I

一

I had taken Mrs. Prest into my confidence; in truth without her I should have made but little advance, for the fruitful idea in the whole business dropped from her friendly lips. It was she who invented the short cut, who severed the Gordian knot.

我视普雷斯顿夫人为我的心腹。老实说，没有她，我不会有太大进展，因为整个计划中有成效的想法是她友善地提出的。正是她找到了捷径，也是她解决了这个难题。

It is not supposed to be the nature of women to rise as a general thing to the largest and most liberal view—I mean of a practical scheme; but it has struck me that they sometimes throw off a bold conception—such as a man would not have risen to—with singular serenity.

一般说来，不应指望女人能提出最全面、最开明的观点——我指的是可行的计划。但让我很吃惊的是，她们有时候会提出个大胆的主意——那种主意连男人都想不到——同时还出奇地平静。

"Simply ask them to take you in on the footing of a lodger" —I don't think that unaided I should have risen to that.

“就让他们把你当成房客，让你进去” ——我觉得只靠我一个人是不会想到这个主意的。

I was beating about the bush, trying to be ingenious, wondering by what combination of arts I might become an acquaintance, when she offered this happy suggestion that the way to become an acquaintance was first to become an inmate.

我当时拐弯抹角，试图想到些妙招，盘算着要使些手段认识她们。这时，她提出这个令人愉快的建议，认为要成为熟人，首先要成为住在一起的人。

Her actual knowledge of the Misses Bordereau was scarcely larger than mine, and indeed I had brought with me from England some definite facts which were new to her.

其实她并不比我更了解博尔德罗的小姐们。事实上，我从英格兰带来的一些明白无误的事实，这些事实她并不知道。

Their name had been mixed up ages before with one of the greatest names of the century, and they lived now in Venice in obscurity, on very small means, unvisited, unapproachable, in a dilapidated old palace on an out—of—the—way canal: this was the substance of my friend's impression of them.

很多年前，她们的名字是和那个世纪最伟大的人物之一的名字联系在一起的。而今，她们隐居在威尼斯一个偏僻的水道边的破败的老宅子里，生活简朴，无人问津，无法接近：这是我朋友对她们的基本印象。

She herself had been established in Venice for fifteen years and had done a great deal of good there; but the circle of her benevolence did not include the two shy, mysterious and, as it was somehow supposed, scarcely respectable Americans (they were believed to have lost in their long exile all national quality, besides having had, as their name implied, some French strain in their origin), who asked no favors and desired no attention.

普雷斯顿夫人自己在威尼斯定居已经十五年了，在那里她做了不少好事。但是她的善举并没惠及这两位害羞而神秘的女士。大家不知何故认为这两个美国人没什么好值得尊敬的，（人们认为她们在长期的离乡背井中迷失了所有的民族特征，除了名字多少显出点儿她们有法国血统）她们不寻求帮助，也不想惹人注意。

In the early years of her residence she had made an attempt to see them, but this had been successful only as regards the little one, as Mrs. Prest called the niece; though in reality as I afterward learned she was considerably the bigger of the two.

刚来的那几年，她曾试图探望她们，但只见到了小的，普雷斯顿夫人是这样称呼那个侄女的。尽管我后来发现她其实个头比另一个大。

She had heard Miss Bordereau was ill and had a suspicion that she was in want; and she had gone to the house to offer assistance, so that if there were suffering (and American suffering), she should at least not have it on her conscience. The "little one" received her in the great cold, tarnished Venetian sala, the central hall of the house, paved with marble and roofed with dim crossbeams, and did not even ask her to sit down.

