IX.
ヴィルヘルムは、夕食後すぐに、人目につかぬよう家を出るべく、鉛や鋳型、炭など必要なものをすべて用意していた。ちょうど出発しようというところで、おやすみなさいと森番に挨拶していたら、呼び止められ引き止められた。
Twilight had set in; and William had provided himself with lead, bullet-mould, coals, and all other requisites, that he might be ready to slip out of the house unobserved immediately after supper. He was just on the point of departing, and had already wished the forester a good night, when the latter stopped him and took his hand.
「ヴィルヘルム、」と森番は言う、「今夜は、何だかよく解らないが、神のみぞ知る何らかの危険が差し迫っている気がしてならない。この夜は一緒に居てくれ。そんなにびくびくすることはない、可能性を考えてのことなんだ。」
“William,” said he, “I know not what is come to me, but so it is, that this evening I have an awe upon my mind, as if from some danger, God knows what, hanging over me. Oblige me by staying this night with me. Don’t look so cast down, my lad; it’s only to guard against possibilities.”
カタリナはすぐに父のそばに座り、父の世話を他の誰にも、たとえ自分のヴィルヘルムにも任せたくないと申し出たが、父ベルトラムは彼女の申し出を断って「また今度ね」と言った。「今夜は、ヴィルヘルムと一緒な方が落ち着く気がする」と。
Katharine immediately offered her services to sit up with her father, and was unwilling to entrust the care of him to any body else, even to her own William; but father Bertram declined her offer.—“Another time,” said he, “another time; to-night I feel as if I should be easier if I had William with me.”
ヴィルヘルムは最初、言い訳するつもりでいたが、ケイトがひたすら父の世話を申し入れ、その願いは拒まれるでもなく。なのでヴィルヘルムは押し留まり、計画の実行を翌日の夜まで先延ばしにした。
William was disposed at first to excuse himself: but Kate commended her father so earnestly to his care, that her requests were not to be resisted; and he staid with a good grace, and put off the execution of his plan until the succeeding night.
夜半を過ぎると、老森番は穏やかになり、ぐっすりと眠り、翌朝には自分の恐怖を笑い飛ばすほど。ヴィルヘルムと一緒に森へ行きたそうにもしていた。しかしなお、義足を着けた不思議な知人に会う望みを捨てられずに居るヴィルヘルムは、森番の健康状態を口実に、その意向に反対した。
しかし、義足の人が現れることはなかった。そこでヴィルヘルムは十字路への夜間遠征を決意すること2度目。
After midnight the old forester became tranquil, and slept soundly, so that, on the following morning, he laughed at his own fears. He would have gone with William into the forest; but William still clung to the hope of meeting his mysterious acquaintance with the wooden-leg, and, therefore, opposed his wishes with a plaudible pretext about his health. The wooden-leg, however, never appeared; and William, a second time, resolved on the nocturnal expedition to the cross-road.
夜、森から帰ってくると、カタリナは嬉しそうに飛び出してきて、彼を迎えた。
「ヴィルヘルム、当ててみて」とカタリナ、「誰だと思う？あなたにお客さんよ、とっても素敵なお客さんよ、でも誰かは言わないわ、当ててみてね」
At night, when he came back from the forest, Katharine ran out joyfully to meet him.—“Guess, William, only guess,” she cried, “who it is that is come. There is a visitor for you, a right dear visitor: but I will not say who, for you must guess.”
ヴィルヘルムは推理をする気もなく、来客に会う気もなかった。この日には世界で最も親しい人でさえ、彼の目には厄介な侵入者にしか見えやしない。しかしその時、家の扉が開き、尊くも猟師の衣装を着た老人が、月の光に照らされて見え、前に進み出てヴィルヘルムへ両手を拡げた。
William had no mind for guessing, and still less for seeing visitors. On this day, the dearest in the world, would have seemed in his eyes a troublesome intruder. He shrunk gloomily from Katharine’s welcome, and thought of turning back upon some pretence; but, at that moment, the house-door opened, and the light of the moon discovered a venerable old man in a hunter’s dress, who stepped forwards and stretched out his arms to William.
「ヴィルヘルム！」とよく覚えている声がして、ヴィルヘルムは叔父の腕の中に居た。幼い頃からの印象的な思い出、愛の思い出、喜びと感謝の思い出が、魔法のような重さでヴィルヘルムの胸に迫った。その中で、真夜中の目的は思考から抜け落ちていった。そして、楽しい会話の最中、時計の針が12時を回った時、ヴィルヘルムは初めて自分が怠っていた仕事のことを思い出し、恐怖を覚えた。
“William!” exclaimed a well known voice, and William found himself in the arms of his uncle. A world of affecting remembrances, from the days of childhood, remembrances of love—of joy—and of gratitude, pressed with the weight of magic upon William’s heart; amidst these his midnight purpose slipped away from his thoughts; and it was in the middle of the gayest conversation, upon the clock striking twelve, that William was first reminded with horror of the business he had neglected.
「あと一晩」と彼は思った。「残るはあと一晩だけだ、明日か、それとも一生か。」
その激しい動揺は、叔父の目を引かないでもなかったが、老人はそれを、甥を少々疲れさせてしまったものと受け止め、これほど長く会話に付き合わせたことを詫び、翌朝の夜明けより早く出発することはできないと訴えた。
“Just one night more,” thought he, “one single night remains: to-morrow, or never!” His violent agitation did not escape his uncle’s notice; but the old man ascribed it to some little weariness in his nephew, and good-naturedly apologized for having engaged him so long in conversation, by pleading his early departure, which he could not possibly put off beyond the first dawn of the next morning.
「1時間や2時間潰したくらい、あまり気にしなくていい」と、別れる時ヴィルヘルムに言った。「その分、よく眠れるかもしれない」と。
“Think not much of an odd hour or two thrown away,” said he to William on separating: “maybe you’ll sleep all the better for it.”
この最後の言葉は、ヴィルヘルムの思考にとって、叔父が意図したより深く響いた。ひとたび実行されれば、安らかな眠りを永遠に奪い去るかもしれない（禁じられた）夜間計画への当てこすりらしきものを、そこに見たのだ。
These last words had a deeper import to William’s thoughts than could possibly have been meant by his uncle. He saw in them an obscure allusion to his nocturnal plans, which, once executed, might (as he forboded) chace away from him for ever the comfort of tranquil slumbers.
