Brickdust Row

Blinker was displeased. A man of less culture and poise and wealth would have sworn. But Blinker always remembered that he was a gentleman—a thing that no gentleman should do. So he merely looked bored and sardonic while he rode in a hansom to the center of disturbance, which was the Broadway office of Lawyer Oldport, who was agent for the Blinker estate.

布林克心里很不痛快。若换了一个教养、涵养和财富都差一些的人，早就骂出声来了。可布林克向来记得自己是个绅士——而绅士是不该这么做的。于是他只是摆出一副厌倦而讥诮的神情，坐着一辆双轮马车赶往这场风波的中心——百老汇上老律师奥尔德波特的事务所，此人正是布林克家族产业的代理人。

“I don’t see,” said Blinker, “why I should be always signing confounded papers. I am packed, and was to have left for the North Woods this morning. Now I must wait until to-morrow morning. I hate night trains. My best razors are, of course, at the bottom of some unidentifiable trunk. It is a plot to drive me to bay rum and a monologueing, thumb-handed barber. Give me a pen that doesn’t scratch. I hate pens that scratch.”

“我不明白，”布林克说道，“为什么我总要在这些讨厌的文件上签字。我行李都收拾好了，本该今天早上就动身去北方林区的。如今我得等到明天早上了。我讨厌夜车。我那些最好的剃刀，肯定还压在某个认不出来的行李箱底下呢。这简直是个阴谋，逼得我只好去用什么月桂酒，找个爱唠叨、手指粗笨的理发师。给我一支不刮纸的笔吧。我最讨厌刮纸的笔。”

“Sit down,” said double-chinned, gray Lawyer Oldport. “The worst has not been told you. Oh, the hardships of the rich! The papers are not yet ready to sign. They will be laid before you to-morrow at eleven. You will miss another day. Twice shall the barber tweak the helpless nose of a Blinker. Be thankful that your sorrows do not embrace a haircut.”

“坐下吧，”双下巴、须发花白的奥尔德波特律师说道。“最糟糕的消息还没告诉你呢。唉，做个有钱人真是苦啊！文件还没准备好签字。明天上午十一点才能呈到你面前。你又要耽误一天了。理发师要第二次揪住布林克家可怜的鼻子了。你该庆幸，你的烦恼里还没牵扯上理发这一桩。”

“If,” said Blinker, rising, “the act did not involve more signing of papers I would take my business out of your hands at once. Give me a cigar, please.”

“要不是，”布林克站起身来说道，“这事牵扯到还要再签更多的文件，我早就把生意从你手里收回来了。给我一支雪茄，麻烦你。”

“If,” said Lawyer Oldport, “I had cared to see an old friend’s son gulped down at one mouthful by sharks I would have ordered you to take it away long ago. Now, let’s quit fooling, Alexander. Besides the grinding task of signing your name some thirty times to-morrow, I must impose upon you the consideration of a matter of business—of business, and I may say humanity or right. I spoke to you about this five years ago, but you would not listen—you were in a hurry for a coaching trip, I think. The subject has come up again. The property—”

“要不是，”奥尔德波特律师说道，“我在乎眼睁睁看着老朋友的儿子被鲨鱼一口吞掉，我早就叫你把它拿走了。好了，别再胡闹了，亚历山大。除了明天要辛辛苦苦签上三十来次名字之外，我还得请你考虑一桩正经事——一桩生意，我也可以说是关乎人道，关乎公道的事。五年前我就跟你提过这事，可你不肯听——我记得你当时正急着要去坐马车旅行。如今这事又提上来了。那处产业——”

“Oh, property!” interrupted Blinker. “Dear Mr. Oldport, I think you mentioned to-morrow. Let’s have it all at one dose to-morrow—signatures and property and snappy rubber bands and that smelly sealing-wax and all. Have luncheon with me? Well, I’ll try to remember to drop in at eleven to-morrow. Morning.”

