But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the week,
然而,某一个星期日,她正走到香榭丽舍大街上兜个圈子,缓解一周之中的日常劳作,
she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child.
这时候忽然看见了一个带着孩子散步的妇人。
It was madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming.
那就是伏来士洁太太,她始终是年轻的,美貌的,迷人的。
Madame Loisel felt moved. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly.
骆塞尔太太非常激动。要不要去和她攀谈?对的,当然。
And now that she had paid, she would tell her all about it. Why not?
并且自己现在已经还清了债务,可以彻底告诉她。为什么不?她走近前去了。
She went up."Good-day, Jeanne.”
“早安,约翰妮。”
The other, astonished to be familiarly addressed by this plain good-wife, did not recognize her at all and stammered:
那位竟一点儿也不认识她了,以为自己被这个平民妇人这样亲热地叫唤是件怪事,她支支吾吾地说:
"But--madame! I do not know-- You must have mistaken.”
“不过……这位太太!……我不知道……大概应当是您弄错了。”
"No. I am Mathilde Loisel."
“没有错。我是玛蒂尔蒂·骆塞尔呀。”
Her friend uttered a cry.
她那个女朋友狂叫了一声:
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!"
“噢!可怜的玛蒂尔蒂,你真变了样子!”
"Yes, I have had a pretty hard life, since I last saw you, and great poverty— and that because of you!”
“对呀,我过了许多很艰苦的日子,自从我上一次见过你以后;并且种种苦楚都是为了你!”
"Of me! How so?"
“为了我?这是怎样一回事?”
"Do you remember that diamond necklace you lent me to wear at the ministerial ball?"
“从前,你不是借了一串金刚钻项链给我到部里参加晚会,现在,你可还记得?”
"Yes. Well?"
“记得,怎样呢?”
"Well, I lost it."
“怎样,我丢了那串东西。”
"What do you mean? You brought it back."
“哪儿的话,你早已还给我了。”
"I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it.
“我从前还给你的是另外一串完全相同的。到现在,我们花了十年工夫才付清它的代价。
You can understand that it was not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad."
像我们什么也没有的人,你明白这件事是不容易的……现在算是还清了帐,我是结结实实的满意了。”
Madame Forestier had stopped.
伏来士洁太太停住了脚步:
"You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine?"
“你可是说从前买了一串金刚钻项链来赔偿我的那一串?”
"Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very similar."
“对呀,你从前简直没有看出来,是吗?那两串东西原是完全相同的。”
And she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and ingenuous.
说完,她用一阵自负而又天真的快乐神气微笑了。
Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands.
伏来士洁太太很受感动了,抓住了她两只手,
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!"
“唉。可怜的玛蒂尔蒂,不过我那一串本是假的,顶多值得五百法郎!”