Being acquainted with a newspaper reporter who had a couple of free passes, I got to see the performance a few nights ago at one of the popular vaudeville houses.
有个报纸记者熟人拿到了几张免费入场券后，我前几天去了一家流行的杂耍剧场观看了演出。

One of the numbers was a violin solo by a striking-looking man not much past forty, but with very gray thick hair. —
其中一个节目是由一位看起来很抢眼的男子独奏小提琴，他已经过了四十岁，但头发早已变得非常灰白浓密。 —

Not being afflicted with a taste for music, I let the system of noises drift past my ears while I regarded the man.
我对音乐没什么兴趣，所以任由声音的乐章漂浮在耳边，同时凝视着那个男子。

“There was a story about that chap a month or two ago,” said the reporter. —
“大概一个月或两个月前，对这家伙有过个报道，”那个记者说道。 —

“They gave me the assignment. It was to run a column and was to be on the extremely light and joking order. —
“当时，他们给了我这个任务，要我写一篇专栏文章，内容是非常轻松和幽默的。” —

The old man seems to like the funny touch I give to local happenings. —
“这个老头似乎喜欢我在地方新闻中加入幽默元素的感觉。” —

Oh, yes, I’m working on a farce comedy now. Well, I went down to the house and got all the details; —
“哦，是的，我现在正在创作一部闹剧喜剧。好吧，我去了他的房子，获取了所有的详细信息；” —

but I certainly fell down on that job. I went back and turned in a comic write-up of an east side funeral instead. —
“但是，我在那个任务上确实失败了。我回去写了一个关于东区葬礼的喜剧描述。” —

Why? Oh, I couldn’t seem to get hold of it with my funny hooks, somehow. —
“为什么？噢，我总觉得无论如何都无法用幽默的方式来表达它。” —

Maybe you could make a one-act tragedy out of it for a curtain-raiser. —
也许你可以把它拍成一个开场前的一幕悲剧。 —

I’ll give you the details.”
我会给你详细说明的。

After the performance my friend, the reporter, recited to me the facts over Wurzburger.
演出结束后，我的朋友，记者，向我复述了这些事实。

“I see no reason,” said I, when he had concluded, “why that shouldn’t make a rattling good funny story. —
“我看不出来为什么这不可能成为一个非常有趣的笑话故事。 —

Those three people couldn’t have acted in a more absurd and preposterous manner if they had been real actors in a real theatre. —
如果这三个人不是真正的演员在真正的剧院里，他们就不可能表现得更荒谬和荒谬了。 —

I’m really afraid that all the stage is a world, anyhow, and all the players men and women. —
我真的害怕舞台就是一个世界，所有的演员都是男人和女人。 —

‘The thing’s the play,’ is the way I quote Mr. Shakespeare.”
“事情就是戏剧”，这是我引用莎士比亚先生的话。

“Try it,” said the reporter.
“试试吧”，记者说。

“I will,” said I; and I did, to show him how he could have made a humorous column of it for his paper.
“好的”，我说，为了向他展示他可以为自己的报纸写一个幽默的专栏，我就这么做了。

There stands a house near Abingdon Square. —
阿宾顿广场附近有一座房子。 —

On the ground floor there has been for twenty-five years a little store where toys and notions and stationery are sold.
地下有一间小商店，二十五年来一直在那里销售玩具，杂货和文具。

One night twenty years ago there was a wedding in the rooms above the store. —
二十年前的一个晚上，在商店的楼上举行了一场婚礼。 —

The Widow Mayo owned the house and store. —
寡妇梅奥拥有这所房子和店铺。 —

Her daughter Helen was married to Frank Barry. John Delaney was best man. —
她的女儿海伦嫁给了弗兰克·巴里。约翰·德兰尼是伴郎。 —

