6 The Visitors

CHAPTER 6 The Visitors One night, several lonely weeks later, a weary Sara reached the top of the attic stairs. She was surprised to see a flicker of candlelight coming from under her door. She opened the door to find Ermengarde, dressed in her nightgown and wrapped in a red shawl, sitting on the crooked footstool. When Ermengarde looked up, Sara could see that her eyes and nose were pink from crying. "Ermengarde!" cried Sara. "You shouldn't

几个星期后，一个孤独的夜晚，疲惫的萨拉来到阁楼的楼梯上。 她惊讶地看到从她的门缝里射出来的摇曳的烛光。 她打开门，发现埃芒加德穿着睡衣，裹着一条红披肩，坐在弯曲的脚凳上。 埃芒加德抬起头来时，萨拉看到她的眼睛和鼻子都哭红了。 “埃芒加德！”萨拉叫道。“你不应该

be here. You will get into trouble." "I know," Ermengarde said, "but I don't care." She squeezed her eyes shut and two big fat tears rolled out, down her pink cheeks. "Oh Sara, please tell me," she begged. "Why don't you like me anymore?" A lump rose up in Sara's throat. "But I do like you," she answered. "I thought it was you that didn't like me anymore!" The two girls rushed into each other's arms. For the first time ever, Ermengarde let go first. Only then did Sara realize how lonely she had been without her best friend. "I couldn't stand it anymore," Ermengarde said. "I had to come up here and beg you to be friends again." "You are nicer than I am," Sara said. "I missed you, too, but I was too proud to say anything." She frowned. "You see? Now that

在这里。你会有麻烦的。” “我知道，”埃芒加德说，“但我不在乎。” 她紧紧地闭上眼睛，两颗大大的泪珠滚落下来，顺着她粉红色的脸颊流下来。 “哦，萨拉，请告诉我，”她恳求道。 “你为什么不再喜欢我了？”萨拉的喉咙哽住了。 “但我确实喜欢你，”她回答。 “我还以为是你不再喜欢我了呢！”两个女孩扑到对方的怀里。 埃芒加德第一次放手了。 直到那时，萨拉才意识到没有她最好的朋友，她是多么孤独。 “我再也受不了了，”埃芒加德说。 “我不得不上来求你再做朋友。” “你比我好，”萨拉说。 “我也想你，但我太骄傲了，什么也说不出来。” 她皱起了眉头。“你看到了什么?现在,

my luck has run out, I've discovered that I am not so nice after all." Ermengarde glanced around the attic room with both fear and curiosity. "How can you bear living up here?" she asked. Sara looked around as well. She found that she was actually getting used to it. "I just try to pretend that I am someplace else," she said. "For a while I couldn't pretend at all, or tell stories—not even to myself." She nodded in her serious way. "But it's all coming back to me now, slowly but surely." Sara told Ermengarde about how she and Becky and Emily were prisoners in the Bastille prison. Ermengarde was instantly drawn in. She had sorely missed Sara's storytelling. "Will you tell me more about the Bastille?" she asked. "May I sneak up here at night sometimes, when it is safe, and visit you?"

我的运气用光了，我发现自己并没有那么好。” 埃芒加德又害怕又好奇地环视了一下阁楼房间。 “你怎么能忍受住在这里？”她问。 萨拉也环顾四周。 她发现她实际上已经习惯了。 “我只是试着假装我在别的地方，”她说。 “有一段时间，我根本不能假装，也不能讲故事——甚至不能对自己讲。” 她一本正经地点了点头。 “但现在我都想起来了，慢慢地，但肯定地。” 萨拉告诉埃芒加德，她、贝基和埃米莉是如何被关在巴士底监狱的。 埃芒加德立刻被吸引住了。 她非常想念萨拉讲故事的能力。 “你能告诉我更多关于巴士底狱的事吗？”她问道。 “我可以在夜里安全的时候溜到这儿来拜访你吗？”

Sara told her she could, if she was careful. Suddenly, however, both girls saw the doorknob to the attic room turning. Who could it be? they wondered in suspense. Miss Minchin? Miss Amelia? Or one of the older girls, like Lavinia, who would surely tell on them? When the door opened, however, it was none other than little Lottie. Today, it seemed, was to be chock-full of visitors. Although flustered, Sara was not entirely surprised to see her little "adopted" daughter. Lottie, who was still only seven, was quite confused about the sudden change in her make-believe mother. She had tried to get Sara to tell her where she had been taken and why. Sara had refused to tell her, but Lottie was one stubborn little girl. She had listened in on the older girls' gossip about Sara. This evening, she started on her voyage of discovery. She climbed stairs she never knew

