雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(10)

The next day he persuaded May to escape for a walk in the Park after luncheon. As was the custom in old-fashioned Episcopalian New York, she usually accompanied her parents to church on Sunday afternoons; but Mrs. Welland condoned her truancy, having that very morning won her over to the necessity of a long engagement, with time to prepare a hand-embroidered trousseau containing the proper number of dozens.
第二天，他說服梅脫出身來，午飯後到公園去散步。按照紐約聖公會教徒的老習慣，她在星期天下午一般是要陪父母去教堂的。不過就在上午，韋蘭太太剛剛說通她同意將訂婚期延長，以便有時間準備足夠的手工刺繡作嫁妝，所以就寬容了她的偷懶。

The day was delectable. The bare vaulting of trees along the Mall was ceiled with lapis lazuli, and arched above snow that shone like splintered crystals. It was the weather to call out May's radiance, and she burned like a young maple in the frost. Archer was proud of the glances turned on her, and the simple joy of possessorship cleared away his underlying perplexities.
天氣十分信人。碧藍的天空襯托着林陰大道上那些樹木光禿禿的圓頂，樹頂下面的殘雪像無數水晶碎片熠熠閃光。這天氣使得梅容光煥發，像霜雪中的一棵小楓樹那樣光彩奪目。阿切爾爲路人投向她的目光而感到自豪，佔有者率直的幸福感清除了他內心深處的煩惱。

"It's so delicious--waking every morning to smell lilies-of-the-valley in one's room!" she said.
“每天清晨醒來在自己屋裏聞到鈴蘭的香味，真是太美了！”她說。

"Yesterday they came late. I hadn't time in the morning--"
“昨天送晚了，上午我沒時間——”

"But your remembering each day to send them makes me love them so much more than if you'd given a standing order, and they came every morning on the minute, like one's music-teacher--as I know Gertrude Lefferts's did, for instance, when she and Lawrence were engaged."
“可你天天都想到送鮮花來，這比長期預訂更讓我喜歡。而且每天早晨都按時送到，就像音樂教師那樣準時——比如就我所知，格特魯德·萊弗茨和勞倫斯訂婚期間，她就是這樣。”

"Ah--they would!" laughed Archer, amused at her keenness. He looked sideways at her fruit-like cheek and felt rich and secure enough to add: "When I sent your lilies yesterday afternoon I saw some rather gorgeous yellow roses and packed them off to Madame Olenska. Was that right?"
“啊，這是完全應該的！”阿切爾笑着說，覺得她那熱誠的樣子很有趣。他斜視着她蘋果般的臉頰，想起昨天送花的事，覺得雖然荒唐卻也很安全，不由得說道：“我昨天下午給你送鈴蘭的時候，看到幾支漂亮的黃玫瑰，便叫人給奧蘭斯卡夫人送去了。你說好嗎？”

"How dear of you! Anything of that kind delights her. It's odd she didn't mention it: she lunched with us today, and spoke of Mr. Beaufort's having sent her wonderful orchids, and cousin Henry van der Luyden a whole hamper of carnations from Skuytercliff. She seems so surprised to receive flowers. Don't people send them in Europe? She thinks it such a pretty custom."
“你真可愛！這樣的事會讓她十分高興的。奇怪，她怎麼沒提呢？她今天跟我們一起吃的午飯，還說起博福特先生給她送去了漂亮的蘭花，亨利·範德盧頓送了滿滿一籃斯庫特克利夫的石竹呢。她收到花好像十分驚訝。難道歐洲人不送鮮花嗎？不過她認爲這種風俗非常好。”

"Oh, well, no wonder mine were overshadowed by Beaufort's," said Archer irritably. Then he remembered that he had not put a card with the roses, and was vexed at having spoken of them. He wanted to say: "I called on your cousin yesterday," but hesitated. If Madame Olenska had not spoken of his visit it might seem awkward that he should. Yet not to do so gave the affair an air of mystery that he disliked. To shake off the question he began to talk of their own plans, their future, and Mrs. Welland's insistence on a long engagement.
“噢，一準是我的花被博福特的壓住了，”阿切爾煩躁地說。接着他想起自己沒有隨玫瑰花附上名片，又懊悔說出了這件事。他想說，“我昨天拜訪了你的表姐”，但又猶豫了。假如奧蘭斯卡夫人沒有講起他的拜訪，他說出來似乎有些尷尬。然而不講又會使事情帶上一層神祕色彩，他不喜歡那樣。爲了甩掉這個問題，他開始談論他們自己的計劃，他們的未來，以及韋蘭太太堅持要延長訂婚期的事。

