雙語·《刀鋒》 第一章 二

CHAPTER ONE 2
第一章 二

In 1919 I happened to be in Chicago on my way to the Far East, and for reasons that have nothing to do with this narrative I was staying there for two or three weeks. I had recently brought out a successful novel and being for the moment news, I had no sooner arrived than I was interviewed.Next morning my telephone rang.I answered.
一九一九年我去歐洲，途經(jīng)芝加哥，為了一些與本書無關(guān)的事由在那兒待了兩三個(gè)星期。當(dāng)時(shí)我剛剛出版了一部小說，大獲成功，一時(shí)成為新聞人物，屁股還沒坐穩(wěn)就有記者來采訪。次日清晨電話鈴便響了起來，我拿起了話筒。

“Elliott Templeton speaking.”
“我是艾略特·鄧普頓?！?/p>

“Elliott?I thought you were in Paris.”
“艾略特？我還以為你在巴黎呢?！?/p>

“No, I'm visiting with my sister. We want you to come along and lunch with us today.”
“我來這兒，是看望我姐姐的?！薄拔蚁胝埬憬裉靵?，一塊兒吃頓午飯?！?/p>

“I should love to.”
“樂意奉陪?！?/p>

He named the hour and gave me the address.
他把時(shí)間和地址告訴了我。

I had known Elliott Templeton for fifteen years. He was at this time in his late fifties, a tall, elegant man with good features and thick waving dark hair only sufficiently greying to add to the distinction of his appearance.He was always beautifully dressed.He got his haberdashery at Charvet's, but his suits, his shoes, and his hats in London.He had an apartment in Paris on the Rive Gauche in the fashionable Rue St.Guillaume.People who did not like him said he was a dealer, but this was a charge that he resented with indignation.He had taste and knowledge, and he did not mind admitting that in bygone years, when he first settled in Paris, he had given rich collectors who wanted to buy pictures the benefit of his advice；and when through his social connexions he heard that some impoverished nobleman, English or French, was disposed to sell a picture of first-rate quality he was glad to put him in touch with the directors of American museums who, he happened to know, were on the lookout for a fine example of such and such a master.There were many old families in France and some in England whose circumstances compelled them to part with a signed piece of Buhl or a writing-table made by Chippendale himself if it could be done quietly, and they were glad to know a man of great culture and perfect manners who could arrange the matter with discretion.One would naturally suppose that Elliott profited by the transactions, but one was too well bred to mention it.Unkind people asserted that everything in his apartment was for sale and that after he had invited wealthy Americans for an excellent lunch, with vintage wines, one or two of his valuable drawings would disappear, or a marquetry commode would be replaced by one in lacquer.When he was asked why a particular piece had vanished he very plausibly explained that he hadn't thought it quite up to his mark and had exchanged it for one of much finer quality.He added that it was tiresome always to look at the same things.
我認(rèn)識艾略特·鄧普頓已有十五個(gè)年頭。此時(shí)的他年近六旬，高挑的個(gè)子，五官端正，一派儒雅的風(fēng)度，烏黑濃密的卷發(fā)微染白霜，反倒使他更加氣宇軒昂。他素來衣著考究，小物件可以在查維特服飾店采購，但衣帽和鞋子這套行頭卻一定要在倫敦添置。他在巴黎塞納河左岸有一套公寓，位于時(shí)尚的圣紀(jì)堯姆大街。不喜歡他的人稱他為掮客，這種污蔑叫他不勝憤怒。他眼光獨(dú)特、學(xué)識淵博，不否認(rèn)剛剛在巴黎安家的那些年曾經(jīng)為有意買畫的大款收藏家出過主意，助過他們一臂之力。在交際場上，他一旦耳聞某個(gè)英法破落貴族想出手一幅精品畫作，碰巧又知道哪個(gè)美國博物館的理事在訪求某某大師的優(yōu)秀畫作，他便樂見其成，為之穿針引線。法國有許多世家，英國也是有一些的。這類人家有時(shí)深陷窘境，不得不出手某件有布爾大師①簽名的柜子或者一張由齊本德爾親手制作的寫字臺，只要不聲張出去，當(dāng)然愿意有一個(gè)知識淵博、風(fēng)度儒雅、辦事謹(jǐn)慎的人代為操辦。人們自然想到艾略特會從這種交易中撈上一把，但大家都是有教養(yǎng)的，誰也不愿明說。肚腸小的人卻不客氣，硬說他家樣樣?xùn)|西都是擺出來兜售的，請美國的富佬來吃上一頓豐盛的午餐，觥籌交錯之后，就會有一兩幅值錢的畫品不見了蹤影，或者一件鑲嵌細(xì)工家具被一件漆品替換。若是有人問起某樣?xùn)|西怎么不見了，他便頭頭是道地解釋一通，說那東西不上品位，他拿去換了樣品質(zhì)遠(yuǎn)在其之上的。他還補(bǔ)充說，成天看一樣特定的東西，哪有不煩的。

