雙語·面紗 第六章

6

Within three months of her marriage she knew that she had made a mistake; but it had been her mother's fault even more than hers.

There was a photograph of her mother in the room and Kitty's harassed eyes fell on it. She did not know why she kept it there, for she was not very fond of her mother; there was one of her father too, but that was downstairs on the grand piano. It had been done when he took silk and it represented him in a wig and gown. Even they could not make him imposing; he was a little, wizened man, with tired eyes, a long upper lip, and a thin mouth; a facetious photographer had told him to look pleasant, but he had succeeded only in looking severe. It was on this account, for as a rule the down-turned corners of his mouth and the dejection of his eyes gave him an air of mild depression, that Mrs. Garstin, thinking it made him look judicial, had chosen it from among the proofs. But her own photograph showed her in the dress in which she had gone to Court when her husband was made a King's Counsel. She was very grand in the velvet gown, the long train so disposed as to show to advantage, with feathers in her hair and flowers in her hand. She held herself erect. She was a woman of fifty, thin and flat-chested, with prominent cheek-bones and a large, well-shaped nose. She had a great quantity of very smooth black hair and Kitty had always suspected that, if not dyed, it was at least touched up. Her fine black eyes were never still and this was the most noticeable thing about her; for when she was talking to you it was disconcerting to see those restless eyes in that impassive, unlined and yellow face. They moved from one part of you to another, to other persons in the room, and then back to you; you felt that she was criticising you, summing you up, watchful meanwhile of all that went on around her, and that the words she spoke had no connection with her thoughts.

第六章

結(jié)婚不到三個月，她就知道自己犯了個錯誤。但與其說是她的錯，還不如說是她母親的錯。

房間里有一張她母親的照片，凱蒂厭煩的目光落到了上面。她不知道為什么自己要把它放在那兒，其實她并不喜歡自己的母親。她家里還有一張父親的照片，但放在樓下的大鋼琴上面。她父親的照片是在被任命為王室律師時照的，他頭戴假發(fā)，身著長袍，但即使如此場合和穿戴，也沒能使他顯得威風(fēng)凜凜。他身材矮小、干瘦，目光疲憊，上嘴唇很長，兩片嘴唇都偏薄。一個愛逗樂的攝影師告訴他要看上去開心點兒，可他看上去卻更嚴(yán)肅了。正是由于這個原因，賈斯汀太太覺得她丈夫下垂的嘴角和憂郁的眼神，給了他一種平和而又不茍言笑的神氣，使他看上去有種廉明公正的樣子，正是可以做個法官的明證之一。然而，她自己的照片是在她丈夫成為王室的律師后，受邀進(jìn)宮時照的，她身著天鵝絨的長袍，長期的訓(xùn)練顯出了優(yōu)勢，她頭發(fā)上插著羽毛，手上拿著一大把花，腰板挺得直直的。她是五十歲的婦人了，身材很瘦，胸很平，顴骨突出，大鼻子，卻很有型；一頭茂密而又光滑的黑發(fā)，凱蒂早就懷疑她的頭發(fā)可能是染過的，至少也是仔細(xì)修剪過的；黑亮的雙眼不停地轉(zhuǎn)動，這可能是她身上最引人注目的部分了，她跟你說話的時候，你在她那張冷漠的、不顯皺紋的、發(fā)黃的臉上看到一雙骨碌亂轉(zhuǎn)的眼睛，會感到困惑不安的。這雙眼睛對你上上下下打量，一會兒轉(zhuǎn)到屋里其他人身上，過了一會兒又重新回到你身上，你會感覺她正在挑你身上的刺，正在評價你，同時她又對周圍的人和事充滿警覺，說的話也往往言不由衷。