“Darling, I don’t want any explanation from you and I won’t listen to one,” said Melanie firmly as she gently laid a small hand across Scarlett’s tortured lips and stilled her words. —
“亲爱的，我不需要你解释，也不会听你解释，”梅兰妮坚定地说道，她轻轻地把小手放在斯嘉丽痛苦的嘴唇上，使她的话停下来。 —

“You insult yourself and Ashley and me by even thinking there could be need of explanations between us. —
“你这样想，是在侮辱你自己、侮辱阿什利和我。 —

Why, we three have been—have been like soldiers fighting the world together for so many years that I’m ashamed of you for thinking idle gossip could come between us. —
“唉，我们三个人像士兵一样共同与这个世界作战了这么多年，你居然还会认为闲言碎语会影响我们之间的关系，我为你感到羞耻。 —

Do you think I’d believe that you and my Ashley— Why, the idea! —
“你以为我会相信你和我亲爱的阿什利会有什么！哪有什么道理！ —

Don’t you realize I know you better than anyone in the world knows you? —
“难道你不明白，我比世界上任何一个人都更了解你吗？ —

Do you think I’ve forgotten all the wonderful, unselfish things you’ve done for Ashley and Beau and me—everything from saving my life to keeping us from starving! —
“你以为我忘记了你为阿什利、博和我所做的一切伟大而无私的事情吗？从救了我的性命到让我们免于饥饿！” —

Do you think I could remember you walking in a furrow behind that Yankee’s horse almost barefooted and with your hands blistered—just so the baby and I could have something to eat—and then believe such dreadful things about you? —
你觉得我会忘记你为了给我和孩子找些吃的，跟在那个纽约佬的马后面走得破了脚也起了泡，然后相信有关你的那些可怕的事情吗？ —

I don’t want to hear a word out of you, Scarlett O’Hara. Not a word.”
我不想听你说一句话，斯嘉丽·奥哈拉。一句话都不要说。

“But—” Scarlett fumbled and stopped.
“可是……” 斯嘉丽吞吞吐吐地停了下来。

Rhett had left town the hour before with Bonnie and Prissy, and desolation was added to Scarlett’s shame and anger. —
瑞德和邦妮、普里西在一小时前离开了城，斯嘉丽感到羞愧和愤怒之外，又增添了一丝荒凉。 —

The additional burden of her guilt with Ashley and Melanie’s defense was more than she could bear. —
她对于与阿什利的罪恶感负担，以及对梅兰妮的辩护，已经超过了她所能承受的极限。 —

Had Melanie believed India and Archie, cut her at the reception or even greeted her frigidly, then she could have held her head high and fought back with every weapon in her armory. —
如果梅兰妮相信印第娅和阿奇，如果在招待会上冷冷地避开她或者甚至打招呼时态度冷淡，那她可以高昂着头，用她的全部武器回击。 —

But now, with the memory of Melanie standing between her and social ruin, standing like a thin, shining blade, with trust and a fighting light in her eyes, there seemed nothing honest to do but confess. —
但是现在，她想起梅兰妮站在她和社交毁灭之间的样子，像一把薄而明亮的剑，眼中充满了信任和战斗的光芒，似乎只有承认实情才是诚实可行的办法。 —

Yes, blurt out everything from that far-off beginning on the sunny porch at Tara.
是的，从那个阳光明媚的塔拉阳台上开始的所有事情突然冒出来了。

She was driven by a conscience which, though long suppressed, could still rise up, an active Catholic conscience. —
她受到压抑了许久但仍然能够崛起的良心的驱使，这是一个积极的天主教良心。 —

“Confess your sins and do penance for them in sorrow and contrition,” Ellen had told her a hundred times and, in this crisis, Ellen’s religious training came back and gripped her. —
“坦白你的罪过并为之忏悔和悔改,“埃伦已经告诉过她不止一百次，在这个危机中，埃伦的宗教教育再次回到她的心中并紧紧抓住她。 —

She would confess—yes, everything, every look and word, those few caresses—and then God would ease her pain and give her peace. —
她会坦白——是的，一切，每一个神情和言辞，那些少许的亲昵——然后上帝会减轻她的痛苦并给她平静。 —

And, for her penance, there would be the dreadful sight of Melanie’s face changing from fond love and trust to incredulous horror and repulsion. —
而且，作为她的忏悔，将会是梅兰妮的脸由于不可置信的恐惧和厌恶从深爱和信任转变的可怕景象。 —

Oh, that was too hard a penance, she thought in anguish, to have to live out her life remembering Melanie’s face, knowing that Melanie knew all the pettiness, the meanness, the two-faced disloyalty and the hypocrisy that were in her.
哦，那将是一个太艰难的忏悔，她绝望地想到，必须要过着终生记住梅兰妮的脸，明白梅兰妮知道她身上的所有卑劣、刻薄、双面背叛和虚伪。

