3.Dr James Gully’s story 詹姆斯·格利医生的讲述
My name is Dr James Gully. I am 68 years old. I live at Orwell Lodge, in Balham. In January 1871 I was living in Malvern, near Wales. That’s where I first met Florence – Florence Ricardo, as she was called then …
我叫詹姆斯·格利医生，今年68岁，住在巴勒姆的奥威尔寓所。1871年1月，我住在威尔士附近的莫尔文。我就是在那里第一次遇见了弗洛伦丝——那时她还叫弗洛伦丝·里卡多……
Dr James Gully
詹姆斯·格利医生
I remember the day when I first met Florence. It was a cold January morning. There was snow on the hills, but the sun was shining. Florence’s mother brought her to my hospital in Malvern. Florence was not ill, but she was very unhappy. She had run away from her husband, Alexander Ricardo. Her father had told her to go back to him.
我还记得初次见到弗洛伦丝的那天。那是一个寒冷的一月清晨，山上有积雪，但阳光明媚。弗洛伦丝的母亲把她带到了我在莫尔文的医院。弗洛伦丝没有生病，但她非常不快乐。她从丈夫亚历山大·里卡多身边逃了出来，而她的父亲却让她回到丈夫身边去。
‘But I won’t go!’ she said. ‘I’m never going back to him, never!’
“但我不会回去！”她说，“我再也不会回到他身边了，绝不！”
I looked at her carefully. She was crying, and there was a dark bruise on her face. She was a young woman, twenty-five years old, and she had been married for six years.
我仔细打量着她。她在哭泣，脸上有一块深色的淤青。她是个25岁的年轻女子，已经结婚六年了。
‘Does your husband hit you, my dear?’ I asked.
“亲爱的，你丈夫打你吗？”我问。
‘Yes, he does. He often hits me. I hate him!’
“是的，他经常打我。我恨他！”
‘But you’re his wife, Florence,’ her mother said. ‘So you have to live with him. That’s what wives do.’
“可你是他的妻子啊，弗洛伦丝，”她母亲说，“所以你必须和他一起生活。做妻子的就该这样。”
‘No!’ Florence screamed at her mother. ‘You don’t understand. When he’s drunk, he’s dangerous, he hurts me! I’ll kill myself if you make me go back!’
“不！”弗洛伦丝冲着她母亲尖叫道，“你不明白。他喝醉的时候很危险，会伤害我！如果你逼我回去，我就自杀！”
She got up and hit her hand against the window.
她站起身，用手猛击窗户。
‘This young woman is ill,’ I told her mother. ‘She needs a quiet, safe place where she can rest and be calm. We have a small house in the hospital gardens. She can stay there until she is better.’
“这位年轻女士病了，”我对她母亲说，“她需要一个安静、安全的地方来休息和平复情绪。我们在医院花园里有一栋小房子，她可以住在那里直到康复。”
So Florence stayed, and I visited her every day. We walked in the hospital gardens, and she told me about her husband, Alexander.
于是弗洛伦丝留了下来，我每天去看望她。我们在医院花园里散步，她向我讲述了她的丈夫亚历山大。
‘I was just a young girl when I married him,’ she said. ‘I didn’t understand anything. It doesn’t matter what a man looks like – what matters is how he behaves.’
“嫁给他时我还是个小姑娘，”她说，“什么都不懂。男人的外表并不重要——重要的是他的行为举止。”
‘And how does Alexander behave?’ I asked.
“那亚历山大表现如何呢？”我问。
‘Well, he left the army after we married,’ she said. ‘And that made him unhappy. He doesn’t know what to do all day. We live in a big country house – Gatcombe Park – but he is always in London with his friends. He sees other women too, I think. When he comes home, he drinks. Two or three bottles of wine every day.’
“唉，我们结婚后他就离开了军队，”她说，“这让他很不开心。他整天无所事事。我们住在一座很大的乡间别墅——加特科姆公园——但他总是和朋友们待在伦敦。我觉得他还跟别的女人来往。回到家后他就喝酒，每天要喝两三瓶葡萄酒。”
‘Don’t you try to stop him?’ I asked.
“你没试着阻止他吗？”我问。
‘Of course I do. I try. Once or twice I’ve put a little antimony in his wine, to make it taste bad. It made him sick, but he didn’t stop drinking.’
