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The letters on one side were indistinct, but on the other an 'R' was clearly visible with what looked like an 'I' after it. "Some budding romance?" I asked, "did you know who they were?"
心一邊的字母已無法辨認了，但在另一邊，字母“R”清晰可見，后面還有個像是“I”的字母。“初戀羅曼史？”我問道，“你知道他們是誰嗎？”
"Oh yes, I knew them", said Mary Smith, "it says RH loves MS."
“唔，我知道。”瑪麗·史密斯說，“寫的是‘RH愛MS’。
I realised that I could be getting out of my depth, and longed to be in my office, away from here and this old lady, snug, and with a mug of tea in my hand.
我意識到我可能涉入太深了，真希望自己身在辦公室，遠離這個地方和這個老年女士，手里還端著杯茶，舒舒服服地。
She went on, "He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse's hoof, and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love, but he was going away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day, back to his Unit."
她繼續講下去：“他拿著一把袖珍折刀，折刀上嵌有長釘，那種長釘可以用來挖出夾在馬蹄上的石塊，我們一起刻了我名字的第一個字母。我們深深相愛，但他卻要離開了，而且不知道他將在軍隊里干什么。當然我也曾猜想過。那是我們在一起的最后一個夜晚，因為他第二天就回部隊去了。
Mary Smith was quiet for a while, then she sobbed. "His mother showed me the telegram. 'Sergeant R Holmes ... Killed in action in the invasion of France.'
瑪麗·史密斯停了一會兒，接著抽泣起來。“他母親給我看了那封電報。‘R?荷爾姆斯軍士……在解放法國的戰役中犧牲。’“
"'I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married,' she said, He was my only child, and I would have loved to be a Granny, they would have been such lovely babies' - she was like that!
我本來希望你和羅賓會結婚的。’她母親說，‘我只有他一個孩子，我本希望能做祖母，有非常可愛的小寶寶。’——她真是那么說的！
"Two years later she too was dead. 'Pneumonia, following a chill on the chest' was what the doctor said, but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us."
“兩年后她也去世了。醫生說是‘肺炎，胸部著涼造成的’，但我認為這是典型的傷心過度。如果有個孩子那我們倆就都不會這樣了。”
There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him. "And now they want to take our tree away from me."
瑪麗·史密斯又停了會兒沒說話。她輕柔地撫摸著那棵刻過的樹，就像她曾經撫摸他一樣。“現在他們想把我們的樹奪走。”
Another quiet sob, then she turned to me. "I was young and pretty then, I could have had anybody, I wasn't always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwards to."
她又輕輕地抽噎了一下，然后她轉過身來對著我。“當時我年輕漂亮，我愛嫁給誰都可以，我當時可不是現在這么老的。我擁有生命里所要的一切，一個值得愛的男人、健康的身體和充滿夢想的未來。”
She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. "There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!" she said strongly. "
她頓了頓，朝四周看了一眼。微風輕輕吹拂著樹葉，發出嘆息般的沙沙聲。“當然， 那時還有其他人，但他們連羅賓的一絲一毫都比不上！”她肯定地說。
And now I have nothing - except the memories this tree holds.
“現在我一無所有——只剩下殘留在這棵樹上的記憶。
If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now, I would kill him.
那個可惡的家伙竟建議把路修在我們所站的這個地方，我真希望掐死他。
Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not know anything about memories? We were not the only ones, you know, I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes, I would tell him!"
我會對他說：你從沒愛過嗎，你活過嗎，你從不知道什么叫記憶嗎？你知道，不僅僅是我們，現在我仍能看見些男男女女像當年的我和羅賓那樣到這兒來。是的，我一定要對他說！”
I turned away, sick at heart.
我轉過身去，心里感到很難過。
