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Still, it was not at all a settled thing that Mrs Fitz-Adam was to be visited, when dear Miss Jenkyns died;
不过，亲爱的詹金斯小姐去世时，是否要去拜访菲茨-亚当夫人的事还是没有定下来；
and, with her, something of the clear knowledge of the strict code of gentility went out too.
而且，随着她的离去，对于上流社会严格规矩的清晰认识也一并离去了。
As Miss Pole observed, “As most of the ladies of good family in Cranford were elderly spinsters, or widows without children, if we did not relax a little, and become less exclusive, by-and-by we should have no society at all.”
正如波尔小姐所说：“由于克兰福德大多数出身名门的女士都是上了年纪的老姑娘，或者没有孩子的寡妇，因此如果我们不稍微放松一点规矩、不变得包容一些，那么渐渐地我们的社交圈子就没人了。”
Mrs Forrester continued on the same side.
福里斯特夫人也接着表达了相同的意见。
“She had always understood that Fitz meant something aristocratic;
“她一直知道菲茨是贵族的意思；
there was Fitz-Roy—she thought that some of the King’s children had been called Fitz-Roy;
有菲茨-罗伊——她想到国王的一些孩子被称为菲茨-罗伊；
and there was Fitz-Clarence, now—they were the children of dear good King William the Fourth.
现在还有菲茨-克拉伦斯——他们是亲爱的仁慈国王威廉四世的孩子。
Fitz-Adam! —it was a pretty name, and she thought it very probably meant ‘Child of Adam.’
菲茨-亚当！这是个挺好听的名字，她觉得这名字的意思很可能是‘亚当的孩子’。
No one, who had not some good blood in their veins, would dare to be called Fitz;
没有哪个没有正经血统的人敢自称菲茨；
there was a deal in a name—she had had a cousin who spelt his name with two little ffs—ffoulkes—and he always looked down upon capital letters and said they belonged to lately-invented families.
名字里大有文章——她有个表亲，名字里有两个小写的f——富尔克斯，而且他总是瞧不起大写字母，说大写字母属于后来创立的家族。
She had been afraid he would die a bachelor, he was so very choice.
她一直担心他会打一辈子光棍，因为他是那样的挑剔。
When he met with a Mrs ffarringdon, at a watering-place, he took to her immediately;
当他在一个矿泉疗养地遇到一位法林登夫人时，他立刻就喜欢上了她；
and a very pretty genteel woman she was—a widow, with a very good fortune; and ‘my cousin,’ Mr ffoulkes, married her; and it was all owing to her two little ffs.”
她是一位非常漂亮、文雅的女士——一位寡妇，有一大笔财产，‘我的表亲’富尔克斯先生娶了她，这都是她的两个小写f促成的姻缘。”
Mrs Fitz-Adam did not stand a chance of meeting with a Mr Fitz-anything in Cranford, so that could not have been her motive for settling there.
菲茨-亚当夫人绝不可能在克兰福德遇到任何姓菲茨的先生，所以这不可能是她在克兰福德定居的动机。
Miss Matty thought it might have been the hope of being admitted into the society of the place, which would certainly be a very agreeable rise for ci-devant Miss Hoggins; and if this had been her hope it would be cruel to disappoint her.
马蒂小姐认为，动机可能是她希望能够进入这个地方的社交圈，这对昔日的霍金斯小姐来说，无疑是一个非常令人愉快的地位提升；如果这是她的希望，那么让她失望就太残酷了。
So everybody called upon Mrs Fitz-Adam—everybody but Mrs Jamieson, who used to show how honourable she was by never seeing Mrs Fitz-Adam when they met at the Cranford parties.
所以每个人都拜访了菲茨-亚当夫人——除了贾米森夫人之外的每个人，她过去常常在克兰福德的聚会上无视菲茨-亚当夫人，以此来显示自己的高贵。
There would be only eight or ten ladies in the room, and Mrs Fitz-Adam was the largest of all,
那时房间里只有八到十位女士，而菲茨-亚当夫人是其中个头最大的，
and she invariably used to stand up when Mrs Jamieson came in, and curtsey very low to her whenever she turned in her direction—so low, in fact, that I think Mrs Jamieson must have looked at the wall above her, for she never moved a muscle of her face, no more than if she had not seen her.
