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




XXI. The Departure

XXI. La marcha

THE sudden death of so prominent a member of the social world as the Honorable Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon created a sensation (at least, in the circles more immediately connected with the deceased) which had hardly quite subsided in a fortnight. LA muerte repentina de un miembro tan prominente de la sociedad, como era el honorable juez Jaffrey Pyncheon, produjo enorme sensación -al menos en los círculos más relacionados con el difunto-, pero al cabo de una quincena había cesado casi por completo.
It may be remarked, however, that, of all the events which constitute a person′s biography, there is scarcely one--none, certainly, of anything like a similar importance--to which the world so easily reconciles itself as to his death. In most other cases and contingencies, the individual is present among us, mixed up with the daily revolution of affairs, and affording a definite point for observation. At his decease, there is only a vacancy, and a momentary eddy,--very small, as compared with the apparent magnitude of the ingurgitated object,--and a bubble or two, ascending out of the black depth and bursting at the surface. As regarded Judge Pyncheon, it seemed probable, at first blush, that the mode of his final departure might give him a larger and longer posthumous vogue than ordinarily attends the memory of a distinguished man. But when it came to be understood, on the highest professional authority, that the event was a natural, and--except for some unimportant particulars, denoting a slight idiosyncrasy--by no means an unusual form of death, the public, with its customary alacrity, proceeded to forget that he had ever lived. In short, the honorable Judge was beginning to be a stale subject before half the country newspapers had found time to put their columns in mourning, and publish his exceedingly eulogistic obituary. Debe hacerse notar, sin embargo, que de todos los acontecimientos que constituyen la biografía de una persona, raramente hay uno -ninguno de importancia similar, desde luego- que se olvide tan pronto como su muerte. En muchos casos, el individuo está presente entre nosotros, mezclado en el tráfago diario de los negocios, concediéndonos, pues, un punto concreto de observación. Cuando muere, se produce un vacío y un revuelo momentáneo-muy pequeño, en comparación con la gravedad del suceso- y dos o tres burbujas que ascienden de las negras profundidades y revientan al llegar a la superficie. En el caso del juez Pyncheon, parecía probable, a simple vista, que la manera cómo emprendió su viaje definitivo habría de interesar por un espacio de tiempo superior al que suele recordarse la memoria de una persona distinguida. Pero cuando se tuvo seguridad de que la muerte fue natural -excepto en ciertos detalles que denotaban una extraña idiosincrasia- el público, con su habitual rapidez, se olvidó hasta de que hubiese vivido un tal Jaffrey Pyncheon. En suma, el honorable juez ya era un tema de conversación pasado de moda cuando aún no todos los periódicos rurales habían tenido tiempo de poner de luto sus columnas y de publicar sus necrologías excesivamente elogiosas.
Nevertheless, creeping darkly through the places which this excellent person had haunted in his lifetime, there was a hidden stream of private talk, such as it would have shocked all decency to speak loudly at the street-corners. It is very singular, how the fact of a man′s death often seems to give people a truer idea of his character, whether for good or evil, than they have ever possessed while he was living and acting among them. Death is so genuine a fact that it excludes falsehood, or betrays its emptiness; it is a touchstone that proves the gold, and dishonors the baser metal. Could the departed, whoever he may be, return in a week after his decease, he would almost invariably find himself at a higher or lower point than he had formerly occupied, on the scale of public appreciation. But the talk, or scandal, to which we now allude, had reference to matters of no less old a date than the supposed murder, thirty or forty years ago, of the late Judge Pyncheon′s uncle. The medical opinion with regard to his own recent and regretted decease had almost entirely obviated the idea that a murder was committed in the former case. Yet, as the record showed, there were circumstances irrefragably indicating that some person had gained access to old Jaffrey Pyncheon′s private apartments, at or near the moment of his death. His desk and private drawers, in a room contiguous to his bedchamber, had been ransacked; money and valuable articles were missing; there was a bloody hand-print on the old man′s linen; and, by a powerfully welded chain of deductive evidence, the guilt of the robbery and apparent murder had been fixed on Clifford, then residing with his uncle in the House of the Seven Gables. No obstante, en los círculos que el excelente hombre había frecuentado en vida, se chismorreaba en voz baja sobre ciertos hechos indecentes que habrían escandalizado de ser divulgados por toda la ciudad. Es curioso comprobar que la muerte de un individuo suele dar a la gente una idea de su carácter bueno o malo, más acertada que la que tenía de él cuando aún respiraba. La muerte es un hecho tan auténtico que excluye toda falsedad y pone de relieve toda vacuidad; es piedra de toque que revela el oro y deshonra al metal de baja ley.
