书虫四级《克兰福德》：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，还不到12点，马莎上来说贝蒂·巴克小姐想和女主人说话。马蒂小姐立刻去换帽子。巴克小姐上楼来，一再为自己的贸然造访而道歉。

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.

贝蒂·巴克小姐是已故詹金斯先生的书记员的女儿。她和她姐姐（她曾为贾米森夫人工作）以前一直给女士们做女仆。后来，她们开了个帽店，阿莱夫人是她们的主顾之一。姐姐死后，贝蒂小姐关掉帽店，成了克兰福德最会穿衣打扮的女士——戴着货架上剩下的各种圆帽、无边帽和丝带。

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.

现在贝蒂·巴克小姐登门邀请马蒂小姐下周二去喝茶。她说她已经邀请了尊敬的贾米森夫人。她也邀请了我——虽然她明显地有些不安，因为我父亲已经去德莱姆伯尔住了，现在正在从事着“可怕的棉花交易”。巴克小姐自己“做生意”的日子几年前就结束了，现在她喜欢把自己视为克兰福德女士中的一员——虽然她对“最好的”人家总是心怀敬意。

Mrs Jamieson is coming?' asked Miss Matty.

“贾米森夫人也要来吗？”马蒂小姐问道。

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，像贾米森夫人和您这样的女士能来造访我这样的人真是太好了……”巴克小姐又开始客气了。

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.'

她现在要走了，她告诉马蒂小姐说，她要去见福里斯特夫人和波尔小姐。“当然，我最先邀请的是您，小姐，您是教区长的女儿。不过我们也不应该忘记，福里斯特夫人和比奇洛厅的比格一家有亲戚关系。所以我应该先邀请她，再邀请波尔小姐。”

And Mrs Fitz-Adam?' asked Miss Matty.

“菲茨-亚当夫人呢？”马蒂小姐问。

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。虽然我很尊敬菲茨-亚当夫人，但我想贾米森夫人不愿见到她。”巴克小姐站起身，“您6点半到寒舍来行吗，马蒂尔达小姐？贾米森夫人答应那个时间到。”贝蒂·巴克小姐行了个屈膝礼，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-亚当夫人是克兰福德的医生霍金斯先生的妹妹。他们的父母都是受人尊敬的农民，不过他们不属于克兰福德的“上流社会”。玛丽·霍金斯小姐嫁给菲茨-亚当先生（管他是谁）后，就离开了镇子。后来他去世之后，她又穿着寡妇的黑色丝绸衣服重新在镇上露面，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.

我记得克兰福德的女士们曾经碰面讨论过是否要去拜访她。不过直到詹金斯小姐去世，这件事仍然悬而未决。

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.'

“不过，我们大都要么没结婚，要么守寡无子，”波尔小姐说，“如果我们不稍稍改变一下规则，要不了多久我们的上流社会就不存在了。”

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.

所以大家都去拜访了菲茨-亚当夫人——只有贾米森夫人除外，当然，她是和一位勋爵的家族有亲戚关系的。她以前在克兰福德的聚会上从来不见或者不和菲茨-亚当夫人说话，以此来显示自己的重要地位。菲茨-亚当夫人比较胖，每当贾米森夫人进来的时候，她都站起来深深地行个屈膝礼，但贾米森夫人对此视若不见。

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.'

那是一个愉快的春季之夜，我们四个人——马蒂小姐、福里斯特夫人、波尔小姐和我——在巴克小姐家门外碰面。我们听到里面大声耳语的声音。“等一下，佩吉！等我跑到楼上！然后，我一咳嗽，就开门。”

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.

咳嗽声响了。一个女仆马上打开了门，把我们带进一间曾用作商店的小屋。我们摘下帽子，抖了抖裙子，然后就走上窄窄的楼梯来到巴克小姐的休息室。温柔和善的福里斯特夫人坐了第二席，首席当然是留给尊敬的贾米森夫人的，而她不久就迈着沉重的脚步走上楼来。

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.

现在贝蒂·巴克小姐成了一个自豪而幸福的女人！女仆佩吉端进来一大盘蛋糕。我想知道，女士们觉得这俗气吗？显然没有。所有的蛋糕都吃完了。我看见贾米森夫人吃了三块蛋糕，吃得很慢，脸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!'

茶点过后，女士们玩起了扑克——只有我（我挺害怕玩牌时的克兰福德女士们）和贾米森夫人没参加，她在扶手椅里睡着了。我喜欢看女士们放在牌桌上的四顶帽子，还喜欢听巴克小姐说“嘘，女士们，轻点儿！贾米森夫人睡着了！”

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...

后来门开了，贾米森夫人醒了过来，佩吉又端进来一盘好东西！我们一般不吃晚饭，但出于礼貌（还有饥饿）我们让步了。我们甚至还喝了点儿酒……

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

突然，贾米森夫人告诉了我们一些消息：“我嫂子格兰米尔夫人，要来和我小住一阵。”

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！”大家说。接着是一段短暂的沉默。我们有合适的衣服穿着去见格兰米尔夫人吗？我们觉得非常激动但又不自信。

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，小聚会就结束了。贾米森夫人坐进她的马车，我们剩下的人则沿着安静的小街走回家中。

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点，波尔小姐出现在马蒂小姐家。“我们该怎么称呼格兰米尔夫人呢？”她着急地问，“我们必须说‘尊敬的夫人’而不说‘您’吗？还是说‘我的夫人’而不说‘女士’呢？你认识阿莱夫人，马蒂小姐。你是怎么称呼她的？”

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!'

