Tom arrived at home in a dreary mood, and the first thing his aunt said to him showed him that he had brought his sorrows to an unpromising market:
汤姆情绪低落地回到了家，他的舅妈对他说的第一句话就让他意识到他把自己的烦恼带到了一个不乐观的市场。

“Tom, I’ve a notion to skin you alive!”
“汤姆，我想把你活剥了！”

“Auntie, what have I done?”
“舅妈，我做了什么？”

“Well, you’ve done enough. Here I go over to Sereny Harper, like an old softy, expecting I’m going to make her believe all that rubbage about that dream, when lo and behold you she’d found out from Joe that you was over here and heard all the talk we had that night. —
“哼，你已经做了足够多的事了。我像个老呆子一样过去找瑟琳尼·哈珀，希望她相信我们那晚的那个梦的胡说八道，结果她从乔那里发现你过来了，听到了我们那晚的谈话。” —

Tom, I don’t know what is to become of a boy that will act like that. —
“汤姆，我不知道一个像你那样行事的孩子将来会怎么样。” —

It makes me feel so bad to think you could let me go to Sereny Harper and make such a fool of myself and never say a word.”
“我感觉很糟糕，想到你竟然让我去找瑟琳尼·哈珀，让我像个傻瓜一样，从来没说过一句话。”

This was a new aspect of the thing. His smartness of the morning had seemed to Tom a good joke before, and very ingenious. —
这是事情的一个新方面。早上他的聪明才智在汤姆看来是个好笑的玩笑，并且非常独创。 —

It merely looked mean and shabby now. He hung his head and could not think of anything to say for a moment. Then he said:
但现在它只是看起来卑鄙和可怜。他低着头，一时不知道要说什么。然后他说：

“Auntie, I wish I hadn’t done it—but I didn’t think.”
“阿姨，要是我当时不做那个事，我多好啊，可是我没想那么多。”

“Oh, child, you never think. You never think of anything but your own selfishness. —
“哎呀，孩子，你从来就不会想。你只会考虑自己的自私心思。 —

You could think to come all the way over here from Jackson’s Island in the night to laugh at our troubles, and you could think to fool me with a lie about a dream; —
你居然能够想到从杰克逊岛过来，只是为了嘲笑我们的困境。你居然能够编个谎言来愚弄我； —

but you couldn’t ever think to pity us and save us from sorrow.”
可是你却从来没有想过可怜我们，让我们摆脱痛苦。”

“Auntie, I know now it was mean, but I didn’t mean to be mean. I didn’t, honest. —
“阿姨，我现在知道那是卑鄙的，但是我真的不是故意的，真的。 —

And besides, I didn’t come over here to laugh at you that night.”
而且，我那天晚上过来并不是为了嘲笑您。”

“What did you come for, then?”
“那你过来是为了什么呢？”

“It was to tell you not to be uneasy about us, because we hadn’t got drownded.”
“是为了告诉您，不用为我们担心，因为我们并没有淹死。”

“Tom, Tom, I would be the thankfullest soul in this world if I could believe you ever had as good a thought as that, but you know you never did—and I know it, Tom.”
“汤姆，汤姆，如果我能够相信你真的有那样一个善念，我会是世上最感激的人，但是你知道你从来没有那样的念头，我知道，汤姆。”

“Indeed and ’deed I did, auntie—I wish I may never stir if I didn’t.”
“真的、真的，阿姨，我发誓我有过那样的想法。”

“Oh, Tom, don’t lie—don’t do it. It only makes things a hundred times worse.”
“哦，汤姆，不要撒谎——别这么做。这只会让事情变得更糟糕一百倍。”

“It ain’t a lie, auntie; it’s the truth. —
“这不是谎言，阿姨；这是真话。” —

I wanted to keep you from grieving—that was all that made me come.”
“我只是想让你不再伤心，只是为了这个我才回来的。”