Si un difunto pudiera volver una semana después de morir, se encontraría en un punto más alto o más bajo que el que antes ocupara en la escala de la consideración pública. Los chismes o el escándalo a que aludimos referíanse también a hechos que se remontaban al supuesto asesinato, treinta o cuarenta años atrás, del tío del recién fenecido juez Pyncheon. La opinión médica respecto a la causa del último fallecimiento había hecho desaparecer casi por entero la creencia de que en el caso anterior se cometiera un crimen. Según se recordaba, hubo pruebas de que alguien había entrado en las habitaciones particulares del viejo Jaffrey Pyncheon, en el momento de su muerte o poco antes. Su mesa y los cajones de una cómoda situada en la estancia contigua habían sido revueltos; faltaban objetos de valor y dinero; en la ropa interior del anciano se halló una huella de sangre y por una serie de pruebas deductivas, se culpó de robo y asesinato a Clifford, que entonces vivía con su tío en La Casa de los Siete Tejados.
Whencesoever originating, there now arose a theory that undertook so to account for these circumstances as to exclude the idea of Clifford′s agency. Many persons affirmed that the history and elucidation of the facts, long so mysterious, had been obtained by the daguerreotypist from one of those mesmerical seers who, nowadays, so strangely perplex the aspect of human affairs, and put everybody′s natural vision to the blush, by the marvels which they see with their eyes shut. Ahora rechazábase la intervención de Clifford. Muchas personas afirmaban que la historia y dilucidación de los hechos, aparentemente tan misteriosos, había sido obtenida por el daguerrotipista gracias a sus dotes de clarividencia.
[…]
According to this version of the story, Judge Pyncheon, exemplary as we have portrayed him in our narrative, was, in his youth, an apparently irreclaimable scapegrace. The brutish, the animal instincts, as is often the case, had been developed earlier than the intellectual qualities, and the force of character, for which he was afterwards remarkable. He had shown himself wild, dissipated, addicted to low pleasures, little short of ruffianly in his propensities, and recklessly expensive, with no other resources than the bounty of his uncle. This course of conduct had alienated the old bachelor′s affection, once strongly fixed upon him. Now it is averred,--but whether on authority available in a court of justice, we do not pretend to have investigated,--that the young man was tempted by the devil, one night, to search his uncle′s private drawers, to which he had unsuspected means of access. While thus criminally occupied, he was startled by the opening of the chamber-door. There stood old Jaffrey Pyncheon, in his nightclothes ! The surprise of such a discovery, his agitation, alarm, and horror, brought on the crisis of a disorder to which the old bachelor had an hereditary liability; he seemed to choke with blood, and fell upon the floor, striking his temple a heavy blow against the corner of a table. What was to be done ? The old man was surely dead ! Assistance would come too late ! What a misfortune, indeed, should it come too soon, since his reviving consciousness would bring the recollection of the ignominious offence which he had beheld his nephew in the very act of committing ! Según esta versión del caso, el juez Pyncheon, tan ejemplar como le hemos visto, fue en su juventud un bribón incorregible. Sus instintos salvajes se desarrollaron en él mucho antes que las cualidades intelectuales. Era disipado, adicto a los bajos placeres, turbulento, con tendencias poco menos que rufianescas, derrochador, sin otros recursos que la grandiosidad de su tío. Su conducta le había enajenado el afecto del anciano solterón, que antes le quería mucho. Ahora bien, se daba por seguro -aunque no hemos investigado si un tribunal aceptaría esta hipótesis- que una noche el joven, tentado por el diablo, revolvió los cajones de su tío. Mientras estaba ocupado en, estos manejos delictivos se asustó al ver que la puerta se abría. Volvióse y en el umbral vio al viejo Jaffrey Pyncheon en pijama. La sorpresa que tal descubrimiento produjo en el viejo, su agitación, la alarma y el horror le provocaron un ataque, al que estaba hereditariamente propenso; le ahogó una bocanada de sangre y cayó al suelo, dándose un fuerte golpe en la sien contra el ángulo de la mesa. ¿Qué hacer ? Probablemente el viejo estaba muerto. Todo socorro llegaría tardío. ¡Qué desgracia si hubiesen llegado a tiempo de socorrerlo, pues al volver en sí habría recordado la ignominiosa conducta de su sobrino !
