World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 3 Catalunya Village (1)
The two friends stared into the distance and listened attentively as they drank their fizzy margs.A hundred paces away from them, behind a hill bare and windswept, was the village of Catalunya.

Once upon a time, a group of mysterious immigrants left Spain and came to this long and narrow peninsula, where they have lived until now.At that time, no one knew where they came from, nor did they understand their language.One of the leaders among the immigrants could understand Provence and asked the Marseille city government to give them this barren and barren headland, so that they could pull their boats ashore to live like ancient navigators.The leader's request was granted, and three months later, a small village was built around more than 10 boats carrying ronin across the sea.

The village was built in a peculiar and beautiful way, half Moorish, half Spanish.Today's residents are the descendants of the original immigrants, and they still speak the language of their ancestors.For three or four hundred years, they have been firmly guarding this small headland, forming a flock of their own like seabirds, never mixing with the Maasai.They only intermarried internally, maintaining their own language and customs of their homeland.

Entering the only street in the village, we came to one of the houses.Outside the house, the sun shines on the dead leaves, which are dyed with a unique color of local cottages, and the walls of the house are painted with a layer of white plaster like that of small Spanish country inns.Leaning against the partition wall in the room was a beautiful girl with black hair like jet jade and eyes as soft as those of an antelope.The girl's slender hands, like the beauties in ancient paintings, caressed a bouquet of clean and flawless heather flowers, tore the flowers and scattered the petals all over the ground.The girl's arm was bare to the elbow, showing a tanned section.This pair of arms seemed to be modeled after the statue of a beautiful woman in the ancient Roman city of Arles, but they were trembling anxiously.The girl's bow-like soft feet stomped on the ground, faintly revealing her calf wrapped in the red gauze stockings of gray-blue ankles. Those legs were really icy muscles and bones, proud of the cold.Sitting on a chair three steps away from her was a tall young man in his early 20s.He was rocking back and forth with the chair and man, leaning his elbows on an old moth-eaten table, looking at the girl anxiously and angrily, questioning her with his eyes, but the girl's firm eyes put him down. Living.

"You see, Mercedes," said the young man, "it's Easter again, and it's a good time to get married. You promise."

"I've answered you a hundred times already, Fernand, if you ask me again, you're going to make things difficult for yourself!"

"Well, you say it again, I beg you, say it again, so that I can believe it's true. Just tell me for the hundredth time, you refuse my love for you, but your mother has already agreed Please tell me clearly that you have no regard for my happiness, that you don't care if I live or die. Oh God, God, I've been dreaming for 10 years, Mercedes, dreaming of being your husband, and it turns out It's nothing, and that hope is the only purpose of my life!"

"At least I didn't give you that hope, Fernand," replied Mercedes. "You have nothing to blame me for seducing you. I always say to you, 'I love you like a brother, but you You can't ask me for anything other than brotherhood, because my heart belongs to someone else.' Didn't I always tell you that, Fernand?"

"Yes, I know very well, Mercedes," replied the young man, "yes, you have spoken to me very frankly, to the point of cruelty. But, have you forgotten that intermarriage is our card A holy law of the Talunians."

"You are wrong, Fernand, this is not a law but a custom. There is nothing much to say. Listen to me, citing this custom will not satisfy you. You have military service, Fernand, you are still free Zi Zi is only temporarily suspended, but he may be drafted into the army at any time. Once enlisted in the army, how will you take care of me? I, a poor orphan girl, have no family property, only a dilapidated hut and a few An old fishing net, this poor inheritance was left to my mother by my father and passed on to me by my mother. Fernand, think about it. It has been a year since my mother died, and I have survived almost entirely on public relief. .Sometimes you ask me to do you a favour, to let me justly share your catch. I accept, Fernand, because you are my cousin and because we grew up together. Besides, and the most The main thing is, if I refuse to take it, it will make you sad. But I know in my heart that I will sell these fish, and then buy flax for spinning. Fernan, I understand that these fish are actually a kind of charity .”

"What does it matter? Mercedes, poor and helpless as you are, you are better than the most pompous shipowner in Marseilles, the richest banker's lady, and you alone are worthy of me! We What do you want? Isn’t it a good wife and mother? If that’s the case, where can I find someone better than you?”

"Fernand," Mercedes replied, shaking her head, "a woman who loves someone else, not her husband, is not a good mother, nor can she be a good wife. We are friends, and you should feel that Satisfaction. Let me tell you again, all I can give you is friendship, and how can I promise you what I don’t think I can give you?”

"Yes, I understand," Fernand said, "you can live your hard life without complaint, but you are afraid that I will be poor. Well, Mercedes, as long as I have your love, I will work hard to become rich." , you have to bring me good luck. I will definitely become rich, I can catch more fish, I can work as a partner in a business firm, and I can also start my own business and be the boss."

