In his first three letters my father inquired the cause of my silence; —
在他的前三封信中，父亲询问了我沉默的原因； —

in the last he allowed me to see that he had heard of my change of life, and informed me that he was about to come and see me.
在最后一封信中，他让我知道他已经听说了我改变了生活方式，并告诉我他将来看望我。

I have always had a great respect and a sincere affection for my father. —
我一直对我的父亲心怀敬意和真挚的感情。 —

I replied that I had been travelling for a short time, and begged him to let me know beforehand what day he would arrive, so that I could be there to meet him.
我回答说我短时间内一直在旅行，并请求他提前告诉我他将到达的那一天，这样我可以去接他。

I gave my servant my address in the country, telling him to bring me the first letter that came with the postmark of C., then I returned to Bougival.
我把乡下的地址给了我的仆人，告诉他把收到的第一封盖有”C”邮戳的信给我，然后我回到了布吉瓦尔。

Marguerite was waiting for me at the garden gate. She looked at me anxiously. —
玛格丽特在花园门口等着我，她焦急地看着我。 —

Throwing her arms round my neck, she said to me: —
她扑向我，用双臂环住我的脖子，对我说： —

“Have you seen Prudence?”
“你见过普鲁登斯吗？”

“No.”
“没有。”

“You were a long time in Paris.”
“你在巴黎待了很久。”

“I found letters from my father to which I had to reply.”
“我收到了父亲的信，必须回复。”

A few minutes afterward Nanine entered, all out of breath. —
几分钟后，娜宁上气不接下气地进来了。 —

Marguerite rose and talked with her in whispers. —
玛格丽特站起身，与她窃窃私语。 —

When Nanine had gone out Marguerite sat down by me again and said, taking my hand:
当娜妮走后，玛格丽特再次坐到我身边，牵起了我的手。

“Why did you deceive me? You went to see Prudence.”
“你为什么欺骗我？你去找普鲁登斯了。”

“Who told you?”
“谁告诉你的？”

“Nanine.”
“娜妮告诉我的。”

“And how did she know?”
“她是怎么知道的？”

“She followed you.”
“她跟踪了你。”

“You told her to follow me?”
“你让她跟踪我吗？”

“Yes. I thought that you must have had a very strong motive for going to Paris, after not leaving me for four months. —
“是的。我认为你去巴黎一定有非常强烈的动机，因为你四个月来一直没有离开我。 —

I was afraid that something might happen to you, or that you were perhaps going to see another woman.”
我害怕你可能遇到了什么事情，或者你可能去看别的女人。

“Child!”
“孩子！”

“Now I am relieved. I know what you have done, but I don’t yet know what you have been told.”
“现在我放心了。我知道你做了什么，但我还不知道有人跟你说了什么。”

I showed Marguerite my father’s letters.
我给玛格丽特看了我父亲的信件。

“That is not what I am asking you about. What I want to know is why you went to see Prudence.”
“我不是在问这个。我想知道的是你为什么去找普鲁登斯。”

“To see her.”
“去看她。”

“That’s a lie, my friend.”
“这是个谎言，我的朋友。”

“Well, I went to ask her if the horse was any better, and if she wanted your shawl and your jewels any longer.”
“嗯，我去问她马好点了没，还有她是否还需要你的披肩和珠宝。”

Marguerite blushed, but did not answer.
玛格丽特脸红了，但没有回答。

“And,” I continued, “I learned what you had done with your horses, shawls, and jewels.”
“而且，”我接着说，“我了解到你对你的马、披肩和珠宝做了什么。”

“And you are vexed?”
“你生气了吗？”

“I am vexed that it never occurred to you to ask me for what you were in want of.”
“我生气的是你从未想过向我索要你所需要的。”

“In a liaison like ours, if the woman has any sense of dignity at all, she ought to make every possible sacrifice rather than ask her lover for money and so give a venal character to her love. —
“在我们这样的关系中，如果女人有一点尊严的话，她应该做出一切可能的牺牲，而不是向她的情人要钱，从而使她的爱变得可买。 —

You love me, I am sure, but you do not know on how slight a thread depends the love one has for a woman like me. —
你爱我，我相信，但你并不知道一个像我这样的女人所拥有的爱依赖于多么微小的线索。 —

Who knows? Perhaps some day when you were bored or worried you would fancy you saw a carefully concerted plan in our liaison. —
谁知道呢？也许有一天当你感到厌倦或烦恼时，你会认为我们的关系是经过精心策划的。 —

