much Mrs. Bolton was behind him. He did not know how much he depended on her. But for all that, it was evident that when he was with her his voice dropped to an easy rhythm of intimacy, almost a trifle vulgar.

他并未意识到博尔顿太太是多么强有力的后盾。他并不清楚自己是多么依赖她。但尽管如此，每当与她共处，他的语调会变得轻松而亲切，甚至有点粗俗，这一点显而易见。

With Connie, he was a little stiff. He felt he owed her everything, and he showed her the utmost respect and consideration, so long as she gave him mere outward respect. But it was obvious he had a secret dread of her. The new Achilles in hint had a heel, and in this heel the woman, the woman like Connie, his wife, could lame him fatally. He went in a certain half-subservient dread of her, and was extremely nice to her. But his voice was a little tense when he spoke to her, and he began to be silent whenever she was present.

而跟康妮在一起，他仍然稍显拘谨。他觉得亏欠妻子太多，只要她表面上仍旧尊重自己，他就会报以至高的敬意和体谅。但很明显，他心里依然惧她三分。重获新生的阿喀琉斯依然没有摆脱致命的弱点，而这个弱点就是康妮这样的女人，他的妻子可以轻而易举地将他驯服。他对她怀有敬畏之意，在她面前总是和颜悦色，对她极为温柔和善。但跟她交谈时，他的声音总是显得有些紧张，每当她出现，他就会选择收声。

Only when he was alone with Mrs. Bolton did he really feel a lord and a master, and his voice ran on with her almost as easily and garrulously as her own could run. And he let her shave him or sponge all his body as if he were a child, really as if he were a child.

只有单独跟博尔顿太太相处时，他才能找回当家做主的感觉，说话时也变得跟她一样轻松自如，絮絮叨叨。他让她为自己刮脸，或者用海绵擦拭全身，好像他仍身处孩提时代，仍身在襁褓之中。

第十章

Connie was a good deal alone now, fewer people came to Wragby. Clifford no longer wanted them. He had turned against even the cronies. He was queer. He preferred the radio, which he had installed at some expense, with a good deal of success at last. He could sometimes get Madrid or Frankfurt, even there in the uneasy Midlands.

康妮如今总是形单影只，现在的拉格比也变得门庭冷落。克利福德不再需要盈门的宾客。他甚至连那帮至交好友都不再搭理。他变得行为古怪。他宁愿花时间听收音机，并且花钱装了一台，效果相当不错。虽然身在英格兰中部的穷乡僻壤，但有时也能收到来自马德里或者法兰克福的信号。

And he would sit alone for hours listening to the loudspeaker bellowing forth. It amazed and stunned Connie. But there he would sit, with a blank entranced expression on his face, like