評論
打印
When I told him that I meant to live in Paris for a while, and had taken an apartment, he reproached me bitterly for not having let him know. He would have found me an apartment himself, and lent me furniture—did I really mean that I had gone to the expense of buying it?—and he would have helped me to move in. He really looked upon it as unfriendly that I had not given him the opportunity of making himself useful to me. Meanwhile, Mrs. Stroeve sat quietly mending her stockings, without talking, and she listened to all he said with a quiet smile on her lips.
當我告訴他我準備在巴黎住一段日子，而且寓所已經租好的時候，他使勁兒責備我沒有事前同他商量。他會替我找到一處合適的住處，會借給我家具 ——難道我真的花了一筆冤枉錢去買嗎？——，而且他還可以幫我搬家。我沒有給他這個替我服務的機會在他看來是太不夠朋友了，他說的是真心話。在他同我談話的當兒，施特略夫太太一直安安靜靜地坐在那里補襪子。她自己什么也沒說，只是聽著她丈夫在談話，嘴角上掛著一抹安詳的笑容。
So, you see, I'm married, he said suddenly; "what do you think of my wife?"
“你看到了，我已經結婚了，”他突然說，“你看我的妻子怎么樣？”
He beamed at her, and settled his spectacles on the bridge of his nose. The sweat made them constantly slip down.
他笑容滿面地看著她，把眼鏡在鼻梁上架好。汗水不斷地使他的眼鏡滑落下來。
What on earth do you expect me to say to that? I laughed.
“你叫我怎么回答這個問題呢？”我笑了起來。
Really, Dirk, put in Mrs. Stroeve, smiling.
“可不是嘛，戴爾克，”施特略夫太太插了一句說，也微笑起來。
But isn't she wonderful? I tell you, my boy, lose no time; get married as soon as ever you can. I'm the happiest man alive. Look at her sitting there. Doesn't she make a picture? Chardin, eh? I've seen all the most beautiful women in the world; I've never seen anyone more beautiful than Madame Dirk Stroeve.
“可是你不覺得她太好了嗎？我告訴你，老朋友，不要耽擱時間了，趕快結婚吧。我現在是世界上最幸福的人。你看看她坐在那兒，不是一幅絕妙的圖畫嗎？象不象夏爾丹【讓·西麥翁·夏爾丹（1699—1779），法國畫家】的畫，啊？世界上最漂亮的女人我都見過了，可是我還沒有看見過有比戴爾克·施特略夫夫人更美的呢。”
If you don't be quiet, Dirk, I shall go away.
“要是你再不住口，戴爾克，我就出去了。”
Mon petit chou, he said.
“我的小寶貝。”他說。
She flushed a little, embarrassed by the passion in his tone. His letters had told me that he was very much in love with his wife, and I saw that he could hardly take his eyes off her. I could not tell if she loved him. Poor pantaloon, he was not an object to excite love, but the smile in her eyes was affectionate, and it was possible that her reserve concealed a very deep feeling. She was not the ravishing creature that his love-sick fancy saw, but she had a grave comeliness. She was rather tall, and her gray dress, simple and quite well-cut, did not hide the fact that her figure was beautiful. It was a figure that might have appealed more to the sculptor than to the costumier. Her hair, brown and abundant, was plainly done, her face was very pale, and her features were good without being distinguished. She had quiet gray eyes. She just missed being beautiful, and in missing it was not even pretty. But when Stroeve spoke of Chardin it was not without reason, and she reminded me curiously of that pleasant housewife in her mob-cap and apron whom the great painter has immortalised.
她的臉泛上一層紅暈，他語調中流露出的熱情讓她感到有些不好意思。施特略夫在給我的信里談到過他非常愛他的妻子，現在我看到，他的眼睛幾乎一刻也舍不得從她身上離開。我說不上她是不是愛他。這個可憐的傻瓜，他不是一個能引起女人愛情的人物。但施特略夫太太眼睛里的笑容是含著愛憐的，在她的緘默后面也可能隱藏著深摯的感情。她并不是他那相思傾慕的幻覺中的令人神馳目眩的美女，但是卻另有一種端莊秀麗的風姿。她的個子比較高，一身剪裁得體的樸素衣衫掩蓋不住她美麗的身段。她的這種體型可能對雕塑家比對服裝商更有吸引力。她的一頭棕色的濃發式樣很簡單，面色白凈，五官秀麗，但并不美艷。她只差一點兒就稱得起是個美人，但是正因為差這一點兒，卻連漂亮也算不上了。施特略夫談到夏爾丹的畫并不是隨口一說的，她的樣子令人奇怪地想到這位大畫家的不朽之筆 ——那個戴著頭巾式女帽、系著圍裙的可愛的主婦。
