4．Florence Bravo’s story 弗洛伦丝·布拉沃的讲述
My name is Mrs Florence Bravo. I am 31 years old. I live at The Priory, in Balham. At the time of his death, my husband, Charles Bravo, lived there too. My friend and companion, Jane Cox, was also living in the house …
我叫弗洛伦斯·布拉沃太太，今年31岁。我住在巴尔汉姆的普赖厄里宅邸。在我丈夫查尔斯·布拉沃去世时，他也住在那里。我的朋友兼伴侣简·考克斯也同住在这栋房子里……
I liked Dr Gully a lot. He was the most intelligent man I had ever met. He told me interesting things, and he made me laugh. He was also very kind – much kinder than my husband Alexander, or my father.
我非常喜欢格利医生。他是我见过的最聪明的男人。他给我讲有趣的事情，逗我开心大笑。他也非常善良——比我的丈夫亚历山大或我的父亲都要善良得多。
I was very happy on that holiday in Germany. We went everywhere together; we talked and laughed all day, and sang and danced in the evening. For a short time, I thought I was in love with him. But of course he was much, much older than me. Some people in the hotel thought he was my grandfather. Some of them smiled at us, but others looked at us angrily. We slept together in the same bedroom, but we were not married. Most people thought that was very wrong.
在德国度假时我非常快乐。我们形影不离；白天谈笑风生，晚上唱歌跳舞。有一段时间，我以为自己爱上了他。但他当然比我大太多太多了。旅馆里有些人以为他是我的祖父。有些人对我们微笑，但另一些人则愤怒地看着我们。我们睡在同一间卧室里，但我们并未结婚。大多数人认为这非常不对。
One evening, he asked me to marry him. I was surprised. It was impossible, of course. I didn’t know what to say. I smiled and touched his face.
一天晚上，他向我求婚。我很惊讶。但这当然是不可能的。我不知道该说什么。我微笑着抚摸他的脸。
‘James, that’s a lovely idea,’ I said. ‘But we can’t marry, can we? You have a wife.’
“詹姆斯，这是个美好的想法，”我说，“但我们不能结婚，对吧？你已经有妻子了。”
‘Yes, I know,’ he said. ‘But she’s old and ill; she won’t live long. Will you wait for me, Florence? Please? We can marry when she’s dead.’
“是的，我知道，”他说，“但她年老多病，活不了多久了。你愿意等我吗，弗洛伦斯？求你了？等她死后我们就可以结婚。”
I walked away from him, slowly. I don’t want to make him unhappy, I thought, but … what will people say if I marry a man more than twice as old as me?
我慢慢地从他身边走开。我不想让他难过，我想，但是……如果我嫁给一个年纪比我大一倍多的男人，人们会怎么说呢？
‘It’s very difficult, James,’ I said. ‘My parents won’t talk to me because of you. They say I need a husband of my own age. Perhaps they’re right. We are good friends – isn’t that enough?’
“这太难了，詹姆斯，”我说，“因为你，我的父母都不跟我说话了。他们说需要一个和我年龄相仿的丈夫。也许他们是对的。我们是好朋友——这样还不够吗？”
He held my hands and looked into my eyes. I could see he was hurt.
他握住我的双手，凝视着我的眼睛。我能看出他受到了伤害。
‘You should marry the man you love,’ he said. ‘That’s the right thing to do. Any other kind of marriage will be a lie – a terrible mistake.’
“你应该嫁给你爱的人，”他说，“这才是正确的选择。任何其他形式的婚姻都是谎言——是一个可怕的错误。”
I looked up at him. ‘Yes, James, I know. Don’t worry – I don’t want another husband like Alexander. Let me think about this, will you? It’s not easy to decide.’
我抬头看着他。“是的，詹姆斯，我知道。别担心——我不想再要一个像亚历山大那样的丈夫了。让我考虑一下好吗？这不容易决定。”
When we came back to England, I bought a large house called The Priory. It was in a village called Balham, near London. Dr Gully left his hospital in Malvern and bought a house called Orwell Lodge, just five minutes’ walk away from my house. We met nearly every day – I had a key to his house, and he had a key to mine. We went for walks and rides in the countryside around Balham. We were still friends. It was almost as good as in Germany.
