Alice Adams

Produced by Charles Keller

查尔斯·凯勒制片的作品

ALICE ADAMS

爱丽丝·亚当斯

By Booth Tarkington

布斯·塔金顿

CHAPTER I

第一章

The patient, an old-fashioned man, thought the nurse made a mistake in keeping both of the windows open, and her sprightly disregard of his protests added something to his hatred of her.

病人是个守旧的人，他认为护士把两扇窗户都开着是个错误，而她对他的抗议的活泼无视更增加了他对她的仇恨。

Every evening he told her that anybody with ordinary gumption ought to realize that night air was bad for the human frame.

每天晚上他都告诉她，任何有普通进取心的人都应该意识到夜间的空气对人体有害。

“The human frame won't stand everything, Miss Perry,” he warned her, resentfully.

“人体无法承受一切，佩里小姐，”他怨恨地警告她。

“Even a child, if it had just ordinary gumption, ought to know enough not to let the night air blow on sick people yes, nor well people, either!

“即使是一个孩子，只要有普通的进取心，就应该知道不要让夜风吹到病人身上，是的，也不要让健康的人吹！

'Keep out of the night air, no matter how well you feel.' That's what my mother used to tell me when I was a boy.

“无论你感觉有多好，都要远离夜间的空气。”这是我小时候妈妈经常告诉我的。

'Keep out of the night air, Virgil,' she'd say.

“维吉尔，远离夜晚的空气，”她会说。

'Keep out of the night air.'”

“远离夜间空气。””

“I expect probably her mother told her the same thing,” the nurse suggested.

“我想她的母亲可能也告诉过她同样的事情，”护士建议道。

“Of course she did.

“她当然这么做了。

My grandmother----”

我的祖母——”

“Oh, I guess your GRANDmother thought so, Mr. Adams!

“哦，我想你的祖母也是这么想的，亚当斯先生！

That was when all this flat central country was swampish and hadn't been drained off yet.

那时，这片平坦的中部地区都是沼泽，而且还没有被排干。

I guess the truth must been the swamp mosquitoes bit people and gave 'em malaria, especially before they began to put screens in their windows.

我想事实一定是沼泽蚊子叮咬了人们并给他们带来了疟疾，尤其是在他们开始在窗户上安装纱窗之前。

Well, we got screens in these windows, and no mosquitoes are goin' to bite us; so just you be a good boy and rest your mind and go to sleep like you need to.”

好吧，我们的窗户上有纱窗，蚊子就不会咬我们了；所以你就做一个好孩子，休息一下，然后按照需要去睡觉。”

“Sleep?” he said.

“睡觉？”他说。

“Likely!”

“有可能！”

He thought the night air worst of all in April; he hadn't a doubt it would kill him, he declared.

他认为四月的夜间空气最糟糕。他宣称，他毫不怀疑这会杀了他。

“It's miraculous what the human frame WILL survive,” he admitted on the last evening of that month.

“人体能幸存下来真是奇迹，”他在那个月的最后一个晚上承认。

“But you and the doctor ought to both be taught it won't stand too dang much!

“但是你和医生都应该被教导它不会承受太大的影响！

You poison a man and poison and poison him with this April night air----”

你用这四月的夜晚的空气毒害了一个人，毒害了他——”

“Can't poison you with much more of it,” Miss Perry interrupted him, indulgently.

“不能用更多的毒害你了，”佩里小姐宽容地打断了他。

“To-morrow it'll be May night air, and I expect that'll be a lot better for you, don't you?

“明天将是五月之夜的空气，我希望这对你来说会好得多，不是吗？

Now let's just sober down and be a good boy and get some nice sound sleep.”

现在让我们冷静下来，做一个好孩子，睡个好觉。”

She gave him his medicine, and, having set the glass upon the center table, returned to her cot, where, after a still interval, she snored faintly.

她给了他药，然后把玻璃杯放在中间的桌子上，然后回到她的小床上，过了一会儿，她轻轻地打起了鼾。

Upon this, his expression became that of a man goaded out of overpowering weariness into irony.

说到这里，他的表情变成了一个被压倒性的疲倦刺激到讽刺的人。

“Sleep?

“睡觉？

Oh, CERTAINLY, thank you!”

哦，当然可以，谢谢！”

However, he did sleep intermittently, drowsed between times, and even dreamed; but, forgetting his dreams before he opened his eyes, and having some part of him all the while aware of his discomfort, he believed, as usual, that he lay awake the whole night long.

然而，他的睡眠却断断续续，时不时打瞌睡，甚至做梦。但是，在他睁开眼睛之前，他就忘记了自己的梦，而他内心的某个部分始终意识到自己的不适，他像往常一样相信自己整晚都睡不着。

He was conscious of the city as of some single great creature resting fitfully in the dark outside his windows.

他意识到这座城市就像某种伟大的生物在窗外的黑暗中​​断断续续地休息。

It lay all round about, in the damp cover of its night cloud of smoke, and tried to keep quiet for a few hours after midnight, but was too powerful a growing thing ever to lie altogether still.

它躺在周围，在夜间烟雾的潮湿覆盖下，午夜后的几个小时里试图保持安静，但它的力量太强大了，永远无法完全静止不动。

Even while it strove to sleep it muttered with digestions of the day before, and these already merged with rumblings of the morrow.

即使在它努力入睡的时候，它仍会咕哝着前一天的消化情况，而这些已经与明天的隆隆声融为一体。

“Owl” cars, bringing in last passengers over distant trolley-lines, now and then howled on a curve; faraway metallic stirrings could be heard from factories in the sooty suburbs on the plain outside the city; east, west, and south, switch-engines chugged and snorted on sidings; and everywhere in the air there seemed to be a faint, voluminous hum as of innumerable wires trembling overhead to vibration of machinery underground.

“猫头鹰”汽车在遥远的电车线路上载着最后一批乘客，时不时地在弯道上嚎叫。城外平原上乌烟瘴气的郊区工厂里，传来远处传来的金属声。东、西、南，侧线上的开关引擎发出嘎嘎声和喷鼻声。空气中似乎到处都传来微弱而巨大的嗡嗡声，就像无数电线在头顶上随着地下机器的振动而颤抖。

In his youth Adams might have been less resentful of sounds such as these when they interfered with his night's sleep: even during an illness he might have taken some pride in them as proof of his citizenship in a “live town”; but at fifty-five he merely hated them because they kept him awake.

在亚当斯年轻的时候，当这些声音干扰他夜间的睡眠时，他可能不会那么反感这些声音：即使在生病期间，他也可能会为这些声音感到自豪，因为它们是他在“活跃的城镇”中的公民身份的证明；即使在生病期间，他也可能会为这些声音感到自豪，因为它们证明了他是“活跃的城镇”的公民身份。但五十五岁时，他只是恨他们，因为他们让他睡不着觉。

They “pressed on his nerves,” as he put it; and so did almost everything else, for that matter.

正如他所说，他们“压迫了他的神经”。就此而言，几乎所有其他事情也是如此。

He heard the milk-wagon drive into the cross-street beneath his windows and stop at each house.

他听到牛奶车驶入他窗下的十字路口，停在每户人家面前。

The milkman carried his jars round to the “back porch,” while the horse moved slowly ahead to the gate of the next customer and waited there.

送牛奶的人把他的罐子带到“后门廊”，而马则缓慢地向前移动到下一个顾客的门口并在那里等待。

“He's gone into Pollocks',” Adams thought, following this progress.

“他已经进入了波洛克的范畴，”亚当斯在看到这一进展后想。

“I hope it'll sour on 'em before breakfast.

“我希望早餐前它们会变酸。

Delivered the Andersons'.

交付了安德森一家。

Now he's getting out ours.

现在他要离开我们了。

Listen to the darn brute!

听听这该死的畜生的话！

What's HE care who wants to sleep!” His complaint was of the horse, who casually shifted weight with a clink of steel shoes on the worn brick pavement of the street, and then heartily shook himself in his harness, perhaps to dislodge a fly far ahead of its season.

想睡觉还管他什么！”他抱怨的是那匹马，它在街道上破旧的砖砌人行道上，伴随着钢蹄的叮当声，漫不经心地转移了重量，然后用力摇晃马具，也许是为了在季节到来之前赶走一只苍蝇。

Light had just filmed the windows; and with that the first sparrow woke, chirped instantly, and roused neighbours in the trees of the small yard, including a loud-voiced robin.

光线刚刚拍到了窗户；这时，第一只麻雀醒了，立刻叽叽喳喳地叫起来，惊醒了小院子树上的邻居，其中包括一只大声叫的知更鸟。

Vociferations began irregularly, but were soon unanimous.

声音开始不规律，但很快就一致了。

“Sleep?

“睡觉？

Dang likely now, ain't it!”

现在很可能是这样，不是吗！”

Night sounds were becoming day sounds; the far-away hooting of freight-engines seemed brisker than an hour ago in the dark.

夜晚的声音正在变成白天的声音；远处货运引擎的轰鸣声似乎比一小时前黑暗中更加活跃。

A cheerful whistler passed the house, even more careless of sleepers than the milkman's horse had been; then a group of coloured workmen came by, and although it was impossible to be sure whether they were homeward bound from night-work or on their way to day-work, at least it was certain that they were jocose.

一个欢快的吹口哨的人从房子里经过，他对睡觉的人比送奶工的马还粗心。这时一群黑人工人走过来，虽然无法确定他们是下夜班回家还是去白天上班，但至少可以肯定他们是开玩笑的。

Loose, aboriginal laughter preceded them afar, and beat on the air long after they had gone by.

远处传来原住民松散的笑声，在他们走后很长一段时间，笑声仍回荡在空气中。

The sick-room night-light, shielded from his eyes by a newspaper propped against a water-pitcher, still showed a thin glimmering that had grown offensive to Adams.

病房的夜灯，被水罐上撑着的报纸挡住了他的眼睛，仍然发出微弱的微光，这让亚当斯感到不舒服。

In his wandering and enfeebled thoughts, which were much more often imaginings than reasonings, the attempt of the night-light to resist the dawn reminded him of something unpleasant, though he could not discover just what the unpleasant thing was.

在他飘忽不定、虚弱的思绪中，夜光抵抗黎明的尝试，让他想起了一些不愉快的事情，尽管他无法弄清楚那不愉快的事情到底是什么。

Here was a puzzle that irritated him the more because he could not solve it, yet always seemed just on the point of a solution.

有一个谜题让他更加恼火，因为他无法解决它，但似乎总是快要找到答案。

However, he may have lost nothing cheerful by remaining in the dark upon the matter; for if he had been a little sharper in this introspection he might have concluded that the squalor of the night-light, in its seeming effort to show against the forerunning of the sun itself, had stimulated some half-buried perception within him to sketch the painful little synopsis of an autobiography.

然而，他对此事一无所知，可能并没有失去任何快乐。因为，如果他在这种反省中再敏锐一点，他可能会得出这样的结论：夜光的肮脏，似乎是为了与太阳本身的先行者相映衬，刺激了他内心某种半埋藏的知觉，勾勒出一本自传的痛苦小概要。

In spite of noises without, he drowsed again, not knowing that he did; and when he opened his eyes the nurse was just rising from her cot.

尽管外面有吵闹声，他还是又睡着了，他自己也不知道自己已经睡着了。当他睁开眼睛时，护士刚刚从床上站起来。

He took no pleasure in the sight, it may be said.

可以说，他对这一景象并不感到高兴。

She exhibited to him a face mismodelled by sleep, and set like a clay face left on its cheek in a hot and dry studio.

她向他展示了一张因睡眠而变形的脸，就像一张在炎热干燥的工作室里留下的粘土脸。

She was still only in part awake, however, and by the time she had extinguished the night-light and given her patient his tonic, she had recovered enough plasticity.

然而，她仍然只是半醒着，当她熄灭夜灯并给她的病人喂补药时，她已经恢复了足够的可塑性。

“Well, isn't that grand!

“怎么样，是不是很伟大啊！

We've had another good night,” she said as she departed to dress in the bathroom.

我们又度过了一个美好的夜晚，”她一边说一边离开去浴室穿衣服。

“Yes, you had another!” he retorted, though not until after she had closed the door.

“是的，你还有一个！”他反驳道，但直到她关上门之后才反驳。

Presently he heard his daughter moving about in her room across the narrow hall, and so knew that she had risen.

不久，他听到女儿在狭窄的走廊对面的房间里走来走去，因此知道她已经站起来了。

He hoped she would come in to see him soon, for she was the one thing that didn't press on his nerves, he felt; though the thought of her hurt him, as, indeed, every thought hurt him.

他希望她能尽快来看他，因为他觉得她是唯一一个不会让他紧张的人。尽管想到她让他很受伤，事实上，每一个想法都让他受伤。

But it was his wife who came first.

但首先是他的妻子。

She wore a lank cotton wrapper, and a crescent of gray hair escaped to one temple from beneath the handkerchief she had worn upon her head for the night and still retained; but she did everything possible to make her expression cheering.

她穿着一件平铺的棉质裹布，一缕新月形的灰白头发从她过夜戴在头上、至今仍保留着的手帕下面垂到太阳穴。但她却千方百计地让自己的表情变得欢快。

“Oh, you're better again!

“哦，你又好多了！

I can see that, as soon as I look at you,” she said.

我一看到你就明白了，”她说。

“Miss Perry tells me you've had another splendid night.”

“佩里小姐告诉我你又度过了一个美好的夜晚。”

He made a sound of irony, which seemed to dispose unfavourably of Miss Perry, and then, in order to be more certainly intelligible, he added, “She slept well, as usual!”

他发出了一声讽刺的声音，这似乎对佩里小姐不利，然后，为了更明确地理解，他补充道：“她睡得很好，像往常一样！”

But his wife's smile persisted.

但他妻子的笑容一直没有消失。

“It's a good sign to be cross; it means you're practically convalescent right now.”

“生气是个好兆头；这意味着你现在已经基本康复了。”

“Oh, I am, am I?”

“哦，我是，是吗？”

“No doubt in the world!” she exclaimed.

“世界上毫无疑问！”她惊呼道。

“Why, you're practically a well man, Virgil--all except getting your strength back, of course, and that isn't going to take long.

“嘿，你实际上是一个健康的人，维吉尔——当然，除了恢复你的体力之外，这不会花很长时间。

You'll be right on your feet in a couple of weeks from now.”

几周后你就会站起来了。”

“Oh, I will?”

“哦，我会的？”

“Of course you will!” She laughed briskly, and, going to the table in the center of the room, moved his glass of medicine an inch or two, turned a book over so that it lay upon its other side, and for a few moments occupied herself with similar futilities, having taken on the air of a person who makes things neat, though she produced no such actual effect upon them.

“你当然会！”她轻快地笑起来，走到房间中央的桌子旁，把他的药杯移了一两英寸，把一本书翻过来，把它翻到另一面，有一会儿，她自己忙着做类似的徒劳的事情，一副把事情弄得井井有条的样子，尽管她对他们没有产生任何实际的效果。

“Of course you will,” she repeated, absently.

“你当然会的，”她心不在焉地重复道。

“You'll be as strong as you ever were; maybe stronger.” She paused for a moment, not looking at him, then added, cheerfully, “So that you can fly around and find something really good to get into.”

“你会像以前一样坚强；也许更坚强。”她停顿了一会儿，没有看他，然后高兴地补充道，“这样你就可以飞来飞去，找到一些真正好的东西可以进入。”

Something important between them came near the surface here, for though she spoke with what seemed but a casual cheerfulness, there was a little betraying break in her voice, a trembling just perceptible in the utterance of the final word.

他们之间的一些重要的事情在这里浮现出来，因为虽然她说话的语气看起来只是一种随意的快乐，但她的声音里有一点背叛的停顿，在说出最后一个词时可以感觉到颤抖。

And she still kept up the affectation of being helpfully preoccupied with the table, and did not look at her husband--perhaps because they had been married so many years that without looking she knew just what his expression would be, and preferred to avoid the actual sight of it as long as possible.

她仍然假装全神贯注于餐桌，没有看她的丈夫——也许是因为他们结婚这么多年，她不用看也知道他的表情，并且宁愿尽可能避免实际看到它。

Meanwhile, he stared hard at her, his lips beginning to move with little distortions not lacking in the pathos of a sick man's agitation.

与此同时，他紧紧地盯着她，嘴唇开始微微扭曲，不乏病人激动时的悲怆。

“So that's it,” he said.

“就是这样，”他说。

“That's what you're hinting at.”

“这就是你所暗示的。”

“'Hinting?'” Mrs. Adams looked surprised and indulgent.

“‘暗示？’”亚当斯夫人看上去既惊讶又宽容。

“Why, I'm not doing any hinting, Virgil.”

“为什么，我没有做任何暗示，维吉尔。”

“What did you say about my finding 'something good to get into?'” he asked, sharply.

“你对我找到‘值得进入的好东西’有什么看法？”他尖锐地问道。

“Don't you call that hinting?”

“你这不叫暗示吗？”

Mrs. Adams turned toward him now; she came to the bedside and would have taken his hand, but he quickly moved it away from her.

亚当斯太太现在转向他。她来到床边，想要握住他的手，但他很快就把它从她身上移开。

“You mustn't let yourself get nervous,” she said.

“你一定不能让自己紧张，”她说。

“But of course when you get well there's only one thing to do.

“但是，当然，当你康复后，就只有一件事要做了。

You mustn't go back to that old hole again.”

你不许再回到那个老洞了。”

“'Old hole?' That's what you call it, is it?” In spite of his weakness, anger made his voice strident, and upon this stimulation she spoke more urgently.

“‘老洞？’你就是这么称呼它的，是吗？”尽管他很虚弱，但愤怒使他的声音变得刺耳，在这种刺激下，她说话更加急切。

“You just mustn't go back to it, Virgil.

“你绝对不能再回到过去了，维吉尔。

It's not fair to any of us, and you know it isn't.”

这对我们任何人都不公平，你也知道事实并非如此。”

“Don't tell me what I know, please!”

“请不要告诉我我所知道的事情！”

She clasped her hands, suddenly carrying her urgency to plaintive entreaty.

她紧握双手，突然将自己的紧迫感变成哀怨的哀求。

“Virgil, you WON'T go back to that hole?”

“维吉尔，你不会回到那个洞吗？”

“That's a nice word to use to me!” he said.

“这个词用在我身上真是太好了！”他说。

“Call a man's business a hole!”

“男人的事业就是一个洞！”

“Virgil, if you don't owe it to me to look for something different, don't you owe it to your children?

“维吉尔，如果你不欠我去寻找不同的东西，那你不欠你的孩子吗？

Don't tell me you won't do what we all want you to, and what you know in your heart you ought to!

别告诉我你不会做我们都希望你做的事情，而你内心知道你应该做的事情！

And if you HAVE got into one of your stubborn fits and are bound to go back there for no other reason except to have your own way, don't tell me so, for I can't bear it!”

如果你已经陷入了一种顽固的状态，并且除了按自己的方式行事之外，没有其他原因就必须回到那里，请不要告诉我，因为我无法忍受！”

He looked up at her fiercely.

他抬头凶狠地看着她。

“You've got a fine way to cure a sick man!” he said; but she had concluded her appeal--for that time--and instead of making any more words in the matter, let him see that there were tears in her eyes, shook her head, and left the room.

“你有一个治愈病人的好方法！”他说；但她已经结束了她的上诉——当时——并且不再就此事发表任何言论，而是让他看到她眼里含着泪水，摇摇头，离开了房间。

Alone, he lay breathing rapidly, his emaciated chest proving itself equal to the demands his emotion put upon it.

他独自一人躺着，呼吸急促，他那瘦弱的胸膛证明自己能够承受他的情感所施加的要求。

“Fine!” he repeated, with husky indignation.

“美好的！”他带着沙哑的愤怒重复道。

“Fine way to cure a sick man!

“治愈病人的好方法！

Fine!” Then, after a silence, he gave forth whispering sounds as of laughter, his expression the while remaining sore and far from humour.

好吧！然后，在沉默之后，他发出了笑声般的低语声，他的表情仍然痛苦而毫无幽默感。

“And give us our daily bread!” he added, meaning that his wife's little performance was no novelty.

“并给我们每日的面包！”他补充道，这意味着他妻子的小表演并不新鲜。

CHAPTER II

第二章

In fact, the agitation of Mrs. Adams was genuine, but so well under her control that its traces vanished during the three short steps she took to cross the narrow hall between her husband's door and the one opposite.

事实上，亚当斯夫人的激动是真实的，但她控制得很好，以至于在她跨过丈夫门和对面门之间狭窄的走廊的三小步中，这种激动的痕迹就消失了。

Her expression was matter-of-course, rather than pathetic, as she entered the pretty room where her daughter, half dressed, sat before a dressing-table and played with the reflections of a three-leafed mirror framed in blue enamel.

当她走进漂亮的房间时，她的表情是理所当然的，而不是可怜的，她的女儿半穿衣服，坐在梳妆台前，玩弄着蓝色珐琅框的三叶镜子的倒影。

That is, just before the moment of her mother's entrance, Alice had been playing with the mirror's reflections--posturing her arms and her expressions, clasping her hands behind her neck, and tilting back her head to foreshorten the face in a tableau conceived to represent sauciness, then one of smiling weariness, then one of scornful toleration, and all very piquant; but as the door opened she hurriedly resumed the practical, and occupied her hands in the arrangement of her plentiful brownish hair.

也就是说，就在她母亲进来之前，爱丽丝一直在玩弄镜子里的倒影——摆弄她的手臂和她的表情，把双手抱在脖子后面，然后向后仰着头，以缩短脸部，呈现出一种被认为代表傲慢的画面，然后是微笑的疲倦，然后是轻蔑的宽容，一切都非常辛辣；但门一打开，她就赶紧继续干活，双手忙着整理她那浓密的棕色头发。

They were pretty hands, of a shapeliness delicate and fine.

那是一双漂亮的手，形状优美，精致。

“The best things she's got!” a cold-blooded girl friend said of them, and meant to include Alice's mind and character in the implied list of possessions surpassed by the notable hands.

“她拥有的最好的东西！”一位冷血的女朋友这样评价她们，意在将爱丽丝的思想和品格列入暗示的财产清单，而这些财产是那些著名人物所超越的。

However that may have been, the rest of her was well enough.

不管怎样，她的其他部分都还好。

She was often called “a right pretty girl”--temperate praise meaning a girl rather pretty than otherwise, and this she deserved, to say the least.

她经常被称为“一个真正的漂亮女孩”——温和的赞美意味着一个女孩而不是其他的漂亮，至少可以说，这是她应得的。

Even in repose she deserved it, though repose was anything but her habit, being seldom seen upon her except at home.

即使在休息时，她也应得的，尽管休息绝不是她的习惯，除了在家里之外，很少有人看到她在她身上。

On exhibition she led a life of gestures, the unkind said to make her lovely hands more memorable; but all of her usually accompanied the gestures of the hands, the shoulders ever giving them their impulses first, and even her feet being called upon, at the same time, for eloquence.

在展览中，她过着充满手势的生活，据说这种不友善的行为让她可爱的双手更令人难忘；但她的整个身体通常都伴随着双手的动作，肩膀总是首先发出它们的冲动，甚至同时，她的脚也被要求进行雄辩。

So much liveliness took proper place as only accessory to that of the face, where her vivacity reached its climax; and it was unfortunate that an ungifted young man, new in the town, should have attempted to define the effect upon him of all this generosity of emphasis.

如此多的活力占据了适当的位置，只是面部的附属品，在那里她的活力达到了顶峰。不幸的是，一个没有天赋的年轻人，刚来到这座城市，试图定义所有这些慷慨的强调对他的影响。

He said that “the way she used her cute hazel eyes and the wonderful glow of her facial expression gave her a mighty spiritual quality.” His actual rendition of the word was “spirichul”; but it was not his pronunciation that embalmed this outburst in the perennial laughter of Alice's girl friends; they made the misfortune far less his than hers.

他说，“她可爱的淡褐色眼睛的样子和面部表情的美妙光芒赋予了她强大的精神品质。”他对这个词的实际翻译是“spirichul”；但并不是他的发音使爱丽丝的女朋友们常年笑声中的这一次爆发更加珍贵。他们让他的不幸远不如她的不幸。

Her mother comforted her too heartily, insisting that Alice had “plenty enough spiritual qualities,” certainly more than possessed by the other girls who flung the phrase at her, wooden things, jealous of everything they were incapable of themselves; and then Alice, getting more championship than she sought, grew uneasy lest Mrs. Adams should repeat such defenses “outside the family”; and Mrs. Adams ended by weeping because the daughter so distrusted her intelligence.

她的母亲过于真诚地安慰她，坚称爱丽丝有“足够的精神品质”，当然比其他向她扔这句话的女孩拥有的更多，木头东西，嫉妒她们自己无法做到的一切;然后，爱丽丝获得了比她想要的更多的冠军，她变得不安起来，唯恐亚当斯夫人会在“家庭之外”重复这样的辩护。亚当斯夫人最后哭了，因为女儿太不相信她的智力了。

Alice frequently thought it necessary to instruct her mother.

爱丽丝经常认为有必要指导她的母亲。

Her morning greeting was an instruction to-day; or, rather, it was an admonition in the style of an entreaty, the more petulant as Alice thought that Mrs. Adams might have had a glimpse of the posturings to the mirror.

她的早晨问候是今天的指示；或者更确切地说，这是一种恳求式的警告，爱丽丝认为亚当斯太太可能瞥见了镜子里的姿势，所以更加任性。

This was a needless worry; the mother had caught a thousand such glimpses, with Alice unaware, and she thought nothing of the one just flitted.

这是不必要的担心。母亲已经在爱丽丝浑然不觉的情况下瞥见了上千次这样的一瞥，而她对刚刚掠过的那一瞥毫不在意。

“For heaven's sake, mama, come clear inside the room and shut the door!

“看在老天的份上，妈妈，快到房间里来，把门关上！

PLEASE don't leave it open for everybody to look at me!”

请不要把它打开让每个人都能看到我！”

“There isn't anybody to see you,” Mrs. Adams explained, obeying.

“没有人来看你，”亚当斯夫人顺从地解释道。

“Miss Perry's gone downstairs, and----”

“佩里小姐下楼了，然后——”

“Mama, I heard you in papa's room,” Alice said, not dropping the note of complaint.

“妈妈，我在爸爸的房间里听到了你的声音，”爱丽丝说道，并没有放下抱怨的字条。

“I could hear both of you, and I don't think you ought to get poor old papa so upset--not in his present condition, anyhow.”

“我能听到你们俩的声音，而且我认为你们不应该让可怜的老爸爸如此沮丧——无论如何，以他目前的状况，不应该。”

Mrs. Adams seated herself on the edge of the bed.

亚当斯太太坐在床边。

“He's better all the time,” she said, not disturbed.

“他一直都在进步，”她说道，并没有感到不安。

“He's almost well.

“他已经差不多好了。

The doctor says so and Miss Perry says so; and if we don't get him into the right frame of mind now we never will.

医生这么说，佩里小姐也这么说；如果我们现在不让他进入正确的心态，我们永远也不会。

The first day he's outdoors he'll go back to that old hole--you'll see!

他在户外的第一天，他就会回到那个老洞——你会看到的！

And if he once does that, he'll settle down there and it'll be too late and we'll never get him out.”

如果他一旦这么做了，他就会在那里安定下来，那就太晚了，我们永远也不会把他救出来。”

“Well, anyhow, I think you could use a little more tact with him.”

“好吧，无论如何，我认为你可以对他多一点策略。”

“I do try to,” the mother sighed.

“我确实尝试过，”母亲叹了口气。

“It never was much use with him.

“这对他来说从来没有多大用处。

I don't think you understand him as well as I do, Alice.”

我认为你不如我了解他，爱丽丝。”

“There's one thing I don't understand about either of you,” Alice returned, crisply.

“有一件事我不明白你们两个，”爱丽丝干脆地回答道。

“Before people get married they can do anything they want to with each other.

“在结婚之前，人们可以对彼此做任何他们想做的事。

Why can't they do the same thing after they're married?

为什么结婚后他们就不能做同样的事情呢？

When you and papa were young people and engaged, he'd have done anything you wanted him to.

当你和爸爸还年轻订婚时，他会做任何你想让他做的事。

That must have been because you knew how to manage him then.

那一定是因为你那时知道如何管理他。

Why can't you go at him the same way now?”

为什么你现在不能用同样的方式攻击他呢？”

Mrs. Adams sighed again, and laughed a little, making no other response; but Alice persisted.

亚当斯太太又叹了口气，笑了笑，没有做出其他反应。但爱丽丝坚持了下来。

“Well, WHY can't you?

“好吧，为什么你不能呢？

Why can't you ask him to do things the way you used to ask him when you were just in love with each other?

为什么你不能像刚相爱时那样要求他做事呢？

Why don't you anyhow try it, mama, instead of ding-donging at him?”

妈妈，你为什么不尝试一下，而不是对他叮咚呢？

“'Ding-donging at him,' Alice?” Mrs. Adams said, with a pathos somewhat emphasized.

“‘叮咚对着他，’爱丽丝？”亚当斯夫人说道，语气中带着几分哀伤。

“Is that how my trying to do what I can for you strikes you?”

“这就是我努力为你做的事情给你的印象吗？”

“Never mind that; it's nothing to hurt your feelings.” Alice disposed of the pathos briskly.

“没关系，这不会伤害你的感情。”爱丽丝很快地消除了悲伤。

“Why don't you answer my question?

“你为什么不回答我的问题？

What's the matter with using a little more tact on papa?

对爸爸用点机智有什么问题吗？

Why can't you treat him the way you probably did when you were young people, before you were married?

为什么你不能像年轻时、结婚前那样对待他呢？

I never have understood why people can't do that.”

我一直不明白为什么人们做不到这一点。”

“Perhaps you WILL understand some day,” her mother said, gently.

“也许有一天你会明白的，”她母亲温柔地说。

“Maybe you will when you've been married twenty-five years.”

“也许当你结婚二十五年后你就会明白了。”

“You keep evading.

“你一直在逃避。

Why don't you answer my question right straight out?”

为什么不直接回答我的问题呢？”

“There are questions you can't answer to young people, Alice.”

“有些问题你无法回答年轻人，爱丽丝。”

“You mean because we're too young to understand the answer?

“你的意思是因为我们还太年轻，无法理解答案？

I don't see that at all.

我根本不这么认为。

At twenty-two a girl's supposed to have some intelligence, isn't she?

女孩子二十二岁了，应该有点智力了吧？

And intelligence is the ability to understand, isn't it?

智力就是理解的能力，不是吗？

Why do I have to wait till I've lived with a man twenty-five years to understand why you can't be tactful with papa?”

为什么我要等到和一个男人生活了二十五年才明白你为什么不能对爸爸委婉一点呢？”

“You may understand some things before that,” Mrs. Adams said, tremulously.

“在那之前你可能会明白一些事情，”亚当斯夫人颤抖着说道。

“You may understand how you hurt me sometimes.

“你也许会理解，有时你是如何伤害我的。

Youth can't know everything by being intelligent, and by the time you could understand the answer you're asking for you'd know it, and wouldn't need to ask.

年轻人不可能通过聪明来知道一切，当你能够理解你所要求的答案时，你就会知道，并且不需要问。

You don't understand your father, Alice; you don't know what it takes to change him when he's made up his mind to be stubborn.”

你不了解你的父亲，爱丽丝；当他下定决心要固执时，你不知道需要什么才能改变他。”

Alice rose and began to get herself into a skirt.

爱丽丝站起来，开始穿上裙子。

“Well, I don't think making scenes ever changes anybody,” she grumbled.

“好吧，我不认为制造场景能够改变任何人，”她抱怨道。

“I think a little jolly persuasion goes twice as far, myself.”

“我认为，一点点愉快的说服会起到双倍的效果，对我来说。”

“'A little jolly persuasion!'” Her mother turned the echo of this phrase into an ironic lament.

“‘有点令人愉快的劝说！’”她母亲把这句话的回声变成了讽刺的哀叹。

“Yes, there was a time when I thought that, too!

“是啊，我曾经也这么想过！

It didn't work; that's all.”

没用；仅此而已。”

“Perhaps you left the 'jolly' part of it out, mama.”

“也许你忽略了其中‘快乐’的部分，妈妈。”

For the second time that morning--it was now a little after seven o'clock--tears seemed about to offer their solace to Mrs. Adams.

那天早上，当时已经七点多了，亚当斯太太似乎第二次流下眼泪来安慰自己。

“I might have expected you to say that, Alice; you never do miss a chance,” she said, gently.

“我可能预料到你会这么说，爱丽丝；你从来不会错过任何机会，”她温柔地说。

“It seems queer you don't some time miss just ONE chance!”

“奇怪的是，你有时不会错过一次机会！”

But Alice, progressing with her toilet, appeared to be little concerned.

但爱丽丝正在上厕所，她似乎并不担心。

“Oh, well, I think there are better ways of managing a man than just hammering at him.”

“哦，好吧，我认为管理一个人有比仅仅打击他更好的方法。”

Mrs. Adams uttered a little cry of pain.

亚当斯太太痛苦地发出一声小叫。

“'Hammering,' Alice?”

“‘锤击’，爱丽丝？”

“If you'd left it entirely to me,” her daughter went on, briskly, “I believe papa'd already be willing to do anything we want him to.”

“如果你把这件事完全交给我，”她女儿轻快地继续说道，“我相信爸爸已经愿意做我们想让他做的任何事情了。”

“That's it; tell me I spoil everything.

“就是这样；告诉我我破坏了一切。

Well, I won't interfere from now on, you can be sure of it.”

好吧，以后我不会再干涉了，你放心。”

“Please don't talk like that,” Alice said, quickly.

“请不要这样说话，”爱丽丝很快说道。

“I'm old enough to realize that papa may need pressure of all sorts; I only think it makes him more obstinate to get him cross.

“我已经足够大了，能够意识到爸爸可能需要各种各样的压力；我认为这只会让他更加固执地让他生气。

You probably do understand him better, but that's one thing I've found out and you haven't.

你可能确实更了解他，但这是我已经发现而你还没有发现的一件事。

There!” She gave her mother a friendly tap on the shoulder and went to the door.

那里！她友好地拍了拍母亲的肩膀，然后朝门口走去。

“I'll hop in and say hello to him now.”

“我现在就上车去跟他打个招呼。”

As she went, she continued the fastening of her blouse, and appeared in her father's room with one hand still thus engaged, but she patted his forehead with the other.

她一边走，一边继续系上衬衫，出现在父亲的房间里，一只手仍然紧握着，但她用另一只手拍了拍他的额头。

“Poor old papa-daddy!” she said, gaily.

“可怜的老爸爸爸爸！”她高兴地说。

“Every time he's better somebody talks him into getting so mad he has a relapse.

“每当他好一点的时候，就会有人劝他发疯，导致旧病复发。

It's a shame!”

真是可惜了！”

Her father's eyes, beneath their melancholy brows, looked up at her wistfully.

她父亲忧郁的眉毛下的眼睛，充满渴望地抬头看着她。

“I suppose you heard your mother going for me,” he said.

“我想你听到你妈妈去找我了，”他说。

“I heard you going for her, too!” Alice laughed.

“我听说你也去找她了！”爱丽丝笑了。

“What was it all about?”

“这到底是怎么回事？”

“Oh, the same danged old story!”

“哦，同样危险的老故事！”

“You mean she wants you to try something new when you get well?” Alice asked, with cheerful innocence.

“你的意思是她希望你康复后尝试一些新的东西？”爱丽丝天真地开朗地问道。

“So we could all have a lot more money?”

“那么我们都可以拥有更多的钱吗？”

At this his sorrowful forehead was more sorrowful than ever.

想到这里，他原本悲伤的额头更加悲伤了。

The deep horizontal lines moved upward to a pattern of suffering so familiar to his daughter that it meant nothing to her; but he spoke quietly.

深深的水平线向上移动，形成一种痛苦的模式，这对他的女儿来说是如此熟悉，以至于对她来说毫无意义。但他说话轻声。

“Yes; so we wouldn't have any money at all, most likely.”

“是的；所以我们很可能根本就没有钱。”

“Oh, no!” she laughed, and, finishing with her blouse, patted his cheeks with both hands.

“哦，不！”她笑了，脱下衬衫，用双手拍拍他的脸颊。

“Just think how many grand openings there must be for a man that knows as much as you do!

“想想看，对于一个像你一样懂得多的人来说，一定有多少盛大的空缺！

I always did believe you could get rich if you only cared to, papa.”

我一直相信，只要你愿意，你就能致富，爸爸。”

But upon his forehead the painful pattern still deepened.

但他额头上的痛苦图案仍在加深。

“Don't you think we've always had enough, the way things are, Alice?”

“你不觉得我们已经受够了吗，爱丽丝？”

“Not the way things ARE!” She patted his cheeks again; laughed again.

“事情不是这样的！”她又拍拍他的脸颊；又笑了。

“It used to be enough, maybe anyway we did skimp along on it--but the way things are now I expect mama's really pretty practical in her ideas, though, I think it's a shame for her to bother you about it while you're so weak.

“过去就足够了，也许无论如何我们确实在这方面省钱了——但现在的情况是，我希望妈妈的想法真的很实际，不过，我认为在你如此虚弱的时候她来打扰你是一种耻辱。

Don't you worry about it, though; just think about other things till you get strong.”

不过，你不用担心；想想其他事情，直到你变得坚强。”

“You know,” he said; “you know it isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world for a man of my age to find these grand openings you speak of.

“你知道，”他说。 “你知道，对于我这个年纪的人来说，找到你所说的这些盛大的开业并不是世界上最容易的事情。

And when you've passed half-way from fifty to sixty you're apt to see some risk in giving up what you know how to do and trying something new.”

当你从五十岁到六十岁的时候，你很容易会看到放弃你知道如何做的事情并尝试新事物的风险。”

“My, what a frown!” she cried, blithely.

“哎呀，真是皱眉啊！”她高兴地喊道。

“Didn't I tell you to stop thinking about it till you get ALL well?” She bent over him, giving him a gay little kiss on the bridge of his nose.

“我不是告诉过你在一切康复之前不要再想这件事了吗？”她俯身在他身上，在他的鼻梁上轻轻地吻了一下。

“There!

” “那里！

I must run to breakfast.

我必须跑去吃早餐。

Cheer up now!

现在就加油吧！

Au 'voir!” And with her pretty hand she waved further encouragement from the closing door as she departed.

好了！当她离开时，她用她漂亮的手在关上的门上挥舞着进一步的鼓励。

Lightsomely descending the narrow stairway, she whistled as she went, her fingers drumming time on the rail; and, still whistling, she came into the dining-room, where her mother and her brother were already at the table.

她轻快地走下狭窄的楼梯，边走边吹着口哨，手指在栏杆上敲击着时间。她吹着口哨走进餐厅，她的母亲和哥哥已经坐在餐桌旁。

The brother, a thin and sallow boy of twenty, greeted her without much approval as she took her place.

当她接替她的位置时，哥哥是一个瘦削、脸色蜡黄的二十岁男孩，他并没有给予太多的认可，而是向她打招呼。

“Nothing seems to trouble you!” he said.

“看来没有什么事让你烦恼啊！”他说。

“No; nothing much,” she made airy response.

“不，没什么，”她轻快地回答。

“What's troubling yourself, Walter?”

“沃尔特，你有什么烦恼吗？”

“Don't let that worry you!” he returned, seeming to consider this to be repartee of an effective sort; for he furnished a short laugh to go with it, and turned to his coffee with the manner of one who has satisfactorily closed an episode.

“别让这个让你担心！”他回来了，似乎认为这是一种有效的机智应答。因为他伴随着一阵短暂的笑声，然后以令人满意地结束一集的人的方式转向他的咖啡。

“Walter always seems to have so many secrets!” Alice said, studying him shrewdly, but with a friendly enough amusement in her scrutiny.

“沃尔特似乎总是有很多秘密！”爱丽丝说，她敏锐地打量着他，但她的审视中带着足够友好的乐趣。

“Everything he does or says seems to be acted for the benefit of some mysterious audience inside himself, and he always gets its applause.

“他所做的一切或所说的一切似乎都是为了他内心的一些神秘观众的利益，而他总是得到观众的掌声。

Take what he said just now: he seems to think it means something, but if it does, why, that's just another secret between him and the secret audience inside of him!

就拿他刚才说的话来说：他似乎认为这意味着什么，但如果是的话，那又是他和他内心的秘密观众之间的另一个秘密！

We don't really know anything about Walter at all, do we, mama?”

我们真的对沃尔特一无所知，是吗，妈妈？”

Walter laughed again, in a manner that sustained her theory well enough; then after finishing his coffee, he took from his pocket a flattened packet in glazed blue paper; extracted with stained fingers a bent and wrinkled little cigarette, lighted it, hitched up his belted trousers with the air of a person who turns from trifles to things better worth his attention, and left the room.

沃尔特又笑了，笑声足以证明她的理论。喝完咖啡后，他从口袋里掏出一个用蓝色釉面纸压扁的小包。他用沾满污迹的手指抽出一支又弯又皱的小香烟，点燃它，像一个从琐事转向更值得他关注的事情的人那样，把系着腰带的裤子拉起来，然后离开了房间。

Alice laughed as the door closed.

门关上时，爱丽丝笑了。

“He's ALL secrets,” she said.

“他是所有的秘密，”她说。

“Don't you think you really ought to know more about him, mama?”

“你不认为你真的应该更多地了解他吗，妈妈？”

“I'm sure he's a good boy,” Mrs. Adams returned, thoughtfully.

“我确信他是个好孩子，”亚当斯夫人若有所思地回答道。

“He's been very brave about not being able to have the advantages that are enjoyed by the boys he's grown up with.

“他非常勇敢，因为他无法拥有和他一起长大的男孩们所享有的优势。

I've never heard a word of complaint from him.”

我从来没有听到他抱怨过一句话。”

“About his not being sent to college?” Alice cried.

“关于他没有被送去上大学的事？”爱丽丝哭了。

“I should think you wouldn't!

“我想你不会的！

He didn't even have enough ambition to finish high school!”

他连读完高中的志向都没有！”

Mrs. Adams sighed.

亚当斯夫人叹了口气。

“It seemed to me Walter lost his ambition when nearly all the boys he'd grown up with went to Eastern schools to prepare for college, and we couldn't afford to send him.

“在我看来，沃尔特似乎失去了他的雄心，因为几乎所有和他一起长大的男孩都去东部学校为大学做准备，而我们却无力送他去。

If only your father would have listened----”

要是你父亲听了就好了——”

Alice interrupted: “What nonsense!

爱丽丝打断道：“胡说八道！

Walter hated books and studying, and athletics, too, for that matter.

沃尔特讨厌书籍和学习，也讨厌运动。

He doesn't care for anything nice that I ever heard of.

他不喜欢我听说过的任何好东西。

What do you suppose he does like, mama?

妈妈，你猜他喜欢什么？

He must like something or other somewhere, but what do you suppose it is?

他一定喜欢某个地方的某样东西，但你认为那是什么？

What does he do with his time?”

他的时间都用来做什么？”

“Why, the poor boy's at Lamb and Company's all day.

“哎呀，这个可怜的男孩一整天都在羔羊公司。

He doesn't get through until five in the afternoon; he doesn't HAVE much time.”

他直到下午五点才接通；他没有太多时间。”

“Well, we never have dinner until about seven, and he's always late for dinner, and goes out, heaven knows where, right afterward!” Alice shook her head.

“嗯，我们直到七点左右才吃晚饭，而他总是迟到，然后就出去了，天知道在哪里！”爱丽丝摇摇头。

“He used to go with our friends' boys, but I don't think he does now.”

“他曾经和我们朋友的儿子一起去，但我认为他现在不会了。”

“Why, how could he?” Mrs. Adams protested.

“为什么，他怎么可以？”亚当斯夫人提出抗议。

“That isn't his fault, poor child!

“这不是他的错，可怜的孩子！

The boys he knew when he was younger are nearly all away at college.”

他年轻时认识的男孩几乎都在上大学了。”

“Yes, but he doesn't see anything of 'em when they're here at holiday-time or vacation.

“是的，但是当他们在假期或度假时，他什么也看不见。

None of 'em come to the house any more.”

他们都不再来我们家了。”

“I suppose he's made other friends.

“我想他还交了其他朋友。

It's natural for him to want companions, at his age.”

在他这个年纪，想要同伴是很自然的事情。”

“Yes,” Alice said, with disapproving emphasis.

“是的，”爱丽丝不以为然地强调道。

“But who are they?

“但是他们是谁？

I've got an idea he plays pool at some rough place down-town.”

我知道他在市中心某个简陋的地方打台球。”

“Oh, no; I'm sure he's a steady boy,” Mrs. Adams protested, but her tone was not that of thoroughgoing conviction, and she added, “Life might be a very different thing for him if only your father can be brought to see----”

“哦，不；我相信他是个稳重的男孩，”亚当斯夫人抗议道，但她的语气并不是彻底的确信，她补充道，“如果能带你父亲来看看……”

“Never mind, mama!

“没关系，妈妈！

It isn't me that has to be convinced, you know; and we can do a lot more with papa if we just let him alone about it for a day or two.

