The next day Nekhludoff went to see the advocate, and spoke to him about the Menshoffs’ case, begging him to undertake their defence. The advocate promised to look into the case, and if it turned out to be as Nekhludoff said he would in all probability undertake the defence free of charge. Then Nekhludoff told him of the 130 men who were kept in prison owing to a mistake. "On whom did it depend? Whose fault was it?"
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律师沉默了一下,显然在考虑怎样作出正确的回答。
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The advocate was silent for a moment, evidently anxious to give a correct reply.
"Whose fault is it? No one’s," he said, decidedly. "Ask the Procureur, he’ll say it is the Governor’s; ask the Governor, he’ll say it is the Procureur’s fault. No one is in fault."
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“我这就去找玛斯连尼科夫,对他说去。”
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"I am just going to see the Vice-Governor. I shall tell him."
"Oh, that’s quite useless," said the advocate, with a smile. "He is such a--he is not a relation or friend of yours?--such a blockhead, if I may say so, and yet a crafty animal at the same time."
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聂赫留朵夫记起玛斯连尼科夫讲过律师的坏话,一言不发,跟他告了别,坐车去找玛斯连尼科夫。
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Nekhludoff remembered what Maslennikoff had said about the advocate, and did not answer, but took leave and went on to Maslennikoff’s.
He had to ask Maslennikoff two things: about Maslova’s removal to the prison hospital, and about the 130 passportless men innocently imprisoned. Though it was very hard to petition a man whom he did not respect, and by whose orders men were flogged, yet it was the only means of gaining his end, and he had to go through with it.
As he drove up to Maslennikoff’s house Nekhludoff saw a number of different carriages by the front door, and remembered that it was Maslennikoff’s wife’s "at-home" day, to which he had been invited.
At the moment Nekhludoff drove up there was a carriage in front of the door, and a footman in livery, with a cockade in his hat, was helping a lady down the doorstep. She was holding up her train, and showing her thin ankles, black stockings, and slippered feet. Among the carriages was a closed landau, which he knew to be the Korchagins’.
The grey-haired, red-checked coachman took off his hat and bowed in a respectful yet friendly manner to Nekhludoff, as to a gentleman he knew well. Nekhludoff had not had time to inquire for Maslennikoff, when the latter appeared on the carpeted stairs, accompanying a very important guest not only to the first landing but to the bottom of the stairs.
This very important visitor, a military man, was speaking in French about a lottery for the benefit of children’s homes that were to be founded in the city, and expressed the opinion that this was a good occupation for the ladies. "It amuses them, and the money comes."
_"Qu’elles s’amusent et que le bon dieu les benisse. M. Nekhludoff!_ How d’you do? How is it one never sees you?" he greeted Nekhludoff. "_Allez presenter vos devoirs a Madame._ And the Korchagins are here et Nadine Bukshevden. _Toutes les jolies femmes de la ville,_" said the important guest, slightly raising his uniformed shoulders as he presented them to his own richly liveried servant to have his military overcoat put on. "_Au revoir, mon cher._" And he pressed Maslennikoff’s hand.
He was in particularly good spirits, owing to the attention paid him by the important personage. Every such attention gave him the same sense of delight as is felt by an affectionate dog when its master pats it, strokes it, or scratches its ears. It wags its tail, cringes, jumps about, presses its ears down, and madly rushes about in a circle. Maslennikoff was ready to do the same.
He did not notice the serious expression on Nekhludoff’s face, paid no heed to his words, but pulled him irresistibly towards the drawing-room, so that it was impossible for Nekhludoff not to follow.
"Business after wards. I shall do whatever you want," said Meslennikoff, as he drew Nekhludoff through the dancing hall. "Announce Prince Nekhludoff," he said to a footman, without stopping on his way. The footman started off at a trot and passed them.
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“你有事只要吩咐一声就行。但你一定得去看看我的太太。我上次没有带你去,挨过一顿骂了。”
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"_Vous n’avez qu’ a ordonner._ But you must see my wife. As it is, I got it for letting you go without seeing her last time."
