maintenir en vie un malade fragile. From this deficiency of nourishment resulted an abuse, which pressed hardly on the younger pupils: whenever the famished great girls had an opportunity, they would coax or menace the little ones out of their portion. De cette carence de nourriture résultait un abus qui ne pesait guère sur les élèves plus jeunes: chaque fois que les grandes filles affamées en avaient l'occasion, elles persuadaient ou menaçaient les petites de leur part. Many a time I have shared between two claimants the precious morsel of brown bread distributed at tea-time; and after relinquishing to a third half the contents of my mug of coffee, I have swallowed the remainder with an accompaniment of secret tears, forced from me by the exigency of hunger. Plusieurs fois, j'ai partagé entre deux demandeurs le précieux morceau de pain brun distribué à l'heure du thé; et après avoir abandonné à un tiers le contenu de ma tasse de café, j'ai avalé le reste avec un accompagnement de larmes secrètes, que m'exigeait la faim. Sundays were dreary days in that wintry season.

We had to walk two miles to Brocklebridge Church, where our patron officiated. Nous avons dû marcher trois kilomètres jusqu'à l'église de Brocklebridge, où notre patron a officié. We set out cold, we arrived at church colder: during the morning service we became almost paralysed. Nous sommes partis froids, nous sommes arrivés à l'église plus froids: pendant le service du matin, nous sommes devenus presque paralysés. It was too far to return to dinner, and an allowance of cold meat and bread, in the same penurious proportion observed in our ordinary meals, was served round between the services. Il était trop loin pour retourner au dîner, et une allocation de viande froide et de pain, dans la même proportion misérable observée dans nos repas ordinaires, était servie entre les services. At the close of the afternoon service we returned by an exposed and hilly road, where the bitter winter wind, blowing over a range of snowy summits to the north, almost flayed the skin from our faces. À la fin du service de l'après-midi, nous sommes revenus par une route dénudée et vallonnée, où le vent amer de l'hiver, soufflant sur une chaîne de sommets enneigés au nord, a presque écorché la peau de nos visages. I can remember Miss Temple walking lightly and rapidly along our drooping line, her plaid cloak, which the frosty wind fluttered, gathered close about her, and encouraging us, by precept and example, to keep up our spirits, and march forward, as she said, “like stalwart soldiers.”  The other teachers, poor things, were generally themselves too much dejected to attempt the task of cheering others. Je me souviens de Miss Temple marchant légèrement et rapidement le long de notre ligne tombante, sa cape à carreaux, que le vent glacial flottait, se rapprocha d'elle, et nous encourageant, par précepte et exemple, à garder le moral, et à avancer, comme elle dit, «comme des soldats fidèles». Les autres professeurs, pauvres gens, étaient généralement eux-mêmes trop abattus pour tenter la tâche d'encourager d'autres. How we longed for the light and heat of a blazing fire when we got back! Comme nous aspirions à la lumière et à la chaleur d'un feu ardent à notre retour!

