II Selling in Haste and Repenting at Leisure II Vender deprisa y arrepentirse a gusto II Vendre en hâte et se repentir à loisir II Vender à pressa e arrepender-se à vontade II Aceleyle Satmak ve Boş Zamanlarında Tövbe Etmek 二、匆忙销售、闲悔

Anne drove over to Carmody on a shopping expedition the next afternoon and took Diana Barry with her. Diana was, of course, a pledged member of the Improvement Society, and the two girls talked about little else all the way to Carmody and back. Diana était, bien sûr, une membre engagée de l'Amélioration Society, et les deux filles n'ont pas parlé d'autre chose jusqu'à Carmody et retour.

"The very first thing we ought to do when we get started is to have that hall painted," said Diana, as they drove past the Avonlea hall, a rather shabby building set down in a wooded hollow, with spruce trees hooding it about on all sides. "La toute première chose que nous devrions faire lorsque nous commencerons à travailler, c'est de faire peindre cette salle", dit Diana, alors qu'elles passent devant la salle d'Avonlea, un bâtiment plutôt miteux situé dans un creux boisé, avec des épicéas qui l'entourent de tous les côtés. "It's a disgraceful looking place and we must attend to it even before we try to get Mr. Levi Boulder to pull his house down. "C'est un endroit honteux et nous devons nous en occuper avant même d'essayer de convaincre M. Levi Boulder de démolir sa maison. Father says we'll never succeed in DOING that. Père dit qu'on ne réussira jamais à FAIRE ça. Levi Boulter is too mean to spend the time it would take." "Perhaps he'll let the boys take it down if they promise to haul the boards and split them up for him for kindling wood," said Anne hopefully. "Peut-être qu'il laissera les garçons l'abattre s'ils promettent de transporter les planches et de les fendre pour lui faire du bois d'allumage", a déclaré Anne avec espoir. "We must do our best and be content to go slowly at first. "Il faut faire de notre mieux et se contenter d'y aller doucement au début. We can't expect to improve everything all at once. We'll have to educate public sentiment first, of course." Diana wasn't exactly sure what educating public sentiment meant; but it sounded fine and she felt rather proud that she was going to belong to a society with such an aim in view. "I thought of something last night that we could do, Anne. You know that three-cornered piece of ground where the roads from Carmody and Newbridge and White Sands meet? Vous connaissez ce terrain à trois angles où se rejoignent les routes de Carmody, Newbridge et White Sands ? It's all grown over with young spruce; but wouldn't it be nice to have them all cleared out, and just leave the two or three birch trees that are on it?" Tout est recouvert de jeunes épicéas; mais ne serait-il pas agréable de les faire tous dégager et de laisser simplement les deux ou trois bouleaux qui s'y trouvent ? » "Splendid," agreed Anne gaily. "And have a rustic seat put under the birches. "Et faites mettre un siège rustique sous les bouleaux. And when spring comes we'll have a flower-bed made in the middle of it and plant geraniums." Et au printemps, nous ferons un parterre de fleurs au milieu et nous y planterons des géraniums". "Yes; only we'll have to devise some way of getting old Mrs. Hiram Sloane to keep her cow off the road, or she'll eat our geraniums up," laughed Diana. "Oui, mais il faudra trouver un moyen d'obliger la vieille Mme Hiram Sloane à ne pas laisser sa vache sur la route, sinon elle mangera nos géraniums", dit Diana en riant. "I begin to see what you mean by educating public sentiment, Anne. Je commence à comprendre ce que vous entendez par "éduquer le sentiment public", Anne. There's the old Boulter house now. Did you ever see such a rookery? Avez-vous déjà vu une telle colonie ? And perched right close to the road too. Et perché juste à côté de la route aussi. An old house with its windows gone always makes me think of something dead with its eyes picked out." Une vieille maison dont les fenêtres ont disparu me fait toujours penser à quelque chose de mort avec les yeux crevés." "I think an old, deserted house is such a sad sight," said Anne dreamily. "It always seems to me to be thinking about its past and mourning for its old-time joys. "Il me semble toujours penser à son passé et pleurer ses joies d'autrefois. Marilla says that a large family was raised in that old house long ago, and that it was a real pretty place, with a lovely garden and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter and songs; and now it is empty, and nothing ever wanders through it but the wind. How lonely and sorrowful it must feel! Perhaps they all come back on moonlit nights . the ghosts of the little children of long ago and the roses and the songs . les fantômes des petits enfants d'autrefois et les roses et les chansons . and for a little while the old house can dream it is young and joyous again." et pour un petit moment, la vieille maison peut rêver qu'elle est à nouveau jeune et joyeuse". Diana shook her head.

