双语·面纱 第三十一章

31

It was a bungalow and she entered the sitting-room. She sat down while the coolies, straggling in one by one, brought in their loads. Walter in the courtyard gave directions where this or that was to be placed. She was very tired. She was startled to hear an unknown voice.

“May I come in?”

She flushed and grew pale. She was overwrought and it made her nervous to meet a stranger. A man came out of the darkness, for the long low room was lit only by a shaded lamp, and held out his hand.

“My name is Waddington. I am the Deputy Commissioner.”

“Oh, the Customs. I know. I heard that you were here.”

In that dim light she could see only that he was a little thin man, no taller than she, with a bald head and a small, bare face.

“I live just at the bottom of the hill, but coming in this way you wouldn't have seen my house. I thought you'd be too fagged to come and dine with me, so I've ordered your dinner here and I've invited myself.”

“I'm delighted to hear it.”

“You'll find the cook's not bad. I kept on Watson's boys for you.”

“Watson was the missionary who was here?”

“Yes. Very nice fellow. I'll show you his grave tomorrow if you like.”

“How kind you are,” said Kitty, with a smile.

At that moment Walter came in. Waddington had introduced himself to him before coming in to see Kitty and now he said:

“I've just been breaking it to your missus that I'm dining with you. Since Watson died I haven't had anybody much to talk to but the nuns, and I can never do myself justice in French. Besides, there is only a limited number of subjects you can talk to them about.”

“I've just told the boy to bring in some drinks,” said Walter.

The servant brought whisky and soda and Kitty noticed that Waddington helped himself generously. His manner of speaking and his easy chuckle had suggested to her when he came in that he was not quite sober.

“Here's luck,” he said. Then, turning to Walter: “You've got your work cut out for you here. They're dying like flies. The magistrate's lost his head and Colonel Yü, the officer commanding the troops, is having a devil of a job to prevent them from looting. If something doesn't happen soon we shall all be murdered in our beds. I tried to get the nuns to go, but of course they wouldn't. They all want to be martyrs, damn them.”

He spoke lightly and there was in his voice a sort of ghostly laughter so that you could not listen to him without smiling.

“Why haven't you gone?” asked Walter.

“Well, I've lost half my staff and the others are ready to lie down and die at any minute. Somebody's got to stay and keep things together.”

“Have you been inoculated?”

“Yes. Watson did me. But he did himself too, and it didn't do him much good, poor blighter.” He turned to Kitty and his funny little face was gaily puckered. “I don't think there's any great risk if you take proper precautions. Have your milk and water boiled and don't eat fresh fruit or uncooked vegetables. Have you brought any gramophone records with you?”

“No, I don't think so,” said Kitty.

“I'm sorry for that. I was hoping you would. I haven't had any for a long time and I'm sick of my old ones.”

The boy came in to ask if they would have dinner.

“You won't dress to-night, will you?” asked Waddington. “My boy died last week and the boy I have now is a fool, so I haven't been dressing in the evening.”

“I'll go and take off my hat,” said Kitty.

Her room was next door to that in which they sat. It was barely furnished. An amah was kneeling on the floor, the lamp beside her, unpacking Kitty's things.

第三十一章

那是一座平房，她走进客厅坐了下来。这时，苦力们三三两两地把他们带的物品都卸了进来。沃尔特在院子里指挥着他们摆放物品。她觉得很累，但被一个不熟悉的声音吓了一大跳。

“我能进来吗？”

她的脸先是红了一下，然后又变白了。她变得神经紧张，所以遇见个陌生人让她一时不知所措。这个人好像从黑暗中走进来，因为狭长低矮的房间只有一个带罩的油灯。他伸出了手。

“我叫威廷顿，是这里的副专员。”

“哦，是海关的，我知道，我听说过您。”

在昏暗的灯光下，她只能大概看清他是个身材矮小的男人，跟她个头差不多，秃头，有一张没有胡须的小脸盘。

“我就住在山脚下，但是在来的路上，你们可能看不见我的房子。我想您可能累坏了，无法过来一起和我共进晚餐，所以我在这儿让人把饭给你们做好了，我本人也不请自来了。”

“我很高兴见到您。”

“您可能会发现厨师还不错，我让魏特森的仆人供您差遣。”

“魏特森是从前在这儿的那位传教士吗？”

“是的，一位很好的人。如果您愿意，我明天带您到他的墓上看看。”

“您真是太好了。”凯蒂面带微笑地说道。

这时，沃尔特走了进来。在威廷顿见到凯蒂之前，他已经向沃尔特做过自我介绍了，于是他对沃尔特说道：

“我已经征得你太太的同意与你们共进晚餐。在魏特森去世后，除了那些法国修女外，再没有什么能跟我多说几句话的人了，再加上我的法语也不太灵光，而且，跟她们能谈的话题也很有限。”

“我刚才已经告诉伙计拿些喝的进来。”沃尔特说道。

仆人拿来了威士忌和苏打水，凯蒂注意到威廷顿一点儿也不见外，马上自斟自饮起来。从他说话的方式和动不动就呵呵傻笑，她已经猜到他进屋时就已经半醉了。

“能喝上这个就是运气呀。”他说道，然后转过头，冲着沃尔特，“你在这儿会忙得不可开交的。他们就像苍蝇一样成堆死去，地方官已经快失去理智了。还有余上校，这位军官气急败坏地命令部队不要干抢劫的勾当。如果还不赶紧采取点儿措施，我们很快就会被杀死在床上。我设法让修女们赶快离开这里，但是她们不会离开，她们都想成为殉道者，真该死。”

他说得很轻松，话语中有一种吓人的幽默，所以你不得不带着微笑听他说完。

“那你为什么不走？”沃尔特问道。

“呃，我一半的员工已经丢掉了性命，其他的人也随时会倒下，然后死去。但总得有人留下来收拾后事吧？”

“你已经打了疫苗了吗？”

“打了，魏特森给我打的。但是，他自己也给自己打了呀，可是对他来说没起多大作用，可怜的笨蛋。”他转向凯蒂，他可笑的小脸因为快乐而起了皱纹。“我认为如果你采取适当的预防措施，不会有太大的风险。一定要把你的牛奶和饮用水煮沸，不要吃新鲜的水果或者没烹饪过的蔬菜。你这次带留声机的唱片了吗？”

“没有，我觉得好像没带。”凯蒂说道。

“那太遗憾了，我真希望你能带一些来。我好长时间没有听唱片了，手头的那些我已经听腻了。”

仆人进来问是否可以上菜了。

“你今晚不会换晚礼服了，是吧？”威廷顿问道，“我的男仆上周死了，现在用的这个男仆是个傻瓜，所以我在晚上就再也没换过晚礼服了。”

“我去摘下帽子。”凯蒂说道。

她的卧室就在他们落座的隔壁，几乎没有什么家具。旁边放了一盏油灯，一个女仆跪在地板上，正在整理凯蒂的行装。