|
XIII. Alice Pyncheon |
XIII. Alice Pyncheon |
| THERE was a message brought, one day, from the worshipful Gervayse Pyncheon to young Matthew Maule, the carpenter, desiring his immediate presence at the House of the Seven Gables. | EL honorable Gervayse Pyncheon envió un día un mensaje al joven Matthew Maule, el carpintero, indicándole que se presentase inmediatamente en La Casa de los Siete Tejados. |
| "And what does your master want with me ?" said the carpenter to Mr. Pyncheon′s black servant. "Does the house need any repair ? Well it may, by this time; and no blame to my father who built it, neither ! I was reading the old Colonel′s tombstone, no longer ago than last Sabbath; and, reckoning from that date, the house has stood seven-and-thirty years. No wonder if there should be a job to do on the roof." | -¿Qué quiere tu dueño ? -le preguntó el carpintero al criado negro de míster Pyncheon-. ¿Hay que hacer alguna reparación ? Es posible que sea así, sin ningún reproche para mi padre, que la construyó. El domingo pasado estuve leyendo la lápida sepulcral del viejo coronel y calculé que, desde su muerte, han pasado treinta y siete años... No sería extraño que hubiera algo que reparar en el tejado. |
| "Don′t know what massa wants," answered Scipio. "The house is a berry good house, and old Colonel Pyncheon think so too, I reckon;--else why the old man haunt it so, and frighten a poor nigga, As he does ?" | -No sé lo que desea el señor -contestó Escipión-. La casa es muy buena y creo que el coronel también decía lo mismo, pero quisiera saber por qué el viejo ronda por ella y asusta a un pobre negro como yo... |
| "Well, well, friend Scipio; let your master know that I′m coming," said the carpenter with a laugh. "For a fair, workmanlike job, he′ll find me his man. And so the house is haunted, is it ? It will take a tighter workman than I am to keep the spirits out of the Seven Gables. Even if the Colonel would be quiet," he added, muttering to himself, "my old grandfather, the wizard, will be pretty sure to stick to the Pyncheons as long as their walls hold together." | -Bueno, amigo Escipión, dile a tu dueño que voy en seguida -contestó el carpintero riendo-. Si se trata de un trabajo difícil, soy el hombre que necesita. Conque por la casa rondan fantasmas, ¿eh ? Para alejar los espectros de los siete tejados sería menester un hombre mucho más fuerte que yo. Aun cuando el viejo coronel se estuviese quieto -añadió como para sí mismo- mi abuelo, el brujo, con seguridad que no dejaría de torturar a los Pyncheon, mientras se sostengan en pie las paredes de su casa. |
| "What′s that you mutter to yourself, Matthew Maule ?" asked Scipio. "And what for do you look so black at me ?" | -¿Qué decís, Matthew Maule ? -preguntó Escipión-. ¿Y por qué me miráis así ? |
| "No matter, darky," said the carpenter. "Do you think nobody is to look black but yourself ? Go tell your master I′m coming; and if you happen to see Mistress Alice, his daughter, give Matthew Maule′s humble respects to her. She has brought a fair face from Italy,--fair, and gentle, and proud,--has that same Alice Pyncheon !" | -No importa, negrito. Dile a tu amo que voy allá en seguida, y si ves a miss Alice, su hija, preséntale los humildes respetos de Matthew Maule. Desde que ha vuelto de Italia parece otra: más linda, más gentil, más, orgullosa... |
| "He talk of Mistress Alice !" cried Scipio, as he returned from his errand. "The low carpenter-man ! He no business so much as to look at her a great way off !" | -¡Hablar así de miss Alice ! -rezongaba Escipión de regreso a la casa-. ¡Un carpintero como él !... Mejor será que la contemple desde lejos... |
| This young Matthew Maule, the carpenter, it must be observed, was a person little understood, and not very generally liked, in the town where he resided; not that anything could be alleged against his integrity, or his skill and diligence in the handicraft which he exercised. The aversion (as it might justly be called) with which many persons regarded him was partly the result of his own character and deportment, and partly an inheritance. | El joven Maule era persona poco apreciada en la ciudad. No se podía alegar nada contra su integridad ni contra su laboriosidad en el oficio que ejercía. La aversión con que muchos le miraban se debía en parte a su propio carácter y en parte era heredada. |
| He was the grandson of a former Matthew Maule, one
of the early settlers of the town, and who had been a
famous and terrible wizard in his day. This old reprobate
was one of the sufferers when Cotton Mather, and his
brother ministers, and the learned judges, and other wise
men, and Sir William Phipps, the sagacious governor,
made such laudable efforts to weaken the great enemy
of souls, by sending a multitude of his adherents up the
rocky pathway of Gallows Hill. Since those days, no
doubt, it had grown to be suspected that, in consequence
of an unfortunate overdoing of a work praiseworthy in
itself, the proceedings against the witches had proved
far less acceptable to the Beneficent Father than to that
very Arch Enemy whom they were intended to distress
and utterly overwhelm. It is not the less certain,
however, that awe and terror brooded over the memories
of those who died for this horrible crime of witchcraft.
Their graves, in the crevices of the rocks, were supposed
to be incapable of retaining the occupants who had been
so hastily thrust into them. Old Matthew Maule,
especially, was known to have as little hesitation or
difficulty in rising out of his grave as an ordinary man in
getting out of bed, and was as often seen at midnight as
living people at noonday. This pestilent wizard (in
whom his just punishment seemed to have wrought no
manner of amendment) had an inveterate habit of
haunting a certain mansion, styled the House of the
Seven Gables, against the owner of which he pretended
to hold an unsettled claim for ground-rent.
The ghost, it appears,--with the pertinacity which was one of his distinguishing characteristics while alive,--insisted that he was the rightful proprietor of the site upon which the house stood. His terms were, that either the aforesaid ground-rent, from the day when the cellar began to be dug, should be paid down, or the mansion itself given up; else he, the ghostly creditor, would have his finger in all the affairs of the Pyncheons, and make everything go wrong with them, though it should be a thousand years after his death. It was a wild story, perhaps, but seemed not altogether so incredible to those who could remember what an inflexibly obstinate old fellow this wizard Maule had been. | Era nieto de otro Matthew Maule, uno de los
fundadores de la ciudad, al que en sus días se le
tuvo por un temible brujo. Este viejo reprobo
fue una de las víctimas cuando los ministros de
la iglesia, sabios jueces y el sagaz gobernador
hicieron tan loables esfuerzos para combatir al
gran enemigo del alma, enviando a muchos de
sus adeptos a la picota o a la horca. El terror y
el miedo rodearon la memoria de los que
murieron por el horrible crimen de brujería. Se
suponía que sus tumbas no guardaban el
espíritu de sus ocupantes. Se sabía que el viejo
Matthew Maule salía del sepulcro tan
fácilmente como un hombre vivo salta de la
cama, y se le veía con tanta frecuencia a
medianoche como a mediodía igual que si
estuviera vivo. Aquel brujo pestilente, que no
había escarmentado con su castigo, adquirió la
costumbre de rondar por cierta casa llamada de
los Siete Tejados, contra cuyo dueño pretendía
tener un agravio.
