The Williamson place, where Eric boarded, was on the crest of the succeeding hill. He liked it as well as Larry West had prophesied that he would. The Williamsons, as well as the rest of the Lindsay people, took it for granted that he was a poor college student working his way through as Larry West had been doing. Eric did not disturb this belief, although he said nothing to contribute to it.

埃里克所寄宿的威廉森家坐落在绵延起伏的群山顶。正如拉里·韦斯特之前所预言的那样，他喜欢这里。和其他林赛人一样，威廉森一家想当然地把他当成了像之前的拉里·韦斯特那样勤工俭学的穷大学生。埃里克既没纠正这一想法，也没说什么予以证实。

The Williamsons were at tea in the kitchen when Eric went in. Mrs. Williamson was the "saint in spectacles and calico" which Larry West had termed her. Eric liked her greatly. She was a slight, gray-haired woman, with a thin, sweet, high-bred face, deeply lined with the records of outlived pain. She talked little as a rule; but, in the pungent country phrase she never spoke but she said something. The one thing that constantly puzzled Eric was how such a woman ever came to marry Robert Williamson.

埃里克进门时，威廉森一家正在厨房喝茶。拉里·韦斯特管威廉森太太叫“戴眼镜、穿印花棉布的圣徒”。埃里克非常喜欢她。她是个头发灰白、身材瘦小的女人。一张瘦削、甜美、高贵的脸庞上深深刻画着历经苦难的印痕。她总是沉默寡言。不过，有句辛辣的乡下话说得好，她是不鸣则已，一鸣惊人。埃里克一直很纳闷，这样一个女人怎么会嫁给了罗伯特·威廉森。

She smiled in a motherly fashion at Eric, as he hung his hat on the white-washed wall and took his place at the table. Outside of the window behind him was a birch grove which, in the westering sun, was a tremulous splendour, with a sea of undergrowth wavered into golden billows by every passing wind.

她像母亲一样慈祥地朝埃里克微笑，看着他把帽子挂在白墙上，在桌边坐下来。他身后的窗外有一片桦树林，在夕阳的映照下，蔚为壮观。每当一阵风吹过，桦树下茂密的灌木就会随风摇曳，金光闪闪。

Old Robert Williamson sat opposite him, on a bench. He was a small, lean old man, half lost in loose clothes that seemed far too large for him. When he spoke his voice was as thin and squeaky as he appeared to be himself.

老罗伯特·威廉森坐在他对面的长凳上。他是个矮小瘦削的老头，身上的衣服对他而言似乎太过宽松，半个身体都已没入其中。他一开口，尖细的声音吱吱作响，声如其人。

The other end of the bench was occupied by Timothy, sleek and complacent, with a snowy breast and white paws. After old Robert had taken a mouthful of anything he gave a piece to Timothy, who ate it daintily and purred resonant gratitude.

长凳的另一头坐着蒂莫西，打扮整洁、得意洋洋、胸脯雪白、手指洁净。老罗伯特不论吃什么，尝过一口后都会给蒂莫西一份。蒂莫西一边优雅地吃着，一边还会咕噜咕噜地应和，以表感激。

"You see we're busy waiting for you, Master," said old Robert. "You're late this evening. Keep any of the youngsters in? That's a foolish way of punishing them, as hard on yourself as on them. One teacher we had four years ago used to lock them in and go home. Then he'd go back in an hour and let them out—if they were there. They weren't always. Tom Ferguson kicked the panels out of the old door once and got out that way. We put a new door of double plank in that they couldn't kick out."

“您看，我们一直在等您呢，老师，”老罗伯特说，“您今晚回来得有点儿迟。罚哪个年轻人留校了吗？这样惩罚他们可不明智，您自己也不好过。四年前我们有位老师曾经把他们锁在学校，自己回了家。一小时后他回去了，准备把他们放出来——如果他们还在那儿的话。但他们总是不在。汤姆·弗格森有一次把旧门板踢掉了，然后从那里出来了。我们装了一个有双层板的新门，他们就踢不掉了。”

"I stayed in the schoolroom to do some work," said Eric briefly.

