首先是英文初版：
Stale Mate By Eileen Chang
Two men and two girls in a boat sat facing each other on wicker seats under the flat blue awning. Cups of tea stood on the low table between them. They were eating ling, water chestnuts about the size and shape of a Cupid's bow mouth. The shells were dark purplish red and the kernels white.
"Missu Zhou is very stylish today," one of the men said. It was also stylish to address girls as "Miss".
Miss Zhou glared at him through her new spectacles and threw a ling shell at him. Her glasses had round black rims and perfectly flat lenses, as she was not near-sighted. The year was 1924, when eyeglasses were fashionable. Society girls wore them. Even street-walkers affected glasses in order to look like girl students.
Each of the men sat with his own girl because the little boat balanced better this way than if the two girls sat side by side. The pale green water looked thick and just a little scummy, and yet had a suggestion of lingering fragrance like a basin of water in which a famous courtesan had washed her painted face.
The girls were around twenty - young for high school in those days when progressive women of all ages flocked to the primary schools. Miss Zhou was much admired for her vivacity and boldness as being typical of the New Woman, while Miss Fan's was the beauty of a still life. She sat smiling a little, her face a slim pointed oval, her long hair done in two round glossy black side knobs. She wore little make-up and no ornaments except a gold fountain pen tucked in her light mauve tunic. Her trumpet sleeves ended flaring just under the elbow.
The young men were Luo and Wen. Luo was tall and thin. His pale turquoise long gown hung well on him in a more literal sense than when the phrase was applied to Westerners' clothes. He taught in the same school as Wen. They both owned land in their home village and taught school in Hangzhou merely as an excuse to live by the West Lake, where every scenic spot was associated with the memory of some poet or reigning beauty.
The four had been meeting almost daily for more than a year. They would go out on the lake, have dinner at one of the restaurants along the shore, and go boating again if there was a moon. Somebody would read Shelley aloud and the girls held hands with each other when they felt moved. Always there were four of them, sometimes six but never two. The men were already married - a universal predicament. Practically everybody was married and had children before ever hearing of love. Wen and Luo had to be content with discussing the girls interminably between themselves, showing each other the girls' carefully worded letters, admiring their calligraphy, analysing their personalities from the handwriting. Love was such a new experience in China that a little of it went a long way.
They sailed into a patch of yellowing lotus leaves, the large green plates crunching noisily against the boat. Then there was silence. The boatman and his little daughter were resting on their oars, letting the boat drift. Now and then the water made a small swallowing sound as if it had a piece of candy in its mouth.
"Going home this weekend?" Miss Fan asked.
"I suppose I can't get out of it this time," Luo answered smiling. "My mother has been complaining."
She smiled. The mention of his mother did not alter the fact that he was going back to his wife. Lately Luo had been feeling increasingly guilty about going home, while Miss Fan had allowed her resentment to become more manifest before and after each visit.
"I have made a decision," he said in a low voice, looking at her. Then, when she did not ask him what it was, he said, "Missu Fan, will you wait for me? It might take years."
She had turned away, her head bent. Her hands played with the lower left corner of her slitted blouse, furling and unfurling it.
Actually she did not agree to his getting a divorce until days later. But that evening, when the four of them dined at a restaurant famous for its lake fish, Luo already felt pledged and dedicated. All the wine he drank tasted like the last cup before setting out on a long hard journey on a cold night.
The restaurant was called the Tower Beyond Towers. It leaned over the lake on three sides. Despite the view and its poetic name it was a nonchalantly ugly place with greasy old furniture. The waiter shouted orders to the kitchen in a singsong chant. When the glass dome was lifted from the plate of live shrimp, some of the shrimp jumped across the table, in and out of the sauce dish, and landed on Miss Fan, trailing soya sauce down the front of her blouse. Miss Zhou squealed. In the dingy yellow electric light Miss Fan looked flushed and happy and did not seem to mind at all.
Luo did not go home until the Saturday after that. The journey took two hours by train and wheelbarrow. His wife looked sheepish as her mother-in-law loudly and ostentatiously excused her from various duties because her husband was home. She was wearing a short blue overall with the red satin binding of a silk tunic showing underneath it. She had not been sure that he would be coming.
He spoke to her that night about divorce. She cried all night. It was terrible, almost as if a judge were to sleep in the same bed with a condemned man. Say what he might, he knew he was consigning her to dishonourable widowhood for the rest of her life.
