第十章（第18/34页）

“下不为例。”他回答。“那么，晚安，快点赶路！”他消失在深灰色暗沉的夜里。她发现侧门尚未上锁，就借道溜回自己房间，没被任何人察觉。刚刚掩上门，就听到开饭的锣声响起，尽管如此，她还是要洗个澡——她必须这样做。“可我不会再这么晚回来，”她告诫自己，“太让人手忙脚乱了。”第二天，她没去成树林。她而是陪克利福德去了趟乌斯维特。现在，他时常乘车外出，得雇个年轻强壮的司机，需要时还得靠他帮忙，将克利福德从车里搀扶下来。更重要的是拜望他的教父，莱斯利·温特，这位老先生住在史普利府，距离乌斯维特不远。温特是位家资殷实的老绅士，爱德华王（注：1841-1910，英国统治者）在位时，也曾是显赫一时的煤矿主。爱德华王外出游猎时，曾在数次史普利下榻。那是座气派的古老宅邸，用灰泥粉饰，布置得优雅华丽，因为温特至今独身，对自己的情调颇感骄傲。唯一的不足之处是，整座宅邸被煤矿所环抱。虽说两人关系匪浅，但因为对克利福德刊登于各类画报的照片以及文学作品不屑一顾，温特的态度有些不冷不热。这位老先生是位地道的纨绔子弟，秉承爱德华王在位时的社会风尚，认为生活就是生活，而舞文弄墨的家伙们则是另一回事。而对康妮，这位乡绅则总是殷勤备至。在他看来，她丰姿绰约，端庄秀丽，宛若处女，许配给克利福德，简直是鲜花插在牛粪上，她没能给拉格比生位小少爷，实在是令人扼腕。他自己就没有子嗣。

Connie wondered what he would say if he knew that Clifford's game-keeper had been having intercourse with her, and saying to her "tha mun come to th' cottage one time." he would detest and despise her, for he had come almost to hate the shoving forward of the working classes. A man of her own class he would not mind, for Connie was gifted from nature with this appearance of demure, submissive maidenliness, and perhaps it was part of her nature. Winter called her "dear child" and gave her a rather lovely miniature of an eighteenth-century lady, rather against her will.

康妮想知道，要是他晓得克利福德的守林人跟她私通，并用土话对她说“哪天来俺家”，他会作何评价。他会对她深恶痛绝，嗤之以鼻，因为他对工人阶级的反抗浪潮切齿痛恨。如果她的情郎同样来自贵族阶级，他则半点都不会介意，因为康妮生来端庄娴静，柔顺谦和，或许讨人喜欢也是她与生俱来的特点。温特称呼她为“亲爱的孩子”，非要送她一幅18世纪贵妇的精巧微缩画像，康妮本不想接受，但实在是却之不恭。

But Connie was preoccupied with her affair with the keeper. After all, Mr. Winter, who was really a gentleman and a man of the world, treated her as a person and a discriminating individual; he did not lump her together with all the rest of his female womanhood in his "thee" and "tha".

但康妮满脑子想的，都是与守林人的情事。不过，温特先生确实是位绅士，出身高贵，将她视为真正的人，视为独特的个体，并没把她与其余的庸脂俗粉相提并论，他称她们为“您”或者“您们”。

She did not go to the wood that day nor the next, nor the day following. She did not go so long as she felt, or imagined she felt, the man waiting for her, wanting her. But the fourth day she was terribly unsettled and uneasy. She still refused to go to the wood and open her thighs once more to the man. She thought of all the things she might do—drive to Sheffield, pay visits, and the thought of all these things was repellent. At last she decided to take a walk, not towards the wood, but in the opposite direction; she would go to Marehay, through the little iron gate in the other side of the park fence. It was a quiet grey day of spring, almost warm. She walked on unheeding, absorbed in thoughts she was not even conscious of She was not really aware of anything outside her, till she was startled by the loud barking of the dog at Marehay Farm. Marehay Farm! Its pastures ran up to Wragby park fence, so they were neighbours, but it was some time since Connie had called.

那天及此后两天，她都没到树林去。她始终觉得，或者说想象自己觉得，那男人期待着她，对她充满渴望。因此就选择暂时不再露面。但等到第四天，她的决心终于有所动摇，变得心神不宁。她仍不情愿再去树林，再为那臭男人张开双腿。她想遍了自己可做的事情——乘车去谢菲尔德，走亲访友，但这些都非为她所愿。最终，她还是打算出去散散心，但并非去树林，而是往相反的方向。经过花园篱笆另一侧的小铁门，她直奔马勒哈伊。那是个寂静的春日，天灰蒙蒙的，凉意几乎已经褪尽。她信步而行，沉浸在无尽的思绪里，对四周的事物全然不觉，直到被马勒哈伊农场大声的犬吠惊醒。马勒哈伊农场！这里的牧场延伸到拉格比庄园的围墙边，因此算得上是近邻，但康妮已经许久没有到过这儿。