“哦，产业啊！”布林克打断他的话。“亲爱的奥尔德波特先生，我记得你说的是明天。干脆一次性都摆到明天来吧——签名、产业、还有那些啪啪响的橡皮筋，那股难闻的封蜡味儿，一股脑儿全来。跟我一块儿吃个午饭吧？好吧，我尽量记着明天十一点过来。再见。”

The Blinker wealth was in lands, tenements and hereditaments, as the legal phrase goes. Lawyer Oldport had once taken Alexander in his little pulmonary gasoline runabout to see the many buildings and rows of buildings that he owned in the city. For Alexander was sole heir. They had amused Blinker very much. The houses looked so incapable of producing the big sums of money that Lawyer Oldport kept piling up in banks for him to spend.

用法律上的措辞来说，布林克家的财富都在土地、房产和不动产上。奥尔德波特律师有一回曾开着他那辆气喘吁吁的小汽车，带亚历山大去看他名下在城里的许多栋楼房和一排排的房子。因为亚历山大是唯一的继承人。这可把布林克逗乐了不少。那些房子看上去实在不像是能产出奥尔德波特律师源源不断存进银行、供他花用的那些大笔钱财的样子。

In the evening Blinker went to one of his clubs, intending to dine. Nobody was there except some old fogies playing whist who spoke to him with grave politeness and glared at him with savage contempt. Everybody was out of town. But here he was kept in like a schoolboy to write his name over and over on pieces of paper. His wounds were deep.

到了晚上，布林克去了他常去的一家俱乐部，打算在那儿吃晚饭。那儿除了几个打惠斯特牌的老古董，谁也没有，他们对他客客气气地打了招呼，眼神里却带着几分野蛮的轻蔑。人人都出城去了。可他却像个小学生似的被拘在这儿，一遍又一遍地在纸上写自己的名字。他心里的伤实在深。

Blinker turned his back on the fogies, and said to the club steward who had come forward with some nonsense about cold fresh salmon roe:

布林克转过身，不理那几个老古董，转而对走上前来、正絮絮叨叨说着什么新鲜冰镇鲑鱼子的俱乐部管事说道：

“Symons, I’m going to Coney Island.” He said it as one might say: “All’s off; I’m going to jump into the river.”

“西蒙斯，我要去康尼岛。”他说这话的口气，就像有人会说：“一切都完了，我要跳河去了。”

The joke pleased Symons. He laughed within a sixteenth of a note of the audibility permitted by the laws governing employees.

这个玩笑话把西蒙斯逗乐了。他忍着笑，笑声压得极低，几乎低到雇员该守的规矩所允许的极限之内。

“Certainly, sir,” he tittered. “Of course, sir, I think I can see you at Coney, Mr. Blinker.”

“当然可以，先生，”他吃吃笑道。“当然，先生，我想我大概能在康尼岛见着您呢，布林克先生。”

Blinker got a paper and looked up the movements of Sunday steamboats. Then he found a cab at the first corner and drove to a North River pier. He stood in line, as democratic as you or I, and bought a ticket, and was trampled upon and shoved forward until, at last, he found himself on the upper deck of the boat staring brazenly at a girl who sat alone upon a camp stool. But Blinker did not intend to be brazen; the girl was so wonderfully good looking that he forgot for one minute that he was the prince incog, and behaved just as he did in society.

布林克拿了份报纸，查了查星期天汽船的班次。随后他在第一个街角雇了辆马车，驶往北河的一处码头。他也像你我一样，规规矩矩地排队买了票，被人推推挤挤地拥上前去，最后终于登上了船的上层甲板，厚颜地盯着一个独自坐在折叠凳上的姑娘看。可布林克并不是有意要如此厚颜；这姑娘长得实在标致极了，让他一时忘了自己是个微服出巡的王子，竟像在社交场合里那样举止起来。

She was looking at him, too, and not severely. A puff of wind threatened Blinker’s straw hat. He caught it warily and settled it again. The movement gave the effect of a bow. The girl nodded and smiled, and in another instant he was seated at her side. She was dressed all in white, she was paler than Blinker imagined milkmaids and girls of humble stations to be, but she was as tidy as a cherry blossom, and her steady, supremely frank gray eyes looked out from the intrepid depths of an unshadowed and untroubled soul.

