3 Her Royal Highness

CHAPTER 3 Her Royal Highness Two whole school years passed. Sara grew stronger and smarter and dreamed every day about returning to India to take care of her papa. Captain Crewe wrote her long and vivid letters. He also sent her books she would read late into the night, after the other girls had gone to bed. Sara's French and her stories of India made her the perfect pupil to show off Miss Minchin's fancy boarding school. Some of

整整两年的学年过去了。 萨拉变得越来越强壮，越来越聪明，每天都梦想着回到印度照顾她的爸爸。 克鲁船长给她写了又长又生动的信。 他还送她一些书，让她读到深夜，在其他女孩都上床睡觉之后。 萨拉的法语和她的印度故事使她成为展示明钦小姐的高级寄宿学校的完美学生。 一些

the other girls began treating her as though she were royalty indeed. But others were jealous of her special attention and what they saw as fancy airs. One day while in the parlor with her classmates, Sara received perhaps the most interesting letter of all. In it, Captain Crewe told his daughter about a new business that was sure to make them even richer than before. He had agreed to become a partner in a diamond mine with his best friend, a man he had met when he was just a boy in boarding school. "Maybe Sara and I can have our own diamond mine someday," Ermengarde thought dreamily. "Great," Lavinia sniffed jealously. "That's all Sara needs—more riches!" "I think it sounds romantic," confessed Jessie. Sara agreed. She didn't care about being

其他女孩开始把她当成真正的皇室成员。 但其他人嫉妒她的特别关注和他们眼中的浮夸。 一天，当萨拉和同学们在客厅里聊天时，她收到了一封也许是最有趣的信。 在信中，克鲁船长告诉他的女儿一项新生意，这项生意肯定会让他们比以前更富有。 他同意和他最好的朋友成为一个钻石矿的合伙人，这个人是他还是个寄宿学校的男孩时遇到的。 “也许有一天萨拉和我可以拥有我们自己的钻石矿，”埃芒加德梦幻般地想。 “太好了。”拉维尼娅嫉妒地哼了一声。 “这就是萨拉所需要的——更多的财富！”“我觉得这听起来很浪漫，”杰西坦白道。 莎拉同意了。她不在乎自己是谁

rich. If she was excited (and she was), it was only because the idea of a diamond mine was indeed dreamy, not to mention magical. It was like something from Arabian Nights. Oh, the stories the diamond mine sparked! Ermengarde, Lottie, Becky, and the other girls were treated to colorful tales of jeweled passages in the deepest parts of the earth, and of brave men digging gemstones out with picks. "Oh, I can't bear it," Lavinia told Jessie. "Now she will really be stuck up." Jessie just shrugged. She would never tell Lavinia, but she was starting to like Sara and wished her no harm. "Did you know that Sara secretly pretends she is a real princess?" Lavinia asked Jessie, trying to start trouble. "Oh yes, it's true. One night I heard her telling someone—it must have been that silly dunce Ermengarde— when I was passing by her room. I think we

富有。如果她很兴奋（她确实很兴奋），那只是因为钻石矿的想法确实是梦幻般的，更不用说神奇了。 就像《天方夜谭》里的情节。 噢，钻石矿引发的故事！埃芒加德、洛蒂、贝基和其他姑娘听了许多丰富多彩的故事，讲的是在地球最深处有宝石的通道，讲的是勇敢的人用镐头挖出宝石的故事。 “哦，我受不了了，”拉维尼娅对杰西说。 “现在她真的很高傲了。” 杰西只是耸耸肩。她永远不会告诉拉维尼娅，但她开始喜欢上萨拉，不希望她受到伤害。 “你知道萨拉偷偷地假装自己是一个真正的公主吗？”拉维尼娅问杰西，想找麻烦。 “哦，是的，这是真的。一天晚上，当我经过她的房间时，我听到她对一个人说——那一定是埃芒加德那个笨蛋。 我想我们

should all start calling her 'Your Royal Highness.'" Jessie frowned. She didn't want to call her any such thing. Lavinia leaped up and ran over to where Sara was just finishing up her story. Much to Sara's surprise, Lavinia started to clap. "Oh, Your Royal Highness," Lavinia said mocking her, in between claps. "Diamond mines—how exciting!" Sara swallowed. She was rather shy about her princess fantasy (or "pretend," as she called it), and here was Lavinia making fun of it in front of the whole school. In secret, Sara had decided that she would pretend to be a real princess. She would have real subjects (like Becky and Lottie) who needed her—the "populace," as she called them. And she would worry about more important things than just being pretty. Above all, she would try always to be

