A day or two later Mrs. Strickland sent me round a note asking if I could go and see her that evening after dinner. —
一两天后，史崔克兰太太送我一张便条，问我晚饭后是否能去看她。 —

I found her alone. Her black dress, simple to austerity, suggested her bereaved condition, and I was innocently astonished that notwithstanding a real emotion she was able to dress the part she had to play according to her notions of seemliness.
我找到她一个人。她的黑色服装，简约到朴素，昭示着她的丧偶身份，我无辜地惊讶于尽管情感真实，她还能按照她对得体的看法扮演角色。

“You said that if I wanted you to do anything you wouldn’t mind doing it, ” she remarked.
“你说过如果我需要你做什么，你不会介意的，”她说。

“It was quite true. “
“那是真的。”

“Will you go over to Paris and see Charlie?”
“你愿意去巴黎看看查理吗？”

“I?”
“我？”

I was taken aback. I reflected that I had only seen him once. —
我感到措手不及。我想到我只见过他一次。 —

I did not know what she wanted me to do.
我不知道她想让我做什么。

“Fred is set on going. ” Fred was Colonel MacAndrew. —
“弗雷德执意去。”弗雷德是麦克安德鲁上校。 —

“But I’m sure he’s not the man to go. He’ll only make things worse. —
“但我确信他不适合去。他只会把事情搞得更糟。 —

I don’t know who else to ask. “
我不知道还能找谁。”

Her voice trembled a little, and I felt a brute even to hesitate.
她的声音有点颤抖，我甚至感到犹豫是种残忍。

“But I’ve not spoken ten words to your husband. He doesn’t know me. —
“但我只和你丈夫说过十个词。他不认识我。 —

He’ll probably just tell me to go to the devil. “
他可能只会告诉我去死。”

“That wouldn’t hurt you, ” said Mrs. Strickland, smiling.
“那不会伤害到你，”史崔克兰太太笑着说。

“What is it exactly you want me to do?”
“你到底想让我做什么？”

She did not answer directly.
她没有直接回答。

“I think it’s rather an advantage that he doesn’t know you. You see, he never really liked Fred; —
“我觉得他不认识你其实是个优势。你知道，他从来不喜欢弗雷德； —

he thought him a fool; he didn’t understand soldiers. —
他觉得他是个傻瓜；他不懂得军人。 —

Fred would fly into a passion, and there’d be a quarrel, and things would be worse instead of better. —
弗雷德会勃然大怒，吵架会发生，事情会变得更糟。 —

If you said you came on my behalf, he couldn’t refuse to listen to you. “
如果你说你是代表我来的，他就无法拒绝听你说话。”

“I haven’t known you very long, ” I answered. —
“我认识你的时间不长，” 我回答道。 —

“I don’t see how anyone can be expected to tackle a case like this unless he knows all the details. —
“我认为除非他知道所有细节，否则任何人都无法解决这样的案子。 —

I don’t want to pry into what doesn’t concern me. —
我不想探究与我无关的事情。 —

Why don’t you go and see him yourself?”
为什么你不亲自去见他呢？”

“You forget he isn’t alone. “
“你忘了他不是一个人。”

I held my tongue. I saw myself calling on Charles Strickland and sending in my card; —
我闭上了嘴。我想象着自己去拜访查尔斯·斯特里克兰德并递上我的名片； —

I saw him come into the room, holding it between finger and thumb:
我看到他走进房间，用手指和拇指捏着名片：

“To what do I owe this honour?”
“我能得到这份荣耀是因为何事？”

“I’ve come to see you about your wife. “
“我来找你是为了你的妻子。”

“Really. When you are a little older you will doubtless learn the advantage of minding your own business. —
真的，等你长大一点，你无疑会明白留意自己的事情有何好处。 —

If you will be so good as to turn your head slightly to the left, you will see the door. —
如果你能稍微往左转一点头，你会看见门。 —

I wish you good-afternoon. “
祝你下午好。

I foresaw that it would be difficult to make my exit with dignity, and I wished to goodness that I had not returned to London till Mrs. Strickland had composed her difficulties. —
我预见到要有尊严地离开会很困难，希望我没回伦敦直到斯特里克兰太太解决了她的困难。 —

