在街角的地方，为了节省时间，弗莱达写了她的电报——在格瑞思夫人的注视下默默地写了下来，然后默默地递给了她。“我把这个寄给水浴，关于你在那儿的可能性，请你来找我。” Gereth 太太拿着它，看了不止一次。然后把它收起来，她的眼睛看着她的同伴，似乎在考虑。她的眼神中透出一丝善意；弗莱达在其中感觉到，仿佛完全**服从1的奖励，她的严谨3稍微放松**2。

“难道不是更好吗？”她问道，“在做这件事之前，看看我们能不能确定他的下落？”

“为什么会这样？总是会做这么多，”弗莱达说。“虽然我很穷，”她笑着补充道，“我不介意先令。”

“先令是我的，”格瑞思太太说。

弗莱达握住了她的手。“不，不——我很**迷信**4。”

“迷信？”

“要成功，必须全靠我！”

“嗯，如果这样就成功了！” Gereth 夫人收回了她的先令，但她仍然保留着电报。“因为他很可能不在那里——”

“如果他不应该在那里，”弗莱达打断道，“就不会造成任何伤害。”

“如果他‘不应该’在那里！” Gereth 夫人射精了。“老天保佑我们，你怎么想的！”

“我只做好最坏的打算。Brigstocks 会简单地发送任何电报。”

“他们会把它送到哪里？”

“大概是给波因顿的。”

"They'll read it first," said Mrs. Gereth.

"Read it?"

"Yes, Mona will. She'll open it under the pretext5 of having it repeated; and then she'll probably do nothing. She'll keep it as a proof of your immodesty."

"What of that?" asked Fleda.

"You don't mind her seeing it?"

Rather musingly6 and absently Fleda shook her head. "I don't mind anything."

"Well, then, that's all right," said Mrs. Gereth as if she had only wanted to feel that she had been irreproachably7 considerate. After this she was gentler still, but she had another point to clear up. "Why have you given, for a reply, your sister's address?"

"Because if he does come to me he must come to me there. If that telegram goes," said Fleda, "I return to Maggie's to-night."

Mrs. Gereth seemed to wonder at this. "You won't receive him here with me?"

"No, I won't receive him here with you. Only where I received him last—only there again." She showed her companion that as to that she was firm.

But Mrs. Gereth had obviously now had some practice in following queer movements prompted by queer feelings. She resigned herself, though she fingered the paper a moment longer. She appeared to hesitate; then she brought out: "You couldn't then, if I release you, make your message a little stronger?"

Fleda gave her a faint smile. "He'll come if he can."

Mrs. Gereth met fully8 what this conveyed; with decision she pushed in the telegram. But she laid her hand quickly upon another form and with still greater decision wrote another message. "From me, this," she said to Fleda when she had finished: "to catch him possibly at Poynton. Will you read it?"

Fleda turned away. "Thank you."

"It's stronger than yours."

"I don't care," said Fleda, moving to the door. Mrs. Gereth, having paid for the second missive, rejoined her, and they drove together to Owen's club, where the elder lady alone got out. Fleda, from the hansom, watched through the glass doors her brief conversation with the hall-porter and then met in silence her return with the news that he had not seen Owen for a fortnight and was keeping his letters till called for. These had been the last orders; there were a dozen letters lying there. He had no more information to give, but they would see what they could find at Colonel Gereth's. To any connection with this inquiry9, however, Fleda now roused herself to object, and her friend had indeed to recognize that on second thoughts it couldn't be quite to the taste of either of them to advertise in the remoter reaches of the family that they had forfeited10 the confidence of the master of Poynton. The letters lying at the club proved effectively that he was not in London, and this was the question that immediately concerned them. Nothing could concern them further till the answers to their telegrams should have had time to arrive. Mrs. Gereth had got back into the cab, and, still at the door of the club, they sat staring at their need of patience. Fleda's eyes rested, in the great hard street, on passing figures that struck her as puppets pulled by strings11. After a little the driver challenged them through the hole in the top. "Anywhere in particular, ladies?"

Fleda decided12. "Drive to Euston, please."

"You won't wait for what we may hear?" Mrs. Gereth asked.

