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CHAPTER VII Visiting
第七章 拜访
One morning, as Miss Matty and I sat at our work—it was before twelve o’clock, and Miss Matty had not changed the cap with yellow ribbons that had been Miss Jenkyns’s best, and which Miss Matty was now wearing out in private, putting on the one made in imitation of Mrs Jamieson’s at all times when she expected to be seen—
一天早上，我和马蒂小姐正坐着干活，当时还不到十二点，马蒂小姐还没换下那顶系着黄丝带的帽子，那是詹金斯小姐最好的帽子，现在马蒂小姐私下里正戴着它，只有在她预期会被人看到的时候才会戴上那顶仿照贾米森夫人风格的帽子，
Martha came up, and asked if Miss Betty Barker might speak to her mistress.
这时玛莎走了进来，问贝蒂·巴克小姐是否可以来和她的女主人说话。
Miss Matty assented, and quickly disappeared to change the yellow ribbons, while Miss Barker came upstairs;
马蒂小姐同意了，趁巴克小姐上楼的空当，她快速去换掉那顶有黄丝带的帽子，
but, as she had forgotten her spectacles, and was rather flurried by the unusual time of the visit, I was not surprised to see her return with one cap on the top of the other.
但是，由于她忘记了戴眼镜，而且这次拜访的时间很不寻常，她有些慌乱，所以当我看到她回来时，一顶帽子戴在另一顶帽子上面，我并不感到惊讶。
She was quite unconscious of it herself, and looked at us, with bland satisfaction.
她自己对此毫无察觉，还带着淡淡的满意的神情看着我们。
Nor do I think Miss Barker perceived it; for, putting aside the little circumstance that she was not so young as she had been, she was very much absorbed in her errand, which she delivered herself of with an oppressive modesty that found vent in endless apologies.
我觉得巴克小姐也没有注意到；因为，先不说她已经不像以前那么年轻，而且她满脑子想的都是自己的差事，她以一种略显压抑的谦逊态度做完了差事，这种谦逊态度以没完没了的道歉表达出来。
Miss Betty Barker was the daughter of the old clerk at Cranford who had officiated in Mr Jenkyns’s time.
贝蒂·巴克小姐是克兰福德的一位老执事的女儿，在詹金斯先生生前时，她父亲曾在教堂做事。
She and her sister had had pretty good situations as ladies’ maids, and had saved money enough to set up a milliner’s shop, which had been patronised by the ladies in the neighbourhood.
她和她姐姐以前生活都挺不错，是给人家当贴身女仆，她们攒了不少钱，开了一家女帽店，附近的太太小姐们都常去光顾。
Lady Arley, for instance, would occasionally give Miss Barkers the pattern of an old cap of hers, which they immediately copied and circulated among the elite of Cranford.
例如，阿利夫人有时会把她的一顶旧帽子的样式给两位巴克小姐，然后她们会立即复制这种样式，并在克兰福德的上流阶层中流传开来。
I say the elite, for Miss Barkers had caught the trick of the place, and piqued themselves upon their “aristocratic connection.”
我说“上流社会”，因为两位巴克小姐已经掌握了这个地方的诀窍，并为自己与“贵族有联系”而感到骄傲。
They would not sell their caps and ribbons to anyone without a pedigree.
她们不会把帽子和丝带卖给任何没有门第的人。
Many a farmer’s wife or daughter turned away huffed from Miss Barkers’ select millinery, and went rather to the universal shop, where the profits of brown soap and moist sugar enabled the proprietor to go straight to (Paris, he said, until he found his customers too patriotic and John Bullish to wear what the Mounseers wore) London, where, as he often told his customers, Queen Adelaide had appeared, only the very week before, in a cap exactly like the one he showed them, trimmed with yellow and blue ribbons, and had been complimented by King William on the becoming nature of her head-dress.
许多农民的妻子或女儿都气鼓鼓地离开了巴克小姐的高级女帽店，转而去了那家杂货店，杂货店老板靠卖褐色肥皂和潮湿的白糖赚了很多钱，足够让他直接去了伦敦（他本来说是巴黎，直到发现他的顾客太爱国、太英国式，不屑于穿戴法国人的服饰），他常对顾客说，在伦敦，就在上星期，阿德莱德王后就戴着一顶跟他拿给她们看的一模一样的帽子出现了，那帽子上装饰着黄蓝相间的丝带，威廉国王还称赞她的头饰很得体。
Miss Barkers, who confined themselves to truth, and did not approve of miscellaneous customers, throve notwithstanding.
