“你跟她简直一模一样了，”她格格笑着说，“只是我敢说，你这辈子还从没这么体面过。好啦，蟾蜍，再见吧，祝你好运。顺着你进来时的路一直走；要是有人跟你搭讪——他们很可能会的，因为他们都是男人嘛——你当然也可以跟他们打打趣儿，不过要记住，你是一位寡妇，孤身一人在世上过活，可不能丢了名声呀。”
With a quaking heart, but as firm a footstep as he could command, Toad set forth cautiously on what seemed to be a most hare-brained and hazardous undertaking; but he was soon agreeably surprised to find how easy everything was made for him, and a little humbled at the thought that both his popularity, and the sex that seemed to inspire it, were really another’s. The washerwoman’s squat figure in its familiar cotton print seemed a passport for every barred door and grim gateway; even when he hesitated, uncertain as to the right turning to take, he found himself helped out of his difficulty by the warder at the next gate, anxious to be off to his tea, summoning him to come along sharp and not keep him waiting there all night. The chaff and the humourous sallies to which he was subjected, and to which, of course, he had to provide prompt and effective reply, formed, indeed, his chief danger; for Toad was an animal with a strong sense of his own dignity, and the chaff was mostly (he thought) poor and clumsy, and the humour of the sallies entirely lacking. However, he kept his temper, though with great difficulty, suited his retorts to his company and his supposed character, and did his best not to overstep the limits of good taste.
蟾蜍揣着一颗怦怦乱跳的心，迈着尽可能坚定的步子，小心翼翼地走出牢房，开始一场看来最轻率最风险的行动。不过，他很快就惊喜地发现，道道关卡都一帆风顺地通过了。可是一想到他的这份好人缘，以及造成这种好人缘的性别，实际上都是另外一个人的，又不免多少感到屈辱。洗衣妇的矮胖身材，她身上那件人们熟悉的印花布衫，对每扇上了闩的小门和森严的大门，仿佛都是一张通行证。甚至在他左右为难，不知该往哪边拐时，下一道门的卫兵就会帮他摆脱困境，高声招呼他快些过去。因为那卫兵急着要去喝茶，不愿整夜在那儿等着。主要的危险，倒是他们拿俏皮话跟他搭讪，他自然不能不当机立断作出恰如其分的回答。因为蟾蜍是个自尊心很强的动物，他们的那些打浑逗趣，他认为多数都很无聊笨拙，毫无幽默感可言。不过，费了很大劲，总算耐下性子，使自己的回答适合对方和他乔装的人物的身份，情趣高雅而不出格。
It seemed hours before he crossed the last courtyard, rejected the pressing invitations from the last guardroom, and dodged the outspread arms of the last warder, pleading with simulated passion for just one farewell embrace. But at last he heard the wicket-gate in the great outer door click behind him, felt the fresh air of the outer world upon his anxious brow, and knew that he was free!
仿佛过了好几个钟头，他才穿过最后一个院子，辞谢了最后一间警卫室里盛情的邀请；躲开了最后一名看守佯装要和他拥抱诀别而伸出的双臂。最后，他终于听到监狱大门上的便门在他身后咔哒一声关上了，感到外面世界的新鲜空气吹拂在他焦虑的额上，他知道，他自由了！
Dizzy with the easy success of his daring exploit, he walked quickly towards the lights of the town, not knowing in the least what he should do next, only quite certain of one thing, that he must remove himself as quickly as possible from the neighbourhood where the lady he was forced to represent was so well-known and so popular a character.
这次大胆的冒脸，这样轻而易举就获得了成功，使得他头脑发晕。他朝镇里的灯光快步走去，丝毫不知道下一步该怎么办，脑子里只有一个念头，就是必须尽快离开邻近地区，因为他被迫装扮的那位太太，在这一带是人人熟识和喜欢的一个人物。
As he walked along, considering, his attention was caught by some red and green lights a little way off, to one side of the town, and the sound of the puffing and snorting of engines and the banging of shunted trucks fell on his ear. ‘Aha!’ he thought, ‘this is a piece of luck! A railway station is the thing I want most in the whole world at this moment; and what’s more, I needn’t go through the town to get it, and shan’t have to support this humiliating character by repartees which, though thoroughly effective, do not assist one’s sense of self-respect.’