Once, the thought of flinging the truth tauntingly in Melanie’s face and seeing the collapse of her fool’s paradise had been an intoxicating one, a gesture worth everything she might lose thereby. —
曾经，嘲讽地将真相抛向梅兰妮面前，看着她幻想中的世界崩溃曾经是一种令人陶醉的姿态，这一举动价值连城，值得她为之失去一切。 —

But now, all that had changed overnight and there was nothing she desired less. —
但现在，一切都在一夜之间发生了改变，没有比此更让她不愿的事情了。 —

Why this should be she did not know. There was too great a tumult of conflicting ideas in her mind for her to sort them out. —
为什么会这样，她不知道。她的脑海中充满了太多冲突的想法，以至于她无法理清头绪。 —

She only knew that as she had once desired to keep her mother thinking her modest, kind, pure of heart, so she now passionately desired to keep Melanie’s high opinion. —
她只知道，就像她曾经愿意让母亲认为她谦逊、善良、纯心一样，她现在热切地希望梅兰妮也能持有同样的看法。 —

She only knew that she did not care what the world thought of her or what Ashley or Rhett thought of her, but Melanie must not think her other than she had always thought her.
她只知道，她不在乎世人如何看待她，不在乎阿什利或瑞德如何看待她，但梅兰妮不能对她产生任何不同以往的想法。

She dreaded to tell Melanie the truth but one of her rare honest instincts arose, an instinct that would not let her masquerade in false colors before the woman who had fought her battles for her. —
她不敢告诉梅兰妮真相，但她稀有的诚实本能涌现出来，这种本能不允许她在为她争斗的女人面前冒充虚伪的形象。 —

So she had hurried to Melanie that morning, as soon as Rhett and Bonnie had left the house.
于是她在那天早上，当罗纳德和邦妮离开家的时候，赶紧去找梅兰妮。

But at her first tumbled-out words: “Melly, I must explain about the other day—” Melanie had imperiously stopped her. —
但在她一言未完的时候：“梅丽，我必须解释那天的事情——”梅兰妮不容置疑地打断了她。 —

Scarlett looking shamefaced into the dark eyes that were flashing with love and anger, knew with a sinking heart that the peace and calm following confession could never be hers. —
斯嘉丽脸红地望着那双充满爱意和愤怒的眼睛，心里沉重地知道，当坦白的平静过去后，她永远都不能拥有它。 —

Melanie had forever cut off that line of action by her first words. —
梅兰妮的第一句话永远切断了这条行动路线。 —

With one of the few adult emotions Scarlett had ever had, she realized that to unburden her own tortured heart would be the purest selfishness. —
斯嘉丽以她少有的成年情感之一，意识到将她痛苦的心事倾诉出来将是最纯粹的自私行为。 —

She would be ridding herself of her burden and laying it on the heart of an innocent and trusting person. —
她将把自己的重担卸到一个纯洁而信任的人的心上。 —

She owed Melanie a debt for her championship and that debt could only be paid with silence. —
斯嘉丽对梅兰妮有一份债务，只能以保持沉默的方式来偿还。 —

What cruel payment it would be to wreck Melanie’s life with the unwelcome knowledge that her husband was unfaithful to her, and her beloved friend a party to it!
给梅兰妮带来这个不受欢迎的知识，即她的丈夫对她不忠，而她所钟爱的朋友也心知肚明，这将是多么残酷的回报！

“I can’t tell her,” she thought miserably. “Never, not even if my conscience kills me.” —
“我不能告诉她,“她痛苦地想道。”永远不会，即使我的良心害死我也不行。” —

She remembered irrelevantly Rhett’s drunken remark: —
她无关地记起雷特醉酒时的话： —

“She can’t conceive of dishonor in anyone she loves. —
“她无法想象她爱的人会有不名誉的行为。 —

..let that be your cross.”
..让这成为你的负担。”

Yes, it would be her cross, until she died, to keep this torment silent within her, to wear the hair shirt of shame, to feel it chafing her at every tender look and gesture Melanie would make throughout the years, to subdue forever the impulse to cry: —
是的，这将是她的负担，直到她死去，要始终将这种折磨埋藏在心底，像一件耻辱的发丝衫，感觉到它在每一次温柔的目光和姿态中磨破她，永远压抑住这样的冲动：” —

“Don’t be so kind! Don’t fight for me! I’m not worth it!”
“不要这么善良！不要为我而战！我不值得！”

“If you only weren’t such a fool, such a sweet, trusting, simple- minded fool, it wouldn’t be so hard,” she thought desperately. —
“如果你不是这么傻，这么甜蜜，这么单纯，那么困难就不会了。”她绝望地想道。 —

“I’ve toted lots of weary loads but this is going to be the heaviest and most galling load I’ve ever toted.”
“我背过许多沉重的负担，但这将是我背过的最重和最痛苦的负担。”

Melanie sat facing her, in a low chair, her feet firmly planted on an ottoman so high that her knees stuck up like a child’s, a posture she would never have assumed had not rage possessed her to the point of forgetting proprieties. —
梅兰妮面对她坐在一张低矮的椅子上，脚稳稳地放在一个高得像孩子一样的脚凳上，这个姿势是因为她被愤怒占据，以至于忘记了应有的礼节。 —

