通译双语文库:故园风雨后第七章茱丽娅和雷克斯

1

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现在是时候说说茱丽娅了，在塞巴斯蒂安这出大戏中，迄今为止她一直扮演着一个间歇出场、谜一般的角色。当时她给我的印象就是这个，我给她的也是。我们各自追寻的目标让我们朝着彼此靠近，但到底还是陌生。她后来跟我说，她心里或多或少还是留意到我的，就像一个人翻遍书架想找到某一本书，可往往会有另外一本引起他的注意一样，他会把这本书取下来，扫一眼封面上的书名说：“等有时间我一定得读读这本。”然后复又把它放回原处，继续寻找他想要的那本。

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IT is time to speak of Julia, who till now has played an intermittent and somewhat enigmatic part in Sebastian’s drama. It was thus she appeared to me at the time, and I to her. We pursued separate aims which brought us near to one another, but we remained strangers. She told me later that she had made a kind of note of me in her mind, as, scanning the shelf for a particular book, one will sometimes have one’s attention caught by another, take it down, glance at the title page and, saying ‘I must read that, too, when I’ve the time,’ replace it, and continue the search.

2

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我这边对她的兴趣则要更强烈一些，因为兄妹之间总有身体、样貌上的相像，这种相像在不同姿势、不同光线之下，每次看到都会重新刺中我。而且，由于看到塞巴斯蒂安的光速萎靡，每一天都较之于前一天更加暗淡和模糊，所以茱丽娅的形象反而愈加清晰和切实了。

2

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On my side the interest was keener, for there was always the physical likeness between brother and sister, which, caught repeatedly in different poses, under different lights, each time pierced me anew; and, as Sebastian in his sharp decline seemed daily to fade and crumble, so much the more did Julia stand out clear and firm.

3

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那时的她清瘦、平胸、腿修长，像只蜘蛛，四肢和脖子很抓眼球，可身体却往往让人忽略掉。从这些方面来看，她还蛮顺应现在的潮流的。可那个时代的发型和女士帽子，那个时代茫然空洞的目光，那个时代的瞠目结舌以及往颧骨高处涂的两朵蠢兮兮的胭脂，都难以将她列为时髦的典型。

3

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She was thin in those days, flat-chested, leggy; she seemed all limbs and neck, bodiless, spidery; thus far she conformed to the fashion, but the hair-cut and the hats of the period, and the blank stare and gape of the period, and the clownish dabs of rouge high on the cheekbones, could not reduce her to type.

4

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我第一次遇到她，就是她在车站停车场接到我的那次，在暮色中开车送我到家的一九二三年盛夏。她年方十八，初初进入伦敦社交界。

4

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When I first met her, when she met me in the station yard and drove me home through the twilight, that high summer of 1923, she was just eighteen and fresh from her first London season.

5

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有人说，那是战争爆发以来最盛大的一个社交季节了，情势在大步流星地前进着。茱丽娅那时候是社交场上令人瞩目的新星。当时大约也就留存着五六个号称“史上留名”的伦敦世家。圣詹姆斯大街上的马奇梅因家便是其中之一。尽管当时的服装确实会因陋就简，但据大家说，为茱丽娅举办的舞会还是颇为壮观的。

5

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Some said it was the most brilliant season since the war, that things were getting into their stride again. Julia was at the centre of it. There were then remaining perhaps half a dozen London houses which could be called ‘historic’; Marchmain House in St James’s was one of them, and the ball given for Julia, in spite of the ignoble costume of the time, was by all accounts a splendid spectacle.

6

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塞巴斯蒂安也因为这个来伦敦，随口一提让我和他一起去参加舞会，当时我拒绝了，可随后又后悔了想着不该拒绝，因为这不但是那里举行的最后一次舞会，而且也是一系列壮观舞会的最后一场了。我哪里会预见到这个？那些日子，总有大把时间去做大把事情。整个世界都是敞开的，可以气定神闲地去探索发现。那个夏天我满脑子都是牛津的事，我想，伦敦可以等等再说。

6

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Sebastian went down for it and half-heartedly suggested my coming with him; I refused and came to regret my refusal, for it was the last ball of its kind given there; the last of a splendid series.? How could I have known? There seemed time for everything in those days; the world was open to be explored at leisure. I was so full of Oxford that summer; London could wait, I thought.

7

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另外几处大公馆属于茱丽娅男性亲属或她孩提时代的朋友们，除此之外，在梅费尔广场和贝尔格拉维亚还有数不清的富豪人家，那里灯火通明，人声鼎沸，夜夜笙歌，舞会一个接着一个。

7

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The other great houses belonged to kinsmen or to childhood friends of Julia’s, and beside s them there were countless substantial houses in the squares of Mayfair and Belgravia, alight and thronged, one or other of them, night after night.

8

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那些从荒芜土地回国履职的外国人给国内写信会说，他们在伦敦仿佛瞧见了他们原以为永远消失在泥泞和铁丝网之外的花花世界了。过了几个星期的太平日子之后，茱丽娅崭露头角，光彩照人，像穿过树梢的阳光，又像镜中的烛火，使得那些坐在边上忆想当年的、上了岁数的男人女人们将她看作旧日的自己，一只幸福快乐的青鸟。“那是‘布赖德’·马奇梅因家的长女，”他们说，“可惜他今晚看不到她。”

8

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Foreigners returning on post from their own waste lands wrote home that here they seemed to catch a glimpse of the world they had believed lost forever, among the mud and wire, and through those halcyon weeks Julia darted and shone, part of the sunshine between the tress, part of the candle-light in the mirror’s spectrum, so that elderly men and women sitting aside with their memories, saw her as herself the blue-bird. ‘ “Bridey” Marchmain’s eldest girl,’ they said. ‘Pity he can’t see her tonight.’

9

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那一夜，以及随后几夜，不管她到哪儿，总是一头扎进相熟朋友的小圈子里，给大家带来欢乐时光，就像翠鸟突然迅疾掠过水面，岸上的人们心里蓦地一惊。

9

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That night and the night after, wherever she went always in her own little circle of intimates, she brought a moment of Joy, such as strikes deep to the heart on the river’s bank when the kingfisher suddenly flares across the water.

10

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就是这个人物，不是孩童了，却也不是熟女，是她在那个夏日傍晚的薄暮中给我开车，没有爱情的烦恼，不因自己的美丽而讶异，却在生活的冷酷边缘上犹疑。突然发现自己无意中已经武装好了，这位神话中的女英雄转动手中的魔戒，只需指尖轻触，轻声念着咒语，大地就会在她脚下裂开，她那个巨人奴仆就会冒出来，无论她要什么，那个谄媚的怪物都会给她带来。可带来的东西，或许，形态上并不那么匹配。

10

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This was the creature, neither child nor woman, that drove me through the dusk that summer evening, untroubled by love, taken aback by the power of her own beauty, hesitating on the cool edge of life one who had suddenly found herself armed, unawares; the heroine of a fairy story turning over in her hands the magic ring; she had only to stroke it with her fingertips and whisper the charmed word, for the earth to open at her feet and belch forth her titanic servant, the fawning monster who would bring her whatever she asked., but bring it, perhaps, in unwelcome shape.

11

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那天晚上她对我没兴趣，精灵不请自来，在我们下面闷哼。她在一个狭小的世界离群索居，并且情愿囿于这狭小世界，住在镂雕精美的中国象牙球的最深一隅。有个小问题困扰着她——虽小却又可见，用抽象的术语和符号学说法来讲是微不足道的，她要嫁给谁，她无动于衷又远离世俗。

11

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She had no interest in me that evening; the jinn rumbled below us uncalled; she lived apart in a little world, within a little world, the innermost of a system of concentric spheres, like the ivory balls laboriously carved in China; a little problem troubling her mind - little, as she saw it, in abstract terms and symbols. She was wondering dispassionately and leagues distant from reality, whom she should marry.

12

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战略大家就是这样对着地图上的几个大头钉和彩色粉笔线条犯开了核计，他们琢磨着如何布局大头钉和粉笔，变化不过几英寸而已，可是在室外，在这些闭门造车的军官目力不及之处，却会将过去、现在和未来要么毁掉要么留存。那对她自己来说，她也不过是个符号，既缺乏孩子的生活，也缺乏成熟女人的经验，得与失都要看大头钉和线条的变化。她对战争一无所知。

12

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Thus strategists hesitate over the map, the few pins and lines of coloured chalk, contemplating a change in the pins and lines, a matter of inches, which outside the room, out of sight of the studious officers, may engulf past, present, and future in ruin or life. She was a symbol to herself then, lacking the life of both child and women; victory and defeat were changes of pin and line; she knew nothing of war.?

13

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“要是住在国外的话，”她暗忖着，“这些事情只管交由父母和律师搞定就好。”

13

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‘If only one lived abroad,’ she thought, ‘where these things are arranged between parents and lawyers.’

14

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尽快结婚，并且要隆重，这是她所有朋友的目标。若她能看得更远一点的话，她会把结婚看作是独立生活的开端，看作是一场鼓舞人心的战斗，是以此探索人生真谛的征途。

14

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To be married, soon and splendidly, was the aim of all her friends. If she looked further than the wedding, it was to see marriage as the beginning of individual existence; the skirmish where one gained one’s spurs, from which one set out on the true quests of life.

15

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她比与她同龄的姑娘们更加鲜艳夺目，不过她也知道，在她所处的狭小世界里，深受无力感的困扰。老人们坐在靠墙的沙发上一点一点计算着，有些事对她不利。她父亲的丑闻，丑闻留给她的污点，那个不大的污点，着落在她明朗的人生上，再加之以她自己的生活方式，污点就更深了——她的任性、固执，较之与大多同龄人相比的更为懒散……可是，若没有这些，又有谁知道结果会怎么样呢？……

15

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She outshone by far all the girls of her age, but she knew that, in that little world within a world which she inhabited, there were certain grave disabilities from which she suffered. On the sofas against the wall where the old people counted up the points, there were things against her. There was the scandal of her father; that slight, inherited stain upon her brightness that seemed deepened by something in her own way of life - waywardness and wilfulness, a less disciplined habit than most of her contemporaries; but for that, who knows?...

16

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对于坐在靠墙沙发椅上的夫人们，有一个会横扫一切别的话题的主旨：年轻的王子们会和谁结婚？他们没法儿期待有比茱丽娅血统更纯粹、风度更优雅的女人了。但她身上罩着的一层淡淡阴影却让她无法享受这至上的荣光，另外还有，她的宗教信仰。

16

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One subject eclipsed all others in importance for the ladies along the wall; who would the young princes marry? They could not hope for purer lineage or a more gracious presence than Julia’s; but there was this faint shadow on her that unfitted her for the highest honours; there was also her religion.

17

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茱丽娅最不敢奢望的事情，就是与王室结亲了。她知道，或者她以为自己知道，不管她期待的是什么，反正不是与王室结亲。可是无论她往哪里去，她的信仰总是她婚姻中的绊脚石。

17

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Nothing could have been further from Julia’s ambitions than a royal marriage. She knew, or thought she knew, what she wanted and it was not that. But wherever she turned, it seemed, her religion stood as a barrier between her and her natural goal.

18

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她觉得恐怕这是一件没有办法的事了。即使她现在搞个背叛，脱离开她的信仰，鉴于是在教堂里长大的原因，那她也得下地狱。而她结识的那些信仰基督教的姑娘则天真快乐，能与长子成婚，与世无争地平静过活，并且还会比她更早进天堂。对她来说，不大可能找到什么长子了，次子们又都是些粗俗货色，这是必然之事，只不过没有那么大张旗鼓地说出来罢了。

18

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As it seemed to her, the thing was a dead loss. If she apostatized now, having been brought up in the Church, she would go to hell, while the Protestant girls of her acquaintance, schooled in happy ignorance, could marry eldest sons, live at peace with their world, and get to heaven before her. There could be no eldest son for her, and younger sons were indelicate things, necessary, but not to be much spoken of.

19

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幼子们还没有让自己默默无闻的特权。他们表面的义务就是不要出头露脸，非得等到有什么意外的灾祸把他们推上兄长的位置不可，既然这是他们该做的，那就得要他们时刻准备着，随时去接替兄长履责。

19

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Younger sons had none of the privileges of obscurity; it was their plain duty to remain hidden until some disaster perchance promoted them to their brother’s places, and, since this was their function, it was desirable that they should keep themselves wholly suitable for succession.

20

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也许一个有三四个男孩子的家庭，信天主教的女孩可以嫁给他们家的小儿子而不致引起非议，当然也有一些本身就是天主教徒，但很少融入茱丽娅自创的小圈子里面的；进了这个小圈子的人都是她母亲那边的男性亲属，她认为那些人既冷酷又怪异。

20

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Perhaps in a family of three or four boys, a Catholic might get the youngest without opposition. There were of course the Catholics themselves, but these came seldom into the little world Julia had made for herself; those who did were her mother’s kinsmen, who, to her, seemed grim and eccentric.

21

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可在当时富有高贵的天主教家庭里，又没有年龄与她相仿的男孩子。至于外国人么——在她母亲娘家那边，外国人倒有很多——对钱变着法儿地诡计多端，方式又很奇特，一个英国姑娘要嫁给这样的外国人，必定是要扣上失败的戳子的。还剩下什么人了？

21

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Of the dozen or so rich and noble Catholic families, none at that time had an heir of the right age. Foreigners - there were many among her mother’s family - were tricky about money, odd in their ways, and a sure mark of failure in the English girl who wed them. What was there left??

22

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以上便是茱丽娅在伦敦几周凯旋之后所遇到的问题。她知道这个问题不是不能解决。她感觉到她的圈子外边必定有一大票够资格的人可以被引进来。让她羞耻的在于她得去寻找他们。不是说她残忍，但是精挑细选，懒散怠惰地玩着昔日在壁炉前的地毯上猫捉老鼠的游戏一去不返了。她又不是珀涅罗珀[1]，她必须在森林中去寻找猎物。

[1]希腊神话中奥德修斯的妻子，在其丈夫远征二十年期间拒绝了无数求爱者。

22

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This was Julia’s problem after her weeks of triumph in London. She knew it was not insurmountable. There must, she thought, be a number of people outside her own world who were well qualified to be drawn into it; the shame was that she must seek them.Not for her the cruel, delicate luxury of choice, the indolent, cat-and-mouse pastimes of the hearth-rug. No Penelope she; she must hunt in the forest.

23

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她曾经描画出过一个她觉得适合的男人的荒唐小像，那个人很漂亮，不特别阳刚气，是个英国外交家，此时正派驻在国外，有一处比布莱兹赫德小一点的庄园，离伦敦比较近。他不是特别年轻，三十出头吧，是个才悲催地死了老婆的鳏夫……茱丽娅认为她更喜欢因其早年的不幸而消沉些的男人。本来有着远大前程，但是因为孤单人就变得冷漠了。她没办法确定的一点是，他会不会因此落入无耻的外国女骗子手里去。他需要注入新的青春活力，好把他带进驻巴黎的使馆去。

23

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She had made a preposterous little picture of the kind of man who would do: he was an English diplomat of great but not very virile beauty, now abroad, with a house smaller than Brideshead, nearer to London; he was old, thirty-two or -three, and had been recently and tragically widowed; Julia thought she would prefer a man a little subdued by earlier grief. He had a great career before him but had grown listless in his loneliness; she was not sure he was not in danger of falling into the hands of an unscrupulous foreign adventuress; he needed a new infusion of young life to carry him to the Embassy at Paris.

24

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虽然宣称相信温和的不可知论，但他也喜欢宗教的仪式感，并且同意让他们的孩子接受天主教教育。他还相信他的家庭谨遵生两个男孩和一个女孩之规，并且要舒舒坦坦地把这三个孩子在十二年里生好，而不像哪个天主教丈夫无当索取那样，让她年年都怀孕。除了工资，他每年还有一万二千英镑的进项，没有家庭负担……茱丽娅想着，这样的人才合她的意。那年夏天她去火车站接我，就在寻找“他”。我不是她要找的人。尽管一个字没说，可自打她把香烟从我嘴里拿走的时候，就已经把这些都说了。

24

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While professing a mild agnosticism himself he had a liking for the shows of religion and was perfectly agreeable to having his children brought up Catholic; he believed, however in the prudent restriction of his family to two boys and a girl, comfortably, spaced over twelve years, and did not demand, as a Catholic husband might, yearly pregnancies. He had twelve thousand a year above his pay, and no near relations. Someone like that would do, Julia thought, and she was in search of him when she met me at the railway station. I was not her man. She told me as much, without a word, when she took the cigarette from my lips.

25

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我知道的有关茱丽娅的这一切，都是从相处时的一点一滴得来的——正像一个人了解了他爱恋的女人的早期生活一样——她最开始的预备阶段吧——这人就会把自己当成她生活的一部分，再迂回曲折地引向他自己。

25

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All this I learned about Julia, bit by bit, as one does learn the former - as it seems at the time, the preparatory - life of a woman one loves, so that one thinks of oneself as having been part of it, directing it by devious ways, towards oneself.

26

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茱丽娅把我和塞巴斯蒂安留在了布莱兹赫德，自己去了她一个舅妈罗斯康芒夫人那里，住在她弗拉角的别墅里。整整一路她都在思索她的问题。她已经给她那位丧偶的鳏夫外交官准夫婿起了一个名字，她叫他“尤斯塔斯”，从那一刻起，他就是她觉得有趣的人物了，稍稍有点儿内向，不苟言笑，因此当终于有这么一位与她邂逅了的时候——虽然他并不是外交官，而是皇家骑兵团的憋屈少校——他立刻爱上了茱丽娅，投其所好送她的礼物也都是她看得上眼的，可是她把他打发走了，让他比以前更憋屈了。因为这时她已经遇到了雷克斯·莫特拉姆。

26

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Julia left Sebastian and me at Brideshead and went to stay with an aunt, Lady Rosscommon, in her villa at Cap Ferrat. All the way she pondered her problem. She had given a name to her widower-diplomat; she called him “Eustace”, and from that moment he became a figure of fun to her, a little interior, incommunicable joke, so that when at last such a man did cross her path - though he was not a diplomat but a wistful major in the Life Guards - and fall in love with her and offer her just those gifts she had chosen, she sent him away moodier and more wistful than ever; for by that time she had met Rex Mottram.

