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文/芭芭拉·贝特 译/曾文双 审订/唐伟胜

By Barbara Bate

罗杰在机场等艾琳时，他真的希望自己没有一直躲着不给她写信，但随着她的归期临近，他还是认为当面说会比文字柔和些。这个决定曾让他松了口气，直到他看到艾琳走下飞机。

[2]“嘿，亲爱的，你好！”她向他打招呼，“我都不知道你会不会来接我。你为什么不写信？”

罗杰冲她笑了笑，神情喜悦。“你看上去不错啊。六个月的海外生活很惬意嘛。你还有啥变化吗，除了那顶……帽子，应该是帽子吧。”

“好吧！”她愉快地答道，“如果你的意思是‘你有新的男朋友了吗？’那答案就是没有！你还是我最喜欢的单身汉，没错，这就是一顶帽子。”

[3]再次见到他后，她脸上掩饰不住的那份愉悦让罗杰立刻意识到，这个任务比自己想象的更艰巨。他一边忙着带艾琳和她的一大堆行李通过海关，一边小心翼翼地让他们的对话保持随意。等到所有的手续都办妥，午饭时间到了。艾琳表示想吃顿饭后再回家。去酒店？罗杰建议道。不，艾琳决定去他们的老地方——气氛友好的柯赛小餐厅。

[4]到餐厅的时候他们受到了非常热情的接待。艾琳在这里本来人气就高，加上这位魅力四射的客人刚从海外归来，因此更特别一些。午餐令人愉悦。很多人停下来，对艾琳的归来表示欢迎，他们愉快地交谈，喜气洋洋；罗杰则始终微笑着一言不发，一会儿沉浸在大家对艾琳归来的喜悦中，一会儿又在想当他告诉艾琳关于彭妮的事情后会发生什么。

[5]“瞧那个迷人的女孩，罗杰。”艾琳说，“哦，我看她朝我们走过来了，你认识她？”

罗杰左右看了看，吃惊地看到彭妮正穿过拥挤的桌子朝他走来。她紧盯着艾琳，但当她飞快地瞥了他一眼后，罗杰刹那间意识到彭妮的到来并非巧合。

[6]“嗨，亲爱的！”她说，“你可没告诉我，今天会在这儿吃午餐哦。”

罗杰站起身，觉得她的声音里有一种舍我其谁的调调，在这种情况下很让人难堪。

“这是临时决定的。”他边说边让她坐到艾琳旁边。

[7]艾琳和彭妮形成了有趣的对比，但是罗杰没心情欣赏这个了。艾琳面容姣好，有着雕塑般的美，高雅成熟。彭妮婀娜多姿，深棕色的头发柔软光滑（罗杰的头发又浅又硬），她是个十分引人注目的女孩，这丝毫不奇怪。她最美的是那双眼睛——清澈的琥珀色，眼角弯弯，富有东方韵味。紧张和嫉妒的时候她的眼眸会变深，现在几乎是黑色的了。

[8]在他介绍的时候，两位魅力四射的美丽女性相互打量着对方。谈话变得女人味起来。

[9]“很高兴你旅行回来了。”彭妮说道，明显没那么热情，“希望你玩得不错。”

艾琳也没有表现得特别兴奋。“的确很开心，不过我觉得回家看到罗杰才是最开心的。你认识罗杰很久了？”她补了一句。这更像是陈述事实，而非问题。

彭妮睁大眼睛，一副惊讶的样子。“当然了！我们是老朋友了！”

[10]“这就怪了。”艾琳若有所思地说，“我不记得他提过你。当然了——”她补充道，试图以微笑来掩盖自己话中的锋芒，“我也不可能记住他提过的所有女孩。”

彭妮的眼睛发亮，语气坚决。“这次不会有问题了。你会记得我的。你瞧……我可不是那许多中的一个。”

[11]“等……等一下。”艾琳急急说道。她转向罗杰，那精心描过的眉毛几乎神经质地扬了起来。“是我离开太久了吗？”

“这和时间长短没关系，是吗，罗杰？”彭妮不依不饶。

[12]罗杰看着她，英俊的脸上明白显示出他怒火上扬。让他焦虑的并不是妒忌。他以前见识过艾琳熟练处理这类事情，而且她一直都是冷静、优雅的典范，让他焦虑的是彭妮咄咄逼人的语气，她是逼他马上道出实情，而不让他用自己的方式来处理眼前的情况。这个女孩怎么了，他恼怒地想，好像艾琳回来后就不再相信他了。

[13]就在罗杰犹豫不决的时候，彭妮开始脱手套。她刻意放缓动作，将手指一只一只露出，这吸引了艾琳的目光。

[14]彭妮左手无名指上那崭新的纯金婚戒闪闪发亮，真的引人注目。艾琳呆呆地想，这说不上昂贵的珠宝戴在离心最近的手上，它象征着一个男人的真爱啊。在不期而至的沉默中，她听见身后那些人单调的嗡嗡声，还有陶瓷杯不安分地碰撞碟子发出的清脆响声。罗杰盯着她震惊的眼睛，紧张地搓着自己的头发。

