"I had a rather interesting experience the other day, "he said."I was sitting in my office one morning when word was brought to me that a lady wanted to see me; 'Mrs. John Rossiter,' the man told me. I knew who John Rossiter was, so I told him to show her in."
“前些天我遇到件颇为有趣的事,”他说。“一天上午,我正坐在办公室里,有人传话说有位女士要见我,‘约翰·罗西特太太,’男侍者告诉我。我知道约翰·罗西特是何许人,于是吩咐他让她进来。
"Before she said a word she began to cry, not bitterly; but the tears came into her eyes and began to run down her cheeks, and she kept wiping them away with her handkerchief, trying all the time to control herself. I don't like that sort of thing, you know, and I usually avoid it, but this rather impressed me. I felt sorry for her before she opened hermouth.
“她还没开口,就开始哭了,哭得并不是很伤心,可眼泪涌出眼睛,淌到脸颊上,她不停地用手帕把眼泪擦去,一直在试图控制自己。我不喜欢人哭哭啼啼,通常我都避开这种事情,可这次我有些感动了。她还没开口说话,我就为她感到难过。
"Her husband had been gambling, she told me, and on Wednesday - the day before - had lost thirty thousand dollars. I've been acquainted with John Rossiter off and on for five or six years. Every year he has been coming down here, and I've known him well enough to say 'Hello,'but not much more intimately than that. At any rate, I've always had a good feeling about Rossiter. He was a clean-cut man, a good sport ,well liked, belonged to a good club, and was rather popular everywhere. I had seen him year after year here, but I hadn't an idea of how he played or what he won or lost. He had an account with me and always paid very promptly at the end of the month if there was any paying to be done.
“她告诉我,她丈夫一直在赌钱,星期三——就是前一天——输了3万美元。我跟约翰·罗西特认识断断续续有五六年了。他每年都到这里来,我跟他有些熟了,见面总打个招呼,但并无深交。不管怎么说,我对罗西特一直颇有好感。他外貌整洁,豪爽大度,讨人喜欢,是个上流俱乐部的会员,到哪儿都挺受欢迎的。我在这儿每年都看到他,可我不清楚他怎么玩,输赢有多大。他在我这儿有个账号,总是一到月底就把该付的都爽快地付清。