Helen was eighteen, and her picture had been printed in a morning paper next to the headlines of a “Wholesale Female Murderess” story from Butte, Mont. But after your eye and intelligence had rejected the connection, you seized your magnifying glass and read beneath the portrait her description as one of a series of Prominent Beauties and Belles of the lower west side.
海伦十八岁，她的照片曾在一份早报上刊登，与来自蒙大拿州比尤特的“大规模女性杀人犯”故事并列标题。但在您的眼睛和智慧拒绝这种联系之后，您拿起放大镜并在照片下面阅读到她作为西区著名的美女和名媛系列之一的描述。

Frank Barry and John Delaney were “prominent” young beaux of the same side, and bosom friends, whom you expected to turn upon each other every time the curtain went up. —
弗兰克·巴里和约翰·德兰尼是同一边的“著名”年轻红男绿女，是密友，每次帷幕升起时您都期望他们争斗。 —

One who pays his money for orchestra seats and fiction expects this. —
支付了钱的人包括买了管弦席和小说的人都希望如此。 —

That is the first funny idea that has turned up in the story yet. —
这是故事中出现的第一个有趣的想法。 —

Both had made a great race for Helen’s hand. —
他们两个都争取海伦的手。 —

When Frank won, John shook his hand and congratulated him - honestly, he did.
当弗兰克赢得胜利时，约翰握着他的手祝贺他 - 说真的，他这么做了。

After the ceremony Helen ran upstairs to put on her hat. —
仪式结束后，海伦跑上楼去戴帽子。 —

She was getting married in a traveling dress. —
她穿着婚纱准备结婚。 —

She and Frank were going to Old Point Comfort for a week. —
她和弗兰克打算去“老点舒适”度一周的假。 —

Downstairs the usual horde of gibbering cave-dwellers were waiting with their hands full of old Congress gaiters and paper bags of hominy.
楼下传统上总是有一群舌不轻家的人等着，他们手里拿满了旧的国会长统，带有玉米粥的纸袋。

Then there was a rattle of the fire-escape, and into her room jumps the mad and infatuated John Delaney, with a damp curl drooping upon his forehead, and made violent and reprehensible love to his lost one, entreating her to flee or fly with him to the Riviera, or the Bronx, or any old place where there are Italian skies and dolce far niente.
然后，火车阶梯上响起了嘎吱声，就跳进了她的房间里，这个疯狂迷恋着的约翰·德兰尼，头上戴着湿漉漉的卷发，对他失散的恋人表达了疯狂而不应接受的爱，恳求她与他一起逃离或飞往里维埃拉，布朗克斯或任何有意大利天空和悠闲的地方。

It would have carried Blaney off his feet to see Helen repulse him. —
艾伦拒绝了他，这可能会让布兰尼措手不及。 —

With blazing and scornful eyes she fairly withered him by demanding whatever he meant by speaking to respectable people that way.
带着燃烧和轻蔑的眼神，她恶狠狠地要求他以这种方式与体面的人说话，简直让他无地自容。

In a few moments she had him going. The manliness that had possessed him departed. —
不久，她就使他陷入进退两难的境地。占据他的雄心壮志消逝了。 —

He bowed low, and said something about “irresistible impulse” and “forever carry in his heart the memory of” - and she suggested that he catch the first fire-escape going down.
他低头鞠躬，并说了些关于“无法抗拒的冲动”和“永远将记忆深藏心底”的话——她建议他赶紧下火梯。

“I will away,” said John Delaney, “to the furthermost parts of the earth. —
“我将离开”，约翰·德兰尼说道，”去地球上最遥远的地方。 —

I cannot remain near you and know that you are another’s. —
我不能待在你身边却知道你已属于他人。 —

I will to Africa, and there amid other scenes strive to for -”
我将去非洲，在那里努力寻找其他景色——”

“For goodness sake, get out,” said Helen. “Somebody might come in.”
“拜托，快走吧”，海伦说道，”有人可能会进来的。

He knelt upon one knee, and she extended him one white hand that he might give it a farewell kiss.
他单膝下跪，她伸出一只洁白的手让他吻别。

