AARON TROW 艾伦·特罗1

I would wish to declare, at the beginning of this story, that I shall never regard that cluster of islets which we call Bermuda as the Fortunate Islands of the ancients. Do not let professional geographers take me up, and say that no one has so accounted them, and that the ancients have never been supposed to have gotten themselves so far westwards. What I mean to assert is this—that, had any ancient been carried either by enterprise or stress of weather, he would not have given those islands so good a name. That the Neapolitan sailors of King Alonzo should have been wrecked here, I consider to be more likely. The vexed Bermoothes is a good name for them. There is no getting in or out of them without the greatest difficulty, and a patient, slow navigation, which is very heart—rending. That Caliban should have lived here I can imagine; that Ariel would have been sick of the place is certain; and that Governor Prospero should have been willing to abandon his governorship, I conceive to have been only natural. When one regards the present state of the place, one is tempted to doubt whether any of the governors have been conjurors since his days.

在这个故事开始前，我愿意声明一下，我永远不认为被我们称之为 “百慕大” 的那群岛屿是古代人的幸运之岛。不要让那些专业的地理学家们打断我的话，说什么从来没有人如此看待那些岛屿，还说什么据推测古人从来没有到过西面这么远的地方。我想要说明的是：如果任何古人，或出于冒险的目的，或迫于恶劣的天气，曾经来到过这个地方，他绝不会给这片群岛起这么好听的一个名字。若是说那不勒斯王阿朗索的水手们所驾驶的船在这里失事，我觉得倒是更可信一些。 “让人烦恼的百慕德斯” 这个名字很适合这片群岛。不经过千难万险是不可能进出这片岛屿的，这航行速度迟缓，需要长期忍受苦难，会让人感觉心急如焚。可以想象凯列班曾住在这里，也不难猜到阿里尔肯定会厌恶这个地方，至于普洛斯彼罗公爵愿意放弃做总督的机会来到这里，在我看来是很自然的事。看到这里的现状，人们会忍不住怀疑，自从普洛斯彼罗之后，岛上还有哪位总督继承了他那样的法力。

Bermuda, as all the world knows, is a British colony at which we maintain a convict establishment. Most of our outlying convict establishments have been sent back upon our hands from our colonies, but here one is still maintained. There is also in the islands a strong military fortress, though not a fortress looking magnificent to the eyes of civilians, as do Malta and Gibraltar. There are also here some six thousand white people and some six thousand black people, eating, drinking, sleeping, and dying.

大家所知道的百慕大是英国的一个殖民地，在那里还设有我们的一座监狱。我们设在海外各殖民地的监狱现在绝大多数都已经迁回本土了，只有这一处还保留着。在这片群岛上还有一个坚固的军事要塞，尽管一般平民看来，这处堡垒远不如马耳他或直布罗陀海峡的天险那样壮观。此外，岛上还大约有六千白人和六千黑人在这里繁衍生息、生老病死。

The convict establishment is the most notable feature of Bermuda to a stranger, but it does not seem to attract much attention from the regular inhabitants of the place. There is no intercourse between the prisoners and the Bermudians. The convicts are rarely seen by them, and the convict islands are rarely visited. As to the prisoners themselves, of course it is not open to them—or should not be open to them—to have intercourse with any but the prison authorities.

对于外人来说，百慕大最引人注意的特色就是这座监狱了，然而当地居民却似乎很少注意到它。犯人和百慕大岛民之间是没有任何来往的。当地人极少能看到那些犯人，而这片关押犯人的群岛也鲜有访客。至于那些囚犯们，除了和监狱当局打交道外，当然是不允许——或者说不该被允许——与任何人有所接触的。

There have, however, been instances in which convicts have escaped from their confinement, and made their way out among the islands. Poor wretches! As a rule, there is but little chance for any that can so escape. The whole length of the cluster is but twenty miles, and the breadth is under four. The prisoners are, of course, white men, and the lower orders of Bermuda, among whom alone could a runagate have any chance of hiding himself, are all negroes; so that such a one would be known at once. Their clothes are all marked. Their only chance of a permanent escape would be in the hold of an American ship; but what captain of an American or other ship would willingly encumber himself with an escaped convict! But, nevertheless, men have escaped; and in one instance, I believe, a convict got away, so that of him no farther tidings were ever heard.

