章节正文
what they were raised with?"
Dan, however, began to taunt Felicity with her tooth-powder rusks,
and kept it up for the rest of his natural life.
"Don't forget to send the Governor's wife the recipe for them," he
said.
Felicity, with eyes tearful and cheeks crimson from mortification,
rushed from the room, but never, never did the Governor's wife get
the recipe for those rusks.
CHAPTER VII
WE VISIT COUSIN MATTIE'S
One Saturday in March we walked over to Baywater, for a long-
talked-of visit to Cousin Mattie Dilke. By the road, Baywater was
six miles away, but there was a short cut across hills and fields
and woods which was scantly three. We did not look forward to our
visit with any particular delight, for there was nobody at Cousin
Mattie's except grown-ups who had been grown up so long that it
was rather hard for them to remember they had ever been children.
But, as Felicity told us, it was necessary to visit Cousin Mattie
at least once a year, or else she would be "huffed," so we
concluded we might as well go and have it over.
"Anyhow, we'll get a splendiferous dinner," said Dan. "Cousin
Mattie's a great cook and there's nothing stingy about her."
"You are always thinking of your stomach," said Felicity
pleasantly.
"Well, you know I couldn't get along very well without it,
darling," responded Dan who, since New Year's, had adopted a new
method of dealing with Felicity--whether by way of keeping his
resolution or because he had discovered that it annoyed Felicity
far more than angry retorts, deponent sayeth not. He invariably
met her criticisms with a good-natured grin and a flippant remark
with some tender epithet tagged on to it. Poor Felicity used to
get hopelesslyfurious over it.
Uncle Alec was dubious about our going that day. He looked abroad
on the general dourness of gray earth and gray air and gray sky,
and said a storm was brewing. But Cousin Mattie had been sent
word that we were coming, and she did not like to be disappointed,
so he let us go, warning us to stay with Cousin Mattie all night
if the storm came on while we were there.
We enjoyed our walk--even Felix enjoyed it, although he had been
appointed to write up the visit for Our Magazine and was rather
weighed down by the responsibility of it. What mattered it though
the world were gray and wintry? We walked the golden road and
carried spring time in our hearts, and we beguiled our way with
laughter and jest, and the tales the Story Girl told us--myths and
legends of elder time.
The walking was good, for there had lately been a thaw and
everything was freeze 的过去分词">frozen. We went over fields, crossed by spidery
trails of gray fences, where the withered grasses stuck forlornly
up through the snow; we lingered for a time in a group of hill
pines, great, majestic tree-creatures, friends of evening stars;
and finally struck into the belt of fir and maple which intervened
between Carlisle and Baywater. It was in this locality that Peg
Bowen lived, and our way lay near her house though not directly in
sight of it. We hoped we would not meet her, for since the affair
of the bewitchment of Paddy we did not know quite what to think of
Peg; the boldest of us held his breath as we passed her haunts,
and drew it again with a sigh of relief when they were safely left
behind.
The woods were full of the brooding stillness that often precedes
a storm, and the wind crept along their white, cone-sprinkled
floors with a low, wailing cry. Around us were solitudes of snow,
arcades picked out in pearl and silver, long avenues of untrodden
marble whencesprang the cathedral columns of the firs. We were
all sorry when we were through the woods and found ourselves
looking down into the snug, commonplace, farmstead-dotted
settlement of Baywater.
"There's Cousin Mattie's house--that big white one at the turn of
the road," said the Story Girl. "I hope she has that dinner
ready, Dan. I'm hungry as a wolf after our walk."
"I wish Cousin Mattie's husband was still alive," said Dan. "He
was an awful nice old man. He always had his pockets full of nuts
and apples. I used to like going there better when he was alive.
Too many old women don't suit me."
"Oh, Dan, Cousin Mattie and her sisters-in-law are just as nice
and kind as they can be," reproached Cecily.
"Oh, they're kind enough, but they never seem to see that a fellow
gets over being five years old if he only lives long enough,"
retorted Dan.
