"Yes,"she said. "Why should I be ashamed of writing to him? I wanted him to help me. I learned that he was going to London early on the following day, so I asked him to meet me before he went. I could not go to the Hall earlier that day. "
“是的，我写过，”她说道。“我为何要为曾写信给他而感到羞愧呢？我本想让他帮助我。我听说他第二天一大早就要到伦敦去。那天我又不能早一点到庄园去。”
"But why did you ask him to meet you in the garden instead of in the house?" I asked.
“但是您为何要求他在花园里而不是在屋里与您会面呢？”我问道。
"Do you think it would be sensible for a woman to go at that time of night into the house of an unmarried man? " she asked.
“您想，一个女人在夜间的那个时候到一个单身汉的家里明智吗？”她问道。
"Well, what happened when you got there? " I asked.
“噢，您到那里去时发生了什么事情？”我问道。
"I didn't go, " she replied.
“我并没有去，”她应答道。
"Mrs Lyons!"
“莱昂丝太太！”
"I tell you I did not go. Something happened that stopped me from going. I can't tell you what it was."
“我告诉您我并没有去。发生了一件事使我去不成了。我不能告给您这是件什么事。”
"Mrs Lyons, " I said. " If you did not see Sir Charles, you must tell me why. If you do not, it will look very bad for you if I have to go to the police with this new piece of information about the letter."
“莱昂丝太太，”我讲道，“如果您并没见到查尔斯爵士的话，您一定要告诉我其中的缘由。要是您不肯说出来的话，要是我带着有关这封信件的新线索去警察局了，形势将对您非常不利。”
Mrs Lyons thought for a moment, and then she said: "I see that I must tell you. Perhaps you know that I married a man who was very cruel to me. I hate him and I wanted to get a divorce. But a divorce is expensive, and I had no money. I thought that if Sir Charles heard my sad story, he would help me to get a divorce."
莱昂丝太太斟酌了片刻，接着说道：“我看来得告诉您了。您也许知道我嫁给了一个对我非常残酷的男子。我恨他，我曾想与他离婚。可是离婚是桩昂贵的事情，而我又没有什么钱。我当时觉得，要是查尔斯爵士听到了我那悲惨的故事的话，他就会帮助我离婚。”
"Then why didn't you go to see Sir Charles? "I asked her.
“那么您为什么又没有去见查尔斯爵士呢？”我向她问道。