The Dark Glassesからの英文です。

質問

Dorothy was beside us in no time. She peered one-eyed at the glasses, then at me.
"Are you constipated?" she said.
I maintained silence. But I felt she was seeing everything through her green glasses.
"Put them on," Dorothy said.
"Try them on," said Basil.
They were ganged up together. Everything was going wrong, for I had come here to see how matters stood between them after the affair of the will.
Basil gave me something to read. "It's all right now," I said, "but it was all a blur when I tried to read this morning."
"Better take a dose," Dorothy said.
I wanted to get out of the shop with my glasses as quickly as possible, but the brother said, "I'd better test your eyes again while you're here just to make sure."

He seemed quite normal. I followed him into the dark interior. Dorothy switched on the light. They both seemed normal. The scene in the little office last night began to lose its conviction. As I read out the letters on the card in front of me I was thinking of Basil as "Mr Simmonds" and Dorothy as "Miss Simmonds", and feared their authority, and was in the wrong.

Muriel SparkのThe Dark Glassesからの英文です。
主人公は15歳ぐらいの女の子です。
Basil＝検眼士です。 Dorothyは検眼士の姉です。
主人公が検眼のためにBasilの店を訪れている場面です。

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一番最後の
As I read out the letters on the card in front of me I was thinking of Basil as "Mr Simmonds" and Dorothy as "Miss Simmonds", and feared their authority, and was in the wrong.
の個所の

●I was thinking of Basil as "Mr Simmonds" and Dorothy as "Miss Simmonds"というのは
主人公のどういう心境を表しているのでしょうか？
うまく掴めません。

●and feared their authority, and was in the wrong.のauthority（権威）とはどういう意味なのでしょうか？

小説の前の方から読んでいないとわかりにくいと思いますが、教えてください。宜しくお願いします。

前文は

"What are you doing?" she said.
He jumped up and pulled the blotting paper over his work. Her one eye through her green glasses glinted upon him, though I did not actually see it do so, but saw only the dark green glass focused with a squint on to his face.
"I'm making up the accounts," he said, standing with his back to the desk, concealing the papers. I saw his hand reach back and tremble among them.
"I shivered in my soaking wet clothes. Dorothy looked with her eye at the window. I slid sideways to avoid her and ran all the way home.
Next morning I said. "I've tried to read with these glasses. It's all a blur. I suppose I'll have to take them back?"
"Didn't you notice anything wrong when you tried---"
"---tried them on in the shop?"
"No. But the shop's so dark. Must I take them back?"
I took them into Mr Simmonds early that afternoon.
"I tried to read with them this morning, but it's all a blur."
It was true that I had smeared them with cold cream first.

となっています。

回答No.1

SPS700 · ベストアンサー

１。I was thinking of Basil as "Mr Simmonds" and Dorothy as "Miss Simmonds"というのは
主人公のどういう心境を表しているのでしょうか？うまく掴めません。

　ファーストネームで呼ぶ、個人的な親しさから、苗字で呼ぶ「距離を置く」冷たい遠さ、すなわち同じ町の知り合いから、検眼士とその姉、という職業的な繋がりに変わったことを感じたということでしょう。

２。and feared their authority, and was in the wrong.のauthority（権威）とはどういう意味なのでしょうか？

　たった一人の怯えた少女にのしかかってくる、二人の医者めいた肩書きのある、グルになった大人たちからの圧力、という意味ではないでしょうか。

お礼

「個人的な親しさから、苗字で呼ぶ「距離を置く」冷たい遠さ」、「職業的な繋がりに変わった」、というのはなるほど、と思いました。
ここのauthorityの意味するところもわかりました。
「二人の医者めいた肩書きのある、グルになった大人たちからの圧力」ですね。
ありがとうございます！