目 录 上一节 下一节 
瞧，我对他说，你不习惯交往，所以我想你不会喜欢在一批轻松愉快而又都互不相识的宾客前露面，他还是那么急躁地回答说，'胡说八道！要是她不愿来，就告诉她这是我个人的意愿。如果她拒绝，你就说，她这么倔强，我要亲自来叫了。'" "I will not give him that trouble," I answered. "I will go, if nobetter may be; but I don't like it. Shall you be there, Mrs.Fairfax?"" 我不愿给他添那么多麻烦"，我回答。"要是没有更好的办法了，我就去。不过我并不喜欢。你去吗，费尔法克斯太太？" "No; I pleaded off, and he admitted my plea. I'll tell you how tomanage so as to avoid the embarrassment of making a formal entrance,which is the most disagreeable part of the business. You must gointo the drawing-room while it is empty, before the ladies leave thedinner-table; choose your seat in any quiet nook you like; you neednot stay long after the gentlemen come in, unless you please: justlet Mr. Rochester see you are there and then slip away--nobody willnotice you."" 不，我请求免了，他同意了。一本正经入场是最不好受的，我来告诉你怎样避免这种尴尬，你得在女士们离席之前，客厅里还没有人的时候就进去，找个僻静的角落坐下。男宾们进来之后，你不必呆得很久，除非你高兴这么做。你不过是让罗切斯特先生看到你在那里，随后你就溜走--没有人会注意到你。" "Will these people remain long, do you think?"" 你认为这批客人会呆得很久吗？" "Perhaps two or three weeks, certainly not more. After the Easterrecess, Sir George Lynn, who was lately elected member for Millcote,will have to go up to town and take his seat; I daresay Mr.Rochester will accompany him: it surprises me that he has alreadymade so protracted a stay at Thornfield."" 也许两三个星期，肯定不会再久了。过了复活节假期，乔治.林恩爵士由于新近当上了米尔科特市议员，得去城里就职。我猜想罗切斯特先生会同他一起去。我觉得很奇怪，这回他在桑菲尔德呆了那么长时间。" 
眼看我带着照管的孩子进客厅的时刻就要到来，我心里惴惴不安。阿黛勒听说晚上要去见女士们，便整天处于极度兴奋状态，直到索菲娅开始给她打扮，才安静下来。随后更衣的重要过程很快稳定了她的情绪。待到她卷发梳得溜光，一束束垂着，穿上了粉红色的缎子罩衣，系好长长的腰带，戴上了网眼无指手套，她看上去已是像任何一位法官那么严肃了。这时已没有必要提醒她别弄乱自己的服装，她穿戴停当后，便安静地坐在小椅子上，急忙小心地把缎子裙提起来，唯恐弄皱了。还向我保证，她会一动不动坐在那里，直到我准备好为止。我很快就穿戴好了。我立即穿上了自己最好的衣服（银灰色的那一件，专为参加坦普尔小姐的婚礼购置的，后来一直没有穿过），把头发梳得平平伏伏，并戴上了我仅有的饰品，那枚珍珠胸针。随后我们下了楼。 Fortunately there was another entrance to the drawing-room than thatthrough the saloon where they were all seated at dinner. We foundthe apartment vacant; a large fire burning silently on the marblehearth, and wax candles shining in bright solitude, amid theexquisite flowers with which the tables were adorned. The crimsoncurtain hung before the arch: slight as was the separation thisdrapery formed from the party in the adjoining saloon, they spoke inso low a key that nothing of their conversation could bedistinguished beyond a soothing murmur. 幸亏还有另外一扇门通客厅，不必经过他们都坐着吃饭的餐厅。我们看到房间里空无一人，大理石砌成的壁炉中，一堆旺火静静地燃烧着；桌上装饰着精致的花朵，烛光在花朵中间孤寂地闪亮，平添了几分欢快。拱门前悬挂着大红门帘，虽然我们与毗连的餐室中的客人之间，仅一层之隔，但他们话说得那么轻，除了柔和的嗡嗡声，彼此之间的交谈一点都听不清楚。 Adele, who appeared to be still under the influence of a mostsolemnising impression, sat down, without a word, on the footstool Ipointed out to her. I retired to a window-seat, and taking a bookfrom a table near, endeavoured to read. Adele brought her stool tomy feet; ere long she touched my knee. 