The House of The Seven Gables -- [La casa de los siete tejados]




V. May and November

V. Mayo y noviembre

PHOEBE PYNCHEON slept, on the night of her arrival, in a chamber that looked down on the garden of the old house. It fronted towards the east, so that at a very seasonable hour a glow of crimson light came flooding through the window, and bathed the dingy ceiling and paper-hangings in its own hue. There were curtains to Phoebe′s bed; a dark, antique canopy, and ponderous festoons of a stuff which had been rich, and even magnificent, in its time; but which now brooded over the girl like a cloud, making a night in that one corner, while elsewhere it was beginning to be day. The morning light, however, soon stole into the aperture at the foot of the bed, betwixt those faded curtains. Finding the new guest there,--with a bloom on her cheeks like the morning′s own, and a gentle stir of departing slumber in her limbs, as when an early breeze moves the foliage,--the dawn kissed her brow. It was the caress which a dewy maiden--such as the Dawn is, immortally--gives to her sleeping sister, partly from the impulse of irresistible fondness, and partly as a pretty hint that it is time now to unclose her eyes. PHOEBE Pyncheon durmió en una habitación con vistas al jardín de la vieja casa. Daba al este, de modo que muy de madrugada un rayo de luz carmesí tiñó el deslustrado techo y el papel de la pared. La cama de Phoebe tenía cortinas: un dosel obscuro y antiguo con festones de una tela que en sus tiempos fue rica y magnífica, pero que ahora pendía sobre la muchacha como una nube, obscureciendo aquel rincón, mientras a su alrededor todo era invadido por el día. La luz de la mañana, sin embargo, deslizóse pronto por la abertura de los pies del lecho, entre los mustios cortinajes. La aurora besó al nuevo huésped en las mejillas, arreboladas como ella misma. Los miembros de Phoebe se estremecieron de vida, cual follaje al paso de la brisa. Era la caricia de una doncella mañanera -como lo es la aurora, inmortalmente-, a su hermana durmiente, en parte por el irresistible impulso de la atracción y en parte para avisarla de que ya era hora de abrir los ojos.
At the touch of those lips of light, Phoebe quietly awoke, and, for a moment, did not recognize where she was, nor how those heavy curtains chanced to be festooned around her. Nothing, indeed, was absolutely plain to her, except that it was now early morning, and that, whatever might happen next, it was proper, first of all, to get up and say her prayers. She was the more inclined to devotion from the grim aspect of the chamber and its furniture, especially the tall, stiff chairs; one of which stood close by her bedside, and looked as if some old-fashioned personage had been sitting there all night, and had vanished only just in season to escape discovery. Al contacto de aquellos labios de luz, Phoebe se despertó y, por un momento, no reconoció el sitio donde se hallaba, rodeada de cortinajes. Una sola cosa se le aparecía con claridad: había amanecido y era preciso levantarse y rezar. El sombrío aspecto de la habitación y de sus muebles, especialmente las sillas altas y duras, invitaba a la devoción. Una de las sillas, erguida junto a la cabecera de la cama, daba la impresión de que un personaje de los tiempos antiguos se hubiera pasado la noche sentado en ella y se hubiese desvanecido con el tiempo justo para no ser descubierto.
When Phoebe was quite dressed, she peeped out of the window, and saw a rosebush in the garden. Being a very tall one, and of luxuriant growth, it had been propped up against the side of the house, and was literally covered with a rare and very beautiful species of white rose. A large portion of them, as the girl afterwards discovered, had blight or mildew at their hearts; but, viewed at a fair distance, the whole rosebush looked as if it had been brought from Eden that very summer, together with the mould in which it grew. The truth was, nevertheless, that it had been planted by Alice Pyncheon,--she was Phoebe′s great-great-grand-aunt,--in soil which, reckoning only its cultivation as a garden-plat, was now unctuous with nearly two hundred years of vegetable decay. Growing as they did, however, out of the old earth, the flowers still sent a fresh and sweet incense up to their Creator; nor could it have been the less pure and acceptable because Phoebe′s young breath mingled with it, as the fragrance floated past the window. Hastening down the creaking and carpetless staircase, she found her way into the garden, gathered some of the most perfect of the roses, and brought them to her chamber. Ya vestida, Phoebe miró por la ventana y vio un rosal gigante que se encaramaba por la pared, cubriéndola con raras y hermosísimas rosas blancas. Muchas de ellas, según descubrió luego, albergaban pulgones en su corazón, pero visto de lejos, el rosal parecía haber sido traído del propio Edén aquel mismo verano, junto con la tierra en que enraizaba. Lo plantó Alice Pyncheon, hermana de la tatarabuela de Phoebe, en,un mantillo que doscientos años de restos vegetales habían fertilizado. Las rosas elevaban hacia el cielo, hacia su Creador, su incienso, no menos fragante porque a él se mezclaba el aliento de la muchacha. Bajó ésta la crujiente escalera, salió al jardín, cogió unas rosas y se las llevó a su cuarto.
Little Phoebe was one of those persons who possess, as their exclusive patrimony, the gift of practical arrangement. It is a kind of natural magic that enables these favored ones to bring out the hidden capabilities of things around them; and particularly to give a look of comfort and habitableness to any place which, for however brief a period, may happen to be their home. A wild hut of underbrush, tossed together by wayfarers through the primitive forest, would acquire the home aspect by one night′s lodging of such a woman, and would retain it long after her quiet figure had disappeared into the surrounding shade. No less a portion of such homely witchcraft was requisite to reclaim, as it were, Phoebe′s waste, cheerless, and dusky chamber, which had been untenanted so long--except by spiders, and mice, and rats, and ghosts--that it was all overgrown with the desolation which watches to obliterate every trace of man′s happier hours.
What was precisely Phoebe′s process we find it impossible to say. She appeared to have no preliminary design, but gave a touch here and another there; brought some articles of furniture to light and dragged others into the shadow; looped up or let down a window-curtain; and, in the course of half an hour, had fully succeeded in throwing a kindly and hospitable smile over the apartment. No longer ago than the night before, it had resembled nothing so much as the old maid′s heart; for there was neither sunshine nor household fire in one nor the other, and, save for ghosts and ghostly reminiscences, not a guest, for many years gone by, had entered the heart or the chamber. 		La pequeña Phoebe era una de esas personas que poseen como exclusivo patrimonio el don de saber disponer bien todo, una especie de magia natural que permite descubrir las posibilidades ocultas en las cosas y dar un tono de comodidad a todos los sitios en que, siquiera sea por poco tiempo, establecen su vivienda. Una cabaña de troncos, levantada en medio del bosque por unos caminantes, se convertiría en un hogar después de albergar, desde el crepúsculo al alba, a una mujer de tal clase y conservaría aquel carácter mucho tiempo después de que la graciosa figura femenina se hubiera esfumado en las sombras de la selva.