然而，越狱事件还是时有发生，犯人们逃出来后就流窜到了其他岛上。可怜的家伙们！一般来说，这种越狱的机会并不多。这片群岛总长度只不过二十英里，而宽度还不到四英里。囚犯们当然都是白人，逃犯若想藏身，只有混迹于百慕大下层社会的老百姓中间，然而这些老百姓却恰恰都是黑人，因此逃犯会被一眼认出来。而且，他们的衣服都是有标记的。远走高飞的唯一机会就是设法躲进一艘美国船里面。但是，不论是美国船，还是其他什么船，有哪位船长会愿意自找麻烦来庇护一个逃犯呢？但不管怎样，还是有人逃掉，比方说，据我所知，有一个犯人逃跑后便销声匿迹了。

For the truth of the following tale I will not by any means vouch. If one were to inquire on the spot one might probably find that the ladies all believe it, and the old men; that all the young men know exactly how much of it is false and how much true; and that the steady, middle—aged, well—to—do islanders are quite convinced that it is romance from beginning to end. My readers may range themselves with the ladies, the young men, or the steady, well—to—do, middle—aged islanders, as they please.

下面的故事是否属实我无法担保。如果有人去当地打听，他可能会发现，那里的妇女和老人相信确有其事；年轻人会确切地说出多少是真，多少是假；而岛上那些行事稳重、生活富裕的中年人则会肯定地说这从头至尾不过是个传奇而已。我的读者们愿意去相信妇女们、年轻人，还是稳重富有的中年人，悉听尊便吧。

Some years ago, soon after the prison was first established on its present footing, three men did escape from it, and among them a certain notorious prisoner named Aaron Trow. Trow's antecedents in England had not been so villanously bad as those of many of his fellow—convicts, though the one offence for which he was punished had been of a deep dye: he had shed man's blood. At a period of great distress in a manufacturing town he had led men on to riot, and with his own hand had slain the first constable who had endeavoured to do his duty against him. There had been courage in the doing of the deed, and probably no malice; but the deed, let its moral blackness have been what it might, had sent him to Bermuda, with a sentence against him of penal servitude for life. Had he been then amenable to prison discipline, —even then, with such a sentence against him as that, —he might have won his way back, after the lapse of years, to the children, and perhaps, to the wife, that he had left behind him; but he was amenable to no rules—to no discipline. His heart was sore to death with an idea of injury, and he lashed himself against the bars of his cage with a feeling that it would be well if he could so lash himself till he might perish in his fury.

几年前，这座监狱刚在此地建起不久，有三个犯人越狱，其中一个臭名昭著，那便是艾伦·特罗。特罗在英格兰的先辈并不像牢里其他犯人的前辈那样恶贯满盈，只是他自己却因为犯了重罪而被判刑：他杀了人。那座工业城市当时正处在一个极度贫困的时期，他带头闹事并亲手打死了第一个上前来执行命令阻拦他的警察。做这件事要有胆量，而且或许他也并无恶意。道德上的事我们暂且不去管它，但正是这一举动使得特罗被送到了百慕大，并被判终生做苦役。如果当时他能够顺从，老老实实在监狱里服役——即使被判了那样的重刑之后——他还是有机会获得自由的，几年之后还可以回去和孩子们团聚，或许，还可以回到被他丢下的妻子身边。可是在当时，他不服法、不服从任何管教。他感到受了极大的伤害，心痛至极。他不顾一切地撞向牢房的栏杆，仿佛他宁愿就这样挣扎下去，在狂怒中灭亡。

And then a day came in which an attempt was made by a large body of convicts, under his leadership, to get the better of the officers of the prison. It is hardly necessary to say that the attempt failed. Such attempts always fail. It failed on this occasion signally, and Trow, with two other men, were condemned to be scourged terribly, and then kept in solitary confinement for some lengthened term of months. Before, however, the day of scourging came, Trow and his two associates had escaped.