But, to the little ones at least, this was denied: each hearth in the schoolroom was immediately surrounded by a double row of great girls, and behind them the younger children crouched in groups, wrapping their starved arms in their pinafores. Mais, pour les plus petits du moins, cela a été refusé: chaque foyer de la salle de classe était immédiatement entouré d'une double rangée de grandes filles, et derrière elles, les plus jeunes étaient accroupis en groupes, enveloppant leurs bras affamés dans leurs pinafores. A little solace came at tea-time, in the shape of a double ration of bread—a whole, instead of a half, slice—with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter: it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath. Un peu de réconfort est venu à l'heure du thé, sous la forme d'une double ration de pain - une tranche entière, au lieu d'une demi-tranche - avec l'ajout délicieux d'une fine raclure de beurre: c'était la friandise hebdomadaire à laquelle nous regardions tous du sabbat au sabbat. I generally contrived to reserve a moiety of this bounteous repast for myself; but the remainder I was invariably obliged to part with. J'arrivais généralement à me réserver une part de ce copieux repas; mais le reste, j'étais toujours obligé de me séparer. The Sunday evening was spent in repeating, by heart, the Church Catechism, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. La soirée du dimanche a été consacrée à répéter, par cœur, le catéchisme de l'Église et les cinquième, sixième et septième chapitres de St. Matthew; and in listening to a long sermon, read by Miss Miller, whose irrepressible yawns attested her weariness. Matthieu; et en écoutant un long sermon, lu par miss Miller, dont les bâillements irrépressibles attestaient sa lassitude. A frequent interlude of these performances was the enactment of the part of Eutychus by some half-dozen of little girls, who, overpowered with sleep, would fall down, if not out of the third loft, yet off the fourth form, and be taken up half dead. Un intermède fréquent de ces performances était la mise en scène du rôle d'Eutychus par une demi-douzaine de petites filles, qui, accablées de sommeil, tomberaient, sinon hors du troisième loft, mais de la quatrième forme, et être prises à moitié mort. The remedy was, to thrust them forward into the centre of the schoolroom, and oblige them to stand there till the sermon was finished. Le remède était de les pousser au centre de la salle de classe et de les obliger à rester là jusqu'à ce que le sermon soit terminé. Sometimes their feet failed them, and they sank together in a heap; they were then propped up with the monitors' high stools. Parfois leurs pieds leur manquaient, et ils sombraient ensemble en un tas; ils étaient ensuite calés sur les hauts tabourets des moniteurs. I have not yet alluded to the visits of Mr. Brocklehurst; and indeed that gentleman was from home during the greater part of the first month after my arrival; perhaps prolonging his stay with his friend the archdeacon: his absence was a relief to me. Je n'ai pas encore fait allusion aux visites de M. Brocklehurst; et en effet ce monsieur était de chez lui pendant la plus grande partie du premier mois après mon arrivée; prolonger peut-être son séjour chez son ami l'archidiacre: son absence me fut un soulagement. I need not say that I had my own reasons for dreading his coming: but come he did at last. One afternoon (I had then been three weeks at Lowood), as I was sitting with a slate in my hand, puzzling over a sum in long division, my eyes, raised in abstraction to the window, caught sight of a figure just passing: I recognised almost instinctively that gaunt outline; and when, two minutes after, all the school, teachers included, rose en masse , it was not necessary for me to look up in order to ascertain whose entrance they thus greeted. Un après-midi (j'avais alors été trois semaines à Lowood), alors que j'étais assis avec une ardoise à la main, perplexe sur une somme en longue division, mes yeux, levés en abstraction vers la fenêtre, aperçurent une figure qui passait: J'ai reconnu presque instinctivement ce contour décharné; et quand, deux minutes après, toute l'école, professeurs compris, se leva en masse, il ne me fallut pas lever les yeux pour savoir à qui ils accueillaient ainsi l'entrée. A long stride measured the schoolroom, and presently beside Miss Temple, who herself had risen, stood the same black column which had frowned on me so ominously from the hearthrug of Gateshead. Une longue enjambée mesurait la salle de classe, et bientôt à côté de Miss Temple, qui elle-même s'était levée, se tenait la même colonne noire qui m'avait froncé les sourcils de façon si inquiétante à cause du coup de cœur de Gateshead. I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture. J'ai alors jeté un coup d'œil latéral à ce morceau d'architecture. Yes, I was right: it was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever. Oui, j'avais raison: c'était M. Brocklehurst, boutonné en surtout, et paraissant plus long, plus étroit et plus rigide que jamais. I had my own reasons for being dismayed at this apparition; too well I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed about my disposition, &c.; the promise pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst to apprise Miss Temple and the teachers of my vicious nature. J'avais mes propres raisons d'être consterné par cette apparition; trop bien je me souvenais des perfides allusions données par Mme Reed sur ma disposition, etc. la promesse faite par M. Brocklehurst d'informer Miss Temple et les professeurs de ma nature vicieuse. All along I had been dreading the fulfilment of this promise,—I had been looking out daily for the “Coming Man,” whose information respecting my past life and conversation was to brand me as a bad child for ever: now there he was. Depuis le début, je redoutais l'accomplissement de cette promesse, - je cherchais quotidiennement le «Coming Man», dont les informations concernant ma vie et ma conversation passées devaient me marquer pour toujours comme un mauvais enfant: maintenant il était là. He stood at Miss Temple’s side; he was speaking low in her ear: I did not doubt he was making disclosures of my villainy; and I watched her eye with painful anxiety, expecting every moment to see its dark orb turn on me a glance of repugnance and contempt. Il se tenait aux côtés de Miss Temple; il parlait bas à son oreille: je ne doutais pas qu'il révélait ma méchanceté; et je regardais son œil avec une douloureuse anxiété, m'attendant à chaque instant à voir son orbe sombre tourner sur moi un regard de répugnance et de mépris. I listened too; and as I happened to be seated quite at the top of the room, I caught most of what he said: its import relieved me from immediate apprehension. J'ai écouté aussi; et comme je me trouvais assis tout en haut de la salle, j'ai compris la plupart de ce qu'il disait: son importance me soulageait d'une appréhension immédiate. “I suppose, Miss Temple, the thread I bought at Lowton will do; it struck me that it would be just of the quality for the calico chemises, and I sorted the needles to match. «Je suppose, Miss Temple, le fil que j'ai acheté à Lowton fera l'affaire; il m'a frappé que ce serait juste de la qualité pour les chemises calicot, et j'ai trié les aiguilles pour qu'elles correspondent. You may tell Miss Smith that I forgot to make a memorandum of the darning needles, but she shall have some papers sent in next week; and she is not, on any account, to give out more than one at a time to each pupil: if they have more, they are apt to be careless and lose them. Vous pouvez dire à Mlle Smith que j'ai oublié de faire un mémorandum des aiguilles à repriser, mais elle recevra des papiers la semaine prochaine; et elle ne doit en aucun cas en donner plus d'un à la fois à chaque élève: s'ils en ont plus, ils risquent d'être négligents et de les perdre. And, O ma’am! I wish the woollen stockings were better looked to!—when I was here last, I went into the kitchen-garden and examined the clothes drying on the line; there was a quantity of black hose in a very bad state of repair: from the size of the holes in them I was sure they had not been well mended from time to time.” J'aurais aimé que les bas de laine soient mieux regardés! - la dernière fois que j'étais ici, je suis allé dans le potager et j'ai examiné les vêtements qui séchaient sur la corde; il y avait une quantité de tuyaux noirs en très mauvais état: vu la taille des trous, j'étais sûr qu'ils n'avaient pas été bien réparés de temps en temps. He paused.

