Chapter 4 Godfrey is in trouble(1)
第四章戈弗雷遇到了麻煩(一)
Godfrey was not very surprised to find that Dunstan had not come home after his day's hunting. Perhaps he was staying the night at a public house. But when Dunstan did not return home the next day, Godfrey began to worry about Wildfire. He did not trust his brother, and wondered if Dunstan had gone away to spend the money on gambling. So he decided to go to look for him. On the road near Raveloe he met his neighbour, John Bryce, who had arranged to buy Wildfire from Dunstan.
鄧斯坦打獵當天沒回家，戈弗雷一點也不奇怪。可能他那晚都呆在酒館。但第二天鄧斯坦還沒回家時，戈弗雷開始擔心野火了。他不信他弟弟，想知道鄧斯坦是不是把錢拿去賭博了。他打算去找他。剛出拉弗爾村，他在路上遇到了鄰居約翰·布萊斯(John Bryce)，就是打算從鄧斯坦手上買野火的人。
‘Well, Godfrey,’ said Bryce, ‘did your brother tell you about the horse?’
“你好，戈弗雷，”布萊斯說，“你弟弟跟你說了馬的事嗎？”
‘What do you mean, John?' replied Godfrey quickly. 'No, he hasn't been home yet. What's happened to my horse?’
“什麼意思，約翰？”戈弗雷連忙問。 “沒說，他還沒回家。我的馬出什麼事了？”
‘Ah, so he was yours, was he? Dunstan told me you'd given him Wildfire. I was going to buy him, you know.’
“啊，是你的馬呀？鄧斯坦說你把野火送他了。你知道我想買那匹馬。”
‘What's Dunstan done? Is Wildfire hurt?’ asked Godfrey crossly.
“鄧斯坦做什麼了？野火受傷了嗎？”戈弗雷生氣地問。
‘Worse than that,’ answered Bryce. ‘I’m afraid your horse is dead. We’ve only just found him. Your brother rode him to the hunt and the horse fell at a gate and broke his back. So you haven’t seen Dunstan since yesterday?’
“情況比那還糟，”布萊斯回。“恐怕你的馬已經死了。我們剛找到那匹馬。你弟弟騎它去打獵，在跨欄處，馬摔斷了背。昨天就沒見過鄧斯坦了？”
‘No, and he’d better not come home now!' replied Godfrey angrily. ‘How stupid I was to trust him with my horse!’
“沒見過，他最好現在沒回家！”戈弗雷怒不可遏地回。“我託他賣馬，真是太蠢了！”
‘But where can Dunstan be? I suppose he wasn’t hurt, because we didn't find him near the horse.’
“但鄧斯坦去哪了？我想他應該沒受傷，我們沒在馬的附近找到他。
‘Him?’ said Godfrey bitterly. ‘Oh, he’ll be all right. He’ll never be hurt - he only ever hurts other people! We’ll hear of him soon enough, don't worry.’
“他受傷？”戈弗雷陰陽怪氣地說。“哦，他沒事的。他可不會受傷——他只會傷害別人！我們很快會有他消息的，別擔心了。”
Bryce said goodbye and rode away. Godfrey rode slowly back into Raveloe, thinking about what he would very soon have to do. There was no longer any escape. He must confess the whole truth to his father. For the rest of the day he planned what he would say. He would explain that he had lent Fowler’s money to Dunstan, because Dunstan knew his secret. That would be the right moment to tell the Squire about his secret marriage to Molly. ‘But he'll be very angry!’ thought Godfrey. ‘And when he's angry with people, he just wants to punish them! He won’t listen or calm down! But perhaps he'll keep my secret - he's so proud of the family name! And if he disinherited me, everyone would talk about it.!
