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In 1858 Fiddletown considered her a very pretty woman.

1858年，全菲朵镇的人都认为她是一个非常漂亮的女人。

She had a quantity of light chestnut hair, a good figure, a dazzling complexion, and a certain languid grace which passed easily for gentle-womanliness. She always dressed becomingly, and in what Fiddletown accepted as the latest fashion.

她有着一头浅栗色的头发，体形漂亮，皮肤光彩照人，还有几分慵懒的优雅，这点很容易被看作是女性的温柔。她的穿着总是很得体，在菲朵镇人眼中，她的着装就是最新的时尚。

She had only two blemishes: one of her velvety eyes, when examined closely, had a slight cast; and her left cheek bore a small scar left by a single drop of vitriol—happily the only drop of an entire phial—thrown upon her by one of her own jealous sex, that reached the pretty face it was intended to mar. But when the observer had studied the eyes sufficiently to notice this defect, he was generally incapacitated for criticism; and even the scar on her cheek was thought by some to add piquancy to her smile.

她只有两个小瑕疵：一个是她那双柔和的眼睛，细细打量的话，有轻微的斜视；另一个是她的左脸颊上有一滴硫酸留下的小疤痕——幸亏只是整整一小瓶中的一滴——这是一个心存嫉妒的女人所为，有意要毁掉她的漂亮脸蛋。就算有人在仔细观察她的眼睛后注意到了这个缺陷，总的说来，她还是让人无可挑剔。有些人甚至认为她脸上的疤痕为她的微笑增添了几分可爱的味道。

The youthful editor of THE FIDDLETOWN AVALANCHE had said privately that it was "an exaggerated dimple." Colonel Starbottle was instantly "reminded of the beautifying patches of the days of Queen Anne, but more particularly, sir, of the blankest beautiful women that, blank you, you ever laid your two blank eyes upon—a Creole woman, sir, in New Orleans. And this woman had a scar—a line extending, blank me, from her eye to her blank chin. And this woman, sir, thrilled you, sir; maddened you, sir; absolutely sent your blank soul to perdition with her blank fascination! And one day I said to her, 'Celeste, how in blank did you come by that beautiful scar, blank you?' And she said to me, 'Star, there isn't another white man that I'd confide in but you; but I made that scar myself, purposely, I did, blank me.’ These were her very words, sir, and perhaps you think it a blank lie, sir; but I'll put up any blank sum you can name and prove it, blank me."

《菲朵镇雪崩报》那位年轻的编辑曾私下说过，那是“一个放大了的酒窝”。这个疤痕让斯塔博特尔上校立刻“想起安妮女王时代那些起美化作用的草坪，更特别的是，先生，想到你曾看上眼的那些最美丽的女人——新奥尔良的那个克里奥耳女人。而这个女人的脸上有一道疤——一道，相信我，从她的眼睛一直延伸到下巴的线条。先生，这个女人让人兴奋，让人发狂；她的魅力绝对能把你的灵魂毁掉！有一天我问她：‘西莉斯特，你脸蛋上那美丽的疤痕究竟怎么来的？’她回答说：‘斯塔，除了你，我不会告诉第二个白种男人，那是我自己弄的疤痕，故意弄的，真的。’这就是她的原话，先生，你可能认为这是个纯粹的谎言，但你要能证明我撒谎，我付你多少钱都行，相信我。”

Indeed, most of the male population of Fiddletown were or had been in love with her. Of this number, about one-half believed that their love was returned, with the exception, possibly, of her own husband. He alone had been known to express skepticism.

确实，菲朵镇的大多数男人都爱慕她，或是爱慕过她。这些男人里，约有一半相信他们的爱得到了回报，可能只有一个例外，那就是她的丈夫。大家都知道，就他一个人表示过怀疑。

The name of the gentleman who enjoyed this infelicitous distinction was Tretherick. He had been divorced from an excellent wife to marry this Fiddletown enchantress. She, also, had been divorced; but it was hinted that some previous experiences of hers in that legal formality had made it perhaps less novel, and probably less sacrificial. I would not have it inferred from this that she was deficient in sentiment, or devoid of its highest moral expression. Her intimate friend had written (on the occasion of her second divorce), "The cold world does not understand Clara yet"; and Colonel Starbottle had remarked blankly that with the exception of a single woman in Opelousas Parish, La., she had more soul than the whole caboodle of them put together.

那位不幸与众不同的先生名叫特雷休里克。他跟优秀的妻子离了婚，就是为了和这个菲朵镇的尤物结婚。同样，她也离过婚。据人暗示，她先前的几次离婚经历已经让她对这事见怪不怪，也不觉得离婚会牺牲什么了。我并不愿由此推断她感情冷漠，或者缺乏较高的道德修养。她的密友曾经写道（在她第二次离婚时）：“这个冷漠的世界还不理解克拉拉。”而斯塔博特尔上校曾经不带表情地评论说，洛杉矶奥珀卢瑟斯教区中，除了一个单身女人外，她的感情比其他所有人的感情加起来还要多。

Few indeed could read those lines entitled "Infelissimus," commencing "Why waves no cypress o'er this brow?" originally published in the AVALANCHE, over the signature of "The Lady Clare," without feeling the tear of sensibility tremble on his eyelids, or the glow of virtuous indignation mantle his cheek, at the low brutality and pitiable jocularity of THE DUTCH FLAT INTELLIGENCER, which the next week had suggested the exotic character of the cypress, and its entire absence from Fiddletown, as a reasonable answer to the query.

她最初以笔名“克莱尔女士”在《雪崩报》上发表了题为《不幸》的诗，诗开头写道：“为何没有柏树枝在眉际摇曳？”读到这些诗句时，没有几个人不感到动情的泪水在眼眶中打转，脸上因义愤而发热。因为《荷兰平面新闻》在随后一周说柏树产自国外，菲朵镇没有，这就是那行诗句所提问题的一个合理答案，这导致那些读者对《荷兰平面新闻》的低俗粗野和拙劣打趣感到愤慨。

Indeed, it was this tendency to elaborate her feelings in a metrical manner, and deliver them to the cold world through the medium of the newspapers, that first attracted the attention of Tretherick.

西莉斯特喜欢把自己的情感以韵律的方式细致地表达出来，再通过报纸这一媒介传递给这个冷漠的世界。而恰恰正是这一点首先引起了特雷休里克的注意。

Several poems descriptive of the effects of California scenery upon a too-sensitive soul, and of the vague yearnings for the infinite which an enforced study of the heartlessness of California society produced in the poetic breast, impressed Mr. Tretherick, who was then driving a six-mule freight wagon between Knight's Ferry and Stockton, to seek out the unknown poetess.

有几首诗歌描写的是加州的景色对西莉斯特多愁善感的灵魂所产生的影响，以及一种朦朦胧胧的渴望，渴望能到达无限世界。只有具备诗歌创作灵感的人在被迫领教了加州社会的冷酷无情后，才会产生这样的渴望。这些诗歌给特雷休里克先生留下了深刻的印象。然后，他就驾着一架六骡货车，穿梭在奈特渡口和斯托克顿市之间，寻找那个素未谋面的女诗人。

Mr. Tretherick was himself dimly conscious of a certain hidden sentiment in his own nature; and it is possible that some reflections on the vanity of his pursuit—he supplied several mining camps with whisky and tobacco—in conjunction with the dreariness of the dusty plain on which he habitually drove, may have touched some chord in sympathy with this sensitive woman. Howbeit, after a brief courtship—as brief as was consistent with some previous legal formalities—they were married; and Mr. Tretherick brought his blushing bride to Fiddletown, or "Fideletown," as Mrs. Tretherick preferred to call it in her poems.

特雷休里克先生自身隐约意识到有某种情感潜藏在内心深处。他可能也想到这样寻找是没有意义的——他还为好几个采矿营地提供威士忌和香烟——再加上他经常驾车行驶的平原尘土飞扬，景色单调乏味，很可能所有这一切促使他对西莉斯特这个敏感的女人产生了共鸣。然而，在一段简短的追求后——和她以前的离婚过程一样简短——他们就结婚了。特雷休里克把害羞的新娘带到了菲朵镇，特雷休里克夫人在自己的诗里更喜欢叫它“菲黛尔镇”。

The union was not a felicitous one. It was not long before Mr. Tretherick discovered that the sentiment he had fostered while freighting between Stockton and Knight's Ferry was different from that which his wife had evolved from the contemplation of California scenery and her own soul. Being a man of imperfect logic, this caused him to beat her; and she, being equally faulty in deduction, was impelled to a certain degree of unfaithfulness on the same premise.

这个结合并不幸福。没过多久，他就发现，他们俩的情感不是同一回事。特雷休里克的情感是他在斯托克顿和奈特渡口间的旅程中培养起来的，而妻子的情感是她通过对加州风景及自身灵魂的沉思所产生的。特雷休里克是一个缺乏理性逻辑的人，这点致使他殴打妻子。而她同样不是一个会理性思考的人，在同样的情形下，她只能报以一定程度的不忠。

Then Mr. Tretherick began to drink, and Mrs. Tretherick to contribute regularly to the columns of the AVALANCHE. It was at this time that Colonel Starbottle discovered a similarity in Mrs. Tretherick's verse to the genius of Sappho, and pointed it out to the citizens of Fiddletown in a two-columned criticism, signed "A. S.," also published in the AVALANCHE, and supported by extensive quotation. As the AVALANCHE did not possess a font of Greek type, the editor was obliged to reproduce the Leucadian numbers in the ordinary Roman letter, to the intense disgust of Colonel Starbottle, and the vast delight of Fiddletown, who saw fit to accept the text as an excellent imitation of Choctaw—a language with which the colonel, as a whilom resident of the Indian Territories, was supposed to be familiar. Indeed, the next week's INTELLIGENCER contained some vile doggerel supposed to be an answer to Mrs. Tretherick's poem, ostensibly written by the wife of a Digger Indian chief, accompanied by a glowing eulogium signed "A. S. S."