她听说博尔德罗小姐病了，猜测她可能生活拮据，于是上门去帮忙，这样一来，就算她们受苦（尤其是美国人受苦），她至少也不必良心不安。 “小的” 接待她的地方是一个冰冷褪色的威尼斯式的宽大客厅，是这个宅子的正厅，地面铺着大理石，房顶的横梁已经失去光泽了。 “小的” 甚至都没有请她坐下。

This was not encouraging for me, who wished to sit so fast, and I remarked as much to Mrs. Prest. She however replied with profundity, "Ah, but there's all the difference: I went to confer a favor and you will go to ask one. If they are proud you will be on the right side. "

这让想稳稳当当地住下来的我感到气馁。我把这想法老实地告诉了普雷斯顿夫人。然而她意味深长地回答道： “噢，这可不一样，我去是想要帮忙，而你是为了求助。如果她们是高傲的人，那你就站对地方了。”

And she offered to show me their house to begin with—to row me thither in her gondola. I let her know that I had already been to look at it half a dozen times; but I accepted her invitation, for it charmed me to hover about the place.

然后，她提议先带我去看看她们的宅子——用她的平底小船把我划到那里去。我告诉她我已经去考察过六七次了。但我还是接受了她的邀请，因为在那个地方逗留很是让我陶醉。

I had made my way to it the day after my arrival in Venice (it had been described to me in advance by the friend in England to whom I owed definite information as to their possession of the papers), and I had besieged it with my eyes while I considered my plan of campaign. Jeffrey Aspern had never been in it that I knew of; but some note of his voice seemed to abide there by a roundabout implication, a faint reverberation.

我到威尼斯后的第二天就去了那里（在英国的一个朋友提前就给我描述了这个宅子的情况，这个朋友就是明白地告诉我她们是手里有这些文稿的人）。在考虑行动计划的时候，我仔细地察看了这里。据我所知，杰弗里·阿斯本从来没有到过这里，但他的声音似乎停留在这里，迂回缭绕，隐约回响着。

Mrs. Prest knew nothing about the papers, but she was interested in my curiosity, as she was always interested in the joys and sorrows of her friends.

普雷斯顿夫人完全不知道文稿的事，但她对我的好奇心很感兴趣，正如她一贯关心朋友们的快乐和悲伤那样。

As we went, however, in her gondola, gliding there under the sociable hood with the bright Venetian picture framed on either side by the movable window, I could see that she was amused by my infatuation, the way my interest in the papers had become a fixed idea.

不过，我们乘着她的平底小船划行，坐在这适合社交的船篷下，随着两旁窗户的移动，观赏着威尼斯风景，这时候，我能感觉到她认为我的痴迷很好笑，我对于手稿的兴趣已经到了执着的程度。

"One would think you expected to find in them the answer to the riddle of the universe, " she said; and I denied the impeachment only by replying that if I had to choose between that precious solution and a bundle of Jeffrey Aspern's letters I knew indeed which would appear to me the greater boon.

“别人会以为你想要从中发现宇宙之谜的答案。” 她说。我否认她的怀疑，但只是说，如果必须在珍贵的答案和杰弗里·阿斯本的文稿间作出选择的话，我明确地知道哪个对我是一种较大的恩赐。

She pretended to make light of his genius, and I took no pains to defend him. One doesn't defend one's god: one's god is in himself a defense.

她装作轻视阿斯本的天才，而我并不费心替他辩护。一个人不会为自己的上帝而辩护；一个人的上帝本身就是一种辩护。

Besides, today, after his long comparative obscuration, he hangs high in the heaven of our literature, for all the world to see; he is a part of the light by which we walk. The most I said was that he was no doubt not a woman's poet: to which she rejoined aptly enough that he had been at least Miss Bordereau's.

而今，就算是在他沉寂了相当久以后，他依然在文学圣堂里高高在上，为全世界所仰望。我们前进道路上的光明，他也有所贡献。我只不过是说他无疑不是一位女性的诗人：她则说至少是博尔德罗小姐的诗人，回答得恰到好处。

The strange thing had been for me to discover in England that she was still alive: it was as if I had been told Mrs. Siddons was, or Queen Caroline, or the famous Lady Hamilton, for it seemed to me that she belonged to a generation as extinct.

