雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(9)
The Countess Olenska had said "after five"; and at half after the hour Newland Archer rang the bell of the peeling stucco house with a giant wisteria throttling its feeble cast-iron balcony, which she had hired, far down West Twenty-third Street, from the vagabond Medora.
奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人說的是“5點鐘以後”。5點半的時候，紐蘭·阿切爾摁響了她家的門鈴。那是一所灰饅剝落的住宅，一株碩大的紫藤壓迫着搖搖欲墜的鑄鐵陽臺。房子是她從四處漂泊的梅多拉手中租下的，在西23街的最南端。
It was certainly a strange quarter to have settled in. Small dress-makers, bird-stuffers and "people who wrote" were her nearest neighbours; and further down the dishevelled street Archer recognised a dilapidated wooden house, at the end of a paved path, in which a writer and journalist called Winsett, whom he used to come across now and then, had mentioned that he lived. Winsett did not invite people to his house; but he had once pointed it out to Archer in the course of a nocturnal stroll, and the latter had asked himself, with a little shiver, if the humanities were so meanly housed in other capitals.
她住進的確實是個陌生的地段，小裁縫、賣假貨的及“搞寫作的”是她的近鄰。沿着這條亂哄哄的街道再往南去，在一段石鋪小路的盡頭，阿切爾認出一所快要倒塌的木房子，一位名叫溫塞特的作家兼記者住在裏面，此人阿切爾過去時常遇見，他說起過他住在這裏。溫塞特從不邀請人到他家作客，不過有一次夜間散步時他曾向阿切爾指出過這幢房子，當時阿切爾曾不寒而慄地自問，在其他大都市裏，人們是否也住得如此簡陋？
Madame Olenska's own dwelling was redeemed from the same appearance only by a little more paint about the window-frames; and as Archer mustered its modest front he said to himself that the Polish Count must have robbed her of her fortune as well as of her illusions.
奧蘭斯卡夫人住所惟一的不同之處，僅僅是在窗框上多塗了一點兒漆。阿切爾一面審視着這幢屋子簡陋的外觀，一面想道：那個波蘭伯爵搶走的不僅是她的財產，而且還搶走了她的幻想呢。
The young man had spent an unsatisfactory day. He had lunched with the Wellands, hoping afterward to carry off May for a walk in the Park. He wanted to have her to himself, to tell her how enchanting she had looked the night before, and how proud he was of her, and to press her to hasten their marriage. But Mrs. Welland had firmly reminded him that the round of family visits was not half over, and, when he hinted at advancing the date of the wedding, had raised reproachful eye-brows and sighed out: "Twelve dozen of everything--hand-embroidered--"
阿切爾悶悶不樂地過了一天。他與韋蘭一家一起吃的午飯，指望飯後帶着梅到公園去散散步。他想單獨跟她在一起，告訴她昨天晚上她那神態有多麼迷人、他多麼爲她感到自豪，並設法說服她早日和他成婚。然而韋蘭太太卻態度堅決地提醒他，家族拜訪進行還不到一半呢。當他暗示想把婚禮的日期提前時，她責怪地皺起眉頭，嘆息着說：“還有12打手工刺繡的東西沒有……”
Packed in the family landau they rolled from one tribal doorstep to another, and Archer, when the afternoon's round was over, parted from his betrothed with the feeling that he had been shown off like a wild animal cunningly trapped. He supposed that his readings in anthropology caused him to take such a coarse view of what was after all a simple and natural demonstration of family feeling; but when he remembered that the Wellands did not expect the wedding to take place till the following autumn, and pictured what his life would be till then, a dampness fell upon his spirit.
他們擠在家用四輪馬車裏，從族人的一個門階趕到另一個門階。下午的一輪拜訪結束，阿切爾與未婚妻分手之後，覺得自己彷彿是一頭被巧妙捕獲的野獸，剛剛被展覽過一番。他想可能是因爲他讀了些人類學的書，纔對家族感情這種單純與自然的表露持如此粗俗的看法；想起韋蘭夫婦指望明年秋天才舉辦婚禮，他展望這段時間的生活，心裏像潑上一盆冷水。
"Tomorrow," Mrs. Welland called after him, "we'll do the Chiverses and the Dallases"; and he perceived that she was going through their two families alphabetically, and that they were only in the first quarter of the alphabet.
“明天，”韋蘭太太在他身後喊道，“我們去奇弗斯家和達拉斯家。”他發現她準備按字母順序走遍他們的兩個家族，而他們目前僅僅處於字母表的前四分之一。
He had meant to tell May of the Countess Olenska's request--her command, rather--that he should call on her that afternoon; but in the brief moments when they were alone he had had more pressing things to say. Besides, it struck him as a little absurd to allude to the matter. He knew that May most particularly wanted him to be kind to her cousin; was it not that wish which had hastened the announcement of their engagement? It gave him an odd sensation to reflect that, but for the Countess's arrival, he might have been, if not still a free man, at least a man less irrevocably pledged. But May had willed it so, and he felt himself somehow relieved of further responsibility--and therefore at liberty, if he chose, to call on her cousin without telling her.