She held a line of tatting in her hands and she was driving the shining needle back and forth as furiously as though handling a rapier in a duel.
她手里拿着一段花边，怒气冲冲地像在决斗中挥舞着一把闪亮的针。

Had Scarlett been possessed of such an anger, she would have been stamping both feet and roaring like Gerald in his finest days, calling on God to witness the accursed duplicity and knavishness of mankind and uttering blood-curdling threats of retaliation. —
如果斯嘉丽也充满了这样的愤怒，她会像杰拉尔德在最好的时候那样跺脚咆哮，呼唤上帝见证人类可恶的欺骗和卑鄙行径，并发出令人毛骨悚然的报复威胁。 —

But only by the flashing needle and the delicate brows drawn down toward her nose did Melanie indicate that she was inwardly seething. —
但是只有闪光的针和微微皱起的眉头表明梅兰妮内心正在沸腾。 —

Her voice was cool and her words were more close clipped than usual. —
她的声音冷静，话语比平时更加简洁。 —

But the forceful words she uttered were foreign to Melanie who seldom voiced an opinion at all and never an unkind word. —
但是她说出的强硬话语对于很少发表意见，从不说不友善话语的梅兰妮来说是陌生的。 —

Scarlett realized suddenly that the Wilkeses and the Hamiltons were capable of furies equal to and surpassing those of the O’Haras.
斯嘉丽突然意识到威尔克斯家和汉密尔顿家的愤怒能与奥哈拉家相比，并且甚至超过了他们。

“I’ve gotten mighty tired of hearing people criticize you, darling,” Melanie said, “and this is the last straw and I’m going to do something about it. —
“亲爱的，我已经厌烦了听人们批评你，这是最后一根稻草，我要为此做点什么。 —

All this has happened because people are jealous of you, because you are so smart and successful. —
所有这一切都发生在因为人们嫉妒你，因为你是如此聪明和成功。 —

You’ve succeeded where lots of men, even, have failed. —
你成功了，这是许多男人甚至都失败了的地方。 —

Now, don’t be vexed with me, dear, for saying that. —
现在，亲爱的，不要对我生气，这么说是因为我给你带来了不快。 —

I don’t mean you’ve ever been unwomanly or unsexed yourself, as lots of folks have said. —
我并不是说你曾经失去了女性的特点，就像很多人所说的那样。 —

Because you haven’t. People just don’t understand you and people can’t bear for women to be smart. —
因为你并没有失去。人们只是无法理解你，而且人们受不了女性聪明的事实。 —

But your smartness and your success don’t give people the right to say that you and Ashley— Stars above!”
但你的聪明和成功并不给予别人这么说你和阿什利的权利——天哪！

The soft vehemence of this last ejaculation would have been, upon a man’s lips, profanity of no uncertain meaning. —
最后这句柔和但慷慨激昂的感叹，如果在男人的嘴里说出来，将是毫不含糊的亵渎。 —

Scarlett stared at her, alarmed by so unprecedented an outburst.
斯嘉丽惊讶地盯着她，对于如此前所未有的爆发感到担忧。

“And for them to come to me with the filthy lies they’d concocted— Archie, India, Mrs. Elsing! —
“他们竟然拿着他们编造的肮脏谎言来找我——阿奇、印度、埃尔辛斯夫人！ —

How did they dare? Of course, Mrs. Elsing didn’t come here. —
他们居然敢？当然，埃尔辛斯夫人没有来过这里。 —

No, indeed, she didn’t have the courage. —
是的，她没有勇气。 —

But she’s always hated you, darling, because you were more popular than Fanny. And she was so incensed at your demoting Hugh from the management of the mill. —
但她一直恨你，亲爱的，因为你比范妮更受欢迎。而且她对你将休从纺织厂管理层降职感到非常愤怒。 —

But you were quite right in demoting him. He’s just a piddling, do-less, good-for-nothing!” —
但你在降职他这件事上是对的。他只是个琐碎、无所作为的废物！ —

Swiftly Melanie dismissed the playmate of her childhood and the beau of her teen years. —
梅兰妮迅速地忘记了她童年的玩伴和青少年时代的恋人。 —

“I blame myself about Archie. I shouldn’t have given the old scoundrel shelter. —
“我对阿奇的事情要自责。我不应该给这个老流氓庇护。 —

Everyone told me so but I wouldn’t listen. —
每个人都告诉过我，但我不听。 —

He didn’t like you, dear, because of the convicts, but who is he to criticize you? —
他不喜欢你，亲爱的，因为你关押罪犯，但他有什么资格批评你？ —

A murderer, and the murderer of a woman, too! —
一个杀人犯，还杀了一个女人！ —

And after all I’ve done for him, he comes to me and tells me— I shouldn’t have been a bit sorry if Ashley had shot him. —
我为他做了那么多事，他竟然来告诉我——如果阿什利开枪打死他，我一点也不会难过。” —

