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This confidence in the future had steadied him to play his part in the present.
对未来的这一信念支持着他扮演当前的角色，
It had kept him from writing to her, or betraying, by any sign or act, his misery and mortification.
使他坚持不给她写信，也不流露任何痛苦或悔恨的迹象。
It seemed to him that in the deadly silent game between them the trumps were still in his hands; and he waited.
他觉得在他们两人之间这场极为隐秘的游戏中，胜券仍然握在他手中；于是他等待着。
There had been, nevertheless, moments sufficiently difficult to pass; as when Mr. Letterblair, the day after Madame Olenska's departure, had sent for him to go over the details of the trust which Mrs. Manson Mingott wished to create for her granddaughter.
然而这段时间确实也有十分难过的时刻，比如在奥兰斯卡夫人走后的第二天，莱特布赖先生派人找他来审查一下曼森·明戈特想为孙女开设信托财产的细节问题。
For a couple of hours Archer had examined the terms of the deed with his senior, all the while obscurely feeling that if he had been consulted it was for some reason other than the obvious one of his cousinship; and that the close of the conference would reveal it.
阿切尔花了两个小时与上司一起审查事项的条款，在此期间他却隐隐感到，这件事找他商量，显然不全是由于他的表亲关系等，讨论结束时就会真相大白。
"Well, the lady can't deny that it's a handsome arrangement," Mr. Letterblair had summed up, after mumbling over a summary of the settlement.
“唔，这位夫人无法否认，这是个相当不错的解决办法，”莱特布赖对着那份协议概要嗫嚅一阵后总结说。
"In fact I'm bound to say she's been treated pretty handsomely all round."
“实际上，我不得不说，从各方面来看，对待她还是相当宽宏大量的。”
"All round?" Archer echoed with a touch of derision. "Do you refer to her husband's proposal to give her back her own money?"
“从各方面说？”阿切尔带着一丝嘲笑的口吻重复道。
Mr. Letterblair's bushy eyebrows went up a fraction of an inch.
“你指的是她丈夫提议把她自己的钱归还给她吗！”
"My dear sir, the law's the law; and your wife's cousin was married under the French law.
莱特布赖那浓密的眉毛挑起了一点点。
It's to be presumed she knew what that meant."
“先生，法律就是法律，你妻子的表姊结婚是受法国法律约束的。
"Even if she did, what happened subsequently--." But Archer paused.
她应该明白那是什么意思。”
Mr. Letterblair had laid his pen- handle against his big corrugated nose, and was looking down it with the expression assumed by virtuous elderly gentlemen when they wish their youngers to understand that virtue is not synonymous with ignorance.
“即使她明白，后来发生的事--”阿切尔住了口。莱特布赖已经将笔杆抵到皱起的大鼻子上，并且顺着笔杆将目光垂下，脸上那副表情俨然如德高望重的老绅士想要告诫他们的儿子：德行并非无知。
"My dear sir, I've no wish to extenuate the Count's transgressions; but--but on the other side... I wouldn't put my hand in the fire... well, that there hadn't been tit for tat... with the young champion...."
“先生，我井不想减轻伯爵的过失；但--另一方面，我也不愿自找麻烦……唔，对那个年轻人……事情也还没到针锋相对的地步……”
Mr. Letterblair unlocked a drawer and pushed a folded paper toward Archer. "This report, the result of discreet enquiries..."
莱特布赖打开一个抽屉，朝阿切尔推过一份折叠的文件。
And then, as Archer made no effort to glance at the paper or to repudiate the suggestion, the lawyer somewhat flatly continued: "I don't say it's conclusive, you observe; far from it. But straws show... and on the whole it's eminently satisfactory for all parties that this dignified solution has been reached."
后来，由于阿切尔没有尝试看那文件，也无意驳斥他的意见，律师先生才有点无精打采地接着说：“你瞧，我并不是说这就是最后的结局了；事情还远没有结束。但见微知著……总体而言，这一体面的解决方法，对方方面面都是非常圆满的了。”
"Oh, eminently," Archer assented, pushing back the paper.
“是啊，非常圆满，”阿切尔赞同地说，同时把文件推了回去。
A day or two later, on responding to a summons from Mrs. Manson Mingott, his soul had been more deeply tried.
过了一两天，应曼森·明戈特的召唤，他的灵魂经历了一次更加深刻的考验。
He had found the old lady depressed and querulous.
