But if he wanted to be an artist, why didn't he say so? asked Mrs. Strickland at last. "I should have thought I was the last person to be unsympathetic to—to aspirations of that kind."

“但是如果他想当画家，为什么不告诉我呢？”思特里克兰德太太最后开口说。“我想，对于他这种——这种志趣我是绝不会不同情支持的。”

Mrs. MacAndrew tightened her lips. I imagine that she had never looked with approval on her sister's leaning towards persons who cultivated the arts. She spoke of "culchaw" derisively.

麦克安德鲁太太的嘴唇咬紧了。我猜想，她妹妹喜好结交文人艺术家的脾气，她从来就不赞成。她一说到“文艺”这个词，就露出满脸鄙夷不屑的神情。

Mrs. Strickland continued:

思特里克兰德太太又接着说：

After all, if he had any talent I should be the first to encourage it. I wouldn't have minded sacrifices. I'd much rather be married to a painter than to a stockbroker. If it weren't for the children, I wouldn't mind anything. I could be just as happy in a shabby studio in Chelsea as in this flat.

“不管怎么说，要是他有才能，我会第一个出头鼓励他。什么牺牲我都不会计较的。同证券经纪人比起来，我还更愿意嫁给一个画家呢。如果不是为了孩子，我什么也不在乎。住在柴尔西一间破旧的画室里我会像住在这所房子里同样快乐。”

My dear, I have no patience with you, cried Mrs. MacAndrew. "You don't mean to say you believe a word of this nonsense?"

“亲爱的，我可真要生你的气了，”麦克安德鲁太太叫喊起来，“看你的意思，这些鬼话你真相信了？”

But I think it's true, I put in mildly.

“可我认为这是真实情况，”我婉转地表示自己的意见说。

She looked at me with good-humoured contempt.

她又好气又好笑地看了我一眼。

A man doesn't throw up his business and leave his wife and children at the age of forty to become a painter unless there's a woman in it. I suppose he met one of your—artistic friends, and she's turned his head.

“一个四十岁的人是不会为了要当画家而丢弃了工作、扔掉了妻子儿女的，除非这里面搀和着一个女人。我猜想他一定是遇见了你的哪个——艺术界的朋友，被她迷上了。”

A spot of colour rose suddenly to Mrs. Strickland's pale cheeks.

思特里克兰德太太苍白的面颊上突然泛上一层红晕。

What is she like?

“她是怎样一个人？”

I hesitated a little. I knew that I had a bombshell.

我没有立刻回答。我知道我给他们准备了一颗炸弹。

There isn't a woman.

“没有女人。”

Colonel MacAndrew and his wife uttered expressions of incredulity, and Mrs. Strickland sprang to her feet.

麦克安德鲁上校和他的妻子部表示不能相信地喊叫起来；思特里克兰德太太甚至从椅子上跳起来。

Do you mean to say you never saw her?

“你是说你一次也没有看见她？”

There's no one to see. He's quite alone.

“根本就没有人，叫我去看谁？他只有一个人。”

That's preposterous, cried Mrs. MacAndrew.

“这是世界上没有的事，”麦克安德鲁太太喊道。

I knew I ought to have gone over myself, said the Colonel. "You can bet your boots I'd have routed her out fast enough."

“我早就知道得我自己跑一趟，”上校说，“我敢和你们打赌，我一定能马上就把那个女人搜寻出来。”

I wish you had gone over, I replied, somewhat tartly. "You'd have seen that every one of your suppositions was wrong. He's not at a smart hotel. He's living in one tiny room in the most squalid way. If he's left his home, it's not to live a gay life. He's got hardly any money."

“我也希望你自己去，”我不很客气地回答，“你就会看到你的那些猜想没有一点是对的。他并没有住在时髦的旅馆里。他住的是一间极其寒酸的小房间。他离开家绝不是去过花天酒地的生活。他简直没有什么钱。”