“我留在教室里做了些事。”埃里克简短地说。

"Well, you've missed Alexander Tracy. He was here to find out if you could play checkers, and, when I told him you could, he left word for you to go up and have a game some evening soon. Don't beat him too often, even if you can. You'll need to stand in with him, I tell you, Master, for he's got a son that may brew trouble for you when he starts in to go to school. Seth Tracy's a young imp, and he'd far sooner be in mischief than eat. He tries to run on every new teacher and he's run two clean out of the school. But he met his match in Mr. West. William Tracy's boys now—you won't have a scrap of bother with them. They're always good because their mother tells them every Sunday that they'll go straight to hell if they don't behave in school. It's effective. Take some preserve, Master. You know we don't help things here the way Mrs. Adam Scott does when she has boarders, 'I s'pose you don't want any of this—nor you—nor you?’ Mother, Aleck says old George Wright is having the time of his life. His wife has gone to Charlottetown to visit her sister and he is his own boss for the first time since he was married, forty years ago. He's on a regular orgy, Aleck says. He smokes in the parlour and sits up till eleven o'clock reading dime novels."

“嗯，你没能见到亚历山大·特雷西。他到这儿来找你，问你会不会下跳棋。我告诉他你会，他让我转告你，赶紧找个晚上去和他玩一盘。即使你有那个本事，也别让他输得太惨。你得跟他统一战线，我跟你讲，老师。因为他有个儿子，等他一上学，可能会给你惹麻烦的。赛思·特雷西是个小顽童，还没学会吃饭就会捣蛋了。他想方设法把每个新老师都赶走，现在已经赶走两个了。可韦斯特先生在这儿，他算是棋逢对手了。现在，威廉·特雷西家的男孩子们一点儿麻烦都不会给您惹了。他们一贯表现良好，因为他们的母亲每周日都会告诫他们，在学校里要是不听话，就会直接下地狱。这挺管用。别多管闲事，老师。您知道的，我们家可不像亚当·斯科特太太那样，总干涉房客们的事。我想您也一点儿都不想别人干预您的事，对不对？对不对？”孩子他妈，亚力克说老乔治·怀特正在享受人生。他妻子已经去夏洛特敦看她妹妹了。现在是他自己当家做主，这可是结婚四十年来头一回。亚历克说他常常饮酒作乐。他在起居室里抽烟，熬夜读那些乱七八糟的小说直到十一点。”

"Perhaps I met Mr. Tracy," said Eric. "Is he a tall man, with gray hair and a dark, stern face?"

“也许我见过特雷西先生，”埃里克说，“他是不是高个子、灰头发、表情阴沉严厉？”

"No, he's a round, jolly fellow, is Aleck, and he stopped growing pretty much before he'd ever begun. I reckon the man you mean is Thomas Gordon. I seen him driving down the road too. He won't be troubling you with invitations up, small fear of it. The Gordons ain't sociable, to say the least of it. No, sir! Mother, pass the biscuits to the Master."

“不，他是个胖墩墩的快活家伙，叫亚力克。他还没怎么长个就不长了。我猜想，您刚刚说的是托马斯·戈登。我也看见他沿路开车走了。他不会邀请您，给您添麻烦的，不用太担心。戈登一家不和人往来，一点儿也不。从不！先生。孩子他妈，把饼干递给老师。”

"Who was the young fellow he had with him?" asked Eric curiously.

“和他在一起的那个年轻人是谁？”埃里克好奇地问。

"Neil—Neil Gordon."

“尼尔——尼尔·戈登。”

"That is a Scotchy name for such a face and eyes. I should rather have expected Guiseppe or Angelo. The boy looks like an Italian."

“那样一张脸和那样一双眼睛怎么会有一个苏格兰名字？我原以为会是朱塞佩或者安杰洛呢。那孩子看起来像意大利人。”

"Well, now, you know, Master, I reckon it's likely he does, seeing that that's exactly what he is. You've hit the nail square on the head. Italyun, yes, sir! Rather too much so, I'm thinking, for decent folks' taste."

“嗯，现在，您知道了吧，老师，我料想他就是个意大利人，看他的样子就知道了。您可是一针见血了。意大利人，是的，老师！肯定是的，我觉着，一般人都会这么认为的。”

"How has it happened that an Italian boy with a Scotch name is living in a place like Lindsay?"

“一个意大利男孩怎么会有个苏格兰名字，还住在林赛这种地方？”

"Well, Master, it was this way. About twenty-two years ago—was it twenty-two, Mother or twenty-four? Yes, it was twenty-two—’twas the same year our Jim was born and he'd have been twenty-two if he'd lived, poor little fellow. Well, Master, twenty-two years ago a couple of Italian pack peddlers came along and called at the Gordon place. The country was swarming with them then. I useter set the dog on one every day on an average.

