前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

XII

Our inquiries 调查 at Limmeridge were patiently pursued 追求 in all directions, and among all sorts and conditions of people. But nothing came of them. Three of the villagers 村民 did certainly assure 向…保证；肯定地说 us that they had seen the woman, but as they were quite unable 无法 to describe her, and quite incapable 无法 of agreeing about the exact direction in which she was proceeding 继续 when they last saw her, these three bright exceptions to the general rule of total ignorance 无知 afforded 买得起 no more real assistance 帮助 to us than the mass of their unhelpful and unobservant neighbours.

The course of our use‧less 无用 investigations 调查 brought us, in time, to the end of the village at which the schools established 建立 by Mrs. Fairlie were situated 位于. As we passed the side of the building appropriated 适当 to the use of the boys, I suggested the propriety of making a last inquiry 调查 of the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士, whom 谁 we might presume 假设 to be, in virtue 美德 of his office, the most intelligent 智能 man in the place.

"I am afraid the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士 must have been occupied 占据 with his scholars 学者," said Miss Halcombe, "just at the time when the woman passed through the village and returned again. However, we can but try."

We entered the play‧ground 操场 enclosure 圈占, and walked by the school‧room 学校‧房间 window to get round to the door, which was situated 位于 at the back of the building. I stopped for a moment at the window and looked in.

The school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士 was sitting at his high desk, with his back to me, apparently 据…所知；看来；据说；听说 haranguing the pupils 学生, who were all gathered together in front of him, with one exception. The one exception was a sturdy 粗壮 white-headed boy, standing apart 相隔 from all the rest on a stool 粪便 in a corner—a forlorn little Crusoe, isolated 隔离；孤立；分离 in his own desert 沙漠；抛弃 island of solitary 孤 penal 刑事 disgrace 耻辱.

The door, when we got round to it, was ajar, and the school-master's voice reached us plainly, as we both stopped for a minute under the porch 门廊.

"Now, boys," said the voice, "mind what I tell you. If I hear another word spoken speak about ghosts 鬼 in this school, it will be the worse for all of you. There are no such things as ghosts 鬼, and therefore any boy who believes in ghosts 鬼 believes in what can't possibly be; and a boy who belongs to Limmeridge School, and believes in what can't possibly be, sets up his back against reason and discipline 训练, and must be punished 处罚 accordingly 于是. You all see Jacob Postlethwaite standing up on the stool 粪便 there in disgrace 耻辱. He has been punished, not because he said he saw a ghost 鬼 last night, but because he is too impudent and too obstinate to listen to reason, and because he persists 坚持 in saying he saw the ghost 鬼 after I have told him that no such thing can possibly be. If nothing else will do, I mean to cane 甘蔗 the ghost 鬼 out of Jacob Postlethwaite, and if the thing spreads among any of the rest of you, I mean to go a step farther, and cane 甘蔗 the ghost 鬼 out of the whole school."

"We seem to have chosen choose an awkward 难堪 moment for our visit," said Miss Halcombe, pushing open the door at the end of the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士's address, and leading the way in.

Our appearance produced a strong sensation 感觉 among the boys. They appeared to think that we had arrived for the express purpose of seeing Jacob Postlethwaite caned 甘蔗.

"Go home all of you to dinner," said the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士, "except Jacob. Jacob must stop where he is; and the ghost 鬼 may bring him his dinner, if the ghost 鬼 pleases."

Jacob's fortitude deserted 沙漠；抛弃 him at the double disappearance 消失 of his schoolfellows and his prospect 展望 of dinner. He took his hands out of his pockets 口袋, looked hard at his knuckles 指关节, raised them with great deliberation 审议 to his eyes, and when they got there, ground grind them round and round slowly, accompanying 陪 the action by short spasms of sniffing 吸气, which followed each other at regular intervals 间隔—the nasal 鼻音 minute guns of juvenile 少年 distress 苦难.

"We came here to ask you a question, Mr. Dempster," said Miss Halcombe, addressing the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士; "and we little expected to find you occupied 占据 in exorcising a ghost 鬼. What does it all mean? What has really happened?"

"That wicked 邪恶的 boy has been frightening 使惊恐 the whole school, Miss Halcombe, by declaring that he saw a ghost 鬼 yesterday evening," answered the master; "and he still persists 坚持 in his absurd 荒诞 story, in spite 恶意 of all that I can say to him."

"Most extra‧ordinary 非凡的," said Miss Halcombe, "I should not have thought it possible that any of the boys had imagination 想像力 enough to see a ghost 鬼. This is a new access‧ion 加入 indeed to the hard labour of forming the youthful 青春的 mind at Limmeridge, and I heartily 爽朗 wish you well through it, Mr. Dempster. In the mean‧time 其时, let me explain why you see me here, and what it is I want."

She then put the same question to the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士 which we had asked already of almost every one else in the village. It was met by the same discouraging 不鼓励 answer Mr. Dempster had not set eyes on the stranger of whom 谁 we were in search.

"We may as well return to the house, Mr. Hartright," said Miss Halcombe; "the information we want is evidently 明显地 not to be found."

She had bowed 弓 to Mr. Dempster, and was about to leave the school‧room 学校‧房间, when the forlorn position of Jacob Postlethwaite, piteously sniffing 吸气 on the stool 粪便 of penitence, attracted 吸引 her attention as she passed him, and made her stop good-humouredly to speak a word to the little prisoner 犯人，囚犯 before she opened the door.

"You foolish 傻 boy," she said, "why don't you beg 乞讨 Mr. Dempster's pardon 宽恕；说啥？, and hold your tongue 舌头 about the ghost 鬼?"

"Eh!—but I saw t' ghaist," persisted 坚持 Jacob Postlethwaite, with a stare of terror 恐怖 and a burst 爆裂 of tears.

" Stuff 塞满；材料 and non‧sense 废话! You saw nothing of the kind. Ghost indeed! What ghost 鬼——"

"I beg your pardon, Miss Halcombe," interposed the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士 a little uneasily 不安—"but I think you had better not question the boy. The obstinate folly 蠢事 of his story is beyond all belief; and you might lead him into ignorantly 愚昧——"

"Ignorantly what?" inquired 打听 Miss Halcombe sharply.

"Ignorantly shocking your feelings," said Mr. Dempster, looking very much discomposed.

"Upon my word, Mr. Dempster, you pay my feelings a great compliment 赞扬 in thinking them weak enough to be shocked by such an urchin 顽童 as that!" She turned with an air of satirical defiance 蔑视 to little Jacob, and began to question him directly. "Come!" she said, "I mean to know all about this. You naughty 淘气 boy, when did you see the ghost 鬼?"

"Yestere'en 恩, at the gloaming," replied Jacob.

"Oh! you saw it yesterday evening, in the twilight 暮? And what was it like?"

"Arl in white—as a ghaist should be," answered the ghost 鬼-seer, with a confidence 信心 beyond his years.

"And where was it?"

"Away yander, in t' kirkyard—where a ghaist ought to be."

"As a 'ghaist' should be—where a 'ghaist' ought to be—why, you little fool, you talk as if the manners and customs 习惯 of ghosts 鬼 had been familiar to you from your infancy 婴儿期! You have got your story at your fingers' ends, at any rate. I suppose I shall hear next that you can actually tell me whose 谁的 ghost 鬼 it was?"

"Eh! but I just can," replied Jacob, nodding 点头 his head with an air of gloomy 阴沉 triumph 胜利.

Mr. Dempster had already tried several times to speak while Miss Halcombe was examining his pupil 学生, and he now interposed resolutely enough to make himself heard.

" Excuse 原谅 me, Miss Halcombe," he said, "if I venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to say that you are only encouraging the boy by asking him these questions."

"I will merely ask one more, Mr. Dempster, and then I shall be quite satisfied. Well," she continued, turning to the boy, "and whose 谁的 ghost 鬼 was it?"

"T' ghaist of Mistress Fairlie," answered Jacob in a whisper 低声说.

The effect which this extra‧ordinary 非凡的 reply produced on Miss Halcombe fully 充分 justified 为…辩护；证明…正当；是…的正当理由 the anxiety 焦虑 which the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士 had shown to prevent her from hearing it. Her face crimsoned with indignation 愤慨—she turned upon little Jacob with an angry 生气的 suddenness which terrified 惊吓 him into a fresh burst 爆裂 of tears—opened her lips to speak to him—then controlled her‧self 她自己, and addressed the master instead of the boy.

"It is use‧less 无用," she said, "to hold such a child as that responsible for what he says. I have little doubt that the idea has been put into his head by others. If there are people in this village, Mr. Dempster, who have forgotten forget the respect and gratitude 感谢 due from every soul in it to my mother's memory, I will find them out, and if I have any influence with Mr. Fairlie, they shall suffer for it."

"I hope—indeed, I am sure, Miss Halcombe—that you are mistaken 错误," said the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士. "The matter begins and ends with the boy's own perversity and folly 蠢事. He saw, or thought he saw, a woman in white, yesterday evening, as he was passing the church‧yard 墓地; and the figure, real or fancied 想像, was standing by the marble 大理石 cross, which he and every one else in Limmeridge knows to be the monument 纪念碑 over Mrs. Fairlie's grave 坟墓；严重的. These two circumstances 环境 are surely sufficient 足够 to have suggested to the boy himself the answer which has so naturally 自然地 shocked you?"

Although Miss Halcombe did not seem to be convinced 说服, she evidently 明显地 felt that the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士's statement 声明 of the case was too sensible 明智 to be openly combated 战斗. She merely replied by thanking him for his attention, and by promising to see him again when her doubts were satisfied. This said, she bowed, and led the way out of the school‧room 学校‧房间.

Through‧out 始终 the whole of this strange scene I had stood apart 相隔, listening attentively 注意的, and drawing my own conclusions 结论. As soon as we were alone again, Miss Halcombe asked me if I had formed any opinion on what I had heard.

"A very strong opinion," I answered; "the boy's story, as I believe, has a foundation 基础 in fact. I confess 供认 I am anxious 焦急的 to see the monument 纪念碑 over Mrs. Fairlie's grave 坟墓；严重的, and to examine the ground about it."

"You shall see the grave."

She paused 暂停 after making that reply, and reflected a little as we walked on. "What has happened in the school‧room 学校‧房间," she resumed 恢复, "has so completely distracted 转移 my attention from the subject of the letter, that I feel a little bewildered 困惑 when I try to return to it. Must we give up all idea of making any further inquiries, and wait to place the thing in Mr. Gilmore's hands to-morrow?"

"By no means, Miss Halcombe. What has happened in the school‧room 学校‧房间 encourages me to per‧severe 持之以恒 in the investigation 调查."

"Why does it encourage you?"

"Because it strengthens 加强 a suspicion 怀疑 I felt when you gave me the letter to read."

"I suppose you had your reasons, Mr. Hartright, for concealing 隐藏 that suspicion from me till 到 this moment?"

"I was afraid to encourage it in myself 我. I thought it was utterly 完全 preposterous—I distrusted 怀疑 it as the result of some perversity in my own imagination 想像力. But I can do so no longer. Not only the boy's own answers to your questions, but even a chance expression that dropped from the school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士's lips in explaining his story, have forced the idea back into my mind. Events may yet prove that idea to be a delusion 妄想, Miss Halcombe; but the belief is strong in me, at this moment, that the fancied ghost 鬼 in the church‧yard 墓地, and the writer of the anonymous 匿名 letter, are one and the same person."

She stopped, turned pale, and looked me eagerly 渴望的 in the face.

"What person?"

"The school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士 unconsciously 不知不觉 told you. When he spoke speak of the figure that the boy saw in the church‧yard 墓地 he called it 'a woman in white.'"

"Not Anne Catherick?"

"Yes, Anne Catherick."

She put her hand through my arm and leaned lean on it heavily 很大，沉重地.

"I don't know why," she said in low tones 音, "but there is something in this suspicion 怀疑 of yours that seems to startle 惊吓 and unnerve me. I feel——" She stopped, and tried to laugh it off. "Mr. Hartright," she went on, "I will show you the grave, and then go back at once to the house. I had better not leave Laura too long alone. I had better go back and sit with her."

We were close to the church‧yard 墓地 when she spoke. The church, a dreary 凄凉 building of grey 灰色:gray stone, was situated 位于 in a little valley, so as to be sheltered from the bleak 苍凉 winds blowing over the moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆 all round it. The burial 葬礼-ground advanced, from the side of the church, a little way up the slope 斜坡 of the hill. It was surrounded by a rough, low stone wall, and was bare 光秃秃的 and open to the sky, except at one extremity, where a brook 溪 trickled 潺 down the stony hill-side, and a clump 丛 of dwarf 矮人 trees threw throw their narrow shadows over the short, meagre grass 草. Just beyond the brook 溪 and the trees, and not far from one of the three stone stiles which afforded entrance 入口, at various points, to the church‧yard 墓地, rose rise the white marble 大理石 cross that distinguished Mrs. Fairlie's grave from the humbler 谦逊的 monuments 纪念碑 scattered 散落 about it.

"I need go no farther with you," said Miss Halcombe, pointing to the grave. "You will let me know if you find anything to confirm 确认 the idea you have just mentioned to me. Let us meet again at the house."

She left me. I descended 下来 at once to the church‧yard 墓地, and crossed the stile which led directly to Mrs. Fairlie's grave.

The grass 草 about it was too short, and the ground too hard, to show any marks of foot‧step 脚步. Disappointed thus far, I next looked attentively at the cross, and at the square block of marble 大理石 below it, on which the inscription 题词 was cut.

The natural 自然 whiteness of the cross was a little clouded, here and there, by weather stains, and rather more than one half of the square block beneath 之下 it, on the side which bore bear the inscription 题词, was in the same condition. The other half, however, attracted my attention at once by its singular 单数 freedom from stain or impurity of any kind. I looked closer, and saw that it had been cleaned—recently cleaned, in a down‧ward 向下 direction from top to bottom. The boundary 分界线 line between the part that had been cleaned and the part that had not was trace‧able 跟踪；痕迹‧能够的 wherever 随地 the inscription 题词 left a blank 空白 space of marble 大理石—sharply trace‧able 跟踪；痕迹‧能够的 as a line that had been produced by artificial 人造的 means. Who had begun the cleansing 洁净 of the marble 大理石, and who had left it unfinished 未完成?

I looked about me, wondering how the question was to be solved 解决. No sign of a habitation could be discerned 辨别 from the point at which I was standing—the burial 葬礼-ground was left in the lonely 孤独的 possession 所有物 of the dead. I returned to the church, and walked round it till 到 I came to the back of the building; then crossed the boundary 分界线 wall beyond, by another of the stone stiles, and found myself 我 at the head of a path 小路 leading down into a deserted stone quarry 采石场. Against one side of the quarry 采石场 a little two-room cottage 小屋 was built, and just outside the door an old woman was engaged 从事 in washing.

I walked up to her, and entered into conversation about the church and burial 葬礼-ground. She was ready enough to talk, and almost the first words she said informed me that her husband filled the two offices of clerk 店员 and sexton. I said a few words next in praise 赞扬 of Mrs. Fairlie's monument 纪念碑. The old woman shook shake her head, and told me I had not seen it at its best. It was her husband's business to look after it, but he had been so ailing AIL and weak for months and months past, that he had hardly been able to crawl 爬行 into church on Sundays to do his duty, and the monument 纪念碑 had been neglected 疏忽 in consequence 后果. He was getting a little better now, and in a week or ten 十 days' time he hoped to be strong enough to set to work and clean it.

This information—extracted 提取 from a long rambling 漫谈 answer in the broadest Cumberland dialect 方言—told me all that I most wanted to know. I gave the poor woman a trifle 琐事, and returned at once to Limmeridge House.

The partial 局部 cleansing 洁净 of the monument 纪念碑 had evidently 明显地 been accomplished 完成；实现；达到；做到 by a strange hand. Connecting what I had discovered, thus far, with what I had suspected 怀疑；嫌疑犯 after hearing the story of the ghost 鬼 seen at twilight 暮, I wanted nothing more to confirm 确认 my resolution 解析度 to watch Mrs. Fairlie's grave, in secret, that evening, returning to it at sunset 日落, and waiting within sight of it till the night fell fall. The work of cleansing 洁净 the monument 纪念碑 had been left unfinished 未完成, and the person by whom 谁 it had been begun might return to complete it.

On getting back to the house I informed Miss Halcombe of what I intended to do. She looked surprised and uneasy 不安 while I was explaining my purpose, but she made no positive 正 objection 反对 to the execution 执行 of it. She only said, "I hope it may end well."

Just as she was leaving me again, I stopped her to inquire 打听, as calmly 镇定的 as I could, after Miss Fairlie's health. She was in better spirits, and Miss Halcombe hoped she might be induced 促使 to take a little walking exercise while the afternoon sun lasted.

I returned to my own room to resume 恢复 setting the drawings in order. It was necessary to do this, and doubly necessary to keep my mind employed on anything that would help to distract 转移 my attention from myself 我, and from the hope‧less 绝望 future that lay lie before me. From time to time I paused in my work to look out of window and watch the sky as the sun sank 淹没:sink nearer and nearer to the horizon 地平线. On one of those occasions I saw a figure on the broad gravel 碎石 walk under my window. It was Miss Fairlie.

I had not seen her since the morning, and I had hardly spoken to her then. Another day at Limmeridge was all that remained to me, and after that day my eyes might never look on her again. This thought was enough to hold me at the window. I had sufficient 足够 consideration 考虑 for her to arrange the blind so that she might not see me if she looked up, but I had no strength to resist 抵抗 the temptation 诱惑 of letting my eyes, at least, follow her as far as they could on her walk.

She was dressed in a brown cloak 披风, with a plain black silk 丝 gown 袍 under it. On her head was the same simple straw 稻草 hat which she had worn wear on the morning when we first met. A veil 面纱 was attached 连接 to it now which hid hide her face from me. By her side trotted 小跑 a little Italian greyhound, the pet 宠物 companion 同伴 of all her walks, smartly 聪明 dressed in a scar‧let 猩红 cloth 布 wrapper 包, to keep the sharp air from his delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 skin 皮. She did not seem to notice the dog. She walked straight forward, with her head drooping a little, and her arms folded 折叠 in her cloak 披风. The dead leaves, which had whirled 旋转 in the wind before me when I had heard of her marriage engagement 订婚 in the morning, whirled 旋转 in the wind before her, and rose and fell and scattered themselves at her feet as she walked on in the pale waning 没落 sun‧light 阳光. The dog shivered 发抖 and trembled 发抖, and pressed against her dress impatiently 不耐烦 for notice and encouragement 鼓励. But she never heeded 注意 him. She walked on, farther and farther away from me, with the dead leaves whirling 旋转 about her on the path 小路—walked on, till my aching 疼痛 eyes could see her no more, and I was left alone again with my own heavy heart.

In another hour's time I had done my work, and the sunset 日落 was at hand. I got my hat and coat in the hall, and slipped out of the house without meeting any one.

The clouds were wild in the western heaven 天, and the wind blew blow chill 寒意 from the sea. Far as the shore was, the sound of the surf 冲浪 swept sweep over the intervening 干预 moor‧land 泊‧陆地；着陆, and beat drearily 凄凉 in my ears when I entered the church‧yard 墓地. Not a living creature 动物；生物 was in sight. The place looked lonelier 孤独的 than ever as I chose choose my position, and waited and watched, with my eyes on the white cross that rose over Mrs. Fairlie's grave.

XIII

The exposed 暴露 situation of the church‧yard 墓地 had obliged 责成 me to be cautious 小心的 in choosing the position that I was to occupy 占据.

The main entrance 入口 to the church was on the side next to the burial 葬礼-ground, and the door was screened by a porch 门廊 walled in on either side. After some little hesitation 犹豫, caused by natural 自然 reluctance 不情愿 to conceal 隐藏 myself 我, indispensable 不可缺少 as that concealment was to the object in view, I had resolved 解决 on entering the porch 门廊. A loop‧hole 漏洞 window was pierced 刺穿 in each of its side walls. Through one of these windows I could see Mrs. Fairlie's grave. The other looked towards the stone quarry 采石场 in which the sexton's cottage 小屋 was built. Before me, fronting the porch 门廊 entrance, was a patch 补丁 of bare 光秃秃的 burial 葬礼-ground, a line of low stone wall, and a strip of lonely 孤独的 brown hill, with the sunset 日落 clouds sailing 航行；帆 heavily 很大，沉重地 over it before the strong, steady wind. No living creature 动物；生物 was visible 可以看见的；可视的 or audible 听得见—no bird flew fly by me, no dog barked 吠 from the sexton's cottage 小屋. The pauses 暂停 in the dull 钝的；没兴趣 beating of the surf 冲浪 were filled up by the dreary 凄凉 rustling 沙沙 of the dwarf 矮人 trees near the grave, and the cold faint 微弱的 bubble 泡沫 of the brook 溪 over its stony bed. A dreary 凄凉 scene and a dreary 凄凉 hour. My spirits sank fast as I counted out the minutes of the evening in my hiding-place under the church porch 门廊.

