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Strickland was a weird figure as he lay there, thinner than ever, with his ragged red beard and his eyes staring feverishly into vacancy; his illness seemed to have made them larger, and they had an unnatural brightness.
思特里克蘭德躺在床上，樣子古怪怕人，他的身軀比平常更加削瘦，紅色的胡子亂成一團，眼睛興奮地凝視著半空；因為生病，他的眼睛顯得非常大，炯炯發光，但那光亮顯得很不自然。
Does he ever talk to you in the night? I asked her once.
“夜里他跟你說過話嗎？”有一次我問她。
Never.
“從來沒有。”
Do you dislike him as much as you did?
“你還象過去那樣不喜歡他嗎？”
More, if anything.
“比以前更厲害了。”
She looked at me with her calm gray eyes. Her expression was so placid, it was hard to believe that she was capable of the violent emotion I had witnessed.
她用一雙安詳的、灰色的眼睛望著我。她的神色非常恬靜，我很難相信她居然能象那次我看到的那樣大發脾氣。
Has he ever thanked you for what you do for him?
“你替他做了這么多事，他謝過你嗎？”
No, she smiled.
“沒有。”她笑了笑說。
He's inhuman.
“這人真不通人情。”
He's abominable.
“簡直太可惡了。”
Stroeve was, of course, delighted with her. He could not do enough to show his gratitude for the whole-hearted devotion with which she had accepted the burden he laid on her. But he was a little puzzled by the behaviour of Blanche and Strickland towards one another.
施特略夫對她自然非常滿意。她這樣把他撂給她的挑子擔了過來，而且全心全意地履行自己的職責，他無論怎樣做也無法表示對她的感激。但是他對勃朗什同思特里克蘭德彼此的關系又有些不解。
Do you know, I've seen them sit there for hours together without saying a word?
“你知道，我看見過他們在一起坐了好幾個鐘頭，誰也一句話不說。”
On one occasion, when Strickland was so much better that in a day or two he was to get up, I sat with them in the studio. Dirk and I were talking. Mrs. Stroeve sewed, and I thought I recognised the shirt she was mending as Strickland's. He lay on his back; he did not speak. Once I saw that his eyes were fixed on Blanche Stroeve, and there was in them a curious irony. Feeling their gaze, she raised her own, and for a moment they stared at one another.
有一次我和這一家人一同坐在畫室里，這時思特里克蘭德的身體已經快好了，再過一兩天就要起床了。戴爾克同我閑聊。施特略夫太太在縫補什么；她縫的東西我是認得的，那是思特里克蘭德的一件襯衣。思特里克蘭德仰面躺著，一句話也不說。有一次我看到他的目光停在勃朗什·施特略夫身上，帶著一種奇怪的嘲弄神情。勃朗什感到他正在看自己，抬起眼睛，他們倆彼此凝視了一會兒。