后来有这么一天，在他的带领下，一大群囚徒企图战胜狱警逃跑。不用说，他们的行动以失败告终。这种努力的结局往往是失败。这次越狱是一次重大失败，特罗，还有其他两个人被判以重刑鞭打，而且之后还要被送到单人牢房关上几个月的禁闭。然而，就在鞭刑的前一天，特罗和他的两个同伙逃走了。

I have not the space to tell how this was effected, nor the power to describe the manner. They did escape from the establishment into the islands, and though two of them were taken after a single day's run at liberty, Aaron Trow had not been yet retaken even when a week was over. When a month was over he had not been retaken, and the officers of the prison began to say that he had got away from them in a vessel to the States. It was impossible, they said, that he should have remained in the islands and not been discovered. It was not impossible that he might have destroyed himself, leaving his body where it had not yet been found. But he could not have lived on in Bermuda during that month's search. So, at least, said the officers of the prison. There was, however, a report through the islands that he had been seen from time to time; that he had gotten bread from the negroes at night, threatening them with death if they told of his whereabouts; and that all the clothes of the mate of a vessel had been stolen while the man was bathing, including a suit of dark blue cloth, in which suit of clothes, or in one of such a nature, a stranger had been seen skulking about the rocks near St. George.

我没有足够的篇幅来讲述他们是怎么逃出去的，更没有能力来描述他们逃跑的方式。总之，他们逃出了监狱，藏匿于岛上。尽管其中两个逃犯仅在一天内就被抓了回去，但是一个星期过去了，艾伦·特罗也没有被抓到。一个月过去了，他还是没有被抓到，监狱里的长官们开始猜想他是不是搭上船逃去美国了。他们说，要是他还在岛上，不可能找不到他。也有可能他已经死了，尸体在某个地方还没有被发现。反正在一个月的搜捕中他不可能仍在这个岛上活下来。至少监狱的长官们是这样说的。然而，岛上还是有传闻，说时常有人发现他的踪迹。夜里他会从黑人手里弄面包，并扬言说要是谁敢说出他的行踪，他就要了谁的命；有一艘船的大副洗澡的时候所有的衣服都被偷走，其中包括一套深蓝色的制服。后来有人看见一个陌生人身穿这套制服，或者一套相似质地的制服，在圣·乔治附近的岩石丛林中出没。

All this the governor of the prison affected to disbelieve, but the opinion was becoming very rife in the islands that Aaron Trow was still there.

对于这些说法监狱长都佯装不信，但是艾伦·特罗还在岛上的传闻却已经闹得满城风雨了。

A vigilant search, however, is a task of great labour, and cannot be kept up for ever. By degrees it was relaxed. The warders and gaolers ceased to patrol the island roads by night, and it was agreed that Aaron Trow was gone, or that he would be starved to death, or that he would in time be driven to leave such traces of his whereabouts as must lead to his discovery; and this at last did turn out to be the fact.

然而，一场森严的搜捕毕竟要花费大量的人力物力，不可能永远地持续下去。逐渐地，警戒慢慢松懈了。监狱的看守和卫兵停止了对岛上道路的夜间巡逻。大家都认为艾伦·特罗已经不在这儿了，要不他肯定得被饿死，或者早晚会因败露行踪而被发现。果真这些最后都得到了验证。

There is a sort of prettiness about these islands which, though it never rises to the loveliness of romantic scenery, is nevertheless attractive in its way. The land breaks itself into little knolls, and the sea runs up, hither and thither, in a thousand creeks and inlets; and then, too, when the oleanders are in bloom, they give a wonderfully bright colour to the landscape. Oleanders seem to be the roses of Bermuda, and are cultivated round all the villages of the better class through the islands. There are two towns, St. George and Hamilton, and one main high—road, which connects them; but even this high—road is broken by a ferry, over which every vehicle going from St. George to Hamilton must be conveyed. Most of the locomotion in these parts is done by boats, and the residents look to the sea, with its narrow creeks, as their best highway from their farms to their best market. In those days—and those days were not very long since—the building of small ships was their chief trade, and they valued their land mostly for the small scrubby cedar—trees with which this trade was carried on.

