Maurice Leblanc - The Three Eyes: Bilingual Edition (English--French)

Maurice LeBlanc

translated by
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos

CHAPTER I. BERGEBONNETTE

PART I - Chapitre premier - BERGERONNETTE.

FOR me the strange story dates back to that autumn day when my uncle Dorgeroux appeared, staggering and unhinged, in the doorway of the room which I occupied in his house, Haut-Meudon Lodge.

En ce qui me concerne, ltrange histoire remonte ce jour dautomne o mon oncle Dorgeroux surgit, titubant et boulevers, au seuil de la chambre que joccupais dans son logis du haut Meudon.

None of us had set eyes on him for a week. A prey to that nervous exasperation into which the final test of any of his inventions invariably threw him, he was living among his furnaces and retorts, keeping every door shut, sleeping on a sofa, eating nothing but fruit and bread.

Depuis une semaine, nous ne lavions pas vu. En proie cette exaspration nerveuse que provoquait chez lui lpreuve finale de chacune de ses inventions, il vivait parmi ses fourneaux et ses cornues, toutes portes closes, dormant sur un canap, se nourrissant de fruits et de pain.

And suddenly he stood before me, livid, wild-eyed, stammering, emaciated, as though he had lately recovered from a long and dangerous illness.

Et voil quil mapparaissait tout coup, livide, hagard, balbutiant, amaigri comme sil ft sorti dune longue et dangereuse maladie.

He was really altered beyond recognition!

En vrit, il tait mconnaissable!

For the first time I saw him wear unbuttoned the long, threadbare, stained frock-coat which fitted his figure closely and which he never discarded even when making his experiments or arranging on the shelves of his laboratories the innumerable chemicals which he was in the habit of employing. His white tie, which, by way of contrast, was always clean, had become unfastened; and his shirt-front was protruding from his waistcoat.

Pour la premire fois, je vis, dboutonne, lample redingote noire use, et couverte de tant de taches, qui lui serrait la taille comme une cuirasse, et dont il ne se sparait mme point pour faire ses expriences ou pour ranger, sur les rayons de ses laboratoires, les innombrables drogues dont il faisait usage. Sa cravate blanche, toujours propre, elle, par contraste, tait dnoue, et le plastron de sa chemise dbordait par-dessus son gilet.

As for his good, kind face, usually so grave and placid and still so young beneath the white curls that crowned his head, its features seemed unfamiliar, ravaged by conflicting expressions, no one of which obtained the upper hand over the others: violent expressions of terror and anguish in which I was surprised, at moments, to observe gleams of the maddest and most extravagant delight.

Quant son bon visage, paisible et grave dordinaire, si jeune encore entre les boucles de cheveux blancs qui formaient couronne autour de la tte, il semblait compos de traits nouveaux et ravag dexpressions contraires et violentes qui se heurtaient sans que lune delles parvint simposer expressions de terreur et dangoisse o je mtonnais, certains moments, de noter les clairs de la joie la plus folle et la plus extravagante.

I could not get over my astonishment.

Je nen revenais pas.

What had happened during those few days? What tragedy could have caused the quiet, gentle Noel Dorgeroux to be so utterly beside himself?

Que stait-il pass durant ces quelques jours? Quel drame avait pu jeter ainsi hors de lui le doux et tranquille Nol Dorgeroux?

Are you ill, uncle?

Vous tes souffrant, mon oncle?

I asked, anxiously, for I was exceedingly fond of him.

demandai-je avec inquitude, car javais pour lui la plus vive affection.

No, he murmured, no, I'm not ill.

Il murmura:
Non... non... je ne suis pas souffrant...

Then what is it? Please, what's the matter?

Alors, quy a-t-il? Je vous en prie...

Nothing's the matter... nothing, I tell you.

Il ny a rien... je te rpte quil ny a rien.

I drew up a chair. He dropped into it and, at my entreaty, took a glass of water; but his hand trembled so that he was unable to lift it to his lips.

Javanai un fauteuil. Il sy laissa tomber. Puis, sur mes instances, il accepta un verre deau, mais sa main tremblait tellement quil ne put le porter ses lvres.

Uncle, speak, for goodness' sake! I cried. I have never seen you in such a state. You must have gone through some great excitement.

Parlez, mon oncle, mcriai-je. Jamais je ne vous ai vu ainsi. Il faut que vous ayez prouv de grandes motions...

The greatest excitement of my life, he said, in a very low and lifeless voice.

Il dit, trs bas, dune voix sans accent:

Such excitement as nobody can have ever experienced before... nobody... nobody....

Les plus grandes motions de ma vie... des motions comme jamais personne na d en prouver... personne... personne...

Then do explain yourself.

Alors, expliquez-vous, je vous en supplie...

No, you wouldn't understand.... I don't understand either. It's so incredible!

Non... tu ne comprendrais pas... Moi non plus je ne comprends pas... Cest tellement invraisemblable!

It is taking place in the darkness, in a world of darkness!...

a se passe dans les tnbres, dans un monde de tnbres...

There was a pencil and paper on the table. His hand seized the pencil; and mechanically he began to trace one of those vague sketches to which the action of an overmastering idea gradually imparts a clearer definition. And his sketch, as it assumed a more distinct form, ended by representing on the sheet of white paper three geometrical figures which might equally well have been badly-described circles or triangles with curved lines.

Il y avait sur la table un crayon et du papier. Sa main avait saisi ce crayon et, machinalement, il traait un de ces dessins contours vagues, auxquels peu peu laction dune pense obsdante impose des formes plus nettes. Et le sien, que je voyais se prciser sur la feuille blanche, finissait par reprsenter trois figures dapparence gomtrique, qui avaient lair aussi bien de ronds mal faits que de triangles composs de lignes courbes.

In the centre of these figures, however, he drew a regular circle which he blackened entirely and which he marked in the middle with a still blacker point, as the iris is marked with the pupil:

Au centre de ces figures, cependant, il inscrivit un cercle rgulier quil noircit entirement, et quil marqua, dans le milieu, dun point plus noir encore, ainsi que la prunelle est marque dune pupille.

There, there! he cried, suddenly, starting up in his agitation.

Voil! voil! scria-t-il tout coup en un sursaut dagitation.

Look, that's what is throbbing and quivering in the darkness. Isn't it enough to drive one mad? Look!....

Tiens, regarde ce qui palpite dans les tnbres. Nest-ce pas devenir fou? Regarde...

He had seized another pencil, a red one, and, rushing to the wall, he scored the white plaster with the same three incomprehensible figures, the three triangular circles, in the centre of which he took the pains to draw irises furnished with pupils:

Il avait empoign un autre crayon, rouge celui-l, et se prcipitant vers le mur, il balafrait le pltre blanc des trois mmes figures inexplicables, des trois cercles triangulaires, au centre desquels il sappliquait mettre des prunelles ornes de pupilles.

Look! They're alive, aren't they? You see they're moving, you can see that they're afraid. You can see, cant you? They're alive! They're alive!

Regarde! ils vivent, nest-ce pas? Tu les vois remuer et seffarer?... Tu les vois, nest-ce pas? Ils vivent! Ils vivent!

I thought that he was going to explain. But, if so, he did not carry out his intention. His eyes, which were generally full of life, frank and open as a child's, now bore an expression of distrust. He began to walk up and down and continued to do so for a few minutes. Then, at last, opening the door and turning to me again, he said, in the same breathless tone as before: