It was six or seven years since this young woman had set eyes on her sister who had disappeared one day without anyone ever discovering, either from her or through other people, anything whatsoever about her life from the time of her disappearance.
So she had now arrived post-haste in Paris, and great was the astonishment of those who had known Marguerite when they saw that her sole heir was a hearty, good-looking country girl who, up to that moment, had never set foot outside her village.
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6
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她顷刻间发了大财,也不知道这笔意外之财是从哪里来的。
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6
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Her fortune had been made at a stroke, without her having the least idea of the source from which it had so unexpectedly materialized.
She returned, I have since been told, to her part of the country, bearing away from her sister’s death a deep sadness which was, however, eased by an investment at four and a half per cent which she had just made.
All these happenings, which had gone the rounds of Paris, the mother town of scandal, were beginning to be forgotten, and I myself was forgetting quite what my part in events had been, when something occurred which led to my becoming acquainted with the whole of Marguerite’s life, and put in my way particulars so affecting that I was seized with an urge to write this story and now do so.
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9
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家具售完后,那所空住宅重新出租了,在那以后三四天的一个早晨,有人拉我家的门铃。
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9
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The apartment, empty now of the furniture which had all been auctioned off, had been to let for three or four days when one morning there was a ring at my door.
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10
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我的仆人,也可以说我那兼做仆人的看门人去开了门,给我拿来一张名片,对我说来客要求见我。
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10
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My servant, or rather the porter who acted as my servant, went to see who it was and brought me a visiting card saying that the person who had handed it to him wished to speak to me.
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11
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我瞧了一下名片,看到上面写着:阿尔芒·迪瓦尔。
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11
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I glanced at the card and there I saw these two words: Armand Duval.
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12
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我在记忆里搜索自己曾在什么地方看见过这个名字,我记起了《玛侬·莱斯科》这本书的扉页。
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12
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I tried to recall where I had seen the name, and then I remembered the fly-leaf of the copy of Manon Lescaut.
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13
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送这本书给玛格丽特的人要见我干什么呢?我吩咐立即请那个等着的人进来。
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13
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What could the person who had given the book to Marguerite want with me? I said that the gentleman who was waiting should be shown in at once.
The next moment I saw a young man with fair hair, tall, pale, wearing travelling clothes which looked as though hey had not been off his back for several days and which, on his arrival in Paris, he had not even taken the trouble to brush down, for he was covered in dust.
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15
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迪瓦尔先生非常激动,他也不想掩饰他的情绪,就这么眼泪汪汪地用颤抖的声音对我说:
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15
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Monsieur Duval, deeply agitated, made no attempt to hide his feelings, and it was with tears in his eyes and a trembling in his voice that he said:
’Please excuse my visit and these clothes; not simply because young men do not stand much on ceremony with each other, but because I wanted to see you so badly today that I have not even taken time to stop off at the hotel where I set my luggage, and have rushed straight here, dreading even so, early as it is, that I should miss you.’
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17
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我请迪瓦尔先生在炉边坐下。他一面就坐,一面从口袋里掏出一块手帕,把脸捂了一会儿。
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17
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I begged Monsieur Duval to sit down by the fire, which he did, taking from his pocket a handkerchief with which he momentarily hid his face.
’You must be wondering, ’ he resumed with a melancholy sigh, ’what a stranger can want with you at such an hour, dressed in such clothes and weeping like this. I have come quite simply, to ask you a great favour.’
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19
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“我的来意很简单,先生,是来请您帮忙的。”
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19
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’Say on. I am at your service.’
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20
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“请讲吧,先生,我愿意为您效劳。”
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20
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’Were you present at the Marguerite Gautier auction?’
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21
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“您参加了玛格丽特·戈蒂埃家里的拍卖吗?”
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21
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As he said this, the emotion which the young man had held in check was for an instant stronger than he, and he was obliged to put his hands to his eyes.
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22
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一讲到玛格丽特的名字,这个年轻人暂时克制住的激动情绪又控制不住了,他不得不用双手捂住眼睛。
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22
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’I must appear very ridiculous to you, ’ he added, ’forgive me this too, and please believe that I shall never forget the patience with which you are good enough to listen.’
’Well, ’ I replied, ’if a service which it seems I can do for you will in some small way ease the pain that you feel, tell me at once in what way I can help, and you will find in me a man happy to oblige.’
Monsieur Duval’s grief was affecting and, even had I felt differently, I should still have wished to be agreeable to him.
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25
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迪瓦尔先生的痛苦实在令人同情,我无论如何也要使他对我满意。
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25
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He then said:
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26
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于是他对我说:
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26
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’Did you buy anything at Marguerite’s sale?’
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27
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“在拍卖玛格丽特财产的时候,您是不是买了什么东西?”
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27
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’Yes. A book.’