她也在看他，而且并不严厉。一阵风吹得布林克的草帽险些飞走。他小心地一把按住，重新戴好。这个动作看上去倒像是行了个礼。姑娘朝他点点头，微微一笑，转眼间他便坐到了她身旁。她一身白衣，肤色比布林克想象中挤奶女工或普通人家姑娘要苍白些，但她整洁得像一朵樱花，那双沉静、极为坦率的灰色眼睛，望出来时透着一种无所畏惧、毫无阴翳与烦恼的心灵深处。

“How dare you raise your hat to me?” she asked, with a smile-redeemed severity.

“你怎么敢冲我抬帽子？”她问道，语气里带着几分被笑意化解了的严厉。

“I didn’t,” Blinker said, but he quickly covered the mistake by extending it to “I didn’t know how to keep from it after I saw you.”

“我没有啊，”布林克说道，可他很快便把这个小差错圆了过去，“我没法子不这么做，自打我看见你以后。”

“I do not allow gentlemen to sit by me to whom I have not been introduced,” she said, with a sudden haughtiness that deceived him. He rose reluctantly, but her clear, teasing laugh brought him down to his chair again.

“我不允许没经过介绍的先生坐到我身边来，”她说道，语气忽然一板正经，把他给唬住了。他不情愿地站起身来，可她那清脆逗趣的笑声，又把他拉回了座位上。

“I guess you weren’t going far,” she declared, with beauty’s magnificent self-confidence.

“我猜你也走不了多远，”她说道，带着美人特有的那份泰然自若。

“Are you going to Coney Island?” asked Blinker.

“你是要去康尼岛吗？”布林克问道。

“Me?” She turned upon him wide-open eyes full of bantering surprise. “Why, what a question! Can’t you see that I’m riding a bicycle in the park?” Her drollery took the form of impertinence.

“我？”她转过头来，一双睁得大大的眼睛里满是打趣般的惊讶。“哎呀，这问的是什么话！你没看见我正在公园里骑自行车吗？”她这份诙谐里带着几分调皮的无理。

“And I am laying brick on a tall factory chimney,” said Blinker. “Mayn’t we see Coney together? I’m all alone and I’ve never been there before.”

“那我正在一座高高的工厂烟囱上砌砖呢，”布林克说道。“我们可不可以一块儿去逛康尼岛？我孤身一人，还从没去过那儿呢。”

“It depends,” said the girl, “on how nicely you behave. I’ll consider your application until we get there.”

“那得看情形，”姑娘说道，“看你规矩得怎么样。等到了地方我再考虑你的申请。”

Blinker took pains to provide against the rejection of his application. He strove to please. To adopt the metaphor of his nonsensical phrase, he laid brick upon brick on the tall chimney of his devoirs until, at length, the structure was stable and complete. The manners of the best society come around finally to simplicity; and as the girl’s way was that naturally, they were on a mutual plane of communication from the beginning.

布林克费尽心思，务必不让自己的“申请”遭到驳回。他极力讨她欢心。借用他那句无稽之谈的比方来说，他就这样在他这“殷勤”的高高烟囱上，一块砖一块砖地垒了上去，直到最后，这座建筑稳固而完整。上流社会的礼数说到底，终究是要归于朴素的；而姑娘的做派天生就是这样朴素，所以他们打一开始，便处在一种彼此对等的交流层面上。

He learned that she was twenty, and her name was Florence; that she trimmed hats in a millinery shop; that she lived in a furnished room with her best chum Ella, who was cashier in a shoe store; and that a glass of milk from the bottle on the window-sill and an egg that boils itself while you twist up your hair makes a breakfast good enough for any one. Florence laughed when she heard “Blinker.”

