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我是想了--你建议的，我都细想过了，我得按我的意愿办--快点，萨姆！" "Yes--yes--yes!" cried all the juveniles, both ladies and gentlemen."Let her come--it will be excellent sport!"" 好--好--好！"年轻人都齐声叫了起来，小姐们和先生们都不例外。"让她进来吧--这会是一场绝妙的游戏：" The footman still lingered. "She looks such a rough one," said he. 仆人依然犹豫不前。"她样子那么粗野，"他说。 "Go!" ejaculated Miss Ingram, and the man went." 去！"英格拉姆小姐喝道，于是这仆人便走了。 Excitement instantly seized the whole party: a running fire ofraillery and jests was proceeding when Sam returned. 众人便立即激动起来。萨姆返回时，相互正戏谑嘲弄，玩笑开得火热。 
她现在不来了，"他说。"她说了她的使命不是到'一群庸人（她的话）面前来的。我得带她独个儿进一个房间，然后，想要请教她的人得一个一个去。'" "You see now, my queenly Blanche," began Lady Ingram, "sheencroaches. Be advised, my angel girl--and--"" 现在你明白了吧，我的布兰奇女王"英格拉姆夫人开腔了，"她得寸进尺了。听说，我的天使姑娘--还有--" "Show her into the library, of course," cut in the "angel girl.""It is not my mission to listen to her before the vulgar herdeither: I mean to have her all to myself. Is there a fire in thelibrary?"" 带她进图书室，当然，'天使姑娘'把话打断了。"在一群庸人面前听她说话也不是我的使命。我要让她单独跟我谈。图书室里生火了吗？" "Yes, ma'am--but she looks such a tinkler."" 生了，小姐--可她完全像个吉卜赛人。" "Cease that chatter, blockhead! and do my bidding."" 别多嘴了，笨蛋！照我吩咐的办。" 
萨姆再次消失，神秘、激动、期待的心情再次在人们心头翻腾。 "She's ready now," said the footman, as he reappeared. "She wishesto know who will be her first visitor."" 她现在准备好了，"仆人再次进来说。 "I think I had better just look in upon her before any of the ladiesgo," said Colonel Dent." 她想知道谁先去见她。""我想女士们进去之前还是让我先去瞧一瞧她吧，"登特上校说。 "Tell her, Sam, a gentleman is coming."" 告诉她，萨姆，一位绅士来了。" Sam went and returned. 萨姆去了又回来了。 
她说，先生，她不见男士，他们不必费心去接近她了，还有，"他好不容易忍住不笑出声来，补充道"女士们除了年轻单身的也不必见了。" "By Jove, she has taste!" exclaimed Henry Lynn." 天哪！，她倒还挺有眼力呢！"亨利．林恩嚷道。 Miss Ingram rose solemnly: "I go first," she said, in a tone whichmight have befitted the leader of a forlorn hope, mounting a breachin the van of his men. 英格拉姆小姐一本正经地站了起来："我先去，"她说，那口气好像她是一位带领部下突围的敢死队队长。 "Oh, my best! oh, my dearest! pause--reflect!" was her mama's cry;but she swept past her in stately silence, passed through the doorwhich Colonel Dent held open, and we heard her enter the library." 呵，我的好人儿！呵，我最亲爱的！等一等--三思而行！"她妈妈喊道。但是她堂而皇之一声不吭地从她身边走过，进了登特上校为她开着的门，我们听见她进了图书室。 A comparative silence ensued. Lady Ingram thought it "le cas" towring her hands: which she did accordingly. Miss Mary declared shefelt, for her part, she never dared venture. Amy and Louisa Eshtontittered under their breath, and looked a little frightened. 接着是一阵相对的沉寂。英格拉姆太太认为该是搓手的'lecas'了，于是便搓起手来，玛丽小姐宣布，她觉得换了她是不敢冒险的。艾米和路易莎．埃希顿在低声窃笑，面有惧色。 