"Which of the Seven Out Rules have I violated?" she kept asking through angry sobs. Ancient scholars had named the seven conditions under which a wife might justifiably be evicted from her husband's house.
His mother flew into a rage on being told. She would not hear of it. Luo went back to Hangzhou and stopped coming home altogether. His mother got his uncle to go up to Hangzhou and talk him out of his foolishness. He in turn managed to persuade a cousin to go and talk to his family. It took infernally long to negotiate through relatives who were, furthermore, unreliable transmitters of harsh words, being peacemakers at heart, especially where matrimony was concerned. To break up a marriage is a cardinal sin that automatically takes ten years off a man's given life span.
Luo got a lawyer to write his wife an alarmingly worded request for divorce. His wife's family, the Zhangs, boiled over with rage. Did he think his wife was an orphan? Not all the Zhangs were dead. True, they could not revenge themselves on the faithless man unless his wife were to hang herself on his lintel. That would place his life and property entirely at their mercy. But it was not for them to recommend such a step to her.
The head of the Luo clan was moved to speak. The old man threatened to invite the Family Law out of its niche and beat the young rascal in the ancestral temple. "Family Law" was a euphemism for the plank used for flogging.
Miss Fan and Luo continued to see each other in the company of Wen and Miss Zhou. Their friends were delighted and exhilarated by the courage of this undertaking - though it did put Wen in a difficult position, even if Miss Zhou was never openly reproachful. It now appeared as though the wistfulness that was part of the beauty of their relationship was not one of those things that couldn't be helped.
Luo was only home once in two years. They were difficult years for both the mother and daughter-in-law. They began to get on each other's nerves. There was an unwritten law that a wife could never be divorced once she had worn mourning white and the ramie scarf of mourning for a parent-in-law. So the old lady got the idea that her daughter-in-law wished for her death. It would certainly settle the divorce problem. But the old lady swore she would see the younger woman out of the house vertically before she made her own exit horizontally.
Outwardly the divorce negotiations had not gained much ground in six years. Miss Fan's family never did approve. Now they kept reminding her that at twenty-six she was becoming an old maid. Soon she would not even qualify for tianfang - room filler, a wife to fill up a widower's empty room. It seemed to her family that Luo was only waiting to have her on his own terms. It was doubtful whether he was seriously trying to get a divorce. Possibly alimony was the stumbling-block. There were those who said he was actually quite poor. What little he had must have dwindled away through his long absence from home, with his estate left in the hands of an estranged wife. There had been some unpleasantness over the divorce question at the school where he was teaching. If he didn't depend on his job for a living, why didn't he resign?
Miss Zhou told Wen confidentially that Miss Fan had been out to dinner with a pawnbroker, chaperoned by members of her family and a lady matchmaker. Wen was not to tell Luo.
In his indignation Wen told Luo anyway, though of course he added, "It's all her family's doing."
"They didn't tie her up with a rope and drag her to the restaurant, did they?" Luo said sardonically. He promised not to take up the matter with her immediately as that would betray the source of his information.
But that evening Luo drank too much rice wine when they dined at the Tower Beyond Towers which had the lake on three sides. "Congratulations, Missu Fan!" he said. "I hear you are going to invite us to your wedding feast." He drained his cup and strode off angrily.
Miss Fan refused to join them that next day. Luo's letters were returned unopened. A week later Miss Zhou reported that Miss Fan had again been dining with the pawnbroker. Everything was settled; the man had given her a big diamond engagement ring.
Luo's divorce action had reached the point where it began to move through its own momentum. There were signs that his wife's side was now more ready to listen to reason. He would be a laughing-stock for the rest of his life if he were to return to his wife at this stage. So he went ahead with the divorce, giving his wife a generous settlement as he had promised. As soon as the decree was final he got a professional matchmaker to approach the Wangs of the dyeworks on his behalf. The eldest Wang girl was reported to be the prettiest girl in town.
After an exchange of photographs and due investigation, the Wangs accepted him. Luo sold a great part of his land and bought Miss Wang a diamond ring even bigger than the one Miss Fan was said to have got. He was married after three months.
For some reason, Miss Fan's match did not come off. Maybe the pawnbroker had his doubts about modern girls and had heard something of Miss Fan's long attachment to Luo. According to the Fans it was because they had found out that the pawnbroker had falsified his age. Some malicious tongues had it that it was the other way around.
