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Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu, PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

Upon a paper attached to the Narrative which follows, Doctor Hesselius has written a rather elaborate note, which he accompanies with a reference to his Essay on the strange subject which the MS. illuminates.

This mysterious subject he treats, in that Essay, with his usual learning and acumen , and with remarkable directness and condensation. It will form but one volume of the series of that extraordinary man's collected papers.

As I publish the case, in this volume, simply to interest the "laity," I shall forestall the intelligent lady, who relates it, in nothing; and after due consideration, I have determined, therefore, to abstain from presenting any précis of the learned Doctor's reasoning, or extract from his statement on a subject which he describes as "involving, not improbably, some of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence, and its intermediates."

I was anxious on discovering this paper, to reopen the correspondence commenced by Doctor Hesselius, so many years before, with a person so clever and careful as his informant seems to have been. Much to my regret, however, I found that she had died in the interval.

She, probably, could have added little to the Narrative which she communicates in the following pages, with, so far as I can pronounce, such conscientious particularity .

I An Early Fright In Styria, we, though by no means magnificent people, inhabit a castle, or schloss. A small income, in that part of the world, goes a great way. Eight or nine hundred a year does wonders. Scantily enough ours would have answered among wealthy people at home. My father is English, and I bear an English name, although I never saw England. But here, in this lonely and primitive place, where everything is so marvelously cheap, I really don't see how ever so much more money would at all materially add to our comforts, or even luxuries.

My father was in the Austrian service, and retired upon a pension and his patrimony, and purchased this feudal residence, and the small estate on which it stands, a bargain.

Nothing can be more picturesque or solitary. It stands on a slight eminence in a forest. The road, very old and narrow, passes in front of its drawbridge, never raised in my time, and its moat, stocked with perch, and sailed over by many swans, and floating on its surface white fleets of water lilies.

Over all this the schloss shows its many-windowed front; its towers, and its Gothic chapel.

The forest opens in an irregular and very picturesque glade before its gate, and at the right a steep Gothic bridge carries the road over a stream that winds in deep shadow through the wood. I have said that this is a very lonely place. Judge whether I say truth. Looking from the hall door towards the road, the forest in which our castle stands extends fifteen miles to the right, and twelve to the left. The nearest inhabited village is about seven of your English miles to the left. The nearest inhabited schloss of any historic associations, is that of old General Spielsdorf, nearly twenty miles away to the right.

I have said "the nearest inhabited village," because there is, only three miles westward, that is to say in the direction of General Spielsdorf's schloss, a ruined village, with its quaint little church, now roofless, in the aisle of which are the moldering tombs of the proud family of Karnstein, now extinct, who once owned the equally desolate chateau which, in the thick of the forest, overlooks the silent ruins of the town.

Respecting the cause of the desertion of this striking and melancholy spot, there is a legend which I shall relate to you another time.

I must tell you now, how very small is the party who constitute the inhabitants of our castle. I don't include servants, or those dependents who occupy rooms in the buildings attached to the schloss. Listen, and wonder! My father, who is the kindest man on earth, but growing old; and I, at the date of my story, only nineteen. Eight years have passed since then.

I and my father constituted the family at the schloss. My mother, a Styrian lady, died in my infancy, but I had a good-natured governess, who had been with me from, I might almost say, my infancy. I could not remember the time when her fat, benignant face was not a familiar picture in my memory.

This was Madame Perrodon, a native of Berne, whose care and good nature now in part supplied to me the loss of my mother, whom I do not even remember, so early I lost her. She made a third at our little dinner party. There was a fourth, Mademoiselle De Lafontaine, a lady such as you term, I believe, a "finishing governess." She spoke French and German, Madame Perrodon French and broken English, to which my father and I added English, which, partly to prevent its becoming a lost language among us, and partly from patriotic motives, we spoke every day. The consequence was a Babel, at which strangers used to laugh, and which I shall make no attempt to reproduce in this narrative. And there were two or three young lady friends besides, pretty nearly of my own age, who were occasional visitors, for longer or shorter terms; and these visits I sometimes returned.

These were our regular social resources; but of course there were chance visits from "neighbors" of only five or six leagues distance. My life was, notwithstanding, rather a solitary one, I can assure you.

My gouvernantes had just so much control over me as you might conjecture such sage persons would have in the case of a rather spoiled girl, whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her own way in everything.

