6 WHO ELSE LIVED AT THE LIBRARY

CHAPTER 6 WHO ELSE LIVED AT THE LIBRARY? Grandma Karen came up behind Claire's mom. "What's going on?" She glanced curiously at Claire's mom and then toward the stack of books on the table. "I'm looking for a passageway to a secret room," Claire said. "We learned about Martin Walters at the historical society today. He's the one who built this house. He got the money to build it by inventing a new kind of soda pop. But no one knows where the recipe for the soda pop is. I think it's back there." She banged the wall with her fist. Claire's mom marched over to the table, grabbed an armload of books, and put them back

第六章还有谁住在图书馆？ 凯伦奶奶走到克莱尔妈妈身后。 “发生什么事了？”她好奇地看了看克莱尔的妈妈，又看了看桌子上的那堆书。 “我在找一条通往密室的通道，”克莱尔说。 “我们今天在历史学会了解了马丁·沃尔特斯。 他就是建造这所房子的人。 他通过发明一种新型汽水来筹集资金。 但是没有人知道这种汽水的配方在哪里。 我想它就在后面。”她用拳头猛击墙壁。 克莱尔的妈妈大步走向桌子，抱起一叠书，放回原处

on the shelf. "Trust me, Claire. It's not back there," she said firmly. "There's no secret room in this house." Grandma Karen looked surprised by Claire's mom's strong reaction. "I don't know, Katherine," she said. "I think there could be a small room back there. I thought so back when we used to live here. If you walk around outside and look at where the window is and where the corner of the house is—" "Wait," Claire interrupted. "What do you mean 'when we used to live here'?" Neither Claire's mom nor Grandma Karen answered Claire at first. "I knew you guys lived in this town when Mom was a little girl," Claire pressed. "But did you actually live here?" "Yes, we did," Grandma Karen said. "This was an apartment house for many, many years. And our apartment was right here. This craft room was our living room, bedroom, and kitchen. The bathroom was down the hall. Right where it still

在架子上。“相信我，克莱尔。 它不在后面。”她坚定地说。 “这所房子里没有密室。” 凯伦奶奶对克莱尔妈妈的强烈反应感到惊讶。 “我不知道，凯瑟琳，”她说。 “我想后面可能有一个小房间。 我们以前住在这里的时候我也是这么想的。 如果你在外面走走，看看窗户在哪里，房子的角落在哪里——”“等等，”克莱尔打断了他的话。 “你说‘我们以前住在这儿的时候’是什么意思？”克莱尔的妈妈和奶奶凯伦一开始都没有回答克莱尔。 “当妈妈还是个小女孩的时候，我就知道你们住在这个镇上，”克莱尔追问道。 “但你真的住在这里吗？”“是的，我们做了，”凯伦奶奶说。 “这是一座公寓，已经有很多年了。 我们的公寓就在这里。 这间工艺室既是我们的客厅，也是卧室和厨房。 浴室在走廊尽头。 就在这里

is. We shared it with another apartment." "This little room was your whole apartment?" Claire cried. "That's right," Grandma Karen said. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" Claire asked, her eyes flicking back and forth between her mom and her grandma. "It wasn't a secret," her mother said as she grabbed another armload of books from the table. "I just don't like to talk about those days. It wasn't a happy time." Grandma Karen pulled out a chair and sat down. She motioned for Claire to do the same. "I was a single mom," Grandma Karen began. "We struggled to make ends meet. But even though times were tough, I always loved this house. Isn't it the most beautiful house you've ever seen?" "It is nice," Claire agreed. Claire's mom banged more books against the shelf. "Sylvia always took such good care of it,"

是多少。我们和另一套公寓合租。” “这个小房间就是你的整个公寓？”克莱儿哭了。 “没错，”凯伦奶奶说。 “你为什么不告诉我？”克莱尔问道，她的眼睛在妈妈和奶奶之间来回扫视。 “这不是秘密，”她母亲说着，又从桌上抓起一抱书。 “我只是不喜欢谈论那些日子。 那不是一段快乐的时光。”卡伦奶奶拉过一把椅子坐了下来。 她示意克莱尔也这样做。 “我是个单身妈妈，”凯伦奶奶开始说。 “我们努力维持收支平衡。 但即使生活艰难，我也一直爱着这所房子。 这难道不是你见过的最漂亮的房子吗？”“很好，”克莱尔同意道。 克莱尔的妈妈把更多的书往书架上撞。 “西尔维娅总是把它照顾得很好。”

Grandma Karen said. "Sylvia was the previous owner. When she put the house on the market, I couldn't resist buying it. Even though I knew I didn't want to manage an apartment house. But by then all the renters had moved out. And the library needed more space, so I decided to lease the downstairs to the city for a library. There was still too much space upstairs for me alone. But then you and your parents moved in, and, well, things have a way of working out, don't they?" Grandma Karen patted Claire's arm. "I guess," Claire said. "You know," Grandma Karen said, looking thoughtful. "If you want to hear more about this house, Sylvia lived here for more than forty years. You've probably seen her in the library. She's an older lady. She often wears fancy jewelry." "Yeah, I think I've seen her," Claire said.

