目 录 上一节 下一节 
在没有经历过以后发生的那些事情之前，我是不可能预感到这些想法的，所以尽管我爱着玛格丽特，却没有产生过相似的念头，今天我才有了这些想法。一切都过去了，这些想法是已经发生的事所产生的自然后果。 But let us return to that first day of our affair. When I reached home, I was wildly exhilarated. Feeling that the barriers which my imagination had erected between Marguerite and me had disappeared, and believing that she was mine, that I had a small place in her thoughts, that I had the key to her apartment in my pocket and permission to use it, I felt pleased with life and pleased with myself, and I praised God who had let it all happen. 现在还是回到我们这段恋情的第一天来吧。当我回家的时候，我欣喜若狂。想到我原来想象存在于玛格丽特和我之间的障碍已经消失，想到我已得到了她，想到我在她脑子里已经有了一定的地位，想到她的房间的钥匙在我口袋里，并且我还有权利使用这把钥匙，我感到人生非常美满，我踌躇满志，我赞美天主，是他赐给了我这一切。 One day, a young man walks along a street, comes across a woman, looks at her, turns and looks again, then walks on. This woman, whom he does not know, has pleasures, sorrows, loves in which he has no part. He does not exist for her, and perhaps, if he spoke to her, she would laugh at him just as Marguerite had laughed at me. Weeks, months, years pass by and then, quite unexpectedly, when both have followed their destiny in their separate ways, the logic of chance brings them face to face. The woman becomes the man's mistress and loves him truly. How? Why? Their two lives are now as one: no sooner is their affection sealed than they feel as though it has always existed, and everything that has gone before is blotted from the memory of the two lovers. It really is the oddest thing, you must admit. 一天，一个年轻人走过一条街，他碰见一个女人，他望了望她，转身就走了。他不认得这个女人。这个女人有她的快乐、她的悲哀和她的爱情，跟他毫不相干。她的心目中也没有他这个人，如果他要跟她搭话，她也许会像玛格丽特嘲笑我一样地嘲笑他。几个星期，几个月，几年过去了。突然，在他们听从着各自的命运在不同的道路上行走的时候，一个偶然的机缘使他们重新相会。这个女人爱上了他，成了这个男人的情妇。这两个青年从此就难分难舍，形影不离，这是怎么回事，这又是为什么？一旦他们爱上了，就仿佛这个爱情由来已久，所有往事在这两个情人的脑海中都消失了，我们承认这是很奇怪的。 For my own part, I could not recall how I had ever lived before the previous evening. My whole being cried out for joy at the memory of the words we had exchanged during that first night. Either Marguerite was skilled at deceit, or she truly felt for me one of those sudden passions which can come with the first kiss but sometimes fade as quickly as they came. 至于我，我也记不起这天晚上以前我是怎样生活过来的，一想到这第一个晚上我们俩谈的话，我全身舒坦。要么是玛格丽特善于骗人，要么她对我有一股突如其来的热情，这种热情在第一次接吻时就显露了出来，不过后来有过几次，这种激情又像它迸发时那样遽然地熄灭了。 The more I thought about it, the surer I was that Marguerite could have no reason to feign a love she did not feel and, furthermore, I told myself that women have two ways of loving which may derive the one from the other: they love either with their hearts or with their senses. A woman will often take a lover merely to do the bidding of her senses and, without expecting to, acquires knowledge of the mystery of ethereal love, and henceforth lives only through her heart; a young girl, seeking in marriage simply the union of two pure affections, will often acquire the sudden revelation of physical love, the emphatic culmination of the purest impressions of the soul. 我越想越觉得玛格丽特没有任何理由来假装爱我，我还想到女人有两种恋爱方式，这两种方式可以互为因果：她们不是从心底里爱人就是因感官的需要而爱人。一个女人接受一个情人一般只是为了服从她感官上的需要，她不知不觉地懂得了超肉欲爱情的神秘性，并且在以后只是靠精神爱情来生活；通常一个年轻的姑娘，起初只认为婚姻是双方纯洁感情的结合，后来才突然发现了肉体的爱情，也就是精神上最纯洁的感情所产生的有力的结果。 
我想着想着慢慢地睡着了。玛格丽特的来信把我唤醒了，信里面写着这样几句话： 'These are my orders: This evening at the Vaudeville. Come during the third interval. 这是我的命令：今天晚上在歌舞剧院见面，请 在第三次幕间休息时来找我。 M. G.' 玛·戈 I put her note away in a drawer, so that I would always have reality to hand should I ever have doubts, as happened from time to time. 我把信放进抽屉里锁了起来。我这人有时候会神思恍惚，这样做了就可以在日后疑心是否真有此事时，有个实实在在的凭据。 As she did not say that I should go and see her during the day, I dared not call on her; but so great was my desire to meet up with her before that evening that I ventured on to the Champs-Elysees where, like the previous day, I saw her drive up and then down again. 她没有叫我在白天去看她，我也不敢贸然到她家里去；但是我实在想在傍晚以前就看到她，于是我就到香榭丽舍大街去。和昨天一样，我又在那里看见她经过，并在那里下了马车。 
