—Vanderlyn's Songs of the Past.
It was curious how much interest Mr. Sanders began to take in the home life that the mere2 presence of Adelaide brought to old Jonas Whipple's house. He would walk in without knocking, sometimes just about tea-time, and the child would invariably ask him to stay. Then after tea, he would challenge old Jonas for a game of checkers, and Adelaide thought it was great fun to watch them, they were so eager to defeat each other. Mr. Sanders had long been the champion checker-player in that part of the country, and he was very much astonished to find that old Jonas was himself an expert. Sometimes Adelaide would watch the game, and the two men invariably appealed to her to settle any question or doubt that arose, such as which of the two made the last move, or whether old Jonas had slipped a man from the board.
Most frequently, however, Adelaide was busy with her own affairs, and when this was the case, the two men sat quietly together, sometimes talking and sometimes listening.
"The Bishop6 is here," Adelaide would say to Cally-Lou. Then it seemed that Cally-Lou would make some reply that could only be heard through the ears of the imagination, to which Adelaide would respond most earnestly: "Why of course he isn't asleep, 'cause I saw him wink8 both eyes just now"—and the conversation would go on, sometimes good-humouredly, and sometimes charged with pretended indignation. If there had been any telephones, Mr. Sanders would inevitably9 have said: "You can't make me believe thar ain't some un at the other eend of the line."
I would say it was all like a play on the stage, only it wasn't as small as that. A play on the stage, as you well know, has its times and places. It must come to an end within a reasonable time. The curtain comes down, the audience files out, laughing and chatting, or wiping its eyes—as the case may be—the actors run to their cheerless rooms to strip off their tinsel finery, then the lights are put out, and everything is left to the chill of emptiness and gloom. But this was not the way with the play at old Jonas's home. It began early in the morning—for Adelaide was a very early riser—and lasted until bed-time; and, sometimes, longer, as Lucindy could have told you. Old Jonas had a way of covering his bald head with a flannel10 night-cap, and tucking the bed-covering about his face and ears, so that light and sound, no matter where they came from, would have as much as they could do to reach his eyes and ears; and, while he lay very still, as though he were sound asleep, he was sometimes awake for a very long time, thinking old thoughts and new ones, remembering people he had pinched in money matters, and thinking of those he intended to pinch.
After Adelaide came to live with him he had few thoughts of this kind, and less desire to sleep. Frequently he lay awake for hours at a time, wondering if the child was comfortable. Adelaide slept in a poster bed, one of the old-fashioned kind, and many a night, when everything was still and dark as the gloomy plague that fell over Egypt, old Jonas would slip from under his carefully tucked cover, steal into the room where the child slept, and listen by her bedside to convince himself that she was really breathing, so softly and shyly did she draw her breath. And sometimes he would put out his hand and feel—oh, ever so gently!—if she had kicked off the covering.
"Old Jonas would listen by her bedside to convince himself that she was really breathing"
Now, it frequently happened that Lucindy, the cook, had the same spells of uneasiness, and it chanced one night that they were both at the child's bed at the same time. Old Jonas was feeling, and Lucindy was feeling, and their hands met; the cold hand of old Jonas touched Lucindy's hand. This was enough! Lucindy said not a word—indeed, words were beyond her—she said afterward11 that she came within one of uttering a scream and dropping to the floor. But the fright that had weakened her, had also given her strength to escape. She stole back to her place on tip-toe, declaring in her mind that she would never again enter that room at night unless she had torch-bearers to escort her.
It was contrary to all her knowledge and experience that old Jonas should concern himself about the child at his time of life, and with his whimsical habits and methods. In trying to account for the incident, her mind never wandered in the direction of old Jonas at all. To imagine that he was at the bedside of the child, investigating her comfort, was far less plausible12 than any other explanation she could offer. And then and there, the legend of Cally-Lou became charged with reality, so far as Lucindy was concerned; and it had a larger growth in one night, from the impetus13 that Lucindy gave it, than an ordinary legend could hope to have in a century.
Lucindy lost no time in mentioning the matter to Adelaide the next day. "La, honey! I had de idee dat you wuz des a-playin' when I hear you talkin' to Cally-Lou; I got de idee dat she wuz des one er de Whittle-Come-Whattles dat lives in folks' min', an' nowhar else. Dat 'uz kaze I ain't never seed 'er; my eyeballs ain't got de right slant14, I reckon. But las' night, I tuck a notion dat you had done kick de kivver off, an' in I went, gropin' an' creepin' 'roun' in de dark—not dish yer common dark what you have out'n doors, but de kin3' dat your Nunky-Punky keeps in de house at night; an' de Lord knows ef I had ez much money ez what dey say he's got, I'd have me ten candles an' a lantern lit in eve'y blessed room. Well, I went in dar, des like I tell you, an' I put out my han'—des so—an' I teched somebody else's han', an' 'twant your'n, honey, kaze 'twuz ez col' ez a frog in de branch. I tell you now, I lit out fum dar—hosses couldn't 'a' helt me—an' I come in de back room dar whar I b'long'ded at, crope back in bed, an' shuck an' shiver'd plum' tell sleep come down de chimberly an' sot on my eyeleds.
"Nobody nee'n'ter tell me dey aint no Cally-Lou, kaze I done gone an' felt un her. Folks say dat feelin's lots better'n seein'. What you see mayn't be dar, kaze yer eyeballs may be wrong, but what you feels un, it's blidze ter be dar. Well, I done put my han' on Cally-Lou! Yes, honey, right on 'er!" Lucindy told her experience to many, including old Jonas, who glared at her with his ferret-like eyes, and moved his jaws15 as if he were chewing a very toothsome tidbit; and the oftener she told it, the larger it grew and the more completely she believed in Cally-Lou.
Many shook their heads, while others openly avowed16 their disbelief. On the other hand a large number of those who came in contact with Lucindy and heard her solemn account of the affair, were greatly impressed. Adelaide showed not the slightest surprise when Lucindy recounted her astonishing adventure. She seemed to be glad that the cook had now discovered for herself about Cally-Lou, but she seemed very much distressed17, and also irritated, that the Chill-Child-No-Child (as she sometimes called her) should be so thoughtless as to wander about in the darkness with nothing on her feet and little on her body. With both hands Adelaide pushed back her wonderful hair that was almost hiding her blue eyes.
"I don't know how often I have told Cally-Lou not to go gadding18 about the house at night, catching19 cold and making Nunky-Punky pay a dollar apiece for doctor's bills. No wonder she slept so late this morning!"
Adelaide not only talked like she was picking the words out of a big book, as Lucindy declared, but there were times, as now, when all the troubles and responsibilities of maternity20 looked out upon the world through her eyes. Old-fashioned, and apparently21 as much in earnest as a woman grown, it was no wonder that Lucindy gazed at her like one entranced!
Adelaide made no further remark, but turned and went from the kitchen into the house. All the doors were open, the weather being warm and pleasant, and Lucindy presently heard her asking Cally-Lou why she continued to disobey the only friend she had in the world. Cally-Lou must have made some excuse, or explanation, though Lucindy couldn't hear a word thereof, for Adelaide, speaking in a louder tone, gave the Chill-Child-No-Child a sound rebuke22.
"I don't care if you do feel that way about it," said she; "Nunky-Punky can look after me, if he feels like it, and so can Aunt Lucindy, but I'm the one to look after you. Be ashamed of yourself! a great big girl like you going around in the dark, barefooted and bareheaded. Seat yourself in that chair, and don't move out of it till I tell you, or you'll be sorry."
Lucindy, listening with all her ears, lifted her arms in a gesture of admiration23 and astonishment24, exclaiming to herself, "I des wish you'd listen! Dat sho do beat my time!"
Adelaide went off to play, and it might be supposed that she had forgotten Cally-Lou; but a little before the hour was up, she went into the house again, called Cally-Lou, and, after a little, came running out again, laughing as gayly as if she had heard one of Mr. Sanders's jokes.
"What de matter, honey? Whar Cally-Lou?" Lucindy inquired.
