6.Jane Cox’s story 简·考克斯的讲述
My name is Mrs Jane Cox. I am 49 years old.
我叫简·考克斯太太，今年49岁。
I am Florence Bravo’s friend and companion.
我是弗洛伦斯·布拉沃的朋友和陪伴者。
At the time of Mr Bravo’s death, I was living at The Priory, in Balham.
布拉沃先生去世时，我住在巴勒姆的普赖厄里宅邸。
I now live in my own house in Lancaster Road …
我现在住在兰开斯特路自己的房子里……
The first time I met Charles Bravo was in 1869, two years after I came to England.
我第一次见到查尔斯·布拉沃是在1869年，那是我来到英国的两年后。
My husband had died in 1867, in Jamaica.
我的丈夫于1867年在牙买加去世。
I had three young sons, and very little money.
我有三个年幼的儿子，积蓄寥寥无几。
Charles’s stepfather, Joseph Bravo, knew my husband, and he lent me some money.
查尔斯的继父约瑟夫·布拉沃认识我的丈夫，他借给了我一些钱。
I met Charles at his house.
我是在他家见到查尔斯的。
Later, I went to work for Florence Ricardo.
后来，我去为弗洛伦斯·里卡多工作。
She was a lovely young lady – very friendly, kind, and interesting.
她是一位可爱的年轻女士——非常友善、善良且有趣。
I was her companion – my job was to talk to her and help her with the servants.
我是她的陪伴者——我的工作是陪她聊天并协助她管理仆人。
Soon we became friends. We talked a lot and told each other everything.
很快我们成了朋友，经常无话不谈。
Florence liked my sons. She was sad because she didn’t have any children herself.
弗洛伦斯很喜欢我的儿子们，她因为没有自己的孩子而感到难过。
‘I’ve always wanted children,’ she said. ‘Lots of them.’
“我一直想要孩子，”她说，“很多很多。”
‘But I didn’t have any with Alexander, and now, well …’ She shook her head sadly.
“但我跟亚历山大没有生养，而现在，唉……”她悲伤地摇了摇头。
‘To have children, I need a husband. And the right man isn’t easy to find, is he, Jane?’
“要想生孩子，我得有个丈夫。可合适的男人不容易找啊，是吧，简？”
When I first met Florence, she was a close friend of Dr Gully.
我刚认识弗洛伦斯时，她与格利医生是密友。
I liked him – he was a good, kind man, very easy to talk to.
我很喜欢他——他是个善良的好人，非常容易交谈。
He had lots of interesting stories about his hospital work.
他有许多关于医院工作的趣事。
I told him about my life in Jamaica – he had been to Jamaica too, when he was young.
我跟他讲起我在牙买加的生活——他年轻时也去过牙买加。
But he was too old to marry her, and his wife was still alive.
但他年纪太大，无法娶她，而且他的妻子还在世。
So I introduced Florence to Charles Bravo.
于是我把弗洛伦斯介绍给了查尔斯·布拉沃。
I know, it was a big mistake, I can see that now.
我知道这是个巨大的错误，现在我看清了这一点。
But I didn’t know Charles very well then.
但那时我对查尔斯了解不深。
I thought he was young, clever, handsome, amusing – just the right sort of husband for Florence.
我以为他年轻、聪明、英俊、风趣——正是弗洛伦斯的理想丈夫。
And she thought the same, at first.
起初她也是这么想的。
She talked to me about him.
她曾跟我谈起过他。
‘I’m not really in love with him, Jane,’ she said.
“简，其实我并不爱他，”她说。
‘Not how I was in love with Dr Gully, but… well … Charles is my own age.’
“不像我爱格利医生那样，但是……嗯……查尔斯和我同龄。”
‘A young man that I can have children with. My parents will like him.’
“一个能让我生儿育女的年轻人，我父母也会喜欢他。”
‘Married women will invite me to their houses and talk to me again.’
“已婚妇女们会再次邀请我去她们家做客，跟我聊天了。”
‘A perfect husband, then,’ I said, smiling.
