8 Mr Craven comes home
8 克萊文先生回家了
While the secret garden was returning to life,
當秘密花園恢復著生機的時候,
a man with high,crooked shoulders was wandering round the most beautiful places in Europe.
一個高大、駝背的男人正在歐洲最美的地方游蕩。
For ten years he had lived this lonely life,
10年來他就是過著這種孤獨的生活,
his heart full of sadness and his head full of dark dreams.
他的心中充滿了悲涼,腦海也為黑暗的惡夢所占據。
Everywhere he.went,he carried his unhappiness with him like a black cloud.
他每到一處,情緒總是憂郁的,像被一團黑色的云籠罩著。
Other travellers thought he was half mad or a man who could not forget some terrible crime.
別的游客覺得他是半個瘋子,或是個無法忘掉某種恐怖罪行的人。
His name was Archibald Craven.
他的名字就是阿奇伯德·克萊文。
But one day,as he sat by a mountain stream,
但是有一天,當他坐在山谷中的一條小溪旁時,
he actually looked at a flower,
他注視著一朵花,
and for the first time in ten years he realized how beautiful something living could be.
10年來他第一次意識到生命可以是這么美麗。
The valley seemed very quiet as he sat there,staring at the flower.
山谷非常幽靜,他坐在那兒,凝視著那朵花,
He felt strangely calm.
心中異常的平靜。
‘What is happening to me?’he whispered.
“我怎么了?”他低聲說,
‘I feel different —I almost feel I'm alive again!’
“我感覺不一樣了——我幾乎覺得自己又活了!”
At that moment,hundreds of miles away in Yorkshire,
也就在那一刻,在幾百英里外的約克郡,
Colin was seeing the secret garden for the first time,and saying,
柯林第一次見到了秘密花園,正在說著,
‘I'm going to live for ever and ever and ever!’
“我會永遠永遠活下去!”
But Mr Craven did not know this.
但克萊文先生并不知道這些。
That night,in his hotel room,he slept better than usual.
那天夜里,在旅店的房間里,他睡得比平時香。
As the weeks passed,he even began to think a little about his home and his son.
幾周過去了,他甚至開始有點想家,有點想他的兒子。
One evening in late summer,as he was sitting quietly beside a lake,he felt the strange calmness again.
一個夏末的晚上,他靜靜地坐在湖邊,再次感到那種奇異的平靜。
He fell asleep,and had a dream that seemed very real.
他睡著了,做了一個非常真切的夢。
He heard a voice calling him.
他聽見一個聲音在叫他,
It was sweet and clear and happy,the voice of his young wife.
聲音甜美、清晰而歡快,那是他年輕的妻子的聲音。
‘Archie!Archie!Archie!’
“阿奇!阿奇!阿奇!”
‘My dear!’He jumped up.‘Where are you?’
“親愛的!”他跳起來,“你在哪兒?”
‘In the garden!’called the beautiful voice.
“在花園里!”那美麗的聲音說。
And then the dream ended.
然后夢就醒了。
In the morning,when he woke,he remembered the dream.
他早晨醒來時,還記得那個夢。
‘She says she's in the garden!’he thought.
“她說她在花園里!”他思索著,
‘But the door's locked and the key's buried.’
“可是門是鎖著的,鑰匙也埋起來了。”
That morning he received a letter from Susan Sowerby.
那天上午他收到了蘇珊·索爾比的信。
In it she asked him to come home,but she did not give a reason.
信上她請他回去,卻沒說明為什么。
Mr Craven thought of his dream,and decided to return to England immediately.
克萊文先生想起他的夢,決定立刻動身回英國。
On the long journey back to Yorkshire,he was thinking about Colin.
在回約克郡的漫長路途中,他想起了柯林。
‘I wonder how he is!
“不知道他怎么樣了!
I wanted to forget him,because he makes me think of his mother.
我想忘記他,因為他總是讓我想起他的媽媽。
He lived,and she died!
他活著,可她卻死了!
But perhaps I've been wrong.
也許是我錯了。
Susan Sowerby says I should go home,so perhaps she thinks I can help him.’
蘇珊·索爾比說我應該回家,也許她是想讓我幫助柯林。”
When he arrived home,he found the housekeeper very confused about Colin's health.
他回到家里,發現管家對柯林的身體狀況大為不解。
‘He's very strange,sir,’said Mrs Medlock.
