Chapter 2
第二章
THE sale was due to be held on the 16th.
拍賣定于十六日舉行。
An interval of one day had been left between the viewing and the sale in order to give the upholsterers enough time to take down the hangings, curtains and so forth.
在參觀和拍賣之間有一天空隙時(shí)間，這是留給地毯商拆卸帷幔、壁毯等墻上飾物用的。
I was at that time recently returned from my travels. It was quite natural that no one had told me about Marguerite's death, for it was hardly one of those momentous news-items which friends always rush to tell anybody who has just got back to the capital city of News. Marguerite had been pretty, but the greater the commotion that attends the sensational lives of these women, the smaller the stir once they are dead. They are like those dull suns which set as they have risen: they are unremarkable. News of their death, when they die young, reaches all their lovers at the same instant, for in Paris the lovers of any celebrated courtesan see each other every day. A few reminiscences are exchanged about her, and the lives of all and sundry continue as before without so much as a tear.
那時(shí)候，我正好從外地旅游歸來。當(dāng)一個(gè)人回到消息靈通的首都時(shí)，別人總是要告訴他一些重要新聞的。但是沒有人把瑪格麗特的去世當(dāng)作什么大事情來對(duì)我講，這也是很自然的�，敻覃愄亻L(zhǎng)得很漂亮，但是，這些女人生前考究的生活越是鬧得滿城風(fēng)雨，她們死后也就越是無聲無息。她們就像某些星辰，隕落時(shí)和初升時(shí)一樣黯淡無光。如果她們年紀(jì)輕輕就死了，那么她們所有的情人都會(huì)同時(shí)得到消息；因?yàn)樵诎屠�，一位名妓的所有情人彼此幾乎都是密友。大家�?huì)相互回憶幾件有關(guān)她過去的逸事，然后各人將依然故我，絲毫不受這事的影響，甚至誰也不會(huì)因此而掉一滴眼淚。
For a young man of twenty-five nowadays, tears have become so rare a thing that they are not to be wasted on the first girl who comes along. The most that may be expected is that the parents and relatives who pay for the privilege of being wept for are indeed mourned to the extent of their investment.
如今，人們到了二十五歲這年紀(jì)，眼淚就變得非常珍貴，決不能輕易亂流，充其量只對(duì)為他們花費(fèi)過金錢的雙親才哭上幾聲，作為對(duì)過去為他們破費(fèi)的報(bào)答。
For my own part, though my monogram figured on none of Marguerite's dressing-cases, the instinctive forbearance and natural pity to which I have just admitted led me to dwell on her death for much longer than it perhaps warranted.
而我呢，雖然瑪格麗特任何一件用品上都沒有我姓名的開頭字母，可是我剛才承認(rèn)過的那種出于本能的寬容和那種天生的憐憫，使我對(duì)她的死久久不能忘懷，雖說她也許并不值得我如此想念。
I recalled having come across Marguerite very frequently on the Champs-Elysees, where she appeared assiduously each day in a small blue brougham drawn by two magnificent bays, and I remembered having also remarked in her at that time an air of distinction rare in women of her kind and which was further enhanced by her truly exceptional beauty.
記得我過去經(jīng)常在香榭麗舍大街遇到瑪格麗特，她坐著一輛由兩匹栗色駿馬駕著的藍(lán)色四輪轎式小馬車，每天一準(zhǔn)來到那兒。她身上有一種不同于她那一類人的氣質(zhì)，而她那風(fēng)致韻絕的姿色，又更襯托出了這種氣質(zhì)的與眾不同。
When these unfortunate creatures appear in public, they are invariably escorted by some companion or other.
這些不幸的人兒出門的時(shí)候，身邊總是有個(gè)什么人陪著的。
Since no man would ever consent to flaunt by day the predilection he has for them by night, and because they abhor solitude, they are usually attended either by less fortunate associates who have no carriages of their own, or else by elderly ladies of refinement who are not the least refined and to whom an interested party may apply without fear, should any information be required concerning the woman they are escorting.