In the natural course of things Luo would have run into Miss Fan sooner or later, living in the same town. But their friends were not content to leave it to chance. Somehow they felt it was important for them to meet again. It could not be that they wanted Luo to savour fully his revenge; they had disapproved of the way he had hit back at her at the expense of his own ideals. Maybe they wanted him to realize the mistake he had made and feel sorry. But perhaps the most likely explanation would be that they just thought it would be sad and beautiful - and therefore a good thing - for the two to meet once again on the lake under the moon.
It was arranged without the knowledge of either of them. One night Luo was out on a boat with Wen - Miss Zhou was now married and not seeing them any more. Some people shouted at them from another boat. It was a couple they used to know. Miss Fan was with them.
When the two boats drew near, Wen stepped over to the other boat, urging Luo to come with him. Luo found himself sitting across the small table from Miss Fan. The tea in the cups shone faintly, in each cup a floating silver disc swaying slightly with the movement of the boat. Her face and white-clad shoulders were blue-rimmed with moonlight. It stunned him how she could look just the same when so much had happened.
They went through the amenities as if there were nothing amiss, but without directly addressing a single remark to each other. No reference was made to Luo's new marriage. The talk was mostly about the government-sponsored West Lake Exhibition and its ugly memorial that dominated the vista along the bank.
"It's an eyesore. Spoils everything," Luo said. "It will never be the same again."
Her eyes met his, wavered a little, and looked away.
After going round the lake they landed and separated. The day after, Luo received a letter addressed to him in Miss Fan's handwriting. He tore it open, his heart pounding, and found a sheet of blank paper inside. He knew instantly what she meant. She had wanted to write him but what could she say?
Soon it was no secret among their friends that they were again seeing a lot of each other. Luo again started divorce proceedings. This time he had very few sympathizers. He now looked like a scoundrel where he had once been a pioneer. It was another long struggle. On her part Miss Fan was also engaged in a struggle. Hers was against the forces of the years, against men's very nature which tires so easily. And in her struggle she had nobody to stand by her side as she stood by Luo. She remained quietly pretty. Her coiffure and clothes were masterpieces of subtle compromise between fashion and memory. He never wanted her to look any different from the way she did when he had first known her. Yet he would have been distressed if it had suddenly occurred to him that she looked dated. She fell in with all his moods without being monotonously pliant. She read all the books he gave her and was devoted to Shelley.
He finally had to fight it out in the courts with his wife's family. The Wangs were adamant against divorce. Lawsuits were expensive, especially when judges proved to be tractable. Luo got his divorce at the end of five years. Though in reduced circumstances, he had built a small white house exactly the way Miss Fan and he had planned it, on a site they had chosen long ago. He had closed down his old house in the country after his mother's death. Their new home was on stilts, leaning out of the green hills right over the lake. Climbing roses and wisteria trailed over the moon window.
The newlyweds paid routine visits to relatives. They were usually pressed to stay for dinner and play mahjong. Luo had never known her to be fond of the game. He told his wife it was good of her to comply but there was no need to keep it up all night and promise to come back for more the next day. She answered that people teased her into it, saying she could not bear to be away from her bridegroom a single minute.
She complained of living so far out. When she came back late from her mahjong parties she often had difficulty finding a rickshaw puller willing to take her home. When she was not out playing mahjong she lounged about in soiled old gowns with torn slits and frayed frogs. Half the time she lay in bed cracking watermelon seeds, spitting the shells over the bedclothes and into her slippers on the floor. His hints at taking more interest in her appearance were at first ignored. Then she flared up and said his fussiness was unmanly. "No wonder you never get anywhere."
Luo did his best to keep up a good front. Still he supposed that news of their quarrels got about, because one day a relative mentioned casually to him that Miss Wang had not yet remarried. "Why don't you ask her to come back?"
Luo shook his head sadly. He needed some persuasion, but of course he knew that the Wangs would agree that this was the best way out, much as they hated him. The family's good name would suffer if their daughter took a second husband.
His wife, the former Miss Fan, did not hear of the matter until all arrangements had been made. Despite scenes and threats of suicide, the day Miss Wang returned to him escorted by members of the Wang family she was there to receive them and play hostess at the small informal celebration. She addressed Miss Wang's brother and sister-in-law as "Brother" and "Sister-in-law". She apologized for the dinner. "It's difficult for us to get a good cook, living so far away from the market. Terribly inconvenient. Else I would have made him fetch back your young lady long ago. Of course she ought to come and live here. One can't be staying with parents all the time." Miss Wang did not speak, since she was almost a bride.