Era menester no poca cantidad de aquel don hogareño para hacer habitable la triste y vasta estancia de Phoebe, deshabitada desde tan largos años -excepto por ratas, arañas, ratones y fantasmas-, que aparecía cubierta de esa capa de desolación con que el tiempo borra toda huella de las horas felices.



Es imposible seguir a Phoebe en su proceso de reformas. No parecía seguir ningún plan: daba un toque aquí y otro allá, ponía algunos muebles a la luz y sepultaba otros en la sombra, levantaba o bajaba una cortina... A la media hora, el cuarto sonreía acogedoramente. La noche anterior, aquel dormitorio se parecía al corazón de la solterona. No se veía sol ni fuego y, aparte de los fantasmas y de los recuerdos fantasmales, nadie había entrado por muchos años, ni en aquella estancia ni en aquel corazón.

There was still another peculiarity of this inscrutable charm. The bedchamber, no doubt, was a chamber of very great and varied experience, as a scene of human life: the joy of bridal nights had throbbed itself away here; new immortals had first drawn earthly breath here; and here old people had died. But--whether it were the white roses, or whatever the subtile influence might be--a person of delicate instinct would have known at once that it was now a maiden′s bedchamber, and had been purified of all former evil and sorrow by her sweet breath and happy thoughts. Her dreams of the past night, being such cheerful ones, had exorcised the gloom, and now haunted the chamber in its stead. Ese inescrutable encanto de Phoebe tenía otra particularidad. El dormitorio era, sin duda, un cuarto de grande y variada experiencia, como escenario de la vida humana. Allí había latido la alegría de las noches de novios, allí habían nacido muchos seres y otros muchos habían muerto. Pero -sea por la fragancia de las rosas o por otra influencia más sutil- una persona delicada se daría cuenta de que, ahora, era la habitación de una muchacha que la había purificado de malas influencias y tristezas con su suave aliento y sus pensamientos dichosos. Diríase que los agradables sueños de Phoebe habían exorcizado la penumbra.
After arranging matters to her satisfaction, Phoebe emerged from her chamber, with a purpose to descend again into the garden. Besides the rosebush, she had observed several other species of flowers growing there in a wilderness of neglect, and obstructing one another′s development (as is often the parallel case in human society) by their uneducated entanglement and confusion. At the head of the stairs, however, she met Hepzibah, who, it being still early, invited her into a room which she would probably have called her boudoir, had her education embraced any such French phrase. It was strewn about with a few old books, and a work-basket, and a dusty writing-desk; and had, on one side, a large black article of furniture, of very strange appearance, which the old gentlewoman told Phoebe was a harpsichord. It looked more like a coffin than anything else; and, indeed,--not having been played upon, or opened, for years,--there must have been a vast deal of dead music in it, stifled for want of air. Human finger was hardly known to have touched its chords since the days of Alice Pyncheon, who had learned the sweet accomplishment of melody in Europe. Después de arreglar las cosas a su gusto, la muchacha emergió de su cuarto con el propósito de bajar otra vez al jardín. Además del rosal, había observado otras muchas clases de flores, creciendo silvestres y en triste abandono, dificultándose mutuamente el desarrollo, ofreciendo un paralelo con la sociedad humana. Al ir a bajar la escalera, sin embargo, se encontró con Hepzibah que la invitó a entrar en una habitación que habría podido llamar boudoir si su educación hubiera incluido esa palabra francesa. En el cuarto se veían unos cuantos libros, una cesta de labor y un escritorio. En un extremo había un mueble extraño, de color negro, que, según aseguró Hepzibah a su sobrina, era un clavicordio. Se parecía a un féretro más que a otra cosa y, realmente, después de haber pasado muchos años sin que lo abrieran, debía contener gran cantidad de música muerta, asfixiada por falta de aire. Desde los tiempos de Alice Pyncheon, que había aprendido a tocar en Europa, pocos eran los dedos que pulsaron sus teclas.
Hepzibah bade her young guest sit down, and, herself taking a chair near by, looked as earnestly at Phoebe′s trim little figure as if she expected to see right into its springs and motive secrets. Hepzibah invitó a sentarse a su joven huésped, y tomando ella también una silla, contempló gravemente el semblante de Phoebe como si esperara ver reflejados en él sus motivos secretos.
"Cousin Phoebe," said she, at last, "I really can′t see my way clear to keep you with me." -Prima Phoebe- le dijo por fin-, no veo cómo podría areglármelas para que te quedases conmigo.
These words, however, had not the inhospitable bluntness with which they may strike the reader; for the two relatives, in a talk before bedtime, had arrived at a certain degree of mutual understanding. Hepzibah knew enough to enable her to appreciate the circumstances (resulting from the second marriage of the girl′s mother) which made it desirable for Phoebe to establish herself in another home. Nor did she misinterpret Phoebe′s character, and the genial activity pervading it,--one of the most valuable traits of the true New England woman,--which had impelled her forth, as might be said, to seek her fortune, but with a self-respecting purpose to confer as much benefit as she could anywise receive. As one of her nearest kindred, she had naturally betaken herself to Hepzibah, with no idea of forcing herself on her cousin′s protection, but only for a visit of a week or two, which might be indefinitely extended, should it prove for the happiness of both. Esas palabras, sin embargo, no tenían la brusquedad poco hospitalaria con que pueden chocar al lector, porque las dos mujeres, la noche anterior, habían charlado y llegado a una especie de mutua comprensión. Hepzibah comprendía que el segundo matrimonio de la madre de Phoebe hacía desear a la muchacha establecerse en otro hogar. No interpretó mal el carácter de Phoebe, alegre y activo -rasgo precioso de las mujeres de Nueva Inglaterra- y que la había impulsado a buscar fortuna. Hepzibah era su pariente más cercana, y por esto se había dirigido ante todo a su casa, no con idea de obligarla a que le diera protección, sino sólo por una visita de una o dos semanas, que podría prolongarse indefinidamente, si ello contribuía a la felicidad de ambas.