27

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雷克斯的年龄是一大优势，茱丽娅的朋友中有一帮过分敬老的势利鬼，对年轻的都存着鲁莽笨拙、满脸粉刺的成见。让人家看见独自在利兹大饭店就餐是一件再时髦不过的事——这在当时女孩子是无论如何不被允许的，但茱丽娅的小群密友却可以。年长些又喜欢讲是非的看见就会表示轻蔑，他们会靠在舞厅的墙边愉快地闲聊天——进门左手边桌上坐着的古板、一脸褶子的登徒子，你母亲做姑娘时别人提醒要提防的那一种人，而不是舞厅中央那一伙精力充沛的年轻的棒小伙子。

27

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Rex’s age was greatly in his favour, for among Julia’s friends there was a kind of gerontophilic snobbery; young men were held to be gauche and pimply; it was thought very much more chic to be seen lunching alone at the Ritz - a thing, in any case, allowed to few girls of that day, to the tiny circle of Julia’s intimates; a thing looked at askance by the elders who kept the score, chatting pleasantly against the walls of the ballrooms - at the table on the left as you came in, with a starched and wrinkled old roué whom your mother had be warned of as a girl, than than in the centre of the room with a party of exuberant young bloods.

28

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雷克斯，确实，既不古板又没有一脸褶儿，他的上司认为他是个积极进取的年轻人，但是茱丽娅却在他身上看出来了不容有失的风流——马克斯和弗·伊以及威尔士王子的倜傥，还看出狩猎俱乐部大圆桌边的人的情调，喝第二瓶两夸脱的大瓶子酒，吸第四支雪茄烟，还有让汽车司机一等等上好几个小时的气派——这些都让她的朋友们嫉妒。雷克斯的社会地位也很特别，环绕着某种神秘的甚至可称之为犯罪的氛围。传说雷克斯出行是要带着枪的。

28

-

Rex, indeed, was neither starched nor wrinkled; his seniors thought him a pushful young cad, but Julia recognized the unmistakable chic - the flavour of ‘Max’ and ‘F. E.’ and the Prince of Wales, of the big table in the Sporting Club, the second magnum, and the fourth cigar, of the chauffeur kept waiting hour after hour without compunction - which her friends would envy. His social position was unique; it had an air of mystery, even of crime, about it; people said Rex went about armed.

29

-

茱丽娅及其朋友们很是憎恶所谓的“庞特街”，她们把那些用了要遭老天诅咒的话都搜刮来，用在她们中间——也经常在大庭广众前让人咋舌地——将这种拼凑出来的话用上。戴着图章戒指，看戏时给人送巧克力，这就是所谓“庞特街”的做派，也正是“庞特街”才在跳舞时说：“我能为你打劫去吗？”雷克斯是什么人都好，反正肯定不是“庞特街”。他从草根阶层扶摇直上进了布伦达·钱皮恩的圈子，而她本身就处在许多镂空象牙球的最深处。

29

-

Julia and her friends had a fascinated abhorrence of what they called ‘Pont Street’; they collected phrases that damned their user, and among themselves - and often, disconcertingly, in public - talked a language made up of them. It was ‘Pont Street’ to wear a signet ring and to give chocolates at the theatre; it was ‘Pont Street’ at a dance to say, ‘Can I forage for you?’ Whatever Rex might be, he was definitely not ‘Pont Street’. He had stepped straight from the underworld into the world of Brenda Champion who was herself the innermost of a number of concentric ivory spheres.

30

-

也许茱丽娅在布伦达·钱皮恩身上清楚地看出她和朋友们十二年里的样子来。在此姑娘和那女人之间有一种争竞心，这争竞之心难以言传。确实地，单只雷克斯被布伦达·钱皮恩据为己有这件事本身，就已经让雷克斯大对茱丽娅的胃口了。

30

-

Perhaps Julia recognized in Brenda Champion an intimation of what she and her friends might be in twelve years’ time; there was an antagonism between the girl and the woman that was hard to explain otherwise. Certainly the fact of his being Brenda Champion’s property sharpened Julia’s appetite for Rex.

31

-

雷克斯和布伦达·钱皮恩其时恰好也在弗拉角，就住在附近的别墅——别墅被一位报业大亨买下，多有政客频繁进出。一般他们不会上罗斯康芒夫人那边去，可离得太近了，这两伙人终究还是混作一处了。这么着，雷克斯当下就存了心，开始献开了殷勤。

31

-

Rex and Brenda Champion were staying at the next villa on Cap Ferrat, taken that year by a newspaper magnate, and frequented by politicians. They would not normally have come within Lady Rosscommon’s ambit, but, living so close, the parties mingled and at once, Rex began warily to pay his court.

32

-

一整个夏天，雷克斯都心神不定。事实已经证明钱皮恩太太是死路一条。最初那两个人搭上后打得火热，其后的种种束缚便开始让他恼火了。他发现钱皮恩太太的生活也是英国人惯常的那一套，也是活在一个狭小世界的小圈子里，而雷克斯诉求的却是一个更加广阔的新天地。他要巩固他的既得利益，要扯下黑旗上岸，要金盆洗手悬起水手弯刀，当地主去。他已到了适婚年龄……他也正在寻觅他的“尤斯塔斯”，但是像他过去那样生活，他就遇不到姑娘。他听说过茱丽娅，照大家的说法，初入社交界的女孩子里她是个中翘楚，是个再合适不过、颇值得一试的大奖。

32

-

All that summer he had been feeling restless. Mrs Champion had proved a dead end; it had all been intensely exciting at first, but now the bonds had begun to chafe. Mrs Champion lived as, he found, the English seemed apt to do, in a little world within a little world; Rex demanded a wider horizon. He wanted to consolidate his gains; to strike the black ensign, go ashore, hang the cutlass up over the chimney, and think about the crops. It was time he married; he, too, was in search of a ‘Eustace’, but, living as he did, he met few girls. He knew of Julia; she was by all accounts top debutante, a suitable prize.

33

-

在钱皮恩太太墨镜后冰冷双目的监视中，雷克斯在弗拉角难以施展拳脚，只能埋下一种日后能够发展的友谊伏笔。他未曾跟茱丽娅单独在一起过，不过他也有意让她参与到他们的活动里来。他教她纸牌赌博，开车去蒙特卡洛或尼斯的时候，他会想方设法安排让她们坐他的车子。他还起劲地撺掇罗斯康芒夫人给马奇梅因夫人写信，可他和罗斯康芒夫人还没有筹划妥当，钱皮恩就迫使他到安提比斯[2]去了。

[2]法国东南部城市，位于尼斯和坎纳之间的里维埃拉。

33

-

With Mrs Champion’s cold eyes watching behind her sunglasses, there was little Rex could do at Cap Ferrat except establish a friendliness which could be widened later. He was never entirely alone with Julia, but he saw to it that she was included in most things they did; he taught her chemin-de-fer, he arranged that it was always in his car that they drove to Monte Carlo or Nice; he did enough to make Lady Rosscommon. write to Lady Marchmain, and Mrs Champion move him, sooner than they had planned, to Antibes.

34

-

茱丽娅去萨尔茨堡跟她母亲住在一起。

34

-

Julia went to Salzburg to join her mother.

35

-

“范妮舅妈告诉我说，你和莫特拉姆先生走得很近。我确信他一定不是什么好人。”

35

-

‘Aunt Fanny tells me you made great friends with Mr Mottram. I’m sure he can’t be very nice.’

36

-

“我也没觉得他是啊，”茱丽娅说，“但我知道我不喜欢好人。”

36

-

‘I don’t think he is,’ said Julia. ‘I don’t know that I like nice people.’

37

-

人人都知道，大部分暴发户都有一个如何掘到第一桶金的秘密，那就是他们变成坏蛋前爆发的人品。在他们需要慰藉的时候，只有希望在支撑着，他们不能依靠世上任何东西，只能依靠以人格魅力取得的东西，要是他胜利后还能存活下来，那他就会在女人那儿所向无敌。

37

-

There is proverbially a mystery among most men of new wealth, how they made their first ten thousand; it is the qualities they showed then, before they became bullies, when every man was someone to be placated, when only hope sustained them and they could count on nothing from the world but what could be charmed from it, that make them, if they survive their triumph, successful with women.

38

-

雷克斯生活在伦敦相对自由的环境里，他对茱丽娅的手段越来越卑鄙下作，他故意让自己的生活围绕着她的生活——能在哪里遇见她，他就去哪里。凡是能够跟她说自己好话的他都巴结到了，为了接近马奇梅因夫人，他还参加了慈善委员会。多次帮忙布莱兹赫德，想给他弄个议席（但遭到议会拒绝）。对天主教他也表现出浓厚兴趣，直到他发现不能让茱丽娅动心这才作罢。

38

-

Rex, in the comparative freedom of London, became abject to Julia; he planned his life about hers where he would meet her, ingratiating himself with those who could report well of him to her; he sat on a number of charitable committees in order to be near Lady Marchmain; he offered his services to Brideshead in getting him a seat in Parliament (but was there rebuffed); he expressed a keen interest in the Catholic Church until he found that this was no way to Julia’s heart.?

