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Chapter 26
第二十六章
Next day we moved Strickland. It needed a good deal of firmness and still more patience to induce him to come, but he was really too ill to offer any effective resistance to Stroeve's entreaties and to my determination. We dressed him, while he feebly cursed us, got him downstairs, into a cab, and eventually to Stroeve's studio. He was so exhausted by the time we arrived that he allowed us to put him to bed without a word. He was ill for six weeks. At one time it looked as though he could not live more than a few hours, and I am convinced that it was only through the Dutchman's doggedness that he pulled through. I have never known a more difficult patient. It was not that he was exacting and querulous; on the contrary, he never complained, he asked for nothing, he was perfectly silent; but he seemed to resent the care that was taken of him; he received all inquiries about his feelings or his needs with a jibe, a sneer, or an oath. I found him detestable, and as soon as he was out of danger I had no hesitation in telling him so.
第二天我們就去給思特里克蘭德搬家。勸說他搬到施特略夫家里來需要絕大的毅力和更多的耐心，幸而思特里克蘭德病得實在太重，對于施特略夫的央求和我的決心都做不出有效的抵抗了。在他的軟弱無力的咒罵聲中，我們給他穿好衣服，扶著他走下樓梯，安置在一輛馬車里，最后終于把他弄到施特略夫的畫室里。當我們到達以后，他已經一點氣力也沒有了，只好一言不發地由我們把他放在一張床上。他的病延續了六個星期。有一段日子看上去他連幾個鐘頭也活不過去了，我毫不懷疑，他之所以能夠活下來完全要歸功這位荷蘭畫家任勞任怨的護理。我從來也沒有見到過比他更難伺候的病人。倒不是說他挑剔、抱怨；恰恰相反，他從來也不訴苦，從來不提出什么要求，他躺在那里一語不發。但是他似乎非常厭恨你對他的照顧；誰要是問一問他覺得怎么樣、有什么需要，他輕則挖苦你一句，重則破口大罵。我發現這個人實在讓人厭惡，他剛一脫離危險，我就把我的想法告訴了他。
Go to hell, he answered briefly.
“見鬼去吧，你，”他一點不客氣地回敬了我一句。
Dirk Stroeve, giving up his work entirely, nursed Strickland with tenderness and sympathy. He was dexterous to make him comfortable, and he exercised a cunning of which I should never have thought him capable to induce him to take the medicines prescribed by the doctor. Nothing was too much trouble for him.
戴爾克·施特略夫把自己的工作全部撂下，整天服侍病人，又體貼，又關切。他的手腳非常利索，把病人弄得舒舒服服。大夫開了藥，他總是連哄帶騙地勸病人按時服用，我從來沒想到他的手段這么巧妙。無論做什么事他都不嫌麻煩。