这片群岛的风景之美，虽算不上富有浪漫色彩，但却有着自己独到的迷人之处。岛上的陆地由许多小丘组成，经过海水冲刷，形成了无数的小溪和水湾。夹竹桃的盛开给这里的景色更添了一抹亮丽的色彩。夹竹桃似乎就是百慕大的玫瑰，岛上所有生活宽裕点的人家都会在房前屋后种上夹竹桃。这里有两个镇：圣·乔治和汉密尔顿，一条大路将这两个小镇连接起来。但连这要道也被一条水路拦腰隔断了。往返于圣·乔治和汉密尔顿之间的所有车辆都要靠渡船运到对岸。这些地区的主要交通工具就是船。当地居民的生活离不开大海和那些支流。他们视其为连接农场与最繁华的市场之间最好的公路。在那些日子里——距现今并不遥远——制造小船是他们的主要营生。对他们来说，岛上最值得珍视的东西就是那些矮小的雪松林，他们的制船业全要靠这些木材。

As one goes from St. George to Hamilton the road runs between two seas; that to the right is the ocean; that on the left is an inland creek, which runs up through a large portion of the islands, so that the land on the other side of it is near to the traveller. For a considerable portion of the way there are no houses lying near the road, and, there is one residence, some way from the road, so secluded that no other house lies within a mile of it by land. By water it might probably be reached within half a mile. This place was called Crump Island, and here lived, and had lived for many years, an old gentleman, a native of Bermuda, whose business it had been to buy up cedar wood and sell it to the ship—builders at Hamilton. In our story we shall not have very much to do with old Mr. Bergen, but it will be necessary to say a word or two about his house.

从圣·乔治到汉密尔顿的必经之路两边都是水，右边是海，左边是一条几乎纵贯全岛的内陆河。河对岸离这条路并不远。沿路很少有人家，倒是离路稍远的地方有一处独门独户的院落，而方圆一英里之内便再没有别的人家了。若从水路上算，可能离它最近的人家也得有半英里的距离。这个地方叫克兰普岛，岛上有个老人居住多年。他是百慕大本地人，在这里经营雪松木材，把买来的木材再卖给汉密尔顿的木船制造商们。我们的故事与这位老伯根先生并没有多大关系，但是却有必要说一下他的房子。

It stood upon what would have been an island in the creek, had not a narrow causeway, barely broad enough for a road, joined it to that larger island on which stands the town of St. George. As the main road approaches the ferry it runs through some rough, hilly, open ground, which on the right side towards the ocean has never been cultivated. The distance from the ocean here may, perhaps, be a quarter of a mile, and the ground is for the most part covered with low furze. On the left of the road the land is cultivated in patches, and here, some half mile or more from the ferry, a path turns away to Crump Island. The house cannot be seen from the road, and, indeed, can hardly be seen at all, except from the sea. It lies, perhaps, three furlongs from the high road, and the path to it is but little used, as the passage to and from it is chiefly made by water.

房子坐落在上述那条河中的一片陆地上。若不是一条只能称之为 ‘堤道’ 的路（称作马路太窄）把它和圣·乔治城所在的大岛连接起来，这片陆地就可以算河中的一个小岛了。那条主路在接近渡口的地方穿过了一片起伏不平、多山的旷野，路的右边，也就是朝海的那边是一片荒地。从这个地方到海边大概有四分之一英里的路，地面几乎覆满了一层矮矮的野金雀花。路的左侧是一块块开垦了的土地。这里离渡口有半英里左右的路，一条小岔路从大路上分开来直通到克兰普岛上。从大路上是看不到这所房子的，其实除了从海上，从哪个方向都很难看到它。这里离大路大概有五六百米的样子。人们来来往往主要靠水路，因此这条小路很少有人问津。

Here, at the time of our story, lived Mr. Bergen, and here lived Mr. Bergen's daughter. Miss Bergen was well known at St. George's as a steady, good girl, who spent her time in looking after her father's household matters, in managing his two black maid—servants and the black gardener, and who did her duty in that sphere of life to which she had been called. She was a comely, well—shaped young woman, with a sweet countenance, rather large in size, and very quiet in demeanour. In her earlier years, when young girls usually first bud forth into womanly beauty, the neighbours had not thought much of Anastasia Bergen, nor had the young men of St. George been wont to stay their boats under the window of Crump Cottage in order that they might listen to her voice or feel the light of her eye; but slowly, as years went by, Anastasia Bergen became a woman that a man might well love; and a man learned to love her who was well worthy of a woman's heart. This was Caleb Morton, the Presbyterian minister of St. George; and Caleb Morton had been engaged to marry Miss Bergen for the last two years past, at the period of Aaron Trow's escape from prison.