之后，特雷休里克先生开始酗酒，而特雷休里克夫人则定期向《雪崩报》投稿。就在此时，斯塔博特尔上校发现特雷休里克夫人的诗篇和古希腊天才女诗人莎孚的作品存有相似之处。他在《雪崩报》上发表了一篇占据两个专栏的评论文章，署名"A. S."，向菲朵镇的居民指出这一点，并引用了大量的诗句来证明。由于《雪崩报》没有希腊字体，编辑不得不以普通罗马字体表示希腊语的数字。这让斯塔博特尔上校极其反感，而菲朵镇人则欣喜万分。他们认为那篇文章绝好地模仿了乔克托语——斯塔博特尔上校熟悉的一种语言，因为他以前是印第安地区的居民。不出所料，之后那周的《荷兰平面新闻》发表了一些无耻的打油诗，意在对特雷休里克夫人的诗歌作出回应，表面上看是一个迪格尔酋长的妻子所作，附有一篇热情洋溢的颂文，署名是"A. S. S."

The result of this jocularity was briefly given in a later copy of the AVALANCHE. "An unfortunate rencounter took place on Monday last, between the Hon. Jackson Flash of THE DUTCH FLAT INTELLIGENCER and the well-known Col. Starbottle of this place, in front of the Eureka Saloon. Two shots were fired by the parties without injury to either, although it is said that a passing Chinaman received fifteen buckshot in the calves of his legs from the colonel's double-barreled shotgun, which were not intended for him. John will learn to keep out of the way of Melican man's firearms hereafter. The cause of the affray is not known, although it is hinted that there is a lady in the case. The rumor that points to a well-known and beautiful poetess whose lucubrations have often graced our columns seems to gain credence from those that are posted."

这滑稽一幕的结局在后来一期的《雪崩报》上有简短的交代。“上星期一在尤里卡酒吧门外，《荷兰平面新闻》的杰克逊·弗拉斯阁下和当地大名鼎鼎的斯塔博特尔上校有一场不幸的冲突。双方各开一枪，但都没有受伤，虽然听说一个路过的中国人双腿中了上校双管猎枪的十五颗铅弹，可是这并非故意。约翰从此以后就会知道，看到美国人的武器要躲得远远的。这场冲突的起因还不清楚，虽然有人暗示有个女人与此相关。谣言指向一个家喻户晓的美貌女诗人，她苦心写就的诗作经常给我们的专栏增色。正因为她出版的诗作的缘故，谣言可信度很高。”

Meanwhile the passiveness displayed by Tretherick under these trying circumstances was fully appreciated in the gulches. "The old man's head is level," said one long-booted philosopher. "Ef the colonel kills Flash, Mrs. Tretherick is avenged: if Flash drops the colonel, Tretherick is all right. Either way, he's got a sure thing." During this delicate condition of affairs, Mrs. Tretherick one day left her husband's home and took refuge at the Fiddletown Hotel, with only the clothes she had on her back. Here she staid for several weeks, during which period it is only justice to say that she bore herself with the strictest propriety.

同时，特雷休里克在如此难堪的境况里所表现出来的无动于衷，深为众人所欣赏。“那家伙的脑袋很灵光。”一个穿高筒靴的哲学家说道，“如果上校把弗拉斯杀了，特雷休里克夫人就报仇了；如果弗拉斯将上校撂倒，特雷休里克也不会有事。不管怎么样，特雷休里克都不吃亏。”在这微妙的局势下，特雷休里克夫人在某一天离开了丈夫家，去菲朵镇旅馆避难，除了身上穿的衣服什么都没带。她在旅馆里呆了好几个星期，在这段时间里，公正地说，她用最严格的礼节来约束自己。

It was a clear morning in early spring that Mrs. Tretherick, unattended, left the hotel, and walked down the narrow street toward the fringe of dark pines which indicated the extreme limits of Fiddletown. The few loungers at that early hour were preoccupied with the departure of the Wingdown coach at the other extremity of the street; and Mrs. Tretherick reached the suburbs of the settlement without discomposing observation. Here she took a cross street or road, running at right angles with the main thoroughfare of Fiddletown and passing through a belt of woodland. It was evidently the exclusive and aristocratic avenue of the town. The dwellings were few, ambitious, and uninterrupted by shops. And here she was joined by Colonel Starbottle.

初春一个明媚的早上，特雷休里克夫人在没人陪伴的情况下离开了旅馆。她沿着窄窄的街道走向黑松林的边缘，这里也是菲朵镇的边界。时间还很早，街道另一头少数几个闲人正专心看着温敦公车启程；特雷休里克夫人到了镇子边缘处，没受到恼人的关注。在这里，她来到了一个十字路口，转了个九十度的弯，上了菲朵镇的主干道，接着穿过一块林地。这里显然是菲朵镇独有的林阴大道，还带有贵族气派。房子不多，但都富丽堂皇，也没有多少店铺。就在这里，斯塔博特尔上校跟她会合了。

The gallant colonel, notwithstanding that he bore the swelling port which usually distinguished him, that his coat was tightly buttoned and his boots tightly fitting, and that his cane, hooked over his arm, swung jauntily, was not entirely at his ease. Mrs. Tretherick, however, vouchsafed him a gracious smile and a glance of her dangerous eyes; and the colonel, with an embarrassed cough and a slight strut, took his place at her side.

英勇的上校并不是特别自在，尽管他今天和往常一样大腹便便，通常这正是他的与众不同之处。他的外套扣得严严实实，靴子鞋带系得很紧，挂在手臂上的手杖欢快地摇摆着。特雷休里克夫人则亲切地一笑，又风情万种地朝他一瞥；而上校则尴尬地咳了一声，向前迈了一小步，走到她身旁。

"The coast is clear," said the colonel, "and Tretherick is over at Dutch Flat on a spree. There is no one in the house but a Chinaman; and you need fear no trouble from him. I," he continued, with a slight inflation of the chest that imperiled the security of his button, "I will see that you are protected in the removal of your property."

“海滨现在空无一人，”上校说，“特雷休里克在《荷兰平面新闻》举办的一次狂欢上不省人事了。屋子里没有其他人，只有一个中国人，你不用担心他会惹麻烦。而我，”他接着说道，吸了口气，纽扣眼看就要绷开了，“我会保证你在转移财产时受到保护。”

"I'm sure it's very kind of you, and so disinterested!" simpered the lady as they walked along. "It's so pleasant to meet someone who has soul—someone to sympathize with in a community so hardened and heartless as this." And Mrs. Tretherick cast down her eyes, but not until they wrought their perfect and accepted work upon her companion.

“我知道你是个大好人，特别无私！”特雷休里克夫人边和上校一起走，边假笑着说。“能碰上一个有心的人——在这样一个铁石心肠、无情无义的社区里同情你的人，真是太好了。”说完，特雷休里克夫人向上校传送秋波，后者立即心领神会。看完，夫人又垂下了双眸。

"Yes, certainly, of course," said the colonel, glancing nervously up and down the street—"yes, certainly." Perceiving, however, that there was no one in sight or hearing, he proceeded at once to inform Mrs. Tretherick that the great trouble of his life, in fact, had been the possession of too much soul. That many women—as a gentleman she would excuse him, of course, from mentioning names—but many beautiful women had often sought his society, but being deficient, madam, absolutely deficient, in this quality, he could not reciprocate. But when two natures thoroughly in sympathy, despising alike the sordid trammels of a low and vulgar community and the conventional restraints of a hypocritical society—when two souls in perfect accord met and mingled in poetical union, then—but here the colonel's speech, which had been remarkable for a certain whisky-and-watery fluency, grew husky, almost inaudible, and decidedly incoherent. Possibly Mrs. Tretherick may have heard something like it before, and was enabled to fill the hiatus. Nevertheless, the cheek that was on the side of the colonel was quite virginal and bashfully conscious until they reached their destination.

“是的，是的，那是当然，”上校说，不安地上下打量着街道，“是的，那当然。”然而，发现周围没有其他人，他立即接着向特雷休里克夫人倾述说，自己生命中的大麻烦，事实上恰恰是因为有太多的同情心。很多女人——当然她会原谅他身为绅士无法说出她们的名字——然而很多漂亮的女人经常试图进入他的社交圈，但是那些女士缺乏，完全缺乏这种特质，所以他无法给予她们回应。但如果两个人都极具同情心，同样藐视卑贱粗俗社区的肮脏枷锁，以及虚伪社会的陈规陋习——如果彼此一致的两个灵魂相遇了，诗意地结合在一起，那么——上校的演说在之前都如威士忌和水一般的流畅，但是说到这里声音便哑了，几乎听不见，并且明显语无伦次。特雷休里克夫人以前很可能听到过类似的话，所以能够填补出现的冷场。虽然如此，直到他们走到了目的地，她靠近上校一侧的脸颊还是显得非常矜持、害羞。

It was a pretty little cottage, quite fresh and warm with paint, very pleasantly relieved against a platoon of pines, some of whose foremost files had been displaced to give freedom to the fenced enclosure in which it sat. In the vivid sunlight and perfect silence, it had a new, uninhabited look, as if the carpenters and painters had just left it. At the farther end of the lot, a Chinaman was digging; but there was no other sign of occupancy. "The coast," as the colonel had said, was indeed "clear." Mrs. Tretherick paused at the gate. The colonel would have entered with her, but was stopped by a gesture. "Come for me in a couple of hours, and I shall have everything packed," she said, as she smiled, and extended her hand. The colonel seized and pressed it with great fervor. Perhaps the pressure was slightly returned; for the gallant colonel was impelled to inflate his chest, and trip away as smartly as his stubby-toed, high-heeled boots would permit. When he had gone, Mrs. Tretherick opened the door, listened a moment in the deserted hall, and then ran quickly upstairs to what had been her bedroom.