39

-

他随时准备着开他的小轿车送她去她要去的地方。他还带她和她的朋友们去职业拳击比赛现场，坐在最好的拳台旁的位子上观看大奖赛，赛后还把她们介绍给拳击手。可是从头到尾，他一次也没有跟她上过床。对于她来说，雷克斯渐渐从一个顺心、合意的人变成了一个不可或缺的人。从在公开场合她先是以雷克斯为骄傲，后来变得有点害羞，再到圣诞节至复活节之间那个时期，雷克斯已经变成必不可少的人了。后来，她自己一点也没有料到，她突然发现自己堕入情网了。

39

-

He was always ready to drive her in his Hispano wherever she wanted to go; he took her and parties of her friends to ring-side seats at prize-fights and introduced them afterwards to the pugilists; and all the time he never once made love to her. From being agreeable, he became indispensable to her; from having been proud of him in public she became a little ashamed, but by that time, between Christmas and Easter, he had become indispensable. And then, without in the least expecting it, she suddenly found herself in love.

40

-

五月的一个傍晚，一件让她心烦意乱、无意撞见的事降到她身上了。当天雷克斯跟她说过他在议院办事，可当她偶然开车到查尔斯大街，却一眼瞥见雷克斯正从据她所知是布伦达·钱皮恩的家出来。她伤心愤怒得在吃晚饭时几乎无法自持。一吃完就马上回到家里，痛哭了十分钟之久，后来她又觉得饿了，这才想到要是刚才晚饭多吃点就好了，于是又叫人拿来面包牛奶，睡觉时吩咐说：“要是莫特拉姆先生早晨来电话，不管几点，都说我不要人打搅。”

40

-

It came to her, this disturbing and unsought revelation, one evening in May, when Rex had told her he would be busy at the House, and, driving by chance down Charles Street, she saw him leaving what she knew to be Brenda Champion’s house. She was so hurt and angry that she could barely keep up appearances through dinner; as soon as she could, she went home and cried bitterly for ten minutes; then she felt hungry, wished she had eaten more at dinner, ordered some bread-and-milk, and went to bed saying:‘When Mr Mottram telephones in the morning, whatever time it is, say I am not to be disturbed.’

41

-

第二天她如常在床上吃了早餐，看了报纸，给朋友们打好电话。最后她还是问道：“莫特拉姆先生碰巧来过电话么？”

41

-

Next day she breakfasted in bed as usual, read the papers, telephoned to her friends.Finally she asked: ‘Did Mr Mottram ring up by any chance?’

42

-

“来过，小姐，来了四次呢。如果他再来电话，我是不是给您接过来？”

42

-

‘Oh yes my lady four times. Shall I put him through when he rings again?’

43

-

“接过来。不不。就说我出去了。”

43

-

‘Yes. No. Say I’ve gone out.’

44

-

她下了楼，大厅桌上有她一封信。莫特拉姆先生希望茱丽娅小姐一点半到利兹饭店。“今天我可要在家里吃午饭。”她说。

44

-

When she came downstairs there was a message for her on the hall table. Mr Mottram expects Lady Julia at the Ritz at 1.30. ‘I shall lunch at home today, ‘ she said.

45

-

下午她和她母亲出去购物，然后又和一位阿姨一起喝了茶，六点钟回的家。

45

-

That afternoon she went shopping with her mother; they had tea with an aunt and returned at six.

46

-

“莫特拉姆先生正等着呢，小姐。我已经把他带到图书室去了。”

46

-

‘Mr Mottram is waiting, my Lady. I’ve shown him into the library.’

47

-

“哎呀，妈妈，我不能让他烦着我。一定叫他回家去吧。”

47

-

‘Oh, mummy, I can’t be bothered with him. Do tell him to go home.’

48

-

“茱丽娅，这样做太不友好了。虽然以前我常说你的朋友中我不特别喜欢他，可是现在对他倒是慢慢习惯了，都快要喜欢他了。你不能对人这么忽冷忽热的——特别是像莫特拉姆这样的人。”

48

-

‘That’s not at all kind, Julia. I’ve often said he’s not my favourite among your friends, but I have grown quite used to him, almost to like him. You really mustn’t take people up and drop them like this - particularly people like Mr Mottram.’

49

-

“嗯，妈妈，我必须见他吗？我一定会给他脸色看的。”

49

-

‘Oh, mummy, must I see him? There’ll be a scene if I do.’

50

-

“乱讲，茱丽娅，你这是在任意揉捏摆布那个可怜的人。”

50

-

‘Nonsense, Julia, you twist that poor man round your finger.’

51

-

茱丽娅进了图书室，过了一小时再出来他们已经订婚了。

51

-

So Julia went into the library and came out an hour later engaged to be married.

52

-

“哎，妈妈，我警告过你，我要是进去的话准会发生这种事。”

52

-

‘Oh, mummy, I warned you this would happen if I went in there.’

53

-

“你没这么说。你只是说准会甩脸色吵架的。这样子的吵架我是绝对想象不出来的。”

53

-

‘You did nothing of the kind. You merely said there would be a scene. I never conceived of a scene of this kind.’

54

-

“无论如何，你还是喜欢他的，妈妈，你这么说的。”

54

-

‘Anyway, you do like him, mummy. You said so.’

55

-

“他各方面表现一直不错。可说起让他做你的丈夫，我觉得他彻头彻尾不合适。大家也都会这么觉得的。”

55

-

‘He has been very kind in a number of ways. I regard him as entirely unsuitable as your husband. So will everyone.’

56

-

“让大家见鬼去吧。”

56

-

‘Damn everybody.’

57

-

“我们对他一无所知。也许他还带着黑人血统呢——实际上他肤色那么黑就很让人犯疑了。亲爱的，整件事情是不可能的。我不明白你怎么会这么傻。”

57

-

‘We know nothing about him. He may have black blood - in fact he is suspiciously dark. Darling, the whole thing’s impossible. I can’t see how you can have been so foolish.’

58

-

“哦，那他跟那个巨可怕的老太婆在一起，我有什么权利生他的气呢？你以拯救堕落的女人为己任，太当回事了。好吧，我也拯救，我拯救一个堕落的男人。我要把雷克斯从他的罪孽中解救出来。”

58

-

‘Well, what right have I got otherwise to be angry with him if he goes with that horrible old woman? You make a great thing about rescuing fallen women. Well, I’m rescuing, a fallen man for a change. I’m saving Rex from mortal sin.’

59

-

“不许无理取闹，茱丽娅。”

59

-

‘Don’t be irreverent, Julia.’

60

-

“好，跟布伦达·钱皮恩睡觉不算一宗大罪吗？”

60

-

‘Well, isn’t it mortal sin to sleep with Brenda Champion?’

61

-

“或者算很下流吧。”

61

-

‘Or indecent.’

62

-

“他已经答应决不再见她了。要是不承认我爱他，我何以要求他这么做呢，是不是？”

62

-

‘He’s promised never to see her again. I couldn’t ask him to do that unless I admitted I was in love with him could I?’

63

-

“钱皮恩太太的品行，感谢上帝，不关我的事。可是你的幸福可就跟我息息相关了。如果你一定要了解的话，我认为，莫特拉姆先生是一个很亲切很能帮忙的朋友，但我就是一点儿也不信任他，我肯定他还会生下一大群不招人喜欢的孩子。他们总会恢复原状的。我不怀疑过几天你就会全盘后悔的。在这期间，什么事也别做，什么事也别说，别让外人起猜疑。而且你也不能再跟他一起吃午饭了。你可以在家里见他，当然，公共场合都不许去。你最好还是叫他来见我，我要跟他谈谈这件事情。”

63

-

‘Mrs Champion’s morals, thank God, are not my business. Your happiness is. If you must know, I think Mr Mottram a kind and useful friend, but I wouldn’t trust him an inch, and I’m sure he’ll have very unpleasant children. They always revert. I’ve no doubt you’ll regret the whole thing in a few days. Meanwhile nothing is to be done. No one must be told anything or allowed to suspect. You must stop lunching with him. You may see him here, of course, but nowhere in public. You had better send him to me and I will have a little talk to him about it.’

64

-

就是这样开始了一年之久的茱丽娅的秘密订婚。只是缘于雷克斯这天下午第一次向她示爱，因而这一年都过得十分艰难。被求爱对她来说并不是第一次，也不像她以前和那些多愁善感犹疑不定的男孩子有过的一两次罗曼史。这一次他是以激情勃发来表示的，就像她心底深处的某个角落里一样的激情。他们的激情把她吓坏了，一天她忏悔回来，她决心把这件事做个了断。

64

-

Thus began a year’s secret engagement for Julia; a time of great stress, for Rex made love to her that afternoon for the first time; not, as had happened to her once or twice before with sentimental and uncertain boys, but with a passion that disclosed the corner of something like it in her. Their passion frightened her, and she came back from the confessional one day determined to put an end to it.?

65

-

“否则我一定不再见你了。”她说。

65

-

‘Otherwise I must stop seeing you,’ she said.

