第一百三十章 第六部
第六章
婚礼仪式结束后，教堂执事在教堂中央的诵经台前铺开一块粉红色绸布，唱诗班唱起一首复杂精妙的赞美诗，男低音和男高音交替应和，神父转身为新人指向那块粉红色绸毯。虽然他们早就听说过关于谁先踏上地毯谁就是一家之主的说法，但列文和基蒂一起迈步走向地毯时，谁也没想起这回事。他们也没听到身后那些高声议论和争执——有人坚持说新郎先踩上去，也有人说两人是同时踏上的。
在例行询问了他们是否愿意缔结婚姻、是否与他人有婚约，以及他们自己都觉得陌生的回答之后，新的仪式开始了。基蒂聆听着祷词，试图理解其中的含义，却做不到。随着仪式的进行，胜利的喜悦和灿烂的幸福越发充盈她的心灵，使她完全无法集中注意力。
他们祈祷："赐予他们贞洁和多子多福，保佑他们看见儿女时心中喜悦。"祷词提到上帝用亚当的肋骨创造妻子，"因此，人要离开父母，与妻子连合，二人成为一体"，又说"这是极大的奥秘"；他们祈求上帝使他们像以撒和利百加、约瑟、摩西和西坡拉那样多子多福，让他们得见儿孙满堂。"这一切都太美好了，"基蒂听着祷词想道，"一切都恰如其分，"幸福的笑容在她光彩照人的脸上绽放，每个看见她的人都不由自主地被感染。
"戴稳些，"当神父为新郎新娘戴上婚冠、谢尔巴茨基那只戴着三粒纽扣手套的手颤抖着把冠冕高高举在基蒂头顶时，有人催促着。
"戴稳些！"她微笑着低声说。
列文回头看她，被她脸上欢欣的光芒深深打动，不由自主地感染了她的情绪。他和她一样，感到欣喜而幸福。
他们愉快地聆听使徒书信，欣赏助祭长在最后一句经文时洪亮的嗓音——那是围观群众早已迫不及待要听到的段落。他们愉快地共饮浅杯里温热的红葡萄酒加水，更让他们欣喜的是，当神父将圣带甩到身后，握住他们两人的手，领他们绕着诵经台行走时，男低音合唱着"荣耀归于上帝"。
谢尔巴茨基和奇里科夫托着冠冕，不时被新娘的裙裾绊到，却也微笑着，似乎同样为某件事感到欣喜，当神父停下时，他们一会儿落在后面，一会儿又踩到新人的脚上。基蒂心中燃起的欢乐火花似乎感染了教堂里的每个人。在列文看来，神父和助祭长也想像他一样微笑。
神父取下他们头上的冠冕，念了最后的祷词，向新人祝福。列文看着基蒂，他从未见过她这样的神情。她脸上洋溢着幸福的全新光芒，美得令人心醉。列文想对她说些什么，却又不知道仪式是否已经结束。神父为他解了围。他和蔼地微笑着，轻声说："亲吻您的妻子，您也亲吻您的丈夫，"然后从他们手中接过了蜡烛。
列文小心翼翼地吻了吻她微笑的嘴唇，温柔中带着羞怯，然后挽起她的手臂，带着一种全新而奇妙的亲近感走出教堂。他不相信，也无法相信这一切是真的。直到他们疑惑而羞怯的目光相遇时，他才相信了，因为他感觉到他们已合为一体。
当夜，晚宴过后，新婚夫妇便动身前往乡下。
When the ceremony of plighting troth was over, the beadle spread before
the lectern in the middle of the church a piece of pink silken stuff,
the choir sang a complicated and elaborate psalm, in which the bass and
tenor sang responses to one another, and the priest turning round
pointed the bridal pair to the pink silk rug. Though both had often
heard a great deal about the saying that the one who steps first on the
rug will be the head of the house, neither Levin nor Kitty were capable
of recollecting it, as they took the few steps towards it. They did not
hear the loud remarks and disputes that followed, some maintaining he
had stepped on first, and others that both had stepped on together.
After the customary questions, whether they desired to enter upon
matrimony, and whether they were pledged to anyone else, and their
answers, which sounded strange to themselves, a new ceremony began.
Kitty listened to the words of the prayer, trying to make out their
meaning, but she could not. The feeling of triumph and radiant
happiness flooded her soul more and more as the ceremony went on, and
deprived her of all power of attention.
They prayed: “Endow them with continence and fruitfulness, and
vouchsafe that their hearts may rejoice looking upon their sons and
daughters.” They alluded to God’s creation of a wife from Adam’s rib
“and for this cause a man shall leave father and mother, and cleave
unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh,” and that “this is a
great mystery”; they prayed that God would make them fruitful and bless
them, like Isaac and Rebecca, Joseph, Moses and Zipporah, and that they
might look upon their children’s children. “That’s all splendid,”
thought Kitty, catching the words, “all that’s just as it should be,”
and a smile of happiness, unconsciously reflected in everyone who
looked at her, beamed on her radiant face.
“Put it on quite,” voices were heard urging when the priest had put on
the wedding crowns and Shtcherbatsky, his hand shaking in its
three-button glove, held the crown high above her head.
“Put it on!” she whispered, smiling.
Levin looked round at her, and was struck by the joyful radiance on her
face, and unconsciously her feeling infected him. He too, like her felt
glad and happy.
They enjoyed hearing the epistle read, and the roll of the head
deacon’s voice at the last verse, awaited with such impatience by the
outside public. They enjoyed drinking out of the shallow cup of warm
red wine and water, and they were still more pleased when the priest,
flinging back his stole and taking both their hands in his, led them
round the lectern to the accompaniment of bass voices chanting “Glory
to God.”
Shtcherbatsky and Tchirikov, supporting the crowns and stumbling over
the bride’s train, smiling too and seeming delighted at something, were
at one moment left behind, at the next treading on the bridal pair as
the priest came to a halt. The spark of joy kindled in Kitty seemed to
have infected everyone in the church. It seemed to Levin that the
priest and the deacon too wanted to smile just as he did.
Taking the crowns off their heads the priest read the last prayer and
congratulated the young people. Levin looked at Kitty, and he had never
before seen her look as she did. She was charming with the new radiance
of happiness in her face. Levin longed to say something to her, but he
did not know whether it was all over. The priest got him out of his
difficulty. He smiled his kindly smile and said gently, “Kiss your
wife, and you kiss your husband,” and took the candles out of their
hands.
Levin kissed her smiling lips with timid care, gave her his arm, and
with a new strange sense of closeness, walked out of the church. He did
not believe, he could not believe, that it was true. It was only when
their wondering and timid eyes met that he believed in it, because he
felt that they were one.
After supper, the same night, the young people left for the country.
