通译双语文库:故园风雨后第六章萨姆格拉斯被揭露——告别布莱兹赫德—

1

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“我们到关口时，”萨姆格拉斯先生说，“听到后面马蹄疾驰的动静。两个士兵骑马赶到我们车队前命令我们掉头。是将军派来的，到得正是时候。前方不到一英里处就有一支乐队[1]。”

[1]原文band，有乐队、一帮人、组合等意思。

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‘AND when we reached the top of the pass,’ said Mr Samgrass, we heard the galloping horses behind, and two soldiers rode up to the head of the caravan and turned us back. The General had sent them, and they reached us only just in time. There was a Band, not a mile ahead.’

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他故意停下话头，零星几个听众默不作声地坐着，大家适才反应过来他那是想方设法为给他们留下深刻印象而卖的关子，可是他们却不知道怎么才算很有礼貌地表示自己很有兴趣并很愿意听他说下去。

2

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He paused, and his small audience sat silent, conscious that he had sought, to impress them but in doubt as to how they could politely show their interest.

3

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“一班人马？”茱丽娅说，“天哪！”

3

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‘A Band?’ said Julia.’Goodness!’

4

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他期待的远不止这一声惊叹，马奇梅因夫人最后总算是开了腔：“我觉得你在那地方采集的民间音乐未免过于单调枯燥了一点吧。”

4

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Still he seemed to expect more. At last Lady Marchmain said, ‘I suppose the sort of folk-music you get in those parts is very monotonous.’

5

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“亲爱的马奇梅因夫人，那不是乐队组合是一帮强盗组合。”科迪莉娅坐在我旁边的沙发上，此时开始咯咯咯地笑出了声儿。“山里尽是强盗。有基马尔部落了单的兵士，还有撤退时被断了后路的希腊人。我敢打保票，那是一伙亡命之徒。”

5

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‘Dear Lady Marchmain, a Band of Brigands. Cordelia, beside me on the sofa, began to giggle noiselessly. ‘The mountains are full of them. Stragglers from Kemal’s army;Greeks who got cut off in, the retreat. Very desperate fellows, I assure you.’

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“掐我一下。”科迪莉娅悄声说。

6

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‘Do pinch me’,’ whispered Cordelia.

7

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我掐了她一把，沙发弹簧给她笑得嘎嘎唧唧的动静这才没了。“谢谢。”她说着用手背擦擦眼睛。

7

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I pinched her and the agitation of the sofa-springs ceased. ‘Thanks,’ she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

8

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“如此说来，你们哪儿也没去啊。”茱丽娅说，“你很失望吧，塞巴斯蒂安？”

8

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‘So you never got to wherever-it-was,’ said Julia. ‘Weren’t you terribly disappointed, Sebastian?’

9

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“我？”塞巴斯蒂安说。他坐在灯光范围之外的阴影里，在壁炉温暖的光热之外，在他家人的圈子之外，在牌桌上摊开的那许多张照片之外。“我吗？哦，我想那天我不在那儿，是不是，萨米？”

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‘Me?’ said Sebastian from the shadows beyond the lamplight, beyond the warmth of the burning logs, beyond the family circle, and the photographs spread out on the card-table. ‘Me? Oh, I don’t think I was there that day, was I, Sammy?’

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“那天你病了。”

10

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‘That was the day you were ill.’

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“我是病了，”他答应得如同回声一样，“所以我就什么地方也去不成了，是不是，萨米？”

11

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‘I was ill,’ he repeated like an echo, ‘so I never should have got to wherever-it-was, should I, Sammy?’

12

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“好了，请看这一张，马奇梅因夫人，这是在阿勒颇一家酒店院子里的大篷车。这是我们的一位亚美尼亚厨子，贝杰德比安；那是我骑在小马上；那是折叠起来的帐篷；那是筋疲力尽的库尔德人，当时他总是跟着我们……这是我在蓬土斯、以弗所、特拉布松、克拉克-德斯-切瓦利埃尔、萨莫色雷斯岛、巴统……当然，我可没按时间顺序排列这些照片。”

12

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‘Now this, Lady Marchmain, is the caravan at Aleppo in the courtyard of the inn. That’s our Armenian cook, Begedbian; that’s me on the pony; that’s the tent folded up; that’s a rather tiresome Kurd who would follow us about at the time...Here I am in Pontus, Ephesus, Trebizond, Krak-des-chevaliers, Samothrace, Batum - of course, I haven’t got them in chronological order yet.’

13

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“全都是向导啊、废墟啊、驴啊……”科迪莉娅说，“塞巴斯蒂安哪儿去了？”

13

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‘All guides and ruins and mules, ‘ said Cordelia. ‘Where’s Sebastian?’

14

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“他呀，”萨姆格拉斯先生说，语带得意，好像这个问题早在他的意料之中，连回答都已经准备好了，“他端着照相机到处拍呀。他才知道不要把手挡在镜头上，就俨然成了一个很像样子的摄影师了，是不是，塞巴斯蒂安？”

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‘He,’ said Mr Samgrass, with a hint of triumph in his voice, as though he had expected the question and prepared the answer, ‘he held the camera. He became quite an expert as soon as he learned not to put his hand over the lens, didn’t you, Sebastian?’

15

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阴影里没有回答，萨姆格拉斯先生就又去掏他那个猪皮提包了。

15

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There was no answer from the shadows. Mr Samgrass delved again into his pigskin satchel.?

16

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“这些，”他说，“这组照片是在贝鲁特的圣乔治旅馆的台阶上一个街头摄影师拍的。这些里头有塞巴斯蒂安。”

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‘Here,’ he said, ‘is a group taken by a street photographer on the terrace of the St George Hotel at Beirut. There’s Sebastian.’

17

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“哎，”我说，“那个人是安东尼·布兰奇？”

17

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‘Why, ‘ I said, ‘there’s Anthony Blanche surely?’

18

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“是他，我们经常见到他，在君士坦丁堡碰巧遇到的。那是个让人开心的家伙，我和他真是相见恨晚。他跟我们一道去的贝鲁特。”

18

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‘Yes, we saw quite a lot of him; met him by chance at Constantinople.’ A delightful companion. I can’t think how I missed knowing him. He came with us all the way to Beirut.’

19

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这时茶已经撤下去了，窗帘也拉上了。正是圣诞过后的两天，我来的第一个晚上，也是塞巴斯蒂安和萨姆格拉斯先生回来的第一个晚上，我下火车在站台上看见他们俩，真使我感到惊讶。

19

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Tea had been cleared away and the curtains drawn. It was two days after Christmas, the first evening of my visit; the first, too, of Sebastian’s and Mr Samgrass’s, whom to my surprise I had found on the platform when I arrived.

20

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三周前马奇梅因夫人来过一封信，信上说：“我刚刚收到萨姆格拉斯先生的信，说他和塞巴斯蒂安将如我们所愿回家来过圣诞节。我很久没有得到他们的音信，以至于担心他们是不是走丢了，没得到他们的消息也就没心情做任何安排。塞巴斯蒂安会很想见到你。请务必来我家过圣诞节吧，如果一切事情都能安排妥当的话，或者把事情一处理好就尽快来。”

20

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Lady Marchmain had written three weeks before: ‘I have just heard from Mr Samgrass that he and Sebastian will be home for Christmas as we hoped. I had not heard from them for so long that I was afraid they were lost and did not want to make any arrangements until I knew. Sebastian will be longing to see you. Do come to us for Christmas if you can manage it, or as soon after as you can.’

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圣诞节要去我伯父那里，这是早就约好了不能改的，探望了伯父，我就坐火车横穿全国，中途又换了支线，想着见到塞巴斯蒂安时他已经到家了，哪知他就在我隔壁的那节车厢里。我问起他做了些什么的时候，萨姆格拉斯先生却口若悬河、无一挂漏地告诉我说行李怎么怎么被放错了地方，库克旅行社又怎么怎么假日期间不营业呀等等，我立刻就察觉出此事一定另有隐情，一定还有别的什么瞒着我。

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Christmas with my uncle was an engagement I could not break, so I travelled across country and joined the local train midway, expecting to find Sebastian already established; there he was, however, in the next carriage to mine, and when I asked him what he was doing, Mr Samgrass replied with such glibness and at such length, telling me of mislaid luggage and of Cook’s being shut over the holidays, that I was at once aware of some other explanation which was being withheld.

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萨姆格拉斯先生也不好受，他外表上照旧保持着自信满满，可是那份内疚就像环绕在侧的雪茄烟雾一样笼罩着他，马奇梅因夫人向他问好的时候，我就捕捉到了一丝信号。喝茶时，他一直神气活现地大谈旅行见闻，后来马奇梅因夫人把他引到楼上去，和他“小小地倾谈”一下。

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Mr Samgrass was not at ease; he maintained all the physical habits of self-confidence, but guilt hung about him like stale cigar smoke, and in Lady Marchmain’s greeting of him I caught a note of anticipation. He kept up a lively account of his tour during tea, and then Lady Marchmain drew him away with her, upstairs, for a ‘little talk’.

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我带着悲悯同情眼看着他走开。再愚钝之人，也能清楚地看出萨姆格拉斯打的这一手烂牌了，喝茶时我很注意他，开始怀疑他不但作假，而且欺骗，肯定有些他应该说可又不想说的事情，他不大知道应该如何跟马奇梅因夫人讲他在圣诞节的所作所为。而且，更甚的是，我猜关于整个在东地中海国家旅行，他一定也还有很多本应讲出来而他又根本不打算讲出来的事情。

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I watched him go with something near compassion; it was plain to anyone with a poker sense that Mr Samgrass held a very imperfect hand and, as I watched him at tea, I began to suspect that he was not only bluffing but cheating. There was something he must say, did not want to say, and did not quite know how to say to Lady Marchmain about his doings over Christmas, but, more than that, I quessed, there was a great deal he ought to say and had no intention at all of saying, about the whole Levantine tour.

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“跟我去看看保姆吧。”塞巴斯蒂安说。

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‘Come and see nanny,’ said Sebastian.

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“求你了，我也去行吗？”科迪莉娅说。

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‘Please, can I come, too?’ said Cordelia.

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“来吧。”

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‘Come on.’

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我们上楼去了圆顶育婴房。科迪莉娅边走边问：“你在家一点儿也不高兴吗？”

27

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We climbed to the nursery in the dome. On the way Cordelia said: ‘Aren’t you at all pleased to be home?’

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“我当然高兴了。”塞巴斯蒂安说。

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‘Of course I’m pleased,’ said Sebastian.

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“嗯，那你就应该显出点儿高兴的样子来呀。我一直想看到你高高兴兴的。”

29

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‘Well, you might show it a bit. I’ve been looking forward to it so much.’

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保姆看起来并不是特别愿意跟人说话，她最喜欢的是人家来探望她却不注意她，由她在一旁一边织着毛线，一边看着他们的脸，回想她记忆中他们孩提时的样子，除了他们幼年时的小病小灾，犯过的错之外，他们眼下做什么都没有多大意义。

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Nanny did not particularly wish to be talked to; she liked visitors best when they paid no attention to her and let her knit away, and watch their faces and think of them as she had known them as small children; their present goings-on did not, signify much beside those early illnesses and crimes.

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“唉，”她说，“你现在可瘦了。我看就是那些外国的吃食不合你胃口闹的。现在你回来了要养胖些才对啊。你看着像熬了好几个晚上，还有，看你的眼睛——跳舞去了吧，我就知道。”（霍金斯保姆仅信上层阶级晚上什么事都没有，就会在跳舞厅里打发时间。）“你那衬衫可该补补了，我先给你缝一下再送去洗。”

31

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‘Well, ‘ she said, ‘you are looking peaky. I expect it’s all that foreign food doesn’t agree with you. You must fatten up now you’re back. Looks as though you’d been having some late nights, too, by the look of your eyes - dancing, I suppose.’ (It was ever Nanny Hawkins’s belief that the upper classes spent most of their leisure evenings in the ballroom.) ‘And that shirt wants darning. Bring it to me before it goes to the wash.’

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塞巴斯蒂安确实满面病容。五个月时间着落到他身上所起的变化相当于好几年的。他脸色更加苍白，更瘦削了，眼下有了眼袋，嘴角耷拉着下垂，下巴颏上的疮痕也显现出来了。他的声音较之从前干乏平淡，举止忽而没精打采，忽而又激越夸张，神经兮兮。他灰头土脸的，整个人从头发丝一下垮到脚底板的感觉，虽说衣装跟头发以前也随随便便不特别打理，但总归还算说过得过去，现在却是邋里邋遢的了。更糟的是，从他眼里可以见到拘谨和警惕了，这样的神情在复活节时见着时就使人惊异，现在却俨然已是常态。

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Sebastian certainly did look ill; five months had wrought the change of years in him.? He was paler, thinner, pouchy under the eyes, drooping in, the corners of his mouth, and he showed the scars of a boil on the side of his chin; his voice seemed flatter and his movements alternately listless and jumpy; he looked down-at-heel, too, with clothes and hair, which formerly had been happily negligent now unkempt; worst of all there was a wariness in his eye which I had surprised there at Easter, and which now seemed habitual to him.

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被他警惕的神情制约了，我一句也没问他自己的事，只是跟他讲了我秋天和冬天怎么过的。跟他说了我在圣路易岛住处的情况，那里的美术学校，还说了老教师是如何如何好，学生们又是如何如何坏。

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Restrained by this wariness I asked him nothing of himself, but told him, instead about my autumn and winter. I told him about my rooms in the Ile Saint-Louis and the art school, and how good the old teachers were and how bad the students.