El fantasma insitía en que él era el propietario del terreno en el cual se levantaba la casa. Reclamaba que se le pagara la renta del terreno o se le diera la casa, pues de lo contrario él, el fantasma, metería mano en los asuntos de los Pyncheon y haría que todo les saliera mal. Era una historia descabellada, quizá, pero no enteramente increíble para los que recordaban la obstinación del brujo Maule. |
| Now, the wizard′s grandson, the young Matthew Maule of our story, was popularly supposed to have inherited some of his ancestor′s questionable traits. It is wonderful how many absurdities were promulgated in reference to the young man. He was fabled, for example, to have a strange power of getting into people′s dreams, and regulating matters there according to his own fancy, pretty much like the stage-manager of a theatre. There was a great deal of talk among the neighbors, particularly the petticoated ones, about what they called the witchcraft of Maule′s eye. Some said that he could look into people′s minds; others, that, by the marvellous power of this eye, he could draw people into his own mind, or send them, if he pleased, to do errands to his grandfather, in the spiritual world; others, again, that it was what is termed an Evil Eye, and possessed the valuable faculty of blighting corn, and drying children into mummies with the heartburn. But, after all, what worked most to the young carpenter′s disadvantage was, first, the reserve and sternness of his natural disposition, and next, the fact of his not being a church-communicant, and the suspicion of his holding heretical tenets in matters of religion and polity. | Se sospechaba que el nieto del brujo, el joven Matthew Maule de nuestra historia, había heredado alguno de los rasgos de su antepasado: que podía introducirse en los sueños ajenos de acuerdo con sus deseos, igual que lo hacía el director de escena de un teatro. Se hablaba mucho entre los vecinos, especialmente entre las mujeres, de lo que llamaban la brujería de los ojos de Maule. Unos aseguraban que leía en el espíritu de las gentes; otros afirmaban que atraía a las personas y las dominaba y las enviaba a pasearse en compañía del fantasma vagabundo de su abuelo. Un tercer grupo murmuraba que podía hacer lo que se llama mal de ojo, estropear las cosechas y secar la leche de las madres. Pero lo que más perjudicaba al carpintero era la reserva y brusquedad de su carácter y el hecho de no pertenecer a ninguna iglesia, lo cual hacía sospechar que albergaba pensamientos heréticos en cuestiones de religión y de política. |
| After receiving Mr. Pyncheon′s message, the carpenter merely tarried to finish a small job, which he happened to have in hand, and then took his way towards the House of the Seven Gables. This noted edifice, though its style might be getting a little out of fashion, was still as respectable a family residence as that of any gentleman in town. The present owner, Gervayse Pyncheon, was said to have contracted a dislike to the house, in consequence of a shock to his sensibility, in early childhood, from the sudden death of his grandfather. In the very act of running to climb Colonel Pyncheon′s knee, the boy had discovered the old Puritan to be a corpse. On arriving at manhood, Mr. Pyncheon had visited England, where he married a lady of fortune, and had subsequently spent many years, partly in the mother country, and partly in various cities on the continent of Europe. During this period, the family mansion had been consigned to the charge of a kinsman, who was allowed to make it his home for the time being, in consideration of keeping the premises in thorough repair. So faithfully had this contract been fulfilled, that now, as the carpenter approached the house, his practised eye could detect nothing to criticise in its condition. The peaks of the seven gables rose up sharply; the shingled roof looked thoroughly water-tight; and the glittering plaster-work entirely covered the exterior walls, and sparkled in the October sun, as if it had been new only a week ago. | Después de recibir el mensaje de míster Pyncheon, Maule terminó el trabajo que tenía entre manos y se dirigió a La Casa de los Siete Tejados. El edificio, aunque algo anticuado, era una residencia familiar tan respetable como la de cualquier otro caballero de la ciudad. Su actual dueño, Gervayse Pyncheon, sentía poco apego a la casa, a causa de la emoción sufrida en su infancia, cuando la muerte del coronel, su abuelo. En el momento en que iba a trepar a las rodillas del viejo puritano, el niño había descubierto que estaba muerto. Al llegar a la madurez, míster Pyncheon visitó Inglaterra, donde se casó con una rica heredera y con ella pasó muchos años, ya en la madre patria, ya en el resto de Europa. Durante todo el tiempo, la mansión familiar estuvo confiada a un pariente, al que le permitieron convertirla en su hogar con tal de que corrieran a su cargo los gastos de conservación del edificio. Tan fielmente cumplió su contrato que los avezados ojos del carpintero, al irse acercando a la casa, no encontraron nada que criticar en ella. Los picos de los siete tejados se elevaban agudos hacia el cielo. El tejado seguía sin permitir goteras y el enlucido de yeso cubría los muros exteriores brillando bajo el sol de octubre como si hubiera sido aplicado una semana antes. |
| The house had that pleasant aspect of life which is like the cheery expression of comfortable activity in the human countenance. You could see, at once, that there was the stir of a large family within it. A huge load of oak-wood was passing through the gateway, towards the outbuildings in the rear; the fat cook--or probably it might be the housekeeper--stood at the side door, bargaining for some turkeys and poultry which a countryman had brought for sale. Now and then a maid-servant, neatly dressed, and now the shining sable face of a slave, might be seen bustling across the windows, in the lower part of the house. At an open window of a room in the second story, hanging over some pots of beautiful and delicate flowers,--exotics, but which had never known a more genial sunshine than that of the New England autumn,--was the figure of a young lady, an exotic, like the flowers, and beautiful and delicate as they. Her presence imparted an indescribable grace and faint witchery to the whole edifice. In other respects, it was a substantial, jolly-looking mansion, and seemed fit to be the residence of a patriarch, who might establish his own headquarters in the front gable and assign one of the remainder to each of his six children, while the great chimney in the centre should symbolize the old fellow′s hospitable heart, which kept them all warm, and made a great whole of the seven smaller ones. | La casa tenía ese aspecto agradable de vida que es como en el rostro humano la expresión de una actividad alegre y cómoda. Se veía en seguida la bulliciosa agitación de una familia numerosa. Una obesa cocinera -quizá era el ama de llaves- estaba junto a la puerta, regateando el precio de unos pavos y capones con el labriego que los ofrecía. De vez en cuando se vislumbraba, detrás de los cristales de la planta baja, el rostro negro de un esclavo. En una ventana del segundo piso, cuyo alféizar estaba cubierto de hermosas y delicadas flores exóticas, es cierto, pero que jamás vieron un sol más adecuado a su crecimiento que el sol otoñal de Nueva Inglaterra-, se hallaba la figura de una joven damita, tan exótica como las flores, y tan hermosa y delicada como ellas. Su presencia daba a la casa una gracia indescriptible y un hechizo especial. En otros aspectos, la mansión era sólida, bonita, propia para albergar a un patriarca, que podría establecer su morada en el cuerpo de edificio principal y conceder los otros a sus, seis hijos. La gran chimenea central simbolizaría, en este caso, el corazón hospitalario de la casa, que caldearía el ambiente del hogar y reuniría en un mismo haz los siete cuerpos del edificio. |
| There was a vertical sundial on the front gable; and as the carpenter passed beneath it, he looked up and noted the hour. | Había un reloj de sol en el aguilón anterior, y el carpintero, al pasar por debajo de él, miró para arriba y se fijó en la hora. |
| "Three o′clock !" said he to himself. "My father told me that dial was put up only an hour before the old Colonel′s death. How truly it has kept time these seven-and-thirty years past ! The shadow creeps and creeps, and is always looking over the shoulder of the sunshine !" | -Las tres -dijo para sí-. Mi padre me explicó que ese reloj fue colocado apenas una hora antes de la muerte del viejo coronel. ¡Qué fielmente ha marcado el tiempo en esos treinta y siete años ! |
| It might have befitted a craftsman, like Matthew Maule, on being sent for to a gentleman′s house, to go to the back door, where servants and work-people were usually admitted; or at least to the side entrance, where the better class of tradesmen made application. But the carpenter had a great deal of pride and stiffness in his nature; and, at this moment, moreover, his heart was bitter with the sense of hereditary wrong, because he considered the great Pyncheon House to be standing on soil which should have been his own. On this very site, beside a spring of delicious water, his grandfather had felled the pine-trees and built a cottage, in which children had been born to him; and it was only from a dead man′s stiffened fingers that Colonel Pyncheon had wrested away the title-deeds. So young Maule went straight to the principal entrance, beneath a portal of carved oak, and gave such a peal of the iron knocker that you would have imagined the stern old wizard himself to be standing at the threshold. | Lo propio hubiera sido que un artesano como Matthew Maule entrase por la puerta trasera, destinada a los criados y a la gente de poca monta, cuando menos, por la puerta lateral, reservada a los comerciantes de mayor categoría. Mas el carpintero era orgulloso y obstinado y, en aquel momento, se sentía amargado por el pensamiento de la injusticia hereditaria, pues consideraba que la gran casa de los Pyncheon se alzaba sobre un terreno que le pertenecía. En aquel mismo lugar, cerca de una deliciosa fuente, su abuelo había derribado los pinos y construidouna choza en la cual nacieron sus hijos. El coronel Pyncheon arrancó los títulos de propiedad de aquel pedazo de tierra de los dedos envarados de un cadáver. Así, pues, el joven Maule se dirigió a la entrada principal, se detuvo ante la puerta de roble tallado y dio tres fuertes aldabonazos; cualquiera hubiese imaginado que el propio brujo estaba en el umbral. |
