11 錯乱
アレが生きていた… 自分のやらかした事を理解したオーブリーが壊れる。友人家族を守ろうにも、死んでも生き返る相手にどうすれば。
オーブリーは気が遠くなりそうだった。以前は物事一つに心奪われていたというのなら、あの怪物が復活したという確信が彼の思考に圧し掛かる今、どれほど完全に我を忘れていることだろう。
妹の注意も今や聞かれず、どうしてこんなことをしたのかと、妹が説明をせがんでも駄目だった。ほんの数語を発しただけで、妹を怖がらせる始末。考えれば考えるほど、ますます深みに嵌るばかり。
誓いの意味に愕然とした。この怪物が彷徨くのを許してしまったのか、その息にまで破滅を孕んでいるのに、自分の大切なものすべての中に、その滲透を止める事もできないのだろうか。まさに妹こそは、奴に手を出されかねない。しかし、たとえ誓いを破って疑惑を明らかにしたとしても、誰が信じるであろう？このような恥知らずめは、いっそのこと自分の手でこの世から…、と考えかけて、思い出した。既に死までもが嘲笑されていたことを。
Aubrey became almost distracted. If before his mind had been absorbed by one subject, how much more completely was it engrossed, now that the certainty of the monster's living again pressed upon his thoughts. His sister's attentions were now unheeded, and it was in vain that she intreated him to explain to her what had caused his abrupt conduct. He only uttered a few words, and those terrified her. The more he thought, the more he was bewildered. His oath startled him;—was he then to allow this monster to roam, bearing ruin upon his breath, amidst all he held dear, and not avert its progress? His very sister might have been touched by him. But even if he were to break his oath, and disclose his suspicions, who would believe him? He thought of employing his own hand to free the world from such a wretch; but death, he remembered, had been already mocked.
何日もこの状態が続き、部屋に閉じこもり、誰にも会わず、妹が来たときだけ食事をした。妹は涙で目を潤ませながら、お願いだから身体を労ってよと懇願してきた。
ついに静けさと孤独に耐えられず、家を出て通りから通りへと歩き回った、何としても付き纏う残像を振り払ってやろうと。服装もおろそかになり、さまよえること真昼の太陽に晒され、真夜中の湿気を含み。もう見ても誰だか解らない。最初のうちはそれでも、夕方には家に戻った。しかし終いには、草臥れてしまえばどこででも横になっていた。妹は彼の身を案じて人を雇い、後を追わせたが、彼はすぐに距離を取り、如何なる仕掛けより、考えるより早く追手から逃げ出した。
ところが突然、行動を変えた。閃いたのは、友人たち全員が知りもしない悪魔を、自分がいなくなることで、置き土産にしてしまうのではないかと。これは再び社交に出て間近によく観察し、誓いに背こうとも、ラッスェン卿が親しげに近寄る人すべてに警告しなければならぬと決心した。しかしそれが部屋に入ると、甚だ窶れてびくついて、心の底から震えているのが見て取れるので、妹はついに後生だからと、これほど酷いストレスになる社交界を求めないようにと懇願せざるを得なかった。その諫言も聞かれないとあっては、後見人たちは仲裁を検討し、また彼の心が離れていくのを恐れ、オーブリーの両親が生前に寄せていた信頼を再び取り戻すべき時が来たと考えたもの。
For days he remained in this state; shut up in his room, he saw no one, and eat only when his sister came, who, with eyes streaming with tears, besought him, for her sake, to support nature. At last, no longer capable of bearing stillness and solitude, he left his house, roamed from street to street, anxious to fly that image which haunted him. His dress became neglected, and he wandered, as often exposed to the noon-day sun as to the midnight damps. He was no longer to be recognized; at first he returned with the evening to the house; but at last he laid him down to rest wherever fatigue overtook him. His sister, anxious for his safety, employed people to follow him; but they were soon distanced by him who fled from a pursuer swifter than any—from thought. His conduct, however, suddenly changed.Struck with the idea that he left by his absence the whole of his friends, with a fiend amongst them, of whose presence they were unconscious, he determined to enter again into society, and watch him closely, anxious to forewarn, in spite of his oath, all whom Lord Ruthven approached with intimacy. But when he entered into a room, his haggard and suspicious looks were so striking, his inward shudderings so visible, that his sister was at last obliged to beg of him to abstain from seeking, for her sake, a society which affected him so strongly. When, however, remonstrance proved unavailing, the guardians thought proper to interpose, and, fearing that his mind was becoming alienated, they thought it high time to resume again that trust which had been before imposed upon them by Aubrey's parents.
