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“Meantime, he propped their lovely corpsesat the table and went about the room lighting all the candles until it blazedas if for a wedding. ‘Come in, Louis,’ he said. ‘I would have arranged anescort for you, but I know what a man you are about choosing your own. PityMademoiselle Freniere likes to hurl flaming lanterns. It makes a partyunwieldy, don’t you think? Especially for a hotel?’ He seated the blond-hairedgirl so that her head lay to one side against the damask back of the chair, andthe darker woman lay with her chin resting just above her breasts; this one hadblanched, and her features had a rigid look to them already, as though she wasone of those women in whom the fire of personality makes beauty. But the otherlooked only as if she slept; and I was not sure that she was
even dead. Lestathad made two gashes, one in her throat and one above her left breast, and bothstill bled freely. He lifted her wrist now, and slitting it with a knife,filled two wine glasses and bade me to sit down. “他把两具可爱的尸体立起来靠在桌旁，把房间里的蜡烛都点上。烛光明亮，就像婚礼一样。‘进来吧，路易，’他说，‘我应该给你安排一位同伴的，但我知道你要自己挑选。遗憾的是弗雷尼尔小姐喜欢抛洒灯火，那样会把晚会弄得难以收抬的。你不这么认为吗？尤其是在旅馆里？’他让那两个女人坐在椅子上，黄头发的女人头歪向一边靠在猩红的绒椅背上，另一个皮肤黑一些的女人头则耷拉在胸前。她脸色苍白，神情呆板。她好像是那样一种女人，热情的个性才会使她们变得漂亮。另一个看上去就像是睡着了一般，我都拿不准她是不是真的死了。莱斯特在她身上留下两道口子，一道在喉咙，另一道在胸口，都正往外冒着血。他拿起她的手腕，用刀切开，斟满两只酒杯，让我坐下。“ ‘I’m leaving you,’ I said to him at once.‘I wish to tell you that now.’ “‘我要离开你，’我马上对他说道，‘我想现在就告诉你。’“ ‘I thought as much,’ he answered, sittingback in the chair, ‘and I thought as well that you would make a floweryannouncement. Tell me what a monster I am; what a vulgar fiend.’ “‘我也这么想，’他说道，坐在椅子上往后靠了靠。‘我还想到你会郑重宣布，说我是个妖怪，是个粗俗的魔王。’“ ‘I make no judgments upon you. I’m notinterested in you. I am interested in my own nature now, and I’ve come tobelieve I can’t trust you to tell me the truth about it. You use knowledge forpersonal power,’ I told him. And I suppose, in the manner of many people makingsuch an announcement, I was not looking to him for an honest response. I wasnot looking to him at all. I was mainly listening to my own words. But now Isaw that his face was once again the way it had been when he’d said we would talk.He was listening to me. I was suddenly at a loss. I felt that gulf between usas painfully as ever. “‘我不会评判你，我对你不感兴趣，我只对我自己的本性感兴趣。我已愈来愈清楚地认识到，不能再相信你会把真相告诉我。你了解一切，但把这当做私有的能力，’我告诉他说。我想我向他宣布这一决定的样子和大多数人一样，根本没去看他，只是自顾自说。然而这时，我看见他的脸色又变了，就和他说要和我谈谈的时候一样。他在听我说。我突然有些茫然，异常痛苦地感觉到我们之间存在的鸿沟。
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