34

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“他们根本不往卢浮宫近前去，”我说，“就算是去，也只是因为他们的某个荒诞派评论刊物，突然‘发现’了某位大师的作品恰恰与那个月的美学理论暗合。有一半学生像皮卡比亚[2]那样，惦记着出名要趁早。而另外一半学生全心全意想给《时尚》杂志画广告和去给夜总会做装修来养家糊口……教师们一直想让他们照着德拉克洛瓦那样子画画。”

[2]达达主义画派创始人。

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‘They never go near the Louvre,’ I said, ‘or, if they do, it’s only because one of their absurd reviews has suddenly “discovered” a master who fits in with that month’s aesthetic theory. Half of them are out to make a popular splash like Picabia; the other half quite simply want to earn their living doing advertisements for Vogue and decorating night clubs. And the teachers still go on trying to make them paint like Delacroix.’

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“查尔斯，”科迪莉娅说，“现代艺术是不是很扯啊？”

35

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‘Charles,’ said Cordelia, ‘Modem Art is all bosh, isn’t it?’

36

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“没有更扯的了。”

36

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‘Great bosh.’

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“噢，我真高兴。我和一个修女发生争论过这个，她说我们不该对我们不懂的东西妄加批评。这回要告诉她，我这话可是一位真正的艺术家说的，好好回敬回敬她。”

37

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‘Oh, I’m so glad. I had an argument with one of our nuns- and she said we shouldn’t try and criticize what we didn’t understand. Now I shall tell her I have had it straight from a real artist, and snubs to her.’

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过不久就到了科迪莉娅的晚餐时间，我和塞巴斯蒂安也该下楼到客厅喝鸡尾酒。布莱兹赫德独自一个人在那儿，这时威尔科克斯跟着我们进来，对他说道：“夫人请您上楼有些话说，大人。”

38

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Presently it was time for Cordelia to go to her supper, and for Sebastian and me to go down to the drawing-room for our cocktails. Brideshead was there alone, but Wilcox followed on our heels to say to him: ‘Her Ladyship would like to speak to you upstairs, my Lord.’

39

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“这不像妈妈的做派啊，使唤人来通报。她一直都是亲自把人引诱到楼上去的。”

39

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‘That’s unlike mummy, sending for anyone. She usually lures them up herself.’

40

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一点儿也不见鸡尾酒托盘的影子。几分钟后塞巴斯蒂安拉了铃。男仆来答话，“威尔科克斯先生在楼上和夫人在一起。”

40

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There was no sign of the cocktail tray. After a few minutes Sebastian rang the bell. A footman answered. ‘Mr Wilcox is upstairs with her Ladyship.’

41

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“好吧，随便，把鸡尾酒给端来。”

41

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‘Well, never mind, bring in the cocktail things.’

42

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“威尔科克斯拿着钥匙呢，少爷。”

42

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‘Mr Wilcox has the keys, my Lord.’

43

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“呃，好吧，那他一下楼来就叫他把酒端来。”

43

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‘Oh...well, send him in with them when he comes down.’

44

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我们又聊了聊安东尼·布兰奇。“他在伊斯坦布尔的时候还蓄着胡子，但我叫他全刮了。”过了十分钟塞巴斯蒂安又说，“算了，我也不想喝鸡尾酒了，洗个澡去。”说完就离开了客厅。

44

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We talked a little abou t Anthony Blanche - ‘He had a beard in Istanbul, but I made him take it off’ - and after ten minutes Sebastian said: ‘Well, I don’t want a cocktail anyway; I’m off to my bath,’ and left the room.

45

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七点半了，我觉得其他人都换晚礼服去了，就在我也要随大流去换衣服时，赶上布莱兹赫德下楼来了。

45

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It was half past seven; I supposed the others had gone to dress, but, as I was going to follow them, I met Brideshead coming down.

46

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“请稍等一下，查尔斯，有些事情我必须要解释一下。我妈妈已经吩咐过了，任何房间里都不准留下喝的。你知道原因的……要是你想喝的话，只管拉铃向威尔科克斯要——不过，最好是只有你一个人的时候。我很抱歉，可眼下就是这么个情况。”

46

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‘Just a moment, Charles, there’s something I’ve got to explain. My mother has given orders that no drinks are to be left in any of the rooms. You’ll understand why. If you want anything, ring and ask Wilcox - only better wait until you’re alone. I’m sorry, but there it is.’

47

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“非得这样不可吗？”

47

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‘Is that necessary?’

48

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“我猜非得这样。你或许听说了，或许没有，塞巴斯蒂安一回到英国就又大爆发了。整个圣诞节都见不到他的人，直到昨天晚上萨姆格拉斯先生才找到他。”

48

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‘I gather very necessary. You may or may not have heard, Sebastian had another outbreak as soon as he got back to England. He was lost over Christmas. Mr Samgrass only found him yesterday evening.’

49

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“我一猜就是发生了这样的事情——可你确定这是解决问题的最好方法吗？”

49

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‘I guessed something of the kind had happened. Are you sure this is the best way of dealing with it?’

50

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“这是我母亲的方法。他已经上楼去了，你想来点儿鸡尾酒吗？”

50

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‘It’s my mother’s way. Will you have a cocktail, now that he’s gone upstairs?’

51

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“会呛死我的。”

51

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‘It would choke me.’

52

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我住的一直是我第一次来访时住的房间，就在塞巴斯蒂安隔壁。我们两人共用一个浴室。它之前本来是更衣室，二十年前改成了所谓的浴室。把床换成了一个深槽的铜质浴缸，桃花心木围边，只要拉一拉重得跟轮机似的黄铜杆子，就会给浴缸注满水。房间里的其他东西保持了原样，冬天里一成不变地生着煤火炉子。我常常想起这个浴室——一屋子的水汽朦胧，搭在印花布面扶手椅背上温暖的大浴巾——与那些摩登社会里号称奢侈的摆设，却千篇一律得像诊所一样，满是闪闪发亮的镀铬盘盏和镜子的房间，形成了鲜明的对照。

52

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I was always given the room I had on my first visit; it was next to Sebastian’s, and we shared what had once been a dressing-room and had been changed to a bathroom twenty years back by the substitution for the bed, of a deep, copper, mahogany-framed bath, that was filled by pulling a brass lever heavy as a piece of marine engineering; the rest of the room remained unchanged; a coal fire always burned there in winter. I often think of that bathroom - the water colours dimmed by steam and the huge towel warming on the back of the chintz armchair - and contrast it with the uniform, clinical, little chambers, glittering with chromium-plate and looking-glass, which pass for luxury in the modern world.

53

-

在浴缸里泡了一阵子，在火炉边慢慢烘得干爽爽的，心里一直想着我的朋友这次归家的消沉颓丧。此后穿好浴袍，去塞巴斯蒂安的房间，像往常一样不敲门直推而入。他正坐在壁炉旁，衣装尚未穿戴整齐，听见我进来，把手里的漱口杯一撂，愠怒得正待发作。

53

-

I lay in the bath and then dried slowly by the fire, thinking all the time of my friend’s black home-coming. Then I put on my dressing gown and went to Sebastian’s room, entering, as I always did, without knocking. He was sitting by his fire half-dressed, and he started angrily when he heard me and put down a tooth glass.

54

-

“噢，是你呀，吓了我一跳。”

54

-

‘Oh, it’s you. You gave me a fright.’

55

-

“你喝了酒了。”我说。

55

-

‘So you got a drink,’ I said.

56

-

“我不明白你的意思。”

56

-

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

57

-

“看在基督的份上，”我说，“你跟我还有什么好装的！你该也给我喝点儿。”

57

-

‘For Christ’s sake,’ I said, ‘you don’t have to pretend with me! ‘You might offer me some.’

58

-

“只不过是瓶子里剩下的一点儿而已，我都喝光了。”

58

-

‘It’s just something I had in my flask. I’ve finished it now.’

59

-

“又怎么了？”

59

-

‘What’s going on?’

60

-

“没什么大不了的，这种事见得多了……以后再告诉你。”

60

-

‘Nothing. A lot. I’ll tell you some time.’

61

-

我换好晚礼服，又去找塞巴斯蒂安，但发现他还是像我刚才离开他时一样坐在壁炉旁，衣服还是没有穿好。

61

-

I dressed and called in for Sebastian, but found him still sitting as I had left him, half-dressed over his fire.

62

-

客厅里只有茱丽娅一个人。

62

-

Julia was alone in the drawing-room.

63

-

“哎，”我问，“到底怎么了？”

63

-

‘Well,’ I asked, ‘what’s going on?’

64

-

“哦，无聊的家庭纠纷。塞巴斯蒂安又喝得稀烂，大家只好留心盯着他。太没意思了。”

64

-

‘Oh, just another boring family potin. Sebastian got tight again, so we’ve all got to keep an eye on him. It’s too tedious.’

65

-

“他也觉得特别没意思。”

65

-

‘It’s pretty boring for him, too.’

66

-

“嗯，他没意思就得怪他自己了。为什么他的为人处世就不能跟别人一样？话说要盯着人，萨姆格拉斯先生呢？查尔斯，你注意没注意到这个人在搞什么猫腻？感觉很古怪。”

66

-

‘Well, it’s his fault. Why can t he behave like anyone else? Talking of keeping an eye on people) what about Mr Samgrass? Charles, do you notice anything at all fishy about that man?’

67

-

“古怪得很。你觉得你母亲看出端倪来了么？”

67

-

‘Very fishy. Do you think your mother saw it?’

68

-

“妈妈眼睛里只看得到能入她法眼的东西。她不可能把全家人都监视起来。你知道，我也快成了人家的眼中钉了。”

68

-

‘Mummy only sees what suits her. She can’t have the whole household under surveillance. I’m causing anxiety, too, you know.’

69

-

“你我可不知道，”我说，又故作恭敬地加上一句，“我刚从巴黎来。”这么说便可以避免让她以为她遇到的任何麻烦事尚未尽人皆知。

69

-

‘I didn’t know’ I said, adding humbly, ‘I’ve only just come from Paris.’ so as to avoid giving the impression that any trouble she might be in was not widely notorious.

70

-

那一晚特别阴郁。我们在绘画大厅吃的晚餐。塞巴斯蒂安姗姗来迟，大家心里都在纠结不安着，我觉得每个人心里都会以为他一准儿给个浅薄的滑稽戏一般的出场亮相，身子东歪西倒，打着酒嗝之类。可他进来时却相当得体，还道了歉，坐到一个空位上，由着萨姆格拉斯先生继续滔滔不绝讲下去，他既没有打断他，好像却又充耳不闻。德鲁兹人、东正教的主教大人、圣像、跳蚤、罗马建筑遗迹、山羊眼绵羊眼制作的稀奇菜式、法国和土耳其的官吏……他把一切近东旅行的见闻都讲出来让大家消遣了。

70

-

It was an evening of peculiar gloom. We dined in the Painted Parlour. Sebastian was late, and so painfully excited were we that I think it was in all our minds that he would make some sort of low-comedy entrance, reeling and hiccuping. When he came it was, of course, with perfect propriety; he apologized, sat in the empty place, and allowed Mr Samgrass to resume his monologue, uninterrupted and, it seemed, unheard. Druses, patriarchs, icons, bed-bugs, Romanesque remains, curious dishes of goat and sheep' s eyes, French and Turkish officials all the catalogue of Near Eastern travel was provided for our amusement.

71

-

我注意着餐桌上倒了一圈香槟酒，要轮到塞巴斯蒂安时，他说：“请给我威士忌。”我看到威尔科克斯越过他的头顶望向马奇梅因夫人，看到她轻轻地、不易察觉地点点头。在布莱兹赫德，大家都用小小的细颈瓶喝烈酒，每只细颈瓶大约能盛装下四分之一酒瓶的酒，这种瓶子总是给斟满了然后摆在想喝的人前面。威尔科克斯放在塞巴斯蒂安面前的那只细颈瓶里只给倒了一半。

71

-

I watched the champagne go round the table. When it came to Sebastian he said: ‘I’ll have whisky, please,’ and I saw Wilcox glance over his head to Lady Marchmain and saw her give a tiny, hardly perceptible nod. At Brideshead they used small individual spirit decanters which held about a quarter of a bottle, and were always placed, full, before anyone who asked for it; the decanter which Wilcox put before Sebastian was half-empty.

72

-

塞巴斯蒂安故意把瓶子拿起，倾斜瓶身，看着，然后再一声不吭把酒倒进自己的酒杯里，倒了两根手指高低。我们所有人都开始聊起天来，除了塞巴斯蒂安。这时萨姆格拉斯先生发现自己没有聊天对象，只好对着烛台大谈马龙教派。但是大家很快又都陷入沉默了，故而他又好滔滔不绝，独领一餐桌风骚了，直至马奇梅因夫人和茱丽娅离席为止。

72

-

Sebastian raised it very deliberately, tilted it, looked at it, and then in silence poured the liquor into his glass, where it covered two fingers. We all began talking at once, all except Sebastian, so that for a moment Mr Samgrass found himself talking to no one, telling the candlesticks about the Maronites; but soon we fell silent again, and he had the table until Lady Marchmain and Julia left the room.?

73

-

“别搞得太晚了，布莱德。”她按以往习惯，出门时说了这么一句。只是这天晚上，我们半点都不想多耽搁。自己的杯中倒上了酒，细颈瓶立刻被拿出餐厅。我们把酒赶快喝掉，就一股脑都去了客厅，布莱兹赫德请他母亲读书，于是她就读了《小人物的日记》，情绪饱满地一路念到十点钟，然后合上书，说她感到难以言传的疲劳，疲劳得晚上也不去小教堂了。

73

-

‘Don’t be long, Bridey,’ she said, at the door, as she always said, and that evening we had no inclination to delay. Our glasses were filled with port and the decanter was at once taken from the room. We drank quickly and went to the drawing-room, where Brideshead asked his mother to read, and she read The Diary of a Nobody with great spirit until ten o’clock, when she closed the book and said she was unaccountably tired, so tired that she would not visit the chapel that night.

74

-

“明天谁去打猎？”她问道。

74

-

‘Who’s hunting tomorrow?’ she asked.

