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Chapter X The Panic
第十章 恐慌
I think a series of circumstances dated from Signor Brunoni’s visit to Cranford, which seemed at the time connected in our minds with him, though I don’t know that he had anything really to do with them.
我认为自布鲁诺尼先生来到克兰福德以后发生了一系列事件，当时在我们看来，这些事件与他有关，尽管我不知道他是否真的与这些事件有关系。
All at once all sorts of uncomfortable rumours got afloat in the town.
突然之间，镇上到处流传着各种令人不安的谣言。
There were one or two robberies—real bona fide robberies; men had up before the magistrates and committed for trial—and that seemed to make us all afraid of being robbed;
发生了一两起抢劫案——真正的、货真价实的抢劫案；抢劫犯被押到地方法官面前受审——这似乎让我们都害怕被抢；
and for a long time, at Miss Matty’s, I know, we used to make a regular expedition all round the kitchens and cellars every night, Miss Matty leading the way, armed with the poker, I following with the hearth-brush, and Martha carrying the shovel and fire-irons with which to sound the alarm;
我知道，在马蒂小姐家，很长一段时间里，我们每晚都会进行一次常规探险，走遍厨房和地窖，马蒂小姐打头，拿着拨火棍，我拿着壁炉刷跟在后面，玛莎拿着铁锹和火钳，准备敲响警报；
and by the accidental hitting together of them she often frightened us so much that we bolted ourselves up, all three together, in the back-kitchen, or store-room, or wherever we happened to be, till, when our affright was over, we recollected ourselves and set out afresh with double valiance.
而她有时不小心把铁锹和火钳碰在一起，把我们吓得够呛，于是我们三个就一起躲进后厨房、储藏室，或者随便什么地方，直到惊恐过去，我们才回过神来，重新鼓起加倍的勇气继续巡视。
By day we heard strange stories from the shopkeepers and cottagers, of carts that went about in the dead of night, drawn by horses shod with felt, and guarded by men in dark clothes, going round the town, no doubt in search of some unwatched house or some unfastened door.
白天，我们从店主和村民那里听到奇怪的故事，说有一些马车在夜深人静的时候四处走动，由马蹄上钉着毡子的马拖着，由穿着黑衣服的人看守着，在城里转来转去，无疑是在寻找无人看守的房子或没有上锁的门。
Miss Pole, who affected great bravery herself, was the principal person to collect and arrange these reports so as to make them assume their most fearful aspect.
波尔小姐装作非常勇敢的样子，是收集和整理这些消息的主要人物，以便使这些消息呈现出最可怕的样子。
But we discovered that she had begged one of Mr Hoggins’s worn-out hats to hang up in her lobby, and we (at least I) had doubts as to whether she really would enjoy the little adventure of having her house broken into, as she protested she should.
但是我们发现她讨了一顶霍金斯先生的旧帽子，挂在她的门廊上，我们（至少我）怀疑她是否真的会像她声称的那样，喜欢家里闯入盗贼的惊险感觉。
Miss Matty made no secret of being an arrant coward, but she went regularly through her housekeeper’s duty of inspection—only the hour for this became earlier and earlier, till at last we went the rounds at half-past six, and Miss Matty adjourned to bed soon after seven, “in order to get the night over the sooner.”
马蒂小姐从不掩饰自己是个十足的胆小鬼，但她还是会定期履行管家的巡查职责——只是巡查的时间越来越早，直到最后我们在六点半就开始巡视，而马蒂小姐七点刚过就赶紧上床睡觉了，“为了尽快熬过今晚”。
Cranford had so long piqued itself on being an honest and moral town that it had grown to fancy itself too genteel and well-bred to be otherwise, and felt the stain upon its character at this time doubly.
