24 Homecoming

CHAPTER 24 Homecoming While the secret garden was coming alive, a lonely man with crooked shoulders was visiting beautiful sights in Europe. But nothing made an impression on his gloomy heart. After months of travel, Mr. Craven was staying at an inn near a mountain stream in Austria. One day he walked out by himself. Sitting beside the stream, he watched the birds fly down to drink. Clusters of blue

第二十四章回家当秘密花园活跃起来的时候，一个驼肩的孤独男人正在游览欧洲的美景。 但是什么也没有打动他那颗忧郁的心。 经过几个月的旅行，克雷文住在奥地利一条山间溪流附近的一家旅馆里。 一天，他自己走了出去。 他坐在小溪边，看着鸟儿飞下来喝水。 一簇簇蓝色

forget-me-nots were growing beside the softly rushing water. For the first time in ten years, he felt himself relax and notice how lovely everything was. Slowly, new and beautiful thoughts began to push out his old, sad ones. He began to come back to life. That autumn, he traveled to Italy. One warm night, he was sitting beside the lake near his hotel. The full moon was reflected in the water. Everything was so calm that he fell asleep. He dreamed that he was in a place filled with roses. A distant voice called out his name: it was his wife's. In the dream he cried out, "Where are you?" The sweet voice answered, "In the garden!" He slept till dawn. When he awoke on the ground, he could still hear her words echo, "In the garden!"

“勿忘我”在潺潺的溪水旁生长。 十年来，他第一次感到自己放松了，并注意到一切是多么可爱。 慢慢地，新的、美好的思想开始取代他旧的、悲伤的思想。 他开始苏醒过来。 那年秋天，他去意大利旅行。 一个温暖的夜晚，他坐在旅馆附近的湖边。 满月倒映在水面上。 一切都很平静，他睡着了。 他梦见自己在一个开满玫瑰花的地方。 远处一个声音喊着他的名字，那是他妻子的名字。 他在梦中喊道：“你在哪里？”那甜美的声音回答说：“在花园里！”他一直睡到天亮。 当他在地上醒来时，他仍然能听到她的话的回声：“在花园里！”

A servant handed Mr. Craven a bundle of letters and went away. The one on top from Yorkshire caught his attention. He read it at once, and then again. It said: Dear Sir, I once spoke to you about Miss Mary. Now I must speak again. Please, sir, you must come home. I think you would be glad to come. If I might be so bold, I think your wife would ask you to come if she was here. Your obedient servant, Susan Sowerby He thought about the letter and about his dream. He decided to return to England at once. On the train back to Yorkshire, he worried that Colin was seriously ill, maybe dying. But he decided not to give in to his dark thoughts anymore. For the first time in years, he looked forward to coming home. His heart felt warm.

一个仆人递给克莱文先生一捆信就走了。 最上面那个来自约克郡的引起了他的注意。 他马上读了一遍，然后又读了一遍。 信上写着：亲爱的先生，我曾经跟您谈起过玛丽小姐。 现在我必须再说一遍。求你了，先生，你必须回家。 我想你会很高兴来的。 恕我冒昧，我想如果你妻子在这里，她会请你去的。 你那听话的仆人，苏珊·索尔比。他想着那封信和他的梦。 他决定立即返回英国。 在回约克郡的火车上，他担心科林病得很重，可能快死了。 但他决定不再向自己的黑暗思想屈服。 这么多年来，他第一次盼望着回家。 他的心感到温暖。

When he finally reached the manor, he called for Mrs. Medlock and asked how his son was. "To tell the truth," Mrs. Medlock said, "Mr. Colin might be better or he might be changing for the worse. We can't make him out. You know how he hated to see people and would never go outdoors. Well, he's taken a great fancy to Miss Mary and Dickon Sowerby. Now they push him in his chair and go outside by themselves every day. None of us is allowed near them. I've tried to protect him, but he's there now, sir—in the garden." Her words rang in his ears: they were the same sweet words of his dream. He left Mrs. Medlock to go find his son. He followed the same route Mary had taken on her first day at the manor. He knew where he must go, but he walked slowly. It

当他终于到达庄园时，他去找梅德洛克太太，问他儿子怎么样了。 “说实话，”梅德洛克太太说。 科林可能会变好，也可能会变坏。 我们看不清他。你知道他有多讨厌见人，从不出门。 嗯，他很喜欢玛丽小姐和狄肯·索尔比。 现在他们把他推到椅子上，每天自己出去。 我们都不能接近他们。 我试图保护他，但他现在就在那儿，先生——在花园里。” 她的话在他耳边回响：这是他梦中同样的甜蜜话语。 他离开梅德洛克太太去找他儿子了。 他沿着玛丽第一天来庄园时走过的那条路走。 他知道他该去哪里，但他走得很慢。 它

had been so many years since he locked the door to his wife's garden, he wasn't sure if he could find the key. When he reached the ivycovered wall, he stopped and looked around. He heard a scuffling sound as if someone was running in the autumn leaves. He seemed to hear voices —and the happy laughter of children. Was he dreaming? Suddenly, the door of the locked garden flew open. A boy burst through it, running at full speed. The boy didn't see the man and nearly crashed into him. Mr. Craven grasped the boy to keep him from falling. Who was he? Mr. Craven saw that he was tall and handsome. His cheeks glowed and his thick, curly hair fell over his forehead. The boy's eyes shone with laughter when he pushed his hair back. Mr. Craven gasped when he saw the gray eyes, rimmed

自从他锁上妻子花园的门已经很多年了，他不确定是否能找到钥匙。 当他走到爬满常春藤的墙边时，他停下来环顾四周。 他听到一阵扭打声，好像有人在秋叶中奔跑。 他似乎听到了说话声——还有孩子们欢快的笑声。 他是在做梦吗？突然，锁着的花园的门开了。 一个男孩冲了进来，全速奔跑着。 男孩没看见那个人，差点撞到他身上。 克雷文先生抓住男孩不让他摔倒。 他是谁？克雷文先生看出他又高又帅。 他两颊容光焕发，浓密的卷发披在前额上。 当男孩把头发向后梳时，他的眼睛里闪烁着笑声。 克雷文先生看到那对灰色的眼睛时倒吸了一口气

with black lashes and full of boyish fun. Colin had not planned to meet his father this way. But this was better. He'd been running a race and had dashed through the door ahead of Mary. Now he was standing with his father's hands on his shoulders. "I'm Colin," he said. "You can't believe it. I can hardly believe it myself!" Mr. Craven could only repeat, "In the garden!" Colin exclaimed, "Yes, Father! The garden did it. And Mary and Dickon and the wild creatures. And the magic. We kept it all secret until you came. I'm well now! And I'm going to be an athlete and a scientific discoverer!" Colin spoke so naturally that Mr. Craven trembled with joy. He looked into his son's handsome, healthy face. He was speechless. Finally, Mr. Craven said, "Take me into the

黑睫毛，充满孩子气。 柯林没有打算以这种方式见到他的父亲。 但这样更好。他一直在赛跑，在玛丽之前冲进了门。 现在他站在那里，父亲的双手搭在他的肩膀上。 “我是科林。”他说。“你简直不敢相信。 我自己都不敢相信！”克雷文先生只能重复：“在花园里！”柯林叫道：“是的，爸爸！花园做到了。 还有玛丽、狄肯和那些野兽。 还有魔法。你来之前我们一直保密。 我现在好了！我要成为一名运动员和科学发现者！”科林说得那么自然，克雷文先生高兴得发抖。 他看着儿子英俊健康的脸。 他无言以对。最后，克雷文先生说：“带我去。