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“Did Miss Jenkyns know of these tricks?” said I.
“詹金斯小姐知道这些恶作剧吗？”我说。
“Oh, no! Deborah would have been too much shocked.
哦，不！黛博拉要是知道，会非常震惊。
No, no one knew but me.
不，除了我没有人知道。
I wish I had always known of Peter’s plans; but sometimes he did not tell me.
我多希望我一直都知道彼得的计划；但有时候他不告诉我。
He used to say the old ladies in the town wanted something to talk about; but I don’t think they did.
他过去常说镇上的老太太们想要一些谈资；但我认为她们并不需要。
They had the St James’s Chronicle three times a week, just as we have now, and we have plenty to say;
她们每周收到三次《圣詹姆斯纪事报》，就像我们现在一样，而且我们有很多话说；
and I remember the clacking noise there always was when some of the ladies got together.
我还记得一些女士们聚在一起时，总会有咔嗒咔嗒的声音。
But, probably, schoolboys talk more than ladies.
但是，男学生可能比女士们话更多。
At last there was a terrible, sad thing happened.”
最后，发生了一件可怕的、悲伤的事情。”
Miss Matty got up, went to the door, and opened it; no one was there.
马蒂小姐起身走到门口，打开门，外面没有人。
She rang the bell for Martha, and when Martha came, her mistress told her to go for eggs to a farm at the other end of the town.
她拉铃叫来了玛莎，玛莎来了之后，她告诉玛莎去小镇另一头的一个农场买些鸡蛋。
“I will lock the door after you, Martha. You are not afraid to go, are you?”
“你走之后我会锁门的，玛莎。你过去不害怕吧？”
“No, ma’am, not at all; Jem Hearn will be only too proud to go with me.”
“不怕，太太，一点也不怕；杰姆·赫恩会非常骄傲能和我一起去。”
Miss Matty drew herself up, and as soon as we were alone, she wished that Martha had more maidenly reserve.
马蒂小姐挺直了身子，等我们单独在一起时，她说她希望玛莎能更有少女的矜持。
“We’ll put out the candle, my dear. We can talk just as well by firelight, you know. There!
“我们把蜡烛熄了吧，亲爱的。我们在火光旁说话也很好，是不是。好了！
Well, you see, Deborah had gone from home for a fortnight or so; it was a very still, quiet day, I remember, overhead; and the lilacs were all in flower, so I suppose it was spring.
哎，你知道，黛博拉当时离开家里大约两周了；我记得，那是一个非常寂静、安静的日子；丁香花全都开了，所以我想那是春天。
My father had gone out to see some sick people in the parish; I recollect seeing him leave the house with his wig and shovel-hat and cane.
我父亲出门去看望教区里的一些病人；我记得看到他戴着假发、宽边帽，拿着手杖离开了家。
What possessed our poor Peter I don’t know; he had the sweetest temper, and yet he always seemed to like to plague Deborah.
我不知道可怜的彼得怎么了；他脾气最好了，可他似乎总是喜欢惹黛博拉生气。
She never laughed at his jokes, and thought him ungenteel, and not careful enough about improving his mind; and that vexed him.
她从来没有对他的笑话发笑过，还认为他不够文雅，也不用心去提高自己的思想境界；这让他很恼火。
Well! He went to her room, it seems, and dressed himself in her old gown, and shawl, and bonnet;
哈！他去了黛博拉的房间，好像穿上了她的旧长袍，披上了她的披肩，戴上了她的帽子；
just the things she used to wear in Cranford, and was known by everywhere;
这些都是她在克兰福德常穿的，大家都认得；
and he made the pillow into a little—you are sure you locked the door, my dear, for I should not like anyone to hear—into—into a little baby, with white long clothes.
他还把枕头弄成了一个小——你确定你锁了门吧，亲爱的，因为我不想让任何人听到——弄成了一个穿着白色长衣服的小婴儿。
It was only, as he told me afterwards, to make something to talk about in the town; he never thought of it as affecting Deborah.
他后来告诉我，这样做只是为了在镇上制造一些话题；他从未想过这会影响到黛博拉。
And he went and walked up and down in the Filbert walk—just half-hidden by the rails, and half-seen;
然后他就这样出去了，在榛子小道上来回踱步——一半身子被栏杆遮住，一半身子露在外面；
and he cuddled his pillow, just like a baby, and talked to it all the nonsense people do.