No agreement had been reached as to the mode of address between the two women, who were understood to be of equal status. They were merely referred to as "That of the House of Fan" and "That of the House of Wang" behind each other's back.
Not long afterward an elder of Luo's clan spoke to him. "I see no reason why you shouldn't ask your first wife to come back. It would only be fair." Luo could not think of any valid objection either. He went down to the country where she was living with her family, and brought her back to the rose-covered little house by the lake.
Both of his ex-wives were much richer than he was after the divorce settlements. But they never helped him out, no matter what straits he got into from providing for three women and their squabbling servants and later their children. He could not really blame them, taking everything into consideration. He would not have minded it so much if "That of the House of Fan" did not taunt him continually about the others' lack of feeling for him.
And now that he had lived down the scandal and ridicule, people envied him his yan fu, glamorous blessings - extraordinary in an age that was at least nominally monogamous, for it was already 1936 - living with three wives in a rose-covered little house by the lake. On the rare occasions when he tried to tell somebody he was unhappy, the listener would guffaw. "Anyhow," the friend would say, "there are four of you - just right for a nice game of mahjong."
大家熟悉的中文版：
五四遗事
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小船上，两个男子两个女郎对坐在淡蓝布荷叶边平顶船篷下。膝前一张矮桌，每人面前一只茶杯，一撮瓜子，一大堆菱角壳。他们正在吃菱角，一只只如同深紫红色的嘴唇包着白牙。
“密斯周今天好时髦！”男子中的一个说。称未嫁的女子为“密斯”也是时髦。
