第十一章（第14/17页）

当晚，克利福德对妻子说：“你是否觉得，婚姻中存在着某种东西，能够天长地久？”她望着他。

"But Clifford, you make eternity sound like a lid or a long, long chain that trailed after one, no matter how far one went." He looked at her, annoyed.

“可克利福德，你口中的天长地久，听起来像是某种罩子，或者长长的锁链，即使走到天涯海角，也还是被牵绊着。”他盯着她，面有愠色。

"What I mean," he said, "is that if you go to Venice, you won't go in the hopes of some love affair that you can take au grand sérieux, will you?” "A love affair in Venice AU GRAND S ÉRIEUX? No. I assure you! No, I'd never take a love affair in Venice more than au très petit sérieux.” She spoke with a queer kind of contempt. He knitted his brows, looking at her.

“我的意思是，”他说，“如果你去威尼斯，可别抱着寻找艳遇的企图。”“威尼斯艳遇？不会的。你大可放心！我在威尼斯不会去找任何艳遇，就连逢场作戏的行为都不会有。”她说这番话时，带有吊诡而轻蔑的口吻。他看着她，眉头紧锁。

Coming downstairs in the morning, she found the keeper's dog Flossie sitting in the corridor outside Clifford's room, and whimpering very faintly.

次日清晨，康妮下楼时，发觉守林人的猎犬弗洛西伏在克利福德门外的走廊上，低声呜咽着。

"Why, Flossie!" She said softly. "What are you doing here?" And she quietly opened Clifford's door. Clifford was sitting up in bed, with the bed-table and typewriter pushed aside, and the keeper was standing at attention at the foot of the bed. Flossie ran in. With a faint gesture of head and eyes, Mellors ordered her to the door again, and she slunk out.

“嘿，弗洛西！”她柔声说。“你来这儿干嘛呀？”接着，她轻轻推开克利福德的房门。克利福德正坐在床上，折叠桌和打字机推在一旁，守林人毕恭毕敬地站在床脚。弗洛西跑了进去。梅勒斯用头和眼神微微示意它回到门外去，弗洛西悄无声息地溜了出去。

"Oh, good morning, Clifford!" Connie said. "I didn't know you were busy.” Then she looked at the keeper, saying good morning to him. He murmured his reply, looking at her as if vaguely. But she felt a whiff of passion touch her, from his mere presence.

“哦，早安，克利福德！”康妮说。“我不知道你们有事。”接着，她的目光投向守林人，向他道声早安。他眼神茫然，低声回应着她的问候。但自从见到他，康妮就感觉到激情的热浪扑面袭来。

"Did I interrupt you, Clifford? I'm sorry.” "No, it's nothing of any importance.” She slipped out of the room again, and up to the blue boudoir on the first floor. She sat in the window, and saw him go down the drive, with his curious, silent motion, effaced. He had a natural sort of quiet distinction, an aloof pride, and also a certain look of frailty. A hireling! One of Clifford's hirelings! "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." Was he an underling? Was he? What did he think of her?

“我打搅你们了吧，克利福德？真抱歉。”“没有，都是些鸡毛蒜皮的小事。”她轻手轻脚地退出房间，来到一楼那间蓝色的梳妆室。她临窗而坐，目送他沿车道远去，直到他那与众不同的静默身姿消失不见。他那种浑然天成的安详显得卓尔不凡，他沉默超然的态度透露出骄傲，但也掺杂着某种脆弱的神情。奴仆！克利福德的一名奴仆！“亲爱的勃鲁西斯，不要埋怨命运不济，如果我们失身为奴，那也只能责怪自己。”（注：引自莎士比亚剧作《尤利斯·凯撒》）他当真只是名奴仆吗？真的吗？他又怎样看待她呢？

It was a sunny day, and Connie was working in the garden, and Mrs. Bolton was helping her. For some reason, the two women had drawn together, in one of the unaccountable flows and ebbs of sympathy that exist between people. They were pegging down carnations, and putting in small plants for the summer. It was work they both liked. Connie especially felt a delight in putting the soft roots of young plants into a soft black puddle, and cradling them down. On this spring morning she felt a quiver in her womb too, as if the sunshine had touched it and made it happy.

某日，阳光和煦，康妮正在花园中忙碌，博尔顿太太担当助手。不知为何，两个女人被牵扯在一起，人与人之间存在着同情的浪潮，玄妙得难以说清。她俩把康乃馨系在杆上，栽种花草的嫩苗，以期夏日的绽放。两人都偏好此类活计。康妮特别喜欢把幼苗柔软的根系插进松软的黑土里，然后埋好。在这个春意盎然的早晨，她感觉自己的子宫都在震颤，好像受到阳光的抚摸，让它快活起来。