双语·《刀锋》 第四章 四

CHAPTER FOUR 4
第四章 四

I saw Gray and Isabel next day and told them that I had seen Larry. They were as much surprised as I had been.
次日见到格雷和伊莎贝尔，我把巧遇拉里的事跟他们讲了，他们俩和我当初一样，也颇感意外。

“It'll be wonderful to see him，”said Isabel.“Let's call him up at once.”
“能见见他是件让人开心的事。”伊莎贝尔说，“这就给他打个电话吧。”

Then I remembered that I hadn't thought of asking him where he was staying. Isabel gave me hell.
我这才想起自己忘记问他住在哪里了。为此，伊莎贝尔把我狠狠埋怨了几句。

“I'm not sure he'd have told me if I had，”I protested, laughing.“Probably my subconscious had something to do with it. Don't you remember, he never liked telling people where he lived.It was one of his oddities.He may walk in at any moment.”
“即便我问他，他也不一定会告诉我的。”我笑着辩白，“也许，这是我的潜意识在作怪吧。难道你忘了，他是从来都不喜欢把自己的住处告诉别人的。他怪也怪在这一点上。他随时都可能从哪个地方钻出来。”

“That would be like him，”said Gray.“Even in the old days you could never count on his being where you expected him to be. He was here today and gone tomorrow.You'd see him in a room and think in a moment you'd go and say hello to him and when you turned round he'd disappeared.”
“他就是这种人，”格雷说，“过去亦是如此，来无影去无踪，行迹难定，今天在此，明日在彼。你明明看见他在一个房间里，想着过会儿去跟他打个招呼，但一转身他就不见了。”

“He always was the most exasperating fellow，”said Isabel.“It's no good denying that. I suppose we shall just have to wait till it suits him to turn up.”
“他历来我行我素，十分叫人生气。”伊莎贝尔说，“这一点是谁都无法否认的。咱们只好等着了，他愿来的时候自然会来的。”

He didn't come that day, nor the next, nor the day after. Isabel accused me of having invented the story to annoy.I promised her I hadn't and sought to give her reasons why he hadn't shown up.But they were implausible.Within myself I wondered whether on thinking it over he hadn't made up his mind that he just didn't want to see Gray and Isabel and had wandered off somewhere or other away from Paris.I had a feeling already that he never took root anywhere, but was always prepared at a moment’s notice, for a reason that seemed good to him or on a whim, to move on.
那天他没有来，第二天也没有来，第三天亦没有见到他的影子。伊莎贝尔抱怨起来，说这件事是我编出来的，纯粹想惹她生气。我信誓旦旦地说自己没有撒谎，并设想出了一些拉里没来的原因向她解释。不过，我说的这些原因都是站不住脚的。我心中暗忖，他可能经过仔细考虑，决定不来见格雷和伊莎贝尔了，于是一走了之，离开巴黎到别的地方去了。我觉得他如闲云野鹤四处游荡，只凭一时高兴、一时兴起，或者说一时心血来潮，便倏忽不见。

He came at last. It was a rainy day and Gray hadn't gone to Mortefontaine.The three of us were together, Isabel and I drinking a cup of tea, Gray sipping a whisky and Perrier, when the butler opened the door and Larry strolled in.Isabel with a cry sprang to her feet and throwing herself into his arms kissed him on both cheeks.Gray, his fat red face redder than ever, warmly wrung his hand.
最后，他终于露面了。那是个雨天，格雷没有去莫特芳丹打球。我们三个人在一起——伊莎贝尔和我在喝茶，格雷端着一杯掺过毕雷矿泉水的威士忌细啜慢饮。管家打开房门，拉里迈着四方步走了进来。伊莎贝尔欢叫一声像弹簧一样跳了起来，冲上去扑进他的怀里，在他的脸上左亲右亲。格雷的一张红红胖胖的脸比平时更红了，热情地拉住他的手。

“Gee, I'm glad to see you, Larry，”he said, his voice choked with emotion.
“哈，看见你真让人高兴，拉里。”格雷说道，激动得声音都有些哽咽了。