"Why, she went fast asleep in the chair," cried Adelaide, laughing as though it were the funniest thing imaginable, "and no wonder she fell asleep after wandering about the house, pretending she wanted to make sure that I was snivelling under that heavy cover. How can anybody get cold such weather as this?"
Lucindy shook her head. "De han' dat totch mine was col', honey—stone col'."
"Oh, Cally-Lou's hand! Well, she can sit by the fire and still be cold," responded Adelaide. "Cally-Lou is mighty25 funny," she went on, growing confidential26; "she says she is lonesome; she wants to play with growner folks than me."
"Well, honey, I dunner whar she'll fin5' um. Dar's Mr. Sanders; sholy he ain't too young fer 'er!"
As though the mention of his name had summoned Mr. Sanders from the dim and vague region where Cally-Lou had her place of residence, those in the kitchen now heard his voice in the house. He had entered, as usual, without taking the trouble to knock, and he came down the long hall, talking and saluting28 imaginary persons, hoping in that way to attract the attention of Adelaide. Nor was he unsuccessful.
"Well, I declare!" he exclaimed. "Here's Miss Sue Frierson!—an' well-named too, bekaze ever'body knows that she'd fry a sun ef she had one. Howdy, Miss Sue! Miss Susan-Sue! Ef you are well, why I am too! So it's up an' hop7 to-day. Dr. Honeyman says she won't be well tell she's better. She had company last night, an' she tried for to nod whiles she was standin' up. It'd 'a' been all right ef her feet had n't 'a' gone to sleep. Thereupon, an' likewise whatsoever—as the Peskerwhalian Bishop says—she fell off'n her perch29, an' had to be put to bed back'ards. What? You don't know the Peskerwhalian Bishop? Well, his hardware name is William H. Sanders, of the county aforesaid, Ashbank Deestrick, G. M.
"Cally-Lou? Well, I hain't seed the child to-day, but she's up an' about; you'll hear her whistlin' fer company presently. Can't stay? Well, good bye, Miss Susan-Sue; mighty glad I met you when I did. So long, or longer!"
Bowing Miss Frierson out, though she was invisible to all eyes, Mr. Sanders came back toward the kitchen talking to himself. "Well, well! I hadn't seed my Susan-Sue in thirteen year, an' she's jest the same as she was when she engaged herself to me—eyes like they had been jest washed, an' the eend of her nose lookin' like a ripe plum! But sech is life whar we live at. Howdy, Adelaide? Howdy, Lucindy? I hope both of you have taken your stand among my well-wishers."
"La, Mr. Sanders, how you does run on! I b'lieve you er lots wuss'n you used to be!"
"Well, Lucindy, it's mighty hard for to make a young hoss stand in one place. He's uther got to go back'ards or forrerds, or jump sideways. I've jest begun to live good. I feel a heap better sence I was born in the country whar Miss Adelaide spends her time an' pleasure."
"Now, Bishop, tell me, please, if you were really talking to Miss——Miss——"
"Frierson—Miss Susan-Sue Frierson." Mr. Sanders supplied the name to Adelaide. He seemed to be filled with astonishment. "Did you hear me talking?" he asked in a confidential whisper. "Why, I—I didn't know you could hear me! Now, don't go and tell ever'body. She lives in our country, an' she come for to see Cally-Lou."
"Well, I'm sorry Cally-Lou didn't see her. I had to punish her to-day, and she's not feeling so well."
"Well, I reckon not!" exclaimed Mr. Sanders; "'specially30 ef you used a cowhide, or a barrel-stave. What have you got to do to-day, and whar are you gwine? I had a holiday comin' to me, an' so I thought I'd come down here an' take you to the Whish-Whish Woods an' hunt for the Boogerman."
At once Adelaide was in a quiver of excitement. "Shall we camp out? Must we take guns? How long shall we stay?"
"Guns! why, tooby shore," replied Mr. Sanders, with an expression of ferociousness31 new to his countenance32; "as many as we can tote wi'out sp'ilin' our complexions33; an' we'll stay ontel we git him or his hide. Lucindy'd better fix up a lunch for two—a couple of biscuits an' a couple of buttermilks. Thar's no tellin' when we'll git back."
