桑布尔运河上的庞特城
We Are Pedlars
我们是商贩
The Cigarette returned with good news. There were beds to be had some ten minutes' walk from where we were, at a place called Pont. We stowed the canoes in a granary, and asked among the children for a guide. The circle at once widened round us, and our offers of reward were received in dispiriting silence. We were plainly a pair of Bluebeards1 to the children; they might speak to us in public places, and where they had the advantage of numbers; but it was another thing to venture off alone with two uncouth and legendary characters, who had dropped from the clouds upon their hamlet this quiet afternoon, sashed and be-knived, and with a flavour of great voyages. The owner of the granary came to our assistance, singled out one little fellow and threatened him with corporalities; or I suspect we should have had to find the way for ourselves. As it was, he was more frightened at the granary man than the strangers, having perhaps had some experience of the former. But I fancy his little heart must have been going at a fine rate; for he kept trotting at a respectful distance in front, and looking back at us with scared eyes. Not otherwise may the children of the young world have guided Jove2 or one of his Olympian compeers on an adventure.
“西格雷特”号带回来一个好消息。从我们所在的位置出发大约十几分钟路程有一个叫庞特的地方，那里可以住宿。我们把小船寄存在一个粮仓里，然后想从孩子群里挑一个人带路。但是原本围成一圈的他们马上在我们周围散开，我们提出的报酬也无人回应，真是令人沮丧。在他们看来，我们俨然两个“蓝胡子”。在公共场合他们尚敢和我们说话，因为他们人多势众；但是如果单独贸然和这两个陌生的传奇人物出行，就另当别论了。这两个人在这个安静的下午从天而降，来到他们的小村庄，扎着腰带，拥着刀，身上还带有一股远道而来的异城气息。这时粮仓主人帮我们解决了这个难题。他从孩子群中挑出一个小家伙，用皮肉之苦吓唬他，逼他给我们带路；不然的话，我想我们不得不自己寻找道路了。事实上，比起我们两个陌生人来，他更害怕那个粮仓主人，或许是之前尝过他的苦头吧。我心想这个小家伙心脏跳得肯定很快，因为一路上他都是在前面小跑着，和我们拉开相当的距离，而且还时不时提防地回头瞟我们一下，眼睛里充满恐惧。多年以前的孩子引导朱庇特和他奥林匹斯山的伙伴游历人间，那情景应该也不过如此吧。
A miry lane led us up from Quartes with its church and bickering windmill. The hinds were trudging homewards from the fields. A brisk little woman passed us by. She was seated across a donkey between a pair of glittering milk-cans; and, as she went, she kicked jauntily with her heels upon the donkey's side, and scattered shrill remarks among the wayfarers. It was notable that none of the tired men took the trouble to reply. Our conductor soon led us out of the lane and across country. The sun had gone down, but the west in front of us was one lake of level gold. The path wandered a while in the open, and then passed under a trellis like a bower indefinitely prolonged. On either hand were shadowy orchards; cottages lay low among the leaves, and sent their smoke to heaven; every here and there, in an opening, appeared the great gold face of the west.
我们顺着一条泥泞的小路从卡尔特一直往北走，路两旁矗立着教堂，还有咯吱转动的风车。田地里劳作的人们也开始迈着沉重的步伐往家赶。一个机灵的小个子女人从我们身边经过。她骑着驴，两侧挂着闪闪发光的奶罐；她快活地用脚踢着驴身两侧，一路上撒下无数刺耳的话语。但是男人们显然都太劳累了，并没有人回应她。我们的小向导很快便领我们走出了小路，穿过了这个乡村。太阳已经下山了，但是在我们眼前，西边的天空犹如一汪金色的湖水。小路在开阔处蜿蜒了一会儿，然后进入了一个葡萄藤架，像是一个无限延伸的凉亭。小路两旁是暮色中模糊可辨的果园，村舍在树叶的掩藏下若隐若现，将炊烟送入云霄；时不时地会有空旷地带显露，再现西方天际金黄色的脸庞。
I never saw the Cigarette in such an idyllic frame of mind. He waxed positively lyrical in praise of country scenes. I was little less exhilarated myself; the mild air of the evening, the shadows, the rich lights and the silence, made a symphonious accompaniment about our walk; and we both determined to avoid towns for the future and sleep in hamlets.