Isabel bit her lip and I saw she was constraining herself not to cry.
伊莎贝尔咬着嘴唇，看得出她是强忍住才没有哭出声来。

“Have a drink, old man，”said Gray unsteadily.
“来喝杯酒，老伙计。”格雷颤抖着声音说。

I was touched by their delight at seeing the wanderer. It must have been pleasant for him to perceive how much he meant to them.He smiled happily.It was plain to me that he was, however, completely self-possessed.He noticed the tea things.
小两口见到这位浪迹天涯的朋友感到由衷的高兴，这幅场景见了叫人为之动容。一想到自己在他们心中占有如此重要的位置，拉里的心情一定会非常愉快的。只见他开心地绽出了笑容。但我觉得他内心深处是相当冷静的。寒暄间，他一眼看到了桌子上的茶具。

“I'll have a cup of tea，”he said.
“我想喝杯茶。”他说道。

“Oh, gosh, you don't want tea，”cried Gray.“Let's have a bottle of champagne.”
“啧，啧，怎么能喝茶呢。”格雷嚷嚷道，“咱们喝瓶香槟酒吧。”

“I'd prefer tea，”smiled Larry.
“我喜欢喝茶。”拉里笑吟吟地说。

His composure had on the others the effect he may have intended. They calmed down, but looked at him still with fond eyes.I don't mean to suggest that he responded to their natural exuberance with an ungracious coldness；on the contrary, he was as cordial and charming as one could wish；but I was conscious in his manner of something that I could only describe as remoteness and I wondered what it signified.
他的冷静对那两口子产生了影响，而这恐怕正是他想看到的。小两口平静了下来，但他们看他的眼神里仍充满了友爱。我并不是说，拉里对别人由衷的喜悦，报以无礼的冷漠；恰恰相反，他表现得异常彬彬有礼、和蔼可亲。但在他的言谈举止中隐约可见一种只能称之为超然的东西，至于那东西有着什么深层的含义我却一无所知。

“Why didn't you come and see us at once, you horror?”cried Isabel, with a pretence of indignation.“I've been hanging out of the window for the last five days to see you coming and every time the bell rang my heart leapt to my mouth and I had all I could do to swallow it again.”
“你真坏，为什么不早点儿来看望我们？”伊莎贝尔佯怒嗔怪道，“这五天里，我天天都倚在窗口盼你来呢。每次门铃响，我的心都要跳到嗓子眼里了，要费很大的劲才能把它重新咽下去。”

Larry chuckled.
拉里嘿嘿嘿一阵傻笑。

“Mr. M.told me I looked so tough that your man would never let me through the door.I flew over to London to get some clothes.”
“毛姆先生说我的样子太可怕，像个野蛮人，你们的管家不会叫我进门的。所以，我飞到伦敦购置新装了。”

“You needn't have done that，”I smiled.“You could have got a reach-me-down at the Printemps or the Belle Jardinière.”
“你用不着跑那么老远，”我笑笑说，“在春天百货公司或百丽服饰店就可以买到现成的衣服。”

“I thought if I was going to do it at all, I'd better do the thing in style. I haven't bought any European clothes for ten years.I went to your tailor and said I wanted a suit in three days.He said it would take a fortnight, so we compromised on four.I got back from London an hour ago.”
“我觉得既然要购置衣服，就最好弄有格调的。再说，我已经有十年没有在欧洲买衣服了。于是我就去找你的那个裁缝，说我想做套衣服，三天内取货。他说得用两个星期，后来折中定为四天。这不，一小时前，我刚从伦敦飞了回来。”

