The ideal servant
理想的仆人
It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants. Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. She had a huge, rambling country house called 'The Gables'. She was sentimentally attached to this house, for even though it was far too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband's death. Before she grew old, Aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. I often visited The Gables when I was boy. No matter how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate. The parquet floors shone like mirrors; highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished. She always referred to them as 'the shifting population', for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names. Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy, in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please. While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature, she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days, even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie.
Bessie worked for Aunt Harriet for three years. During that time she so gained my aunt's confidence that she was put in charge of the domestic staff. Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency. In addition to all her other qualifications, Bessie was an expert cook. She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before Aunt Harriet discovered her 'little weakness'. After being absent from the Gables for a week, my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner. No only was the meal well below the usual standard, but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily. She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests. When she came in with the last course -- a huge pudding -- she tripped on the carpet and the pudding went flying through the air, narrowly missed my aunt, and crashed on the dining table with considerable force. Though this caused great mirth among the guests, Aunt Harriet was horrified. She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk. The guests had, of course, realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and, long before the final catastrophe, had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement. The poor girl was dismissed instantly. After her departure, Aunt Harriet discovered that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie's wardrobe. They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine cellar!
我的姑媽哈麗特好多年前就去世了，這倒是件好事。如果她活到今天，她將不能就她熱衷的話題“傭人”發(fā)表意見(jiàn)了。哈麗特生活在一個(gè)悠閑的年代，家務(wù)事都由雇來(lái)的傭人代勞。她在鄉(xiāng)下有一幢巨大雜亂的房子，叫作“山墻莊園”。她對(duì)這幢房子在感情上難舍難分。房子實(shí)在太大了，但在丈夫去世多年后，她仍然執(zhí)意長(zhǎng)年住在那兒。哈麗特姑媽年輕時(shí)，喜歡大擺宴席，招待賓客。我小時(shí)候常去“山墻莊園”作客。不管去多少賓客，大房子里總是收拾得干干凈凈。鑲木地板潔如明鏡，擦得發(fā)亮的銀器陳列在明亮的玻璃柜里，連姑夫的大量藏書(shū)也保存得很好，奇跡般地一塵不染。哈麗特姑媽統(tǒng)率著一支看不見(jiàn)的傭人大軍，他們不停地擦拭、清掃、刷洗。她稱這些傭人叫“流動(dòng)人口”，因?yàn)樗麄儊?lái)匆匆，所以我甚至都沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)知道他們的姓名。姑媽待傭人在當(dāng)時(shí)算是開(kāi)明的，從來(lái)不讓傭人每天工作超過(guò)8小時(shí)，但他們很難使她稱心如意。她一方面總是批評(píng)人的本性朝三暮四，另一方面她又持之以恒地尋找一個(gè)理想的傭人。即使在貝西大大地傷她的心之后，她還在找，一直到她死去。
貝西在哈麗特家干了3年。在此期間，她贏得了姑母的賞識(shí)，甚至當(dāng)上了大管家。哈麗特不知該用什么言辭來(lái)贊揚(yáng)貝西的勤奮與高效。貝西除了有各種本領(lǐng)以外，還是一個(gè)烹飪大師。她擔(dān)任“理想仆人”角色3年之后，哈麗特終于發(fā)現(xiàn)她有“小小的弱點(diǎn)”。一次，姑媽有一個(gè)星期沒(méi)在“山墻莊園”住。一天下午，她出其不意地回來(lái)了，帶來(lái)一大批客人，吩咐貝西準(zhǔn)備晚飯。結(jié)果，不僅飯菜遠(yuǎn)不如平時(shí)做得好，而且貝西走起路來(lái)似乎東倒西歪。她撞到了家具上，嘴里還不斷咕咕噥噥?zhàn)h論客人。當(dāng)她端著最后一道菜——一大盤(pán)布丁——走進(jìn)屋來(lái)時(shí)，在地毯上絆了一跤。布丁飛到半空，從姑母身邊擦過(guò)，然后狠狠地砸在餐桌上。這件事引起了客人們的歡笑，但哈麗特卻著實(shí)嚇了一跳。她不得不認(rèn)定貝西是喝醉了。客人們自然從貝西為他們開(kāi)門(mén)那一刻起就看出來(lái)了，在好長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間里，即最后這個(gè)亂子發(fā)生前，他們努力克制才沒(méi)笑出聲來(lái)。貝西當(dāng)即被解雇了。貝西走后，哈麗特姑媽發(fā)現(xiàn)在貝西以前用過(guò)的衣柜里整整齊齊地放著一堆堆形狀各導(dǎo)、大小不一的酒瓶子。這些酒瓶神不知鬼不覺(jué)地從酒窖來(lái)到了這里。
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