"I know a story about Cousin Mattie's husband," said the Story
Girl. "His name was Ebenezer, you know--"
"Is it any wonder he was thin and stunted looking?" said Dan.
"Ebenezer is just as nice a name as Daniel," said Felicity.
"Do you REALLY think so, my angel?" inquired Dan, in honey-sweet
tones.
"Go on. Remember your second resolution," I whispered to the
Story Girl, who was stalking along with an outraged expression.
The Story Girl swallowed something and went on.
"Cousin Ebenezer had a horror of borrowing. He thought it was
simply a dreadfuldisgrace to borrow ANYTHING. Well, you know he
and Cousin Mattie used to live in Carlisle, where the Rays now
live. This was when Grandfather King was alive. One day Cousin
Ebenezer came up the hill and into the kitchen where all the
family were. Uncle Roger said he looked as if he had been
stealing sheep. He sat for a whole hour in the kitchen and hardly
spoke a word, but just looked miserable. At last he got up and
said in a desperate sort of way, 'Uncle Abraham, can I speak with
you in private for a minute?' 'Oh, certainly,' said grandfather,
and took him into the parlour. Cousin Ebenezer shut the door,
looked all around him and then said imploringly, 'MORE PRIVATE
STILL.' So grandfather took him into the spare room and shut that
door. He was getting frightened. He thought something terrible
must have happened Cousin Ebenezer. Cousin Ebenezer came right up
to grandfather, took hold of the lapel of his coat, and said in a
whisper, 'Uncle Abraham, CAN--YOU--LEND--ME--AN--AXE?'"
"He needn't have made such a mystery about it," said Cecily, who
had missed the point entirely, and couldn't see why the rest of us
were laughing. But Cecily was such a darling that we did not mind
her lack of a sense of humour.
"It's kind of mean to tell stories like that about people who are
dead," said Felicity.
"Sometimes it's safer than when they're alive though, sweetheart,"
commented Dan.
We had our expected good dinner at Cousin Mattie's--may it be
counted unto her for righteousness. She and her sisters-in-law,
Miss Louisa Jane and Miss Caroline, were very kind to us. We had
quite a nice time, although I understood why Dan objected to them
when they patted us all on the head and told us whom we resembled
and gave us peppermint lozenges.
CHAPTER VIII
WE VISIT PEG BOWEN
We left Cousin Mattie's early, for it still looked like a storm,
though no more so than it had in the morning. We intended to go
home by a different path--one leading through cleared land
overgrown with scrub maple, which had the advantage of being
farther away from Peg Bowen's house. We hoped to be home before
it began to storm, but we had hardly reached the hill above the
village when a fine, driving snow began to fall. It would have
been wiser to have turned back even then; but we had already come
a mile and we thought we would have ample time to reach home
before it became really bad. We were sadly mistaken; by the time
we had gone another half-mile we were in the thick of a
bewildering, blinding snowstorm. But it was by now just as far
back to Cousin Mattie's as it was to Uncle Alec's, so we struggled
on, growing more frightened at every step. We could hardly face
the stinging snow, and we could not see ten feet ahead of us. It
had turned bitterly cold and the tempest howled all around us in
white desolation under the fast-darkening night. The narrow path
we were trying to follow soon became entirely obliterated and we
stumbled blindly on, holding to each other, and trying to peer
through the furious whirl that filled the air. Our plight had
come upon us so suddenly that we could not realize it. Presently
Peter, who was leading the van because he was supposed to know the
path best, stopped.
"I can't see the road any longer," he shouted. "I don't know
where we are."
We all stopped and huddled together in a miserable group. Fear
filled our hearts. It seemed ages ago that we had been snug and
safe and warm at Cousin Mattie's. Cecily began to cry with cold.
Dan, in spite of her protests, dragged off his overcoat and made
her put it on.
"We can't stay here," he said. "We'll all freeze to death if we
do. Come on--we've got to keep moving. The snow ain't so deep
yet. Take hold of my hand, Cecily. We must all hold together.
Come, now."
"It won't be nice to be freeze 的过去分词">frozen to death, but if we get through
alive think what a story we'll have to tell," said the Story Girl
between her chattering teeth.