But he never did revive. With the cool hardihood that always pertained to him, the young man continued his search of the drawers, and found a will, of recent date, in favor of Clifford,--which he destroyed,--and an older one, in his own favor, which he suffered to remain. But before retiring, Jaffrey bethought himself of the evidence, in these ransacked drawers, that some one had visited the chamber with sinister purposes. Suspicion, unless averted, might fix upon the real offender. In the very presence of the dead man, therefore, he laid a scheme that should free himself at the expense of Clifford, his rival, for whose character he had at once a contempt and a repugnance. It is not probable, be it said, that he acted with any set purpose of involving Clifford in a charge of murder. Knowing that his uncle did not die by violence, it may not have occurred to him, in the hurry of the crisis, that such an inference might be drawn. But, when the affair took this darker aspect, Jaffrey′s previous steps had already pledged him to those which remained. So craftily had he arranged the circumstances, that, at Clifford′s trial, his cousin hardly found it necessary to swear to anything false, but only to withhold the one decisive explanation, by refraining to state what he had himself done and witnessed. Pero no volvió en sí. Con la serenidad y el valor que siempre le caracterizaron, el joven continuó buscando en los cajones. Encontró un testamento de fecha reciente y en favor de Clifford. Lo destruyó y dejó intacto otro anterior, que le favorecía. Antes de retirarse, Jaffrey se dio cuenta de que aquellos cajones revueltos podían hacer sospechar de él. En presencia del muerto, formó un plan para librarse de toda sospecha a costa de Clifford, su rival, por el cual sentía a la vez repugnancia y desprecio. Debe decirse que probablemente no se proponía complicarle en una acusación de asesinato. Sabiendo que su tío no había muerto de muerte violenta, no pudo ocurrírsele, en las prisas de su situación, que alguien pudiera suponerlo. Pero cuando el caso fue asumiendo caracteres cada vez más obscuros, los primeros pasos que Jaffrey había dado le obligaron a dar los restantes. Dispuso tan hábilmente las apariencias que, en el juicio contra Clifford, no tuvo que jurar nada en falso, sino simplemente callar lo que él había hecho y presenciado.
Thus Jaffrey Pyncheon′s inward criminality, as regarded Clifford, was, indeed, black and damnable; while its mere outward show and positive commission was the smallest that could possibly consist with so great a sin. This is just the sort of guilt that a man of eminent respectability finds it easiest to dispose of. It was suffered to fade out of sight or be reckoned a venial matter, in the Honorable Judge Pyncheon′s long subsequent survey of his own life. He shuffled it aside, among the forgotten and forgiven frailties of his youth, and seldom thought of it again. Así la conducta del juez Pyncheon fue criminal, pero en su vida no tuvo mayor importancia que un pecadillo venial. Lo olvidó entre las frivolidades de su juventud y raramente volvió a pensar en ello.
We leave the Judge to his repose. He could not be styled fortunate at the hour of death. Unknowingly, he was a childless man, while striving to add more wealth to his only child′s inheritance. Hardly a week after his decease, one of the Cunard steamers brought intelligence of the death, by cholera, of Judge Pyncheon′s son, just at the point of embarkation for his native land. By this misfortune Clifford became rich; so did Hepzibah; so did our little village maiden, and, through her, that sworn foe of wealth and all manner of conservatism,--the wild reformer,--Holgrave ! Dejemos al juez en su descanso eterno. No podemos llamarle afortunado a la hora de la muerte. Sin saberlo, cuando aún luchaba por añadir nuevas riquezas a la herencia de su hijo único, ya no tenía heredero. Una semana después de su muerte, un vapor de la Cunard trajo la noticia de la muerte del hijo del juez Pyncheon, que se había contagiado del cólera cuando estaba a punto de embarcarse para su país natal. Esta desgracia enriqueció a Clifford y a Hepzibah, a nuestra pequeña pueblerina y, a través de ella, a aquel enemigo jurado de la riqueza y de toda clase de conservadurismo, al furioso Holgrave.