| Black Scipio answered the summons in a prodigious, hurry; but showed the whites of his eyes in amazement on beholding only the carpenter. | Escipión abrió la puerta con prodigiosa premura, pero al ver al carpintero, sus ojos se quedaron en blanco por el asombro. |
| "Lord-a-mercy, what a great man he be, this carpenter fellow !" mumbled Scipio, down in his throat. "Anybody think he beat on the door with his biggest hammer !" | -¡Cielos ! ¡Qué gran hombre es ese carpintero ! -murmuró el negro-. Cualquiera creería que golpeaba la puerta con un martillo... |
| "Here I am !" said Maule sternly. "Show me the way to your master′s parlor." | -Ya estoy aquí -dijo Maule con voz estentórea-. Acompáñame hasta el despacho de tu amo. |
| As he stept into the house, a note of sweet and melancholy music thrilled and vibrated along the passage-way, proceeding from one of the rooms above stairs. It was the harpsichord which Alice Pyncheon had brought with her from beyond the sea. The fair Alice bestowed most of her maiden leisure between flowers and music, although the former were apt to droop, and the melodies were often sad. She was of foreign education, and could not take kindly to the New England modes of life, in which nothing beautiful had ever been developed. | Al entrar en la casa, una música dulce y melancólica vibraba en el aire, procedente de uno de los salones de arriba. Era el clavicordio que Alice se había traído de Europa. Alice pasaba la mayor parte del tiempo entre las flores y la música, aunque las primeras se marchitaran y la segunda fuera a menudo triste. Educada en el extranjero no se adaptaba a las costumbres de Nueva Inglaterra. Como míster Pyncheon esperaba con impaciencia la llegada de Maule, Escipión le acompañó en seguida a presencia de su amo. El |
| As Mr. Pyncheon had been impatiently awaiting Maule′s arrival, black Scipio, of course, lost no time in ushering the carpenter into his master′s presence. The room in which this gentleman sat was a parlor of moderate size, looking out upon the garden of the house, and having its windows partly shadowed by the foliage of fruit-trees. It was Mr. Pyncheon′s peculiar apartment, and was provided with furniture, in an elegant and costly style, principally from Paris; the floor (which was unusual at that day) being covered with a carpet, so skilfully and richly wrought that it seemed to glow as with living flowers. In one corner stood a marble woman, to whom her own beauty was the sole and sufficient garment. Some pictures--that looked old, and had a mellow tinge diffused through all their artful splendor--hung on the walls. Near the fireplace was a large and very beautiful cabinet of ebony, inlaid with ivory; a piece of antique furniture, which Mr. Pyncheon had bought in Venice, and which he used as the treasure-place for medals, ancient coins, and whatever small and valuable curiosities he had picked up on his travels. Through all this variety of decoration, however, the room showed its original characteristics; its low stud, its cross-beam, its chimney-piece, with the old-fashioned Dutch tiles; so that it was the emblem of a mind industriously stored with foreign ideas, and elaborated into artificial refinement, but neither larger, nor, in its proper self, more elegant than before. | salón en que se hallaba aquél era de dimensiones moderadas y daba al jardín de la casa, el follaje de cuyos árboles sombreaba las ventanas. Era el gabinete particular de míster Pyncheon, amueblado con elegancia y lujo, y la mayoría de los muebles eran de París. Una alfombra, tan bien urdida que parecía ostentar flores aún vivas, cubría el suelo. En un rincón había una estatua de mármol, de una mujer, cuyo único vestido era su propia belleza. Algunos cuadros, antiguos y de colores apagados, colgaban en las paredes. Cerca de la chimenea, un bellísimo armario de ébano, con incrustaciones de marfil, un mueble antiguo que míster Pyncheon había comprado en Venecia, servía para guardar sus tesoros de monedas antiguas, medallas y otros objetos raros que iba recogiendo en sus viajes. A pesar de esa variada decoración, el salón mostraba sus características originales: el techo bajo, las vigas, la anticuada chimenea de azulejos. Resultaba el acertado símbolo de un espíritu artificialmente refinado, pero no por ello más elegante que antes. |
| There were two objects that appeared rather out of place in this very handsomely furnished room. One was a large map, or surveyor′s plan, of a tract of land, which looked as if it had been drawn a good many years ago, and was now dingy with smoke, and soiled, here and there, with the touch of fingers. The other was a portrait of a stern old man, in a Puritan garb, painted roughly, but with a bold effect, and a remarkably strong expression of character. | Dos objetos parecían fuera de lugar en aquella estancia tan ricamente amueblada: un gran mapa y el retrato de un hombre ceñudo, viejo, vestido como los puritanos, pintado con poca gracia, pero con mucho efecto y notable expresión. |
| At a small table, before a fire of English sea-coal, sat Mr. Pyncheon, sipping coffee, which had grown to be a very favorite beverage with him in France. He was a middle-aged and really handsome man, with a wig flowing down upon his shoulders; his coat was of blue velvet, with lace on the borders and at the button-holes; and the firelight glistened on the spacious breadth of his waistcoat, which was flowered all over with gold. On the entrance of Scipio, ushering in the carpenter, Mr. Pyncheon turned partly round, but resumed his former position, and proceeded deliberately to finish his cup of coffee, without immediate notice of the guest whom he had summoned to his presence. It was not that he intended any rudeness or improper neglect,--which, indeed, he would have blushed to be guilty of,--but it never occurred to him that a person in Maule′s station had a claim on his courtesy, or would trouble himself about it one way or the other. | Sentado frente a una mesita, junto a un fuego de carbón de piedra, míster Pyncheon, tomaba a sorbos una tacita de café. Era un hombre de edad mediana y realmente hermoso. Llevaba peluca, que le caía hasta los hombros, y traje de terciopelo azul, con encajes en los ojales y los puños. Las llamas arrancaban destellos de los bordados de oro de su chaleco. Cuando Escipión anunció al carpintero, míster Pyncheon volvió la cabeza, pero luego continuó bebiendo el café, sin dar muestra de haberse enterado de la presencia del hombre a quién había mandado llamar. No se proponía ser grosero ni despectivo -sólo al pensarlo se hubiese sonrojado-, mas no se le ocurrió que una persona de la categoría de Maule pudiera tener derecho a su cortesía o a que él se molestase. |
| The carpenter, however, stepped at once to the hearth, and turned himself about, so as to look Mr. Pyncheon in the face. | El carpintero adelantóse hasta la chimenea y se volvió para mirar a míster Pyncheon a la cara. - |
| "You sent for me," said he. "Be pleased to explain your business, that I may go back to my own affairs." | Usted me ha mandado a buscar -dijo-. Tenga la bondad de explicarme para qué me necesita, de modo que pueda volver a mi trabajo. |
| "Ah ! excuse me," said Mr. Pyncheon quietly. "I did not mean to tax your time without a recompense. Your name, I think, is Maule,--Thomas or Matthew Maule,--a son or grandson of the builder of this house ?" | -¡Ah, perdóneme ! -dijo tranquilamente míster Pyncheon-. No me propongo ocupar su tiempo sin compensárselo. Usted se llama Maule, si no me equivoco. Thomas o Matthew Maule, hijo o nieto del que construyó esta casa, ¿eh ? |
| "Matthew Maule," replied the carpenter,--"son of him who built the house,--grandson of the rightful proprietor of the soil." | -Matthew Maule -fue la respuesta-, hijo del que construyó esta casa y nieto del verdadero propietario de este terreno |
| "I know the dispute to which you allude," observed Mr. Pyncheon with undisturbed equanimity. "I am well aware that my grandfather was compelled to resort to a suit at law, in order to establish his claim to the foundation-site of this edifice. We will not, if you please, renew the discussion. The matter was settled at the time, and by the competent authorities,--equitably, it is to be presumed,--and, at all events, irrevocably. Yet, singularly enough, there is an incidental reference to this very subject in what I am now about to say to you. And this same inveterate grudge,--excuse me, I mean no offence,--this irritability, which you have just shown, is not entirely aside from the matter." | . -Estoy enterado de ese pleito -observó míster Pyncheon con imperturbable ecuanimidad-. Creo que mi abuelo recurrió a los tribunales para que le reconociesen sus derechos a este terreno. Supongo que no vamos a discutir eso. El asunto fue fallado por las autoridades competentes, es de presumir que con equidad y, en todo caso, irrevocablemente. Sin embargo, hay una referencia incidental a este asunto, en lo que voy a decirle. Y ese mismo rencor inveterado... perdóneme, no me propongo ofenderle..., esa irascibilidad que acaba usted de demostrar no dejan de guardar relación con el caso que vamos a tratar. |
| "If you can find anything for your purpose, Mr. Pyncheon," said the carpenter, "in a man′s natural resentment for the wrongs done to his blood, you are welcome to it." | -Si puede usted encontrar provecho en el natural resentimiento de un hombre por las injusticias que han sufrido los suyos, disponga de mí. |
| "I take you at your word, Goodman Maule," said the owner of the Seven Gables, with a smile, "and will proceed to suggest a mode in which your hereditary resentments--justifiable or otherwise--may have had a bearing on my affairs. You have heard, I suppose, that the Pyncheon family, ever since my grandfather′s days, have been prosecuting a still unsettled claim to a very large extent of territory at the Eastward ?" | -Le tomo la palabra, Maule -dijo sonriendo el dueño de La Casa de los Siete Tejados-, y voy a explicarle cómo sus rencores hereditarios... justificados o no... están relacionados con mis intereses. Supongo que ha oído usted decir que la familia Pyncheon, desde los tiempos de mi abuelo, ha reclamado un gran territorio en el este... |
| "Often," replied Maule,--and it is said that a smile came over his face,--"very often,--from my father !" | -Sí, a menudo -atajó Maule, y se asegura que una sonrisa se dibujó en su rostro-, muy a menudo se lo oí contar a mi padre. |