放浪中に毎日のように遭った怪我や苦痛から救ってやらねばと、また馬鹿げていると考えられた事共の痕跡を、一般の目にさらすことを防がねばと、彼らは医者を家に住まわせ、常に世話をさせる事とした。
そんなことに気を回すような余裕などなく、彼の心はあまりにも恐るべき問題1つに掛かり切りになっていた。彼の支離滅裂ぶりは、ついに見ておれないものとなり、自分の部屋に閉じ込められるに至った。起きて居られず、何日も横たわる事もよく有り。やせ衰え、両眼はガラス玉のよう。愛情と記憶の兆候は唯一、妹が入ったときのみ。その時たまに動き出す事が有り、彼女の手をつかんで、鬼気迫る表情になり、奴に触るなと咎めるのだった。
「奴に接触するな。私への愛があるのなら、近づくな！」
しかし、誰のことかと彼女が質すと、「本当に！本当だから！」と答えるばかりで埒が明かない有様、彼女でさえ彼の目を醒ますことはできなかった。
これがもう何カ月も続いた。しかし、その年も過ぎていくにつれ、次第に彼のおかしな言動は少なくなり、彼の心は憂鬱な気分から解放され、代わって後見人たちは、彼が1日に何度も何やら指折り数えては悦に入る所を見ていなければならなかった。
Desirous of saving him from the injuries and sufferings he had daily encountered in his wanderings, and of preventing him from exposing to the general eye those marks of what they considered folly, they engaged a physician to reside in the house, and take constant care of him. He hardly appeared to notice it, so completely was his mind absorbed by one terrible subject. His incoherence became at last so great, that he was confined to his chamber. There he would often lie for days, incapable of being roused. He had become emaciated, his eyes had attained a glassy lustre;—the only sign of affection and recollection remaining displayed itself upon the entry of his sister; then he would sometimes start, and, seizing her hands, with looks that severely afflicted her, he would desire her not to touch him.
"Oh, do not touch him—if your love for me is aught, do not go near him!"
When, however, she inquired to whom he referred, his only answer was, "True! true!" and again he sank into a state, whence not even she could rouse him. This lasted many months: gradually, however, as the year was passing, his incoherences became less frequent, and his mind threw off a portion of its gloom, whilst his guardians observed, that several times in the day he would count upon his fingers a definite number, and then smile.
one subject:恋人を失ったことだと思うが、「課題の一つ」的な書き方をした理由が解らない。
"Oh, do not touch him—if your love for me is aught, do not go near him!":平井呈一の訳がこの科白を妹に言わせたのは、him が誰を指すか取り違え、touch の意味をよく考えなかった結果である。日本語「接触」でも、くっつくものとは限るまいに。
count upon his fingers a definite number:オーブリーは誓約の残り日数を数えているだけなのだが、その誓いにより事情を話せない。そのため、周りからは見て何をしているか理解できず、やっぱり頭がおかしいとしか思われない。なお、平井訳が「自分の手の指の数を一本一本勘定してはニヤニヤしている」と狂人の振舞いに及ぶのは、指折り数えるという事を教わらなかった無学ゆえであろうか。
言葉を縛るのはコールリッジ『クリスタベル姫』そのままだが、裏に流れていた福音書の響きはない。死体が月の光を浴びて生き返る設定は、同じくコールリッジの『年寄り船乗り』から来ているけれど、あちらは最後に天使が乗り移っていた事が明かされるのに対し、此方は理由不明のまま。
物語も大詰めが近い。但しギリシャ悲劇を踏襲してか、ハッピーエンドにならないとはお断りしておく。
