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<p class="34">“一定有，她会说，关于一个男人是邪恶的害怕自己漂亮的女儿看着他的脸，更不用说他的意思是嫉妒她的衣服在她的背上，让她生活更糟，也不是一个女仆。rdurl;</p>
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<p class="34">因此，皮戈特透过窗帘悄悄地窥视，确定他长得很漂亮，年龄也差不多，她向自己承认，她对亚瑟的到来感到非常高兴，并决心，如果她进一步认识他，他应该在她身上找到一个温暖的盟友，无论他可能会选择在安吉拉的感情堡垒上做出什么让步。</p>
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<p class="34">“我确实希望你不介意十二点半和我的老护士一起吃饭，安吉拉说道，他们一起上楼，来到他们用作餐厅的房间。</p>\n<p class="34">“我当然不喜欢，我真的喜欢。' rdurl;</p>
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-<p class="p34">Angela shook her head, and, looking but partially convinced, led the way down the passage, and into the room, where, to her astonishment, she perceived that the dinner-table was furnished with a more sumptuous meal than she had seen upon it for years, the fact being that Pigott had received orders from Philip which she did not know of, not to spare expense whilst Arthur was his guest.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“What waste,” reflected Angela, in whom the pressure of circumstances had developed an economical turn of mind, as she glanced at the unaccustomed jug of beer. “He said he was a teetotaller.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">A loud “hem!” from Pigott, arresting her attention, stopped all further consideration of the matter. That good lady, who, in honour of the occasion, was dressed in a black gown of a formidable character and a many-ribboned cap, was standing up behind her chair waiting to be introduced to the visitor. Angela proceeded to go through the ceremony which Pigott’s straight-up-and-down attitude rendered rather trying.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Nurse, this is the gentleman that my father has asked to stay with us. Mr. Heigham, let me introduce you to my old nurse Pigott.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">Arthur bowed politely, whilst Pigott made two obligatory curtsies, requiring a step backwards after each, as though to make room for another. Her speech, too, carefully prepared for the occasion, is worthy of transcription.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Hem!” she said, “this, sir, is a pleasure as I little expected, and I well knows that it is not what you or the likes is accustomed to, a-eating of dinners and teas with old women; which I hopes, sir, how as you will put up with it, seeing how as the habits of this house is what might, without mistake, be called peculiar, which I says without any offence to Miss Angela, ‘cause though her bringing-up has been what I call odd, she knows it as well as I do, which, indeed, is the only consolation I has to offer, being right sure, as indeed I am, how as any young gentleman as ever breathed would sit in a pool of water to dine along with Miss Angela, let alone an old nurse. I ain’t such a fool as I may look; no need for you to go a-blushing of, Miss Angela. And now, sir, if you please, we will sit down, for fear lest the gravy should begin to grease;” and, utterly exhausted by the exuberance of her own verbosity, she plunged into her chair — an example which Arthur, bowing his acknowledgements of her opening address, was not slow to follow.</p>
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-<p class="p34">One of his first acts was, at Pigott’s invitation, to help himself to a glass of beer, of which, to speak truth, he drank a good deal.</p>
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-<p class="p34">Angela watched the proceeding with interest.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“What,” she asked presently, “is a teetotaller?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">The recollection of his statement of the previous day flashed into his mind. He was, however, equal to the occasion.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“A teetotaller,” he replied, with gravity, “is a person who only drinks beer,” and Angela, the apparent discrepancy explained, retired satisfied.</p>