“Your directions shall be attended to, sir,” said Miss Temple. «Vos instructions seront suivies, monsieur,» dit Mlle Temple. “And, ma’am,” he continued, “the laundress tells me some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week: it is too much; the rules limit them to one.” "Et, madame, poursuivit-il, la blanchisseuse m'a dit que certaines filles avaient deux couches propres dans la semaine : c'est trop ; les règles les limitent à une seule. “I think I can explain that circumstance, sir.

Agnes and Catherine Johnstone were invited to take tea with some friends at Lowton last Thursday, and I gave them leave to put on clean tuckers for the occasion.” Mr.

Brocklehurst nodded. “Well, for once it may pass; but please not to let the circumstance occur too often. «Eh bien, pour une fois, cela peut passer; mais ne laissez pas les circonstances se produire trop souvent. And there is another thing which surprised me; I find, in settling accounts with the housekeeper, that a lunch, consisting of bread and cheese, has twice been served out to the girls during the past fortnight. How is this? Comment est-ce? I looked over the regulations, and I find no such meal as lunch mentioned. J'ai consulté le règlement et je n'ai trouvé aucune mention d'un repas tel que le déjeuner. Who introduced this innovation? Qui a introduit cette innovation? and by what authority?” “I must be responsible for the circumstance, sir,” replied Miss Temple: “the breakfast was so ill prepared that the pupils could not possibly eat it; and I dared not allow them to remain fasting till dinner-time.” “Madam, allow me an instant.

