第十五章
When I reached London I found waiting for me an urgent request that I should go to Mrs. Strickland's as soon after dinner as I could. I found her with Colonel MacAndrew and his wife. Mrs. Strickland's sister was older than she, not unlike her, but more faded; and she had the efficient air, as though she carried the British Empire in her pocket, which the wives of senior officers acquire from the consciousness of belonging to a superior caste. Her manner was brisk, and her good-breeding scarcely concealed her conviction that if you were not a soldier you might as well be a counter-jumper. She hated the Guards, whom she thought conceited, and she could not trust herself to speak of their ladies, who were so remiss in calling. Her gown was dowdy and expensive.
我回到倫敦家里，發現有一封急信在等著我，叫我一吃過晚飯就到思特里克蘭德太太那里去。我在她家里也看到了麥克安德魯上校同他的妻子。思特里克蘭德太太的姐姐比思特里克蘭德太太年紀大幾歲，樣子同她差不多，只是更衰老一些。這個女人顯出一副精明能干的樣子，仿佛整個大英帝國都揣在她口袋里似的；一些高級官員的太太深知自己屬于優越的階層，總是帶著這種神氣的。麥克安德魯太太精神抖擻，言談舉止表現得很有教養，但卻很難掩飾她那根深蒂固的偏見：如果你不是軍人，就連站柜臺的小職員還不如。她討厭近衛隊軍官，認為這些人傲氣；不屑于談論這些官員的老婆，認為她們出身低微。麥克安德魯上校太太的衣服不是時興的樣式，價錢卻很昂貴。
Mrs. Strickland was plainly nervous.
思特里克蘭德太太顯然十分緊張。
Well, tell us your news, she said.
“好了，給我們講講你的新聞吧，”她說。
I saw your husband. I'm afraid he's quite made up his mind not to return. I paused a little. "He wants to paint."
“我見到你丈夫了。我擔心他已經拿定主意不再回來了。”我停了一會兒。“他想畫畫兒。”
What do you mean? cried Mrs. Strickland, with the utmost astonishment.
“你說什么？”思特里克蘭德太太喊叫起來，驚奇得不知所以。
Did you never know that he was keen on that sort of thing.
“你一點兒也不知道他喜歡畫畫兒？”
He must be as mad as a hatter, exclaimed the Colonel.
“這人簡直神經失常了，”上校大聲說。
Mrs. Strickland frowned a little. She was searching among her recollections.
思特里克蘭德太太皺了皺眉頭。她苦苦地搜索她的記憶。
I remember before we were married he used to potter about with a paint-box. But you never saw such daubs. We used to chaff him. He had absolutely no gift for anything like that.
“我記得在我們結婚以前他常常帶著個顏料盒到處跑。可是他畫的畫兒要多難看有多難看。我們常常打趣他。他對這種事可以說一點才能也沒有。”
Of course it's only an excuse, said Mrs. MacAndrew.
“當然沒有，這只不過是個借口，”麥克安德魯太太說。
Mrs. Strickland pondered deeply for some time. It was quite clear that she could not make head or tail of my announcement. She had put some order into the drawing-room by now, her housewifely instincts having got the better of her dismay; and it no longer bore that deserted look, like a furnished house long to let, which I had noticed on my first visit after the catastrophe. But now that I had seen Strickland in Paris it was difficult to imagine him in those surroundings. I thought it could hardly have failed to strike them that there was something incongruous in him.
思特里克蘭德太太又仔細思索了一會兒。非常清楚，她對我帶來的這個消息完全不理解。這次她已經把客廳略微收拾了一下，不像出了事以后我第一次到這里來時那樣冷冷清清、仿佛等待出租的帶家具的房間那樣了。但是在我同思特里克蘭德在巴黎會過面以后，卻很難想像他是屬于這種環境的人了。我覺得他們這些人也不會沒有覺察思特里克蘭德有一些怪異的地方。
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