There was a season in Paris when Darger and Surplus, those two canny rogues, lived very well indeed. That was the year when the Seine shone a gentle green at night with the pillars of the stone bridges fading up into a pure and ghostly blue, for the city engineers, in obedience to the latest fashions, had made the algae and mosses bioluminescent.
足足有一季，奥布里·达格和塞普拉斯这一对精通业务的大盗都在巴黎过着相当滋润的生活。今年石桥柱下塞纳河的河水在夜里会闪着翠绿的光，之后褪成透明的晕开的蓝色，那是城市工程师们追随着最新时尚，把河藻和水藓变成荧光体的结果。
Paris, unlike lesser cities, reveled in her flaws. The molds and funguses that attacked her substance had been redesigned for beauty. The rats had been displaced by a breed of particularly engaging mice. A depleted revenant of the Plague Wars yet lingered in her brothels in the form of a sexual fever that lasted but twenty-four hours before dying away, leaving one with only memories and pleasant regrets. The health service, needless to say, made no serious effort to eradicate it.
巴黎和那些二线城市不同，她热衷于瑕疵之处的表现。霉菌和真菌浸入她的方方面面，把她改造得更加亮丽。耗子也被一种非常迷人的小老鼠取而代之。瘟疫大战的亡魂仍在她的妓院里徘徊，那是一种性狂热，一旦染上要持续二十四小时才会消退，只给患者留下一段回忆以及一阵愉悦的惋惜。不用说，公共医疗卫生部门在根治它这点上无能为力。
Small wonder that Darger and Surplus were as happy as two such men could be.
因此两个男人能有多快活，达格和塞普达斯也就有多快活，这也就不足为奇了。
One such man, actually. Surplus was, genetically, a dog, though he had been remade into anthropomorphic form and intellect. But neither that nor his American origins was held against him, for it was widely believed that he was enormously wealthy.
确切讲，只有达格一个男人。从基因学上讲塞普拉斯是条狗，即使他已经被改造成了人形而且被赋予了智慧。不过无论是这个还是他的美国出身都没有被用来攻击过他——人们都相信他非常富有。
He was not, of course. Nor was he, as so many had been led to suspect, a baron of the Demesne of Western Vermont, traveling incognito in his government’s service. In actual fact, Surplus and Darger were being kept afloat by an immense sea of credit while their plans matured.
当然了，他并不富有。他也不像很多人被暗示过的那样是西佛蒙特州领主国的男爵，现在正隐藏身份为为政府办事而旅行中。真实的情况是，自从塞普拉斯和达格的计划具有雏形之后，他们就一直漂在无边的赊账之海上。
“It seems almost a pity,” Surplus remarked conversationally over breakfast one morning, “that our little game must soon come to fruition.” He cut a slice of strawberry, laid it upon his plate, and began fastidiously dabbing it with golden dollops of Irish cream. “I could live like this forever.”
“想想甚至有点遗憾，” 一天早晨吃饭时，塞普拉斯轻快地说，“咱们的小把戏必须马上出结果。”他切下一片草莓，把它放到自己的盘子上，开始专注地往上面涂抹金黄色的爱尔兰奶油，“我可以这么过一辈子。”
“Indeed. But our creditors could not.” Darger, who had already breakfasted on toast and black coffee, was slowly unwrapping a package that had been delivered just minutes before by courier. “Nor shall we require them to. It is my proud boast to have never departed a restaurant table without leaving a tip, nor a hotel by any means other than the front door.”
“没错。不过我们的债主们就不能了。”达格已经吃过吐司面包和黑咖啡的早餐，现在正慢慢拆开一个几分钟前被信差送来的包裹，“我们也不需要他们能。我可以自信夸口说，我从没有离开餐桌不留小费，也没有离开酒店不走正门。”
“I seem to recall that we left Buckingham by climbing out a window into the back gardens.”
“我好像记得咱们离开白金汉宫时是爬窗户到后院的 。”
“That was the queen’s palace, and quite a different matter. Anyway, it was on fire. Common law absolves us of any impoliteness under such circumstances.” From a lap brimming with brown paper and excelsior, Darger withdrew a gleaming chrome pistol. “Ah!”
“那是女王的王宫，是完全不同的事。况且，它当时着火了。一般法律会赦免我们在那种状况下的任何不得体的行为。”包裹里填满了牛皮纸和细锯末刨花，达格从里面拿出了一把闪闪发光的铬合金手枪。“啊！”
Surplus set down his fork and said, “Aubrey, what are you doing with that grotesque mechanism?”
塞普拉斯放下叉子，问：“奥布里，你对着那个怪玩意感叹什么呢？”
“Far from being a grotesque mechanism, as you put it, my dear friend, this device is an example of the brilliance of the Utopian artisans. The trigger has a built-in gene reader so that the gun could only be fired by its registered owner. Further, it was programmed so that, while still an implacable foe of robbers and other enemies of its master, it would refuse to shoot his family or friends, were he to accidentally point the gun their way and try to fire.”
“这可不是什么怪玩意，我亲爱的朋友，这设备是乌托邦时期的工匠们才华的实例。扳机内有一个内置的基因采集器，这样这把枪只有登记过的人才能使用。另外，它还被编程了，如果不小心指向它主人的家人或朋友的话，它也不会走火。只有对劫匪或是其他的主人仇人，它才会成为致命的敌人。”
“These are fine distinctions for a handgun to make.”
“对一把手枪来说，这辨别水平不错了。”
“Such weapons were artificially intelligent. Some of the best examples had brains almost the equal of yours or mine. Here. Examine it for yourself.”
“这种武器都具有人工智能。最好的那些差不多跟你我一样聪明。来，你自己检查一下它。”
Surplus held it up to his ear. “Is it humming?”
塞普拉斯把拿起来，贴到耳边：“它是不是在嗡嗡响？”
But Darger, who had merely a human sense of hearing, could detect nothing. So Surplus remained unsure. “Where did it come from?” he asked.
然而达格只有人类水平的听力，他什么也听不到。因此塞普拉斯也不确定。“它是从哪儿来的？”他问。
“It is a present,” Darger said. “From one Madame Mignonette d’Etranger. Doubtless she has read of our discovery in the papers, and wishes to learn more. To which end she has enclosed her card – it is bordered in black, indicating that she is a widow – annotated with the information that she will be at home this afternoon.”
“这是件礼物，”达格说，“来自一位叫米格诺奈·德托利的夫人。按信上的说法，她肯定是读过关于我们的发现的论文，而且还想了解更多情况。她在信的最后附上了名片——名片有一圈黑边，意思是这位夫人是位孀妇。信上说今天下午她在家。”
“Then we shall have to make the good widow’s acquaintance. Courtesy requires nothing less.”
“那下午咱们得去认识认识这位好夫人。这是最基本的礼貌。”
——————
Chateau d’Etranger resembled nothing so much as one of Arcimboldo’s whimsical portraits of human faces constructed entirely of fruits or vegetables. It was a bioengineered viridian structure – self-cleansing, self-renewing, and even self-supporting, were one willing to accept a limited menu – such as had enjoyed a faddish popularity in the suburban Paris of an earlier decade. The columned facade was formed by a uniform line of oaks with fluted boles above plinthed and dadoed bases. The branches swept back to form a pleached roof of leafy green. Swags of vines decorated windows that were each the translucent petal of a flower delicately hinged with clamshell muscle to air the house in pleasant weather.
德托利宅与阿尔钦博托 的那种有水果或蔬菜拼成的肖像画有异曲同工之处。它是一幢被生物化的翠绿的房子——它可以自我清洁，可以自我修复，如果你能忍受那过短的菜单的话甚至可以自我供给。这类房子曾经在十年前的巴黎近郊非常流行。圆柱状的外观是由一排统一样式的橡木组成的，这些橡木的树干上有凹槽，长在基座和护墙板的地基之上。树枝交错编织出了叶绿色的屋顶。垂下的葡萄藤装饰着窗户，每片半透明的花瓣都巧妙地长在了合页上，好在怡人的天气一扇一扇地给房子通通风。
“Grotesque,” muttered Surplus, “and in the worst of taste.”
