双语·《刀锋》 第三章 三

CHAPTER THREE 3
第三章 三

Isabel was married to Gray Maturin early in the June of the year after the termination of her engagement to Larry. Though Elliott hated leaving Paris at a moment when the season was at its height and he must miss a number of grand parties, his family feeling was too strong to allow him to neglect what he thought a social duty.Isabel's brothers were unable to leave their distant posts and so it behoved him to make the irksome journey to Chicago to give his niece away.Remembering that French aristocrats had gone to the guillotine in all their finery, he made a special journey to London to get himself a new morning coat, a dove-grey double-breasted waistcoat, and a silk hat.On his return to Paris he invited me to come and see them on.He was in a state of perturbation because the grey pearl he usually wore in his necktie would not make any sort of effect against the pale grey tie he had chosen as suitable to the festive occasion.I suggested his emerald-and-diamond pin.
跟拉里解除婚约后第二年的六月初，伊莎贝尔就嫁给了格雷·马图林。此时，巴黎的社交季节正在高潮，艾略特要参加许多场规模宏大的宴会，所以他一百个不愿意离开巴黎，但由于他的家族感情异常强烈，容不得他忽略掉在他看来是自己分内的职责。伊莎贝尔的兄长们远在天边，无法抛下那儿的工作回家参加婚礼，于是他只好踏上恼人的旅途，前往芝加哥为外甥女主婚了。他想起那些法国贵族都是穿着盛装上断头台的，所以特地上伦敦购置了一套新晨礼服、一件青灰色双排纽扣的大衣和一顶丝绸礼帽。一返回巴黎，他就把我请去看他试装。他选了一条浅灰色的领带，自认为适合于婚礼上佩戴，可是再用平时的那枚珍珠别针，便不伦不类了，这叫他很恼火。我建议他改用他那枚镶着翡翠和钻石的别针。

“If I were a guest-yes，”he said.“But in the particular position I shall occupy I feel that a pearl is indicated.”
“如果我只是个宾客嘛……这也就罢了，”他说，“而我担任主婚人的特殊责任，便感觉到珍珠有一种象征意义。”

He was much pleased with the marriage, which concorded with all his ideas of propriety, and he spoke of it with the unctuousness of a dowager duchess expressing herself on the suitability of a union between a scion of the La Rochefoucaulds with a daughter of the Montmorencys. As a visible mark of his satisfaction he was taking over as a wedding present, sparing no expense, a fine portrait by Nattier of a princess of the House of France.
他对这门亲事非常满意，认为从各方面看，双方都是门当户对的。一说起来，他便眉飞色舞，就像个孀居的公爵夫人在议论拉罗什富科家族的公子跟蒙特默伦西家族的千金结下的天设地造的良缘。为了明确表示自己满意的心情，他不惜重金买了一幅纳蒂埃为法兰西王室的一个公主画的精美的肖像，准备带去作为结婚礼物。

It appeared that Henry Maturin had bought for the young couple a house in Astor Street so that they should be close to where Mrs. Bradley lived and not too far from his own palatial residence on Lake Shore Drive.By a happy chance, in which I suspected the deft complicity of Elliott, Gregory Brabazon was in Chicago at the time the purchase was made and the decoration was entrusted to him.When Elliott returned to Europe and, throwing in his hand so far as the season in Paris was concerned, came straight to London, he brought photographs of the result.Gregory Brabazon had let himself go.In the drawing-room he had gone all George the Second and it was very grand.In the library, which was to be Gray's den, he had been inspired by a room in the Amalienburg Palace at Munich, and except that there was no place in it for books it was perfect.Save for the twin beds, Louis Quinze visiting Madame de Pompadour would have found himself perfectly at home in the bedroom Gregory had provided for this young American couple, but Isabel's bathroom would have been an eye-opener to him；it was all glass-walls, ceiling and bath-and on the walls silver fish meandered profusely among gilded aquatic plants.
亨利·马图林好像给小两口在阿斯特街买了一幢房子，靠近布雷德利夫人住的地方，离他自己在湖滨道的那座富丽堂皇的府邸也不太远。说来也巧，购置这幢房子时，格雷戈里·布拉巴宗恰好在芝加哥，房子的内部装饰就交给了他，而我怀疑艾略特和布拉巴宗在这件事上是串通好了的。艾略特返回欧洲时，舍弃了巴黎的社交盛宴，直接取道前往伦敦，给格雷戈里·布拉巴宗带去一些室内装饰的照片作为样本。后者放手大干了一场。客厅的装饰完全是乔治二世时期的风格，显得金碧辉煌。至于书房——格雷将来的小天地，格雷戈里是靠慕尼黑的阿玛利堡宫里一间屋子给他的启发来进行装饰的，除了没有地方放书外，可以说无懈可击。格雷戈里为这对年轻的美国夫妇把寝室装饰得十分舒适（那张双人床不算在内），就是法王路易十五在这里幽会蓬帕杜夫人，也会觉得舒心安逸，而伊莎贝尔的浴室则会叫路易十五大开眼界——那儿完全是玻璃世界，有玻璃墙壁、玻璃天花板、玻璃浴缸；墙根的玻璃鱼缸里有银色的小鱼在金色的水草中游来游去。

