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Miss Jenkyns rang the bell, and told the servant who answered it to show Major Gordon upstairs; and, presently, in walked a tall, fine, frank-looking man of forty or upwards.
詹金斯小姐拉了铃，吩咐应声而来的仆人带戈登少校上楼。不一会儿，走进来一位四十多岁、身材高大、相貌英俊坦诚的男子。
He shook hands with Miss Jessie; but he could not see her eyes, she kept them so fixed on the ground.
他和杰西小姐握了握手；但他看不到她的眼睛，她一直盯着地面。
Miss Jenkyns asked me if I would come and help her to tie up the preserves in the store-room; and though Miss Jessie plucked at my gown, and even looked up at me with begging eye, I durst not refuse to go where Miss Jenkyns asked.
詹金斯小姐问我是否愿意来帮她把储藏室里的果酱扎起来；尽管杰西小姐扯着我的裙子，甚至用恳求的眼神抬头看着我，但我也不敢拒绝詹金斯小姐的命令。
Instead of tying up preserves in the store-room, however, we went to talk in the dining-room;
然而，我们没有去储藏室扎果酱，而是去餐厅聊天；
and there Miss Jenkyns told me what Major Gordon had told her; how he had served in the same regiment with Captain Brown, and had become acquainted with Miss Jessie, then a sweet-looking, blooming girl of eighteen;
在餐厅里，詹金斯小姐告诉我戈登少校向她说了什么；他与布朗上尉在同一个军团服役，于是结识了杰西小姐，当时她是一个相貌甜美、容光焕发的十八岁女孩；
how the acquaintance had grown into love on his part, though it had been some years before he had spoken;
相识之后戈登少校逐渐对杰西小姐萌生爱意，但他过了好几年才表白；
how, on becoming possessed, through the will of an uncle, of a good estate in Scotland, he had offered and been refused, though with so much agitation and evident distress that he was sure she was not indifferent to him;
他在继承了一位叔叔在苏格兰的一大笔遗产后向她求婚，却遭到了拒绝，但她情绪非常激动，明显为此感到痛苦，这让他确信她对他并非毫无情意；
and how he had discovered that the obstacle was the fell disease which was, even then, too surely threatening her sister.
后来他发现，他们两人之间的障碍是可怕的疾病，即使在那时，病痛也肯定威胁着她姐姐。
She had mentioned that the surgeons foretold intense suffering; and there was no one but herself to nurse her poor Mary, or cheer and comfort her father during the time of illness.
杰西小姐提到过，医生曾预先提醒姐姐会备受折磨，而除了她自己，没有人能照顾可怜的姐姐玛丽，也没有人能在姐姐生病期间给她父亲以鼓励和安慰。
They had had long discussions; and on her refusal to pledge herself to him as his wife when all should be over, he had grown angry, and broken off entirely, and gone abroad, believing that she was a cold-hearted person whom he would do well to forget.
他们进行了长时间的讨论；当她拒绝承诺嫁给他，认为一切都应该结束时，他十分愤怒，完全与她断绝了关系，然后去了国外，认为她是一个冷酷无情的人，他最好忘记她。
He had been travelling in the East, and was on his return home when, at Rome, he saw the account of Captain Brown’s death in Galignani.
他一直在东方旅行，在回家的路上，在罗马，他在《加里尼亚尼报纸》上看到了布朗上尉去世的消息。
Just then Miss Matty, who had been out all the morning, and had only lately returned to the house, burst in with a face of dismay and outraged propriety.
说到这里，玛蒂小姐回来了，她一上午都在外面，刚刚才回到家，她冲了进来，脸上满是惊愕和被冒犯的愤慨神情。
“Oh, goodness me!” she said. “Deborah, there’s a gentleman sitting in the drawing-room with his arm round Miss Jessie’s waist!”
“哦，我的老天！”她说，“黛博拉，有位先生坐在客厅里，手臂还搂着杰西小姐的腰！”
Miss Matty’s eyes looked large with terror.
马蒂小姐因惊恐而瞪大了眼睛。
Miss Jenkyns snubbed her down in an instant.