By the time they reached the drawing-room the footman had already announced Nekhludoff, and from between the bonnets and heads that surrounded it the smiling face of Anna Ignatievna, the Vice-Governor’s wife, beamed on Nekhludoff. At the other end of the drawing-room several ladies were seated round the tea-table, and some military men and some civilians stood near them. The clatter of male and female voices went on unceasingly.
"Enfin! you seem to have quite forgotten us. How have we offended?" With these words, intended to convey an idea of intimacy which had never existed between herself and Nekhludoff, Anna Ignatievna greeted the newcomer.
"You are acquainted?--Madam Tilyaevsky, M. Chernoff. Sit down a bit nearer. Missy _vene donc a notre table on vous apportera votre_ the . . . And you," she said, having evidently forgotten his name, to an officer who was talking to Missy, "do come here. A cup of tea, Prince?"
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“我说什么也不同意,说什么也不同意!她就是不爱他嘛,”一个女人的声音说。
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"I shall never, never agree with you. It’s quite simple; she did not love," a woman’s voice was heard saying.
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“她只爱油煎包子。”
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"But she loved tarts."
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“您老是说无聊的笑话,”另一个头戴高帽、身着绸缎、浑身珠光空气的太太笑着说。
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"Oh, your eternal silly jokes!" put in, laughingly, another lady resplendent in silks, gold, and jewels.
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“太美了,这种华夫饼干,又薄又松。您再给我们一点。”
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"C’est excellent these little biscuits, and so light. I think I’ll take another."
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“怎么样,您快走了吗?”
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"Well, are you moving soon?"
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“今天是最后一天了。因此我们特地跑来。”“春光可美啦,现在去乡下真是再好也没有了!”
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"Yes, this is our last day. That’s why we have come. Yes, it must be lovely in the country; we are having a delightful spring."
Missy, with her hat on, in a dark-striped dress of some kind that fitted her like a skin, was looking very handsome. She blushed when she saw Nekhludoff.
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“我还以为您已经走了呢,”她对他说。
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"And I thought you had left," she said to him.
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“差一点走了,”聂赫留朵夫说。“因为有事耽搁了。我到这儿来也是有事情。”
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"I am on the point of leaving. Business is keeping me in town, and it is on business I have come here."
"Won’t you come to see mamma? She would like to see you," she said, and knowing that she was saying what was not true, and that he knew it also, she blushed still more.
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“恐怕没有工夫了,”聂赫留朵夫冷冷地回答,竭力装作没有发觉她脸红。
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"I fear I shall scarcely have time," Nekhludoff said gloomily, trying to appear as if he had not noticed her blush.
Missy frowned angrily, shrugged her shoulders, and turned towards an elegant officer, who grasped the empty cup she was holding, and knocking his sword against the chairs, manfully carried the cup across to another table.
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“您也应该为孤儿院捐点钱哪!”
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"You must contribute towards the Home fund."
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“我又没有拒绝,不过我想到摸彩会上让大家看看,我这人有多慷慨。到那时我一定要大显身手。”
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"I am not refusing, but only wish to keep my bounty fresh for the lottery. There I shall let it appear in all its glory."
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“嗨,那您可得记住哇!”接着就发出一阵装腔作势的笑声。
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"Well, look out for yourself," said a voice, followed by an evidently feigned laugh.
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这个会客日过得很热闹,安娜·伊格纳基耶夫娜更是兴高采烈。
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Anna Ignatievna was in raptures; her "at-home" had turned out a brilliant success.
"Micky tells me you are busying yourself with prison work. I can understand you so well," she said to Nekhludoff. "Micky (she meant her fat husband, Maslennikoff) may have other defects, but you know how kind-hearted he is.
All these miserable prisoners are his children. He does not regard them in any other light. _Il est d’une bonte---_" and she stopped, finding no words to do justice to this bonte of his, and quickly turned to a shrivelled old woman with bows of lilac ribbon all over, who came in just then.
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聂赫留朵夫为了不失礼,照例说了一些客套话,然后起身向玛斯连尼科夫那儿走去。
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Having said as much as was absolutely necessary, and with as little meaning as conventionality required, Nekhludoff rose and went up to Meslennikoff.