Prudence is a chatterbox. What need had I of the horses? It was an economy to sell them. —
智慧是个爱讲话的人。我有什么需要这些马呢？卖掉是个节约。 —

I don’t use them and I don’t spend anything on their keep; —
我不用它们，也不花任何钱来养它们。 —

if you love me, I ask nothing more, and you will love me just as much without horses, or shawls, or diamonds.”
如果你爱我，我就不再要求更多，而且你也会像没有马匹、披肩或钻石那样爱我。

All that was said so naturally that the tears came to my eyes as I listened.
这一切说得如此自然，让我听得流泪。

“But, my good Marguerite,” I replied, pressing her hands lovingly, “you knew that one day I should discover the sacrifice you had made, and that the moment I discovered it I should allow it no longer.”
“但是，亲爱的玛格丽特，”我压住她的手，深情地回答道，“你早就知道有一天我会发现你所做的牺牲，也知道我一旦发现了，就不会再让你这样做了。”

“But why?”
“为什么呢？”

“Because, my dear child, I can not allow your affection for me to deprive you of even a trinket. —
“因为，亲爱的孩子，我不能让你的爱情剥夺你甚至一件小饰品。” —

I too should not like you to be able, in a moment when you were bored or worried, to think that if you were living with somebody else those moments would not exist; —
“我也不希望你在烦闷或困扰的时候，会想到如果你和别人生活，那些时刻就不存在了；即使只是一分钟，也会后悔和我在一起。” —

and to repent, if only for a minute, of living with me. —
“几天之内，你的马、钻石和披肩将会归还给你。它们对你来说像空气对生命一样必不可少，也许很荒谬，但我更喜欢你华丽而不简单。” —

In a few days your horses, your diamonds, and your shawls shall be returned to you. —
“那么你不再爱我了。” —

They are as necessary to you as air is to life, and it may be absurd, but I like you better showy than simple.”
“不，亲爱的，我还是像以前一样爱你。”

“Then you no longer love me.”
“你是无法理解我的心情的。”

“Foolish creature!”
“愚蠢的人！”

“If you loved me, you would let me love you my own way; —
“如果你爱我，你会让我按照自己的方式来爱你； —

on the contrary, you persist in only seeing in me a woman to whom luxury is indispensable, and whom you think you are always obliged to pay. —
相反地，你坚持只把我当作一个离不开奢侈的女人，你觉得你总是必须支付。 —

You are ashamed to accept the proof of my love. —
你羞于接受我爱的证明。 —

In spite of yourself, you think of leaving me some day, and you want to put your disinterestedness beyond risk of suspicion. —
尽管你自己不情愿，你心里却总在考虑有一天离开我，并且你想要让你的无私超出怀疑的范围。 —

You are right, my friend, but I had better hopes.”
你是对的，我的朋友，但是我原先更有希望。”

And Marguerite made a motion to rise; I held her, and said to her:
玛格丽特动了一下，我抓住她的手，对她说：

“I want you to be happy and to have nothing to reproach me for, that is all.”
“我希望你幸福，而且没有什么可以责备我的，就这样。”

“And we are going to be separated!”
“而我们将要分开！”

“Why, Marguerite, who can separate us?” I cried.
“玛格丽特，谁能分开我们？”我喊道。

“You, who will not let me take you on your own level, but insist on taking me on mine; —
“是你，你不让我按照你的层次来接近你，而坚持按照我的层次接近我； —

you, who wish me to keep the luxury in the midst of which I have lived, and so keep the moral distance which separates us; —
你希望我保持我一直生活的奢侈，这样保持我们之间的道德距离； —

you, who do not believe that my affection is sufficiently disinterested to share with me what you have, though we could live happily enough on it together, and would rather ruin yourself, because you are still bound by a foolish prejudice. —
你认为我的感情不够无私，不愿意与我分享你所拥有的，虽然我们本可以一起生活得很幸福。相反，你宁愿毁掉自己，因为你还受到愚蠢的偏见的束缚。 —

Do you really think that I could compare a carriage and diamonds with your love? —
你真的认为我能把马车和钻石与你的爱相比较吗？ —

Do you think that my real happiness lies in the trifles that mean so much when one has nothing to love, but which become trifling indeed when one has? —
你认为我的真正幸福在于那些琐事，当一个人没有爱的时候，这些琐事变得很重要，但当一个人有了爱之后，它们就变得微不足道了吗？ —