To Hepzibah′s blunt observation, therefore, Phoebe replied as frankly, and more cheerfully. A la declaración de Hepzibah replicó Phoebe franca y alegremente:
"Dear cousin, I cannot tell how it will be," said she. "But I really think we may suit one another much better than you suppose." -No lo sé, prima, pero creo que nos avendremos mejor de lo que supones.
"You are a nice girl,--I see it plainly," continued Hepzibah; "and it is not any question as to that point which makes me hesitate. But, Phoebe, this house of mine is but a melancholy place for a young person to be in. It lets in the wind and rain, and the snow, too, in the garret and upper chambers, in winter-time, but it never lets in the sunshine. And as for myself, you see what I am,--a dismal and lonesome old woman (for I begin to call myself old, Phoebe), whose temper, I am afraid, is none of the best, and whose spirits are as bad as can be ! I cannot make your life pleasant, Cousin Phoebe, neither can I so much as give you bread to eat." -Eres una chica muy agradable -replicó-, y no es el miedo de no avenirnos lo que me hace vacilar. Esta casa es un lugar demasiado melancólico para una joven como tú. En la buhardilla y los cuartos de arriba entra el viento y la lluvia y hasta la nieve, en el invierno, ¡pero jamás entra el sol ! Y yo... Ya ves lo que soy... Una vieja triste y solitaria... Porque ya empiezo a llamarme vieja, ¿sabes ?... Que teme que su carácter no sea precisamente suave y cuyo humor no suele ser muy bueno. No podría hacerte agradable la vida, prima Phoebe, ni siquiera darte de comer.
"You will find me a cheerful little body" answered Phoebe, smiling, and yet with a kind of gentle dignity, "and I mean to earn my bread. You know I have not been brought up a Pyncheon. A girl learns many things in a New England village." -Ya verás cómo estaré más alegre de lo que crees -contestó Phoebe, sonriendo-. Además, quiero ganarme la vida. Ya sabes que no me he educado como una Pyncheon. Una muchacha aprende infinidad de cosas en un pueblo de Nueva Inglaterra.
"Ah ! Phoebe," said Hepzibah, sighing, "your knowledge would do but little for you here ! And then it is a wretched thought that you should fling away your young days in a place like this. Those cheeks would not be so rosy after a month or two. Look at my face !" and, indeed, the contrast was very striking,--"you see how pale I am ! It is my idea that the dust and continual decay of these old houses are unwholesome for the lungs." -Tus conocimientos te servirán de muy poco aquí -suspiró Hepzibali-. Es una idea equivocada la de pasarte los días de tu juventud en un lugar como este. Dentro de un mes o dos, tus mejillas ya no tendrán esos colores. ¡Fíjate en mi rostro ! -el contraste era muy grande-. Ya ves qué pálida estoy. Me figuro que el polvo y la decadencia gradual de estos viejos caserones son muy malos para los pulmones.
"There is the garden,--the flowers to be taken care of," observed Phoebe. "I should keep myself healthy with exercise in the open air." -El jardín y las flores necesitan de alguien que las cuide -observó Phoebe-. Eso sólo me conservará sana y fuerte.
"And, after all, child," exclaimed Hepzibah, suddenly rising, as if to dismiss the subject, "it is not for me to say who shall be a guest or inhabitant of the old Pyncheon House. Its master is coming." -Bueno, a fin de cuentas, criatura -exclamó Hepzibah, levantándose como para poner fin al tema-,no me incumbe a mí decidir quién ha de vivir en la vieja casa de los Pyncheon. Su dueño está a punto de venir.
"Do you mean Judge Pyncheon ?" asked Phoebe in surprise. -¿Quieres decir el juez Pyncheon ? -preguntó Phoebe sorprendida.
"Judge Pyncheon !" answered her cousin angrily. "He will hardly cross the threshold while I live ! No, no ! But, Phoebe, you shall see the face of him I speak of." -¡El juez Pyncheon ! -contestó agriamente su prima-. No se atrevería a entrar aquí mientras yo viva. No, no es él... Espera y verás el retrato de quien te hablo.
She went in quest of the miniature already described, and returned with it in her hand. Giving it to Phoebe, she watched her features narrowly, and with a certain jealousy as to the mode in which the girl would show herself affected by the picture. Fue a buscar la miniatura que ya conocemos y regresó con ella en las manos. Se la dio a Phoebe y observó el rostro de la muchacha desde muy cerca, con una especie de celos por la manera en que aquel semblante de marfil le afectaría.
"How do you like the face ?" asked Hepzibah. -¿Qué te parece ?
"It is handsome !--it is very beautiful !" said Phoebe admiringly. "It is as sweet a face as a man′s can be, or ought to be. It has something of a child′s expression,--and yet not childish,--only one feels so very kindly towards him ! He ought never to suffer anything. One would bear much for the sake of sparing him toil or sorrow. Who is it, Cousin Hepzibah ?" -Es un hombre muy hermoso... Verdaderamente hermoso -fue la admirativa respuesta-. Es un rostro tan dulce como puede serlo el de un hombre o, por lo menos, como debería serlo. Tiene la expresión de un niño,.. Pero no es infantil. Sólo que una se siente muy benévola para con él. Nunca debería sufrir un hombre así y creo que yo haría cualquier, sacrificio para ahorrarle una pena. ¿Quién es, prima Hepzibah ?
"Did you never hear," whispered her cousin, bending towards her, "of Clifford Pyncheon ?" -¿No has oído hablar de Clifford Pyncheon ?,-murmuró la vieja, inclinando el busto hacia la muchacha.
"Never. I thought there were no Pyncheons left, except yourself and our cousin Jaffrey," answered Phoebe. "And yet I seem to have heard the name of Clifford Pyncheon. Yes !--from my father or my mother; but has he not been a long while dead ?" -¡Nunca ! Creí que no quedaban más Pyncheon que tú y el juez Jaffrey-contestó Phoebe-. Y, sin embargo, me parece haber oído ese nombre... Sí, se lo he oído a mi padre o a mi madre... pero, ¿no murió hace mucho ?
