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Chapter XI Samuel Brown
第十一章 塞缪尔·布朗
The next morning I met Lady Glenmire and Miss Pole setting out on a long walk to find some old woman who was famous in the neighbourhood for her skill in knitting woollen stockings.
第二天早上，我遇到了格兰米尔夫人和波尔小姐，她们正要出发去走很长一段路，去找一位在附近编织羊毛长袜很有名的老妇人。
Miss Pole said to me, with a smile half-kindly and half-contemptuous upon her countenance, “I have been just telling Lady Glenmire of our poor friend Mrs Forrester, and her terror of ghosts.
波尔小姐对我说，她脸上带着半是亲切半是轻蔑的微笑：“我刚刚在给格兰米尔夫人讲我们可怜的朋友福里斯特夫人的事，还有她对鬼魂的恐惧。
It comes from living so much alone, and listening to the bug-a-boo stories of that Jenny of hers.”
这是因为她一个人生活得太久了，而且总是听她的那个珍妮讲吓人的故事。”
She was so calm and so much above superstitious fears herself that I was almost ashamed to say how glad I had been of her Headingley Causeway proposition the night before, and turned off the conversation to something else.
她现在非常镇定，完全不会因为迷信而害怕，以至于我几乎不好意思说前一天晚上她提出从希丁利堤道绕路走，对此我非常高兴，于是我把话题转到了别的事情上。
In the afternoon Miss Pole called on Miss Matty to tell her of the adventure—the real adventure they had met with on their morning’s walk.
下午，波尔小姐拜访了马蒂小姐，向她讲述她们在早上的路途中遇到的冒险——这才是真正的冒险。
They had been perplexed about the exact path which they were to take across the fields in order to find the knitting old woman, and had stopped to inquire at a little wayside public-house, standing on the high road to London, about three miles from Cranford.
她们不知道穿过田野去找那位织毛线的老太太该走哪条路，于是她们在一家路边小酒馆停下来问路，这家小酒馆位于通往伦敦的大路上，距离克兰福德大约三英里。
The good woman had asked them to sit down and rest themselves while she fetched her husband, who could direct them better than she could; and, while they were sitting in the sanded parlour, a little girl came in.
善良的老板娘请她们先坐下休息，她去叫她的丈夫，他能更好地为她们指路；当她们坐在铺着沙子的客厅里时，一个小女孩走了进来。
They thought that she belonged to the landlady, and began some trifling conversation with her; but, on Mrs Roberts’s return, she told them that the little thing was the only child of a couple who were staying in the house.
她们以为那是老板娘的孩子，就开始和她闲聊起来；但是罗伯茨太太回来后告诉她们，这个小家伙是住在酒店里的一对夫妇的独生女。
And then she began a long story, out of which Lady Glenmire and Miss Pole could only gather one or two decided facts, which were that, about six weeks ago, a light spring-cart had broken down just before their door, in which there were two men, one woman, and this child.
然后她开始讲述一个长长的故事，格兰米尔夫人和波尔小姐只能从中收集到一两个确定的事实，那就是大约六周前，一辆轻便的弹簧马车在他们门前坏了，车里有两个男人、一个女人和这个孩子。
One of the men was seriously hurt—no bones broken, only “shaken,” the landlady called it; but he had probably sustained some severe internal injury, for he had languished in their house ever since, attended by his wife, the mother of this little girl.
其中一个男人伤得很重——没有骨折，老板娘说“只是震动不轻”；但他可能受了一些严重的内伤，因为从那以后他就一直在他们的酒店卧床不起，由他的妻子，也就是这个小女孩的母亲照顾着。
Miss Pole had asked what he was, what he looked like.
波尔小姐问那个男人是做什么的，长什么样。
And Mrs Roberts had made answer that he was not like a gentleman, nor yet like a common person;
罗伯茨太太回答说，他既不像个绅士，也不像个普通人；
if it had not been that he and his wife were such decent, quiet people, she could almost have thought he was a mountebank, or something of that kind, for they had a great box in the cart, full of she did not know what.
