“IM willing.” ferventlyfervently adv.热心地， 热诚地 responded Sally， wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking the thankfulness he had no words for. Then， musingly， he apologized to himself. “I certainly held threes—I KNOW it—but I drew and didnt fill. Thats where Im so often weak in the game. If I had stood pat—but I didnt. I never do. I dont know enough.”
“好吧，好吧，”萨利热情洋溢地答道，他擦着脑门上的汗，好像不知道怎么表达他的谢意才是。他沉思着做自我批评：“我本来拿了一把好牌——我明明知道是好牌——可我光抓在手里没打出去。我打牌总是犯这个毛病。要是我能坚决一点——可我没有。我从来没有。我的学问还不够啊。”
Confessedly defeated， he was properly tame now and subduedsubdued adj.屈服的， 被抑制的， 柔和的， 减弱的。 Aleck forgave him with her eyes.
自认吃了败仗，他也就俯首帖耳了。艾莱柯的眼神宽恕了他。
The grand interest， the supreme interest， came instantly to the front again， nothing could keep it in the background many minutes on a stretch. The couple took up the puzzle of the absence of Tilburys deathnotice. They discussed it every which way， more or less hopefully， but they had to finish where they began， and concede that the only really sane explanation of the absence of the notice must be—and without doubt was—that Tilbury was not dead. There was something sad about it， something even a little unfair， maybe， but there it was， and had to be put up with. They were agreed as to that. To Sally it seemed a strangely inscrutableinscrutable adj.难以了解的， 不能预测的 dispensationdispensation n.分配， more inscrutable than usual， he thought， one of the most unnecessary inscrutable he could call to mind， in fact—and said so， with some feeling， but if he was hoping to draw Aleck he failed， she reserved her opinion， if she had one， she had not the habit of taking injudiciousinjudicious adj.判断不当的， 不聪明的， 浅薄的 risks in any market， worldly or other.
那个很有兴趣、最有兴趣的问题马上回来了。无论什么事情也只能把它压一小会儿。这对夫妇又开始猜报上为什么没有提尔伯里死讯的哑谜。他们猜过来，猜过去，一会儿走投无路，一会儿又柳暗花明；可是转了一个大圈子，他们又回到原地，承认之所以没有提尔伯里的讣告，惟一真正合理的解释——毫无疑问——就是提尔伯里还没死。这事有点儿让人泄气，甚至可能有那么一点儿不公平；不过事已至此，也只有听其自然了。他们对此看法一致。在萨利看来，虽然天意如此，毕竟反常，不可思议。说实话，这是他能想到的最不可思议的事情之一——想到这里，他也就带着几分情绪说了出来。不过，要是他的本意是想引出艾莱柯的话来，那就落空了。艾莱柯就算有想法，也都藏在心里。别管是在人世还是去阴间，她的习惯是在所有场合都不轻举妄动。
The pair must wait for next weeks paper—Tilbury had evidently postponedpostponed v.延期，缓办 vbl.延期，缓办。 That was their thought and their decision. So they put the subject away and went about their affairs again with as good heart as they could.
这对夫妇只有等着下周的报纸——显然提尔伯里是拖延了死期。这就是他们的想法和决定。于是他们就把这件事撂在一边，尽力打起好心情各自忙他们的事去了。
Now， if they had but known it， they had been wronging Tilbury all the time. Tilbury had kept faith， kept it to the letter； he was dead， he had died to schedule. He was dead more than four days now and used to it， entirely dead， perfectly dead， as dead as any other new person in the cemetery， dead in abundant time to get into that weeks SAGAMORE， too， and only shut out by an accident， an accident which could not happen to a metropolitanmetropolitan adj.首都的， 主要都市的， 大城市 journal， but which happens easily to a poor little village rag like the SAGAMORE. On this occasion， just as the editorialeditorial n.社论 adj.编辑上的， 主笔的， 社论的 page was being locked up， a gratis quart of strawberry icewater arrived from Hostetters Ladies and Gents IceCream Parlors， and the stickful of rather chilly regret over Tilburys translationtranslation n.翻译， 译文， 转化， 调任， 转换[物］[数］平移 got crowded out to make room for the editors frantic gratitude.
他们并不知道自己完全错怪了提尔伯里。那封信上提到的事，提尔伯里说到做到。他已经死了，按期死了。如今他死了四天多，已经安息了。死得彻头彻尾，死得完完全全，和公墓里头的每一位新鬼并无不同。提尔伯里死讯有足够的时间上《萨加摩尔周报》的讣告栏，只因一点点疏漏却没能上去。这种疏漏任何一家都市报纸从不会出，可是对《萨加摩尔周报》这样的乡村小报来说，却不足为奇。这一次是在社评版截稿的时候，霍斯提特绅士淑女冰激凌店白送了一夸脱草莓冰激凌，于是，为提尔伯里写的那几句平平淡淡的悼词就给抽掉了，腾出版面来刊载编辑对冰激凌店热情洋溢的谢辞。
On its way to the standinggalley Tilburys notice got pied. Otherwise it would have gone into some future edition， for WEEKLY SAGAMORES do not waste “live” matter， and in their galleys “live” matter is immortalimmortal adj.不朽的， unless a pi accident intervenes. But a thing that gets pied is dead， and for such there is no resurrectionresurrection n.复苏， its chance of seeing print is gone， forever and ever. And so， let Tilbury like it or not， let him rave in his grave to his fill， no matter—no mention of his death would ever see the light in the WEEKLY SAGAMORE.
提尔伯里的讣告字版送到备用架上的时候，被弄乱了。本来，这条讣告将来还可以用，因为《萨加摩尔周报》从来不糟蹋“备用”稿，只要字版不乱，“备用”稿就常备不懈。可是只要字版一乱，稿子就算完了，不会起死回生，也就永远没有见报的机会了。所以，不管提尔伯里高不高兴，就算他在坟墓里暴跳如雷，也无济于事——他的死讯在《萨加摩尔周报》上永无出头之日了。