Mrs. Stricklandpondered deeply for some time. It was quite clear that she could not make heador tail of my announcement. She had put some order into the drawing-room bynow, her housewifely instincts having got the better of her dismay; and it nolonger bore that deserted look, like a furnished house long to let, which I hadnoticed on my first visit after the catastrophe. But now that I had seenStrickland in Paris it was difficult to imagine him in those surroundings. Ithought it could hardly have failed to strike them that there was somethingincongruous in him.

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

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

Mrs. Stricklandcontinued:

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

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

"But Ithink it's true, " I put in mildly.

思特里克兰德太太又仔细思索了一会儿。非常清楚，她对我带来的这个消息完全不理解。这次她已经把客厅略微收拾了一下，不象出了事以后我第一次到这里来时那样冷冷清清、仿佛等待出租的带家具的房间那样了。但是在我同思特里克兰德在巴黎会过面以后，却很难想象他是属于这种环境的人了。我觉得他们这些人也不会没有觉察思特里克兰德有一些怪异的地方。

“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。”

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。

思特里克兰德太太又接着说：

“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象住在这所房子里同样快乐。”

“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？”

“可我认为这是真实情况，”我婉转地表示自己的意见说。