雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(3)
It invariably happened in the same way.
事情還是按老樣子進行，一成不變。
Mrs. Julius Beaufort, on the night of her annual ball, never failed to appear at the Opera; indeed, she always gave her ball on an Opera night in order to emphasise her complete superiority to household cares, and her possession of a staff of servants competent to organise every detail of the entertainment in her absence.
在舉辦一年一度的舞會的這天晚上，朱利葉斯·博福特太太決不會忘記去歌劇院露露面。真的，爲了突出她執掌家務的全能與高明，顯示她擁有一班有才幹的僕人，能夠在她不在時安排好招待活動的種種細節，她總是在有歌劇演出的晚上舉辦舞會。
The Beauforts' house was one of the few in New York that possessed a ball-room (it antedated even Mrs. Manson Mingott's and the Headly Chiverses'); and at a time when it was beginning to be thought "provincial" to put a "crash" over the drawing-room floor and move the furniture upstairs, the possession of a ball-room that was used for no other purpose, and left for three-hundred-and-sixty-four days of the year to shuttered darkness, with its gilt chairs stacked in a corner and its chandelier in a bag; this undoubted superiority was felt to compensate for whatever was regrettable in the Beaufort past.
博福特家的住宅是紐約爲數不多的有舞廳的住宅之一（甚至先於曼森，明戈特太太家和黑德利·奇弗斯家）。正當人們開始認爲在客廳的地板上“乒乒乓乓” 把傢俱搬到樓上顯得“土氣”的時候，擁有一個不作他用的舞廳，一年364天把它關閉在黑暗中，鍍金的椅子堆在角落裏，枝形吊燈裝在袋子裏——人們覺得，這種無庸置疑的優越性足以補償博福特歷史上任何令人遺憾的事情。
Mrs. Archer, who was fond of coining her social philosophy into axioms, had once said: "We all have our pet common people--" and though the phrase was a daring one, its truth was secretly admitted in many an exclusive bosom. But the Beauforts were not exactly common; some people said they were even worse. Mrs. Beaufort belonged indeed to one of America's most honoured families; she had been the lovely Regina Dallas (of the South Carolina branch), a penniless beauty introduced to New York society by her cousin, the imprudent Medora Manson, who was always doing the wrong thing from the right motive. When one was related to the Mansons and the Rushworths one had a "droit de cite" (as Mr. Sillerton Jackson, who had frequented the Tuileries, called it) in New York society; but did one not forfeit it in marrying Julius Beaufort?
阿切爾太太喜歡將自己的社交哲學提煉成格言，有一次她曾說：“我們全都有自己寵幸的平民——”雖然這句話說得很大膽，但它的真實性卻得到許多勢利者暗中的承認。不過博福特夫婦並不屬於嚴格意義上的平民，有人說他們比平民還要差。博福特太太確實屬於美國最有名望的家族之一，她原本是可愛的裏吉納·達拉斯（屬於南卡羅來納的一個家系），一位分文不名的美人，是由她的表姐、魯莽的梅多拉·曼森引薦到紐約社交界的，而梅多拉·曼森老是好心做壞事。誰若是與曼森家族和拉什沃斯家族有了親緣關係，那麼誰就會在紐約上流社會取得“公民權”（像西勒頓·傑克遜先生說的那樣，他早年經常出人杜伊勒利王宮）；但是，有沒有人會因爲嫁給朱利葉斯·博福特，而不喪失這種公民權呢？
The question was: who was Beaufort? He passed for an Englishman, was agreeable, handsome, ill-tempered, hospitable and witty. He had come to America with letters of recommendation from old Mrs. Manson Mingott's English son-in-law, the banker, and had speedily made himself an important position in the world of affairs; but his habits were dissipated, his tongue was bitter, his antecedents were mysterious; and when Medora Manson announced her cousin's engagement to him it was felt to be one more act of folly in poor Medora's long record of imprudences.
