雙語(yǔ)·面紗 第五章

5

It couldn't have been Walter that afternoon. It must have been one of the servants and after all they didn't matter. Chinese servants knew everything anyway. But they held their tongues.

Her heart beat a little faster as she remembered the way in which that white china knob slowly turned. They mustn't take risks like that again. It was better to go to the curio shop. No one who saw her go in would think anything of it, and they were absolutely safe there. The owner of the shop knew who Charlie was and he was not such a fool as to put up the back of the Assistant Colonial Secretary. What did anything matter really but that Charlie loved her?

She turned away from the verandah and went back into her sitting-room. She threw herself down on the sofa and stretched out her hand to get a cigarette. Her eye caught sight of a note lying on the top of a book. She opened it. It was written in pencil.

Dear Kitty,

Here is the book you wanted. I was just going to send it when I met Dr. Fane and he said he'd bring it round himself as he was passing the house.

V. H.

She rang the bell and when the boy came asked him who had brought the book and when.

“Master bring it, missy, after tiffin,” he answered.

Then it had been Walter. She rang up the Colonial Secretary's Office at once and asked for Charlie. She told him what she had just learned. There was a pause before he answered.

“What shall I do?” she asked.

“I'm in the middle of an important consultation. I'm afraid I can't talk to you now. My advice to you is to sit tight.”

She put down the receiver. She understood that he was not alone and she was impatient with his business.

She sat down again, at a desk, and resting her face in her hands sought to think out the situation. Of course Walter might merely have thought she was sleeping: there was no reason why she should not lock herself in. She tried to remember if they had been talking. Certainly they had not been talking loud. And there was the hat. It was maddening of Charlie to have left it downstairs. But it was no use blaming him for that, it was natural enough, and there was nothing to tell that Walter had noticed it. He was probably in a hurry and had just left the book and note on his way to some appointment connected with his work. The strange thing was that he should have tried the door and then the two windows. If he thought she was asleep it was unlike him to disturb her. What a fool she had been!

She shook herself a little and again she felt that sweet pain in her heart which she always felt when she thought of Charlie. It had been worth it. He had said that he would stand by her, and if the worst came to the worst, well… Let Walter kick up a row if he chose. She had Charlie; what did she care? Perhaps it would be the best thing for him to know. She had never cared for Walter and since she had loved Charlie Townsend it had irked and bored her to submit to her husband's caresses. She wanted to have nothing more to do with him. She didn't see how he could prove anything. If he accused her she would deny, and if it came to a pass that she could deny no longer, well, she would fling the truth in his teeth, and he could do what he chose.

第五章

下午的神秘人物不會(huì)是沃爾特的，一定是某個(gè)仆人，而且不管怎樣他們也不會(huì)把它當(dāng)回事的。這些中國(guó)仆人知道一切，但他們不會(huì)胡說(shuō)八道的。

當(dāng)她回想起白色的瓷把手慢慢轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)的情景，她的心跳又開(kāi)始加快了。他們下次一定不會(huì)冒這個(gè)險(xiǎn)了，還是去古董店見(jiàn)面更安全些。看見(jiàn)她進(jìn)去的人不會(huì)胡亂猜想，在那兒他們絕對(duì)安全。店主知道查理的身份，他不會(huì)傻到在殖民地大臣助理的背后嚼舌頭，但是如果查理愛(ài)她，這些事又有什么關(guān)系呢？

她從陽(yáng)臺(tái)轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身去，走回了起居室，一屁股坐到沙發(fā)上，伸出手想去拿一支香煙，突然看到一本書上放著一張便條。她把紙條打開(kāi)，上面用鉛筆寫著：

親愛(ài)的凱蒂：

這本書是你想看的。我正打算把它給你送來(lái)時(shí)，碰巧遇到了費(fèi)恩博士，他說(shuō)正好要路過(guò)自己家，他可以把書捎給你。

V. H．

她搖了搖鈴，當(dāng)男仆進(jìn)來(lái)時(shí)，她著急地問(wèn)他是誰(shuí)把這本書放到這兒的，什么時(shí)候放的。

“是老爺帶來(lái)的書，夫人，在午飯后?！彼卮鸬?。

那個(gè)人一定就是沃爾特了。她馬上抄起了電話，撥通了殖民地大臣辦公室的電話找查理，告訴他剛剛了解到的情況。有一段時(shí)間他沒(méi)有說(shuō)話。

“我該怎么辦？”她問(wèn)道。

“我正跟人商量重要的事情，恐怕現(xiàn)在不能和你說(shuō)話，我建議你先按兵不動(dòng)。”

她放下了聽(tīng)筒，知道他不是一個(gè)人待著，但她對(duì)他的那些事有些不耐煩。

她又在一張書桌旁坐了下來(lái)，把臉埋在手掌里想把目前的狀況好好捋一下。當(dāng)然沃爾特可能只是認(rèn)為她正在睡覺(jué)，她把門鎖上也不是說(shuō)不通。她設(shè)法回想他們是不是一直在說(shuō)話，當(dāng)然他們即使在說(shuō)話也是壓低了聲音的。還有帽子，查理真可恨，把它落在了樓下。然而，再為此責(zé)怪他也沒(méi)用，順手一放也很正常，沒(méi)有什么跡象表明沃爾特已經(jīng)注意到了它。他可能回來(lái)得匆忙，只是放下了書和便條，就離開(kāi)去辦和他工作相關(guān)的事了。奇怪的是，他應(yīng)該先推門，然后才去開(kāi)那兩扇窗戶。如果他想到她睡著了，不太可能去打擾她的。她真是個(gè)大傻瓜！

她又開(kāi)始發(fā)抖了，心里再一次感到了甜蜜的痛楚，每次她想到查理的時(shí)候，這種感覺(jué)總是在心頭涌現(xiàn)，但她覺(jué)得值得。他說(shuō)過(guò)會(huì)站到她的身邊，如果事情到了不可收拾的地步，好吧……如果沃爾特要鬧，就讓他大鬧一場(chǎng)吧。她擁有查理，她還在乎什么呢？或許讓他知道最好不過(guò)了，自從她愛(ài)上查理以后，就根本不在乎沃爾特了，而且丈夫的殷勤已經(jīng)使她煩惱和感到討厭，她想和他徹底劃清界限。她不知道他能找出什么證據(jù)，如果他指控她出軌，她會(huì)矢口否認(rèn)，如果局面極度尷尬，她就不再抵賴，好吧，她會(huì)一股腦兒告訴他真相，讓他自己看著辦。