第十五章（第3/18页）

“你从未去过殖民地，对吧？”他问她。

"No! Have you?" "I've been in India, and South Africa, and Egypt.” "Why shouldn't we go to South Africa?” "We might!" He said slowly.

“没有！你呢？”“我去过印度、南非还有埃及。”“咱俩干嘛不去南非呢？”“或许可以去！”他慢吞吞地说。

"Or don't you want to?" she asked.

“或许你并不想去？”她问。

"I don't care. I don't much care what I do.” "Doesn't it make you happy? why not? we shan't be poor. I have about six hundred a year, I wrote and asked. It's not much, but it's enough, isn't it?” "It's riches to me.” "Oh, how lovely it will be!"

“我不在乎。去哪里我都无所谓。”“你不高兴吗？为什么？我们不会受穷的。我每年能得到600英镑，我之前写信问过。虽然不多，但也足够咱俩过活，不是吗？”“对我而言，已经算一大笔钱。”“噢，那时的生活该是多么美妙！”

"But I ought to get divorced, and so ought you, unless we're going to have complications.” There was plenty to think about.

“可我应该先办好离婚手续，你也一样，否则准会麻烦不断。”方方面面的事情，都要考虑周详。

Another day she asked him about himself. They were in the hut, and there was a thunderstorm.

还有一天，她问起他的过往。他俩呆在林间小屋里，外面雷雨交加。

"And weren't you happy, when you were a lieutenant and an officer and a gentleman?” "Happy? all right. I liked my Colonel." "Did you love him?" "Yes! I loved him." "And did he love you?" "Yes! In a way, he loved me." "Tell me about him." "What is there to tell? he had risen from the ranks. He loved the army. And he had never married. He was twenty years older than me. He was a very intelligent man: and alone in the army, as such a man is: a passionate man in his way: and a very clever officer. I lived under his spell while I was with him. I sort of let him run my life. And I never regret it.” "And did you mind very much when he died?" "I was as near death myself. But when I came to, I knew another part of me was finished. But then I had always known it would finish in death. All things do, as far as that goes." She sat and ruminated. The thunder crashed outside. It was like being in a little ark in the Flood.

“你以前做过中尉，身为军官和上等人，你觉得开心吗？”“开心？还好。我喜欢自己的上校。”“你爱他吗？”“是的！我爱他。”“他也爱你？”“没错！从某方面来讲，他的确爱我。”“跟我讲讲他的事情。”“从何说起呢？他出身行伍。他热爱军队。他终身未娶。比我年长20岁。他聪明睿智，独来独往，但却待人热诚，是个极有才能的军官。我在他麾下的时候，完全被他倾倒。我自始至终听命于他。并且心甘情愿。”“他撒手人寰，你肯定非常伤心？”“跟我自己死掉差不多。当我恢复健康，深知失去的情感永远无法再挽回。但我早知道结果会是如此。其实，这道理可以推及任何事情。”她坐在那里，反复思索着他的话。屋外雷声阵阵。这小屋就像大洪水中的一叶方舟。

"You seem to have such a lot behind you," she said.

“你的人生似乎有太多故事。”她说。

"Do I? It seems to me I've died once or twice already. Yet here I am, pegging on, and in for more trouble.” She was thinking hard, yet listening to the storm.

“是吗？我感觉自己已经死过一两次。但我依然活着，苟且偷生，准备迎接更多的烦忧。”她冥思苦想着，耳边暴风雨的怒号始终不绝。

"And weren't you happy as an officer and a gentleman, when your Colonel was dead?” "No! They were a mingy lot." he laughed suddenly. "The Colonel used to say: Lad, the English middle classes have to chew every mouthful thirty times because their guts are so narrow, a bit as big as a pea would give them a stoppage. They're the mingiest set of ladylike snipe ever invented: full of conceit of themselves, frightened even if their boot-laces aren't correct, rotten as high game, and always in the right. That's what finishes me up. Kow-tow, kow-tow, arse-licking till their tongues are tough: yet they're always in the right. Prigs on top of everything. Prigs! A generation of ladylike prigs with half a ball each—” Connie laughed. The rain was rushing down.