Compte de Lormerin had just finished dressing.
酷蒙泰尔南子早已穿好衣服。 —

He cast a parting glance at the large mirror which occupied an entire panel in his dressing-room and smiled.
他对着装房里占据整面板的大镜子投去告别的眼神，并微笑着。

He was really a fine-looking man still, although quite gray.
尽管已经头发斑白，他仍然是一个相貌出众的男人。 —

Tall, slight, elegant, with no sign of a paunch, with a small mustache of doubtful shade, which might be called fair, he had a walk, a nobility, a “chic,” in short, that indescribable something which establishes a greater difference between two men than would millions of money.
高大、苗条、优雅，没有任何赘肉的迹象，留着一抹可称为金的薄胡须。他走起路来很有气质，很有血统，总之，他拥有无法言传的那种东西，可以让两个人之间产生比金钱百万倍还要大的差距。 —

He murmured:
他喃喃自语道：

“Lormerin is still alive!”
“酷蒙泰尔还活着！”

And he went into the drawing-room where his correspondence awaited him.
然后，他走进客厅，那里等候着他的来信。

On his table, where everything had its place, the work table of the gentleman who never works, there were a dozen letters lying beside three newspapers of different opinions.
在他的桌子上，所有东西都有自己的位置，这是一个从不工作的绅士的工作台，有十几封信摊放在三张不同的观点的报纸旁边。 —

With a single touch he spread out all these letters, like a gambler giving the choice of a card;
他一下子将所有这些信件展开，就像一个赌徒给人们选择一张卡牌一样； —

and he scanned the handwriting, a thing he did each morning before opening the envelopes.
他审视着这些手迹，这是他每天早上在打开信封之前都会做的一件事情。

It was for him a moment of delightful expectancy, of inquiry and vague anxiety.
这对他来说是一个充满期待、探究和莫名焦虑的时刻。这些密封的神秘信件给他带来了什么呢？ —

What did these sealed mysterious letters bring him?
—

What did they contain of pleasure, of happiness, or of grief?
它们包含了什么样的快乐、幸福或悲伤？ —

He surveyed them with a rapid sweep of the eye, recognizing the writing, selecting them, making two or three lots, according to what he expected from them.
他迅速地审视着它们，目光扫过，辨认出笔迹，将它们分成两三组，根据他对它们的期待。 —

Here, friends; there, persons to whom he was indifferent;
这边是朋友；那边是他不在乎的人； —

further on, strangers. The last kind always gave him a little uneasiness.
再往前是陌生人。最后一种总会让他有点不安。 —

What did they want from him?
他们想从他这里得到什么？ —

What hand had traced those curious characters full of thoughts, promises, or threats?
是什么手写下了这些充满思想、承诺或威胁的奇特文字？

This day one letter in particular caught his eye.
这一天，有一封信特别吸引了他的注意。 —

It was simple, nevertheless, without seeming to reveal anything;
尽管它看起来很简单，却似乎没有透露任何东西； —

but he looked at it uneasily, with a sort of chill at his heart.
但他不安地盯着它看，内心感到一阵寒意。 —

He thought:
他想着： —

“From whom can it be? I certainly know this writing, and yet I can’t identify it.”
“这封信是谁写的？我肯定认识这种笔迹，但又无法确定它是谁的。”

He raised it to a level with his face, holding it delicately between two fingers, striving to read through the envelope, without making up his mind to open it.
他将信封抬到与他的脸平行的位置，用两根手指夹着它，努力研读这封信，却还没有下定决心把它打开。

Then he smelled it, and snatched up from the table a little magnifying glass which he used in studying all the niceties of handwriting.
然后他闻了闻它，从桌子上拿起一只小放大镜，用来细致研究笔迹的各种技巧。 —

