书虫二级《亨利八世和他的六位妻子》：6.凯瑟琳·霍华德

6.Katherine Howard
6．凯瑟琳·霍华德

I took the last letter out of the box and held it in my hand while I answered Margaret's questions. She wanted to know everything.

我回答玛格丽特的问题时，把最后一封信从盒子里拿出来，握在手里。她什么都想知道。

And who was the King's fifth wife?' she asked.

“谁是国王的第五任妻子？”她问道。

Katherine Howard.'

“凯瑟琳·霍华德。”

Why did the King want to marry again?'

“国王为什么又想结婚呢？”

He still wanted to have another son, you see. A brother for Prince Edward.'

“他还想再要个儿子，你知道。给爱德华王子作弟弟。”

And how did he meet Katherine?' asked Margaret.

“他是怎么遇到凯瑟琳的？”玛格丽特问。

She was one of the ladies at Queen Anne's palace, so Henry knew her already. She was only eighteen. Henry fell in love with her immediately. He called her "his beautiful flower" and sent her many expensive presents—gold and jewels and fine dresses.'

“她是安妮王后宫里的一位贵族小姐，所以亨利早就认识她了。她那时只有18岁，亨利立刻就爱上了她。他把她称作是‘他美丽的花朵’，并送给她很多贵重的礼物——金银珠宝和漂亮的衣服。”

But did she want to marry him?'

“但是她愿意嫁给他吗？”

I smiled. 'If the King of England wants to marry you, how do you say no? Henry was very much in love and he wanted to marry her immediately. The Howard family is an old and famous one, and they were very happy for Katherine to marry the King.'

我笑了。“如果英格兰国王想要娶你，你又怎么能拒绝呢？亨利深深地爱着她并想马上和她结婚。霍华德家族是个名门望族，而且他们很愿意凯瑟琳嫁给国王。”

Was he happy with his new Queen?'

“他对他的新王后满意吗？”

Yes,' I said. 'At first. She was young, beautiful, and exciting. Very different from Anne of Cleves.'

“是的，”我说，“一开始是这样的。当初她年轻美貌，惹人喜爱，与克利夫斯的安妮截然不同。”

And did she learn to love the King?'

“那她试着去爱国王了吗？”

Who can say? But I don't think so. Henry was forty-nine, thirty years older than her. He was very, very fat and heavy. His face was more like a potato than ever, and his eyes were always half-closed. He had a very bad leg and often couldn't walk—and he was always angry when his leg hurt.'

“谁知道呢？但我想没有。亨利那时已经49岁了，比她大30岁。他极其肥胖，而且很笨重。他的脸比以前更像土豆，眼睛也总是半闭着。他有一条腿不太灵便，经常无法行走——腿痛发作时他总是暴跳如雷。”

Margaret looked at the letter in my hand. 'I don't think that I would like to marry a fat old man with a bad leg who couldn't walk!' she said.

玛格丽特看着我手中的信。“我想我不会愿意嫁给一个又肥又老，且有一条腿行动不便的男人的！”她说。

I laughed. 'But the King's wife, remember, was also the Queen of England, the first lady in the country.'

我笑道：“别忘了，国王的妻子就是英格兰的王后，也就是国家的第一夫人。”

Yes, that's true,' said Margaret. 'And did they have a son?'

“是的，确实是这样，”玛格丽特说，“他们有儿子吗？”

No, they didn't. They weren't married for very long. Before Katherine married Henry, she had lovers. Henry didn't know this. He thought that he was Katherine's first lover. And about six months after Katherine married Henry, she began to see another man called Thomas Culpeper. He was tall and handsome. Katherine wrote love letters to him, and they met secretly at night.'

“不，他们没有。他们结婚的时间并不长。凯瑟琳嫁给亨利之前，已经有了几个情人。亨利并不知道这个，他以为他是凯瑟琳的初恋情人。凯瑟琳嫁给亨利大约六个月后，她就开始和另一个叫托马斯·卡尔佩珀的男人约会。他高大而英俊，凯瑟琳给他写情书，而且他们在夜里私会。”

What a dangerous thing to do!' said Margaret. 'Katherine wasn't very clever, I'm afraid.'

“做这事儿可太危险了！”玛格丽特说，“恐怕凯瑟琳不太明智。”

And people saw her and began to talk about it, and somebody told the King... One of his friends wrote it all down in a letter, and put the letter into Henry's hand when he was in church.'

“人们看见了她，并开始议论起来，后来有人把此事告诉了国王……他的一个朋友把这一切都写在了信上，趁亨利在教堂时，把信塞到了他的手里。”

Oh dear,' said Margaret. 'So then...' Already she knew what happened next.

“哦天呐，”玛格丽特叫道，“那么后来……”她已猜到后面发生的事了。

Yes,' I said. 'Henry was wildly angry. He talked, people say, about taking a sword and cutting off her head himself. But he sent Thomas Culpeper to prison, and soon after he sent Katherine to the Tower.'

“是的，”我说，“亨利勃然大怒。据说，他扬言要用刀亲自把她的头砍下来。但后来他把托马斯·卡尔佩珀打入监牢，随后不久又把凯瑟琳送进了伦敦塔。”

Like Anne Boleyn, years before,' said Margaret.

“和几年前安妮·博伦一样。”玛格丽特说。

Let's see what her letter says,' I said, opening it. 'The writing is very untidy—I think she wrote this in a hurry.'

“咱们看看她信上说些什么，”我打开信说道，“信写得非常潦草——我想她写的时候一定很匆忙。”

Tower of London

伦敦塔

11th February 1541

1541年2月11日

Dear Henry

亲爱的亨利：

Please forgive me! I didn't want to make you unhappy and angry. Believe me!

请原谅我！我没想让你不悦并惹你生气。相信我！

It's true that when I was a young girl, I was friendly with different young men. I was so young and stupid. I also spent a lot of time with Thomas Culpeper when I was your wife. But believe me, Henry, I didn't know what I was doing. Remember, I am only twenty years old now. You are so much older than me, and you understand much more about the world.

当我还是个少女时，的确和各种各样的年轻男子交往密切。我当时太小了，什么都不懂。和你结婚后，我也确实和托马斯·卡尔佩珀度过了很多时光。但是相信我，亨利，我不知道自己在做什么。想想看，我现在只有20岁。你比我年长很多，比我更了解世事。

Please, Henry, please, please help me! Don't send me to my death! I am so afraid here in the Tower—I pray day and night that you will come and take me away. How can you kill your beautiful flower? They tell me that in two days' time they will cut off my head... Henry, I don't want to die! Please let me live a little longer... please! Just a few weeks... a few days... Please, Henry, please...

求求你，亨利，求你了，求你救救我！不要让我去死！我在塔里很害怕——我整日祈祷，希望你能来把我带走，你怎么可以杀死你美丽的花朵呢？他们告诉我，会在两天内把我处死……亨利，我不想死！请让我再多活一段时间吧……求求你了！哪怕仅有几星期……几天……求求你，亨利，求求你……

　Your unhappy wife

你不幸的妻子

　Katherine Howard

凯瑟琳·霍华德

When I finished reading the letter, Margaret was silent. Perhaps she could hear Katherine Howard's cries and see her white face.

我读完这封信时，玛格丽特沉默了。她好像听到了凯瑟琳的哭喊，看到了她苍白的脸。

I put the letter away, and Margaret looked at me.

我把信收了起来，玛格丽特看着我。

There aren't any more letters, are there?' she said.

“没有信了，是吗？”她说。

No,' I said. 'That was the last letter.'

“没有了，”我说，“那是最后一封。”