这是一个精致的小别墅，刚刷过油漆，十分清新而温暖。屋后有一排让人赏心悦目的松树，其中最外边的一些枝节被修剪掉了，以便给小屋周围的栅栏篱笆腾出空间。阳光明媚，一片静谧，小屋看上去很新，像没人居住过，就如同木匠和漆匠完工后刚刚离开。在院子的尽头，一个中国人锄着地；除此之外，这里没有其他有人居住的迹象。正如上校前面所说，“海滨处”的确是“空无一人”了。特雷休里克夫人在门前停了下来。上校本想跟着她一起进去，但她的一个手势阻止了他。“几个小时后来接我，到时我会收拾好一切。”特雷休里克夫人说，一边微笑着伸出了手。上校抓住了她的手，并热切地按了按。或许上校在按压她的手时得到了轻微的回应，英勇的上校深吸一口气，蹬着他那双鞋尖短粗的高跟靴，轻快地离开了。他走后，特雷休里克夫人打开门，在空无一人的门厅里听了一会儿，接着就飞快地跑上楼，来到曾属于她的卧室。

Everything there was unchanged as on the night she left it. On the dressing-table stood her bandbox, as she remembered to have left it when she took out her bonnet. On the mantle lay the other glove she had forgotten in her flight. The two lower drawers of the bureau were half-open (she had forgotten to shut them); and on its marble top lay her shawl pin and a soiled cuff. What other recollections came upon her I know not; but she suddenly grew quite white, shivered, and listened with a beating heart, and her hand upon the door.

一切都没有改变，跟她离开的那天晚上一样。梳妆台上放着她的匣子，她记得自己取出软帽时就把它留在了那里。披风上放着她匆忙离家时忘记拿的另一只手套。衣柜的下面两层抽屉半开着（她忘记把它们关上了），衣柜的大理石顶部放着她的围巾别针和一副脏了的袖头。她还想起什么我不得而知，但她突然脸色煞白，一阵战栗，她把手扶在门上，侧耳倾听的同时一颗心扑通扑通地跳个不停。

Then she stepped to the mirror, and half-fearfully, half-curiously, parted with her fingers the braids of her blond hair above her little pink ear, until she came upon an ugly, half-healed scar. She gazed at this, moving her pretty head up and down to get a better light upon it, until the slight cast in her velvety eyes became very strongly marked indeed. Then she turned away with a light, reckless, foolish laugh, and ran to the closet where hung her precious dresses. These she inspected nervously, and missing suddenly a favorite black silk from its accustomed peg, for a moment, thought she should have fainted. But discovering it the next instant lying upon a trunk where she had thrown it, a feeling of thankfulness to a superior Being who protects the friendless for the first time sincerely thrilled her. Then, albeit she was hurried for time, she could not resist trying the effect of a certain lavender neck ribbon upon the dress she was then wearing, before the mirror. And then suddenly she became aware of a child's voice close beside her, and she stopped. And then the child's voice repeated, "Is it Mamma?"

接着她走到镜子前面，半是恐惧半是好奇，用手指拨开小巧、粉嫩的耳朵上的金发，直到看见一道丑陋的、半愈合的伤疤。她仔细盯着伤疤，漂亮的脑袋上下动来动去，以便让光线照得更清楚，这时她柔和的眼睛原本轻微的斜视变得非常明显。然后她转过身，漫不经心地轻轻傻笑一声，跑向挂着她昂贵衣裙的壁橱。她紧张地检查那些衣服，突然想起一件最爱的黑色丝裙没有出现在平常挂的地方，有一小会儿她觉得自己快晕过去了。但她马上就发现那件衣服被她扔在了行李箱上，这让她生平第一次由衷地感激造物主对无依无靠者的保护。虽然要赶时间，她接下来还是忍不住在镜子前欣赏一条淡紫色围脖搭配身上裙子的效果。突然，她听到身后传来一个孩子的声音，便停了下来。接着孩子的声音又响起了：“是妈妈吗？”

Mrs. Tretherick faced quickly about. Standing in the doorway was a little girl of six or seven. Her dress had been originally fine, but was torn and dirty; and her hair, which was a very violent red, was tumbled seriocomically about her forehead. For all this, she was a picturesque little thing, even through whose childish timidity there was a certain self-sustained air which is apt to come upon children who are left much to themselves. She was holding under her arm a rag doll, apparently of her own workmanship, and nearly as large as herself—a doll with a cylindrical head, and features roughly indicated with charcoal. A long shawl, evidently belonging to a grown person, dropped from her shoulders and swept the floor.

特雷休里克夫人迅速转过身。站在门口的是一个六七岁的小女孩。她的裙子刚买来时应该是不错的，但现在又破又脏；而她的头发红得刺眼，披在前额上，看起来既严肃又好笑。不过，她依然是个漂亮的小东西，即使透过她孩子气的羞怯，还是能看出她有种自持的架势，只有几乎没人照料的孩子才会有这种神情。她的手臂下夹着一个碎布做成的娃娃，显然是她自己缝的，娃娃几乎和她一样大——圆柱形的头，用木炭大致画了画五官。一条明显是大人用的长围巾从小女孩的肩头拖到地板上。

The spectacle did not excite Mrs. Tretherick's delight. Perhaps she had but a small sense of humor. Certainly, when the child, still standing in the doorway, again asked, "Is it Mamma?" she answered sharply, "No, it isn't," and turned a severe look upon the intruder.

这幅景象没有让特雷休里克夫人开心。可能她天生没什么幽默感。当依然站在门口的小女孩再次问道：“是妈妈吗”？她尖锐地回答说：“不是。”并且严厉地瞪着这个闯入者。

The child retreated a step, and then, gaining courage with the distance, said in deliciously imperfect speech:

孩子后退了一步，因距离增大而有了勇气，她说了句话，发音不准，但让人听着还算舒服：

"Dow 'way then! why don't you dow away?"

“那就是要走了！为什么你要走？”

But Mrs. Tretherick was eying the shawl. Suddenly she whipped it off the child's shoulders, and said angrily:

但是特雷休里克夫人正盯着小女孩戴的围巾。她突然把围巾从孩子肩上拽了下来，怒气冲冲地问道：

"How dared you take my things, you bad child?"

“你怎么敢拿我的东西，坏小孩？”

"Is it yours? Then you are my mamma; ain't you? You are Mamma!" she continued gleefully; and before Mrs. Tretherick could avoid her, she had dropped her doll, and, catching the woman's skirts with both hands, was dancing up and down before her.

“是你的呀？那你就是我的妈妈，不是吗？你是妈妈！”她快活地继续说着。特雷休里克夫人还没来得及避开，小女孩就已放下了布娃娃，双手抓住她的裙子，在她面前跳上跳下。

"What's your name, child?" said Mrs. Tretherick coldly, removing the small and not very white hands from her garments.

“你叫什么名字，孩子？”特雷休里克夫人冷冷地问，并把她不是很白的小手从自己衣服上拿开。

"Tarry."

“塔里。”

"Tarry?"

“塔里？”

"Yeth. Tarry. Tarowline."

“对。塔里塔罗琳。”

"Caroline?"

“卡罗琳？”

"Yeth. Tarowline Tretherick."

“对。塔罗琳·特雷休里克。”

"Whose child ARE you?" demanded Mrs. Tretherick still more coldly, to keep down a rising fear.

“你到底是谁的孩子？”特雷休里克夫人愈加冰冷地问道，以压制不断升起的恐惧。

"Why, yours," said the little creature with a laugh. "I'm your little durl. You're my mamma, my new mamma. Don't you know my ol' mamma's dorn away, never to turn back any more? I don't live wid my ol' mamma now. I live wid you and Papa."

“当然是你的呀。”小家伙笑着答道，“我是你的小女儿。你是我妈妈，我的新妈妈。你不知道我原来的妈妈走了，永远不会回来了吗？我现在不跟原来的妈妈住。我跟你和爸爸一起住。”

"How long have you been here?" asked Mrs. Tretherick snappishly.

“你来这里多久了？”特雷休里克夫人暴躁地问。

"I fink it's free days," said Carry reflectively.

“我想有三天了吧。”卡里想了一会儿后答道。

"You think! Don't you know?" sneered Mrs. Tretherick. "Then, where did you come from?"

“你想！你不知道？”特雷休里克夫人冷笑着，“好吧，你从哪儿来？”

Carry's lip began to work under this sharp cross-examination. With a great effort and a small gulp, she got the better of it, and answered:

在咄咄逼人的盘问下，卡里的嘴唇开始哆嗦。费了好大劲并且咽了一小口口水，她才稍微好了点儿，她答道：

"Papa, Papa fetched me—from Miss Simmons—from Sacramento, last week."