他这才得知，她今年二十岁，名叫弗洛伦斯；她在一家女帽店里给帽子做装饰；她同自己最要好的朋友艾拉租着一间带家具的房间住，艾拉是一家鞋店的收银员；还有，窗台上那瓶牛奶倒一杯出来，加上一个趁你梳头的工夫自己就能煮熟的鸡蛋，这样的早饭对谁来说都足够好了。弗洛伦斯听见“布林克”这个姓，笑了起来。

“Well,” she said. “It certainly shows that you have imagination. It gives the ‘Smiths’ a chance for a little rest, anyhow.”

“得了，”她说道。“这倒说明你挺有想象力的。至少也让那些个‘史密斯’姓的人歇口气。”

They landed at Coney, and were dashed on the crest of a great human wave of mad pleasure-seekers into the walks and avenues of Fairyland gone into vaudeville.

他们在康尼岛靠了岸，被一大群疯狂寻欢作乐的人潮，一浪一浪地卷进了这片已然沦为杂耍表演场的仙境的种种小径与大道之中。

With a curious eye, a critical mind and a fairly withheld judgment Blinker considered the temples, pagodas and kiosks of popularized delights. Hoi polloi trampled, hustled and crowded him. Basket parties bumped him; sticky children tumbled, howling, under his feet, candying his clothes. Insolent youths strolling among the booths with hard-won canes under one arm and easily won girls on the other, blew defiant smoke from cheap cigars into his face. The publicity gentlemen with megaphones, each before his own stupendous attraction, roared like Niagara in his ears. Music of all kinds that could be tortured from brass, reed, hide or string, fought in the air to gain space for its vibrations against its competitors.

布林克带着一种好奇的眼光、一颗挑剔的心，以及一份相当克制的评判，打量着这些通俗化的欢乐所筑起的殿堂、宝塔和亭榭。芸芸众生把他踩来挤去。提着野餐篮的人群撞着他；黏糊糊的孩子在他脚下哭嚎着摔倒，把糖渍弄得他满身都是。街边摊位间闲逛的傲慢青年，一边胳膊下夹着辛苦赢来的手杖，一边胳膊挽着轻易到手的姑娘，冲着他的脸喷出挑衅般的廉价雪茄烟。手持喇叭筒的宣传员们，一人守着自己那了不得的把戏，冲着他耳朵吼得像尼亚加拉大瀑布一样震天响。各种从铜管、簧片、皮革或琴弦里硬生生逼出来的乐声，在空中互相较劲，抢着地盘释放自己的震动。

But what held Blinker in awful fascination was the mob, the multitude, the proletariat shrieking, struggling, hurrying, panting, hurling itself in incontinent frenzy, with unabashed abandon, into the ridiculous sham palaces of trumpery and tinsel pleasures. The vulgarity of it, its brutal overriding of all the tenets of repression and taste that were held by his caste, repelled him strongly.

可真正让布林克陷入一种可怕迷恋之中的，是那群人，那芸芸众生，那尖叫着、挣扎着、匆忙奔走着、气喘吁吁地、毫不知节制地一味疯狂、毫无羞赧地一头扎进那些荒唐可笑、金玉其外、俗艳浮华的假殿堂里去寻欢的无产者。这份粗俗，这份对他那一阶层所信奉的种种克制与品味准则的粗暴践踏，让他心里生出强烈的反感。

In the midst of his disgust he turned and looked down at Florence by his side. She was ready with her quick smile and upturned, happy eyes, as bright and clear as the water in trout pools. The eyes were saying that they had the right to be shining and happy, for was their owner not with her (for the present) Man, her Gentleman Friend and holder of the keys to the enchanted city of fun?

正当他厌恶到极点之时，他转过身，低头看了看身旁的弗洛伦斯。她一如既往，脸上挂着轻快的笑意，仰起的眼睛快活明亮，如同鳟鱼潭里的水一般清澈透亮。那双眼睛仿佛在说，她们理应闪亮、理应快活，因为她们的主人此刻不正有她的（暂时的）男伴、她的绅士朋友、这座迷人欢乐之城钥匙的持有者相伴左右吗？

Blinker did not read her look accurately, but by some miracle he suddenly saw Coney aright.