Well, I packed him off with a large flea in his ear, I can tell you! —
嗯，我可以告诉你，我用一句恶言痛斥他，彻底把他打发走了！ —

And he’s left town.
而且他已经离开城市了。

“And as for India, the vile thing! Darling, I couldn’t help noticing from the first time I saw you two together that she was jealous of you and hated you, because you were so much prettier and had so many beaux. —
“至于印第安娜这个讨厌的家伙！亲爱的，我一开始见到你们在一起的时候就注意到她嫉妒你，讨厌你，因为你比她漂亮多了，有很多追求者。” —

And she hated you especially about Stuart Tarleton. —
她特别讨厌你和斯图尔特·塔尔顿（Stuart Tarleton）在一起。 —

And she’s brooded about Stuart so much that—well, I hate to say it about Ashley’s sister but I think her mind has broken with thinking so much! —
她对斯图尔特想的太多了，以至于……呃，我不想说阿什利的妹妹坏话，但我认为她过度思考已经让她发疯了！ —

There’s no other explanation for her action. —
没有别的解释能够解释她的行为。 —

..I told her never to put foot in this house again and that if I heard her breathe so vile an insinuation I would—I would call her a liar in public!”
……我告诉过她再也不要踏进这个家，如果我听到她再扔出这么失礼的暗示，我……我会当众称她为骗子！”

Melanie stopped speaking and abruptly the anger left her face and sorrow swamped it. —
梅兰妮停止说话，突然愤怒从她脸上消失，悲伤淹没了她。 —

Melanie had all that passionate clan loyalty peculiar to Georgians and the thought of a family quarrel tore her heart. —
梅兰妮有着与乔治亚州特有的那种强烈的家族忠诚感，家庭争吵的想法撕裂了她的心灵。 —

She faltered for a moment. But Scarlett was dearest, Scarlett came first in her heart, and she went on loyally:
她为了一瞬间的迟疑而感到惴惴不安。但斯嘉丽是最亲爱的人，她在她的心里排第一，她忠诚地继续说道：

“She’s always been jealous because I loved you best, dear. —
“她一直嫉妒我最爱你，亲爱的。 —

She’ll never come in this house again and I’ll never put foot under any roof that receives her. —
她再也不会进这个屋子了，我也不会踏进接纳她的任何屋顶。 —

Ashley agrees with me, but it’s just about broken his heart that his own sister should tell such a—”
爱什莉同意我，但他真的为他自己的姐妹会说出那种-”

At the mention of Ashley’s name, Scarlett’s overwrought nerves gave way and she burst into tears. —
一提到爱什莉的名字，斯嘉丽那过度紧张的神经崩溃了，她放声大哭起来。 —

Would she never stop stabbing him to the heart? —
她什么时候才会停止伤害他的心呢？ —

Her only thought had been to make him happy and safe but at every turn she seemed to hurt him. —
她唯一的想法就是使他快乐和安全，但每一步她似乎都在伤害他。 —

She had wrecked his life, broken his pride and self-respect, shattered that inner peace, that calm based on integrity. —
她毁坏了他的生活，打破了他的自尊和自尊心，打碎了那基于正直的内心宁静。 —

And now she had alienated him from the sister he loved so dearly. —
现在她还让他与他深爱的姐妹疏远了。 —

To save her own reputation and his wife’s happiness, India had to be sacrificed, forced into the light of a lying, half-crazed, jealous old maid—India who was absolutely justified in every suspicion she had ever harbored and every accusing word she had uttered. —
为了保护自己的名誉和妻子的幸福，印第亚不得不被牺牲，被迫暴露在一个撒谎、半疯、嫉妒的老处女的光芒下——印第亚完全有理由怀疑和指责她所怀疑的每一个事实。 —

Whenever Ashley looked into India’s eyes, he would see the truth shining there, truth and reproach and the cold contempt of which the Wilkeses were masters.
每当阿什利看着印第亚的眼睛，他都能看到那里闪耀着真理，还有指责和冷漠，这是威尔克斯家族的精髓所在。

Knowing how Ashley valued honor above his life, Scarlett knew he must be writhing. —
知道阿什利把尊严看得高于生命，斯嘉丽知道他一定煎熬不堪。 —

He, like Scarlett, was forced to shelter behind Melanie’s skirts. —
他像斯嘉丽一样，不得不躲在梅拉妮的裙子后面。 —

While Scarlett realized the necessity for this and knew that the blame for his false position lay mostly at her own door, still—still— Womanlike she would have respected Ashley more, had he shot Archie and admitted everything to Melanie and the world. —
尽管斯嘉丽意识到这样做是必要的，也知道他虚假的立场主要是她自己的责任，但是——但是——作为一个女人，如果阿什利开枪打死阿奇并向梅拉妮和全世界坦白一切，她可能会更尊重他。 —

She knew she was being unfair but she was too miserable to care for such fine points. —
她知道自己不公平，但她太痛苦了，无法关心这些微小的细节。 —