In my heart I did not believe we would ever get through alive. It
was almost pitch dark now, and the snow grew deeper every moment.
We were chilled to the heart. I thought how nice it would be to
lie down and rest; but I remembered hearing that that was fatal,
and I endeavoured to stumble on with the others. It was wonderful
how the girls kept up, even Cecily. It occurred to me to be
thankful that Sara Ray was not with us.
But we were wholly lost now. All around us was a horror of great
darkness. Suddenly Felicity fell. We dragged her up, but she
declared she could not go on--she was done out.
"Have you any idea where we are?" shouted Dan to Peter.
"No," Peter shouted back, "the wind is blowing every which way. I
haven't any idea where home is."
Home! Would we ever see it again? We tried to urge Felicity on,
but she only repeated drowsily that she must lie down and rest.
Cecily, too, was reeling against me. The Story Girl still stood
up staunchly and counselled struggling on, but she was numb with
cold and her words were hardly distinguishable. Some wild idea
was in my mind that we must dig a hole in the snow and all creep
into it. I had read somewhere that people had thus saved their
lives in snowstorms. Suddenly Felix gave a shout.
"I see a light," he cried.
"Where? Where?" We all looked but could see nothing.
"I don't see it now but I saw it a moment ago," shouted Felix.
"I'm sure I did. Come on--over in this direction."
Inspired with fresh hope we hurried after him. Soon we all saw
the light--and never shone a fairer beacon. A few more steps and,
coming into the shelter of the woodland on the further side, we
realized where we were.
"That's Peg Bowen's house," exclaimed Peter, stopping short in
dismay.
"I don't care whose house it is," declared Dan. "We've got to go
to it."
"I s'pose so," acquiesced Peter ruefully. "We can't freeze to
death even if she is a witch."
"For goodness' sake don't say anything about witches so close to
her house," gasped Felicity. "I'll be thankful to get in
anywhere."
We reached the house, climbed the flight of steps that led to that
mysterious second story door, and Dan rapped. The door opened
promptly and Peg Bowen stood before us, in what seemed exactly the
same costume she had worn on the memorable day when we had come,
bearing gifts, to propitiate her in the matter of Paddy.
"Behind her was a dim room scantly illumined by the one small
Dan, however, began to taunt Felicity with her tooth-powder rusks,
and kept it up for the rest of his natural life.
"Don't forget to send the Governor's wife the recipe for them," he
said.
Felicity, with eyes tearful and cheeks crimson from mortification,
rushed from the room, but never, never did the Governor's wife get
the recipe for those rusks.
CHAPTER VII
WE VISIT COUSIN MATTIE'S
One Saturday in March we walked over to Baywater, for a long-
talked-of visit to Cousin Mattie Dilke. By the road, Baywater was
six miles away, but there was a short cut across hills and fields
and woods which was scantly three. We did not look forward to our
visit with any particular delight, for there was nobody at Cousin
Mattie's except grown-ups who had been grown up so long that it
was rather hard for them to remember they had ever been children.
But, as Felicity told us, it was necessary to visit Cousin Mattie
at least once a year, or else she would be "huffed," so we
concluded we might as well go and have it over.
"Anyhow, we'll get a splendiferous dinner," said Dan. "Cousin
Mattie's a great cook and there's nothing stingy about her."
"You are always thinking of your stomach," said Felicity
pleasantly.
"Well, you know I couldn't get along very well without it,
darling," responded Dan who, since New Year's, had adopted a new
method of dealing with Felicity--whether by way of keeping his
resolution or because he had discovered that it annoyed Felicity
far more than angry retorts, deponent sayeth not. He invariably
met her criticisms with a good-natured grin and a flippant remark
with some tender epithet tagged on to it. Poor Felicity used to
get hopelesslyfurious over it.
Uncle Alec was dubious about our going that day. He looked abroad
on the general dourness of gray earth and gray air and gray sky,
and said a storm was brewing. But Cousin Mattie had been sent
word that we were coming, and she did not like to be disappointed,
so he let us go, warning us to stay with Cousin Mattie all night
if the storm came on while we were there.