他边走边想，忽然注意到，不远处，在镇子的一侧，有一些红绿灯在闪烁，机车的喷气声，车辆进岔道的撞击声，也传进了他的耳朵。“啊哈！”他想，“真走运！这会儿，火车站是我在世上最渴望的东西；而且，到火车站去不需要穿过镇子，用不着再装扮这个丢人现眼的角色，用不着再花言巧语跟人周旋了，尽管那很管用，可有损一个人的尊严。”
He made his way to the station accordingly, consulted a time-table, and found that a train, bound more or less in the direction of his Home, was due to start in half-an-hour. ‘More luck!’ said Toad, his spirits rising rapidly, and went off to the booking-office to buy his ticket.
他径直来到火车站，看了看行车时刻表，看到有一趟大致开往他家那个方向的车，半小时以后就开车。“又交上好运啦！”蟾蜍说，他来了精神头，到售票处去买票。
He gave the name of the station that he knew to be nearest to the village of which Toad Hall was the principal feature, and mechanically put his fingers, in search of the necessary money, where his waistcoat pocket should have been. But here the cotton gown, which had nobly stood by him so far, and which he had basely forgotten, intervened, and frustrated his efforts. In a sort of nightmare he struggled with the strange uncanny thing that seemed to hold his hands, turn all muscular strivings to water, and laugh at him all the time; while other travellers, forming up in a line behind, waited with impatience, making suggestions of more or less value and comments of more or less stringency and point. At last—somehow—he never rightly understood how—he burst the barriers, attained the goal, arrived at where all waistcoat pockets are eternally situated, and found—not only no money, but no pocket to hold it, and no waistcoat to hold the pocket!
他报了离蟾宫最近的车站的名称。他本能地把手伸进马甲的兜里去掏钱。那件棉布衫，直到这一刻一直在忠实地为他效劳，他却忘恩负义，把它忘掉了。现在这件衣裳横插一手，阻碍他掏钱。像做恶梦似的，他拼命撕扯那怪东西，可那东西仿佛抓牢了他的手，还不住地嘲笑他，使他耗尽全身的力气而不能得逞。其他旅客在他后面排成长队，等得不耐烦了，向他提出有用或没用的建议，或轻或重的批评。末末了，不知怎么搞的——他也闹不清是怎么回事——他突破了重重障碍，终于摸到了他素来装钱的地方，不料却发现，非但没有钱，连装钱的口袋也没有，甚至连装口袋的马甲也没啦！
To his horror he recollected that he had left both coat and waistcoat behind him in his cell, and with them his pocket-book, money, keys, watch, matches, pencil-case—all that makes life worth living, all that distinguishes the many-pocketed animal, the lord of creation, from the inferior one-pocketed or no-pocketed productions that hop or trip about permissively, unequipped for the real contest.
他惊恐万分，想起他把他的外衣和马甲，连同他的钱包、钱、钥匙、表、火柴、铅笔盒，一切的一切，全都丢在地牢里了。正是这些东酉，使一个人活得有价值，使一个拥有许多口袋的动物、造物的宠儿。有别于只拥有一个口袋或根本没有口袋的低等动物，他们只配凑合着蹦蹦跳跳，却没有资格参加真正的竞赛。
In his misery he made one desperate effort to carry the thing off, and, with a return to his fine old manner—a blend of the Squire and the college Don—he said, ‘Look here! I find I’ve left my purse behind. Just give me that ticket, will you, and I’ll send the money on to-morrow? I’m well-known in these parts.’
他狼狈不堪，只得孤注一掷。他又摆出自己原有的优雅风度——一种乡村绅士和名牌大学院长兼有的气派——说：“唉！我忘带钱包啦，请把票给我好吗？明天我就差人把钱送来。在这一带我是知名人士。”
The clerk stared at him and the rusty black bonnet a moment, and then laughed. ‘I should think you were pretty well known in these parts,’ he said, ‘if you’ve tried this game on often. Here, stand away from the window, please, madam; you’re obstructing the other passengers!’