密斯周从她新配的眼镜后面狠狠地白了他一眼，扔了一只菱角壳打他。她戴的是圆形黑框平光眼镜，因为眼睛并不近视。这是一九二四年，眼镜正入时。交际明星戴眼镜，新嫁娘戴蓝眼镜，连咸肉庄上的妓女都戴眼镜，冒充女学生。
两个男子各自和女友并坐，原因只是这样坐着重量比较平均。难得说句笑话，打趣的对象也永远是朋友的爱人。
两个女郎年纪约二十左右，在当时的女校高材生里要算是年轻的了。那时候的前进妇女正是纷纷地大批涌进初小，高小。密斯周的活泼豪放，是大家都佩服的，认为能够代表新女性。密斯范则是静物的美。她含着微笑坐在那里，从来很少开口。窄窄的微尖的鹅蛋脸，前刘海齐眉毛，挽着两只圆髻，一边一个。薄施脂粉，一条黑华丝葛裙子系得高高的，细腰喇叭袖黑木钻狗牙边雪青绸夹袄，脖子上围着一条白丝巾。
周身毫无插戴，只腕上一只金表，襟上一只金自来水笔。西湖在过去一千年来，一直是名士美人流连之所，重重叠叠的回忆太多了。游湖的女人即使穿的是最新式的服装，映在那湖光山色上，也有一种时空不协调的突兀之感，仿佛是属于另一个时代的。
湖水看上去厚沉沉的，略有点污浊，却仿佛有一种氤氲不散的脂粉香，是前朝名妓的洗脸水。
两个青年男子中，身材较瘦长的一个姓罗，长长的脸，一件浅色熟罗长衫在他身上挂下来，自有一种飘然的姿势。他和这姓郭的朋友同在沿湖一个中学里教书，都是以教书为借口，借此可以住在杭州。担任的钟点不多，花晨月夕，尽可以在湖上盘桓。两人志同道合，又都对新诗感到兴趣，曾经合印过一本诗集，因此常常用半开玩笑的口吻自称“湖上诗人”，以威治威斯与柯列利治自况。
密斯周原是郭君的远房表妹，到杭州进学校，家里托郭君照顾她，郭请她吃饭、游湖，她把同学密斯范也带了来，有两次郭也邀了罗一同去，大家因此认识了。自此几乎天天见面。混得熟悉了，两位密斯也常常联袂到宿舍来找他们，然后照例带着新出版的书刊去游湖，在外面吃饭，晚上如果月亮好，还要游夜湖。划到幽寂的地方，不拘罗或是郭打开书来，在月下朗诵雪莱的诗。听到回肠荡气之处，密斯周便紧紧握住密斯范的手。
他们永是四个人，有时候再加上一对，成为六个人，但是从来没有两个人在一起。这样来往着已经快一年了。郭与罗都是结了婚的人——这是当时一般男子的通病。差不多人人都是还没听到过“恋爱”这名词，早就已经结婚生子。郭与罗与两个女友之间，只能发乎情止乎礼，然而也并不因此感到苦闷。两人常在背后讨论得津津有味，两个异性的一言一笑，都成为他们互相取笑的材料。此外又根据她们来信的笔触，研究她们俩的个性——虽然天天见面，他们仍旧时常通信，但仅只是落落大方的友谊信，不能称作情书。——他们从书法与措词上可以看出密斯周的豪爽，密斯范的幽娴，久已分析得无微不至，不可能再有新的发现，然而仍旧孜孜地互相传观，品题，对朋友的爱人不吝加以赞美，私下里却庆幸自己的一个更胜一筹。这一类的谈话他们永远不感到厌倦。
在当时的中国，恋爱完全是一种新的经验，仅只这一点点已经很够味了。
小船驶入一片荷叶，洒黄点子的大绿碟子磨着船舷嗤嗤响着。随即寂静了下来。船夫与他的小女儿倚在桨上一动也不动，由着船只自己漂流。偶尔听见那湖水卟的一响，仿佛嘴里含着一块糖。
“这礼拜六回去不回去？”密斯范问。
“这次大概赖不掉，”罗微笑着回答。“再不回去我母亲要闹了。”
她微笑。他尽管推在母亲身上，事实依旧是回到妻子身边。
近来罗每次回家，总是越来越觉得对不起密斯范。回去之前，回来之后，密斯范的不愉快也渐渐地表示得更明显。
这一天她仅只问了这样一声，已经给了他很深的刺激。船到了平湖秋月，密斯周上岸去买藕粉，郭陪了她去。罗与密斯范倚在朱漆栏杆边等着，两人一直默然。
“我下了个决心，”罗突然望着湖低声说。然后，看她并没有问他是什么决心，他便又说，“密斯范，你肯不肯答应等我？也许要好些年。”
她低下了头，扭过身去，两手卷弄着左边的衣角。
当天她并没有吐口同意他离婚。但是那天晚上他们四个人在楼外楼吃饭，罗已经感到这可以说是他们的定情之夕，同时觉得他已经献身于一种奋斗。那天晚上喝的酒，滋味也异样，像是寒夜远行的人上路之前的最后一杯酒。
