目 录 上一节 下一节 
她从口袋里掏出一串井然有序的钥匙，把它递给了仆人。 "Now, then, draw nearer to the fire," she continued. "You'vebrought your luggage with you, haven't you, my dear?"" 好啦，靠近火炉些吧，"她继续说，"你已经把行李带来了是吗，亲爱的？" "Yes, ma'am."" 是的，夫人。" "I'll see it carried into your room," she said, and bustled out." 我来叫人搬到你房间去，"她说着，急急忙忙走了出去。 "She treats me like a visitor," thought I. "I little expected sucha reception; I anticipated only coldness and stiffness: this is notlike what I have heard of the treatment of governesses; but I mustnot exult too soon."" 她把我当客人看待了，"我想，"我没有料到会受到这样的接待。我所期望的只是冷漠与生硬。这不像我耳闻的家庭女教师的待遇。但我也决不能高兴得太早。" 
她回来了，亲自动手从桌上把她的编织工具和一两本书挪开，为莉娅端来的托盘腾出了地方。接着她亲自把点心递给我。我颇有些受宠若惊，我从来没有受到过这样的关心，况且这种关心来自我的雇主和上司。可是她似乎并不认为自己的行动有什么出格，所以我想还是对她的礼仪采取默认态度好。 "Shall I have the pleasure of seeing Miss Fairfax to-night?" Iasked, when I had partaken of what she offered me." 今晚我能见一见费尔法克斯小姐吗？"我吃完了她递给我的点心后问。 "What did you say, my dear? I am a little deaf," returned the goodlady, approaching her ear to my mouth." 你说什么呀，亲爱的，我耳朵有些背。"这位好心的夫人问道，一边把耳朵凑近我的嘴巴。 I repeated the question more distinctly. 我把这个问题更清楚地重复了一遍。 "Miss Fairfax? Oh, you mean Miss Varens! Varens is the name ofyour future pupil."" 费尔法克斯小姐？噢，你的意思是瓦伦小姐！瓦伦是你要教的学生的名字。" 
真的，那她不是你女儿？" "No,--I have no family."" 不是，我没有家庭。" I should have followed up my first inquiry, by asking in what wayMiss Varens was connected with her; but I recollected it was notpolite to ask too many questions: besides, I was sure to hear intime. 我本想接着第一个问题继续往下问，问她瓦伦小姐同她是什么关系，但转念一想，觉得问那么多问题不太礼貌，更何况到时候我肯定会有所闻的。 "I am so glad," she continued, as she sat down opposite to me, andtook the cat on her knee; "I am so glad you are come; it will bequite pleasant living here now with a companion. To be sure it ispleasant at any time; for Thornfield is a fine old hall, ratherneglected of late years perhaps, but still it is a respectableplace; yet you know in winter-time one feels dreary quite alone inthe best quarters. I say alone--Leah is a nice girl to be sure, andJohn and his wife are very decent people; but then you see they areonly servants, and one can't converse with them on terms ofequality: one must keep them at due distance, for fear of losingone's authority. I'm sure last winter (it was a very severe one, ifyou recollect, and when it did not snow, it rained and blew), not acreature but the butcher and postman came to the house, fromNovember till February; and I really got quite melancholy withsitting night after night alone; I had Leah in to read to mesometimes; but I don't think the poor girl liked the task much: shefelt it confining. In spring and summer one got on better:sunshine and long days make such a difference; and then, just at thecommencement of this autumn, little Adela Varens came and her nurse:a child makes a house alive all at once; and now you are here Ishall be quite gay."" 