本章演播：槑贰

后期：青丘

英文文本在最下面，请往下拉

第20章 艾琳的线索

就是那天一大早，艾琳公主醒过来的时候非常害怕。屋子里传来一种可怕的声响——就像怪物扭打起来时又吼又叫，嘶嘶作响的声音。

公主一冷静下来，就想起了奶奶曾告诉过她，要是害怕的时候该怎么做——她一直都没想起这茬呢。艾琳立刻摘下戒指放在枕头底下，她这么做的时候，似乎觉得是有一双手温柔地替她把戒指摘下来的。“那一定是奶奶！”她心想。一想到这个，她立刻充满了勇气，连那双考究的小拖鞋都没来得及穿，就跑了出去。她跑出去的时候，正好看见床边的椅背上搭着一件天蓝色的长斗篷。她以前从没见过这件斗篷，那一定是为她准备的。

艾琳穿上斗篷，然后用右手食指感觉了一下，摸到了奶奶的那根线。于是，她立刻顺着线的方向往前走，希望这根线能径直把自己领到那个旧楼梯前面。她走到门边时，发现丝线沿着地板往下走，她不得不在地上爬才能抓住丝线。让艾琳吃惊的是，丝线非但没有把她带到楼梯那儿，反而领着她往相反的地方走，她因此有点失望。

丝线带着艾琳穿过窄窄的过道往厨房走，但还没到厨房，丝线就转到了一边，带着艾琳来到一扇门前，这扇门通往一座小小的后院。有几个女仆已经起来了，这扇门开着。丝线穿过院子，仍旧贴着地面往前延伸，一直把艾琳带到一堵墙跟前，墙上有一扇通向半山腰的门。艾琳经过那扇门的时候，丝线抬高到她腰旁，这么一来，她拽着丝线走起路来可就容易多了。这根丝线带着她径直往山上走去。

其实，这件事没有她想象得那么可怕。厨子养的那只大黑猫因为被管家养的小猎犬穷追不舍，于是就朝她卧室的门上撞去。屋门没有关牢，所以这两个家伙就一起闯了进来，一阵撕咬。它们怎么没把奶妈吵醒实在是个谜，不过我猜老妇人一定和这事儿有关。

那天早上天气温暖晴朗，怡人的微风拂过山间，朵朵白云点缀在蓝天。艾琳不时能瞧见还没凋谢的报春花，不过她没有停下脚步和她们打招呼。

太阳还没有升起来，不过有几朵花儿轻盈的花瓣已经沐浴在阳光下，泛起橙色和金色的光晕。路边的叶子上沾着圆圆的露珠，就像挂戴着的小巧钻石耳环。

“那层薄纱真可爱！”公主一边想，一边望着远处绵延起伏、闪闪发亮的线。

CHAPTER 20 Irene's Clue

That same morning early, the princess woke in a terrible fright. There was a hideous noise in her room—creatures snarling and hissing and rocketing about as if they were fighting.

The moment she came to herself, she remembered something she had never thought of again—what her grandmother told her to do when she was frightened. She immediately took off her ring and put it under her pillow. As she did so she fancied she felt a finger and thumb take it gently from under her palm. 'It must be my grandmother!' she said to herself, and the thought gave her such courage that she stopped to put on her dainty little slippers before running from the room. While doing this she caught sight of a long cloak of sky-blue, thrown over the back of a chair by the bedside. She had never seen it before but it was evidently waiting for her.

She put it on, and then, feeling with the forefinger of her right hand, soon found her grandmother's thread, which she proceeded at once to follow, expecting it would lead her straight up the old stair. When she reached the door she found it went down and ran along the floor, so that she had almost to crawl in order to keep a hold of it. Then, to her surprise, and somewhat to her dismay, she found that instead of leading her towards the stair it turned in quite the opposite direction.

It led her through certain narrow passages towards the kitchen, turning aside ere she reached it, and guiding her to a door which communicated with a small back yard. Some of the maids were already up, and this door was standing open. Across the yard the thread still ran along the ground, until it brought her to a door in the wall which opened upon the Mountainside. When she had passed through, the thread rose to about half her height, and she could hold it with ease as she walked. It led her straight up the mountain.

The cause of her alarm was less frightful than she supposed. The cook's great black cat, pursued by the housekeeper's terrier, had bounced against her bedroom door, which had not been properly fastened, and the two had burst into the room together and commenced a battle royal. How the nurse came to sleep through it was a mystery, but I suspect the old lady had something to do with it.

It was a clear warm morning. The wind blew deliciously over the Mountainside. Here and there she saw a late primrose but she did not stop to call upon them. The sky was mottled with small clouds.

The sun was not yet up, but some of their fluffy edges had caught his light, and hung out orange and gold-coloured fringes upon the air. The dew lay in round drops upon the leaves, and hung like tiny diamond ear-rings from the blades of grass about her path.

'How lovely that bit of gossamer is!' thought the princess, looking at a long undulating line that shone at some distance from her up the hill.