66

-

雷克斯马上就低三下四起来，就像他冬天表现的那样，当时他每天总是坐在他自己的小轿车里打着哆嗦等她。

66

-

Rex was humble at once, just as he had been in the winter, day after day, when he used to wait for her in the cold in his big car.

67

-

“除非我们马上结婚。”她说。

67

-

‘If only we could be married immediately,’ she said.

68

-

六个星期以来他们一直保持着距离，见面和告别时吻一下，在一起的时候分开坐，谈的是计划做什么事，将来住在哪里，还有就是雷克斯有没有可能当选副部长的职位。陶醉在爱情里的茱丽娅，心满意足，生活在明天。后来，正是这一学期快要结束的时候，她听说雷克斯在森宁代尔的一个股票经纪人那里过周末，可是他又跟她说是去他的选区，钱皮恩太太恰恰也去了森宁代尔。

68

-

For six weeks they remained at arm’s length, kissing when they met and parted, sitting meantime at a distance, talking of what they would do and where they would live and of Rex’s chances of an under-secretaryship. Julia was content, deep in love, living in the future. Then, just before the end of the session, she learned that Rex had been staying the week-end with a stockbroker at Sunningdale, when he said he was at his constituency, and that Mrs Champion had been there, too.

69

-

就在她听到消息的晚上，雷克斯像如常来马奇梅因公馆，于是他们又重来了一遍两个月前那样的争吵。

69

-

On the evening she heard of this, when Rex came as usual to Marchmain House, they re-enacted the scene of two months before.

70

-

“你在指望什么呢？”他说，“你给我这么少，又有什么权利要求我那么多？”

70

-

‘What do you expect?’ he said. ‘What right have you to ask so much, when you give so little?’

71

-

她带着她的问题去了法姆街的神父那里，她把问题用一般的修辞法提了出来，谈话并不是在忏悔室里，而是在专门为这种会面特设的一间暗室。

71

-

She took her problem to Farm Street and propounded it in general terms, not in the confessional, but in a dark little parlour kept for such interviews.

72

-

“神父，为了不让他犯下更深重的罪恶，我自己犯下了一个小罪，这无疑不是错吧？”

72

-

‘Surely, Father, it can’t be wrong to commit a small sin myself in order to keep him from a much worse one?’

73

-

可是那位温和的老基督徒却没有据此让步。她几乎没去听他说什么。他拒绝满足她的要求，她知道这一点就足够了。

73

-

But the gentle old Jesuit was unyielding. She barely listened to him; he was refusing her what she wanted, that was all she needed to know.

74

-

他末了说了一句：“现在，你最好去忏悔吧。”

74

-

When he had finished he said, ‘Now you had better make your confession.’

75

-

“不了，谢谢。”她说，仿佛是在拒绝商家里建议她买的东西。“我今天不想。”说完怒气冲冲地步行回家了。

75

-

‘No, thank you,’ she said, as though refusing the offer of something in a shop. ‘I don’t think I want to today,’ and walked angrily home.

76

-

从那一刻起，她再不去理会她的宗教了。

76

-

From that moment she shut her mind against her religion.

77

-

马奇梅因夫人看出了个中端倪，再加上她新近为了塞巴斯蒂安感到非常悲伤，旧日为了丈夫感到非常悲伤，以及她自身身体上的顽疾，现在又加上了这么一桩，她天天都要带着这些新仇旧恨去教堂。她的心已经被忧伤的剑刺透了，这颗活蹦乱跳的心还得贴上膏药和敷上软膏。她回家时又得到了怎样的安慰呢？只有上帝才知道。

77

-

And Lady Marchmain saw this and added it to her new grief for Sebastian and her old grief for her husband and to the deadly sickness in her body, and took all these sorrows with her daily to church; it seemed her heart was transfixed with the swords of her dolours, a living heart to match the plaster and paint; what comfort she took home with her, God knows.

78

-

这一年就这么过去了，订婚的秘密经茱丽娅的知心闺蜜传遍了所有的知心友好，最后就像屋檐泥瓦上的卷纹终于四散碎裂开了一样，连媒体都得到了消息，而作为公主侍女的罗斯康芒夫人，对这件事刨根问底个不休，这样一来就不得不做些事情了。随即茱丽娅拒绝掉了圣诞节圣餐，马奇梅因夫人发现了最初是我，然后是萨姆格拉斯先生，再后是科迪莉娅都背叛了她，在一九二五年初头几天的阴沉日子里，她决定采取行动。

78

-

So the year-wore on and the secret of the engagement spread from Julia’s confidantes to their confidantes, until, like ripples at last breaking on the mud-verge, there were hints of it in the Press, and Lady Rosscommon as Lady-in-Waiting was closely questioned about it, and something had to be done. Then, after Julia had refused to make her Christmas communion and Lady Marchmain had found herself betrayed first by me, then by Mr Samgrass, then by Cordelia, in the first grey days of 1925, she decided to act.

79

-

她禁止大家谈论订婚相关的事情，禁止茱丽娅和雷克斯再见面，她还打算把马奇梅因公馆关上半年，带着茱丽娅上她那些在外国的男亲属家拜访一圈。这是与她的精致相生相克的老弱病身产生的隔代遗传的特性，麻木又冷淡，甚至在这样的危机中，她也不让雷克斯陪伴塞巴斯蒂安去找那个博莱图斯大夫，更不觉得哪里不合情理。雷克斯在那件事上办事不力，径自去了蒙特卡洛，在那里，雷克斯打得她溃不成军。

79

-

She forbade all talk of an engagement; she forbade Julia and Rex ever to meet; she made plans for shutting Marchmain House for six months and taking Julia on a tour of visits to their foreign kinsmen. It was characteristic of an old, atavistic callousness that went with her delicacy that, even at this crisis, she did not think it unreasonable to put Sebastian in Rex’s charge on the journey to Dr Borethus, and Rex, having failed her in that matter, went on to Monte Carlo, where he completed her rout.?

80

-

马奇梅因勋爵对雷克斯这人人品有多少优点并不挂心，他觉得这些是他女儿自己的事。雷克斯看上去是一个粗豪、健壮、事业发达的男人，马奇梅因勋爵通过阅读政治报道早就熟悉了他的名字。他赌博起来出手大方，又通情达理，他交往的人都还体面，他有大好的前途……就是马奇梅因夫人不待见他。总体说来，马奇梅因勋爵对茱丽娅竟能择得如此佳偶而深感欣慰，他同意他们马上结婚。

80

-

Lord Marchmain did not concern himself with the finer points of Rex’s character; those, he believed, were his daughter’s business. Rex seemed a rough, healthy, prosperous fellow whose name was already familiar to him from reading the political reports; he gambled in an open-handed but sensible manner; he seemed to keep reasonably good company; he had a future; Lady Marchmain disliked him. Lord Marchmain was, on the whole, relieved that Julia should have chosen so well, and gave his consent to an immediate marriage.

81

-

于是雷克斯兴高采烈地着手各种准备工作。他给她买了枚戒指，不过并不如她所愿来自卡蒂亚的钻戒托盘，而是来自哈顿公园的一间密室，一个男人从保险柜的几个小袋子里取出来一些宝石，给她陈列在写字台上的。后来另一间密室里又有一个男人用一个铅笔头在一张便笺纸上画出几张镶嵌草图来，结果是招来她所有朋友的赞叹不已。

81

-

Rex gave himself to the preparations with gusto. He bought her a ring, not, as she expected, from a tray at Cartier’s, but in a back room in Hatton Garden from a man who brought stones out of a safe in little bags and displayed them for her on a writing-desk; then another man in another back room made designs for the setting, with a stub of pencil on a sheet, of note-paper, and the result excited the admiration of all her friends.

82

-

“这些事情你是怎么知道的，雷克斯？”她问道。

82

-

‘How d you know about these things, Rex?’ she asked.

83

-

她每天都要为他所知道的和不知道的事情大为惊异。这两者，此时，俨然都让他更富吸引力。

83

-

She was daily surprised by the things he knew and the things he did not know; both, at the time, added to his attraction.

84

-

他现在位于赫特福德街的房子很大，绝对安置得下两个人住，最近又找最贵的一家公司配备了家具，重新装修了。茱丽娅说她还不想要乡间别墅，就算是出门玩耍，也总是能租到带家具的房子的。

84

-

His present house in Hertford Street was large enough for them both, and had lately been furnished and decorated by the most expensive firm. Julia said she did not want a house in the country yet; they could always take places furnished when they wanted to go away.

85

-

可是在嫁妆这里却遇到了麻烦，茱丽娅声称她对这事不感兴趣不愿意参与进来。律师们已经绝望了。雷克斯坚决不同意拿股份做陪嫁。“我拿信托债券干什么使？”他问道。

85

-

There was trouble about the marriage settlement with which Julia refused to interest herself. The lawyers were in despair. Rex absolutely refused to settle any capital. ‘What do I want with trustee stock?’ he asked.

86

-

“我不知道，亲爱的。”

86

-

‘I don’t know, darling.’

87

-

“得要能钱生钱的钱，”他说，“希望有百分之十五到百分之二十的利，这我就接受。不能随意变卖的百分之三点五的股票，纯粹是废纸。”

87

-

‘I make money work for me,’ he said. ‘I expect fifteen, twenty per cent and I get it. It’s pure waste tying up capital at three and a half’

88

-

“我相信那的确是废纸，亲爱的。”

88

-

‘I’m sure it is, darling.’