We enjoyed our walk--even Felix enjoyed it, although he had been
appointed to write up the visit for Our Magazine and was rather
weighed down by the responsibility of it. What mattered it though
the world were gray and wintry? We walked the golden road and
carried spring time in our hearts, and we beguiled our way with
laughter and jest, and the tales the Story Girl told us--myths and
legends of elder time.
The walking was good, for there had lately been a thaw and
everything was freeze 的过去分词">frozen. We went over fields, crossed by spidery
trails of gray fences, where the withered grasses stuck forlornly
up through the snow; we lingered for a time in a group of hill
pines, great, majestic tree-creatures, friends of evening stars;
and finally struck into the belt of fir and maple which intervened
between Carlisle and Baywater. It was in this locality that Peg
Bowen lived, and our way lay near her house though not directly in
sight of it. We hoped we would not meet her, for since the affair
of the bewitchment of Paddy we did not know quite what to think of
Peg; the boldest of us held his breath as we passed her haunts,
and drew it again with a sigh of relief when they were safely left
behind.
The woods were full of the brooding stillness that often precedes
a storm, and the wind crept along their white, cone-sprinkled
floors with a low, wailing cry. Around us were solitudes of snow,
arcades picked out in pearl and silver, long avenues of untrodden
marble whencesprang the cathedral columns of the firs. We were
all sorry when we were through the woods and found ourselves
looking down into the snug, commonplace, farmstead-dotted
settlement of Baywater.
"There's Cousin Mattie's house--that big white one at the turn of
the road," said the Story Girl. "I hope she has that dinner
ready, Dan. I'm hungry as a wolf after our walk."
"I wish Cousin Mattie's husband was still alive," said Dan. "He
was an awful nice old man. He always had his pockets full of nuts
and apples. I used to like going there better when he was alive.
Too many old women don't suit me."
"Oh, Dan, Cousin Mattie and her sisters-in-law are just as nice
and kind as they can be," reproached Cecily.
"Oh, they're kind enough, but they never seem to see that a fellow
gets over being five years old if he only lives long enough,"
retorted Dan.
"I know a story about Cousin Mattie's husband," said the Story
Girl. "His name was Ebenezer, you know--"
"Is it any wonder he was thin and stunted looking?" said Dan.
"Ebenezer is just as nice a name as Daniel," said Felicity.
"Do you REALLY think so, my angel?" inquired Dan, in honey-sweet
tones.
"Go on. Remember your second resolution," I whispered to the
Story Girl, who was stalking along with an outraged expression.
The Story Girl swallowed something and went on.
"Cousin Ebenezer had a horror of borrowing. He thought it was
simply a dreadfuldisgrace to borrow ANYTHING. Well, you know he
and Cousin Mattie used to live in Carlisle, where the Rays now
live. This was when Grandfather King was alive. One day Cousin
Ebenezer came up the hill and into the kitchen where all the
family were. Uncle Roger said he looked as if he had been
stealing sheep. He sat for a whole hour in the kitchen and hardly
spoke a word, but just looked miserable. At last he got up and
said in a desperate sort of way, 'Uncle Abraham, can I speak with
you in private for a minute?' 'Oh, certainly,' said grandfather,
and took him into the parlour. Cousin Ebenezer shut the door,
looked all around him and then said imploringly, 'MORE PRIVATE
STILL.' So grandfather took him into the spare room and shut that
door. He was getting frightened. He thought something terrible
must have happened Cousin Ebenezer. Cousin Ebenezer came right up
to grandfather, took hold of the lapel of his coat, and said in a
whisper, 'Uncle Abraham, CAN--YOU--LEND--ME--AN--AXE?'"
"He needn't have made such a mystery about it," said Cecily, who
had missed the point entirely, and couldn't see why the rest of us
were laughing. But Cecily was such a darling that we did not mind
her lack of a sense of humour.
"It's kind of mean to tell stories like that about people who are
dead," said Felicity.
"Sometimes it's safer than when they're alive though, sweetheart,"
commented Dan.