"I never imagine things like that about places now, Anne. Don't you remember how cross mother and Marilla were when we imagined ghosts into the Haunted Wood? Ne te souviens-tu pas de la colère de maman et de Marilla quand nous avons imaginé des fantômes dans le Bois Hanté ? To this day I can't go through that bush comfortably after dark; and if I began imagining such things about the old Boulter house I'd be frightened to pass it too. À ce jour, je ne peux pas traverser ce buisson confortablement après la tombée de la nuit; et si je commençais à imaginer de telles choses à propos de la vieille maison Boulter, j'aurais aussi peur de passer devant. Besides, those children aren't dead. They're all grown up and doing well . and one of them is a butcher. And flowers and songs couldn't have ghosts anyhow." Et les fleurs et les chansons ne pouvaient pas avoir de fantômes de toute façon." Anne smothered a little sigh. Anne étouffa un petit soupir. She loved Diana dearly and they had always been good comrades. But she had long ago learned that when she wandered into the realm of fancy she must go alone. Mais elle avait appris depuis longtemps que lorsqu'elle errait dans le royaume de la fantaisie, elle devait y aller seule. The way to it was by an enchanted path where not even her dearest might follow her. Pour y accéder, il fallait emprunter un chemin enchanté où même ses proches ne pouvaient pas la suivre.

A thunder-shower came up while the girls were at Carmody; it did not last long, however, and the drive home, through lanes where the raindrops sparkled on the boughs and little leafy valleys where the drenched ferns gave out spicy odors, was delightful. Une averse de tonnerre s'éleva pendant que les filles étaient à Carmody ; cela ne dura pourtant pas longtemps, et le retour à la maison, à travers des ruelles où les gouttes de pluie scintillaient sur les branchages et de petites vallées feuillues où les fougères trempées exhalaient des odeurs épicées, fut délicieux. But just as they turned into the Cuthbert lane Anne saw something that spoiled the beauty of the landscape for her.

Before them on the right extended Mr. Harrison's broad, gray-green field of late oats, wet and luxuriant; and there, standing squarely in the middle of it, up to her sleek sides in the lush growth, and blinking at them calmly over the intervening tassels, was a Jersey cow! Devant eux, sur la droite, s'étendait le vaste champ gris-vert d'avoine tardive de M. Harrison, humide et luxuriant, et là, en plein milieu, enfoncée jusqu'aux flancs dans la végétation luxuriante, et clignant des yeux calmement par-dessus les glands, se tenait une vache Jersey ! Anne dropped the reins and stood up with a tightening of the lips that boded no good to the predatory quadruped. Anne lâcha les rênes et se leva en serrant les lèvres, ce qui n'augurait rien de bon pour le quadrupède prédateur. Not a word said she, but she climbed nimbly down over the wheels, and whisked across the fence before Diana understood what had happened. Pas un mot, dit-elle, mais elle grimpa prestement par-dessus les roues et traversa la clôture avant que Diana ne comprenne ce qui s'était passé.

