I have not yet alluded to the visits of Mr. Brocklehurst.
我还没有提到布罗克赫斯特先生的造访。
And indeed that gentleman was from home during the greater part of the first month after my arrival;
其实这位先生在我抵达后第一个月的大部分日子里,都不在家。
Perhaps prolonging his stay with his friend the archdeacon.
也许他在朋友副主教那里多逗留了些时间。
His absence was a relief to me.
他不在倒使我松了口气。
I need not say that I had my own reasons for dreading his coming, but come he did at last.
不必说我自有怕他来的理由,但他终究还是来了。
One afternoon (I had then been three weeks at Lowood), as I was sitting with a slate in my hand, puzzling over a sum in long division,
一天下午(那时我到罗沃德已经三星期了),我手里拿了块写字板坐着,正为长除法中的一个总数发窘,
my eyes, raised in abstraction to the window, caught sight of a figure just passing.
眼睛呆呆地望着窗外,看到有一个人影闪过。
I recognised almost instinctively that gaunt outline.
我几乎本能地认出了这瘦瘦的轮廓。
And when, two minutes after, all the school, teachers included, rose en masse,
因此两分钟后,整个学校的人,包括教师在内都全体起立时,
it was not necessary for me to look up in order to ascertain whose entrance they thus greeted.
我没有必要抬起头来后过究竟,便知道他们在迎接谁进屋了。
A long stride measured the schoolroom,
这人大步流星走进教室。
and presently beside Miss Temple, who herself had risen, stood the same black column which had frowned on me so ominously from the hearthrug of Gateshead.
眨眼之间,在早已起立的坦普尔小姐身边,便竖起了同一根黑色大柱,就是这根柱子曾在盖茨黑德的壁炉地毯上不祥地对我皱过眉。
I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture.
这时我侧目瞟了一眼这个建筑物。
Yes, I was right. It was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever.
对,我没有看错,就是那个布罗克赫斯特先生,穿着紧身长外衣,扣紧了钮扣,看上去越发修长、狭窄和刻板了。
I had my own reasons for being dismayed at this apparition.
见到这个幽灵,我有理由感到丧气。
Too well I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed about my disposition, &c. .
我记得清清楚楚,里德太太曾恶意地暗示过我的品行等等。
The promise pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst to apprise Miss Temple and the teachers of my vicious nature.
布罗克赫斯特先生曾答应把我的恶劣本性告诉坦普尔小姐和教师们。
All along I had been dreading the fulfilment of this promise.
我一直害怕这一诺言会得到实现。
I had been looking out daily for the "Coming Man," whose information respecting my past life and conversation was to brand me as a bad child for ever. Now there he was.
每天都提防着这个“行将到来的人”。他的谈话和对我往事的透露,会使我一辈子落下个坏孩子的恶名,而现在他终于来了。
He stood at Miss Temple's side. He was speaking low in her ear.
他站在坦普尔小姐身旁,跟她在小声耳语。
I did not doubt he was making disclosures of my villainy.
毫无疑问他在说我坏话。
And I watched her eye with painful anxiety, expecting every moment to see its dark orb turn on me a glance of repugnance and contempt.
我急切而痛苦地注视着她的目光,无时无刻不期待着她乌黑的眸子转向我,投来厌恶与蔑视的一瞥。
I listened too; and as I happened to be seated quite at the top of the room, I caught most of what he said.
我也细听着,因为碰巧坐在最靠房子头上的地方,所以他说的话,一大半都听得见。
Its import relieved me from immediate apprehension.
谈话的内容消除了我眼前的忧虑。