The first occurrence in my existence, which produced a terrible impression upon my mind, which, in fact, never has been effaced, was one of the very earliest incidents of my life which I can recollect. Some people will think it so trifling that it should not be recorded here. You will see, however, by-and-by, why I mention it. The nursery, as it was called, though I had it all to myself, was a large room in the upper story of the castle, with a steep oak roof. I can't have been more than six years old, when one night I awoke, and looking round the room from my bed, failed to see the nursery maid. Neither was my nurse there; and I thought myself alone. I was not frightened, for I was one of those happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly, or the flicker of an expiring candle makes the shadow of a bedpost dance upon the wall, nearer to our faces. I was vexed and insulted at finding myself, as I conceived, neglected, and I began to whimper, preparatory to a hearty bout of roaring; when to my surprise, I saw a solemn, but very pretty face looking at me from the side of the bed. It was that of a young lady who was kneeling, with her hands under the coverlet. I looked at her with a kind of pleased wonder, and ceased whimpering. She caressed me with her hands, and lay down beside me on the bed, and drew me towards her, smiling; I felt immediately delightfully soothed, and fell asleep again. I was wakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and I cried loudly. The lady started back, with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid herself under the bed.

I was now for the first time frightened, and I yelled with all my might and main. Nurse, nursery maid, housekeeper, all came running in, and hearing my story, they made light of it, soothing me all they could meanwhile. But, child as I was, I could perceive that their faces were pale with an unwonted look of anxiety, and I saw them look under the bed, and about the room, and peep under tables and pluck open cupboards; and the housekeeper whispered to the nurse: "Lay your hand along that hollow in the bed; someone did lie there, so sure as you did not; the place is still warm."

I remember the nursery maid petting me, and all three examining my chest, where I told them I felt the puncture, and pronouncing that there was no sign visible that any such thing had happened to me.

The housekeeper and the two other servants who were in charge of the nursery, remained sitting up all night; and from that time a servant always sat up in the nursery until I was about fourteen.

I was very nervous for a long time after this. A doctor was called in, he was pallid and elderly. How well I remember his long saturnine face, slightly pitted with smallpox, and his chestnut wig. For a good while, every second day, he came and gave me medicine, which of course I hated.

The morning after I saw this apparition I was in a state of terror, and could not bear to be left alone, daylight though it was, for a moment.

I remember my father coming up and standing at the bedside, and talking cheerfully, and asking the nurse a number of questions, and laughing very heartily at one of the answers; and patting me on the shoulder, and kissing me, and telling me not to be frightened, that it was nothing but a dream and could not hurt me.

But I was not comforted, for I knew the visit of the strange woman was not a dream; and I was awfully frightened.

I was a little consoled by the nursery maid's assuring me that it was she who had come and looked at me, and lain down beside me in the bed, and that I must have been half-dreaming not to have known her face. But this, though supported by the nurse, did not quite satisfy me.

I remembered, in the course of that day, a venerable old man, in a black cassock, coming into the room with the nurse and housekeeper, and talking a little to them, and very kindly to me; his face was very sweet and gentle, and he told me they were going to pray, and joined my hands together, and desired me to say, softly, while they were praying, "Lord hear all good prayers for us, for Jesus' sake." I think these were the very words, for I often repeated them to myself, and my nurse used for years to make me say them in my prayers.

I remembered so well the thoughtful sweet face of that white-haired old man, in his black cassock, as he stood in that rude, lofty, brown room, with the clumsy furniture of a fashion three hundred years old about him, and the scanty light entering its shadowy atmosphere through the small lattice. He kneeled, and the three women with him, and he prayed aloud with an earnest quavering voice for, what appeared to me, a long time. I forget all my life preceding that event, and for some time after it is all obscure also, but the scenes I have just described stand out vivid as the isolated pictures of the phantasmagoria surrounded by darkness.

PROLOGUE PRÓLOGO ПРОЛОГ 序幕 序幕

Upon a paper attached to the Narrative which follows, Doctor Hesselius has written a rather elaborate note, which he accompanies with a reference to his Essay on the strange subject which the MS. Upon a paper attached to the Narrative which follows, Doctor Hesselius has written a rather elaborate note, which he accompanies with a reference to his Essay on the strange subject which the MS. Sobre un documento adjunto a la narrativa que sigue, el doctor Hesselius ha escrito una nota bastante elaborada, que acompaña con una referencia a su Ensayo sobre el extraño tema que el MS. Sur un papier joint au Récit qui suit, le Docteur Hesselius a écrit une note assez élaborée, qu'il accompagne d'une référence à son Essai sur l'étrange sujet que le MS. На бумаге, приложенной к повествованию, которое следует, доктор Хесселиус написал довольно подробное примечание, которое он сопровождает ссылкой на свое эссе на странную тему, о которой манускрипт. illuminates. illumine.

