目 录 上一节 下一节 
这以后的三天三夜，我脑子里的记忆很模糊。我能回忆起那段时间一鳞半爪的感觉，但形不成什么想法，付诸不了行动。我知道自己在一个小房间里，躺在狭窄的床上，我与那张床似乎已难舍难分。我躺着一动不动，像块石头。把我从那儿挣开，几乎等于要我的命。我并不在乎时间的流逝--不在乎上午转为下午、下午转为晚上的变化。我观察别人进出房间，甚至还能分辨出他们是谁，能听懂别人在我身旁所说的话，但回答不上来。动嘴唇与动手脚一样不行。佣人汉娜来得最多，她一来就使我感到不安。我有一种感觉，她希望我走。她不了解我和我的处境，对我怀有偏见。黛安娜和玛丽每天到房间来一两回。她们会在我床边悄声说着这一类话： "It is very well we took her in."" 幸好我们把她收留下来了。" "Yes; she would certainly have been found dead at the door in themorning had she been left out all night. I wonder what she has gonethrough?"" 是呀，要是她整夜给关在房子外面，第二天早晨准会死有门口。不知道她吃了什么苦头。" "Strange hardships, I imagine--poor, emaciated, pallid wanderer?"" 我想象是少见的苦头吧，--消瘦、苍白、可怜的流浪者！" "She is not an uneducated person, I should think, by her manner ofspeaking; her accent was quite pure; and the clothes she took off,though splashed and wet, were little worn and fine."" 从她说话的神态看，我认为她不是一个没有受过教育的人、她的口音很纯。她脱下的衣服虽然湿淋淋溅了泥，但不旧，而且很精致。" 
她的脸很奇特，尽管皮包骨头又很憔悴，但我比较喜欢。可以想见她健康而有生气时、面孔一定很可爱。" Never once in their dialogues did I hear a syllable of regret at thehospitality they had extended to me, or of suspicion of, or aversionto, myself. I was comforted. 在她们的交谈中，我从来没有听到她们说过一句话，对自己的好客，表示懊悔，或者对我表示怀疑或厌恶。我得到了安慰。 Mr. St. John came but once: he looked at me, and said my state oflethargy was the result of reaction from excessive and protractedfatigue. He pronounced it needless to send for a doctor: nature,he was sure, would manage best, left to herself. He said everynerve had been overstrained in some way, and the whole system mustsleep torpid a while. There was no disease. He imagined myrecovery would be rapid enough when once commenced. These opinionshe delivered in a few words, in a quiet, low voice; and added, aftera pause, in the tone of a man little accustomed to expansivecomment, "Rather an unusual physiognomy; certainly, not indicativeof vulgarity or degradation." 圣·约翰先生只来过一次，他瞧着我，说我昏睡不醒是长期疲劳过度的反应，认为不必去叫医生，确信最好的办法是顺其自然。他说每根神经都有些紧张过度，所以整个机体得有一段沉睡麻木的时期，而并不是什么病。他想象我的身体一旦开始恢复，会好得很快。他用几句话表示了这些意见，语调平静而低沉。他顿了一下之后又加了一句，用的是一个不习惯于长篇大论的人的语调："一张不同一般的脸，倒没有庸俗下贱之相。" "Far otherwise," responded Diana. "To speak truth, St. John, myheart rather warms to the poor little soul. I wish we may be ableto benefit her permanently."" 恰恰相反，"黛安娜回答，"说实话，圣·约翰，我内心对这可怜的小幽灵产生了好感。但愿我们永远能够帮助她。" "That is hardly likely," was the reply. "You will find she is someyoung lady who has had a misunderstanding with her friends, and hasprobably injudiciously left them. We may, perhaps, succeed inrestoring her to them, if she is not obstinate: but I trace linesof force in her face which make me sceptical of her tractability."He stood considering me some minutes; then added, "She lookssensible, but not at all handsome."" 这不大可能，"对方回答，"你会发现她是某个年轻小姐，与自己朋友产生了误会，可能轻率地一走了之。要是她不固执，我们也许可以把她送回去。但是我注意到了她脸上很有力的线条，这使我怀疑她脾气很倔强。"他站着端详了我一会，随后补充说，"她看上去很聪明，但一点也不漂亮。" 
她病得那么重，圣·约翰。" "Ill or well, she would always be plain. The grace and harmony ofbeauty are quite wanting in those features."" 不管身体好不好，反正长得很一般。那些五官缺少美的雅致与和谐。" On the third day I was better; on the fourth, I could speak, move,rise in bed, and turn. Hannah had brought me some gruel and drytoast, about, as I supposed, the dinner-hour. I had eaten withrelish: the food was good--void of the feverish flavour which hadhitherto poisoned what I had swallowed. When she left me, I feltcomparatively strong and revived: ere long satiety of repose anddesire for action stirred me. I wished to rise; but what could Iput on? Only my damp and bemired apparel; in which I had slept onthe ground and fallen in the marsh. I felt ashamed to appear beforemy benefactors so clad. I was spared the humiliation. 