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移除书签Elizabeth had the satisfaction of receiving an answer to her letter as soon as she possibly could. —-
She was no sooner in possession of it than, hurrying into the little copse, where she was least likely to be interrupted, she sat down on one of the benches, and prepared to be happy; —-
for the length of the letter convinced her that it did not contain a denial.
“Gracechurch Street, Sept. 6.“格雷斯丘吉街，9月6日。 “My dear Niece, — I have just received your letter, and shall devote this whole morning to answering it, as I foresee that a little writing will not comprise what I have to tell you. —-“我亲爱的侄女，我刚刚收到了你的信，我将把整个上午都用来回复你，因为我预见到简短的几句话无法涵盖我要告诉你的一切。 —- I must confess myself surprised by your application; I did not expect it from you. —-我必须承认，你的来信让我感到惊讶；我没想到会是你发出这样的咨询。 —- Don’t think me angry, however, for I only mean to let you know that I had not imagined such enquiries to be necessary on your side. —-但请不要以为我生气，我只是想让你知道，我本没有想到你方面需要进行这样的询问。 —- If you do not choose to understand me, forgive my impertinence. —-如果你选择不理解我的意思，请原谅我的冒昧。 —- Your uncle is as much surprised as I am, and nothing but the belief of your being a party concerned would have allowed him to act as he has done. —-你的叔叔和我一样感到惊讶，只有相信你是当事人之一，他才会如此行动。 —- But if you are really innocent and ignorant, I must be more explicit.但如果你真的是无辜无知的话，我必须说得更明确一些。 “On the very day of my coming home from Longbourn, your uncle had a most unexpected visitor. —-“在我从浪搏恩回家的当天，你叔叔接待了一位完全出乎意料的访客。 —- Mr. Darcy called, and was shut up with him several hours. It was all over before I arrived; —-达西先生来访了，并且和他闭门谈了好几个小时。当我到达时，一切已经结束了； —- so my curiosity was not so dreadfully racked as yours seems to have been. —-一切已经结束了；所以我的好奇心并没有像你的那样被极度折磨。 —- He came to tell Mr. Gardiner that he had found out where your sister and Mr. Wickham were, and that he had seen and talked with them both — Wickham repeatedly, Lydia once. —-他来告诉加德纳先生，他找到了你姐姐和威克姆的下落，他看到了他们两个并且和他们都谈过 —— 和威克姆多次，和丽迪雅一次。 —- From what I can collect, he left Derbyshire only one day after ourselves, and came to town with the resolution of hunting for them. —-据我收集到的信息，他在我们自己离开德比郡的第二天就离开了，随后他带着查找他们的决心来到了都城。 —- The motive professed was his conviction of its being owing to himself that Wickham’s worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide in him. —-他声称的动机是他相信由于他自身的原因，威克姆的不堪一面并没有为人所熟知，以至于没有任何有品格的年轻女性会爱上或信任他。 —- He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride, and confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private actions open to the world. —-他慷慨地将全部错误归咎于自己的错误骄傲，也承认他曾经认为把私事摊在大众面前是不屑一顾的。 —- His character was to speak for itself. He called it, therefore, his duty to step forward, and endeavour to remedy an evil which had been brought on by himself. —-他认为自己的品格会自卫。因此，他认为有责任站出来，试图纠正自己造成的这个恶劣局面。 —- If he had another motive, I am sure it would never disgrace him. —-如果他另有其他动机，我确信那永远不会玷污他。 —- He had been some days in town before he was able to discover them; —-在他能够找到他们之前，他已经在城里待了几天. —- but he had something to direct his search, which was more than we had; —-但他有一些搜索的线索，那是比我们所拥有的更多； —- and the consciousness of this was another reason for his resolving to follow us.而且对此的自知之明，是他决定跟随我们的另一个原因。 “There is a lady, it seems, a Mrs. Younge, who was some time ago governess to Miss Darcy, and was dismissed from her charge on some cause of disapprobation, though he did not say what. —-“有个女士，似乎是一个名叫扬格太太，曾经是达西小姐的家庭教师，因为某些不满的原因被解雇了，尽管他没有说具体是什么原因。 —- She then took a large house in Edward Street, and has since maintained herself by letting lodgings. —-后来，她在爱德华街租了一座大房子，此后她靠出租房间维生。 —- This Mrs. Younge was, he knew, intimately acquainted with Wickham; —-扬格太太是他知道的，和威克姆非常熟络； —- and he went to her for intelligence of him, as soon as he got to town. —-他一到城里便找她打听威克姆的消息。 —- But it was two or three days before he could get from her what he wanted. —-但他花了两三天才从她那里得到他想要的信息。 —- She would not betray her trust, I suppose, without bribery and corruption, for she really did know where her friend was to be found. —-我猜她是不愿意背叛朋友信任的，除非有贿赂和腐败，因为她真的知道她的朋友在哪里。 —- Wickham, indeed, had gone to her on their first arrival in London, and had she been able to receive them into her house, they would have taken up their abode with her. —-威克姆的确在他们第一次到达伦敦时就去找过她，如果她能接纳他们进她的房子，他们就会与她同住。 —- At length, however, our kind friend procured the wished-for direction. —-但是，终于，我们的好朋友得到了所希望的信息。 —- They were in — — Street. He saw Wickham, and afterwards insisted on seeing Lydia. His first object with her, he acknowledged, had been to persuade her to quit her present disgraceful situation, and return to her friends as soon as they could be prevailed on to receive her, offering his assistance as far as it would go. —-他们在 — — 街。他见到了威克姆，之后坚持要见丽迪雅。他承认，他最初和她接触的目的是说服她离开目前这种不体面的境地，尽可能说服她的朋友收留她，他愿意提供尽可能的帮助。 —- But he found Lydia absolutely resolved on remaining where she was. —-但他发现丽迪雅完全决心留在她现在的地方。她不在乎任何朋友； —- She cared for none of her friends; she wanted no help of his; —-她不需要他的帮助；她不愿意听到离开威克姆的事； —- she would not hear of leaving Wickham; she was sure they should be married some time or other, and it did not much signify when. —-她确信他们迟早会结婚，何时结并不重要。 —- Since such were her feelings, it only remained, he thought, to secure and expedite a marriage, which, in his very first conversation with Wickham, he easily learnt had never been his design. —-既然她有这样的感情，他认为，只剩下加速确保婚姻的事情了。在他与威克姆的第一次谈话中，他很容易地就知道结婚从来都不是威克姆自己的计划。 —- He confessed himself obliged to leave the regiment on account of some debts of honour which were very pressing; —-他坦白自己因为一些迫在眉睫的荣誉债务不得不离开团队； —- and scrupled not to lay all the ill consequences of Lydia’s flight on her own folly alone. —-并且毫不掩饰地把丽迪雅离家出走的所有坏后果都归咎于她自己的愚蠢。 —- He meant to resign his commission immediately; —-他打算立即辞去自己的委任.—- and as to his future situation, he could conjecture very little about it. —-并且对于他未来的境况，他几乎无从猜测。 —- He must go somewhere, but he did not know where, and he knew he should have nothing to live on.他必须去某个地方，但他不知道去哪里，也知道自己将一无所有。 “Mr. Darcy asked him why he had not married your sister at once? —-“Mr. 达西问他为什么没有立即和你的姐姐结婚？ —- Though Mr. Bennet was not imagined to be very rich, he would have been able to do something for him, and his situation must have been benefited by marriage. —-尽管班纳特先生不被认为很富有，但他本可以对威克姆有所帮助，他的处境肯定会因为婚姻而有所改善。 —- But he found, in reply to this question, that Wickham still cherished the hope of more effectually making his fortune by marriage in some other country. —-但他发现，对于这个问题，威克姆仍然抱有通过在其他国家结婚更有效地发财的希望。 —- Under such circumstances, however, he was not likely to be proof against the temptation of immediate relief.然而，处在这样的情况下，他不太可能抵抗住即时救济的诱惑。 “They met several times, for there was much to be discussed. —-“他们见了好几次，因为有很多事情需要讨论。 —- Wickham, of course, wanted more than he could get, but at length was reduced to be reasonable.威克姆当然想要得到比他能得到的更多，但最终不得不变得理智。 “Everything being settled between them, Mr. Darcy’s next step was to make your uncle acquainted with it, and he first called in Gracechurch Street the evening before I came home. —-“一切都在他们之间解决了，达西先生的下一步是让你的舅舅知道这事，于是他在我回家的前一天晚上首先前往格雷斯彻奇街。 —- But Mr. Gardiner could not be seen, and Mr. Darcy found, on further inquiry, that your father was still with him, but would quit town the next morning. —-但是加德纳先生无法见面，达西先生进一步查询，得知你的父亲仍然和他在一起，但第二天早上就会离开城镇。 —- He did not judge your father to be a person whom he could so properly consult as your uncle, and therefore readily postponed seeing him till after the departure of the former. —-他不认为你的父亲是一个适合咨询的人，于是很愿意推迟见面，直到前者离开。 —- He did not leave his name, and till the next day it was only known that a gentleman had called on business.他没有留下姓名，直到第二天，人们才知道有位先生来办事了。 “On Saturday he came again. Your father was gone, your uncle at home, and, as I said before, they had a great deal of talk together.“周六他又来了。你的父亲走了，你的舅舅在家，而且，正如我之前说的，他们有很多话要谈。 “They met again on Sunday, and then I saw him too. It was not all settled before Monday: —-“周日他们再次见面，那一天我也见到了他。一切直到周一才定下来： —- as soon as it was, the express was sent off to Longbourn. But our visitor was very obstinate. —-一旦确定，马上就派出了快马去浪搏恩。但我们的访客非常固执。 —- I fancy, Lizzy, that obstinacy is the real defect of his character after all. —-丽兹，我想，固执可能是他性格上真正的缺陷。 —- He has been accused of many faults at different times, but this is the true one. —-他曾经因为不同的错误被多次指责，但这个才是真正的。 —- Nothing was to be done that he did not do himself; —-没有他亲自做的事情. —- though I am sure (and I do not speak it to be thanked, therefore say nothing about it) your uncle would most readily have settled the whole.尽管我确定（我不是说这个为了得到感谢，所以不要说出去）你的舅舅最愿意全权处理这一切。 “They battled it together for a long time, which was more than either the gentleman or lady concerned in it deserved. —-“他们争执了很长时间，这比其中任何一位先生或女士所应得的都要多。 —- But at last your uncle was forced to yield, and instead of being allowed to be of use to his niece, was forced to put up with only having the probable credit of it, which went sorely against the grain; —-但最后你的舅舅不得不让步，而不能对侄女有所帮助，只能满足于可能得到的赞扬，这让他很不是滋味； —- and I really believe your letter this morning gave him great pleasure, because it required an explanation that would rob him of his borrowed feathers, and give the praise where it was due. —-而我真相信你今天早上的信给了他很大的欢乐，因为它需要一个会夺走他借来的羽毛并且把赞扬给予当之无愧的人的解释。 —- But, Lizzy, this must go no farther than yourself, or Jane at most.但是，丽兹，这件事只能告诉你自己，或者最多告诉简。 “You know pretty well, I suppose, what has been done for the young people. —-“你大概相当清楚，为这些年轻人做了些什么。 —- His debts are to be paid, amounting, I believe, to considerably more than a thousand pounds, another thousand in addition to her own settled upon her, and his commission purchased. —-他的债务将被还清，我相信金额多达一千多英镑，另外一千英镑加在她自己的份上，并且他的军官职位也被买下。 —- The reason why all this was to be done by him alone was such as I have given above. —-这一切之所以由他独自完成的理由，正如我以上所给出的。 —- It was owing to him, to his reserve and want of proper consideration, that Wickham’s character had been so misunderstood, and, consequently, that he had been received and noticed as he was. —-这都是因为他的保留和缺乏适当的考虑，才导致威克姆的性格被误解，从而，他也因此被接纳和注意。 —- Perhaps there was some truth in this; —-也许这个说法有些真实. —- though I doubt whether his reserve, or anybody’s reserve, can be answerable for the event. —-尽管我怀疑他的保守，或者任何人的保守，能够负责的回答这个事件 —- But in spite of all this fine talking, my dear Lizzy, you may rest perfectly assured that your uncle would never have yielded, if we had not given him credit for another interest in the affair.尽管如此多的美言，亲爱的丽兹，你完全可以放心，如果我们没有认为你叔叔在这件事上还有另一种兴趣，他是绝对不会同意的。 “When all this was resolved on, he returned again to his friends, who were still staying at Pemberley; —-“一切决定之后，他再次回到彭伯里的朋友那里； —- but it was agreed that he should be in London once more when the wedding took place, and all money matters were then to receive the last finish.但是大家都同意，婚礼的时候他应该再一次回到伦敦，届时所有有关金钱的事情都将最终敲定。 “I believe I have now told you everything. —-“我想我已经告诉了你所有的事情。 —- It is a relation which you tell me is to give you great surprise; —-这是一个令你非常惊讶的消息； —- I hope at least it will not afford you any displeasure. Lydia came to us; —-我至少希望它不会令你不快。丽迪雅来到了我们这里； —- and Wickham had constant admission to the house. —-威克姆也经常得以进入。 —- He was exactly what he had been when I knew him in Hertfordshire; —-对于他，他和我在赫特福德郡认识时完全一样； —- but I would not tell you how little I was satisfied with her behaviour while she staid with us, if I had not perceived, by Jane’s letter last Wednesday, that her conduct on coming home was exactly of a piece with it, and therefore what I now tell you can give you no fresh pain. —-但若不是上周三通过简的信得知她回家后的行为仍然如出一辙，我就不会告诉你，我对她在我们家的行为有多不满意了，因此现在我的话不会给你带来新的痛苦。 —- I talked to her repeatedly in the most serious manner, representing to her all the wickedness of what she had done and all the unhappiness she had brought on her family. —-我多次非常严肃地与她谈话，向她展示她所做的一切邪恶及给家人带来的所有不幸。 —- If she heard me, it was by good luck, for I am sure she did not listen. —-如果她有听进去，那也是运气好，因为我确信她并没有在听。 —- I was sometimes quite provoked, but then I recollected my dear Elizabeth and Jane, and for their sakes had patience with her.有时我真的很生气，但随后我会想到亲爱的伊丽莎白和简，为了她们我会忍耐她。 “Mr. Darcy was punctual in his return, and, as Lydia informed you, attended the wedding. —-“达西先生如约回来，并且正如丽迪雅告诉你的，参加了婚礼。 —- He dined with us the next day, and was to leave town again on Wednesday or Thursday. —-他与我们一起吃了第二天的饭，周三或周四又将离开伦敦。 —- Will you be very angry with me, my Dear Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold enough to say before) how much I like him? —-亲爱的丽兹，如果我趁此机会说一些我以前从未敢说的话（我非常喜欢他），你会对我非常生气吗？ —- His behaviour to us has, in every respect, been as pleasing as when we were in Derbyshire. —-他对待我们的方式，在各方面都和我们在德比郡时一样让人愉悦。 —- His understanding and opinions all please me; —-他的理解和观点我都很喜欢； —- he wants nothing but a little more liveliness, and that, if he marry prudently, his wife may teach him. —-他只缺一点活力，而如果他选择得当，他的妻子可以教他。 —- I thought him very sly; — he hardly ever mentioned your name. —-我觉得他很狡猾；— 他几乎不提你的名字。 —- But slyness seems the fashion.但看来狡猾正当时尚。 “Pray forgive me if I have been very presuming; —-“请原谅我如果我过于冒失； —- or at least do not punish me so far as to exclude me from P. I shall never be quite happy till I have been all round the park. —-或者至少不要因此惩罚我，让我无法进入P圆。在我没遍历过整个公园之前，我将永远不会完全快乐。 —- A low phaeton, with a nice little pair of ponies, would be the very thing.一辆低矮的轻便马车，配上一对漂亮的小马，将是最合适的。 “But I must write no more. The children have been wanting me this half-hour.“但我再不能写下去了。孩子们已经在叫我半小时了。 “Your’s, very sincerely, “ —-“你真诚的, “ —- M. Gardiner.”M. 加德纳.”
