第一百四十三章 第六章 四块木板
第六章 四块木板
棺材里的人是谁？读者心里明白，是冉阿让。
冉阿让把一切安排妥当，他居然能在里面存活，几乎还能呼吸。
说来也怪，良心的安定竟能带来其他方面的安定。自从前一天起，冉阿让策划的一切都在顺利进行，而且越来越顺利。他和割风一样，都指望梅斯千神甫。他毫不怀疑最后的结果。再没有比这更危急的处境，也再没有比这更彻底的镇静了。
棺材的四块木板散发着一种可怕的宁静。仿佛死者的安息中有某种东西渗入了冉阿让的平静。
在那口棺材的深处，他能够并且一直在注视着这场与死神进行的可怕戏剧的所有阶段。
割风钉上最后一块木板不久，冉阿让就感到自己被抬了起来，然后被运走。他根据颠簸减轻的情况，知道他们离开了铺石路面，来到了土路上。他凭着一种沉闷的声响，猜出他们正在过奥斯特里茨桥。第一次停顿，他明白他们进了墓地；第二次停顿，他对自己说：
“到墓穴了。”
突然，他感觉到几只抓住了棺材，接着是木板上一阵刺耳的摩擦声；他明白那是绳索，棺材正被捆起来，准备放进坑里。
接着，他感到一阵眩晕。
殡仪馆的人和掘墓人大概让棺材失去了平衡，先放下头部，再放下脚。当他感到自己平躺不动时，才完全清醒过来。他刚刚触到了坑底。
他感到一阵寒冷。
一个声音在他上方响起，冷峻而庄严。他听见拉丁文的词语从头顶飘过，他听不懂，但那些词语念得很慢，他能一个一个地捕捉：
“Qui dormiunt in terræ pulvere, evigilabunt; alii in vitam æternam, et alii in approbrium, ut videant semper.”（那睡在尘埃中的，必醒过来；有的得到永生，有的遭到羞辱，永远被憎恶。）
一个童声说：
“De profundis.”（从深渊中。）
那庄严的声音又开始了：
“Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine.”（主啊，赐予他永恒的安息。）
童声应答道：
“Et lux perpetua luceat ei.”（愿永恒的光照耀他。）
他听到好像有几滴雨轻轻落在盖着他的木板上。大概是圣水。
他想：“这很快就要结束了。再忍耐一小会儿。神甫要离开了。割风会带梅斯千去喝酒。我就留下。然后割风独自回来，我就出去。那大概还需要一个小时。”
那庄严的声音又响起：
“Requiescat in pace.”（愿他安息。）
童声说：
“Amen.”（阿门。）
冉阿让侧耳倾听，听到了像是一阵远去的脚步声。
“好了，他们现在走了，”他想。“只剩下我了。”
突然，他头顶上传来一阵响声，在他看来就像一声霹雳。
那是一铲土落在棺材上的声音。
第二铲土落了下来。
他用来呼吸的一个孔眼刚刚被堵住了。
第三铲土落了下来。
接着是第四铲。
有些事，再坚强的人也难以承受。冉阿让失去了知觉。
Who was in the coffin? The reader knows. Jean Valjean.
Jean Valjean had arranged things so that he could exist there, and he
could almost breathe.
It is a strange thing to what a degree security of conscience confers
security of the rest. Every combination thought out by Jean Valjean had
been progressing, and progressing favorably, since the preceding day.
He, like Fauchelevent, counted on Father Mestienne. He had no doubt as
to the end. Never was there a more critical situation, never more
complete composure.
The four planks of the coffin breathe out a kind of terrible peace. It
seemed as though something of the repose of the dead entered into Jean
Valjean’s tranquillity.
From the depths of that coffin he had been able to follow, and he had
followed, all the phases of the terrible drama which he was playing
with death.
Shortly after Fauchelevent had finished nailing on the upper plank,
Jean Valjean had felt himself carried out, then driven off. He knew,
from the diminution in the jolting, when they left the pavements and
reached the earth road. He had divined, from a dull noise, that they
were crossing the bridge of Austerlitz. At the first halt, he had
understood that they were entering the cemetery; at the second halt, he
said to himself:—
“Here is the grave.”
Suddenly, he felt hands seize the coffin, then a harsh grating against
the planks; he explained it to himself as the rope which was being
fastened round the casket in order to lower it into the cavity.
Then he experienced a giddiness.
The undertaker’s man and the grave-digger had probably allowed the
coffin to lose its balance, and had lowered the head before the foot.
He recovered himself fully when he felt himself horizontal and
motionless. He had just touched the bottom.
He had a certain sensation of cold.
A voice rose above him, glacial and solemn. He heard Latin words, which
he did not understand, pass over him, so slowly that he was able to
catch them one by one:—
_“Qui dormiunt in terræ pulvere, evigilabunt; alii in vitam æternam, et
alii in approbrium, ut videant semper.” _
A child’s voice said:—
_“De profundis.” _
The grave voice began again:—
_“Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine.” _
The child’s voice responded:—
_“Et lux perpetua luceat ei.” _
He heard something like the gentle patter of several drops of rain on
the plank which covered him. It was probably the holy water.
He thought: “This will be over soon now. Patience for a little while
longer. The priest will take his departure. Fauchelevent will take
Mestienne off to drink. I shall be left. Then Fauchelevent will return
alone, and I shall get out. That will be the work of a good hour.”
The grave voice resumed
_“Requiescat in pace.” _
And the child’s voice said:—
_“Amen.” _
Jean Valjean strained his ears, and heard something like retreating
footsteps.
“There, they are going now,” thought he. “I am alone.”
All at once, he heard over his head a sound which seemed to him to be a
clap of thunder.
It was a shovelful of earth falling on the coffin.
A second shovelful fell.
One of the holes through which he breathed had just been stopped up.
A third shovelful of earth fell.
Then a fourth.
There are things which are too strong for the strongest man. Jean
Valjean lost consciousness.
