Stroeve hadalways been excitable, but now he was beside himself; there was no reasoningwith him. I thought it probable enough that Blanche Stroeve would not continueto find life with Strickland tolerable, but one of the falsest of proverbs isthat you must lie on the bed that you have made. The experience of life showsthat people are constantly doing things which must lead to disaster, and yet bysome chance manage to evade the result of their folly. When Blanche quarrelledwith Strickland she had only to leave him, and her husband was waiting humblyto forgive and forget. I was not prepared to feel any great sympathy for her.

"You see,you don't love her, " said Stroeve.

"Afterall, there's nothing to prove that she is unhappy. For all we know they may havesettled down into a most domestic couple. "

Stroeve gave mea look with his woeful eyes.

"Of courseit doesn't much matter to you, but to me it's so serious, so intensely serious."

I was sorry ifI had seemed impatient or flippant.

"Will youdo something for me?" asked Stroeve.

"Willingly."

"Will youwrite to Blanche for me?"

"Why can'tyou write yourself?"

施特略夫一向就很容易激动，现在简直有些神经失常了。我根本无法同他讲道理。我认为很可能勃朗什·施特略夫已经发觉不可能再同思特里克兰德继续生活下去，但是人们经常说的那句俗话“自作自受”，实在是最没有道理的。生活的经验让我们看到的是，尽管人们不断地做一些必然招灾惹祸的事，但总能找个机会逃避掉这些蠢事带来的后果。当勃朗什同思特里克兰德吵了架以后，她只有离开他一条路好走，而她丈夫却在低声下气地等着，准备原谅她，把过去的事忘掉。我对勃朗什是不想寄予很大同情的。

“你知道，你是不喜欢她的。”施特略夫说。

“归根结底，现在还没有迹象说明她生活得不幸福。据我们所知道，说不定这两人已经象夫妻一样过起日子来了。”

施特略夫用他那对愁苦的眼睛瞪了我一眼。

“当然了，这对你是无所谓的，可是对我说，这件事很重要，极端重要。”

如果当时我的神色有些不耐烦，或者不够严肃，我是有点儿对不起施特略夫的。

“你愿意不愿意替我做一件事？”施特略夫问我。

“愿意。”

“你能不能替我给勃朗什写一封信？”

“你为什么自己不写呢？”