'Oh, Binks! How d'ye do?' politely asked Queenie, who, having disembarked her waxen family, was endeavouring to protect them from the frantic5 welcome of the terriers, both of which seemed ready to eat up the doll-guests, so glad were they to see them.
'Sadly, missy; I'm but proper sadly!'
'What is it, Binks?' sympathetically asked Theo, shaking out her blue-cotton skirts, and drawing on a pair of gloves, for Mrs. Vesey was peculiarly dainty and sensitive about trifles. Though an invalid6 herself, the poor lady was always exquisitely7 dressed, maintaining as a reason that if the human body be the temple of Christ, then it must be the bounden duty of the Christian8 owner not only to keep it wholesome9, but also to adorn10 it, making it fair without, to match the fairness within. Not only in her own person did this dainty gentlewoman carry out her theory, but she looked for it in the persons of her visitors. Theo invariably respected her wishes by appearing before her trim and trig.
'Tis jes' they rheumatics, Miss Theedory!' answered Binks cheerfully, for all the world as if his aches and pains were so many honours. 'But there, what's 'ee to expec' at sixty-seven? People's jints bain't made to hold out for ever-'n-ever. Will 'um now?'
'No, they won't!' joined in Queenie comprehendingly. 'Miss Muffet's jints are giving way, too. Just look, Binks!' She held up for inspection11 an elaborately dressed lady, whose arms and legs were in such a tremulous condition that their total lapse12 from the body to which they belonged would have been no surprise.
'I shall ask father for some of that famous liniment of his, Binks,' said Theo. 'I could send you over some in a little bottle; the boys shall bring it this evening.'
'If you ask me candid13, I should say that glue would be the best liniment to patch them jints!' Binks was stolidly14 contemplating15 the loose condition of Miss Muffet's limbs.
'We're at cross purposes!' laughed Theo. 'Come along, Queenie; there's Mrs. Vesey standing16 at the drawing-room window waving to us. We must not keep her waiting. Can't you leave your doll-people in the boat, dear? Binks will see that the dogs don't worry them to bits.'
'Ay, ay! That I will, missy. Bless 'em both, they're picters, they two, as taut17 and trig as you please. God give 'em smooth seas to sail over!' added the old man under his breath, as he watched the captain's daughters cross the lawn above.
Time was, far back in years, when Binks had watched with pride such another maiden18 as 'Miss Theedory,' the daughter God had given, or, rather, had lent, for a little while, to the parents who idolised her. The frosts of death nipped the human flower. Slowly, surely, it faded, until the little home it had gladdened and made fair was empty and dark, like the hearts left sorrowing. Long years ago though it was since the blow had fallen, still not yet was the wound healed over. Behind the austere19 front and grim temper of old Binks, the memory of his maid Bessie lived fresh and fragrant20 as the girl herself had been. There are some of us who, loyal ever to the love rooted deep in our hearts, thus keep green the memory of those 'faces we have loved long since, and lost awhile!'
'She's rare and sweet, is Miss Theedory,' murmured the weather-beaten old man, when the sisters had disappeared, and he turned to fasten the boat to the pier-head. 'But I make no doubt she've her peck o' troubles, too, what with them limbs of young brothers, and the captain so uplifted-like that he can't give a hand to help her rule 'em. Yes, Miss Theedory has no easy life of it, though she be a born lady. 'Tis a world o' ups and downs, this is.'
'Hilloa, Binks! Oh, I say!'
The old man wheeled round to find Geoff and Alick had unexpectedly returned.
'Whatever's ado now? What's brought 'ee both back?' snapped the old man crustily. The boys were anything but pleasant interruptions in his eyes.
'Oh, we got tired waiting about for Jerry. He hasn't come yet. And we've just seen our boat come into the pier, and we want it to go for a row,' both boys spoke21 at once.
'Ye want the boat, do 'ee now? Well, then, ye can't get it, that's all!' Binks faced round upon the boys, who were trying to push past him and jump into the boat. 'Miss Theedory, she says, says she, "Binks, I looks to you to see arter that boat for me!" and with that she stepped up to the house, she and little missy, to see the mistress. 'Tain't likely I'm a-goin' to 'low her to find no boat waitin' for her, bym-bye, when she's ready to go back 'ome. You jes' be off, young musters22!'
'That's all nonsense! It's no use of you showing fight. We mean to have the boat. It's our boat, and Theo can walk home; do her good, too.'
Alick spoke sullenly24, and pushed past Binks on the slippery little pier. But he reckoned without counting the cost. Binks, though rheumatic and a trifle bent25, still retained some of the strength that had made him a byword as an athlete in his young days. With a touch of angry red in his brown, wrinkled cheek, and a spark of wrath26 in his deep-set eyes, he seized the boy neatly27 by the back of the collar and the band of his Norfolk tweed jacket. It was useless for Alick to splutter and howl and threaten. Old Binks swung him, as though he were a kitten, over the edge of the pier, while Geoff fairly doubled up in a wild ecstasy28 of laughter.
'Tis this way I'll serve 'ee, if so be as you wants to, interfere29 wi' me doin' of my dooty, young sir!' croaked30 out the sturdy old veteran.
'Let me down, I say, let me down! Oh, I'll pay you out!' screamed Alick, maddened more by a sense of humiliation31 than of terror, for none of the Carnegy name dreaded32 a ducking in the sea.
'There ye be, then!' Binks at last deposited his wriggling33 burden flat on the pier. 'Now, p'raps ye'll understand the way an honest man dispoges of obstructions35 in the path o' dooty! You're an obstruction34, you are, muster23; and if so be as you lay the lesson to heart, the bit o' teachin' on my part will be wuth while.'
'I'll pay you out. See if I don't!' repeated Alick, sidling hurriedly off, with a parting shot in the shape of the coward's favourite threat.
'Oh, come!'—Geoff was at his heels,—'the old chap is very game. You must allow, too, that he was in the right, Alick, and we were wrong.'
Clear-sighted Geoff never hesitated to render justice to others. But Alick was different. Baffled and furious, he slouched away, hatching secret revenge upon the old man who had so determinedly36 baulked his will.
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1
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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2
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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3
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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4
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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5
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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6
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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7
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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8
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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9
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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10
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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11
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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12
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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13
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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14
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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15
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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16
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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17
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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18
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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19
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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20
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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21
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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22
musters
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的第三人称单数 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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23
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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24
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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25
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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26
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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27
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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28
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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29
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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30
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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31
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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32
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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33
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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34
obstruction
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| n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物 | |
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35
obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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36
determinedly
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| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
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