Pearl either saw and responded to her mother's feelings, or herself felt the remoteness and intangibility that had fallen around the minister. While the procession passed, the child was uneasy, fluttering up and down, like a bird on the point of taking flight. When the whole had gone by, she looked up into Hester's face.
珠兒對她母親的感情或者是看出了，或者是感應(yīng)到了，要不就是她自己也覺得牧師已經(jīng)籠罩在遙不可及之中了。當(dāng)游行隊(duì)伍走過時(shí)，珠兒就象一只躍躍欲飛的鳥兒一般不安地跳起又落下。隊(duì)伍全部過完之后，她抬頭盯著海絲特的面孔。

"Mother," said she, "was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?"
“媽媽，”她說，“他就是那個(gè)在小溪邊親吻過我的牧師嗎？”

"Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!" whispered her mother. "We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest."
“別出聲，親愛的小珠兒！”她母親悄悄說?！拔覀冊谑袌鲞@兒可不準(zhǔn)談起我們在樹林里遇到的事?！?

"I could not be sure that it was he; so strange he looked," continued the child. "Else I would have run to him, and bid him kiss me now, before all the people; even as he did yonder among the dark old trees. What would the minister have said, mother? Would he have clapped his hand over his heart, and scowled on me, and bid me begone?"“
我弄不準(zhǔn)那是不是他；他剛才的樣子真怪極了，”孩子接著說?！耙晃揖统苓^去，當(dāng)著所有人的面要他親我了——就象他在那片黑黑的老樹林子里那樣。牧師會(huì)說些什么呢，媽媽？他會(huì)不會(huì)用手捂著心口，對我瞪起眼睛，要我走開呢？”

"What should he say, Pearl?" answered Hester, "save that it was no time to kiss, and that kisses are not to be given in the market-place? Well for thee, foolish child, that thou didst not speak to him!"
“他能說些什么呢，珠兒？”海絲特回答說，“他只能說，這不是親你的時(shí)候，而且也不能在市場上親你。總算還好，傻孩子，你沒跟他講話！”

Another shade of the same sentiment, in reference to Mr. Dimmesdale, was expressed by a person whose eccentricities- or insanity, as we should term it- led her to do what few of the townspeople would have ventured on; to begin a conversation with the wearer of the scarlet letter, in public. It was Mistress Hibbins, who, arrayed in great magnificence, with a triple ruff, a broidered stomacher, a gown of rich velvet, and a gold-headed cane, had come forth to see the procession. As this ancient lady had the renown (which subsequently cost her no less a price than her life) of being a principal actor in all the works of necromancy that were continually going forward, the crowd gave way before her, and seemed to fear the touch of her garment, as if it carried the plague among its gorgeous folds. Seen in conjunction with Hester Prynne- kindly as so many now felt towards the latter- the dread inspired by Mistress Hibbins was doubled, and caused a general movement from that part of the market-place in which the two women stood.
對于丁梅斯代爾牧師，還有一個(gè)人也表達(dá)了同樣的感覺，那人居然荒唐——或者我們應(yīng)該說成是瘋狂——到干出鎮(zhèn)上絕少有人做得出的事情：在大庭廣眾之中與紅字的佩戴者講起話來。那個(gè)人就是西賓斯太太。她套著三層皺領(lǐng)，罩著繡花胸衣，穿著華麗的絨袍，還握著根金頭手杖，打扮得富麗堂皇地出來看游行。在當(dāng)年巫術(shù)風(fēng)行一時(shí)之際，這位老太婆因在其中擔(dān)任主角而頗有名氣(后來竟為此付出了生命作代價(jià))；人們紛紛趨避，仿佛唯恐碰上她的衣袍，就象是那華麗的褶襞中夾帶著瘟疫似的。雖說目前已有好多人對海絲特·白蘭懷有好感，但人們看到西賓斯太太和她站到一起，由那老太婆引起的恐懼更增加了一倍，于是便從她倆站立的地方紛紛后撤。

①指荷蘭、比利時(shí)和盧森堡。

②英克利斯’馬瑟(1639一1723)，美國教士和神學(xué)家，曾出任哈佛學(xué)院院長，在薩萊姆驅(qū)巫案審訊中起過重要作用。