A considerable time elapsed without my hearing a word about Armand, but on the other hand the subject of Marguerite had come up a great deal.

很长一段时间过去了，我都没有听到阿尔芒的消息，但同时玛格丽特的话题倒出现得很多。

I do not know if you have noticed, but it only takes the name of someone who should in all likelihood have remained unknown or at least of no particular interest to you, to be pronounced once in your hearing, for all sorts of details to collect round that name, and for you then to have all your friends speak about a subject of which they had never spoken to you before. Next thing, you discover that the person in question was there, just out of range, all the while. You realize that your paths have crossed many times without your noticing, and you find in the events which others recount some tangible link or affinity with certain events in your own past. I had not quite reached that point with Marguerite, since I had seen her, met her, knew her by her face and habits. Yet ever since the auction, her name had cropped up so frequently in my hearing and, in the circumstances which I have related in the previous chapter, her name had become associated with sorrow so profound, that my surprise had gone on growing and my curiosity had increased.

我不知道您是否有注意到，一个看来跟您素不相识或者至少是您不会感兴趣的人，一旦有人在您面前提到他的姓名，跟这个人有关的各种琐闻就会慢慢地聚集起来，然后您所有的朋友也都会来和您谈论他们从来也没有跟您谈过的事。接下来，您就会觉得那个人仿佛就在那儿，虽接触不到，但一直都在。您会意识到您与这个人的生活轨迹曾经有过很多交集，只是没有察觉到，然后会在别人讲给您的事情中找到和自己生活中的某些经历实际存在的联系或者密切关系。我和玛格丽特倒不至于如此，因为我看见过她，遇到过她，记得她的长相，知道她的习惯。不过，自从那次拍卖会之后，我就经常听到有人提起她的名字。在前一章提到的那个使我也牵涉其中的情况中，她的名字和一种及其巨大的悲痛联系在了一起，这使我的惊奇日益加剧，好奇心也越来越重了。

The result was that now I never approached any friends, with whom I had never spoken of Marguerite, without saying:

这样的结果就是我过去从来没跟朋友们谈论过玛格丽特，现在我一见到他们就问：

'Did you know someone called Marguerite Gautier?'

“您认识一个名叫玛格丽特·戈蒂埃的女人吗？”

'The Lady of the Camellias?'

“茶花女吗？”

'That's her.'

“就是她。”

'Rather!'

“熟悉得很！”

These 'Rather!'sometimes came with smiles which left no possible doubt as to their meaning.

好一句“熟悉得很”！有时候他们说这句话的时候脸上还带着那种含义显而易见的微笑。

'Well, what kind of girl was she?' I would go on.

“那么，这个姑娘是什么样的人呢？”我会继续问下去。

'A very decent sort.'

“一个非常好的姑娘。”

'Is that all?'

“就这样吗？”

'Heavens! I should hope so. A few more brains and perhaps a bit more heart than the rest of them.'

“我的天！是啊。比其他的姑娘有脑子一些，还可能更善良一些。”

'But you know nothing particular about her?'

“但是您一点儿也不知道关于她的具体的事吗？”

'She ruined Baron de G.'

“她毁了G男爵，让他倾家荡产。”

'Anyone else?'

“还有其他的人吗？”

'She was the mistress of the old Duke de.'

“她还做过XX老公爵的情妇。”

'Was she really his mistress?'

“她真的是他的情妇吗？”

'That's what they say: at any rate, he gave her a great deal of money.'

“大家都是这样说的，不管怎么样，那个公爵给了她一大笔钱。”

Always the same general details.

听到的总是这样一些不具体的故事。

But I would have been interested to learn a little about the affair between Marguerite and Armand.

然而，我很有兴趣知道一些关于玛格丽特和阿尔芒之间的事情。

One day, I chanced upon one of those men who live habitually on intimate terms with the most notorious courtesans. I questioned him. Did you know Marguerite Gautier?'

一天，我遇到了一个人，他一直和那些最有名的妓女保持着亲密的关系。我问他：“您认识玛格丽特·戈蒂埃吗？”

The answer was that same 'Rather!'

回答又是一样的“熟悉得很”。

'What sort of girl was she?'

“她是个怎么样的姑娘？”

'A fine-looking, good-hearted type. Her death was a great sadness to me.'

“一个长相漂亮、心地善良的姑娘。她的死让我非常伤心。”

'She had a lover called Armand Duval, didn't she?'

“她有过一个叫做阿尔芒·迪瓦尔的情人，是吧？”

'Tall chap with fair hair?'

“是高个子、金色头发的小伙子吗？”

'That's him.'