He wore a blue serge that nicely fitted his slim figure, a white shirt with a soft collar, a blue silk tie, and brown shoes. He had had his hair cut short and shaved off the hair on his face.He looked not only neat, but well-groomed.It was a transformation.He was very thin；his cheekbones were more prominent, his temples hollower, and his eyes in the deep sockets larger than I remembered them；but notwithstanding he looked very well；he looked, indeed, with his deeply sunburnt, unlined face, amazingly young.He was a year younger than Gray, they were both in their early thirties, but whereas Gray looked ten years more than his age, Larry looked ten years less.Gray's movements, owing to his great bulk, were deliberate and rather heavy；but Larry's were light and easy.His manner was boyish, gay, and debonair, but withal it had a serenity that I was peculiarly conscious of and that I did not recollect in the lad I had known before.And as the conversation proceeded, flowing without difficulty as was natural in old friends with so many common memories, with bits of news about Chicago thrown in by Gray and Isabel, trivial gossip, one thing leading to another, with airy laughter, my impression persisted that in Larry, though his laughter was frank and he listened with evident pleasure to Isabel's breezy chatter, there was a very singular detachment.I didn't feel that he was playing a part, he was too natural for that and his sincerity was obvious；I felt that there was something within him, I don't know whether to call it awareness or a sensibility or a force, that remained strangely aloof.
他穿着一套蓝色哔叽西服，对他瘦削的身材来说极为合体，内穿一件软领白衬衣，系一条蓝色丝绸领带，脚蹬一双棕色的鞋子。他剪了个短发，刮光了脸上的胡子，不仅看上去干净整洁，而且很入时，与以前相比判若两人。由于太瘦，颧骨突出，太阳穴凹陷，深藏在眼窝里的那双眸子比我记忆中的那双更显得大了。尽管如此，他的相貌仍是那般英俊潇洒、风流倜傥，一张晒黑了的、没有皱纹的脸让他显得异常年轻。他和格雷同为三十出头的人（他比格雷只小一岁），但格雷看上去要老十岁，而他则要年轻十岁。由于是个大块头，格雷动作迟缓、笨拙，拉里的一举一动却轻盈、敏捷。拉里像个小男孩一般，欢快和活泼，而我深切感觉到他的内心一片宁静——他已经不再是从前我认识的那个小青年了。谈话在轻松的气氛中进行着，这在老朋友之间是很自然的，因为他们有着许多共同的记忆。格雷和伊莎贝尔不时加几条芝加哥新闻进去，都是些零星花絮，一件连着一件，引得笑声朗朗。我一直有一个印象，就是拉里虽则笑得很爽朗，听伊莎贝尔滔滔不绝讲话时显得很高兴，他的内心却异常落寞。我觉得他并不是假装高兴；他生性纯真，不会弄虚作假；他的高兴显然是真诚的。但我感到在他的内心世界里有一样东西，不知该称之为知性、感性，抑或力量，使得他莫名其妙地有点落落寡合。

The children were brought in and made known to Larry, and gave him their polite little knicks. He held out his hand, looking at them with an engaging tenderness in his soft eyes, and they took it, staring at him gravely.Isabel brightly told him they were getting on nicely with their lessons, gave them a cookie each, and sent them away.
两个小姑娘被领了进来，和拉里见过，彬彬有礼地冲着拉里行了个屈膝礼。拉里伸出手来，柔和的眼睛里含着慈祥和仁爱望着她们。小姑娘们握了他的手，两双眼睛天真地看着他。伊莎贝尔喜滋滋地告诉拉里，说她们的功课都很不错，随后给了她们每人一块甜点心，把她们支走了。

“I'll come and read to you for ten minutes when you're in bed.”
“你们睡觉时，我去给你们念十分钟的书。”

She did not at that moment want to be interrupted in her pleasure at seeing Larry. The little girls went up to say good night to their father.It was charming to see the love that lit up the red face of that gross man as he took them in his arms and kissed them.No one could help seeing that he proudly adored them and when they were gone he turned to Larry and with a sweet slow smile on his lips said：
此时此刻，伊莎贝尔沉浸在与拉里重逢的喜悦中，不愿意受到打搅。小姑娘们走上前跟她们的父亲道晚安。那个大块头汉子把她们搂在怀里吻了吻，红脸上涌起浓浓的爱意，见了让人感动。谁都看得出他爱她们，为她们感到自豪。女儿走后，他唇边浮起甜蜜的微笑，对拉里说道：

“They're not bad kids, are they?”
“这俩孩子不错吧，是不是？”