我们的故事发生的时候，伯根先生，还有他的女儿就住在这里。伯根小姐的稳重和善良在圣·乔治镇是公认的。她主要为她的父亲料理家务，管理两个黑人女仆和一个黑人园丁。上帝派她来到这个小生活圈子里，她就这样安分守己、兢兢业业。她是个美丽窈窕的姑娘，有着甜美的面容，丰腴的身材和文静的举止。早些年，也就是通常所谓的女大十八变的那个时期，阿纳斯塔西娅·伯根并不起眼，圣·乔治的小伙子们并没有把船停在她窗下去听她说话，去看她闪亮的眼睛。而渐渐地，随着时间的推移，阿纳斯塔西娅·伯根出落成一位楚楚动人的姑娘。而且，确实有一个和她般配的青年爱上了她。那就是凯莱布·莫顿，圣·乔治的牧师。到艾伦·特罗越狱逃跑的时候，凯莱布·莫顿和伯根小姐已经订婚两年了。

Caleb Morton was not a native of Bermuda, but had been sent thither by the synod of his church from Nova Scotia. He was a tall, handsome man, at this time of some thirty years of age, of a presence which might almost have been called commanding. He was very strong, but of a temperament which did not often give him opportunity to put forth his strength; and his life had been such that neither he nor others knew of what nature might be his courage. The greater part of his life was spent in preaching to some few of the white people around him, and in teaching as many of the blacks as he could get to hear him. His days were very quiet, and had been altogether without excitement until he had met with Anastasia Bergen. It will suffice for us to say that he did meet her, and that now, for two years past, they had been engaged as man and wife.

凯莱布·莫顿不是百慕大本地人，而是被新斯科舍省长老会派到这里来的。他是个高个子，很英俊，三十岁左右的年纪，仪态几乎可以称得上有些威严。他很强壮，但是他的性格却很少给他机会展示他浑身的力量。他的生活一直就是这样，不用说别人，连他自己都不知道一旦他来了勇气会是什么样子。他生活中大部分内容就是传教。他的听众里有附近的一些白人，还有黑人，他总是尽力争取更多的黑人听众。他的生活平静如水，没有波澜。直到他遇到了阿纳斯塔西娅·伯根，生活中才有了一些激动人心的内容。他与她相遇，到现在他们订婚已有两年，对我们来说知道这些就够了。

Old Mr. Bergen, when he heard of the engagement, was not well pleased at the information. In the first place, his daughter was very necessary to him, and the idea of her marrying and going away had hardly as yet occurred to him; and then he was by no means inclined to part with any of his money. It must not be presumed that he had amassed a fortune by his trade in cedar wood. Few tradesmen in Bermuda do, as I imagine, amass fortunes. Of some few hundred pounds he was possessed, and these, in the course of nature, would go to his daughter when he died; but he had no inclination to hand any portion of them over to his daughter before they did go to her in the course of nature. Now, the income which Caleb Morton earned as a Presbyterian clergyman was not large, and, therefore, no day had been fixed as yet for his marriage with Anastasia.

老伯根先生听到他们订婚的消息时心里并不高兴。首先，他自己还很需要他女儿，她嫁出去离开家，他可从来没有想过呢。此外，他不愿意现在就把自己的钱陪嫁出去。不要以为他做雪松木材的买卖赚了大笔的钱财。可以想象，在百慕大，生意人没有几个能发大财的。他手里也就几百英镑，而这些钱在他百年以后自然会转到他女儿的手里。可是现在还没有到自然而然的时候，他可不愿意那么轻易就把手里那点儿钱拿出来。凯莱布·莫顿作牧师的收入也不多，因此他和阿纳斯塔西娅的婚事至今仍然遥遥无期。

But, though the old man had been from the first averse to the match, his hostility had not been active. He had not forbidden Mr. Morton his house, or affected to be in any degree angry because his daughter had a lover. He had merely grumbled forth an intimation that those who marry in haste repent at leisure, —that love kept nobody warm if the pot did not boil; and that, as for him, it was as much as he could do to keep his own pot boiling at Crump Cottage. In answer to this Anastasia said nothing. She asked him for no money, but still kept his accounts, managed his household, and looked patiently forward for better days.