你知道，需要被说服的不是我；而是我。如果我们让爸爸独自思考一两天，我们就可以和爸爸做更多的事情。

Promise me you won't say any more to him until--well, until he's able to come downstairs to table.

答应我，你不会再对他说任何话，直到——好吧，直到他能够下楼吃饭。

Will you?”

你愿意吗？

Mrs. Adams bit her lip, which had begun to tremble.

亚当斯夫人咬着嘴唇，嘴唇已经开始颤抖。

“I think you can trust me to know a FEW things, Alice,” she said.

“我想你可以相信我知道一些事情，爱丽丝，”她说。

“I'm a little older than you, you know.”

“我比你大一点，你知道的。”

“That's a good girl!” Alice jumped up, laughing.

“真是个好姑娘啊！”爱丽丝跳了起来，大笑起来。

“Don't forget it's the same as a promise, and do just cheer him up a little.

“别忘了这和承诺是一样的，让他高兴一点就行了。

I'll say good-bye to him before I go out.”

出去之前我先跟他道别。”

“Where are you going?”

“你要去哪里？”

“Oh, I've got lots to do.

“噢，我还有很多事要做。

I thought I'd run out to Mildred's to see what she's going to wear to-night, and then I want to go down and buy a yard of chiffon and some narrow ribbon to make new bows for my slippers--you'll have to give me some money----”

我想我应该跑到米尔德里德那里看看她今晚要穿什么，然后我想下去买一码雪纺和一些窄丝带，为我的拖鞋做新的蝴蝶结——你得给我一些钱——”

“If he'll give it to me!” her mother lamented, as they went toward the front stairs together; but an hour later she came into Alice's room with a bill in her hand.

“如果他愿意给我就好了！”当他们一起走向前楼梯时，她母亲哀叹道。但一个小时后，她手里拿着一张账单走进了爱丽丝的房间。

“He has some money in his bureau drawer,” she said.

“他的抽屉里有一些钱，”她说。

“He finally told me where it was.”

“他终于告诉我它在哪里了。”

There were traces of emotion in her voice, and Alice, looking shrewdly at her, saw moisture in her eyes.

她的声音里带着一丝感情，爱丽丝精明地看着她，看到她眼里湿润了。

“Mama!” she cried.

“妈妈！”她哭了。

“You didn't do what you promised me you wouldn't, did you--NOT before Miss Perry!”

“你没有做你答应我不会做的事，是不是——不是在佩里小姐面前！”

“Miss Perry's getting him some broth,” Mrs. Adams returned, calmly.

“佩里小姐正在给他拿点肉汤，”亚当斯夫人平静地回答道。

“Besides, you're mistaken in saying I promised you anything; I said I thought you could trust me to know what is right.”

“此外，你说我向你承诺过任何事情，这是错误的；我说我认为你可以相信我知道什么是正确的。”

“So you did bring it up again!” And Alice swung away from her, strode to her father's door, flung it open, went to him, and put a light hand soothingly over his unrelaxed forehead.

“所以你又提起来了！”爱丽丝从她身边转开，大步走到她父亲的门前，猛地打开门，走到他身边，轻轻地把手放在他毫无放松的额头上，以示安慰。

“Poor old papa!” she said.

“可怜的老爸爸！”她说。

“It's a shame how everybody wants to trouble him.

“每个人都想麻烦他，真是太可惜了。

He shan't be bothered any more at all!

他不会再被打扰了！

He doesn't need to have everybody telling him how to get away from that old hole he's worked in so long and begin to make us all nice and rich.

他不需要每个人都告诉他如何摆脱他工作了这么久的旧洞，并开始让我们所有人变得友善和富有。

HE knows how!”

他知道怎么做！”

Thereupon she kissed him a consoling good-bye, and made another gay departure, the charming hand again fluttering like a white butterfly in the shadow of the closing door.

随后，她安慰性地吻了他一声再见，然后又愉快地离开了，那只迷人的手再次像一只白色的蝴蝶一样在关门的阴影中翩翩起舞。

CHAPTER III

第三章

Mrs. Adams had remained in Alice's room, but her mood seemed to have changed, during her daughter's little more than momentary absence.

亚当斯太太一直待在爱丽丝的房间里，但在她女儿短暂离开期间，她的心情似乎发生了变化。

“What did he SAY?” she asked, quickly, and her tone was hopeful.

“他说什么？”她很快问道，语气充满希望。

“'Say?'” Alice repeated, impatiently.

“‘说？’”爱丽丝不耐烦地重复道。

“Why, nothing.

“为什么，没什么。

I didn't let him.

我没有让他。

Really, mama, I think the best thing for you to do would be to just keep out of his room, because I don't believe you can go in there and not talk to him about it, and if you do talk we'll never get him to do the right thing.

真的，妈妈，我认为你最好做的就是不要进入他的房间，因为我不相信你可以进去而不和他谈论这件事，如果你真的谈论我们永远不会让他做正确的事。

Never!”

从来没有！

The mother's response was a grieving silence; she turned from her daughter and walked to the door.

母亲的反应是悲伤的沉默。她转身离开女儿，朝门口走去。

“Now, for goodness' sake!” Alice cried.

“现在，看在上帝的份上！”爱丽丝哭了。

“Don't go making tragedy out of my offering you a little practical advice!”

“别因为我给你提供的一些实用建议而酿成悲剧！”

“I'm not,” Mrs. Adams gulped, halting.

“我没有，”亚当斯夫人吞咽了一口，停了下来。

“I'm just--just going to dust the downstairs, Alice.” And with her face still averted, she went out into the little hallway, closing the door behind her.

“我只是——只是去打扫楼下的灰尘，爱丽丝。”她仍然扭着脸，走进小走廊，关上了身后的门。

A moment later she could be heard descending the stairs, the sound of her footsteps carrying somehow an effect of resignation.

过了一会儿，就听见她走下楼梯的声音，她的脚步声不知怎地带着一种听天由命的感觉。

Alice listened, sighed, and, breathing the words, “Oh, murder!” turned to cheerier matters.

爱丽丝听了，叹了口气，呼吸着这句话：“哦，谋杀！”转向更愉快的事情。

She put on a little apple-green turban with a dim gold band round it, and then, having shrouded the turban in a white veil, which she kept pushed up above her forehead, she got herself into a tan coat of soft cloth fashioned with rakish severity.

她戴上一条苹果绿的小头巾，周围系着一条暗金色的带子，然后，她用白色的面纱盖住头巾，一直把面纱推到额头上，然后她穿上一件棕褐色的软布外套，款式时髦，严肃。

After that, having studied herself gravely in a long glass, she took from one of the drawers of her dressing-table a black leather card-case cornered in silver filigree, but found it empty.

之后，她对着长玻璃认真地端详了自己，从梳妆台的一个抽屉里拿出一个角落里镶有银丝的黑色皮革名片盒，却发现它是空的。

She opened another drawer wherein were two white pasteboard boxes of cards, the one set showing simply “Miss Adams,” the other engraved in Gothic characters, “Miss Alys Tuttle Adams.” The latter belonged to Alice's “Alys” period--most girls go through it; and Alice must have felt that she had graduated, for, after frowning thoughtfully at the exhibit this morning, she took the box with its contents, and let the white shower fall from her fingers into the waste-basket beside her small desk.

她打开另一个抽屉，里面有两个白色的纸板盒，里面装着卡片，一组只写着“亚当斯小姐”，另一组则刻着哥特式字符“艾莉丝·塔特尔·亚当斯小姐”。后者属于爱丽丝的“Alys”时期——大多数女孩都会经历过；爱丽丝一定觉得自己已经毕业了，因为今天早上她皱着眉若有所思地看着展览后，拿起了装着里面东西的盒子，让白色的淋浴从她的手指上掉进了她小桌子旁边的废纸篓里。

She replenished the card-case from the “Miss Adams” box; then, having found a pair of fresh white gloves, she tucked an ivory-topped Malacca walking-stick under her arm and set forth.

她从“亚当斯小姐”盒子里装满了名片盒；然后，她找到了一双新的白手套，把一根象牙顶的马六甲手杖夹在腋下，出发了。

She went down the stairs, buttoning her gloves and still wearing the frown with which she had put “Alys” finally out of her life.

她走下楼梯，扣上手套的扣子，仍然皱着眉头，她终于把“艾丽丝”从她的生活中抹去了。

She descended slowly, and paused on the lowest step, looking about her with an expression that needed but a slight deepening to betoken bitterness.

她慢慢地走下来，在最低的一级台阶上停了下来，环顾四周，脸上的表情只需要稍微加深一下就可以表现出痛苦。

Its connection with her dropping “Alys” forever was slight, however.

然而，这与她永远放弃“Alys”的关系微乎其微。

The small frame house, about fifteen years old, was already inclining to become a new Colonial relic.

这座小木屋已有十五年的历史，已经快要成为新的殖民地遗迹了。

The Adamses had built it, moving into it from the “Queen Anne” house they had rented until they took this step in fashion.

亚当斯夫妇建造了它，从他们租用的“安妮女王”房子搬进了这里，直到他们迈出了时尚的这一步。

But fifteen years is a long time to stand still in the midland country, even for a house, and this one was lightly made, though the Adamses had not realized how flimsily until they had lived in it for some time.

但在中部地区，即使对于一栋房子来说，十五年的时间也是很长的，而且这座房子的建造质量很轻，尽管亚当斯一家在住了一段时间后才意识到它有多脆弱。

“Solid, compact, and convenient” were the instructions to the architect, and he had made it compact successfully.

“坚固、紧凑、方便”是对建筑师的指示，他成功地做到了紧凑。

Alice, pausing at the foot of the stairway, was at the same time fairly in the “living-room,” for the only separation between the “living room” and the hall was a demarcation suggested to willing imaginations by a pair of wooden columns painted white.

爱丽丝在楼梯脚下停下来，同时也在“客厅”里，因为“客厅”和大厅之间的唯一分隔是一对漆成白色的木柱，为人们的想象提供了一条分界线。

These columns, pine under the paint, were bruised and chipped at the base; one of them showed a crack that threatened to become a split; the “hard-wood” floor had become uneven; and in a corner the walls apparently failed of solidity, where the wall-paper had declined to accompany some staggerings of the plaster beneath it.

这些柱子在油漆下是松木的，底部被擦伤和碎裂。其中一个出现了裂缝，有可能成为裂缝； “硬木”地板变得不平坦；角落里的墙壁显然不够坚固，墙纸已经无法与其下面的灰泥相伴。

The furniture was in great part an accumulation begun with the wedding gifts; though some of it was older, two large patent rocking-chairs and a footstool having belonged to Mrs. Adams's mother in the days of hard brown plush and veneer.

家具很大程度上是从结婚礼物开始积累起来的。尽管其中有些比较旧，两张大的专利摇椅和一个脚凳在硬棕色毛绒和饰面的时代属于亚当斯夫人的母亲。

For decoration there were pictures and vases.

装饰有图片和花瓶。

Mrs. Adams had always been fond of vases, she said, and every year her husband's Christmas present to her was a vase of one sort or another--whatever the clerk showed him, marked at about twelve or fourteen dollars.

亚当斯太太一直很喜欢花瓶，她说，每年她丈夫送给她的圣诞礼物都是这样或那样的花瓶——无论店员给他看什么，标价约为十二或十四美元。

The pictures were some of them etchings framed in gilt: Rheims, Canterbury, schooners grouped against a wharf; and Alice could remember how, in her childhood, her father sometimes pointed out the watery reflections in this last as very fine.

其中一些图片是镶在镀金框内的蚀刻画：兰斯、坎特伯雷、停靠在码头上的纵帆船；爱丽丝还记得，在她童年的时候，她的父亲有时会指出这最后一张水中的倒影非常好。

But it was a long time since he had shown interest in such things--“or in anything much,” as she thought.

但他已经很久没有对这些事情表现出兴趣了——正如她所想的那样，“或者说对任何事情”都没有兴趣。

Other pictures were two water-colours in baroque frames; one being the Amalfi monk on a pergola wall, while the second was a yard-wide display of iris blossoms, painted by Alice herself at fourteen, as a birthday gift to her mother.

其他画是两幅水彩画，装在巴洛克风格的画框里。一幅是凉棚墙上的阿马尔菲修道士，另一幅是一院宽的鸢尾花，是爱丽丝十四岁时画的，作为送给母亲的生日礼物。

Alice's glance paused upon it now with no great pride, but showed more approval of an enormous photograph of the Colosseum.

爱丽丝的目光停在了上面，不再感到骄傲，而是对这张巨大的罗马斗兽场照片表现出更多的认可。

This she thought of as “the only good thing in the room”; it possessed and bestowed distinction, she felt; and she did not regret having won her struggle to get it hung in its conspicuous place of honour over the mantelpiece.

她认为这是“房间里唯一的好东西”；她觉得它拥有并赋予了区别；她并不后悔自己赢得了胜利，把它挂在了壁炉架上方显眼的位置。

Formerly that place had been held for years by a steel-engraving, an accurate representation of the Suspension Bridge at Niagara Falls.

以前，这个地方多年来一直被一座钢雕所占据，它准确地再现了尼亚加拉大瀑布的吊桥。

It was almost as large as its successor, the “Colosseum,” and it had been presented to Mr. Adams by colleagues in his department at Lamb and Company's.

它几乎和它的后继者“斗兽场”一样大，是亚当斯先生在兰姆公司部门的同事们向亚当斯先生赠送的。

Adams had shown some feeling when Alice began to urge its removal to obscurity in the “upstairs hall”; he even resisted for several days after she had the “Colosseum” charged to him, framed in oak, and sent to the house.

当爱丽丝开始敦促将其移至“楼上大厅”中时，亚当斯表现出了某种感觉。在她把“斗兽场”交给他，用橡木框起来并送到家里后，他甚至抵制了好几天。

She cheered him up, of course, when he gave way; and her heart never misgave her that there might be a doubt which of the two pictures was the more dismaying.

当然，当他屈服时，她让他高兴起来。她的内心从未怀疑过这两幅画中哪一幅更令人沮丧。

Over the pictures, the vases, the old brown plush rocking-chairs and the stool, over the three gilt chairs, over the new chintz-covered easy chair and the gray velure sofa--over everything everywhere, was the familiar coating of smoke grime.

照片、花瓶、旧的棕色毛绒摇椅和凳子、三把镀金椅子、新的印花棉布安乐椅和灰色天鹅绒沙发——到处都是熟悉的烟尘。

It had worked into every fibre of the lace curtains, dingying them to an unpleasant gray; it lay on the window-sills and it dimmed the glass panes; it covered the walls, covered the ceiling, and was smeared darker and thicker in all corners.

它已经渗入了蕾丝窗帘的每一根纤维，把它们染成了令人不快的灰色。它躺在窗台上，使玻璃窗变得暗淡。它覆盖了墙壁，覆盖了天花板，并且在所有角落都涂得更黑、更厚。

Yet here was no fault of housewifery; the curse could not be lifted, as the ingrained smudges permanent on the once white woodwork proved.

但这并不是家庭主妇的错。诅咒无法解除，曾经白色的木制品上永久存在的根深蒂固的污迹证明了这一点。

The grime was perpetually renewed; scrubbing only ground it in.

污垢不断地更新；擦洗只能将其磨碎。

This particular ugliness was small part of Alice's discontent, for though the coating grew a little deeper each year she was used to it.

这种特别的丑陋只是爱丽丝不满的一小部分，因为尽管涂层每年都变得更深一些，但她已经习惯了。

Moreover, she knew that she was not likely to find anything better in a thousand miles, so long as she kept to cities, and that none of her friends, however opulent, had any advantage of her here.

此外，她知道，只要她继续留在城市，一千英里内就不可能找到更好的地方，而且她的朋友，无论多么富有，在这里都没有任何优势。

Indeed, throughout all the great soft-coal country, people who consider themselves comparatively poor may find this consolation: cleanliness has been added to the virtues and beatitudes that money can not buy.

事实上，在所有伟大的烟煤国家，那些自认为比较贫穷的人可能会找到这样的安慰：清洁已经增加了金钱买不到的美德和幸福。

Alice brightened a little as she went forward to the front door, and she brightened more when the spring breeze met her there.

当爱丽丝走到前门时，她的脸色变得明亮了一些，而当春风迎面而来时，她的脸色更加明亮了。

Then all depression left her as she walked down the short brick path to the sidewalk, looked up and down the street, and saw how bravely the maple shade-trees, in spite of the black powder they breathed, were flinging out their thousands of young green particles overhead.

然后，当她沿着短砖路走到人行道上时，所有的沮丧都消失了，她环顾街道，看到枫树遮荫，尽管它们呼吸着黑色的粉末，却勇敢地在头顶上喷射出成千上万的年轻绿色颗粒。

She turned north, treading the new little shadows on the pavement briskly, and, having finished buttoning her gloves, swung down her Malacca stick from under her arm to let it tap a more leisurely accompaniment to her quick, short step.

她转向北边，轻快地踩着人行道上新出现的小影子，扣好手套后，从腋下挥下马六甲手杖，让它轻快地敲击着她快速而短小的步伐。

She had to step quickly if she was to get anywhere; for the closeness of her skirt, in spite of its little length, permitted no natural stride; but she was pleased to be impeded, these brevities forming part of her show of fashion.

如果她想到达任何地方，她就必须加快脚步。因为她的裙子尽管长度很小，但很贴身，不允许她自然地迈出一步。但她很高兴受到阻碍，这些简短的内容构成了她时尚秀的一部分。

Other pedestrians found them not without charm, though approval may have been lacking here and there, and at the first crossing Alice suffered what she might have accounted an actual injury, had she allowed herself to be so sensitive.

其他行人发现他们并非没有魅力，尽管可能到处都缺乏认可，而且在第一个十字路口爱丽丝遭受了她可能认为是真正的伤害，如果她允许自己如此敏感的话。

An elderly woman in fussy black silk stood there, waiting for a streetcar; she was all of a globular modelling, with a face patterned like a frost-bitten peach; and that the approaching gracefulness was uncongenial she naively made too evident.

一位身穿精致黑丝绸的老妇人站在那里，等待有轨电车。她全身都是圆球形的造型，脸型像冻过的桃子。她天真地表现得太明显了，即将到来的优雅是不合宜的。

Her round, wan eyes seemed roused to bitter life as they rose from the curved high heels of the buckled slippers to the tight little skirt, and thence with startled ferocity to the Malacca cane, which plainly appeared to her as a decoration not more astounding than it was insulting.

当她从带扣拖鞋的弧形高跟鞋上升到紧身小裙子，再到马六甲手杖时，她那双苍白的圆眼睛似乎充满了痛苦，在她看来，这显然是一种装饰品，与其说是侮辱，不如说是令人震惊。

Perceiving that the girl was bowing to her, the globular lady hurriedly made shift to alter her injurious expression.

察觉到少女在向自己行礼，圆球女子连忙做出改变，一改她那不耐烦的表情。

“Good morning, Mrs. Dowling,” Alice said, gravely.

“早上好，道林太太，”爱丽丝严肃地说。

Mrs. Dowling returned the salutation with a smile as convincingly benevolent as the ghastly smile upon a Santa Claus face; and then, while Alice passed on, exploded toward her a single compacted breath through tightened lips.

道林夫人以令人信服的仁慈微笑回应了这一问候，就像圣诞老人脸上可怕的微笑一样。然后，当爱丽丝继续前行时，他从紧闭的嘴唇中向她喷出了一口紧缩的呼吸。

The sound was eloquently audible, though Mrs. Dowling remained unaware that in this or any manner whatever she had shed a light upon her thoughts; for it was her lifelong innocent conviction that other people saw her only as she wished to be seen, and heard from her only what she intended to be heard.

这声音雄辩地听得见，尽管道林夫人仍然没有意识到她以这种或任何方式照亮了她的思想；因为她终生天真地相信，其他人只看到她希望被看到的样子，从她那里听到的也只是她想要听到的东西。

At home it was always her husband who pulled down the shades of their bedroom window.

在家里总是她丈夫拉下卧室窗户的窗帘。

Alice looked serious for a few moments after the little encounter, then found some consolation in the behaviour of a gentleman of forty or so who was coming toward her.

这次小小的邂逅之后，爱丽丝表情严肃了一会儿，然后从一位向她走来的四十岁左右的绅士的行为中找到了一些安慰。

Like Mrs. Dowling, he had begun to show consciousness of Alice's approach while she was yet afar off; but his tokens were of a kind pleasanter to her.

和道林夫人一样，当爱丽丝还很远的时候，他就开始意识到她正在靠近。但他的表示对她来说更令人愉快。

He was like Mrs. Dowling again, however, in his conception that Alice would not realize the significance of what he did.

然而，他又像道林夫人一样，认为爱丽丝不会意识到他所做的事情的重要性。

He passed his hand over his neck-scarf to see that it lay neatly to his collar, smoothed a lapel of his coat, and adjusted his hat, seeming to be preoccupied the while with problems that kept his eyes to the pavement; then, as he came within a few feet of her, he looked up, as in a surprised recognition almost dramatic, smiled winningly, lifted his hat decisively, and carried it to the full arm's length.

他把手放在围巾上，看看它是否整齐地贴在衣领上，抚平了外套的翻领，调整了帽子，似乎全神贯注于那些让他的眼睛一直盯着人行道的问题。然后，当他来到离她几英尺的地方时，他抬起头来，惊讶地认出了她，几乎是戏剧性的，他迷人地微笑着，果断地举起帽子，把它举到一臂远的地方。

Alice's response was all he could have asked.

爱丽丝的回答就是他所能问的一切。

The cane in her right hand stopped short in its swing, while her left hand moved in a pretty gesture as if an impulse carried it toward the heart; and she smiled, with her under lip caught suddenly between her teeth.

她右手上的手杖突然停止了摆动，而她的左手则以一种漂亮的姿势移动着，仿佛有一股冲动将它带向了心脏。她微笑着，下唇突然夹在牙齿之间。

Months ago she had seen an actress use this smile in a play, and it came perfectly to Alice now, without conscious direction, it had been so well acquired; but the pretty hand's little impulse toward the heart was an original bit all her own, on the spur of the moment.

几个月前，她在一部戏剧中看到一位女演员使用这种微笑，现在爱丽丝完美地展现了这种微笑，无需有意识的指导，它已经习得得很好；但那只漂亮的手对心的那点小冲动却是她自己的，一时冲动。

The gentleman went on, passing from her forward vision as he replaced his hat.

那位绅士继续往前走，从她前方的视线中移开，重新戴上帽子。

Of himself he was nothing to Alice, except for the gracious circumstance that he had shown strong consciousness of a pretty girl.

对于爱丽丝来说，他自己什么都不是，除了他表现出强烈的漂亮女孩意识之外。

He was middle-aged, substantial, a family man, securely married; and Alice had with him one of those long acquaintances that never become emphasized by so much as five minutes of talk; yet for this inconsequent meeting she had enacted a little part like a fragment in a pantomime of Spanish wooing.

他已经是中年人了，身材魁梧，是个顾家的男人，婚姻也很稳固。爱丽丝和他是一位相识已久的人，即使五分钟的谈话也不会显得更加突出。然而，在这次无关紧要的会面中，她扮演了一个小角色，就像西班牙求爱哑剧中的一个片段。

It was not for him--not even to impress him, except as a messenger.

这不是为了他——甚至不是为了给他留下深刻的印象，除了作为一个信使。

Alice was herself almost unaware of her thought, which was one of the running thousands of her thoughts that took no deliberate form in words.

爱丽丝自己几乎没有意识到自己的想法，这只是她数以千计的想法之一，没有刻意地用语言表达出来。

Nevertheless, she had it, and it was the impulse of all her pretty bits of pantomime when she met other acquaintances who made their appreciation visible, as this substantial gentleman did.

尽管如此，她还是有这种能力，当她遇到其他熟人时，她就会表现出所有漂亮的哑剧，就像这位厚重的绅士所做的那样，这就是她的冲动。

In Alice's unworded thought, he was to be thus encouraged as in some measure a champion to speak well of her to the world; but more than this: he was to tell some magnificent unknown bachelor how wonderful, how mysterious, she was.

在爱丽丝未言明的想法中，他应该因此而受到鼓励，在某种程度上，他是一位冠军，向世界说她的好话。但更重要的是：他要告诉某个伟大的、默默无闻的单身汉，她是多么美妙、多么神秘。

She hastened on gravely, a little stirred reciprocally with the supposed stirrings in the breast of that shadowy ducal mate, who must be somewhere “waiting,” or perhaps already seeking her; for she more often thought of herself as “waiting” while he sought her; and sometimes this view of things became so definite that it shaped into a murmur on her lips.

她严肃地加快了步伐，与那位神秘的公爵伴侣的胸中的假定的激动相反，他一定在某个地方“等待”，或者可能已经在寻找她了；因为当他寻找她时，她更多地认为自己在“等待”。有时，这种对事物的看法变得如此明确，以至于在她的嘴唇上变成了低语。

“Waiting.

“等待。

Just waiting.” And she might add, “For him!” Then, being twenty-two, she was apt to conclude the mystic interview by laughing at herself, though not without a continued wistfulness.

就等着吧。”她可能会补充说：“为了他！”然后，二十二岁的她很容易以嘲笑自己来结束这次神秘的采访，尽管不乏持续的渴望。

She came to a group of small coloured children playing waywardly in a puddle at the mouth of a muddy alley; and at sight of her they gave over their pastime in order to stare.

她看到一群黑人小孩在泥泞小巷口的水坑里任性地玩耍。一看到她，他们就放弃了消遣，转而凝视着她。

She smiled brilliantly upon them, but they were too struck with wonder to comprehend that the manifestation was friendly; and as Alice picked her way in a little detour to keep from the mud, she heard one of them say, “Lady got cane!

她对他们灿烂地微笑，但他们太惊讶了，无法理解她的表现是友善的。当爱丽丝绕了一小段路以避免泥泞时，她听到其中一个人说：“女士拿着手杖！

Jeez'!”

天哪！”

She knew that many coloured children use impieties familiarly, and she was not startled.

她知道许多有色人种的孩子都熟悉使用不敬语，因此她并不感到惊讶。

She was disturbed, however, by an unfavourable hint in the speaker's tone.

然而，说话者的语气中有一丝不愉快的暗示，这让她感到不安。

He was six, probably, but the sting of a criticism is not necessarily allayed by knowledge of its ignoble source, and Alice had already begun to feel a slight uneasiness about her cane.

他大概六岁了，但是知道批评的来源并不一定能减轻批评的刺痛，爱丽丝已经开始对她的手杖感到轻微的不安。

Mrs. Dowling's stare had been strikingly projected at it; other women more than merely glanced, their brows and lips contracting impulsively; and Alice was aware that one or two of them frankly halted as soon as she had passed.

道林夫人的目光引人注目地注视着它。其他女人不只是看了一眼，她们的眉毛和嘴唇都冲动地收缩着。爱丽丝意识到，她一经过，他们中的一两个人就坦率地停了下来。

She had seen in several magazines pictures of ladies with canes, and on that account she had bought this one, never questioning that fashion is recognized, even in the provinces, as soon as beheld.

她在几本杂志上看到过拄着拐杖的女士的照片，因此她买了这一张，从来没有质疑过时尚是被认可的，即使在外省也是如此。

On the contrary, these staring women obviously failed to realize that what they were being shown was not an eccentric outburst, but the bright harbinger of an illustrious mode.

相反，这些凝视的女人显然没有意识到，她们所看到的并不是一种古怪的爆发，而是一种杰出模式的明亮预兆。

Alice had applied a bit of artificial pigment to her lips and cheeks before she set forth this morning; she did not need it, having a ready colour of her own, which now mounted high with annoyance.

今天早上出发之前，爱丽丝在嘴唇和脸颊上涂了一点人造色素；她不需要它，因为她已经有了自己的现成颜色，现在它因烦恼而高高升起。

Then a splendidly shining closed black automobile, with windows of polished glass, came silently down the street toward her.

然后，一辆闪闪发亮的黑色封闭式汽车，车窗是抛光玻璃，沿着街道静静地向她驶来。

Within it, as in a luxurious little apartment, three comely ladies in mourning sat and gossiped; but when they saw Alice they clutched one another.

里面就像在一间豪华的小公寓里一样，三位美丽的哀悼女士坐在里面闲聊。但当他们看到爱丽丝时，他们紧紧地抱在一起。

They instantly recovered, bowing to her solemnly as they were borne by, yet were not gone from her sight so swiftly but the edge of her side glance caught a flash of teeth in mouths suddenly opened, and the dark glisten of black gloves again clutching to share mirth.

他们立刻回过神来，在被抬过去时庄严地向她鞠躬，但并没有那么快地从她的视线中消失，但她侧眼的边缘看到了突然张开的嘴里的牙齿，闪闪发亮的黑色手套再次紧紧抓住，分享着欢乐。

The colour that outdid the rouge on Alice's cheek extended its area and grew warmer as she realized how all too cordial had been her nod and smile to these humorous ladies.

当爱丽丝意识到自己对这些幽默女士的点头和微笑是多么亲切时，她脸颊上比胭脂更胜一筹的颜色扩大了范围，变得更加温暖。

But in their identity lay a significance causing her a sharper smart, for they were of the family of that Lamb, chief of Lamb and Company, who had employed her father since before she was born.

但他们的身份有一个重要意义，使她更加聪明，因为他们是羔羊的家族，羔羊公司的首领，在她出生之前，羔羊就雇用了她的父亲。

“And know his salary!

“并且知道他的薪水！

They'd be SURE to find out about that!” was her thought, coupled with another bitter one to the effect that they had probably made instantaneous financial estimates of what she wore though certainly her walking-stick had most fed their hilarity.

他们肯定会发现这一点！”这是她的想法，再加上另一个痛苦的想法，他们可能立即对她穿的衣服做出了财务估计，尽管她的手杖肯定最能满足他们的欢笑。

She tucked it under her arm, not swinging it again; and her breath became quick and irregular as emotion beset her.

她把它夹在腋下，不再晃动。由于情绪困扰，她的呼吸变得急促而不规律。

She had been enjoying her walk, but within the space of the few blocks she had gone since she met the substantial gentleman, she found that more than the walk was spoiled: suddenly her life seemed to be spoiled, too; though she did not view the ruin with complaisance.

她一直很享受散步，但自从遇到这位大块头的绅士以来，她走过的几个街区内，她发现不仅仅是散步被破坏了：突然之间，她的生活似乎也被破坏了；尽管她对这片废墟并没有心满意足。

These Lamb women thought her and her cane ridiculous, did they?

这些羔羊妇女认为她和她的手杖很荒谬，是吗？

she said to herself.

她对自己说。

That was their parvenu blood: to think because a girl's father worked for their grandfather she had no right to be rather striking in style, especially when the striking WAS her style.

这就是他们的暴发户血统：认为因为一个女孩的父亲为他们的祖父工作，她就没有权利在风格上相当引人注目，尤其是当引人注目的是她的风格时。

Probably all the other girls and women would agree with them and would laugh at her when they got together, and, what might be fatal, would try to make all the men think her a silly pretender.

可能所有其他女孩和女人都会同意她们的观点，并在她们聚在一起时嘲笑她，而且，可能致命的是，她们会试图让所有男人都认为她是一个愚蠢的伪装者。

Men were just like sheep, and nothing was easier than for women to set up as shepherds and pen them in a fold.

男人就像羊一样，没有什么比女人把他们当牧羊人、把他们关在羊圈里更容易的了。

“To keep out outsiders,” Alice thought.

“为了阻止外人进入，”爱丽丝想。

“And make 'em believe I AM an outsider.

“让他们相信我是一个局外人。

What's the use of living?”

活着有什么用？”

All seemed lost when a trim young man appeared, striding out of a cross-street not far before her, and, turning at the corner, came toward her.

一切似乎都消失了，这时一个身材匀称的年轻人出现了，大步走出她面前不远处的一条十字路口，在拐角处向她走来。

Visibly, he slackened his gait to lengthen the time of his approach, and, as he was a stranger to her, no motive could be ascribed to him other than a wish to have a longer time to look at her.

显然，他放慢了步态，以延长接近的时间，而且，由于他对她来说是陌生人，除了希望有更长的时间看她之外，没有任何动机可以归因于他。

She lifted a pretty hand to a pin at her throat, bit her lip--not with the smile, but mysteriously--and at the last instant before her shadow touched the stranger, let her eyes gravely meet his.

她举起一只漂亮的手，掐住喉咙，咬住嘴唇——不是微笑，而是神秘地——在她的影子碰到陌生人之前的最后一刻，她严肃地与他的目光相遇。

A moment later, having arrived before the house which was her destination, she halted at the entrance to a driveway leading through fine lawns to the intentionally important mansion.

过了一会儿，她到达了目的地那栋房子前，在一条车道的入口处停了下来，这条车道穿过美丽的草坪，通向这座故意重要的宅邸。

It was a pleasant and impressive place to be seen entering, but Alice did not enter at once.

这是一个令人愉快且令人印象深刻的地方，但爱丽丝并没有立即进去。

She paused, examining a tiny bit of mortar which the masons had forgotten to scrape from a brick in one of the massive gate-posts.

她停了下来，检查了石匠忘记从一根巨大门柱的砖块上刮掉的一小块灰浆。

She frowned at this tiny defacement, and with an air of annoyance scraped it away, using the ferrule of her cane an act of fastidious proprietorship.

她对这个小小的污损皱起了眉头，带着一种恼怒的神情，用她手杖的套圈把它刮掉了，这是一种挑剔的所有权行为。

If any one had looked back over his shoulder he would not have doubted that she lived there.

如果有人回头一看，他一定不会怀疑她住在那里。

Alice did not turn to see whether anything of the sort happened or not, but she may have surmised that it did.

爱丽丝没有转身去看是否发生了类似的事情，但她可能已经猜测确实发生了。

At all events, it was with an invigorated step that she left the gateway behind her and went cheerfully up the drive to the house of her friend Mildred.

无论如何，她迈着充满活力的步伐离开了大门，高高兴兴地沿着车道前往她朋友米尔德里德的家。

CHAPTER IV

第四章

Adams had a restless morning, and toward noon he asked Miss Perry to call his daughter; he wished to say something to her.

亚当斯度过了一个焦躁不安的早晨，临近中午时，他让佩里小姐给他的女儿打电话。他想对她说点什么。

“I thought I heard her leaving the house a couple of hours ago--maybe longer,” the nurse told him.

“我想我听到她在几个小时前离开家——也许更久，”护士告诉他。

“I'll go see.” And she returned from the brief errand, her impression confirmed by information from Mrs. Adams.

“我去看看。”她结束了短暂的差事回来了，亚当斯夫人的消息证实了她的印象。

“Yes.

是的。

She went up to Miss Mildred Palmer's to see what she's going to wear to-night.”

她去了米尔德里德·帕尔默小姐家，看看她今晚要穿什么。”

Adams looked at Miss Perry wearily, but remained passive, making no inquiries; for he was long accustomed to what seemed to him a kind of jargon among ladies, which became the more incomprehensible when they tried to explain it.

亚当斯疲倦地看着佩里小姐，但仍然很被动，没有询问。因为他早就习惯了女士们之间的行话，当她们试图解释时，这些行话就变得更加难以理解。

A man's best course, he had found, was just to let it go as so much sound.

他发现，一个人最好的做法就是顺其自然。

His sorrowful eyes followed the nurse as she went back to her rocking-chair by the window, and her placidity showed him that there was no mystery for her in the fact that Alice walked two miles to ask so simple a question when there was a telephone in the house.

当护士回到窗边的摇椅旁时，他悲伤的目光追随着她，她的平静向他表明，爱丽丝在家里有电话的情况下走了两英里来问这么简单的问题，这对她来说并不神秘。

Obviously Miss Perry also comprehended why Alice thought it important to know what Mildred meant to wear.

显然，佩里小姐也理解为什么爱丽丝认为了解米尔德里德想要穿什么很重要。

Adams understood why Alice should be concerned with what she herself wore “to look neat and tidy and at her best, why, of course she'd want to,” he thought--but he realized that it was forever beyond him to understand why the clothing of other people had long since become an absorbing part of her life.

亚当斯明白为什么爱丽丝应该关心她自己的穿着，“为了看起来干净整洁，处于最佳状态，为什么她当然想这么做，”他想——但他意识到，他永远无法理解为什么其他人的服装早已成为她生活中引人入胜的一部分。

Her excursion this morning was no novelty; she was continually going to see what Mildred meant to wear, or what some other girl meant to wear; and when Alice came home from wherever other girls or women had been gathered, she always hurried to her mother with earnest descriptions of the clothing she had seen.

她今天早上的旅行并不新鲜。她不断地去看米尔德里德想要穿什么，或者其他女孩想要穿什么。当爱丽丝从其他女孩或妇女聚集的地方回到家时，她总是急忙跑到她母亲那里，认真地描述她所看到的衣服。

At such times, if Adams was present, he might recognize “organdie,” or “taffeta,” or “chiffon,” as words defining certain textiles, but the rest was too technical for him, and he was like a dismal boy at a sermon, just waiting for it to get itself finished.

在这种时候，如果亚当斯在场，他可能会认出“透明纱”、“塔夫绸”或“雪纺”这些词来定义某些纺织品，但其余的对他来说太技术性了，他就像一个在布道中忧郁的男孩，只是等待布道结束。

Not the least of the mystery was his wife's interest: she was almost indifferent about her own clothes, and when she consulted Alice about them spoke hurriedly and with an air of apology; but when Alice described other people's clothes, Mrs. Adams listened as eagerly as the daughter talked.

最神秘的是他妻子的兴趣：她对自己的衣服几乎漠不关心，当她向爱丽丝询问这些衣服时，她语气匆忙，带着歉意。但当爱丽丝描述别人的衣服时，亚当斯太太就像女儿说话一样热切地听着。

“There they go!” he muttered to-day, a moment after he heard the front door closing, a sound recognizable throughout most of the thinly built house.

“他们走了！”今天，就在他听到前门关上的声音后不久，他咕哝道，这种声音在这座薄薄的房子的大部分地方都能辨认出来。

Alice had just returned, and Mrs. Adams called to her from the upper hallway, not far from Adams's door.

爱丽丝刚刚回来，亚当斯太太在离亚当斯门不远的楼上走廊里叫她。

“What did she SAY?”

“她说什么了？”

“She was sort of snippy about it,” Alice returned, ascending the stairs.

“她对此有点暴躁，”爱丽丝一边走上楼梯，一边回答道。

“She gets that way sometimes, and pretended she hadn't made up her mind, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the maize Georgette with Malines flounces.”

“她有时会这样，假装她还没有下定决心，但我很确定它会是带有马林荷叶边的玉米乔其纱。”

“Didn't you say she wore that at the Pattersons'?” Mrs. Adams inquired, as Alice arrived at the top of the stairs.

“你不是说她在帕特森家就穿那件吗？”当爱丽丝到达楼梯顶时，亚当斯夫人问道。

“And didn't you tell me she wore it again at the----”

“你没告诉我她在……”再次戴上了它吗？

“Certainly not,” Alice interrupted, rather petulantly.

“当然不是，”爱丽丝有些暴躁地打断道。

“She's never worn it but once, and of course she wouldn't want to wear anything to-night that people have seen her in a lot.”

“她只穿过一次，当然，她今晚不想穿任何人们经常看到她穿的衣服。”

Miss Perry opened the door of Adams's room and stepped out.

佩里小姐打开亚当斯的房间门走了出去。

“Your father wants to know if you'll come and see him a minute, Miss Adams.”

“你父亲想知道你是否愿意来看他，亚当斯小姐。”

“Poor old thing!

“可怜的老东西！

Of course!” Alice exclaimed, and went quickly into the room, Miss Perry remaining outside.

当然！”爱丽丝惊呼一声，迅速走进房间，佩里小姐留在外面。

“What's the matter, papa?

“怎么了，爸爸？

Getting awful sick of lying on his tired old back, I expect.”

我想，他已经厌倦了躺在他疲惫的老背上。”

“I've had kind of a poor morning,” Adams said, as she patted his hand comfortingly.

“我度过了一个糟糕的早晨，”亚当斯说道，她安慰地拍拍他的手。

“I been thinking----”

“我一直在想——”

“Didn't I tell you not to?” she cried, gaily.

“我不是告诉过你不要这么做吗？”她高兴地喊道。

“Of course you'll have poor times when you go and do just exactly what I say you mustn't.

“当然，当你完全按照我说的不准做的事时，你的日子会很糟糕。

You stop thinking this very minute!”

你现在就停止思考！”

He smiled ruefully, closing his eyes; was silent for a moment, then asked her to sit beside the bed.

他悲伤地笑了笑，闭上了眼睛。沉默片刻，请她坐到床边。

“I been thinking of something I wanted to say,” he added.

“我一直在想一些我想说的话，”他补充道。

“What like, papa?”

“怎么样，爸爸？”

“Well, it's nothing--much,” he said, with something deprecatory in his tone, as if he felt vague impulses toward both humour and apology.

“嗯，没什么——没什么，”他说，语气里带着一些蔑视，仿佛他隐约感到幽默和道歉的冲动。

“I just thought maybe I ought to've said more to you some time or other about--well, about the way things ARE, down at Lamb and Company's, for instance.”

“我只是想也许我应该找个时间或其他时间对你多说一些——嗯，关于事情的真相，比如在兰姆公司。”

“Now, papa!” She leaned forward in the chair she had taken, and pretended to slap his hand crossly.

“现在，爸爸！”她在自己坐的椅子上倾身向前，假装生气地拍了他的手。

“Isn't that exactly what I said you couldn't think one single think about till you get ALL well?”

“这不是我说的，在你全部康复之前你无法思考任何事情吗？”

“Well----” he said, and went on slowly, not looking at her, but at the ceiling.

“嗯——”他说，然后慢慢地继续说下去，没有看她，而是看着天花板。

“I just thought maybe it wouldn't been any harm if some time or other I told you something about the way they sort of depend on me down there.”

“我只是想，如果有一天我告诉你一些关于他们在那里如何依赖我的事情，也许不会有什么坏处。”

“Why don't they show it, then?” she asked, quickly.

“那他们为什么不展示出来呢？”她很快问道。

“That's just what mama and I have been feeling so much; they don't appreciate you.”

“这正是我和妈妈一直以来的感受；他们不欣赏你。”

“Why, yes, they do,” he said.

“是的，他们确实这么做了，”他说。

“Yes, they do.

“是的，他们确实这么做了。

They began h'isting my salary the second year I went in there, and they've h'isted it a little every two years all the time I've worked for 'em.

我进入那里的第二年，他们就开始扣留我的工资，在我为他们工作的整个过程中，他们每两年扣扣一点工资。

I've been head of the sundries department for seven years now, and I could hardly have more authority in that department unless I was a member of the firm itself.”

我担任杂货部主管已有七年了，除非我是公司本身的成员，否则我在该部门几乎不可能拥有更多的权力。”

“Well, why don't they make you a member of the firm?

“那么，他们为什么不让你成为公司的一员呢？

That's what they ought to've done!

这是他们应该做的！

Yes, and long ago!”

是的，而且是很久以前的事了！”

Adams laughed, but sighed with more heartiness than he had laughed.

亚当斯笑了，但叹了口气，语气比笑时更真诚。

“They call me their 'oldest stand-by' down there.” He laughed again, apologetically, as if to excuse himself for taking a little pride in this title.

“他们称我为他们那里‘最年长的候补’。”他又笑了，带着歉意，似乎是在为自己对这个称号感到有点自豪而辩解。

“Yes, sir; they say I'm their 'oldest stand-by'; and I guess they know they can count on my department's turning in as good a report as they look for, at the end of every month; but they don't have to take a man into the firm to get him to do my work, dearie.”

“是的，先生；他们说我是他们“最年长的候补”；我想他们知道他们可以指望我的部门在每个月底都会提交一份他们想要的好报告；但他们不必雇佣一个人进入公司来让他做我的工作，亲爱的。”

“But you said they depended on you, papa.”

“但你说过他们依赖你，爸爸。”

“So they do; but of course not so's they couldn't get along without me.” He paused, reflecting.

“他们就是这么做的；但当然不是这样，因为没有我他们就无法相处。”他停下来思考。

“I don't just seem to know how to put it--I mean how to put what I started out to say.

“我似乎不只是知道如何表达——我的意思是如何表达我开始要说的话。

I kind of wanted to tell you--well, it seems funny to me, these last few years, the way your mother's taken to feeling about it.

我有点想告诉你——嗯，这对我来说似乎很有趣，最近几年，你母亲对此的感受。

I'd like to see a better established wholesale drug business than Lamb and Company this side the Alleghanies--I don't say bigger, I say better established--and it's kind of funny for a man that's been with a business like that as long as I have to hear it called a 'hole.' It's kind of funny when you think, yourself, you've done pretty fairly well in a business like that, and the men at the head of it seem to think so, too, and put your salary just about as high as anybody could consider customary--well, what I mean, Alice, it's kind of funny to have your mother think it's mostly just--mostly just a failure, so to speak.”

