月亮与六便士【中英字幕】

"Iconfess, " said the doctor, turning to me, "that I hesitated. I didnot relish fourteen kilometres over a bad pathway, and there was no chance thatI could get back to Papeete that night. Besides, Strickland was not sympatheticto me. He was an idle, useless scoundrel, who preferred to live with a nativewoman rather than work for his living like the rest of us. Mon Dieu, how was Ito know that one day the world would come to the conclusion that he had genius?I asked the girl if he was not well enough to have come down to see me. I askedher what she thought was the matter with him. She would not answer. I pressedher, angrily perhaps, but she looked down on the ground and began to cry. ThenI shrugged my shoulders; after all, perhaps it was my duty to go, and in a verybad temper I bade her lead the way. "

His temper wascertainly no better when he arrived, perspiring freely and thirsty. Ata was onthe look-out for him, and came a little way along the path to meet him.

"Before Isee anyone give me something to drink or I shall die of thirst, " he criedout. " Pour l'amour de Dieu, get me a cocoa-nut. "

She called out,and a boy came running along. He swarmed up a tree, and presently threw down aripe nut. Ata pierced a hole in it, and the doctor took a long, refreshingdraught. Then he rolled himself a cigarette and felt in a better humour.

"Now,where is the Red One?" he asked.

"He is inthe house, painting. I have not told him you were coming. Go in and see him."

"But whatdoes he complain of? If he is well enough to paint, he is well enough to havecome down to Taravao and save me this confounded walk. I presume my time is noless valuable than his. "

“说老实话，”医生转过头来对我说， “我当时有些踌躇。在崎岖不平的小路上来回走十四公里路，那滋味着实不好受，而且我也没法当夜再赶回帕皮提了。此外，我对思特里克兰德也没有什么好感。他只不过是个游手好闲的懒汉，宁愿跟一个土著女人姘居，也不想象别人似地自己挣钱吃饭。我的上帝①，我当时怎么知道，有一天全世界都承认他是个伟大天才呢？我问了问那个女孩子，他是不是病得很厉害，不能到我那儿去看病。我还问她，思特里克兰德得的是什么病。但是她什么也不说。我又叮问了她几句，也许还对她发了火，结果她眼睛看着地，扑簌簌地掉起眼泪来。我无可奈何地耸了耸肩膀。不管怎么说，给病人看病是医生的职责，尽管我一肚子闷气，还是跟着她去了。”

①原文为法语。

库特拉斯医生走到目的地的时候，脾气一点儿也不比出发的时候好，他走得满身大汗，又渴又累。爱塔正在焦急地等着，还走了一段路来接他。

“在我给任何人看病以前，先让我喝点儿什么，不然我就渴死了，”医生喊道，“看在上帝份儿上②，给我摘个椰子来。”

②原文为法语。

爱塔喊了一声，一个男孩子跑了过来，噌噌几下就爬上一棵椰子树，扔下一只成熟的椰子来。爱塔在椰子上开了一个洞，医生痛痛快快地喝了一气，这以后，他给自己卷了一很纸烟，情绪比刚才好多了。

“红毛在什么地方啊？”他问道。

“他在屋子里画画儿呢。我没有告诉他你要来。你进去看看他吧。”

“他有什么不舒服？要是他还画得了画儿，就能到塔拉窝走一趟。叫我走这么该死的远路来看他，是不是我的时间不如他的值钱？”

It appears thatDr. Coutras had gone one day to Taravao in order to see an old chiefess who wasill, and he gave a vivid picture of the obese old lady, lying in a huge bed,smoking cigarettes, and surrounded by a crowd of dark-skinned retainers. Whenhe had seen her he was taken into another room and given dinner -- raw fish,fried bananas, and chicken -- que sais-je, the typical dinner of the indigene-- and while he was eating it he saw a young girl being driven away from thedoor in tears. He thought nothing of it, but when he went out to get into histrap and drive home, he saw her again, standing a little way off; she looked athim with a woebegone air, and tears streamed down her cheeks. He asked someonewhat was wrong with her, and was told that she had come down from the hills toask him to visit a white man who was sick. They had told her that the doctorcould not be disturbed. He called her, and himself asked what she wanted. Shetold him that Ata had sent her, she who used to be at the Hotel de la Fleur,and that the Red One was ill. She thrust into his hand a crumpled piece ofnewspaper, and when he opened it he found in it a hundred-franc note.

