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"But the minute I laid eyes on her, I said: 'You sweet bird, you! Shut you up in that cage again? Never!'
“可当时我把眼睛对着她说：“你这只可爱的小鸟！再把你关到那个笼子里去吗？绝对不行！”
And now it's settled that she's to stay here and nurse her Granny as long as there's a Granny to nurse.
现在定下来了。她将呆在这儿，侍候她的祖母--只要她还有个祖母可侍候。
It's not a gay prospect, but she doesn't mind; and of course I've told Letterblair that she's to be given her proper allowance."
这算不上愉快的前景，但她不在乎。当然，我已经嘱咐莱特布赖，她要得到一份适当的补贴。”
The young man heard her with veins aglow; but in his confusion of mind he hardly knew whether her news brought joy or pain.
年轻人异常兴奋地听着她讲，但脑子里却一片混乱，说不清这个消息带给自己的是喜还是忧。
He had so definitely decided on the course he meant to pursue that for the moment he could not readjust his thoughts.
他已经毅然决然地确定了自己的行动方针，一时竟无法调整他的思路。
But gradually there stole over him the delicious sense of difficulties deferred and opportunities miraculously provided.
然而渐渐地，他意识到他的困难将会推延，机会却会奇迹般地出现，心头不觉美滋滋的。
If Ellen had consented to come and live with her grandmother it must surely be because she had recognised the impossibility of giving him up.
如果埃伦已经同意过来跟祖母一起生活，那必然是因为她认识到放弃他是根本不可能的。
This was her answer to his final appeal of the other day: if she would not take the extreme step he had urged, she had at last yielded to half-measures.
这就是她对那天他最后请求的回答：如果她不肯采取他迫切要求的极端步骤，那么，她终于屈从了折衷的办法。
He sank back into the thought with the involuntary relief of a man who has been ready to risk everything, and suddenly tastes the dangerous sweetness of security.
他又陷入那种不期而至的欣慰之中：一位准备孤注一掷的男人却突然尝到了化险为夷的甜头。
"She couldn't have gone back--it was impossible!" he exclaimed.
“她不回去了--根本不可能回去了！”他大声说。
"Ah, my dear, I always knew you were on her side; and that's why I sent for you today, and why I said to your pretty wife, when she proposed to come with you: "No, my dear, I'm pining to see Newland, and I don't want anybody to share our transports."
“啊，亲爱的，我一直就知道你是站在她一边的，正因为如此，我今天才把你叫来；也正是为此，当你那位美丽的妻子提出跟你一起来时，我才对她说：“不，亲爱的，我极想见见纽兰，我不想让任何人分享我们的快活。”
For you see, my dear--
因为，听我说，亲爱的--”
she drew her head back as far as its tethering chins permitted, and looked him full in the eyes-"you see, we shall have a fight yet.
她把头尽量往后仰，达到下颏所能支撑的最大限度，然后直视着他的眼睛说：“你瞧，我们还要进行战斗呢。
The family don't want her here, and they'll say it's because I've been ill, because I'm a weak old woman, that she's persuaded me.
家里人不想让她留在这儿，他们会说是因为我生病了，因为我是个病弱的老妇人，她才说服了我。
I'm not well enough yet to fight them one by one, and you've got to do it for me."
我还没有完全康复，还不能一个接一个地跟他们斗，你必须替我干。”
"I?" he stammered.
“我？”他张口结舌地说。
"You. Why not?" she jerked back at him, her round eyes suddenly as sharp as pen-knives.
“是你。有何不可？”她突然反问道，两只圆瞪的眼睛忽然变得像小刀子一样锋利。
Her hand fluttered from its chair-arm and lit on his with a clutch of little pale nails like bird-claws.
她的一只手从椅子扶手上滑落下来，一把像鸟爪般苍白的小指甲落在他手上。
"Why not?" she searchingly repeated.
“有何不可呢？”她重复地追问道。
Archer, under the exposure of her gaze, had recovered his self-possession.
阿切尔在她注视之下恢复了自制。
"Oh, I don't count--I'm too insignificant."
“咳，我不顶用--我太无足轻重了。”
"Well, you're Letterblair's partner, ain't you? You've got to get at them through Letterblair.