我很高兴--"她在我对面坐下，把那只猫放到膝头，继续说："我很高兴你来了。现在有人作伴，住在这儿是很愉快的。当然，什么时候都很愉快，桑菲尔德是一个很好的老庄园，也许近几年有些冷落，但它还是个体面的地方，不过你知道，在冬天，即使住在最好的房子里你也会觉得孤独凄凉的。我说孤独--莉娅当然是位可爱的姑娘，约翰夫妇是正派人。但你知道他们不过是仆人，总不能同他们平等交谈吧，你得同他们保持适当的距离、免得担心失去威信。确实去年冬天（如果你还记得的话，那是个很冷的冬天，不是下雪，就是刮风下雨），从十一月到今年二月，除了卖肉的和送信的，没有人到府上来过。一夜一夜地独自坐着，我真感到忧伤。有时我让莉娅进来读些东西给我听听，不过我想这可怜姑娘并不喜欢这差使。她觉得这挺束缚人。春秋两季情况好些，阳光和长长的白天使得一切大不相同。随后，秋季刚刚开始，小阿德拉.瓦伦和她的保姆就来了，一个孩子立刻使一幢房子活了起来，而现在你也来了，我会非常愉快。" My heart really warmed to the worthy lady as I heard her talk; and Idrew my chair a little nearer to her, and expressed my sincere wishthat she might find my company as agreeable as she anticipated. 听着听着，我对这位可敬的老妇人产生了好感，我把椅子往她身边挪了挪，并表达了我真诚的希望，愿她发现我是一位如她所企盼的融洽伙伴。 
不过今晚我可不想留你太晚，"她说，"现在钟敲十二点了，你奔波了一整天，一定已经很累，要是你的脚已经暖和过来了，我 就带你上卧室去，我已让人拾掇好了我隔壁的房间，这不过是个小间，但比起一间宽阔的前房来，我想你会更喜欢的。虽然那些大房间确实有精致的家具，但孤独冷清，连我自己也从来不睡在里面的。" I thanked her for her considerate choice, and as I really feltfatigued with my long journey, expressed my readiness to retire.She took her candle, and I followed her from the room. First shewent to see if the hall-door was fastened; having taken the key fromthe lock, she led the way upstairs. The steps and banisters were ofoak; the staircase window was high and latticed; both it and thelong gallery into which the bedroom doors opened looked as if theybelonged to a church rather than a house. A very chill and vault-like air pervaded the stairs and gallery, suggesting cheerless ideasof space and solitude; and I was glad, when finally ushered into mychamber, to find it of small dimensions, and furnished in ordinary,modern style. 我感谢她周到的选择，但长途旅行之后，我确实已疲惫不堪，便表示准备歇息。她端着蜡烛，让我跟着她走出房间，先是去看大厅的门上了锁没有。她从锁上取下钥匙，领我上了楼梯。楼梯和扶手都是橡树做的，楼梯上的窗子都是高高的花格窗，这类窗子和直通一间间卧室的长长过道，看上去不像住家，而像教堂。楼梯和过道上弥漫着一种墓穴似的阴森气氛，给人一种空旷和孤寂的凄凉感。因此当我最后被领进自己的房间，发现它面积不大，有着普通现代风格的陈设时，心里便十分高兴了。 When Mrs. Fairfax had bidden me a kind good-night, and I hadfastened my door, gazed leisurely round, and in some measure effacedthe eerie impression made by that wide hall, that dark and spaciousstaircase, and that long, cold gallery, by the livelier aspect of mylittle room, I remembered that, after a day of bodily fatigue andmental anxiety, I was now at last in safe haven. The impulse ofgratitude swelled my heart, and I knelt down at the bedside, andoffered up thanks where thanks were due; not forgetting, ere I rose,to implore aid on my further path, and the power of meriting thekindness which seemed so frankly offered me before it was earned.My couch had no thorns in it that night; my solitary room no fears.At once weary and content, I slept soon and soundly: when I awokeit was broad day. 费尔法克斯太太客气地跟我道了晚安。我闩上了门，目光从容四顾，不觉感到那宽阔的大厅、漆旱宽畅的楼梯和阴冷的长廊所造成的恐怖怪异的印象，己被这小房间的蓬勃生气抹去了几分。这时我忽然想到，经历了身心交瘁的一天之后，此刻我终于到达了一个安全避风港，感激之情油然而生。我跪在床边开始祈祷，表示了理所应当的感恩，在站起来之前，并未忘记祈求在前路上赐予帮助与力量，使我配得上还没有付出努力就坦率地授与我的那份厚意。