【导读】此处节选的一封长信（有删节）出自英国布克奖女作家佩内洛普·菲茨杰拉德（1916—2000）的书信集《所以我想到了你：佩内洛普·菲茨杰拉德信札》（So I Have Thought of You： The Letters of Penelope Fitzgerald， 2008）。这封信是作者1987年写给大女儿蒂娜1的，彼时菲茨杰拉德70岁，蒂娜37岁。

信中，菲茨杰拉德向女儿袒露了她的恋旧与软弱，她请求蒂娜把那条半新不旧的塞拉普披巾还给她——口吻不是命令式的，而是朋友般的。读者能感受到母女间的平等、尊重与关爱。菲茨杰拉德与女儿分享并回忆了自己的生活，这个请求不仅仅是关于保留塞拉普披巾本身，更是希望能保留一段与过去的珍贵联系。

再次感谢特伦斯·杜利先生——诗人、翻译家、本书信集的编辑、佩内洛普·菲茨杰拉德的大女婿兼她的文学遗产执行人——授权刊发本书信集选段。

76 Clifton Hill2， NW 8

于伦敦克利夫顿山76号，（邮政编码）NW8

12 January [1987]

（1987年）1月12日

Dearest Tina，

我最亲爱的蒂娜：

They say it’s going on for several days， and “elderly people living on their own”， old folk， like myself， are given useful advice， which is to keep warm， and to remember that it is warmer inside than out—not quite true here， where all the pipes have stopped working and Theo3 has gone down to work （which he never does on Mondays） because there is central heating at the College of Heralds. He left his bath full of water and Desmond4 and I found it had turned to solid ice—would be bath-shaped if it was taken out， which Luke would like. And that’s the main point of this letter， to say how tremendous it was to see Lukey5 himself again， and more so， eating and bustling about and putting us all in our places. You and T6 have been so steady and patient with him all the way through and that’s made him able to come through it， because it was an illness， even if it’s never likely to come back again.

他们说这种天气要持续好几天，并且建议“独居老人”，即像我这样的老年人，务必要注意保暖，还提醒说屋里总比屋外暖和——不过，我这儿可不是这样，屋里所有的水管都冻住了。因为纹章院有中央供暖，西奥都去上班了（本来他周一是从不上班的）。他的浴缸里装满了水，我和德斯蒙德发现水已经冻成了一整块冰——要是把它取出来，大概还能保持浴缸的形状，卢克见了一定喜欢。这正是这封信的主要目的：告诉你我又看到卢基是多么开心，尤其是看到他吃吃喝喝，活蹦乱跳，还忙着“指挥”我们大家。你和T一直以来对他都坚定而有耐心，让他能度过那道难关，因为那可真是场大病，尽管可能永远不会复发。……