我从来没见过“西格雷特”号主人这么有田园诗意。他夸张地抒发着对这片乡村景致的赞美之词。和他相比，我并不冷静多少。夜间怡人的空气、婆娑的树影、璀璨的灯火，以及乡村的静谧，都和我们行走的节奏很协调。于是我们俩决定接下来的日子都要睡在乡村，不再去喧闹的城镇歇脚。
At last the path went between two houses, and turned the party out into a wide muddy high-road, bordered, as far as the eye could reach on either hand, by an unsightly village. The houses stood well back, leaving a ribbon of waste land on either side of the road, where there were stacks of firewood, carts, barrows, rubbish-heaps, and a little doubtful grass. Away on the left, a gaunt tower stood in the middle of the street. What it had been in past ages, I know not: probably a hold in time of war; but nowadays it bore an illegible dial-plate in its upper parts, and near the bottom an iron letter-box.
小路终于在两座房屋之间显示出了尽头，接下来是一条宽阔而泥泞的公路，在视线所及范围内，可以看到周围是一座不怎么雅观的小村庄。房屋齐刷刷地靠后排列，为马路两侧让出一带空地，上面堆着木柴、马车、手推车、垃圾堆以及一些疑似草的东西。马路的左侧，一座难看的塔楼矗立在街道中央。我不知道它过去经历了什么，或许它曾经是战争年代的一个据点；如今，它的顶端有一个字迹模糊的表盘，靠近底部则是一个铁皮信箱。
The inn to which we had been recommended at Quartes was full, or else the landlady did not like our looks. I ought to say, that with our long, damp India-rubber bags, we presented rather a doubtful type of civilisation: like rag-and-bone men, the Cigarette imagined. 'These gentlemen are pedlars?—Ces messieurs sont des marchands?'—asked the landlady. And then, without waiting for an answer, which I suppose she thought superfluous in so plain a case, recommended us to a butcher who lived hard by the tower, and took in travellers to lodge.
别人推荐我们去的那家卡尔特的客栈已经客满，或者就是老板娘不喜欢我们的装扮，故意那么说的。我要说明一下，我们背着又长又湿的印式橡皮包，哪里也看不出文明的迹象—“西格雷特”号说我们俩像收破烂的。“你们两位先生是小商贩吗？”老板娘用法语问道。还没等我们回答，可能觉得这种情形明摆着不需要什么答案，她就介绍我们去了一个屠夫那儿借宿。他就在那座荒塔旁边艰苦过活，偶尔给游客提供住宿。
Thither went we. But the butcher was flitting, and all his beds were taken down. Or else he didn't like our look. As a parting shot, we had 'These gentlemen are pedlars?'
我们往屠夫家的方向走。但是却正巧赶上他搬家，所有的床铺都拆了。或者他也不喜欢我们的装扮。在我们转身离开时，他还不忘加一句临别赠言：“这俩人是小商贩吗？”
It began to grow dark in earnest. We could no longer distinguish the faces of the people who passed us by with an inarticulate good-evening. And the householders of Pont seemed very economical with their oil; for we saw not a single window lighted in all that long village. I believe it is the longest village in the world; but I dare say in our predicament every pace counted three times over. We were much cast down when we came to the last auberge; and looking in at the dark door, asked timidly if we could sleep there for the night. A female voice assented in no very friendly tones. We clapped the bags down and found our way to chairs.