The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits, in which it was difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the greatest share. —-
The vague and unsettled suspicions which uncertainty had produced of what Mr. Darcy might have been doing to forward her sister’s match, which she had feared to encourage as an exertion of goodness too great to be probable, and at the same time dreaded to be just, from the pain of obligation, were proved beyond their greatest extent to be true! —-
He had followed them purposely to town, he had taken on himself all the trouble and mortification attendant on such a research; —-
in which supplication had been necessary to a woman whom he must abominate and despise, and where he was reduced to meet — frequently meet, reason with, persuade, and finally bribe — the man whom he always most wished to avoid, and whose very name it was punishment to him to pronounce. —-
He had done all this for a girl whom he could neither regard nor esteem. —-
Her heart did whisper that he had done it for her. —-
But it was a hope shortly checked by other considerations, and she soon felt that even her vanity was insufficient, when required to depend on his affection for her, for a woman who had already refused him, as able to overcome a sentiment so natural as abhorrence against relationship with Wickham. —-
— Brother-in-law of Wickham! Every kind of pride must revolt from the connexion. —-
He had, to be sure, done much — she was ashamed to think how much. —-
But he had given a reason for his interference, which asked no extraordinary stretch of belief. —-
It was reasonable that he should feel he had been wrong; —-
he had liberality, and he had the means of exercising it; —-
and though she would not place herself as his principal inducement, she could perhaps believe that remaining partiality for her might assist his endeavours in a cause where her peace of mind must be materially concerned. —-
It was painful, exceedingly painful, to know that they were under obligations to a person who could never receive a return. —-
They owed the restoration of Lydia, her character, everything to him. Oh! —-
how heartily did she grieve over every ungracious sensation she had ever encouraged, every saucy speech she had ever directed towards him. —-
For herself, she was humbled; but she was proud of him. —-
Proud that in a cause of compassion and honour he had been able to get the better of himself. —-
She read over her aunt’s commendation of him again and again. It was hardly enough; —-
but it pleased her. She was even sensible of some pleasure, though mixed with regret, on finding how steadfastly both she and her uncle had been persuaded that affection and confidence subsisted between Mr. Darcy and herself.
She was roused from her seat and her reflections by some one’s approach; —-
and before she could strike into another path she was overtaken by Wickham.
“I am afraid I interrupt your solitary ramble, my dear sister?” said he, as he joined her.
“You certainly do,” she replied with a smile; —-
“but it does not follow that the interruption must be unwelcome.”
“I should be sorry indeed if it were. We were always good friends; and now we are better.”
“True. Are the others coming out?”
“I do not know. Mrs. Bennet and Lydia are going in the carriage to Meryton. —-
And so, my dear sister, I find from our uncle and aunt that you have actually seen Pemberley.”
She replied in the affirmative.
“I almost envy you the pleasure, and yet I believe it would be too much for me, or else I could take it in my way to Newcastle. —-
And you saw the old housekeeper, I suppose? —-
Poor Reynolds, she was always very fond of me. —-
But of course she did not mention my name to you.”
“Yes, she did.”
“And what did she say?”
“That you were gone into the army, and, she was afraid, had — not turned out well. —-
At such a distance as that, you know, things are strangely misrepresented.”
“Certainly,” he replied, biting his lips.
Elizabeth hoped she had silenced him; but he soon afterwards said —
“I was surprised to see Darcy in town last month. —-
We passed each other several times. I wonder what he can be doing there.”
“Perhaps preparing for his marriage with Miss de Bourgh,” said Elizabeth. —-
“It must be something particular to take him there at this time of year.”
“Undoubtedly. Did you see him while you were at Lambton? —-
I thought I understood from the Gardiners that you had.”
“Yes; he introduced us to his sister.”
“And do you like her?”
“Very much.”
“I have heard, indeed, that she is uncommonly improved within this year or two. —-
When I last saw her she was not very promising. —-
I am very glad you like her. I hope she will turn out well.”
“I dare say she will; she has got over the most trying age.”
“Did you go by the village of Kympton?”
“I do not recollect that we did.”
“I mention it because it is the living which I ought to have had. A most delightful place! —-
— Excellent Parsonage House! It would have suited me in every respect.”
“How should you have liked making sermons?”
“Exceedingly well. I should have considered it as part of my duty, and the exertion would soon have been nothing. —-
One ought not to repine; but, to be sure, it would have been such a thing for me! —-
The quiet, the retirement of such a life, would have answered all my ideas of happiness! —-
But it was not to be. Did you ever hear Darcy mention the circumstance when you were in Kent?”
“I have heard, from authority which I thought as good, that it was left you conditionally only, and at the will of the present patron.”
“You have! — Yes, there was something in that; —-
I told you so from the first, you may remember.”
“I did hear, too, that there was a time when sermon-making was not so palatable to you as it seems to be at present — that you actually declared your resolution of never taking orders, and that the business had been compromised accordingly.”
“You did! — and it was not wholly without foundation. —-
You may remember what I told you on that point, when first we talked of it.”
They were now almost at the door of the house, for she had walked fast to get rid of him, and, unwilling for her sister’s sake to provoke him, she only said in reply, with a good-humoured smile —
“Come, Mr. Wickham, we are brother and sister, you know. —-
Do not let us quarrel about the past. In future, I hope we shall be always of one mind.”
She held out her hand; he kissed it with affectionate gallantry, though he hardly knew how to look, and they entered the house.