应该开始称呼她为“殿下”。’”杰西皱起眉头。 她不想叫她这样的名字。 拉维尼娅跳起来，跑到萨拉刚刚讲完故事的地方。 令萨拉吃惊的是，拉维尼娅开始鼓掌。 “哦，殿下。”拉维尼娅在鼓掌间隙嘲弄她说。 “钻石矿——多么令人兴奋啊！”莎拉吞下。 她对自己的公主幻想（或者用她的话来说是“假装”）很害羞，而拉维尼娅却在全校师生面前拿她的幻想开玩笑。 萨拉秘密地决定要装成一个真正的公主。 她会有真正需要她的臣民（比如贝基和洛蒂）——她称之为“民众”。 她会担心更重要的事情，而不仅仅是漂亮。 最重要的是，她会一直努力做到

generous and kind. Sara felt like slapping Lavinia. But princesses didn't slap people, she thought. Even spiteful ones like Lavinia. She forced herself to speak calmly and, yes, regally. "It's true," she said. "Sometimes I do pretend I am a princess. And I try to behave like one. You might want to try that sometimes." "I wonder if you could still pretend you were a princess if you were a beggar girl and lived in an attic," said Lavinia with scorn. Sara didn't know. "I would certainly try," she said. "Hmmpf!" said Lavinia, storming out of the room in a huff. After that, many of the other girls started fondly calling Sara "Princess." Even Miss Minchin started doing it—not fondly, but because it made visiting parents think that

慷慨善良。萨拉真想扇拉维尼娅一巴掌。 但是公主是不会扇人耳光的，她想。 即使是像拉维尼娅那样心怀恶意的人。 她强迫自己平静地说，是的，威严地说。 “这是真的，”她说。“有时候我确实假装自己是公主。 我试着表现得像个孩子。 有时候你可能会想试试。” “我想知道，如果你是一个住在阁楼上的乞丐女孩，你还能不能假装自己是公主。”拉维尼娅轻蔑地说。 萨拉不知道。“我当然会试试，”她说。 “哼！”拉维尼娅说着，气呼呼地冲出了房间。 从那以后，许多其他女孩开始亲切地称萨拉为“公主”。 就连明钦小姐也开始这么做了——不是出于好意，而是因为这会让来访的家长们觉得

hers was a school for children of royalty. Captain Crewe's letters kept coming. However, their magic had started to fade. Of course, he tried to keep the letters cheerful and full of good news. He spoke of Sara's upcoming eleventh birthday, and promised her a huge party, the likes of which the important young ladies at Miss Minchin's school had never seen. Sara began to read between the lines of the letters: business troubles, problems with his health. Her papa seemed uneasy and spoke more often about how much he missed her— something he had always kept secret before. On the day of her birthday, Becky came to bring Sara down to the party. Mariette quickly helped Sara finish dressing. Miss Minchin had ordered Sara to put on her finest pink silk dress, made just for the event, and to curl her hair. Sara hadn't wanted to make such a fuss, but Miss Minchin had

她的学校是为皇室子女开设的。 克鲁船长的信不断飞来。 然而，他们的魔力已经开始消退。 当然，他尽量让这些信充满欢乐和好消息。 他谈到萨拉即将到来的十一岁生日，并答应为她举办一个盛大的晚会，明钦小姐学校里那些重要的年轻女士们从来没有见过这样的晚会。 萨拉开始从字里行间读起信来：生意上的麻烦，他的健康问题。 她的爸爸似乎有些不安，更多地谈起他多么想念她——这是他以前一直保密的事情。 在萨拉生日那天，贝基带她来参加晚会。 玛丽埃特很快帮萨拉穿好衣服。 明钦小姐命令萨拉穿上她最漂亮的粉色丝绸连衣裙，那是专门为这次活动做的，并把头发卷起来。 萨拉本不想大惊小怪的，但明钦小姐想了