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雙語·哈代短篇小說選 浪子回頭 二

所屬教程:譯林版·一個想象力豐富的女人:哈代短篇小說選

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2022年06月17日

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A Changed Man II

Regularly once a week they rode out in marching order.

Returning up the town on one of these occasions, the romantic pelisse flapping behind each horseman's shoulder in the soft southwest wind, Captain Maumbry glanced up at the oriel. A mutual nod was exchanged between him and the person who sat there reading. The reader and a friend in the room with him followed the troop with their eyes all the way up the street, till, when the soldiers were opposite the house in which Laura lived, that young lady became discernible in the balcony.

“They are engaged to be married, I hear,” said the friend.

“Who—Maumbry and Laura? Never—so soon?”

“Yes.”

“He'll never marry. Several girls have been mentioned in connection with his name. I am sorry for Laura.”

“Oh, but you needn't be. They are excellently matched.”

“She's only one more.”

“She's one more, and more still. She has regularly caught him. She is a born player of the game of hearts and she knew how to beat him in his own practices. If there is one woman in the town who has any chance of holding her own and marrying him, she is that woman.”

This was true, as it turned out. By natural proclivity Laura had from the first entered heart and soul into military romance as exhibited in the plots and characters of those living exponents of it who came under her notice. From her earliest young womanhood civilians, however promising, had no chance of winning her interest if the meanest warrior were within the horizon. It may be that the position of her uncle's house (which was her home) at the corner of West Street nearest the barracks, the daily passing of the troops, the constant blowing of trumpet-calls a furlong from her windows, coupled with the fact that she knew nothing of the inner realities of military life, and hence idealized it, had also helped her mind's original bias for thinking men-at-arms the only ones worthy of a woman's heart.

Captain Maumbry was a typical prize; one whom all surrounding maidens had coveted, ached for, angled for, wept for, had by her judicious management become subdued to her purpose; and in addition to the pleasure of marrying the man she loved, Laura had the joy of feeling herself hated by the mothers of all the marriageable girls o the neighbourhood.

The man in the oriel went to the wedding; not as a guest, for at this time he was but slightly acquainted with the parties; but mainly because the church was close to his house; partly, too, for a reason which moved many others to be spectators of the ceremony; a subconsciousness that, though the couple might be happy in their experiences, there was sufficient possibility of their being otherwise to colour the musings of an onlooker with a pleasing pathos of conjecture. He could on occasion do a pretty stroke of rhyming in those days, and he beguiled the time of waiting by pencilling on a blank page of his prayer-book a few lines which, though kept private then, may be given here—

AT A HASTY WEDDING

(Triolet)

If hours be years the twain are blest,

For now they solace swift desire

By lifelong ties that tether zest

If hours be years. The twain are blest

Do eastern suns slope never west,

Nor pallid ashes follow fire.

If hours be years the twain are blest

For now they solace swift desire.

As if, however, to falsify all prophecies, the couple seemed to find in marriage the secret of perpetuating the intoxication of a courtship which, on Maumbry's side at least, had opened without serious intent. During the winter following they were the most popular pair in and about Casterbridge—nay, in South Wessex itself. No smart dinner in the country houses of the younger and gayer families within driving distance of the borough was complete without their lively presence; Mrs. Maumbry was the blithest of the whirling figures at the county ball; and when followed that inevitable incident of garrison-town life, an amateur dramatic entertainment, it was just the same. The acting was for the benefit of such and such an excellent charity—nobody cared what, provided the play were played—and both Captain Maumbry and his wife were in the piece, having been in fact, by mutual consent, the originators of the performance. And so with laughter, and thoughtlessness, and movement, all went merrily. There was a little backwardness in the bill-paying of the couple; but in justice to them it must be added that sooner or later all owings were paid.

浪子回頭 二

騎兵們照例每周一次著行軍裝外出操練。

一次行軍歸來回到鎮(zhèn)上時,每個騎士肩上那浪漫的“霹靂斯”都迎著柔和的西南風飄舞,蒙布里上尉抬頭望向飄窗,同坐在窗后看書的人相互點頭致意。看書人和屋內另一個在場的朋友目送著部隊沿路上坡,來到了蘿拉住的房子對面,然后看到那位年輕姑娘出現(xiàn)在陽臺上。

“我聽說他們已經訂婚了?!迸笥颜f。

“誰——蒙布里和蘿拉?不會吧——這么快?”