"Who isthe Red One?" he asked of one of the bystanders.

He was toldthat that was what they called the Englishman, a painter, who lived with Ata upin the valley seven kilometres from where they were. He recognised Stricklandby the description. But it was necessary to walk. It was impossible for him togo; that was why they had sent the girl away.

事情的经过大概是这样的。有一次库特拉斯医生到塔拉窝去给一个生病的女酋长看病。库特拉斯把这位女酋长淋漓尽致地描写了一番。女酋长生得又胖又蠢，躺在一张大床上抽着纸烟，周围站着一圈乌黑皮肤的侍从。看过病以后，医生被请到另一间屋子里，被招待了一顿丰盛的饭食——生鱼、炸香蕉、小鸡，还有一些他不知名的东西①，这是当地土著②的标准饭菜。吃饭的时候，他看见人们正在把一个眼泪汪汪的年轻女孩子从门口赶走。他当时并没有注意，但在他吃完饭，正准备上马车启程回家的时候，他又看见她在不远的地方站着。她凄凄惨惨地望着他，泪珠从面颊上淌下来。医生问了问旁边的人，这个女孩儿是怎么回事。他被告知说，女孩子是从山里面下来的，想请他去看一个生病的白人。他们已经告诉她，医生没有时间管她的事。库特拉斯医生把她叫过来，亲自问了一遍她有什么事。她说她是爱塔派来的，爱塔过去在鲜花旅馆干活儿，她来找医生是因为“红毛”病了。她把一块揉皱了的旧报纸递到医生手里，医生打开一看，里面是一张一百法郎的钞票。

①②原文为法语。

“谁是‘红毛’？”医生问一个站在旁边的人。

他被告诉说，“红毛”是当地人给那个英国人，一个画家起的外号儿。这个人现在同爱塔同居，住在离这里七公里远的山丛中的一条峡谷里。根据当地人的描述，他知道他们说的是思特里克兰德。但是要去思特里克兰德住的地方，只能走路去；他们知道他去不了，所以就把女孩子打发走了。

Mr. Coutras wasan old Frenchman of great stature and exceeding bulk. His body was shaped likea huge duck's egg; and his eyes, sharp, blue, and good-natured, rested now and thenwith self-satisfaction on his enormous paunch. His complexion was florid andhis hair white. He was a man to attract immediate sympathy. He received us in aroom that might have been in a house in a provincial town in France, and theone or two Polynesian curios had an odd look. He took my hand in both of his --they were huge -- and gave me a hearty look, in which, however, was greatshrewdness. When he shook hands with Capitaine Brunot he enquired politelyafter Madame et les enfants. For some minutes there was an exchange ofcourtesies and some local gossip about the island, the prospects of copra andthe vanilla crop; then we came to the object of my visit.

I shall nottell what Dr. Coutras related to me in his words, but in my own, for I cannothope to give at second hand any impression of his vivacious delivery. He had adeep, resonant voice, fitted to his massive frame, and a keen sense of thedramatic. To listen to him was, as the phrase goes, as good as a play; and muchbetter than most.