| "This claim," continued Mr. Pyncheon, after pausing a moment, as if to consider what the carpenter′s smile might mean, "appeared to be on the very verge of a settlement and full allowance, at the period of my grandfather′s decease. It was well known, to those in his confidence, that he anticipated neither difficulty nor delay. Now, Colonel Pyncheon, I need hardly say, was a practical man, well acquainted with public and private business, and not at all the person to cherish ill-founded hopes, or to attempt the following out of an impracticable scheme. It is obvious to conclude, therefore, that he had grounds, not apparent to his heirs, for his confident anticipation of success in the matter of this Eastern claim. In a word, I believe,--and my legal advisers coincide in the belief, which, moreover, is authorized, to a certain extent, by the family traditions,--that my grandfather was in possession of some deed, or other document, essential to this claim, but which has since disappeared." | -Esta reclamación -prosiguió míster Pyncheon, tras una pausa, empleada quizá en adivinar lo que podría significar la sonrisa del carpintero-, esta reclamación, en tiempos de mi abuelo, estuvo a punto de ser resuelta favorablemente. Los que disfrutaban de la confianza del coronel sabían que no preveía dificultades ni aplazamientos. No hay ni que decir que era un hombre práctico, muy entendido en negocios, incapaz de albergar esperanzas sin fundamento o de intentar la realización de un plan impracticable. Es necesario concluir, pues, que tenía motivos, desconocidos de sus herederos, para confiar en el éxito de su reclamación. En una palabra, creo... y mis abogados coinciden conmigo, y las tradiciones familiares autorizan a creer, que mi abuelo se hallaba en posesión de algún documento esencial para la reclamación, documento que ha desaparecido. |
| "Very likely," said Matthew Maule,--and again, it is said, there was a dark smile on his face,--"but what can a poor carpenter have to do with the grand affairs of the Pyncheon family ?" | -Es probable -dijo Matthew Maule, y se asegura que en su rostro volvió a dibujarse una sonrisa-, pero ¿qué tiene que ver un pobre carpintero con los asuntos de la familia Pyncheon ? |
| "Perhaps nothing," returned Mr. Pyncheon, "possibly much !" | -Quizá nada -replicó el caballero-, pero posiblemente mucho. |
| Here ensued a great many words between Matthew Maule and the proprietor of the Seven Gables, on the subject which the latter had thus broached. It seems (although Mr. Pyncheon had some hesitation in referring to stories so exceedingly absurd in their aspect) that the popular belief pointed to some mysterious connection and dependence, existing between the family of the Maules and these vast unrealized possessions of the Pyncheons. It was an ordinary saying that the old wizard, hanged though he was, had obtained the best end of the bargain in his contest with Colonel Pyncheon; inasmuch as he had got possession of the great Eastern claim, in exchange for an acre or two of garden-ground. A very aged woman, recently dead, had often used the metaphorical expression, in her fireside talk, that miles and miles of the Pyncheon lands had been shovelled into Maule′s grave; which, by the bye, was but a very shallow nook, between two rocks, near the summit of Gallows Hill. Again, when the lawyers were making inquiry for the missing document, it was a by-word that it would never be found, unless in the wizard′s skeleton hand. So much weight had the shrewd lawyers assigned to these fables, that (but Mr. Pyncheon did not see fit to inform the carpenter of the fact) they had secretly caused the wizard′s grave to be searched. Nothing was discovered, however, except that, unaccountably, the right hand of the skeleton was gone. | Siguió una larga conversación entre Maule y el propietario de La Casa de los Siete Tejados. Parecía aunque míster Pyncheon vacilaba en referirse a historias tan absurdas-, que la leyenda hablaba de alguna misteriosa relación entre la familia de los Maule y aquellas vastas posesiones del Este. Se decía que el viejo brujo, aunque ahorcado, venció al coronel, trocando, de este modo, el enorme territorio oriental por un acre o dos de terreno. Una anciana, muerta recientemente, solía decir que millas y millas de tierras de los Pyncheon fueron sepultadas en la tumba de Maule, que, por cierto, estaba situada entre dos rocas, en las colinas de las afueras de la ciudad. Cuando los abogados investigaron sobre el documento perdido, oyeron decir que se encontraría en la mano del esqueleto del brujo. Tanto importancia concedieron a esta leyenda que ordenaron que la tumba del brujo fuera abierta secretamente. No descubrieron nada, excepto, cosa inexplicable, que el esqueleto no tenía la mano derecha. |
| Now, what was unquestionably important, a portion of these popular rumors could be traced, though rather doubtfully and indistinctly, to chance words and obscure hints of the executed wizard′s son, and the father of this present Matthew Maule. And here Mr. Pyncheon could bring an item of his own personal evidence into play. Though but a child at the time, he either remembered or fancied that Matthew′s father had had some job to perform on the day before, or possibly the very morning of the Colonel′s decease, in the private room where he and the carpenter were at this moment talking. Certain papers belonging to Colonel Pyncheon, as his grandson distinctly recollected, had been spread out on the table. | Lo que sin duda era importante es que, aunque entonces era muy niño, se acordaba de que el padre del actual Maule había tenido que hacer algún trabajo el mismo día o el anterior a la muerte del viejo puritano, en aquel mismo despacho donde se hallaban ahora. Ciertos papeles del coronel se habían encontrado esparcidos encima de la mesa, según recordaba muy bien su nieto. |
| Matthew Maule understood the insinuated suspicion. | Matthew Maule comprendió la sospecha insinuada. |
| "My father," he said,--but still there was that dark smile, making a riddle of his countenance,--"my father was an honester man than the bloody old Colonel ! Not to get his rights back again would he have carried off one of those papers !" | -Mi padre -dijo, con una sonrisa enigmática en los labios-, mi padre era un hombre mucho más honrado que el coronel. No hubiera sido capaz, ni para recuperar sus derechos, de quedarse con uno de aquellos papeles. |
| "I shall not bandy words with you," observed the foreign-bred Mr. Pyncheon, with haughty composure. "Nor will it become me to resent any rudeness towards either my grandfather or myself. A gentleman, before seeking intercourse with a person of your station and habits, will first consider whether the urgency of the end may compensate for the disagreeableness of the means. It does so in the present instance." | -No quiero disputar con usted -observó míster Pyncheon, con altivez-. No me importa lo que pueda pensar de mí o de mi abuelo. Un caballero, antes de tratar con una persona de la condición de usted, debe tener en cuenta si la urgencia del fin le compensa de Jo desagradable de los medios. En este caso, ocurre así. |
| He then renewed the conversation, and made great pecuniary offers to the carpenter, in case the latter should give information leading to the discovery of the lost document, and the consequent success of the Eastern claim. For a long time Matthew Maule is said to have turned a cold ear to these propositions. At last, however, with a strange kind of laugh, he inquired whether Mr. Pyncheon would make over to him the old wizard′s homestead-ground, together with the House of the Seven Gables, now standing on it, in requital of the documentary evidence so urgently required. | Reanudó, pues, la conversación y ofreció una importante gratificación por los informes que pudiera darle el carpintero, y que llevaran al descubrimiento de los documentos perdidos. Se dice que Maule escuchó la oferta como quien oye llover. Por útimo, preguntó, con extraña sonrisa, si míster Pyncheon le devolvería el terreno de los Maule y la casa de los Siete Tejados edificada en él, a cambio de las pruebas que le pedía. |
| The wild, chimney-corner legend (which, without copying all its extravagances, my narrative essentially follows) here gives an account of some very strange behavior on the part of Colonel Pyncheon′s portrait. This picture, it must be understood, was supposed to be so intimately connected with the fate of the house, and so magically built into its walls, that, if once it should be removed, that very instant the whole edifice would come thundering down in a heap of dusty ruin. All through the foregoing conversation between Mr. Pyncheon and the carpenter, the portrait had been frowning, clenching its fist, and giving many such proofs of excessive discomposure, but without attracting the notice of either of the two colloquists. And finally, at Matthew Maule′s audacious suggestion of a transfer of the seven-gabled structure, the ghostly portrait is averred to have lost all patience, and to have shown itself on the point of descending bodily from its frame. But such incredible incidents are merely to be mentioned aside. | La fantástica leyenda relata la extraña conducta que en esta ocasión observó el retrato del viejo coronel Pyncheon. Se suponía que el cuadro estaba tan íntimamente ligado con el destino de la casa, que si se descolgase, en el mismo instante el edificio se derrumbaría, quedando reducido a un montón de polvorientas ruinas. Durante la conversación citada, el retrato había estado frunciendo las cejas y crispando los puños, dando grandes muestras de enojo. Finalmente, ante la audaz proposición de Maule, el fantasmagórico retrato perdió la paciencia y estuvo a punto de salirse del marco. Pero esos increíbles sucesos sólo merecen que se les cite de paso. |
| "Give up this house !" exclaimed Mr. Pyncheon, in amazement at the proposal. "Were I to do so, my grandfather would not rest quiet in his grave !" | -¡Darle esta casa ! -exclamó asombrado míster Pyncheon-. Si lo hiciera, mi abuelo no permanecería tranquilo en su tumba. |
| "He never has, if all stories are true," remarked the carpenter composedly. "But that matter concerns his grandson more than it does Matthew Maule. I have no other terms to propose." | -Nunca lo ha estado, si son ciertas las leyendas -replicó lentamente el carpintero-. Pero este asunto concierne a su nieto más que a Matthew Maule. No tengo otra cosa que proponer. |