我希望在阿勒格尼山脉这边看到比兰姆公司更好的批发药品生意——我不是说更大，我说的是更好——对于一个一直从事这样的生意的人来说，只要我听到它被称为“洞”，这有点有趣。当你认为，你自己在这样的行业中做得相当不错，而且公司的领导者似乎也这么认为，并且把你的薪水定得与任何人认为习惯的一样高时，这有点有趣——好吧，我的意思是，爱丽丝，让你的母亲认为这主要是——可以说，主要是失败，这有点有趣。”

His voice had become tremulous in spite of him; and this sign of weakness and emotion had sufficient effect upon Alice.

尽管他不顾一切，他的声音还是变得颤抖了。这种软弱和情绪的表现对爱丽丝产生了足够的影响。

She bent over him suddenly, with her arm about him and her cheek against his.

她突然弯下腰，用手臂搂住他，脸颊贴着他的脸。

“Poor papa!” she murmured.

“可怜的爸爸！”她低声说道。

“Poor papa!”

“可怜的爸爸！”

“No, no,” he said.

“不，不，”他说。

“I didn't mean anything to trouble you.

“我无意打扰你。

I just thought----” He hesitated.

我只是想——”他犹豫了一下。

“I just wondered--I thought maybe it wouldn't be any harm if I said something about how things ARE down there.

“我只是想知道——我想如果我说一下下面的情况也许不会有什么坏处。

I got to thinking maybe you didn't understand it's a pretty good place.

我想也许你不明白这是一个非常好的地方。

They're fine people to work for; and they've always seemed to think something of me;--the way they took Walter on, for instance, soon as I asked 'em, last year.

他们是值得为之工作的好人；他们似乎总是对我有一些看法；例如，去年我一问他们，他们就对待沃尔特。

Don't you think that looked a good deal as if they thought something of me, Alice?”

你不觉得这看起来很不错吗，好像他们对我有好感，爱丽丝？”

“Yes, papa,” she said, not moving.

“是的，爸爸，”她说，没有动。

“And the work's right pleasant,” he went on.

“而且工作确实令人愉快，”他继续说道。

“Mighty nice boys in our department, Alice.

“我们部门的小伙子们都非常好，爱丽丝。

Well, they are in all the departments, for that matter.

就这一点而言，他们在所有部门。

We have a good deal of fun down there some days.”

有几天我们在那里玩得很开心。”

She lifted her head.

她抬起头。

“More than you do at home 'some days,' I expect, papa!” she said.

“我想，爸爸，比你在‘某些日子’在家做的还要多！”她说。

He protested feebly.

他无力地抗议。

“Now, I didn't mean that--I didn't want to trouble you----”

“现在，我不是这个意思——我不想给你添麻烦——”

She looked at him through winking eyelashes.

她透过眨动的睫毛看着他。

“I'm sorry I called it a 'hole,' papa.”

“很抱歉我称它为‘洞’，爸爸。”

“No, no,” he protested, gently.

“不，不，”他温和地抗议。

“It was your mother said that.”

“这是你妈妈说的。”

“No. I did, too.”

“不。我也这么做了。”

“Well, if you did, it was only because you'd heard her.”

“好吧，如果你这么做了，那只是因为你听到了她的声音。”

She shook her head, then kissed him.

她摇摇头，然后吻了他。

“I'm going to talk to her,” she said, and rose decisively.

“我要和她谈谈，”她说着，果断地站了起来。

But at this, her father's troubled voice became quickly louder: “You better let her alone.

但这时，她父亲的声音很快就变得更大了：“你最好别打扰她。

I just wanted to have a little talk with you.

我只是想和你聊聊。

I didn't mean to start any--your mother won't----”

我不是故意要开始的——你妈妈不会——”

“Now, papa!” Alice spoke cheerfully again, and smiled upon him.

“现在，爸爸！”爱丽丝再次愉快地说道，并对他微笑。

“I want you to quit worrying!

“我要你别再担心了！

Everything's going to be all right and nobody's going to bother you any more about anything.

一切都会好起来的，没有人会再打扰你了。

You'll see!”

你会看到的！”

She carried her smile out into the hall, but after she had closed the door her face was all pity; and her mother, waiting for her in the opposite room, spoke sympathetically.

她面带微笑走进大厅，但关上门后，脸上却满是怜悯。她的母亲在对面房间里等她，同情地说道。

“What's the matter, Alice?

“怎么了，爱丽丝？

What did he say that's upset you?”

他说了什么让你不高兴的话？”

“Wait a minute, mama.” Alice found a handkerchief, used it for eyes and suffused nose, gulped, then suddenly and desolately sat upon the bed.

“等一下，妈妈。”爱丽丝找到了一块手帕，拿来捂住眼睛，捂住鼻子，咽了一口口水，然后突然凄凉地坐到了床上。

“Poor, poor, POOR papa!” she whispered.

“可怜的，可怜的，可怜的爸爸！”她低声说道。

“Why?” Mrs. Adams inquired, mildly.

“为什么？”亚当斯夫人温和地问道。

“What's the matter with him?

“他怎么了？

Sometimes you act as if he weren't getting well.

有时候你表现得好像他的病不太好。

What's he been talking about?”

他在说什么？”

“Mama--well, I think I'm pretty selfish.

“妈妈——嗯，我觉得我很自私。

Oh, I do!”

哦，我愿意！”

“Did he say you were?”

“他说你是吗？”

“Papa?

“爸爸？

No, indeed!

不，确实如此！

What I mean is, maybe we're both a little selfish to try to make him go out and hunt around for something new.”

我的意思是，也许我们都有点自私，试图让他出去寻找新的东西。”

Mrs. Adams looked thoughtful.

亚当斯夫人看上去若有所思。

“Oh, that's what he was up to!”

“哦，这就是他的目的！”

“Mama, I think we ought to give it up.

“妈妈，我想我们应该放弃它。

I didn't dream it had really hurt him.”

我没想到这真的伤害了他。”

“Well, doesn't he hurt us?”

“嗯，他没有伤害我们吗？”

“Never that I know of, mama.”

“据我所知，从来没有，妈妈。”

“I don't mean by SAYING things,” Mrs. Adams explained, impatiently.

“我的意思不是说出来，”亚当斯夫人不耐烦地解释道。

“There are more ways than that of hurting people.

“除了伤害别人之外，还有更多的方式。

When a man sticks to a salary that doesn't provide for his family, isn't that hurting them?”

当一个男人坚持领取无法养家糊口的工资时，这不是伤害他们吗？”

“Oh, it 'provides' for us well enough, mama.

“哦，它为我们‘提供’了足够好的东西，妈妈。

We have what we need--if I weren't so extravagant.

如果我不是那么奢侈的话，我们已经拥有了我们需要的东西。

Oh, _I_ know I am!”

哦，我知道我是！”

But at this admission her mother cried out sharply.

但当她承认这一点时，她母亲大声喊叫。

“'Extravagant!' You haven't one tenth of what the other girls you go with have.

“‘太奢侈了！’你所拥有的还不到和你一起去的其他女孩的十分之一。

And you CAN'T have what you ought to as long as he doesn't get out of that horrible place.

只要他不离开那个可怕的地方，你就无法得到你应该得到的东西。

It provides bare food and shelter for us, but what's that?”

它为我们提供了赤裸裸的食物和住所，但那是什么？”

“I don't think we ought to try any more to change him.”

“我认为我们不应该再尝试改变他。”

“You don't?” Mrs. Adams came and stood before her.

“你不这么认为吗？”亚当斯夫人走过来站在她面前。

“Listen, Alice: your father's asleep; that's his trouble, and he's got to be waked up.

“听着，爱丽丝：你父亲睡着了；这是他的麻烦，他必须被叫醒。

He doesn't know that things have changed.

他不知道事情已经发生了变化。

When you and Walter were little children we did have enough--at least it seemed to be about as much as most of the people we knew.

当你和沃尔特还是小孩子的时候，我们确实已经受够了——至少看起来和我们认识的大多数人一样多。

But the town isn't what it was in those days, and times aren't what they were then, and these fearful PRICES aren't the old prices.

但这个小镇已不再是当年的样子，时代也已不再是当时的样子，这些可怕的价格也不再是原来的价格了。

Everything else but your father has changed, and all the time he's stood still.

除了你父亲以外，其他一切都变了，而他始终保持原样。

He doesn't know it; he thinks because they've given him a hundred dollars more every two years he's quite a prosperous man!

他不知道；他认为，因为他们每两年多给他一百美元，所以他是一个非常富有的人！

And he thinks that because his children cost him more than he and I cost our parents he gives them--enough!”

他认为，因为他的孩子让他付出的代价比他和我让父母付出的代价还要高，所以他给了他们——够了！”

“But Walter----” Alice faltered.

“但是沃尔特——”爱丽丝结结巴巴地说。

“Walter doesn't cost him anything at all any more.” And she concluded, in a stricken voice, “It's all--me!”

“沃尔特不再花费他任何钱了。”她用一种震惊的声音总结道：“全是——我！”

“Why shouldn't it be?” her mother cried.

“为什么不应该这样呢？”她妈妈哭了。

“You're young--you're just at the time when your life should be fullest of good things and happiness.

“你还年轻——你正处于你的生活应该充满美好事物和幸福的时候。

Yet what do you get?”

但你得到了什么？

Alice's lip quivered; she was not unsusceptible to such an appeal, but she contrived the semblance of a protest.

爱丽丝的嘴唇颤抖着；她并非无法接受这样的呼吁，但她却做出了抗议的样子。

“I don't have such a bad time not a good DEAL of the time, anyhow.

“无论如何，我并没有经历过如此糟糕的时光，也不是很好的时光。

I've got a good MANY of the things other girls have----”

我拥有很多其他女孩拥有的东西——”

“You have?” Mrs. Adams was piteously satirical.

“你有吗？”亚当斯夫人的讽刺十分可怜。

“I suppose you've got a limousine to go to that dance to-night?

“我想你今晚有一辆豪华轿车去参加舞会吧？

I suppose you've only got to call a florist and tell him to send you some orchids?

我想你只需要打电话给花店并让他给你寄一些兰花就可以了？

I suppose you've----”

我想你已经——”

But Alice interrupted this list.

但爱丽丝打断了这个清单。

Apparently in a single instant all emotion left her, and she became businesslike, as one in the midst of trifles reminded of really serious matters.

显然，在一瞬间，所有的情感都消失了，她变得一本正经，就像一个人在琐事中想起了真正严肃的事情。

She got up from the bed and went to the door of the closet where she kept her dresses.

她从床上站起来，走到放衣服的衣柜门口。

“Oh, see here,” she said, briskly.

“哦，看这里，”她轻快地说。

“I've decided to wear my white organdie if you could put in a new lining for me.

“如果你能为我换上新的衬里的话，我决定穿我的白色透明纱。

I'm afraid it'll take you nearly all afternoon.”

恐怕要花掉你几乎整个下午的时间。”

She brought forth the dress, displayed it upon the bed, and Mrs. Adams examined it attentively.

她拿出裙子，把它放在床上，亚当斯夫人仔细地检查了它。

“Do you think you could get it done, mama?”

“妈妈，你认为你能完成这件事吗？”

“I don't see why not,” Mrs. Adams answered, passing a thoughtful hand over the fabric.

“我不明白为什么不，”亚当斯夫人回答道，若有所思地把手放在布料上。

“It oughtn't to take more than four or five hours.”

“应该不会超过四五个小时。”

“It's a shame to have you sit at the machine that long,” Alice said, absently, adding, “And I'm sure we ought to let papa alone.

“让你在机器前坐那么久真是太可惜了，”爱丽丝心不在焉地说，并补充道，“而且我确信我们应该让爸爸一个人呆着。

Let's just give it up, mama.”

妈妈，我们还是放弃吧。”

Mrs. Adams continued her thoughtful examination of the dress.

亚当斯夫人继续仔细地检查这件衣服。

“Did you buy the chiffon and ribbon, Alice?”

“你买了雪纺和丝带吗，爱丽丝？”

“Yes.

“是的。

I'm sure we oughtn't to talk to him about it any more, mama.”

我确信我们不应该再和他谈论这件事了，妈妈。”

“Well, we'll see.”

“好吧，我们拭目以待。”

“Let's both agree that we'll NEVER say another single word to him about it,” said Alice.

“我们都同意，我们永远不会对他说任何一个字。”爱丽丝说。

“It'll be a great deal better if we just let him make up his mind for himself.”

“如果我们让他自己做决定，那就更好了。”

CHAPTER V

第五章

With this, having more immediately practical questions before them, they dropped the subject, to bend their entire attention upon the dress; and when the lunch-gong sounded downstairs Alice was still sketching repairs and alterations.

说到这里，他们面前有更直接的实际问题，他们就放弃了这个话题，把全部注意力集中在裙子上。当楼下的午餐锣声响起时，爱丽丝仍在画修理和改建的草图。

She continued to sketch them, not heeding the summons.

她继续画它们，没有理会召唤。

“I suppose we'd better go down to lunch,” Mrs. Adams said, absently.

“我想我们最好下去吃午饭，”亚当斯夫人心不在焉地说。

“She's at the gong again.” “In a minute, mama.

“她又敲锣了。” “一会儿，妈妈。

Now about the sleeves----” And she went on with her planning.

现在关于袖子——”她继续她的计划。

Unfortunately the gong was inexpressive of the mood of the person who beat upon it.

不幸的是，锣无法表达敲击者的情绪。

It consisted of three little metal bowls upon a string; they were unequal in size, and, upon being tapped with a padded stick, gave forth vibrations almost musically pleasant.

它由三个小金属碗和一根绳子组成。它们的大小不等，用带衬垫的棍子敲击时，会发出几乎悦耳的振动。

It was Alice who had substituted this contrivance for the brass “dinner-bell” in use throughout her childhood; and neither she nor the others of her family realized that the substitution of sweeter sounds had made the life of that household more difficult.

正是爱丽丝用这个发明取代了她童年时期使用的黄铜“晚餐铃”。她和她家里的其他人都没有意识到，更甜美的声音的替代使这个家庭的生活变得更加困难。

In spite of dismaying increases in wages, the Adamses still strove to keep a cook; and, as they were unable to pay the higher rates demanded by a good one, what they usually had was a whimsical coloured woman of nomadic impulses.

尽管工资增长令人沮丧，亚当斯一家仍然努力保留一名厨师。而且，由于他们无法支付好人所要求的更高的费用，所以他们通常拥有的是一位异想天开、充满游牧冲动的黑人妇女。

In the hands of such a person the old-fashioned “dinner-bell” was satisfying; life could instantly be made intolerable for any one dawdling on his way to a meal; the bell was capable of every desirable profanity and left nothing bottled up in the breast of the ringer.

在这样的人手中，老式的“晚餐铃声”就令人满意了。对于任何一个在吃饭路上磨磨蹭蹭的人来说，生活立刻就会变得难以忍受。钟声可以说出各种令人向往的脏话，并且不会在敲钟者的胸中留下任何东西。

But the chamois-covered stick might whack upon Alice's little Chinese bowls for a considerable length of time and produce no great effect of urgency upon a hearer, nor any other effect, except fury in the cook.

但是，用麂皮覆盖的棍子可能会在相当长的时间内敲击爱丽丝的小中国碗，不会对听众产生很大的紧迫感，也不会产生任何其他效果，除了厨师的愤怒。

The ironical impossibility of expressing indignation otherwise than by sounds of gentle harmony proved exasperating; the cook was apt to become surcharged, so that explosive resignations, never rare, were somewhat more frequent after the introduction of the gong.

具有讽刺意味的是，除了温和和谐的声音之外，不可能表达愤慨，这被证明是令人恼火的。厨师很容易被收取额外费用，因此，在锣引入后，爆炸性辞职并不罕见，而且更加频繁。

Mrs. Adams took this increased frequency to be only another manifestation of the inexplicable new difficulties that beset all housekeeping.

亚当斯夫人认为这种增加的频率只是困扰所有家务的莫名其妙的新困难的另一个表现。

You paid a cook double what you had paid one a few years before; and the cook knew half as much of cookery, and had no gratitude.

你付给厨师的钱是几年前的两倍；厨师的厨艺只有一半，而且没有感恩之心。

The more you gave these people, it seemed, the worse they behaved--a condition not to be remedied by simply giving them less, because you couldn't even get the worst unless you paid her what she demanded.

你给这些人越多，他们的行为似乎就越糟糕——这种情况并不能通过简单地给他们减少来弥补，因为除非你按照她的要求支付她的费用，否则你甚至无法得到最坏的结果。

Nevertheless, Mrs. Adams remained fitfully an optimist in the matter.

尽管如此，亚当斯夫人对此事仍然断断续续地持乐观态度。

Brought up by her mother to speak of a female cook as “the girl,” she had been instructed by Alice to drop that definition in favour of one not an improvement in accuracy: “the maid.” Almost always, during the first day or so after every cook came, Mrs. Adams would say, at intervals, with an air of triumph: “I believe--of course it's a little soon to be sure--but I do really believe this new maid is the treasure we've been looking for so long!” Much in the same way that Alice dreamed of a mysterious perfect mate for whom she “waited,” her mother had a fairy theory that hidden somewhere in the universe there was the treasure, the perfect “maid,” who would come and cook in the Adamses' kitchen, not four days or four weeks, but forever.

她的母亲从小就将女厨师称为“女孩”，但爱丽丝指示她放弃这个定义，转而选择“女仆”，而这并没有提高准确性。几乎总是，在每个厨师到来后的第一天左右，亚当斯夫人都会时不时地带着胜利的神情说：“我相信——当然现在下结论还为时尚早——但我真的相信这个新女仆就是我们一直在寻找的宝藏！”就像爱丽丝梦想着她“等待”的神秘完美伴侣一样，她的母亲有一个童话理论，认为在宇宙的某个地方隐藏着宝藏，完美的“女仆”，她会来亚当斯的厨房做饭，不是四天或四个星期，而是永远。

The present incumbent was not she.

现任的现任不是她。

Alice, profoundly interested herself, kept her mother likewise so preoccupied with the dress that they were but vaguely conscious of the gong's soft warnings, though these were repeated and protracted unusually.

爱丽丝自己也很感兴趣，她的母亲也同样全神贯注于这件衣服，以至于她们只能模糊地意识到锣声的轻柔警告，尽管这些警告不断重复且异常漫长。

Finally the sound of a hearty voice, independent and enraged, reached the pair.

终于，两人听到了一个爽朗、独立而愤怒的声音。

It came from the hall below.

声音是从下面的大厅传来的。

“I says goo'-BYE!” it called.

“我说再见！”它叫道。

“Da'ss all!”

“就这样了！”

Then the front door slammed.

然后前门关上了。

“Why, what----” Mrs. Adams began.

“为什么，什么——”亚当斯夫人开口说道。

They went down hurriedly to find out.

他们连忙下去一探究竟。

Miss Perry informed them.

佩里小姐通知了他们。

“I couldn't make her listen to reason,” she said.

“我无法让她听理智的，”她说。

“She rang the gong four or five times and got to talking to herself; and then she went up to her room and packed her bag.

“她按了四五声锣，开始自言自语；然后她上楼回自己的房间收拾行李。

I told her she had no business to go out the front door, anyhow.”

我告诉她无论如何她没有权利走出前门。”

Mrs. Adams took the news philosophically.

亚当斯夫人用哲学的眼光看待这个消息。

“I thought she had something like that in her eye when I paid her this morning, and I'm not surprised.

“今天早上我付钱给她时，我以为她眼里有类似的东西，我并不感到惊讶。

Well, we won't let Mr. Adams know anything's the matter till I get a new one.”

好吧，在我找到新的之前，我们不会让亚当斯先生知道发生了什么事。”

They lunched upon what the late incumbent had left chilling on the table, and then Mrs. Adams prepared to wash the dishes; she would “have them done in a jiffy,” she said, cheerfully.

他们吃着已故现任总统留在桌子上的凉菜吃午饭，然后亚当斯夫人准备洗碗。她高兴地说，她会“很快就把它们完成”。

But it was Alice who washed the dishes.

但洗碗的是爱丽丝。

“I DON'T like to have you do that, Alice,” her mother protested, following her into the kitchen.

“我不喜欢你这么做，爱丽丝，”她妈妈抗议道，跟着她走进厨房。

“It roughens the hands, and when a girl has hands like yours----”

“它会让手变得粗糙，当一个女孩有像你这样的手时——”

“I know, mama.” Alice looked troubled, but shook her head.

“我知道，妈妈。”爱丽丝看上去很困惑，但还是摇了摇头。

“It can't be helped this time; you'll need every minute to get that dress done.”

“这次没办法了；你需要每一分钟才能把那件衣服做好。”

Mrs. Adams went away lamenting, while Alice, no expert, began to splash the plates and cups and saucers in the warm water.

亚当斯夫人悲伤地离开了，而爱丽丝，不是专家，开始把盘子、杯子和碟子泼进温水中。

After a while, as she worked, her eyes grew dreamy: she was making little gay-coloured pictures of herself, unfounded prophecies of how she would look and what would happen to her that evening.

过了一会儿，当她工作时，她的眼睛变得梦幻：她正在给自己拍一些色彩鲜艳的小照片，毫无根据地预言她会是什么样子，以及那天晚上会发生什么。

She saw herself, charming and demure, wearing a fluffy idealization of the dress her mother now determinedly struggled with upstairs; she saw herself framed in a garlanded archway, the entrance to a ballroom, and saw the people on the shining floor turning dramatically to look at her; then from all points a rush of young men shouting for dances with her; and she constructed a superb stranger, tall, dark, masterfully smiling, who swung her out of the clamouring group as the music began.

她看到自己迷人而端庄，穿着一件蓬松理想化的裙子，她的母亲现在在楼上正苦苦挣扎。她看到自己被框在一个花环拱门里，那是舞厅的入口，看到闪亮的地板上的人们戏剧性地转过头来看着她。然后，一群年轻人从四面八方涌来，大声喊着要和她跳舞。她塑造了一个出色的陌生人，身材高大，肤色黝黑，微笑着，当音乐开始时，他把她从吵闹的人群中拉了出来。

She saw herself dancing with him, saw the half-troubled smile she would give him; and she accurately smiled that smile as she rinsed the knives and forks.

她看到自己和他一起跳舞，看到她对他露出半困惑的微笑；当她冲洗刀叉时，她准确地微笑着。

These hopeful fragments of drama were not to be realized, she knew; but she played that they were true, and went on creating them.

她知道，这些充满希望的戏剧片段不会被实现。但她假装它们是真的，并继续创造它们。

In all of them she wore or carried flowers--her mother's sorrow for her in this detail but made it the more important--and she saw herself glamorous with orchids; discarded these for an armful of long-stemmed, heavy roses; tossed them away for a great bouquet of white camellias; and so wandered down a lengthening hothouse gallery of floral beauty, all costly and beyond her reach except in such a wistful day-dream.

在所有这些衣服中，她都戴着或拿着鲜花——她母亲在这个细节上为她感到悲伤，但更重要的是——她发现自己因兰花而魅力四射；抛弃这些，换来一捧长茎、沉重的玫瑰；把它们扔掉，换来一大束白色山茶花；于是，她漫步在一座长长的温室花卉长廊上，除了在如此渴望的白日梦中，一切都昂贵且超出了她的能力范围。

And upon her present whole horizon, though she searched it earnestly, she could discover no figure of a sender of flowers.

而在她现在的整个地平线上，尽管她认真地寻找，却找不到送花人的身影。

Out of her fancies the desire for flowers to wear that night emerged definitely and became poignant; she began to feel that it might be particularly important to have them.

从她的幻想中，那天晚上佩戴鲜花的愿望明确地浮现出来，并且变得令人心酸。她开始觉得拥有它们可能特别重要。

“This might be the night!” She was still at the age to dream that the night of any dance may be the vital point in destiny.

“这可能就是晚上！”她还处于梦想任何舞蹈之夜可能是命运的关键点的年龄。

No matter how commonplace or disappointing other dance nights have been this one may bring the great meeting.

无论其他舞会之夜多么平常或令人失望，这一晚都可能带来精彩的聚会。

The unknown magnifico may be there.

未知的大人物可能就在那里。

Alice was almost unaware of her own reveries in which this being appeared--reveries often so transitory that they developed and passed in a few seconds.

爱丽丝几乎没有意识到她自己的沉思中出现了这个存在——沉思往往如此短暂，以至于它们在几秒钟内发展并消失。

And in some of them the being was not wholly a stranger; there were moments when he seemed to be composed of recognizable fragments of young men she knew--a smile she had liked, from one; the figure of another, the hair of another--and sometimes she thought he might be concealed, so to say, within the person of an actual acquaintance, someone she had never suspected of being the right seeker for her, someone who had never suspected that it was she who “waited” for him.

对于其中一些人来说，这个存在并不完全是陌生的。有时候，他似乎是由她认识的年轻人的一些可辨认的片段组成的——她喜欢的微笑，来自其中一个；另一个人的身材，另一个人的头发——有时她认为他可能隐藏在一个真正的熟人的体内，也就是说，一个她从未怀疑过的人是她合适的寻找者，一个从未怀疑过是她在“等待”他的人。

Anything might reveal them to each other: a look, a turn of the head, a singular word--perhaps some flowers upon her breast or in her hand.

任何事情都可能让他们彼此暴露：一个眼神、一个转头、一个单一的词——也许是她胸前或手里的一些花。

She wiped the dishes slowly, concluding the operation by dropping a saucer upon the floor and dreamily sweeping the fragments under the stove.

她慢慢地擦着盘子，最后把一个碟子扔到地板上，然后若有所思地把碎片扫到炉子下面，结束了整个操作。

She sighed and replaced the broom near a window, letting her glance wander over the small yard outside.

她叹了口气，把扫帚放回窗边，目光扫视着外面的小院子。

The grass, repulsively besooted to the colour of coal-smoke all winter, had lately come to life again and now sparkled with green, in the midst of which a tiny shot of blue suddenly fixed her absent eyes.

整个冬天都被煤烟的颜色所困扰的草，最近又恢复了生机，现在闪烁着绿色的光芒，其中一抹蓝色的小光突然注视着她心不在焉的眼睛。

They remained upon it for several moments, becoming less absent.

他们在上面停留了好一会儿，不再那么心不在焉了。

It was a violet.

那是一朵紫罗兰。

Alice ran upstairs, put on her hat, went outdoors and began to search out the violets.

爱丽丝跑上楼，戴上帽子，走到户外，开始寻找紫罗兰。

She found twenty-two, a bright omen--since the number was that of her years--but not enough violets.

她发现了二十二朵，这是一个明亮的预兆——因为这个数字是她这个年纪的——但紫罗兰还不够。

There were no more; she had ransacked every foot of the yard.

没有更多的了；她把院子里的每一寸都翻遍了。

She looked dubiously at the little bunch in her hand, glanced at the lawn next door, which offered no favourable prospect; then went thoughtfully into the house, left her twenty-two violets in a bowl of water, and came quickly out again, her brow marked with a frown of decision.

她疑惑地看了看手中的一小束，又看了一眼隔壁的草坪，看来前景并不乐观。然后若有所思地走进屋子，把二十二朵紫罗兰放在一碗水里，然后很快又出来了，她的眉头皱起了眉头。

She went to a trolley-line and took a car to the outskirts of the city where a new park had been opened.

她走到有轨电车线路，坐车到了市郊，那里有一个新开的公园。

Here she resumed her search, but it was not an easily rewarded one, and for an hour after her arrival she found no violets.

在这里，她继续寻找，但这并不容易得到回报，到达后的一个小时里，她没有找到紫罗兰。

She walked conscientiously over the whole stretch of meadow, her eyes roving discontentedly; there was never a blue dot in the groomed expanse; but at last, as she came near the borders of an old grove of trees, left untouched by the municipal landscapers, the little flowers appeared, and she began to gather them.

她认认真真地走遍了整片草地，眼睛不满地转动着。整洁的大地上从来没有一个蓝点；但最后，当她靠近一片老树林的边界时，市政园林设计师没有触及这些小树林，小花出现了，她开始采集它们。

She picked them carefully, loosening the earth round each tiny plant, so as to bring the roots up with it, that it might live the longer; and she had brought a napkin, which she drenched at a hydrant, and kept loosely wrapped about the stems of her collection.

她小心翼翼地采摘它们，松开每株小植物周围的泥土，以便把根带起来，这样它就能活得更久。她带来了一张餐巾纸，在消防栓处把它浸湿，然后松松地包裹在她收藏的茎上。

The turf was too damp for her to kneel; she worked patiently, stooping from the waist; and when she got home in a drizzle of rain at five o'clock her knees were tremulous with strain, her back ached, and she was tired all over, but she had three hundred violets.

草坪太湿了，她无法跪下。她弯下腰，耐心地工作。五点钟，她冒着毛毛细雨回到家，双膝因劳累而发抖，背酸痛，全身疲倦，但她有三百朵紫罗兰。

Her mother moaned when Alice showed them to her, fragrant in a basin of water.

当爱丽丝把它们展示给她看时，她的母亲呻吟着，它们在一盆水中散发着香味。

“Oh, you POOR child!

“噢，你这个可怜的孩子！

To think of your having to work so hard to get things that other girls only need lift their little fingers for!”

想想看，你要付出如此大的努力才能得到其他女孩只需动动小手指就能得到的东西！”

“Never mind,” said Alice, huskily.

“没关系，”爱丽丝沙哑地说。

“I've got 'em and I AM going to have a good time to-night!”

“我已经拿到了，今晚我会玩得很开心！”

“You've just got to!” Mrs. Adams agreed, intensely sympathetic.

“你必须这么做！”亚当斯夫人表示同意，并表示强烈同情。

“The Lord knows you deserve to, after picking all these violets, poor thing, and He wouldn't be mean enough to keep you from it.

“主知道你应该这么做，在采摘了所有这些紫罗兰之后，可怜的东西，他不会卑鄙到阻止你这样做。

I may have to get dinner before I finish the dress, but I can get it done in a few minutes afterward, and it's going to look right pretty.

在完成这件衣服之前我可能得去吃晚饭，但几分钟后我就可以完成它，而且它看起来会很漂亮。

Don't you worry about THAT!

你不用担心这个！

And with all these lovely violets----”

还有这些可爱的紫罗兰——”

“I wonder----” Alice began, paused, then went on, fragmentarily: “I suppose--well, I wonder--do you suppose it would have been better policy to have told Walter before----”

“我想知道——”爱丽丝开始说，停顿了一下，然后断断续续地说：“我想——好吧，我想知道——你认为之前告诉沃尔特会是更好的政策吗——”

“No,” said her mother.

“不，”她妈妈说。

“It would only have given him longer to grumble.”

“这只会让他有更长的时间抱怨。”

“But he might----”

“但他可能——”

“Don't worry,” Mrs. Adams reassured her.

“别担心，”亚当斯夫人向她保证。

“He'll be a little cross, but he won't be stubborn; just let me talk to him and don't you say anything at all, no matter what HE says.”

“他会有点生气，但他不会固执；只要让我和他说话，你就什么也别说，不管他说什么。”

These references to Walter concerned some necessary manoeuvres which took place at dinner, and were conducted by the mother, Alice having accepted her advice to sit in silence.

这些对沃尔特的提及涉及晚餐时发生的一些必要的动作，这些动作是由母亲进行的，爱丽丝接受了她的建议，安静地坐着。

Mrs. Adams began by laughing cheerfully.

亚当斯夫人一开始就愉快地笑了。

“I wonder how much longer it took me to cook this dinner than it does Walter to eat it?” she said.

“我想知道我做这顿晚餐比沃尔特吃它花了多长时间？”她说。

“Don't gobble, child!

“别狼吞虎咽，孩子！

There's no hurry.”

不着急。”

In contact with his own family Walter was no squanderer of words.

在与自己的家人接触时，沃尔特并不浪费言语。

“Is for me,” he said.

“是给我的，”他说。

“Got date.”

“有约会了。”

“I know you have, but there's plenty of time.”

“我知道你有，但时间还充裕。”

He smiled in benevolent pity.

他带着慈悲的微笑。

“YOU know, do you?

“你知道吗？

If you made any coffee--don't bother if you didn't.

如果你煮了咖啡——如果你没有煮咖啡，也不必担心。

Get some down-town.” He seemed about to rise and depart; whereupon Alice, biting her lip, sent a panic-stricken glance at her mother.

去市中心买点。”他似乎正要起身离开。于是，爱丽丝咬着嘴唇，惊慌地看了妈妈一眼。

But Mrs. Adams seemed not at all disturbed; and laughed again.

但亚当斯夫人似乎一点也不感到不安。然后又笑了。

“Why, what nonsense, Walter!

“哎呀，胡说八道，沃尔特！

I'll bring your coffee in a few minutes, but we're going to have dessert first.”

几分钟后我会给你送咖啡，但我们要先吃甜点。”

“What sort?”

“什么类型的？”

“Some lovely peaches.”

“一些可爱的桃子。”

“Doe' want 'ny canned peaches,” said the frank Walter, moving back his chair.

“能源部想要罐装桃子，”坦率的沃尔特说着，把椅子往后退了一步。

“G'-night.”

“晚安。”

“Walter!

“沃尔特！

It doesn't begin till about nine o'clock at the earliest.”

最早要到九点左右才开始。”

He paused, mystified.

他停了下来，一脸困惑。

“What doesn't?”

“什么不行？”

“The dance.”

“舞蹈。”

“What dance?”

“什么舞？”

“Why, Mildred Palmer's dance, of course.”

“当然是米尔德里德·帕尔默的舞蹈。”

Walter laughed briefly.

沃尔特短暂地笑了一声。

“What's that to me?”

“那与我有什么关系？”

“Why, you haven't forgotten it's TO-NIGHT, have you?” Mrs. Adams cried.

“为什么，你没有忘记今天晚上，是吗？”亚当斯夫人哭了。

“What a boy!”

“真是个男孩啊！”

“I told you a week ago I wasn't going to that ole dance,” he returned, frowning.

“我一周前就告诉过你我不会去参加那个旧舞会，”他皱着眉头回答道。

“You heard me.”

“你听到我说的了。”

“Walter!” she exclaimed.

“沃尔特！”她惊呼道。

“Of COURSE you're going.

“你当然要去。

I got your clothes all out this afternoon, and brushed them for you.

今天下午我把你的衣服都拿出来了，还帮你刷了。

They'll look very nice, and----”

它们看起来会非常漂亮，而且——”

“They won't look nice on ME,” he interrupted.

“他们在我身上看起来不太好，”他打断道。

“Got date down-town, I tell you.”

“我告诉你，在市中心有个约会。”

“But of course you'll----”

“但是你当然会——”

“See here!” Walter said, decisively.

“看这里！”沃尔特斩钉截铁地说。

“Don't get any wrong ideas in your head.

“脑子里不要有任何错误的想法。

I'm just as liable to go up to that ole dance at the Palmers' as I am to eat a couple of barrels of broken glass.”

我去参加帕默斯家的奥莱舞会就像我去吃几桶碎玻璃一样。”

“But, Walter----”

“但是，沃尔特——”

Walter was beginning to be seriously annoyed.

沃尔特开始非常恼火。

“Don't 'Walter' me!

“别‘沃尔特’我！

I'm no s'ciety snake.

我不是社会蛇。

I wouldn't jazz with that Palmer crowd if they coaxed me with diamonds.”

如果帕尔默那群人用钻石来哄骗我，我就不会和他们一起演奏爵士乐。”

“Walter----”

“沃尔特——”

“Didn't I tell you it's no use to 'Walter' me?” he demanded.

“我不是告诉过你‘沃尔特’我没用吗？”他问道。

“My dear child----”

“我亲爱的孩子——”

“Oh, Glory!”

“哦，荣耀！”

At this Mrs. Adams abandoned her air of amusement, looked hurt, and glanced at the demure Miss Perry across the table.

亚当斯夫人听了这话，脸上的笑意全都消失了，看上去很受伤，她瞥了一眼桌子对面端庄的佩里小姐。

“I'm afraid Miss Perry won't think you have very good manners, Walter.”

“我担心佩里小姐不会认为​​你很有礼貌，沃尔特。”

“You're right she won't,” he agreed, grimly.

“你说得对，她不会，”他冷酷地表示同意。

“Not if I haf to hear any more about me goin' to----”

“如果我必须听到更多关于我要去——的消息，我就不会——”

But his mother interrupted him with some asperity: “It seems very strange that you always object to going anywhere among OUR friends, Walter.”

但他的母亲有些严厉地打断了他：“沃尔特，你总是反对和我们的朋友一起去任何地方，这似乎很奇怪。”

“YOUR friends!” he said, and, rising from his chair, gave utterance to an ironical laugh strictly monosyllabic.

“你的朋友们！”他说着，从椅子上站起来，发出一声讽刺的笑声，声音完全是单音节的。

“Your friends!” he repeated, going to the door.

“你的朋友们！”他重复了一遍，向门口走去。

“Oh, yes!

“哦，是的！

Certainly!

当然！

Good-NIGHT!”

晚安！”

And looking back over his shoulder to offer a final brief view of his derisive face, he took himself out of the room.

他回头看了一眼自己嘲讽的脸，然后走出了房间。

Alice gasped: “Mama----”

爱丽丝喘着气：“妈妈——”

“I'll stop him!” her mother responded, sharply; and hurried after the truant, catching him at the front door with his hat and raincoat on.

“我会阻止他的！”她母亲的回答很尖锐。然后急忙追赶那个逃学的人，在前门抓住了他，他戴着帽子，穿着雨衣。

“Walter----”

“沃尔特——”

“Told you had a date down-town,” he said, gruffly, and would have opened the door, but she caught his arm and detained him.

“告诉你你在市中心有个约会，”他粗声粗气地说，本来想打开门，但她抓住了他的手臂并扣留了他。

“Walter, please come back and finish your dinner.

“沃尔特，请回来吃完晚饭。

When I take all the trouble to cook it for you, I think you might at least----”

当我费尽心思为你做饭时，我想你至少可以——”

“Now, now!” he said.

“现在，现在！”他说。

“That isn't what you're up to.

“这不是你想做的事。

You don't want to make me eat; you want to make me listen.”

你不想让我吃饭；你想让我听。”

“Well, you MUST listen!” She retained her grasp upon his arm, and made it tighter.

“嗯，你一定要听！”她继续抓着他的手臂，并且握得更紧。

“Walter, please!” she entreated, her voice becoming tremulous.

“沃尔特，拜托！”她恳求道，声音变得颤抖。

“PLEASE don't make me so much trouble!”

“请不要给我添这么大的麻烦！”

He drew back from her as far as her hold upon him permitted, and looked at her sharply.

在她对他的控制允许的范围内，他从她身边退开，目光锐利地看着她。

“Look here!” he said.

“看这里！”他说。

“I get you, all right!

“我明白你了，好吧！

What's the matter of Alice GOIN' to that party by herself?”

爱丽丝一个人去参加那个聚会是怎么回事？

“She just CAN'T!”

“她就是不能！”

“Why not?”

“为什么不呢？”

“It makes things too MEAN for her, Walter.

“这对她来说太卑鄙了，沃尔特。

All the other girls have somebody to depend on after they get there.”

其他女孩到了那里之后都有可以依靠的人了。”

“Well, why doesn't she have somebody?” he asked, testily.

“那么，为什么她没有人呢？”他暴躁地问道。

“Somebody besides ME, I mean!

“我是说，除了我之外的其他人！

Why hasn't somebody asked her to go?

为什么没有人请她走？

She ought to be THAT popular, anyhow, I sh'd think--she TRIES enough!”

无论如何，她应该那么受欢迎，我想——她已经足够努力了！”

“I don't understand how you can be so hard,” his mother wailed, huskily.

“我不明白你怎么能这么狠心，”他的母亲沙哑地哭道。

“You know why they don't run after her the way they do the other girls she goes with, Walter.

“你知道为什么他们不像追随她的其他女孩那样追赶她，沃尔特。

It's because we're poor, and she hasn't got any background.

因为我们穷，而她又没有什么背景。

“'Background?'” Walter repeated.

“‘背景？’”沃尔特重复道。

“'Background?' What kind of talk is that?”

“‘背景？’这算哪门子话啊？”

“You WILL go with her to-night, Walter?” his mother pleaded, not stopping to enlighten him.

“沃尔特，你今晚会和她一起去吗？”他的母亲恳求道，但没有停下来启发他。

“You don't understand how hard things are for her and how brave she is about them, or you COULDN'T be so selfish!

“你不明白事情对她来说有多艰难，也不明白她面对这些事情有多么勇敢，否则你不可能这么自私！

It'd be more than I can bear to see her disappointed to-night!

今晚看到她失望，我实在无法忍受！

She went clear out to Belleview Park this afternoon, Walter, and spent hours and hours picking violets to wear.

沃尔特，她今天下午去了贝尔维尤公园，花了好几个小时采摘紫罗兰来穿。

You WILL----”

你会——”

Walter's heart was not iron, and the episode of the violets may have reached it.

沃尔特的心不是铁的，紫罗兰的插曲可能已经达到了这一点。

“Oh, BLUB!” he said, and flung his soft hat violently at the wall.

“噢，布鲁布！”他说着，用力把他的软帽往墙上一扔。

His mother beamed with delight.

他的母亲露出了喜悦的笑容。

“THAT'S a good boy, darling!

“这真是个好孩子，亲爱的！

You'll never be sorry you----”

你永远不会后悔的——”

“Cut it out,” he requested.

“别说了，”他请求道。

“If I take her, will you pay for a taxi?”

“如果我带她去，你愿意付出租车费吗？”

“Oh, Walter!” And again Mrs. Adams showed distress.

“噢，沃尔特！”亚当斯夫人再次表现出苦恼。

“Couldn't you?”

“你不能吗？”

“No, I couldn't; I'm not goin' to throw away my good money like that, and you can't tell what time o' night it'll be before she's willin' to come home.

” “不，我不能；我不会就这样把我的好钱扔掉，而且你不知道晚上几点她才会愿意回家。

What's the matter you payin' for one?”

你花钱买一个有什么关系？

“I haven't any money.”

“我没有钱。”

“Well, father----”

“嗯，父亲——”

She shook her head dolefully.

她悲伤地摇摇头。

“I got some from him this morning, and I can't bother him for any more; it upsets him.

“今天早上我从他那里得到了一些，我不能再打扰他了；这让他心烦意乱。

He's ALWAYS been so terribly close with money----”

他总是和金钱如此亲近——”

“I guess he couldn't help that,” Walter observed.

“我猜他无法控制这一点，”沃尔特评论道。

“We're liable to go to the poorhouse the way it is.

“我们很可能就这样去济贫院。

Well, what's the matter our walkin' to this rotten party?”

好吧，我们去参加这个破烂的聚会是怎么回事？”

“In the rain, Walter?”

“在雨中吗，沃尔特？”

“Well, it's only a drizzle and we can take a streetcar to within a block of the house.”

“好吧，只是一场毛毛雨，我们可以坐有轨电车到离房子一个街区以内的地方。”

Again his mother shook her head.

他的母亲再次摇摇头。

“It wouldn't do.”

“那不行。”

“Well, darn the luck, all right!” he consented, explosively.

“好吧，该死的运气，好吧！”他爆发性地同意了。

“I'll get her something to ride in.

“我会给她买一些可以骑的东西。

It means seventy-five cents.”

这意味着七十五美分。”

“Why, Walter!” Mrs. Adams cried, much pleased.

“为什么，沃尔特！”亚当斯夫人高兴地哭了。

“Do you know how to get a cab for that little?

“你知道怎么花那么点钱叫到出租车吗？

How splendid!”

多棒啊！”

“Tain't a cab,” Walter informed her crossly.

“没有出租车，”沃尔特生气地告诉她。

“It's a tin Lizzie, but you don't haf' to tell her what it is till I get her into it, do you?”

“这是一个罐头莉齐，但在我让她参与之前你不必告诉她这是什么，是吗？”

Mrs. Adams agreed that she didn't.

亚当斯夫人也同意她没有这样做。

CHAPTER VI

第六章

Alice was busy with herself for two hours after dinner; but a little before nine o'clock she stood in front of her long mirror, completed, bright-eyed and solemn.

晚餐后，爱丽丝忙了两个小时。但快到九点时，她站在长镜子前，妆容完整，眼神明亮，表情庄严。

Her hair, exquisitely arranged, gave all she asked of it; what artificialities in colour she had used upon her face were only bits of emphasis that made her prettiness the more distinct; and the dress, not rumpled by her mother's careful hours of work, was a white cloud of loveliness.

她的头发梳理得很精致，满足了她的所有要求。她在脸上用的人工色彩只是为了强调一点，让她的美丽更加鲜明。这件衣服并没有因为母亲长时间的细心工作而弄皱，而是一朵美丽的白云。

Finally there were two triumphant bouquets of violets, each with the stems wrapped in tin-foil shrouded by a bow of purple chiffon; and one bouquet she wore at her waist and the other she carried in her hand.

最后是两束胜利的紫罗兰，每束紫罗兰的花茎都用锡纸包着，外面还缠着紫色的雪纺蝴蝶结。她将一束花束在腰间，另一束捧在手里。

Miss Perry, called in by a rapturous mother for the free treat of a look at this radiance, insisted that Alice was a vision.