库特拉斯医生是一个又高又胖的法国人，已经有了一把年纪。他的体型好象一只大鸭蛋，一对蓝眼睛的的逼人，却又充满了善意，时不时地带着志满意得的神情落在自己鼓起的大肚皮上。他的脸色红扑扑的，配着一头白发，让人一看见就发生好感。他接见我们的地方很象在法国小城市里的一所住宅，两件波利尼西亚的摆设在屋子里显得非常刺眼。库特拉斯医生用两只手握住我的手——他的手很大——，亲切地看着我；但是从他的眼神我却可以看出他是个非常精明的人。在他同布吕诺船长握手的时候，他很客气地问候夫人和孩子①。我们寒暄了几句。又闲扯了一会儿本地的各种新闻，今年椰子和香草果的收成等等。这以后谈话转到我这次来访的本题。

①原文为法语。

我现在只能用自己的语言把库特拉斯给我讲的故事写下来；他当时给我叙述时，绘声绘色，他的原话经我一转述就要大为减色，他的嗓音低沉，带着回音，同他魁梧的体格非常相配。他说话时很善于表演。听他讲话，正象一般人爱用的一个譬喻，就象在观看戏剧，而且比大多数戏演得更为精彩。

"Evidemment, it is not exciting on my island, and we are very far from the world-- imagine, it takes me four days to come to Tahiti -- but we are happy there.It is given to few men to attempt a work and to achieve it. Our life is simpleand innocent. We are untouched by ambition, and what pride we have is due onlyto our contemplation of the work of our hands. Malice cannot touch us, nor envyattack. Ah, mon cher monsieur, they talk of the blessedness of labour, and itis a meaningless phrase, but to me it has the most intense significance. I am ahappy man. "

"I am sureyou deserve to be, " I smiled.

"I wish Icould think so. I do not know how I have deserved to have a wife who was theperfect friend and helpmate, the perfect mistress and the perfect mother."

I reflected fora while on the life that the Captain suggested to my imagination.

"It isobvious that to lead such an existence and make so great a success of it, youmust both have needed a strong will and a determined character. "

"Perhaps;but without one other factor we could have achieved nothing. "

"And whatwas that?"

He stopped,somewhat dramatically, and stretched out his arm.

"Belief inGod. Without that we should have been lost. "

Then we arrivedat the house of Dr. Coutras.

“当然了①，在我们那个小岛上，日子可以说比较平淡，我们离开文明社会非常遥远——你可以想象一下，就是到塔希提来一趟，在路上也要走四天，但是我们过得很幸福。世界上只有少数人能够最终达到自己的理想。我们的生活很单纯、很简朴。我们并不野心勃勃，如果说我们也有骄傲的话，那是因为在想到通过双手获得的劳动成果时的骄傲。我们对别人既不嫉妒，更不怀恨。唉，我亲爱的先生②，有人认为劳动的幸福是句空话，对我说来可不是这样。我深深感到这句话的重要意义。我是个很幸福的人。”

①原文为法语。

②原文为法语。

“我相信你是有资格这样说的。”

“我也希望我能这样想。我的妻子不只是我贴心的朋友，还是我的好助手；不只是贤妻，还是良母，我真是配不上她。”

船长的这番话在我的脑子里描绘了别样一种生活，使我思索了好大一会儿。

“你过着这样的生活，而且取得很大成功，显然这不只需要坚强的意志，而且要有坚毅的性格。”我说。

“也许你说得对。但是如果没有另外一个因素，我们是什么也做不成的。”

“那是什么呢？”

他站住了，有些象演戏似地抬起了两只胳臂。

“对上帝的信仰。要是不相信上帝我们早就迷途了。”

话说到这里，我们已经走到库特拉斯医生的门口。

"It washard and anxious work at first, and we worked strenuously, both of us. Everyday I was up at dawn, clearing, planting, working on my house, and at nightwhen I threw myself on my bed it was to sleep like a log till morning. My wifeworked as hard as I did. Then children were born to us, first a son and then adaughter. My wife and I have taught them all they know. We had a piano sent outfrom France, and she has taught them to play and to speak English, and I havetaught them Latin and mathematics, and we read history together. They can saila boat. They can swim as well as the natives. There is nothing about the landof which they are ignorant. Our trees have prospered, and there is shell on myreef. I have come to Tahiti now to buy a schooner. I can get enough shell tomake it worth while to fish for it, and, who knows? I may find pearls. I havemade something where there was nothing. I too have made beauty. Ah, you do notknow what it is to look at those tall, healthy trees and think that every one Iplanted myself. "

"Let meask you the question that you asked Strickland. Do you never regret France andyour old home in Brittany?"