Some of Rhett’s taunting words of contempt came back to her and she wondered if indeed Ashley had played the manly part in this mess. —
她心中回想起了莱特那带着轻蔑的挑衅之言，她开始怀疑是否阿什利在这场困境中扮演了男子汉的角色。 —

And, for the first time, some of the bright glow which had enveloped him since the first day she fell in love with him began to fade imperceptibly. —
第一次，自从她第一次爱上他的那天起的一些光芒开始隐退，不易察觉。 —

The tarnish of shame and guilt that enveloped her spread to him as well. —
耻辱和内疚笼罩着她，也影响到了他。 —

Resolutely she tried to fight off this thought but it only made her cry harder.
她努力想摒弃这个想法，可这只让她哭得更伤心。

“Don’t! Don’t!” cried Melanie, dropping her tatting and flinging herself onto the sofa and drawing Scarlett’s head down onto her shoulder. —
“别！别！”梅拉妮喊道，放下她的编织物，扑上沙发，把斯嘉丽的头拉到她肩上。 —

“I shouldn’t have talked about it all and distressed you so. —
“我不应该一直谈论这些事情，让你感到烦恼。” —

I know how dreadfully you must feel and we’ll never mention it again. —
“我知道你一定会感到糟糕，我们再也不提这个了。” —

No, not to each other or to anybody. It’ll be as though it never happened. —
“不，不论是彼此还是任何人都不能提起。就好像从来没有发生过一样。” —

But,” she added with quiet venom, “I’m going to show India and Mrs. Elsing what’s what. —
但她带着隐忍的恶意补充道：“不过，我要向印地亚和艾尔辛夫人展示些什么。” —

They needn’t think they can spread lies about my husband and my sister-in-law. —
她们别以为可以对我丈夫和我嫂子散布谣言。 —

I’m going to fix it so neither of them can hold up their heads in Atlanta. —
我要修理他们两个，让他们在亚特兰大抬不起头来。 —

And anybody who believes them or receives them is my enemy.”
而且任何相信他们或接纳他们的人都是我的敌人。

Scarlett, looking sorrowfully down the long vista of years to come, knew that she was the cause of a feud that would split the town and the family for generations.
斯嘉丽望着漫长未来，知道自己是一场会分裂城镇和家族几代人的纷争的起因。

Melanie was as good as her word. She never again mentioned the subject to Scarlett or to Ashley. —
梅兰妮说话算数。她再也没有向斯嘉丽或阿什利提起这个话题。 —

Nor, for that matter, would she discuss it with anyone. —
事实上，她也不会和任何人讨论它。 —

She maintained an air of cool indifference that could speedily change to icy formality if anyone even dared hint about the matter. —
她保持着一种冷漠的态度，如果有人敢暗示这件事，她很快就会转化为冰冷的礼节。 —

During the weeks that followed her surprise party, while Rhett was mysteriously absent and the town in a frenzied state of gossip, excitement and partisanship, she gave no quarter to Scarlett’s detractors, whether they were her old friends or her blood kin. —
在她惊喜派对之后的几个星期里，瑞特神秘消失，整个城镇陷入了八卦、兴奋和支持者之间的狂热状态，她对斯嘉丽的诋毁者们没有容忍之情，无论他们是她的老朋友还是血亲。 —

She did not speak, she acted.
她不说话，她采取行动。

She stuck by Scarlett’s side like a cocklebur. —
她像一颗草地蜈蚣一样守在斯嘉丽身边。 —

She made Scarlett go to the store and the lumber yard, as usual, every morning and she went with her. —
她每天早上都让斯嘉丽去商店和木材厂，就像往常一样，而她也和她一起去。 —

She insisted that Scarlett go driving in the afternoons, little though Scarlett wished to expose herself to the eager curious gaze of her fellow townspeople. —
尽管斯嘉丽不愿意让镇上的人好奇地凝视她，但她坚持让斯嘉丽在下午开车。 —

And Melanie sat in the carriage beside her. —
梅兰妮坐在车厢旁边。 —

Melanie took her calling with her on formal afternoons, gently forcing her into parlors in which Scarlett had not sat for more than two years. —
梅兰妮在正式的下午拜访时，把她的招待带了上去，温柔地把她带进了她已经有两年没有到过的客厅里。 —

And Melanie, with a fierce “love-me-love-my-dog” look on her face, made converse with astounded hostesses.
而梅兰妮却带着一脸“爱我就爱我的狗”的表情与惊讶的女主人交谈。

She made Scarlett arrive early on these afternoons and remain until the last callers had gone, thereby depriving the ladies of the opportunity for enjoyable group discussion and speculation, a matter which caused some mild indignation. —
她让斯嘉丽在这些下午提前到达，并且一直等到最后的来客离开，这样剥夺了女士们进行愉快的集体讨论和猜测的机会，这引起了一些轻微的愤慨。 —

These calls were an especial torment to Scarlett but she dared not refuse to go with Melanie. —
这些拜访对斯嘉丽来说是一种特别的折磨，但她不敢拒绝和梅兰妮一起去。 —

