Emma — Chapter 26 in French
By Jane Austen
Frank Churchill revint le soir même ; il arriva un peu en retard à dîner, mais personne n’en sut rien. 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.
Ses cheveux étaient coupés et il se moqua de lui-même avec une extrême bonne grâce. 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. Il n'avait aucune raison de souhaiter ses cheveux plus longs pour cacher une confusion d'expression ; aucune raison de regretter l'argent dépensé pour améliorer son humeur. He had no reason to wish his hair longer, to conceal any confusion of face; no reason to wish the money unspent, to improve his spirits. Le lendemain il vint à Hartfield : Emma l’observa et ne put distinguer en lui aucun symptôme de gêne. He was quite as undaunted and as lively as ever; and, after seeing him, Emma thus moralised to herself:—
Je ne sais si cela devrait être ainsi, mais certainement les choses ridicules cessent de l'être quand elles sont faites par des gens sensés d'une manière effrontée. "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 way. La méchanceté est toujours de la méchanceté, mais la folie n'est pas toujours de la folie — cela dépend du caractère de ceux qui s'en chargent. Wickedness is always wickedness, but folly is not always folly.—It depends upon the character of those who handle it. M. Knightley n'est pas un jeune homme frivole et sot. Mr. Knightley, he is not a trifling, silly young man. S'il l'était, il aurait agi autrement. If he were, he would have done this differently. Il en eût tiré gloire ou en eût eu honte. He would either have gloried in the achievement, or been ashamed of it. Il y aurait eu soit l'ostentation d'un fat, soit les détours d'un esprit trop faible pour défendre ses propres vanités.— Non, je suis parfaitement certaine qu'il n'est ni frivole ni sot. There would have been either the ostentation of a coxcomb, or the evasions of a mind too weak to defend its own vanities.—No, I am perfectly sure that he is not trifling or silly."
Le mardi lui apportait la perspective agréable de le revoir et pour plus longtemps qu'auparavant ; de juger de ses manières en général, et d'en déduire la signification de ses manières envers elle ; de deviner quand il lui faudrait mettre de la froideur dans son air ; et d'imaginer quelles seraient les observations de tous ceux qui les voyaient ensemble pour la première fois. With Tuesday came the agreeable prospect 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.