“爸爸，爸爸接的我——从西蒙斯小姐那里——从萨克拉门托，上周。”

"Last week! You said three days just now," returned Mrs. Tretherick with severe deliberation.

“上周！你刚才还说三天。”特雷休里克夫人厉声质问。

"I mean a monf," said Carry, now utterly adrift in sheer helplessness and confusion.

“我是说一个月。”卡里说，她现在彻底乱了，显得无助而困惑。

"Do you know what you are talking about?" demanded Mrs. Tretherick shrilly, restraining an impulse to shake the little figure before her and precipitate the truth by specific gravity.

“你知道自己在说些什么吗？”特雷休里克夫人尖声问道，同时抑制住使劲摇晃面前这个小身体好把真相挤出来的冲动。

But the flaming red head here suddenly disappeared in the folds of Mrs. Tretherick's dress, as if it were trying to extinguish itself forever.

但这时，火红色的脑袋突然消失在特雷休里克夫人的裙褶里，就好像要永远藏起来一样。

"There now—stop that sniffling," said Mrs. Tretherick, extricating her dress from the moist embraces of the child and feeling exceedingly uncomfortable. "Wipe your face now, and run away, and don't bother. Stop," she continued, as Carry moved away. "Where's your papa?"

“好了——不要抽鼻子了。”特雷休里克夫人说着，把裙子从孩子湿乎乎的拥抱里扯出来，她感到极其不舒服。“把脸擦擦，走开，别来烦我。等一下。”卡里正要走开时她又喊道，“你爸爸在哪儿？”

"He's dorn away too. He's sick. He's been dorn”—she hesitated—"two, free, days."

“他也走了。他生病了。他走了有——”她犹豫了一下，“两三天了。”

"Who takes care of you, child?" said Mrs. Tretherick, eying her curiously.

“谁照顾你，孩子？”特雷休里克夫人问，同时好奇地看着她。

"John, the Chinaman. I tresses myselth. John tooks and makes the beds."

“约翰，那个中国人。我自己穿衣服。约翰做饭，铺床。”

"Well, now, run away and behave yourself, and don't bother me any more," said Mrs. Tretherick, remembering the object of her visit. "Stop—where are you going?" she added as the child began to ascend the stairs, dragging the long doll after her by one helpless leg.

“好了，现在走吧，规矩点儿，别再来烦我。”特雷休里克夫人说，这时她想起了自己回来的目的。“等等——你去哪儿？”她又问了一句，此时孩子正准备上楼，手上拽着长长的娃娃一条柔软的腿，拖在身后。

"Doin' upstairs to play and be dood, and no bother Mamma."

“上楼玩，听话，不打扰妈妈。”

"I ain't your mamma," shouted Mrs. Tretherick, and then she swiftly re-entered her bedroom and slammed the door.

“我不是你妈妈。”特雷休里克夫人吼道，然后她飞快地进了卧室，砰地一声关上了门。

Once inside, she drew forth a large trunk from the closet and set to work with querulous and fretful haste to pack her wardrobe. She tore her best dress in taking it from the hook on which it hung: she scratched her soft hands twice with an ambushed pin. All the while, she kept up an indignant commentary on the events of the past few moments. She said to herself she saw it all. Tretherick had sent for this child of his first wife—this child of whose existence he had never seemed to care—just to insult her, to fill her place. Doubtless the first wife herself would follow soon, or perhaps there would be a third. Red hair, not auburn, but RED—of course the child, this Caroline, looked like its mother, and, if so, she was anything but pretty. Or the whole thing had been prepared: this red-haired child, the image of its mother, had been kept at a convenient distance at Sacramento, ready to be sent for when needed. She remembered his occasional visits there on—business, as he said. Perhaps the mother already was there; but no, she had gone East. Nevertheless, Mrs. Tretherick, in her then state of mind, preferred to dwell upon the fact that she might be there. She was dimly conscious, also, of a certain satisfaction in exaggerating her feelings. Surely no woman had ever been so shamefully abused. In fancy, she sketched a picture of herself sitting alone and deserted, at sunset, among the fallen columns of a ruined temple, in a melancholy yet graceful attitude, while her husband drove rapidly away in a luxurious coach-and-four, with a red-haired woman at his side. Sitting upon the trunk she had just packed, she partly composed a lugubrious poem describing her sufferings as, wandering alone and poorly clad, she came upon her husband and "another" flaunting in silks and diamonds. She pictured herself dying of consumption, brought on by sorrow—a beautiful wreck, yet still fascinating, gazed upon adoringly by the editor of the AVALANCHE and Colonel Starbottle. And where was Colonel Starbottle all this while? Why didn't he come? He, at least, understood her. He—she laughed the reckless, light laugh of a few moments before; and then her face suddenly grew grave, as it had not a few moments before.

一进房间，她就从壁橱里取出一个大行李箱，气急败坏地匆忙往里装衣服。她从钩子上取裙子时，把她最好的连衣裙扯破了：一枚不知藏在哪里的别针两次刮伤了她柔软的手。收拾衣服的时候，她一直不停地抱怨刚才发生的一切。她对自己说她全明白了。特雷休里克接来第一任妻子的孩子——他好像从来就没关心过这个孩子的存在——就是为了侮辱她，填补她的位置。毫无疑问，第一任妻子很快也会过来，或许还会有第三任。红头发，不是赤褐色，而是火红的——当然这孩子，这个叫卡罗琳的，长得像她的妈妈，如果真是这样，这当妈的绝对好看不到哪里去。或者整件事都是安排好的：这个长得很像她妈的红发小孩，被安顿在萨克拉门托一个合适的地方，需要时随时可以接回。她想起他偶尔会去那里——办事，他是这么说的。也许小孩的妈妈已经在那里了，不，她去了东部。虽然如此，特雷休里克夫人那时心里更愿意认为，那个女人就在萨克拉门托。她也朦胧意识到，夸大自己的感受能带来一丝满足感。当然，没有哪个女人被如此羞辱过。幻想中她勾画了一幅图画，画中她被遗弃了，在黄昏中一个人坐在一座废弃寺庙的残垣断壁之中，悲伤却不失优雅；而她的丈夫却驾着奢华的四马大车飞驰而去，身边坐着一个红发女郎。坐在刚收拾好的行李箱上，她还构思了一首哀伤的诗来描写自己的痛苦，想好了其中的一部分：她独自徘徊，衣着寒碜，却遇上丈夫和“另一个”身着绸衣，戴着钻石的妇人。她想象自己因为悲伤过度得了肺痨快要死了——一种美丽的毁灭，却依然魅力十足，被《雪崩报》编辑和斯塔博特尔上校爱慕地凝视着。但这么长时间了，斯塔博特尔上校在哪儿？他怎么还没有来？他至少是理解自己的。他——她笑刚才自己笑得太鲁莽轻快。突然她的脸色又严肃起来，不复刚才那般轻快。

What was that little red-haired imp doing all this time? Why was she so quiet? She opened the door noiselessly, and listened. She fancied that she heard, above the multitudinous small noises and creakings and warpings of the vacant house, a smaller voice singing on the floor above. This, as she remembered, was only an open attic that had been used as a storeroom. With a half-guilty consciousness, she crept softly upstairs and, pushing the door partly open, looked within.

那个红发小魔鬼在做什么？她怎么这么安静？她悄无声息地打开门，听有什么动静。除了空房子里多种多样的小声响还有嘎吱声外，她觉得自己还听到了楼上声音很轻的歌声。她记得那只是一间敞开的阁楼，过去用作储藏室。心中含着一丝内疚，她轻轻爬上楼，推开一点儿门向里望去。

Athwart the long, low-studded attic, a slant sunbeam from a single small window lay, filled with dancing motes, and only half illuminating the barren, dreary apartment. In the ray of this sunbeam she saw the child's glowing hair, as if crowned by a red aureole, as she sat upon the floor with her exaggerated doll between her knees. She appeared to be talking to it; and it was not long before Mrs. Tretherick observed that she was rehearsing the interview of a half-hour before. She catechized the doll severely, cross-examining it in regard to the duration of its stay there, and generally on the measure of time. The imitation of Mrs. Tretherick's manner was exceedingly successful, and the conversation almost a literal reproduction, with a single exception. After she had informed the doll that she was not her mother, at the close of the interview she added pathetically, "that if she was dood, very dood, she might be her mamma, and love her very much."

长长的低矮阁楼里，一缕阳光斜射进房间唯一的小窗，一直照到对面的墙上，光柱里跳跃着灰尘。整个阁楼半明半暗，显得空洞而抑郁。在这束阳光下，她看见了孩子发亮的红发，就像戴了个红色的光环。她正坐在地板上，体形硕大的娃娃放在两膝之间。她似乎是在和娃娃说话，不一会儿特雷休里克夫人就发现，她在重复着半小时前的对话。她严厉地盘问娃娃，反复询问她呆在那儿多长时间了，还有大致的时间推算。她模仿特雷休里克夫人的说话方式极其成功，而且对话几乎是逐字复制，只有一个地方除外。在告诉娃娃自己不是她妈妈后，谈话的最后她可怜地加了一句：“如果她乖，非常乖，她可能会做她妈妈，而且会非常地爱她。”

I have already hinted that Mrs. Tretherick was deficient in a sense of humor. Perhaps it was for this reason that this whole scene affected her most unpleasantly; and the conclusion sent the blood tingling to her cheek. There was something, too, inconceivably lonely in the situation. The unfurnished vacant room, the half-lights, the monstrous doll, whose very size seemed to give a pathetic significance to its speechlessness, the smallness of the one animate, self-centered figure—all these touched more or less deeply the half-poetic sensibilities of the woman. She could not help utilizing the impression as she stood there, and thought what a fine poem might be constructed from this material if the room were a little darker, the child lonelier—say, sitting beside a dead mother's bier, and the wind wailing in the turrets.