不过，尽管老头儿从一开始就反对这桩婚事，他倒从来没有表达过敌意。他没有禁止莫顿先生出入他的家门，也没有因为女儿有了意中人而表达任何不满。他只是咕哝着暗示说，结婚匆匆，后悔无穷——又说要是连锅都烧不开，爱情也热不到哪儿去，还说对他自己来讲，能把自家屋檐下的锅烧开就不错了。听到这些，阿纳斯塔西娅什么也不说。她不跟父亲要钱，却依旧给他管账，给他料理家务，耐心地盼着好日子到来。

Old Mr. Bergen himself spent much of his time at Hamilton, where he had a woodyard with a couple of rooms attached to it. It was his custom to remain here three nights of the week, during which Anastasia was left alone at the cottage; and it happened by no means seldom that she was altogether alone, for the negro whom they called the gardener would go to her father's place at Hamilton, and the two black girls would crawl away up to the road, tired with the monotony of the sea at the cottage. Caleb had more than once told her that she was too much alone, but she had laughed at him, saying that solitude in Bermuda was not dangerous. Nor, indeed, was it; for the people are quiet and well—mannered, lacking much energy, but being, in the same degree, free from any propensity to violence.

老伯根先生很多时候都呆在汉密尔顿，在那儿他有一个木场和几间房子。他习惯一周中三天在那儿过夜，而阿纳斯塔西娅则留在家中。她独自一人在家也是常有的事，因为那个被喊作园丁的黑人女仆会到汉密尔顿的父亲那里去，两个黑人姑娘也会因为厌倦了大海和村舍的单调而跑到大路上去溜达。凯莱布不止一次地对她说，经常单独在家不好，但是她却笑话他说，在百慕大，独处是不会有危险的。也的确如此。因为这里的人们安静且彬彬有礼，没有多少过剩的精力，因此没有谁会以打架斗殴为乐事。

"So you are going, " she said to her lover, one evening, as he rose from the chair on which he had been swinging himself at the door of the cottage which looks down over the creek of the sea. He had sat there for an hour talking to her as she worked, or watching her as she moved about the place. It was a beautiful evening, and the sun had been falling to rest with almost tropical glory before his feet. The bright oleanders were red with their blossoms all around him, and he had thoroughly enjoyed his hour of easy rest. "So you are going, " she said to him, not putting her work out of her hand as he rose to depart.

“你要走了吗？” 一天傍晚她见他从椅子上起身时问道。刚才他一直坐在门口的这把椅子上，门外可以俯视下面的海湾。他已经在这儿坐了一个小时，在她做活儿时陪她说话。有时候，就只是看着她一会儿忙这，一会儿忙那。这是个美丽的傍晚，夕阳西下，在他的脚边投下了赤道地区独有的余晖。鲜红的夹竹桃花盛放在周围，他尽情地享受这一个小时里的惬意。 “你要走了吗？” 她问道。见他要起身告辞，她也并没有停下手里的活儿。

"Yes; and it is time for me to go. I have still work to do before I can get to bed. Ah, well; I suppose the day will come at last when I need not leave you as soon as my hour of rest is over. "

“嗯，该走了。睡觉前还有事情要做。啊，好啦。我想总有一天我用不着时候一到就得往回赶的。”

"Come; of course it will come. That is, if your reverence should choose to wait for it another ten years or so. "

“是呀，总会有这么一天的。我是说，如果你愿意再等上我十年，肯定会有这么一天的。”

"I believe you would not mind waiting twenty years. "

“我相信就是再等二十年，你也会心甘情愿的。”

"Not if a certain friend of mine would come down and see me of evenings when I 'm alone after the day. It seems to me that I shouldn't mind waiting as long as I had that to look for. "

“如果我的这位朋友在我孤独一整天之后的每个傍晚都来看看我。只要有这一条，我没有什么不愿意等的。”

"You are right not to be impatient, " he said to her, after a pause, as he held her hand before he went. "Quite right. I only wish I could school myself to be as easy about it. "

“你这么有耐心真好，” 他离开前握着她的手，顿了一会儿后说道， “你做得很对，只是希望我能够做到像你那样心安理得。”

"I did not say I was easy, " said Anastasia. "People are seldom easy in this world, I take it. I said I could be patient. Do not look in that way, as though you pretended that you were dissatisfied with me. You know that I am true to you, and you ought to be very proud of me. "

“我并没有说我过得心安理得，” 阿纳斯塔西娅说道， “我觉得这个世界上很少有人能够完全心安理得地过日子。我只是说我能够耐心地等。别那样看，好像你装作对我不满的样子。你知道我对你是真心的，你应该为我骄傲才是。”