“就是他。”

'Yes, she did.'

“是的，她是有过这个情人。”

'And what was this Armand like?'

“那么阿尔芒又是个怎么样的人？”

'A young fellow who threw away the little he had on her, I believe, and was forced to give her up. They say it affected his reason.'

“一个把仅有的一点儿钱全部花在玛格丽特身上的年轻人。我相信，他最后是被迫离开她的。他们说这让他变得有点儿精神错乱了。”

'What about her?'

“那么玛格丽特呢？”

'She loved him very much too, they also say, but as girls of her sort love. You should never ask more of them than they can give.'

“她也非常爱他，大家也这么说的，不过这种爱就像她们那种姑娘的爱一样。你从不该奢望得到她们给不了的东西。”

'What became of Armand?'

“后来阿尔芒怎么样了？”

'Couldn't say. We didn't know him all that well. He stayed five or six months with Marguerite, in the country. When she came back to town, he went off somewhere.'

“我说不上来了。我们跟他不熟。他和玛格丽特在乡下呆了五六个月。玛格丽特回到巴黎后，他就到其他地方去了。”

'And you haven't seen him since?'

“从此以后您就再也没见到过他了吗？”

'Never.'

“再也没有。”

I had not seen Armand again either. I had begun to wonder if, the day he called on me, the recent news of Marguerite's death had not exaggerated the love he had once felt for her and therefore his grief, and I told myself that perhaps, in forgetting the dead girl, he had also forgotten his promise to return to see me.

我也没有再见过阿尔芒。我开始思考，如果那天他来拜访我的时候，玛格丽特最近去世的消息夸大了他以前对她的爱慕，因此也夸大了他的悲伤，那么，我想他也许早就把再来看我的诺言随着死者一起抛到九霄云外去了。

Such a hypothesis would have been plausible enough with anybody else, but in Armand's despair there had been a note of real sincerity and, moving from one extreme to the other, I imagined that his grief could well have turned into sickness and that, if I had not heard from him, then it was because he was ill, dead even.

这样的假设对其他所有人来说都有可能，但是阿尔芒绝望中的声音是真实真诚的，因此，我从一个极端又转而想到了另一个极端，我猜想阿尔芒的伤痛可能导致疾病，如果没有他的消息，那是因为他生病了，说不定已经死了。

Despite myself, I still felt an interest in this young man. It may be that my interest was not without an element of selfishness; perhaps I had glimpsed a touching love story behind his grief, perhaps, in short, my desire to be acquainted with it loomed large in the concern I felt about Armand's silence.

不由自主地，我还是很关心这个年轻人。也许我的关心并不非完全没有自私成分，说不定我在他的痛苦背后看到了一个感人至深的爱情故事，又或者，简短来说，我是因为非常想知道这个故事所以才对阿尔芒的消失感到不安的。

Since Monsieur Duval did not return to see me, I resolved to go to him. A pretext was not difficult to find. Unfortunately, I did not know his address, and of all those I had questioned, no one had been able to tell me what it was.

既然迪瓦尔先生没有再回来见我，我就决定到他家里去。找一个拜访他的借口并不难。但不幸的是我并不知道他的地址，而且在我问过的所有人里面，没有一个人能告诉我。

I went to the rue d'Antin. Perhaps Marguerite's porter knew where Armand lived. There had been a change of porter. He did not know any more than I did. I then asked in which cemetery Mademoiselle Gautier had been buried. It was Montmartre cemetery.

于是我去了安坦街打听。也许玛格丽特的看门人会知道阿尔芒住在哪儿。但是那儿已经换了一个新的看门人了。他并不比我知道的多。我接着又问戈蒂埃小姐葬在哪个公墓里。她葬在蒙马特尔公墓。

April had come round again, the weather was fine, the graves would no longer have the mournful, desolate look which winter gives them; in a word, it was already warm enough for the living to remember the dead and visit them. I went to the cemetery, telling myself: 'One quick look at Marguerite's grave, and I shall know whether Armand is still grieving and perhaps discover what has become of him.'

已经是一年里的四月了。天气不错，坟墓看起来也不再是冬天时那副阴森凄凉的样子了。总之，气候已经够暖和了，活着的人也应该想起死去的人，去给他们扫墓了。我去了公墓，心想，我只要看一下玛格丽特的墓，就可以知道阿尔芒是否还在伤心，说不定还可以知道他现在怎么样了。

I entered the keeper's lodge and asked him if, on the 22nd of the month of February, a woman named Marguerite Gautier had been buried in Montmartre cemetery.