他本打算告訴梅，奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人要求——或者不如說命令——他今天下午去看她，可是在他倆單獨一起的短暫時刻，他還有更要緊的事要講，而且他覺得提這件事有點不合情理。他知道，梅特別希望他善待她的表姐。不正是出於這種願望，才加快了他們訂婚消息的宣佈嗎？若不是伯爵夫人的到來，即使他不再是一個自由人，至少也不會像現在這樣無可挽回地受着婚約的束縛。一想到此，他心裏產生了一種奇怪的感覺。可這一切都是梅的意願，他不由覺得自己無須承擔更多的責任；因而只要他樂意，他完全可以去拜訪她的表姐，而無須事先告訴她。
As he stood on Madame Olenska's threshold curiosity was his uppermost feeling. He was puzzled by the tone in which she had summoned him; he concluded that she was less simple than she seemed.
他站在奧蘭斯卡夫人住宅的門口，心裏充滿了好奇。她約他前來時的口吻令他困惑不解，他斷定她並不像表面上那樣單純。
The door was opened by a swarthy foreign-looking maid, with a prominent bosom under a gay neckerchief, whom he vaguely fancied to be Sicilian. She welcomed him with all her white teeth, and answering his enquiries by a head-shake of incomprehension led him through the narrow hall into a low firelit drawing- room. The room was empty, and she left him, for an appreciable time, to wonder whether she had gone to find her mistress, or whether she had not understood what he was there for, and thought it might be to wind the clock--of which he perceived that the only visible specimen had stopped. He knew that the southern races communicated with each other in the language of pantomime, and was mortified to find her shrugs and smiles so unintelligible. At length she returned with a lamp; and Archer, having meanwhile put together a phrase out of Dante and Petrarch, evoked the answer: "La signora e fuori; ma verra subito"; which he took to mean: "She's out--but you'll soon see."
一位黑黝黝的異國面孔的女傭開了門。她胸部高高隆起，戴着花哨的圍巾，他隱隱約約覺得她是個西西里人。她露出滿口潔白的牙齒歡迎他，對他的問詢困惑地搖了搖頭，帶他穿過狹窄的門廊，進了一間生了火的低矮客廳。客廳裏空無一人，她把他留在那兒，給他足夠的時間琢磨她是去找女主人呢，還是原本就沒弄明白他來此有何貴幹。或者她會以爲他是來給時鐘上弦的吧——他發覺惟一看得見的那隻鍾已經停了擺。他知道南歐人常用手語相互交談，而現在他卻無法理解她的聳肩與微笑，感到十分難堪。她終於拿着一盞燈回來了，阿切爾這時已從但丁與彼特拉克的作品中拼湊出一個短語，引得她回答說：“拉西格諾拉埃夫奧裏；馬維拉蘇比託。”他認爲這句話的意思是：“她出去了——不過一會兒你就能見到她。
What he saw, meanwhile, with the help of the lamp, was the faded shadowy charm of a room unlike any room he had known. He knew that the Countess Olenska had brought some of her possessions with her--bits of wreckage, she called them--and these, he supposed, were represented by some small slender tables of dark wood, a delicate little Greek bronze on the chimney- piece, and a stretch of red damask nailed on the discoloured wallpaper behind a couple of Italian-looking pictures in old frames.
同時，他藉助燈光發現這屋子自有一種幽冥淡雅的魅力，與他熟悉的任何房間都不相同。他知道奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人帶回來少量的財物——她稱作殘骸碎片。他想，這幾張雅緻的深色小木桌，壁爐上那一尊優美的希臘小青銅像，還有幾幅裝在老式畫框裏的好像是意大利的繪畫（後面是釘在褪色牆紙上的一片紅色錦緞）—— 便是其代表了。
Newland Archer prided himself on his knowledge of Italian art. His boyhood had been saturated with Ruskin, and he had read all the latest books: John Addington Symonds, Vernon Lee's "Euphorion," the essays of P. G. Hamerton, and a wonderful new volume called "The Renaissance" by Walter Pater. He talked easily of Botticelli, and spoke of Fra Angelico with a faint condescension. But these pictures bewildered him, for they were like nothing that he was accustomed to look at (and therefore able to see) when he travelled in Italy; and perhaps, also, his powers of observation were impaired by the oddness of finding himself in this strange empty house, where apparently no one expected him. He was sorry that he had not told May Welland of Countess Olenska's request, and a little disturbed by the thought that his betrothed might come in to see her cousin. What would she think if she found him sitting there with the air of intimacy implied by waiting alone in the dusk at a lady's fireside?
