雙語·面紗 第七十一章

71

When the boat docked at Hong Kong, Kitty, who had been standing on the deck to look at the colored, gay, and vivacious traffic of the river, went into her cabin to see that the amah had left nothing behind. She gave herself a look in the glass. She wore black, the nuns had dyed a dress for her, but not mourning; and the thought crossed her mind that the first thing she must do was to see to this. The habiliments of woe could not but serve as an effective disguise to her unexpected feelings. There was a knock on her cabin door. The amah opened it.

“Mrs. Fane.”

Kitty turned and saw a face which at the first moment she did not recognize. Then her heart gave a sudden quick beat and she flushed. It was Dorothy Townsend. Kitty so little expected to see her that she knew neither what to do nor what to say. But Mrs. Townsend came into the cabin and with an impulsive gesture took Kitty in her arms.

“Oh, my dear, my dear, I'm so dreadfully sorry for you.”

Kitty allowed herself to be kissed. She was a little surprised at this effusiveness in a woman whom she had always thought cold and distant.

“It's very kind of you,” murmured Kitty.

“Come on deck. The amah will look after your things and my boys are here.”

She took Kitty's hand and Kitty, allowing herself to be led, noticed that her good-natured, weather-beaten face bore an expression of real concern.

“Your boat's early, I very nearly didn't get down in time,” said Mrs. Townsend. “I couldn't have borne it if I'd missed you.”

“But you didn't come to meet me?” exclaimed Kitty.

“Of course I did.”

“But how did you know I was coming?”

“Mr. Waddington sent me a telegram.”

Kitty turned away. She had a lump in her throat. It was funny that a little unexpected kindness should so affect her. She did not want to cry; she wished Dorothy Townsend would go away. But Dorothy took the hand that was hanging by Kitty's side and pressed it. It embarrassed Kitty that this shy woman should be so demonstrative.

“I want you to do me a great favor. Charlie and I want you to come and stay with us while you're in Hong Kong.”

Kitty snatched her hand away.

“It's awfully kind of you. I couldn't possibly.”

“But you must. You can't go and live all by yourself in your own house. It would be dreadful for you. I've prepared everything. You shall have your own sitting-room. You can have your meals there if you don't care to have them with us. We both want you to come.”

“I wasn't thinking of going to the house. I was going to get myself a room at the Hong Kong Hotel. I couldn't possibly put you to so much trouble.”

The suggestion had taken her by surprise. She was confused and vexed. If Charlie had had any sense of decency he would never have allowed his wife to make the invitation. She did not wish to be under an obligation to either of them.

“Oh, but I couldn't bear the idea of your living at a hotel. And you'd hate the Hong Kong Hotel just now. With all those people about and the band playing jazz all the time. Please say you'll come to us. I promise you that Charlie and I won't bother you.”

“I don't know why you should be so kind to me.” Kitty was getting a little short of excuses; she could not bring herself to utter a blunt and definite no. “I'm afraid I'm not very good company among strangers just now.”

“But need we be strangers to you? Oh, I do so want not to be, I so want you to allow me to be your friend.” Dorothy clasped her hands and her voice, her cool, deliberate, and distinguished voice, was tremulous with tears. “I so awfully want you to come. You see, I want to make amends to you.”

Kitty did not understand. She did not know what amends Charlie's wife owed her.

“I'm afraid I didn't very much like you at first. I thought you rather fast. You see, I'm old-fashioned and I suppose I'm intolerant.”

Kitty gave her a passing glance. What she meant was that at first she had thought Kitty vulgar. Though Kitty allowed no shadow of it to show on her face in her heart she laughed. Much she cared for what any one thought of her now!

“And when I heard that you'd gone with your husband into the jaws of death, without a moment's hesitation, I felt such a frightful cad. I felt so humiliated. You've been so wonderful, you've been so brave, you make all the rest of us look so dreadfully cheap and second-rate.” Now the tears were pouring down her kind, homely face. “I can't tell you how much I admire you and what a respect I have for you. I know I can do nothing to make up for your terrible loss, but I want you to know how deeply, how sincerely I feel for you. And if you'll only allow me to do a little something for you it will be a privilege. Don't bear me a grudge because I misjudged you. You're heroic and I'm just a silly fool of a woman.”

Kitty looked down at the deck. She was very pale. She wished that Dorothy would not show such uncontrollable emotion. She was touched, it was true, but she could not help a slight feeling of impatience that this simple creature should believe such lies.

“If you really mean that you'd like to have me, of course I shall be glad to come,” she sighed.

