The Duke of St. Austrey, who sat at his hostess's right, was naturally the chief figure of the evening. But if the Countess Olenska was less conspicuous than had been hoped, the Duke was almost invisible. Being a well-bred man he had not (like another recent ducal visitor) come to the dinner in a shooting-jacket; but his evening clothes were so shabby and baggy, and he wore them with such an air of their being homespun, that (with his stooping way of sitting, and the vast beard spreading over his shirt-front) he hardly gave the appearance of being in dinner attire. He was short, round-shouldered, sunburnt, with a thick nose, small eyes and a sociable smile; but he seldom spoke, and when he did it was in such low tones that, despite the frequent silences of expectation about the table, his remarks were lost to all but his neighbours.
坐在女主人有首的圣奧斯特雷公爵自然是今晚的首要人物。然而，如果說(shuō)奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人沒有人們預(yù)期的那樣突出，那么這位公爵就更不引人注目了。作為一個(gè)有教養(yǎng)的人，他并沒有（像最近另一位公爵客人那樣）穿著獵裝來(lái)出席宴會(huì)，但是他穿的晚禮服是那樣蹩腳，那樣寒酸，他那副尊容益發(fā)顯出衣著的粗陋（躬腰坐著，一把大胡子技散在襯衫前），讓人很難看出是出席宴會(huì)的打扮。他身材矮小，彎腰曲背，曬得黝黑的皮膚，肥厚的鼻子，小小的眼睛，臉上掛著不變的微笑。他少言寡語(yǔ)，講話的時(shí)候語(yǔ)調(diào)特別低，盡管餐桌上的人不時(shí)靜下來(lái)等待聆聽他的高見，但除了鄰座，他的話誰(shuí)也聽不見。

When the men joined the ladies after dinner the Duke went straight up to the Countess Olenska, and they sat down in a corner and plunged into animated talk. Neither seemed aware that the Duke should first have paid his respects to Mrs. Lovell Mingott and Mrs. Headly Chivers, and the Countess have conversed with that amiable hypochondriac, Mr. Urban Dagonet of Washington Square, who, in order to have the pleasure of meeting her, had broken through his fixed rule of not dining out between January and April. The two chatted together for nearly twenty minutes; then the Countess rose and, walking alone across the wide drawing-room, sat down at Newland Archer's side.
餐后男士與女士匯合的時(shí)候，公爵徑直朝奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人走去。他們?cè)诮锹淅飫傄蛔拢銦崃医徽勂饋?lái)。兩個(gè)人似乎誰(shuí)也沒有意識(shí)到，公爵應(yīng)該先向洛弗爾·明戈特太太與黑德利·奇弗斯太太致意，而伯爵夫人則應(yīng)該與那位和藹的癔癥患者、華盛頓廣場(chǎng)的厄本·達(dá)戈內(nèi)特交談。他為了能與她幸會(huì)，甚至不惜打破了1 至4月份不外出用餐的常規(guī)。兩個(gè)人一起聊了將近20分鐘，然后伯爵夫人站了起來(lái)，獨(dú)自走過(guò)寬敞的客廳，在紐蘭·阿切爾身邊坐了下來(lái)。

It was not the custom in New York drawing-rooms for a lady to get up and walk away from one gentleman in order to seek the company of another. Etiquette required that she should wait, immovable as an idol, while the men who wished to converse with her succeeded each other at her side. But the Countess was apparently unaware of having broken any rule; she sat at perfect ease in a corner of the sofa beside Archer, and looked at him with the kindest eyes.
一位女士起身離開一位紳士，去找另一位紳士作伴，這在紐約的客廳里是不合常規(guī)的。按照禮節(jié)，她應(yīng)該像木偶似地坐在那兒等待，讓希望與她交談的男士一個(gè)接一個(gè)地到她身邊來(lái)。但伯爵夫人顯然沒有意識(shí)到違背了任何規(guī)矩，她悠然自得地坐在阿切爾身旁沙發(fā)的角落里，用最親切的目光看著他。

"I want you to talk to me about May," she said.
“我想讓你對(duì)我講講梅的事，”她說(shuō)。

Instead of answering her he asked: "You knew the Duke before?"
他沒有回答，反而問(wèn)道：“你以前認(rèn)識(shí)公爵嗎？”

"Oh, yes--we used to see him every winter at Nice. He's very fond of gambling--he used to come to the house a great deal." She said it in the simplest manner, as if she had said: "He's fond of wild-flowers"; and after a moment she added candidly: "I think he's the dullest man I ever met."
“唔，是的——過(guò)去在尼斯時(shí)我們每年冬天都和他見面。他很愛賭博——他是我們家的常客。”她直言不諱地說(shuō)，仿佛在講：“他喜歡拈花惹草。”過(guò)了一會(huì)兒她又坦然地補(bǔ)充道：“我覺得他是我見過(guò)的最蠢的男人了。”

This pleased her companion so much that he forgot the slight shock her previous remark had caused him. It was undeniably exciting to meet a lady who found the van der Luydens' Duke dull, and dared to utter the opinion. He longed to question her, to hear more about the life of which her careless words had given him so illuminating a glimpse; but he feared to touch on distressing memories, and before he could think of anything to say she had strayed back to her original subject.
這句話令她的同伴異常快活，竟使他忘記了她前一句話使他產(chǎn)生的微震驚。不可否認(rèn)，會(huì)見一位認(rèn)為范德盧頓家的公爵愚蠢、并敢于發(fā)表這一見解的女士，的確令人興奮。他很想問(wèn)問(wèn)她，多聽一聽她的生活情況——她漫不經(jīng)心的話語(yǔ)已經(jīng)很有啟發(fā)地讓他窺見了一斑；然而他又擔(dān)心觸動(dòng)她傷心的回憶。還沒等他想出說(shuō)什么，她已經(jīng)轉(zhuǎn)回到她最初的話題上了。