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-<p class="p34">That was a very pleasant dinner. What a thing it is to be young and in love! How it gilds the dull gingerbread of life; what new capacities of enjoyment it opens up to us, and, for the matter of that, of pain also; and oh! what stupendous fools it makes of us in everybody else’s eyes except our own, and, if we are lucky, those of our adored!</p>
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-<p class="p34">The afternoon and evening passed much as the morning had done. Angela took Arthur round the place, and showed him all the spots connected with her strange and lonely childhood, of which she told him many a curious story. In fact, before the day was over, he knew all the history of her innocent life, and was struck with amazement at the variety and depth of her scholastic acquirements and the extraordinary power of her mind, which, combined with her simplicity and total ignorance of the ways of the world, produced an affect as charming as it was unusual. Needless to say that every hour he knew her he fell more deeply in love with her.</p>
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-<p class="p34">At length, about eight o’clock, just as it was beginning to get dark, she suggested that he should go and sit a while with her father.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“And what are you going to do?” asked Arthur.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Oh! I am going to read a little, and then go to bed; I always go to bed about nine;” and she held out her hand to say good-night. He took it and said,</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Good-night, then; I wish it were to-morrow.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Why?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Because then I should be saying, ‘Good-morning, Angela,’ instead of ‘Good-night, Angela,’ May I call you Angela? We seem to know each other so well, you see.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Yes, of course,” she laughed back; “everybody I know calls me Angela, so why shouldn’t you?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“And will you call me Arthur? Everybody I know calls me Arthur.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">Angela hesitated, and Angela blushed, though why she hesitated and why she blushed was perhaps more than she could have exactly said.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Y-e-s, I suppose so — that is, if you like it. It is a pretty name,</p>
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-<p class="p34">Arthur. Good-night, Arthur,” and she was gone.</p>
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-<p class="p34">His companion gone, Arthur turned and entered the house. The study- door was open, so he went straight in. Philip, who was sitting and staring in an abstracted way at the empty fireplace with a light behind him, turned quickly round as he heard the footstep.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Oh! it’s you, is it, Heigham? I suppose Angela has gone upstairs; she goes to roost very early. I hope that she has not bored you, and that old Pigott hasn’t talked your head off. I told you that we were an odd lot, you know; but, if you find us odder than you bargained for, I should advise you to clear out.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Thank you, I have spent a very happy day.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Indeed, I am glad to hear it. You must be easily satisfied, have an Arcadian mind, and that sort of thing. Take some whisky, and light your pipe.