双语·面纱 第十章

10

During the next week she met him at three dances and now, his shyness perhaps wearing off a little, he was somewhat more communicative. He was a doctor, certainly, but he did not practise; he was a bacteriologist (Kitty had only a very vague idea what that meant) and he had a job at Hong Kong. He was going back in the autumn. He talked a good deal about China. She made it a practice to appear interested in whatever people talked to her of, but indeed the life in Hong Kong sounded quite jolly; there were clubs and tennis and racing and polo and golf.

“Do people dance much there?”

“Oh, yes, I think so.”

She wondered whether he told her these things with a motive. He seemed to like her society, but never by a pressure of the hand, by a glance or by a word, did he give the smallest indication that he looked upon her as anything but a girl whom you met and danced with. On the following Sunday he came again to their house. Her father happened to come in, it was raining and he had not been able to play golf, and he and Walter Fane had a long chat. She asked her father afterwards what they had talked of.

“It appears he's stationed at Hong Kong. The Chief Justice is an old friend of mine at the Bar. He seems an unusually intelligent young man.”

She knew that her father was as a rule bored to death by the young people whom for her sake and now her sister's he had been forced for years to entertain.

“It's not often you like any of my young men, father,” she said.

His kind, tired eyes rested upon her.

“Are you going to marry him by any chance?”

“Certainly not.”

“Is he in love with you?”

“He shows no sign of it.”

“Do you like him?”

“I don't think I do very much. He irritates me a little.”

He was not her type at all. He was short, but not thick-set, slight rather and thin; dark and clean-shaven, with very regular, clean-cut features. His eyes were almost black, but not large, they were not very mobile and they rested on objects with a singular persistence; they were curious, but not very pleasant eyes. With his straight, delicate nose, his fine brow, and well-shaped mouth he ought to have been good-looking. But surprisingly enough he was not. When Kitty began to think of him at all she was surprised that he should have such good features when you took them one by one. His expression was slightly sarcastic and now that Kitty knew him better she realised that she was not quite at ease with him. He had no gaiety.

By the time the season drew to its end they had seen a good deal of one another, but he had remained as aloof and impenetrable as ever. He was not exactly shy with her, but embarrassed; his conversation remained strangely impersonal. Kitty came to the conclusion that he was not in the least in love with her. He liked her and found her easy to talk to, but when he returned to China in November he would not think of her again. She thought it not impossible that he was engaged all the time to some nurse at a hospital in Hong Kong, the daughter of a clergyman, dull, plain, flat-footed and strenuous; that was the wife that would exactly suit him.

Then came the announcement of Doris's engagement to Geoffrey Dennison. Doris, at eighteen, was making quite a suitable marriage, and she was twenty-five and single. Supposing she did not marry at all? That season the only person who had proposed to her was a boy of twenty who was still at Oxford: she couldn't marry a boy five years younger than herself. She had made a hash of things. Last year she had refused a widowed Knight of the Bath with three children. She almost wished she hadn't. Mother would be horrible now, and Doris, Doris who had always been sacrificed because she, Kitty, was expected to make the brilliant match, would not fail to crow over her. Kitty's heart sank.

第十章

在接下来的一周中，她在三场舞会上都遇见了他，现在他的羞涩也许消除了一些，变得稍微健谈些了。虽然他是个医生，但并不执业，他是个细菌学家（凯蒂对这份工作几乎一无所知），在香港工作，今年秋天还会回去。他跟凯蒂讲了很多关于中国的事情，而凯蒂也早已练就了一个本事，那就是无论别人跟她说什么，她都能做出听得津津有味的样子。不过确实，香港的生活听上去还是蛮不错的，那儿有俱乐部、网球场、赛马会，还可以打马球和高尔夫球。

“那儿的人经常办舞会吗？”

“哦，当然，舞会很多。”

她暗自揣摩，他跟她说这些事情是不是有所图。他似乎喜欢和她在一起，但又绝不会主动牵她的手，或者通过眼神或言语来表达他的感情。丝毫看不出他有要主动追求她的举动，好像她只是一位他遇到的、一块儿跳过舞的女孩。在接下来的那个星期天，他再次来到了凯蒂家。她的父亲碰巧进来了，因为外面下雨，他不能去打高尔夫球了，于是他和沃尔特有了一次长谈，她后来问她父亲他们谈了点儿什么。

“看样子他的工作地点在香港，那儿的首席大法官是我在法律界的一个老朋友，他似乎是个聪明的、非同寻常的年轻人。”

她心里明白，照常来说，她父亲对多年来不得不去应付接待的追求她的那些年轻人烦得要死，现在她妹妹的追求者也令他如此。

“父亲，对那些围在我身边的年轻人你是通常都不怎么喜欢的呀。”她说道。

他慈祥而疲倦的目光落在她身上。

“如果有可能，你会嫁给他吗？”

“肯定不会。”

“他爱上你了吗？”

“他没有表露出来。”

“你喜欢他吗？”

“我觉得不怎么喜欢。他经常让我有点儿不爽。”

他根本不是她喜欢的那种类型，个头不高，但也不怎么胖，反而有点儿偏瘦，皮肤略黑，轮廓清晰规矩，身材匀称，整齐体面。他的眼珠几乎是黑色的，眼睛不大，并不经常转动，目光落到的地方，总是带着特别专注的神色；眼睛里虽然透着好奇，但不是很喜庆；鼻子笔直、精致，前庭饱满，嘴也很有型，他应该是长得比较耐看的，但让人匪夷所思的是，实际上他给人的感觉并非如此。当凯蒂开始认真地考虑他的长相时，她也觉得有点儿吃惊，如果单看他的五官，每个都很好，可合到一起，反而不是想当然的英俊。他的表达中稍微带有一些讥讽的味道，随着凯蒂对他的了解逐渐增多，她意识到自己和他在一起时，并不很放松，他身上没有快乐的细胞。

伴随着社交季节接近尾声，他们已经见了很多次面了，但是他还是跟以往一样，对她仍然保持着不冷不热、若即若离的态度。准确地说，他和她在一起时不再那么不好意思了，但是还是拘谨，所说的话仍然是不自然的、干巴巴的。凯蒂最后得出了结论，他根本没有爱上她，他只是喜欢她，发现她是个容易交流的对象，等到了十一月份他回中国时，就会把她忘到脑后了。她觉得很可能他会一直和香港医院中的某个护士保持暧昧的关系，或者找一个牧师的女儿，虽然这些女子乏味、相貌平平、扁平足，甚至小里小气，但的确适合做他的妻子。

后来，杰奥弗瑞·丹尼森宣布与多瑞丝订婚，多瑞丝才十八岁，就订了一桩门当户对的婚事，而凯蒂都二十五岁了，还是单身，假如她一辈子都嫁不出去该怎么办？那个社交季只有一个还在牛津大学学习的二十岁男孩向她求婚，而她不可能嫁给一个比她自己还小五岁的男孩。她已经把自己的婚事搞得一团糟了。去年她拒绝了一个有着巴斯骑士封号的鳏夫的求婚，虽然这个男人还带着三个孩子，但是如今她希望当初要是答应下来就好了。她母亲现在愈发变本加厉了，而多瑞丝，以前因为母亲把嫁个好人家的宝都押在了凯蒂身上，处处得让着凯蒂，现在她在凯蒂面前趾高气扬了起来。凯蒂的心好像掉入了冰窟窿里。