目 录 上一节 下一节 
跟着,门闩抬起来又落下了:他们不许他出来。我骑上敏妮,叫它快跑;于是我这短促的保护责任就此告终。 WE had sad work with little Cathy that day: she rose in high glee, eager to join her cousin, and such passionate tears and lamentations followed the news of his departure that Edgar himself was obliged to soothe her, by affirming he should come back soon: he added, however, 'if I can get him'; and there were no hopes of that. This promise poorly pacified her; but time was more potent; and though still at intervals she inquired of her father when Linton would return, before she did see him again his features had waxed so dim in her memory that she did not recognise him. 那一天我们对小凯蒂可煞费苦心。她兴高采烈地起床,热望着陪她的表弟,一听到他已离去的消息,紧跟着又是眼泪又是叹气,使埃德加先生不得不亲自去安慰她,肯定他不久一定会回来;可是,他又加上一句,“如果我能把他弄回来的话。”而那是全无希望的。这个诺言很难使她平静下来;但是时间却更有力;虽然有时候她还问她父亲说林惇什么时候回来,但在她真的再看见他之前,他的容貌已在她的记忆里变得很模糊,以致见面时也不认识了。 When I chanced to encounter the housekeeper of Wuthering Heights, in paying business visits to Gimmerton, I used to ask how the young master got on; for he lived almost as secluded as Catherine herself, and was never to be seen. I could gather from her that he continued in weak health, and was a tiresome inmate. She said Mr. Heathcliff seemed to dislike him ever longer and worse, though he took some trouble to conceal it: he had an antipathy to the sound of his voice, and could not do at all with his sitting in the same room with him many minutes together. There seldom passed much talk between them: Linton learnt his lessons and spent his evenings in a small apartment they called the parlour: or else lay in bed all day: for he was constantly getting coughs, and colds, and aches, and pains of some sort. 当我有事到吉默吞去时,偶然遇到呼啸山庄的管家,我总是要问问小少爷过得怎么样;因为他和凯瑟琳本人一样的与世隔绝,从来没人看见。我从她那里得悉他身体还很衰弱,是个很难相处的人。她说希刺克厉夫先生好像越来越不喜欢他了,不过他还努力不流露这种感情。他一听见他的声音就起反感,和他在一间屋子里多坐几分钟就受不了。他们很少交谈。林惇在一间他们所谓客厅的小屋子里念书,消磨他的晚上,要么就是一整天躺在床上;因为他经常地咳嗽,受凉,疼痛,害各种不舒服的病。 'And I never know such a fainthearted creature,' added the woman; 'nor one so careful of hisseln. He WILL go on, if I leave the window open a bit late in the evening. Oh! it's killing, a breath of night air! And he must have a fire in the middle of summer; and Joseph's bacca-pipe is poison; and he must always have sweets and dainties, and always milk, milk for ever - heeding naught how the rest of us are pinched in winter; and there he'll sit, wrapped in his furred cloak in his chair by the fire, with some toast and water or other slop on the hob to sip at; and if Hareton, for pity, comes to amuse him - Hareton is not bad-natured, though he's rough - they're sure to part, one swearing and the other crying. I believe the master would relish Earnshaw's thrashing him to a mummy, if he were not his son; and I'm certain he would be fit to turn him out of doors, if he knew half the nursing he gives hisseln. But then he won't go into danger of temptation: he never enters the parlour, and should Linton show those ways in the house where he is, he sends him up-stairs directly.' “我从来没有见过这么一个没精神的人,”那女人又说,“也没有见过一个这么保养自己的人。要是我在晚上把窗子稍微关迟了一点,他就一定要闹个没完。啊!吸一口夜晚的空气,就简直是要害了他!他在仲夏时分也一定要生个火;约瑟夫的烟斗也是毒药;而且他一定总要有糖果细点,总要有牛奶,永远是牛奶--也从来不管别人在冬天多受苦;而他就坐在那儿,裹着他的皮大氅坐在火炉边他的椅子上。炉台上摆着些面包、水,或别的能一点点吸着吃的饮料;如果哈里顿出于怜悯来陪他玩--哈里顿天性并不坏,虽然他是粗野的--结果准是这一个骂骂咧咧的,那一个嚎啕大哭而散伙。我相信如果他不是主人的儿子的话,主人将会看着恩萧把他打扁还会高兴;而且我相信如果主人知道他在怎样看护自己,哪怕只知道一半,也会把他赶出门的。可是主人不会有干这种事的可能:他从来不到客厅,而且林惇在这房子内任何地方一碰见他,主人就马上叫他上楼去。” I divined, from this account, that utter lack of sympathy had rendered young Heathcliff selfish and disagreeable, if he were not so originally; and my interest in him, consequently, decayed: though still I was moved with a sense of grief at his lot, and a wish that he had been left with us. Mr. Edgar encouraged me to gain information: he thought a great deal about him, I fancy, and would have run some risk to see him; and he told me once to ask the housekeeper whether he ever came into the village? She said he had only been twice, on horseback, accompanying his father; and both times he pretended to be quite knocked up for three or four days afterwards. That housekeeper left, if I recollect rightly, two years after he came; and another, whom I did not know, was her successor; she lives there still. 从这一段叙述,我推想小希刺克厉夫已经完全没人同情,变得自私而讨人嫌了,如果他不是本来如此的话;我对他的兴趣自然而然地也减退了,不过我为他的命运仍然感到悲哀,而且还存个愿望,他要是留下来跟我们住就好了。埃德加先生鼓励我打听消息,我猜想他很想念他,并且愿意冒着风险去看看他。有一次还叫我问问管家林惇到不到村里来?她说他来过两次,骑着马,陪着他的父亲;而这两次之后总有三四天他都装作相当疲倦的样子。如果我记得不错的话,那个管家在他来到两年之后就离去了;我不认识的另一个接替了她;她如今还在那里。 