“嗯，老师，事情是这样的。大约在二十二年前，是二十二还是二十四啊，孩子他妈？是的，是二十二年前，我们的吉姆就是那年出生的。要是没死的话，他现在就二十二岁了，可怜的小家伙。嗯，老师，二十二年前有一对意大利摊贩来到这里，拜访了戈登家。当时乡下到处都是摊贩。我过去几乎每天都要放狗赶走一个。

"Well, these peddlers were man and wife, and the woman took sick up there at the Gordon place, and Janet Gordon took her in and nursed her. A baby was born the next day, and the woman died. Then the first thing anybody knew the father skipped clean out, pack and all, and was never seen or heard tell of afterwards. The Gordons were left with the fine youngster to their hands. Folks advised them to send him to the Orphan Asylum, and 'twould have been the wisest plan, but the Gordons were never fond of taking advice. Old James Gordon was living then, Thomas and Janet's father, and he said he would never turn a child out of his door. He was a masterful old man and liked to be boss. Folks used to say he had a grudge against the sun 'cause it rose and set without his say so. Anyhow, they kept the baby. They called him Neil and had him baptized same as any Christian child. He's always lived there. They did well enough by him. He was sent to school and taken to church and treated like one of themselves. Some folks think they made too much of him. It doesn't always do with that kind, for 'what's bred in bone is mighty apt to come out in flesh,' if 'taint kept down pretty well. Neil's smart and a great worker, they tell me. But folks hereabouts don't like him. They say he ain't to be trusted further'n you can see him, if as far. It's certain he's awful hot tempered, and one time when he was going to school he near about killed a boy he'd took a spite to—choked him till he was black in the face and Neil had to be dragged off."

“嗯，这两个小贩是对夫妻。女的在戈登家生了病，珍妮特·戈登便收留并照料了她。第二天，一个孩子出生了，那个女人死了。接着，大家知道的第一件事就是孩子的父亲溜了，什么东西都带走了，从此音信全无。把那个小家伙丢给了戈登一家。乡亲们建议他们把孩子送到孤儿院。这或许是最明智的做法，但戈登一家不愿这么做。托马斯和珍妮特的父亲——老詹姆斯·戈登那时还活着。他说他绝不会将一个孩子赶出门。他是个专横的老头，喜欢发号施令。乡亲们过去常说他对太阳都心存怨恨，因为日升日落都没经过他允许。不管怎样，他们收留了那个婴儿。他们给他取名尼尔，和其他基督徒的孩子一样受洗礼。他自此就住下了。他们对尼尔相当好。他们送他去上学，去教堂，视他为他们自己家庭中的一名成员。有些乡亲们觉得他们对他期望太高了。但教育那样的孩子，这招并不总是管用的。因为要是管教不好，很有可能会‘原形毕露’的。他们告诉我说，尼尔是个聪明的好工人。不过这一带的乡亲们并不喜欢他。他们说他不像看起来那样可信。他脾气火爆，这是肯定的。有一次去学校路上，他差点把一个叫他怨恨的男孩给杀了。他一直勒着那男孩，直到对方脸色发黑，有人把他拉走，这才罢休。”

"Well now, father, you know they teased him terrible," protested Mrs.Williamson.

“哎，孩子他爸，你知道他们把他戏弄得有多惨，”威廉森太太抗议说，

"The poor boy had a real hard time when he went to school, Master. The other children were always casting things up to him and calling him names."

“那个可怜的男孩在学校曾有一段日子真的很不好过，老师。其他孩子总朝他丢东西，给他取绰号。”

"Oh, I daresay they tormented him a lot," admitted her husband. "He's a great hand at the fiddle and likes company. He goes to the harbour a good deal. But they say he takes sulky spells when he hasn't a word to throw to a dog. 'Twouldn't be any wonder, living with the Gordons. They're all as queer as Dick's hat-band."

“噢，我敢说他们没少折磨他，”她丈夫承认说，“他擅长拉小提琴，也喜欢交朋友。他常去海港。不过大家说他一找不到词骂狗就会生闷气。跟戈登一家住一起，这种事并不稀奇。他们一家都和迪克的皇冠一样古怪。”

"Father, you shouldn't talk so about your neighbours," said his wife rebukingly.

“孩子他爸，你不该这么说你的邻居。”他妻子责备他说。

"Well now, Mother, you know they are, if you'd only speak up honest. But you're like old Aunt Nancy Scott, you never say anything uncharitable except in the way of business. You know the Gordons ain't like other people and never were and never will be. They're about the only queer folks we have in Lindsay, Master, except old Peter Cook, who keeps twenty-five cats. Lord, Master, think of it! What chanct would a poor mouse have? None of the rest of us are queer, leastwise, we hain't found it out if we are. But, then, we're mighty uninteresting, I'm bound to admit that."

