本集演播：槑贰 

后期：倩文

英文对照文本在最底下，请往下拉到底。

第14章 一个星期过去了

虽然艾琳到现在还是不太确定是不是在做梦，可整整一个星期，她每时每刻都在想着自己答应老妇人的诺言。这幢屋子的楼顶真的住着一位老妇人吗？她真的养着一群鸽子、有一架纺车、还有一盏从来都不会熄灭的灯吗？但是，艾琳的决心丝毫没有动摇——不管奶奶是出现在她眼前还是出现在梦里，她都要在星期五爬上三层楼梯，穿过两边有很多扇门的走廊，设法找到那里。

艾琳常常一言不发、若有所思地坐着，有时候甚至玩着玩着就突然变得恍恍惚惚。奶妈不由得纳闷，这孩子到底是怎么了。可是，不管洛蒂用了什么办法打探，艾琳都小心翼翼地没流露出任何心思。洛蒂只得作罢，心想：“这孩子可真奇怪！”

盼望已久的星期五终于到了，艾琳一直安安静静地待着，生怕洛蒂过来看着自己。到了下午，她又来了玩具屋，一遍又一遍地布置房间，摆弄住在里面的玩具娃娃。一个娃娃不肯好好坐着，另一个娃娃则不肯好好站着，所有的娃娃都让人烦透了。这千真万确，有一个娃娃甚至不能好好躺着，真是太糟糕了。不过天色已然暗了下来，变得越来越黑。艾琳越来越激动，可她又觉得自己更加要保持镇定。

“公主殿下，我想你要吃晚饭了吧，”奶妈说道，“我去拿。这屋子太闷了，我把窗户打开一点。今天晚上挺暖和的，你不会被冻着。”

“不用担心，洛蒂，”艾琳说。她觉得要是洛蒂能等天色暗些再去备茶就好了，到时候她就能千方百计地溜走了。

洛蒂去了好长时间，我想她本来没想去那么久的，因为等艾琳再度从沉思中抬头看的时候，天已经完全黑了。就在这时，艾琳看到窗外有一双泛着绿光的眼睛正瞪着自己。眨眼间，就有什么东西跳到了屋子里。据艾琳说，那东西长得像只猫，四条腿却和马儿一样长，但是它的身子比猫大不了多少，腿也跟猫差不多粗细。艾琳吓得都没喊出声来，不过她还是从椅子里跳起来逃走了。

每个读者应该都清楚她该做什么了吧？的确，艾琳自己也想到了。可是等她跑到育儿室门外那段陈旧的楼梯底下时，突然想到那个怪物会不会追着自己跑上长长的楼梯，穿过黑暗的走廊——这样一来，她可能就找不到楼顶了！这个念头把艾琳吓坏了，她惊慌不已，于是转身朝门厅飞奔。大厅的前门开着，她冲进院子，怪物就在后面追她——至少她觉得怪物跟着自己。谁都没看见她，她跑呀跑，顾不上害怕，只要能躲开那只可怕的长腿怪物，她哪儿都愿意去。她不敢回头看，径直冲出大门，往山上跑去。这么做可真是傻透了——因为她跑得离那些能帮助自己的人越来越远，似乎就是在挑个好地方，好让某个哥布林闲来无事的时候吃掉她。不过恐惧就是这么对待我们的，往往我们怕什么，就会来什么。

CHAPTER 14  That Night Week

During the whole of the week | Irene had been thinking every other moment of her promise to the old lady, although even now she could not feel quite sure | that she had not been dreaming. Could it really be that an old lady lived | up in the top of the house, with pigeons and a spinning-wheel, and a lamp that never went out? She was, however, nonetheless determined, on the coming Friday, to ascend the three stairs, walk through the passages with the many doors, and try to find the tower in which she had either seen or dreamed her grandmother.

Her nurse could not help wondering what had come to the child—she would sit so thoughtfully silent, and even in the midst of a game with her | would so suddenly fall into a dreamy mood. But Irene took care to betray nothing, whatever efforts Lootie might make to get at her thoughts. And Lootie had to say to herself: 'What an odd child she is!' and give it up.

At length the longed-for Friday arrived, and lest Lootie should be moved to watch her, Irene endeavoured to keep herself as quiet as possible. In the afternoon she asked for her doll's house, and went on arranging and rearranging the various rooms and their inhabitants for a whole hour. Then she gave a sigh and threw herself back in her chair. One of the dolls would not sit, and another would not stand, and they were all very tiresome. Indeed, there was one would not even lie down, which was too bad. But it was now getting dark, and the darker it got the more excited Irene became, and the more she felt it | necessary to be composed.

'I see you want your tea, princess,' said the nurse: 'I will go and get it. The room feels close: I will open the window a little. The evening is mild: it won't hurt you.'

'There's no fear of that, Lootie,' said Irene, wishing she had put off going for the tea till it was darker, when she might have made her attempt with every advantage.

I fancy Lootie was longer in returning than she had intended; for when Irene, who had been lost in thought, looked up, she saw it was nearly dark, and at the same moment caught sight of a pair of eyes, bright with a green light, glowering at her through the open window. The next instant something leaped into the room. It was like a cat, with legs as long as a horse's, Irene said, but its body no bigger and its legs no thicker than those of a cat. She was too frightened to cry out, but not too frightened to jump from her chair and run from the room.

It is plain enough to every one of my readers what she ought to have done—and indeed, Irene thought of it herself; but when she came to the foot of the old stair, just outside the nursery door, she imagined the creature running up those long ascents after her, and pursuing her through the dark passages—which, after all, might lead to no tower! That thought was too much. Her heart failed her, and, turning from the stair, she rushed along to the hall, whence, finding the front door open, she darted into the court | pursued—at least she thought so—by the creature. No one happening to see her, on she ran, unable to think for fear, and ready to run anywhere to elude the awful creature with the stilt-legs. Not daring to look behind her, she rushed straight out of the gate and up the mountain. It was foolish indeed—thus to run farther and farther from all who could help her, as if she had been seeking a fit spot for the goblin creature to eat her in his leisure; but that is the way fear serves us: it always sides with the thing we are afraid of.