On the next day, Gerald, Daniel and the two Bennett brothers- Frederick and John went out to the forest to play football.
隔天一早，傑瑞德、丹尼爾、以及班內特兄弟一行人就前往森林踢足球。
The Bennett brothers were extremely friendly to Gerald, and they had a lot of fun after playing for the entire morning.
班內特兄弟對傑瑞德都非常友善，所以，他們愉快的玩了一整個上午。
At noon, they returned home to have lunch. After lunch, they played their favourite game of Hide and Seek in the large mansion of the Bennetts, which seemed so large to Gerald that there were always somewhere new that were yet to be discovered by them; whether it be a new hiding place, or a secret stairway, which, in certain cases, were not even known by the Bennett brothers, who had lived there all their lives.
到了中午，他們便回家吃午餐。吃完後，他們就在房子裏玩他們最愛玩的遊戲～捉迷藏。班內特家非常大，大到他們在玩捉迷藏時，時常找到一些他們不曾發現過的地方，像是新的藏密處，或是秘密通道，許多就連一輩子都住在這裡的班內特兄弟都不知道。
However, bedtime was Gerald's favourite, as, each and every night during his stay with the Bennetts, Mrs. Bennett read them a bedtime story just before bed. All of those stories were extremely interesting, which helped them enter into sweet dreams right afterwards.
但是，傑瑞德最喜歡的還是睡覺時間，因為每天晚上，班內特太太都會讀床邊故事給他們聽。那些故事都非常精彩，幫助他們進入甜美的夢鄉。
Each night, Gerald lay on his little bed in the room that him, Daniel and the Bennett brothers all shared together and thought to himself that it has been the happiest time since he left his beloved family after the evacuation, and he couldn't help but envy Daniel for his luck to being able to stay in such a nice family. Although he really wanted to stay with them for the rest of his evacuated days, he knew very well that he mustn't.
每天晚上，傑瑞德都會躺在床上想著那是他從離開家人被疏散以來最開心的一天了，他也不禁羨慕丹尼爾這麼幸運，被分配到和這麼好的一家人住在一起。雖然他很想就這麼留在這裡，直到戰爭結束為止，可是，他知道，他不能這麼做。
Exactly a week after Gerald was kicked out of the Noirs' house, him and Daniel were lying on their separate little beds, just after the bedtime story was over, when Daniel suddenly said to him. "Gerald, have you fallen asleep yet?"
傑瑞德被諾媧太太趕出來一星期後，他和丹尼爾聽完了床邊故事，躺在他們各別的小床上時，突然間丹尼爾問道：「傑瑞德，你睡了嗎？」
"No, I haven't! Do you want to say something to me?"
「還没呀！有事兒嗎？」
"Yeah!" Daniel continued after a small pause, "I can see that you really enjoy staying here with us, and it's no doubt that it would be way better than staying with the Noirs. So I was thinking that, whether tomorrow, we should ask Mrs. Bennett if you could stay here with us for the rest of our evacuated time? I am sure she wouldn't mind having another person here."
「那個⋯」丹尼爾暫停了一下後說。「我看得出來你在這兒過得很開心，也一定比待在諾媧家來得好。所以我是想，我們要不要明天去問問兒班內特太太，看看你能不能就這麼留下來跟我們一起住，直到疏散結束後？我想信班內特太太是不會介意多一個人的！」
Suddenly, touched by Daniel's considerate suggestion, Gerald's eyes filled with tears. He quickly wiped them away so Daniel wouldn't see and replied, "Thank you so much for your kindness, I would be really glad to stay here with you, as everyone here are just too kind! However, I mustn't, because staying with the Noirs is the only way that I am able to contact with my family. That is the only address they know of. If I am not there anymore, and they tried to write a letter to me but I didn't reply, they would be extremely anxious and think that something unfortunate has happened to me. As much as I dislike that gloomy place, I need it if I still want to return to London and meet my family after the war is over."
聽完，被丹尼爾的話深深的感動了的傑瑞德的眼睛頓時充滿了淚水。他趕緊把它擦拭掉，才不會被丹尼爾發現，然後回答道：「我真的很謝謝你的關心，也很希望我能就這麼住下來，因為大家都對我好好喔！可是，我不能這麼做，因為待在諾媧家是我唯一能和家人聯絡的方法。他們只有我在諾媧家的地址，如果我不住在那兒了，就無法回覆他們寄給我的信。如此一來，他們一定會很擔心，想說我是不是出了什麼事兒。雖然我很不喜歡那兒，若我想要在戰爭結束後回倫敦和家人團圓，我必須待在那兒。」
Therefore, on the following morning, Gerald bid farewell to Daniel and the Bennetts and dragged his cumbersome feet back to the Noirs' place.
於是，隔天早上，傑瑞德便和班內特家庭以及丹尼爾告別，拖著沈重的步伐回到諾媧家。
~To be Continued~
～待續～
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