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Oh, how I wished for Deborah!
哦，我当时是多么希望黛博拉能回来啊！
I had no time for crying, for now all seemed to depend on me.
我没有时间哭泣，因为现在一切似乎都取决于我。
I wrote for Deborah to come home.
我写信给黛博拉让她回家。
I sent a message privately to that same Mr Holbrook’s house—poor Mr Holbrook;—you know who I mean.
我私下给那位霍尔布鲁克先生的家里送了一条消息——可怜的霍尔布鲁克先生——你知道我说的是谁。
I don’t mean I sent a message to him, but I sent one that I could trust to know if Peter was at his house.
我不是说我直接给他送了消息，而是送了一条我相信可以得知彼得是否在他家的消息。
For at one time Mr Holbrook was an occasional visitor at the rectory—you know he was Miss Pole’s cousin—and he had been very kind to Peter, and taught him how to fish—he was very kind to everybody, and I thought Peter might have gone off there.
因为有一段时间，霍尔布鲁克先生偶尔会来教区长家里做客——你知道的，他是波尔小姐的表哥——他对彼得非常好，还教他如何钓鱼——他对每个人都很好，我想彼得可能去了那里。
But Mr Holbrook was from home, and Peter had never been seen.
但是霍尔布鲁克先生不在家，而且也没人见过彼得。
It was night now; but the doors were all wide open, and my father and mother walked on and on;
然后到晚上了；但所有的门都大开着，父亲和母亲还在不停地走着；
it was more than an hour since he had joined her, and I don’t believe they had ever spoken all that time.
他陪着母亲一起走已经一个多小时了，我相信他们在那段时间里从未说过话。
I was getting the parlour fire lighted, and one of the servants was preparing tea, for I wanted them to have something to eat and drink and warm them, when old Clare asked to speak to me.
我正在把客厅的炉火点燃，一个仆人正在准备茶点，因为我想让父母吃点东西，喝点茶，暖和一下，这时老克莱尔要求和我谈谈。
‘I have borrowed the nets from the weir, Miss Matty.
‘我从堰坝那里借了网，马蒂小姐。
Shall we drag the ponds to-night, or wait for the morning?’
我们今晚要不要把池塘捞一遍，还是等到明天早上再说？’
I remember staring in his face to gather his meaning; and when I did, I laughed out loud.
我记得我盯着他的脸，想弄明白他的意思；当我弄明白时，我大声笑了出来。
The horror of that new thought—our bright, darling Peter, cold, and stark, and dead!
他那个新想法太恐怖了，他以为我们聪明、可爱的彼得已经变得冰冷、僵硬，已经死了！
I remember the ring of my own laugh now.
我现在还记得我自己的笑声。
The next day Deborah was at home before I was myself again.
第二天，在我还没完全恢复之前黛博拉就已经回家了。
She would not have been so weak as to give way as I had done;
她不会像我那样软弱地屈服；
but my screams (my horrible laughter had ended in crying) had roused my sweet dear mother, whose poor wandering wits were called back and collected as soon as a child needed her care.
但我的尖叫声（我可怕的笑声最后变成了哭嚎）惊醒了我亲爱的妈妈，只要一个孩子需要她照顾，她那可怜的、游离于躯体之外的灵魂就立刻被唤回并恢复理智了。
She and Deborah sat by my bedside;
她和黛博拉坐在我的床边；
I knew by the looks of each that there had been no news of Peter—no awful, ghastly news, which was what I most had dreaded in my dull state between sleeping and waking.
从她们的表情我就知道，还是没有彼得的消息——没有糟糕的、可怕的消息，我在半梦半醒的混沌状态中最害怕听到这种消息。
The same result of all the searching had brought something of the same relief to my mother, to whom, I am sure, the thought that Peter might even then be hanging dead in some of the familiar home places had caused that never-ending walk of yesterday.
所有寻找的结果都一样，这给我母亲带来了同样的宽慰，我敢肯定，她是因为想到彼得甚至可能就吊死在家里的某个熟悉的地方，所以昨天才不停地走来走去。
Her soft eyes never were the same again after that; they had always a restless, craving look, as if seeking for what they could not find.
从此，她那温柔的眼睛就变得不一样了；她的眼睛里总是有一种不安的、渴望的神情，仿佛在寻找它们找不到的东西。
Oh! It was an awful time; coming down like a thunder-bolt on the still sunny day when the lilacs were all in bloom.”
哦！那是一段可怕的时光；在丁香花还在盛开的时候，像晴天霹雳一样降临。”
“Where was Mr Peter?” said I.
“彼得先生在哪里呢？”我说。
“He had made his way to Liverpool; and there was war then; and some of the king’s ships lay off the mouth of the Mersey;
“他去了利物浦；当时那里正在打仗；国王的一些船停泊在默西河口；
and they were only too glad to have a fine likely boy such as him (five foot nine he was), come to offer himself.
他们非常高兴能有一个像他这样优秀的、合适的男孩（他身高五英尺九英寸）来应征入伍。
The captain wrote to my father, and Peter wrote to my mother.
后来上尉写信给我父亲，彼得写信给我母亲。
Stay! Those letters will be somewhere here.”
等等！那些信肯定在这里的某个地方。”
We lighted the candle, and found the captain’s letter and Peter’s too.
我们点亮了蜡烛，找到了上尉的信和彼得的信。
And we also found a little simple begging letter from Mrs Jenkyns to Peter, addressed to him at the house of an old schoolfellow whither she fancied he might have gone.
我们还发现了詹金斯太太写给彼得的一封简短的、语气充满乞求的信，信是写给一位旧日校友家的，她以为彼得可能去了那里。
They had returned it unopened; and unopened it had remained ever since, having been inadvertently put by among the other letters of that time.
他们原封不动地把信退了回来；因为不小心被放在了当时的其他信件中间，所以从那以后，那封信就一直原封未动地放在那里。
This is it:
这就是那封信：
“MY DEAREST PETER,
“我最亲爱的彼得：
You did not think we should be so sorry as we are, I know, or you would never have gone away.
你没有想到我们会如此难过，我知道，否则你绝不会离开。
You are too good.
你太善良了（不会忍心让我们难过）。
Your father sits and sighs till my heart aches to hear him.
你父亲坐在那里不停地叹气，直到我听到他叹气，心就会痛。
He cannot hold up his head for grief; and yet he only did what he thought was right.
他悲伤得抬不起头来；然而他只是做了他认为正确的事。
Perhaps he has been too severe, and perhaps I have not been kind enough; but God knows how we love you, my dear only boy.
也许他太严厉了，也许我不够慈爱；但上帝知道我们是多么爱你，我亲爱的唯一的儿子。
Don looks so sorry you are gone.
父亲因为你走了很伤心。
Come back, and make us happy, who love you so much.
回来吧，让我们快乐起来，我们是如此爱你。
I know you will come back.”
我知道你会回来。”
But Peter did not come back.
但是彼得没有回来。
That spring day was the last time he ever saw his mother’s face.
那个春日，是他最后一次看到他母亲的脸。
The writer of the letter—the last—the only person who had ever seen what was written in it, was dead long ago; and I, a stranger, not born at the time when this occurrence took place, was the one to open it.
写这封信的人是——最后一个——唯一看过信中所写内容的人，她很久以前就去世了；而我，一个陌生人，在这件事发生的时候还没有出生，却是打开它的人。