我之前已暗示过，特雷休里克夫人缺乏幽默感。或许正是这个原因，这一幕让她感到非常不舒服，而结尾更让她的血液涌上了面颊。这一幕里也有别的东西，就是难以想象的孤独。没有家具的空房间，半明半暗的光线，怪物一样的娃娃，那么大的尺寸似乎就为了让人同情它说不了话，有生命却只能顾自玩耍的孩子的渺小——这一切或多或少都深深触动了这位半带诗意的敏感女人。站在那里，她禁不住想，这个素材可以写出多么好的一首诗啊，只要这房间再暗一点儿，孩子再孤独一点儿——比方说，坐在已故母亲的棺材边，周围伴随着在角楼里呼啸的风。

And then she suddenly heard footsteps at the door below, and recognized the tread of the colonel's cane.

这时她突然听到楼下门口传来的脚步声，还听出了上校的手杖敲地的声音。

She flew swiftly down the stairs, and encountered the colonel in the hall.

她飞快地跑下楼，在大厅里见到了上校。

Here she poured into his astonished ear a voluble and exaggerated statement of her discovery, and indignant recital of her wrongs. "Don't tell me the whole thing wasn't arranged beforehand; for I know it was!" she almost screamed. "And think," she added, "of the heartlessness of the wretch, leaving his own child alone here in that way."

一见面她就用夸张的语言滔滔不绝地讲述自己的发现，愤怒地述说自己遭受的不公正，听得他吃惊不已。“不要跟我说整件事不是预谋好的，因为我知道是预谋好的！”她几乎尖叫着说道。“再想想，”她又加了一句，“那混蛋真是残忍，把自己的亲生女儿一个人就那样丢在这里。”

"It's a blank shame!" stammered the colonel, without the least idea of what he was talking about. In fact, utterly unable as he was to comprehend a reason for the woman's excitement, with his estimate of her character, I fear he showed it more plainly than he intended. He stammered, expanded his chest, looked stern, gallant, tender, but all unintelligently. Mrs. Tretherick, for an instant, experienced a sickening doubt of the existence of natures in perfect affinity.

“确实无耻！”上校结结巴巴地说着，根本不清楚自己在说些什么。事实上，就他对特雷休里克夫人性格的了解来看，他完全无法领会为什么这女人会这么激动，恐怕他并不想表现出这一点，但他的表情已经很明白地表露出来了。他结结巴巴，胸口起伏着，看上去严厉、英勇、温柔，但却是一副不明就里的样子。有那么一刻，特雷休里克夫人不安地怀疑，人和人是不是真的能彼此理解。

"It's of no use," said Mrs. Tretherick with sudden vehemence, in answer to some inaudible remark of the colonel's, and withdrawing her hand from the fervent grasp of that ardent and sympathetic man. "It's of no use: my mind is made up. You can send for my trunk as soon as you like; but I shall stay here, and confront that man with the proof of his vileness. I will put him face to face with his infamy."

“没用的。”特雷休里克夫人突然语气强烈地说，以回应上校一句几乎听不见的话，并把手从这个热情而富有同情心的男人那炽热的手里抽了出来，“没用的，我心意已决。只要你愿意，你可以尽早派人来拿我的行李；但是我会呆在这里，见见那个男人，证明他有多卑劣。我要和他当面对质他的恶行。”

I do not know whether Colonel Starbottle thoroughly appreciated the convincing proof of Tretherick's unfaithfulness and malignity afforded by the damning evidence of the existence of Tretherick's own child in his own house. He was dimly aware, however, of some unforeseen obstacle to the perfect expression of the infinite longing of his own sentimental nature. But, before he could say anything, Carry appeared on the landing above them, looking timidly, and yet half-critically, at the pair.

我不清楚斯塔博特尔上校是否能完全理解，特雷休里克不忠而且恶毒的强有力证据，就是他自己的孩子呆在他自己的家里。不过，他还是隐约意识到，想要完美地表达自己对多愁善感的无限渴望，还有些无法预料的障碍。但是，他还没有来得及说什么，卡里就出现在他们上面的楼梯上，带点儿胆怯，又半是指责地看着两个人。

"That's her," said Mrs. Tretherick excitedly. In her deepest emotions, in either verse or prose, she rose above a consideration of grammatical construction.

“就是她。”特雷休里克夫人激动地说道。在她情绪最激烈的时候，不管是诗歌还是散文，她都顾不上考虑语法构造了。

"Ah!" said the colonel, with a sudden assumption of parental affection and jocularity that was glaringly unreal and affected. "Ah! pretty little girl, pretty little girl! How do you do? How are you? You find yourself pretty well, do you, pretty little girl?" The colonel's impulse also was to expand his chest and swing his cane, until it occurred to him that this action might be ineffective with a child of six or seven. Carry, however, took no immediate notice of this advance, but further discomposed the chivalrous colonel by running quickly to Mrs. Tretherick and hiding herself, as if for protection, in the folds of her gown. Nevertheless, the colonel was not vanquished. Falling back into an attitude of respectful admiration, he pointed out a marvelous resemblance to the "Madonna and Child." Mrs. Tretherick simpered, but did not dislodge Carry as before. There was an awkward pause for a moment; and then Mrs. Tretherick, motioning significantly to the child, said in a whisper: "Go now. Don't come here again, but meet me tonight at the hotel." She extended her hand: the colonel bent over it gallantly and, raising his hat, the next moment was gone.

“啊！”上校说道，突然装出一副很滑稽的充满父爱的表情，显得非常做作虚伪，“啊！漂亮的小姑娘，漂亮的小姑娘！你好。感觉怎么样？你过得很不错，是吧，漂亮的小姑娘？”上校的本能反应还是想挺起胸膛，挥舞手杖，然后突然意识到这个动作对一个六七岁的孩子来说可能没什么用。不过，卡里没有立即注意到这种殷勤，她奔向了特雷休里克夫人，把自己藏在她外衣的褶皱里，好像是寻求保护，这让彬彬有礼的上校更感不安。虽然如此，上校并不气馁。他恢复到之前尊敬和赞赏的姿态，指出眼前一幕与“圣母玛利亚与圣子”有着惊异的相似。特雷休里克夫人敷衍地笑笑，但没有像上次一样将卡里赶走。一小会儿尴尬的冷场后，特雷休里克夫人意味深长地朝孩子俯下身，低声地说：“走吧。别再来这儿了，今晚去旅馆找我。”她伸出手，上校殷勤地鞠了一躬，举起帽子，然后走了。

"Do you think," said Mrs. Tretherick with an embarrassed voice and a prodigious blush, looking down, and addressing the fiery curls just visible in the folds of her dress—”do you think you will be 'dood' if I let you stay in here and sit with me?"

“你觉得，”特雷休里克夫人声音里带着尴尬，脸色通红，她低下头对着自己衣服褶皱里刚刚能看得见的火红小卷发问道，“如果我让你呆在这里和我坐在一起，你觉得自己会‘乖’吗？”

"And let me tall you Mamma?" queried Carry, looking up.

“还让我叫你妈妈吗？”卡里仰起头问道。

"And let you call me Mamma!" assented Mrs. Tretherick with an embarrassed laugh.

“还让你叫我妈妈！”特雷休里克夫人尴尬地笑着同意了。

"Yeth," said Carry promptly.

“好。”卡里马上答道。

They entered the bedroom together. Carry's eye instantly caught sight of the trunk.

她们一起进入了卧室。卡里一眼就看见了行李箱。

"Are you dowin' away adain, Mamma?" she said with a quick nervous look, and a clutch at the woman's dress.

“你又要走了吗，妈妈？”小女孩紧张地瞥了一眼后说道，并且一把抓住了夫人的裙子。

"No-o," said Mrs. Tretherick, looking out of the window.

“不，不。”特雷休里克夫人说道，边朝窗外望着。

"Only playing your dowin' away," suggested Carry with a laugh. "Let me play too."

“只是假装要走，”卡里笑着说道，“我也要玩。”

Mrs. Tretherick assented. Carry flew into the next room, and presently reappeared dragging a small trunk, into which she gravely proceeded to pack her clothes. Mrs. Tretherick noticed that they were not many. A question or two regarding them brought out some further replies from the child; and before many minutes had elapsed, Mrs. Tretherick was in possession of all her earlier history. But, to do this, Mrs. Tretherick had been obliged to take Carry upon her lap, pending the most confidential disclosures. They sat thus a long time after Mrs. Tretherick had apparently ceased to be interested in Carry's disclosures; and when lost in thought, she allowed the child to rattle on unheeded, and ran her fingers through the scarlet curls.

特雷休里克夫人同意了。卡里飞跑到隔壁房间，不一会儿就拖着一个小行李箱回来了，还严肃地开始往箱子里装衣服。特雷休里克夫人注意到，她的衣服并不多。她问了一两个关于衣服的问题，而孩子一股脑儿就把知道的全说出来了。没过多久，特雷休里克夫人就完全了解了孩子的过去。不过，为了这些故事，特雷休里克夫人不得不把卡里抱到腿上，这才得到那些最隐秘问题的答案。在特雷休里克夫人对卡里的故事明显不感兴趣后，她们还保持着同样的姿势坐了很久；她陷入沉思时，用手摆弄着孩子火红的卷发，任凭她喋喋不休。

"You don't hold me right, Mamma," said Carry at last, after one or two uneasy shiftings of position.

