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I had no great reply to make: I had more thankfulness at my heart for their kind thoughts than I cared to put into words;
我没有什么长篇大论要回复：对她们的好意，我心中充满感激，却不知如何言表；
and so I only mumbled out something to the effect “that I would name what Miss Pole had said to my father, and that if anything could be arranged for dear Miss Matty,”—
于是我只是含含糊糊地说“我会把波尔小姐的话告诉我父亲，如果能为亲爱的马蒂小姐做点什么安排”，
and here I broke down utterly, and had to be refreshed with a glass of cowslip wine before I could check the crying which had been repressed for the last two or three days.
说到这里，我彻底忍不住哭了起来了，不得不喝了一杯樱草酒来缓一缓，才止住了过去两三天来一直压抑着的哭泣。
The worst was, all the ladies cried in concert.
最糟糕的是，所有女士都一起哭了起来。
Even Miss Pole cried, who had said a hundred times that to betray emotion before any one was a sign of weakness and want of self-control.
就连波尔小姐也哭了，她曾说过一百遍，在任何人面前流露情感都是软弱和缺乏自制力的表现。
She recovered herself into a slight degree of impatient anger, directed against me, as having set them all off;
她稍微平复了一下，转而有些不耐烦和恼怒，把责任都推到我身上，怪我把她们都惹哭了。
and, moreover, I think she was vexed that I could not make a speech back in return for hers; and if I had known beforehand what was to be said, and had a card on which to express the probable feelings that would rise in my heart, I would have tried to gratify her.
而且我想她是因为我没有用长篇大论回敬她的讲话而恼火，要是我事先知道她要说什么，并且有一张卡片可以表达我心中可能产生的感受，那么我一定会尽力满足她的。
As it was, Mrs Forrester was the person to speak when we had recovered our composure.
事实上，等我们恢复了冷静，福里斯特夫人开口说话了。
“I don’t mind, among friends, stating that I—no! I’m not poor exactly, but I don’t think I’m what you may call rich;
“我不介意在朋友之间声明我……不！我并不是真的穷，但我觉得自己也不是你所说的那种富人；
I wish I were, for dear Miss Matty’s sake—but, if you please, I’ll write down in a sealed paper what I can give.
为了亲爱的马蒂小姐，我倒希望自己是个富人，不过如果你愿意的话，我会在一张密封的纸上写下我能给的捐款。
I only wish it was more; my dear Mary, I do indeed.”
我真希望我能多捐一点；我亲爱的玛丽，我真的希望。”
Now I saw why paper, pens, and ink were provided.
现在我明白了为什么提供了纸张、钢笔和墨水。
Every lady wrote down the sum she could give annually, signed the paper, and sealed it mysteriously.
每位女士都写下了她每年能够捐赠的金额，签了名，然后神秘地封了起来。
If their proposal was acceded to, my father was to be allowed to open the papers, under pledge of secrecy.
如果她们的提议得到同意，我父亲将被允许在保密的承诺下打开这些纸条。
If not, they were to be returned to their writers.
如果不同意，纸条就会被归还给每个人。
When the ceremony had been gone through, I rose to depart; but each lady seemed to wish to have a private conference with me.
仪式结束后，我起身告辞；但每位女士似乎都希望与我私下谈谈。
Miss Pole kept me in the drawing-room to explain why, in Mrs Jamieson’s absence, she had taken the lead in this “movement,” as she was pleased to call it, and also to inform me that she had heard from good sources that Mrs Jamieson was coming home directly in a state of high displeasure against her sister-in-law, who was forthwith to leave her house, and was, she believed, to return to Edinburgh that very afternoon.
波尔小姐把我留在客厅里，向我解释为什么在贾米森夫人不在的情况下，她带头发起了这场“运动”，她很高兴这么称呼它，她还告诉我，她从可靠的消息来源听说，贾米森夫人马上就要回来了，她对自己的嫂子非常不满，嫂子马上就要离开她家，她相信嫂子当天下午就会回爱丁堡。
Of course this piece of intelligence could not be communicated before Mrs Fitz-Adam, more especially as Miss Pole was inclined to think that Lady Glenmire’s engagement to Mr Hoggins could not possibly hold against the blaze of Mrs Jamieson’s displeasure.
当然，这件事不能在菲茨-亚当夫人面前提起，尤其是因为波尔小姐倾向于认为，格兰米尔夫人与霍金斯先生的婚约不可能抵挡得住贾米森夫人的怒火。
A few hearty inquiries after Miss Matty’s health concluded my interview with Miss Pole.
最后波尔小姐衷心问了我几句马蒂小姐的健康状况，我们的谈话就结束了。
On coming downstairs I found Mrs Forrester waiting for me at the entrance to the dining-parlour;
下楼时，我发现福里斯特夫人正在餐厅门口等我。
she drew me in, and when the door was shut, she tried two or three times to begin on some subject, which was so unapproachable apparently, that I began to despair of our ever getting to a clear understanding.
她把我拉进餐厅，关上门，试了两三次想要开口，但显然难以启齿，我开始担心我们是否能彼此理解。
At last out it came; the poor old lady trembling all the time as if it were a great crime which she was exposing to daylight, in telling me how very, very little she had to live upon; a confession which she was brought to make from a dread lest we should think that the small contribution named in her paper bore any proportion to her love and regard for Miss Matty.
最后她还是说出来了；这位可怜的老太太全身颤抖，仿佛她正在揭露一桩不可告人的罪行，她告诉我她的生活费少得可怜，她之所以吐露实情，是因为她担心我们会认为她在纸条里所写的那点捐赠与她对马蒂小姐的爱和敬意不相称。
And yet that sum which she so eagerly relinquished was, in truth, more than a twentieth part of what she had to live upon, and keep house, and a little serving-maid, all as became one born a Tyrrell.
然而，她如此愿意捐赠的那笔钱实际上超过了她所有财产的二十分之一，她还要靠这笔钱维持生计、操持家务和养活一个小女仆，要让自己的生活符合一个泰瑞尔家族成员的身份。
And when the whole income does not nearly amount to a hundred pounds, to give up a twentieth of it will necessitate many careful economies, and many pieces of self-denial, small and insignificant in the world’s account, but bearing a different value in another account-book that I have heard of.
当全部收入几乎不到一百英镑时，放弃二十分之一就需要许多精打细算，需要许多自我克制，这些在世人看来微不足道，但在我所听到的另一本账目中却具有不同的价值。
She did so wish she was rich, she said, and this wish she kept repeating, with no thought of herself in it, only with a longing, yearning desire to be able to heap up Miss Matty’s measure of comforts.
她说，她真希望自己很富有，她不断重复着这个愿望，心里没有为自己着想，只是渴望、热切地希望能够为马蒂小姐带来更多的舒适。