"If you call it long! Isabel Chivers and Reggie were engaged for two years: Grace and Thorley for nearly a year and a half. Why aren't we very well off as we are?"
“這還算長！伊莎貝爾·奇弗斯和裏吉的訂婚期是兩年，格雷斯和索利差不多有一年半。我們這樣不是很好嗎？”

It was the traditional maidenly interrogation, and he felt ashamed of himself for finding it singularly childish. No doubt she simply echoed what was said for her; but she was nearing her twenty-second birthday, and he wondered at what age "nice" women began to speak for themselves.
這是少女習慣性的反問，他覺得特別幼稚，併爲此感到慚愧。她無疑是在重複別人對她說過的話，可是她都快滿22歲了，他不明白，“有教養”的女子要到多大年齡才能開始替自己說話。

"Never, if we won't let them, I suppose," he mused, and recalled his mad outburst to Mr. Sillerton Jackson: "Women ought to be as free as we are--"
“她們永遠不會的，假如我們不允許她們，”他在心裏想道。他突然記起了他對西勒頓·傑克遜說過的那句義正詞嚴的話：“女人應當跟我們一樣自由——”

It would presently be his task to take the bandage from this young woman's eyes, and bid her look forth on the world. But how many generations of the women who had gone to her making had descended bandaged to the family vault? He shivered a little, remembering some of the new ideas in his scientific books, and the much-cited instance of the Kentucky cave-fish, which had ceased to develop eyes because they had no use for them. What if, when he had bidden May Welland to open hers, they could only look out blankly at blankness?
他眼下的任務是取下蒙在這位年輕女子眼上的繃帶，讓她睜開眼睛看一看世界。然而，在她之前，已經有多少代像她這樣的女人，帶着蒙在眼上的繃帶沉入了家族的地下靈堂呢？他不禁打了個冷顫，想起在科學書籍中讀到的一些新思想，還想起經常被引證的肯塔基的巖洞魚，那種魚由於眼睛派不上用場，它們的眼睛已經大大退化了。假如他讓梅·韋蘭睜開眼睛，她只能茫然地看到一片空白，那該怎麼辦呢？

"We might be much better off. We might be altogether together--we might travel."
“我們可以過得更快樂，我們可以始終在一起——我們可以去旅行。”

Her face lit up. "That would be lovely," she owned: she would love to travel. But her mother would not understand their wanting to do things so differently.
她臉上露出喜色說：“那倒是很美。”她承認她喜愛旅行，但他們想做的事那麼與衆不同，她母親是不會理解的。

"As if the mere `differently' didn't account for it!" the wooer insisted.
“好像這還不僅僅是‘與衆不同’的問題！”阿切爾堅持說。

"Newland! You're so original!" she exulted.
“紐蘭！你是多麼獨特呀！”她高興地說。

His heart sank, for he saw that he was saying all the things that young men in the same situation were expected to say, and that she was making the answers that instinct and tradition taught her to make--even to the point of calling him original.
他的心不由一沉。他覺得自己講的完全是處於同樣情況下的年輕人肯定要講的內容，而她的回答卻完全是本能與傳統教她的那種回答。她居然會說他“獨特”！

"Original! We're all as like each other as those dolls cut out of the same folded paper. We're like patterns stencilled on a wall. Can't you and I strike out for ourselves, May?"
“有什麼‘獨特’的！我們全都跟用同一塊摺疊的紙剪出的娃娃一樣相似，我們就像用模板印在牆上的圖案。難道你我不能走自己的路嗎，梅？”

He had stopped and faced her in the excitement of their discussion, and her eyes rested on him with a bright unclouded admiration.
他打住話頭，面對着她，沉浸在因討論產生的興奮之中；她望着他，目光裏閃爍着欣喜明朗的傾慕。

