書蟲四級《不平靜的墳墓》：畫作

The Picture
畫作

For several years Mr Williams worked for the museum at the University of Oxford, enlarging its already famous collection of drawings and pictures of English country houses and churches. It is hard to imagine anything less alarming than collecting pictures of houses and churches, but Mr Williams found that even this peaceful work had its unexpected dark corners.

幾年來，威廉斯先生一直在牛津大學博物館工作，為該館不斷地增加其本已出名的有關英國鄉(xiāng)村住房和教堂方面繪畫作品的收藏。收集有關住房和教堂的繪畫作品本無任何驚人之處，可威廉斯先生卻發(fā)現(xiàn)即使是這樣一項很平靜的工作也有其意想不到之處。

He bought many pictures for the museum from the London shop of Mr J. W. Britnell. Twice a year Mr Britnell sent a list of pictures to all his regular customers, who could then choose which pictures they wanted to look at before deciding whether to buy.

他從倫敦J. W. 布里耐爾先生的商店為博物館買入大量繪畫作品。布里耐爾先生一年兩次為其所有的老主顧們寄上一份作品目錄。這樣，這些老主顧們便能夠選擇一下他們想看看哪些作品，然后決定是否購買。

In February 1895 Mr Williams received a list from Mr Britnell with the following letter:

1895年2月威廉斯先生接到了布里耐爾先生寄來的目錄和下面這封信：

Dear Sir,

親愛的先生：

I think you might be interested in Picture Number 978 in our list, which I will be happy to send to you if you wish.

我想您可能對我們目錄中的第978號作品感興趣，如果您希望，我很樂意給您寄上。

J. W. Britnell

J. W. 布里耐爾

Mr Williams turned to Number 978 in the list and found the following note:

威廉斯先生翻到目錄中的第978號，發(fā)現(xiàn)了下面的說明：

Number 978. Artist unknown. Picture of an English country house, early nineteenth century. 25 centimetres by 40 centimetres. ￡20.

第978號，作者不詳，畫面為一座19世紀早期英國鄉(xiāng)村住房，長40厘米，寬25厘米，售價20英鎊。

It did not sound very interesting and the price seemed high. However, Mr Williams added it to the pictures that he asked Mr Britnell to send to him.

這幅畫似乎沒多大意思，而且價格似乎也偏高?？赏瓜壬€是在要求布里耐爾先生寄給他的畫里加上了它。

The pictures arrived at the museum one Saturday afternoon, just after Mr Williams had left. They were brought round to his rooms in college so that he could look at them over the weekend. Mr Williams found them on his table when he and his friend, Mr Binks, came in to have tea.

一個周六的下午這些作品被送到了博物館，這時威廉斯先生剛離開。于是這些畫又被轉到他在學院的住所，以便周末就能讓他看到。威廉斯先生和朋友賓克斯先生進屋喝茶時發(fā)現(xiàn)了桌子上的那些畫。

Picture Number 978 showed the front of quite a large country house. It had three rows of windows with the door in the middle of the bottom row. There were trees on both sides of the house and a large lawn in front of it. The letters A.W.F. were written in the corner of the picture. Mr Williams thought that it was not very well done, probably the work of an amateur artist, and he could not understand why Mr Britnell thought it was worth twenty pounds. He turned it over and saw that there was a piece of paper on the back with part of a name on it. All he could read were the ends of two lines of writing. The first said, '—ngly Hall'; the second, '—ssex'.

第978號作品畫的是一座鄉(xiāng)村大住房的正面。房子有三排窗戶，門在底部那排的中間。住房的兩側是樹，前面有一大塊草地，畫的一角寫著A. W. F. 幾個字母。威廉斯先生覺得這幅畫畫得不怎么樣，可能出自業(yè)余畫家之手，他不明白為什么布里耐爾先生覺得它值20英鎊。他把畫翻過來發(fā)現(xiàn)后面有張紙，上面寫著個不完整的名字。他能看到的只有兩行字的結尾，第一行為“——寧利府”，第二行為“——塞克斯”。

Mr Williams thought that it would be interesting to see if he could find the name of the house in one of his guidebooks before sending the picture back on Monday morning. Meanwhile, he put the picture on the table, lit the lamp because it was now getting dark, and made the tea.

