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I found Miss Matty covering her penny ball—the ball that she used to roll under her bed—with gay-coloured worsted in rainbow stripes.
我发现马蒂小姐也在用有彩虹条纹的彩色精纺毛布料把她的小球——就是她过去常把它滚到床底下的那个球——包裹上。
“My dear,” said she, “my heart is sad for that little careworn child.
“亲爱的，”她说，“我为那个忧愁的孩子感到难过。
Although her father is a conjuror, she looks as if she had never had a good game of play in her life.
虽然她父亲是个魔术师，但她看起来好像从未玩过一场好游戏。
I used to make very pretty balls in this way when I was a girl, and I thought I would try if I could not make this one smart and take it to Phoebe this afternoon.
我还是个小姑娘的时候，就经常用这种方法做非常漂亮的球，我想我可以试试看，能不能把这个球做得漂亮些，今天下午拿去给菲比。
I think ‘the gang’ must have left the neighbourhood, for one does not hear any more of their violence and robbery now.”
我想‘那个团伙’一定是离开了这里，因为现在再也听不到和他们相关的暴力和抢劫事件了。”
We were all of us far too full of the signor’s precarious state to talk either about robbers or ghosts.
我们大家都太担心塞缪尔先生的安危，所以既不谈强盗，也不谈鬼魂了。
Indeed, Lady Glenmire said she never had heard of any actual robberies, except that two little boys had stolen some apples from Farmer Benson’s orchard, and that some eggs had been missed on a market-day off Widow Hayward’s stall.
的确，格兰米尔夫人说她从未听说过任何真正的抢劫事件，除了两个小男孩从本森农场主的果园里偷了一些苹果，以及在集市日，海沃德寡妇的摊位上的一些鸡蛋不见了。
But that was expecting too much of us; we could not acknowledge that we had only had this small foundation for all our panic.
但是这对我们的期望太高了；我们无法承认，我们所有的恐慌仅仅是因为这样的小事。
Miss Pole drew herself up at this remark of Lady Glenmire’s, and said “that she wished she could agree with her as to the very small reason we had had for alarm, but with the recollection of a man disguised as a woman who had endeavoured to force himself into her house while his confederates waited outside;
波尔小姐听了格兰米尔夫人的话便挺直了身子，说她“希望自己能够同意她的看法，即我们恐慌的原因没什么大不了的，但是她还记得有个男人乔装成女人，试图强行进入她家，而他的同伙则在外面等着；
with the knowledge gained from Lady Glenmire herself, of the footprints seen on Mrs Jamieson’s flower borders; with the fact before her of the audacious robbery committed on Mr Hoggins at his own door”—
而且她从格兰米尔夫人本人那里得知，在贾米森夫人家的花坛上发现了脚印；她还知道，霍金斯先生在自己家门口遭到了肆无忌惮的抢劫。”——
But here Lady Glenmire broke in with a very strong expression of doubt as to whether this last story was not an entire fabrication founded upon the theft of a cat;
但这时格兰米尔夫人打断了她的话，非常强烈地表示怀疑，说最后这件事是不是完全无中生有，是根据一只偷东西的猫而编造出来的。
she grew so red while she was saying all this that I was not surprised at Miss Pole’s manner of bridling up, and I am certain, if Lady Glenmire had not been “her ladyship,” we should have had a more emphatic contradiction than the “Well, to be sure!” and similar fragmentary ejaculations, which were all that she ventured upon in my lady’s presence.
格兰米尔夫人在说这些话的时候脸涨得通红，所以我一点儿也不奇怪波尔小姐会昂起头对此嗤之以鼻，而且我敢肯定，如果格兰米尔夫人不是“尊贵的夫人”，我们听到的就会是语气更强烈的反驳，而不是“哎呀，肯定的！”之类的零碎感叹词，在尊贵的夫人面前，波尔小姐只敢这样表达一下不满。
But when she was gone Miss Pole began a long congratulation to Miss Matty that so far they had escaped marriage, which she noticed always made people credulous to the last degree;
但是格兰米尔夫人走了之后，波尔小姐开始长篇大论地恭喜马蒂小姐，说她们幸好到目前为止都成功逃脱了婚姻，她发现婚姻总是会让人变得轻信到极点；
indeed, she thought it argued great natural credulity in a woman if she could not keep herself from being married;
的确，她认为如果一个女人不能避免自己陷入婚姻，那就说明她天生就很容易轻信别人；
and in what Lady Glenmire had said about Mr Hoggins’s robbery we had a specimen of what people came to if they gave way to such a weakness;
而从格兰米尔夫人对霍金斯先生抢劫案的描述中我们可以看到，如果人们屈服于这种弱点，会变成什么样子；
evidently Lady Glenmire would swallow anything if she could believe the poor vamped-up story about a neck of mutton and a pussy with which he had tried to impose on Miss Pole, only she had always been on her guard against believing too much of what men said.