"Mercy--shall we elope?" she laughed.
“天哪——我們私奔好嗎？”她笑着說。

"If you would--"
“如果你肯——”

"You DO love me, Newland! I'm so happy."
“你確實很愛我，紐蘭！我真幸福。”

"But then--why not be happier?"
“那麼——爲什麼不更幸福些？”

"We can't behave like people in novels, though, can we?"
“可是，我們也不能像小說中的人那樣啊，對嗎？”

"Why not--why not--why not?"
“爲什麼不——爲什麼不——爲什麼不呢？”

She looked a little bored by his insistence. She knew very well that they couldn't, but it was troublesome to have to produce a reason. "I'm not clever enough to argue with you. But that kind of thing is rather--vulgar, isn't it?" she suggested, relieved to have hit on a word that would assuredly extinguish the whole subject.
她看上去對他的執拗有點不悅，她很清楚他們不能那樣做，不過要說清道理卻又很難。“我沒那麼聰明，無法跟你爭論。可那種事有點——粗俗，不是嗎？”她暗示說，因爲想出了一個肯定能結束這個話題的詞而鬆了口氣。

"Are you so much afraid, then, of being vulgar?"
“這麼說，你是很害怕粗俗了？”

She was evidently staggered by this. "Of course I should hate it--so would you," she rejoined, a trifle irritably.
她顯然被這話嚇了一跳。“我當然會討厭了——你也會的，”她有點生氣地回答說。

He stood silent, beating his stick nervously against his boot-top; and feeling that she had indeed found the right way of closing the discussion, she went on light- heartedly: "Oh, did I tell you that I showed Ellen my ring? She thinks it the most beautiful setting she ever saw. There's nothing like it in the rue de la Paix, she said. I do love you, Newland, for being so artistic!"
他站在那兒一語不發，神經質地用手杖敲着他的靴子尖，覺得她的確找到了結束爭論的好辦法。她心情輕鬆地接着說：“喂，我讓埃倫看過我的戒指了，我告訴過你了嗎？她認爲這是她見過的最美的鑲嵌了。她說，貝克斯大街上根本沒有能與之相比的貨色。我太愛你了，紐蘭，因爲你這麼有藝術眼光。”

The next afternoon, as Archer, before dinner, sat smoking sullenly in his study, Janey wandered in on him. He had failed to stop at his club on the way up from the office where he exercised the profession of the law in the leisurely manner common to well-to-do New Yorkers of his class. He was out of spirits and slightly out of temper, and a haunting horror of doing the same thing every day at the same hour besieged his brain.
第二天晚飯之前，阿切爾正心情陰鬱地坐在書房裏吸菸，詹尼漫步進來走到他跟前。他今天從事務所回來的路上，沒有去俱樂部逗留。他從事法律職業，對待工作像紐約他那個富有階級的其他人一樣漫不經心。他情緒低落，心煩意亂。每天在同一時間都要幹同樣的事，這使他腦子裏塞滿了揮之不去的痛苦。