I stole a glance at her. She was immersed in thought. —
我偷偷看了她一眼。她陷入了沉思。 —

Presently she looked up at me, sighed deeply, and smiled.
她很快抬头看着我，深深地叹了口气，微笑着。

“It was all so unexpected, ” she said. “We’d been married seventeen years. —
“一切来得太突然了，”她说，“我们结婚已经十七年了。 —

I sever dreamed that Charlie was the sort of man to get infatuated with anyone. —
我从没想过查理会沉醉于某个人。 —

We always got on very well together. Of course, I had a great many interests that he didn’t share. “
我们一直相处得很好。当然，我有很多兴趣他并不分享。”

“Have you found out who” – I did not quite know how to express myself – “who the person, who it is he’s gone away with?”
“你找出是谁”–我不太知道该怎么说–“让他跟着走的那个人了吗？

“No. No one seems to have an idea. It’s so strange. —
“没有。没有人好像有任何线索。这太奇怪了。 —

Generally when a man falls in love with someone people see them about together, lunching or something, and her friends always come and tell the wife. —
通常一个男人爱上某人时，大家会见到他们在一起，共进午餐之类的，她的朋友们总会来告知妻子。 —

I had no warning – nothing. His letter came like a thunderbolt. —
我没有任何预警–什么都没有。他的信像一道霹雳一样来了。 —

I thought he was perfectly happy. “
我以为他完全幸福。

She began to cry, poor thing, and I felt very sorry for her. But in a little while she grew calmer.
她开始哭了，可怜的女人，我很为她难过。但过了一会儿，她变得冷静了。

“It’s no good making a fool of myself, ” she said, drying her eyes. —
“做个傻瓜没有意义，”她说着擦干眼泪。 —

“The only thing is to decide what is the best thing to do. “
“唯一的问题是决定做什么才是最好的事情。”

She went on, talking somewhat at random, now of the recent past, then of their first meeting and their marriage; —
她继续说着，有些随意地谈论着最近的过去，然后是他们的初次相遇和结婚； —

but presently I began to form a fairly coherent picture of their lives; —
但我很快开始构建出一个相当连贯的生活画面； —

and it seemed to me that my surmises had not been incorrect. —
看来我的推测并没有错。 —

Mrs. Strickland was the daughter of an Indian civilian, who on his retirement had settled in the depths of the country, but it was his habit every August to take his family to Eastbourne for change of air; —
斯特里克兰太太是一位印度文官的女儿，父亲退休后定居在偏远的乡村，但每年八月习惯带着家人去伊斯特本呼吸新鲜空气； —

and it was here, when she was twenty, that she met Charles Strickland. He was twenty-three. —
正是在这里，当她二十岁时，她遇见了查尔斯·斯特里克兰。他当时二十三岁。 —

They played together, walked on the front together, listened together to the nigger minstrels; —
他们一起玩耍，一起在海滨散步，一起听黑人乐队的音乐； —

and she had made up her mind to accept him a week before he proposed to her. —
她早在他向她求婚前一个星期就已经决定接受他了。 —

They lived in London, first in Hampstead, and then, as he grew more prosperous, in town. —
他们住在伦敦，开始在汉普斯特德，后来，随着他变得更加富有，搬到了城里。 —

Two children were born to them.
他们生了两个孩子。

“He always seemed very fond of them. Even if he was tired of me, I wonder that he had the heart to leave them. —
“他一直对他们很疼爱。即使他对我厌倦了，我想知道他怎么忍心离开他们。 —

It’s all so incredible. Even now I can hardly believe it’s true. “
这一切都太不可思议了。即使现在我仍然难以相信这是真的。”

At last she showed me the letter he had written. —
最后她给我看了他写的信。 —

I was curious to see it, but had not ventured to ask for it.
我很好奇看看，但没敢索要。

“MY DEAR AMY,
“亲爱的艾米，

“I think you will find everything all right in the flat. —
“我觉得你会发现公寓里一切都很好。 —

I have given Anne your instructions, and dinner will be ready for you and the children when you come. —
我已经把你的指示告诉了安妮，当你和孩子们到的时候晚餐已经准备好了。 —

I shall not be there to meet you. I have made up my mind to live apart from you, and I am going to Paris in the morning. —
我不会在那里迎接你。我已经决定和你分开，明天早上我将去巴黎。 —