"Some day,when my daughter is married and my son has a wife and is able to take my placeon the island, we shall go back and finish our days in the old house in which Iwas born. "

"You willlook back on a happy life, " I said.

“开始一段日子工作非常艰苦。我们两个人拚死拚活地干活儿。每天天一亮我就起来，除草、种树、盖房子，晚上一倒在床上，我总是象条死狗似地一觉睡到天亮。我的妻子同我一样毫不吝惜自己的力气。后来我们有了孩子，先是一个男孩儿，后来又生了个女儿。我和我的妻子教他们读书。他们知道的一点儿知识都是我俩教的。我们托人从国内运来一架钢琴。我妻子教他们弹琴、说英语，我教他们拉丁文和数学；我们一起读历史。两个孩子还学会了驾船，游泳的本领也一点儿不比土人差。岛上的事儿他们样样都很精通。我们的椰子林长得很好，此外，我们那里的珊瑚礁上还盛产珠蚌。我这次到塔希提来是为了买一艘双桅帆船。我想用这艘船打捞蚌壳，准能把买船的钱赚回来。谁能说准，我也许真会捞获一些珍珠呢。我干的每一件事都是白手起家的。我也创造了美。在我瞧着那些高大、挺拔的椰子树，心里想到每一棵都是自己亲手培植出米的，你真不知道我那时是什么心情啊。”

“让我问你一个问题：这个问题你过去也问过思特里克兰德。你离开了法国，把布列塔尼的老家抛在脑后，从来也没有后悔过吗？”

“将来有一天，等我女儿结了婚，我儿子娶了妻子，能够把我在岛上的一番事业接过去以后，我就和我妻子回去，在我出生的那所老房子里度过我们的残年。”

“你那时回顾过去，会感到这一辈子是过得很幸福的。”

"Howstrange that you should say that!" I answered. "For long ago I hadthe idea that he was possessed of a devil. "

"And thepassion that held Strickland was a passion to create beauty. It gave him nopeace. It urged him hither and thither. He was eternally a pilgrim, haunted bya divine nostalgia, and the demon within him was ruthless. There are men whosedesire for truth is so great that to attain it they will shatter the veryfoundation of their world. Of such was Strickland, only beauty with him tookthe place of truth. I could only feel for him a profound compassion. "

"That isstrange also. A man whom he had deeply wronged told me that he felt a greatpity for him. " I was silent for a moment. "I wonder if there youhave found the explanation of a character which has always seemed to meinexplicable. How did you hit on it?"

He turned to mewith a smile.

"Did I nottell you that I, too, in my way was an artist? I realised in myself the samedesire as animated him. But whereas his medium was paint, mine has been life."

Then CaptainBrunot told me a story which I must repeat, since, if only by way of contrast,it adds something to my impression of Strickland. It has also to my mind abeauty of its own.

Captain Brunotwas a Breton, and had been in the French Navy. He left it on his marriage, andsettled down on a small property he had near Quimper to live for the rest ofhis days in peace; but the failure of an attorney left him suddenly penniless,and neither he nor his wife was willing to live in penury where they had enjoyedconsideration. During his sea faring days he had cruised the South Seas, and hedetermined now to seek his fortune there. He spent some months in Papeete tomake his plans and gain experience; then, on money borrowed from a friend inFrance, he bought an island in the Paumotus. It was a ring of land round a deeplagoon, uninhabited, and covered only with scrub and wild guava. With theintrepid woman who was his wife, and a few natives, he landed there, and setabout building a house, and clearing the scrub so that he could plantcocoa-nuts. That was twenty years before, and now what had been a barren islandwas a garden.

“真奇怪，你怎么会也这么说？”我回答道。“很久以前，我正是也有这种想法。我觉得他这个人是被魔鬼抓住了。”

“使思特里克兰德着了迷的是一种创作欲，他热切地想创造出美来。这种激情叫他一刻也不能宁静。逼着他东奔西走。他好象是一个终生跋涉的朝香者，永远思慕着一块圣地。盘踞在他心头的魔鬼对他毫无怜悯之情。世上有些人渴望寻获真理，他们的要求非常强烈，为了达到这个目的，就是叫他们把生活的基础完全打翻，也在所不惜。思特里克兰德就是这样一个人；只不过他追求的是美，而不是真理。对于象他这样的人，我从心眼里感到怜悯。”

“你说的这一点也很奇怪。有一个他曾经伤害过的人也这样对我说，说他非常可怜思特里克兰德。”我沉默了一会儿。“我很想知道，对于一种我一直感到迷惑不解的性格，你是不是已经找到了答案。你怎么会想到这个道理的？”

他对我笑了笑。

“我不是告诉你了，从某一个角度讲，我也是个艺术家吗？我在自己身上也深深感到激励着他的那种热望。但是他的手段是绘画，我的却是生活。”

布吕诺船长这时给我讲了一个故事，我想我应该在这里说一说。因为即使作为对比，这个故事对我记叙思特里克兰德的生平也能说明一些问题。再说，我认为这个故事本身就是非常美的。

布吕诺船长是法国布列塔尼地方的人，年轻时在法国海军里服过役。结婚以后，他退了役，在坎佩尔附近一小份产业上定居下来，准备在恬静的乡居生活中过自己的后半生。但是由于替他料理财务的一位代理人出了差错，一夜之间，他发现自己已经一文不名了。他和他的妻子在当地人们眼目中本来享有一定的地位，他俩绝对不愿意仍然捱在原来的地方过苦日子。早年他在远涉重洋时，曾经到过南太平洋群岛；这时他就打定主意再到南海去闯一条路子。他先在帕皮提住了几个月，一方面规划一下自己的未来，一方面积累一些经验。几个月以后，他从法国一位朋友手里借了一笔钱，在包莫图斯群岛里买下一个很小的岛屿。这是一个环形小岛，中间围着一个咸水湖；岛上长满了灌木和野生的香石榴，从来没有人居住过。他的老婆是个很勇敢的女人，他就带着自己的老婆和几个土人登上这个小岛。他们首先着手盖房子，清理灌木丛，准备种植椰子。这是在我遇到他二十年以前的事，现在这个荒岛已经成了一座整饬的种植园了。

As we walkedalong I reflected on a circumstance which all that I had lately heard aboutStrickland forced on my attention. Here, on this remote island, he seemed tohave aroused none of the detestation with which he was regarded at home, butcompassion rather; and his vagaries were accepted with tolerance. To thesepeople, native and European, he was a queer fish, but they were used to queerfish, and they took him for granted; the world was full of odd persons, who didodd things; and perhaps they knew that a man is not what he wants to be, butwhat he must be. In England and France he was the square peg in the round hole,but here the holes were any sort of shape, and no sort of peg was quite amiss.I do not think he was any gentler here, less selfish or less brutal, but thecircumstances were more favourable. If he had spent his life amid thesesurroundings he might have passed for no worse a man than another. He receivedhere what he neither expected nor wanted among his own people -- sympathy.

I tried to tellCaptain Brunot something of the astonishment with which this filled me, and fora little while he did not answer.

"It is notstrange that I, at all events, should have had sympathy for him, " he saidat last, "for, though perhaps neither of us knew it, we were both aimingat the same thing. "

"What onearth can it be that two people so dissimilar as you and Strickland could aimat?" I asked, smiling.

