Chapter 14

CHAPTER XIV Anne's Confession ON the Monday evening before the picnic Marilla came down from her room with a troubled face. "Anne," she said to that small personage, who was shelling peas by the spotless table and singing, "Nelly of the Hazel Dell" with a vigor and expression that did credit to Diana's teaching, "did you see anything of my amethyst brooch? I thought I stuck it in my pincushion when I came home from church yesterday evening, but I can't find it anywhere." "I-I saw it this afternoon when you were away at the Aid Society," said Anne, a little slowly. "I was passing your door when I saw it on the cushion, so I went in to look at it." "Did you touch it?" said Marilla sternly. "Y-e-e-s," admitted Anne, "I took it up and I pinned it on my breast just to see how it would look."

第十四章 安妮的忏悔 野餐前的周一晚上，玛丽拉满脸愁容地从自己房间走了下来。 “安妮，”她对这个小家伙说道，此时小姑娘正坐在一尘不染的桌边剥豌豆，唱着《榛谷内莉》，歌声的活力和表现力都足以证明戴安娜教得很不错，“你见过我的紫水晶胸针吗？ 我昨晚从教堂回家后，明明把它别在针垫上了，可哪儿都找不到它了。” “我——我今天下午看到了，那时候你出门去援助社了，”安妮语速稍慢地说道。 “我路过你房门时看到它在针垫上，就进去看了一眼。” “你碰它了吗？”玛丽拉严厉地问道。 “是——是的，”安妮承认道，“我拿起来别在胸口，就是想看看戴起来好不好看。”

"You had no business to do anything of the sort. It's very wrong in a little girl to meddle. You shouldn't have gone into my room in the first place and you shouldn't have touched a brooch that didn't belong to you in the second. Where did you put it?" "Oh, I put it back on the bureau. I hadn't it on a minute. Truly, I didn't mean to meddle, Marilla. I didn't think about its being wrong to go in and try on the brooch; but I see now that it was and I'll never do it again. That's one good thing about me. I never do the same naughty thing twice." "You didn't put it back," said Marilla. "That brooch isn't anywhere on the bureau. You've taken it out or something, Anne." "I did put it back," said Anne quickly-pertly, Marilla thought. "I don't just remember whether I stuck it on the pincushion or laid it in the china tray. But I'm perfectly certain I put it back." "I'll go and have another look," said Marilla, determining to be just. "If you put that brooch back it's there still. If it isn't I'll know you didn't, that's all!"

“你根本不该做这种事。 小孩子乱碰别人东西，这大错特错。 首先你就不该进我的房间，其次你也不该碰不属于你的胸针。 你把它放哪儿了？” “哦，我把它放回梳妆台上了。 我只戴了不到一分钟。 真的，我不是故意乱碰的，玛丽拉。 我那时候没觉得进去试戴胸针不对； 可我现在知道错了，再也不会这么做了。 这就是我的一个优点。 我从来不会重犯同样的错。” “你根本没把它放回去，”玛丽拉说道。 “梳妆台上哪儿都找不到那枚胸针。 肯定是你把它拿出去了，安妮。” “我确实放回去了，”安妮飞快地说道——在玛丽拉看来，这态度太无礼了。 “我只是记不清我是把它别在针垫上，还是放在瓷托盘里了。 可我百分之百确定我把它放回去了。” “我再上去找找看，”玛丽拉说道，她决定要秉公处理。 “要是你真把胸针放回去了，那它肯定还在那儿。 要是不在，我就知道你没放，就是这么回事！”

Marilla went to her room and made a thorough search, not only over the bureau but in every other place she thought the brooch might possibly be. It was not to be found and she returned to the kitchen. "Anne, the brooch is gone. By your own admission you were the last person to handle it. Now, what have you done with it? Tell me the truth at once. Did you take it out and lose it?" "No, I didn't," said Anne solemnly, meeting Marilla's angry gaze squarely. "I never took the brooch out of your room and that is the truth, if I was to be led to the block for it-although I'm not very certain what a block is. So there, Marilla." Anne's "so there" was only intended to emphasize her assertion, but Marilla took it as a display of defiance. "I believe you are telling me a falsehood, Anne," she said sharply. "I know you are. There now, don't say anything more unless you are prepared to tell the whole truth. Go to your room and stay there until you are ready to confess." "Will I take the peas with me?" said Anne meekly.

玛丽拉回到房间，仔仔细细搜了一遍，不光搜了梳妆台，还找遍了所有她觉得胸针可能在的地方。 还是没找到，她便回到了厨房。 “安妮，胸针不见了。 你自己也承认，你是最后一个碰它的人。 现在，你把它怎么样了？ 立刻跟我说实话。 你是不是把它拿出去弄丢了？” “不，我没有，”安妮神情庄重，直直迎上玛丽拉愤怒的目光，说道。 “我从来没把胸针拿出你的房间，这就是实话，就算要把我押上断头台我也这么说——不过我其实也不清楚断头台是什么。 我说完了，玛丽拉。” 安妮说那句“我说完了”本来只是想强调自己说的是实话，可玛丽拉却觉得这是公然挑衅。 “我认为你在对我撒谎，安妮，”她厉声说道。 “我知道你在撒谎。 好了，别说话了，除非你打算说出全部真相。 回你房间待着，直到你愿意坦白了再出来。” “我能把豌豆带走吗？”安妮温顺地问道。

"No, I'll finish shelling them myself. Do as I bid you." When Anne had gone Marilla went about her evening tasks in a very disturbed state of mind. She was worried about her valuable brooch. What if Anne had lost it? And how wicked of the child to deny having taken it, when anybody could see she must have! With such an innocent face, too! "I don't know what I wouldn't sooner have had happen," thought Marilla, as she nervously shelled the peas. "Of course, I don't suppose she meant to steal it or anything like that. She's just taken it to play with or help along that imagination of hers. She must have taken it, that's clear, for there hasn't been a soul in that room since she was in it, by her own story, until I went up tonight. And the brooch is gone, there's nothing surer. I suppose she has lost it and is afraid to own up for fear she'll be punished. It's a dreadful thing to think she tells falsehoods. It's a far worse thing than her fit of temper. It's a fearful responsibility to have a child in your house you can't trust.

