第十章（第22/42页）

Connie wondered what he would say if he knew that Clifford's game-keeper had been having intercourse with her, and saying to her "tha mun come to th' cottage one time." he would detest and despise her, for he had come almost to hate the shoving forward of the working classes. A man of her own class he would not mind, for Connie was gifted from nature with this appearance of demure, submissive maidenliness, and perhaps it was part of her nature. Winter called her "dear child" and gave her a rather lovely miniature of an eighteenth-century lady, rather against her will.

康妮想知道，要是他晓得克利福德的守林人跟她私通，并用土话对她说“哪天来俺家”，他会作何评价。他会对她深恶痛绝，嗤之以鼻，因为他对工人阶级的反抗浪潮切齿痛恨。如果她的情郎同样来自贵族阶级，他则半点都不会介意，因为康妮生来端庄娴静，柔顺谦和，或许讨人喜欢也是她与生俱来的特点。温特称呼她为“亲爱的孩子”，非要送她一幅18世纪贵妇的精巧微缩画像，康妮本不想接受，但实在是却之不恭。

But Connie was preoccupied with her affair with the keeper. After all, Mr. Winter, who was really a gentleman and a man of the world, treated her as a person and a discriminating individual; he did not lump her together with all the rest of his female womanhood in his "thee" and "tha".

但康妮满脑子想的，都是与守林人的情事。不过，温特先生确实是位绅士，出身高贵，将她视为真正的人，视为独特的个体，并没把她与其余的庸脂俗粉相提并论，他称她们为“您”或者“您们”。

She did not go to the wood that day nor the next, nor the day following. She did not go so long as she felt, or imagined she felt, the man waiting for her, wanting her. But the fourth day she was terribly unsettled and uneasy. She still refused to go to the wood and open her thighs once more to the man. She thought of all the things she might do—drive to Sheffield, pay visits, and the thought of all these things was repellent. At last she decided to take a walk, not towards the wood, but in the opposite direction; she would go to Marehay, through the little iron gate in the other side of the park fence. It was a quiet grey day of spring, almost warm. She walked on unheeding, absorbed in thoughts she was not even conscious of She was not really aware of anything outside her, till she was startled by the loud barking of the dog at Marehay Farm. Marehay Farm! Its pastures ran up to Wragby park fence, so they were neighbours, but it was some time since Connie had called.

那天及此后两天，她都没到树林去。她始终觉得，或者说想象自己觉得，那男人期待着她，对她充满渴望。因此就选择暂时不再露面。但等到第四天，她的决心终于有所动摇，变得心神不宁。她仍不情愿再去树林，再为那臭男人张开双腿。她想遍了自己可做的事情——乘车去谢菲尔德，走亲访友，但这些都非为她所愿。最终，她还是打算出去散散心，但并非去树林，而是往相反的方向。经过花园篱笆另一侧的小铁门，她直奔马勒哈伊。那是个寂静的春日，天灰蒙蒙的，凉意几乎已经褪尽。她信步而行，沉浸在无尽的思绪里，对四周的事物全然不觉，直到被马勒哈伊农场大声的犬吠惊醒。马勒哈伊农场！这里的牧场延伸到拉格比庄园的围墙边，因此算得上是近邻，但康妮已经许久没有到过这儿。

"Bell!" she said to the big white bull-terrier. "Bell! Have you forgotten me? Don't you know me?” She was afraid of dogs, and Bell stood back and bellowed, and she wanted to pass through the farmyard on to the warren path.

“贝尔！”她呼唤着那只硕大的白色牛头梗，“贝尔！你已经忘记我了么？难道你不记得我了？”她本就怕狗，而贝尔则后退几步，继续猛吠着。她想穿过农家院落，绕到通往畜牧场的路上去。