"Well, well, child, perhaps he has !" said Hepzibah with a sad, hollow laugh; "but, in old houses like this, you know, dead people are very apt to come back again ! We shall see. And, Cousin Phoebe, since, after all that I have said, your courage does not fail you, we will not part so soon. You are welcome, my child, for the present, to such a home as your kinswoman can offer you." -Bueno, quizá sí -repuso Hepzibah, con triste sonrisa-; pero en casas tan viejas como ésta, ¿sabes ?, los muertos a veces resucitan. Ya veremos... Por de pronto, no te desanimes, prima Phoebe, ya que no nos separaremos en seguida. En esta casa siempre eres bien venida.
With this measured, but not exactly cold assurance of a hospitable purpose, Hepzibah kissed her cheek. Con estas palabras mesuradas -no precisamente frías-Hepzibah le dio un beso de hospitalidad.
They now went below stairs, where Phoebe--not so much assuming the office as attracting it to herself, by the magnetism of innate fitness--took the most active part in preparing breakfast. The mistress of the house, meanwhile, as is usual with persons of her stiff and unmalleable cast, stood mostly aside; willing to lend her aid, yet conscious that her natural inaptitude would be likely to impede the business in hand. Phoebe and the fire that boiled the teakettle were equally bright, cheerful, and efficient, in their respective offices. Hepzibah gazed forth from her habitual sluggishness, the necessary result of long solitude, as from another sphere. She could not help being interested, however, and even amused, at the readiness with which her new inmate adapted herself to the circumstances, and brought the house, moreover, and all its rusty old appliances, into a suitableness for her purposes. Whatever she did, too, was done without conscious effort, and with frequent outbreaks of song, which were exceedingly pleasant to the ear. This natural tunefulness made Phoebe seem like a bird in a shadowy tree; or conveyed the idea that the stream of life warbled through her heart as a brook sometimes warbles through a pleasant little dell. It betokened the cheeriness of an active temperament, finding joy in its activity, and, therefore, rendering it beautiful; it was a New England trait,--the stern old stuff of Puritanism with a gold thread in the web. Phoebe púsose a preparar el desayuno, no porque adoptase el cargo de cocinera, sino porque aquella actividad le venía a la medida. Entretanto, la dueña de la casa, como ocurre con las personas de su poco maleable carácter, se mantuvo apartada, deseosa de ayudar, pero comprendiendo que su natural ineptitud estropearía la marcha del importante asunto que su prima tenía entre manos. Phoebe y el fuego que hacía hervir la tetera eran brillantes, alegres y eficaces por igual en sus respectivas misiones. Hepzibah la contemplaba. No pudo evitar interesarse y hasta divertirse con la rapidez de su nueva compañera para adaptarse a las circunstancias y sacar de las viejas cosas de la casa los resultados apetecidos. Todo lo hacía sin el menor esfuerzo y con frecuentes canciones. Su natural melodioso la hacía semejar a un pájaro en un sombreado árbol, o despertaba la idea de que el torrente de la vida murmuraba en su corazón como un arroyo en la cañada. Demostraba la alegría de un temperamento activo que encuentra gozo en la actividad y la convierte en belleza. Era un rasgo típico de Nueva Inglaterra... la áspera tela de puritanismo con una cenefa de oro.
Hepzibah brought out some old silver spoons with the family crest upon them, and a china tea-set painted over with grotesque figures of man, bird, and beast, in as grotesque a landscape. These pictured people were odd humorists, in a world of their own,--a world of vivid brilliancy, so far as color went, and still unfaded, although the teapot and small cups were as ancient as the custom itself of tea-drinking. Hepzibah sacó cucharas de plata, marcadas con las iniciales de la familia y un juego de té de porcelana, decorado con extravagantes figuras de hombres, aves y bestias sobre un paisaje no menos grotesco. Esas gentes pintadas vivían como humoristas en un mundo aparte, suyo, un mundo de vivido brillo, todavía no apagado por el tiempo, a pesar de que aquella porcelana era tan vieja como la costumbre de beber té.
"Your great-great-great-great-grandmother had these cups, when she was married," said Hepzibah to Phoebe. "She was a Davenport, of a good family. They were almost the first teacups ever seen in the colony; and if one of them were to be broken, my heart would break with it. But it is nonsense to speak so about a brittle teacup, when I remember what my heart has gone through without breaking." -La abuela de tu tatarabuela recibió ese juego de regalo, cuando se casó -dijo Hepzibah-. Era una Davenport de muy buena familia. Fueron las primeras tazas de té conocidas en la colonia y si una de ellas se rompiese, mi corazón se rompería también... ¡Bah ! Es una tontería hablar así de una taza tan frágil, sobre todo al recordar las cosas que le han ocurrido a mi corazón.
The cups--not having been used, perhaps, since Hepzibah′s youth--had contracted no small burden of dust, which Phoebe washed away with so much care and delicacy as to satisfy even the proprietor of this invaluable china. Las tazas, que quizá no se habían usado desde la juventud de Hepzibah, estaban cubiertas de una gruesa capa de polvo, que Phoebe limpió con un cuidado y delicadeza que satisfizo hasta a la propietaria de aquellas inapreciables piezas de porcelana.
"What a nice little housewife you are !" exclaimed the latter, smiling, and at the same time frowning so prodigiously that the smile was sunshine under a thunder-cloud. "Do you do other things as well ? Are you as good at your book as you are at washing teacups ?" -¡Qué linda ama de casa eres ! -comentó la solterona, sonriendo y frunciendo a la par las cejas tan prodigiosamente que la sonrisa era como un rayo de sol debajo de una nube tempestuosa-. ¿Lo haces todo tan bien como eso ? ¿Sirves igual para estudiar que para lavar tazas de té ?
"Not quite, I am afraid," said Phoebe, laughing at the form of Hepzibah′s question. "But I was schoolmistress for the little children in our district last summer, and might have been so still." -Me temo que no -rió Phoebe-. Pero el verano pasado fui maestra de párvulos, en una escuela, y todavía podría seguir siéndolo.
"Ah ! ′tis all very well !" observed the maiden lady, drawing herself up. "But these things must have come to you with your mother′s blood. I never knew a Pyncheon that had any turn for them." -Eso está muy bien -observó la dama-. Lo has heredado de tu madre, pues no sé que ningún Pyncheon haya servido para esas cosas.