It was not twilight 暮 yet—the light of the setting sun still lingered 萦绕 in the heavens 天, and little more than the first half-hour of my solitary 孤 watch had elapsed 过去—when I heard foot‧step 脚步 and a voice. The foot‧step 脚步 were approaching from the other side of the church, and the voice was a woman's.

"Don't you fret 烦恼, my dear, about the letter," said the voice. "I gave it to the lad 小伙子 quite safe, and the lad 小伙子 he took it from me without a word. He went his way and I went mine, and not a living soul followed me after‧ward 之后—that I'll war‧rant 保证."

These words strung up my attention to a pitch 沥青 of expectation 期望 that was almost painful 痛苦. There was a pause 暂停 of silence, but the foot‧step 脚步 still advanced. In another moment two persons, both women, passed within my range of view from the porch 门廊 window. They were walking straight towards the grave; and therefore they had their backs turned towards me.

One of the women was dressed in a bonnet 帽子 and shawl. The other wore wear a long travelling-cloak 披风 of a dark-blue colour, with the hood 引擎罩 drawn draw over her head. A few inches of her gown 袍 were visible 可以看见的；可视的 below the cloak 披风. My heart beat fast as I noted the colour—it was white.

After advancing about half-way between the church and the grave they stopped, and the woman in the cloak 披风 turned her head towards her companion 同伴. But her side face, which a bonnet 帽子 might now have allowed me to see, was hidden hide by the heavy, projecting 项目 edge of the hood 引擎罩.

"Mind you keep that comfort‧able 舒服；自在 warm cloak 披风 on," said the same voice which I had already heard—the voice of the woman in the shawl. "Mrs. Todd is right about your looking too particular, yesterday, all in white. I'll walk about a little while you're here, church‧yard 墓地 being not at all in my way, whatever they may be in yours. Finish what you want to do before I come back, and let us be sure and get home again before night."

With those words she turned about, and retracing her steps, advanced with her face towards me. It was the face of an elderly 年老的；上了年纪的 woman, brown, rugged 小块地毯, and healthy 健康, with nothing dishonest 不诚实 or suspicious 可疑的 in the look of it. Close to the church she stopped to pull her shawl closer round her.

"Queer," she said to her‧self 她自己, "always queer 奇怪, with her whims 怪念头 and her ways, ever since I can remember her. Harmless, though—as harm‧less 无害, poor soul, as a little child."

She sighed 叹—looked about the burial 葬礼-ground nervously 担心的—shook her head, as if the dreary 凄凉 prospect 展望 by no means pleased her, and disappeared 不见 round the corner of the church.

I doubted for a moment whether I ought to follow and speak to her or not. My intense 强烈的，极度的 anxiety 焦虑 to find myself 我 face to face with her companion 同伴 helped me to decide in the negative 负. I could ensure 确保 seeing the woman in the shawl by waiting near the church‧yard 墓地 until she came back—although it seemed more than doubtful 疑 whether she could give me the information of which I was in search. The person who had delivered the letter was of little consequence 后果. The person who had written it was the one centre of interest, and the one source 资源 of information, and that person I now felt convinced 说服 was before me in the church‧yard 墓地.

While these ideas were passing through my mind I saw the woman in the cloak 披风 approach close to the grave, and stand looking at it for a little while. She then glanced 一瞥 all round her, and taking a white linen 麻布 cloth or handkerchief 手帕 from under her cloak 披风, turned aside towards the brook 溪. The little stream ran into the church‧yard 墓地 under a tiny 小 arch‧way 弓形‧路；方法 in the bottom of the wall, and ran out again, after a winding course of a few dozen yards, under a similar 类似 opening. She dipped 浸 the cloth in the water, and returned to the grave. I saw her kiss 接吻 the white cross, then kneel 跪 down before the inscription 题词, and apply her wet 湿的 cloth to the cleansing 洁净 of it.

After considering how I could show myself 我 with the least possible chance of frightening her, I resolved 解决 to cross the wall before me, to skirt 裙子 round it outside, and to enter the church‧yard 墓地 again by the stile near the grave, in order that she might see me as I approached. She was so absorbed 吸收 over her employment 雇用 that she did not hear me coming until I had stepped over the stile. Then she looked up, started to her feet with a faint 微弱的 cry, and stood facing me in speech‧less 演说‧少 and motion‧less 运动‧少 terror 恐怖.

"Don't be frightened 使惊恐," I said. "Surely you remember me?"

I stopped while I spoke—then advanced a few steps gently—then stopped again—and so approached by little and little till I was close to her. If there had been any doubt still left in my mind, it must have been now set at rest. There, speaking affrightedly for itself 本身—there was the same face con‧front 面对 me over Mrs. Fairlie's grave which had first looked into mine on the high-road by night.

"You remember me?" I said. "We met very late, and I helped you to find the way to London. Surely you have not forgotten that?"

Her features 特征 relaxed 放松, and she drew draw a heavy breath of relief. I saw the new life of recognition 认识 stirring 搅动 slowly under the death-like stillness which fear had set on her face.

"Don't attempt to speak to me just yet," I went on. "Take time to recover 恢复 your‧self 你自己—take time to feel quite certain that I am a friend."

"You are very kind to me," she murmured 私语. "As kind now as you were then."

She stopped, and I kept silence on my side. I was not granting 发放 time for composure to her only, I was gaining time also for myself 我. Under the wan 苍白 wild evening light, that woman and I were met together again, a grave between us, the dead about us, the lone‧some 孤单‧一些 hills closing us round on every side. The time, the place, the circumstances 环境 under which we now stood face to face in the evening stillness of that dreary 凄凉 valley—the life‧long 终身 interests which might hang suspended 暂停 on the next chance words that passed between us—the sense that, for aught I knew to the contrary 相反, the whole future of Laura Fairlie's life might be determined, for good or for evil, by my winning or losing the confidence 信心 of the forlorn creature 动物；生物 who stood trembling 发抖 by her mother's grave—all threatened to shake the steadiness and the self 自己-control on which every inch of the progress I might yet make now depended. I tried hard, as I felt this, to possess 拥有 myself 我 of all my resources 资源; I did my utmost 极 to turn the few moments for reflection 反映 to the best account.

"Are you calmer 镇定的 now?" I said, as soon as I thought it time to speak again. "Can you talk to me without feeling frightened, and without forgetting that I am a friend?"

"How did you come here?" she asked, without noticing what I had just said to her.

"Don't you remember my telling you, when we last met, that I was going to Cumberland? I have been in Cumberland ever since—I have been staying all the time at Limmeridge House."

"At Limmeridge House!" Her pale face brightened 变亮 as she repeated the words, her wandering 漫步 eyes fixed on me with a sudden interest. "Ah, how happy you must have been!" she said, looking at me eagerly, without a shadow of its former distrust 怀疑 left in her expression.

I took advantage of her newly 最近，新近-aroused 引起 confidence in me to observe her face, with an attention and a curiosity 好奇心 which I had hitherto 迄今 rest‧rain 抑制 myself 我 from showing, for caution 小心's sake 缘故. I looked at her, with my mind full of that other lovely 可爱的 face which had so ominously 不祥的 recalled 召回 her to my memory on the terrace 阳台 by moon‧light 月光. I had seen Anne Catherick's likeness 像 in Miss Fairlie. I now saw Miss Fairlie's likeness 像 in Anne Catherick—saw it all the more clearly because the points of dissimilarity between the two were presented to me as well as the points of resemblance 相似. In the general out‧line 概述；轮廓线 of the countenance 面容 and general proportion 比例 of the features 特征—in the colour of the hair and in the little nervous 担心的 uncertainty 不确定 about the lips—in the height 高度 and size of the figure, and the carriage 运输 of the head and body, the likeness 像 appeared even more startling 惊吓 than I had ever felt it to be yet. But there the resemblance 相似 ended, and the dissimilarity, in details, began. The delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 beauty of Miss Fairlie's complex‧ion 肤色, the trans‧parent 透明 clearness of her eyes, the smooth purity 纯度 of her skin 皮, the tender 纤弱的 bloom 盛开 of colour on her lips, were all missing from the worn weary 厌倦 face that was now turned towards mine. Although I hated myself 我 even for thinking such a thing, still, while I looked at the woman before me, the idea would force itself 本身 into my mind that one sad 悲哀的 change, in the future, was all that was wanting to make the likeness 像 complete, which I now saw to be so imperfect 不完善 in detail. If ever sorrow 悲痛 and suffering set their profaning marks on the youth and beauty of Miss Fairlie's face, then, and then only, Anne Catherick and she would be the twin 双胞胎之一-sisters 姐妹 of chance resemblance 相似, the living reflections 反映 of one another.

I shuddered 不寒而栗 at the thought. There was something horrible 可怕 in the blind unreasoning distrust 怀疑 of the future which the mere passage of it through my mind seemed to imply 意味着. It was a welcome interruption 中断 to be roused 唤醒 by feeling Anne Catherick's hand laid on my shoulder. The touch was as steal‧thy 偷，拿‧你的 and as sudden as that other touch which had petrified me from head to foot on the night when we first met.

"You are looking at me, and you are thinking of something," she said, with her strange breath‧less 咋舌 rapidity of utterance 发声. "What is it?"

"Nothing extra‧ordinary 非凡的," I answered. "I was only wondering how you came here."

"I came with a friend who is very good to me. I have only been here two days."

"And you found your way to this place yesterday?"

"How do you know that?"

"I only guessed it."

She turned from me, and knelt 跪:kneel down before the inscription 题词 once more.

"Where should I go if not here?" she said. "The friend who was better than a mother to me is the only friend I have to visit at Limmeridge. Oh, it makes my heart ache 疼痛 to see a stain on her tomb 墓! It ought to be kept white as snow, for her sake 缘故. I was tempted 引诱 to begin cleaning it yesterday, and I can't help coming back to go on with it to-day. Is there anything wrong in that? I hope not. Surely nothing can be wrong that I do for Mrs. Fairlie's sake?"

The old grateful 感激的 sense of her benefactress's kindness 善良 was evidently 明显地 the ruling idea still in the poor creature 3's mind—the narrow mind which had but too plainly opened to no other lasting impression 印象 since that first impression 印象 of her younger and happier days. I saw that my best chance of winning her confidence lay in encouraging her to proceed 继续 with the art‧less 艺术‧少 employment 雇用 which she had come into the burial 葬礼-ground to pursue 追求. She resumed 恢复 it at once, on my telling her she might do so, touching the hard marble 大理石 as tenderly 纤弱的 as if it had been a sentient thing, and whispering 低声说 the words of the inscription 题词 to her‧self 她自己, over and over again, as if the lost days of her girl‧hood 女孩‧引擎罩 had returned and she was patiently learning her lesson 教训 once more at Mrs. Fairlie's knees.

"Should you wonder very much," I said, preparing the way as cautiously 小心的 as I could for the questions that were to come, "if I owned that it is a satisfaction 满足 to me, as well as a surprise, to see you here? I felt very uneasy 不安 about you after you left me in the cab 出租车."

She looked up quickly and suspiciously 可疑的.

"Uneasy," she repeated. "Why?"

"A strange thing happened after we parted that night. Two men overtook me in a chaise. They did not see where I was standing, but they stopped near me, and spoke to a police‧man 警察 on the other side of the way."

She instantly 瞬间 suspended 暂停 her employment 雇用. The hand holding the damp 微湿的 cloth with which she had been cleaning the inscription 题词 dropped to her side. The other hand grasped 把握 the marble 大理石 cross at the head of the grave. Her face turned towards me slowly, with the blank 空白 look of terror 恐怖 set rigidly 死板 on it once more. I went on at all hazards 冒险—it was too late now to draw back.

"The two men spoke to the police‧man 警察," I said, "and asked him if he had seen you. He had not seen you; and then one of the men spoke again, and said you had escaped from his Asylum."

She sprang to her feet as if my last words had set the pursuers on her track 小路.

"Stop! and hear the end," I cried. "Stop! and you shall know how I befriended you. A word from me would have told the men which way you had gone—and I never spoke that word. I helped your escape—I made it safe and certain. Think, try to think. Try to understand what I tell you."

My manner seemed to influence her more than my words. She made an effort to grasp 把握 the new idea. Her hands shifted 转移 the damp 微湿的 cloth hesitatingly from one to the other, exactly as they had shifted 转移 the little travelling-bag 袋 on the night when I first saw her. Slowly the purpose of my words seemed to force its way through the confusion 混乱 and agitation 搅动 of her mind. Slowly her features 特征 relaxed 放松, and her eyes looked at me with their expression gaining in curiosity 好奇心 what it was fast losing in fear.

"You don't think I ought to be back in the Asylum, do you?" she said.

"Certainly not. I am glad 高兴的 you escaped from it—I am glad I helped you."

"Yes, yes, you did help me indeed; you helped me at the hard part," she went on a little vacantly 空的. "It was easy to escape, or I should not have got away. They never suspected me as they suspected the others. I was so quiet, and so obedient 顺从的, and so easily frightened. The finding London was the hard part, and there you helped me. Did I thank you at the time? I thank you now very kindly."

"Was the Asylum far from where you met me? Come! show that you believe me to be your friend, and tell me where it was."

She mentioned the place—a private Asylum, as its situation informed me; a private Asylum not very far from the spot where I had seen her—and then, with evident 明显 suspicion 3 of the use to which I might put her answer, anxiously 焦急的 repeated her former inquiry 调查, "You don't think I ought to be taken back, do you?"

"Once again, I am glad you escaped—I am glad you prospered 繁荣 well after you left me," I answered. "You said you had a friend in London to go to. Did you find the friend?"

"Yes. It was very late, but there was a girl up at needle 针-work in the house, and she helped me to rouse 唤醒 Mrs. Clements. Mrs. Clements is my friend. A good, kind woman, but not like Mrs. Fairlie. Ah no, nobody is like Mrs. Fairlie!"

"Is Mrs. Clements an old friend of yours? Have you known her a long time?"

"Yes, she was a neighbour of ours once, at home, in Hampshire, and liked me, and took care of me when I was a little girl. Years ago, when she went away from us, she wrote down in my Prayer-book for me where she was going to live in London, and she said, 'If you are ever in trouble, Anne, come to me. I have no husband alive 活的；有生命的 to say me nay, and no children to look after, and I will take care of you.' Kind words, were they not? I suppose I remember them because they were kind. It's little enough I remember besides—little enough, little enough!"

"Had you no father or mother to take care of you?"

"Father?—I never saw him—I never heard mother speak of him. Father? Ah, dear! he is dead, I suppose."

"And your mother?"

"I don't get on well with her. We are a trouble and a fear to each other."

A trouble and a fear to each other! At those words the suspicion crossed my mind, for the first time, that her mother might be the person who had placed her under restraint 克制.

"Don't ask me about mother," she went on. "I'd rather talk of Mrs. Clements. Mrs. Clements is like you, she doesn't think that I ought to be back in the Asylum, and she is as glad as you are that I escaped from it. She cried over my misfortune 不幸, and said it must be kept secret from everybody."

Her "misfortune 不幸." In what sense was she using that word? In a sense which might explain her motive 动机 in writing the anonymous 匿名 letter? In a sense which might show it to be the too common and too customary 习惯的 motive 动机 that has led many a woman to inter‧pose 间‧以…身份出现，造成 anonymous 匿名 hindrances to the marriage of the man who has ruined 破坏 her? I resolved 解决 to attempt the clearing up of this doubt before more words passed between us on either side.

"What misfortune 不幸?" I asked.

"The misfortune 不幸 of my being shut 关闭 up," she answered, with every appearance of feeling surprised at my question. "What other misfortune 不幸 could there be?"

I determined to persist 坚持, as delicately 微妙的；纤弱的 and forbearingly as possible. It was of very great importance that I should be absolutely sure of every step in the investigation 调查 which I now gained in advance.

"There is another misfortune 不幸," I said, "to which a woman may be liable 容易, and by which she may suffer life‧long 终身 sorrow 悲痛 and shame 羞愧."

"What is it?" she asked eagerly.

"The misfortune 不幸 of believing too innocently 无辜 in her own virtue 美德, and in the faith and honour of the man she loves," I answered.

She looked up at me with the art‧less 艺术‧少 bewilderment of a child. Not the slightest confusion 混乱 or change of colour—not the faintest 微弱的 trace 跟踪 of any secret consciousness 意识 of shame struggling to the surface appeared in her face—that face which betrayed 背叛 every other emotion 情感 with such trans‧parent 透明 clearness. No words that ever were spoken could have assured 向…保证；肯定地说 me, as her look and manner now assured me, that the motive 动机 which I had assigned 分配 for her writing the letter and sending it to Miss Fairlie was plainly and distinctly 历历 the wrong one. That doubt, at any rate, was now set at rest; but the very removal 切除 of it opened a new prospect 展望 of uncertainty 不确定. The letter, as I knew from positive 正 testimony 见证, pointed at Sir 先生 Percival Glyde, though it did not name him. She must have had some strong motive 动机, originating 起源 in some deep sense of injury 伤, for secretly den‧ounce 声讨 him to Miss Fairlie in such terms as she had employed, and that motive 动机 was unquestionably not to be traced 跟踪 to the loss of her innocence 无辜 and her character. Whatever wrong he might have inflicted 造成 on her was not of that nature. Of what nature could it be?

"I don't understand you," she said, after evidently 明显地 trying hard, and trying in vain 徒劳的, to discover the meaning of the words I had last said to her.

"Never mind," I answered. "Let us go on with what we were talking about. Tell me how long you stayed with Mrs. Clements in London, and how you came here."

"How long?" she repeated. "I stayed with Mrs. Clements till we both came to this place, two days ago."

"You are living in the village, then?" I said. "It is strange I should not have heard of you, though you have only been here two days."

"No, no, not in the village. Three miles away at a farm. Do you know the farm? They call it Todd's Corner."

I remembered the place perfectly—we had often passed by it in our drives. It was one of the oldest farms in the neighbourhood, situated 位于 in a solitary 孤, sheltered spot, inland 内陆 at the junction 连接点 of two hills.

"They are relations of Mrs. Clements at Todd's Corner," she went on, "and they had often asked her to go and see them. She said she would go, and take me with her, for the quiet and the fresh air. It was very kind, was it not? I would have gone any‧where 任何地方 to be quiet, and safe, and out of the way. But when I heard that Todd's Corner was near Limmeridge—oh! I was so happy I would have walked all the way bare‧foot 光秃秃的‧脚；英尺 to get there, and see the schools and the village and Limmeridge House again. They are very good people at Todd's Corner. I hope I shall stay there a long time. There is only one thing I don't like about them, and don't like about Mrs. Clements——"

"What is it?"

"They will tease 逗 me about dressing all in white—they say it looks so particular. How do they know? Mrs. Fairlie knew best. Mrs. Fairlie would never have made me wear this ugly 难看的 blue cloak 披风! Ah! she was fond 喜欢的 of white in her life‧time 一生, and here is white stone about her grave—and I am making it whiter for her sake. She often wore white her‧self 她自己, and she always dressed her little daughter in white. Is Miss Fairlie well and happy? Does she wear white now, as she used when she was a girl?"

Her voice sank when she put the questions about Miss Fairlie, and she turned her head farther and farther away from me. I thought I detected 发现，察觉，看出, in the alteration 改造 of her manner, an uneasy 不安 consciousness 意识 of the risk she had run in sending the anonymous 匿名 letter, and I instantly determined so to frame my answer as to surprise her into owning it.

"Miss Fairlie was not very well or very happy this morning," I said.

She murmured 私语 a few words, but they were spoken so confusedly, and in such a low tone 音, that I could not even guess at what they meant.

"Did you ask me why Miss Fairlie was neither well nor happy this morning?" I continued.

"No," she said quickly and eagerly—"oh no, I never asked that."

"I will tell you without your asking," I went on. "Miss Fairlie has received your letter."

She had been down on her knees for some little time past, carefully 小心 removing 去掉 the last weather-stains left about the inscription 题词 while we were speaking together. The first sentence 句子 of the words I had just addressed to her made her pause 暂停 in her occupation 占用, and turn slowly without rising from her knees, so as to face me. The second sentence literally 按照字面 petrified her. The cloth she had been holding dropped from her hands—her lips fell apart—all the little colour that there was naturally 自然地 in her face left it in an instant 瞬间.

