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Chapter 33
第三十三章
Two or three days later Dirk Stroeve called on me.
兩三天以后，戴爾克·施特略夫來找我。
I hear you've seen Blanche, he said.
“聽說你見到勃朗什了？”他說。
How on earth did you find out?
“你怎么會知道的？”
I was told by someone who saw you sitting with them. Why didn't you tell me?
“有人看見你同他們坐在一起，告訴我了。你干嘛不告訴我？”
I thought it would only pain you.
“我怕會使你痛苦。”
What do I care if it does? You must know that I want to hear the smallest thing about her.
“使我痛苦又有什么關(guān)系？你必須知道，只要是她的事，哪怕最微不足道的，我也想知道。”
I waited for him to ask me questions.
我等著他向我提問。
What does she look like? he said.
“她現(xiàn)在是什么樣子？”他問。
Absolutely unchanged.
“一點(diǎn)兒也沒改變。”
Does she seem happy?
“你看她的樣子幸福嗎？”
I shrugged my shoulders.
我聳了聳肩膀。
How can I tell? We were in a cafe; we were playing chess; I had no opportunity to speak to her.
“我怎么知道？我們是在咖啡館里，我在同思特里克蘭德下棋。我沒有機(jī)會同她談話。”
Oh, but couldn't you tell by her face?
“啊，但是你從她的面容看不出來嗎？”
I shook my head. I could only repeat that by no word, by no hinted gesture, had she given an indication of her feelings. He must know better than I how great were her powers of self-control. He clasped his hands emotionally.
我搖了搖頭。我只能把我想到的給他講了一遍：她既沒用話語也沒用手勢向我透露她的任何感情。他一定比我更了解，她自我克制的力量多么大。戴爾克感情激動地兩手緊握在一起。
Oh, I'm so frightened. I know something is going to happen, something terrible, and I can do nothing to stop it.
“啊，我非常害怕。我知道一定會發(fā)生一件事，一件可怕的事，可是我卻沒有辦法阻止它。”
What sort of thing? I asked.
“會發(fā)生什么樣兒的事？”我問道。
Oh, I don't know, he moaned, seizing his head with his hands. "I foresee some terrible catastrophe."
“啊，我也不知道，”他用兩手把頭抱住，呻吟道，“我預(yù)見到一件可怕的災(zāi)難。”
Stroeve had always been excitable, but now he was beside himself; there was no reasoning with him. I thought it probable enough that Blanche Stroeve would not continue to find life with Strickland tolerable, but one of the falsest of proverbs is that you must lie on the bed that you have made. The experience of life shows that people are constantly doing things which must lead to disaster, and yet by some chance manage to evade the result of their folly.
施特略夫一向就很容易激動，現(xiàn)在簡直有些神經(jīng)失常了。我根本無法同他講道理。我認(rèn)為很可能勃朗什·施特略夫已經(jīng)發(fā)覺不可能再同思特里克蘭德繼續(xù)生活下去，但是人們經(jīng)常說的那句俗話“自作自受”，實(shí)在是最沒有道理的。生活的經(jīng)驗(yàn)讓我們看到的是，盡管人們不斷地做一些必然招災(zāi)惹禍的事，但總能找個機(jī)會逃避掉這些蠢事帶來的后果。
