《能言馬與男孩》第36期:阿拉維斯在塔什班城(2)

But Aravis had already drawn the curtains, enclosing Lasaraleen and herself in a rich and scented, but rather stuffy, kind of tent.

"I mustn't be seen," "she said. "My father doesn't know I'm here. I'm running away."

"My dear, how perfectly thrilling," said Lasaraleen. "I'm dying to hear all about it. Darling, you.#39;re sitting on my dress. Do you mind? That's better. It is a new one. Do you like it? I got it at-"

"Oh, Las, do be serious," said Aravis. "Where is my father?"

"Didn't you know?" said Lasaraleen. "He's here, of course. He came to town yesterday and is asking about you everywhere. And to think of you and me being here together and his not knowing anything about it! It's the funniest thing I ever heard." And she went off into giggles. She always had been a terrible giggler, as Aravis now remembered.

"It isn't funny at all," she said. "It's dreadfully serious. Where can you hide me?"

"No difficulty at all, my dear girl," said Lasaraleen. "I'll take you home. My husband's away and no one will see you. Phew! It's not much fun with the curtains drawn. I want to see people. There's no point in having a new dress on if one's to go about shut up like this."

"I hope no one heard you when you shouted out to me like that," said Aravis.

"No, no, of course, darling," said Lasaraleen absentmindedly. "But you haven't even told me yet what you think of the dress."

"Another thing," said Aravis. "You must tell your people to treat those two horses very respectfully. That's part of the secret. They're really Talking Horses from Narnia."

"Fancy!" said Lasaraleen. "How exciting! And oh, darling, have you seen the barbarian queen from Narnia? She's staying in Tashbaan at present. They say Prince Rabadash is madly in love with her. There have been the most wonderful parties and hunts and things all this last fortnight. I can't see that she's so very pretty myself. But some of the Narnian men are lovely. I was taken out on a river party the day before yesterday, and I was wearing my-"

"How shall we prevent your people telling everyone that you've got a visitor - dressed like a beggar's brat - in your house? It might so easily get round to my father."

"Now don't keep on fussing, there's a dear," said Lasaraleen. "We'll get you some proper clothes in a moment. And here we are!"

但阿拉維斯已經把簾子放下來了，把拉斯阿拉莉恩和她自己封閉在一個富麗芳香卻又相當悶熱、類似篷帳的東西里了。

“我必須不讓人看見，”她說道，”我的父親不知道我在這兒。我正在逃跑啊。”

“啊，我的親愛的，真夠刺激的。”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，”我真想聽聽全部故事。親愛的，你坐在我的衣服上了，挪一挪，行嗎?現在好多了。這是件新衣服，你喜歡嗎?我買到它是在……”

“噢，拉斯，請你別開玩笑，”阿拉維斯說，”我父親在什麼地方?”

“你不知道嗎。”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，”他當然是在這兒啊。他昨天到城裏來的，到處打聽你的下落。你倒想想看，你和我一起在這兒，他卻啥也不知道。這是我所聽到的最可笑的事情了。”她的話變成了格格格的笑聲。阿拉維斯現在記起來了，她始終是個令人可怕的格格笑個不停的女人。

“這壓根兒不可笑，”她說，”這事嚴重得可怕。你能把我藏在什麼地方啊?”

“這可毫無困難，我親愛的姑娘，”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，”我要帶你到我家裏去。我的丈夫出門了，沒有人會看見你的。晴，轎簾都拉下來了，就沒什麼趣了。我要看看老百姓。如果一個人非要這樣封閉起來上街不可，那麼穿上新衣服也就毫無意思了。”

“我希望你這樣拉大嗓門兒跟我說話時，沒有人聽見你的話。”阿拉維斯說。

“沒有，沒有人聽見，當然啦。”拉斯阿拉莉恩心不在焉地說道，”但你覺得這件新衣服怎麼樣，你至今也還沒有告訴我哩。

“還有一件事，”阿拉維斯說道，”你必須囑咐你的僕從要恭而敬之地對待這兩匹馬兒。它們是這個祕密的一部分。它們確確實實是來自納尼亞的說人話的馬兒。”

“好不奇怪！”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，”多麼激動人心！喂，親愛的，你看見過來自納尼亞的野蠻的女王嗎?現在她待在塔什班城裏。據說王子拉巴達什瘋狂地愛上了她。最近這兩星期來，直都在舉行最最豪華的社交盛會，打獵，以及其他活動。我自己可看不出她有多美。但有幾個納尼亞男子漢倒很漂亮。前天我被帶去參加河濱舞會，我穿上了我的……”

“我們怎樣才能阻止你的僕從告訴別人:有一個客人——穿得像個乞丐的小崽子——進了你的家。這消息說不定十分容易傳到我父親那兒。”

“別老是大驚小怪的，你要聽話，纔是乖寶寶哩。”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，”我們一會兒就給你找些合適的衣服。我們到家了。”