“不用，我自己剥完。 照我说的做。” 安妮走后，玛丽拉忙活着晚上的活儿，心里一直乱糟糟的。 她十分担心自己那枚珍贵的胸针。 万一是安妮把它弄丢了呢？ 这孩子明明拿了，谁都看得出来，居然还不承认，太不像话了！ 居然还摆出一副无辜的样子！ “我宁可出任何别的事，也不想发生这种事，”玛丽拉一边紧张地剥豌豆，一边想。 “当然了，我不觉得她是故意偷胸针或者干那种坏事。 她就是拿出来玩玩，满足一下她那爱幻想的毛病罢了。 肯定是她拿的，这再清楚不过了，按她自己说，从我上去找之前，那房间里除了她根本没人进去过。 而胸针确实不见了，这是板上钉钉的事。 我猜她就是把胸针弄丢了，怕受惩罚，所以不敢承认。 一想到她竟然撒谎，真叫人难受。 这可比她发脾气要糟糕多了。 家里养了个没法信任的孩子，这担子实在太沉重了。

Slyness and untruthfulness-that's what she has displayed. I declare I feel worse about that than about the brooch. If she'd only have told the truth about it I wouldn't mind so much." Marilla went to her room at intervals all through the evening and searched for the brooch, without finding it. A bedtime visit to the east gable produced no result. Anne persisted in denying that she knew anything about the brooch but Marilla was only the more firmly convinced that she did. She told Matthew the story the next morning. Matthew was confounded and puzzled; he could not so quickly lose faith in Anne but he had to admit that circumstances were against her. "You're sure it hasn't fell down behind the bureau?" was the only suggestion he could offer. "I've moved the bureau and I've taken out the drawers and I've looked in every crack and cranny" was Marilla's positive answer. "The brooch is gone and that child has taken it and lied about it. That's the plain, ugly truth, Matthew Cuthbert, and we might as well look it in the face."

她表现出来的就是狡猾与不诚实。 说实话，这件事比丢了胸针更让我难受。 要是她老老实实说出实话，我也不会这么生气了。 整个晚上，玛丽拉时不时回房间翻找胸针，却一无所获。 睡前去东山墙找了一圈，还是什么都没找到。 安妮坚称自己对胸针的事一无所知，可玛丽拉反倒更确定就是她拿的。 第二天早上，她把这件事告诉了马修。 马修又震惊又困惑； 他没法这么快就不再相信安妮，却也不得不承认，形势对安妮很不利。 “你确定它没掉在梳妆台后面吗？”这是他能想到的唯一猜测。 “我挪过梳妆台，抽出来所有抽屉，每道缝隙每个角落都找过了”，玛丽拉肯定地回答。 “胸针不见了，就是那孩子拿了还撒谎。 这就是赤裸裸、难堪的真相，马修·卡斯伯特，我们不如直面现实。

"Well now, what are you going to do about it?" Matthew asked forlornly, feeling secretly thankful that Marilla and not he had to deal with the situation. He felt no desire to put his oar in this time. "She'll stay in her room until she confesses," said Marilla grimly, remembering the success of this method in the former case. "Then we'll see. Perhaps we'll be able to find the brooch if she'll only tell where she took it; but in any case she'll have to be severely punished, Matthew." "Well now, you'll have to punish her," said Matthew, reaching for his hat. "I've nothing to do with it, remember. You warned me off yourself." Marilla felt deserted by everyone. She could not even go to Mrs. Lynde for advice. She went up to the east gable with a very serious face and left it with a face more serious still. Anne steadfastly refused to confess. She persisted in asserting that she had not taken the brooch. The child had evidently been crying and Marilla felt a pang of pity which she sternly repressed. By night she was, as she expressed it, "beat out."

“那你现在打算怎么处理这件事？” 马修可怜巴巴地问道，心里偷偷庆幸要处理这事的是玛丽拉，不是自己。 这一回他可一点儿都不想插手。 “她得关在房间里，直到她坦白认错”，玛丽拉冷冷地说，她还记得之前这个方法很管用。 之后我们再看。 只要她说出胸针在哪儿，说不定我们还能找回来； 但不管怎么样，她都得受严厉的惩罚，马修。 “好吧，那你来惩罚她吧”，马修说着伸手去拿帽子。 “这事和我没关系，你记住了。 当初是你不让我插手的。 玛丽拉觉得自己被所有人抛弃了。 她连找林德太太讨主意都不行。 她脸色凝重地走上东山墙，离开的时候脸色更沉了。 安妮始终不肯坦白。 她一直坚持说自己没拿胸针。 这孩子明明哭过，玛丽拉心头涌起一阵怜悯，又硬生生压了下去。 到了晚上，用她自己的话说，她已经“筋疲力尽”了。