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It was now the usual hour of his daily interview with Beatrice. Before going down into the garden, Giova
“At least,” thought he, “her poison has not yet got into my system. I am no flower to die in her hands.”
With that thought he turned his eyes on the bouquet, which he had held in his hand for some time. A thrill of horror shot through him when he saw that those flowers were already begi
“Cursed! cursed!” murmured Giova
At that moment a rich, sweet voice came up from the garden.
“Giova
“Yes,” murmured Giova
He rushed down, and in an instant was standing before the bright and loving eyes of Beatrice. A moment ago his rage and despair had been so fierce that he desired nothing so much as to kill her by a glance; but in her presence all this ugly mystery seemed an illusion, and he believed that the real Beatrice was an angel. He was not able to reach such high faith, still her presence had not lost its magic for him. Giova
“Beatrice,” asked he, “where did this shrub come from?”
“My father created it,” answered she simply.
“Created it! created it!” repeated Giova
“He knows the secrets of Nature,” replied Beatrice; “and, at the hour when I was born, this plant sprang from the ground, the child of his science, of his intellect, while I was but his human child. Do not approach it!” continued she, observing with terror that Giova
Here Giova
“There was an awful doom,” she continued, “the effect of my father’s fatal love of science, which estranged me from all society of my kind.[34] Until Heaven sent you, dearest Giova
“Was it a hard doom?” asked Giova
“Only lately have I known how hard it was,” answered she, tenderly. “Oh, yes; but my heart was quiet.”
Giova
“The cursed one!” cried he with anger. “You have cut me also from all the warmth of life and dragged me into your region of horror!”
“Giova
“Yes, poisonous thing!” repeated Giova
“What has happened to me?” murmured Beatrice. “Holy Virgin,[35] pity me, a poor heart-broken child!”
“Do you pray?” cried Giova
“Giova
“Do you pretend ignorance?[36]” asked Giova
There were some insects flying through the air, and round Giova
“I see it! I see it!” shrieked Beatrice. “It is my father’s fatal science! No, no, Giova
They stood, cut off from all the human race. If they were cruel to one another, who would be kind to them? Besides, thought Giova
But Giova
“Dear Beatrice,” said he, approaching her, while she shrank away as always at his approach, but now with a different impulse, “dearest Beatrice, our fate is not yet so desperate. Look! there is a medicine, made up of ingredients opposite to those by which your awful father has brought this trouble upon you and me. Let us take it together and be saved!”
“Give it me!” said Beatrice. She added, “I will drink it; wait for the result.”
She put Baglioni’s antidote to her lips; and, at the same moment, the figure of Rappaccini emerged from the portal and came slowly towards the marble fountain. As he came near, the pale man of science seemed to gaze with a triumphant expression at the beautiful young man and girl, as might an artist who had spent his life in painting a picture and finally was satisfied with his success. He paused; he held his hands over them; and those were the same hands that had thrown poison into their veins. Giova
“My daughter,” said Rappaccini, “you are no longer lonely in the world. Pluck one of those flowers from your sister shrub and let your bridegroom wear it. It will not harm him now. My science and the sympathy between you and him have so changed his system that he now is different from common men, as you are from ordinary women. Pass on through the world, most dear to one another and dreadful to all others!”
33
Would that it might! – Хотел бы я, чтоб это было иначе!
34
which estranged me from all society of my kind – который сделал меня чужой в обществе себе подобных
35
Holy Virgin – святая мадонна
36
Do you pretend ignorance? – Ты притворяешься, что ничего не знаешь?