(雙語(yǔ))月亮和六便士 第48章(2)

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Those that I have now are fragmentary. I am in the position of a biologist who from a single bone must reconstruct not only the appearance of an extinct animal, but its habits. Strickland made no particular impression on the people who came in contact with him in Tahiti. To them he was no more than a beach-comber in constant need of money, remarkable only for the peculiarity that he painted pictures which seemed to them absurd; and it was not till he had been dead for some years and agents came from the dealers in Paris and Berlin to look for any pictures which might still remain on the island, that they had any idea that among them had dwelt a man of consequence. They remembered then that they could have bought for a song canvases which now were worth large sums, and they could not forgive themselves for the opportunity which had escaped them. There was a Jewish trader called Cohen, who had come by one of Strickland's pictures in a singular way. He was a little old Frenchman, with soft kind eyes and a pleasant smile, half trader and half seaman, who owned a cutter in which he wandered boldly among the Paumotus and the Marquesas, taking out trade goods and bringing back copra, shell, and pearls. I went to see him because I was told he had a large black pearl which he was willing to sell cheaply, and when I discovered that it was beyond my means I began to talk to him about Strickland. He had known him well.

我掌握的事實(shí)只是一些斷簡(jiǎn)殘篇。我的處境很象一個(gè)生物學(xué)家，根據(jù)一根骨骼不僅要重新塑造出一個(gè)早已滅絕的生物的外貌，還要推測(cè)出它的生活習(xí)慣。思特里克蘭德沒(méi)有給那些在塔希提同他有接觸的人留下什么特別的印象。在這些人眼睛里，他只不過(guò)是一個(gè)永遠(yuǎn)缺錢花的流浪漢，唯一與眾不同的地方是他愛畫一些他們認(rèn)為是莫名其妙的畫。直到他死了多年以后，巴黎和柏林的畫商陸續(xù)派來(lái)幾個(gè)代理人搜尋思特里克蘭德可能散失在島上的遺作時(shí)，這些人才多少認(rèn)識(shí)到在他們當(dāng)中一度生活過(guò)一位了不起的人物。他們這時(shí)想起來(lái)，當(dāng)時(shí)只要花一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)錢就能買到今天已經(jīng)價(jià)值連城的名畫，他們白白讓機(jī)會(huì)從眼皮底下溜掉，真是追悔莫及。塔希提有一位姓寇漢的猶太商人，手里存著思特里克蘭德的一幅畫；他得到這幅畫的情況有一點(diǎn)不尋常。寇漢是個(gè)法國(guó)小老頭，生著一對(duì)溫柔、善良的眼睛，臉上總是堆著笑容；他一半是商人，一半是水手，自己有一只快艇，常常勇敢地往來(lái)于包莫圖斯群島、馬克薩斯和塔希提群島之間，運(yùn)去當(dāng)?shù)匦枰纳唐罚d回來(lái)椰子干、蚌殼和珍珠。我去看他是因?yàn)橛腥烁嬖V我他有一顆大黑珍珠要廉價(jià)出售。后來(lái)我發(fā)現(xiàn)他的要價(jià)超過(guò)我的支付能力，我便同他談起思特里克蘭德來(lái)。他同思特里克蘭德很熟。