He suddenly felt unnerved. “Whom is it from?
他突然感到紧张。“这是谁写的？ —

This hand is familiar to me, very familiar.
这手迹我很熟悉，非常熟悉。 —

I must have often read its tracings, yes, very often.
我一定经常阅读它的笔迹，是的，很常见。” —

But this must have been a long, long time ago.
但这肯定是非常久以前的事了。 —

Whom the deuce can it be from?
到底是谁啊？ —

Pooh! it’s only somebody asking for money.”
啧啧！只是有人要钱罢了。

And he tore open the letter. Then he read:
他撕开了信。然后他读到：

MY DEAR FRIEND: You have, without doubt, forgotten me, for it is now
亲爱的朋友：毫无疑问，你已经忘记了我，因为现在已经过去了很长时间了。

twenty-five years since we saw each other.
我们上次见面已经有二十五年了。那时我年轻， —

I was young; I am old.
而现在我变老了。

When I bade you farewell, I left Paris in order to follow into the
当我和你告别时，我离开了巴黎去追随我的丈夫，我的老丈夫，你曾经称他为“我的”。

provinces my husband, my old husband, whom you used to call “my
去乡村。

hospital.” Do you remember him?
在这所医院里。你还记得他吗？ —

He died five years ago, and now I
他在五年前去世了，现在我

am returning to Paris to get my daughter married, for I have a
正要回到巴黎去为我女儿办婚礼，因为我有一

daughter, a beautiful girl of eighteen, whom you have never seen.
个女儿，一个十八岁的美丽女孩，你从未见过。

I informed you of her birth, but you certainly did not pay much
我曾通知过你她的出生，但你显然对这样微不足道的事件不怎么在意。

attention to so trifling an event.
你还是美丽的洛梅林，我听说如此。好吧，如果你还记得曾经叫Lison的小丽丝，就来吧。

You are still the handsome Lormerin;
来吧, —

so I have been told. Well, if
如果你还记得那个你曾经称之为Lison的小丽丝。

you still recollect little Lise, whom you used to call Lison, come
来吧，如果你还记得小丽丝（Lison），她曾经是你的追求者。

and dine with her this evening, with the elderly Baronne de Vance
今晚与她共进晚餐，与年长的巴龙娜·德·范斯一起。

your ever faithful friend, who, with some emotion, although happy,
你永远忠诚的朋友，尽管快乐，泪洒地向你伸出一只忠诚的手，你必须紧握，但不能再吻了，可怜的雅克莱特。

reaches out to you a devoted hand, which you must clasp, but no
范斯莉丝。

longer kiss, my poor Jaquelet.
洛尔梅兰的心开始悸动，他仍然深陷在扶手椅里，信放在膝盖上，直直地盯着眼前，被一种剧烈的情感所克服，让泪水涌上他的眼眶！

LISE DE VANCE.
如果他一生中曾经爱过一个女人，那就是她，小莉丝，范斯莉丝，他因为她奇特的发色和浅灰色的眼睛而称之为“色灰花”。

Lormerin’s heart began to throb.
哦！她多么精致，美丽，迷人的人啊， —

He remained sunk in his armchair with the letter on his knees, staring straight before him, overcome by a poignant emotion that made the tears mount up to his eyes!
这个脆弱的巴龙夫人，那个痛风病痛、长满痘痘的男爵的妻子，他突然把她带到了乡下，关闭起来，因为嫉妒，嫉妒那个英俊的洛尔梅兰。

If he had ever loved a woman in his life it was this one, little Lise, Lise de Vance, whom he called “Ashflower, ” on account of the strange color of her hair and the pale gray of her eyes.
是的，他爱过她，他相信他也真正被爱过。 —

Oh! what a dainty, pretty, charming creature she was, this frail baronne, the wife of that gouty, pimply baron, who had abruptly carried her off to the provinces, shut her up, kept her in seclusion through jealousy, jealousy of the handsome Lormerin.
他早就知道那个突如其来的信件会带来些什么，但是他没有完全预料到这封信会对他产生如此强烈的冲击，他不禁陷入了深深的思考之中。到底要怎么办呢？应该怎么面对这个突如其来的邀请？他心中无比纠结。