我走进守墓人的小屋，问他二月二十二日那天是不是有一个叫玛格丽特·戈蒂埃的女人葬在蒙马特尔公墓里。

The man looked through a fat ledger in which the names of all those who come to their final place of rest are entered and given a number, and he answered that on 22 February, at noon, a woman of that name had indeed been interred.

那个人翻看了一本很大的像账簿一样的本子，里面有所有来到这个最后落脚处的人的名字，每个人都有编号。然后他说二月二十二号中午，确实有一个叫这个名字的女人在这里下葬。

I asked if he could get someone to take me to the grave for, without a guide, there is no way of finding one's way around this city of the dead which has its streets like the cities of the living. The keeper called a gardener, to whom he gave the necessary details but who cut him short, saying: 'I know, I know … Oh! That grave is easy enough to pick out,' he went on, turning to me.

我问他能不能找一个人带我到那个坟上去，因为如果没有向导，我是不可能在这个死人的城市里找到方向的，这里有着就像活人的城市里面一样的街道。守墓人叫来一个园丁，他交待了一些必要的信息，但是园丁打断了他，说：“我知道了，我知道了。哦！那个坟墓很容易找到的。”他转过头对我说。

'Why?'I said.

“为什么呢？”我问他。

'Because it's got different flowers from all the others.'

“因为那上面的花和其他所有坟上的花都不一样。”

'Are you the person who looks after it?'

“您就是照看那个坟的人吗？”

'Yes, sir, and I could only wish all relatives took as good care of the departed as the young man who asked me to look after that one.'

“是的，先生，我真希望所有死者的亲属都能像让我照看那个墓的年轻人一样好好惦记死者啊。”

Several turnings later, the gardener stopped and said:

拐了几个弯以后，园丁停住了脚步，对我说：

'Here we are.'

“我们到了。”

And indeed, before my eyes, were flowers arranged in a square which no one would ever have taken for a grave if a white marble stone with a name on it had not proclaimed it to be so.

果然，在我眼前是一块正方形的花丛，如果没有一块刻着名字的白色大理石在那里作证的话，谁也认不出这是一个坟墓。

This marble block was set upright, iron railings marked the boundary of the polt that had been bought, and every inch of ground was covered with white camellias.

这块大理石笔直地竖在那儿，一圈铁栅栏把这块已被买下的坟地围了起来，坟地上每一寸都铺满了白色的茶花。

'What do you say to that?' said the gardener.

“您觉得怎样？”园丁问我。

'It's very beautiful.'

“非常美。”

'And every time a camellia withers, my orders are to put another one in its place.'

“每次只要有一朵茶花枯萎了，我就照吩咐换上一朵新的。”

'And who gave you your orders?'

“那么是谁吩咐您这样做的呢？”

'A young chap who cried a lot the first time he came. An old gentleman friend of the departed, I'll be bound, because they do say she was a bit of a one, you know . I hear tell she was very bonny . Did you know her, sir?'

“一个第一次来的时候哭得很厉害的年轻人。我猜大概是死者生前的老朋友，因为他们说这个女的好像是那种人，您知道的。我听说她生前很漂亮。您认识她吗，先生？”

'Yes.'

“是的。”

'Like the other chap,' the gardener said with a knowing grin.

“就跟那个小伙子一样吧。”园丁像什么都知道一样咧嘴笑着对我说。

'No, I never spoke to her.'

“不，我从来没有和她讲过话。”

'But you've come to see her here; that's very nice of you, because people who come to see the poor girl don't exactly clutter up the cemetery.'

“但是您还到这儿来看望她，您真是好心肠啊，因为到这个公墓来看这个可怜姑娘的人很少。”

'So no one comes?'

“这么说没有人来过？”

'Nobody, except that young chap who came once.'

“没人了，除了那个来过一次的小伙子。”

'Just once?'

“他只来过一次？”

'Yes, sir.'

“是的，先生。”

'And he never returned?'

“然后他就再也没有回来过吗？”

'No, but he'll come as soon as he gets back.'

“没有，但是他一回到巴黎就会过来的。”

'He's away traveling, then?'

“那么他是出门去了？”

'Yes.'

“是的。”

'And do you know where he is?'

“那么您知道他现在在那儿吗？”

'I do believe he's gone to see Mademoiselle Gautier's sister.'

“我相信他是去戈蒂埃小姐的姐姐那儿了。”

'What's he doing there?'

“他到那儿去干什么？”

'He's going to ask authorization to exhume the body and have it put somewhere else.'

“他去请求玛格丽特的姐姐同意把她挖出来，再安葬到其他的地方去。”

'Why shouldn't he leave her here?'