“你抱的姿势不对，妈妈。”在不舒服地扭动一两次后，卡里终于说道。

"How should I hold you?" asked Mrs. Tretherick with a half-amused, half-embarrassed laugh.

“那我该怎么抱你呢？”特雷休里克夫人笑问道，显得既高兴又尴尬。

"Dis way," said Carry, curling up into position, with one arm around Mrs. Tretherick's neck and her cheek resting on her bosom—”dis way—dere." After a little preparatory nestling, not unlike some small animal, she closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

“这样，”卡里说着就蜷起身子，一条手臂绕住特雷休里克夫人的脖子，脸颊依靠在夫人的胸脯上，“这样——这里。”在像小动物一样微微做了一个准备睡觉的姿势后，她闭上双眼，睡着了。

For a few moments the woman sat silent, scarcely daring to breathe in that artificial attitude. And then, whether from some occult sympathy in the touch, or God best knows what, a sudden fancy began to thrill her. She began by remembering an old pain that she had forgotten, an old horror that she had resolutely put away all these years. She recalled days of sickness and distrust—days of an overshadowing fear—days of preparation for something that was to be prevented, that WAS prevented, with mortal agony and fear. She thought of a life that might have been—she dared not say HAD been—and wondered. It was six years ago; if it had lived, it would have been as old as Carry. The arms which were folded loosely around the sleeping child began to tremble, and tighten their clasp. And then the deep potential impulse came, and with a half-sob, half-sigh, she threw her arms out and drew the body of the sleeping child down, down, into her breast, down again and again as if she would hide it in the grave dug there years before. And the gust that shook her passed, and then, ah me! the rain.

夫人静静地坐了一会儿，保持着那种不自然的姿势，几乎不敢呼吸。接下来，不知是这种拥抱的姿势触发了某种神秘的同情心，还是上帝才知道的什么原因，一个突然的想法让她颤抖不已。一开始时，她回忆起一段已经淡忘的旧痛，过去的那种恐惧是她这么多年来坚决不会去回想的。她回想起那段身体不适而且不信任他人的日子——那段蒙上恐惧阴影的日子——那时她正准备阻止一件事情，最后也成功了，却充满了致命的痛苦和恐惧。她想到了本可能存在的那个生命——她不敢说那个生命已经不在了——思绪开始飘荡。那是六年前的事。如果它活了下来，应该和卡里一样大。她抱着熟睡孩子的两只手开始颤抖起来，刚才还抱得很松，现在却扣紧了。这时深藏在内心的潜在冲动涌了出来，她一边呜咽着一边叹息，同时伸出双臂把熟睡中的孩子往怀中揽紧，直到把孩子紧贴在胸口。她越抱越紧，就仿佛要把她藏进那个数年前挖好的坟墓。让她震动的那阵大风过去了，接着的是，啊，天呐！是雨。

A drop or two fell upon the curls of Carry, and she moved uneasily in her sleep. But the woman soothed her again—it was SO easy to do it now—and they sat there quiet and undisturbed, so quiet that they might have seemed incorporate of the lonely silent house, the slowly declining sunbeams, and the general air of desertion and abandonment, yet a desertion that had in it nothing of age, decay, or despair.

一两滴雨落到了卡里的卷发上，她在睡梦中不自在地动了动。但是夫人又安抚她睡熟了——现在做这件事是如此容易——她们俩安安静静地坐着，没人打扰，安静得像是这孤独寂静的房子以及缓缓西下的落日的一个组成部分，还跟周遭荒弃的气氛融为一体，不过那荒弃里倒是没有岁月、陈腐或绝望的气息。

Colonel Starbottle waited at the Fiddletown Hotel all that night in vain. And the next morning, when Mr. Tretherick returned to his husks, he found the house vacant and untenanted, except by motes and sunbeams.

那晚，斯塔博特尔上校在菲朵镇旅馆白白等了一个晚上。第二天早晨，特雷休里克先生回到他的窝，发现里面空无一人，只有灰尘和阳光。

When it was fairly known that Mrs. Tretherick had run away, taking Mr. Tretherick's own child with her, there was some excitement and much diversity of opinion, in Fiddletown. THE DUTCH FLAT INTELLIGENCER openly alluded to the "forcible abduction" of the child with the same freedom, and it is to be feared the same prejudice, with which it had criticized the abductor's poetry. All of Mrs. Tretherick's own sex, and perhaps a few of the opposite sex, whose distinctive quality was not, however, very strongly indicated, fully coincided in the views of the INTELLIGENCER. The majority, however, evaded the moral issue; that Mrs. Tretherick had shaken the red dust of Fiddletown from her dainty slippers was enough for them to know. They mourned the loss of the fair abductor more than her offense. They promptly rejected Tretherick as an injured husband and disconsolate father, and even went so far as to openly cast discredit on the sincerity of his grief. They reserved an ironical condolence for Colonel Starbottle, overbearing that excellent man with untimely and demonstrative sympathy in barrooms, saloons, and other localities not generally deemed favorable to the display of sentiment. "She was alliz a skittish thing, Kernel," said one sympathizer, with a fine affectation of gloomy concern and great readiness of illustration; "and it's kinder nat'ril thet she'd get away someday, and stampede that theer colt: but thet she should shake YOU, Kernel, diet she should jist shake you—is what gits me. And they do say thet you jist hung around thet hotel all night, and payrolled them corriders, and histed yourself up and down them stairs, and meandered in and out o' thet piazzy, and all for nothing?" It was another generous and tenderly commiserating spirit that poured additional oil and wine on the colonel's wounds. "The boys yer let on thet Mrs. Tretherick prevailed on ye to pack her trunk and a baby over from the house to the stage offis, and that the chap ez did go off with her thanked you, and offered you two short bits, and sed ez how he liked your looks, and ud employ you agin—and now you say it ain't so? Well, I'll tell the boys it ain't so, and I'm glad I met you, for stories DO get round."

大家都清楚地知道特雷休里克夫人跑了，还带走了特雷休里克先生自己的孩子。菲朵镇的人们兴奋起来，议论纷纷。《荷兰平面新闻》还是那样口无遮拦，公然暗示那是对孩子的“暴力绑架”，人们担心这是偏见，因为它曾以同样的偏见批评过绑架者的诗。特雷休里克夫人的所有同性，或许还有些异性（不过他们的男性气质不是那么明显），完全和《新闻》上的观点一致。然而，大多数人避开谈道德问题。特雷休里克夫人抖掉了精致拖鞋在菲朵镇沾上的红色尘土，就已经够他们琢磨的了。和她的过错比起来，人们更伤心的是美丽绑架者离开这一事实。很快，他们就拒绝承认特雷休里克先生是受到伤害的丈夫或是孤独的父亲，甚至还公开质疑他是不是真的感到哀伤。他们对斯塔博特尔上校既挖苦又同情，不让那个优秀的男人在酒吧、沙龙及其他一般认为不适宜袒露心迹的场所，不分时宜地公开表露感情。“她一直就是个轻浮的人，上校，”一个同情者说，看上去忧虑担心，并随时准备举出例子，“她总有一天会离开，抢一匹小公马，那要好多了：但她竟然甩了你，上校，她居然甩了你——这让我不明白。而且他们都说你整晚都在旅馆外头，给那些站门廊的小费，自己一会儿上楼一会儿下楼，在大厅里进进出出，结果什么都没得到？”正是另一个慷慨而温柔的同情者，给上校的伤口额外浇了些油和酒。“伙计们说特雷休里克夫人说动了你，让你帮她把行李箱和小孩子从她家送到马车公司，还说她谢了你才走的，并给你二十美元，还说她多么喜欢你的样子，会再请你帮她——现在你却说不是那样的？好吧，我会告诉伙计们不是那样的，真高兴遇见了你，因为谣言确确实实满天乱飞。

Happily for Mrs. Tretherick's reputation, however, the Chinaman in Tretherick's employment, who was the only eyewitness of her flight, stated that she was unaccompanied, except by the child. He further deposed that, obeying her orders, he had stopped the Sacramento coach, and secured a passage for herself and child to San Francisco. It was true that Ah Fe's testimony was of no legal value. But nobody doubted it. Even those who were skeptical of the pagan's ability to recognize the sacredness of the truth admitted his passionless, unprejudiced unconcern. But it would appear, from a hitherto unrecorded passage of this veracious chronicle, that herein they were mistaken.