Yes, he had loved her, and he believed that he too, had been truly loved.
这个充满了各种矛盾的邀请，让他陷入了深思之中。洛梅兰知道，这个决定将会改变他的命运，也将带来无尽的纷争和痛苦。但他还是想要亲自去面对，亲自去解开这个谜团。 —

She familiarly gave him, the name of Jaquelet, and would pronounce that word in a delicious fashion.
她随意地将Jaquelet这个名字给了他，而且以一种令人陶醉的方式发音。

A thousand forgotten memories came back to him, far, off and sweet and melancholy now.
千千万万被遗忘的记忆回到他的脑海中，遥远、甜美而又忧郁。 —

One evening she had called on him on her way home from a ball, and they went for a stroll in the Bois de Boulogne, she in evening dress, he in his dressing-jacket.
有一天晚上，她在回家的路上顺便拜访了他，并一起在布洛涅森林散步，她穿着晚礼服，他穿着家居服。 —

It was springtime; the weather was beautiful.
这是春天，天气很好。 —

The fragrance from her bodice embalmed the warm air-the odor of her bodice, and perhaps, too, the fragrance of her skin.
她胸前的芳香弥漫在温暖的空气中-她衣服的香气，也许还有她皮肤的芬芳。 —

What a divine night! When they reached the lake, as the moon’s rays fell across the branches into the water, she began to weep.
多么美妙的夜晚！当他们到达湖边时，月光洒在树枝上倒映在水中，她开始哭泣。 —

A little surprised, he asked her why.
有点吃惊，他问她为什么。

“I don’t know. The moon and the water have affected me.
“我不知道。月亮和水影响了我。 —

Every time I see poetic things I have a tightening at the heart, and I have to cry.”
每次我看到诗意的事物，我的心就会紧缩，我就会哭。”

He smiled, affected himself, considering her feminine emotion charming —the unaffected emotion of a poor little woman, whom every sensation overwhelms.
他微笑着，自己也被感动了，觉得她的女性情感很迷人，她是一个受每种感觉淹没的可怜的小女人，没有做作的情感。 —

And he embraced her passionately, stammering:
他热情地拥抱着她，结结巴巴地说道：

“My little Lise, you are exquisite.”
“我的小丽丝，你太美妙了。”

What a charming love affair, short-lived and dainty, it had been and over all too quickly, cut short in the midst of its ardor by this old brute of a baron, who had carried off his wife, and never let any one see her afterward.
这段迷人而短暂的爱情随着这个老爵爷的突然出现而夭折，这个老爵爷带走了他的妻子，之后谁也没再见过她。

Lormerin had forgotten, in fact, at the end of two or three months.
实际上，洛梅兰在两三个月后就忘记了。在巴黎， —

One woman drives out another so quickly in Paris, when one is a bachelor!
一个女人取而代之的速度是如此之快，特别是对于一个单身汉来说！ —

No matter; he had kept a little altar for her in his heart, for he had loved her alone!
不过，他在心里留下了一个小祭坛供奉她，因为他只爱过她！ —

He assured himself now that this was so.
他现在确定了这一点。

He rose, and said aloud: “Certainly, I will go and dine with her this evening!”
他站起身，大声说：“当然，我今晚会和她一起吃晚饭！”

And instinctively he turned toward the mirror to inspect himself from head to foot.
他本能地转向镜子，从头到脚检视自己。他反思： —

He reflected: “She must look very old, older than I look.
“她一定很老，比我看上去还要老。” —

” And he felt gratified at the thought of showing himself to her still handsome, still fresh, of astonishing her, perhaps of filling her with emotion, and making her regret those bygone days so far, far distant!
他感到满意的是，他仍然英俊、青春，想要向她展示自己，想要让她惊讶，甚至让她对那些遥远的过去感到后悔！

