地下墓穴（5）（在线收听）

Kennedy loved his subject with a love which was almost a mania—a love which held him true to it, amidst all the distractions which come to a wealthy and dissipated young man. He had ambition, but his ambition was secondary to his mere abstract joy and interest in everything which concerned the old life and history of the city. He yearned to see this new underworld which his companion had discovered.

“Look here, Burger,” said he, earnestly, “I assure you that you can trust me most implicitly in the matter. Nothing would induce me to put pen to paper about anything which I see until I have your express permission. I quite understand your feeling and I think it is most natural, but you have really nothing whatever to fear from me. On the other hand, if you don’t tell me I shall make a systematic search, and I shall most certainly discover it. In that case, of course, I should make what use I liked of it, since I should be under no obligation to you.”

Burger smiled thoughtfully over his cigar.

“I have noticed, friend Kennedy,” said he, “that when I want information over any point you are not always so ready to supply it.”

“When did you ever ask me anything that I did not tell you? You remember, for example, my giving you the material for your paper about the temple of the Vestals.”

“Ah, well, that was not a matter of much importance. If I were to question you upon some intimate thing would you give me an answer, I wonder! This new catacomb is a very intimate thing to me, and I should certainly expect some sign of confidence in return.”

肯尼迪热爱自己的专业到了近乎疯狂的地步，尽管在这个宫有而放荡的年轻人周围布满了形形色色的诱惑，他依旧痴心不改。他有雄心壮志，但那是第二位的，第一位的永远是对古代罗马的生活中每一件东西的说不清道不明的兴趣和好奇。他是多么渴望亲眼看看他的同伴发现的这个新的地下墓穴啊。

“嘿，伯格，”他急切地说，“我保证，这件事你可以绝对相信我。除非有你的明确允许，任何东西都无法引诱我把所看到的写在纸上。我非常理解你的感情，我认为那是十分自然的，不过你实在没什么可担心的。反过来说，如果你不告诉我，我会采取地毯式搜寻，而且我有十足的把握找到它。当然，在那种情况下，我想怎么做就怎么做，因为我并不欠你的情。”

伯格吸着雪茄，会心地笑了，

“肯尼迪，我的朋友，我曾经注意到，”他说，“当我需要某种信息的时候，你并不总是乐于提供的。”

“哪次你问我的时候我不解答了？你还记得吧，就拿维斯塔女神庙说，我就给你的论文提供了资料。”

“啊，是的，但那并不是一件重要的事情。如果我问的是某个隐秘的事，你还会告诉我吗？这个新的地下墓穴对我来说是件隐秘的事情，我当然也期待同样的回报，”