"Beauty."

"A largeorder, " I murmured.

"Do youknow how men can be so obsessed by love that they are deaf and blind toeverything else in the world? They are as little their own masters as theslaves chained to the benches of a galley. The passion that held Strickland inbondage was no less tyrannical than love. "

我一面走路一面思索着他到这里以后的景况。最近一些日子我听到思特里克兰德不少轶事，不能不认真思考一下这里的环境。他在这个遥远的海岛上似乎同在欧洲不一样，一点儿也没有引起别人的厌嫌；相反地，人们对他都很同情，他的奇行怪癖也没有人感到诧异。在这里的人们——不论是欧洲人或当地土著——眼里，他当然是个怪人，但是这里的人对于所谓怪人已经习以为常，因此对他从不另眼相看。世界上有的是怪人，他们的举止离奇古怪；也许这里的居民更能理解，一般人都不是他们想要做的那种人，而是他们不得不做的那种人。在英国或法国，思特里克兰德可以说是个不合时宜的人，“圆孔里插了个方塞子”，而在这里却有各种形式的孔，什么样子的塞子都能各得其所。我并不认为他到这里以后脾气比过去变好了，不那么自私了，或者更富于人情味儿了；而是这里的环境对他比以前适合了。假如他过去就在这里生活，人们就不会注意到他的那些劣点了。他在这里所经历到的是他在本乡本土不敢希冀、从未要求的——他在这里得到的是同情。

这一切我感到非常惊奇；我把我的想法试着同布吕诺船长谈了一些。他并没有立刻回答我什么。

“我对他感到同情其实也没有什么奇怪的，”最后他说，“因为，尽管我们两人可能谁也不知道，我们寻求的却是同一件东西。”

“你同思特里克兰德完全是不同类型的人，有什么东西会是你们俩共同寻求的呢？”

“美。”

“你们寻求的东西太高了，”我咕噜了一句。

“你知道不知道，一个人要是坠入情网，就可能对世界上一切事物都听而不闻、视而不见了？那时候他就会象古代锁在木船里摇桨的奴隶一样，身心都不是自己所有了。把思特里克兰德俘获住的热情正同爱情一样，一点自由也不给他。”

CapitaineBrunot turned to me with a gentle smile, and there was a wonderful look in hisdark, kind eyes.

"He did mean injustice, for I too know what it is to have dreams. I have my visions too.In my way I also am an artist. "

We were allsilent for a while, and Tiare fished out of her capacious pocket a handful ofcigarettes. She handed one to each of us, and we all three smoked. At last shesaid:

"Since cemonsieur is interested in Strickland, why do you not take him to see Dr.Coutras? He can tell him something about his illness and death. "

"Volontiers, " said the Captain, looking at me.

I thanked him,and he looked at his watch.

"It ispast six o'clock. We should find him at home if you care to come now. "

I got upwithout further ado, and we walked along the road that led to the doctor'shouse. He lived out of the town, but the Hotel de la Fleur was on the edge ofit, and we were quickly in the country. The broad road was shaded bypepper-trees, and on each side were the plantations, cocoa-nut and vanilla. Thepirate birds were screeching among the leaves of the palms. We came to a stonebridge over a shallow river, and we stopped for a few minutes to see the nativeboys bathing. They chased one another with shrill cries and laughter, and theirbodies, brown and wet, gleamed in the sunlight.