第七十一章

輪船到了香港，?？吭诹舜a頭上。凱蒂剛才一直站在甲板上，看著江面上各種顏色、歡快活潑的大小船只來來往往。這時她走進客艙，看看女仆是否落下了什么東西，然后又自己照了照鏡子。她穿著一身黑衣，修女們已經(jīng)為她染黑了一身衣服，但不是孝衣。她想到的第一件事就是檢查一下這身打扮?？梢哉f這身衣服雖然不能掩蓋住她突然的百感交集，但至少是一個很好的偽裝。有人在敲客艙的房門，女仆打開了門。

“費恩太太?！?/p>

凱蒂轉(zhuǎn)過身去，看到了一張臉。剛一開始她竟然沒有認出來。隨后，她的心跳突然加快，臉也紅了。來人是多蘿西·湯森。凱蒂根本沒有想到會看到她，有點兒不知所措了。但是，湯森太太走進了客艙，用一個很沖動的姿勢一下子抱住了凱蒂。

“哦，我親愛的，我是多么為你感到難過呀。”

凱蒂讓她親吻了自己。她有點兒吃驚，原來她總覺得多蘿西冷淡而拒人千里之外，可今天她竟然這么情真意切。

“你真是太好了?！眲P蒂嘟囔道。

“來甲板上吧，你的女仆會照看好你的東西，我的仆人們也等在這兒了?！?/p>

她拉著凱蒂的手，而凱蒂也只好被她領(lǐng)著，但凱蒂注意到她那張溫厚的、飽經(jīng)風霜的臉上確實掛著由衷關(guān)心的表情。

“你的船到早了，我差點兒就沒接上你?！倍嗵}西說道，“如果我沒接到你，我會受不了的?！?/p>

“你是特意來接我的？”凱蒂驚呼道。

“當然，我是特意來接你的。”

“但是你怎么知道我要回來？”

“威廷頓先生給我拍了封電報?！?/p>

凱蒂背過身去，感到喉嚨中有點兒哽咽，一個出乎意料的小小善舉竟然如此感動她，真是可笑。她不想哭，她希望多蘿西能夠走開，但多蘿西拉住了凱蒂耷拉在身體一側(cè)的手，并緊緊握住它。這讓凱蒂有點兒尷尬，這個頗有城府的女人真夠感情外露的。

“我想讓你賞光，你在香港期間，查理和我想讓你過來和我們住在一起?！?/p>

凱蒂把手抽了出來。

“你真的對我太好了，但我想不大可能。”

“你一定要聽我的，你不能回去，獨自一個人住在你自己的房子里。對你來說，這太可怕了。我已經(jīng)準備好了一切。你有自己的客廳，如果你不介意和我們一起吃飯，就在我們家吃。我們兩個人都希望你能來。”

“我沒想回我自己家，我打算在香港賓館租間房，我不可能去給你添那么多麻煩的?！?/p>

多蘿西的這個建議起初讓她吃驚，現(xiàn)在更多的是讓她困惑和煩惱。如果查理還不是那么厚顏無恥的話，他就不應該讓她的太太發(fā)出這樣的邀請。她不想欠他們倆中任何一個人的人情。

“哦，但是想到你住旅館，我就受不了。你會討厭香港賓館的，那兒整天人來人往，樂隊一直演奏著爵士樂。請答應來我們家吧，我向你保證查理和我都不會打擾你的?！?/p>

“我不知道你為什么對我這么好?！眲P蒂一時找不到很好的理由拒絕，又不能簡單粗暴地一口回絕，“我恐怕目前在陌生人中間會覺得不太自在?！?/p>

“但是我們對你來說是陌生人嗎？哦，我真沒這樣想過，我多么希望你把我當成朋友呀?！倍嗵}西攥緊雙手，她冷靜、圓滑、特點鮮明的聲音中竟然帶有顫抖的哭音，“我真的盼著你來，你知道，我想補償你?！?/p>

凱蒂有點兒糊涂了，她不知道查理的妻子欠她什么了，還需要補償她。

“恐怕我得承認，一開始時，我不是很喜歡你，覺得你很不穩(wěn)重，你知道，我是個保守的人，而且，我想我還有點兒心胸狹窄?！?/p>

凱蒂看了多蘿西一眼，這個女人的意思是一開始她覺得凱蒂粗俗，雖然凱蒂臉上沒有任何表情，但在心里卻笑了。現(xiàn)在她根本不在乎別人對她的看法了！

“可是當我聽說你毅然決然地陪著你丈夫遠赴生死之地，沒有片刻的猶豫，我就覺得自己是個可怕的下流坯，我羞愧極了。你是那么的高尚，那么的勇敢，你讓我們所有的人看上去是那么的卑賤和渺小?！边@時，淚水似泉水般流淌在她善良、平凡的臉上，“我不能告訴你我有多崇拜你，多敬佩你。我知道無論我做什么都不能彌補你的喪夫之痛，但是我想讓你明白我對你深沉、真摯的感情，如果你能允許我為你做點兒微不足道的事的話，將是我莫大的榮幸。不要因為我以前誤解了你而對我懷恨在心吧，你是英雄，而我只是個愚蠢的傻女人。”

凱蒂低頭看著甲板，臉色蒼白。她希望多蘿西不要一發(fā)不可收拾地傾瀉自己的感情。她被感動了，這是真的，但是她忍不住有種微微的不耐煩，這個簡單的女人竟然相信了這些謊言。

“如果你實在想讓我去的話，當然，我很樂意去?！彼龂@了口氣，不得不讓步了。