7.Lorna leaves the valley

I left Doone valley by my own secret route and went home to make plans for bringing Lorna to the farm. It was time to tell Mother all about Lorna and the danger she was in.

At first Mother was very angry and unhappy at my news. She talked wildly about going away and leaving the farm, but after a time she began to calm down.

When you see her, Mother,' I said, 'I'm sure you will love her like a daughter. And I know she will love you with all her heart — she is so good and gentle.'

Mother was too kind-hearted to be angry for long. She cried a little more, then smiled and said, 'Well, God knows what is good for us. You must bring her here, John, and I will teach her how to be a farmer's wife.'

Lorna and I had agreed a new signal. There was a tall tree near her grandfather's house, which I could see from the cliff top above the valley. In the top branches of the tree there were seven large birds' nests from the last summer. Gwenny could climb like a cat, and if one morning saw only six nests, then Lorna's grandfather was dead and she was in great danger.

It was a bad winter that year. We had more snow than anyone could remember, and on Exmoor the snow was soon so deep that no one could walk on it safely. I had to find a way to cross this, but I had an idea. Lizzie had once shown me a book about the icy countries of the far north, where people wore 'snow shoes'. The book had pictures of these wide, flat shoes which stopped travellers' feet going down through the snow. For the first time I thanked my sister in my heart for reading so many books! I found some wood and animal skins, and soon I had made some snow shoes, like the ones in Lizzie's book.

We had a sled on the farm, which we used when the ground was covered in ice. A horse could not pull it in this weather — but, with my snow shoes, I could! I could use it to carry Lorna and her servant.

Some days later I saw only six birds' nests in the tree, and that evening I tied myself to the sled, and left for Doone valley. I took the sled to the waterfall, which was now a fall of ice, and tied it up there. Then I continued on foot, going around the south side of the valley towards the Doone-gate. But when I looked down, I saw there was a quicker way to reach Lorna. The sides of the valley, like everything else, were covered in deep snow, and here the snow was smooth and icy. I looked around to check that there were no Doones in sight, then sat down on the icy snow and pushed myself off. In seconds I had slid all the way down the mountainside, and landed in a hill of soft snow at the bottom.

At Sir Ensor's house, I whispered Lorna's name below the window, as before. This time, Gwenny let me in, when she was sure who I was. But inside I saw a terrible sight. Gwenny looked almost mad with hunger, and Lorna lay back on a chair, as white as the valley all around us.

Good God!' I said, and ran to her. I took her in my arms but she was so weak that she could not speak at first.

We've been kept in here for days without food,' said Gwenny. 'And they were going to keep us here until Lorna agreed to marry Carver.'

We must leave at once,' I said. 'Will you come with me, Lorna? I promise to take you safely through the snow.'

Lorna gave me her lovely smile. 'Of course I will, dear,' she whispered. 'Of course I will.'

And you too, of course, Gwenny,' I said. 'Be quick now, and help me to get your mistress ready.'

From outside, I had heard the sounds of singing. There were usually guards around the house, Gwenny told me, but tonight the Doones were drinking and dancing to welcome Carver as their new leader. This would give us our chance — with all this happening, the robbers would never notice us leaving.

We were soon ready. I picked up my beautiful Lorna and carried her through the snow and the darkness to the other end of the valley. Gwenny was able to follow us, putting her feet in the places where my snow shoes had been. I made Lorna comfortable in the sled, with her little servant beside her, and I told her to hold on to Lorna tightly. The waterfall was now a path of ice — very steep and dangerous, but I was able to take the sled down it, using my stick, and all my strength, to stop it going too fast on the ice.

When we were down the waterfall, I tied myself to the sled and began to pull. It was hard work for me — but the best work I had ever done in my life! There was no time to lose, with Lorna so weak from hunger and cold, so I pulled fast, and an hour later we were home.

My mother and sisters came to the door, and helped me to carry Lorna in. We put her in a chair by the fire, and gave her some soup. Then she slept, while I watched over her. After a time, she began to wake up. She put her trembling hands into mine, and looked at me with so much love in her eyes that I could not find the words to speak to her. We sat like this for several minutes, and then we heard a little sound behind us.

It was Mother, crying with happiness to see us so loving. At this, Lorna got up and went to her. She knelt beside Mother's chair and looked up into her face. Mother put her hand on Lorna's hair. 'My sweet child,' she said softly.

A few days later, when Lorna and I were sitting together by the fire, she said to me:

John, you gave me a beautiful ring, and now I want to give you something. It is only a very poor, old thing, but it's all I have. My grandfather gave it to me before he died. I hope you will take it.'

Then she put on my finger the strangest ring I had ever seen. It was very old, and there was a picture on it. It was hard to see what the picture was, but it looked almost like a cat in a tree.