He turned his attention to the other letters.
他把注意力转向其他信件。 —

They were of no importance.
它们都不重要。

The whole day he kept thinking of this ghost of other days.
整天他都在想着这个过去的幽灵。 —

What was she like now?
她现在是什么样子？ —

How strange it was to meet in this way after twenty-five years!
二十五年后这样相遇真是奇怪！ —

But would he recognize her?
但他会认出她吗？

He made his toilet with feminine coquetry, put on a white waistcoat, which suited him better with the coat than a black one, sent for the hairdresser to give him a finishing touch with the curling iron, for he had preserved his hair, and started very early in order to show his eagerness to see her.
他精心打扮自己，像个妩媚的女人一样，穿上了一件白色马甲，相比于黑色的更适合他，他还叫理发师用烫发器给他做最后的修饰，因为他一直保养着自己的头发，然后他很早就出发了，以展示他渴望见到她的心情。

The first thing he saw on entering a pretty drawing-room newly furnished was his own portrait, an old faded photograph, dating from the days when he was a beau, hanging on the wall in an antique silk frame.
他进入一间漂亮的新装修的客厅，看到的第一件事是他自己的肖像照，一张旧旧的已经褪色的照片，摆放在一个古老的丝绸相框中，那是他还是个潇洒小伙子的时候拍摄的。

He sat down and waited. A door opened behind him.
他坐下等待。一扇门在他身后打开了。 —

He rose up abruptly, and, turning round, beheld an old woman with white hair who extended both hands toward him.
他突然站了起来，转过身，看到一个白发苍苍的老婆婆双手向他伸出来。

He seized them, kissed them one after the other several times;
他紧紧握住她们，接连亲吻了好几次； —

then, lifting up his head, he gazed at the woman he had loved.
然后抬起头来，凝视着他曾经爱过的女人。

Yes, it was an old lady, an old lady whom he did not recognize, and who, while she smiled, seemed ready to weep.
是的，那是一个老太太，一个他认不出的老太太，她笑着，却似乎也准备哭泣。

He could not abstain from murmuring:
他忍不住轻声说道：

“Is it you, Lise?”
“是你，丽丝吗？”

She replied:
她回答道：

“Yes, it is I; it is I, indeed.
“是的，是我；确实是我。 —

You would not have known me, would you?
你应该不认识我了，对吧？ —

I have had so much sorrow—so much sorrow.
我承受了太多的悲伤-太多的悲伤。 —

Sorrow has consumed my life.
悲伤已经吞噬了我的生活。” —

Look at me now—or, rather, don’t look at me!
“看看我现在-或者，还是别看我！ —

But how handsome you have kept—and young!
但你真的保持得很帅气和年轻！” —

If I had by chance met you in the street I would have exclaimed:
“如果我在街上偶遇你，我一定会喊道：‘贾克莱！ —

‘Jaquelet!’. Now, sit down and let us, first of all, have a chat.
’现在，请坐下来，我们首先先聊聊。” —

And then I will call my daughter, my grown-up daughter.
“之后我会叫来我的女儿，已经长大的女儿。 —

You’ll see how she resembles me—or, rather, how I resembled her—no, it is not quite that;
你会看到她有多像我-或者，我像她-不，也不完全是那样； —

she is just like the ‘me’ of former days—you shall see!
“她就像以前的‘我’一样-你会看到！ —

But I wanted to be alone with you first.
但我想先和你独处。 —

I feared that there would be some emotion on my side, at the first moment.
“我担心一开始会有些情感。 —

Now it is all over; it is past.
“现在一切都结束了；过去了。 —

Pray be seated, my friend.”
请坐下，我的朋友。”

He sat down beside her, holding her hand;
他坐在她旁边，握着她的手； —

but he did not know what to say;
但他不知道该说什么； —

he did not know this woman—it seemed to him that he had never seen her before.
他不认识这个女人-他似乎以前从未见过她。 —

Why had he come to this house?
他为什么来到这个房子？ —

What could he talk about?
他能谈些什么？ —

Of the long ago? What was there in common between him and her?
很久以前的事情了，他和她之间有什么共同之处？ —

He could no longer recall anything in presence of this grandmotherly face.
他再也回忆不起在这位祖母般的面孔面前有什么共同之处了。 —

