Mrs. Colbert was awaiting him in the dining-room. Now that Martin was here, she rose early in order to be dressed and coiffed before she joined him at breakfast. After breakfast Martin wheeled his aunt out on the porch to take the air, excused himself, and went upstairs to his room, where he expected to find Nancy making his bed. But she was not there, and the bed was still as he had left it.
Nancy was playing truant6: that morning, when she came up from the miller’s room, she had caught up a basket and run away to the old cherry trees behind the smokehouse. Finding no ladder handy, she went into the smokehouse to get Pappy Jeff’s wooden chair. Jeff was there himself, tending the fire in a big iron kettle set deep in the earth floor. All day long, through spring and summer, the smoke from hickory chunks7 went up to cure and season the rows of hams and bacon hanging from the rafters of the roof.
“Pappy, kin5 I have your cheer to climb up a cherry tree?”
Jeff rose from his squatting8 position. “Sho’ly, sho’ly, honey. I don’t espect no comp’ny.”
But at that very moment Sampson’s tall figure darkened the doorway10. “See, now,” Jeff chuckled11, “I ain’t done said no comp’ny, an’ here come Sampson! Run along, chile, him an’ me’s got a little bizness to fix. He don’t need no cheer. He kin squat9 on the flo’, like me.”
Sampson carried the chair out for her and planted it under a tree. Nancy scrambled13 nimbly up to the first big limb, where she could sit comfortably; could reach the cherries shining all about her and bend down the branches over her head. The morning air was still so fresh that the sunlight on her bare feet and legs was grateful. She was light-hearted this morning. She loved to pick cherries, and she loved being up in a tree. Someway no troubles followed a body up there; nothing but the foolish, dreamy, nigger side of her nature climbed the tree with her. She knew she had left half her work undone14, but here nobody would find her out to scold her. The leaves over her head laughed softly in the wind; maybe they knew she had run away.
She was in no hurry to pick the cherries. She ate the ripest ones and dropped the hard ones into her basket. Presently she heard someone singing. She sat very still and gently released the branch she was holding down. He was coming from the stables, she thought.
Down by de cane-brake, close by de mill,
Dar lived a yaller gal15, her name was Nancy Till.
Should she scramble12 down? Likely as not he would go along the path through the garden, and then he could not see her for the smokehouse. He wouldn’t come prowling around back here among the weeds. But he did. He came through the wet grass straight toward the cherry trees, his straw hat in his hand, singing that old darky song.
Martin had gone to the kitchen to complain that Nancy had not done his room, and Bluebell16 told him Nancy was out picking cherries. There never was a finer morning for picking cherries or anything else, he was thinking, as he went out to the kitchen garden and round the stables. He didn’t really intend to frighten the girl, though he owed her one for the trick she played him yesterday.
“Good morning, Nancy,” he called up to her as he stood at the foot of the tree. “Cherries are ripe, eh? Do you know that song? Can you sing, like Bluebell?”
“No, sir. I can’t sing. I got no singin’ voice.”
“Neither have I, but I sing anyhow. Can’t help it on a morning like this. Come now, you’re going to give me something, Nancy.”
His tone was coaxing17, but careless. She somehow didn’t feel scared of him as he stood down there, with his head thrown back. His eyes were clear this morning, and jolly. He didn’t look wicked. Maybe he only meant to tease her anyhow, and she just didn’t know how young men behaved over in the racing18 counties.
“Aren’t you going to give me something on such a pretty day? Let’s be friends.” He held up his hand as if to help her down.
She didn’t move, but she laughed a soft darky laugh and dropped a bunch of cherries down to him.
“I don’t want cherries. They’re sour, and I want something sweet.”
“No, Mr. Martin. The sour cherries is all gone. These is blackhearts.”
“Stop talking about cherries. You look awful pretty, sitting up there.”
Nancy giggled19 nervously20. Martin was smiling all the time. Maybe he was just young and foolish like, not bad.
“Who’s your beau, anyhow, Nancy Till?”
“Ain’t got none.”
“You goin’ to be a sour old maid?”
“I reckon I is.”
“Now who in the world is that scarecrow, comin’ on us?”
Nancy followed his eyes and looked back over her shoulder. The instant her head was turned Martin stepped lightly on the chair, caught her bare ankles, and drew her two legs about his cheeks like a frame. Nancy dropped her basket and almost fell out of the tree herself. She caught at the branch above her and clung to it.
“Oh, please get down, Mr. Martin! Do, please! Somebody’ll come along, an’ you’ll git me into trouble.”
Martin laughed. “Get you into trouble? Just this? This is nothin’ but to cure toothache.”
The girl had gone pale. She was frightened now, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t pull herself up with him holding her so hard. Everything had changed in a flash. He had changed, and she couldn’t collect her wits.
“Please, Mr. Martin, please let me git down.”
Martin framed his face closer and shut his eyes. “Pretty soon. — This is just nice. — Something smells sweet — like May apples.” He seemed murmuring to himself, not to her, but all the time his face came closer. Her throat felt tight shut, but she knew she must scream, and she did.
“Pappy! Oh, Pappy! Come quick!”
The moment she screamed, Martin stepped down from the chair. Old Jeff came running round the end of the smokehouse, up to the foot of the tree where Nancy sat, still holding on to the limb above her. “Whassa matter, chile? Whassa matter?”
Sampson followed more deliberately21, looking about him, — looking at Martin Colbert, which it was not his place to do.
Nancy said she was “took giddy like” in the tree, and was afraid she would faint and fall. Sampson got on the chair and lifted her down, but before he did so he took it in that there were already wet boot tracks on the seat. Martin, standing22 by, remarked that if the girl had had any sense, he would have helped her get out of the tree.
