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My eye involuntarily wandered to the grey church tower near the gates, and I asked,
我的目光不由自主地飘向了大门边灰色的教堂塔楼，我问道，
"Is he with Damer de Rochester, sharing the shelter of his narrow marble house?"
“难道他已随戴默尔·德·罗切斯特而去，共住在狭窄的大理石房子里？”
Some answer must be had to these questions.
这些问题都得找到答案。
I could find it nowhere but at the inn, and thither, ere long, I returned.
而除了旅店，别处是找不到的。于是不久我便返回那里。
The host himself brought my breakfast into the parlour.
老板亲自把早餐端到客厅里来，
I requested him to shut the door and sit down: I had some questions to ask him.
我请他关了门，坐下来。我有些问题要问他，
But when he complied, I scarcely knew how to begin; such horror had I of the possible answers.
但待他答应之后，我却不知道从何开始了。我对可能得到的回答怀着一种恐俱感，
And yet the spectacle of desolation I had just left prepared me in a measure for a tale of misery.
然而刚才看到的那番荒凉景象，为一个悲惨的故事作好了一定的准备。
The host was a respectable-looking, middle-aged man.
老板看上去是位体面的中年人。
"You know Thornfield Hall, of course?"
“你当然知道桑菲尔德府了？”
I managed to say at last.
我终于启齿了。
"Yes, ma'am; I lived there once."
“是的，小姐，我以前在那里住过。”
"Did you?" Not in my time, I thought: you are a stranger to me.
“是吗？”不是我在的时候，我想。我觉得他很陌生。
"I was the late Mr. Rochester's butler," he added.
“我是已故的罗切斯特先生的管家，”他补充道。
The late! I seem to have received, with full force, the blow I had been trying to evade.
已故的！我觉得我避之不迭的打击重重地落到我头上了。
"The late!" gasped. "Is he dead?"
“已故的！”我透不过气来了。“他死了？”
"I mean the present gentleman, Mr. Edward's father," he explained.
“我说的是现在的老爷，爱德华先生的父亲，”他解释说。
I breathed again: my blood resumed its flow.
我又喘过气来了，我的血液也继续流动。
Fully assured by these words that Mr. Edward -- my Mr. Rochester
他的这番话使我确信，爱德华先生——我的罗切斯特先生
(God bless him, wherever he was!) -- was at least alive: was, in short, "the present gentleman."
（无论他在何方，愿上帝祝福他！）至少还活着，总之还是“现在的老爷”，
Gladdening words!
（多让人高兴的话！）
It seemed I could hear all that was to come -- whatever the disclosures might be -- with comparative tranquillity.
我似乎觉得，不管他会透露什么消息，我会比较平静地去倾听。
Since he was not in the grave, I could bear, I thought, to learn that he was at the Antipodes.
我想，就是知道他在新西兰和澳大利亚，我都能忍受。