問題在於：博福特究竟是何許人？他被認爲是個英國人，彬彬有禮，儀表堂堂，脾氣很壞，但卻詼諧好客。他原是帶着老曼森·明戈特太太那位英國銀行家女婿的推薦信來到美國的，並很快在社交界贏得了重要地位；然而他生性放蕩，言辭尖刻，而他的履歷又很神祕。當梅多拉·曼森宣佈她表妹與他訂婚的消息時，人們認定，在可憐的梅多拉長長的魯莽紀錄中又增加了一次愚蠢行動。
But folly is as often justified of her children as wisdom, and two years after young Mrs. Beaufort's marriage it was admitted that she had the most distinguished house in New York. No one knew exactly how the miracle was accomplished. She was indolent, passive, the caustic even called her dull; but dressed like an idol, hung with pearls, growing younger and blonder and more beautiful each year, she throned in Mr. Beaufort's heavy brown-stone palace, and drew all the world there without lifting her jewelled little finger. The knowing people said it was Beaufort himself who trained the servants, taught the chef new dishes, told the gardeners what hot-house flowers to grow for the dinner-table and the drawing-rooms, selected the guests, brewed the after-dinner punch and dictated the little notes his wife wrote to her friends. If he did, these domestic activities were privately performed, and he presented to the world the appearance of a careless and hospitable millionaire strolling into his own drawing-room with the detachment of an invited guest, and saying: "My wife's gloxinias are a marvel, aren't they? I believe she gets them out from Kew."
然而愚蠢與聰明一樣，常常會給她帶來良好的結果。年輕的博福特太太結婚兩年之後，人們已公認她擁有了紐約最引人注目的住宅。沒有人知道這一奇蹟究竟是怎樣發生的。她懶散馴服，刻薄的人甚至稱她果笨。但她打扮得像個玩偶，金髮碧眼，珠光寶氣，變得一年比一年年輕，一年比一年漂亮。她在博福特先生深棕色的石頭宮殿裏登上寶座，無須擡一擡戴鑽戒的小手指便能把整個社交界的名人都吸引到身邊。知情的人說，博福特親自訓練僕役，教廚師烹調新的菜餚，吩咐園丁在溫室中栽培適宜餐桌與客廳的鮮花。他還親自挑選賓客，釀製餐後的潘趣酒，並口授妻子寫給朋友的便函。假若他果真如此，那麼，這些家務活動也都是私下進行的；在社交界面前出現的他，卻是一位漫不經心、熱情好客的百萬富翁，像貴賓一樣瀟灑地走進自己的客廳，讚不絕口地說：“我妻子的大巖桐真令人叫絕，不是嗎？我相信她是從倫敦國立植物園弄來的。”
Mr. Beaufort's secret, people were agreed, was the way he carried things off. It was all very well to whisper that he had been "helped" to leave England by the international banking-house in which he had been employed; he carried off that rumour as easily as the rest--though New York's business conscience was no less sensitive than its moral standard--he carried everything before him, and all New York into his drawing- rooms, and for over twenty years now people had said they were "going to the Beauforts'" with the same tone of security as if they had said they were going to Mrs. Manson Mingott's, and with the added satisfaction of knowing they would get hot canvas-back ducks and vintage wines, instead of tepid Veuve Clicquot without a year and warmed-up croquettes from Philadelphia.
人們一致認爲，博福特先生的祕密在於他成功的處事方法。雖然有傳聞說，他是由僱傭他的國際銀行“幫助”離開英國的，但他對這一謠言跟對其他謠言一樣滿不在乎。儘管紐約的商業良心跟它的道德準則一樣地敏感，但他搬走了擋在前面的一切障礙，並把全紐約的人搬進了他的客廳。二十多年來，人們說起“要去博福特家”，那口氣就跟說去曼森·明戈特太太家一樣地心安理得，外加一種明知會享受灰背野鴨與陳年佳釀——而非劣酒與炸丸子——的滿足。
Mrs. Beaufort, then, had as usual appeared in her box just before the Jewel Song; and when, again as usual, she rose at the end of the third act, drew her opera cloak about her lovely shoulders, and disappeared, New York knew that meant that half an hour later the ball would begin.