It is very queer, but not the less true, that people are generally quite as vain, or even more so, of their deficiencies than of their available gifts; as was Hepzibah of this native inapplicability, so to speak, of the Pyncheons to any useful purpose. She regarded it as an hereditary trait; and so, perhaps, it was, but unfortunately a morbid one, such as is often generated in families that remain long above the surface of society. Antes de abandonar la mesa, sonó agudamente la campanilla de la tienda y Hepzibah dejó el resto de su té con un gesto de desesperación que daba pena ver. En los casos de una ocupación desagradable, el segundo día es peor que el primero. Volvemos al potro de tormento con los miembros aún destrozados.
Before they left the breakfast-table, the shop-bell rang sharply, and Hepzibah set down the remnant of her final cup of tea, with a look of sallow despair that was truly piteous to behold. In cases of distasteful occupation, the second day is generally worse than the first. We return to the rack with all the soreness of the preceding torture in our limbs. At all events, Hepzibah had fully satisfied herself of the impossibility of ever becoming wonted to this peevishly obstreperous little bell. Ring as often as it might, the sound always smote upon her nervous system rudely and suddenly. And especially now, while, with her crested teaspoons and antique china, she was flattering herself with ideas of gentility, she felt an unspeakable disinclination to confront a customer. Hepzibah se había convencido de la imposibilidad de acostumbrarse a aquella malhumorada y estridente campanilla. Por muchas veces que sonara, siempre le atacaba los nervios, y más ahora, que la embargaban ideas de nobleza y prosapia, a la vista de las cucharas de plata con las iniciales y de las antiguas tazas de té que le hacían experimentar una inefable aversión a tratar con parroquianos.
"Do not trouble yourself, dear cousin !" cried Phoebe, starting lightly up. "I am shop-keeper to-day." -No te molestes, prima -atajó Phoebe, levantándose ligeramente-. Hoy me he despertado tendera.
"You, child !" exclaimed Hepzibah. "What can a little country girl know of such matters ?" -¿Tú ?... ¿Qué sabe una muchacha del campo de esas cosas ?
"Oh, I have done all the shopping for the family at our village store," said Phoebe. "And I have had a table at a fancy fair, and made better sales than anybody. These things are not to be learnt; they depend upon a knack that comes, I suppose," added she, smiling, "with one′s mother′s blood. You shall see that I am as nice a little saleswoman as I am a housewife !" -He hecho todas las compras en nuestro almacén del pueblo -explicó Phoebe-. Y una vez, en una tómbola, mi mesa vendió más que ninguna. Esas cosas no se aprenden. Supongo que son algo parecido a un don que me viene -añadió con una sonrisa- de parte de mi madre. Ya verás que soy tan buena tendera como ama de casa.
The old gentlewoman stole behind Phoebe, and peeped from the passageway into the shop, to note how she would manage her undertaking. It was a case of some intricacy. A very ancient woman, in a white short gown and a green petticoat, with a string of gold beads about her neck, and what looked like a nightcap on her head, had brought a quantity of yarn to barter for the commodities of the shop. She was probably the very last person in town who still kept the time-honored spinning-wheel in constant revolution. It was worth while to hear the croaking and hollow tones of the old lady, and the pleasant voice of Phoebe, mingling in one twisted thread of talk; and still better to contrast their figures,--so light and bloomy,--so decrepit and dusky,--with only the counter betwixt them, in one sense, but more than threescore years, in another. As for the bargain, it was wrinkled slyness and craft pitted against native truth and sagacity. La solterona siguió a su prima para ver cómo se las arreglaba. El caso que se le presentó a Phoebe era algo intrincado. Una anciana con falda blanca y corpino verde, con un collar de cuentas de oro alrededor del cuello y en la cabeza algo parecido a un gorro de dormir, ofrecía cierta cantidad de hilo a cambio de géneros. Probablemente era la única y última persona de la ciudad que seguía haciendo girar la rueca. Valía la pena de escuchar los graznidos y tonos profundos de la vieja y la agradable voz de Phoebe entrelazados en la conversación y aún más contemplar el contraste de sus figuras -ligera y luminosa la una, decrépita y achacosa la otra-, separadas por el mostrador, en un sentido, y por más de sesenta años en otro. En cuanto al negocio, se redujo al forcejeo de la astucia de la vieja con la sagacidad de la joven.
"Was not that well done ?" asked Phoebe, laughing, when the customer was gone. -¿Verdad que ha salido bien ? -preguntó Phoebe riendo, cuando la vieja se hubo marchado.
"Nicely done, indeed, child !" answered Hepzibah. "I could not have gone through with it nearly so well. As you say, it must be a knack that belongs to you on the mother′s side." -Muy bien, muchacha -contestó Hepzibah-. Yo no lo habría hecho mejor. Tienes razón cuando dices que es un don de tu madre.
It is a very genuine admiration, that with which persons too shy or too awkward to take a due part in the bustling world regard the real actors in life′s stirring scenes; so genuine, in fact, that the former are usually fain to make it palatable to their self-love, by assuming that these active and forcible qualities are incompatible with others, which they choose to deem higher and more important. Thus, Hepzibah was well content to acknowledge Phoebe′s vastly superior gifts as a shop-keeper′--she listened, with compliant ear, to her suggestion of various methods whereby the influx of trade might be increased, and rendered profitable, without a hazardous outlay of capital. She consented that the village maiden should manufacture yeast, both liquid and in cakes; and should brew a certain kind of beer, nectareous to the palate, and of rare stomachic virtues; and, moreover, should bake and exhibit for sale some little spice-cakes, which whosoever tasted would longingly desire to taste again. All such proofs of a ready mind and skilful handiwork were highly acceptable to the aristocratic hucksteress, so long as she could murmur to herself with a grim smile, and a half-natural sigh, and a sentiment of mixed wonder, pity, and growing affection:-- Las personas tímidas y temerosas de participar en la barahúnda del mundo contemplan con admiración a los actores de la agitada escena de la vida. Admiración tan auténtica, en realidad, que procuran hacerla agradable para su amor propio imaginando que aquellas enérgicas cualidades son incompatibles con otras que consideran más altas e importantes. Por esto Hepzibah se alegraba de comprobar los talentos de Phoebe como tendera y escuchó complacida las sugerencias que le hizo la muchacha para aumentar el negocio sin exponer apenas mayor cantidad de capital. Consintió que su prima preparase levadura líquida y en pasta, y hasta que llegara a manufacturar cierta clase de cerveza deliciosa al paladar y de raras virtudes estomacales. Además, le dejó hacer unos pastelillos especiados que una vez se catan obligan a comer otros. Esas pruebas de habilidad fueron aceptadas por la aristocrática tendera, mientras podía murmurar para sí, con una sombría sonrisa, un suspiro y un sentimiento, mezcla de maravilla, piedad y creciente afecto,
"What a nice little body she is ! If she only could be a lady; too--but that′s impossible ! Phoebe is no Pyncheon. She takes everything from her mother !" que Phoebe era una muchacha muy linda y útil... ¡Si pudiera ser toda una señora, además... ! Pero eso era imposible, Phoebe no era una Pyncheon. Todo lo tenía de su madre.