“他为什么不把玛格丽特留在这里呢？”

'You know, sir, people get queer ideas about the departed. See it all the time, we do. This plot was bought for five years only, and that young chap wants a plot in perpetuity and a larger bit of ground: in the new part would be best.'

“您知道，先生，人们对死去的人都有奇怪的想法。我们这些人总是看到这种事情。这块坟地的有效期只有五年，而这个年轻人想要一块永久性的、面积更大一点儿的地，最好是在新区里。”

'What do you call the new part?'

“您说的是什么新区？”

'The new plots that are being sold just now, to your left. If the cemetery had always been kept like it is nowadays, there wouldn't have been another like it in the world; but there's still a lot to do before it's just like it should be. And then, folk are so queer.'

“就是现在正在出售的新坟地，就在您的左边。如果这个公墓以前也一直像现在那样管理，那么世界上不可能有比得上这里的墓地了，但是要使一切都做得那么十全十美，那还差得远呢。再说了，人们又是那么可笑。”

'What do you mean?'

“您这是什么意思？”

'I mean that there's people who even bring their pride in here.

“我的意思是说，有些人还把自己的傲气带到了这里。就说这位戈蒂埃小姐吧，

Seems she'd been around a bit, if you'll pardon the expression. She's dead now, is that poor young woman; there's as much left of her as of other women you couldn't say a word against whose resting places we keep watering every day. Well now, when the relatives of them as are buried next to her found out who she was, blow me if they didn't up and say they was against putting her here, and that there ought to be ground set apart for women of her sort, like there is for the poor. Ever hear the like of it? I told them straight, I did; very well-to-do folks who can't even come four times a year to pay their respects to their departed. They bring their own flowers and some flowers they are too, are very particular about arranging upkeep for them as they say they mourn, inscribe on their tombstones the tears they never shed, and are very fussy about who is buried next door. Believe me if you like, sir, I didn't know this young lady, I've no idea what she got up to. But I tell you, I love that poor little girl and I take good care of her, and I let her have the camellias at a very fair price. Of all the departed, she's my favourite. Here, sir, we're obliged to love the dead, for we're kept so busy that we hardly have time to love anything else.'

看起来她生活有点儿放荡，如果您能谅解我用这个词。现在，这位可怜的小姐死了，她所剩下的和这里其他女人一样了。我们天天浇灌的她们的安身之地，人们不该对此再说任何难听的话了。但是现在，那些葬在她旁边的死者的亲属知道了她是个什么样的人以后，都暴跳如雷，反对把她葬在这儿，还说这种女人应该像穷人一样，另外有个专门埋葬的地方。您听过这种事吗？我直截了当地驳斥他们，我的确那么做了。那些阔佬祭奠自己的亲人，一年都来不了四次。他们还自己带来花束，那都是些什么花啊！他们口口声声说要为死去的亲人哀悼，但却不肯花钱修理坟墓。他们在死者的墓碑上写得悲痛欲绝，却从未流过一滴眼泪。还要对旁边葬着谁小题大做。信不信由您，先生，我不认识这位小姐，我也不知道她做过些什么事。但是我告诉您，我喜欢这个可怜的小姑娘，我精心地照顾她的坟墓，给她的茶花也价钱公道。在所有的死者中，她是我最喜欢的。在这里，先生，我们必须得爱死人，因为我们实在忙得很，几乎没有时间去爱其它的东西。”

I looked at this man, and some of my readers will understand, without my having to explain it to them, what I felt as I heard his words.

我看着这个人，用不着我多作解释，一些读者就会懂得，在我听他讲这些话的时候，我的内心有什么样的感觉。

He sensed my feelings, no doubt, for he went on: They say there were gents who ruined themselves for that girl, and that she had lovers who worshipped her; well, when I think that there's not one comes and buys her a single flower, then I say that it's peculiar and sad. Though this one can't complain. She's got a grave, and if there's only one as remembers her, he does right by the others as well. But we've got poor girls here of the same sort and the same age that get thrown into a pauper's grave, and it breaks my heart when I hear their poor bodies drop into the earth. And not a soul looks out for them once they're dead! It's not always very cheery , this job of ours, especially when you've got a bit of feeling left in you. But what do you expect? I can't help it. I got a fine-looking grown-up daughter of twenty, and whenever some dead girl her age is brought in, I think of her, and be it some great lady or a trollop, I can't help being upset.