很明显，如果格兰米尔夫人能够相信霍金斯先生编造的那个猫偷了羊脖子的牵强故事，那么她什么鬼话都会相信，霍金斯先生试图让波尔小姐也相信，但她一直都很警惕，不会轻易相信任何男人说的话。
We were thankful, as Miss Pole desired us to be, that we had never been married; but I think, of the two, we were even more thankful that the robbers had left Cranford;
我们很感激，正如波尔小姐希望我们感激的那样，感激我们从未结过婚；但我想，在这两者之中，我们更感激的是强盗已经离开了克兰福德；
at least I judge so from a speech of Miss Matty’s that evening, as we sat over the fire, in which she evidently looked upon a husband as a great protector against thieves, burglars, and ghosts; and said that she did not think that she should dare to be always warning young people against matrimony, as Miss Pole did continually;
至少我从那天晚上马蒂小姐的一番话中可以判断出来，当时我们坐在炉火旁，她显然把丈夫视为防范小偷、窃贼和鬼魂的伟大保护神；她说她不认为自己应该像波尔小姐那样总是警告年轻人不要结婚；
to be sure, marriage was a risk, as she saw, now she had had some experience; but she remembered the time when she had looked forward to being married as much as any one.
当然，婚姻是有风险的，正如她现在所看到的，她已经有了一些经验；但她记得自己曾经像其他人一样期待着结婚。
“Not to any particular person, my dear,” said she, hastily checking herself up, as if she were afraid of having admitted too much; “only the old story, you know, of ladies always saying, ‘When I marry,’ and gentlemen, ‘If I marry.’”
“不是期待和某个特定的人结婚，亲爱的，”她急忙克制住自己，仿佛害怕承认得太多了，“只是老生常谈的，你知道的，女士们总是说‘等我结婚了’就如何如何，而男士们则说‘要是我结婚的话’就如何如何。”
It was a joke spoken in rather a sad tone, and I doubt if either of us smiled; but I could not see Miss Matty’s face by the flickering fire-light.
这是一个玩笑，语气却相当悲伤，我怀疑我们俩谁都没有笑；但在摇曳的火光下，我看不清马蒂小姐的脸。
In a little while she continued— “But, after all, I have not told you the truth.
过了一会儿，她接着说：“不过，我还没有告诉你真相。
It is so long ago, and no one ever knew how much I thought of it at the time, unless, indeed, my dear mother guessed;
那是很久以前的事了，当时没人知道我有多在意这件事，可能只有我亲爱的妈妈猜到了。
but I may say that there was a time when I did not think I should have been only Miss Matty Jenkyns all my life; for even if I did meet with any one who wished to marry me now (and, as Miss Pole says, one is never too safe), I could not take him—I hope he would not take it too much to heart, but I could not take him—or any one but the person I once thought I should be married to;
但我可以说，有一段时间，我没想到自己这辈子只能是马蒂·詹金斯小姐，因为即使我现在真的遇到了某个想娶我的人（就像波尔小姐说的，人总是会遇到各种事的），我也不能嫁给他——我希望他不要太往心里去，但是我不能——除了我曾经认为应该嫁的那个人，我谁也不能嫁。
and he is dead and gone, and he never knew how it all came about that I said ‘No,’ when I had thought many and many a time—Well, it’s no matter what I thought.
而他已经死了，离开了人世，他永远也不知道，当我一次又一次地想过之后，我为什么会说‘不’。唉，我想什么都无关紧要了。
God ordains it all, and I am very happy, my dear.
上帝安排了这一切，我对此非常高兴，亲爱的。
No one has such kind friends as I,” continued she, taking my hand and holding it in hers.
没有人像我一样有这么好的朋友们，”她继续说道，并拉着我的手，用她的手握住。