在英国发现博尔德罗小姐还活着，对我来说是件奇怪的事情：就好像别人告诉我西登斯夫人、卡罗琳王后又或是著名的汉密尔顿夫人还活着一样，因为在我看来，博尔德罗小姐是属于早就逝去的那一代人的。

"Why, she must be tremendously old—at least a hundred, " I had said; but on coming to consider dates I saw that it was not strictly necessary that she should have exceeded by very much the common span.

“哇，她一定非常老——至少一百岁。” 我当时这么说。但是算算时间，我发现她其实也没有一定比一般人的寿命长多少。

Nonetheless she was very far advanced in life, and her relations with Jeffrey Aspern had occurred in her early womanhood.

尽管如此，她年纪也很大了，而她和杰弗里·阿斯本的关系是她少女时代的事情了。

"That is her excuse, " said Mrs. Prest, half—sententiously and yet also somewhat as if she were ashamed of making a speech so little in the real tone of Venice. As if a woman needed an excuse for having loved the divine poet! He had been not only one of the most brilliant minds of his day (and in those years, when the century was young, there were, as everyone knows, many), but one of the most genial men and one of the handsomest.

普雷斯顿夫人说： “那是她的借口。” 话说得半是说教，又似乎感到有点羞耻，因为她说话几乎没有一点儿真正的威尼斯腔调。似乎一个女人爱上这位神圣的诗人，需要一个理由似的！他不仅仅是那个年代最有才气的人（大家都知道，世纪之初那个时候，才华横溢的人很多），也是最和蔼可亲、最英俊的人。

The niece, according to Mrs. Prest, was not so old, and she risked the conjecture that she was only a grandniece.

按普雷斯顿夫人的说法，这位侄女年龄不太大，她还大胆地推测她只是位侄孙女。

This was possible; I had nothing but my share in the very limited knowledge of my English fellow worshipper John Cumnor, who had never seen the couple.

这有可能。我对她们一无所知，只是从约翰·卡姆诺那里了解到一些极其有限的情况。卡姆诺是英国人，和我一样崇拜阿斯本，但他从没见过这两位女士。

The world, as I say, had recognized Jeffrey Aspern, but Cumnor and I had recognized him most.

正如我所说，这个世界赏识杰弗里·阿斯本，而卡姆诺和我则是最欣赏他的人。

The multitude, today, flocked to his temple, but of that temple he and I regarded ourselves as the ministers. We held, justly, as I think, that we had done more for his memory than anyone else, and we had done it by opening lights into his life.

如今，人们涌向他的神殿，而我们自认是这神殿里的牧师。我有充分的理由认为，就像我所想的那样，我们为了纪念他，做得比任何人都多。我们所做的是将他的人生予以展现。

He had nothing to fear from us because he had nothing to fear from the truth, which alone at such a distance of time we could be interested in establishing. His early death had been the only dark spot in his life, unless the papers in Miss Bordereau's hands should perversely bring out others.

他对于真实无所畏惧，所以也不怕向我们展示一切。就算年代久远，我们依然有兴趣确定这个真实。除非博尔德罗小姐手上的文稿能呈现其他相反的证据，否则他的英年早逝将会是他人生唯一的谜团。

There had been an impression about 1825 that he had "treated her badly, " just as there had been an impression that he had "served, " as the London populace says, several other ladies in the same way. Each of these cases Cumnor and I had been able to investigate, and we had never failed to acquit him conscientiously of shabby behavior. I judged him perhaps more indulgently than my friend; certainly, at any rate, it appeared to me that no man could have walked straighter in the given circumstances.

在人们的印象中，他在一八二五年左右曾经 “虐待她” ，正如人们印象中的他， “对待” 其他几位女士也如出一辙。伦敦的大众就是这么说的。卡姆诺和我调查过每一件案例，而且，我们总能负责任地证明他没有无礼的行为。我评价他时，比我的朋友更为宽容。当然，无论如何，在我看来，没有人能在特定的环境下比他更为循规蹈矩。

These were almost always awkward.