He could no longer recall all the nice, tender things, so sweet, so bitter, that had come to his mind that morning when he thought of the other, of little Lise, of the dainty Ashflower.
他再也回忆不起早上浮现在他脑海中的所有美好、温柔的事情，那些甜蜜而又痛苦的事情，当他想起其他人，小丽丝，娇嫩的阿什花。 —

What, then, had become of her, the former one, the one he had loved?
那么，她呢，他曾经爱过的那个人，她去哪了？ —

That woman of far-off dreams, the blonde with gray eyes, the young girl who used to call him “Jaquelet” so prettily?
那个遥远梦中的女子，金发配着灰色的眼睛，那个年轻的女孩，曾经那么可爱地称呼他为“雅克莱”。

They remained side by side, motionless, both constrained, troubled, profoundly ill at ease.
他们静静地站在一起，都觉得局促不安，困扰不已。

As they talked only commonplaces, awkwardly and spasmodically and slowly, she rose and pressed the button of the bell.
由于他们只是在寒暄，生硬而断断续续地交谈着，她站起身按了一下门铃。

“I am going to call Renee,” she said.
“我要叫蕾妮过来，”她说。

There was a tap at the door, then the rustle of a dress;
门传来轻轻的敲击声，接着是衣裙的沙沙声； —

then a young voice exclaimed:
然后一个年轻的声音惊呼道：

“Here I am, mamma!”
“妈妈，我在这里！”

Lormerin remained bewildered as at the sight of an apparition.
洛梅兰像见到一个幽灵一样感到惊迷不已。

He stammered:
他结结巴巴地说：

“Good-day, mademoiselle.”
“您好，小姐。”

Then, turning toward the mother:
然后，转向母亲：

“Oh! it is you!”
“哦！是你啊！”

In fact, it was she, she whom he had known in bygone days, the Lise who had vanished and come back!
事实上，她就是她，他曾经认识的那个人，那个消失了又回来的丽丝！ —

In her he found the woman he had won twenty-five years before.
在她身上，他找到了二十五年前所赢得的那个女人。 —

This one was even younger, fresher, more childlike.
这个人甚至更年轻，更新鲜，更像个孩子。

He felt a wild desire to open his arms, to clasp her to his heart again, murmuring in her ear:
他感到一阵疯狂的渴望，想要张开双臂，把她紧紧拥入怀中，低声对她说：

“Good-morning, Lison!”
“早上好，丽森！”

A man-servant announced:
一个男仆宣布：“晚餐已经准备好了，夫人。”

“Dinner is ready, madame.”
他们一起走向餐厅。

And they proceeded toward the dining-room.
这顿晚餐上发生了什么？他们对他说了些什么，他能回答什么？

What passed at this dinner?
—

What did they say to him, and what could he say in reply?
他发现自己陷入了一种接近疯狂的奇怪梦境之中。 —

He found himself plunged in one of those strange dreams which border on insanity.
他凝视着这两个女人，脑海中牢牢地盘旋着一个病态而自相矛盾的念头：“哪一个才是真实的？” —

He gazed at the two women with a fixed idea in his mind, a morbid, self-contradictory idea:
母亲再次微笑着反复说道：“你还记得吗？”而正是在年轻女孩明亮的眼睛中，他再次找到了过去的记忆。

“Which is the real one?”
他开了二十次口想对她说：“你还记得吗，莉松？”完全忘记了正在温柔地看着他的这位花白头发的女士。

The mother smiled again repeating over and over:
然而，有时候他不再确信，有时候他迷失了自己。

“Do you remember?” And it was in the bright eyes of the young girl that he found again his memories of the past.
他能看出现在的这个女人并不完全是很久以前的那个女人。 —

Twenty times he opened his mouth to say to her: “Do you remember, Lison?
另一个，以前的那个，在她的声音、眼神、整个人身上，有一种他再也找不到的东西。 —

” forgetting this white-haired lady who was looking at him tenderly.
在这种晚餐之后，他陷入了沉思的状态，他们彼此都不再提起过去，仅仅是透过神秘而深情的目光，相互默默回顾着。

