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Book 2, Chapter 30.
第二册，第30章。
That evening when Archer came down before dinner he found the drawing-room empty.
当晚，阿切尔从楼上下来吃饭，发现客厅里空无一人。
He and May were dining alone, all the family engagements having been postponed since Mrs. Manson Mingott's illness; and as May was the more punctual of the two he was surprised that she had not preceded him.
只有他和梅单独用餐，自曼森·明戈特太太生了病，所有的家庭约会都推迟了。由于梅比他严守时刻，她没有先他来到，使他有些意外。
He knew that she was at home, for while he dressed he had heard her moving about in her room; and he wondered what had delayed her.
他知道她在家里，他穿衣服的时候听见了她在自己房间里走动的声音；他心里纳闷，不知什么事情耽搁了她。
He had fallen into the way of dwelling on such conjectures as a means of tying his thoughts fast to reality.
他已渐渐养成细心推测这些琐事的习惯，作为一种手段来约束自己的思绪，从而面对现实。
Sometimes he felt as if he had found the clue to his father-in-law's absorption in trifles; perhaps even Mr. Welland, long ago, had had escapes and visions, and had conjured up all the hosts of domesticity to defend himself against them.
有时候他觉得仿佛发现了他岳父关注琐事的奥秘，也许就连韦兰先生很久以前也有过消遣与幻想，因而构想出一大堆家务事以抵御其诱惑。
When May appeared he thought she looked tired.
梅露面的时候他觉得她好像很疲惫。
She had put on the low-necked and tightly-laced dinner- dress which the Mingott ceremonial exacted on the most informal occasions, and had built her fair hair into its usual accumulated coils; and her face, in contrast, was wan and almost faded.
她穿上了那件低领、紧腰的餐服，按明戈特家的礼数，这是在最不拘礼节的场合的着装。她还把金色的头发做成平时那种层层盘卷的样式，她的脸色显得很苍白，几乎没有了光泽。
But she shone on him with her usual tenderness, and her eyes had kept the blue dazzle of the day before.
然而她依然对他流露着平日的温存，她的蓝眼睛依然像前一天那样闪耀着光彩。
"What became of you, dear?" she asked. "I was waiting at Granny's, and Ellen came alone, and said she had dropped you on the way because you had to rush off on business. There's nothing wrong?"
“你怎么啦，亲爱的？”她问。“我在外婆家等你，可只有埃伦一个人到了。她说让你在路上下了车，因为你急着要去办公事。没出什么事吧？”
"Only some letters I'd forgotten, and wanted to get off before dinner."
“只是有几封信我原先忘记了，想在晚饭前发出去。”
"Ah--" she said; and a moment afterward: "I'm sorry you didn't come to Granny's--unless the letters were urgent."
“噢--”停了一会儿她又说，“我很遗憾你没去外婆家--除非那几封信很紧急。”
"They were," he rejoined, surprised at her insistence.
“是很紧急，”他回答说，对她的寻根刨底有些意外。
"Besides, I don't see why I should have gone to your grandmother's. I didn't know you were there."
“另外，我不明白干吗非得到你外祖母家去，我又不知道你在那儿。”
She turned and moved to the looking-glass above the mantel-piece.
她转过身，走到壁炉上方那面镜子跟前，
As she stood there, lifting her long arm to fasten a puff that had slipped from its place in her intricate hair, Archer was struck by something languid and inelastic in her attitude, and wondered if the deadly monotony of their lives had laid its weight on her also.
站在那里，举起长长的手臂紧一紧从她缠结的头发中滑落下来的一缕鬈发。阿切尔觉得她神态有点呆滞倦怠，他心中纳闷，他们单调至极的生活是否也对她造成了压力。
Then he remembered that, as he had left the house that morning, she had called over the stairs that she would meet him at her grandmother's so that they might drive home together.
这时，他想起早上他离家时，她在楼上大声对他说要在外婆家等他，这样他们可以一起坐车回家，
He had called back a cheery "Yes!" and then, absorbed in other visions, had forgotten his promise.