It was now far too late in Clifford′s life for the good opinion of society to be worth the trouble and anguish of a formal vindication. What he needed was the love of a very few; not the admiration, or even the respect, of the unknown many. The latter might probably have been won for him, had those on whom the guardianship of his welfare had fallen deemed it advisable to expose Clifford to a miserable resuscitation of past ideas, when the condition of whatever comfort he might expect lay in the calm of forgetfulness. After such wrong as he had suffered, there is no reparation. The pitiable mockery of it, which the world might have been ready enough to offer, coming so long after the agony had done its utmost work, would have been fit only to provoke bitterer laughter than poor Clifford was ever capable of. It is a truth (and it would be a very sad one but for the higher hopes which it suggests) that no great mistake, whether acted or endured, in our mortal sphere, is ever really set right. Time, the continual vicissitude of circumstances, and the invariable inopportunity of death, render it impossible. If, after long lapse of years, the right seems to be in our power, we find no niche to set it in. The better remedy is for the sufferer to pass on, and leave what he once thought his irreparable ruin far behind him. Clifford era demasiado viejo para que le interesara obtener una reivindicación jurídica que le reconciliase con la sociedad. Necesitaba el amor de unos pocos y no el respeto o la admiración de la multitud. Esto último hubiera podido fácilmente conseguirse si los que cuidaban del bienestar de Clifford hubiesen querido exponerle a una mezquina resurrección de ideas pasadas, quitándole la única comodidad posible: la calma y la paz del olvido. Para tanto daño como sufrió no hay reparación posible. La lamentable parodia de reparación que el mundo podía ofrecerle, viniendo después de una agonía tan prolongada, sólo hubiera servido para provocar una risa más amarga que la que Clifford hubiera sido capaz de soportar. Es una verdad -verdad muy triste si no despertara grandes esperanzas- que ningún error cometido o sufrido puede ser enderezado en nuestra esfera mortal. El tiempo, la continua vicisitud de las circunstancias y la invariable inoportunidad de la muerte lo hacen imposible. Si al cabo de una larga serie de años la razón parece venirnos a las manos, no encontramos sitio donde guardarla. El mejor remedio es pasar de largo y dejar atrás lo que antes se consideró irreparable ruina.
The shock of Judge Pyncheon′s death had a permanently invigorating and ultimately beneficial effect on Clifford. That strong and ponderous man had been Clifford′s nightmare. There was no free breath to be drawn, within the sphere of so malevolent an influence. The first effect of freedom, as we have witnessed in Clifford′s aimless flight, was a tremulous exhilaration. Subsiding from it, he did not sink into his former intellectual apathy. He never, it is true, attained to nearly the full measure of what might have been his faculties. But he recovered enough of them partially to light up his character, to display some outline of the marvellous grace that was abortive in it, and to make him the object of no less deep, although less melancholy interest than heretofore. He was evidently happy. Could we pause to give another picture of his daily life, with all the appliances now at command to gratify his instinct for the Beautiful, the garden scenes, that seemed so sweet to him, would look mean and trivial in comparison. La conmoción causada por la muerte del juez produjo benéficos efectos sobre Clifford. Aquel hombre fuerte y grave había sido una pesadilla para él. En la atmósfera malévola que irradiaba el juez no se podía respirar. El primer efecto de la liberación fue la trémula alegría que vimos en Clifford cuando su fuga de la vieja casa. Cuando se desvaneció, no fue para sumergirse de nuevo en la apatía anterior, aunque nunca alcanzó la medida completa de lo que hubieran podido dar sus facultades. Se recobró bastante, sin embargo, para alegrar su carácter, desplegar la maravillosa gracia que la vida hizo abortar en él y que le hacía objeto del interés más profundo y melancólico. Evidentemente era feliz. Si pudiéramos detenemos a describir su vida cotidiana actual, veríamos que las escenas del jardín, que le parecían tan dulces, resultarían ahora triviales y pobres.
Very soon after their change of fortune, Clifford, Hepzibah, and little Phoebe, with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove from the dismal old House of the Seven Gables, and take up their abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late Judge Pyncheon. Chanticleer and his family had already been transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past. On the day set for their departure, the principal personages of our story, including good Uncle Venner, were assembled in the parlor. Muy poco después de su cambio de fortuna, Clifford, Hepzibah y la pequeña Phoebe, con la aprobación del artista, se marcharon de la vieja casa de los Siete Tejados y se instalaron, por el momento, en la elegante quinta del juez Pyncheon. Cantaclaro y su familia habían sido ya transportados allí, donde las dos gallinas habían empezado a poner huevos infatigablemente, con el evidente designio -verdadero caso de conciencia para ellas- de continuar su ilustre estirpe bajo mejores auspicios que los que hubo durante dos siglos. El día fijado para la partida de los tres habitantes de los Siete Tejados se reunieron en el salón todos los personajes de nuestra historia, incluso el tío Venner.