佩里小姐被一位欣喜若狂的母亲叫来，免费欣赏这光芒，她坚持认为爱丽丝是幻象。

“Purely and simply a vision!” she said, meaning that no other definition whatever would satisfy her.

“纯粹是一个愿景！”她说，意思是没有其他定义能让她满意。

“I never saw anybody look a vision if she don't look one to-night,” the admiring nurse declared.

“如果她今晚不看起来，我从来没有见过任何人看起来有异象，”这位钦佩的护士宣称。

“Her papa'll think the same I do about it.

“她爸爸也会和我一样想这件事。

You see if he doesn't say she's purely and simply a vision.”

你看他是不是说她纯粹只是一个幻象。”

Adams did not fulfil the prediction quite literally when Alice paid a brief visit to his room to “show” him and bid him good-night; but he chuckled feebly.

当爱丽丝短暂拜访亚当斯的房间“展示”并向他道晚安时，亚当斯并没有完全实现这个预言。但他无力地笑了笑。

“Well, well, well!” he said.

“好啦好啦！”他说。

“You look mighty fine--MIGHTY fine!” And he waggled a bony finger at her two bouquets.

“你看起来非常好——非常好！”他对着她的两束花摇晃着一根瘦骨嶙峋的手指。

“Why, Alice, who's your beau?”

“为什么，爱丽丝，谁是你的情人？”

“Never you mind!” she laughed, archly brushing his nose with the violets in her hand.

“没关系！”她笑了，用手中的紫罗兰狡猾地擦着他的鼻子。

“He treats me pretty well, doesn't he?”

“他对我很好，不是吗？”

“Must like to throw his money around!

“一定喜欢乱花钱！

These violets smell mighty sweet, and they ought to, if they're going to a party with YOU.

这些紫罗兰闻起来非常香甜，如果它们要和你一起去参加聚会的话，它们应该闻起来很香。

Have a good time, dearie.”

祝你玩得开心，亲爱的。”

“I mean to!” she cried; and she repeated this gaily, but with an emphasis expressing sharp determination as she left him.

“我是故意的！”她哭了；她愉快地重复了这句话，但在离开他时强调了强烈的决心。

“I MEAN to!”

“我的意思是！”

“What was he talking about?” her mother inquired, smoothing the rather worn and old evening wrap she had placed on Alice's bed.

“他在说什么？”她母亲问道，一边抚平放在爱丽丝床上的相当破旧的晚礼服。

“What were you telling him you 'mean to?'”

“你告诉他你‘打算’做什么？”

Alice went back to her triple mirror for the last time, then stood before the long one.

爱丽丝最后一次回到她的三重镜子前，然后站在长镜子前。

“That I mean to have a good time to-night,” she said; and as she turned from her reflection to the wrap Mrs. Adams held up for her, “It looks as though I COULD, don't you think so?”

“我想今晚玩得开心，”她说；当她从倒影中转向亚当斯夫人为她举起的包裹时，“看起来我可以，你不这么认为吗？”

“You'll just be a queen to-night,” her mother whispered in fond emotion.

“今晚你就会成为女王，”她母亲充满慈爱地低声说道。

“You mustn't doubt yourself.”

“你不应该怀疑自己。”

“Well, there's one thing,” said Alice.

“嗯，有一件事，”爱丽丝说。

“I think I do look nice enough to get along without having to dance with that Frank Dowling!

“我认为我看起来确实足够好，不需要和弗兰克·道林跳舞就可以相处！

All I ask is for it to happen just once; and if he comes near me to-night I'm going to treat him the way the other girls do.

我所要求的只是让它发生一次；如果他今晚靠近我，我会像其他女孩一样对待他。

Do you suppose Walter's got the taxi out in front?”

你认为沃尔特把出租车停在前面了吗？

“He--he's waiting down in the hall,” Mrs. Adams answered, nervously; and she held up another garment to go over the wrap.

“他——他正在楼下的大厅里等着，”亚当斯太太紧张地回答。她又拿起另一件衣服盖在裹布上。

Alice frowned at it.

爱丽丝对此皱起了眉头。

“What's that, mama?”

“那是什么，妈妈？”

“It's--it's your father's raincoat.

“这是——这是你父亲的雨衣。

I thought you'd put it on over----”

我以为你会把它穿上——”

“But I won't need it in a taxicab.”

“但我在出租车里不需要它。”

“You will to get in and out, and you needn't take it into the Palmers'.

“你会进出，但你不必把它带进帕尔默家。

You can leave it in the--in the--It's drizzling, and you'll need it.”

你可以把它留在——在——下毛毛雨，你会需要它的。”

“Oh, well,” Alice consented; and a few minutes later, as with Walter's assistance she climbed into the vehicle he had provided, she better understood her mother's solicitude.

“哦，好吧，”爱丽丝同意了。几分钟后，在沃尔特的帮助下，她爬上了他提供的车辆，她更加理解了母亲的关心。

“What on earth IS this, Walter?” she asked.

“这到底是什么，沃尔特？”她问道。

“Never mind; it'll keep you dry enough with the top up,” he returned, taking his seat beside her.

“没关系； “顶起来，它会让你保持足够干燥。”他回答道，在她旁边坐下。

Then for a time, as they went rather jerkily up the street, she was silent; but finally she repeated her question: “What IS it, Walter?”

然后，当他们摇摇晃晃地沿着街道走时，她沉默了一会儿。但最后她又重复了她的问题：“这是什么，沃尔特？”

“What's what?”

“什么是什么？”

“This--this CAR?”

“这——这辆车？”

“It's a ottomobile.”

“这是一辆无轮车。”

“I mean--what kind is it?”

“我的意思是——它是什么类型的？”

“Haven't you got eyes?”

“你没长眼睛吗？”

“It's too dark.”

“太黑了。”

“It's a second-hand tin Lizzie,” said Walter.

“这是一个二手锡罐莉齐，”沃尔特说。

“D'you know what that means?

“你知道这意味着什么吗？

It means a flivver.”

它的意思是“flivver”。

“Yes, Walter.”

“是的，沃尔特。”

“Got 'ny 'bjections?”

“有什么异议吗？”

“Why, no, dear,” she said, placatively.

“为什么，不，亲爱的，”她平静地说。

“Is it yours, Walter?

“这是你的吗，沃尔特？

Have you bought it?”

你买了吗？”

“Me?” he laughed.

“我？”他笑了。

“_I_ couldn't buy a used wheelbarrow.

“_我_买不到二手独轮车。

I rent this sometimes when I'm goin' out among 'em.

当我和他们一起出去时，我有时会租这个。

Costs me seventy-five cents and the price o' the gas.”

花了我七十五美分和汽油费。”

“That seems very moderate.”

“这看起来很温和。”

“I guess it is!

“我猜是这样！

The feller owes me some money, and this is the only way I'd ever get it off him.”

那家伙欠我一些钱，这是我从他那里讨回钱的唯一办法。”

“Is he a garage-keeper?”

“他是车库管理员吗？”

“Not exactly!” Walter uttered husky sounds of amusement.

“不完全是！”沃尔特发出沙哑的笑声。

“You'll be just as happy, I guess, if you don't know who he is,” he said.

“我想，如果你不知道他是谁，你也会同样高兴，”他说。

His tone misgave her; and she said truthfully that she was content not to know who owned the car.

他的语气让她感到不安。她如实说，她很满意不知道这辆车是谁的。

“I joke sometimes about how you keep things to yourself,” she added, “but I really never do pry in your affairs, Walter.”

“我有时会开玩笑说你如何保守秘密，”她补充道，“但我真的从不打探你的事情，沃尔特。”

“Oh, no, you don't!”

“哦，不，你不！”

“Indeed, I don't.”

“确实，我不这么认为。”

“Yes, you're mighty nice and cooing when you got me where you want me,” he jeered.

“是的，当你把我带到你想要的地方时，你真是太好了，还咕咕叫着，”他嘲笑道。

“Well, _I_ just as soon tell you where I get this car.”

“好吧，我就尽快告诉你我从哪里得到这辆车的。”

“I'd just as soon you wouldn't, Walter,” she said, hurriedly.

“沃尔特，我希望你不要这么做，”她急忙说道。

“Please don't.”

“请不要。”

But Walter meant to tell her.

但沃尔特想告诉她。

“Why, there's nothin' exactly CRIMINAL about it,” he said.

“哎呀，这根本不是什么犯罪行为，”他说。

“It belongs to old J.

“它是老J的。

A.

A.

Lamb himself.

羔羊本人。

He keeps it for their coon chauffeur.

他为他们的浣熊司机保留了它。

I rent it from him.”

我从他那里租的。”

“From Mr. LAMB?”

“兰姆先生寄来的？”

“No; from the coon chauffeur.”

“不；来自浣熊司机。”

“Walter!” she gasped.

“沃尔特！”她喘着气。

“Sure I do!

“我当然知道！

I can get it any night when the coon isn't goin' to use it himself.

当浣熊自己不打算使用它时，我可以在任何晚上得到它。

He's drivin' their limousine to-night--that little Henrietta Lamb's goin' to the party, no matter if her father HAS only been dead less'n a year!” He paused, then inquired: “Well, how d'you like it?”

今晚他要开着他们的豪华轿车——那个小亨利埃塔·兰姆要去参加聚会，不管她的父亲是否才去世不到一年！”他停顿了一下，然后问道：“那么，你觉得怎么样？”

She did not speak, and he began to be remorseful for having imparted so much information, though his way of expressing regret was his own.

她没有说话，他开始为透露了这么多信息而感到懊悔，尽管他表达遗憾的方式是他自己的。

“Well, you WILL make the folks make me take you to parties!” he said.

“好吧，你会让人们让我带你去参加聚会！”他说。

“I got to do it the best way I CAN, don't I?”

“我必须尽我所能，不是吗？”

Then as she made no response, “Oh, the car's CLEAN enough,” he said.

然后，当她没有回应时，“哦，车很干净，”他说。

“This coon, he's as particular as any white man; you needn't worry about that.” And as she still said nothing, he added gruffly, “I'd of had a better car if I could afforded it.

“这只浣熊，他和任何白人一样特别；你不用担心这一点。”当她仍然一言不发时，他粗声粗气地补充道：“如果我能买得起的话，我真想拥有一辆更好的车。

You needn't get so upset about it.”

你不必为此如此沮丧。”

“I don't understand--” she said in a low voice--“I don't understand how you know such people.”

“我不明白——”她低声说道——“我不明白你怎么认识这样的人。”

“Such people as who?”

“像谁这样的人？”

“As--coloured chauffeurs.”

“有色人种的司机。”

“Oh, look here, now!” he protested, loudly.

“哦，看这里，现在！”他大声抗议。

“Don't you know this is a democratic country?”

“你不知道这是一个民主国家吗？”

“Not quite that democratic, is it, Walter?”

“不太民主，是吗，沃尔特？”

“The trouble with you,” he retorted, “you don't know there's anybody in town except just this silk-shirt crowd.” He paused, seeming to await a refutation; but as none came, he expressed himself definitely: “They make me sick.”

“你有麻烦了，”他反驳道，“你不知道城里除了这群穿着丝绸衬衫的人之外还有什么人。”他停了下来，似乎在等待反驳。但由于没有人来，他明确表示：“他们让我恶心。”

They were coming near their destination, and the glow of the big, brightly lighted house was seen before them in the wet night.

他们快到目的地了，在潮湿的夜色中，眼前那座灯火通明的大房子发出了光芒。

Other cars, not like theirs, were approaching this center of brilliance; long triangles of light near the ground swept through the fine drizzle; small red tail-lights gleamed again from the moist pavement of the street; and, through the myriads of little glistening leaves along the curving driveway, glimpses were caught of lively colours moving in a white glare as the limousines released their occupants under the shelter of the porte-cochere.

其他汽车，与他们的汽车不同，正在接近这个辉煌的中心。靠近地面的长三角形光线扫过细雨；红色的小尾灯再次在潮湿的街道上闪闪发光。沿着弯曲的车道，透过无数闪闪发光的小树叶，当豪华轿车在门廊的庇护下释放乘客时，我们可以瞥见在白色眩光中移动的生动色彩。

Alice clutched Walter's arm in a panic; they were just at the driveway entrance.

爱丽丝惊慌地抓住了沃尔特的手臂。他们就在车道入口处。

“Walter, we mustn't go in there.”

“沃尔特，我们不能进去。”

“What's the matter?”

“怎么了？”

“Leave this awful car outside.”

“把这辆糟糕的车留在外面。”

“Why, I----”

“为什么，我——”

“Stop!” she insisted, vehemently.

“住手！”她强烈地坚持。

“You've got to!

“你必须这么做！

Go back!”

回去吧！”

“Oh, Glory!”

“哦，荣耀！”

The little car was between the entrance posts; but Walter backed it out, avoiding a collision with an impressive machine which swerved away from them and passed on toward the porte-cochere, showing a man's face grinning at the window as it went by.

那辆小汽车停在入口柱子之间。但沃尔特后退了一步，避免与一台令人印象深刻的机器相撞，这台机器突然转向远离他们，朝停车门廊驶去，当它经过时，一张男人的脸对着窗户咧着嘴笑。

“Flivver runabout got the wrong number!” he said.

“Flivver 快艇拿到了错误的号码！”他说。

“Did he SEE us?” Alice cried.

“他看到我们了吗？”爱丽丝哭了。

“Did who see us?”

“谁看到我们了？”

“Harvey Malone--in that foreign coupe.”

“哈维·马龙——开着那辆外国轿跑车。”

“No; he couldn't tell who we were under this top,” Walter assured her as he brought the little car to a standstill beside the curbstone, out in the street.

“不；他看不出我们是谁，”沃尔特一边向她保证，一边把小车停在街上的路边石旁。

“What's it matter if he did, the big fish?”

“就算他这么做了又有什么关系呢，这条大鱼？”

Alice responded with a loud sigh, and sat still.

爱丽丝重重地叹了口气，一动不动地坐着。

“Well, want to go on back?” Walter inquired.

“嗯，想回去吗？”沃尔特问道。

“You bet I'm willing!”

“你打赌我愿意！”

“No.”

“不。”

“Well, then, what's the matter our drivin' on up to the porte-cochere?

“那么，我们开车到停车门是怎么回事？

There's room for me to park just the other side of it.”

对面有地方可以停车。”

“No, NO!”

“不，不！”

“What you expect to do?

“你期望做什么？

Sit HERE all night?”

整晚都坐在这里吗？”

“No, leave the car here.”

“不用了，把车停在这里吧。”

“_I_ don't care where we leave it,” he said.

“我不在乎我们把它放在哪里，”他说。

“Sit still till I lock her, so none o' these millionaires around here'll run off with her.” He got out with a padlock and chain; and, having put these in place, offered Alice his hand.

“别动，等我把她锁起来，这样这里的百万富翁就不会和她一起跑了。”他带着挂锁和链条下了车。把这些放好后，向爱丽丝伸出了手。

“Come on, if you're ready.”

“来吧，如果你准备好了的话。”

“Wait,” she said, and, divesting herself of the raincoat, handed it to Walter.

“等等，”她说，脱下雨衣，递给沃尔特。

“Please leave this with your things in the men's dressing-room, as if it were an extra one of your own, Walter.”

“请把它和你的东西一起留在男更衣室，就好像它是你自己的额外的一样，沃尔特。”

He nodded; she jumped out; and they scurried through the drizzle.

他点点头；她跳了出去；他们在毛毛细雨中急匆匆地走着。

As they reached the porte-cochere she began to laugh airily, and spoke to the impassive man in livery who stood there.

当他们到达门廊时，她开始轻快地笑起来，并对站在那儿的面无表情的穿着制服的男人说话。

“Joke on us!” she said, hurrying by him toward the door of the house.

“跟我们开玩笑！”她一边说，一边从他身边快步朝屋门口走去。

“Our car broke down outside the gate.”

“我们的车在门外抛锚了。”

The man remained impassive, though he responded with a faint gleam as Walter, looking back at him, produced for his benefit a cynical distortion of countenance which offered little confirmation of Alice's account of things.

那人仍然面无表情，尽管沃尔特回头看着他，脸上露出了一丝愤世嫉俗的扭曲表情，这并不能证实爱丽丝对事情的描述。

Then the door was swiftly opened to the brother and sister; and they came into a marble-floored hall, where a dozen sleeked young men lounged, smoked cigarettes and fastened their gloves, as they waited for their ladies.

然后门很快就给兄妹俩打开了。他们走进了一个铺着大理石地板的大厅，十几个衣着光鲜亮丽的年轻人正悠闲地坐着，一边抽烟一边戴上手套，等待着自己的女士。

Alice nodded to one or another of these, and went quickly on, her face uplifted and smiling; but Walter detained her at the door to which she hastened.

爱丽丝对其中的一个或另一个点了点头，然后快步继续说下去，她的脸抬起来，微笑着。但沃尔特在她赶到门口时把她拦住了。

“Listen here,” he said.

“听这里，”他说。

“I suppose you want me to dance the first dance with you----”

“我想你想让我和你跳第一支舞——”

“If you please, Walter,” she said, meekly.

“如果你愿意的话，沃尔特，”她温顺地说。

“How long you goin' to hang around fixin' up in that dressin'-room?”

“你要在更衣室里待多久？”

“I'll be out before you're ready yourself,” she promised him; and kept her word, she was so eager for her good time to begin.

“在你准备好之前我就会出去，”她向他保证。她信守诺言，非常渴望美好时光的开始。

When he came for her, they went down the hall to a corridor opening upon three great rooms which had been thrown open together, with the furniture removed and the broad floors waxed.

当他来找她时，他们沿着大厅来到一条走廊，走廊通向三间大房间，这些房间被拼在一起，家具被移走了，宽阔的地板也打了蜡。

At one end of the corridor musicians sat in a green grove, and Walter, with some interest, turned toward these; but his sister, pressing his arm, impelled him in the opposite direction.

走廊的一端，音乐家们坐在一片绿色的小树林里，沃尔特饶有兴趣地转向他们。但他的妹妹却压住了他的手臂，把他推向相反的方向。

“What's the matter now?” he asked.

“现在怎么了？”他问道。

“That's Jazz Louie and his half-breed bunch--three white and four mulatto.

“那是爵士路易和他的混血儿——三个白人和四个黑白混血儿。

Let's----?”

我们——？」

“No, no,” she whispered.

“不，不，”她低声说。

“We must speak to Mildred and Mr. and Mrs. Palmer.”

“我们必须和米尔德里德以及帕尔默先生和夫人谈谈。”

“'Speak' to 'em?

“跟他们‘说话’？

I haven't got a thing to say to THOSE berries!”

我对那些浆果无话可说！”

“Walter, won't you PLEASE behave?”

“沃尔特，请你乖一点好吗？”

He seemed to consent, for the moment, at least, and suffered her to take him down the corridor toward a floral bower where the hostess stood with her father and mother.

他似乎同意了，至少暂时是这样，并允许她带他沿着走廊走向一个花亭，女主人和她的父母站在那儿。

Other couples and groups were moving in the same direction, carrying with them a hubbub of laughter and fragmentary chatterings; and Alice, smiling all the time, greeted people on every side of her eagerly--a little more eagerly than most of them responded--while Walter nodded in a noncommittal manner to one or two, said nothing, and yawned audibly, the last resource of a person who finds himself nervous in a false situation.

其他情侣和团体也朝同一个方向走去，伴随着喧闹的笑声和断断续续的闲聊。爱丽丝一直微笑着，热切地向周围的人打招呼——比大多数人的反应都要热切一些——而沃尔特则不置可否地向一两个人点点头，什么也没说，打了个哈欠，这是一个在错误的情况下感到紧张的人的最后手段。

He repeated his yawn and was beginning another when a convulsive pressure upon his arm made him understand that he must abandon this method of reassuring himself.

他又打了个哈欠，正准备再打一个哈欠，这时手臂上一阵痉挛般的压力让他明白，他必须放弃这种让自己安心的方法。

They were close upon the floral bower.

他们已经靠近花亭了。

Mildred was giving her hand to one and another of her guests as rapidly as she could, passing them on to her father and mother, and at the same time resisting the efforts of three or four detached bachelors who besought her to give over her duty in favour of the dance-music just beginning to blare.

米尔德里德尽可能快地向一位又一位客人伸出手，将他们递给她的父母，同时抵制三四个冷漠的单身汉的努力，他们恳求她放弃自己的职责，转而去听刚刚开始响起的舞曲。

She was a large, fair girl, with a kindness of eye somewhat withheld by an expression of fastidiousness; at first sight of her it was clear that she would never in her life do anything “incorrect,” or wear anything “incorrect.” But her correctness was of the finer sort, and had no air of being studied or achieved; conduct would never offer her a problem to be settled from a book of rules, for the rules were so deep within her that she was unconscious of them.

她是个身材高大、皮肤白皙的女孩，眼神中带着一丝善意，但表情却很挑剔。第一眼看到她就知道她这辈子绝不会做任何“不正确”的事，也不会穿任何“不正确”的衣服。但她的正确性是比较好的，没有一种被研究或被成就的感觉。行为永远不会给她带来需要通过一本规则书来解决的问题，因为规则深深地扎在她的内心深处，以至于她没有意识到它们。

And behind this perfection there was an even ampler perfection of what Mrs. Adams called “background.” The big, rich, simple house was part of it, and Mildred's father and mother were part of it.

在这种完美的背后，还有亚当斯夫人所谓的“背景”的更充分的完美。这座又大又富又简朴的房子是其中的一部分，米尔德里德的父母也是其中的一部分。

They stood beside her, large, serene people, murmuring graciously and gently inclining their handsome heads as they gave their hands to the guests; and even the youngest and most ebullient of these took on a hushed mannerliness with a closer approach to the bower.

他们站在她身边，身材高大，表情安详，在向客人伸出双手时，他们优雅地低声低语，轻轻地倾斜着英俊的头。即使是其中最年轻、最热情的人，在靠近凉亭时也表现出一种安静的举止。

When the opportunity came for Alice and Walter to pass within this precinct, Alice, going first, leaned forward and whispered in Mildred's ear.

当爱丽丝和沃尔特有机会经过这个区域时，爱丽丝率先走上前，在米尔德里德耳边低声说道。

“You DIDN'T wear the maize georgette!

“你没有穿玉米乔其纱！

That's what I thought you were going to.

这就是我以为你会这么做的。

But you look simply DARLING!

但你看起来简直就是亲爱的！

And those pearls----”

还有那些珍珠——”

Others were crowding decorously forward, anxious to be done with ceremony and get to the dancing; and Mildred did not prolong the intimacy of Alice's enthusiastic whispering.

其他人则彬彬有礼地挤在前面，急于完成仪式并开始跳舞。米尔德里德并没有延长爱丽丝热情的窃窃私语的亲密关系。

With a faint accession of colour and a smile tending somewhat in the direction of rigidity, she carried Alice's hand immediately onward to Mrs. Palmer's.

她的脸色微微一红，笑容有些僵硬，她立即握住爱丽丝的手，走向帕尔默夫人的手。

Alice's own colour showed a little heightening as she accepted the suggestion thus implied; nor was that emotional tint in any wise decreased, a moment later, by an impression that Walter, in concluding the brief exchange of courtesies between himself and the stately Mr. Palmer, had again reassured himself with a yawn.

当爱丽丝接受了这暗示的建议时，她的脸色变得更红了。片刻之后，沃尔特在结束与庄严的帕尔默先生之间的简短寒暄之后，又打了个哈欠让自己安心，这种情绪丝毫没有减弱。

But she did not speak of it to Walter; she preferred not to confirm the impression and to leave in her mind a possible doubt that he had done it.

但她没有向沃尔特提起这件事。她宁愿不去证实这一印象，并在心里留下一个可能的怀疑，即他是否做过这件事。

He followed her out upon the waxed floor, said resignedly: “Well, come on,” put his arm about her, and they began to dance.

他跟着她走到打蜡的地板上，无奈地说：“好吧，来吧，”用手臂搂住她，然后他们开始跳舞。

Alice danced gracefully and well, but not so well as Walter.

爱丽丝跳得优雅而优美，但不如沃尔特。

Of all the steps and runs, of all the whimsical turns and twirlings, of all the rhythmic swayings and dips commanded that season by such blarings as were the barbaric product, loud and wild, of the Jazz Louies and their half-breed bunches, the thin and sallow youth was a master.

那个赛季，在所有的脚步和奔跑中，在所有异想天开的转身和旋转中，在所有有节奏的摇摆和下蹲中，这些声音都是路易爵士和他们的混血儿的野蛮产物，大声而狂野，这个瘦弱而蜡黄的年轻人是一位大师。

Upon his face could be seen contempt of the easy marvels he performed as he moved in swift precision from one smooth agility to another; and if some too-dainty or jealous cavalier complained that to be so much a stylist in dancing was “not quite like a gentleman,” at least Walter's style was what the music called for.

当他迅速精确地从一种平稳敏捷转向另一种敏捷时，他的脸上可以看到对他所表现出的轻松奇迹的蔑视；如果有些过于精致或嫉妒的骑士抱怨说，作为一名舞蹈造型师“不太像绅士”，那么至少沃尔特的风格正是音乐所需要的。

No other dancer in the room could be thought comparable to him.

房间里没有其他舞者可以与他相比。

Alice told him so.

爱丽丝这样告诉他。

“It's wonderful!” she said.

“太棒了！”她说。

“And the mystery is, where you ever learned to DO it!

“而神秘的是，你是在哪里学会这样做的！

You never went to dancing-school, but there isn't a man in the room who can dance half so well.

你从来没有上过舞蹈学校，但房间里没有一个人能跳得这么好。

I don't see why, when you dance like this, you always make such a fuss about coming to parties.”

我不明白为什么，当你像这样跳舞时，你总是对参加聚会如此大惊小怪。”

He sounded his brief laugh, a jeering bark out of one side of the mouth, and swung her miraculously through a closing space between two other couples.

他发出短暂的笑声，从嘴的一侧发出一声嘲讽的咆哮，然后奇迹般地把她摇过另外两对情侣之间的狭窄空间。

“You know a lot about what goes on, don't you?

“你对发生的事情很了解，不是吗？

You prob'ly think there's no other place to dance in this town except these frozen-face joints.”

你可能认为除了这些冻脸关节之外，这个镇上没有其他地方可以跳舞。”

“'Frozen face?'” she echoed, laughing.

“‘脸冻僵了？’”她笑着重复道。

“Why, everybody's having a splendid time.

“为什么，每个人都度过了一段美好的时光。

Look at them.”

看看他们。”

“Oh, they holler loud enough,” he said.

“哦，他们喊得够大声了，”他说。

“They do it to make each other think they're havin' a good time.

“他们这样做是为了让对方觉得他们玩得很开心。

You don't call that Palmer family frozen-face berries, I s'pose.

我猜你不会把帕尔默家族的冻脸浆果称为“冻脸浆果”。

No?”

没有？

“Certainly not.

“当然不是。

They're just dignified and----”

他们只是有尊严而且——”

“Yeuh!” said Walter.

“嗯！”沃尔特说。

“They're dignified, 'specially when you tried to whisper to Mildred to show how IN with her you were, and she moved you on that way.

“他们很有尊严，”特别是当你试图对米尔德里德低声说你有多喜欢她时，她就这样打动了你。

SHE'S a hot friend, isn't she!”

她是个很热情的朋友，不是吗！”

“She didn't mean anything by it.

“她这么说并没有什么意思。

She----”

她——”

“Ole Palmer's a hearty, slap you-on-the-back ole berry,” Walter interrupted; adding in a casual tone, “All I'd like, I'd like to hit him.”

“奥勒·帕尔默是个热情的人，会拍拍你的背，”沃尔特打断道。用一种随意的语气补充道：“我只想打他。”

“Walter!

“沃尔特！

By the way, you mustn't forget to ask Mildred for a dance before the evening is over.”

顺便说一句，晚上结束前你可别忘了请米尔德丽德跳舞。”

“Me?” He produced the lop-sided appearance of his laugh, but without making it vocal.

“我？”他笑得歪歪扭扭，但没有发声。

“You watch me do it!”

“你看着我做！”

“She probably won't have one left, but you must ask her, anyway.”

“她可能已经没有了，但无论如何你必须问她。”

“Why must I?”

“为什么我必须这么做？”

“Because, in the first place, you're supposed to, and, in the second place, she's my most intimate friend.”

“因为，首先，你应该这样做，其次，她是我最亲密的朋友。”

“Yeuh?

“嗯？

Is she?

她是吗？

I've heard you pull that 'most-intimate-friend' stuff often enough about her.

我听说你经常用“最亲密的朋友”来形容她。

What's SHE ever do to show she is?”

她做了什么来证明她是这样的？”

“Never mind.

“没关系。”

You really must ask her, Walter.

你真的必须问她，沃尔特。

I want you to; and I want you to ask several other girls afterwhile; I'll tell you who.”

我希望你这样做；我想让你稍后再问问其他几个女孩；我来告诉你是谁。”

“Keep on wanting; it'll do you good.”

“继续想要；这对你有好处。”

“Oh, but you really----”

“哦，但是你真的——”

“Listen!” he said.

“听着！”他说。

“I'm just as liable to dance with any of these fairies as I am to buy a bucket o' rusty tacks and eat 'em.

“我愿意与这些仙女跳舞，就像我愿意买一桶生锈的图钉然后吃掉它们一样。

Forget it!

算了！

Soon as I get rid of you I'm goin' back to that room where I left my hat and overcoat and smoke myself to death.”

一旦我摆脱了你，我就会回到我留下帽子和大衣的那个房间，然后把自己抽死。”

“Well,” she said, a little ruefully, as the frenzy of Jazz Louie and his half-breeds was suddenly abated to silence, “you mustn't--you mustn't get rid of me TOO soon, Walter.”

“好吧，”当路易爵士和他的混血儿的疯狂突然平息下来时，她有点悲伤地说，“你不可以——你不可以太快摆脱我，沃尔特。”

They stood near one of the wide doorways, remaining where they had stopped.

他们站在一扇宽阔的门口附近，留在原地。

Other couples, everywhere, joined one another, forming vivacious clusters, but none of these groups adopted the brother and sister, nor did any one appear to be hurrying in Alice's direction to ask her for the next dance.

各地的其他情侣也加入了彼此，形成了活泼的群体，但这些群体中没有一个收养了这对兄妹，也没有一个似乎匆忙朝爱丽丝的方向邀请她跳下一支舞。

She looked about her, still maintaining that jubilance of look and manner she felt so necessary--for it is to the girls who are “having a good time” that partners are attracted--and, in order to lend greater colour to her impersonation of a lively belle, she began to chatter loudly, bringing into play an accompaniment of frolicsome gesture.

她环顾四周，仍然保持着她认为必要的那种欢快的神情和举止——因为只有那些“玩得很开心”的女孩才会吸引伴侣——而且，为了给她扮演的活泼美女增添更多色彩，她开始大声喋喋不休，并做出嬉戏的动作。

She brushed Walter's nose saucily with the bunch of violets in her hand, tapped him on the shoulder, shook her pretty forefinger in his face, flourished her arms, kept her shoulders moving, and laughed continuously as she spoke.

她手里拿着一束紫罗兰，俏皮地擦了擦沃尔特的鼻子，拍拍他的肩膀，在他脸上晃动漂亮的食指，挥舞着双臂，不断地移动肩膀，一边说话一边不停地笑。

“You NAUGHTY old Walter!” she cried.

“你这个顽皮的老沃尔特！”她哭了。

“AREN'T you ashamed to be such a wonderful dancer and then only dance with your own little sister!

“你是一个如此优秀的舞者，却只和你自己的妹妹跳舞，你不感到羞耻吗？

You could dance on the stage if you wanted to.

如果你愿意的话，你可以在舞台上跳舞。

Why, you could made your FORTUNE that way!

为什么，你可以这样发财！

Why don't you?

你为什么不呢？

Wouldn't it be just lovely to have all the rows and rows of people clapping their hands and shouting, 'Hurrah!

如果一排又一排的人们拍手大喊“万岁！”，那不是很可爱吗？

Hurrah, for Walter Adams!

万岁，沃尔特·亚当斯！

Hurrah!

万岁！

Hurrah!

万岁！

Hurrah!”

万岁！

He stood looking at her in stolid pity.

他站在那儿，冷漠而怜悯地看着她。

“Cut it out,” he said.

“别说了，”他说。

“You better be givin' some of these berries the eye so they'll ask you to dance.”

“你最好给这些浆果一些眼睛，这样它们就会邀请你跳舞。”

She was not to be so easily checked, and laughed loudly, flourishing her violets in his face again.

她可没那么容易被阻止，她大声笑起来，再次在他脸上绽放她的紫罗兰。

“You WOULD like it; you know you would; you needn't pretend!

“你会喜欢的；你知道你会的；你不需要假装！

Just think!

想想吧！

A whole big audience shouting, 'Hurrah!

一大群观众高喊：“万岁！”

HURRAH!

万岁！

HUR----'”

呼——’”

“The place'll be pulled if you get any noisier,” he interrupted, not ungently.

“如果你再吵闹的话，这个地方就会被拉走，”他打断道，语气并不不客气。

“Besides, I'm no muley cow.”

“而且，我不是骡牛。”

“A 'COW?'” she laughed.

“‘牛？’”她笑道。

“What on earth----”

“到底是什么——”

“I can't eat dead violets,” he explained.

“我不能吃死紫罗兰，”他解释道。

“So don't keep tryin' to make me do it.”

“所以不要一直试图让我这么做。”

This had the effect he desired, and subdued her; she abandoned her unsisterly coquetries, and looked beamingly about her, but her smile was more mechanical than it had been at first.

这达到了他想要的效果，并征服了她。她放弃了那种不近人情的卖弄风情，满面笑容地环顾四周，但她的笑容比一开始更加机械了。

At home she had seemed beautiful; but here, where the other girls competed, things were not as they had been there, with only her mother and Miss Perry to give contrast.

在家里她看起来很漂亮；在家里她看起来很漂亮。但在这里，其他女孩参加比赛的时候，情况却和以前不一样了，只有她的母亲和佩里小姐来对比。

These crowds of other girls had all done their best, also, to look beautiful, though not one of them had worked so hard for such a consummation as Alice had.

这些成群结队的其他女孩也都尽了最大努力让自己看起来漂亮，尽管没有一个人像爱丽丝那样为如此完美而努力。

They did not need to; they did not need to get their mothers to make old dresses over; they did not need to hunt violets in the rain.

他们不需要；他们不需要让母亲重新缝制旧衣服；他们不需要在雨中狩猎紫罗兰。

At home her dress had seemed beautiful; but that was different, too, where there were dozens of brilliant fabrics, fashioned in new ways--some of these new ways startling, which only made the wearers centers of interest and shocked no one.

在家里，她的衣服看起来很漂亮；在家里，她的衣服看起来很漂亮。但情况也有所不同，这里有数十种以新方式制作的精美面料——其中一些新方式令人震惊，这只会让穿着者成为兴趣中心，却不会令任何人感到震惊。

And Alice remembered that she had heard a girl say, not long before, “Oh, ORGANDIE!

爱丽丝记得不久前她听到一个女孩说：“哦，奥甘迪！

Nobody wears organdie for evening gowns except in midsummer.” Alice had thought little of this; but as she looked about her and saw no organdie except her own, she found greater difficulty in keeping her smile as arch and spontaneous as she wished it.

除了仲夏，没有人会在晚礼服上穿透明纱。”爱丽丝并没有想到这一点。但当她环顾四周，发现除了自己的纱窗纱之外，别无其他纱窗纱时，她发现要保持她希望的那样拱形和自然的微笑变得更加困难。

In fact, it was beginning to make her face ache a little.

事实上，她的脸已经开始有点疼了。

Mildred came in from the corridor, heavily attended.

米尔德丽德从走廊进来，周围挤满了人。

She carried a great bouquet of violets laced with lilies of-the-valley; and the violets were lusty, big purple things, their stems wrapped in cloth of gold, with silken cords dependent, ending in long tassels.

她捧着一大束紫罗兰，上面插着铃兰。紫罗兰是一种精力充沛、紫色的大东西，它们的茎用金布包裹着，丝绳垂下来，末端有长长的流苏。

She and her convoy passed near the two young Adamses; and it appeared that one of the convoy besought his hostess to permit “cutting in”; they were “doing it other places” of late, he urged; but he was denied and told to console himself by holding the bouquet, at intervals, until his third of the sixteenth dance should come.

她和她的车队经过两个年轻的亚当斯附近。看来其中一支车队恳求女主人允许“插队”。他敦促说，他们最近“在其他地方这样做”。但他被拒绝了，并被告知要时不时地拿着花束来安慰自己，直到第十六支舞中的第三支舞到来。

Alice looked dubiously at her own bouquet.

爱丽丝疑惑地看着自己的花束。

Suddenly she felt that the violets betrayed her; that any one who looked at them could see how rustic, how innocent of any florist's craft they were “I can't eat dead violets,” Walter said.

突然，她觉得紫罗兰背叛了她；任何一个看过它们的人都能看出它们是多么质朴，多么天真，没有任何花店的手艺。“我不能吃死紫罗兰，”沃尔特说。

The little wild flowers, dying indeed in the warm air, were drooping in a forlorn mass; and it seemed to her that whoever noticed them would guess that she had picked them herself.

小野花确实在温暖的空气中死去了，成群落下，一片凄凉。在她看来，无论谁注意到它们，都会猜到它们是她自己摘的。

She decided to get rid of them.

她决定摆脱他们。

Walter was becoming restive.

沃尔特变得焦躁不安。

“Look here!” he said.

“看这里！”他说。

“Can't you flag one o' these long-tailed birds to take you on for the next dance?

“你不能标记这些长尾鸟中的一只，带你参加下一支舞吗？

You came to have a good time; why don't you get busy and have it?

你是来享受美好时光的；你为什么不忙起来并拥有它呢？

I want to get out and smoke.”

我想出去抽烟。”

“You MUSTN'T leave me, Walter,” she whispered, hastily.

“你不能离开我，沃尔特，”她急忙低声说道。

“Somebody'll come for me before long, but until they do----”

“不久就会有人来找我，但直到他们来——”

“Well, couldn't you sit somewhere?”

“嗯，你就不能找个地方坐一下吗？”

“No, no!

“不，不！

There isn't any one I could sit with.”

没有人可以和我坐在一起。”

“Well, why not?

“嗯，为什么不呢？

Look at those ole dames in the corners.

看看角落里那些老太太。

What's the matter your tyin' up with some o' them for a while?”

你和他们中的一些人绑在一起一段时间是怎么回事？

“PLEASE, Walter; no!”

“求你了，沃尔特；不！”

In fact, that indomitable smile of hers was the more difficult to maintain because of these very elders to whom Walter referred.

事实上，正是因为沃尔特提到的这些长辈，她的那股不屈不挠的笑容才更难维持。

They were mothers of girls among the dancers, and they were there to fend and contrive for their offspring; to keep them in countenance through any trial; to lend them diplomacy in the carrying out of all enterprises; to be “background” for them; and in these essentially biological functionings to imitate their own matings and renew the excitement of their nuptial periods.

她们是舞者中女孩的母亲，她们在那里照顾和照顾她们的后代。让他们在任何审判中保持面容；为他们开展所有事业提供外交手段；成为他们的“背景”；并通过这些本质上的生物功能来模仿自己的交配并恢复婚姻时期的兴奋。

Older men, husbands of these ladies and fathers of eligible girls, were also to be seen, most of them with Mr. Palmer in a billiard-room across the corridor.

也可以看到年长的男人、这些女士的丈夫和合格女孩的父亲，他们中的大多数人和帕尔默先生一起在走廊对面的台球室里。

Mr. and Mrs. Adams had not been invited.

亚当斯先生和夫人没有受到邀请。

“Of course papa and mama just barely know Mildred Palmer,” Alice thought, “and most of the other girls' fathers and mothers are old friends of Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, but I do think she might have ASKED papa and mama, anyway--she needn't have been afraid just to ask them; she knew they couldn't come.” And her smiling lip twitched a little threateningly, as she concluded the silent monologue.

“当然，爸爸和妈妈几乎不认识米尔德丽德·帕尔默，”爱丽丝想，“其他大多数女孩的父母都是帕尔默先生和帕尔默夫人的老朋友，但我确实认为她可能问过爸爸和妈妈，不管怎样——她不必害怕问他们；她知道他们不能来。”当她结束无声的独白时，她微笑的嘴唇有点威胁地抽动着。

“I suppose she thinks I ought to be glad enough she asked Walter!”

“我想她认为我应该很高兴她问了沃尔特！”

Walter was, in fact, rather noticeable.

事实上，沃尔特相当引人注目。

He was not Mildred's only guest to wear a short coat and to appear without gloves; but he was singular (at least in his present surroundings) on account of a kind of coiffuring he favoured, his hair having been shaped after what seemed a Mongol inspiration.

他并不是米尔德里德唯一一位穿着短外套且不戴手套的客人。但他之所以与众不同（至少在他现在的环境中），是因为他喜欢一种发型，他的头发似乎是受蒙古人启发而定型的。

Only upon the top of the head was actual hair perceived, the rest appearing to be nudity.

只有头顶上可见真正的头发，其余部分似乎都是裸体。

And even more than by any difference in mode he was set apart by his look and manner, in which there seemed to be a brooding, secretive and jeering superiority and this was most vividly expressed when he felt called upon for his loud, short, lop-sided laugh.

甚至比任何方式上的差异更让他与众不同的是他的外表和举止，其中似乎有一种沉思、神秘和嘲笑的优越感，当他感到有人要求他大声、短促、不平衡地笑时，这一点表现得最为生动。

Whenever he uttered it Alice laughed, too, as loudly as she could, to cover it.

每当他说出这句话时，爱丽丝也会笑起来，尽可能大声地笑，以掩盖他的声音。

“Well,” he said.

“好吧，”他说。

“How long we goin' to stand here?

“我们要在这里站多久？

My feet are sproutin' roots.”

我的脚正在发芽。”

Alice took his arm, and they began to walk aimlessly through the rooms, though she tried to look as if they had a definite destination, keeping her eyes eager and her lips parted;--people had called jovially to them from the distance, she meant to imply, and they were going to join these merry friends.

爱丽丝挽着他的手臂，他们开始在房间里漫无目的地走着，尽管她努力让自己看起来好像他们有一个明确的目的地，但她的目光热切，嘴唇张开；——她的意思是，人们从远处欢快地呼唤着他们，他们要加入这些快乐的朋友们。

She was still upon this ghostly errand when a furious outbreak of drums and saxophones sounded a prelude for the second dance.

当她还在执行这项幽灵般的任务时，一阵猛烈的鼓声和萨克斯管响起，拉开了第二支舞的前奏。

Walter danced with her again, but he gave her a warning.

沃尔特再次与她跳舞，但他警告了她。

“I don't want to leave you high and dry,” he told her, “but I can't stand it.

“我不想让你陷入困境，”他告诉她，“但我无法忍受。

I got to get somewhere I don't haf' to hurt my eyes with these berries; I'll go blind if I got to look at any more of 'em.

我得去一个地方，这样我的眼睛就不会被这些浆果弄伤了。如果我再看它们，我会失明的。

I'm goin' out to smoke as soon as the music begins the next time, and you better get fixed for it.”

下次音乐一开始我就出去抽烟，你最好做好准备。”

Alice tried to get fixed for it.

爱丽丝试图解决这个问题。

As they danced she nodded sunnily to every man whose eye she caught, smiled her smile with the under lip caught between her teeth; but it was not until the end of the intermission after the dance that she saw help coming.

当他们跳舞时，她向每一个与她目光对视的男人微笑着点点头，微笑着用牙齿咬住下唇。但直到舞会结束后的中场休息结束时，她才看到救援到来。

Across the room sat the globular lady she had encountered that morning, and beside the globular lady sat a round-headed, round-bodied girl; her daughter, at first glance.

房间对面坐着她早上遇到的那个圆滚滚的女人，圆滚滚的女人旁边坐着一个圆头圆身的女孩；乍一看，是她的女儿。

The family contour was also as evident a characteristic of the short young man who stood in front of Mrs. Dowling, engaged with her in a discussion which was not without evidences of an earnestness almost impassioned.

站在道林夫人面前、与她进行讨论的矮个子年轻人的家庭轮廓也同样明显，谈话中不乏真诚、近乎热情的迹象。

Like Walter, he was declining to dance a third time with sister; he wished to go elsewhere.

和沃尔特一样，他第三次拒绝与姐姐跳舞。他想去别的地方。

Alice from a sidelong eye watched the controversy: she saw the globular young man glance toward her, over his shoulder; whereupon Mrs. Dowling, following this glance, gave Alice a look of open fury, became much more vehement in the argument, and even struck her knee with a round, fat fist for emphasis.

爱丽丝斜眼注视着这场争论：她看到那个圆滚滚的年轻人越过他的肩膀朝她看了一眼；道林夫人看了这一眼，就用公然愤怒的眼神看了爱丽丝一眼，争论变得更加激烈，甚至用又圆又胖的拳头敲击她的膝盖以示强调。

“I'm on my way,” said Walter.

“我正在路上，”沃尔特说。

“There's the music startin' up again, and I told you----”

“音乐再次响起，我告诉过你——”

She nodded gratefully.