"How do you know?" she said faintly 微弱的. "Who showed it to you?" The blood rushed 仓促 back into her face—rushed overwhelmingly 压倒性, as the sense rushed upon her mind that her own words had betrayed 背叛 her. She struck strike her hands together in despair 绝望. "I never wrote it," she gasped 喘气 affrightedly; "I know nothing about it!"

"Yes," I said, "you wrote it, and you know about it. It was wrong to send such a letter, it was wrong to frighten 使惊恐 Miss Fairlie. If you had anything to say that it was right and necessary for her to hear, you should have gone your‧self 你自己 to Limmeridge House—you should have spoken to the young lady with your own lips."

She crouched 蹲伏 down over the flat stone of the grave, till her face was hidden hide on it, and made no reply.

"Miss Fairlie will be as good and kind to you as her mother was, if you mean well," I went on. "Miss Fairlie will keep your secret, and not let you come to any harm 损害. Will you see her to-morrow at the farm? Will you meet her in the garden at Limmeridge House?"

"Oh, if I could die, and be hidden hide and at rest with you!" Her lips murmured 私语 the words close on the grave-stone, murmured 私语 them in tones 音 of passionate 多情 endearment, to the dead remains beneath 之下. "You know how I love your child, for your sake! Oh, Mrs. Fairlie! Mrs. Fairlie! tell me how to save her. Be my darling 宠儿 and my mother once more, and tell me what to do for the best."

I heard her lips kissing 接吻 the stone—I saw her hands beating on it passionately 热情. The sound and the sight deeply affected 影响 me. I stooped 哈腰 down, and took the poor help‧less 无助 hands tenderly in mine, and tried to soothe 缓和 her.

It was use‧less 无用. She snatched 抢夺 her hands from me, and never moved her face from the stone. Seeing the urgent 急迫的 necessity 必须 of quieting her at any hazard 冒险 and by any means, I appealed 上诉 to the only anxiety that she appeared to feel, in connection with me and with my opinion of her—the anxiety to convince 说服 me of her fitness 身体素质 to be mistress 情妇 of her own actions.

"Come, come," I said gently. "Try to compose your‧self 你自己, or you will make me alter 改变 my opinion of you. Don't let me think that the person who put you in the Asylum might have had some excuse 原谅——"

The next words died away on my lips. The instant 瞬间 I risked that chance reference to the person who had put her in the Asylum she sprang up on her knees. A most extraordinary 3 and startling 惊吓 change passed over her. Her face, at all ordinary times so touching to look at, in its nervous 担心的 sensitiveness, weakness 弱点, and uncertainty 不确定, became suddenly darkened 变暗 by an expression of maniacally intense 强烈的，极度的 hatred 仇恨 and fear, which communicated 通信 a wild, unnatural 不自然 force to every feature 特征. Her eyes dilated in the dim 暗淡 evening light, like the eyes of a wild animal. She caught catch up the cloth that had fallen fall at her side, as if it had been a living creature that she could kill, and crushed 压破 it in both her hands with such convulsive strength, that the few drops of moisture 湿气 left in it trickled 潺 down on the stone beneath her.

"Talk of something else," she said, whispering through her teeth. "I shall lose myself 我 if you talk of that."

Every vestige of the gentler thoughts which had filled her mind hardly a minute since seemed to be swept from it now. It was evident 明显 that the impression 印象 left by Mrs. Fairlie's kindness 善良 was not, as I had supposed, the only strong impression 印象 on her memory. With the grateful 感激的 remembrance 纪念 of her school-days at Limmeridge, there existed the vindictive remembrance 纪念 of the wrong inflicted 造成 on her by her confinement 坐月子 in the Asylum. Who had done that wrong? Could it really be her mother?

It was hard to give up pursuing 追求 the inquiry 调查 to that final 最后 point, but I forced myself 我 to abandon 放弃 all idea of continuing it. Seeing her as I saw her now, it would have been cruel 残酷的 to think of anything but the necessity 必须 and the humanity 人性 of restoring 修复；使复位；使复职 her composure.

"I will talk of nothing to distress 苦难 you," I said soothingly.

"You want something," she answered sharply and suspiciously. "Don't look at me like that. Speak to me—tell me what you want."

"I only want you to quiet your‧self 你自己, and when you are calmer, to think over what I have said."

"Said?" She paused— twisted 扭成一束 the cloth in her hands, backwards 向后的 and forwards, and whispered 低声说 to her‧self 她自己, "What is it he said?" She turned again towards me, and shook her head impatiently 不耐烦. "Why don't you help me?" she asked, with angry 生气的 suddenness.

"Yes, yes," I said, "I will help you, and you will soon remember. I ask you to see Miss Fairlie to-morrow and to tell her the truth about the letter."

"Ah! Miss Fairlie—Fairlie—Fairlie——"

The mere utterance 发声 of the loved familiar name seemed to quiet her. Her face softened 软的:soft and grew grow like itself 本身 again.

"You need have no fear of Miss Fairlie," I continued, "and no fear of getting into trouble through the letter. She knows so much about it already, that you will have no difficulty in telling her all. There can be little necessity for concealment where there is hardly anything left to conceal 隐藏. You mention no names in the letter; but Miss Fairlie knows that the person you write of is Sir 先生 Percival Glyde——"

The instant I pronounced 发音 that name she started to her feet, and a scream 叫喊 burst from her that rang through the church‧yard 墓地, and made my heart leap 飞跃 in me with the terror 恐怖 of it. The dark deformity of the expression which had just left her face lowered on it once more, with doubled and trebled 三重 intensity 强度. The shriek 尖叫 at the name, the reiterated 重申 look of hatred 仇恨 and fear that instantly followed, told all. Not even a last doubt now remained. Her mother was guilt‧less 有罪‧少 of imprisoning 监禁 her in the Asylum. A man had shut 关闭 her up—and that man was Sir 先生 Percival Glyde.

The scream 叫喊 had reached other ears than mine. On one side I heard the door of the sexton's cottage 3 open; on the other I heard the voice of her companion 3, the woman in the shawl, the woman whom 谁 she had spoken of as Mrs. Clements.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" cried the voice from behind the clump 丛 of dwarf 矮人 trees.

In a moment more Mrs. Clements hurried into view.

"Who are you?" she cried, facing me resolutely as she set her foot on the stile. "How dare 敢 you frighten 使惊恐 a poor help‧less 无助 woman like that?"

She was at Anne Catherick's side, and had put one arm around her, before I could answer. "What is it, my dear?" she said. "What has he done to you?"

"Nothing," the poor creature answered. "Nothing. I'm only frightened."

Mrs. Clements turned on me with a fear‧less 害怕‧少 indignation 愤慨, for which I respected her.

"I should be heartily 爽朗 ashamed 惭愧的 of myself 我 if I deserved 应受 that angry look," I said. "But I do not deserve 应受 it. I have unfortunately 不幸 startled 惊吓 her without intending it. This is not the first time she has seen me. Ask her your‧self 你自己, and she will tell you that I am incapable 无法 of willingly 甘心 harming 损害 her or any woman."

I spoke distinctly 历历, so that Anne Catherick might hear and understand me, and I saw that the words and their meaning had reached her.

"Yes, yes," she said—"he was good to me once—he helped me——" She whispered the rest into her friend's ear.

"Strange, indeed!" said Mrs. Clements, with a look of perplexity. "It makes all the difference, though. I'm sorry 对不起的 I spoke so rough to you, sir 3; but you must own that appearances looked suspicious 可疑的 to a stranger. It's more my fault 缺点 than yours, for humouring her whims 怪念头, and letting her be alone in such a place as this. Come, my dear—come home now."

I thought the good woman looked a little uneasy 不安 at the prospect 展望 of the walk back, and I offered to go with them until they were both within sight of home. Mrs. Clements thanked me civilly 国内, and declined 下降. She said they were sure to meet some of the farm-labourers as soon as they got to the moor 泊.

"Try to for‧give 原谅 me," I said, when Anne Catherick took her friend's arm to go away. Innocent as I had been of any intention to terrify 惊吓 and agitate 激荡 her, my heart smote me as I looked at the poor, pale, frightened face.

"I will try," she answered. "But you know too much—I'm afraid you'll always frighten me now."

Mrs. Clements glanced 一瞥 at me, and shook her head pityingly.

"Good-night, sir," she said. "You couldn't help it, I know but I wish it was me you had frightened, and not her."

They moved away a few steps. I thought they had left me, but Anne suddenly stopped, and separated her‧self 她自己 from her friend.

"Wait a little," she said. "I must say good-bye 再见."

She returned to the grave, rested both hands tenderly on the marble 大理石 cross, and kissed 接吻 it.

"I'm better now," she sighed 叹, looking up at me quietly. "I for‧give 原谅 you."

She joined her companion again, and they left the burial 葬礼-ground. I saw them stop near the church and speak to the sexton's wife, who had come from the cottage, and had waited, watching us from a distance. Then they went on again up the path that led to the moor 泊. I looked after Anne Catherick as she disappeared, till all trace 跟踪 of her had faded 褪去 in the twilight 暮—looked as anxiously and sorrow‧fully 悲痛‧完全地 as if that was the last I was to see in this weary 厌倦 world of the woman in white.

XIV

Half an hour later I was back at the house, and was informing Miss Halcombe of all that had happened.

She listened to me from beginning to end with a steady, silent attention, which, in a woman of her temperament 气质 and disposition 性格, was the strongest proof 证明 that could be offered of the serious manner in which my narrative 叙述 affected 影响 her.

"My mind misgives 疑虑 me," was all she said when I had done. "My mind misgives 疑虑 me sadly 悲哀的 about the future."

"The future may depend," I suggested, "on the use we make of the present. It is not improbable 难以置信 that Anne Catherick may speak more readily and unreservedly to a woman than she has spoken to me. If Miss Fairlie——"

"Not to be thought of for a moment," interposed Miss Halcombe, in her most decided manner.

"Let me suggest, then," I continued, "that you should see Anne Catherick your‧self 你自己, and do all you can to win her confidence. For my own part, I shrink from the idea of alarming 警告 the poor creature a second time, as I have most unhappily 不快乐 alarmed 警告 her already. Do you see any objection 反对 to accompanying 陪 me to the farm‧house 农家 to-morrow?"

"None whatever. I will go any‧where 任何地方 and do anything to serve Laura's interests. What did you say the place was called?"

"You must know it well. It is called Todd's Corner."

"Certainly. Todd's Corner is one of Mr. Fairlie's farms. Our dairymaid here is the farmer's second daughter. She goes backwards and forwards constantly 总是；经常地，不断地 between this house and her father's farm, and she may have heard or seen something which it may be useful 有用 to us to know. Shall I ascertain 探明, at once, if the girl is downstairs 楼下?"

She rang the bell 钟, and sent send the servant 仆人 with his message. He returned, and announced 宣布 that the dairymaid was then at the farm. She had not been there for the last three days, and the house‧keep 管家 had given her leave to go home for an hour or two that evening.

"I can speak to her to-morrow," said Miss Halcombe, when the servant had left the room again. "In the mean‧time 其时, let me thoroughly understand the object to be gained by my interview 访问 with Anne Catherick. Is there no doubt in your mind that the person who con‧fine 局限 her in the Asylum was Sir Percival Glyde?"

"There is not the shadow of a doubt. The only mystery that remains is the mystery of his motive 动机. Looking to the great difference between his station in life and hers, which seems to preclude 排除 all idea of the most distant 遥远的 relationship between them, it is of the last importance—even assuming 承担 that she really required to be placed under restraint 克制—to know why he should have been the person to assume 承担 the serious responsibility 责任 of shutting 关闭 her up——"

"In a private Asylum, I think you said?"

"Yes, in a private Asylum, where a sum 和 of money, which no poor person could afford 买得起 to give, must have been paid for her maintenance 保养 as a patient."

"I see where the doubt lies, Mr. Hartright, and I promise you that it shall be set at rest, whether Anne Catherick assists 帮助；协助；援助 us to-morrow or not. Sir Percival Glyde shall not be long in this house without satisfying Mr. Gilmore, and satisfying me. My sister 姐妹's future is my dearest care in life, and I have influence enough over her to give me some power, where her marriage is concerned, in the disposal 处置 of it."

We parted for the night.

After break‧fast 早餐 the next morning, an obstacle 障碍, which the events of the evening before had put out of my memory, interposed to prevent our proceeding 继续 immediately to the farm. This was my last day at Limmeridge House, and it was necessary, as soon as the post came in, to follow Miss Halcombe's advice 劝告, and to ask Mr. Fairlie's per‧mission 允许 to shorten 缩短 my engagement 订婚 by a month, in consideration 考虑 of an unforeseen necessity for my return to London.

Fortunately for the probability 可能性 of this excuse 原谅, so far as appearances were concerned, the post brought me two letters from London friends that morning. I took them away at once to my own room, and sent the servant 仆人 with a message to Mr. Fairlie, requesting to know when I could see him on a matter of business.

I awaited 等待 the man's return, free from the slightest feeling of anxiety about the manner in which his master might receive my application. With Mr. Fairlie's leave or without it, I must go. The consciousness 意识 of having now taken the first step on the dreary 凄凉 journey 旅行 which was hence‧forth 今后 to separate my life from Miss Fairlie's seemed to have blunted 钝 my sensibility 感性 to every consideration 考虑 connected 连接 with myself 我. I had done with my poor man's touchy pride 自尊—I had done with all my little artist 艺术家 vanities 虚荣. No insolence of Mr. Fairlie's, if he chose to be insolent, could wound 创伤 me now.

The servant 3 returned with a message for which I was not unprepared. Mr. Fairlie regretted 后悔 that the state of his health, on that particular morning, was such as to preclude 排除 all hope of his having the pleasure of receiving me. He begged 乞讨, therefore, that I would accept his apologies 道歉认错, and kindly communicate 通信 what I had to say in the form of a letter. Similar 类似 messages to this had reached me, at various intervals 间隔, during my three months' residence 住宅 in the house. Through‧out 始终 the whole of that period Mr. Fairlie had been rejoiced 欢庆 to " possess 拥有" me, but had never been well enough to see me for a second time. The servant took every fresh batch 批量 of drawings that I mounted 增加 and restored 修复；使复位；使复职 back to his master with my "respects," and returned empty-handed with Mr. Fairlie's "kind compliments 赞扬," "best thanks," and " sincere 真诚的 regrets 后悔" that the state of his health still obliged 责成 him to remain a solitary 孤 prisoner 犯人，囚犯 in his own room. A more satisfactory 满意 arrangement 安排 to both sides could not possibly have been adopted. It would be hard to say which of us, under the circumstances 环境, felt the most grateful 感激的 sense of obligation 义务；责任；职责 to Mr. Fairlie's accommodating 容纳 nerves 神经.

I sat sit down at once to write the letter, expressing myself 我 in it as civilly 国内, as clearly, and as briefly 短时间地 as possible. Mr. Fairlie did not hurry his reply. Nearly an hour elapsed 过去 before the answer was placed in my hands. It was written with beautiful 美丽 regularity 规律性 and neatness of character, in violet 紫色-coloured ink 墨水, on note-paper as smooth as ivory 象牙 and almost as thick as card‧board 纸板, and it addressed me in these terms—

"Mr. Fairlie's compliments 赞扬 to Mr. Hartright. Mr. Fairlie is more surprised and disappointed 使失望 than he can say (in the present state of his health) by Mr. Hartright's application. Mr. Fairlie is not a man of business, but he has consulted 咨询；请教；查阅 his steward 管家, who is, and that person confirms 确认 Mr. Fairlie's opinion that Mr. Hartright's request to be allowed to break his engagement 订婚 cannot be justified by any necessity whatever, excepting perhaps a case of life and death. If the highly-appreciative feeling towards Art and its professors 教授, which it is the consolation 安慰 and happiness 幸福 of Mr. Fairlie's suffering existence to cultivate 耕作, could be easily shaken shake, Mr. Hartright's present proceeding 继续 would have shaken it. It has not done so—except in the instance 例 of Mr. Hartright himself.

"Having stated his opinion—so far, that is to say, as acute 急性 nervous 担心的 suffering will allow him to state anything—Mr. Fairlie has nothing to add but the expression of his decision, in reference to the highly irregular 不规则 application that has been made to him. Perfect repose of body and mind being to the last degree important in his case, Mr. Fairlie will not suffer Mr. Hartright to disturb 打扰 that repose by remaining in the house under circumstances 环境 of an essentially 基本的 irritating 刺激 nature to both sides. Accordingly, Mr. Fairlie waives 放弃 his right of refusal 拒绝, purely with a view to the preservation 保存 of his own tranquillity—and informs Mr. Hartright that he may go."

I folded the letter up, and put it away with my other papers. The time had been when I should have resented 愤恨 it as an insult 侮辱—I accepted it now as a written release 发布 from my engagement 订婚. It was off my mind, it was almost out of my memory, when I went downstairs 楼下 to the break‧fast 早餐-room, and informed Miss Halcombe that I was ready to walk with her to the farm.

"Has Mr. Fairlie given you a satisfactory 满意 answer?" she asked as we left the house.

"He has allowed me to go, Miss Halcombe."

She looked up at me quickly, and then, for the first time since I had known her, took my arm of her own accord. No words could have expressed so delicately that she understood understand how the per‧mission 允许 to leave my employment 雇用 had been granted 发放, and that she gave me her sympathy 同情, not as my superior 优越, but as my friend. I had not felt the man's insolent letter, but I felt deeply the woman's atoning kindness 善良.

On our way to the farm we arranged that Miss Halcombe was to enter the house alone, and that I was to wait outside, within call. We adopted this mode 方式 of proceeding 继续 from an apprehension 顾虑 that my presence, after what had happened in the church‧yard 墓地 the evening before, might have the effect of renewing 更新 Anne Catherick's nervous 担心的 dread 恐惧, and of rendering 给予 her additionally 另外 distrustful of the advances of a lady who was a stranger to her. Miss Halcombe left me, with the intention of speaking, in the first instance 例, to the farmer's wife (of whose 谁的 friendly readiness 准备就绪 to help her in any way she was well assured), while I waited for her in the near neighbourhood of the house.

I had fully 充分 expected to be left alone for some time. To my surprise, however, little more than five minutes had elapsed 过去 before Miss Halcombe returned.

"Does Anne Catherick refuse to see you?" I asked in astonishment 惊愕.

"Anne Catherick is gone," replied Miss Halcombe.

"Gone?"

"Gone with Mrs. Clements. They both left the farm at eight 八 o' clock 钟 this morning."

I could say nothing—I could only feel that our last chance of discovery 发现 had gone with them.

"All that Mrs. Todd knows about her guests, I know," Miss Halcombe went on, "and it leaves me, as it leaves her, in the dark. They both came back safe last night, after they left you, and they passed the first part of the evening with Mr. Todd's family as usual. Just before supper 晚饭-time, however, Anne Catherick startled 惊吓 them all by being suddenly seized 抓住 with faintness. She had had a similar 类似 attack, of a less alarming kind, on the day she arrived at the farm; and Mrs. Todd had connected it, on that occasion, with something she was reading at the time in our local newspaper, which lay on the farm table, and which she had taken up only a minute or two before."

"Does Mrs. Todd know what particular passage in the newspaper affected 影响 her in that way?" I inquired.

"No," replied Miss Halcombe. "She had looked it over, and had seen nothing in it to agitate 激荡 any one. I asked leave, however, to look it over in my turn, and at the very first page I opened I found that the editor 编辑 had enriched 丰富 his small stock of news by drawing upon our family affairs, and had published 发布 my sister 姐妹's marriage engagement 订婚, among his other announcements 公告, copied from the London papers, of Marriages in High Life. I concluded 得出结论 at once that this was the paragraph 段 which had so strangely affected 影响 Anne Catherick, and I thought I saw in it, also, the origin of the letter which she sent to our house the next day."

"There can be no doubt in either case. But what did you hear about her second attack of faintness yesterday evening?"