“那真是个完美的丈夫了，”我笑着说。
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I suppose so.’
“是啊，”她说，“我想是吧。”
But he wasn’t perfect, of course. I know that now. So does Florence.
但他当然并不完美，现在我和弗洛伦斯都知道了。
She found out a few days after the wedding.
她在婚后几天就发现了这一点。
I heard them talking in the garden.
我听到他们在花园里谈话。
‘How many gardeners have we got, dear?’ he asked her.
“亲爱的，我们有几个园丁？”他问她。
‘Three,’ she said. ‘Why do you ask, Charlie?’
“三个，”她说，“你为什么问这个，查理？”
‘Well, three is too many,’ he answered.
“嗯，三个太多了，”他回答。
‘They don’t work hard – I saw two of them smoking this morning. I’m sure we only need one.’
“他们干活不卖力——今天早上我看到其中两个在抽烟。我确信我们只需要一个。”
‘Oh, but they have families,’ said Florence, surprised.
“哦，可他们有家人要养啊，”弗洛伦斯惊讶地说。
‘And … they love the flowers.’
“而且……他们热爱这些花草。”
‘Well, they can go home to their own families and flowers,’ said Charles with a cold laugh.
“好吧，他们可以回自己家去陪家人、赏花草，”查尔斯冷笑着说。
‘From now on, we’ll have one gardener, not three.’
“从现在起，我们只留一个园丁，而不是三个。”
‘Oh no, Charles, please …’
“哦不，查尔斯，求你了……”
‘And another thing,’ her new husband continued.
“还有一件事，”她的新婚丈夫继续说道。
‘I looked in the stables this morning. We have five horses, Florence. Five! That’s far too many.’
“我今天早上看了马厩，我们有五匹马，弗洛伦斯。五匹！这实在太多了。”
‘I’m going to sell three of them next week.’
“下周我要卖掉三匹。”
‘But Charles, you can’t!’ Florence screamed.
“可是查尔斯，你不能这么做！”弗洛伦斯尖叫道。
‘Those are my horses, not yours – and I love them!’
“那是我的马，不是你的——我爱它们！”
‘My dear Florence,’ said Charles quietly.
“我亲爱的弗洛伦斯，”查尔斯平静地说。
There was something about his voice – he wasn’t angry or upset as I expected.
他的语气有些异样——并没有像我预想的那样生气或烦躁。
In fact, he was laughing at her – he seemed to enjoy making her unhappy!
事实上，他在嘲笑她——他似乎以让她痛苦为乐！
‘My dear Florence, I am your husband now, haven’t you noticed?’
“我亲爱的弗洛伦斯，我现在是你的丈夫了，你难道没注意到吗？”
‘Married women don’t own things, they can’t.’
“已婚女人不能拥有财产，她们没有这个权利。”
‘So everything that used to be yours is now mine.’
“所以以前属于你的一切现在都是我的了。”
‘If I want to sell the horses, I will. It’s for me to decide, and you to obey.’
“如果我想卖马，我就会卖。这事由我决定，你只需服从。”
‘NO!’ Florence screamed.
“不！”弗洛伦斯尖叫着。
The gardeners heard her, and looked up.
园丁们听到了她的声音，抬起头来。
She was shouting at him, screaming into his face.
她冲着他大喊大叫，对着他的脸嘶吼。
‘Those are my horses and you can’t sell them! I won’t let you!’
“那是我的马，你不能卖！我不会让你卖的！”
‘You can’t stop me, woman,’ he said.
“你拦不住我，女人，”他说。
Then I heard a terrible sound – the sound of his hand hitting her face.
接着我听到了一声可怕的声响——是他扇她耳光的声音。
Not once, but twice.
不止一下，而是两下。
She screamed and fell to the ground.
她尖叫一声倒在地上。
I ran to help her. There was blood on her face and she was crying.
我跑过去扶她，她脸上流着血，正在哭泣。
I looked into the eyes of the man who had hit her – Charles Bravo, the perfect husband.