“Of course it's a tiny house，”said Elliott，“but Henry told me the decoration set him back a hundred thousand dollars. A fortune to some people.”
“当然，房子是很小的。”艾略特说道，“可是亨利告诉我，说室内装修花了他十万块。对普通人来说，这可是数目很大的一笔钱。”

The ceremony was performed with such pomp as the Episcopalian church could afford.
婚礼很气派，在圣公会教会允许的范围内极尽奢华。

“Not like a wedding at Notre Dame，”he told me complacently，“but for a Protestant affair it didn't lack style.”
“跟巴黎圣母院里举行的那种婚礼有所不同，”艾略特带着几分自豪告诉我说，“但就新教的婚礼来说，却是别具一格。”

The press had behaved very handsomely and Elliott negligently tossed the cuttings to me. He showed me photographs of Isabel, hefty but handsome in her wedding-dress, and Gray, a massive but fine figure of a man, a trifle self-conscious in his formal clothes.There was a group of the young couple with bridesmaids and another group with Mrs.Bradley in a sumptuous garment and Elliott holding his new top-hat with a grace that only he could have achieved.I asked how Mrs.Bradley was.
报纸对婚礼高调进行了报道，艾略特剪下几条，做出一副漫不经意的样子丢给我看。他还让我看了新人的结婚照——伊莎贝尔穿着新娘服装，有些胖，然而很漂亮；格雷是个大块头，但身材不错，穿一身结婚的礼服，显得有点不自在。还有一张新婚夫妇和伴娘们的合影，一张小两口跟布雷德利夫人、艾略特一起拍的照片——布雷德利夫人穿一件华贵的衣服；艾略特把他的新帽子拿在手里，风度翩翩，那种高雅的劲儿简直无法比拟。我问他布雷德利夫人的身体状况怎样。

“She's lost a good deal of weight and I don't like her colour, but she's pretty well. Of course the whole thing was a strain on her, but now it's all over she'll be able to rest up.”
“瘦了许多，脸色不尽如人意，但身体状况还是挺好的。当然，婚事叫她操尽了心，好在现已办完，她总算能彻底休息休息了。”

A year later Isabel was delivered of a daughter, to whom, following the fashion of the moment, she gave the name of Joan；and after an interval of two years she had another daughter whom, following another fashion, she called Priscilla.
一年后，伊莎贝尔生了一个女儿，根据当时流行的名字，取名叫琼；隔了两年，她又生了一个女儿，还是根据当时流行的名字，取名叫普里西拉。

One of Henry Maturin's partners died and the other two under pressure soon afterwards retired, so that he entered into sole possession of the business over which he had always exercised despotic control. He realized the ambition he had long entertained and took Gray into partnership with him.The firm had never been so prosperous.
亨利·马图林的一个合伙人死了，另外两个合伙人在重压之下不久也退休了。公司原来就由着他独断专行，而今更成了他一人的天下。多年的抱负一朝实现。他让儿子和他一道经营，公司出现了空前繁荣的景象。

“They're making money hand over fist, my dear fellow，”Elliott told me.“Why, Gray at the age of twenty-five is making fifty thousand a year, and that's only a beginning. The resources of America are inexhaustible.It isn't a boom, it's just the natural development of a great country.”
“他们赚钱易如反掌，老伙计。”艾略特对我说道，“呵，格雷才二十五岁，一年就能赚五万块。而且，这还只是开了个头。美国的财富是永不枯竭的。这种繁荣并非昙花一现，而是一个伟大国家的常态。”

