雙語·面紗 第七十二章

72

The Townsends lived on the Peak in a house with a wide view over the sea, and Charlie did not as a rule come up to luncheon, but on the day of Kitty's arrival Dorothy (they were Kitty and Dorothy to one another by now) told her that if she felt up to seeing him he would like to come and bid her welcome. Kitty reflected that since she must see him she might just as well see him at once, and she looked forward with grim amusement to the embarrassment she must cause him. She saw very well that the invitation to stay had arisen in his wife's fancy and notwithstanding his own feelings he had immediately approved. Kitty knew how great his desire was always to do the right thing, and to offer her a gracious hospitality was obviously very much the right thing. But he could hardly remember that last interview of theirs without mortification: to a man so vain as Townsend it must be galling like an ulcer that would not heal. She hoped that she had hurt him as much as he had hurt her. He must hate her now. She was glad to think that she did not hate, but only despised him. It gave her a sardonic satisfaction to reflect that whatever his feelings he would be obliged to make much of her. When she left his office that afternoon he must have hoped with all his heart that he would never set eyes on her again.

And now, sitting with Dorothy, she waited for him to come in. She was conscious of her delight in the sober luxury of the drawing-room. She sat in an arm-chair, there were lovely flowers here and there, on the walls were pleasing pictures; the room was shaded and cool, it was friendly and homelike. She remembered with a faint shudder the bare and empty parlor of the missionary's bungalow; the rattan chairs and the kitchen table with its cotton cloth, the stained shelves with all those cheap editions of novels, and the little skimpy red curtains that had such a dusty look. Oh, it had been so uncomfortable! She supposed that Dorothy had never thought of that.

They heard a motor drive up, and Charlie strode into the room.

“Am I late? I hope I haven't kept you waiting. I had to see the Governor and I simply couldn't get away.”

He went up to Kitty, and took both her hands.

“I'm so very, very glad you've come here. I know Dorothy has told you that we want you to stay as long as ever you like and that we want you to look upon our house as your home. But I want to tell you so myself as well. If there's anything in the world I can do for you I shall only be too happy.” His eyes wore a charming expression of sincerity; she wondered if he saw the irony in hers. “I'm awfully stupid at saying some things and I don't want to seem a clumsy fool, but I do want you to know how deeply I sympathize with you in your husband's death. He was a thundering good chap, and he'll be missed here more than I can say.”

“Don't, Charlie,” said his wife. “I'm sure Kitty understands.…Here are the cocktails.”

Following the luxurious custom of the foreigners in China two boys in uniform came into the room with savouries and cocktails. Kitty refused.

“Oh, you must have one,” insisted Townsend in his breezy, cordial way. “It'll do you good and I'm sure you haven't had such a thing as a cocktail since you left Hong Kong. Unless I'm very much mistaken you couldn't get ice at Mei-tan-fu.”

“You're not mistaken,” said Kitty.

For a moment she had a picture before her mind's eye of that beggar with the tousled head in the blue rags through which you saw the emaciated limbs, who had lain dead against the compound wall.

第七十二章

查理·湯森一家住在山頂?shù)囊粭澐孔永?，能夠俯瞰大海。一般情況下，查理不回來吃午飯，但在凱蒂到達(dá)那天，多蘿西（現(xiàn)在只有凱蒂和多蘿西兩個(gè)人）跟她說，如果她想見見他，他愿意趕回來，歡迎她的到來。凱蒂考慮了一下，覺得既然她不得不見到他，還不如馬上就見，她懷著好玩的心情期待著看看他見到自己時(shí)的窘迫。她看得很清楚，邀請(qǐng)她住在他們家一定是他妻子的主意，即使他心里不愿意，也會(huì)馬上表示支持的。凱蒂也知道他總是希望能做出正確的選擇，而向她發(fā)出好客的邀請(qǐng)顯然就是一個(gè)非常正確的選擇。但是他不會(huì)不記得他們最后一次充滿屈辱的見面，對(duì)于查理這樣一個(gè)虛榮的男人來說，那次會(huì)面肯定讓他難堪，就像一個(gè)潰瘍，不會(huì)那么快愈合的。她希望自己能夠以其人之道還治其人之身。他現(xiàn)在一定恨她，讓她欣慰的是她現(xiàn)在并不恨他了，只是鄙視他。一想到他不管內(nèi)心怎樣想，不得不對(duì)她重視，盡顯好客主人的殷勤，凱蒂就在暗地嘲笑中心滿意足了。從那天下午她離開他的辦公室的那一刻起，他一定是滿心希望，這輩子再也不要見到她了。

現(xiàn)在，她和多蘿西坐在一起，等著他的到來。在這個(gè)并不是很奢華的客廳里，她能夠感受到心情還是很愉快的。她坐在一把扶手椅上，周圍擺滿了可愛的鮮花，四周的墻上是賞心悅目的繪畫作品，房間陰涼舒適，氣氛友好，富有家的氣息。她內(nèi)心有一絲戰(zhàn)栗，記起了傳教士的平房，那里的客廳可以說是家徒四壁，藤椅和廚房的餐桌鋪著棉布，破爛的書架上擺滿廉價(jià)的小說，不夠長(zhǎng)的紅窗簾滿是灰塵。哦，真是太寒酸，太艱苦了！她覺得多蘿西絕對(duì)想象不到。

她們聽到一陣汽車開過來的聲音，過了一會(huì)兒，查理大步走進(jìn)了房間。

“我晚了嗎？我希望沒讓你們久等，我不得不去見總督，又不能說走就走。”

他走向凱蒂，握住了她的雙手。

“我非常高興你能來這兒。我想多蘿西已經(jīng)告訴你了，我們想讓你和我們住在一起，多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間都可以，而且我們想讓你把我們家當(dāng)成自己的家。我自己也想告訴你，如果這世上有什么事我能幫上你的話，我將不遺余力?！彼难劬﹂W爍著迷人而真誠的神情，但她想知道他是否在她的眼中看到了嘲諷，“我對(duì)于一些事情的表達(dá)，有點(diǎn)兒笨嘴拙舌，我又不想讓人把我看成傻瓜，但我還是想告訴你，對(duì)于你丈夫的死，我向你表達(dá)深深的同情，他是一個(gè)非常好的人，我們這兒無數(shù)的人會(huì)懷念他?！?/p>

“別說了，查理?！彼f道，“我肯定凱蒂能夠理解……雞尾酒來了。”

按照在華外國人奢華的風(fēng)俗，兩個(gè)穿制服的男仆端著開胃食品和雞尾酒上來了。凱蒂謝絕了。

“哦，你一定得吃一點(diǎn)兒?！辈槔碛盟回灥妮p松愉快而又顯得真心實(shí)意的方式堅(jiān)持著，“吃點(diǎn)兒對(duì)你有好處，我敢保證自從你離開香港，再也沒有品嘗過像雞尾酒之類的東西了。除非我弄錯(cuò)了，你在湄潭府是搞不到冰塊的?！?/p>

“你沒有弄錯(cuò)?！眲P蒂說道。

有那么一刻，她在腦海中閃過一幅畫面，那個(gè)頭發(fā)亂蓬蓬，穿著藍(lán)色破爛衣服，透過衣服的破洞可以看見他瘦骨嶙峋的四肢的乞丐，靠著院落的墻壁，他已經(jīng)死了。