“是呀?!?/p>

“他不會結婚的。已經有好幾個姑娘跟他不清不楚了。我真為蘿拉感到難過?!?/p>

“噢,你完全不必擔心。這兩人是絕配?!?/p>

“她不過是下一個而已?!?/p>

“她是下一個,但不僅于此。她已經套牢了他。她是個天生的愛情玩家,懂得怎么在他擅長的游戲里打敗他。要說全鎮(zhèn)有哪個姑娘能夠立于不敗之地成為他的終結者,那就只有蘿拉啦?!?/p>

結果真是如此。也許是天性使然,蘿拉從一開始便醉心于軍營愛情;這從她青睞的角色以及她同他們上演的故事情節(jié)便可以看出來。自她剛成年到現(xiàn)在,只要她周圍能見到一個士兵,無論此人多么平庸,她也絕對不會對平民感興趣,無論這個平民多么優(yōu)秀。也許是因為她叔叔的房子(她就住在叔叔家)正好位于西街離軍營最近的一角,每天從窗戶就可以看到兩百米開外部隊進進出出,號角不時地吹響,加上她對于軍營內的真實生活一無所知,于是將之理想化了,因此強化了她最初的偏見,認為軍人才是唯一值得她傾心的對象。

蒙布里上尉則是她的最高戰(zhàn)利品:他是周圍所有少女的夢中情人,姑娘們?yōu)樗膩y如麻、絞盡腦汁、傷心哭泣,但他卻被她的才智與手段征服,拜倒在她的石榴裙下。嫁給自己中意的男子固然讓她心滿意足,但更讓她得意的是周圍所有適婚少女的母親們都對她恨之入骨。

飄窗后的那個男人去參加了他們的婚禮儀式。不是應邀前往,因為這時他跟夫婦倆還只是點頭之交而已。主要是因為教堂就在他家旁邊,還有一部分原因是因為大家潛意識里都覺得,這對夫婦雖然日后可能會幸福,但也有充分的理由不會幸福,這樣旁觀者就可以一邊悲天憫人地揣測,一邊沾沾自喜,所以許多人都是沖著這個原因去觀禮的。他那個時候偶爾還能寫些很不錯的格律詩,于是在等待中,他用鉛筆在祈禱書的空白頁上寫了幾句詩來打發(fā)時間。這首詩那時并未被發(fā)表,不過這里可以公開了。

閃婚觀禮有感

(八行兩韻詩)[1]

若二人有福,愿此刻永駐。

貪一時之歡,惹一生牽絆。

結一世姻緣,變萬般束縛。

若二人有福,愿此刻永駐。

愿東升太陽,永不會日暮。

愿熊熊烈火,永不會黯淡。

若二人有福,愿此刻永駐。

貪一時之歡,惹一生牽絆。

雖然這場戀愛——至少在蒙布里這一方——一開始并沒有抱著正經的目的,但是這對夫妻似乎找到了讓婚姻永葆戀愛時的激情的秘訣,就仿佛是為了向眾人證明所有預言都是錯的。接下來的那個冬天,他們是卡斯特橋鎮(zhèn)及附近地區(qū)——不,應該說是整個南威塞克斯——最受歡迎的一對。凡是從鎮(zhèn)上駕車能到的范圍內,那些年輕快活的鄉(xiāng)紳府上要舉辦時髦晚宴的話,必定得有他倆到場才算完美;在全郡舞會上蒙布里太太是舞姿最輕盈快活的那個。接下來便是駐軍小鎮(zhèn)生活里不可避免的事件:業(yè)余戲劇表演,兩人還是一樣受歡迎。他們宣稱這演出是為了不起的××慈善機構籌款——不過沒人關心具體名稱,只要有戲可看就行——蒙布里上尉和他的妻子都參與了演出,事實上兩人就是這次演出的始作俑者。總之一切都開心順利,兩人生活中充滿了歡聲笑語、無憂無慮,活動精彩紛呈。盡管夫妻倆在付賬時有些不大爽快,不過公平來講,他們無論早晚最后還是付清了所有欠款。

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