書蟲二級(jí) 坎特維爾幽靈：6.終得安息

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6．A skeleton finds rest at last

6．終得安息

Ten minutes later, it was time for tea, but Virginia did not come down for it. At first, Mrs Otis did not worry. She knew that Virginia liked to go out into the garden every evening to get flowers for the dinner-table. But at six o'clock she sent the boys out to look for their sister, while she and Mr Otis looked in every room of the house.

十分鐘后，到了吃茶點(diǎn)的時(shí)間，可弗吉尼婭并沒有下樓來。一開始奧蒂斯夫人并不擔(dān)心。她知道，弗吉尼婭喜歡每天傍晚到花園里去采些花裝飾餐桌?？稍?點(diǎn)鐘的時(shí)候，她把男孩子們?nèi)寂沙鋈フ遗畠?，自己和奧蒂斯先生則搜遍了每一個(gè)房間。

At half-past six the boys came back. They could not find Virginia. Then Mr Otis, Washington, and the Duke of Cheshire got their horses and rode out into the woods and fields around Canterville Chase. They looked everywhere, and asked everybody, 'Have you seen Virginia?' But nobody could help them.

6點(diǎn)半，男孩子們都回來了，他們找不到弗吉尼婭。接著奧蒂斯先生、華盛頓和柴郡公爵騎馬找遍了樹林和坎特維爾古堡的所有領(lǐng)地。他們四處尋找，逢人便問：“你見到弗吉尼婭了嗎？”但沒有人能幫上忙。

Just before midnight, they went back to the house. They were very worried, but Mr Otis told everybody to get some sleep. 'We'll begin again in the morning,' he said, 'and I'll send for some detectives from London.'

快到午夜時(shí)，他們回到家，都擔(dān)心極了。奧蒂斯先生叫大家都去睡覺。“我們明天一早再找。”他說，“我再去倫敦叫幾個(gè)偵探來。”

They were all standing at the bottom of the stairs when the clock sounded midnight. Suddenly there was a crash, followed by a loud and terrible cry. Thunder shook the house, and the sound of ghostly music came to their ears. Then a secret door opened in the wall at the top of the stairs — and out walked Virginia! She was very white, and she had a little box in her hands.

他們當(dāng)時(shí)都站在樓梯下面，這時(shí)午夜的鐘聲敲響了。突然間“咔嚓”一聲，緊接著傳來一聲可怕的大叫。雷聲震動(dòng)了整個(gè)宅子，他們聽到一種鬼氣森森的音樂。這時(shí)，樓梯頂上一道暗門打開了——弗吉尼婭走了出來！她臉色慘白，手里還捧著一個(gè)小盒子。

Everyone ran up the stairs. Mrs Otis threw her arms round her, the Duke of Cheshire kissed her again and again, and the twins laughed and danced around her.

大家都跑上樓梯。奧蒂斯夫人張開雙臂抱住她，柴郡公爵一遍又一遍地吻著她，雙胞胎兄弟圍著她又笑又跳。

Where have you been?' said Mr Otis. 'We've looked everywhere for you, and your mother has been so frightened for you. You must never play these tricks again.'

“你去哪兒了？”奧蒂斯先生問，“我們到處找你，你媽媽為你擔(dān)心得不行。你可不能再這么耍我們了。”

Only on the ghost!' shouted the twins, laughing.

“只能耍幽靈！”雙胞胎笑著叫道。

You must never leave my side again, my dearest Virginia,' said Mrs Otis, and she kissed the trembling child.

“你再也不能離開我身邊了，我最親愛的弗吉尼婭。”奧蒂斯夫人說。她親吻著顫抖的女兒。

Father,' said Virginia, 'I have been with the ghost. He is dead, and you must come and see him. He was a bad man, but he was really sorry for everything that he did. And look, he gave me this box of beautiful jewels before he died.'

“爸爸，”弗吉尼婭說，“我一直和幽靈在一起。他死了，你一定得來看看他。他是個(gè)壞蛋，但他為所做的一切感到后悔。瞧，他死前還給了我這個(gè)裝滿珠寶的盒子。”

All the family looked at her and the box, and they were too surprised to say a word. Virginia then took them through the secret door in the wall, and down a narrow passage, lit by a candle that Washington was carrying. At last they came to a heavy wooden door. When Virginia touched it, it opened slowly.

全家人看著她和珠寶盒子，驚訝地說不出話來。弗吉尼婭帶他們穿過那道墻的暗門，走過一段窄窄的通道。華盛頓用蠟燭照著亮。最后他們來到一扇厚重的木門前。弗吉尼婭一碰它，門就緩緩地打開了。

They found themselves in a little room with one small window in it. A skeleton lay on the floor, chained to the wall. A plate and a water jug were also on the floor, but they were too far away for the skeleton's fingers to get hold of them.

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己身處一個(gè)小房間里，只有一扇小窗。一具骷髏倒在地板上，被鐵鏈拴在墻上。地上還有一個(gè)盤子和一壺水，但是擱得太遠(yuǎn)了，骷髏的手指尖根本就夠不到。

Virginia put her hands together and began to pray silently. The others looked down at the skeleton of Sir Simon de Canterville. Now they knew the terrible secret of his death.