因?yàn)闆]有一個(gè)男人愿意把他們和這種女人的曖昧關(guān)系公開化，而她們又不堪寂寞，因此總是隨身帶著女伴。這些陪客有些是因?yàn)榫硾r不如她們，自己沒有車子；有些是怎么打扮也好看不了的老婦人。如果有人要想知道她們陪同的那位馬車女主人的任何私情秘事，那么盡可以放心大膽地向她們?nèi)フ?qǐng)教。
It was not so with Marguerite. She always appeared alone on the Champs- Elysees, riding in her own carriage where she sat as unobtrusively as possible, enveloped on winter days in a large Indian shawl and, in summer, wearing the simplest dresses. And though there were many she knew along her favourite route, when she chanced to smile at them, her smile was visible to them alone. A Duchess could have smiled no differently.
瑪格麗特卻不落窠臼，她總是獨(dú)個(gè)兒坐車到香榭麗舍大街去，盡量不招人注意。她冬天裹著一條開司米大披肩，夏天穿著十分淡雅的長(zhǎng)裙。在這條她喜歡散步的大道上盡管有很多熟人，她偶爾也對(duì)他們微微一笑，但這是一種只有公爵夫人才有的微笑，而且也唯有他們自己才能覺察。
She did not ride from the Rond- Point down to the entrance, to the Champs-Elysees as do ?and did ?all her sort. Her two horses whisked her off smartly to the Bois de Boulogne.
她也不像她所有那些同行一樣，習(xí)慣在圓形廣場(chǎng)和香榭麗舍大街街口之間散步，她的兩匹馬飛快地把她拉到郊外的布洛涅樹林①。①布洛涅樹林：在巴黎近郊，是當(dāng)時(shí)上流社會(huì)人物的游樂勝地。
There she alighted, walked for an hour, rejoined her brougham and returned home at a fast trot.
她在那里下車，漫步一個(gè)小時(shí)，然后重新登上馬車，疾馳回家。
These circumstances, which I had occasionally observed for myself, now came back to me and I sorrowed for this girl's death much as one might regret the total destruction of a beautiful work of art.
所有這些我親眼目睹的情景至今還歷歷在目，我很惋惜這位姑娘的早逝，就像人們惋惜一件精美的藝術(shù)品被毀掉了一樣。
For it was impossible to behold beauty more captivating than Marguerite's.
的確，瑪格麗特可真是個(gè)絕色女子。
Tall and slender almost to a fault, she possessed in the highest degree the art of concealing this oversight of nature simply by the way she arranged the clothes she wore.
她身材頎長(zhǎng)苗條稍許過了點(diǎn)分，可她有一種非凡的才能，只要在穿著上稍稍花些功夫，就把這種造化的疏忽給掩飾過去了。
Her Indian shawl, with its point reaching down to the ground, gave free movement on either side to the flounced panels of her silk dress, while the thick muff, which hid her hands and which she kept pressed to her bosom, was encompassed by folds so skillfully managed that even the most demanding eye would have found nothing wanting in the lines of her figure.
她披著長(zhǎng)可及地的開司米大披肩，兩邊露出綢子長(zhǎng)裙的寬闊的鑲邊，她那緊貼在胸前藏手用的厚厚的暖手籠四周的褶裥都做得十分精巧，因此無論用什么挑剔的眼光來看，線條都是無可指摘的。
Her face, a marvel, was the object of her most fastidious attentions. It was quite small and, as Musset might have said, her mother had surely made it so to ensure it was fashioned with care.
