双语·面纱 第七十三章

73

They went in to luncheon. Charlie, sitting at the head of his table, easily took charge of the conversation. After those first few words of sympathy he treated Kitty, not as though she had just suffered a devastating experience, but rather as though she had come in from Shanghai for a change after an operation for appendicitis. She needed cheering and he was prepared to cheer her. The best way of making her feel at home was to treat her as one of the family. He was a tactful man. He began talking of the autumn race meeting, and the polo--by Jove, he would have to give up playing polo if he couldn't get his weight down--and a chat he had had that morning with the Governor. He spoke of a party they had been to on the Admiral's flag-ship, the state of affairs in Canton, and of the links at Lushan. In a few minutes Kitty felt that she might have been away for no longer than a weekend. It was incredible that over there, up country, six hundred miles away only (the distance from London to Edinburgh, wasn't it?) men, women, and children had been dying like flies. Soon she found herself asking about so and so who had broken a collar bone at polo and if Mrs. This had gone home or Mrs. That was playing in the tennis tournament. Charlie made his little jokes and she smiled at them. Dorothy with her faint air of superiority (which now included Kitty and so was no longer slightly offensive, but a bond of union rather) was gently ironic about various persons in the colony. Kitty began to feel more alert.

“Why, she's looking better already,” said Charlie to his wife.“She was so pale before tiffin that I was quite startled; she's really got some color in her cheeks now.”

But while she took her part in the conversation, if not with gaiety (for she felt that neither Dorothy nor Charlie with his admirable sense of decorum would approve of that) at least with cheerfulness, Kitty observed her host. In all those weeks during which her fancy had been revengefully occupied with him she had built up in her mind a very vivid impression of him. His thick curling hair was a little too long and too carefully brushed, in order to hide the fact that it was graying, there was too much oil on it; his face was too red, with its network of mauve veins on the cheeks, and his jowl was too massive: when he did not hold his head up to hide it you saw that he had a double chin; and there was something apelike in those bushy, grizzled eyebrows of his that vaguely disgusted her. He was heavy in his movements, and all the care he took in his diet and all his exercise did not prevent him from being fat; his bones were much too well covered and his joints had a middle-aged stiffness. His smart clothes, were a little tight for him and a little too young.

But when he came into the drawing-room before luncheon Kitty received quite a shock (this perhaps was why her pallor had been so marked), for she discovered that her imagination had played an odd trick on her: he did not in the least look as she had pictured him. She could hardly help laughing at herself. His hair was not gray at all, oh, there were a few white hairs on the temple, but they were becoming; and his face was not red, but sunburned; his head was very well placed on his neck; and he wasn't stout and he wasn't old: in fact he was almost slim and his figure was admirable--could you blame him if he was a trifle vain of it?--he might have been a young man. And of course he did know how to wear his clothes; it was absurd to deny that: he looked neat and clean and trim. Whatever could have possessed her to think him this and that? He was a very handsome man. It was lucky that she knew how worthless he was. Of course she had always admitted that his voice had a winning quality, and his voice was exactly as she remembered it: it made the falseness of every word he said more exasperating; its richness of tone and its warmth rang now in her ears with insincerity and she wondered how she could ever have been taken in by it. His eyes were beautiful: that was where his charm lay, they had such a soft, blue brilliance and even when he was talking balderdash an expression which was so delightful; it was almost impossible not to be moved by them.

At last the coffee was brought in and Charlie lit his cheroot. He looked at his watch and rose from the table.

“Well, I must leave you two young women to your own devices. It's time for me to get back to the office.” He paused and then with his friendly, charming eyes on Kitty said to her: “I'm not going to bother you for a day or two till you're rested, but then I want to have a little business talk with you.”

“With me?”

“We must make arrangements about your house, you know, and then there's the furniture.”

“Oh, but I can go to a lawyer. There's no reason why I should bother you about that.”

“Don't think for a moment I'm going to let you waste your money on legal expenses. I'm going to see to everything. You know you're entitled to a pension: I'm going to talk to H.E. about it and see if by making representations in the proper quarter we can't get something extra for you. You put yourself in my hands. But don't bother about anything just yet. All we want you to do now is to get fit and well: isn't that right, Dorothy?”

“Of course.”

He gave Kitty a little nod and then passing by his wife's chair took her hand and kissed it. Most Englishmen look a little foolish when they kiss a woman's hand; he did it with a graceful ease.