We had our expected good dinner at Cousin Mattie's--may it be
counted unto her for righteousness. She and her sisters-in-law,
Miss Louisa Jane and Miss Caroline, were very kind to us. We had
quite a nice time, although I understood why Dan objected to them
when they patted us all on the head and told us whom we resembled
and gave us peppermint lozenges.
CHAPTER VIII
WE VISIT PEG BOWEN
We left Cousin Mattie's early, for it still looked like a storm,
though no more so than it had in the morning. We intended to go
home by a different path--one leading through cleared land
overgrown with scrub maple, which had the advantage of being
farther away from Peg Bowen's house. We hoped to be home before
it began to storm, but we had hardly reached the hill above the
village when a fine, driving snow began to fall. It would have
been wiser to have turned back even then; but we had already come
a mile and we thought we would have ample time to reach home
before it became really bad. We were sadly mistaken; by the time
we had gone another half-mile we were in the thick of a
bewildering, blinding snowstorm. But it was by now just as far
back to Cousin Mattie's as it was to Uncle Alec's, so we struggled
on, growing more frightened at every step. We could hardly face
the stinging snow, and we could not see ten feet ahead of us. It
had turned bitterly cold and the tempest howled all around us in
white desolation under the fast-darkening night. The narrow path
we were trying to follow soon became entirely obliterated and we
stumbled blindly on, holding to each other, and trying to peer
through the furious whirl that filled the air. Our plight had
come upon us so suddenly that we could not realize it. Presently
Peter, who was leading the van because he was supposed to know the
path best, stopped.
"I can't see the road any longer," he shouted. "I don't know
where we are."
We all stopped and huddled together in a miserable group. Fear
filled our hearts. It seemed ages ago that we had been snug and
safe and warm at Cousin Mattie's. Cecily began to cry with cold.
Dan, in spite of her protests, dragged off his overcoat and made
her put it on.
"We can't stay here," he said. "We'll all freeze to death if we
do. Come on--we've got to keep moving. The snow ain't so deep
yet. Take hold of my hand, Cecily. We must all hold together.
Come, now."
"It won't be nice to be freeze 的过去分词">frozen to death, but if we get through
alive think what a story we'll have to tell," said the Story Girl
between her chattering teeth.
In my heart I did not believe we would ever get through alive. It
was almost pitch dark now, and the snow grew deeper every moment.
We were chilled to the heart. I thought how nice it would be to
lie down and rest; but I remembered hearing that that was fatal,
and I endeavoured to stumble on with the others. It was wonderful
how the girls kept up, even Cecily. It occurred to me to be
thankful that Sara Ray was not with us.
But we were wholly lost now. All around us was a horror of great
darkness. Suddenly Felicity fell. We dragged her up, but she
declared she could not go on--she was done out.
"Have you any idea where we are?" shouted Dan to Peter.
"No," Peter shouted back, "the wind is blowing every which way. I
haven't any idea where home is."
Home! Would we ever see it again? We tried to urge Felicity on,
but she only repeated drowsily that she must lie down and rest.
Cecily, too, was reeling against me. The Story Girl still stood
up staunchly and counselled struggling on, but she was numb with
cold and her words were hardly distinguishable. Some wild idea
was in my mind that we must dig a hole in the snow and all creep
into it. I had read somewhere that people had thus saved their
lives in snowstorms. Suddenly Felix gave a shout.
"I see a light," he cried.
"Where? Where?" We all looked but could see nothing.
"I don't see it now but I saw it a moment ago," shouted Felix.
"I'm sure I did. Come on--over in this direction."
Inspired with fresh hope we hurried after him. Soon we all saw
the light--and never shone a fairer beacon. A few more steps and,
coming into the shelter of the woodland on the further side, we
realized where we were.
"That's Peg Bowen's house," exclaimed Peter, stopping short in
dismay.
"I don't care whose house it is," declared Dan. "We've got to go
to it."
"I s'pose so," acquiesced Peter ruefully. "We can't freeze to
death even if she is a witch."