"Whatever we hear, I must go." As the cab went on she added: "But I needn't drag you to the station."

Mrs. Gereth was silent a moment; then "Nonsense!" she sharply replied.

In spite of this sharpness they were now almost equally and almost tremulously mild; though their mildness took mainly the form of an inevitable13 sense of nothing left to say. It was the unsaid that occupied them—the thing that for more than an hour they had been going round and round without naming it. Much too early for Fleda's train, they encountered at the station a long half-hour to wait. Fleda made no further allusion14 to Mrs. Gereth's leaving her; their dumbness, with the elapsing minutes, grew to be in itself a reconstituted bond. They slowly paced the great gray platform, and presently Mrs. Gereth took the girl's arm and leaned on it with a hard demand for support. It seemed to Fleda not difficult for each to know of what the other was thinking—to know indeed that they had in common two alternating visions, one of which, at moments, brought them as by a common impulse to a pause. This was the one that was fixed15; the other filled at times the whole space and then was shouldered away. Owen and Mona glared together out of the gloom and disappeared, but the replenishment16 of Poynton made a shining, steady light. The old splendor

"You do mean literally22 everything, to the last little miniature on the last little screen?"

"I mean literally everything. Go over them with the catalogue!"

Fleda went over them while they walked again; she had no need of the catalogue. At last she spoke23 once more: "Even the Maltese cross?"

"Even the Maltese cross. Why not that as well as everything else?—especially as I remembered how you like it."

Finally, after an interval24, the girl exclaimed: "But the mere25 fatigue26 of it, the exhaustion27 of such a feat28! I drag you to and fro here while you must be ready to drop."

"I'm very, very tired." Mrs. Gereth's slow head-shake was tragic29. "I couldn't do it again."

"I doubt if they'd bear it again!"

"That's another matter: they'd bear it if I could. There won't have been, this time either, a shake or a scratch. But I'm too tired—I very nearly don't care."

"You must sit down, then, till I go," said Fleda. "We must find a bench."

“不。我厌倦了他们：我不厌倦你。这是你最能感受到我多么依赖你的方式。” 弗莱达有一种内疚，在他们继续漫步时想知道离开她是否真的合适。然而，她相信，如果火焰暂时燃烧得很低，它还远没有熄灭；Gereth 夫人继续说下去的方式立即证实了一种印象：“但一个人的疲劳并不重要。一个人工作的想法使一个人坚持下去。对你来说，我可以——我仍然可以。如果她不在，一切都无关紧要。”

这提出了一个问题，但弗莱达起初没有声音说出来：这是他们之间的事情，自从她到来以来，30次有意识地、**生动地**没有说出来。终于她可以呼吸了：“如果她在那儿——如果她已经在那儿了？”

Gereth 夫人的反驳也被搁置了。然后当它出现时——来自悲伤的眼睛和几乎没有动过的嘴唇——它出乎意料地仁慈。“这将非常困难。” 这就是全部，现在；它非常**简单31。弗莱达乘坐的火车已经开出32**人。女孩吻了她，仿佛在告别。格瑞斯夫人屈服了，然后稍微带出一点：“如果我们输了——”

“如果我们输了？” 弗莱达又停顿了一下，重复了一遍。

“你还是跟我一起出国吧？”

“如果你想要我，我会觉得很奇怪。但无论你要求什么，无论你需要什么，我都会做的。”

“我需要你的陪伴，”格瑞思太太说。弗莱达瞬间想知道这是否实际上是对**刑事33屈服的要求——以完全谦逊的态度34的投降将是长期的赎罪35。但是，Gereth 夫人追求的方式并没有报复性**的36人潜在的寒意：“随着时间的推移，我们总是可以一起谈论他们。”

“旧事？” 弗莱达选择了三等：她站了一会儿，朝里面看了一会儿，看到一个提着篮子的胖女人已经占有了。“总是？” 她说，又转向她的同伴。“绝不！” 她叫道。她上了马车，两个提着袋子和箱子的男人立刻跟在后面，把门窗堵了很久，等她能再往外看的时候，格瑞思太太已经走了。车厢37

