炉火旁的椅子

旅馆立在港口上方，门开在背风的一侧。在这些岛上，门就该开在那一侧。看店的是一只北罗纳德赛母羊，属于吃海藻的滩羊。波莉站在门厅里。“你们还有空房吗？”

The guesthouse stood above the harbour, with its door on the sheltered side. On these islands, that is the side you put a door on. It was kept by a North Ronaldsay ewe, one of the shore sheep that eat seaweed. Polly stood in the hall. "Do you have any available rooms?"

有房。九月通常都有。波莉说：“我想要一间安静的房间，谢谢。”母羊过了一会儿才回答。后面的房间朝院子，前面的房间朝海水。风两边都找得到。住上两夜，你就听不见它了。

There were rooms. There usually are in September. Polly said, "I would like a quiet room, please." The ewe waited a moment before she answered. The back rooms face the yard and the front rooms face the water. The wind finds both. After two nights you stop hearing it.

“可以帮我拿一下行李吗？”母羊把包提上楼，放在炉火旁的一把椅子边。椅架是浮木做的，因为这里不长树。椅背是燕麦秆，盘成一个兜帽。柯克沃尔一位名叫大卫·柯克内斯的细木工，在十九世纪中叶把这个样式定了下来。

"Could you assist me with my luggage, please?" The ewe carried the bag up and set it beside a chair by the fire. Its frame was driftwood, because no tree grows here. Its back was oat straw, coiled into a hood. A joiner in Kirkwall named David Kirkness made that design standard in the middle of the eighteen hundreds.

“退房时间是几点？”波莉问。这里一切都由渡轮决定。然后她坐进椅子。草秆兜帽挡住了门口的穿堂风，而自下船以来，她第一次听见自己呼吸。

"What time is check-out?" Polly asked. The ferry decides everything here. Then she sat in the chair. The straw hood cut the draught from the door, and for the first time since the boat she could hear herself breathe.