This mysterious subject he treats, in that Essay, with his usual learning and acumen , and with remarkable directness and condensation. Ce sujet mystérieux, il le traite, dans cet essai, avec son érudition et sa perspicacité habituelles, et avec une franchise et une condensation remarquables. Этот таинственный предмет он рассматривает в этом эссе со своей обычной ученостью и проницательностью, а также с замечательной прямотой и сжатостью. It will form but one volume of the series of that extraordinary man's collected papers. Il ne formera qu'un volume de la série des papiers rassemblés de cet homme extraordinaire. Он составит лишь один том серии собраний бумаг этого выдающегося человека.

As I publish the case, in this volume, simply to interest the "laity," I shall forestall the intelligent lady, who relates it, in nothing; and after due consideration, I have determined, therefore, to abstain from presenting any précis of the learned Doctor's reasoning, or extract from his statement on a subject which he describes as "involving, not improbably, some of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence, and its intermediates." Comme je publie le cas, dans ce volume, simplement pour intéresser les « laïcs », je n'empêcherai en rien la dame intelligente qui le raconte ; et après mûre réflexion, j'ai décidé, par conséquent, de m'abstenir de présenter tout résumé du raisonnement du savant docteur, ou extrait de sa déclaration sur un sujet qu'il décrit comme « impliquant, de manière non improbable, certains des arcanes les plus profonds de notre double existence , et ses intermédiaires." Поскольку я публикую случай в этом томе только для того, чтобы заинтересовать «мирян», я ни в чем не предвосхищу интеллигентную даму, которая его рассказывает; и поэтому после должного рассмотрения я решил воздержаться от представления каких-либо кратких рассуждений ученого Доктора или выдержек из его высказываний по предмету, который он описывает как «не исключено, что затрагивающий некоторые из глубочайших тайн нашего двойного существования». и его промежуточные продукты».

I was anxious on discovering this paper, to reopen the correspondence commenced by Doctor Hesselius, so many years before, with a person so clever and careful as his informant seems to have been. J'avais hâte, en découvrant ce papier, de rouvrir la correspondance commencée par le docteur Hesselius, tant d'années auparavant, avec une personne si habile et si prudente que semble l'avoir été son informateur. Much to my regret, however, I found that she had died in the interval. Однако, к моему большому сожалению, я обнаружил, что она умерла в промежутке.

She, probably, could have added little to the Narrative which she communicates in the following pages, with, so far as I can pronounce, such conscientious particularity . Elle n'aurait probablement pas pu ajouter grand-chose au récit qu'elle communique dans les pages suivantes, avec, pour autant que je puisse le prononcer, une telle particularité consciencieuse. Она, вероятно, мало что могла бы добавить к повествованию, которое она сообщает на следующих страницах, с такой добросовестной конкретностью, насколько я могу выговорить.

I An Early Fright I une frayeur précoce In Styria, we, though by no means magnificent people, inhabit a castle, or schloss. En Styrie, nous, bien que loin d'être des gens magnifiques, habitons un château ou un schloss. A small income, in that part of the world, goes a great way. Un petit revenu, dans cette partie du monde, va très bien. Eight or nine hundred a year does wonders. Восемь или девять сотен в год творят чудеса. Scantily enough ours would have answered among wealthy people at home. Assez maigrement le nôtre aurait répondu chez les gens riches à la maison. Достаточно скудно наш ответил бы среди состоятельных людей дома. My father is English, and I bear an English name, although I never saw England. But here, in this lonely and primitive place, where everything is so marvelously cheap, I really don't see how ever so much more money would at all materially add to our comforts, or even luxuries. Mais ici, dans cet endroit solitaire et primitif, où tout est si merveilleusement bon marché, je ne vois vraiment pas comment beaucoup plus d'argent ajouterait matériellement à notre confort, ou même à notre luxe.

