Then, one day came a special delivery from Millie. Her folks were going away to the city for the winter, quite unexpectedly, and she didn’t even have time to come out to say goodbye.
“Well,” sighed Gloria crushing the little note in her warm hand, “that’s another link in our daisy chain, broken.”
But she must turn to sterner realities. Her mind seemed to swing in a circle around the suspicions betrayed by the mason’s children.
“I guess Jane was right when she used to tell me that joy is a picture framed in shadows,” Gloria was deliberating. Not much given to such fancies the fact of her entertaining them betrayed a very serious state of mind.
“I’m glad the hoodlum’s father didn’t work on this house. I should never feel comfortable here if I found out the charges meant walls unpaid4 for. Of course, what I feel is mostly pride,” she qualified5, “but one can’t help being—proud.”
Her aunt’s change of attitude, and with it the life that had suddenly bashed in upon her otherwise gloomy existence, was like a lifted veil. But now there was this sinister6 threat of those impossible children. What could it mean? Whom could she ask?
With this question uppermost in the mind, Gloria started for school. And just as she had feared, the shadows that lined the joy pictures stood waiting for her at the Elm Tree turn.
“Those children!”
There they were, four abreast7 in battle formation, confronting her with some sort of guns ready to fire!
She hurried so they would see she intended to catch up with them.
“Hey, there!” she called out, “Wait a minute.”
“Whadda y’u think we’re doin’?” came back the retort from the larger boy. A glimmer9 of admiration10 shot across Gloria’s face. “They’re game little things, at any rate,” she thought, “if I can only get them to talk reasonably.”
The boy stood forth this time and openly charged her.
“Say,” he began, “what right has that girl to shake me? That’s what I wanna know.” He stepped toward Gloria with a threatening gesture.
“Didn’t you try to hit me with that stone?” she demanded sharply.
“Suppose I did? Yeah, j’est suppose I did!” He was swaggering in that way affected11 by boys usually styled “bullies.” Their idea is to frighten the one they consider their enemy, to intimidate12 them as the boy does his companions when playing Wild Indians.
“Now, see here,” said Gloria, in a tone not too friendly, “what have you got against me? That’s what I want to know.”
With a gleam of scorn too deep for utterance13 the boy cast a look of helplessness at his constituents14, evidently his sister, small brother and their girl friend. “Whadda y’u know about that?” he said finally.
“Don’t you know I just came to Sandford?” persisted Gloria. She was anxious now to get the matter over with, for at any moment others might happen along. “Why should you—pick on me?” she asked, smiling secretly at the convenient phrase.
“Because you’re one of them, ain’t chu?”
“Who?”
“Towers.”
“Then you can’t put up no innocent face,” spoke16 up the older girl. “Our mother says you’re all alike.”
“Sure y’u are,” scoffed17 the boy, who had however, forgotten all about his fight. He was just digging his heels in the ground as naturally as any other boy might have been doing, and he looked at Gloria less belligerently18.
“See here,” attempted Gloria again, assuming as nearly as she could the queer tone of voice the youngster employed, “I believe we could be good friends if you would just—let me get on—to all this. Honest, I don’t know what it’s all about.”
Her manner was irresistible19. Even the little rebels felt its influence.
“Maybe she don’t,” said the boy aside. A smaller boy dropped two stones right through what had seemed to be a pocket.
“Well, if you don’t know,” said the older girl crisply, “you had just better come around to our mother. She’ll tell you.”
“All right, I will,” declared Gloria accepting the challenge.
“You wouldn’t dast,” said the boy. But he showed a spark of admiration for Gloria’s courage. It was betrayed in his questioning tone of voice.
“Oh, wouldn’t I!” sang back Gloria. “You don’t know me.” She it was who boasted now. “I don’t like anything better than a good fight— fair and square and even,” she hurried to add. “If we’re going to fight, let’s fight, but if we’re going to play fair, let’s play fair.” Secretly she was chuckling20 that her former association with Tommy and his friends had afforded her an education in their peculiar21 line of arguments.
“That’s right,” agreed the boy. The little fellow was calling him Marty so Gloria took advantage of the information.
“Now, Marty,” she began again, first looking sharply over the road for spectators or eavesdroppers, “if you say so, I’ll go up to your house and have a talk with your mother. Honestly, I don’t want to be enemies with you. But don’t you see, I don’t know anything about the fight?”
In that sullen22 fashion peculiar to children who have a forced maturity23, they all turned away toward the road to school. It did not occur to them that an answer was due to Gloria’s question. They had a way of shutting their lips tight, just like Jane would have done in trouble, and now they marched off in what might be called “high dudgeon” if they had known what that term meant.
Gloria smiled after them. She had seen other children just like these, and one dominant24 trait in their character had always impressed her.
They were so loyal!
Also they were brave!
