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I might run in and see any of the palace ladies at any hour of the day or night. Why shouldn't I slip in with you, after dark, and let you out by the water-door? There are always a few punts and things tied up outside it. And even if we were caught-" "All would be lost," said Aravis.
我可以在白天或者晚上的任何一个时间进入宫殿里去见任何一位夫人。为什么我们不在天黑后带你溜进去，然后将你从水门放出去呢？总是有一些平底船一类的东西系在水门外边。而且，即使我们被抓住了...”“那一切就完了。”阿拉维斯说道。
"Oh darling, don't get so excited,"said Lasaraleen. "I was going to say, even if we were caught everyone would only say it was one of my mad jokes. I'm getting quite well known for them. Only the other day-do listen, dear, this is frightfully funny-"
“噢，亲爱的，你不要这么激动。”拉斯阿拉莉恩说道，“我要说的是，即使我们被抓住了，每个人也仅仅会说，这不过是我开的疯狂玩笑之一罢了。我因为开玩笑而十分出名。就在几天之前，听着，亲爱的，这真的是非常有趣...”
"I meant, all would be lost for me," said Aravis a little sharply. "Oh-ah-yes-I do see what you mean, darling. Well, can you think of any better plan?"
“我的意思是，对于我来说一切都完了。”阿拉维斯有些生气地说道。“噢...啊...是的...我完全知道你在说什么，亲爱的，但是，你能想出更好的计划吗？”
Aravis couldn't, and answered, "No. We'll have to risk it. When can we start?"
阿拉维斯想不出来，只能回答道：“不能。我们将不得不冒险了。我们什么时候可以开始呢？”
"Oh, not tonight," said Lasaraleen. "Of course not tonight. There's a great feast on tonight (I must start getting my hair done for it in a few minutes) and the whole place will be a blaze of lights. And such a crowd too !It would have to be tomorrow night."
“噢，今晚不行，”拉斯阿拉莉恩说道，“当然不能是今晚。今晚有一个巨大的盛会，我必须开始在几分钟之内整理好我的头发，而且整个宫殿将灯火通明，还非常拥挤。不得不改到明天晚上了。”
This was bad news for Aravis,but she had to make the best of it. The afternoon passed very slowly and it was a relief when Lasaraleen went out to the banquet, for Aravis was very tired of her giggling and her talk about dresses and parties, weddings and engagements and scandals.
这对阿拉维斯来说是一个坏消息，但是她不得不充分利用这个消息。今天下午过得非常缓慢，当拉斯阿拉莉恩去赴宴的时候对她来说反而是个解脱。因为阿拉维斯厌倦了她咯咯的笑声，厌倦她只谈论关于衣服，聚会，婚礼，订婚和丑闻。
She went to bed early and that part she did enjoy: it was so nice to have pillows and sheets again.
她早早地上床，这一点她真的很享受：重新睡在床单和枕头之上真的十分舒坦。
But the next day passed very slowly.Lasaraleen wanted to go back on the whole arrangement and kept on telling Aravis that Narnia was a country of perpetual snow and ice inhabited by demons and sorcerers, and she was mad to think of going there.
但是第二天过得十分缓慢。拉斯阿拉莉恩想要取消整个计划，并且坚持告诉阿拉维斯，纳尼亚是一个终年下雪和结冰，并且居住着恶魔和巫师的国家，她一想到要去那里就感到疯狂。
"And with a peasant boy, too!" said Lasaraleen. "Darling, think of it! It's not Nice."
“而且还是和一个乡下男孩一起！”拉斯阿拉莉恩说道，“亲爱的，想想看！这可一点都不美好。”
Aravis had thought of it a good deal, but she was so tired of Lasaraleen's silliness by now that, for the first time, she began to think that travelling with Shasta was really rather more fun than fashionable life in Tashbaan.
阿拉维斯仔细思考过了，但是她如今真的厌倦了拉斯阿拉莉恩的愚蠢，第一次，她开始想到比起塔什班城时髦的生活，和沙斯塔的旅行真的是有趣得多。
So she only replied, "You forget that I'll be nobody, just like him, when we get to Narnia.And anyway, I promised."
所以她只是重复道：“你忘记了，当我们到达纳尼亚的时候，我和他一样都是无名小卒。而且无论如何，我承诺过要一起去的。”
"And to think," said Lasaraleen, almost crying, "that if only you had sense you could be the wife of a Grand Vizier!" Aravis went away to have a private word with the horses.