My father was in the Austrian service, and retired upon a pension and his patrimony, and purchased this feudal residence, and the small estate on which it stands, a bargain. Mon père était au service autrichien, et s'est retiré sur une pension et son patrimoine, et a acheté cette résidence féodale, et le petit domaine sur lequel elle se trouve, une bonne affaire. Мой отец был на австрийской службе, ушел в отставку на пенсию и свое наследство и купил эту феодальную резиденцию и небольшое поместье, на котором она стоит, по выгодной цене.

Nothing can be more picturesque or solitary. It stands on a slight eminence in a forest. The road, very old and narrow, passes in front of its drawbridge, never raised in my time, and its moat, stocked with perch, and sailed over by many swans, and floating on its surface white fleets of water lilies. La route, très ancienne et très étroite, passe devant son pont-levis, jamais levé de mon temps, et ses douves, garnies de perches, et parcourues par de nombreux cygnes, et flottant à sa surface des flottes blanches de nénuphars.

Over all this the schloss shows its many-windowed front; its towers, and its Gothic chapel. Sur tout cela, le château montre sa façade aux nombreuses fenêtres ; ses tours, et sa chapelle gothique.

The forest opens in an irregular and very picturesque glade before its gate, and at the right a steep Gothic bridge carries the road over a stream that winds in deep shadow through the wood. La forêt s'ouvre dans une clairière irrégulière et très pittoresque devant sa porte, et à droite un pont gothique escarpé porte la route sur un ruisseau qui serpente dans l'ombre profonde à travers le bois. Лес открывается неправильной и очень живописной поляной перед его воротами, а справа крутой готический мост ведет дорогу через ручей, который в густой тени петляет по лесу. I have said that this is a very lonely place. Judge whether I say truth. Jugez si je dis la vérité. Looking from the hall door towards the road, the forest in which our castle stands extends fifteen miles to the right, and twelve to the left. En regardant de la porte du hall vers la route, la forêt dans laquelle se trouve notre château s'étend sur quinze milles à droite et douze à gauche. The nearest inhabited village is about seven of your English miles to the left. The nearest inhabited schloss of any historic associations, is that of old General Spielsdorf, nearly twenty miles away to the right. Le château habité le plus proche de toutes les associations historiques, est celui de l'ancien général Spielsdorf, à près de vingt milles sur la droite.

I have said "the nearest inhabited village," because there is, only three miles westward, that is to say in the direction of General Spielsdorf's schloss, a ruined village, with its quaint little church, now roofless, in the aisle of which are the moldering tombs of the proud family of Karnstein, now extinct, who once owned the equally desolate chateau which, in the thick of the forest, overlooks the silent ruins of the town.

Respecting the cause of the desertion of this striking and melancholy spot, there is a legend which I shall relate to you another time. Respecting the cause of the desertion of this striking and melancholy spot, there is a legend which I shall relate to you another time. Concernant la cause de la désertion de ce lieu frappant et mélancolique, il y a une légende que je vous raconterai une autre fois.

I must tell you now, how very small is the party who constitute the inhabitants of our castle. I must tell you now, how very small is the party who constitute the inhabitants of our castle. I don't include servants, or those dependents who occupy rooms in the buildings attached to the schloss. Je n'inclus pas les domestiques, ni les personnes à charge qui occupent des chambres dans les bâtiments rattachés au château. Listen, and wonder! Écoutez, et émerveillez-vous ! My father, who is the kindest man on earth, but growing old; and I, at the date of my story, only nineteen. Eight years have passed since then.

I and my father constituted the family at the schloss. My mother, a Styrian lady, died in my infancy, but I had a good-natured governess, who had been with me from, I might almost say, my infancy. I could not remember the time when her fat, benignant face was not a familiar picture in my memory.

This was Madame Perrodon, a native of Berne, whose care and good nature now in part supplied to me the loss of my mother, whom I do not even remember, so early I lost her. She made a third at our little dinner party. There was a fourth, Mademoiselle De Lafontaine, a lady such as you term, I believe, a "finishing governess." She spoke French and German, Madame Perrodon French and broken English, to which my father and I added English, which, partly to prevent its becoming a lost language among us, and partly from patriotic motives, we spoke every day. Elle parlait français et allemand, Madame Perrodon français et anglais approximatif, auquel mon père et moi ajoutâmes l'anglais, que, en partie pour éviter qu'il ne devienne une langue perdue parmi nous, et en partie pour des motifs patriotiques, nous parlions tous les jours. The consequence was a Babel, at which strangers used to laugh, and which I shall make no attempt to reproduce in this narrative. Il en résulta une Babel dont se moquaient les étrangers, et que je n'essaierai pas de reproduire dans ce récit. And there were two or three young lady friends besides, pretty nearly of my own age, who were occasional visitors, for longer or shorter terms; and these visits I sometimes returned.