那时的情形总是很难应付。

Half the women of his time, to speak liberally, had flung themselves at his head, and out of this pernicious fashion many complications, some of them grave, had not failed to arise.

大胆地说，在他那个年代，一半的女性曾对他投怀送抱。由于这种恶劣的风气，许多复杂的情况，其中还有些严重的情况，也就发生了。

He was not a woman's poet, as I had said to Mrs. Prest, in the modern phase of his reputation; but the situation had been different when the man's own voice was mingled with his song.

正如我告诉普雷斯顿夫人的一样，就他在现代的名声来讲，他不是一位女性的诗人。但当他的嗓音和他的诗歌融合在一起的时候，情形就不一样了。

That voice, by every testimony, was one of the sweetest ever heard.

所有的证据都证明，他的嗓音是人们所听过的最悦耳的嗓音。

"Orpheus and the Maenads! " was the exclamation that rose to my lips when I first turned over his correspondence. Almost all the Maenads were unreasonable, and many of them insupportable; it struck me in short that he was kinder, more considerate than, in his place (if I could imagine myself in such a place! ), I should have been.

“奥菲厄斯与巴克斯的女祭司们！” 这是当我首次翻阅他的信件时，嘴里发出的感叹。几乎所有的女祭司们都是无理取闹的，其中有些更是令人难以忍受的。我一度固执地认为，处在这样的情况下（要是我能想象出自己在这种情形下的话！），他比我更为仁慈，更为体贴。

It was certainly strange beyond all strangeness, and I shall not take up space with attempting to explain it, that whereas in all these other lines of research we had to deal with phantoms and dust, the mere echoes of echoes, the one living source of information that had lingered on into our time had been unheeded by us.

这真是奇上加奇。然而我不会花篇幅来试图解释它，解释为什么尽管在我们研究其他线索的时候，要同不少魅影和尘埃，纯粹的回响之回响这一类的事打交道，我们却没有注意到，这停留在我们这个时代里活生生的消息来源。

Every one of Aspern's contemporaries had, according to our belief, passed away; we had not been able to look into a single pair of eyes into which his had looked or to feel a transmitted contact in any aged hand that his had touched.

我们认为，与阿斯本同一个时代的人都已经去世了。我们不能找到任何一双他曾经注视过的眼睛，感觉不到任何一只年迈的手传递出他接触过的感觉。

Most dead of all did poor Miss Bordereau appear, and yet she alone had survived. We exhausted in the course of months our wonder that we had not found her out sooner, and the substance of our explanation was that she had kept so quiet.

博尔德罗小姐更是早就该去世的人，却唯独她活了下来。我们几个月来一直想不明白为什么没有早点儿找到她，而我们的解释就是，她一直非常沉默。

The poor lady on the whole had had reason for doing so. But it was a revelation to us that it was possible to keep so quiet as that in the latter half of the nineteenth century—the age of newspapers and telegrams and photographs and interviewers.

这可怜的女士完全有道理这么做。在十九世纪后半叶，她们居然还可以如此隐姓埋名，这可真是个新发现——那个年代充斥着报纸、电报、照片和采访。

And she had taken no great trouble about it either: she had not hidden herself away in an undiscoverable hole; she had boldly settled down in a city of exhibition.

但她也没费多大力气就办到了：她没有把自己隐藏在无法发现的洞穴里；她大胆地定居在了供人参观的城市里。

The only secret of her safety that we could perceive was that Venice contained so many curiosities that were greater than she. And then accident had somehow favored her, as was shown for example in the fact that Mrs. Prest had never happened to mention her to me, though I had spent three weeks in Venice—under her nose, as it were—five years before. Mrs. Prest had not mentioned this much to anyone; she appeared almost to have forgotten she was there.