75

-

“科迪莉娅去。”布莱兹赫德说，“我得带上茱丽娅的那匹小马驹，只是让它知道知道怎么打猎……不会超过两小时的。”

75

-

‘Cordelia,’ said Brideshead. ‘I’m taking that young horse of Julia’s, just to show him the hounds; I shan’t keep him out more than a couple of hours.’

76

-

“雷克斯不知道几点要过来，”茱丽娅说，“我最好在家里留守迎候。”

76

-

‘Rex is arriving some time,’ said Julia. ‘I’d better stay in to greet him.’

77

-

“都在什么地方碰头？”塞巴斯蒂安突然问道。

77

-

‘Where’s the meet?’ said Sebastian suddenly.

78

-

“就在这儿，弗莱特圣玛丽教堂。”

78

-

‘Just here at Flyte St Mary.’

79

-

“那我也去打猎吧，帮帮忙，看有什么适合我的。”

79

-

‘Then I’d like to hunt, please, if there’s anything for me.’

80

-

“当然有了。这可太让人高兴了。我早就让你去，可你总抱怨说是强迫你出去。你就骑‘廷克贝尔’吧，这个狩猎季它一直跑得很好。”

80

-

‘Of course. That’s delightful. I’d have asked you, only you always used to complain so of being made to go out. You can have Tinkerbell. She’s been going very nicely this season.’

81

-

因为塞巴斯蒂安想去打猎，大家说话间忽然都快活起来了，好像因此一晚上的不痛快都一笔勾销了。布莱兹赫德拉铃要威士忌。

81

-

Everyone was suddenly pleased that Sebastian wanted to hunt; it seemed to undo some of the mischief of the evening. Brideshead rang the bell for whisky.

82

-

“还有谁想喝？”

82

-

‘Anyone else want any?’

83

-

“给我也来点儿。”塞巴斯蒂安说，虽然这一回仆人不再是威尔科克斯了，我还是看到他跟马奇梅因夫人同样交换了眼色和微微点头。显然所有人都被提醒过。端进来的两种酒，已经倒进杯子里了，像酒吧里的“双份儿”[3]一样，我们盯着托盘，活像一群在餐厅里进行嗅觉比赛的狗。

[3]表示需要倒入杯中的威士忌的量，双份的一般指两指横向的高度。

83

-

‘Bring me some, too,’ said Sebastian, and, though it was a footman this time and not Wilcox, I saw the same exchange of glance and nod between the servant and Lady Marchmain. Everyone had been warned. The two drinks were brought in, poured out already in the glasses, like ‘doubles’ at a bar, and all our eyes followed the tray, as though we were dogs in a dining-room smelling game.

84

-

但是塞巴斯蒂安想去打猎所引发的好情绪一路高歌猛进。布莱兹赫德写了条子给看马厩的，我们便都兴高采烈地睡觉去了。

84

-

The good humour engendered by Sebastian’s wish to hunt persisted, however; Brideshead wrote out a note for the stables, and we all went to bed quite cheerfully.

85

-

塞巴斯蒂安径直上床，我坐在他房里壁炉旁吸着烟斗。我说：“我真想明天和你一起出去。”

85

-

Sebastian got straight to bed; I sat by his fire and smoked a pipe. I said: ‘I rather wish I was coming out with you tomorrow.

86

-

“喂，”他说，“你不要把打猎看得多了不起。我跟你说我要干什么吧。只要到了第一个隐蔽处，我就撇开布赖德，骑着马上最近的一家好酒馆去，然后在那儿打发掉一整天，要在酒馆前厅安安生生地畅饮。要是他们把我当成酒鬼，那就随他们好了，我会是个不折不扣的酒鬼的。随他的便吧，反正我讨厌打猎。”

86

-

‘Well,’ he said, ‘you wouldn’t see much sport. I can tell you exactly what I’m going to do. I shall leave Bridey at the first covert, hack over to the nearest good pub, and spend the entire day quietly soaking in the bar parlour. If they treat me like a dipsomaniac, they can bloody well have a dipsomaniac. I hate hunting, anyway.’

87

-

“哦，这我可拦不住你。”

87

-

‘Well, I can’t stop you.’

88

-

“你能拦，实际上——一点儿钱也不给我就拦住了。他们冻结了我的银行账户，你知道，夏天干的。这是我的心腹大患啊。我把手表和雪茄盒给典当了才保证了圣诞节能过得快活，所以我得找你要我明天一天的花费。”

88

-

‘You can, as a matter of fact - by not giving me any money. They stopped my banking account, you know, in the summer. It’s been one of my chief difficulties. I pawned my watch and cigarette case to ensure a happy Christmas, so I shall have to come to you tomorrow for my day’s expenses.’

89

-

“我不给。你很清楚，我不能给。”

89

-

‘I won’t. You know perfectly well I can’t.’

90

-

“你不给吗，查尔斯？好吧，我敢说靠我自己也能有法子。最近我可精了，自力更生，非那么做不可。”

90

-

‘Won’t you, Charles? Well, I daresay I shall manage on my own somehow. I’ve got rather clever at that lately - managing on my own. I’ve had to.’

91

-

“塞巴斯蒂安，你和萨姆格拉斯先生，你们两人怎么样了？”

91

-

‘Sebastian, what have you and Mr Samgrass been up to?’

92

-

“吃饭的时候他不是都告诉你们了吗——废墟、向导、驴，这都是桑米干的事。我们决定要按自己的路线走，就是这么回事。天可怜见的桑米直到现在表现得确实还不赖……我希望他能一直这样保持下去……不过关于我的快乐的圣诞节吧，他就未免太不谨慎了一点。我想是不是他认为要是把我形容得过分好了，他反倒会失去他监护人的资格吧。

92

-

‘He told you at dinner - ruins and guides and mules, that’s what Sammy’s been up to. We decided to go our own ways, that’s all. Poor Sammy’s really behaved rather well so far. I hoped he would keep it up, but he seems to have been very indiscreet about my happy Christmas. I suppose he thought if he gave too good an account of me, he might lose his job as keeper.

93

-

“你知道，他在这里头可捞了不少油水……我的意思并不是说他在什么地方揩油搞不规矩。在钱上吗，我觉得他还是很诚实的。不过他也确实留着一个让人尴尬的小账本，记下了所有的旅行支票兑成现金的金额，还记下了怎么花的这些钱，以备妈妈和律师查验。可是什么地方他都想去，对他来说，有我这么个人带着他玩得舒舒服服的，跟那些大学教师那样子的旅行法儿可完全不在一个层面上。唯一的不便之处就是得处处容忍我的同伴，不过很快这问题也不成其为问题了。

93

-

‘He makes quite a good thing out of it, you know. I don’t mean that he steals. I should think he’s fairly honest about money. He certainly keeps an embarrassing little note-book in which he puts down the travellers’ cheques he cashes and what he spends it on, for mummy and the lawyer to see. But he wanted to go to all these places, and it’s very convenient for him to have me to take him in comfort, instead of going as dons usually do. The only disadvantage was having to put up with my company, and we soon solved that for him.

94

-

“于是我们就开始了一场风光大戏一般的旅行，你知道，我们随身带着给各地头头脑脑的信件，住在罗德岛的军政府和君士坦丁堡大使那里。这是桑米答应照管我的首要原因。当然喽，他是把学校的工作停下来去盯着我，可也事先就跟我们所有的东道主都打过招呼说我不怎么靠得住。”

94

-

‘We began very much on a Grand Tour, you know, with letters to all the chief people everywhere, and stayed with the Military Governor at Rhodes and the Ambassador at Constantinople. That was what Sammy had signed on for in the first place. Of course, he had his work cut out keeping his eye on me, but he warned all our hosts beforehand that I was not responsible.’

95

-

“塞巴斯蒂安……”

95

-

‘Sebastian.’

96

-

“是说不特别靠得住。我手里又没钱，所以想跑也跑不到哪儿去。甚至连小费那点儿钱他都得替我付，把钱塞在对方手里，然后立时三刻就在小本上记下大致金额。不过我在君士坦丁堡走了大运。有一天晚上我趁桑米没留神，设法靠着打牌赢了些钱。第二天我就溜出去了，可我正在托卡特里安大街上的酒吧过得逍遥快活的时候，只见酒吧里进来一个人，不是别人，就是蓄着胡子的安东尼·布兰奇，他带着一个犹太男孩子。

96

-

‘Not quite responsible - and as I had no money to spend I couldn’t get away very much. He even did the tipping for me, put the note into the man’s hand and jotted the amount down then and there in his note-book. My lucky time was at Constantinople. I managed to make some money at cards one evening when Sammy wasn’t looking. Next day I gave him the slip and was having a very happy hour in the bar at the Tokatlian when who should come in but Anthony Blanche with a beard and a Jew boy.

97

-

安东尼才借给我十英镑，桑米就气喘吁吁地跑进来了，又把我给逮了。打这以后，我就一分钟都没有逃开他的严盯死守了。再后来大使馆的职员把我们安置在了去比雷埃夫斯的船，眼睁睁看着我们驶离码头。可是到雅典就比较容易了。有一天吃过了午饭，我就那么随随便便地走出公使馆，到库克旅行社兑了现金，还故意问了去亚历山大港的班次，玩的障眼法就是为了混淆桑米的视听。然后就坐着公共汽车上码头去了，还找着一个一口美国腔儿的水手，就睡在他那儿，直到他那条船起航……然后再回的君士坦丁堡。就是这样，没了。

97

-

Anthony lent me a tenner just before Sammy came panting in and recaptured me. After that I didn’t get a minute out of sight; the Embassy staff put us in the boat to Piraeus and watched us sail away. But in Athens it was easy. I simply walked out of the Legation one day after lunch, changed my money at Cook’s, and asked about sailings to Alexandria just to fox Sammy, then went down to the port in a bus, found a sailor who spoke American, lay up with him till his ship sailed, and popped back to Constantinople, and that was that.

98

-

“安东尼和那个犹太男孩子合住在集市附近一所挺不错只是有些颤颤巍巍的房子里。我在那里一直住到天气冷下来了，然后就跟安东尼坐船南下，按着三星期以前跟桑米约定的，我们在叙利亚再见了。”

98

-

‘Anthony and the Jew boy shared a very nice, tumbledown house near the bazaars. I stayed there till it got too cold, then Anthony and I drifted south till we met Sammy by appointment in Syria three weeks ago.’

99

-

“怎么桑米不介意吗？”

99

-

‘Didn’t Sammy mind?’

100

-

“哦，我认为按着他自己吓人的方式过得还挺爽的呢——当然啦，也没有更多高级的生活让他过。我猜他一开始是有些着急，可我一点儿也不想他知道整个地中海舰队的消息呀，所以我就从君士坦丁堡给他拍了封海底电报，说我很好，问他能不能把钱给寄到奥特曼银行来。他一接到电报，就立刻跳着脚来了。

100

-

‘Oh, I think he quite enjoyed himself in his own ghastly way only of course there was no more high life for him. I think he was a bit anxious at first. I didn’t want him to get the whole Mediterranean Fleet out, so I cabled him from Constantinople that I was quite well and would he send money to the Ottoman Bank. He came hopping over as soon as he got my cable.

101

-

当然了，他也是举步维艰，因为我成年了，身上又没有证明，他就没办法把我扣起来，也不能一边花着我的钱一边让我挨饿，何况他还不能把这件事汇报给我妈而显出他的愚蠢来——可怜的桑米，他必然得乖乖俯首听话了。我本想干脆离开他一走了之，可安东尼在这件事上很帮忙，他说还是把事情友好地解决掉比较好，他也的确把事情非常友好地解决掉了。看嘛，我就回来了。”

101

-

Of course he was in a difficult position, because I’m of age and not certified yet, so he couldn’t have me arrested. He couldn’t leave me to starve while he was living on my money, and he couldn’t tell mummy without looking pretty silly. I had him all ways, poor Sammy. My original idea had been to leave him flat, but Anthony was very helpful about that, and said it was far better to arrange things amicably; and he did arrange things very amicably. So here I am.’

102

-

“过了圣诞节才回来的。”

102

-

‘After Christmas.’

103

-

“那是，我决意要过一个快快活活的圣诞节。”

103

-

‘Yes, I was determined to have a happy Christmas.’

104

-

“快活吗？”

104

-

‘Did you?’

105

-

“我觉得快活。怎么过的我是不大记得了……不过这总是一个好兆头吧？”

105

-

‘I think so. I don’t remember it much, and that’s always a good sign, isn’t it?’

106

-

第二天早餐时布莱兹赫德穿了身猩红色打猎服；科迪莉娅又时髦又好看，扎着白色硬领，下巴高翘。塞巴斯蒂安穿着一件花呢外套进来的时候，她仰天长叹：“嘿，塞巴斯蒂安，你可不能穿成那样出去，赶快换一身去。你穿猎装要多好看有多好看。”

106

-

Next morning at breakfast Brideshead wore scarlet; Cordelia, very smart herself, with her chin held high over her white stock, wailed when Sebastian appeared in a tweed coat: ‘Oh, Sebastian, you can’t come out like that. Do go and change. You look so lovely in hunting clothes.’

107

-

“猎装不知锁在什么地方了。吉布斯找不到。”

107

-

‘Locked away somewhere. Gibbs couldn’t find them.’

108

-

“瞎讲。叫你之前我已经亲手帮着把那套衣服找出来了。”

108

-

‘That’s a fib. I helped get them out myself before you were called.’

109

-

“有一半东西都不见了。”

109

-

‘Half the things are missing.’

110

-

“这除了会长斯特里克兰-维纳布尔斯夫妇的气焰之外没别的。他们的举止别提多糟心了——他们家新郎连礼帽也不戴就敢出去。”

110

-

‘It just encourages the Strickland-Venableses. They’re behaving rottenly. They’ve even taken their grooms out of top hats.’