Isabel gave him an affectionate glance.
伊莎贝尔深情地望了他一眼。

“If I let Gray have his way he'd spoil them to death. He'd let me starve, that great brute would, to feed the children on caviare and paté de foie gras.”
“要是由着格雷胡来，他会把她们惯坏的。这个大坏蛋，他会把我饿死，也要买来鱼子酱和鹅肝给孩子吃，让她们吃得发撑。”

He looked at her with a smile and said：“You're a liar and you know it. I worship the ground you tread on.”
格雷笑着瞧了瞧她说：“这你就说得不对了，你心里最清楚。我爱你爱得要发疯。”

There was a responsive smile in Isabel's eyes. She knew that and was glad of it.A happy couple.
伊莎贝尔的眼里涌出了会心的笑意。她对格雷的爱心知肚明，并为此感到高兴。多么幸福的一对夫妻！

She insisted that we should stay to dinner. I, thinking they would prefer to be by themselves, made excuses, but she would not listen to them.
她提出要留我们吃晚饭，我觉得他们也许愿意和拉里单独说说话，便推说有事，而她坚决不听我解释，说道：

“I'll tell Marie to put another carrot in the soup and there'll be plenty for four. There's a chicken, and you and Gray can eat the legs while Larry and I eat the wings, and she can make the soufflé large enough for all of us.”
“我去告诉玛丽在汤里多放一根胡萝卜，就够四个人吃的了。还有只鸡，你和格雷可以吃腿，我和拉里吃翅膀。她还会做奶蛋酥的，足够大家享用。”

Gray too seemed to want me to stay, so I let myself be persuaded to do what I wanted to.
格雷似乎也想让我留下。我本来就不想走，于是便来了个恭敬不如从命。

While we waited Isabel told Larry at length what I had already told him in brief. Though she narrated the lamentable story as gaily as possible Gray's face assumed an expression of sullen melancholy.She tried to cheer him up.
等待吃饭的当儿，伊莎贝尔把他们的遭遇从头到尾讲了一遍（他们的情况我曾经给拉里简单介绍过）。那段悲惨的往事她讲起来虽然语调尽可能轻松，但格雷的脸上却布上了一层阴云。她见了，想使格雷高兴起来，便说道：

“Anyhow, it's all over now. We've fallen on our feet and we've got the future before us.As soon as things improve, Gray's going to get a splendid job and make millions.”
“现在，一切都过去了。我们栽过跟头，但前途是光明的。到了峰回路转的时候，格雷就找个好工作，挣他个几百万块。”

Cocktails were brought in and a couple did something to raise the poor fellow's spirits. I saw that Larry, though he took one, scarcely touched it, and when Gray, unobservant, offered him another he refused.We washed our hands and sat down to dinner.Gray had ordered a bottle of champagne, but when the butler began to fill Larry's glass he told him he didn't want any.
鸡尾酒送了进来。两杯酒下肚，可怜的格雷情绪有所好转。我看见拉里虽然拿了一杯酒，却碰也没碰。格雷没有注意到这个，要再敬他一杯，被他婉拒了。然后，大家洗了手，坐下来吃晚饭。格雷要来一瓶香槟酒，可是管家给拉里倒酒时，他却说自己不想喝。

“Oh, but you must have some，”cried Isabel.“It's Uncle Elliott's best and he only gives it to very special guests.”
“嗨，你必须喝一点。”伊莎贝尔嚷嚷道，“这是艾略特舅舅最好的酒，只用来招待特殊的贵客。”

“To tell you the truth I prefer water. After having been in the East so long it's a treat to drink water that's safe.”
“实话说，我喜欢喝水。在东方待久了，觉得喝干净水是最好的。”

“This is an occasion.”
“今天这是特殊场合嘛。”

“All right, I'll drink a glass.”
“好吧。那我就喝一杯吧。”

