It was hardly an hour after Joseph and I had begun preparing for my departure, when there was a violent ring at the door.
Joseph和我开始准备我离开后还不到一个小时，门外突然响起了剧烈的敲门声。

“Shall I go to the door?” said Joseph.
“我去开门吧？”Joseph说。

“Go,” I said, asking myself who it could be at such an hour, and not daring to believe that it was Marguerite.
我说：“去吧”，心里想着这么晚会是谁，不敢相信会是玛格丽特。

“Sir,” said Joseph coming back to me, “it is two ladies.”
Joseph回到我身边说：“先生，是两位女士。”

“It is we, Armand,” cried a voice that I recognised as that of Prudence.
Prudence的声音响起：“是我们，阿尔芒。”

I came out of my room. Prudence was standing looking around the place; —
我走出房间。Prudence站在那里四处张望着； —

Marguerite, seated on the sofa, was meditating. —
坐在沙发上的玛格丽特在沉思。 —

I went to her, knelt down, took her two hands, and, deeply moved, said to her, “Pardon.”
我走向她，跪下，握住她的两只手，激动地对她说：“原谅我。”

She kissed me on the forehead, and said:
她亲了亲我的额头，说：

“This is the third time that I have forgiven you.”
“这已经是我第三次原谅你了。”

“I should have gone away to-morrow.”
“明天我本该离开。”

“How can my visit change your plans? I have not come to hinder you from leaving Paris. I have come because I had no time to answer you during the day, and I did not wish to let you think that I was angry with you. —
“我的到访怎么可能改变你的计划？我来并不是为了阻止你离开巴黎。我来是因为我白天没有时间回复你，而且我也不希望让你以为我生你的气。” —

Prudence didn’t want me to come; she said that I might be in the way.”
普鲁登斯不想让我来；她说我可能会妨碍她。

“You in the way, Marguerite! But how?”
你妨碍了谁，玛格丽特！？可是怎么会？

“Well, you might have had a woman here,” said Prudence, “and it would hardly have been amusing for her to see two more arrive.”
“哦，你可能会带来一个女人呀，”普鲁登斯说，“她看到我们两个人一起到这里来，肯定很无趣。”

During this remark Marguerite looked at me attentively.
在她说这番话的时候，玛格丽特仔细地看着我。

“My dear Prudence,” I answered, “you do not know what you are saying.”
我回答说：“亲爱的普鲁登斯，你不知道你在说些什么。”

“What a nice place you’ve got!” Prudence went on. “May we see the bedroom?”
“你的房子真漂亮！”普鲁登斯接着说，“我们可以看看卧室吗？”

“Yes.”
“可以。”

Prudence went into the bedroom, not so much to see it as to make up for the foolish thing which she had just said, and to leave Marguerite and me alone.
普鲁登斯走进卧室，不仅仅是去看一看，还为她刚才说的傻话作弥补，让玛格丽特和我单独呆在一起。

“Why did you bring Prudence?” I asked her.
“你为什么带普鲁登斯来？”我问她。

“Because she was at the theatre with me, and because when I leave here I want to have someone to see me home.”
“因为她和我一起去了剧院，我离开这里时希望有人能陪我回家。”

“Could not I do?”
“难道我不可以吗？”

“Yes, but, besides not wishing to put you out, I was sure that if you came as far as my door you would want to come up, and as I could not let you, I did not wish to let you go away blaming me for saying ‘No.’”
“是的，但是，除了不想让你为难之外，我确信如果你来到我家门口，你会想进来，而因为我不能让你进来，我也不想让你离开时责怪我说‘不’。”

“And why could you not let me come up?”
“为什么你不能让我上来呢？”

“Because I am watched, and the least suspicion might do me the greatest harm.”
“因为有人监视着我，稍有疑心可能给我带来极大的危害。”

“Is that really the only reason?”
“那真的是唯一的原因吗？”