那天晚上，我的床榻上没有荆棘，我那孤寂的房间里没有恐惧。立刻，倦意与满足俱来，我很快便沉沉睡去，醒来的时候，天色已经大亮了。 The chamber looked such a bright little place to me as the sun shonein between the gay blue chintz window curtains, showing paperedwalls and a carpeted floor, so unlike the bare planks and stainedplaster of Lowood, that my spirits rose at the view. Externals havea great effect on the young: I thought that a fairer era of lifewas beginning for me, one that was to have its flowers andpleasures, as well as its thorns and toils. My faculties, roused bythe change of scene, the new field offered to hope, seemed allastir. I cannot precisely define what they expected, but it wassomething pleasant: not perhaps that day or that month, but at anindefinite future period. 阳光从蓝色鲜艳的印花布窗帘缝隙中射进来，照出了糊着墙纸的四壁和铺着地毯的地板，与罗沃德光秃秃的楼板和迹痕斑驳的灰泥全然不同。相形之下，这房间显得小巧而明亮，眼前的情景使我精神为之一振。外在的东西对年轻人往往有很大影响，我于是想到自己生涯中更为光明的时代开始了，这个时代将会有花朵和欢愉，也会有荆棘和艰辛。由于这改变了的环境，这充满希望的新天地，我的各种官能都复活了，变得异常活跃。但它们究 竟期望着什么，我一时也说不清楚，反正是某种令人愉快的东西，也许那东西不是降临在这一天，或是这个月，而是在不确定的未来。 I rose; I dressed myself with care: obliged to be plain--for I hadno article of attire that was not made with extreme simplicity--Iwas still by nature solicitous to be neat. It was not my habit tobe disregardful of appearance or careless of the impression I made:on the contrary, I ever wished to look as well as I could, and toplease as much as my want of beauty would permit. I sometimesregretted that I was not handsomer; I sometimes wished to have rosycheeks, a straight nose, and small cherry mouth; I desired to betall, stately, and finely developed in figure; I felt it amisfortune that I was so little, so pale, and had features soirregular and so marked. And why had I these aspirations and theseregrets? It would be difficult to say: I could not then distinctlysay it to myself; yet I had a reason, and a logical, natural reasontoo. However, when I had brushed my hair very smooth, and put on myblack frock--which, Quakerlike as it was, at least had the merit offitting to a nicety--and adjusted my clean white tucker, I thought Ishould do respectably enough to appear before Mrs. Fairfax, and thatmy new pupil would not at least recoil from me with antipathy.Having opened my chamber window, and seen that I left all thingsstraight and neat on the toilet table, I ventured forth. 我起身了，小心穿戴了一番，无奈只能简朴，--因为我没有一件服饰不是缝制得极其朴实的--但渴求整洁依然是我的天性。习惯上我并不无视外表，不注意自己留下的印象。相反，我一向希望自己的外观尽可能标致些，并希望在我平庸的外貌所允许的情况下，得到别人的好感。有时候，我为自己没有长得漂亮些而感到遗憾，有时巴不得自己有红润的双颊、挺直的鼻梁和樱桃般的小口。我希望自己修长、端庄、身材匀称。我觉得很不幸，长得这么小，这么苍白，五官那么不端正而又那么显眼。为什么我有这些心愿却又有这些遗憾？这很难说清楚、当时我自己虽然说不上来，但我有一个理由，一个合乎逻辑的、自然的理由。然而，当我把头发梳得溜光，穿上那件黑色的外衣--虽然看上去确实像贵格会教派的人，但至少非常合身--换上了干净洁白的领布时，我想我可以够体面地去见费尔法克斯太太了，我的新学生至少不会因为厌恶而从我面前退缩。我打开了房间的窗户，并注意到已把梳妆台上的东西收拾得整整齐齐，便大着胆子走出门去了。
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