That holds but you and me, but you and me,”
hummed Emmeline Cerrito softly, her dark eyes fixed1 dreamily on the wide expanse of rippling2 blue water, gleaming more dazzlingly blue in the warm sunlight of a perfect August morning.
“That is exactly the way I feel, only I couldn’t express myself,” remarked Ruth Garnier lazily, from her recumbent position on the white sand. “Just to lie here and look out on this wonderful lake makes me feel as though there was nothing except a world of water and sky with you and me the only persons in it.”
Ruth and Emmy had crept silently from their beds at the first rays of dawn. Stealing a march on the rest of the slumbering3 party, they had donned their bathing suits and noiselessly made their escape from the cottage for a morning plunge4 in the cool waters of the lake. They were now idly lolling on the sand, in the midst of a delightful5 tête-à-tête.
The previous afternoon had witnessed the tumultuous arrival of the Equitable6 Eight at Driftwood Heights, as Miss Drexal had named her cottage. Six weeks had followed one another in rapid succession since the seven Hillside members had departed from Miss Belaire’s for their respective homes. It had been agreed among them, and with Blanche Shirly, who had declared her intention to join them shortly after Miss Drexal had made her generous proposal, that the last of July should find them bag and baggage under the Garniers’ hospitable7 roof, where Marian was to meet them. Arrived at the Garniers’, the girls were to leave there all excess luggage, and proceed as lightly burdened as possible to the Heights. Adhering strictly8 to this program, they had arrived at Lakeview, the nearest station to the Heights, and from there had, at their own request, made the journey to the cottage on foot. The few remaining hours of the afternoon had been spent by the Equitable Eight in unpacking9 and in exploring the immediate10 environs of the Heights.
Ruth and Emmy had felt no fatigue11 from the long railroad journey of the day before. The morning sun showered its welcome warmth upon them as they lay on the sand, placidly12 enjoying the beauty of the prospect13 that stretched before their eyes.
“Yes, it does give one the feeling of being cut off from the rest of the world,” Emmy was saying. “It’s looking at the water that makes it seem so. That’s what made me think of Tosti’s Venetian Song. Let me tell you that we won’t be cut off from it long. Once the girls wake up and discover that we are missing, our beautiful illusion will be rudely shattered by wild yells from the rear.”
“Sad but true,” laughed Ruth. “With such lively persons as Jane Pellew and Frances Bliss14 in the near background, no illusion is really safe.”
“It was worth getting into one’s bathing suit with the daylight and sliding cat-footed out of the cottage, just to watch the sun come up over the water,” declared Emmy warmly. “I was just thinking while lying here in the sand what a different sort of person I’d grown to be. Don’t you remember last year, when first I came to Wanderer’s Roost, I wasn’t a bit interested in Nature. It was going camping that one week that woke me up to the glory of the outdoors. Now I wonder how I could ever have allowed myself to miss so much for so long.”
“I think I’ve always been a Nature lover,” mused15 Ruth. “When I was a tiny girl I dearly loved to tear through the fields and tramp about in the woods. Once when I was about ten years old, I packed my best doll, six ginger16 cookies and half a loaf of bread in my doll carriage and went off to the woods all by myself on a picnic. Of course, I didn’t ask permission. It was to be a great adventure, and I felt quite equal to it. I stayed in the woods all day and had a beautiful time. I played Babes in the Wood and covered my doll with leaves, and impersonated Robinson Crusoe, using the same good old doll for Friday.
“You can imagine what was happening at home while I was enjoying myself! By the middle of the afternoon, half of Burton was out looking for me. About five o’clock I began to get pretty hungry. I had eaten the ginger cookies, but bread without butter didn’t look very good to me, so I had broken it up and scattered17 it broadcast for the birds. I was serenely18 trundling my doll carriage along the road home when I ran straight into a search party headed by my father. I did a great deal of explaining, but it wasn’t very satisfactory to either Father or Mother. My great adventure ended in a scolding from both, and I wasn’t allowed to go out of the yard for a whole week afterward19. That almost broke my heart, but it cured me of running away.” Ruth’s merry laugh rang out as she dwelt upon the tragic20 ending of her great adventure.
Emmy smiled her amusement at the tale. Her lovely face sobered a trifle as she said: “I never had a real childhood like yours. Mine was lived among grown-ups in fashionable hotels all over the civilized21 world. Not that Father and Mother neglected me. I’ve always been their chief consideration. But we are unfortunate enough to belong to that portion of society known as the ‘idle rich.’ Add to that, my father’s restless temperament22, and you can understand why we never take root in any particular bit of soil. Until I came to Hillside, Paris was more like home to me than any other place I ever lived in. We’ve spent several winters there. I always had a governess except the one year I went to boarding school near Paris.”