到了第三天我好些了，第四天我已能说话，移动，从床上坐起来，转动身子。我想大约晚饭时间，汉娜端来一些粥和烤面包。我吃得津津有味，觉得这些东西很好吃--不像前几天发烧时，吃什么都没有味道，她离开我时，我觉得已有些力气，恢复了元气。不久，我对休息感到厌腻，很想起来动动，想从床上爬起来。但是穿什么好呢？只有溅了泥的湿衣服，我就是那么穿着睡在地上，倒在沼泽地里的，我羞于以这身打扮出现在我的恩人们面前。不过我免掉了这种羞辱。 On a chair by the bedside were all my own things, clean and dry. Myblack silk frock hung against the wall. The traces of the bog wereremoved from it; the creases left by the wet smoothed out: it wasquite decent. My very shoes and stockings were purified andrendered presentable. There were the means of washing in the room,and a comb and brush to smooth my hair. After a weary process, andresting every five minutes, I succeeded in dressing myself. Myclothes hung loose on me; for I was much wasted, but I covereddeficiencies with a shawl, and once more, clean and respectablelooking--no speck of the dirt, no trace of the disorder I so hated,and which seemed so to degrade me, left--I crept down a stonestaircase with the aid of the banisters, to a narrow low passage,and found my way presently to the kitchen. 我床边的椅子上摆着我所有的衣物，又干净又干燥。我的黑丝上衣挂在墙上。泥沼的印迹已经洗去，潮湿留下的褶皱己经熨平，看上去很不错了，我的鞋子和袜子已洗得干干净净，很是象样了，房子里有流洗的工具，有一把梳子和一把刷子可把头发梳理整齐。我疲乏地挣扎了一番，每隔五分钟休息一下，终于穿好了衣服。因为消瘦，衣服穿在身上很宽松，不过我用披肩掩盖了这个不足。于是我再一次清清爽爽体体面面了-一没有-丝我最讨厌、并似乎很降低我身份的尘土和凌乱--我扶着栏杆，爬下了石头楼梯，到了一条低矮窄小的过道，立刻进了厨房。 It was full of the fragrance of new bread and the warmth of agenerous fire. Hannah was baking. Prejudices, it is well known,are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has neverbeen loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm asweeds among stones. Hannah had been cold and stiff, indeed, at thefirst: latterly she had begun to relent a little; and when she sawme come in tidy and well-dressed, she even smiled. 厨房里弥漫着新鲜面包的香气和熊熊炉火的暖意。汉娜正在烤面包。众所周知，偏见很难从没有用教育松过土施过肥的心田里根除。它象野草钻出石缝那样顽强地在那儿生长。说实在，起初汉娜冷淡生硬。近来开始和气一点了，而这回见我衣冠楚楚，竟笑了起来。 
什么，你已经起来了？"她说，"那么你好些了。要是你愿意，你可以坐在炉边我的椅子上，" She pointed to the rocking-chair: I took it. She bustled about,examining me every now and then with the corner of her eye. Turningto me, as she took some loaves from the oven, she asked bluntly - 她指了指那把摇椅。我坐了下来。她忙碌着，不时从眼角瞟我。她一边从烤炉里取出面包，一面转向我生硬地问道： "Did you ever go a-begging afore you came here?"" 你到这个地方来之前也讨过饭吗？" I was indignant for a moment; but remembering that anger was out ofthe question, and that I had indeed appeared as a beggar to her, Ianswered quietly, but still not without a certain marked firmness - 我一时很生气，但想起发火是不行的，何况在她看来我曾像个乞丐，于是便平心静气地回答了她，不过仍带着明显的强硬口气 "You are mistaken in supposing me a beggar. I am no beggar; anymore than yourself or your young ladies."" 你错把我当成乞丐了，跟你自己或者你的小姐们一样，我不是什么乞丐。" 
她顿了一下后说："那我就不大明白了，你象是既没有房子，也没有铜子儿？" "The want of house or brass (by which I suppose you mean money) doesnot make a beggar in your sense of the word."" 没有房子或铜子儿（我猜你指的是钱）并不就成了你说的那个意思上的乞丐。" "Are you book-learned?" she inquired presently." 你读过书吗？"她立刻问， "Yes, very."" 是的，读过不少书。" "But you've never been to a boarding-school?"" 不过你从来没有进过寄宿学校吧？"
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