Before you came, the people who lived in your flat were horrid (不友好的) folk, always quarrelling (争吵). Though they were wretchedly (可怜地) poor themselves, they hated us for our poverty because we held aloof (冷淡的) from them.
The man was given to drink, and used to beat his wife. We were often wakened in the night by the clatter of falling chairs and breaking plates.
Once, when he had beaten her till the blood came, she ran out on the landing with her hair streaming (飘动), followed by her drunken husband abusing her, until all the people came out onto the staircase (楼梯) and threatened to send for the police.
My mother would have nothing to do with them. She forbade me to play with the children, who took every opportunity of venting (发泄) their spleen (坏脾气) on me for this refusal.
When they met me in the street, they would call me names; and once they threw a snowball at me which was so hard that it cut my forehead.
Everyone in the house detested (厌恶) them, and we all breathed more freely when something happened and they had to leave-I think the man had been arrested for theft.
For a few days there was a " To Let " (招租) notice at the main door. Then it was taken down, and the caretaker (看门人) told us that the flat had been rented by an author, who was a bachelor (单身汉), and was sure to be quiet.
That was the first time I heard your name.
A few days later, the flat was thoroughly (彻底地) cleaned, and the painters and decorators came. Of course they made a lot of noise, but my mother was glad, for she said that would be the end of the disorder next door.
I did not see you during the move. The decorations and furnishings were supervised (监督) by your servant, the little grey-haired man with such a serious demeanour (行为), who had obviously been used to service in good families.
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He managed everything in a most businesslike (有条理的) way, and impressed us all very much.
A high-class domestic (佣人) of this kind was something quite new in our suburban (郊区的) flats. Besides, he was extremely civil (有礼貌的), but was never hail-fellow-well-met (非常友好的) with the ordinary servants.
From the outset he treated my mother respectfully, as a lady; and he was always courteous (有礼貌的) even to little me. When he had occasion to mention your name, he did so in a way which showed that his feeling towards you was that of a family retainer.
I used to love good, old John for this, though I envied (羡慕) him at the same time because it was his privilege to see you constantly and to serve you.
Do you know why I am telling you these trifles (鸡毛蒜皮的小事)? I want you to understand how it was that from the very beginning your personality came to exercise so much power over me when I was still a shy and timid (害羞的) child.
Before I had actually seen you, there was a halo (光环) round your head. You were enveloped (包围) in an atmosphere of wealth, marvel, and mystery.
People whose lives are narrow, are avid of novelty (新鲜); and in this little suburban house we were all impatiently awaiting your arrival.
In my own case, curiosity rose to fever point when I came home from school one afternoon and found the furniture van (货车) in front of the house.
Most of the heavy things had gone up, and the furniture removers were dealing with the smaller articles. I stood at the door to watch and admire, for everything belonging to you was so different from what I had been used to.
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There were Indian idols, Italian sculptures (雕塑), and great, brightly coloured pictures.
Last of all came books, such lovely books, many more than I should have thought possible. They were piled (堆积) by the door. The manservant stood there carefully dusting (拂去灰尘) them one by one.
I greedily (贪婪地) watched the pile as it grew. Your servant did not send me away, but he did not encourage me either, so I was afraid to touch any of them, though I should have so liked to stroke (轻抚) the smooth leather bindings (封皮).
I did glance timidly at some of the titles; many of them were in French and in English, and in languages of which I did not know a single word. I should have liked to stand there watching for hours, but my mother called me and I had to go in.
I thought about you the whole evening, although I had not seen you yet. I had only about a dozen cheap books, bound in worn (旧的) cardboard (硬纸板). I loved them more than anything else in the world, and was continually reading and rereading them.
Now I was wondering what the man could be like who had such a lot of books, who had read so much, who knew so many languages, who was rich and at the same time so learned.
The idea of so many books aroused (唤醒) a kind of unearthly (神秘的) veneration (崇拜). I tried to picture you in my mind. You must be an old man with spectacles (眼镜) and a long, white beard, like our geography master, but much kinder, nicer-looking, and gentler.
I don't know why I was sure that you must be handsome, for I fancied (幻想) you to be an elderly man. That very night, I dreamed of you for the first time.
Next day you moved in; but though I was on the watch I could not get a glimpse (一瞥) of your face, and my failure inflamed (激起) my curiosity. At length I saw you, on the third day.
How astounded (惊愕的) I was to find that you were quite different from the ancient godfather conjured up by my childish imagination.
A bespectacled (戴眼镜的), good-natured old fellow (家伙) was what I had expected to see; and you came, looking just as you still look, for you are one on whom the years leave little mark.
You were wearing a beautiful suit of light-brown tweeds (花呢服装), and you ran upstairs two steps at a time with the boyish (男孩子气的) ease that always characterises (刻画…的性格) your movements.
You were hat in hand, so that, with indescribable amazement, I could see your bright and lively face and your youthful hair. Your handsome, slim, and spruce figure (潇洒的身影) was a positive shock to me.
How strange it was that in this first moment I should have plainly realised that which I and all others are continually surprised at in you.
I realised that you are two people rolled into one: that you are an ardent (热心的), light-hearted (无忧无虑的) youth, devoted to sport and adventure; and at the same time, in your art, a deeply read and highly cultured man, grave, and with a keen sense of responsibility.
Unconsciously (不知不觉地) I perceived what everyone who knew you came to perceive, that you led two lives.
One of these was known to all, it was the life open to the whole world; the other was turned away from the world, and was fully known only to yourself.
I, a girl of thirteen, coming under the spell of your attraction, grasped (理解) this secret of your existence, this profound cleavage (分裂) of your two lives, at the first glance.
Can you understand, now, what a miracle, what an alluring (迷人的) enigma (谜), you must have seemed to me, the child?
Here was a man whom everyone spoke of with respect because he wrote books, and because he was famous in the great world. Of a sudden he had revealed himself to me as a boyish, cheerful young man of five-and-twenty!
I need hardly tell you that henceforward (从今以后), in my restricted world, you were the only thing that interested me; that my life revolved round yours with the fidelity (忠诚) proper to a girl of thirteen.
I watched you, watched your habits, watched the people who came to see you-and all this increased instead of diminishing (缩减) my interest in your personality, for the two-sidedness of your nature was reflected in the diversity of your visitors.
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Some of them were young men, comrades (伙伴) of yours, carelessly dressed students with whom you laughed and larked (取乐).
Some of them were ladies who came in motors. Once the conductor of the opera-the great man whom before this I had seen only from a distance, baton in hand-called on you.
Some of them were girls, young girls still attending the commercial school, who shyly glided in at the door. A great many of your visitors were women.
I thought nothing of this, not even when, one morning, as I was on my way to school, I saw a closely veiled lady coming away from your flat.
I was only just thirteen, and in my immaturity (未成熟) I did not in the least realise that the eager curiosity with which I scanned all your doings was already love.