The dinner was excellent, but Isabel noticed, as I did too, that Larry ate very little. It struck her, I suppose, that she had been doing all the talking and that Larry had had no chance to do more than listen, so now she began to question him on his actions during the ten years since she had seen him.He answered with his cordial frankness, but so vaguely as not to tell us much.
饭菜香喷喷的。但我和伊莎贝尔都注意到拉里吃得很少。伊莎贝尔也许觉得她只顾自己说话，拉里只有听的份儿，无机会插话，于是便问他在这十年未见的时间里都干了些什么。拉里回答时语气坦率、真诚，但含糊其词，等于没有告诉我们多少情况。

“Oh, I've been loafing around, you know. I spent a year in Germany and some time in Spain and Italy.And I knocked about the East for a bit.”
“哦，瞎转悠呗。在德国待了一年，又到西班牙和意大利待了些时间。后来又去东方游荡了一阵子。”

“Where have you just come from now?”
“你这是刚从哪里来的？”

“India.”
“从印度。”

“How long were you there?”
“你在印度待了多久？”

“Five years.”
“五年。”

“Did you have fun?”asked Gray.“Shoot any tigers?”
“玩得痛快吗？”格雷问，“去打老虎了吗？”

“No，”Larry smiled.
“没有。”拉里笑了笑说。

“What on earth were you doing with yourself in India for five years?”said Isabel.
“你在印度一待就是五年，都做些什么呢？”伊莎贝尔问。

“Playing about，”he answered, with a smile of kindly mockery.
“四处游玩。”拉里回答说，脸上露出一丝玩世不恭的微笑。

“What about the Rope Trick?”asked Gray.“Did you see that?”
“‘绳子魔术’是怎么回事？”格雷问，“你见他们表演过吗？”

“No, I didn't.”
“没有，没见过。”

“What did you see?”
“那你都见到过什么呢？”

“A lot.”
“那就多了。”

I put a question to him then.
此时，我向拉里提了一个问题：

“Is it true that the Yogis acquire powers that would seem to us supernatural?”
“瑜伽修行者是不是真的具有人们所说的超自然的能力？”

“I wouldn't know. All I can tell you is that it's commonly believed in India.But the wisest don't attach any importance to powers of that sort；they think they're apt to hinder spiritual progress.I remember one of them telling me of a Yogi who came to the bank of a river；he hadn't the money to pay the ferryman to take him across and the ferryman refused to take him for nothing, so he stepped on the water and walked upon its surface to the other side.The Yogi who told me shrugged his shoulders rather scornfully.‘A miracle like that，’he said，‘is worth no more than the penny it would have cost to go on the ferryboat.’”
“说不上来。我只能告诉你，在印度，人们都普遍这么认为。不过，智者并不看重这种能力，认为它会妨碍修真。记得一位智者给我讲过一个故事，说的是一个瑜伽师来到河边，苦于身上没钱，摆渡的船夫拒绝让他上船，于是瑜伽师踏水而去，如履平地，径直抵达对岸。讲到这里，智者鄙夷地耸了耸肩说：‘这样的雕虫小技不值钱，只顶得上乘渡船用的一个铜板。’”

“But d'you think the Yogi really walked over the water?”asked Gray.
“你觉得瑜伽师真的能踏水如履平地吗？”格雷问道。

“The Yogi who told me believed it implicitly.”
“那位智者是这么说的，显然他相信是真的。”

It was a pleasure to hear Larry talk, because he had a wonderfully melodious voice；it was light, rich without beingdeep, and with a singular variety of tone. We finished dinner and went back to the drawing-room to have our coffee.I had never been to India and was eager to hear more of it.
听拉里说话是一种享受，因为他声音纯美如天籁之音，圆润、轻快，而不低沉，抑扬顿挫恰到好处。饭后，大家回到客厅里喝咖啡。我没去过印度，急切想了解更多的情况。

“Did you come in contact with any writers and thinkers?”I asked.
“你跟作家和思想家有过接触吗？”我问。

“I notice that you make a distinction between the two，”said Isabel to tease me.
“我发现你把作家和思想家分成了两个群体。”伊莎贝尔取笑我说。

“I made it my business to，”Larry answered.
“当然要跟他们接触了。”拉里回答道。

“How did you communicate with them?In English?”
“你是怎么和他们交流的？用英语吗？”