她之所以能安全，我们能想到的唯一秘诀，就是威尼斯有许许多多的稀奇事，远比她来得令人好奇。而且，她运气也不错。关于这一点，有个很好的例证：五年前，我在威尼斯住了三周，我几乎就在普雷斯顿夫人眼前打转，她也从没向我提起博尔德罗小姐。普雷斯顿夫人也没有对任何人说起过什么。看起来，她几乎已经忘记了她的存在。

Of course she had not the responsibilities of an editor. It was no explanation of the old woman's having eluded us to say that she lived abroad, for our researches had again and again taken us (not only by correspondence but by personal inquiry) to France, to Germany, to Italy, in which countries, not counting his important stay in England, so many of the too few years of Aspern's career were spent.

当然，她不必像个编辑一样操心这些事。要说这位老妇人误导我们，要我们以为她住在外国，这也是没有根据的。因为，我们的研究工作一次次使得我们（不仅仅是信件往来，而且是亲自探寻）去了法国、德国和意大利。撇开他在英国度过的重要岁月不说，在这些国家，阿斯本度过了他太过短暂的写作生涯中的许多年。

We were glad to think at least that in all our publishings (some people consider I believe that we have overdone them), we had only touched in passing and in the most discreet manner on Miss Bordereau's connection. Oddly enough, even if we had had the material (and we often wondered what had become of it), it would have been the most difficult episode to handle.

我们很高兴地想到，至少在我们所发表的成果中（我相信，有些人认为我们夸大其辞），我们只是一笔带过地、非常谨慎小心地提到了他和博尔德罗小姐之间的联系。奇怪的是，就算我们掌握了那些资料（我们常常猜想，这些资料究竟出了什么问题），这也会是最难处理的一段插曲。

The gondola stopped, the old palace was there; it was a house of the class which in Venice carries even in extreme dilapidation the dignified name.

平底小船停了下来，古宅就在眼前；尽管极度破败，它在威尼斯城中依然是名副其实的威严府邸。

"How charming! It's gray and pink! " my companion exclaimed; and that is the most comprehensive description of it.

“多么壮观！它是灰色和粉色的！” 我的同伴感叹道。这是对于这个府邸最为全面的描述。

It was not particularly old, only two or three centuries; and it had an air not so much of decay as of quiet discouragement, as if it had rather missed its career. But its wide front, with a stone balcony from end to end of the piano nobile or most important floor, was architectural enough, with the aid of various pilasters and arches; and the stucco with which in the intervals it had long ago been endued was rosy in the April afternoon. It overlooked a clean, melancholy, unfrequented canal, which had a narrow riva or convenient footway on either side.

它不算特别古老，也就两三个世纪而已；它的气息与其说是衰败，不如说是悄无声息，沮丧泄气，就好像它韶华已逝。然而宅子的正面很宽敞，在最为重要的二楼上有一个拉通的石砌阳台，非常具有建筑感，各色壁柱和拱门也为其添色不少；柱和门之间的外墙早前经过拉毛粉饰，让这宅子在四月的下午显出玫瑰的色彩。它俯瞰着一条清澈忧伤、少人问津的运河。运河两边各有一条很窄的小路，是条便道。

"I don't know why—there are no brick gables, " said Mrs. Prest, "but this corner has seemed to me before more Dutch than Italian, more like Amsterdam than like Venice.

“我不明白——为什么这里没有砖砌的山形墙，” 普雷斯顿夫人说， “不过之前，我就觉得这个角更像是荷兰风格，是阿姆斯特丹的风格，而不是意大利，不是威尼斯的感觉。”

It's perversely clean, for reasons of its own; and though you can pass on foot scarcely anyone ever thinks of doing so. It has the air of a Protestant Sunday. Perhaps the people are afraid of the Misses Bordereau. I daresay they have the reputation of witches. "

“因为自身的原因，它出奇得干净。虽然可以步行过去，但几乎没有人想这样做。它有一种新教的礼拜天的气息。也许，人们畏惧这两位博尔德罗小姐。我敢说，她们的名声和女巫一样。”

I forget what answer I made to this—I was given up to two other reflections.

