She had forgotten her relatives, who were drifting out into the hall under Ellen Olenska's guidance. Old Mrs. Mingott had always professed a great admiration for Julius Beaufort, and there was a kind of kinship in their cool domineering way and their short-cuts through the conventions. Now she was eagerly curious to know what had decided the Beauforts to invite (for the first time) Mrs. Lemuel Struthers, the widow of Struthers's Shoe-polish, who had returned the previous year from a long initiatory sojourn in Europe to lay siege to the tight little citadel of New York. "Of course if you and Regina invite her the thing is settled. Well, we need new blood and new money--and I hear she's still very good-looking," the carnivorous old lady declared.
她忘記了自己的親眷，他們正在埃倫·奧蘭斯卡帶領下向外面的門廳移動。明戈特老太太一貫顯得對朱利葉斯·博福特非常贊賞，他們倆在專橫無理及對待傳統的刪繁就簡方面有某種相似之處。此時她急于了解是什么原因促使博福特夫婦下決心（首次）邀請了斯特拉瑟斯的“鞋油”寡婦勒姆爾·斯特拉瑟斯太太。她一年前剛結束在歐洲漫長的啟蒙僑居，回來圍攻紐約這個堅固的小城堡。“當然，如果你和里吉納請了她，事情就成定局了。嗯，我們需要新鮮血液和新鮮錢——而且我聽說她依然十分漂亮，”這位愛吃肉的老夫人斷言說。

In the hall, while Mrs. Welland and May drew on their furs, Archer saw that the Countess Olenska was looking at him with a faintly questioning smile.
門廳里，韋蘭太太與梅在穿毛皮外衣的時候，阿切爾見奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人略有疑問地對他微笑著。

"Of course you know already--about May and me," he said, answering her look with a shy laugh. "She scolded me for not giving you the news last night at the Opera: I had her orders to tell you that we were engaged--but I couldn't, in that crowd."
“當然你已經知道了——我和梅的事，”他說，并靦腆地一笑回答她的注視。“她責備我昨晚在歌劇院沒把消息告訴你：她曾囑咐我把我們訂婚的事告訴你——但守著那么多人，我未能辦到。”

The smile passed from Countess Olenska's eyes to her lips: she looked younger, more like the bold brown Ellen Mingott of his boyhood. "Of course I know; yes. And I'm so glad. But one doesn't tell such things first in a crowd." The ladies were on the threshold and she held out her hand.
笑容從奧蘭斯卡夫人的眼睛傳到她的雙唇，她看上去更年輕了，更像他孩提時那個大膽的棕發小姑娘埃倫·明戈特。“是的，我當然知道，而且非常高興。不過這樣的事是不會在擁擠的人群中首先宣布的。”另兩位女士已經到了門口，她伸出手來。

"Good-bye; come and see me some day," she said, still looking at Archer.
“再見。改日過來看我，”她說，眼睛依然看著阿切爾。

In the carriage, on the way down Fifth Avenue, they talked pointedly of Mrs. Mingott, of her age, her spirit, and all her wonderful attributes. No one alluded to Ellen Olenska; but Archer knew that Mrs. Welland was thinking: "It's a mistake for Ellen to be seen, the very day after her arrival, parading up Fifth Avenue at the crowded hour with Julius Beaufort--" and the young man himself mentally added: "And she ought to know that a man who's just engaged doesn't spend his time calling on married women. But I daresay in the set she's lived in they do--they never do anything else." And, in spite of the cosmopolitan views on which he prided himself, he thanked heaven that he was a New Yorker, and about to ally himself with one of his own kind.
沿第五大街下行，他們在馬車里重點談論的是明戈特太太：她的年紀，她的精神，以及她那些不可思議的性情。沒有人提及埃倫·奧蘭斯卡；然而阿切爾知道韋蘭太太心里正在想：“埃倫的露面是個錯誤——就在她剛回來的第二天，在擁擠時刻與朱利葉斯·博福特一起沿第五大街大搖大擺地走——”而年輕人心里補充道：“她還應當知道，一個剛訂婚的男人一般是不會花時間去拜訪已婚女子的。不過我敢說，在她生活過的那個圈子里，他們一定是那樣做的——保準沒錯。”而且，盡管他自夸了解那些大都市人的觀點，卻謝天謝地自己是個紐約人，而且就要與他的一位同類聯姻。

雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(3)