他抱着枕头，就像抱婴儿一样，还对它说着人们常对婴儿说的那些无聊的话。
Oh dear! And my father came stepping stately up the street, as he always did;
哦，天啊！我父亲像往常一样，迈着庄严的步子沿街道走来；
and what should he see but a little black crowd of people—I daresay as many as twenty—all peeping through his garden rails.
他看到了什么？黑压压的一小群人——我敢说有二十人——都透过他的花园栏杆往里窥视。
So he thought, at first, they were only looking at a new rhododendron that was in full bloom, and that he was very proud of;
所以他一开始想着，人们只是在看一棵新栽种的盛开着的杜鹃花，他还为此感到非常自豪；
and he walked slower, that they might have more time to admire.
于是他走得更慢了，这样人们就有更多的时间来欣赏了。
And he wondered if he could make out a sermon from the occasion, and thought, perhaps, there was some relation between the rhododendrons and the lilies of the field.
他在想能否用这个情境写出一篇布道词，他想也许杜鹃花和田野里的百合花存在着某种联系。
My poor father! When he came nearer, he began to wonder that they did not see him; but their heads were all so close together, peeping and peeping!
我可怜的父亲！当他走近时，他开始奇怪他们为什么没有看到他；但是他们的头都靠得很近，一直在偷看！
My father was amongst them, meaning, he said, to ask them to walk into the garden with him, and admire the beautiful vegetable production,
我父亲当时也在其中，他本想请他们到花园里走走，欣赏一下美丽的蔬菜，
when—oh, my dear, I tremble to think of it—he looked through the rails himself, and saw—
这时——哦，亲爱的，我一想到这件事就发抖——他自己透过栏杆往里看，看到了——
I don’t know what he thought he saw, but old Clare told me his face went quite grey-white with anger, and his eyes blazed out under his frowning black brows; and he spoke out—oh, so terribly!—
我不知道他以为自己看到了什么，但老克莱尔告诉我，他气得脸色煞白，紧皱的黑眉毛下眼睛冒着火；他大声呵斥——哦，太可怕了！——
and bade them all stop where they were—not one of them to go, not one of them to stir a step;
并命令他们都待在原地——谁也不许走，谁也不许动一步；
and, swift as light, he was in at the garden door, and down the Filbert walk, and seized hold of poor Peter, and tore his clothes off his back—bonnet, shawl, gown, and all—and threw the pillow among the people over the railings:
接着，他像闪电一样迅速闪进了花园门，沿着榛子小路冲过去，抓住可怜的彼得，扯下他身上的衣服——帽子、披肩、长袍，所有的东西——把枕头扔到栏杆外的人群中：
and then he was very, very angry indeed, and before all the people he lifted up his cane and flogged Peter!
然后他真的非常、非常生气，当着所有人的面举起手杖，抽了彼得一顿！
My dear, that boy’s trick, on that sunny day, when all seemed going straight and well, broke my mother’s heart, and changed my father for life.
亲爱的，在那个晴朗的日子，当一切都似乎风平浪静的时候，那个男孩的恶作剧伤透了母亲的心，也改变了父亲的一生。
It did, indeed. Old Clare said, Peter looked as white as my father; and stood as still as a statue to be flogged; and my father struck hard!
是的。老克莱尔说，彼得的脸色像我父亲一样煞白；他像雕像一样一动不动地站着挨打；而我父亲狠狠地打了他！
When my father stopped to take breath, Peter said, ‘Have you done enough, sir?’ quite hoarsely, and still standing quite quiet.
当父亲停下来喘口气时，彼得说：‘先生，您打够了吗？’他的声音非常沙哑，而且仍然站着一动不动。
I don’t know what my father said—or if he said anything.
我不知道父亲说了什么——或者他是否说了什么。
But old Clare said, Peter turned to where the people outside the railing were, and made them a low bow, as grand and as grave as any gentleman; and then walked slowly into the house.
但是老克莱尔说，彼得转向栏杆外的人群，向他们深深地鞠了一躬，像任何绅士一样庄重而严肃；然后慢慢地走进了房子。