You will pay my debts, realize your estate, and then keep me? How long will that last? —
你会为我的债务买单，变现你的财产，然后留下我吗？那能持续多久？ —

Two or three months, and then it will be too late to live the life I propose, for then you will have to take everything from me, and that is what a man of honour can not do; —
两三个月，然后为了维持我所提出的生活方式，你将不得不从我这儿拿走一切，而这是一个有荣誉感的人所不能做的； —

while now you have eight or ten thousand francs a year, on which we should be able to live. —
而现在你每年有八到十万法郎的收入，我们应该能够靠这些过活。 —

I will sell the rest of what I do not want, and with this alone I will make two thousand francs a year. —
我会卖掉我不需要的东西，仅凭这些就能每年挣两千法郎。 —

We will take a nice little flat in which we can both live. —
我们将住在一个漂亮的小公寓里，我们可以一起生活。 —

In the summer we will go into the country, not to a house like this, but to a house just big enough for two people. —
夏天我们会去乡间，不是去像这样的房子，而是去一个只够两个人住的房子。 —

You are independent, I am free, we are young; —
你很独立，我很自由，我们很年轻； —

in heaven’s name, Armand, do not drive me back into the life I had to lead once!”
我恳求你，阿尔芒德，不要再把我逼回曾经必须过的生活中去了！”

I could not answer. Tears of gratitude and love filled my eyes, and I flung myself into Marguerite’s arms.
我无法回答。感激和爱的眼泪充满了我的眼眶，我扑进了玛格丽特的怀里。

“I wanted,” she continued, “to arrange everything without telling you, pay all my debts, and take a new flat. —
“我想，”她继续说道，“在没有告诉你的情况下，为你安排一切，偿还所有债务，并租一套新公寓。 —

In October we should have been back in Paris, and all would have come out; —
十月份我们应该回到巴黎，一切都会水落石出； —

but since Prudence has told you all, you will have to agree beforehand, instead of agreeing afterward. —
但是既然普鲁登斯把一切都告诉你了，你就必须事先同意，而不是事后同意。 —

Do you love me enough for that?”
你爱我到什么程度？”

It was impossible to resist such devotion. I kissed her hands ardently, and said:
面对如此深情的奉献，无法抗拒。我热吻着她的手，说道：

“I will do whatever you wish.”
“我会按照你的愿望去做。”

It was agreed that we should do as she had planned. Thereupon, she went wild with delight; —
我们同意按照她的计划去办。于是，她兴奋得发狂； —

danced, sang, amused herself with calling up pictures of her new flat in all its simplicity, and began to consult me as to its position and arrangement. —
她跳舞、唱歌，用手机欣赏她新公寓的照片，为它的简洁风格感到开心，并开始向我征询它的位置和布置。 —

I saw how happy and proud she was of this resolution, which seemed as if it would bring us into closer and closer relationship, and I resolved to do my own share. —
我看到她对这个决定感到开心和自豪，似乎这会使我们之间的关系越来越亲密，于是我决定尽自己的一份力。 —

In an instant I decided the whole course of my life. —
我立刻决定了我的一生轨迹。 —

I put my affairs in order, and made over to Marguerite the income which had come to me from my mother, and which seemed little enough in return for the sacrifice which I was accepting. —
我整理了我的事务，并将我从母亲那里得到的收入转让给了玛格丽特，虽然这似乎远远不够报答我所接受的牺牲。 —

There remained the five thousand francs a year from my father; —
我父亲每年给我五千法郎的收入还是存在的； —

and, whatever happened, I had always enough to live on. —
无论发生什么，我总有足够生活的钱。 —

I did not tell Marguerite what I had done, certain as I was that she would refuse the gift. —
我没告诉玛格丽特我所做的一切，因为我确定她会拒绝这份礼物。 —

This income came from a mortgage of sixty thousand francs on a house that I had never even seen. —
这个收入来自于我从未见过的一座房子的六万法郎的抵押贷款。 —

All that I knew was that every three months my father’s solicitor, an old friend of the family, handed over to me seven hundred and fifty francs in return for my receipt.
我所知道的就是每三个月，我父亲的律师，一个家族的老朋友，会交给我七百五十法郎，以换取我的收据。

The day when Marguerite and I came to Paris to look for a flat, I went to this solicitor and asked him what had to be done in order to make over this income to another person. —
当玛格丽特和我来到巴黎找房子的那一天，我去找了这位律师，问他如何将这笔收入转让给另一个人。 —

