“The question is,” said Nancy, plying1 her egg-beater with vigor2, “shall we tell Aunt Anna what we think?”
“If we should be mistaken, and John Herrick should turn out to be, oh, just anybody, she would be so disappointed. Perhaps we had better wait.”
They had hardly finished breakfast when there was a knock at the door, followed by Dr. Minturn’s tall presence on the threshold. He inspected his patient and announced a very great improvement, and then said he must go on at once, since he hoped to visit the town and start back over the mountain that same day. Beatrice walked down with him through the pines, for he had tied his horse at the gate.
“Your aunt seems less worried and far more cheerful than before,” he said.
“Yes,” assented4 Beatrice, “I think it is because she has told us at last why she came.” She went on to give the substance of Aunt Anna’s story.
“I surmised6 it was something like that,” he observed when he had heard her to the end, “and I have been thinking about it ever since. I don’t know any man in this neighborhood by the name of Deems but—I believe he is not so far away after all.”
Beatrice looked at him steadily7.
“I believe that too,” she said.
Dr. Minturn stopped, for they had reached the bars, but he made no move to mount his horse.
“I’m going to give you some advice that isn’t medical,” he began. “I think more of John Herrick than of any other man in the world, barring my own son, perhaps, and I love Hester as though she were mine. And you three here, your aunt and your sister and you, I have come to think of you all as better friends than I had ever thought to make again. Your aunt—why, she has more pluck in one inch of that little sick body of hers than I have in my whole big self, and her girls aren’t far behind her. I’d like to see her have what she wants, I’d like to see you all happy.”
He drew a long breath and spoke9 lower.
“Whatever you think is or isn’t so,” he warned, “don’t—press anybody too hard, don’t push some one by letting him know too quickly that you have guessed who he is. Your aunt is eager and overwrought; who wouldn’t be, after ten years of anxiety and sorrow? She and you might be in too much of a hurry and ruin everything. John thinks he is safe under his assumed name and with your aunt too ill to be about. He knows who you are and perhaps why you have come, but he can’t yet make up his mind to conquer his stubborn pride. Give him time, that is all I say, give him time. He rode away into the hills the first day he saw you, but he must have thought things out up there in the mountains, for he came back again. But he can’t come all the way yet.”
“Do you think he ever will?” Beatrice asked anxiously.
“Yes, I think he will. Does your aunt have any suspicion of who he is?”
“I am sure she hasn’t,” Beatrice declared. “She thinks of him as Hester’s father, some one too old to be her brother. No, she doesn’t dream it.”
“Then don’t tell her and don’t tell him,” he urged. “Wait until John is ready to tell her himself. You must go gently with a man who has been hurt to his very soul.”
Beatrice held out her brown hand and the doctor shook it solemnly. She watched him ride away; then returned to the house to saddle Buck10 and set off presently up the mountain. Her mind was full of new, excited hopes that seemed to dance to the music of Buck’s flying feet.
Nancy, meanwhile, was not thinking so much of their new problem. She had the faculty11 of being completely absorbed in the object in hand and to-day that object was a cake. Christina had given her a Scandinavian recipe, dwelling12 so much on the unusual deliciousness of the result that Nancy could scarcely wait to try it. With the greatest of care she mixed and measured and weighed and stirred.
“It is rather a long cake,” she reflected after she had spent an hour combining the ingredients, but she felt certain that the completed dish would amply repay her toil13.
She had just got it into the oven when a knock sounded on the kitchen door to announce the boy whom Hester had sent with a basket of eggs.
“Thank you, Olaf,” she said as he set them down; then flushed since she had not meant to speak his name. The color flooded his face also. “I beg your pardon,” she added quickly. “We have been guessing who you were, but we didn’t mean to pry14 into any secrets.”
“It does not matter,” he assured her. “My mother and John Herrick made me promise that I would not go to the village while things were so upset, since he says there is no use in stirring up bad feeling again. Your sister’s letter caught me in San Francisco, just as I was to sail; but I couldn’t help coming home, once I knew that my mother really wanted to see me. But I don’t like this hiding away, and I only agreed to it because I would do anything John Herrick says.”
Old Tim came in to put away his tools and to sit down upon the doorstep for a moment to rest.
“I can’t think of another thing to do to this cabin,” he confessed. “I have to own that it is time for me to go home.”
He was just getting up to take his leave when a step was heard on the path and Dabney Mills came around the corner of the house, smiling and quite unabashed by any memories of his departure some days before.
“I heard voices,” he said, “so I just thought I wouldn’t disturb any one by knocking at the front door and would——”
“Would see if you couldn’t overhear something,” Tim cut him short. “Well, we’re not speaking of anything you shouldn’t hear, so our talk wouldn’t interest you.”
He walked away leaving the intruding15 youth looking after him in speechless indignation. Nancy turned to the stove to look at her cake.
“I don’t know this gentleman,” she heard Dabney say, staring at Olaf, and she heard Tim reply over his shoulder, “Nor do you need to know him, so far as I can see.”
“I heard you talk of going berrying the other day, Miss Nancy,” Olaf said, coming to the door and quite disregarding the inquisitive16 reporter. “This is the best sort of a day for it, and I can show you just where to go. Your sister is coming up the hill, so your aunt won’t be left alone. Wouldn’t you like to come?”
“I would indeed! Will you excuse us?” she added politely to Dabney Mills, to which he gave a gruff assent5 and stalked out of sight around the corner of the house. She felt anxious to escape from his questions, and was sure that, in the hands of the determined17 Beatrice, he could find out very little. She fetched her hat and her basket and set off gaily18, since to look for berries had been a cherished project for some days.
“If I could just square off and hit him,” Olaf said regretfully looking back for a final glare at Dabney, “that might settle him once for all.”
“No,” Nancy returned wisely, “it would only begin a lot of trouble that would involve more people than yourself.”
“So John Herrick says,” the boy agreed with a sigh, “though it still seems to me the simplest way out of it.”
They scrambled19 up the hill, out beyond the shadow of the pines to the open pasture land where the trees had been cut, where the new growth was springing up, and where among the old stumps20 the berry bushes and vines matted the ground. It was a hot summer day, very still, except for the grasshoppers21 singing shrilly22, but not with that peaceful drowsy23 heat that Nancy knew. The air was far too bracing24 for any one to feel lazy or sleepy as on the summer days at home. The blue distances shimmered25, the sky was cloudless, everything seemed to stir and throb26 with the energy of living. The baskets filled rapidly as the two went from one patch to another, climbing higher and higher up the mountain. Suddenly Olaf glanced over his shoulder and then turned about quickly.
“Just look there,” he said in a low voice.
Something like a big black dog was moving among the bushes, its smooth round back showing now and again above the tangled27 thicket28. Presently, as it crossed an open space, Nancy saw it more clearly, with its small head, clumsy feet, and odd shuffling29 walk. She had never seen a bear at large before.
“Oh,” she breathed, and dropped her basket.
“There is no need to be afraid,” Olaf assured her. “A bear won’t bother you at all if you leave him alone. They have ugly tempers, and if you once make them angry they will follow you a long way to get even. But this one won’t hurt us.”
The creature, at first quite unconscious of their presence, went slowly along, snuffing among the roots, turning over stones to lick up the ants beneath them. Finally observing them, it stood on its hind8 legs to peer over a clump30 of bushes, looking so much like a shy, but inquisitive boy that Nancy laughed aloud.
“Oh, see, there’s another, two little ones,” she exclaimed.
Olaf looked where she pointed3 and took up the baskets hastily. “If there are cubs31 it is quite a different thing,” he said quickly. “A mother bear never does anything you think she will. It would be better for us to go.”
The bear stood watching their hasty departure for a moment; then, with a grunt32, dropped on all fours again and turned once more to the pursuit of her dinner. Nancy, looking back, caught sight of the fat, round cubs as they came scampering33 forward to run at their mother’s heels. One of them tumbled over and rolled upon the grass, whereupon its mother turned to lick it affectionately and give it a friendly cuff34 with her big paw. Evidently she considered the incident, so far as human beings were concerned, as being quite closed.
Beatrice and Hester were at the cabin when the two berry pickers returned. They declared that they had seen nothing of Dabney Mills, who had apparently35 taken himself off. They had a hilarious36 lunch, during which Beatrice imitated the airs and graces of the insistent37 reporter, while Nancy, as she waited on the table, assumed the shuffling mannerisms of Joe Ling. Aunt Anna declared herself so worn out with laughing at them that she retired38 early for her nap, and Beatrice presently, after Hester was gone, went upstairs to sleep also. Nancy spent a large part of the afternoon finishing her cake, for even the icing, with its alternate layers of brown and white was a work of art in itself. Finally the task was completed, however, and the dish set to cool on the window-ledge. When at last it became time to think about the evening meal she discovered that she needed fresh kindling39 for the fire and went out to the shed to fetch it. She opened the door and started back with a cry of surprise. Seated on the straw, with his back to the wall and his note-book on his knee, was Dabney Mills.
