The day had begun to dawn. Fantine had passed a sleepless and feverish night, filled with happy visions; —
乌云渐渐散去，黎明即将到来。芳汀度过了一个彻夜未眠、充满幸福幻想的夜晚； —

at daybreak she fell asleep. Sister Simplice, who had been watching with her, availed herself of this slumber to go and prepare a new potion of chinchona. —
天亮时她入睡了。辛普莱斯修女趁着她的睡眠去调制一剂新的金銂胡椒素药水； —

The worthy sister had been in the laboratory of the infirmary but a few moments, bending over her drugs and phials, and scrutinizing things very closely, on account of the dimness which the half-light of dawn spreads over all objects. —
善良的修女只在医务室的实验室待了短短几分钟，俯身在她的药品和药瓶上，仔细地检视着，因为黎明的微光会将所有物体笼罩在朦胧之中； —

Suddenly she raised her head and uttered a faint shriek. —
突然她抬起头发出了一声轻微的尖叫； —

M. Madeleine stood before her; he had just entered silently.
马德琳站在她面前；他刚刚悄无声息地进来；

“Is it you, Mr. Mayor?” she exclaimed.
“是你，市长先生？”她惊呼道；

He replied in a low voice:–
他低声回答说：–

“How is that poor woman?”
“那个可怜的女人怎么样了呢？”

“Not so bad just now; but we have been very uneasy.”
“现在还好，但我们一直很担心。”

She explained to him what had passed: that Fantine had been very ill the day before, and that she was better now, because she thought that the mayor had gone to Montfermeil to get her child. —
她向他解释了发生的事情：范妮昨天病得很重，但现在好一些了，因为她认为市长已经去蒙费雷拿回了她的孩子。 —

The sister dared not question the mayor; —
修女不敢询问市长； —

but she perceived plainly from his air that he had not come from there.
但她从他的神情中清楚地看出他并不是从那边回来的。

“All that is good,” said he; “you were right not to undeceive her.”
“这一切都很好,“他说；”你做得对，不要让她知道真相。”

“Yes,” responded the sister; “but now, Mr. Mayor, she will see you and will not see her child. —
“是的,“修女回答；”但现在，市长先生，她会见到您，但不会见到她的孩子。 —

What shall we say to her?”
我们应该对她说些什么？”

He reflected for a moment.
他思考了一会。

“God will inspire us,” said he.
“上帝会启发我们,“他说。

“But we cannot tell a lie,” murmured the sister, half aloud.
“但我们不能说谎,“修女小声抱怨道。

It was broad daylight in the room. The light fell full on M. Madeleine’s face. —
房间里光线明亮。光线照在了马德莱娜先生的脸上。 —

The sister chanced to raise her eyes to it.
修女碰巧抬头看了一眼。

“Good God, sir!” she exclaimed; “what has happened to you? Your hair is perfectly white!”
“天哪，先生!“她惊呼；”您的头发完全变白了!”

“White!” said he.
“白色!“他说。

Sister Simplice had no mirror. She rummaged in a drawer, and pulled out the little glass which the doctor of the infirmary used to see whether a patient was dead and whether he no longer breathed. —
西蒙努斯修女没有镜子。她在抽屉里翻找，拿出了医务室医生用来确认病人是否已死亡、是否不再呼吸的小玻璃。 —

M. Madeleine took the mirror, looked at his hair, and said:–
马德兰先生拿起了镜子，看了看自己的头发，说道:–

“Well!”
“好!”

He uttered the word indifferently, and as though his mind were on something else.
他冷漠地说出这个词，仿佛心思在别处。

The sister felt chilled by something strange of which she caught a glimpse in all this.
修女感到一丝她隐约感知到的奇怪感觉让她感到寒冷。

He inquired:–
他问道:–

“Can I see her?”
“我可以看到她吗?”