You are aware that my plan in bringing up these girls is, not to accustom them to habits of luxury and indulgence, but to render them hardy, patient, self-denying. Vous savez que mon plan en élevant ces filles n'est pas de les habituer à des habitudes de luxe et d'indulgence, mais de les rendre robustes, patientes et renonciatrices. Should any little accidental disappointment of the appetite occur, such as the spoiling of a meal, the under or the over dressing of a dish, the incident ought not to be neutralised by replacing with something more delicate the comfort lost, thus pampering the body and obviating the aim of this institution; it ought to be improved to the spiritual edification of the pupils, by encouraging them to evince fortitude under temporary privation. En cas de petite déception accidentelle de l'appétit, telle que la gâterie d'un repas, le dessous ou le sur-habillage d'un plat, l'incident ne doit pas être neutralisé en remplaçant par quelque chose de plus délicat le confort perdu, dorlotant ainsi le corps et faire obstacle au but de cette institution; il doit être amélioré pour l'édification spirituelle des élèves, en les encourageant à faire preuve de force sous une privation temporaire. A brief address on those occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the primitive Christians; to the torments of martyrs; to the exhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; to His divine consolations, “If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye.”  Oh, madam, when you put bread and cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children’s mouths, you may indeed feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you starve their immortal souls!” Un bref discours à ces occasions ne serait pas mal choisi, dans lequel un instructeur judicieux en profiterait pour évoquer les souffrances des chrétiens primitifs; aux tourments des martyrs; aux exhortations de notre bienheureux Seigneur lui-même, appelant ses disciples à prendre leur croix et à le suivre; à ses avertissements que l'homme ne vivra pas de pain seulement, mais de toute parole qui sort de la bouche de Dieu; à ses divines consolations: «Si vous souffrez de la faim ou de la soif à cause de moi, heureux êtes-vous.» Oh, madame, quand vous mettez du pain et du fromage, au lieu de la bouillie brûlée, dans la bouche de ces enfants, vous pouvez en effet nourrir leurs corps ignobles, mais vous ne pensez pas comment vous affamez leurs âmes immortelles! Mr.

Brocklehurst again paused—perhaps overcome by his feelings. Miss Temple had looked down when he first began to speak to her; but she now gazed straight before her, and her face, naturally pale as marble, appeared to be assuming also the coldness and fixity of that material; especially her mouth, closed as if it would have required a sculptor’s chisel to open it, and her brow settled gradually into petrified severity. Miss Temple avait baissé les yeux quand il avait commencé à lui parler; mais elle regardait maintenant droit devant elle, et son visage, naturellement pâle comme du marbre, paraissait prendre aussi la froideur et la fixité de cette matière; surtout sa bouche, fermée comme s'il eût fallu un ciseau de sculpteur pour l'ouvrir, et son front s'installa peu à peu dans une sévérité pétrifiée. Meantime, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands behind his back, majestically surveyed the whole school. Suddenly his eye gave a blink, as if it had met something that either dazzled or shocked its pupil; turning, he said in more rapid accents than he had hitherto used— Soudain, son œil cligna des yeux, comme s'il avait rencontré quelque chose qui éblouissait ou choquait sa pupille; tournant, dit-il avec des accents plus rapides qu'il ne l'avait utilisé jusqu'ici - “Miss Temple, Miss Temple, what— what is that girl with curled hair? Red hair, ma’am, curled—curled all over?”  And extending his cane he pointed to the awful object, his hand shaking as he did so. Cheveux roux, madame, bouclés - bouclés partout? Et étendant sa canne, il désigna le terrible objet, sa main tremblant en le faisant. “It is Julia Severn,” replied Miss Temple, very quietly. “Julia Severn, ma’am!

And why has she, or any other, curled hair? Why, in defiance of every precept and principle of this house, does she conform to the world so openly—here in an evangelical, charitable establishment—as to wear her hair one mass of curls?” Pourquoi, au mépris de tous les préceptes et principes de cette maison, se conforme-t-elle si ouvertement au monde - ici dans un établissement évangélique et charitable - au point de porter ses cheveux une masse de boucles? “Julia’s hair curls naturally,” returned Miss Temple, still more quietly. “Naturally!

