《少年维特的烦恼·第一部·1771 年 5 月至 9 月》第25节
JULY 11. Madame M— is very ill. I pray for her recovery, because Charlotte shares my sufferings. I see her occasionally at my friend's house, and to-day she has told me the strangest circumstance. Old M— is a covetous, miserly fellow, who has long worried and annoyed the poor lady sadly; but she has borne her afflictions patiently. A few days ago, when the physician informed us that her recovery was hopeless, she sent for her husband (Charlotte was present), and addressed him thus: "I have something to confess, which, after my decease, may occasion trouble and confusion. I have hitherto conducted your household as frugally and economically as possible, but you must pardon me for having defrauded you for thirty years. At the commencement of our married life, you allowed a small sum for the wants of the kitchen, and the other household expenses. When our establishment increased and our property grew larger, I could not persuade you to increase the weekly allowance in proportion: in short, you know, that, when our wants were greatest, you required me to supply everything with seven florins a week. I took the money from you without an observation, but made up the weekly deficiency from the money-chest; as nobody would suspect your wife of robbing the household bank. But I have wasted nothing, and should have been content to meet my eternal Judge without this confession, if she, upon whom the management of your establishment will devolve after my decease, would be free from embarrassment upon your insisting that the allowance made to me, your former wife, was sufficient." I talked with Charlotte of the inconceivable manner in which men allow themselves to be blinded; how any one could avoid suspecting some deception, when seven florins only were allowed to defray expenses twice as great. But I have myself known people who believed, without any visible astonishment, that their house possessed the prophet's never-failing cruse of oil.
注释摘要
这节信讲的是维特从夏绿蒂那里听来的一段临终秘密。寄宿在朋友家中的 M 夫人病重，医生已断定无望，她把丈夫叫到床前，当着夏绿蒂的面坦白自己三十年来一直在做假账以维持家用。她的丈夫是个吝啬的人，家里境况越来越好，他给妻子每周的家用却始终固定在七个弗罗林，远远不够开支。她只好不动声色从家中的钱箱里补足差额，从未浪费分文。她临死前开口，不是为了卸下灵魂的负担，而是…