《简爱》✍ 第二章：11

This room was chill,  because it seldom had a fire; it was silent, because remote from the nursery and kitchen; solemn, because it was known to be so seldom entered. The housemaid alone came here on Saturdays, to wipe from the mirrors and the furniture a week's quiet dust: and Mrs. Reed herself, at far intervals, visited it to review the contents of a certain secret drawer in the wardrobe, where were stored divers parchments, her jewel-casket, and a miniature of her deceased husband; and in those last words lies the secret of the red-room—— the spell which kept it so lonely in spite of its grandeur.

因为难得生火，这屋子很冷。因为它离育儿室和厨房都很远，所以很静。又因为谁都知道很少有人进来，所以显得庄严肃穆。只有女佣每逢星期六上这里来，把一周内静悄悄落在镜子上和家具上的灰尘抹去。里德太太自己则隔很长时间才进来一次。查看大衣橱里某个秘密抽屉里的东西。这里存放着各类羊皮文件、她的首饰盒，以及她已故丈夫的微型画像。上面提到的最后几句话，给红房子带来了一种神秘感、一种魔力，因而使得它尽管富丽堂皇，却显得分外凄清。