“The most interesting, if they spoke at all, didn't speak it very well and understood less. I learnt Hindustani.And when I went south I picked up enough Tamil to get along pretty well.”
“有意思的是，他们即便会说英语，也说得不大好，理解上就更差了。我学了印度斯坦语，后来去南方，又学了泰米尔语，反正足够交流用的了。”

“How many languages d'you know now, Larry?”
“你现在懂多少种语言呀，拉里？”

“Oh, I don't know. Half a dozen or so.”
“哦，说不准，也就是六七种吧。”

“I want to know more about the Yogis，”said Isabel.“Did you get to know any of them intimately?”
“我还想多了解一点瑜伽师的情况。”伊莎贝尔说，“你和他们有没有关系很熟的？”

“As intimately as you can know persons who pass the best part of their time in the Infinite，”he smiled.“I spent two years in the Ashrama of one.”
“和几位终年苦修的瑜伽师倒是非常熟。”拉里笑了笑说，“我曾在一个苦修林住过两年。”

“Two years?What's an Ashrama?”
“两年？苦修林是个什么样的地方？”

“Well, I suppose you might call it a hermitage. There are holy men who live alone, in a temple, in the forest, or on the slopes of the Himalayas.There are others who attract disciples.A charitable person to acquire merit builds a room, large or small, to lodge a Yogi whose piety has impressed him, and the disciples live with him, sleeping on the veranda or in the cookhouse if there is one or under the trees.I had a tiny hut in the compound just big enough for my camp bed, a chair and a table, and a bookshelf.”
“这个嘛，你也可以把它叫作隐居地吧。有些圣人喜欢过独居生活，或在庙里，或在林中，或在喜马拉雅山山麓。还有一些圣人广招门徒。一些乐善好施的人为了积累功德，常常为自己崇拜的瑜伽圣人建造房屋，有大的也有小的，门徒们也随着自己的恩师一块居住，住在晾台上、厨房里（如果有厨房的话），或者栖身于树下。我在这样的苦修林中有一个斗室，刚能放得下我的行军床、桌椅和书架。”

“Where was this?”I inquired.
“这地方在哪儿？”我问。

“In Travancore, a beautiful country of green hills and valleys and soft-flowing rivers. Up in the mountains there are tigers, leopards, elephants, and bison, but the Ashrama was on a lagoon and all around it grew coconuts and areca palms.It was three or four miles from the nearest town, but people used to come from there, and even from much farther, on foot or by bullock cart, to hear the Yogi talk when he was inclined to, or just to sit at his feet and share with one another the peace and blessedness that were radiated from his presence as fragrance is wafted upon the air by a tuberose.”
“在特拉凡哥尔。那儿风景如画，青山翠谷，细水蜿蜒流淌。山中有老虎、豹子、大象和野牛，而苦修林位于环礁湖畔，周围椰子树和槟榔树郁郁葱葱。它距离最邻近的城镇也有三四英里远，但人们从镇上或更远的地方纷至沓来，有的步行，有的坐牛车，来听瑜伽圣人宣讲（如果他有兴致的话），或者仅仅坐在圣人的脚下，享受圣人所带来的那一份静谧和吉祥——那份静谧和吉祥犹如花香弥漫在空气中。”

Gray moved uneasily in his chair. I guessed that the conversation was taking a turn that he found uncomfortable.
格雷在椅子上不安地扭动着身子。我猜想可能是因为谈话转了弯，让他感到不耐烦了。

“Have a drink?”he said to me.
“来杯酒吗？”他问我。

“No, thanks.”
“不喝。谢谢。”

“Well, I'm going to have one. What about you Isabel?”
“哦，我可要喝一杯了。你喝不喝，伊莎贝尔？”

He raised his great weight from the chair and went over to the table on which stood whisky and Perrier and glasses.
他把巨大、沉重的身躯从椅子上抬起来，向吧台走去，那儿放着威士忌、毕雷矿泉水以及玻璃杯。

“Were there other white men there?”
“那地方还有别的白人吗？”