"You can't do any of this, Fernand, because you're a soldier. You're still in the village of Catalunya because there's no war. You'd better catch your fish, don't think about it, dreams will make reality become more terrible. Be content with my friendship, for I will give you nothing else."

"Well, you're right, Mercedes, I'm going to be a sailor. You despise the costumes of our ancestors. I don't have to wear them. I'll wear an oilcloth cap, a striped shirt and an anchor with an anchor on the button. Jacket, this outfit should please you, right?"

"What do you mean by that?" Mercedes asked with a very rude look, "I don't understand what you want to say."

"I mean, Mercedes, you're being cruel to me just because the man you're waiting for is dressed like that. But the man you're waiting for doesn't necessarily have the same mind, and if he did, the sea would turn his back on him of."

"Fernand!" cried Mercedes, "I always thought you were kind, but I was mistaken. Fernand, you beseech God's wrath out of jealousy. You are evil! Well, I To be honest. The man you said, I was waiting for him, I love him. If he doesn't come back, it's not because you are not specific. I think he is dead, but he loves me to death constant."

The Catalan youth looked very angry.

"I understand what you're thinking, Fernand, because I don't love you, you will be bitter towards him, and you will use your Catalan knife to fight his dagger. What good results can you get? What? If you lose the fight, you lose my friendship. If you win, you'll see the friendship turn to hatred. Believe me, in order to win a woman's heart, love with that woman It's a stupid way to fight with a man like me. No, Fernand, you must not have such a bad idea. You can't marry me as your wife, but you can treat me as a friend and a sister, and you should be satisfied. And ’” she went on, with tears in her eyes and anxious eyes, “wait a moment, please wait, Fernand, you said just now that the sea is cruel and unjust, and he has been at sea for four months. During these four months I There have been many storms, counting."

Fernand froze coldly, and didn't want to wipe the tears streaming down Mercedes' cheeks.Every time these tears fell, it seemed that a cup of blood flowed from his heart, but these tears were shed for another person.He stood up, paced back and forth in the cabin, turned back with a gloomy look, clenched his fists, stopped in front of Mercedes and said, "Well, Mercedes, please come back again." Answer it again, have you made up your mind?"

"I love Edmond Dantès," said the girl flatly. "No one is worthy to be my husband but Edmond."

"Will you always love him?"

"I will not change my mind until death."

Fernand lowered his head like a discouraged man, and sighed as if moaning.Suddenly, he raised his head again, gritted his teeth, fanned his nose and asked, "What if he died?"

"If he dies, I will die."

"Suppose he forgets you?"

"Mercedes!" cried a voice excitedly from outside, "Mercedes!"

"Ah!" exclaimed the girl, flushed with joy, and leaping up with love, "you see, he hasn't forgotten me. He's here!" The girl rushed to the door, Opening the door, he called, "Come, Edmond, here I am."

Fernan's face was pale, his whole body was trembling, and he backed up like a passer-by who saw a snake, bumped into the chair he was sitting on just now, and fell on it.Edmond and Mercedes embraced each other tightly.The hot Marseille sun shines through the open door and casts streaks of golden light on the couple.At first they forgot everything around them, and the incomparable happiness separated them from the world.They could only speak in fits and starts, and every word was filled with joyful passion, which sounded like heartbreak.Edmund suddenly found Fernand's face emerging from the shadows, gloomy and pale, full of murderous intent.The Catalan youth moved unconsciously, holding down the knife stuck in his belt with his hand.

"Oh, sorry!" said Dantès, frowning, "I didn't know there were three of us here." Then he turned to Mercedes: "Who is this gentleman?"

"He will be your best friend, Dantès, because he is my friend. He is my cousin and my brother. His name is Fernand. Besides you, Edmond, he The dearest person in the world to me. Don't you remember him?"

"Oh, I know it," said Edmund.He didn't want to let go of Mercedes, held her hand tightly, and waved his other hand affectionately, reaching out to the Catalan youth.But Fernand didn't respond to this friendly gesture, he remained silent, motionless like a statue.Edmond then looked at the trembling Mercedes with his scrutinizing eyes, and then looked at the gloomy and fierce Fernand.He understood everything at a glance, and immediately became angry.

"I came in too much haste, I didn't want to meet an enemy here, Mercedes."

"Enemy!" cried Mercedes, casting a sharp look at her cousin, "you say I have enemies in my house, Edmond! If so, I will take you to Marseilles on my arm, and leave this house forever. not coming back."

A fire burst out of Fernan's eyes.

"Suppose your misfortune, Edmond," continued the girl, all the while remaining calm and unquestionable, implying to Fernand that she had guessed the evil thoughts in his heart, "if your misfortune, I Climb up Merchon Point, and jump headfirst toward the rocks."

Fernand's face turned pale, very terrifying.

(End of this chapter)