I shall post this letter on my arrival. I shall not come back. —
我会在到达时寄出这封信。我不会回来的。 —

My decision is irrevocable.
我的决定是不可撤回的。

“Yours always,
“永远是你的，

“CHARLES STRICKLAND. “
“查尔斯·斯特里克兰德。”

“Not a word of explanation or regret. Don’t you think it’s inhuman?”
“连一句解释或道歉都没有。你不觉得这太不人道了吗？”

“It’s a very strange letter under the circumstances, ” I replied.
“在这种情况下，这是一封非常奇怪的信，”我回答道。

“There’s only one explanation, and that is that he’s not himself. —
“只有一个解释，那就是他不是真正的自己。 —

I don’t know who this woman is who’s got hold of him, but she’s made him into another man. —
我不知道是哪个女人控制了他，但她让他变成了另一个人。 —

It’s evidently been going on a long time. “
显然已经持续了很长时间。”

“What makes you think that?”
“你为什么这么想？”

“Fred found that out. My husband said he went to the club three or four nights a week to play bridge. Fred knows one of the members, and said something about Charles being a great bridge-player. —
“弗雷德发现了。我丈夫说他每周去俱乐部打桥牌三四个晚上。弗雷德认识其中一个成员，谈到查尔斯是个很棒的桥牌玩家。” —

The man was surprised. He said he’d never even seen Charles in the card-room. —
这个人感到惊讶。他说他从来没在牌房见过查尔斯。 —

It’s quite clear now that when I thought Charles was at his club he was with her. “
现在很清楚了，当我以为查尔斯在俱乐部的时候，他是和她在一起。

I was silent for a moment. Then I thought of the children.
我沉默了一会儿。然后我想到了孩子们。

“It must have been difficult to explain to Robert, ” I said.
“向罗伯特解释一定很困难，”我说道。

“Oh, I never said a word to either of them. —
“哦，我从没对他们俩说过一句话。 —

You see, we only came up to town the day before they had to go back to school. —
你知道，我们前一天才来到城里，他们还要返校。 —

I had the presence of mind to say that their father had been called away on business. “
我临时想到说他们爸爸有事要离开。

It could not have been very easy to be bright and careless with that sudden secret in her heart, nor to give her attention to all the things that needed doing to get her children comfortably packed off. —
心里突然藏着秘密，很难像往常那样轻松自在，也很难注意到所有需要做的事情来顺利打点好孩子们的行李。 —

Mrs. Strickland’s voice broke again.
斯特里克兰太太的声音再次打颤了。

“And what is to happen to them, poor darlings? How are we going to live?”
“那些可怜的宝贝们该怎么办？我们要怎么生活？”

She struggled for self-control, and I saw her hands clench and unclench spasmodically. —
她努力控制自己，我看到她的双手痉挛着握了又松。 —

It was dreadfully painful.
这让人非常心痛。

“Of course I’ll go over to Paris if you think I can do any good, but you must tell me exactly what you want me to do. “
“如果你认为我能帮上忙，我当然愿意去巴黎，但你必须告诉我具体想要我做什么。”

“I want him to come back. “
“我希望他回来。”

“I understood from Colonel MacAndrew that you’d made up your mind to divorce him. “
“我从麦克安德鲁上校那里了解到你已经下决心要离婚。”

“I’ll never divorce him, ” she answered with a sudden violence. “Tell him that from me. —
“我永远不会和他离婚，”她突然带着一种暴力回答道。“替我告诉他。 —

He’ll never be able to marry that woman. —
他永远也不能和那个女人结婚。 —

I’m as obstinate as he is, and I’ll never divorce him. —
我和他一样固执，永远不会和他离婚。 —

I have to think of my children. “
我得考虑我的孩子们。”

I think she added this to explain her attitude to me, but I thought it was due to a very natural jealousy rather than to maternal solicitude.
我想她是为了向我解释她的态度而加上这句，但我认为这更多是出于一种自然的嫉妒，而不是母性关怀。

“Are you in love with him still?”
“你还爱着他吗？”

“I don’t know. I want him to come back. If he’ll do that we’ll let bygones be bygones. —
“我不知道。我希望他会回来。如果他愿意，我们会让往事就此过去。 —