"For goodness' sake don't say anything about witches so close to
her house," gasped Felicity. "I'll be thankful to get in
anywhere."
We reached the house, climbed the flight of steps that led to that
mysterious second story door, and Dan rapped. The door opened
promptly and Peg Bowen stood before us, in what seemed exactly the
same costume she had worn on the memorable day when we had come,
bearing gifts, to propitiate her in the matter of Paddy.
"Behind her was a dim room scantly illumined by the one small
- furious [´fjuəriəs]
a.狂怒的；猛烈的 (初中英语单词) - responsibility [ri,spɔnsə´biliti] n.责任(心)；职责；任务 (初中英语单词)
- lately [´leitli] ad.近来，不久前 (初中英语单词)
- frozen [´frəuzn] freeze 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- relief [ri´li:f] n.救济；援救；减轻 (初中英语单词)
- safely [´seifli] ad.安全地；平安地 (初中英语单词)
- sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)
- cathedral [kə´θi:drəl] n.大教堂 (初中英语单词)
- horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
- dreadful [´dredful] a.可怕的；讨厌的 (初中英语单词)
- disgrace [dis´greis] n.耻辱 vt.玷辱；贬黜 (初中英语单词)
- grandfather [´grænd,fɑ:ðə] n.(外)祖父；祖先 (初中英语单词)
- miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
- desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
- mystery [´mistəri] n.神秘；秘密；故弄玄虚 (初中英语单词)
- darling [´dɑ:liŋ] n.爱人 a.亲爱的 (初中英语单词)
- advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)
- bitterly [´bitəli] ad.悲痛地；憎恨地 (初中英语单词)
- supposed [sə´pəuzd] a.想象的；假定的 (初中英语单词)
- freeze [fri:z] v.结冰；凝固；冷淡 (初中英语单词)
- stumble [´stʌmbəl] v.摔倒；失足；弄错 (初中英语单词)
- wholly [´həul-li] ad.完全，十足；统统 (初中英语单词)
- flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
- costume [´kɔstju:m] n.服装(试样)；女装 (初中英语单词)
- recipe [´resipi] n.食谱；决窍；处方 (高中英语单词)
- crimson [´krimzən] a.&n.深(紫)红(的) (高中英语单词)
- dealing [´di:liŋ] n.交易；来往 (高中英语单词)
- majestic [mə´dʒestik] a.雄伟的；崇高的 (高中英语单词)
- locality [ləu´kæliti] n.位置，地区，发生地 (高中英语单词)
- stillness [´stilnis] n.不动；无声，寂静 (高中英语单词)
- mistaken [mis´teikən] mistake的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- tempest [´tempist] n.暴风雨 (高中英语单词)
- plight [plait] n.境况；困境；苦境 (高中英语单词)
- overcoat [´əuvəkəut] n.大衣 (高中英语单词)
- hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- hurried [´hʌrid] a.仓促的，慌忙的 (高中英语单词)
- woodland [´wudlənd] n.树林，林地 (高中英语单词)
- thankful [´θæŋkfəl] a.感激的；欣慰的 (高中英语单词)
- memorable [´memərəbəl] a.难忘的；重大的 (高中英语单词)
- good-natured [´gud-´neitʃəd] a.脾气好的，温厚的 (英语四级单词)
- hopelessly [´həuplisli] ad.无希望地，绝望地 (英语四级单词)
- warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- commonplace [´kɔmənpleis] a.平凡的；常见的 (英语四级单词)
- desolation [desə´leiʃ(ə)n] n.荒凉 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- blindly [blaindli] ad.盲目地；没头脑地 (英语四级单词)
- felicity [fi´lisiti] n.幸福；(措词)适当 (英语六级单词)
- dubious [´dju:biəs] a.怀疑的；可疑的 (英语六级单词)
- wintry [´wintri] a.冬天的；荒凉的 (英语六级单词)
- righteousness [raitʃəsnis] n.正直；正当；正义 (英语六级单词)
- snowstorm [´snəustɔ:m] n.暴风雪；雪暴 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- beacon [´bi:kən] n.灯塔；信标 v.照亮 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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