第十七章（第11/21页）

上述故事均是道听途说，因为梅勒斯本人并未来找过我。这则无聊的传闻是从我们的垃圾鸟，我们的美洲鹳，我们吃腐肉的秃鹫，博尔顿太太那里听来的。我转述此事，全因为她说过：要是那女人赖着不走，夫人可就没法再去林中散步了！

I like your picture of Sir Malcolm striding into the sea with white hair blowing and pink flesh glowing. I envy you that sun. Here it rains. But I don't envy Sir Malcolm his inveterate mortal carnality. However, it suits his age. Apparently one grows more carnal and more mortal as one grows older. Only youth has a taste of immortality— This news affected Connie in her state of semi-stupefied ell being with vexation amounting to exasperation. Now she ad got to be bothered by that beast of a woman! Now she must start and fret! She had no letter from Mellors. They had agreed not to write at all, but now she wanted to hear from him personally. After all, he was the father of the child that was coming. Let him write!

我很喜欢你栩栩如生的作品，画里的马尔科姆爵士正阔步走进大海，白发迎风飘摆，肌肤泛着红光。真羡慕你那里的太阳。拉格比阴雨连绵。可我并不羡慕他对肉欲无休无止的追求。不过，这种行为倒也符合他的年纪。年龄越大，越是贪图肉欲。只有青春才知不朽为何物——这消息彻底将康妮从半昏迷似的幸福状态中唤醒，心情渐渐从苦恼升格为愤怒。如今，那个泼妇还是跳了出来，扰乱她的清静！从现在开始，有她烦的了！她没收到梅勒斯的信。他俩约好互不通信，但眼下，她渴望能从他那儿了解到真实的情况。他毕竟是腹中婴孩的父亲。快让他写信吧！

But how hateful! Now everything was messed up. How foul those low people were! How nice it was here, in the sunshine and the indolence, compared to that dismal mess of that English Midlands! After all, a clear sky was almost the most important thing in life.

真是可恶！现在所有事都乱成一团。平民百姓的行径果然恶劣！跟英国中部那团解不开的令人沮丧的乱麻相比，这儿和煦的阳光，慵懒的生活实在惬意极了！无论怎样，晴朗的天空几乎是生活中最紧要的东西。

She did not mention the fact of her pregnancy, even to Hilda. She wrote to Mrs. Bolton for exact information.

她没向任何人透露过自己怀孕的事，甚至连希尔达都不知情。她写信给博尔顿太太，打听详细情况。

Duncan Forbes, an artist friend of theirs, had arrived at the Villa Esmeralda, coming north from Rome. Now he made a third in the gondola, and he bathed with them across the lagoon, and was their escort: a quiet, almost taciturn young man, very advanced in his art.

姐妹俩的朋友，画家邓肯·福布斯从罗马北上，来到威尼斯，住进埃斯梅拉达别墅。现在，他成为凤尾船的第三位乘客，跟姐妹俩一起到泻湖彼岸畅泳，充当起护花使者的角色。他安静寡言，在艺术上却很有造诣。

She had a letter from Mrs. Bolton: You will be pleased, I am sure, my Lady, when you see Sir Clifford. He's looking quite blooming and working very hard, and very hopeful. Of course he is looking forward to seeing you among us again. It is a dull house without my Lady, and we shall all welcome her presence among us once more.

她接到博尔顿太太的来信：夫人，要是您能见到克利福德爵士，我保证您准会开心不已。他看上去精力旺盛，刻苦工作，对未来充满希望。当然，他期盼着您能回到我们身边。夫人没在，家里变得异常沉闷，大家都盼望着您能早日归来。

About Mr. Mellors, I don't know how much Sir Clifford told you. It seems his wife came back all of a sudden one afternoon, and he found her sitting on the doorstep when he came in from the wood. She said she was come back to him and wanted to live with him again, as she was his legal wife, and he wasn't going to divorce her. But he wouldn't have anything to do with her, and wouldn't let her in the house, and did not go in himself; he went back into the wood without ever opening the door.