威廉斯先生想看看周一上午把畫寄回之前能不能在自己的某本旅行指南中找到這座房子的名字，他覺得這樣做挺有意思的。他把畫放在桌子上，這時天漸漸黑了，于是他點上燈，沏上了茶。

While they were having tea, his friend picked up the picture, looked at it and said, 'Where's this house, Williams?'

他們喝著茶，他的朋友拿起那幅畫看著問道：“威廉斯，這座房子在哪兒？”

That's just what I was going to find out,' said Williams, taking a book from the shelf. 'If you look at the back, you'll see it's Something Hall in either Essex or Sussex. Half the name's missing, you see. I don't suppose you recognize the house, do you?'

“我正想查找一下呢，”威廉斯先生說著從書架上取下一本書。“你看一下背面，上面寫著是埃塞克斯或蘇塞克斯的什么府。名字少了一半，我想你大概也不認識這座房子吧？”

No, I don't,' said Mr Binks. 'It's from Britnell, I suppose, isn't it? Is it for the museum?'

“不認識，”賓克斯先生說，“我想是布里耐爾寄來的吧？是不是要賣給博物館？”

Well, I would buy it if the price was two pounds,' replied Mr Williams, 'but for some reason he wants twenty pounds for it. I can't think why. It's not a very good picture and there aren't even any figures in it to make it more interesting.'

“是呀，如果售價是兩英鎊，我會買的，”威廉斯先生說，“可不知什么原因他要20英鎊。我真不知這是為什么。這張畫畫得并不好，而且畫面上連個人影都沒有，沒有什么看頭兒。”

I agree it's not worth twenty pounds,' said Binks, 'but I don't think it's too bad. The light seems rather good to me and I think there is a figure here, just at the edge, in the front.'

“我也覺得這畫不值20英鎊，”賓克斯說，“不過我并不覺得它有多糟糕。我認為畫中明亮部分似乎還很不錯，而且我看這兒有個人，就在前部邊上。”

Let me see,' said Williams. 'Well, it's true the light is quite well done. Where's the figure? Oh, yes! Just the head, in the very front of the picture.'

“我看看，”威廉斯先生說，“哦，明亮部分確實處理得不錯。人在哪兒？噢，看到了！只有頭部，在畫面的最前部。”

And indeed there was—right on the edge of the picture—just the head of a man or a woman, who was looking towards the house. Williams had not noticed it before.

確實如此——就在畫面邊緣——只有一個男人或女人的頭部，在看這房子。威廉斯此前并沒注意到這一點。

Still,' he said, 'though it's better than I thought at first, I can't spend twenty pounds of the museum's money on a picture of a house I don't even know.'

“不過，”他說，“雖然它比我剛開始認為的好一點兒，我還是不能把博物館的20鎊花在我居然都不知道的一所房子的畫上。”

Mr Binks, who had some work to finish, soon left and Mr Williams spent the time before dinner trying to find the name of the house in his guidebooks.

由于手頭還有事要做，賓克斯先生過了會兒就走了。吃飯前威廉斯先生試圖在旅行指南中找到這幢房子的名字。

If I knew the letter before the "—ngly",' he said to himself, 'it would be easy enough. But there are many more names ending in "—ngly" than I thought.'

“如果我知道‘——ngly’前面的字母，”他自言自語道，“就容易多了。不過以‘——ngly’結尾的名字比我想像的多得多。”

Dinner in Mr Williams' college was at seven o'clock and afterwards a few of his friends came back to his rooms to play cards. During a pause in the game Mr Williams picked up the picture from the table without looking at it and passed it to a man named Garwood, who was interested in pictures. Garwood looked at it and said:

威廉斯先生所在的學院7點鐘開飯，吃完飯他的幾位朋友回到他的房間打牌。中間停下來時，威廉斯先生從桌子上拿起那幅畫，連看都沒看就遞給一位名叫加伍德的，這人對繪畫很感興趣。加伍德看了看說：

This is really a very fine picture, you know, Williams. The light is very well done, in my opinion, and though the figure is rather unpleasant, it is quite interesting.'