Now, old Jonas Whipple had the largest and the finest garden in town. It was such a fine garden, indeed, that the neighbours had a way of looking at it over the fence, and wondering how Providence34 could be so kind to a man so close and stingy, and so mean in money-matters. And as your neighbours can wonder about one thing as well as another, old Jonas's wondered where all the vegetables went to. It was out of the question that old Jonas should use them all himself; and yet, as regularly as the garden was planted every year, as certainly as the vegetables always grew successfully, let the season be wet or dry, just as regularly and just as certainly, the various crops disappeared as fast as they became eatable—and that, too, when nearly everybody in the community had gardens of their own. It was a very mild mystery, but in a village, such as Shady Dale was, even a mild mystery becomes highly important until it is solved, and then it is forgotten. Only Mr. Sanders had solved it thus far, and this was the main reason why he "neighboured" with old Jonas. He had discovered that the vegetables went to the maintenance of a small colony of "tackies" that had settled near Shady Dale—"dirt-eaters" they were called. They were so poor and improvident35 that the men went in rags and the women in tatters; and only old Jonas's fine garden was free to them. In the early morning twilight36 they would slip in with their bags and their baskets, and were gone before anybody but themselves had shaken off the shackles37 of sleep.
Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-eight seemed to be very pale when Adelaide and I found it under the honeysuckle vine, but in old Jonas's garden it was particularly brilliant in its colours of green. Green is the admiration of summer, and it has more beautiful shades than the rainbow. Observe the marked difference between the cabbage and the corn, between the squash and watermelon vines, between the asparagus and the cucumber, between the red pepper plants and the tomato vines! These variations are worth more than a day's study by any artist who is ambitious of training his eyes to colour.
In old Jonas's garden in the summer we are speaking of, there were three squares of corn, the finest that had ever been seen on upland. And it was very funny, too: for old Jonas had planted early, and the frost had come down and nipped the corn when it was about three inches high. The negro gardener was in despair; in all his experience, and he was gray-headed, he had never seen anything like this late frost, and he was anxious for the corn to be ploughed up, so that it could be replanted. Old Jonas wouldn't hear to the proposition, and the gardener went about his business, wondering how a man could be so stingy about seed corn, when he had seven or eight bushels stored away in the dry cellar.
But, as time went on, the gardener discovered that old Jonas had wisdom on his side of the fence; the corn not only came up again after being cut down, but it grew twice as fast, and almost twice as high as anybody else's corn. In short, there had never before been seen, in that neighbourhood, a roasting-ear patch quite as vigorous. Some of the cornstalks were nearly fourteen feet high, and some of them had as many as four ear-sprouts showing. The patch was so rank and healthy that it attracted the attention of Mr. Sanders. He climbed the fence, and went into old Jonas's garden to give it a close examination. A good breeze was blowing at the time, and the sword-like leaves of the corn were stirred by it, so that they waved up and down and from side to side, whispering to one another, "Whish-whish!" That was enough for Mr. Sanders. He thought instantly of Adelaide, and he named the roasting-ear patch the Whish-Whish Woods, and that was where he proposed to go hunting for the Boogerman, the awful, greedy creature that ate Nunky-Punky's vegetables raw!
Lucindy didn't need any training in the quick-lunch line, and in less than no time, if we may deal familiarly with the ticking of the clock, she had cut two biscuits open and inserted in each a juicy slice of ham; and while she was doing this, Adelaide ran to her armoury, where she kept her weapons, offensive and defensive38, and came running back with two guns. They were cornstalk guns, but not the less dangerous on that account. They were very long and, as Mr. Sanders said, they had about them an appearance of violence calculated to make the Boogerman fall on his knees and surrender the moment he was discovered. An ordinary gun might miss fire—such things have been known before now—but a cornstalk gun, never! All you have to do when you have a cornstalk gun, is to point it at the destined39 victim, shut your eyes and say Bang! in a loud voice, and the thing is done. And if people or things—whatever and whoever you shoot at—should be mean enough to remain unhurt, why, then, that is their fault, and much good may their meanness do them!
