The Moon And Sixpence 12.2

"Beastlyjob for you this, isn't it?"

"Oh, Idon't know, " I answered.

"Well,look here, you get it over, and then we'll have a jolly evening. "

I hesitated.

"Has itoccurred to you that your wife is frightfully unhappy?"

"She'llget over it. "

I cannot describethe extraordinary callousness with which he made this reply. It disconcertedme, but I did my best not to show it. I adopted the tone used by my UncleHenry, a clergyman, when he was asking one of his relatives for a subscriptionto the Additional Curates Society.

"You don'tmind my talking to you frankly?"

He shook hishead, smiling.

"Has shedeserved that you should treat her like this?"

"No."

"Have youany complaint to make against her?"

"None."

"Then,isn't it monstrous to leave her in this fashion, after seventeen years ofmarried life, without a fault to find with her?"

"Monstrous."

I glanced athim with surprise. His cordial agreement with all I said cut the ground fromunder my feet. It made my position complicated, not to say ludicrous. I wasprepared to be persuasive, touching, and hortatory, admonitory andexpostulating, if need be vituperative even, indignant and sarcastic; but whatthe devil does a mentor do when the sinner makes no bones about confessing hissin? I had no experience, since my own practice has always been to denyeverything.

“交给你办的事很叫你头疼，对不对？”

“啊，我不知道，”我回答。

“听我说，你赶快把肚子里的事说出来，以后咱们可以痛快地玩一个晚上。”

我犹豫不定。

“你想到过没有，你的妻子痛苦极了？”

“事情会过去的。”

他说这句话的那种冷漠无情我简直无法描摹。我被他这种态度搞得心慌意乱，但是我尽量掩盖着自己。我采用了我的一位亨利叔叔说话的语调；亨利叔叔是个牧师，每逢他请求哪位亲戚给候补副牧师协会捐款的时候总是用这种语调。

“我说话不同你转弯抹角，你不介意吧？”

他笑着摇了摇头。

“你这样对待她说得过去吗？”

“说不过去。”

“你有什么不满意她的地方吗？”

“没有。”

“那么，你们结婚十七年，你又挑不出她任何毛病，你这样离开了她不是太岂有此理了吗？”

“是太岂有此理了。”

我感到非常惊奇，看了他一眼。不管我说什么，他都从心眼里赞同，这就把我的口预先箝住了。他使我的处境变得非常复杂，且不说滑稽可笑了。本来我预备说服他、打动他、规劝他、训诫他、同他讲道理，如果需要的话还要斥责他，要发一通脾气，要把他冷嘲热讽个够；但是如果罪人对自己犯的罪直认不讳，规劝的人还有什么事情好做呢？我对他这种人一点也没有经验，因为我自己如果做错了事总是矢口否认。