第十八章

公爵身體復原後，為了慶祝找回小女兒便對外舉辦一場舞會，倫敦所有名流都被邀請來參加，公爵府邸這幾天相當熱鬧，因為為了準備舞會的事，多了很多幫忙的人手在公爵府邸穿梭。

莎拉很欣慰父親的病完全康復，另一邊卻為這舞會有點不安，畢竟這是她第一次以真正的身份參加如此盛大的舞會，而且肯定會被父親大人給介紹給倫敦上流社會的人。莎拉自己也徵得其他家人的同意邀請養父母伍德夫婦及姊妹淘伊蓮娜夫婦來參加。

養父母昨天已經抵達公決府邸，本來伍德夫婦打算住倫敦的旅館，但莎拉已經事先徵求公爵大人的同意安排養父母住在公爵府邸的一間客房－由於伍德夫婦如此善待莎拉，公爵大人對伍德夫婦相當客氣，還要他們舞會結束後多待幾天。

伍德夫婦一開始很驚訝公爵大人的好客，但後來也接受了公爵一家人的好意決定多留幾日，而且他們好久沒有見到莎拉了，看到現在的莎拉臉色極佳，他們就知道莎拉已經融入了自己親生家庭的生活並受到喜愛了。

伍德夫婦雖不捨養大的女兒就此離開他們的懷抱，但他們也很替莎拉高興，畢竟每個人都有所歸屬，命運安排莎拉成為他們的女兒，擁有一個這麼好的女兒三十年也已經足夠了。

舞會正式開始的前一天，莎拉陪著伍德夫婦去逛倫敦，她也受了父親的指示，去倫敦有名的百貨公司給伍德夫婦買了禮物，給伍德先生一套高級服裝，然後給伍德太太一套名貴的珠寶。

這讓伍德夫婦非常開心，他們原本不敢接受餽贈，得知是公爵大人如此吩咐，也就恭敬不如從命了。坐著公爵的豪華大馬車，三個人邊遊倫敦邊在車上盡興交談，伍德太太提起了家中大豬生了小豬，這些瑣碎的事讓莎拉聽得津津有味，伍德先生也說自己打獵的技巧越來越高超，讓莎拉更懷念起騎馬在山坡上奔馳的那些美好時光。

舞會終於到來，倫敦所有貴族有錢人都湧到公爵的大宅來參加舞會，莎拉更被格外打扮一番，雖然莎拉還是習慣穿自己以前那些樸素的衣服，但由於這是正式的場合，莎拉也不得先將舊時的喜好丟在一邊，努力注意自己的禮儀。

熱鬧的宴會廳此時擠滿人潮，公爵大人與公爵夫人帶著莎拉，穿梭在舞會中，將自己找回來的女兒一一介紹給這些權貴人物。莎拉不時對自己下指導令希望自己對這個鬧哄哄的場合不要有所失態，當然她得體的態度，讓公爵一家人都很放心。

在被冗長介紹完畢後，莎拉便去一旁找伊蓮娜夫婦。方才她在門口有見到伊蓮娜他們，伊蓮娜今天穿得特別漂亮，看來也是特別打扮過的，和她的丈夫站在一起，兩個高個子的人極為速配。

三人正談得有趣時，舞曲響起，公爵大人在與自己的夫人跳過舞後，，便來邀自己的女兒跳第二支舞。莎拉隨著父親進入舞池，和自己的父親果然有種天生的默契，莎拉在此時也發現在父親的帶領下，自己這支舞曲跳得真是意氣風發，一曲舞畢，莎拉行禮退下，便去尋找伍德夫婦。

伍德夫婦正和一邊的人聊得開心－那不是威爾夫人嗎？的確是的，和伍德夫婦聊得正起勁的正是威爾夫人，還有懷特夫婦也來了。莎拉趕緊走過去和熟識的人打招呼，大家一看到莎拉過來，爭相和她說話。莎拉很不習慣被人群簇擁，但是她知道這些熟識的人只是想和她打招呼，找回一點熱鬧的氣氛罷了。

就聊著時，懷特夫人說：「伍德小姐見過安德魯了嗎？他今天也有來呢！」莎拉心頭一震，她沒料到安德魯也被邀請來了，不過她並沒看到安德魯的蹤影，便老實地搖了搖頭。

正在疑惑為何沒有見到安德魯時，懷特夫人小小的驚呼了一下，安德魯過來了，原來方才舞曲才停止，安德魯便攜了一位小姐走過來。莎拉看著那位小姐，儼然是個大家閨秀，而且長得極為美麗又優雅。

