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"When he grew blind he would sit hour after hour in those two rooms that he had painted, looking at his works with sightless eyes, and seeing, perhaps, more than he had ever seen in his life before. Ata told me that he never complained of his fate, he never lost courage. To the end his mind remained serene and undisturbed. But he made her promise that when she had buried him—did I tell you that I dug his grave with my own hands, for none of the natives would approach the infected house, and we buried him, she and I, sewn up in three pareos joined together, under the mango-tree—he made her promise that she would set fire to the house and not leave it till it was burned to the ground and not a stick remained."
“自從眼睛瞎了以后他就總是一動不動地坐在那兩間畫著壁畫的屋子里，一坐就是幾個鐘頭。他用一對失明的眼睛望著自己的作品，也許他看到的比他一生中看到的還要多。愛塔告訴我，他對自己的命運從來也沒有抱怨過，他從來也不沮喪。直到生命最后一刻，他的心智一直是安詳、恬靜的。但是他叫愛塔作出諾言，在她把他埋葬以后——我告訴你沒有，他的墓穴是我親手挖的，因為沒有一個土人肯走近這所沾染了病菌的房子，我們倆把他埋葬在那株芒果樹底下，我同愛塔，他的尸體是用三塊帕利歐縫在一起包裹起來的——他叫愛塔保證，放火把房子燒掉，而且要她親眼看著房子燒光，在每一根木頭都燒掉以前不要走開。”
I did not speak for a while, for I was thinking. Then I said:
半天半天我沒有說話；我陷入沉思中，最后我說：
"He remained the same to the end, then."
“這么說來，他至死也沒有變啊。”
"Do you understand? I must tell you that I thought it my duty to dissuade her."
“你了解嗎？我必須告訴你，當時我覺得自己有責任勸阻她，叫她不要這么做。”
"Even after what you have just said?"
“后來你真是這樣說了嗎？”
"Yes; for I knew that here was a work of genius, and I did not think we had the right to deprive the world of it. But Ata would not listen to me. She had promised. I would not stay to witness the barbarous deed, and it was only afterwards that I heard what she had done. She poured paraffin on the dry floors and on the pandanus-mats, and then she set fire. In a little while nothing remained but smouldering embers, and a great masterpiece existed no longer.
“是的。因為我知道這是一個偉大天才的杰作，而且我認為，我們是沒有權利叫人類失去它的。但是愛塔不聽我的勸告。她已經答應過他了。我不愿意繼續待在那兒，親眼看著那野蠻的破壞活動。只是事情過后我才聽人說，她是怎樣干的。她在干燥的地板上和草席上倒上煤油，點起一把火來。沒過半晌，這座房子就變成了焦炭，一幅偉大的杰作就這樣化為灰燼了。”
