8 The Other Side of the Wall

CHAPTER 8 The Other Side of the Wall In the kitchen, it was a mystery how the servants knew and gossiped about everything. There, Sara learned more about the Indian gentleman who had moved in next door. He had come from India, but he was really an Englishman who had been living in India only while he worked on a new business. He had become quite ill with brain fever, and had still not fully gotten better. For a time, it had seemed that his entire fortune was lost, and

第八章墙的另一边在厨房里，仆人们是怎么知道一切并议论纷纷的，这是个谜。 在那里，萨拉了解了更多关于搬到隔壁的印度绅士的情况。 他来自印度，但实际上是个英国人，只是在从事一项新业务期间住在印度。 他得了脑热，病得很重，而且还没有完全好转。 有一段时间，他似乎失去了全部财产

he had almost died from shame, along with his sickness. His fortune had changed, though, and all that he owned had been given back to him. Still, knowing that he had let down his old school chum and the little girl was too much to bear. Sara felt butterflies in her stomach. The Indian gentleman's story was so much like her own papa's that, if she hadn't seen him for herself, she might have thought they were one and the same person. She was glad (at least for the Englishman's sake) that his story had turned out happier. From then on, the Indian gentleman held a special place in her heart. When she was sent out at night to fetch things, instead of grumbling, she was now eager. It gave her a better chance of spotting her new secret friend through his lighted window, as he gazed sadly into the fire. At

他几乎因为羞愧和疾病而死去。 不过，他的命运变了，他所有的东西都还给了他。 尽管如此，当他知道自己辜负了老同学和小女孩的期望时，他还是难以忍受。 萨拉感到忐忑不安。 这位印度绅士的故事跟她爸爸的故事太像了，如果她没有亲眼看到他的话，她可能会以为他们是同一个人。 她很高兴（至少为了英国人的缘故），他的故事变得更愉快了。 从那时起，这位印度绅士在她心中占据了一个特殊的位置。 当她晚上被派去拿东西时，她不再抱怨，而是变得渴望起来。 这使她有更好的机会透过他那灯火通明的窗户看到她的新秘密朋友，他正悲伤地凝视着炉火。 在

night, she would lie awake wondering about him. She wished that he had a little daughter, a "Little Missus" all his own, who could pamper him the way she had pampered her papa. Oh, her dear papa! It seemed like ages since she had sat at his knee talking of important things. It was worlds away. Meanwhile, right next door, on the other side of the wall, the Indian gentleman was lost in his own thoughts. Mr. Carrisford (for that was his real name) was thinking that he ought to feel happier. After all, he was a very lucky man. After a period of forgetfulness caused by the jungle fever, when he thought he had lost everything, his fortune had been returned, and his brain was just about back to normal as well. He had made many friends, including Mr. Carmichael next door (the head of the Large Family in real life). And Mr.

晚上，她会躺着睡不着，想着他。 她希望他能有一个小女儿，一个完全属于他的“小夫人”，能像她娇惯她爸爸那样娇惯他。 啊，她亲爱的爸爸！她似乎已经很久没有坐在他的膝上谈论重要的事情了。 那是一个遥远的世界。与此同时，就在隔壁，在墙的另一边，印度绅士陷入了自己的沉思。 卡里斯福德先生（这是他的真名）认为他应该感到高兴些。 毕竟，他是一个非常幸运的人。 在经历了一段由丛林热引起的健忘期后，当他以为自己失去了一切时，他的财富又回来了，他的大脑也快要恢复正常了。 他交了很多朋友，包括隔壁的卡迈克尔先生（现实生活中的一家之主）。 和先生。

Carmichael's little girls, especially Janet and Nora, were such a joy to him. They visited often and brought him sweets and told him funny stories about their day. One time, they told him a quite unusual story, although it was hardly funny. They told him about their encounter with The Little Girl Who Is Not a Beggar. Ram Dass happened to hear what the girls were saying, and he came over to add to their story. "Why, that must be the same little girl who lives in the attic next door!" He then described Sara's bare attic room with its worn-out floorboards and broken plaster, its rusty and empty fireplace grate, and its hard, narrow bed. "I wonder how many poor little servant girls there are out there," Carrisford asked, "sleeping on such hard, awful beds while we lie peacefully on our feather pillows?" The thought seemed to sink him into an even