“古怪，”塞普拉斯咕哝道，“品味糟糕透顶。”
“Yet expensive,” Darger observed cheerily. “And in the final analysis, does not money trump good taste?”
“但也很奢侈，”达格愉快地补充道，“而且从根本上讲，钱不是比品味更重要吗？”
Madame d’Etranger received them in the orangery. All the windows had been opened, so that a fresh breeze washed through the room. The scent of orange blossoms was intoxicating. The widow herself was dressed in black, her face entirely hidden behind a dark and fashionable cloud of hair, hat, and veils. Her clothes, notwithstanding their somber purpose, were of silk, and did little to disguise the loveliness of her slim and perfect form. “Gentlemen,” she said. “It is kind of you to meet me on such short notice.”
德托利夫人在橘子园接待了他们。窗户都开着，新鲜的微风清洗着屋子。橘子花的香味令人沉醉。未亡人本人身着黑色，她的脸完全藏在了时髦的云状黑发、帽子以及面纱之下。她的丝织衣服一点也掩盖不住她窈窕的完美身材，完全体现不出来本来的致哀意图。“先生们，”她说，“你们能这么快就赶过来，真是太客气了。”
Darger rushed forward to seize her black-gloved hands. “Madame, the pleasure is entirely ours. To meet such an elegant and beautiful woman, even under what appear to be tragic circumstances, is a rare privilege, and one I shall cherish always.”
达格疾步上前，抓起她戴着黑手套的双手说：“夫人，这完全是我们的荣幸才对。一位如此优雅美丽的女士，即使是在不幸的境况下见到她，也是件不可多得的幸事，我总是会珍惜的。”
Madame d’Etranger tilted her head in a way that might indicate pleasure.
大概出于愉快，德托利夫人侧了侧头。
“Indeed,” Surplus said coldly. Darger shot him a quick look.
“千真万确。”塞普拉斯语气不善地说。达格迅速瞪了他一眼。
“Tell me,” Madame d’Etranger said. “Have you truly located the Eiffel Tower?”
“和我说说，”德托利夫人说，“你们真的找到埃菲尔铁塔了吗？”
“Yes, madame, we have,” Darger said.
“是的，夫人，我们找到了。”达格说。
“After all these years …” she marveled. “However did you find it?”
“过了这么多年……”她惊讶地问，“你们到底怎么找着它的？”
“First, I must touch lightly upon its history. You know, of course, that it was built early in the Utopian era, and dismantled at its very end, when rogue intelligences attempted to reach out from the virtual realm to seize control of the human world, and humanity fought back in every way it could manage. There were many desperate actions fought in those mad years, and none more desperate than here in Paris, where demons seized control of the Tower and used it to broadcast madness throughout the city. Men fought each other in the streets. Armed forces, sent in to restore order, were reprogrammed and turned against their own commanders. Thousands died before the Tower was at last dismantled.
“首先，我得稍稍讲一下它的历史。您自然也知道，它是在乌托邦时代早期建立，而在末期拆除的，当时强盗智能生物们想从虚拟领域出来，夺取人类世界的控制权，人类呢则用他们能使出来的各种手段打了回去。在那些疯狂的年月有很多拼命的对抗行动，不过最拼命的还是巴黎这里，在这儿恶魔们夺取了塔的控制权，用它往城市里散播疯狂的思想信号。人们在街上你打我我打你干了起来，被派过去恢复秩序的武装力量也被广播洗脑，转过身去对抗他们自己的长官。在铁塔最后被拆之前死了足有好几千人。
“I remind you of this, so that you may imagine the determination of the survivors to ensure that the Eiffel Tower would never be raised again. Today, we think only of the seven thousand three hundred tons of puddled iron of its superstructure, and of how much it would be worth on the open market. Then, it was seen as a monster, to be buried where it could never be found and resurrected.”
“我跟您提起这些，您也就能想像到幸存者们一定要让埃菲尔铁塔永远不能重见天日的决心了。今天，我们只会想到那七千三百吨坑坑洼洼的钢铁架子，想到它可以在露天市场卖多少钱。而在当时，它被看成一个怪物，被埋在一个永远不会被找到挖出来的地方。”
“As indeed, for all this time, it has not. Yet now, you tell me, you have found it. How?”
“而且事实上，它一直都没有。直到现在，你们告诉我你们已经找到它了。怎么做到的？”
“By seeking for it where it would be most difficult to excavate. By asking ourselves where such a salvage operation would be most disruptive to contemporary Paris.” He nodded to Surplus, who removed a rolled map from his valise. “Have you a table?”
“在它最难被挖出来的地方找。问自己，对当时的巴黎而言放哪日后打捞工作最麻烦。”他冲塞普拉斯点点头，后者从手提箱里取出一卷地图，“您这儿有桌子吗？”
Madame d’Etranger clapped her hands sharply twice. From the ferny undergrowth to one end of the orangery, an enormous tortoise patiently footed forward. The top of his shell was as high as Darger’s waist, and flat.
德托利夫人连拍了两下手。一只巨大的乌龟从延伸到橘子园另一端的蕨木丛里慢慢爬上前来。它的壳的顶部是平的，刚好齐到达格的腰高。
Wordlessly, Surplus unrolled the map. It showed Paris and environs.
塞普拉斯一言不发地铺开地图。上面画的是巴黎和周边郊区。
Wordlessly, Surplus unrolled the map. It showed Paris and environs.
“而答案呢？”达格的手滑过蜿蜒的蓝色河流，它将巴黎一分为二，“它被埋在塞纳河的下面！”
For a long moment, the lady was still. Then, “My husband will want to speak with you.”
很长一段时间，这位夫人一动不动。然后她说：“我丈夫会愿意和你们谈谈的。”
With a rustle of silks, she left the room.
她离开了房间，丝织衣服发出着沙沙的声音。
As soon as she was gone, Darger turned on his friend and harshly whispered, “Damn you, Surplus, your sullen and uncooperative attitude is queering the pitch! Have you forgotten how to behave in front of a lady?”
她才一走，达格就转向他的朋友，低吼道：“该死，塞普拉斯，你这消极不配合的态度会破坏计划的！你忘了怎么在女士面前举止得体了吗？”
“She is no lady,” Surplus said stiffly. “She is a genetically modified cat. I can smell it.”
“她可不是什么女士，”塞普拉斯生硬地说，“她是只经过基因改造的猫。我闻得出来。”
“A cat! Surely not.”
“猫！肯定不是。”
“Trust me on this one. The ears you cannot see are pointed. The eyes she takes such care to hide are a cat’s eyes. Doubtless the fingers within those gloves have retractable claws. She is a cat, and thus untrustworthy and treacherous.”
“就信我这回吧。你看不见的那对耳朵是尖耳朵。她非常小心藏起来的那双眼睛是猫的眼睛。更别说在那副手套里的手指了，都有能收缩的爪子。她是只猫，而猫既不可靠也不忠诚。”
Madame d’Etranger returned. She was followed by two apes who carried a thin, ancient man in a chair between them. Their eyes were dull; they were little better than automata. After them came a Dedicated Doctor, eyes bright, who of course watched his charge with obsessive care. The widow gestured toward her husband. “C’est Monsieur.”
德托利夫人回来了。她的身后跟着两只狒狒，一个瘦弱的老人坐在它们抬着的椅子上。狒狒和老人的都两眼呆木，简直不比机器人好上多少。一个专用医生跟在后面，两眼发亮，紧盯着自己的负责对象。孀妇把手引向她的丈夫：“这是老爷。”
“Monsieur d’Etrang-” Darger began.
“德利克老——”达格开口说。
“Monsieur only. It’s quicker,” the ancient said curtly. “My widow has told me about your proposition.”
“‘老爷’就行。这样快点。”老人三言两语说道，“我的遗孀说了你们的提案。”
Darger bowed. “May I ask, sir, how long you have?”
达格鞠了一躬：“我能问问吗，先生，您还有多少时间？”
“Twenty-three months, seven days, and an indeterminable number of hours,” the Dedicated Doctor said. “Medicine remains, alas, an inexact science.”