These were our regular social resources; but of course there were chance visits from "neighbors" of only five or six leagues distance. C'étaient nos ressources sociales habituelles ; mais bien sûr il y avait des visites fortuites de « voisins » à seulement cinq ou six lieues de distance. My life was, notwithstanding, rather a solitary one, I can assure you. Ma vie était pourtant plutôt solitaire, je peux vous l'assurer.

My gouvernantes had just so much control over me as you might conjecture such sage persons would have in the case of a rather spoiled girl, whose only parent allowed her pretty nearly her own way in everything. Mes gouvernantes avaient tellement de contrôle sur moi que vous pourriez le supposer que de telles personnes sages en auraient dans le cas d'une fille plutôt gâtée, dont le seul parent lui laissait à peu près sa propre voie en tout.

The first occurrence in my existence, which produced a terrible impression upon my mind, which, in fact, never has been effaced, was one of the very earliest incidents of my life which I can recollect. Some people will think it so trifling that it should not be recorded here. Certaines personnes penseront que c'est tellement insignifiant qu'il ne devrait pas être enregistré ici. You will see, however, by-and-by, why I mention it. Verás, sin embargo, por y por qué lo menciono. Vous verrez, cependant, bientôt, pourquoi je le mentionne. The nursery, as it was called, though I had it all to myself, was a large room in the upper story of the castle, with a steep oak roof. La pépinière, comme on l'appelait, même si je l'avais pour moi toute seule, était une grande pièce à l'étage supérieur du château, avec un toit en chêne à pente raide. I can't have been more than six years old, when one night I awoke, and looking round the room from my bed, failed to see the nursery maid. Je ne dois pas avoir plus de six ans, quand une nuit je me suis réveillé, et en regardant autour de la chambre depuis mon lit, je n'ai pas vu la bonne. Neither was my nurse there; and I thought myself alone. I was not frightened, for I was one of those happy children who are studiously kept in ignorance of ghost stories, of fairy tales, and of all such lore as makes us cover up our heads when the door cracks suddenly, or the flicker of an expiring candle makes the shadow of a bedpost dance upon the wall, nearer to our faces. No estaba asustado, porque era uno de esos niños felices que se han mantenido cuidadosamente ignorantes de las historias de fantasmas, de los cuentos de hadas y de toda la historia que nos hace cubrir nuestras cabezas cuando la puerta se rompe de repente, o el parpadeo de una La vela que se apaga hace que la sombra de un poste de la cama bailen sobre la pared, más cerca de nuestras caras. Je n'étais pas effrayé, car j'étais l'un de ces enfants heureux que l'on tient soigneusement dans l'ignorance des histoires de fantômes, des contes de fées et de toutes les traditions qui nous obligent à nous couvrir la tête lorsque la porte craque soudainement, ou le scintillement d'un la bougie expirée fait danser l'ombre d'un montant de lit sur le mur, plus près de nos visages. I was vexed and insulted at finding myself, as I conceived, neglected, and I began to whimper, preparatory to a hearty bout of roaring; when to my surprise, I saw a solemn, but very pretty face looking at me from the side of the bed. Me enojé e insulté al encontrarme a mí mismo, tal como lo concebí, descuidé, y comencé a gemir, preparándome para un fuerte ataque de rugido; cuando, para mi sorpresa, vi una cara solemne, pero muy bonita, que me miraba desde el lado de la cama. J'étais vexé et insulté de me trouver, comme je le concevais, négligé, et je me mis à gémir, préparatoire à un gros rugissement ; quand à ma grande surprise, j'ai vu un visage solennel, mais très joli, me regardant du côté du lit. It was that of a young lady who was kneeling, with her hands under the coverlet. Era la de una joven que estaba arrodillada, con las manos debajo de la colcha. C'était celui d'une jeune femme agenouillée, les mains sous la couverture. I looked at her with a kind of pleased wonder, and ceased whimpering. La miré con una especie de maravilla complacida, y cesé de gemir. She caressed me with her hands, and lay down beside me on the bed, and drew me towards her, smiling; I felt immediately delightfully soothed, and fell asleep again. Me acarició con las manos, se acostó a mi lado en la cama y me atrajo hacia ella, sonriendo. Inmediatamente me sentí deliciosamente aliviado, y volví a dormirme. I was wakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and I cried loudly. Me despertó una sensación como si dos agujas chocaran contra mi pecho en el mismo momento y lloré a gritos. J'ai été réveillé par une sensation comme si deux aiguilles pénétraient très profondément dans ma poitrine au même moment, et j'ai pleuré fort. The lady started back, with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid herself under the bed. La señora comenzó a retroceder, con los ojos fijos en mí, y luego se resbaló en el suelo y, como pensé, se escondió debajo de la cama. La dame recula, les yeux fixés sur moi, puis se laissa glisser par terre et, comme je le pensais, se cacha sous le lit.