卡迈克尔的两个小女儿，尤其是珍妮特和诺拉，是他的一大乐事。 他们经常来看他，给他带来糖果，给他讲他们一天的趣事。 有一次，他们给他讲了一个很不寻常的故事，虽然一点也不好笑。 他们告诉他他们遇到的小女孩谁不是一个乞丐。 拉姆·达斯碰巧听到了女孩们在说什么，他走过来给她们的故事添了些内容。 “噢，那一定就是住在隔壁阁楼上的那个小女孩！”然后，他描述了萨拉空空的阁楼房间，地板破旧不堪，灰泥破碎，壁炉壁炉锈迹斑斑，空无一人，还有那张又硬又窄的床。 “我想知道外面有多少可怜的小女仆，”卡里斯福德问道，“睡在这么硬、这么难看的床上，而我们却安安静静地躺在羽毛枕头上？”这种想法似乎使他陷入了困境

deeper mire of sadness. "My dear friend," begged Mr. Carmichael, who had arrived to pick up his daughters. "You must try not to think about such things. You are still in a weakened state—please try to rest and not upset yourself so." But Mr. Carrisford could not stop thinking of Sara and her pitiful attic room. "Do you suppose," he said slowly after a pause, "that the other child—" ("the child I never stop thinking of and searching for," he thought) "—could be out there somewhere, in a similar place, and in such misery?" Mr. Carmichael didn't know what to say. He knew, of course, what his friend was talking about. But there were no easy answers. Mr. Carrisford had told him the whole story about Captain Crewe and his daughter. Mr. Carrisford had gone to India to embark on an exciting new diamond mine business.

更深的悲伤泥潭。“我亲爱的朋友，”来接女儿的卡迈克尔先生恳求道。 “你必须尽量不去想这些事情。 您现在身体还很虚弱，请您尽量休息，不要这样烦恼。” 但卡里斯福德先生还是忍不住想起萨拉和她那可怜的阁楼房间。 “你认为，”他停了一会儿，慢慢地说，“另一个孩子——”（“我一直在想，一直在找的那个孩子，”他想）“——会在外面的某个地方，在同样的地方，过着这样悲惨的生活吗？”卡迈克尔先生不知道该说什么。 当然，他知道他的朋友在说什么。 但答案并不简单。 卡里斯福德先生已经把克鲁船长和他女儿的事情原原本本地告诉了他。 卡里斯福德先生去了印度，开始了一项令人兴奋的新钻石矿生意。

He had invited his old school chum, Captain Ralph Crewe, to be his partner. Things had been going smoothly until both men had fallen ill with jungle fever, which affects the mind. The fever had hit Carrisford particularly hard. He went so crazy that he was sure the business had failed. Half mad, and scared by the thought of losing both men's money, he could not face his best friend. He had run away and ended up in a hospital somewhere, where he did not wake up for weeks. Or at least, so he was told. Of course, when he did wake up, his best friend was already dead and buried. "He died thinking that I had made him a pauper and then run away!" he told Carmichael, his face full of pain. It was already a sad story, but that wasn't the worst part. Carrisford's friend Crewe also had a little girl. Crewe had often talked about his daughter, and Carrisford knew that

他邀请了他的老同学拉尔夫·克鲁船长做他的搭档。 事情本来很顺利，直到两人都得了丛林热，这种病会影响大脑。 卡里斯福德的发烧尤其严重。 他疯了，以为生意失败了。 他半疯了，又害怕失去两个人的钱，不敢面对他最好的朋友。 他逃跑了，最后被送到了某个地方的医院，在那里他几个星期都没有醒来。 至少别人是这么告诉他的。 当然，当他醒来时，他最好的朋友已经死了，被埋葬了。 “他死的时候还以为我把他变成了一个乞丐，然后跑掉了！”他告诉卡迈克尔，脸上满是痛苦。 这已经是一个悲伤的故事了，但这还不是最糟糕的部分。 卡里斯福德的朋友克鲁也生了一个小女孩。 克鲁经常谈起他的女儿，卡里斯福德知道这一点