89

-

“那帮家伙说起来就跟我要打劫你似的。是他们在打劫呢。他们想把我能给你弄来的三分之二收入都抢走。”

89

-

‘These fellows talk as though I were trying to rob you. It’s they who are doing the robbing. They want to rob you of two thirds of the income I can make you.’

90

-

“有什么关系呢，雷克斯？我们已经有好多了嘛，是不是？”

90

-

‘Does it matter, Rex? We’ve got heaps, haven’t we?’

91

-

雷克斯希望把茱丽娅的嫁妆都攥到自己手里，好让这些嫁妆替他赚钱。律师们坚持嫁妆得有所制约，不能任意变卖，但是律师也没法子从他那儿得到他们提出的一笔类似的款子。最后，他勉强同意给自己买了人寿保险，在同意之前，他曾向律师们做过详尽说明，说这种做法不过是把他的一部分合法收入交由别人去支配。只是因为他和保险公司有关系，所以这样的安排让他勉强没有那么难受，通过安排，他拿到了原本是律师们想要得到的佣金。

91

-

Rex hoped to have the whole of Julia’s dowry in his hands, to make it work for him. The lawyers insisted on tying it up, but they could not get, as they asked, a like sum from him. Finally, grudgingly, he agreed to insure his life, after explaining at length to the lawyers that this was merely a device for putting part of his legitimate profits into other people’s pockets; but he had some connection with an insurance office which made the arrangement slightly less painful to him, by which he took for himself the agent’s commission which the lawyers were themselves expecting.

92

-

最后碰到的问题，也是最微不足道的问题，雷克斯的宗教信仰。他在马德里参加过一次皇家婚礼，所以他想给自己也来一个那样的婚礼。

92

-

Last and least came the question of Rex’s religion. He had once attended a royal wedding in Madrid, and he wanted something of the kind for himself.?

93

-

“这件事只有你的教会能办，”他说，“办得有排场。你根本找不出什么人能比得上枢机主教。你们英国有几个？”

93

-

‘That’s one thing your Church can do,’ he said, ‘put on a good show. You never saw anything to equal the cardinals. How many do you have in England?’

94

-

“只有一个，亲爱的。”

94

-

‘Only one, darling.’

95

-

“只有一个？那我们从国外雇几个来怎么样？”

95

-

‘Only one? Can we hire some others from abroad?’

96

-

接着茱丽娅对他好好解释一番，异教通婚是不能太大张旗鼓的。

96

-

It was then explained to him that a mixed marriage was a very unostentatious affair.

97

-

“你说的‘异教’是什么意思？我又不是‘黑鬼’或者别的什么的。”

97

-

‘How d’you mean “mixed”;’ I’m not a nigger or anything.’

98

-

“不是的，亲爱的，我是指天主教徒和基督教徒之间通婚。”

98

-

‘No, darling, between a Catholic and a Protestant.’

99

-

“哦，这样啊？好吧，即使是这样，那马上也会不是了。我要变成天主教徒……要变成一个天主教徒必须干点什么？”

99

-

‘Oh, that? Well, if that’s all, it’s soon unmixed. I’ll become a Catholic. What does one have to do?’

100

-

马奇梅因夫人被事情的新进展弄得惊恐万状，茫然无措。即使她对自己说必须要本着慈悲为怀的心去接受他的真诚，却也无济于事。这反倒使她回想起另一个求爱和改变宗教信仰的事情。

100

-

Lady Marchmain was dismayed and perplexed by this new development; it was no good her telling herself that in charity she must assume his good faith; it brought back memories of another courtship and another conversion.

101

-

“雷克斯，”她说，“我往往想搞清楚，你是否意识到对信仰的虔诚是一件多么重大的事情。如果没有虔诚的信仰却采用这一步骤，那将会多么、多么不道德。”

101

-

‘Rex,’ she said. ‘I sometimes wonder if you realize how big a thing you are taking on in the Faith. It would be very wicked to take a step like this without believing sincerely.’

102

-

一物降一物，他是专门对付她的高手。

102

-

He was masterly in his treatment of her.

103

-

“我不假装是虔诚的人，”他说，“我更装不出神学家的样子来，可是我明白一个家里有两种宗教信仰糟糕透了。男人需要有宗教信仰。如果你们的宗教对茱丽娅有利，那对我也有利。”

103

-

‘I don’t pretend to be a very devout man,’ he said, ‘nor much of a theologian, but I know it’s a bad plan to have two religions in one house. A man needs a religion. If your Church is good enough for Julia, it’s good enough for me.’

104

-

“很好，”她说，“我会注意看你得到什么样的引导。”

104

-

‘Very well,’ she said, ‘I will see about having you instructed.’

105

-

“你看，马奇梅因夫人，我有时间。可引导在我这儿就是浪费了。干脆你把表格给我，我大笔一挥签上名就得了。”

105

-

‘Look, Lady Marchmain, I have the time. Instruction will be wasted on me. Just you give me the form and I’ll sign on the dotted line.’

106

-

“通常会需要几个月时间——往往是一生。”

106

-

‘It usually takes some months - often a lifetime.’

107

-

“哦，我学东西很快的。考验考验我。”

107

-

‘Well, I’m a quick learner. Try me.’

108

-

于是雷克斯就给发配到法姆街莫布雷神父那里，此神父以多次感化过冥顽不化的新进教徒而著称。在第三次谈话以后，他来同马奇梅因夫人一起喝茶。

108

-

So Rex was sent to Farm Street to Father Mowbray, a priest renowned for his triumphs with obdurate catechumens. After the third interview he came to tea with Lady Marchmain.

109

-

“嗯，你觉得我未来女婿怎么样？”

109

-

‘Well, how do you find my future son-in-law?’

110

-

“他是我所见过的最难皈依的人。”

110

-

‘He’s the most difficult convert I have ever met.’

111

-

“呃，天哪，我原还以为他皈依起来轻而易举呢。”

111

-

‘Oh dear, I thought he was going to make it so easy.’

112

-

“说得一点儿没错。我不懂他是怎么回事，根本近不了他的身。他看起来连最起码的求知欲，或者虔诚心都没有啊。

112

-

‘That’s exactly it. I can’t get anywhere near him. He doesn’t seem to have the least intellectual curiosity or natural piety.

113

-

“第一天头上，我想了解一下迄今为止，他过的是一种什么样的宗教生活，所以我就问他知道祈祷是什么意思吗？他说：‘我不知道什么意思。你告诉我得了。’我尽量三言两语简单地说给他听，然后他就说：‘好了好了，祈祷就说这么多吧。接下来是什么？’我把《教义问答》让他拿去了。昨天我问他上帝是否只有一种本性。他回答：‘你说有多少就是有多少，神父。’

113

-

‘The first day I wanted to find out what sort of religious life he had till now, so I asked him what he meant by prayer. He said: “I don’t mean anything. You tell me.” I tried to, in a few words, and he said: “Right. So much for prayer; What’s the next thing?” I gave him the catechism to take away. Yesterday I asked him whether Our Lord had more than one nature. He said: “Just as many as you say, Father.”

114

-

“那么接着我又问：‘假使教皇抬头见到一朵云说天要下雨了，那么，是不是就一定会下雨呢？’‘哦，是的，神父。’‘倘若没有下雨呢？’他想了一下说：‘我觉得大概下的是某种精神层面的雨吧，只是我们罪孽深重，故而看不见。’

114

-

‘Then again I asked him: “Supposing the Pope looked up and saw a cloud and said ‘It’s going to rain’, would that be bound to happen?” “Oh, yes, Father.” “But supposing it didn’t?” He thought a moment and said, “I suppose it would be sort of raining spiritually, only we were too sinful to see it.”

115

-

“马奇梅因夫人，就我们传教士所了解的异教信仰的程度来说，他哪一级都不符合。”

115

-

‘Lady Marchmain, he doesn’t correspond to any degree of paganism known to the missionaries.’

116

-

神父走后，“茱丽娅，”马奇梅因夫人说，“你确定雷克斯改信仰的这个主意，不是仅仅为了讨我们喜欢的？”

116

-

‘Julia,’ said Lady Marchmain, when the priest had gone, ‘are you sure that Rex isn’t doing this thing purely with the idea of pleasing us?’

117

-

“我想他脑子里没想过这一点。”茱丽娅说。

117

-

‘I don’t think it enters his head,’ said Julia.

118

-

“他改信仰是真心实意的吗？”

118

-

‘He’s really sincere in his conversion?’

119

-

“他绝对是决意要变成天主教徒的，妈妈。”随后她又自言自语道，“在天主教的漫长历史中，大概也是有些十分古怪的改教者的吧。我猜想在克洛维的军队里也不全是百分之百赤诚的天主教徒。再多一个也不会有什么坏处。”

119

-

‘He’s absolutely determined to become a Catholic, mummy,’ and to herself she said:‘In her long history the Church must have had some pretty queer converts. I don’t suppose all Clovis’s army were exactly Catholic-minded. One more won’t hurt.’