互相介紹過後，知道安德魯身邊這位小姐，極可能是未來的伯爵夫人，莎拉心裡很不是滋味。她收拾自己的傷心看著安德魯，安德魯也用一種很特殊的眼神看著她，安德魯伸手邀約：「謝菲爾德小姐，可否賞光下一曲？」莎拉看了周遭的人一眼，點點頭和安德魯走入舞池。

舞曲奏起，安德魯和莎拉，各懷心事的兩人一開始並沒有交談，後來安德魯還是開口了：「應該說是命運殘酷或是命運太會安排？」莎拉盯著安德魯－本來她對命運有很多獨到的見解，但當她發現命運經常給她奇怪的安排後，便寧願等著命運給她的下一場考驗－安德魯見莎拉默不作聲，他接著說：「以往有很多想法主見的莎拉，如今不見了嗎？」

這句話逗得莎拉微笑起來」她說：「不是不見了，而是正在承受命運的安排」

「那你認為命運會給你怎樣的安排呢？莎拉」安德魯微微一笑地發問，莎拉又如同往常一般的伶俐：「就如同命運給安德魯．格林伯爵的安排一樣啊！」安德魯笑了：「你認為命運會為伯爵找一門好親事嗎？」莎拉用著苦澀的語氣說：「不是已經安排好了嗎？那邊那一位漂亮又優雅的好小姐」安德魯似乎不再反駁：「是的，命運為格林伯爵安排了一門好親事，這是毫無疑問的」

莎拉忍住即將掉淚的失望與傷心，一曲既畢，便忍住淚水行禮退到一邊。退出宴會廳的莎拉獨自跑另一邊的起居室去，放聲大哭起來，這一回，換安德魯傷了她的心，是她活該，而且，想挽回一切也太遲了。

待續~(107.10..7)

 _____________________________________________

Love in London 

CHAPTER XVIII

After the duke's body recovered, in order to celebrate the recovery of his little daughter, a ball was held to the public, and all the celebrities in London were invited to participate, and the Duke's Mansion was quite lively these days, because in order to prepare for the ball, there were many more people who helped to shuttle through the Duke's Palace.

Sarah was relieved that her father had fully recovered from his illness, but on the other hand, she was a little uneasy about the ball, after all, it was the first time she had attended such a grand ball in her real capacity, and she would definitely be introduced to the people of high society in London by her father. Sarah herself asked for permission from the rest of the family to invite her adoptive parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wood, and her friend Elena and her husband.

The adoptive parents had arrived at the Referendum House yesterday, and the Woods had intended to stay in a London hotel, but Sarah had already sought the Duke's prior consent to arrange for the adoptive parents to stay in a room in the Duke's Mansion - because the Woods were so kind to Sarah, the Duke was quite polite to the Woods, and asked them to stay a few more days after the ball.

The Woods were surprised by the Duke's hospitality at first, but later accepted the kindness of the Duke's family and decided to stay longer, and they hadn't seen Sarah for a long time, and seeing that Sarah was now so beautiful, they knew that Sarah had integrated into the life of their own family and was loved.

Although the Woods were reluctant to leave their raised daughter from their arms, they were also very happy for Sarah, after all, everyone belonged to each other, and fate arranged Sarah to be their daughter, and it was enough to have such a good daughter for thirty years.

The day before the ball began, Sarah accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Wood to London, and she was instructed by her father to go to a famous department store in London to buy gifts for Mr. and Mrs. Wood, a set of haute couture clothes, and a set of expensive jewelry for Mrs. Wood.

This made the Woods very happy, and they did not dare to accept the gift, but when they learned that the Duke had ordered it to do so, they were more respectful than obey. Riding in the Duke's lavish carriage, the three of them talked happily in the carriage while traveling around London, and Mrs. Wood mentioned that the big pig in the family gave birth to a little pig, and these trivial things made Sarah listen to them with relish, and Mr. Wood also said that his hunting skills were becoming more and more sophisticated, which made Sarah remember the good times when she rode down the hillside even more.

When the ball finally arrived, all the rich and noble people of London flocked to the duke's mansion for the ball, and Sarah was dressed up extraordinarily, although Sarah was still used to wearing her former modest clothes, but since it was a formal occasion, Sarah had to put aside her old preferences and try to pay attention to her etiquette.