Yes, but we are not to conform to nature; I wish these girls to be the children of Grace: and why that abundance? Oui, mais nous ne devons pas nous conformer à la nature; Je souhaite que ces filles soient les enfants de Grace: et pourquoi cette abondance? I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly. J'ai encore et encore laissé entendre que je désire que les cheveux soient arrangés étroitement, modestement, clairement. Miss Temple, that girl’s hair must be cut off entirely; I will send a barber to-morrow: and I see others who have far too much of the excrescence—that tall girl, tell her to turn round. Miss Temple, les cheveux de cette fille doivent être entièrement coupés; J'enverrai demain un barbier: et j'en vois d'autres qui ont beaucoup trop d'excroissance, cette grande fille, dis-lui de se retourner. Tell all the first form to rise up and direct their faces to the wall.” Dites à tous les premiers de se lever et de diriger leurs visages vers le mur. Miss Temple passed her handkerchief over her lips, as if to smooth away the involuntary smile that curled them; she gave the order, however, and when the first class could take in what was required of them, they obeyed. Miss Temple passa son mouchoir sur ses lèvres, comme pour aplanir le sourire involontaire qui les enroulait; elle a donné l'ordre, cependant, et quand la première classe a pu prendre dans ce qui était exigé d'eux, ils ont obéi. Leaning a little back on my bench, I could see the looks and grimaces with which they commented on this manoeuvre: it was a pity Mr. Brocklehurst could not see them too; he would perhaps have felt that, whatever he might do with the outside of the cup and platter, the inside was further beyond his interference than he imagined. Penché un peu en arrière sur mon banc, je pouvais voir les regards et les grimaces avec lesquels ils commentaient cette manœuvre: c'était dommage que M. Brocklehurst ne puisse pas les voir aussi; il aurait peut-être senti que, quoi qu'il fasse avec l'extérieur de la tasse et du plateau, l'intérieur était plus au-delà de son interférence qu'il ne l'imaginait. He scrutinised the reverse of these living medals some five minutes, then pronounced sentence. Il scruta le revers de ces médailles vivantes pendant cinq minutes, puis prononça sa sentence. These words fell like the knell of doom— Ces mots tombèrent comme le glas du malheur - “All those top-knots must be cut off.” «Tous ces nœuds supérieurs doivent être coupés.»

Miss Temple seemed to remonstrate.

“Madam,” he pursued, “I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel; and each of the young persons before us has a string of hair twisted in plaits which vanity itself might have woven; these, I repeat, must be cut off; think of the time wasted, of—” «Madame, poursuivit-il, j'ai un Maître à servir dont le royaume n'est pas de ce monde: ma mission est de mortifier en ces filles les convoitises de la chair; pour leur apprendre à se vêtir avec honte et sobriété, non avec des cheveux tressés et des vêtements coûteux; et chacun des jeunes avant nous a une mèche de cheveux tordue en tresses que la vanité elle-même aurait pu tisser; ceux-ci, je le répète, doivent être coupés; pensez au temps perdu, à… Mr.