詹金斯小姐立刻呵斥了她。
“The most proper place in the world for his arm to be in. Go away, Matilda, and mind your own business.”
“那就是全世界最适合放他手臂的地方。走开，玛蒂尔达，别多管闲事。”
This from her sister, who had hitherto been a model of feminine decorum, was a blow for poor Miss Matty, and with a double shock she left the room.
这竟然是她姐姐说的话，她姐姐可一直是女性礼德的典范，这重重打击了可怜的玛蒂小姐，她带着双重的震惊离开了房间。
The last time I ever saw poor Miss Jenkyns was many years after this.
我最后一次见到可怜的詹金斯小姐，是在这之后的许多年。
Mrs Gordon had kept up a warm and affectionate intercourse with all at Cranford.
戈登夫人一直与克兰福德的所有人保持着热情友好的往来。
Miss Jenkyns, Miss Matty, and Miss Pole had all been to visit her, and returned with wonderful accounts of her house, her husband, her dress, and her looks.
詹金斯小姐、马蒂小姐和波尔小姐都去她的新家拜访过她，回来后对她的房子、丈夫、衣着和容貌赞不绝口。
For, with happiness, something of her early bloom returned; she had been a year or two younger than we had taken her for.
因为随着幸福的到来，她早年的一些光彩又回来了；她比我们想象的要年轻一两岁。
Her eyes were always lovely, and, as Mrs Gordon, her dimples were not out of place.
她的眼睛总是那么可爱，而作为戈登夫人，她的酒窝也并不显得不合适。
At the time to which I have referred, when I last saw Miss Jenkyns, that lady was old and feeble, and had lost something of her strong mind.
在我所提到的那个时候，也就是我最后一次见到詹金斯小姐的时候，詹金斯小姐已经年老体弱，性格也不那么强势了。
Little Flora Gordon was staying with the Misses Jenkyns, and when I came in she was reading aloud to Miss Jenkyns, who lay feeble and changed on the sofa.
小芙洛拉·戈登和两位詹金斯小姐住在一起，我进门时，她正在大声给躺在沙发上的詹金斯小姐读书，詹金斯小姐因虚弱而变了样。
Flora put down the Rambler when I came in.
当我进来时，芙洛拉放下了《漫步者》。（注：《漫步者》是约翰逊博士的杂文集。）
“Ah!” said Miss Jenkyns, “you find me changed, my dear. I can’t see as I used to do.
“啊！”詹金斯小姐说，“亲爱的，你发现我变了吧。我的眼睛不像过去那样好了。
If Flora were not here to read to me, I hardly know how I should get through the day.
如果芙洛拉不在这里给我读书，我真不知道该如何度过这一天。
Did you ever read the Rambler?
你读过《漫步者》吗？
It’s a wonderful book—wonderful! And the most improving reading for Flora”
是一本精彩的书，精彩极了！对芙洛拉最为有教益”
(which I daresay it would have been, if she could have read half the words without spelling, and could have understood the meaning of a third),
（我敢说，要是芙洛拉能读出一半的单词而不是把字母拼读出来，并且能理解三分之一的意思，那么这本书确实会对她很有教益），
“better than that strange old book, with the queer name, poor Captain Brown was killed for reading—that book by Mr Boz, you know—‘Old Poz’; when I was a girl—but that’s a long time ago—I acted Lucy in ‘Old Poz.’”
“比那本奇怪的旧书要好，就是那本名字很古怪的书，可怜的布朗上尉就是因为读那本书才出事的——你知道的，就是博兹先生写的那本——《老波兹》，我还是个女孩的时候——但那是好久以前的事了——我在《老波兹》中扮演露西。”（注：博兹是狄更斯的笔名，《老波兹》是一部爱尔兰戏剧。）
She babbled on long enough for Flora to get a good long spell at the “Christmas Carol,” which Miss Matty had left on the table.
她喋喋不休地说了很久，让芙洛拉有时间好好读了一会儿马蒂小姐放在桌上的《圣诞颂歌》。（注：《圣诞颂歌》是狄更斯的一本小说。）
