雙語(yǔ)·面紗 第三十五章

35

The first time she was alone with Waddington she brought the conversation round to Charlie. Waddington had spoken of him on the evening of their arrival. She pretended that he was no more than an acquaintance of her husband.

“I never cared much for him,” said Waddington. “I've always thought him a bore.”

“You must be very hard to please,” returned Kitty, in the bright, chaffing way she could assume so easily. “I suppose he's far and away the most popular man in Hong Kong.”

“I know. That is his stock in trade. He's made a science of popularity. He has the gift of making everyone he meets feel that he is the one person in the world he wants to see. He's always ready to do a service that isn't any trouble to himself, and even if he doesn't do what you want he manages to give you the impression that it's only because it's not humanly possible.”

“That is surely an attractive trait.”

“Charm and nothing but charm at last grows a little tiresome, I think. It's a relief then to deal with a man who isn't quite so delightful but a little more sincere. I've known Charlie Townsend for a good many years and once or twice I've caught him with the mask off--you see, I never mattered, just a subordinate official in the Customs--and I know that he doesn't in his heart give a damn for any one in the world but himself.”

Kitty, lounging easily in her chair, looked at him with smiling eyes. She turned her wedding-ring round and round her finger.

“Of course he'll get on. He knows all the official ropes. Before I die I have every belief that I shall address him as Your Excellency and stand up when he enters the room.”

“Most people think he deserves to get on. He's generally supposed to have a great deal of ability.”

“Ability? What nonsense! He's a very stupid man. He gives you the impression that he dashes off his work and gets it through from sheer brilliancy. Nothing of the kind. He's as industrious as a Eurasian clerk.”

“How has he got the reputation of being so clever?”

“There are many foolish people in the world and when a man in a rather high position puts on no frills, slaps them on the back, and tells them he'll do anything in the world for them, they are very likely to think him clever. And then of course, there's his wife. There's an able woman if you like. She has a good sound head and her advice is always worth taking. As long as Charlie Townsend's got her to depend on he's pretty safe never to do a foolish thing, and that's the first thing necessary for a man to get on in Government service. They don't want clever men; clever men have ideas, and ideas cause trouble; they want men who have charm and tact and who can be counted on never to make a blunder. Oh, yes, Charlie Townsend will get to the top of the tree all right.”

“I wonder why you dislike him?”

“I don't dislike him.”

“But you like his wife better?” smiled Kitty.

“I'm an old-fashioned little man and I like a well-bred woman.”

“I wish she were well-dressed as well as well-bred.”

“Doesn't she dress well? I never noticed.”

“I've always heard that they were a devoted couple,” said Kitty, watching him through her eye-lashes.

“He's very fond of her: I will give him that credit. I think that is the most decent thing about him.”

“Cold praise.”

“He has his little flirtations, but they're not serious. He's much too cunning to let them go to such lengths as might cause him inconvenience. And of course he isn't a passionate man; he's only a vain one. He likes admiration. He's fat and forty now, he does himself too well, but he was very good-looking when he first came to the Colony. I've often heard his wife chaff him about his conquests.”

“She doesn't take his flirtations very seriously?”

“Oh, no, she knows they don't go very far. She says she'd like to be able to make friends of the poor little things who fall to Charlie; but they're always so common. She says it's really not very flattering to her that the women who fall in love with her husband are so uncommonly second-rate.”

第三十五章

她第一次單獨(dú)和威廷頓待在一起時(shí)，故意把話題引向了查理。在他們到達(dá)這里的那天晚上，威廷頓曾經(jīng)談起過(guò)他，她假裝查理只不過(guò)是她丈夫的一個(gè)熟人。

“我不怎么待見(jiàn)他。”威廷頓說(shuō)道，“我總是覺(jué)得他這個(gè)人挺煩人的?！?/p>

“您一定很挑剔?！眲P蒂回應(yīng)道，用一種她信手拈來(lái)的打趣方式，把話說(shuō)得很輕松，“我認(rèn)為他在香港可是數(shù)一數(shù)二的炙手可熱的人物?！?/p>

“我知道。那正是他的鉆營(yíng)之道，他非常善于籠絡(luò)人心，他有一種天賦，能讓每個(gè)和他見(jiàn)面的人都覺(jué)得遇見(jiàn)了知音，如果對(duì)他來(lái)說(shuō)是輕而易舉的事，他總是愿意效勞，甚至他沒(méi)有去做你讓他幫忙的事，也會(huì)讓你覺(jué)得這事是非人力所能及的，對(duì)他也充滿感激。”

