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“The part which I acted is now to be explained. His sisters’ uneasiness had been equally excited with my own; our coincidence of feeling was soon discovered, and, alike sensible that no time was to be lost in detaching their brother, we shortly resolved on joining him directly in London.
现在我就来谈谈我在这里所担当的角色。原来他妹妹在这件事情上也产生了与我同样的担心。我们俩很快发现在这一点上我们的意见完全一致。两个人都同样地意识到，让她们的兄弟滞留在伦敦而不再归来的这件工作必须马上就做，我们即刻决定直接到伦敦跟他汇合。
We accordingly went--and there I readily engaged in the office of pointing out to my friend the certain evils of such a choice. I described, and enforced them earnestly.
于是，我们也动身了。到了伦敦后我立即开始劝说我的朋友，我一而再，再而三地向他指出了他的这一选择的种种害处。
But, however this remonstrance might have staggered or delayed his determination, I do not suppose that it would ultimately have prevented the marriage, had it not been seconded by the assurance that I hesitated not in giving, of your sister’s indifference.
但是，尽管我的这一劝诫也许能延搁他的抉择，可我并不认为这就能最终阻止了这桩婚姻——要不是我毫不犹豫地进一步向宾格莱说明，你姐姐那方面确实没有动什么真情的话。
He had before believed her to return his affection with sincere, if not with equal regard. But Bingley has great natural modesty, with a stronger dependence on my judgement than on his own.
在这以前他认为她是以真情来回报他的感情的，即便她的情没有他的那么深。宾格莱生性谦和，遇到事情常常更是依赖于我的而不是他自己的判断。
To convince him, therefore, that he had deceived himself, was no very difficult point. To persuade him against returning into Hertfordshire, when that conviction had been given, was scarcely the work of a moment. I cannot blame myself for having done thus much.
所以使他相信是他自己欺骗了自己的眼睛，并不是一件很难的事。向他说明了这一点后，劝说他不再返回到哈福德郡，就比较容易了。这些我觉得我做得并没有什么不对。
There is but one part of my conduct in the whole affair on which I do not reflect with satisfaction; it is that I condescended to adopt the measures of art so far as to conceal from him your sister’s being in town.
在整个事件中，只有一点我今天回想起来做得令人不太满意，这就是我不惜使用了一些小小的手腕，对他隐瞒了你姐姐也在城里的这一消息。
I knew it myself, as it was known to Miss Bingley; but her brother is even yet ignorant of it. That they might have met without ill consequence is perhaps probable; but his regard did not appear to me enough extinguished for him to see her without some danger.
我知道，宾格莱小姐也知道，可她的哥哥甚至至今还蒙在鼓里，或许就是让他们俩见了面，也不会旧情复燃。不过，宾格莱对你姐姐的好感，在我看来还没有完全消失，他见到她来未必就能做到不动情。
Perhaps this concealment, this disguise was beneath me; it is done, however, and it was done for the best.
也许这一隐瞒，这一欺蒙，有失我的身份。不过，我以前而且现在仍然这样做，却完全是为了他们好。
On this subject I have nothing more to say, no other apology to offer.
在这件事情上我要说的就是这么多了，要做的道歉也就此为止。
If I have wounded your sister’s feelings, it was unknowingly done and though the motives which governed me may to you very naturally appear insufficient, I have not yet learnt to condemn them.
如果说我伤害了你姐姐的感情，那也完全是出于无意。虽说促使我这样做的那些动机在你看来自然是理由不充分的，可要让我去谴责我的这些个动机，我至今还没有那个觉悟。
“With respect to that other, more weighty accusation, of having injured Mr. Wickham, I can only refute it by laying before you the whole of his connection with my family.
关于你给予我更多指责、说我伤害了威科汉姆的那件事，我只能是把他与我家的全部关系向你讲明，以此来驳回你对我的苛责。
Of what he has particularly accused me I am ignorant; but of the truth of what I shall relate, I can summon more than one witness of undoubted veracity.