She hated to sit amid crowds of women who were secretly wondering if she had been actually taken in adultery. —
她讨厌坐在一群女人中间，她们暗自猜测她是否真的犯了奸淫罪。 —

She hated the knowledge that these women would not have spoken to her, had it not been that they loved Melanie and did not want to lose her friendship. —
她讨厌知道这些女人如果不是因为喜欢梅拉妮而不想失去她们的友谊，她们根本不会和她说话。 —

But Scarlett knew that, having once received her, they could not cut her thereafter.
但斯嘉丽知道，一旦她被接纳，她们就无法再割席而去。

It was characteristic of the regard in which Scarlett was held that few people based their defense or their criticism of her on her personal integrity. —
斯嘉丽备受尊敬，因此很少有人根据她的个人诚信对她进行辩护或批评。 —

“I wouldn’t put much beyond her,” was the universal attitude. —
“我对她不抱太大期望。”这是普遍的态度。 —

Scarlett had made too many enemies to have many champions now. —
斯嘉丽已经招惹了太多的敌人，因此现在几乎没有什么人会为她说好话。 —

Her words and her actions rankled in too many hearts for many people to care whether this scandal hurt her or not. —
她的言行刺痛了太多人的心，以至于很多人都不关心这个丑闻对她是否造成伤害。 —

But everyone cared violently about hurting Melanie or India and the storm revolved around them, rather than Scarlett, centering upon the one question—”Did India lie?”
但每个人都非常在乎伤害梅兰妮或印第亚，风暴围绕着她们而不是斯嘉丽展开，核心问题是——“印第亚撒谎了吗？”

Those who espoused Melanie’s side pointed triumphantly to the fact that Melanie was constantly with Scarlett these days. —
那些支持Melanie的人得意地指出，现在Melanie总是和Scarlett在一起。 —

Would a woman of Melanie’s high principles champion the cause of a guilty woman, especially a woman guilty with her own husband? —
一个拥有高尚原则的Melanie会支持一个有罪的女人的事业吗？特别是一个和她自己的丈夫有罪的女人？ —

No, indeed! India was just a cracked old maid who hated Scarlett and lied about her and induced Archie and Mrs. Elsing to believe her lies.
当然不会！India只是个心理有问题的老处女，她讨厌Scarlett，说谎诬告她，并诱使Archie和Elsing夫人相信她的谎言。

But, questioned India’s adherents, if Scarlett isn’t guilty, where is Captain Butler? —
但是，支持India的人提出了一个问题：如果Scarlett不是有罪的，那么Butler队长在哪里？ —

Why isn’t he here at his wife’s side, lending her the strength of his countenance? —
他为什么不在妻子身边，借助他坚定的态度给予她力量？ —

That was an unanswerable question and, as the weeks went by and the rumor spread that Scarlett was pregnant, the pro-India group nodded with satisfaction. —
这是一个无法回答的问题，随着时间的推移，关于Scarlett怀孕的谣言传开，支持India的群体满意地点头。 —

It couldn’t be Captain Butler’s baby, they said. —
这不可能是Butler队长的孩子，他们说。 —

For too long the fact of their estrangement had been public property. —
他们的冷淡相处已经是众所周知的事实太久了。 —

For too long the town had been scandalized by the separate bedrooms.
整个城镇已经被分居的消息给闹得沸沸扬扬太久了。

So the gossip ran, tearing the town apart, tearing apart, too, the close-knit clan of Hamiltons, Wilkeses, Burrs, Whitemans and Winfields. —
所以流言蜚语四起，撕裂了这个小镇，也撕裂了汉密尔顿、威尔克斯、伯尔和温菲尔德这个亲密的家族。 —

Everyone in the family connection was forced to take sides. There was no neutral ground. —
家族中的每个人都被迫选边站。没有中立的地方。 —

Melanie with cool dignity and India with acid bitterness saw to that. —
梅兰妮以冷静的尊严，而印度则以尖酸的痛苦来证明这一点。 —

But no matter which side the relatives took, they all were resentful that Scarlett should have been the cause of the family breach. —
但是不论亲戚们站在哪一边，他们都对斯嘉丽成为家族矛盾的起因感到愤怒。 —

None of them thought her worth it. And no matter which side they took, the relatives heartily deplored the fact that India had taken it upon herself to wash the family dirty linen so publicly and involve Ashley in so degrading a scandal. —
他们都认为她不值得。而且不论亲戚们站在哪一边，他们都非常痛惜印度将家庭的丑事公开并卷入了如此可耻的丑闻。 —

But now that she had spoken, many rushed to her defense and took her side against Scarlett, even as others, loving Melanie, stood by her and Scarlett.
但是现在她已经说出来了，许多人愿意为她辩护，并站在她和斯嘉丽这边，就像其他人一样，也爱梅兰妮，支持她和斯嘉丽。

Half of Atlanta was kin to or claimed kin with Melanie and India. The ramifications of cousins, double cousins, cousins-in-law and kissing cousins were so intricate and involved that no one but a born Georgian could ever unravel them. —
亚特兰大有一半的人与梅兰妮和印度有亲属关系或声称与他们有亲属关系。堂兄弟姐妹、重叠的盾牌、姻亲关系和亲吻表亲的后果如此复杂，以至于只有土生土长的乔治亚人才能解开这些关系。 —

