Emma 爱玛 - Chapter 26

Frank Churchill came back again; and if he kept his father's dinner waiting, it was not known at Hartfield; for Mrs. Weston was too anxious for his being a favourite with Mr. Woodhouse, to betray any imperfection which could be concealed ².,He came back, had had his hair cut, and laughed at himself with a very good grace, but without seeming really at all ashamed of what he had done. He had no reason to wish his hair longer, to conceal ¹ any confusion of face; no reason to wish the money unspent, to improve his spirits. He was quite as undaunted and as lively as ever; and, after seeing him, Emma thus moralised to herself:--,"I do not know whether it ought to be so, but certainly silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent ³ way. Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly ⁴ is not always folly.--It depends upon the character of those who handle it. Mr. Knightley, he is not a trifling ⁵, silly young man. If he were, he would have done this differently. He would either have gloried in the achievement, or been ashamed of it. There would have been either the ostentation ⁶ of a coxcomb ⁷, or the evasions ⁸ of a mind too weak to defend its own vanities.--No, I am perfectly ⁹ sure that he is not trifling or silly.", ,With Tuesday came the agreeable prospect ¹⁰ of seeing him again, and for a longer time than hitherto; of judging of his general manners, and by inference, of the meaning of his manners towards herself; of guessing how soon it might be necessary for her to throw coldness into her air; and of fancying what the observations of all those might be, who were now seeing them together for the first time., , ,Her father's comfort was amply secured, Mrs. Bates as well as Mrs. Goddard being able to come; and her last pleasing duty, before she left the house, was to pay her respects to them as they sat together after dinner; and while her father was fondly noticing the beauty of her dress, to make the two ladies all the amends ¹² in her power, by helping ¹³ them to large slices of cake and full glasses of wine, for whatever unwilling ¹⁴ self-denial his care of their constitution might have obliged them to practise during the meal.--She had provided a plentiful ¹⁵ dinner for them; she wished she could know that they had been allowed to eat it., ,She followed another carriage to Mr. Cole's door; and was pleased to see that it was Mr. Knightley's; for Mr. Knightley keeping no horses, having little spare money and a great deal of health, activity, and independence, was too apt, in Emma's opinion, to get about as he could, and not use his carriage so often as became the owner of Donwell Abbey. She had an opportunity now of speaking her approbation ¹⁶ while warm from her heart, for he stopped to hand her out., ,He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦
。,The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。