“二十三个月，七天，加上不确定的几个小时，”专用医生说，“医学还不是门，呃，精确的科学。”
“Damn your impudence and shut your yap!” Monsieur snarled. “I have no time to waste on you.”
“你这该死的啰嗦鬼，快闭嘴！”老爷咆哮起来，“我没时间浪费在你身上。”
“I speak only the truth. I have no choice but to speak the truth. If you wish otherwise, please feel free to deprogram me, and I will quit your presence immediately.”
“我只说真话。我也只能说真话，没别的选择。如果您不想我这样的话，请随时向我说明，我会马上停止数您剩下的时间的。”
“When I die you can depart, and not a moment before.” The slight old man addressed Darger and Surplus: “I have little time, gentlemen, and in that little time I wish to leave my mark upon the world.”
“我死了你就能滚了，那之前一秒就别停。”瘦小的老人转向达格和塞普拉斯，说：“我快没时间了，先生们，这么点时间里我想在世界上留下我的痕迹。”
“Then – forgive me again, sir, but I must say it – you have surely better things to do than to speak with us, who are in essence but glorified scrap dealers. Our project will bring its patron an enormous increase in wealth. But wealth, as you surely know, does not in and of itself buy fame.”
“那么——再次原谅我的鲁莽，先生，可我必须得说——我们其实就是名字好听点的收废品的，比起和我们说话您肯定有更合适的事情做。我们的项目会使得投资人的财产大量增加，而财产本身，您想必也知道，是买不到名声的。”
“But that is exactly what I intend to do – buy fame.” A glint came into Monsieur’s eyes, and one side of his mouth turned up in a mad and mirthless grin. “It is my intent to re-erect the ancient structure as the Tour d’Etranger!”
“可那正是我打算做的——买名声。”老爷的眼里闪过一道光，他的一边嘴角上扬，形成一个疯狂的、一点笑意都没有的笑容，“我的打算就是再立起这座古代建筑，给它取名叫德托利铁塔！”
——————
“The trout has risen to the bait,” Darger said with satisfaction. He and Surplus were smoking cigars in their office. The office was the middle room of their suite, and a masterpiece of stage-setting, with desks and tables overflowing with papers, maps, and antiquarian books competing for space with globes, surveying equipment, and a stuffed emu.
“鱼儿就要吃下铒了。”达格满意地说。他和塞普拉斯正在他们的办公室里抽着雪茄。办公室是他们公寓中间的房间充当的，布置得相当巧妙。这里有好几张桌子和写字台，上面摆满了文件、地图与古书，这些东西和地球仪、各类测量仪器还有一只填充了的鸸鹋标本挤在一起。
“And yet, the hook is not set. He can still swim free,” Surplus riposted. “There was much talk of building coffer dams of such and so sizes and redirecting so-many-millions of liters of water. And yet not so much as a penny of earnest money.”
“可是鱼钩还没下呢。他还能随时游开。”塞普拉斯回道，“关于围坝要建造多大、要把多少万立方的水改流，说了那么多话，可还是一分钱的定金都没给。”
“He’ll come around. He cannot coffer the Seine segment by segment until he comes across the buried beams of the Tower. For that knowledge, he must come to us.”
“他会来的。他没办法把塞纳河围成一段一段的，除非他偶然遇到被埋起来的塔梁。要得到位置的消息，他必须过来找我们。”
“And why should he do that, rather than searching it out for himself?”
“那他为什么应该找我们，而不是自己寻找塔呢？”
“Because, dear fellow, it is not to be found there. We lied.””We have told lies before, and had them turn out to be true.”
“那是因为，亲爱的搭档，那里找不到塔。我们说谎了。”“我们以前也说过谎，然后谎言就变成了现实。”
“That too is covered. Over a century ago, an eccentric Parisian published an account of how he had gone up and down the Seine with a rowboat and a magnet suspended on a long rope from a spring scale, and found nothing larger than the occasional rusted hulk of a Utopian machine. I discovered his leaflet, its pages uncut, in the Bibliothèque Nationale.”
“连那个可能性也不存在。一个世纪之前，巴黎有一个怪人出版了一本报告，讲他带着一个弹簧拉力器，一头系着块磁铁，乘坐着一条桨船沿着塞纳河上上下下，结果找到的最大的东西就是偶尔吸到的乌托邦时期的锈机器架。我在国家图书馆里发现了他的小册子，页面都没裁开。”
“And what is to prevent our sponsor from reading that same chapbook?”
“那如果我们的投资人看到内容一样的小册子怎么办？”
“The extreme unlikelihood of such a coincidence, and the fact that I later dropped the only surviving copy in all the city into the Seine.”
“这种巧合发生的可能性极小，何况，之后我就把整座城市里唯一残存下来的书扔进塞纳河了。”
That same night Darger, who was a light sleeper, was awakened by the sound of voices in the library. Silently, he donned blouse and trousers, and then put his ear to the connecting double doors.
当天夜里，永远是浅睡的达格被书房里的说话声惊醒了。他轻手轻脚地穿上了上衣和裤子，把耳朵贴在了两个房间之间的双开门上。
He could hear the cadenced rise and fall of conversation, but could not quite make out the words. More suspiciously, no light showed in the crack under or between the doors. Surplus, he knew, would not have scheduled a business appointment without consulting him. Moreover, though one of the two murmuring voices might conceivably be female, there were neither giggles nor soft, drawn-out sighs but, rather, a brisk and informational tone to their speech. The rhythms were all wrong for it to be one of Surplus’s assignations
他能听到说话声起起落落，却听不出来讲的是什么内容。更让人好奇的是，下面和中间的门缝里没有一丝光透出来。他知道，塞普拉斯不会不跟他说商量一声就安排一场商务会面的。另外，虽然两个低语的声音里有一个能听出来是女性，却听不到任何咯咯傻笑或是轻柔绵长的娇喘声，相反，他们的交谈用的是像在进行报告的轻快语气。如果是塞普拉斯在偷偷约会的话这对话节奏完全不对。
Resolutely, Darger flung the doors open.
达格果断地猛推开门。
The only light in the office came from the moon without. It illuminated not two but only one figure – a slender one, clad in skin-tight clothes. She (for by the outline of her shadowy body, Darger judged the intruder to be female) whirled at the sound of the doors slamming. Then, with astonishing grace, she ran out onto the balcony, jumped up on its rail, and leaped into the darkness. Darger heard the woman noisily rattling up the bamboo fire escape.
办公室唯一的光来自外面的月亮。月光没有把两个人都照出来，而是只勾勒出了一个穿着紧身衣的细长身影。她（从身影的曲线来判断，达格断定这个入侵者是位女性）一听到门响就迅速转身，用一种令人惊异的优雅的动作，跑出到了阳台上，跳上栏杆，跃入黑暗中。达格听到这个女人爬上了竹子长成的逃生梯，一路哗啦响。
With a curse, he rushed after her.
咒骂一声，他跟在她后面冲了出去。
By the time Darger had reached the roof, he fully expected his mysterious intruder to be gone. But there she was, to the far end of the hotel, crouched alongside one of the chimney-pots in a wary and watchful attitude. Of her face he could see only two unblinking glints of green fire that were surely her eyes. Silhouetted as she was against a sky filled with rags and snatches of moon-bright cloud, he could make out the outline of one pert and perfect breast, tipped with a nipple the size of a dwarf cherry. He saw how her long tail lashed back and forth behind her.
达格刚到屋顶时，他满心希望神秘的入侵者已经离开了。可她就在那儿，在酒店远远的一端，蹲在一个烟囱旁，保持着谨慎观望的姿势。从她脸上，他只能看到两团毫不动摇的绿火，那显然是她的眼睛。天空满是大大小小的被月光照亮的云，正好映衬出了她的剪影，他能认出来一只小巧耸立形状完美的胸脯，顶端好像一颗矮矮的樱桃。他看到她的长尾巴在身后，前后抽打着。
For an instant, Darger was drawn up by a wholly uncharacteristic feeling of supernatural dread. Was this some imp or fiend from the infernal nether-regions? He drew in his breath.