我不知道他特别指责我的是哪一点。可是对我将要叙述到的事实真相，我可以找到不止一个可靠的证人。
“Mr. Wickham is the son of a very respectable man, who had for many years the management of all the Pemberley estates, and whose good conduct in the discharge of his trust naturally inclined my father to be of service to him; and on George Wickham, who was his godson, his kindness was therefore liberally bestowed.
威科汉姆先生的父亲是一个名声很好的人，他许多年来一直管理着彭伯里的产业。他在履行其职责上的忠诚和兢兢业业，自然使得我父亲很愿意给予他一些回报，所以对乔治·威科汉姆，也是我父亲的教子，我父亲便慷慨地给予了关照。
My father supported him at school, and afterwards at Cambridge--most important assistance, as his own father, always poor from the extravagance of his wife, would have been unable to give him a gentleman’s education.
我父亲供养他上学，后来让他进了剑桥大学。这是一项最重要的资助，他自己的父亲由于其妻子的挥霍无度总是很穷，没有能力让他接受一个体面人应该受的教育。
My father was not only fond of this young man’s society, whose manners were always engaging; he had also the highest opinion of him, and hoping the church would be his profession, intended to provide for him in it.
我父亲不仅喜欢常常让他陪着（因为他的言谈举止总是很招人喜爱），而且对他倍加赞扬，想着在教会里给他谋个位置，希望他从事这一职业。
As for myself, it is many, many years since I first began to think of him in a very different manner.
至于我自己，我对他的看法的改变已经是好多年前的事了。
The vicious propensities--the want of principle, which he was careful to guard from the knowledge of his best friend, could not escape the observation of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, and who had opportunities of seeing him in unguarded moments, which Mr. Darcy could not have.
对他邪恶的性情、做事缺乏原则的恶习，他总是小心翼翼地掩饰着，不让他最好的朋友们知道，可是他的这些品行却逃不过一个与他年龄相仿的年轻人的眼睛，我总有机会看到他无所提防的时候，而我的父亲则不可能有这样的机会。
Here again I shall give you pain--to what degree you only can tell. But whatever may be the sentiments which Mr. Wickham has created, a suspicion of their nature shall not prevent me from unfolding his real character--it adds even another motive.
这里我又要让你感到痛苦了——痛苦到何种程度只有你自己知道了。不管威科汉姆先生在你心中激起的是一种什么样的感情，我却认为不能因为你有这样的感情我就不去揭发出他的真实面目。这一点甚至倒是更增加了我要揭露他的决心。
“My excellent father died about five years ago; and his attachment to Mr. Wickham was to the last so steady, that in his will he particularly recommended it to me, to promote his advancement in the best manner that his profession might allow--and if he took orders, desired that a valuable family living might be his as soon as it became vacant. There was also a legacy of one thousand pounds.
我尊敬的父亲大约逝世于五年前。他对威科汉姆先生的宠爱随着时间的推移更是有增无减，在他的遗嘱里特别向我提到，要在威科汉姆先生所从事的职业范围内，极力地提携他，要是他受了圣职，俸禄优厚的位置一有空缺，就先考虑给予他。另外还给了他一千英镑的遗产。
His own father did not long survive mine, and within half a year from these events, Mr. Wickham wrote to inform me that, having finally resolved against taking orders, he hoped I should not think it unreasonable for him to expect some more immediate pecuniary advantage, in lieu of the preferment, by which he could not be benefited.
他的父亲不久也去世了，还没待这两件丧事过了半年的时间，威科汉姆先生便写信告诉我说，他终于决定不接受圣职了，既然他将来不能获得那个职位的俸禄，他希望能得到一些直接的钱财上的利益以作补偿，还说我不会认为他这样做过分吧。
He had some intention, he added, of studying law, and I must be aware that the interest of one thousand pounds would be a very insufficient support therein.
他接着又说，他想学法律，想必我也知道靠那一千镑的利息远远不够完成这一学业。
I rather wished, than believed him to be sincere; but, at any rate, was perfectly ready to accede to his proposal.
