Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Hilary Vale drove through the Cairo traffic with one foot on the gas and one hand on the horn. She accelerated, braked, wrenched the wheel to take advantage of sudden tiny spaces that she could swerve into. "Get out of my way, you muppet!" she yelled cheerily out the window at anyone who dared to cut her off. Dan's eyes shone. "She's awesome," he whispered to Amy. Finally, she skidded off the main road, zoomed through a lovely section, and pulled into a driveway that wound through a garden thick with palms and flowering trees. She jerked the car to a stop in front of a gracious white house. They got out of the car, feeling a little dizzy

希拉里·瓦尔开车穿过开罗的车流，一只脚踩油门，一只手按喇叭。 她加速、刹车、扭方向盘，以利用突然出现的小空间，让她可以转弯进入。 “别挡我的路，你这个布偶！”她从窗户里对任何敢挡住她的人兴高采烈地喊道。 丹的眼睛闪闪发光。“她太棒了，”他低声对艾米说。 最后，她滑出了主干道，急速驶过一个可爱的路段，驶入一条车道，车道蜿蜒穿过一个长满棕榈树和开花树木的花园。 她猛地把车停在一幢优雅的白色房子前。 他们下了车，感到有点头晕

from the fast ride and their narrow escape. The house was cool and silent after the noise and heat of the streets. Hilary turned immediately into a small sitting room. It was furnished with rugs and deep sofas covered in chintz. A piano sat in a corner. Shaded china lamps sat on tables, and vases were heaped with masses of blooms. Hilary opened the shutters. As the sun poured in, Amy could see that the sofa cushions were frayed, and that a table had been placed to disguise a hole in the rug. Shabby but comfortable, a place to flop and read for hours. Her shyness ebbed a little, just being in this room. "Now, just take off your… uh, robes, and make yourselves comfortable," Hilary said. "I guess you forgot to pay for them, ducks. Is that why those awful beefy men were chasing you? You poor dears." "Right," Dan said. "We didn't realize they took robe theft so seriously here." She put her fingers lightly on Amy's chin and tilted her face to the light. "You look like Grace," she said. "Cute as a bug!"

从快速骑行和他们的死里逃生。 经历了街上的喧嚣和酷热之后，这所房子又凉又静。 希拉里立刻转身走进一间小客厅。 房间里摆着地毯和铺着印花棉布的深沙发。 一架钢琴放在角落里。桌子上放着带遮阳的瓷灯，花瓶上堆满了鲜花。 希拉里打开百叶窗。 当阳光照进来的时候，艾米看到沙发垫已经磨损了，一张桌子被放在地毯上，用来掩盖地毯上的一个洞。 破旧但舒适，是一个可以躺着看书几个小时的地方。 仅仅是在这个房间里，她的羞怯就减轻了一些。 “现在，脱掉你们的……呃，长袍，让你们自己舒服点，”希拉里说。 “我猜你忘了付钱了，宝贝儿。 所以那些壮汉才追你吗？ 你们这些可怜的宝贝。”“好的，”丹说。 “我们没有意识到他们对长袍盗窃这么重视。” 她把手指轻轻地放在艾米的下巴上，把脸对着灯光。 “你长得像格蕾丝，”她说。 “像虫子一样可爱！”

"Hey. Check this out," Dan said. Amy saw that Dan was looking at a silver- framed photograph on the piano. She walked over. It was a black-and-white photograph of two young women in front of the Sphinx. She recognized Grace immediately. Her hair fell to her shoulders, wavy and dark. She wore a white dress and pumps. Her slender, tanned arm was linked with the blond, petite girl at her side. "Grace was my best friend," Hilary Vale said. She gently picked up the photograph. "We met at boarding school in the US. I was sent there when World War Two started— my parents stayed in Cairo. Grace was my family for many years, when communication was so difficult during the war. She took me in, even though I was younger and had a funny accent. After the war, I invited her back here to stay on holiday. She loved Egypt." The sadness left her gaze suddenly as Hilary clapped her hands. "But it's time for tiffin! You children get cozy-comfy, and I'll be back." "What's tiffin?" Dan whispered. "A cat?" "A snack," Nellie said. "That's always good

“嘿。看看这个，”丹说。 艾米看见丹在看钢琴上的一张银框照片。 她走了过去。这是一张黑白照片，两个年轻女子站在狮身人面像前。 她立刻认出了格蕾丝。 她的头发披散到肩上，乌黑的波浪状。 她穿着一件白色连衣裙和一双浅口鞋。 她那纤细的、晒得黝黑的手臂和她身边那个金发娇小的女孩挽在一起。 “格蕾丝是我最好的朋友，”希拉里·瓦尔说。 她轻轻地拿起照片。 “我们是在美国的寄宿学校认识的。 第二次世界大战开始时，我被派往那里——我的父母留在了开罗。 多年来，格蕾丝一直是我的家人，当时战争期间沟通非常困难。 她接纳了我，尽管我比她年轻，口音也很怪。 战争结束后，我邀请她回来度假。 她爱埃及。”当希拉里拍手时，悲伤的目光突然消失了。 “可是午餐时间到了！”你们这些孩子好好待着，我马上就回来。” “吃午饭是什么?”丹低声说。 “一只猫?”“零食，”内莉说。 “这总是好的

news." She put down Saladin's carrier and flopped on the flowered couch. "Did Grace ever talk about her?" "I don't remember," Amy said. "I knew she'd been to Egypt, but she didn't talk about it much." Well, she did and she didn't. It was all so vague. Cairo is a fascinating city. Have you been there, Grace? Of course, love. Many times. Oh, brrr, look at that cold rain. What do you say we go bake some brownies to cheer ourselves up? Deflection and disguise. Now Amy realized how often Grace had changed the subject when asked about her travels. Distrust snaked through Amy, tipping her off balance again. In the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves were more photographs. Amy picked up one in a silver frame. Someone had written over the image with a white pen— Us, Luxor, 1952. Grace was dressed in trousers that looked dusty and a pale shirt with her sleeves rolled up. She was squinting into the sun. Hilary Vale wore a flowered dress and a broad-brimmed hat. It looked as though they were