 在街角的地方，为了节省时间，弗莱达写了她的电报——在格瑞思夫人的注视下默默地写了下来，然后默默地递给了她。“我把这个寄给水浴，关于你在那儿的可能性，请你来找我。” Gereth 太太拿着它，看了不止一次。然后把它收起来，她的眼睛看着她的同伴，似乎在考虑。她的眼神中透出一丝善意；弗莱达在其中感觉到，仿佛完全**服从1的奖励，她的严谨3稍微放松**2。

“难道不是更好吗？”她问道，“在做这件事之前，看看我们能不能确定他的下落？”

“为什么会这样？总是会做这么多，”弗莱达说。“虽然我很穷，”她笑着补充道，“我不介意先令。”

“先令是我的，”格瑞思太太说。

弗莱达握住了她的手。“不，不——我很**迷信**4。”

“迷信？”

“要成功，必须全靠我！”

“嗯，如果这样就成功了！” Gereth 夫人收回了她的先令，但她仍然保留着电报。“因为他很可能不在那里——”

“如果他不应该在那里，”弗莱达打断道，“就不会造成任何伤害。”

“如果他‘不应该’在那里！” Gereth 夫人射精了。“老天保佑我们，你怎么想的！”

“我只做好最坏的打算。Brigstocks 会简单地发送任何电报。”

“他们会把它送到哪里？”

“大概是给波因顿的。”

"They'll read it first," said Mrs. Gereth.

"Read it?"

"Yes, Mona will. She'll open it under the pretext5 of having it repeated; and then she'll probably do nothing. She'll keep it as a proof of your immodesty."

"What of that?" asked Fleda.

"You don't mind her seeing it?"

Rather musingly6 and absently Fleda shook her head. "I don't mind anything."

"Well, then, that's all right," said Mrs. Gereth as if she had only wanted to feel that she had been irreproachably7 considerate. After this she was gentler still, but she had another point to clear up. "Why have you given, for a reply, your sister's address?"

"Because if he does come to me he must come to me there. If that telegram goes," said Fleda, "I return to Maggie's to-night."

Mrs. Gereth seemed to wonder at this. "You won't receive him here with me?"

"No, I won't receive him here with you. Only where I received him last—only there again." She showed her companion that as to that she was firm.

But Mrs. Gereth had obviously now had some practice in following queer movements prompted by queer feelings. She resigned herself, though she fingered the paper a moment longer. She appeared to hesitate; then she brought out: "You couldn't then, if I release you, make your message a little stronger?"

Fleda gave her a faint smile. "He'll come if he can."

Mrs. Gereth met fully8 what this conveyed; with decision she pushed in the telegram. But she laid her hand quickly upon another form and with still greater decision wrote another message. "From me, this," she said to Fleda when she had finished: "to catch him possibly at Poynton. Will you read it?"

Fleda turned away. "Thank you."

"It's stronger than yours."

"I don't care," said Fleda, moving to the door. Mrs. Gereth, having paid for the second missive, rejoined her, and they drove together to Owen's club, where the elder lady alone got out. Fleda, from the hansom, watched through the glass doors her brief conversation with the hall-porter and then met in silence her return with the news that he had not seen Owen for a fortnight and was keeping his letters till called for. These had been the last orders; there were a dozen letters lying there. He had no more information to give, but they would see what they could find at Colonel Gereth's. To any connection with this inquiry9, however, Fleda now roused herself to object, and her friend had indeed to recognize that on second thoughts it couldn't be quite to the taste of either of them to advertise in the remoter reaches of the family that they had forfeited10 the confidence of the master of Poynton. The letters lying at the club proved effectively that he was not in London, and this was the question that immediately concerned them. Nothing could concern them further till the answers to their telegrams should have had time to arrive. Mrs. Gereth had got back into the cab, and, still at the door of the club, they sat staring at their need of patience. Fleda's eyes rested, in the great hard street, on passing figures that struck her as puppets pulled by strings11. After a little the driver challenged them through the hole in the top. "Anywhere in particular, ladies?"

Fleda decided12. "Drive to Euston, please."

"You won't wait for what we may hear?" Mrs. Gereth asked.