111

-

差一刻钟十一点，马匹快给牵过来了，可楼下还没人来，好像大家都藏起来了，等着看塞巴斯蒂安打了退堂鼓再现身。

111

-

It was a quarter to eleven before the horses were brought round, but no one else appeared downstairs; it was as though they were in hiding, listening for Sebastian’s retreating hooves before showing themselves.

112

-

别人都上了马，塞巴斯蒂安也才要出发，却又把我叫进大厅，桌上放着他的帽子、手套、马鞭和三明治，还放着那个他拿出来等着装满酒的长颈瓶。他拿起瓶子晃了晃，空的。

112

-

Just as he was about to start, when the others were already mounted, Sebastian beckoned me into the hall. On the table beside his hat, gloves, whip, and sandwiches, lay the flask he had put out to be filled. He picked it up and shook it; it was empty.

113

-

“你看，”他说，“不信任我到了这个地步。发疯的是他们，不是我。现在你不能再拒绝给我钱了吧。”

113

-

‘You see,’ he said, ‘I can’t even be trusted that far. It’s they who are mad, not me. Now you can’t refuse me money.’

114

-

我给了他一英镑。

114

-

I gave him a pound.

115

-

“再给点儿。”他说。

115

-

‘More,’ he said.

116

-

我又给他一英镑，看着他上了马，在他兄妹后头信马由缰地小跑着。

116

-

I gave him another and watched him mount and trot after his brother and sister.

117

-

此时萨姆格拉斯先生就像自己的戏份就要到了一样走上舞台，走到我身侧，挽着我的胳膊，把我带回到壁炉前。他先烤了烤自己那双干净的小手，然后又烤了烤自己的坐垫。

117

-

Then, as though it were his cue on the stage, Mr Samgrass came to my elbow, put an arm in mine, and led me back to the fire. He warmed his neat little hands and then turned to warm his seat.

118

-

“看来塞巴斯蒂安猎狐去了，”他说，“我们的小难题可以暂时搁置一两个小时了吧？”

118

-

‘So Sebastian is in pursuit of the fox,’ he said, ‘and our little problem is shelved for an hour or two?’

119

-

我不吃萨姆格拉斯先生这套。

119

-

I was not going to stand this from Mr Samgrass.

120

-

“你们那次风光大旅行，我全听说了，就在昨天晚上。”我说。

120

-

‘I heard all about your Grand Tour, last night,’ I said.

121

-

“啊，我就猜到你会听到的。”萨姆格拉斯先生没一点害怕的样子，好像看见别人知道了还松了一口气似的，“我没用这些事情去折磨我们的女主人。毕竟这件事的结果好到已经超出预期了。尽管如此，我确确实实地感觉到，塞巴斯蒂安之所以圣诞节过得快活，是部分要归因于她的。昨儿晚上你注意到了吧，已经有了一些防备措施了。”

121

-

‘Ah, I rather supposed you might have.’ Mr Samgrass was undismayed, relieved, it seemed, to have someone else in the know. ‘I did not harrow our hostess with all that. After all, it turned out far better than one had any right to expect. I did feel, however, that some explanation was due to her of Sebastian’s Christmas festivities. You may have observed last night that there were certain precautions.’

122

-

“我注意到了。”

122

-

‘I did.’

123

-

“你认为那些措施太过分了？我跟你一样，特别是我们来这里只想小小地、舒舒服服地做个客也不行的时候。今天早晨我去见了马奇梅因夫人，你不会以为我才起床吧……我和我们的女主人在楼上做了一番小小的谈话。我想我们能指望今天晚上轻松一点了。谁也不希望昨晚的情况再来一遍了。我是觉得，昨天晚上我尽力想分散你们的注意力，可显然没有得到应得的感激啊。”

123

-

‘You thought them excessive? I am with you, particularly as they tend to compromise the comfort of our own little visit. I have seen Lady Marchmain this morning. You must not suppose I am just out of bed. I have had a little talk upstairs with our hostess. I think we may hope for some relaxation tonight. Yesterday was not an evening that any of us would wish to have repeated. I earned less gratitude than I deserved, I think, for my efforts to distract you.’

124

-

与萨姆格拉斯先生谈论塞巴斯蒂安的事情委实让人厌恶，我强忍着说：“我可吃不准今天晚上是不是真能放轻松。”

124

-

It was repugnant to me to talk about Sebastian to Mr Samgrass, but I was compelled to say: ‘I’m not sure that tonight would be the best time to start the relaxation.’

125

-

“吃不准？今天晚上为什么不行，难道在布莱兹赫德探究一切的注视下，在野外过一整天还不行？还能有别的、更好的日子吗？”

125

-

‘But surely? Why not tonight, after a day in the field under Brideshead’s inquisitorial eye? Could one choose better?’

126

-

“呃，我想这确实不关我事。”

126

-

‘Oh, I suppose it’s none of my business really.’

127

-

“严格意义上说也不关我的事，既然他平平安安地回了家。马奇梅因夫人愿意和我商量，这已经让我深感荣幸了。但此时此刻我挂念的不是塞巴斯蒂安的安宁，而是我们自己的。我要喝第三杯葡萄酒，我要图书室那个款待至周的托盘……可你却摆明了说今天晚上不一定轻松得了。我不知道你说这话的原因何在。塞巴斯蒂安今天不会再搞什么花头了，就凭一点，他没钱。我刚好知道他没钱，一直留意这个呢。我楼上甚至还有他的手表和雪茄盒。他百分之百闹不出什么幺蛾子了——只要没人邪恶地给他钱……嗨，茱丽娅小姐，早上好早上好。早上他们去打猎时，那只京八犬怎么了？”

127

-

‘Nor mine strictly, now that he is safely home. Lady Marchmain did me the honour of consulting me. But it is less Sebastian’s welfare than our own I have at heart at the moment. I need my third glass of port; I need that hospitable tray in the library. And yet you specifically advise against it tonight. I wonder why. Sebastian can come to no mischief today. For one thing, he has no money. I happen to know. I saw to it. I even have his watch and cigarette case upstairs. He will be quite harmless...as long as no one is so wicked as to give him any...Ah, Lady Julia, good morning to you, good morning. And how is the peke this hunting morning?’

128

-

“噢，狗狗很好，我说，我已经叫雷克斯·莫特拉姆今天上这儿来。绝对不能再发生昨天晚上那样的事了。得有人跟妈妈谈谈。”

128

-

‘Oh, the peke’s all right. Listen. I’ve got Rex Mottram coming here today. We simply can’t have another evening like last night. Someone must speak to mummy.’

129

-

“有人已经谈过了。我谈的。我想一切都会很好的。”

129

-

‘Someone has. I spoke. I think it will be all right.’

130

-

“感谢上帝。查尔斯，你今天画画吗？”

130

-

‘Thank God for that. Are you painting today, Charles?’

131

-

每次到布莱兹赫德做客，我都要在那个花园房间的墙上画一枚奖章，这早已成为惯例。这惯例正合我意——是以每每都让我有充分理由离开众人独处。宅邸里宾客满堂沸反盈天时，花园房不啻育婴房，人们总是时不时地上这里来避难并且闲话、八卦别人。所以我不费吹灰之力就知道了这里的一切绯闻逸事。

131

-

It had been the custom that on every visit to Brideshead I painted a medallion on the walls of the garden-room. The custom suited me well, for it gave me a good reason to detach myself from the rest of the party; when the house was full, the garden-room became a rival to the nursery, where from time to time people took refuge to complain about the others; thus without effort I kept in touch with the gossip of the place.

132

-

我这时已经画了三枚奖章，每一枚这个角度看就很不错，但是换个角度就又没那么尽善尽美，因为我的审美和品位改变了，从开画这一系列奖章以来，十八个月间我的技法精进，手也越来越灵巧。作为装饰设计来说，这些奖章是失败的。在我发现花园房是避难之所时，这个上午在许许多多的上午中独具避难意义。我一到地方，立刻开始工作了。茱丽娅跟我一起来的，看着我画的画。我们也不可避免地说起塞巴斯蒂安。

132

-

There were three finished medallions now, each rather pretty in its way, but unhappily each in a different way, for my tastes had changed and I had become more dexterous in the eighteen months since the series was begun. As a decorative scheme, they were a failure. That morning was typical of the many mornings when I had found the garden-room a sanctuary. There I went and was soon at work. Julia came with me to see me started and we talked, inevitably, of Sebastian.

133

-

“难道你，对这个话题还没腻味？”她问，“干吗每个人都把这当作头等大事？”

133

-

‘Don’t you, get bored with the subject?’ she asked. ‘Why must everyone make such a Thing about it?’

134

-

“那是因为我们都喜欢他。”

134

-

‘Just because we’re fond of him.’

135

-

“嗯。我也喜欢他，用我的方式，我只不过希望他跟别人一样就好了。我是随着家里的丑闻一起长大的，你知道，就是我爸爸。人们从来不当着仆人的面说他，我们还小，也从来不当着我们的面说。如果妈妈打算把塞巴斯蒂安也搞成家丑一桩的话就太过分了。要是他就想喝醉了事，那他干吗不去肯尼亚，或者别的什么不在乎喝醉酒的地方呢？”

135

-

‘Well. I’m fond of him too, in a way, I suppose, only I wish he’d behave like anybody else. I’ve grown up with one family skeleton, you know - papa. Not to be talked of before the servants, not to be talked of before us when we were children. If mummy is going to start making a skeleton out of Sebastian, it’s too much. If he wants to be always tight, why doesn’t he go to Kenya or somewhere where it doesn’t matter?’

136

-

“怎么他在肯尼亚过得不高兴就不碍事呢？”

136

-

‘Why does it matter less being unhappy in Kenya than anywhere else?’

137

-

“别装糊涂，查尔斯，你明白的。”

137

-

‘Don’t pretend to be stupid, Charles. You understand perfectly.’

138

-

“你是不是说，如果他在肯尼亚你们就不会这么尴尬了？那么好，我想说的是，我担心要是给塞巴斯蒂安逮着个机会，那么今天晚上就会尴尬的。他心情很差。”

138

-

‘You mean there won’t be so many embarrassing situations for you? Well, all I was trying to say was that I’m afraid there may be an embarrassing situation tonight if Sebastian gets the chance. He’s in a bad mood.’

139

-

“嗯，打一天猎会使心情变好的。”

139

-

‘Oh, a day’s hunting will put that all right.’

140

-

看到大家都把希望寄托在这一天的打猎上，真是让人震惊。今天上午马奇梅因夫人顺便过来看我，为这事还用她以精巧细致著称的讥讽方式自嘲了一番。

140

-

It was touching to see the faith which everybody put in the value of a day’s hunting. Lady Marchmain, who looked in on me during the morning, mocked herself for it with that delicate irony for which she was famous.

141

-

“我向来痛恨打猎，”她说，“因为它会让很有教养的人身上平添许多粗陋。我也不知道那是怎么搞的，可是一旦他们穿上猎装，骑上马，就立刻摇身一变成了一帮子普鲁士人。就这样还洋洋自得。

141

-

‘I’ve always detested hunting,’ she said, ‘because it seems to produce a particularly gross kind of caddishness in the nicest people. I don’t know what it is, but the moment they dress up and get on a horse they become like a lot of Prussians. And so boastful after it.

142

-

到晚餐时我坐在那里，心惊胆战地看到自己认识的男男女女一个个变成了浑浑噩噩、固执己见、偏执狂、蠢货……你知道——打猎传统也是由来已久，好几百年了——一想到塞巴斯蒂安今天和他们出去了，我心里倒松快多了。‘实际上他什么错也没有，’我在心里说，‘他打猎去了。’仿佛我的祈祷终有回应了。”

142

-

The evenings I’ve sat at dinner appalled at seeing the men and women I know, transformed into half-awake, self-opinionated, monomaniac louts!...and yet, you know - it must be something derived from centuries ago - my heart is quite light today to think of Sebastian out with them. “There’s nothing wrong with him really,” I say, “he’s gone hunting” - as though it were an answer to prayer.’

143

-

她问到我在巴黎的生活。我跟她说从房间可以看到塞纳河的风景和圣母院的塔楼。“我希望我回去的时候塞巴斯蒂安能和我一起住几天。”

143

-

She asked me about my life in Paris. I told her of my rooms with their view of the river and the towers of Notre Dame. ‘I’m hoping Sebastian will come and stay with me when I go back.’

144

-

“那该有多好啊。”马奇梅因夫人说着又叹了口气，好像明知这是一件无法达成之事。

144

-

‘It would have been lovely,’ said Lady Marchmain, sighing as though for the unattainable.

145

-

“我希望他去伦敦和我住几天。”

145

-

‘I hope he’s coming to stay with me in London.’

146

-

“查尔斯，你知道这行不通。伦敦是个最糟的地方。在那里即使萨姆格拉斯先生也约束不了他。我们家的事是不瞒你的。他失踪了，你知道，整个圣诞节都不见踪影。萨姆格拉斯先生能找到他，就因为他在那个地方没钱付不了账，人家把电话打到家里来的……这太可怕了。不行，去伦敦不行，他在这儿和我们一起都不能规规矩矩……那我们就得让他在这儿更快乐更健康一些，让他打猎去，然后再让他跟萨姆格拉斯先生一起出国去……你看么，这样的事我都经历过了。”

146

-

‘Charles, you know it isn’t possible. London’s the worst place. Even Mr Samgrass couldn’t hold him there. We have no secrets in this house. He was lost, you know, all through Christmas. Mr Samgrass only found him because he couldn’t pay his bill in the place where he was, so they telephoned our house. It’s too horrible. No, London is impossible; if he can’t behave himself here, with us...We must keep him happy and healthy here for a bit, hunting, and then send him abroad again with Mr Samgrass...You see, I’ve been through all this before.’

