書蟲四級《克蘭福德》：5.“尊敬的夫人”

5．'Your ladyship'

5．“尊敬的夫人”

One morning, before twelve o'clock, Martha came up and said that Miss Betty Barker would like to speak to her mistress. Miss Matty disappeared to change her cap and Miss Barker came upstairs, apologizing again and again for her visit.

一天早上，還不到12點，馬莎上來說貝蒂·巴克小姐想和女主人說話。馬蒂小姐立刻去換帽子。巴克小姐上樓來，一再為自己的貿然造訪而道歉。

Miss Betty Barker was the daughter of the late Mr Jenkyns's clerk. She and her elder sister (who had worked for Mrs Jamieson) had been ladies' maids. Later, they had had a hat-shop, with Lady Arley as a customer. When the sister died, Miss Betty shut the shop and became the most wonderfully dressed lady in Cranford—wearing all the bonnets and caps and ribbons that were left on her shelves.

貝蒂·巴克小姐是已故詹金斯先生的書記員的女兒。她和她姐姐（她曾為賈米森夫人工作）以前一直給女士們做女仆。后來，她們開了個帽店，阿萊夫人是她們的主顧之一。姐姐死后，貝蒂小姐關掉帽店，成了克蘭福德最會穿衣打扮的女士——戴著貨架上剩下的各種圓帽、無邊帽和絲帶。

And now Miss Betty Barker had called to invite Miss Matty to tea on the following Tuesday. She had already invited the Honourable Mrs Jamieson, she said. She invited me too—though she was clearly worried that, as my father had gone to live in Drumble, he was now in 'that awful cotton trade'. Miss Barker's own days in 'trade' had finished several years ago, and she now liked to think of herself as one of the ladies of Cranford—though she was always very respectful towards the 'best' families.

現在貝蒂·巴克小姐登門邀請馬蒂小姐下周二去喝茶。她說她已經邀請了尊敬的賈米森夫人。她也邀請了我——雖然她明顯地有些不安，因為我父親已經去德萊姆伯爾住了，現在正在從事著“可怕的棉花交易”。巴克小姐自己“做生意”的日子幾年前就結束了，現在她喜歡把自己視為克蘭福德女士中的一員——雖然她對“最好的”人家總是心懷敬意。

Mrs Jamieson is coming?' asked Miss Matty.

“賈米森夫人也要來嗎？”馬蒂小姐問道。

Yes. It's most kind of ladies such as Mrs Jamieson and yourself to call on someone like myself...' Miss Barker began to apologize again.

“是的，像賈米森夫人和您這樣的女士能來造訪我這樣的人真是太好了……”巴克小姐又開始客氣了。

She was now going, she told Miss Matty, to see Mrs Forrester and Miss Pole. 'Of course, I invited you first, madam, as a rector's daughter. But we must not forget that Mrs Forrester is related to the Bigges of Bigelow Hall. So I shall invite her before I invite Miss Pole.'

她現在要走了，她告訴馬蒂小姐說，她要去見福里斯特夫人和波爾小姐。“當然，我最先邀請的是您，小姐，您是教區(qū)長的女兒。不過我們也不應該忘記，福里斯特夫人和比奇洛廳的比格一家有親戚關系。所以我應該先邀請她，再邀請波爾小姐。”

And Mrs Fitz-Adam?' asked Miss Matty.

“菲茨-亞當夫人呢？”馬蒂小姐問。

No, madam. I have great respect for Mrs Fitz-Adam but Mrs Jamieson would not like to meet her, I think.' Miss Barker rose. 'Will you come to my little house at half past six, Miss Matilda? That's when Mrs Jamieson has promised to come.' Miss Betty Barker curtsied and left.

“不，小姐。雖然我很尊敬菲茨-亞當夫人，但我想賈米森夫人不愿見到她。”巴克小姐站起身，“您6點半到寒舍來行嗎，馬蒂爾達小姐？賈米森夫人答應那個時間到。”貝蒂·巴克小姐行了個屈膝禮，然后就走了。

Mrs Fitz-Adam was the sister of Mr Hoggins, the Cranford doctor. Their parents were respectable farmers, but they did not belong to Cranford 'society'. When Miss Mary Hoggins married Mr Fitz-Adam (whoever he was), she left the town. Then, after his death, she reappeared as a widow in black silk, and rented a large old house.