第七十三章

他们一起进餐厅去吃午餐，查理坐在桌子的一头，轻松地掌握着聊天的方向。查理说了一些向凯蒂表示同情和慰问的话，好像她没有受到灾难性的打击，而是刚从上海回来，在一次阑尾炎手术后进行休养。她需要开心，而他就准备着让她开心，让她感觉就像住在自己家里的最佳方式就是像家人一样对待她。他是一个很机敏的男人，他开始谈论起秋天的赛马会，还有马球——哎呀，如果他不能减肥的话，可能就得放弃打马球了——还有今天早晨他和总督的聊天内容。他还谈到了一场在海军旗舰上的聚会，谈到了广州的局势，以及在庐山的各种关系。过了几分钟，凯蒂觉得她好像不过是在周末离开了一下香港。可令人不可思议的是，在另一个国度，只有六百英里远（这距离也就是从伦敦到爱丁堡，不是吗？），男人、女人还有孩子们，就像苍蝇一样纷纷死去。不一会儿，她发现自己开始问这问那了，比如谁在打马球时摔断了颈椎，是否某某夫人已经回故乡了，是否某某夫人正在参加网球锦标赛。查理说着小笑话，而她也以微笑面对。多萝西还是一种高高在上的态度（不过现在她已经把凯蒂看作自己圈子里的人了，所以凯蒂也不再抵触，而是有一种和她是一伙人的感觉），对殖民地的各色人等，有种温和的讽刺。凯蒂开始觉得又有了活力。

“你瞧，她看上去已经好多了。”查理对他太太说道，“在午饭之前，我很吃惊她的脸色是那么苍白，现在她脸上已经有些红润了。”

然而，当凯蒂加入谈话，她注意观察了一下男主人，如果不是显得兴高采烈（她觉得无论是多萝西还是带着令人钦佩的有礼有节的感觉的查理，都不太赞赏这种神情），至少也显得兴趣盎然。过去的这段日子里，在她的想象中他占据着重要位置，所以她脑海中的他的印象十分鲜明。她报复性地想象他浓密的鬈发有点儿太长了，过于精心地梳理过，为了掩盖住头发已经灰白的事实，头发上抹了太多的油。他的脸也太红了，面颊上淡紫色的血管在充血，而且下颌也太大，当他没有略微抬头来遮掩时，可以看见他的双下巴，还有某种像猿猴似的东西在那些像刷子般的、花白的眉毛上，隐约让她感到恶心。他的动作有些迟缓了，他小心翼翼地注意饮食，千方百计地锻炼，也没有阻止他发胖，他的骨头他很留意掩饰，但关节已经显出了中年人的僵硬。他鲜亮的衣服穿在身上也显得太紧，而且显得太年轻了。

但是，午饭之前，当他走进客厅的时候，凯蒂十分震惊（这也可能就是她的脸色那么苍白的原因之一），因为她发现，她的想象跟她开了一个奇怪的玩笑，他一点儿也不像她所描绘的那幅画像，她几乎忍不住要嘲笑自己了。他的头发一点儿也没有变得灰白，哦，在太阳穴旁边是有几根白发，但一点儿也不显眼；他的脸也不红，而是被太阳晒成了古铜色；颈上的脑袋显得很精神，他既不显胖也不显老，事实上，他身材挺拔，令人艳羡——如果他有点儿虚荣，你能责怪他吗？——他应该还是个年轻人。而且，显而易见他懂得如何穿衣，否认这点是荒唐的，他看上去整洁、利索、衣冠楚楚。到底是什么原因才会让她在心里把他想象成这样或者那样？但他依然是个很帅的男人。所幸的是，她知道他是金玉其外、败絮其中的。当然，她必须得承认，他的声音很迷人，他的声音和她记忆中的一模一样，同样也能使他说的不实之词更让人生气。他丰富的语调，温暖的语气，现在还在她的耳畔萦绕，但说的话却是虚情假意，她很纳闷当初怎么把它当成甜言蜜语听进去的。他的眼睛也很漂亮，是他最动人的地方，他的眸子温柔、湛蓝、闪亮，甚至他在胡说八道时，眼中的神情也让人觉得愉快，你几乎不太可能不被它们打动。

最后，咖啡被端了上来，查理点着了他的方头雪茄，他看了看手表，从桌边站了起来。

“好了，我必须留下你们两个年轻的女人去聊你们自己感兴趣的事了。我该回办公室上班了。”他顿了一下，然后用他友好、迷人的眼睛看着凯蒂，对她说道，“我这两天不会打扰你，等你歇过来了，我有点儿买卖上的事要跟你谈。”

“和我谈？”

“你知道，我们必须对你的房产做一下安排，然后还有家具。”

“哦，但是我可以去找律师，没有理由因为这事麻烦你。”

“绝不要有这样的想法，我难道会让你把钱浪费在请律师上？我会去料理一切的。你知道你有权利得到一笔抚恤金，我回去会和总督阁下谈这个事的，看看是否可以和某个适当的部门交涉一下，为你多争取些利益。你的事就是我的事，交给我好了，但你现在还不用操心，我们当下想让你做的事是好好休息，对不对，多萝西？”

“当然。”

他向凯蒂点了点头，然后走过他太太的椅子，拿起她的手，亲吻了一下。大多数的英国男人亲吻一位妇女的手时，看上去都有一点儿笨拙，而他却显得优雅自如。