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">Arthur did so, and presently Philip, in that tone of gentlemanly ease which above everything distinguished him from his cousin, led the conversation round to his guest’s prospects and affairs, more especially his money affairs. Arthur answered him frankly enough, but this money talk had not the same charms for him that it had for his host. Indeed, a marked repugnance to everything that had to do with money was one of his characteristics; and, wearied out at length with pecuniary details and endless researches into the mysteries of investment, he took advantage of a pause to attempt to change the subject.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Well,” he said, “I am much obliged to you for your advice, for I am very ignorant myself, and hate anything to do with money. I go back to first principles, and believe that we should all be better without it.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“I always thought,” answered Philip, with a semi-contemptuous smile, “that the desire of money, or, amongst savage races, its equivalent, shells or what not, was <span class="t31">the</span> first principle of human nature.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Perhaps it is — I really don’t know; but I heartily wish that it could be eliminated off the face of the earth.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Forgive me,” laughed Philip, “but that is the speech of a very young man. Why, eliminate money, and you take away the principal interest of life, and destroy the social fabric of the world. What is power but money, comfort? — money, social consideration? — money, ay, and love, and health, and happiness itself? Money, money, money. Tell me,” he went on, rising, and addressing him with a curious earnestness, “what god is there more worthy of our adoration than Plutus, seeing that, if we worship him enough, he alone of the idols we set in high places, will never fail us at need?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“It is a worship that rarely brings lasting happiness with it. In our greed to collect the means of enjoyment, surely we lose the power to enjoy?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Pshaw! that is the cant of fools, of those who do not know, of those who cannot feel. But I know and I feel, and I tell you that it is not so. The collection of those means is in itself a pleasure, because it gives a consciousness of power. Don’t talk to me of Fate; that sovereign” (throwing the coin on to the table) “is Fate’s own seal. You see me, for instance, apparently poor and helpless, a social pariah, one to be avoided, and even insulted. Good; before long these will right all that for me. I shall by their help be powerful and courted yet. Ay, believe me, Heigham, money is a living moving force; leave it still, and it accumulates; expend it, and it gratifies every wish; save it, and that is best of all, and you hold in your hand a lever that will lift the world. I tell you that there is no height to which it cannot bring you, no gulf it will not bridge you.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Except,” soliloquized Arthur, “the cliffs of the Hereafter, and — the grave.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">His words produced a curious effect. Philip’s eloquence broke off short, and for a moment a great fear crept into his eyes.</p>
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-<p class="p34">Silence ensued which neither of them seemed to care to break. Meanwhile the wind suddenly sprang up, and began to moan and sigh amongst the half-clad boughs of the trees outside — making, Arthur thought to himself, a very melancholy music. Presently Philip laid his hand upon his guest’s arm, and he felt that it shook like an aspen- leaf.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Tell me,” he said, in a hoarse whisper, “what do you see there?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">Arthur started, and followed the direction of his eyes to the bare wall opposite the window, at that end of the room through which the door was made.</p>
