Page 172 - 血字的研究·四签名(外研社双语读库) (福尔摩斯探案全集)

recall that day and remember the one little incident which
heralded the dawn of a new life. In the case of Lucy Ferrier

the occasion was serious enough in itself, apart from its
future influence on her destiny and that of many besides.

然而，第一个感觉到这个女孩子已经长大成人的，并不是她的父

亲。这种事情很少是由父亲最先发觉的。这种神秘的变化十分微妙，
并且十分缓慢，不能用时日来衡量。对于这种变化，最难觉察的还是

少女本人，直到她听到某一个嗓音的语调，或者接触到某人的手时，
感到心头突突乱跳，产生出一种兼有骄傲和恐惧的感觉，这时她才知

道，一种新奇的、更加奔放的人性在她内心深处觉醒了。世界上很少
有人能忘记那一天，或忘记当年预示自己新生活到来的那件小事。对

于露西·费里尔来说，这件事本身已经够严重的了，姑且不论这件事对
于她和其他人的未来命运所产生的影响。

It was a warm June morning, and the Latter Day Saints
were as busy as the bees whose hive they have chosen for
their emblem. In the fields and in the streets rose the same

hum of human industry. Down the dusty high roads defiled
long streams of heavily-laden mules, all heading to the
west, for the gold fever had broken out in California, and the
overland route lay through the city of the Elect. There, too,
were droves of sheep and bullocks coming in from the

outlying pasture lands, and trains of tired immigrants, men
and horses equally weary of their interminable journey.
Through all this motley assemblage, threading her way with

the skill of an accomplished rider, there galloped Lucy
Ferrier, her fair face flushed with the exercise and her long
chestnut hair floating out behind her. She had a commission
from her father in the city, and was dashing in as she had
done many a time before, with all the fearlessness of youth,

thinking only of her task and how it was to be performed.
The travel-stained adventurers gazed after her in
astonishment, and even the unemotional Indians, journeying

in with their peltries, relaxed their accustomed stoicism as
they marvelled at the beauty of the pale-faced maiden.