120

-

第二个星期，神父又来喝茶。正赶上复活节假日，科迪莉娅也在。

120

-

Next week the Jesuit came to tea again. It was the Easter holidays and Cordelia was there, too.

121

-

“马奇梅因夫人，”他说，“你真该挑选一名年轻一些的神父来完成这个使命的。等不及雷克斯成为天主教徒，我早就死了。”

121

-

‘Lady Marchmain,’ he said. ‘You should have chosen one of the younger fathers for this task. I shall be dead long before Rex is a Catholic.’

122

-

“哦，天哪，我还以为进展得十分顺利。”

122

-

‘Oh dear, I thought it was going so well.’

123

-

“是很顺利，在某种意义上说是的。出奇地温驯，不管我告诉他什么他都接受，星星点点的全记住了，不问任何问题。我不喜欢他这样。他似乎毫无真实感，好在我知道他正处于天主教稳定的影响之下，因此我愿意接纳他。有时候人不得不得到机会就抓住，就比如想着也许半低能儿也会聪明起来呢。你根本无从知道他们究竟懂了多少，只要知道有个人在关注着他们，你就得抓住机会。”

123

-

‘It was, in a sense. He was exceptionally docile, and he accepted everything I told him, remembered bits of it, asked no questions. I wasn’t happy about him. He seemed to have no sense of reality, but I knew he was coming under a steady Catholic influence, so I was willing to receive him. One has to take a chance sometimes with semi-imbeciles, for instance. You never know quite how much they have understood. As long as you know there’s someone to keep an eye on them, you do take the chance.’

124

-

“真想雷克斯能听到这话！”科迪莉娅说。

124

-

‘How I wish Rex could hear this!’ said Cordelia.

125

-

“不过我昨天也算开了眼。现代教育的麻烦在于，你根本不知道人会有多愚昧无知。谁年过五十，你都能很有把握地知道哪些东西他们学过，哪些东西没有。可是那些年轻人表面上才华横溢，看着什么都懂，突然哪天脑袋瓜子裂开了，你往里头一看啊，稀里糊涂地不知道是些什么东西。就拿昨天来说吧，他看着还挺像样的。《教义问答》大部分他都能背下来了，还背了《主祷文》和《福哉玛利亚》。

125

-

‘But yesterday I got a regular eye-opener. The trouble with modern education is you never know how ignorant people are. With anyone over fifty you can be fairly confident what’s been taught and what’s been left out. But these young people have such an intelligent, knowledgeable surface, and then the crust suddenly breaks and you look down into the depths of confusion you didn’t know existed. Take yesterday. He seemed to be doing very well. He learned large bits of the catechism by heart, and the Lord’s Prayer, and the Hail Mary.

126

-

然后我就照平常那样问他，是否有什么烦心事。他却狡诈地望着我，说：‘哎，神父，我觉得你不够开诚布公。我渴望加入你们的教会，我也正在加入中，可你却隐瞒了太多太多事情。’我问他此话怎讲，他说：‘我跟一位天主教徒长谈了一次——一个非常虔诚、受过良好教育的天主教徒，我这才略知一二了。

126

-

Then I asked him as usual if there was anything troubling him, and he looked at me in a crafty way and said, “Look, Father, I don’t think you’re being straight with me. I want to join your Church and I’m going to join your Church, but you’re holding too much back.” I asked what he meant, and he said: “I’ve had a long talk with a Catholic - a very pious well-educated one and I’ve learned a thing or two.

127

-

例如，睡觉的时候脚要朝着东方，因为那边是上天堂的方向，如果你死在夜里了，你就可以走着上天堂去。以后我睡觉时脚要朝着茱丽娅觉得合适的方向。可是你指望一个成年人去相信走着上天堂的说法吗？还有，教皇把他的一匹马变成枢机主教又是怎么一回事？还有还有，你在教堂门廊放上只盒子，如果把一张写着某人名字的一英镑钞票放进去，他们就会送去地狱。我不是说这一切毫无道理，’他说，‘可是你得告诉我，而不是让我自己找答案啊。’”

127

-

For instance, that you have to sleep with your feet pointing East because that’s the direction of heaven, and if you die in the night you can walk there. Now I’ll sleep with my feet pointing any way that suits Julia, but d’you expect a grown man to believe about walking to heaven? And what about the Pope who made one of his horses a Cardinal? And what about the box you keep in the church porch, and if you put in a pound note with someone’s name on it, they get sent to hell. I don’t say there mayn’t be a good reason for all this,” he said, “but you ought to tell me about it and not let me find out for myself.”’

128

-

“这个可怜人到底是什么意思？”马奇梅因夫人说。

128

-

‘What can the poor man have meant?’ said Lady Marchmain.

129

-

“你看他离教会可远着呢。”莫布雷神父说。

129

-

‘You see he’s a long way from the Church yet,’ said Father Mowbray.

130

-

“可是谁跟他说的这种话呢？难道是他做梦梦见的？科迪莉娅，怎么回事？”

130

-

‘But who can he have been talking to? Did he dream it all? Cordelia, what’s the matter?’

131

-

“真是个榆木脑袋的大笨蛋！噢，妈妈，一等一的大笨蛋！”

131

-

‘What a chump! Oh, mummy, what a glorious chump!’

132

-

“科迪莉娅，是你。”

132

-

‘Cordelia, it was you.’

133

-

“噢，妈妈，做梦都想不到他会当真啊！除了这些，我还跟他说了好多好多别的事情，还说了梵蒂冈的神猴——各种各样的事情。”

133

-

‘Oh, mummy, who could have dreamed he’d swallow it? I told him such a lot besides.About the sacred monkeys in the Vatican - all kinds of things.’

134

-

“哦哟，让您费心给我添了这么多工作。”莫布雷神父说。

134

-

‘Well, you’ve very considerably increased my work,’ said Father Mowbray.

135

-

“可怜的雷克斯，”马奇梅因夫人说，“我认为这样反倒让他更可爱了。你就把他当成一个傻孩子吧，莫布雷神父。”

135

-

‘Poor Rex,’ said Lady Marchmain. ‘You know, I think it makes him rather lovable.You must treat him like an idiot child, Father Mowbray.’

136

-

就这样，宗教训诲继续进行下去，莫布雷神父在婚礼前一个星期终于同意接受雷克斯入教。

136

-

So the instruction was continued, and Father Mowbray at length consented to receive Rex a week before his wedding.

137

-

“你以为让我入教还是他们绛尊纾贵了是吧，”雷克斯抱怨着，“我可以这样那样给他们提供帮助，而他们就是些给去赌场的赌徒发发牌的家伙罢了。再说了，”他又说道：“科迪莉娅都把我搞糊涂了，我已经分不清什么是《教义问答》上的，什么是她自己瞎编的了。”婚礼前三个礼拜大体就是这样。送出喜帖，迅速收受不断送过来的礼物，女傧相们很喜欢她们的伴娘礼服。这时候就来了茱丽娅所谓的“布赖德炸弹事件”。

137

-

‘You’d think they’d be all over themselves to have me in,’ Rex complained. ‘I can be a lot of help to them one way and another; instead they’re like the chaps who issue, cards for a casino. What’s more,’ he added, ‘Cordelia’s got me so muddled I don’t know what’s in the catechism and what she’s invented.’ Thus things stood three weeks before the wedding; the cards had gone out, presents were coming in fast, the bridesmaids were delighted with their dresses. Then came what Julia called ‘Bridey’s bombshell’.

138

-

布赖德仍然以其冷酷无情的方式，毫无预警地就将一颗炸弹扔进了到那时为止还是愉快的一家人中。马奇梅因公馆的图书室堆满了结婚礼品，马奇梅因夫人、茱丽娅、科迪莉娅和雷克斯正在忙着拆开礼品包，造册登记。这时布莱兹赫德走进来，盯着看了他们一会儿。

138

-

With characteristic ruthlessness he tossed his load of explosive without warning into what, till then, had been a happy family party. The library at Marchmain House was being devoted to wedding presents; Lady Marchmain, Julia, Cordelia, and Rex were busy unpacking and listing them. Brideshead came in and watched them for a moment.?

139

-

“贝蒂舅妈送的有开片的花瓶，”科迪莉娅说，“老古董。我记得见过这些花瓶在他们巴克博恩家的楼梯上的。”

139

-

‘Chinky vases from Aunt Betty,’ said Cordelia. ‘Old stuff. I remember them on the stairs at Buckborne.’

140

-

“这都是些什么？”布莱兹赫德问道。

140

-

‘What’s all this?’ asked Brideshead.

141

-

“彭德尔-加思韦特家的先生、太太和小姐送的，一套上午茶茶具。古德店里买的，才三十先令，太抠门了。”

141

-

‘Mr, Mrs, and Miss Pendle-Garthwaite, one early morning tea set. Goode’s, thirty shillings, jolly mean.’

142

-

“你们最好把这些破烂货再包起来吧。”

142

-

‘You’d better pack all that stuff up again.’

143

-

“布赖德，你这话什么意思？”

143

-

‘Bridey, what do you mean?’

144

-

“就是说婚礼取消了的意思。”

144

-

‘Only that the wedding’s off.’