凯伦奶奶说。“西尔维娅是之前的主人。 当她把房子出售时，我忍不住买了下来。 尽管我知道我不想管理公寓。 但那时所有的租客都搬走了。 图书馆需要更大的空间，所以我决定把楼下租给城市做图书馆。 楼上还有很多地方，我一个人坐不下。 但后来你和你父母搬进来了，事情就有了解决的办法，不是吗？”凯伦奶奶拍了拍克莱尔的胳膊。 “我想是的，”克莱尔说。“你知道，”凯伦奶奶若有所思地说。 “如果你想更多地了解这所房子，西尔维娅在这里住了四十多年。 你可能在图书馆见过她。 她是一位年长的女士。她经常戴着华丽的珠宝。” “是的，我想我见过她，”克莱尔说。

"I think we found her lost earring once," Kaz told Claire. "Nobody knows more about the history of this house than Sylvia Lock," Grandma Karen said. "Tomorrow's Saturday. Why don't I write down her address for you, and you can pay her a visit? Ask her if she knows anything about a secret room." "Mother!" Claire's mom said sharply. "What, Katherine?" Grandma Karen asked. Claire's mom's jaw tightened. "I don't think that's a good idea," she said. "You don't think it's a good idea for Claire to visit a lonely woman?" Grandma Karen asked. "Why in the world not?" But Claire's mom couldn't come up with a reason. "Can Windy and I come with you this time?" Little John asked when Kaz and Claire got ready to go visit Mrs. Lock the next day.

“我想我们曾经找到过她丢失的耳环，”卡兹告诉克莱尔。 “没有人比西尔维娅·洛克更了解这栋房子的历史了，”凯伦奶奶说。 “明天是星期六。我把她的地址给你写下来，你就可以去拜访她了。 问她知不知道密室的事。” “母亲!”克莱尔的妈妈严厉地说。 “什么,凯瑟琳?”卡伦奶奶问。 克莱尔的妈妈紧咬着下巴。 “我不认为这是个好主意，”她说。 “你不觉得让克莱尔去拜访一个孤独的女人是个好主意吗？”卡伦奶奶问。 “为什么不呢？”但克莱尔的妈妈却找不到理由 “我和风这次能和你一起去吗？”第二天卡兹和克莱尔准备去拜访洛克太太时，小约翰问道。

"You can come," Kaz replied. "But there isn't room for Windy in Claire's bottle." "Can't we take the box?" Little John asked. "No!" Kaz said. "I'm not traveling inside a box just so you can bring a doll." Little John sighed. "Will you take care of Windy while I'm gone?" he asked Beckett. "Hmph," Beckett said as he took the doll from Little John. Kaz and Little John shrank down... down... down... and passed through Claire's water bottle. Then they set off for Mrs. Lock's house. "My mom was acting weird yesterday," Claire said along the way. "She sure was," Kaz said from inside the water bottle. "Why would she think visiting Mrs. Lock wasn't a good idea?" Claire asked. "I don't know your mom very well," Little John said. "But even I thought that was weird." When they got to Mrs. Lock's house, Claire

“你可以来。” “但是克莱尔的瓶子里没有风的地方了。” “我们不能把箱子带走吗？”小约翰问。 “不!”Kaz说。“我不会在盒子里旅行，只是为了让你带个娃娃。” 小约翰叹了口气。“我不在的时候，你能照顾好风吗？”他问贝克特。 “嗯，”贝克特边说边从小约翰手里接过娃娃。 卡兹和小约翰退缩了…… 下来……下来……穿过克莱尔的水瓶 然后他们动身去洛克太太家。 “我妈妈昨天表现得很奇怪，”克莱尔在路上说。 “她当然是，”卡兹在水瓶里说。 “她怎么会觉得去拜访洛克太太不是个好主意呢？”克莱尔问道。 “我不太了解你妈妈，”小约翰说。 “但就连我也觉得这很奇怪。” 当他们到达洛克夫人家时，克莱尔