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It was Kraft who first voiced the fear that each of us must have held latently.
克拉夫特第一个说出了我们每人的隐忧。
It came up apropos, of course, of certain questions of art at which we were hammering.
当然，这是我们在讨论某些艺术问题时恰巧提起的。
One of us compared the harmony existing between a Haydn symphony and pistache ice cream to the exquisite congruity between Milly and Cypher's.
我们中的一个把海顿交响乐和开心果冰淇淋间存在的和谐比作米利和塞弗餐馆间的美妙协调。
"There is a certain fate hanging over Milly," said Kraft, "and if it overtakes her she is lost to Cypher's and to us."
“某种命运笼罩着米利，”克拉夫特说，“它一旦压下，塞弗餐馆和我们都要失去她。”
"She will grow fat? "asked Judkins, fearsomely.
“她会发胖？”贾金斯战战兢兢地问。
"She will go to night school and become refined?" I ventured anxiously.
“她要去夜校念书提高文化？”我不安地试探。
"It is this," said Kraft, punctuating in a puddle of spilled coffee with a stiff forefinger.
“是这样的，”克拉夫特僵硬的手指在溅到桌面的一滩咖啡里点着。
"Caesar had his Brutus--the cotton has its boliworm, the chorus girl has her Pittsburger, the summer boarder has his poison ivy,
“凯撒有他的布鲁特斯——棉花有棉铃虫，歌舞女郎有匹兹堡阔佬，夏天度假寄宿者有毒葛，
the hero has his Carnegie medal, art has its Morgan, the rose has its--"
英雄有卡内基勋章，艺术品有摩根，玫瑰有——”
"Speak," I interrupted, much perturbed. "you do not think that Milly will begin to lace?"
“喂，”我非常烦躁地打断他，“你不会是认为米利要结婚吧？”
"One day," concluded Kraft, solemnly,
“总有一天，”克拉夫特严肃地下了结论，
"there will come to Cypher's for a plate of beans a millionaire lumberman from Wisconsin, and he will marry Milly."
“会有一位家财万贯的威斯康星伐木人来到塞弗餐馆点一盘豆，他会娶走米利。”
"Never!" exclaimed Judkins and I, in horror.
“绝不可以！”贾金斯和我一起惊慌地嚷道。
"A lumberman," repeated Kraft, hoarsely.
“一个伐木人。”克拉夫特嘶哑地重复。
"And a millionaire lumberman!" I sighed, despairingly.
“还是一个家财万贯的伐木人！”我绝望地叹气。
"From Wisconsin!" groaned Judkins.
“威斯康星来的！”贾金斯叹息道。
We agreed that the awful fate seemed to menace her. Few things were less improbable.
我们一致觉得这可怕的命运像在威胁着她。没有什么事是不可能的。
Milly, like some vast virgin stretch of pine woods, was made to catch the lumberman's eye.
米利就像是一大片尚未采伐的松林,必定会引起伐木人的注意。
And well we knew the habits of the Badgers, once fortune smiled upon them.
我们很清楚威斯康星人的习性，一旦好运青睐了他们。
Straight to New York they hie,and lay their goods at the feet of the girl who serves them beans in a beanery.
他们就直奔纽约，把货物放在廉价餐馆里替他们端来豆子的姑娘脚边。
Why, the alphabet itself connives.
唉，连字母表本身都来共谋。
The Sunday newspaper's headliner's work is cut for him.
星期日报头条的内容也已为他准备好了。
"Winsome Waitress Wins Wealthy Wisconsin Woodsman.
“威斯康星伐木巨富情归迷人侍应女郎。”
For a while we felt that Milly was on the verge of being lost to us.
有那么一会儿，我们觉得我们马上要失去米利。
It was our love of the Unerring Artistic Adjustment of Nature that inspired us.
正是我们对自然万无一失的艺术调节的热爱鼓舞了我们。
We could not give her over to a lumberman,doubly accursed by wealth and provincialism.
我们不能把她交托给一个伐木人，他有钱而又土气，这使他显得加倍地令人讨厌。
We shuddered to think of Milly, with her voice modulated and her elbows covered, pouring tea in the marble teepee of a tree murderer.
想到米利调整了声音，袖子不再高高卷起，在一个树木谋杀者的大理石圆锥形帐篷下斟茶的情形，我们就发抖。
No! In Cypher's she belonged--in the bacon smoke, the cabbage perfume,the grand, Wagnerian chorus of hurled ironstone china and rattling casters.
不！她属于塞弗餐馆——属于熏肉烟气、卷心菜香味，属于硬质瓷器和调味瓶的碰撞声合成的瓦格纳大合唱。
