Chapter VIII. Discipline Глава VIII. Дисциплина

A light step crossed the outer room, with something peculiar in its lightness, as if the heel were not touching the floor, with the effect of the padded fall of the feet of some great cat; there was both softness and the sense of weight. Un pas léger traversa la pièce extérieure, avec quelque chose de particulier dans sa légèreté, comme si le talon ne touchait pas le sol, avec l'effet de la chute rembourrée des pieds de quelque grand chat ; il y avait à la fois de la douceur et une sensation de poids. First the wolf-dog pricked his ears and turned towards the door, the pudgy fist closed convulsively over Vic's thumb, and then his rescuer stood in the entrance. D'abord, le chien-loup dressa les oreilles et se tourna vers la porte, le poing rondouillard se referma convulsivement sur le pouce de Vic, puis son sauveteur se tint dans l'entrée. "Hello, partner," called Vic. "I got company, you see. The door blew open and I asked your little girl in." "I told you not to come here," said the other. Vic felt the child tremble, but there was no burst of excuses. Vic a senti l'enfant trembler, mais il n'y a pas eu d'excuses.

"She didn't want to come," he urged. "But I kep' on askin' her." The emotionless eye of "Daddy Dan" held upon Joan. "I told you not to come," he said. Joan swallowed in mute agony, and the wolf-dog slipped to the side of the master and licked his hand as though in dumb intercession. Joan déglutit dans une agonie muette, et le chien-loup se glissa à côté du maître et lui lécha la main comme pour une intercession muette. The blood ran coldly in the veins of Gregg, as if he saw a fist raised to strike the little girl. Le sang coule froidement dans les veines de Gregg, comme s'il voyait un poing levé pour frapper la petite fille.

"You go out." "Tu sors." She went swiftly, at that, sidled past her father with her eyes lifted, fascinated, and so out the door where she paused an instant to flash back a wistful appeal. Elle passa rapidement devant son père, les yeux levés, fascinée, et sortit par la porte où elle s'arrêta un instant pour lui lancer un appel nostalgique. Nothing but silence, and then her feet pattering off into the outer room. Rien d'autre que le silence, et puis ses pieds qui claquent dans la pièce extérieure.

"Maybe you better go keep her company, Bart," said the father, and at this sign of relenting Vic felt his tensed muscles relaxing; the wolf whined softly and glided through the door. "Peut-être ferais-tu mieux d'aller lui tenir compagnie, Bart", dit le père, et à ce signe d'assouplissement, Vic sentit ses muscles tendus se relâcher ; le loup gémit doucement et glissa à travers la porte. "You feeling better?" "Like a hoss off green feed. "Comme un cheval qui n'a pas été nourri au fourrage vert. I been lyin' here drinkin' up the sunshine." Je suis resté allongé ici à boire le soleil." The other stood beside the open window and there he canted his head, his glance far off and intent. L'autre se tenait à côté de la fenêtre ouverte et là, il penchait la tête, le regard lointain et attentif.

"D'you hear?" he asked, turning sharply.

There was a fierce eagerness in his face.

"Hear what?" "It's spring," he murmured, without answering more directly than this, and Vic felt that the other had changed again, grown understandable. "C'est le printemps", murmura-t-il, sans répondre plus directement, et Vic sentit que l'autre avait encore changé, qu'il était devenu compréhensible. Nevertheless, the shock of that sudden alteration at the window kept him watching his host with breathless interest. Néanmoins, le choc de ce changement soudain à la fenêtre l'incita à observer son hôte avec un intérêt haletant. Whatever it was that the strange fellow heard, a light had gleamed in his eyes for a moment. Quoi qu'il ait entendu, une lumière s'est allumée dans ses yeux pendant un instant. As he sauntered back towards the bed just a trace of it lingered about him, a hint of sternness. Alors qu'il se dirigeait vers le lit, il en restait une trace, un soupçon de sévérité.

"Spring?" answered Gregg. "Yep, I smelled spring a few days back and I started out to find some action. "Oui, j'ai senti le printemps il y a quelques jours et j'ai commencé à chercher de l'action. You can see for yourself that I found it, partner." He stirred, uneasily, but it was necessary that the story should be told lest it reach the ears of this man from another source. Il remua, mal à l'aise, mais il fallait raconter l'histoire, de peur qu'elle ne parvienne aux oreilles de cet homme par une autre source. It was one thing to shelter a fugitive from justice whose crime was unknown, perhaps trifling, but it might be quite another story if this gentle, singular man learned that his guest was a new-made murderer. C'est une chose d'abriter un fugitif dont le crime est inconnu, voire insignifiant, mais il en irait tout autrement si cet homme doux et singulier apprenait que son invité est un nouveau meurtrier. Better that he should learn the tale now and form his prejudices in favor of Gregg. Il vaut mieux qu'il apprenne l'histoire maintenant et qu'il forme ses préjugés en faveur de Gregg. "I'll tell you the whole story," he began. But the other shrugged his shoulders.