我希望，但不相信，他这话是真诚的。不过，不管怎么说，我还是很乐意地同意了他的这个建议。
I knew that Mr. Wickham ought not to be a clergyman; the business was therefore soon settled--he resigned all claim to assistance in the church, were it possible that he could ever be in a situation to receive it, and accepted in return three thousand pounds.
我知道威科汉姆先生做牧师不合适。因此这件事很快就定了下来。即使他将来有可能在教堂里接受到一份职位，他也不再要求这一权利，作为条件我们拿出三千英镑给他。
All connection between us seemed now dissolved. I thought too ill of him to invite him to Pemberley, or admit his society in town.
到此为止，我们之间的一切关系似乎都已经完结了。我对他的看法太坏，不愿意邀他来彭伯里做客，也不愿意在伦敦和他来往。
In town I believe he chiefly lived, but his studying the law was a mere pretence, and being now free from all restraint, his life was a life of idleness and dissipation.
我相信他大部分的时间是生活在伦敦，他的学习法律只是一个幌子，现在既然没有了一切的束缚，他过的完全是一种闲荡不羁的生活。
For about three years I heard little of him; but on the decease of the incumbent of the living which had been designed for him, he applied to me again by letter for the presentation.
有大约三年的时间，我没有听到他的什么消息。可是当原本打算让他接替的那个位置因牧师的逝世空下来时，他便立即给我写信，要求再次推荐他。
His circumstances, he assured me, and I had no difficulty in believing it, were exceedingly bad.
他说他现在的境况简直糟透了，这一点我当然不难相信。
He had found the law a most unprofitable study, and was now absolutely resolved on being ordained, if I would present him to the living in question--of which he trusted there could be little doubt, as he was well assured that I had no other person to provide for, and I could not have forgotten my revered father’s intentions.
他发现研究法律没有什么钱可赚，所以他现在已经完全下定了决心要接受圣职，如果我还愿意推举他去接替这个位置的话——他对这一点好像是很有把握似的，因为他确切地知道我没有别的人可以推荐，而且我也不可能这么快就忘记了我父亲的遗愿了。
You will hardly blame me for refusing to comply with this entreaty, or for resisting every repetition to it.
我拒绝接受他的这一请求，或者说我回绝了他的一再请求，对这一点你不能责备我什么吧。
His resentment was in proportion to the distress of his circumstances--and he was doubtless as violent in his abuse of me to others as in his reproaches to myself.
他窘迫的处境使他的埋怨情绪变得越发强烈——毫无疑问，就像他当面无所顾忌地责骂我那样，他在别人面前也一定不遗余力地说我的坏话。
After this period every appearance of acquaintance was dropped. How he lived I know not. But last summer he was again most painfully obtruded on my notice.
在这以后，我们俩的一切交情都似乎了断了。谁知在去年夏天他却又一次非常令我痛心地侵入到我的生活中来。
“I must now mention a circumstance which I would wish to forget myself, and which no obligation less than the present should induce me to unfold to any human being. Having said thus much, I feel no doubt of your secrecy.
现在我必须提及一件我自己也但愿能够忘掉的事情，要不是现在的情势所迫，我是不愿意跟任何一个人吐露这件事的。说到这里，我想你一定能够保守秘密的。
My sister, who is more than ten years my junior, was left to the guardianship of my mother’s nephew, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and myself.
我的妹妹比我小十多岁，父亲死后由我母亲的侄儿费茨威廉上校和我做她的保护人。
About a year ago, she was taken from school, and an establishment formed for her in London; and last summer she went with the lady who presided over it, to Ramsgate; and thither also went Mr. Wickham, undoubtedly by design; for there proved to have been a prior acquaintance between him and Mrs. Younge, in whose character we were most unhappily deceived; and by her connivance and aid, he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his kindness to her as a child, that she was persuaded to believe herself in love, and to consent to an elopement.
