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"Sit here by me, then. It's a queer throne for such a queen; but it's the best your poor lover can find.
"那么，请坐在我身旁。这是王后的奇异宝座，不过这已是你贫穷的情人所能给你的最好的东西了。
He'll do better for you some of these days, I'm thinking. Now your mind is easy once again, is it not?"
我想，将来总有一天他会让你得到幸福的。现在你精神好一点了吗？"
"How can it ever be at ease, Jack, when I know that you are a criminal among criminals, when I never know the day that I may hear you are in court for murder?
"当我知道你是罪犯中的一员时，当我不晓得哪一天会听到法庭审理你的杀人案件时，我的精神怎么能有一时期刻的安宁呢？
'McMurdo the Scowrer,' that's what one of our boarders called you yesterday. It went through my heart like a knife."
昨天，我们的一个房客这样称呼你，说什么'麦克默多这个死酷党人'。这简直像一把刀子扎到我心里一样啊！"
"Sure, hard words break no bones."
"确实，让他们说去好了，没什么了不起。"
"But they were true."
"可是他们说的是实话。"
"Well, dear, it's not so bad as you think. We are but poor men that are trying in our own way to get our rights."
"好，亲爱的，事情不是像你想得那么坏。我们不过是一些穷人，试图用我们的手段，争取我们的权力罢了。"
Ettie threw her arms round her lover's neck.
伊蒂双臂搂住她情人的颈项。
"Give it up, Jack! For my sake, for God's sake, give it up! It was to ask you that I came here to-day.
"放弃它吧！杰克，为了我，为了上帝，放弃它吧！今天我就是为了求你才到这儿来的。
Oh, Jack, see -- I beg it of you on my bended knees! Kneeling here before you I implore you to give it up!"
噢，杰克，看，我跪下来求求你！我跪在你面前恳求你放弃它！"
He raised her and soothed her with her head against his breast.
麦克默多抱起伊蒂，把她的头放在胸前，抚慰她。
"Sure, my darlin', you don't know what it is you are asking. How could I give it up when it would be to break my oath and to desert my comrades?
"当然，我亲爱的，你不知道你的要求意味着什么。如果意味着破坏我的誓言，背离我的同伙，我怎么能放弃它呢？
If you could see how things stand with me you could never ask it of me.
假如你能明白我干的是什么事，你就不会向我要求这个了。
Besides, if I wanted to, how could I do it? You don't suppose that the lodge would let a man go free with all its secrets?"
再说，即使我想这样做，我又怎能做得到呢？你不想一想，死酷党能容许一个人携带它的一切秘密随便走掉吗？"
"I've thought of that, Jack. I've planned it all. Father has saved some money.
"我想到这点了，杰克。我完全计划好了。父亲储蓄了一些钱。
He is weary of this place where the fear of these people darkens our lives. He is ready to go.
他早已厌倦了这个地方，在这里那些人的恐怖行为使我们的生活暗淡无光。父亲已经准备离开。
We would fly together to Philadelphia or New York, where we would be safe from them."
我们一起逃往费城，或是去纽约，到那里我们就安全了，不必再怕他们。"
McMurdo laughed. "The lodge has a long arm. Do you think it could not stretch from here to Philadelphia or New York?"
麦克默多笑了笑，说道："这个会党手伸得很长。你以为它不能从这里伸到费城或纽约去吗？"
"Well, then, to the West, or to England, or to Germany, where father came from -- anywhere to get away from this Valley of Fear!"
"好，那么，我们去西方，或是去英国，或是去德国，爸爸就是那里人。只要离开这'恐怖谷'，到哪里都行。"
McMurdo thought of old Brother Morris.
麦克默多想到了老莫里斯兄弟。
"Sure it is the second time I have heard the valley so named," said he. "The shadow does indeed seem to lie heavy on some of you."
"真的，我听到这样称呼这座山谷，这已是第二次了，"麦克默多说道，"这阴霾看来确实压在你们许多人头上。"
"It darkens every moment of our lives. Do you suppose that Ted Baldwin has ever forgiven us?
"它无时无刻不使我们的生活惨淡无光。你想特德·鲍德温会宽恕我们吗？
If it were not that he fears you, what do you suppose our chances would be?
假如不是他怕你，你想我们的运气会怎么样？
If you saw the look in those dark, hungry eyes of his when they fall on me!"
你只要看看他望着我时的那种如饥似渴的眼光就够了！"
"By Gar! I'd teach him better manners if I caught him at it!
"皇天在上！假如我再碰到他这样，一定要好好教训教训他。
But see here, little girl. I can't leave here. I can't -- take that from me once and for all.
不过，小姑娘，我不能离开这里。我不能。请彻底相信我的话吧。
But if you will leave me to find my own way, I will try to prepare a way of getting honourably out of it."
不过只要你让我自己去想办法，我一定会找到体面的出路的。"
"There is no honour in such a matter."
"干这样的事是不体面的。"
"Well, well, it's just how you look at it. But if you'll give me sixmonths, I'll work it so that I can leave without being ashamed to look others in the face."
"好，好，这不过是你的看法。可是只要你给我六个月的时间，我可以做到使我离开这里时毫不愧对于人。"
The girl laughed with joy. "Six months!" she cried. "Is it a promise?"
姑娘高兴得笑了。"六个月！"她大声说道，"这是你的诺言吗？"
"Well, it may be seven or eight. But within a year at the furthest we will leave the valley behind us."
"对，也可能七个月或八个月。可是最多不过一年，我们就可以离开这个山谷了。"
It was the most that Ettie could obtain, and yet it was something.
伊蒂所能得到的莫过这些了，但这些却很重要。
There was this distant light to illuminate the gloom of the immediate future.
这隐隐的一丝曙光，就把将来的一切阴霾一驱而散。
She returned to her father's house more light-hearted than she had ever been since Jack McMurdo had come into her life.
她满心轻松愉快地回到父亲家中，自从杰克·麦克默多闯入她的生活以来，她还从未有过这种心情。