147

-

反驳她的话就在嘴边，虽然没说出来，可我们两人也是彼此心照的——那就是：“你过去没把那个人管住，他跑掉了。塞巴斯蒂安以后还会跑掉。因为他们俩恨你。”

147

-

The retort was there, unspoken, well-understood by both of us - ‘You couldn’t keep him; he ran away. So will Sebastian. Because they both hate you.’

148

-

下面的山谷响起号角声和猎人们呐喊的声音。

148

-

A horn and the huntsman’s cry sounded in the valley below.

149

-

“他们到那里了，快到家里那片林地了。希望他今天能过得很好。”

149

-

‘There they go now, drawing the home woods. I hope he’s having a good day.’

150

-

就这样，我和茱丽娅、马奇梅因夫人之间均陷入了僵局，不是由于相互之间缺乏理解，反倒是由于理解得太过了。布莱兹赫德回来吃午餐，也和我谈到同样话题——此话题在这个家中随处都要谈到，好像沉陷在水线以下的船舱中的火，在黑暗中现出暗红色火光，从舱口下冒出丝丝缕缕的刺鼻烟雾，又蓦地从舷窗口和通气管中吐出滚滚浓烟来——布莱兹赫德在我的身侧，我就要置身于全然陌生的世界。于我来说，那里死寂无声，那里是月球上赤裸的熔岩，是外太空，在那里我就算扯开嗓子喊到声嘶力竭，对方也置若罔闻。

150

-

Thus with Julia and Lady Marchmain I reached deadlock, not because we failed to understand one another, but because we understood too well. With Brideshead, who came home to luncheon and talked to me on the subject - for the subject was everywhere in the house like a fire deep in the hold of a ship, below the water-line, black and red in the darkness, coming to in acrid wisps of smoke that oozed under hatches and billowed suddenly from the scuttles and air pipes - with Brideshead, I was in a strange world, a dead world to me, in a moon-landscape of barren lava, a high place of toiling lungs.

151

-

他说：“我希望这就是耽酒狂徒。地地道道极大的不幸，我们大家要帮助他去担负这个。以往我常担心的是他想喝醉就喝醉，喜欢喝醉就喝醉。”

151

-

He said: ‘I hope it is dipsomania. That is simply a great misfortune that we must all help him bear. What I used to fear was that he just got drunk deliberately when he liked and because he liked.’

152

-

“过去他确实是这样的——我们俩都这样。现在他跟我在一起就这样。如果你母亲信得过我，我能让他到我这里为止……但要是继续用监视和神父之类的去烦他的话，不出几年他的身体就全垮了。”

152

-

‘That’s exactly what he did - what we both did. It’s what he does with me now. I can keep him to that, if only your mother would trust me. If you worry him with keepers and cures he’ll be a physical wreck in a few years.’

153

-

“身体垮了并不是罪过，你知道。并没有什么精神、道德上的义务要求谁成为邮政大臣或者成为驯猎犬大师，也没要求谁八十岁了还能健步如飞十里路。”

153

-

‘There’s nothing wrong in being a physical wreck, you know. There’s no moral obligation to be Postmaster-General or Master of Foxhounds or to live to walk ten miles at eighty.’

154

-

“什么罪过，”我说，“什么道德义务……你又扯到宗教上去了。”

154

-

‘Wrong,’ I said. ‘Moral obligation - now you’re back on religion again.

155

-

“我就没离开过宗教。”布莱兹赫德说。

155

-

‘I never left it, said Brideshead.

156

-

“布赖德，你知道，如果我心血来潮有想做一名天主教徒的念头，那么只需和你谈上五分钟就会完全打消这个念头。你就是有本事把明智有理的命题给变成刻板荒谬的屁话。”

156

-

‘D’you know, Bridey, if I ever felt for a moment like becoming a Catholic, I should only have to talk to you for five minutes to be cured. You manage to reduce what seem quite sensible propositions to stark nonsense.’

157

-

“真奇怪你居然会这样说我……以前我也听到别人说过类似的话。我觉得我当不了一个好神父，这也是众多原因中的一个。这就是我思考问题的方式啊，我想是这样。”

157

-

‘It’s odd you should say that. I’ve heard it before from other people. It’s one of the many reasons why I don’t think I should make a good priest. It’s something in the way my mind works, I suppose.’

158

-

吃午饭的时候，茱丽娅全副心神都在这天要来的客人身上。她开车去车站接的他，接回家来吃下午茶。

158

-

At luncheon Julia had no thoughts except for her guest who was coming that day. She drove to the station to meet him and brought him home to tea.

159

-

“妈妈，必须看看雷克斯的圣诞节礼物。”

159

-

‘Mummy, do look at Rex’s Christmas present.’

160

-

是一只小乌龟，鲜活的龟壳上用钻石嵌着茱丽娅名字的首个大写字母，这个有些淫秽的东西一会儿在光滑的桌上无力地爬着，一会儿爬过了牌桌，一会儿又笨手拙脚地爬上一块小地毯，一碰它，它就往回一缩脖子，然后又伸出去，晃着它干瘪苍老的头。当晚的乌龟实属令人难忘，它具有吸引力，在危急关头能够把人们的注意力吸引过去。

160

-

It was a small tortoise with Julia’s initials set in diamonds in the living shell, and this slightly obscene object, now slipping impotently on the polished boards, now striding across the card-table, now lumbering over a rug, now withdrawn at a touch, now stretching its neck and swaying its withered, antediluvian head, became a memorable part of the evening, one of those needle-hooks of experience which catch the attention when larger matters are at stake.

161

-

“哦哟，”马奇梅因夫人说，“不知道它吃的东西是不是和普通乌龟吃的一样啊。”

161

-

‘Dear me,’ said Lady Marchmain. ‘I wonder if it eats the same sort of things as an ordinary tortoise.’

162

-

“要是它死了你怎么办？”萨姆格拉斯先生问，“能否把别的乌龟身体安进这个的壳里呢？”

162

-

‘What will you do when it’s dead?’ asked Mr Samgrass. ‘Can you have another tortoise fitted into the shell?’

163

-

雷克斯也听说了塞巴斯蒂安的问题——如果没有法子解决，他在这种气氛里也待不住——于是他带来了这个小动物作为解决办法。喝茶时他对此事津津乐道，大大方方地就把塞巴斯蒂安的问题公示了——一直到这会儿，因为都已经在私底下嘀咕了一整天，所以大家听到终于有人公开谈论了，都松了一口气。“把他送到苏黎世的博莱图斯那儿去吧。那个人叫博莱图斯，他在他工作的疗养院每天都在创造奇迹。你们都知道查理·基尔卡特尼以前是怎么个喝法的吧。”

163

-

Rex had been told about the problem of Sebastian - he could scarcely have endured in that atmosphere without - and had a solution pat. He propounded it cheerfully and openly at tea, and after a day of whispering it was a relief to hear the thing discussed. ‘Send him to Borethus at Zurich. Borethus is the man. He works miracles every day at that sanatorium of his. You know how Charlie Kilcartney used to drink.’

164

-

“不知道。”马奇梅因夫人说，仍然带着她甜蜜的嘲弄口吻，“不知道，我恐怕不知道查理·基尔卡特尼过去是怎么喝酒的。”

164

-

‘No,’ said Lady Marchmain, with that sweet irony of hers. ‘No, I’m afraid I don’t know how Charlie Kilcartney drank.’

165

-

茱丽娅听到她的情人被嘲讽了，便冲着乌龟蹙起眉头，可是雷克斯·莫特拉姆并不懂得个中含义，仍在状况外。

165

-

Julia, hearing her lover mocked, frowned at the tortoise, but Rex Mottram was impervious to such delicate mischief.

166

-

“两任妻子对他都绝望了。”他说，“他跟西尔维亚订婚的时候，西尔维亚把他必须去苏黎世接受治疗作为一个条件。真起作用了。三个月后他回来与之前的他简直判若两人了。从那时起，他滴酒未沾，即使西尔维亚甩了他也是一样。”

166

-

‘Two wives despaired of him,’ he said. ‘When he got engaged to Sylvia, she made it a condition that he should take the cure at Zurich. And it worked. He came back in three months a different man. And he hasn’t touched a drop since, even though Sylvia walked out on him.’

167

-

“她为什么要那么做呢？”

167

-

‘Why did she do that?’

168

-

“唉，可怜的查理，自打戒了酒后就让人讨厌得紧。不过实际上这不是故事的重点。”

168

-

‘Well, poor Charlie got rather a bore when he stopped drinking. But that’s not really the point of the story.’

169

-

“我猜也不是。其实，我觉得吧，真的，这个故事还是蛮励志的。”

169

-

‘No, I suppose not. In fact, I suppose, really, it’s meant to be an encouraging story.’

170

-

这时茱丽娅又对着她那只嵌钻的乌龟皱起了眉头。

170

-

Julia scowled at her jewelled tortoise.

171

-

“他也接受有性方面问题的病人，你知道。”

171

-

‘He takes sex cases, too, you know.’

172

-

“哦哟，亲爱的，可怜的塞巴斯蒂安在苏黎世要交的都是些什么古怪朋友呀。”

172

-

‘Oh dear, what very peculiar friends poor Sebastian will make in Zurich.’

173

-

“他的预约提前好几个月就满了。不过我想，要是我开口要求的话，他会找出间空房来的。今天晚上我在这儿就给他打电话。”

173

-

‘He’s booked up for months ahead, but I think he’d find room if I asked him. I could telephone him from here tonight.’

174

-

（雷克斯在最和善亲切的时候显示出一种高高在上的热切，就好比他把吸尘器硬塞到一位极不情愿的家庭主妇手上一样。）

174

-

(In his kindest moments Rex displayed a kind of hectoring zeal as if he were thrusting a vacuum cleaner on an unwilling housewife.)

175

-

“我们会考虑一下。”

175

-

‘We’ll think about it.’

176

-

我们正在考虑，科迪莉娅打猎回来了。

176

-

And we were thinking about it when Cordelia returnd from hunting.

177

-

“啊，茱丽娅，这是什么东西？太恶心了！”

177

-

‘Oh, Julia, what’s that? How beastly.’

178

-

“是雷克斯送的圣诞礼物。”

178

-

‘It’s Rex’s Christmas present.’

179

-

“噢，不好意思。我总是一开口就要得罪人……可是这也太残忍了吧！它一定很疼很疼。”

179

-

‘Oh, sorry. I’m always putting my foot in it. But how cruel! It must have hurt frightfully.’

180

-

“它们觉不出疼来的。”

180

-

‘They can’t feel.’

181

-

“你怎么知道？我肯定它们会觉得的。”

181

-

‘How d’you know? Bet they can.’

182

-

她吻了一天未见的母亲，又和雷克斯握了手，就拉铃要了鸡蛋。

182

-

She kissed her mother, whom she had not seen that day, shook hands with Rex, and rang for eggs.

183

-

“我在巴美太太家那儿用过茶了，就是从她那儿打电话要车的，可我现在还是很饿。今天过得真是棒极了。琼·斯特里克兰-维纳布尔斯摔到泥地里去了。我们一口气从本格斯跑到了伊斯特莱，一站都没停……我估摸着得有五英里，是吧，布赖德？”

183

-

‘I had one tea at Mrs Bamey’s, where I telephoned for the car, but I’m still hungry. It was a spiffing day. Jean Strickland-Venables fell in the mud. We ran from Bengers to Upper Eastrey without a check. I reckon that’s five miles, don’t you, Bridey?’

184

-

“三英里。”

184

-

‘Three.’

185

-

“不止三英里，就照他那样跑……”她大口大口吃着煎蛋，告诉我们打猎的事，“……你们真该看看琼从泥地里站起来是个什么样子。”

185

-

‘Not as he ran...’ Between mouthfuls of scrambled egg she told us about the hunt.‘...You should have seen Jean when she came out of the mud.’

186

-

“塞巴斯蒂安在哪儿？”

186

-

‘Where’s Sebastian?’

187

-

“他可丢脸了。”这几个字由一个孩子口中清脆地说出来，就像是拉了铃一般，她接着说：“他出门时穿着恶心的捕鼠外套，系了一条可难看的小领带，活脱脱像从莫文上尉的骑兵学校里出来的。乍一看见，我险些没认出他来……我希望谁也别认出他来。他没回来吗？我估计他又走丢了。”

187

-

‘He’s in disgrace.’ The words, in that clear, child’s voice had the ring of a bell tolling, but she went on: ‘Coming out in that beastly rat-catcher coat and mean little tie like something from Captain Morvin’s Riding Academy. I just didn’t recognize him at the meet, and I hope nobody else did. Isn’t he back? I expect he got lost.’

188

-

威尔科克斯清理茶具，马奇梅因夫人问道：“还没有塞巴斯蒂安少爷的踪迹吗？”

188

-

When Wilcox came to clear the tea, Lady Marchmain asked: ‘No sign of Lord Sebastian?’

189

-

“没有，夫人。”

189

-

‘No, my Lady.’

190

-

“他一定停下来和什么人喝茶呢。这可真不像他的做派。”

190

-

‘He must have stopped for tea with someone. How very unlike him.’

191

-

又过了半小时，威尔科克斯端着鸡尾酒托盘进来说：“塞巴斯蒂安少爷刚才打电话来说要车去南特温宁接他。”

191

-

Half an hour later, when Wilcox brought in the cocktail tray, he said: ‘Lord Sebastian has just rung up to be fetched from South Twining.’

192

-

“南特温宁？谁住在那里？”

192

-

‘South Twining? Who lives there?’

193

-

“他是从旅馆打来的电话，夫人。”

193

-

‘He was speaking from the hotel, my Lady.’

194

-

“南特温宁？”科迪莉娅说，“天哪，他真的走丢了！”

194

-

‘South Twining.?’ said Cordelia. ‘Goodness, he did get lost!’

