(雙語)月亮和六便士 第58章(5)

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The conversation proceeded, and I marvelled at the tact with which Mr. Van Busche Taylor avoided all subjects that might have been in the least embarrassing, and at the ingenuity with which Mrs. Strickland, without saying a word that was untrue, insinuated that her relations with her husband had always been perfect. At last Mr. Van Busche Taylor rose to go. Holding his hostess' hand, he made her a graceful, though perhaps too elaborate, speech of thanks, and left us.

談話繼續(xù)下去。我非常佩服凡·布施·泰勒先生的老練；凡是令人感到尷尬的話題，他完全回避掉。我也非常驚奇思特里克蘭德太太的圓滑；盡管她沒有說一句不真實的話，卻充分暗示了她同自己丈夫的關(guān)系非常融睦，從來沒有任何嫌隙。最后，凡·布施·泰勒先生起身告辭，他握著女主人的一只手，向她說了一大篇優(yōu)美動聽、但未免過于造作的感謝詞，便離開了我們。

"I hope he didn't bore you," she said, when the door closed behind him. "Of course it's a nuisance sometimes, but I feel it's only right to give people any information I can about Charlie. There's a certain responsibility about having been the wife of a genius."

“我希望這個人沒有使你感到厭煩，”當(dāng)門在凡·布施·泰勒的身背后關(guān)上以后，思特里克蘭德太太說?！爱?dāng)然了，有時候也實在讓人討厭，但是我總覺得，有人來了解查理斯的情況，我是應(yīng)該盡量把我知道的提供給人家的。作為一個偉大天才的未亡人，這該是一種義務(wù)吧。”

She looked at me with those pleasant eyes of hers, which had remained as candid and as sympathetic as they had been more than twenty years before. I wondered if she was making a fool of me.

她用她那一對可愛的眼睛望著我，她的目光非常真摯，非常親切，同二十多年以前完全一樣。我有點兒懷疑她是不是在耍弄我。

"Of course you've given up your business," I said.

“你那個打字所大概早就停業(yè)了吧？”我說。

"Oh, yes," she answered airily. "I ran it more by way of a hobby than for any other reason, and my children persuaded me to sell it. They thought I was overtaxing my strength."

“啊，當(dāng)然了，”她大大咧咧地說，“當(dāng)年我開那家打字所主要也是為了覺得好玩，沒有其他什么原因。后來我的兩個孩子都勸我把它出讓給別人。他們認(rèn)為太耗損我的精神了?！?/p>

I saw that Mrs. Strickland had forgotten that she had ever done anything so disgraceful as to work for her living. She had the true instinct of the nice woman that it is only really decent for her to live on other people's money.

我發(fā)現(xiàn)思特里克蘭德太太已經(jīng)忘記了她曾不得不自食其力這一段不光彩的歷史。同任何一個正派女人一樣，她真實地相信只有依靠別人養(yǎng)活自己才是規(guī)矩的行為。

"They're here now," she said. "I thought they'd, like to hear what you had to say about their father. You remember Robert, don't you? I'm glad to say he's been recommended for the Military Cross."

“他們都在家，”她說，“我想你給他們談?wù)勊麄兏赣H的事，他們一定很愿意聽的。你還記得羅伯特吧？我很高興能夠告訴你，他的名字已經(jīng)提上去，就快要領(lǐng)陸軍十字勛章了。”