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Chapter 12
第十二章
The Avenue de Clichy was crowded at that hour, and a lively fancy might see in the passers-by the personages of many a sordid romance. There were clerks and shopgirls; old fellows who might have stepped out of the pages of Honore de Balzac; members, male and female, of the professions which make their profit of the frailties of mankind. There is in the streets of the poorer quarters of Paris a thronging vitality which excites the blood and prepares the soul for the unexpected.
這會兒正是克里舍林蔭路最熱鬧的時刻，只需要發揮一點兒想象力，就能夠在過往行人中發現不少庸俗羅曼司中的人物。小職員和女售貨員，宛如從巴爾扎克的小說中走出來的老古董，靠著人性的弱點賺錢糊口的一些行當的男女成員。在巴黎的一些貧窮地區，街道上總是人群熙攘，充滿無限生機，使你血流激動，隨時準備為你演一出意想不到的好戲。
Do you know Paris well? I asked.
“你對巴黎熟悉不熟悉？”我問。
No. We came on our honeymoon. I haven't been since.
“不熟悉。我們度蜜月的時候來過。以后我從來沒有再來。”
How on earth did you find out your hotel?
“那你怎么會找到這家旅館的？”
It was recommended to me. I wanted something cheap.
“別人介紹的。我要找一家便宜的。”
The absinthe came, and with due solemnity we dropped water over the melting sugar.
苦艾酒端上來了，我們一本正經地把水澆在溶化的糖上。
I thought I'd better tell you at once why I had come to see you, I said, not without embarrassment.
“我想我還是坦白對你講我為什么來找你吧，”我有一些困窘地說。
His eyes twinkled. "I thought somebody would come along sooner or later. I've had a lot of letters from Amy."
他的眼睛閃閃發亮。“我早就想遲早會有個人來的。阿美已經給我寫了一大堆信來了。”
Then you know pretty well what I've got to say.
“那么我要對你講的，不用我說你也知道得很清楚了。”
I've not read them.
“她那些信我都沒有看。”
I lit a cigarette to give myself a moment's time. I did not quite know now how to set about my mission. The eloquent phrases I had arranged, pathetic or indignant, seemed out of place on the Avenue de Clichy. Suddenly he gave a chuckle.
我點了一支煙，為了給自己一些思索的時間。我這時候真不知道該怎樣辦理我承擔下的這件差事了。我準備好的一套絕妙詞令，哀婉的也罷、憤激的也罷，在克里舍林蔭道上以乎都不合拍了。突然，思特里克蘭德咯咯地笑起來。
Beastly job for you this, isn't it?
“交給你辦的事很叫你頭疼，對不對？”
Oh, I don't know, I answered.
“啊，我不知道，”我回答。
Well, look here, you get it over, and then we'll have a jolly evening.
“聽我說，你趕快把肚子里的事說出來，以后咱們可以痛快地玩一個晚上。”
I hesitated.
我猶豫不定。
Has it occurred to you that your wife is frightfully unhappy?
“你想到過沒有，你的妻子痛苦極了？”
She'll get over it.
“事情會過去的。”
I cannot describe the extraordinary callousness with which he made this reply. It disconcerted me, but I did my best not to show it. I adopted the tone used by my Uncle Henry, a clergyman, when he was asking one of his relatives for a subscription to the Additional Curates Society.
他說這句話的那種冷漠無情我簡直無法描摹。我被他這種態度搞得心慌意亂，但是我盡量掩蓋著自己。我采用了我的一位亨利叔叔說話的語調；亨利叔叔是個牧師，每逢他請求哪位親戚給候補副牧師協會捐款的時候總是用這種語調。