"Sameness--sameness!" he muttered, the word running through his head like a persecuting tune as he saw the familiar tall-hatted figures lounging behind the plate- glass; and because he usually dropped in at the club at that hour he had gone home instead. He knew not only what they were likely to be talking about, but the part each one would take in the discussion. The Duke of course would be their principal theme; though the appearance in Fifth Avenue of a golden-haired lady in a small canary-coloured brougham with a pair of black cobs (for which Beaufort was generally thought responsible) would also doubtless be thoroughly gone into. Such "women" (as they were called) were few in New York, those driving their own carriages still fewer, and the appearance of Miss Fanny Ring in Fifth Avenue at the fashionable hour had profoundly agitated society. Only the day before, her carriage had passed Mrs. Lovell Mingott's, and the latter had instantly rung the little bell at her elbow and ordered the coachman to drive her home. "What if it had happened to Mrs. van der Luyden?" people asked each other with a shudder. Archer could hear Lawrence Lefferts, at that very hour, holding forth on the disintegration of society.
“千篇一律——千篇一律！”他看着玻璃板後面那些百無聊賴的戴高帽子的熟悉身影咕噥說，這話像糾纏不休的樂曲在他腦袋裏不停地迴響，平時這個時候他都是在俱樂部逗留，而今天他卻直接回了家。他不僅知道他們可能談論什麼，而且還知道每個人在討論中站在哪一方。公爵當然會是他們談論的主題，儘管那位乘坐一對黑色矮腳馬拉的淡黃色小馬車的金髮女子在第五大街的露面（此事人們普遍認爲歸功於博福特）無疑也將會被他們深入的研究。這樣的“女人”（人們如此稱呼她們）在紐約還很少見，自己駕駛馬車的就更稀罕了。範妮·琳小姐在社交時間出現在第五大街，深深刺激了上流社會。就在前一天，她的馬車從洛弗爾·明戈特太太的車旁駛過，後者立即搖了搖身邊的小鈴鐺，命令車伕馬上送她回家。“這事若發生在範德盧頓太太身上，又會怎樣呢？”人們不寒而慄地相互問道。此時此刻，阿切爾甚至彷彿能聽見勞倫斯·萊弗茨正就社交界的分崩離析發表高見。

He raised his head irritably when his sister Janey entered, and then quickly bent over his book (Swinburne's "Chastelard"--just out) as if he had not seen her. She glanced at the writing-table heaped with books, opened a volume of the "Contes Drolatiques," made a wry face over the archaic French, and sighed: "What learned things you read!"
妹妹詹尼進屋的時候，他煩躁地擡起頭來，接着又迅速俯身讀他的書（斯溫伯恩的《沙特拉爾》——剛出版的），彷彿沒看見她一樣。她瞥了一眼堆滿書籍的寫字檯，打開一卷《幽默故事》，對着那些古法語愁眉苦臉地說：“你讀的東西好深奧呀！”

"Well--?" he asked, as she hovered Cassandra-like before him.
“嗯——？”他問道，只見她像卡珊德拉一樣站在面前。

"Mother's very angry."
“媽媽非常生氣呢。”

"Angry? With whom? About what?"
“生氣？跟誰？爲什麼？”

"Miss Sophy Jackson has just been here. She brought word that her brother would come in after dinner: she couldn't say very much, because he forbade her to: he wishes to give all the details himself. He's with cousin Louisa van der Luyden now."
“索菲·傑克遜小姐剛纔來過，捎話說她哥哥晚飯後要來我們家；她不能多講，因爲他不許她講，他要親自告訴我們全部細節。他現在跟路易莎·範德盧頓在一起。”

"For heaven's sake, my dear girl, try a fresh start. It would take an omniscient Deity to know what you're talking about."
“老天爺，我的好姑娘，求你從頭講一遍。只有全能的上帝才能聽明白你講的究竟是什麼事。”

"It's not a time to be profane, Newland. . . . Mother feels badly enough about your not going to church . . ."
“這可不是褻瀆神靈的時候，紐蘭……你沒去教堂的事讓媽媽傷心透了……”

With a groan he plunged back into his book.
他哼了一聲，又埋頭讀他的書去了。

"NEWLAND! Do listen. Your friend Madame Olenska was at Mrs. Lemuel Struthers's party last night: she went there with the Duke and Mr. Beaufort."
“紐蘭！你聽着，你的朋友奧蘭斯卡夫人昨晚參加了萊姆爾·斯特拉瑟斯太太的宴會，她是跟公爵和博福特先生一起去的。”

At the last clause of this announcement a senseless anger swelled the young man's breast. To smother it he laughed. "Well, what of it? I knew she meant to."
聽了最後一句話，一團無名火涌上年輕人的心頭。爲了壓住怒火，他放聲大笑起來。“哈哈，這有什麼了不起？我本來就知道她要去的。”

Janey paled and her eyes began to project. "You knew she meant to--and you didn't try to stop her? To warn her?"
詹尼臉色煞白，兩眼發直。“你本來就知道她要去——而你卻沒有設法阻止她，警告她？”

"Stop her? Warn her?" He laughed again. "I'm not engaged to be married to the Countess Olenska!" The words had a fantastic sound in his own ears.
“阻止她，警告她？”他又大笑起來。“我的婚約又不是要我娶奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人！”