一年前，我们把她从学校接回来，在伦敦给她建了个寓所。去年夏天她和照管那个房子的女人一起到拉姆斯盖特去了一趟。威科汉姆先生也去了那里，这显然是有预谋的。因为后来证明他和那个名叫杨吉太太的女人早就认识，不幸的是我们没有能看出她的真实性格。凭借着她的纵容和帮助，他开始向乔治安娜求爱了，在我小妹善良的心灵里仍然保留着小时候威科汉姆对她的体贴和关心，因此竟被他哄骗得相信自己是爱上他了，同意和他一起私奔。
She was then but fifteen, which must be her excuse; and after stating her imprudence, I am happy to add, that I owed the knowledge of it to herself.
她那年只有十五岁，这当然是可以原谅她的理由了。在说完了她的这一鲁莽的行为后，我可以高兴地告诉你的是，我能得知这件事全是小妹告诉我的。
I joined them unexpectedly a day or two before the intended elopement, and then Georgiana, unable to support the idea of grieving and offending a brother whom she almost looked up to as a father, acknowledged the whole to me.
在他们计划私奔的一两天前，我出乎意料地到了他们那里，乔治安娜由于不忍心让这个她几乎是当作父亲看待的哥哥伤心悲愤，于是向我和盘托出了这件事。
You may imagine what I felt and how I acted. Regard for my sister’s credit and feelings prevented any public exposure; but I wrote to Mr. Wickham, who left the place immediately, and Mrs. Younge was of course removed from her charge.
你可以想见我当时的心情和我当时要做出的行为。考虑到我妹妹的名誉和感情，这件事不便于公开揭露，不过我还是给威科汉姆写了一封信，他当时即刻就离开了那个地方，当然杨吉太太也被我打发掉了。
Mr. Wickham’s chief object was unquestionably my sister’s fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds; but I cannot help supposing that the hope of revenging himself on me was a strong inducement. His revenge would have been complete indeed.
毫无疑问，威科汉姆先生主要是看中了我妹妹的三万英镑的财产，虽然我也不由地想到，他那想对我报复的愿望也是诱使他这么做的一个原因。的确，他的报复要不就完全成功了。
“This, madam, is a faithful narrative of every event in which we have been concerned together; and if you do not absolutely reject it as false, you will, I hope, acquit me henceforth of cruelty towards Mr. Wickham.
小姐，这就是我对这件事情的忠实讲述。如若你不认为它是虚假的而将其置在一边，我希望你能由此洗刷掉我虐待威科汉姆先生的罪名。
I know not in what manner, under what form of falsehood he had imposed on you; but his success is not perhaps to be wondered at.
我不知道他是以什么样的手段，以何种虚假的方式来欺骗你的。不过他的成功或许也没有什么可值得诧异的。
Ignorant as you previously were of everything concerning either, detection could not be in your power, and suspicion certainly not in your inclination.
你既然先前对我们双方的事情一点儿也不了解，你也就无从探查，况且怀疑别人也不是你的禀性。
“You may possibly wonder why all this was not told you last night; but I was not then master enough of myself to know what could or ought to be revealed.
你抑或会觉得奇怪，为什么我在昨天晚上不告诉你这一切。因为那个时候我不能很好地控制自己，不知道哪些话能讲或是应该讲出来。
For the truth of everything here related, I can appeal more particularly to the testimony of Colonel Fitzwilliam, who, from our near relationship and constant intimacy, and, still more, as one of the executors of my father’s will, has been unavoidably acquainted with every particular of these transactions.
关于我在这里说的一切事情的真实性，我可以特别地提出费茨威廉上校为我作证，他是我的至亲也是我的密友，而且又是我父亲遗嘱的执行人之一，所以他对于其中的详情末节自然都十分了解。
If your abhorrence of me should make my assertions valueless, you cannot be prevented by the same cause from confiding in my cousin; and that there may be the possibility of consulting him, I shall endeavour to find some opportunity of putting this letter in your hands in the course of the morning. I will only add, God bless you. “FITZWILLIAM DARCY”
如果你对我的厌恶让我的这番表白变得一钱不值，你总不会有同样的原因也不去相信我的表弟吧。为了让你还有找他谈一谈的时间，我将尽力找到一个机会，争取在早晨把这封信递到你的手里。我再要说的就只有，愿上帝赐福于你。费茨威廉·达西。