Well, Adelaide and Mr. Sanders took their lunch and were about to start on their dangerous expedition, when they bethought themselves of something that Lucindy had forgotten.
"Why, Lucindy!" cried Adelaide, "what is the matter with you?"
"Nothin' 't all dat I knows on, honey. I'm de same ol' sev'n an' six what I allers been."
Then Mr. Sanders came to Adelaide's support. "Well, your mind must be wanderin'," he said, "bekaze we ast you as plain as tongue kin speak for to put us up a couple of buttermilks."
Lucindy threw her hand above her head with a gesture of despair. "I know it, I know it! but I ain't got but one buttermilk. Dar's a jar full, but dat don't make but one; an' what I gwine do when dat's de case?"
"Why, ef you've got a jar full, thar must be mighty nigh a dozen buttermilks in it." And so, after much argument and explanation, Lucindy found a bottle and a funnel40 and poured two glassfuls in it, one after the other. Mr. Sanders, very solemn, counted as she filled the glass. "That makes one," he said, as she emptied the first glass, "an'," when she poured in the rest—"that makes two, don't it?"
"Yasser! La, yasser! you-all got me so mixified dat I dunner know which eend I'm a standin' on. Two! yasser, dey sho is two in dar!"
Having everything needful in hand, the hunters took their way toward the large garden. Don't think this garden bore any resemblance to the ordinary gardens that are to be found in cities and towns. No! it was so large that, standing41 at one end you had to shade your eyes—especially when the sun was shining—to be able to see the boundary fence at the other end. It held not only a supply of vegetables sufficient for fifty families, but it contained an abundance of old-fashioned flowers, the kind you see pictured in the magazines—roses, spice pinks, primroses42, mint, with its little blue flowers, lavender—oh, and ever so much of everything! And it was all well kept, too, stingy as old Jonas was. In this wide garden the Whish-Whish Forest grew and flourished, and toward this the two hunters bent43 their steps.
At first they pretended they were not hunting. Nothing could have been more innocent than the careless way in which they made their way toward the home of the Boogerman. Hiding their cornstalk guns behind them as well as they could, they sauntered along examining the flowers, and no one would have supposed that they were after ridding the country of the cruel monster that had terrorised the children for miles around. In not less than seven or seventeen counties was his name spoken in whispers when the sun had gone to bed and tucked his cloud-quilts around him. If a child cried at night, or if a wide-awake little one uttered a whimpering protest when bed-time came, the nurses—not one nurse, but all the nurses—would raise their hands warningly, and whisper in a frightened tone, "Sh-sh! the Boogerman is standing right there by the window; if you make a noise, he'll know right where you are—and then what will happen?"
Presently Adelaide and Mr. Sanders (who was still the Bishop, be it remembered) came close in their saunterings to the edge of the Whish-Whish Woods, and then they began to creep forward, making as little noise as possible.
"They began to creep forward, making as little noise as possible"
"Bishop," said Adelaide, in a whisper, "you slip through the Woods one way, and I'll slip through the other way. You can be a bishop and a Injun, too, can't you?"
"Nothin' easier," replied the Bishop, trying to whisper in return; "I'll jest take off my coat an' turn it wrongsud-out'rds, an' thar you are!"
Adelaide's ecstasy44 shone in her face, and with good reason, for the middle lining45 of the Bishop's coat was fiery46 red. This was too good to be true, and Adelaide wished in her heart that she had worn her hat with the big red feather—oh, you know: the one she wore to Sunday School, where all the other little girls were simply green with envy; of course you couldn't forget that hat and feather!
In spite of the fiery red lining of his coat, the Bishop had an idea that he didn't look fierce enough, so he took off his felt hat, knocked in the crown, and put it on upside down. His aspect was simply tremendous. No hobgoblin could have a fiercer appearance than the Bishop had, and if Adelaide didn't shriek47 with pure delight it was because she put her gun across her mouth and bit it. She bit so hard that the print of her small teeth showed on the gun. Well, of course, after the Bishop had transformed himself into such a ferocious-looking monster, he and Adelaide were obliged to have another consultation48, and it was while this was going on that Adelaide came near spoiling the whole thing.