菲茨-亞當夫人是克蘭福德的醫(yī)生霍金斯先生的妹妹。他們的父母都是受人尊敬的農民，不過他們不屬于克蘭福德的“上流社會”。瑪麗·霍金斯小姐嫁給菲茨-亞當先生（管他是誰）后，就離開了鎮(zhèn)子。后來他去世之后，她又穿著寡婦的黑色絲綢衣服重新在鎮(zhèn)上露面，而且租住在一幢很大的老房子里。

I remember that the ladies of Cranford met to discuss whether they should visit her. The matter had still not been decided when Miss Jenkyns died.

我記得克蘭福德的女士們曾經碰面討論過是否要去拜訪她。不過直到詹金斯小姐去世，這件事仍然懸而未決。

However, as most of us are either unmarried or widows without children,' Miss Pole had said, 'we'll soon have no society at all if we don't change our rules a little.'

“不過，我們大都要么沒結婚，要么守寡無子，”波爾小姐說，“如果我們不稍稍改變一下規(guī)則，要不了多久我們的上流社會就不存在了。”

So everybody called on Mrs Fitz-Adam—everybody except Mrs Jamieson, who was related, of course, to the family of a lord. She used to show how important she was by never seeing or speaking to Mrs Fitz-Adam when they met at the Cranford parties. Mrs Fitz-Adam was large and, when Mrs Jamieson came in, she always stood up and curtsied very low. But Mrs Jamieson still did not see her.

所以大家都去拜訪了菲茨-亞當夫人——只有賈米森夫人除外，當然，她是和一位勛爵的家族有親戚關系的。她以前在克蘭福德的聚會上從來不見或者不和菲茨-亞當夫人說話，以此來顯示自己的重要地位。菲茨-亞當夫人比較胖，每當賈米森夫人進來的時候，她都站起來深深地行個屈膝禮，但賈米森夫人對此視若不見。

It was a bright spring evening when the four of us—Miss Matty, Mrs Forrester, Miss Pole and myself—met outside Miss Barker's house. We heard loud whispers inside. 'Wait, Peggy! Wait until I've run upstairs! Then, when I cough, open the door.'

那是一個愉快的春季之夜，我們四個人——馬蒂小姐、福里斯特夫人、波爾小姐和我——在巴克小姐家門外碰面。我們聽到里面大聲耳語的聲音。“等一下，佩吉！等我跑到樓上！然后，我一咳嗽，就開門。”

The cough came. Immediately, a maid opened the door and showed us into a small room that had been the shop. We uncovered our caps and shook our skirts. Then we walked up the narrow stairs to Miss Barker's drawingroom. Kind, gentle Mrs Forrester was given the second place of honour. The first place, of course, was for the Honourable Mrs Jamieson, who soon came heavily up the stairs.

咳嗽聲響了。一個女仆馬上打開了門，把我們帶進一間曾用作商店的小屋。我們摘下帽子，抖了抖裙子，然后就走上窄窄的樓梯來到巴克小姐的休息室。溫柔和善的福里斯特夫人坐了第二席，首席當然是留給尊敬的賈米森夫人的，而她不久就邁著沉重的腳步走上樓來。

And now Miss Betty Barker was a proud, happy woman! Peggy the maid came in with a generous trayful of cake. Did the ladies think this vulgar, I wondered? Clearly, they did not. All the cake disappeared. I saw Mrs Jamieson eat three pieces, slowly, with an expression not unlike a cow's.

現在貝蒂·巴克小姐成了一個自豪而幸福的女人！女仆佩吉端進來一大盤蛋糕。我想知道，女士們覺得這俗氣嗎？顯然沒有。所有的蛋糕都吃完了。我看見賈米森夫人吃了三塊蛋糕，吃得很慢，臉上的表情和母牛倒有些相似。

After tea, the ladies played cards—all except myself (I was rather afraid of the Cranford ladies at cards) and Mrs Jamieson, who fell asleep in her armchair. I enjoyed watching the four ladies' caps at the card-table, and hearing Miss Barker's 'Sssh, ladies, please! Mrs Jamieson is asleep!'