黑夜已经开始蔓延。我们已经辨不清路上随口跟我们道“晚上好”的人的面孔。看来庞特地区的住户都很节省灯油，因为诺大的村子里，我们都没有看到有哪一家是亮灯的。我觉得这该是世界上最狭长的村落了，但是我坚信事不过三，我们已经碰了两次壁了，第三次问题一定可以解决。我们来到最后一家小客栈，心情沮丧；我们从黑漆漆的门外向里张望，小心翼翼地询问能否在那儿借宿一晚。一个女人的声音传来让我们进去，尽管声调不是很友好。我们扔下皮包，摸索着找到椅子坐下。
The place was in total darkness, save a red glow in the chinks and ventilators of the stove. But now the landlady lit a lamp to see her new guests; I suppose the darkness was what saved us another expulsion; for I cannot say she looked gratified at our appearance. We were in a large bare apartment, adorned with two allegorical prints of Music and Painting, and a copy of the law against public drunkenness. On one side, there was a bit of a bar, with some half-a-dozen bottles. Two labourers sat waiting supper, in attitudes of extreme weariness; a plain-looking lass bustled about with a sleepy child of two; and the landlady began to derange the pots upon the stove, and set some beefsteak to grill.
这个地方一片漆黑，只是从火炉的裂缝和通风口里渗出一点红光。不过此刻老板娘已经点燃了一盏灯来招呼新顾客。我暗想多亏了夜色的掩饰才使我们免于被再次拒之门外，因为我没有在她脸上看出一丝因顾客光临而高兴的表情。这是一间很大的住宅，光秃秃的没什么装饰，除了墙壁上挂着两副寓言画“音乐与绘画”，还有一张印着“禁止在公共场合酗酒”的法令。屋子的另一头有一个柜台，上面放着五、六个酒瓶。柜台旁边坐着两个雇工在等着吃晚饭，看上去极度疲惫；还有一个相貌平平的年轻女仆正忙着哄一个两岁的孩子入睡。老板娘进屋后便忙着把锅放在炉子上，开始烤牛排。
'These gentlemen are pedlars?' she asked sharply. And that was all the conversation forthcoming. We began to think we might be pedlars after all. I never knew a population with so narrow a range of conjecture as the innkeepers of Pont-sur-Sambre. But manners and bearing have not a wider currency than bank-notes. You have only to get far enough out of your beat, and all your accomplished airs will go for nothing. These Hainaulters could see no difference between us and the average pedlar. Indeed we had some grounds for reflection while the steak was getting ready, to see how perfectly they accepted us at their own valuation, and how our best politeness and best efforts at entertainment seemed to fit quite suitably with the character of packmen. At least it seemed a good account of the profession in France, that even before such judges we could not beat them at our own weapons.
“你们俩是小商贩吗？”她很尖锐地问。除此之外都没什么好说的了。我们都要开始认为或许我们就是商贩了。我从来不知道人们推测事物可以像庞特城的旅店老板那样范围狭窄的，不过，礼貌和风度可没有钞票流通得广。如果你离开日常往来的地域，那么你原来所有的礼貌和风度都会毫无用处。这些埃诺特人看不出我们和普通商贩之间有什么区别。趁老板娘还在烤牛排的功夫，我们确实有理由好好思考一下这个问题，以便了解他们是怎样按照自己的评价标准接待我们，以及我们在接受款待时所表现出来的礼貌和最大努力是如何正好符合小贩的特征的。至少这似乎是对法国商贩这一职业不错的阐释，即便是在旅店老板这样的评判人面前我们也不能依靠自身修养将自己与他们区分开来。
At last we were called to table. The two hinds (and one of them looked sadly worn and white in the face, as though sick with over-work and under-feeding) supped off a single plate of some sort of bread-berry, some potatoes in their jackets, a small cup of coffee sweetened with sugar-candy, and one tumbler of swipes. The landlady, her son, and the lass aforesaid, took the same. Our meal was quite a banquet by comparison. We had some beefsteak, not so tender as it might have been, some of the potatoes, some cheese, an extra glass of the swipes, and white sugar in our coffee.