她感激地点点头。

“It's all right--but come back before long, Walter.”

“没关系——但是很快就回来，沃尔特。”

The globular young man, red with annoyance, had torn himself from his family and was hastening across the room to her.

那个圆滚滚的年轻人气得满脸通红，他挣脱了家人的束缚，急忙穿过房间来到她身边。

“C'n I have this dance?”

“我可以跳这支舞吗？”

“Why, you nice Frank Dowling!” Alice cried.

“哎呀，你好心的弗兰克·道林！”爱丽丝哭了。

“How lovely!”

“多可爱啊！”

CHAPTER VII

第七章

They danced.

他们跳舞。

Mr. Dowling should have found other forms of exercise and pastime.

道林先生应该找到其他形式的锻炼和消遣。

Nature has not designed everyone for dancing, though sometimes those she has denied are the last to discover her niggardliness.

大自然并没有为每个人设计跳舞，尽管有时她否认的人是最后发现她吝啬的人。

But the round young man was at least vigorous enough--too much so, when his knees collided with Alice's--and he was too sturdy to be thrown off his feet, himself, or to allow his partner to fall when he tripped her.

但这个圆圆的年轻人至少精力充沛——当他的膝盖与爱丽丝的膝盖相撞时，他的力量太强了——而且他太强壮了，他自己不会被摔倒，也不会在绊倒他的伴侣时让她摔倒。

He held her up valiantly, and continued to beat a path through the crowd of other dancers by main force.

他勇敢地扶起她，继续用主力在其他舞者的人群中打出一条路。

He paid no attention to anything suggested by the efforts of the musicians, and appeared to be unaware that there should have been some connection between what they were doing and what he was doing; but he may have listened to other music of his own, for his expression was of high content; he seemed to feel no doubt whatever that he was dancing.

他没有注意到音乐家们的努力所暗示的任何事情，并且似乎没有意识到他们所做的事情和他所做的事情之间应该存在某种联系;但他可能也听过自己的其他音乐，因为他的表情很丰富。他似乎对自己正在跳舞的一切毫无疑问。

Alice kept as far away from him as under the circumstances she could; and when they stopped she glanced down, and found the execution of unseen manoeuvres, within the protection of her skirt, helpful to one of her insteps and to the toes of both of her slippers.

爱丽丝在可能的情况下尽可能远离他。当他们停下来时，她低头看了一眼，发现在裙子的保护下，正在执行一些看不见的动作，这对她的一个脚背和两只拖鞋的脚趾都有帮助。

Her cheery partner was paddling his rosy brows with a fine handkerchief.

她那兴高采烈的伙伴正用一块精美的手帕抚摸着玫瑰色的眉毛。

“That was great!” he said.

“那很棒！”他说。

“Let's go out and sit in the corridor; they've got some comfortable chairs out there.”

“我们出去到走廊里坐吧，那里有一些舒适的椅子。”

“Well--let's not,” she returned.

“好吧——我们不要这样，”她回答道。

“I believe I'd rather stay in here and look at the crowd.”

“我相信我宁愿呆在这里，看看人群。”

“No; that isn't it,” he said, chiding her with a waggish forefinger.

“不；不是这样的，”他一边说，一边用一根摇晃的食指责备她。

“You think if you go out there you'll miss a chance of someone else asking you for the next dance, and so you'll have to give it to me.”

“你认为如果你出去的话，你就会错过别人邀请你跳下一支舞的机会，所以你必须把它交给我。”

“How absurd!” Then, after a look about her that revealed nothing encouraging, she added graciously, “You can have the next if you want it.”

“多么荒唐啊！”然后，她环顾四周，没有发现任何令人鼓舞的迹象，她亲切地补充道：“如果你想要的话，可以要下一个。”

“Great!” he exclaimed, mechanically.

“伟大的！”他机械地喊道。

“Now let's get out of here--out of THIS room, anyhow.”

“现在让我们离开这里——无论如何，离开这个房间。”

“Why?

“为什么？

What's the matter with----”

这是怎么回事——”

“My mother,” Mr. Dowling explained.

“我的母亲，”道林先生解释道。

“But don't look at her.

“但是别看她。

She keeps motioning me to come and see after Ella, and I'm simply NOT going to do it, you see!”

她一直示意我过来照顾艾拉，但我根本不会这么做，你看！”

Alice laughed.

爱丽丝笑了。

“I don't believe it's so much that,” she said, and consented to walk with him to a point in the next room from which Mrs. Dowling's continuous signalling could not be seen.

“我不相信事情会这么严重，”她说，并同意和他一起走到隔壁房间的某个地方，从那里看不到道林夫人不断发出的信号。

“Your mother hates me.”

“你妈妈讨厌我。”

“Oh, no; I wouldn't say that.

“哦，不；我不会这么说。

No, she don't,” he protested, innocently.

不，她不知道，”他天真地抗议道。

“She don't know you more than just to speak to, you see.

“你看，她对你的了解只是为了跟你说话而已。

So how could she?”

那她怎么可以？”

“Well, she does.

“嗯，她确实这么做了。

I can tell.”

我看得出来。”

A frown appeared upon his rounded brow.

他的圆眉上出现了一道皱眉。

“No; I'll tell you the way she feels.

“不；我会告诉你她的感受。

It's like this: Ella isn't TOO popular, you know--it's hard to see why, because she's a right nice girl, in her way--and mother thinks I ought to look after her, you see.

事情是这样的：艾拉不太受欢迎，你知道——很难明白为什么，因为她以她的方式是一个很好的女孩——而妈妈认为我应该照顾她，你看。

She thinks I ought to dance a whole lot with her myself, and stir up other fellows to dance with her--it's simply impossible to make mother understand you CAN'T do that, you see.

她认为我应该亲自和她一起跳舞，并鼓励其他人和她一起跳舞——你看，让妈妈明白你不能这样做是根本不可能的。

And then about me, you see, if she had her way I wouldn't get to dance with anybody at all except girls like Mildred Palmer and Henrietta Lamb.

然后关于我，你看，如果她按她的方式行事，我根本不会和任何人跳舞，除了像米尔德里德·帕尔默和亨丽埃塔·兰姆这样的女孩。

Mother wants to run my whole programme for me, you understand, but the trouble of it is--about girls like that, you see well, I couldn't do what she wants, even if I wanted to myself, because you take those girls, and by the time I get Ella off my hands for a minute, why, their dances are always every last one taken, and where do I come in?”

妈妈想为我运行我的整个节目，你明白，但问题是——关于这样的女孩，你看清楚了，我不能做她想做的事，即使我自己想，因为你带走了那些女孩，当我把艾拉从我手中拿走一分钟时，为什么，她们的舞蹈总是最后一个被带走，我该从哪里进来呢？

Alice nodded, her amiability undamaged.

爱丽丝点点头，她的友善丝毫没有受到损害。

“I see.

“我明白了。

So that's why you dance with me.”

所以这就是你和我跳舞的原因。”

“No, I like to,” he protested.

“不，我喜欢，”他抗议道。

“I rather dance with you than I do with those girls.” And he added with a retrospective determination which showed that he had been through quite an experience with Mrs. Dowling in this matter.

“我宁愿和你跳舞，也不愿和那些女孩跳舞。”他补充道，回顾过去，这表明他在这件事上与道林夫人经历了相当多的经历。

“I TOLD mother I would, too!”

“我告诉妈妈我也会的！”

“Did it take all your courage, Frank?”

“弗兰克，这需要你所有的勇气吗？”

He looked at her shrewdly.

他精明地看着她。

“Now you're trying to tease me,” he said.

“现在你想取笑我，”他说。

“I don't care; I WOULD rather dance with you!

“我不在乎，我宁愿和你一起跳舞！

In the first place, you're a perfectly beautiful dancer, you see, and in the second, a man feels a lot more comfortable with you than he does with them.

首先，你是一个完美美丽的舞者，你看，其次，男人和你在一起比和他们在一起感觉舒服得多。

Of course I know almost all the other fellows get along with those girls all right; but I don't waste any time on 'em I don't have to.

当然，我知道几乎所有其他家伙都和那些女孩相处得很好；但我不会在他们身上浪费任何时间，我没有必要。

_I_ like people that are always cordial to everybody, you see--the way you are.”

_我_喜欢那些总是对每个人都热情的人，你瞧——你就是这样的。”

“Thank you,” she said, thoughtfully.

“谢谢你，”她若有所思地说。

“Oh, I MEAN it,” he insisted.

“哦，我是认真的，”他坚持道。

“There goes the band again.

“乐队又来了。

Shall we?”

我们可以吗？

“Suppose we sit it out?” she suggested.

“我们可以静观其变吗？”她建议道。

“I believe I'd like to go out in the corridor, after all--it's pretty warm in here.”

“毕竟，我想我想去走廊里——这里很暖和。”

Assenting cheerfully, Dowling conducted her to a pair of easy-chairs within a secluding grove of box-trees, and when they came to this retreat they found Mildred Palmer just departing, under escort of a well-favoured gentleman about thirty.

道林高兴地答应了，领她到一片僻静的黄杨树林里的一对安乐椅前，当他们来到这个隐居处时，发现米尔德丽德·帕尔默在一位三十岁左右的受人青睐的绅士的护送下正要离开。

As these two walked slowly away, in the direction of the dancing-floor, they left it not to be doubted that they were on excellent terms with each other; Mildred was evidently willing to make their progress even slower, for she halted momentarily, once or twice; and her upward glances to her tall companion's face were of a gentle, almost blushing deference.

两人缓缓走开，朝舞池的方向走去，毫无疑问，他们的关系非常好。米尔德里德显然愿意让他们的进度更慢，因为她停了下来，有一两次。她抬头看着她高大同伴的脸，脸上带着一种温柔的、几乎红了脸的敬意。

Never before had Alice seen anything like this in her friend's manner.

爱丽丝以前从未见过她朋友有这样的态度。

“How queer!” she murmured.

“真奇怪！”她低声说道。

“What's queer?” Dowling inquired as they sat down.

“有什么奇怪的？”他们坐下后，道林问道。

“Who was that man?”

“那个男人是谁？”

“Haven't you met him?”

“你没见过他吗？”

“I never saw him before.

“我以前从没见过他。

Who is he?”

他是谁？

“Why, it's this Arthur Russell.”

“啊，这是阿瑟·拉塞尔。”

“What Arthur Russell?

“什么阿瑟·拉塞尔？

I never heard of him.” Mr. Dowling was puzzled.

我从来没有听说过他。”道林先生很困惑。

“Why, THAT'S funny!

“为什么，这很有趣！

Only the last time I saw you, you were telling me how awfully well you knew Mildred Palmer.”

直到我最后一次见到你时，你才告诉我你对米尔德里德·帕尔默有多了解。”

“Why, certainly I do,” Alice informed him.

“为什么，我当然知道，”爱丽丝告诉他。

“She's my most intimate friend.”

“她是我最亲密的朋友。”

“That's what makes it seem so funny you haven't heard anything about this Russell, because everybody says even if she isn't engaged to him right now, she most likely will be before very long.

“这就是为什么你没有听说过关于这个拉塞尔的任何事情，这看起来很有趣，因为每个人都说即使她现在没有与他订婚，她很可能很快就会订婚。

I must say it looks a good deal that way to me, myself.”

我必须说，对我自己来说，这看起来很划算。”

“What nonsense!” Alice exclaimed.

“胡说八道！”爱丽丝惊呼道。

“She's never even mentioned him to me.”

“她甚至从未向我提起过他。”

The young man glanced at her dubiously and passed a finger over the tiny prong that dashingly composed the whole substance of his moustache.

年轻人疑惑地看了她一眼，用一根手指抚摸着小尖头，那尖头帅气地构成了他胡子的全部内容。

“Well, you see, Mildred IS pretty reserved,” he remarked.

“嗯，你看，米尔德里德相当保守，”他说。

“This Russell is some kind of cousin of the Palmer family, I understand.”

“据我所知，这个拉塞尔是帕尔默家族的表弟。”

“He is?”

“他是？”

“Yes--second or third or something, the girls say.

“是的——第二个或第三个什么的，女孩们说。

You see, my sister Ella hasn't got much to do at home, and don't read anything, or sew, or play solitaire, you see; and she hears about pretty much everything that goes on, you see.

你看，我妹妹艾拉在家没什么可做的，你看，她不读书，也不缝纫，也不玩纸牌；你看，她几乎听到了发生的一切。

Well, Ella says a lot of the girls have been talking about Mildred and this Arthur Russell for quite a while back, you see.

嗯，艾拉说很多女孩已经谈论米尔德里德和这个亚瑟·拉塞尔很长一段时间了，你看。

They were all wondering what he was going to look like, you see; because he only got here yesterday; and that proves she must have been talking to some of 'em, or else how----”

他们都想知道他会是什么样子，你看；因为他昨天才到这里；这证明她一定是在跟他们中的一些人说话，否则怎么——”

Alice laughed airily, but the pretty sound ended abruptly with an audible intake of breath.

爱丽丝轻快地笑了一声，但美妙的笑声却随着一声吸气声戛然而止。

“Of course, while Mildred IS my most intimate friend,” she said, “I don't mean she tells me everything--and naturally she has other friends besides.

“当然，虽然米尔德里德是我最亲密的朋友，”她说，“我并不是说她告诉了我一切——当然，除此之外她还有其他朋友。

What else did your sister say she told them about this Mr. Russell?”

你姐姐还说她还告诉过他们关于这位拉塞尔先生的事吗？

“Well, it seems he's VERY well off; at least Henrietta Lamb told Ella he was.

“嗯，看起来他非常富有；至少亨丽埃塔·兰姆告诉艾拉他是这样。

Ella says----”

艾拉说——”

Alice interrupted again, with an increased irritability.

爱丽丝再次打断，她的心情更加烦躁了。

“Oh, never mind what Ella says!

“哦，别管艾拉说什么！

Let's find something better to talk about than Mr. Russell!”

我们找个比拉塞尔先生更好的话题来聊吧！”

“Well, I'M willing,” Mr. Dowling assented, ruefully.

“嗯，我愿意，”道林先生遗憾地表示同意。

“What you want to talk about?”

“你想谈什么？”

But this liberal offer found her unresponsive; she sat leaning back, silent, her arms along the arms of her chair, and her eyes, moist and bright, fixed upon a wide doorway where the dancers fluctuated.

但她对这个慷慨的提议没有反应。她向后靠着，一言不发，双臂搭在椅子的扶手上，眼睛湿润而明亮，盯着舞者在舞动的宽阔门口。

She was disquieted by more than Mildred's reserve, though reserve so marked had certainly the significance of a warning that Alice's definition, “my most intimate friend,” lacked sanction.

令她不安的不仅仅是米尔德里德的矜持，尽管如此明显的矜持无疑具有警告的意义，即爱丽丝的定义“我最亲密的朋友”缺乏认可。

Indirect notice to this effect could not well have been more emphatic, but the sting of it was left for a later moment.

对这种效果的间接注意到再明显不过了，但它的刺痛被留到了稍后的时刻。

Something else preoccupied Alice: she had just been surprised by an odd experience.

爱丽丝心事重重：她刚刚对一次奇怪的经历感到惊讶。

At first sight of this Mr. Arthur Russell, she had said to herself instantly, in words as definite as if she spoke them aloud, though they seemed more like words spoken to her by some unknown person within her: “There!

第一眼看到这位阿瑟·拉塞尔先生时，她立刻对自己说，语气明确，就像大声说出来一样，尽管这些话看起来更像是她内心某个不知名的人对她说的话：“瞧！

That's exactly the kind of looking man I'd like to marry!”

这正是我想嫁的那种男人！”

In the eyes of the restless and the longing, Providence often appears to be worse than inscrutable: an unreliable Omnipotence given to haphazard whimsies in dealing with its own creatures, choosing at random some among them to be rent with tragic deprivations and others to be petted with blessing upon blessing.

在不安和渴望的人眼中，普罗维登斯常常显得比难以理解还要糟糕：一个不可靠的全能者，在对待自己的生物时，总是表现出随意的奇思妙想，随机选择其中一些人遭受悲惨的剥夺，另一些人则受到祝福和祝福的宠爱。

In Alice's eyes, Mildred had been blessed enough; something ought to be left over, by this time, for another girl.

在爱丽丝眼里，米尔德丽德已经足够幸运了；这个时候，应该为另一个女孩留下一些东西。

The final touch to the heaping perfection of Christmas-in-everything for Mildred was that this Mr. Arthur Russell, good-looking, kind-looking, graceful, the perfect fiance, should be also “VERY well off.” Of course!

对米尔德里德来说，圣诞节的最后一点就是，这位阿瑟·拉塞尔先生英俊、善良、优雅，是完美的未婚夫，而且应该“非常富裕”。当然！

These rich always married one another.

这些富人总是互相结婚。

And while the Mildreds danced with their Arthur Russells the best an outsider could do for herself was to sit with Frank Dowling--the one last course left her that was better than dancing with him.

当米尔德里德一家和他们的阿瑟·拉塞尔一家跳舞时，外人能为自己做的最好的事情就是和弗兰克·道林坐在一起——最后一道菜留给她，这比和他一起跳舞更好。

“Well, what DO you want to talk about?” he inquired.

“嗯，你想聊什么？”他问道。

“Nothing,” she said.

“没什么，”她说。

“Suppose we just sit, Frank.” But a moment later she remembered something, and, with a sudden animation, began to prattle.

“弗兰克，我们就坐着吧。”但过了一会儿，她想起了什么，突然兴奋起来，开始胡言乱语。

She pointed to the musicians down the corridor.

她指着走廊那头的音乐家。

“Oh, look at them!

“哦，看看他们！

Look at the leader!

看看领导！

Aren't they FUNNY?

它们不是很有趣吗？

Someone told me they're called 'Jazz Louie and his half-breed bunch.' Isn't that just crazy?

有人告诉我他们被称为“爵士路易和他的混血儿”。这不是很疯狂吗？

Don't you love it?

你不喜欢它吗？

Do watch them, Frank.”

一定要注意他们，弗兰克。”

She continued to chatter, and, while thus keeping his glance away from herself, she detached the forlorn bouquet of dead violets from her dress and laid it gently beside the one she had carried.

她继续喋喋不休，一边不让他的目光从自己身上移开，一边从衣服上取下一束枯死的紫罗兰，轻轻地放在她随身携带的那束旁边。

The latter already reposed in the obscurity selected for it at the base of one of the box-trees.

后者已经坐落在一棵黄杨树的根部，为它选择了隐秘的地方。

Then she was abruptly silent.

然后她突然沉默了。

“You certainly are a funny girl,” Dowling remarked.

“你确实是一个有趣的女孩，”道林说道。

“You say you don't want to talk about anything at all, and all of a sudden you break out and talk a blue streak; and just about the time I begin to get interested in what you're saying you shut off!

“你说你根本不想谈论任何事情，突然间你突然爆发出蓝色的连胜；就在我开始对你所说的感兴趣的时候，你就闭嘴了！

What's the matter with girls, anyhow, when they do things like that?”

无论如何，当女孩们做出这样的事情时，她们到底是怎么了？”

“I don't know; we're just queer, I guess.”

“我不知道；我想我们只是奇怪。”

“I say so!

“我说是啊！

Well, what'll we do NOW?

好吧，我们现在该怎么办？

Talk, or just sit?”

说话，还是坐着？”

“Suppose we just sit some more.”

“我们再坐一会儿吧。”

“Anything to oblige,” he assented.

“任何事都可以答应。”他同意道。

“I'm willing to sit as long as you like.”

“只要你愿意，我愿意坐多久。”

But even as he made his amiability clear in this matter, the peace was threatened--his mother came down the corridor like a rolling, ominous cloud.

但即使他在这件事上表明了自己的和蔼可亲，和平也受到了威胁——他的母亲像一朵滚滚的、不祥的云彩一样沿着走廊走来。

She was looking about her on all sides, in a fidget of annoyance, searching for him, and to his dismay she saw him.

她烦躁地四处张望，寻找他，令他沮丧的是，她看到了他。

She immediately made a horrible face at his companion, beckoned to him imperiously with a dumpy arm, and shook her head reprovingly.

她立即​​对他的同伴做了个鬼脸，用粗壮的手臂专横地向他招手，并责备地摇了摇头。

The unfortunate young man tried to repulse her with an icy stare, but this effort having obtained little to encourage his feeble hope of driving her away, he shifted his chair so that his back was toward her discomfiting pantomime.

那个不幸的年轻人试图用冰冷的目光来拒绝她，但是这种努力并没有增强他将她赶走的微弱希望，他移动了椅子，背对着她那令人不安的哑剧。

He should have known better, the instant result was Mrs. Dowling in motion at an impetuous waddle.

他应该更清楚，立即的结果是道林夫人急躁地摇摇晃晃地走着。

She entered the box-tree seclusion with the lower rotundities of her face hastily modelled into the resemblance of an over-benevolent smile a contortion which neglected to spread its intended geniality upward to the exasperated eyes and anxious forehead.

她走进了黄杨树的隐居处，下半张圆润的脸匆忙地被塑造成一种过度仁慈的微笑，这种扭曲的微笑却忽略了将其原本应有的亲切感向上传播到恼怒的眼睛和焦虑的前额上。

“I think your mother wants to speak to you, Frank,” Alice said, upon this advent.

“我想你妈妈想和你说话，弗兰克，”爱丽丝一出现就说道。

Mrs. Dowling nodded to her.

道林夫人向她点点头。

“Good evening, Miss Adams,” she said.

“晚上好，亚当斯小姐，”她说。

“I just thought as you and Frank weren't dancing you wouldn't mind my disturbing you----”

“我只是觉得你和弗兰克没有跳舞，你不会介意我打扰你——”

“Not at all,” Alice murmured.

“一点也不。”爱丽丝低声说道。

Mr. Dowling seemed of a different mind.

道林先生似乎有不同的想法。

“Well, what DO you want?” he inquired, whereupon his mother struck him roguishly with her fan.

“嗯，你想要什么？”他问道，他母亲就用扇子恶作剧地打他。

“Bad fellow!” She turned to Alice.

“坏蛋！”她转向爱丽丝。

“I'm sure you won't mind excusing him to let him do something for his old mother, Miss Adams.”

“我相信你不会介意原谅他，让他为他的老母亲亚当斯小姐做点什么。”

“What DO you want?” the son repeated.

“你想要什么？”儿子重复道。

“Two very nice things,” Mrs. Dowling informed him.

“两件非常好的事情，”道林夫人告诉他。

“Everybody is so anxious for Henrietta Lamb to have a pleasant evening, because it's the very first time she's been anywhere since her father's death, and of course her dear grandfather's an old friend of ours, and----”

“每个人都渴望亨丽埃塔·兰姆度过一个愉快的夜晚，因为这是她父亲去世后她第一次去任何地方，当然，她亲爱的祖父是我们的老朋友，而且——”

“Well, well!” her son interrupted.

“好啦好啦！”她的儿子打断了她的话。

“Miss Adams isn't interested in all this, mother.”

“亚当斯小姐对这一切都不感兴趣，妈妈。”

“But Henrietta came to speak to Ella and me, and I told her you were so anxious to dance with her----”

“但是亨利埃塔来找艾拉和我说话，我告诉她你很想和她跳舞——”

“Here!” he cried.

“这里！”他哭了。

“Look here!

“看这里！

I'd rather do my own----”

我宁愿自己做——”

“Yes; that's just it,” Mrs. Dowling explained.

“是的；就是这样，”道林夫人解释道。

“I just thought it was such a good opportunity; and Henrietta said she had most of her dances taken, but she'd give you one if you asked her before they were all gone.

“我只是觉得这是一个很好的机会；亨利埃塔说她的大部分舞蹈都被拍下来了，但如果你在舞蹈全部消失之前问她，她会给你一场。

So I thought you'd better see her as soon as possible.”

所以我想你最好尽快见到她。”

Dowling's face had become rosy.

道林的脸色变得红润。

“I refuse to do anything of the kind.”

“我拒绝做任何类似的事情。”

“Bad fellow!” said his mother, gaily.

“坏蛋！”他母亲高兴地说。

“I thought this would be the best time for you to see Henrietta, because it won't be long till all her dances are gone, and you've promised on your WORD to dance the next with Ella, and you mightn't have a chance to do it then.

“我认为这将是你见到亨利埃塔的最佳时机，因为用不了多久，她所有的舞蹈都会消失，而你已经答应了下一次与艾拉跳舞，但那时你可能没有机会做到这一点。

I'm sure Miss Adams won't mind if you----”

我确信亚当斯小姐不会介意你——”

“Not at all,” Alice said.

“一点也不，”爱丽丝说。

“Well, _I_ mind!” he said.

“好吧，我介意！”他说。

“I wish you COULD understand that when I want to dance with any girl I don't need my mother to ask her for me.

“我希望你能明白，当我想和任何女孩跳舞时，我不需要我妈妈替我邀请她。

I really AM more than six years old!”

我真的六岁多了！”

He spoke with too much vehemence, and Mrs. Dowling at once saw how to have her way.

他说话的语气太激烈了，道林太太立刻就明白了如何随心所欲。

As with husbands and wives, so with many fathers and daughters, and so with some sons and mothers: the man will himself be cross in public and think nothing of it, nor will he greatly mind a little crossness on the part of the woman; but let her show agitation before any spectator, he is instantly reduced to a coward's slavery.

正如丈夫和妻子之间，许多父亲和女儿之间，以及一些儿子和母亲之间一样：男人自己会在公共场合发脾气，却对此不以为然，他也不会太介意女人的一点点发脾气；但让她在任何旁观者面前表现出激动的样子，他就会立刻沦为懦夫的奴隶。

Women understand that ancient weakness, of course; for it is one of their most important means of defense, but can be used ignobly.

当然，女性了解这种古老的弱点。因为这是他们最重要的防御手段之一，但也可能被不光彩地使用。

Mrs. Dowling permitted a tremulousness to become audible in her voice.

道林夫人的声音里透着一丝颤抖。

“It isn't very--very pleasant--to be talked to like that by your own son--before strangers!”

“你自己的儿子在陌生人面前这样说话，这不是很——很令人愉快！”

“Oh, my!

“哦，天哪！

Look here!” the stricken Dowling protested.

看这里！”受伤的道林抗议道。

“_I_ didn't say anything, mother.

“我什么也没说，妈妈。

I was just joking about how you never get over thinking I'm a little boy.

我只是开玩笑说你永远不会忘记我是个小男孩。

I only----”

我只是——”

Mrs. Dowling continued: “I just thought I was doing you a little favour.

道林夫人继续说道：“我只是觉得我帮了你一个小忙。

I didn't think it would make you so angry.”

我没想到会让你这么生气。”

“Mother, for goodness' sake!

“妈妈，看在上帝的份上！

Miss Adams'll think----”

亚当斯小姐会想——”

“I suppose,” Mrs. Dowling interrupted, piteously, “I suppose it doesn't matter what _I_ think!”

“我想，”道林夫人可怜兮兮地打断道，“我想我怎么想并不重要！”

“Oh, gracious!”

“哦，天哪！”

Alice interfered; she perceived that the ruthless Mrs. Dowling meant to have her way.

爱丽丝干涉了；她察觉到冷酷无情的道林夫人有意为所欲为。

“I think you'd better go, Frank.

“我想你最好走吧，弗兰克。

Really.”

真的。”

“There!” his mother cried.

“那里！”他的母亲哭了。

“Miss Adams says so, herself!

“亚当斯小姐自己也是这么说的！

What more do you want?”

你还想要什么？

“Oh, gracious!” he lamented again, and, with a sick look over his shoulder at Alice, permitted his mother to take his arm and propel him away.

“哦，天哪！”他又哀叹了一声，转头用一种病态的眼神看着爱丽丝，允许他的母亲抓住他的手臂，把他推开。

Mrs. Dowling's spirits had strikingly recovered even before the pair passed from the corridor: she moved almost bouncingly beside her embittered son, and her eyes and all the convolutions of her abundant face were blithe.

甚至在两人走出走廊之前，道林夫人的精神就已经惊人地恢复了：她在她痛苦的儿子身边几乎弹跳着走动，她的眼睛和她丰富的脸上的所有褶皱都充满了快乐。

Alice went in search of Walter, but without much hope of finding him.

爱丽丝去寻找沃尔特，但找到他的希望不大。

What he did with himself at frozen-face dances was one of his most successful mysteries, and her present excursion gave her no clue leading to its solution.

他在冻脸舞会上对自己所做的事情是他最成功的谜团之一，而她目前的旅行并没有给她提供任何线索来解决这个问题。

When the musicians again lowered their instruments for an interval she had returned, alone, to her former seat within the partial shelter of the box-trees.

当音乐家们再次放下乐器一段时间后，她独自一人回到了她以前在黄杨树的部分遮蔽下的座位上。

She had now to practice an art that affords but a limited variety of methods, even to the expert: the art of seeming to have an escort or partner when there is none.

她现在必须练习一门艺术，即使对专家来说，方法也很有限：在没有护送或伴侣的情况下似乎有护送或伴侣的艺术。

The practitioner must imply, merely by expression and attitude, that the supposed companion has left her for only a few moments, that she herself has sent him upon an errand; and, if possible, the minds of observers must be directed toward a conclusion that this errand of her devising is an amusing one; at all events, she is alone temporarily and of choice, not deserted.

施行者必须仅仅通过表情和态度来暗示，所谓的同伴只离开了她一会儿，是她亲自派他去办事的；如果可能的话，观察者的头脑一定会得出这样的结论：她设计的这个任务是一件有趣的事情。无论如何，她暂时是孤身一人，是她的选择，而不是被抛弃。

She awaits a devoted man who may return at any instant.

她等待着一个随时可能回来的忠诚男人。

Other people desired to sit in Alice's nook, but discovered her in occupancy.

其他人想坐在爱丽丝的角落里，但发现她被占用了。

She had moved the vacant chair closer to her own, and she sat with her arm extended so that her hand, holding her lace kerchief, rested upon the back of this second chair, claiming it.

她把空着的椅子移到离她自己的更近的地方，她坐着，伸出手臂，这样她拿着花边头巾的手就放在了第二张椅子的靠背上，占据了它。

Such a preemption, like that of a traveller's bag in the rack, was unquestionable; and, for additional evidence, sitting with her knees crossed, she kept one foot continuously moving a little, in cadence with the other, which tapped the floor.

这样的先发制人，就像行李架上的旅行包一样，是毫无疑问的。作为额外的证据，她盘膝而坐，一只脚不断地移动一点，另一只脚有节奏地敲击地板。

Moreover, she added a fine detail: her half-smile, with the under lip caught, seemed to struggle against repression, as if she found the service engaging her absent companion even more amusing than she would let him see when he returned: there was jovial intrigue of some sort afoot, evidently.

此外，她还添加了一个细节：她的半微笑，下唇被咬住，似乎在与压抑作斗争，仿佛她发现她缺席的同伴参加的服务比他回来时让他看到的更有趣：显然，有某种欢乐的阴谋正在发生。

Her eyes, beaming with secret fun, were averted from intruders, but sometimes, when couples approached, seeking possession of the nook, her thoughts about the absentee appeared to threaten her with outright laughter; and though one or two girls looked at her skeptically, as they turned away, their escorts felt no such doubts, and merely wondered what importantly funny affair Alice Adams was engaged in.

她的眼睛里闪烁着秘密的乐趣，避开了入侵者，但有时，当情侣走近，寻求占有这个角落时，她对缺席者的想法似乎威胁着她，让她大笑；尽管有一两个女孩在转过身去时怀疑地看着她，但她们的伴游者却没有这样的疑虑，只是想知道爱丽丝·亚当斯正在从事什么重要的有趣的事情。

She had learned to do it perfectly.

她已经学会了完美地做到这一点。

She had learned it during the last two years; she was twenty when for the first time she had the shock of finding herself without an applicant for one of her dances.

她是在过去两年里学会的。当她二十岁时，她第一次震惊地发现自己的一个舞蹈没有人应聘。

When she was sixteen “all the nice boys in town,” as her mother said, crowded the Adamses' small veranda and steps, or sat near by, cross-legged on the lawn, on summer evenings; and at eighteen she had replaced the boys with “the older men.” By this time most of “the other girls,” her contemporaries, were away at school or college, and when they came home to stay, they “came out”--that feeble revival of an ancient custom offering the maiden to the ceremonial inspection of the tribe.

当她十六岁的时候，正如她母亲所说，“镇上所有的好男孩”都挤在亚当斯家的小阳台和台阶上，或者在夏天的晚上盘腿坐在附近的草坪上。十八岁时，她用“年长的男人”取代了男孩。到这个时候，大多数“其他女孩”，也就是她的同龄人，都已经离开学校或大学了，当她们回家留下来时，她们就“出来了”——这是一种古老习俗的微弱复兴，即让少女接受部落的仪式检查。

Alice neither went away nor “came out,” and, in contrast with those who did, she may have seemed to lack freshness of lustre--jewels are richest when revealed all new in a white velvet box.

爱丽丝既没有走开，也没有“出来”，而且与那些离开的人相比，她似乎缺乏新鲜的光泽——当珠宝在白色天鹅绒盒子里全新亮相时，才显得最富有。

And Alice may have been too eager to secure new retainers, too kind in her efforts to keep the old ones.

爱丽丝可能太渴望获得新的随从，而她又太热衷于留住旧的随从。

She had been a belle too soon.

她太早成为美女了。

CHAPTER VIII

第八章

The device of the absentee partner has the defect that it cannot be employed for longer than ten or fifteen minutes at a time, and it may not be repeated more than twice in one evening: a single repetition, indeed, is weak, and may prove a betrayal.

缺席伙伴的装置有一个缺陷，即它一次使用的时间不能超过十或十五分钟，而且一个晚上不能重复两次以上：事实上，一次重复是很弱的，并且可能被证明是一种背叛。

Alice knew that her present performance could be effective during only this interval between dances; and though her eyes were guarded, she anxiously counted over the partnerless young men who lounged together in the doorways within her view.

爱丽丝知道，她现在的表演只有在舞蹈之间的这段时间内才能发挥作用；尽管她的眼睛很警惕，但她还是焦急地数着那些在她视野范围内一起懒洋洋地躺在门口的没有伴侣的年轻人。

Every one of them ought to have asked her for dances, she thought, and although she might have been put to it to give a reason why any of them “ought,” her heart was hot with resentment against them.

她想，他们每个人都应该邀请她跳舞，虽然她可能会被要求解释为什么他们中的任何一个人“应该”，但她的心因对他们的怨恨而火热。

For a girl who has been a belle, it is harder to live through these bad times than it is for one who has never known anything better.

对于一个曾经是美女的女孩来说，经历这些糟糕的时光比一个从未有过更好经历的女孩更难。

Like a figure of painted and brightly varnished wood, Ella Dowling sat against the wall through dance after dance with glassy imperturbability; it was easier to be wooden, Alice thought, if you had your mother with you, as Ella had.

艾拉·道林就像一尊涂有亮光漆的木头雕像，她靠墙坐着，跳了一场又一场的舞蹈，神情呆滞，镇定自若。爱丽丝想，如果你像艾拉一样有你的母亲在身边，那么呆板就容易多了。

You were left with at least the shred of a pretense that you came to sit with your mother as a spectator, and not to offer yourself to be danced with by men who looked you over and rejected you--not for the first time.

你至少留下了一丝假装，你是作为旁观者来和你母亲坐在一起的，而不是让那些审视你并拒绝你的男人与你共舞——这不是第一次了。

“Not for the first time”: there lay a sting!

“不是第一次”：有刺痛！

Why had you thought this time might be different from the other times?

为什么你认为这次可能与其他时候不同？

Why had you broken your back picking those hundreds of violets?

你为什么要摔断背采摘那数百朵紫罗兰？

Hating the fatuous young men in the doorways more bitterly for every instant that she had to maintain her tableau, the smiling Alice knew fierce impulses to spring to her feet and shout at them, “You IDIOTS!” Hands in pockets, they lounged against the pilasters, or faced one another, laughing vaguely, each one of them seeming to Alice no more than so much mean beef in clothes.

微笑着的爱丽丝每每不得不维持自己的画面，她就更加痛恨门口那些愚蠢的年轻人，她知道自己有强烈的冲动想要跳起来对他们大喊：“你们这些白痴！”他们把手插在口袋里，懒洋洋地倚在壁柱上，或者面对面，含糊地笑着，在爱丽丝看来，他们每个人都只不过是穿着衣服的卑鄙牛肉。

She wanted to tell them they were no better than that; and it seemed a cruel thing of heaven to let them go on believing themselves young lords.

她想告诉他们，他们也没有比这更好的了。让他们继续相信自己是年轻的领主，这似乎是上天的残酷之举。

They were doing nothing, killing time.

他们无所事事，消磨时间。

Wasn't she at her lowest value at least a means of killing time?

她的最低价值不就是消磨时间的手段吗？

Evidently the mean beeves thought not.

显然那些卑鄙的人并不这么认为。

And when one of them finally lounged across the corridor and spoke to her, he was the very one to whom she preferred her loneliness.

当他们中的一个终于懒洋洋地穿过走廊和她说话时，她最喜欢的就是他。

“Waiting for somebody, Lady Alicia?” he asked, negligently; and his easy burlesque of her name was like the familiarity of the rest of him.

“在等人吗，艾丽西亚女士？”他漫不经心地问道；他对她名字的轻松滑稽模仿就像他对其他人的熟悉一样。

He was one of those full-bodied, grossly handsome men who are powerful and active, but never submit themselves to the rigour of becoming athletes, though they shoot and fish from expensive camps.

他是那种身材魁梧、英俊潇洒的男人之一，虽然他们在昂贵的训练营里打猎和钓鱼，但他却从未屈服于成为运动员的严格要求。

Gloss is the most shining outward mark of the type.

光泽是该类型中最闪亮的外观标记。

Nowadays these men no longer use brilliantine on their moustaches, but they have gloss bought from manicure-girls, from masseurs, and from automobile-makers; and their eyes, usually large, are glossy.

如今，这些男人不再在胡须上使用光亮剂，而是从美甲师、按摩师和汽车制造商那里购买光泽剂；他们的眼睛通常很大，有光泽。

None of this is allowed to interfere with business; these are “good business men,” and often make large fortunes.

这些都不允许干扰业务；这些人都是“优秀的商人”，并且常常赚大钱。

They are men of imagination about two things--women and money, and, combining their imaginings about both, usually make a wise first marriage.

他们是对两件事充满想象力的人——女人和金钱，并且将他们对这两件事的想象力结合起来，通常会缔造明智的第一次婚姻。

Later, however, they are apt to imagine too much about some little woman without whom life seems duller than need be.

然而，后来，他们很容易对某个小女人想象太多，没有她，生活就显得平淡无奇。

They run away, leaving the first wife well enough dowered.

他们逃跑了，留下了第一任妻子足够的嫁妆。

They are never intentionally unkind to women, and in the end they usually make the mistake of thinking they have had their money's worth of life.

他们从来不会故意对女性不友善，但到了最后，他们通常会错误地认为自己的金钱已经物有所值。

Here was Mr. Harvey Malone, a young specimen in an earlier stage of development, trying to marry Henrietta Lamb, and now sauntering over to speak to Alice, as a time-killer before his next dance with Henrietta.

这是哈维·马龙先生，一个处于发育早期阶段的年轻标本，试图与亨丽埃塔·兰姆结婚，现在正悠闲地走过去与爱丽丝交谈，作为他与亨丽埃塔下一次跳舞之前的消磨时间的工具。

Alice made no response to his question, and he dropped lazily into the vacant chair, from which she sharply withdrew her hand.

爱丽丝没有回答他的问题，他懒洋洋地坐到空着的椅子上，她猛地抽回了手。

“I might as well use his chair till he comes, don't you think?

“我不妨用他的椅子直到他来，你不觉得吗？

You don't MIND, do you, old girl?”

你不介意吧，老姑娘？”

“Oh, no,” Alice said.

“哦，不，”爱丽丝说。

“It doesn't matter one way or the other.

“无论哪种方式都不重要。

Please don't call me that.”

请不要这样叫我。”

“So that's how you feel?” Mr. Malone laughed indulgently, without much interest.

“所以你也是这么想的？”马龙先生纵情一笑，没有太多兴趣。

“I've been meaning to come to see you for a long time honestly I have--because I wanted to have a good talk with you about old times.

“说实话，我早就想来看你了——因为我想和你好好谈谈旧时光。

I know you think it was funny, after the way I used to come to your house two or three times a week, and sometimes oftener--well, I don't blame you for being hurt, the way I stopped without explaining or anything.

我知道你觉得这很有趣，因为我以前每周去你家两三次，有时甚至更频繁——好吧，我不怪你受伤，我不做任何解释就停下来。

The truth is there wasn't any reason: I just happened to have a lot of important things to do and couldn't find the time.

事实上，没有任何原因：我只是碰巧有很多重要的事情要做，而没有时间。

But I AM going to call on you some evening--honestly I am.

但我会在某个晚上拜访你——老实说我会的。

I don't wonder you think----”

我不奇怪你会想——”

“You're mistaken,” Alice said.

“你错了，”爱丽丝说。

“I've never thought anything about it at all.”

“我从来没有想过任何事情。”

“Well, well!” he said, and looked at her languidly.

“好啦好啦！”他说道，慵懒地看着她。

“What's the use of being cross with this old man?

“跟这个老头生气有什么用？

He always means well.” And, extending his arm, he would have given her a friendly pat upon the shoulder but she evaded it.

他总是出于好意。”他伸出手臂，友好地拍拍她的肩膀，但她回避了。

“Well, well!” he said.

“好啦好啦！”他说。

“Seems to me you're getting awful tetchy!

“在我看来，你变得非常暴躁！

Don't you like your old friends any more?”

你不再喜欢你的老朋友了吗？”

“Not all of them.”

“不是全部。”

“Who's the new one?” he asked, teasingly.

“新来的是谁？”他戏谑地问道。

“Come on and tell us, Alice.

“来吧，告诉我们，爱丽丝。

Who is it you were holding this chair for?”

你为谁坐这把椅子？”

“Never mind.”

“没关系。”

“Well, all I've got to do is to sit here till he comes back; then I'll see who it is.”

“好吧，我要做的就是坐在这里等他回来；然后我看看是谁。”

“He may not come back before you have to go.”

“在你必须离开之前，他可能不会回来。”

“Guess you got me THAT time,” Malone admitted, laughing as he rose.

“猜猜那次你抓住了我，”马龙站起来笑着承认。

“They're tuning up, and I've got this dance.

“他们正在调音，我已经开始跳舞了。

I AM coming around to see you some evening.” He moved away, calling back over his shoulder, “Honestly, I am!”

改天晚上我会来看你。”他走开，回头喊道：“说实话，我是！”

Alice did not look at him.

爱丽丝没有看他。

She had held her tableau as long as she could; it was time for her to abandon the box-trees; and she stepped forth frowning, as if a little annoyed with the absentee for being such a time upon her errand; whereupon the two chairs were instantly seized by a coquetting pair who intended to “sit out” the dance.

她尽可能长时间地保持着自己的画面。现在是她抛弃黄杨树的时候了。她皱着眉头向前走去，似乎对这个缺席者这么长时间在忙她的事感到有点恼火。于是，这两把椅子立刻就被一对卖弄风情的人抢走了，他们打算“袖手旁观”跳舞。

She walked quickly down the broad corridor, turned into the broader hall, and hurriedly entered the dressing-room where she had left her wraps.

她快步沿着宽阔的走廊走去，拐进更宽阔的大厅，匆匆走进了她放外衣的更衣室。

She stayed here as long as she could, pretending to arrange her hair at a mirror, then fidgeting with one of her slipper-buckles; but the intelligent elderly woman in charge of the room made an indefinite sojourn impracticable.

她尽可能长时间地呆在这儿，假装对着镜子整理头发，然后摆弄着她的一个拖鞋带扣。但负责房间的那位聪明的老妇人让无限期的逗留变得不切实际。

“Perhaps I could help you with that buckle, Miss,” she suggested, approaching.

“也许我可以帮你解开那个带扣，小姐，”她走近时建议道。

“Has it come loose?” Alice wrenched desperately; then it was loose.

“它松了吗？”爱丽丝拼命地扭动；然后它就松了。

The competent woman, producing needle and thread, deftly made the buckle fast; and there was nothing for Alice to do but to express her gratitude and go.

能干的女人，熟练地制作针线，把带扣扣得紧紧的。爱丽丝也没什么可做的，只能表达谢意然后离开。

She went to the door of the cloak-room opposite, where a coloured man stood watchfully in the doorway.

她走到对面衣帽间的门口，一个黑人站在门口警惕地站着。

“I wonder if you know which of the gentlemen is my brother, Mr. Walter Adams,” she said.

“我想知道你是否知道哪一位先生是我的兄弟，沃尔特·亚当斯先生，”她说。

“Yes'm; I know him.”

“是的，我认识他。”

“Could you tell me where he is?”

“你能告诉我他在哪里吗？”

“No'm; I couldn't say.”

“不，我不能说。”

“Well, if you see him, would you please tell him that his sister, Miss Adams, is looking for him and very anxious to speak to him?”