售票员把他和他那顶褪色的黑布女帽盯了片刻，然后哈哈大笑说：“我相信你在这一带定会出名的，要是你老耍这套鬼花招。听着，太太，请你离开窗口，你妨碍别的旅客买票！”
An old gentleman who had been prodding him in the back for some moments here thrust him away, and, what was worse, addressed him as his good woman, which angered Toad more than anything that had occurred that evening.
一位老绅士已经在他后背戳了好一阵子，这时干脆把他推到一边，更不像话的是，竟管蟾蜍叫他的好太太，这比那晚发生的任何事都更令他恼火。
Baffled and full of despair, he wandered blindly down the platform where the train was standing, and tears trickled down each side of his nose. It was hard, he thought, to be within sight of safety and almost of Home, and to be baulked by the want of a few wretched shillings and by the pettifogging mistrustfulness of paid officials. Very soon his escape would be discovered, the hunt would be up, he would be caught, reviled, loaded with chains, dragged back again to prison and bread-and-water and straw; his guards and penalties would be doubled; and O, what sarcastic remarks the girl would make! What was to be done? He was not swift of foot; his figure was unfortunately recognisable. Could he not squeeze under the seat of a carriage? He had seen this method adopted by schoolboys, when the journey-money provided by thoughtful parents had been diverted to other and better ends. As he pondered, he found himself opposite the engine, which was being oiled, wiped, and generally caressed by its affectionate driver, a burly man with an oil-can in one hand and a lump of cotton-waste in the other.
他一肚子委屈，满心的懊丧，漫无目的地沿着火车停靠的月台往前走，眼泪顺着两腮滚落下来。他心想，眼看就要到手的安全和归家，想不到只因为缺少几个臭钱，因为车站办事员吹毛求疵，故意刁难。就全告吹了，多倒霉哟。他逃跑的事很快就会被发现。跟着就是追捕，被抓住；受辱骂，戴上镣铐，拖回监狱，又回到那面包加白水加稻草地铺的苦日子。他会加倍受到看管和刑罚。哎呀，那姑娘该怎样嘲笑他啊！可他天生不是个飞毛腿，跑不快，他的体形又很容易被人辨认出来。怎么办？能不能藏在车厢座位底下呢？他见过一些小学生，把关怀备至的父母给的车钱全都花在别的用途上，就用这办法混车，他是不是也能如法炮制？他一边合计着，不觉已走到一辆机车跟前。一位壮实的司机，一手拿着油壶，一手摸着块棉纱团，正备加爱护地给机车擦拭，上油。
‘Hullo, mother!’ said the engine-driver, ‘what’s the trouble? You don’t look particularly cheerful.’
“你好，大娘！”司机说，“遇到麻烦了吗？你像是不大高兴。”
‘O, sir!’ said Toad, crying afresh, ‘I am a poor unhappy washerwoman, and I’ve lost all my money, and can’t pay for a ticket, and I must get Home to-night somehow, and whatever I am to do I don’t know. O dear, O dear!’
“唉，先生，”蟾蜍说，又哭了起来，“我是个不幸的穷洗衣妇，所有的钱都丢失了，没钱买火车票，可我今晚非赶回家不可，不知道咋办才好。老天爷呀！”
‘That’s a bad Business, indeed,’ said the engine-driver reflectively. ‘Lost your money—and can’t get Home—and got some kids, too, waiting for you, I dare say?’
“太糟了，”司机思忖着说。“钱丢了——回不了家——家里还有几个孩子在等你吧？”
‘Any amount of ‘em,’ sobbed Toad. ‘And they’ll be hungry—and playing with matches—and upsetting lamps, the little innocents!--and quarrelling, and going on generally. O dear, O dear!’