晚饭终于准备好了。在柜台旁一直等候的那两个人中的一个人看上去已经极度疲惫，脸色苍白，像是因过度劳作和营养不良而显得病怏怏的。吃完了一盘用沸水冲软了再加糖的那种烤面包，就着带皮的土豆，还有一小杯加冰糖的咖啡和一杯廉价啤酒。老板娘和她的儿子以及前面提到过的那个年轻女仆吃的饭菜和他们的一模一样。比较起来，我们的晚饭堪称盛宴了。除了牛排（虽然烤得不怎么嫩），还有土豆、奶酪，另加一杯廉价啤酒以及加了白糖的咖啡。
You see what it is to be a gentleman—I beg your pardon, what it is to be a pedlar. It had not before occurred to me that a pedlar was a great man in a labourer's ale-house; but now that I had to enact the part for an evening, I found that so it was. He has in his hedge quarters somewhat the same pre-eminency as the man who takes a private parlour in an hotel. The more you look into it, the more infinite are the class distinctions among men; and possibly, by a happy dispensation, there is no one at all at the bottom of the scale; no one but can find some superiority over somebody else, to keep up his pride withal.
你知道作为一个绅士意味着什么了—抱歉，应该说作为一名小商贩意味着什么了。我以前从不知道小贩也被当作是酒馆里的大人物，直到不得不扮演一晚上商贩的角色，我才意识到了这一点。商贩在他的寒酸住处所拥有的优越地位就如同大饭店内拥有私人会客室的旅客一样。对人类阶级划分，越作深层探究，就越发现其无限细致。可能是因为合理的分配，没有人处在阶级划分的最底层，相较于别人，任何人都能发现自身的一些优越性以维系尊严。
We were displeased enough with our fare. Particularly the Cigarette, for I tried to make believe that I was amused with the adventure, tough beefsteak and all. According to the Lucretian3 maxim, our steak should have been flavoured by the look of the other people's bread-berry. But we did not find it so in practice. You may have a head-knowledge that other people live more poorly than yourself, but it is not agreeable—I was going to say, it is against the etiquette of the universe—to sit at the same table and pick your own superior diet from among their crusts. I had not seen such a thing done since the greedy boy at school with his birthday cake. It was odious enough to witness, I could remember; and I had never thought to play the part myself. But there again you see what it is to be a pedlar.
我们对晚餐很不满意，尤其是“西格雷特”号，我则试图假装这次经历真的很有意思，包括那块硬硬的牛排以及所有的一切，都让我觉得很开心。倘若依照卢克莱修的格言，我们的牛排本应该变得更美味了，因为别人只有面包吃。但是我们发现现实并非如此。你可以觉得自己比别人生活得优越，但是如果大家坐在同一张桌子吃饭，在别人吃糠咽菜的时候，当众享用自己的美味佳肴并非一件令人舒服的事。我的意思是说，这是有悖礼节的。这种情况我只在上学时见过一次，有个贪嘴的男孩儿当着我们的面吃生日蛋糕，看起来十分讨厌，而且我从没想过自己也会这样做。可是话说回来，反正我们已经被当成是商贩，而你会发现这里的商贩们都这么做。
There is no doubt that the poorer classes in our country are much more charitably disposed than their superiors in wealth. And I fancy it must arise a great deal from the comparative indistinction of the easy and the not so easy in these ranks. A workman or a pedlar cannot shutter himself off from his less comfortable neighbours. If he treats himself to a luxury, he must do it in the face of a dozen who cannot. And what should more directly lead to charitable thoughts? . . . Thus the poor man, camping out in life, sees it as it is, and knows that every mouthful he puts in his belly has been wrenched out of the fingers of the hungry.
