ELIZABETH had the satisfaction of receiving an answer to her letter as soon as she possibly could. She was no sooner in possession of it than, hurrying into the little copse, where she was least likely to be interrupted, she sat down on one of the benches and prepared to be happy; for the length of the letter convinced her that it did not contain a denial.
伊麗莎白果然如愿以?xún)敚芸炀徒拥搅嘶匦?。她一接到信，就跑到那清靜的小樹(shù)林里去，在一張長(zhǎng)凳上坐下來(lái)，準(zhǔn)備讀個(gè)痛快，因?yàn)樗吹叫艑?xiě)得那么長(zhǎng)，便斷定舅母沒(méi)有拒絕她的要求。

"Gracechurch-street, Sept. 6. MY DEAR NIECE, ---I have just received your letter, and shall devote this whole morning to answering it, as I foresee that a little writing will not comprise what I have to tell you. I must confess myself surprised by your application; I did not expect it from you. Don't think me angry, however, for I only mean to let you know that I had not imagined such enquiries to be necessary on your side. If you do not choose to understand me, forgive my impertinence. Your uncle is as much surprised as I am -- and nothing but the belief of your being a party concerned would have allowed him to act as he has done. But if you are really innocent and ignorant, I must be more explicit.
剛剛接到你的來(lái)信，我便決定以整個(gè)上午的時(shí)間來(lái)給你寫(xiě)回信，因?yàn)槲夜懒先詢(xún)烧Z(yǔ)不能夠把我要跟你講的話講個(gè)明白。我得承認(rèn)，你所提出的要求很使我詫異，我沒(méi)有料到提出這個(gè)要求的竟會(huì)是你。請(qǐng)你不要以為我這是生氣的話，我不過(guò)說(shuō)，我實(shí)在想象不到你居然還要來(lái)問(wèn)。如果你一定裝作聽(tīng)不懂我的話，那只有請(qǐng)你原諒我失禮了。你舅父也跟我同樣地詫異，我們都認(rèn)為，達(dá)西所以要那樣做，完全是為了你的緣故。如果你當(dāng)真一點(diǎn)也不知道，那也只好讓我來(lái)跟你說(shuō)說(shuō)明白了。

On the very day of my coming home from Longbourn, your uncle had a most unexpected visitor. Mr. Darcy called, and was shut up with him several hours. It was all over before I arrived; so my curiosity was not so dreadfully racked as your seems to have been. He came to tell Mr. Gardiner that he had found out where your sister and Mr. Wickham were, and that he had seen and talked with them both; Wickham repeatedly, Lydia once. From what I can collect, he left Derbyshire only one day after ourselves, and came to town with the resolution of hunting for them. The motive professed was his conviction of its being owing to himself that Wickham's worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide in him. He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride, and confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private actions open to the world. His character was to speak for itself. He called it, therefore, his duty to step forward, and endeavour to remedy an evil which had been brought on by himself. If he had another motive, I am sure it would never disgrace him.
就在我從浪搏恩回家的那一天，有一個(gè)意想不到的客人來(lái)見(jiàn)你舅父。那人原來(lái)就是達(dá)西先生，他跟你舅父關(guān)起門(mén)來(lái)，密談了好幾個(gè)鐘頭。等我到家的時(shí)候，事情已經(jīng)過(guò)去了，我當(dāng)時(shí)倒并沒(méi)有象你現(xiàn)在這樣好奇。他是因?yàn)榘l(fā)覺(jué)了你妹妹和韋翰的下落，特地趕來(lái)告訴嘉丁納先生一聲。他說(shuō)，他已經(jīng)看到過(guò)他們，而且跟他們談過(guò)話──跟韋翰談過(guò)好多次，跟麗迪雅談過(guò)一次。據(jù)我看，我們離開(kāi)德比郡的第二天，達(dá)西就動(dòng)身趕到城里來(lái)找他們了。他說(shuō)，事情弄到如此地步，都怪他不好，沒(méi)有及早揭露韋翰的下流品格，否則就不會(huì)有哪一位正派姑娘會(huì)把他當(dāng)作知心，會(huì)愛(ài)上他了。他概然引咎自責(zé)，認(rèn)為這次的事情都得怪他當(dāng)初太傲慢，因?yàn)樗郧罢J(rèn)為韋翰的品格自然而然會(huì)讓別人看穿，不必把他的私人行為都一一揭露出來(lái)，免得使他自己有失體統(tǒng)，他認(rèn)為這都是他自己一手造成的罪惡，因此他這次出面調(diào)停，設(shè)法補(bǔ)救實(shí)在是義不容辭。他自己承認(rèn)他要干預(yù)這件事的動(dòng)機(jī)就是如此。如果他當(dāng)真別有用心，也不會(huì)使他丟臉。