楼外楼的名称虽然诗意很浓，三面临湖，风景也确是好，那菜馆本身却是毫不讲究外表，简陋的窗框，油腻腻的旧家具，堂馆向楼下厨房里曼声高唱着菜名。一盘炝虾上的大玻璃罩揭开之后，有两只虾跳到桌上，在酱油碟里跳出跳进，终于落到密斯范身上，将她那浅色的袄上淋淋漓漓染上一行酱油迹。密斯周尖声叫了起来。在昏黄的灯光下，密斯范红着脸很快乐的样子，似乎毫不介意。
罗直到下一个星期六方才回家。那是离杭州不远的一个村庄，连乘火车带独轮车不到两个钟头。一到家，他母亲大声宣布蠲免媳妇当天的各项任务，因为她丈夫回来了。媳妇反而觉得不好意思。她大概因为不确定他回来不回来，所以在绸夹袄上罩上一件蓝布短衫，隐隐露出里面的大红缎子滚边。
这天晚上他向她开口提出离婚。她哭了一夜。那情形的不可忍受，简直仿佛是一个法官与他判处死刑的罪犯同睡在一张床上。不论他怎样为自己辩护，他知道他是判她终身守寡，而且是不名誉的守寡。
“我犯了七出之条哪一条？”她一面愤怒地抽噎着，一面尽钉着他问。
第二天他母亲知道了，大发脾气，不许再提这话。罗回到杭州，从此不再回家。他母亲托他舅舅到杭州来找他，百般劝说晓谕。他也设法请一个堂兄下乡去代他向家里疏通。托亲戚办交涉，向来是耽误时候，而且亲戚代人传话，只能传好话，决裂的话由他们转达是靠不住的，因为大家都以和事佬自居，尤其事关婚姻。拆散人家婚姻是伤阴骘损阳寿的。
罗请律师写了封措辞严厉的信给他妻子。家里只是置之不理，他妻子娘家人却气得揎拳掳臂，说：“他们罗家太欺负人。当我们张家人都死光了？”恨不得兴师动众打到罗家，把房子也拆了，那没良心的小鬼即使不在家，也把老太婆拖出来打个半死。只等他家姑奶奶在罗家门框上一索子吊死了，就好动手替她复仇。但是这事究竟各人自己主张，未便催促。
乡下一时议论纷纷，都当作新闻来讲。罗家的族长看不过去，也说了话：“除非他一辈子躲着不回来，只要一踏进村口，马上绑起来，到祠堂去请出家法来，结结实实打这畜生。
闹得太不像话！”
罗与密斯范仍旧天天见面，见面总是四个人在一起。郭与密斯周十分佩服他们不顾一切的勇气，不断地鼓励他们，替他们感到兴奋。事实是相形之下，使郭非常为难。尽管密斯周并没有明言抱怨，却也使他够难堪的。到现在为止，彼此的感情里有一种哀愁，也正是这哀愁使他们那微妙的关系更为美丽。但是现在这样看来，这似乎并不是人力无法挽回的。
罗在两年内只回去过一次。他母亲病了，风急火急把他叫了回去。他一看病势并不像说的那样严重，心里早已明白了，只表示欣慰。他母亲乘机劝了他许多话，他却淡淡的不接口。也不理睬在旁边送汤送药的妻子。夜里睡在书房里，他妻子忽然推门进来，插金戴银，穿着吃喜酒的衣服，仿照宝蟾送酒给他送了点心来。
两人说不了两句话便吵了起来。他妻子说：“不是你妈硬逼着我来，我真不来了——又是骂，又是对我哭。”
她赌气走了。罗也赌气第二天一早就回杭州，一去又是两年。
他母亲想念儿子，渐渐的不免有些后悔。这一年她是整生日，罗被舅父劝着，勉强回来拜寿。这一次见面，他母亲并没有设法替儿子媳妇撮合，反而有意将媳妇支开了，免得儿子觉得窘。媳妇虽然怨婆婆上次逼她到书房去，白受一场羞辱，现在她隔离他们，她心里却又怨怼，而且疑心婆婆已经改变初衷，倒到那一面去了。这几年家里就只有婆媳二人，各人心里都不是滋味。心境一坏，日常的摩擦自然增多，不知不觉间，渐渐把仇恨都结在对方身上。老太太那方面，认定了媳妇是盼她死——给公婆披过麻戴过孝的媳妇是永远无法休回娘家的。老太太发誓说她偏不死，先要媳妇直着出去，她才肯横着出去。
外表上看来，离婚的交涉办了六年之久，仍旧僵持不下。
密斯范家里始终不赞成。现在他们一天到晚提醒她，二十六岁的老姑娘，一霎眼，望三十了，给人做填房都没人要。罗一味拖延，看来是不怀好意，等到将来没人要的时候，只好跟他做小。究竟他是否在进行离婚，也很可疑，不能信他一面之词。也可能症结是他拿不出赡养费。打听下来，有人说罗家根本没有钱。家乡那点产业捏在他妻子手里，也早靠不住了。他在杭州教书，为了离婚事件，校长对他颇有点意见，搞得很不愉快。倘若他并不靠教书维持生活，那么为什么不辞职？