布林克没能准确读懂她那眼神的意思，可不知怎的，他忽然一下子看清了康尼岛的真面目。

He no longer saw a mass of vulgarians seeking gross joys. He now looked clearly upon a hundred thousand true idealists. Their offenses were wiped out. Counterfeit and false though the garish joys of these spangled temples were, he perceived that deep under the gilt surface they offered saving and apposite balm and satisfaction to the restless human heart. Here, at least, was the husk of Romance, the empty but shining casque of Chivalry, the breath-catching though safe-guarded dip and flight of Adventure, the magic carpet that transports you to the realms of fairyland, though its journey be through but a few poor yards of space.

他眼中不再是一群追逐低俗欢乐的粗人。此刻他清清楚楚地看到的，是十万个真正的理想主义者。他们先前的种种冒犯，一笔勾销了。这些金光闪闪的殿堂里，那些欢乐纵然虚假浮夸，可他察觉到，在那层镀金的表面之下，深处却给这一颗颗躁动不安的人心，提供着切实而恰如其分的慰藉与满足。这里，至少还留有浪漫的空壳、骑士精神那空洞却闪亮的头盔、冒险那令人屏息却又安全无虞的俯冲与飞翔，还有那把你载往仙境的飞毯——尽管这趟旅程不过是穿过几码可怜巴巴的空间罢了。

He no longer saw a rabble, but his brothers seeking the ideal. There was no magic of poesy here or of art; but the glamour of their imagination turned yellow calico into cloth of gold and the megaphones into the silver trumpets of joy’s heralds.

他眼中看到的，不再是一群乌合之众，而是他寻求理想的同胞兄弟。这里没有诗意的魔法，也没有艺术的魔法；可是他们那想象力散发出的迷人光彩，却把黄色的印花棉布，变成了织金的锦缎，把那些喇叭筒，变成了欢乐使者手中吹奏的银号。

Almost humbled, Blinker rolled up the shirt sleeves of his mind and joined the idealists.

布林克几乎带着几分谦卑，卷起了自己心灵的衣袖，加入了这群理想主义者的行列。

“You are the lady doctor,” he said to Florence. “How shall we go about doing this jolly conglomeration of fairy tales, incorporated?”

“你就是那位女博士，”他对弗洛伦斯说道。“我们该怎么着手，把这一大堆童话故事股份有限公司好好逛个遍呢？”

“We will begin there,” said the Princess, pointing to a fun pagoda on the edge of the sea, “and we will take them all in, one by one.”

“我们就从那儿开始吧，”这位公主说道，指着海边一座供人取乐的宝塔，“然后我们一个一个地把它们都逛遍。”

They caught the eight o’clock returning boat and sat, filled with pleasant fatigue, against the rail in the bow, listening to the Italians’ fiddle and harp. Blinker had thrown off all care. The North Woods seemed to him an uninhabitable wilderness. What a fuss he had made over signing his name—pooh! he could sign it a hundred times. And her name was as pretty as she was—“Florence,” he said it to himself a great many times.

他们赶上了八点钟返程的那班船，带着惬意的疲惫，靠着船头的栏杆坐下，听着几个意大利人拉小提琴、弹竖琴。布林克此刻已把一切烦恼都抛到了九霄云外。北方林区在他看来，简直成了一片不宜居住的荒野。想想他先前为签名的事闹的那些别扭——呸！他大可以签上一百遍。而她的名字，也和她本人一样漂亮——“弗洛伦斯”，他在心里默念了不知多少遍。

As the boat was nearing its pier in the North River a two-funnelled, drab, foreign-looking sea-going steamer was dropping down toward the bay. The boat turned its nose in toward its slip. The steamer veered as if to seek midstream, and then yawed, seemed to increase its speed and struck the Coney boat on the side near the stern, cutting into it with a terrifying shock and crash.