萨拉告诉她，如果她小心的话，可以的。 然而，突然，两个女孩都看到通往阁楼房间的门把手转动了。 会是谁呢？他们悬疑地想知道。 Minchin小姐吗?阿米莉亚小姐吗? 或者找一个年纪大一点的姑娘，比如拉维尼娅，她肯定会告发他们的？ 然而，当门打开时，进来的不是别人，正是小洛蒂。 今天，似乎挤满了游客。 萨拉虽然有些慌张，但看到她的“养女”时，并不感到十分惊讶。 洛蒂还只有七岁，她对自己虚构的母亲的突然变化感到十分困惑。 她曾试图让萨拉告诉她她被带到哪里以及为什么被带到那里。 萨拉拒绝告诉她，但洛蒂是一个倔强的小女孩。 她偷听了大女孩们关于萨拉的八卦。 今晚，她开始了她的发现之旅。 她爬上了她从来不知道的楼梯

existed—so many stairs that she thought her little legs would fall off— until she reached the attic and saw the light under Sara's door. At first, she was overjoyed to have found Sara. But when she saw the bare and ugly room, her face fell. "Mama Sara!" she cried in horror. She seemed as if she might start wailing and flailing again—something she had not done in a long time. "Surely you don't live here?" "Please, Lottie," Sara begged. "Don't make too much noise, or I will be yelled at for sure, and I have been yelled at all day." She forced a smile. "Besides," she offered, "it isn't such a bad room." "It isn't?" Lottie asked, glancing around once more, looking uncertain. "Why not?" "Quite right," Ermengarde added, looking as confused as Lottie. She had forgotten all about the storybook romance of the Bastille prison.

她走了那么多楼梯，她觉得自己的腿都要掉下来了——直到她走到阁楼上，看到了萨拉家门下的灯光。 起初，她为找到萨拉而欣喜若狂。 但当她看到那间又空又丑的房间时，她的脸沉了下来。 “萨拉妈妈！”她惊恐地叫道。 她似乎又要开始嚎啕大哭了——这是她很久没有做过的事了。 “你肯定不住在这里吧？”“求求你，洛蒂，”萨拉恳求道。 “别太吵，不然我肯定会被骂的，我已经被骂了一整天了。” 她强颜欢笑。“再说，”她说，“这房间也不坏。” “不是吗?”洛蒂问道，又向四周扫了一眼，显得有些拿不准。 “为什么不?”“完全正确。”埃芒加德补充道，看上去和洛蒂一样困惑。 她完全忘记了故事书中关于巴士底狱的浪漫故事。

"Well," Sara began, "for starters, I am lucky to live in an attic that has windows. Not all attics do, you know. And you can see all sorts of things out these windows that you can't see from downstairs." "What sorts of things?" Lottie asked. "Why, enchanting roofs and railings covered in soot," Sara began, "and chimneys with smoke curling up out of them in wonderful designs. And friendly sparrows, chirping for crumbs. And the rain's big fat drops falling from the sky and going pitter-patter upon the slate roof like gumdrops. And such splendid sunsets! Dazzling bright red and gold ones, or little fleecy, floating clouds hurrying across the blue sky, riding the waves of the wind. And other attic windows, like that one just across the way." Sara pointed. Lottie and Ermengarde looked out at the building next door. "Where other heads might peek out at any minute."

“嗯，”萨拉开始说，“首先，我很幸运住在一个有窗户的阁楼里。 不是所有的阁楼都这样。 你可以从这些窗户看到楼下看不到的各种各样的东西。” “什么样的事情？”洛蒂问。 “啊，那些被烟灰覆盖着的迷人的屋顶和栏杆，”萨拉开始说，“还有袅袅升起的烟囱，它们的图案很奇妙。 还有友善的麻雀，叽叽喳喳地讨面包屑。 又大又大的雨点从天上落下来，像橡皮糖一样啪嗒啪嗒地落在石板屋顶上。 还有那么灿烂的日落！耀眼的亮红色和金色，或小绒，漂浮的云匆匆穿过蓝天，乘着风的波浪。 还有其他阁楼的窗户，就像对面的那个。” 莎拉指出。洛蒂和埃芒加德望着隔壁的房子。 “那里随时可能有其他脑袋探出头来。”