"I am proud of you, Anastasia—" on hearing which she got up and courtesied to him. "I am proud of you; so proud of you that I feel you should not be left here all alone, with no one to help you if you were in trouble. "

“阿纳斯塔西娅，我确实为你骄傲。” 听到这话，她起身给他行了个礼。 “我为你而骄傲，正是因为如此，我才觉得不应该把你孤独地留在这里，如果你遇到了麻烦，都没有人能来及时帮忙。”

"Women don't get into trouble as men do, and do not want any one to help them. If you were alone in the house you would have to go to bed without your supper, because you could not make a basin of boiled milk ready for your own meal. Now, when your reverence has gone, I shall go to work and have my tea comfortably. "  And then he did go, bidding God bless her as he left her. Three hours after that he was disturbed in his own lodgings by one of the negro girls from the cottage rushing to his door, and begging him in Heaven's name to come down to the assistance of her mistress.

“女人的麻烦事不像男人那么多，也就不需要别人来帮忙了。如果你一个人呆在这个房子里，你只好不吃晚饭就去睡觉，因为别说是给自己准备饭菜，你连热杯牛奶都不会。可是等你一走，我却可以忙我的活儿，舒舒服服地喝喝茶。” 后来他真的走了，临别对她说了句上帝保佑。三个小时后，阿纳斯塔西娅家的一个女仆上气不接下气地跑来他的住处，呼天喊地地让他赶快去救她的小姐。

When Morton left her, Anastasia did not proceed to do as she had said, and seemed to have forgotten her evening meal. She had been working sedulously with her needle during all that last conversation; but when her lover was gone, she allowed the work to fall from her hands, and sat motionless for awhile, gazing at the last streak of colour left by the setting sun; but there was no longer a sign of its glory to be traced in the heavens around her. The twilight in Bermuda is not long and enduring as it is with us, though the daylight does not depart suddenly, leaving the darkness of night behind it without any intermediate time of warning, as is the case farther south, down among the islands of the tropics. But the soft, sweet light of the evening had waned and gone, and night had absolutely come upon her, while Anastasia was still seated before the cottage with her eyes fixed upon the white streak of motionless sea which was still visible through the gloom. She was thinking of him, of his ways of life, of his happiness, and of her duty towards him. She had told him, with her pretty feminine falseness, that she could wait without impatience; but now she said to herself that it would not be good for him to wait longer. He lived alone and without comfort, working very hard for his poor pittance, and she could see, and feel, and understand that a companion in his life was to him almost a necessity. She would tell her father that all this must be brought to an end. She would not ask him for money, but she would make him understand that her services must, at any rate in part, be transferred. Why should not she and Morton still live at the cottage when they were married! And so thinking, and at last resolving, she sat there till the dark night fell upon her.

当时莫顿离开后，阿纳斯塔西娅并没有如她所言那样干活、喝茶，她似乎都忘记了要吃晚饭。刚才聊天的时候，她都一直没有停下手里的针线活儿，可这会儿心上人走了，她却放下了活计，呆坐了好一阵子，凝望着落日留下的最后一抹颜色，直到天空中再不见一丝霞光。百慕大的黄昏并不像我们这儿那么长，那么久，尽管白昼并不是骤然离去，让夜幕降临得毫无征兆，像群岛以南一些热带岛屿上常见的那样。但此时，那柔美的霞光逐渐褪去，茫茫的夜色将她笼罩。而阿纳斯塔西娅依旧坐在屋前，凝视着平静的海面在昏暗中依稀可见的白色波浪线。她在想着他，想他的生活，想他的幸福，想她对他该尽的责任。带着女性特有的小小的虚伪，她曾告诉他，愿意耐心地等他。但现在她心中暗想，对他来讲，等下去毫无益处。他独自一人辛苦劳碌，为了那点微薄的收入苦干着；她能看出，能感觉到，了解到他真的亟需一个生活伴侣。她想告诉父亲让这一切结束吧。她不会跟父亲要钱，但是要让他知道，她要匀出一部分精力给莫顿。为什么不能让莫顿和她在婚后仍旧住在这所房子里呢？她这样想着，想着，终于下定了决心，天全黑了下来。

