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Some two weeks later, Newland Archer, sitting in abstracted idleness in his private compartment of the office of Letterblair, Lamson and Low, attorneys at law, was summoned by the head of the firm.
大約兩個星期之后，在萊特布賴一拉姆森一洛律師事務所中，紐蘭·阿切爾正坐在自己的隔間里閑得發呆，這時，事務所的上司要召見他。
Old Mr. Letterblair, the accredited legal adviser of three generations of New York gentility, throned behind his mahogany desk in evident perplexity. As he stroked his closeclipped white whiskers and ran his hand through the rumpled grey locks above his jutting brows, his disrespectful junior partner thought how much he looked like the Family Physician annoyed with a patient whose symptoms refuse to be classified.
老萊特布賴先生，這位受紐約上層階級三代人信托的法律顧問，端坐在他的紅木寫字臺后面，顯然遇到了麻煩。他用手捋了捋濃密的白胡須，理理突起的眉頭上方那凌亂的灰發，他那位不敬的年輕合伙人心想，他多像一位因為無法判斷病人癥狀而苦惱的家庭醫生啊。
"My dear sir--" he always addressed Archer as "sir"--"I have sent for you to go into a little matter; a matter which, for the moment, I prefer not to mention either to Mr. Skipworth or Mr. Redwood." The gentlemen he spoke of were the other senior partners of the firm; for, as was always the case with legal associations of old standing in New York, all the partners named on the office letter-head were long since dead; and Mr. Letterblair, for example, was, professionally speaking, his own grandson.
“親愛的先生，”他一貫稱阿切爾為“先生”——“我請你來研究一件小事，一件我暫時不想讓斯基普沃思和雷德伍德知道的事。”他所說的這兩位紳士是事務所另外兩名資深合伙人。正如紐約別的歷史悠久的法律事務所的情況那樣，這家事務所信箋頭上列有姓名的那幾個原來的合伙人都早已作古，像這位萊特布賴先生，就其職業稱謂而言，他實際上成了自己的祖父。
He leaned back in his chair with a furrowed brow. "For family reasons--" he continued.
他在椅子里朝后一仰，皺起眉頭，然后說：“由于家庭的原因——”
Archer looked up.
阿切爾抬起頭來。
"The Mingott family," said Mr. Letterblair with an explanatory smile and bow. "Mrs. Manson Mingott sent for me yesterday. Her grand-daughter the Countess Olenska wishes to sue her husband for divorce. Certain papers have been placed in my hands." He paused and drummed on his desk. "In view of your prospective alliance with the family I should like to consult you--to consider the case with you--before taking any farther steps."
“明戈特家，”萊特布賴微笑著點了點頭解釋說。“曼森·明戈特太太昨天派人請我去。她的孫女奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人想向法庭起訴，要求與丈夫離婚，有些文件已交到我手上。”他停了一會兒，敲敲桌子。“考慮到你將要與這個家庭聯姻，我愿在采取進一步行動之前，先找你咨詢一下——與你商量商量這件案子。”
Archer felt the blood in his temples. He had seen the Countess Olenska only once since his visit to her, and then at the Opera, in the Mingott box. During this interval she had become a less vivid and importunate image, receding from his foreground as May Welland resumed her rightful place in it. He had not heard her divorce spoken of since Janey's first random allusion to it, and had dismissed the tale as unfounded gossip. Theoretically, the idea of divorce was almost as distasteful to him as to his mother; and he was annoyed that Mr. Letterblair (no doubt prompted by old Catherine Mingott) should be so evidently planning to draw him into the affair. After all, there were plenty of Mingott men for such jobs, and as yet he was not even a Mingott by marriage.
阿切爾覺得熱血涌上了太陽穴。拜訪過奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人之后，他只見過她一次，那是在看歌劇的時候，在明戈特的包廂里。這段時間，由于梅·韋蘭在他心目中恢復了應有的地位，奧蘭斯卡夫人的形象正在消退，已經不那么清晰、那么索繞心頭了。第一次聽詹尼隨便說起她要離婚時，他把它當作了毫無根據的流言，并沒在意。此后，他再也沒有聽人說過這事。從理論上講，他對離婚幾乎跟母親一樣抱有反感；令他惱火的是，萊特布賴先生（無疑受了老凱瑟琳·明戈特的慫恿）顯然打算把他拉進這件事情中來。明戈特家能干這種事的男人多著哩，何況他目前還沒有通過婚姻變成明戈特家的一分子。