於是，跟往常一樣，博福特太太在《朱厄爾之歌》開唱之前準時出現在她的包廂裏；她又跟往常一樣在第三幕結束時站了起來，拉一拉披在她可愛的肩膀上的歌劇斗篷，退場了。全紐約的人都明白，這意味着半小時後舞會即將開始。
The Beaufort house was one that New Yorkers were proud to show to foreigners, especially on the night of the annual ball. The Beauforts had been among the first people in New York to own their own red velvet carpet and have it rolled down the steps by their own footmen, under their own awning, instead of hiring it with the supper and the ball-room chairs. They had also inaugurated the custom of letting the ladies take their cloaks off in the hall, instead of shuffling up to the hostess's bedroom and recurling their hair with the aid of the gas-burner; Beaufort was understood to have said that he supposed all his wife's friends had maids who saw to it that they were properly coiffees when they left home.
博福特的家是紐約人樂於向外國人炫耀的一處住宅，尤其是在舉辦一年一度的舞會的晚上。博福特夫婦是紐約第一批擁有自己的紅絲絨地毯的人。他們在自己的涼棚下面，讓自己的男僕把地毯從門階上鋪下來；而不是像預訂晚餐和舞廳用的椅子一樣從外面租來。他們還開創了讓女士們在門廳裏脫下斗篷的風習，而不是把斗篷亂堆到樓上女主人的臥室裏，再用煤氣噴嘴重卷頭髮。據悉博福特曾經說過，他認爲妻子所有的朋友出門時都已由女傭替她們做好了頭髮。
Then the house had been boldly planned with a ball-room, so that, instead of squeezing through a narrow passage to get to it (as at the Chiverses') one marched solemnly down a vista of enfiladed drawing- rooms (the sea-green, the crimson and the bouton d'or), seeing from afar the many-candled lustres reflected in the polished parquetry, and beyond that the depths of a conservatory where camellias and tree-ferns arched their costly foliage over seats of black and gold bamboo.
而且，那幢帶舞廳的住宅設計得十分氣派，人們不必穿過狹窄的過道（像奇弗斯家那樣），便可昂首闊步地從兩排相對的客廳（海綠色的、猩紅色的。金黃色的）中間走進舞廳。從遠處即可看到映在上光鑲花地板上的許多蠟燭的光輝。再往遠處看，可以望見一座溫室的深處，山茶與桫楞的枝葉在黑、黃兩色的竹椅上空形成拱頂。
Newland Archer, as became a young man of his position, strolled in somewhat late. He had left his overcoat with the silk-stockinged footmen (the stockings were one of Beaufort's few fatuities), had dawdled a while in the library hung with Spanish leather and furnished with Buhl and malachite, where a few men were chatting and putting on their dancing-gloves, and had finally joined the line of guests whom Mrs. Beaufort was receiving on the threshold of the crimson drawing-room.
紐蘭·阿切爾到達稍微晚了一點，這符合他這樣的年輕人的身份。他把大衣交給穿長絲襪的男僕（這些長襪是博福特爲數不多的蠢事之一），在掛着西班牙皮革、用工藝品和孔雀石鑲嵌裝飾的書房裏磨贈了一會兒——那兒有幾位男子一面閒聊一面戴跳舞的手套——最後才加入到博福特太太在深紅色客廳門口迎接的客人之中。
Archer was distinctly nervous. He had not gone back to his club after the Opera (as the young bloods usually did), but, the night being fine, had walked for some distance up Fifth Avenue before turning back in the direction of the Beauforts' house. He was definitely afraid that the Mingotts might be going too far; that, in fact, they might have Granny Mingott's orders to bring the Countess Olenska to the ball.