The good man imagined I was ruined, and questioned me as to the cause of my decision. —
好心人以为我已经破产了，询问我做出这个决定的原因。 —

As I knew that I should be obliged, sooner or later, to say in whose favour I made this transfer, I thought it best to tell him the truth at once. —
因为我知道迟早要告诉他我为谁转让这笔钱，所以我觉得最好一开始就告诉他实情。 —

He made none of the objections that his position as friend and solicitor authorized him to make, and assured me that he would arrange the whole affair in the best way possible. —
作为朋友和律师，他没有提出任何异议，并保证会以最好的方式安排整个事情。 —

Naturally, I begged him to employ the greatest discretion in regard to my father, and on leaving him I rejoined Marguerite, who was waiting for me at Julie Duprat’s, where she had gone in preference to going to listen to the moralizings of Prudence.
自然地，我恳求他对我的父亲保持最大的谨慎，离开他之后，我又和玛格丽特会合了，她正等我在朱莉·杜普拉的家里，她宁愿去那里而不是去听普鲁登斯的道德说教。

We began to look out for flats. All those that we saw seemed to Marguerite too dear, and to me too simple. —
我们开始找公寓。我们看到的所有公寓对玛格丽特来说都太贵了，对我来说又太简单了。 —

However, we finally found, in one of the quietest parts of Paris, a little house, isolated from the main part of the building. —
然而，我们终于在巴黎最安静的地区找到了一所小房子，与主楼隔离开来。 —

Behind this little house was a charming garden, surrounded by walls high enough to screen us from our neighbours, and low enough not to shut off our own view. —
这座小房子后面有一个迷人的花园，被足够高的墙壁包围着，足够遮挡我们的邻居，又不会阻挡我们自己的视线。 —

It was better than our expectations.
这比我们的期望还要好。

While I went to give notice at my own flat, Marguerite went to see a business agent, who, she told me, had already done for one of her friends exactly what she wanted him to do for her. —
当我去通知我的公寓的时候，玛格丽特去见了一个商业代理，她告诉我，这个代理人已经为她的一个朋友做了她希望他为她做的事情。 —

She came on to the Rue de Provence in a state of great delight. —
她兴高采烈地来到了普罗旺斯街。 —

The man had promised to pay all her debts, to give her a receipt for the amount, and to hand over to her twenty thousand francs, in return for the whole of her furniture. —
这个人曾承诺支付她的所有债务，并出具一份金额收据，同时交给她两万法郎作为她的全部家具的交换。 —

You have seen by the amount taken at the sale that this honest man would have gained thirty thousand francs out of his client.
从拍卖所得金额来看，这个诚实的人本可以从他的客户那里获得三万法郎的利润。

We went back joyously to Bougival, talking over our projects for the future, which, thanks to our heedlessness, and especially to our love, we saw in the rosiest light.
我们兴高采烈地回到布吉瓦尔，畅谈着我们未来的计划，多亏了我们的粗心和尤其是我们的爱情，我们看到了最美好的前景。

A week later, as we were having lunch, Nanine came to tell us that my servant was asking for me. —
一周后，当我们在吃午饭时，娜妮告诉我们我的仆人找我。 —

“Let him come in,” I said.
“让他进来吧,“我说。

“Sir,” said he, “your father has arrived in Paris, and begs you to return at once to your rooms, where he is waiting for you.”
“先生,“他说,“您父亲已经到达巴黎，并请求您立即回到您的房间，他正在等您。”

This piece of news was the most natural thing in the world, yet, as we heard it, Marguerite and I looked at one another. —
这个消息再自然不过了，然而，当我们听到它时，玛格丽特和我互相看了一眼。 —

We foresaw trouble. Before she had spoken a word, I replied to her thought, and, taking her hand, I said, “Fear nothing.”
我们预见到了麻烦。在她还没有开口之前，我回答了她的想法，并握着她的手说：” 不要害怕。”

“Come back as soon as possible,” whispered Marguerite, embracing me; —
“尽快回来吧”，玛格丽特轻声说着，拥抱着我； —

“I will wait for you at the window.”
“我会在窗户那等你的。”

I sent on Joseph to tell my father that I was on my way. —
我派约瑟夫去告诉我父亲我正在赶来的路上。 —

Two hours later I was at the Rue de Provence.
两个小时后，我来到了普罗旺斯街。