Tell me whom you love，and I will tell you who you are.
告訴我你愛的人是誰，我就會(huì)知道你是什么樣的人。——荷塞

　　John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way1 through Grand Central Station2.

　　He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn t, the girl with the rose. His interest in her had begun 12 months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself absorbed3, not by the words of the book, but by the notes penciled in the margin4. The soft handwriting showed a thoughtful soul and insightful5　mind.

　　In the front of the book, he discovered the previous6 owner s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he found her exact address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to write him. The next day he was shipped to another country for service in World War II. 　　

　　During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile7 heart. A love began to develop. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She explained: “If your feeling for me has any reality, any honest basis, what I look like won t matter. Suppose I m beautiful I d always be worried by the feeling that you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would make me sick. Suppose I m plain 8(and you must admit that this is more likely). Then I would always fear that you were going on writing to me only because you were lonely and had no one else. No, don t ask for my picture. When you come to New York, you shall see me and then you shall make your own decision. Remember, both of us are free to stop or to go on after that—whichever we choose... ”

　　約翰·布蘭查德從長(zhǎng)凳上站起身來，整了整軍裝，留意著格蘭德中央車站進(jìn)出的人群。
　　他在尋找一位姑娘，一位佩帶玫瑰的姑娘，一位他只知其心，不知其貌的姑娘。十二個(gè)月前，在佛羅里達(dá)州的一個(gè)圖書館，他對(duì)她產(chǎn)生了興趣。他從書架上取下一本書，很快便被吸引住了，不是被書的內(nèi)容，而是被空白處鉛筆寫的批語所吸引。柔和的筆跡顯示出其人多思善慮的心靈和富有洞察力的頭腦。
　　在書的前頁，他找到了書的前任主人的姓名：霍利斯·梅奈爾小姐。他花了一番工夫和努力，找到了她的確切地址。她住在紐約市。他給她寫了一封信介紹自己，并請(qǐng)她回復(fù)。第二天他被運(yùn)送到海外，參加第二次世界大戰(zhàn)。
　　在接下來的一年零一個(gè)月中，兩人通過信件來往增進(jìn)了對(duì)彼此的了解。每一封信都如一顆種子撒入肥沃的心靈之土。浪漫的愛情之花就要綻開。布蘭查德提出要一張照片，可她拒絕了。她解釋道：“如果你對(duì)我的感情是真實(shí)的，是誠心誠意的，那我的容貌如何并不重要。設(shè)想我美麗動(dòng)人，我會(huì)始終深感不安，惟恐你只是因?yàn)槲业娜菝簿唾Q(mào)然與我相愛，而這種愛情令我厭惡。設(shè)想本人相貌平平(你得承認(rèn)，這種可能性更大)，那我就會(huì)始終擔(dān)心，你和我保持通信僅僅是出于孤獨(dú)寂寞，無人交談。不，別索要照片。等你到了紐約，你會(huì)見到我，到時(shí)你可再作定奪。切記，見面后我倆都可以自由決定中止關(guān)系或繼續(xù)交往——無論你我怎么選擇……”