无疑在英国贫穷阶层比富裕阶层更乐意济弱扶贫。我想，在穷人阶层里，生活好过者与不那么好过者之间差别不大，这就必然会促使人们更乐于帮助有困难的人。就拿一个工人或者一个商贩来说，他们都不可能关上百叶窗，使不如自己的邻居看不见自己。如果他享用奢侈品，那他不得不当着众多没有这样的机会的人做这件事情。还有什么比这更能直接地引发慈善想法的呢？……穷人就是这样经受生活的历炼，亲眼见到生活的艰辛，知道他们得到的每一口吃的都是从那些饥肠辘辘的穷人手中抢来的。
But at a certain stage of prosperity, as in a balloon ascent, the fortunate person passes through a zone of clouds, and sublunary matters are thenceforward hidden from his view. He sees nothing but the heavenly bodies, all in admirable order, and positively as good as new. He finds himself surrounded in the most touching manner by the attentions of Providence, and compares himself involuntarily with the lilies and the skylarks. He does not precisely sing, of course; but then he looks so unassuming in his open landau! If all the world dined at one table, this philosophy would meet with some rude knocks.
但是当一个人交了好运发了财，他在富裕的道路上越走越远，就像气球一样升到云端，他的视线便再也触及不到地面上发生的一切了。他自此只看到天上的贵族社会，一切都井井有条，一切对他来说都是绝对的新鲜和美好。他觉得上帝以其最动人的方式赐予自己关注，不自觉地把自己同百合花和云雀相媲美。不过他当然不会唱出来。但是他坐在自己的敞篷马车里时，表情却显得多么谦逊啊！如果全世界的人坐在一起吃饭的话，他这种人生哲学无疑是要受到严厉批判的。
The Travelling Merchant
Like the lackeys in Moliere's farce, when the true nobleman broke in on their high life below stairs, we were destined to be confronted with a real pedlar. To make the lesson still more poignant for fallen gentlemen like us, he was a pedlar of infinitely more consideration than the sort of scurvy fellows we were taken for: like a lion among mice, or a ship of war bearing down upon two cock-boats. Indeed, he did not deserve the name of pedlar at all: he was a travelling merchant.
行商
当真正的商贩出现时，我们就像莫里哀喜剧中的男佣，在真正的贵人出现时，将无所遁形。不过我们遇到的这个商贩，可不是像我们先前冒充的那样低贱，他对人非常体贴温和，这让我们深感羞愧。他就像一只雄狮混在一群鼠辈当中，或者像是一艘军舰一样将我们这两艘小艇一举击溃。其实他根本不该被称作商贩，他是一个旅行商人。
I suppose it was about half-past eight when this worthy, Monsieur Hector Gilliard of Maubeuge, turned up at the ale-house door in a tilt cart drawn by a donkey, and cried cheerily on the inhabitants. He was a lean, nervous f libbertigibbet of a man, with something the look of an actor, and something the look of a horse-jockey. He had evidently prospered without any of the favours of education; for he adhered with stern simplicity to the masculine gender, and in the course of the evening passed off some fancy futures in a very florid style of architecture. With him came his wife, a comely young woman with her hair tied in a yellow kerchief, and their son, a little fellow of four, in a blouse and military kèpi. It was notable that the child was many degrees better dressed than either of the parents. We were informed he was already at a boarding-school; but the holidays having just commenced, he was off to spend them with his parents on a cruise. An enchanting holiday occupation, was it not? to travel all day with father and mother in the tilt cart full of countless treasures; the green country rattling by on either side, and the children in all the villages contemplating him with envy and wonder? It is better fun, during the holidays, to be the son of a travelling merchant, than son and heir to the greatest cotton-spinner in creation. And as for being a reigning prince—indeed I never saw one if it was not Master Gilliard!
