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When they had rounded the curve of the dusty road that hid them from Tara, Brent drew his horse to a stop under a clump of dogwood. Stuart halted, too, and the darky boy pulled up a few paces behind them. The horses, feeling slack reins, stretched down their necks to crop the tender spring grass, and the patient hounds lay down again in the soft red dust and looked up longingly at the chimney swallows circling in the gathering dusk. Brent’s wide ingenuous face was puzzled and mildly indignant.
他们在尘土飞扬的大道上拐过那个看不见塔拉农场的弯以后，布伦特勒住马，在一丛山茱萸下站住了。斯图尔特跟着停下来，黑小子也紧跑几步跟上了他们。两骑马觉得缰绳松了，便伸长脖子去啃柔嫩的春草，猎犬们重新在灰土中躺下，贪馋地仰望着在愈来愈浓的暮色中回旋飞舞的燕子。布伦特那张老实巴交的宽脸上呈现迷惑神情。
“Look,” he said. “Don’t it look to you like she would of asked us to stay for supper?”
“I thought she would,” said Stuart. I kept waiting for her to do it, but she didn’t. What do you make of it?”
“听我说，”他说，"你不觉得她好像要请我们留下吃饭吗？”“我本来以为她会的，”斯图尔特答道。"我一直等着她说出来，但是她没有说。你想这是为什么？”
“I don’t make anything of it But it just looks to me like she might of. After all, it’s our first day home and she hasn’t seen us in quite a spell. And we had lots more things to tell her.”
“我一点也不明白。不过据我看，她应当留我们的。毕竟这是我们回家后的第一天，她跟我们又好久没见面。何况我们还有许许多多的事情没跟她说呢。”
“It looked to me like she was mighty glad to see us when we came.”
“I thought so, too.”
“据我看，我们刚来时她好像很高兴见到我们。”“本来我也这样想。”
“And then, about a half-hour ago, she got kind of quiet, like she had a headache.”
“可后来，大约半个钟头以前吧，她就不怎么说话了，好像有点头痛。”
“I noticed that but I didn’t pay it any mind then. What do you suppose ailed her?”
“I dunno. Do you suppose we said something that made her mad?”
They both thought for a minute.
“我看到这一点了，可我当时并不在意。你想她是哪儿不舒服了呢？”“我不知道。你认为我们说了什么让她生气的话吗？”他们两人思量了一会儿。
“I can’t think of anything. Besides, when Scarlett gets mad, everybody knows it. She don’t hold herself in like some girls do.”
“我什么也想不起来。况且，思嘉一生气，谁都看得出来。她可从不像那样一声不响的女孩子。”
“Yes, that’s what I like about her. She don’t go around being cold and hateful when she’s mad—she tells you about it. But it was something we did or said that made her shut up talking and look sort of sick. I could swear she was glad to see us when we came and was aiming to ask us to supper.”
“对，这就是我喜欢她的地方。她生气时那么冷冷的抑制着性子走来走去，她会痛痛快快告诉你。不过，一定是我们说了或做了什么事，使得她默不作声，并装出不舒服的样子。我敢担保，我们刚来时她是很高兴并且有意要留我们吃晚饭的。”
“You don’t suppose it’s because we got expelled?”
“Hell, no! Don’t be a fool. She laughed like everything when we told her about it. And besides Scarlett don’t set any more store by book learning than we do.”
Brent turned in the saddle and called to the negro groom.
“Jeems!”
“Suh?”
“你不认那是因为我们被开除了吗？”“决不会的！见鬼，别那么傻。我们告诉她这消息时，她还若无其事地笑呢。再说，思嘉对读书的事也不比我们重视呀。"布伦特在马鞍上转过身头唤那个黑人马夫：“吉姆斯！”“唔。”