“No. I was the only one.”
“没有了。只有我一个白人。”

“How could you stand it for two years?”cried Isabel.
“两年的时间，你怎么能熬得下来？”

“They passed like a flash. I've spent days that seemed to be unconscionably longer.”
“一眨眼就过去了。以前过日子，就是几天好像也要比这两年漫长得多呢。”

“What did you do with yourself all the time?”
“那么长的时间，你都干些什么呀？”

“I read. I took long walks.I went out in a boat on the lagoon.I meditated.Meditation is very hard work；after two or three hours of it you're as exhausted as if you'd driven a car five hundred miles, and all you want to do is to rest.”
“看书、长距离散步、湖上荡舟，以及冥思。冥思十分耗费精力，两三个小时就会叫你精疲力竭，仿佛开车一口气跑了五百英里的路一样，只想好好休息一下。”

Isabel frowned slightly. She was puzzled and I'm not sure that she wasn't a trifle scared.I think she was beginning to have a notion that the Larry who had entered the room a few hours before, though unchanged in appearance and seemingly as open and friendly as he had ever been, was not the same as the Larry, so candid, easy, and gay, wilful to her mind but delightful, that she had known in the past.She had lost him before, and on seeing him again, taking him for the old Larry, she had a feeling that, however altered the circumstances, he was still hers；and now, as though she had sought to catch a sunbeam in her hand and it slipped through her fingers as she grasped it, she was a trifle dismayed.I had looked at her a good deal that evening, which was always a pleasant thing to do, and had seen the fondness in hereyes as they rested on his trim head, with the small ears close to the skull, and how the expression in them changed when they dwelt on his hollow temples and the thinness of his cheek.She glanced at his long lean hands, which notwithstanding their emaciation were strong and virile.Then her gaze lingered on his mobile mouth, well shaped, full without being sensual, and on his serene brow and clean-cut nose.He wore his new clothes not with the bandbox elegance of Elliott, but with a sort of loose carelessness as though he had worn them every day for a year.I felt that he aroused in Isabel motherly instincts I had never felt in her relation with her children.She was an experienced woman；he still looked a boy；and I seemed to read in her air the pride of a mother for her grown-up son because he is talking intelligently and others are listening to him as if he made sense.I don't think the import of what he said penetrated her consciousness.
伊莎贝尔微微皱了皱眉头。她心里一片迷茫，恐怕也有点害怕。她可能有一种想法，这个几小时前走进屋来的拉里，虽然表面上没有变化，好像仍和从前一样开朗和友爱，但和她过去认识的那个拉里，那个非常坦率、平易、欢快、任性不听话但讨人喜欢的拉里已经不是一个人了。她曾经失去了他，如今重逢，起先以为他还是昔日的拉里，尽管历尽沧桑，却依旧属于她。然而现在，她好像抓了一把阳光在手里，那阳光从指头缝里溜掉了。这让她有点沮丧。那天晚上，我一直在盯着她瞧（这在我历来都是赏心悦目的事）。我发现她眼里充满着喜悦在看拉里那修剪得很整齐的脑袋（两只小耳朵紧贴着那脑袋壳），当她的目光落在拉里凹陷的太阳穴和消瘦的脸颊上时，眼神由喜转忧。她又望望他那瘦长的手——那双手虽然很瘦，却强壮有力。后来，她的目光移向了他那富于表情的嘴——那张嘴的嘴形好看，丰满但不性感，接着又去看他那平展的额头和端正的鼻子。他穿一身新装，虽没有艾略特的那种整洁、风雅，却落拓不羁、潇洒自如，好像那是一身天天穿的日常衣服似的。我觉得他似乎激起了伊莎贝尔的一种舐犊之情，而这种感情在她和自己的女儿之间并不曾见。她已有了当母亲的经历，而他看上去还像个孩子。她的神情中有一种母性的骄傲，一种为长大成人的儿子而产生的骄傲——那儿子说话有条有理，引得大家侧耳倾听，仿佛他在讲述真理。我觉得她并没有真正理解他话中的含意。