195

-

他到家时满脸通红，眼睛发烧一般地贼亮，我看出他已经醉到七七八八了。

195

-

When he arrived he was flushed and his eyes were feverishly bright; I saw that he was two-thirds drunk.

196

-

“亲爱的孩子，”马奇梅因夫人说，“又看到你这么好，可真叫人高兴！看来在外面待待对你的身体很有好处。桌上有酒，自己喝吧。”

196

-

‘Dear boy,’ said Lady Marchmain. ‘How nice to see you looking so well again. Your day in the open has done you good. The drinks are on the table; do help yourself.’

197

-

除了她说“有酒”这句话以外，她的话里听不出什么异样来。而就在半年以前，这种话是绝对不会说出口的。

197

-

There was nothing unusual in her speech but the fact of her saying it. Six months ago it would not have been said.

198

-

“谢谢，”塞巴斯蒂安说，“我会喝的。”

198

-

‘Thanks, ‘ said Sebastian. ‘I will.’

199

-

旧伤未去，新伤又来，青肿之上不断挨打——是预料之中的事情。不是剧痛也不惊讶，只有沉闷的、令人烦躁的钝痛，还要琢磨着能否再承受一次这样的打击——这就是那天晚上吃饭时人们坐在塞巴斯蒂安对面，看着他迷离的醉眼和摩摩挲挲的动作，在他长时间令人窒息的、浓稠的沉默之后，他沙哑着嗓子无礼地打断别人谈话时的感受。最后，马奇梅因夫人、茱丽娅还有仆人们终于离开了，这时布莱兹赫德说：“你最好还是去睡吧，塞巴斯蒂安。”

199

-

A blow, expected, repeated, falling on a bruise, with no smart or shock of surprise, only a dull and sickening pain and the doubt whether another like it could be borne - that was how it felt, sitting opposite Sebastian at dinner that night, seeing his clouded eye and groping movements, hearing his thickened voice breaking in, ineptly, after long brutish silences. When at length Lady Marchmain and Julia and the servants left us, Brideshead said: ‘You’d best go to bed, Sebastian.’

200

-

“先喝点葡萄酒。”

200

-

‘Have some port first.’

201

-

“可以，你要是想喝那就喝点吧，但不要到客厅里去。”

201

-

‘Yes, have some port if you want it. But don’t come into the drawing-room.’

202

-

“喝个一醉方休，”塞巴斯蒂安说着重重点头，“像旧时代一样。绅士们总是烂醉后才去找太太小姐。”

202

-

‘Too bloody drunk,’ said Sebastian nodding heavily. ‘Like olden times. Gentlemen always too drunk join ladies in olden times.’

203

-

（“可你知道，并不是那样的，”萨姆格拉斯先生后来跟我们闲聊时说，“这根本不像旧时代。我不知道到底区别在哪里。是情绪不高吗？还是没朋友？你知道，我看他今天大概自己一个人喝酒去了，可是他哪儿来的钱呢？”）

203

-

(‘And,yet, you know, it wasn’t,’ said Mr Samgrass, trying to be chatty with me about it afterwards, ‘it wasn’t at all like olden times. I wonder where the difference lies. The lack of good humour? The lack of companionship? You know I think he must have been drinking by himself today. Where did he get the money?’)

204

-

“塞巴斯蒂安已经上楼去了。”我们到客厅时，布莱兹赫德说道。

204

-

’Sebastian’s gone up,’ said Brideshead when we reached the drawing-room.

205

-

“是吗？要我读读书吗？”

205

-

‘Yes? Shall I read?’

206

-

茱丽娅和雷克斯两个人在玩牌。被小狗耍得够呛的乌龟把头缩进壳里去了。马奇梅因夫人大声朗读《小人物的日记》，天光尚早，她就说就寝时间到了。

206

-

Julia and Rex played bezique; the tortoise, teased by the pekinese, withdrew into his shell; Lady Marchmain read The Diaiy of a Nobody aloud until, quite early, she said it was time for bed.

207

-

“妈妈，我能不能多待一会儿，再玩一小会儿？就三盘？”

207

-

‘Can’t I stay up and play a little longer, mummy ? Just three games?’

208

-

“好吧，亲爱的。睡觉前来看看我。我不会睡的。”

208

-

‘Very well, darling. Come in and see me before you go to bed. I shan’t be asleep.’

209

-

萨姆格拉斯先生和我都明白，茱丽娅和雷克斯显然希望二人世界，没有旁人在，于是我们也走了。布莱兹赫德看不出这点来，他稳稳当当地坐在那儿看他当日未读的《泰晤士报》。我们走到自己住的那一边去，这时萨姆格拉斯先生说：“这完全不像旧时代。”

209

-

It was plain to Mr Samgrass and me that Julia and Rex wanted to be left alone, so we went, too; it was not plain to, Brideshead, who settled down to read The Times, which he had not yet seen that day. Then, going to our side of the house, Mr Samgrass said: ‘It wasn’t at all like olden times.’

210

-

第二天早晨我对塞巴斯蒂安说：“老实跟我说，你想我还留在这里吗？”

210

-

Next morning I said to Sebastian: ‘Tell me honestly, do you want me to stay on here?’

211

-

“不想了，查尔斯，不想。”

211

-

‘No, Charles, I don’t believe I do.’

212

-

“我帮不上忙？”

212

-

‘I’m no help?’

213

-

“帮不上。”

213

-

‘No help.’

214

-

于是我就去他母亲那儿致歉。

214

-

So I went to make my excuses to his mother.

215

-

“有些话我得问问你，查尔斯。你昨天给塞巴斯蒂安钱了？”

215

-

‘There’s something I must ask you, Charles. Did you give Sebastian money yesterday?’

216

-

“给了。”

216

-

‘Yes.’

217

-

“明知道他会怎么花掉那钱？”

217

-

‘Knowing how he was likely to spend it?’

218

-

“知道。”

218

-

‘Yes.’

219

-

“那我可就搞不懂了，”她说，“我真搞不懂怎么会有人干得出这样无情无义的龌龊事来。”

219

-

‘I don’t understand it,’ she said. ‘I simply don’t understand how anyone can be so callously wicked.’

220

-

她顿住了，不过我认为她不指望我回答什么，我也没什么可再说的，否则就是翻过来倒过去地从头开始那个滚瓜烂熟又无休无止的争论桥段。

220

-

She paused, but I do not think she expected any answer; there was nothing I could say unless I were to start all over again on that familiar, endless argument.

221

-

“我不打算怪你，”她说，“上帝啊，不该由我来怪任何人。孩子们的失败就是我的失败。可是我不明白。我不明白你在各个方面都那么好，怎么就这么恣意妄为做出这么残酷的事来呢。我不明白我们大家都那么喜欢你……莫非你一直在恨我们？我不明白怎么会得到这样的报应。”

221

-

‘I’m not going to reproach you,’ she said. ‘God knows it’s not for me to reproach anyone. Any failure in my children is my failure. But I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how you can have been so nice in so many ways, and then do something so wantonly cruel. I don’t understand how we all liked you so much. Did you hate us all the time? I don’t understand how we deserved it.’

222

-

我并不为之所动。她的痛苦忧伤丝毫触动不了我。此情此景与我以前经常想象的被学校开除是一回事情。我真想她能说出这样的话来：“我已经写信通知了你那不幸的父亲。”可当我开车出去，在车里转头想最后看看这座宅子时，我觉得我把自己的一部分留在了这里，并且以后无论去向何处，都会缺少这一部分，却会徒劳地寻找它——像传说中的幽灵，徘徊在埋下财宝的地方，没有这些财宝，它们就付不出去阴曹地府的路费。

222

-

I was unmoved; there was no part of me remotely touched by her distress. It was as I had often imagined being expelled from school. I almost expected to hear her say: ‘I have already written to inform your unhappy father.’ But as I drove away and turned back in the car to take what promised to be my last view of the house, I felt that I was leaving part of myself behind, and that wherever I went afterwards I should feel the lack of it, and search for it hopelessly, as ghosts are said to do, frequenting the spots where they buried material treasures without which they cannot pay their way to the nether world.

223

-

“我绝对不会回来了。”我对自己说。

223

-

‘I shall never go back,’ I said to myself.

224

-

墙上这扇低矮的小门关上了，那是我在牛津时想要寻找，并且已经找到了的小门；现在再打开它，里面再也没有那个迷人的花园了。

224

-

A door had shut, the low door in the wall I had sought and found in Oxford; open it now and I should find no enchanted garden.

225

-

我终于升到水面上了，从一直被禁锢的透不进阳光的珊瑚宫殿和荡漾起伏的海底森林，回归到平凡的阳光和清新的空气里了。

225

-

I had come to the surface, into the light of common day and the fresh sea-air, after long captivity in the sunless coral palaces and waving forests of the ocean bed.

226

-

我将一些东西抛之身后了——是什么？青春？华年？浪漫？这是些变幻无尽的把戏，这是一本《青年魔法师摘要》，一个整齐的橱柜，黑檀木魔杖和几只迷离虚幻的桌球并排摆在一起，有一个能折叠的便士，还有能蜷起身体缩进空心蜡烛的绒花。

226

-

I had left behind me - what? Youth? Adolescence? Romance? The conjuring stuff of these things, ‘the Young Magician’s Compendium’, that neat cabinet where the ebony wand had its place beside the delusive billiard balls, the penny that folded double, and the feather flowers that could be drawn into a hollow candle.?

227

-

“我抛下的是幻影，”我自言自语，“从今往后我就用自己的五种感官生活在三维世界里了。”

227

-

‘I have left behind illusion,’ I said to myself. ‘Henceforth I live in a world of three dimensions - with the aid of my five senses.’

228

-

自此，我懂得了，这样的一个世界本不存在，可是汽车拐了个弯，再也看不见那个大宅了，我又想，不必费力寻找，这世界就在林荫路的尽头为我展开。

228

-

I have since learned that there is no such world, but then, as the car turned out of sight of the house, I thought it took no finding, but lay all about me at the end of the avenue.

229

-

就这样我回到了巴黎，回到了在那儿结交的朋友们中间，回到了我惯常的生活里。我以为不会再有布莱兹赫德那家人的消息了，可是生活中能有几回这样剧烈的分离……还不到三个星期，我就收到了一封科迪莉娅的来信，法式修道院风格的字体：

229

-

Thus I returned to Paris, and to the friends I had found there and the habits I had formed. I thought I should hear no more of Brideshead, but life has few separations as sharp as that. It was not three weeks before I received a letter in Cordelia’s Frenchified convent hand:

230

-

亲爱的查尔斯，你走了，我是多么伤心啊。你应该来跟我道个别再走啊！

230

-

‘Darling Charles,’ she said. ‘I was so very miserable when you went. You might have come and said good-bye!

231

-

你做的不光彩的事我全听说了，我写信来要说的是我也有不光彩的事。我偷了威尔科克斯的钥匙，给塞巴斯蒂安拿了威士忌，可是被抓住了。他好像就希望是这个结果。当时（现在也是）大吵了一顿。

231

-

‘I heard all about your disgrace, and I am writing to say that I am in disgrace, too. I sneaked Wilcox’s keys and got whisky for Sebastian and got caught. He did seem to want it so. And there was (and is) an awful row.

232

-

萨姆格拉斯先生已经走了（好！），我觉得他也有不光彩的事，但不知道是什么。

232

-

‘Mr Samgrass has gone (good!), and I think he is a bit in disgrace, too, but I don’t know why.

233

-

莫特拉姆先生很受茱丽娅的垂青（不好！），他要把塞巴斯蒂安带走了（不好！不好！），去看一个德国医生。

233

-

‘Mr Mottram is very popular with Julia (bad!) and is taking Sebastian away (bad! bad!) to a German doctor.

234

-

茱丽娅的乌龟不见了。我们猜是它自己把自己给埋了，乌龟就是这样的，于是一个小包袱不见了（这是莫特拉姆先生的原话）。

234

-

‘Julia’s tortoise disappeared. We think it buried itseif, as they do, so there goes a packet (expression of Mr Mottram’s).

235

-

我很好。

235

-

‘I am very well.

236

-

爱你的科迪莉娅

236

-

‘With love from Cordelia.’

237

-

收到信后的一个星期，一天下午我回到房间时发现雷克斯正在等我。

237

-

It must have been about a week after receiving this letter that I returned to my rooms one afternoon to find Rex waiting for me.

238

-

当时大概是四点钟，因为在一年中的这个时候，画室里的光线早就暗下去了，门房告诉我说有一位客人在等我的时候，我从她脸上的表情就能看出，楼上那位叫人过目难忘。她具有把访客年龄和魅力描绘得活灵活现的天分，此时她的面部表情就显示出等着我的是一位重要人物。雷克斯的外表确实印证了这一点，看他穿着旅行大氅，将俯瞰塞纳河的窗子挡了个严严实实，就知道门房说得没错。

238

-

It was about four, for the light began to fail early in the studio at that time of year. I could see by the expression on the concierge’s face, when she told me I had a visitor waiting, that there was something impressive upstairs; she had a vivid gift of expressing differences of age or attraction; this was the expression which meant someone of the first consequence, and Rex indeed seemed to justify it, as I found him in his big travelling coat, filling the window that looked over the river.

239

-

“呃，”我说，“喂。”

239

-

‘Well,’ I said. ‘Well.’

240

-

“我是上午来的。他们告诉了我你午饭常去的地方，可是我在那里找不到你。你见到他了吗？”

240

-

‘I came this morning. They told me where you usually lunched but I couldn’t see you there. Have you got him?’

241

-

我根本不用去问“他”是谁。“这么说，他也跟你不辞而别，溜了？”

241

-

I did not need to ask whom. ‘So he’s given you the slip, too?’

242

-

“我们是昨天晚上到这儿的，准备今天动身去苏黎世。吃完晚饭我就把他留在洛蒂旅馆了，他说他累了，所以我就上旅行者俱乐部打牌去了。”

242

-

‘We got here last night and were going on to Zurich today. I left him at the Lotti after dinner, as he said he was tired, and went round to the Travellers’ for a game.’