她的頭樣很美，是一件絕妙的珍品，它長(zhǎng)得小巧玲瓏，就像繆塞①所說的那樣，她母親好像是有意讓它生得這么小巧，以便把它精心雕琢一番。①繆塞（１８１０—１８５７）：法國(guó)浪漫主義詩人和戲劇家。
Upon an oval of indescribable loveliness, place two dark eyes beneath brows so cleanly arched that they might have been painted on; veil those eyes with lashes so long that, when lowered, they cast shadows over the pink flush of the cheeks; sketch a delicate, straight, spirited nose and nostrils slightly flared in a passionate aspiration towards sensuality; draw a regular mouth with lips parting gracefully over teeth as white as milk; tint the skin with the bloom of peaches which no hand has touched ?and you will have a comprehensive picture of her entrancing face.
在一張流露著難以描繪其風(fēng)韻的鵝蛋臉上，嵌著兩只烏黑的大眼睛，上面兩道彎彎細(xì)長(zhǎng)的眉毛，純凈得猶如人工畫就的一般，眼睛上蓋著濃密的睫毛，當(dāng)眼簾低垂時(shí)，給玫瑰色的臉頰投去一抹淡淡的陰影；細(xì)巧而挺直的鼻子透出股靈氣，鼻翼微鼓，像是對(duì)情欲生活的強(qiáng)烈渴望；一張端正的小嘴輪廓分明，柔唇微啟，露出一口潔白如奶的牙齒；皮膚顏色就像未經(jīng)人手觸摸過的蜜桃上的絨衣：這些就是這張美麗的臉蛋給您的大致印象。
Her jet-black hair, naturally or artfully waved, was parted over her forehead in two thick coils which vanished behind her head, just exposing the lobes of her ears from which hung two diamonds each worth four or five thousand francs.
黑玉色的頭發(fā)，不知是天然的還是梳理成的，像波浪一樣地鬈曲著，在額前分梳成兩大綹，一直拖到腦后，露出兩個(gè)耳垂，耳垂上閃爍著兩顆各值四五千法郎的鉆石耳環(huán)。
Exactly how the torrid life she led could possibly have left on Marguerite's face the virginal, even childlike expression which made it distinctive, is something which we are forced to record as a fact which we cannot comprehend.
瑪格麗特過著熱情縱欲的生活，但是她的臉上卻呈現(xiàn)出處女般的神態(tài)，甚至還帶著稚氣的特征，這真使我們百思而不得其解。
Marguerite possessed a marvelous portrait of herself by Vidal, the only man whose pencil strokes could capture her to the life. After her death, this portrait came into my keeping for a few days and the likeness was so striking that it has helped me to furnish details for which memory alone might not have sufficed.
瑪格麗特有一幅她自己的畫像，是維達(dá)爾①的杰作，也唯有他的畫筆才能把瑪格麗特畫得如此惟妙惟肖。在她去世以后，有幾天，這幅畫在我手里。這幅畫畫得跟真人一樣，它彌補(bǔ)了我記憶力的不足。①維達(dá)爾（１８１１—１８８７）：法國(guó)肖像畫家，是法國(guó)名畫家保羅·德拉羅什的學(xué)生；善繪當(dāng)時(shí)巴黎上流社會(huì)的人士。
Some of the particulars contained in the present chapter did not become known to me until some time later, but I set them down here so as not to have to return to them once the narrative account of this woman's life has begun.
這一章里敘述的情節(jié)，有些是我后來才知道的，不過我現(xiàn)在就寫下來，免得以后開始講述這個(gè)女人的故事時(shí)再去重新提起。
Marguerite was present at all first nights and spent each evening in the theatre or at the ball. Whenever a new play was performed, you could be sure of seeing her there with three things which she always had with her and which always occupied the ledge of her box in the stalls: her opera- glasses, a box of sweets and a bunch of camellias.
每逢首場(chǎng)演出，瑪格麗特必定光臨。每天晚上，她都在劇場(chǎng)里或舞會(huì)上度過。只要有新劇本上演，準(zhǔn)可以在劇場(chǎng)里看到她。她隨身總帶著三件東西：一副望遠(yuǎn)鏡、一袋蜜餞和一束茶花，而且總是放在底層包廂的前欄上。
For twenty-five days in every month the camellias were white, and for five they were red. No one ever knew the reason for this variation in colour which I mention but cannot explain, and which those who frequented the theatres where she was seen most often, and her friends too, had noticed as I had.