She was at last disturbed by feeling a man's hand upon her shoulder. She jumped from her chair and faced him, —not screaming, for it was especially within her power to control herself, and to make no utterance except with forethought. Perhaps it might have been better for her had she screamed, and sent a shrill shriek down the shore of that inland sea. She was silent, however, and with awe—struck face and outstretched hands gazed into the face of him who still held her by the shoulder. The night was dark; but her eyes were now accustomed to the darkness, and she could see indistinctly something of his features. He was a low—sized man, dressed in a suit of sailor's blue clothing, with a rough cap of hair on his head, and a beard that had not been clipped for many weeks. His eyes were large, and hollow, and frightfully bright, so that she seemed to see nothing else of him; but she felt the strength of his fingers as he grasped her tighter and more tightly by the arm.

忽然，她的思绪被打断了——她感觉到一个男人的手放在了自己的肩上。她从椅子上跳起来，面对着他。她没有喊叫，因为她有一定的自控力，没有想好之前她是不会作声的。或许她要是当时喊出来，让歇斯底里的声音沿着海岸传下去，情况倒是会更好一些。然而，她没有作声，满脸惊恐，两臂僵直地伸着，直瞪瞪地看着那人的脸，肩膀依旧被他抓着。夜色茫茫，可是她的眼睛已经适应了黑暗，她能依稀看到他的相貌。他个头不高，身穿一套海员的蓝制服，蓬头垢面，胡子足有几个星期没有剃的样子。他眼睛很大，深深地凹进去，而且闪着可怕的光，这让她觉得这人浑身上下只剩了这一双眼睛。不过她还是能感觉到他的手指用力抓住她的臂膀，越抓越紧。

"Who are you? " she said, after a moment's pause.

“你是谁？” 片刻迟疑之后她问道。

"Do you know me? " he asked.

“你认识我？” 他问道。

"Know you! No. "  But the words were hardly out of her mouth before it struck her that the man was Aaron Trow, of whom every one in Bermuda had been talking.

“认识你！不。” 话刚出口，她突然意识到此人肯定是百慕大近来人人议论的艾伦·特罗。

"Come into the house, " he said, "and give me food. "  And he still held her with his hand as though he would compel her to follow him.

“进屋，” 他说道， “我要吃的。” 他的手仍然抓着她不放，仿佛是在强迫她和他一起进去。

She stood for a moment thinking what she would say to him; for even then, with that terrible man standing close to her in the darkness, her presence of mind did not desert her. "Surely, " she said, "I will give you food if you are hungry. But take your hand from me. No man would lay his hands on a woman. "

她站在那儿想着该说什么。即便此时，那么可怕的一个人在黑暗中站在她身边，她也没有丝毫失去理智。 “当然可以。” 她说道， “如果你饿了，我给你弄吃的。但是请你把手拿开。男人不可以随便碰女人的。”

"A woman! " said the stranger. "What does the starved wolf care for that! A woman's blood is as sweet to him as that of a man. Come into the house, I tell you. "  And then she preceded him through the open door into the narrow passage, and thence to the kitchen. There she saw that the back door, leading out on the other side of the house, was open, and she knew that he had come down from the road and entered on that side. She threw her eyes around, looking for the negro girls; but they were away, and she remembered that there was no human being within sound of her voice but this man who had told her that he was as a wolf thirsty after her blood!

“女人！” 陌生人说道， “一只恶狼会管是不是女人吗？女人的血和男人的一样美味。你给我赶快进屋去。” 她领着他走进敞开着的房门，穿过狭窄的通道来到了厨房。她发现通向房子另一侧的后门开着，于是她知道此人肯定是从大路上过来，从房后进来的。她环顾四周想找那两个黑人女仆，可是她们不在；此时她意识到，除了这人没有任何人能听到她的声音，而眼前的人正如他自己所说的那样：像一只要喝她血的恶狼!

"Give me food at once, " he said.

“赶紧把吃的交出来。” 他说。

"And will you go if I give it you? " she asked.

“我给了你吃的，你会走吗？” 她问道。

"I will knock out your brains if you do not, " he replied, lifting from the grate a short, thick poker which lay there. "Do as I bid you at once. You also would be like a tiger if you had fasted for two days, as I have done. "

“快拿吃的，要不我砸碎你的脑袋。” 他一边回答一边从炉子旁边抄起一根粗短的火棍。 “快点照我说的办。你要是像我一样两天滴水不进，也会像只猛虎的。”