"Anne, come back," shrieked the latter, as soon as she found her voice. "You'll ruin your dress in that wet grain . "Vous allez abîmer votre robe dans ce grain mouillé. ruin it. le ruiner. She doesn't hear me! Well, she'll never get that cow out by herself. Eh bien, elle ne sortira jamais cette vache toute seule. I must go and help her, of course." Anne was charging through the grain like a mad thing. Anne chargeait dans le grain comme une folle. Diana hopped briskly down, tied the horse securely to a post, turned the skirt of her pretty gingham dress over her shoulders, mounted the fence, and started in pursuit of her frantic friend. Diana sauta vivement à terre, attacha solidement le cheval à un poteau, retourna la jupe de sa jolie robe vichy sur ses épaules, monta sur la clôture et se lança à la poursuite de son amie frénétique. She could run faster than Anne, who was hampered by her clinging and drenched skirt, and soon overtook her. Elle pouvait courir plus vite qu'Anne, qui était gênée par sa jupe collante et trempée, et la rattrapa bientôt. Behind them they left a trail that would break Mr. Harrison's heart when he should see it. Derrière eux, ils ont laissé une trace qui briserait le cœur de M. Harrison lorsqu'il la verrait. "Anne, for mercy's sake, stop," panted poor Diana. "Anne, de grâce, arrête", haleta la pauvre Diana. "I'm right out of breath and you are wet to the skin." "Je suis à bout de souffle et tu es mouillé jusqu'à la peau." "I must . get . that cow . out . before . Mr. Harrison . sees her," gasped Anne. "I don't . care . if I'm . drowned . if we . can . only . do that." But the Jersey cow appeared to see no good reason for being hustled out of her luscious browsing ground. Mais la vache Jersey semblait ne pas voir de raison valable à ce qu'on la bouscule pour l'éloigner de son luxuriant terrain de pâturage. No sooner had the two breathless girls got near her than she turned and bolted squarely for the opposite corner of the field. A peine les deux filles essoufflées se sont-elles approchées d'elle qu'elle a fait demi-tour et s'est élancée vers le coin opposé du terrain.

"Head her off," screamed Anne. "Enlève-la", cria Anne. "Run, Diana, run." Diana did run. Anne tried to, and the wicked Jersey went around the field as if she were possessed. Privately, Diana thought she was. It was fully ten minutes before they headed her off and drove her through the corner gap into the Cuthbert lane.

There is no denying that Anne was in anything but an angelic temper at that precise moment. Il est indéniable qu'Anne était dans autre chose qu'un tempérament angélique à ce moment précis. Nor did it soothe her in the least to behold a buggy halted just outside the lane, wherein sat Mr. Shearer of Carmody and his son, both of whom wore a broad smile. Cela ne l'apaisa pas non plus de voir un buggy arrêté juste à l'extérieur de la voie, dans lequel étaient assis M. Shearer de Carmody et son fils, qui arboraient tous deux un large sourire.

"I guess you'd better have sold me that cow when I wanted to buy her last week, Anne," chuckled Mr. Shearer. "I'll sell her to you now, if you want her," said her flushed and disheveled owner. "Je vous la vendrai maintenant, si vous la voulez", dit son propriétaire, rouge et ébouriffé. "You may have her this very minute." "Vous pouvez l'avoir cette minute même." "Done. "Fait. I'll give you twenty for her as I offered before, and Jim here can drive her right over to Carmody. She'll go to town with the rest of the shipment this evening. Elle ira en ville avec le reste de la cargaison ce soir. Mr. Reed of Brighton wants a Jersey cow." Five minutes later Jim Shearer and the Jersey cow were marching up the road, and impulsive Anne was driving along the Green Gables lane with her twenty dollars.

"What will Marilla say?" asked Diana.