“Nous autres Américains, we Americans，”he said，“l(fā)ike change.It is at once our weakness and our strength.”
“Nous autres Américains，我們美國人就喜歡換花樣。這既是我們的短板，也是我們的長處。”

Some of the American ladies in Paris, who claimed to know all about him, said that his family was quite poor and if he was able to live in the way he did it was only because he had been very clever. I do not know how much money he had, but his ducal landlord certainly made him pay a lot for his apartment and it was furnished with objects of value.On the walls were drawings by the great French masters, Watteau, Fragonard, Claude Lorraine and so on；Savonnerie and Aubusson rugs displayed their beauty on the parquet floors；and in the drawing-room there was a Louis Quinze suite in petit point of such elegance that it might well have belonged, as he claimed, to Madame de Pompadour.Anyhow he had enough to live in what he considered was the proper style for a gentleman without trying to earn money, and the method by which he had done so in the past was a matter which, unless you wished to lose his acquaintance, you were wise not to refer to.Thus relieved of material cares he gave himself over to the ruling passion of his life, which was social relationships.His business connexions with the impecunious great both in France and in England had secured the foothold he had obtained on his arrival in Europe as a young man with letters of introduction to persons of consequence.His origins recommended him to the American ladies of title to whom he brought letters, for he was of an old Virginian family and through his mother traced his descent from one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.He was well-favoured, bright, a good dancer, a fair shot, and a fine tennis player.He was an asset at any party.He was lavish with flowers and expensive boxes of chocolates, and though he entertained little, when he did it was with an originality that pleased.It amused these rich ladies to be taken to bohemian restaurants in Soho or bistros in the Latin Quarter.He was always prepared to make himself useful, and there was nothing, however tiresome, that you asked him to do for you that he would not do with pleasure.He took an immense amount of trouble to make himself agreeable to ageing women, and it was not long before he was the ami de la maison, the household pet, in many an imposing mansion.His amiability was extreme；he never minded being asked at the last moment because someone had thrown you over and you could put him next to a very boring old lady and count on him to be as charming and amusing with her as he knew how.
巴黎有些美國籍的小姐太太，自稱了解他的底細(xì)，說他的家道原來很窮，之所以能過上如此闊綽的日子，只是由于他為人非常精明的緣故。我不清楚他究竟有多少錢，可是那位有公爵身份的房東容他住這樣的公寓，自然要收不菲的房租。況且，他的房間里擺的盡是值錢的物件。墻上掛著一些法國藝術(shù)大師的畫作，有華多的，有弗拉戈納爾的，還有克洛德·洛蘭等其他人的；鑲木地板上鋪著薩馮內(nèi)里埃地毯和奧比松地毯，相互爭奇斗艷；客廳里擺了一套路易十五時(shí)代精工細(xì)雕的家具，制作之精，如他自己所稱，說不定就是當(dāng)年蓬帕杜夫人香閨中的物件呢。不管怎么說，反正他不必挖空心思去賺錢，照樣能把日子過得很滋潤，他認(rèn)為一個(gè)紳士應(yīng)該講究這種排場，至于他是如何才達(dá)到了這樣的水準(zhǔn)，智者會三緘其口，除非你希望跟他一刀兩斷，不再來往。對于物質(zhì)生活沒有了后顧之憂，他便全身心去實(shí)現(xiàn)一生中最大的愿望——游刃于社交圈子。初來歐洲時(shí)，他只是個(gè)拿著介紹信四處拜訪名流的年輕人，后來因?yàn)閹椭切┯⒎ㄊ兰页山涣藥坠P生意，鞏固了在這之前已經(jīng)取得的地位。他出身于弗吉尼亞州的一個(gè)舊世家，母系一族追溯起來，曾有一位祖先在《獨(dú)立宣言》上簽過字呢。他拿著介紹信拜見那些美國貴婦人時(shí)，其出身頗受重視。他如魚得水，八面玲瓏，舞跳得好，槍打得準(zhǔn)，還打得一手好網(wǎng)球，什么樣的派對他都是必到之客。他慷慨大方，將鮮花和昂貴的巧克力買來任意送人。他自己倒是很少請客，可是一旦設(shè)宴，必定別開生面。他會請那些闊太太到蘇荷區(qū)富于人文氣息的飯館開洋葷，或者去拉丁區(qū)的酒館小酌，使她們得到身心的愉悅。隨時(shí)隨地，他都愿意為人效犬馬之勞，不管再怎么煩人的事，只要有求于他，他沒有不樂意辦的。遇見上年紀(jì)的女人，他很舍得花氣力花時(shí)間曲意逢迎，沒過多長時(shí)間便成了許多大戶人家的新寵。他這個(gè)人太好說話了，開宴會萬一有人爽約沒來，請他臨時(shí)湊個(gè)數(shù)，他是毫不介意的；把他安排在一個(gè)討厭透頂?shù)睦咸磉?，他一定會談笑風(fēng)生，博得老太太的歡心。

