The rogue, like the artist and perhaps the gentleman, belongs to no class. He is not embarrassed by the sans gene of the hobo, nor put out of countenance by the etiquette of the prince. But Mrs. Nichols belonged to the well-defined class, of late become vocal, which is known as the lower-middle. Her father, in fact, was a policeman. I am certain that he was an efficient one. I do not know what her hold was on the Captain, but I do not think it was love. I never heard her speak, but it may be that in private she had a copious conversation. At any rate, Captain Nichols was frightened to death of her. Sometimes, sitting with me on the terrace of the hotel, he would become conscious that she was walking in the road outside. She did not call him; she gave no sign that she was aware of his existence; she merely walked up and down composedly. Then a strange uneasiness would seize the Captain; he would look at his watch and sigh.
社會油子和藝術(shù)家或者紳士相同，是不屬于哪一個階級的；無業(yè)游民的粗野無禮既不會使他感到難堪，王公貴人的繁文縟節(jié)也不會叫他感到拘束。但是尼柯爾斯太太卻出身于一個最近名聲漸著的階層，就是人們稱之為中下層（這個名稱叫得好?。┑纳鐣A層。她的父親是個警察，而且我敢說還非常精明能干。我不知道她為什么要抓住船長不放，我不相信是因?yàn)閻矍?。我從來沒聽她開口講過話，也許同她丈夫單獨(dú)在一起的時候她的話很多。不管怎么說，尼柯爾斯船長怕她怕得要死。有時候他同我坐在旅館的露臺上會突然意識到自己的老婆正在外面馬路上走動，她從來不叫他，她好象根本不知道他在這里，只是安詳自若地在街頭踱來踱去。這時候船長就渾身不安起來；他看了看表，長嘆一口氣。
"Well, I must be off," he said.
“唉，我該走了?！彼f。
Neither wit nor whisky could detain him then. Yet he was a man who had faced undaunted hurricane and typhoon, and would not have hesitated to fight a dozen unarmed niggers with nothing but a revolver to help him. Sometimes Mrs. Nichols would send her daughter, a pale-faced, sullen child of seven, to the hotel.
在這種時候，說笑話也好，喝威士忌也好，再也沒有什么能把他留住了。要知道，尼柯爾斯船長本是個經(jīng)十二級風(fēng)暴也面不改色的人，只要有一把手槍，就是一打黑人上來，他也有膽量對付。有時尼柯爾斯太太也派他們的女兒，一個面色蒼白、總是耷拉著臉的七歲孩子，到旅館來。
"Mother wants you," she said, in a whining tone.
“媽媽找你。”她帶著哭音地說。
"Very well, my dear," said Captain Nichols.
“好，好，親愛的孩子?！蹦峥聽査勾L說。
He rose to his feet at once, and accompanied his daughter along the road. I suppose it was a very pretty example of the triumph of spirit over matter, and so my digression has at least the advantage of a moral.
他馬上站起身來，陪同女兒走回家去。我想這是精神戰(zhàn)勝物質(zhì)的一個極好的例證，所以我這段文章雖然寫得走了題，卻還是具有一些教訓(xùn)意義的。
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