我记得大约是八点半的时候，这位杰出的莫伯日的赫克托·吉利尔德先生出现在酒馆门前，他乘一驾略微倾斜的驴拉四轮车，快活地大声叫屋里的人。他是一个精瘦的人，看起来紧张而健谈。他的相貌，有一点演员的气质，又夹杂一点骑马师的韵味儿。他显然不是凭借受过良好的教育而发达的，因为他在谈话中坚持严格地单纯使用阳性词汇，又在晚上的谈话中使用了一些结构非常华丽复杂的将来时。和他一起来的还有他的妻子和儿子。他的妻子年轻、漂亮，头发用一块黄色方巾拢在后面；他们的儿子是个四岁的小家伙，身穿一件宽松的上衣，头戴一顶法式军用平顶帽。值得注意的是这个孩子的穿戴比他的父母好很多。我们得知他已经在一所寄宿学校读书了，不过因为刚刚开始放假，他就回来跟着父母游历一番，以消磨假期。这真是一项迷人的假期活动，不是吗？一整天都能和父母坐在装满财宝的马车里，车轱辘咯吱咯吱地碾过乡村小路，路旁是满眼的绿色，村里的孩子们用羡慕和惊叹的目光注视着他。在假日时，做旅行商人的儿子可比做世界上最大型纺织厂老板的公子和继承人有趣得多。若是比谁更像一个在位的王子，吉利尔德少爷可是无人能比！
While M. Hector and the son of the house were putting up the donkey, and getting all the valuables under lock and key, the landlady warmed up the remains of our beefsteak, and fried the cold potatoes in slices, and Madame Gilliard set herself to waken the boy, who had come far that day, and was peevish and dazzled by the light. He was no sooner awake than he began to prepare himself for supper by eating galette, unripe pears, and cold potatoes—with, so far as I could judge, positive benefit to his appetite.
赫克托先生和店伙计去把驴子安顿好，又把所有值钱的财物都锁好。这个功夫，老板娘把我们吃剩下的牛排热了一下，并且把凉马铃薯切成片、用油炸了一下。吉利尔德夫人则千方百计地弄醒了自己的儿子。这小家伙那天走了太多的路，看上去有些暴躁，加之被灯光晃得睁不开眼。他刚被叫醒便迫不及待地开始自己的晚餐：法国薄饼，还没熟透的梨子，还有一些凉土豆，在我看来这些东西对刺激他的食欲是很有帮助的。
The landlady, fired with motherly emulation, awoke her own little girl; and the two children were confronted. Master Gilliard looked at her for a moment, very much as a dog looks at his own reflection in a mirror before he turns away. He was at that time absorbed in the galette. His mother seemed crestfallen that he should display so little inclination towards the other sex; and expressed her disappointment with some candour and a very proper reference to the influence of years.
老板娘满怀着母亲攀比炫耀孩子的热情，也叫醒了自己的小女儿，然后两位母亲各自引荐了一下自己的孩子。吉利尔德少爷看了一下那个小女孩后便转身走开了，就像一只狗看了一下镜子里的自己。对他来说，薄饼的吸引力似乎更大一些。他对异性竟然表现出如此的冷漠，他的母亲感到沮丧，她用略为直率的口气表达了自己的失望，并很得体地解释说这只是年龄的问题。
Sure enough a time will come when he will pay more attention to the girls, and think a great deal less of his mother: let us hope she will like it as well as she seemed to fancy. But it is odd enough; the very women who profess most contempt for mankind as a sex, seem to find even its ugliest particulars rather lively and high-minded in their own sons.
当然终有一天他会给予异性更多的关注，对母亲的关注却相对会少很多：希望到时候吉利尔德夫人会像她现在所想的一样开心。但是很奇怪的是，正是那些看对异性最为不屑的女人，即使是男人身上最丑陋的细节，只要放在自己的儿子身上，她们也会觉得相当活泼和高尚。
The little girl looked longer and with more interest, probably because she was in her own house, while he was a traveller and accustomed to strange sights. And besides there was no galette in the case with her.