我注视着那个打她的男人的眼睛——查尔斯·布拉沃，那个“完美丈夫”。
The man I had introduced her to. He was smiling.
这个被我介绍给她的男人，此刻竟然在微笑。
Florence screamed and fell to the ground. I ran to help her.
弗洛伦斯尖叫着倒在地上，我跑过去扶她。
‘Mrs Bravo has had an accident, Jane,’ he said quietly.
“布拉沃太太出了点意外，简，”他平静地说。
‘Please help her. She needs to wash her face.’
“请帮帮她，她需要洗把脸。”
‘And then perhaps she will think about what I have said.’
“然后也许她会好好想想我说过的话。”
‘Now, I am going to talk to these gardeners.’
“现在，我要去跟那些园丁谈谈。”
That was how the marriage began, and that was how it went on.
这段婚姻就是这样开始的，也是这样持续下去的。
Almost every week there was a new argument, and almost every time he won and she lost.
几乎每周都会发生新的争吵，而几乎每次都是他赢她输。
If she argued, he hit her, so she stopped arguing.
如果她争辩，他就动手打她，于是她便不再争辩了。
The gardeners left and three horses were sold.
园丁们离开了，三匹马也被卖掉了。
But even that wasn’t enough for him. He argued with the coachman as well.
但这对他来说还不够，他还跟马车夫吵了起来。
Before she met Charles Bravo, Florence’s coachman, George Griffiths, used to take her and Dr Gully for long drives in the countryside.
在认识查尔斯·布拉沃之前，弗洛伦斯的马车夫乔治·格里菲斯常载着她和格利医生去乡间长途兜风。
Sometimes I went with them.
有时我也跟他们一起去。
Florence liked George – she was interested in horses and so was he.
弗洛伦斯喜欢乔治——她对马感兴趣，他也是。
She paid him well, and sometimes she spent hours outside in the stable yard, talking to him and watching him work with her horses.
她给他的报酬很丰厚，有时她会在马厩院子里待上几个小时，跟他聊天，看他照料她的马。
But everything changed when she married Mr Bravo.
但在她嫁给布拉沃先生后，一切都变了。
Charles Bravo didn’t really like horses – he was afraid of them.
查尔斯·布拉沃其实不喜欢马——他怕马。
Sometimes he hit them, and then of course they ran away.
有时他会打马，结果马自然就受惊跑开了。
That made George angry – he was kind to his horses, so they worked well for him.
这让乔治很生气——他对马很好，所以马也很听他的话。
And George tried to argue when Charles sold three horses.
当查尔斯卖掉三匹马时，乔治试图争辩。
Well, Charles didn’t like servants to argue with him.
然而，查尔斯不喜欢仆人和他顶嘴。
So he decided to get rid of George Griffiths as well.
所以他决定把乔治·格里菲斯也赶走。
One day when George Griffiths was driving, another coach hit them.
有一天乔治·格里菲斯驾车时，另一辆马车撞上了他们。
Nobody was hurt, but Charles was angry.
虽然没人受伤，但查尔斯大发雷霆。
He said George was a bad driver and it was all his fault.
他说乔治车技太差，全都是他的错。
The next day he came out to the stables.
第二天他来到马厩。
I was outside, in the garden, so I saw what happened.
我当时在外面花园里，所以看到了发生的事。
George Griffiths was putting some white powder in water for the horses.
乔治·格里菲斯正往水里掺一些白色粉末准备喂马。
‘What’s that?’ Charles asked.
“那是什么？”查尔斯问。
‘Antimony, sir,’ George answered.
“是锑剂，先生，”乔治回答。
‘It’s a medicine for horses. It cleans their stomachs.’
“这是给马用的药，能清理它们的肠胃。”
‘Stop that!’ Mr Bravo said.
“住手！”布拉沃先生说。
‘You can’t give antimony to horses – it’s a poison!’
“你不能给马用锑剂——那是毒药！”
That made George angry. He didn’t think Charles Bravo knew anything about horses.