紐蘭·阿切爾以懂得意大利藝術而自豪。他童年時代受過拉斯金的薰陶，讀過各種各樣的新書：像約翰·阿丁頓·西蒙茲的作品，弗農·李的《尤福裏翁》，菲· 吉·哈默頓的隨筆，以及瓦爾特·佩特一本叫做《文藝復興》的絕妙新書。他談論博蒂塞裏的畫如數家珍，說起拉安吉里克更有點兒不可一世。然而這幾幅畫卻讓他極爲困惑，因爲它們與他在意大利旅行時看慣（因此也能看懂）的那些畫毫無相似之處；也許，還因爲發現自己處境奇特的感覺削弱了他的觀察力——他置身在這個陌生的空房子裏，顯然又沒有誰在恭候他。他爲沒有把奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人的要求告訴梅·韋蘭而懊悔，並且有點忐忑不安。他想，他的未婚妻有可能來這兒看望她的表姐，倘若她發現他坐在這兒，隻身在一位夫人爐邊的昏暗中等待着，對這種親密的樣子她會怎樣想呢？
But since he had come he meant to wait; and he sank into a chair and stretched his feet to the logs.
不過既然來了，他就要等下去；於是他坐進椅子裏，把腳伸向燃燒着的木柴。
It was odd to have summoned him in that way, and then forgotten him; but Archer felt more curious than mortified. The atmosphere of the room was so different from any he had ever breathed that self-consciousness vanished in the sense of adventure. He had been before in drawing-rooms hung with red damask, with pictures "of the Italian school"; what struck him was the way in which Medora Manson's shabby hired house, with its blighted background of pampas grass and Rogers statuettes, had, by a turn of the hand, and the skilful use of a few properties, been transformed into something intimate, "foreign," subtly suggestive of old romantic scenes and sentiments. He tried to analyse the trick, to find a clue to it in the way the chairs and tables were grouped, in the fact that only two Jacqueminot roses (of which nobody ever bought less than a dozen) had been placed in the slender vase at his elbow, and in the vague pervading perfume that was not what one put on handkerchiefs, but rather like the scent of some far-off bazaar, a smell made up of Turkish coffee and ambergris and dried roses.
她那樣子召他前來，然後又把他忘掉，真是好生奇怪。但阿切爾的好奇心卻超過了窘迫。屋子裏的氣氛是他從未經驗過的，這種差異非常之大，以致他的侷促不安已爲歷險的意識所取代。他以前也曾進過掛着紅錦緞和“意大利派”繪畫的客廳；使他深受觸動的是，梅多拉·曼森租住的這個以蒲葦和羅傑斯小雕像爲背景的寒愴住宅，通過巧用幾件道具，轉手之間竟改造成一個具有“異國”風味的親切場所，令人聯想起古老的浪漫情調與場面。他想分析其中的竅門，找到它的線索—— 從桌椅佈置的方式中，從身邊雅緻的花瓶只放了兩支紅玫瑰的事實中（而任何人一次購買都不少於一打），從隱約瀰漫的香氣中——不是人們撒到手帕上的那一種，而更像從遙遠的集市上飄來的，由土耳其咖啡、龍涎香和於玫瑰花配成的那種香味。
His mind wandered away to the question of what May's drawing-room would look like. He knew that Mr. Welland, who was behaving "very handsomely," already had his eye on a newly built house in East Thirty-ninth Street. The neighbourhood was thought remote, and the house was built in a ghastly greenish- yellow stone that the younger architects were beginning to employ as a protest against the brownstone of which the uniform hue coated New York like a cold chocolate sauce; but the plumbing was perfect. Archer would have liked to travel, to put off the housing question; but, though the Wellands approved of an extended European honeymoon (perhaps even a winter in Egypt), they were firm as to the need of a house for the returning couple. The young man felt that his fate was sealed: for the rest of his life he would go up every evening between the cast-iron railings of that greenish- yellow doorstep, and pass through a Pompeian vestibule into a hall with a wainscoting of varnished yellow wood. But beyond that his imagination could not travel. He knew the drawing-room above had a bay window, but he could not fancy how May would deal with it. She submitted cheerfully to the purple satin and yellow tuftings of the Welland drawing-room, to its sham Buhl tables and gilt vitrines full of modern Saxe. He saw no reason to suppose that she would want anything different in her own house; and his only comfort was to reflect that she would probably let him arrange his library as he pleased--which would be, of course, with "sincere" Eastlake furniture, and the plain new bookcases without glass doors.
他的心思又轉到梅的客廳上。她的客廳將會是什麼樣子呢？他知道韋蘭先生表現“十分慷慨”，已經盯上了東39街一所新建住宅。據說，那個街區很僻靜，房子是用灰濛濛的黃綠色石頭建的，這種色調是年輕一代的建築師剛開始啓用的，用以對抗像冷巧克力醬一般覆蓋着紐約的清一色的棕石，但房子的管道卻十分完備。按阿切爾的心願，他喜歡先去旅行，住宅的問題以後再考慮。然而，儘管韋蘭夫婦同意延長去歐洲度蜜月的時間（也許還可到埃及呆一個冬天），但對於小夫妻回來後需要一所住宅的問題堅定不移。年輕人覺得自己的命運像加了封印似的已成定局：在他的餘生中，每天晚上都要走過那個黃綠色門階兩旁的鑄鐵護欄，穿過龐貝城式的迴廊，進入帶上光黃木護壁的門廳。除此之外，他的想像力就無從馳騁了。他知道樓上的客廳有一個凸窗，可他想不出梅會怎樣處理它。她高高興興地容忍韋蘭家客廳裏的紫緞子與黃栽絨，以及裏面的贗品鑲木桌與時新的薩克森藍鍍金玻璃框。他找不出任何理由推測她會要求自己的住宅有任何不同；惟一的安慰是她很可能讓他按自己的愛好佈置他的書房——那裏面當然要擺放“純正的”東湖牌傢俱，還有不帶玻璃門的單色新書櫥。
The round-bosomed maid came in, drew the curtains, pushed back a log, and said consolingly: "Verra--verra." When she had gone Archer stood up and began to wander about. Should he wait any longer? His position was becoming rather foolish. Perhaps he had misunderstood Madame Olenska--perhaps she had not invited him after all.
