I looked again， this time more carefully. The heart was still there and there was a suggestion of an arrow through it. The letters on one side were indistinctindistinct adj.不清楚的， 模糊的， 朦胧的 ， but on the other an ‘R’ was clearly visible with what looked like an ‘H’ after it. “Some budding romance？” I asked， “did you know who they were？”
“Oh yes， I knew them，” said Mary Smith， “it says ‘RH loves MS’.”
I realised that I could be getting out of my depth， and longed to be in my office， away from here and this old lady， snug， and with a mug of tea in my hand.
She went on…“He had a penknifepenknife n.小刀 with a spike for getting stones from a horses hoof， and I helped him to carve my initialsinitial n.词首大写字母 .
我又看了一下，这回看得仔细了一些。刻的那颗心还在那儿，此外还依稀可以看到有支箭穿心而过。心一边的字母已无从辩认了，但在另一边，字母“R”清晰可见，后面还有个像是“Ｈ”的字母。“初恋浪漫史？”我问道，“你知道他们是谁吗？”
“唔，我知道，”玛丽·史密斯说道，“写的是‘RH爱MS’。”
我意识到我可能涉入的太深了，真希望自己现在身处办公室，远离这个地方和这个老女人，手里端着一杯茶，舒舒服服地。
她继续讲着：“……他手里拿着一把袖珍折刀，折刀上嵌有长钉，那种长钉可用来挖出夹在马蹄上的石块，我们一起刻下了我名字的首个字母。”
“We were very much in love， but he was going away， and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day， back to his Unit. ”
Mary Smith was quiet for a while， then she sobbed. “His mother showed me the telegram. ‘Sergeant R Holmes… Killed in action in the invasion of France.’
“‘I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married，’ she said， ‘He was my only child， and I would have loved to be a Granny， you would have been such lovely babies.’—She was like that！
“Two years later she too was dead. ‘Pneumonia， following a chill on the chest was what the doctor said， but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us.”
“我们彼此深爱着对方，但他却要离去了，而且不知道他将在军队里从事什么。当然我也曾猜想。那是我们一起度过的最后一个夜晚，因为他第二天就回军队去了。”
玛丽·史密斯停了一会儿，接着开始抽泣。“他母亲给我看了那封电报：‘R.荷尔姆斯军士……在解放法国的战役中牺牲。’
“‘我本来盼望你和罗宾结婚的。’她母亲说，‘我只有他一个孩子，我只希望能做祖母，有十分可爱的小宝宝。’——她真是那么说的！
“两年之后她也过世了。医生说是肺炎，胸部受凉造成的，但我认为这是典型的悲伤过度。如果有个孩子那我们俩就都不会是这样了。”
There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressedcaress vt.抚爱 the wounded tree， just as she would have caressed him. “And now they want to take our tree away from me.”
Another quiet sob， then she turned to me. “I was young and pretty then， I could have had anybody， I
wasnt always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life， a lovely man， health and a future to look forwards to”.
She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. “There were others， of course， but not a patch on my Robin！” she said strongly. “And now I have nothing—except the memories this tree holds.If only I could get my hands on that awfulawful adj.可怕的， 威严的， <口>极度的， 糟糕的 man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now， I would tell him.”
玛丽·史密斯又停了一会儿，没有说话。她轻抚着那棵刻过的树，就像她曾抚摸他一样。“现在他们想把我们的树抢走。”
她又轻轻地抽噎了一下，然后她转过身来面对着我。“当时我年轻美丽，我想嫁给谁都可以，我当时可不像现在这么老。我拥有生命中所拥有的一切，一个值得爱恋的男人、健康的身体和充满希望的未来。”
她顿了一下，朝四周望了一眼。微风轻拂着树叶，发出叹息一样的沙沙声。“当然， 那时还有其他的人，但他们连罗宾的任何一点都比不上！”她肯定地说，“现在的我已经一无所有——只剩下残存于这棵树上的记忆。那个可恶的家伙竟建议把路修在我们站立的这个地方，我真希望把他掐死，我会对他说。”
“Has he never loved， has he never lived， does he not know anything about memories？ We were not the only ones， you know， I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes， I would tell him！”
I turned away， sick at heart.
“你从未爱过吗，你从未活过吗，你不知道什么叫记忆吗？你知道，不仅仅是我们，现在我仍能看见一些男男女女就像当年的我和罗宾那样到这里来。是的，我一定会对告诉他！”
我把身体转过去，心里有一种难受的感觉。
活过，爱过，并保留一份永远的回忆。人生当中命数的不确定，带给我们的波折虽难以言状，但那份难能可贵的感情，却深深藏在我们的心中，这是很多人生活中的一段小插曲，但却是女主人公一生的完整写照。这是怎样的一份炽热的爱！