老板娘家的小女孩儿反而多看了他几眼，似乎对异性更感兴趣一些。也可能是因为这是在她自己的家，而那位少爷是个旅行者，已经习惯了陌生的眼光。此外就是她也没有薄饼可吃。
All the time of supper, there was nothing spoken of but my young lord. The two parents were both absurdly fond of their child. Monsieur kept insisting on his sagacity: how he knew all the children at school by name; and when this utterly failed on trial, how he was cautious and exact to a strange degree, and if asked anything, he would sit and think—and think, and if he did not know it, 'my faith, he wouldn't tell you at all—foi, il ne vous le dira pas': which is certainly a very high degree of caution. At intervals, M. Hector would appeal to his wife, with his mouth full of beefsteak, as to the little fellow's age at such or such a time when he had said or done something memorable; and I noticed that Madame usually pooh-poohed these inquiries. She herself was not boastful in her vein; but she never had her fill of caressing the child; and she seemed to take a gentle pleasure in recalling all that was fortunate in his little existence. No schoolboy could have talked more of the holidays which were just beginning and less of the black school-time which must inevitably follow after. She showed, with a pride perhaps partly mercantile in origin, his pockets preposterously swollen with tops and whistles and string. When she called at a house in the way of business, it appeared he kept her company; and whenever a sale was made, received a sou out of the profit. Indeed they spoiled him vastly, these two good people. But they had an eye to his manners for all that, and reproved him for some little faults in breeding, which occurred from time to time during supper.
整个晚饭的时间，大家谈论的话题都是围绕着这位新来的小少爷。父母们都无可救药地喜爱自己的孩子。这位先生一直强调他的聪明：向我们炫耀他记得学校里所有孩子的名字。但是当事实证明他根本做不到这一点时，他转而强调这孩子出奇的谨慎和严密。如果我们问这孩子什么问题，他就会坐在那儿想—就这样一直想，如果他不知道答案，父亲就会说：“哦，他是不会告诉你们答案的。”这当然非常谨慎了。赫克托先生会时不时地转向他的太太，嚼着满嘴的牛排，历数儿子什么什么时候做过什么难忘的事或说过哪些难忘的话。我发现吉利尔德夫人对此通常只是用轻蔑的语气回应一下。她本身不是那种爱吹嘘的人，可是对儿子却是怎么也爱不够，而且她很喜欢追忆儿子成长过程中的一切美好的事情。任何男孩都更愿意谈论刚刚开始的假期，而不愿想假期过后的黑暗的学校生活。吉利尔德夫人带着部分可能是与生俱来的骄傲给我们展示了小少爷鼓鼓囊囊的口袋——里面装满了陀螺，哨子和绳子。她走家串户做生意的时候，会带上儿子作伴。他们做完每笔生意，都会拿出利润中的一些来花在儿子身上。这对善良的夫妻，他们确实非常溺爱孩子。即便如此，他们还是很注意培养他在公共场合的礼貌和举止。在用餐过程中，他们会时不时地纠正他的一些小错误，培养他的修养。
On the whole, I was not much hurt at being taken for a pedlar. I might think that I ate with greater delicacy, or that my mistakes in French belonged to a different order; but it was plain that these distinctions would be thrown away upon the landlady and the two labourers. In all essential things we and the Gilliards cut very much the same figure in the ale-house kitchen. M. Hector was more at home, indeed, and took a higher tone with the world; but that was explicable on the ground of his driving a donkey-cart, while we poor bodies tramped afoot. I dare say, the rest of the company thought us dying with envy, though in no ill sense, to be as far up in the profession as the new arrival.
总体来说，我并不怎么介意被人当作商贩。我还以为我的吃相更优雅，还有，我的法语中出现的错误和本地人不同。但是很显然老板娘和那两个雇工可看不到这些区别。在客栈厨房里，我们俩和吉利尔德一家人没有什么本质的不同，只不过赫克托先生表现得更自在，也更高调一些。这是可以理解的，毕竟人家是坐着驴拉的四轮车来的，而我们俩则是可怜兮兮地步行来的。我敢说，厨房里所有人都觉得我们肯定在心里无比嫉妒吉利尔德一家，期盼着在事业上能和这新来的一家人走得一样远，但他们这种想法并无恶意。
And of one thing I am sure: that every one thawed and became more humanised and conversible as soon as these innocent people appeared upon the scene. I would not very readily trust the travelling merchant with any extravagant sum of money; but I am sure his heart was in the right place. In this mixed world, if you can find one or two sensible places in a man—above all, if you should find a whole family living together on such pleasant terms—you may surely be satisfied, and take the rest for granted; or, what is a great deal better, boldly make up your mind that you can do perfectly well without the rest; and that ten thousand bad traits cannot make a single good one any the less good.