“I’d give the whole world to believe that—it would cover up a power of sins, Tom. I’d ’most be glad you’d run off and acted so bad. —
“我愿意为了相信这一切而付出整个世界，那样可以掩盖许多罪过，汤姆。我几乎会因为你逃走和表现得这么糟糕而感到高兴。” —

But it ain’t reasonable; because, why didn’t you tell me, child?”
“但这不合情理；因为，你为什么不告诉我呢，孩子？”

“Why, you see, when you got to talking about the funeral, I just got all full of the idea of our coming and hiding in the church, and I couldn’t somehow bear to spoil it. —
“你瞧，当你开始谈论葬礼时，我突然想到我们要来教堂躲起来，我就有些忍不住了。” —

So I just put the bark back in my pocket and kept mum.”
“所以我把写字的纸条放回口袋里，保持沉默。”

“What bark?”
“什么纸条？”

“The bark I had wrote on to tell you we’d gone pirating. —
“我写的纸条，告诉你我们要去海盗。” —

I wish, now, you’d waked up when I kissed you—I do, honest.”
“现在，我希望你在我亲吻你时醒来，真的，我诚实地说。”

The hard lines in his aunt’s face relaxed and a sudden tenderness dawned in her eyes.
他阿姨脸上的皱纹舒展开来，眼中闪现出突然的温柔。

“Did you kiss me, Tom?”
“你亲吻了我，汤姆？”

“Why, yes, I did.”
“是的，我亲吻了。”

“Are you sure you did, Tom?”
“你确定你亲吻了我，汤姆？”

“Why, yes, I did, auntie—certain sure.”
“是的，是的，我确实这样做了，阿姨。”

“What did you kiss me for, Tom?”
“你为什么亲我，汤姆？”

“Because I loved you so, and you laid there moaning and I was so sorry.”
“因为我太爱你了，而你躺在那里呻吟，我好难过。”

The words sounded like truth. The old lady could not hide a tremor in her voice when she said:
这些话听起来像是真的。当老太太说话的时候，她的声音带着颤抖，她无法掩饰。

“Kiss me again, Tom!—and be off with you to school, now, and don’t bother me any more.”
“再亲我一次，汤姆！然后你就去上学吧，不要再打扰我了。”

The moment he was gone, she ran to a closet and got out the ruin of a jacket which Tom had gone pirating in. —
他一走，她就跑到一间衣橱里，拿出了汤姆穿着去当海盗的破破烂烂的夹克。 —

Then she stopped, with it in her hand, and said to herself:
然后，她停住了，手里拿着夹克，对自己说：

“No, I don’t dare. Poor boy, I reckon he’s lied about it—but it’s a blessed, blessed lie, there’s such a comfort come from it. —
“不，我不能。可怜的孩子，我猜他在撒谎，但这是一个幸福的，幸福的谎言，给我带来了那么多的安慰。 —

I hope the Lord—I know the Lord will forgive him, because it was such good-heartedness in him to tell it. —
我希望上帝——我相信上帝会原谅他，因为他这么诚心地告诉了这个谎言。 —

But I don’t want to find out it’s a lie. I won’t look.”
但我不想知道这是个谎言。我不会去看的。”

She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. —
她把夹克收起来，站在那里冥思片刻。 —

Twice she put out her hand to take the garment again, and twice she refrained. —
她两次伸出手去拿那件衣物，两次克制住自己。 —

Once more she ventured, and this time she fortified herself with the thought: —
再一次她冒险了，这次她用一种想法来使自己坚定下来： —

“It’s a good lie—it’s a good lie—I won’t let it grieve me. —
“这是个好谎言—这是个好谎言—我不会让它困扰我。” —

” So she sought the jacket pocket. A moment later she was reading Tom’s piece of bark through flowing tears and saying: —
于是，她找到了夹克口袋。过了一会儿，她泪流满面地读着汤姆的树皮片，同时说道： —

“I could forgive the boy, now, if he’d committed a million sins!”
“现在，即使他犯了成百上千的罪，我也能原谅这个孩子！”