一個(gè)月里有二十五天瑪格麗特帶的茶花是白的，而另外五天她帶的茶花卻是紅的，誰也摸不透茶花顏色變化的原因是什么，而我也無法解釋其中的道理。在她常去的那幾個(gè)劇院里，那些老觀眾和她的朋友們都像我一樣注意到了這一現(xiàn)象。
Marguerite had never been seen with any flowers but camellias. Because of this, her florist, Madame Barjon, had finally taken to calling her the Lady of the Camellias, and the name had remained with her.
除了茶花以外，從來沒有人看見過她還帶過別的花。因此，在她常去買花的巴爾戎夫人的花店里，有人替她取了一個(gè)外號(hào)，稱她為茶花女，這個(gè)外號(hào)后來就這樣給叫開了。
Like all who move in certain social circles in Paris, I knew further that Marguerite had been the mistress of the most fashionable young men, that she admitted the fact openly, and that they themselves boasted of it. Which only went to show that loves and mistress were well pleased with each other.
此外，就像所有生活在巴黎某一個(gè)圈子里的人一樣，我知道瑪格麗特曾經(jīng)做過一些翩翩少年的情婦，她對(duì)此毫不隱諱，那些青年也以此為榮，說明情夫和情婦他們彼此都很滿意。
However, for some three years previously, ever since a visit she had made to Bagneres, she was said to be living with just one man, an elderly foreign duke who was fabulously wealthy and had attempted to detach her as far as possible form her old life. This she seems to have been happy enough to go along with.
然而，據(jù)說有一次從巴涅爾①旅行回來以后，有幾乎三年時(shí)間她就只跟一個(gè)外國(guó)老公爵一起過日子了。這位老公爵是個(gè)百萬富翁，他想盡方法要瑪格麗特跟過去的生活一刀兩斷。而且，看來她也甘心情愿地順從了。①巴涅爾：法國(guó)有名的溫泉療養(yǎng)地區(qū)。到這里來治病的大多是貧血癥患者。
Here is what I have been told of the matter.
關(guān)于這件事別人是這樣告訴我的：
In the spring of 1842, Marguerite was so weak, so altered in her looks, that the doctors had ordered her to take the waters. She accordingly set out for Bagneres.
一八四二年春天，瑪格麗特身體非常虛弱，氣色越來越不好，醫(yī)生囑咐她到溫泉去療養(yǎng)，她便到巴涅爾去了。
Among the other sufferers there, was the Duke's daughter who not only had the same complaint but a face so like Marguerite's that they could have been taken for sisters. The fact was that the young Duchess was in the tertiary stage of consumption and, only days after Marguerite's arrival, she succumbed.
在巴涅爾的病人中間，有一位公爵的女兒，她不僅害著跟瑪格麗特同樣的病，而且長(zhǎng)得跟瑪格麗特一模一樣，別人甚至?xí)阉齻兛醋魇墙忝脗z。不過公爵小姐的肺病已經(jīng)到了第三期，瑪格麗特來巴涅爾沒幾天，公爵小姐便離開了人間。
One morning the Duke, who had remained at Bagneres just as people will remain on ground where a piece of their heart lies buried, caught sight of Marguerite as she turned a corner of a gravel walk.
就像有些人不愿意離開埋葬著親人的地方一樣，公爵在女兒去世后仍舊留在巴涅爾。一天早上，公爵在一條小路的拐角處遇見了瑪格麗特。
It seemed as though he was seeing the spirit of his dead child and, going up to her, he took both her hands, embraced her tearfully and, without asking who she was, begged leave to call on her and to love in her person the living image of his dead daughter.
