第六章（第13/15页）

“查泰莱夫人！”他说，“请进。”他的举止大方得体，彬彬有礼，她迈过门槛，踏入这间颇为阴郁的小屋。

"I only called with a message from Sir Clifford," she said in her soft, rather breathless voice.

“克利福德爵士让我给你捎个口信。”她语调轻柔，但呼吸急促。

The man was looking at her with those blue, all-seeing eyes of his, which made her turn her face aside a little. He thought her comely, almost beautiful, in her shyness, and he took command of the situation himself at once.

那男人凝视着她，那双蓝眼睛似乎能够洞察一切，她感觉有些害羞，微微别过脸去。他觉得含羞的她标致可爱，几乎称得上美艳动人，他立刻就掌握了主动。

"Would you care to sit down?" he asked, presuming she would not. The door stood open.

“请坐。”他说，心里清楚她不会坐。门是敞开着的。

"No thanks! Sir Clifford wondered if you would... and she delivered her message, looking unconsciously into his eyes again. And now his eyes looked warm and kind, particularly to a woman, wonderfully warm, and kind, and at ease.

“不了，多谢！克利福德想让你……”她传完口信，又不自觉地望向他的双眸。他的眼神温暖和善，对于异性，更是格外热情亲切，没有半点拘谨。

"Very good, your Ladyship. I will see to it at once." Taking an order, his whole self had changed, glazed over with a sort of hardness and distance. Connie hesitated, she ought to go. But she looked round the clean, tidy, rather dreary little sitting-room with something like dismay.

“好的，夫人。我立刻就办。”接受命令时，他变了一副模样，显得冷若冰霜，仿佛要拒人千里之外。康妮有些迟疑，她应该回去了。但她却有点沮丧地环顾起这个干净整洁，但又有些阴郁的小起居室。

"Do you live here quite alone?" she asked.

“你一个人住在这儿么？”她问。

"Quite alone, your Ladyship." "But your mother...?" "She lives in her own cottage in the village." "With the child?" asked Connie.

“就我自己，夫人。”“那你母亲呢……？”“她在村里有自己的住处。”“和孩子一起？”她问。

"With the child!" And his plain, rather worn face took on an indefinable look of derision. It was a face that changed all the time, baking.

“跟孩子同住。”他那张饱经风霜的淳朴面孔上，流露出一丝难以琢磨的嘲讽。这张脸上的表情总是变幻莫测，令人困惑。

"No," he said, seeing Connie stand at a loss, "my mother comes and cleans up for me on Saturdays; I do the rest myself." Again Connie looked at him. His eyes were smiling again, a little mockingly, but warm and blue, and somehow kind. She wondered at him. He was in trousers and flannel shirt and a grey tie, his hair soft and damp, his face rather pale and worn-looking. When the eyes ceased to laugh they looked as if they had suffered a great deal, still without losing their warmth. But a pallor of isolation came over him, she was not really there for him.

发觉康妮疑惑不解，他连忙解释说：“我母亲每周六过来，帮我打扫一下，其余时间我自己收拾。”康妮再度望向他。那双眼睛重新泛起笑意，夹杂着些许嘲弄，但却温暖澄蓝，显得颇为友好亲切。他让她惊讶不已。他身着长裤，配法兰绒衬衫、灰色领带，头发柔软湿润，脸色苍白，仿佛饱经沧桑。笑容褪去时，他的双眸看上去像是曾经历尽苦难，但仍未丧失热情。然而，他苍白的面容透露出孤独的气质，她来这儿并非为了他。

She wanted to say so many things, and she said nothing. Only she looked up at him again, and remarked: "I hope I didn't disturb you?” The faint smile of mockery narrowed his eyes.