“It’s funny, but do you know I’ve never asked how you happened to pick out Miss Belaire’s Academy,” commented Ruth, her bright eyes sending out signals of belated curiosity.
“Oh, Mother and I were at Bar Harbor the summer before I came to Hillside, and while we were there, we met a perfectly23 delightful woman, an intimate friend of Miss Belaire. She recommended the academy at Hillside for me. Just at that time, Mother was quite in favor of letting me go to some good school in America. So she wrote to Miss Belaire, and you know the rest. It was a lucky day for me when I landed at Hillside.”
“And for me,” echoed Ruth fervently24. “It’s strange how things happen, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I—” Emma sat up suddenly, her lovely face breaking into smiles. “Discovered!” she exclaimed dramatically.
From the top of the steep bank, that rose to a height of perhaps twenty-five feet behind the narrow strip of white beach, a shrill25 halloo had split the enchanted26 silence. On the heights above, three figures in bathing suits were prancing27 about, accompanying their gyrations with triumphant28 shouts. Having succeeded in attracting the attention of the recumbent pair on the sand, they charged recklessly down the narrow path to the beach and landed tumultuously beside their quarry29.
“Stole a march on us, didn’t you?” cried Jane Pellew, playfully shaking Ruth by the shoulders. “Shall we duck them, girls?”
“Just try it,” challenged Ruth. Wriggling30 free of Jane’s hold, she sat up in the sand, arms rigid31, braced32 to withstand assault.
“Don’t be so demonstrative, young ladies.” Rising lazily to a sitting posture33, Emmy delivered her rebuke34 in exact imitation of Miss Melby, the prim35 instructor36 in mathematics at Miss Belaire’s.
“Let’s duck Miss Melby in effigy37,” proposed naughty Frances. “You shall be the effigy, Emmy. Come on, Sarah.”
Amid shrieks38 of protest from the luckless effigy, she was hustled39 or rather dragged across the sand and bundled into the water, where the trio participated in a lively tussle40. Ruth laughed so immoderately as to relax her own grip on terra firma, and all but shared Emmy’s fate. Jane, realizing her opportunity, promptly41 seized it, and a friendly conflict ensued between the two that brought them to the water’s edge, breathless and laughing.
“Just as I told you, Ruth,” declared Emmy, as she emerged dripping from the shallows and proceeded to wring42 the water from her bathing suit. “We were down here basking43 in a glorious sunshiny world of our own when—I hate to be so brutally44 frank. Still, I believe I’d rather be brutally frank than frankly46 brutal45.”
“I wonder what she means,” giggled47 Sarah, in appreciation48 of Emmy’s word-play.
“Her mind is evidently wandering. It’s not safe for us to go near her. Let’s go swimming. When we come back she may be more rational.”
With a gay laugh, Frances ran into the water, Jane and Sarah following.
“I’ve thought of a lovely name for you,” announced Emmy, when, a little later, the trio emerged from the lake and flung themselves down on the sand. “Ruth, I call you to bear witness that we have with us this morning the Terrible Three.”
“That’s a fine name,” shamelessly applauded Frances. “Come on, Janie and Sarey, let’s go up to the cottage and introduce ourselves to the rest of the crowd. Isn’t true appreciation a lovely thing?”
“By the way, where are they?” asked Ruth. “Certainly they must be awake and stirring. No one could sleep with the Terrible Three abroad and screaming.”
“They were all up when we started out to hunt you and Emmy. That is, all except Blanche.” Jane’s accompanying shrug49 was eloquent50 of her feelings.
“Blanche hates to get up in the morning,” observed Emmy. “I’ve already told you girls about what a time her mother used to have waking her when we were at Silver Birch Inn last summer.”
“Very likely she is tired out,” excused Ruth considerately. “She’s not used to long hikes like the one we took yesterday. We’ll have to give her time, children, to grow into our ways.”
Ruth’s pertinent51 speech brought momentary52 pause in the conversation. In the minds of all five girls rose a vision of Blanche as she had very recently appeared to them. It was not a vision which carried encouragement in its wake.
“Let’s hope she grows into them soon.” Uncharitable Jane broke the little silence, which had fallen upon the group on the sands, with this satirical comment on Blanche Shirly. Despite her promise to “be a little bit nice to Blanche,” Jane could not resist this one fling at her.
