The event of Tess Durbeyfield's return from the manor of her bogus kinsfolk was rumoured abroad, if rumour be not too large a word for a space of a square mile. In the afternoon several young girls of Marlott, former schoolfellows and acquaintances of Tess, called to see her, arriving dressed in their best starched and ironed, as became visitors to a person who had made a transcendent conquest (as they supposed), and sat round the room looking at her with great curiosity. For the fact that it was this said thirty-first cousin, Mr d'Urberville, who had fallen in love with her, a gentleman not altogether local, whose reputation as a reckless gallant and heart-breaker was beginning to spread beyond the immediate boundaries of Trantridge, lent Tess's supposed position, by its fearsomeness, a far higher fascination than it would have exercised if unhazardous.
苔絲·德北菲爾德從她那個冒牌本家回來了這件事，已經四處傳說開了，如果說在一英里方圓的地面上使用傳說這個詞不算太大的話。午后時分，馬洛特村里有幾個年輕的姑娘，從前是苔絲的小學同學和朋友，一起來看望她，她們來的時候身上穿的衣服，都是她們漿洗過熨平了的最好的衣服，因為她們認為，苔絲是一個勝利歸來的卓越征服者，她們要做她的客人；她們在屋里坐成一圈，帶著好奇的心情看著她。因為和她戀愛的正是那位據(jù)說隔了31代的堂兄德貝維爾先生，一個并不完全是本地的紳士，而他作為獵艷能手和負心漢子的名聲已經四下傳播開來，開始超越特蘭里奇的本地邊界，由于這種令人害怕的情形，這也使她們所認定的苔絲的地位，同在毫無危險中的地位相比，就具有了更大的吸引力。

Their interest was so deep that the younger ones whispered when her back was turned--
她們對她抱有濃厚的興趣，所以當苔絲一轉過身去，一些年輕一些的姑娘就小聲議論起來——

'How pretty she is; and how that best frock do set her off! I believe it cost an immense deal, and that it was a gift from him.'
“她多么漂亮呀，那件漂亮的衣服穿在身上她顯得更漂亮了！我相信它花了一大筆錢，并且還是他送的禮物?！?/div>

Tess, who was reaching up to get the tea-things from the corner-cupboard, did not hear these commentaries.
苔絲站在屋子的角落處，正在從碗櫥里往外拿茶具，沒有聽見這些評論。

If she had heard them, she might soon have set her friends right on the matter. But her mother heard, and Joan's simple vanity, having been denied the hope of a dashing marriage, fed itself as well as it could upon the sensation of a dashing flirtation. Upon the whole she felt gratified, even though such a limited and evanescent triumph should involve her daughter's reputation; it might end in marriage yet, and in the warmth of her responsiveness to their admiration she invited her visitors to stay to tea.
要是她聽見了這些評論，她也許很快就會把她的朋友們對這件事的誤會改正過來。但是她的母親卻聽見了，瓊簡單的虛榮心在高攀一門婚事的希望落空以后，因此就到女兒被人追求這件事上去尋求感情上的滿足。總的說來，她感覺到了滿足，即使這種短暫和有限的勝利會影響到她女兒的名聲；但是她最終也許還是要嫁給他的，她看見她們羨慕她的女兒，心里頭高興，就熱情地請她們留下來吃茶。

Their chatter, their laughter, their good-humoured innuendoes, above all, their flashes and flickerings of envy, revived Tess's spirits also; and, as the evening wore on, she caught the infection of their excitement, and grew almost gay. The marble hardness left her face, she moved with something of her old bounding step, and flushed in all her young beauty.
她們的閑聊、她們的歡笑、她們的善意影射，尤其是她們閃爍其詞的妒意，也使苔絲在精神上復活了；而且隨著晚上時間的流逝，苔絲也漸漸地被她們的興奮情趣感染了，差不多變得快活起來。她臉上像大理石一樣僵硬的表情消失了，走路時的腳步也有些像往日那樣蹦蹦跳跳了，她容光煥發(fā)，全身顯現(xiàn)出青春的美麗風采。