“那可真是有魅力?！?/p>

“除了魅力還是魅力，最后魅力變成了讓人厭倦的東西。我這樣覺(jué)得，跟一個(gè)更真誠(chéng)一點(diǎn)兒，而不是特別殷勤的人打交道會(huì)更放松些。我認(rèn)識(shí)查理很多年了，有那么一兩次，我看到他摘下面具——你知道，我是個(gè)無(wú)足輕重的小人物，在海關(guān)也是個(gè)下級(jí)官員——我知道在這個(gè)世界上他不會(huì)為任何人付出一丁點(diǎn)兒東西的，他心里只有他自己?！?/p>

凱蒂很悠閑地坐在椅子上，用帶著微笑的眼睛看著他，她在手指上一圈又一圈地轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)著結(jié)婚戒指。

“當(dāng)然，他會(huì)升官。他對(duì)官場(chǎng)的那一套很嫻熟，在我有生之年，我堅(jiān)信我會(huì)等到稱呼他閣下大人，等他一進(jìn)屋，我們都會(huì)起立致敬的那一天的?！?/p>

“很多人都認(rèn)為他很有能力，應(yīng)該得到提拔重用?！?/p>

“有能力？那可是看走了眼了，他很笨，可總給人一種印象，好像他能很麻利地干完手里的活，完全是由于他的聰明才干，實(shí)際上完全不是這么回事，他勤快得像個(gè)歐亞混血的職員，整天加班加點(diǎn)才能應(yīng)付手頭的工作?！?/p>

“那他怎么會(huì)贏得聰明能干的好名聲呢？”

“這世界上有很多笨蛋，當(dāng)一個(gè)身處高位的人，又沒(méi)有什么架子，在這些人的后背友好地拍那么一下，告訴他們他將竭盡全力為他們服務(wù)，他們就很可能認(rèn)為他聰明能干。當(dāng)然啦，還有他的妻子，如果你愿意，也可以把她看作一個(gè)能干的女人，她的腦瓜兒相當(dāng)靈光，她的建議總是切實(shí)可行，只要查理背后有了她，依靠她出主意，他就不會(huì)做出什么蠢事來(lái)，而在政府部門工作，這是一個(gè)男人的第一要?jiǎng)?wù)。政府部門并不想要聰明的人，聰明的人都有思想，而有思想又會(huì)招致麻煩，他們只想要有親和力和會(huì)使手腕又絕不會(huì)捅婁子的人。哦，是的，查理一定會(huì)爬到官場(chǎng)的金字塔頂?shù)?。?/p>

“我很好奇你為什么不喜歡他？”

“我沒(méi)有不喜歡他。”

“但好像你更喜歡他太太？”凱蒂微笑著說(shuō)。

“我是個(gè)傳統(tǒng)的男人，喜歡有教養(yǎng)的女人。”

“我倒是希望她的穿著打扮配得上她的教養(yǎng)。”

“她的穿著打扮不得體嗎？我從沒(méi)注意到。”

“我總聽(tīng)到人們說(shuō)，他們是一對(duì)模范夫妻?！眲P蒂說(shuō)道，同時(shí)瞇著眼睛觀察著他的表情。

“他很愛(ài)她，這點(diǎn)上他倒是值得稱贊，我覺(jué)得這是有關(guān)他最體面的事了?！?/p>

“多苛刻的表?yè)P(yáng)。”

“他也經(jīng)常跟人打情罵俏，但他從不會(huì)當(dāng)真。他太狡猾了，不會(huì)讓調(diào)情發(fā)展得太快太深，因?yàn)檫@樣會(huì)給他造成不便。當(dāng)然了，他不是一個(gè)用情很深的人，只會(huì)逢場(chǎng)作戲。他希望別人對(duì)他仰慕。他人已經(jīng)發(fā)福，而且四十歲了，可是保養(yǎng)得很好，他剛到香港時(shí)，人長(zhǎng)得很漂亮，我經(jīng)常聽(tīng)他的妻子拿他的仰慕者們打趣?！?/p>

“她難道對(duì)他的風(fēng)流韻事不在意嗎？”

“哦，一點(diǎn)兒也不。因?yàn)樗肋@些事都長(zhǎng)久不了，她說(shuō)她倒是愿意和那些愛(ài)上查理的可憐的小婦人交朋友，但是她們總是那么稀松平常。她說(shuō)她對(duì)那些迷戀她丈夫的女人實(shí)在沒(méi)法恭維，她們都是些二流貨色。”