"You leave the story be," he said, and there was something in the quiet firmness of his manner which made it impossible for Vic to continue. Il dit : "Laissez tomber l'histoire" et il y a quelque chose dans la fermeté tranquille de son attitude qui empêche Vic de continuer. "You're here and you're hurt and you need a pile of rest. "Vous êtes ici, vous êtes blessé et vous avez besoin de beaucoup de repos. That's about enough story for me." Vic put himself swiftly in the place of the other. Vic se met rapidement à la place de l'autre. Suppose that he and Betty Neal should have a cabin off in the mountains like this, how would they receive a wounded fugitive from justice? Supposons que lui et Betty Neal aient une cabane dans les montagnes comme celle-ci, comment accueilleraient-ils un fugitif blessé ? As unquestioningly as this? In a surge of gratitude he looked mistily towards his host.

"Stranger," he said, "you're white. Damned white. Maudite blancheur. That's all. My name's Vic Gregg and I come from—" "Thanks," cut in the other. "I'm glad to know your name but in case anybody might be askin' me I wouldn't care to know where you come from." "Je suis heureux de connaître votre nom, mais au cas où quelqu'un me le demanderait, je ne voudrais pas savoir d'où vous venez". He smiled. "I'm Dan Barry." It had to be a left-handed shake on the part of Vic, a thing of which he often thought in the days that followed, but now he sent his memory hunting. Il devait s'agir d'une secousse gauchère de la part de Vic, une chose à laquelle il pensa souvent dans les jours qui suivirent, mais il envoya maintenant sa mémoire à la chasse.

"Seems like I've heard your name before," he murmured. "I dunno where. Were you ever around Alder, Barry?" "No." His manner suggested that the topic might as well be closed. He reached over and dropped his hand lightly on the forehead of Vic. A tingling current flowed from it into the brain of the wounded man. "Your blood's still a bit hot," he added. "Lie quiet and don't even think. You're safe here. They ain't a thing goin' to get at you. Ils n'ont rien à te reprocher. Not a thing. You'll stay till you get ready to leave. S'long. I'll see that you get something to eat." He went out with that unusual, padding step which Vic had noticed before and closed the door softly behind him. In spite of that barrier Gregg could hear the noises from the next room quite clearly, as some one brought in wood and dropped it on a stone hearth, rattling. Malgré cette barrière, Gregg pouvait entendre très clairement les bruits provenant de la pièce voisine, car quelqu'un apportait du bois et le laissait tomber sur un foyer en pierre, en faisant un bruit de ferraille. He fell into a pleasant doze, just stretching his body now and then to enjoy the coolness of the sheets, the delicious sense of being cared for and the returning strength in his muscles. Il sombra dans une agréable somnolence, se contentant d'étirer son corps de temps à autre pour profiter de la fraîcheur des draps, de la délicieuse sensation d'être soigné et de la force retrouvée de ses muscles. Through that haze he heard voices, presently, which called him back to wakefulness. Dans cette brume, il entendit des voix qui le ramenèrent à l'état de veille.

"That ought to be good for him. Take it in, Kate." "I shall. Dan, what has Joan done?" "She went in there. I told her to leave him alone." "But she says he asked her to come in—said he would take the blame." "Mais elle dit qu'il lui a demandé de venir, qu'il a dit qu'il prendrait le blâme." "I told her not to go." "Poor baby! She's outside, now, weeping her eyes out on Bart's shoulder and he's trying to comfort her." Elle est dehors, en ce moment, et pleure à chaudes larmes sur l'épaule de Bart, qui essaie de la réconforter". It was purer English than Vic was accustomed to hear even from his schoolmistress, but more than the words, the voice surprised him, the low, controlled voice of a woman of gentle blood. C'était un anglais plus pur que celui que Vic avait l'habitude d'entendre, même de la bouche de sa maîtresse d'école, mais plus que les mots, c'est la voix qui l'a surpris, la voix basse et maîtrisée d'une femme au sang doux. He turned his head and looked out the window, baffled. Far above, shooting out of sight, went the slope of a mountain, a cliff shining in the slant sun of the afternoon here, a tumbled slide of rocks and debris there, and over the shoulder of this mountain he saw white-headed monsters stepping back in range beyond range. Loin au-dessus, hors de vue, s'étendait la pente d'une montagne, ici une falaise brillant sous le soleil oblique de l'après-midi, là un éboulement de rochers et de débris, et par-dessus l'épaule de cette montagne, il vit des monstres à tête blanche qui s'éloignaient à une distance de plus en plus grande. Why should a girl of refinement choose the isolation of such a place as this for her home? It was not the only strange thing about this household, however, and he would dismiss conjectures until he was once more on his feet. Ce n'était pas la seule chose étrange dans cette maison, cependant, et il écarterait les conjectures jusqu'à ce qu'il soit à nouveau sur ses pieds.

She was saying: "Won't you speak to her now?" A little pause. Then: "No, not until evenin'." "Please, Dan." "She's got to learn." A little exclamation of unhappiness and then the door moved open; Vic found himself looking up to the face with the golden hair which he remembered out of his nightmare. Une petite exclamation de mécontentement, puis la porte s'est ouverte ; Vic s'est retrouvé face au visage aux cheveux dorés dont il se souvenait dans son cauchemar. She nodded to him cheerily.