分分秒秒过得很慢，图书室的门再次打开时，才数到十五分钟。英格拉姆小姐走过拱门回到了我们这里。 Would she laugh? Would she take it as a joke? All eyes met herwith a glance of eager curiosity, and she met all eyes with one ofrebuff and coldness; she looked neither flurried nor merry: shewalked stiffly to her seat, and took it in silence. 她会嗤之以鼻吗？她会一笑了之？--众人都带着急切好奇的目光迎着她，她报之以冷漠的眼神，看上去既不慌张也不愉快，扳着面孔走向自己的座位，默默地坐了下来。 "Well, Blanche?" said Lord Ingram." 嗨，布兰奇？"英格拉姆勋爵叫道。 "What did she say, sister?" asked Mary." 她说了什么啦，姐姐？"玛丽问。 "What did you think? How do you feel?--Is she a real fortune-teller?" demanded the Misses Eshton." 你认为怎样？感觉如何？她是个地道算命的吗？"埃希顿姐妹问。 
好了，好了，你们这些好人，"英格拉姆小姐回答道"别硬逼我了，你们的那些主管惊讶和轻信的器官，也实在太容易给激发起来了。你们大家--也包括我的好姐姐--都那么重视这件事--似乎绝对相信这屋子里真有一个与恶魔勾结的巫婆。我见过一个吉卜赛流浪者，她用陈腐的方法操弄着手相术，告诉我她们那些人往往会怎样给人算命。我已经过了解，现在我想埃希顿先生会像他恫吓过的那样，行个好，明天一早把这个丑老婆子铐起来。" Miss Ingram took a book, leant back in her chair, and so declinedfurther conversation. I watched her for nearly half-an-hour:during all that time she never turned a page, and her face grewmomently darker, more dissatisfied, and more sourly expressive ofdisappointment. She had obviously not heard anything to heradvantage: and it seemed to me, from her prolonged fit of gloom andtaciturnity, that she herself, notwithstanding her professedindifference, attached undue importance to whatever revelations hadbeen made her. 英格拉姆小姐拿了本书，身子往椅背上一靠，不愿再和别人交谈了。我观察了她近半个小时，这半个小时内她没有翻过一页书。她的脸色一瞬间变得更阴沉、更不满，更加愤怒地流露出失望的心情来。显而易见她没有听到过对她有利的话，她那么久久地郁郁不欢、沉默无语，倒似乎使我觉得，尽管她表白自己不在乎，其实对女巫所昭示的，过份重视了。 Meantime, Mary Ingram, Amy and Louisa Eshton, declared they darednot go alone; and yet they all wished to go. A negotiation wasopened through the medium of the ambassador, Sam; and after muchpacing to and fro, till, I think, the said Sam's calves must haveached with the exercise, permission was at last, with greatdifficulty, extorted from the rigorous Sibyl, for the three to waitupon her in a body. 同时，玛丽.英格拉姆、艾米和路易莎．埃希顿表示不敢单独前往，却又都希望去试试。通过萨姆这位使者的斡旋，她们开始了一场谈判。萨姆多次往返奔波，小腿也想必累疼了。经过一番波折，终于从这位寸步不让的女巫嘴里，讨得许可，让她们三人一起去见她。 Their visit was not so still as Miss Ingram's had been: we heardhysterical giggling and little shrieks proceeding from the library;and at the end of about twenty minutes they burst the door open, andcame running across the hall, as if they were half-scared out oftheir wits. 她们的拜访可不像英格拉姆小姐的那么安静。我们听见图书室里传来歇斯底里的嬉笑声和轻轻的尖叫声。大约二十分钟后，她们砰地推开了门，奔跑着穿过大厅，仿佛吓得没命儿似的。 "I am sure she is something not right!" they cried, one and all."She told us such things! She knows all about us!" and they sankbreathless into the various seats the gentlemen hastened to bringthem." 我敢肯定她有些不对头！"她们一齐叫喊起来。"她竟然同我们说这些话！我们的事儿她全知道！"她们各自气喘吁吁地往男士们急着端过来的椅子上砰地坐了下来。 
众人缠住她们，要求细说。她们便说，这算命的讲了些她们小时候说过的话，做过的事；描绘了她们家中闺房里所拥有的书和装饰品，不同亲戚分赠给她们的纪念品。她们断定她甚至摸透了她们的想法，在每个人的耳边悄声说出她最喜欢的人的名字，告诉她们各人的夙愿。
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