were running lightly abroad, light as insects, from the coops where the fellow hens clucked anxiously. Connie sat and watched them, and waited. She only waited. Even the chicks she hardly saw. She waited.

她来到那片空地，却不见他的身影。她原本也没抱太大希望。野鸡宝宝步履轻盈地向笼外跑去，灵活得像是微小的昆虫，而鸡妈妈则在笼中忧心忡忡地咯咯叫着。康妮坐下来，注视着它们，等待着。她只剩等待。甚至连鸡宝宝都无法留住她视线。她等待着。

The time passed with dream-like slowness, and he did not come. She had only half expected him. He never came in the afternoon. She must go home to tea. But she had to force herself to leave.

时间如梦，缓缓逝去，而他依然没有出现。她本来就没太指望见到他。他下午从不会来这儿。她得赶回家去喝下午茶。但离去时，她是那样地不情愿。

As she went home, a fine drizzle of rain fell.

回家的路上，天空飘起细雨。

"Is it raining again?" said Clifford, seeing her shake her hat.

“又下雨了？”看到她抖落帽子上的水滴，克利福德问。

"Just drizzle." She poured tea in silence, absorbed in a sort of obstinacy. She did want to see the keeper today, to see if it were really real. If it were really real.

“小雨而已。”为他斟茶时，她默默不语，想见他的念头在脑海中挥之不去。她今天实在太想见他，只为了解那天发生的一切究竟是梦是真。究竟是真是幻。

"Shall