双语·《刀锋》 第二章 六

CHAPTER TWO 6
第二章 六

I had come back from the East and was spending some time in London just then. It was perhaps a fortnight after the events I have just related that Elliott called me up one morning.I was not surprised to hear his voice, for I knew that he was in the habit of coming to England to enjoy the fag end of the season.He told me that Mrs.Bradley and Isabelwere with him and if I would drop in that evening at six for a drink they would be glad to see me.They were, of course, staying at Claridge's.I was at that time living not far from there, so I strolled down Park Lane and through the quiet, dignified streets of Mayfair till I came to the hotel.Elliott had his usual suite.It was panelled in brown wood like the wood of a cigar box and furnished with quiet sumptuousness.He was alone when I was ushered in.Mrs.Bradley and Isabel had gone shopping and he was expecting them at any minute.He told me that Isabel had broken her engagement to Larry.
此时，我已从东方返回伦敦，准备在伦敦住一住。上述事件发生后大概有两个星期吧，一天上午艾略特打来了电话。听见他的声音，我并不感到奇怪，因为他有个习惯，总爱在交际季节落幕时来英国游一趟。他告诉我，布雷德利夫人和伊莎贝尔与他一起来了，说如果我傍晚六点钟能去他那儿喝杯酒，她们见到我一定会很高兴的。他们一家当然住的是克拉里奇酒店了。我下榻的地方离那儿不远，于是我便以步代车朝那儿走，先是漫步于公园巷，然后穿过梅菲尔区那一条条静谧、高贵的街道，一直走到克拉里奇酒店。艾略特住的还是平时住过的那套房间，墙上镶着褐色壁板，壁板的材质跟雪茄盒的一样，陈设既典雅又豪华。服务生把我领进去时，房间里只有他一个人，布雷德利夫人和伊莎贝尔出去购物了，但是也快回来了。他把伊莎贝尔和拉里解除婚约的事情告诉了我。

Elliott with his romantic and highly conventional sense of how people should comport themselves under given circumstances had been disconcerted by the young people's behaviour. Not only had Larry come to lunch the very day after the break, but he had acted as though his position were unchanged.He was as pleasant, attentive, and soberly gay as usual.He treated Isabel with the same comradely affectionateness with which he had always treated her.He seemed neither harassed, upset, nor woebegone.Nor did Isabel appear dispirited.She looked as happy, she laughed as lightly, she jested as merrily as though she had not just taken a decisive and surely searing step in her life.Elliott could not make head or tail of it.From such scraps of their conversation as he caught he gathered that they had no intention of breaking any of the dates they had made.On the first opportunity he talked it over with his sister.
对于如何行为、如何处世，艾略特自有一套看法，一套既浪漫又十分传统的看法。这俩年轻人的做法叫他颇为不安。解除婚约后的第二天，拉里不但照样来赴午宴，还没事人似的，就好像他的地位并没有改变。他仍像往常那样和颜悦色、彬彬有礼，还是那样安静和快活。对待伊莎贝尔，他也是一如既往，仍是那般遗情缱绻。他似乎没有感到落魄，没有情绪低落，也没有哀伤。伊莎贝尔亦没有精神低迷的迹象，而是一脸的快活，笑声朗朗，高高兴兴地插科打诨，仿佛并不曾刚刚做出了一项有关自己一生的重大、痛切的决定。艾略特如坠五里雾中，一下子摸不着头脑了。那俩年轻人说话的只言片语传进了他的耳朵，于是他得知他们无意取消以前商量好的约会。他瞅了个机会，把此事和姐姐谈了谈。

“It's not decent，”he said.“They can't run around together as if they were still engaged. Larry really should have more sense of propriety.Besides, it damages Isabel's chances.Young Fotheringham, that boy at the British Embassy, is obviously taken with her；he's got money and he's very well connected；if he knew the coast was clear I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he made her an offer, I think you ought to talk to her about it.”
“这不成体统。”他说，“他们不能够仍旧像订婚一样，一块儿到处跑，拉里真的应该懂得一点进退。再说，这样会毁掉伊莎贝尔的机会。福瑟林厄姆，就是英国大使馆的那个小伙子很明显看上了伊莎贝尔，他可是既有钱又有社会地位。假如他知道伊莎贝尔解除了婚约，并向她伸出橄榄枝，那我一点都不会感到奇怪。依我看，你应该跟伊莎贝尔好好谈谈。”