“一大帮孩子，”蟾蜍抽泣着说。“他们准要挨饿的——要玩火柴的——要打翻油灯的，这帮小傻瓜！——会吵架的。吵个没完。老天爷！老天爷！”
‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do,’ said the good engine-driver. ‘You’re a washerwoman to your trade, says you. Very well, that’s that. And I’m an engine-driver, as you well may see, and there’s no denying it’s terribly dirty work. Uses up a power of shirts, it does, till my missus is fair tired of washing of ‘em. If you’ll wash a few shirts for me when you get Home, and send ‘em along, I’ll give you a ride on my engine. It’s against the Company’s regulations, but we’re not so very particular in these out-of-the-way parts.’
“好吧，我给你出个主意，”好心的火车司机说。“你说你是干洗衣这行当的，那很好。我呢，你瞧，是个火车司机。开火车是个脏活。我穿脏的衬衣一大堆，我太太洗都洗烦了。要是你回家以后，替我洗几件衬衣，洗好给我送来，我就让你搭我的机车。这是违反公司规章的，不过这一带很偏僻，要求不那么严。”
The Toad’s misery turned into rapture as he eagerly scrambled up into the cab of the engine. Of course, he had never washed a shirt in his life, and couldn’t if he tried and, anyhow, he wasn’t going to begin; but he thought: ‘When I get safely Home to Toad Hall, and have money again, and pockets to put it in, I will send the engine-driver enough to pay for quite a quantity of washing, and that will be the same thing, or better.’
蟾蜍的愁苦一下子变成了狂喜，他急急忙忙爬进驾驶室。自然啰，他这辈子没洗过一件衬衣，就是想洗也不会，所以，他压根儿就不打算洗。不过他合计，“等我平安回到蟾宫，有了钱，有了盛钱的口袋，我就给司机送钱去，够他洗好些衣裳的，那还不是一样，说不定更好哩。”
The guard waved his welcome flag, the engine-driver whistled in cheerful response, and the train moved out of the station. As the speed increased, and the Toad could see on either side of him real fields, and trees, and hedges, and cows, and horses, all flying past him, and as he thought how every minute was bringing him nearer to Toad Hall, and sympathetic friends, and money to chink in his pocket, and a soft bed to sleep in, and good things to eat, and praise and admiration at the recital of his adventures and his surpassing cleverness, he began to skip up and down and shout and sing snatches of song, to the great astonishment of the engine-driver, who had come across washerwomen before, at long intervals, but never one at all like this.
信号员挥动了他望眼欲穿的那面小旗，火车司机拉响了欢快的汽笛。火车隆隆驶出了站台。车速越来越快，蟾蜍看到两旁实实在在的田野、树丛、矮篱、牛、马，飞一般地从他身边闪过。他想到，每过一分钟，他就离蟾宫更近，想到同情他的朋友、衣袋里丁当作响的钱币、软软的床、美味的食物，想到人们对他的历险故事和过人的聪明齐声赞叹，——想到这—切，他禁不住蹦上蹦下，大声喊叫，断断续续地唱起歌来。火车司机大为惊诧，因为洗衣妇他以前偶尔也碰到过，但这样一位洗衣妇，他可是从没见过。
They had covered many and many a mile, and Toad was already considering what he would have for supper as soon as he got Home, when he noticed that the engine-driver, with a puzzled expression on his face, was leaning over the side of the engine and listening hard. Then he saw him climb on to the coals and gaze out over the top of the train; then he returned and said to Toad: ‘It’s very strange; we’re the last train running in this direction to-night, yet I could be sworn that I heard another following us!’
他们已经驶过了许多哩的路程，蟾蜍在考虑到家后吃什么晚餐。这时，他注意到司机把头探出窗外，用心听着什么，脸上露出疑惑的神情，随后。司机又爬上煤堆．越过车顶向后张望。一回到车里，他对蟾蜍说：“真怪，今晚这条线上，我们是最后一班车，可是我敢保证，我听到后面还有一辆车开过来！”
Toad ceased his frivolous antics at once. He became grave and depressed, and a dull pain in the lower part of his spine, communicating itself to his legs, made him want to sit down and try desperately not to think of all the possibilities.
