When Lydia went away, she promised to write very often and very minutely to her mother and Kitty; but her letters were always long expected, and always very short. Those to her mother contained little else, than that they were just returned from the library, where such and such officers had attended them, and where she had seen such beautiful ornaments as made her quite wild; that she had a new gown, or a new parasol, which she would have described more fully, but was obliged to leave off in a violent hurry, as Mrs. Forster called her, and they were going to the camp; -- and from her correspondence with her sister, there was still less to be learnt -- for her letters to Kitty, though rather longer, were much too full of lines under the words to be made public.
麗迪雅臨走的時候,答應(yīng)常常給母親和吉蒂寫信來,詳詳細細地告訴她們一路上的情形,可是她走了以后,家里老是等了好久才接到她一封信,而每封信又往往只是寥寥數(shù)行。她給她母親寫的那些信,無非說說她們剛剛從圖書館回來,有許多軍官們陪著她們一起去,她們在那里看到許多漂亮的裝飾品,使她眼紅極了,或者說是她買了一件新的長衣服,一把陽傘,她本來可以把這些東西詳詳細細描寫一番,可是弗斯脫太太在叫她了,她們馬上就要到兵營去,等等。至于她寫給吉蒂的信,雖然要長得多,可是也很空洞,因為有許多重要的話不便寫出來。

After the first fortnight or three weeks of her absence, health, good humour, and cheerfulness began to re-appear at Longbourn. Everything wore a happier aspect. The families who had been in town for the winter came back again, and summer finery and summer engagements arose. Mrs. Bennet was restored to her usual querulous serenity, and by the middle of June Kitty was so much recovered as to be able to enter Meryton without tears; an event of such happy promise as to make Elizabeth hope that by the following Christmas, she might be so tolerably reasonable as not to mention an officer above once a day, unless, by some cruel and malicious arrangement at the War-Office, another regiment should be quartered in Meryton.
她走了兩三個星期以后,浪搏恩又重新恢復(fù)了愉快歡樂的氣象。一切都欣欣向榮。上城里過冬的那些人家都搬回來了,人們都穿起了夏天的新裝,到處是夏天的約會。班納特太太又象往常一樣動不動就發(fā)牢騷。到了六月中旬吉蒂完全恢復(fù)了常態(tài),到麥里屯去可以不掉眼淚了,伊麗莎白看到真高興,她希望到了圣誕節(jié),吉蒂會變得相當(dāng)有理智,不至于每天三番五次地提到軍官們,除非作戰(zhàn)部不管人家死活,又來一次惡作劇,重新調(diào)一團人駐扎到麥里屯來。

The time fixed for the beginning of their Northern tour was now fast approaching; and a fortnight only was wanting of it, when a letter arrived from Mrs. Gardiner, which at once delayed its commencement and curtailed its extent. Mr. Gardiner would be prevented by business from setting out till a fortnight later in July, and must be in London again within a month; and as that left too short a period for them to go so far, and see so much as they had proposed, or at least to see it with the leisure and comfort they had built on, they were obliged to give up the Lakes, and substitute a more contracted tour; and, according to the present plan, were to go no farther northward than Derbyshire. In that county, there was enough to be seen to occupy the chief of their three weeks; and to Mrs. Gardiner it had a peculiarly strong attraction. The town where she had formerly passed some years of her life, and where they were now to spend a few days, was probably as great an object of her curiosity, as all the celebrated beauties of Matlock, Chatsworth, Dovedale, or the Peak.
他們北上旅行的日期已經(jīng)迫近,只剩下兩個星期了,不料這時候嘉丁納太太卻寄來了一封信,使行期耽擱下來,旅行范圍也得縮小。信上說,因為嘉丁納先生有事,行期必須延遲兩個星期,到七月里才能動身,又因為他只能出外旅行一個月便得回到倫敦,日期很短促,不能照原來的計劃作長途旅行,飽餐山川景色,至少不能照原來所安排的那樣悠閑自在地去游覽,湖區(qū)必須放棄,旅程必須縮短,只能到德比郡為止。其實德比郡就足夠供他們游覽,足夠他們消磨短短三星期的旅行日程,而且嘉丁納太太非常向往那個地方。她以前曾在那兒住過兒年,現(xiàn)在能夠舊地重游,盤桓數(shù)日,便不禁對于馬特洛克、恰滋華斯、鴿谷、秀阜的風(fēng)景名勝,心醉神往。

Elizabeth was excessively disappointed; she had set her heart on seeing the Lakes; and still thought there might have been time enough. But it was her business to be satisfied -- and certainly her temper to be happy; and all was soon right again. With the mention of Derbyshire, there were many ideas connected. It was impossible for her to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner. "But surely," said she, "I may enter his county with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me."
這封信使伊麗莎白非常失望。她本來一心想去觀賞湖區(qū)風(fēng)光,到現(xiàn)在還覺得時間很充裕。不過,她既沒有權(quán)利可以反對,她的心境又很灑脫,不多一會,便又覺得好受了。一提到德比郡,就免不了勾起多少聯(lián)想。她看到這個地名,就不禁想到彭伯里和彭伯里的主人。她說:“我一定可以大搖大擺地走進他的故鄉(xiāng),趁他不知不覺的時候,攫取幾塊透明的晶石。”

The period of expectation was now doubled. Four weeks were to pass away before her uncle and aunt's arrival. But they did pass away, and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, with their four children, did at length appear at Longbourn. The children, two girls of six and eight years old, and two younger boys, were to be left under the particular care of their cousin Jane, who was the general favourite, and whose steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way -- teaching them, playing with them, and loving them.
行期一延再延。舅父母還得過四個星期才能來。可是四個星期畢竟過去了,嘉丁納夫婦終于帶著他們的四個孩子來到浪搏恩。四個孩子中間有兩個女孩子,一個六歲,一個八歲,另外兩個男孩子年紀還小。孩子們都將留在這兒,由他們的表姐吉英照管,因為他們都喜歡吉英,加上吉英舉止穩(wěn)重,性情柔和,無論是教孩子們讀書,跟他們游戲,以及照顧他們,都非常適合。