就在船快要靠上北河码头的时候，一艘双烟囱、灰扑扑、样子有点异国情调的远洋汽船，正朝着海湾驶来。这艘船调转船头，正要驶入自己的泊位。那艘汽船却仿佛想要抢占航道中央，忽然一个偏转，速度像是骤然加快，一头撞在康尼岛这艘船的船尾附近，带着一声骇人的巨响与震撼，生生撞了进去。

While the six hundred passengers on the boat were mostly tumbling about the decks in a shrieking panic the captain was shouting at the steamer that it should not back off and leave the rent exposed for the water to enter. But the steamer tore its way out like a savage sawfish and cleaved its heartless way, full speed ahead.

船上六百名乘客大多在甲板上乱作一团、尖叫着惊慌乱窜，船长冲着那艘汽船大喊，叫它千万别倒车退开，免得让那道裂口暴露出来，海水就会灌进来。可那艘汽船却像一条凶暴的锯鲨般硬生生撕开一条路，全速前进，毫不留情地一路劈波斩浪而去。

The boat began to sink at its stern, but moved slowly toward the slip. The passengers were a frantic mob, unpleasant to behold.

那艘船开始从船尾往下沉，却仍缓缓地朝着泊位挪去。乘客们乱成一团，惊慌失措，那光景实在不忍卒睹。

Blinker held Florence tightly until the boat had righted itself. She made no sound or sign of fear. He stood on a camp stool, ripped off the slats above his head and pulled down a number of the life preservers. He began to buckle one around Florence. The rotten canvas split and the fraudulent granulated cork came pouring out in a stream. Florence caught a handful of it and laughed gleefully.

布林克紧紧搂着弗洛伦斯，直到船身重新稳住。她没有发出一丝声响，也没有露出半分惧色。他站到一张折叠凳上，扯下头顶上方的木条，拽下来好几件救生衣。他动手要给弗洛伦斯系上一件。可那朽烂的帆布一撕就裂，里面掺假的颗粒状软木便哗啦啦地倒了出来。弗洛伦斯抓起一把，欢快地笑了起来。

“It looks like breakfast food,” she said. “Take it off. They’re no good.”

“这看着倒像早餐麦片，”她说道。“把它摘下来吧。这玩意儿不管用。”

She unbuckled it and threw it on the deck. She made Blinker sit down and sat by his side and put her hand in his. “What’ll you bet we don’t reach the pier all right?” she said and began to hum a song.

她解开带子，把救生衣扔在了甲板上。她让布林克坐下，自己也坐到他身边，把手放进他手里。“你敢打赌我们靠不了岸吗？”她说着，哼起了一支小曲。

And now the captain moved among the passengers and compelled order. The boat would undoubtedly make her slip, he said, and ordered the women and children to the bow, where they could land first. The boat, very low in the water at the stern, tried gallantly to make his promise good.

这时船长在乘客中间走动，让大家保持秩序。他说，这船一定能靠上泊位的，随后下令让妇女和孩子都到船头去，好让她们最先上岸。船尾此刻已深深浸入水中，船仍在奋力，想要兑现船长的这句承诺。

“Florence,” said Blinker, as she held him close by an arm and hand, “I love you.”

“弗洛伦斯，”布林克说道，这时她正一手挽着他的胳膊，一手握着他的手，紧紧靠着他，“我爱你。”

“That’s what they all say,” she replied, lightly.

“他们都是这么说的，”她轻描淡写地答道。

“I am not one of ‘they all,’” he persisted. “I never knew any one I could love before. I could pass my life with you and be happy every day. I am rich. I can make things all right for you.”

“我可不是‘他们’当中的一个，”他固执地说道。“我从前从没遇见过一个我能爱上的人。我可以同你厮守一生，天天都快快活活的。我很有钱。我能让你一切都过得妥妥当当。”

“That’s what they all say,” said the girl again, weaving the words into her little, reckless song.

“他们都是这么说的，”姑娘又说了一遍，还把这几个字编进了她那随口哼着的小曲里。

“Don’t say that again,” said Blinker in a tone that made her look at him in frank surprise.