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-<p class="p34">“I see,” he said, “some moving shadows.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“What do they resemble?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“I don’t know; nothing in particular. What are they?”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“What are they?” hissed Philip, whose face was livid with terror, “they are the shades of the dead sent here to torture me. Look, she goes to meet him; the old man is telling her. Now she will wring her hands.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Nonsense, Mr. Caresfoot, nonsense,” said Arthur, shaking himself together; “I see nothing of the sort. Why, it is only the shadows flung by the moonlight through the swinging boughs of that tree. Cut it down, and you will have no more writing upon your wall.”</p>
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-<p class="p34">“Ah! of course you are right, Heigham, quite right,” ejaculated his host, faintly, wiping the cold sweat from his brow; “it is nothing but the moonlight. How ridiculous of me! I suppose I am a little out of sorts — liver wrong. Give me some whisky, there’s a good fellow, and I’ll drink damnation to all the shadows and <span class="t31">the trees that throw them</span>. Ha, ha, ha!”</p>
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-<p class="p34">There was something so uncanny about his host’s manner, and his evident conviction of the origin of the wavering figures on the wall (which had now disappeared), that Arthur felt, had it not been for Angela, he would not be sorry to get clear of him and his shadows as soon as possible, for superstition, he knew, is as contagious as small-pox. When at length he reached his great bare bed-chamber, not, by the way, a comfortable sort of place to sleep in after such an experience, it was only after some hours, in the excited state of his imagination, that, tired though he was, he could get the rest he needed.</p>
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+<p class="p34">安吉拉摇了摇头，看起来并不完全信服，然后带头沿着走廊走进房间。令她惊讶的是，她发现餐桌上摆着比她多年来见过的更加丰盛的饭菜。事实上，皮戈特接到了菲利普的指示，而她并不知道，这些指示是在亚瑟做客期间不要吝啬开支。</p>
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+<p class="p34">“多浪费啊，”安吉拉心想，她在看到不常见的啤酒壶时，压力使她养成了节俭的习惯。“他说他是个戒酒者。”</p>
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+<p class="p34">皮戈特的一声响亮的“哼！”吸引了她的注意，打断了她对这件事的进一步考虑。那位好心的女士为了庆祝这一场合，穿了一件令人望而生畏的黑色长裙和一个带有许多丝带的帽子，正站在她的椅子后面，等待被介绍给来访者。安吉拉开始进行皮戈特那直挺挺的态度使她感到有点尴尬的仪式。</p>
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+<p class="p34">“护士，这是我的父亲邀请来和我们同住的先生。希格姆先生，让我介绍你认识我的老护士皮戈特。”</p>
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+<p class="p34">亚瑟礼貌地鞠了一躬，而皮戈特则做了两次规定的屈膝礼，每次都需要向后退一步，好像在为另一次屈膝礼腾出空间。她为这一场合精心准备的讲话也值得记录下来。</p>
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+<p class="p34">“哼！”她说，“先生，这是我从未料到的荣幸，我知道这并不是您或像您这样的人习惯的，与老妇人一起吃晚餐和喝茶。我希望，先生，您会将就一下，因为这所房子的习惯可以说是非常独特的，我这样说并没有冒犯安吉拉小姐的意思，因为虽然她的成长环境可以说是与众不同的，但她对此非常了解，这确实是我能提供的唯一安慰，因为我非常肯定，任何年轻的先生都会愿意坐在水坑里与安吉拉小姐一起用餐，更不用说和一个老护士了。我并没有那么愚蠢，安吉拉小姐，您不用脸红。现在，先生，如果您愿意，我们可以坐下来，以免肉汁开始变得油腻。”</p>
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+<p class="p34">她被自己的滔滔不绝说得筋疲力尽，一屁股坐进了椅子——亚瑟也礼貌地致谢她的开场白，迅速跟随着坐了下来。</p>
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+<p class="p34">他做的第一件事之一就是在皮戈特的邀请下，给自己倒了一杯啤酒，事实上，他确实喝了不少。</p>
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+<p class="p34">安吉拉饶有兴趣地观察着这一过程。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"什么叫滴酒不沾的人？"她突然问道。</p>
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+<p class="p34">他脑海中闪过昨日自己的说辞，但此刻应对自如。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"滴酒不沾的人，"他正色答道，"就是只喝啤酒的人。"安吉拉听到这个看似矛盾的解释后，心满意足地走开了。</p>
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+<p class="p34">那顿晚餐美妙极了。青春与爱情是多么神奇啊！它们为乏味的生活镀上金边，为我们开启全新的欢愉之门——当然也伴随着痛楚；噢！在旁人眼里（除了我们自己，以及幸运的话，还有心上人），这让我们显得多么愚蠢可笑！</p>
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+<p class="p34">下午和傍晚如同清晨般流逝。安吉拉带着亚瑟参观各处，向他展示那些承载着她孤独童年记忆的角落，讲述了许多奇异往事。夜幕降临前，他已了解这个纯真少女的全部生平，并为她渊博的学识、非凡的智慧感到震惊——这些特质与她未经世事的单纯交织在一起，形成一种罕见而迷人的魅力。不必说，每多相处一小时，他就更深陷情网。</p>