[15]他站起身，紧紧抓住椅背，总算控制住了自己的声音。

“彭妮，到此为止吧。”他平静地说，“今儿够辛苦的了。我们可以回家解决这事儿吗？”

[16]彭妮突然为罗杰脸上明显的怒意感到羞愧和害怕。“我很抱歉。”她的声音和他一样平静。所有的尖酸刻薄离她而去，此刻她感到又疲倦又沮丧。

他们看着艾琳，她还安静地坐在椅子上，面无表情，唯一表露其情绪的是她用一只修得十分漂亮的手指不停地敲着桌面。罗杰探过身，把手轻轻地压在那根手指上。

[17]“我们走吧？”他说。

艾琳紧盯着他，目光如炬。他赶紧把手抽了回来。

“坐下，罗杰。”她平静地说，“就在这里解决。”

[18]罗杰坐了下来，但艾琳一直沉默着，让他怀疑她是不是已经忘记了他们。终于，她开口了。她的目光似乎凝视着远处某个东西，她的话遥远而缥缈，好像是从思绪中某个遥远的焦点发出的。

[19]“别为这段婚姻感到愧疚，彭妮。我知道总有一天我会失去罗杰，但我必须承认，我没料到会是这种方式。过去也总有这样的机会，他会离我而去，和别人……像你这样的人……找到更完美的幸福。我想，这种事情迟早都会发生在我们所有人身上的。”

[20]“你能原谅我吗？”彭妮低声说。

一丝微笑掠过艾琳的脸，马上又不见了。她的眼神已不似刚才那样遥远。当她再次看向彭妮时，她的眼神锐利而明亮。

[21]“有什么需要原谅的吗？你们相爱，又都是自由的，然后就结婚了。但我很遗憾，你没等到更了解我，就对我做出了判断。如果你耐心点儿，就会发现，我根本不会为嫉妒和占有欲这类低级的情感受折磨。”

[22]她冲彭妮微笑着，试图不让她的话显得尖刻，但当她再次开口时，彭妮意识到，她说出的疑惑关乎他们三人。“我们必须更了解对方，否则……”

她的声音渐渐变小，话没讲完，悬在半空，像在挑战一般。罗杰依然没有说话。他知道这是两个女人之间的事。一想到刚才还希望羞辱这个对罗杰如此重要的女人，彭妮就感到一阵羞愧。她放下这种感觉，试图眨去眼泪，甚至露出了微笑。

[23]“我十分理解。”她温柔而真诚地说，“我也不知道自己怎么会这样做，只是……呃……我本来以为……”

“你本来以为，我会设法阻止你们结婚。”艾琳补完了彭妮的话，语调轻柔。

“是的。罗杰那么爱你，我想我就是嫉妒了。”

[24]艾琳站起身，低头朝他们笑了笑。“彭妮，那样的话，我们就把这个误会归咎于我儿子，让他用宽厚的肩膀来承担吧。” □

Penny knew all about Irene; Irene knew nothing about Penny. Roger hadn’t wanted them to meet until everything was settled.彭妮知晓艾琳的一切，艾琳却对彭妮一无所知。罗杰本想在一切妥当之后再让她们碰面。

As Roger waited at the airport for Irene, he wished he had not shirked1shirk 避免，躲避。writing to her, but as the days for her return had drawn nearer, he had decided that the spoken word was more gentle than the written word, and this decision had brought him relief, until he saw Irene step off the plane.

[2] “Why darling, hello there!” she greeted him. “I didn’t know whether to expect you or not. Why didn’t you write?”

Roger smiled into her happy face.“You look fine. Six months over the sea has agreed with you. Anything new with you apart from that… hat, would you call it.”

“Well!” she answered gaily, “if I translate that remark to mean, ‘have you a new man?’ The answer is no. You are still my favourite bachelor, and yes, this is a hat.”

[3] By her evident pleasure in being with him again, Roger knew immediately that this task would be even harder than he thought. He busied himself getting Irene and her large amount of luggage through the customs, managing to keep the talk carefully causal. By the time all the formalities had been taken care of it was lunch time. Irene said she would like to eat before going home. A hotel? Suggested Roger. No, Irene decided, they would go to their old haunt,the friendly little Kosy.

[4] When they arrived at the restaurant, they were greeted with a special flourish. Irene was popular here, and there is something special about a glamorous client returned from abroad. The lunch was delightful. There were lots of stoppers-by to welcome Irene home, and they kept the talk gay and festive while Roger spent the time being smilingly silent and alternating his thoughts between the pleasure they were all getting at having Irene back and what was going to happen when he told her about Penny2alternate between A and B 在A和B之间转换。.

[5] “Now there’s a very attractive girl,Roger,” Irene said. “Oh, I think she’s coming over, do you know her?”

Roger looked around and with a shock saw Penny making her way through the crowded tables towards him. Her eyes were fixed on Irene, but when she glanced brie fly in his direction Roger received the impression, fleeting as it was that her arrival was no coincidence.

[6] “Hello darling!” she said. “You didn’t tell me you would be lunching here today.”

As he stood up, Roger thought her voice carried a tone of possessiveness which in the circumstances was embarrassing.