But I was not done with my questioning.
至此，我的话仍未问完。

“What was your Yogi like?”
“你的瑜伽师是个什么样子？”

“In person, d'you mean?Well, he wasn't tall, neither thin nor fat, palish brown in colour and clean-shaven, with close-cropped white hair. He never wore anything but a loincloth, and yet he managed to look as trim and neat and well dressed as a young man in one of Brooks Brothers'advertisements.”
“你指的是外表吧？这个嘛，个子不高，不胖也不瘦，浅棕色皮肤，脸刮得光光的，一头白发剪得很短，身上除掉一块围腰布外，什么也不穿，但看上去就和布克兄弟男装公司广告牌上的那个年轻男子一样干净利落，一样穿着得体。”

“And what had he got that particularly attracted you?”
“他究竟有什么特殊之处如此吸引你呢？”

Larry looked at me for a full minute before answering. His eyes in their deep sockets seemed as though they were trying to pierce to the depths of my soul.
拉里凝神看着我整整有一分钟，最后才做出了回答。他那双深陷在眼窝里的眼睛目光炯炯，好像要射入我的灵魂深处一样。

“Saintliness.”
“圣徒气息。”

I was slightly disconcerted by his reply. In that room, with its fine furniture, with those lovely drawings on the walls, the word fell like a plop of water that has seeped through the ceiling from an overflowing bath.
他的回答使我感到有点意外。在这个陈设着精美家具、墙上挂着名画的房间里，这句话就像浴缸里溢出的水从天花板上漏下来，啪嗒一声落在了地面上。

“We've read all about the saints, St. Francis, St.John of the Cross, but that was hundreds of years ago.I never thought it possible to meet one who was alive now.From the first time I saw him I never doubted that he was a saint.It was a wonderful experience.”
“咱们都读过圣徒传，其中有圣佛兰西斯，有十字架的圣约翰，但那都是几百年前的事了。我从未想到过能遇见一个仍活在世上的圣徒。我第一次见到他，就坚定不移地相信他是个圣徒。那是一段美妙的人生经历。”

“And what did you gain from it?”
“你的收获是什么呢？”

“Peace，”he said casually, with a light smile. Then, abruptly, he rose to his feet.“I must go.”
“宁静。”他脱口而出，脸上淡淡一笑。随后，他突然站起身说：“我得走了。”

“Oh, not yet, Larry，”cried Isabel.“It's quite early.”
“噢，不要走，拉里。”伊莎贝尔叫了起来，“时间还早呢。”

“Good night，”he said, smiling still, taking no notice of her expostulation. He kissed her on the cheek.“I'll see you again in a day or two.”
“晚安。”他说道，脸上仍挂着微笑，丝毫没有理会伊莎贝尔的央求。他在伊莎贝尔的面颊上亲了亲，对她说道：“过一两天我再来看你们。”

“where are you staying?I'll call you.”
“你住在哪里？我给你打电话。”

“Oh, don't bother to do that. You know how difficult it is to get a call through in Paris, and in any case our telephone is generally out of order.”
“哦，劝你别找这个麻烦了。你也知道在巴黎打个电话有多难。再说，我们那儿的电话常常出毛病。”

I laughed inwardly at the neatness with which Larry had got out of giving an address. It was a queer kink of his to make a secret of his abode.I suggested that they should all dine with me next evening but one in the Bois de Boulogne.It was very pleasant in that balmy spring weather to eat out-of-doors, under the trees, and Gray could drive us there in the coupé.I left with Larry and would willingly have walked some way with him, but as we got into the street he shook hands with me and walked quickly off.I got into a taxi.
拉里不愿说出住址，利落地摆脱了窘境，我见了心里不由发笑。隐瞒住址成了他的一个古怪的特征。我提出要请大家后天晚上去布伦园林吃饭。在这样四处飘香的春天，露天坐在大树下面吃饭，确是一大享受。到时候，可以坐上格雷开的汽车一同前往。我跟拉里一同出了门，本想陪他走一段路，可一到街上他就跟我握了握手，快步走掉了。他走后，我坐上了一辆出租车。