“My dear, Isabel's twenty and she has a technique for telling you to mind your own business without offensiveness which I've always found very difficult to cope with.”
“亲爱的，伊莎贝尔是二十岁的人了，她有套办法能够委婉地告诉你不要管她的事情。这使我一直很难对付。”

“Then you've brought her up extremely badly, Louisa. And besides, it is your business.”
“那么，就都怪你管教太不得当了，路易莎。话又说回来，她的终身大事也是你分内的事。”

“That is a point on which you and she would certainly differ.”
“在这一点上，你和她有着明显的分歧。”

“You're trying my patience, Louisa.”
“你简直叫我无法容忍，路易莎。”

“My poor Elliott, if you'd ever had a grown-up daughter you'd know that by comparison a bucking steer is easy to manage. And as to knowing what goes on inside her-well, it's much better to pretend you're the simple, innocent old fool she almost certainly takes you for.”
“我可怜的艾略特，假如你有个已经长大成人的女儿，你会发现她比一匹乱尥蹶子的小马还难管。你还想知道她心里是怎么想的……算了吧，还是装糊涂的好，装作一个头脑简单、什么都不懂的老糊涂虫——你在她眼里八成就是这么个样子。”

“But you have talked the matter over with her?”
“可你不是跟她谈过这件事了么？”

“I tried to. She laughed at me and told me there was really nothing to tell.”
“我打算谈来着。她却冲我哈哈大笑，说实在没有什么可谈的。”

“Is she cut up?”
“她难过吗？”

“I wouldn't know. All I do know is that she eats well and sleeps like a child.”
“我也不知道，只知道她吃饭吃得香，睡觉也睡得香，睡起觉就像个小孩子一样。”

“Well, take my word for it, if you let them go on like this they'll go off one of these days and get married without saying a word to anybody.”
“哼，你记住我的话，如果你听任他们这样继续下去，总有一天他们会溜掉，招呼也不打就结婚的。”

Mrs. Bradley permitted herself to smile.
布雷德利夫人忍不住笑了。

“It must be a relief to you to think that at present we're living in a country where every facility is afforded to sexual irregularity and every obstacle put in the way of marriage.”
“你尽管可以放心——他们现在在这么一个国家里呢，不正常的男女关系有着种种方便，结婚却会遇到重重障碍。”

“And quite rightly. Marriage is a serious matter on which rest the security of the family and the stability of the state.But marriage can only maintain its authority if extra-conjugal relations are not only tolerated but sanctioned.Prostitution, my poor Louisa—”
“这没什么不好的。结婚是严肃的事情，关乎家庭的安全和国家的稳定。婚外情不仅要容忍，还应该得到认可，唯有如此，才能保障婚姻的威严。嫖娼卖淫嘛，我可怜的路易莎……”

“That'll do, Elliott，'interrupted Mrs. Bradley.“I'm not interested in your views on the social and moral values of promiscuous fornication.”
“够啦，艾略特！”布雷德利夫人打断了他的话，“你对不正常男女关系的社会价值和道德价值所发表的奇谈怪论我不感兴趣。”

