“是呀。米勒本来是情愿拿它换一块猪排的。不错，我把那张小东西就换来了八百法郎。现在假如能花八万法郎把它买回来，那我真是求之不得。可是这个时期早已过去了。我给那位先生的房子画了一张很漂亮的画，本想作价十法郎卖给他，可是因为我是那么一位大画家的学生，这么贱卖又不大像话，所以我就把这张画卖了他一百法郎。我马上从那个城里把八百法郎汇给米勒，第二天又往别处出发。”
“But I didnt walk—no. I rode. I have ridden ever since. I sold one picture every day， and never tried to sell two. I always said to my customer： ‘I am a fool to sell a picture of Francois Millets at all， for that man is not going to live three months， and when he dies his pictures cant be had for love or money.’”
“可是我不用再走路了——不用。我骑马。从此以后，我一直都是骑马的。我每天只卖一张画，决不打算卖两张。我老是对买主说：‘我把米勒的画卖掉，根本就是个大傻瓜，因为这位画家恐怕不能再活上三个月了，他死了之后，那就随你出天大的价钱也别想买到他的画了。’”
“I took care to spread that little fact as far as I could， and prepare the world for the event.”
“我想方设法把这个消息尽量传播出去，预先做好准备工夫，好叫大家重视后来那场大事。”
“I take credit to myself for our plan of selling the pictures—it was mine. I suggested it that last evening when we were laying out our campaigncampaign n.[军］战役， （政治或商业性）活动， 竞选运动vi.参加活动， 从事活动， 作战， and all three of us agreed to give it a good fair trial before giving it up for some other. It succeeded with all of us. I walked only two days， Claude walked two—both of afraid to make Millet celebrated too close to home—but Carl walked only half a day， the bright， conscienceless rascalrascal n.流氓， 无赖， 坏蛋， 淘气鬼adj.不诚实的，卑鄙的， 下贱的， and after that he travelled like a duke.”
“我们卖画的计划是应该归功于我的——那是我出的主意。我们那天晚上商量我们的宣传运动的时候，我就提出了这个办法，三个人都同意先把它好好地试一试，决不轻易放弃这个主意，另试其他办法。结果我们三个人都干得很成功。我只走了两天路，克劳德也走了两天——我们俩都不愿意叫米勒在离家太近的地方出名，怕露马脚——可是卡尔只走了半天，这个精灵鬼。没良心的坏蛋！从那以后，他到各处旅行的派头简直就像个公爵一样。”
“Every now and then we got in with a country editor and started an item around through the press， not an item announcing that a new painter had been discovered， but an item which let on that everybody knew Francois Millet， not an item praising him in any way， but merely a word concerning the present condition of the ‘master’—sometimes hopeful， sometimes despondent， but always tinged with fears for the worst. We always marked these paragraphs， and sent the papers to all the people who had bought pictures of us.”
“我们随时和各地的地方报纸记者搭上关系，在报纸上发表消息；但是我们所发表的新闻并不是宣布发现了一位新画家，而是故意装成人人都知道法朗斯瓦·米勒的口气；我们根本不提称赞他的话，光是简单报道一点关于这位‘名家’的近况的消息——有时候说他病况好转，有时又说没有希望，不过老是含着凶多吉少的意味。我们每次都把这类消息标出来，寄给那些买过画的人。”
“Carl was soon in Paris and he worked things with a high hand. He made friends with the correspondents， and got Millets condition reported to England and all over the continent， and America， and everywhere.”
“卡尔不久就到了巴黎，他干脆就派头十足地干起来了。他结交了各报通讯记者，把米勒的情况报道到英国和整个欧洲去，连美国和世界各地，到处都报道过去了。”
“At the end of six weeks from the start， we three met in Paris and called a halt， and stopped sending back to Millet for additional pictures. The boom was so high， and everything so ripe， that we saw that it would be a mistake not to strike now， right away， without waiting any longer. So we wrote Millet to go to bed and begin to waste away pretty fast， for we should like him to die in ten days if he could get ready.”
“六个星期之后，我们三个在巴黎会了面，决定停止宣传，也不再写信叫米勒寄画来了。这时候他已经轰动一时，一切都完全成熟了，所以我们觉得应该趁这时候马上下手，以免错过机会。于是我们就写信给米勒，叫他到床上躺下，赶快饿瘦一点，因为我们希望他在十天之内‘死去’，如果来得及的话。”
