All merchants, and even all inn-keepers, are trusted with keeping themselves the account of the goods which they sell, either within or without the territory.
It is in the nature of innkeepers and all men who have no pressing business of their own to ask as many questions as possible before giving any information.
Arthur was impressed because, though she reported these rumours with mock scepticism as the stories of ignorant yokels and old women, the innkeeper had evidently a terrified belief in their truth.
So Scott tells the story with this pause from the innkeeper at this moment because that is what you need to absorb what he just said just as he did in the moment when he heard it.
所以 Scott 讲述这个故事时,客栈老板此刻停顿了一下,因为这是你需要吸收他刚才所说的话,就像他听到它时所做的那样。
The keeper of an inn or tavern, who is never master of his own house, and who is exposed to the brutality of every drunkard, exercises neither a very agreeable nor a very creditable business.