I was now for the first time frightened, and I yelled with all my might and main. Ahora estaba por primera vez asustada, y grité con todas mis fuerzas y con todas mis fuerzas. J'avais maintenant pour la première fois peur et j'ai crié de toutes mes forces. Nurse, nursery maid, housekeeper, all came running in, and hearing my story, they made light of it, soothing me all they could meanwhile. Enfermera, empleada doméstica, ama de llaves, todos entraron corriendo, y al escuchar mi historia, lo ignoraron, calmándome todo lo que pudieron mientras tanto. Infirmière, puéricultrice, femme de ménage, tous sont venus en courant, et en entendant mon histoire, ils l'ont fait à la légère, m'apaisant tout ce qu'ils pouvaient en attendant. But, child as I was, I could perceive that their faces were pale with an unwonted look of anxiety, and I saw them look under the bed, and about the room, and peep under tables and pluck open cupboards; and the housekeeper whispered to the nurse: "Lay your hand along that hollow in the bed; someone did lie there, so sure as you did not; the place is still warm." Pero, niño como era, podía percibir que sus rostros estaban pálidos con una mirada inusitada de ansiedad, y los vi mirar debajo de la cama, y alrededor de la habitación, y espiar bajo las mesas y abrir los armarios; y el ama de llaves le susurró a la enfermera: "Coloque su mano sobre el hueco de la cama; alguien se tendió allí, tan seguro como usted no lo hizo; el lugar aún está cálido". Mais, enfant comme j'étais, je pouvais percevoir que leurs visages étaient pâles avec un air d'anxiété inhabituel, et je les voyais regarder sous le lit, et autour de la chambre, et jeter un coup d'œil sous les tables et ouvrir les armoires ; et la gouvernante chuchota à la nourrice : « Mets ta main le long de ce creux du lit ; quelqu'un s'y est couché, aussi sûr que toi ; l'endroit est encore chaud.

I remember the nursery maid petting me, and all three examining my chest, where I told them I felt the puncture, and pronouncing that there was no sign visible that any such thing had happened to me. Recuerdo a la doncella del cuarto de baño acariciándome, y las tres examinando mi pecho, donde les dije que sentí el pinchazo y pronuncié que no había ninguna señal visible de que me hubiera sucedido algo así. Je me souviens que la bonne m'avait caressé et que toutes les trois avaient examiné ma poitrine, où je leur ai dit que j'avais senti la piqûre et qu'elles avaient déclaré qu'il n'y avait aucun signe visible qu'une telle chose m'était arrivée.

The housekeeper and the two other servants who were in charge of the nursery, remained sitting up all night; and from that time a servant always sat up in the nursery until I was about fourteen. El ama de llaves y los otros dos sirvientes que estaban a cargo de la guardería, permanecieron sentados toda la noche; y desde ese momento un sirviente siempre se sentaba en la guardería hasta que yo tenía unos catorce años.

I was very nervous for a long time after this. A doctor was called in, he was pallid and elderly. Se llamó a un médico, era pálido y anciano. Un médecin a été appelé, il était pâle et âgé. How well I remember his long saturnine face, slightly pitted with smallpox, and his chestnut wig. Qué bien recuerdo su larga cara de saturnino, ligeramente picada con viruela, y su peluca castaña. Comme je me souviens bien de son long visage saturnien, légèrement piqué de variole, et de sa perruque châtain. For a good while, every second day, he came and gave me medicine, which of course I hated. Durante un buen rato, cada dos días, vino y me dio medicina, que por supuesto odiaba.

The morning after I saw this apparition I was in a state of terror, and could not bear to be left alone, daylight though it was, for a moment. La mañana después de ver esta aparición, estaba en un estado de terror, y no podía soportar que me dejaran solo, por más que fuera el día, por un momento. Le matin après avoir vu cette apparition, j'étais dans un état de terreur, et je ne pouvais pas supporter d'être laissé seul, même en plein jour, pendant un instant.