“您看，威廉斯先生，這幅畫確實很不錯。我覺得畫面的明亮部分處理得很好。雖然人物不那么讓人愉快，不過還是挺有意思的。”

Yes, isn't it?' said Williams, who was too busy giving drinks to his guests to look at the picture again.

“噢，是嗎？”威廉斯先生答道，當時他正忙著給客人們倒飲料，顧不上再看那畫兒一眼。

When his visitors had gone, Williams had to finish writing a letter, so it was after midnight before he was ready to go to bed. The picture lay face upwards on the table where Garwood had left it and, as Williams was putting out the lamp, he saw it. For a moment he was too surprised to move, then he slowly picked up the picture and stared at it in horror. In the middle of the lawn, in front of the unknown house, there was a figure where there had been no figure earlier. It was crawling on hands and knees towards the house, and it was covered in a strange black garment with a white cross on the back.

客人們走后，威廉斯先生還得寫完一封信，所以他準備上床休息時已經(jīng)是后半夜了。加伍德當時是把那張畫畫面朝上放在桌子上的。威廉斯先生要關燈時看了它一眼。這時他驚訝得簡直不能動了，接著他慢慢把它拿起來，驚恐地盯著看起來。在草坪中間，那座不知名房子的前面原來沒有人的地方出現(xiàn)了一個人。它正朝那房子爬著，身上罩著件樣子古怪、后背上帶著個白十字架的黑外衣。

After a second or two Mr Williams took the picture by one corner and carried it to an empty room. There, he locked it, face downwards, in a cupboard, then closed and locked the door of the empty room. He went back to his own room and locked the door behind him. Before going to bed, he sat down and wrote a note describing in detail the extraordinary change in the picture since he had received it.

一兩秒鐘后，威廉斯先生拎起畫的一角把它拿進了一間空屋子。他把畫面朝下鎖在櫥子里，然后把那間空屋子的門關上鎖好?；氐阶约旱姆块g他也隨手鎖上了門。上床前，他坐下來寫了張條，詳細描述了他收到那幅畫后畫面出現(xiàn)的奇特變化。

He was glad to remember that Mr Garwood, who had looked at the picture earlier in the evening, had also seen a 'rather unpleasant' figure. He decided that in the morning he must ask someone to look carefully at the picture with him, and he must try very hard to discover the name of the house. He would ask his neighbour, Mr Nisbet, to have breakfast with him. Then he would spend the morning looking for the house in his guidebooks.

想起加伍德先生傍晚看這幅畫時也發(fā)現(xiàn)有個“不那么讓人愉快”的人影，他很高興，于是決定上午一定要再找人一起好好看看這幅畫，而且他必須盡力找到這幢房子的名字。他要請鄰居尼斯比特先生來和他共進早餐。然后上午的時間還是用來在旅行指南中查找這套房子。

Mr Nisbet arrived at nine o'clock and the two men sat down to breakfast. When they had finished, Mr Williams, feeling both nervous and excited, hurried to the empty room. He unlocked the cupboard, took out the picture, still face downwards, and, without looking at it, went back to his own room and put it into Nisbet's hands.

9點鐘，尼斯比特先生來了，于是倆人坐下來吃早餐。吃完后，威廉斯先生心情緊張而激動地快步走進那間空屋子，打開櫥子拿出那幅畫面仍然朝下的畫，連看都沒看便回到他的房間，把畫放進尼斯比特先生手里。

Now, Nisbet,' he said, 'I want you to tell me what you see in that picture. Describe it, please, in detail. I'll tell you why afterwards.'