"Nothing. The cause of it is a complete mystery. There was no stranger in the room. The only visitor 访问者 was our dairymaid, who, as I told you, is one of Mr. Todd's daughters, and the only conversation was the usual gossip 八卦 about local affairs. They heard her cry out, and saw her turn deadly pale, without the slightest apparent 清晰可见的；显而易见的；明白易懂的 reason. Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Clements took her upstairs 楼上, and Mrs. Clements remained with her. They were heard talking together until long after the usual bed‧time 就寝时间, and early this morning Mrs. Clements took Mrs. Todd aside, and amazed 惊奇 her beyond all power of expression by saying that they must go. The only explanation 说明 Mrs. Todd could extract 提取 from her guest was, that something had happened, which was not the fault 缺点 of any one at the farm‧house 农家, but which was serious enough to make Anne Catherick resolve 解决 to leave Limmeridge immediately. It was quite use‧less 无用 to press Mrs. Clements to be more explicit 明确的. She only shook her head, and said that, for Anne's sake, she must beg and pray that no one would question her. All she could repeat, with every appearance of being seriously agitated 激荡 her‧self 她自己, was that Anne must go, that she must go with her, and that the destination 目的地 to which they might both betake themselves must be kept a secret from everybody. I spare 节省；多余的；备用件 you the recital 演奏会 of Mrs. Todd's hospitable remonstrances and refusals 拒绝. It ended in her driving them both to the nearest station, more than three hours since. She tried hard on the way to get them to speak more plainly, but without success; and she set them down outside the station-door, so hurt 损害 and offended 触怒 by the unceremonious abruptness of their departure 离开 and their unfriendly 不友好 reluctance 不情愿 to place the least confidence in her, that she drove drive away in anger 生气, without so much as stopping to bid 出价 them good-bye 再见. That is exactly what has taken place. Search your own memory, Mr. Hartright, and tell me if anything happened in the burial 葬礼-ground yesterday evening which can at all account for the extraordinary departure 离开 of those two women this morning."

"I should like to account first, Miss Halcombe, for the sudden change in Anne Catherick which alarmed them at the farm‧house 农家, hours after she and I had parted, and when time enough had elapsed 过去 to quiet any violent 猛烈 agitation 搅动 that I might have been unfortunate 不幸的 enough to cause. Did you inquire 打听 particularly about the gossip 八卦 which was going on in the room when she turned faint 微弱的?"

"Yes. But Mrs. Todd's house‧hold 家庭 affairs seem to have divided her attention that evening with the talk in the farm‧house 农家 parlour. She could only tell me that it was 'just the news,'—meaning, I suppose, that they all talked as usual about each other."

"The dairymaid's memory may be better than her mother's," I said. "It may be as well for you to speak to the girl, Miss Halcombe, as soon as we get back."

My suggestion 建议 was acted on the moment we returned to the house. Miss Halcombe led me round to the servants 仆人' offices, and we found the girl in the dairy 乳制品, with her sleeves 袖 tucked 掖 up to her shoulders, cleaning a large milk 奶-pan 平底锅 and singing blithely over her work.

"I have brought this gentle‧man 先生 to see your dairy 乳制品, Hannah," said Miss Halcombe. "It is one of the sights of the house, and it always does you credit 信用."

The girl blushed 脸红 and curtseyed, and said shyly 害羞 that she hoped she always did her best to keep things neat 整洁的 and clean.

"We have just come from your father's," Miss Halcombe continued. "You were there yesterday evening, I hear, and you found visitors 访问者 at the house?"

"Yes, miss."

"One of them was taken faint 3 and ill 生病, I am told. I suppose nothing was said or done to frighten her? You were not talking of anything very terrible, were you?"

"Oh no, miss!" said the girl, laughing. "We were only talking of the news."

"Your sisters told you the news at Todd's Corner, I suppose?"

"Yes, miss."

"And you told them the news at Limmeridge House?"

"Yes, miss. And I'm quite sure nothing was said to frighten the poor thing, for I was talking when she was taken ill 生病. It gave me quite a turn, miss, to see it, never having been taken faint myself 我."

Before any more questions could be put to her, she was called away to receive a basket 篮 of eggs 鸡蛋 at the dairy 乳制品 door. As she left us I whispered to Miss Halcombe—

"Ask her if she happened to mention, last night, that visitors were expected at Limmeridge House."

Miss Halcombe showed me, by a look, that she understood, and put the question as soon as the dairymaid returned to us.

"Oh yes, miss, I mentioned that," said the girl simply. "The company coming, and the accident 意外事件 to the brindled cow 奶牛, was all the news I had to take to the farm."

"Did you mention names? Did you tell them that Sir Percival Glyde was expected on Monday?"

"Yes, miss—I told them Sir Percival Glyde was coming. I hope there was no harm 损害 in it—I hope I didn't do wrong."

"Oh no, no harm. Come, Mr. Hartright, Hannah will begin to think us in the way, if we interrupt 打断 her any longer over her work."

We stopped and looked at one another the moment we were alone again.

"Is there any doubt in your mind, now, Miss Halcombe?"

"Sir Percival Glyde shall remove 去掉 that doubt, Mr. Hartright—or Laura Fairlie shall never be his wife."

XV

As we walked round to the front of the house a fly from the rail‧way 铁路 approached us along the drive. Miss Halcombe waited on the door-steps until the fly drew up, and then advanced to shake hands with an old gentle‧man 先生, who got out briskly 轻快 the moment the steps were let down. Mr. Gilmore had arrived.

I looked at him, when we were introduced to each other, with an interest and a curiosity 好奇心 which I could hardly conceal 隐藏. This old man was to remain at Limmeridge House after I had left it, he was to hear Sir Percival Glyde's explanation 说明, and was to give Miss Halcombe the assistance 帮助 of his experience in forming her judgment 判断; he was to wait until the question of the marriage was set at rest; and his hand, if that question were decided in the affirmative 肯定, was to draw the settlement 沉降 which bound 必定；跳 Miss Fairlie irrevocably to her engagement 订婚. Even then, when I knew nothing by comparison 比较 with what I know now, I looked at the family lawyer with an interest which I had never felt before in the presence of any man breathing 呼吸 who was a total stranger to me.

In external 外面的；外表的；来自外部的 appearance Mr. Gilmore was the exact opposite of the conventional 传统的；常规的；普通的 idea of an old lawyer. His complex‧ion 肤色 was florid—his white hair was worn rather long and kept carefully 小心 brushed—his black coat, waist‧coat 腰‧上衣, and trousers 长裤 fitted him with perfect neatness—his white cravat was carefully 小心 tied, and his lavender-coloured kid 孩子 gloves 手套 might have adorned 装饰 the hands of a fashion‧able 时髦 clergy‧man 牧师, without fear and without reproach 责备. His manners were pleasantly marked by the formal grace 优雅；惠赐 and refinement 精致 of the old school of politeness 礼貌, quickened 加速 by the invigorating sharpness and readiness 准备就绪 of a man whose 谁的 business in life obliges 责成 him always to keep his faculties 学院 in good working order. A sanguine constitution 宪法 and fair prospects 展望 to begin with—a long subsequent 随后的，接着的 career of credit‧able 学分；信用；表扬‧能够的 and comfort‧able 舒服；自在 prosperity 繁荣—a cheerful 快乐, diligent, widely-respected old age—such were the general impressions 印象 I derived 派生 from my introduction 介绍 to Mr. Gilmore, and it is but fair to him to add, that the knowledge I gained by later and better experience only tended to confirm 确认 them.

I left the old gentleman and Miss Halcombe to enter the house together, and to talk of family matters undisturbed by the restraint 克制 of a stranger's presence. They crossed the hall on their way to the drawing-room, and I descended the steps again to wander 漫步 about the garden alone.

My hours were numbered at Limmeridge House—my departure 离开 the next morning was irrevocably settled—my share in the investigation 调查 which the anonymous 匿名 letter had rendered 给予 necessary was at an end. No harm 3 could be done to any one but myself 我 if I let my heart loose again, for the little time that was left me, from the cold cruelty 残酷 of restraint 克制 which necessity had forced me to inflict 造成 upon it, and took my fare‧well 告别 of the scenes which were associated 关联 with the brief 简要 dream-time of my happiness 幸福 and my love.

I turned instinctively 本能 to the walk beneath my study-window, where I had seen her the evening before with her little dog, and followed the path which her dear feet had trodden so often, till I came to the wicket 便门 gate 门 that led into her rose garden. The winter bareness spread drearily 凄凉 over it now. The flowers that she had taught teach me to distinguish by their names, the flowers that I had taught her to paint from, were gone, and the tiny 小 white paths 小路 that led between the beds were damp 微湿的 and green already. I went on to the avenue of trees, where we had breathed 呼吸 together the warm fragrance 香味 of August evenings, where we had admired together the myriad 无数的 combinations 组合 of shade 遮阳；阴 and sun‧light 阳光 that dappled the ground at our feet. The leaves fell about me from the groaning 呻吟 branches, and the earthy decay 腐烂 in the atmosphere 大气层 chilled 寒意 me to the bones 骨头. A little farther on, and I was out of the grounds, and following the lane 车道 that wound 创伤 gently upward 向上 to the nearest hills. The old felled tree by the way‧side 路；方法‧边；面, on which we had sat to rest, was sodden with rain, and the tuft of ferns 蕨类 and grasses 草 which I had drawn for her, nestling 贴近 under the rough stone wall in front of us, had turned to a pool of water, stagnating round an island of draggled weeds 杂草. I gained the summit 首脑 of the hill, and looked at the view which we had so often admired in the happier time. It was cold and barren 荒芜—it was no longer the view that I remembered. The sun‧shine 阳光 of her presence was far from me—the charm 魔力；使陶醉 of her voice no longer murmured 私语 in my ear. She had talked to me, on the spot from which I now looked down, of her father, who was her last surviving 生存 parent—had told me how fond 喜欢的 of each other they had been, and how sadly she missed him still when she entered certain rooms in the house, and when she took up forgotten occupations 占用 and amusements 娱乐 with which he had been associated 关联. Was the view that I had seen, while listening to those words, the view that I saw now, standing on the hill-top by myself 我? I turned and left it—I wound my way back again, over the moor 泊, and round the sandhills, down to the beach 海滩. There was the white rage 愤怒 of the surf 冲浪, and the multitudinous glory 光荣 of the leaping 飞跃 waves—but where was the place on which she had once drawn idle 无意义的 figures with her parasol in the sand 沙—the place where we had sat together, while she talked to me about myself 我 and my home, while she asked me a woman's minutely observant questions about my mother and my sister, and innocently 无辜 wondered whether I should ever leave my lonely 孤独的 chambers 室 and have a wife and a house of my own? Wind and wave had long since smoothed out the trace 跟踪 of her which she had left in those marks on the sand 沙, I looked over the wide monotony of the sea-side prospect 展望, and the place in which we two had idled 无意义的 away the sunny 晴朗 hours was as lost to me as if I had never known it, as strange to me as if I stood already on a foreign shore.

The empty silence of the beach 海滩 struck cold to my heart. I returned to the house and the garden, where traces 跟踪 were left to speak of her at every turn.

On the west terrace 阳台 walk I met Mr. Gilmore. He was evidently 明显地 in search of me, for he quickened 加速 his pace 步伐，速度 when we caught sight of each other. The state of my spirits little fitted me for the society of a stranger; but the meeting was inevitable 必然, and I resigned 辞职 myself 我 to make the best of it.

"You are the very person I wanted to see," said the old gentleman. "I had two words to say to you, my dear sir; and if you have no objection 反对 I will avail 果 myself 我 of the present opportunity. To put it plainly, Miss Halcombe and I have been talking over family affairs—affairs which are the cause of my being here—and in the course of our conversation she was naturally 自然地 led to tell me of this unpleasant 不愉快 matter connected with the anonymous 匿名 letter, and of the share which you have most creditably and properly taken in the proceedings 继续 so far. That share, I quite understand, gives you an interest which you might not otherwise have felt, in knowing that the future management 管理 of the investigation 调查 which you have begun will be placed in safe hands. My dear sir, make your‧self 你自己 quite easy on that point—it will be placed in my hands."

"You are, in every way, Mr. Gilmore, much fitter to advise and to act in the matter than I am. Is it an indiscretion on my part to ask if you have decided yet on a course of proceeding 继续?"

"So far as it is possible to decide, Mr. Hartright, I have decided. I mean to send a copy of the letter, accompanied 陪 by a statement 声明 of the circumstances 环境, to Sir Percival Glyde's solicitor 律师 in London, with whom 4 I have some acquaintance 熟人. The letter itself 本身 I shall keep here to show to Sir Percival as soon as he arrives. The tracing 跟踪 of the two women I have already provided for, by sending one of Mr. Fairlie's servants—a confidential 秘密的 person—to the station to make inquiries. The man has his money and his directions, and he will follow the women in the event of his finding any clue 线索. This is all that can be done until Sir Percival comes on Monday. I have no doubt myself 我 that every explanation 说明 which can be expected from a gentleman and a man of honour, he will readily give. Sir Percival stands very high, sir—an eminent 杰出 position, a reputation 名气 above suspicion—I feel quite easy about results—quite easy, I am rejoiced to assure 向…保证；肯定地说 you. Things of this sort happen constantly 总是；经常地，不断地 in my experience. Anonymous letters—unfortunate 不幸的 woman— sad 悲哀的 state of society. I don't deny 拒绝 that there are peculiar 奇怪的 complications 复杂化 in this case; but the case itself 本身 is, most unhappily 不快乐, common—common."

"I am afraid, Mr. Gilmore, I have the misfortune 不幸 to differ 不同 from you in the view I take of the case."

"Just so, my dear sir—just so. I am an old man, and I take the practical view. You are a young man, and you take the romantic 浪漫 view. Let us not dispute 争议 about our views. I live professionally 专业 in an atmosphere 大气层 of disputation, Mr. Hartright, and I am only too glad to escape from it, as I am escaping here. We will wait for events—yes, yes, yes—we will wait for events. Charming place this. Good shooting? Probably not, none of Mr. Fairlie's land is preserved, I think. Charming place, though, and delightful 愉快 people. You draw and paint, I hear, Mr. Hartright? Enviable accomplishment 成就. What style 样式?"

We dropped into general conversation, or rather, Mr. Gilmore talked and I listened. My attention was far from him, and from the topics 话题 on which he discoursed 演讲 so fluently 流利地. The solitary 孤 walk of the last two hours had wrought 锻 its effect on me—it had set the idea in my mind of hastening 加速 my departure 离开 from Limmeridge House. Why should I pro‧long 延长 the hard trial of saying fare‧well 告别 by one unnecessary 不必要 minute? What further service was required of me by any one? There was no useful 有用 purpose to be served by my stay in Cumberland—there was no restriction 受限制的，受约束的 of time in the per‧mission 允许 to leave which my employer had granted 发放 to me. Why not end it there and then?

I determined to end it. There were some hours of day‧light 日光 still left—there was no reason why my journey 旅行 back to London should not begin on that afternoon. I made the first civil 国内 excuse 3 that occurred 发生 to me for leaving Mr. Gilmore, and returned at once to the house.

On my way up to my own room I met Miss Halcombe on the stairs 楼梯. She saw, by the hurry of my movements 运动 and the change in my manner, that I had some new purpose in view, and asked what had happened.

I told her the reasons which induced 促使 me to think of hastening my departure 离开, exactly as I have told them here.

"No, no," she said, ear‧nest 热心的 and kindly, "leave us like a friend—break bread 面包 with us once more. Stay here and dine 吃饭, stay here and help us to spend our last evening with you as happily, as like our first evenings, as we can. It is my invitation 邀请—Mrs. Vesey's invitation——" she hesitated 犹豫 a little, and then added, "Laura's invitation as well."

I promised to remain. God knows I had no wish to leave even the shadow of a sorrowful impression 印象 with any one of them.

My own room was the best place for me till the dinner bell 钟 rang. I waited there till it was time to go downstairs 楼下.

I had not spoken to Miss Fairlie—I had not even seen her—all that day. The first meeting with her, when I entered the drawing-room, was a hard trial to her self 自己-control and to mine. She, too, had done her best to make our last evening renew 更新 the golden 金色的 bygone time—the time that could never come again. She had put on the dress which I used to admire more than any other that she possessed 拥有—a dark blue silk 丝, trimmed 修剪 quaintly 精巧 and prettily with old-fashioned lace 花边; she came forward to meet me with her former readiness 准备就绪—she gave me her hand with the frank 坦率, innocent 无辜 good-will of happier days. The cold fingers that trembled round mine—the pale cheeks 脸颊 with a bright red spot burning in the midst 中间 of them—the faint smile that struggled to live on her lips and died away from them while I looked at it, told me at what sacrifice 牺牲 of her‧self 她自己 her outward 向外的 composure was maintained 保持. My heart could take her no closer to me, or I should have loved her then as I had never loved her yet.

Mr. Gilmore was a great assistance 帮助 to us. He was in high good-humour, and he led the conversation with unflagging spirit. Miss Halcombe seconded him resolutely, and I did all I could to follow her example. The kind blue eyes, whose 4 slightest changes of expression I had learnt learn to interpret 翻译，弄清含义 so well, looked at me appealingly when we first sat down to table. Help my sister—the sweet anxious 焦急的 face seemed to say—help my sister, and you will help me.

We got through the dinner, to all outward 向外的 appearance at least, happily enough. When the ladies had risen rise from table, and Mr. Gilmore and I were left alone in the dining 吃饭-room, a new interest presented itself 本身 to occupy 占据 our attention, and to give me an opportunity of quieting myself 我 by a few minutes of needful and welcome silence. The servant who had been despatched to trace 跟踪 Anne Catherick and Mrs. Clements returned with his report, and was shown into the dining-room immediately.

"Well," said Mr. Gilmore, "what have you found out?"

"I have found out, sir," answered the man, "that both the women took tickets 票 at our station here for Carlisle."

"You went to Carlisle, of course, when you heard that?"

"I did, sir, but I am sorry 对不起的 to say I could find no further trace 跟踪 of them."

"You inquired at the rail‧way 铁路?"

"Yes, sir."

"And at the different inns 小旅馆?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you left the statement 声明 I wrote for you at the police station?"

"I did, sir."

"Well, my friend, you have done all you could, and I have done all I could, and there the matter must rest till further notice. We have played our trump 王牌 cards, Mr. Hartright," continued the old gentleman when the servant had withdrawn. "For the present, at least, the women have outmanoeuvred us, and our only resource 资源 now is to wait till Sir Percival Glyde comes here on Monday next. Won't you fill your glass again? Good bottle of port 港口, that—sound, substantial 大量的, old wine. I have got better in my own cellar 地窖, though."

We returned to the drawing-room—the room in which the happiest evenings of my life had been passed—the room which, after this last night, I was never to see again. Its aspect 方面 was altered 改变 since the days had shortened 缩短 and the weather had grown grow cold. The glass doors on the terrace 阳台 side were closed, and hidden hide by thick curtains 窗帘. Instead of the soft twilight 暮 obscurity, in which we used to sit, the bright radiant 辐射的 glow 辉光 of lamp‧light 灯‧光；灯 now dazzled 炫 my eyes. All was changed— indoors 室内的 and out all was changed.

Miss Halcombe and Mr. Gilmore sat down together at the card-table—Mrs. Vesey took her customary 习惯的 chair. There was no restraint 克制 on the disposal 处置 of their evening, and I felt the restraint 克制 on the disposal 处置 of mine all the more painfully 痛苦 from observing it. I saw Miss Fairlie lingering 萦绕 near the music-stand. The time had been when I might have joined her there. I waited irresolutely—I knew neither where to go nor what to do next. She cast 投 one quick glance 一瞥 at me, took a piece of music suddenly from the stand, and came towards me of her own accord.

"Shall I play some of those little melodies 旋律 of Mozart's which you used to like so much?" she asked, opening the music nervously, and looking down at it while she spoke.

Before I could thank her she hastened 加速 to the piano 钢琴. The chair near it, which I had always been accustomed 使习惯 to occupy 占据, stood empty. She struck a few chords 弦—then glanced 一瞥 round at me—then looked back again at her music.

"Won't you take your old place?" she said, speaking very abruptly 突然 and in very low tones 音.

"I may take it on the last night," I answered.

She did not reply—she kept her attention riveted 铆钉 on the music—music which she knew by memory, which she had played over and over again, in former times, without the book. I only knew that she had heard me, I only knew that she was aware 知道的 of my being close to her, by seeing the red spot on the cheek 脸颊 that was nearest to me fade 褪去 out, and the face grow pale all over.

"I am very sorry you are going," she said, her voice almost sinking 淹没 to a whisper 低声说, her eyes looking more and more intently 意图 at the music, her fingers flying over the keys of the piano 钢琴 with a strange feverish energy 能源 which I had never noticed in her before.

"I shall remember those kind words, Miss Fairlie, long after to-morrow has come and gone."

The paleness grew whiter on her face, and she turned it farther away from me.

"Don't speak of to-morrow," she said. "Let the music speak to us of to-night, in a happier language than ours."

Her lips trembled—a faint sigh 叹 fluttered 扑 from them, which she tried vainly 徒劳的 to sup‧press 压制. Her fingers wavered 动摇 on the piano 钢琴—she struck a false 虚伪的 note, confused 使困窘 her‧self 她自己 in trying to set it right, and dropped her hands angrily 生气的 on her lap 膝部. Miss Halcombe and Mr. Gilmore looked up in astonishment 惊愕 from the card-table at which they were playing. Even Mrs. Vesey, dozing in her chair, woke 醒:wake at the sudden cessation 戒烟 of the music, and inquired what had happened.