七点钟，我就到了歌舞剧院。 I had never arrived at a theatre quite so early. 我从未这样早到剧院里去过。 All the boxes filled one after the other. Just one remained unoccupied: the front box in the stalls. 那些包厢里慢慢地都坐满了人，只有一个包厢是空的：底层台前包厢。 At the start of the third act, I heard someone opening the door to this box, on which I had kept my eyes more or less permanently fixed, and Marguerite appeared. 第三幕开始的时候，我听见那个包厢里有开门的声响，我的眼睛几乎没有离开过这个包厢，玛格丽特出现了。 She immediately came and stood in the front of her box, scanned the stalls, saw me and thanked me with a glance. 她马上走到包厢前面，往正厅前座里寻找，看到我以后，就用目光向我表示感谢。 
这天晚上她有多美啊！ Was I the reason why she had taken such care to look her best? Did she love me enough to think that the more beautiful I found her, the happier I would be? I still could not be sure; but if this was her intention, then she fully succeeded. For when she appeared, there was a ripple of turning heads and even the actor who was speaking at that moment looked in the direction of the woman whose entrance had disturbed the audience. 她是为了我才打扮得这样漂亮的吗？难道她爱我已经爱到了这般地步，认为她越是打扮得漂亮，我就越感到幸福吗？这我还不知道，但假使她真的是这样想的话，那么她是成功了，因为当她出现的时候，观众的脑袋像一片波涛似的纷纷向她转去，连舞台上的演员也对着她望，因为她刚一露面就使观众为之倾倒。 And I had the key to that woman's apartment, and in three or four hours she would be mine once more! 而我身上却有着这个女人的房门钥匙，三四个小时以后，她又将是我的了。 We decry men who ruin themselves for actresses and kept women; what surprises me is that they do not commit twenty times as many follies for them. You need to have lived that kind of life, as I have, to understand just how strongly all those little gratifications of vanity which a mistress provides each day can weld to a man's heart, for want of a better word, the love which he has for her. 人们都谴责那些为了女戏子和妓女而倾家荡产的人，使我奇怪的倒是，他们怎么没有更进一步地为这些女人做出更加荒唐的事来呢。一定要像我这样地投入到这种生活里去，才能了解到，只有她们在日常生活中满足她们情人的各种微小的虚荣心，才能巩固情人对她们的爱情--我们只能说“爱情”，因为找不到别的字眼。 Then Prudence took her seat in the box and a man, who I recognized as Count de G, sat down at the back. 接着是普律当丝在她的包厢里坐了下来，还有一个男人坐在包厢后座，就是我认识的那位G伯爵。 
一看到他，我感到浑身冰冷。 No doubt Marguerite noticed what effect the presence of this man in her box was having on me, for she smiled at me once more and, turning her back on the Count, appeared to be concentrating hard on the play. When the third interval began, she turned round and spoke briefly; the Count left the box, and Marguerite signalled me to come and see her. 玛格丽特一定发现了她包厢里的男人影响了我的情绪，因为她又对我笑了笑，然后把背转向伯爵，显得一门心思在看戏。到了第三次幕间休息时，她转回身去，说了几句话，伯爵离开了包厢，于是玛格丽特做手势要我过去看她。 'Good evening, ' she said as I entered, and she held out her hand. “晚安，”我进去的时候她对我说，同时向我伸过手来。 'Good evening, ' I replied, directing the greeting at both Marguerite and Prudence. “晚安，”我向玛格丽特和普律当丝说。 'Do sit down.' “请坐。” 
“那我不是占了别人的座位啦，G伯爵不来了吗？” 'Yes. I sent him off to fetch me some sweets so that we could have a moment alone to talk. Madame Duvernoy knows everything.' “他要来的，我叫他去买蜜饯，这样我们可以单独谈一会儿，迪韦尔诺瓦夫人是信得过的。” 'Yes, my children, 'said she. 'But don't worry. I shan't tell.' “是啊，我的孩子们，”迪韦尔诺瓦夫人说，“放心好了，我什么也不会讲出去的。” 'What's wrong with you this evening?' said Marguerite, rising and coming into the dark back of the box where she kissed me on the forehead. “您今天晚上怎么啦？”玛格丽特站起来，走到包厢的阴影里搂住我，吻了吻我的额头。
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