诺贝尔文学经典:《宠儿》第11章Part 3

Beloved did not look at Paul D; her scrutiny was for Sethe. She had no coat, no wrap, nothing onher head, but she held in her hand a long shawl. Stretching out her arms she tried to circle it aroundSethe.
"Crazy girl," said Sethe. "You the one out here with nothing on." And stepping away and in frontof Paul D, Sethe took the shawl and wrapped it around Beloved's head and shoulders. Saying,"You got to learn more sense than that," she enclosed her in her left arm. Snowflakes stuck D felt icy cold in the place Sethe had been before Beloved came. Trailing a yard or so behindthe women, he fought the anger that shot through his stomach all the way home. When he saw Denver silhouetted in the lamplight at the Window, he could not help thinking, "And whose allyyou?"
It was Sethe who did it. Unsuspecting, surely, she solved everything with one blow.
"Now I know you not sleeping out there tonight, are you, Paul D?" She smiled at him, and like afriend in need, the chimney coughed against the rush of cold shooting into it from the sky. Windowsashes shuddered in a blast of winter air.
Paul D looked up from the stew meat.
"You come upstairs. Where you belong," she said, "... and stay there."
The threads of malice creeping toward him from Beloved's side of the table were held harmless inthe warmth of Sethe's smile.

宠儿不理睬保罗·D；她的端详是给塞丝的。她没穿外套，没戴围巾，头上什么都没有，可是手里捧着一条长披肩。她伸出胳膊，想给塞丝围上。
"傻丫头，"塞丝说道，"在外面什么都没戴的是你呀。"然后她离开保罗·D，在他面前接过披肩，围在宠儿的头和肩膀上。她说着，"你得学会懂点事"，然后用左臂搂住宠儿。这时候雪花不飞了。保罗·D觉得，宠儿来之前自己身上被塞丝靠过的部位变得冰冷冰冷的。他跟在两个女人身后一码左右，一路克制着满腔怒火。等到看见窗户上丹芙在灯光下的剪影，他忍不住想："你又是哪拨儿的呢？"
是塞丝解决的。出乎意料，她安全妥当地一举解决了所有问题。
"这回我可知道你今儿晚上不睡在外边了，对吗，保罗·D？"她朝他笑道；烟囱像个帮腔的患难之交似的冲着从天上射进来的寒流直咳嗽。窗框在一阵严冬的寒风里战栗着。
保罗·D从盘子中的炖肉上抬起眼睛。
"你上楼来睡吧。到你该待的地方，"她说，"……而且待下去吧。"
从桌子一头宠儿那边向他爬过来的缕缕恶意，在塞丝温暖的微笑里变得无关痛痒。