“Is not Monsieur le Maire going to have her child brought back to her?” —
“马雷市长不会让孩子带回给她吗?” —

said the sister, hardly venturing to put the question.
修女说道，几乎不敢问。

“Of course; but it will take two or three days at least.”
“当然;但至少需要两三天。”

“If she were not to see Monsieur le Maire until that time,” went on the sister, timidly, “she would not know that Monsieur le Maire had returned, and it would be easy to inspire her with patience; —
修女继续小心翼翼地说道，“如果她在那时候还没有见到马雷市长，她就不会知道马雷市长已经回来了，这样会很容易让她保持耐心； —

and when the child arrived, she would naturally think Monsieur le Maire had just come with the child. —
当孩子到了的时候，她自然会认为马雷市长刚刚带着孩子来。 —

We should not have to enact a lie.”
我们不必撒一个谎。”

M. Madeleine seemed to reflect for a few moments; then he said with his calm gravity:–
马德兰先生似乎沉思了一会儿，然后以他的冷静庄重说道:–

“No, sister, I must see her. I may, perhaps, be in haste.”
“不，修女，我必须见她。也许，我可能会着急。”

The nun did not appear to notice this word “perhaps,” which communicated an obscure and singular sense to the words of the mayor’s speech. —
修女似乎没有注意到这个词“也许”，它赋予市长演讲的话语一种模糊而独特的意义。 —

She replied, lowering her eyes and her voice respectfully:–
她恭敬地降低声音和眼神回答：

“In that case, she is asleep; but Monsieur le Maire may enter.”
“如果是这样，那她应该是在睡觉了；但市长可以进入。”

He made some remarks about a door which shut badly, and the noise of which might awaken the sick woman; —
他就那道门关得不好发表了一些意见，担心那噪音会吵醒病人； —

then he entered Fantine’s chamber, approached the bed and drew aside the curtains. She was asleep. —
然后他走进芳汀的房间，走近床边，拉开窗帘。她正在睡觉。 —

Her breath issued from her breast with that tragic sound which is peculiar to those maladies, and which breaks the hearts of mothers when they are watching through the night beside their sleeping child who is condemned to death. —
她的呼吸从胸腔中发出那种特有于某些疾病的悲剧性声音，它让母亲们在夜间守护患重病的孩子入睡时内心绞痛。 —

But this painful respiration hardly troubled a sort of ineffable serenity which overspread her countenance, and which transfigured her in her sleep. —
但这种痛苦的呼吸几乎没有影响到她脸上一种难以言喻的平静，让她在睡梦中变得神圣。 —

Her pallor had become whiteness; her cheeks were crimson; —
她的苍白已经变成洁白；她的脸颊涂抹上了绯红； —

her long golden lashes, the only beauty of her youth and her virginity which remained to her, palpitated, though they remained closed and drooping. —
她那双长长的金色睫毛，是她青春和贞洁唯一留存的美丽，虽然合拢下垂，也在颤动。 —

Her whole person was trembling with an indescribable unfolding of wings, all ready to open wide and bear her away, which could be felt as they rustled, though they could not be seen. —
她整个人都在颤抖，仿佛难以描述的一对翅膀即将展开，可以感觉到它们拍动的声音，尽管看不见。 —

To see her thus, one would never have dreamed that she was an invalid whose life was almost despaired of. —
看她这样，绝不会想到她是一个生命危在旦夕的病人。 —

She resembled rather something on the point of soaring away than something on the point of dying.
她更像是一个即将翱翔而非即将死去的存在。

The branch trembles when a hand approaches it to pluck a flower, and seems to both withdraw and to offer itself at one and the same time. —
当有手接近枝条采摘一朵花时，枝条会颤抖，既仿佛躲避又在主动呈现。 —

The human body has something of this tremor when the instant arrives in which the mysterious fingers of Death are about to pluck the soul.
当那神秘的死亡之手即将摘取灵魂时，人体也有这种颤栗。

M. Madeleine remained for some time motionless beside that bed, gazing in turn upon the sick woman and the crucifix, as he had done two months before, on the day when he had come for the first time to see her in that asylum. —
马德兰先生在床边静静地站立了一段时间，轮流凝视病人和十字架，就像两个月前他第一次来这所庇护所探望她时一样。 —

They were both still there in the same attitude– she sleeping, he praying; —
他们俩仍保持着同样的姿势—她在睡觉，他在祈祷； —

only now, after the lapse of two months, her hair was gray and his was white.
仅仅过了两个月，她的头发已经变成了灰色，而他的已经变成了白色；

The sister had not entered with him. He stood beside the bed, with his finger on his lips, as though there were some one in the chamber whom he must enjoin to silence.
妹妹没有和他一起进来。他站在床边，手指放在嘴唇上，好像房间里有人他必须要嘱咐保持安静。

She opened her eyes, saw him, and said quietly, with a smile:–
她睁开眼睛，看见他，轻轻地带着微笑说道：—

“And Cosette?”
“考赛特呢？”