莫娜·麦克莱恩从壁炉边的座位上站起来迎接他们。她小小的三角形脸非常苍白。
Mona McClane rose from her seat by the fireplace to greet them. Her small, triangular face was very pale.
“我就料到你们今天下午会来。洛特斯一直渴望有机会感谢你们。”
“I rather expected you to drop in this afternoon. Lotus has been anxious for a chance to thank you.”
这时他们看到洛特斯·艾伦一直站在窗帘的半阴影处，凝视着其中一扇长窗外面。她转过身，朝壁炉走来。她的沉着并没有被打乱，但她的举止，甚至她的走路姿势和手势，都不再是洛特斯·艾伦，而是洛特斯·安杰洛，那个来自波士顿贫民窟的葡萄牙女孩，自学成才。然而，是海伦而不是马龙理解了她肤色的变化。洛特斯·艾伦用了化妆品和厚厚的粉底来掩盖她脸颊上的红润色泽和温暖的棕色皮肤。她曾经是个漂亮、打扮得体的女孩。现在，脸颊绯红、嘴唇鲜艳的洛特斯·安杰洛是个光彩照人的美女。
Then they saw that Lotus Allen had been standing half in the shadow of the curtains, gazing out one of the long windows. She turned around and came over to the fireplace. Her aplomb had not been shaken, but her manner, even her walk and gesture, was not Lotus Allen but Lotus Angelo, the Portuguese girl from a Boston slum, self-educated and self-taught. It was Helene, though, not Malone, who understood the change in her coloring. Lotus Allen had used make-up and heavy powder to subdue the glowing color in her cheeks and the warm brown of her skin. She had been a handsome, well-groomed girl. Now Lotus Angelo, bright-cheeked and bright-lipped, is a colorful beauty.
“我们都很高兴洛特斯摆脱了这个麻烦。”莫娜·麦克莱恩微笑着说。
“We’re all so relieved that Lotus is out of this mess” Mona McClane said smiling.
马龙没有回以微笑。“她在监狱里可能会更安全。”
Malone didn’t smile in return. “She might have been safer in jail.”
“你什么意思？”洛特斯问道。
“What do you mean?” Lotus demanded.”
“我来这儿，”马龙对莫娜·麦克莱恩说，“是为了确保你今晚不会找到这个女孩，她可能是一场精心策划的自杀的受害者——或者是另一起盗窃案的受害者。因为那个谋杀了两个人、差点就杀了三个人的人，不会再冒险了。”他停顿了一下。“可能是洛特斯，也可能是其他人……”
“I came here,” Malone said, addressing Mona McClane “to make sure that you wouldn’t find this girl tonight, the victim, perhaps, of a carefully arranged suicide—or of another burglar. Because the person who murdered two men and almost made it three, isn’t going to take any chances.” He paused. “It might be Lotus, or it might be someone else—”
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