His chest swelled with an unwonted patriotic fervour.
他的胸中泛起了少见的爱国主义热情。

“Henry Maturin can't live for ever, high blood pressure, you know, and by the time Gray's forty he should be worth twenty million dollars. Princely, my dear fellow, princely.”
“亨利·马图林不可能永远活下去。要知道，他患有高血压。格雷到了四十岁时，将坐拥两千万元的资产。那可是富比王侯，老伙计，富比王侯呀。”

Elliott kept up a fairly regular correspondence with his sister and from time to time as the years went on passed on to me what she told him. Gray and Isabel were very happy, and the babies were sweet.They lived in a style that Elliott gladly admitted was eminently suitable；they entertained lavishly and were lavishly entertained；he told me with satisfaction that Isabel and Gray hadn't dined by themselves once in three months.Their whirl of gaiety was interrupted by the death of Mrs.Maturin, that colourless, highborn lady whom Henry Maturin had married for her connexions when he was making a place for himself in the city to which his father had come as a country bumpkin；and out of respect for her memory for a year the young couple never entertained more than six people to dinner.
艾略特和姐姐之间家书不断。一年一年的时光悄然流逝，他时不时会把姐姐告诉他的事情讲给我听。格雷和伊莎贝尔生活幸福，两个孩子活泼可爱。他们一家的生活方式叫艾略特赞不绝口，说完全合乎他们的社会地位——请客请得风风光光，别人请他们也排场阔气。艾略特非常满意地告诉我，说他们三个月里单独吃饭吃不上一次。后来，由于马图林夫人的离世，这种快活的日子戛然而止。亨利·马图林当初娶那位面无血色、高颧骨的女人，是想利用她的社会关系，好在芝加哥有一席之地，因为他父亲是农村来的乡巴佬，指望不上。为了纪念马图林夫人，小两口儿有一年的工夫，请客吃饭一次顶多只请六个人。

“I've always said that eight was the perfect number，”said Elliott, determined to look on the bright side of things.“It's intimate enough to permit of general conversation and yet large enough to give the impression of a party.”
“我一直认为请客请八个人最为合适。”艾略特看问题看的是乐观的一面，于是这样说道，“八个人气氛融和，利于交谈，同时给人的印象是够得上宴会的规模。”

Gray was wonderfully generous to his wife. On the birth of their first child he gave her a square-cut diamond ring and on the birth of her second a sable coat.He was too busy to leave Chicago much, but such holidays as he could take they spent at Henry Maturin's imposing house at Marvin.Henry could deny nothing to the son whom he adored and one Christmas gave him a plantation in South Carolina so that he could get a fortnight's duck-shooting in the season.
格雷对妻子慷慨得出奇，生第一胎时，送给她一枚四面都经过打磨的钻石戒指，生第二胎，赠给她的是一件紫貂皮大衣。由于太忙，他很少离开芝加哥。中间如果能休息几天，他们全家就会到亨利·马图林在马文的那幢豪宅里度假。亨利爱儿子，有求必应。一次过圣诞节的时候，他把在南卡罗来纳州买的一处农场送给了儿子——这样儿子可以在狩猎季节到那儿去打两个星期的野鸭子。

“Of course our merchant princes correspond to those great patrons of the arts of the Italian Renaissance who made fortunes by commerce. The Medici, for instance.Two kings of France were not too proud to marry the daughters of that illustrious family and I foresee the day when the crowned heads of Europe will seek the hands of our dollar princesses.What was it Shelley said?‘The world's great age begins anew, the golden years return.'”
“当然，我们的商业巨头跟意大利文艺复兴时期靠商业发财的那些伟大的艺术赞助人很相似。就拿美第奇家族来说吧——甚至就连法国的两个国王也放下身段跟这个显赫家族的千金联姻。可以预见，总有一天，欧洲的君主会跑到美国来，向这个金元帝国的公主求婚的。正如诗人雪莱所说：‘世界的伟大时代重又降临，黄金的岁月回来了。’”

