Emma — Chapter 50 in French
By Jane Austen
Emma rentra dans le salon avec des sentiments tout différents de ceux qui l’en avaient fait sortir : elle espérait alors trouver un peu de répit à sa souffrance, et maintenant elle éprouvait une sorte de vertige en face du bonheur qui venait si soudainement de lui échoir. What totally different feelings did Emma take back into the house from what she had brought out!—she had then been only daring to hope for a little respite of suffering;—she was now in an exquisite flutter of happiness, and such happiness moreover as she believed must still be greater when the flutter should have passed away.
Ils s’assirent autour de la table à thé : cette réunion si simple et si habituelle prit, ce jour-là, aux yeux d’Emma, une signification nouvelle ; elle réussit avec peine à dissimuler son émotion et à se montrer une attentive maîtresse de maison. They sat down to tea—the same party round the same table—how often it had been collected!—and how often had her eyes fallen on the same shrubs in the lawn, and observed the same beautiful effect of the western sun!—But never in such a state of spirits, never in anything like it; and it was with difficulty that she could summon enough of her usual self to be the attentive lady of the house, or even the attentive daughter.
Le pauvre M. Woodhouse ne soupçonnait guère les projets qui se formaient dans le cœur de cet homme qu'il accueillait avec tant de cordialité, et dont il craignait si anxieusement que le trajet n'eût pas altéré la santé.—S'il eût pu lire dans ce cœur, il se fût peu soucié des poumons ; mais, sans la moindre prévision du malheur qui le menaçait, sans apercevoir rien d'extraordinaire dans l'air ou la conduite de l'un ou de l'autre, il leur répéta très tranquillement tous les détails des nouvelles qu'il avait reçues de M. Perry, et continua à parler avec beaucoup de suffisance, totalement inconscient de ce qu'ils auraient pu lui révéler en retour. Poor Mr. Woodhouse little suspected what was plotting against him in the breast of that man whom he was so cordially welcoming, and so anxiously hoping might not have taken cold from his ride.—Could he have seen the heart, he would have cared very little for the lungs; but without the most distant imagination of the impending evil, without the slightest perception of anything extraordinary in the looks or ways of either, he repeated to them very comfortably all the articles of news he had received from Mr. Perry, and talked on with much self-contentment, totally unsuspicious of what they could have told him in return.
Tant que M. Knightley resta auprès d'elles, l'agitation d'Emma persista ; mais dès qu'il fut parti, elle commença à se tranquilliser un peu—et au cours de cette nuit d'insomnie, qui était le prix d'une telle soirée, elle trouva un ou deux points assez graves à considérer, qui lui firent sentir que même son bonheur devait avoir quelque alliage. As long as Mr. Knightley remained with them, Emma's fever continued; but when he was gone, she began to be a little tranquillized and subdued—and in the course of the sleepless night, which was the tax for such an evening, she found one or two such very serious points to consider, as made her feel, that even her happiness must have some alloy. Son père—et Harriet. Her father—and Harriet. Elle ne pouvait rester seule sans sentir tout le poids de leurs droits respectifs ; et comment assurer le bien-être de l'un et de l'autre au maximum, telle était la question. She could not be alone without feeling the full weight of their separate claims; and how to guard the comfort of both to the utmost, was the question. À l'égard de son père, c'était une question bientôt résolue. With respect to her father, it was a question soon answered. Relativement à son père toute hésitation eût été coupable : elle ne le quitterait jamais ! Elle se sentait émue à cette seule pensée. She hardly knew yet what Mr. Knightley would ask; but a very short parley with her own heart produced the most solemn resolution of never quitting her father.—She even wept over the idea of it, as a sin of thought. Finalement elle résolut d’annoncer à Henriette la cruelle nouvelle par lettre et de s’efforcer de la faire inviter à Brunswick square pour quelques semaines ; Isabelle, pendant son séjour à Hartfield, avait pris Henriette en amitié et Emma était sûre qu’un séjour à Londres serait un plaisir pour la jeune fille : celle-ci n’aurait sans doute pas le courage de refuser une invitation si agréable, et grâce à son heureux naturel, elle trouverait probablement un apaisement à son chagrin dans les multiples distractions de la capitale. While he lived, it must be only an engagement; but she flattered herself, that if divested of the danger of drawing her away, it might become an increase of comfort to him.—How to do her best by Harriet, was of more difficult decision;—how to spare her from any unnecessary pain; how to make her any possible atonement; how to appear least her enemy?—On these subjects, her perplexity and distress were very great—and her mind had to pass again and again through every bitter reproach and sorrowful regret that had ever surrounded it.—She could only resolve at last, that she would still avoid a meeting with her, and communicate all that need be told by letter; that it would be inexpressibly desirable to have her removed just now for a time from Highbury, and—indulging in one scheme more—nearly resolve, that it might be practicable to get an invitation for her to Brunswick Square.—Isabella had been pleased with Harriet; and a few weeks spent in London must give her some amusement.—She did not think it in Harriet's nature to escape being benefited by novelty and variety, by the streets, the shops, and the children.—At any rate, it would be a proof of attention and kindness in herself, from whom every thing was due; a separation for the present; an averting of the evil day, when they must all be together again.