TheTemptationofaRespectableWoman一個正派女人受到的誘惑

1、The Temptation of a Respectable Woman(The Temptation of a Respectable Woman)Mrs.Baroda was a little annoyed to learn that her husband expected his friend, Gouvernail, upto spend a week or two on the plantation."When is he goingyour friend?" she one day asked her husband. "For my part,

2、 I find hima terrible nuisance.""Not for a week yet, dear. I can't understand; he gives you no trouble."Gaston pulled the sleeve of his wife's dress, gathered his arms around her waist and lookedmerrily into her troubled eyes."You are full of surprises," he said to h

3、er. "Even I can never count upon how you are going toactundergivenconditions.Hereyouare,"hewenton,"takingpoorGouvernailseriouslya ndmaking a fuss about him, the last thing he would desire or expect.""Fuss!" she hotly replied. "Nonse! How can you say such a thing! F

4、uss, indeed! But, youknow, you said he was clever.""So he is. But the poor fellow is run down by too much work now. That's why I asked himhere to take a rest.""Youusedtosayhewasamanofwit,"shesaid,stillannoyed."Iexpectedhimtobeintere sting, at least. I'm going to

5、 the city in the morning to have my spring dresses fitted. Let meknow when Mr.Gouvernail is gone; until that time I shall be at my aunt's house."That night she went and sat alone upon a bench that stood beneath an oak tree at the edge ofthe walk. She had never known her thoughts to be so co

6、nfused; like the bats now above her, herthoughts quickly flew this way and that. She could gather nothing from them but the feeling of adistinct necessity to leave her home in the next morning."Your husband told me to bring this to you, Mrs.Baroda," he said, handing her a length ofsheerwhi

7、tefabricwithwhichshesometimescoveredherheadandshoulders.Sheaccept editfrom him and let it lie in her lap.Hemadesomeroutineobservationsupontheunhealthyeffectofthenightbreezeatth atseason. Then as his gaze reached out into the darkness, he began to talk.Gouvernail was in no sense a shy man. His period

8、s of silence were not his basic nature, butthe result of moods. When he was sitting there beside Mrs.Baroda, his silence melted for the time.He talked freely and intimately in a low, hesitating voice that was not unpleasant to hear. HetalkedoftheoldcollegedayswhenheandGastonhadbeenbestfriends,ofthed

9、aysofkeen ambitions and large intentions. Now, all there was left with him was a desire to be permitted toexist, with now and then a little breath of genuine life, such as he was breathing now.Hermindonlyvaguelygraspedwhathewassaying.Hiswordsbecameaninglesssucces sion of verbs, nouns, adverbs, and a

10、djectives; she only drank in the tones of his voice. Shewanted to reach out her hand in the darkness and touch himwhich she might have done if shehad not been a respectable woman.The stronger the desire grew to bring herself near him, the further, in fact, did she move awayfrom him. As soon as she c

11、ould do so without an appearance of being rude, she pretended to yawn,rose, and left him there alone.Mrs.Baroda was greatly tempted that night to tell her husband who was also her friend of this foolishness that had seized her. But she did not yield to the temptation. Besides being anupright and res

12、pectable woman she was also a very sensible one.WhenGastonarosethenextmorning,hiswifehadalreadydeparted,withoutevensayi ngfarewell. A porter had carried her trunk to the station and she had taken an early morning train tothe city. She did not return until Gouvernail was gone from under her roof.Ther

13、e was some talk of having him back during the summer that followed. That is, Gastongreatly desired it; but this desire yielded to his honorable wife's vigorous opposition.一個正派女人受到的誘惑得知丈夫請了他的朋友古韋內(nèi)爾來種植園小住一兩周，巴羅達(dá)太太有點不 快。古韋內(nèi)爾生性沉默，這令巴羅達(dá)太太頗為不解。在一起待了幾天，她仍感 到對他很陌生。她只得大部分時間讓丈夫陪著客人 ,但發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不在場幾乎并未 引起古韋內(nèi)爾的注意

14、。而后她執(zhí)意要陪他散步到磨坊去 ,試圖打破他這種并非有意的沉默，但仍不 奏效。"你的朋友，他什么時候走？ "有一天她問丈夫， " 我覺得他太討厭了。 "" 還不到一周呢，親愛的。我真不明白，他并沒給你添麻煩呀。 ""是沒有。他要是真能添點麻煩，我倒喜歡他一些了。真希望他能像別人一樣，那樣我倒可以做點什么使他過得舒心。 "加斯頓拉了拉妻子的衣袖，雙手摟著她的腰，快樂地望著她那充滿困惑的 眼睛。"你可真讓人吃驚， "他說， "我都說不準(zhǔn)你什么時候會怎么做。瞧你對古韋 內(nèi)爾頂真的樣子，對他那

15、么大驚小怪，這可是他最不希望的。 ""大驚小怪！ "她急急回道， " 瞎說，你怎么這么說！大驚小怪，真是！但你 可說過他挺聰明的。 ""他是聰明。但工作太多，這可憐的家伙累垮了，所以我才請他來這兒休息 一陣。 ""你常說他是個風(fēng)趣的人， "太太仍在生氣， "我以為他至少該風(fēng)趣點。明 早我進(jìn)城去試春裝。古韋內(nèi)爾走了你告訴我。他走之前我就住姑媽家。 "那晚她獨自一人坐在路邊橡樹下的長凳上，思緒從未這么亂過，就像頭頂飛著的蝙蝠一樣，忽東忽西。她理不出絲毫頭緒，只感到有一點很明確：她必須第二天

16、一早就離開這里。巴羅達(dá)太太聽到從谷倉那邊傳來了腳步聲，她知道那是古韋內(nèi)爾。她不想 讓他看見自己，但她的白色長袍泄露了蹤跡。他在她身旁的長凳上坐下，絲毫 不曾想到她可能會反對他坐在那兒。" 您丈夫要我把這個帶給您，巴羅達(dá)太太， "說著，他遞上一塊白色紗巾，這 是她有時用來做披肩的。她接了過來，放在腿上。他照例說了些諸如這個季節(jié)的夜風(fēng)對身體不好之類的話。后來，望著茫茫 夜色，他開始談了起來。古韋內(nèi)爾可不是個靦腆的人。他的沉默寡言決非天性，而是情緒使然。坐在巴羅達(dá)太太身邊，他的沉默暫時消失了。他以低沉遲緩的嗓音親切而無拘束地娓娓而談，談他在大學(xué)里與加斯頓是 好朋友，談那時曾雄心勃勃，志向高遠(yuǎn)。而現(xiàn)在他只求能生存，只是偶爾才體 驗到一絲真正的生活的氣息，就像此刻。巴羅達(dá)太太只是模模糊糊地感到他在說些什么。他的話變成了一串毫無意 義的動詞、名詞、副詞和形容詞；她陶醉在他的聲音里。她想在夜色里伸出手 去觸摸他 -要不是個正派女子，她真會這么做。她越想靠近他，結(jié)果卻越往后退。為使自己不顯得失禮，她借機(jī)假裝打了 個哈欠，起身離開了他。那晚，巴羅達(dá)太太很想把自己的一時荒唐告訴丈夫-也是她的朋友，但還是忍住了。她是個正派體面的女人，也是個非常明智的女 人。第二天早晨加斯頓起床時，妻子