Chapter 15
第十五章

When I reached London I found waiting for me an urgent request that I should go to Mrs. Strickland's as soon after dinner as I could. I found her with Colonel MacAndrew and his wife. Mrs. Strickland's sister was older than she, not unlike her, but more faded; and she had the efficient air, as though she carried the British Empire in her pocket, which the wives of senior officers acquire from the consciousness of belonging to a superior caste. Her manner was brisk, and her good-breeding scarcely concealed her conviction that if you were not a soldier you might as well be a counter-jumper. She hated the Guards, whom she thought conceited, and she could not trust herself to speak of their ladies, who were so remiss in calling. Her gown was dowdy and expensive.
我回到伦敦家里，发现有一封急信在等着我，叫我一吃过晚饭就到思特里克兰德太太那里去。我在她家里也看到了麦克安德鲁上校同他的妻子。思特里克兰德太太的姐姐比思特里克兰德太太年纪大几岁，样子同她差不多，只是更衰老一些。这个女人显出一副精明能干的样子，仿佛整个大英帝国都揣在她口袋里似的；一些高级官员的太太深知自己属于优越的阶层，总是带着这种神气的。麦克安德鲁太太精神抖擞，言谈举止表现得很有教养，但却很难掩饰她那根深蒂固的偏见：如果你不是军人，就连站柜台的小职员还不如。她讨厌近卫队军官，认为这些人傲气；不屑于谈论这些官员的老婆，认为她们出身低微。麦克安德鲁上校太太的衣服不是时兴的样式，价钱却很昂贵。
Mrs. Strickland was plainly nervous.
思特里克兰德太太显然十分紧张。
Well, tell us your news, she said.
“好了，给我们讲讲你的新闻吧，”她说。
I saw your husband. I'm afraid he's quite made up his mind not to return. I paused a little. "He wants to paint."
“我见到你丈夫了。我担心他已经拿定主意不再回来了。”我停了一会儿。“他想画画儿。”
What do you mean? cried Mrs. Strickland, with the utmost astonishment.
“你说什么？”思特里克兰德太太喊叫起来，惊奇得不知所以。
Did you never know that he was keen on that sort of thing.
“你一点儿也不知道他喜欢画画儿？”
He must be as mad as a hatter, exclaimed the Colonel.
“这人简直神经失常了，”上校大声说。
Mrs. Strickland frowned a little. She was searching among her recollections.
思特里克兰德太太皱了皱眉头。她苦苦地搜索她的记忆。
I remember before we were married he used to potter about with a paint-box. But you never saw such daubs. We used to chaff him. He had absolutely no gift for anything like that.
“我记得在我们结婚以前他常常带着个颜料盒到处跑。可是他画的画儿要多难看有多难看。我们常常打趣他。他对这种事可以说一点才能也没有。”
Of course it's only an excuse, said Mrs. MacAndrew.
“当然没有，这只不过是个借口，”麦克安德鲁太太说。
Mrs. Strickland pondered deeply for some time. It was quite clear that she could not make head or tail of my announcement. She had put some order into the drawing-room by now, her housewifely instincts having got the better of her dismay; and it no longer bore that deserted look, like a furnished house long to let, which I had noticed on my first visit after the catastrophe. But now that I had seen Strickland in Paris it was difficult to imagine him in those surroundings. I thought it could hardly have failed to strike them that there was something incongruous in him.
思特里克兰德太太又仔细思索了一会儿。非常清楚，她对我带来的这个消息完全不理解。这次她已经把客厅略微收拾了一下，不像出了事以后我第一次到这里来时那样冷冷清清、仿佛等待出租的带家具的房间那样了。但是在我同思特里克兰德在巴黎会过面以后，却很难想像他是属于这种环境的人了。我觉得他们这些人也不会没有觉察思特里克兰德有一些怪异的地方。