Henry Maturin had for many years looked after Mrs. Bradley's and Elliott's investments and they had a well-justified confidence in his acumen.He had never countenanced speculation and had put their money into sound securities, but with the great increase in values they found their comparatively modest fortunes increased in a manner that both surprised and delighted them.Elliott told me that, without stirring a finger, he was nearly twice as rich in 1926 as he had been in 1918.He was sixty-five, his hair was grey, his face lined, and there were pouches under his eyes, but he bore his years gallantly；he was as slim and held himself as erectly as ever；he had always been moderate in his habits and taken care of his appearance.He had no intention of submitting to the ravages of time so long as he could have his clothes made by the best tailor in London, his hair dressed and his face shaved by his own particular barber, and a masseur to come in every morning to keep his elegant body in perfect condition.He had long forgotten that he had ever so far demeaned himself as to engage in a trade, and without ever saying so outright, for he was not so stupid as to tell a lie that might be found out, he was inclined to suggest that in his youth he had been in the diplomatic service.I must admit that if I had ever had occasion to draw a portrait of an ambassador I should without hesitation have chosen Elliott as my model.
多年来，布雷德利夫人和艾略特的投资都交给亨利·马图林打理，姐弟俩对他的眼光深信不疑。亨利从不冒风险搞投机，而是将他们的钱都放在可靠的股票上。由于股票的价值大涨，他们的投资也水涨船高，小小的几笔钱增加了许多，让他们又惊又喜。艾略特告诉我，说他连一根手指头都没有动，一九一八年投进去的钱，至一九二六年便几乎翻了一倍。他已经六十五岁，两鬓霜染，脸上有皱纹，眼睛下面出现了眼袋，但他没有向岁月屈服，仍保持着身材瘦削、腰杆笔挺。他历来都很注意自己的生活习惯，注意自己的外表。只要能够有伦敦最好的裁缝给他做衣服，有自己的特约理发师为他理发修面，有按摩师天天早晨上门按摩，使他的优美体形保持良好的状态，他就绝不会任由时光摆弄自己。他早已欣然淡忘自己已沦落于商贾之流，而倾向于暗示自己年轻时曾在外交界供职，不过他从不把话说得很明白，因为他并不愚蠢，不会就这一点撒谎，免得日后被人戳穿。我得承认，如果我有机会描写一位大使的话，我会毫不迟疑地选艾略特做我的模本。

But things were changing. Such of the great ladies who had advanced Elliott's career as were still alive were well along in years.The English peeresses, having lost their lords, had been forced to surrender their mansions to daughters-in-law, and had retired to villas at Cheltenham or to modest houses in Regent's Park.Stafford House was turned into a museum, Curzon House became the seat of an organization, Devonshire House was for sale.The yacht on which Elliott had been in the habit of staying at Cowes had passed into other hands.The fashionable persons who occupied the stage had no use for the elderly man that Elliott now was.They found him tiresome and ridiculous.They were still willing to come to his elaborate luncheon parties at Claridge's but he was quick-witted enough to know that they came to meet one another rather than to see him.He could no longer pick and choose among the invitations that once had littered his writing-table, and much more often than he would have liked anyone to know he suffered the humiliation of dining by himself in the privacy of his suite.Women of rank in England, when a scandal has closed the doors of society to them, develop an interest in the arts and surround themselves with painters, writers and musicians.Elliott was too proud thus to humiliate himself.
但是，世道在变。当初对艾略特有提携之恩的显贵女性，有些仍活着，却年事已高。那些英国的贵族夫人，在她们的爵爷去世后，只得把府邸让给媳妇，自己住进切尔滕纳姆的别墅或者摄政公园里的普通房屋。斯塔福德府邸改造成了博物馆，柯曾宅院成了一个机构的办事处，德文郡的衙门如今在出售。艾略特在考斯时经常乘坐的那艘游艇已转手他人。眼下唱主角的那些弄潮儿觉得艾略特老儿已成了无用的废物，认为他是个荒唐可笑的老厌物。他们仍旧愿意参加他在克拉里奇酒店举办的盛大午宴，但艾略特眼光敏锐，看得出他们来赴宴，只是想彼此见见面，而非来看望他。过去，写字台上满是请帖，由着他挑选，而今那样的情形已不复存在。他常常独自一人在酒店房间里用餐，这种丢人的事情他可不愿叫外人知道。在英国，有地位的女人一旦出了丑闻，就会被社交界拒之门外，她们转而会对艺术产生兴趣，召集画家、作家和音乐家围绕于身边。艾略特心高气傲，绝不愿委屈自己，与之为伍。

