評(píng)論
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Archer withdrew reluctantly with the unwelcome documents. Since their last meeting he had half-unconsciously collaborated with events in ridding himself of the burden of Madame Olenska. His hour alone with her by the firelight had drawn them into a momentary intimacy on which the Duke of St. Austrey's intrusion with Mrs. Lemuel Struthers, and the Countess's joyous greeting of them, had rather providentially broken. Two days later Archer had assisted at the comedy of her reinstatement in the van der Luydens' favour, and had said to himself, with a touch of tartness, that a lady who knew how to thank all-powerful elderly gentlemen to such good purpose for a bunch of flowers did not need either the private consolations or the public championship of a young man of his small compass. To look at the matter in this light simplified his own case and surprisingly furbished up all the dim domestic virtues. He could not picture May Welland, in whatever conceivable emergency, hawking about her private difficulties and lavishing her confidences on strange men; and she had never seemed to him finer or fairer than in the week that followed. He had even yielded to her wish for a long engagement, since she had found the one disarming answer to his plea for haste.
阿切爾無(wú)可奈何地帶著那些不受歡迎的文件退了出來(lái)。他們上次見(jiàn)面以來(lái)，他一直漫不經(jīng)心地對(duì)待社交活動(dòng)，以便使自己擺脫奧蘭斯卡夫人的負(fù)擔(dān)。他與她在爐火旁單獨(dú)相處建立的短暫親密關(guān)系，由于圣奧斯特利公爵與萊姆爾·斯特拉瑟斯太太的闖入，以及伯爵夫人對(duì)他們愉快的歡迎，已經(jīng)天助神依般地破滅了。兩天之后，在她重獲范德盧頓夫婦歡心的喜劇中阿切爾助了一臂之力，他不無(wú)尖酸地心想，對(duì)于有權(quán)勢(shì)的老紳士用一束鮮花表示的善意，一位夫人是知道如何感激的，她不需要他這樣能力有限的年輕人私下的安慰，也不需要他公開(kāi)的捍衛(wèi)。這樣一想，就把他個(gè)人的問(wèn)題簡(jiǎn)化了，同時(shí)也令人驚奇地修復(fù)了他模糊的家庭觀念。無(wú)論梅遇到什么緊急情況，他都無(wú)法想象她會(huì)對(duì)陌生男人大講自己的困難，不加考慮地信賴他們。在隨后的一個(gè)星期中，他覺(jué)得她比以往任何時(shí)候都更優(yōu)雅更美麗。他甚至屈從了她延長(zhǎng)訂婚期的愿望，因?yàn)樗业搅私獬隣?zhēng)端的辦法，使他放棄了盡快結(jié)婚的要求。
"You know, when it comes to the point, your parents have always let you have your way ever since you were a little girl," he argued; and she had answered, with her clearest look: "Yes; and that's what makes it so hard to refuse the very last thing they'll ever ask of me as a little girl."
“你知道，從你還是個(gè)小姑娘的時(shí)候起，只要你說(shuō)到點(diǎn)子上，你父母一直都是容許你自行其事的，”他爭(zhēng)辯說(shuō)。她神色十分安詳?shù)鼗卮鸬溃骸安诲e(cuò)；正是由于這個(gè)原因，才使得我難以拒絕他們把我看作小姑娘而提的最后一個(gè)要求。”
That was the old New York note; that was the kind of answer he would like always to be sure of his wife's making. If one had habitually breathed the New York air there were times when anything less crystalline seemed stifling.
這是老紐約的調(diào)子；這是他愿永遠(yuǎn)確信他的妻子會(huì)做的那種回答。假如一個(gè)人一直習(xí)慣于呼吸紐約的空氣，那么，有時(shí)候，不夠清澈的東西似乎就會(huì)讓他窒息。
The papers he had retired to read did not tell him much in fact; but they plunged him into an atmosphere in which he choked and spluttered. They consisted mainly of an exchange of letters between Count Olenski's solicitors and a French legal firm to whom the Countess had applied for the settlement of her financial situation. There was also a short letter from the Count to his wife: after reading it, Newland Archer rose, jammed the papers back into their envelope, and reentered Mr. Letterblair's office.
他回來(lái)后閱讀的那些文件實(shí)際上并沒(méi)有告訴他多少情況，卻使他陷入一種窒息和氣急敗壞的心清。文件主要是奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人的律師與法國(guó)一個(gè)法律機(jī)構(gòu)的往來(lái)信件，伯爵夫人曾請(qǐng)求該機(jī)構(gòu)澄清她的經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況；另外還有一封伯爵寫(xiě)給妻子的短信。讀過(guò)那封信后，紐蘭·阿切爾站起來(lái)，把文件塞進(jìn)信封，重新走進(jìn)了萊特布賴的辦公室。
"Here are the letters, sir. If you wish, I'll see Madame Olenska," he said in a constrained voice.
“還給你這些信，先生。如果你愿意，我想見(jiàn)見(jiàn)奧蘭斯卡夫人，”他聲音有些不自然地說(shuō)。
"Thank you--thank you, Mr. Archer. Come and dine with me tonight if you're free, and we'll go into the matter afterward: in case you wish to call on our client tomorrow."
“謝謝你——謝謝你，阿切爾先生。如果你有空，今晚請(qǐng)過(guò)來(lái)一起吃晚飯，飯后我們把事情研究一下——假如你想明天拜訪我們的委托人的話。”
Newland Archer walked straight home again that afternoon. It was a winter evening of transparent clearness, with an innocent young moon above the house- tops; and he wanted to fill his soul's lungs with the pure radiance, and not exchange a word with any one till he and Mr. Letterblair were closeted together after dinner. It was impossible to decide otherwise than he had done: he must see Madame Olenska himself rather than let her secrets be bared to other eyes. A great wave of compassion had swept away his indifference and impatience: she stood before him as an exposed and pitiful figure, to be saved at all costs from farther wounding herself in her mad plunges against fate.
紐蘭·阿切爾這天下午又是直接走回家的。這是個(gè)明凈清澈的冬季傍晚，一彎皎潔的新月剛升起在房頂上方。他想讓靈魂內(nèi)部注滿純凈的光輝，在晚飯后與萊特布賴關(guān)進(jìn)密室之前這段時(shí)間，不想跟任何人說(shuō)一句話。再做其他決定是不可能的，一定得按他的意見(jiàn)辦：他必須親自去見(jiàn)奧蘭斯卡夫人，而不能讓她的秘密暴露給其他人。一股同情的洪流已經(jīng)沖走了他的冷漠與厭煩。她像一個(gè)無(wú)人保護(hù)的弱者站在他面前，等待著他不惜一切代價(jià)去拯救，以免她在對(duì)抗命運(yùn)的瘋狂冒險(xiǎn)中受到進(jìn)一步的傷害。
He remembered what she had told him of Mrs. Welland's request to be spared whatever was "unpleasant" in her history, and winced at the thought that it was perhaps this attitude of mind which kept the New York air so pure. "Are we only Pharisees after all?" he wondered, puzzled by the effort to reconcile his instinctive disgust at human vileness with his equally instinctive pity for human frailty.
他記起她對(duì)他講過(guò)，韋蘭太太曾要求她免談她過(guò)去任何“不愉快的事”。想到也許正是這種心態(tài)才使得紐約的空氣如此純凈，他不覺(jué)有些畏縮。“難道我們竟是法利賽人不成？”他困惑地想。為了擺平憎惡人類罪惡與同情人類脆弱這兩種本能的感情，他大傷腦筋。
