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The parlour-maid, hearing his step, ran up the stairs to light the gas on the upper landing.
客厅女佣听到他的脚步声，跑上楼梯去点上面梯台上的煤气灯。
"Is Mrs. Archer in?"
“阿切尔太太在家吗？”
"No, sir; Mrs. Archer went out in the carriage after luncheon, and hasn't come back."
“不在，老爷。阿切尔太太午饭后坐马车出去了，现在还没回来。”
With a sense of relief he entered the library and flung himself down in his armchair.
他怀着一种宽慰走进图书室，一屁股坐到扶手椅上。
The parlour-maid followed, bringing the student lamp and shaking some coals onto the dying fire.
女佣跟在后面，带来了台灯，并向快要熄灭的壁炉里加了点煤。
When she left he continued to sit motionless, his elbows on his knees, his chin on his clasped hands, his eyes fixed on the red grate.
她走后他继续一动不动地坐着，双肘压在膝上，两手交叉托着下巴，眼睛盯着发红的炉格。
He sat there without conscious thoughts, without sense of the lapse of time, in a deep and grave amazement that seemed to suspend life rather than quicken it.
他坐在那儿，思绪纷乱，忘记了时间的流逝，深深陷入惊愕之中，仿佛生活不是加快了，而是被中止了。
"This was what had to be, then... this was what had to be," he kept repeating to himself, as if he hung in the clutch of doom.
“这是迫不得已的，那么……这是迫不得已的，”他心里反复地说，好像遭了厄运似的。
What he had dreamed of had been so different that there was a mortal chill in his rapture.
这结局与他梦寐以求的相去太远，给他的狂喜泼上一盆彻骨的冰水。
The door opened and May came in.
门开了，梅走了进来。
"I'm dreadfully late--you weren't worried, were you?" she asked, laying her hand on his shoulder with one of her rare caresses.
“我回来太晚了--没让你担心吧？”她问，一面把头靠在他的肩上，难得地拥抱着他。
He looked up astonished. "Is it late?"
他愕然地抬起头问：“已经很晚了吗？”
"After seven. I believe you've been asleep!"
“都7点多了，我以为你已经睡了呢！”她笑着说。
She laughed, and drawing out her hat pins tossed her velvet hat on the sofa.
随后拍下帽子上的别针，把她的丝绒帽丢到沙发上。
She looked paler than usual, but sparkling with an unwonted animation.
她比平时显得苍白些，但精神异常焕发。
"I went to see Granny, and just as I was going away Ellen came in from a walk; so I stayed and had a long talk with her.
“我去看外婆了，正当我要走的时候，埃伦散步回来了，于是我又留下，跟她进行了一次长谈，
It was ages since we'd had a real talk...." She had dropped into her usual armchair, facing his, and was running her fingers through her rumpled hair.
我们许久没有这样真诚地交谈了……”她坐在平时坐的那把扶手椅上，面对着他，用手指梳理着纷乱的头发。
He fancied she expected him to speak.
他觉得她在等他说话。
"A really good talk," she went on, smiling with what seemed to Archer an unnatural vividness.
“是真正亲切的交谈，”她接着说，脸上活泼的笑容让阿切尔感到有些做作。
"She was so dear--just like the old Ellen. I'm afraid I haven't been fair to her lately. I've sometimes thought--" Archer stood up and leaned against the mantelpiece, out of the radius of the lamp.
“她非常可爱--完全像是过去那个埃伦。恐怕我最近对她不够公平，有时我认为--”阿切尔站起来，倚在壁炉台上，躲开了灯光的照射范围。
"Yes, you've thought--?" he echoed as she paused.
“噢，你认为--？”见她打住话头，他重复一遍说。
"Well, perhaps I haven't judged her fairly. She's so different--at least on the surface.
“唉，也许我对她评价不够公平。她是那么特殊--至少在表面上，
She takes up such odd people--she seems to like to make herself conspicuous.
她接纳那么古怪的人--好像她喜欢引人注意。
I suppose it's the life she's led in that fast European society; no doubt we seem dreadfully dull to her.
我猜这就是她在放荡的欧洲社会所过的生活吧；我们这些人在她心目中无疑是很无聊。
But I don't want to judge her unfairly."
不过我不想对她做不公正的评价。”
She paused again, a little breathless with the unwonted length of her speech, and sat with her lips slightly parted and a deep blush on her cheeks.
她又停住口，由于不习惯讲这么多而有点儿气喘吁吁。她坐在那儿，双唇微启，两颊绯红。
Archer, as he looked at her, was reminded of the glow which had suffused her face in the Mission Garden at St. Augustine.
阿切尔看着她，想起了在圣奥古斯汀教区花园里她那张涨红的脸。
He became aware of the same obscure effort in her, the same reaching out toward something beyond the usual range of her vision.
他注意到她内心那种同样的暗中努力，那种对超越她正常想像力的某种事情同样的企盼。
"She hates Ellen," he thought, "and she's trying to overcome the feeling, and to get me to help her to overcome it."
“她恨埃伦，”他心里想。“并且想要克服这种感情，还想让我帮她克服。”
The thought moved him, and for a moment he was on the point of breaking the silence between them, and throwing himself on her mercy.
这一想法使他深受感动。有一会儿他直想打破两人之间的沉默，豁出去求助于她的宽恕。
"You understand, don't you," she went on, "why the family have sometimes been annoyed? We all did what we could for her at first; but she never seemed to understand.
“你知道家里人有时给弄得很烦恼，”她接着说，“对吗？开始我们都尽可能为她着想，可她好像根本就不理解。
And now this idea of going to see Mrs. Beaufort, of going there in Granny's carriage!
而现在又想起来去看博福特太太，还要坐外婆的马车去！
I'm afraid she's quite alienated the van der Luydens..."
我担心她已经使范德卢顿夫妇产生了不和……”
"Ah," said Archer with an impatient laugh. The open door had closed between them again.
“啊哈，”阿切尔不耐烦地笑道。他俩中间那道门重又关上了。
"It's time to dress; we're dining out, aren't we?" he asked, moving from the fire.
“到了换衣服的时间了。我们要出去吃饭，对吗？”他问道，一面离开火炉。
She rose also, but lingered near the hearth.
她也站了起来，却继续在炉边磨蹭。
As he walked past her she moved forward impulsively, as though to detain him:
当他走过她身边时，她冲动地迎上去，仿佛要留住他似的。
their eyes met, and he saw that hers were of the same swimming blue as when he had left her to drive to Jersey City.
他们的目光相遇了，他发觉她那双眼睛又蓝汪汪的，跟他告别她去泽西城时一样。
She flung her arms about his neck and pressed her cheek to his.
她张开双臂绕住他的脖子，把脸紧紧贴到他的脸上。
"You haven't kissed me today," she said in a whisper; and he felt her tremble in his arms.
“你今天还没吻我呢，”她悄声地说；他感觉到她在他怀中颤抖了。