在那一瞬间，达格被一种完全不同寻常的对超自然的恐怖吓得呆住了。这是哪种来自地狱的恶魔或是魔鬼吗？他倒吸了一口气。
But then the creature turned and fled. So Darger, reasoning that if it feared him then he had little to fear from it, pursued.
可那个生物立即就转身开逃了。达格意识到，既然它害怕他，那他就不该怕它了，于是又追了上去。
The imp-woman ran to the edge of the hotel and leaped. Only a short alley separated the building from its neighbor. The leap was no more than six feet. Darger followed without difficulty. Up a sloping roof she ran. Over it he pursued her.
恶魔女人跑到酒店的边缘一跃而过。酒店和旁边的建筑之间只隔了一条小巷子，这一跳还没有六英尺（一点八米）远。达格毫不费力地跟上。她沿着斜坡屋顶继续往上跑。他翻过它继续追。
Another jump, of another alley.
又一跳，又一道巷子。
He was getting closer now. Up a terra-cotta-tiled rooftop he ran. At the ridge-line, he saw with horror his prey extend herself in a low flying leap across a gap of at least fifteen feet. She hit the far roof with a tuck, rolled, and sprang to her feet.
他现在更近了。他顺着铺满陶瓦的屋顶往上跑。跨过最高处，他惊恐地看到他的猎物伸展着身体，低空飞行一样掠过一个至少十五英尺（四点六米）宽的间隔。她一落在远处的屋顶上就卷起身体，打个滚，然后跳立起来。
Darger knew his limitations. He could not leap that gap.
达格知道他自己的极限。他过不去那个坎。
In a panic, he tried to stop, tripped, fell, and found himself sliding feet-first on his back down the tiled roof. The edge sped toward him. It was a fall of he-knew-not-how-many floors to the ground. Perhaps six.
惊慌之下，他试图停下、摔倒、掉落，最后发现自己正脚冲下背靠铺着瓦片的屋顶往下滑。屋檐正向他飞来。掉下去的话，他不知道要经过几层才会落地。也许是六层。
Frantically, Darger flung out his arms to either side, grabbing at the tiles, trying to slow his descent by friction. The tiles bumped painfully beneath him as he skidded downward. Then the heels of his bare feet slammed into the gutter at the edge of the eaves. The guttering groaned, lurched outward – and held.
达格发疯似地向两边挥动手臂，抓向瓦片，想借助摩擦力减慢他的下滑。当他往下滑时，身下的瓦片碰撞着他的身体，很疼。然后他赤裸的脚后跟撞到了屋檐边缘的排水管。排水管吱呀一声，往外倾斜——然后停住了。
Darger lay motionless, breathing heavily, afraid to move.
达格呆呆躺着，大口地呼吸着，一动也不敢动。
He heard a thump, and then the soft sound of feet traversing the rooftop. A woman’s head popped into view, upside down in his vision. She smiled.
他听到一声重响，之后一阵轻柔的脚步声从屋顶传来。一个女人的脑袋上下颠倒着从他眼前冒了出来。她笑了。
He knew who she was, then. There were, after all, only so many cat-women in Paris. “M-madame d’Etra-“
他马上明白过来她是谁了。毕竟，在巴黎，猫女不多。“德……德托利夫——”
“Shhh.” She put a finger against his lips. “No names.”
“嘘，”她把一根手指堵在他的嘴唇上，“别说名字。”
Nimbly, she slipped around and crouched over him. He saw now that she was clad only in a pelt of fine black fur. Her nipples were pale and naked. “So afraid!” she marveled. Then, brushing a hand lightly over him. “Yet still aroused.”
她灵巧地滑到一边，蹲在他身上。他现在看出来了，她身上其实只有一身保养得很好的黑色毛皮。她的矮樱桃白皙裸露。“这么怕！”她惊奇地喊道，一只手轻轻扫过他，“可还这么有精神。”
Darger felt the guttering sway slightly under him and, thinking how easily this woman could send him flying downward, he shivered. It was best he did not offend her. “Can you wonder, madame? The sight of you …”
达格感到身下的排水管轻轻晃动，考虑到这个女人能轻易送自己飞下去，他颤抖起来。他最好还是别惹怒她为好。“你能想像吗，夫人？一看到您……”
“How gallant!” Her fingers deftly unbuttoned his trousers, and undid his belt. “You do know how to pay a lady a compliment.”
“真殷勤！”她的手指灵巧地解开了他裤子的钮扣，松开了他的腰带，“你真的清楚怎么恭维一位女士。”
“What are you doing?” Darger cried in alarm.
“你在做什么？”达格惊慌喊道。
She tugged the belt free, tossed it lightly over the side of the building. “Surely your friend has explained to you that cats are amoral?” Then, when Darger nodded, she ran her fingers up under his blouse, claws extended, drawing blood. “So you will understand that I mean nothing personal by this.”
她把腰带抽出来，轻轻扔到了大楼的侧面。“你的朋友肯定跟你说过，猫没有道德观念吧？”
在达格点头后，她把手指从下面伸进他的上衣里面，爪子弹了出来，抓出了血。“那你应该能明白，我这并不是针对个人。”
Surplus was waiting when Darger climbed back in the window. “Dear God, look at you,” he cried. “Your clothes are dirty and disordered, your hair is in disarray – and what has happened to your belt?”
当达格从窗户爬回公寓的时候塞普拉斯正等在里面。“天啊，看看你，”他叫道，“你的衣服又脏又乱，你的头发乱成一团……你的腰带去哪了？”
“Some mudlark of the streets has it, I should imagine.” Darger sank down into a chair. “At any rate, there’s no point looking for it.”
“在街上的流浪汉手里吧，我猜。”达格一屁股坐在椅子上，“总之，没必要去找它了。”
“What in heaven’s name has happened to you?”
看在老天的份上，你出什么事了？”
“I fear I’ve fallen in love,” Darger said sadly, and could be compelled to say no more.
“我恐怕是恋爱了。”达格郁郁不乐地说，然后怎么都不肯多吐一个字了。
——————
So began an affair that seriously tried the friendship of the two partners in crime. For Madame d’Etranger thenceforth appeared in their rooms, veiled yet unmistakable, every afternoon. Invariably, Darger would plant upon her hand the chastest of kisses, and then discretely lead her to the secrecy of his bedroom, where their activities could only be guessed at. Invariably, Surplus would scowl, snatch up his walking stick, and retire to the hallway, there to pace back and forth until the lady finally departed. Only rarely did they speak of their discord.
让两个犯罪好伙伴的友谊面临严峻考验的事件就这么开始了。从那天起，德托利夫人每天下午都会脸戴面纱大摇大摆地来到他们的房间。每当这时候，达格就会以最纯洁的方式行吻手礼，然后就带着她去他的卧室里商量要事了。至于他们在那儿做什么，就只能猜了。每当这时候，塞普拉斯便会满脸怒容地抄起手杖，退避到外面的过道，在那来回踱步，直到这位女士终于离开。不过两人间的不和很少表现出来。
One such discussion was occasioned by Surplus’s discovery that Madame d’Etranger had employed the services of several of Paris’s finest book scouts.
其中一次争论是由塞普拉斯挑起的。他发现德托利夫人雇佣了几个巴黎最好的寻书人为她服务。
“For what purpose?” Darger asked negligently. Mignonette had left not half an hour previously, and he was uncharacteristically relaxed.
“找什么书？”达格漫不经心地问。米格诺奈离开了还不到半小时，他现在感到相当松懈。
“That I have not been able to determine. These book scouts are a notoriously close-mouthed lot.”
“我还不能肯定。那些寻书人的嘴是出了名的紧。”
“The acquisition of rare texts is an honorable hobby for many haut-bourgeois.”
“收集珍本书本来就是上流社会的有钱人们的高雅爱好之一。”
“Then it is one she has acquired on short notice. She was unknown in the Parisian book world a week ago. Today she is one of its best patrons. Think, Darger – think! Abrupt changes of behavior are always dangerous signs. Why will you not take this seriously?”