他仿佛看到他女兒的影子在眼前掠過，便上前拉住了她的手，老淚縱橫地?fù)е�，甚至也不問問清楚她究竟是誰，就懇求她允許他去探望她，允許他像愛自己去世的女兒的替身那樣愛她。
Marguerite, alone at Bagneres with her maid, and in any case having nothing to lose by compromising herself, granted the Duke what he asked.
和瑪格麗特一起到巴涅爾去的只有她的侍女，再說她也不怕名聲會(huì)受到什么損害，就同意了公爵的請(qǐng)求。
Now there were a number of people at Bagneres who knew her, and they made a point of calling on the Duke to inform him of Mademoiselle Gautier's true situation. It was a terrible blow for the old man, for any resemblance with his daughter stopped there. But it was too late. The young woman had become an emotional necessity, his only pretext and his sole reason for living.
在巴涅爾也有一些人認(rèn)識(shí)瑪格麗特，他們專誠(chéng)拜訪公爵，將戈蒂埃小姐的社會(huì)地位據(jù)實(shí)相告。這對(duì)這個(gè)老年人來說，是一個(gè)沉重的打擊，因?yàn)檫@一下就再也談不上他女兒與瑪格麗特還有什么相似之處了，但為時(shí)已晚，這個(gè)少婦已經(jīng)成了他精神上的安慰，簡(jiǎn)直成了他賴以生存下去的的借口和托詞。
He did not reproach her, he had no right to, but he did ask her if she felt that she could change her way of life, and, in exchange for this sacrifice, offered all the compensations she could want. She agreed.
他絲毫沒有責(zé)備瑪格麗特，他也沒有權(quán)利責(zé)備她，但是他對(duì)瑪格麗特說，如果她覺得可以改變一下她那種生活方式的話，那么作為她的這種犧牲的交換條件，他愿意提供她所需要的全部補(bǔ)償�，敻覃愄卮饝�(yīng)了。
It should be said that at this juncture Marguerite, who was by nature somewhat highly strung, was seriously ill. Her past appeared to her to be one of the major causes of her illness, and a kind of superstition led her to hope that God would allow her to keep her beauty and her health in exchange for her repentance and conversion.
必須說明的是，生性熱情的瑪格麗特當(dāng)時(shí)正在病中，她認(rèn)為過去的生活似乎是她害病的一個(gè)主要原因。出于一種迷信的想法，她希望天主會(huì)因?yàn)樗母幕诤宛б蓝衙烂埠徒】盗艚o她。
And indeed the waters, the walks, healthy fatigue and sleep had almost restored her fully by the end of that summer.
果然，到夏末秋初的時(shí)候，由于洗溫泉澡、散步、自然的體力消耗和正常的睡眠，她幾乎已恢復(fù)了健康。
The Duke accompanied Marguerite to Paris, where he continued to call on her as at Bagneres.
公爵陪同瑪格麗特回到了巴黎，他還是像在巴涅爾一樣，經(jīng)常來探望她。
This liaison, of which the true origin and true motive were known to no one, gave rise here to a great deal of talk, since the Duke, known hitherto as an enormously wealthy man, now began to acquire a name for the prodigality.
他們這種關(guān)系，別人既不知道真正的緣由，也不知道確切的動(dòng)機(jī)，所以在巴黎引起了很大的轟動(dòng)。因?yàn)楣粼运娜f貫家財(cái)而著稱，現(xiàn)在又以揮霍無度而聞名了。
The relationship between the old Duke and the young woman was put down to the salacity which is frequently found in rich old men. People imagined all manner of things, except the truth.
大家把老公爵和瑪格麗特的親密關(guān)系歸之于老年人貪*好色，這是有錢的老頭兒常犯的毛病，人們對(duì)他們的關(guān)系有各種各樣的猜測(cè)，就是未猜到真情。
The truth was that the affection of this father for Marguerite was a feeling so chaste, that anything more than a closeness of hearts would have seemed incestuous in his eyes.
