評(píng)論
打印
The question was: who was Beaufort? He passed for an Englishman, was agreeable, handsome, ill-tempered, hospitable and witty. He had come to America with letters of recommendation from old Mrs. Manson Mingott's English son-in-law, the banker, and had speedily made himself an important position in the world of affairs; but his habits were dissipated, his tongue was bitter, his antecedents were mysterious; and when Medora Manson announced her cousin's engagement to him it was felt to be one more act of folly in poor Medora's long record of imprudences.
問(wèn)題在于：博福特究竟是何許人？他被認(rèn)為是個(gè)英國(guó)人，彬彬有禮，儀表堂堂，脾氣很壞，但卻詼諧好客。他原是帶著老曼森·明戈特太太那位英國(guó)銀行家女婿的推薦信來(lái)到美國(guó)的，并很快在社交界贏得了重要地位；然而他生性放蕩，言辭尖刻，而他的履歷又很神秘。當(dāng)梅多拉·曼森宣布她表妹與他訂婚的消息時(shí)，人們認(rèn)定，在可憐的梅多拉長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的魯莽紀(jì)錄中又增加了一次愚蠢行動(dòng)。
But folly is as often justified of her children as wisdom, and two years after young Mrs. Beaufort's marriage it was admitted that she had the most distinguished house in New York. No one knew exactly how the miracle was accomplished. She was indolent, passive, the caustic even called her dull; but dressed like an idol, hung with pearls, growing younger and blonder and more beautiful each year, she throned in Mr. Beaufort's heavy brown-stone palace, and drew all the world there without lifting her jewelled little finger. The knowing people said it was Beaufort himself who trained the servants, taught the chef new dishes, told the gardeners what hot-house flowers to grow for the dinner-table and the drawing-rooms, selected the guests, brewed the after-dinner punch and dictated the little notes his wife wrote to her friends. If he did, these domestic activities were privately performed, and he presented to the world the appearance of a careless and hospitable millionaire strolling into his own drawing-room with the detachment of an invited guest, and saying: "My wife's gloxinias are a marvel, aren't they? I believe she gets them out from Kew."
然而愚蠢與聰明一樣，常常會(huì)給她帶來(lái)良好的結(jié)果。年輕的博福特太太結(jié)婚兩年之后，人們已公認(rèn)她擁有了紐約最引人注目的住宅。沒(méi)有人知道這一奇跡究竟是怎樣發(fā)生的。她懶散馴服，刻薄的人甚至稱她果笨。但她打扮得像個(gè)玩偶，金發(fā)碧眼，珠光寶氣，變得一年比一年年輕，一年比一年漂亮。她在博福特先生深棕色的石頭宮殿里登上寶座，無(wú)須抬一抬戴鉆戒的小手指便能把整個(gè)社交界的名人都吸引到身邊。知情的人說(shuō)，博福特親自訓(xùn)練仆役，教廚師烹調(diào)新的菜肴，吩咐園丁在溫室中栽培適宜餐桌與客廳的鮮花。他還親自挑選賓客，釀制餐后的潘趣酒，并口授妻子寫給朋友的便函。假若他果真如此，那么，這些家務(wù)活動(dòng)也都是私下進(jìn)行的；在社交界面前出現(xiàn)的他，卻是一位漫不經(jīng)心、熱情好客的百萬(wàn)富翁，像貴賓一樣瀟灑地走進(jìn)自己的客廳，贊不絕口地說(shuō)：“我妻子的大巖桐真令人叫絕，不是嗎？我相信她是從倫敦國(guó)立植物園弄來(lái)的。”
Mr. Beaufort's secret, people were agreed, was the way he carried things off. It was all very well to whisper that he had been "helped" to leave England by the international banking-house in which he had been employed; he carried off that rumour as easily as the rest--though New York's business conscience was no less sensitive than its moral standard--he carried everything before him, and all New York into his drawing- rooms, and for over twenty years now people had said they were "going to the Beauforts'" with the same tone of security as if they had said they were going to Mrs. Manson Mingott's, and with the added satisfaction of knowing they would get hot canvas-back ducks and vintage wines, instead of tepid Veuve Clicquot without a year and warmed-up croquettes from Philadelphia.
人們一致認(rèn)為，博福特先生的秘密在于他成功的處事方法。雖然有傳聞?wù)f，他是由雇傭他的國(guó)際銀行“幫助”離開(kāi)英國(guó)的，但他對(duì)這一謠言跟對(duì)其他謠言一樣滿不在乎。盡管紐約的商業(yè)良心跟它的道德準(zhǔn)則一樣地敏感，但他搬走了擋在前面的一切障礙，并把全紐約的人搬進(jìn)了他的客廳。二十多年來(lái)，人們說(shuō)起“要去博福特家”，那口氣就跟說(shuō)去曼森·明戈特太太家一樣地心安理得，外加一種明知會(huì)享受灰背野鴨與陳年佳釀——而非劣酒與炸丸子——的滿足。
Mrs. Beaufort, then, had as usual appeared in her box just before the Jewel Song; and when, again as usual, she rose at the end of the third act, drew her opera cloak about her lovely shoulders, and disappeared, New York knew that meant that half an hour later the ball would begin.
于是，跟往常一樣，博福特太太在《朱厄爾之歌》開(kāi)唱之前準(zhǔn)時(shí)出現(xiàn)在她的包廂里；她又跟往常一樣在第三幕結(jié)束時(shí)站了起來(lái)，拉一拉披在她可愛(ài)的肩膀上的歌劇斗篷，退場(chǎng)了。全紐約的人都明白，這意味著半小時(shí)后舞會(huì)即將開(kāi)始。