“那这项高雅爱好就是她突然才有的。一周之前她还不是巴黎图书圈子的人，现在她已经是里头最大的主顾之一了。想想，达格——想想！行为举止突然的变化往往是危险的信号。你为什么不严肃对待呢？”
“Mignonette is, as they say here, une chatte sérieuse, and I un homme galant.” Darger shrugged. “It is inevitable that I should be besotted with her. Why cannot you, in your turn, simply accept this fact?”
“照这儿的人的说法，米格奈特是une chatte sérieuse——一只严肃的猫，而我是un homme galant——一个风流的男人。”达格耸耸肩，“我被她迷住应该是不可避免的事。反过来说，你为什么不能简简单单地接受这个现实呢？”
Surplus chewed on a knuckle of one paw. “Very well – I will tell you what I fear. There is only one work of literature she could possibly be looking for, and that is the chapbook proving that the Eiffel Tower does not lie beneath the Seine.”
塞普拉斯咬一只爪子上的关节：“好吧……我告诉你我在怕什么。她可能会在找的书只有一种，就是那本证明埃菲尔铁塔不在塞纳河底的册子。”
“But, my dear fellow, how could she possibly know of its existence?”
“可是，我亲爱的搭档，她怎么可能知道有那么本书呢？”
“That I cannot say.”
“这我就说不出来了。”
“Then your fears are groundless.” Darger smiled complacently. Then he stroked his chin and frowned. “Nevertheless, I will have a word with her.”
“那你的担心就毫无根据。”达格得意地笑起来。他摸摸自己的下巴，皱起眉头，“不过，我会和她谈谈的。”
The very next day he did so.
接下来的第二天他就这么做了。
——————
The morning had been spent, as usual, in another round of the interminable negotiations with Monsieur’s business agents, three men of such negligible personality that Surplus privately referred to them as Ci, Ça, and l’Autre. They were drab and lifeless creatures who existed, it sometimes seemed, purely for the purpose of preventing an agreement of any sort from coming to fruition. “They are waiting to be bribed,” Darger explained when Surplus took him aside to complain of their recalcitrance.
那天早上和往常一样，又一轮和老爷的三个商务代表进行的冗长的谈判。这三个人几乎没有个性，塞普拉斯私下提到时更愿意叫他们“嘻”“傻”和“老扯” 。他们都是乏味的死气沉沉的生物，有时候看起来他们的存在纯粹是为了阻止任何种类的协议达成一致。“他们正等着我们去贿赂他们。”当塞普拉斯把达格带到一边抱怨这三个人的顽固时，达格解释说。
“Then they will wait forever. Before we can begin distributing banknotes, we must first receive our earnest money. The pump must be primed. Surely even such dullards as Ci, Ça, and l’Autre can understand that much.”
“那他们就永远等下去吧。在我们能把钞票乱扔之前，我们必须先拿到定金。泵必须得启动起来才能一直转。就算是嘻、傻还有老扯这样的白痴肯定也能明白这点。”
“Greed has rendered them impotent. Just as a heart can be made to beat so fast that it will seize up, so too here. Still, with patience I believe they can be made to see reason.”
“贪婪让他们变得软弱。心脏如果跳得太快会骤停的，这里也是一样。静下心来，来点耐心，我相信能让他们看到原因的。”
“Your patience, I suspect, is born of long afternoons and rumpled bed sheets.”
“我猜，你的耐心是从诸多下午的诸多床单里滚出来的吧。”
Darger merely looked tolerant.
达格只是宽容地看着。
Yet it was not patience that broke the logjam, but its opposite. For that very morning, Monsieur burst into the conference room, carried in a chair by his apes and accompanied by his Dedicated Doctor. “It has been weeks,” he said without preamble. “Why are the papers not ready?”
不过僵局并非被耐心打破的，而是恰恰相反。那天早上，老爷坐着他的狒狒们抬的椅子，在他的专门医生的陪同下闯进了会议室。“已经有好几个星期了，”他开门见山地问，“怎么文件还没好？”
Ci, Ça, and l’Autre threw up their hands in dismay.
嘻、傻还有老扯沮丧地举起了手。
“The terms they require are absurd, to say the…”
“他们要求的条款太荒唐了，说实……”
“No sensible businessman would…”
“没有哪个理智的商人会……”
“They have yet to provide any solid proof of their…”
“他们还没提供任何确凿的证据证明他们……”
“No, and in their position, neither would I. Popotin-” he addressed one of his apes-“the pouch.”
“当然没有，如果我在他们的位置上，我也不会。波波丁——”老爷转向他的其中一只狒狒，“——袋子。”
Popotin slipped a leather pouch from his shoulder and clumsily held it open. Monsieur drew out three handwritten sheets of paper and threw them down on the table. “Here are my notes,” he said. “Look them over and then draw them up in legal form.” The cries of dismay from Ci, Ça, and l’Autre were quelled with one stern glare. “I expect them to be complete within the week.”
波波丁从它的肩膀上滑下一只皮革袋子，笨拙地打开了它。老爷从里面取出三张手写的表格文件扔到了桌子上。“这些是我的票据，”他说，“检查一遍把它们拟成法律形式。”他严厉的目光一扫，嘻、傻和老扯沮丧的喊声便渐渐平息了下去，“我希望这件事这个星期就能完成。”
Surplus, who had quickly scanned the papers, said, “You are most generous, Monsieur. The sum on completion is nothing short of breathtaking.” Neither he nor Darger expected to collect that closing sum, of course. But they were careful to draw attention away from the start-up monies (a fraction of the closing sum, though by their standards enormous), that were their true objective.
塞普拉斯迅速浏览了这些文件，说：“您真是太慷慨了，老爷。整个工程的总数简直令人称奇。”当然，他和达格都没期待过能拿到接近的数额。不过，他们还是小心地把注意力从启动资金——和总数比是很小一部分，不过按他们两个的标准来说依然数额巨大——上挪开，那才是他们真正的目标。
Monsieur snorted. “What matter? I will be dead by then.”
老爷哼哼说道：“那又怎么样？那时候我已经死了。”
“I see that the Tour d’Etranger is to be given to the City of Paris,” Darger said. “That is very generous of you, Monsieur. Many a man in your position would prefer to keep such a valuable property in their family.”
“我注意到德托利铁塔会被赠予巴黎市，”达格说，“您真是慷慨，老爷。很多您这个位置的人更愿意把这么有价值的财产留给他们的家人。”
“Eh? What family?”
“呃？什么家人？”
“I speak, sir, of your wife.”
“我说的是您的妻子，阁下。”
“She will be taken care of.”
“她会被照顾好的。”
“Sir?” Darger, who was sensitive to verbal nuance, felt a cold tingling at the back of his neck, a premonition of something significant being left unspoken. “What does that mean?”
“先生？”达格对语言的微妙之处十分敏感，他感到脖子后面一阵冰冷刺痛，这预示着有什么重要的东西没有说出来，“这是什么意思？”
“It means just what I said.” Monsieur snapped his fingers to catch his apes’ attention. “Take me away from here.”
“就是我说的意思。”老爷打了个响指引起他的狒狒的注意，“带我离开这儿。”
——————
When Darger got back to his rooms, Mignonette was already waiting there. She lounged naked atop his bed, playing with the chrome revolver she had sent him before ever they had met. First she cuddled it between her breasts. Then she brought it to her mouth, ran her pink tongue up the barrel, and briefly closed her lips about its very tip. He found the sight disturbingly arousing.
当达格回到他的房间时，米格诺奈已经等在那儿了。她一丝不挂地躺在他的床上，把玩着两人见面之前她送给他的那把铬合金左轮手枪。她先把它挤在胸部之间，然后把它放进嘴里，粉色的舌头顺着枪管往上，嘴唇轻啄它的最顶端。他很气恼地发现这情景让他起了反应。
“You should be careful,” Darger said. “That’s a dangerous device.”
“你应该小心点，”达格说，“那是件危险的设备。”
“Pooh! Monsieur had it programmed to defend me as well as himself.” She placed the muzzle against her heart, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. “See? It will not fire at either of us.” She handed it to him. “Try it for yourself.”