“The death duties and the war profiteers have ruined English society，”he told me.“People don't seem to mind whothey know. London still has its tailors, its bootmakers, and its hatters, and I trust they'll last my time, but except for them it's finished.My dear fellow, do you know that the St.Erth's have women to wait at table?”
“遗产税和战争投机商把英国社交界给毁掉了。”他对我说道，“人们好像对于和什么人来往全不在乎。按说，伦敦的裁缝和鞋帽匠还是不错的。我相信我死之前会一直如此。除了这一点好处之外，这座城市便一无是处了。老伙计，圣艾尔斯家要女佣伺候饭桌，这你知道吗？”

This he said when we were walking away from Carlton House Terrace after a luncheon party at which an unfortunate incident had occurred. Our noble host had a well-known collection of pictures, and a young American who was there, Paul Barton by name, expressed a desire to see them.
这话是他和我在卡尔顿府邸吃完午宴，离开时讲的。就在那天的午宴上，发生了一桩不幸事件。尊贵的东道主在藏画上小有名气，午宴上有个年轻的美国客人，名叫保罗·巴顿，此人提出想看看他的藏画。

“You've got a Titian, haven't you?”
“你是不是有幅提香的画？”

“We had. It's in America now.Some old Jew offered us a packet of money for it and we were damned hard up at the time, so my governor sold it.”
“曾经有过。现在，这幅画在美国呢。一个犹太佬出一大笔钱买它，而我们家当时手头正拮据，所以老爷子就把它卖了。”

I noticed that Elliott, bristling, threw a venomous glance at the jovial marquess, and guessed that it was he who had bought the picture. He was furious at hearing himself, Virginian born and the descendant of a signatory of the Declaration, thus described.He had never in his life suffered so great an affront.And what made it worse was that Paul Barton was the object of his virulent hatred.He was a young man who had appeared in London soon after the war.He was twenty-three, blond, very good-looking, charming, a beautiful dancer, and had an ample fortune.He had brought a letter of introduction to Elliott, who with the kindness of heart natural to him had presented him to several of his friends.Not content with this he had given him some valuable hints on conduct.Delving back into his own experience, he had shown him how it was possible, by paying small attentions to old ladies and by lending a willing ear to distinguished men, however tedious, for a stranger to make his way in society.
我注意到艾略特一边支棱起耳朵听，一边把谈笑风生的侯爵狠狠瞪了一眼，于是便猜到那个买画人就是艾略特。他这么个出身于弗吉尼亚，祖先曾在《独立宣言》上签过字的人，竟然听见自己遭到如此奚落，简直都快把肺气炸了。他有生以来从未受过这样的奇耻大辱。最叫他受不了的是，挑起事端的是他恨之入骨的保罗·巴顿。这个年轻人战后不久便来到了伦敦。他二十三岁的年纪，金发碧眼，一表人才，风度翩翩，跳舞跳得好，手里很有钱。他拿了一封信来见艾略特，艾略特素来有善心，就把他介绍给了自己的好多朋友。这还不够，他还为他指点迷津，给了他一些宝贵的忠告。根据自己的亲身经历，艾略特向他传授经验，说只要对年龄大的贵妇人献献殷勤，对显贵人物说的话，不管怎样腻味，都应该洗耳恭听，这样，即便是一个举目无亲的人也能跻身于社交界。

But it was a different world that Paul Barton entered from that into which, a generation before, Elliott Templeton had penetrated by means of dogged perseverance. It was a world bent on amusing itself.Paul Barton's high spirits, pleasing exterior, and engaging manner did for him in a few weeks what Elliott had achieved only after years of industry and determination.Soon he no longer needed Elliott's help and took small pains to conceal the fact.He was pleasant to him when they met, but in an offhand way that deeply offended the older man.Elliott did not ask people to a party because he liked them, but because they helped to make it go, and since Paul Barton was popular he continued to invite him on occasion to his weekly luncheons；but the successful young man was generally engaged and twice he threw Elliott over at the last moment.Elliott had done this himself too often not to know it was because he had just had a more tempting invitation.
可是，保罗·巴顿步入的社交界和几十年前艾略特·邓普顿费尽千辛万苦才钻进去的社交界完全是两个世界。这个世界只追欢寻乐。保罗·巴顿豪情满怀、仪表堂堂、风度翩翩，没用几个星期便有了效果，其成就不亚于艾略特多年的苦心经营。很快，他便不需要艾略特的提携了，对此他也没有做出样子加以掩饰。两人见面时，保罗·巴顿仍然说些开心的话，但语气却漫不经心，深深刺伤了这位老者的自尊。艾略特请客，不是视自己是否喜欢，而是看对方能不能给宴会增辉，鉴于保罗·巴顿人缘不错，所以每星期设午宴仍旧请他。不过，这个成功的年轻人一般都有约会，有两次到了最后时刻才告知艾略特，给艾略特弄个措手不及。这种事艾略特本人过去也经常做，哪能不知底细——保罗·巴顿显然是刚刚收到了一份更具吸引力的邀请。