Girls, was this choice boon of the great little god Cupid ever vouchsafed you - to have the fellow you want hard and fast, and have the one you don’t want come with a damp curl on his forehead and kneel to you and babble of Africa and love which, in spite of everything, shall forever bloom, an amaranth, in his heart? —
女孩们，上帝丘比特能给你们带来这样的福音吗——让你们拥有心仪的男人的同时，还有一个你不想要的男人湿淋淋地满头大汗地向你跪下，胡言乱语地谈论着非洲和爱情，尽管一切，爱情在他心中仍将永远绽放，如不凋零的红花？ —

To know your power, and to feel the sweet security of your own happy state; —
了解你的力量，并感受到自己幸福状态中的甜蜜安全感； —

to send the unlucky one, broken-hearted, to foreign climes, while you congratulate yourself as he presses his last kiss upon your knuckles, that your nails are well manicured - say, girls, it’s galluptious - don’t ever let it get by you.
将倒霉的人送到外国，伤心欲绝，当他对你的手指亲吻时，你还自鸣得意，称赞自己指甲修剪得好――嗨，女孩们，这太有趣了――绝不要让它从你身边溜走。

And then, of course - how did you guess it? —
那么，当然了――你是怎么猜到的呢？ —

• the door opened and in stalked the bridegroom, jealous of slow-tying bonnet strings.
  门开了，新郎一脸嫉妒踱了进来，心急地系着新娘帽子上的细丝带。
  

The farewell kiss was imprinted upon Helen’s hand, and out of the window and down the fire-escape sprang John Delaney, Africa bound.
临别之吻印在海伦的手上，约翰·德兰尼从窗户跳下，前往非洲。

A little slow music, if you please - faint violin, just a breath in the clarinet and a touch of the ‘cello. —
请播放一段轻柔的音乐――微弱的小提琴声，单簧管上的细微呼吸，还有一点点大提琴。 —

Imagine the scene. Frank, white-hot, with the cry of a man wounded to death bursting from him. —
设想一下场景。弗兰克火冒三丈，像受了致命伤一样的哭喊从他口中迸发出来。 —

Helen, rushing and clinging to him, trying to explain. —
海伦冲过去紧紧抱住他，试图解释。 —

He catches her wrists and tears them from his shoulders - once, twice, thrice he sways her this way and that - the stage manager will show you how - and throws her from him to the floor a huddled, crushed, moaning thing. —
他抓住她的手腕，从他的肩膀上撕下她们——一次，两次，三次，他这样摇晃她这边和那边——舞台经理会告诉你如何做——然后将她摔到地板上，成了一团痛苦垂死的东西。 —

Never, he cries, will he look upon her face again, and rushes from the house through the staring groups of astonished guests.
不再见到她的脸，他从房子里匆匆而出，完全没有哭泣，经过一群群惊讶的客人。

And, now because it is the Thing instead of the Play, the audience must stroll out into the real lobby of the world and marry, die, grow gray, rich, poor, happy or sad during the intermission of twenty years which must precede the rising of the curtain again.
现在，因为它是事实而不是戏剧，观众必须在现实世界的大堂里漫步，结婚、死去、变老、发财、贫穷、快乐或悲伤，在再次拉开帷幕之前的二十年的幕间。

Mrs. Barry inherited the shop and the house. —
巴里夫人继承了这家店和房子。 —

At thirty-eight she could have bested many an eighteen-year-old at a beauty show on points and general results. —
三十八岁的时候，她的美貌可以击败许多十八岁的女孩，在美丽展览会上拿到最佳成绩。 —

Only a few people remembered her wedding comedy, but she made of it no secret. —
只有少数人记得她的婚礼喜剧，但她没有把它藏起来。 —

She did not pack it in lavender or moth balls, nor did she sell it to a magazine.
她没有把它用薰衣草或虫丸装起来，也没有卖给杂志。

One day a middle-aged money-making lawyer, who bought his legal cap and ink of her, asked her across the counter to marry him.
一天，一位中年赚钱的律师，在她的柜台前向她求婚。