“他很怪,先生,”梅洛太太說,
‘ He looks better,it's true,
“他看上去好些了。真的,
but some days he eats nothing at all,and other days he eats just like a healthy boy.
可有時他什么都不吃,有時又吃得像健康的孩子一樣。
He used to scream even at the idea of fresh air,
以前只要提到新鮮空氣他就要尖叫,
but now he spends all his time outside in his wheelchair,with Miss Mary and Dickon Sowerby.
可現在他每天都坐著輪椅去外面,跟瑪麗小姐和狄肯·索爾比一起。
He's in the garden at the moment.’
這會兒他在花園里呢。”
‘In the garden!’repeated Mr Craven.
“在花園里!”克萊文先生重復著。
Those were the words of the dream!
那正是夢中聽到的話!
He hurried out of the house and towards the place which he had not visited for so long.
他沖出房子,奔向他很久都沒再去過的地方。
He found the door with the climbing plant over it,and stood outside,listening,for a moment.
他找到被藤蔓遮蔽的門,站在外面,聽了一會兒。
‘Surely I can hear voices inside the garden?’he thought.
“我真的聽到里面有聲音嗎?”他想,
‘Aren't there children whispering,laughing,running in there?
“難道那不是孩子們在里面低語、嬉笑、奔跑嗎?
Or am I going mad?’
還是我快要發瘋了?”
And then the moment came,when the children could not stay quiet.
當孩子們難以保持安靜時,這一刻終于到來了。
There was wild laughing and shouting,and the door was thrown open.
開心的笑聲和歡叫聲中,門被撞開了,
A boy ran out,a tall,healthy,handsome boy,straight into the man's arms.
一個高高的、健康漂亮的男孩跑了出來,正好撞進他的懷里。
Mr Craven stared into the boy's laughing eyes.
克萊文先生直愣愣地看著孩子歡笑的眼睛。
‘Who—What?Who?’he cried.
“誰呀——什么?這是誰呀?”他叫起來。
Colin had not planned to meet his father like this.
柯林沒想到會這樣見到他的父親。
But perhaps this was the best way,to come running out with his cousin and his friend.
但是同他的表妹和朋友一起跑出來,也許這才是最好的方式。
‘Father,’he said,‘I'm Colin.
“爸爸。”他說,“我是柯林。
You can't believe it!
您不會相信的!
I can't believe it myself.
連我自己都不能相信。
It was the garden,and Mary and Dickon and the magic,that made me well.
是花園、瑪麗、狄肯和魔法使我康復的。
We've kept it a secret up to now.
我們一直保守著這個秘密。
Aren't you happy,Father?
爸爸,你不高興嗎?
I'm going to live for ever and ever and ever!’
我要永遠永遠地活下去!”
Mr Craven put his hands on the boy's shoulders.
克萊文先生把手放在孩子肩上,
For a moment he could not speak.
好一會兒說不出話來。
‘Take me into the garden,my boy,’he said at last,
最后他說:“帶我到花園里去,
‘and tell me all about it.’
告訴我這一切是怎么回事。”
And in the secret garden,where the roses were at their best,
在秘密花園中,玫瑰花盛開著,
and the butterflies were flying from flower to flower in the summer sunshine,
蝴蝶在夏日的陽光下、在花叢中飛舞,
they told Colin's father their story.
他們向柯林的父親講述著他們的故事。
Sometimes he laughed and sometimes he cried,
他時而開懷大笑,時而落淚,
but most of the time he just looked,
更多的時間只是注視著他兒子那英俊的臉龐,
unbelieving,into the handsome face of the son that he had almost forgotten.
不相信這就是他幾乎遺忘的那個孩子。
‘Now,’said Colin at the end,‘it isn't a secret any more.
“現在,”柯林最后說道,“這不再是秘密了。
I'll never use the wheelchair again.
我再也用不著輪椅了。
I'm going to walk back with you,Fatherto the house.’
爸爸,我要和你一起走——走回家去。”
And so,that afternoon,Mrs Medlock,Martha,and the other servants had the greatest shock of their lives.
于是那天下午,梅洛太太、瑪莎,還有其他的用人都感受到有生以來從未有過的驚奇,
Through the gardens towards the house came Mr Craven,looking happier than they had ever seen him.
克萊文先生從花園走向房子,臉上露出他們從未見到過的幸福神態。
And by his side,with his shoulders straight,his head held high and a smile on his lips,walked young Colin!
而走在他身邊,昂首挺胸、面帶微笑的正是年輕的柯林!