Moreover, Scarlett and her father were bound together by a mutual suppression agreement. If Gerald caught her climbing a fence instead of walking half a mile to a gate, or sitting too late on the front steps with a beau, he castigated her personally and with vehemence, but he did not mention the fact to Ellen or to Mammy. And when Scarlett discovered him jumping fences after his solemn promise to his wife, or learned the exact amount of his losses at poker, as she always did from County gossip, she refrained from mentioning the fact at the supper table in the artfully artless manner Suellen had. Scarlett and her father each assured the other solemnly that to bring such matters to the ears of Ellen would only hurt her, and nothing would induce them to wound her gentleness.
另个,还有一个相互制约的协议把思嘉和父亲彼此联系在一起。要是杰拉尔德看见女儿爬篱笆而不愿走道到大门口去,他便当面责备她,但事后并不向爱伦或嬷嬷提出。而思嘉要是发现他在向太太郑重保证之后还照样骑着马跳篱笆,或者从县里人的闲谈中听说他打扑克时输了多少钱,她也不在吃晚饭时像苏伦那样直统统地说起这件事。思嘉和她父亲认真地彼此交代过:谁要是把这种搬到母亲耳边,那只会使她伤心,而无论如何他们也是犯不着这样做的。
Scarlett looked at her father in the fading light, and, without knowing why, she found it comforting to be in his presence. There was something vital and earthy and coarse about him that appealed to her. Being the least analytic of people, she did not realize that this was because she possessed in some degree these same qualities, despite sixteen years of effort on the part of Ellen and Mammy to obliterate them.
如今在擦黑的微光中思嘉望着父亲,也不知为什么她觉得一到他面前心里就舒服了。他身上有一种生气勃勃的粗俗味儿吸引着她。她作为一个最没有分析头脑的人,并不明白这是由于她自己身上也或多或少有着同样禀性的缘故,尽管爱伦和嬷嬷花了16年的心血想它抹掉,也终归徒然。
“You look very presentable now,” she said, “and I don’t think anyone will suspect you’ve been up to your tricks unless you brag about them. But it does seem to me that after you broke your knee last year, jumping that same fence—”
“好了,现在你完全可以出台了,"她说,"我想除非你自己吹牛,谁也不会怀疑你玩过这种花招的。不过我觉得,你去年已经摔坏了膝盖,现在又跳这同一道篱笆----”
“Well, may I be damned if I’ll have me own daughter telling me what I shall jump and not jump,” he shouted, giving her cheek another pinch. “It’s me own neck, so it is. And besides, Missy, what are you doing out here without your shawl?”
“唔,如果我还得靠自己的女儿来告诉我什么地方该跳或不该跳,那可太糟糕了,"他叫嚷着,又在她脸颊上拧了一把。 “颈脖了是我自己的,就是这样。另外,姑娘,你光着肩膀在这儿干什么?”