密斯周背地里告诉郭，说有人给密斯范做媒，对象是一个开当铺的，相亲那天，在番菜馆同吃过一顿饭。她再三叮嘱郭君守秘密，不许告诉罗。
郭非常替罗不平，结果还是告诉了他。但是当然加上了一句。“这都是她家里人干的事。”
“是把她捆了起来送到饭馆子去的，还是她自己走进去的？”罗冷笑着说。
“待会儿见面的时候可千万别提，拆穿了大家不好意思，连密斯周也得怪我多嘴。”
罗答应了他。
但是这天晚上罗多喝了几杯酒，恰巧又是在楼外楼吃饭，勾起许多回忆。在席上，罗突然举起酒杯大声向密斯范说：
“密斯范，恭喜你，听说要请我们吃喜酒了！”
郭在旁边竭力打岔，罗倒越发站了起来嚷着：“恭喜恭喜，敬你一杯！”他自己一仰脖子喝了，推开椅子就走，三脚两步已经下了楼。
郭与密斯周面面相觑，郭窘在那里不得下台，只得连声说：“他醉了。我倒有点不放心，去瞧瞧去。”跟着也下了楼，追上去劝解。第二天密斯范没有来。她生气。罗写了信也都退了回来。一星期后，密斯周又来报告，说密斯范又和当铺老板出去吃过一次大菜。这次一切都已议妥，男方给置了一只大钻戒作为订婚戒指。
罗的离婚已经酝酿得相当成熟，女方渐渐有了愿意谈判的迹象。如果这时候忽然打退堂鼓，重又回到妻子身边，势必成为终身的笑柄，因此他仍旧继续进行，按照他的诺言给了他妻子一笔很可观的赡养费，协议离婚。然后他立刻叫了媒婆来，到本城的染坊王家去说亲。王家的大女儿的美貌是出名的，见过的人无不推为全城第一。
交换照片之后，王家调查了男方的家世。媒婆极力吹嘘，竟然给他说成了这头亲事。罗把田产卖去一大部分，给王家小姐买了一只钻戒，比传闻中的密斯范的那只钻戒还要大。不到三个月，就把王小姐娶了过来。
密斯范的婚事不知为什么没有成功。也许那当铺老板到底还是不大信任新女性，又听见说密斯范曾经有过男友，而且关系匪浅。据范家这边说，是因为他们发现当铺老板少报了几岁年纪。根据有些轻嘴薄舌的人说，则是事实恰巧相反——少报年纪是有的。
罗与密斯范同住在一个城市里，照理迟早总有一天会在无意中遇见。他们的朋友们却不肯听其自然发展。不知为什么，他们觉得这两个人无论如何得要再见一面。他们并不是替罗打抱不平，希望他有机会饱尝复仇的甜味；他们并不赞成他的草草结婚，为了向她报复而牺牲了自己的理想。也许他们正是要他觉悟过来，自己知道铸成大错而感到后悔。但也许最近情理的解释还是他们的美感：他们仅只是觉得这两个人再在湖上的月光中重逢，那是悲哀而美丽的，因此就是一桩好事，不能不促成他们。
一切都安排好了，只瞒着他们俩。有一天郭陪着罗去游夜湖——密斯周已经结了婚，不和他们来往了。另一只船上有人向他们叫喊。是他们熟识的一对夫妇。那只船上还有密斯范。
两船相并，郭跨到那只船上去，招呼着罗也一同过去。罗发现他自己正坐在密斯范对面。玻璃杯里的茶微微发光，每一杯的水面都是一个银色圆片，随着船身的晃动轻轻地摇摆着。她的脸与白衣的肩膀被月光镀上一道蓝边。人事的变化这样多，而她竟和从前一模一样，一点也没改变，这使他无论如何想不明白，心里只觉得恍惚。
他们若无其事地寒暄了一番，但是始终没有直接交谈过一句话。也没有人提起罗最近结婚的事。大家谈论着政府主办的西湖博览会，一致反对那屹立湖滨引人注目的丑陋的纪念塔。
“俗不可耐。完全破坏了这一带的风景，”罗叹息着。“反正从前那种情调，以后再也没有了。”
他的眼睛遇到她的眼睛，眼光微微颤动了一下，望到别处去了。
他们在湖上兜了个圈子，在西泠印社上岸，各自乘黄包车回去。第二天罗收到一封信，一看就知道是密斯范的笔迹。
他的心狂跳着，撕开了信封，抽出一张白纸，一个字也没有，他立刻明白了她的意思。她想写信给他，但是事到如今，还有什么话可以说？
他们旧情复炽的消息瞒不了人，不久大家都知道了。罗再度进行离婚。这次同情他的人很少。以前将他当作一个开路先锋，现在却成了个玩弄女性的坏蛋。