As to Phoebe′s not being a lady, or whether she were a lady or no, it was a point, perhaps, difficult to decide, but which could hardly have come up for judgment at all in any fair and healthy mind. Out of New England, it would be impossible to meet with a person combining so many ladylike attributes with so many others that form no necessary (if compatible) part of the character. She shocked no canon of taste; she was admirably in keeping with herself, and never jarred against surrounding circumstances. Her figure, to be sure,--so small as to be almost childlike, and so elastic that motion seemed as easy or easier to it than rest, would hardly have suited one′s idea of a countess. Neither did her face--with the brown ringlets on either side, and the slightly piquant nose, and the wholesome bloom, and the clear shade of tan, and the half dozen freckles, friendly remembrances of the April sun and breeze--precisely give us a right to call her beautiful. But there was both lustre and depth in her eyes. She was very pretty; as graceful as a bird, and graceful much in the same way; as pleasant about the house as a gleam of sunshine falling on the floor through a shadow of twinkling leaves, or as a ray of firelight that dances on the wall while evening is drawing nigh. Instead of discussing her claim to rank among ladies, it would be preferable to regard Phoebe as the example of feminine grace and availability combined, in a state of society, if there were any such, where ladies did not exist. There it should be woman′s office to move in the midst of practical affairs, and to gild them all, the very homeliest,--were it even the scouring of pots and kettles,--with an atmosphere of loveliness and joy. Si Phoebe era o no una verdadera señora, es punto difícil de decidir; en todo caso, el problema no se plantearía a un espíritu sano. Fuera de Nueva Inglaterra sería imposible encontrar una persona que combinase tantos rasgos de señora con tantos otros no indispensables, y hasta puede ser que incompatibles para merecer ese calificativo. No chocaba con los cánones del buen gusto, nunca rozaba con el ambiente que la rodeaba y sabía comportarse admirablemente. Su figura, tan pequeña que casi resultaba infantil, y tan elástica que el movimiento parecía en ella tan fácil como el descanso, no satisfaría, por descontado, la idea que uno se hace de una condesa. Y no tendríamos derecho a llamarla hermosa, si nos atuviéramos a su rostro, con bucles castaños a los lados, naricilla respingona, su frescura y la media docena de pecas... recuerdos del sol y de las brisas de abril que resplandecían en sus mejillas. Pero en sus ojos había brillo y profundidad. En conjunto era muy linda, graciosa como un pájaro y, a la manera de un pájaro, agradable como un rayo de sol que atraviesa el susurrante follaje, o como el reflejo de una llama que baila en la pared al anochecer. En vez de discutir si tiene derecho o no a figurar en el rango de las señoras, es preferible considerar a Phoebe como un ejemplo de lo que sería la gracia y eficacia femeninas en una sociedad en que no existieran damas; en tal sociedad las mujeres se cuidarían de los asuntos del hogar, dándole luminosidad inusitada, incluso cuando se tratara de ordeñar una vaca o fregar platos.
Such was the sphere of Phoebe. To find the born and educated lady, on the other hand, we need look no farther than Hepzibah, our forlorn old maid, in her rustling and rusty silks, with her deeply cherished and ridiculous consciousness of long descent, her shadowy claims to princely territory, and, in the way of accomplishment, her recollections, it may be, of having formerly thrummed on a harpsichord, and walked a minuet, and worked an antique tapestry-stitch on her sampler. It was a fair parallel between new Plebeianism and old Gentility. Esta era precisamente la esfera propia de Phoebe. Para encontrar a la dama genuina no tenemos que ir muy lejos: ahí está Hepzibah, nuestra solitaria y abandonada solterona, con sus sedas ajadas y crujientes, con su ridicula y amada lista de antepasados sus reclamaciones de principescos territorios y un vago recuerdo de haber tocado el clavicordio, bailado un minué y bordado un tapiz. Las dos mujeres constituían un símbolo del nuevo plebeyismo y de la antigua nobleza.
It really seemed as if the battered visage of the House of the Seven Gables, black and heavy-browed as it still certainly looked, must have shown a kind of cheerfulness glimmering through its dusky windows as Phoebe passed to and fro in the interior. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain how the people of the neighborhood so soon became aware of the girl′s presence. There was a great run of custom, setting steadily in, from about ten o′ clock until towards noon,--relaxing, somewhat, at dinner-time, but recommencing in the afternoon, and, finally, dying away a half an hour or so before the long day′s sunset. One of the stanchest patrons was little Ned Higgins, the devourer of Jim Crow and the elephant, who to-day signalized his omnivorous prowess by swallowing two dromedaries and a locomotive. Phoebe laughed, as she summed up her aggregate of sales upon the slate; while Hepzibah, first drawing on a pair of silk gloves, reckoned over the sordid accumulation of copper coin, not without silver intermixed, that had jingled into the till. Parecía como si la vetusta casa de los Siete Tejados, sombría y ceñuda, mostrase un alegre destello, a través de sus ventanas, cuando Phoebe iba y venía por el interior. De no ser así, es imposible explicarse de qué modo el vecindario advirtió tan pronto la presencia de la muchacha. Hubo un verdadero desfile de parroquianos, aquella mañana, desde las diez a mediodía, que se espació algo a la hora de comer, pero que volvió a aumentar durante la tarde, hasta cosa de media hora antes de ponerse el sol. Uno de los clientes más adictos fue Ned Higgins, el devorador de Jim Crow y del elefante, que realizó la proeza de comerse dos dromedarios y una locomotora. Phoebe reía, al ir sumando los ingresos en la pizarra, mientras Hepzibah, provista de un par de guantes de seda, amontonaba las monedas de cobre y algunas de plata que llenaban el cajón.
