第六章（第3/12页）

某个情绪低落的日子，康妮独自去林中散步，心事满腹，漫无目的地走着，甚至没留意自己身在何处。不远处的一声枪响将她惊醒，也让她心头火起。

Then, as she went, she heard voices, and recoiled. People! She didn't want people. But her quick ear caught another sound, and she roused; it was a child sobbing. At once she attended; someone was ill-treating a child. She strode swinging down the wet drive, her sullen resentment uppermost. She felt just prepared to make a scene.

她循音觅去，耳边传来说话声，不禁有些畏缩。有人！她不愿碰到任何人。可她灵敏的耳朵却捕捉到另一种声响，不由得警惕起来；那是孩子的抽泣声。她立即警觉起来，准是什么人在虐待孩子。她沿着潮湿的马道，快步向前走去，满腔的怒火已经不可抑止。她知道自己准要大吵大闹一番。

Turning the corner, she saw two figures in the drive beyond her: the keeper, and a little girl in a purple coat and moleskin cap, crying.

转过弯，她看到马道上出现两个人的身影：那护林人，和一个身穿紫色外套、头戴斜纹棉帽的小女孩，发出哭声正是她。

"Ah, shut it up, tha false little bitch!" came the man's angry voice, and the child sobbed louder.

“呀，闭嘴，臭丫头！”那男人怒气冲冲地呵斥着，孩子的哭声更响了。

Constance strode nearer, with blazing eyes. The man turned and looked at her, saluting coolly, but he was pale with anger.

康斯坦斯大步走到近前，怒目横眉。那男人转过脸看着他，态度冷淡地躬身施礼，脸气得煞白。

"What's the matter? Why is she crying?" demanded Constance, peremptory but a little breathless.

“怎么回事？她为什么啼哭？”康斯坦斯逼问道，语气斩钉截铁，但心里还是不免有些不敢大声出气。

A faint smile like a sneer came on the man's face. "Nay, yo mun ax'er," he replied callously, in broad vernacular.

那男人脸上闪过一丝睥睨的微笑。“恁自己去问她就是。”他冷冷地答道，仍操着那口浓重的方言。

Connie felt as if he had hit her in the face, and she changed colour. Then she gathered her defiance, and looked at him, her dark blue eyes blazing rather vaguely.

康妮感觉像挨了一记耳光，气得颜色更变。她调动起所有轻蔑，瞪着眼前的男人，可深蓝色双眸中闪烁着的光芒依然游移。

"I asked you," she panted.

“我问的是你。”她呼吸急促。

He gave a queer little bow, lifting his hat. "You did, your Ladyship," he said; then, with a return to the vernacular: "but I canna tell yer." And he became a soldier, inscrutable, only pale with annoyance.

他扬起帽子，姿势怪异地轻鞠一躬。“没错，夫人，”他说，接着又换成那套土腔土调，“可俺不能不告诉恁。”此刻的他俨然变成战士，难以捉摸，只是因为恼怒而面色铁青。

Connie turned to the child, a ruddy, black-haired thing of nine or ten. "What is it, dear? Tell me why you're crying!" she said, with the conventionalized sweetness suitable. More violent sobs, self-conscious. Still more sweetness on Connie's part.

康妮转向那女孩，小姑娘大概九岁或十岁，脸蛋红扑扑的，头发乌黑。“怎么回事，宝贝？告诉我你为什么哭。”她换上哄小孩的温柔口吻。或许是感觉有所倚靠，孩子哭得更凶了。而康妮的态度则愈发温和。

"There, there, don't you cry! Tell me what they've done to you!”...an intense tenderness of tone. At the same time she felt in the pocket of her knitted jacket, and luckily found a sixpence.

“好啦，好啦，别哭了。告诉我他们对你做了什么。”……语调中饱含着柔情。她边说，边在毛衣口袋里摸索着，幸运地找到一枚六便士硬币。

"Don't you cry then!" she said, bending in front of the child. "See what I've got for you!” Sobs, snuffles, a fist taken from a blubbered face, and a black shrewd eye cast for a second on the sixpence. Then more sobs, but subduing. "There, tell me what's the matter, tell me!" said Connie, putting the coin into the child's chubby hand, which closed over it.

“不要哭了，”她弯下腰，对女孩说，“看看我给你找到什么。”女孩呜咽着，抽着鼻涕，一个小拳头从布满泪痕的脸蛋上移开，露出一只机灵的黑眼睛，目光在硬币上停留片刻。接着又抽泣起来，但哭声已经减弱许多。“听话，告诉我到底怎么回事，乖乖跟我说。”康妮说着，把硬币塞进女孩胖乎乎的手里，那只小手紧紧将钱攥住。

"It's the...it's the...pussy!” Shudders of subsiding sobs.

“是因为……是因为……猫咪！”抽噎声逐渐减弱，身体瑟瑟发抖。