新闻。”她放下萨拉丁的提包，扑倒在花沙发上。 “格雷斯提起过她吗？”“我不记得了，”艾米说。 “我知道她去过埃及，但她不怎么提起。” 她说了，又没说。 一切都很模糊。开罗是一座迷人的城市。 你去过那里吗，格蕾丝？ 当然是爱。很多次了。 哦，看那冰冷的雨。 我们去烤些布朗尼蛋糕让自己高兴起来怎么样？ 偏转和伪装。现在艾米意识到格蕾丝经常在被问到她的旅行时改变话题。 不信任感在艾美心中蔓延，再次让她失去了平衡。 从地板到天花板的书架上放着更多的照片。 艾米拿起一个银色镜框。 有人用一支白笔在画像上写着：美国，卢克索，1952年。 格蕾丝穿着一条看起来满是灰尘的裤子和一件卷起袖子的苍白衬衫。 她眯着眼睛望着太阳。 希拉里·瓦尔身穿一件花裙子，头戴一顶宽边帽。 看起来好像是这样

standing in front of some kind of temple. Grace was jokingly making an Egyptian pose, her wrist bent and her hand flat. Just then Hilary came into the room carrying a large tray and set it down on a round polished table by the window. Nellie quickly moved to help her place the platters of pastries and sliced fruit in the center. "I see you're looking at those old photographs," Hilary said. "Hard to believe I was ever that young, isn't it? Grace came every year and stayed with me. For years and years." "Every year?" Amy asked. "She might have missed a few now and then. And of course near the end of her life travel became difficult. She told me about the cancer— she was very frank. But I was still so shocked when I heard. I never thought anything would defeat Grace." Hilary gestured at the chairs, and they all took their seats. Amy ran her hands along the polished wood of the arms. Maybe Grace had sat in this chair. She wished she could feel closer to Grace,

站在什么寺庙前面。 格蕾丝开玩笑地摆了一个埃及式的姿势，手腕弯曲，手放平。 就在这时，希拉里端着一个大托盘走进房间，把它放在靠窗的一张擦得锃亮的圆桌上。 内莉赶紧过来帮她把一盘盘的糕点和切片水果放在中间。 “我看到你在看那些老照片，”希拉里说。 “很难相信我曾经那么年轻，不是吗？” 格蕾丝每年都来陪我。 年复一年。”“每一年?”艾米问。 “她可能偶尔会漏掉几个。 当然，在她生命的最后阶段，旅行变得很困难。 她把癌症的事告诉了我——她非常坦率。 但我还是很震惊，当我听到。 我从没想过有什么能打败格蕾丝。” 希拉里指了指椅子，大家都坐了下来。 艾米用手抚摸着光亮的木制手臂。 也许格蕾丝坐过这把椅子。 她希望自己能更接近格蕾丝，

just from thinking that. But she couldn't. Hilary poured a milky liquid out of a beautiful silver pitcher. "This is called sahlab," she said. "They serve it in the cafés all over Egypt. I hope you like it." Amy took a sip of the drink to be polite. It was creamy and sweet, like nothing she'd ever tasted, but she could barely swallow. Her throat felt tight with tears that threatened to spill over if she mentioned Grace's name. "This is amazing food," Nellie said, crumbling a cookie and feeding it to Saladin. "So, you say Grace contacted you before she died. What did she say?" Amy threw Nellie a grateful look. Nellie had seen her shyness and had taken over for now. She could always count on Nellie. Dan was too busy scarfing down lemon cake to notice her. Hilary smiled and rose. "Yes, let's cut to the chase, as you Americans like to say. Grace sent me a letter and asked me to pass some things along." She went to a small cabinet and opened it. She took out several items and went back to her chair,

我只是这么想。但她做不到。 希拉里从一个漂亮的银水罐里倒出一种乳白色的液体。 “这叫做sahlab，”她说。 “在埃及各地的咖啡馆里都有。 我希望你喜欢。”出于礼貌，艾米喝了一口饮料。 它像奶油一样香甜，是她从未尝过的味道，但她几乎无法吞咽。 她喉咙发紧，眼泪几乎要溢出来，只要她提到格蕾丝的名字。 “这食物太好吃了，”内莉说着，把一块饼干揉碎，喂给萨拉丁。 “那么，你说格蕾丝死前联系过你。 她说了什么？”艾米感激地看了内利一眼。 内莉看出了她的羞怯，于是暂时接管了她。 她总能指望内利。 丹忙着狼吞虎咽柠檬蛋糕，没注意到她。 希拉里微笑着站了起来。“是的，我们开门见山吧，就像你们美国人喜欢说的那样。 格蕾丝给我写了一封信，让我转交一些东西。” 她走到一个小柜子前，打开了它。 她拿出几件东西，回到她的椅子上，