"We must renew our stock, Cousin Hepzibah !" cried the little saleswoman. "The gingerbread figures are all gone, and so are those Dutch wooden milkmaids, and most of our other playthings. There has been constant inquiry for cheap raisins, and a great cry for whistles, and trumpets, and jew′s-harps; and at least a dozen little boys have asked for molasses-candy. And we must contrive to get a peck of russet apples, late in the season as it is. But, dear cousin, what an enormous heap of copper ! Positively a copper mountain !" -Hemos de renovar los géneros, prima -gritó contenta la joven vendedora-. Se han acabado las figuritas de pan de jengibre, esas lecheras holandesas de madera y muchos otros juguetes... Han pedido mil veces silbatos, trompetas y por lo menos media docena de niños han solicitado caramelos de miel. Hay que adquirir una caja de manzanas, aunque estemos al final de la temporada... ¡Qué montón de calderilla !... ¡Es una verdadera montaña de cobre !
"Well done ! well done ! well done !" quoth Uncle Venner, who had taken occasion to shuffle in and out of the shop several times in the course of the day. "Here′s a girl that will never end her days at my farm ! Bless my eyes, what a brisk little soul !" -¡Muy bien ! ¡Muy bien ! -comentó el tío Venner, que durante el día apareció varias veces por la tienda. Esta muchacha no acabará sus días en mi granja... Benditos los ojos que han podido ver a una criatura tan simpática, graciosa y trabajadora.
"Yes, Phoebe is a nice girl !" said Hepzibah, with a scowl of austere approbation. "But, Uncle Venner, you have known the family a great many years. Can you tell me whether there ever was a Pyncheon whom she takes after ?" -Sí, Phoebe es muy simpática -repuso Hepzibah con un fruncimiento de cejas de aprobación-. Usted, tío Venner, que conoce a nuestra familia desde hace muchos años, ¿puede decirme si se parece a algún Pyncheon ?
"I don′t believe there ever was," answered the venerable man. "At any rate, it never was my luck to see her like among them, nor, for that matter, anywhere else. I′ve seen a great deal of the world, not only in people′s kitchens and back-yards but at the street-corners, and on the wharves, and in other places where my business calls me; and I′m free to say, Miss Hepzibah, that I never knew a human creature do her work so much like one of God′s angels as this child Phoebe does !" -No, no lo creo -contestó el viejo-. En todo caso, jamás he tenido la suerte de ver a un Pyncheon que se le pareciera. He conocido a infinidad de personas en mi vida, no sólo en los patios y cocinas, sino en los muelles, en las calles y en otros sitios donde me llaman mis ocupaciones, y puedo asegurarle, miss Hepzibah, que jamás he visto a una criatura que hiciera su trabajo de manera tan semejante a un ángel como esa pequeña Phoebe.
Uncle Venner′s eulogium, if it appear rather too high-strained for the person and occasion, had, nevertheless, a sense in which it was both subtile and true. There was a spiritual quality in Phoebe′s activity. The life of the long and busy day--spent in occupations that might so easily have taken a squalid and ugly aspect--had been made pleasant, and even lovely, by the spontaneous grace with which these homely duties seemed to bloom out of her character; so that labor, while she dealt with it, had the easy and flexible charm of play. Angels do not toil, but let their good works grow out of them; and so did Phoebe. El elogio del tío Venner, por muy exagerado que pueda parecer, contenía un sutil hilo de verdad. Había, en la actividad de Phoebe una calidad espiritual evidentísima. Aquel día largo y atareado, pasado en ocupaciones que hubieran podido parecer míseras y aburridas, resultó agradable y hasta delicioso, merced a la gracia con que esos deberes domésticos parecían apropiados al carácter de Phoebe. El trabajo, al hacerlo ella, adquiría la facilidad y el encanto del juego. Los ángeles no se afanan, sino que dejan que el trabajo fluya de ellos, y eso es precisamente lo que ocurría a Phoebe.
The two relatives--the young maid and the old one--found time before nightfall, in the intervals of trade, to make rapid advances towards affection and confidence. A recluse, like Hepzibah, usually displays remarkable frankness, and at least temporary affability, on being absolutely cornered, and brought to the point of personal intercourse; like the angel whom Jacob wrestled with, she is ready to bless you when once overcome. Las dos mujeres encontraron tiempo, en los intervalos entre venta y venta, para adelantar rápidamente por el sendero del afecto y la confianza.
The old gentlewoman took a dreary and proud satisfaction in leading Phoebe from room to room of the house, and recounting the traditions with which, as we may say, the walls were lugubriously frescoed. She showed the indentations made by the lieutenant-governor′s sword-hilt in the door-panels of the apartment where old Colonel Pyncheon, a dead host, had received his affrighted visitors with an awful frown. The dusky terror of that frown, Hepzibah observed, was thought to be lingering ever since in the passageway. She bade Phoebe step into one of the tall chairs, and inspect the ancient map of the Pyncheon territory at the eastward. In a tract of land on which she laid her finger, there existed a silver mine, the locality of which was precisely pointed out in some memoranda of Colonel Pyncheon himself, but only to be made known when the family claim should be recognized by government. Thus it was for the interest of all New England that the Pyncheons should have justice done them. She told, too, how that there was undoubtedly an immense treasure of English guineas hidden somewhere about the house, or in the cellar, or possibly in the garden. La vieja dama experimentaba una melancólica y orgullosa satisfacción al ir guiando a Phoebe de cuarto en cuarto, explicándole las tradiciones que, como lúgubres frescos, cubrían los muros de la casa. Le enseñó las señales dejadas por el puño de la espada del gobernador en las paredes de la puerta tras la cual el coronel Pyncheon, como anfitrión muerto, recibió con terrible ceño a sus aterrorizados visitantes. Todavía quedaba en el aire del pasillo algo del terror de aquel día. Hepzibah indicó a su prima que se subiera a una silla y contemplara de cerca el antiguo mapa del territorio del este. Puso el dedo en un lugar donde se hallaba una mina de plata, según dejó escrito el coronel en un documento que sólo debía darse a conocer cuando la reclamación de aquellas tierras fuese reconocida por el gobierno. De modo que el hacerles justicia era de interés para toda Nueva Inglaterra. Explicó también que existía un inmenso tesoro en monedas de oro inglesas escondido en alguna parte de la casa, quizá en las bodegas o en el jardín.