It was then he put forward a scheme that would interrupt Isabel's continued intercourse with Larry, which was so repugnant to his sense of what was fitting. The Paris season was drawing to a close and all the best people were arranging to go to watering places or to Deauville before repairing for the rest of the summer to their ancestral chateaux in Touraine, Anjou, or Brittany.Ordinarily Elliott went to London at the end of June, but his family feeling was strong and his affection for his sister and Isabel sincere；he had been quite ready to sacrifice himself and remain in Paris, ifthey wished it, when no one who was anyone was there；but he found himself now in the agreeable situation of being able to do what was best for others and at the same time what was convenient to himself.He proposed to Mrs.Bradley that the three of them should go to London immediately, where the season was still in full swing and where new interests and new friends would distract Isabel’s mind from her unfortunate entanglement.According to the papers the great specialist on Mrs.Bradley’s disease was then in the British capital and the desirability of consulting him would reasonably account for their precipitate departure and override any disinclination to leave Paris that Isabel might have.Mrs.Bradley fell in with the plan.She was puzzled by Isabel.She could not make up her mind whether she was as carefree as she seemed or whether, hurt, angry, or heartsick, she was putting on a bold front to conceal her wounded feelings.Mrs.Bradley could only agree with Elliott that it would do Isabel good to see new people and new places.
就在这时，艾略特提出了一项计划，可以切断伊莎贝尔和拉里藕断丝连的关系——这种关系叫他厌恶，不符合他的人生观。巴黎的社交季节已接近尾声。上流社会的人们都在准备到海滨度假地去，或者到多维尔去，然后各自回祖传的城堡消夏——那些城堡分布于都兰、安茹或者布列塔尼。艾略特通常都是在六月底去伦敦的，可是由于他的家庭观念很强，对姐姐以及伊莎贝尔的感情又是那么诚挚，所以他准备牺牲自己的利益，就是在有头有脸的人都走光的情况下，只要姐姐她们俩想留在巴黎，他也会留下相陪。不过，他发现了一种两全其美的途径，既能够为他人考虑，又方便了自己。他向布雷德利夫人建议，他们三人应该立刻启程到伦敦去。那儿的社交季节正处在高潮，可以参加新的有趣的活动，结交新的朋友，这会转移伊莎贝尔的注意力，使她不再去想她那不幸的遭遇。根据报纸上的报道，专治布雷德利夫人这种病的那位出了名的医生恰好正在英国的首都，找他治病可以成为他们匆匆离开巴黎的一种合理的说法，即便伊莎贝尔不情愿，也会说不出口的。布雷德利夫人同意了这个计划。伊莎贝尔的表现叫她感到困惑。她实在弄不清自己的女儿，不知女儿是不是真的像表面那样一点不在乎，还是心里痛苦、气愤或者伤心，却装出一副英雄相，把打掉的牙往肚子里咽。她只能同意艾略特的说法——结识新的人，游历新的地方，对伊莎贝尔自有好处。

Elliott got busy on the telephone and when Isabel, who had been spending the day at Versailles with Larry, came home, he was able to tell her that he had made an appointment for her mother to see the celebrated doctor three days from then, that he had engaged a suite at Claridge's and that they were starting on the next day but one. Mrs.Bradley watched her daughter while this intelligence was being somewhat smugly imparted to her by Elliott, but she did not turn a hair.
接下来，艾略特打了一通电话。此时的伊莎贝尔正和拉里一同逛凡尔赛宫。等到她回来，艾略特把情况告诉了她，说他已经约好带她的母亲去那位名医处看病，约定的时间是三天后，还说在克拉里奇酒店已订好了房间，他们一家后天便要启程到伦敦去。当艾略特颇有得色地给伊莎贝尔讲述出行计划时，布雷德利夫人留意观察女儿的反应，却见她神色不动。

“Oh, darling, I'm so glad you're going to see that doctor，”she cried with her usual rather breathless impetuosity.“Of course, you mustn't miss the chance. And it'll be grand going to London.How long are we going to stay?”
“啊，亲爱的妈妈，很高兴你能够去找那个医生看病。”伊莎贝尔说道，语调仍像往常那样急火火的，像喘不过气似的，“这个机会当然是不容错过的。到伦敦去一定是段非凡的经历。在那儿待多长时间呢？”

“It would be useless to come back to Paris，”said Elliott.“There won't be a soul here in a week. I want you to stay with me at Claridge's for the rest of the season.There are always some good balls in July and of course there's Wimbledon.And then Goodwood and Cowes.I'm sure the Ellinghams will be glad to have us on their yacht for Cowes and the Bantocks always have a large party for Goodwood.”
“急着返回巴黎是毫无意义的，”艾略特说，“因为一个星期之内，这里的人都要走光了。我要你们跟我在克拉里奇酒店住完这个社交季节。七月份总会有些别开生面的舞会的，当然还有温布尔登网球公开赛喽。之后，还有古德伍德公园附近举行的赛马会和考斯的赛船。我敢说，埃林厄姆家一定会欢迎咱们坐他们的游艇去考斯看赛船的，而班托克家历来都会在古德伍德赛马时举办一场规模宏大的宴会。”

Isabel appeared to be delighted and Mrs. Bradley was reassured.It looked as though she were not giving Larry a thought.
伊莎贝尔看上去很高兴，布雷德利夫人这才松了口气。伊莎贝尔好像根本没有把拉里往心里放。

