Chapter 4 Godfrey is in trouble(1)
第四章戈弗雷遇到了麻烦(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.
邓斯坦打猎当天没回家，戈弗雷一点也不奇怪。可能他那晚都呆在酒馆。但第二天邓斯坦还没回家时，戈弗雷开始担心野火了。他不信他弟弟，想知道邓斯坦是不是把钱拿去赌博了。他打算去找他。刚出拉弗尔村，他在路上遇到了邻居约翰·布莱斯(John Bryce)，就是打算从邓斯坦手上买野火的人。
‘Well, Godfrey,’ said Bryce, ‘did your brother tell you about the horse?’
“你好，戈弗雷，”布莱斯说，“你弟弟跟你说了马的事吗？”
‘What do you mean, John?' replied Godfrey quickly. 'No, he hasn't been home yet. What's happened to my horse?’
“什么意思，约翰？”戈弗雷连忙问。 “没说，他还没回家。我的马出什么事了？”
‘Ah, so he was yours, was he? Dunstan told me you'd given him Wildfire. I was going to buy him, you know.’
“啊，是你的马呀？邓斯坦说你把野火送他了。你知道我想买那匹马。”
‘What's Dunstan done? Is Wildfire hurt?’ asked Godfrey crossly.
“邓斯坦做什么了？野火受伤了吗？”戈弗雷生气地问。
‘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?’
“情况比那还糟，”布莱斯回。“恐怕你的马已经死了。我们刚找到那匹马。你弟弟骑它去打猎，在跨栏处，马摔断了背。昨天就没见过邓斯坦了？”
‘No, and he’d better not come home now!' replied Godfrey angrily. ‘How stupid I was to trust him with my horse!’
“没见过，他最好现在没回家！”戈弗雷怒不可遏地回。“我托他卖马，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.’
“但邓斯坦去哪了？我想他应该没受伤，我们没在马的附近找到他。
‘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.’
“他受伤？”戈弗雷阴阳怪气地说。“哦，他没事的。他可不会受伤——他只会伤害别人！我们很快会有他消息的，别担心了。”
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.!
布莱斯道完别就骑着马走了。戈弗雷慢慢走回拉弗尔，想他接下来要做什么。没必要隐瞒了。他必须向他父亲坦白一切。当天剩下的时间里，他想好了要说的话。他要说清楚他把福勒的钱借给邓斯坦了，因为邓斯坦揪着他的秘密不放。也正好告诉乡绅他与莫莉偷偷结婚的事。“但他会很生气！”戈弗雷想。“他生气时，就知道惩罚人！会听不进去半句话也冷静不下来！但也许他会闭口不提我的秘密——我们家族是他的骄傲！如果他剥夺了我的继承权，人人都会对这事议论纷纷。
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.'
当晚戈弗雷上床睡觉时，他觉得自己想清楚了。但第二天早上醒时，他找不到任何理由来吐露这段婚姻。为什么他要失去娶南希的机会？为什么他要在没必要的时候，说出真相？只字不提，最好还是像以前一样瞒着。可能邓斯坦会离开一段时间，这样就没必要告诉父亲莫莉的事了。 “但今天我得跟乡绅说钱的事。” 他想。 “他必须知道这件事。”
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.
他父亲来用早膳时，戈弗雷已经在餐厅了。乡绅坐到桌子的首位，吩咐仆人给他端点啤酒来。
‘Haven't you had breakfast yet, Godfrey?’ he asked.
“还没用早膳吗，戈弗雷？”他问。
‘Yes, I have, sir,’ replied Godfrey, ‘but I was waiting to speak to you.’
“吃过了，先生，”戈弗雷回，“我在等你，有事要说。”
‘Well, you young people have plenty of time,’ answered the Squire. ‘We older ones have to do all the work.’
“好，你们年轻人有的是时间，”乡绅回。“我们这些老家伙得忙个不停。”
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亲。“先生，”他鼓起勇气说，“我一定要告诉你——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！他摔断腿了？我以为你骑术应该没这么差！呃，你甭想我会再买匹马给你。我现在缺钱得很。正生福勒的气——他欠我的钱，到现在都没还。他要是今天再不还钱，我就把他弄到监狱去！”乡绅涨红了脸，边说边愤怒地拍桌子。
‘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.’
“比摔断腿严重，”戈弗雷痛苦地说。“野火死了。我不要你再买马给我。只是过意不去，我没钱给你——先生，我很自责，事实是福勒还了钱。他把钱给我了，我犯蠢，把钱给了邓斯坦。后来托他去卖野火，以为有钱还你了。
PS:本书为书虫系列四级读物，由英国著名女作家乔治·艾略特所著、英国书虫系列著名作家克莱尔·韦斯特改写。
英文为书虫系列原文，译文是笔者翻译。本文仅因个人兴趣而译，故本文谢绝转载和各种商业用途，同时承诺若出现任何责任由作者承担，必要时简书可删除文章。