I shall wear it, my love,' I said, 'until the day I die.'

nest n. a place made or chosen by a bird for laying eggs and sheltering its young 鸟巢

sled n. a vehicle for traveling over snow or ice 雪橇

in sight visible 看得见

7．洛娜逃离山谷

我沿着自己的秘密路线离开了杜恩山谷，回家准备制定计划将洛娜带到农庄来。是时候告诉母亲有关洛娜的事和洛娜目前所处的险境了。

一开始，母亲对于我带来的消息非常生气，闷闷不乐。她激动地说着要走、要离开农庄的话，但过了一阵子，她开始冷静下来。

“等您看见她的时候，母亲，”我说，“我敢肯定您会像爱自己女儿一样爱她的。而我也知道，她会全心全意地爱您——她为人很好，很温柔。”

母亲是个非常心软的人，没有生太久的气。她又哭了一小会儿，然后破涕为笑道：“嗯，天知道对我们而言，何所谓福。你得把她带到这儿来，约翰，我会教她如何做一名农夫的妻子的。”

洛娜和我约定了一个新信号。她祖父的房子旁边有一棵高大的树，我能从山谷上面的悬崖顶上望见它。树冠顶端的树枝上有七只去年夏天留下来的大鸟巢。格温妮能像猫一样爬上树去。要是哪天早上我只看见六只鸟巢，那么洛娜的祖父就已经过世了，而洛娜则处于极度危险的境地。

那年冬天的天气很糟糕。在所有人的记忆中，没有哪年下过比这年更多的雪。在埃克斯莫尔，积雪很快就厚得让人无法安全行走了。我必须想办法解决这个问题，还好我已经有主意了。莉齐曾给我看过一本书，书上写的是在遥远的北方的冰雪国度，那里的人穿的是“雪地靴”。书上有这种又宽又平、能防止行人的脚陷进雪地里的鞋子的图片。我第一次打心眼里感激自己的妹妹博览群书！我找了些木头和兽皮，很快就做了几只雪地靴，就像莉齐的书里画的那样。

我家农庄上有一架雪橇，供我们在地面结冰的时候使用。在这样的天气里，马是没法拉雪橇的——但穿上雪地靴以后，我就拉得动了！我可以用这架雪橇来拉洛娜和她的仆人。

过了一些日子，我看见树上只剩下六只鸟巢了。那晚，我将雪橇绑在身上，动身前往杜恩山谷。我把雪橇拉到已经结成冰帘的瀑布前，将它拴在那里，然后继续徒步绕过山谷南侧，朝杜恩大门走去。但当我向下望去时，看见了一条到达洛娜那里的捷径。山谷的两侧同别的地方一样，也覆盖着厚厚的一层雪，而且这里的雪面上还结了一层光洁的冰。我四下张望，确定周围没有杜恩家族的人，便坐在冰雪上溜了下去。几秒钟后，我便一路滑下了山，落在山脚柔软的雪堆里。

我像以前那样，在思索尔爵士屋外的窗下轻声呼唤洛娜的名字。这一次，格温妮在确定我是谁后，让我进了屋。但在屋里，我看到了一幕可怕的景象。格温妮已经快饿疯了，洛娜躺在椅子上，脸色苍白得像周围的山谷。

“我的天哪！”我说着，朝她飞奔过去，将她揽在怀中。但她一开始竟虚弱地说不出话来。

“我们已经被关在这儿饿了好多天了，”格温妮说，“他们还会继续将我们关押在这儿，直到洛娜同意嫁给卡弗为止。”

“我们必须马上离开这里，”我说，“你会跟我走吗，洛娜？我保证能带你安全地穿过雪地。”

洛娜给了我一个可爱的微笑。“我当然会跟你走了，亲爱的，”她低声说道，“我当然会了。”

“当然还有你，格温妮，”我说，“好了，快点，帮我给你的女主人做好准备。”

此时，我听到窗外传来阵阵歌声。格温妮告诉我说，屋子周围通常都有卫兵看守，但今晚，杜恩家族的人都在喝酒、跳舞，庆贺卡弗成为他们的新头目。这将为我们制造机会——周围这一切将使得这帮强盗不会留意到我们的逃离。

我们很快就准备好了。我抱起我美丽的洛娜，带着她穿过黑暗的雪地，来到山谷另一端。格温妮踏着我的雪地靴留下的脚印，跟在我们身后。我将洛娜舒舒服服地安置在雪橇里，让她的小仆人躺在洛娜身边，告诉她要紧紧抓住洛娜。瀑布如今成了一条冰道——陡峭而危险，但我仍能利用木棍推着雪橇，用尽全身力气防止雪橇在冰面上滑得过快。

下了瀑布，我将雪橇绑在身上开始拉雪橇。这对于我而言是个苦力活——但也是我这辈子干过的最棒的活！不能再耽误时间了，饥寒交迫的洛娜已经很虚弱了。于是我飞快地拉着雪橇，一个小时后，我们到家了。

母亲和妹妹们来到门口，帮我将洛娜抱进屋。我们将她放在壁炉边的椅子上，给她喝了些汤。接着，她睡着了，而我则在一旁看着她。过了一阵子，她渐渐醒了过来。她将颤抖的双手放进我手中，双眸充满爱意地望着我，我不知该对她说些什么才好。我们就这样坐了几分钟，接着听见身后传来细微的响动。

那是母亲，她见到我们如此恩爱，高兴得哭了起来。见此情形，洛娜站起身朝她走了过去。她跪在母亲的椅子旁，抬头望着她的脸。母亲将手放在洛娜的头发上。“我亲爱的孩子，”母亲柔声说道。

几天后，当我和洛娜一起坐在壁炉边时，她对我说：

“约翰，你给了我一枚漂亮的戒指，现在我想送给你一样东西。这只是一件很不值钱的旧物，但却是我所拥有的一切。祖父在临死前把它给了我，我希望你能收下。”

接着，她将一枚我所见过的最奇怪的戒指戴到我的手指上。戒指已经有些年头了，上面有一幅画。很难看清那上面画的是什么，但看起来似乎是一只趴在树上的猫。

“我会戴着它的，我的爱人，”我说道，“直到我死的那一天。”