不过，对特雷休里克夫人的名声来说有利的是，特雷休里克先生雇的那个中国人说她是一个人走的，只带了那个孩子，这个中国人是唯一看到她离开的证人。他还发誓说，自己按她的要求拦下了一辆来自萨克拉门托的马车，确保她和孩子能到旧金山。确实，阿飞的证词是没有法律价值的。但没有人对它表示怀疑。即使有人怀疑这个异教徒是否知道真相的神圣性，他们也承认他对这件事是不带感情的，没有偏见，与己无关。但从到目前为止还没有记录的一段真相来看，他们似乎在这方面搞错了。

It was about six months after the disappearance of Mrs. Tretherick that Ah Fe, while working in Tretherick's lot, was hailed by two passing Chinamen. They were the ordinary mining coolies, equipped with long poles and baskets for their usual pilgrimages. An animated conversation at once ensued between Ah Fe and his brother Mongolians—a conversation characterized by that usual shrill volubility and apparent animosity which was at once the delight and scorn of the intelligent Caucasian who did not understand a word of it. Such, at least, was the feeling with which Mr. Tretherick on his veranda and Colonel Starbottle, who was passing, regarded their heathenish jargon. The gallant colonel simply kicked them out of his way; the irate Tretherick, with an oath, threw a stone at the group, and dispersed them, but not before one or two slips of yellow rice paper, marked with hieroglyphics, were exchanged, and a small parcel put into Ah Fe's hands. When Ah Fe opened this in the dim solitude of his kitchen, he found a little girl's apron, freshly washed, ironed, and folded. On the corner of the hem were the initials "C. T." Ah Fe tucked it away in a corner of his blouse, and proceeded to wash his dishes in the sink with a smile of guileless satisfaction.

就在特雷休里克夫人消失大约六个月后，两个路过的中国人向正在特雷休里克先生地里干活的阿飞打招呼。他们是普通的采矿苦力，一般走远路都会随身带着长棍和筐子。阿飞和他的蒙古兄弟们立刻欢快地交谈起来——声音尖锐，滔滔不绝，又含有明显的敌意，对此，根本听不懂他们谈话的聪明的高加索人会立马觉得既好笑又鄙视。至少，阳台上的特雷休里克先生，还有路过的斯塔博特尔上校听到他们异教徒的行话时是这么觉得。英勇的上校把挡住路的他们踢开了；愤怒的特雷休里克咒骂着，向他们扔了块石头，驱散他们；不过在这之前他们已经交换了一两张标有象形文字的黄宣纸，一个小包裹也交到了阿飞手里。当阿飞在偏僻的昏暗厨房里打开包裹时，发现是一条小女孩的围裙，刚刚洗熨过，并且是叠好的。围裙边缘的一个角上是大写字母"C.T."阿飞收好围裙，放在上衣的一个角落里，诚实又满意地微微一笑，继续清洗水槽里的餐具。

Two days after this, Ah Fe confronted his master. "Me no likee Fiddletown. Me belly sick. Me go now." Mr. Tretherick violently suggested a profane locality. Ah Fe gazed at him placidly, and withdrew.

两天后，阿飞见了他的主人。“我不喜欢菲朵镇。我肚子痛。现在我走了。”特雷休里克先生暴躁地建议他滚蛋。阿飞平静地盯着他，然后离开了。

Before leaving Fiddletown, however, he accidentally met Colonel Starbottle, and dropped a few incoherent phrases which apparently interested that gentleman. When he concluded, the colonel handed him a letter and a twenty-dollar gold piece. "If you bring me an answer, I'll double that—sabe, John?" Ah Fe nodded. An interview equally accidental, with precisely the same result, took place between Ah Fe and another gentleman, whom I suspect to have been the youthful editor of the AVALANCHE. Yet I regret to state that, after proceeding some distance on his journey, Ah Fe calmly broke the seals of both letters, and after trying to read them upside down and sideways, finally divided them into accurate squares, and in this condition disposed of them to a brother Celestial whom he met on the road, for a trifling gratuity. The agony of Colonel Starbottle on finding his wash bill made out on the unwritten side of one of these squares, and delivered to him with his weekly clean clothes, and the subsequent discovery that the remaining portions of his letter were circulated by the same method from the Chinese laundry of one Fung Ti of Fiddletown, has been described to me as peculiarly affecting. Yet I am satisfied that a higher nature, rising above the levity induced by the mere contemplation of the insignificant details of this breach of trust, would find ample retributive justice in the difficulties that subsequently attended Ah Fe's pilgrimage.

不过阿飞在离开菲朵镇前偶然碰到了斯塔博特尔上校，断断续续地传了几句话，这些话明显引起了上校的兴趣。他说完后，上校给了他一封信，还有一枚二十美元的金币。“如果给我带来回音的话，我会再加一倍钱——懂吗，约翰？”阿飞点了点头。阿飞和另一位绅士也进行了一次同样偶然的面谈，结果跟前面一样。我猜想那位绅士是《雪崩报》的年轻编辑。然而，我得遗憾地说，阿飞又走了一段距离后，平静地拆开了两封信，倒着读、侧着读，试了半天，最终将两份信撕成了整整齐齐的方片，把这些方片交给了路上遇到的一个叫西莱斯切尔的中国兄弟，只为了微不足道的一点点赏钱。斯塔博特尔上校认出他的洗衣账单就是用那些方片的反面做的，和每周洗过的干净衣服一起送过来，他接下来发现信的其他部分经由相同的方法在菲朵镇传播了开来，账单都来自一家中国人开的名叫冯记的洗衣店，当别人向我描述他的这种痛苦时，我深感同情。但我也感到满意，因为造物主没有无视阿飞辜负别人信任这种无关紧要的细节，在他随后的旅程中，给了他足够的惩罚以宣示正义。

On the road to Sacramento he was twice playfully thrown from the top of the stagecoach by an intelligent but deeply intoxicated Caucasian, whose moral nature was shocked at riding with one addicted to opium-smoking. At Hangtown he was beaten by a passing stranger—purely an act of Christian supererogation. At Dutch Flat he was robbed by well-known hands from unknown motives. At Sacramento he was arrested on suspicion of being something or other, and discharged with a severe reprimand—possibly for not being it, and so delaying the course of justice. At San Francisco he was freely stoned by children of the public schools; but, by carefully avoiding these monuments of enlightened progress, he at last reached, in comparative safety, the Chinese quarters, where his abuse was confined to the police and limited by the strong arm of the law.

在去萨克拉门托的路上，他两次被一个聪明但烂醉的高加索人开玩笑地从公共马车顶推了下来，在跟吸鸦片上瘾的人一起乘车时，高加索人的道德本性发生了动摇。在航镇，他被一个路过的陌生人打了一顿——纯属基督徒的职责以外的行为。在名叫荷兰营地的小镇，他遭受了臭名昭著的恶棍们动机不明的抢劫。在萨克拉门托，他被怀疑涉嫌犯事遭到逮捕，受了一顿严厉的训斥后被放了——很有可能是因为他没犯事，所以耽误了司法程序。在旧金山，公立学校的学生肆意朝他扔石头，但在小心避开这些文明进程中的典型行为后，他最终还是相对安全地抵达了中国人的聚居地。在这里，他受到的虐待只会来自警察，并且强大的法律使这种虐待也很少发生。

The next day he entered the washhouse of Chy Fook as an assistant, and on the following Friday was sent with a basket of clean clothes to Chy Fook's several clients.

第二天他进了蔡福洗衣房当杂役。接下来的星期五，他奉命把一篮子洗好的衣服给蔡福的一些顾客送去。

It was the usual foggy afternoon as he climbed the long windswept hill of California Street—one of those bleak, gray intervals that made the summer a misnomer to any but the liveliest San Franciscan fancy. There was no warmth or color in earth or sky, no light nor shade within or without, only one monotonous, universal neutral tint over everything. There was a fierce unrest in the wind-whipped streets: there was a dreary vacant quiet in the gray houses. When Ah Fe reached the top of the hill, the Mission Ridge was already hidden, and the chill sea breeze made him shiver.

那是一个平常的雾蒙蒙的下午，他沿着加利福尼亚大街长长的迎风山路往上爬——那是夏天间隙出现的荒凉灰暗的天气，这种天气使得除了最具想象力的旧金山人外，任何人都不会认为这是夏天。大地和天空都缺乏温暖或色彩，里里外外都没有光亮没有阴影，所有东西都蒙上了一层单调的青灰色。狂风肆虐的街道上有种极其不安的情绪：一座座灰色的房子里都有种阴郁空虚和寂静。阿飞到达山顶时，米申岭已经看不见了，冷嗖嗖的海风吹得他直打哆嗦。

As he put down his basket to rest himself, it is possible that, to his defective intelligence and heathen experience, this "God's own climate," as was called, seemed to possess but scant tenderness, softness, or mercy. But it is possible that Ah Fe illogically confounded this season with his old persecutors, the schoolchildren, who, being released from studious confinement, at this hour were generally most aggressive. So he hastened on, and turning a corner, at last stopped before a small house.

他放下篮子休息的时候，可能以他那有缺陷的理解能力还有异教徒的经验看，这种“上帝自己的天气”似乎一点儿也不温和、不仁慈。不过也有可能阿飞把这个季节和迫害他的人不合逻辑地混淆在了一起，迫害者是些学童，刚从学习的禁锢中释放出来，在这个时段里通常最富攻击性。所以他加快了步子，过了一个拐角，最终在一座小房子前停了下来。

It was the usual San Franciscan urban cottage. There was the little strip of cold green shrubbery before it; the chilly, bare veranda, and above this, again, the grim balcony, on which no one sat. Ah Fe rang the bell. A servant appeared, glanced at his basket, and reluctantly admitted him, as if he were some necessary domestic animal. Ah Fe silently mounted the stairs, and entering the open door of the front chamber, put down the basket and stood passively on the threshold.

这是旧金山城里一座普普通通的房子。房前有一条窄窄的绿叶灌木；凄冷的空走廊上有个阳台，阳台也是凄冷的，空无一人。阿飞按了门铃。一个仆人出现了，瞥了眼篮子，不太情愿地让他进去了，就像他是某种必需的家畜一样。阿飞默默地爬上了楼梯，走进开着的前厅，放下篮子，顺从地站在门口。

A woman, who was sitting in the cold gray light of the window, with a child in her lap, rose listlessly, and came toward him. Ah Fe instantly recognized Mrs. Tretherick; but not a muscle of his immobile face changed, nor did his slant eyes lighten as he met her own placidly. She evidently did not recognize him as she began to count the clothes. But the child, curiously examining him, suddenly uttered a short, glad cry.

