He roused himself, and remembered that he had not done so. Some invincible repugnance to speak of such things to the strange foreign woman had checked the words on his lips.
他醒悟過來，想起他還沒有告訴她。要向那位陌生的外籍女子講這種事，有一種無法克服的反感使他沒有說出到了嘴邊的話。

"No--I hadn't the chance after all," he said, fibbing hastily.
“沒——我一直沒得到機會，”他急忙扯個小謊說。

"Ah." She looked disappointed, but gently resolved on gaining her point. "You must, then, for I didn't either; and I shouldn't like her to think--"
“噢，”她看上去很失望，但決意溫和地推行她的主張。“那么，你一定要講，因為我也沒講，我不愿讓她以為——”

"Of course not. But aren't you, after all, the person to do it?"
“當然，不過話說回來，不是該由你去告訴她嗎？”

She pondered on this. "If I'd done it at the right time, yes: but now that there's been a delay I think you must explain that I'd asked you to tell her at the Opera, before our speaking about it to everybody here. Otherwise she might think I had forgotten her. You see, she's one of the family, and she's been away so long that she's rather--sensitive."
她沉思了一會兒說：“假如早先有適當的時機，我去說也行。不過現在已經晚了，我想你必須向她說明，我在看歌劇時曾經讓你告訴她，那可是我們在這兒告訴大家之前呀。否則她會以為我忘記她了。你知道她是家族的一員，又在外面呆了很久，因而她非常——敏感。”

Archer looked at her glowingly. "Dear and great angel! Of course I'll tell her." He glanced a trifle apprehensively toward the crowded ball-room. "But I haven't seen her yet. Has she come?"
阿切爾滿面紅光地望著她。“我親愛的天使！我當然要告訴她的，”他略帶憂慮地朝喧鬧的舞廳瞥了一眼。“不過我還沒見著她呢。她來了嗎？”

"No; at the last minute she decided not to."
“沒有，她在最后一刻決定不來了。”

"At the last minute?" he echoed, betraying his surprise that she should ever have considered the alternative possible.
“最后一刻？”他重復道，她居然會改變主意，這使他十分驚訝。

"Yes. She's awfully fond of dancing," the young girl answered simply. "But suddenly she made up her mind that her dress wasn't smart enough for a ball, though we thought it so lovely; and so my aunt had to take her home."
“是的，她特別喜歡跳舞，”姑娘坦率地回答說。“可是她突然認定她的衣服在舞會上不夠漂亮，盡管我們覺得它很美。所以我舅媽只得送她回家了。”

"Oh, well--" said Archer with happy indifference. Nothing about his betrothed pleased him more than her resolute determination to carry to its utmost limit that ritual of ignoring the "unpleasant" in which they had both been brought up.
“噢——”阿切爾無所謂地說。其實，他這時倒是十分快樂。他的未婚妻竭力回避他們倆在其中長大成人的那個“不快”的陰影，這比什么都使他高興。

"She knows as well as I do," he reflected, "the real reason of her cousin's staying away; but I shall never let her see by the least sign that I am conscious of there being a shadow of a shade on poor Ellen Olenska's reputation."
“她心里跟我一樣明白她表姐避不露面的真正原因，”他心想。“不過我決不能讓她看出一點跡象，讓她知道我了解可憐的埃倫·奧蘭斯卡名譽上的陰影。

雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(2)