“If there were any other, I would tell you; —
“如果还有其他原因，我会告诉你； —

for we are not to have any secrets from one another now.”
因为我们现在不应该有任何秘密。”

“Come, Marguerite, I am not going to take a roundabout way of saying what I really want to say. —
“来吧，玛格丽特，我不打算绕弯子说我真正想说的话。 —

Honestly, do you care for me a little?”
老实说，你对我有点感情吗？”

“A great deal.”
“很多。”

“Then why did you deceive me?”
“那你为什么欺骗我？”

“My friend, if I were the Duchess So and So, if I had two hundred thousand francs a year, and if I were your mistress and had another lover, you would have the right to ask me; —
“朋友，如果我是什么什么公爵夫人，如果我每年有两百万法郎，如果我是你的情妇并且还有另一个情人，那么你有权利问我； —

but I am Mlle. Marguerite Gautier, I am forty thousand francs in debt, I have not a penny of my own, and I spend a hundred thousand francs a year. —
但我是玛格丽特·高堤尔小姐，我欠着四万法郎的债务，自己一文不名，一年花费十万法郎。 —

Your question becomes unnecessary and my answer useless.”
“你的问题变得多余，我的回答变得无用。”

“You are right,” I said, letting my head sink on her knees; “but I love you madly.”
“你说得对，”我说着，把头沉在她的膝盖上，“但我疯狂地爱着你。”

“Well, my friend, you must either love me a little less or understand me a little better. —
“好吧，朋友，你必须要么少爱我一点，要么更好地理解我。” —

Your letter gave me a great deal of pain. —
“你的信让我非常痛苦。” —

If I had been free, first of all I would not have seen the count the day before yesterday, or, if I had, I should have come and asked your forgiveness as you ask me now, and in future I should have had no other lover but you. —
“如果我自由的话，首先我昨天就不会见到伯爵，或者，如果我见到他的话，我应该会来向你道歉，就像你现在向我道歉一样，并且以后我不会有别的情人，只会有你。” —

I fancied for a moment that I might give myself that happiness for six months; —
“我曾经幻想过，也许我能够为自己争取这半年的幸福。” —

you would not have it; you insisted on knowing the means. —
“但是，你不愿意；你坚持要知道方法。” —

Well, good heavens, the means were easy enough to guess! —
“唔，好天哪，方法足够容易猜到了！” —

In employing them I was making a greater sacrifice for you than you imagine. —
“在采用这些方法时，我为了你做出了你想象不到的巨大牺牲。” —

I might have said to you, ‘I want twenty thousand francs’; —
我可能跟你说过，“我想要两万法郎”； —

you were in love with me and you would have found them, at the risk of reproaching me for it later on. —
你爱着我，为了找到这笔钱，甚至冒着以后会责怪我的风险。 —

I preferred to owe you nothing; you did not understand the scruple, for such it was. —
我宁愿欠你一个人情；你却无法理解这份顾忌，因为那是一种顾忌。 —

Those of us who are like me, when we have any heart at all, we give a meaning and a development to words and things unknown to other women; —
我们这样的人，如果内心真的有柔软之处，我们会给词语和事物赋予他人所不知道的意义和发展； —

I repeat, then, that on the part of Marguerite Gautier the means which she used to pay her debts without asking you for the money necessary for it, was a scruple by which you ought to profit, without saying anything. —
因此，我要再次重申，关于玛格丽特·高缇，她为了偿还债务而没有向你借钱，这是她怜悯于你的一个顾虑，你应该默默接受，不必多说。 —

If you had only met me to-day, you would be too delighted with what I promised you, and you would not question me as to what I did the day before yesterday. —
如果你今天刚刚遇见我，你一定会对我所承诺的感到高兴，并且不会询问我前天做了什么。 —

We are sometimes obliged to buy the satisfaction of our souls at the expense of our bodies, and we suffer still more, when, afterward, that satisfaction is denied us.”
我们有时不得不以牺牲身体来买回灵魂的满足，而当那种满足被拒绝后，我们会更加痛苦。”