一个妇人坐在窗户照进来的灰冷光线里，腿上坐着一个孩子，妇人无精打采地站了起来，并向他走来。阿飞立即认出了那是特雷休里克夫人，但他那毫无表情的脸上没有任何变化，当平静地看着夫人眼睛的时候，他的斜眼也没有闪亮起来。她显然没有认出阿飞，因为她开始清点衣服了。但是小孩子好奇地盯着他，突然发出了一声短促却高兴的叫喊。

"Why, it's John, Mamma! It's our old John what we had in Fiddletown."

“哇，是约翰，妈妈！是我们在菲朵镇时的约翰。”

For an instant Ah Fe's eyes and teeth electrically lightened. The child clapped her hands, and caught at his blouse. Then he said shortly: "Me John—Ah Fe—allee same. Me know you. How do?"

顿时，阿飞的眼睛和牙齿触电般地亮起来了。孩子拍着手，还抓住了他的衣服。接着他简短地说：“我是约翰——阿飞——一样。我认识你。还好吗？”

Mrs. Tretherick dropped the clothes nervously, and looked hard at Ah Fe. Wanting the quick-witted instinct of affection that sharpened Carry's perception, she even then could not distinguish him above his fellows. With a recollection of past pain, and an obscure suspicion of impending danger, she asked him when he had left Fiddletown.

特雷休里克夫人很紧张，衣服掉到了地上，眼睛直直地看着阿飞。她缺乏那种机智灵敏的本能，能让卡里敏锐地认出阿飞的那种本能，此时她甚至不能将阿飞和他的伙伴们区分开来。她回忆起往昔的痛苦，隐约担心着即将发生的危险，她问他是什么时候离开菲朵镇的。

"Longee time. No likee Fiddletown, no likee Tlevelick. Likee San Flisco. Likee washee. Likee Tally."

“很久了。不喜欢菲朵镇，不喜欢特雷休里克。喜欢旧金山。喜欢洗衣服。喜欢卡里。”

Ah Fe's laconics pleased Mrs. Tretherick. She did not stop to consider how much an imperfect knowledge of English added to his curt directness and sincerity. But she said, "Don't tell anybody you have seen me," and took out her pocketbook.

阿飞简短的回答令特雷休里克夫人感到高兴。她一直在想，正是他差劲的英语才使他如此言语简略、坦率真诚。但她说：“不要告诉任何人你见过我。”说完拿出钱包。

Ah Fe, without looking at it, saw that it was nearly empty. Ah Fe, without examining the apartment, saw that it was scantily furnished. Ah Fe, without removing his eyes from blank vacancy, saw that both Mrs. Tretherick and Carry were poorly dressed. Yet it is my duty to state that Ah Fe's long fingers closed promptly and firmly over the half-dollar which Mrs. Tretherick extended to him.

阿飞不用看就知道那钱包几乎是空的。阿飞不用仔细看，就知道房间里没什么家具。阿飞的视线都不用从空荡荡的房间里移开，就知道特雷休里克夫人和卡里穿得都很破旧。然而，我要负责任地告诉大家，阿飞的长手指迅速而坚决地攥住了特雷休里克夫人递过来的半美元。

Then he began to fumble in his blouse with a series of extraordinary contortions. After a few moments, he extracted from apparently no particular place a child's apron, which he laid upon the basket with the remark:

接着他开始在自己的衣服里摸来摸去，身体怪异地扭动着。一会儿，不知道他从什么特殊的地方取出了一张孩子用的围裙放在篮子里，接着说道：

"One piecee washman flagittee."

“一个洗衣工的标记。”

Then he began anew his fumblings and contortions. At last his efforts were rewarded by his producing, apparently from his right ear, a many-folded piece of tissue paper. Unwrapping this carefully, he at last disclosed two twenty-dollar gold pieces, which he handed to Mrs. Tretherick.

接着他又重新开始了摸索和扭曲。最后他的努力得到了回报，他从右耳后取出了一张明显折了多次的包装纸。他小心翼翼地拆开包装纸，最后从里面取出两枚二十美元的金币，递给了特雷休里克夫人。

"You leavee money topside of blulow, Fiddletown. Me findee money. Me fetchee money to you. All lightee."

“你把钱落在了衣柜上面，菲朵镇。我找到的。我把钱还给你。给你。”

"But I left no money on the top of the bureau, John," said Mrs. Tretherick earnestly. "There must be some mistake. It belongs to some other person. Take it back, John."

“可我没在衣柜上放钱啊，约翰。”特雷休里克夫人认真地说，“肯定哪里出错了。那是别人的钱。把钱拿回去，约翰。”

Ah Fe's brow darkened. He drew away from Mrs. Tretherick's extended hand, and began hastily to gather up his basket.

阿飞的脸色暗了下来。他避开特雷休里克夫人伸向他的手，开始匆忙收拾自己的篮子。

"Me no takee it back. No, no! Bimeby pleesman he catchee me. He say, 'God damn thief!—catchee flowty dollar: come to jailee.’ Me no takee back. You leavee money topside blulow, Fiddletown. Me fetchee money you. Me no takee back."

“我不会拿回的。不，不！警察很快会抓我。他说：‘该死的小偷！偷了四十美元：送你去坐牢。’我不拿。你把钱放在了衣柜的上面，菲朵镇。我把钱送给你。我不拿回去。”

Mrs. Tretherick hesitated. In the confusion of her flight, she MIGHT have left the money in the manner he had said. In any event, she had no right to jeopardize this honest Chinaman's safety by refusing it. So she said: "Very well, John, I will keep it. But you must come again and see me—” here Mrs. Tretherick hesitated with a new and sudden revelation of the fact that any man could wish to see any other than herself—”and, and—Carry."

特雷休里克夫人犹豫了。在离开的混乱中，她极有可能像阿飞说的那样，把钱放在了衣柜上。无论如何，她没有权利因拒绝这笔钱而危害到这个诚实的中国人的安全。所以她说道：“那好吧，约翰，我留下这笔钱。但你一定要再来看看我——”此时特雷休里克夫人犹豫了一下，恍然意识到任何男人都不希望看到她，“还有，还有——卡里。”

Ah Fe's face lightened. He even uttered a short ventriloquistic laugh without moving his mouth. Then, shouldering his basket, he shut the door carefully and slid quietly down stairs. In the lower hall he, however, found an unexpected difficulty in opening the front door, and, after fumbling vainly at the lock for a moment, looked around for some help or instruction. But the Irish handmaid who had let him in was contemptuously oblivious of his needs, and did not appear.

阿飞的脸色发光了。他甚至还短促地腹笑了一声，嘴巴没动。接着，他用肩扛着篮子，小心翼翼地关上门，安静地下了楼梯。然而，在楼下大厅里，他开前门时遇到了未曾料到的麻烦。在徒劳地摸索了一会儿门锁后，他四下环顾，想找点儿帮助或指示。但给他开门的爱尔兰女佣非常傲慢，没注意到他的需要，也没有出现。

There occurred a mysterious and painful incident, which I shall simply record without attempting to explain. On the hall table a scarf, evidently the property of the servant before alluded to, was lying. As Ah Fe tried the lock with one hand, the other rested lightly on the table. Suddenly, and apparently of its own volition, the scarf began to creep slowly toward Ah Fe's hand; from Ah Fe's hand it began to creep up his sleeve slowly, and with an insinuating, snakelike motion; and then disappeared somewhere in the recesses of his blouse. Without betraying the least interest or concern in this phenomenon, Ah Fe still repeated his experiments upon the lock. A moment later the tablecloth of red damask, moved by apparently the same mysterious impulse, slowly gathered itself under Ah Fe's fingers, and sinuously disappeared by the same hidden channel. What further mystery might have followed, I cannot say; for at this moment Ah Fe discovered the secret of the lock, and was enabled to open the door coincident with the sound of footsteps upon the kitchen stairs. Ah Fe did not hasten his movements, but patiently shouldering his basket, closed the door carefully behind him again, and stepped forth into the thick encompassing fog that now shrouded earth and sky.

这时发生了一件不可思议、令人不快的事，我打算把事情记录下来，但不进行任何解释。大厅桌子上有一条围巾，明显是之前提到的那个仆人的。阿飞一只手试图开门的时候，另一只手轻轻地放在桌子上。突然，明显出自围巾自己的意愿，围巾开始慢慢爬向阿飞的手边；接着它又从阿飞手里开始蛇一般地慢慢爬进他的袖子；不一会儿在他衣服凹进去的什么地方消失了。阿飞丝毫没有表露出对这个现象一丁点儿的兴趣或关注，依然试着打开门锁。过了一会儿，红锦缎的桌布明显因同样的神秘动力移动了，慢慢在阿飞手指下聚拢，并且通过同样的隐蔽渠道蜿蜒消失了。后来又可能发生了什么神秘的事情，我说不上来；因为此刻阿飞发现了锁的秘密，刚好在厨房楼梯上脚步声响起时打开了门。阿飞没有加快动作，而是耐心地把篮子挂在肩上，然后小心地转身关上门，走进此时已经遮蔽天地的浓浓大雾之中。

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