When I toldhim that I meant to live in Paris for a while, and had taken an apartment, hereproached me bitterly for not having let him know. He would have found me anapartment himself, and lent me furniture -- did I really mean that I had goneto the expense of buying it? -- and he would have helped me to move in. Hereally looked upon it as unfriendly that I had not given him the opportunity ofmaking himself useful to me. Meanwhile, Mrs. Stroeve sat quietly mending herstockings, without talking, and she listened to all he said with a quiet smileon her lips.

"So, yousee, I'm married, " he said suddenly; "what do you think of mywife?"

He beamed ather, and settled his spectacles on the bridge of his nose. The sweat made themconstantly slip down.

"What onearth do you expect me to say to that?" I laughed.

"Really,Dirk, " put in Mrs. Stroeve, smiling.

"Butisn't she wonderful? I tell you, my boy, lose no time; get married as soon asever you can. I'm the happiest man alive. Look at her sitting there. Doesn'tshe make a picture? Chardin, eh? I've seen all the most beautiful women in theworld; I've never seen anyone more beautiful than Madame Dirk Stroeve. "

"If youdon't be quiet, Dirk, I shall go away. "

"Monpetit chou", he said.

当我告诉他我准备在巴黎住一段日子，而且寓所已经租好的时候，他使劲儿责备我没有事前同他商量。他会替我找到一处合适的住处，会借给我家具——难道我真的花了一笔冤枉钱去买吗？——，而且他还可以帮我搬家。我没有给他这个替我服务的机会在他看来是太不够朋友了，他说的是真心话。在他同我谈话的当儿，施特略夫太太一直安安静静地坐在那里补袜子。她自己什么也没说，只是听着她丈夫在谈话，嘴角上挂着一抹安详的笑容。

“你看到了，我已经结婚了，”他突然说，“你看我的妻子怎么样？”

他笑容满面地看着她，把眼镜在鼻梁上架好。汗水不断地使他的眼镜滑落下来。

“你叫我怎么回答这个问题呢？”我笑了起来。

“可不是嘛，戴尔克，”施特略夫太太插了一句说，也微笑起来。

“可是你不觉得她太好了吗？我告诉你，老朋友，不要耽搁时间了，赶快结婚吧。我现在是世界上最幸福的人。你看看她坐在那儿，不是一幅绝妙的图画吗？象不象夏尔丹①的画，啊？世界上最漂亮的女人我都见过了，可是我还没有看见过有比戴尔克·施特略夫夫人更美的呢。”

①让·西麦翁·夏尔丹（1699—1779），法国画家。

“要是你再不住口，戴尔克，我就出去了。”

“我的小宝贝①。”他说。

原文为法语。