The dark cedars on either side of the graveled drive met in an arch overhead, turning the long avenue into a dim tunnel. As soon as she was beneath the gnarled arms of the cedars, she knew she was safe from observation from the house and she slowed her swift pace. She was panting, for her stays were laced too tightly to permit much running, but she walked on as rapidly as she could. Soon she was at the end of the driveway and out on the main road, but she did not stop until she had rounded a curve that put a large clump of trees between her and the house.

　　沿着碎石的车道两边，茂密的柏树枝叶交错，形成天然的拱顶，使那长长的林荫路变成了一条阴暗的甬道。一跑进这甬道里，她便觉得自己已经安全了，家里的人望不见了，这才放慢脚步，她气喘吁吁，因为她的胸衣箍得太紧，不容许她这样飞跑，不过她还是尽可能迅速走去。她很快便到了车道尽头，走上了大路，可是她并不停步，直到拐了个弯，那里有一大丛树遮掩着她，使家里人再也不能看见了。

　　Flushed and breathing hard, she sat down on a stump to wait for her father. It was past time for him to come home, but she was glad that he was late. The delay would give her time to quiet her breathing and calm her face so that his suspicions would not be aroused. Every moment she expected to hear the pounding of his horse’s hooves and see him come charging up the hill at his usual breakneck speed. But the minutes slipped by and Gerald did not come. She looked down the road for him, the pain in her heart swelling up again.

　　她两颊发红，呼吸急促，坐在一个树桩上等待父亲。往常这时候，他已经回来了，不过她高兴今天他晚一些，这样她才有时间喘过气来，使脸色恢复平静，不致引起父亲的猜疑。她分分秒秒地期待着听到得得的马蹄声，看到父亲用他那吓死人的速度驰上山冈。可是一分钟又一分钟过去了，杰拉尔德还是不见回来。顺着大路望去，想找到他的影子，这时心里的痛楚又膨胀起来了。

　　“Oh, it can’t be true!” she thought. “Why doesn’t he come?”

　　“唔，那不可能是真的！"她心想。"他为什么不来呢？"

　　Her eyes followed the winding road, blood-red now after the morning rain. In her thought shetraced its course as it ran down the hill to the sluggish Flint River, through the tangled swampy bottoms and up the next hill to Twelve Oaks where Ashley lived. That was all the road meant now—a road to Ashley and the beautiful white-columned house that crowned the hill like a Greek Temple.

　　她的眼光沿着那条因早晨下过雨而变得血红的大路沉思着，在心里跟踪着这段路程奔下山冈，到那懒洋洋的弗林特河畔，越过荆榛杂乱的沼泽谷底，再爬上下一个山冈到达“十二橡树”村。艾希礼就住在那里。此时，这条路的全部意义就在这里----它是通向艾希礼和那幢美丽的像希腊神殿般高踞于山冈上的白圆柱房子。

　　“Oh, Ashley! Ashley!” she thought, and her heart beat faster.

　　“啊，艾希礼！艾希礼！"她心里喊着，心脏跳得更快了。

　　Some of the cold sense of bewilderment and disaster that had weighted her down since the Tarleton boys told her their gossip was pushed into the background of her mind, and in its place crept the fever that had possessed her for two years.

　　自从塔尔顿家那对孪生子把他们的闲话告诉她以后，一种惶惑和灾祸的冷酷感一直沉重地压抑着她，可如今这种意识已被推到她心灵的后壁去，代之而的是两年以来始终支配着她的那股狂热之情。

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