"The country-house is certainly a very fine one, so far as the plan goes," observed Holgrave, as the party were discussing their future arrangements. "But I wonder that the late Judge--being so opulent, and with a reasonable prospect of transmitting his wealth to descendants of his own--should not have felt the propriety of embodying so excellent a piece of domestic architecture in stone, rather than in wood. Then, every generation of the family might have altered the interior, to suit its own taste and convenience; while the exterior, through the lapse of years, might have been adding venerableness to its original beauty, and thus giving that impression of permanence which I consider essential to the happiness of any one moment." -Su casa de campo -decía Holgrave- es muy linda y cómoda. Pero me extraña que el último juez, tan opulento y con un heredero, no atinase a recubrir el excelente edificio con un exterior de piedra en vez de madera. Entonces, cada generación de la familia hubiese podido alterar el interior según sus gustos y conveniencias, mientras la fachada, al correr de los años, iría añadiendo respetabilidad a su belleza original, dando así la impresión de una permanencia que considero esencial para la felicidad de cada momento.
"Why," cried Phoebe, gazing into the artist′s face with infinite amazement, "how wonderfully your ideas are changed ! A house of stone, indeed ! It is but two or three weeks ago that you seemed to wish people to live in something as fragile and temporary as a bird′s-nest !" -¿Cómo ? -exclamó Phoebe mirando asombrada el rostro del artista-. ¡Qué maravillosamente han cambiado tus ideas ! ¡Una casa de piedra !... Hace dos o tres semanas deseabas que la gente viviera en algo tan frágil y temporal como un nido.
"Ah, Phoebe, I told you how it would be !" said the artist, with a half-melancholy laugh. "You find me a conservative already ! Little did I think ever to become one. It is especially unpardonable in this dwelling of so much hereditary misfortune, and under the eye of yonder portrait of a model conservative, who, in that very character, rendered himself so long the evil destiny of his race." -Ya te lo advertí, Phoebe -dijo el daguerrotipista con sonrisa melancólica-. Me voy volviendo conservador. Nunca pensé llegar a serlo... Es imperdonable que lo sea en esta morada de tantos infortunios hereditarios, y ante ese retrato de un conservador ejemplar, que precisamente a consecuencia de tal carácter ha hecho tanto daño a sus descendientes...
"That picture !" said Clifford, seeming to shrink from its stern glance. "Whenever I look at it, there is an old dreamy recollection haunting me, but keeping just beyond the grasp of my mind. Wealth, it seems to say !--boundless wealth !--unimaginable wealth ! I could fancy that, when I was a child, or a youth, that portrait had spoken, and told me a rich secret, or had held forth its hand, with the written record of hidden opulence. But those old matters are so dim with me, nowadays ! What could this dream have been ?" -¡Ese retrato ! -exclamó Clifford, estremeciéndose bajo la mirada inmóvil del puritano-. Cuando le miro, un recuerdo borroso y confuso acude a mi memoria, pero no logro fijarlo. Es algo de riqueza... de riqueza sin límites, de riqueza fantástica... Hasta llego a imaginarme que, de niño, el retrato me reveló algún secreto o alargó la mano para enseñarme el escondrijo de alguna fortuna. Pero las cosas de antaño no vuelven a mi memoria... ¿Qué pudo ser ese sueño ?
"Perhaps I can recall it," answered Holgrave. "See ! There are a hundred chances to one that no person, unacquainted with the secret, would ever touch this spring." -Quizá yo pueda recordarlo -contestó Holgrave-. ¡Mire !... Hay noventa y nueve posibilidades sobre cien de que una persona que ignore el secreto no descubra.jamás este resorte...
"A secret spring !" cried Clifford. "Ah, I remember now ! I did discover it, one summer afternoon, when I was idling and dreaming about the house, long, long ago. But the mystery escapes me." -¡Un resorte secreto ! -exclamó Clifford-. ¡Ahora recuerdo ! Una tarde de verano, mientras vagaba perezosamente por la casa, descubrí uno, hace mucho mucho tiempo. Pero ya no recuerdo nada más.
