本集演播：槑贰 

后期：荆溪

英文对照文本在最底下，请往下拉到底。

第16章 戒指

就在这时，奶妈抽抽嗒嗒地走了进来。她看见艾琳就坐在那儿，吓了一跳，又惊又喜叫了起来。奶妈奔到艾琳身边一把抱住她，亲了又亲。

“我的公主小心肝哟！你上哪儿去了？出了什么事？我们都快哭瞎了！为了找你，我们把房子上上下下翻了个遍。”

“你们可没翻遍屋顶，”艾琳心想，如果她知道一切的话，本来还可以说一句“底下也没怎么翻遍”的。不过，她心里头想的事情不能说出来，她不知道的事情也说不上来。“哦，洛蒂！我遇到了一件好可怕的事情！”艾琳答道，她把长腿怪猫、自己是怎么跑到山上，然后又是怎么回来的都原原本本告诉了洛蒂。不过，她只字未提祖母和那盏银灯的事。

“而我们却在屋子里足足找了你一个半钟头！ 奶妈喊了起来，“不过没关系，现在我们找到你了！只是公主呀，我得说，”洛蒂变了语气，“你不应该跑出屋子冲到山上，而是应该喊你亲爱的洛蒂来帮忙的。我得说，你那样做可有点鲁莽，又有点犯傻。”

“好啦，洛蒂，”艾琳安静地说，“要是有一只大猫撒开四条腿追你的话，没准儿那个时候你也会不知道怎么办最好。”

“无论如何，我是不会跑到山上的，”洛蒂反驳道。

“你要是有时间思考的话，当然不会。可是那天晚上，那群怪物在山上追你的时候，你吓得都迷路了呢。”

这下，洛蒂不再责备公主了。她差点儿就要说长腿怪猫一定是公主幻想出来的，可是那天晚上的可怕回忆，加上国王的那番责骂，让她最后没把这话说出口。其实她要说的话，自己半点儿都不信——因为她十分怀疑怪猫就是一只地精——她还搞不清楚地精和它们驯养的动物之间的差别，把它们都当作地精了。

洛蒂二话不说，就去为公主拿热茶和新鲜的面包黄油。她还没回来呢，管家就带着整栋屋子的佣人冲到育儿室，宝贝公主回来了，他们真是欣喜若狂。侍卫也跟着来了，他们很乐意相信公主口中长腿怪猫的事。他们还记得自己巡逻时，在草坪上看到过同样的怪物，现在都有点后怕。不过，他们很聪明，对这件事只字不提。

他们暗暗自责没有提防得更严密一些。侍卫队长下令从那天晚上起，只要太阳一落山，前门和底楼的所有窗户就要锁起来，不管有什么理由，都不能再打开。侍卫们加倍警戒，好一阵子都再没什么状况。

公主第二天早上醒来的时候，奶妈正俯身看她。“公主，今天早上你的戒指可真是绚丽夺目！——就像火红的玫瑰！”她说。

“是吗，洛蒂？”艾琳回答道，“这戒指是谁给我的呀，洛蒂？我知道自己戴了很久了，可我是从哪儿得来的呢？我不记得了。”

“我想一定是你母亲给你的，公主；不过，我还真不记得自己听说过你是什么时候开始戴它的呢。”奶妈回答。

“下次父王来的时候，我要问问他，”艾琳说。

CHAPTER 16   The Ring

The same moment her nurse came into the room, sobbing. When she saw her sitting there she started back with a loud cry of amazement and joy. Then running to her, she caught her in her arms and covered her with kisses.

'My precious darling princess! where have you been? What has happened to you? We've all been crying our eyes out, and searching the house from top to bottom for you.'

'Not quite from the top,' thought Irene to herself; and she might have added, 'not quite to the bottom', perhaps, if she had known all. But the one she would not, and the other she could not say. 'Oh, Lootie! I've had such a dreadful adventure!' she replied, and told her all about the cat with the long legs, and how she ran out upon the mountain, and came back again. But she said nothing of her grandmother or her lamp.

'And there we've been searching for you all over the house for more than an hour and a half!' exclaimed the nurse. 'But that's no matter, now we've got you! Only, princess, I must say,' she added, her mood changing, 'what you ought to have done was to call for your own Lootie to come and help you, instead of running out of the house, and up the mountain, in that wild, I must say, foolish fashion.'

'Well, Lootie,' said Irene quietly, 'perhaps if you had a big cat, all legs, running at you, you might not exactly know what was the wisest thing to do at the moment.'

'I wouldn't run up the mountain, anyhow,' returned Lootie.

'Not if you had time to think about it. But when those creatures came at you that night on the mountain, you were so frightened yourself that you lost your way home.'

This put a stop to Lootie's reproaches. She had been on the point of saying that the long-legged cat must have been a twilight fancy of the princess's, but the memory of the horrors of that night, and of the talking-to which the king had given her in consequence, prevented her from saying what after all she did not half believe—having a strong suspicion that the cat was a goblin; for she knew nothing of the difference between the goblins and their creatures: she counted them all just goblins.

Without another word she went and got some fresh tea and bread and butter for the princess. Before she returned, the whole household, headed by the housekeeper, burst into the nursery to exult over their darling. The gentlemen-at-arms followed, and were ready enough to believe all she told them about the long-legged cat. Indeed, though wise enough to say nothing about it, they remembered, with no little horror, just such a creature amongst those they had surprised at their gambols upon the princess's lawn.

In their own hearts they blamed themselves for not having kept better watch. And their captain gave orders that from this night the front door and all the windows on the ground floor should be locked immediately the sun set, and opened after upon no pretence whatever. The men-at-arms redoubled their vigilance, and for some time there was no further cause of alarm.

When the princess woke the next morning, her nurse was bending over her. 'How your ring does glow this morning, princess!—just like a fiery rose!' she said.

'Does it, Lootie?' returned Irene. 'Who gave me the ring, Lootie? I know I've had it a long time, but where did I get it? I don't remember.'

'I think it must have been your mother gave it you, princess; but really, for as long as you have worn it, I don't remember that ever I heard,' answered her nurse.

'I will ask my king-papa the next time he comes,' said Irene.