“It was a snap decision.” He said, as he seated her next to Irene.

[7] They made an interesting contrast,Irene and Penny, but Roger was not in the mood to appreciate it. Irene with her fair, statuesque beauty, immaculate in her chic sophistication. Penny was a willowy brunette, her hair as dark and sleek as Roger’s was fair and rough.She was an extraordinarily striking girl,which was not accidental. Her eyes were her most beautiful feature—a clear amber with the suggestion of an oriental slant. In moments of stress and jealousy they became very dark. They were almost black now.

[8] Two beautiful and glamorous women, sizing each other up as he made the introductions. The talk became womanly.

[9] “I’m so pleased you’re back from your trip.” Penny said, with a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm. “I hope you had a lovely time.”

Irene didn’t appear particularly thrilled either. “It was most enjoyable,but I think coming home to Roger is the best part of it. You have known Roger long?” she added. It was more a statement than a question.

And Penny with wide-eyed surprise.“Of course! We’re very old friends.”

[10] “Strange,” Irene said thoughtfully, “I don’t remember him mentioning you. Still,” she added, smiling to take the sting out of the words, “it would be quite impossible for me to remember all the girls he has mentioned.”

Penny’s eyes flashed, as she said strongly. “There’ll be no problem this time. You’ll remember me. You see…I’m not one of the many.”

[11] “I… I’m sorry,” Irene said quickly. She turned to Roger and the lift of her finely delineated eyebrows was almost a nervous flicker. “Did I stay away too long?”

“Time has nothing to do with it, has it, Roger?” Penny demanded.

[12] Roger looked at her, his handsome face expressive enough to show his rising anger. It wasn’t the jealousy that was worrying him. He had seen Irene handle that before with skill of much practice and she had always been a model of coolness and urbanity3urbanity 优雅。. It was penny’s truculent4truculent 好战的。tone and the way she was forcing a quick revelation on him instead of allowing him to handle the situation in his own way. What had got into that girl, he wondered irritably.It was as though she didn’t trust him now Irene was back.

[13] While Roger hesitated on the brink of a decision, Penny began to remove her gloves. There was something in the deliberate slowness of the action of releasing each imprisoned finger which drew Irene’s attention.

[14] In its shining newness, it really was impressive, the plain gold wedding ring on the third finger of Penny’s left hand. It was the symbol of a man’s true love, Irene thought dully, this least expensive of jewellery placed on the hand nearest the heart. In the sudden silence between them, she listened to the low monotonous murmur of the people behind them and the sharp click of crockery as cups scrapped restlessly against saucers. Roger looked into her shocked eyes and rubbed nervously at his hair.

[15] He stood up and gripped the back of his chair. But somehow he managed to control his voice.

“That was quite a curtain call5a curtain call 谢幕。Penny,” he said quietly. “It’s been a strenuous day. Shall we finish this in the privacy of our flat?”

[16] Penny suddenly felt ashamed and frightened by the sharp anger on Roger’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said in a voice as quiet as his own. All the acrimony had left her, and she felt tired and depressed.

They looked at Irene, still sitting quietly in her chair, the only outward sign of emotion the restless drumming of one beautifully manicured finger on the table. Roger leaned across and pressed gently down on it.

[17] “Shall we go now?” he said.

Irene looked at him steadily and with such intensity that he drew his hand quickly away.

“Sit down, Roger,” she said calmly.“We’ll finish this here.”

[18] Roger sat, but Irene was silent for so long that he began to wonder if she had forgotten them. When she at last spoke her gaze seemed on something far away and her words had a remote, detached quality, as though they had their origin at the distant focus of her thoughts.

[19] “Don’t feel guilty about this marriage, Penny. I always knew the day would come when I should lose Roger,but I must confess I didn’t expect it to happen quite like this. There was always the chance that he would twist away from me and find a more complete happiness with someone else… someone like you. It’s something that happens to all of us sometime or other, I suppose.”

[20] “Will you ever be able to forgive me?” Penny said in a low voice.

A slight smile moved across Irene’s face and vanished. Her eyes lost their remoteness and when she looked at Penny again they were quick and bright.

[21] “Is there anything to forgive?You fell in love and, both of you being free, married. But I am sorry you didn’t wait to know me better before you judged me. If you had you would have learnt I’m quite incapable of suffering from such primitive emotions as jealousy and possessiveness.”

[22] She smiled at Penny to take the sting out of the words, but when she spoke again Penny realized she was voicing a doubt that concerned the three of them. “We must understand each other better, or…”

As her voice trailed away, the incomplete sentence hung in the air like a challenge. Roger remained silent. He knew this was between two women. Penny felt a wave of shame as she thought of how she had wanted to humiliate this woman who meant so much to Roger. She pushed the feeling down and even managed a smile as she tried to blink away the tears.

[23] “I understand perfectly.” She said softly and sincerely. “I can’t explain my action, except… well… I thought…”

“You thought I would try to prevent your marriage,” Irene finished gently.

“Yes. Roger loved you so much, I guess I was just plain jealous.”

[24] Irene rose and smiled down at them. “In that case, Penny, we’ll put the blame of this misunderstanding onto the broad shoulders of my son.” ■