他发现老夫人意气消沉，牢骚满腹。
"You know she's deserted me?" she began at once; and without waiting for his reply: "Oh, don't ask me why!
“你知道她把我抛弃了？”她立即便开了口，而且没等他回话，又接着说道：“唉，别问我为什么！
She gave so many reasons that I've forgotten them all.
她说了那么多理由，结果我全都忘了。
My private belief is that she couldn't face the boredom.
我私下认为是她忍受不了无聊。
At any rate that's what Augusta and my daughters-in-law think.
不管怎样，反正奥古斯塔和我儿媳是这样想的，
And I don't know that I altogether blame her.
我不认为事情全都怪她。
Olenski's a finished scoundrel; but life with him must have been a good deal gayer than it is in Fifth Avenue.
奥兰斯基是个绝顶的混蛋，不过跟他一起生活一定会比在第五大街快活得多。
Not that the family would admit that: they think Fifth Avenue is Heaven with the rue de la Paix thrown in.
家里人可不承认这一点，他们认为第五大街就是太太平平的天堂。
And poor Ellen, of course, has no idea of going back to her husband.
可怜的埃伦当然不打算回丈夫那儿去，
She held out as firmly as ever against that. So she's to settle down in Paris with that fool Medora....
她一如既往地反对那样做。所以她准备跟梅多拉那个傻瓜在巴黎定居……
Well, Paris is Paris; and you can keep a carriage there on next to nothing.
唉，巴黎就是巴黎，在那里，哪怕你没有几个钱，也能弄一辆马车。
But she was as gay as a bird, and I shall miss her."
可她像只小鸟一样快活，我会想念她的。”
Two tears, the parched tears of the old, rolled down her puffy cheeks and vanished in the abysses of her bosom.
两滴眼泪--老年人于涩的眼泪--顺着她肥胖的面颊滚落下来，消失在她那无边无际的胸膛上。
"All I ask is," she concluded, "that they shouldn't bother me any more. I must really be allowed to digest my gruel...."
“我只求一件事，”她最后说，“他们别再来打扰我。确确实实该让我一边享清闲了……”
And she twinkled a little wistfully at Archer.
她有点恋恋不舍地对阿切尔眨眨眼睛。
It was that evening, on his return home, that May announced her intention of giving a farewell dinner to her cousin.
就是这天晚上，他回家后，梅说出她想为表姊举办告别宴会的打算。
Madame Olenska's name had not been pronounced between them since the night of her flight to Washington; and Archer looked at his wife with surprise.
自从奥兰斯卡夫人逃往华盛顿的那一夜起，她的名字一直没人提过。阿切尔惊讶地看着妻子。
"A dinner--why?" he interrogated.
“举办宴会--为什么？”他问道。
Her colour rose. "But you like Ellen--I thought you'd be pleased."
她脸上泛起了红润。“可你喜欢埃伦呀--我以为你会高兴呢。”
"It's awfully nice--your putting it in that way. But I really don't see--"
“你这样说真是太好了。不过我确实不明白--”
"I mean to do it, Newland," she said, quietly rising and going to her desk.
“宴会我是一定要办的，纽兰。”她说完便平静地站了起来，走到她的书桌前。
"Here are the invitations all written. Mother helped me--she agrees that we ought to."
“这些请柬全都写好了，是母亲帮我写的--她也认为我们应该办。”
She paused, embarrassed and yet smiling, and Archer suddenly saw before him the embodied image of the Family.
她打住话头，有点儿尴尬却面带笑容。阿切尔顿时认识到，他的面前是“家族”的化身。
"Oh, all right," he said, staring with unseeing eyes at the list of guests that she had put in his hand.
“噢，那好吧，”他说，一面用视而不见的目光看着她递到手中的客人名单。
When he entered the drawing-room before dinner May was stooping over the fire
宴会前他走进客厅时，梅正俯身在火炉上，
and trying to coax the logs to burn in their unaccustomed setting of immaculate tiles.
小心翼翼地摆弄那些木柴，设法让它们在不习惯的干净瓷砖里面烧旺。
The tall lamps were all lit, and Mr. van der Luyden's orchids had been conspicuously disposed in various receptacles of modern porcelain and knobby silver.
高高的落地灯全都点亮了，范德卢顿先生的兰花配置在各式各样的新瓷盆与漂亮的银制容器里，十分引人注目。
Mrs. Newland Archer's drawing-room was generally thought a great success.
大家普遍认为，纽兰·阿切尔太太的客厅布置得极为成功。