| Impossible as he at first thought it to comply with Maule′s conditions, still, on a second glance, Mr. Pyncheon was of opinion that they might at least be made matter of discussion. He himself had no personal attachment for the house, nor any pleasant associations connected with his childish residence in it. On the contrary, after seven-and-thirty years, the presence of his dead grandfather seemed still to pervade it, as on that morning when the affrighted boy had beheld him, with so ghastly an aspect, stiffening in his chair. His long abode in foreign parts, moreover, and familiarity with many of the castles and ancestral halls of England, and the marble palaces of Italy, had caused him to look contemptuously at the House of the Seven Gables, whether in point of splendor or convenience. It was a mansion exceedingly inadequate to the style of living which it would be incumbent on Mr. Pyncheon to support, after realizing his territorial rights. His steward might deign to occupy it, but never, certainly, the great landed proprietor himself. In the event of success, indeed, it was his purpose to return to England; nor, to say the truth, would he recently have quitted that more congenial home, had not his own fortune, as well as his deceased wife′s, begun to give symptoms of exhaustion. The Eastern claim once fairly settled, and put upon the firm basis of actual possession, Mr. Pyncheon′s property--to be measured by miles, not acres--would be worth an earldom, and would reasonably entitle him to solicit, or enable him to purchase, that elevated dignity from the British monarch. Lord Pyncheon !--or the Earl of Waldo !--how could such a magnate be expected to contract his grandeur within the pitiful compass of seven shingled gables ? | Por imposible que al principio le pareciera, cuando míster Pyncheon volvió a considerar la propuesta opinó que podía ser, por lo menos, tema de discusión. El, personalmente, no tenía ningún interés personal por la casa ni conservaba ningún recuerdo agradable de la infancia pasada en ella. Al contrario, al cabo de treinta y siete años, parecía prevalecer aún la presencia del coronel: igual que aquella mañana en que, de muchacho, lo había visto sentado en un sillón, con el ceño fruncido y talante espectral. Su larga estancia en el extranjero, durante la cual se había familiarizado con muchos castillos ancestrales de Inglaterra y con los marmóreos palacios de Italia, le hacían mirar despectivamente La Casa de los Siete Tejados tanto desde el punto de vista de la comodidad como del esplendor. Era una mansión inadecuada para el género de vida que le correspondería llevar, una vez reconocidos sus derechos a los territorios del Este. Su administrador podría ocuparla, pero no el propietario de principescas posesiones. De obtener buen éxito, regresaría a Inglaterra, que no habría abandonado si su fortuna y su difunta esposa no hubieran dado síntomas de debilidad. Una vez en posesión de los territorios en litigio, la propiedad de míster Pyncheon -que se mediría por millas y no por acres- bien valdría un condado y le pondría en estado de poder solicitarlo o adquirir esa elevada dignidad concedida por el monarca británico. ¡Lord Pyncheon o Gande de Waldo ! ¿Cómo podía esperarse que tal magnate redujera su grandeza a las mezquinas dimensiones de los siete tejados ? |
| In short, on an enlarged view of the business, the carpenter′s terms appeared so ridiculously easy that Mr. Pyncheon could scarcely forbear laughing in his face. He was quite ashamed, after the foregoing reflections, to propose any diminution of so moderate a recompense for the immense service to be rendered. | En resumen, con una amplia perspectiva del asunto, la proposición del carpintero parecía tan ridicula que míster Pyncheon tuvo que hacer un esfuerzo para no reírse. Casi le daba vergÜenza, después de esas reflexiones, proponer una disminución de tan moderada recompensa por el inmenso servicio que iban a hacerle. |
| "I consent to your proposition, Maule !" cried he. "Put me in possession of the document essential to establish my rights, and the House of the Seven Gables is your own !" | -Acepto su propuesta, Maule -exclamó-. Póngame en posesión del documento que me permita establecer mis derechos y La Casa de los Siete Tejados será suya. |
| According to some versions of the story, a regular contract to the above effect was drawn up by a lawyer, and signed and sealed in the presence of witnesses. Others say that Matthew Maule was contented with a private written agreement, in which Mr. Pyncheon pledged his honor and integrity to the fulfillment of the terms concluded upon. The gentleman then ordered wine, which he and the carpenter drank together, in confirmation of their bargain. During the whole preceding discussion and subsequent formalities, the old Puritan′s portrait seems to have persisted in its shadowy gestures of disapproval; but without effect, except that, as Mr. Pyncheon set down the emptied glass, he thought he beheld his grandfather frown. | Según cierta versión de esta historia, un abogado redactó un contrato, que fue firmado en presencia de testigos. Otra versión asegura que Matthew Maule se contentó con un documento privado, en el cual míster Pyncheon se comprometía, bajo palabra de honor, a cumplir los términos del acuerdo. El caballero hizo traer vino y él y el carpintero bebieron juntos, para celebrarlo. Durante la anterior discusión y las formalidades subsiguientes, el retrato del viejo puritano persistió en sus gestos de desaprobación. Al dejar la copa vacía sobre la mesa, míster Pyncheon creyó ver el ceño de su abuelo y dijo: |
| "This sherry is too potent a wine for me; it has affected my brain already," he observed, after a somewhat startled look at the picture. "On returning to Europe, I shall confine myself to the more delicate vintages of Italy and France, the best of which will not bear transportation." | -Este jerez es demasiado fuerte para mí... Al volver a Europa, tendré que limitarme a los vinos de Italia y Francia, que son más ligeros. |
| "My Lord Pyncheon may drink what wine he will, and wherever he pleases," replied the carpenter, as if he had been privy to Mr. Pyncheon′s ambitious projects. "But first, sir, if you desire tidings of this lost document, I must crave the favor of a little talk with your fair daughter Alice." | -Míster Pyncheon podrá beber el vino que quiera y donde quiera -replicó el carpintero, como si fuera confidente de los ambiciosos proyectos de su interlocutor-. Pero antes, si quiere saber algo más de esos documentos perdidos, he de pedirle el honor de hablar unos momentos con su hija Alice. |
| "You are mad, Maule !" exclaimed Mr. Pyncheon haughtily; and now, at last, there was anger mixed up with his pride. "What can my daughter have to do with a business like this ?" | -¡Está usted loco, Maule ! -exclamó altivamente el caballero, y ahora había algo de enojo mezclado con su orgullo-. ¿Qué tiene que ver mi hija en un asunto como éste ? |
| Indeed, at this new demand on the carpenter′s part, the proprietor of the Seven Gables was even more thunder-struck than at the cool proposition to surrender his house. There was, at least, an assignable motive for the first stipulation; there appeared to be none whatever for the last. Nevertheless, Matthew Maule sturdily insisted on the young lady being summoned, and even gave her father to understand, in a mysterious kind of explanation,--which made the matter considerably darker than it looked before,--that the only chance of acquiring the requisite knowledge was through the clear, crystal medium of a pure and virgin intelligence, like that of the fair Alice. Not to encumber our story with Mr. Pyncheon′s scruples, whether of conscience, pride, or fatherly affection, he at length ordered his daughter to be called. He well knew that she was in her chamber, and engaged in no occupation that could not readily be laid aside; for, as it happened, ever since Alice′s name had been spoken, both her father and the carpenter had heard the sad and sweet music of her harpsichord, and the airier melancholy of her accompanying voice. | La petición del carpintero asombró al dueño de la casa más aún que la primera proposición de dejarle el edificio. Para esto existía, por lo menos, un motivo, pero para aquélla no se vislumbraba ninguno. Sin embargo, Matthew Maule insistió en que fuera llamada miss Alice, dando a entender al padre, en una vaga explicación, que la única posibilidad de descubrir los documentos era a través de una inteligencia clara, pura y virginal como la de la linda Alice. Para no hacer prolijo nuestro relato con los escrúpulos de míster Pyncheon -escrúpulos de conciencia, de orgullo, de afecto paternal-, diremos que por fin accedió a hacer llamar a su hija. Sabía que estaba en su habitación y sin ninguna ocupación que no pudiese abandonar al momento, pues desde que estaban hablando de ella, no había dejado de oírse la música triste y dulce de su clavicordio y la etérea melancolía de su voz. |
| So Alice Pyncheon was summoned, and appeared. A portrait of this young lady, painted by a Venetian artist, and left by her father in England, is said to have fallen into the hands of the present Duke of Devonshire, and to be now preserved at Chatsworth; not on account of any associations with the original, but for its value as a picture, and the high character of beauty in the countenance. If ever there was a lady born, and set apart from the world′s vulgar mass by a certain gentle and cold stateliness, it was this very Alice Pyncheon. Yet there was the womanly mixture in her; the tenderness, or, at least, the tender capabilities. For the sake of that redeeming quality, a man of generous nature would have forgiven all her pride, and have been content, almost, to lie down in her path, and let Alice set her slender foot upon his heart. All that he would have required was simply the acknowledgment that he was indeed a man, and a fellow-being, moulded of the same elements as she. | Pronto hizo su aparición Alice. Un retrato de esta damita, obra de un pintor veneciano, figura actualmente en la colección que el duque de Devonshire conserva en su palacio de Chatsworth, por el valor pictórico de la tela y por la belleza de la figura representada. Si ha existido alguna mujer que fuera dama genuina, separada de la masa vulgar por una actitud natural noble y fría, esa mujer era Alice Pyncheon. Y, sin embargo, no dejaba de ser femenina, es decir, tierna, o cuando menos, capaz de serlo. Al entrar en el salón, los ojos de Alice se fijaron en el carpintero, que se hallaba de pie en el centro, con su chaqueta de lana verde, sus pantalones oscuros, abiertos a las rodillas, y un zurrón lleno de herramientas, símbolo de su artesanía, como la espada de míster Pyncheon lo era de sus pretensiones aristrocráticas. |