“好吧，如果你看到他，请你告诉他，他的妹妹亚当斯小姐正在寻找他，并且非常渴望与他交谈？”

“Yes'm.

是的。

Sho'ly, sho'ly!”

少啊，少啊！”

As she went away he stared after her and seemed to swell with some bursting emotion.

当她离开时，他盯着她的背影，似乎充满了某种爆发性的情感。

In fact, it was too much for him, and he suddenly retired within the room, releasing strangulated laughter.

事实上，这对他来说太过分了，他突然退回到房间里，发出窒息的笑声。

Walter remonstrated.

沃尔特抗议道。

Behind an excellent screen of coats and hats, in a remote part of the room, he was kneeling on the floor, engaged in a game of chance with a second coloured attendant; and the laughter became so vehement that it not only interfered with the pastime in hand, but threatened to attract frozen-face attention.

在房间的一个偏僻的地方，在一个由外套和帽子组成的精美屏风后面，他跪在地板上，与第二个有色人种服务员玩着机会游戏。笑声变得如此激烈，不仅干扰了手上的消遣，而且还可能引起僵住的注意力。

“I cain' he'p it, man,” the laughter explained.

“我能做到，伙计，”笑声解释道。

“I cain' he'p it!

“我做不到！”

You sut'n'y the beatin'es' white boy 'n 'is city!”

你让这个被殴打的白人男孩变成了城市！”

The dancers were swinging into an “encore” as Alice halted for an irresolute moment in a doorway.

当爱丽丝在门口犹豫不决地停了下来时，舞者们正开始“安可”。

Across the room, a cluster of matrons sat chatting absently, their eyes on their dancing daughters; and Alice, finding a refugee's courage, dodged through the scurrying couples, seated herself in a chair on the outskirts of this colony of elders, and began to talk eagerly to the matron nearest her.

房间的另一边，一群主妇们心不在焉地坐着聊天，她们的目光落在她们跳舞的女儿身上。爱丽丝找到了难民的勇气，躲过匆匆忙忙的情侣，坐在这群老人周围的椅子上，开始热切地与离她最近的女护士交谈。

The matron seemed unaccustomed to so much vivacity, and responded but dryly, whereupon Alice was more vivacious than ever; for she meant now to present the picture of a jolly girl too much interested in these wise older women to bother about every foolish young man who asked her for a dance.

女护士长似乎不习惯如此活泼，只是干巴巴地回答，于是爱丽丝就比以前更加活泼了。因为她现在打算呈现一个快乐的女孩的形象，她对这些聪明的年长妇女太感兴趣，而不会去理会每一个邀请她跳舞的愚蠢的年轻人。

Her matron was constrained to go so far as to supply a tolerant nod, now and then, in complement to the girl's animation, and Alice was grateful for the nods.

她的女护士不得不时不时地宽容地点点头，以配合女孩的活力，爱丽丝对这些点头表示感谢。

In this fashion she supplemented the exhausted resources of the dressing-room and the box-tree nook; and lived through two more dances, when again Mr. Frank Dowling presented himself as a partner.

通过这种方式，她补充了更衣室和黄杨树角落的耗尽资源。当弗兰克·道林先生再次以舞伴的身份出现时，他又跳了两场舞。

She needed no pretense to seek the dressing-room for repairs after that number; this time they were necessary and genuine.

在那之后，她不需要任何借口就去更衣室修理；这一次，它们是必要的，也是真诚的。

Dowling waited for her, and when she came out he explained for the fourth or fifth time how the accident had happened.

道林等着她，当她出来时，他第四次或第五次解释了事故是如何发生的。

“It was entirely those other people's fault,” he said.

“这完全是其他人的错，”他说。

“They got me in a kind of a corner, because neither of those fellows knows the least thing about guiding; they just jam ahead and expect everybody to get out of their way.

“他们把我逼到了一个角落，因为这两个家伙都不懂如何引导；他们只是挤在前面，希望每个人都给他们让路。

It was Charlotte Thom's diamond crescent pin that got caught on your dress in the back and made such a----”

正是夏洛特·汤姆的钻石月牙别针挂在了你裙子的后面，造成了这样的——”

“Never mind,” Alice said in a tired voice.

“没关系，”爱丽丝用疲倦的声音说道。

“The maid fixed it so that she says it isn't very noticeable.”

“女仆修好了，她说不太引人注意。”

“Well, it isn't,” he returned.

“嗯，事实并非如此，”他回答道。

“You could hardly tell there'd been anything the matter.

“你几乎看不出有什么问题。

Where do you want to go?

你想去哪里？

Mother's been interfering in my affairs some more and I've got the next taken.”

妈妈又插手了我的事，我已经有了下一个了。”

“I was sitting with Mrs. George Dresser.

“我和乔治·德莱瑟夫人坐在一起。

You might take me back there.”

你可以带我回去。”

He left her with the matron, and Alice returned to her picture-making, so that once more, while two numbers passed, whoever cared to look was offered the sketch of a jolly, clever girl preoccupied with her elders.

他把她留给了女护士，爱丽丝又回到了她的画作中，这样，当两个数字过去时，无论谁愿意看，都会看到一个快乐、聪明的女孩全神贯注于长辈的素描。

Then she found her friend Mildred standing before her, presenting Mr. Arthur Russell, who asked her to dance with him.

然后她发现她的朋友米尔德里德站在她面前，介绍阿瑟·拉塞尔先生，后者邀请她和他跳舞。

Alice looked uncertain, as though not sure what her engagements were; but her perplexity cleared; she nodded, and swung rhythmically away with the tall applicant.

爱丽丝看起来很不确定，好像不确定她的约会是什么。但她的困惑消失了；她点点头，然后有节奏地跟着高个子申请人走开了。

She was not grateful to her hostess for this alms.

她并不感谢女主人的这种施舍。

What a young hostess does with a fiance, Alice thought, is to make him dance with the unpopular girls.

爱丽丝想，年轻女主人对未婚夫所做的就是让他和那些不受欢迎的女孩跳舞。

She supposed that Mr. Arthur Russell had already danced with Ella Dowling.

她认为阿瑟·拉塞尔先生已经和艾拉·道林跳舞了。

The loan of a lover, under these circumstances, may be painful to the lessee, and Alice, smiling never more brightly, found nothing to say to Mr. Russell, though she thought he might have found something to say to her.

在这种情况下，借给情人可能会让承租人感到痛苦，爱丽丝脸上的笑容从未如此灿烂，她对拉塞尔先生无话可说，尽管她认为他可能已经找到了一些话要对她说。

“I wonder what Mildred told him,” she thought.

“我不知道米尔德里德告诉了他什么，”她想。

“Probably she said, 'Dearest, there's one more girl you've got to help me out with.

“她可能会说，‘亲爱的，你还得帮我解决一个女孩的问题。

You wouldn't like her much, but she dances well enough and she's having a rotten time.

你不会很喜欢她，但她跳舞跳得很好，而且她玩得很开心。

Nobody ever goes near her any more.'”

没有人再靠近她了。”

When the music stopped, Russell added his applause to the hand-clapping that encouraged the uproarious instruments to continue, and as they renewed the tumult, he said heartily, “That's splendid!”

当音乐停止时，拉塞尔在鼓掌声中加入了掌声，鼓励喧闹的乐器继续演奏，当它们再次喧闹时，他由衷地说：“太棒了！”

Alice gave him a glance, necessarily at short range, and found his eyes kindly and pleased.

爱丽丝看了他一眼，一定是近距离的，发现他的眼神友善而高兴。

Here was a friendly soul, it appeared, who probably “liked everybody.” No doubt he had applauded for an “encore” when he danced with Ella Dowling, gave Ella the same genial look, and said, “That's splendid!”

看来，这是一个友好的灵魂，他可能“喜欢每个人”。毫无疑问，当他与艾拉·道林跳舞时，他为“安可”鼓掌，并以同样和蔼的眼神看着艾拉，并说：“太棒了！”

When the “encore” was over, Alice spoke to him for the first time.

当“安可”结束时，爱丽丝第一次对他说话。

“Mildred will be looking for you,” she said.

“米尔德里德会来找你，”她说。

“I think you'd better take me back to where you found me.”

“我想你最好带我回到你发现我的地方。”

He looked surprised.

他看起来很惊讶。

“Oh, if you----”

“哦，如果你——”

“I'm sure Mildred will be needing you,” Alice said, and as she took his arm and they walked toward Mrs. Dresser, she thought it might be just possible to make a further use of the loan.

“我确信米尔德里德会需要你，”爱丽丝说，当她挽着他的手臂，他们走向德莱瑟夫人时，她认为也许可以进一步利用这笔贷款。

“Oh, I wonder if you----” she began.

“哦，我想知道你是否——”她开始说道。

“Yes?” he said, quickly.

“是的？”他说，很快。

“You don't know my brother, Walter Adams,” she said.

“你不认识我的兄弟沃尔特·亚当斯，”她说。

“But he's somewhere I think possibly he's in a smoking-room or some place where girls aren't expected, and if you wouldn't think it too much trouble to inquire----”

“但是他在某个地方，我想他可能在吸烟室或者某个女孩不准进来的地方，如果你不觉得打听太麻烦的话——”

“I'll find him,” Russell said, promptly.

“我会找到他的，”拉塞尔立即说道。

“Thank you so much for that dance.

“非常感谢你的舞蹈。

I'll bring your brother in a moment.”

我一会儿就带你弟弟来。”

It was to be a long moment, Alice decided, presently.

这将是一个漫长的时刻，爱丽丝很快就决定了。

Mrs. Dresser had grown restive; and her nods and vague responses to her young dependent's gaieties were as meager as they could well be.

德莱瑟夫人变得焦躁不安。对于她年轻的受抚养人的欢乐，她的点头和含糊的回应也很微不足道。

Evidently the matron had no intention of appearing to her world in the light of a chaperone for Alice Adams; and she finally made this clear.

显然，这位女护士无意以爱丽丝·亚当斯的监护人的身份出现在她的世界里。她终于明确了这一点。

With a word or two of excuse, breaking into something Alice was saying, she rose and went to sit next to Mildred's mother, who had become the nucleus of the cluster.

说了一两句借口，打断爱丽丝正在说的话，她站起来，走到米尔德丽德的母亲身边坐下，她已经成为人群的核心。

So Alice was left very much against the wall, with short stretches of vacant chairs on each side of her.

因此，爱丽丝被完全靠在墙上，她的两侧各有一小段空椅子。

She had come to the end of her picture-making, and could only pretend that there was something amusing the matter with the arm of her chair.

她的画已经画完了，只能假装椅子扶手有什么有趣的事情。

She supposed that Mildred's Mr. Russell had forgotten Walter by this time.

她猜想米尔德里德的拉塞尔先生此时已经忘记了沃尔特。

“I'm not even an intimate enough friend of Mildred's for him to have thought he ought to bother to tell me he couldn't find him,” she thought.

“我什至不是米尔德里德的亲密朋友，他认为他应该费心告诉我他找不到他，”她想。

And then she saw Russell coming across the room toward her, with Walter beside him.

然后她看到拉塞尔穿过房间向她走来，沃尔特在他身边。

She jumped up gaily.

她高兴地跳了起来。

“Oh, thank you!” she cried.

“哦，谢谢你！”她哭了。

“I know this naughty boy must have been terribly hard to find.

“我知道这个顽皮的男孩一定很难找到。

Mildred'll NEVER forgive me!

米尔德里德永远不会原谅我！

I've put you to so much----”

我让你付出了这么多——”

“Not at all,” he said, amiably, and went away, leaving the brother and sister together.

“一点也不，”他和蔼地说，然后就走开了，留下兄妹俩在一起。

“Walter, let's dance just once more,” Alice said, touching his arm placatively.

“沃尔特，我们再跳一次吧，”爱丽丝安抚地抚摸着他的手臂说道。

“I thought--well, perhaps we might go home then.”

“我想——好吧，也许我们可以回家了。”

But Walter's expression was that of a person upon whom an outrage has just been perpetrated.

但沃尔特的表情却像是刚刚受到了侮辱。

“No,” he said.

“不，”他说。

“We've stayed THIS long, I'm goin' to wait and see what they got to eat.

“我们已经呆了这么久了，我要等着看他们能吃什么。

And you look here!” He turned upon her angrily.

而你看这里！”他愤怒地转向她。

“Don't you ever do that again!”

“你以后不许再这样做了！”

“Do what?”

“做什么？”

“Send somebody after me that pokes his nose into every corner of the house till he finds me!

“派一个人来跟踪我，把鼻子探遍房子的每一个角落，直到找到我！

'Are you Mr. Walter Adams?' he says.

“您是沃尔特·亚当斯先生吗？”他说。

I guess he must asked everybody in the place if they were Mr. Walter Adams!

我想他一定问过在场的每一个人，他们是不是沃尔特·亚当斯先生！

Well, I'll bet a few iron men you wouldn't send anybody to hunt for me again if you knew where he found me!”

好吧，我跟几个钢铁侠打赌，如果你们知道他在哪里找到我的话，你们就不会再派人来追捕我了！”

“Where was it?”

“那是哪里？”

Walter decided that her fit punishment was to know.

沃尔特认为，对她适当的惩罚就是让她知道。

“I was shootin' dice with those coons in the cloak-room.”

“我在衣帽间里和那些浣熊掷骰子。”

“And he saw you?”

“他看到你了吗？”

“Unless he was blind!” said Walter.

“除非他瞎了！”沃尔特说。

“Come on, I'll dance this one more dance with you.

“来吧，我再和你跳一支舞。

Supper comes after that, and THEN we'll go home.”

晚饭过后，我们就回家了。”

Mrs. Adams heard Alice's key turning in the front door and hurried down the stairs to meet her.

亚当斯太太听到爱丽丝的钥匙在前门转动，就赶紧下楼去迎接她。

“Did you get wet coming in, darling?” she asked.

“亲爱的，你进来的时候淋湿了吗？”她问道。

“Did you have a good time?”

“你玩得开心吗？”

“Just lovely!” Alice said, cheerily, and after she had arranged the latch for Walter, who had gone to return the little car, she followed her mother upstairs and hummed a dance-tune on the way.

“真是太可爱了！”爱丽丝兴高采烈地说道，为去还小车的沃尔特安好门锁后，她跟着妈妈上楼，一路上哼着舞曲。

“Oh, I'm so glad you had a nice time,” Mrs. Adams said, as they reached the door of her daughter's room together.

“哦，我很高兴你度过了愉快的时光，”当他们一起到达她女儿的房间门口时，亚当斯太太说道。

“You DESERVED to, and it's lovely to think----”

“你应得的，想到这一点真是太好了——”

But at this, without warning, Alice threw herself into her mother's arms, sobbing so loudly that in his room, close by, her father, half drowsing through the night, started to full wakefulness.

但就在这时，爱丽丝毫无预兆地扑进了母亲的怀里，放声大哭，以至于在附近的房间里，睡了一夜的父亲突然完全醒了过来。

CHAPTER IX

第九章

On a morning, a week after this collapse of festal hopes, Mrs. Adams and her daughter were concluding a three-days' disturbance, the “Spring house-cleaning”--postponed until now by Adams's long illness--and Alice, on her knees before a chest of drawers, in her mother's room, paused thoughtfully after dusting a packet of letters wrapped in worn muslin.

节日希望破灭一周后的一个早晨，亚当斯夫人和她的女儿结束了为期三天的骚乱，即“春季大扫除”——由于亚当斯的长期患病而推迟至今——爱丽丝跪在母亲房间的五斗柜前，在掸掉一包用破旧细布包裹的信件上的灰尘后若有所思地停下来。

She called to her mother, who was scrubbing the floor of the hallway just beyond the open door,

她对她的母亲喊道，她正在门外擦洗走廊的地板，

“These old letters you had in the bottom drawer, weren't they some papa wrote you before you were married?”

“你放在最下面抽屉里的这些旧信，不是你结婚前某个爸爸写给你的吗？”

Mrs. Adams laughed and said, “Yes.

” 亚当斯夫人笑着说：“是的。

Just put 'em back where they were--or else up in the attic--anywhere you want to.”

只要把它们放回原来的地方——或者放在阁楼上——任何你想要的地方。”

“Do you mind if I read one, mama?”

“妈妈，你介意我读一本吗？”

Mrs. Adams laughed again.

亚当斯夫人又笑了。

“Oh, I guess you can if you want to.

“哦，如果你愿意的话，我想你可以的。

I expect they're pretty funny!”

我希望他们很有趣！”

Alice laughed in response, and chose the topmost letter of the packet.

爱丽丝笑着回应，并选择了数据包最上面的字母。

“My dear, beautiful girl,” it began; and she stared at these singular words.

“我亲爱的、美丽的女孩，”它开始了；她盯着这些奇怪的词。

They gave her a shock like that caused by overhearing some bewildering impropriety; and, having read them over to herself several times, she went on to experience other shocks.

他们让她感到震惊，就像无意中听到一些令人困惑的不当行为一样。她自己读了几遍之后，又经历了其他的震惊。

MY DEAR, BEAUTIFUL GIRL:

我亲爱的、美丽的女孩：

This time yesterday I had a mighty bad case of blues because I had not had a word from you in two whole long days and when I do not hear from you every day things look mighty down in the mouth to me.

昨天的这个时候，我心情非常糟糕，因为我已经整整两天没有收到你的任何消息，而当我每天都没有收到你的消息时，我的心情就变得很糟糕。

Now it is all so different because your letter has arrived and besides I have got a piece of news I believe you will think as fine as I do.

现在一切都不同了，因为你的信已经到了，而且我还得到了一条消息，我相信你会和我一样想得很好。

Darling, you will be surprised, so get ready to hear about a big effect on our future.

亲爱的，你一定会感到惊讶，所以准备好听听它对我们未来的巨大影响吧。

It is this way.

是这样的。

I had sort of a suspicion the head of the firm kind of took a fancy to me from the first when I went in there, and liked the way I attended to my work and so when he took me on this business trip with him I felt pretty sure of it and now it turns out I was about right.

我有一种怀疑，从我一开始进入公司的时候，公司的负责人就很喜欢我，喜欢我工作的方式，所以当他带我一起出差时，我对此非常确定，现在事实证明我是对的。

In return I guess I have got about the best boss in this world and I believe you will think so too.

作为回报，我想我得到了这个世界上最好的老板，我相信你也会这么想。

Yes, sweetheart, after the talk I have just had with him if J.

是的，亲爱的，在我刚刚和他谈话之后，如果 J.

A.

A.

Lamb asked me to cut my hand off for him I guess I would come pretty near doing it because what he says means the end of our waiting to be together.

兰姆让我为他砍掉我的手，我想我几乎会这么做，因为他所说的意味着我们等待在一起的结束。

From New Years on he is going to put me in entire charge of the sundries dept.

从新年开始，他将让我全面负责杂货部。

and what do you think is going to be my salary?

你认为我的薪水是多少？

Eleven hundred cool dollars a year ($1,100.00).

每年 1100 美元（$1,100.00）。

That's all!

就这样！

Just only a cool eleven hundred per annum!

每年只需一千一千！

Well, I guess that will show your mother whether I can take care of you or not.

嗯，我想这会让你妈妈知道我是否可以照顾你。

And oh how I would like to see your dear, beautiful, loving face when you get this news.

哦，当你收到这个消息时，我多么希望看到你亲爱的、美丽的、充满爱的脸。

I would like to go out on the public streets and just dance and shout and it is all I can do to help doing it, especially when I know we will be talking it all over together this time next week, and oh my darling, now that your folks have no excuse for putting it off any longer we might be in our own little home before Xmas.

我想去公共街道上跳舞、喊叫，这是我所能做的一切，尤其是当我知道下周这个时候我们将一起讨论这件事时，哦，亲爱的，既然你的家人没有理由再推迟了，我们可能会在圣诞节之前回到自己的小家里。

Would you be glad?

你会高兴吗？

Well, darling, this settles everything and makes our future just about as smooth for us as anybody could ask.

好吧，亲爱的，这解决了一切，让我们的未来像任何人所要求的那样顺利。

I can hardly realize after all this waiting life's troubles are over for you and me and we have nothing to do but to enjoy the happiness granted us by this wonderful, beautiful thing we call life.

我几乎无法意识到，在你我的所有等待中，生活的烦恼都结束了，我们除了享受这个我们称之为生活的奇妙而美丽的事物所赋予我们的幸福之外，别无他法。

I know I am not any poet and the one I tried to write about you the day of the picnic was fearful but the way I THINK about you is a poem.

我知道我不是一个诗人，野餐那天我试图写关于你的诗很可怕，但我对你的思考方式是一首诗。

Write me what you think of the news.

写信给我你对这个新闻的看法。

I know but write me anyhow.

我知道，但无论如何请写信给我。

I'll get it before we start home and I can be reading it over all the time on the tram.

我会在回家之前拿到它，这样我就可以在电车上一直阅读它。

Your always loving

你永远的爱

VIRGIL.

维吉尔。

The sound of her mother's diligent scrubbing in the hall came back slowly to Alice's hearing, as she restored the letter to the packet, wrapped the packet in its muslin covering, and returned it to the drawer.

母亲在大厅里勤奋擦洗的声音慢慢地回到了爱丽丝的耳朵里，她把信放回包裹里，用平纹细布包裹起来，然后把它放回抽屉里。

She had remained upon her knees while she read the letter; now she sank backward, sitting upon the floor with her hands behind her, an unconscious relaxing for better ease to think.

她读信时一直跪着。现在她向后倒去，坐在地板上，双手放在身后，无意识地放松，以便更好地思考。

Upon her face there had fallen a look of wonder.

她的脸上浮现出惊叹之色。

For the first time she was vaguely perceiving that life is everlasting movement.

她第一次隐隐约约地认识到生命就是永恒的运动。

Youth really believes what is running water to be a permanent crystallization and sees time fixed to a point: some people have dark hair, some people have blond hair, some people have gray hair.

青春真的相信流水是永久的结晶，看到时间定格在一个点：有的人有黑发，有的人有金发，有的人有白发。

Until this moment, Alice had no conviction that there was a universe before she came into it.

直到这一刻，爱丽丝还不相信在她进入之前存在着一个宇宙。

She had always thought of it as the background of herself: the moon was something to make her prettier on a summer night.

她一直把它当作自己的背景：月光是让她在夏夜显得更加美丽的东西。

But this old letter, through which she saw still flickering an ancient starlight of young love, astounded her.

但这封旧信让她震惊，透过信，她看到年轻爱情的古老星光仍然在闪烁。

Faintly before her it revealed the whole lives of her father and mother, who had been young, after all--they REALLY had--and their youth was now so utterly passed from them that the picture of it, in the letter, was like a burlesque of them.

她的父亲和母亲的全部生活在她面前隐隐约约地展现出来，他们毕竟年轻过——他们确实年轻过——而他们的青春现在已经完全过去了，信中的画面就像是他们的滑稽表演。

And so she, herself, must pass to such changes, too, and all that now seemed vital to her would be nothing.

因此，她自己也必须接受这样的改变，而现在对她来说至关重要的一切都将变得毫无意义。

When her work was finished, that afternoon, she went into her father's room.

那天下午，她完成工作后，就走进了父亲的房间。

His recovery had progressed well enough to permit the departure of Miss Perry; and Adams, wearing one of Mrs. Adams's wrappers over his night-gown, sat in a high-backed chair by a closed window.

他的康复进展顺利，佩里小姐可以离开。亚当斯在睡衣外罩着亚当斯夫人的一件睡衣，坐在紧闭的窗户旁的一把高背椅上。

The weather was warm, but the closed window and the flannel wrapper had not sufficed him: round his shoulders he had an old crocheted scarf of Alice's; his legs were wrapped in a heavy comfort; and, with these swathings about him, and his eyes closed, his thin and grizzled head making but a slight indentation in the pillow supporting it, he looked old and little and queer.

天气很暖和，但紧闭的窗户和法兰绒外套还不足以让他感到满足：肩上还围着一条爱丽丝的旧钩编围巾；他的双腿被沉重的舒适包裹着。他身上裹着这些布条，眼睛闭着，瘦削、花白的脑袋在支撑它的枕头上只留下了一个轻微的凹痕，他看起来又老又小，而且很奇怪。

Alice would have gone out softly, but without opening his eyes, he spoke to her: “Don't go, dearie.

爱丽丝本想轻轻地出去，但他没有睁开眼睛，对她说：“别走，亲爱的。

Come sit with the old man a little while.”

来陪老夫坐一会儿吧。”

She brought a chair near his.

她搬了一把椅子到他的旁边。

“I thought you were napping.”

“我以为你在打瞌睡呢。”

“No. I don't hardly ever do that.

“不。我几乎不这样做。

I just drift a little sometimes.”

我只是有时候有点飘忽不定。”

“How do you mean you drift, papa?”

“爸爸，你漂流是什么意思？”

He looked at her vaguely.

他茫然地看着她。

“Oh, I don't know.

“哦，我不知道。

Kind of pictures.

图片之类的。

They get a little mixed up--old times with times still ahead, like planning what to do, you know.

他们有点混淆了——过去的时光和未来的时光，比如计划要做什么，你知道。

That's as near a nap as I get--when the pictures mix up some.

当图片混在一起时，这就像我打瞌睡一样。

I suppose it's sort of drowsing.”

我想这有点像打瞌睡。”

She took one of his hands and stroked it.

她握住他的一只手，抚摸着它。

“What do you mean when you say you have pictures like 'planning what to do'?” she asked.

“当你说你有‘计划做什么’之类的照片时，你是什么意思？”她问道。

“I mean planning what to do when I get out and able to go to work again.”

“我的意思是计划当我出去并能够再次上班时做什么。”

“But that doesn't need any planning,” Alice said, quickly.

“但这不需要任何计划，”爱丽丝很快说道。

“You're going back to your old place at Lamb's, of course.”

“当然，你要回到兰姆的老地方。”

Adams closed his eyes again, sighing heavily, but made no other response.

亚当斯再次闭上眼睛，重重地叹了口气，但没有做出其他反应。

“Why, of COURSE you are!” she cried.

“为什么，你当然是！”她哭了。

“What are you talking about?”

“你在说什么？”

His head turned slowly toward her, revealing the eyes, open in a haggard stare.

他的头慢慢转向她，露出一双憔悴的眼睛。

“I heard you the other night when you came from the party,” he said.

“那天晚上你从聚会回来时我听到了你的声音，”他说。

“I know what was the matter.”

“我知道出了什么事。”

“Indeed, you don't,” she assured him.

“确实，你不知道，”她向他保证。

“You don't know anything about it, because there wasn't anything the matter at all.”

“你对此一无所知，因为根本就没有发生任何事情。”

“Don't you suppose I heard you crying?

“你以为我没有听到你哭吗？

What'd you cry for if there wasn't anything the matter?”

如果没有什么事情的话，你哭什么？”

“Just nerves, papa.

“只是紧张，爸爸。

It wasn't anything else in the world.”

这不是世界上任何其他东西。”

“Never mind,” he said.

“没关系，”他说。

“Your mother told me.”

“你妈妈告诉我的。”

“She promised me not to!”

“她答应过我不会的！”

At that Adams laughed mournfully.

亚当斯听后悲凉地笑了。

“It wouldn't be very likely I'd hear you so upset and not ask about it, even if she didn't come and tell me on her own hook.

“即使她没有亲自来告诉我，我也不太可能听到你如此沮丧而不问这件事。

You needn't try to fool me; I tell you I know what was the matter.”

你不必试图愚弄我；我告诉你我知道出了什么事。”

“The only matter was I had a silly fit,” Alice protested.

“唯一的问题是我犯了傻事，”爱丽丝抗议道。

“It did me good, too.”

“这对我也有好处。”

“How's that?”

“怎么样？”

“Because I've decided to do something about it, papa.”

“因为我决定为此做点什么，爸爸。”

“That isn't the way your mother looks at it,” Adams said, ruefully.

“你妈妈可不这么看，”亚当斯悲伤地说。

“She thinks it's our place to do something about it.

“她认为我们应该为此做点什么。

Well, I don't know--I don't know; everything seems so changed these days.

嗯，我不知道——我不知道；这些天一切似乎都变了。

You've always been a good daughter, Alice, and you ought to have as much as any of these girls you go with; she's convinced me she's right about THAT.

你一直是个好女儿，爱丽丝，你应该像你身边的任何一个女孩一样拥有那么多；她让我相信她是对的。

The trouble is----” He faltered, apologetically, then went on, “I mean the question is--how to get it for you.”

问题是——”他支支吾吾，带着歉意，然后继续说道，“我的意思是问题是——如何给你拿到它。”

“No!” she cried.

“不！”她哭了。

“I had no business to make such a fuss just because a lot of idiots didn't break their necks to get dances with me and because I got mortified about Walter--Walter WAS pretty terrible----”

“我没有理由大惊小怪，只是因为很多白痴不愿意和我跳舞，而且因为我对沃尔特感到羞愧——沃尔特太糟糕了——”

“Oh, me, my!” Adams lamented.

“哦，我，我的！”亚当斯感叹道。

“I guess that's something we just have to leave work out itself.

“我想这就是我们必须让工作本身解决的问题。

What you going to do with a boy nineteen or twenty years old that makes his own living?

对于一个十九岁或二十岁、靠自己谋生的男孩，你会怎么办？

Can't whip him.

鞭打不了他。

Can't keep him locked up in the house.

总不能把他关在屋子里吧。

Just got to hope he'll learn better, I suppose.”

我想，只是希望他能学得更好。”

“Of course he didn't want to go to the Palmers',” Alice explained, tolerantly--“and as mama and I made him take me, and he thought that was pretty selfish in me, why, he felt he had a right to amuse himself any way he could.

“他当然不想去帕尔默家，”爱丽丝宽容地解释道——“因为妈妈和我让他带我去，他认为我这样做很自私，为什么，他觉得他有权以任何方式自娱自乐。

Of course it was awful that this--that this Mr. Russell should----” In spite of her, the recollection choked her.

当然，这真是太可怕了——这位拉塞尔先生应该——” 尽管她不顾一切，这个回忆还是让她窒息了。

“Yes, it was awful,” Adams agreed.

“是的，这太糟糕了，”亚当斯同意道。

“Just awful.

“太糟糕了。

Oh, me, my!”

哦，我，我的！”

But Alice recovered herself at once, and showed him a cheerful face.

但爱丽丝立刻恢复了平静，露出了愉快的表情。

“Well, just a few years from now I probably won't even remember it!

“好吧，几年后我可能都不记得了！

I believe hardly anything amounts to as much as we think it does at the time.”

我相信几乎没有什么事情能像我们当时认为的那样重要。”

“Well--sometimes it don't.”

“嗯——有时并非如此。”

“What I've been thinking, papa: it seems to me I ought to DO something.”

“我一直在想，爸爸：在我看来，我应该做点什么。”

“What like?”

“喜欢什么？”

She looked dreamy, but was obviously serious as she told him: “Well, I mean I ought to be something besides just a kind of nobody.

她看起来很梦幻，但显然很严肃地告诉他：“好吧，我的意思是我应该成为一个不只是一个无名小卒的人。

I ought to----” She paused.

我应该——”她停顿了一下。

“What, dearie?”

“什么，亲爱的？”

“Well--there's one thing I'd like to do.

“嗯——我想做一件事。

I'm sure I COULD do it, too.”

我确信我也能做到。”

“What?”

“什么？”

“I want to go on the stage: I know I could act.” At this, her father abruptly gave utterance to a feeble cackling of laughter; and when Alice, surprised and a little offended, pressed him for his reason, he tried to evade, saying, “Nothing, dearie.

“我想登上舞台：我知道我可以表演。”听到这里，她的父亲突然发出一阵微弱的咯咯笑声。当爱丽丝惊讶又有点生气地追问他的理由时，他试图回避，说：“没什么，亲爱的。

I just thought of something.” But she persisted until he had to explain.

我只是想到一件事。”但她坚持要他解释。

“It made me think of your mother's sister, your Aunt Flora, that died when you were little,” he said.

“这让我想起你母亲的妹妹，你的弗洛拉阿姨，她在你小时候就去世了，”他说。

“She was always telling how she was going on the stage, and talking about how she was certain she'd make a great actress, and all so on; and one day your mother broke out and said she ought 'a' gone on the stage, herself, because she always knew she had the talent for it--and, well, they got into kind of a spat about which one'd make the best actress.

“她总是讲述她如何登上舞台，谈论她如何确信自己会成为一名伟大的女演员，等等；有一天，你母亲突然爆发，说她自己应该登上舞台，因为她一直知道自己有这方面的天赋——而且，好吧，他们为谁能成为最佳女演员而发生了争吵。

I had to go out in the hall to laugh!”

我必须到大厅去笑！”

“Maybe you were wrong,” Alice said, gravely.

“也许你错了，”爱丽丝严肃地说。

“If they both felt it, why wouldn't that look as if there was talent in the family?

“如果他们都感觉到了，那为什么看起来不像家族里有才华呢？

I've ALWAYS thought----”

我一直认为——”

“No, dearie,” he said, with a final chuckle.

“不，亲爱的，”他说，最后笑了一声。

“Your mother and Flora weren't different from a good many others.

“你的母亲和弗洛拉与其他许多人并没有什么不同。

I expect ninety per cent.

我预计百分之九十。

of all the women I ever knew were just sure they'd be mighty fine actresses if they ever got the chance.

在我认识的所有女性中，有一个人坚信，如果有机会的话，她们一定会成为出色的女演员。

Well, I guess it's a good thing; they enjoy thinking about it and it don't do anybody any harm.”

嗯，我想这是一件好事；他们喜欢思考这个问题，而且这不会对任何人造成任何伤害。”

Alice was piqued.

爱丽丝很生气。

For several days she had thought almost continuously of a career to be won by her own genius.

几天来，她几乎一直在想，要靠自己的天才来赢得一份事业。

Not that she planned details, or concerned herself with first steps; her picturings overleaped all that.

并不是说她计划了细节，也不是关心第一步；而是说她计划了一些细节。她的画超越了这一切。

Principally, she saw her name great on all the bill-boards of that unkind city, and herself, unchanged in age but glamorous with fame and Paris clothes, returning in a private car.

主要是，她在这座不友善的城市的所有广告牌上看到了自己的名字，而她自己，年龄没有变化，但因名声和巴黎服装而魅力四射，乘坐私家车返回。

No doubt the pleasantest development of her vision was a dialogue with Mildred; and this became so real that, as she projected it, Alice assumed the proper expressions for both parties to it, formed words with her lips, and even spoke some of them aloud.

毫无疑问，她的愿景中最令人愉快的发展是与米尔德里德的对话。这变得如此真实，以至于当爱丽丝投射它时，她为双方都做出了正确的表达，用嘴唇形成了单词，甚至大声说出了其中一些单词。

“No, I haven't forgotten you, Mrs. Russell.

“不，我没有忘记你，拉塞尔夫人。

I remember you quite pleasantly, in fact.

事实上，我记得你很愉快。

You were a Miss Palmer, I recall, in those funny old days.

我记得，在那些有趣的过去，你是帕尔默小姐。

Very kind of you, I'm shaw.

你真好，我是肖。

I appreciate your eagerness to do something for me in your own little home.

我很感激你渴望在自己的小家里为我做点什么。

As you say, a reception WOULD renew my acquaintanceship with many old friends--but I'm shaw you won't mind my mentioning that I don't find much inspiration in these provincials.

正如你所说，招待会会让我与许多老朋友重新结识——但我是肖，你不会介意我提到我在这些外省人身上找不到太多灵感。

I really must ask you not to press me.

我真的必须请你不要逼我。

An artist's time is not her own, though of course I could hardly expect you to understand----”

艺术家的时间不属于她自己，当然我很难指望你能理解——”

Thus Alice illuminated the dull time; but she retired from the interview with her father still manfully displaying an outward cheerfulness, while depression grew heavier within, as if she had eaten soggy cake.

爱丽丝就这样照亮了沉闷的时光；但她从采访中退下来，父亲仍然勇敢地表现出表面上的快乐，而内心的沮丧却越来越重，就像她吃了湿透的蛋糕一样。

Her father knew nothing whatever of the stage, and she was aware of his ignorance, yet for some reason his innocently skeptical amusement reduced her bright project almost to nothing.

她的父亲对舞台一无所知，她也知道他的无知，但出于某种原因，他天真的怀疑的乐趣使她的光明计划几乎化为乌有。

Something like this always happened, it seemed; she was continually making these illuminations, all gay with gildings and colourings; and then as soon as anybody else so much as glanced at them--even her father, who loved her--the pretty designs were stricken with a desolating pallor.

似乎这样的事总是会发生。她不断地制作这些彩绘，所有的彩绘都带有镀金和色彩。然后，一旦其他人——甚至是她爱她的父亲——瞥了一眼，这些漂亮的图案就会蒙上一层凄凉的苍白。

“Is this LIFE?” Alice wondered, not doubting that the question was original and all her own.

“这就是生活吗？”爱丽丝想知道，她毫不怀疑这个问题是她原创的，而且完全是她自己的。

“Is it life to spend your time imagining things that aren't so, and never will be?

“花时间想象那些并非如此、也永远不会如此的事情，这就是生活吗？

Beautiful things happen to other people; why should I be the only one they never CAN happen to?”

美好的事情发生在别人身上；为什么我是唯一一个他们永远不会发生的人呢？”

The mood lasted overnight; and was still upon her the next afternoon when an errand for her father took her down-town.

这种情绪持续了一夜；第二天下午，当她父亲去市中心办事时，她仍然在她身边。

Adams had decided to begin smoking again, and Alice felt rather degraded, as well as embarrassed, when she went into the large shop her father had named, and asked for the cheap tobacco he used in his pipe.

亚当斯决定再次开始吸烟，当爱丽丝走进她父亲命名的那家大商店，询问他在烟斗中使用的廉价烟草时，她感到相当丢脸，也很尴尬。

She fell back upon an air of amused indulgence, hoping thus to suggest that her purchase was made for some faithful old retainer, now infirm; and although the calmness of the clerk who served her called for no such elaboration of her sketch, she ornamented it with a little laugh and with the remark, as she dropped the package into her coat-pocket, “I'm sure it'll please him; they tell me it's the kind he likes.”

她又露出了一种有趣的放纵神情，希望借此表明她的购买是为某个忠诚的老家臣而做的，现在她已经体弱多病了；尽管为她服务的店员很平静，所以不需要对她的草图进行如此详细的阐述，但她还是用一点笑声装饰了它，并在把包裹放进外套口袋时说道：“我相信这会让他高兴；他们告诉我这是他喜欢的那种。”

Still playing Lady Bountiful, smiling to herself in anticipation of the joy she was bringing to the simple old negro or Irish follower of the family, she left the shop; but as she came out upon the crowded pavement her smile vanished quickly.

她仍然扮演着邦蒂弗夫人的角色，对自己微笑着，期待着她给这个家庭的简单的老黑人或爱尔兰追随者带来欢乐，然后她离开了商店。但当她走上拥挤的人行道时，她的笑容很快就消失了。

Next to the door of the tobacco-shop, there was the open entrance to a stairway, and, above this rather bleak and dark aperture, a sign-board displayed in begrimed gilt letters the information that Frincke's Business College occupied the upper floors of the building.

烟草店的门旁边有一个通往楼梯的敞开的入口，在这个相当荒凉和黑暗的开口上方，有一个标牌，上面写着肮脏的镀金字母，上面写着弗林克商学院占据了大楼的较高楼层。

Furthermore, Frincke here publicly offered “personal instruction and training in practical mathematics, bookkeeping, and all branches of the business life, including stenography, typewriting, etc.”

此外，弗林克在此公开提供“实用数学、簿记以及商业生活所有分支（包括速记、打字等）的个人指导和培训”。

Alice halted for a moment, frowning at this signboard as though it were something surprising and distasteful which she had never seen before.

爱丽丝停顿了一下，皱着眉头看着这块招牌，仿佛这是她从未见过的令人惊讶和厌恶的东西。

Yet it was conspicuous in a busy quarter; she almost always passed it when she came down-town, and never without noticing it.

然而，在繁忙的街区，它却显得格外引人注目。当她来到市中心时，她几乎总是经过它，而且每次都会注意到它。

Nor was this the first time she had paused to lift toward it that same glance of vague misgiving.

这也不是她第一次停下来，用同样的含糊疑虑的眼神望向它。

The building was not what the changeful city defined as a modern one, and the dusty wooden stairway, as seen from the pavement, disappeared upward into a smoky darkness.

这座建筑并不符合这座多变的城市所定义的现代建筑，从人行道上看去，布满灰尘的木楼梯向上消失在烟雾缭绕的黑暗中。

So would the footsteps of a girl ascending there lead to a hideous obscurity, Alice thought; an obscurity as dreary and as permanent as death.

爱丽丝想，一个女孩登上那里的脚步会不会导致一片可怕的黑暗呢？一种像死亡一样沉闷而永恒的默默无闻。

And like dry leaves falling about her she saw her wintry imaginings in the May air: pretty girls turning into withered creatures as they worked at typing-machines; old maids “taking dictation” from men with double chins; Alice saw old maids of a dozen different kinds “taking dictation.” Her mind's eye was crowded with them, as it always was when she passed that stairway entrance; and though they were all different from one another, all of them looked a little like herself.

就像干树叶落在她身上一样，她在五月的空气中看到了她寒冷的想象：漂亮的女孩在打字机前工作时变成了枯萎的生物；老处女向双下巴男人“听写”；爱丽丝看到十几个不同种类的老处女在“听写”。她的脑海里挤满了它们，就像她经过楼梯入口时一样；虽然他们各不相同，但看起来都有点像她。

She hated the place, and yet she seldom hurried by it or averted her eyes.

她讨厌这个地方，但她很少匆匆经过，也很少移开目光。

It had an unpleasant fascination for her, and a mysterious reproach, which she did not seek to fathom.

它对她有一种令人不快的迷恋，还有一种神秘的责备，她并不想去理解。

She walked on thoughtfully to-day; and when, at the next corner, she turned into the street that led toward home, she was given a surprise.

今天她若有所思地继续前行。当她在下一个拐角拐进回家的街道时，她吃了一惊。

Arthur Russell came rapidly from behind her, lifting his hat as she saw him.

阿瑟·拉塞尔迅速从她身后走来，当她看到他时，他举起了帽子。

“Are you walking north, Miss Adams?” he asked.

“亚当斯小姐，你在向北走吗？”他问道。

“Do you mind if I walk with you?”

“你介意我和你一起走吗？”

She was not delighted, but seemed so.

她并不高兴，但看上去却很高兴。

“How charming!” she cried, giving him a little flourish of the shapely hands; and then, because she wondered if he had seen her coming out of the tobacco-shop, she laughed and added, “I've just been on the most ridiculous errand!”

“多么迷人啊！”她喊道，轻轻地挥动着他那双漂亮的手。然后，因为她想知道他是否看到她从烟草店里出来，她笑着补充道：“我刚刚做了一件最可笑的差事！”

“What was that?”

“那是什么？”

“To order some cigars for my father.

“为我父亲订购一些雪茄。

He's been quite ill, poor man, and he's so particular--but what in the world do _I_ know about cigars?”

他病得很重，可怜的人，而且他又那么挑剔——但是我到底对雪茄了解多少呢？

Russell laughed.

拉塞尔笑了。

“Well, what DO you know about 'em?

“那么，你对他们了解多少？

Did you select by the price?”

你是按价格选的吗？”

“Mercy, no!” she exclaimed, and added, with an afterthought, “Of course he wrote down the name of the kind he wanted and I gave it to the shopman.

“慈悲，不！”她惊呼道，想了想又补充道：“当然，他写下了他想要的那种名字，我就把它给了店主。

I could never have pronounced it.”

我永远不可能说出这个词。”

CHAPTER X

第十章

In her pocket as she spoke her hand rested upon the little sack of tobacco, which responded accusingly to the touch of her restless fingers; and she found time to wonder why she was building up this fiction for Mr. Arthur Russell.

当她说话时，她的手放在口袋里的小袋烟草上，烟草对她不安的手指的触摸做出了指责的反应；她抽出时间思考为什么要为阿瑟·罗素先生创作这部小说。

His discovery of Walter's device for whiling away the dull evening had shamed and distressed her; but she would have suffered no less if almost any other had been the discoverer.

他发现了沃尔特打发无聊夜晚的方法，这让她感到羞愧和苦恼。但如果发现者是其他人，她所受的苦也不会少。

In this gentleman, after hearing that he was Mildred's Mr. Arthur Russell, Alice felt not the slightest “personal interest”; and there was yet to develop in her life such a thing as an interest not personal.

在这位先生身上，当听说他是米尔德里德的亚瑟·拉塞尔先生后，爱丽丝并没有感到丝毫的“个人利益”；而是觉得，这位绅士的存在，是对他的尊重。她的生活中还没有发展出非个人的兴趣。

At twenty-two this state of affairs is not unique.

二十二岁的这种情况并不是独一无二的。

So far as Alice was concerned Russell might have worn a placard, “Engaged.” She looked upon him as diners entering a restaurant look upon tables marked “Reserved”: the glance, slightly discontented, passes on at once.

