Chapter 13

ChAPTER THIRTEEN "I can't make head or tail of this, said Kate. They had all trooped back to the Guest Suite and Kate was running Rupert a bath using all twenty of the tiny shampoo bottles. Now was not the time to skimp. "Tell me what happened one more time, Roo." "You put me inside the capsule," said

第十三章 “我完全搞不懂这是怎么回事。”凯特说。 所有人都成群结队走回了客房，凯特正把那二十小瓶洗发水全用上，给鲁珀特放洗澡水。 现在可不是抠搜的时候。 “再跟我说一遍当时发生了什么，小鲁。” “你把我放进胶囊里的时候，”

Rupert, settling into the bubbles with a small sigh. "Then Smarty put me into the chute, pulled the lever and whoosh! Off I went to Penny. She was surprised to see me, but didn't mind- she let me watch while she went through every word of the paper with her sixteen magnifying glasses." "And you're sure you saw her use the P.P. stamp?" asked Kate. "Incredibly sure" Rupert nodded. "I checked every page. Then she rolled them up, put me in the capsule with them, put that into the "To Johannes" chute, pulled the lever and-" "You ended up in the bin," finished Frances.

鲁珀特说道，伴着轻轻的叹气坐进了泡泡里。 “然后斯玛蒂把我放进传送槽，拉下操纵杆，嗖的一下！ 我就被送到彭妮那儿去了。 她见到我很惊讶，但也没生气——她让我在旁边看着，用她那十六个放大镜把报纸上的每个字都检查了一遍。” “你确定你看到她盖了P.P.的章？”凯特问。 “百分百确定。”鲁珀特点点头。 我每一页都检查过了。 然后她把报纸卷起来，把我和报纸一起放进胶囊，再把胶囊送到‘寄给约翰内斯’的传送槽，拉下操纵杆，然后——” “你最后掉进了垃圾桶。”弗朗西斯接话道。

There was a pause while they all speculated very hard. "Do you think someone's swapping the papers?" asked Rupert, floating on his back. "There must be two copies- the one that ended up in Johannes, and the other in the bin with me." "But that doesn't explain how it got stamped with Penny's initials," said Frances. "She wears that stamp around her neck all the time," said Kate glumly, flicking through a newspaper she had slipped from a fresh pile on leaving the Print Room. "Look," she groaned, "it's even worse than last time! I can't believe I let this happen- Figgy was counting on me!"

大家都陷入了沉默，使劲儿琢磨着这件事。 “你们觉得会不会是有人把报纸掉包了？”鲁珀特仰着身子浮在水面上问道。 肯定有两份报纸——一份送到了约翰内斯手里，另一份和我一起被扔在了垃圾桶里。” 但这解释不了为什么报纸上会有彭妮的姓名首字母章啊。”弗朗西斯说。 “那印章她一直都挂在脖子上的。”凯特闷闷地说，一边翻看着她离开打印室时从新报纸堆里顺出来的一份。 “你看，”她郁闷地说道，“情况比上次还糟糕！ 我真不敢相信搞成了这样——菲吉还指望着我呢！”

The LooKat post CAN LATTE ARTS IMPROVE YOUR MORNING? PIGEONS: WE WANT PEACE REVENGE RECORd BREEKIGN WOLD SPELLLN CHAMPONG WHAT TO WEAR with HILDA HOOP HISTORIC DIARIES FOUND & PUBLISHED READ MORE PG 26... "Aunt Figgy will give you another chance," said Frances. "She has to. The best stories never end and all that." "That's from The Special Correspondent Manual!" Kate smiled. "I love Catherine Rodríguez." Frances sighed. "You know, Figgy used to read me the manual when I was little, but then she stopped. I think it's where I get my tenacity and self-assurance from."

露卡特邮报 罐装拿铁 艺术能让你的早晨更美好吗？ 鸽子： 我们要和平 复仇 破纪录 世界拼写大赛冠军 希尔达教你穿搭 hoop 珍贵日记出土并出版 更多内容详见26版…… “菲吉姨妈会再给你一次机会的。”弗朗西斯说。 “她肯定会的。 毕竟最棒的故事永远不会结束啊之类的。” “那是《特派记者手册》里的话！” 凯特笑了。 “我超喜欢凯瑟琳·罗德里格斯的。” 弗朗西斯叹了口气。 “你知道吗，我小时候菲吉常给我读这本手册，但后来就不读了。 我觉得我的坚韧和自信都是从这儿来的。”

"Me too, said Kate. "My curiosity and brazen determination." The two girls laughed. Frances didn't look like the girl from the adverts any more, thought Kate, and it wasn't because she was streaked with ink and her hair was messy. She looked real, and now they were actually spending time together, Kate could see that Frances was funny and clever too. "When you two have finished discovering that you are very-alike-and- therefore-probably-about-to-become- good-friends," squeaked Rupert, who was wrapping himself in a monogrammed flannel, "can someone please hold the hairdryer for me?"

“我也是。”凯特说。 “我的好奇心和敢闯的劲儿也是。” 两个女孩都笑了。 凯特心想，弗朗西斯现在看着一点也不像广告里的那个女孩了，倒不是因为她身上沾着墨水印、头发乱糟糟的。 她看着很真实，而且现在两人实实在在相处了一阵，凯特发现弗朗西斯既有趣又聪明。 “等你们俩讨论完‘我们俩超合得来所以八成马上要变成好朋友’这件事之后，”正把自己裹在绣有名字首字母的法兰绒毛巾里的鲁珀特尖声说道，“有没有人能帮我拿下吹风机呀？”

Later, after Rupert was tucked up in his sleeping sock and Frances had crept out the door, Kate lay awake for a long time, scrutinising every move they'd made that day. Was there someone she was missing? Had she overlooked a clue? Perhaps Rupert just didn't see Penny swap the papers? But that wouldn't make any sense; it would be impossible to make a copy that quickly. Despite how nice Rupert and Frances had been about it, she couldn't help but feel she'd let everyone down. Still, she could be brave and hope that Figgy would understand. There might still be a way to fix this mess.

后来，鲁珀特被塞进他的睡袜里安顿好了，弗朗西斯也轻手轻脚出了门，凯特却醒着躺了好久，把他们当天的每一步行动都仔细捋了一遍。 有没有什么人是她漏掉的？ 她是不是忽略了什么线索？ 会不会鲁珀特刚好没看见彭妮掉包报纸？ 但这也说不通啊，不可能那么快就复印出一份的。 尽管鲁珀特和弗朗西斯都安慰她说没关系，她还是忍不住觉得自己让所有人都失望了。 不过，她可以勇敢一点，说不定菲吉会理解的。 说不定还有办法能收拾这个烂摊子。