“哎，尼斯比特，”他說，“我想讓你告訴我你在這幅畫里看到了什么，請詳細描述一下。過會兒我會告訴你為什么要這樣做。”

Well,' said Nisbet, 'I have here a picture of an English country house by moonlight.'

“好吧，”尼斯比特說，“畫面上是月光下的一座英國鄉(xiāng)村住房。”

Moonlight? Are you sure?'

“月光？你有把握嗎？”

Oh, yes. The moon is shown quite clearly and there are clouds in the sky.'

“噢，有哇。月亮畫得很清晰，天空中還有云。”

All right. Go on. But I'm sure,' added Williams quietly, 'that there was no moon when I first saw it.'

“好吧，接著說。可我敢肯定，”威廉斯先生平靜地加了一句，“我第一次看時，根本沒有月亮。”

Well, there's not much more I can say,' Nisbet continued. 'The house has three rows of windows, five in each row, except at the bottom, where there's a door instead of the middle one and...'

“哦，沒有什么太多可說的了，”尼斯比特接著說，“這座房子有三排窗戶，每排五扇，只有底部那排例外，中間是扇門……”

But what about figures?' said Williams with great interest.

“人呢？”威廉斯先生帶著十分濃厚的興趣問道。

Figures?' replied Nisbet. 'There aren't any.'

“人？”尼斯比特答道，“沒有任何人呀。”

What? No figure on the grass in front?'

“什么？前面草地上沒有人嗎？”

No. Not a thing.'

“沒有，什么也沒有。”

Are you sure?'

“肯定是這樣嗎？”

Of course I am. But there's one other thing.'

“當然，不過還有一件事。”

What's that?'

“什么事？”

One of the windows on the ground floor, on the left of the door, is open.'

“底層的一扇窗戶，門左邊那扇，是開著的。”

Is it really? Oh dear! I suppose he's got into the house,' said Williams, with great excitement.

“真的？天呀！我想他是進了那間屋子了。”威廉斯很興奮地說。

He hurried across to where Nisbet was sitting and, taking the picture from him, saw for himself. It was quite true. There was no figure on the lawn, and there was the open window.

他快步走到尼斯比特坐的地方，從他手中拿過畫親自看起來。草地上確實沒有人，那扇窗戶確實開著。

For a moment williams was too surprised to speak, then he sat down at his desk and wrote for a few minutes. When he had finished, he brought two papers across to Nisbet. He asked him to sign the first one, which was Nisbet's own description of the picture, then to read the other one, which was the note Williams had written the night before.

威廉斯一時驚得說不出話來了，他坐在桌旁寫了幾分鐘，寫完后遞給尼斯比特兩份材料，讓他在第一份上簽字，這份是尼斯比特本人對這幅畫的描述，然后又讓他看另一份，那是威廉斯前一天晚上的記錄。

What can it all mean?' asked Nisbet.

“這是怎么回事？”尼斯比特問道。

That's what I must find out,' said Williams. 'Now, there are three things I must do. First, I must ask Garwood exactly what he saw when he looked at the picture last night, then I must have the picture photographed before it goes any further and, thirdly, I must find out where this house is.'

“我也正想弄個明白，”威廉斯先生說，“現(xiàn)在我必須做三件事：首先，我必須問問加伍德昨天晚上他看這幅畫時到底看到了什么；然后我必須在它進一步發(fā)生變化前把這幅畫拍攝下來；第三，我必須弄清楚這座房子到底在哪兒。”

I can take the photograph for you myself,' said Nisbet. 'But, you know, I think we are seeing something terrible happening here. The question is, has it already happened or is it going to happen? You really must find out where this house is.' He looked at the picture again and shook his head. 'I think you are right, you know. He has got in. I'm sure there will be some trouble in that house.'

“我可以幫你把這幅畫拍攝下來，”尼斯比特說，“可是你知道，我覺得我們看到這里出了什么可怕的事。問題是已經(jīng)出了事還是就要出事呢？你一定得弄清楚這座房子到底在哪兒。”他又看看那幅畫搖了搖頭，接著說：“我覺得你說得對，你看他已經(jīng)進去了。我敢肯定這座房子要出什么麻煩事。”

I'll tell you what I'll do,' said Williams. 'I'll show the picture to old Doctor Green. He grew up in Essex and he often goes to Sussex to see his brother who lives there. He's been going there for years. He must know both places quite well.'

