I sawStrickland not infrequently, and now and then played chess with him. He was ofuncertain temper. Sometimes he would sit silent and abstracted, taking nonotice of anyone; and at others, when he was in a good humour, he would talk inhis own halting way. He never said a clever thing, but he had a vein of brutalsarcasm which was not ineffective, and he always said exactly what he thought.He was indifferent to the susceptibilities of others, and when he wounded themwas amused. He was constantly offending Dirk Stroeve so bitterly that he flungaway, vowing he would never speak to him again; but there was a solid force inStrickland that attracted the fat Dutchman against his will, so that he cameback, fawning like a clumsy dog, though he knew that his only greeting would bethe blow he dreaded.

I do not knowwhy Strickland put up with me. Our relations were peculiar. One day he asked meto lend him fifty francs.

"Iwouldn't dream of it, " I replied.

"Whynot?"

"Itwouldn't amuse me. "

"I'm frightfullyhard up, you know. "

"I don'tcare. "

"You don'tcare if I starve?"

"Why onearth should I?" I asked in my turn.

我常常见到思特里克兰德，有时候同他下下棋。他的脾气时好时坏。有些时候他神思不定地坐在那里，一言不发，任何人都不理；另外一些时候他的兴致比较好，就磕磕巴巴地同你闲扯。他说不出什么寓意深长的话来，但是他惯用恶毒的语言挖苦讽刺，不由你不被打动；此外，他总是把心里想的如实说出来，一点也不隐讳。他丝毫也不理会别人是否经受得住；如果他把别人刺伤了，就感到得意非常。他总是不断刻薄戴尔克·施特略夫，弄得施特略夫气冲冲地走开，发誓再也不同他谈话了。但是在思特里克兰德身上却有一股强大的力量，这位肥胖的荷兰人身不由己地被它吸引着，最终还是跑了回来，象只笨拙的小狗一样向他摇尾巴，尽管他心里一清二楚，迎接他的将是他非常害怕的当头一棒。

我不知道为什么思特里克兰德对我始终保留着情面。我们两人的关系有些特殊。有一天他开口向我借五十法郎。

“这真是我连做梦也没想到的事，”我回答说。

“为什么没有？”

“这不是一件使我感到有趣的事。”

“我已经穷得叮当响了，知道吧？”

“我管不着。”

“我饿死你也管不着吗？”

“我为什么要管呢？”我反问道。