目 录 上一节 下一节 
“不去,不去,去年你硬逼着我去看他,说什么只要我去看了他,他就会挑中我们的某一个女儿做太太,可是结果只落得一场空,我再也不干这种傻事了。” His wife represented to him how absolutely necessary such an attention would be from all the neighbouring gentlemen, on his returning to Netherfield. 他太太又说,那位贵人一回到尼日斐花园,邻居们都少不了要去拜候他。 "'Tis an etiquette I despise," said he. "If he wants our society, let him seek it. He knows where we live. I will not spend my hours in running after my neighbours every time they go away and come back again." 他说:“我恨透了这一类的礼节,要是他想跟我们来往,让他自己找上门来好了。他又不是不知道我们的住址。邻居们每次来来去去,都得要我来迎送,我可没有这种功夫。” "Well, all I know is, that it will be abominably rude if you do not wait on him. But, however, that shan't prevent my asking him to dine here, I am determined. We must have Mrs. Long and the Gouldings soon. That will make thirteen with ourselves, so there will be just room at table for him." “唔,你不去拜访他,那就是太不知礼。不过,我还是可以请他到这儿来吃饭,我已经决定要请他来。我们本当早些请郎格太太和戈丁一家人来,加上我们自己家里的人,一共是十三个,所以正好留个位子给他。” Consoled by this resolution, she was the better able to bear her husband's incivility; though it was very mortifying to know that her neighbours might all see Mr. Bingley, in consequence of it, before they did. As the day of his arrival drew near, 她决定了这么做,心里就觉得快慰了些,因此丈夫的无理也就叫她好受了些;然而,这样一来,结果就会使邻居们比他们先看到彬格莱先生。他来的日子迫近了。吉英对她妹妹说: 
“我现在反而觉得他还是不要来的好,其实也无所谓;我见到他也可以装得若无其事;只是听到人家老是谈起这件事,我实在有些受不了。妈妈是一片好心,可是她不知道(谁也不知道)她那些话使我多么难受。但愿他不要在尼日斐花园再住下去,我就满意民!” "I wish I could say any thing to comfort you," replied Elizabeth; "but it is wholly out of my power. You must feel it; and the usual satisfaction of preaching patience to a sufferer is denied me, because you have always so much." 伊丽莎白说:“我真想说几句话安慰安慰你,可惜一句也说不出。你一定明白我的意思。我不愿意象一般人那样,看到人家难受,偏偏劝人家有耐性───因为你一向就有极大的耐性。” Mr. Bingley arrived. Mrs. Bennet, through the assistance of servants, contrived to have the earliest tidings of it, that the period of anxiety and fretfulness on her side might be as long as it could. She counted the days that must intervene before their invitation could be sent; hopeless of seeing him before. But on the third morning after his arrival in Hertfordshire, she saw him, from her dressing-room window, enter the paddock and ride towards the house. 彬格莱先生终于来了。班纳特太太多亏了佣人们加以协助,获得消息最早,因此烦神也烦得最久。既然及早去拜望他的计划已告失望,她便屈指计算着日子,看看还得再隔多少天才能送请贴。幸亏他来到哈福德郡的第三天,班纳特太太便从化妆室的窗口看见他骑着马走进围场,朝她家里走来。 Her daughters were eagerly called to partake of her joy. Jane resolutely kept her place at the table; but Elizabeth, to satisfy her mother, went to the window -- she looked, -- she saw Mr. Darcy with him, and sat down again by her sister. 她喜出望外,急急忙忙唤女儿们来分享她这种愉快。吉英毅然决然地坐在桌位上不动。伊丽莎白为了叫她母亲满意,便走到窗口望了一望,只见达西先生跟他一同来了,于是她便走回去坐在姐姐身旁。 "There is a gentleman with him, mamma," said Kitty; "who can it be?" 吉蒂说:“妈妈,另外还有位先生跟他一起来了呢,那是谁呀?” 