我忘了我当时是怎么回答的——我在专注于另外两件事情。

The first of these was that if the old lady lived in such a big, imposing house she could not be in any sort of misery and therefore would not be tempted by a chance to let a couple of rooms. I expressed this idea to Mrs. Prest, who gave me a very logical reply.

第一件事情，如果这位老妇人住在一个这么大、这么壮观的房子里，那么她的生活一点儿也不穷困，因此有可能不愿意拿两个房间来出租。我把这个想法告诉了普雷斯顿夫人，她给了我一个很合理的回答。

"If she didn't live in a big house how could it be a question of her having rooms to spare? If she were not amply lodged herself you would lack ground to approach her. Besides, a big house here, and especially in this quartier perdu, proves nothing at all: it is perfectly compatible with a state of penury. Dilapidated old palazzi, if you will go out of the way for them, are to be had for five shillings a year. And as for the people who live in them—no, until you have explored Venice socially as much as I have you can form no idea of their domestic desolation. They live on nothing, for they have nothing to live on. "

“要是她没有住在大宅子里，她怎么可能有空余房间呢？要是她住的地方不够大，你哪有理由接近她。另外，这里的大宅，尤其是在这么偏僻的地方，说明不了什么：这里的宅子同贫困的状态非常契合。古旧而破败的宅子，如果你有意要找，五先令就可以租下一整年。而至于住在里面的人——不，在像我这样探索过了威尼斯的社交界之前，你不会知道其内在的荒凉。她们无依无靠，因为没有什么是可以让她们依靠的。”

The other idea that had come into my head was connected with a high blank wall which appeared to confine an expanse of ground on one side of the house. Blank I call it, but it was figured over with the patches that please a painter, repaired breaches, crumblings of plaster, extrusions of brick that had turned pink with time; and a few thin trees, with the poles of certain rickety trellises, were visible over the top. The place was a garden, and apparently it belonged to the house. It suddenly occurred to me that if it did belong to the house I had my pretext.

我想的另一件事，是关于一堵高高的实墙的，那墙壁似乎隔开了宅子一旁的一块地。尽管可以说没有门窗，墙上却有着一块块画家们中意的图案，修补过的裂缝，剥落的灰泥，还有因为年代久远已经变得粉红的、突出的砖块。墙头显出几株瘦木和某个摇摇晃晃的棚架的柱子。这是个花园，而且很明显是属于这个宅子的。我突然觉得，如果这个地方属于这个宅子，那我就有借口了。

I sat looking out on all this with Mrs. Prest (it was covered with the golden glow of Venice) from the shade of our felze, and she asked me if I would go in then, while she waited for me, or come back another time.

我和普雷斯顿夫人坐在平底小船的船舱里望着外面（一切都披着威尼斯金色的光辉）。她问我要不要进去，她在外面等我，或者下次再来。

At first I could not decide—it was doubtless very weak of me.

一开始我无法决定——毫无疑问，我非常缺乏勇气。

I wanted still to think I MIGHT get a footing, and I was afraid to meet failure, for it would leave me, as I remarked to my companion, without another arrow for my bow.

我希望自己仍然认为我有可能站住脚，而且我也怕遭遇失败。因为正如我告诉同伴的那样，失败的话，我就一筹莫展了。

"Why not another? " she inquired as I sat there hesitating and thinking it over; and she wished to know why even now and before taking the trouble of becoming an inmate (which might be wretchedly uncomfortable after all, even if it succeeded), I had not the resource of simply offering them a sum of money down. In that way I might obtain the documents without bad nights.

“为什么其他的方法不行？” 就在我坐着，犹豫不决，反复思索的时候，她这样问我。她想知道，为什么甚至现在，在我还没有大费周章地成为房客之前（就算成了房客，想必也很难熬），我连干脆地付给她们一笔钱的办法都想不到。这样一来，我可能就能得到那些文稿，还能睡得安稳了。

"Dearest lady, " I exclaimed, "excuse the impatience of my tone when I suggest that you must have forgotten the very fact (surely I communicated it to you) which pushed me to throw myself upon your ingenuity.