"You're marrying into her family."
“可你就要跟她的家庭結親了。”

"Oh, family--family!" he jeered.
“哼，什麼家庭——家庭！”他嘲笑說。

"Newland--don't you care about Family?"
“紐蘭——難道你不關心家庭嗎？”

"Not a brass farthing."
“我毫不在乎。”

"Nor about what cousin Louisa van der Luyden will think?"
“連路易莎·範德盧頓會怎樣想也不在乎？”

"Not the half of one--if she thinks such old maid's rubbish."
“半點都不——假如她想的是這種老處女的廢話。”

"Mother is not an old maid," said his virgin sister with pinched lips.
“媽媽可不是老處女，”身爲處女的妹妹噘着嘴說。

He felt like shouting back: "Yes, she is, and so are the van der Luydens, and so we all are, when it comes to being so much as brushed by the wing-tip of Reality." But he saw her long gentle face puckering into tears, and felt ashamed of the useless pain he was inflicting.
他想朝她大叫大嚷：“不，她是個老處女。範德盧頓夫婦也是老處女。而且一旦被現實廓清面目之後，我們大家全都是老處女。”然而，一看到她那張文靜的長臉皺縮着流下了眼淚，他又爲使她蒙受痛苦而感到慚愧了。

"Hang Countess Olenska! Don't be a goose, Janey-- I'm not her keeper."
“去他的奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人！別像個小傻瓜似的，詹尼——我可不是她的監護人。”

"No; but you DID ask the Wellands to announce your engagement sooner so that we might all back her up; and if it hadn't been for that cousin Louisa would never have invited her to the dinner for the Duke."
“對；可你要求韋蘭家提前宣佈你的訂婚消息，還不是爲了讓我們都去支持她？而且，若不是這個理由，路易莎也決不會請她參加爲公爵舉辦的宴會。”

"Well--what harm was there in inviting her? She was the best-looking woman in the room; she made the dinner a little less funereal than the usual van der Luyden banquet."
“哎——邀請了她又有何妨？她成了客廳裏最漂亮的女人，她使得晚宴比範德盧頓平日那種宴會少了不少喪葬氣氛。”

"You know cousin Henry asked her to please you: he persuaded cousin Louisa. And now they're so upset that they're going back to Skuytercliff tomorrow. I think, Newland, you'd better come down. You don't seem to understand how mother feels."
“你知道亨利表親邀請她是爲了讓你高興，是他說服了路易莎。他們現在很煩惱，準備明天就回斯庫特克利夫去。我想，你最好下去一趟，紐蘭。看來你還不理解媽媽的心情。”

In the drawing-room Newland found his mother. She raised a troubled brow from her needlework to ask: "Has Janey told you?"
紐蘭在客廳裏見到了母親。她停下針線活，擡起憂慮的額頭問道：“詹尼告訴你了嗎？”

"Yes." He tried to keep his tone as measured as her own. "But I can't take it very seriously."
“告訴了，”他儘量用像她那樣審慎的語氣說。“不過我看問題沒那麼嚴重。”

"Not the fact of having offended cousin Louisa and cousin Henry?"
“得罪了路易莎和亨利表親還不嚴重？”

"The fact that they can be offended by such a trifle as Countess Olenska's going to the house of a woman they consider common."
“我是說奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人去了一個他們認爲是平民的女人家，他們不會爲這樣一件小事生氣。”
"Consider--!"
“認爲——？”

"Well, who is; but who has good music, and amuses people on Sunday evenings, when the whole of New York is dying of inanition."
“哦，她就是平民；不過她有好的音樂天賦，在星期天晚上整個紐約空虛得要命時給人們助興。”

"Good music? All I know is, there was a woman who got up on a table and sang the things they sing at the places you go to in Paris. There was smoking and champagne."
“音樂天賦？據我所知，有個女人爬到了桌子上，唱了那種你在巴黎去的那些去處才唱的東西。還吸菸喝香擯呢。”

"Well--that kind of thing happens in other places, and the world still goes on."
“唔——這種事在其他地方也有，可地球還不是照轉不誤！”