243

-

我发现即使是跟我，他也在找着说辞，好像是预先在我这里排练一番，然后再去别处说似的。“他说他累了”，这理由还不错。可是我设想不出雷克斯会让一个半醉半醒的孩子打搅他玩纸牌。

243

-

I noticed how, even with me, he was making excuses, as though rehearsing his story for retelling elsewhere. ‘As he said he was tired’ was good. I could not well imagine Rex letting a half-tipsy boy interfere with his cards.

244

-

“这么说等你回来时发现他已经不在了？”

244

-

‘So you came back and found him gone?’

245

-

“根本不是。发现他不在还倒好了。我回去时他正坐着等我。我在旅行者俱乐部手气好极了，赢得盆满钵满的。塞巴斯蒂安趁我睡着了把钱全卷跑了。只给我留下两张去苏黎世的一等车票，塞在镜子边缘……差不多三百英镑呢，这该死的！”

245

-

‘Not at all. I wish I had. I found him sitting up for me. I had a run of luck at the Travellers’ and cleaned up a packet. Sebastian pinched the lot while I was asleep. All he left me was two first-class tickets to Zurich stuck in the edge of the looking-glass. I had nearly three hundred quid, blast him!’

246

-

“那现在他几乎什么地方都可能去了。”

246

-

‘And now he may be almost anywhere.’

247

-

“什么地方都可能去。你不会碰巧把他藏起来了吧？”

247

-

‘Anywhere. You’re not hiding him by any chance?’

248

-

“没有。我和那家人没有什么瓜葛了。”

248

-

‘No. My dealings with that family are over.’

249

-

“那么我跟他们家的瓜葛才刚刚开始。”雷克斯说，“嗨，我还有好多话要讲，我答应了旅行者俱乐部的一个家伙，说下午再给他一个报仇回本的机会。你和我吃饭去吗？”

249

-

‘I think mine are just beginning,’ said Rex. ‘I say, I’ve got a lot to talk about, and I promised a chap at the Travellers’ I’d give him his revenge this afternoon. Won’t you dine with me?’

250

-

“好。哪里？”

250

-

‘Yes. Where?’

251

-

“我一般去西罗餐厅。”

251

-

‘I usually go to Ciro’s.’

252

-

“为什么不去派拉尔德餐厅呢？”

252

-

‘Why not Paillard’s?’

253

-

“从来没听说过。是我请客啊。”

253

-

‘Never heard of it. I’m paying you know.’

254

-

“知道是你请。我来订餐吧。”

254

-

‘I know you are. Let me order dinner.’

255

-

“好的，好吧。再说一次那地方的名字？”我给他写了地址。“是不是可以看到当地生活的那种地方？”

255

-

‘Well, all right. What’s the place again?’ I wrote it down for him. ‘Is it the sort of place you see native life?’

256

-

“是啊，可以这么说。”

256

-

‘Yes, you might call it that.’

257

-

“那好，这也是很好的体验呢。订些好菜。”

257

-

‘Well, it’ll be an experience. Order something good.’

258

-

“正有此意。”

258

-

‘That’s my intention.’

259

-

我比雷克斯早二十分钟到的餐馆。如果我非得和他消磨一个晚上的话，那无论如何也要按我的意思消磨。那顿饭我记得很清楚——酸模汤，一份简简单单用白葡萄酒调味的比目鱼，血鸭，柠檬蛋奶酥。最末了的一分钟，我生怕雷克斯觉得这餐饭菜式过于简单，于是又加了一道鱼子酱奥克斯薄煎饼。至于葡萄酒，我叫他给我来了一瓶一九零六年的蒙特谢，这酒正是味道最醇的时候，还有一瓶一九零四年的贝兹园葡萄酒配主菜血鸭。

259

-

I was there twenty minutes before Rex. If I had to spend an evening with him, it should, at any rate, be in my own way. I remember the dinner well - soup of oseille, a sole quite simply cooked in a white-wine sauce, a caneton à la presse, a lemon soufflé. At the last minute, fearing that the whole thing was too simple for Rex, I added caviar aux blinis. And for wine I let him give me a bottle of 1906 Montrachet, then at its prime, and, with the duck, a Clos de Bèze of 1904.

260

-

那时候在法国生活是很轻松安适的。按当时的汇率，我的津贴可以维持很久，所以日子过得一点儿也不紧巴。但还是很少吃这样的一餐饭。他最后终于来了，把帽子和外套随便不屑地递给侍者，使我和雷克斯亲近了一点。他面带怀疑地打量着这个昏暗的小地方，好像想看到有地痞流氓或者一帮开饮酒派对的学生。

260

-

Living was easy in France then; with the exchange as it was, my allowance went a long way and I did not live frugally. It was very seldom, however, that I had a dinner like this, and I felt well disposed to Rex, when at last he arrived and gave up his hat and coat with the air of not expecting to see them again. He looked round the sombre little place with suspicion as though hoping to see apaches or a drinking party of students.

261

-

可他看到的却是四个参议员，胡须底下掖着餐巾，一声不响地在吃饭。我能够想见得到他以后怎么跟他的商界朋友说：“……我认识一个很有意思的家伙，在巴黎学艺术的学生。他带我去了一家很好玩的小餐馆，保险是那种你路过时不会打眼看的地方，我从来没在别处吃过那么好吃的菜……那里还有半打参议员，说明地方确实是正经地方，价钱可也不便宜哦。”

261

-

All he saw was four senators with napkins tucked under their beards eating in absolute silence. I could imagine him telling his commercial friends later: ‘...interesting fellow I know; an art student living in Paris. Took me to a funny little restaurant - sort of place you’d pass without looking at - where there was some of the best food I ever ate. There were half a dozen senators there, too, which shows you it was the right place. Wasn’t at all cheap either.’

262

-

“有塞巴斯蒂安的影子吗？”他问道。

262

-

‘Any sign of Sebastian?’ he asked.

263

-

“不会有的，”我说，“除非他需要钱了。”

263

-

‘There won’t be,’ I said, ‘until he needs money.’

264

-

“这也太过分了，就这么溜了。我真希望若能把他的事解决好了，那在别的事情上也能落着些好处。”

264

-

‘It’s a bit thick, going off like that. I was rather hoping that if I made a good job of him, it might do me a bit of good in another direction.’

265

-

很明显他想谈他自己的事情。我心想，他的事情大可以缓一缓再谈，等到吃饱喝足有耐心的时候，等到喝那瓶科涅克酒的时候，等到人困马乏、心不在焉听别人讲话的时候……再谈也不迟。此时正是热烈的时刻，餐厅侍者领班在平底煎锅里把薄煎饼翻转过来，背后还有两个打下手的正准备着把血鸭再榨榨，我们兀自聊着自己。

265

-

He plainly wished to talk of his own affairs; they could wait, I thought, for the hour of tolerance and repletion, for the cognac; they could wait until the attention was blunted and one could listen with half the mind only; now in the keen moment when the ma?tre d’h?tel was turning the blinis over in the pan, and, in the background, two humbler men were preparing the press, we would talk of myself.?

266

-

“你在布莱兹赫德住的时间久吗？我走了以后他们提到过我吗？”

266

-

‘Did you stay long at Brideshead? Was my name mentioned after I left?’

267

-

“提到过你吗？你的名字我都听恶心了好吧，小子。勋爵夫人管你叫‘坏心眼子’。她说了一大堆关于你们最后一次会面的情况。”

267

-

‘Was it mentioned? I got sick of the sound of it, old boy. The Marchioness got what she called a “bad conscience” about you. She piled it on pretty thick, I gather, at your last meeting.’

268

-

“‘无情无义又龌龊’以及‘恣意妄为、残忍’这一类的吧。”

268

-

“’Callously wicked”, “wantonly cruel”.’

269

-

“反正够狠的。”

269

-

‘Hard words.’

270

-

“除非管你叫‘鸽子肉馅饼’，还要把你吃干抹净之外，任怎么说都无妨。”

270

-

‘ “It’ doesn’t matter what people call you unless they call you pigeon pie and eat you up.” ‘

271

-

“嗯？”

271

-

‘Eh?’

272

-

“是句谚语。”

272

-

‘A saying.’

273

-

“哦。”鲜奶油和滚烫的黄油混在一起溢了出来，把鱼子酱中的每颗淡蓝灰色的鱼子分离出来，再盖上白的和金黄的薄饼。

273

-

‘Ah.’ The cream and hot butter mingled and overflowed, separating each glaucous bead of caviar from its fellows, capping it in white and gold.

274

-

“我这里还要加上些洋葱碎，”雷克斯说，“也不知道是谁告诉过我洋葱碎很提味道。”

274

-

‘I like a bit of chopped onion with mine, ‘ said Rex. ‘Chap who-knew told me it brought out the flavour.’

275

-

“先尝尝不加的，”我说，“再多说些关于我的。”

275

-

‘Try it without first I said. ‘And tell me more news of myself.’

276

-

“好，当然。那个格林纳克……管他叫什么呢——就是那位傲慢先生——他可是摔了个大跟头。人人额手称庆哪。

276

-

‘Well, of course, Greenacre, or whatever he was called - the snooty don - he came a cropper. That was well received by all.

277

-

“你走之后他也就只是得宠了那么一两天。别怀疑，要不是他撺掇那个老女人把你赶走的就没别人了。他总是要压我们一头，最后茱丽娅实在忍无可忍，让他走人了。”

277

-

He was the blue-eyed boy for a day or two after you left. Shouldn’t wonder if he hadn’t put the old girl up to pitching you out. He was always being pushed down our throats, so in the end Julia couldn’t bear it any more and gave him away.’

278

-

“是茱丽娅干的？”

278

-

‘Julia did? ‘

279

-

“嗯，他开始搅和起我们的事情来了，你知道吧。茱丽娅发现的他是个冒牌货，一天下午塞巴斯蒂安喝醉了——他大多数时候都喝得大醉——她就从他那儿知道了风光大旅行的全部秘密。这一下萨姆格拉斯先生的末日就到了。这件事以后，侯爵夫人方始觉得对你或许是很有一点粗暴了。”

279

-

‘Well, he’d begun to stick his nose into our affairs, you see. Julia spotted he was a fake, and one afternoon when Sebastian was tight - he was tight most of the time - she got the whole story of the Grand Tour out of him. And that was the end of Mr Samgrass. After that the Marchioness began to think she might have been a bit rough with you.’

280

-

“那和科迪莉娅大吵一通是怎么回事？”

280

-

‘And what about the row with Cordelia?’

281

-

“这件事闹得惊天动地遮云蔽日的。那孩子活脱脱奇葩一枚啊——她在我们的眼皮子底下给塞巴斯蒂安找了一个星期的酒喝。我们还纳闷儿他是从哪儿弄到酒的呢——那也正是侯爵夫人崩溃的时候。”

281

-

‘That eclipsed everything. That kid’s a walking marvel - she’d been feeding Sebastian whisky right under our noses for a week. We couldn’t think where he was getting it. That’s when the Marchioness finally crumbled.’

282

-

吃完油腻腻的薄饼，后面这道汤十分美味——热、清淡、味苦、沫多。

282

-

The soup was delicious after the rich blinis - hot, thin, bitter, frothy.

283

-

“再告诉你件事吧，查尔斯，这件事马奇梅因夫人没跟任何人交过底。她病得很厉害，说不定什么时候就进棺材了。乔治·安斯特鲁瑟在秋天给她看过了，说也就两年的时间吧。”

283

-

‘I’ll tell you a thing, Charles, that Ma Marchmain hasn’t let on to anyone. She’s a very sick woman. Might peg out any minute. George Anstruther saw her in the autumn and put it at two years.’

284

-

“你究竟是怎么知道这个的？”

284

-

‘How on earth do you know?’

285

-

“这事我也是听说的。看她家现在这个样子，我觉得她连一年也活不了了。我正好认得那个在维也纳给她看病的医生。这人妙手回春，把当时所有人，包括安斯特鲁瑟都认为没救了的索尼亚·班弗夏尔给医好了。可马奇梅因夫人却无意医治。我觉得这或多或少是受了她那个蠢不可言的宗教的影响，只关照精神不在乎肉体呀。”

285

-

‘It’s the kind of thing I hear. With the way her family are going on at the moment, I wouldn’t give her a year. I know just the man for her in Vienna. He put Sonia Bamfshire on her feet when everyone including Anstruther had despaired of her. But Ma Marchmain won’t do anything about it. I suppose it’s something to do with her crackbrain religion, not to take care of the body.’

286

-

鲽鱼做得过于简单保守了，雷克斯压根儿就没有注意到它，我们吃的时候伴着压榨血鸭的音乐——榨鸭骨头时的嘎吱嘎吱，鸭血和骨髓滴下时的滴答滴答，还有餐匙往面包片上涂黄油时的啪嗒啪嗒。沉默了一刻钟，我喝着第一杯贝兹酒庄产的葡萄酒，而雷克斯则吸着他的第一支香烟。他靠在椅背上，朝桌子上喷出一团烟雾，然后说道：“你知道，这里的饭菜真不坏，应该有人把这个地方占上，赚大钱。”

286

-

The sole was so simple and unobtrusive that Rex failed to notice it. We ate to the music of the press - the crunch of the bones, the drip of blood and marrow the tap of the spoon basting the thin slices of breast. There was a pause here of a quarter of an hour, while I drank the first glass of the Clos de Bèze and Rex smoked his first cigarette. He leaned back, blew a cloud of smoke across the table, and remarked, ‘You know, the food here isn’t half bad; someone ought to take this place up and make something of it.’

287

-

马上他又开始说起马奇梅因家的事了。

287

-

Presently he began again on the Marchmains.

