Michaelis made a clumsy attempt to distract him.
‘How long have you been married, George? Come on there, try and sit still a minute and answer my question. How long have you been married?’
‘Twelve years.’
‘Ever had any children? Come on, George, sit still—I asked you a question. Did you ever have any children?’
米切里斯笨口拙舌地想法子分散他的注意力。
“你结婚多久了，乔治? 得啦，安安静静坐一会儿，回答我的问题。你结婚多久了?”
“十二年。”
“生过孩子没有?得啦，乔治，坐着别动——我问了你一个问题。你生过孩子没有?”
The hard brown beetles kept thudding against the dull light and whenever Michaelis heard a car go tearing along the road outside it sounded to him like the car that hadn’t stopped a few hours before. He didn’t like to go into the garage because the work bench was stained where the body had been lying so he moved uncomfortably around the office—he knew every object in it before morning—and from time to time sat down beside Wilson trying to keep him more quiet.
‘Have you got a church you go to sometimes, George?
硬壳的棕色甲虫不停地往暗淡的电灯上乱撞。每次米切里斯听见一辆汽车在外面公路上疾驰而过，他总觉得听上去就像是几个小时以前那辆没停的车。他不愿意走进汽车间去，因为那张停放过尸体的工作台上有血迹。他只好很不舒服地在办公室平走来走去——还没到天亮地已经熟悉以面的每样东西了——不时地又坐在威尔逊身边想法让地安静一点。
Maybe even if you haven’t been there for a long time? May- be I could call up the church and get a priest to come over and he could talk to you, see?’
‘Don’t belong to any.’
‘You ought to have a church, George, for times like this. You must have gone to church once. Didn’t you get married in a church? Listen, George, listen to me. Didn’t you get married in a church?’
‘That was a long time ago.’
“有没有一个你有时去去的教堂，乔治?也许你已经好久没去过的?也 许我可以打电话给教堂，请一位牧师来，他可以跟你谈谈，不好吗?”
“不属于任何教堂。”
“你应当有一个教堂，乔治，碰到这种时候就有用了。你从前一定做过礼拜的。难道你不是在教堂里结婚的吗?听着，乔治，你听我说。难道你不是在教堂里结婚的吗?”
“那是很久以前了。”
The effort of answering broke the rhythm of his rocking— for a moment he was silent. Then the same half knowing, half bewildered look came back into his faded eyes.
‘Look in the drawer there,’ he said, pointing at the desk. ‘Which drawer?’
‘That drawer—that one.’
Michaelis opened the drawer nearest his hand. There was nothing in it but a small expensive dog leash made of leather and braided silver. It was apparently new.
回答问题的努力打断了他来回摇摇的节奏——他安静了一会，然后和原先一样的那种半清醒半迷糊的表情又回到了他无神的眼睛里。
“打开那个抽屉看看。”他指着书桌说。“哪一个抽屉?”
“那个抽屉——那一个。”
米切里斯打开了离他手边最近的那个抽屉。里面什么都没有，除了一根小小的贵重的狗皮带，是用牛皮和银缏制作的。看上去还是新的。
‘This?’ he inquired, holding it up.
Wilson stared and nodded.
‘I found it yesterday afternoon. She tried to tell me about it but I knew it was something funny.’
‘You mean your wife bought it?’
“这个?”他举起狗皮带问道。
威尔逊瞪着眼点点头。 “我昨天下午发现的。她想法子向我说明它的来由，但是我知道这件蹊跷。”
“你是说你太太买的吗?”
‘She had it wrapped in tissue paper on her bureau.’ Michaelis didn’t see anything odd in that and he gave Wilson a dozen reasons why his wife might have bought the dog leash. But conceivably Wilson had heard some of these same explanations before, from Myrtle, because he began saying ‘Oh, my God!’ again in a whisper—his comforter left several explanations in the air.
“她用薄纸包着放在她的梳妆台上。”米切里斯看不出这有什么古怪，于是他对威尔逊说出十来个理由为什么他老婆可能会买这条狗皮带，但是不难想象，这些同样的理由有一些威尔 逊已经从茉特尔那里听过，因为他又轻轻地哼起:“我的上帝啊!”他的安慰者还有几个理由没说出口又缩回去了。
‘Then he killed her,’ said Wilson. His mouth dropped open suddenly.
‘Who did?’
‘I have a way of finding out.’
‘You’re morbid, George,’ said his friend. ‘This has been a strain to you and you don’t know what you’re saying. You’d better try and sit quiet till morning.’
“那么他杀害了她。“威尔逊说，他的嘴巴突然张得大大的。
“谁杀害了她?”
“我有办法打听出来。”
“你胡思乱想，乔治，”他的朋友说，“你受了很大的刺激，连自己说什么都不知道了。你还是尽量安安静静地坐到天亮吧。”
‘He murdered her.’
‘It was an accident, George.’
Wilson shook his head. His eyes narrowed and his mouth widened slightly with the ghost of a superior ‘Hm!’
‘I know,’ he said definitely, ‘I’m one of these trusting fellas and I don’t think any harm to NObody, but when I get to know a thing I know it. It was the man in that car. She ran out to speak to him and he wouldn’t stop.’
“他谋杀了她。”
“那是交通事故，乔治。”
威尔逊摇了摇头。他眼睛眯成一条缝，嘴巴微微咧开，不以为然地轻轻“哼”了一声。
“我知道，”他肯定地说，“我是个信任别人的人，从来也不怀疑任何人有鬼，但是我一己弄明白一件事，我心里就有数了。是那辆车子里的那个男人。她跑过去想跟他说话，但是他不肯停下来。”
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