| As Alice came into the room, her eyes fell upon the carpenter, who was standing near its centre, clad in green woollen jacket, a pair of loose breeches, open at the knees, and with a long pocket for his rule, the end of which protruded; it was as proper a mark of the artisan′s calling as Mr. Pyncheon′s full-dress sword of that gentleman′s aristocratic pretensions. A glow of artistic approval brightened over Alice Pyncheon′s face; she was struck with admiration--which she made no attempt to conceal--of the remarkable comeliness, strength, and energy of Maule′s figure. But that admiring glance (which most other men, perhaps, would have cherished as a sweet recollection all through life) the carpenter never forgave. It must have been the devil himself that made Maule so subtile in his preception. | Una mirada de aprobación brilló en los ojos de Alice. Admiró ésta -y no intentó ocultarlo- el donaire, la fuerza y la energía de la figura de Maule. Pero el carpintero nunca perdonó esta mirada de admiración (que muchos otros hombres habrían acariciado durante toda su vida como un dulce recuerdo). El propio Diablo había dado a Maule una percepción tan sutil de las cosas. |
| "Does the girl look at me as if I were a brute beast ?" thought he, setting his teeth. "She shall know whether I have a human spirit; and the worse for her, if it prove stronger than her own !" | « Me mira como si fuese una bestia hermosa, ¿eh ? -pensó, apretando los dientes-. Pronto se dará cuenta de que tengo un espíritu humano. Tanto peor para ella, si yo soy el más fuerte. » |
| "My father, you sent for me," said Alice, in her sweet and harp-like voice. "But, if you have business with this young man, pray let me go again. You know I do not love this room, in spite of that Claude, with which you try to bring back sunny recollections." | -¿Has mandado llamarme, padre ? -preguntó Alice con voz de arpa-. Pero si estás ocupado, me iré... Ya sabes que no me gusta este salón. |
| "Stay a moment, young lady, if you please !" said Matthew Maule. "My business with your father is over. With yourself, it is now to begin !" | -Espérese un momento, señorita -interrumpió Matthew Maule-. Ya hemos tratado nuestros asuntos. Ahora he de comenzar con el suyo. |
| Alice looked towards her father, in surprise and inquiry. | Alice miró a su padre con sorpresa. |
| "Yes, Alice," said Mr. Pyncheon, with some disturbance and confusion. "This young man--his name is Matthew Maule--professes, so far as I can understand him, to be able to discover, through your means, a certain paper or parchment, which was missing long before your birth. The importance of the document in question renders it advisable to neglect no possible, even if improbable, method of regaining it. You will therefore oblige me, my dear Alice, by answering this person′s inquiries, and complying with his lawful and reasonable requests, so far as they may appear to have the aforesaid object in view. As I shall remain in the room, you need apprehend no rude nor unbecoming deportment, on the young man′s part; and, at your slightest wish, of course, the investigation, or whatever we may call it, shall immediately be broken off." | -Sí, Alice -dijo míster Pyncheon, confuso-. Este joven, que se llama Matthew Maule, asegura que puede descubrir, con tu ayuda, un documento que se perdió mucho antes de nacer tú. La importancia de ese papel hace que no deba descuidarse ningún procedimiento para recuperarlo, por improbable que sea. Me harás un gran favor, querida Alice, si contestas a las preguntas de este joven y accedes a sus razonables indicaciones tendentes a ese fin. Como permaneceré aquí, no debes temer ninguna inconveniencia ni descortesía, y, por supuesto, en cuanto lo desees cesará la investigación o como quieras llamarla... |
| "Mistress Alice Pyncheon," remarked Matthew Maule, with the utmost deference, but yet a half-hidden sarcasm in his look and tone, "will no doubt feel herself quite safe in her father′s presence, and under his all-sufficient protection." | -Miss Alice Pyncheon -dijo Matthew Maule con la máxima deferencia, no desprovista de sarcasmo-, no puede por menos de sentirse a salvo en presencia de su padre y bajo su protección. |
| "I certainly shall entertain no manner of apprehension, with my father at hand," said Alice with maidenly dignity. "Neither do I conceive that a lady, while true to herself, can have aught to fear from whomsoever, or in any circumstances !" | -No tengo miedo estando junto a mi padre -repuso Alice con altivez-. Y no imagino que una dama mientras sea fiel a sí misma, tenga nada que temer de nadie y en ninguna circunstancia. |
| Poor Alice ! By what unhappy impulse did she thus put herself at once on terms of defiance against a strength which she could not estimate ? | ¡Pobre Alice ! ¿Qué desdichado sentimiento la impulsó a desafiar a una fuerza que no podía valorar ? |
| "Then, Mistress Alice," said Matthew Maule, handing a chair,--gracefully enough, for a craftsman, "will it please you only to sit down, and do me the favor (though altogether beyond a poor carpenter′s deserts) to fix your eyes on mine !" | -Entonces, miss Alice Pyncheon -dijo Maule acercando una silla con gesto bastante gracioso para un artesano-, tenga la bondad de sentarse y hágame el favor de fijar sus ojos en los míos. |
| Alice complied, She was very proud. Setting aside all advantages of rank, this fair girl deemed herself conscious of a power--combined of beauty, high, unsullied purity, and the preservative force of womanhood--that could make her sphere impenetrable, unless betrayed by treachery within. She instinctively knew, it may be, that some sinister or evil potency was now striving to pass her barriers; nor would she decline the contest. So Alice put woman′s might against man′s might; a match not often equal on the part of woman. | Alice obedeció. Era muy orgullosa. Dejando aparte todas las ventajas de su rango, la linda muchacha tenía confianza en su poder -en su belleza, en su pureza no mancillada y en la fuerza protectora de la feminidad-, que podía hacerla impenetrable a todo lo que no fuera debilidad o traición propia. Presintió que una potencia maligna intentaba penetrar en su espíritu. Y no quiso rehuir la lucha. Enfrentó el poder femenino contra el masculino en un combate que no suele ser muy nivelado por parte de la mujer. |
| Her father meanwhile had turned away, and seemed absorbed in the contemplation of a landscape by Claude, where a shadowy and sun-streaked vista penetrated so remotely into an ancient wood, that it would have been no wonder if his fancy had lost itself in the picture′s bewildering depths. But, in truth, the picture was no more to him at that moment than the blank wall against which it hung. His mind was haunted with the many and strange tales which he had heard, attributing mysterious if not supernatural endowments to these Maules, as well the grandson here present as his two immediate ancestors. Mr. Pyncheon′s long residence abroad, and intercourse with men of wit and fashion,--courtiers, worldings, and free-thinkers,--had done much towards obliterating the grim Puritan superstitions, which no man of New England birth at that early period could entirely escape. But, on the other hand, had not a whole community believed Maule′s grandfather to be a wizard ? Had not the crime been proved ? Had not the wizard died for it ? Had he not bequeathed a legacy of hatred against the Pyncheons to this only grandson, who, as it appeared, was now about to exercise a subtle influence over the daughter of his enemy′s house ? Might not this influence be the same that was called witchcraft ? | Su padre se había vuelto y parecía absorbido en la contemplación de un cuadro de Claude, que representaba un paisaje, y en el cual un rayo de sol penetraba tan profundamente en un bosque que no era de extrañar que la fantasía se perdiera en aquellas honduras. La verdad es, empero, que el cuadro no representaba para él, en aquel instante, más de lo que representaba la oscura pared de que colgaba. Torturaban su mente las leyendas que atribuían misteriosos poderes a esos Maule, tanto a los antepasados como a aquel nieto que ahora se hallaba bajo su propio techo. La larga permanencia de míster Pyncheon en el extranjero y su contacto con hombres de ingenio y de moda -cortesanos, librepensadores, gentes de mundo- habían contribuido a hacerle olvidar las sombrías supersticiones puritanas, de las que no podían escapar enteramente las personas nacidas durante aquel periodo primitivo de Nueva Inglaterra. Por otra parte, ¿no había creído la comunidad entera en la brujería del viejo Maule ? ¿No había quedado demostrado su crimen ? ¿No había legado a su nieto un profundo odio contra los Pyncheon ? ¿No estaba este nieto a punto de ejercer una sutil influencia sobre la hija de su enemigo ? ¿No sería esa influencia de las que se conocen bajo el nombre de brujería ? |
| Turning half around, he caught a glimpse of Maule′s figure in the looking-glass. At some paces from Alice, with his arms uplifted in the air, the carpenter made a gesture as if directing downward a slow, ponderous, and invisible weight upon the maiden. | Volvióse y echó una mirada a la figura de Maule, reflejada en el espejo. A unos pasos de Alice, con los brazos levantados, el carpintero hacía un gesto como si bajara un peso lento, poderoso e invisible sobre la muchacha. |
| "Stay, Maule !" exclaimed Mr. Pyncheon, stepping forward. "I forbid your proceeding further !" | -¡Maule ! -exclamó míster Pyncheon dando un paso-. Le prohibo que continúe. |
| "Pray, my dear father, do not interrupt the young man," said Alice, without changing her position. "His efforts, I assure you, will prove very harmless." | -Por favor, padre, no interrumpas a este joven -dijo Alice sin moverse-. Te aseguro que sus esfuerzos son completamente inofensivos. |