After all, we’ve been married for seventeen years. I’m a broadminded woman. —
毕竟，我们已经结婚十七年了。我是一个心胸开阔的女人。 —

I wouldn’t have minded what he did as long as I knew nothing about it. —
只要我一无所知，我就不会介意他做了什么。 —

He must know that his infatuation won’t last. —
他必须知道他的迷恋不会持久。 —

If he’ll come back now everything can be smoothed over, and no one will know anything about it. “
如果他现在回来，一切都可以顺利解决，没有人会知道任何事情。”

It chilled me a little that Mrs. Strickland should be concerned with gossip, for I did not know then how great a part is played in women’s life by the opinion of others. —
Mrs. Strickland关心八卦让我有些不安，因为当时我还不知道女人生活中被他人看法所起的重大作用。 —

It throws a shadow of insincerity over their most deeply felt emotions.
这给他们最深切的情感投下了虚伪的阴影。

It was known where Strickland was staying. —
Strickland待在哪里是众所周知的。 —

His partner, in a violent letter, sent to his bank, had taunted him with hiding his whereabouts: —
他的合伙人在发给银行的一封激烈信中，嘲笑他隐藏自己的行踪： —

and Strickland, in a cynical and humourous reply, had told his partner exactly where to find him. —
Strickland曾经以一种愤世嫉俗又幽默的回答，告诉他的伴侣确切的去找他的地方。 —

He was apparently living in an Hotel.
他显然住在一个旅馆里。

“I’ve never heard of it, ” said Mrs. Strickland. —
“我从来没有听说过， ” Strickland太太说。 —

“But Fred knows it well. He says it’s very expensive. “
“但弗雷德知道得很清楚。他说那里非常昂贵。”

She flushed darkly. I imagined that she saw her husband installed in a luxurious suite of rooms, dining at one smart restaurant after another, and she pictured his days spent at race-meetings and his evenings at the play.
她脸颊泛起红晕。我想象她看见了丈夫住在奢华套房里，每天在一个又一个高档餐厅用餐，晚上在剧院度过。

“It can’t go on at his age, ” she said. “After all, he’s forty. —
“在他这个年龄还这么过，不太好， “她说。”毕竟，他四十岁了。 —

I could understand it in a young man, but I think it’s horrible in a man of his years, with children who are nearly grown up. —
一个年轻人这样也就罢了，但在他这个年纪的男人身上，有几乎长大的孩子，我觉得太可怕了。 —

His health will never stand it. “
他的健康绝对受不了这么过。”

Anger struggled in her breast with misery.
她心中愤怒与痛苦争斗。

“Tell him that our home cries out for him. —
“告诉他，我们的家在呼唤他。 —

Everything is just the same, and yet everything is different. I can’t live without him. —
一切都一样，但又不尽相同。我不能没有他。 —

I’d sooner kill myself. Talk to him about the past, and all we’ve gone through together. —
我宁愿自杀。与他谈谈以往，我们一起经历的一切。 —

What am I to say to the children when they ask for him? —
当孩子们问他时，我该怎么办？ —

His room is exactly as it was when he left it. —
他的房间就像他离开时一样。 —

It’s waiting for him. We’re all waiting for him. “
它在等他。我们都在等他。

Now she told me exactly what I should say. —
现在她告诉我确切应该说什么。 —

She gave me elaborate answers to every possible observation of his.
她对他的每一个可能的评论都给了我详细的回答。

“You will do everything you can for me?” she said pitifully. “Tell him what a state I’m in. “
“你会尽你一切所能为我吗？”她可怜地说道。“告诉他我现在的状态。”

I saw that she wished me to appeal to his sympathies by every means in my power. —
我看出她希望我用我能力范围内的一切方式来打动他的同情心。 —

She was weeping freely. I was extraordinarily touched. —
她泪流满面。我感动得异常。 —

I felt indignant at Strickland’s cold cruelty, and I promised to do all I could to bring him back. —
我对斯特里克兰冷酷无情感到愤慨，我承诺会尽一切努力把他带回来。 —

I agreed to go over on the next day but one, and to stay in Paris till I had achieved something. —
我同意第二天过去，并在巴黎待到我取得成果。 —

Then, as it was growing late and we were both exhausted by so much emotion, I left her.
然后，因为时间已晚，我们俩都被如此多的情绪耗尽了，我离开了她。