茶點過后，女士們玩起了撲克——只有我（我挺害怕玩牌時的克蘭福德女士們）和賈米森夫人沒參加，她在扶手椅里睡著了。我喜歡看女士們放在牌桌上的四頂帽子，還喜歡聽巴克小姐說“噓，女士們，輕點兒！賈米森夫人睡著了！”

Then the door opened. Mrs Jamieson woke up, and Peggy came in with another trayful of good things! We did not usually eat supper, but politely (and hungrily) we gave in. We even accepted a little drink...

后來門開了，賈米森夫人醒了過來，佩吉又端進來一盤好東西！我們一般不吃晚飯，但出于禮貌（還有饑餓）我們讓步了。我們甚至還喝了點兒酒……

Suddenly, Mrs Jamieson gave us some news. 'My sister-in-law, Lady Glenmire, is coming to stay with me.'

突然，賈米森夫人告訴了我們一些消息：“我嫂子格蘭米爾夫人，要來和我小住一陣。”

Indeed!' said everyone. Then there was a pause. Did we have the right dresses in which to appear before Lady Glenmire? We felt very excited and unsure.

“真的！”大家說。接著是一段短暫的沉默。我們有合適的衣服穿著去見格蘭米爾夫人嗎？我們覺得非常激動但又不自信。

Not long after this, the little party came to an end. Mrs Jamieson got into her carriage, and the rest of us walked home along the quiet little street.

不久以后，小聚會就結束了。賈米森夫人坐進她的馬車，我們剩下的人則沿著安靜的小街走回家中。

At twelve next day, Miss Pole appeared at Miss Matty's. 'What should we call Lady Glenmire?' she asked anxiously. 'Must we say "your ladyship" instead of just "you"? And "my lady" instead of "madam"? You knew Lady Arley, Miss Matty. What did you call her?'

第二天12點，波爾小姐出現在馬蒂小姐家。“我們該怎么稱呼格蘭米爾夫人呢？”她著急地問，“我們必須說‘尊敬的夫人’而不說‘您’嗎？還是說‘我的夫人’而不說‘女士’呢？你認識阿萊夫人，馬蒂小姐。你是怎么稱呼她的？”

Poor Miss Matty! She took off her glasses and she put them on again, but she could not remember. 'It was so long ago,' she said, 'and I only ever saw her twice. Oh dear, how stupid I am!'

可憐的馬蒂小姐！她把眼鏡摘下又戴上，但還是想不起來。“那是好久以前的事了，”她說，“而且我只見過她兩次。哦，天呀，我多蠢??！”

Then I'd better go and ask Mrs Forrester,' said Miss Pole. 'We don't want Lady Glenmire to think we know nothing about polite society here in Cranford.'

“那我最好去問問福里斯特夫人，”波爾小姐說，“我們可不想讓格蘭米爾夫人以為我們克蘭福德對上流社會的事一無所知。”

Who is Lady Glenmire exactly?' I asked when Miss Pole had gone.

“格蘭米爾夫人到底是誰？”波爾小姐走了之后我問道。

My dear, she's the widow of Lord Glenmire, and he was Mr Jamieson's elder brother. But I wonder what we should call her...'

“親愛的，她是格蘭米爾勛爵的遺孀，而他是賈米森先生的兄長?？晌也恢牢覀冊撛趺捶Q呼她……”

Miss Matty's worrying was unnecessary. Mrs Jamieson was the next person who arrived—and Mrs Jamieson, most impolitely, made it clear that she did not wish the Cranford ladies to visit her sister-in-law.

馬蒂小姐的擔心毫無必要。賈米森夫人是第二個到的人——而賈米森夫人以一種最無禮的方式表明她不希望克蘭福德的女士們去拜訪她嫂子。

Well!' said Miss Pole, who returned soon afterwards, very red and annoyed. 'So we must not call on Lady Glenmire! Only the best county families are acceptable visitors, and Cranford society is not good enough, it seems! Yes, I met Mrs Jamieson on her way from here to Mrs Forrester's, and she told me. I wish I'd said something sharp. Who is this Lady Glenmire anyway? Only the widow of a Scottish lord, and the fifth daughter of some Mr Campbell.' Miss Pole, usually so kind and calm, was really annoyed. 'And I ordered a new cap this morning, in order to be quite ready!'