| Again Mr. Pyncheon turned his eyes towards the Claude. It was then his daughter′s will, in opposition to his own, that the experiment should be fully tried. Henceforth, therefore, he did but consent, not urge it. And was it not for her sake far more than for his own that he desired its success ? That lost parchment once restored, the beautiful Alice Pyncheon, with the rich dowry which he could then bestow, might wed an English duke or a German reigning-prince, instead of some New England clergyman or lawyer ! At the thought, the ambitious father almost consented, in his heart, that, if the devil′s power were needed to the accomplishment of this great object, Maule might evoke him. Alice′s own purity would be her safeguard. | Míster Pyncheon volvió a mirar el cuadro del paisaje; por voluntad de su hija y no por la suya propia se llevaría a cabo el experimento. Por lo tanto, consentía en ello, sin apremiarla. ¿Acaso no deseaba el éxito precisamente por ella ? Si se descubría el documento perdido, Alice tendría una dote tan considerable que podría casarse con un duque inglés o un príncipe reinante alemán, en vez de ser la esposa de un clérigo o un abogado de Nueva Inglaterra. Al pensar en esto, el ambicioso padre casi consintió en que Maule evocase el poder del diablo, si fuera preciso. La pureza de Alice sería su salvaguarda. |
| With his mind full of imaginary magnificence, Mr. Pyncheon heard a half-uttered exclamation from his daughter. It was very faint and low; so indistinct that there seemed but half a will to shape out the words, and too undefined a purport to be intelligible. Yet it was a call for help !--his conscience never doubted it;--and, little more than a whisper to his ear, it was a dismal shriek, and long reechoed so, in the region round his heart ! But this time the father did not turn. | Soñaba en tales grandezas, cuando de pronto oyó una exclamación, reprimida, de su hija. Suave y queda, tan indistinta que parecía querer apenas expresarse en palabras y hacerse inteligible. Y, sin embargo, no podía dudarse de que era una súplica de ayuda. Aquel leve suspiro se convertía, al llegar al corazón, en un clamor que se repetía por todas sus entrañas. Mas esta vez, el padre no se volvió. |
| After a further interval, Maule spoke. | Tras una pausa, Maule habló: |
| "Behold your daughter," said he. | -¡Fíjese en su hija ! -dijo. |
| Mr. Pyncheon came hastily forward. The carpenter was standing erect in front of Alice′s chair, and pointing his finger towards the maiden with an expression of triumphant power, the limits of which could not be defined, as, indeed, its scope stretched vaguely towards the unseen and the infinite. Alice sat in an attitude of profound repose, with the long brown lashes drooping over her eyes. | Míster Pyncheon acercóse apresuradamente. El carpintero permanecía erguido frente a Alice y señalaba a la muchacha con expresión de triunfo. Alice estaba sentada en profundo reposo, con las largas pestañas sombreándole los ojos. |
| "There she is !" said the carpenter. "Speak to her !" | -Háblele -ordenó el carpintero. -Alice... |
| "Alice ! My daughter !" exclaimed Mr. Pyncheon. "My own Alice !" | ¡Hija mía !-exclamó míster Pyncheon-. ¡Alice ! |
| She did not stir. | Ella no se movió |
| "Louder !" said Maule, smiling. | . -Más alto -aconsejó Maule sonriendo |
| "Alice ! Awake !" cried her father. "It troubles me to see you thus ! Awake !" | . -¡Alice ! ¡Despierta, Alice ! -gritó el padre-. Me asusta verte así... ¡Despierta ! |
| He spoke loudly, with terror in his voice, and close to that delicate ear which had always been so sensitive to every discord. But the sound evidently reached her not. It is indescribable what a sense of remote, dim, unattainable distance betwixt himself and Alice was impressed on the father by this impossibility of reaching her with his voice. | Habló en voz alta, aterrado, acercando los labios al delicado oído, que siempre había sido tan sensible a toda discordancia. Mas los sonidos no llegaban al espíritu de Alice. Esa imposibilidad de hablarle dio al padre la sensación de que entre él y su hija mediaba una distancia enorme, inalcanzable... |
| "Best touch her !" said Matthew Maule "Shake the girl, and roughly, too ! My hands are hardened with too much use of axe, saw, and plane,--else I might help you !" | -¡Tóquela ! -ordenó Matthew Maule-. Sacúdala sin miedo. Mis manos son demasiado ásperas... De lo contrarío, le ayudaría... |
| Mr. Pyncheon took her hand, and pressed it with the earnestness of startled emotion. He kissed her, with so great a heart-throb in the kiss, that he thought she must needs feel it. Then, in a gust of anger at her insensibility, he shook her maiden form with a violence which, the next moment, it affrighted him to remember. He withdrew his encircling arms, and Alice--whose figure, though flexible, had been wholly impassive--relapsed into the same attitude as before these attempts to arouse her. Maule having shifted his position, her face was turned towards him slightly, but with what seemed to be a reference of her very slumber to his guidance. | Mister Pyncheon tomó en las suyas una mano de Alice, la estrechó con honda emoción y la besó con tanta fuerza que no dudó de que ella sentiría aquel beso. Furioso por la insensibilidad de la muchacha, la sacudió con tal violencia que luego se avergonzó de ello. Retiró el brazo y Alice, que permanecía impasible, volvió a sumirse en la misma actitud. Con gesto imperioso, Maule la hizo mover la cabeza. |
| Then it was a strange sight to behold how the man of conventionalities shook the powder out of his periwig; how the reserved and stately gentleman forgot his dignity; how the gold-embroidered waistcoat flickered and glistened in the firelight with the convulsion of rage, terror, and sorrow in the human heart that was beating under it. | |
| "Villain !" cried Mr. Pyncheon, shaking his clenched fist at Maule. "You and the fiend together have robbed me of my daughter. Give her back, spawn of the old wizard, or you shall climb Gallows Hill in your grandfather′s footsteps !" | Latiéndole el corazón aceleradamente, y preso de indescriptible furia, terror y pena, míster Pyncheon gritó, amenazando a Maule con el puño: -¡Cuidado ! Tú y el demonio me habéis robado a mi hija. Devuélvemela, retoño de brujo, o hago que sigas los pasos de tu abuelo... |
| "Softly, Mr. Pyncheon !" said the carpenter with scornful composure. "Softly, an′ it please your worship, else you will spoil those rich lace-ruffles at your wrists ! Is it my crime if you have sold your daughter for the mere hope of getting a sheet of yellow parchment into your clutch ? There sits Mistress Alice quietly asleep. Now let Matthew Maule try whether she be as proud as the carpenter found her awhile since." | -Cálmese, míster Pyncheon -dijo el carpintero con cierta insolencia-. Cálmese, que va a estropear esas ricas blondas de su casaca. ¿Es culpa mía si usted ha vendido a su hija por la esperanza de obtener un pergamino amarillento... ? Aquí tiene a miss Alice tranquilamente dormida. Deje que Matthew Maule pruebe si es tan orgullosa como la encontró hace un rato el carpintero. |
| He spoke, and Alice responded, with a soft, subdued, inward acquiescence, and a bending of her form towards him, like the flame of a torch when it indicates a gentle draught of air. He beckoned with his hand, and, rising from her chair,--blindly, but undoubtingly, as tending to her sure and inevitable centre,--the proud Alice approached him. He waved her back, and, retreating, Alice sank again into her seat. | Habló a la muchacha y ésta contestó con sumisa obediencia, inclinando su busto hacia Maule, como la llama de una antorcha bajo el efecto de una suave corriente de aire. El hizo un gesto con la mano y ella se levantó de la silla, ciega, sin duda, pero dirigiéndose hacia el centro de su ser espiritual. La orgullosa Alice se acercó al carpintero, que, con otro gesto, la hizo sentar de nuevo. |
| "She is mine !" said Matthew Maule. "Mine, by the right of the strongest spirit !" | -¡Es mía ! -dijo Maule-. ¡Mía, por el derecho del espíritu más fuerte ! |
| In the further progress of the legend, there is a long, grotesque, and occasionally awe-striking account of the carpenter′s incantations (if so they are to be called), with a view of discovering the lost document. It appears to have been his object to convert the mind of Alice into a kind of telescopic medium, through which Mr. Pyncheon and himself might obtain a glimpse into the spiritual world. He succeeded, accordingly, in holding an imperfect sort of intercourse, at one remove, with the departed personages in whose custody the so much valued secret had been carried beyond the precincts of earth. During her trance, Alice described three figures as being present to her spiritualized perception. One was an aged, dignified, stern-looking gentleman, clad as for a solemn festival in grave and costly attire, but with a great blood-stain on his richly wrought band; the second, an aged man, meanly dressed, with a dark and malign countenance, and a broken halter about his neck; the third, a person not so advanced in life as the former two, but beyond the middle age, wearing a coarse woollen tunic and leather breeches, and with a carpenter′s rule sticking out of his side pocket. These three visionary characters possessed a mutual knowledge of the missing document. One of them, in truth,--it was he with the blood-stain on his band,--seemed, unless his gestures were misunderstood, to hold the parchment in his immediate keeping, but was prevented by his two partners in the mystery from disburdening himself of the trust. Finally, when he showed a purpose of shouting forth the secret loudly enough to be heard from his own sphere into that of mortals, his companions struggled with him, and pressed their hands over his mouth; and forthwith--whether that he were choked by it, or that the secret itself was of a crimson hue--there was a fresh flow of blood upon his band. Upon this, the two meanly dressed figures mocked and jeered at the much-abashed old dignitary, and pointed their fingers at the stain. | Aquí la leyenda da unos detalles pavorosos y grotescos de lo que hizo el carpintero, para descubrir el documento perdido. Parece que se propuso convertir el espíritu de Alice en una especie de telescopio por medio del cual él y míster Pyncheon pudieran echar una ojeada al mundo espiritual. Consiguió, en efecto, una especie de imperfecta comunicación con los personajes de otros tiempos que custodiaban el valioso secreto. Durante su sueño, Alice describió a tres figuras. Una era un anciano, ceñudo y digno, lujosamente vestido, mas con una mancha de sangre en la ancha banda que cruzaba su pecho. La segunda, un viejo, vestido casi de harapos, de rostro sombrío y maligno, con un dogal roto alrededor del cuello. La tercera, una persona menos entrada en años que los otros dos, pero que pasaba ya de la madurez, vistiendo tosca blusa de lana y pantalones de cuero, por uno de cuyos bolsillos asomaba una regla de carpintero. Los tres personajes conocían el documento perdido. Uno de ellos -el de la banda manchada de sangre- parecía que guardaba el pergamino y estaba dispuesto a revelar su paradero, pero se lo impidieron sus dos compañeros, luchando con él, tapándole la boca con las manos y luego -ya por la lucha o por la índole del secreto- su banda apareció con otra mancha de sangre fresca. Después, las dos figuras mal vestidas se burlaron despiadadamente del humillado anciano, señalando con los dedos la sangrienta marca. |