The artist put his finger on the contrivance to which he had referred. In former days, the effect would probably have been to cause the picture to start forward. But, in so long a period of concealment, the machinery had been eaten through with rust; so that at Holgrave′s pressure, the portrait, frame and all, tumbled suddenly from its position, and lay face downward on the floor. A recess in the wall was thus brought to light, in which lay an object so covered with a century′s dust that it could not immediately be recognized as a folded sheet of parchment. Holgrave opened it, and displayed an ancient deed, signed with the hieroglyphics of several Indian sagamores, and conveying to Colonel Pyncheon and his heirs, forever, a vast extent of territory at the Eastward. El artista puso el dedo en el resorte que había señalado. En épocas pasadas, su efecto hubiera movido hacia un lado el retrato del puritano. Pero con el tiempo, el resorte se había enmohecido y ahora, bajo la presión del dedo de Holgrave, desprendiéndose el marco y el cuadro cayeron al suelo, dejando al descubierto un hueco en la pared. En el hueco se veía un objeto tan cubierto de polvo centenario que a la primera ojeada no se percibía que se trataba de un pergamino. Holgrave lo cogió, lo abrió y leyó. Era un antiguo documento, firmado con los jeroglíficos de varios jefes indios y en el que cedían al coronel Pyncheon y a sus herederos una vasta extensión de territorios en el este.
"This is the very parchment, the attempt to recover which cost the beautiful Alice Pyncheon her happiness and life," said the artist, alluding to his legend. "It is what the Pyncheons sought in vain, while it was valuable; and now that they find the treasure, it has long been worthless." -Este es el pergamino que costó a Alice Pyncheon la felicidad y la vida -dijo el artista, aludiendo a su leyenda-. Los Pyncheon lo buscaron en vano, cuando tenía valor, y ahora que descubren el tesoro no les sirve de nada.
"Poor Cousin Jaffrey ! This is what deceived him," exclaimed Hepzibah. "When they were young together, Clifford probably made a kind of fairy-tale of this discovery. He was always dreaming hither and thither about the house, and lighting up its dark corners with beautiful stories. And poor Jaffrey, who took hold of everything as if it were real, thought my brother had found out his uncle′s wealth. He died with this delusion in his mind !" -¡Pobre primo Jaffrey ! -dijo Hepzibah-. Eso le engañó. Cuando eran jóvenes, Clifford probablemente insinuó algo de este hallazgo de cuento de hadas. Siempre rondaba por la casa iluminando los rincones con sus hermosas historias. Y el pobre Jaffrey, que todo lo tomaba como si fuese real, sospechó que mi hermano había descubierto el escondite de la fortuna de nuestro tío. Murió con esta ilusión en su mente.
"But," said Phoebe, apart to Holgrave, "how came you to know the secret ?" -Pero -dijo Phoebe a Holgrave, en un aparte-. ¿Cómo te enteraste del secreto ?
"My dearest Phoebe," said Holgrave, "how will it please you to assume the name of Maule ? As for the secret, it is the only inheritance that has come down to me from my ancestors. You should have known sooner (only that I was afraid of frightening you away) that, in this long drama of wrong and retribution, I represent the old wizard, and am probably as much a wizard as ever he was. The son of the executed Matthew Maule, while building this house, took the opportunity to construct that recess, and hide away the Indian deed, on which depended the immense land-claim of the Pyncheons. Thus they bartered their eastern territory for Maule′s garden-ground." -Querida Phoebe -repuso él- ¿Te agradaría llevar el nombre de Maule ? En cuanto al secreto, es la única herencia que dejaron mis antepasados y que ha llegado hasta mí. Si no hubiera temido asustarte, te hubiera contado antes que en este largo drama de crimen y expiación yo represento al viejo brujo y soy probablemente tan brujo como él. El hijo de Maule ejecutado aceptó el encargo de construir La Casa de los Siete Tejados para poder abrir este escondrijo y ocultar en él el documento del cual dependía la fabulosa esperanza de los Pyncheon. Estos, pues, cambiaron su inmenso territorio del este por el terreno del huerto y la cabaña de Maule.
"And now" said Uncle Venner "I suppose their whole claim is not worth one man′s share in my farm yonder !" -Y ahora supongo que ese documento vale menos que mi derecho a retirarme a la granja, ¿verdad ? comentó el tío Venner.
