第七章（第7/13页）

她需要帮助，她清楚这一点，因此便给姐姐希尔达去信，吐露心声。“最近我感觉不太舒服，至于到底出了什么问题，我自己也不明白。”希尔达匆匆从苏格兰赶来，她早已迁居到那里。希尔达赶到拉格比时，已是初春时节，她独自驾着自己那辆轻巧的双座轿车。她顺着车道驶上山坡，喇叭嘟嘟作响，绕过有两株高大野山毛榉的椭圆形草坪，停在屋前的平地上。

Connie had run out to the steps. Hilda pulled up her car, got out, and kissed her sister.

康妮跑到门外的台阶处迎接姐姐。希尔达停好车，走下来亲吻妹妹。

"But Connie!" she cried. "Whatever is the matter?" "Nothing!" said Connie, rather shamefacedly; but she knew how she had suffered in contrast to Hilda. Both sisters had the same rather golden, glowing skin, and soft brown hair, and naturally strong, warm physique. But now Connie was thin and earthy-looking, with a scraggy, yellowish neck, that stuck out of her jumper.

“康妮！”她呼喊着妹妹的名字。“到底怎么回事？”“没什么。”康妮说，面有愧色，她知道自己与希尔达相比显得多么憔悴。曾何几时，姐妹俩都拥有健康的肌肤，闪耀着金黄色的光泽，搭配着柔顺的棕色秀发，以及与生俱来的健康热烈的体魄。可如今的康妮却变得消瘦，粗陋不堪，又细又黄的脖子从毛衣领口探出。

"But you're ill, child!" said Hilda, in the soft, rather breathless voice that both sisters had alike. Hilda was nearly, but not quite, two years older than Connie.

“可你分明是病了，孩子！”希尔达说，她的嗓音柔和，但也有些气喘吁吁，那是姐妹俩共有的特点。希尔达比康妮大将近两岁。

"No, not ill. Perhaps I'm bored," said Connie a little pathetically.

“不，我没病。或许只是闷得慌。”康妮的语气有些哀怨。

The light of battle glowed in Hilda's face; she was a woman, soft and still as she seemed, of the old amazon sort, not made to fit with men.

希尔达的脸庞闪耀着战斗的光芒，虽然身为女子，且温柔娴静，但却拥有亚马逊女战士的气度，从不会对男人屈膝逢迎。

"This wretched place!" she said softly, looking at poor, old, lumbering Wragby with real hate. She looked soft and warm herself, as a ripe pear, and she was an amazon of the real old breed.

“这地方真是糟透了！”她轻声说，扫视着凄凉衰败的拉格比，眼中充满厌恶。她看上去温和热情，像熟透的梨子，但骨子里却是位地道的女战士。

She went quietly in to Clifford. He thought how handsome she looked, but also he shrank from her. His wife's family did not have his sort of manners, or his sort of etiquette. He considered them rather outsiders, but once they got inside they made him jump through the hoop.

她面色平静，进门去找克利福德。他心想这女人真是英姿飒爽，可暗地里却惧她三分。他妻子的家人不像他这般讲究规矩和礼节。他将他们视为外人，可每次康妮娘家来人，他也不得不勉为其难，假亲假近。

He sat square and well-groomed in his chair, his hair sleek and blond, and his face fresh, his blue eyes pale, and a little prominent, his expression inscrutable, but well-bred. Hilda thought it sulky and stupid, and he waited. He had an air of aplomb, but Hilda didn't care what he had an air of; she was up in arms, and if he'd been Pope or Emperor it would have been just the same.

他衣装笔挺，在靠椅中端坐，满头金发光洁顺滑，面容清秀，淡蓝色的眸子稍稍外凸，表情难以捉摸，但却显得很有教养。希尔达看不惯妹夫这副德行，觉得那张阴沉着的脸乏味透顶。而克利福德则在等待着。他摆出一副镇定自若的神态，可希尔达并不关心他的神态如何，她已经摆好架势，就算面前的是天王老子，她也不放在眼里。

"Connie's looking awfully unwell," she said in her soft voice, fixing him with her beautiful, glowering grey eyes. She looked so maidenly, so did Connie; but he well knew the tone of Scottish obstinacy underneath.

“康妮的样子太糟糕了。”她语调轻柔地说，那对灰色妙目怒气冲冲地瞪着克利福德。她的面容如康妮般羞怯，但他却深知那背后隐藏着的执拗，那是苏格兰人的性格特征之一。

"She's a little thinner," he said.

“她是比过去瘦点。”他说。

"Haven't you done anything about it?” "Do you think it necessary?" he asked, with his suavest English stiffness, for the two things often go together.

“难道你没采取过什么措施？”“有这个必要吗？”他反问道，彬彬有礼，但却带着英国佬的生硬傲慢，因为此二者通常混在一起。