“告訴你我要干什么吧，”威廉斯說，“我要讓格林醫(yī)生看看這幅畫。他在埃塞克斯長大而且經(jīng)常到蘇塞克斯看望住在那里的哥哥。多年來他一直去那兒，一定對這兩個地方都很熟悉。”

That's a very good idea,' agreed Nisbet. 'But I think I heard Green say that he was going away this weekend.'

“這主意很好，”尼斯比特贊同道，“不過我聽格林說他這個周末不在。”

You're right,' said Williams. 'I remember now—he's gone to Brighton for the weekend. I'll leave a note asking him to see me as soon as he returns. Meanwhile, you take the picture and photograph it and I'll see Garwood and ask him what he saw when he looked at it last night.' He paused. 'You know,' he added, 'I don't think twenty pounds is too much to ask for this picture, after all.'

“你說得對，”威廉斯先生說，“我想起來了，他去布賴頓過周末了。我要給他留張條，讓他一回來就來找我?，F(xiàn)在你把畫拿去拍照，我去找加伍德問問昨天晚上他在這幅畫里看到了什么？”他停了一下，又加了一句：“你知道，不管怎么說，我覺得這幅畫要價20英鎊并不高。”

In a short time Williams returned to his room, bringing Mr Garwood with him. Mr Garwood said that when he had looked at the picture the figure was just starting to crawl across the lawn. He remembered that it was wearing a black garment with something white on the back—he was not sure if it was a cross. While he was writing this down, Mr Nisbet returned and said that he had photographed the picture.

威廉斯很快便帶著加伍德回到了自己的房間。加伍德先生說他看那畫時，那人影剛剛開始向草地爬行。他記得它穿的是件背上有個什么白色東西的黑外衣，他不清楚那東西是不是個十字架。他正寫著這些情況時，尼斯比特先生回來了，他說他已經(jīng)把畫拍照下來了。

What are you going to do now, Williams?' asked Mr Garwood. 'Are you going to sit and watch the picture all day?'

“威廉斯，下一步你要怎么做呢？”加伍德先生問，“你是不是要整天坐在這兒看這幅畫呀？”

No, I don't think we need to do that,' replied Williams. 'You see, there has been plenty of time since I looked at it last night for the creature in the picture to finish what he wants to do, but he has only gone into the house. The window is open and he must still be in there. I think he wants us to see what happens next. Anyway, I don't think the picture will change much during the day. I suggest that we all go for a walk after lunch and come back here for tea. I'll leave the picture on my table and lock the door. My servant has a key and can get in if he wants to, but nobody else can.'

“不，我覺得我們沒有必要這么做。”威廉斯回答說，“你們看，從昨天晚上我看這畫到現(xiàn)在，里面那人滿有時間做完他要做的事情，可他只是進了那座房子。窗戶開著，他一定還在里面。我覺得他想讓我們看看下面會發(fā)生什么事情。不管怎么說，我覺得這幅畫白天不會有什么太大變化。我提議咱們吃完午飯都去散散步，然后回這兒喝茶。我把這畫放在桌子上鎖上門。我的仆人有鑰匙，如果想進來可以進來，別人誰也進不來。”

The others agreed that this was a good plan. They also wanted to avoid talking to anyone about this extraordinary picture, knowing what excitement and argument it would cause.

另外倆人覺得這個主意不錯。他們也不想再談論這幅十分奇異的畫了，因為他們知道這樣做會使大家很興奮且會引起爭論。

At about five o'clock they came back to Mr Williams' rooms for tea. When they entered the room, they were surprised to find Mr Filcher, the servant, sitting in Mr Williams' armchair and staring in horror at the picture on the table. Mr Filcher had worked in the college for many years and had never before behaved in so unusual a way. He seemed to feel this himself, and tried to jump to his feet when the three men came in.