其實(shí)這位父親對(duì)瑪格麗特產(chǎn)生這樣的感情，原因十分純潔，除了跟她有心靈上的交往之外，任何其他關(guān)系在公爵看來都意味著亂倫。
Never once had he said a single word to her that his daughter could not have heard.
他始終沒有對(duì)她講過一句不適宜給女兒聽的話。
The last thing we wish is to make our heroine seem anything other than what she was. We shall say therefore that, as long as she remained at Bagneres, the promise given to the Duke had not been difficult to keep, and she had kept it. But once she was back in Paris, it seemed to her, accustomed as she was to a life of dissipation, balls and even orgies, that her new-found solitude, broken only by the periodic visits of the Duke, would make her die of boredom, and the scorching winds of her former life blew hot on both her head and her heart.
我們對(duì)我們的女主人公除了如實(shí)描寫，根本沒想要把她寫成別的樣子。我們只是說，當(dāng)瑪格麗特待在巴涅爾的時(shí)候，她還是能夠遵守對(duì)公爵許下的諾言的，她也是遵守了的；但是一旦返回巴黎，這個(gè)慣于揮霍享樂、喝酒跳舞的姑娘似乎就耐不住了，這種唯有老公爵定期來訪才可以解解悶的孤寂生活使她覺得百無聊賴，無以排遣，過去生活的熱辣辣的氣息一下子涌上了她的腦海和心頭。
Add to this that Marguerite had returned from her travels more beautiful than she had ever been, that she was twenty years old and that her illness, subdued but far from conquered, continued to stir in her those feverish desires which are almost invariably a result of consumptive disorders.
而且瑪格麗特從這次旅行回來以后顯得從未有過的嫵媚嬌艷，她正當(dāng)二十妙齡，她的病看起來已大有起色，但實(shí)際上并未根除，因此激起了她狂熱的情欲，這種情欲往往也就是肺病的癥狀。
The Duke was therefore sadly grieved the day his friends, constantly on the watch for scandalous indiscretions on the part of the young woman with whom he was, they said, compromising himself, called to inform him, indeed to prove to him that at those times when she could count on his not appearing, she was in the habit of receiving other visitors, and that these visitors often stayed until the following morning.
公爵的朋友們總是說公爵和瑪格麗特在一起有損公爵的名譽(yù)，他們不斷地監(jiān)視她的行動(dòng)，想抓住她行為不端的證據(jù)。一天，他們來告訴公爵，并向他證實(shí)，瑪格麗特在拿準(zhǔn)公爵不會(huì)去看她的時(shí)候，接待了別人，而且這種接待往往一直要延續(xù)到第二天。公爵知道后心里非常痛苦。
When the Duke questioned her, Marguerite admitted everything, and, without a second thought, advised him not to concern himself with her any more, saying she did not have the strength to keep faith with the pledges she had given, and adding that she had no wish to go on receiving the liberalities of a man whom she was deceiving.
瑪格麗特在受到公爵盤問的時(shí)候承認(rèn)了一切，還坦率地勸告他以后不要再關(guān)心她了，因?yàn)樗X得自己已沒有力量信守諾言，她也不愿意再接受一個(gè)被她欺騙的男人的好意了。
The Duke stayed away for a week, but this was as long as he could manage. One week later to the day, he came and implored Marguerite to take him back, promising to accept her as she was, provided that he could see her, and swearing that he would die before he uttered a single word of reproach.
公爵有一個(gè)星期沒有露面，他也只能做到這個(gè)地步。到了第八天，他就來懇求瑪格麗特還是像過去一樣跟他來往，只要能夠見到瑪格麗特，公爵同意完全讓她自由行動(dòng)，還向她發(fā)誓說，即使要了他的命，他也決不再說一句責(zé)備她的話。
This was how things stood three months after Marguerite's return, that is, in November or December 1842.
這就是瑪格麗特回到巴黎三個(gè)月以后，也就是一八四二年十一月或者十二月里的情況。