阿切爾顯然有些緊張不安。看完歌劇他沒有回俱樂部（就像公子哥兒們通常那樣），而是趁着美好的夜色沿第五大街向上走了一段，然後纔回過頭朝博福特家的方向走去。他肯定是擔心明戈特家的人可能會走得太遠，生怕他們會執行明戈特老太太的命令，把奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人帶到舞會上來。
From the tone of the club box he had perceived how grave a mistake that would be; and, though he was more than ever determined to "see the thing through," he felt less chivalrously eager to champion his betrothed's cousin than before their brief talk at the Opera.
從俱樂部包廂的氣氛中，他已經意識到那將是多麼嚴重的錯誤。而且，雖然他無比堅決地要“堅持到底”，但他覺得，他要保護未婚妻的表姐的豪俠熱情，沒有在歌劇院與她簡短交談之前那麼高漲了。
Wandering on to the bouton d'or drawing-room (where Beaufort had had the audacity to hang "Love Victorious," the much-discussed nude of Bouguereau) Archer found Mrs. Welland and her daughter standing near the ball-room door. Couples were already gliding over the floor beyond: the light of the wax candles fell on revolving tulle skirts, on girlish heads wreathed with modest blossoms, on the dashing aigrettes and ornaments of the young married women's coiffures, and on the glitter of highly glazed shirt-fronts and fresh glace gloves.
阿切爾漫步走到金黃色客廳（博福特大膽地在裏面掛了一幅引起不少爭議的裸體畫《得勝的愛神》），只見韋蘭太太和她的女兒站在舞廳門口。那邊，一對對的舞伴已經在地板上滑步，燭光撒落在旋轉的紗裙上，撒落在少女們頭上戴的雅緻的花環上，撒落在少婦們頭上浮華的枝形寶石飾品及裝飾物上，撒落在光亮的襯衫前胸與上光的新手套上。
Miss Welland, evidently about to join the dancers, hung on the threshold, her lilies-of-the-valley in her hand (she carried no other bouquet), her face a little pale, her eyes burning with a candid excitement. A group of young men and girls were gathered about her, and there was much hand-clasping, laughing and pleasantry on which Mrs. Welland, standing slightly apart, shed the beam of a qualified approval. It was evident that Miss Welland was in the act of announcing her engagement, while her mother affected the air of parental reluctance considered suitable to the occasion.
韋蘭小姐顯然正準備加入跳舞的人羣。她呆在門口，手中握着鈴蘭（她沒帶別的花），臉色有點蒼白，真切的興奮使她兩眼灼灼發光。一羣男青年和姑娘聚在她的周圍，不少人與她握手，笑着與她寒暄。稍稍站開一點的韋蘭太太笑容滿面，表達出得體的讚賞。很明顯，韋蘭小姐正在宣佈她的訂婚消息，而她母親則裝出一副與這種場合相稱的家長們不情願的模樣。
Archer paused a moment. It was at his express wish that the announcement had been made, and yet it was not thus that he would have wished to have his happiness known. To proclaim it in the heat and noise of a crowded ball-room was to rob it of the fine bloom of privacy which should belong to things nearest the heart. His joy was so deep that this blurring of the surface left its essence untouched; but he would have liked to keep the surface pure too. It was something of a satisfaction to find that May Welland shared this feeling. Her eyes fled to his beseechingly, and their look said: "Remember, we're doing this because it's right."
