Her refusal, though unexpected, did not permanently daunt Clare. His experience of women was great enough for him to be aware that the negative often meant nothing more than the preface to the affirmative; and it was little enough for him not to know that in the manner of the present negative there lay a great exception to the dallyings of coyness. That she had already permitted him to make love to her he read as an additional assurance, not fully trowing that in the fields and pastures to 'sigh gratis' is by no means deemed waste; love-making being here more often accepted inconsiderately and for its own sweet sake than in the carking anxious homes of the ambitious, where a girl's craving for an establishment paralyzes her healthy thought of a passion as an end.
苔丝的拒绝虽然出乎意外,但是这也不会长期让克莱尔气馁。他对女人已经有了经验,这已经足以使他懂得,否定常常只是肯定的开端;但是他的经验毕竟有限,还不足以知道目前这种否定完全是一个例外,和那种忸怩作态的调情不同。既然苔丝已经允许他向她求爱了,他认为这就是一种额外的保证,但是他并没有完全认识到,发生在田野里和牧场上的那些“免费的叹息”①,也决不是浪费了;在这种地方,恋爱常常是没有多加考虑就被接受了,这种恋爱只是为了恋爱自身的甜蜜,它和充满野心的忧虑焦躁的家庭不一样,在那种家庭里,女孩子渴望的只是为了建立家业,这样就损害了以感情为目的的健康思想。

'Tess, why did you say "no" in such a positive way?' he asked her in the course of a few days.
“苔丝,为什么你用这种坚决的态度说‘不’呢?”过了几天他问苔丝。

她吃了一惊。

'Don't ask me. I told you why - partly. I am not good enough not worthy enough.'
“不要问我。我已经告诉过你了——部分地告诉过你了。我配不上你——我不值得你爱。”

'How? Not fine lady enough?'
“怎么配不上?因为你不是一位千金小姐吗?”

'Yes - something like that,' murmured she. 'Your friends would scorn me.'
“不错——和那差不多,”她低声说。“你家里的人会瞧不起我的。”

'Indeed, you mistake them - my father and mother. As for my brothers, I don't care--' He clasped his fingers behind her back to keep her from slipping away. 'Now - you did not mean it, sweet? - I am sure you did not! You have made me so restless that I cannot read, or play, or do anything. I am in no hurry, Tess, but I want to know - to hear from your own warm lips - that you will some day be mine - any time you may choose; but some day?'
“你实在是把他们看错了——把我的父亲和母亲看错了。至于说到我的哥哥,我并不在乎——”他从后面用双手抱住苔丝,害怕她逃走了。“喂——你说的不是真话吧,亲爱的?——我敢肯定你不是说的真话!你已经弄得我坐立不安了,不能读书、无心玩耍,什么事也没法做。我不着急,苔丝,但是我想知道——想从你温暖的嘴里亲自听到——有一天你会是我的人——什么时间你可以选择;但是总有一天吧?”

①免费的叹息(sigh gratis),引自莎士比亚的悲剧《哈姆雷特》,见该剧第二幕第二场。