She flushed alittle, embarrassed by the passion in his tone. His letters had told me that hewas very much in love with his wife, and I saw that he could hardly take hiseyes off her. I could not tell if she loved him. Poor pantaloon, he was not anobject to excite love, but the smile in her eyes was affectionate, and it waspossible that her reserve concealed a very deep feeling. She was not theravishing creature that his love-sick fancy saw, but she had a gravecomeliness. She was rather tall, and her gray dress, simple and quite well-cut,did not hide the fact that her figure was beautiful. It was a figure that mighthave appealed more to the sculptor than to the costumier. Her hair, brown andabundant, was plainly done, her face was very pale, and her features were goodwithout being distinguished. She had quiet gray eyes. She just missed beingbeautiful, and in missing it was not even pretty. But when Stroeve spoke ofChardin it was not without reason, and she reminded me curiously of thatpleasant housewife in her mob-cap and apron whom the great painter hasimmortalised. I could imagine her sedately busy among her pots and pans, makinga ritual of her household duties, so that they acquired a moral significance; Idid not suppose that she was clever or could ever be amusing, but there wassomething in her grave intentness which excited my interest. Her reserve wasnot without mystery. I wondered why she had married Dirk Stroeve. Though shewas English, I could not exactly place her, and it was not obvious from whatrank in society she sprang, what had been her upbringing, or how she had livedbefore her marriage. She was very silent, but when she spoke it was with apleasant voice, and her manners were natural.

I askedStroeve if he was working.

"Working?I'm painting better than I've ever painted before. "

她的脸泛上一层红晕，他语调中流露出的热情让她感到有些不好意思。施特略夫在给我的信里谈到过他非常爱他的妻子，现在我看到，他的眼睛几乎一刻也舍不得从她身上离开。我说不上她是不是爱他。这个可怜的傻瓜，他不是一个能引起女人爱情的人物。但施特略夫太太眼睛里的笑容是含着爱怜的，在她的缄默后面也可能隐藏着深挚的感情。她并不是他那相思倾慕的幻觉中的令人神驰目眩的美女，但是却另有一种端庄秀丽的风姿。她的个子比较高，一身剪裁得体的朴素衣衫掩盖不住她美丽的身段。她的这种体型可能对雕塑家比对服装商更有吸引力。她的一头棕色的浓发式样很简单，面色白净，五官秀丽，但并不美艳。她只差一点儿就称得起是个美人，但是正因为差这一点儿，却连漂亮也算不上了。施特略夫谈到夏尔丹的画并不是随口一说的，她的样子令人奇怪地想到这位大画家的不朽之笔——那个戴着头巾式女帽、系着围裙的可爱的主妇。闭上眼睛我可以想象她在锅碗中间安详地忙碌着，象奉行仪式般地操持着一些家务事，赋予这些日常琐事一种崇高意义。我并不认为她脑筋如何聪明或者有什么风趣，但她那种严肃、专注的神情却很使人感到兴趣。她的稳重沉默里似乎蕴藏着某种神秘。我不知道为什么她要嫁给戴尔克·施特略夫。虽然她和我是同乡，我却猜不透她是怎样一个人。我看不出她出身于什么社会阶层，受过什么教育，也说不出她结婚前干的是什么职业。她说话不多，但是她的声音很悦耳，举止也非常自然。

我问施特略夫他最近画没画过什么东西。

“画画？我现在比过去任何时候画得都好了。”