And he negatived the remainder of the definition forthwith.
接着他又把没有说完的半句话说成了相反的意思。

Clare had just returned from the stable-yard, and, confronting the man on the threshold, heard the words, and saw the shrinking of Tess. The insult to her stung him to the quick, and before he had considered anything at all he struck the man on the chin with the full force of his fist, sending him staggering backwards into the passage.
克莱尔刚好从马厩里回来，在门口碰见了说话的那个人，也听见了他说的话，看见了苔丝退缩和害怕。看见苔丝受到侮辱，他怒火中烧，想也没有想就握起拳头用劲朝那个人的下巴打了一拳。这一拳打得他歪歪倒倒，又退回到走道里去了。

The man recovered himself, and seemed inclined to come on, and Clare, stepping outside the door, put himself in a posture of defence. But his opponent began to think better of the matter. He looked anew at Tess as he passed her, and said to Clare--
那个男人回过神来，似乎想冲上来动手，克莱尔走到门外，摆出招架的姿势。可是他的对手开始改变了想法。他从苔丝身边走过的时候又把她重新看了看，对克莱尔说——

'I beg pardon, sir; 'twas a complete mistake. I thought she was another woman, forty miles from here.'
“对不起，先生；这完全是一场误会。我把她当成了离这儿有四十里地的另外一个女人。”

Clare, feeling then that he had been too hasty, and that he was, moreover, to blame for leaving her standing in an inn-passage, did what he usually did in such cases, gave the man five shillings to plaster the blow; and thus they parted, bidding each other a pacific good-night. As soon as Clare had taken the reins from the ostler, and the young couple had driven off, the two men went in the other direction.
后来克莱尔也觉得自己太鲁莽了，而且也后悔自己不该把苔丝一个人留在过道里，于是他就按照自己通常处理这种事情的办法，给了那个人五个先令，算作是他打他一拳的赔偿；然后他们和和气气地说了声晚安，就分头走了。克莱尔从赶车的马夫手中接过缰绳，和苔丝一起上车动了身，那两个人走的是相反的路。

'And was it a mistake?' said the second one.
“你当真是认错人了吗？”第二个人问。

'Not a bit of it. But I didn't want to hurt the gentleman's feelings - not I.'
“一点儿也没有认错。不过我不想伤害那位绅士的感情罢了。”

In the meantime the lovers were driving onward.
就在这个时候，那一对年轻的恋人也正赶着车往前走。

'Could we put off our wedding till a little later?' Tess asked in a dry dull voice. 'I mean if we wished?'
“我们能不能把婚礼往后推迟一下？”她用干涩呆滞的声音问。“我是说如果我们愿意推迟的话。”

'No, my love. Calm yourself. Do you mean that the fellow may have time to summon me for assault?' he asked good-humouredly.
“不，我的爱人。你要冷静下来。你是说我打了那个人，他有可能到法庭去告我是不是？”他幽默地问。