“可你是莱特布赖的合伙人，对不对？你必须借助莱特布赖对他们施加影响，
Unless you've got a reason," she insisted.
除非你有别的理由，”她坚持说。
"Oh, my dear, I back you to hold your own against them all without my help; but you shall have it if you need it," he reassured her.
“哎，亲爱的，我支持你的主张，你不用我帮忙就能对付他们。不过，只要你需要，就能得到我的帮助，”他安慰她说。
"Then we're safe!" she sighed; and smiling on him with all her ancient cunning she added, as she settled her head among the cushions: "I always knew you'd back us up, because they never quote you when they talk about its being her duty to go home."
“这样一来，我们就安全了！”她叹口气说。她一面把头倚在靠垫中间，一面露出老谋深算的笑容补充说：“我早就知道你会支持我们的，因为他们说起回到丈夫身边是她的本分时，从来没引述过你的话。”
He winced a little at her terrifying perspicacity, and longed to ask: "And May--do they quote her?"
面对她吓人的锐利眼光，他不免有点畏惧，他很想问一句：“梅呢--他们引述她的话了吗？”
But he judged it safer to turn the question.
但他以为还是转换一下话题更保险。
"And Madame Olenska? When am I to see her?" he said.
“奥兰斯卡夫人呢？我什么时候去见她？”他说。
The old lady chuckled, crumpled her lids, and went through the pantomime of archness. "Not today.
老夫人又咯咯笑了一阵，揉了揉眼皮，诡秘地打了一番手势。“今天不行，
One at a time, please. Madame Olenska's gone out."
一次只见一人。奥兰斯卡夫人出去了。”
He flushed with disappointment, and she went on: "She's gone out, my child: gone in my carriage to see Regina Beaufort."
他一阵脸红，感到有些失望。她接着说：“她出去了，孩子。坐我的马车去看里吉纳·博福特了。”
She paused for this announcement to produce its effect.
她停了一会儿，等待这一消息产生效果。
"That's what she's reduced me to already.
“她已经把我征服到这种地步了。
The day after she got here she put on her best bonnet, and told me, as cool as a cucumber, that she was going to call on Regina Beaufort.
她到这儿第二天，就戴上最好的帽子，十分冷静地对我说要去看里吉纳·博福特。
"I don't know her; who is she?" says I. "She's your grand-niece, and a most unhappy woman,"she says.
“我不认识她，她是什么人？”我说。“她是你的侄孙女，一位很不幸的女人，”她说。
"She's the wife of a scoundrel," I answered. "Well," she says, "and so am I, and yet all my family want me to go back to him."
“她是坏蛋的妻子，”我说。“噢，”她说，“那我也是，可我的家人都想让我回到他身边去。”
Well, that floored me, and I let her go; and finally one day she said it was raining too hard to go out on foot, and she wanted me to lend her my carriage.
咳，这下把我击败了，于是我让她去了。终于有一天，她说雨下得很大，没法步行出门，要我借给她马车。
"What for?" I asked her; and she said: "To go and see cousin Regina--cousin!
我问她干什么去，她说，去看里吉纳堂姐 --还堂姐呢！
Now, my dear, I looked out of the window, and saw it wasn't raining a drop; but I understood her, and I let her have the carriage. . .
哎，亲爱的，我朝窗外望了望，一滴雨都没下；不过我理解她，让她用了马车……
After all, Regina's a brave woman, and so is she; and I've always liked courage above everything."
毕竟，里吉纳得算个勇敢的女人，她也是。而我一贯最最喜欢勇气。”
Archer bent down and pressed his lips on the little hand that still lay on his.
阿切尔弯下腰，紧紧用唇吻了吻仍然搁在他手上的那只小手。
"Eh--eh--eh! Whose hand did you think you were kissing, young man--your wife's, I hope?"
“嗯--嗯！你当是在吻谁的手呢，年轻人？是你妻子的吧，我希望？”
the old lady snapped out with her mocking cackle; and as he rose to go she called out after him: "Give her her Granny's love; but you'd better not say anything about our talk."
老夫人立即装着发出尖叫声。当他起身告辞的时候，她在他身后喊道：“向她转达外婆的爱；可最好一点也别讲我们谈的事。”