"Oh, Bishop!" she cried, with a great gasp49, "how do you laugh when you're obliged to, and when——" she gave another gasp, sank to the ground, and lay there, shaking all over.
"You put me in mind, honey, of the lady in the book that leaned ag'in the old ellum tree and shuck wi' sobs50, ever' one on 'em more'n a foot an' a half long, wi' stickers on 'em like a wild briar. It's a sad thing for to say, but I'm oblidze to say it. The time has come when we've got to part. Ef we go on this way, the Boogerman will come along an' put us both in his wallet, an' then what'll we do? Things can't go on this a-way. It may be for years an' it may be forever, as Miss Ann Tatum says when she begins for to squall at her peanner, but the time to part has come. You creep up yander by the fence, so you can see the Boogerman ef he tries for to git away, an' I'll roost aroun' in the bushes. Ef I jump him I'll holla, an' ef he come your way, jest shet your eyes an' give him both barrels in the neighbourhood of eyeballs an' appetite. You can't kill the Boogerman unless you hit him in his green eye—the other is a dark mud colour."
Well, they separated, the Bishop beating in the bushes and underbrush, as he called the crab-grass and weeds that had begun to make their appearance in the corn-patch, and Adelaide creeping to her post of observation as though she were stalking some wild and wary51 animal. She could hear the Bishop rustling52 about in the thick corn, but couldn't catch a glimpse of him. Once she heard him sneeze as only a middle-aged53 man can sneeze, and she frowned as a general frowns when his orders have been disobeyed. Presently she heard some one coming along the side street, which, being away from the main thoroughfares, was little frequented. Occasionally a pedestrian, or a farmer going home, or house servants, who lived near-by, passed along its narrow length.
The moment she heard footsteps, Adelaide shrank back in the thick corn, and held her cornstalk gun in readiness. Her hair might have been mistaken for a tangle54 of corn-silks newly sunburned as it fell over her face. The steps drew nearer, and, in a moment, a negro came into view. He was a stranger to Adelaide, and that fact only made it more certain that he was the Boogerman himself, who had jumped the garden fence in order to elude55 Mr. Sanders, and was now sauntering along appearing as innocent as innocence56 itself. When the Boogerman came opposite Adelaide's hiding-place, she jumped up suddenly, aimed her gun and cried Bang! in a loud voice.
Now, as it happened, the passing negro was one who could meet and beat Adelaide on her own ground. The cornstalk gun, with its imperative57 Bang! carried him back to old times, though he was not old—back to the times when he played make-believe with his young mistress and the rest of the children. Therefore, simultaneously58 with Adelaide's Bang! he stopped in his tracks, his face working convulsively, his arms flying wildly about, and his legs giving way under him. He sank slowly to the ground, and then began to flop59 about just as a chicken does when its head is wrung60 off.
The Bishop heard a wild, exultant61 shout from Adelaide: "Run, Bishop, run! I've got him! I've killed the Boogerman! Run, Bishop, run!" Mr. Sanders ran as fast as he could; and when he saw the negro lying on the ground, with no movement save an occasional quiver of the limbs and a sympathetic twitching62 of the fingers, his amazement63 knew no bounds.
"Why, honey!" he cried, "what in the world have you done to him?"
"I didn't do a thing, Bishop, but shoot him with my cornstalk gun; I didn't know it had such a heavy load in it. Anyhow, he had no business to be the Boogerman. Do you think he's truly—ann—dead, Bishop?"
"As dead," Mr. Sanders declared solemnly, "as Hector. I dunno how dead Hector was, but this feller is jest as dead as him—that is ef he ain't got a conniption fit; I've heern tell of sech things."
They climbed the garden fence, and went to where the Boogerman was lying stretched out. "When a man's dead," said Mr. Sanders, "he'll always tell you so ef you ax him."
"Boogerman! oh, Boogerman!" cried Adelaide, going a little closer.
"Ma'am!" replied the dead one feebly.
"When the Boogerman is dead," said Adelaide, "and anybody asks him if it is so, he lifts his left foot and rolls his eyeballs. Are you dead?"
