评论
打印
"If the child at Madame Pascal's school in Paris was the one you are in search of," he answered soothingly,
“如果在巴黎帕斯卡尔夫人学校里的那个小孩子就是你要寻找的那个，”他劝慰地回答，
"she would seem to be in the hands of people who can afford to take care of her.
“那她看来是在有力量照顾她的人手中。
They adopted her because she had been the favorite companion of their little daughter who died.
他们收养她是因为她曾是他们那已故小女儿的好伴儿。
They had no other children, and Madame Pascal said that they were extremely well-to-do Russians."
他们没别的孩子，而帕期卡尔夫人说过他们是家境很富裕的俄国人。”
"And the wretched woman actually did not know where they had taken her!" exclaimed Mr. Carrisford.
“而那个倒霉的女人竟然不知道他们把她带到哪儿去了！”卡里斯福特先生大声说道。
Mr. Carmichael shrugged his shoulders. "She was a shrewd, worldly Frenchwoman,
卡迈克尔先生耸耸肩。“她是个精明世故的法国女人，
and was evidently only too glad to get the child so comfortably off her hands when the father's death left her totally unprovided for.
能这样舒舒服服地把那个父亲死后完全断绝生活来源的孩子打发出手，显然是何乐而不为。
Women of her type do not trouble themselves about the futures of children who might prove burdens.
像她那种女人不会为了可能成为负担的孩子的前途来麻烦自己。
The adopted parents apparently disappeared and left no trace."
那养父母显然已消失得无影无踪了。”
"But you say 'if the child was the one I am in search of. You say 'if.' We are not sure. There was a difference in the name."
“可是你说‘如果’那孩子就是我要找的那个。你说的是‘如果’。我们不能肯定。姓氏也有所不同。”
"Madame Pascal pronounced it as if it were Carew instead of Crewe—but that might be merely a matter of pronunciation.
“听帕斯卡尔夫人念起来，好像是卡鲁而不是克鲁——但是那可能只是个发音问题。
The circumstances were curiously similar. An English officer in India had placed his motherless little girl at the school.
情况是出奇地相似。一位在印度的英国军官曾把他那没娘的小女儿放进这所学校。
He had died suddenly after losing his fortune." Mr. Carmichael paused a moment, as if a new thought had occurred to him.
而他破产后突然死去了。”卡迈克尔先生停顿了片刻，似乎突然有了一个新的想法。
"Are you sure the child was left at a school in Paris? Are you sure it was Paris?"
“你能肯定那孩子是被放在巴黎的一所学校里的吗？你能肯定是巴黎吗？”
"My dear fellow," broke forth Carrisford, with restless bitterness,
“我亲爱的朋友，”卡里斯福特带着不得安宁的痛苦突然说，
"I am sure of nothing. I never saw either the child or her mother.
“我什么也肯定不了。我从没见过那孩子或她母亲。
Ralph Crewe and I loved each other as boys, but we had not met since our school days, until we met in India.
拉尔夫·克鲁和我在还是孩童时就很友好，但自从离开学校以来就没再见过面，直到在印度才相遇。
I was absorbed in the magnificent promise of the mines. He became absorbed, too.
我当时被矿山的宏伟前景所吸引。他也变得热衷起来。
The whole thing was so huge and glittering that we half lost our heads. When we met we scarcely spoke of anything else.
整个事业是如此庞大和辉煌，使我们半昏了头。我们相遇时很少谈别的事情。
I only knew that the child had been sent to school somewhere. I do not even remember, now, how I knew it."
我只知道那孩子被送往某处地方的一家学校。现在甚至记不起我是怎样知道这事的。”