阿切爾躊躇了一會兒。訂婚消息是按他明確的意願宣佈的，但他的本意卻不是這樣把自己的幸福公佈於衆。在擁擠喧鬧的舞廳裏公佈它等於強行剝掉個人祕密的保護層，那本是屬於最貼近心靈的東西。他的喜悅非常深沉，所以這種表面的損傷沒有觸及根本，不過他還是願意讓表面也一樣純潔。令人滿意的是，他發現梅· 韋蘭也有同樣的感受。她用眼睛向他投來懇求的目光，彷彿是在說：“別忘記，我們這樣做是因爲它符合常理。”
No appeal could have found a more immediate response in Archer's breast; but he wished that the necessity of their action had been represented by some ideal reason, and not simply by poor Ellen Olenska. The group about Miss Welland made way for him with significant smiles, and after taking his share of the felicitations he drew his betrothed into the middle of the ball-room floor and put his arm about her waist.
任何懇求都不會在阿切爾心中得到比這更快的響應了，然而他仍希望他們之所以必須在此宣佈，有一個更充分的理由，而不僅僅是爲了可憐的埃倫·奧蘭斯卡。韋蘭小姐周圍的人面帶會意的笑容給他讓開了路。在接受了對他的那份祝賀之後，他拉着未婚妻走到舞廳中央，把胳膊搭在了她的腰際。
"Now we shan't have to talk," he said, smiling into her candid eyes, as they floated away on the soft waves of the Blue Danube.
“現在我們用不着非得講話了，”他望着她那雙真誠的眼睛露出笑容說。兩人乘着《藍色多瑙河》柔和的波浪漂流而去。
She made no answer. Her lips trembled into a smile, but the eyes remained distant and serious, as if bent on some ineffable vision. "Dear," Archer whispered, pressing her to him: it was borne in on him that the first hours of being engaged, even if spent in a ball-room, had in them something grave and sacramental. What a new life it was going to be, with this whiteness, radiance, goodness at one's side!
她沒有回話，雙脣綻出一絲微笑，但眼神依然淡漠莊重，彷彿正凝神於某種抹不去的幻象。“親愛的，”阿切爾悄聲說，一面用力拉她靠近自己。他堅信，訂婚的最初幾個小時即使在舞廳裏度過，其中也包含着重大與神聖的內容。有這樣一位純潔、美麗、善良的人在身邊，將是怎樣的一種新生活啊！
The dance over, the two, as became an affianced couple, wandered into the conservatory; and sitting behind a tall screen of tree-ferns and camellias Newland pressed her gloved hand to his lips.
舞會結束了，他們倆既然已成了未婚夫妻，便漫步走到溫室裏；坐在一片桫欏與山茶的屏障後面，紐蘭將她戴着手套的手緊緊壓在脣上。
"You see I did as you asked me to," she said.
“你知道，我是照你的要求做的，”她說。
"Yes: I couldn't wait," he answered smiling. After a moment he added: "Only I wish it hadn't had to be at a ball."
“是的，我不能再等待了，”他含笑回答。過了一會兒又補充說：“我只是希望不是在舞會上宣佈。”
"Yes, I know." She met his glance comprehendingly. "But after all--even here we're alone together, aren't we?"
“是的，我知道，”她會意地迎着他的目光說。“不過，畢竟——就是在這兒，我們也是單獨在一起，不是嗎？”
"Oh, dearest--always!" Archer cried.
“哦，最親愛的——永遠！”阿切爾喊道。
Evidently she was always going to understand; she was always going to say the right thing. The discovery made the cup of his bliss overflow, and he went on gaily: "The worst of it is that I want to kiss you and I can't." As he spoke he took a swift glance about the conservatory, assured himself of their momentary privacy, and catching her to him laid a fugitive pressure on her lips. To counteract the audacity of this proceeding he led her to a bamboo sofa in a less secluded part of the conservatory, and sitting down beside her broke a lily-of-the-valley from her bouquet. She sat silent, and the world lay like a sunlit valley at their feet.