"I don't suppose, dear, you're really defending the French Sunday?"
“我想，親愛的，你不是當真在爲法國的星期天辯護吧？”

"I've heard you often enough, mother, grumble at the English Sunday when we've been in London."
“媽媽，我們在倫敦的時候，我可是常聽你抱怨英國的星期天呢。”

"New York is neither Paris nor London."
“紐約既不是巴黎，也不是倫敦。”

"Oh, no, it's not!" her son groaned.
“噢，對，不是！”兒子哼着說。

"You mean, I suppose, that society here is not as brilliant? You're right, I daresay; but we belong here, and people should respect our ways when they come among us. Ellen Olenska especially: she came back to get away from the kind of life people lead in brilliant societies."
“我想，你的意思是這裏的社交界不夠出色？我敢說，你說得很對；但我們屬於這裏。有人來到我們中間就應該尊重我們的生活方式，尤其是埃倫·奧蘭斯卡：她來這兒不就是爲了擺脫在出色的社交界過的那種生活嘛。”

Newland made no answer, and after a moment his mother ventured: "I was going to put on my bonnet and ask you to take me to see cousin Louisa for a moment before dinner." He frowned, and she continued: "I thought you might explain to her what you've just said: that society abroad is different . . . that people are not as particular, and that Madame Olenska may not have realised how we feel about such things. It would be, you know, dear," she added with an innocent adroitness, "in Madame Olenska's interest if you did."
紐蘭沒有回答。過了一會兒，她母親又試探地說：“我剛纔正要戴上帽子，讓你帶我在晚飯前去見一見路易莎。”他皺起了眉頭，她接着說：“我以爲你可以向她解釋一下你剛剛說過的話：國外的社交界有所不同……人們並不那麼計較。還有，奧蘭斯卡夫人可能沒想到我們對這種事情的態度。你知道，親愛的，”她故作天真地巧言補充說：“如果你這麼做，對奧蘭斯卡夫人是很有好處的。”

"Dearest mother, I really don't see how we're concerned in the matter. The Duke took Madame Olenska to Mrs. Struthers's--in fact he brought Mrs. Struthers to call on her. I was there when they came. If the van der Luydens want to quarrel with anybody, the real culprit is under their own roof."
“親愛的媽媽，我真不明白，我們與這件事有什麼相干。是公爵帶奧蘭斯卡夫人到斯特拉瑟斯太太家去的——實際上是他先帶了斯特拉瑟斯太太去拜訪了她。他們去的時候我在那兒。假如範德盧頓夫婦想跟誰吵架，真正的教唆犯就在他們自己家。”

"Quarrel? Newland, did you ever know of cousin Henry's quarrelling? Besides, the Duke's his guest; and a stranger too. Strangers don't discriminate: how should they? Countess Olenska is a New Yorker, and should have respected the feelings of New York."
“吵架？紐蘭，你聽說過，亨利表兄吵過架嗎？而且，公爵是他的客人，又是個外國人，外國人不見怪，他們怎麼會吵架呢？奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人是個紐約人，她倒是應該尊重紐約人的感情的。”

"Well, then, if they must have a victim, you have my leave to throw Madame Olenska to them," cried her son, exasperated. "I don't see myself--or you either-- offering ourselves up to expiate her crimes."
“嗯，如果他們一定要找一個犧牲品，那我同意你把奧蘭斯卡夫人交給他們，”兒子惱怒地喊道。“我是不會——你也未必會——自動替她抵罪的。”

"Oh, of course you see only the Mingott side," his mother answered, in the sensitive tone that was her nearest approach to anger.
“你當然只會爲明戈特一方考慮了，”母親回答說，她語氣很敏感，眼看就要發怒了。

The sad butler drew back the drawing-room portieres and announced: "Mr. Henry van der Luyden."
臉色陰鬱的管家拉起了客廳的門簾，通報說：“亨利·範德盧頓先生到。”

Mrs. Archer dropped her needle and pushed her chair back with an agitated hand.
阿切爾太太扔下手中的針，用顫抖的手把椅子向後推了推。