In confirmation64 of that fact, the foot was lifted, and the eyeballs began to roll. Adelaide was almost beside herself with delight. Never had she hoped to have such an experience as this. "Where shall he be buried, Bishop?"
"Close to the ash-hopper, right behind the kitchen," promptly65 responded Mr. Sanders.
"Get up, Boogerman!" commanded Adelaide. "You have to go to your own fumerl, you know, and you might as well go respectably." Adelaide always uttered a deliciously musical gurgle when she used a big word.
"Yes," said Mr. Sanders; "as fur as my readin' goes, thar ain't nothin' in the fourteenth an' fifteenth amendments66 ag'in it."
Now, old Jonas's side-gate opened on this street, and on this gate Lucindy chanced to be leaning, when the Boogerman, fatally wounded by Adelaide's cornstalk gun, sank upon the ground and began to jump around like a chicken with its head off. She was tremendously frightened at first; in fact she was almost paralysed. So she stayed where she was, explaining afterward that she didn't want to be mixed up "wid any er deze quare doin's what done got so common sence de big rucus." Then she saw Adelaide and Mr. Sanders climb the garden fence and stand over the fallen negro, and curiosity overcame her fright. By the time the negro was on his feet, Lucindy had arrived. She looked at him hard, jumped at him, threw her arms around his neck, and squeezed him so tight that the two of them kept turning around as if they were trying to keep time to a smothered67 waltz; and all the while Lucindy was moaning and groaning68 and thanking the Lord that her son whom she had not seen in four long years, had come, as it were, right straight to her bosom69.
She hugged him to the point of smifflication, as Mr. Sanders declared, and she held him at arm's length, the better to see whether he had changed, and in what particular. Then she turned to Mr. Sanders:
"Mr. Sanders, sholy you knows dis chil'—sholy you ain't done gone an' disremembered Randall. Des like you seed him doin' des now, dat de way he been doin' all his born days—constantly a-playin', constantly a-makin' out dat what ain't so is so, an' lots mo' so. Many an' many's de time sence Miss Adelaide been here has I had de idee dat ef Randall wuz here, he'd be mo' dan a match fer Cally-Lou an' all de rest un um dat slips out'n dreams an' stays wid us. Yasser, I sho has. But now he's come, I des feels in my bones dat he gwine ter git in deep trouble 'bout4 dem crimes what he run away fer."
"Randall is the chap that knocked Judge Bowden's overseer crossways an' crooked70, ain't he?" inquired Mr. Sanders.
"Yasser, he done dat thing," replied Lucindy: "an how come he ter do it—him dat wuz afear'd er his own shadder—I'll never tell you. Let 'lone27 dat, he ain't gwin ter tell you; kaze I done ax'd him myse'f. I speck71 he'll haf ter run away ag'in."
"You know me, don't you, Randall?" inquired Mr. Sanders.
"La! yasser, Mr. Sanders, I've been knowin' you sence I could walk good."
"That's what I thought," said Mr. Sanders. "Well, my advice to you is to stay an' face the music. Ef the man you hit makes a move we'll have him right whar we've been a-tryin' fer to git him for two long years!"
They went toward the house, and entered the side-gate, attracting, as they did so, the attention of two or three of the neighbours. The Bishop had been so absorbed in what had occurred that he forgot to turn his coat, or to right his hat.
"Did you see old Billy Sanders?" one woman asked another over the back fence.
"I did," replied the other, "and I like to have dropped—I believe he is going crazy."
"Going!" exclaimed the first woman, "he's gone! Done gone!"
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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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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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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fin
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| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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gadding
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| n.叮搔症adj.蔓生的v.闲逛( gad的现在分词 )；游荡；找乐子；用铁棒刺 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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ferociousness
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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complexions
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| 肤色( complexion的名词复数 )； 面色； 局面； 性质 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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improvident
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| adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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shackles
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| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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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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primroses
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| n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果） | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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49
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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52
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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53
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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54
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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56
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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57
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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59
flop
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| n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下 | |
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60
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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61
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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62
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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63
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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64
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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66
amendments
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| （法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案 | |
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67
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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68
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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69
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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71
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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