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The day was fading into a soft sun-shot haze, pricked here and there by a yellow electric light, and passers were rare in the little square into which they had turned. Dallas stopped again, and looked up.
天色渐渐变成一团阳光折射的柔和雾霭，空中零零落落射出了电灯的黄光。他们转入的小广场上行人稀少。达拉斯又一次停下来，抬头打量。
"It must be here," he said, slipping his arm through his father's with a movement from which Archer's shyness did not shrink; and they stood together looking up at the house.
“一定是这儿了，”他说，一面把胳臂悄悄搭到父亲臂上。阿切尔对他的这一动作没有退避，他俩站在一起抬头观看那所住宅。
It was a modern building, without distinctive character, but many-windowed, and pleasantly balconied up its wide cream-coloured front.
那是一座现代式的楼房，没有显著的特色，但窗户很多，而且，奶油色的楼房正面十分开阔，并带有赏心悦目的阳台。
On one of the upper balconies, which hung well above the rounded tops of the horse-chestnuts in the square, the awnings were still lowered, as though the sun had just left it.
挂在七叶树圆顶上方的那些上层阳台，其中有一个凉棚还垂着，仿佛太阳光刚刚离开它似的。
"I wonder which floor--?" Dallas conjectured; and moving toward the porte-cochere he put his head into the porter's lodge, and came back to say:
“不知道在几层--？”达拉斯说，一面朝门道走去，把头伸进了门房。回来后他说：
"The fifth. It must be the one with the awnings."
“第五层，一定是那个带凉棚的。”
Archer remained motionless, gazing at the upper windows as if the end of their pilgrimage had been attained.
阿切尔依然纹丝不动，眼睛直盯着上面的窗口，仿佛他们朝圣的目的地已经到达似的。
"I say, you know, it's nearly six," his son at length reminded him.
“我说，你瞧都快6点了，”儿子终于提醒他说。
The father glanced away at an empty bench under the trees.
父亲朝一边望去，瞥见树下有一张空凳子。
"I believe I'll sit there a moment," he said.
“我想我要到那儿坐一会儿，”他说。
"Why--aren't you well?" his son exclaimed.
“怎么--你不舒服？”儿子大声问。
"Oh, perfectly. But I should like you, please, to go up without me."
“噢，没事。不过，我想让你一个人上去。”
Dallas paused before him, visibly bewildered. "But, I say, Dad: do you mean you won't come up at all?"
达拉斯在父亲面前踌躇着，显然感到困惑不解。“可是，我说爸，你是不是打算压根不上去了呢？”
"I don't know," said Archer slowly.
“不知道，”阿切尔缓缓地说。
"If you don't she won't understand."
“如果你不上去，她会很不理解。”
"Go, my boy; perhaps I shall follow you."
“去吧，孩子，也许我随后就来。”
Dallas gave him a long look through the twilight.
达拉斯在薄暮中深深望了他一眼。
"But what on earth shall I say?"
“可我究竟怎么说呢？”
"My dear fellow, don't you always know what to say?" his father rejoined with a smile.
“亲爱的，你不是总知道该说什么吗？”父亲露出笑容说。
"Very well. I shall say you're old-fashioned, and prefer walking up the five flights because you don't like lifts."
“好吧，我就说你脑筋过时了，因为不喜欢电梯，宁愿爬上5层楼。”
His father smiled again. "Say I'm old-fashioned: that's enough."
父亲又露出笑容。“就说我过时了：这就足够了。”
Dallas looked at him again, and then, with an incredulous gesture, passed out of sight under the vaulted doorway.
达拉斯又看了他一眼，做了个不可思议的动作，然后从拱顶的门道中消失了。
Archer sat down on the bench and continued to gaze at the awninged balcony.
阿切尔坐到凳子上，继续盯着那个带凉棚的阳台。
He calculated the time it would take his son to be carried up in the lift to the fifth floor, to ring the bell, and be admitted to the hall, and then ushered into the drawing-room.
他计算着时间：电梯将儿子送上5楼，摁过门铃，他被让进门厅，然后引进客厅。
He pictured Dallas entering that room with his quick assured step and his delightful smile, and wondered if the people were right who said that his boy "took after him."
他一边想象达拉斯迈着快捷自信的脚步走进房间的情形，他那令人愉快的笑容，一边自问：有人说这孩子“很像他”，这话不知是对还是错。
Then he tried to see the persons already in the room--for probably at that sociable hour there would be more than one-and among them a dark lady, pale and dark, who would look up quickly, half rise, and hold out a long thin hand with three rings on it…
接着，他试图想象已经在客厅里面的那些人--正值社交时间，屋于里大概不止一人--在他们中间有一位阴郁的夫人，苍白而阴郁，她会迅捷地抬起头来，欠起身子，伸出一只瘦长的手，上面戴着三枚戒指……
He thought she would be sitting in a sofa-corner near the fire, with azaleas banked behind her on a table.
他想她可能坐在靠火炉的沙发角落里，她身后的桌上摆着一簇杜鹃花。
"It's more real to me here than if I went up," he suddenly heard himself say; and the fear lest that last shadow of reality should lose its edge kept him rooted to his seat as the minutes succeeded each other.
“对我来说，在这儿要比上去更真实，”他猛然听到自己在说。由于害怕真实的影子会失去其最后的清晰，他呆在座位上一动不动。时间一分钟接一分钟地流过。
He sat for a long time on the bench in the thickening dusk, his eyes never turning from the balcony.
在渐趋浓重的暮色里，他在凳子上坐了许久，目光一直没有离开那个阳台。
At length a light shone through the windows, and a moment later a man-servant came out on the balcony, drew up the awnings, and closed the shutters.
终于，一道灯光从窗口照射出来，过了一会儿，一名男仆来到阳台上，收起凉棚，关了百叶窗。
At that, as if it had been the signal he waited for, Newland Archer got up slowly and walked back alone to his hotel.
这时，纽兰·阿切尔像见到了等候的信号似的，慢慢站起身来，一个人朝旅馆的方向走了回去。