布吕诺船长转过头来对我微微一笑，他的一双和蔼的黑眼睛里闪着奇妙的光辉。

“他这样说对我可太不公平了，因为我也知道什么叫怀着梦想。我自己就也有幻想。从某一方面讲，我自己也是个艺术家。”

半天我们都没有说话。蒂阿瑞从她的大口袋里拿出一把香烟来，递给我们每人一支。我们三个人都抽起烟来。最后她开口说：

“既然这位先生②对思特里克兰德有兴趣，你为什么不带他去见一见库特拉斯医生啊？他可以告诉他一些事，思特里克兰德怎样生病，怎样死的，等等。”

②原文为法语。

“我很愿意③。”船长看着我说。

③原文为法语。

我谢了谢他。他看了看手表。

“现在已经六点多钟了。如果你肯同我走一趟，我想这时候他是在家的。”

我二话没说，马上站了起来；我俩立刻向医生家里走去。库特拉斯住在城外，而鲜花旅馆是在城市边缘上，所以没有几步路，我们就已经走到郊野上了。路很宽，一路上遮覆着胡椒树的浓荫。路两旁都是椰子和香子兰种植园。一种当地人叫海盗鸟的小鸟在棕榈树的叶子里吱吱喳喳地叫着。我们在路上经过一条浅溪，上面有一座石桥；我们在桥上站了一会儿，看着本地人的孩子在水里嬉戏。他们笑着、喊着，在水里互相追逐，棕色的小身体滴着水珠，在阳光下闪闪发光。

Tiare sighed.

"Ah, Iwish I were fifteen again. "

Then she caughtsight of a cat trying to get at a dish of prawns on the kitchen table, and witha dexterous gesture and a lively volley of abuse flung a book at its scamperingtail.

"I askedhim if he was happy with Ata.

"`Sheleaves me alone, ' he said. 'She cooks my food and looks after her babies. Shedoes what I tell her. She gives me what I want from a woman. '

"`And doyou never regret Europe? Do you not yearn sometimes for the light of thestreets in Paris or London, the companionship of your friends, and equals, quesais-je? for theatres and newspapers, and the rumble of omnibuses on thecobbled pavements?'

"For along time he was silent. Then he said:

"`I shallstay here till I die. '

"`But areyou never bored or lonely?' I asked.

"Hechuckled.

"` Monpauvre ami, ' he said. `It is evident that you do not know what it is to be anartist. '"

蒂阿瑞叹了口气。

“啊，我真希望我再回到十五岁的年纪。”

这时，她忽然看见一只猫正在厨房桌上偷对虾吃，随着连珠炮似的一串咒骂，她又麻利又准确地把一本书扔在仓皇逃跑的猫尾巴上。

“我问他同爱塔一起生活幸福不幸福。”

“‘她不打扰我，’他说。‘她给我做饭，照管孩子。我叫她做什么她就做什么。凡是我要求一个女人的，她都给我了。’”

“‘你离开欧洲从来也没有后悔过吗？有的时候你是不是也怀念巴黎或伦敦街头的灯火？怀念你的朋友、伙伴？还有我不知道的一些东西，剧院呀、报纸呀、公共马车隆隆走过鹅卵石路的声响？’”

很久，很久，他一句话也没有说。最后他开口道：

“‘我愿意待在这里，一直到我死。’”

“‘但是你就从来也不感到厌烦，不感到寂寞？’”我问道。

他咯咯地笑了几声。

“‘我可怜的朋友①，’他说，‘很清楚，你不懂作一个艺术家是怎么回事。’”

①   原文为法语。

He smiledmaliciously at Tiare, and with lamentations she told us again the story of howat the sale of Strickland's effects she had neglected the pictures, but boughtan American stove for twenty-seven francs.

"Have youthe pictures still?" I asked.

"Yes; I amkeeping them till my daughter is of marriageable age, and then I shall sellthem. They will be her dot. " Then he went on with the account of hisvisit to Strickland.

"I shallnever forget the evening I spent with him. I had not intended to stay more thanan hour, but he insisted that I should spend the night. I hesitated, for Iconfess I did not much like the look of the mats on which he proposed that Ishould sleep; but I shrugged my shoulders. When I was building my house in thePaumotus I had slept out for weeks on a harder bed than that, with nothing toshelter me but wild shrubs; and as for vermin, my tough skin should be proofagainst their malice.