胸部豐滿的女傭進來了，她拉上窗簾，往火爐裏捅進一塊木柴，並安慰地說：“維拉——維拉。”她離開之後，阿切爾站了起來，開始來回踱步。他還要再等下去嗎？他的處境變得相當可笑，也許他當時誤解了奧蘭斯卡夫人的意思——也許她根本就沒有邀請他。
Down the cobblestones of the quiet street came the ring of a stepper's hoofs; they stopped before the house, and he caught the opening of a carriage door. Parting the curtains he looked out into the early dusk. A street- lamp faced him, and in its light he saw Julius Beaufort's compact English brougham, drawn by a big roan, and the banker descending from it, and helping out Madame Olenska.
從靜悄悄的街道上傳來卵石路面上迅跑的馬蹄聲。馬車在房子前面停了下來，他瞥見馬車的門打開了。他分開窗簾，朝外面初降的薄暮中望去，對面是一盞街燈，燈光下他見朱利葉斯·博福特小巧的英式四輪馬車由一匹高大的花馬拉着，那位銀行家正攙扶着奧蘭斯卡夫人下車。
Beaufort stood, hat in hand, saying something which his companion seemed to negative; then they shook hands, and he jumped into his carriage while she mounted the steps.
博福特站住了，手裏拿着帽子說着什麼，似乎被他的同伴否決了。接着，他們握了握手，他跳進馬車，她走上門階。
When she entered the room she showed no surprise at seeing Archer there; surprise seemed the emotion that she was least addicted to.
她進了客廳，見到阿切爾一點兒也沒表現出驚訝；驚訝似乎是她最不喜歡的感情。
"How do you like my funny house?" she asked. "To me it's like heaven."
“你覺得我這可笑的房子怎麼樣？”她問，“對我來說這就算天堂了。”
As she spoke she untied her little velvet bonnet and tossing it away with her long cloak stood looking at him with meditative eyes.
她一面說着，一面解開小絲絨帽的繫帶，把帽子連同長斗篷扔到一邊。她站在那裏，用沉思的目光望着他。
"You've arranged it delightfully," he rejoined, alive to the flatness of the words, but imprisoned in the conventional by his consuming desire to be simple and striking.
“你把它收拾得挺可愛，”他說，意識到了這句話的坦率，但又受到平時極欲言簡意賅、出語驚人的習慣的約束。
"Oh, it's a poor little place. My relations despise it. But at any rate it's less gloomy than the van der Luydens'."
“噢，這是個可憐的小地方，我的親戚們瞧不起它。但不管怎樣，它不像範德盧頓家那樣陰沉。”
The words gave him an electric shock, for few were the rebellious spirits who would have dared to call the stately home of the van der Luydens gloomy. Those privileged to enter it shivered there, and spoke of it as "handsome." But suddenly he was glad that she had given voice to the general shiver.
這話使他無比震驚，因爲很少有人敢無法無天地說範德盧頓家宏偉的住宅陰沉。那些獲得特權進去的人在裏面戰戰兢兢，並且都稱它“富麗堂皇”。猛然間，他爲她說出了令衆人不寒而慄的話而變得很開心。
"It's delicious--what you've done here," he repeated.
“這兒你拾掇得——很怡人，”他重複說。
"I like the little house," she admitted; "but I suppose what I like is the blessedness of its being here, in my own country and my own town; and then, of being alone in it." She spoke so low that he hardly heard the last phrase; but in his awkwardness he took it up.
“我喜歡這個小房子，”她承認道。“不過我想，我喜歡的是它是在這裏，在我自己的國家、我自己的城市，並且是我一個人住在裏面。”她說得聲音很低，他幾乎沒聽清最後幾個字，不過卻在尷尬中理解了其要點。
"You like so much to be alone?"
“你很喜歡一個人生活？”
"Yes; as long as my friends keep me from feeling lonely." She sat down near the fire, said: "Nastasia will bring the tea presently," and signed to him to return to his armchair, adding: "I see you've already chosen your corner."
“是的，只要朋友們別讓我感到孤單就行。”她在爐火旁邊坐下，說：“納斯塔西婭馬上就送茶過來。”她示意讓他坐回到扶手椅裏，又說：“我看你已經選好坐的位置了。”
Leaning back, she folded her arms behind her head, and looked at the fire under drooping lids.
她身子向後一仰，兩隻胳膊交叉放在腦後，眼瞼垂下，望着爐火。
"This is the hour I like best--don't you?"