"You play at whist, Mr. Hartright?" asked Miss Halcombe, with her eyes directed significantly 显著 at the place I occupied 占据.

I knew what she meant—I knew she was right, and I rose at once to go to the card-table. As I left the piano 钢琴 Miss Fairlie turned a page of the music, and touched the keys again with a surer hand.

"I will play it," she said, striking the notes almost passionately 热情. "I will play it on the last night."

"Come, Mrs. Vesey," said Miss Halcombe, "Mr. Gilmore and I are tired of ecarte—come and be Mr. Hartright's partner 伙伴 at whist."

The old lawyer smiled satirically. His had been the winning hand, and he had just turned up a king. He evidently 明显地 attributed 特性；特质；属性 Miss Halcombe's abrupt 突兀 change in the card-table arrangements 安排 to a lady's inability 无力 to play the losing game.

The rest of the evening passed without a word or a look from her. She kept her place at the piano 钢琴, and I kept mine at the card-table. She played unintermittingly—played as if the music was her only refuge 避难所 from her‧self 她自己. Sometimes her fingers touched the notes with a lingering 萦绕 fondness—a soft, plaintive, dying tenderness 压痛, unutterably beautiful 美丽 and mournful to hear; sometimes they faltered 衰退 and failed her, or hurried over the instrument mechanically 机械, as if their task 任务 was a burden 负荷，重负 to them. But still, change and waver as they might in the expression they imparted 传授 to the music, their resolution 解析度 to play never faltered 衰退. She only rose from the piano 钢琴 when we all rose to say Good-night.

Mrs. Vesey was the nearest to the door, and the first to shake hands with me.

"I shall not see you again, Mr. Hartright," said the old lady. "I am truly 真 sorry you are going away. You have been very kind and attentive 注意的, and an old woman like me feels kindness 善良 and attention. I wish you happy, sir—I wish you a kind good-bye 再见."

Mr. Gilmore came next.

"I hope we shall have a future opportunity of bettering our acquaintance 熟人, Mr. Hartright. You quite understand about that little matter of business being safe in my hands? Yes, yes, of course. Bless 祝福 me, how cold it is! Don't let me keep you at the door. Bon voyage 旅行, my dear sir—bon voyage, as the French say."

Miss Halcombe followed.

"Half-past seven 七 to-morrow morning," she said—then added in a whisper, "I have heard and seen more than you think. Your conduct 进行 to-night has made me your friend for life."

Miss Fairlie came last. I could not trust myself 我 to look at her when I took her hand, and when I thought of the next morning.

"My departure 离开 must be a very early one," I said. "I shall be gone, Miss Fairlie, before you——"

"No, no," she interposed hastily 草草, "not before I am out of my room. I shall be down to breakfast with Marian. I am not so ungrateful, not so forgetful of the past three months——"

Her voice failed her, her hand closed gently round mine—then dropped it suddenly. Before I could say "Good-night" she was gone.

The end comes fast to meet me—comes inevitably 必将, as the light of the last morning came at Limmeridge House.

It was barely 光秃秃的 half-past seven 七 when I went downstairs 楼下, but I found them both at the breakfast-table waiting for me. In the chill 寒意 air, in the dim 暗淡 light, in the gloomy 阴沉 morning silence of the house, we three sat down together, and tried to eat, tried to talk. The struggle to preserve appearances was hope‧less 绝望 and use‧less 无用, and I rose to end it.

As I held out my hand, as Miss Halcombe, who was nearest to me, took it, Miss Fairlie turned away suddenly and hurried from the room.

"Better so," said Miss Halcombe, when the door had closed—"better so, for you and for her."

I waited a moment before I could speak—it was hard to lose her, without a parting word or a parting look. I controlled myself 我—I tried to take leave of Miss Halcombe in fitting terms; but all the fare‧well 告别 words I would fain have spoken dwindled 缩小 to one sentence.

"Have I deserved that you should write to me?" was all I could say.

"You have nobly 高尚的 deserved everything that I can do for you, as long as we both live. Whatever the end is you shall know it."

"And if I can ever be of help again, at any future time, long after the memory of my presumption 假定 and my folly 蠢事 is forgotten . . ."

I could add no more. My voice faltered 衰退, my eyes moistened in spite 恶意 of me.

She caught me by both hands—she pressed them with the strong, steady grasp 把握 of a man—her dark eyes glittered 闪光—her brown complex‧ion 肤色 flushed 红晕 deep—the force and energy 能源 of her face glowed 辉光 and grew beautiful 美丽 with the pure inner 里面的 light of her generosity 慷慨 and her pity 怜悯.

"I will trust you—if ever the time comes I will trust you as my friend and her friend, as my brother and her brother." She stopped, drew me nearer to her—the fear‧less 害怕‧少, noble 高尚的 creature—touched my fore‧head 前额, sister-like, with her lips, and called me by my Christian name. "God bless 祝福 you, Walter!" she said. "Wait here alone and compose your‧self 你自己—I had better not stay for both our sakes 缘故—I had better see you go from the balcony 阳台 upstairs 楼上."

She left the room. I turned away towards the window, where nothing faced me but the lonely 3 autumn 秋 landscape 景观—I turned away to master myself 我, before I too left the room in my turn, and left it for ever.

A minute passed—it could hardly have been more—when I heard the door open again softly, and the rustling 沙沙 of a woman's dress on the carpet 地毯 moved towards me. My heart beat violently 猛烈 as I turned round. Miss Fairlie was approaching me from the farther end of the room.

She stopped and hesitated when our eyes met, and when she saw that we were alone. Then, with that courage 勇气 which women lose so often in the small emergency 急, and so seldom 很少 in the great, she came on nearer to me, strangely pale and strangely quiet, drawing one hand after her along the table by which she walked, and holding something at her side in the other, which was hidden hide by the folds 折叠 of her dress.

"I only went into the drawing-room," she said, "to look for this. It may remind you of your visit here, and of the friends you leave behind you. You told me I had improved very much when I did it, and I thought you might like——"

She turned her head away, and offered me a little sketch 草图, drawn through‧out 始终 by her own pencil 铅笔, of the summer-house in which we had first met. The paper trembled in her hand as she held it out to me—trembled in mine as I took it from her.

I was afraid to say what I felt—I only answered, "It shall never leave me—all my life long it shall be the treasure 金银财宝 that I prize 奖赏 most. I am very grateful 3 for it—very grateful to you, for not letting me go away without bidding 出价 you good-bye 再见."

"Oh!" she said innocently 无辜, "how could I let you go, after we have passed so many happy days together!"

"Those days may never return, Miss Fairlie—my way of life and yours are very far apart. But if a time should come, when the devotion 忠诚 of my whole heart and soul and strength will give you a moment's happiness 幸福, or spare 节省；多余的；备用件 you a moment's sorrow 悲痛, will you try to remember the poor drawing-master who has taught you? Miss Halcombe has promised to trust me—will you promise too?"

The fare‧well 告别 sadness 悲 in the kind blue eyes shone 发光:shine dimly 暗淡 through her gathering tears.

"I promise it," she said in broken break tones 音. "Oh, don't look at me like that! I promise it with all my heart."

I ventured 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 a little nearer to her, and held out my hand.

"You have many friends who love you, Miss Fairlie. Your happy future is the dear object of many hopes. May I say, at parting, that it is the dear object of my hopes too?"

The tears flowed fast down her cheeks 脸颊. She rested one trembling hand on the table to steady her‧self 她自己 while she gave me the other. I took it in mine—I held it fast. My head drooped over it, my tears fell on it, my lips pressed it—not in love; oh, not in love, at that last moment, but in the agony 痛苦 and the self-abandonment 放弃 of despair 绝望.

"For God's sake, leave me!" she said faintly.

The confession 承认 of her heart's secret burst from her in those pleading 求情 words. I had no right to hear them, no right to answer them—they were the words that banished 放逐 me, in the name of her sacred 神圣的 weakness 弱点, from the room. It was all over. I dropped her hand, I said no more. The blinding tears shut her out from my eyes, and I dashed 短跑 them away to look at her for the last time. One look as she sank into a chair, as her arms fell on the table, as her fair head dropped on them wearily 厌倦. One fare‧well 告别 look, and the door had closed upon her—the great gulf 海湾 of separation 分离 had opened between us—the image 图片 of Laura Fairlie was a memory of the past already.

The End of Hartright's Narrative.

THE STORY CONTINUED BY VINCENT GILMORE

(of Chancery Lane, Solicitor)

I

I write these lines at the request of my friend, Mr. Walter Hartright. They are intended to convey 传达 a description of certain events which seriously affected 影响 Miss Fairlie's interests, and which took place after the period of Mr. Hartright's departure 离开 from Limmeridge House.

There is no need for me to say whether my own opinion does or does not sanction 制裁 the disclosure 泄露 of the remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的 family story, of which my narrative 叙述 forms an important component 零件 part. Mr. Hartright has taken that responsibility 责任 on himself, and circumstances 环境 yet to be related will show that he has amply 功放 earned the right to do so, if he chooses to exercise it. The plan he has adopted for presenting the story to others, in the most truthful 真实 and most vivid 生动 manner, requires that it should be told, at each successive 连续 stage in the march 行军；三月 of events, by the persons who were directly concerned in those events at the time of their occurrence 发生. My appearance here, as narrator 叙述者, is the necessary consequence 后果 of this arrangement 安排. I was present during the sojourn of Sir Percival Glyde in Cumberland, and was personally 亲自 concerned in one important result of his short residence 住宅 under Mr. Fairlie's roof. It is my duty, therefore, to add these new links 链接 to the chain of events, and to take up the chain itself 本身 at the point where, for the present only Mr. Hartright has dropped it.

I arrived at Limmeridge House on Friday the second of November.

My object was to remain at Mr. Fairlie's until the arrival 到达 of Sir Percival Glyde. If that event led to the appointment 约定 of any given day for Sir Percival's union with Miss Fairlie, I was to take the necessary instructions 指令 back with me to London, and to occupy 占据 myself 我 in drawing the lady's marriage-settlement 沉降.

On the Friday I was not favoured by Mr. Fairlie with an interview 访问. He had been, or had fancied himself to be, an invalid 无效 for years past, and he was not well enough to receive me. Miss Halcombe was the first member of the family whom 5 I saw. She met me at the house door, and introduced me to Mr. Hartright, who had been staying at Limmeridge for some time past.

I did not see Miss Fairlie until later in the day, at dinner-time. She was not looking well, and I was sorry to observe it. She is a sweet lovable girl, as amiable 可亲 and attentive 注意的 to every one about her as her excellent mother used to be—though, personally 亲自 speaking, she takes after her father. Mrs. Fairlie had dark eyes and hair, and her elder 年长的 daughter, Miss Halcombe, strongly reminds me of her. Miss Fairlie played to us in the evening—not so well as usual, I thought. We had a rubber 橡胶 at whist, a mere profanation, so far as play was concerned, of that noble 高尚的 game. I had been favourably impressed 给…留下深刻印象；使钦佩 by Mr. Hartright on our first introduction 介绍 to one another, but I soon discovered that he was not free from the social failings incidental 附带的 to his age. There are three things that none of the young men of the present generation 代 can do. They can't sit over their wine, they can't play at whist, and they can't pay a lady a compliment 赞扬. Mr. Hartright was no exception to the general rule. Otherwise, even in those early days and on that short acquaintance 熟人, he struck me as being a modest 谦虚的 and gentleman‧like 先生‧喜欢；象 young man.

So the Friday passed. I say nothing about the more serious matters which engaged 从事 my attention on that day—the anonymous 匿名 letter to Miss Fairlie, the measures I thought it right to adopt when the matter was mentioned to me, and the conviction 定罪 I entertained that every possible explanation 说明 of the circumstances 环境 would be readily afforded by Sir Percival Glyde, having all been fully 充分 noticed, as I understand, in the narrative 叙述 which precedes 优于 this.

On the Saturday Mr. Hartright had left before I got down to breakfast. Miss Fairlie kept her room all day, and Miss Halcombe appeared to me to be out of spirits. The house was not what it used to be in the time of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Fairlie. I took a walk by myself 我 in the fore‧noon 前面‧正午, and looked about at some of the places which I first saw when I was staying at Limmeridge to trans‧act 反式‧行动；起作用 family business, more than thirty 三十 years since. They were not what they used to be either.

At two o' clock 钟 Mr. Fairlie sent to say he was well enough to see me. He had not altered, at any rate, since I first knew him. His talk was to the same purpose as usual—all about himself and his ailments 病痛, his wonderful 精彩 coins 硬币, and his match‧less 比赛；火柴‧少 Rembrandt etchings 蚀刻. The moment I tried to speak of the business that had brought me to his house, he shut his eyes and said I " upset 打翻" him. I persisted 坚持 in upsetting 打翻 him by returning again and again to the subject. All I could ascertain 探明 was that he looked on his niece 外甥女's marriage as a settled thing, that her father had sanctioned 制裁 it, that he sanctioned 制裁 it himself, that it was a desirable 合意 marriage, and that he should be personally 亲自 rejoiced when the worry of it was over. As to the settlements 沉降, if I would consult 咨询；请教；查阅 his niece, and after‧ward 之后 dive 潜水 as deeply as I pleased into my own knowledge of the family affairs, and get everything ready, and limit his share in the business, as guardian 监护人, to saying Yes, at the right moment—why, of course he would meet my views, and everybody else's views, with infinite 无穷 pleasure. In the mean‧time 其时, there I saw him, a help‧less 无助 sufferer, con‧fine 局限 to his room. Did I think he looked as if he wanted teasing 逗? No. Then why tease 逗 him?

I might, perhaps, have been a little astonished 使惊讶 at this extraordinary absence 缺席 of all self-assertion 断言 on Mr. Fairlie's part, in the character of guardian 监护人, if my knowledge of the family affairs had not been sufficient 足够 to remind me that he was a single man, and that he had nothing more than a life-interest in the Limmeridge property. As matters stood, therefore, I was neither surprised nor disappointed at the result of the interview 访问. Mr. Fairlie had simply justified my expectations 期望—and there was an end of it.

Sunday was a dull 钝的；没兴趣 day, out of doors and in. A letter arrived for me from Sir Percival Glyde's solicitor 律师, acknowledging 确认 the receipt 收据 of my copy of the anonymous 匿名 letter and my accompanying 陪 statement 声明 of the case. Miss Fairlie joined us in the afternoon, looking pale and depressed 压抑, and altogether 全部地 unlike 不像 her‧self 她自己. I had some talk with her, and ventured on a delicate 微妙的；纤弱的 allusion 典故 to Sir Percival. She listened and said nothing. All other subjects she pursued 追求 willingly 甘心, but this subject she allowed to drop. I began to doubt whether she might not be repenting of her engagement 订婚—just as young ladies often do, when repentance comes too late.

On Monday Sir Percival Glyde arrived.

I found him to be a most prepossessing man, so far as manners and appearance were concerned. He looked rather older than I had expected, his head being bald 秃 over the fore‧head 前额, and his face some‧what 有些 marked and worn, but his movements 运动 were as active and his spirits as high as a young man's. His meeting with Miss Halcombe was delightfully 愉快 hearty 爽朗 and unaffected 未受影响, and his reception 招待会 of me, upon my being presented to him, was so easy and pleasant that we got on together like old friends. Miss Fairlie was not with us when he arrived, but she entered the room about ten 十 minutes after‧ward 之后. Sir Percival rose and paid his compliments 赞扬 with perfect grace 优雅；惠赐. His evident 明显 concern on seeing the change for the worse in the young lady's looks was expressed with a mixture 混合 of tenderness 压痛 and respect, with an unassuming delicacy 美味 of tone 音, voice, and manner, which did equal credit 信用 to his good breeding 养育；繁殖 and his good sense. I was rather surprised, under these circumstances 环境, to see that Miss Fairlie continued to be con‧strain 压抑 and uneasy 不安 in his presence, and that she took the first opportunity of leaving the room again. Sir Percival neither noticed the restraint 克制 in her reception 招待会 of him, nor her sudden withdrawal 退出 from our society. He had not obtruded his attentions on her while she was present, and he did not embarrass 阻碍 Miss Halcombe by any allusion 典故 to her departure 离开 when she was gone. His tact and taste were never at fault 缺点 on this or on any other occasion while I was in his company at Limmeridge House.

As soon as Miss Fairlie had left the room he spared 节省；多余的；备用件 us all embarrassment 困窘 on the subject of the anonymous 匿名 letter, by adverting 广告 to it of his own accord. He had stopped in London on his way from Hampshire, had seen his solicitor 律师, had read the documents 文件 forwarded by me, and had travelled on to Cumberland, anxious 焦急的 to satisfy our minds by the speediest and the fullest explanation 说明 that words could convey 传达. On hearing him express himself to this effect, I offered him the original 原版的 letter, which I had kept for his inspection 检查. He thanked me, and declined 下降 to look at it, saying that he had seen the copy, and that he was quite willing to leave the original 原版的 in our hands.

The statement 声明 itself 本身, on which he immediately entered, was as simple and satisfactory as I had all along anticipated 预期 it would be.

Mrs. Catherick, he informed us, had in past years laid him under some obligations 义务；责任；职责 for faithful 可信 services rendered 给予 to his family connections and to himself. She had been doubly unfortunate 不幸的 in being married to a husband who had deserted her, and in having an only child whose 5 mental 心理 faculties 学院 had been in a disturbed 打扰 condition from a very early age. Although her marriage had removed 去掉 her to a part of Hampshire far distant 遥远的 from the neighbourhood in which Sir Percival's property was situated 位于, he had taken care not to lose sight of her—his friendly feeling towards the poor woman, in consideration 考虑 of her past services, having been greatly strengthened 加强 by his admiration 钦佩 of the patience 耐心 and courage 勇气 with which she supported her calamities. In course of time the symptoms 症状 of mental 心理 affliction in her unhappy 不快乐 daughter increased to such a serious extent, as to make it a matter of necessity to place her under proper medical care. Mrs. Catherick her‧self 她自己 recognised this necessity, but she also felt the prejudice 成见 common to persons occupying 占据 her respect‧able 可敬 station, against allowing her child to be admitted, as a pauper, into a public Asylum. Sir Percival had respected this prejudice, as he respected honest 诚实的 independence 独立 of feeling in any rank 排列 of life, and had resolved 解决 to mark his grateful sense of Mrs. Catherick's early attachment 附件 to the interests of himself and his family, by defraying the expense of her daughter's maintenance 保养 in a trust‧worthy 可靠 private Asylum. To her mother's regret 后悔, and to his own regret, the unfortunate 不幸的 creature had discovered the share which circumstances 环境 had induced 促使 him to take in placing her under restraint 克制, and had conceived 构想 the most intense 强烈的，极度的 hatred 仇恨 and distrust 怀疑 of him in consequence 后果. To that hatred 3 and distrust 怀疑—which had expressed itself 本身 in various ways in the Asylum—the anonymous 匿名 letter, written after her escape, was plainly attributable 归属. If Miss Halcombe's or Mr. Gilmore's recollection 回忆 of the document 文件 did not confirm 确认 that view, or if they wished for any additional 额外 particulars about the Asylum (the address of which he mentioned, as well as the names and addresses of the two doctors on whose certificates 证书 the patient was admitted), he was ready to answer any question and to clear up any uncertainty 不确定. He had done his duty to the unhappy 不快乐 young woman, by instructing 指导 his solicitor 律师 to spare 节省；多余的；备用件 no expense in tracing 跟踪 her, and in restoring her once more to medical care, and he was now only anxious 3 to do his duty towards Miss Fairlie and towards her family, in the same plain, straight‧forward 直截了当 way.

I was the first to speak in answer to this appeal 上诉. My own course was plain to me. It is the great beauty of the Law that it can dispute 争议 any human statement 声明, made under any circumstances 环境, and reduced to any form. If I had felt professionally 专业 called upon to set up a case against Sir Percival Glyde, on the strength of his own explanation 说明, I could have done so beyond all doubt. But my duty did not lie in this direction—my function 功能 was of the purely judicial 司法 kind. I was to weigh 称重 the explanation 说明 we had just heard, to allow all due force to the high reputation 名气 of the gentleman who offered it, and to decide honestly 诚实的 whether the probabilities 可能性, on Sir Percival's own showing, were plainly with him, or plainly against him. My own conviction 定罪 was that they were plainly with him, and I accordingly 于是 declared that his explanation 说明 was, to my mind, unquestionably a satisfactory one.

Miss Halcombe, after looking at me very earnestly, said a few words, on her side, to the same effect—with a certain hesitation 犹豫 of manner, however, which the circumstances 环境 did not seem to me to war‧rant 保证. I am unable 无法 to say, positively 积极, whether Sir Percival noticed this or not. My opinion is that he did, seeing that he pointedly resumed 恢复 the subject, although he might now, with all propriety, have allowed it to drop.