Brocklehurst was here interrupted: three other visitors, ladies, now entered the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. Elles auraient dû venir un peu plus tôt pour écouter sa conférence sur la tenue vestimentaire, car elles étaient splendidement vêtues de velours, de soie et de fourrures. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls. Les deux plus jeunes du trio (belles filles de seize et dix-sept ans) avaient des chapeaux de castor gris, alors à la mode, ombragés de plumes d'autruche, et de sous le bord de cette gracieuse coiffe tombait une profusion de tresses légères, minutieusement bouclées; la dame aînée était enveloppée d'un châle de velours coûteux, garni d'hermine, et elle portait un faux front de boucles françaises. These ladies were deferentially received by Miss Temple, as Mrs. and the Misses Brocklehurst, and conducted to seats of honour at the top of the room. Ces dames ont été accueillies avec déférence par Mlle Temple, comme Mme et les Mlles Brocklehurst, et conduites à des sièges d'honneur en haut de la salle. It seems they had come in the carriage with their reverend relative, and had been conducting a rummaging scrutiny of the room upstairs, while he transacted business with the housekeeper, questioned the laundress, and lectured the superintendent. Il semble qu'ils étaient venus dans la voiture avec leur révérend parent, et avaient mené un examen minutieux de la pièce à l'étage, pendant qu'il faisait des affaires avec la femme de ménage, interrogeait la blanchisseuse et faisait la leçon au directeur. They now proceeded to address divers remarks and reproofs to Miss Smith, who was charged with the care of the linen and the inspection of the dormitories: but I had no time to listen to what they said; other matters called off and enchanted my attention. Ils ont maintenant procédé à adresser diverses remarques et reproches à Mlle Smith, qui était chargée du soin du linge et de l'inspection des dortoirs: mais je n'ai pas eu le temps d'écouter ce qu'ils ont dit; d'autres questions ont retenu et ont enchanté mon attention. Hitherto, while gathering up the discourse of Mr. Brocklehurst and Miss Temple, I had not, at the same time, neglected precautions to secure my personal safety; which I thought would be effected, if I could only elude observation. Jusque-là, tout en rassemblant le discours de M. Brocklehurst et de miss Temple, je n'avais pas, en même temps, négligé les précautions pour assurer ma sécurité personnelle; ce que je pensais être effectué, si je pouvais seulement échapper à l'observation. To this end, I had sat well back on the form, and while seeming to be busy with my sum, had held my slate in such a manner as to conceal my face: I might have escaped notice, had not my treacherous slate somehow happened to slip from my hand, and falling with an obtrusive crash, directly drawn every eye upon me; I knew it was all over now, and, as I stooped to pick up the two fragments of slate, I rallied my forces for the worst. À cette fin, je m'étais assis bien en arrière sur le formulaire, et tout en semblant être occupé avec ma somme, j'avais tenu mon ardoise de manière à cacher mon visage: j'aurais pu échapper à l'attention, si mon ardoise perfide n'était pas arrivée d'une manière ou d'une autre. glisser de ma main, et tomber avec un fracas envahissant, attirait directement tous les yeux sur moi; Je savais que tout était fini maintenant et, alors que je me baissais pour ramasser les deux fragments d'ardoise, j'ai rallié mes forces pour le pire. It came. “A careless girl!” said Mr. Brocklehurst, and immediately after—“It is the new pupil, I perceive.”  And before I could draw breath, “I must not forget I have a word to say respecting her.”  Then aloud: how loud it seemed to me! «Une fille insouciante!» dit M. Brocklehurst, et immédiatement après ... «C'est le nouvel élève, je le vois. Et avant de pouvoir respirer, «je ne dois pas oublier que j'ai un mot à dire sur elle.» Puis à haute voix: comme cela me paraissait fort! “Let the child who broke her slate come forward!” «Que l'enfant qui a cassé son ardoise s'avance!» Of my own accord I could not have stirred; I was paralysed: but the two great girls who sit on each side of me, set me on my legs and pushed me towards the dread judge, and then Miss Temple gently assisted me to his very feet, and I caught her whispered counsel— De mon propre gré, je n'aurais pas pu bouger; J'étais paralysé: mais les deux grandes filles qui s'assoient de chaque côté de moi, m'ont mis sur mes jambes et m'ont poussé vers le juge redoutable, puis Miss Temple m'a gentiment aidée à me relever, et j'ai attrapé son conseil murmuré - “Don’t be afraid, Jane, I saw it was an accident; you shall not be punished.” The kind whisper went to my heart like a dagger. Ce murmure bienveillant m'a atteint au cœur comme un poignard.

“Another minute, and she will despise me for a hypocrite,” thought I; and an impulse of fury against Reed, Brocklehurst, and Co. «Encore une minute, et elle me méprisera pour un hypocrite», pensai-je; et une impulsion de fureur contre Reed, Brocklehurst et Co. bounded in my pulses at the conviction. lié dans mes impulsions à la condamnation. I was no Helen Burns. “Fetch that stool,” said Mr. Brocklehurst, pointing to a very high one from which a monitor had just risen: it was brought. «Allez chercher ce tabouret», dit M. Brocklehurst, en désignant un tabouret très haut duquel un moniteur venait de se lever: il a été apporté. “Place the child upon it.”

