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Sara sat upon the hearth-rug and told her strange things. She sat rather huddled up, and her green eyes shone and her cheeks flushed.
萨拉坐在炉边地毯上给她讲一些奇事。她身子蜷缩着，绿色的眸子闪闪发亮，双颊泛红。
She told stories of the voyage, and stories of India;
她讲述着那次航海的经历和在印度时的一些故事，
but what fascinated Ermengarde the most was her fancy about the dolls who walked and talked,
但最使埃芒加德着迷的是她关于洋娃娃的那些幻想。
and who could do anything they chose when the human beings were out of the room,
当人离开房间后，她们便行走，说话，能做她们要做的任何事情，
but who must keep their powers a secret and so flew back to their places "like lightning" when people returned to the room.
但是她们必须对自己的这种能力严守秘密，所以当人们回房时，她们就像闪电一样飞速回到自己的老位置上。
"We couldn't do it," said Sara, seriously. "You see, it's a kind of magic."
“这我们可做不到，”萨拉一本正经地说。“你明白吗，那是一种魔法。”
Once, when she was relating the story of the search for Emily, Ermengarde saw her face suddenly change.
有一次，当她讲述寻觅埃米莉的经过时，埃芒加德看到她面色突变。
A cloud seemed to pass over it and put out the light in her shining eyes.
似乎有一片阴云掠过她的脸，扑灭了明眸中的光芒。
She drew her breath in so sharply that it made a funny, sad little sound,
她急剧地抽了口气，发出一点儿稀奇的伤感声音，
and then she shut her lips and held them tightly closed, as if she was determined either to do or not to do something.
接着紧闭双唇，一直紧抿着，像在下决心要做或者不做什么事情似的。
Ermengarde had an idea that if she had been like any other little girl, she might have suddenly burst out sobbing and crying.
埃芒加德心中闪过一个念头，如果萨拉像其他任何小姑娘一样，可能早就突然一阵呜咽一阵啼泣了，
But she did not. "Have you a—a pain?" Ermengarde ventured.
但是萨拉没有这样做。“你有点儿什么——什么痛苦吗？”埃芒加德冒昧地问道。
"Yes," Sara answered, after a moment's silence. "But it is not in my body."
“是的，”萨拉沉默片刻后回答。“但是，那可不是在我的身子里。”
Then she added something in a low voice which she tried to keep quite steady,
然后她又低声说了点儿什么，极力保持话音镇定，
and it was this: "Do you love your father more than anything else in all the whole world?" Ermengarde's mouth fell open a little.
她说的是：“你爱你的父亲胜过世界上的一切吗？”埃芒加德的嘴不禁张开了些。
She knew that it would be far from behaving like a respectable child at a select seminary to say
她知道在这所高级女童培育院里，你如果说出
that it had never occurred to you that you could love your father,
“从来没有想到要爱父亲”，
that you would do anything desperate to avoid being left alone in his society for ten minutes.
并且为了避免陪伴父亲待十分钟，竟会做出任何不顾死活的事情，那你的表现就远不像是个富有教养的孩子了。
She was, indeed, greatly embarrassed. "I—I scarcely ever see him," she stammered. "He is always in the library—reading things."
的确，她感到很窘。“我——我简直不大见到他，”她结结巴巴地说。“他总是在书房里——读着什么书。”
