Chapter 07 THE GOVERNOR'S HALL
第七章　總督的大廳

HESTER PRYNNE went, one day, to the mansion of Governor Bellingham, with a pair of gloves, which she had fringed and embroidered to his order, and which were to be worn on some great occasion of state; for, though the chances of a popular election had caused this former ruler to descend a step or two from the highest rank, he still held an honourable and influential place among the colonial magistracy.
一天，海絲特·白蘭到貝靈漢總督的宅邸去交他訂做的手套，這副繡了花并鑲了邊的手套是總督要在某個重大的慶典上戴的；因為這位前任統(tǒng)治者雖然在一次普選中從最高的品級上降了一兩級，但他在殖民地的行政長官中仍然保持著舉足輕重和受人尊崇的地位。

Another and far more important reason than the delivery of a pair of embroidered gloves impelled Hester, at this time, to seek an interview with a personage of so much power and activity in the affairs of the settlement. It had reached her ears, that there was a design on the part of some of the leading inhabitants, cherishing the more rigid order of principles in religion and government, to deprive her of her child. On the supposition that Pearl, as already hinted, was of demon origin, these good people not unreasonably argued that a Christian interest in the mother's soul required them to remove such a stumbling-block from her path. If the child, on the other hand, were really capable of moral and religious growth, and possessed the elements of ultimate salvation, then, surely, it would enjoy all the fairer prospect of these advantages, by being transferred to wiser and better guardianship than Hester Prynne's. Among those who promoted the design, Governor Bellingham was said to be one of the most busy. It may appear singular, and, indeed, not a little ludicrous, that an affair of this kind, which, in later days, would have been referred to no higher jurisdiction than that of the selectmen of the town, should then have been a question publicly discussed, and on which statesmen of eminence took sides. At that epoch of pristine simplicity, however, matters of even slighter public interest, and of far less intrinsic weight, than the welfare of Hester and her child, were strangely mixed up with the deliberations of legislators and acts of state. The period was hardly, if at all, earlier than that of our story, when a dispute concerning the right of property in a pig, not only caused a fierce and bitter contest in the legislative body of the colony, but resulted in an important modification of the framework itself of the legislature.
此時，還有比呈遞一副繡好的手套遠(yuǎn)為重要的另一個原因，促使她去謀求晉見一位在殖民地事務(wù)中有權(quán)有勢的人物的一次機(jī)會。她耳聞，有幾位力主在宗教和政府的原則上要嚴(yán)加治理的頭面人物，正在謀劃奪走她的孩子。前面已經(jīng)暗示過，珠兒既然可能是妖魔的孽種，這些好心腸的人們就不無理由地主張：為了對做母親的靈魂表示基督教的關(guān)懷，他們應(yīng)該從她的道路上搬掉這樣一塊絆腳石。反之，如果這孩子當(dāng)真能夠接受宗教和道德的教化，并且具備最終獲救的因素，那么，把孩子移交給比海絲特·白蘭更高明的監(jiān)護(hù)人，珠兒就可以更充分地發(fā)揮這些條件，從而肯定享有更美好的前途。在推進(jìn)這一謀劃的人們當(dāng)中，據(jù)說貝靈漢總督是最為熱心奔走的一個。這類事情如果推遲若干年，最多交由市鎮(zhèn)行政管理委員會這一級去裁處，而在當(dāng)時，居然要興師動眾地加以討論，而且還要有顯要人物來參與，看來未免稀奇，也確實有點荒唐可笑。然而，在早年的純樸時期，哪怕對公眾利益來說，比起海絲特和她孩子的安置問題還要次要的事情，都要由立法者審議并由政府立法，豈不妙哉。就在我們這個故事發(fā)生之前并不很久的時期，曾經(jīng)發(fā)生過涉及一日豬的所有權(quán)的爭議，其結(jié)果，不僅在這塊殖民地的立法機(jī)構(gòu)中引起了不可開交的激烈辯論，而且還導(dǎo)致了該機(jī)構(gòu)組織上的重大變更。