阿黛勒似乎仍受着严肃气氛的震慑，一声不吭地坐在我指给她的小凳上。我退缩在一个靠窗的位置上，随手从临近的台子上取了本书，竭力读下去。阿黛勒把她的小凳子搬到我脚边，不久便碰了碰我膝头。 "What is it, Adele?"" 怎么啦，阿黛勒？" "You think too much of your 'toilette,' Adele: but you may have aflower." And I took a rose from a vase and fastened it in her sash.She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction, as if her cup ofhappiness were now full. I turned my face away to conceal a smile Icould not suppress: there was something ludicrous as well aspainful in the little Parisienne's earnest and innate devotion tomatters of dress." 你对自己的'toilette'想得太多啦，阿黛勒，不过你可以戴一朵花。"于是我从花瓶里掐下一朵花来，系在她的彩带上，她舒了口气，显出一种不可言喻的满足，仿佛她的幸福之杯此刻已经斟满了。我转过脸去，掩饰自己抑制不住的微笑。在这位巴黎小女子天生对服饰的热烈追求中，既有几分可笑，又有几分可悲。 
这时响起了轻轻的起立声，帐幔被撩到了拱门背后，露出了餐室，只见长长的桌上摆满了盛甜点心的豪华餐具，烛光倾泻在银制的和玻璃的器皿上。一群女士站在门口。随后她们走了进来，门帘在身后落下。 There were but eight; yet, somehow, as they flocked in, they gavethe impression of a much larger number. Some of them were verytall; many were dressed in white; and all had a sweeping amplitudeof array that seemed to magnify their persons as a mist magnifiesthe moon. I rose and curtseyed to them: one or two bent theirheads in return, the others only stared at me. 她们不过八位，可不知怎地，成群结队进来的时候，给人的印象远不止这个数目。有些个子很高，有些一身著白。她们的服装都往外伸展得很阔，仿佛雾气放大了月亮一样，这些服装也把她们的人放大了。我站起来向她们行了屈膝礼，有一两位点头回礼，而其余的不过盯着我看而已。 They dispersed about the room, reminding me, by the lightness andbuoyancy of their movements, of a flock of white plumy birds. Someof them threw themselves in half-reclining positions on the sofasand ottomans: some bent over the tables and examined the flowersand books: the rest gathered in a group round the fire: all talkedin a low but clear tone which seemed habitual to them. I knew theirnames afterwards, and may as well mention them now. 她们在房间里散开，动作轻盈飘拂，令我想起了一群白色羽毛的鸟。有些人一下子坐下来，斜倚在沙发和卧榻上；有的俯身向着桌子，细细揣摩起花和书来，其余的人则团团围着火炉。大家都用低沉而清晰的调子交谈着，似乎这已成了她们的习惯。后来我知道了她们的大名，现在不妨来提一下。 First, there was Mrs. Eshton and two of her daughters. She hadevidently been a handsome woman, and was well preserved still. Ofher daughters, the eldest, Amy, was rather little: naive, andchild-like in face and manner, and piquant in form; her white muslindress and blue sash became her well. The second, Louisa, was tallerand more elegant in figure; with a very pretty face, of that orderthe French term minois chiffone: both sisters were fair as lilies. 首先是埃希顿太太和她的两个女儿。她显然曾是位漂亮的女人，而且保养得很好。她的大女儿艾米个头比较小，有些天真，脸部和举止都透出了孩子气，外表也显得很调皮。她那白色的薄纱礼服和蓝色的腰带很合身。二女儿路易莎的个子要高些，身材也更加优美，脸长得很不错，属于法国人所说的"minoischiffonne"那一类，姐妹俩都像百合花那么白净。 Lady Lynn was a large and stout personage of about forty, veryerect, very haughty-looking, richly dressed in a satin robe ofchangeful sheen: her dark hair shone glossily under the shade of anazure plume, and within the circlet of a band of gems. 林恩夫人四十岁上下，长得又大又胖，腰背笔直，一脸傲气，穿着华丽的闪缎衣服。乌黑的头发在一根天蓝色羽毛和一圈宝石的映衬下闪闪发光。 