而且她总是在贾米森夫人进来时站起身，每当贾米森夫人朝她的方向转身时，她就会深深地行屈膝礼——事实上，她的屈膝礼行得太深了，我想贾米森夫人一定是在看她头顶上方的墙壁，因为贾米森夫人脸上的肌肉从来不动，就好像她根本没有看到菲茨-亚当夫人一样。
Still Mrs Fitz-Adam persevered.
但菲茨-亚当夫人仍然坚持不懈。
The spring evenings were getting bright and long when three or four ladies in calashes met at Miss Barker’s door.
春季的傍晚逐渐变长，天色逐渐变亮，这时，有三四位女士戴着折篷兜帽来到巴克小姐家门前。
Do you know what a calash is?
你知道什么是折篷兜帽吗？
It is a covering worn over caps, not unlike the heads fastened on old-fashioned gigs; but sometimes it is not quite so large.
这是一种戴在帽子上的罩子，有点像老式马车上系着的头罩；不过一般没有那么大。
This kind of head-gear always made an awful impression on the children in Cranford;
这种头饰总是给克兰福德的孩子们留下了深刻的印象；
and now two or three left off their play in the quiet sunny little street, and gathered in wondering silence round Miss Pole, Miss Matty, and myself.
有两三个孩子在安静、阳光明亮的小街上停止了玩耍，默默地围在波尔小姐、马蒂小姐和我身边，好奇地看着。
We were silent too, so that we could hear loud, suppressed whispers inside Miss Barker’s house:
我们也沉默不语，所以我们能听到巴克小姐房子里响亮而刻意压低的低语声：
“Wait, Peggy! Wait till I’ve run upstairs and washed my hands.
“等等，佩吉！等我去上楼洗洗手。
When I cough, open the door; I’ll not be a minute.”
我咳嗽一声，你就把门打开，我马上就来。”
And, true enough it was not a minute before we heard a noise, between a sneeze and a crow; on which the door flew open.
接着，果然不到一分钟，我们就听到了一个介于打喷嚏和公鸡叫之间的声音；门立刻就大敞开了。
Behind it stood a round-eyed maiden, all aghast at the honourable company of calashes, who marched in without a word.
在门后面站着一个瞪圆了眼睛的女仆，她对那些尊贵的戴着折篷兜帽的宾客感到十分惶恐，于是宾客们就一言不发地进门了。
She recovered presence of mind enough to usher us into a small room, which had been the shop, but was now converted into a temporary dressing-room.
然后她恢复了镇静，把我们领进了一个小房间，这个房间以前是商店，现在改成了临时更衣室。
There we unpinned and shook ourselves, and arranged our features before the glass into a sweet and gracious company-face;
我们在那里解开扣子，抖了抖外套，对着镜子整理了一下面容，摆出一副甜美、亲切的社交面孔；
and then, bowing backwards with “After you, ma’am,” we allowed Mrs Forrester to take precedence up the narrow staircase that led to Miss Barker’s drawing-room.
然后，我们一边说着“您先请，夫人”，一边向后鞠躬，让福里斯特夫人先登上通往巴克小姐家客厅的狭窄楼梯。
There she sat, as stately and composed as though we had never heard that odd-sounding cough, from which her throat must have been even then sore and rough.
巴克小姐坐在客厅里，端庄而从容，仿佛我们从未听到过那奇怪的咳嗽声，而她的喉咙因为那声咳嗽一定已经又痛又干了。
Kind, gentle, shabbily-dressed Mrs Forrester was immediately conducted to the second place of honour—a seat arranged something like Prince Albert’s near the Queen’s—good, but not so good.
和蔼、温柔、身穿旧衣衫的福里斯特夫人立即被引到第二尊贵的座位上就坐——这个座位安排得有点像阿尔伯特亲王在女王身旁的座位——座位很好，但不是那么好。
The place of pre-eminence was, of course, reserved for the Honourable Mrs Jamieson, who presently came panting up the stairs—Carlo rushing round her on her progress, as if he meant to trip her up.
最为尊贵的上座当然是留给尊贵的贾米森夫人的，她很快就气喘吁吁地走上楼梯进来了——小狗卡罗在她前进的过程中围着她冲来冲去，好像他想把她绊倒似的。