I listened, and I gazed at Marguerite with admiration. —
我倾听着，羡慕地凝视着玛格丽特。 —

When I thought that this marvellous creature, whose feet I had once longed to kiss, was willing to let me take my place in her thoughts, my part in her life, and that I was not yet content with what she gave me, I asked if man’s desire has indeed limits when, satisfied as promptly as mine had been, it reached after something further.
当我想到这个奇妙的生物，曾经我渴望亲吻她的脚，愿意让我在她的思想中找到我的位置，在她的生活中扮演我的角色，而我对她所给予的还不满足时，我问自己，人的欲望是否真的有限？当我的欲望得到如此及时的满足后，它是否还对其他事物有所期望？

“Truly,” she continued, “we poor creatures of chance have fantastic desires and inconceivable loves. —
“确实，”她继续说道，“我们这些凭偶然而来的可怜人拥有荒诞的欲望和无法想象的爱情。 —

We give ourselves now for one thing, now for another. —
我们有时为了一件事而奉献自己，有时为了另一件事。 —

There are men who ruin themselves without obtaining the least thing from us; —
有些男人不顾一切地追求我们却一无所获； —

there are others who obtain us for a bouquet of flowers. Our hearts have their caprices; —
而有些男人却只需一束花就能得到我们。我们的心有它们的怪癖； —

it is their one distraction and their one excuse. —
这是它们唯一的消遣和借口。 —

I gave myself to you sooner than I ever did to any man, I swear to you; and do you know why? —
我对你付出比我对任何男人都要早，我向你发誓；你知道为什么吗？ —

Because when you saw me spitting blood you took my hand; because you wept; —
因为当你看见我吐血时，你握住了我的手；因为你哭了。 —

because you are the only human being who has ever pitied me. —
因为你是唯一一个曾经怜悯过我的人类。 —

I am going to say a mad thing to you: —
我要对你说一件疯狂的事情： —

I once had a little dog who looked at me with a sad look when I coughed; —
我曾经有一只小狗，在我咳嗽时，用悲伤的眼神望着我； —

that is the only creature I ever loved. When he died I cried more than when my mother died. —
那是我唯一爱过的生物。当它死去时，我比我母亲去世时还哭得更多。 —

It is true that for twelve years of her life she used to beat me. —
对于她生命中的十二年，她确实经常打我。 —

Well, I loved you all at once, as much as my dog. —
嗯，我一次爱上了你们所有人，就像我爱我的狗一样多。 —

If men knew what they can have for a tear, they would be better loved and we should be less ruinous to them.
如果人们知道他们为一滴眼泪所能得到的，他们会更受爱戴，我们对他们的伤害也会更少。

“Your letter undeceived me; it showed me that you lacked the intelligence of the heart; —
“你的信让我看清了，它向我展示了你在感情上的缺乏智慧； —

it did you more harm with me than anything you could possibly have done. —
它对我产生的伤害比你可能做的任何事情都要大。 —

It was jealousy certainly, but ironical and impertinent jealousy. —
这显然是嫉妒，但是嘲讽和无礼的嫉妒。 —

I was already feeling sad when I received your letter. —
当我收到你的信的时候，我已经开始感到悲伤了。 —

I was looking forward to seeing you at twelve, to having lunch with you, and wiping out, by seeing you, a thought which was with me incessantly, and which, before I knew you, I had no difficulty in tolerating.
我一直期待着在十二点见到你，与你一起吃午餐，并通过见到你来消除一直在我心中的思念，而在认识你之前，我对这种思念丝毫没有困扰。

“Then,” continued Marguerite, “you were the only person before whom it seemed to me, from the first, that I could think and speak freely. —
玛格丽特接着说：“在你之前，似乎只有你是我可以自由地思考和交谈的人。” —