克兰福德长久以来一直以诚实和道德的民风自居，以至于产生了自己过于优雅和有教养，不可能是其他样子的错觉，因此对这次抢劫带来的品格污点感到加倍心痛。
But we comforted ourselves with the assurance which we gave to each other that the robberies could never have been committed by any Cranford person;
但是我们安慰自己，确信地告诉彼此，这些抢劫案绝不是克兰福德人干的；
it must have been a stranger or strangers who brought this disgrace upon the town, and occasioned as many precautions as if we were living among the Red Indians or the French.
一定是某个或某些陌生人给这个城镇带来了耻辱，这也让我们变得倍加谨慎，就好像我们生活在印第安人或法国人中间一样。
This last comparison of our nightly state of defence and fortification was made by Mrs Forrester, whose father had served under General Burgoyne in the American war, and whose husband had fought the French in Spain.
与我们的夜间防御状态相媲美的是福里斯特夫人，她父亲曾在美国独立战争中在伯戈因将军手下服役，而她丈夫曾在西班牙与法国人作战。
She indeed inclined to the idea that, in some way, the French were connected with the small thefts, which were ascertained facts, and the burglaries and highway robberies, which were rumours.
她确实倾向于有这样一种想法，即法国人在某种程度上与小偷小摸行为有关，这已被证实了，也与入室盗窃和拦路抢劫有关，这倒是传闻。
She had been deeply impressed with the idea of French spies at some time in her life; and the notion could never be fairly eradicated, but sprang up again from time to time.
她在一生中的某个时候对法国间谍有了深刻的印象；这个印象永远无法被彻底根除，而是不时地重新出现。
And now her theory was this:—The Cranford people respected themselves too much, and were too grateful to the aristocracy who were so kind as to live near the town, ever to disgrace their bringing up by being dishonest or immoral; therefore, we must believe that the robbers were strangers—if strangers, why not foreigners?—if foreigners, who so likely as the French?
现在她的理论是这样的：克兰福德的人们太自重了，也对那些好心住在镇上的贵族太感激了，他们绝不会让不诚实或不道德辱没自己的教养；因此，我们必须相信强盗是陌生人——如果是陌生人，为什么不可以是外国人呢？如果是外国人，还有谁比法国人更有可能呢？
Signor Brunoni spoke broken English like a Frenchman; and, though he wore a turban like a Turk, Mrs Forrester had seen a print of Madame de Stael with a turban on, and another of Mr Denon in just such a dress as that in which the conjuror had made his appearance, showing clearly that the French, as well as the Turks, wore turbans.
布鲁诺尼先生说起蹩脚的英语来像个法国人；尽管他戴着头巾像个土耳其人，但是福里斯特夫人见过一幅斯塔尔夫人戴着头巾的画像，还有一幅德农先生的画像，画中的他穿着和这位魔术师出现时一模一样的衣服，这清楚地表明，法国人和土耳其人都戴头巾。（注：斯塔尔夫人是法国作家。）
There could be no doubt Signor Brunoni was a Frenchman—a French spy come to discover the weak and undefended places of England, and doubtless he had his accomplices.
毫无疑问，布鲁诺尼先生是法国人——这名法国间谍来寻找英国脆弱和不设防的地方，毫无疑问他有同伙。
For her part, she, Mrs Forrester, had always had her own opinion of Miss Pole’s adventure at the “George Inn”—seeing two men where only one was believed to be.
福里斯特夫人自己对波尔小姐在“乔治旅馆”的冒险经历一直有自己的看法——看到了两个男人，而人们相信那里只有一个男人。
French people had ways and means which, she was thankful to say, the English knew nothing about; and she had never felt quite easy in her mind about going to see that conjuror—it was rather too much like a forbidden thing, though the rector was there.
法国人有一些方法和手段，她很庆幸英国人对此一无所知；她去看那个魔术师时，心里一直觉得不太自在——这太像是违禁行为了，尽管牧师也在那里。
In short, Mrs Forrester grew more excited than we had ever known her before, and, being an officer’s daughter and widow, we looked up to her opinion, of course.
总之，福里斯特夫人变得非常情绪激动，我们从来没看见过她这样，而且作为军官的女儿和遗孀，我们当然尊重她的意见。
