I was knocked down, was the blunt explanation, jerked out of me by another pang of mortified pride.
"我是被人给打倒的,"我脱口而出。由于自尊心再次受到伤害,引起了一阵痛楚,我冒昧地作了这样的辩解。
"But that did not make me ill," I added, while Mr. Lloyd helped himself to a pinch of snuff.
"但光那样也不会生病。"我趁劳埃德先生取了一撮鼻烟吸起来时说。
As he was returning the box to his waistcoat pocket, a loud bell rang for the servants' dinner.
他把烟盒放入背心口袋。这时,铃声大作,叫佣人们去吃饭。
He knew what it was.
他明白是怎么回事。
"That 's for you, nurse," said he.
"那是叫你的,保姆,"他说。
"You can go down; I'll give Miss Jane a lecture till you come back."
"你可以下去啦,我来开导开导简小姐,等着你回来。"
Bessie would rather have stayed, but she was obliged to go, because punctuality at meals was rigidly enforced at Gateshead Hall.
贝茜本想留着,但又不得不走,准时吃饭是盖茨黑德府的一条成规。
"The fall did not make you ill; what did, then?" pursued Mr. Lloyd when Bessie was gone.
"你不是以为跌了跤才生病吧?那么因为什么呢?"贝茜一走,劳埃德先生便追问道。
"I was shut up in a room where there is a ghost till after dark."
"他们把我关在一间闹鬼的房子里,直到天黑。"
I saw Mr. Lloyd smile and frown at the same time.
我看到劳埃德先生微微一笑,同时又皱起眉头来,
"Ghost! What, you are a baby after all! You are afraid of ghosts?"
"鬼?瞧,你毕竟还是个娃娃!你怕鬼吗?"
"Of Mr. Reed's ghost I am. He died in that room, and was laid out there.
里德先生的鬼魂我是怕的,他就死在那同房子里,还在那里停过棂。
Neither Bessie nor any one else will go into it at night, if they can help it.
还是别人,能不进去,是不在夜里进那房间的。
And it was cruel to shut me up alone without a candle, so cruel that I think I shall never forget it."
多狠心呀,把我一个人关在里面,连支蜡烛也不点。心肠那么狠,我一辈子都忘不了。"
"Nonsense! And is it that makes you so miserable? Are you afraid now in daylight?"
"瞎说!就因为这个使你心里难受,现在大白天你还怕吗?"
"No. But night will come again before long, and besides, I am unhappy, very unhappy, for other things."
"现在不怕,不过马上又要到夜里了。另外,我不愉快,很不愉快,为的是其他事情。"
"What other things? Can you tell me some of them?"
"其他什么事?能说些给我听听吗?"