“最亲爱的夫人，” 我大声说， “原谅我急躁的语气，但我认为你一定忘记了一个事实（我肯定告诉过你的），那就是我之所以要仰仗你的才智的原因。”

The old woman won't have the documents spoken of; they are personal, delicate, intimate, and she hasn't modern notions, God bless her! If I should sound that note first I should certainly spoil the game. I can arrive at the papers only by putting her off her guard, and I can put her off her guard only by ingratiating diplomatic practices. Hypocrisy, duplicity are my only chance. I am sorry for it, but for Jeffrey Aspern's sake I would do worse still.

那个老妇人不允许别人提及文稿的事。那些是私人的、微妙的和亲密的。而且她也没有时髦的想法。愿上帝保佑她！要是我首先提出这一点，那么游戏也就玩完了。只有卸除了她的心防，我才能得到那些文稿。我也只有以奉行逢迎讨好的交际方式才能让她不防备我。伪善和表里不一是我唯一的机会。我很遗憾。但是为了杰弗里·阿斯本，我可以做得更卑鄙。

First I must take tea with her; then tackle the main job. "And I told over what had happened to John Cumnor when he wrote to her. No notice whatever had been taken of his first letter, and the second had been answered very sharply, in six lines, by the niece.

“首先，我必须要和她喝喝茶，然后才能着手解决要务。” 我还告诉她约翰·卡姆诺写信给博尔德罗小姐时所发生的事。第一封信石沉大海。第二封则由那位侄女回了信，六行字，言语尖锐。

"Miss Bordereau requested her to say that she could not imagine what he meant by troubling them. They had none of Mr. Aspern's papers, and if they had should never think of showing them to anyone on any account whatever. She didn't know what he was talking about and begged he would let her alone. " I certainly did not want to be met that way.

“博尔德罗小姐要她回复，说她不能理解他说打扰她们是什么意思。她们没有什么阿斯本的文稿，就算她们有，她们也不会因为任何原因展示给别人看。她不知道他到底在说什么，请求他还她们清净。” 我当然不想遭到这样的待遇。

"Well, " said Mrs. Prest after a moment, provokingly, "perhaps after all they haven't any of his things. If they deny it flat how are you sure? "

“那么，” 普雷斯顿夫人过了一会儿令人恼怒地说， “也许她们根本就没有他的东西。如果她们直截了当地否认了，你又怎么会这么肯定呢？”

"John Cumnor is sure, and it would take me long to tell you how his conviction, or his very strong presumption—strong enough to stand against the old lady's not unnatural fib—has built itself up. Besides, he makes much of the internal evidence of the niece's letter. "

“约翰·卡姆诺确信是这样的。至于他的笃信，或者说是有力的推测——这足以推翻这个老妇人无懈可击的谎话——是怎么建立起来的，那就说来话长了。另外，他在那位侄女的信中发现了许多内在的证据。”

"The internal evidence? "

“内在证据？”

"Her calling him 'Mr. Aspern. ' "

“她称呼他 ‘阿斯本先生’ 。”

"I don't see what that proves. "

“我不明白那说明了什么。”

"It proves familiarity, and familiarity implies the possession of mementoes, or relics. I can't tell you how that 'Mr. 't ouches me—how it bridges over the gulf of time and brings our hero near to me—nor what an edge it gives to my desire to see Juliana. You don't say, ' Mr. 'Shakespeare. "

“这证明了亲密度，而亲密则暗示她们拥有纪念品或是遗物。我没法告诉你 ‘先生’ 这两个字怎么触动了我——怎样在时间的深渊上架起桥梁，拉近了我和我的主人公的距离——我也不能告诉你，它怎样加剧了我想要见到朱莉安娜的想法。你不会称呼莎士比亚 ‘先生’ 吧。”

"Would I, any more, if I had a box full of his letters? "

“我会吗？要是我有满满一箱子他的信，我就会这么说吗？”

"Yes, if he had been your lover and someone wanted them! "

“会，如果他曾经是你的情人，而又有些人觊觎这些信的话！”

And I added that John Cumnor was so convinced, and so all the more convinced by Miss Bordereau's tone, that he would have come himself to Venice on the business were it not that for him there was the obstacle that it would be difficult to disprove his identity with the person who had written to them, which the old ladies would be sure to suspect in spite of dissimulation and a change of name. If they were to ask him point—blank if he were not their correspondent it would be too awkward for him to lie; whereas I was fortunately not tied in that way. I was a fresh hand and could say no without lying.

