第五章（第7/13页）

Connie fell back, let the chair go on. The day had greyed over; the small blue sky that had poised low on its circular rims of haze was closed in again, the lid was down, there was a raw coldness. It was going to snow. All grey, all grey! The world looked worn out.

康妮放缓脚步，任凭轮椅继续前进。天色变得阴沉，那小小的蓝天原本低悬于浓雾环状边缘的上方，如今却再度被遮蔽，盖子已被合拢，刺骨的寒意肆意弥漫。雪眼看就要落下。一切都是灰暗的，都是阴霾的！整个世界都显得筋疲力竭。

The chair waited at the top of the pink path. Clifford looked round for Connie.

轮椅等在粉色小径的尽头。克利福德回过头望着康妮。

"Not tired, are you?" he said.

“没感觉到累吧？”他问。

"Oh, no!" she said.

“哦，不累！”她应道。

But she was. A strange, weary yearning, a dissatisfaction had started in her. Clifford did not notice: those were not things he was aware of. But the stranger knew. To Connie, everything in her world and life seemed worn out, and her dissatisfaction was older than the hills.

然而，她却真切地感觉到疲倦。莫名的渴望透支着她的身体，不满的情绪在心中升腾。克利福德对此全然不觉，这些根本就不是他能意识到的。但那个陌生人却心如明镜。对康妮而言，周遭生活中的一切似乎都疲惫不堪，心底堆积的不满比周遭起伏的山丘还要古老。

They came to the house, and around to the back, where there were no steps. Clifford managed to swing himself over on to the low, wheeled house-chair; he was very strong and agile with his arms. Then Connie lifted the burden of his dead legs after him.

他们回到拉格比府，绕到后门，那里没有台阶。克利福德摆荡着身体，换到稍低的家用轮椅中，他的双臂强健而灵活。接着，康妮搬起丈夫那两条沉重且全无知觉的残腿。

The keeper, waiting at attention to be dismissed, watched everything narrowly, missing nothing. He went pale, with a sort of fear, when he saw Connie lifting the inert legs of the man in her arms, into the other chair, Clifford pivoting round as she did so. He was frightened.

守林人候在旁边，等着克利福德命他退下，他紧紧地注视着发生的一切，没有半点遗漏。看到康妮将克利福德麻木的双腿抱在怀中，放进另一台轮椅里，他的脸色变得惨白，表情愕然。克利福德掉转轮椅，康妮也回过身来。他显然吃惊非小。

"Thanks, then, for the help, Mellors," said Clifford casually, as he began to wheel down the passage to the servants'quarters.

“谢谢，多亏有你帮忙，梅勒斯。”克利福德漫不经心地说着，开始驱动轮椅驶下走廊，直奔佣人房。

"Nothing else, Sir?" came the neutral voice, like one in a dream.

“没别的吩咐了吗，爵爷？”仍是那漠然的腔调，如同梦中的呓语。

"Nothing, good morning!" "Good morning, Sir." "Good morning! It was kind of you to push the chair up that hill...I hope it wasn't heavy for you," said Connie, looking back at the keeper outside the door.

“没有，再见！”“再见，爵爷。”“再见！幸好有你帮忙推轮椅上坡……希望你不会觉得太重。”康妮说，转头望着门外的守林人。

His eyes came to hers in an instant, as if wakened up. He was aware of her.

四目相接，他如梦方醒。这才意识到康妮在向他道谢。

"Oh no, not heavy!" he said quickly. Then his voice dropped again into the broad sound of the vernacular: "Good mornin' to your Ladyship!” "Who is your game-keeper?”. Connie asked at lunch

“哦，不，不重！”他连忙说。又换上那种刻意的本地土语：“回见，夫人！”“那个守林人叫什么？”午饭时，康妮问。

"Mellors! You saw him," said Clifford.

“梅勒斯！你见过的。”克利福德答道。

"Yes, but where did he come from?" "Nowhere! He was a Tevershall boy...son of a collier, I believe." "And was he a collier himself?" "Blacksmith on the pit-bank, I believe: overhead smith. But he was keeper here for two years before the war...before he joined up. My father always had a good Opinion of him, so when he came back, and went to the pit for a blacksmith's job, I just took him back here as keeper. I was really very glad to get him...its almost impossible to find a good man round here for a gamekeeper...and it needs a man who knows the people.” "And isn't he married?” "He was. But his wife went off with...with various men...but finally with a collier at Stacks Gate, and I believe she's living there still.” "So this man is alone?" "More or less! He has a mother in the village...and a child, I believe." Clifford looked at Connie, with his pale, slightly prominent blue eyes, in which a certain vagueness was coming. He seemed alert in the foreground, but the background was like the Midlands atmosphere, haze, smoky mist. And the haze seemed to be creeping forward. So when he stared at Connie in his peculiar way, giving her his peculiar, precise information, she felt all the background of his mind filling up with mist, with nothingness. And it frightened her. It made him seem impersonal, almost to idiocy.