“這是我最喜歡的時間了——你呢？”
A proper sense of his dignity caused him to answer: "I was afraid you'd forgotten the hour. Beaufort must have been very engrossing."
一種體面的自尊使他回答說：“剛纔我還擔心你已經忘掉了時間呢。博福特一定很有趣吧。”
She looked amused. "Why--have you waited long? Mr. Beaufort took me to see a number of houses-- since it seems I'm not to be allowed to stay in this one." She appeared to dismiss both Beaufort and himself from her mind, and went on: "I've never been in a city where there seems to be such a feeling against living in des quartiers excentriques. What does it matter where one lives? I'm told this street is respectable."
她看上去很高興，說：“怎麼——你等了很久了嗎？博福特先生帶我去看了幾處房子——因爲看來是不會允許我繼續住在這兒了。”她好像把博福特和他都給忘了似地接着說：“我從沒見過哪個城市像這兒一樣，認爲住在偏遠地區不妥。住得偏遠不偏遠，有什麼關係嗎？聽人說這條街是很體面的呢。”
"It's not fashionable."
“這兒不夠時髦。”
"Fashionable! Do you all think so much of that? Why not make one's own fashions? But I suppose I've lived too independently; at any rate, I want to do what you all do--I want to feel cared for and safe."
“時髦！你們都很看重這個問題嗎？爲什麼不創造自己的時尚呢？不過我想，我過去生活得太無拘無束了，不管怎樣，你們大家怎麼做，我就要怎麼做——我希望得到關心，得到安全感。”
He was touched, as he had been the evening before when she spoke of her need of guidance.
他深受感動，就像前一天晚上聽她說到她需要指導時那樣。
"That's what your friends want you to feel. New York's an awfully safe place," he added with a flash of sarcasm.
“你的朋友們就是希望你有安全感，紐約是個極爲安全的地方。”他略帶挖苦地補上一句。
"Yes, isn't it? One feels that," she cried, missing the mockery. "Being here is like--like--being taken on a holiday when one has been a good little girl and done all one's lessons."
“不錯，是這樣。我能感覺到，”她大聲地說，並沒有覺察他話中的諷刺。“住在這兒就像——就像——一個聽話的小姑娘做完所有的功課，被帶去度假一樣。”
The analogy was well meant, but did not altogether please him. He did not mind being flippant about New York, but disliked to hear any one else take the same tone. He wondered if she did not begin to see what a powerful engine it was, and how nearly it had crushed her. The Lovell Mingotts' dinner, patched up in extremis out of all sorts of social odds and ends, ought to have taught her the narrowness of her escape; but either she had been all along unaware of having skirted disaster, or else she had lost sight of it in the triumph of the van der Luyden evening. Archer inclined to the former theory; he fancied that her New York was still completely undifferentiated, and the conjecture nettled him.
這個比喻本是善意的，但卻不能讓他完全滿意。他不在乎自己對紐約社會說些輕浮的話，卻不喜歡聽別人使用同樣的腔調。他不知她是否真的還沒看出，紐約社會是個威力強大的機器，曾經險些將她碾得粉碎。洛弗爾·明戈特家的宴會動用了各種社交手段，纔在最後時刻得到補救——這件事應該讓她明白，她的處境是多麼危險。然而，要麼她對躲過的災難壓根兒一無所知，要麼是範德盧頓晚會的成功使她視而不見。阿切爾傾向於前一種推測。他想，她眼中的紐約對人依然是一視同仁的，這一揣測讓他心煩意亂。
"Last night," he said, "New York laid itself out for you. The van der Luydens do nothing by halves."
“昨天晚上，”他說，“紐約社交界竭盡全力地歡迎你；範德盧頓夫婦幹什麼事都是全心全意。”
"No: how kind they are! It was such a nice party. Every one seems to have such an esteem for them."
“是啊，他們對我太好了！這次聚會非常愉快。人人好像都很敬重他們。”
The terms were hardly adequate; she might have spoken in that way of a tea-party at the dear old Miss Lannings'.
這說法很難算得上準確；她若如此評價可愛的老拉寧小姐的茶會還差不多。
"The van der Luydens," said Archer, feeling himself pompous as he spoke, "are the most powerful influence in New York society. Unfortunately--owing to her health--they receive very seldom."
阿切爾自命不凡地說：“範德盧頓夫婦是紐約上流社會最有影響的人物。不幸的是——由於她的健康原因——他們極少接待客人。”
She unclasped her hands from behind her head, and looked at him meditatively.
她鬆開腦袋後面的兩隻手，沉思地看着他。
"Isn't that perhaps the reason?"
“也許正是這個原因吧？”
"The reason--?"
“原因——？”
"For their great influence; that they make themselves so rare."
“他們有巨大影響的原因啊；他們故意很少露面。”
He coloured a little, stared at her--and suddenly felt the penetration of the remark. At a stroke she had pricked the van der Luydens and they collapsed. He laughed, and sacrificed them.
