The last words he said to me when I bade him good-night were:
"Tell Amy it's no good coming after me. Anyhow, I shall change my hotel, so she wouldn't be able to find me."
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"My own impression is that she's well rid of you, " I said.
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"My dear fellow, I only hope you'll be able to make her see it. But women are very unintelligent. " {1}
When I reached London I found waiting for me an urgent request (请求) that I should go to Mrs. Strickland's as soon after dinner as I could.
I found her with Colonel MacAndrew and his wife. Mrs. Strickland's sister was older than she, not unlike her, but more faded;
and she had the efficient air, as though she carried the British Empire in her pocket, which the wives of senior officers acquire from the consciousness of belonging to a superior caste (社会地位).
Her manner was brisk (生气勃勃的), and her good-breeding scarcely concealed her conviction that if you were not a soldier you might as well be a counter-jumper (售货员). {2}
She hated the Guards (护卫队), whom she thought conceited (自负的), and she could not trust herself to speak of their ladies, who were so remiss in calling. Her gown was dowdy (过时的) and expensive.
Mrs. Strickland was plainly nervous.
"Well, tell us your news, " she said.
"I saw your husband. I'm afraid he's quite made up his mind not to return. " I paused a little. "He wants to paint. "
"What do you mean?" cried Mrs. Strickland, with the utmost astonishment.
"Did you never know that he was keen on that sort of thing?"
"He must be as mad as a hatter, " exclaimed the Colonel.
Mrs. Strickland frowned a little. She was searching among her recollections (回忆).
"I remember before we were married he used to potter (消磨时光) about with a paint-box. But you never saw such daubs (拙劣的画). We used to chaff (打趣) him. He had absolutely no gift for anything like that. "
"Of course it's only an excuse, " said Mrs. MacAndrew.
Mrs. Strickland pondered (思考) deeply for some time. It was quite clear that she could not make head or tail of my announcement.
She had put some order into the drawing-room by now, her housewifely instincts having got the better of her dismay;
and it no longer bore that deserted look, like a furnished house long to let (出租), which I had noticed on my first visit after the catastrophe (大灾难). {3}
But now that I had seen Strickland in Paris it was difficult to imagine him in those surroundings.
I thought it could hardly have failed to strike them that there was something incongruous (不协调的) in him.
"But if he wanted to be an artist, why didn't he say so?" asked Mrs. Strickland at last. "I should have thought I was the last person to be unsympathetic (不同情的) to -- to aspirations (渴望) of that kind. "
Mrs. MacAndrew tightened her lips. I imagine that she had never looked with approval on her sister's leaning towards persons who cultivated the arts. She spoke of "culchaw" derisively (嘲笑地).
Mrs. Strickland continued:
"After all, if he had any talent I should be the first to encourage it. I wouldn't have minded sacrifices. I'd much rather be married to a painter than to a stockbroker.
"If it weren't for the children, I wouldn't mind anything. I could be just as happy in a shabby studio in Chelsea as in this flat. "
"My dear, I have no patience with you, " cried Mrs. MacAndrew. "You don't mean to say you believe a word of this nonsense?"
"But I think it's true, " I put in mildly.
She looked at me with good-humoured contempt.
"A man doesn't throw up his business and leave his wife and children at the age of forty to become a painter unless there's a woman in it. I suppose he met one of your -- artistic friends, and she's turned his head. "
A spot of colour rose suddenly to Mrs. Strickland's pale cheeks.
"What is she like?"
I hesitated a little. I knew that I had a bombshell (炸弹).
"There isn't a woman. "
Colonel MacAndrew and his wife uttered expressions of incredulity, and Mrs. Strickland sprang to her feet.
"Do you mean to say you never saw her?"
"There's no one to see. He's quite alone. "
"That's preposterous (荒谬的), " cried Mrs. MacAndrew.
"I knew I ought to have gone over myself, " said the Colonel. "You can bet your boots I'd have routed her out fast enough. "
"I wish you had gone over, " I replied, somewhat tartly (锋利地). "You'd have seen that every one of your suppositions was wrong.
"He's not at a smart hotel. He's living in one tiny room in the most squalid way. If he's left his home, it's not to live a gay life. He's got hardly any money. "
"Do you think he's done something that we don't know about, and is lying doggo (隐秘地) on account of the police?"
The suggestion sent a ray of hope in all their breasts, but I would have nothing to do with it.
"If that were so, he would hardly have been such a fool as to give his partner his address, " I retorted acidly.
"Anyhow, there's one thing I'm positive of, he didn't go away with anyone. He's not in love. Nothing is farther from his thoughts. "
There was a pause while they reflected over my words.
"Well, if what you say is true, " said Mrs. MacAndrew at last, "things aren't so bad as I thought. "
Mrs. Strickland glanced at her, but said nothing.
She was very pale now, and her fine brow was dark and lowering. I could not understand the expression of her face. Mrs. MacAndrew continued:
"If it's just a whim (一时的兴致), he'll get over it. "
"Why don't you go over to him, Amy?" hazarded the Colonel. "There's no reason why you shouldn't live with him in Paris for a year. We'll look after the children.
"I dare say he'd got stale. Sooner or later he'll be quite ready to come back to London, and no great harm will have been done. "
"I wouldn't do that, " said Mrs. MacAndrew. "I'd give him all the rope he wants. He'll come back with his tail between his legs and settle down again quite comfortably. "
Mrs. MacAndrew looked at her sister coolly. "Perhaps you weren't very wise with him sometimes. Men are queer (奇怪的) creatures, and one has to know how to manage them. "
Mrs. MacAndrew shared the common opinion of her sex that a man is always a brute to leave a woman who is attached to him, but that a woman is much to blame if he does. {4}
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas (感情有理智所根本不能理解的理由).
Mrs. Strickland looked slowly from one to another of us.
"He'll never come back, " she said.
"Oh, my dear, remember what we've just heard. He's been used to comfort and to having someone to look after him.
"How long do you think it'll be before he gets tired of a scrubby room in a scrubby hotel? Besides, he hasn't any money. He must come back."
"As long as I thought he'd run away with some woman I thought there was a chance. I don't believe that sort of thing ever answers.
"He'd have got sick to death of her in three months. But if he hasn't gone because he's in love, then it's finished. "
"Oh, I think that's awfully subtle, " said the Colonel, putting into the word all the contempt he felt for a quality so alien to the traditions of his calling.
"Don't you believe it. He'll come back, and, as Dorothy says, I dare say he'll be none the worse for having had a bit of a fling. "
"But I don't want him back, " she said.
"Amy!"
It was anger that had seized Mrs. Strickland, and her pallor (苍白) was the pallor of a cold and sudden rage. She spoke quickly now, with little gasps (喘息).
"I could have forgiven it if he'd fallen desperately in love with someone and gone off with her. I should have thought that natural.
"I shouldn't really have blamed him. I should have thought he was led away. Men are so weak, and women are so unscrupulous. But this is different. I hate him. I'll never forgive him now. "
Colonel MacAndrew and his wife began to talk to her together. They were astonished. They told her she was mad.
