雙語·《刀鋒》 第六章 二

CHAPTER SIX 2
第六章 二

That autumn, a couple of months after Elliott's death, I spent a week in Paris on my way to England. Isabel and Gray, after their grim journey to Italy, had returned to Brittany, but were now once more settled in the apartment in the Rue St.Guillaume.She told me the details of his will.He had left a sum of money for Masses to be said for his soul in the church he had built and a further sum for its upkeep.He had bequeathed a handsome amount to the Bishop of Nice to be spent on charitable purposes.He had left me the equivocal legacy of his eighteenth-century pornographic library and a beautiful drawing by Fragonard of a satyr engaged with a nymph on a performance that is usually conducted in private.It was too indecent to hang on my walls and I am not one to gloat upon obscenity in private.He had provided generously for his servants.His two nephews were to have ten thousand dollars each, and the residue of his estate went to Isabel.What this amounted to she did not tell me and I did not inquire；I gathered from her complacency that it was quite a lot of money.
話說那年秋天，在艾略特辭世兩個(gè)月后，我前往英國(guó)，中途在巴黎逗留了一個(gè)星期。伊莎貝爾和格雷到意大利奔喪，之后又回到布列塔尼游覽，此時(shí)已返回圣紀(jì)堯姆大街的公寓樓過起了小日子。伊莎貝爾把艾略特遺囑的內(nèi)容詳細(xì)告訴了我，說他留下一筆錢給他造的那座教堂為他的靈魂做彌撒，另外還捐給教堂一筆維持費(fèi)。他留給尼斯主教一筆數(shù)目可觀的錢作為慈善捐獻(xiàn)，留給我的則是那些意義曖昧的十八世紀(jì)的黃色書刊以及弗拉戈納爾的一幅畫，畫面非常漂亮。在弗拉戈納爾的這幅畫里，森林之神在和一個(gè)女仙子干那種見不得人的事，由于色情味太濃，不便掛在墻上，而我又不是那種喜歡關(guān)上門偷看淫情繪畫的人。他對(duì)家仆們很是大方，留下的錢不少。他的兩個(gè)外甥各得一萬塊錢，余下的家產(chǎn)悉數(shù)給了伊莎貝爾。到底余下了多少家產(chǎn)，伊莎貝爾只字未提，我也沒問。不過，從她心滿意足的表情看來，這筆家產(chǎn)一定不是小數(shù)目。

For long, ever since he had regained his health, Gray had been impatient to go back to America and get to work again, and though Isabel was comfortable enough in Paris, his restlessness had affected her too. He had for some time been in communication with his friends, but the best opening that presented itself was contingent on his putting in a considerable amount of capital.That he had not got, but Elliott's death had put Isabel in possession of very much more than was needed；and Gray with her approval was starting negotiations with the view, if everything turned out as well as it was presented, of leaving Paris and going to look into the matter for himself.But before that was possible there was much to attend to.They had to come to a reasonable agreement with the French Treasury over the inheritance tax.They had to get rid of the house at Antibes and the apartment in the Rue St.Guillaume.They had to arrange for a sale at the H?tel Drouot of Elliott’s furniture, pictures, and drawings.These were valuable and it seemed wise to wait till spring when the great collectors were likely to be in Paris.Isabel was not sorry to spend another winter there；the children by now could chatter French as easily as they could chatter English and she was glad to let them have a few more months at a French school.They had grown in three years and were now long-legged, skinny, vivacious little creatures, with little at present of their mother’s beauty, but with nice manners and an insatiable curiosity.
格雷自從恢復(fù)健康之后，一直都在想著東山再起，急于返回美國(guó)重新工作。盡管伊莎貝爾在巴黎的日子過得很滋潤(rùn)，但格雷焦慮的心情也影響到了她。格雷和生意圈里的朋友溝通已有些時(shí)日，但真正的契機(jī)是他能夠拿出一大筆錢作為資本。按說格雷本人是沒有錢的，可是，艾略特給伊莎貝爾留下了一大筆遺產(chǎn)，數(shù)目遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過他所需。所以，在取得伊莎貝爾的同意之后，他和那些人進(jìn)行了談判；如果一切進(jìn)展順利，他將離開巴黎，親自實(shí)地考察。不過，在成行之前，有許多事情都需要料理。首先，他們必須在遺產(chǎn)稅方面和法國(guó)財(cái)政部達(dá)成一項(xiàng)合理的協(xié)議。其次，需要處理掉安提比斯的別墅以及圣紀(jì)堯姆大街的公寓房。接下來，還得在德魯奧旅館籌備一次拍賣，處理掉艾略特的那些家具、藏畫和素描。這些東西都是價(jià)值連城的寶貝，明智之舉是等到來年春天再拍賣——那時(shí)，大收藏家們將云集巴黎。在巴黎過冬，伊莎貝爾并不覺得遺憾。兩個(gè)孩子現(xiàn)在法語說得很棒，跟說英語一樣流暢。伊莎貝爾倒是很愿意讓她們?cè)诜▏?guó)的學(xué)校里再上幾個(gè)月的課。三年來，她們?nèi)L(zhǎng)高了，長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的腿，瘦瘦的身體，小家伙們個(gè)個(gè)活潑可愛，雖然目前還沒有母親的那種天姿國(guó)色，卻很懂禮貌，有著永不滿足的好奇心。

So much for that.
當(dāng)時(shí)的情況就是這樣。