The Picture of Dorian Gray — Chapter 12 in French
By Oscar Wilde
C'était le neuf novembre, la veille de son trente-huitième anniversaire, comme il s'en souvenait souvent par la suite. It was on the ninth of November, the eve of his own thirty-eighth birthday, as he often remembered afterwards.
Il rentrait à pied vers onze heures du soir de chez Lord Henry, où il avait dîné, enveloppé dans de lourdes fourrures, car la nuit était froide et brumeuse. He was walking home about eleven o'clock from Lord Henry's, where he had been dining, and was wrapped in heavy furs, as the night was cold and foggy. Au coin de Grosvenor Square et South Audley Street, un homme le dépassa dans le brouillard, marchant très vite et le col de son pardessus gris relevé. At the corner of Grosvenor Square and South Audley Street, a man passed him in the mist, walking very fast and with the collar of his grey ulster turned up. Il avait un sac à la main. He had a bag in his hand. Dorian l'a reconnu. Dorian recognized him. C'était Basil Hallward. It was Basil Hallward. Une étrange sensation de peur, qu'il ne pouvait expliquer, s'empara de lui. A strange sense of fear, for which he could not account, came over him. Il ne donna aucun signe de reconnaissance et continua rapidement en direction de sa propre maison. He made no sign of recognition and went on quickly in the direction of his own house.
Mais Hallward l'avait vu. But Hallward had seen him. Dorian l'entendit d'abord s'arrêter sur le trottoir puis se précipiter après lui. Dorian heard him first stopping on the pavement and then hurrying after him. En quelques instants, sa main était sur son bras. In a few moments, his hand was on his arm.
"Dorian!" "Dorian! "Quelle chance extraordinaire!" What an extraordinary piece of luck! "Je vous attendais dans votre bibliothèque depuis neuf heures." I have been waiting for you in your library ever since nine o'clock. "Finalement j'ai eu pitié de votre serviteur fatigué et je lui ai dit d'aller se coucher quand il m'a laissé partir." Finally I took pity on your tired servant and told him to go to bed, as he let me out. "Je pars pour Paris par le train de minuit, et je tenais particulièrement à vous voir avant de partir." I am off to Paris by the midnight train, and I particularly wanted to see you before I left. "Je pensais que c'était vous, ou plutôt votre manteau de fourrure, en vous voyant passer." I thought it was you, or rather your fur coat, as you passed me. "Mais je n'en étais pas tout à fait sûr." But I wasn't quite sure. "Ne m'avez-vous pas reconnu?" Didn't you recognize me?"