“I’m really much obliged to you,” said Helen, cheerfully, “but I married another man twenty years ago. —
“非常感激您，”海伦愉快地说道，“但是二十年前我嫁给了另一个人。” —

He was more a goose than a man, but I think I love him yet. —
他更像是个傻瓜而不是个男人，但我想我仍然爱着他。 —

I have never seen him since about half an hour after the ceremony. —
自从结婚仪式之后的半个小时，我就再也没有见过他。 —

Was it copying ink that you wanted or just writing fluid?”
你是想要复印油墨还是墨水？

The lawyer bowed over the counter with old-time grace and left a respectful kiss on the back of her hand. —
律师优雅地弯下腰，在柜台上礼貌地亲吻了她的手背。 —

Helen sighed. Parting salutes, however romantic, may be overdone. —
海伦叹了口气。分别的祝福，不管多么浪漫，可能都有点过头了。 —

Here she was at thirty-eight, beautiful and admired; —
此时她已经三十八岁了，美丽受人爱戴； —

and all that she seemed to have got from her lovers were approaches and adieus. —
而她从情人们那里得到的似乎只有奉承和道别。 —

Worse still, in the last one she had lost a customer, too.
更糟糕的是，在最后一个情人那里，她也失去了一个顾客。

Business languished, and she hung out a Room to Let card. —
生意日渐衰落，她挂出了一个“出租房间”的牌子。 —

Two large rooms on the third floor were prepared for desirable tenants. —
三楼有两间大房间已经准备好迎接理想的租户。 —

Roomers came, and went regretfully, for the house of Mrs. Barry was the abode of neatness, comfort and taste.
租客来了，又离开时都感到遗憾，因为巴里太太的房子非常整洁、舒适而有品味。

One day came Ramonti, the violinist, and engaged the front room above. —
有一天，小提琴手拉蒙蒂来了，租下了楼上的前房间。 —

The discord and clatter uptown offended his nice ear; —
城里吵闹的嘈杂声触犯了他敏感的耳朵； —

so a friend had sent him to this oasis in the desert of noise.
所以一个朋友便把他送到这个喧嚣中的绿洲；

Ramonti, with his still youthful face, his dark eyebrows, his short, pointed, foreign, brown beard, his distinguished head of gray hair, and his artist’s temperament - revealed in his light, gay and sympathetic manner - was a welcome tenant in the old house near Abingdon Square.
拉蒙蒂，带着他依旧年轻的面庞，黑色的眉毛，短而尖的棕色胡须，银发显得非常有气质，他艺术家的性情体现在他轻松、快乐和有同感的举止上，他在阿宾顿广场附近的那所古老的房子里是受欢迎的租户；

Helen lived on the floor above the store. The architecture of it was singular and quaint. —
海伦住在商店的楼上，它的建筑风格非常奇特和古雅； —

The hall was large and almost square. Up one side of it, and then across the end of it ascended an open stairway to the floor above. —
走廊又大又近似方形，一侧沿着走廊向上，然后穿过走廊的尽头，有一座开放的楼梯通向楼上； —

This hall space she had furnished as a sitting room and office combined. —
她把这个走廊空间布置成了一个客厅和办公室的结合部； —

There she kept her desk and wrote her business letters; —
她在那里放着办公桌，写着商务信函； —

and there she sat of evenings by a warm fire and a bright red light and sewed or read. —
晚上她坐在一堆温暖的火光和明亮的红灯旁边，缝纫或阅读。 —

Ramonti found the atmosphere so agreeable that he spent much time there, describing to Mrs. Barry the wonders of Paris, where he had studied with a particularly notorious and noisy fiddler.
Ramonti觉得那里的气氛非常宜人，他在那里花了很多时间，向Barry夫人描述了巴黎的奇迹，他曾在那里与一个声名狼藉且喧闹的小提琴手一起学习。

Next comes lodger No. 2, a handsome, melancholy man in the early 40’s, with a brown, mysterious beard, and strangely pleading, haunting eyes. —
接着来的是第二位房客，一个年过40岁的英俊而忧郁的男子，他留着一把褐色神秘的胡须，还有奇怪而哀求的眼神。 —

