Next morning I sent the butler to New York with a letter to Wolfshiem which asked for information and urged him to come out on the next train. That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it. I was sure he’d start when he saw the newspapers, just as I was sure there’d be a wire from Daisy before noon—but neither a wire nor Mr. Wolfshiem arrived, no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men. When the butler brought back Wolfshiem’s answer I began to have a feeling of defiance, of scornful solidarity between Gatsby and me against them all.
第二天早晨我派男管家到纽约去给沃尔夫山姆送一封信，信中向他打听消息，并恳请他搭下一班火车就来。我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。我认为他一看见报纸肯定马上就会赶来的，正如我认为中午以前黛西肯定会有电报来的——可是电报也没来，沃尔夫山姆先生也没到。什么人都没来，只有更多的警察、摄影师和新闻记者。等到男管家带回来沃尔夫山姆的回信时，我开始感到傲视一切，感到盖茨比和我可以团结一致横眉冷对他们所有的人。
Dear Mr. Carraway. This has been one of the most terrible shocks of my life to me I hardly can believe it that it is true
at all. Such a mad act as that man did should make us all think. I cannot come down now as I am tied up in some very important business and cannot get mixed up in this thing now. If there is anything I can do a little later let me know in a letter by Edgar. I hardly know where I am when I hear about a thing like this and am completely knocked down and out.
Yours truly MEYER WOLFSHIEM
亲爱的卡罗威先生: 这个消息使我感到万分震惊，我几乎不敢相信是真的。那个人干的这种疯狂行为应当使我们大家都好好想想。我现在不能前来，因为我正在办理一些非常重要的业务，目前不能跟这件事发生牵连。过一些时候如有我可以出力的事，请派 埃德加送封信通知我。我听到这种事后简直不知道自己身在何处，感到天昏地暗了。
您的忠实的迈耶·沃尔夫山姆
and then hasty addenda beneath:
Let me know about the funeral etc do not know his family at all.
When the phone rang that afternoon and Long Distance said Chicago was calling. I thought this would be Daisy at last. But the connection came through as a man’s voice, very thin and far away.
下面又匆匆附了一笔:
关于丧礼安排请告知。又及:根本不认识他家里人。那天下午电话铃响，长途台说芝加哥有电话来，我以为这总该是黛西了，但等到接通了一听却是一个男人的声音，很轻很远。
‘This is Slagle speaking....’
‘Yes?’ The name was unfamiliar.
‘Hell of a note, isn’t it? Get my wire?’
‘There haven’t been any wires.’
‘Young Parke’s in trouble,’ he said rapidly. ‘They picked him up when he handed the bonds over the counter. They got a circular from New York giving ‘em the numbers just five minutes before. What d’you know about that, hey? You never can tell in these hick towns——‘
“我是斯莱格⋯⋯”
“是吗?”这名字很生疏。
“那封信真够呛，是不?收到我的电报了吗?”
“什么电报也没有。”
“小派克倒霉了，”他话说得很快，“他在柜台上递证券的时候给逮住了。刚刚五分钟之前他们收到纽约的通知，列上了号码。你想得到吗?在这种乡下地方你没法料到⋯⋯”
‘Hello!’ I interrupted breathlessly. ‘Look here—this isn’t Mr. Gatsby. Mr. Gatsby’s dead.’
There was a long silence on the other end of the wire, followed by an exclamation ... then a quick squawk as the connection was broken.
I think it was on the third day that a telegram signed Henry C. Gatz arrived from a town in Minnesota. It said only that the sender was leaving immediately and to postpone the funeral until he came.
“喂!喂!” 我上气不接下气地打断了他的话，“你听我说——我不是盖茨比先生。盖茨比先生死了。”
电话线那头沉默了好久，接着是一声惊叫⋯⋯然后卡嗒一声电话就挂断了。
我想大概是第三天，从明尼苏达州的一个小城镇来了一封署名亨利·C·盖兹的电报。上面只说发电人马上动身，要求等他到达后再举行葬礼。
It was Gatsby’s father, a solemn old man very helpless and dismayed, bundled up in a long cheap ulster against the warm September day. His eyes leaked continuously with excitement and when I took the bag and umbrella from his hands he began to pull so incessantly at his sparse grey beard that I had difficulty in getting off his coat. He was on the point of collapse so I took him into the music room and made him sit down while I sent for something to eat. But he wouldn’t eat and the glass of milk spilled from his trembling hand.
来的是盖茨比的父亲，一个很庄重的老头子，非常可怜，非常沮丧，这样暖和的九月天就裹上了一件蹩脚的长外套。他激动得眼泪不住地往下流，我从他手里把旅行包和雨伞接过来时，他不停地伸手去拉他那摄稀稀的花白胡须。我好不容易才帮他脱下了大衣。他人快要垮了，不是我一而把他领到音乐厅里去，让他坐下，一面打发人去搞一点吃的来，但是他不肯吃东西，那杯牛奶也从他哆哆嗦嗦的手里撒了出来。
‘I saw it in the Chicago newspaper,’ he said. ‘It was all in the Chicago newspaper. I started right away.’
‘I didn’t know how to reach you.’
His eyes, seeing nothing, moved ceaselessly about the room.
‘It was a mad man,’ he said. ‘He must have been mad.’ ‘Wouldn’t you like some coffee?’ I urged him.
‘I don’t want anything. I’m all right now, Mr.——‘ ‘Carraway.’
“我从芝加哥报纸上看到的，”他说，“芝加哥报纸上全都登了出来，我马上就动身了。”
“我没法子通知您。”
他的眼睛现而不见，可是不停地向屋子里四面看。“是一个疯子干的，”他说，“他一定是疯了。”“您喝杯咖啡不好吗?”我劝他。 “我什么都不要。我现在好了，您是⋯⋯”“卡罗威。”
‘Well, I’m all right now. Where have they got Jimmy?’ I took him into the drawing-room, where his son lay, and left him there. Some little boys had come up on the steps and were looking into the hall; when I told them who had arrived they went reluctantly away.
“呃，我现在好了。他们把杰米放在哪儿?” 我把他领进客厅里他儿子停放的地方，把他留在那甲。有几个小男孩爬上了台阶，正在往门厅里张望。等到我告诉他们是谁来了，他们才勉勉强强地走开了。
After a little while Mr. Gatz opened the door and came out, his mouth ajar, his face flushed slightly, his eyes leaking isolated and unpunctual tears. He had reached an age where death no longer has the quality of ghastly surprise, and when he looked around him now for the first time and saw the height and splendor of the hall and the great rooms opening out from it into other rooms his grief began to be mixed with an awed pride. I helped him to a bedroom upstairs; while he took off his coat and vest I told him that all arrangements had been deferred until he came.
过了一会儿盖兹先生打开门走了出来，他嘴巴张着，脸微微有点红，眼睛“断断续续洒下地滴泪水。他已经到了并不把死亡看作一件骇人听闻的事情的年纪，于是此刻地第一次向四周一望，看见门厅如此富丽堂皇，一间间大屋子从这中又通向别的屋子，他的悲伤就开始和一股又惊讶又骄傲的感情交织在一起了。我把他搀到楼上的一间卧室里。 他一面脱上衣和背心，我一面告诉他一切安排都推迟了，等他来决定。
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