“哈！老爷给它编过程了，它会像保护他一样保护我。”她把枪口对着自己的心脏，扣动了扳机。什么也没发生。“看到了吧？它不会朝着我们俩中的谁开火。”她把枪递给他，“你自己试试。”
With a small shudder of distaste, Darger placed the gun on a table at some distance from the bed. “I have a question to ask you,” he said.
带着厌恶感引起的轻微颤抖，达格把枪放到了离床有段距离的桌子上。“我有个问题要问你。”他说。
Mignonette smiled in an amused way. She rolled over on her stomach, and rose up on her knees and elbows. Her long tail moved languidly. Her cat’s eyes were green as grass. “Do you want your answer now,” she asked, “or later?”
米格诺奈顽皮地笑了。她翻过身来，肚子朝下，用膝盖和手肘支撑着起身。她的长尾巴倦怠地动着。她的猫眼绿得像青草一样。“你是想现在就要答案，”她问，“还是待会儿？”
Put that way, the question answered itself.
问题才一出口，答案已经显而易见了。
So filled with passion was Darger that he had no memory of divesting himself of his clothing, or joining Mignonette on the bed. He only knew that he was deep inside her, and that that was where he wanted to be. Her fur was soft and sleek against his skin. It tickled him ever so slightly – just enough to be perverse, but not enough to be undesirable. Fleetingly, he felt like a zoophile, and then, even more fleetingly, realized that this must be very much like what Surplus’s lady-friends experienced. But he abandoned that line of thought quickly.
达格是那么性急，他都没印象是怎么脱掉自己的衣服和床上的米格诺奈滚作一团的。他只知道自己深入到了她里面，到了自己想待的地方。她的毛软软的，滑滑的，磨蹭着他的皮肤。让他痒痒的，不过挺轻——刚够他心里有些异样，却不至于难以忍受。有那么一会儿，他感觉自己是个恋兽癖；然后，更多的一会儿，他明白过来这肯定也是塞普拉斯的床伴们的体会了。不过很快他就把这念头扔到一边去了。
Like any properly educated man of his era, Darger was capable of achieving orgasm three or four times in succession without awkward periods of detumescence in between. With Mignonette, he could routinely bring that number up to five. Today, for the first time, he reached seven.
就像他这年龄任何受到良好教育的男人一样，达格可以一连达到顶峰三四次而不尴尬地软下去。和米格诺奈一起的话，他能稀松平常地达到五次。今天，头一回，七次。
“You wanted to ask me a question?” Mignonette said, when they were done. She lay within the crook of his arm, her cold nose snuggled up against his neck. Playfully, she put her two hands, claws sheathed, against his side and kneaded him, as if she were a true, unmodified cat.
“你刚才想问我个问题？”他们完事后，米格诺奈问。她躺在他的臂弯里，凉鼻子依偎着他的脖子。玩心之下，她把爪子缩回去的肉垫抵在他的侧边，揉啊揉，就像自己是一只真正的没有被基因改造过的猫一样。
“Hmm? Ah! Yes.” Darger felt wonderfully, gloriously relaxed. He doubted he would ever move again. It took an effort for him to focus his thoughts. “I was wondering … exactly what your husband meant when he said that he would have you ‘taken care of,’ after his death.”
“哦？啊！没错。”达格感到一阵妙不可言的放松，他怀疑自己还会不会动弹。他努了把力，集中思想，“我想知道的是……你丈夫说他会让你在他死后‘被照顾好的’，他是什么意思？”
“Oh.” She drew away from him, and sat up upon her knees. “That. I thought you were going to ask about the pamphlet.”
“哦，”她从他身上离开了，跪坐起来，“那个啊。我还以为你要问小册子的事呢？”
Again, a terrible sense of danger overcame Darger. He was extremely sensitive to such influences. It was an essential element of his personality.
“Pamphlet?” he said lightly.
再一次地，一阵可怕的危险感向达格袭来。他对这种影响极其敏感。这是他人格中的基本元素之一。
“小册子？”他轻声问。
“Yes, that silly little thing about a man in a rowboat. Vingt Ans… something like that. I’ve had my book scouts scouring the stalls and garrets for it since I-forget-when.”
“对，那本一个男人在一条小船上的蠢书。Vingt Ans ……之类的名字。我让我的寻书人在货摊和阁楼里找这本书，忘了从什么时候开始的。”
“I had no idea you were looking for such a thing.”
“我还不知道你在找这么件东西。”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I was looking for it. And I have found it too.”
“啊，没错，”她说，“我之前在找它，现在已经找到了。”
“You have what?”
“你已经什么？”
The outer doors of their apartments slammed open, and the front room filled with voices. Somebody – it could only be Monsieur – was shouting at the top of his weak voice. Surplus was clearly trying to soothe him. The Dedicated Doctor was there as well, urging his client to calm himself.
公寓的大门被“呯”地撞开了，客厅传来各种声音。有人——只能是老爷——正他那微弱的声音尽最大努力在喊，而塞普拉斯显然在试着安抚他。专用医生也在那儿，正劝说他的委托人冷静下来。
Darger leapt from the bed, and hastily threw on his clothes. “Wait here,” he told Mignonette. Having some experience in matters of love, he deftly slipped between the doors without opening them wide enough to reveal her presence.
达格跳下床，匆忙套上自己的衣服。“等在这儿。”他对米格诺奈说道。鉴于曾经的一些爱情方面的经历，他没有把门开得很大就从中间灵巧地闪了出去，没有把她暴露出来。
He stepped into absolute chaos.
他步入了一片混乱之中。
Monsieur stood in the middle of the room waving a copy of an ancient pamphlet titled Vingt Ans dans un Bateau à Rames in the air. On its cover was a crude drawing of a man in a rowboat holding a magnet from a fishing pole. He shook it until it rattled. “Swindlers!” he cried. “Confidence tricksters! Deceivers! Oh, you foul creatures!”
老爷站在房间的中央，挥舞着一本古代小册子，上面写着：Vingt Ans dans un Bateau à Rames 。封面上草草画着一幅一个男人坐在小船上，用鱼竿高吊着块磁铁。老爷把书晃得啪啪响。“骗子！”他喊道，“骗子！骗子！哼，你们这帮恶心的家伙！”
“Please, sir, consider your leucine aminopeptidases,” the Dedicated Doctor murmured. He wiped the little man’s forehead with a medicated cloth. “You’ll put your inverse troponin ratio all out of balance. Please sit down again.”
“先生，请顾及一下您的亮氨酸氨基肽酶。”专用医生小声说。他用一块蘸了药的布擦拭小个子男人的额头，“您会让你的肌钙蛋白反比值失去平衡的。请坐回去。”
“I am betrayed!”
“我被骗了！”
“Sir, consider your blood pressure.”
“先生，顾及一下您的血压。”
“The Tour d’Etranger was to be my immortality!” Monsieur howled. “What can such false cozeners as you know of immortality?”
“德托利铁塔是我不朽的名声！”老爷吼道，“你们这群骗子懂什么是不朽吗？”
“I am certain there has been a misunderstanding,” Surplus said.
“我敢肯定我们之间有什么误会。”塞普拉斯说。
“Consider your fluoroimmunohistochemical systems. Consider your mitochondrial refresh rate.”
“顾及一下您的氟化物免疫组织系统。顾及一下您的线粒体增生率。”
The two apes, released from their chair-carrying chore, were running in panicked circles. One of them brushed against a lamp and sent it crashing to the floor.
两只狒狒从它们抬椅子的杂役中摆脱出来，跳起了吓人的圆圈。其中一个碰倒了一盏台灯，把它打碎在了地板上。
It was exactly the sort of situation that Darger was best in. Thinking swiftly, he took two steps into the room and in an authoritative voice cried, “If you please!”
达格来得真是太是时候了。他脑子迅速转着，两步走进屋子，用充满权威的声音大声说：“请等一下！”
Silence. Every eye was upon him.