“I heard that fellow, Olaf you call him, say that he was coming back at four o’clock with the milk, so I came back to have a word with him when we shouldn’t be disturbed. I’ve been waiting quite a while. He’s late,” he declared crossly. He got up and walked stiffly to the door.
“Say,” he exclaimed, “What’s that beside your window. I do believe it’s a bear!” His tone was one of undisguised dismay.
“Where?” said Nancy, running out after him. “Oh, my cake, my cake!” she cried in distress40.
The same creature that she and Olaf had seen when they were berrying had come down the hill and was running an investigating and appreciative41 tongue over the icing of the precious cake. She had been used, perhaps, to prowl about the cabin when it was empty and was now making herself very much at home. Although plainly pleased with her refreshment42, she dropped down when she heard their voices and began to shamble off toward the sheltering underbrush.
“Let her go quietly,” Nancy warned, “don’t disturb her, don’t, don’t!”
Dabney Mills plucking up courage at the animal’s willingness to depart, was attempting to speed her going by throwing stones after her. Picking up a square block of wood from beside the shed, he flung it with unfortunate success, in spite of Nancy’s catching43 at his arm. It caught the bear full on the side of the head.
She turned, bared all her teeth in an angry snarl44, and rushed upon them. Without ceremony they fled, past the shed, away from the house, and up the hill. To reach the safety of the cabin, they would have to pass by her, which at the moment was unthinkable. Therefore, as the angry creature climbed steadily after them, they were forced further and further up toward the open spaces of the mountain.
“I’m not afraid. She won’t hurt us,” Nancy kept telling herself, though her teeth were chattering45 and her breath was coming short. Bewildered as she was, she still had presence of mind enough to try to bend their course in a circle so that at last they might come nearer home. But no such coolness possessed46 her companion. Excited, almost hysterical47 with terror, he shouted at the bear, waved his arms, and threw sticks and stones at her every time the steep trail afforded him opportunity.
“Stop, don’t, you are only making it worse,” Nancy begged him breathlessly, but he was far too terrified to pay any heed48 to her words.
Nancy felt that there could be nothing more terrible than this big swaying body that came up the hill after them, the little pointed head with its white teeth showing, its small eyes blazing with an animal’s unreasoning fury. She was panting and exhausted49, her knees shook under her, it seemed utterly50 impossible to go farther. One last hope flashed through her mind: it was the hour for Olaf to bring the milk and he might be somewhere below, coming through the pines. She hollowed her hands before her mouth and, with a final effort of her panting lungs, shouted with all her might:
“Olaf, Olaf.”
A faint hail came in answer. How far away it was! Would he know what had happened?
There was only a little further for them to climb, for a long ridge51 of rock, shouldering up through the underbrush, cut off their ascent52 with its smooth wall that offered no foothold. Beside it the mountain-side fell away in a sheer drop of a hundred feet of precipice53 so that their retreat was blocked completely. A vast furry54 form rose through the bushes beside them, and the bear struck at them with her great paw. Nancy was too bewildered to understand how Dabney Mills came suddenly to be behind her, while she was thrust forward into the very face of their enemy. The blow missed her, however, and struck the boy, just where she could not see. With a strange sickening sigh, he dropped and rolled toward the edge of the cliff. Nancy flattened55 herself against the rock wall, staring, fascinated, as the bear settled her haunches firmly, seemed to pause a moment, and then squared off to strike at her again.
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1
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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7
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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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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10
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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12
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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13
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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14
pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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15
intruding
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| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的现在分词)；把…强加于 | |
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16
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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17
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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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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20
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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21
grasshoppers
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| n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的 | |
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22
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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23
drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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24
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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shimmered
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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27
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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29
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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30
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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31
cubs
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| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
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32
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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33
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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34
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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35
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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36
hilarious
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| adj.充满笑声的，欢闹的；[反]depressed | |
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37
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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38
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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39
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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40
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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41
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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42
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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43
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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44
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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45
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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46
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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47
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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48
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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49
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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50
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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51
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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52
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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53
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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54
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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55
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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