两位巴克小姐只讲真话，不赞成有杂七杂八的顾客前来，尽管如此，她们还是生意兴隆。
They were self-denying, good people.
她们是严于律己的好人。
Many a time have I seen the eldest of them (she that had been maid to Mrs Jamieson) carrying out some delicate mess to a poor person.
我曾多次看到两人中的姐姐（她曾是贾米森夫人的女仆）给穷人送去一些精致的食物。
They only aped their betters in having “nothing to do” with the class immediately below theirs.
她们只是模仿她们的上级阶层，对紧挨着她们的下级阶级“不来往”。
And when Miss Barker died, their profits and income were found to be such that Miss Betty was justified in shutting up shop and retiring from business.
而当巴克小姐去世时，人们发现她们的利润和收入如此之高，以至于贝蒂小姐完全有理由关闭店铺并退出商业。
She also (as I think I have before said) set up her cow; a mark of respectability in Cranford almost as decided as setting up a gig is among some people.
她还（我想我之前说过）养了一头奶牛；在克兰福德，这几乎是体面的标志，就像有些人拥有一辆轻便马车一样。
She dressed finer than any lady in Cranford; and we did not wonder at it; for it was understood that she was wearing out all the bonnets and caps and outrageous ribbons which had once formed her stock-in-trade.
她穿得比克兰福德的任何女士都要好；我们对此并不感到惊讶；因为大家都知道，她戴的所有女帽、便帽和极其夸张的丝带都曾经是她的货物库存。
It was five or six years since she had given up shop, so in any other place than Cranford her dress might have been considered passee.
她关闭店铺已经有五六年了，所以在克兰福德以外的任何地方，她的穿着都可能被认为是过时了。
And now Miss Betty Barker had called to invite Miss Matty to tea at her house on the following Tuesday.
现在，贝蒂·巴克小姐来邀请马蒂小姐下周二到她家喝茶。
She gave me also an impromptu invitation, as I happened to be a visitor—though I could see she had a little fear lest, since my father had gone to live in Drumble, he might have engaged in that “horrid cotton trade,” and so dragged his family down out of “aristocratic society.”
她也临时邀请了我，因为我碰巧在马蒂小姐家——尽管我看得出她有点担心，因为我父亲去了德伦布尔生活，他可能从事了“可怕的棉花生意”，从而把他的家人从“贵族社会”拉了下来。
She prefaced this invitation with so many apologies that she quite excited my curiosity.
她在发出邀请之前说了那么多道歉的话，这让我非常好奇。
“Her presumption” was to be excused.
“她的冒昧”是可以原谅的。
What had she been doing?
她在做什么？
She seemed so overpowered by it I could only think that she had been writing to Queen Adelaide to ask for a receipt for washing lace;
她似乎被这件事压得喘不过气来，我只能想到她在给阿德莱德王后写信，索要清洗蕾丝的收据；
but the act which she so characterised was only an invitation she had carried to her sister’s former mistress, Mrs Jamieson.
但她如此描述的这件事，只是她给她姐姐以前的女主人贾米森夫人带去了一份请柬。
“Her former occupation considered, could Miss Matty excuse the liberty?”
“考虑到她以前的职业，马蒂小姐能原谅这种冒昧吗？”
Ah! Thought I, she has found out that double cap, and is going to rectify Miss Matty’s head-dress.
啊！我想，她发现了帽子戴了两层，要去纠正马蒂小姐的头饰了。
No! It was simply to extend her invitation to Miss Matty and to me.
不！这样铺垫只是为了向马蒂小姐和我发出邀请。
Miss Matty bowed acceptance; and I wondered that, in the graceful action, she did not feel the unusual weight and extraordinary height of her head-dress.
马蒂小姐点头表示接受；我很奇怪，她优雅地做这个动作时，居然没有感觉到她的头饰异常沉重和异常高耸。
But I do not think she did, for she recovered her balance, and went on talking to Miss Betty in a kind, condescending manner, very different from the fidgety way she would have had if she had suspected how singular her appearance was.
但我认为她没有感觉到，因为她恢复了平衡，继续以一种亲切、屈尊的态度和贝蒂小姐交谈，如果她怀疑自己的外表很奇怪，那么她肯定会坐立不安，与现在大不相同。
