雙語·面紗 第三十一章

31

It was a bungalow and she entered the sitting-room. She sat down while the coolies, straggling in one by one, brought in their loads. Walter in the courtyard gave directions where this or that was to be placed. She was very tired. She was startled to hear an unknown voice.

“May I come in?”

She flushed and grew pale. She was overwrought and it made her nervous to meet a stranger. A man came out of the darkness, for the long low room was lit only by a shaded lamp, and held out his hand.

“My name is Waddington. I am the Deputy Commissioner.”

“Oh, the Customs. I know. I heard that you were here.”

In that dim light she could see only that he was a little thin man, no taller than she, with a bald head and a small, bare face.

“I live just at the bottom of the hill, but coming in this way you wouldn't have seen my house. I thought you'd be too fagged to come and dine with me, so I've ordered your dinner here and I've invited myself.”

“I'm delighted to hear it.”

“You'll find the cook's not bad. I kept on Watson's boys for you.”

“Watson was the missionary who was here?”

“Yes. Very nice fellow. I'll show you his grave tomorrow if you like.”

“How kind you are,” said Kitty, with a smile.

At that moment Walter came in. Waddington had introduced himself to him before coming in to see Kitty and now he said:

“I've just been breaking it to your missus that I'm dining with you. Since Watson died I haven't had anybody much to talk to but the nuns, and I can never do myself justice in French. Besides, there is only a limited number of subjects you can talk to them about.”

“I've just told the boy to bring in some drinks,” said Walter.

The servant brought whisky and soda and Kitty noticed that Waddington helped himself generously. His manner of speaking and his easy chuckle had suggested to her when he came in that he was not quite sober.

“Here's luck,” he said. Then, turning to Walter: “You've got your work cut out for you here. They're dying like flies. The magistrate's lost his head and Colonel Yü, the officer commanding the troops, is having a devil of a job to prevent them from looting. If something doesn't happen soon we shall all be murdered in our beds. I tried to get the nuns to go, but of course they wouldn't. They all want to be martyrs, damn them.”

He spoke lightly and there was in his voice a sort of ghostly laughter so that you could not listen to him without smiling.

“Why haven't you gone?” asked Walter.

“Well, I've lost half my staff and the others are ready to lie down and die at any minute. Somebody's got to stay and keep things together.”

“Have you been inoculated?”

“Yes. Watson did me. But he did himself too, and it didn't do him much good, poor blighter.” He turned to Kitty and his funny little face was gaily puckered. “I don't think there's any great risk if you take proper precautions. Have your milk and water boiled and don't eat fresh fruit or uncooked vegetables. Have you brought any gramophone records with you?”

“No, I don't think so,” said Kitty.

“I'm sorry for that. I was hoping you would. I haven't had any for a long time and I'm sick of my old ones.”

The boy came in to ask if they would have dinner.

“You won't dress to-night, will you?” asked Waddington. “My boy died last week and the boy I have now is a fool, so I haven't been dressing in the evening.”

“I'll go and take off my hat,” said Kitty.

Her room was next door to that in which they sat. It was barely furnished. An amah was kneeling on the floor, the lamp beside her, unpacking Kitty's things.

第三十一章

那是一座平房，她走進(jìn)客廳坐了下來。這時，苦力們?nèi)齼蓛傻匕阉麄儙У奈锲范夹读诉M(jìn)來。沃爾特在院子里指揮著他們擺放物品。她覺得很累，但被一個不熟悉的聲音嚇了一大跳。

“我能進(jìn)來嗎？”

她的臉先是紅了一下，然后又變白了。她變得神經(jīng)緊張，所以遇見個陌生人讓她一時不知所措。這個人好像從黑暗中走進(jìn)來，因為狹長低矮的房間只有一個帶罩的油燈。他伸出了手。

“我叫威廷頓，是這里的副專員。”

“哦，是海關(guān)的，我知道，我聽說過您?！?/p>

在昏暗的燈光下，她只能大概看清他是個身材矮小的男人，跟她個頭差不多，禿頭，有一張沒有胡須的小臉盤。

“我就住在山腳下，但是在來的路上，你們可能看不見我的房子。我想您可能累壞了，無法過來一起和我共進(jìn)晚餐，所以我在這兒讓人把飯給你們做好了，我本人也不請自來了?！?/p>

“我很高興見到您。”

“您可能會發(fā)現(xiàn)廚師還不錯，我讓魏特森的仆人供您差遣?！?/p>

“魏特森是從前在這兒的那位傳教士嗎？”

“是的，一位很好的人。如果您愿意，我明天帶您到他的墓上看看?！?/p>

“您真是太好了?！眲P蒂面帶微笑地說道。

這時，沃爾特走了進(jìn)來。在威廷頓見到凱蒂之前，他已經(jīng)向沃爾特做過自我介紹了，于是他對沃爾特說道：

“我已經(jīng)征得你太太的同意與你們共進(jìn)晚餐。在魏特森去世后，除了那些法國修女外，再沒有什么能跟我多說幾句話的人了，再加上我的法語也不太靈光，而且，跟她們能談的話題也很有限?！?/p>

“我剛才已經(jīng)告訴伙計拿些喝的進(jìn)來?！蔽譅柼卣f道。

仆人拿來了威士忌和蘇打水，凱蒂注意到威廷頓一點兒也不見外，馬上自斟自飲起來。從他說話的方式和動不動就呵呵傻笑，她已經(jīng)猜到他進(jìn)屋時就已經(jīng)半醉了。

“能喝上這個就是運氣呀?！彼f道，然后轉(zhuǎn)過頭，沖著沃爾特，“你在這兒會忙得不可開交的。他們就像蒼蠅一樣成堆死去，地方官已經(jīng)快失去理智了。還有余上校，這位軍官氣急敗壞地命令部隊不要干搶劫的勾當(dāng)。如果還不趕緊采取點兒措施，我們很快就會被殺死在床上。我設(shè)法讓修女們趕快離開這里，但是她們不會離開，她們都想成為殉道者，真該死?！?/p>

他說得很輕松，話語中有一種嚇人的幽默，所以你不得不帶著微笑聽他說完。

“那你為什么不走？”沃爾特問道。

“呃，我一半的員工已經(jīng)丟掉了性命，其他的人也隨時會倒下，然后死去。但總得有人留下來收拾后事吧？”

“你已經(jīng)打了疫苗了嗎？”

“打了，魏特森給我打的。但是，他自己也給自己打了呀，可是對他來說沒起多大作用，可憐的笨蛋?！彼D(zhuǎn)向凱蒂，他可笑的小臉因為快樂而起了皺紋?！拔艺J(rèn)為如果你采取適當(dāng)?shù)念A(yù)防措施，不會有太大的風(fēng)險。一定要把你的牛奶和飲用水煮沸，不要吃新鮮的水果或者沒烹飪過的蔬菜。你這次帶留聲機(jī)的唱片了嗎？”

“沒有，我覺得好像沒帶?！眲P蒂說道。

“那太遺憾了，我真希望你能帶一些來。我好長時間沒有聽唱片了，手頭的那些我已經(jīng)聽膩了?！?/p>

仆人進(jìn)來問是否可以上菜了。

“你今晚不會換晚禮服了，是吧？”威廷頓問道，“我的男仆上周死了，現(xiàn)在用的這個男仆是個傻瓜，所以我在晚上就再也沒換過晚禮服了。”

“我去摘下帽子?！眲P蒂說道。

她的臥室就在他們落座的隔壁，幾乎沒有什么家具。旁邊放了一盞油燈，一個女仆跪在地板上，正在整理凱蒂的行裝。