“I don't ask you to believe it，”Elliott told me, fuming，“but it's God's truth that when I see him now he patronizes me. ME.Titian.Titian，”he spluttered.“He wouldn't know a Titian if he saw one.”
“我也不要求你相信我的话，”艾略特气哼哼地对我说，“但事实如此——他竟然想在我面前摆谱。我是谁呀！还谈什么提香不提香。”说到此处，艾略特一副气急败坏的样子，“就是把提香的画放在他面前，他也不见得能认出来。”

I had never seen Elliott so angry and I guessed his wrath was caused by his belief that Paul Barton had asked about the picture maliciously, having somehow learnt that Elliott had bought it, and would make a funny story at his expense out of the noble lord's reply.
我从来没见过艾略特生这么大的气。据我猜想，他之所以动怒，是因为他觉得保罗·巴顿问起这张画是出于恶意；这个年轻人不知从哪儿获悉艾略特买了这幅画，于是就想利用那位贵族老爷的回答拿艾略特开涮。

“He's nothing but a dirty little snob, and if there's one thing in the world I detest and despise it's snobbishness. He'd have been nowhere except for me.Would you believe it, his father makes office furniture.Office furniture.”He put withering scorn into the two words.“And when I tell people he simply doesn't exist in America, his origins couldn’t be more humble, they don’t seem to care.Take my word for it, my dear fellow, English society is as dead as the dodo.”
“他是个厚颜无耻的市侩，天下我最痛恨、最瞧不起的就是这种势利小人。要不是我，他狗屁都不是。相信不相信，他的父亲是做办公家具的。办公家具！”说最后几个字的时候，他的语气十分轻蔑，“我告诫人们，说他在美国是个无名之辈，出身极其寒酸，可是他们好像并不在乎。请记住我的话，老伙计，英国的社交界算是完了，跟渡渡鸟一个样。”

Nor did Elliott find France much better. There the great ladies of his youth, if still alive, were given over to bridge（a game he loathed），piety, and the care of their grandchildren.Manufacturers, Argentines, Chileans, American women separated or divorced from their husbands, inhabited the stately houses of the aristocracy and entertained with splendour, but at their parties Elliott was confounded to meet politicians who spoke French with a vulgar accent, journalists whose table manners were deplorable, and even actors.The scions of princely families thought it no shame to marry the daughters of shopkeepers.It was true Paris was gay, but with what a shoddy gaiety！The young, devoted to the mad pursuit of pleasure, thought nothing more amusing than to go from one stuffy little night club to another, drinking champagne at a hundred francs a bottle and dancing close-packed with the riff-raff of the town till five o'clock in the morning.The smoke, the heat, the noise made Elliott's head ache.This was not the Paris that he had accepted thirty years before as his spiritual home.This was not the Paris that good Americans went to when they died.
依艾略特看，法国的情形也好不到哪儿去。他年轻时结识的那些贵妇人，即便仍活着，也是沉迷于打桥牌（他最讨厌的一种牌戏）、做祈祷和照料孙辈。如今，工厂主们、阿根廷人、智利人以及那些和丈夫分居或者离了婚的美国妇女，却住进了贵族那富丽堂皇的府邸，请客吃饭，极尽奢华之能事。叫艾略特所不齿的是，在他们举办的宴会上，见到的都是些说起法语俗不可耐的政客、要吃相没吃相要坐相没坐相的记者，甚至还有戏子。侯门家的少爷娶个商店店主的小家碧玉，并不觉得丢人。诚然，巴黎是欢乐之都，但这种欢乐是何等缺乏品味！年轻人们追求的是纸醉金迷、灯红酒绿，认为最有趣的生活莫过于走进一家空间狭小、乌烟瘴气的夜总会，花一百法郎喝一瓶香槟酒，挤在不三不四的人群里跳舞，一直跳到次日凌晨五点钟。烟气、热气、嘈杂声，这些叫艾略特感到头痛。眼前的巴黎不再是他三十年前心目中的精神家园，不再是有品位的美国人渴望在死后升入的天堂。