黄面人15

“My God!” he cried. “What can be the meaning of this?”

“I will tell you the meaning of it,” cried the lady, sweeping¹ into the room with a proud, set face. “You have forced me, against my own judgment², to tell you, and now we must both make the best of it. My husband died at Atlanta. My child survived.”

“Your child?”

She drew a large silver locket from her bosom³. “You have never seen this open.”

“I understood that it did not open.”

She touched a spring, and the front hinged back. There was a portrait within of a man strikingly handsome and intelligent-looking, but bearing unmistakable signs upon his features of his African descent.

“That is John Hebron, of Atlanta,” said the lady, “and a nobler man never walked the earth. I cut myself off from my race in order to wed⁴ him, but never once while he lived did I for an instant regret it. It was our misfortune that our only child took after his people rather than mine. It is often so in such matches, and little Lucy is darker far than ever her father was. But dark or fair, she is my own dear little girlie, and her mother’s pet.” The little creature ran across at the words and nestled up against the lady’s dress. “When I left her in America,” she continued, “it was only because her health was weak, and the change might have done her harm. She was given to the care of a faithful Scotch⁵ woman who had once been our servant. Never for an instant did I dream of disowning her as my child. But when chance threw you in my way, Jack⁶, and I learned to love you, I feared to tell you about my child. God forgive me, I feared that I should lose you, and I had not the courage to tell you. I had to choose between you, and in my weakness I turned away from my own little girl. For three years I have kept her existence a secret from you, but I heard from the nurse, and I knew that all was well with her. At last, however, there came an overwhelming desire to see the child once more. I struggled against it, but in vain. Though I knew the danger, I determined⁷ to have the child over, if it were but for a few weeks. I sent a hundred pounds to the nurse, and I gave her instructions about this cottage, so that she might come as a neighbour, without my appearing to be in any way connected with her. I pushed my precautions so far as to order her to keep the child in the house during the daytime, and to cover up her little face and hands so that even those who might see her at the window should not gossip about there being a black child in the neighbourhood. If I had been less cautious I might have been more wise, but I was half crazy with fear that you should learn the truth.

“我的天哪！”他大声喊道，”这是怎么回事？”

“我告诉你这是怎么回事，”他妻子面容坚定而自豪地扫视了屋内的人一眼，说道，“你强迫我违反我的意志告诉你，现在我们两个人必须求得一个妥善的办法。我的丈夫死在亚特兰大，可是孩子还活着。”

“你的孩子？”

她从怀里取出一个大银盒说道：

“你从未见它打开过吧。”

“我以为它打不开呢。”

她按了一下弹簧，盒盖立即打开。里面是一张男人的肖像，清秀英俊，温文尔雅，可是他的面貌却明显具有非洲血统的特征。

“这是亚特兰大的约翰-赫伯龙，”夫人说道，“世上再没有比他更高尚的人了。我为了要嫁给他，与我的同种人隔绝了，不过他在世的时候我一时一刻也没后悔过。不幸的是，我们唯一的孩子，竟承受了她祖先的血统而不象我。因为白人和黑人通婚，往往有这种情形。小露西竟比她父亲还要黑得多。不管黑白，她毕竟是我自己亲爱的小女儿，是母亲的小宝贝儿。”听到这些话，小家伙跑过去偎依在女人身旁。”仅仅是因为她的身体不健康，换了水土可能对她有害，我才把她交给我们以前的仆人，一个忠诚的苏格兰女人抚养。我从未想到遗弃我的孩子。可是自从遇到了你，杰克，并且知道我爱上了你，我不敢把我有小孩的事对你说，上帝原谅我，我怕我会失掉你，所以就没有勇气告诉你。我只有在你们二人中选一个，我这懦弱的人哪，终于舍弃了我的小女孩，选中了你。三年来我一直向你隐瞒了这件事，可是我经常从保姆那里得到消息，知道她一切都很好。然而，我终于遏制不住想见见孩子的愿望。我虽然一再压抑这种愿望，可是无济无事。我知道有危险，也决心让孩子来，那怕是几个星期也好。于是我给保姆寄去一百镑，告诉她这里有所小别墅，她可以来和我住邻居，而我根本无需出面和她联系。我甚至嘱咐她白天不让孩子到外面去，并且把孩子的脸和手都掩盖住，即使有人从窗外看到她，也不会产生流言蜚语，说邻宅有一个小黑人。假使我不是过于小心，也可能做得不这么蠢了。因为我怕你看出真情，反而有些发昏了。

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

2 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

3 bosom   

n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的

参考例句：

• She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
• A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。

4 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

5 scotch   

n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的

参考例句：

• Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
• Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景，真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。