"Uncle Venner," cried Phoebe, taking the patched philosopher′s hand, "you must never talk any more about your farm ! You shall never go there, as long as you live ! There is a cottage in our new garden,--the prettiest little yellowish-brown cottage you ever saw; and the sweetest-looking place, for it looks just as if it were made of gingerbread,--and we are going to fit it up and furnish it, on purpose for you. And you shall do nothing but what you choose, and shall be as happy as the day is long, and shall keep Cousin Clifford in spirits with the wisdom and pleasantness which is always dropping from your lips !" -¡Oh, tío Venner ! -exclamó Phoebe, cogiendo la mano del remendado filósofo-. No hable nunca más de su granja. No piense en ir allí... En nuestro jardín nuevo hay una casita amarilla, lindísima, que parece hecha con pan de jengibre, y la amueblaremos para que usted viva en ella. No hará sino lo que le guste; será feliz durante todo el día y distraerá al primo Clifford con la prudencia y el ingenio que a todas horas deja escapar de sus labios...
"Ah ! my dear child," quoth good Uncle Venner, quite overcome, "if you were to speak to a young man as you do to an old one, his chance of keeping his heart another minute would not be worth one of the buttons on my waistcoat ! And--soul alive !--that great sigh, which you made me heave, has burst off the very last of them ! But, never mind ! It was the happiest sigh I ever did heave; and it seems as if I must have drawn in a gulp of heavenly breath, to make it with. Well, well, Miss Phoebe ! They′ll miss me in the gardens hereabouts, and round by the back doors; and Pyncheon Street, I′m afraid, will hardly look the same without old Uncle Venner, who remembers it with a mowing field on one side, and the garden of the Seven Gables on the other. But either I must go to your country-seat, or you must come to my farm,--that′s one of two things certain; and I leave you to choose which !" -Querida niña -repuso el tío Venner conmovido-, si hablara a un joven como habla a un viejo, sus probabilidades de conservar el corazón durante un minuto más no valdrían ni lo que un botón de mi chaleco suspiró profundamente, y dijo-: Este suspiro que acaba de arrancarme será el último... Ha sido el más feliz de todos cuantos he lanzado en mi vida y creo que estaba formado de aire del mismo cielo. ¡Bien, bien, miss Phoebe ! Me echarán de menos en este vecindario, en los jardines y en las puertas traseras, y temo que la calle Pyncheon no parecerá lo mismo sin el viejo tío Venner, que aún la recuerda cuando sólo tenía un gran prado a un lado y La Casa de los Siete Tejados al otro. Pero yo tengo que ir a su quinta o ustedes tienen que venir a mi granja... Una de esas dos cosas es segura. Les dejo escoger.
"Oh, come with us, by all means, Uncle Venner !" said Clifford, who had a remarkable enjoyment of the old man′s mellow, quiet, and simple spirit. "I want you always to be within five minutes, saunter of my chair. You are the only philosopher I ever knew of whose wisdom has not a drop of bitter essence at the bottom !" -Venga con nosotros -dijo Clifford, que se complacía mucho con la charla madura, pacífica y simple del viejo-. Quisiera tenerle siempre a menos de cinco minutos de mi silla. Es usted el único filósofo que conozco cuya sabiduría no tiene en el fondo ni una gota de amargura.
"Dear me !" cried Uncle Venner, beginning partly to realize what manner of man he was. "And yet folks used to set me down among the simple ones, in my younger days ! But I suppose I am like a Roxbury russet,--a great deal the better, the longer I can be kept. Yes; and my words of wisdom, that you and Phoebe tell me of, are like the golden dandelions, which never grow in the hot months, but may be seen glistening among the withered grass, and under the dry leaves, sometimes as late as December. And you are welcome, friends, to my mess of dandelions, if there were twice as many !" -¡Dios mío ! -exclamó el tío Venner, comenzando a darse cuenta de la clase de hombre que era-. ¡Y las gentes que me consideraban bobo, en mi juventud ! Supongo que soy como una de esas manzanas de Roxbury, que cuanto más se guardan tanto mejores son. Sí... y mis palabras, que usted y Phoebe llaman prudentes y sabias, son como dorados amargones, que no crecen cuando hace calor, pero que brillan bajo las hojas secas de diciembre.