"Another lamp," she cried to the retreating servant, while Janey bent over to straighten her mother's cap.
“再點一盞燈，”她向退出去的僕人喊道，詹尼這時正低頭撫平母親的便帽。

Mr. van der Luyden's figure loomed on the threshold, and Newland Archer went forward to greet his cousin.
範德盧頓先生的身影出現在門口，紐蘭·阿切爾走上前去歡迎這位表親。

"We were just talking about you, sir," he said.
“我們正在談論你呢，大人，’他說。

Mr. van der Luyden seemed overwhelmed by the announcement. He drew off his glove to shake hands with the ladies, and smoothed his tall hat shyly, while Janey pushed an arm-chair forward, and Archer continued: "And the Countess Olenska."
範德盧頓先生聽了這一消息似乎深受感動，他脫掉手套去跟女士們握手，然後小心地撫平他的高禮帽，這時詹尼將一把扶手椅推到前邊，阿切爾則接着說：“還說到奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人。”

Mrs. Archer paled.
阿切爾太太臉色煞白。

"Ah--a charming woman. I have just been to see her," said Mr. van der Luyden, complacency restored to his brow. He sank into the chair, laid his hat and gloves on the floor beside him in the old-fashioned way, and went on: "She has a real gift for arranging flowers. I had sent her a few carnations from Skuytercliff, and I was astonished. Instead of massing them in big bunches as our head-gardener does, she had scattered them about loosely, here and there . . . I can't say how. The Duke had told me: he said: `Go and see how cleverly she's arranged her drawing-room.' And she has. I should really like to take Louisa to see her, if the neighbourhood were not so--unpleasant."
“啊——一個迷人的女子。我剛去看過她，”範德盧頓先生說，得意的神情又回到他的臉上。他坐到椅子上，按老習慣把禮帽和手套放在身旁的地板上，接着說： “她佈置鮮花可真有天才，我給她送去一點斯庫特克利夫的石竹花。讓我吃了一驚的是，她不是像園丁那樣把它們集成一束一束的，而是隨意地把它們散開，這兒一些，那兒一些……我不知道她怎麼那麼靈巧。公爵事前告訴過我，他說：‘去瞧瞧她佈置客廳有多巧吧。’確實不錯。我本想帶路易莎去看她來着，若不是周圍環境那樣——不愉快。”

A dead silence greeted this unusual flow of words from Mr. van der Luyden. Mrs. Archer drew her embroidery out of the basket into which she had nervously tumbled it, and Newland, leaning against the chimney-place and twisting a humming-bird-feather screen in his hand, saw Janey's gaping countenance lit up by the coming of the second lamp.
迎接範德盧頓先生非同尋常的滔滔話語的是一陣死寂。阿切爾太太從籃子裏抽出她剛纔緊張地塞在裏面的刺繡，阿切爾倚在壁爐邊，擰着手中的蜂鳥羽毛簾子，他看見詹尼目瞪口呆的表情被送來的第二盞燈照得一清二楚。

"The fact is," Mr. van der Luyden continued, stroking his long grey leg with a bloodless hand weighed down by the Patroon's great signet-ring, "the fact is, I dropped in to thank her for the very pretty note she wrote me about my flowers; and also--but this is between ourselves, of course--to give her a friendly warning about allowing the Duke to carry her off to parties with him. I don't know if you've heard--"
“事實上，”範德盧頓先生接着說，一面用一隻沒有血色的手撫摩着他那長長的灰靴筒，手上戴着那枚碩大的莊園主圖章戒指。“事實上，我的順訪是爲了感謝她爲那些花而寫的非常漂亮的回函；還想——這一點可別向外傳——向她提出友好的警告，叫她別讓公爵隨便帶着去參加聚會。我不知你們是否聽到了——”

Mrs. Archer produced an indulgent smile. "Has the Duke been carrying her off to parties?"
阿切爾太太臉上露出寬容的微笑。“公爵是誘使她參加聚會了嗎？”