他高高兴兴地喊了声“好的”。可是后来，由于关注其他事情，他却忘掉了自己的允诺。
Now he was smitten with compunction, yet irritated that so trifling an omission should be stored up against him after nearly two years of marriage.
此刻他深感内疚，同时也有些光火：为了这样一点疏忽也记恨他，而他们结婚已经快两年了。
He was weary of living in a perpetual tepid honeymoon, without the temperature of passion yet with all its exactions.
他讨厌永远生活在那种不冷不热的蜜月之中--感情的热度已经消退，却依然维持那些苛刻要求。
If May had spoken out her grievances, he suspected her of many, he might have laughed them away; but she was trained to conceal imaginary wounds under a Spartan smile.
假如梅公开说出她的伤心事，他猜她有许多，他本来可以用笑声将其驱散的，然而她却养成了习惯，将假想的痛苦掩藏在斯巴达式的微笑背后。
To disguise his own annoyance he asked how her grandmother was, and she answered that Mrs. Mingott was still improving, but had been rather disturbed by the last news about the Beauforts.
为了掩饰个人的烦恼，他询问她外婆的病情如何，她回答说明戈特太太仍然在慢慢好转，不过有关博福特夫妇的最新消息却令她十分不安。
"What news?"
“什么消息？”
"It seems they're going to stay in New York. I believe he's going into an insurance business, or something. They're looking about for a small house."
“好像他们还要留在纽约，我想他是打算从事保险业还是什么的。他们在寻找一座小住宅。”
The preposterousness of the case was beyond discussion, and they went in to dinner.
这事无疑是十分荒谬的。
During dinner their talk moved in its usual limited circle; but Archer noticed that his wife made no allusion to Madame Olenska, nor to old Catherine's reception of her.
他们进餐厅吃饭，饭问他们的交谈转入平时那种有限的范围，不过阿切尔注意到妻子压根儿没提奥兰斯卡夫人的事，也不提老凯瑟琳对她的接待。
He was thankful for the fact, yet felt it to be vaguely ominous.
他为此谢天谢地，但却朦胧感到有点不祥之兆。
They went up to the library for coffee, and Archer lit a cigar and took down a volume of Michelet.
他们上楼到图书室喝咖啡。阿切尔点上一支雪茄，取下一卷米歇勒的书。
He had taken to history in the evenings since May had shown a tendency to ask him to read aloud whenever she saw him with a volume of poetry: not that he disliked the sound of his own voice, but because he could always foresee her comments on what he read.
过去，梅一见他拿起诗集就让他大声朗读，自她表现出这一爱好之后，他晚上便开始读历史书了。不是他不喜欢自己的嗓音，而是因为他老是能够预见到她发表的评论。
In the days of their engagement she had simply, as he now perceived echoed what he told her; but since he had ceased to provide her with opinions she had begun to hazard her own, with results destructive to his enjoyment of the works commented on.
在他们订婚后的那些日子，她像他现在认识到的,仅仅重复他对她讲过的东西，可自从他停止向她提供意见之后，她便试着提出自己的看法，其结果使他对所评作品的欣赏遭到破坏。
Seeing that he had chosen history she fetched her workbasket, drew up an arm-chair to the green-shaded student lamp, and uncovered a cushion she was embroidering for his sofa.
她见他选了本历史书，便拿起她的针线筐，把扶手椅拉到那盏罩着绿色灯罩的台灯跟前，打开了她正在为他的沙发刺绣的靠垫。
She was not a clever needle- woman; her large capable hands were made for riding, rowing and open-air activities; but since other wives embroidered cushions for their husbands she did not wish to omit this last link in her devotion.
她并非巧手针黹的女子，她那双能干的大手天生是从事骑马、划船等户外活动的；不过，既然别人的妻子都为丈夫绣靠垫，她也不想忽略表现她忠诚的这一枝节。
