The boy was strolling along the southern part of the Fens2; and as he halted near the Agassiz bridge, the sergeant caught up with him.
“Good-morning,” he said cheerily. “Where’s your nurse with the good name to-day?”
“Good-morning,” said Eugene with a bright look at him. “Virtue Ann had sweeping3 to do; and she says that I am now sufficiently4 old to go out unattended, though it is not the custom to do so in my country until one is older.”
“You’re big enough to go alone,” said the sergeant. “We think here that it makes a[Pg 70] mollycoddle5 of a boy to have some one at his heels watching him all the time. Have you paid your respects to John O’Reilly this morning?”
“No; I have just arrived from home. I shall go there later.”
“No news from France yet I suppose?”
“Oh, no! it is not time.”
“Well, you’ll have to wait. There’s nothing like patience in this life. Don’t you want to come down this path with me, and see the rest of my colony of cats? This is where they live.”
“It will give me great pleasure,” said Eugene.
The sergeant turned abruptly6 from the road to a shady path leading to a duck-pond. Stationing himself midway in it, he gave a whistle that Eugene noticed was quite different from his call for King Boozy.
The boy stood aside; and presently he saw little gray heads peeping cautiously from between the leaves, and heard a number of timid voices giving tentative mews of welcome.
Cats
Then the Cats came fast enough, Young and Old, Gay and Sober.
[Pg 71]
“It isn’t feeding-time,” said the sergeant; “when it is they just tumble over each other to get to me,—and they’re a little afraid of you.”
Eugene drew still farther back; and then the cats came fast enough,—young and old, gay and sober ones, purring contentedly7 and waving their tails, as they circled in and out about the sergeant, and jumped up to rub themselves against him.
“Those are sisters,” said the sergeant, indicating two young gray pussies8 who were walking about with tails held proudly aloft; “and that is the old mother, the queen of the gang,” he added, laughing at an austere9 Maltese cat who was cuffing11 the ears of a kitten; “she makes them stand round.”
Eugene addressed a complimentary12 remark to the Maltese cat, who stared at him suspiciously from eyes that looked like white currants in the strong light of the sun.
“You can’t deceive her,” said the sergeant, as the cat turned away from Eugene to join the band about their patron. “She knows you[Pg 72] don’t like her. You can fool a human being quicker than you can an animal; and an animal won’t lie as often as a human being, though they will do it sometimes. You needn’t try to catch them, little one,” he went on, addressing a child who came suddenly racing13 down a path; “they won’t let any one but the park police lay a hand on them.”
Every cat had disappeared at the advent14 of the child, and with a disappointed face she went back the way she had come.
“Would you like to see the cats’ winter bedfellows?” said the sergeant, addressing Eugene.
“I should like it remarkably15 well,” said the boy; and he followed the sergeant to the duck-pond.
On arriving there the sergeant gave a third variety of whistle, and a host of glossy16 creatures rushed ashore17, quacking18 and gabbling reproachfully at their friend, who stood merely looking at them without offering them food.
“They’re annoyed with me,” he said; and he laughed, as the ducks one and all struck[Pg 73] the ground sharply with their beaks19, and turning their backs on him filed into the pond.
“You greedy things,” he went on; “your thoughts don’t get much higher than good living, though you’re pretty kind to the cats in winter. Do you know ducks and cats all sleep together after it gets cold?”
“Really!” ejaculated Eugene. “Is that a possible thing?”
“Yes,” said the sergeant; “they sleep in boxes filled with hay. My wife says it is ‘sweet’ to see the ducklings and kittens brought up together. She has a very kind heart for animals, has my wife.”
“I can well imagine that Mrs. Hardy20 is always kind,” said Eugene.
The sergeant glanced at him sharply. The boy spoke21 in the tones of ordinary politeness, not warmly by any means.
“Do you keep no pigeons?” Eugene went on.
“Yes, a few,” said the sergeant.
“And where is the place that they live,—the pigeonnier, as one says in France?”
[Pg 74]
“In the top of the duck-house. They have no house of their own.”
“In France nearly every country house has a pigeonnier,” said Eugene.
“We’ll get one here in time,” said the sergeant. “Now, if you want to inspect the rest of my menagerie, let us go back to the bridge.”
“What have you there?” asked Eugene as they paced slowly up the path.