“我当然试过。有一两次我在他的酒里放了一点锑，想让酒变难喝。这虽然让他恶心呕吐，但他并没有戒酒。”
I’d heard of this before. Antimony is a dangerous poison – it can kill you, if you take a lot. But some wives put a little of it in their husband’s wine. It makes the man feel sick, so he doesn’t drink so much. Some men do that to their wives, too. I think it’s a bad idea.
我以前听说过这种事。锑是一种危险的毒药——大量服用会致命。但有些妻子会在丈夫的酒里放一点锑，让男人感到恶心从而少喝酒。有些丈夫也会对妻子这么做。我认为这是个糟糕的做法。
There were tears in her eyes. ‘When he’s drunk, he hits me. Don’t send me back to him, Dr Gully! Please don’t send me back!’
她眼里含着泪水。“他喝醉了就打我。别把我送回他那里，格利医生！求您别送我回去！”
‘Of course I won’t, my dear,’ I said quietly. ‘Don’t worry. No woman should live with a man like that.’
“我当然不会，亲爱的，”我轻声说，“别担心。任何女人都不该和那样的男人生活在一起。”
But Florence was afraid that her husband Alexander would make her come home. At that time, there were very strong laws about how women must behave. Most men liked these laws, but I didn’t. I thought the law was unfair to women. The law said that a married woman couldn’t decide things for herself. She needed a man – a guardian – to decide things for her. Usually, this guardian was her husband or her father. But sometimes a friend could become a woman’s guardian.
但弗洛伦丝害怕丈夫亚历山大会强迫她回家。在那个时代，关于女性行为规范的法律非常严苛。大多数男人都喜欢这些法律，但我不同。我认为法律对女性不公平。法律规定已婚妇女不能自己做决定，她需要一个男人——一个监护人——来替她做主。通常这个监护人是她的丈夫或父亲，但有时朋友也可以成为女性的监护人。
‘If you want to leave your husband,’ I said, ‘I will help you. In law, I can become your guardian. I will tell my lawyers to start preparing the necessary papers now. Then your husband cannot order you to go home. And your father cannot tell you what to do either. Would you like that? Will that make you feel safe?’
“如果你想离开你的丈夫，”我说，“我会帮你。在法律上，我可以成为你的监护人。我现在就让律师开始准备必要的文件。这样你丈夫就不能命令你回家了，你父亲也不能再对你指手画脚。你愿意吗？这会让你感到安全吗？”
‘Oh yes, please, Dr Gully,’ she said. ‘Will you do that for me? Can you write to your lawyers today?’
“哦，好的，拜托了，格利医生，”她说，“您能为我做这件事吗？您今天能给律师写信吗？”
I smiled. ‘It will be a pleasure, my dear.’
我微笑着说：“乐意之至，亲爱的。”
My lawyers began work immediately. Florence’s husband, Alexander, was very angry, but he could not stop me.
我的律师立刻着手办理。弗洛伦丝的丈夫亚历山大非常愤怒，但他无法阻止我。
Florence continued to live in Malvern, and I talked to her every day. She was a beautiful, intelligent young woman, and she liked my hospital. My hospital was different to other hospitals. I gave sick people baths of cold and hot water, good healthy food, rest and quiet – and it worked! I told her about the famous people who visited me – Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Florence Nightingale. She liked stories like that. As time passed she began to look healthier. She began to talk happily. Sometimes she even smiled.
弗洛伦丝继续住在莫尔文，我每天和她交谈。她是一位美丽聪慧的年轻女子，也很喜欢我的医院。我的医院与众不同，我给病人提供冷热交替的水浴、健康营养的食物以及安静的休养环境——而且效果很好！我告诉她那些曾来访的名人——查尔斯·达尔文、查尔斯·狄更斯、弗洛伦丝·南丁格尔。她很喜欢这类故事。随着时间的推移，她看起来越来越健康，说话也欢快起来，有时甚至会露出微笑。
She had a beautiful smile. In fact she was a very beautiful young woman. The most beautiful, interesting young woman I have ever met.
她的笑容很美。事实上，她是个非常美丽的年轻女子，是我见过的最美丽、最有趣的年轻女子。
I told her about my family. I was sixty-three years old then. I had a son who was ten years older than Florence, and a small granddaughter. But my wife lived in a hospital in Yorkshire. She was eighty years old, and her mind had gone; she didn’t recognize me or my son. So really, I didn’t have a wife any more.