和从前一样,大家愉快地在田庄里度着光阴,直到凯蒂小姐长到十六岁。她生日的那天,我们从来不露出任何欢乐的表示,因为这天也是我那已故的女主人的逝世纪念日。她的父亲在那天总是自己一个人整天待在图书室里;而且在黄昏时还要溜达到吉默吞教堂墓地那边去,逗留在那里常常到半夜以后。所以凯瑟琳总是想法自己玩。 二月二十日是一个美丽的春日,当她父亲休息时,我的小姐走下楼来,穿戴好打算出去,而且说她要和我在旷野边上走走。林惇先生已经答应她了,只要我们不走得太远,而且在一个钟头内回来。 'So make haste, Ellen!' she cried. 'I know where I wish to go; where a colony of moor-game are settled: I want to see whether they have made their nests yet.' “那么赶快,艾伦!”她叫着。“我知道我要去哪儿;我要到有一群松鸡的地方去:看看它们搭好窝没有。” 'That must be a good distance up,' I answered; 'they don't breed on the edge of the moor.' “那可很远哪,”我回答,“它们不在旷野边上繁殖的。” 'No, it's not,' she said. 'I've gone very near with papa.' “不,不会的,”她说。“我跟爸爸曾经去过,很近呢。” I put on my bonnet and sallied out, thinking nothing more of the matter. She bounded before me, and returned to my side, and was off again like a young greyhound; and, at first, I found plenty of entertainment in listening to the larks singing far and near, and enjoying the sweet, warm sunshine; and watching her, my pet and my delight, with her golden ringlets flying loose behind, and her bright cheek, as soft and pure in its bloom as a wild rose, and her eyes radiant with cloudless pleasure. She was a happy creature, and an angel, in those days. It's a pity she could not be content. 我戴上帽子出发,不再想这事了。她在我前面跳着,又回到我身旁,然后又跑掉了,活像个小猎狗;起初我觉得挺有意思,听着远远近近百灵鸟歌唱着,享受着那甜蜜的、温暖的阳光,瞧着她,我的宝贝,我的欢乐,她那金黄色的卷发披散在后面,放光的脸儿像朵盛开的野玫瑰那样温柔和纯洁,眼睛散发着无忧无虑的快乐的光辉。真是个幸福的小东西,在那些日子里,她也是个天使。可惜她是不会知足的。 
“好啦,”我说,“你的松鸡呢,凯蒂小姐?我们应该看到了:田庄的篱笆现在离我们已经很远啦。” 'Oh, a little further - only a little further, Ellen,' was her answer, continually. 'Climb to that hillock, pass that bank, and by the time you reach the other side I shall have raised the birds.' “啊,再走上一点点--只走一点点,艾伦,”她不断地回答。“爬上那座小山,过那个斜坡,你一到了那边,我就可以叫鸟出现。” But there were so many hillocks and banks to climb and pass, that, at length, I began to be weary, and told her we must halt, and retrace our steps. I shouted to her, as she had outstripped me a long way; she either did not hear or did not regard, for she still sprang on, and I was compelled to follow. Finally, she dived into a hollow; and before I came in sight of her again, she was two miles nearer Wuthering Heights than her own home; and I beheld a couple of persons arrest her, one of whom I felt convinced was Mr. Heathcliff himself. 可是有这么多小山和斜坡要爬、要过,终于我开始感到累了,就告诉她我们必须打住往回走。我对她大声喊着,因为她已经走在我前面很远了。也许她没听见,也许就是不理,因为她还是往前走,我无奈只得跟随着她。最后,她钻进了一个山谷;在我再看见她以前,她已经离呼啸山庄比离她自己的家还要近二英里路哩;我瞅见两个人把她抓住了,我深信有一个就是希刺克厉夫先生本人。 Cathy had been caught in the fact of plundering, or, at least, hunting out the nests of the grouse. The Heights were Heathcliff's land, and he was reproving the poacher. 凯蒂被抓是因为做了偷盗的事,或者至少是搜寻松鸡的窝。山庄是希刺克厉夫的土地,他在斥责着这个偷猎者。 'I've neither taken any nor found any,' she said, as I toiled to them, expanding her hands in corroboration of the statement. 'I didn't mean to take them; but papa told me there were quantities up here, and I wished to see the eggs.' “我没拿什么,也没找到什么,”她说,摊开她的双手证明自己的话,那时我已经向他们走去。“我并不是想来拿什么的,可是爸爸告诉我这儿有很多,我只想看看那些蛋。” 
希刺克厉夫带着恶意的微笑溜我一眼,表明他已经认识了对方,因此,也表明他起了歹心,便问:“你爸爸是谁?” 'Mr. Linton of Thrushcross Grange,' she replied. 'I thought you did not know me, or you wouldn't have spoken in that way.' “画眉田庄的林惇先生,”她回答。“我想你不认识我,不然就不会对我那样说话了。” 'You suppose papa is highly esteemed and respected, then?' he said, sarcastically. “那么你以为你爸爸很被人看得起,很受尊敬的吗?”他讽刺地说。 'And what are you?' inquired Catherine, gazing curiously on the speaker. 'That man I've seen before. Is he your son?' “你是什么人?”凯瑟琳问道,好奇地盯着这说话的人。 “那个人我是见过的。他是你的儿子吗?”
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