毫无疑问他看出了我的感受，因为他又接着说：“他们说很多男士为了这个姑娘搞得倾家荡产，还说她有一些十分迷恋她的情人。但是想到竟然连买一朵花给她的人也没有，我就觉得又奇怪又悲哀。不过，她也没什么可抱怨的。她最后也总算有个坟墓了，而且虽然只有一个人怀念她，他也替别人做了应做的事。但是我们这里也还有和她身世相同、年纪相近的女孩子，她们却被扔进了公共墓地，每当我听到她们可怜的尸体被扔进墓地的时候，我的心总像被撕碎了一样难受。只要她们一死，就再也没有一个人管了。我们的工作并不总是令人愉快，尤其是如果你还有一些良心的话。但是您说有什么办法呢？我也是无能为力的啊！我有一个长得很漂亮的二十岁的女儿，每当和她年纪差不多的女孩子的尸体送来时我都会想到她，不论那是一个阔小姐，还是一个流浪女子，我都情不自禁感到难过。

But I expect I'm wearying you with all this talk, and you didn't come here to listen to me going on. I was told to take you to Mademoiselle Gautier's grave and here you are. Is there anything else I can do for you?'

这些话您一定听厌烦了吧，再说您也不是来听我胡扯的。他们吩咐我带你到戈蒂埃小姐的坟上来，这儿就是了。我还能为您做什么事情吗？”

'Do you know Monsieuer Duval's address?' I asked the man.

“您知道阿尔芒·迪瓦尔先生的住址吗？”我问这个园丁。

'Yes, he lives in the rue de, or at least that's where I went to get paid for all the flowers you see here.'

“我知道，他住在XX街，至少我就是到那儿去收这些鲜花钱的。”

'Thank you, my man.'

“谢谢您，我的朋友。”

I cast a final glance at the flower-strewn grave whose depths, despite myself, I would have gladly plumbed for a sight of what the earth had done with the beautiful creature who had been lowered into it, and then I came away, feeling very sad.

我最后望了一眼这个铺满鲜花的坟墓，不由自主地想探测一下坟墓有多深，好看看被埋进泥土里的那个漂亮的女人究竟怎么样了，然后，我离开了玛格丽特的坟墓，心里非常难过。

'Do you want to see Monsieur Duval, sir?'continued the gardener, who walked at my side.

“您想去拜访迪瓦尔先生吗，先生？”走在我旁边的园丁接着说。

'Yes.'

“是的。”

'The thing is, I'm pretty near certain that he's not back yet. Otherwise I'd have seen him here already.'

“问题是，我几乎可以肯定他还没有回来。否则我早就在这里看见过他了。”

'So you are convinced that he hasn't forgotten Marguerite?'

“所以您相信他没有忘记玛格丽特吗？”

'Not just convinced, I'd bet anything that this wanting to move her to another grave is his way of wanting to see her again.'

“不但可以肯定，而且我打赌，他想把玛格丽特移到另一个坟墓就是为了想再见她一面。”

'How do you mean?'

“您这是什么意思？”

'The first thing he said when he came to the cemetery was: "What do I have to do to see her again?" That can only happen if the body is shifted to another grave, and I told him all about the formalities that have to be gone through to secure a transfer, because, you know, before bodies can be moved from one grave to another, they must be identified, and only the family can authorize the operation which has to be supervised by a police superintendent. It was to get this authorization that Monsieur Duval went to see Mademoiselle Gautier's sister, and his first call will obviously be on us.'

“上次他到公墓来时第一句话就是‘我要怎么做才可以再见到她呢？’这样的事除非将遗体迁到另一个坟墓才办得到。我把迁葬需要办的手续全都告诉了他，因为您知道，在替死人迁葬之前，必须先验明尸身，且只有死者家属才能允许这样做，还要由警长来主持。迪瓦尔先生去找戈蒂埃小姐的姐姐就是为了征得她的同意，所以他一回来肯定会先到我们这儿来的。”

We had arrived at the cemetery gates; I thanked the gardener again, slipping a few coins into his hand, and I went round to the address he had given me.

我们走到了公墓的门口，我又一次谢了园丁，并往他手里塞了几枚硬币，就向他告诉我的那个地址走去。

Armand was not back.

阿尔芒还没有回来。

I left a note for him, asking him to come and see me as soon as he arrived, or to let me know where I might find him.

我给他留了张便条，请他一回来就来见我，或者让我知道能在哪里找到他。

The following morning, I received a letter from Duval which informed me of his return and asked me to drop by, adding that, being worn out by fatigue, it was impossible for him to go out.

第二天早上，我收到了迪瓦尔的一封信，他在信上说他已经回来了，并请我到他那里去，还说他因为疲劳过度不能外出了。 nDhoC/L7VQK1vKeyCSZsWb8J48I+5trUXtFWDeNc064OcXKdbMLGpnyMH/hNzyc0