一片安静。所有人的眼睛都望向他。
Smiling sternly, Darger said. “I will not ask for explanations. I think it is obvious to all of us what has happened. How Monsieur has come to misunderstand the import of the chapbook I cannot understand. But if, sir, you will be patient for the briefest moment, all will be made clear to you.” He had the man! Monsieur was so perfectly confused (and anxious to be proved wrong, to boot) that he would accept anything Darger told him. Even the Dedicated Doctor was listening. Now he had but to invent some plausible story – for him a trifle – and the operation was on track again. “You see, there is-“
达格露出一个坚定的微笑，说：“我不会要求解释的。我想我们都清楚发生了什么事。我不知道老爷空间是怎么误解了这本书的来源，不过先生，如果您能耐心一点点时间，我会把一切都向您讲清楚的。”他把这个男人握在手里了！老爷已经完全糊涂了（而且在担心事实上他错了，为了补偿过错）现在达格告诉他什么他就会相信什么。甚至就连专用医生也在听。现在他只要现编一个听起来像真的一样的故事——对他来说小菜一碟——计划就会回到正轨。“您瞧，有……”
Behind him, the doors opened quietly. He put a hand over his eyes.
在他身后，门轻轻开了。他用手捂住眼睛。
Mignonette d’Etranger entered the room, fully dressed, and carrying the chrome revolver. In her black silks, she was every inch the imperious widow. (Paradoxically, the fact that she obviously wore nothing beneath those silks only made her all the more imposing.) But she had thrown her veils back to reveal her face: cold, regal, and scornful.
米格诺奈·德托利已经穿戴整齐，拿着铬合金的左轮手枪走进了房间。她穿着黑色的丝织衣物，身上每寸都像个高傲的寡妇。（与之相矛盾的是，实际上她在这些衣服下面明显什么都没穿，而这反而让她更加有气势。）她把面纱拨到了后面，好露出她的脸：那张脸冷冰冰的，神情威严，带着轻蔑。
“You!” She advanced wrathfully on her husband. “How dare you object to my taking a lover? How dare you!”
“你！”她先发制人，怒气冲冲地向她丈夫质问，“你怎么敢不让我去找情人？你怎么么敢！”
“You … you were …” The little man looked bewildered by her presence.
“你……你们是……”小个子男人看起来被她的现身弄得不知所措了。
“I couldn’t get what I need at home. It was only natural that I should look for it elsewhere. So it costs you a day of your life every time we make love! Aren’t I worth it? So it costs you three days to tie me up and whip me! So what? Most men would die for the privilege.”
“在家我的需求没办法得到满足。我自然要去别的地方找办法。不然那就花上你一天的时间和我做次爱吧！我就不值这一天吗？不然就花上三天时间把我绑起来鞭策我吧！不然呢？大多数男人都在追求特权的路上死去。”
She pressed the gun into his hands.
她把枪摁在他的手里。
“If I mean so little to you,” she cried histrionically, “then kill me!” She darted back and struck] a melodramatic pose alongside Darger. “I will die beside the man I love!”
“如果我对你来说什么都不是的话，”她做作地喊道，“那就杀了我吧！”她奔回达格身边，靠着他摆出一个夸张的姿势，“死我也要死在我爱的人身边！”
“Yes…” Belated comprehension dawned upon Monsieur’s face, followed closely by a cruel smile. “The man you love.”
“对……”老爷的脸上这才露出一副恍然大悟的表情，紧接着是一个冷酷的笑容，“你爱的人。”
He pointed the pistol at Darger and pulled the trigger.
他把枪指向达格，扣下了扳机。
But in that same instant, Mignonette flung herself before her lover, as if to shelter his body with her own. In the confines of so small a room, the gun’s report was world-shattering. She spun around, clutched her bosom, and collapsed in the bedroom doorway. Blood seeped onto the carpet from beneath her.
但就在同时，米格诺奈冲到了她的情人前面，好像用她的身体保护他。在这小小屋子里，枪声简直惊天动地。米格诺奈转着圈，手紧按胸口，倒在了卧室的门口。血从她身下流到了地毯上。
Monsieur held up the gun and stared at it with an expression of total disbelief.
老爷举起枪，用一种完全不敢相信的神情看着它。
It went off again.
枪又走火了。
He collapsed dead upon the carpet.
他在倒在地毯上之前就死了。
——————
The police naturally suspected the worst. But a dispassionate exposition of events by the Dedicated Doctor, a creature compulsively incapable of lying, and an unobtrusive transfer of banknotes from Surplus allayed all suspicions. Monsieur d’Etranger’s death was obviously an accident d’amour, and Darger and Surplus but innocent bystanders. With heartfelt expressions of condolence, the officers left.
警方自然是往最坏的方向怀疑。但专用医生对事件有着完全理智的描述，而他是被强制不能说谎的。加上塞普拉斯悄悄塞过去的钞票的作用，所有嫌疑就都被解除了。德托利老爷的死显然是一场accident d’amour（爱情引发的意外），无辜的达格和塞普拉斯不过是适逢其会而已。警官们在衷心地表示了哀悼之后就离开了。
When the morticians came to take away Monsieur’s body, the Dedicated Doctor smiled. “What a horrible little man he was!” he exclaimed. “You cannot imagine what a relief it is to no longer give a damn about his health.” He had signed death warrants for both Monsieur and his widow, though his examination of her had been cursory at best. He hadn’t even touched the body.
殡仪员们过来抬走老爷的尸体时，专用医生笑了。“他真是个可怕的小男人！”他大声说，“你们想不到，再不用提他的健康是多大的解脱。”他签了老爷和他的遗孀的死亡证明，尽管对后者的检查实在草率。他甚至都没碰尸体一下。
Darger roused himself from his depressed state to ask, “Will you be returning for Madame d’Etranger’s body?”
达格从沮丧中挣脱出来，问：“你会回来带走德托利夫人的尸体吗？”
“No,” the Dedicated Doctor said. “She is a cat, and therefore the disposition of her corpse is a matter for the department of sanitation.”
“不，”专用医生说，“她是只猫，所以处理她的尸体就是卫生处理部门的事了。”
Darger turned an ashen white. But Surplus deftly stepped beside him and seized the man’s wrists in his own powerful paws. “Consider how tenuous our position is here,” he murmured. Then the door closed, and they were alone again. “Anyway – what body?”
达格的脸变得灰白。塞普拉斯灵巧地走到他旁边，用自己有力的爪子抓住这个男人的手腕：“顾及一下我们在这儿的处境多微妙。”他小声说。门关上了，又只剩他们俩了。“不管怎么说——尸体呢？”
Darger whirled. Mignonette was gone.
达格头晕目眩。米格诺奈消失了。
——————
“Between the money I had to slip to les flics in order to get them to leave as quickly as they did,” Surplus told his morose companion, “and the legitimate claims of our creditors, we are only slightly better off than we were when we first arrived in Paris.”
“那笔钱里我只能塞一部分给警察好让他们尽快离开，”塞普拉斯对他郁闷中的伙伴说，“加上我们债主们的合理要求，我们只比刚来巴黎时好一点点了。”
This news roused Darger from his funk. “You have paid off our creditors? That is extremely good to hear. Wherever did you get that sort of money?”
这个消息让达格从担忧中醒过来，“你还清了我们的债务？听上去真的很不错。你从哪搞到的那么大一笔钱？”
“Ci, Ça, and l’Autre. They wished to be bribed. So I let them buy shares in the salvage enterprise at a greatly reduced rate. You cannot imagine how grateful they were.”
“嘻、傻，还有老扯。他们想要好处，我就让他们买了打捞公司的股份，打了个大折。你想不到他们有多感激。”
It was evening, and the two associates were taking a last slow stroll along the luminous banks of the Seine. They were scheduled to depart the city within the hour via river-barge, and their emotions were decidedly mixed. No man leaves Paris entirely happily.
正值晚上，两个合伙人正在沿着塞纳河发着夜光的河岸进行着最后的漫步，准备在一小时内乘坐河船离开这座城市。他们的心里五味杂陈。没人能高高兴兴地离开巴黎。
They came to a stone bridge, and walked halfway across it. Below, they could see their barge awaiting them. Darger opened his Gladstone and took out the chrome pistol that had been so central in recent events. He placed it on the rail. “Talk,” he said.