And I was placed there, by whom I don’t know: I was in no condition to note particulars; I was only aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of Mr. Brocklehurst’s nose, that he was within a yard of me, and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage extended and waved below me. Et j'ai été placé là, par qui je ne sais pas: je n'étais pas en état de noter des détails; Je savais seulement qu'ils m'avaient hissé à la hauteur du nez de M. Brocklehurst, qu'il était à moins d'un mètre de moi, et qu'une propagation de pelisses de soie orange et violet et un nuage de plumage argenté s'étendaient et ondulaient sous moi. . Mr.

Brocklehurst hemmed. Brocklehurst ourlé. “Ladies,” said he, turning to his family, “Miss Temple, teachers, and children, you all see this girl?” Of course they did; for I felt their eyes directed like burning-glasses against my scorched skin. Bien sûr qu'ils l'ont fait; car je sentais leurs yeux dirigés comme des verres enflammés sur ma peau brûlée. “You see she is yet young; you observe she possesses the ordinary form of childhood; God has graciously given her the shape that He has given to all of us; no signal deformity points her out as a marked character. «Vous voyez qu'elle est encore jeune; vous observez qu'elle possède la forme ordinaire de l'enfance; Dieu lui a gracieusement donné la forme qu'Il nous a donnée à tous; aucune déformation du signal ne la désigne comme un personnage marqué. Who would think that the Evil One had already found a servant and agent in her? Qui penserait que le Malin a déjà trouvé en elle un serviteur et un agent? Yet such, I grieve to say, is the case.” A pause—in which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves, and to feel that the Rubicon was passed; and that the trial, no longer to be shirked, must be firmly sustained. Une pause - dans laquelle je commençai à calmer la paralysie de mes nerfs et à sentir que le Rubicon était passé; et que le procès, pour ne plus être esquivé, doit être fermement soutenu. “My dear children,” pursued the black marble clergyman, with pathos, “this is a sad, a melancholy occasion; for it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God’s own lambs, is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien. «Mes chers enfants», poursuivit le pasteur de marbre noir avec pathétique, «c'est une occasion triste, mélancolique; car il est de mon devoir de vous avertir que cette fille, qui pourrait être l'un des propres agneaux de Dieu, est un petit naufragé: pas un membre du vrai troupeau, mais évidemment un intrus et un étranger. You must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse. Teachers, you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinise her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut—this girl is—a liar!” Enseignants, vous devez la surveiller : observez ses mouvements, pesez bien ses paroles, scrutez ses actions, punissez son corps pour sauver son âme : si, en effet, ce salut est possible, car (ma langue faiblit en le disant) cette fille, cette enfant, native d'une terre chrétienne, pire que bien des petits païens qui disent leurs prières à Brahma et s'agenouillent devant Juggernaut - cette fille est une menteuse !". Now came a pause of ten minutes, during which I, by this time in perfect possession of my wits, observed all the female Brocklehursts produce their pocket-handkerchiefs and apply them to their optics, while the elderly lady swayed herself to and fro, and the two younger ones whispered, “How shocking!”  Mr. Brocklehurst resumed. Vint alors une pause de dix minutes, pendant laquelle, à ce moment en parfaite possession de mes esprits, j'observai toutes les femmes Brocklehursts produire leurs mouchoirs de poche et les appliquer à leurs optiques, tandis que la vieille dame se balançait d'avant en arrière, et les deux plus jeunes ont chuchoté, "C'est choquant!" M. Brocklehurst reprend. “This I learned from her benefactress; from the pious and charitable lady who adopted her in her orphan state, reared her as her own daughter, and whose kindness, whose generosity the unhappy girl repaid by an ingratitude so bad, so dreadful, that at last her excellent patroness was obliged to separate her from her own young ones, fearful lest her vicious example should contaminate their purity: she has sent her here to be healed, even as the Jews of old sent their diseased to the troubled pool of Bethesda; and, teachers, superintendent, I beg of you not to allow the waters to stagnate round her.” «C'est ce que j'ai appris