I remember my father coming up and standing at the bedside, and talking cheerfully, and asking the nurse a number of questions, and laughing very heartily at one of the answers; and patting me on the shoulder, and kissing me, and telling me not to be frightened, that it was nothing but a dream and could not hurt me. Recuerdo que mi padre se acercó y se puso de pie junto a la cama, y habló alegremente, le hizo varias preguntas a la enfermera y se rió con ganas de una de las respuestas; y me dio unas palmaditas en el hombro, y me besó, y me dijo que no me asustara, que no era más que un sueño y que no podía hacerme daño.

But I was not comforted, for I knew the visit of the strange woman was not a dream; and I was awfully frightened. Pero no me consolaron, porque sabía que la visita de la extraña mujer no era un sueño; y yo estaba terriblemente asustado.

I was a little consoled by the nursery maid's assuring me that it was she who had come and looked at me, and lain down beside me in the bed, and that I must have been half-dreaming not to have known her face. Me sentí un poco consolada porque la doncella de la guardería me aseguró que era ella quien había venido y me había mirado, y se había acostado a mi lado en la cama, y que debía haber estado medio soñando por no haber conocido su rostro. But this, though supported by the nurse, did not quite satisfy me. Pero esto, aunque apoyado por la enfermera, no me satisfacía del todo.

I remembered, in the course of that day, a venerable old man, in a black cassock, coming into the room with the nurse and housekeeper, and talking a little to them, and very kindly to me; his face was very sweet and gentle, and he told me they were going to pray, and joined my hands together, and desired me to say, softly, while they were praying, "Lord hear all good prayers for us, for Jesus' sake." Recordé, en el transcurso de ese día, a un anciano venerable, en una sotana negra, entrando en la habitación con la enfermera y el ama de llaves, y hablándoles un poco, y muy amablemente; su rostro era muy dulce y gentil, y me dijo que iban a orar, y unieron mis manos, y me pidió que dijera, suavemente, mientras oraban: "Señor, escucha todas las buenas oraciones por nosotros, por el amor de Jesús. . " I think these were the very words, for I often repeated them to myself, and my nurse used for years to make me say them in my prayers. Creo que estas fueron las mismas palabras, porque a menudo las repetía para mí misma, y mi enfermera las usó durante años para que las dijera en mis oraciones.

I remembered so well the thoughtful sweet face of that white-haired old man, in his black cassock, as he stood in that rude, lofty, brown room, with the clumsy furniture of a fashion three hundred years old about him, and the scanty light entering its shadowy atmosphere through the small lattice. Recordé muy bien la dulce y pensativa cara de aquel anciano de pelo blanco, en su sotana negra, mientras estaba en esa habitación ruda, alta y marrón, con el torpe mobiliario de una moda de trescientos años a su alrededor, y el escaso La luz entra en su atmósfera de sombra a través de la pequeña celosía. Je me souvenais si bien du doux visage pensif de ce vieil homme aux cheveux blancs, dans sa soutane noire, alors qu'il se tenait dans cette chambre grossière, haute et brune, avec les meubles maladroits d'une mode vieille de trois cents ans autour de lui, et le maigre lumière entrant dans son atmosphère ombragée à travers le petit treillis. He kneeled, and the three women with him, and he prayed aloud with an earnest quavering voice for, what appeared to me, a long time. Se arrodilló, y las tres mujeres con él, y oró en voz alta con una voz seria y temblorosa por lo que me pareció un largo tiempo. Il s'agenouilla, et les trois femmes avec lui, et il pria à haute voix d'une voix chevrotante sérieuse pendant, ce qui me parut, un long moment. I forget all my life preceding that event, and for some time after it is all obscure also, but the scenes I have just described stand out vivid as the isolated pictures of the phantasmagoria surrounded by darkness. Me olvido de toda la vida que precede a ese evento, y durante un tiempo después, todo es oscuro también, pero las escenas que acabo de describir se destacan como las imágenes aisladas de la fantasmagoría rodeadas por la oscuridad. J'oublie toute ma vie qui a précédé cet événement, et pendant quelque temps après, tout est obscur aussi, mais les scènes que je viens de décrire ressortent vivement comme les images isolées de la fantasmagorie entourée de ténèbres.