Chapter 09 THE LEECH
第九章　醫(yī)生

UNDER the appellation of Roger Chillingworth, the reader will remember, was hidden another name, which its former wearer had resolved should never more be spoken. It has been related, how, in the crowd that witnessed Hester Prynne's ignominious exposure, stood a man, elderly, travel-worn, who, just emerging from the perilous wilderness, beheld the woman, in whom he hoped to find embodied the warmth and cheerfulness of home, set up as a type of sin before the people. Her matronly fame was trodden under all men's feet. Infamy was babbling around her in the public market-place. For her kindred, should the tidings ever reach them, and for the companions of her unspotted life, there remained nothing but the contagion of her dishonour; which would not fail to be distributed in strict accordance and proportion with the intimacy and sacredness of their previous relationship. Then why- since the choice was with himself- should the individual, whose connection with the fallen woman had been the most intimate and sacred of them all, come forward to vindicate his claim to an inheritance so little desirable? He resolved not to be pilloried beside her on her pedestal of shame. Unknown to all but Hester Prynne, and possessing the lock and key of her silence, he chose to withdraw his name from the roll of mankind, and as regarded his former ties and interests, to vanish out of life as completely as if he indeed lay at the bottom of the ocean, whither rumour had long ago consigned him. This purpose once effected, new interests would immediately spring up, and likewise a new purpose; dark, it is true, if not guilty, but of force enough to engage the full strength of his faculties.
讀者會記得，在羅杰·齊靈渥斯的稱呼背后，還隱藏著另一個姓名，原來叫那姓名的人下了決心再不讓人提起。前面已經(jīng)敘述過，在目睹海絲特·白蘭示眾的人群中，站著一個風塵仆仆的上了年紀的男人，他剛剛逃出危險的荒野，卻看到體現(xiàn)著他所希冀的家庭溫暖和歡樂的女人，在眾人面前作為罪孽的典型高高站在那里。她那主婦的聲名任憑所有的人踐踏在腳下。在公共市場上，她周圍泛濫著對她丑行的種種議論。若是這些浪潮傳到她的親屬或是她身無暇疵時代的同伴那里，除去染上她的恥辱之外，別無其它！這種恥辱，會隨原有關系的親密和神圣程度，而嚴格成比例地在親友中相應加以分配。那么，作為與這個墮落的女人關系最親密和最神圣的一個人，既然他還有選揮的余地，何必前來公開要求這份并非求之不得的遺產(chǎn)呢？他決心不同她在那受辱臺上并肩而立。由于除海絲特·白蘭之外誰都不認識他，而且他還掌握著鎖鑰，讓她緘口不言，他打定主意將自己的姓名從人類的名單上勾銷；即使考慮到他原先的關系和利益，他也要從生活中徹底消失，就象他當真如早已風傳的那樣葬身海底了。這一目的一旦達到，就立刻涌現(xiàn)了新的利益，于是也就又有了新的目標；這個目標即使不是罪過的，也實在是見不得人的，但其力量之強，足以運用他的全部機能與精力去奮爭。