| At this juncture, Maule turned to Mr. Pyncheon. | En este momento Maule se volvió hacia míster Pyncheon. |
| "It will never be allowed," said he. "The custody of this secret, that would so enrich his heirs, makes part of your grandfather′s retribution. He must choke with it until it is no longer of any value. And keep you the House of the Seven Gables ! It is too dear bought an inheritance, and too heavy with the curse upon it, to be shifted yet awhile from the Colonel′s posterity." | -Nunca podrá descubrirse -dijo-. Guardar ese secreto que enriquecería a sus herederos es parte del castigo del coronel Pyncheon. Tendrá que ocultarlo hasta que no tenga ningún valor. ¡Guárdese La Casa de los Siete Tejados ! Es una herencia demasiado terrible y cargada por el peso de la maldición para que yo quiera arrebatársela todavía a los descendientes del coronel. |
| Mr. Pyncheon tried to speak, but--what with fear and passion--could make only a gurgling murmur in his throat. The carpenter smiled. | Míster Pyncheon intentó hablar, y con gran terror por su parte sólo pudo emitir un ronco murmullo. |
| "Aha, worshipful sir !--so you have old Maule′s blood to drink !" said he jeeringly. | El carpintero sonrió. -¡Ah ! Veo, honorable señor, que aún le queda sangre de los Maule por beber -dijo en son de broma. -¡Eres un demonio ! ¿Por qué quieres dominar a mi hija ? -gritó míster Pyncheon cuando, por fin, pudo |
| "Fiend in man′s shape ! why dost thou keep dominion over my child ?" cried Mr. Pyncheon, when his choked utterance could make way. "Give me back my daughter. Then go thy ways; and may we never meet again !" | hablar-. ¡Devuélveme a Alice ! Luego sigue tu camino y que no nos volvamos a encontrar jamás... |
| "Your daughter !" said Matthew Maule. "Why, she is fairly mine ! Nevertheless, not to be too hard with fair Mistress Alice, I will leave her in your keeping; but I do not warrant you that she shall never have occasion to remember Maule, the carpenter." | -¿Su hija ? -dijo Maule-. ¡Bah ! Ahora es completamente mía. No obstante, para no ser demasiado severo con miss Alice, la dejaré al cuidado de usted. Pero no le garantizo que no tenga más de un motivo para recordar a Maule el carpintero. |
| He waved his hands with an upward motion; and, after a few repetitions of similar gestures, the beautiful Alice Pyncheon awoke from her strange trance. She awoke without the slightest recollection of her visionary experience; but as one losing herself in a momentary reverie, and returning to the consciousness of actual life, in almost as brief an interval as the down-sinking flame of the hearth should quiver again up the chimney. On recognizing Matthew Maule, she assumed an air of somewhat cold but gentle dignity, the rather, as there was a certain peculiar smile on the carpenter′s visage that stirred the native pride of the fair Alice. So ended, for that time, the quest for the lost title-deed of the Pyncheon territory at the Eastward; nor, though often subsequently renewed, has it ever yet befallen a Pyncheon to set his eye upon that parchment. | Movió las manos y la hermosa Alice Pyncheon despertó de su extraño sueño. Sin recordar nada de su singular experiencia, como si acabara de salir de un sueño momentáneo, volviendo a la lucidez en un intervalo tan breve como el que necesita una llama mortecina para animarse de nuevo en la chimenea. Al reconocer a Matthew Maule, adoptó un aire frío y digno, tanto más frío cuanto que en el rostro del carpintero flotaba una sonrisa que hería el innato orgullo de Alice. Así terminó, aquella vez, la busca del documento perdido que había de dar a los Pyncheon los ricos territorios del Este. Posteriormente, aunque a menudo renovados los intentos, no se sabe de ningún Pyncheon que haya logrado poner los ojos en el precioso pergamino. |
| But, alas for the beautiful, the gentle, yet too haughty Alice ! A power that she little dreamed of had laid its grasp upon her maiden soul. A will, most unlike her own, constrained her to do its grotesque and fantastic bidding. Her father as it proved, had martyred his poor child to an inordinate desire for measuring his land by miles instead of acres. And, therefore, while Alice Pyncheon lived, she was Maule′s slave, in a bondage more humiliating, a thousand-fold, than that which binds its chain around the body. Seated by his humble fireside, Maule had but to wave his hand; and, wherever the proud lady chanced to be,--whether in her chamber, or entertaining her father′s stately guests, or worshipping at church,--whatever her place or occupation, her spirit passed from beneath her own control, and bowed itself to Maule. "Alice, laugh !"--the carpenter, beside his hearth, would say; or perhaps intensely will it, without a spoken word. And, even were it prayer-time, or at a funeral, Alice must break into wild laughter. "Alice, be sad !"--and, at the instant, down would come her tears, quenching all the mirth of those around her like sudden rain upon a bonfire. "Alice, dance."--and dance she would, not in such court-like measures as she had learned abroad, but some high-paced jig, or hop-skip rigadoon, befitting the brisk lasses at a rustic merry-making. It seemed to be Maule′s impulse, not to ruin Alice, nor to visit her with any black or gigantic mischief, which would have crowned her sorrows with the grace of tragedy, but to wreak a low, ungenerous scorn upon her. Thus all the dignity of life was lost. She felt herself too much abased, and longed to change natures with some worm ! | Pero, ¡ay de la pobre y altiva Alice ! Un poder,
con el cuaPi ni siquiera había soñado, había
puesto su garra en su alma de doncella. Una
voluntad extraña la obligaba a cumplir sus
grotescas y fantásticas órdenes. Su padre había
martirizado a la muchacha para satisfacer un
loco deseo de medir sus tierras por millas y no
por acres. Desde entonces, mientras Alice
vivió, fue esclava de Maule, con lazos mil
veces más humillantes que los que pueden
significar una cadena arrollada alrededor del
cuerpo. Sentado junto a la lumbre, Maule no
tenía más que mover la mano y, estuviera
donde estuviese, la orgullosa damita -en su
cuarto o con los invitados de su padre, o
rezando en el templo- perdía el dominio de su
espíritu, que se sometía a la voluntad de Maule.
« ¡Alice, ríe ! » -ordenaba el carpintero, sin pronunciar ninguna palabra, con la simple intensidad de su deseo. Y aunque estuviera en un sermón o en un entierro, Alice estallaba en sonoras risas. « ¡Alice, llora ! » Y aunque estuviera bailando, no a la manera de la corte, como la enseñaron en Europa, sino una jiga o un rigodón, Alice se ponía a llorar. No parecía que Maule se propusiera aniquilar a Alice, ni causarle ninguna pena irreparable, que hubiera coronado su dolor con la gracia de la tragedia, sino que simplemente quería humillar a la que le despreciara. Así le hizo perder toda la dignidad de la vida. Se sintió rebajada ante sí mil veces y deseó poder cambiarse por un gusano. |
| One evening, at a bridal party (but not her own; for, so lost from self-control, she would have deemed it sin to marry), poor Alice was beckoned forth by her unseen despot, and constrained, in her gossamer white dress and satin slippers, to hasten along the street to the mean dwelling of a laboring-man. There was laughter and good cheer within; for Matthew Maule, that night, was to wed the laborer′s daughter, and had summoned proud Alice Pyncheon to wait upon his bride. And so she did; and when the twain were one, Alice awoke out of her enchanted sleep. Yet, no longer proud,--humbly, and with a smile all steeped in sadness,--she kissed Maule′s wife, and went her way. It was an inclement night; the southeast wind drove the mingled snow and rain into her thinly sheltered bosom; her satin slippers were wet through and through, as she trod the muddy sidewalks. The next day a cold; soon, a settled cough; anon, a hectic cheek, a wasted form, that sat beside the harpsichord, and filled the house with music ! Music in which a strain of the heavenly choristers was echoed ! Oh; joy ! For Alice had borne her last humiliation ! Oh, greater joy ! For Alice was penitent of her one earthly sin, and proud no more ! | Cierta tarde, en unas bodas, la pobre Alice se vio llamada por su déspota y obligada a correr por la calle con sus chapines de raso y su sutilísimo vestido blanco, hasta el destartalado hogar de un labriego. Se reía y se cantaba en el interior de la humilde morada, pues Matthew Maule, aquella noche, se casaba con la hija del labriego y había obligado a la orgullosa Alice Pyncheon a ser dama de honor de su novia. Y lo fue. Cuando la pareja se fundió en una sola persona, Alice despertó de su sueño encantado. No era ya la muchacha altiva de antes. Humilde y con triste sonrisa, besó a la esposa de Maule y marchóse. Era una noche inclemente. El viento del sureste lanzaba la nieve y la lluvia contra el pecho de la muchacha, cuyos chapines de raso se mojaron y cubrieron de barro. Al otro día, tuvo que quedarse en cama. Luego apareció una tosecilla. Quiso levantarse, y su figura transparente, sentada ante el clavicordio, llenó la casa de melodías. Una música en la que parecían oírse los coros celestiales. Una música llena de gozo, pues Alice había soportado su humillación postrera. Una música alegre, pues Alice se arrepentía de su único pecado y ya no era orgullosa. |
| The Pyncheons made a great funeral for Alice. The kith and kin were there, and the whole respectability of the town besides. But, last in the procession, came Matthew Maule, gnashing his teeth, as if he would have bitten his own heart in twain,--the darkest and wofullest man that ever walked behind a corpse ! He meant to humble Alice, not to kill her; but he had taken a woman′s delicate soul into his rude gripe, to play with--and she was dead ! | Los Pyncheon celebraron grandes funerales en memoria de Alice. Acudieron los parientes y los personajes de la ciudad. Matthew Maule fue el último que desfiló, con los dientes apretados, como si hubiera querido partir en dos su propio corazón. ¡Era el hombre más afligido que jamás haya seguido a un cadáver ! Se propuso humillar a Alice, pero no matarla. Había apresado en su ruda garra el delicado espíritu de una doncella, para jugar con él... y la doncella había muerto... |