“A flock of twenty-one geese. See, there they are out on the marshes22. Hello, they’re having a quarrel with the wild geese.”
“Have you wild ones also?”
“A few only. Hear how they’re screaming. What tempers! I’ll whistle, and perhaps I’ll catch their attention.”
The sergeant whistled in vain. The wind was blowing over the marshes, and the geese were too much engaged in their dispute to heed23 his voice that only reached them faintly.
“They remind me of the prairie fowl24 out West,” said the sergeant. “They were mighty25 fond of dancing round each other, but they always wound up with a row. Now, I haven’t[Pg 75] anything more to show you this morning. I believe I’ll walk up Boylston Street way with you a bit. Come over some feeding-time to see these creatures. They’re more interesting then. Don’t bring your nurse, though, down here. These cats just hate women.”
“For the same reason that the king does?” asked Eugene.
“Yes; they’ve mostly been turned out-of-doors by women, and they don’t forget it. I’m sorry it’s so, for I am fond of women myself; but animals, and cats especially, don’t forget an injury; that is, the most of them don’t. They’re very like us, some forgive and some don’t; and they’re just as full of contradictions as we are. Some of them will put up with things from the few people they like best that they won’t put up with from a stranger. For instance, a dog will let his master cuff10 him round, when he’d bite a stranger that would lay a finger on him. That’s just the way we are with our own families. My wife and I will take things from each other that we wouldn’t from other people. By the way,[Pg 76] there are some fine boys coming along that I’d like to introduce you to. Do you see them? That is a grand fellow, that one with the foot-ball under his arm.”
Eugene shrank back, and made a gesture of dissent26.
“You’ll like them,” said the sergeant earnestly; and before Eugene could speak he had addressed the boys, who halted before him.
“We are going to run races on the long path,” said one of them.
“You ought to cut over the ground like a North Dakota jack-rabbit,” said the sergeant turning to Eugene.
The French lad tried to speak, but could not. He had so long been cut off from the society of other boys that getting among them again was like taking a plunge27 into a cold bath. However, one boy, to whom the sergeant nodded in a significant way, took Eugene under his protection; and with unconcealed delight the sergeant stood watching the round dozen of them kick up their heels, and scamper28 over the level road toward their racing-ground.
[Pg 77]
Eugene, to the sergeant’s pride, kept up with the best of them. “He is long and lean, just like a greyhound,” muttered the man as he went contentedly on his tour of inspection29 through the park; “but he looks a little underfed. I wish he could get some of Bess’s roast beef occasionally.”
When the sergeant went home to his dinner at one o’clock, he told his wife about meeting Eugene.
“I’m glad you sent him to play,” she said. “His nurse has been here, and we were talking about him. It’s a shame to have the child so like an old man.”
“Yes; it is,” said the sergeant absently. “What have you got for dinner, Bess? I’m fearfully hungry, and I smell something good.”
“Steak and onions and apple-pie,” said his wife. “Stephen, I want that boy.”
“You want that boy!” said her husband in a dazed manner. “What do you mean?”
“Just exactly what I say,” she replied with great composure. “I want him to come here. His nurse has heard of a good situation, and[Pg 78] it is too bad to keep her on there living with him when they have so little money.”
Her husband sat down to the table, and began to carve the steak. “Bess,” he said remonstratingly, “you couldn’t get him here—that little thoroughbred, proud fellow. He looks down on us.”
“Why does he look down on us?” asked Mrs. Hardy.
“Well, I guess he thinks we don’t belong to the aristocracy.”
“Aren’t you as good a man as there is in this city?” asked Mrs. Hardy earnestly.
“I shouldn’t wonder if I am,” said the sergeant with great complacency, “though I might be better than I am. But, Bess, you don’t understand.”
“I understand this much,” she said. “Here is a lonely child in a big city, without a soul but a poor ignorant nurse to look after him. If you take him by force, and put him somewhere where he doesn’t want to go, he’ll pine to death. If we can coax30 him here, and make him happy till something is arranged”—
[Pg 79]
“That’s all very fine,” said the sergeant; “I see what you’re after, Bess. You’ve taken a great fancy to that boy. You’ll get him here, and fall to petting him; then, when he’s sent for to go to France, you’ll break your heart.”
“I don’t believe he will ever be sent for,” said Mrs. Hardy calmly.
