I left Moor House at three o'clock P.M., and soon after four I stood at the foot of the sign-post of Whitcross,

下午三点我离开了沼泽居，四点后不久，我便已站在惠特克劳斯的路牌下，

waiting the arrival of the coach which was to take me to distant Thornfield.

等待着马车把我带到遥远的桑菲尔德去。

Amidst the silence of those solitary roads and desert hills, I heard it approach from a great distance.

在荒山野路的寂静之中，我很远就听到了马车靠近了。

It was the same vehicle whence, a year ago, I had alighted one summer evening on this very spot --

一年前的一个夏夜，我就是从这辆马车上走下来，就在这个地方——

how desolate, and hopeless, and objectless!

那么凄凉，那么无望，那么毫无目的！

It stopped as I beckoned.

我一招手马车便停了下来。

I entered -- not now obliged to part with my who le fortune as the price of its accommodation.

我上了车——现在已不必为一个座位而倾囊所有了。

Once more on the road to Thornfield, I felt like the messenger-pigeon flying home.

我再次踏上去桑菲尔德的路途，真有信鸽飞回家园之感。

It was a journey of six-and-thirty hours.

这是一段三十六小时的旅程。

I had set out from Whitcross on a Tuesday afternoon,

星期二下午从惠特克劳斯出发，

and early on the succeeding Thursday morning the coach stopped to water the horses at a wayside inn,

星期四一早，马车在路边的一家旅店停下，让马饮水。

situated in the midst of scenery whose green hedges and large fields and low pastoral hills

旅店座落在绿色的树篱、宽阔的田野和低矮的放牧小山之中

(how mild of feature and verdant of hue compared with the stern North-Midland moors of Morton!)

（与中北部莫尔顿严峻的荒原相比，这里的地形多么柔和，颜色何等苍翠！），

met my eye like the lineaments of a once familiar face.

这番景色映入我眼帘，犹如一位一度熟悉的人的面容。

Yes, I knew the character of this landscape: I was sure we were near my bourne.

不错，我了解这里景物的特点，我确信已接近目的地了。