我跟她讲了我的家庭情况。那时我63岁，有一个比弗洛伦丝大十岁的儿子和一个年幼的孙女。但我的妻子住在约克郡的一家医院里。她已经80岁了，神志不清，认不出我和儿子。所以实际上，我已经没有妻子了。
When my lawyers finished their work, Florence became separated in law from her husband Alexander Ricardo, and I became her guardian.
当我的律师办完手续后，弗洛伦丝在法律上与丈夫亚历山大·里卡多分居了，而我成为了她的监护人。
‘Can I go on living here?’ she asked me.
“我能继续住在这里吗？”她问我。
‘You can stay here as long as you like,’ I said. ‘But you’re a free woman now. I won’t tell you what to do.’
“你想住多久就住多久，”我说，“但你现在是个自由的女人了，我不会干涉你的决定。”
She laughed, and took my hand. ‘Oh yes, James, of course. You’re so kind. I’m so grateful to you.’
她笑了，握住我的手。“哦，是的，詹姆斯，当然了。你真好，我太感激你了。”
That was the first time she called me James, and it felt – wonderful! I wanted to take her in my arms and dance! Of course I didn’t – she was only twenty-five, and I was sixty-three, but … a man can still fall in love, even when he is old.
那是她第一次叫我詹姆斯，感觉真是——太美妙了！我想把她拥入怀中翩翩起舞！当然我没有那样做——她才25岁，而我已经63岁了，但是……即使老了，男人依然会坠入爱河。
I wanted to take her in my arms and dance.
我想把她拥入怀中翩翩起舞。
And love hurts when you are old, just as much as it does when you are young. More, perhaps, because when you are old you have so little time left.
年老时的爱情带来的伤痛丝毫不亚于年轻时。甚至可能更痛，因为当你老去，余下的时光已所剩无几。
In April 1871 Alexander Ricardo died. He had already been ill, and after Florence left him, he drank more and more every day, and was often sick. In the end alcohol destroyed his stomach.
1871年4月，亚历山大·里卡多去世了。他原本就已患病，弗洛伦丝离开后，他饮酒日益加剧，经常生病。最终酒精毁坏了他的胃。
When he died, Florence, his widow, became a very rich lady. All her husband’s money was hers. But her father wasn’t her guardian. I was. Later that year, she came on holiday with me to Germany.
他死后，作为遗孀的弗洛伦丝成了一位非常富有的女士，继承了丈夫所有的财产。但她的监护人不是她的父亲，而是我。那年晚些时候，她和我一起去德国度假。
It was the most wonderful holiday of my life. We stayed in a town called Kissingen, in Bavaria. We walked in the hills and gardens, looking at the beautiful clean rivers. We went to restaurants and the theatre, two happy people together.
那是我一生中最美好的假期。我们住在巴伐利亚一个叫基辛根的小镇。我们在山丘和花园中漫步，欣赏清澈美丽的河流。我们去餐厅吃饭，去剧院看戏，像两个快乐的人儿一样形影不离。
We lived together like husband and wife. In fact, some people in the hotel thought she was my wife. We laughed and talked all day. I’m sure it was easy to see that I was in love with her.
我们像夫妻一样生活在一起。事实上，酒店里有些人以为她就是我的妻子。我们整天谈笑风生。我相信谁都看得出我爱上了她。
I couldn’t stop looking at her and thinking about her. Everything I did, everything I thought or wrote or said, was for her.
我忍不住注视她、想念她。我所做的一切，所想、所写、所说的一切，都是为了她。
So what about her? Was she in love with me?
那么她呢？她也爱我吗？
I thought she was. She looked wonderful, she laughed and sang as we walked through the town together. We danced for hours in the evening; she was strong and healthy – stronger than me. She talked to me all the time, she called me ‘her famous doctor’. I thought she was happy to be with me, to spend all day and all night together.
我以为她是爱我的。她看起来容光焕发，我们一起穿过小镇时她又笑又唱。晚上我们会跳好几个小时的舞；她强壮又健康——甚至比我还强健。她总是不停地跟我说话，称我为“她的名医”。我觉得她和我在一起很开心，愿意日夜相伴。
Isn’t that love?
难道这不是爱吗？
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