有一点我可以肯定：自打这善良的一家人来到客栈，这里的氛围变得融洽多了，每个人都放松不少，变得健谈起来。我对这个旅行商人的信赖还不到足以把过多的钱财托付给他保管的地步；但是我敢确定他心眼儿不坏。在这个复杂的社会，如果你能在一个人身上看到一两处优点——特别是如果你能发现他拥有这样一个温馨和睦的家庭——就该心满意足了，进而认定他的其他品质也是好的。或者更好的是，你决定即便他的其他品质并不好你也能与之相处甚欢；即使他有一万分的缺点，他的那一个优点却不会减弱一分。
It was getting late. M. Hector lit a stable lantern and went off to his cart for some arrangements; and my young gentleman proceeded to divest himself of the better part of his raiment, and play gymnastics on his mother's lap, and thence on to the floor, with accompaniment of laughter.
夜色渐渐深了，赫克托先生点着一盏灯去安顿马车，而我们的小少爷则伴着众人的笑声，继续着他的表演秀。他脱掉漂亮的外套，先是坐在妈妈大腿上做体操，后来跑到地板上做。
'Are you going to sleep alone?' asked the servant lass.
“晚上你自己睡吗？”女佣人问他。
'There's little fear of that,' says Master Gilliard.
“不怎么害怕，”吉利尔德少爷回答道。
'You sleep alone at school,' objected his mother. 'Come, come, you must be a man.'
“可是你在学校也是自己睡啊，”他妈妈反驳道，“去吧，去吧，你要做个男子汉。”
But he protested that school was a different matter from the holidays; that there were dormitories at school; and silenced the discussion with kisses: his mother smiling, no one better pleased than she.
但是他抗议说上学和放假是不一样的；因为学校里大家都住宿舍。他用吻平息了这场讨论。吉利尔德夫人微笑着，在场的人没有比她更开心的了。
There certainly was, as he phrased it, very little fear that he should sleep alone; for there was but one bed for the trio. We, on our part, had firmly protested against one man's accommodation for two; and we had a double-bedded pen in the loft of the house, furnished, beside the beds, with exactly three hat-pegs and one table. There was not so much as a glass of water. But the window would open, by good fortune.
其实就像他自己说的，他的确不用怕一个人睡，因为他们一家三口只能睡一张床。至于我们俩，我们已经事先声明坚决反对两个人挤一张床。于是我们被安排到阁楼上,只两张床，除此之外的全部家具就是三个帽钩和一张桌子，桌上连杯水都没有。不过幸好屋子的窗户可以打开。
Some time before I fell asleep the loft was full of the sound of mighty snoring: the Gilliards, and the labourers, and the people of the inn, all at it, I suppose, with one consent. The young moon outside shone very clearly over Pont-sur-Sambre, and down upon the ale-house where all we pedlars were abed.
在我睡着之前，阁楼里一片鼾声，我想这些鼾声一定包括吉利尔德一家，那两个雇工，还有酒馆老板一家人。窗外的新月照耀着着整个庞特城，以及我们这些商贩安寝的这家客栈。
(1)蓝胡子，法国民间故事里连续杀害六个妻子的恶人。
(2)朱庇特，罗马神话中的主神，他和奥林匹斯山的其他神祗往往乔装到人间游历。
(3)卢克莱修（约公元前95—约前55），古罗马诗人、哲学家。
On The Sambre Canalised