这话激怒了乔治，他觉得查尔斯·布拉沃根本不懂马。
‘It’s all right to give them a little, sir,’ he said.
“少用一点是没问题的，先生，”他说。
‘I’ve worked with horses for twenty years – I know what I’m doing.’
“我跟马打了二十年交道——我知道自己在做什么。”
‘I don’t believe you. Yesterday you hit a coach and now you’re trying to poison my horses!’ Charles said angrily.
“我不信你的鬼话。昨天你撞了别人的马车，现在又想毒死我的马！”查尔斯愤怒地说。
‘That’s it! I don’t want you here. You can leave this job today!’
“够了！我不想再留你了，你今天就被解雇了！”
‘But sir, I’ve got a wife and children!’ George said.
“可是先生，我有老婆孩子要养啊！”乔治说。
‘That’s your problem, not mine!’ Mr Bravo shouted.
“那是你的问题，与我无关！”布拉沃先生吼道。
‘Get out of this house now, and don’t come back!’
“立刻滚出这栋房子，别再回来！”
So George Griffiths lost his job.
于是乔治·格里菲斯丢了工作。
But before he left, I heard him talking to the other servants in the kitchen.
但在他离开前，我听到他在厨房里跟其他仆人说话。
He threw his coat on the table angrily.
他愤怒地把外套摔在桌子上。
‘That man Bravo isn’t just bad, he’s crazy!’ he shouted.
“那个布拉沃不仅坏，还是个疯子！”他大喊道。
‘I’ve worked with horses for twenty years, and now this!’
“我跟马打了二十年交道，如今竟落得这般下场！”
‘And he hits his wife, too – we all know that!’
“他还打老婆——这事我们都知道！”
‘Well, you’ll get a better job somewhere else, won’t you?’ said the cook.
“算了，你在别处能找到更好的工作，不是吗？”厨娘说。
‘I’d like to leave too.’
“我也想走了。”
‘You and I can leave, but his wife can’t, poor woman,’ George said.
“你我都能走，可他妻子走不了，可怜的女人啊，”乔治说。
‘You know what? Charles Bravo will be dead in four months. You wait and see.’
“你知道吗？查尔斯·布拉沃活不过四个月，你们等着瞧吧。”
That was a strange thing to say. Did George mean he was going to kill him, himself? Surely not.
这话太奇怪了，乔治的意思是说要亲手杀了他吗？肯定不会的。
He was just angry. But then, only a few weeks later, Charles Bravo was dead.
他只是气疯了而已，然而仅仅几周后，查尔斯·布拉沃就真的死了。
So did George Griffiths kill him? Is that possible?
那么是乔治·格里菲斯杀了他吗？这有可能吗？
After all, Charles Bravo was poisoned with antimony.
毕竟，查尔斯·布拉沃是被锑剂毒死的。
And George kept antimony in the stables. He used it as a medicine for the horses.
而乔治在马厩里存放着锑剂，当作马药使用。
I never saw George again after that day.
从那以后我再也没见过乔治。
He got a job as a coachman with another lady, twenty miles away.
他在二十英里外另一位女士那里找到了马车夫的工作。
And he told the Coroner he threw all the antimony away, before he left.
他在验尸官面前作证说，自己在离开前把所有的锑剂都扔掉了。
Maybe he did, I don’t know. I don’t know where he kept it.
也许他真的扔了，我不知道，我也不知道他把锑剂藏在哪里。
I didn’t go into the stable yard very often – not as often as Florence, anyway.
我不常去马厩院子——至少没有弗洛伦斯去得那么勤。
But Charles went there quite often.
但查尔斯经常去那里。
He knew where everything is, and he was interested in medicine – that’s why he knew that antimony was a poison.
他知道所有东西放在哪儿，而且他对医学感兴趣——所以他知道锑剂是毒药。
So maybe he took the antimony, himself. That’s what I think happened.
所以也许是他自己拿了锑剂，我认为真相就是如此。
Maybe it was an accident, but I think Charles Bravo killed himself.
也许是场意外，但我认为查尔斯·布拉沃是自杀的。
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