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Chapter 33
第三十三章
Two or three days later Dirk Stroeve called on me.
两三天以后，戴尔克·施特略夫来找我。
I hear you've seen Blanche, he said.
“听说你见到勃朗什了？”他说。
How on earth did you find out?
“你怎么会知道的？”
I was told by someone who saw you sitting with them. Why didn't you tell me?
“有人看见你同他们坐在一起，告诉我了。你干嘛不告诉我？”
I thought it would only pain you.
“我怕会使你痛苦。”
What do I care if it does? You must know that I want to hear the smallest thing about her.
“使我痛苦又有什么关系？你必须知道，只要是她的事，哪怕最微不足道的，我也想知道。”
I waited for him to ask me questions.
我等着他向我提问。
What does she look like? he said.
“她现在是什么样子？”他问。
Absolutely unchanged.
“一点儿也没改变。”
Does she seem happy?
“你看她的样子幸福吗？”
I shrugged my shoulders.
我耸了耸肩膀。
How can I tell? We were in a cafe; we were playing chess; I had no opportunity to speak to her.
“我怎么知道？我们是在咖啡馆里，我在同思特里克兰德下棋。我没有机会同她谈话。”
Oh, but couldn't you tell by her face?
“啊，但是你从她的面容看不出来吗？”
I shook my head. I could only repeat that by no word, by no hinted gesture, had she given an indication of her feelings. He must know better than I how great were her powers of self-control. He clasped his hands emotionally.
我摇了摇头。我只能把我想到的给他讲了一遍：她既没用话语也没用手势向我透露她的任何感情。他一定比我更了解，她自我克制的力量多么大。戴尔克感情激动地两手紧握在一起。
Oh, I'm so frightened. I know something is going to happen, something terrible, and I can do nothing to stop it.
“啊，我非常害怕。我知道一定会发生一件事，一件可怕的事，可是我却没有办法阻止它。”
What sort of thing? I asked.
“会发生什么样儿的事？”我问道。
Oh, I don't know, he moaned, seizing his head with his hands. "I foresee some terrible catastrophe."
“啊，我也不知道，”他用两手把头抱住，呻吟道，“我预见到一件可怕的灾难。”
Stroeve had always been excitable, but now he was beside himself; there was no reasoning with him. I thought it probable enough that Blanche Stroeve would not continue to find life with Strickland tolerable, but one of the falsest of proverbs is that you must lie on the bed that you have made. The experience of life shows that people are constantly doing things which must lead to disaster, and yet by some chance manage to evade the result of their folly.
施特略夫一向就很容易激动，现在简直有些神经失常了。我根本无法同他讲道理。我认为很可能勃朗什·施特略夫已经发觉不可能再同思特里克兰德继续生活下去，但是人们经常说的那句俗话“自作自受”，实在是最没有道理的。生活的经验让我们看到的是，尽管人们不断地做一些必然招灾惹祸的事，但总能找个机会逃避掉这些蠢事带来的后果。