145

-

“布赖德。”

145

-

‘Bridey’

146

-

“我早就觉得对我这位未来妹夫还是调查了解一番为好，可你们大家对这事儿好像都不感兴趣。”布莱兹赫德说，“今天晚上我有最后的答复了。他一九一五年在蒙特利尔和萨拉·伊万杰琳·卡特勒小姐结过婚了，她至今还住在那里。”

146

-

‘I thought I’d better make some inquiries about my prospective brother-in-law, as no one else seemed interested,’ said Brideshead. ‘I got the final answer tonight. He was married in Montreal in 1915 to a Miss Sarah Evangeline Cutler, who is still living there.’

147

-

“雷克斯，这是真的？”

147

-

‘Rex, is this true?’

148

-

雷克斯站在那里，正用鉴定的眼光打量着手里拿着的一个玉雕龙，他把玉龙小心放回到黑檀木底座上，然后对着众人坦荡天真地笑了。

148

-

Rex stood with a jade dragon in his hand looking at it critically; then he set it carefully on its ebony stand and smiled openly and innocently at them all.

149

-

“是真的啊，”他说，“那又怎么样？你们一个一个哭丧着脸又是怎么回事？她现在跟我没关系了。摊上她就绝对没好事。无论如何，当时我还是个孩子呢，只是犯了天下男人都会犯的错误。我一九一九年就离婚了。要不是布赖德上这儿说来，我连她现在在哪儿都不知道。有什么可吵吵的？”

149

-

‘Sure it’s true,’ he said. ‘What about it? What are you all looking so het up about? She isn’t a thing to me. She never meant any good. I was only a kid, anyhow. The sort of mistake anyone might make. I got my divorce back in 1919. I didn’t even know where she was living till Bridey here told me. What’s all the rumpus?’

150

-

“你早该告诉我。”茱丽娅说。

150

-

‘You might have told me,’ said Julia.

151

-

“你从来没问过呀。说老实话，我这么些年就没想起过她来。”

151

-

‘You never asked. Honest, I’ve not given her a thought in years.

152

-

他的真诚一目了然，大家只好坐下来冷静探讨这件事。

152

-

His sincerity was so plain that they had to sit down and talk about it calmly.

153

-

“你这个可怜的甜心草包，难道你没注意到，”茱丽娅说，“你妻子健在时，作为一个天主教徒你是不能再结婚的？”

153

-

‘Don’t you realize, you poor sweet oaf,’ said Julia, ‘that you can’t get married as a Catholic when you’ve another wife alive?’

154

-

“可是我没有哇。我刚才不是告诉你了，我们六年前已经离婚了。”

154

-

‘But I haven’t. Didn’t I just tell you we were divorced six years ago.’

155

-

“可是天主教徒是不能离婚的。”

155

-

‘But you can’t be divorced as a Catholic.’

156

-

“我那时候不是天主教徒，而且之前我离婚了。离婚证明书我还在什么地方放着呢。”

156

-

‘I wasn’t a Catholic and I was divorced. I’ve got the papers somewhere.’

157

-

“难不成莫布雷神父没跟你讲过婚姻？”

157

-

‘But didn’t Father Mowbray explain to you about marriage?’

158

-

“他说过我不能和你离婚。哦，我也不想离。他跟我讲什么我记不全了——什么神猴、天主教大赦、临终四大件事——这些话要是全都记住我就没时间干别的事了。不管怎么说，你们的那位意大利表妹弗朗西斯卡又怎么样？她不也结过两次婚嘛。”

158

-

‘He said I wasn’t to be divorced from you. Well, I don’t want to be. I can’t remember all he told me - sacred monkeys, plenary indulgences, four last things - if I remembered all he told me I shouldn’t have time for anything else. Anyhow, what about your Italian cousin, Francesca? - she married twice.’

159

-

“她有证明婚姻无效的证书。”

159

-

‘She had an ‘annulment.’

160

-

“那行了，我也弄一份证书去。要花多少钱？从谁那儿领？莫布雷神父能给开一份不能？我只想把事情做对做好。没人告诉我这个。”

160

-

‘All right then, I’ll get an annulment. What does it cost? Who do I get it from? Has Father Mowbray got one? I only want to do what’s right. Nobody told me.’

161

-

费尽口舌才让雷克斯认识到他这次婚姻存在着多么严重的障碍。他们一直讨论到吃晚饭的时候，仆人们在场时就闭口不谈，一到只剩下他们了，就又重新开始，直到午夜过后很久。争论兜着圈子，绕着弯子，起起伏伏，就像一只海鸥忽而盘旋飞舞，忽而急转直下，一下子飞临大海无影无踪了，转瞬间又钻入云层，在琐碎的细枝末节上往复不停歇，现在恰好在一小块漂浮的垃圾上落了脚。

161

-

It was a long time before Rex could be convinced of the existence of a serious impediment to his marriage. The discussion took them to dinner, lay dormant in the presence of the servants, started again as soon as they were alone, and lasted long after midnight. Up, down, and round the argument circled and swooped like a gull, now out to sea, out of sight, cloud-bound, among irrelevances and repetitions, now right on the patch where the offal floated.

162

-

“你们想让我做什么？该去见谁吗？”雷克斯不住地询问，“别告诉我没人能解决这事儿啊。”

162

-

‘What d’you want me to do? Who should I see?’ Rex kept asking. ‘Don’t tell me there isn’t someone who can fix this.’

163

-

“没办法了，雷克斯，”布莱兹赫德说，“这只能说明你们的婚礼不能办了，我很抱歉，以任何观点来看，这件事都太突然了。你应该自己告诉我们这件事的。”

163

-

‘There’s nothing to do, Rex,’ said Brideshead. ‘It simply means your marriage can’t take place. I’m sorry from everyone’s point of view that it’s come so suddenly. You ought to have told us yourself.’

164

-

“好吧，”雷克斯说，“你说的也许在理，严格按照法律的话，我也许不该在你们的教堂结婚。可是教堂已经预订好了，那里的人也没有问题，枢机主教不知道这件事，莫布雷神父也不知道。天知地知你知我知嘛，除了我们，没别人知道了。那又何必自找麻烦呢？只要大家都守口如瓶，让这件事就这么过去，就好像没有这么回事一样，这样对谁有什么损失吗？就算我担上将来要下地狱的风险。行，我就担这个风险。这和别人有关系吗？”

164

-

‘Look, said Rex. ‘Maybe what you say is right; maybe strictly by law I shouldn’t get married in your cathedral. But the cathedral is booked; no one there is asking any questions; the Cardinal knows nothing about it; Father Mowbray knows nothing about it. Nobody except us knows a thing. So why make a lot of trouble? Just stay mum and let the thing go through, as if nothing had happened. Who loses anything by that?? Maybe I risk going to hell. Well, I’ll risk it. What’s it got to do with anyone else?’

165

-

“怎么没有？”茱丽娅说，“我就不相信神父无所不知。不相信为了这种事情就要下地狱。我知道我决不相信有地狱，尽管如此，我们还是应该当心一点儿。我们又不要拿你们的灵魂冒险。你们明哲保身不是正好。”

165

-

‘Why not?’ said Julia. ‘I don’t believe these priests know everything. I don’t believe in hell for things like that. I don’t know that I believe in it for anything. Anyway, that’s our look out. We’re not asking you to risk your souls. Just keep away.’

166

-

“茱丽娅，我恨你。”科迪莉娅说着就走出了房间。

166

-

‘Julia, I hate you,’ said Cordelia, and left the room.

167

-

“我们大家都累了，”马奇梅因夫人说，“如果还有什么话要说，我建议到早晨再说。”

167

-

‘We’re all tired,’ said Lady Marchmain. ‘If there was anything to say, I’d suggest our discussing it in the morning.’

168

-

“可是没有什么可讨论的了，”布莱兹赫德说，“倒是还要讨论用什么最不失体面的方式来结束这件事。这个由我和妈妈商定。我们必须在《泰晤士报》和《晨邮报》上登启事。礼品悉数退回。可女傧相的礼服通常该怎么处理我就不知道了。”

168

-

‘But there’s nothing to discuss,’ said Brideshead, ‘except what’ is the least offensive way we can close the whole incident. Mother and I will decide that. We must put a notice in The Times and the Morning Post; the presents will have to go back. I don’t know what is usual about the bridesmaids’ dresses.’

169

-

“稍等一下，”雷克斯说，“就一会儿。也许你能阻止我们在你们的大教堂结婚。好的，见鬼去吧，那我们就在一个基督教教堂结婚。”

169

-

‘Just a moment,’ said Rex. ‘Just a moment. Maybe you can stop us marrying in your cathedral. All right, to hell, we’ll be married in a Protestant church.’

170

-

“这个我也能阻止。”马奇梅因夫人说。

170

-

‘I can stop that, too,’ said Lady Marchmain.

171

-

“但我认为你办不到，妈妈。”茱丽娅说，“你看，我与雷克斯有夫妻之实到现在已经有一段时间了，我还要继续下去，不管和他结不结婚。”

171

-

‘But I don’t think you will, mummy,’ said Julia. ‘You see, I’ve been Rex’s mistress for some time now, and I shall go on being, married or not.’

172

-

“雷克斯，这是真的吗？”

172

-