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28
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“是的,先生,买了一本书。”
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28
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’Manon Lescaut?’
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29
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“是《玛侬·莱斯科》吧?”
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29
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’That’s right.’
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30
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“是啊!”
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30
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’Do you still have it?’
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31
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“这本书还在您这儿吗?”
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31
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’It’ s in my bedroom.’
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32
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“在我卧室里。”
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32
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At this, Armand Duval looked as though a great weight had been taken from his shoulders, and he thanked me as though I had already begun to render him a service simply by holding on to the volume.
I got up, went to fetch the book from my bedroom and handed it to him.
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34
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于是我站起来,走进卧室把书取来,交给了他。
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34
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’This is it, ’ said he, glancing at the dedication on the first page and riffling through the rest, ’this is it.’
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35
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“就是这本,”他说,一面瞧了瞧扉页上的题词就翻看起来,“就是这本。”
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35
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And two large tears fell on to the open pages.
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36
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两颗大大的泪珠滴落在书页上。
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36
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’May I ask, ’ he said, raising his eyes to me and making no effort now to hide the fact that he had wept and was near to tears once more, ’if you are greatly attached to this book?’
’You are quite right, ’ said I, embarrassed in my turn, ’how did you know?’
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46
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“是啊,”我说,这次轮到我觉得尴尬了,“您是怎么知道的?”
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46
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’Quite simple. I hoped to reach Paris in time for Marguerite’s sale, but got back only this morning. I was absolutely determined to have something that had been hers, and I went directly to the auctioneer’s to ask if I might inspect the list of items sold and of the buyers’ names. I saw that this volume had been bought by you, and I resolved to beg you to let me have it, though the price you paid for it did make me fear that you yourself associated some memory with possession of the book.’
In speaking thus, Armand clearly seemed to be afraid that I had known Marguerite in the way that he had known her.
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48
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阿尔芒说这话,很明显有一种担心的意思,他是怕我和玛格丽特之间也有他和她那样的交情。
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48
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I hastened to reassure him.
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49
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我赶忙使他放心。
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49
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’I knew Mademoiselle Gautier by sight only, ’ I said. ’Her death made the sort of impression on me that the death of any pretty woman he has had pleasure in meeting makes on any young man. I wished to buy something at her sale, and took it into my head to bid for this volume, I don’t know why, for the satisfaction of annoying a man who was bent on getting it and seemed determined to prevent it going to me. I repeat, the book is yours, and I beg you once more to accept it. This way it won’ t come to you as it came to me, from an auctioneer, and it will be between us the pledge of a more durable acquaintance and closer bonds.’
’Very well, ’ said Armand, extending his hand and grasping mine, ’I accept and shall be grateful to you for the rest of my life.’
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51
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“太好了,先生,”阿尔芒紧紧握住我的手说,“我接受了。
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51
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I very much wanted to question Armand about Marguerite, for the dedication in the book, the young man’s journey, his desire to possess the volume, all excited my curiosity; but I feared that by questioning my visitor, I should appear to have refused his money simply to have the right to pry into his business.
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52
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您对我的好意,我铭诸肺腑,终身难忘。”
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52
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It was as though he sensed my wishes, for he said:
’I saw straightaway that, in your eyes, the poor girl to whom you had given the book did not belong in the usual category, for I could not bring myself to see the lines simply as a conventional compliment.’
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57
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“您对我写的两行题词有没有想过是什么意思?”
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57
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’And you were right. That girl was an angel. Here, ’ he said, ’read this letter.’
And he handed me a sheet of paper which, by the look of it, had been read many times over.
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59
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“您说得对,先生,这位姑娘是一位天使,您看,”他对我说,“看看这封信!”
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59
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I opened it. This is what it said:
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60
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他递给我一张信纸,这封信显然已经被看过许多遍了。
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60
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’My dear Armand, I have received your letter. You are still good, and I thank God for it. Yes, my dear, I am ill, and mine is the sort of illness which spares no one; but the concern which you are generous enough still to show for me greatly eases my sufferings. I expect I shall doubtless not live long enough to have the happiness of grasping the hand which wrote the kindly letter I have just received; its words would cure me, if anything could. I shall not see you, for I am very close to death, and hundreds of leagues separate you from me. My poor friend! The Marguerite you knew is sadly altered, and it is perhaps better that you do not see her again than see her as she is. You ask if I forgive you; oh!
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61
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我打开一看,上面是这样写的:
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61
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with all my heart, my dear, for the hurt you sought to do me was but a token of the love you bore me. I have kept my bed now for a month, and so precious to me is your good opinion, that each day I write a little more of a journal of my life from the moment we parted until the moment when I shall be no longer able to hold my pen.
If the interest you take in me is real, Armand, then on your return, go and see Julie Duprat. She will place this journal in your keeping. In it you will find the reasons and the excuse for what has passed between us. Julie is very good to me. We often talk about you. She was here when your letter came, and we wept together as we read it.