他们到了一座石桥上，走到一半时停了下来。在这儿能看到他们的小船正在桥下等着他们。达格打开他的旅行手袋，把铬合金手枪拿出来，这把枪在最近一系列的事件中都处于风暴的中心。他把它放在栏杆上。“说话。”他说。
The gun said nothing.
枪一言不发。
He nudged it ever so slightly with one finger. “It would take but a flick of the wrist to send you to the bottom of the river. I don’t know if you’d rust, but I am certain you cannot swim.”
他用一根手指轻轻推了推它。“只要我手腕一抬，你就会掉到河底。我不知道你会不会生锈，但我肯定你不会游泳。”
“All right, all right!” the pistol said. “How did you know?”
“好吧，好吧！”手枪说，“你是怎么知道的？”
“Monsieur had possession of an extremely rare chapbook which gave away our scheme. He can only have gotten it from one of Mignonette’s book scouts. Yet there was no way she could have known of its importance – unless she had somehow planted a spy in our midst. That first night, when she broke into our rooms, I heard voices. It is obvious now that she was talking with you.”
“老爷有一本非常稀有的小册子可以揭露我们的计划。他只可能是从米格诺奈的一个寻书人那拿到的。然而她无处得知那本书的重要性——除非她已经设法在我们当中安插了一个间谍。她第一次闯进我们的屋子的那天晚上，我听到说话声了。现在看来她当然是在和你说话。”
“You are a more intelligent man than you appear.”
“你比你看上去的还要聪明。”
“I’ll take that for a compliment. Now tell me – what was this ridiculous charade all about?”
“我当这是在夸我了。现在跟我说——这出荒唐的闹剧究竟是怎么回事？”
“How much do you know already?”
“你已经知道多少了？”
“The first bullet you fired lodged in the back wall of the bedroom. It did not come anywhere near Mignonette. The blood that leaked from under her body was bull’s blood, released from a small leather bladder she left behind her. After the police departed, she unobtrusively slipped out the bedroom window. Doubtless she is a great distance away by now. I know all that occurred. What I do not understand is why.”
“你射的第一颗子弹弹头嵌入了后面卧室的墙上，那儿和米格诺奈的位置可搭不上边。从她身下流出来的血是从一个小皮囊里倾出来的牛血酒，皮囊被她丢在原地了。她肯定在警察离开之后就悄悄从卧室的窗户溜出去了。毫无疑问，她现在已经跑得很远了。我知道事情的全部经过，我不明白的是为什么要这么做。”
“Very well. Monsieur was a vile old man. He did not deserve a beautiful creature like Mignonette.”
“好吧。老爷是个老混球，他配不上米格诺奈这样的尤物。”
“On this we are as one. Go on.”
“在这点上我们看法一致。继续。”
“But, as he had her made, he owned her. And as she was his property, he was free to do with her as he liked.” Then, when Darger’s face darkened, “You misapprehend me, sir! I do not speak of sexual or sadomasochistic practices but of chattel slavery. Monsieur was, as I am sure you have noted for yourself, a possessive man. He had left instructions that upon his death, his house was to be set afire, with Mignonette within it.”
“然而，因为是他让她能被造出来的，所以他拥有她。而且因为她是他的财产，他可以对她为所欲为。”这时达格的脸阴沉了下去。“你误会我的，先生！我说的不是性或者虐待，而是奴隶制！老爷是一个占有欲很强的人，我想你已经看出来了。他留下了遗嘱，在他死后要把他的房子点着，米格诺奈要在里面。”
“Surely, this would not be legal!”
“这肯定不合法！”
“Read the law,” the gun said. “Mignonette determined to find her way free. She won me over to her cause, and together we hatched the plan you have seen played to fruition.”
“去读读法律。”枪说，“米格诺奈决定找到让她自由的方法。她说服了我加入她的计划，我们一起策划了你看到的这套方案，并达成了目标。”
“Tell me one thing,” Surplus said curiously. “You were programmed not to shoot your master. How then did you manage…?”
“告诉我一件事，”塞普拉斯好奇地问，“你被编程成不会向你的主人开枪。那个时候你是怎么控制……”
“I am many centuries old. Time enough to hack any amount of code.”
“我有很多个世纪那么大了，久到能黑掉任何代码了。”
“Ah,” said Surplus, in a voice that indicated he was unwilling to admit unfamiliarity with the gun’s terminologies.
“哦。”塞普拉斯说，语气古怪，他没听懂枪说的术语可又不想承认。
“But why me?” Darger slammed a hand down on the stone rail. “Why did Madame d’Etranger act out her cruel drama with my assistance, rather than … than … with someone else’s?”
“可为什么是我？”达格把一只手狠狠拍在石栏上，“为什么德托利夫人要利用我演她的残酷的戏剧，而不是……不是……其他人呢？”
“Because she is a cold-hearted bitch. Also, she found you attractive. For a whore such as she, that is justification enough for anything.”
“因为她是个冷血的婊子。另外，她也觉得你吸引人。对她这样的娼妇来说，这理由就足够了。”
Darger flushed with anger. “How dare you speak so of a lady?”
达格气得脸都红了：“你怎么敢这么谈论一位女士？”
“She abandoned me,” the gun said bitterly. “I loved her, and she abandoned me. How else should I speak of her under such circumstances?”
“她抛弃了我，”枪忿忿道，“我爱她，她却抛弃了我。这种情况下我谈论她还能说别的吗？”
“Under such circumstances, a gentleman would not speak of her at all,” Surplus said mildly. “Nevertheless, you have, as required, explained everything. So we shall honor our implicit promise by leaving you here to be found by the next passer-by. A valuable weapon such as yourself will surely find another patron with ease. A good life to you, sir.”
“这种情况下，一位绅士根本不会谈论她。”塞普拉斯温和地说，“不过，你已经解释了我们想知道的一切了。我们应该遵守诺言，把你留在这儿等下一个路过的人发现你。像你这么值钱的武器肯定很容易找到下一个主人的。祝您生活愉快，先生。”
“Wait!”
“等等！”
Surplus quirked an eyebrow. “What is it?” Darger asked.
塞普拉斯的一边眉毛抖了一下。“怎么了？”达格问。
“Take me with you,” the gun pleaded. “Do not leave me here to be picked up by some cutpurse or bourgeois lout. I am neither a criminal nor meant for a sedentary life. I am an adventurer, like yourselves! I can be of enormous aid to you, and an invaluable prop for your illicit schemes.”
“把我带在你们身边吧。”枪恳求道，“别把我留在这儿让某个小偷或是平民捡到。我不是罪犯，也不要安稳的日子。我是个冒险家，就像你们一样！我可以在紧急情况下提供帮助，还可以充当你们不法计划里无价的道具。”
Darger saw how Surplus’s ears perked up at this. Quickly, and in his coldest possible manner, he said, “We are not of the same social class, sir.”
达格看到塞普拉斯的耳朵竖起来听着这边，马上，以他能做到的最冷酷的方式，说道：“我们不是同一个阶级的人，先生。”
Taking his friend’s arm, he turned away.
他拉上朋友的手，转身离开了。
Below, at the landing-stage, their barge awaited, hung with loops of fairy-lights. They descended and boarded. The hawsers were cast off, the engine fed an extra handful of sugar to wake it to life, and they motored silently down-river, while behind them the pistol’s frantic cries faded slowly in the warm Parisian night. It was not long before the City of Light was a luminous blur on the horizon, like the face of one’s beloved seen through tears.
桥下，他们的小船正在浮台码头上等着，上面挂着循环闪烁的小彩灯。两人下了台阶，上了船，解开船绳，给发动机喂了一大把糖好让它醒过来。他们坐着小船静静地顺流而下，身后，手枪疯狂的哭喊声慢慢消逝在了温暖的巴黎之夜中。不久这座灯光之城就成了地平线上的一个光点，就像是透过泪光看到的爱人的脸庞。
【完】
译者注：《小猫看了哈哈笑》（The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport）是“狗说汪汪”系列的第二部