大約5點鐘，他們回到威廉斯先生的房間喝茶，一進屋便驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)仆人菲爾徹先生正坐在威廉斯先生的扶手椅里，恐懼地盯著桌子上的畫看。菲爾徹先生在這所學院里干了多年，還從未如此失態(tài)過。他自己似乎也感覺到了這一點，所以3個人進屋時他試圖一躍而起。

I'm sorry, sir,' he said. 'I didn't mean to sit down.'

“對不起，先生，”他說，“我本沒想坐下的。”

That's all right, Robert,' said Mr Williams. 'I was going to ask you some time what you thought of that picture.'

“沒關系，羅伯特，”威廉斯先生說，“我還想什么時候問問你覺得這幅畫怎么樣呢。”

Well, sir,' replied the servant, 'of course, I don't really understand pictures, but I wouldn't like my little girl to see it. I'm sure it would give her bad dreams. It doesn't seem the right kind of picture to leave lying around. It could frighten anybody—seeing that awful thing carrying off the poor baby. That's what I think, sir. Will you need me any more today, sir? Thank you, sir.'

“哎，先生，”仆人回答道，“當然我不懂什么繪畫作品，可我不會讓我的小女孩看這幅畫的，這畫肯定會使她做惡夢。這似乎不是那種可以隨便放的畫，它會嚇壞人的，假如看到這可怕的東西抱走那可憐的小孩子。先生，我是這么想的。今天還有什么事嗎？謝謝您了，先生。”

Filcher left the room and the three men went at once to look at the picture. There was the house as before, under the moon and the clouds. But the window that had been open was now shut, and the figure was once more on the lawn; but not crawling this time. Now it was walking, with long steps, towards the front of the picture. The moon was behind it and the black material of its garment nearly covered its face. The three men were deeply thankful that they could see no more of the face than a high, white forehead and a few long, thin hairs. Its legs beneath the garment were horribly thin, and its arms held something which seemed to be a child, whether dead or living it was not possible to say.

菲爾徹離開了房間，3個人立即上前看那幅畫。還是那座籠罩在月光和云霧下的房子，只是以前開著的窗戶現(xiàn)在關上了，那人影又出現(xiàn)在草地上，可現(xiàn)在它不是在爬，而是在大步朝著畫面的前方走。月亮在它身后，它的黑色外衣幾乎把臉都蓋上了。3個人很慶幸他們能看見的臉部不過是個高高的白色額頭和幾根長而稀疏的頭發(fā)。它那外衣下面露出的腿細得嚇人，臂彎里抱著什么東西，好像是個孩子，根本看不出來是死是活。

The three friends watched the picture until it was time for dinner but it did not change at all. They hurried back to Williams' rooms as soon as dinner was finished. The picture was where they had left it, but the figure had gone, and the house was quiet under the moon and the clouds.

3位朋友一直到吃飯時間還在看這幅畫，可它沒發(fā)生任何變化。一吃完飯，他們又趕忙回到威廉斯的房間。畫還放在原來的位置，可人影不見了，月光和云霧籠罩下的那座房子顯得十分平靜。

Well,' said Mr Williams, 'now we really must try to find where this house is.' They got out the guidebooks and began to work.

“哎，”威廉斯先生說，“現(xiàn)在我們必須找到這座房子的位置。”他們拿出那些旅行指南開始查找起來。

It was nearly two hours later when Williams suddenly cried, 'Ha! This looks like it!'

差不多兩個小時以后威廉斯先生突然叫道：“哈！好像就是這個！”

He read aloud from the Guide to Essex that he was holding:

他手中拿著《埃塞克斯指南》一書大聲念道：

Anningly. Interesting twelfth-century church containing the tombs of the Francis family, whose home, Anningly Hall, stands just behind the church. The family is now extinct. The last member of the family disappeared very mysteriously in 1802 while still a child. His father, Sir Arthur Francis, a well-known amateur artist, lived quite alone after that until he was found dead in his house three years later, after he had just completed a picture of the Hall.'