“Co’se you would, Mr. Martin,” Jeff jabbered23. “Young gals24 has dese sick spells come on ’em, an’ den2 dey ain’t got no haid. Come along, honey, you kin walk, Pappy’ll he’p you.”
Sampson picked up the chair and carried it back to the smokehouse. Martin strolled down the path, muttering to himself. “God, I’d rather it had been any other nigger on the place! That mill-hand don’t know where he belongs. If ever he looks me in the face like that again, I’ll break his head for him. The niggers here don’t know their place, not one of ’em.”
That afternoon Martin went for a ride. He was a trifle uncomfortable in mind. He knew he had made a blunder. He hadn’t meant to do more than tease her. But after he caught her and felt against his cheeks the shiver that went over her warm flesh, he lost his head for an instant. He knew she must be pursued carelessly and taken at the right moment, off her guard. He was vexed25 that he had let a pleasant contact, an intoxicating26 fragrance27, run away with him. Never mind; he would keep at a distance for a while, as if he had forgotten the cherry tree.
Riding home by the road from the post office, he spied Bluebell over yonder in the big vegetable garden. Immediately he dismounted and led his horse across the field toward her.
“Hello, Bluebell, what are you up to?”
“I’se a-pickin’ lettuce28 fo’ yo’ supper, Mr. Martin.” The slim black girl straightened up and stood with her bare feet wide apart between rows of lettuce.
“You don’t get outdoors much, do you? I always see you in the kitchen.”
“Yes, sir. I’se mos’ly heppin’ Mammy.” This was spoken plaintively29, as if she had a hard life.
Martin laughed. He knew she was useless, except as a companion to Lizzie.
“You find time to sing, though. Aunt Sapphy’s going to have you and Lizzie come into the parlour and sing for me some night. I like to hear you. Maybe I could teach you some new songs. I’m not just crazy about these hymn30 tunes31.”
Bluebell grinned. “Oh, we sings ‘Home, Sweet Home,’ an’ ‘The Gipsy’s Warming.’”
Martin chuckled. “It’s ‘warning,’ not ‘warming,’ my girl.”
“Yes, sir. Seems jist alike when you sings it.”
“Look-a-here, Bluebell, why don’t they send you up to fix my room and make my bed for me? That yaller gal’s no account, and solemn as a funeral. I don’t like solemn girls around me.”
Bluebell giggled. “Dey says how I ain’t so handy wid de bedrooms. Marster, he won’t let me come a-nigh his room at de mill. He PREFER Nancy.” She gave a sly suggestiveness to “prefer,” lifted her eyebrows32 and twisted her shoulders languidly.
“He does? I can’t understand that. She don’t suit me.” Martin patted his restive33 horse to quiet him. “You say she always takes care of the mill room for Uncle Henry?”
“‘Deed she do. He won’t have nobody else roun’ him. Oh Lawdy no! I dassen’ set foot in de place. Yes sir, Nancy do all de housekeepin’ at de mill. Why, ev’ybody know dat. She carry down his washin’ an’ shine his brass34 mugs, an’ take him bowkays. Laws, ah don’ know what all she don’ do at de mil-l-l.”
“Damn this horse! Give me some of that green stuff to keep him still, will you?” Martin was interested.
But Bluebell took a twist of brown paper from a pocket in her very full skirt and produced a lump of crumbly brown sugar.
“Dis’ll quiet him. I mos’ly carries a little to keep on han’.”
Martin winked35. “Comes in handy to be round the kitchen, don’t it? But tell me, don’t that make the other girls jealous, her going to the mill so much? Are you and Nancy good friends?”
“We gits along,” languidly. “We’s mos’ly friendly. Mammy don’ have no patience wid her, ‘cause she’s stuck up, havin’ white blood. When de Missus use’ to favour her terribul, dat set all de culled36 folks agin her. But it ain’t so now no mo’. Miss Sapphy turned on Nancy some while back.”
“Why, what had Nancy done?”
Bluebell shrugged37 indifferently.
“Ah don’ know. Ah don’ foller nobody’s doin’s. Some folks s’picions de Marster favour her now, an’ de Missus don’ relish38 her goin’ down to de mill so much. Ah don’ know. Ah never listens to no talk.”
“That’s a good rule. And you’re a smart girl, Belle39. Don’t anybody round here call you Belle?”
“No, sah. Dey always calls me Bluebell. Dey’s anoder Belle on de place; Sampson’s wife, what is de haid mill-han’.”
“Then I’ll call you Bluebell. I certainly wouldn’t call you by the name of anything belongin’ to that Sampson. Now I’m going to ask Aunt Sapphy to let you fix my room for me. The yaller gal puts on too many airs.”
Martin turned and led his horse toward the hitch-post. He walked rapidly, and there was more energy in his step than common. When little Zach ran up to take his bridle40, he threw him the reins41 without a glance, but he looked very angry, and he was talking out loud to himself. Zach caught a few words:
“By God, if I thought that old sinner had been there before me — ”
The little nigger boy stared after the young man, wondering what had put him out.
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收听单词发音
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1
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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3
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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4
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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6
truant
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| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
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7
chunks
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| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
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8
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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9
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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10
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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11
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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13
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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14
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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15
gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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16
bluebell
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| n.风铃草 | |
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17
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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18
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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19
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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21
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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22
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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23
jabbered
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的过去式和过去分词 )；急促兴奋地说话 | |
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24
gals
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| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
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25
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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26
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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27
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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28
lettuce
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| n.莴苣；生菜 | |
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29
plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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30
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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31
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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32
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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33
restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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34
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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35
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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36
culled
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| v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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38
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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39
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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40
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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41
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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