“好吧，孩子他妈，你知道他们的，只是你不实话实说罢了。可你跟老南希·斯科特阿姨一样，除非是正经事，否则从不说不厚道的话。你知道戈登一家和其他人不一样，过去不一样，以后还是会不一样。他们是我们林赛唯一的怪人，老师，还有一个就是老彼得·库克，他养了二十五只猫。天哪，老师，想想看！可怜的老鼠哪有活命的机会？我们其他人都没有什么怪异的，至少，我们还没发现。不过，我也一定承认，我们确实很无趣。”

"Where do the Gordons live?" asked Eric, who had grown used to holding fast to a given point of inquiry through all the bewildering mazes of old Robert's conversation.

“戈登一家住哪儿？”埃里克问。他已经渐渐习惯于穿过老罗伯特云里雾里的谈话，直奔主题了。

"Away up yander, half a mile in from Radnor road, with a thick spruce wood atween them and all the rest of the world. They never go away anywheres, except to church—they never miss that—and nobody goes there. There's just old Thomas, and his sister Janet, and a niece of theirs, and this here Neil we've been talking about. They're a queer, dour, cranky lot, and I will say it, Mother. There, give your old man a cup of tea and never mind the way his tongue runs on. Speaking of tea, do you know Mrs. Adam Palmer and Mrs. Jim Martin took tea together at Foster Reid's last Wednesday afternoon?"

“那边往上，离雷德诺街半英里。茂密的云杉把他们和外界的人隔绝开来。他们从不出门，除非是去教堂——他们从不错过做礼拜——但是别人都不去那儿。去的只有老托马斯、他的妹妹珍妮特、他们的一个外甥女，还有我们现在正说着的这个尼尔。孩子他妈，我敢说，他们就是一群性格古怪、阴沉暴躁的家伙。来，给你老伴我倒杯茶，甭管我胡言乱语。说到茶，你知道吗？亚当·帕尔默太太和吉姆·马丁太太上周三下午在福斯特·里德太太家一起喝茶了。”

"No, why, I thought they were on bad terms," said Mrs. Williamson, betraying a little feminine curiosity.

“不知道啊，怎么会？我原以为她俩关系不好呢。”威廉森太太说，微微显露出女人的好奇心。

"So they are, so they are. But they both happened to visit Mrs. Foster the same afternoon and neither would leave because that would be knuckling down to the other. So they stuck it out, on opposite sides of the parlour. Mrs. Foster says she never spent such an uncomfortable afternoon in all her life before. She would talk a spell to one and then t'other. And they kept talking to Mrs. Foster and at each other. Mrs. Foster says she really thought she'd have to keep them all night, for neither would start to go home afore the other. Finally Jim Martin came in to look for his wife, 'cause he thought she must have got stuck in the marsh, and that solved the problem. Master, you ain't eating anything. Don't mind my stopping; I was at it half an hour afore you come, and anyway I'm in a hurry. My hired boy went home to-day. He heard the rooster crow at twelve last night and he's gone home to see which of his family is dead. He knows one of 'em is. He heard a rooster crow in the middle of the night onct afore and the next day he got word that his second cousin down at Souris was dead. Mother, if the Master don't want any more tea, ain't there some cream for Timothy?"

“是的，她们是关系不好。不过，那天下午，她俩凑巧都去拜访福斯特太太，然后谁也不愿离开，因为那意味着向对方投降。所以两个人一斗到底，一边一个坐在客厅两头。福斯特太太说她一辈子也没过过这么难受的下午。她对这个人说一个字，然后又对另一个说一个字。她俩不停地跟福斯特太太说话，互相又说个没完。福斯特太太说她真以为自己一晚上都得招待这两位呢，因为她俩谁也不肯先走。终于吉姆·马丁来找他老婆了。他还以为她一定是陷在沼泽地里了呢。问题这才解决。老师，您怎么不吃东西呀？您别管我吃不吃。半个小时前您还没回来，我就吃过了，因为我有急事。我雇的那个男孩今天回家去了。他昨晚午夜听见公鸡叫，所以回家看看家里哪个人去世了。他知道有人去世了。以前他半夜就听见过一次公鸡叫。结果第二天就听说他住在苏里斯的远房表哥死了。孩子他妈，老师不想再喝茶了，不是还有些给蒂莫西吃的奶油吗？” b9LcGVeIudOfFwtY0vs0E80Vz77ehglVkLvDw0/+9KtYA5pZOSjtZy3C4PmVq+5b