要不是他和他妻子都是那么体面、安静的人，她几乎会认为他是个江湖骗子，或者诸如此类的人，因为他们的马车里有一个大箱子，里面装满了她不知道是什么的东西。
She had helped to unpack it, and take out their linen and clothes, when the other man—his twin-brother, she believed he was—had gone off with the horse and cart.
她帮着打开行李，把他们的亚麻布和衣服拿出来，这时另一个男人——她认为是那个男人的孪生兄弟——已经驾着马和马车离开了。
Miss Pole had begun to have her suspicions at this point, and expressed her idea that it was rather strange that the box and cart and horse and all should have disappeared;
波尔小姐这时开始起了疑心，说箱子、马车、马和所有的东西都不见了，这可真奇怪。
but good Mrs Roberts seemed to have become quite indignant at Miss Pole’s implied suggestion; in fact, Miss Pole said she was as angry as if Miss Pole had told her that she herself was a swindler.
但好心的罗伯茨太太似乎对波尔小姐话里的暗示很生气；事实上，波尔小姐说，她气得就好像波尔小姐当面说她是个骗子一样。
As the best way of convincing the ladies, she bethought her of begging them to see the wife;
为了说服波尔小姐和格兰米尔夫人，罗伯茨太太想最好的办法就是让她们见见他的妻子。
and, as Miss Pole said, there was no doubting the honest, worn, bronzed face of the woman, who at the first tender word from Lady Glenmire, burst into tears, which she was too weak to check until some word from the landlady made her swallow down her sobs, in order that she might testify to the Christian kindness shown by Mr and Mrs Roberts.
正如波尔小姐所说，毋庸置疑，妻子面容诚实、憔悴、黝黑，她一听到格兰米尔夫人温柔的话语就泪如泉涌，身体虚弱得无法止住哭泣，直到老板娘说了些什么，她才强忍住呜咽，以便能够证明罗伯茨夫妇的基督徒善心。
Miss Pole came round with a swing to as vehement a belief in the sorrowful tale as she had been sceptical before;
波尔小姐态度转变得很快，之前她还对此事抱有怀疑态度，现在却坚信这是个悲伤的故事。
and, as a proof of this, her energy in the poor sufferer’s behalf was nothing daunted when she found out that he, and no other, was our Signor Brunoni, to whom all Cranford had been attributing all manner of evil this six weeks past!
而且为了证明这一点，当她发现那个男人就是布鲁诺尼先生时，她对这位可怜人的同情之情丝毫未减，过去的六个星期里，克兰福德的所有人都把各种各样的恶行归咎于他！
Yes! His wife said his proper name was Samuel Brown—“Sam,” she called him—but to the last we preferred calling him “the Signor”; it sounded so much better.
是的！妻子说他的本名叫塞缪尔·布朗——她叫他“山姆”——但直到最后我们还是更喜欢叫他“那位先生”；这个称呼好听多了。
The end of their conversation with the Signora Brunoni was that it was agreed that he should be placed under medical advice, and for any expense incurred in procuring this Lady Glenmire promised to hold herself responsible, and had accordingly gone to Mr Hoggins to beg him to ride over to the “Rising Sun” that very afternoon, and examine into the signor’s real state;
她们与布鲁诺尼夫人的谈话结束时，大家一致认为他应该去看医生，而且格兰米尔夫人承诺请医生的一切费用都由她来出，于是她去找了霍金斯先生，请他当天下午骑马去“旭日”客栈，检查一下这位先生的真实病情。
and, as Miss Pole said, if it was desirable to remove him to Cranford to be more immediately under Mr Hoggins’s eye, she would undertake to see for lodgings and arrange about the rent.
正如波尔小姐所说，如果有必要把他转移到克兰福德，以便更直接地接受霍金斯先生的治疗，那么她将负责寻找住处并安排租房事宜。
Mrs Roberts had been as kind as could be all throughout, but it was evident that their long residence there had been a slight inconvenience.
罗伯茨夫人一直都非常友善，但很明显，他们长期居住在这里给她带来了一些不便。
