6 The Earl’s Grandson

CHAPTER 6 The Earl's Grandson Cedric's first morning in the castle was a curious one. As he was waking up, he heard two women talking. Neither one was Dearest. One woman was telling the other to be careful not to say a word, but about what? He opened his eyes. "Good morning, my lord," said a gentle voice. "Did you sleep well?" Cedric said he had. But he didn't say how much he had missed Dearest, or how he wondered how she was doing this morning,

第六章伯爵的孙子塞德里克在城堡里的第一个早晨很奇怪。 当他醒来时，他听到两个女人在说话。 谁也不是最亲爱的。一个女人告诉另一个要小心，一个字也不要说，但是说什么呢？ 他睁开眼睛。“早上好，大人。”一个温柔的声音说。 “你睡得好吗？”塞德里克说是的。 但他没有说他多么想念亲爱的，也没有说他多么想知道她今天早上过得怎么样，

waking up in the lodge by herself. One of the women left to do the housekeeping, but the other woman stayed. Her name was Dawson. She was there to take care of him, she explained. "Will you get up and let me dress you, and have your breakfast in the nursery?" "I learned how to dress myself years ago," Cedric said politely. "But thank you for offering. Dearest taught me. I can do it myself, except sometimes I need a little help with the buttons." At last he was dressed and having his breakfast in the nursery. He asked Dawson many questions about her life. He found out that Dawson's husband had been a soldier and had died in battle. Her son was a sailor and had seen practically the whole world. Dawson had taken care of little children all her life. Soon enough, they were great

一个人在小屋里醒来。 其中一个女人去做家务了，但另一个女人留下了。 她的名字叫道森。她解释说，她是来照顾他的。 “你起来，让我给你穿衣服，然后在育儿室吃早饭好吗？”“我几年前就学会了怎么穿衣服。”塞德里克礼貌地说。 “但是谢谢你的好意。 亲爱的教会了我。我可以自己做，只是有时候我需要别人帮我扣扣子。” 最后他穿好衣服，在育儿室吃早饭。 他问了道森许多关于她生活的问题。 他发现道森的丈夫曾是一名士兵，在战斗中牺牲了。 她的儿子是个水手，几乎走遍了整个世界。 道森一生都在照顾小孩子。 很快，他们就很棒了

friends. Cedric could see that there was another room next to the nursery, and another one next to that. There were so many rooms in this giant house, he could hardly imagine counting them all. "I'm so little to live in such a big castle, don't you think?" he asked Dawson. "Oh, you'll like it here soon enough," Dawson told him. "It only feels strange at first." "What feels the strangest is being apart from Dearest," Cedric said. "I miss her. I always had my breakfast with her. I put the sugar and cream in her tea, and I handed her the toast." "But you can see her every day," Dawson assured him. "And you will have so much to tell her once you see the dogs and the horses... and you haven't even seen what's in the

朋友。塞德里克看到育婴室旁边还有一间房，在那间房旁边还有一间。 这座巨大的房子里有那么多的房间，他几乎无法想象一一数完。 “我这么小，住在这么大的城堡里，你不觉得吗？”他问道森。 “哦，你很快就会喜欢这里的，”道森告诉他。 “只是一开始感觉怪怪的。” “最奇怪的是和亲爱的分开。”塞德里克说。 “我想念她。我总是和她一起吃早餐。 我把糖和奶油放进她的茶里，然后把吐司递给她。” “但你可以每天都看到她，”道森向他保证。 “等你看到那些狗和马，你就有好多话要对她说了…… 你还没看里面是什么

next room." Cedric couldn't help but be curious. "What's in there?" he asked. "You must finish your breakfast first, and then I will show you," Dawson teased. Cedric ate quickly. When he was at last finished, Dawson took him to the next room. The room was filled with the most spectacular toys a boy could imagine. Cedric had seen such toys—but only in store windows in New York. He had never had any of his own to play with. "Whose toys are these?" Cedric asked. He wondered if he might be able to play with some of them. Dawson laughed. "Don't you know?" she said. "They're all yours!" "But who gave them to me? Was it my grandfather? Oh, it was, wasn't it? It had to be!"

下一个房间。”塞德里克忍不住好奇起来。 “里面有什么？”他问。 “你必须先吃完早餐，然后我再给你看，”道森揶揄道。 塞德里克吃得很快。当他终于完成时，道森把他带到隔壁房间。 房间里摆满了男孩所能想象到的最壮观的玩具。 塞德里克见过这样的玩具——但只在纽约的商店橱窗里见过。 他从来没有自己的玩具可以玩。 “这些是谁的玩具？”塞德里克问道。 他想知道他是否可以和其中一些一起玩。 道森笑了。“你不知道吗？”她说。 “它们都是你的！”“可是谁给我的呢？” 是我祖父吗？哦，是的，不是吗？ 一定是！”

"Yes, it was," Dawson said. "And if you're a good boy, this won't be all he'll give you. He'll give you anything you want." Cedric could scarcely imagine such a thing. The room full of toys was more than enough. He couldn't wait to tell Dearest all about them. "Did you ever know anyone who had such a kind grandfather?" he asked Dawson as he found a game board to play with.

“是的，”道森说。 “如果你是个好孩子，他不会只给你这些的。 你要什么，他都会给你的。” 塞德里克简直无法想象这样的事情。 满屋子的玩具绰绰有余。 他迫不及待地想把他们的一切都告诉最亲爱的。 “你知道有谁有这样慈祥的祖父吗？”当他找到一块游戏板玩时，他问道森。

Dawson made a strange face. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but she didn't. The truth was, Dawson didn't have a high opinion of the earl. She'd only been working in his house for a short time and already she'd heard the stories about how mean he was to the servants and the people who lived on his lands. From what Dawson had heard, he was not a kind man at all. But what she and Cedric didn't know was that the earl had not given his grandson this room full of toys to be kind. He wanted the shelves and closets stocked full of amusements. He wanted the boy to have everything he could hope for— every possible distraction. "Give him what will amuse him," the earl had said, "and he will forget his mother soon enough." That was the plan.

道森做了个奇怪的表情。 她似乎想说点什么，但又没说。 事实上，道森对伯爵的评价并不高。 她在他的房子里工作了很短的时间，就已经听说了他对仆人和住在他土地上的人有多刻薄的故事。 据道森所知，他根本不是一个善良的人。 但她和塞德里克不知道的是，伯爵给他的孙子这一屋子玩具可不是为了表示善意。 他希望架子和壁橱里堆满娱乐用品。 他希望这个男孩拥有他所希望的一切——每一种可能的分心。 “给他些能逗乐他的东西，”伯爵说，“他很快就会忘记他母亲的。” 这就是计划。