All those who come about women like me have an interest in calculating their slightest words, in thinking of the consequences of their most insignificant actions. —
所有接触像我这样的女人的人都需要计算他们的每个词语，考虑他们最微不足道的行为所带来的后果。 —

Naturally we have no friends. We have selfish lovers who spend their fortunes, not on us, as they say, but on their own vanity. —
自然而然地，我们没有朋友。我们只有为他们自己的虚荣而花费财富的自私恋人。 —

For these people we have to be merry when they are merry, well when they want to sup, sceptics like themselves. —
对于这些人，我们必须在他们快乐时快乐，在他们想要去吃饭时表现得很好，像他们一样怀疑。 —

We are not allowed to have hearts, under penalty of being hooted down and of ruining our credit.
我们被禁止拥有自己的心，否则将被嘲笑并破坏我们的信用。

“We no longer belong to ourselves. We are no longer beings, but things. —
“我们不再属于自己。我们不再是人，而是物品。 —

We stand first in their self-esteem, last in their esteem. —
我们在他们的自尊心中居首，但在他们的尊重中垫底。 —

We have women who call themselves our friends, but they are friends like Prudence, women who were once kept and who have still the costly tastes that their age does not allow them to gratify. —
我们有自称为我们的朋友的女人，但她们象普鲁登斯一样，她们曾经被养着，并且仍然有着她们年龄所不允许满足的昂贵的品味。 —

Then they become our friends, or rather our guests at table. —
然后她们成为我们的朋友，或者更确切地说，成为我们饭桌上的客人。 —

Their friendship is carried to the point of servility, never to that of disinterestedness. —
她们的友谊达到了奴性的程度，但从来没有达到无私的程度。 —

Never do they give you advice which is not lucrative. —
她们从来不给你一条无利可图的建议。 —

It means little enough to them that we should have ten lovers extra, as long as they get dresses or a bracelet out of them, and that they can drive in our carriage from time to time or come to our box at the theatre. —
她们并不在乎我们有多少个额外的情人，只要她们从中能得到衣服或手镯，并且偶尔能坐我们的马车或者来我们的剧院包厢。 —

They have our last night’s bouquets, and they borrow our shawls. —
她们拿走了我们昨晚的花束，还借走我们的披肩。 —

They never render us a service, however slight, without seeing that they are paid twice its value. —
她们从来不会给我们提供一项服务，无论多么微小，而不摊上双倍的价值来付账。 —

You yourself saw when Prudence brought me the six thousand francs that I had asked her to get from the duke, how she borrowed five hundred francs, which she will never pay me back, or which she will pay me in hats, which will never be taken out of their boxes.
你自己亲眼看到Prudence给我带来了我向公爵借来的六千法郎，她借走了五百法郎，她永远不会还给我，或者她会用帽子还给我，这些帽子永远不会拿出盒子。

“We can not, then, have, or rather I can not have more than one possible kind of happiness, and this is, sad as I sometimes am, suffering as I always am, to find a man superior enough not to ask questions about my life, and to be the lover of my impressions rather than of my body. —
因此，我们不能有，或者更准确地说，我不能拥有更多一种可能的幸福，那就是找到一个足够高尚的人不问我生活的事情，而是喜欢我的感觉而不是我的身体。 —

Such a man I found in the duke; but the duke is old, and old age neither protects nor consoles. —
我在公爵身上找到了这样一个人，但是公爵已经老了，老年既不能保护也不能安慰。 —

I thought I could accept the life which he offered me; but what would you have? —
我本以为能够接受他给我提供的生活，但是你又能怎么办呢？ —

I was dying of ennui, and if one is bound to be consumed, it is as well to throw oneself into the flames as to be asphyxiated with charcoal.
我厌倦得要死，如果注定要消耗殆尽，与其被炭疽毒死，倒不如投身于烈焰之中。

“Then I met you, young, ardent, happy, and I tried to make you the man I had longed for in my noisy solitude. —
然后我遇到了你，年轻、热情、快乐，我试图使你成为我在喧嚣的孤独中渴望已久的那个人。 —