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+<p class="p34">最后约莫八点，暮色初临之际，她提议道："你去陪父亲坐会儿吧。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"那你呢？"亚瑟问。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"噢！我要看会儿书就睡了，我总在九点左右就寝。"她伸出手道晚安。他握住那只手说道：</p>
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+<p class="p34">"那就晚安吧，真希望明天快点来。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"为什么？"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"因为那样我就能说'早安，安吉拉'，而不是'晚安，安吉拉'了。我能叫你安吉拉吗？你看，我们似乎已经很熟了。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"当然可以，"她笑着回应，"认识我的人都这么叫我，你为何不可？"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"那你也叫我亚瑟好吗？认识我的人都这么叫我。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">安吉拉犹豫了，脸上泛起红晕——尽管她自己或许都说不清为何犹豫，为何脸红。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"好——好吧，如果你喜欢的话。亚瑟是个好听的名字。晚安，亚瑟。"说完她便离开了。</p>
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+<p class="p34">目送同伴离去后，亚瑟转身进屋。书房门敞开着，他径直走了进去。菲利普正背对灯光坐着，心不在焉地凝视空荡荡的壁炉，听到脚步声立即转过身来。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"啊！是你啊，海厄姆？安吉拉上楼了吧？她总是早早就寝。希望这丫头没让你觉得无聊，老皮戈特也没唠叨得你头疼。我说过我们这家人古里古怪的——要是比预想的更古怪，我建议你趁早开溜。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"多谢关心，今天我过得很愉快。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"真的？听你这么说我很高兴。看来你很容易满足，颇有田园牧歌式的情怀。来点威士忌吧，把烟斗点上。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">亚瑟照做了。很快，菲利普以那种将他与表妹截然区分开的绅士派头，将话题引向客人的前途和财务状况——尤其是后者。亚瑟虽然坦诚相告，但对这类铜臭话题远不如主人热衷。事实上，他对金钱相关事务的强烈反感正是其性格特点之一。当没完没了的理财细节和投资奥秘讨论终于令他厌倦时，他趁着谈话间隙试图转移话题。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"承蒙指点，"他说，"我自己对这些一窍不通，而且厌恶与金钱打交道。我信奉最朴素的道理——没有金钱人类会活得更好。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"我始终认为，"菲利普带着半带轻蔑的笑容回答，"对金钱的渴望——或者原始部落里那些贝壳之类的等价物——才是<span class="t31">人类天性</span>的第一准则。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"或许是吧——我确实不懂这些；但我衷心希望金钱能从地球上消失。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"恕我直言，"菲利普大笑道，"这完全是毛头小子的论调。要是没了金钱，人生的主要乐趣就荡然无存，整个社会结构也会崩塌。权力是什么？不就是金钱！舒适生活？金钱！社会地位？金钱！就连爱情、健康、幸福本身——统统都是金钱！"他突然起身，带着古怪的狂热凑近亚瑟，"告诉我，除了财神普路托斯，还有哪个神明更值得我们崇拜？只要我们虔诚供奉，这位高居庙堂的偶像永远不会在紧要关头辜负我们。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"这种崇拜很少带来持久的幸福。我们贪婪地收集享乐的手段，却在这个过程中丧失了享乐的能力。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"呸！这是失败者的酸话，是懵懂无知者的自我安慰。"他将硬币啪地拍在桌上，"看见这枚钱币了吗？它就是命运之神的印玺。你看我现在穷困潦倒、人人避之不及是吧？等着瞧——要不了多久，这些金灿灿的小东西就会帮我扭转乾坤。海厄姆，金钱是流动的生命力！闲置它会增值，花费它能满足欲望，而储蓄它——这才是上策——就等于握住了撬动地球的杠杆。我告诉你，没有它达不到的高度，没有它跨越不了的鸿沟。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"只可惜，"亚瑟喃喃自语道，"它跨不过彼岸的悬崖，也——越不过死亡的深渊。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">这句话产生了奇妙的效果。菲利普的慷慨陈词戛然而止，刹那间，巨大的恐惧爬进了他的眼眸。</p>
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+<p class="p34">沉默在两人之间蔓延，谁都不愿打破。此时窗外忽起风声，在枝叶稀疏的树梢间呜咽低徊——亚瑟暗想，这声响简直像首凄凉的挽歌。忽然菲利普将手搭上客人手臂，亚瑟感觉到那只手正像白杨叶般簌簌发抖。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"告诉我，"菲利普嘶哑地低语道，"你看见什么了？"</p>
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+<p class="p34">亚瑟猛地一惊，顺着他的视线望向窗户对面那面光秃秃的墙壁——就在房门所在的房间尽头。</p>
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+<p class="p34">"我看见，"他答道，"一些晃动的影子。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"像什么？"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"说不上来，没什么特别的形状。那到底是什么？"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"是什么？"菲利普的脸因恐惧而铁青，声音嘶嘶作响，"是死人派来折磨我的幽魂。看啊，她正迎向他，那老头在告诉她真相。马上她就要绞紧双手了。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"别胡说了，凯尔斯福特先生，"亚瑟强自镇定地摇头，"我根本没看见这些。那不过是月光透过摇曳的树枝投下的影子罢了。把树砍掉，墙上就不会有这些鬼画符了。"</p>
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+<p class="p34">"啊！你说得对，海厄姆，完全正确，"主人虚弱地惊叫，擦拭着额头的冷汗，"只是月光作祟。我真是太可笑了！大概是身体不适——肝脏出了问题。给我倒点威士忌吧，好伙计，我要为所有影子<span class="t31">和投下影子的树木</span>的灭亡干杯。哈，哈，哈！"</p>
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+<p class="p34">主人诡异的举止和对墙上幻影来源的笃信（此刻那些晃动的人影已消失），让亚瑟暗自思忖：若非为了安吉拉，他恨不得立刻逃离这个充满阴影的男人。毕竟他知道，迷信就像天花一样具有传染性。当他终于踏入那间空荡荡的卧室时——经历过这番遭遇后，这实在不是个安眠的好地方——尽管疲惫不堪，但过度兴奋的想象力还是让他辗转数小时才得以入睡。</p>
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