评论
打印
And he made Sara sit down again, and held her hands in his—which was another trick of her papa's.
于是他又让萨拉坐下来，把她的双手握在手中——这又是萨拉爸爸的习惯动作。
Then Mr. Carmichael explained—in the quiet, level-toned, steady manner of a man who knew his subject, and all its legal significance,
接着卡迈克尔先生做解释——语调沉着平稳，态度坚定，他明白他的话题及其所有法律上的重要意义，
which was a thing Miss Minchin understood as a business woman, and did not enjoy.
这事铭钦女士作为一个女商人是懂得的，但并不乐意接受。
"Mr. Carrisford, madam," he said, "was an intimate friend of the late Captain Crewe.
“卡里斯福特先生是已故的克鲁上尉的一位亲密朋友，太太，”卡迈克尔先生说，
He was his partner in certain large investments.
“是克鲁上尉在某些大笔投资项目中的合伙人。
The fortune which Captain Crewe supposed he had lost has been recovered, and is now in Mr. Carrisford's hands."
克鲁上尉生前以为已失去的那笔财产，已经收复，如今在卡里斯福特先生手中。”
"The fortune!" cried Miss Minchin; and she really lost color as she uttered the exclamation. "Sara's fortune!"
“那笔财产！”铭钦女士喊道，当她这么喊叫的时候，确实是面无人色了。“萨拉的财产！”
"It will be Sara's fortune," replied Mr. Carmichael, rather coldly.
“那将成为萨拉的财产，”卡迈克尔先生很冷淡地回答。
"It is Sara's fortune now, in fact. Certain events have increased it enormously. The diamond mines have retrieved themselves."
“实际上现在就是萨拉的财产了。发生了一些事，使这笔财产大大增加了。那些钻石矿已挽回了。”
"The diamond mines!" Miss Minchin gasped out.
“钻石矿！”铭钦女士气喘吁吁地说。
If this was true, nothing so horrible, she felt, had ever happened to her since she was born.
倘若这是真的，她不禁认识到有生以来还从未遇到过如此可怕的事情。
"The diamond mines," Mr. Carmichael repeated, and he could not help adding, with a rather sly, unlawyer-like smile,
“钻石矿，”卡迈克尔先生重复道，忍不住面带律师所不该有的狡黯微笑补充说，
"There are not many princesses, Miss Minchin, who are richer than your little charity pupil, Sara Crewe, will be.
“铭钦女士，没有多少公主能比你那个依靠救济的小学生萨拉·克鲁更富有了。
Mr. Carrisford has been searching for her for nearly two years; he has found her at last, and he will keep her."
卡里斯福特先生寻找她已近两年，最终找到了她，要把她留在身边。”
After which he asked Miss Minchin to sit down while he explained matters to her fully,
随后他请铭钦女士坐下来，给她作充分的解释，
and went into such detail as was necessary to make it quite clear to her that Sara's future was an assured one,
必要时深人地讲到事情的一些细节，好让她完全明白萨拉的未来是有保障的，
and that what had seemed to be lost was to be restored to her tenfold;
那似乎是丢失了的东西将要给她十倍的补偿，
also, that she had in Mr. Carrisford a guardian as well as a friend.
并且有卡里斯福特先生做她的朋友兼监护人。
Miss Minchin was not a clever woman,
铭钦女士不是个聪明女人，
and in her excitement she was silly enough to make one desperate effort to regain what she could not help seeing she had lost through her worldly folly.
在情绪激动时愚蠢得竟试图作一番垂死挣扎来夺回由于自己利欲熏心而造成的损失，对此她是无法视而不见的。