He, too, found the society of Helen a desirable thing. —
他也觉得与Helen交往是一件可喜的事情。 —

With the eyes of Romeo and Othello’s tongue, he charmed her with tales of distant climes and wooed her by respectful innuendo.
用罗密欧的眼光和奥赛罗的口才，他以远方的风景和恭敬的暗示来迷住她。

From the first Helen felt a marvelous and compelling thrill in the presence of this man. —
Helen从一开始就在这个人的面前感受到了一股奇妙而令人向往的震撼。 —

His voice somehow took her swiftly back to the days of her youth’s romance. —
他的声音以某种方式迅速将她带回到了青春恋爱的日子。 —

This feeling grew, and she gave way to it, and it led her to an instinctive belief that he had been a factor in that romance. —
这种感觉越来越强烈，她屈服了，并本能地相信他在那段恋情中起过一定的作用。 —

And then with a woman’s reasoning (oh, yes, they do, sometimes) she leaped over common syllogism and theory, and logic, and was sure that her husband had come back to her. —
然后，凭借一个女人的推理能力（哦，是的，她们有时候也会这样），她越过了常见的三段论、理论和逻辑，确信自己的丈夫回到了她身边。 —

For she saw in his eyes love, which no woman can mistake, and a thousand tons of regret and remorse, which aroused pity, which is perilously near to love requited, which is the sine qua non in the house that Jack built.
因为她从他的眼里看到了爱，这是任何女人都不会误解的，还有千斤的遗憾和懊悔，这激起了怜悯之情，这是与爱相等的，这是建造杰克的家庭的必需品。

But she made no sign. A husband who steps around the corner for twenty years and then drops in again should not expect to find his slippers laid out too conveniently near nor a match ready lighted for his cigar. —
但她没有作任何表示。一个离开家20年后又突然回来的丈夫不应该期望他的拖鞋摆放得太方便，也不应该期望一根薄荷被点燃准备好供他抽烟。 —

There must be expiation, explanation, and possibly execration. —
必须有补偿、解释，可能还有谴责。 —

A little purgatory, and then, maybe, if he were properly humble, he might be trusted with a harp and crown. —
一点点炼狱，然后，也许，如果他真正谦卑，他就可能被信任得到一把竖琴和皇冠。 —

And so she made no sign that she knew or suspected.
于是她没有表示她知道或怀疑。

And my friend, the reporter, could see nothing funny in this! —
而我的朋友，那位记者，在这里看不出任何滑稽之处！ —

Sent out on an assignment to write up a roaring, hilarious, brilliant joshing story of - but I will not knock a brother - let us go on with the story.
派去写一篇热闹、欢乐、才华横溢的玩笑故事的报道，但我不会打击我的同行，让我们继续故事。

One evening Ramonti stopped in Helen’s hall-office-reception-room and told his love with the tenderness and ardor of the enraptured artist. —
一天晚上，Ramonti在海伦的大厅办公室接待室停下来，以艺术家陶醉的热情和热烈告诉她他的爱意。 —

His words were a bright flame of the divine fire that glows in the heart of a man who is a dreamer and doer combined.
他的话如同一个梦想家和实践者心中燃烧的神圣之火，明亮而炽热。

“But before you give me an answer,” he went on, before she could accuse him of suddenness, “I must tell you that ‘Ramonti’ is the only name I have to offer you. —
“但在你回答之前，”他继续说，以免她指责他突然，” 我必须告诉你’Ramonti’是我唯一能给你的名字。 —

My manager gave me that. I do not know who I am or where I came from. —
这是我的经纪人给我的。我不知道我是谁，来自哪里。 —

My first recollection is of opening my eyes in a hospital. —
我第一个记忆是在一家医院醒来。 —

I was a young man, and I had been there for weeks. My life before that is a blank to me. —
那时我还是个年轻人，已经在那里待了好几个星期了。在那之前的我的生活对我来说是一片空白。 —

