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Ferruccio was on the point of throwing himself on his grandmother, overcome with emotion, when he fancied that he heard a slight noise, a creaking in the small adjoining room, the one which opened on the garden. But he could not make out whether it was the window-shutters rattling in the wind, or something else.
费鲁乔心中充满了悲哀，正想把身子投到祖母的怀里去。忽然朝着天井的间壁的室中有轻微的轧轧的声音；听不出是风打窗门呢，还是什么。
He bent his head and listened.
费鲁乔侧了头注意去听。
The rain beat down noisily.
雨正如注地下着。
The sound was repeated. His grandmother heard it also.
轧轧的声音又来了，连祖母也听到了。
"What is it?" asked the grandmother, in perturbation, after a momentary pause.
“那是什么？”祖母过了一会儿很担心地问。
"The rain," murmured the boy.
“是雨。”费鲁乔说。
"Then, Ferruccio," said the old woman, drying her eyes, "you promise me that you will be good, that you will not make your poor grandmother weep again--"
老人拭了眼泪：“那么，费鲁乔！以后要规规矩矩，不要再使祖母流泪啊！”
Another faint sound interrupted her.
那声音又来了，
"But it seems to me that it is not the rain!" she exclaimed, turning pale. "Go and see!"
老人洁白了脸说：“这不是雨声呢！你去看来！”
But she instantly added, "No; remain here!" and seized Ferruccio by the hand.
慨而又牵住了孙子的手说：“你留在这里。”
Both remained as they were, and held their breath. All they heard was the sound of the water.
两人屏息不出声，耳中只听见雨声。
Then both were seized with a shivering fit. It seemed to both that they heard footsteps in the next room.
邻室中好像有人的脚音，两人不觉栗然震抖。
"Who's there?" demanded the lad, recovering his breath with an effort.
“谁？”费鲁乔勉强恢复了呼吸怒叫。
No one replied.
没有回答。
"Who is it?" asked Ferruccio again, chilled with terror.
“谁？”又震栗着问。
But hardly had he pronounced these words when both uttered a shriek of terror. Two men sprang into the room. One of them grasped the boy and placed one hand over his mouth; the other clutched the old woman by the throat. The first said:--
话犹未完，两人不觉惊叫起来，两个男子突然跳进室中来了。一个捉住了费鲁乔，把手掩住他的口，别的一个卡住了老妇人的喉咙。第一个说：
"Silence, unless you want to die!"
“一出声，就没有命哩！
The second:"Be quiet!" and raised aloft a knife.
“不许声张！”另一个说了举着短刀。
Both had dark cloths over their faces, with two holes for the eyes.
两个都黑布罩着脸，只留出眼睛。
For a moment nothing was audible but the gasping breath of all four, the patter of the rain; the old woman emitted frequent rattles from her throat, and her eyes were starting from her head.
室中除了四人的粗急的呼吸声和雨声以外，一时什么声音都没有。老妇人喉头格格作响，眼珠几乎要爆裂出来。
The man who held the boy said in his ear, "Where does your father keep his money?"
那捉住着费鲁乔的一个，把口附了费鲁乔的耳说：“你老子把钱藏在哪里？”
The lad replied in a thread of a voice, with chattering teeth, "Yonder--in the cupboard."
费鲁乔震抖着牙齿，用很细的声音答说：“那里的——橱中。”