"I'm so happy that you're better," she said. "Dan says that the fever is nearly gone." She rested a large tray she carried on the foot of the bed and Vic discovered, to his great content, that it was not hard to meet her eyes. Elle posa le grand plateau qu'elle portait sur le pied du lit et Vic découvrit, à sa grande satisfaction, qu'il n'était pas difficile de croiser son regard. Usually girls embarrassed him, but he recognized so much of Joan in the features of the mother that he felt well acquainted at once. D'habitude, les filles l'embarrassent, mais il a tellement reconnu Joan dans les traits de la mère qu'il s'est tout de suite senti à l'aise. Motherhood, surely, sat as lightly on her shoulders as fatherhood did on Dan Barry, yet he felt a great pity as he looked at her, this flowerlike beauty lost in the rocks and snow with only one man near her. La maternité reposait certainement aussi légèrement sur ses épaules que la paternité sur celles de Dan Barry, mais il éprouvait une grande pitié en la regardant, cette beauté fleurie perdue dans les rochers et la neige, avec un seul homme près d'elle. She was like music played without an audience except senseless things.

"Yep, I'm a lot better," he answered, "but it sure makes me terrible sorry, ma'am, that I got your little girl in trouble. Mostly, it was my fault." She waved away all need of apology.

"Don't think an instant about that, Mr. Gregg. Joan needs a great deal of disciplining." Joan a besoin de beaucoup de discipline". She laughed a little. "She has so much of her father in her, you see. "Elle a tellement de son père en elle, vous voyez. Now, are you strong enough to lift yourself higher in the pillows?" They managed it between them, for he was weaker than he thought and when he was padded into position with cushions she laid the tray across his knees. Ils y sont parvenus à eux deux, car il était plus faible qu'il ne le pensait, et lorsqu'il a été mis en position avec des coussins, elle a posé le plateau sur ses genoux. His head swam at sight of it. Il a la tête qui tourne à sa vue. Forty-eight hours of fasting had sharpened his appetite, and the loaded tray whetted a razor edge, for a great bowl of broth steamed forth an exquisite fragrance on one side and beside it she lifted a napkin to let him peek at a slice of venison steak. Quarante-huit heures de jeûne avaient aiguisé son appétit, et le plateau chargé aiguisait le fil du rasoir, car un grand bol de bouillon dégageait un parfum exquis d'un côté et, à côté, elle soulevait une serviette pour lui permettre de jeter un coup d'œil sur une tranche de steak de chevreuil. Then there was butter, yellow as the gold for which he had been digging all winter, and real cream for his coffee—a whole pitcher of it—and snowy bread. Puis il y avait du beurre, jaune comme l'or pour lequel il avait creusé tout l'hiver, et de la vraie crème pour son café - un pichet entier - et du pain enneigé. Best of all, she did not stay to embarrass him with her watching while he ate, since above all things in the world a hungry man hates observation when the board is spread. Mieux encore, elle n'est pas restée pour l'embarrasser en le regardant manger, car, par-dessus tout, un homme affamé déteste être observé lorsque la planche est étalée.

Afterwards, consuming sleep rippled over him from his feet to his eyes to his brain. Ensuite, un sommeil dévorant l'a envahi, de ses pieds à ses yeux jusqu'à son cerveau. He partially roused when the tray was removed, and the pillows slipped from under his back, but with a vague understanding that expert hands were setting the bed in order his senses fled once more. Il se réveilla partiellement lorsqu'on retira le plateau et qu'on glissa les oreillers sous son dos, mais en comprenant vaguement que des mains expertes étaient en train de remettre le lit en ordre, ses sens s'évanouirent à nouveau.

Hours and hours later he opened his eyes in utter darkness with a thin, sweet voice still ringing in his ears. He could not place himself until he turned his head and saw a meager, broken, rectangular line of light which was the door, and immediately afterwards the voice cried: "Oh, Daddy Dan! Il ne put se situer que lorsqu'il tourna la tête et vit une maigre ligne de lumière rectangulaire, brisée, qui était la porte, et immédiatement après, la voix cria : "Oh, papa Dan ! And what did the wolf do then?" Et qu'a fait le loup alors ?" "I'm comin' to that, Joan, but don't you talk about wolves so loud or old Black Bart'll think you're talkin' about him. "J'y viens, Joan, mais ne parle pas si fort des loups, sinon le vieux Black Bart pensera que tu parles de lui. See him lookin' at you now?" Tu vois qu'il te regarde maintenant ?" "But please go on. "Mais continuez, s'il vous plaît. I won't say one little word." Je ne dirai pas un seul mot." The man's voice began again, softly, so that not a word was audible to Gregg; he heard the crackle of burning logs upon the hearth; saw the rectangle of light flicker; caught a faint scent of wood smoke, and then he slept once more. La voix de l'homme reprit, doucement, de sorte que Gregg ne put entendre un seul mot ; il entendit le crépitement des bûches sur l'âtre ; il vit le rectangle de lumière vaciller ; il perçut une faible odeur de fumée de bois, puis il dormit une fois de plus.