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"Oh"--she murmured again, on a different note, as he stood looking down at her; and without rising she made a place for him on the bench.
“哦——”当他站在那儿低头看她时，她又一次低声说，但语气已有所不同。她并没有站起来，而是在长凳上给他空出了位置。
"I'm here on business--just got here," Archer explained; and, without knowing why, he suddenly began to feign astonishment at seeing her.
“我来这儿办事——刚到，”阿切尔解释说，不知为什么，他忽然开始假装见到她非常惊讶。
"But what on earth are you doing in this wilderness?" He had really no idea what he was saying: he felt as if he were shouting at her across endless distances, and she might vanish again before he could overtake her.
“可你究竟在这个荒凉的地方干什么呢？”他实际上不知自己说的是什么：他觉得自己仿佛在很远很远的地方向她叫喊；仿佛不等他赶上，她可能又会消失了。
"I? Oh, I'm here on business too," she answered, turning her head toward him so that they were face to face.
“我？啊，我也是来办事，”她答道，转过头来面对着他。
The words hardly reached him: he was aware only of her voice, and of the startling fact that not an echo of it had remained in his memory.
她的话几乎没传进他的耳朵：他只注意到了她的声音和一个令人震惊的事实——
He had not even remembered that it was low-pitched, with a faint roughness on the consonants.
她的声音竟没有在他的记忆里留下印象，甚至连它低沉的音调和稍有些刺耳的辅音都不曾记得。
"You do your hair differently," he said, his heart beating as if he had uttered something irrevocable.
“你改了发型了，”他说，心里砰砰直跳，仿佛说了什么不可挽回的话似的。
"Differently? No--it's only that I do it as best I can when I'm without Nastasia."
“改了发型？不——这只是娜斯塔西娅不在身边时，我自己尽可能做的。”
"Nastasia; but isn't she with you?"
“娜斯塔西娅？可她没跟着你吗？”
"No; I'm alone. For two days it was not worth while to bring her."
“没有，我一个人来的。因为只有两天，没必要把她带来。”
"You're alone--at the Parker House?"
“你一个人——在帕克旅馆？”
She looked at him with a flash of her old malice. "Does it strike you as dangerous?"
她露出一丝旧日的怨恨看着他说：“这让你感到危险了？”
"No; not dangerous--"
“不，不是危险——”
"But unconventional? I see; I suppose it is." She considered a moment.
“而是不合习俗？我明白了；我想是不合习俗。”她沉吟了片刻。
"I hadn't thought of it, because I've just done something so much more unconventional."
“我没想过这一点，因为我刚做了件更不合习俗的事，”她眼神略带嘲讽地说。
The faint tinge of irony lingered in her eyes. "I've just refused to take back a sum of money--that belonged to me."
“我刚刚拒绝拿回一笔钱——一笔属于我的钱。”
Archer sprang up and moved a step or two away. She had furled her parasol and sat absently drawing patterns on the gravel.
阿切尔跳起来，后退了两步。她收起阳伞，坐在那儿，心不在焉地在沙砾上画着图案。
Presently he came back and stood before her.
他接着又回来站在她面前。
"Some one--has come here to meet you?" "Yes." "With this offer?" She nodded.
“有一个人——来这儿见你了？”“对。”“带着这项提议？”她点了点头。
"And you refused--because of the conditions?" "I refused," she said after a moment.
“而你拒绝了——因为所提的条件？”“我拒绝了，”过了一会儿她说。
He sat down by her again. "What were the conditions?"
他又坐到她身边。“是什么条件？”
"Oh, they were not onerous: just to sit at the head of his table now and then."
“噢，不属于法定义务：只是偶尔在他的餐桌首位坐坐。”
There was another interval of silence. Archer's heart had slammed itself shut in the queer way it had, and he sat vainly groping for a word.
又是一阵沉默。阿切尔的心脏以它奇特的方式骤然停止了跳动，他坐在那儿，徒劳地寻找话语。
"He wants you back--at any price?"
“他想让你回去——不惜任何代价？”
"Well--a considerable price. At least the sum is considerable for me."
“对——代价很高，至少对我来说是巨额。”
He paused again, beating about the question he felt he must put.
他又停下来，焦急地搜寻他觉得必须问的问题。
"It was to meet him here that you came?"
“你来这儿是为了见他？”
She stared, and then burst into a laugh. "Meet him--my husband? HERE? At this season he's always at Cowes or Baden."
她瞪大眼睛，接着爆发出一阵笑声。“见他——我丈夫？在这儿？这个季节他总是在考斯或是巴登。”
"He sent some one?" "Yes." "With a letter?"
“他派了个人来？”“对”“带来一封信？”
She shook her head. "No; just a message. He never writes. I don't think I've had more than one letter from him."
她摇摇头说：“不，只是个口信。他从来不写信。我想我一共就收到过他一封信。”
The allusion brought the colour to her cheek, and it reflected itself in Archer's vivid blush.
一提此事令她双颊绯红，这红润也反射给了阿切尔，他也面色通红。
"Why does he never write?"
“他为什么从不写信？”
"Why should he? What does one have secretaries for?"
“他干吗要写？要秘书是干什么的？”
The young man's blush deepened.
年轻人的脸更红了。
She had pronounced the word as if it had no more significance than any other in her vocabulary.
她说出这个词仿佛它在她的语汇中并不比其他词有更多的意义。
For a moment it was on the tip of his tongue to ask: "Did he send his secretary, then?"
一时间，他差一点就冲口发问：“那么，他是派秘书来的？”
But the remembrance of Count Olenski's only letter to his wife was too present to him.
但对奥兰斯基伯爵给妻子的惟一一封信的回忆对他来说太现实了。
He paused again, and then took another plunge.
他再次停住话头，然后开始又一次冒险。
"And the person?"--
“而那个人呢？”
"The emissary? The emissary," Madame Olenska rejoined, still smiling, "might, for all I care, have left already; but he has insisted on waiting till this evening... in case... on the chance..."
“你指的是使者吗？这位使者，”奥兰斯卡夫人依然微笑着答道，“按我的心意，早该走了，但他却坚持要等到傍晚……以防……万一……”
"And you came out here to think the chance over?"
“那么你出来是为了仔细考虑那种可能？”
"I came out to get a breath of air. The hotel's too stifling. I'm taking the afternoon train back to Portsmouth."
“我出来是为了透透气，旅馆里太问了。我要乘下午的火车回普茨茅斯。”