就爱丽丝而言，拉塞尔可能戴着一块标语牌，上面写着“订婚了”。她看着他，就像进餐厅的食客看着标有“预订”的桌子一样：略显不满的目光立即消失了。

Or so the eye of a prospector wanders querulously over staked and established claims on the mountainside, and seeks the virgin land beyond; unless, indeed, the prospector be dishonest.

或者说，探矿者的眼睛充满怨言地徘徊在山腰上已建立的土地上，并寻找远处的处女地。除非探矿者确实不诚实。

But Alice was no claim-jumper--so long as the notice of ownership was plainly posted.

但爱丽丝并不是一个想抢夺权利的人——只要清楚地张贴所有权通知即可。

Though she was indifferent now, habit ruled her: and, at the very time she wondered why she created fictitious cigars for her father, she was also regretting that she had not boldly carried her Malacca stick down-town with her.

虽然她现在漠不关心，但习惯支配了她：正当她想知道为什么要为父亲制作虚构的雪茄时，她也在后悔自己没有大胆地带着她的马六甲雪茄棒到市中心。

Her vivacity increased automatically.

她的活力自然而然地增加了。

“Perhaps the clerk thought you wanted the cigars for yourself,” Russell suggested.

“也许店员认为你想要自己的雪茄，”拉塞尔建议道。

“He may have taken you for a Spanish countess.”

“他可能把你当成西班牙伯爵夫人了。”

“I'm sure he did!” Alice agreed, gaily; and she hummed a bar or two of “LaPaloma,” snapping her fingers as castanets, and swaying her body a little, to suggest the accepted stencil of a “Spanish Dancer.” “Would you have taken me for one, Mr. Russell?” she asked, as she concluded the impersonation.

“我确信他做到了！”爱丽丝高兴地同意了。她哼着一两小节的《拉帕洛玛》，打响响板般的手指，轻轻摇晃身体，暗示着“西班牙舞者”的公认模板。 “你会把我当成一个吗，拉塞尔先生？”当她结束模仿时，她问道。

“I?

“我？

Why, yes,” he said.

为什么，是的，”他说。

“I'D take you for anything you wanted me to.”

“只要你想让我做的事，我都会满足你。”

“Why, what a speech!” she cried, and, laughing, gave him a quick glance in which there glimmered some real surprise.

“哎呀，真是一场演讲啊！”她哭了，笑着，快速地看了他一眼，眼中闪现出真正的惊讶。

He was looking at her quizzically, but with the liveliest appreciation.

他疑惑地看着她，但眼神中充满了最热烈的欣赏。

Her surprise increased; and she was glad that he had joined her.

她更加惊讶了。她很高兴他加入了她。

To be seen walking with such a companion added to her pleasure.

看到和这样的同伴一起散步，让她更加高兴。

She would have described him as “altogether quite stunning-looking”; and she liked his tall, dark thinness, his gray clothes, his soft hat, and his clean brown shoes; she liked his easy swing of the stick he carried.

她会形容他“长得非常漂亮”。她喜欢他高大、黝黑、瘦削的身材、灰色的衣服、柔软的帽子和干净的棕色鞋子。她喜欢他轻松挥舞手中的手杖。

“Shouldn't I have said it?” he asked.

“我不应该说吗？”他问道。

“Would you rather not be taken for a Spanish countess?”

“你不想被误认为是西班牙伯爵夫人吗？”

“That isn't it,” she explained.

“不是这样的，”她解释道。

“You said----”

“你说——”

“I said I'd take you for whatever you wanted me to.

“我说过，无论你想让我做什么，我都会接受你。

Isn't that all right?”

这样不行吗？”

“It would all depend, wouldn't it?”

“这要看情况，不是吗？”

“Of course it would depend on what you wanted.”

“当然，这取决于你想要什么。”

“Oh, no!” she laughed.

“哦，不！”她笑了。

“It might depend on a lot of things.”

“这可能取决于很多事情。”

“Such as?”

“例如？”

“Well----” She hesitated, having the mischievous impulse to say, “Such as Mildred!” But she decided to omit this reference, and became serious, remembering Russell's service to her at Mildred's house.

“嗯——”她犹豫了一下，有种恶作剧的冲动，“比如米尔德丽德！”但她决定忽略这一点，并变得严肃起来，记住拉塞尔在米尔德里德家里为她提供的服务。

“Speaking of what I want to be taken for,” she said;--“I've been wondering ever since the other night what you did take me for!

“说到我希望别人把我当成什么，”她说，“从那天晚上起，我就一直在想，你到底把我当成什么了！

You must have taken me for the sister of a professional gambler, I'm afraid!”

恐怕你以为我是职业赌徒的妹妹吧！”

Russell's look of kindness was the truth about him, she was to discover; and he reassured her now by the promptness of his friendly chuckle.

她发现，拉塞尔的友善表情是他的真实面目。他立即友好地笑了笑，让她放心了。

“Then your young brother told you where I found him, did he?

“那你弟弟告诉你我在哪里找到他了，是吗？

I kept my face straight at the time, but I laughed afterward--to myself.

当时我板着脸，但后来我笑了——自言自语。

It struck me as original, to say the least: his amusing himself with those darkies.”

至少可以说，这让我觉得很新颖：他和那些黑人一起取乐。”

“Walter IS original,” Alice said; and, having adopted this new view of her brother's eccentricities, she impulsively went on to make it more plausible.

“沃尔特是原创的，”爱丽丝说；在接受了对她哥哥的怪癖的新看法后，她冲动地继续使它变得更加可信。

“He's a very odd boy, and I was afraid you'd misunderstand.

“他是个很奇怪的男孩，我担心你会误会。

He tells wonderful 'darky stories,' and he'll do anything to draw coloured people out and make them talk; and that's what he was doing at Mildred's when you found him for me--he says he wins their confidence by playing dice with them.

他讲述精彩的“黑暗故事”，他会尽一切努力吸引有色人种并让他们说话；当你帮我找到他时，他在米尔德里德家就是这么做的——他说他通过和他们玩骰子赢得了他们的信任。

In the family we think he'll probably write about them some day.

在家庭中，我们认为有一天他可能会写下这些内容。

He's rather literary.”

他比较文学。”

“Are you?” Russell asked, smiling.

“你是？”拉塞尔微笑着问道。

“I?

“我？

Oh----” She paused, lifting both hands in a charming gesture of helplessness.

哦——”她停了下来，举起双手，做出迷人的无助姿势。

“Oh, I'm just--me!”

“哦，我只是——我！”

His glance followed the lightly waved hands with keen approval, then rose to the lively and colourful face, with its hazel eyes, its small and pretty nose, and the lip-caught smile which seemed the climax of her decorative transition.

他的视线顺着那双轻轻挥动的双手，带着敏锐的赞许，升到了那张活泼多彩的脸庞，淡褐色的眼睛，小巧而漂亮的鼻子，以及唇角勾起的微笑，似乎是她装饰过渡的高潮。

Never had he seen a creature so plastic or so wistful.

他从未见过如此可塑或如此渴望的生物。

Here was a contrast to his cousin Mildred, who was not wistful, and controlled any impulses toward plasticity, if she had them.

这与他的表弟米尔德里德形成鲜明对比，米尔德里德并不渴望，并且控制住任何可塑性的冲动，如果她有的话。

“By George!” he said.

“乔治！”他说。

“But you ARE different!”

“但你不一样！”

With that, there leaped in her such an impulse of roguish gallantry as she could never resist.

说到这里，她心中涌起一股无法抗拒的流氓豪气冲动。

She turned her head, and, laughing and bright-eyed, looked him full in the face.

她转过头，笑着，眼睛明亮地看着他的脸。

“From whom?” she cried.

“谁的？”她哭了。

“From--everybody!” he said.

“来自——所有人！”他说。

“Are you a mind-reader?”

“你是读心术吗？”

“Why?”

“为什么？”

“How did you know I was thinking you were different from my cousin, Mildred Palmer?”

“你怎么知道我认为你和我表弟米尔德里德·帕尔默不同？”

“What makes you think I DID know it?”

“你凭什么认为我确实知道这一点？”

“Nonsense!” he said.

“废话！”他说。

“You knew what I was thinking and I knew you knew.”

“你知道我在想什么，我也知道你知道。”

“Yes,” she said with cool humour.

“是的，”她冷幽默地说。

“How intimate that seems to make us all at once!”

“这似乎让我们一下子变得多么亲密啊！”

Russell left no doubt that he was delighted with these gaieties of hers.

拉塞尔毫无疑问地对她的这些欢乐感到高兴。

“By George!” he exclaimed again.

“乔治！”他再次惊呼。

“I thought you were this sort of girl the first moment I saw you!”

“我第一眼看到你就觉得你是这样的女孩！”

“What sort of girl?

“什么样的女孩？

Didn't Mildred tell you what sort of girl I am when she asked you to dance with me?”

米尔德里德邀请你和我跳舞的时候，没有告诉过你我是一个什么样的女孩吗？”

“She didn't ask me to dance with you--I'd been looking at you.

“她没有邀请我和你跳舞——我一直在看着你。

You were talking to some old ladies, and I asked Mildred who you were.”

你正在和一些老太太说话，我问米尔德里德你是谁。”

“Oh, so Mildred DIDN'T----” Alice checked herself.

“噢，所以米尔德里德没有——”爱丽丝检查了一下自己。

“Who did she tell you I was?”

“她告诉你我是谁？”

“She just said you were a Miss Adams, so I----”

“她刚刚说你是亚当斯小姐，所以我——”

“'A' Miss Adams?” Alice interrupted.

“亚当斯小姐？”爱丽丝打断道。

“Yes.

是的。

Then I said I'd like to meet you.”

然后我就说我想见见你。”

“I see.

“我明白了。

You thought you'd save me from the old ladies.”

你以为你能把我从老太太手中救出来。”

“No. I thought I'd save myself from some of the girls Mildred was getting me to dance with.

“不。我想我可以从米尔德里德让我跳舞的一些女孩那里拯救自己。

There was a Miss Dowling----”

有一位道林小姐——”

“Poor man!” Alice said, gently, and her impulsive thought was that Mildred had taken few chances, and that as a matter of self-defense her carefulness might have been well founded.

“可怜的人！”爱丽丝轻声说道，她的冲动想法是米尔德丽德很少冒险，出于自卫，她的谨慎可能是有根据的。

This Mr. Arthur Russell was a much more responsive person than one had supposed.

这位阿瑟·拉塞尔先生比人们想象的反应灵敏得多。

“So, Mr. Russell, you don't know anything about me except what you thought when you first saw me?”

“那么，拉塞尔先生，除了你第一次见到我时的想法之外，你对我一无所知？”

“Yes, I know I was right when I thought it.”

“是的，我知道我的想法是对的。”

“You haven't told me what you thought.”

“你还没告诉我你的想法。”

“I thought you were like what you ARE like.”

“我以为你就是你本来的样子。”

“Not very definite, is it?

“不太确定，是吗？

I'm afraid you shed more light a minute or so ago, when you said how different from Mildred you thought I was.

恐怕大约一分钟前，当你说你认为我与米尔德里德有多么不同时，你已经透露了更多信息。

That WAS definite, unfortunately!”

不幸的是，这是肯定的！”

“I didn't say it,” Russell explained.

“我没说过，”拉塞尔解释道。

“I thought it, and you read my mind.

“我这么想，而你也读懂了我的心思。

That's the sort of girl I thought you were--one that could read a man's mind.

我认为你就是那种能读懂男人心思的女孩。

Why do you say 'unfortunately' you're not like Mildred?”

你为什么说‘不幸的是’你不像米尔德里德？”

Alice's smooth gesture seemed to sketch Mildred.

爱丽丝流畅的动作仿佛在描绘米尔德里德。

“Because she's perfect--why, she's PERFECTLY perfect!

“因为她是完美的——为什么，她非常完美！

She never makes a mistake, and everybody looks up to her--oh, yes, we all fairly adore her!

她从不犯错，每个人都尊敬她——哦，是的，我们都相当崇拜她！

She's like some big, noble, cold statue--'way above the rest of us--and she hardly ever does anything mean or treacherous.

她就像一座高大、高贵、冷酷的雕像——“远远高于我们其他人”——她几乎从不做任何卑鄙或奸诈的事情。

Of all the girls I know I believe she's played the fewest really petty tricks.

在我认识的所有女孩中，我相信她玩的小把戏最少。

She's----”

她是——”

Russell interrupted; he looked perplexed.

拉塞尔打断了他的话。他看上去很困惑。

“You say she's perfectly perfect, but that she does play SOME----”

“你说她非常完美，但她确实扮演了一些——”

Alice laughed, as if at his sweet innocence.

爱丽丝笑了，仿佛在嘲笑他的天真无邪。

“Men are so funny!” she informed him.

“男人就是这么有趣！”她通知了他。

“Of course girls ALL do mean things sometimes.

“当然，女孩有时确实会做一些卑鄙的事情。

My own career's just one long brazen smirch of 'em!

我自己的职业生涯只是他们的一桩长期无耻的污蔑！

What I mean is, Mildred's perfectly perfect compared to the rest of us.”

我的意思是，与我们其他人相比，米尔德里德非常完美。”

“I see,” he said, and seemed to need a moment or two of thoughtfulness.

“我明白了，”他说道，似乎需要思考一两分钟。

Then he inquired, “What sort of treacherous things do YOU do?”

然后他问道：“你做了什么奸诈的事情？”

“I?

“我？

Oh, the very worst kind!

哦，最糟糕的一种！

Most people bore me particularly the men in this town--and I show it.”

大多数人都让我感到厌烦，尤其是这个镇上的男人——我表现出了这一点。”

“But I shouldn't call that treacherous, exactly.”

“但确切地说，我不应该称之为背叛。”

“Well, THEY do,” Alice laughed.

“嗯，他们确实这么做了，”爱丽丝笑道。

“It's made me a terribly unpopular character!

“这让我成为一个非常不受欢迎的角色！

I do a lot of things they hate.

我做了很多他们讨厌的事情。

For instance, at a dance I'd a lot rather find some clever old woman and talk to her than dance with nine-tenths of these nonentities.

例如，在舞会上，我宁愿找到一些聪明的老妇人并与她交谈，也不愿与这些无足轻重的十分之九的人跳舞。

I usually do it, too.”

我也经常这么做。”

“But you danced as if you liked it.

“但你跳舞的样子就好像你喜欢它一样。

You danced better than any other girl I----”

你跳得比我其他任何女孩都跳得好——”

“This flattery of yours doesn't quite turn my head, Mr. Russell,” Alice interrupted.

“你的阿谀奉承并不能完全改变我的想法，拉塞尔先生，”爱丽丝打断道。

“Particularly since Mildred only gave you Ella Dowling to compare with me!”

“尤其是米尔德丽德只给了你艾拉·道林来和我比较！”

“Oh, no,” he insisted.

“哦，不，”他坚持说。

“There were others--and of course Mildred, herself.”

“还有其他人——当然还有米尔德里德本人。”

“Oh, of course, yes.

“噢，当然，是的。

I forgot that.

我忘记了。

Well----” She paused, then added, “I certainly OUGHT to dance well.”

嗯——”她停顿了一下，然后补充道，“我当然应该跳得很好。”

“Why is it so much a duty?”

“为什么有这么大的责任？”

“When I think of the dancing-teachers and the expense to papa!

“当我想到舞蹈老师和爸爸的费用时！

All sorts of fancy instructors--I suppose that's what daughters have fathers for, though, isn't it?

各种出色的教练——我想这就是女儿有父亲的目的，不是吗？

To throw money away on them?”

把钱扔给他们？”

“You don't----” Russell began, and his look was one of alarm.

“你不——”拉塞尔开口说道，他的表情充满了惊慌。

“You haven't taken up----”

“你还没有接受——”

She understood his apprehension and responded merrily, “Oh, murder, no!

她明白他的忧虑，高兴地回答：“哦，谋杀，不！

You mean you're afraid I break out sometimes in a piece of cheesecloth and run around a fountain thirty times, and then, for an encore, show how much like snakes I can make my arms look.”

你的意思是你担心我有时会穿着一块粗棉布，绕着喷泉跑三十圈，然后再表演一次，展示我可以让我的手臂看起来多么像蛇。”

“I SAID you were a mind-reader!” he exclaimed.

“我说过你是一个读心术者！”他惊呼道。

“That's exactly what I was pretending to be afraid you might do.”

“这正是我假装担心你会做的事。”

“'Pretending?' That's nicer of you.

“‘假装？’你这样比较好。

No; it's not my mania.”

不;这不是我的狂热。”

“What is?”

“什么是？”

“Oh, nothing in particular that I know of just now.

“哦，目前我还没有了解到什么特别的事情。

Of course I've had the usual one: the one that every girl goes through.”

当然，我也经历过常见的情况：每个女孩都会经历的情况。”

“What's that?”

“那是什么？”

“Good heavens, Mr. Russell, you can't expect me to believe you're really a man of the world if you don't know that every girl has a time in her life when she's positive she's divinely talented for the stage!

“天哪，拉塞尔先生，如果你不知道每个女孩一生中都会有一段时期，她确信自己在舞台上具有非凡的天赋，那么你就不能指望我相信你真的是一个见多识广的人！

It's the only universal rule about women that hasn't got an exception.

这是关于女性的唯一没有例外的普遍规则。

I don't mean we all want to go on the stage, but we all think we'd be wonderful if we did.

我并不是说我们都想上台，但我们都认为如果我们上台那就太好了。

Even Mildred.

甚至米尔德丽德。

Oh, she wouldn't confess it to you: you'd have to know her a great deal better than any man can ever know her to find out.”

哦，她不会向你坦白的：你必须比任何男人更了解她才能找到答案。

“I see,” he said.

“我明白了，”他说。

“Girls are always telling us we can't know them.

“女孩们总是告诉我们我们无法了解她们。

I wonder if you----”

我想知道你是否——”

She took up his thought before he expressed it, and again he was fascinated by her quickness, which indeed seemed to him almost telepathic.

在他表达之前，她就明白了他的想法，他再次被她的敏捷所吸引，这对他来说确实几乎是心灵感应。

“Oh, but DON'T we know one another, though!” she cried.

“哦，但是我们不认识吗！”她哭了。

“Such things we have to keep secret--things that go on right before YOUR eyes!”

“这些事情我们必须保密——这些事情就发生在你眼前！”

“Why don't some of you tell us?” he asked.

“为什么你们中的一些人不告诉我们？”他问道。

“We can't tell you.”

“我们不能告诉你。”

“Too much honour?”

“太荣幸了？”

“No. Not even too much honour among thieves, Mr. Russell.

“不。小偷之间甚至没有太多荣誉，拉塞尔先生。

We don't tell you about our tricks against one another because we know it wouldn't make any impression on you.

我们不会告诉你我们彼此之间的伎俩，因为我们知道这不会给你留下任何印象。

The tricks aren't played against you, and you have a soft side for cats with lovely manners!”

诡计不是针对你的，你对猫也有温柔的一面，举止可爱！”

“What about your tricks against us?”

“那你对我们的伎俩呢？”

“Oh, those!” Alice laughed.

“哦，那些！”爱丽丝笑了。

“We think they're rather cute!”

“我们觉得它们相当可爱！”

“Bravo!” he cried, and hammered the ferrule of his stick upon the pavement.

“太棒了！”他喊道，并用棍子的套圈敲击人行道。

“What's the applause for?”

“掌声是为了什么？”

“For you.

“为了你。

What you said was like running up the black flag to the masthead.”

你说的话就像把黑旗拉到了报头一样。”

“Oh, no. It was just a modest little sign in a pretty flower-bed: 'Gentlemen, beware!'”

“哦，不。这只是一个漂亮花坛上的一个不起眼的小标志：‘先生们，当心！’”

“I see I must,” he said, gallantly.

“我明白我必须这么做，”他殷勤地说。

“Thanks!

“谢谢！

But I mean, beware of the whole bloomin' garden!” Then, picking up a thread that had almost disappeared: “You needn't think you'll ever find out whether I'm right about Mildred's not being an exception by asking her,” she said.

但我的意思是，要小心整个盛开的花园！”然后，她又拿起一条几乎消失了的线索：“你不必以为你会通过询问米尔德里德来了解我关于米尔德里德并非例外的说法是否正确，”她说。

“She won't tell you: she's not the sort that ever makes a confession.”

“她不会告诉你：她不是那种会坦白的人。”

But Russell had not followed her shift to the former topic.

但拉塞尔并没有跟随她转向前一个话题。

“'Mildred's not being an exception?'” he said, vaguely.

“‘米尔德丽德也不例外吗？’”他含糊地说。

“I don't----”

“我不——”

“An exception about thinking she could be a wonderful thing on the stage if she only cared to.

“如果她愿意的话，她可能会在舞台上成为一名出色的人物，这是一个例外。

If you asked her I'm pretty sure she'd say, 'What nonsense!' Mildred's the dearest, finest thing anywhere, but you won't find out many things about her by asking her.”

如果你问她，我很确定她会说：“胡说八道！”米尔德里德在任何地方都是最可爱、最优秀的人，但你不会通过询问她了解很多关于她的事情。”

Russell's expression became more serious, as it did whenever his cousin was made their topic.

拉塞尔的表情变得更加严肃，就像每当他的表弟成为他们的话题时一样。

“You think not?” he said.

“你觉得不会？”他说。

“You think she's----”

“你认为她是——”

“No. But it's not because she isn't sincere exactly.

“不。但这并不是因为她不真诚。

It's only because she has such a lot to live up to.

只是因为她有太多的事情要做。

She has to live up to being a girl on the grand style to herself, I mean, of course.” And without pausing Alice rippled on, “You ought to have seen ME when I had the stage-fever!

当然，我的意思是，她必须不辜负自己作为一个高尚风格的女孩的期望。”爱丽丝没有停顿，继续说道：“当我对舞台狂热的时候，你应该看看我！

I used to play 'Juliet' all alone in my room.' She lifted her arms in graceful entreaty, pleading musically,

我曾经独自在房间里演奏《朱丽叶》。她举起双臂，优雅地恳求，用音乐般的恳求，

“O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest thy love prove----”

“噢，不要指着月亮发誓，那变幻无常的月亮，她圆球上每月的变化，以免你的爱证明——”

She broke off abruptly with a little flourish, snapping thumb and finger of each outstretched hand, then laughed and said, “Papa used to make such fun of me!

她突然停了下来，动作有点夸张，打响了每只伸出的手的拇指和手指，然后笑着说：“爸爸以前常常取笑我！

Thank heaven, I was only fifteen; I was all over it by the next year.”

感谢上帝，我才十五岁；到了第二年我就已经把这一切都搞定了。”

“No wonder you had the fever,” Russell observed.

“难怪你会发烧，”拉塞尔评论道。

“You do it beautifully.

“你做得很漂亮。

Why didn't you finish the line?”

怎么还没把线说完？”

“Which one?

“哪一个？

'Lest thy love prove likewise variable'?

“免得你的爱同样多变”？

Juliet was saying it to a MAN, you know.

你知道，朱丽叶是对一个男人说的。

She seems to have been ready to worry about his constancy pretty early in their affair!”

她似乎在他们的恋情发生之初就已经准备好担心他的忠诚了！”

Her companion was again thoughtful.

她的同伴又若有所思了。

“Yes,” he said, seeming to be rather irksomely impressed with Alice's suggestion.

“是的，”他说，似乎对爱丽丝的建议印象深刻。

“Yes; it does appear so.”

“是的；看来确实是这样。”

Alice glanced at his serious face, and yielded to an audacious temptation.

爱丽丝看着他严肃的脸，屈服于大胆的诱惑。

“You mustn't take it so hard,” she said, flippantly.

“你不必这么难受，”她轻率地说。

“It isn't about you: it's only about Romeo and Juliet.”

“这与你无关：这只是关于罗密欧与朱丽叶。”

“See here!” he exclaimed.

“看这里！”他惊呼道。

“You aren't at your mind-reading again, are you?

“你不会又开始读心了吧？

There are times when it won't do, you know!”

有时候，这是行不通的，你知道的！”

She leaned toward him a little, as if companionably: they were walking slowly, and this geniality of hers brought her shoulder in light contact with his for a moment.

她稍微向他倾斜了一点，仿佛友善地：他们慢慢地走着，她的这种和蔼可亲让她的肩膀与他的肩膀轻轻接触了一会儿。

“Do you dislike my mind-reading?” she asked, and, across their two just touching shoulders, gave him her sudden look of smiling wistfulness.

“你不喜欢我的读心术吗？”她问，然后，隔着他们两个刚刚接触的肩膀，突然露出微笑而渴望的表情。

“Do you hate it?”

“你讨厌吗？”

He shook his head.

他摇摇头。

“No, I don't,” he said, gravely.

“不，我不，”他严肃地说。

“It's quite pleasant.

“真是令人愉快。

But I think it says, 'Gentlemen, beware!'”

但我认为它说的是，‘先生们，要小心！’”

She instantly moved away from him, with the lawless and frank laugh of one who is delighted to be caught in a piece of hypocrisy.

她立即从他身边移开，带着一种乐于被发现虚伪的不法而坦率的笑声。

“How lovely!” she cried.

“多可爱啊！”她哭了。

Then she pointed ahead.

然后她指着前方。

“Our walk is nearly over.

“我们的徒步之旅快结束了。

We're coming to the foolish little house where I live.

我们即将来到我住的那座愚蠢的小房子。

It's a queer little place, but my father's so attached to it the family have about given up hope of getting him to build a real house farther out.

这是一个奇怪的小地方，但我父亲对它如此依恋，全家几乎放弃了让他在更远的地方建造一座真正的房子的希望。

He doesn't mind our being extravagant about anything else, but he won't let us alter one single thing about his precious little old house.

他不介意我们在其他事情上铺张浪费，但他不会让我们改变他珍贵的小老房子的任何一件事。

Well!” She halted, and gave him her hand.

出色地！”她停了下来，把手伸给了他。

“Adieu!”

“再见！”

“I couldn't,” he began; hesitated, then asked: “I couldn't come in with you for a little while?”

“我不能，”他开始说道。犹豫了一下，问道：“我暂时不能和你一起进去吗？”

“Not now,” she said, quickly.

“现在不行，”她很快说道。

“You can come----” She paused.

“你可以来——”她停顿了一下。

“When?”

“什么时候？”

“Almost any time.” She turned and walked slowly up the path, but he waited.

“几乎任何时候。”她转身慢慢走上小路，但他等着。

“You can come in the evening if you like,” she called back to him over her shoulder.

“如果你愿意的话，晚上可以来。”她回头对他喊道。

“Soon?”

“很快？”

“As soon as you like!” She waved her hand; then ran indoors and watched him from a window as he went up the street.

“只要你愿意就可以！”她摆摆手；然后跑进屋里，从窗户里看着他沿着街道走。

He walked rapidly, a fine, easy figure, swinging his stick in a way that suggested exhilaration.

他走得很快，身材优美，从容，挥动手杖的方式表明他很兴奋。

Alice, staring after him through the irregular apertures of a lace curtain, showed no similar buoyancy.

爱丽丝透过蕾丝窗帘的不规则孔洞盯着他，却没有表现出类似的轻松感。

Upon the instant she closed the door all sparkle left her: she had become at once the simple and sometimes troubled girl her family knew.

当她关上门的那一刻，所有的光芒都消失了：她立刻变成了家人所认识的那个简单、有时又陷入困境的女孩。

“What is going on out there?” her mother asked, approaching from the dining-room.

“外面发生了什么事？”她母亲从餐厅走过来问道。

“Oh, nothing,” Alice said, indifferently, as she turned away.

“哦，没什么。”爱丽丝转身走开，冷漠地说。

“That Mr. Russell met me downtown and walked up with me.”

“拉塞尔先生在市中心接我并和我一起走。”

“Mr. Russell?

“先生。拉塞尔？

Oh, the one that's engaged to Mildred?”

哦，是和米尔德丽德订婚的那个吗？”

“Well--I don't know for certain.

“嗯——我不确定。

He didn't seem so much like an engaged man to me.” And she added, in the tone of thoughtful preoccupation: “Anyhow--not so terribly!”

在我看来，他不太像一个订婚的男人。”她用深思熟虑的语气补充道：“无论如何——没那么可怕！”

Then she ran upstairs, gave her father his tobacco, filled his pipe for him, and petted him as he lighted it.

然后她跑上楼，把烟草给了她父亲，给他装满了烟斗，并在他点燃烟斗时抚摸着他。

CHAPTER XI

第十一章

After that, she went to her room and sat down before her three-leaved mirror.

随后，她回到了自己的房间，在三叶镜前坐下。

There was where she nearly always sat when she came into her room, if she had nothing in mind to do.

当她走进自己的房间时，如果她无事可做，她几乎总是坐在那里。

She went to that chair as naturally as a dog goes to his corner.

她自然地走向那张椅子，就像狗走到他的角落一样。

She leaned forward, observing her profile; gravity seemed to be her mood.

她向前倾身，观察着她的侧脸。重力似乎就是她的心情。

But after a long, almost motionless scrutiny, she began to produce dramatic sketches upon that ever-ready stage, her countenance: she showed gaiety, satire, doubt, gentleness, appreciation of a companion and love-in-hiding--all studied in profile first, then repeated for a “three-quarter view.” Subsequently she ran through them, facing herself in full.

但经过长时间、几乎一动不动的审视后，她开始在那个随时准备好的舞台上画出戏剧性的素描，即她的面容：她表现出欢乐、讽刺、怀疑、温柔、对伴侣的欣赏和隐藏的爱——所有这些都先研究侧面，然后重复“四分之三视角”。随后她跑过它们，完全面对自己。

In this manner she outlined a playful scenario for her next interview with Arthur Russell; but grew solemn again, thinking of the impression she had already sought to give him.

通过这种方式，她为她下次采访阿瑟·拉塞尔勾勒出一个有趣的场景；但想到她已经想给他留下的印象，她又变得严肃起来。

She had no twinges for any underminings of her “most intimate friend”--in fact, she felt that her work on a new portrait of Mildred for Mr.

她并没有因为任何对她“最亲密的朋友”的破坏而感到痛苦——事实上，她觉得她为米尔德丽德先生创作的新肖像的工作。

Russell had been honest and accurate.

拉塞尔是诚实而准确的。

But why had it been her instinct to show him an Alice Adams who didn't exist?

但为什么她本能地要向他展示一个并不存在的爱丽丝·亚当斯呢？

Almost everything she had said to him was upon spontaneous impulse, springing to her lips on the instant; yet it all seemed to have been founded upon a careful design, as if some hidden self kept such designs in stock and handed them up to her, ready-made, to be used for its own purpose.

她对他说的几乎所有话都是出于自发的冲动，即刻脱口而出。然而，这一切似乎都是建立在精心设计的基础上的，仿佛某个隐藏的自我将这些设计储存起来，然后将它们现成的交给她，以供其使用。

What appeared to be the desired result was a false-coloured image in Russell's mind; but if he liked that image he wouldn't be liking Alice Adams; nor would anything he thought about the image be a thought about her.

看似想要的结果在拉塞尔的脑海中却是一个虚假的图像。但如果他喜欢这个形象，他就不会喜欢爱丽丝·亚当斯；他对这张照片的任何想法也不会是对她的想法。

Nevertheless, she knew she would go on with her false, fancy colourings of this nothing as soon as she saw him again; she had just been practicing them.

尽管如此，她知道，一旦她再次见到他，她就会继续对这虚无的事物进行虚假的、花哨的描绘。她刚刚练习过。

“What's the idea?” she wondered.

“什么主意？”她想知道。

“What makes me tell such lies?

“是什么让我说出这样的谎言？

Why shouldn't I be just myself?” And then she thought, “But which one is myself?”

我为什么不应该只做我自己呢？”然后她想：“但是哪一个是我自己呢？”

Her eyes dwelt on the solemn eyes in the mirror; and her lips, disquieted by a deepening wonder, parted to whisper:

她的目光停留在镜子里那双严肃的眼睛上；她的嘴唇因一种日益加深的惊奇而感到不安，张开嘴低声说道：

“Who in the world are you?”

“你到底是谁？”

The apparition before her had obeyed her like an alert slave, but now, as she subsided to a complete stillness, that aspect changed to the old mockery with which mirrors avenge their wrongs.

她面前的幽灵像一个警觉的奴隶一样服从她，但现在，当她完全安静下来时，那面貌变成了镜子报仇的古老嘲讽。

The nucleus of some queer thing seemed to gather and shape itself behind the nothingness of the reflected eyes until it became almost an actual strange presence.

某种奇怪的东西的核心似乎在反射的眼睛的虚无后面聚集并成形，直到它几乎成为一个真正奇怪的存在。

If it could be identified, perhaps the presence was that of the hidden designer who handed up the false, ready-made pictures, and, for unknown purposes, made Alice exhibit them; but whatever it was, she suddenly found it monkey-like and terrifying.

如果可以识别的话，也许是隐藏的设计师的存在，他交出了虚假的现成图片，并出于未知的目的让爱丽丝展示它们；但不管是什么，她突然觉得它像猴子一样可怕。

In a flutter she jumped up and went to another part of the room.

她猛地跳起来，走到房间的另一处。

A moment or two later she was whistling softly as she hung her light coat over a wooden triangle in her closet, and her musing now was quainter than the experience that led to it; for what she thought was this, “I certainly am a queer girl!” She took a little pride in so much originality, believing herself probably the only person in the world to have such thoughts as had been hers since she entered the room, and the first to be disturbed by a strange presence in the mirror.

一两分钟后，她一边轻轻地吹着口哨，一边把薄外套挂在衣柜里的一个木制三角形上，现在她的沉思比导致这一切的经历更加古怪；因为她认为，“我确实是一个酷儿女孩！”她对如此独创性感到有点自豪，相信自己可能是世界上唯一一个自进入房间以来就有这样想法的人，也是第一个被镜子中的奇怪存在打扰的人。

In fact, the effect of the tiny episode became apparent in that look of preoccupied complacency to be seen for a time upon any girl who has found reason to suspect that she is a being without counterpart.

事实上，这一小插曲的影响变得显而易见，任何一个有理由怀疑自己是一个没有对手的女孩都会在一段时间内看到那种全神贯注的自满表情。

This slight glow, still faintly radiant, was observed across the dinner-table by Walter, but he misinterpreted it.

沃尔特在餐桌对面观察到了这种仍然微弱发光的轻微光芒，但他误解了它。

“What YOU lookin' so self-satisfied about?” he inquired, and added in his knowing way, “I saw you, all right, cutie!”

“你为什么这么得意？”他问道，并以他会意的方式补充道：“我看到你了，好吧，小可爱！”

“Where'd you see me?”

“你在哪里看到我的？”

“Down-town.”

“市中心。”

“This afternoon, you mean, Walter?”

“你是说今天下午，沃尔特？”

“Yes, 'this afternoon, I mean, Walter,'” he returned, burlesquing her voice at least happily enough to please himself; for he laughed applausively.

“是的，‘我是说，今天下午，沃尔特，’”他回答道，用滑稽的语气模仿着她的声音，至少足够高兴地取悦自己。因为他鼓掌地笑了。

“Oh, you never saw me!

“哦，你从来没有见过我！

I passed you close enough to pull a tooth, but you were awful busy.

我和你擦肩而过，近得可以拔牙，但你太忙了。

I never did see anybody as busy as you get, Alice, when you're towin' a barge.

我从来没有见过有人像你这样忙碌，爱丽丝，当你拖着一艘驳船时。

My, but you keep your hands goin'!

天哪，但是你的手要继续动！

Looked like the air was full of 'em!

看起来空气中充满了它们！

That's why I'm onto why you look so tickled this evening; I saw you with that big fish.”

这就是为什么我知道你今晚看起来如此兴奋的原因；我看见你和那条大鱼在一起了。”

Mrs. Adams laughed benevolently; she was not displeased with this rallying.

亚当斯夫人善意地笑了。她对这次集会并没有感到不满。

“Well, what of it, Walter?” she asked.

“那么，那又如何呢，沃尔特？”她问道。

“If you happen to see your sister on the street when some nice young man is being attentive to her----”

“如果你在街上碰巧看到你的妹妹，而某个好青年正对她殷勤——”

Walter barked and then cackled.

沃尔特吠了一声，然后咯咯地笑起来。

“Whoa, Sal!” he said.

“哇哦，萨尔！”他说。

“You got the parts mixed.

“你把各个部分混在一起了。

It's little Alice that was 'being attentive.' I know the big fish she was attentive to, all right, too.”

是小爱丽丝“很专心”。我也知道她在关注那条大鱼，好吧。”

“Yes,” his sister retorted, quietly.

“是的。”妹妹轻声回答道。

“I should think you might have recognized him, Walter.”

“我想你可能已经认出了他，沃尔特。”

Walter looked annoyed.

沃尔特看上去很生气。

“Still harpin' on THAT!” he complained.

“还在喋喋不休！”他抱怨道。

“The kind of women I like, if they get sore they just hit you somewhere on the face and then they're through.

“我喜欢的那种女人，如果她们感到疼痛，她们就会打你脸上的某个地方，然后就完了。

By the way, I heard this Russell was supposed to be your dear, old, sweet friend Mildred's steady.

顺便说一句，我听说这个拉塞尔应该是你亲爱的老朋友米尔德里德的马厩。

What you doin' walkin' as close to him as all that?”

你走得离他那么近做什么？”

Mrs. Adams addressed her son in gentle reproof, “Why Walter!”

亚当斯夫人温和地责备儿子：“为什么是沃尔特！”

“Oh, never mind, mama,” Alice said.

“哦，没关系，妈妈，”爱丽丝说。

“To the horrid all things are horrid.”

“对于可怕的人来说，一切都是可怕的。”

“Get out!” Walter protested, carelessly.

“出去！”沃尔特漫不经心地抗议道。

“I heard all about this Russell down at the shop.

“我在店里听说了这个拉塞尔的一切。

Young Joe Lamb's such a talker I wonder he don't ruin his grandfather's business; he keeps all us cheap help standin' round listening to him nine-tenths of our time.

年轻的乔·兰姆真是个健谈的人，我想知道他不会毁了他祖父的生意。他让我们所有的廉价帮手有十分之九的时间都站在周围听他讲话。

Well, Joe told me this Russell's some kin or other to the Palmer family, and he's got some little money of his own, and he's puttin' it into ole Palmer's trust company and Palmer's goin' to make him a vice-president of the company.

好吧，乔告诉我，这个拉塞尔是帕尔默家族的亲戚，他自己也有一些钱，他把这些钱存入了帕尔默的信托公司，帕尔默将任命他为该公司的副总裁。

Sort of a keep-the-money-in-the-family arrangement, Joe Lamb says.”

乔·兰姆说，这有点像是一种把钱留在家里的安排。”

Mrs. Adams looked thoughtful.

亚当斯夫人看上去若有所思。

“I don't see----” she began.

“我不明白——”她开口说道。

“Why, this Russell's supposed to be tied up to Mildred,” her son explained.

“为什么，这个拉塞尔应该和米尔德里德绑在一起，”她儿子解释道。

“When ole Palmer dies this Russell will be his son-in-law, and all he'll haf' to do'll be to barely lift his feet and step into the ole man's shoes.

“当老帕尔默去世后，这个拉塞尔将成为他的女婿，而他所要做的就是勉强抬起脚，接替老帕尔默的鞋子。

It's certainly a mighty fat hand-me-out for this Russell!

对于这个拉塞尔来说，这无疑是一个巨大的施舍！

You better lay off o' there, Alice.

你最好就在那里休息，爱丽丝。

Pick somebody that's got less to lose and you'll make better showing.”

选择一个不会失去的人，你就会有更好的表现。”

Mrs. Adams's air of thoughtfulness had not departed.

亚当斯夫人体贴的神情并未消失。

“But you say this Mr. Russell is well off on his own account, Walter.”

“但是你说这位拉塞尔先生靠自己的努力过得很好，沃尔特。”

“Oh, Joe Lamb says he's got some little of his own.

“哦，乔·兰姆说他也有一些自己的东西。

Didn't know how much.”

不知道多少钱。”

“Well, then----”

「那么，那么——」

Walter laughed his laugh.

沃尔特大笑起来。

“Cut it out,” he bade her.

“别说了，”他吩咐她。

“Alice wouldn't run in fourth place.”

“爱丽丝不会跑第四名。”

Alice had been looking at him in a detached way, as though estimating the value of a specimen in a collection not her own.

爱丽丝一直以一种超然的方式看着他，仿佛在评估非她自己的收藏中的标本的价值。

“Yes,” she said, indifferently.

“是的，”她漠然地说。

“You REALLY are vulgar, Walter.”

“你真的很粗俗，沃尔特。”

He had finished his meal; and, rising, he came round the table to her and patted her good-naturedly on the shoulder.

他已经吃完饭了；他站起来，绕过桌子来到她身边，善意地拍拍她的肩膀。

“Good ole Allie!” he said.

“好艾丽！”他说。

“HONEST, you wouldn't run in fourth place.

“老实说，你不会跑第四名。

If I was you I'd never even start in the class.

如果我是你，我什至都不会开始上课。

That frozen-face gang will rule you off the track soon as they see your colours.”

那帮面无表情的家伙一看到你的颜色就会把你赶出赛道。”

“Walter!” his mother said again.

“沃尔特！”他母亲又说道。

“Well, ain't I her brother?” he returned, seeming to be entirely serious and direct, for the moment, at least.

“呃，我不是她哥哥吗？”他回来了，至少目前看来是完全严肃和直接的。

“_I_ like the ole girl all right.

“_我_喜欢这个老女孩。

Fact is, sometimes I'm kind of sorry for her.”

事实上，有时我有点对不起她。”

“But what's it all ABOUT?” Alice cried.

“但这到底是怎么回事？”爱丽丝哭了。

“Simply because you met me down-town with a man I never saw but once before and just barely know!

“仅仅因为你在市中心遇见了我，和一个我从未见过但只见过一次的男人见面，而且几乎不认识！

Why all this palaver?”

为什么这么闲聊？

“'Why?'” he repeated, grinning.

“‘为什么？’”他笑着重复道。

“Well, I've seen you start before, you know!” He went to the door, and paused.

“好吧，我以前见过你开始，你知道！”他走到门口，停了下来。

“I got no date to-night.

“我今晚没有约会。

Take you to the movies, you care to go.”

带你去看电影，你想去就好。”

She declined crisply.

她干脆地拒绝了。

“No, thanks!”

“不用了，谢谢！”

“Come on,” he said, as pleasantly as he knew how.

“来吧，”他尽可能愉快地说道。

“Give me a chance to show you a better time than we had up at that frozen-face joint.

“给我一个机会让你看看比我们在那个冻脸店更好的时光。

I'll get you some chop suey afterward.”

一会儿我给你弄点杂碎。”

“No, thanks!”

“不，谢谢！”

“All right,” he responded and waved a flippant adieu.

“好吧，”他回答道，然后轻率地挥手告别。

“As the barber says, 'The better the advice, the worse it's wasted!' Good-night!”

“正如理发师所说，‘建议越好，浪费的情况就越严重！’晚安！”

Alice shrugged her shoulders; but a moment or two later, as the jar of the carelessly slammed front door went through the house, she shook her head, reconsidering.

爱丽丝耸了耸肩。但一两分钟后，当前门不小心关上的罐子穿过房子时，她摇了摇头，重新考虑了一下。

“Perhaps I ought to have gone with him.

“也许我应该和他一起走。

It might have kept him away from whatever dreadful people are his friends--at least for one night.”

这可能会让他远离那些可怕的朋友——至少在一晚。”

“Oh, I'm sure Walter's a GOOD boy,” Mrs. Adams said, soothingly; and this was what she almost always said when either her husband or Alice expressed such misgivings.

“哦，我确信沃尔特是个好孩子，”亚当斯夫人安慰道。当她的丈夫或爱丽丝表达这种疑虑时，她几乎总是这么说。

“He's odd, and he's picked up right queer manners; but that's only because we haven't given him advantages like the other young men.

“他很奇怪，而且他养成了正确的奇怪举止；但这只是因为我们没有给他像其他年轻人那样的优势。

But I'm sure he's a GOOD boy.”

但我确信他是一个好孩子。”

She reverted to the subject a little later, while she washed the dishes and Alice wiped them.

稍后她又回到这个话题，一边洗碗，爱丽丝一边擦。

“Of course Walter could take his place with the other nice boys of the town even yet,” she said.

“当然，沃尔特仍然可以和镇上其他好男孩一起取代他的位置，”她说。

“I mean, if we could afford to help him financially.

“我的意思是，如果我们有能力在经济上帮助他。

They all belong to the country clubs and have cars and----”

他们都属于乡村俱乐部，都有汽车，而且——”

“Let's don't go into that any more, mama,” the daughter begged her.

“妈妈，我们不要再讨论这个了，”女儿恳求她。

“What's the use?”

“有什么用？”

“It COULD be of use,” Mrs. Adams insisted.

“它可能有用，”亚当斯夫人坚持说。

“It could if your father----”

“如果你父亲——那就可能了——”

“But papa CAN'T.”

“但是爸爸不能。”

“Yes, he can.”

“是的，他可以。”

“But how can he?