They had always been a clannish tribe, presenting an unbroken phalanx of overlapping shields to the world in time of stress, no matter what their private opinions of the conduct of individual kinsmen might be. —
他们一直是一个宗族式的部落，在压力时刻对外界形成一个不可分割的坚实阵线，无论他们对个别亲戚的行为有何私人看法。 —

With the exception of the guerrilla warfare carried on by Aunt Pitty against Uncle Henry, which had been a matter for hilarious laughter within the family for years, there had never been an open breach in the pleasant relations. —
除了Aunt Pitty对Uncle Henry进行的游击战，这在家族内部多年来一直供人欢乐地笑谈之外，从未出现过公开的破裂。 —

They were gentle, quiet spoken, reserved people and not given to even the amiable bickering that characterized most Atlanta families.
他们是温文尔雅、说话轻柔、保守的人，甚至不会像大多数亚特兰大家庭那样善于友好的争吵。

But now they were split in twain and the town was privileged to witness cousins of the fifth and sixth degree taking sides in the most shattering scandal Atlanta had ever seen. —
但现在他们被分成了两派，小镇上有幸目睹到了亚特兰大有史以来最令人震惊的丑闻中的第五和第六代表亲戚站在不同的立场上。 —

This worked great hardship and strained the tact and forbearance of the unrelated half of the town, for the India-Melanie feud made a rupture in practically every social organization. —
这造成了极大的困难和紧张，使得镇上无关的一半居民充满了战争和忍耐，因为印第安和梅兰妮的纷争几乎破坏了每一个社交组织。 —

The Thalians, the Sewing Circle for the Widows and Orphans of the Confederacy, the Association for the Beautification of the Graves of Our Glorious Dead, the Saturday Night Musical Circle, the Ladies’ Evening Cotillion Society, the Young Men’s Library were all involved. —
泰利安人、为邦联残疾寡妇和孤儿开设的缝纫圈、为我们辉煌死者墓地美化开展的协会、周六晚上的音乐圈、女士们的夜间考堂舞社和青年男子图书馆，所有这些组织都被卷入了其中。 —

So were four churches with their Ladies’ Aid and Missionary societies. —
还有四个教堂及其女扶助和传教社团。 —

Great care had to be taken to avoid putting members of warring factions on the same committees.
必须小心翼翼地避免将交战双方的成员分配到同一个委员会。

On their regular afternoons at home, Atlanta matrons were in anguish from four to six o’clock for fear Melanie and Scarlett would call at the same time India and her loyal kin were in their parlors.
在她们每周的家庭下午茶时间，亚特兰大的主妇们从下午四点到六点都苦恼不已，生怕梅兰妮和斯嘉丽会同时造访印第安和她的忠诚家族的客厅。

Of all the family, poor Aunt Pitty suffered the most. —
在所有家庭成员中，可怜的皮蒂姨妈受到了最大的苦难。 —

Pitty, who desired nothing except to live comfortably amid the love of her relatives, would have been very pleased, in this matter, to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. —
珮蒂除了渴望在亲人的爱中舒适地生活之外，她很乐意在这个问题上既与兔子一起跑又与猎犬一起狩猎。 —

But neither the hares nor the hounds would permit this.
但是兔子和猎犬都不会允许这样。

India lived with Aunt Pitty and, if Pitty sided with Melanie, as she wished to do, India would leave. And if India left her, what would poor Pitty do then? —
印第亚和阿姨珮蒂住在一起，如果珮蒂站在梅兰妮这边，正如她所希望的那样，印第亚就会离开。如果印第亚离开了她，那珮蒂怎么办呢？ —

She could not live alone. She would have to get a stranger to live with her or she would have to close up her house and go and live with Scarlett. —
她不能独自生活。她要么得找一个陌生人和她住在一起，要么就得关上她的房子去和斯嘉丽住。 —

Aunt Pitty felt vaguely that Captain Butler would not care for this, or she would have to go and live with Melanie and sleep in the little cubbyhole that was Beau’s nursery.
珮蒂阿姨模模糊糊地觉得巴特勒上尉不会喜欢这样，要不她就得去和梅兰妮住，睡在那个小角落里，那是波的婴儿房。

Pitty was not overly fond of India, for India intimidated her with her dry, stiff-necked ways and her passionate convictions. —
珮蒂并不太喜欢印第亚，因为印第亚用她的干燥僵硬的方式和热情的信念让她感到害怕。 —

But she made it possible for Pitty to keep her own comfortable establishment and Pitty was always swayed more by considerations of personal comfort than by moral issues. —
但是她使得皮蒂可以保持自己舒适的生活环境，而皮蒂总是在追求个人舒适方面比道德问题更为动摇。 —