The lively banquet hall was crowded at this time, and the Duke and Duchess took Sarah through the ball, introducing the daughters they had found to these powerful people one by one. Sarah instructed herself from time to time in the hope that she would not lose her temper about this noisy occasion, and of course her proper attitude made the Duke's family feel at ease.

After a lengthy introduction, Sarah went to the side to find Yelena and his wife. She had just seen Elena at the door, and she was dressed very beautifully today, and it seemed that she was also very dressed, standing with her husband, and the two tall people were extremely fast dating.

While the three were having an interesting conversation, the dance music sounded, and the Duke, after dancing with his wife, came to invite his daughter to a second dance. Sarah followed her father to the dance floor, and her father really had a natural tacit understanding, Sarah also found at this time that under the leadership of her father, her dance music was really high-spirited, and after the dance, Sarah bowed and retreated, and went to find the Woods.

Mr. and Mrs. Wood were having a good time with the people on the other side - wasn't that Mrs. Will? Yes, it was Mrs. Weir who was chatting with Mr. and Mrs. Wood, and Mr. and Mrs. White were coming. Sarah hurried over to greet someone she knew, and everyone rushed to talk to her when they saw Sarah coming. Sarah wasn't used to being crowded, but she knew that these acquaintances were just trying to greet her and get back to the excitement.

As we were talking, Mrs. White said, "Has Miss Wood seen Andrew? He's here today!" Sarah's heart was shocked, she didn't expect Andrew to be invited, but she didn't see any sign of Andrew, so she shook her head honestly.

When wondering why she didn't see Andrew, Mrs. White exclaimed a little, Andrew came, it turned out that the dance had just stopped, and Andrew came over with a young lady. Sarah looked at the young lady as if she were a lady, and she was extremely beautiful and elegant.

After introducing each other, knowing that the young lady next to Andrew was very likely to be the future countess, Sarah felt very uncomfortable. She collected her sadness and looked at Andrew, who also looked at her with a very special look, and Andrew stretched out his hand to invite: "Miss Sheffield, can you enjoy the next song?" Sarah glanced at the people around her, nodded and walked onto the dance floor with Andrew.

When the dance music started, Andrew and Sarah, the two who had their own hearts did not talk at first, and then Andrew still spoke: "Should it be said that fate is cruel or fate is too good at arranging?" Sarah stared at Andrew-Originally, she had a lot of unique opinions about fate, but when she found out that fate often gave her strange arrangements, she would rather wait for the next test that fate gave her-Andrew saw that Sarah was silent, and he continued: "Sarah, who used to have a lot of ideas, is it now gone?"

This made Sarah smile, "She said, "It's not that it's gone, it's that it's fate."

"And what do you think fate will arrange for you?" Sarah," Andrew asked with a slight smile, and Sarah was as clever as ever, "Just like fate arranged for Earl Andrew Green!" Andrew smiled: "Do you think fate will find a good family for the Earl?" Sarah said in a bitter tone, "Isn't it already arranged? The beautiful and elegant lady over there" Andrew seemed to refute no more, "Yes, fate has arranged a good family for Earl Green, there is no doubt about it"

Sarah held back the disappointment and sadness that she was about to shed tears, and when the song was finished, she held back her tears and bowed aside. Sarah, who had exited the banquet hall, ran to the living room on the other side alone, and began to cry loudly, this time, Andrew broke her heart, she deserved it, and it was too late to save everything.

To be continued ~ (107.10..7)

因為用中文創作,再翻譯為英文,所以英文上的正確用詞無法翻譯出來,夫人可以意指"你的淑女身分"(代表的是當代的一種地位稱呼),公爵大人,伯爵大人,男爵大人等,小說中都有出現,抱歉,因為請Google翻譯翻譯的,而本人沒有從事過英文寫作,只想嘗試用英文表達整部小說的內容,敬請原諒!!謝謝!!

Because it is created in Chinese and then translated into English, the correct words in English cannot be translated, Madame can mean "your lady" (representing a contemporary status title), Lord Duke, Lord Earl, Lord Baron, etc., all appear in the novel, sorry, because I asked Google Translate to translate, and I have not been engaged in English writing, I just want to try to express the content of the whole novel in English, please forgive me!! Thank you!!

本小說創作如有雷同,純屬巧合,而小說寫作的年代約略定在與作家珍．奧斯汀同一年代

It is a coincidence that the novel was written in the same era as the writer Jane Austen