他臉色有點發紅，瞪大眼睛看着她——猛然頓悟了這句話的洞察力。經她輕輕一擊，範德盧頓夫婦便垮臺了。他放聲大笑，把他們做了犧牲品。
Nastasia brought the tea, with handleless Japanese cups and little covered dishes, placing the tray on a low table.
納斯塔西婭送來了茶水，還有無柄的日本茶杯和小蓋碟。她把茶盤放在一張矮桌上。
"But you'll explain these things to me--you'll tell me all I ought to know," Madame Olenska continued, leaning forward to hand him his cup.
“不過你要向我解釋所有這些事情——你要告訴我我應瞭解的全部情況，”奧蘭斯卡夫人接着說，一面向前探探身子，遞給他茶杯。
"It's you who are telling me; opening my eyes to things I'd looked at so long that I'd ceased to see them."
“現在是你在開導我，讓我睜開眼睛認清那些我看得太久因而不能認清的事物。”
She detached a small gold cigarette-case from one of her bracelets, held it out to him, and took a cigarette herself. On the chimney were long spills for lighting them.
她取下一個小小的金煙盒，向他遞過去，她自己也拿了一支香菸。煙囪上放着點菸的長引柴。
"Ah, then we can both help each other. But I want help so much more. You must tell me just what to do."
“啊，那麼我們兩人可以互相幫助了。不過更需要幫助的是我，你一定要告訴我該做些什麼。”
It was on the tip of his tongue to reply: "Don't be seen driving about the streets with Beaufort--" but he was being too deeply drawn into the atmosphere of the room, which was her atmosphere, and to give advice of that sort would have been like telling some one who was bargaining for attar-of-roses in Samarkand that one should always be provided with arctics for a New York winter. New York seemed much farther off than Samarkand, and if they were indeed to help each other she was rendering what might prove the first of their mutual services by making him look at his native city objectively. Viewed thus, as through the wrong end of a telescope, it looked disconcertingly small and distant; but then from Samarkand it would.
他差一點就要回答：“不要讓人見到你跟博福特一起坐車逛街——”然而他此刻已被屋子裏的氣氛深深吸引住了，這是屬於她的氣氛，他如果提出這樣的建議，就好像告訴一個正在薩馬爾罕討價還價買玫瑰油的人，在紐約過冬需要配備橡皮套靴。此刻，紐約似乎比薩馬爾罕遠多了。而假如真的要互相幫助，那麼，她就應該向他提供互相幫助的證據，先幫他客觀地看待他的出生地。這樣就像從望遠鏡的反端觀察，紐約顯得異常渺小與遙遠；不過，站到薩馬爾罕那邊看，情況就是如此。
A flame darted from the logs and she bent over the fire, stretching her thin hands so close to it that a faint halo shone about the oval nails. The light touched to russet the rings of dark hair escaping from her braids, and made her pale face paler.
一片火焰從木柴中躍起，她朝爐火彎了彎身，把瘦削的雙手伸得離火很近，一團淡淡的光暈閃爍在她那橢圓的指甲周圍。亮光使她髮辮上散逸出的淺黑色發鬈變成了黃褐色，並使她蒼白的臉色更加蒼白。
"There are plenty of people to tell you what to do," Archer rejoined, obscurely envious of them.
“有很多人會告訴你該做些什麼，”阿切爾回答說，暗暗妒忌着那些人。
"Oh--all my aunts? And my dear old Granny?" She considered the idea impartially. "They're all a little vexed with me for setting up for myself--poor Granny especially. She wanted to keep me with her; but I had to be free--" He was impressed by this light way of speaking of the formidable Catherine, and moved by the thought of what must have given Madame Olenska this thirst for even the loneliest kind of freedom. But the idea of Beaufort gnawed him.
“噢——你是說我那些姑媽？還有我親愛的老奶奶？”她不帶偏見地考慮這一意見。“她們都因爲我要獨立生活而有點惱火——尤其是可憐的奶奶，她想讓我跟她住在一起，可我必須有自由——”她說起令人畏懼的凱瑟琳輕鬆自如，讓他佩服；奧蘭斯卡夫人甚至渴望最孤獨的自由，想到箇中原因，也令他深深感動。不過一想到博福特，他又變得心煩意亂。
"I think I understand how you feel," he said. "Still, your family can advise you; explain differences; show you the way."
“我想我能理解你的感情，”他說，“不過你的家人仍然可以給你忠告，說明種種差異，給你指明道路。”
She lifted her thin black eyebrows. "Is New York such a labyrinth? I thought it so straight up and down-- like Fifth Avenue. And with all the cross streets numbered!" She seemed to guess his faint disapproval of this, and added, with the rare smile that enchanted her whole face: "If you knew how I like it for just THAT-- the straight-up-and-downness, and the big honest labels on everything!"
她細細的黑眉毛向上一揚，說：“難道紐約是個迷宮嗎？我還以爲它像第五大街那樣直來直去——而且所有的十字路都有編號！”她似乎猜到他對這種說法略有異議，又露出給她臉上增添魅力的難得的笑容補充說：“但願你明白我多麼喜歡它的這一點——直來直去，一切都貼着誠實的大標籤！”
He saw his chance. "Everything may be labelled-- but everybody is not."