“哼！”波爾小姐說道，她不一會兒就回來了，臉紅紅的，很生氣的樣子，“那么說我們不能去拜訪格蘭米爾夫人了！只有縣里最好的人家才有資格拜訪，好像克蘭福德的上流社會還不夠好似的！是的，我在賈米森夫人從這兒去福里斯特夫人家的路上遇到了她，她跟我說了。我真該說些刻薄話。這個格蘭米爾夫人到底是誰呀？只不過是一個蘇格蘭勛爵的寡婦，某個坎貝爾先生的五女兒而已。”平時和善平靜的波爾小姐這回可真的發(fā)火了，“我今天早晨才訂了頂新帽子，為的是能做好準備！”

When we came out of church on Lady Glenmire's first Sunday in Cranford, we carefully turned our backs on Mrs Jamieson and her sister-in-law. We did not even look at Lady Glenmire, though we very much wanted to know what she was like.

格蘭米爾夫人在克蘭福德的第一個周日，那天我們從教堂出來時，有心背朝著賈米森夫人和她嫂子。我們甚至都沒看格蘭米爾夫人，雖然我們很想知道她長什么樣。

Afterwards we questioned Martha, however, and Martha had used her eyes well. 'The little lady with Mrs Jamieson, you mean? She was wearing a rather old black silk dress and she had bright black eyes. She looked up and down the church, like a bird, and lifted her skirts when she came out, very quick and sharp. She's more like the landlady at the George Inn than a real lady!'

不過，后來我們還是問了馬莎，而馬莎倒看得挺清楚，“你們說的是和賈米森夫人在一起的那位小個子夫人嗎？她穿一件很舊的黑絲綢裙子，眼睛又黑又亮。她上上下下地打量教堂，像個鳥兒一樣，出來的時候把裙子提起來，很利索。她不像一位真正的夫人，倒更像喬治旅館的老板娘！”

Sssh, Martha!' said Miss Matty. 'That's not respectful.'

“噓，馬莎！”馬蒂小姐說道，“這樣可沒禮貌。”

Another Sunday passed, and we still turned away from the two widows. By this time, Lady Glenmire was perhaps getting a little bored at Mrs Jamieson's. Whatever the reason, Mrs Jamieson suddenly sent us invitations to a small party. Her man Mulliner brought them himself, coming as usual to the front door instead of to the back like other servants.

又一個周日過去了，我們仍然躲著這兩位寡婦。此時，格蘭米爾夫人也許在賈米森夫人家待得有些厭煩了。不管是什么原因，賈米森夫人突然給我們發(fā)來一個參加小型聚會的邀請。她的男仆馬利納親自送來請?zhí)裢Ｒ粯幼叩角伴T口，而不是像其他仆人那樣到后門去。

Miss Matty and I quietly decided not to accept ours. But before we had replied, Miss Pole arrived.

馬蒂小姐和我平靜地決定不接受邀請。但我們還沒有回復，波爾小姐就來了。

The invitation is for Tuesday,' Miss Matty told her. 'If you bring your knitting and drink tea with us that evening, I'll have a good reason to refuse.'

“邀請是在星期二，”馬蒂小姐告訴她，“如果你那天晚上帶著你的編織活計跟我們一起喝茶，我就有拒絕的好理由了。”

I saw Miss Pole's expression change. 'You're not going? Oh, Miss Matty, you must go! We can't let Mrs Jamieson think we care about anything she says. I'm ready to "forgive and forget". As a rector's daughter, you should do the same...'

我發(fā)現波爾小姐的表情變了，“你不去嗎？哦，馬蒂小姐，你一定要去！我們不能讓賈米森夫人覺得我們在乎她說的那些話。我準備‘既往不咎’。你是教區(qū)長的女兒，你也應該這么做……”

The fact was that Miss Pole had a new cap and wanted to wear it. So in the end Miss Matty bought a new cap too, and so did Mrs Forrester, and we all went to Mrs Jamieson's party.

