驼背男人03（在线收听）

“It has not excited much attention yet, except locally. The facts are only two days old. Briefly they are these:

“The Royal Munsters is, as you know, one of the most famous Irish regiments in the British army. It did wonders both in the Crimea and the Mutiny, and has since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion. It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay, a gallant veteran, who started as a full private, was raised to commissioned rank for his bravery at the time of the Mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment in which he had once carried a musket.

“Colonel Barclay had married at the time when he was a sergeant, and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy, was the daughter of a former color-sergeant in the same corps. There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some little social friction when the young couple (for they were still young) found themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however, to have quickly adapted themselves, and Mrs. Barclay has always, I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the regiment as her husband was with his brother officers. I may add that she was a woman of great beauty, and that even now, when she has been married for upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking and queenly appearance.

“Colonel Barclay's family life appears to have been a uniformly happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I owe most of my facts, assures me that he has never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the whole, he thinks that Barclay's devotion to his wife was greater than his wife's to Barclay. He was acutely uneasy if he were absent from her for a day. She, on the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively affectionate. But they were regarded in the regiment as the very model of a middle-aged couple. There was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people for the tragedy which was to follow.

“看起来，除了在当地以外，这件案子还没有引起足够的注意。这件案子是两天前才发生的。简要情况是这样的：“你知道，芒斯特步兵一团一是不列颠军队中一个最著名的一爱一尔兰一团一。它在克里米亚和印度两次平叛战役中，建立了奇功。

从那时起，在每次战斗中屡建功勋。这支军队直到这星期一一夜晚，一直由詹姆斯-巴克利上校指挥。上校是一个勇敢而经验丰富的军人，他开始是一个普通士兵，由于对印度叛军作战勇敢而被提升起来，后来便指挥他所在的这个一团一了。

“巴克利上校还是军士的时候，就已经结了婚，他妻子的闺名叫做南希-德沃伊，是该一团一前任上士的女儿。因此，可以想象，这对年轻夫妇（因为当时他们还很年轻）在新环境中，是受到了一些社会排挤的。但是，他们很快就适应了新的环境，我听说，巴克利夫人很受该一团一女眷们的欢迎，她的丈夫也很受同级军官的一爱一戴。我可以补充一点，她是一个很美的女子，即使现在，她已经结婚三十多年了，容貌依然婉娈动人。

“巴克利上校的家庭生活，看来始终是很美满的。我从墨菲少校那里了解到许多情况，他说，他从未听说过这对夫妇之间有什么不和。总的来说，他认为巴克利上校一爱一他的妻子胜过他妻子一爱一巴克利。如果巴克利上校有一天离开了他的妻子，他就坐卧不安。另一方面，她虽然也一爱一巴克利，也忠实于他，但是缺乏女人的柔情。不过他们二人在该一团一被公认为一对模范的中年夫妇。从他们夫妻关系上，人们绝对看不出什么东西会引起以后的悲剧。