Should I not hear from you, she has been entrusted with seeing that you get these papers on your return to France. Do not be grateful to me. Returning each day to the only happy moments of my life does me enormous good and if, as you read, you find the past exonerated in my words, I for my part find in them a never-ending solace.
Do you understand, my dear? I am going to die, and from my bedroom I can hear the footsteps of the watchman my creditors have placed in the drawing-room to see that nothing is removed and to ensure that if I do not die, I shall be left with nothing. We must hope that they will wait for the end before they sell me up.
Oh! how pitiless men are! or rather, for I am wrong, it is God who is just and unbending.
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67
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啊!人是多么残酷无情!不!更应该说天主是铁面无私的。
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67
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And so, my love, you will have to come to my sale and buy something, for if I were to put aside the smallest item for you and they heard of it, they would be quite capable of prosecuting you for misappropriating distrained goods.
How good God would be if He granted that I should see you again before I die! Since the chances are remote, adieu, my dear; forgive me if I do not write more, for those who say they will cure me bleed me to exhaustion, and my hand refuses to write another line.
’Who would ever believe that a kept woman wrote that!’ And deeply affected by his memories, he stared for some time at the writing of the letter before finally putting it to his lips.
’And when I think, ’ he went on, ’that she died before I saw her again, and that I shall see her no more; when I think that she did for me what no sister could ever have done ?I cannot forgive myself for having let her die like that.
Dead! dead! thinking of me, writing and saying my name, poor dear Marguerite!’
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76
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“死了!死了!她临死还在想着我,还在写信,喊着我的名字。可怜的,亲爱的玛格丽特啊!”
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76
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And Armand, giving free expression to his thoughts and tears, held out his hand to me and continued:
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77
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阿尔芒听任自己思绪翻腾,热泪纵横,一面把手伸给我,一面继续说道:
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77
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’People would think me very childish if they saw me grieving like this for the death of such a woman; but people could not know what I made that woman suffer, how cruel I was, how good and uncomplaining she was. I belived that it was for me to forgive her, and today I find myself unworthy of the pardon she bestows on me. Oh! I would gladly give ten years of my life to be able to spend one hour weeping at her feet.’
It is always difficult to comfort a grief that one does not share, and yet so keenly did I feel for this young man who confided his sorrows with such frankness, that I felt that a few words of mine would not be unwelcome to him, and I said:
’Have you no relatives, no friends? Take hope. Go and see them for they will comfort you, whereas I can only pity you.’
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80
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“您有亲戚朋友吗?想开一些,去看看他们,他们会安慰您;因为我,我只能同情您。”
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80
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’You are right, ’ he said, rising to his feet and striding around my bedroom, ’I am boring you. Forgive me, I was forgetting that my grief must mean little to you, and that I trespass upon your patience with a matter which neither can nor should concern you in the slightest.’
’No, you misunderstand me. I am entirely at your disposal; only I regret I am unable to calm your sorrow. If the company of myself and my friends can beguile your thoughts, if you need me in any way, I would like you to know how very happy I would be to help.’
’Forgive me, forgive me, ’ he said, ’grief magnifies the feelings. Allow me to stay a few minutes more, long enough to dry my eyes so that idlers in the street shall not stare to see a grown man weeping as though he were a freak. You’ve made me very happy by giving me this book; I’ll never know how to repay the debt I owe you.’
’By granting me a little of your friendship, ’ I told Armand, ’and by telling me the cause of your sorrow. There is consolation in speaking of one’s suffering.’
’You are right. But today my need for tears is too great, and what I said would make no sense. Some day I shall acquaint you with the story, and you shall judge whether I am right to mourn the poor girl. And now, ’ he added, rubbing his eyes one last time and looking at himself in mirror, ’tell me that you do not think me too foolish, and say you give me leave to call on you again.’
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85
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这个年轻人的眼光又善良,又温柔,我几乎想拥抱他。
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85
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The look in the eyes of this young man was good and gentle; I was almost tempted to embrace him.
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86
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而他呢,眼眶里又闪现出了泪花。他看到我已经发觉,便把目光从我身上移开了。
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86
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For his part, his eyes began again to cloud with tears; he saw that I noticed them and he turned his glance away from me.
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87
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“好吧,”我对他说,“要振作起来。”
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87
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’Come now, ’ I told him, ’take heart.’
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88
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“再见,”他对我说。
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88
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’Goodbye, ’ he said.
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89
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他拼命忍住泪水,从我家里逃了出去,因为很难说他是走出去的。
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89
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And, making an extraordinary effort not to weep, he fled rather than left my apartment.
I lifted the curtain at my window and saw him get into the cab which was waiting at the door; but he was hardly inside when he burst into tears and buried his face in his handkerchief.