19 The Queen

The Queen Dawn came at last, and the rim of a lemoncoloured sun rose up behind the roof-tops somewhere behind Victoria Station. A while later, Sophie felt a little of its warmth on her back and was grateful. In the distance, she heard a church clock striking. She counted the strikes. There were seven. She found it almost impossible to believe that she, Sophie, a little orphan of no real importance in the world, was at this moment actually sitting high above the ground on the window-sill of the Queen of England's bedroom, with the Queen herself asleep in there behind the curtain not more than five yards away. The very idea of it was absurd. No one had ever done such a thing before. It was a terrifying thing to be doing. What would happen if the dream didn't work?

黎明女王号终于来了，柠檬色的太阳从维多利亚车站后面某个地方的屋顶后面升起。 过了一会儿，索菲感到背上有一点温暖，她很感激。 她听到远处教堂的钟声在敲。 她数了数好球数。有七个。 她简直不敢相信，她，索菲，一个在世界上无足轻重的小孤儿，此刻竟然高高地坐在英国女王卧室的窗台上，而女王本人就在离她不到五码远的窗帘后面睡觉。 这种想法本身就是荒谬的。 以前从来没有人做过这样的事。 这是一件可怕的事情。 如果梦想没有实现会发生什么?

No one, least of all the Queen, would believe a word of her story. It seemed possible that nobody had ever woken up to find a small child sitting behind the curtains on his or her window-sill. The Queen was bound to get a shock. Who wouldn't? With all the patience of a small girl who has something important to wait for, Sophie sat motionless on the window-sill. How much longer? she wondered. What time do Queens wake up? Faint stirrings and distant sounds came to her from deep inside the belly of the Palace. Then, all at once, beyond the curtains, she heard the voice of the sleeper in the bedroom. It was a slightly blurred sleep-talker's voice. 'Oh no!' it cried out. 'No! Don't – Someone stop them! – Don't let them do it! – I can't bear it! – Oh please stop them! – It's horrible! – Oh, it's ghastly! – No! No! No!…' She is having the dream, Sophie told herself. It must be really horrid. I feel so sorry for her. But it has to be done.

没有人，尤其是女王，会相信她的故事。 似乎从来没有人一觉醒来发现一个小孩坐在他或她的窗台上的窗帘后面。 女王一定会大吃一惊。 谁不想呢?索菲一动不动地坐在窗台上，像一个有重要事情要等待的小女孩那样有耐心。 还要多久?她想知道。 皇后们什么时候起床? 从宫殿的深处传来了微弱的震颤和遥远的声音。 突然，在窗帘后面，她听到卧室里睡觉的人的声音。 那是梦呓者的声音，声音有点模糊。 “哦,不!它叫道。“不!不要——快来人阻止他们!-别让他们这么做!-我受不了了!-哦，请阻止他们!-太可怕了!-哦，太可怕了!——不!不!不!“她在做梦，”索菲对自己说。 那一定很可怕。我为她感到难过。 但这是必须要做的。

After that, there were a few moans. Then there was a long silence. Sophie waited. She looked over her shoulder. She was terrified that she would see the man with the dog down in the garden staring up at her. But the garden was deserted. A pale summer mist hung over it like smoke. It was an enormous garden, very beautiful, with a large funny-shaped lake at the far end. There was an island in the lake and there were ducks swimming on the water. Inside the room, beyond the curtains, Sophie suddenly heard what was obviously a knock on the door. She heard the doorknob being turned. She heard someone entering the room. 'Good morning, Your Majesty,' a woman was saying. It was the voice of an oldish person. There was a pause and then a slight rattle of china and silver. 'Will you have your tray on the bed, ma'am, or on the table?' 'Oh Mary! Something awful has just happened!' This was a voice Sophie had heard many times on radio and television, especially on Christmas Day. It was a very well-known voice. 'Whatever is it, ma'am?'

在那之后，有几声呻吟。 然后是长时间的沉默。 苏菲等待着。她回头看了看。 她很害怕看到那个带着狗的男人在花园里盯着她看。 但是花园空无一人。 一层苍白的夏雾像烟雾一样笼罩着它。 这是一个很大的花园，非常漂亮，花园的尽头有一个形状滑稽的大湖。 湖中有一个小岛，鸭子在水面上游泳。 房间里，窗帘后面，索菲突然听到明显是敲门声。 她听到门把手在转动。 她听见有人进了房间。 “早上好，陛下。”一个女人说。 那是一位老人的声音。 停顿了一下，然后是瓷器和银器的轻微叮当声。 “您要把托盘放在床上还是桌子上，夫人?”“哦，玛丽!”刚刚发生了一件可怕的事!”这是索菲在收音机和电视上听到过很多次的声音，尤其是在圣诞节那天。 这是一个非常熟悉的声音。 “什么事，太太?”