"If my plain statement 声明 of facts had only been addressed to Mr. Gilmore," he said, "I should consider any further reference to this unhappy 不快乐 matter as unnecessary 不必要. I may fairly expect Mr. Gilmore, as a gentleman, to believe me on my word, and when he has done me that justice, all discussion of the subject between us has come to an end. But my position with a lady is not the same. I owe 欠…债 to her—what I would concede 承认 to no man alive 活的；有生命的—a proof 证明 of the truth of my assertion 断言. You cannot ask for that proof, Miss Halcombe, and it is therefore my duty to you, and still more to Miss Fairlie, to offer it. May I beg that you will write at once to the mother of this unfortunate 不幸的 woman—to Mrs. Catherick—to ask for her testimony 见证 in support of the explanation 说明 which I have just offered to you."

I saw Miss Halcombe change colour, and look a little uneasy 不安. Sir Percival's suggestion 建议, politely 有礼貌的 as it was expressed, appeared to her, as it appeared to me, to point very delicately at the hesitation 犹豫 which her manner had betrayed 背叛 a moment or two since.

"I hope, Sir Percival, you don't do me the injustice 不公正 to suppose that I distrust 怀疑 you," she said quickly.

"Certainly not, Miss Halcombe. I make my proposal purely as an act of attention to you. Will you excuse my obstinacy if I still venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to press it?"

He walked to the writing-table as he spoke, drew a chair to it, and opened the paper case.

"Let me beg you to write the note," he said, "as a favour to me. It need not occupy 占据 you more than a few minutes. You have only to ask Mrs. Catherick two questions. First, if her daughter was placed in the Asylum with her knowledge and approval 批准；同意；赞成. Secondly, if the share I took in the matter was such as to merit 值得 the expression of her gratitude 感谢 towards myself 我? Mr. Gilmore's mind is at ease 轻松 on this unpleasant 不愉快 subject, and your mind is at ease—pray set my mind at ease also by writing the note."

"You oblige 责成 me to grant 发放 your request, Sir Percival, when I would much rather refuse it."

With those words Miss Halcombe rose from her place and went to the writing-table. Sir Percival thanked her, handed her a pen 笔, and then walked away towards the fire‧place 壁炉. Miss Fairlie's little Italian greyhound was lying on the rug 小块地毯. He held out his hand, and called to the dog good-humouredly.

"Come, Nina," he said, "we remember each other, don't we?"

The little beast 野兽, cowardly and cross-grained 谷物, as pet 宠物-dogs usually are, looked up at him sharply, shrank away from his outstretched hand, whined 抱怨, shivered 发抖, and hid hide itself 本身 under a sofa 沙发. It was scarcely 缺乏的 possible that he could have been put out by such a trifle 琐事 as a dog's reception 招待会 of him, but I observed, nevertheless 虽然, that he walked away towards the window very suddenly. Perhaps his temper 性情 is irritable 急躁 at times. If so, I can sympathise with him. My temper is irritable 急躁 at times too.

Miss Halcombe was not long in writing the note. When it was done she rose from the writing-table, and handed the open sheet of paper to Sir Percival. He bowed, took it from her, folded it up immediately without looking at the contents, sealed 封上，海豹 it, wrote the address, and handed it back to her in silence. I never saw anything more gracefully 优美 and more becomingly done in my life.

"You insist 咬定 on my posting this letter, Sir Percival?" said Miss Halcombe.

"I beg you will post it," he answered. "And now that it is written and sealed up, allow me to ask one or two last questions about the unhappy 不快乐 woman to whom it refers. I have read the communication 通讯 which Mr. Gilmore kindly addressed to my solicitor 律师, describing the circumstances 环境 under which the writer of the anonymous 匿名 letter was identified 鉴定. But there are certain points to which that statement 声明 does not refer. Did Anne Catherick see Miss Fairlie?"

"Certainly not," replied Miss Halcombe.

"Did she see you?"

"No."

"She saw nobody from the house then, except a certain Mr. Hartright, who accidentally 偶然 met with her in the church‧yard 墓地 here?"

"Nobody else."

"Mr. Hartright was employed at Limmeridge as a drawing-master, I believe? Is he a member of one of the Water-Colour Societies?"

"I believe he is," answered Miss Halcombe.

He paused for a moment, as if he was thinking over the last answer, and then added—

"Did you find out where Anne Catherick was living, when she was in this neighbourhood?"

"Yes. At a farm on the moor 泊, called Todd's Corner."

"It is a duty we all owe 欠…债 to the poor creature her‧self 她自己 to trace 跟踪 her," continued Sir Percival. "She may have said something at Todd's Corner which may help us to find her. I will go there and make inquiries on the chance. In the mean‧time 其时, as I cannot prevail 战胜 on myself 我 to discuss this painful 痛苦 subject with Miss Fairlie, may I beg, Miss Halcombe, that you will kindly under‧take 承担 to give her the necessary explanation 说明, deferring 延缓 it of course until you have received the reply to that note."

Miss Halcombe promised to comply 执行 with his request. He thanked her, nodded 点头 pleasantly, and left us, to go and establish 建立 himself in his own room. As he opened the door the cross-grained greyhound poked 戳 out her sharp muzzle from under the sofa 沙发, and barked 吠 and snapped 卡 at him.

"A good morning's work, Miss Halcombe," I said, as soon as we were alone. "Here is an anxious day well ended already."

"Yes," she answered; "no doubt. I am very glad your mind is satisfied."

"My mind! Surely, with that note in your hand, your mind is at ease too?"

"Oh yes—how can it be otherwise? I know the thing could not be," she went on, speaking more to her‧self 她自己 than to me; "but I almost wish Walter Hartright had stayed here long enough to be present at the explanation 说明, and to hear the proposal to me to write this note."

I was a little surprised—perhaps a little piqued also—by these last words.

"Events, it is true, connected Mr. Hartright very remark‧able 非凡的；奇异的；引人注目的 with the affair of the letter," I said; "and I readily admit that he conducted 进行 himself, all things considered, with great delicacy 美味 and discretion 慎重. But I am quite at a loss to understand what useful 有用 influence his presence could have exercised in relation to the effect of Sir Percival's statement 声明 on your mind or mine."

"It was only a fancy 想像," she said absently 缺席的. "There is no need to discuss it, Mr. Gilmore. Your experience ought to be, and is, the best guide I can desire."

I did not altogether 全部地 like her thrusting 推力 the whole responsibility 责任, in this marked manner, on my shoulders. If Mr. Fairlie had done it, I should not have been surprised. But resolute, clear-minded Miss Halcombe was the very last person in the world whom I should have expected to find shrinking 收缩 from the expression of an opinion of her own.

"If any doubts still trouble you," I said, "why not mention them to me at once? Tell me plainly, have you any reason to distrust 怀疑 Sir Percival Glyde?"

"None whatever."

"Do you see anything improbable 难以置信, or contradictory 矛盾, in his explanation 说明?"

"How can I say I do, after the proof 3 he has offered me of the truth of it? Can there be better testimony 见证 in his favour, Mr. Gilmore, than the testimony 见证 of the woman's mother?"

"None better. If the answer to your note of inquiry 3 proves to be satisfactory, I for one cannot see what more any friend of Sir Percival's can possibly expect from him."

"Then we will post the note," she said, rising to leave the room, "and dismiss 解雇 all further reference to the subject until the answer arrives. Don't attach 连接 any weight to my hesitation 犹豫. I can give no better reason for it than that I have been over-anxious about Laura lately 近来—and anxiety, Mr. Gilmore, unsettles 搞糟 the strongest of us."

She left me abruptly 突然, her naturally 自然地 firm voice faltering 衰退 as she spoke those last words. A sensitive, vehement, passionate 多情 nature—a woman of ten 十 thou‧sand 千 in these trivial 不重要的, superficial 浅 times. I had known her from her earliest years—I had seen her tested, as she grew up, in more than one trying family crisis 危机, and my long experience made me attach 连接 an importance to her hesitation 4 under the circumstances 环境 here detailed, which I should certainly not have felt in the case of another woman. I could see no cause for any uneasiness or any doubt, but she had made me a little uneasy 不安, and a little doubtful 疑, nevertheless 虽然. In my youth, I should have chafed and fretted 烦恼 under the irritation 刺激 of my own unreasonable 不合理 state of mind. In my age, I knew better, and went out philosophically 哲学上 to walk it off.

II

We all met again at dinner-time.

Sir Percival was in such boisterous high spirits that I hardly recognised him as the same man whose quiet tact, refinement 精致, and good sense had impressed me so strongly at the interview 访问 of the morning. The only trace 跟踪 of his former self that I could detect 发现，察觉，看出 reappeared 再现, every now and then, in his manner towards Miss Fairlie. A look or a word from her suspended 暂停 his loudest 响亮的 laugh, checked his gayest 快乐的 flow of talk, and rendered 给予 him all attention to her, and to no one else at table, in an instant. Although he never openly tried to draw her into the conversation, he never lost the slightest chance she gave him of letting her drift 漂移 into it by accident 意外事件, and of saying the words to her, under those favourable circumstances 环境, which a man with less tact and delicacy 美味 would have pointedly addressed to her the moment they occurred 发生 to him. Rather to my surprise, Miss Fairlie appeared to be sensible 明智 of his attentions without being moved by them. She was a little confused from time to time when he looked at her, or spoke to her; but she never warmed towards him. Rank 排列, for‧tune 命运, good breeding, good looks, the respect of a gentleman, and the devotion 忠诚 of a lover were all humbly 谦逊的 placed at her feet, and, so far as appearances went, were all offered in vain 徒劳的.

On the next day, the Tuesday, Sir Percival went in the morning (taking one of the servants with him as a guide) to Todd's Corner. His inquiries, as I after‧ward 之后 heard, led to no results. On his return he had an interview 访问 with Mr. Fairlie, and in the afternoon he and Miss Halcombe rode ride out together. Nothing else happened worthy 值得 of record. The evening passed as usual. There was no change in Sir Percival, and no change in Miss Fairlie.

The Wednesday's post brought with it an event—the reply from Mrs. Catherick. I took a copy of the document 文件, which I have preserved, and which I may as well present in this place. It ran as follows—

"MADAM,—I beg to acknowledge 确认 the receipt 收据 of your letter, inquiring 打听 whether my daughter, Anne, was placed under medical superintendence with my knowledge and approval 批准；同意；赞成, and whether the share taken in the matter by Sir Percival Glyde was such as to merit 值得 the expression of my gratitude 感谢 towards that gentleman. Be pleased to accept my answer in the affirmative 肯定 to both those questions, and believe me to remain, your obedient 顺从的 servant,

"JANE ANNE CATHERICK."

Short, sharp, and to the point; in form rather a business-like letter for a woman to write—in substance 物质 as plain a confirmation 确认 as could be desired of Sir Percival Glyde's statement 声明. This was my opinion, and with certain minor 次要 reservations 保留, Miss Halcombe's opinion also. Sir Percival, when the letter was shown to him, did not appear to be struck by the sharp, short tone 音 of it. He told us that Mrs. Catherick was a woman of few words, a clear-headed, straight‧forward 直截了当, unimaginative person, who wrote briefly 短时间地 and plainly, just as she spoke.

The next duty to be accomplished, now that the answer had been received, was to acquaint 认识 Miss Fairlie with Sir Percival's explanation 说明. Miss Halcombe had undertaken to do this, and had left the room to go to her sister, when she suddenly returned again, and sat down by the easy-chair in which I was reading the newspaper. Sir Percival had gone out a minute before to look at the stables 稳定, and no one was in the room but ourselves 我们自己.

"I suppose we have really and truly 真 done all we can?" she said, turning and twisting 扭成一束 Mrs. Catherick's letter in her hand.

"If we are friends of Sir Percival's, who know him and trust him, we have done all, and more than all, that is necessary," I answered, a little annoyed 打扰 by this return of her hesitation 5. "But if we are enemies who suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯 him——"

"That alter‧native 替代 is not even to be thought of," she interposed. "We are Sir Percival's friends, and if generosity 慷慨 and forbearance can add to our regard for him, we ought to be Sir Percival's admirers 爱慕者 as well. You know that he saw Mr. Fairlie yesterday, and that he after‧ward 之后 went out with me."

"Yes. I saw you riding away together."

"We began the ride by talking about Anne Catherick, and about the singular 单数 manner in which Mr. Hartright met with her. But we soon dropped that subject, and Sir Percival spoke next, in the most unselfish terms, of his engagement 订婚 with Laura. He said he had observed that she was out of spirits, and he was willing, if not informed to the contrary 相反, to attribute 特性；特质；属性 to that cause the alteration 改造 in her manner towards him during his present visit. If, however, there was any more serious reason for the change, he would entreat that no constraint 约束 might be placed on her inclinations 倾角 either by Mr. Fairlie or by me. All he asked, in that case, was that she would recall 召回 to mind, for the last time, what the circumstances 环境 were under which the engagement 订婚 between them was made, and what his conduct 进行 had been from the beginning of the court‧ship 法院‧船 to the present time. If, after due reflection 反映 on those two subjects, she seriously desired that he should with‧draw 撤回 his pretensions to the honour of becoming her husband—and if she would tell him so plainly with her own lips—he would sacrifice 牺牲 himself by leaving her perfectly free to withdraw from the engagement 订婚."

"No man could say more than that, Miss Halcombe. As to my experience, few men in his situation would have said as much."

She paused after I had spoken those words, and looked at me with a singular 单数 expression of perplexity and distress 苦难.

"I accuse 指责 nobody, and I suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯 nothing," she broke break out abruptly 突然. "But I cannot and will not accept the responsibility 责任 of persuading 说服 Laura to this marriage."

"That is exactly the course which Sir Percival Glyde has himself requested you to take," I replied in astonishment 惊愕. "He has begged you not to force her inclinations 倾角."

"And he indirectly 间接 obliges 责成 me to force them, if I give her his message."

"How can that possibly be?"

" Consult 咨询；请教；查阅 your own knowledge of Laura, Mr. Gilmore. If I tell her to reflect on the circumstances 环境 of her engagement 订婚, I at once appeal 上诉 to two of the strongest feelings in her nature—to her love for her father's memory, and to her strict 严格的 regard for truth. You know that she never broke a promise in her life—you know that she entered on this engagement 订婚 at the beginning of her father's fatal 致命 illness 疾病, and that he spoke hopefully 希望 and happily of her marriage to Sir Percival Glyde on his death‧bed 死亡‧床."

I own that I was a little shocked at this view of the case.

"Surely," I said, "you don't mean to infer 推断 that when Sir Percival spoke to you yesterday he speculated 推测 on such a result as you have just mentioned?"

Her frank 坦率, fear‧less 害怕‧少 face answered for her before she spoke.

"Do you think I would remain an instant in the company of any man whom I suspected of such baseness as that?" she asked angrily.

I liked to feel her hearty 爽朗 indignation 愤慨 flash 使闪光 out on me in that way. We see so much malice and so little indignation 愤慨 in my profession.

"In that case," I said, "excuse me if I tell you, in our legal 法律 phrase 短语, that you are travelling out of the record. Whatever the consequences 后果 may be, Sir Percival has a right to expect that your sister should carefully 小心 consider her engagement 订婚 from every reasonable point of view before she claims her release 发布 from it. If that unlucky 不幸的 letter has prejudiced 成见 her against him, go at once, and tell her that he has cleared himself in your eyes and in mine. What objection 3 can she urge against him after that? What excuse can she possibly have for changing her mind about a man whom she had virtually 几乎；实际上；实质上 accepted for her husband more than two years ago?"

"In the eyes of law and reason, Mr. Gilmore, no excuse, I dare‧say 敢‧说. If she still hesitates 犹豫, and if I still hesitate 犹豫, you must attribute 特性；特质；属性 our strange conduct 进行, if you like, to cap‧rice 盖‧稻 in both cases, and we must bear the imputation as well as we can."

With those words she suddenly rose and left me. When a sensible 明智 woman has a serious question put to her, and evades 逃避 it by a flippant answer, it is a sure sign, in ninety 九十-nine 九 cases out of a hundred 百, that she has something to conceal 隐藏. I returned to the perusal of the newspaper, strongly suspecting 怀疑；嫌疑犯 that Miss Halcombe and Miss Fairlie had a secret between them which they were keeping from Sir Percival, and keeping from me. I thought this hard on both of us, especially on Sir Percival.

My doubts—or to speak more correctly, my convictions 定罪—were confirmed 确认 by Miss Halcombe's language and manner when I saw her again later in the day. She was suspiciously brief 简要 and reserved in telling me the result of her interview 访问 with her sister. Miss Fairlie, it appeared, had listened quietly while the affair of the letter was placed before her in the right point of view, but when Miss Halcombe next proceeded 继续 to say that the object of Sir Percival's visit at Limmeridge was to prevail 战胜 on her to let a day be fixed for the marriage she checked all further reference to the subject by begging 乞讨 for time. If Sir Percival would consent 同意 to spare 3 her for the present, she would under‧take 承担 to give him his final 最后 answer before the end of the year. She pleaded 求情 for this delay 延迟 with such anxiety and agitation 搅动, that Miss Halcombe had promised to use her influence, if necessary, to obtain 获得 it, and there, at Miss Fairlie's earnest 热心的 entreaty, all further discussion of the marriage question had ended.

The purely temporary 临时 arrangement 安排 thus proposed might have been convenient 方便的 enough to the young lady, but it proved some‧what 有些 embarrassing 阻碍 to the writer of these lines. That morning's post had brought a letter from my partner 伙伴, which obliged 责成 me to return to town the next day by the afternoon train. It was extremely probable that I should find no second opportunity of presenting myself 我 at Limmeridge House during the remainder 余 of the year. In that case, supposing Miss Fairlie ultimately 最终 decided on holding to her engagement 订婚, my necessary personal 个人 communication 通讯 with her, before I drew her settlement 沉降, would become something like a down‧right 彻头彻尾 impossibility 不可能的事, and we should be obliged 责成 to commit 承诺 to writing questions which ought always to be discussed on both sides by word of mouth. I said nothing about this difficulty until Sir Percival had been consulted on the subject of the desired delay 延迟. He was too gallant a gentleman not to grant 发放 the request immediately. When Miss Halcombe informed me of this I told her that I must absolutely speak to her sister before I left Limmeridge, and it was, therefore, arranged that I should see Miss Fairlie in her own sitting-room the next morning. She did not come down to dinner, or join us in the evening. Indisposition was the excuse, and I thought Sir Percival looked, as well he might, a little annoyed when he heard of it.

The next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, I went up to Miss Fairlie's sitting-room. The poor girl looked so pale and sad, and came forward to welcome me so readily and prettily, that the resolution 解析度 to lecture 讲座，课 her on her cap‧rice 盖‧稻 and indecision, which I had been forming all the way upstairs 楼上, failed me on the spot. I led her back to the chair from which she had risen, and placed myself 我 opposite to her. Her cross-grained pet 宠物 greyhound was in the room, and I fully 充分 expected a barking 吠 and snapping 卡 reception 招待会. Strange to say, the whimsical little brute 畜生 falsified my expectations 期望 by jumping into my lap 膝部 and poking 戳 its sharp muzzle familiarly into my hand the moment I sat down.

"You used often to sit on my knee when you were a child, my dear," I said, "and now your little dog seems determined to succeed you in the vacant 空的 throne 王座. Is that pretty drawing your doing?"

I pointed to a little album 相册;唱片 which lay on the table by her side and which she had evidently 明显地 been looking over when I came in. The page that lay open had a small water-colour landscape 景观 very neatly 整洁的 mounted on it. This was the drawing which had suggested my question—an idle 无意义的 question enough—but how could I begin to talk of business to her the moment I opened my lips?

"No," she said, looking away from the drawing rather confusedly, "it is not my doing."

Her fingers had a rest‧less 不安 habit 习惯, which I remembered in her as a child, of always playing with the first thing that came to hand when‧ever 随时 any one was talking to her. On this occasion they wandered 漫步 to the album 相册;唱片, and toyed 玩具 absently about the margin 差额 of the little water-colour drawing. The expression of melancholy 愁绪 deepened 变深 on her face. She did not look at the drawing, or look at me. Her eyes moved uneasily 不安 from object to object in the room, betraying 背叛 plainly that she suspected what my purpose was in coming to speak to her. Seeing that, I thought it best to get to the purpose with as little delay as possible.

"One of the errands 使命, my dear, which brings me here is to bid 出价 you good-bye 再见," I began. "I must get back to London to-day: and, before I leave, I want to have a word with you on the subject of your own affairs."

"I am very sorry you are going, Mr. Gilmore," she said, looking at me kindly. "It is like the happy old times to have you here.

