-
“
My aunt will come
down very soon, Mr. Nuttel,
”
said a very calm young lady of fifteen
years of age;
“
meanwhile you must try to
bear my company.
”
Framton
Nuttel
tried
to
say
something
which
would
please
the
niece
now
present,
without annoying
the aunt that was about to come. He was supposed
to be going through
a
cure
for
his
nerves;
but
he
doubted
whether
these
polite
visits
to
a
number
of
total
strangers would help
much.
“
I know how it will
be,
”
his sister had said
when he was preparing to go away into
the country;
“
you will lose yourself down
there and not speak to a living soul, and your
nerves
will
be
worse
than
ever
through
loneliness.
I
shall
just
give
you
letters
of
introduction
to all the people I know
there. Some of them, as
far as
I can
remember,
were quite nice.
”
“纳托先生，我姑妈很快就会下来”，说话人是一位十五岁的年轻小姐，看上去沉着自信
，“现在我
来陪您，请多包涵。”
弗雷顿想说些让面前这位侄女高兴
，而且又不会令即将到来的姑妈感到厌烦的话。弗雷顿
?
纳托<
/p>
目前需要接受精神忧郁症的治疗，
可是一个接着一个的拜访这样完
全陌生的人真的会对他的神经有什
么帮助吗？
当时他
正收拾行装准备来乡下静居，姐姐对他说：“我知道最后会是什么样子！到了那里你会迷
糊，不跟任何人说一句话，而你的神经会因为抑郁不乐而变得更加糟糕。我还是要写一些引见信，把
你介绍给那里所有我认识的人，在我的印象中，有些人还是很和善的。”
Framton wondered whether Mrs.
Sappleton, the lady to whom he was bringing one
of the letters of introduction, one of
the nice ones.
“
Do
you
know
many
of
the
people
round
here?
”
asked
the
niece,
when
she
thought
that they had sat long enough in silence.
“
Hardly
one,
”
said Framton.
“
My sister was staying here,
you know, about four
years ago, and she
gave me letters of introduction to some of the
people here.
”
He made the
last statement in a sad voice.
弗雷顿现在就要把
这样一封引见信交给赛普顿夫人，不知道这位夫人是不是属于和善之流。
“您在
这里认识很多人吗？”那位小姐开口问道，因为她发现他们这样沉默的交流时间过长了。
“几乎
一个人都不认识，”弗雷顿答道，“四年前我的姐姐在这里住过一段时间，是她写的引见
信让我认识这里的人。”
他说最后一句话时，语气中透露出伤感。
“
Then you know almost
nothing about my aunt?
”
continued the calm young
lady.
“
Only her name and
address;
”
Framton admitted.
He was wondering whether Mrs.
Sappleton
was married; perhaps she had been married and her
husband was dead. But
there was
something of a man in the room.
“
Her
great sorrow came just three years
ago,
”
said the child.
“
That would be after
your sister
’
s
time.
“
Her
sorrow?
”
asked
Framton.
Somehow,
in
this
restful
country
place,
sorrows
seemed far away.
“那么您实际上对我姑妈是一无所知了？”年轻的小姐继续问道。
“只知
道她的名字和地址，”弗雷顿承认，同时他又在暗自考虑，这位赛普顿夫人是否结婚了，
可能她结过婚但她的丈夫去世了。但房间里有些说不清的迹象表明这里是有男人居住的。
“三年
前她的家里发生了一场悲剧，”那孩子接着说，“当时您的姐姐应该已经离开这里了。”
“悲剧
？”弗雷顿觉得有些不可思议，
不知为什么他觉得在这样的乡村静地是不会发生什么悲剧
的。
“
You may wonder why we keep
that window wide open on an October
afternoon,
”
said
the niece, pointing to a long window
that opened like a door on to the grass outside.
“
It is quite warm for the
time of the year,
”
said
Framton;
“
but has that
window got
anything to do with your
aunt
’
s
sorrow?
”
“也许您会奇怪，
为什么十月份的下午我们会将窗户大敞着，
”那位小姐用手指着
那扇宽敞的象扇门
的落地窗说。窗外是一片草坪。
“今年的十月天气不是很凉，”弗雷顿回答，“不过你的意思是说，
这扇窗
户跟那场悲剧有什么关系吗？”
“
Out through that window,
exactly three years ago, her husband and her two
young
brothers went off for their
day
’
s shooting. They never
came back. In crossing the country
to
the shooting-ground, they were all three swallowed
in a bog. It had been that terrible
wet
summer,
you
know,
and
places
that
were
safe
in
other
years
became
suddenly
dangerous.
Their
bodies
were
never
found.
That
was
the
worst
part
of
it.
”
Here
the
child
’
s voice
lost its calm sound and became almost
human.
“
Poor aunt always thinks
that they will come back someday, they
and the little brown dog that was lost with them,
and walk in at that window just as they
used to do. That is why the window is kept open
every evening till it is quite dark.
Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they
went out,
her husband with his white
coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest
brother, singing a
song, as he always
did to
annoy her, because she
said
it affected
her nerves. Do
you
know, sometimes on quiet evenings like
this, I almost get a strange feeling that they
will all
walk in through the window
??
”
“三年前的今天，她的丈夫和
两个弟弟，就是穿过那扇窗户去打猎，但是一去无返。他们当时要
去那块最适合猎射的地
方，但是在穿过野地的时候，三个人意想不到的全部陷进沼泽里。就是那个可
怕的潮湿的
夏天，
让在其他年份里一直很安全的地方变得突然危险了。
最糟
糕的是从未找到他们的尸
体。”说到这小孩的声音变得不再镇定，而是充满了感情色彩。
“可怜的姑妈总是相信他们有一天会
回来，他们三个，还有那条跟他们一块儿失踪的棕色
猎狗，会像从前一样从那扇窗户走进来。那就是
为什么这扇窗每个傍晚都会敞开着直到很
晚的时候才关。可怜的，亲爱的姑妈，她总是跟我提起当时
他们出门的情景，她的丈夫胳
膊上搭着一件白色外衣，她最小的弟弟，罗尼，象平常一样唱着会让她
心烦意乱的歌，她
曾说他的歌刺激着她的神经。你知道吗，在这样安静的夜晚，我有时也会觉得他们
会从那
扇窗子走进来，这种感觉让我浑身发怵。”
She stopped and trembled. It was a
relief to Framton when the aunt came busily into
the room and apologized for being late.
“
I hope Vera has been
amusing you?
”
she said.
“
She has been very
interesting,
”
said Framton.
“
I
hope
you
don
’
t
mind
the
open
window,
”
said
Mrs.
Sappleton
brightly;
“
my
husband and
brothers will be home soon from shooting, and they
always come in this way.
They
’
ve been
shooting birds today near the bog, so
they
’
ll make my poor carpets
dirty.
All you men do that sort of
thing, don
’
t you?