“你想想，”拉斯阿拉莉恩几乎哭着说道，“如果你自己有头脑的话，你就可以成为首相大臣的妻子！”阿拉维斯却跑出去，对马儿说起悄悄话。
"You must go with a groom a little before sunset down to the Tombs," she said. "No more of those packs. You'll be saddled and bridled again.
“你们必须和一个侍从一起，在太阳下山之前早一点赶到坟场。”她说道，“不要再背着这些包裹了。你将再次配上马鞍和辔头。
But there'll have to be food in Hwin's saddle-bags and a full water-skin behind yours, Bree. The man has orders to let you both have a good long drink at the far side of the bridge."
但是赫温的鞍囊里需要放一些东西，布里，你的则需要放上满满一皮袋的水。侍从会奉命带你们两个在远离大桥的岸边美美地喝上一顿水。”
"And then, Narnia and the North!" whispered Bree. "But what if Shasta is not at the Tombs."
“然后呢，直奔纳尼亚和北方！”布里低声说道，“但如果沙斯塔不在坟场，怎么办呢？”
"Wait for him of course," said Aravis. "I hope you've been quite comfortable."
“当然要等他了，”阿拉维斯说道，“我想你们在这里过得足够舒适。”
"Never better stabled in my life," said Bree. "But if the husband of that tittering Tarkheena friend of yours is paying his head groom to get the best oats, then I think the head groom is cheating him." Aravis and Lasaraleen had supper in the pillared room.
“我从来没有待过比这更好的马厩，”布里说道，“但是如果你那位哧哧笑的朋友泰坎希娜的丈夫给他的侍从头子钱要去买最好的燕麦，那么我认为侍从头子一定欺骗了他。”阿拉维斯和拉斯阿拉莉恩在圆柱房间里用了晚餐。
About two hours later they were ready to start. Aravis was dressed to look like a superior slave-girl in a great house and wore a veil over her face.
大概两个小时之后，她们已经准备好出发了。阿拉维斯打扮得像一个大户人家的高级女奴，并且带上了面纱。
They had agreed that if any questions were asked Lasaraleen would pretend that Aravis was a slave she was taking as a present to one of the princesses. The two girls went out on foot.
她们商量好，如果有人问起，拉斯阿拉莉恩就假装说，阿拉维斯是她准备作为礼物送给某一位公主的女奴。两个女孩都光着脚走了出来。
A very few minutes brought them to the palace gates. Here there were of course soldiers on guard but the officer knew Lasaraleen quite well and called his men to attention and saluted.
没过几分钟就到了宫殿的门前。门口当然有士兵在站岗，但是军官对拉斯阿拉莉恩十分熟悉，并且让他手下的士兵们立正敬礼。
They passed at once into the Hall of Black Marble. A fair number of courtiers, slaves and others were still moving about here but this only made the two girls less conspicuous.
她们立刻走进了黑色大理石做成的大厅。许多大臣，奴隶和其他一些人仍然在大厅里来回走动，使得两个女孩更加不引人注目了。
They passed on into the Hall of Pillars and then into the Hall of Statues and down the colonnade, passing the great beatencopper doors of the throne room.
她们进入圆柱大厅，然后进入雕像大厅，沿着柱廊走下去，经过觐见室的铜箔大门。
It was all magnificent beyond description; what they could see of it in the dim light of the lamps.
她们在昏暗的灯光中所看到的一切，都是无法用语言形容的富丽堂皇。
Presently they came out into the garden-court which sloped downhill in a number of terraces. On the far side of that they came to the Old Palace.
不久她们走出了宫殿，进入到王宫花园中，花园利用许多台阶依山而建。她们从花园的另一边来到古老的宫殿。
It had already grown almost quite dark and they now found themselves in a maze of corridors lit only by occasional torches fixed in brackets to the walls.
天色已经几乎完全黑了，并且她们现在发现自己置身于回廊的迷宫里，只能依靠着偶尔出现的，固定在墙壁上的火把照明。
Lasaraleen halted at a place where you had to go either left or right.
拉斯阿拉莉恩在一个不知该往左走，还是往右走的路口停了下来。
"Go on, do go on," whispered Aravis, whose heart was beating terribly and who still felt that her father might run into them at any corner.
“继续走啊，继续走。”阿拉维斯低声说道，她的心可怕地砰砰跳着，她心里觉得她的父亲很可能突然出现在任何一个角落撞见她们。
