第十二章（第3/15页）

“哦……如果您愿意的话。”他说，慢条斯理地嚼着面包和奶酪。她走到屋后侧间的洗碗池边，那里安着水龙头。左手边有扇门，无疑就是食品间。她拔掉门闩进去，看到他所谓的食品间，几乎笑出声来，那只不过是条狭长的白漆壁橱。但里面还是塞着一小桶啤酒，几只餐盘，还有零零散散的食物。她从黄色的罐子里取出些牛奶。

"How do you get your milk?" She asked him, when she came back to the table.

“你怎么弄到牛奶的？”她回到餐桌旁时问。

"Flints! They leave me a bottle at the warren end. You know, where I met you!" But he was discouraged. She poured out the tea, poising the cream-jug.

“从弗林特家！他们会在牧场尽头给我留一瓶。你知道的，就是上次咱俩碰面的地方！”但他的表情依然沮丧。她斟好茶，拿起奶油罐。

"No milk," he said; then he seemed to hear a noise, and looked keenly through the doorway.

“我不要牛奶。”他说。似乎听到什么动静，警觉地向门外张望。

" 'Appen we'd better shut," he said.

“咱还是关上门为妙。”他说。

"It seems a pity," she replied. "Nobody will come, will they?" "Not unless it's one time in a thousand, but you never know.” "And even then it's no matter," she said. "It's only a cup of tea.” "Where are the spoons?" He reached over, and pulled open the table drawer. Connie sat at the table in the sunshine of the doorway.

“真可惜。”她应道。“没人会来这儿，不是吗？”“万里有一，谁晓得呢。”“有人来也没什么要紧的。”她说。“我们不过在喝茶而已。”“勺子放在哪儿？”他探身拉开餐桌的抽屉。康妮坐在桌旁，沐浴着门口射进来的阳光。

"Flossie!" He said to the dog, who was lying on a little mat at the stair foot. "Go an'hark, hark! He lifted his finger, and his "hark!" was very vivid. The dog trotted out to reconnoitre.

“弗洛西！”他召唤着猎犬，那畜生正趴在楼梯下面的小毡垫上。“去扫听一下！”他竖起一根手指，说“扫听”这个词的时候显得声情并茂。猎犬跑出去巡风放哨了。

"Are you sad today?" She asked him. He turned his blue eyes quickly, and gazed direct on her.

“你今天不开心吗？”她问他。他淡蓝色的眼睛迅速转回来，直直地盯着她。

"Sad! No, bored! I had to go getting summonses for two poachers I caught, and, oh well, I don't like people.” He spoke cold, good English, and there was anger in his voice. "Do you hate being a game-keeper?" she asked.

“不开心！不，是有点烦！我抓到两名偷猎者，只得去给他们讨传票，唉，我讨厌和人打交道。”他说着地道的英语，语气冷淡，又夹杂着愤怒。“你不愿做守林人吗？”她问。

"Being a game-keeper, no! So long as I'm left alone. But when I have to go messing around at the police-station, and various other places, and waiting for a lot of fools to attend to me...oh well, I get mad..." and he smiled, with a certain faint humour.

“守林人？我愿意做。前提是能让我一个人呆着。可让我去警察局或者别的什么地方，浪费宝贵的时间，等着那些蠢货来接待我……噢，我简直快要发疯……”他露出微笑，带着些调侃的意味。

"Couldn't you be really independent?" she asked.

“难道你不能真的独自过活吗？”她问。

"Me? I suppose I could, if you mean manage to exist on my pension. I could! But I've got to work, or I should die. That is, I've got to have something that keeps me occupied. And I'm not in a good enough temper to work for myself. It's got to be a sort of job for somebody else, or I should throw it up in a month, out of bad temper. So altogether I'm very well off here, especially lately...” He laughed at her again, with mocking humour.