私は,アナーバー(右欄地図参照)からシカゴへ行き,シカゴでは,著名な婦人科医とその家族の家に滞在した。この婦人科医は,子宮のカラーの口絵(写真)が載っている婦人病に関する本を書いて出版していた(注:日高訳では,「この婦人科医は,子宮の入り口が変色する婦人病に関する本を書いたことがあった。」となっている。)。彼はこの本を私にプレゼントしてくれたが,これにはやや当惑し,結局,友人の医師にあげた。彼は,神学理論上では自由思想家であったが,品行においては冷ややかな清教徒主義者であった。彼は明らかに,非常に強い性欲をもった男であり,彼の顔は自制の努力で醜くなっていた。彼の妻はチャーミングな老婦人であり,彼女自身の限界内において,どちらかというと抜け目がない方であったが,若い人たちにとってはうるさい人物であった。
そうこうしているうちに,シカゴの婦人科医の娘が,彼女をヨーロッパにつれていくよう父親 --彼はまだ私たちの仲を知っていなかったが-- を説得した。彼らは8月3日に出航した。彼女が英国に到着した時,私は,戦争(第一次世界大戦)のこと以外何も考えることができなかった。そうして私は,戦争反対のため,公衆の面前にでる(反戦運動をする)決意をしていたので,私が言うことを無価値にしてしまうような'個人的なスキャンダル'で,私の立場を複雑なものにしたくなかった。それゆえ,私は,私と彼女とで計画したことを実行することは不可能であると思った。彼女は英国に留まり,そうして私は時々彼女と関係をもった。しかし,戦争の衝撃は,彼女に対する私の情熱を失わせた。そうして私は彼女の心をひどく傷つけた。ついに彼女は,症例が稀な(類例のない)病気に罹った(注:パーキンソン病にかかっていたのではないかと書いている人もいるが不詳)。その病気のために,彼女は,まず神経が麻輝し,その後発狂した。錯乱状態の中で,彼女は,あったことの一部始終をのこらず父親に話した。私が最後に彼女に会ったのは1924年であった。その時彼女は,麻痒状態のために歩くことができなかったが,ちょうど明瞭期(精神異常者が一時正気に戻る時期)を享受していた。けれども,私が彼女とおしゃべりをする時,暗い,正気とは言えない考えが,背後に潜んでいるのを感じた。その後は,彼女には,明瞭期は,再びやってこなかったと理解している。狂気が彼女を襲う前(発狂する以前)彼女は,希有かつ注目すべき知性と,並みはずれていると同程度に愛すべき気性をもっていた。もしも戦争が起こって二人を妨害しなかったら,私たちがシカゴで作ったプランが,私たち2人に大きな幸福をもたらしただろうと思う。私は今でもなおこの悲劇を遺憾に思っている(残念に思っている)。 Gilbert Murray についてさらに知る 書簡 *この後に19通の書簡が続く。書簡は,適宜邦訳することにして,次(第2巻)に進むことにしたい。(M) |
From Ann Arbor I went to Chicago, where I stayed with an eminent gynaecologist (gynecologist) and his family. This gynaecologist had written a book on the diseases of women containing a coloured frontispiece of the uterus. He presented this book to me, but I found it somewhat embarrassing, and ultimately gave it to a medical friend. In theology he was a free-thinker, but in morals a frigid Puritan. He was obviously a man of very strong sexual passions, and his face was ravaged by the effort of self-control. His wife was a charming old lady, rather shrewd within her limitations, but something of a trial to the younger generation. They had four daughters and a son, but the son, who died shortly after the war, I never met. One of their daughters came to Oxford to work at Greek under Gilbert Murray, while I was living at Bagley Wood, and brought an introduction to Alys and me from her teacher of English literature at Bryn Mawr. I only saw the girl a few times at Oxford, but I found her very interesting, and wished to know her better. When I was coming to Chicago, she wrote and invited me to stay at her parents' house. She met me at the station, and I at once felt more at home with her than I had with anybody else that I had met in America. I found that she wrote rather good poetry, and that her feeling for literature was remarkable and unusual. I spent two nights under her parents' roof, and the second I spent with her. Her three sisters mounted guard to give warning if either of the parents approached. She was very delightful, not beautiful in the conventional sense, but passionate, poetic, and strange. Her youth had been lonely and unhappy, and it seemed that I could give her what she wanted. We agreed that she should come to England as soon as possible and that we would live together openly, perhaps marrying later on if a divorce could be obtained.
Meanwhile, the girl in Chicago had induced her father, who remained in ignorance, to take her to Europe. They sailed on August 3rd. When she arrived I could think of nothing but the war, and as I had determined to come out publicly against it, I did not wish to complicate my position with a private scandal, which would have made anything that I might say of no account. I felt it therefore impossible to carry out what we had planned. She stayed in England and I had relations with her from time to time, but the shock of the war killed my passion for her, and I broke her heart. Ultimately she fell a victim to a rare disease, which first paralysed her, and then made her insane. In her insanity she told her father all that had happened. The last time I saw her was in 1924. At that time paralysis made her incapable of walking, but she was enjoying a lucid interval. When I talked with her, however, I could feel dark, insane thoughts lurking in the background. I understand that since then she had no lucid intervals. Before insanity attacked her, she had a rare and remarkable mind, and a disposition as lovable as it was unusual. If the war had not intervened, the plan which we formed in Chicago might have brought great happiness to us both. I feel still the sorrow of this tragedy. |