我还补充说，约翰·卡姆诺是如此地深信不疑，博尔德罗小姐的语气更加让他笃信这一点。所以，如果不是因为他难以掩饰身份，他就会亲自来威尼斯跑这一趟了。因为他很难证明自己不是给两位写信的人。就算他加以掩饰，更名换姓，她们也一定会怀疑他。如果她们直截了当地问他是不是没有给她们写过信，如果他说谎的话就很尴尬了；而我很幸运，因为我和这事没什么联系。我是个新手，不必说慌就可以否认。

"But you will have to change your name, " said Mrs. Prest. "Juliana lives out of the world as much as it is possible to live, but none the less she has probably heard of Mr. Aspern's editors; she perhaps possesses what you have published. "

“但你要改个名字，” 普雷斯顿夫人说， “朱莉安娜尽量避开尘世，只求能生存下去。但是无论如何，她都有可能听说过阿斯本先生的编辑们，说不定她有你的出版物呢。”

"I have thought of that, " I returned; and I drew out of my pocketbook a visiting card, neatly engraved with a name that was not my own.

“这我想过了。” 我回答道。我从记事本里拿出一张名片，上面整洁地印着一个名字，不是我的名字。

"You are very extravagant; you might have written it, " said my companion.

“你真是铺张，手写不就好了。” 我的同伴这样说道。

"This looks more genuine. "

“这样看起来更真实。”

"Certainly, you are prepared to go far! But it will be awkward about your letters; they won't come to you in that mask. "

“很明显，你是打算深入虎穴了！但是你的信件就不方便了，用假名字的话，信件到不了你那里。”

"My banker will take them in, and I will go every day to fetch them. It will give me a little walk. "

“我的银行经理会帮我收，我每天自己去取。只是要走上一段路。”

"Shall you only depend upon that? " asked Mrs. Prest. "Aren't you coming to see me? "

“你就只靠这些？” 普雷斯顿夫人问， “你难道不来找我？”

"Oh, you will have left Venice, for the hot months, long before there are any results. I am prepared to roast all summer—as well as hereafter, perhaps you'll say! Meanwhile, John Cumnor will bombard me with letters addressed, in my feigned name, to the care of the padrona. "

“噢，在这个事情有进展之前，你早已经离开威尼斯去避几个月的暑了。我已经准备好整个夏天都在这里接受 ‘烤’ 验了——说不定，一直呆在这里了！同时，约翰·卡姆诺会不停地给我寄信，用我的假名，请女主人转交。”

"She will recognize his hand, " my companion suggested.

“她一定会认出他的笔迹。” 我的同伴提醒道。

"On the envelope he can disguise it. "

“哦，信封他可以掩饰。”

"Well, you're a precious pair! Doesn't it occur to you that even if you are able to say you are not Mr. Cumnor in person they may still suspect you of being his emissary? "

“哇，你们真是一对宝！你有没有想过，就算你能说你不是卡姆诺本人，她们也可能怀疑你是他派去的？”

"Certainly, and I see only one way to parry that. "

“当然，而且我认为只有一个办法可以逃过她们的怀疑。”

"And what may that be? "

“那又是什么办法？”

I hesitated a moment. "To make love to the niece. "

我迟疑了片刻。 “向这位侄女求爱。”

"Ah, " cried Mrs. Prest, "wait till you see her! "

“啊！” 普雷斯顿夫人说， “还是等你见到她再说吧！”