"You know what these English grandees are. They're all alike. Louisa and I are very fond of our cousin--but it's hopeless to expect people who are accustomed to the European courts to trouble themselves about our little republican distinctions. The Duke goes where he's amused." Mr. van der Luyden paused, but no one spoke. "Yes--it seems he took her with him last night to Mrs. Lemuel Struthers's. Sillerton Jackson has just been to us with the foolish story, and Louisa was rather troubled. So I thought the shortest way was to go straight to Countess Olenska and explain--by the merest hint, you know--how we feel in New York about certain things. I felt I might, without indelicacy, because the evening she dined with us she rather suggested . . . rather let me see that she would be grateful for guidance. And she WAS."
“你知道這些英國顯貴的德性，他們全都一樣。路易莎和我很喜歡我們這位表親——不過指望習慣了歐洲宅邸的人勞神去留心我們共和主義的小小差別，那是絕對辦不到的。哪裏能尋開心，公爵就到哪裏去。”範德盧頓停頓一下，但沒有人吭聲。“是的——看來昨晚是他帶她到萊姆爾·斯特拉瑟斯太太家去的。西勒頓· 傑克遜剛纔到我們家去過，講了這件荒唐事。路易莎很不安。所以我想最好的捷徑就是直接去找奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人，並向她說明——僅僅是暗示，你知道——在紐約我們對某些事情的看法。我覺得我可以做到這一點，而且不會有什麼不得體，因爲她同我們一起進晚餐的那天晚上，她好像說過——讓我想想看——她會感激對她的指導，而她的確如此。”

Mr. van der Luyden looked about the room with what would have been self-satisfaction on features less purged of the vulgar passions. On his face it became a mild benevolence which Mrs. Archer's countenance dutifully reflected.
範德盧頓先生四面看了看，那神態若是出現在普通的庸俗之輩的臉上，滿可以稱得上是一種自鳴得意。但在他的臉上，卻是一種淡淡的仁慈；阿切爾太太一見，馬上義不容辭地露出了同樣的表情。

"How kind you both are, dear Henry--always! Newland will particularly appreciate what you have done because of dear May and his new relations."
“你們倆真是太仁慈了，親愛的亨利——而且是一貫如此呀！你對梅和他的新親戚的關照，紐蘭會分外感激的。”

She shot an admonitory glance at her son, who said: "Immensely, sir. But I was sure you'd like Madame Olenska."
她向兒子投去敦促的目光。兒子說：“感激不盡，大人。不過我早知道你會喜歡奧蘭斯卡夫人的。”

Mr. van der Luyden looked at him with extreme gentleness. "I never ask to my house, my dear Newland," he said, "any one whom I do not like. And so I have just told Sillerton Jackson." With a glance at the clock he rose and added: "But Louisa will be waiting. We are dining early, to take the Duke to the Opera."
範德盧頓先生極有風度地看着他說：“親愛的紐蘭，我從來不請任何我不喜歡的人到我家作客。我剛纔也對西勒頓·傑克遜這樣講過。”他瞥了一眼時鐘站了起來，接着說：“路易莎要等我了。我們準備早點兒吃飯，帶公爵去聽歌劇。”

After the portieres had solemnly closed behind their visitor a silence fell upon the Archer family.
門簾在客人身後莊嚴地合攏之後，一片沉寂降臨在阿切爾的家人之中。

"Gracious--how romantic!" at last broke explosively from Janey. No one knew exactly what inspired her elliptic comments, and her relations had long since given up trying to interpret them.
“真高雅——太浪漫了！”詹尼終於爆發似地說。誰都不明白什麼事激發了她這簡潔的評論，她的親人早已放棄瞭解釋這種評論的企圖。

Mrs. Archer shook her head with a sigh. "Provided it all turns out for the best," she said, in the tone of one who knows how surely it will not. "Newland, you must stay and see Sillerton Jackson when he comes this evening: I really shan't know what to say to him."
阿切爾太太嘆口氣搖了搖頭。“但願結果是皆大歡喜，”她說，那口氣卻明知絕對不可能。“紐蘭，你一定要待在家裏，等晚上西勒頓·傑克遜先生來的時候見見他，我真的不知該對他說些什麼。”

"Poor mother! But he won't come--" her son laughed, stooping to kiss away her frown.
“可憐的媽媽！可是他不會來了——”兒子笑着說，一面彎身吻開她的愁眉。

雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(9)