They went home together, Tess holding one arm of her father, and Mrs Durbeyfield the other. He had, in truth, drunk very little - not a fourth of the quantity which a systematic tippler could carry to church on a Sunday afternoon without a hitch in his eastings or genuflections; but the weakness of Sir John's constitution made mountains of his petty sins in this kind. On reaching the fresh air he was sufficiently unsteady to incline the row of three at one moment as if they were marching to London, and at another as if they were marching to Bath - which produced a comical effect, frequent enough in families on nocturnal home goings; and, like most comical effects, not quite so comic after all. The two women valiantly disguised these forced excursions and countermarches as well as they could from Durbeyfield their cause, and from Abraham, and from themselves; and so they approached by degrees their own door, the head of the family bursting suddenly into his former refrain as he drew near, as if to fortify his soul at sight of the smallness of his present residence--
苔丝挽起父亲的一只胳膊,她的母亲挽起父亲的另一只,一起回家去。说实在的,她的父亲酒喝得很少——一个经常喝酒的人,礼拜天下午喝完酒上教堂,转身向东下跪,一点也不踉跄,她父亲喝的酒还不到这种人喝的四分之一;但是约翰爵士的身体虚弱,在当时的情景下,喝酒这种小罪恶就让他受不了啦。一接触到新鲜空气,他就开始跌跌撞撞的,一会儿他们一行三人好像正向伦敦走去,一会儿又好像朝巴斯走去——看上去叫人感到滑稽可笑,尽管一家人晚上回家是常有的事;不过,像大多数滑稽可笑的事情一样,实在是又不能叫人完全感到滑稽可笑。母女俩尽量把主要来自德北菲尔德的跌跌撞撞以及他所引起的亚伯拉罕和她们自己的跌跌撞撞掩饰起来;他们就这样一步一步地接近了他们的家门口,这家人的家长在走近家门口时,突然放声唱起他先前唱过的歌来,仿佛看见他现在的住所太狭小,要增强自己的信心似的—— 

'I've got a fam - ily vault at Kingsbere!'
“在金斯伯尔我有一个家族墓室!”

'Hush - don't be so silly, Jacky,' said his wife. 'Yours is not the only family that was of 'count in wold days. Look at the Anktells, and Horseys, and the Tringhams themselves gone to seed almost as much as you - though you was bigger folks than they, that's true. Thank God, I was never of no family, and have nothing to be ashamed of in that way!'
“嘘——不要犯傻了,杰克,”他的妻子说,“先前的大户人家又不是你一户。你看有安克特尔家,有霍尔斯家,还有特林汉姆家——不都和你们家一样衰败了吗——尽管你们家族比他们的人些,也确实要大些。谢天谢地,我个是什么大家族的出身,但是我从来不觉得我的出身丢人。”

'Don't you be so sure o' that. From your father 'tis my belief you've disgraced yourselves more than any o' us, and was kings and queens outright at one time.'
“不要把事情说得太肯定了。从你的天性看来,我敢说你比我们谁都要丢入丢得厉害,你们家曾经出过国王和王后。”

Tess turned the subject by saying what was far more prominent in her own mind at the moment than thoughts of her ancestry--
苔丝说的话改变了话题,因为这时候她心里想到了比她的祖先更为重要的事—— 

'I am afraid father won't be able to take the journey with the beehives tomorrow so early.'
“我担心父亲明天起不了那么早,不能上路去送蜂箱啦。”