杰克领着他绕过那座老房子，穿过紫杉树篱中的拱门，在星光下，树篱现在呈现出一种深沉而神秘的蓝色。拱门那边，宽阔的草坪是一片令人吃惊的、几乎让人目眩的完整白色区域，平坦而结了一层硬壳。杰克打开手电筒，雪地上反射出的光就像照在粉状玻璃上一样。
Jake led him around the old house and through the archway in the yew hedge, now a deep, mysterious blue in the starlight. Beyond it, the wide lawn was a startling, almost blinding expanse of unbroken white, smooth and crusted over. Jake turned on the flashlight, and it reflected on the snow as though it shone on powdered glass.
“伊迪莎·文宁就站在那儿。”杰克说，“就在那边。”他用手电筒指着树的方向。
“There’s where Editha Venning stood,” Jake said, “right over there.” He pointed the flashlight in the direction of the trees.
马龙迅速看过去，半期待着看到某个模糊的、影子般的身影在等他们。看到只有树，他稍微松了口气，但也没完全放心。
Malone looked quickly, half expecting to see some dim, shadowy figure waiting for them. He was a little reassured to see only trees, but not very much.
“只有天知道这里会有什么样的接待委员会在等我们。”他抱怨道，“我一点也不担心被枪击，但枪声总是让我耳朵疼。”
“Heaven only knows what kind of reception mittee may be waiting for us out here,” he plained. “I’m not at all nervous about being shot at, but the sound of gunfire always gives me an earache.”
“在耳朵里塞点棉花。”海伦冷酷地说。
“Put cotton in your ears,” Helene said grimly.
他们小心翼翼地穿过雪地，来到小路进入树林的地方。现在这条小路看起来比白天窄了，一条白色的雪带蜿蜒伸进树林。入口就像一个黑白洞穴的门，古老的深色树木，这儿那儿被树枝上的积雪压弯了，茂密的、阴暗的灌木丛上覆盖着白色的羽毛，只有偶尔的星星透过树梢在头顶闪烁。
They picked their way gingerly across the snow to the point where the path entered the woods. The path seemed narrower now than it had by day, a white ribbon of snow winding on into the grove. The entrance was like the door to a cave of black and white, dark old trees, bent here and there by the weight of snow on their branches, thick, shadowy bushes feathered with whiteness, and only an occasional star showing overhead through the treetops.
杰克把手电筒照在小路上，说：“小心脚下。”然后继续往前走。海伦和马龙跟在后面，后者嘟囔着鞋子里进了雪。
Jake turned the flashlight on the path, said, “Watch your step,” and went on ahead. Helene and Malone followed, the latter muttering about the snow in his shoes.
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