Chapter 18

Not for six weeks, at least, Johnny judged, could he beg the day’s holiday that was to take him and Bessy back to the forest; and it might be more.  That would be in July—or even August—and probably the weather would be more trustworthy then.  As for Bessy, she counted the days on the almanack, and tapped the yellow-faced old barometer¹ that had been gran’dad’s, a dozen times a day.  Johnny laughed at her impatience², and invented endless weather prophecies “just from America” putting the weather for the whole of July at every possible shade of unpleasantness, from blizzards³ to floods and thunderstorms.

The days went quietly—they were even dull.  Mr. Butson did what he could to make himself agreeable, and several times praised a set of callipers that Johnny had made—a set of callipers that Johnny, in fact, thought very well of himself.  So that he seemed not such a bad fellow, perhaps, after all, though a bit of a sponge.

There was nothing to cause it, to all seeming, but it was a fact that just now Nan May grew thoughtful and p. 165absent of manner.  She would pause in the midst of needlework, as though to think; and more than once at such a time, Bessy, looking up from her own work, saw that her mother’s troubled gaze was fixed⁴ on herself.  Nan May put away the anxious look as well as she might, and bent⁵ to her work again; but Bessy wondered.

Johnny, too, fancied that his mother was scarce so cheerful as was her wont⁶, though he thought of it less than Bessy.  But one Sunday afternoon, meeting her by her bedroom door, he took her cheeks between his palms, and looked hard in her face.  “Mother,” he said, “I believe you’ve been crying!  What’s up?”

She put a hand on each of his wrists, and made a shift to smile.  “That’s nonsense,” she said, and tried to pull his hands down.  “You’re gettin’ too strong for your poor old mother to keep you in order!”

But she brightened, always, when Mr. Butson came in the evening; though Mr. Butson’s conversation scarce seemed of so inspiriting a character as to account wholly for the change.  Still, it interested her.  It was mostly about his grievances⁷ at the hands of the world; and Nan May was a ready sympathiser.

It was very near to the day (at last fixed) for the excursion, when Bessy woke in the night at the striking of a match.  Her mother was lighting⁸ a candle, her back toward the bed.  She took the candle and passed out, into Johnny’s room at the back.  Bessy listened, but she p. 166heard no talk; heard nothing, indeed, but Johnny’s heavy breathing, so still was the night.  Presently her mother returned, and stood over her, still with the candle; gazing on her face, it seemed to Bessy—as well as she could see through her half-closed eyes—much as she had gazed when she paused in her needlework, though now her cheeks were wet with tears.  With that Bessy opened wide her eyes, and “Mother!” she said.  “What’s the matter?  Are you ill?”

Nan May turned and blew out the light.  “No, Bess, no; I’m all right,” she said, and crept into bed.  “It’s not—not much.  I woke up, that’s all—with a bad dream.”  She kissed the girl, and put her arm about her neck.  “You’ve always been a good girl, Bessy,” she went on.  “You wouldn’t turn against me, would you?”

“Why no, mother!  But—”

“Not whatever happened?”

“No—of course not,” she kissed her mother again.  “But why?”

“It’s nothing.  Only the dream—just the dream, Bess.  Go to sleep.”

1 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。

2 impatience   

n.不耐烦，急躁

参考例句：

• He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢，他显得不耐烦。
• He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。

3 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

7 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。