"Whatever we hear, I must go." As the cab went on she added: "But I needn't drag you to the station."

Mrs. Gereth was silent a moment; then "Nonsense!" she sharply replied.

In spite of this sharpness they were now almost equally and almost tremulously mild; though their mildness took mainly the form of an inevitable13 sense of nothing left to say. It was the unsaid that occupied them—the thing that for more than an hour they had been going round and round without naming it. Much too early for Fleda's train, they encountered at the station a long half-hour to wait. Fleda made no further allusion14 to Mrs. Gereth's leaving her; their dumbness, with the elapsing minutes, grew to be in itself a reconstituted bond. They slowly paced the great gray platform, and presently Mrs. Gereth took the girl's arm and leaned on it with a hard demand for support. It seemed to Fleda not difficult for each to know of what the other was thinking—to know indeed that they had in common two alternating visions, one of which, at moments, brought them as by a common impulse to a pause. This was the one that was fixed15; the other filled at times the whole space and then was shouldered away. Owen and Mona glared together out of the gloom and disappeared, but the replenishment16 of Poynton made a shining, steady light. The old splendor

"You do mean literally22 everything, to the last little miniature on the last little screen?"

"I mean literally everything. Go over them with the catalogue!"

Fleda went over them while they walked again; she had no need of the catalogue. At last she spoke23 once more: "Even the Maltese cross?"

"Even the Maltese cross. Why not that as well as everything else?—especially as I remembered how you like it."

Finally, after an interval24, the girl exclaimed: "But the mere25 fatigue26 of it, the exhaustion27 of such a feat28! I drag you to and fro here while you must be ready to drop."

"I'm very, very tired." Mrs. Gereth's slow head-shake was tragic29. "I couldn't do it again."

"I doubt if they'd bear it again!"

"That's another matter: they'd bear it if I could. There won't have been, this time either, a shake or a scratch. But I'm too tired—I very nearly don't care."

"You must sit down, then, till I go," said Fleda. "We must find a bench."

“不。我厌倦了他们：我不厌倦你。这是你最能感受到我多么依赖你的方式。” 弗莱达有一种内疚，在他们继续漫步时想知道离开她是否真的合适。然而，她相信，如果火焰暂时燃烧得很低，它还远没有熄灭；Gereth 夫人继续说下去的方式立即证实了一种印象：“但一个人的疲劳并不重要。一个人工作的想法使一个人坚持下去。对你来说，我可以——我仍然可以。如果她不在，一切都无关紧要。”

这提出了一个问题，但弗莱达起初没有声音说出来：这是他们之间的事情，自从她到来以来，30次有意识地、**生动地**没有说出来。终于她可以呼吸了：“如果她在那儿——如果她已经在那儿了？”

Gereth 夫人的反驳也被搁置了。然后当它出现时——来自悲伤的眼睛和几乎没有动过的嘴唇——它出乎意料地仁慈。“这将非常困难。” 这就是全部，现在；它非常**简单31。弗莱达乘坐的火车已经开出32**人。女孩吻了她，仿佛在告别。格瑞斯夫人屈服了，然后稍微带出一点：“如果我们输了——”

“如果我们输了？” 弗莱达又停顿了一下，重复了一遍。

“你还是跟我一起出国吧？”

“如果你想要我，我会觉得很奇怪。但无论你要求什么，无论你需要什么，我都会做的。”

“我需要你的陪伴，”格瑞思太太说。弗莱达瞬间想知道这是否实际上是对**刑事33屈服的要求——以完全谦逊的态度34的投降将是长期的赎罪35。但是，Gereth 夫人追求的方式并没有报复性**的36人潜在的寒意：“随着时间的推移，我们总是可以一起谈论他们。”

“旧事？” 弗莱达选择了三等：她站了一会儿，朝里面看了一会儿，看到一个提着篮子的胖女人已经占有了。“总是？” 她说，又转向她的同伴。“绝不！” 她叫道。她上了马车，两个提着袋子和箱子的男人立刻跟在后面，把门窗堵了很久，等她能再往外看的时候，格瑞思太太已经走了。车厢37