"I hope I may be able to come back and recall 召回 those pleasant memories once more," I continued; "but as there is some uncertainty 不确定 about the future, I must take my opportunity when I can get it, and speak to you now. I am your old lawyer and your old friend, and I may remind you, I am sure, without offence, of the possibility 可能性 of your marrying Sir Percival Glyde."

She took her hand off the little album 相册;唱片 as suddenly as if it had turned hot and burnt burn her. Her fingers twined 双胞胎之一 together nervously in her lap 膝部, her eyes looked down again at the floor, and an expression of constraint 约束 settled on her face which looked almost like an expression of pain.

"Is it absolutely necessary to speak of my marriage engagement 订婚?" she asked in low tones 音.

"It is necessary to refer to it," I answered, "but not to dwell 住 on it. Let us merely say that you may marry, or that you may not marry. In the first case, I must be prepared, before‧hand 预先, to draw your settlement 沉降, and I ought not to do that without, as a matter of politeness 礼貌, first consulting 咨询；请教；查阅 you. This may be my only chance of hearing what your wishes are. Let us, therefore, suppose the case of your marrying, and let me inform you, in as few words as possible, what your position is now, and what you may make it, if you please, in the future."

I explained to her the object of a marriage-settlement 沉降, and then told her exactly what her prospects 展望 were—in the first place, on her coming of age, and in the second place, on the decease 死亡 of her uncle 叔叔—marking the distinction 区别 between the property in which she had a life-interest only, and the property which was left at her own control. She listened attentively, with the con‧strain 压抑 expression still on her face, and her hands still nervously clasped 钩 together in her lap 膝部.

"And now," I said in conclusion 结论, "tell me if you can think of any condition which, in the case we have supposed, you would wish me to make for you—subject, of course, to your guardian 监护人's approval 批准；同意；赞成, as you are not yet of age."

She moved uneasily 不安 in her chair, then looked in my face on a sudden very earnestly.

"If it does happen," she began faintly, "if I am——"

"If you are married," I added, helping her out.

"Don't let him part me from Marian," she cried, with a sudden out‧break 暴发 of energy 能源. "Oh, Mr. Gilmore, pray make it law that Marian is to live with me!"

Under other circumstances 环境 I might, perhaps, have been amused 使人发笑 at this essentially 基本的 feminine 女人 interpretation 解释 of my question, and of the long explanation 说明 which had preceded 优于 it. But her looks and tones 音, when she spoke, were of a kind to make me more than serious—they distressed 苦难 me. Her words, few as they were, betrayed 背叛 a desperate 殊死 clinging 依偎 to the past which boded ill for the future.

"Your having Marian Halcombe to live with you can easily be settled by private arrangement 安排," I said. "You hardly understood my question, I think. It referred to your own property—to the disposal 处置 of your money. Supposing you were to make a will when you come of age, who would you like the money to go to?"

"Marian has been mother and sister both to me," said the good, affectionate 亲热 girl, her pretty blue eyes glistening 闪亮 while she spoke. "May I leave it to Marian, Mr. Gilmore?"

"Certainly, my love," I answered. "But remember what a large sum 和 it is. Would you like it all to go to Miss Halcombe?"

She hesitated; her colour came and went, and her hand stole back again to the little album 相册;唱片.

"Not all of it," she said. "There is some one else besides Marian——"

She stopped; her colour heightened 变高, and the fingers of the hand that rested upon the album 4 beat gently on the margin 差额 of the drawing, as if her memory had set them going mechanically 机械 with the remembrance 纪念 of a favourite tune 曲调.

"You mean some other member of the family besides Miss Halcombe?" I suggested, seeing her at a loss to proceed 继续.

The heightening 变高 colour spread to her fore‧head 前额 and her neck, and the nervous 4 fingers suddenly clasped 钩 themselves fast round the edge of the book.

"There is some one else," she said, not noticing my last words, though she had evidently 明显地 heard them; "there is some one else who might like a little keep‧sake 保持‧缘故 if—if I might leave it. There would be no harm if I should die first——"

She paused again. The colour that had spread over her cheeks 脸颊 suddenly, as suddenly left them. The hand on the album 5 resigned its hold, trembled a little, and moved the book away from her. She looked at me for an instant—then turned her head aside in the chair. Her handkerchief 手帕 fell to the floor as she changed her position, and she hurriedly hid hide her face from me in her hands.

Sad! To remember her, as I did, the liveliest, happiest child that ever laughed the day through, and to see her now, in the flower of her age and her beauty, so broken and so brought down as this!

In the distress 苦难 that she caused me I forgot forget the years that had passed, and the change they had made in our position towards one another. I moved my chair close to her, and picked up her handkerchief 手帕 from the carpet 地毯, and drew her hands from her face gently. "Don't cry, my love," I said, and dried the tears that were gathering in her eyes with my own hand, as if she had been the little Laura Fairlie of ten 十 long years ago.

It was the best way I could have taken to compose her. She laid her head on my shoulder, and smiled faintly through her tears.

"I am very sorry for forgetting myself 我," she said artlessly. "I have not been well—I have felt sadly weak and nervous 5 lately 近来, and I often cry without reason when I am alone. I am better now—I can answer you as I ought, Mr. Gilmore, I can indeed."

"No, no, my dear," I replied, "we will consider the subject as done with for the present. You have said enough to sanction 制裁 my taking the best possible care of your interests, and we can settle details at another opportunity. Let us have done with business now, and talk of something else."

I led her at once into speaking on other topics 话题. In ten 十 minutes' time she was in better spirits, and I rose to take my leave.

"Come here again," she said earnestly. "I will try to be worthier 值得 of your kind feeling for me and for my interests if you will only come again."

Still clinging 依偎 to the past—that past which I represented to her, in my way, as Miss Halcombe did in hers! It troubled me sorely 疼痛的 to see her looking back, at the beginning of her career, just as I look back at the end of mine.

"If I do come again, I hope I shall find you better," I said; "better and happier. God bless 祝福 you, my dear!"

She only answered by putting up her cheek 脸颊 to me to be kissed. Even lawyers have hearts, and mine ached 疼痛 a little as I took leave of her.

The whole interview 访问 between us had hardly lasted more than half an hour—she had not breathed a word, in my presence, to explain the mystery of her evident 明显 distress 苦难 and dismay 沮丧 at the prospect 展望 of her marriage, and yet she had contrived 图谋 to win me over to her side of the question, I neither knew how nor why. I had entered the room, feeling that Sir Percival Glyde had fair reason to complain 抱怨 of the manner in which she was treating him. I left it, secretly hoping that matters might end in her taking him at his word and claiming her release 发布. A man of my age and experience ought to have known better than to vacillate in this unreasonable 不合理 manner. I can make no excuse for myself 我; I can only tell the truth, and say—so it was.

The hour for my departure 离开 was now drawing near. I sent to Mr. Fairlie to say that I would wait on him to take leave if he liked, but that he must excuse my being rather in a hurry. He sent a message back, written in pencil 铅笔 on a slip of paper: "Kind love and best wishes, dear Gilmore. Hurry of any kind is inexpressibly injurious to me. Pray take care of your‧self 你自己. Good-bye 再见."

Just before I left I saw Miss Halcombe for a moment alone.

"Have you said all you wanted to Laura?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied. "She is very weak and nervous—I am glad she has you to take care of her."

Miss Halcombe's sharp eyes studied my face attentively.

"You are altering 改变 your opinion about Laura," she said. "You are readier to make allowances 津贴；补贴 for her than you were yesterday."

No sensible 明智 man ever engages 从事, unprepared, in a fencing 栅栏 match of words with a woman. I only answered—

"Let me know what happens. I will do nothing till I hear from you."

She still looked hard in my face. "I wish it was all over, and well over, Mr. Gilmore—and so do you." With those words she left me.

Sir Percival most politely insisted 咬定 on seeing me to the carriage 运输 door.

"If you are ever in my neighbourhood," he said, "pray don't forget that I am sincerely 真诚的 anxious to improve our acquaintance 熟人. The tried and trusted old friend of this family will be always a welcome visitor 访问者 in any house of mine."

A really irresistible 不可抗拒 man—courteous, considerate, delightfully 愉快 free from pride 自尊—a gentleman, every inch of him. As I drove away to the station I felt as if I could cheerfully 乐意 do anything to promote 促进 the interests of Sir Percival Glyde—anything in the world, except drawing the marriage settlement 沉降 of his wife.

III

A week passed, after my return to London, without the receipt 收据 of any communication 通讯 from Miss Halcombe.

On the eighth day a letter in her hand‧write 书法 was placed among the other letters on my table.

It announced 宣布 that Sir Percival Glyde had been definitely 无疑 accepted, and that the marriage was to take place, as he had originally 本来 desired, before the end of the year. In all probability 可能性 the ceremony 典礼 would be performed during the last fort‧night 两星期 in December. Miss Fairlie's twenty 二十-first birth‧day 生日 was late in March 行军；三月. She would, therefore, by this arrangement 安排, become Sir Percival's wife about three months before she was of age.

I ought not to have been surprised, I ought not to have been sorry, but I was surprised and sorry, nevertheless 虽然. Some little disappointment 失望, caused by the unsatisfactory 不满意 shortness of Miss Halcombe's letter, mingled 交融 itself 本身 with these feelings, and contributed 有助于 its share towards upsetting my serenity for the day. In six lines my correspondent 通信者 announced 宣布 the proposed marriage—in three more, she told me that Sir Percival had left Cumberland to return to his house in Hampshire, and in two concluding 得出结论 sentences 句子 she informed me, first, that Laura was sadly in want of change and cheerful 快乐 society; secondly, that she had resolved 解决 to try the effect of some such change forth‧with 向前‧和, by taking her sister away with her on a visit to certain old friends in Yorkshire. There the letter ended, without a word to explain what the circumstances 环境 were which had decided Miss Fairlie to accept Sir Percival Glyde in one short week from the time when I had last seen her.

At a later period the cause of this sudden determination 决心 was fully 充分 explained to me. It is not my business to relate it imperfectly 不完善, on hear‧say 听到‧说 evidence 证据. The circumstances 环境 came within the personal 个人 experience of Miss Halcombe, and when her narrative 叙述 succeeds mine, she will describe them in every particular exactly as they happened. In the meantime 4, the plain duty for me to perform—before I, in my turn, lay down my pen 笔 and with‧draw 撤回 from the story—is to relate the one remaining event connected with Miss Fairlie's proposed marriage in which I was concerned, namely, the drawing of the settlement 沉降.

It is impossible to refer intelligibly to this document 文件 without first entering into certain particulars in relation to the bride 新娘's pecuniary affairs. I will try to make my explanation 说明 briefly 短时间地 and plainly, and to keep it free from professional 专业的 obscurities and technicalities. The matter is of the utmost 极 importance. I warn all readers 读者 of these lines that Miss Fairlie's inheritance 遗产 is a very serious part of Miss Fairlie's story, and that Mr. Gilmore's experience, in this particular, must be their experience also, if they wish to understand the narratives 叙述 which are yet to come.

Miss Fairlie's expectations 期望, then, were of a two‧fold 2‧折叠 kind, comprising 包括 her possible inheritance 遗产 of real property, or land, when her uncle 叔叔 died, and her absolute inheritance 遗产 of personal 个人 property, or money, when she came of age.

Let us take the land first.

In the time of Miss Fairlie's paternal 父亲的 grand‧father 祖父 (whom we will call Mr. Fairlie, the elder 年长的) the entailed 意味着 success‧ion 演替 to the Limmeridge estate 房地产 stood thus—

Mr. Fairlie, the elder, died and left three sons, Philip, Frederick, and Arthur. As eldest 最年长 son, Philip succeeded to the estate 房地产. If he died without leaving a son, the property went to the second brother, Frederick; and if Frederick died also without leaving a son, the property went to the third brother, Arthur.

As events turned out, Mr. Philip Fairlie died leaving an only daughter, the Laura of this story, and the estate 房地产, in consequence 后果, went, in course of law, to the second brother, Frederick, a single man. The third brother, Arthur, had died many years before the decease 死亡 of Philip, leaving a son and a daughter. The son, at the age of eighteen 十八, was drowned 淹死 at Oxford. His death left Laura, the daughter of Mr. Philip Fairlie, presumptive heiress to the estate 房地产, with every chance of succeeding to it, in the ordinary course of nature, on her uncle Frederick's death, if the said Frederick died without leaving male 男性的 issue.

Except in the event, then, of Mr. Frederick Fairlie's marrying and leaving an heir 继承者 (the two very last things in the world that he was likely to do), his niece 外甥女, Laura, would have the property on his death, possessing 拥有, it must be remembered, nothing more than a life-interest in it. If she died single, or died child‧less 小孩‧少, the estate 房地产 would revert 还原 to her cousin, Magdalen, the daughter of Mr. Arthur Fairlie. If she married, with a proper settlement 沉降—or, in other words, with the settlement 沉降 I meant to make for her—the income 收入 from the estate 房地产 (a good three thou‧sand 千 a year) would, during her life‧time 一生, be at her own disposal 处置. If she died before her husband, he would naturally 4 expect to be left in the enjoyment 享受 of the income 收入, for his life‧time 一生. If she had a son, that son would be the heir 继承者, to the exclusion 排除 of her cousin Magdalen. Thus, Sir Percival's prospects 展望 in marrying Miss Fairlie (so far as his wife's expectations 期望 from real property were concerned) promised him these two advantages, on Mr. Frederick Fairlie's death: First, the use of three thou‧sand 千 a year (by his wife's permission 3, while she lived, and in his own right, on her death, if he survived 生存 her); and, secondly, the inheritance 遗产 of Limmeridge for his son, if he had one.

So much for the landed property, and for the disposal 处置 of the income 收入 from it, on the occasion of Miss Fairlie's marriage. Thus far, no difficulty or difference of opinion on the lady's settlement 沉降 was at all likely to arise between Sir Percival's lawyer and myself 我.

The personal 个人 estate 房地产, or, in other words, the money to which Miss Fairlie would become entitled 使有资格，允许 on reaching the age of twenty 二十-one years, is the next point to consider.

This part of her inheritance 遗产 was, in itself 本身, a comfort‧able 舒服；自在 little for‧tune 命运. It was derived 派生 under her father's will, and it amounted to the sum 和 of twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds. Besides this, she had a life-interest in ten 十 thou‧sand 千 pounds more, which latter amount was to go, on her decease 死亡, to her aunt 阿姨 Eleanor, her father's only sister. It will greatly assist 帮助；协助；援助 in setting the family affairs before the reader in the clearest possible light, if I stop here for a moment, to explain why the aunt had been kept waiting for her legacy 遗产 until the death of the niece 外甥女.

Mr. Philip Fairlie had lived on excellent terms with his sister Eleanor, as long as she remained a single woman. But when her marriage took place, some‧what 有些 late in life, and when that marriage united her to an Italian gentleman named Fosco, or, rather, to an Italian noble‧man 高尚的‧男人—seeing that he rejoiced in the title of Count—Mr. Fairlie disapproved 不赞成 of her conduct 进行 so strongly that he ceased 停止 to hold any communication 通讯 with her, and even went the length of striking her name out of his will. The other members of the family all thought this serious manifestation 表现 of resentment 怨恨 at his sister's marriage more or less unreasonable 不合理. Count Fosco, though not a rich man, was not a penniless adventurer 冒险活动 either. He had a small but sufficient 足够 income 收入 of his own. He had lived many years in England, and he held an excellent position in society. These recommendations 建议, however, availed 果 nothing with Mr. Fairlie. In many of his opinions he was an Englishman of the old school, and he hated a foreigner simply and solely 独自 because he was a foreigner. The utmost 极 that he could be prevailed 战胜 on to do, in after years—mainly at Miss Fairlie's intercession—was to restore 修复；使复位；使复职 his sister's name to its former place in his will, but to keep her waiting for her legacy 遗产 by giving the income 收入 of the money to his daughter for life, and the money itself 本身, if her aunt 阿姨 died before her, to her cousin Magdalen. Considering the relative ages of the two ladies, the aunt 3's chance, in the ordinary course of nature, of receiving the ten 十 thou‧sand 千 pounds, was thus rendered 给予 doubtful 疑 in the extreme; and Madame Fosco resented 愤恨 her brother's treatment 治疗 of her as unjustly 不公 as usual in such cases, by refusing to see her niece 4, and declining 下降 to believe that Miss Fairlie's intercession had ever been exerted 发挥 to restore 修复；使复位；使复职 her name to Mr. Fairlie's will.

Such was the history of the ten 十 thou‧sand 千 pounds. Here again no difficulty could arise with Sir Percival's legal 法律 adviser 顾问. The income 收入 would be at the wife's disposal 处置, and the principal 主要 would go to her aunt or her cousin on her death.

All preliminary 初步 explanations 说明 being now cleared out of the way, I come at last to the real knot 结 of the case—to the twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds.

This sum 和 was absolutely Miss Fairlie's own on her completing her twenty 二十-first year, and the whole future disposition 性格 of it depended, in the first instance 例, on the conditions I could obtain 获得 for her in her marriage-settlement 沉降. The other clauses 条款 contained in that document 文件 were of a formal kind, and need not be recited 背诵 here. But the clause 条款 relating to the money is too important to be passed over. A few lines will be sufficient 足够 to give the necessary abstract 抽象 of it.

My stipulation in regard to the twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds was simply this: The whole amount was to be settled so as to give the income 收入 to the lady for her life—after‧ward 之后 to Sir Percival for his life—and the principal 主要 to the children of the marriage. In default 默认 of issue, the principal 主要 was to be disposed 部署 of as the lady might by her will direct, for which purpose I reserved to her the right of making a will. The effect of these conditions may be thus summed 和 up. If Lady Glyde died without leaving children, her half-sister Miss Halcombe, and any other relatives or friends whom she might be anxious to benefit 效益, would, on her husband's death, divide among them such shares of her money as she desired them to have. If, on the other hand, she died leaving children, then their interest, naturally 5 and necessarily, superseded 取而代之 all other interests whatsoever 任何. This was the clause 条款—and no one who reads it can fail, I think, to agree with me that it meted out equal justice to all parties.

We shall see how my proposals were met on the husband's side.

At the time when Miss Halcombe's letter reached me I was even more busily occupied 占据 than usual. But I contrived 图谋 to make leisure 闲暇 for the settlement 沉降. I had drawn it, and had sent it for approval 批准；同意；赞成 to Sir Percival's solicitor 律师, in less than a week from the time when Miss Halcombe had informed me of the proposed marriage.

After a lapse 失误 of two days the document 文件 was returned to me, with notes and remarks of the baronet's lawyer. His objections 反对, in general, proved to be of the most trifling 琐事 and technical 技术 kind, until he came to the clause 条款 relating to the twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds. Against this there were double lines drawn in red ink 墨水, and the following note was appended to them—

"Not admissible. The principal 主要 to go to Sir Percival Glyde, in the event of his surviving 生存 Lady Glyde, and there being no issue."

That is to say, not one far‧thing 远‧东西；事件 of the twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds was to go to Miss Halcombe, or to any other relative or friend of Lady Glyde's. The whole sum 和, if she left no children, was to slip into the pockets of her husband.

The answer I wrote to this audacious proposal was as short and sharp as I could make it. "My dear sir. Miss Fairlie's settlement 沉降. I maintain 保持 the clause 条款 to which you object, exactly as it stands. Yours truly 真." The rejoinder came back in a quarter of an hour. "My dear sir. Miss Fairlie's settlement 沉降. I maintain 保持 the red ink 墨水 to which you object, exactly as it stands. Yours truly 真." In the detestable slang 俚语 of the day, we were now both "at a dead‧lock 僵局," and nothing was left for it but to refer to our clients 客户 on either side.

As matters stood, my client 客户—Miss Fairlie not having yet completed her twenty 二十-first year—Mr. Frederick Fairlie, was her guardian 监护人. I wrote by that day's post, and put the case before him exactly as it stood, not only urging every argument 论据 I could think of to induce 促使 him to maintain 保持 the clause 条款 as I had drawn it, but stating to him plainly the mercenary 雇佣兵 motive 动机 which was at the bottom of the opposition 反对 to my settlement 沉降 of the twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds. The knowledge of Sir Percival's affairs which I had necessarily gained when the provisions 规定 of the deed 行为 on his side were submitted 给 in due course to my examination 检查, had but too plainly informed me that the debts 债务 on his estate 房地产 were enormous 巨大, and that his income 收入, though nominally 公称 a large one, was virtually 几乎；实际上；实质上, for a man in his position, next to nothing. The want of ready money was the practical necessity of Sir Percival's existence, and his lawyer's note on the clause 条款 in the settlement 沉降 was nothing but the frankly 坦率地说 selfish 自私的 expression of it.