288

-

“我还要再告诉你一件事——如果再不上点儿心的话，他们家的财政很快就摇摇欲坠了。”

288

-

‘I’ll tell you another thing, too - they’ll get a jolt financially soon if they don’t look out.’

289

-

“我还以为他们家富可敌国呢。”

289

-

‘I thought they were enormously rich.’

290

-

“嗬，他们家富是富，但是普通人把钱静静搁在那儿、不去想办法理财让钱生钱的富法儿。这样的人家都比他们在一九一四年的时候要穷了……看起来弗莱特家的人还没有意识到这一点。我估计他们的家庭事务律师会发现最简便的方法就是他们要多少现金就给他们多少，也别提问题。看看他们是怎么过得好了——布莱兹赫德庄园和马奇梅因公馆都曾经有过全盛时期，显赫一时，有成群的猎狐犬，不提高土地租金，一个人也不解雇，养着一帮老仆人也不知道在干些什么，还得别的仆人来伺候他们。除此之外，老家伙竟然在国外又建了一座公馆——规模也不小呢。你知道他们在银行透支了多少钱吗？”

290

-

‘Well, they are rich in the way people are who just let their money sit quiet. Everyone of that sort is poorer than they were in 1914, and the Flytes don’t seem to realize it. I reckon those lawyers who manage their affairs find it convenient to give them all the cash they want and no questions asked. Look at the way they live - Brideshead and Marchmain House both going full blast, pack of foxhounds, no rents raised, nobody sacked, dozens of old servants doing damn all, being waited on by other servants, and then besides all that there’s the old boy setting up a separate establishment - and setting it up on no humble scale either. D’you know how much they’re overdrawn?’

291

-

“我当然不知道。”

291

-

‘Of course I don’t.’

292

-

“光在伦敦就足足透支了十万英镑。不知道他们在别的地方还欠了多少。噢，对于他们这样不会理财赚钱的人来说，这就是坐吃山空的道道儿。去年十一月亏了九万八千英镑。这些都是我听来的。”

292

-

‘Jolly near a hundred thousand in London. I don’t know what they owe elsewhere. Well, that’s quite a packet, you know, for people who aren’t using their money. Ninety-eight thousand last November. It’s the kind of thing I hear.’

293

-

我想他听来的就是这些事情：要命的病和欠下的债。

293

-

Those were the kind of things he heard, mortal illness and debt, I thought.?

294

-

我喜欢喝勃艮第酒。它似乎可以使人感到这世界比雷克斯所知道的更老派、更美好，也会使人生发出人类在历经长期苦难中汲取到另外一种智慧，不同于雷克斯的智慧。在这之后偶然间我又喝过一回同样的勃艮第酒，那是战争爆发头一年的秋天，在圣詹姆斯大街和我的葡萄酒商一起吃午饭时，因其年份的关系，酒的味道变柔和，酒劲也没那么冲了，可仍然以它纯正、地道的口感表现出它夺目的光彩，一如既往对希望的热望。

294

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I rejoiced in the Burgundy. It seemed a, reminder that the world was an older, and better place than Rex knew, that mankind in its long passion had learned another wisdom than his. By chance I met this same wine again, lunching with my wine merchant in St James’s Street, in the first autumn of the war; it had softened and faded in the intervening years, but it still spoke in the pure, authentic accent of its prime, the same words of hope.

295

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“我不是说他们将变成叫花子了。那个老家伙一年还是能负担三万多英镑的开销的，可就要大难临头了啊，上流阶层一旦遇到经济恐慌，他们首先就是削减姑娘们的费用，我可得赶在经济动荡的前头把结婚时要分给我和我妻子财产的这件小事给办妥了。”

295

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‘I don’t mean that they’ll be paupers; the old boy will always be good for an odd thirty thousand a year, but there’ll be a shakeup coming soon, and when the upper-classes get the wind up, their first idea is usually to cut down on the girls. I’d like to get the little matter of a marriage settlement through, before it comes.’

296

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不管怎么说，总之还没到喝科涅克酒，就已经谈到了他自己的事。过了二十分钟，我原本已经准备好了听他要告诉我的话。我尽最大努力关上理智不去理会他，只是专注于自己面前的食物，可是仍然有那么几个句子破坏掉了我的专属快乐，将我拽回到了雷克斯所处的那个严酷又贪婪的世界。他需要个女人，得是市面上最好的女人，还要以自己的价钱得到她，把他的话总结总结就是这么回事。

296

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We had by no means reached the cognac, but here we were on the subject of himself.? In twenty minutes I should have been ready for all he had to tell. I closed my mind to him as best I could and gave myself to the food before me, but sentences came breaking in on my happiness, recalling me to the harsh, acquisitive world which Rex inhabited.? He wanted a woman; he wanted the best on the market, and he wanted her at his own price; that was what it amounted to.

297

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“……马奇梅因夫人不待见我。嗯，我也不求她待见。我又不是要和她结婚。她不敢把话挑明了说：‘你不是绅士。你只不过是个从我们英国殖民地来的冒险家’。她说的是我们生活的环境不相同——这话没毛病，可茱丽娅偏偏就喜欢我那个环境怎么办……后来她又搬出了宗教信仰的问题。对她的宗教信仰我没什么可反对的，在加拿大，我们是不会特别重视天主教徒。但情况不一样的，欧洲的天主教徒都很正派、体面不是么。

297

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‘...Ma Marchmain doesn’t like me. Well, I’m not asking her to. It’s not her I want to marry. She hasn’t the guts to say openly: “You’re not a gentleman. You’re an adventurer from the Colonies.” She says we live in different atmospheres. That’s all right, but Julia happens to fancy my atmosphere...Then she brings up religion. I’ve nothing against her Church; we don’t take much account of Catholics in Canada, but that’s different; in Europe you’ve got some very posh Catholics.

298

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茱丽娅什么时候想去做礼拜，就可以去做礼拜。我又不会横加阻止。事实上，做礼拜对她来说不比两只别针更多，没什么大意思的。我还挺愿意女孩子有宗教信仰呢。何况她还可以用天主教来教化孩子。他们提出什么要求我都可以‘允诺’……后来又说到我的过去。‘我们对你的过往知之甚少。’她知道得太多了好吗。你大概知道，我曾经跟某人纠缠过一两年。”

298

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All right, Julia can go to church whenever she wants to. I shan’t try and stop her. It doesn’t mean two pins to her, as a matter of fact, but I like a girl to have religion. What’s more, she can bring the children up Catholic. I’ll make all the “promises” they want...Then there’s my past. “We know so little about you.” She knows a sight too much. You may know I’ve been tied up with someone else for a year or two.’

299

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我知道。凡是认得雷克斯的人都知道他和布伦达·钱皮恩的风流韵事。还知道就是因为这件事，让他在其他的股票投机商中脱颖而出的。他和威尔士亲王打高尔夫，他是布拉特俱乐部的会员，甚至在下议院的雪茄房里也有朋友——比如他一开始出现在下议院雪茄房的时候，他们的党魁并不是这么说起他的，“看，那个就是北格瑞德里前程远大的青年议员，关于限制租借法案他讲得头头是道。”而是说：“那就是布伦达·钱皮恩的新欢。”——这句话为他与先生们打起交道来创造了十分便利的条件。他通常对女人很有一套，驾轻就熟。

299

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I knew; everyone who had ever met Rex knew of his affair with Brenda Champion; knew also that it was from this affair that he derived everything which distinguished him from every other stock-jobber; his golf with the Prince of Wales, his membership of Bratt’s, even his smoking-room comradeship at the House of Commons, for, when he first appeared there, his party chiefs did not say of him, ‘Look, there is the promising young member for north Gridley who spoke so well on Rent Restrictions.’ They said:‘There’s Brenda Champion’s latest’; it had done him a great deal of good with men; women he could usually charm.

300

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“嗯，那件事早就彻底完了。马奇梅因夫人那么精致优雅的人，才不会提这个茬儿呢。她说的无非就是我如何如何‘声名狼藉’。嗯，她到底想要个什么样的女婿——难道就像布莱兹赫德那般半瓶子醋的教士不成？别的事情茱丽娅也全知道了，如果她都不在乎，那我就看不出关别人什么事了。”

300

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‘Well, that’s all washed up. Ma Marchmain was too delicate to mention the subject; all she said was that I had “notoriety”. Well, what does she expect as a son-in-law - a sort of half-baked monk like Brideshead? Julia knows all about the other thing; if she doesn’t care, I don’t see it’s anyone else’s business.’

301

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吃完血鸭，上来一道撒着薄薄一层香葱末的豆苗和菊苣色拉。我努力只去想这个色拉。曾经一度真做到了只想着蛋奶酥。然后上来了科涅克酒，互吐心曲的时候到了。

301

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After the duck came a salad of watercress and chicory in a faint mist of chives. I tried to think only of the salad. I succeeded for a time in thinking only of the soufflé. Then came the cognac and the proper hour for these confidences.

302

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“……茱丽娅快满二十岁了，我可不打算等到她一把年纪的时候才结婚。无论如何，不把财产的事情彻底解决我是不会结婚的……干净彻底，没有丝毫漏洞……我得盯好了，不能让人把她应得的那部分给骗了。如果侯爵夫人按兵不动，那我就去见那个老头，笼络他。我估计凡是他认为会让夫人不安的事情，他都会同意照办的。他这会儿正在蒙特卡罗呢。我已经算好了，一把塞巴斯蒂安放到苏黎世，我就上蒙特卡罗去。所以现在把他给丢了可太烦了。”

302

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‘...Julia’s just rising twenty. I don’t want to wait till she’s of age. Anyway, I don’t want to marry without doing the thing properly...nothing hole-in-corner...I have to see she isn’t jockeyed out of her proper settlement. So as the Marchioness won’t play ball I’m off to see the old man and square him. I gather he’s likely to agree to anything he knows will upset her. He’s at Monte Carlo at the moment. I’d planned to go there after dropping Sebastian off at Zurich. That’s why it’s such a bloody bore having lost him.’

303

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科涅克酒不合雷克斯的口味。这酒清澈、色淡，拿过来时是一整瓶，瓶上没有积灰，也没有拿破仑一世的姓名开头字母的花体字。这酒的年份比雷克斯还要大个一两年，是新近才装瓶的。酒盛在细长的郁金香形酒杯里端过来，量不多。

303

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The cognac was not to Rex’s taste. It was clear and pale and it came to us in a bottle free from grime and Napoleonic cyphers. It was only a year or two older than Rex and lately bottled. They gave it to us in very thin tulip-shaped glasses of modest size.?

304

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“白兰地嘛，我多少还是懂一点儿的，”雷克斯说，“这酒的颜色不怎么样，另外，用这么个顶针酒杯儿我是没法品酒的。”

304

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‘Brandy’s one of the things I do know a bit about,’ said Rex. ‘This is a bad colour.What’s more, I can’t taste it in this thimble.’

305

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侍者们给他拿来了跟他脑袋那么大的球形白兰地杯。他叫人把这个球形杯放在酒精灯上烤热。然后晃动旋转杯里光怪陆离的酒体，把脑袋探进蒸腾的酒气中，最后宣称这玩意儿正是他在家掺苏打水喝的那种。这么一来，餐厅的人面带愧色，又从储藏室推出一大瓶恨不成长了霉斑的陈年老酒来，这是他们为雷克斯这号人收藏的。

305

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They brought him a balloon the size of his head. He made them warm it over the spirit lamp. Then he rolled the splendid spirit round, buried his face in the fumes, and pronounced it the sort, of stuff he put soda in at home. So, shamefacedly, they wheeled out of its hiding place the vast and mouldy bottle they kept for people of Rex’s sort.

306

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“这才是正经东西，”他说着，一边把这种蜜糖似的混合酒倾斜过来，直到他的酒杯挂杯留下几个黑圈。“他们总会把这种东西藏起来一些，你要是不识货、不大吵大闹，他们绝不会往外拿出来。来点儿。”

306

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‘That’s the stuff,’ he said, tilting the treacly concoction till it left dark rings round the sides of his glass. ‘They’ve always got some tucked away, but they won’t bring it out unless you make a fuss. Have some.’

307

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“这酒真棒。”

307

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‘I’m quite happy with this.’

308

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“噢，要不是真正懂得怎么去品这个酒的话，喝它就是一种罪过了。”他点了支雪茄，带着与世无争的做派回到座位上去。我也是，与世无争，不过却是另一个世界，不是他的那个。我们俩都很高兴。他谈起了茱丽娅，我听到他的声音，不可思议地远，远得像是寂静的深夜里几英里外传来的犬吠。

308

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‘Well, it’s a crime to drink it, if you don’t really appreciate it. He lit his cigar and sat back at peace with the world; I, too, was at peace in another world than his. We were both happy. He talked of Julia and I heard his voice, unintelligible at a great distance, like a dog’s barking miles away on a still night.

309

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在五月初，订婚的消息公布了。我看到《欧洲大陆每日邮报》上的消息，据此推断出雷克斯已经“笼络了那个老头”。可是事情并不像预想的那样。下一次再读到有关他们的消息已经在六月中旬了，说他们在萨沃伊教堂举行的婚礼相当低调，没有王室大驾光临，首相也没有到场，茱丽娅娘家谁都没来。这听起来倒很像是一桩“有漏洞”的事情，没过几年我就听说了这件事的详情。

309

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At the beginning of May the engagement was announced. I saw the notice in the Continental Daily Mail and assumed that Rex had ‘squared the old man’. But things did not go as were expected. The next news I had of them was in the middle of June, when I read that they had been married very quietly at the Savoy Chapel. No royalty was present; nor was the Prime Minister; nor were any of Julia’s family. It sounded like a ‘hole-in-the-corner’ affair, but it was not for several years that I heard the full story.

第六章 萨姆格拉斯被揭露——告别布莱兹赫德——雷克斯被揭露|Chapter 6