他發現機會來了。“東西可能會貼了標籤——人卻不然。”
"Perhaps. I may simplify too much--but you'll warn me if I do." She turned from the fire to look at him. "There are only two people here who make me feel as if they understood what I mean and could explain things to me: you and Mr. Beaufort."
“也許如此，我可能過於簡單化了——如果是這樣，你可要警告我呀。”她從爐火那邊轉過身看着他說。“這裏只有兩個人讓我覺得好像理解我的心思，並能向我解釋世事：你和博福特先生。”
Archer winced at the joining of the names, and then, with a quick readjustment, understood, sympathised and pitied. So close to the powers of evil she must have lived that she still breathed more freely in their air. But since she felt that he understood her also, his business would be to make her see Beaufort as he really was, with all he represented--and abhor it.
阿切爾對這兩個名字聯在一起感到一陣本能的畏縮；接着，經過迅速調整，繼而又產生了理解、同情與憐憫。她過去的生活一定是與罪惡勢力大接近了，以至現在仍覺得在他們的環境中反倒更自由。然而，既然她認爲他也理解她，那麼，他的當務之急就是讓她認清博福特的真面目，以及他代表的一切，並且對之產生厭惡。
He answered gently: "I understand. But just at first don't let go of your old friends' hands: I mean the older women, your Granny Mingott, Mrs. Welland, Mrs. van der Luyden. They like and admire you--they want to help you."
他溫和地回答說：“我理解。可首先，不要放棄老朋友的幫助——我指的是那些老太太——你祖母明戈特，韋蘭太太，範德盧頓太太。她們喜歡你、稱讚你——她們想幫助你。”
She shook her head and sighed. "Oh, I know--I know! But on condition that they don't hear anything unpleasant. Aunt Welland put it in those very words when I tried. . . . Does no one want to know the truth here, Mr. Archer? The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!" She lifted her hands to her face, and he saw her thin shoulders shaken by a sob.
她搖搖頭，嘆了口氣。“懊，我知道——我知道！不過前提是她們聽不見任何不愉快的事。當我想跟她談一談的時候，韋蘭姑媽就是這樣講的。難道這裏沒有人想了解真相嗎，阿切爾先生？生活在這些好人中間才真正地孤獨呢，因爲他們只要求你假裝！”她擡起雙手捂到臉上，他發現她那瘦削的雙肩因啜泣在顫抖。
"Madame Olenska!--Oh, don't, Ellen," he cried, starting up and bending over her. He drew down one of her hands, clasping and chafing it like a child's while he murmured reassuring words; but in a moment she freed herself, and looked up at him with wet lashes.
“奧蘭斯卡夫人！唉，別這樣，埃倫，”他喊着，驚跳起來，俯身對着她。他拉下她的一隻手，緊緊握住，像撫摩孩子的手似地撫摩着，一面低低地說着安慰話。但不一會兒她便掙脫開，睫毛上帶着淚水擡頭看着他。
"Does no one cry here, either? I suppose there's no need to, in heaven," she said, straightening her loosened braids with a laugh, and bending over the tea- kettle. It was burnt into his consciousness that he had called her "Ellen"--called her so twice; and that she had not noticed it. Far down the inverted telescope he saw the faint white figure of May Welland--in New York.
“這兒沒有人哭，對嗎？我想壓根兒就沒有哭的必要，”她說，接着笑了一聲，理了理鬆散的髮帶，俯身去拿茶壺。他剛纔居然叫她“埃倫”，而且叫了兩次，她卻沒有注意到。他覺得心頭滾燙。對着倒置的望遠鏡，在很遠很遠的地方，他依稀看見梅·韋蘭的白色身影——那是在紐約。
Suddenly Nastasia put her head in to say something in her rich Italian.
突然，納斯塔西婭探頭進來，用她那圓潤的嗓音用意大利語說了句什麼。
Madame Olenska, again with a hand at her hair, uttered an exclamation of assent--a flashing "Gia-- gia"--and the Duke of St. Austrey entered, piloting a tremendous blackwigged and red-plumed lady in overflowing furs.
奧蘭斯卡夫人又用手理了下頭髮，喊了一聲表示同意的話“吉啊——吉啊”緊接着，聖奧斯特雷公爵便走了進來，身後跟着一位身材高大的夫人，她頭戴黑色假髮與紅色羽飾，身穿緊繃繃的裘皮外套。
"My dear Countess, I've brought an old friend of mine to see you--Mrs. Struthers. She wasn't asked to the party last night, and she wants to know you."
“親愛的伯爵夫人，我帶了我的一位老朋友來看你——斯特拉瑟斯太太。昨晚的宴會她沒得到邀請，但她很想認識你。”
The Duke beamed on the group, and Madame Olenska advanced with a murmur of welcome toward the queer couple. She seemed to have no idea how oddly matched they were, nor what a liberty the Duke had taken in bringing his companion--and to do him justice, as Archer perceived, the Duke seemed as unaware of it himself.
