Chapter 04 THE INTERVIEW
第四章　会面

AFTER her return to the prison, Hester Prynne was found to be in a state of nervous excitement that demanded constant watchfulness, lest she should perpetrate violence on herself, or do some half-frenzied mischief to the poor babe. As night approached, it proving impossible to quell her insubordination by rebuke or threats of punishment, Master Brackett, the jailer, thought fit to introduce a physician. He described him as a man of skill in all Christian modes of physical science, and likewise familiar with whatever the savage people could teach, in respect to medicinal herbs and roots that grew in the forest. To say the truth, there was much need of professional assistance, not merely for Hester herself, but still more urgently for the child; who, drawing its sustenance from the maternal bosom, seemed to have drank in with it all the turmoil, the anguish and despair, which pervaded the mother's system. It now writhed in convulsions of pain, and was a forcible type, in its little frame, of the moral agony which Hester Prynne had borne throughout the day.
海丝特·白兰返回监狱之后，便陷入一阵神经质的激动之中，必须有人片刻不离地看守着她，以防止她作出自戕之举，或在一时狂乱之中对可怜的婴儿有所伤害。夜幕将临，人们发现无论是大声呵斥抑或是以惩罚作威胁，对于她的不顺从都无济于事，看守布莱基特先生便主张请一个医生来给她看看。按照他的介绍，那医生不但精通基督教的各种医术，面且熟谙从野蛮人那里学来的长在林间的一切草药。老实讲，需要医生诊治的，不仅是海丝特本人，倒是那孩子更为急迫。由于她要从母亲的乳汁中汲取营养，似乎同时吸进了渗透在母亲肌体中的一切骚动、痛楚和绝望。此时，她正在痛苦的痉挛中扭动着，那小小的身躯成了海丝特·白兰一天中所忍受的精神上的极度痛苦的有力的具体表现。
 

Closely following the jailer into the dismal apartment, appeared that individual of singular aspect, whose presence in the crowd had been of such deep interest to the wearer of the scarlet letter. He was lodged in the prison, not as suspected of any offence, but as the most convenient and suitable mode of disposing of him, until the magistrates should have conferred with the Indian sagamores respecting his ransom. His name was announced as Roger Chillingworth. The jailer, after ushering him into the room, remained a moment, marvelling at the comparative quiet that followed his entrance; for Hester Prynne had immediately become as still as death, although the child continued to moan.
那个外表奇特的陌生人紧跟在看守身后走进了凄凉的牢房，他上午在人群中露面的时候，曾经引起了红字佩戴者的深切注意。长官们后来安排他暂时栖身狱中，倒不是担心他会作出什么有害之举，而是在和印第安头人们协商他的赎身问题之前，只有如此才最为方便妥善。据称他名叫罗杰·齐灵渥斯。看守把他领进牢房之后，刚逗留了片刻，室内居然随那人的到来而安静下来，使看守颇为诧异；此时婴儿虽然依旧呻唤不止，海丝特·白兰却立刻象死去一般地僵呆了。
 

"Prithee, friend, leave me alone with my patient," said the practitioner. "Trust me, good jailer, you shall briefly have peace in your house; and, I promise you, Mistress Prynne shall hereafter be more amenable to just authority than you may have found her heretofore."
“朋友，请让我和我的病人单独呆一会儿，”那医生说道。“请相信我吧，好看守，你管的这间牢房很快就会安静下来的；而且我还向你保证，白兰太太将从此遵从执法长官，不会再象原先那样了。”

"Nay, if your worship can accomplish that," answered Master Brackett, "I shall own you for a man of skill indeed! Verily, the woman hath been like a possessed one; and there lacks little, that I should take in hand to drive Satan out of her with stripes."
“嘿，要是你老先生能够做到这一条，”布莱基特看守回答说，“我可要承认你真是手到病除了！真的，这女人一直象是魔鬼缠身；我简直使尽了招数，就差用鞭子把撤旦从她身上赶走啦。”