Chapter 09 THE LEECH
第九章　医生

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.
读者会记得，在罗杰·齐灵渥斯的称呼背后，还隐藏着另一个姓名，原来叫那姓名的人下了决心再不让人提起。前面已经叙述过，在目睹海丝特·白兰示众的人群中，站着一个风尘仆仆的上了年纪的男人，他刚刚逃出危险的荒野，却看到体现着他所希冀的家庭温暖和欢乐的女人，在众人面前作为罪孽的典型高高站在那里。她那主妇的声名任凭所有的人践踏在脚下。在公共市场上，她周围泛滥着对她丑行的种种议论。若是这些浪潮传到她的亲属或是她身无暇疵时代的同伴那里，除去染上她的耻辱之外，别无其它！这种耻辱，会随原有关系的亲密和神圣程度，而严格成比例地在亲友中相应加以分配。那么，作为与这个堕落的女人关系最亲密和最神圣的一个人，既然他还有选挥的余地，何必前来公开要求这份并非求之不得的遗产呢？他决心不同她在那受辱台上并肩而立。由于除海丝特·白兰之外谁都不认识他，而且他还掌握着锁钥，让她缄口不言，他打定主意将自己的姓名从人类的名单上勾销；即使考虑到他原先的关系和利益，他也要从生活中彻底消失，就象他当真如早已风传的那样葬身海底了。这一目的一旦达到，就立刻涌现了新的利益，于是也就又有了新的目标；这个目标即使不是罪过的，也实在是见不得人的，但其力量之强，足以运用他的全部机能与精力去奋争。