公爵滿臉堆笑地對着大夥兒，奧蘭斯卡夫人低聲說了一句歡迎，朝這奇怪的一對走去。她似乎一點也不明白，他們兩人湊在一起有多奇怪，也不知道公爵帶來這樣一位夥伴是多麼冒昧——說句公道話，據阿切爾觀察，公爵本人對此也一無所知。
"Of course I want to know you, my dear," cried Mrs. Struthers in a round rolling voice that matched her bold feathers and her brazen wig. "I want to know everybody who's young and interesting and charming. And the Duke tells me you like music--didn't you, Duke? You're a pianist yourself, I believe? Well, do you want to hear Sarasate play tomorrow evening at my house? You know I've something going on every Sunday evening--it's the day when New York doesn't know what to do with itself, and so I say to it: `Come and be amused.' And the Duke thought you'd be tempted by Sarasate. You'll find a number of your friends."
“我當然想認識你啦，親愛的，”斯特拉瑟斯太太喊道，那響亮婉轉的聲音與她那肆無忌憚的羽飾和假髮十分相稱。“每一個年輕漂亮有趣的人我都想認識。公爵告訴我你喜歡音樂——對嗎，公爵？我想，你本人就是個鋼琴家吧？哎，你明晚想不想到我家來聽薩拉塞特的演奏？你知道，每個星期天晚上我都搞點兒活動 ——這是紐約社交界無所事事的一天，於是我就說：‘都到我這兒來樂一樂吧。’而公爵認爲，你會對薩拉塞特感興趣的，而且你還會結識一大批朋友呢。”
Madame Olenska's face grew brilliant with pleasure. "How kind! How good of the Duke to think of me!" She pushed a chair up to the tea-table and Mrs. Struthers sank into it delectably. "Of course I shall be too happy to come."
奧蘭斯卡夫人高興得容光煥發。“太好了，難得公爵能想着我！”她把一把椅子推到茶桌前，斯特拉瑟斯太太美滋滋地坐了進去。“我當然很高興去。”
"That's all right, my dear. And bring your young gentleman with you." Mrs. Struthers extended a hail- fellow hand to Archer. "I can't put a name to you--but I'm sure I've met you--I've met everybody, here, or in Paris or London. Aren't you in diplomacy? All the diplomatists come to me. You like music too? Duke, you must be sure to bring him."
“那好吧，親愛的。帶着這位年輕紳士一起來。”斯特拉瑟斯太太向阿切爾友好地伸出手。“我叫不出你的名字——可我肯定見過你——所有的人我都見過，在這兒，在巴黎，或者在倫敦。你是不是幹外交的？所有的外交官都到我家來玩。你也喜歡音樂吧？公爵，你一定要帶他來。”
The Duke said "Rather" from the depths of his beard, and Archer withdrew with a stiffly circular bow that made him feel as full of spine as a self-conscious school-boy among careless and unnoticing elders.
公爵從鬍子底下哼了聲“當然”，阿切爾向後退縮着生硬地彎腰鞠了個躬。他覺得自己就像一名害羞的小學生站在一羣毫不在意的大人中間一樣充滿勇氣。
He was not sorry for the denouement of his visit: he only wished it had come sooner, and spared him a certain waste of emotion. As he went out into the wintry night, New York again became vast and imminent, and May Welland the loveliest woman in it. He turned into his florist's to send her the daily box of lilies-of-the-valley which, to his confusion, he found he had forgotten that morning.
他並不因這次造訪的結局感到懊悔：他只希望收場來得快些，免得他浪費感情。當他出門走進冬季的黑夜中時，紐約又成了個龐然大物，而那位可愛的女子梅·韋蘭就在其中。他轉身去花商家吩咐爲她送去每天必送的一匣鈴蘭。他羞愧地發現，早上竟把這事忘了。
As he wrote a word on his card and waited for an envelope he glanced about the embowered shop, and his eye lit on a cluster of yellow roses. He had never seen any as sun-golden before, and his first impulse was to send them to May instead of the lilies. But they did not look like her--there was something too rich, too strong, in their fiery beauty. In a sudden revulsion of mood, and almost without knowing what he did, he signed to the florist to lay the roses in another long box, and slipped his card into a second envelope, on which he wrote the name of the Countess Olenska; then, just as he was turning away, he drew the card out again, and left the empty envelope on the box.
他在名片上寫了幾個字。在等待給他拿信封時，他環顧弓形的花店，眼睛一亮，落在一簇黃玫瑰上。他過去從沒見過這種陽光般金黃的花，他第一個衝動是用這種黃玫瑰代替鈴蘭，送給梅。然而這些花看樣子不會中她的意——它們太絢麗太濃烈。一陣心血來潮，他幾乎是下意識地示意花商把黃玫瑰裝在另一個長匣子裏，他把自己的名片裝人第二個信封，在上面寫上了奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人的名字。接着，他剛要轉身離開，又把名片抽了出來，只留個空信封附在匣子上。
"They'll go at once?" he enquired, pointing to the roses.
“這些花馬上就送走嗎？”他指着那些玫瑰問道。
The florist assured him that they would.
花商向他保證，立刻就送。
雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(8)
