The Moon And Sixpence 13.2

But though hesaid nothing of any consequence, there was something in his personality whichprevented him from being dull. Perhaps it was sincerity. He did not seem tocare much about the Paris he was now seeing for the first time (I did not countthe visit with his wife), and he accepted sights which must have been strangeto him without any sense of astonishment. I have been to Paris a hundred times,and it never fails to give me a thrill of excitement; I can never walk itsstreets without feeling myself on the verge of adventure. Strickland remainedplacid. Looking back, I think now that he was blind to everything but to somedisturbing vision in his soul.

One ratherabsurd incident took place. There were a number of harlots in the tavern: somewere sitting with men, others by themselves; and presently I noticed that oneof these was looking at us. When she caught Strickland's eye she smiled. I donot think he saw her. In a little while she went out, but in a minute returnedand, passing our table, very politely asked us to buy her something to drink.She sat down and I began to chat with her; but, it was plain that her interestwas in Strickland. I explained that he knew no more than two words of French.She tried to talk to him, partly by signs, partly in pidgin French, which, forsome reason, she thought would be more comprehensible to him, and she had halfa dozen phrases of English. She made me translate what she could only expressin her own tongue, and eagerly asked for the meaning of his replies. He wasquite good-tempered, a little amused, but his indifference was obvious.

但是虽然他说不出什么有意义的话来，他的性格中却有一种东西使你觉得他这人一点也不乏味。或许这是由于他非常真挚。他对于第一次见到的巴黎（我没有算他同他妻子来度蜜月那一次）好象并不怎样好奇，对于那些对他说来肯定是非常新奇的景象并不感到惊异。我自己来巴黎少说有一百次了，可是哪次来都免不了兴奋得心头飘忽忽的，走在巴黎街头我总觉得随时都会经历到一场奇遇。思特里克兰德却始终声色不动。现在回想这件事，我认为他当时根本什么也看不到，他看到的只是搅动着他灵魂的一些幻景。

这时发生了一件有些荒唐的事。酒馆里有几个妓女；有的同男人坐在一起，有的独自坐在那里。我们没进去多久，我就注意到其中的一个总是瞟着我们。当她的眼睛同思特里克兰德的目光相遇以后，她向他作了个笑脸。我想思特里克兰德根本没有注意她。过了一会儿她从酒馆里走了出去，但是马上又走进来；在经过我们座位的时候，她很有礼貌地请我们给她买一点什么喝的。她坐下来，我同她闲聊起来，但是她的目标显然是思特里克兰德。我对她讲，他法文只懂几个字。她试着同他讲了几句，一半用手势，一半用外国人说的蹩脚法语，不知为什么，她认为这种话他更容易懂，另外，她倒也会说五六句英国话。有的话她只能用法国话说，她就叫我给她翻译，而且热切地向我打听他回话的意思。思特里克兰德脾气很好，甚至还觉得这件事有些好笑，但是显然根本没有把她看在眼里。