"We wentdown to the stream to bathe while Ata was preparing the dinner, and after wehad eaten it we sat on the verandah. We smoked and chatted. The young man had aconcertina, and he played the tunes popular on the music-halls a dozen yearsbefore. They sounded strangely in the tropical night thousands of miles fromcivilisation. I asked Strickland if it did not irk him to live in thatpromiscuity. No, he said; he liked to have his models under his hand.Presently, after loud yawning, the natives went away to sleep, and Stricklandand I were left alone. I cannot describe to you the intense silence of thenight. On my island in the Paumotus there is never at night the completestillness that there was here. There is the rustle of the myriad animals on thebeach, all the little shelled things that crawl about ceaselessly, and there isthe noisy scurrying of the land-crabs. Now and then in the lagoon you hear theleaping of a fish, and sometimes a hurried noisy splashing as a brown sharksends all the other fish scampering for their lives. And above all, ceaselesslike time, is the dull roar of the breakers on the reef. But here there was nota sound, and the air was scented with the white flowers of the night. It was anight so beautiful that your soul seemed hardly able to bear the prison of thebody. You felt that it was ready to be wafted away on the immaterial air, anddeath bore all the aspect of a beloved friend. "

他幸灾乐祸地向蒂阿瑞笑了笑。于是蒂阿瑞又一次后悔不迭地给我们讲起那个老故事来：在拍卖思特里克兰德遗产的时候，她怎样一点儿也没有注意他的画，只花了二十七个法郎买了一个美国的煤油炉子。

“这些画你还保留着吗？”我问。

“是的。我还留着。等我的女儿到了出嫁的年龄我再卖，给她做陪嫁。”

他又接着给我们讲他去看思特里克兰德的事。

“我永远也忘不了我同他一起度过的那个晚上。本来我想在他那里只待一个钟头，但是他执意留我住一夜。我犹豫了一会儿；说老实话，我真不喜欢他建议叫我在上面过夜的那张草席。但是最后我还是耸了耸肩膀，同意留下了。当我在包莫图斯岛给自己盖房子的时候，有好几个星期我睡在外面露天地里，我睡的床要比这张草席硬得多，盖的东西只有草叶子。讲到咬人的小虫，我的又硬又厚的皮肤实在是最好的防护物。

“在爱塔给我们准备晚饭的时候，我同思特里克兰德到小河边上去洗了一个澡。吃过晚饭后，我们就坐在露台上乘凉。我们一边抽烟一边聊天。我来的时候看见的那个年轻人有一架手风琴，他演奏的都是十几年以前音乐厅里流行过的曲子。在热带的夜晚，在这样一个离开人类文明几千里以外的地方，这些曲调给人以一种奇异的感觉。我问思特里克兰德，他这样同各式各样的人胡乱住在一起，是否觉得厌恶。他回答说不；他喜欢他的模特儿就在眼前。过了不久，当地人都大声打着呵欠，各自去睡觉了，露台上只剩下我同思特里克兰德。我无法向你描写夜是多么寂静。在我们包莫图斯的岛上，夜晚从来没有这里这么悄无声息。海滨上有一千种小动物发出窸窸窣窣的声响。各式各样的带甲壳的小东西永远也不停息地到处爬动，另外还有生活在陆地上的螃蟹嚓嚓地横爬过去。有的时候你可以听到咸水湖里鱼儿跳跃的声音，另外的时候，一只棕色鲨鱼把别的鱼儿惊得乱窜，弄得湖里发出一片噼啪的泼溅声。但是压倒这一切嘈杂声响的还是海水拍打礁石的隆隆声，它象时间一样永远也不终止。但是这里却一点儿声音也没有，空气里充满了夜间开放的白花的香气。这里的夜这么美，你的灵魂好象都无法忍受肉体的桎梏了。你感觉到你的灵魂随时都可能飘升到缥缈的空际，死神的面貌就象你亲爱的朋友那样熟悉。”