“安寧利：有趣的12世紀教堂，內(nèi)有弗朗西斯家族的墳墓，這一家族的住宅安寧利府就位于該教堂后面，這一家族現(xiàn)已滅絕。其最后一名成員于1802年還很小時便神秘失蹤。他父親亞瑟·弗朗西斯爵士，一位很出名的業(yè)余畫家，后來一直深居簡出，直到3年后被人發(fā)現(xiàn)死于家中，這時他剛剛完成了一幅描述安寧利府的畫作。”

As Mr Williams finished reading, there was a knock on the door and Doctor Green came in. He had just returned from Brighton and had found Williams' note. He agreed at once that the picture was of Anningly Hall, which was not far from where he had grown up.

威廉斯先生剛念完這段話，就聽到有人敲門，格林醫(yī)生進來了。他剛從布賴頓回來，看到了威廉斯先生的條子。他當即附和說畫上就是安寧利府，這地方離他長大的地方不遠。

Have you any explanation of the figure, Green?' asked Williams.

“格林，你能說說那人影是怎么回事嗎？”威廉斯問道。

I don't know, I'm sure, Williams,' Doctor Green replied.

“我肯定說不清楚，威廉斯，”格林醫(yī)生回答。

When I was a boy, some of the old people in Anningly still used to talk about the disappearance of the Francis child. They said that Sir Arthur had a lot of trouble with some of the local people coming onto his land to steal his fish and his birds. He decided to catch them all and have them punished, and, one by one he did, until there was only one left. This was a man called Gawdy whose family had once been rich and important in that part of Essex. In fact, some of them had their tombs in the village church too. However, the family had lost all their land and their money over the years and Gawdy felt rather bitter about it all. For a long time Sir Arthur could not catch him doing anything wrong until one night his men found Gawdy with some dead birds in Sir Arthur's woods. There was a fight and one of the men was shot. This was just what Sir Arthur needed; the judge was all on his side, of course, and poor Gawdy was hanged a few days later. People thought that some friend of Gawdy's stole Sir Arthur's little boy in revenge, to put an end to the Francis family as well. But I should say now, that it looks more as if old Gawdy managed the job himself. Brrrr. I don't like to think about it. Let's have a drink, shall we?'

“我小時候，安寧利的一些老人還在談論弗朗西斯家孩子失蹤的事兒。他們說亞瑟爵士與一些到他地盤上偷他的魚和鳥的當?shù)厝唆[了不少別扭。他決定把他們都抓起來進行懲罰，于是他就一一對他們這么做了，最后只剩下一個人。這個人叫高迪，他的家族一度在埃塞克斯的那一地區(qū)很富裕和顯赫，而且他們家族中的一些人在村里的教堂里也有墳墓?？蛇^了若干年該家族失去了他們的土地和錢財，高迪對此感到十分痛苦。很長時間以來亞瑟爵士一直抓不住他做壞事，直到一天晚上爵士手下的人在爵士的林子里發(fā)現(xiàn)了高迪和一些死鳥。于是他們便打起來，其中一人被射中。亞瑟爵士正需要如此，法官當然完全站在他一邊，可憐的高迪幾天后便被絞死了。人們認為是高迪的某位朋友為報仇而偷走了亞瑟爵士的小男孩，這樣就使弗朗西斯家族也絕了后?？梢牢铱?，這事更像老高迪自己干的。嗯，我不想再琢磨這事了。咱們喝一杯吧，好嗎？”

The story of the picture was told to a few people; some believed it and some did not. Mr Britnell knew nothing about it except that the picture was unusual in some way. It is now in the museum and, although it has been carefully watched, no one has ever seen it change again.

這幅畫的故事講給了幾個人聽，有人信，有人不信。布里耐爾先生除了覺得這畫有點不同尋常外，對這個故事一無所知。這幅畫現(xiàn)在就放在博物館里，雖然人們對它觀察得十分細致，可沒人看到它再有什么變化。