But when at last I met Charles Strickland, it was under circumstances which allowed me to do no more than just make his acquaintance. One morning Mrs. Strickland sent me round a note to say that she was giving a dinner-party that evening, and one of her guests had failed her. She asked me to stop the gap. She wrote:
"It's only decent to warn you that you will be bored to extinction. It was a thoroughly dull party from the beginning, but if you will come I shall be uncommonly grateful. And you and I can have a little chat by ourselves. "
It was only neighbourly to accept.
When Mrs. Strickland introduced me to her husband, he gave me a rather indifferent hand to shake. Turning to him gaily, she attempted a small jest.
"I asked him to show him that I really had a husband. I think he was beginning to doubt it. "
但是最后我同查理斯·思特里克兰德见面，并不是在思特里克兰德太太说的那种情况下。她请我吃饭的那天晚上，除了她丈夫以外，我还结识了另外几个人。这天早上，思特里克兰德太太派人给我送来一张条子，告诉我她当天晚上要请客，有一个客人临时有事不能出席。她请我填补这个空缺。条子是这么写的：
我要预先声明，你将会厌烦得要命。从一开始我就知道这是一次枯燥乏味的宴客。但是如果你能来的话，我是非常感激的。咱们两个人总还可以谈一谈。
我不能不帮她这个忙；我接受了她的邀请。
当思特里克兰德太太把我介绍给她丈夫的时候，他不冷不热地同我握了握手。思特里克兰德太太的情绪很高，转身对他说了一句开玩笑的话。
“我请他来是要叫他看看我真的是有丈夫的。我想他已经开始怀疑了。”