第十五章(第9/10页)
“这么说,你们下午茶的时候从拉格比动身,样子是要去伦敦?走哪条路?”“经过诺丁汉和格兰瑟姆。”“你从半道跟姐姐分别,再走路或者坐车回到这里?我认为这样过于冒险。”“是吗?哦,那么,希尔达可以送我回来。她去曼斯菲尔德过夜,傍晚时分送我来这儿,清晨再过来接我。这样没什么问题。”“可万一被别人发现?”“我会戴上风镜,罩着面纱。”他又沉思半晌。
"Well," he said. "You please yourself as usual." "But wouldn't it please you?” "Oh yes! It'd please me all right," he said a little grimly. "I might as well smite while the iron's hot.” "Do you know what I thought?" she said suddenly. "It suddenly came to me. You are the 'Knight of the Burning Pestle'!” "Ay! And you? Are you the Lady of the Red-Hot Mortar?” "Yes! "She said. "Yes! You're Sir Pestle and I'm Lady Mortar.” "All right, then I'm knighted. John Thomas is Sir John, to your Lady Jane.” "Yes! John Thomas is knighted! I'm my-lady-maiden-hair, and you must have flowers too. Yes!” She threaded two pink campions in the bush of red-gold hair above his penis.
“好吧。”他说。“就依你吧,跟往常一样。”“可难道你不喜欢这计划吗?”“噢,当然喜欢。我很喜欢这样的安排。”他的语调有些低落。“或许我也应该趁热打铁。”“你知道我在想什么?”她突然问道。“是我突然想到的。你是位‘火杵骑士’!”“呵!你呢?你不就是‘热臼夫人’”“恰如其分!”她说。“太贴切了!你是杵骑士,我是臼夫人。”“那好,我也拥有爵位了。约翰·托马斯荣升约翰爵士,正好与简夫人相配。”“对呀!约翰·托马斯获得爵位!我自封阴毛夫人,你也该在那儿插上几朵花。就这样!”她拿过两朵粉色的剪秋萝,穿进他金红色的阴毛丛中。
"There!" She said. "Charming! Charming! Sir John!" And she pushed a bit of forget-me-not in the dark hair of his breast.
“看呢!”她感叹道。“多么迷人!多么美丽!约翰爵士!”她又在他黑色的胸毛里塞了朵勿忘我。
"And you won't forget me there, will you?” She kissed him on the breast, and made two bits of forget-me-not lodge one over each nipple, kissing him again.
“你不会忘记我,对吗?”她亲吻着他的胸膛,将两朵勿忘我按压在乳头上,然后再度吻他。
"Make a calendar of me!" He said. He laughed, and the flowers shook from his breast.
“把我当成日历吧!”他说。他笑出声来,胸前的花颤落下来。
"Wait a bit!" He said.
“稍等一会儿!”他说。
He rose, and opened the door of the hut. Flossie, lying in the porch, got up and looked at him.
他站起身,打开屋门。弗洛西原本趴在门廊上,闻声立起身子,望着自己的主人。
"Ay, it's me!” He said.
“嘿,是我!”他说。
The rain had ceased. There was a wet, heavy, perfumed stillness. Evening was approaching.
雨已经停了。雨后的空气变得湿润沉滞,静谧芬芳。眼看就要傍晚。
He went out and down the little path in the opposite direction from the riding. Connie watched his thin, white figure, and it looked to her like a ghost, an apparition moving away from her.
他踏出屋门,沿着那条与马道反向的小径往下走去。康妮凝望着他纤瘦白皙的背影,感觉眼中出现的是个幽灵,渐渐离她远去的幻影。
When she could see it no more, her heart sank. She stood in the door of the hut, with a blanket round her, looking into the drenched, motionless silence.
当他的身影彻底从视线中消失,她的心沉到谷底。她独自站在小屋门口,裹着毯子,注视着被雨水滋润过后的树林,它是那样安详寂静。
But he was coming back, trotting strangely, and carrying flowers. She was a little afraid of him, as if he were not quite human. And when he came near, his eyes looked into hers, but she could not understand the meaning.
可他再度出现,一反常态地小跑着,手里捧着鲜花。她感觉有些慌张,似乎他真的是飘荡的孤魂。他来到切近,两人的目光交汇,但她却读不懂他的眼神。
He had brought columbines and campions, and new-mown hay, and oak-tufts and honeysuckle in small bud. He fastened fluffy young oak-sprays round her breasts, sticking in tufts of bluebells and campion: and in her navel he poised a pink campion flower, and in her maiden-hair were forget-me-nots and woodruff.
他捧回的是耧斗菜,剪秋萝,新割的牧草,橡树的嫩枝,以及含苞待放的金银花。他将生满绒毛的橡树嫩枝系在她的乳房上,点缀以风铃草和剪秋萝;肚脐处搁着一朵粉色的剪秋萝花,阴毛丛里则是勿忘我和车叶草的领地。
"That's you in all your glory!” He said. "Lady Jane, at her wedding with John Thomas." And he stuck flowers in the hair of his own body, and wound a bit of creeping-jenny round his penis, and stuck a single bell of a hyacinth in his navel. She watched him with amusement, his odd intentness. And she pushed a campion flower in his moustache, where it stuck, dangling under his nose.
“如今你身披花衣!”他赞叹道。“简夫人与约翰·托马斯缔结连理。”接着,他在自己几处毛发里放满鲜花,用一束铜钱珍珠菜缠绕住阴茎,肚脐里则塞着朵风信子。她饶有兴趣地望着他,端详着那种专心致志的古怪神态。她将一朵剪秋萝按在他的胡须间,耷拉在鼻子下方。
"This is John Thomas marryin' Lady Jane," he said. "An' we mun let Constance an' Oliver go their ways. Maybe—” He spread out his hand with a gesture, and then he sneezed, sneezing away the flowers from his nose and his navel. He sneezed again.
“约翰·托马斯迎娶简夫人。”他说。“让我们跟康斯坦斯和奥利弗分道扬镳。或许……”他伸手摆出某种姿势,但没料想却突然打个喷嚏,鼻子下面和肚脐处的花全被震落。他又打个喷嚏。
"Maybe what?" she said, waiting for him to go on.
“或许什么?”她问,等待着他继续刚才的话。
He looked at her a little bewildered.
他却有些茫然地望着她。
"Eh?" He said.
“哦?”他说。
"Maybe what? Go on with what you were going to say," she insisted.
“或许什么?继续把刚才的话讲完。”她坚持着。
"Ay, what WAS I going to say?" He had forgotten. And it was one of the disappointments of her life, that he never finished.
“唉,我刚才要说什么来着?”他居然已经忘记。他说话总是有头没尾,这也算她人生一大憾事。