de sa bienfaitrice; de la dame pieuse et charitable qui l'a adoptée dans son état orphelin, l'a élevée comme sa propre fille, et dont la gentillesse, dont la malheureuse fille a rendu la générosité par une ingratitude si mauvaise, si terrible, que finalement son excellente patronne a dû se séparer elle de ses propres jeunes, craignant que son exemple vicieux ne contamine leur pureté: elle l'a envoyée ici pour être guérie, comme les Juifs d'autrefois ont envoyé leurs malades dans la piscine troublée de Bethesda; et, professeurs, surintendant, je vous prie de ne pas laisser les eaux stagner autour d'elle. With this sublime conclusion, Mr. Brocklehurst adjusted the top button of his surtout, muttered something to his family, who rose, bowed to Miss Temple, and then all the great people sailed in state from the room. Avec cette conclusion sublime, M. Brocklehurst ajusta le bouton du haut de son surtout, marmonna quelque chose à sa famille, qui se leva, s'inclina devant Miss Temple, puis tous les grands gens quittèrent la pièce en état. Turning at the door, my judge said— Se tournant à la porte, mon juge dit : “Let her stand half-an-hour longer on that stool, and let no one speak to her during the remainder of the day.” « Qu'elle reste debout une demi-heure de plus sur ce tabouret, et que personne ne lui parle pendant le reste de la journée. There was I, then, mounted aloft; I, who had said I could not bear the shame of standing on my natural feet in the middle of the room, was now exposed to general view on a pedestal of infamy. J'étais donc là, monté en l'air ; Moi, qui avais dit que je ne pouvais pas supporter la honte de me tenir sur mes pieds naturels au milieu de la pièce, j'étais maintenant exposé à la vue générale sur un piédestal d'infamie. What my sensations were no language can describe; but just as they all rose, stifling my breath and constricting my throat, a girl came up and passed me: in passing, she lifted her eyes. Ce que mes sensations étaient, aucun langage ne peut décrire; mais au moment où ils se levaient tous, étouffant mon souffle et me serrant la gorge, une fille s'approcha et me dépassa: en passant, elle leva les yeux. What a strange light inspired them! Quelle étrange lumière les a inspirés! What an extraordinary sensation that ray sent through me! Quelle sensation extraordinaire ce rayon m'a fait traverser! How the new feeling bore me up! Comme ce nouveau sentiment m'ennuie! It was as if a martyr, a hero, had passed a slave or victim, and imparted strength in the transit. C'était comme si un martyr, un héros, avait dépassé un esclave ou une victime, et avait donné de la force dans le transit. I mastered the rising hysteria, lifted up my head, and took a firm stand on the stool. J'ai maîtrisé l'hystérie montante, levé la tête et pris fermement position sur le tabouret. Helen Burns asked some slight question about her work of Miss Smith, was chidden for the triviality of the inquiry, returned to her place, and smiled at me as she again went by. Helen Burns a posé une petite question sur son travail de Mlle Smith, a été réprimandée pour la trivialité de l'enquête, est retournée chez elle et m'a souri en passant de nouveau. What a smile! I remember it now, and I know that it was the effluence of fine intellect, of true courage; it lit up her marked lineaments, her thin face, her sunken grey eye, like a reflection from the aspect of an angel. Je m'en souviens maintenant, et je sais que c'était l'effluence d'une belle intelligence, d'un vrai courage; il éclairait ses traits marqués, son visage maigre, son œil gris enfoncé, comme un reflet de l'aspect d'un ange. Yet at that moment Helen Burns wore on her arm “the untidy badge;” scarcely an hour ago I had heard her condemned by Miss Scatcherd to a dinner of bread and water on the morrow because she had blotted an exercise in copying it out. Pourtant, à ce moment, Helen Burns portait sur son bras «l'insigne en désordre»; Il y a à peine une heure, je l'avais entendue condamnée par miss Scatcherd à un dîner de pain et d'eau le lendemain parce qu'elle avait effacé un exercice de recopie. Such is the imperfect nature of man! Telle est la nature imparfaite de l'homme ! such spots are there on the disc of the clearest planet; and eyes like Miss Scatcherd’s can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb. ces taches sont là sur le disque de la planète la plus claire; et des yeux comme ceux de Miss Scatcherd ne peuvent voir que ces infimes défauts, et sont aveugles à la pleine luminosité de l'orbe.