Mr. Fairlie's answer reached me by return of post, and proved to be wandering and irrelevant 不相干 in the extreme. Turned into plain English, it practically expressed itself 本身 to this effect: "Would dear Gilmore be so very obliging 责成 as not to worry his friend and client 客户 about such a trifle 琐事 as a remote 远程 contingency 偶然性? Was it likely that a young woman of twenty 二十-one would die before a man of forty 四十 five, and die without children? On the other hand, in such a miserable 悲惨的 world as this, was it possible to over-estimate 估计 the value of peace and quietness? If those two heavenly 神圣的 blessings 祝福 were offered in exchange for such an earthly trifle 琐事 as a remote 远程 chance of twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds, was it not a fair bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易? Surely, yes. Then why not make it?"

I threw the letter away in disgust 反感. Just as it had fluttered 扑 to the ground, there was a knock 敲 at my door, and Sir Percival's solicitor 律师, Mr. Merriman, was shown in. There are many varieties of sharp practitioners 从业者 in this world, but I think the hardest of all to deal with are the men who over‧reach 之上‧到达 you under the disguise 伪装 of inveterate good-humour. A fat, well fed feed, smiling, friendly man of business is of all parties to a bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易 the most hope‧less 绝望 to deal with. Mr. Merriman was one of this class.

"And how is good Mr. Gilmore?" he began, all in a glow 辉光 with the warmth 温暖 of his own amiability. "Glad to see you, sir, in such excellent health. I was passing your door, and I thought I would look in in case you might have something to say to me. Do—now pray do let us settle this little difference of ours by word of mouth, if we can! Have you heard from your client 客户 yet?"

"Yes. Have you heard from yours?"

"My dear, good sir! I wish I had heard from him to any purpose—I wish, with all my heart, the responsibility 责任 was off my shoulders; but he is obstinate—or let me rather say, resolute—and he won win't take it off. 'Merriman, I leave details to you. Do what you think right for my interests, and consider me as having personally 亲自 withdrawn from the business until it is all over.' Those were Sir Percival's words a fort‧night 两星期 ago, and all I can get him to do now is to repeat them. I am not a hard man, Mr. Gilmore, as you know. Personally 亲自 and privately, I do assure 向…保证；肯定地说 you, I should like to sponge 海绵 out that note of mine at this very moment. But if Sir Percival won't go into the matter, if Sir Percival will blindly leave all his interests in my sole 唯一 care, what course can I possibly take except the course of asserting 断言 them? My hands are bound 必定；跳—don't you see, my dear sir?—my hands are bound."

"You maintain 保持 your note on the clause 条款, then, to the letter?" I said.

"Yes—deuce take it! I have no other alter‧native 替代." He walked to the fire‧place 壁炉 and warmed himself, humming 哼 the fag end of a tune 曲调 in a rich convivial bass 低音 voice. "What does your side say?" he went on; "now pray tell me—what does your side say?"

I was ashamed 惭愧的 to tell him. I attempted to gain time—nay, I did worse. My legal 法律 instincts 直觉 got the better of me, and I even tried to bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易.

"Twenty thou‧sand 千 pounds is rather a large sum 和 to be given up by the lady's friends at two days' notice," I said.

"Very true," replied Mr. Merriman, looking down thoughtfully 沉思地 at his boots 靴；鞋. "Properly put, sir—most properly put!"

"A compromise 妥协, recognising the interests of the lady's family as well as the interests of the husband, might not perhaps have frightened my client 客户 quite so much," I went on. "Come, come! this contingency 偶然性 resolves 解决 itself 本身 into a matter of bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易 after all. What is the least you will take?"

"The least we will take," said Mr. Merriman, "is nine‧teen 十九- thou‧sand 千-nine 九-hundred 百-and-ninety 九十-nine 九-pounds-nine‧teen 十九-shillings 一毛钱- and-elevenpence-three-farthings. Ha! ha! ha! Excuse me, Mr. Gilmore. I must have my little joke 笑话."

"Little enough," I remarked. "The joke is just worth the odd 奇 far‧thing 远‧东西；事件 it was made for."

Mr. Merriman was delighted. He laughed over my retort 反驳 till the room rang again. I was not half so good-humoured on my side; I came back to business, and closed the interview 访问.

"This is Friday," I said. "Give us till Tuesday next for our final 最后 answer."

"By all means," replied Mr. Merriman. "Longer, my dear sir, if you like." He took up his hat to go, and then addressed me again. "By the way," he said, "your clients 客户 in Cumberland have not heard anything more of the woman who wrote the anonymous 匿名 letter, have they?"

"Nothing more," I answered. "Have you found no trace 跟踪 of her?"

"Not yet," said my legal 法律 friend. "But we don't despair 绝望. Sir Percival has his suspicions 怀疑 that Somebody is keeping her in hiding, and we are having that Somebody watched."

"You mean the old woman who was with her in Cumberland," I said.

"Quite another party, sir," answered Mr. Merriman. "We don't happen to have laid hands on the old woman yet. Our Somebody is a man. We have got him close under our eye here in London, and we strongly suspect he had something to do with helping her in the first instance 例 to escape from the Asylum. Sir Percival wanted to question him at once, but I said, 'No. Questioning him will only put him on his guard—watch him, and wait.' We shall see what happens. A dangerous 危险 woman to be at large, Mr. Gilmore; nobody knows what she may do next. I wish you good-morning, sir. On Tuesday next I shall hope for the pleasure of hearing from you." He smiled amiably 可亲 and went out.

My mind had been rather absent 缺席的 during the latter part of the conversation with my legal 法律 friend. I was so anxious about the matter of the settlement 沉降 that I had little attention to give to any other subject, and the moment I was left alone again I began to think over what my next proceeding 继续 ought to be.

In the case of any other client 客户 I should have acted on my instructions 指令, however personally 亲自 distasteful to me, and have given up the point about the twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds on the spot. But I could not act with this business-like indifference 漠不关心 towards Miss Fairlie. I had an honest 诚实的 feeling of affect‧ion 感情 and admiration 钦佩 for her—I remembered gratefully 感激的 that her father had been the kindest patron 顾客 and friend to me that ever man had—I had felt towards her while I was drawing the settlement 沉降 as I might have felt, if I had not been an old bachelor 单身汉, towards a daughter of my own, and I was determined to spare no personal 个人 sacrifice in her service and where her interests were concerned. Writing a second time to Mr. Fairlie was not to be thought of—it would only be giving him a second opportunity of slipping through my fingers. Seeing him and personally 亲自 remonstrating with him might possibly be of more use. The next day was Saturday. I determined to take a return ticket 票 and jolt 颠簸 my old bones down to Cumberland, on the chance of persuading him to adopt the just, the independent 独立, and the honourable course. It was a poor chance enough, no doubt, but when I had tried it my conscience 良心 would be at ease. I should then have done all that a man in my position could do to serve the interests of my old friend's only child.

The weather on Saturday was beautiful 美丽, a west wind and a bright sun. Having felt latterly a return of that fulness and oppression 压迫 of the head, against which my doctor warned me so seriously more than two years since, I resolved 解决 to take the opportunity of getting a little extra 额外的 exercise by sending mybag 袋 on before me and walking to the terminus in Euston Square. As I came out into Holborn a gentleman walking by rapidly stopped and spoke to me. It was Mr. Walter Hartright.

If he had not been the first to greet 欢迎 me I should certainly have passed him. He was so changed that I hardly knew him again. His face looked pale and haggard—his manner was hurried and uncertain 不确定—and his dress, which I remembered as neat 整洁的 and gentleman‧like 先生‧喜欢；象 when I saw him at Limmeridge, was so slovenly now that I should really have been ashamed 惭愧的 of the appearance of it on one of my own clerks 店员.

"Have you been long back from Cumberland?" he asked. "I heard from Miss Halcombe lately 近来. I am aware 知道的 that Sir Percival Glyde's explanation 说明 has been considered satisfactory. Will the marriage take place soon? Do you happen to know Mr. Gilmore?"

He spoke so fast, and crowded his questions together so strangely and confusedly, that I could hardly follow him. However accidentally 偶然 intimate 亲密 he might have been with the family at Limmeridge, I could not see that he had any right to expect information on their private affairs, and I determined to drop him, as easily as might be, on the subject of Miss Fairlie's marriage.

"Time will show, Mr. Hartright," I said—"time will show. I dare 敢 say if we look out for the marriage in the papers we shall not be far wrong. Excuse my noticing it, but I am sorry to see you not looking so well as you were when we last met."

A momentary 短暂的 nervous contract‧ion 收缩 quivered 颤动 about his lips and eyes, and made me half reproach 责备 myself 我 for having answered him in such a significantly 显著 guarded manner.

"I had no right to ask about her marriage," he said bitterly. "I must wait to see it in the newspapers like other people. Yes,"—he went on before I could make any apologies—"I have not been well lately 近来. I am going to another country to try a change of scene and occupation 占用. Miss Halcombe has kindly assisted 帮助；协助；援助 me with her influence, and my testimonials have been found satisfactory. It is a long distance off, but I don't care where I go, what the climate 气候 is, or how long I am away." He looked about him while he said this at the throng 人群 of strangers 陌生人 passing us by on either side, in a strange, suspicious 可疑的 manner, as if he thought that some of them might be watching us.

"I wish you well through it, and safe back again," I said, and then added, so as not to keep him altogether 全部地 at arm's length on the subject of the Fairlies, "I am going down to Limmeridge to-day on business. Miss Halcombe and Miss Fairlie are away just now on a visit to some friends in Yorkshire."

His eyes brightened, and he seemed about to say something in answer, but the same momentary 短暂的 nervous spasm crossed his face again. He took my hand, pressed it hard, and disappeared among the crowd without saying another word. Though he was little more than a stranger to me, I waited for a moment, looking after him almost with a feeling of regret 后悔. I had gained in my profession sufficient 足够 experience of young men to know what the outward 向外的 signs and tokens 代币 were of their beginning to go wrong, and when I resumed 恢复 my walk to the rail‧way 铁路 I am sorry to say I felt more than doubtful 疑 about Mr. Hartright's future.

IV

Leaving by an early train, I got to Limmeridge in time for dinner. The house was oppressively 压抑 empty and dull 钝的；没兴趣. I had expected that good Mrs. Vesey would have been company for me in the absence 缺席 of the young ladies, but she was con‧fine 局限 to her room by a cold. The servants were so surprised at seeing me that they hurried and bustled 忙碌 absurdly 荒诞, and made all sorts of annoying 打扰 mistakes. Even the butler 男管家, who was old enough to have known better, brought me a bottle of port 港口 that was chilled 寒意. The reports of Mr. Fairlie's health were just as usual, and when I sent up a message to announce 宣布 my arrival 到达, I was told that he would be delighted to see me the next morning but that the sudden news of my appearance had prostrated him with palpitations for the rest of the evening. The wind howled 嗥 dismally 惨淡 all night, and strange cracking 破裂 and groaning 呻吟 noises 噪音 sounded here, there, and every‧where 到处 in the empty house. I slept sleep as wretchedly as possible, and got up in a mighty 威武 bad humour to breakfast by myself 我 the next morning.

At ten 十 o' clock 钟 I was conducted 进行 to Mr. Fairlie's apartments. He was in his usual room, his usual chair, and his usual aggravating 加剧 state of mind and body. When I went in, his valet was standing before him, holding up for inspection 检查 a heavy volume 卷 of etchings 蚀刻, as long and as broad as my office writing-desk. The miserable 悲惨的 foreigner grinned 微笑 in the most abject manner, and looked ready to drop with fatigue 疲劳, while his master composedly turned over the etchings 蚀刻, and brought their hidden hide beauties to light with the help of a magnifying 放大 glass.

"You very best of good old friends," said Mr. Fairlie, leaning back lazily 懒惰的 before he could look at me, "are you quite well? How nice of you to come here and see me in my solitude 孤独. Dear Gilmore!"

I had expected that the valet would be dismissed 解雇 when I appeared, but nothing of the sort happened. There he stood, in front of his master's chair, trembling under the weight of the etchings 蚀刻, and there Mr. Fairlie sat, serenely 安详 twirling the magnifying 放大 glass between his white fingers and thumbs 拇指.

"I have come to speak to you on a very important matter," I said, "and you will therefore excuse me, if I suggest that we had better be alone."

The unfortunate 不幸的 valet looked at me gratefully. Mr. Fairlie faintly repeated my last three words, "better be alone," with every appearance of the utmost 极 possible astonishment 惊愕.

I was in no humour for trifling 琐事, and I resolved 解决 to make him understand what I meant.

"Oblige me by giving that man permission to with‧draw 撤回," I said, pointing to the valet.

Mr. Fairlie arched 弓形 his eye‧brow 眉 and pursed 钱包 up his lips in sarcastic 讽刺的；挖苦的 surprise.

"Man?" he repeated. "You provoking 惹 old Gilmore, what can you possibly mean by calling him a man? He's nothing of the sort. He might have been a man half an hour ago, before I wanted my etchings 蚀刻, and he may be a man half an hour hence 因此, when I don't want them any longer. At present he is simply a portfolio 投资组合 stand. Why object, Gilmore, to a portfolio 投资组合 stand?"

"I do object. For the third time, Mr. Fairlie, I beg that we may be alone."

My tone 音 and manner left him no alter‧native 替代 but to comply 执行 with my request. He looked at the servant, and pointed peevishly to a chair at his side.

"Put down the etchings 蚀刻 and go away," he said. "Don't upset 打翻 me by losing my place. Have you, or have you not, lost my place? Are you sure you have not? And have you put my hand- bell 钟 quite within my reach? Yes? Then why the devil 魔鬼 don't you go?"

The valet went out. Mr. Fairlie twisted himself round in his chair, polished 擦光 the magnifying 放大 glass with his delicate 3 cambric handkerchief 手帕, and indulged 放纵 himself with a side‧long 边；面‧长的 inspection 检查 of the open volume 卷 of etchings 蚀刻. It was not easy to keep my temper under these circumstances 环境, but I did keep it.

"I have come here at great personal 个人 inconvenience 不方便," I said, "to serve the interests of your niece 5 and your family, and I think I have established 建立 some slight claim to be favoured with your attention in return."

"Don't bully 欺负 me!" exclaimed 喊叫 Mr. Fairlie, falling back help‧less 无助 in the chair, and closing his eyes. "Please don't bully 欺负 me. I'm not strong enough."

I was determined not to let him provoke 惹 me, for Laura Fairlie's sake.

"My object," I went on, "is to entreat you to reconsider 重新考虑 your letter, and not to force me to abandon 放弃 the just rights of your niece, and of all who belong to her. Let me state the case to you once more, and for the last time."

Mr. Fairlie shook his head and sighed 叹 piteously.

"This is heart‧less 心‧少 of you, Gilmore—very heart‧less 心‧少," he said. "Never mind, go on."

I put all the points to him carefully 小心—I set the matter before him in every conceivable 可以想象 light. He lay back in the chair the whole time I was speaking with his eyes closed. When I had done he opened them indolently, took his silver 银 smelling-bottle from the table, and sniffed 吸气 at it with an air of gentle relish 滋味.

"Good Gilmore!" he said between the sniffs 吸气, "how very nice this is of you! How you reconcile 调和 one to human nature!"

"Give me a plain answer to a plain question, Mr. Fairlie. I tell you again, Sir Percival Glyde has no shadow of a claim to expect more than the income 收入 of the money. The money itself 本身 if your niece has no children, ought to be under her control, and to return to her family. If you stand firm, Sir Percival must give way—he must give way, I tell you, or he exposes 暴露 himself to the base imputation of marrying Miss Fairlie entirely from mercenary 雇佣兵 motives 动机."

Mr. Fairlie shook the silver 银 smelling-bottle at me playfully 调皮.

"You dear old Gilmore, how you do hate rank and family, don't you? How you detest Glyde because he happens to be a baronet. What a Radical 很不同的，革命性的 you are—oh, dear me, what a Radical you are!"

A Radical!!! I could put up with a good deal of provocation 挑衅, but, after holding the soundest Conservative 保守 principles 原理 all my life, I could not put up with being called a Radical. My blood boiled 煮沸 at it—I started out of my chair—I was speech‧less 演说‧少 with Indignation.

"Don't shake the room!" cried Mr. Fairlie—"for Heaven 天's sake don't shake the room! Worthiest of all possible Gilmores, I meant no offence. My own views are so extremely liberal 自由主义的 that I think I am a Radical 4 myself 我. Yes. We are a pair of Radicals. Please don't be angry. I can't quarrel 争吵—I haven't stamina 耐力 enough. Shall we drop the subject? Yes. Come and look at these sweet etchings 蚀刻. Do let me teach you to understand the heavenly 神圣的 pearliness of these lines. Do now, there's a good Gilmore!"

While he was maundering on in this way I was, fortunately 侥幸的 for my own self-respect, returning to my senses. When I spoke again I was composed enough to treat his impertinence with the silent con‧tempt 鄙视 that it deserved.

"You are entirely wrong, sir," I said, "in supposing that I speak from any prejudice 成见 against Sir Percival Glyde. I may regret 3 that he has so unreservedly resigned himself in this matter to his lawyer's direction as to make any appeal 上诉 to himself impossible, but I am not prejudiced against him. What I have said would equally apply to any other man in his situation, high or low. The principle 原理 I maintain 保持 is a recognised principle 原理. If you were to apply at the nearest town here, to the first respect‧able 可敬 solicitor 律师 you could find, he would tell you as a stranger what I tell you as a friend. He would inform you that it is against all rule to abandon 放弃 the lady's money entirely to the man she marries. He would decline 下降, on grounds of common legal 法律 caution 小心, to give the husband, under any circumstances 环境 whatever, an interest of twenty 二十 thou‧sand 千 pounds in his wife's death."

"Would he really, Gilmore?" said Mr. Fairlie. "If he said anything half so horrid, I do assure 向…保证；肯定地说 you I should tinkle my bell 3 for Louis, and have him sent out of the house immediately."

"You shall not irritate 刺激 me, Mr. Fairlie—for your niece's sake and for her father's sake, you shall not irritate 刺激 me. You shall take the whole responsibility 责任 of this discredit‧able 怀疑‧能够的 settlement 沉降 on your own shoulders before I leave the room."

"Don't!—now please don't!" said Mr. Fairlie. "Think how precious 宝贵的 your time is, Gilmore, and don't throw it away. I would dispute 争议 with you if I could, but I can't—I haven't stamina 耐力 enough. You want to upset 打翻 me, to upset 3 your‧self 你自己, to upset Glyde, and to upset Laura; and—oh, dear me!—all for the sake of the very last thing in the world that is likely to happen. No, dear friend, in the interests of peace and quietness, positively 积极 No!"

"I am to understand, then, that you hold by the determination 决心 expressed in your letter?"

"Yes, please. So glad we understand each other at last. Sit down again—do!"

I walked at once to the door, and Mr. Fairlie resignedly "tinkled" his hand-bell. Before I left the room I turned round and addressed him for the last time.

"Whatever happens in the future, sir," I said, "remember that my plain duty of warning you has been performed. As the faithful 可信 friend and servant of your family, I tell you, at parting, that no daughter of mine should be married to any man alive under such a settlement 沉降 as you are forcing me to make for Miss Fairlie."

The door opened behind me, and the valet stood waiting on the threshold 阈.

"Louis," said Mr. Fairlie, "show Mr. Gilmore out, and then come back and hold up my etchings 蚀刻 for me again. Make them give you a good lunch 午餐 downstairs 楼下. Do, Gilmore, make my idle 无意义的 beasts 野兽 of servants give you a good lunch!"

I was too much disgusted 反感 to reply—I turned on my heel 脚跟, and left him in silence. There was an up train at two o'clock 3 in the afternoon, and by that train I returned to London.

On the Tuesday I sent in the altered settlement 沉降, which practically disinherited the very persons whom Miss Fairlie's own lips had informed me she was most anxious to benefit 效益. I had no choice. Another lawyer would have drawn up the deed 行为 if I had refused to under‧take 承担 it.

My task 任务 is done. My personal 个人 share in the events of the family story extends no farther than the point which I have just reached. Other pens 笔 than mine will describe the strange circumstances 环境 which are now shortly to follow. Seriously and sorrow‧fully 悲痛‧完全地 I close this brief 简要 record. Seriously and sorrow‧fully 悲痛‧完全地 I repeat here the parting words that I spoke at Limmeridge House:—No daughter of mine should have been married to any man alive under such a settlement 沉降 as I was compelled 迫使 to make for Laura Fairlie.

The End of Mr. Gilmore's Narrative.

THE STORY CONTINUED BY MARIAN HALCOMBE

(in Extracts from her Diary)