I kept silence for a little while, thinking of what Stroeve had told me. I could not stomach his weakness, and he saw my disapproval. 我沉默了一会，思索着施特略夫对我讲的事情。我无法忍受他这种懦弱，他也看出来我对他这个做法不以为然。

"You know as well as I do how Strickland lived," he said tremulously. “你跟我知道得一样清楚，思特里克兰德过的是什么日子，”他声音颤抖着说，

"I couldn't let her live in those circumstances—I simply couldn't." “我不能让她在那种环境里过活——我就是不能。”

That's your business, I answered. “这是你的事。”我回答。

What would you have done? he asked. “如果这事叫你遇上，你会怎么做？”他问。

She went with her eyes open.  “她是睁着眼睛自己走开的。

If she had to put up with certain inconveniences it was her own lookout. 如果她不得不吃些苦头，也是自找。”

Yes; but, you see, you don't love her. “你说得对，但是，你知道，你并不爱她。”

Do you love her still? “你现在还爱她吗？”

Oh, more than ever. Strickland isn't the man to make a woman happy. It can't last. “啊！比以前更爱。思特里克兰德不是一个能使女人幸福的人。这件事长不了。

I want her to know that I shall never fail her. 我要让她知道，我是永远不会叫她的指望落空的。”

Does that mean that you're prepared to take her back? “你的意思是不是说，你还准备收留她呢？”

I shouldn't hesitate. Why, she'll want me more than ever then. “我将丝毫也不踌躇。到那时候她就会比过去任何时候都更需要我了。

When she's alone and humiliated and broken it would be dreadful if she had nowhere to go. 当她被人抛弃，受尽屈辱，身心交瘁，如果她无处可以投奔，那就太可怕了。”

He seemed to bear no resentment. 施特略夫似乎一点也不生她的气。

I suppose it was commonplace in me that I felt slightly outraged at his lack of spirit. 也许我这人太平凡了，所以对他这种没有骨气竟有一些恼火。

Perhaps he guessed what was in my mind, for he said: 他可能猜到我的想法了，因为他这么说：

I couldn't expect her to love me as I loved her. “我不能希望她象我爱她那样爱我。

I'm a buffoon. I'm not the sort of man that women love. 我是滑稽角色。我不是那种叫女人钟情的男子汉。

I've always known that. I can't blame her if she's fallen in love with Strickland. 这一点我早就知道。如果她爱上了思特里克兰德，我不能责怪她。”

You certainly have less vanity than any man I've ever known, I said. “我还从来没见到过有谁象你这样没有自尊心的呢，”我说。