And yet, there were moments when, he no longer felt sure, when he lost his head.
然而，这种沉思不可持久。从某一天开始，他们逐渐又回到了过去的记忆中，他的心情也渐渐被深深的忧伤充实着。 —

He could see that the woman of to-day was not exactly the woman of long ago.
尽管他感到了无法解释的隐隐的疑虑，他仍然爱她，他同时爱着这两个女人。 —

The other one, the former one, had in her voice, in her glances, in her entire being, something which he did not find again.
晚餐结束后，他回到自己的房间，开始重新编织那些在过去中破碎的思绪和情感。 —

And he made prodigious efforts of mind to recall his lady love, to seize again what had escaped from her, what this resuscitated one did not possess.
他努力使自己的思维能回忆起他的爱人，重新抓住她逃离他的东西，这个复活的人没有拥有的东西。

The baronne said:
夫人说：

“You have lost your old vivacity, my poor friend.”
“你失去了你以前的活力，我的可怜的朋友。”

He murmured:
他低声说:

“There are many other things that I have lost!”
”我失去了很多其他的东西!”

But in his heart, touched with emotion, he felt his old love springing to life once more, like an awakened wild beast ready to bite him.
但在他内心深处，被触动的感情让他的旧爱再次复活，就像一只被唤醒的野兽准备咬他一样。

The young girl went on chattering, and every now and then some familiar intonation, some expression of her mother’s, a certain style of speaking and thinking, that resemblance of mind and manner which people acquire by living together, shook Lormerin from head to foot.
小姑娘继续闲聊，偶尔会有一些熟悉的语调，一些母亲的表情，一种某种说话和思考的方式，人们通过一起生活而获得的那种思维和态度的相似之处，使Lormerin整个人都颤抖起来。 —

All these things penetrated him, making the reopened wound of his passion bleed anew.
所有这些事情都深深地影响着他，使他的激情重新破裂。

He got away early, and took a turn along the boulevard.
他很早就离开了，并沿着林荫大道走了一段。 —

But the image of this young girl pursued him, haunted him, quickened his heart, inflamed his blood.
但这个年轻女孩的形象始终萦绕在他心头，困扰着他，加快了他的心跳，燃烧着他的血液。 —

Apart from the two women, he now saw only one, a young one, the old one come back out of the past, and he loved her as he had loved her in bygone years.
除了那两个女人，他现在只看到一个人，一个年轻人，那个老人回到了过去，他像过去一样爱她。 —

He loved her with greater ardor, after an interval of twenty-five years.
经过二十五年的间隔，他更加热切地爱着她。

He went home to reflect on this strange and terrible thing, and to think what he should do.
他回到家里思考着这件奇怪而可怕的事情，思考着他应该怎么做。

But, as he was passing, with a wax candle in his hand, before the glass, the large glass in which he had contemplated himself and admired himself before he started, he saw reflected there an elderly, gray-haired man;
但是，当他拿着蜡烛经过镜子时，他看到在那里映出的是一个老年、白发苍苍的男人； —

and suddenly he recollected what he had been in olden days, in the days of little Lise. He saw himself charming and handsome, as he had been when he was loved!
突然间，他想起了他从前的模样，那些小莉丝时代的样子。他看到了自己迷人而英俊的样子，那些他曾被爱过的模样！ —

Then, drawing the light nearer, he looked at himself more closely, as one inspects a strange thing with a magnifying glass, tracing the wrinkles, discovering those frightful ravages, which he had not perceived till now.
于是，他将灯光拉近，更仔细地审视着自己，像用放大镜检查一件陌生的东西一样，追溯着皱纹，发现那些可怕的摧残，这些直到现在他才察觉到的。

And he sat down, crushed at the sight of himself, at the sight of his lamentable image, murmuring:
他坐下来，看到自己的模样感到压抑，看到他可悲的形象低声说道：

“All over, Lormerin!”
“所有情感都结束了，洛尔梅兰！”