'I've just had the most frightful dream! It was a nightmare! It was awful!' 'Oh, I am sorry, ma'am. But don't be distressed. You're awake now and it will go away. It was only a dream, ma'am.' 'Do you know what I dreamed, Mary? I dreamed that girls and boys were being snatched out of their beds at boarding-school and were being eaten by the most ghastly giants! The giants were putting their arms in through the dormitory windows and plucking the children out with their fingers! One lot from a girls' school and another from a boys' school! It was all so… so vivid, Mary! it was so real!' There was a silence. Sophie waited. She was quivering with excitement. But why the silence? Why didn't the other one, the maid, why didn't she say something? 'What on earth's the matter, Mary?' the famous voice was saying. There was another silence. 'Mary! You've gone as white as a sheet! Are you feeling ill?' There was suddenly a crash and a clatter of crockery which could only have meant that the

“我刚刚做了一个最可怕的梦!”真是一场噩梦!太可怕了!“哦，对不起，太太。” 但不要苦恼。你现在醒了，它会消失的。 那只是个梦，夫人。“你知道我做了什么梦吗，玛丽?” 我梦见寄宿学校里的男孩和女孩被从床上抓起来，被最可怕的巨人吃掉了!巨人们正从宿舍的窗户伸出胳膊，用手指把孩子们拽出来!一张是女校的，一张是男校的!这一切都太……太生动了，玛丽!太真实了!”一阵沉默。 苏菲等待着。她激动得浑身发抖。 但为什么沉默呢?为什么另一个，那个女佣，为什么她什么都没说? “到底发生了什么事，玛丽?”那个著名的声音在说。 又是一阵沉默。 “玛丽!你脸色苍白得像一张纸!你不舒服吗?”突然传来一声撞击声和陶器的碰撞声，这只能说明

tray the maid was carrying had fallen out of her hands. 'Mary!' the famous voice was saying rather sharply. 'I think you'd better sit down at once! You look as though you're going to faint! You really mustn't take it so hard just because I've had an awful dream.' 'That… that… that isn't the reason, ma'am.' The maid's voice was quivering terribly. 'Then for heaven's sake what is the reason?' 'I'm very sorry about the tray, ma'am.' 'Oh, don't worry about the tray. But what on earth was it that made you drop it? Why did you go white as a ghost all of a sudden?' 'You haven't seen the papers yet, have you, ma'am?' 'No, what do they say?' Sophie heard the rustling of a newspaper as it was being handed over. 'It's like the very dream you had in the night, ma'am.' 'Rubbish, Mary. Where is it?' 'On the front page, ma'am. It's the big headlines.'

女仆端着的托盘从她手里掉了下来。 “玛丽!那个著名的声音相当尖锐地说。 “我想你最好马上坐下!”你看起来好像要晕倒了!你真的不必因为我做了个噩梦就这么难过。“那……那……那不是原因，夫人。”女仆的声音颤抖得厉害。 “那么看在上帝的份上，这是什么原因呢?”“关于托盘的事我很抱歉，夫人。”“哦，不用担心托盘。” 但到底是什么让你放弃了呢? 你怎么一下子脸色发白了?“你还没看报纸吧，太太?”“不，他们说什么?”索菲听到报纸被递过来时发出的沙沙声。 “这就像你昨晚做的梦一样，夫人。“胡说八道，玛丽。” 它在哪里?“登在头版，夫人。” 这是头条新闻。”

'Great Scott!' cried the famous voice. 'Eighteen girls vanish mysteriously from their beds at Roedean School! Fourteen boys disappear from Eton! Bones are found underneath dormitory windows!' Then there was a pause punctuated by gasps from the famous voice as the newspaper article was clearly being read and digested. 'Oh, how ghastly!' the famous voice cried out. 'It's absolutely frightful! Bones under the windows! What can have happened? Oh, those poor children!' 'But ma'am… don't you see, ma'am…' 'See what, Mary?' 'Those children were taken away almost exactly as you dreamed it, ma'am!' 'Not by giants, Mary' 'No, ma'am. But the bit about the girls and boys disappearing from their dormitories, you dreamed it so clearly and then it actually happened. That's why I came over all queer, ma'am.' 'I'm coming over a bit queer myself, Mary.' 'It gives me the shakes, ma'am, when something like that happens, it really does.'

“伟大的斯科特!那个著名的声音喊道。 “罗丁学校的十八个女孩神秘地从床上消失了!”14个男孩从伊顿公学消失了!在宿舍窗户下面发现了骨头!”接着是一阵停顿，中间不时传来那个著名声音的喘息声，人们显然正在阅读和消化报纸上的那篇文章。 “啊，太可怕了!”那个著名的声音喊道。 “太可怕了!”窗户下有尸骨!会发生什么事呢? 啊，那些可怜的孩子!“可是，夫人……您不明白吗，夫人……”“那些孩子被带走了，就像你梦见的一样，太太!”“不是巨人干的，玛丽。” 但是关于男生女生从宿舍消失的那部分，你梦得那么清楚，然后就真的发生了。 所以我才这么奇怪，夫人。“我自己也有点不舒服，玛丽。”“这使我浑身发抖，太太。这种事发生的时候，真的是这样。”