What I loved in you was not the man who was, but the man who was going to be. —
我所爱的不是你现在的样子，而是你将要成为的样子。 —

You do not accept the position, you reject it as unworthy of you; —
你不接受这个职位，你拒绝它因为觉得自己不值得； —

you are an ordinary lover. Do like the others; —
你是一个普通的恋人。像其他人那样做吧； —

pay me, and say no more about it.”
付给我钱，别再提了。”

Marguerite, tired out with this long confession, threw herself back on the sofa, and to stifle a slight cough put up her handkerchief to her lips, and from that to her eyes.
玛格丽特听得有些疲倦，向沙发扑倒，为了掩盖一阵轻微的咳嗽，她捂住口，再移到眼睛上。

“Pardon, pardon,” I murmured. “I understood it all, but I wanted to have it from your own lips, my beloved Marguerite. —
“原谅我，原谅我，”我轻声说道。“我明白了一切，但我想要从你亲口听到，我亲爱的玛格丽特。 —

Forget the rest and remember only one thing: —
将其他的都忘记，只记住一件事： —

that we belong to one another, that we are young, and that we love. —
我们彼此相属，我们年轻，我们相爱。 —

Marguerite, do with me as you will; I am your slave, your dog, but in the name of heaven tear up the letter which I wrote to you and do not make me leave you to-morrow; —
玛格丽特，随你的意愿对待我；我是你的奴隶，你的狗，但求你，以天之名，撕碎我给你写的信，不要让我明天离开你； —

it would kill me.”
那会杀了我。”

Marguerite drew the letter from her bosom, and handing it to me with a smile of infinite sweetness, said:
玛格丽特从她胸前拿出那封信，微笑着递给我，极其甜蜜地说道：

“Here it is. I have brought it back.”
“给你。我还给你了。”

I tore the letter into fragments and kissed with tears the hand that gave it to me.
我将信撕成碎片，含着泪吻了送信的手。

At this moment Prudence reappeared.
就在这时，普丽登斯重新出现了。

“Look here, Prudence; do you know what he wants?” said Marguerite.
“听着，普丽登斯，你知道他想要什么吗？”玛格丽特说。

“He wants you to forgive him.”
“他想要你原谅他。”

“Precisely.”
“正是。”

“And you do?”
“你原谅他了吗？”

“One has to; but he wants more than that.”
“不得不原谅；但他想要的不仅仅是那个。”

“What, then?”
“那还要什么？”

“He wants to have supper with us.”
“他想要与我们一起共进晚餐。”

“And do you consent?”
“那你答应了吗？”

“What do you think?”
“你认为呢？”

“I think that you are two children who haven’t an atom of sense between you; —
“我认为你们是两个一点常识都没有的孩子； —

but I also think that I am very hungry, and that the sooner you consent the sooner we shall have supper.”
但我也很饿，你们越早答应，我们越早吃饭。”

“Come,” said Marguerite, “there is room for the three of us in my carriage.”
“走吧。”玛格丽特说，“我的马车里有三个人的位置。”

“By the way,” she added, turning to me, “Nanine will be gone to bed. —
“顺便说一句，”她转向我，“纳宁已经上床睡觉了。” —

You must open the door; take my key, and try not to lose it again.”
你必须打开门；拿着我的钥匙，并且尽量不要再丢了。

I embraced Marguerite until she was almost stifled.
我紧紧拥抱着玛格丽特，几乎快要让她窒息了。

Thereupon Joseph entered.
然后约瑟夫进来了。

“Sir,” he said, with the air of a man who is very well satisfied with himself, “the luggage is packed.”
“先生，”他自鸣得意地说道，“行李已经打包好了。”

“All of it?”
“全部都打包好了吗？”

“Yes, sir.”
“是的，先生。”

“Well, then, unpack it again; I am not going.”
“那好，把它们再打开吧；我不去了。”