He
had directed, in great part, the movable embellishments
of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this
great fete; and it was his own guiding taste
which had given character to the masqueraders.
Be sure they were grotesque. There were much
glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm--much
of what has been seen in "Hernani."
El príncipe
se había ocupado personalmente de
gran parte de la decoración de las
siete salas destinadas a la gran fiesta,
su gusto había guiado la elección
de los disfraces.
Grotescos eran éstos, a no dudarlo.
Reinaba en ellos el brillo, el esplendor,
lo picante y lo fantasmagórico.
There were arabesque figures with unsuited
limbs and appointments. There were delirious
fancies such as the madman fashions. There
were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton,
much of the bizarre, something of the terrible,
and not a little of that which might have
excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers
stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And
these the dreams--writhed in and about, taking
hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music
of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their
steps.
Veíanse
figuras de arabesco, con siluetas y atuendos
incongruentes, veíanse fantasías
delirantes, como las que aman los locos.
En verdad, en aquellas siete cámaras
se movía, de un lado a otro, una
multitud de sueños. Y aquellos sueños
se contorsionaban en todas partes, cambiando
de color al pasar por los aposentos, y haciendo
que la extraña música de la
orquesta pareciera el eco de sus pasos.
And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which
stands in the hall of the velvet. And then,
for a moment, all is still, and all is silent
save the voice of the clock. The dreams are
stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes
of the chime die away--they have endured but
an instant--and a light half-subdued laughter
floats after them as they depart. And now
the music swells, and the dreams live, and
writhe to and fro more merrily than ever,
taking hue from the many-tinted windows through
which stream the rays of the tripods. But
to the chamber which lies most westwardly
of the seven there are now none of the maskers
who venture, for the night is waning away;
and there flows a ruddier light through the
blood-colored panes; and the blackness of
the sable drapery appalls; and to him whose
foot falls on the sable carpet, there comes
from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal
more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches
their ears who indulge in the more remote
gaieties of the other apartments.
Mas otra vez tañe el reloj que se
alza en el aposento de terciopelo. Por un
momento todo queda inmóvil; todo
es silencio, salvo la voz del reloj.
Los sueños están helados,
rígidos en sus posturas. Pero los
ecos del tañido se pierden -apenas
han durado un instante- y una risa ligera,
a medias sofocada, flota tras ellos en su
fuga. Otra vez crece la música, viven
los sueños, contorsionándose
al pasar por las ventanas, por las cuales
irrumpen los rayos de los trípodes.
Mas en la cámara que da al oeste
ninguna máscara se aventura, pues
la noche avanza y una luz más roja
se filtra por los cristales de color de
sangre; aterradora es la tiniebla de las
colgaduras negras; y, para aquél
cuyo pie se pose en la sombría alfombra,
brota del reloj de ébano un ahogado
resonar mucho más solemne que los
que alcanzan a oír las máscaras
entregadas a la lejana alegría de
las otras estancias.