Polly stood before her mother in her trim gray suit, her eyes shining with an unusual brightness, her whole being indicative of imprisoned1 emotion.
“I couldn’t, mother! I couldn’t! I had to come home to talk it over with you and father!” Polly was hurriedly pulling off her gloves, her joyous2 heedlessness reaching even to her finger-tips.
Mrs. Dudley had grown suddenly limp.
“Has David—” she began.
“No, no; it isn’t anything about David.” Polly’s voice had never sounded like that when she spoke4 of David.
“I don’t much care what it is, then.” Mrs. Dudley sat up straight and drew a little relieved breath. “It seems as if I couldn’t stand his coming back—now. But I don’t see why you didn’t stay as you expected to. Didn’t Kate stay?”
“Oh, yes, mother; but I just couldn’t!—I’ll tell you.”
“Didn’t you have a good time? Anything gone wrong?”
“Yes to the first, and no to the second. Don’t[72] be in a hurry! To begin with, Overlook Mountain is the very loveliest place on earth.”
“And yet you left it,” laughed her mother.
Polly laughed, too. “Had to!” she said happily. “Oh, the road up the mountain!—I wish you could see it. Through the most beautiful woods! Ferns!—I thought I knew ferns, but I didn’t. Millions of them, almost as tall as you are, and so luxurious—why, the sides of the road look as if they had just been decorated for a wedding!—”
“What about a wedding?” came from Dr. Dudley in the doorway5. “Evan said you had just come, and I couldn’t understand it. You were so eager to stay the week out.”
“I know it. Mother’s had everything bad happening; but it’s all right—or will be if you agree with me—oh, father, you would in one minute if you could see Overlook! Why, when I got there and looked around I felt as if I were right on top of the world—it is beautiful, it is grand! Father, what do you suppose I want to do?”
“No telling what rattle-brained scheme is in that head of yours. Out with it! I never could bear suspense6.”
Polly laughed, a laugh that made her father look at her with joyful7 eyes. This was his own old Polly, before she had begun to be worried with troubles of David Collins’s making.
“Well,” began the girl, holding her excitement[73] in check, “I want to move Paradise Ward8 up on Overlook for the summer and autumn.”
Nobody spoke. They looked at one another, anxiety on Polly’s side, astonishment9 and half comprehension on the other.
“Tell me all about it, little daughter.” Dr. Dudley drew up a chair.
So Polly told; of her delight in the spot; of the marvelous beauty of the view; of the wonderful, intoxicating10 air; of the plan that had suddenly popped into her head when she waked on Sunday morning; of the news that had greeted her at breakfast, just fitting into her scheme, about the brother and sister, owners of a bungalow11 and a study on the top of Overlook, who had just been left a fortune in Switzerland and wished to sell their property on the mountain; how it seemed the one place for Paradise Ward to get strong in; and of how she could not wait an hour beyond to-day to tell her father of her plan and to beg him to accede12 to her wish.
She was quiet at last, watching with eager eyes her father’s face.
“Have you thought of the money it would cost to carry out this plan?” asked the Doctor quietly.
“Of course,” she acknowledged, “it must depend on Mrs. Gresham; but I know she will be interested in less than a minute.”
“She surely will be. That, however, is not the question. She has spent a fortune on Paradise Ward already.”
[74] “She loves to spend it.”
“It truly is,” returned Polly with assurance. “Think of those dear children! Oh, if you could see them outdoors as I do! The rides have done them no end of good—you know how Little Duke has improved.”
Dr. Dudley brightened. “That boy’s gain is astonishing.”
“And it isn’t medicine that has done it,” observed Polly; “it is fresh air.”
Polly’s thoughts skipped from Little Duke to Esther Tenniel, the gentle little English maid who—however shy she might be with others—never hesitated to put her arms round the Doctor’s neck, just as if she were his own little girl. “I believe,” she said, “that a few months of Overlook would make a new child of Esther.”
“I should like to see it tried,” Dr. Dudley admitted.
“Then we’ll try it!” exclaimed Polly ecstatically.
“I shall have to leave it to your judgment,” said the Doctor. “I don’t like to beg for too much.”
“Beg!” laughed Polly—“oh, father!”
“You haven’t even asked for my approval,” smiled Mrs. Dudley.
[75] “I don’t need to. I know well enough just what you’d say,” retorted Polly.
“I should like to know.”
“Why, you’d say, ‘Go ahead!’” Polly laughed. “And I think I’d better see Mrs. Gresham this evening. Don’t you want to go down with me, mother? Do, and help the good cause along.—Oh, I forgot! That boy is coming up to-night.”