“Leave it to Plain Jane to speak the epilogue,” jibed53 Frances. “Come on, Equitable Five, let’s go up to the cottage. I am hungry as a hunter. Lucky for us that Marian and Betty were detailed54 to help Martha with the breakfast. While we are gaily55 gallivanting along the sands, they are toiling56 in the kitchen.”
“I am glad we decided57 yesterday, when we first came, to divide the work. It’s strictly Camp Fire procedure, and besides we wouldn’t feel right to allow Miss Drexal and Martha to do all the housekeeping,” confided58 Ruth to Emmy as they started up the steep path to the cottage.
“It will be a lark59.” Emmy’s eyes sparkled. “Last year, when we went camping, I played at being an ornament60. This time I intend to get busy and learn to do various useful things. I am going to earn a whole collection of honor beads61 as soon as ever I can.”
“You’ve done very well, already,” praised Ruth. “I expect to see you a Torch Bearer before long.”
“If only I can be some day!” Emmy’s impulsive62 answer betrayed her intense yearning63 toward the honor.
The business of clambering up the narrow path precluded64 further confidences. Sarah, Jane and Frances had already reached the top, there to be met by Anne Follett, who had come in search of the missing quintette. In her white middy blouse, and blue uniform skirt and bloomers, Anne looked a typical Camp Fire girl.
“Hurry up, loiterers,” she urged gaily. “Such wet, bedraggled objects can’t expect to eat breakfast in the company of the dry and suitably clothed. Breakfast is almost ready, too.”
“Where’s Blanche?” demanded irrepressible Jane. “Is she up?”
“Perhaps. She wasn’t up yet when I came out here. Maybe she is now.” An unconscious pucker65 appeared between Anne’s delicately-arched brows, as she made reply. She had left Betty engaged in the difficult task of rousing the slothful Blanche.
“For meals may come and meals may go,
But Blanche sleeps on forever,”
warbled Frances noisily.
“She won’t after that,” grimly predicted Sarah. “I don’t see how she could help hearing you, even though she is such a sleepyhead.”
“Be good, Frances,” admonished66 Ruth, laughing a little in spite of herself. She was reflecting that a few such shouted pleasantries would send their proposed reform tumbling down in a hurry.
“I am good, gooder, goodest,” stoutly67 protested the warbler. “Also I have an inspiration. It’s a how-to-be-helpful-to-Blanche stunt68. In due season I will reveal it to Jane. I can depend upon her to help me carry it out.”
“Not until I know what it is,” was Jane’s canny69 stipulation70. “Tell me now.”
“No, my child. We are of a too nearness to the cottage. We must observe great caution, or our victim, I mean our candidate for helpfulness, may overhear and thus forfeit71 a delightful surprise.”
As it happened, the aforesaid candidate had already heard. What Betty had partially72 accomplished73, Frances’ high-pitched lilt had perfectly completed. Blanche had been in the act of lazily sitting up in her bed when Frances’ clear tones had assailed74 her ears. The tuneful announcement, “But Blanche sleeps on forever,” had acted upon the displeased75 listener with dynamic force.
Hastily swinging her feet to the floor, she had pattered to the open window where, concealed76 by the swaying folds of the white scrim curtain, she had angrily listened to the ensuing remarks, which floated plainly to her ears. With the muttered exclamation77, “Deceitful things!” she rushed from the window, and began to dress with an energy quite at variance78 with her usual languor79. So Frances Bliss and Jane Pellew were planning to play some hateful trick on her! Very well. Forewarned was forearmed. She would lose no time in showing them that they had best leave her alone. Furthermore, she would impress it upon them in a fashion they would not relish80.
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收听单词发音
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1
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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equitable
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| adj.公平的；公正的 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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unpacking
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| n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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16
ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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17
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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27
prancing
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| v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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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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31
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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32
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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35
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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38
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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39
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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40
tussle
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| n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩 | |
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41
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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42
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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43
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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44
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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45
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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46
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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47
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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49
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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50
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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51
pertinent
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| adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的 | |
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52
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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53
jibed
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| v.与…一致( jibe的过去式和过去分词 )；（与…）相符；相匹配 | |
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54
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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55
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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56
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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57
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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58
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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59
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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60
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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61
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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62
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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63
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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64
precluded
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| v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通 | |
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65
pucker
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| v.撅起，使起皱；n.（衣服上的）皱纹，褶子 | |
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66
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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67
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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68
stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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69
canny
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| adj.谨慎的，节俭的 | |
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70
stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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71
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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72
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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75
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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76
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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78
variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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79
languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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80
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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