And so India remained.
所以印第安纳留了下来。

But her presence in the house made Aunt Pitty a storm center, for both Scarlett and Melanie took that to mean that she sided with India. Scarlett curtly refused to contribute more money to Pitty’s establishment as long as India was under the same roof. —
但她在家里的存在让皮蒂成为了争议的中心，因为斯嘉丽和梅兰妮都认为皮蒂站在了印第安纳一边。斯嘉丽傲慢地拒绝为皮蒂的生活费再贡献更多的钱，只要印第安纳还住在同一屋檐下。 —

Ashley sent India money every week and every week India proudly and silently returned it, much to the old lady’s alarm and regret. —
阿什利每周都给印第安纳寄钱，而印第安纳每周都自豪而又沉默地将钱退回，这让老太太感到惊慌和遗憾。 —

Finances at the red-brick house would have been in a deplorable state, but for Uncle Henry’s intervention, and it humiliated Pitty to take money from him.
如果不是亨利叔叔的介入，红砖房子的财务状况本来会非常糟糕，这让皮蒂感到羞辱，因为她不得不从他那里拿钱。

Pitty loved Melanie better than anyone in the world, except herself, and now Melly acted like a cool, polite stranger. —
除了自己以外，皮蒂最爱的就是梅兰妮，而现在梅莉却像一个冷漠而礼貌的陌生人。 —

Though she practically lived in Pitty’s back yard, she never once came through the hedge and she used to run in and out a dozen times a day. —
尽管她几乎是住在皮蒂的后院，但她从未通过树篱进来过，她每天都要跑进跑出十几次。 —

Pitty called on her and wept and protested her love and devotion, but Melanie always refused to discuss matters and never returned the calls.
皮蒂去找她，哭泣着，表达着她的爱和奉献精神，但梅拉妮总是拒绝讨论这些事情，从不回复。

Pitty knew very well what she owed Scarlett—almost her very existence. —
皮蒂很清楚她欠了斯嘉丽很多——几乎是她的整个生活。 —

Certainly in those black days after the war when Pitty was faced with the alternative of Brother Henry or starvation, Scarlett had kept her home for her, fed her, clothed her and enabled her to hold up her head in Atlanta society. —
尤其是在战后黑暗的时期，当皮蒂面临亨利兄弟或饥饿的选择时，斯嘉丽让她回到了家里，给她食物，给她衣服，使她能够在亚特兰大社会中抬起头。 —

And since Scarlett had married and moved into her own home, she had been generosity itself. —
自从斯嘉丽结婚搬到自己的家里以来，她一直非常慷慨。 —

And that frightening fascinating Captain Butler—frequently after he called with Scarlett, Pitty found brand-new purses stuffed with bills on her console table or lace handkerchiefs knotted about gold pieces which had been slyly slipped into her sewing box. —
而那个令人恐惧而又迷人的巴特勒船长——经常在他与斯嘉丽一起到访之后，皮蒂会发现新的钱包塞满了纸币放在她的台子上，或者金币被偷偷放进她的针盒中打了结的蕾丝手帕里。 —

Rhett always vowed he knew nothing about them and accused her, in a very unrefined way, of having a secret admirer, usually the be-whiskered Grandpa Merriwether.
雷特总是发誓他对它们一无所知，并用非常粗鲁的方式指责她有一个秘密的爱慕者，通常是络腮胡子的梅里韦瑟爷爷。

Yes, Pitty owed love to Melanie, security to Scarlett, and what did she owe India? —
是的，皮蒂欠梅拉妮的爱，给斯嘉丽提供了安全感，那她欠印度什么？ —

Nothing, except that India’s presence kept her from having to break up her pleasant life and make decisions for herself. —
除了印度的存在让她不必打破自己美好的生活并为自己做决定之外，什么都没有。 —

It was all most distressing and too, too vulgar and Pitty, who had never made a decision for herself in her whole life, simply let matters go on as they were and as a result spent much time in uncomforted tears.
这一切都非常令人苦恼，太过粗俗，皮蒂从未为自己做过任何决定，在她整个生活中只是听之任之，结果她花了很多时间悲不自胜地流泪。

In the end, some people believed whole-heartedly in Scarlett’s innocence, not because of her own personal virtue but because Melanie believed in it. —
最终，一些人全心全意相信斯嘉丽的无辜，不是因为她个人的美德，而是因为梅拉妮相信她的无辜。 —

Some had mental reservations but they were courteous to Scarlett and called on her because they loved Melanie and wished to keep her love. —
有些人对斯嘉丽持有保留意见，但他们对她很有礼貌，并拜访她，因为他们爱梅拉妮，希望维持她的爱。 —

India’s adherents bowed coldly and some few cut her openly. —
印度的拥护者冷冷地鞠了一躬，还有一些人公开对她疏远。 —

These last were embarrassing, infuriating, but Scarlett realized that, except for Melanie’s championship and her quick action, the face of the whole town would have been set against her and she would have been an outcast.
这些最后的事情令人尴尬、愤怒，但是斯嘉丽意识到，如果不是梅拉妮的坚定支持和她迅速的行动，整个镇子都会对她敌视，并将她排斥在外。