第八章（第4/13页）

He straightened himself and saluted, watching her in silence, as she came forward with weakening limbs. He resented the intrusion; he cherished his solitude as his only and last freedom in life.

他起身行礼，默默看着她四肢无力地走上前来。她不请自来，让他感到非常不满。他无比珍视这方净土，只有在这里，他才能远离尘嚣，安享自由。

"I wondered what the hammering was," she said, feeling weak and breathless, and a little afraid of him, as he looked so straight at her.

“我在奇怪这锤声是怎么回事。”康妮说，感到全身无力，呼吸急促，被他逼视，让她心里稍有畏惧。

"Ah'm gettin' th' coops ready for th' young bods," he said, in broad vernacular.

“俺在给鸡仔搭窝。”他操着浓重的土语解释道。

She did not know what to say, and she felt weak. "I should like to sit down a bit," she said.

她不知道如何作答，只是感到虚弱无力。“我想稍坐片刻。”她说。

"Come and sit 'ere i'th'ut," he said, going in front of her to the hut, pushing aside some timber and stuff, and drawing out a rustic chair, made of hazel sticks.

“进屋坐吧。”他说完，便将她引进小屋，将柴火和杂物推到一旁，拉出把榛条做成的粗木靠椅。

"Am Ah t'light yer a little fire?" he asked, with the curious naïveté of the dialect.

“俺给恁生点火吧？”他的土腔土调中透出难得的质朴。

"Oh, don't bother," she replied.

“噢，不用麻烦了。”她答道。

But he looked at her hands; they were rather blue. So he quickly took some larch twigs to the little brick fire-place in the corner, and in a moment the yellow flame was running up the chimney. He made a place by the brick hearth.

可他发觉她的双手都冻青了。于是，他急忙拾起松枝，填进角落里砖砌的壁炉，不一会儿，金黄色的火焰便蹿向烟囱。他在壁炉旁给她设座。

"Sit 'ere then a bit, and warm yer," he said.

“坐这儿，待会儿就暖和过来了。”他说。

She obeyed him. He had that curious kind of protective authority she obeyed at once. So she sat and warmed her hands at the blaze, and dropped logs on the fire, whilst outside he was hammering again. She did not really want to sit, poked in a corner by the fire; she would rather have watched from the door, but she was being looked after, so she had to submit.

她照他的话去做了。不知怎的，他让康妮体验到莫名的安全感，似乎不容置疑，她未加思索，立马照办。她坐在壁炉旁，任火焰温暖着双手，不时往里加点柴火，而他则出去继续敲敲打打。她不想就这么干坐着，蜷缩在角落里烤火，宁愿去门旁看他干活，但既然人家如此照顾，她也只能服从他的安排。

The hut was quite cosy, panelled with unvarnished deal, having a little rustic table and stool beside her chair, and a carpenter's bench, then a big box, tools, new boards, nails; and many things hung from pegs: axe, hatchet, traps, things in sacks, his coat. It had no window, the light came in through the open door. It was a jumble, but also it was a sort of little sanctuary.

小屋温暖舒适，四壁用未着漆的冷杉板镶嵌而成。她所坐的靠椅旁，还有一张粗制的小桌和一张矮凳、一条木工用长凳，然后是一只大箱子、数件工具，几块没用过的木板，一堆钉子。墙上还挂着长柄斧、短把斧、兽夹、盛满物件的口袋以及他的外套。屋里没有窗户，光线只能从敞开的门射进来。虽说这里杂乱无章，但仍不失为一个小小的庇护所。

She listened to the tapping of the man's hammer; it was not so happy. He was oppressed. Here was a trespass on his privacy, and a dangerous one! A woman! He had reached the point where all he wanted on earth was to be alone. And yet he was powerless to preserve his privacy; he was a hired man, and these people were his masters.