"Oh, she won't care. Dolly was my own cow and it isn't likely she'd bring more than twenty dollars at the auction. Dolly était ma propre vache et il est peu probable qu'elle rapporte plus de vingt dollars aux enchères. But oh dear, if Mr. Harrison sees that grain he will know she has been in again, and after my giving him my word of honor that I'd never let it happen! Mais si M. Harrison voit ce grain, il saura qu'elle est de nouveau dans le coup, alors que je lui ai donné ma parole d'honneur que je ne laisserais jamais cela se produire ! Well, it has taught me a lesson not to give my word of honor about cows. A cow that could jump over or break through our milk-pen fence couldn't be trusted anywhere." Marilla had gone down to Mrs. Lynde's, and when she returned knew all about Dolly's sale and transfer, for Mrs. Lynde had seen most of the transaction from her window and guessed the rest. Marilla était descendue chez Mme Lynde, et quand elle est revenue, elle savait tout de la vente et du transfert de Dolly, car Mme Lynde avait vu la plus grande partie de la transaction de sa fenêtre et avait deviné le reste. "I suppose it's just as well she's gone, though you DO do things in a dreadful headlong fashion, Anne. « Je suppose qu'il est tout aussi bien qu'elle soit partie, bien que tu fasses les choses d'une façon épouvantable, Anne. I don't see how she got out of the pen, though. She must have broken some of the boards off." "I didn't think of looking," said Anne, "but I'll go and see now. « Je n'ai pas pensé à regarder, dit Anne, mais je vais voir maintenant. Martin has never come back yet. Perhaps some more of his aunts have died. I think it's something like Mr. Peter Sloane and the octogenarians. Je pense que c'est quelque chose comme M. Peter Sloane et les octogénaires. The other evening Mrs. Sloane was reading a newspaper and she said to Mr. Sloane, 'I see here that another octogenarian has just died. What is an octogenarian, Peter?' And Mr. Sloane said he didn't know, but they must be very sickly creatures, for you never heard tell of them but they were dying. Et M. Sloane a dit qu'il ne savait pas, mais qu'il devait s'agir de créatures très maladives, car vous n'en avez jamais entendu parler, mais qu'elles étaient en train de mourir. That's the way with Martin's aunts." C'est comme ça avec les tantes de Martin." "Martin's just like all the rest of those French," said Marilla in disgust. "You can't depend on them for a day." Marilla was looking over Anne's Carmody purchases when she heard a shrill shriek in the barnyard. Marilla était en train de regarder les achats d'Anne Carmody lorsqu'elle a entendu un cri strident dans la basse-cour. A minute later Anne dashed into the kitchen, wringing her hands.

"Anne Shirley, what's the matter now?" "Oh, Marilla, whatever shall I do? This is terrible. And it's all my fault. Oh, will I EVER learn to stop and reflect a little before doing reckless things? Oh, est-ce que j'apprendrai JAMAIS à m'arrêter et à réfléchir un peu avant de faire des choses imprudentes ? Mrs. Lynde always told me I would do something dreadful some day, and now I've done it!" "Anne, you are the most exasperating girl! WHAT is it you've done?" "Sold Mr. Harrison's Jersey cow . the one he bought from Mr. Bell . to Mr. Shearer! Dolly is out in the milking pen this very minute." "Anne Shirley, are you dreaming?" "I only wish I were. There's no dream about it, though it's very like a nightmare. And Mr. Harrison's cow is in Charlottetown by this time. Oh, Marilla, I thought I'd finished getting into scrapes, and here I am in the very worst one I ever was in in my life. Oh, Marilla, je pensais que j'avais fini de me prendre les pieds dans le tapis, et voilà que je me retrouve dans la pire des situations que j'ai connues dans ma vie. What can I do?" "Do? There's nothing to do, child, except go and see Mr. Harrison about it. We can offer him our Jersey in exchange if he doesn't want to take the money. She is just as good as his." Elle est aussi bonne que la sienne". "I'm sure he'll be awfully cross and disagreeable about it, though," moaned Anne. "I daresay he will. He seems to be an irritable sort of a man. I'll go and explain to him if you like." "No, indeed, I'm not as mean as that," exclaimed Anne. « Non, en effet, je ne suis pas si méchante que ça », s'exclama Anne. "This is all my fault and I'm certainly not going to let you take my punishment. I'll go myself and I'll go at once. J'irai moi-même et j'irai tout de suite. The sooner it's over the better, for it will be terribly humiliating." Poor Anne got her hat and her twenty dollars and was passing out when she happened to glance through the open pantry door. On the table reposed a nut cake which she had baked that morning . a particularly toothsome concoction iced with pink icing and adorned with walnuts. une concoction particulièrement appétissante, glacée d'un glaçage rose et ornée de noix. Anne had intended it for Friday evening, when the youth of Avonlea were to meet at Green Gables to organize the Improvement Society. But what were they compared to the justly offended Mr. Harrison? Mais qu'étaient-ils par rapport à M. Harrison, justement offensé ? Anne thought that cake ought to soften the heart of any man, especially one who had to do his own cooking, and she promptly popped it into a box. She would take it to Mr. Harrison as a peace offering.

"That is, if he gives me a chance to say anything at all," she thought ruefully, as she climbed the lane fence and started on a short cut across the fields, golden in the light of the dreamy August evening. "I know now just how people feel who are being led to execution."