"If you should happen to find it, Phoebe," said Hepzibah, glancing aside at her with a grim yet kindly smile, "we will tie up the shop-bell for good and all !" -Si tú lo descubrieses, Phoebe-dijo mirándola de soslayo, con triste y bondadosa sonrisa en los labios-, podríamos arrancar para siempre la campanilla de la tienda.
"Yes, dear cousin," answered Phoebe; "but, in the mean time, I hear somebody ringing it !" -¡Oh, sí ! -contestó Phoebe-. Pero, entretanto, creo que está sonando...
When the customer was gone, Hepzibah talked rather vaguely, and at great length, about a certain Alice Pyncheon, who had been exceedingly beautiful and accomplished in her lifetime, a hundred years ago. The fragrance of her rich and delightful character still lingered about the place where she had lived, as a dried rose-bud scents the drawer where it has withered and perished. This lovely Alice had met with some great and mysterious calamity, and had grown thin and white, and gradually faded out of the world. But, even now, she was supposed to haunt the House of the Seven Gables, and, a great many times,--especially when one of the Pyncheons was to die,--she had been heard playing sadly and beautifully on the harpsichord. One of these tunes, just as it had sounded from her spiritual touch, had been written down by an amateur of music; it was so exquisitely mournful that nobody, to this day, could bear to hear it played, unless when a great sorrow had made them know the still profounder sweetness of it. Cuando el parroquiano se marchó, Hepzibah habló extensa y vagamente sobre cierta Alice Pyncheon, joven bella y distinguida, que murió hace cerca de un siglo. La fragancia de su carácter encantador todavía perfumaba la casa, igual que un capullo de rosa el cajón donde se mustia y muere. Esa preciosa Alice fue muy desgraciada y murió de una manera misteriosa, víctima de una tragedia; creció pálida, tenue y acabó marchitándose. Pero aun ahora rondaba por La Casa de los Siete Tejados, y a menudo -especialmente cuando uno de los Pyncheon estaba a punto de morir- se la oía tocar tristemente en su clavicordio. Una de esas melodías salidas de sus dedos impalpables fue anotada en una ocasión por un aficionado a la música. Era tan triste que nadie ha podido oírla tocar a no ser que una gran pena le haya capacitado para comprender su dulzura, aún más profunda y más exquisita.
"Was it the same harpsichord that you showed me ?" inquired Phoebe. -¿Es el mismo clavicordio que me has enseñado ? -preguntó Phoebe.
"The very same," said Hepzibah. "It was Alice Pyncheon′s harpsichord. When I was learning music, my father would never let me open it. So, as I could only play on my teacher′s instrument, I have forgotten all my music long ago." -El mismo. Es el clavicordio de Alice Pyncheon. Cuando yo aprendía música mi padre nunca me permitió abrirlo, y como sólo podía tocar en el piano de mi maestro, ya hace tiempo que se me olvidó.
Leaving these antique themes, the old lady began to talk about the daguerreotypist, whom, as he seemed to be a well-meaning and orderly young man, and in narrow circumstances, she had permitted to take up his residence in one of the seven gables. But, on seeing more of Mr. Holgrave, she hardly knew what to make of him. He had the strangest companions imaginable; men with long beards, and dressed in linen blouses, and other such new-fangled and ill-fitting garments; reformers, temperance lecturers, and all manner of cross-looking philanthropists; community-men, and come-outers, as Hepzibah believed, who acknowledged no law, and ate no solid food, but lived on the scent of other people′s cookery, and turned up their noses at the fare. As for the daguerreotypist, she had read a paragraph in a penny paper, the other day, accusing him of making a speech full of wild and disorganizing matter, at a meeting of his banditti-like associates. For her own part, she had reason to believe that he practised animal magnetism, and, if such things were in fashion nowadays, should be apt to suspect him of studying the Black Art up there in his lonesome chamber. Abandonando los temas de antaño, la vieja señora se puso a hablar del daguerrotipista, al cual había permitido, en circunstancias apuradas, alojarse en una de las siete buhardillas, teniendo en cuenta que era un joven ordenado y respetuoso. Pero luego descubrió en míster Holgrave cosas que la desconcertaban: tenía compañeros inimaginables, hombres con luengas barbas, vestidos con blusas, reformadores predicadores de la templanza y toda clase de filántropos con cara de mal genio, cooperativistas y disidentes, de los cuales Hepzibah sospechaba que no respetaban nada ni comían sólido, sino que vivían del olor de las cocinas ajenas. En cuanto al daguerrotipista, hacía poco ella leyó un párrafo en un periódico, acusándole de haber pronunciado un discurso revolucionario en una de aquellas asociaciones de bandidos. Por su parte, Hepzibah tenía sus motivos para creer que practicaba el hipnotismo y hasta sospechaba que, si tal cosa fuera posible en estos tiempos, estudiaba la magia negra en la soledad de su cuarto.
"But, dear cousin," said Phoebe, "if the young man is so dangerous, why do you let him stay ? If he does nothing worse, he may set the house on fire !" -Pero, querida prima -dijo Phoebe-, si ese hombre es tan peligroso, ¿por qué sigues teniéndolo en la casa ? A lo mejor la incendia, si no hace algo todavía peor...
"Why, sometimes," answered Hepzibah, "I have seriously made it a question, whether I ought not to send him away. But, with all his oddities, he is a quiet kind of a person, and has such a way of taking hold of one′s mind, that, without exactly liking him (for I don′t know enough of the young man), I should be sorry to lose sight of him entirely. A woman clings to slight acquaintances when she lives so much alone as I do." -Con frecuencia me he preguntado si no debo decirle que se marche. Pero, a pesar de sus extravagancias, persona seria.



Una mujer, cuando vive tan solitaria como yo, se agarra a todas las amistades, por ligeras que sean.

"But if Mr. Holgrave is a lawless person !" remonstrated Phoebe, a part of whose essence it was to keep within the limits of law. -Pero si ese míster Holgrave es una persona sin ley... -empezó a decir Phoebe, que se mantenía dentro de los límites de la ley, como parte de su naturaleza.
"Oh !" said Hepzibah carelessly,--for, formal as she was, still, in her life′s experience, she had gnashed her teeth against human law,--"I suppose he has a law of his own !" -¡Oh ! -atajó Hepzibah con indiferencia, pues a pesar de su espíritu formulista, más de una vez, en el curso de su experiencia de la vida, había tenido que rechinar los dientes contra la ley-. Supongo que debe tener su propia ley.