They told me that I was found lying in the street with a wound on my head and was brought there in an ambulance. —
他们告诉我我是被人发现躺在街上头上有伤的，然后被救护车带到医院。 —

They thought I must have fallen and struck my head upon the stones. —
他们以为我可能是跌倒后头撞到石头上。 —

There was nothing to show who I was. I have never been able to remember. —
没有任何东西可以表明我是谁。我一直无法想起来。 —

After I was discharged from the hospital, I took up the violin. I have had success. —
从医院出院后，我开始学习拉小提琴。我取得了成功。 —

Mrs. Barry - I do not know your name except that - I love you; —
巴里夫人 - 我不知道你的名字，除了这个 - 我爱你； —

the first time I saw you I realized that you were the one woman in the world for me - and” - oh, a lot of stuff like that.
第一次见到你时，我意识到你是世界上唯一的女人 - 还有很多类似的话。

Helen felt young again. First a wave of pride and a sweet little thrill of vanity went all over her; —
海伦感到年轻了。首先，一股自豪感和美好的虚荣心荡漾在她周围； —

and then she looked Ramonti in the eyes, and a tremendous throb went through her heart. —
然后她凝视着拉蒙蒂的眼睛，一股巨大的悸动穿过她的心。 —

She hadn’t expected that throb. It took her by surprise. —
她没有料到那股悸动。它让她吃了一惊。 —

The musician had become a big factor in her life, and she hadn’t been aware of it.
这位音乐家已经成为她生活中的关键因素，而她自己却不曾察觉。

“Mr. Ramonti,” she said sorrowfully (this was not on the stage, remember; —
“拉蒙蒂先生，”她悲伤地说（记住，这不是在舞台上； —

it was in the old home near Abingdon Square), “I’m awfully sorry, but I’m a married woman.”
这是在阿宾顿广场附近的老家中），”我非常抱歉，但我是个已婚妇女。

And then she told him the sad story of her life, as a heroine must do, sooner or later, either to a theatrical manager or to a reporter.
然后她向他讲述了她的人生悲惨故事，就像一个女主角必须做的，早晚要么是对剧院经理，要么是对记者。

Ramonti took her hand, bowed low and kissed it, and went up to his room.
拉蒙蒂握住了她的手，低头亲吻了一下，然后上楼去了。

Helen sat down and looked mournfully at her hand. Well she might. —
海伦坐下来，悲伤地看着她的手。她确实有理由如此。 —

Three suitors had kissed it, mounted their red roan steeds and ridden away.
三个求婚者亲吻过她的手，骑上了他们的红色骏马，然后离开了。

In an hour entered the mysterious stranger with the haunting eyes. —
一个小时后，那个神秘的陌生人带着令人心悸的眼神走进了房间。 —

Helen was in the willow rocker, knitting a useless thing in cotton-wool. —
海伦坐在柳树摇椅上，用棉毛线织着一件没用的东西。 —

He ricocheted from the stairs and stopped for a chat. —
他从楼梯上跳下来，停下来聊聊天。 —

Sitting across the table from her, he also poured out his narrative of love. And then he said: —
坐在桌子对面，他也倾诉着他的爱情故事。然后他说： —

“Helen, do you not remember me? I think I have seen it in your eyes. —
“海伦，你不记得我吗？我觉得我从你的眼神中看到了。 —

Can you forgive the past and remember the love that has lasted for twenty years? —
你能原谅过去，记住已经持续了二十年的爱吗？ —

I wronged you deeply - I was afraid to come back to you - but my love overpowered my reason. —
我对你造成了深深的伤害 - 我害怕回到你身边 - 但是我的爱战胜了我的理智。 —

Can you, will you, forgive me?”
你能原谅我吗？你愿意原谅我吗？

Helen stood up. The mysterious stranger held one of her hands in a strong and trembling clasp.
海伦站了起来。神秘的陌生人用力地捏住她的一只手。