其實是因為波爾小姐有一頂新帽子，她想要戴它。所以最后，馬蒂小姐也買了頂新帽子，福里斯特夫人也買了一頂，我們都去參加了賈米森夫人的聚會。

Mrs Jamieson's drawing-room was not a comfortable room. Neither she nor Mulliner—of whom she seemed a little afraid—did anything to make us feel welcome. Lady Glenmire arranged the chairs agreeably for us, however. Now that we could look at her, we saw that she was a bright little woman of middle age, who had been very pretty when she was young.

賈米森夫人的休息室并不舒服。她和馬利納——她好像有些怕他——都沒有做任何事讓我們感覺受歡迎。不過，格蘭米爾夫人倒是愉快地為我們安排了座位?，F在我們可以看著她了，我們發(fā)現她是個活潑的小個子的中年婦女，年輕的時候想必很美。

We were all silent at first, unsure what to say to 'my lady'. At last Miss Pole spoke. 'Has your ladyship seen the dear Queen lately?' she asked, and looked proudly round at us.

起先我們都沉默著，不知道該對“我的夫人”說什么。最后波爾小姐開口了。“尊敬的夫人，您最近見過女王陛下嗎？”她問道，神情驕傲地看著我們。

I've never seen her in my life,' said Lady Glenmire in a sweet Scottish voice. 'In fact, I've only been to London twice. Have you been to Edinburgh?' she asked hopefully.

“我這輩子從沒見過她，”格蘭米爾夫人用甜美的蘇格蘭嗓音說道，“實際上，我只到過倫敦兩次。你們去過愛丁堡嗎？”她滿懷希望地問道。

None of us had, but Miss Pole had an uncle who once passed a night there. So that was very pleasant.

我們誰也沒去過，不過波爾小姐有個叔叔曾在那里住過一夜。那是很愉快的經歷。

Mrs Jamieson meanwhile began to wonder aloud why Mulliner did not bring in the tea, but she did not want to trouble Mulliner by ringing the bell. In the end, Lady Glenmire grew quite impatient, and rang the bell herself. Mulliner appeared, looking surprised.

賈米森夫人這個時候大聲地說馬利納怎么還沒把茶點端上來，但她又不想按鈴來麻煩馬利納。最后，格蘭米爾夫人有些不耐煩，就自己按了鈴。馬利納出現了，顯得很驚訝。

Lady Glenmire rang,' said Mrs Jamieson. 'I believe it was for tea.'

“是格蘭米爾夫人按的鈴，”賈米森夫人說，“我想是要茶點吧。”

Tea came at last. The plates were very thin and fine. So was the bread-and-butter. We were grateful to Lady Glenmire for ordering more of it, and a comfortable conversation developed. Soon the ladies were playing cards happily together and even Miss Pole quite forgot to say 'my lady' and 'your ladyship'.

茶點終于送來了。盤子很薄，質地很好，抹黃油的面包也是如此。格蘭米爾夫人又點了一些，這讓我們很感激，接下來就是輕松的交談。不一會兒，女士們就高興地打起牌來，連波爾小姐都忘了說“我的夫人”和“尊敬的夫人”。

We learnt during the evening that Lady Glenmire had no plans to return quickly to Edinburgh. We were rather glad. We liked her.

那天晚上我們得知格蘭米爾夫人短期內不打算返回愛丁堡。我們很高興。我們喜歡她。

Isn't walking very unpleasant?' asked Mrs Jamieson as we prepared to leave. (This was a regular question from her as she had a carriage and never walked anywhere.)

“走路不是太讓人郁悶了嗎？”我們準備離開的時候賈米森夫人問道。（她常這么問，因為她有馬車，從來不步行出門。）

Oh no, not at night!' said Miss Pole. 'Such peace after the excitement of a party!' said Mrs Forrester. 'The stars are so beautiful!' said Miss Matty.

“哦不，晚上不是的！”波爾小姐說。“晚會的興奮過后是那么平靜！”福里斯特夫人說道。“星星很美！”馬蒂小姐說。

So we walked home under the stars, feeling very grand, after drinking tea with 'my lady'.

于是我們在星光下步行回家，和“我的夫人”一起飲過茶之后，感覺非常愉快。

My dears,' said Miss Pole next day, very pleased. 'Did you notice her dress? So inexpensive!'

“親愛的，”波爾小姐第二天很高興地說，“你們注意到她的裙子了嗎？一點兒也不貴重！”