“别再这么说了，”布林克说话的语气，让她带着几分坦率的诧异望着他。

“Why shouldn’t I say it?” she asked calmly. “They all do.”

“我为什么不能这么说？”她平静地问道。“他们都是这样的。”

“Who are ‘they’?” he asked, jealous for the first time in his existence.

“‘他们’是谁？”他问道，这是他有生以来头一回吃醋。

“Why, the fellows I know.”

“哎呀，就是我认识的那些小伙子呗。”

“Do you know so many?”

“你认识的还挺多？”

“Oh, well, I’m not a wall flower,” she answered with modest complacency.

“哦，这个嘛，我又不是墙花，”她带着几分含蓄的得意答道。

“Where do you see these—these men? At your home?”

“你在哪儿见着这些——这些男人的？在你家里吗？”

“Of course not. I meet them just as I did you. Sometimes on the boat, sometimes in the park, sometimes on the street. I’m a pretty good judge of a man. I can tell in a minute if a fellow is one who is likely to get fresh.”

“当然不是。我碰见他们，就跟我碰见你一样。有时在船上，有时在公园里，有时在街上。我看人挺准的。要是哪个小伙子存心要占便宜，我一分钟就能看出来。”

“What do you mean by ‘fresh?’”

“你说的‘占便宜’是什么意思？”

“Why, try to kiss you—me, I mean.”

“哎呀，就是想亲你——我是说，亲我。”

“Do any of them try that?” asked Blinker, clenching his teeth.

“他们当中有谁想这么干过吗？”布林克问道，咬紧了牙关。

“Sure. All men do. You know that.”

“当然有啦。男人都一个样。这你也知道。”

“Do you allow them?”

“你都答应了？”

“Some. Not many. They won’t take you out anywhere unless you do.”

“有些答应了。不多。你不答应，他们哪儿都不带你去。”

She turned her head and looked searchingly at Blinker. Her eyes were as innocent as a child’s. There was a puzzled look in them, as though she did not understand him.

她转过头来，一双眼睛探究似地望着布林克。她的眼神天真得像个孩子。眼里带着一丝困惑，仿佛她根本不明白他为什么要这么问。

“What’s wrong about my meeting fellows?” she asked, wonderingly.

“我碰见几个小伙子，这有什么不对吗？”她带着几分不解问道。

“Everything,” he answered, almost savagely. “Why don’t you entertain your company in the house where you live? Is it necessary to pick up Tom, Dick and Harry on the streets?”

“哪儿哪儿都不对，”他答道，语气近乎凶狠。“你干嘛不在自己住的地方接待你的朋友？非得在大街上随便捡个阿猫阿狗不可吗？”

She kept her absolutely ingenuous eyes upon his. “If you could see the place where I live you wouldn’t ask that. I live in Brickdust Row. They call it that because there’s red dust from the bricks crumbling over everything. I’ve lived there for more than four years. There’s no place to receive company. You can’t have anybody come to your room. What else is there to do? A girl has got to meet the men, hasn’t she?”

她那双绝对天真无邪的眼睛，始终盯着他的脸。“要是你能瞧瞧我住的地方，你就不会这么问了。我住在‘砖尘弄’。人家这么叫它，是因为那地方到处都是砖头掉下来的红尘土。我在那儿住了四年多了。那儿根本没地方招待客人。你不能让谁来自己房间里坐坐。除此之外还能怎么办呢？姑娘总得认识些男人吧，不是吗？”

“Yes,” he said, hoarsely. “A girl has got to meet a—has got to meet the men.”

“是啊，”他哑着嗓子说道。“姑娘总得认识——总得认识些男人的。”

“The first time one spoke to me on the street,” she continued, “I ran home and cried all night. But you get used to it. I meet a good many nice fellows at church. I go on rainy days and stand in the vestibule until one comes up with an umbrella. I wish there was a parlor, so I could ask you to call, Mr. Blinker—are you really sure it isn’t ‘Smith,’ now?”