“John Eustis. Well,” sighing, “we’ll have to put it off till morning.”
That Mrs. Gresham was “interested” in Polly’s plan nobody could doubt. The lady’s enthusiasm more than justified16 Polly’s prediction.
“I must see the place at once!” she cried. “We’ll go up to-morrow!”
“Why not?” returned Mrs. Gresham. “No time to lose. Summer is well on her way. You can go to-morrow, can’t you?”
“And you’ll go with us?” invited the elder woman.
Mrs. Dudley shook her head. “I’m afraid—”
“Nonsense! She can, can’t she, Polly?”
[76] “Let’s start by six o’clock,” went on Mrs. Gresham. “To-day would have been lovely, but probably to-morrow will be just as nice. You say we can have it now, and with all the furniture?”
“All there is,” Polly answered. “Of course, there’ll have to be a good deal besides. The living-room is so large and beautiful it will make a lovely ward. At each end is a wide casement22 window, one opening on the road, the other on the wood—where the deer come down. As I said, about five acres of timber-land go with the place. The house is the best located of all on the mountain, with woods on the north which break the heavy winds. There’s a big fireplace in the living-room, and all sorts of pretty nooks and corners, with shelves and bookracks—oh, you’ll go crazy over it, just as I did! The big room is two stories high, and the stairs lead right up from that to a little balcony which runs clear across the side and opens into the bedrooms. The other building is not far away, an inscription23 in such pretty letters, The Study, is right over the door. You see, the young man is a lawyer, and that was his den3. It will do beautifully for a dormitory for the older boys and the doctor that father sends with us—of course, we’ll have to have a doctor.”
“Of course,” echoed Mrs. Gresham absently. “The brother and sister gone?”
“Yes, nobody left but the housekeeper24, Benedicta Clapperton—isn’t that a name? But she’s[77] a dear. She told me she hoped I’d buy the place, for she ‘appertained’ to it, and she ‘cackerlated’ I was the ‘facsimile’ of her ‘dear Miss Flora25.’ She adores children, and Sally says she is a wonder in the cooking line; so she will probably stuff the ward with soldiers and sailors and a whole barnyard besides. But I have fallen in love with her, and I believe she will be our strongest asset—just you wait and see!”
When Mrs. Gresham and Mrs. Dudley were face to face with the “strongest asset” they recalled Polly’s statement in some surprise.
Mrs. Gresham had intuitively pictured the caretaker as middle-aged26, plump, and comfortable, with a benevolent27 smile and a gracious manner. The woman who stood before them was tall, straight, and lean, with a small head and high cheek-bones. Her abundant brown hair was drawn28 smoothly29 back from her low forehead and wound into a tight coil on top of her head. Her frankly30 curious eyes of light gray appeared to size up her visitors in one unafraid glance, and she extended a big, work-hard hand with a drawling “How d’ ye do?”
So this was Benedicta!
Polly chanced to make a trivial remark, and Mrs. Gresham turned with relief.
Although the visitors had stopped on the way for luncheon31, the housekeeper insisted that they should “stay to dinner,” and already a small table[78] in the living-room was most attractively set with appointments for three.
“Yes, Benedicta can cook,” Mrs. Gresham mentally conceded, as she ate with relish32 the broiled33 chicken, creamed pease, hot rye muffins with home-made butter, red raspberry pie, and hot coffee topped with whipped cream.
Nor did she withhold34 her praise; upon which Benedicta expanded like a flower which needs only the sunshine to bloom into beauty. Not that in the one happy moment the cook grew handsome, or that she expressed her thanks in suitable words. Only her small eyes grew bright and soft, her thin cheeks reddened with pleasure, as she said, almost scornfully, “Amazin’ly astounding35 ’f I didn’t know how to cook! Been at it since I was an infant.”
Opinions are versatile36 notions at best. After that informal meal on Overlook Mountain the critical wife of Colonel Gresham looked at Benedicta in a humorous and therefore fairer light, and the light in which a person is viewed makes all the difference in one’s opinion of him.
The next day when the party started for home the Von Winkelried property had passed into the hands of Mrs. Gresham, and the Children’s House of Joy was in legal possession of a mountain summer home.
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1
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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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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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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6
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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7
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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8
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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12
accede
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| v.应允，同意 | |
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incite
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| v.引起，激动，煽动 | |
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musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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15
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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16
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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dazedly
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| 头昏眼花地，眼花缭乱地，茫然地 | |
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19
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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24
housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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25
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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26
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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28
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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31
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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32
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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33
broiled
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| a.烤过的 | |
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34
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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35
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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