A plain, but handsome, dark-green barouche had now drawn up in front of the ruinous portal of the old mansion-house. The party came forth, and (with the exception of good Uncle Venner, who was to follow in a few days) proceeded to take their places. They were chatting and laughing very pleasantly together; and--as proves to be often the case, at moments when we ought to palpitate with sensibility--Clifford and Hepzibah bade a final farewell to the abode of their forefathers, with hardly more emotion than if they had made it their arrangement to return thither at tea-time. Several children were drawn to the spot by so unusual a spectacle as the barouche and pair of gray horses. Recognizing little Ned Higgins among them, Hepzibah put her hand into her pocket, and presented the urchin, her earliest and staunchest customer, with silver enough to people the Domdaniel cavern of his interior with as various a procession of quadrupeds as passed into the ark. Un sencillo y hermoso birloche pintado de verde obscuro detúvose frente a la puerta principal de la vieja casa. Subieron todos al coche, excepto el tío Venner, que seguiría dentro de poco. Charlando y riendo y, como suele ocurrir en momentos en que deberíamos estar emocionados, Clifford y Hepzibah se despidieron del lugar de sus antepasados con la misma indiferencia que si tuvieran que volver a la hora del té. El espectáculo poco habitual del birloche tirado por dos caballos grises atrajo a un tropel de chiquillos. Reconociendo entre ellos al pequeño Ned Higgins, Hepzibah se llevó la mano al bolsillo y obsequió a su primero y más fiel parroquiano con bastante dinero para poblar las cuevas de su estómago con una procesión de cuadrúpedos tan variados como los que se alojaron en el Arca de Noé.
Two men were passing, just as the barouche drove off. Justamente cuando el birloche se ponía en marcha, pasaron dos hombres por frente a la casa.
"Well, Dixey," said one of them, "what do you think of this ? My wife kept a cent-shop three months, and lost five dollars on her outlay. Old Maid Pyncheon has been in trade just about as long, and rides off in her carriage with a couple of hundred thousand,--reckoning her share, and Clifford′s, and Phoebe′s,--and some say twice as much ! If you choose to call it luck, it is all very well; but if we are to take it as the will of Providence, why, I can′t exactly fathom it !" -¿Qué te parece Dixey ? -dijo uno de ellos-. Mi mujer tuvo una tiendecita durante tres meses y perdió cinco dólares. La vieja Pyncheon ha tenido su tienda abierta por igual tiempo y se va en coche y posee doscientos mil dólares... bueno, entre los tres, claro está. Si quieres llamarle buena suerte, pase, pero si me dices que es por voluntad de la Providencia, entonces no lo entiendo.
"Pretty good business !" quoth the sagacious Dixey,--"pretty good business !" -¡Buen negocio ! -comentó el sagaz Dixey-. ¡Buen negocio !
Maule′s well, all this time, though left in solitude, was throwing up a succession of kaleidoscopic pictures, in which a gifted eye might have seen foreshadowed the coming fortunes of Hepzibah and Clifford, and the descendant of the legendary wizard, and the village maiden, over whom he had thrown love′s web of sorcery. The Pyncheon Elm, moreover, with what foliage the September gale had spared to it, whispered unintelligible prophecies. And wise Uncle Venner, passing slowly from the ruinous porch, seemed to hear a strain of music, and fancied that sweet Alice Pyncheon--after witnessing these deeds, this bygone woe and this present happiness, of her kindred mortals--had given one farewell touch of a spirit′s joy upon her harpsichord, as she floated heavenward from the HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES ! La fuente de Maule, aunque abandonada, provocaba, con el temblor de sus aguas, una serie de figuras caleidoscópicas en las cuales un ojo perspicaz hubiera podido adivinar la vida que esperaba a Hepzibah , a Clifford, al descendiente del legendario brujo y a la muchacha pueblerina que aquél había sabido hechizar. El olmo de los Pyncheon, con el follaje que el viento de septiembre le dejó, murmuraba ininteligibles profecías. En cuanto al discreto tío Venner, al pasar lentamente bajo el porche ruinoso, parecíale oír una suave melodía y se dijo que la dulce Alice Pyncheon, después de presenciar los hechos, penas y dichas de los mortales, tocaba en su clavicordio una canción de despedida, llena de espiritual alegría, antes de lanzarse al cielo, abandonando para siempre La Casa de los Siete Tejados.