布萊斯道完別就騎着馬走了。戈弗雷慢慢走回拉弗爾，想他接下來要做什麼。沒必要隱瞞了。他必須向他父親坦白一切。當天剩下的時間裏，他想好了要說的話。他要說清楚他把福勒的錢借給鄧斯坦了，因爲鄧斯坦揪着他的祕密不放。也正好告訴鄉紳他與莫莉偷偷結婚的事。“但他會很生氣！”戈弗雷想。“他生氣時，就知道懲罰人！會聽不進去半句話也冷靜不下來！但也許他會閉口不提我的祕密——我們家族是他的驕傲！如果他剝奪了我的繼承權，人人都會對這事議論紛紛。
When he went to bed that night, Godfrey thought he had decided what to say. But when he woke up in the morning, he could not see any reason to confess to the marriage. Why should he lose the chance of marrying Nancy? Why should he tell the whole truth now, when perhaps it was not necessary? No, it would be better to go on in the same way as before. Perhaps Dunstan would stay away for a while, and then there would be no need to tell his father about Molly. ‘But today I'll tell the Squire about the money.’ he thought. ‘He'll have to know about that.'
當晚戈弗雷上牀睡覺時，他覺得自己想清楚了。但第二天早上醒時，他找不到任何理由來吐露這段婚姻。爲什麼他要失去娶南希的機會？爲什麼他要在沒必要的時候，說出真相？隻字不提，最好還是像以前一樣瞞着。可能鄧斯坦會離開一段時間，這樣就沒必要告訴父親莫莉的事了。 “但今天我得跟鄉紳說錢的事。” 他想。 “他必須知道這件事。”
Godfrey was already in the dining room when his father arrived for breakfast. The Squire sat down at the head of the table and ordered the servant to bring him some beer.
他父親來用早膳時，戈弗雷已經在餐廳了。鄉紳坐到桌子的首位，吩咐僕人給他端點啤酒來。
‘Haven't you had breakfast yet, Godfrey?’ he asked.
“還沒用早膳嗎，戈弗雷？”他問。
‘Yes, I have, sir,’ replied Godfrey, ‘but I was waiting to speak to you.’
“喫過了，先生，”戈弗雷回，“我在等你，有事要說。”
‘Well, you young people have plenty of time,’ answered the Squire. ‘We older ones have to do all the work.’
“好，你們年輕人有的是時間，”鄉紳回。“我們這些老傢伙得忙個不停。”
Godfrey looked straight at his father. ‘Sir,’ he said bravely, ‘I must tell you - something very unfortunate has happened to Wildfire.’
戈弗雷直直地看着他父親。“先生，”他鼓起勇氣說，“我一定要告訴你——野火出大事了。”
‘What! Has he broken a leg? I thought you could ride better than that! Well, you can't expect me to pay for a new horse. I'm very short of money at the moment. And I’m angry with Fowler - he still hasn't paid me what he owes me. If he doesn't pay today, he’ll go to prison!’ The Squire's face was red, and he banged angrily on the table as he Spoke.
“出事！他摔斷腿了？我以爲你騎術應該沒這麼差！呃，你甭想我會再買匹馬給你。我現在缺錢得很。正生福勒的氣——他欠我的錢，到現在都沒還。他要是今天再不還錢，我就把他弄到監獄去！”鄉紳漲紅了臉，邊說邊憤怒地拍桌子。
‘It's worse than breaking a leg,’ continued Godfrey miserably. ‘Wildfire's dead. But I don't want you to buy me another horse. I just feel sorry I can’t pay you - you see, sir, the truth is, I'm very sorry, Fowler did pay the money. He gave it to me, and I was stupid enough to let Dunstan have it. And he was going to sell Wildfire and then I was going to repay you the money.’
“比摔斷腿嚴重，”戈弗雷痛苦地說。“野火死了。我不要你再買馬給我。只是過意不去，我沒錢給你——先生，我很自責，事實是福勒還了錢。他把錢給我了，我犯蠢，把錢給了鄧斯坦。後來託他去賣野火，以爲有錢還你了。
PS:本書爲書蟲系列四級讀物，由英國著名女作家喬治·艾略特所著、英國書蟲系列著名作家克萊爾·韋斯特改寫。
英文爲書蟲系列原文，譯文是筆者翻譯。本文僅因個人興趣而譯，故本文謝絕轉載和各種商業用途，同時承諾若出現任何責任由作者承擔，必要時簡書可刪除文章。