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Chapter 27
第二十七章
Two or three weeks passed. One morning, having come to a pause in my work, I thought I would give myself a holiday, and I went to the Louvre. I wandered about looking at the pictures I knew so well, and let my fancy play idly with the emotions they suggested. I sauntered into the long gallery, and there suddenly saw Stroeve. I smiled, for his appearance, so rotund and yet so startled, could never fail to excite a smile, and then as I came nearer I noticed that he seemed singularly disconsolate. He looked woebegone and yet ridiculous, like a man who has fallen into the water with all his clothes on, and, being rescued from death, frightened still, feels that he only looks a fool. Turning round, he stared at me, but I perceived that he did not see me. His round blue eyes looked harassed behind his glasses.
又過了兩三個星期。一天早晨，我的工作正好告一段落，我覺得可以放自己一天假，便決定到盧佛爾宮去消磨一天。我在畫廊里隨便走著，一邊欣賞那些我早已非常熟悉的名畫，一邊任憑我的幻想同這些畫幅所激起的感情隨意嬉戲。我悠閑地走進長畫廊，突然一眼看到了施特略夫。我臉上泛起了笑容，因為他那圓胖的身軀、象受了驚嚇似的神情使我每次見到總是要發笑。但是在我走近他以后，我發現他的神情非常沮喪。他的樣子凄苦不堪，但又那么滑稽，好象一個穿得衣冠齊楚而失足落水的人被打撈上來以后仍然心懷余悸，生怕別人拿他當笑話看。他轉過身來，兩眼瞪著我，但是我知道他并沒有看見我。他的一雙碧藍的圓眼睛在眼鏡片后面充滿了憂傷。
Stroeve, I said.
“施特略夫。”我叫了一聲。
He gave a little start, and then smiled, but his smile was rueful.
他嚇了一跳，接著就露出笑容來，但是他笑得那么凄慘。
Why are you idling in this disgraceful fashion? I asked gaily.
“你怎么這樣丟了魂似地在這里游蕩？”我用快活的語調問道。
It's a long time since I was at the Louvre. I thought I'd come and see if they had anything new.
“我很久沒有到盧佛爾宮來了。我想得來看看他們展出了什么新東西沒有。”
But you told me you had to get a picture finished this week.
“可是你不是告訴我，這禮拜得畫好一幅畫嗎？”
Strickland's painting in my studio.
“思特里克蘭德在我畫室里畫畫兒呢。”
Well?
“哦？”
I suggested it myself. He's not strong enough to go back to his own place yet. I thought we could both paint there. Lots of fellows in the Quarter share a studio. I thought it would be fun. I've always thought it would be jolly to have someone to talk to when one was tired of work.
“我提議叫他在那里畫的。他身體還不夠好，還不能回到自己的住處去。我本來想我們可以共用那間畫室。在拉丁區很多人都是合伙租用一間畫室。我本來以為這是個好辦法。一個人畫累了的時候，身邊有個伴兒可以談兩句，我一直以為這樣做會很有趣。”
He said all this slowly, detaching statement from statement with a little awkward silence, and he kept his kind, foolish eyes fixed on mine. They were full of tears.
這些話他說得很慢，每說一句話就非常尷尬地停歇好半晌兒，與此同時，他的一對溫柔的、有些傻氣的大眼睛卻一直緊緊盯著我，只是在那里面已經充滿了淚水了。