顯然，她將永遠理解他，永遠講得體的話。這一發現使得他樂不可支。他開心地接着說：“最糟糕的是我想吻你卻吻不到，”說着，他朝溫室四周迅速瞥了一眼，弄清他們暫時處於隱蔽之中，便把她攬在懷裏，匆匆地吻了一下她的雙脣。爲了抵消這一出格舉動的影響，他把她帶到溫室不太隱蔽部分的一個長竹椅上。他在她身邊坐下，從她的花束上摘下一朵鈴蘭。她坐着一語不發，整個世界像陽光燦爛的峽谷橫在他們腳下。
"Did you tell my cousin Ellen?" she asked presently, as if she spoke through a dream.
“你告訴我的表姐埃倫了嗎？”過了一會兒她問，彷彿在夢中說話一樣。
He roused himself, and remembered that he had not done so. Some invincible repugnance to speak of such things to the strange foreign woman had checked the words on his lips.
他醒悟過來，想起他還沒有告訴她。要向那位陌生的外籍女子講這種事，有一種無法克服的反感使他沒有說出到了嘴邊的話。
"No--I hadn't the chance after all," he said, fibbing hastily.
“沒——我一直沒得到機會，”他急忙扯個小謊說。
"Ah." She looked disappointed, but gently resolved on gaining her point. "You must, then, for I didn't either; and I shouldn't like her to think--"
“噢，”她看上去很失望，但決意溫和地推行她的主張。“那麼，你一定要講，因爲我也沒講，我不願讓她以爲——”
"Of course not. But aren't you, after all, the person to do it?"
“當然，不過話說回來，不是該由你去告訴她嗎？”
She pondered on this. "If I'd done it at the right time, yes: but now that there's been a delay I think you must explain that I'd asked you to tell her at the Opera, before our speaking about it to everybody here. Otherwise she might think I had forgotten her. You see, she's one of the family, and she's been away so long that she's rather--sensitive."
她沉思了一會兒說：“假如早先有適當的時機，我去說也行。不過現在已經晚了，我想你必須向她說明，我在看歌劇時曾經讓你告訴她，那可是我們在這兒告訴大家之前呀。否則她會以爲我忘記她了。你知道她是家族的一員，又在外面呆了很久，因而她非常——敏感。”
Archer looked at her glowingly. "Dear and great angel! Of course I'll tell her." He glanced a trifle apprehensively toward the crowded ball-room. "But I haven't seen her yet. Has she come?"
阿切爾滿面紅光地望着她。“我親愛的天使！我當然要告訴她的，”他略帶憂慮地朝喧鬧的舞廳瞥了一眼。“不過我還沒見着她呢。她來了嗎？”
"No; at the last minute she decided not to."
“沒有，她在最後一刻決定不來了。”
"At the last minute?" he echoed, betraying his surprise that she should ever have considered the alternative possible.
“最後一刻？”他重複道，她居然會改變主意，這使他十分驚訝。
"Yes. She's awfully fond of dancing," the young girl answered simply. "But suddenly she made up her mind that her dress wasn't smart enough for a ball, though we thought it so lovely; and so my aunt had to take her home."
“是的，她特別喜歡跳舞，”姑娘坦率地回答說。“可是她突然認定她的衣服在舞會上不夠漂亮，儘管我們覺得它很美。所以我舅媽只得送她回家了。”
"Oh, well--" said Archer with happy indifference. Nothing about his betrothed pleased him more than her resolute determination to carry to its utmost limit that ritual of ignoring the "unpleasant" in which they had both been brought up.
“噢——”阿切爾無所謂地說。其實，他這時倒是十分快樂。他的未婚妻竭力迴避他們倆在其中長大成人的那個“不快”的陰影，這比什麼都使他高興。
"She knows as well as I do," he reflected, "the real reason of her cousin's staying away; but I shall never let her see by the least sign that I am conscious of there being a shadow of a shade on poor Ellen Olenska's reputation."
“她心裏跟我一樣明白她表姐避不露面的真正原因，”他心想。“不過我決不能讓她看出一點跡象，讓她知道我瞭解可憐的埃倫·奧蘭斯卡名譽上的陰影。