“头一回有人在街上跟我搭话的时候，”她接着说道，“我跑回家哭了一整夜。可后来也就习惯了。我在教堂里认识了不少不错的小伙子。下雨天我就去教堂，站在门廊里，一直等到有人打着伞走过来。我真希望自己有个客厅，好请你上门来坐坐，布林克先生——你确定你不姓‘史密斯’吗，现在？”

The boat landed safely. Blinker had a confused impression of walking with the girl through quiet crosstown streets until she stopped at a corner and held out her hand.

船安然靠了岸。布林克脑子里只留下一段模糊的印象，记得自己同那姑娘一道，穿过一条条安静的横街，直到她在一个街角停下脚步，伸出手来。

“I live just one more block over,” she said. “Thank you for a very pleasant afternoon.”

“我再往前走一个街区就到家了，”她说道。“谢谢你，让我度过了一个非常愉快的下午。”

Blinker muttered something and plunged northward till he found a cab. A big, gray church loomed slowly at his right. Blinker shook his fist at it through the window.

布林克咕哝了一句什么，径直朝北走去，直到找到一辆马车。一座灰色的大教堂在他右手边缓缓浮现出来。布林克透过车窗，冲着它挥了挥拳头。

“I gave you a thousand dollars last week,” he cried under his breath, “and she meets them in your very doors. There is something wrong; there is something wrong.”

“我上礼拜才捐给你一千块钱，”他压低声音喊道，“可她偏偏就在你的大门口，去碰见那些男人。这里头肯定有什么不对；这里头肯定有什么不对。”

At eleven the next day Blinker signed his name thirty times with a new pen provided by Lawyer Oldport.

第二天上午十一点，布林克用奥尔德波特律师准备好的一支新笔，签了三十次名字。

“Now let me go to the woods,” he said surlily.

“现在让我去林子里吧，”他没好气地说道。

“You are not looking well,” said Lawyer Oldport. “The trip will do you good. But listen, if you will, to that little matter of business of which I spoke to you yesterday, and also five years ago. There are some buildings, fifteen in number, of which there are new five-year leases to be signed. Your father contemplated a change in the lease provisions, but never made it. He intended that the parlors of these houses should not be sub-let, but that the tenants should be allowed to use them for reception rooms.”

“你气色看着不太好，”奥尔德波特律师说道。“这趟旅行对你有好处。不过，请你听我说说，我昨天跟你提过、五年前也跟你提过的那桩生意上的事。有一批房产，一共十五处，租期五年的新租约要签了。你父亲原本考虑要改一改租约的条款，却始终没能动手。他的意思是，这些房子的客厅不该转租出去，而应该让房客用来当作会客厅使用。”

“These houses are in the shopping district, and are mainly tenanted by young working girls. As it is they are forced to seek companionship outside. This row of red brick—”

“这些房子都在购物区一带，住户大多是年轻的打工姑娘。眼下这种情形，她们只好到外面去寻找伴侣。这一排红砖房——”

Blinker interrupted him with a loud, discordant laugh.

布林克大声打断了他的话，笑声里带着几分刺耳的不和谐。

“Brickdust Row for an even hundred,” he cried. “And I own it. Have I guessed right?”

“砖尘弄，八九不离十吧，”他喊道。“而这地方是我的产业。我猜得对不对？”

“The tenants have some such name for it,” said Lawyer Oldport.

“房客们大概就是这么叫它的，”奥尔德波特律师说道。

Blinker arose and jammed his hat down to his eyes.

布林克站起身来，把帽子狠狠地一直按到眉毛上。

“Do what you please with it,” he said harshly. “Remodel it, burn it, raze it to the ground. But, man, it’s too late I tell you. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late.”

“你爱怎么处置就怎么处置吧，”他粗声粗气地说道。“重新翻修也好，一把火烧了也好，夷为平地也罢。可是，老兄，太迟了，我告诉你。太迟了。太迟了。太迟了。”