In two or more years, both in London to which he went for the last part of the season and to pay a round of country house visits in the early autumn, and in Paris, where he had settled down, he knew everyone whom a young American could know. The ladies who had first introduced him into society were surprised to discover how wide the circle of his acquaintance had grown.Their feelings were mixed.On the one hand they were pleased that their young protégé had made so great a success, and on the other a trifle nettled that he should be on intimate terms with persons with whom their own relations had remained strictly formal.Though he continued to be obliging and useful to them, they were uneasily conscious that he had used them as stepping-stones to his social advancement.They were afraid he was a snob.And of course he was.He was a colossal snob.He was a snob without shame.He would put up with any affront, he would ignore any rebuff, he would swallow any rudeness to get asked to a party he wanted to go to or to make a connexion with some crusty old dowager of great name.He was indefatigable.When he had fixed his eye on his prey he hunted it with the persistence of a botanist who will expose himself to dangers of flood, earthquake, fever, and hostile natives to find an orchid of peculiar rarity.The war of 1914 gave him his final chance.When it broke out he joined an ambulance corps and served first in Flanders and then in the Argonne；he came back after a year with a red ribbon in his buttonhole and secured a position in the Red Cross in Paris.By then he was in affluent circumstances and he contributed generously to the good works patronized by persons of consequence.He was always ready with his exquisite taste and his gift for organization to help in any charitable function that was widely publicized.He became a member of the two most exclusive clubs in Paris.He was ce cher Elliott to the greatest ladies in France.He had finally arrived.
在兩三年的時(shí)間里，他混跡于倫敦和巴黎，作為一個(gè)年輕的美國人，凡是能攀得上的關(guān)系，他都與之有了交往。他把家安在巴黎，社交季節(jié)之末則到倫敦去，初秋時(shí)分前往鄉(xiāng)間去拜訪一圈住在鄉(xiāng)村別墅的名門。最初將他引入社交界的那些貴婦人發(fā)現(xiàn)他的交游竟然如此之廣，不由頗感意外，心里五味雜陳。她們一方面感到高興——這個(gè)受她們保護(hù)的小伙子取得了巨大的成功；另一方面，她們則有些拈酸——他跟別人混得很熟，和她們卻是禮節(jié)性的交往。雖然他依然有求必應(yīng)，愿意為她們效勞，但她們心里直犯嘀咕，覺得自己被他當(dāng)成了躋身社交界的墊腳石，懷疑他是個(gè)唯利是圖的勢利眼。實(shí)際上他的確是個(gè)勢利眼，一個(gè)不折不扣的勢利眼，一個(gè)毫無廉恥之心的勢利眼。哪家請客，他只要能上客人名單，或者跟哪個(gè)有名望的脾氣乖戾的貴族老太太攀上關(guān)系，什么樣的苦他都能吃，受得了侮辱謾罵，聽得了冷言冷語，咽得下窩囊氣。在這方面，他可以說是不屈不撓。他只要盯上一個(gè)獵物，非將其獵到手不可，就像尋找罕見種類蘭花的植物學(xué)家一樣執(zhí)著，什么洪水、地震、熱病和充滿敵意的土著人啦，這種危險(xiǎn)全不放在眼里。一九一四年的世界大戰(zhàn)給他提供了升騰的良機(jī)。戰(zhàn)爭一爆發(fā)，他就去參加了一個(gè)救護(hù)隊(duì)，先后在佛蘭德斯和阿爾貢戰(zhàn)區(qū)救死扶傷；一年后回來，他胸前多了條榮譽(yù)紅絲帶，并且在巴黎紅十字會謀了個(gè)缺。此時(shí)的他今非昔比，手頭已很寬裕，凡是名流主辦的慈善事業(yè)，他必定慷慨捐贈。看見名聲顯赫的慈善機(jī)構(gòu)，他會運(yùn)用自己淵博的知識和高雅的品味鼎力相助。巴黎有兩家頂級的高檔俱樂部，他都成了會員。在法國那些最有名望的貴婦人眼中，他成了“了不起的艾略特”。他終于發(fā)跡了！