“但是他怎么能呢？

He told me a man of his age CAN'T give up a business he's been in practically all his life, and just go groping about for something that might never turn up at all.

他告诉我，他这个年纪的人不能放弃他几乎一生都从事的事业，而只是去摸索一些可能永远不会出现的东西。

I think he's right about it, too, of course!”

当然，我认为他也是对的！”

Mrs. Adams splashed among the plates with a new vigour heightened by an old bitterness.

亚当斯太太在盘子里泼水，带着一种新的活力，因旧日的苦涩而更加强烈。

“Oh, yes,” she said.

“哦，是的，”她说。

“He talks that way; but he knows better.”

“他就是这么说话的；但他更清楚。”

“How could he 'know better,' mama?”

“他怎么能‘知道得更清楚’呢，妈妈？”

“HE knows how!”

“他知道怎么做！”

“But what does he know?”

“但是他知道什么？”

Mrs. Adams tossed her head.

亚当斯夫人摇摇头。

“You don't suppose I'm such a fool I'd be urging him to give up something for nothing, do you, Alice?

“你不会认为我是个傻瓜，会催促他白白放弃一些东西吧，爱丽丝？

Do you suppose I'd want him to just go 'groping around' like he was telling you?

你认为我会希望他像他告诉你的那样“摸索”吗？

That would be crazy, of course.

当然，那太疯狂了。

Little as his work at Lamb's brings in, I wouldn't be so silly as to ask him to give it up just on a CHANCE he could find something else.

尽管他在兰姆的工作没什么好处，但我不会愚蠢地要求他放弃，只是因为他有机会找到其他工作。

Good gracious, Alice, you must give me credit for a little intelligence once in a while!”

天哪，爱丽丝，你一定要赞扬我偶尔的一点聪明才智！”

Alice was puzzled.

爱丽丝很困惑。

“But what else could there be except a chance?

“但是除了机会还能有什么呢？

I don't see----”

我没看到——”

“Well, I do,” her mother interrupted, decisively.

“嗯，我愿意，”她母亲果断地打断道。

“That man could make us all well off right now if he wanted to.

“如果他愿意的话，那个人现在就能让我们过上好日子。

We could have been rich long ago if he'd ever really felt as he ought to about his family.”

如果他对他的家庭有真正的感情的话，我们早就可以变得富有了。”

“What!

“什么！

Why, how could----”

为什么，怎么可能——”

“You know how as well as I do,” Mrs. Adams said, crossly.

“你跟我一样清楚，”亚当斯夫人生气地说。

“I guess you haven't forgotten how he treated me about it the Sunday before he got sick.”

“我想你还没忘记他生病前的那个周日是如何对待我的。”

She went on with her work, putting into it a sudden violence inspired by the recollection; but Alice, enlightened, gave utterance to a laugh of lugubrious derision.

她继续她的工作，在回忆中突然注入了暴力。但爱丽丝恍然大悟，发出一阵悲凉的嘲笑声。

“Oh, the GLUE factory again!” she cried.

“哦，又是胶水工厂！”她哭了。

“How silly!” And she renewed her laughter.

“真傻！”她又笑了起来。

So often do the great projects of parents appear ignominious to their children.

父母的伟大计划常常在孩子看来是可耻的。

Mrs. Adams's conception of a glue factory as a fairy godmother of this family was an absurd old story which Alice had never taken seriously.

亚当斯夫人将胶水厂视为这个家庭的仙女教母，这是一个荒唐的老故事，爱丽丝从未认真对待过。

She remembered that when she was about fifteen her mother began now and then to say something to Adams about a “glue factory,” rather timidly, and as a vague suggestion, but never without irritating him.

她记得，当她大约十五岁的时候，她的母亲时不时地开始对亚当斯说一些关于“胶水工厂”的事情，相当胆怯，作为一个含糊的建议，但总是惹恼他。

Then, for years, the preposterous subject had not been mentioned; possibly because of some explosion on the part of Adams, when his daughter had not been present.

此后的许多年里，这个荒谬的话题都没有被提起过。可能是因为亚当斯在他女儿不在场时发生了一些爆炸。

But during the last year Mrs. Adams had quietly gone back to these old hints, reviving them at intervals and also reviving her husband's irritation.

但在去年，亚当斯夫人悄悄地又回到了这些旧暗示，时不时地重提这些暗示，同时也再次激起了她丈夫的恼怒。

Alice's bored impression was that her mother wanted him to found, or buy, or do something, or other, about a glue factory; and that he considered the proposal so impracticable as to be insulting.

爱丽丝无聊的印象是，她母亲希望他建立、购买、或做某事，或其他关于胶水厂的事；但她的母亲却希望他能找到一家胶水厂。他认为这个提议不切实际，甚至带有侮辱性。

The parental conversations took place when neither Alice nor Walter was at hand, but sometimes Alice had come in upon the conclusion of one, to find her father in a shouting mood, and shocking the air behind him with profane monosyllables as he departed.

父母的谈话是在爱丽丝和沃尔特都不在家的时候进行的，但有时爱丽丝在谈话结束后进来，发现她的父亲在大喊大叫，并在他离开时用亵渎的单音节词震惊了他身后的空气。

Mrs. Adams would be left quiet and troubled; and when Alice, sympathizing with the goaded man, inquired of her mother why these tiresome bickerings had been renewed, she always got the brooding and cryptic answer, “He COULD do it--if he wanted to.” Alice failed to comprehend the desirability of a glue factory--to her mind a father engaged in a glue factory lacked impressiveness; had no advantage over a father employed by Lamb and Company; and she supposed that Adams knew better than her mother whether such an enterprise would be profitable or not.

亚当斯夫人会变得安静而烦恼。当爱丽丝同情这个受刺激的男人，询问母亲为什么这些令人厌烦的争吵又重新开始时，她总是得到沉思而神秘的答案：“他可以做到——如果他愿意的话。”爱丽丝无法理解开一家胶水厂的好处——在她看来，一个从事胶水厂的父亲缺乏印象；与受雇于兰姆公司的父亲相比，他没有任何优势；她认为亚当斯比她母亲更清楚这样的企业能否盈利。

Emphatically, he thought it would not, for she had heard him shouting at the end of one of these painful interviews, “You can keep up your dang talk till YOU die and _I_ die, but I'll never make one God's cent that way!”

他断然认为不会，因为她听到他在一次痛苦的采访结束时大喊：“你可以继续你的胡言乱语，直到你死，我也死，但我永远不会那样赚到一分钱！”

There had been a culmination.

事情已经达到了顶峰。

Returning from church on the Sunday preceding the collapse with which Adams's illness had begun, Alice found her mother downstairs, weeping and intimidated, while her father's stamping footsteps were loudly audible as he strode up and down his room overhead.

亚当斯病情开始崩溃之前的那个周日，爱丽丝从教堂回来，发现她的母亲在楼下哭泣，受到惊吓，而她父亲在头顶的房间里大步走来走去，跺脚的脚步声清晰可闻。

So were his endless repetitions of invective loudly audible: “That woman!

他无休止地重复谩骂的声音也听得见：“那个女人！

Oh, that woman; Oh, that danged woman!”

哦，那个女人；噢，那个危险的女人！”

Mrs. Adams admitted to her daughter that it was “the old glue factory” and that her husband's wildness had frightened her into a “solemn promise” never to mention the subject again so long as she had breath.

亚当斯夫人向女儿承认，那是“老胶水厂”，丈夫的狂野吓坏了她，她“郑重承诺”，只要她还有一口气，就不再提起这个话题。

Alice laughed.

爱丽丝笑了。

The “glue factory” idea was not only a bore, but ridiculous, and her mother's evident seriousness about it one of those inexplicable vagaries we sometimes discover in the people we know best.

“胶水工厂”的想法不仅无聊，而且荒谬，而她母亲对此的明显严肃态度是我们有时在我们最了解的人身上发现的那些莫名其妙的变幻莫测之一。

But this Sunday rampage appeared to be the end of it, and when Adams came down to dinner, an hour later, he was unusually cheerful.

但周日的暴乱似乎结束了，一小时后，当亚当斯下楼吃晚饭时，他异常高兴。

Alice was glad he had gone wild enough to settle the glue factory once and for all; and she had ceased to think of the episode long before Friday of that week, when Adams was brought home in the middle of the afternoon by his old employer, the “great J.

爱丽丝很高兴他的疯狂程度足以一劳永逸地解决了胶水厂的问题。在那个星期的星期五之前，亚当斯在下午被他的老雇主“伟大的 J.

A.

A.

Lamb,” in the latter's car.

羔羊，”在后者的车里。

During the long illness the “glue factory” was completely forgotten, by Alice at least; and her laugh was rueful as well as derisive now, in the kitchen, when she realized that her mother's mind again dwelt upon this abandoned nuisance.

在长期患病期间，“胶水工厂”被完全遗忘了，至少爱丽丝被遗忘了。现在，在厨房里，当她意识到母亲的心思又集中在这个被遗弃的麻烦事上时，她的笑声既悲伤又嘲讽。

“I thought you'd got over all that nonsense, mama,” she said.

“我以为你已经克服了所有这些废话，妈妈，”她说。

Mrs. Adams smiled, pathetically.

亚当斯夫人可怜兮兮地笑了笑。

“Of course you think it's nonsense, dearie.

“你当然认为这是无稽之谈，亲爱的。

Young people think everything's nonsense that they don't know anything about.”

年轻人认为他们一无所知的一切都是无稽之谈。”

“Good gracious!” Alice cried.

“天哪！”爱丽丝哭了。

“I should think I used to hear enough about that horrible old glue factory to know something about it!”

“我想我以前对那个可怕的旧胶水厂听得够多了，对它有所了解！”

“No,” her mother returned patiently.

“不，”她妈妈耐心地回答。

“You've never heard anything about it at all.”

“你根本没有听说过任何关于它的事情。”

“I haven't?”

“我没有？”

“No. Your father and I didn't discuss it before you children.

“不。我和你父亲没有在你们孩子面前讨论过这件事。

All you ever heard was when he'd get in such a rage, after we'd been speaking of it, that he couldn't control himself when you came in.

你所听到的只是当我们谈论完这件事之后，他变得如此愤怒，以至于当你进来时他无法控制自己。

Wasn't _I_ always quiet?

我不是一直很安静吗？

Did _I_ ever go on talking about it?”

我有没有继续谈论过它？

“No; perhaps not.

“不；也许不是。

But you're talking about it now, mama, after you promised never to mention it again.”

但妈妈，在你答应不再提起这件事之后，你现在却在谈论这件事。”

“I promised not to mention it to your father,” said Mrs. Adams, gently.

“我答应过不会向你父亲提起这件事，”亚当斯夫人温和地说。

“I haven't mentioned it to him, have I?”

“我没有跟他提过这件事吧？”

“Ah, but if you mention it to me I'm afraid you WILL mention it to him.

“啊，但是如果你向我提起，恐怕你也会向他提起。

You always do speak of things that you have on your mind, and you might get papa all stirred up again about--” Alice paused, a light of divination flickering in her eyes.

你总是说出自己心里的事情，说不定会让爸爸再次激动起来——”爱丽丝停顿了一下，眼中闪烁着占卜的光芒。

“Oh!” she cried.

“哦！”她哭了。

“I SEE!”

“我懂了！”

“What do you see?”

“你看到了什么？”

“You HAVE been at him about it!”

“你一直在为这件事责备他！”

“Not one single word!”

“一个字都没有！”

“No!” Alice cried.

“不！”爱丽丝哭了。

“Not a WORD, but that's what you've meant all along!

“没有一个字，但这就是你一直以来的意思！

You haven't spoken the words to him, but all this urging him to change, to 'find something better to go into'--it's all been about nothing on earth but your foolish old glue factory that you know upsets him, and you gave your solemn word never to speak to him about again!

你没有对他说出这些话，但这一切都在敦促他改变，“找到更好的地方去”——这一切都与地球上的一切无关，只是你知道的你那愚蠢的老胶水厂让他心烦意乱，你郑重承诺再也不会和他谈论这件事了！

You didn't say it, but you meant it--and he KNOWS that's what you meant!

你没有说出来，但你就是这个意思——而且他知道这就是你的意思！

Oh, mama!”

噢，妈妈！”

Mrs. Adams, with her hands still automatically at work in the flooded dishpan, turned to face her daughter.

亚当斯太太的双手仍然在被水淹没的洗碗盆里自动地工作，她转身面对她的女儿。

“Alice,” she said, tremulously, “what do I ask for myself?”

“爱丽丝，”她颤抖着说道，“我能为自己求什么？”

“What?”

“什么？”

“I say, What do I ask for myself?

“我说，我对自己有什么要求？

Do you suppose _I_ want anything?

你认为我想要什么吗？

Don't you know I'd be perfectly content on your father's present income if I were the only person to be considered?

你难道不知道，如果我是唯一被考虑的人，我会对你父亲目前的收入感到非常满意吗？

What do I care about any pleasure for myself?

我何必在乎自己的快乐呢？

I'd be willing never to have a maid again; _I_ don't mind doing the work.

我宁愿不再有女仆； _我_不介意做这项工作。

If we didn't have any children I'd be glad to do your father's cooking and the housework and the washing and ironing, too, for the rest of my life.

如果我们没有孩子，我很乐意在余生为你父亲做饭、做家务、洗衣熨烫。

I wouldn't care.

我不在乎。

I'm a poor cook and a poor housekeeper; I don't do anything well; but it would be good enough for just him and me.

我是一个糟糕的厨师，也是一个糟糕的管家；我什么都做不好；但对我和他来说就足够了。

I wouldn't ever utter one word of com----”

我永远不会说出任何一个字——”

“Oh, goodness!” Alice lamented.

“哦，天啊！”爱丽丝感叹道。

“What IS it all about?”

“这到底是怎么回事？”

“It's about this,” said Mrs. Adams, swallowing.

“是关于这个的，”亚当斯太太吞咽了一下说道。

“You and Walter are a new generation and you ought to have the same as the rest of the new generation get.

“你和沃尔特是新一代，你应该拥有与其他新一代人一样的东西。

Poor Walter--asking you to go to the movies and a Chinese restaurant: the best he had to offer!

可怜的沃尔特——请你去看电影和一家中餐馆：他所能提供的最好的！

Don't you suppose _I_ see how the poor boy is deteriorating?

难道你不认为_我_看到这个可怜的男孩正在恶化吗？

Don't you suppose I know what YOU have to go through, Alice?

你难道不认为我知道你必须经历什么吗，爱丽丝？

And when I think of that man upstairs----” The agitated voice grew louder.

当我想起楼上的那个人时——”焦躁的声音变得更大了。

“When I think of him and know that nothing in the world but his STUBBORNNESS keeps my children from having all they want and what they OUGHT to have, do you suppose I'm going to hold myself bound to keep to the absolute letter of a silly promise he got from me by behaving like a crazy man?

“当我想起他，知道除了他的固执之外，世界上没有什么能阻止我的孩子们拥有他们想要的和他们应该拥有的一切，你认为我会强迫自己遵守他通过像个疯子一样从我那里得到的一个愚蠢的承诺吗？

I can't!

我不能！

I can't do it!

我做不到！

No mother could sit by and see him lock up a horn of plenty like that in his closet when the children were starving!”

当孩子们挨饿的时候，没有一个母亲会袖手旁观，看到他在衣柜里锁上这样一个充足的喇叭！”

“Oh, goodness, goodness me!” Alice protested.

“哦，天啊，天啊我！”爱丽丝抗议道。

“We aren't precisely 'starving,' are we?”

“我们并没有‘挨饿’，不是吗？”

Mrs. Adams began to weep.

亚当斯夫人开始哭泣。

“It's just the same.

“就是一样的。

Didn't I see how flushed and pretty you looked, this afternoon, after you'd been walking with this young man that's come here?

我没看到你今天下午和这个来这里的年轻人散步后脸色红润、漂亮吗？

Do you suppose he'd LOOK at a girl like Mildred Palmer if you had what you ought to have?

你认为如果你拥有你应该拥有的东西，他会看上像米尔德里德·帕尔默这样的女孩吗？

Do you suppose he'd be going into business with her father if YOUR father----”

你认为如果你的父亲——”他会和她父亲做生意吗？”

“Good heavens, mama; you're worse than Walter: I just barely know the man!

“天哪，妈妈；你比沃尔特还糟糕：我几乎不认识这个人！

DON'T be so absurd!”

别这么荒唐！”

“Yes, I'm always 'absurd,'” Mrs. Adams moaned.

“是的，我总是‘荒谬’，”亚当斯夫人抱怨道。

“All I can do is cry, while your father sits upstairs, and his horn of plenty----”

“我能做的就是哭泣，而你的父亲坐在楼上，吹响他的丰饶之角——”

But Alice interrupted with a peal of desperate laughter.

但爱丽丝发出一阵绝望的笑声打断了她的话。

“Oh, that 'horn of plenty!' Do come down to earth, mama.

“哦，那个‘丰盛的角’！”一定要脚踏实地，妈妈。

How can you call a GLUE factory, that doesn't exist except in your mind, a 'horn of plenty'?

你怎么能把一家只存在于你脑海中的胶水工厂称为“丰饶之角”呢？

Do let's be a little rational!”

我们还是理性一点吧！”

“It COULD be a horn of plenty,” the tearful Mrs. Adams insisted.

“这可能是丰饶的号角，”泪流满面的亚当斯夫人坚持说。

“It could!

“可以的！

You don't understand a thing about it.”

你对此一无所知。”

“Well, I'm willing,” Alice said, with tired skepticism.

“好吧，我愿意，”爱丽丝带着疲惫的怀疑说道。

“Make me understand, then.

“那就让我明白吧。

Where'd you ever get the idea?”

你从哪里得到这个主意的？

Mrs. Adams withdrew her hands from the water, dried them on a towel, and then wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

亚当斯夫人把手从水里抽出来，用毛巾擦干，然后用手帕擦了擦眼睛。

“Your father could make a fortune if he wanted to,” she said, quietly.

“如果你父亲愿意的话，他可以发大财。”她平静地说。

“At least, I don't say a fortune, but anyhow a great deal more than he does make.”

“至少，我不说是一大笔财富，但无论如何比他赚的钱多得多。”

“Yes, I've heard that before, mama, and you think he could make it out of a glue factory.

“是的，我以前听说过，妈妈，你认为他可以从胶水厂里出来。

What I'm asking is: How?”

我要问的是：如何？”

“How?

“怎么样？

Why, by making glue and selling it.

为什么，通过制造胶水并将其出售。

Don't you know how bad most glue is when you try to mend anything?

难道你不知道当你试图修补任何东西时，大多数胶水有多糟糕吗？

A good glue is one of the rarest things there is; and it would just sell itself, once it got started.

好的胶水是最稀有的东西之一。一旦开始，它就会自我推销。

Well, your father knows how to make as good a glue as there is in the world.”

好吧，你父亲知道如何制造世界上最好的胶水。”

Alice was not interested.

爱丽丝不感兴趣。

“What of it?

“那又怎样？

I suppose probably anybody could make it if they wanted to.”

我想如果他们愿意的话，也许任何人都可以做到。”

“I SAID you didn't know anything about it.

“我说过你对此一无所知。

Nobody else could make it.

其他人都做不到。

Your father knows a formula for making it.”

你父亲知道制作它的配方。”

“What of that?”

“那又怎样？”

“It's a secret formula.

“这是一个秘密配方。

It isn't even down on paper.

它甚至没有写在纸上。

It's worth any amount of money.”

无论花多少钱，它都是值得的。”

“'Any amount?'” Alice said, remaining incredulous.

“‘有多少吗？’”爱丽丝仍然难以置信。

“Why hasn't papa sold it then?”

“那爸爸为什么不卖掉呢？”

“Just because he's too stubborn to do anything with it at all!”

“只是因为他太固执了，根本不肯做任何事！”

“How did papa get it?”

“爸爸是怎么得到的？”

“He got it before you were born, just after we were married.

“他在你出生之前就得到了它，就在我们结婚之后。

I didn't think much about it then: it wasn't till you were growing up and I saw how much we needed money that I----”

当时我并没有想太多：直到你长大了，我看到我们多么需要钱，我才——”

“Yes, but how did papa get it?” Alice began to feel a little more curious about this possible buried treasure.

“是的，但是爸爸是怎么得到的呢？”爱丽丝开始对这个可能埋藏的宝藏感到更加好奇。

“Did he invent it?”

“是他发明的吗？”

“Partly,” Mrs. Adams said, looking somewhat preoccupied.

“部分是这样，”亚当斯夫人说道，看上去有些心不在焉。

“He and another man invented it.”

“他和另一个人发明了它。”

“Then maybe the other man----”

“那么也许另一个人——”

“He's dead.”

“他死了。”

“Then his family----”

“那么他的家人——”

“I don't think he left any family,” Mrs. Adams said.

“我认为他没有留下任何家人，”亚当斯夫人说。

“Anyhow, it belongs to your father.

“不管怎样，它都是你父亲的。

At least it belongs to him as much as it does to any one else.

至少它属于他，就像它属于任何其他人一样。

He's got an absolutely perfect right to do anything he wants to with it, and it would make us all comfortable if he'd do what I want him to--and he KNOWS it would, too!”

他有绝对完美的权利做任何他想做的事，如果他做我想让他做的事，我们都会感到舒服——而且他也知道会的！”

Alice shook her head pityingly.

爱丽丝遗憾地摇摇头。

“Poor mama!” she said.

“可怜的妈妈！”她说。

“Of course he knows it wouldn't do anything of the kind, or else he'd have done it long ago.”

“他当然知道这不会做任何事情，否则他早就这么做了。”

“He would, you say?” her mother cried.

“你说他会的？”她妈妈哭了。

“That only shows how little you know him!”

“这只能说明你对他的了解是多么的少！”

“Poor mama!” Alice said again, soothingly.

“可怜的妈妈！”爱丽丝又安慰地说。

“If papa were like what you say he is, he'd be--why, he'd be crazy!”

“如果爸爸像你说的那样，他就会——为什么，他会疯的！”

Mrs. Adams agreed with a vehemence near passion.

亚当斯夫人近乎热情地表示同意。

“You're right about him for once: that's just what he is!

“你对他的看法是对的：他就是这样！

He sits up there in his stubbornness and lets us slave here in the kitchen when if he wanted to--if he'd so much as lift his little finger----”

他固执地坐在那里，让我们在厨房里当奴隶，如果他愿意的话——只要他愿意举起他的小指头——”

“Oh, come, now!” Alice laughed.

“哦，来吧，现在！”爱丽丝笑了。

“You can't build even a glue factory with just one little finger.”

“仅用一根小指头就无法建造一座胶水工厂。”

Mrs. Adams seemed about to reply that finding fault with a figure of speech was beside the point; but a ringing of the front door bell forestalled the retort.

亚当斯夫人似乎正要回答说，对修辞手法挑毛病不是重点。但前门铃声响起，阻止了他的反驳。

“Now, who do you suppose that is?” she wondered aloud, then her face brightened.

“现在，你认为那是谁？”她大声问道，然后她的脸变得明亮起来。

“Ah--did Mr. Russell ask if he could----”

“啊——拉塞尔先生有没有问过他是否可以——”

“No, he wouldn't be coming this evening,” Alice said.

“不，他今晚不会来，”爱丽丝说。

“Probably it's the great J.

“可能是伟大的J.

A.

A.

Lamb: he usually stops for a minute on Thursdays to ask how papa's getting along.

兰姆：周四他通常会停下来问爸爸过得怎么样。

I'll go.”

我这就去。”

She tossed her apron off, and as she went through the house her expression was thoughtful.

她扔掉围裙，穿过房子时，表情若有所思。

She was thinking vaguely about the glue factory and wondering if there might be “something in it” after all.

她模模糊糊地想起了胶水厂，想知道里面到底是否有“什么东西”。

If her mother was right about the rich possibilities of Adams's secret--but that was as far as Alice's speculations upon the matter went at this time: they were checked, partly by the thought that her father probably hadn't enough money for such an enterprise, and partly by the fact that she had arrived at the front door.

如果她母亲关于亚当斯秘密的丰富可能性是正确的——但这只是爱丽丝此时对此事的猜测：他们被阻止了，部分是因为她父亲可能没有足够的钱来进行这样的事业，部分是因为她已经到了前门。

CHAPTER XII

第十二章

The fine old gentleman revealed when she opened the door was probably the last great merchant in America to wear the chin beard.

当她打开门时，那位优雅的老绅士透露，他可能是美国最后一位留下巴胡须的大商人。

White as white frost, it was trimmed short with exquisite precision, while his upper lip and the lower expanses of his cheeks were clean and rosy from fresh shaving.

雪白如霜，修剪得很短，精致得恰到好处，上唇和下脸颊因刚剃过毛而干净而红润。

With this trim white chin beard, the white waistcoat, the white tie, the suit of fine gray cloth, the broad and brilliantly polished black shoes, and the wide-brimmed gray felt hat, here was a man who had found his style in the seventies of the last century, and thenceforth kept it.

修剪整齐的白色下巴胡须，白色马甲，白色领带，精致的灰布西装，宽阔而锃亮的黑皮鞋，宽边灰色毡帽，这个男人在上世纪七十年代找到了自己的风格，并一直保持着这种风格。

Files of old magazines of that period might show him, in woodcut, as, “Type of Boston Merchant”; Nast might have drawn him as an honest statesman.

那个时期的旧杂志档案可能会显示他的木刻版画是“波士顿商人类型”；纳斯特可能把他描绘成一个诚实的政治家。

He was eighty, hale and sturdy, not aged; and his quick blue eyes, still unflecked, and as brisk as a boy's, saw everything.

他八十多岁了，精神矍铄，身体健壮，一点也不老。他那双敏捷的蓝眼睛，仍然没有斑点，像男孩一样明亮，看到了一切。

“Well, well, well!” he said, heartily.

“好啦好啦！”他由衷地说。

“You haven't lost any of your good looks since last week, I see, Miss Alice, so I guess I'm to take it you haven't been worrying over your daddy.

“我明白了，爱丽丝小姐，自上周以来，你的英俊容貌还没有消失，所以我想我可以认为你没有为你的爸爸担心。

The young feller's getting along all right, is he?”

这个年轻人相处得还不错吧？”

“He's much better; he's sitting up, Mr. Lamb.

“他好多了；他能坐起来了，兰姆先生。

Won't you come in?”

你不进来吗？

“Well, I don't know but I might.” He turned to call toward twin disks of light at the curb, “Be out in a minute, Billy”; and the silhouette of a chauffeur standing beside a car could be seen to salute in response, as the old gentleman stepped into the hall.

“嗯，我不知道，但我可能会。”他转身对着路边的两个光盘喊道：“比利，一会儿就出去。”当这位老先生走进大厅时，可以看到站在汽车旁边的司机的轮廓在回应。

“You don't suppose your daddy's receiving callers yet, is he?”

“你认为你爸爸还没有接电话，是吗？”

“He's a good deal stronger than he was when you were here last week, but I'm afraid he's not very presentable, though.”

“他比你上周在这儿的时候强壮多了，但恐怕他不太像样。”

“'Presentable?'” The old man echoed her jovially.

“‘体面吗？’”老人高兴地回应她。

“Pshaw!

“呸！

I've seen lots of sick folks.

我见过很多病人。

_I_ know what they look like and how they love to kind of nest in among a pile of old blankets and wrappers.

_我_知道它们长什么样，也知道它们多么喜欢窝在一堆旧毯子和包装纸中。

Don't you worry about THAT, Miss Alice, if you think he'd like to see me.”

爱丽丝小姐，如果你认为他想见我，就不用担心。”

“Of course he would--if----” Alice hesitated; then said quickly, “Of course he'd love to see you and he's quite able to, if you care to come up.”

“他当然会——如果——”爱丽丝犹豫道。然后很快地说：“他当然很想见你，而且如果你愿意上来的话，他很有能力。”

She ran up the stairs ahead of him, and had time to snatch the crocheted wrap from her father's shoulders.

她在他前面跑上楼梯，有时间从父亲肩上抓起钩编的围巾。

Swathed as usual, he was sitting beside a table, reading the evening paper; but when his employer appeared in the doorway he half rose as if to come forward in greeting.

他像往常一样裹着衣服，坐在桌子旁边看晚报。但当他的雇主出现在门口时，他半站起来，好像要上前打招呼。

“Sit still!” the old gentleman shouted.

“坐稳了！”老先生喊道。

“What do you mean?

“你什么意思？

Don't you know you're weak as a cat?

你不知道你像猫一样脆弱吗？

D'you think a man can be sick as long as you have and NOT be weak as a cat?

你认为只要你有病，一个人就可以生病，而不是像猫一样虚弱吗？

What you trying to do the polite with ME for?”

你跟我客气做什么？

Adams gratefully protracted the handshake that accompanied these inquiries.

亚当斯感激地延长了伴随这些询问的握手时间。

“This is certainly mighty fine of you, Mr. Lamb,” he said.

“兰姆先生，你真是太棒了，”他说。

“I guess Alice has told you how much our whole family appreciate your coming here so regularly to see how this old bag o' bones was getting along.

“我想爱丽丝已经告诉过你，我们全家非常感谢你定期来这里看看这个老骨头过得怎么样。

Haven't you, Alice?”

是吗，爱丽丝？”

“Yes, papa,” she said; and turned to go out, but Lamb checked her.

“是的，爸爸，”她说。转身要出去，但兰姆制止了她。

“Stay right here, Miss Alice; I'm not even going to sit down.

“呆在这里，爱丽丝小姐；我什至不打算坐下。

I know how it upsets sick folks when people outside the family come in for the first time.”

我知道当家庭以外的人第一次进来时，病人会感到多么不安。”

“You don't upset me,” Adams said.

“你不会让我不高兴，”亚当斯说。

“I'll feel a lot better for getting a glimpse of you, Mr. Lamb.”

“看到你一眼我会感觉好很多，兰姆先生。”

The visitor's laugh was husky, but hearty and re-assuring, like his voice in speaking.

来访者的笑声沙哑，但爽朗而令人安心，就像他说话的声音一样。

“That's the way all my boys blarney me, Miss Alice,” he said.

“爱丽丝小姐，我所有的孩子们都是这样跟我讲闲话的，”他说。

“They think I'll make the work lighter on 'em if they can get me kind of flattered up.

“他们认为，如果他们能让我有点受宠若惊，我会让他们的工作轻松一些。

You just tell your daddy it's no use; he doesn't get on MY soft side, pretending he likes to see me even when he's sick.”

你只要告诉你爸爸这没有用；他不会触怒我，即使在他生病的时候也假装喜欢见我。”

“Oh, I'm not so sick any more,” Adams said.

“哦，我不再那么病了，”亚当斯说。

“I expect to be back in my place ten days from now at the longest.”

“我预计最多十天后就能回到原来的位置。”

“Well, now, don't hurry it, Virgil; don't hurry it.

“好吧，现在，别着急，维吉尔；别着急。

You take your time; take your time.”

你慢慢来；慢慢来。”

This brought to Adams's lips a feeble smile not lacking in a kind of vanity, as feeble.

亚当斯的嘴角浮现出一丝微弱的微笑，其中不乏虚荣，同样微弱。

“Why?” he asked.

“为什么？”他问道。

“I suppose you think my department runs itself down there, do you?”

“我想你认为我的部门在那里自行管理，是吗？”

His employer's response was another husky laugh.

他的雇主的回应是又一声沙哑的笑声。

“Well, well, well!” he cried, and patted Adams's shoulder with a strong pink hand.

“好啦好啦！”他叫道，用一只粉红色的有力的手拍了拍亚当斯的肩膀。

“Listen to this young feller, Miss Alice, will you!

“爱丽丝小姐，听听这个年轻人的说法吧！

He thinks we can't get along without him a minute!

他认为没有他我们一分钟都无法相处！

Yes, sir, this daddy of yours believes the whole works 'll just take and run down if he isn't there to keep 'em wound up.

是的，先生，你的这位父亲相信，如果他不在那里让他们保持紧张，整个作品就会被毁掉。

I always suspected he thought a good deal of himself, and now I know he does!”

我一直怀疑他自视甚高，现在我知道他确实如此！”

Adams looked troubled.

亚当斯看上去很困扰。

“Well, I don't like to feel that my salary's going on with me not earning it.”

“嗯，我不喜欢我的薪水是我赚不到的。”

“Listen to him, Miss Alice!

“听他说，爱丽丝小姐！

Wouldn't you think, now, he'd let me be the one to worry about that?

难道你不认为现在他会让我来担心这件事吗？

Why, on my word, if your daddy had his way, _I_ wouldn't be anywhere.

凭我的话来说，如果你爸爸随心所欲，_我_就不会出现在任何地方。

He'd take all my worrying and everything else off my shoulders and shove me right out of Lamb and Company!

他会把我所有的忧虑和其他一切都从我的肩膀上卸下来，然后把我从兰姆公司推出！

He would!”

他会的！

“It seems to me I've been soldiering on you a pretty long while, Mr. Lamb,” the convalescent said, querulously.

“在我看来，我已经在你身边待了很长一段时间了，兰姆先生，”康复者抱怨道。

“I don't feel right about it; but I'll be back in ten days.

“我感觉不太对劲，不过十天后我就会回来。

You'll see.”

你会看到的。”

The old man took his hand in parting.

老人拉着他的手告别。

“All right; we'll see, Virgil.

“好吧，我们拭目以待，维吉尔。

Of course we do need you, seriously speaking; but we don't need you so bad we'll let you come down there before you're fully fit and able.” He went to the door.

说真的，我们当然需要你；但我们并不那么需要你，我们会让你在你完全康复并有能力之前就到那里去。”他走到门口。

“You hear, Miss Alice?

“你听到了吗，爱丽丝小姐？

That's what I wanted to make the old feller understand, and what I want you to kind of enforce on him.

这就是我想让这个老家伙明白的，也是我希望你强制他执行的。

The old place is there waiting for him, and it'd wait ten years if it took him that long to get good and well.

老地方就在那里等着他，要等他那么久才好起来，那得等十年了。

You see that he remembers it, Miss Alice!”

你看他还记得，爱丽丝小姐！”

She went down the stairs with him, and he continued to impress this upon her until he had gone out of the front door.

她和他一起下了楼梯，他继续让她记住这一点，直到他走出前门。

And even after that, the husky voice called back from the darkness, as he went to his car, “Don't forget, Miss Alice; let him take his own time.

甚至在那之后，当他走向自己的车时，沙哑的声音从黑暗中传来，“别忘了，爱丽丝小姐；让他慢慢来。

We always want him, but we want him to get good and well first.

我们一直想要他，但我们希望他首先康复。

Good-night, good-night, young lady!”

晚安，晚安，小姐！”

When she closed the door her mother came from the farther end of the “living-room,” where there was no light; and Alice turned to her.

当她关上门时，她的母亲从“起居室”的另一端走了进来，那里没有灯光。爱丽丝转向她。

“I can't help liking that old man, mama,” she said.

“我情不自禁地喜欢那个老人，妈妈，”她说。

“He always sounds so--well, so solid and honest and friendly!

“他听起来总是那么……嗯，那么坚定、诚实、友好！

I do like him.”

我确实喜欢他。”

But Mrs. Adams failed in sympathy upon this point.

但亚当斯夫人在这一点上并不表示同情。

“He didn't say anything about raising your father's salary, did he?” she asked, dryly.

“他没说要给你父亲加工资吧？”她干巴巴地问道。

“No.”

“不。”

“No. I thought not.”

“不。我想不会。”

She would have said more, but Alice, indisposed to listen, began to whistle, ran up the stairs, and went to sit with her father.

她本想再说更多，但爱丽丝不愿意听，开始吹口哨，跑上楼梯，走到父亲身边坐下。

She found him bright-eyed with the excitement a first caller brings into a slow convalescence: his cheeks showed actual hints of colour; and he was smiling tremulously as he filled and lit his pipe.

她发现他眼睛明亮，因为第一个来电者的兴奋使他慢慢康复：他的脸颊显出了真正的颜色；当他装满烟斗并点燃时，他脸上带着颤抖的微笑。

She brought the crocheted scarf and put it about his shoulders again, then took a chair near him.

她拿来那条钩编的围巾，重新给他披在肩上，然后在他身边坐了一把椅子。

“I believe seeing Mr. Lamb did do you good, papa,” she said.

“我相信见到兰姆先生对你有好处，爸爸，”她说。

“I sort of thought it might, and that's why I let him come up.

“我觉得有可能，这就是我让他上来的原因。

You really look a little like your old self again.”

你真的有点像以前的自己了。”

Adams exhaled a breathy “Ha!” with the smoke from his pipe as he waved the match to extinguish it.

亚当斯叹了口气，“哈！”当他挥动火柴将其熄灭时，烟斗中冒出烟雾。

“That's fine,” he said.

“那很好，”他说。

“The smoke I had before dinner didn't taste the way it used to, and I kind of wondered if I'd lost my liking for tobacco, but this one seems to be all right.

“晚餐前抽的烟味道不像以前那样了，我有点想知道我是否失去了对烟草的喜欢，但这一支似乎还可以。

You bet it did me good to see J.

你敢打赌，见到 J 对我很有好处。

A.

A.

Lamb!

羊肉！

He's the biggest man that's ever lived in this town or ever will live here; and you can take all the Governors and Senators or anything they've raised here, and put 'em in a pot with him, and they won't come out one-two-three alongside o' him!

他是这个镇上曾经住过或将要住在这里的最大的人。你可以把所有的州长和参议员或者他们在这里养育的任何东西，和他一起放在一个锅里，他们不会和他一起出来一二三！

And to think as big a man as that, with all his interests and everything he's got on his mind--to think he'd never let anything prevent him from coming here once every week to ask how I was getting along, and then walk right upstairs and kind of CALL on me, as it were well, it makes me sort of feel as if I wasn't so much of a nobody, so to speak, as your mother seems to like to make out sometimes.”

想想像这样一个大人物，他有所有的兴趣和所有的想法——想想他从来不会让任何事情阻止他每周来这里一次，询问我过得怎么样，然后径直走上楼，打电话给我，这样很好，这让我感觉好像我不是一个无名小卒，可以这么说，就像你母亲有时似乎喜欢表现的那样。”

“How foolish, papa!

“真是愚蠢啊，爸爸！

Of COURSE you're not 'a nobody.'”

当然，你不是‘无名小卒’。”

Adams chuckled faintly upon his pipe-stem, what vanity he had seeming to be further stimulated by his daughter's applause.

亚当斯在烟斗上轻轻地笑了一声，女儿的掌声似乎进一步激发了他的虚荣心。

“I guess there aren't a whole lot of people in this town that could claim J.

“我猜这个镇上没有多少人可以声称 J.

A.

A.

showed that much interest in 'em,” he said.

对他们表现出极大的兴趣，”他说。

“Of course I don't set up to believe it's all because of merit, or anything like that.

“当然，我并不认为这一切都是因为功绩或类似的原因。

He'd do the same for anybody else that'd been with the company as long as I have, but still it IS something to be with the company that long and have him show he appreciates it.”

他会对其他和我一样在公司工作这么久的人做同样的事情，但在公司工作这么久并让他表现出他的感激之情仍然是一件好事。”

“Yes, indeed, it is, papa.”

“是的，确实如此，爸爸。”

“Yes, sir,” Adams said, reflectively.

“是的，先生，”亚当斯若有所思地说。

“Yes, sir, I guess that's so.

“是的，先生，我想是这样的。

And besides, it all goes to show the kind of a man he is.

此外，这一切都表明了他是一个什么样的人。

Simon pure, that's what that man is, Alice.

西蒙·纯粹，这就是那个男人，爱丽丝。

Simon pure!

西门纯！

There's never been anybody work for him that didn't respect him more than they did any other man in the world, I guess.

我猜，为他工作的人从来没有比世界上任何其他人更尊重他的。

And when you work for him you know he respects you, too.

当你为他工作时，你知道他也尊重你。

Right from the start you get the feeling that J.

从一开始你就会感觉到 J.

A.

A.

puts absolute confidence in you; and that's mighty stimulating: it makes you want to show him he hasn't misplaced it.

对你有绝对的信心；这非常令人兴奋：这让你想向他表明他没有放错地方。

There's great big moral values to the way a man like him gets you to feeling about your relations with the business: it ain't all just dollars and cents--not by any means!”

像他这样的人让你感受到你与企业的关系，这具有很大的道德价值：这不仅仅是美元和美分——无论如何都不是！”

He was silent for a time, then returned with increasing enthusiasm to this theme, and Alice was glad to see so much renewal of life in him; he had not spoken with a like cheerful vigour since before his illness.

他沉默了一会儿，然后带着越来越大的热情回到了这个主题，爱丽丝很高兴看到他的生命焕然一新。自从生病之前，他就没有像现在这样充满活力地说话过。

The visit of his idolized great man had indeed been good for him, putting new spirit into him; and liveliness of the body followed that of the spirit.

他所崇拜的伟人的来访确实对他有好处，给他带来了新的精神。身体的活力随之而来的是精神的活力。

His improvement carried over the night: he slept well and awoke late, declaring that he was “pretty near a well man and ready for business right now.” Moreover, having slept again in the afternoon, he dressed and went down to dinner, leaning but lightly on Alice, who conducted him.

他的进步持续了一整晚：他睡得很好，起得很晚，宣称自己“已经基本康复，现在就可以开始工作了”。此外，下午又睡了一觉后，他穿好衣服，下楼去吃晚饭，轻轻靠在爱丽丝身上，爱丽丝引导着他。

“My!

“我的！

but you and your mother have been at it with your scrubbing and dusting!” he said, as they came through the “living-room.” “I don't know I ever did see the house so spick and span before!” His glance fell upon a few carnations in a vase, and he chuckled admiringly.

但你和你妈妈一直在擦洗和除尘！”当他们穿过“客厅”时，他说道。 “我不知道我以前见过这么整洁的房子！”他的目光落在花瓶里的几朵康乃馨，赞叹地笑了笑。

“Flowers, too!

“还有花啊！

So THAT'S what you coaxed that dollar and a half out o 'me for, this morning!”

这就是你今天早上骗我那块半钱的目的！”

Other embellishments brought forth his comment when he had taken his old seat at the head of the small dinner-table.

当他坐在小餐桌上的老座位上时，其他的装饰引起了他的评论。

“Why, I declare, Alice!” he exclaimed.

“为什么，我宣布，爱丽丝！”他惊呼道。

“I been so busy looking at all the spick-and-spanishness after the house-cleaning, and the flowers out in the parlour--'living room' I suppose you want me to call it, if I just GOT to be fashionable--I been so busy studying over all this so-and-so, I declare I never noticed YOU till this minute!

“我一直忙着打扫房间后的所有整洁和西班牙风格，以及客厅里的鲜花——‘客厅’，我想你想让我称呼它，如果我想变得时尚的话——我一直忙着研究所有这些某某，我声明直到这一刻我才注意到你！

My, but you ARE all dressed up!

天啊，但你都盛装打扮了！

What's goin' on?

发生什么事了？

What's it about: you so all dressed up, and flowers in the parlour and everything?”

这是怎么回事：你打扮得这么漂亮，客厅里还有鲜花什么的？”

“Don't you see, papa?

“你没看到吗，爸爸？

It's in honour of your coming downstairs again, of course.”

当然，这是为了您再次下楼而感到荣幸。”

“Oh, so that's it,” he said.

“哦，原来如此，”他说。

“I never would 'a' thought of that, I guess.”

“我想我永远不会想到这一点。”

But Walter looked sidelong at his father, and gave forth his sly and knowing laugh.

但沃尔特斜眼看着他的父亲，发出狡猾而会心的笑声。

“Neither would I!” he said.

“我也不会！”他说。

Adams lifted his eyebrows jocosely.

亚当斯开玩笑地扬起了眉毛。

“You're jealous, are you, sonny?

“你嫉妒了，是吗，儿子？

You don't want the old man to think our young lady'd make so much fuss over him, do you?”

你也不想让老夫以为我们小姐会对他这么大惊小怪吧？”

“Go on thinkin' it's over you,” Walter retorted, amused.

“继续以为这已经是你的事了，”沃尔特有趣地反驳道。

“Go on and think it.

“继续想吧。

It'll do you good.”

这对你有好处。”

“Of course I'll think it,” Adams said.

“我当然会考虑，”亚当斯说。

“It isn't anybody's birthday.

“这不是任何人的生日。

Certainly the decorations are on account of me coming downstairs.

当然，这些装饰都是我下楼的结果。

Didn't you hear Alice say so?”

你没听到爱丽丝这么说吗？”

“Sure, I heard her say so.”

“当然，我听她这么说。”

“Well, then----”

「那么，那么——」

Walter interrupted him with a little music.

沃尔特用一点音乐打断了他的话。

Looking shrewdly at Alice, he sang:

他精明地看着爱丽丝，唱道：

“I was walkin' out on Monday with my sweet thing.

“周一我带着我的宝贝出门了。

She's my neat thing, My sweet thing: I'll go round on Tuesday night to see her.

她是我的最爱，我的宝贝：我会在周二晚上去看她。

Oh, how we'll spoon----”

哦，我们要如何舀——”

“Walter!” his mother cried.

“沃尔特！”他的母亲哭了。