The sergeant laid aside his knife and fork, and brought his hand down on the table. “Now understand, Bess, once for all, I’m not going to bring up other people’s children. If I had a son of my own it would be different. How do we know how this little shaver will turn out? His head is crammed31 full of notions, and he thinks no more of telling a lie than I do of telling the truth.”
“Some one has to bring him up,” said Mrs. Hardy; “and he only tells stories out of politeness. He will get over it.”
“I told you before that he’s different from us,” said the sergeant irritably32. “Don’t tease, Bess.”
“No, I won’t, Stephen,” she said quietly; “perhaps you are right, only”—
[Pg 80]
“Only what?” asked her husband.
“Only I’m lonely here all day without you,” she said in a low voice.
“Will you give me a cup of tea?” asked her husband. “You’re not crying, are you?” he went on suspiciously.
“No, Stephen; I cried enough last night to last me for a long time.”
“You don’t usually have a crying-spell oftener than once in six weeks,” he remarked with assumed cheerfulness. “I guess some one will look out for that boy. I daresay there are lots of rich people in this city that would adopt him if they knew what a grand family he comes of.”
“Rich people aren’t as kind as poor ones, Stephen, you know that.”
“Yes, I do,” he said warmly. “I notice it isn’t the best-dressed people that give nickels to the beggars in the streets. It’s the shabby woman that takes out her purse when she passes some poor wretch33. She’s been there, or near enough to pity—not that I approve of encouraging begging,” he added in an official manner.
[Pg 81]
“It must be terrible not to have enough to eat,” said Mrs. Hardy with a shudder34.
The sergeant shuddered35 too. “Bess,” he said, “it’s easy enough to say that, but not one person in a million can feel it. Most people haven’t the slightest idea what starvation is. I’ve told you about my getting lost out West on the plains. All the man went out of me two days after we ate our last bite of food. I was nothing but a beast. I could have eaten you if you had been there. The pain and the sickness and the dreams of food were awful, and for weeks after we were found I could digest only the simplest things. Do you suppose that boy ever goes hungry?”
“Meat is rather expensive in Boston,” said Mrs. Hardy. “I think by what the girl says they don’t get much of that.”
The sergeant finished his dinner in silence; and in silence he buckled36 on his belt, and took his helmet and went to the front door. Then he came back again.
“Bess,” he said gruffly, “you said last night what a good husband I’d been to you.”
[Pg 82]
“Yes, Stephen,” she replied; “and I say it again, now and always, and I don’t care who hears me.”
“Well, you’ve been a good wife to me,” he returned; “and I don’t care who hears me say it, either. Get that boy here if you like—maybe it is a good move. We’re always having to do things in the dark in this life, and then some way or other light shines on us; but Bess”—and he hesitated, and looked at her from under drooping37 eyelids38 as shyly as if he were a boy himself.
She went up quickly to him, and laid a hand on his broad chest. “I know what you want to say, Stephen, you are jealous; you are afraid I’ll think more of that little boy than I do of you.”
“That’s about the figure of it,” he replied.
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” she said, “not only to mention such a thing to me, but to dare to think it to yourself. You a big, strong man to be jealous of that little delicate lad. You know just as well as I do why I like him.”
[Pg 83]
The sergeant’s face cleared. “You like him for the same reason that you like the cats,” he said. “He’s been cast out, and he hasn’t any one to take an interest in him. Well, pet him all you like, and have him here if you can get him, I don’t care;” and the sergeant serenely39 kissed her, and then wended his way back to the park.
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收听单词发音
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1
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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2
fens
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| n.（尤指英格兰东部的）沼泽地带( fen的名词复数 ) | |
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3
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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4
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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mollycoddle
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| v.溺爱，娇养 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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8
pussies
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| n.（粗俚） 女阴( pussy的名词复数 )；（总称）（作为性对象的）女人；（主要北美使用，非正式）软弱的；小猫咪 | |
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9
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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10
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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11
cuffing
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的现在分词 )；袖口状白血球聚集 | |
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12
complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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13
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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14
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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15
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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16
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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17
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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18
quacking
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| v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的现在分词 ) | |
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19
beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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20
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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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
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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23
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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24
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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25
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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26
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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27
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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28
scamper
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| v.奔跑，快跑 | |
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29
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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30
coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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31
crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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32
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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33
wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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34
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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35
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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36
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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37
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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38
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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39
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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