| She told, too, how that there was undoubtedly an immense treasure of English guineas hidden somewhere about the house, or in the cellar, or possibly in the garden. | Гепзиба объявила также, что где-то под домом, или в погребе, или, может быть, в саду непременно должен находиться огромный клад, состоящий из кучи английских гиней. |
| "If you should happen to find it, Phoebe," said Hepzibah, glancing aside at her with a grim yet kindly smile, "we will tie up the shop bell for good and all." | - Если бы вам посчастливилось найти его, Фиби, -проговорила Г епзиба, глядя на девушку с кислой, но дружелюбной улыбкой, - тогда бы колокольчик не звенел больше в лавочке. |
| "Yes, my dear cousin," answered Phoebe; "but, in the meantime, I hear somebody ringing it!" | - Да, милая кузина, - ответила Фиби, - но пока я слышу, как он звенит! |
| When the customer was gone, Hepzibah talked rather vaguely, and at great length, about a certain Alice Pyncheon, who had been exceedingly beautiful and accomplished in her lifetime, a hundred years ago. The fragrance of her rich and delightful character still lingered about the place where she had lived, as a dried rosebud scents the drawer where it has withered and perished. | Когда Фиби закончила с покупателем, Гепзиба начала рассказывать, очень неопределенно и издалека, о некоторой Элис Пинчон, которая была необыкновенно хороша собой и очень образованна в свое время, лет сто тому назад. |
| This lovely Alice had met with some great and mysterious calamity, and had grown thin and white, and gradually faded out of the world. | С этой прелестной Элис случилась какая-то страшная, покрытая мраком тайны, беда. Она худела, бледнела и мало-помалу увяла навеки. |
| But, even now, she was supposed to haunt the House of Seven Gables, and a great many times-especially when one of the Pyncheons was to die-she had been heard playing sadly and beautifully on the harpsichord. | Но до сих пор некоторые уверены, что тень ее живет в Доме с семью шпилями, и очень часто -особенно перед смертью кого-нибудь из Пинчонов - слышно, как она играет на клавикордах. |
| One of these tunes, just as it had sounded from her spiritual touch, had been written down by an amateur of music; it was so exquisitely mournful that nobody, to this day, could bear to hear it played, unless when a great sorrow had made them know the still profounder sweetness of it. |