蟾蜍马上收起了他那套轻浮的滑稽动作，变得严肃忧郁起来。脊梁骨下半截一阵隐隐的痛感，一直传到两腿，使他只想坐小来，竭力不去想各种可能发生的情况。
By this time the moon was shining brightly, and the engine-driver, steadying himself on the coal, could command a view of the line behind them for a long distance.
这时，月亮照耀得通明，司机设法在煤堆上站稳了，可以看清他们后面长长的路轨。
Presently he called out, ‘I can see it clearly now! It is an engine, on our rails, coming along at a great pace! It looks as if we were being pursued!’
他立刻喊道：“现在我看清楚了！是一辆机车．在我们同一条轨道上，飞快地开过来了！他们像是在追我们！”
The miserable Toad, crouching in the coal-dust, tried hard to think of something to do, with dismal want of success.
倒霉的蟾蜍蹲在煤末里，绞尽脑汁想脱身之计，可硬是一筹莫展。
‘They are gaining on us fast!’ cried the engine-driver. And the engine is crowded with the queerest lot of people! Men like ancient warders, waving halberds; policemen in their helmets, waving truncheons; and shabbily dressed men in pot-hats, obvious and unmistakable plain-clothes detectives even at this distance, waving revolvers and walking-sticks; all waving, and all shouting the same thing—“Stop, stop, stop!”’
“他们很快就撵上咱们了！”司机说。“机车上满是奇奇怪怪的人！有的像古代的卫兵，手里晃着戟；有的是戴钢盔的警察，手里挥着警棍；还有一些是穿得破破烂烂戴高礼帽的人，拿着手枪和手杖，即使隔这么远，也可以断定那是便衣侦探；所有的人都挥着家伙，喊着同一句话：‘停车，停车，停车！’”
Then Toad fell on his knees among the coals and, raising his clasped paws in supplication, cried, ‘Save me, only save me, dear kind Mr. Engine-driver, and I will confess everything! I am not the simple washerwoman I seem to be! I have no children waiting for me, innocent or otherwise! I am a toad—the well-known and popular Mr. Toad, a landed proprietor; I have just escaped, by my great daring and cleverness, from a loathsome dungeon into which my enemies had flung me; and if those fellows on that engine recapture me, it will be chains and bread-and-water and straw and misery once more for poor, unhappy, innocent Toad!’
这时，蟾蜍一下子跪在煤堆里，举起两只合拢的爪子，哀求道：“救救我吧，求求你，亲爱的好心的司机先生，我向你坦白一切！我不是那个简单的洗衣妇！也没有什么天真的或者淘气的孩子在家等我！我是一只蟾蜍——是赫赫有名受人爱戴的蟾蜍先生，我是一位地产主。我凭着极大的勇气和智慧，刚刚从一座可憎的地牢里逃了出来。我坐牢，是由于仇人陷害。要是再给那辆机车上的人抓住，我这个可怜、不幸、无辜的蟾蜍，就会再次陷入戴枷锁、吃面包、喝白水、睡草铺的悲惨境地！”
The engine-driver looked down upon him very sternly, and said, ‘Now tell the truth; what were you put in prison for?’
火车司机非常严厉地低头望着他，说：“你老实告诉我，坐牢是因为什么？”
‘It was nothing very much,’ said poor Toad, colouring deeply. ‘I only borrowed a motorcar while the owners were at lunch; they had no need of it at the time. I didn’t mean to steal it, really; but people— especially magistrates—take such harsh views of thoughtless and high-spirited actions.’
“没什么大不了的事，”可怜的蟾蜍说，满脸通红。“我只不过在车主吃午饭的时候，借用一下他们的汽车；他们当时用不着它。我并不是有意偷车，真的；可是有些人——特别是地方官们——竟把这种粗心大意的鲁莽行为看得那么严重。”
The engine-driver looked very grave and said, ‘I fear that you have been indeed a wicked toad, and by rights I ought to give you up to offended justice. But you are evidently in sore trouble and distress, so I will not desert you. I don’t hold with motor-cars, for one thing; and I don’t hold with being ordered about by policemen when I’m on my own engine, for another. And the sight of an animal in tears always makes me feel queer and softhearted. So cheer up, Toad! I’ll do my best, and we may beat them yet!’
