第十二章（第13/15页）

“你在想什么？说话好吗！跟我说点什么！”他轻吻着她，低语道：“噢，我的宝贝！”可她不清楚他的意思，不知道他在想些什么。她觉得，他似乎已经迷失在沉默当中。

"You love me, don't you?” She murmured.

“你爱我，不是吗？”她低声问。

"Ay, tha knows!" he said.

“是呀，恁晓得！”他回答。

"But tell me!" she pleaded.

“我想你亲口说出来！”她恳求道。

"Ay! Ay! 'asn't ter felt it?”

“是呀！是呀！难道恁还感觉不到？”

he said dimly, but softly and surely. And she clung close to him, closer. He was so much more peaceful in love than she was, and she wanted him to reassure her.

他的回答含混不清，但深情款款，斩钉截铁。她将他搂得更紧。同样置身情爱之中，他却比她平静得多，而她只想从他那里得到确切的答案。

"You do love me!" She whispered, assertive. And his hands stroked her softly, as if she were a flower, without the quiver of desire, but with delicate nearness. And still there haunted her a restless necessity to get a grip on love.

“你真的爱我！”她声调虽低，语气却充满自信。他双手轻柔地抚摸着她，仿佛触碰着艳丽的花朵，没有情欲的颤抖，只有体贴与亲切。而她却仍执意要听到他亲口表白。

"Say you'll always love me!" she pleaded.

“说你会永远爱我！”她央求着。

"Ay!" he said, abstractedly.

“是呀！”他心不在焉地应道。

And she felt her questions driving him away from her.

她感觉自己执着的提问正将他慢慢推离。

"Mustn't we get up?" he said at last.

“我们该起来了吧？”他终于开口。

"No!" she said.

“不要！”她说。

But she could feel his consciousness straying, listening to the noises outside.

但她能察觉到，他的意识已经溜号，侧耳倾听着屋外的动静。

"It'll be nearly dark," he said. And she heard the pressure of circumstances in his voice. She kissed him, with a woman's grief at yielding up her hour.

“天快要黑了。”他说。从他的话语里，她听得出外界环境对他造成的压力。她吻着他，心有戚戚，不愿就此放弃快乐的时光。

He rose, and turned up the lantern, then began to pull on his clothes, quickly disappearing inside them. Then he stood there, above her, fastening his breeches and looking down at her with dark, wide-eyes, his face a little flushed and his hair ruffled, curiously warm and still and beautiful in the dim light of the lantern, so beautiful, she would never tell him how beautiful. It made her want to cling fast to him, to hold him, for there was a warm, half-sleepy remoteness in his beauty that made her want to cry out and clutch him, to have him. She would never have him. So she lay on the blanket with curved, soft naked haunches, and he had no idea what she was thinking, but to him too she was beautiful, the soft, marvellous thing he could go into, beyond everything.

他站起身来，将灯火调亮，接着开始穿衣服，很快就将裸露的身躯全部遮住。然后，他站在一旁，系紧马裤，低头凝望着她，幽暗的大眼睛忽闪着，脸颊微泛红潮，头发凌乱，沐浴在油灯昏黄的光线里，显得那样温暖静谧，那样英俊，英俊到她无法用语言来形容。她想再度紧紧依偎着他，拥抱着他，因为他的美让人感到温暖，却又并非触手可及，仿佛置身于半梦半醒之间，这让她想要呼喊，想要抓紧他，想要拥有他。她绝不会拥有他。于是，她躺在毯子上，不着一缕，展露着曲线玲珑的柔美腰臀。他猜不透她在想些什么，但对他而言，她同样是美丽的，而凌驾于一切之上的，自然是那可以让他进入的温软奇妙的所在。