There she stood, and I pity the stage that it has not acquired a scene like that and her emotions to portray.
她就站在那里，我为舞台没有像那样的一幕和她的情感表达而心痛。

For she stood with a divided heart. The fresh, unforgettable, virginal love for her bridegroom was hers; —
因为她的心被分成了两半。对新郎她有着新鲜、难以忘怀、纯洁的爱； —

the treasured, sacred, honored memory of her first choice filled half her soul. —
那珍藏着、庄严的、受人尊敬的对她的初次选择的记忆填满了她的一半灵魂。 —

She leaned to that pure feeling. Honor and faith and sweet, abiding romance bound her to it. —
她倾向于那种纯洁的感觉。荣誉、信仰和甜蜜长久的浪漫使她与之相系。 —

But the other half of her heart and soul was filled with something else - a later, fuller, nearer influence. —
但是她心灵和灵魂的另一半被别的什么占据了 - 一个更晚、更完整、更贴近的影响。 —

And so the old fought against the new.
所以旧的与新的抗衡着。

And while she hesitated, from the room above came the soft, racking, petitionary music of a violin. —
当她犹豫不决时，楼上传来了小提琴柔和而苦恼的请愿音乐。 —

The hag, music, bewitches some of the noblest. —
这种老妇人般的音乐使一些最崇高的人迷失了方向。 —

The daws may peck upon one’s sleeve without injury, but whoever wears his heart upon his tympanum gets it not far from the neck.
乌鸦可能会啄人的袖子，但是谁把自己的心戴在鼓膜上，就会被人在脖子附近击中。

This music and the musician caller her, and at her side honor and the old love held her back.
这音乐和这位音乐家召唤她，而尊敬和旧爱将她留在身边。

“Forgive me,” he pleaded.
“请原谅我，”他恳求道。

“Twenty years is a long time to remain away from the one you say you love,” she declared, with a purgatorial touch.
“二十年离开你所说爱的人，是很长的时间了，” 她带着一丝痛苦的口吻宣称。

“How could I tell?” he begged. “I will conceal nothing from you. —
“我怎么能告诉你呢？”他乞求道，”我将对你隐瞒一切。 —

That night when he left I followed him. I was mad with jealousy. —
那天晚上他离开时，我跟着他。我被嫉妒冲昏了头脑。 —

On a dark street I struck him down. He did not rise. —
在一条黑暗的街道上，我把他打倒了。他没有站起来。 —

I examined him. His head had struck a stone. —
我检查了他。他的头被石头撞到了。 —

I did not intend to kill him. I was mad with love and jealousy. —
我并不打算杀他。我对爱和嫉妒疯狂了。 —

I hid near by and saw an ambulance take him away. —
我在附近躲藏着，看到一辆救护车把他带走了。 —

Although you married him, Helen -”
尽管你嫁给了他，海伦 -”

“Who are you?” cried the woman, with wide-open eyes, snatching her hand away.
“你是谁？”这个女人睁大眼睛喊道，抽回了手。

“Don’t you remember me, Helen - the one who has always loved you best? —
“你难道不记得我吗，海伦 - 我一直是你最爱的人。 —

I am John Delaney. If you can forgive -”
我是约翰·德兰尼。如果你能原谅 -”

But she was gone, leaping, stumbling, hurrying, flying up the stairs toward the music and him who had forgotten, but who had known her for his in each of his two existences, and as she climbed up she sobbed, cried and sang: —
但她已经离去了，跳跃、蹒跚，匆忙地冲上楼梯，朝着音乐和他飞奔而去。他曾经忘记了，但他已经在他的两个存在中认识了她，而她爬上楼梯时，她哭泣、呼喊和唱歌： —

“Frank! Frank! Frank!”
“弗兰克！弗兰克！弗兰克！”

Three mortals thus juggling with years as though they were billiard balls, and my friend, the reporter, couldn’t see anything funny in it!
三个凡人像在玩弄九球一样耍弄着年份，而我的朋友，记者，却看不出其中的任何趣味！