回到英国后，我买了一栋名为普赖厄里的大宅子。它位于伦敦附近一个叫巴尔汉姆的村庄里。格利医生离开了他在莫尔文的医院，在离我家步行仅五分钟的地方买了一栋叫奥威尔小屋的房子。我们几乎每天都见面——我有他家的钥匙，他也有我家的钥匙。我们在巴尔汉姆周围的乡间散步和骑马。我们仍然是朋友。这几乎和在德国时一样美好。
Almost, but not quite. I was young – I wanted friends of my own age. But I couldn’t make new friends because Dr Gully was always there. People knew we weren’t married, so they didn’t want to know us. Often, married women walked past me in the street, with their noses in the air. They knew me very well, but they refused to speak to me or even look at me. To them, I was just something dirty in the street.
几乎一样，但不完全相同。我还年轻——我想要同龄的朋友。但我无法结交新朋友，因为格利医生总是在我身边。人们知道我们没有结婚，所以不想和我们来往。经常有已婚妇女在街上从我身边走过，鼻孔朝天。她们很了解我，却拒绝和我说话，甚至不愿看我一眼。在她们眼里，我只是街上的脏东西。
That made me miserable and angry. It was so unfair: no one was unkind to Dr Gully, because he was a man! Men – even married men – can do what they like. But if a woman does something wrong, then no one will speak to her.
这让我既痛苦又愤怒。这太不公平了：没人对格利医生刻薄，只因为他是个男人！男人——即使是已婚男人——可以随心所欲。但如果女人做错了事，就没人愿意理她。
I needed a woman friend – someone I could talk to about women’s things, when James was not there. I put an advertisement for a ‘lady companion’ in a newspaper, and a woman called Jane Cox answered it.
我需要一个女性朋友——在詹姆斯不在的时候，能有人和我聊聊女人的心事。我在报纸上登了一则招聘“女士伴侣”的广告，一位名叫简·考克斯的女士应征了。
I liked Jane. She was a widow, and she needed money to send her three children to school. So I gave her the job, and she came to live with me. We became friends. We talked, all the time, and went shopping together.
我喜欢简。她是个寡妇，需要钱供三个孩子上学。于是我雇用了她，她搬来和我同住。我们成了朋友，无话不谈，还一起去购物。
I’m not sure if Dr Gully liked Jane. He was very polite to her, but sometimes, I think, he wished she was not there. He wanted to be my only friend.
我不确定格利医生是否喜欢简。他对她很客气，但我觉得有时他希望她不在场。他想成为我唯一的朋友。
But that’s why I needed Jane. I needed a woman to talk to about Dr Gully. He was kind, and clever, but he was so much older than me. I was lonely, and worried. I didn’t know what to do.
但这正是我需要简的原因。我需要一个女人来倾诉关于格利医生的心事。他善良、聪明，但比我大太多了。我感到孤独和忧虑，不知该如何是好。
And then one day I fell ill. I was in bed for several weeks. My companion, Jane Cox, looked after me. I talked to her a lot. She liked Dr Gully, but she didn’t want me to marry him.
后来有一天我病倒了。我在床上躺了好几个星期。我的伴侣简·考克斯照顾我。我和她聊了很多。她喜欢格利医生，但不希望我嫁给他。
‘His wife may live for ten more years,’ she said. ‘Anyway, you need a younger man.’
“他的妻子可能还能再活十年，”她说，“而且无论如何，你需要一个更年轻的男人。”
‘It’s easy to say that, Jane,’ I said. ‘But where can I find a young man who is as clever and kind as James Gully?’
“说起来容易，简，”我说，“但我到哪里去找一个像詹姆斯·格利那样聪明又善良的年轻人呢？”
‘I think I know someone,’ Jane said.
“我想我认识一个人，”简说。
‘Really, Jane?’ I asked. ‘Who?’
“真的吗，简？”我问，“是谁？”
Jane smiled. ‘I know a family called Bravo. I met them in Jamaica. They have a son called Charles. I think you’ll like him.’
简微笑着说：“我认识一个姓布拉沃的家庭。我在牙买加遇到过他们。他们有个儿子叫查尔斯。我想你会喜欢他的。”
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