这次离婚又是长期奋斗。密斯范呢，也在奋斗。她斗争的对象是岁月的侵蚀，是男子喜新厌旧的天性。而且她是孤军奋斗，并没有人站在她身旁予以鼓励，像她站在罗的身边一样。因为她的战斗根本是秘密的，结果若是成功，也要使人浑然不觉，决不能露出努力的痕迹。她仍旧保持着秀丽的面貌。她的发式与服装都经过缜密的研究，是流行的式样与回忆之间的微妙的妥协。他永远不要她改变，要她和最初相识的时候一模一样。然而男子的心理是矛盾的，如果有一天他突然发觉她变老式，落伍，他也会感到惊异与悲哀。她迎合他的每一种心境，而并非一味地千依百顺。他送给她的书，她无不从头至尾阅读。她崇拜雪莱，十年如一日。
王家坚决地反对离婚。和平解决办不到，最后还是不能不对簿公庭。打官司需要花钱；法官越是好说话，花的钱就更多。前后费了五年的工夫，倾家荡产，总算官司打赢，判了离婚。手边虽然窘，他还是在湖边造了一所小白房子，完全按照他和密斯范计划着的格式，坐落在他们久已拣定了的最理想的地点，在幽静的里湖。乡下的房子，自从他母亲故世以后，已经一部分出租，一部分空着。新房子依着碧绿的山坡，向湖心斜倚着，踩着高跷站在水里。墙上爬满了深红的蔷薇，紫色的藤萝花，丝丝缕缕倒挂在月洞窗前。
新婚夫妇照例到亲戚那里挨家拜访，亲戚照例留他们吃饭，打麻将。罗知道她是不爱打麻将的。偶尔敷衍一次，是她贤慧，但是似乎不必再约上明天原班人马再来八圈。她告诉他她是不好意思拒绝，人家笑她恩爱夫妻一刻都离不开。
她抱怨他们住得太远。出去打牌回来得晚了，叫不到黄包车，车夫不愿深更半夜到那冷僻的地方去，回来的时候兜不到生意。轮到她还请，因为客人回去不方便，只好打通宵，罗又嫌吵闹。
没有牌局的时候，她在家里成天躺在床上嗑瓜子，衣服也懒得换，污旧的长衫，袍叉撕裂了也不补，纽绊破了就用一根别针别上。出去的时候穿的仍旧是做新娘子的时候的衣服，大红大绿，反而更加衬出面容的黄瘦。罗觉得她简直变了个人。
他婉转地劝她注意衣饰，技巧地从夸赞她以前的淡装入手。她起初不理会，说得次数多了，她发起脾气来，说：“婆婆妈妈的，专门管女人的闲事，怪不得人家说，这样的男人最没出息。”
罗在朋友的面前还要顾面子，但是他们三天两天吵架的消息恐怕还是传扬了出去，因为有一天一个亲戚向他提起王小姐来，仿佛无意中闲谈，说起王小姐还没有再嫁。“其实你为什么不接她回来？”
罗苦笑着摇摇头。当然罗也知道王家虽然恨他薄幸，而且打了这些年的官司，冤仇结得海样深，但是他们究竟希望女儿从一而终，反正总比再嫁强。
只要罗露出口风来，自有热心的亲戚出面代他奔走撮合。
等到风声吹到那范氏太太的耳朵里，一切早已商议妥当。家里的太太虽然哭闹着声称要自杀，王家护送他们小姐回罗家那一天，还是由她出面招待。那天没有请客，就是自己家里几个人，非正式地庆祝了一下。她称王小姐的兄嫂为“大哥”，“嫂子”，谦说饭菜不好：“住得太远，买菜不方便，也雇不到好厨子。房子又小，不够住，不然我早劝他把你们小姐接回来了。当然该回来，总不能一辈子住在娘家。”
王小姐像新娘子一样矜持着，没有开口，她兄嫂却十分客气，极力敷衍。事先王家曾经提出条件，不分大小，也没有称呼，因为王小姐年幼，姊妹相称是她吃亏。只有在背后互相称为“范家的”“王家的”。
此后不久，就有一个罗家的长辈向罗说：“既然把王家的接回来了，你第一个太太为什么不接回来？让人家说你不公平。”
罗也想不出反对的理由。他下乡到她娘家把她接了出来，也搬进湖边那盖满了蔷薇花的小白房子里。
他这两位离了婚的夫人都比他有钱，因为离婚时候拿了他一大笔的赡养费。但是她们从来不肯帮他一个大子，尽管他非常拮据，凭空添出许多负担，需要养活三个女人与她们的佣仆，后来还有她们各人的孩子，孩子的奶妈。他回想自己当初对待她们的情形，觉得也不能十分怪她们。只是“范家的”不断在旁边冷嘲热讽，说她们一点也不顾他的死活，使他不免感到难堪。
现在他总算熬出头了，人们对于离婚的态度已经改变，种种非议与嘲笑也都已经冷了下来。反而有许多人羡慕他稀有的艳福。这已经是一九三六年了，至少在名义上是个一夫一妻的社会，而他拥着三位娇妻在湖上偕游。难得有两次他向朋友诉苦，朋友总是将他取笑了一番说：“至少你们不用另外找搭子。关起门来就是一桌麻将。”
（一九五七年） |
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