原文
"This wood really is haunted now--by old memories," said Anne, stooping
to gather a spray of ferns, bleached to waxen whiteness by frost. "It
seems to me that the little girls Diana and I used to be play here
still, and sit by the Dryad's Bubble in the twilights, trysting with
the ghosts. Do you know, I can never go up this path in the dusk without
feeling a bit of the old fright and shiver? There was one especially
horrifying phantom which we created--the ghost of the murdered child
that crept up behind you and laid cold fingers on yours. I confess that,
to this day, I cannot help fancying its little, furtive footsteps behind
me when I come here after nightfall. I'm not afraid of the White Lady or
the headless man or the skeletons, but I wish I had never imagined that
baby's ghost into existence. How angry Marilla and Mrs. Barry were over
that affair," concluded Anne, with reminiscent laughter.
語彙など
- haunted:とりつかれた,幽霊がよく出る
- stoop:かがむ
- spray:小枝
- fern:シダ
- bleach:白くなる
- waxen:蝋のような,青白い
- frost:霜
- twilight:黄昏どき
- tryst with:〜との会合
- fright:恐怖
- shiver:震え
- horrify:ぞっとさせる
- phantom:幽霊
- creep:のろのろ進む
- confess:認める
- fancy:空想する
- furtive:こそこそした
- footstep:足跡,足音
- nightfall:夕暮れ
- skeleton:骸骨
- reminiscent:昔を忍ぶ