登特上校太太不象别人那么招摇，不过我认为更具贵妇风度。她身材苗条，面容白皙温和，头发金黄。她的黑色缎子服、华丽的外国花边围巾以及珍珠首饰，远比那位有爵位的贵妇闪光的艳服更赏心悦目。 But the three most distinguished--partly, perhaps, because thetallest figures of the band--were the Dowager Lady Ingram and herdaughters, Blanche and Mary. They were all three of the loftieststature of women. The Dowager might be between forty and fifty:her shape was still fine; her hair (by candle-light at least) stillblack; her teeth, too, were still apparently perfect. Most peoplewould have termed her a splendid woman of her age: and so she was,no doubt, physically speaking; but then there was an expression ofalmost insupportable haughtiness in her bearing and countenance.She had Roman features and a double chin, disappearing into a throatlike a pillar: these features appeared to me not only inflated anddarkened, but even furrowed with pride; and the chin was sustainedby the same principle, in a position of almost preternaturalerectness. She had, likewise, a fierce and a hard eye: it remindedme of Mrs. Reed's; she mouthed her words in speaking; her voice wasdeep, its inflections very pompous, very dogmatical,--veryintolerable, in short. A crimson velvet robe, and a shawl turban ofsome gold-wrought Indian fabric, invested her (I suppose shethought) with a truly imperial dignity. 但三位最令人瞩目的--也许部分是由于她们在这一群人中个子最高--是富孀英格拉姆夫人和她的女儿布兰奇和玛丽。她们是三位个子极高的女人。这位太太年龄可能在四十与五十之间，但身材依然很好，头发依然乌黑（至少在烛光下），牙齿也明显地依然完整无缺。多数人都会把她看成是那个年纪中的美人。以形体而言，她无疑就是这样。不过她的举止和表情显出一种令人难以容忍的傲慢。她生就一副罗马人的脸相。双下巴连着柱子一样的脖子。在我看来，这样的五官不仅因为傲慢而显得膨胀和阴沉，而且还起了皱纹。她的下巴由于同样的原因总是直挺挺的简直不可思议。同时，她的目光凶狠冷酷，使我想起了里德太太的眼睛。她说话装腔作势，嗓音深沉，声调夸张，语气专横--总之，让人难以忍受。一件深红丝绒袍，一顶用印度金丝织物做的披肩式软帽赋予她（我估计她这样想）一种真正的皇家气派。 Blanche and Mary were of equal stature,--straight and tall aspoplars. Mary was too slim for her height, but Blanche was mouldedlike a Dian. I regarded her, of course, with special interest.First, I wished to see whether her appearance accorded with Mrs.Fairfax's description; secondly, whether it at all resembled thefancy miniature I had painted of her; and thirdly--it will out!--whether it were such as I should fancy likely to suit Mr.Rochester's taste. 布兰奇和玛丽都是同样身材--像白杨一样高大挺拔，以高度而论，玛丽显得过份苗条了些，而布兰奇活脱脱像个月亮女神。当然我是怀着特殊的兴趣来注意她的。第一我希望知道，她的外貌是不是同费尔法克斯太太的描绘相符；第二想看看她是不是像我凭想象画成的微型肖像画；第三--这总会暴露--是否像我所设想的那样，会适合罗切斯特先生的口味。
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