弗吉尼婭合起雙手，默默地祈禱起來。其他人都低頭看著這具骸骨——西蒙·德·坎特維爾爵士?，F(xiàn)在他們都知道他死亡的可怕秘密了。

He is peaceful now,' said Virginia. 'I prayed to God to give him peace.'

“現(xiàn)在他安息了，”弗吉尼婭說，“我向上帝禱告令他安息。”

And suddenly the others were sure that they could see a beautiful light around Virginia's face.

突然之間，其他每個(gè)人都確定自己看到有一道圣潔的光芒環(huán)繞著弗吉尼婭的臉龐。

You are wonderful!' cried the young Duke, and he put his arm round her neck, and kissed her.

“你真棒啊！”年輕的公爵叫道。他用手臂摟住她的脖子，親吻著她。

*　*　*

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Four days later, at about eleven o'clock at night, they took Sir Simon de Canterville to the 'Garden of Death', where he wanted to be. Lord Canterville came specially from Wales to be there with the Otis family.

4天之后，大約晚上11點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，他們將西蒙·德·坎特維爾爵士的遺體帶到了“死亡花園”，這里是他希望安息的地方?？蔡鼐S爾勛爵特意從威爾士趕來，加入奧蒂斯一家。

They put Sir Simon into the ground, and Virginia put a cross made of beautiful white flowers on the ground next to him. When she did this, the moon came out from behind a cloud, and the little night bird began to sing its sweet, high song.

他們把西蒙爵士放入土中，在他旁邊的地上，弗吉尼婭放了一個(gè)由白色鮮花做成的十字架。正在這時(shí)，月亮從云朵背后露出臉來，小夜鶯開始輕快地高聲歌唱。

Virginia was very quiet during the drive home.

在回家的路上，弗吉尼婭非常安靜。

The next morning, before Lord Canterville left, Mr Otis spoke to him about the box of jewels.

第二天上午，在坎特維爾勛爵離去之前，奧蒂斯先生跟他說了那一盒珠寶的事。

My lord,' he said, 'these jewels belong to you, or to your family. Virginia asks for only one thing — the box. Can she keep it?'

“勛爵，”他說，“這些珠寶屬于您或您的家族。弗吉尼婭只要一件東西——這個(gè)盒子。能給她嗎？”

My dear sir,' replied Lord Canterville, 'your daughter has been a wonderful friend to one of my family. We shall always thank her for that. And remember, you bought the house and everything in it — the ghost, too! Anything that belonged to him is now yours. No, Mr Otis, your daughter must keep the jewels. When she is a woman, she will be happy to have pretty things to wear.'

“親愛的先生，”坎特維爾勛爵答道，“您女兒是我們家族中一位成員的好朋友。為此我們會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)感激她。請(qǐng)記住，您買下了這座房子和這里的一切——還包括幽靈！曾經(jīng)屬于他的任何東西現(xiàn)在都是您的了。不，奧蒂斯先生，您女兒務(wù)必要留下這些珠寶。當(dāng)她長大以后，有這些漂亮的東西打扮，她會(huì)很高興的。”

So Virginia kept the jewels. And she wore them in the spring of 1890, when she married the young Duke of Cheshire; and everyone said, 'How beautiful!'

于是弗吉尼婭留下了珠寶。1890年的春天，在她嫁給年輕的柴郡公爵時(shí)，她戴上了它們；而且每個(gè)人都贊嘆道：“多漂亮??！”

Some time later, she and her husband went down to Canterville Chase. One afternoon, they walked through the woods to the Garden of Death, and to the old tree.

過了一陣子，夫婦兩人回到坎特維爾古堡。一天下午，他們穿過樹林，來到“死亡花園”，來到那棵老樹下。

Virginia,' said the Duke. 'Tell me something. What happened when you were locked up with the ghost?'

“弗吉尼婭，”公爵問，“告訴我，在你和幽靈在一起的時(shí)候，發(fā)生了什么事？”

Please don't ask me, Cecil, I cannot tell you,' she said. 'Poor Sir Simon! I have much to thank him for. Yes, don't laugh, Cecil, I do. He helped me to understand about Life and Death, and that Love is stronger than both.'

“請(qǐng)別問我，塞西爾，我不能告訴你。”她說，“可憐的西蒙爵士！我真要好好感謝他。對(duì)，別笑，塞西爾，我是要感謝。他讓我懂得了生與死，還有，愛比這兩者都要強(qiáng)大。”

The Duke kissed his wife lovingly. 'My dear, you can keep your secret. The only thing I want is your love,' he said.

公爵充滿愛意地吻了一下他的妻子。“親愛的，你可以保守這秘密。我唯一要的就是你的愛。”他說。

You have always had that, Cecil,' she said.

“你一直擁有它，塞西爾。”她說。

And you will tell our children some day?'

“有一天你會(huì)講給孩子們聽嗎？”

Virginia did not answer, but her face went prettily red.

弗吉尼婭沒有回答，可她的臉變得紅彤彤的。