Elliott had just finished telling me all this when mother and daughter came in. I had not seen them for more than eighteen months.Mrs.Bradley was a little thinner than before and more pasty-faced；she looked tired and none too well.But Isabel was blooming.With her high colour, the rich brown of her hair, her shining hazel eyes, her clear skin, she gave an impression of such youth, of so much enjoyment of the mere fact of being alive, that you felt half inclined to laugh with delight.She gave me the rather absurd notion of a pear, golden and luscious, perfectly ripe and simply asking to be eaten.She radiated warmth so that you thought that if you held out your hands you could feel its comfort.She looked taller than when I had last seen her, whether because she wore higher heels or because the clever dressmaker had cut her frock to conceal her youthful plumpness I don't know, and she held herself with the graceful ease of a girl who has played outdoor games since childhood.She was in short sexually a very attractive young woman.Had I been her mother I should have thought it high time she was married.
艾略特刚给我把情况介绍完，那一对母女就回来了。没见她们的面，已经有超过一年半的时间了。布雷德利夫人比以前瘦了些，脸色也比以前苍白了，倦容满面，气色极差。而伊莎贝尔却容光焕发，脸蛋红扑扑的，一头深褐色的头发，淡褐色的眼睛神采奕奕，肤如凝脂，给人以青春荡漾的印象，乐乐呵呵的，好像活着就是一种幸福。看到她，你心里会不由得充满喜悦，笑出声来。我甚至产生了一个十分荒唐的想法，觉得她就像一枚金黄的熟透了的梨子，香甜可口，只等你来吃呢。她身上散发出阵阵暖意，让你觉得只要伸出手就能感受到温馨。与上次见到她时相比，她看上去高了些，不知道是因为穿了高跟鞋的缘故，还是因为那个聪明的裁缝把她的衣服裁剪得好，遮住了她年轻丰满的躯体，使她的个头显高了些。她的一举一动都显示出自小便习惯于户外运动的女孩子的那种潇洒自如。总之，从性的角度看，她已经出落成了一个非常诱人的年轻女子。我要是她母亲的话，会认为她已经到嫁人的时候了。

Glad of the opportunity to repay some of the kindness I had received from Mrs. Bradley in Chicago, I asked them all three to come to a play with me one evening.I arranged to give a luncheon for them.
我很高兴现在有了机会，总算可以稍稍报答一下布雷德利夫人对我的招待了。我邀请他们三个晚上一块儿去看戏，还为他们三人安排了一次午宴。

“You'll be wise to get in at once, my dear fellow，”said Elliott.“I've already let my friends know we're here and I presume that in a day or two we shall be fixed up for the rest of the season.”
“干得好，你约的正是时候，亲爱的老伙计。”艾略特说，“我已经通知了一些朋友，说我们到了伦敦。一两天之内，这个季节我们的日程恐怕就会被排得满满的了。”

I understood by this that Elliott meant that then they would have no time for the likes of me and I laughed. Elliott gave me a glance in which I discerned a certain hauteur.
听他的话音，像是说他们没有时间陪我这样的人。我只好付之一笑。艾略特看了我一眼，眼神里带着几分傲慢。

“But of course you'll generally find us here about six o'clock and we shall always be glad to see you，”he said graciously, but with the evident intention of putting me, as an author, in my humble place.
“不过，我们每天下午六点钟左右一般都在酒店里，你来我们会很高兴的。”他说话的语气很委婉，意思却很明确——我只不过是个小作家，地位低下。

But the worm sometimes turns.
殊不知兔子急了也会咬人的。

“You must try to get in touch with the St. Olpherds，”I said.“I hear they want to dispose of their Constable of Salisbury Cathedral.”
“你应该和圣奥尔弗德家联系一下，”我话中有话地说，“听说他们想卖掉家中的那幅康斯特布尔画的《索尔兹伯里大教堂》。”

“I'm not buying any pictures just now.”
“我眼下不想买什么画。”

“I know, but I thought you might dispose of it for them.”
“这我知道，但我觉得你可以帮他们处理掉嘛。”

A steely glitter came into Elliott's eyes.
艾略特的眼睛里透出了一丝冷冷的光。

“My dear fellow, the English are a great people, but they have never been able to paint and never will be able to paint. I am not interested in the English school.”
“亲爱的老伙计，英国人是一个伟大的民族，可是他们没有绘画的天赋，永远也不会有的。我对英国画派不感兴趣。”