可怜的马蒂小姐！她把眼镜摘下又戴上，但还是想不起来。“那是好久以前的事了，”她说，“而且我只见过她两次。哦，天呀，我多蠢啊！”

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.'

“那我最好去问问福里斯特夫人，”波尔小姐说，“我们可不想让格兰米尔夫人以为我们克兰福德对上流社会的事一无所知。”

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

“格兰米尔夫人到底是谁？”波尔小姐走了之后我问道。

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...'

“亲爱的，她是格兰米尔勋爵的遗孀，而他是贾米森先生的兄长。可我不知道我们该怎么称呼她……”

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.

马蒂小姐的担心毫无必要。贾米森夫人是第二个到的人——而贾米森夫人以一种最无礼的方式表明她不希望克兰福德的女士们去拜访她嫂子。

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！”波尔小姐说道，她不一会儿就回来了，脸红红的，很生气的样子，“那么说我们不能去拜访格兰米尔夫人了！只有县里最好的人家才有资格拜访，好像克兰福德的上流社会还不够好似的！是的，我在贾米森夫人从这儿去福里斯特夫人家的路上遇到了她，她跟我说了。我真该说些刻薄话。这个格兰米尔夫人到底是谁呀？只不过是一个苏格兰勋爵的寡妇，某个坎贝尔先生的五女儿而已。”平时和善平静的波尔小姐这回可真的发火了，“我今天早晨才订了顶新帽子，为的是能做好准备！”

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.

格兰米尔夫人在克兰福德的第一个周日，那天我们从教堂出来时，有心背朝着贾米森夫人和她嫂子。我们甚至都没看格兰米尔夫人，虽然我们很想知道她长什么样。

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!'

不过，后来我们还是问了马莎，而马莎倒看得挺清楚，“你们说的是和贾米森夫人在一起的那位小个子夫人吗？她穿一件很旧的黑丝绸裙子，眼睛又黑又亮。她上上下下地打量教堂，像个鸟儿一样，出来的时候把裙子提起来，很利索。她不像一位真正的夫人，倒更像乔治旅馆的老板娘！”

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

“嘘，马莎！”马蒂小姐说道，“这样可没礼貌。”

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.

又一个周日过去了，我们仍然躲着这两位寡妇。此时，格兰米尔夫人也许在贾米森夫人家待得有些厌烦了。不管是什么原因，贾米森夫人突然给我们发来一个参加小型聚会的邀请。她的男仆马利纳亲自送来请帖，他像往常一样走到前门口，而不是像其他仆人那样到后门去。

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

马蒂小姐和我平静地决定不接受邀请。但我们还没有回复，波尔小姐就来了。

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.'

“邀请是在星期二，”马蒂小姐告诉她，“如果你那天晚上带着你的编织活计跟我们一起喝茶，我就有拒绝的好理由了。”

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...'

我发现波尔小姐的表情变了，“你不去吗？哦，马蒂小姐，你一定要去！我们不能让贾米森夫人觉得我们在乎她说的那些话。我准备‘既往不咎’。你是教区长的女儿，你也应该这么做……”

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.

其实是因为波尔小姐有一顶新帽子，她想要戴它。所以最后，马蒂小姐也买了顶新帽子，福里斯特夫人也买了一顶，我们都去参加了贾米森夫人的聚会。

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.

贾米森夫人的休息室并不舒服。她和马利纳——她好像有些怕他——都没有做任何事让我们感觉受欢迎。不过，格兰米尔夫人倒是愉快地为我们安排了座位。现在我们可以看着她了，我们发现她是个活泼的小个子的中年妇女，年轻的时候想必很美。

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.

起先我们都沉默着，不知道该对“我的夫人”说什么。最后波尔小姐开口了。“尊敬的夫人，您最近见过女王陛下吗？”她问道，神情骄傲地看着我们。

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.

“我这辈子从没见过她，”格兰米尔夫人用甜美的苏格兰嗓音说道，“实际上，我只到过伦敦两次。你们去过爱丁堡吗？”她满怀希望地问道。

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

我们谁也没去过，不过波尔小姐有个叔叔曾在那里住过一夜。那是很愉快的经历。

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.

贾米森夫人这个时候大声地说马利纳怎么还没把茶点端上来，但她又不想按铃来麻烦马利纳。最后，格兰米尔夫人有些不耐烦，就自己按了铃。马利纳出现了，显得很惊讶。

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

“是格兰米尔夫人按的铃，”贾米森夫人说，“我想是要茶点吧。”

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'.

茶点终于送来了。盘子很薄，质地很好，抹黄油的面包也是如此。格兰米尔夫人又点了一些，这让我们很感激，接下来就是轻松的交谈。不一会儿，女士们就高兴地打起牌来，连波尔小姐都忘了说“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.

那天晚上我们得知格兰米尔夫人短期内不打算返回爱丁堡。我们很高兴。我们喜欢她。

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.)

“走路不是太让人郁闷了吗？”我们准备离开的时候贾米森夫人问道。（她常这么问，因为她有马车，从来不步行出门。）

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！”波尔小姐说。“晚会的兴奋过后是那么平静！”福里斯特夫人说道。“星星很美！”马蒂小姐说。

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

于是我们在星光下步行回家，和“我的夫人”一起饮过茶之后，感觉非常愉快。

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

“亲爱的，”波尔小姐第二天很高兴地说，“你们注意到她的裙子了吗？一点儿也不贵重！”