“我想总不外乎是他朋友什么的,宝贝,我的确不知道。” "La!" replied Kitty, "it looks just like that man that used to be with him before. Mr. what's-his-name. That tall, proud man." “瞧!”吉蒂又说。“活象以前跟他在一起的那个人。记不起他的名字了,就是那个非常傲慢的高个儿呀。” "Good gracious! Mr. Darcy! -- and so it does, I vow. Well, any friend of Mr. Bingley's will always be welcome here, to be sure; but else I must say that I hate the very sight of him." “天哪,原来是达西先生!准定是的。老实说,只要是彬格莱先生的朋友,这儿总是欢迎的;要不然,我一见到这个人就讨厌。” Jane looked at Elizabeth with surprise and concern. She knew but little of their meeting in Derbyshire, and therefore felt for the awkwardness which must attend her sister, in seeing him almost for the first time after receiving his explanatory letter. Both sisters were uncomfortable enough. Each felt for the other, and of course for themselves; and their mother talked on, of her dislike of Mr. Darcy, and her resolution to be civil to him only as Mr. Bingley's friend, without being heard by either of them. But Elizabeth had sources of uneasiness which could not be suspected by Jane, to whom she had never yet had courage to show Mrs. Gardiner's letter, or to relate her own change of sentiment towards him. To Jane, he could be only a man whose proposals she had refused, and whose merit she had undervalued; but to her own more extensive information, he was the person to whom the whole family were indebted for the first of benefits, and whom she regarded herself with an interest, if not quite so tender, at least as reasonable and just as what Jane felt for Bingley. Her astonishment at his coming -- at his coming to Netherfield, to Longbourn, and voluntarily seeking her again, was almost equal to what she had known on first witnessing his altered behaviour in Derbyshire. 吉英极其惊奇、极其关心地望着伊丽莎白。她完全不知道妹妹在德比郡跟达西会面的事,因此觉得妹妹自从收到他那封解释的信以后,这回第一次跟他见面,一定会觉得很窘。姐妹俩都不十分好受。她们彼此体贴,各有隐衷。母亲依旧在唠叨不休,说她颇不喜欢达西先生,只因为看他究竟还是彬格莱先生的朋友,所以才客客气气地接待他一番。这些话姐妹俩都没有听见。其实伊丽莎白心神不安,的确还另有原因,这是吉英所不知道的。伊丽莎白始终没有勇气把嘉丁纳太太那封信拿给吉英看,也没有勇气向吉英叙述她对他感情变化的经过。吉英只知道他向她求婚,被她拒绝过,她还低估过他的长处,殊不知伊丽莎白的隐衷绝不仅如此而已,她认为他对她们全家都有莫大的恩典,她因此对他另眼看待。她对他的情意即使抵不上吉英对彬格莱那样深切,至少也象吉英对待彬格莱一样地合情合理,恰到好处。达西这次回到尼日斐花园,并且自动到浪搏恩来重新找她,确实使她感到惊奇,几乎象她上次在德比郡见他作风大变时一样地感到惊奇。 The colour which had been driven from her face, returned for half a minute with an additional glow, and a smile of delight added lustre to her eyes, as she thought for that space of time that his affection and wishes must still be unshaken. But she would not be secure. 时间已经隔了这么久,而他的情意,他的心愿,竟始终不渝;一想到这里,她那苍白的脸便重新恢复了血色,而且显得更加鲜艳,她不禁喜欢得笑逐颜开,双目放光。可是她毕竟还是放心不下。 
她想:“让我先看看他的举止行动如何,然后再存指望还不迟。” She sat intently at work, striving to be composed, and without daring to lift up her eyes, till anxious curiosity carried them to the face of her sister as the servant was approaching the door. Jane looked a little paler than usual, but more sedate than Elizabeth had expected. On the gentlemen's appearing, her colour increased; yet she received them with tolerable ease, and with a propriety of behaviour equally free from any symptom of resentment or any unnecessary complaisance. 她坐在那儿专心做针线,竭力装得镇静,连眼睛也不抬起来一下,等到佣人走近房门,她才性急起来,抬起头来望望姐姐的脸色,史见吉英比平常稍微苍白了一些,可是她的端庄持重,颇出伊丽莎白的意料。两位贵客到来的时候,她的脸涨红了;不过她还是从容不迫、落落大方地接待他们,既没有显露一丝半点怨恨的形迹,也并不做得过分殷勤。 Elizabeth said as little to either as civility would allow, and sat down again to her work, with an eagerness which it did not often command. She had ventured only one glance at Darcy. He looked serious, as usual; and, she thought, more as he had been used to look in Hertfordshire, than as she had seen him at Pemberley. But, perhaps he could not in her mother's presence be what he was before her uncle and aunt. It was a painful, but not an improbable, conjecture. 伊丽莎白没有跟他们两人攀谈什么,只不过为了顾全礼貌,照例敷衍了几句,便重新坐下来做针线,而且做得特别起劲。她只是大胆地瞟了达西睛眼,只见他神色象往常一样严肃,不象在彭伯里时的那副神气,而是象他在哈福德郡时的那副神气。这也许是因为他在她母亲面前,不能象在她舅父母面前那样不拘礼节。她这种揣测固然是煞费苦心,但也未必不近情理。 Bingley, she had likewise seen for an instant, and in that short period saw him looking both pleased and embarrassed. He was received by Mrs. Bennet with a degree of civility which made her two daughters ashamed, especially when contrasted with the cold and ceremonious politeness of her curtsey and address to his friend. 她也望了彬格莱一眼,立即就看出他又是高兴,又是忸怩不安。班纳特太太待他那样礼貌周到,而对他那位朋友,却是勉强敷衍,十分冷淡,相开之下,使他两个女儿觉得很是过意不去。 Elizabeth, particularly, who knew that her mother owed to the latter the preservation of her favourite daughter from irremediable infamy, was hurt and distressed to a most painful degree by a distinction so ill applied. 其实她母亲对待这两位贵客完全是轻重倒置,因为她心爱的一个女儿多亏了达西先生的搭救,才能免于身败名裂,伊丽莎白对这事的经过知道得极其详细,所以特别觉得难受。 
达西向伊丽莎白问起了嘉丁纳夫妇,伊丽莎白回答起来不免有些慌张。以后达西便没有再说什么。他所以沉默寡言,也许是因为他没有坐在她身边的缘故,不过上次在德比郡,他却不是这样。记得上次他每逢不便跟她自己说话的时候,就跟她细父母说话,可是这一次,却接连好几分钟不听见他开口。她再也抑制不住好奇心了,便抬起头来望望他的脸,只见他不时地看着吉英和她自己,大部分时间又总是对着地面发呆。可见得这一次比起他们俩上次见面的时候,他心思比较重,却不象上次那样急于搏得人家的好感。她感到失望,同时又怪自己不应该失望。
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