Not being wise enough herself to understand why this was so, she, nevertheless, admired the children for it.
“I believe I could win Marty over,” she was thinking as she now hurried along. Her brigands25 were well on toward the long hill that bent26 itself up into a great, green hump, with a little smooth landing at the end where Sandford School stood up majestically27 in all its modern importance.
No nearer to an understanding of their motive29 in taunting30 her, Gloria felt more urgent the need of becoming better acquainted with these Gorman children.
She had finally decided to search out the home of the children when on her way home from school that afternoon a curious thing occurred. Old Squire32 Hanaford hailed her, as she was passing his office.
“Isn’t your name Doane?” he asked briskly.
“Yes, sir,” replied Gloria.
“You’re Harriet Towers’ niece, ain’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” again replied Gloria.
“Well, I’ve been a’waitin’ to see you. Suppose you just step in a moment,” he suggested.
Up the steps with a one-sided hand rail, Gloria followed the old man. He was twirling his glasses in a professional way, and inside the small door placarded with a country sign, she discovered the clue to his profession. One sign read:
Homer Hanaford, Justice of the Peace
Attorney at Law
“You know, or maybe you don’t know,” began the man, swinging back in his chair while Gloria gingerly sat on the edge of hers—“that your Aunt Lottie—she was your Aunt Lottie, Charlotte Macumber, wasn’t she?”
“Well, as I was saying, maybe you don’t know that I am one of the executors of her will.”
“I didn’t.”
“I thought maybe not.” He changed the position of his paper weight although there were no papers to be weighted. “Well,” he continued, “I am.” This was orated rather than said.
Gloria looked out of the window to hide an unbidden smile.
“And since your father is away—that’s right, I believe?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then I feel, I have felt for some time, I ought to ask you—well, to enquire35 how you are gettin’ on over at your Aunt Harriet Towers?”
“Why, very well,” faltered36 Gloria. “Of course, I am getting along splendidly,” she managed to amend37.
“Then it’s all right, I suppose,” added the queer little man with the deep set, squinting38 eyes. His manner was mysterious. He said he supposed it was all right, but the words and their tone included an unmistakable doubt.
“Of course, I couldn’t go to boarding school,” Gloria could not help complaining. “Aunt Hattie seemed to have mixed things up—”.
“I should say she did.” Again the paper weight was moved, this time to the left. “I suppose you know that house is yours?”
“Mine?”
“It certainly is.” The man at the desk was speaking eloquently39, but Gloria was dumbfounded. “And if I can do anything to carry out the wishes of that noble little lady, Lottie Macumber, I’m here to do it.”
“You say the house is mine? Why, that was built before Aunt Lottie—”
“Oh, I don’t mean the house they are living in. I mean the one that was bought on ‘speck,’” Mr. Hanaford hastened to explain.
“But I didn’t know there was any other house,” gasped the mystified Gloria.
“Well, now! And haven’t you heard your own story?”
“No,” said Gloria weakly.
“Don’t you know why you’re not at the fancy school?”
“Aunt Hattie started to tell me,” Gloria could not hold back her emotion, “and I was so anxious that nothing would interfere40 with my father’s trip that I simply would not listen. You see, dad had this offer standing28 for three years. It was the foreign commission for his firm.”
“Oh, I see. You were afraid if you heard the whole thing you might not have the courage to come out here,” mused41 the old lawyer. “Well, I must say I admire your pluck. I’ve heard about it. But it does seem to me that you should stand up for your rights. In fact, under your Aunt Lottie’s orders, I am bound to see that you do.”
Just then there flashed before Gloria’s agitated42 mind the memory of this man’s name in connection with her Aunt Lottie’s only romance. Yes, the name was Homer Hanaford.
“But the house. Which house do you mean?” she asked as soon as she could collect enough reason to do so.
“They call it a fancy name, but that didn’t help it any with the Board of Health,” replied the man. “You see, it looked all right and when Aunt Hattie went into the thing she asked me about it, as she knew she had to.” He shifted in the chair to emphasize this point. “I advised against it, but she won Lottie over. Dear little Lottie! She was so gentle and trusting.” He paused and sat very still. Not even the paper weight was pressed into action. Yes, Gloria was reflecting, this must have been Aunt Lottie’s knight43. He who had sat by her in all her troubles and who wore crepe on his hat at the funeral.
A bond of sympathy was immediately established between the girl at the window and the man at the desk. It was so completely overpowering that Gloria was reluctant to press her questions about the house.
But the lawyer promptly44 reacted to his duty. “Now, what I want to know, little girl,” he said, “is, if you are really contented45 over there?”
“Why, yes. You see dad thinks I am at boarding school—”
“I knew Ed Doane would never have gone off and left you this way if he knew the truth,” said Mr. Hanaford.
“But I’m all right at Aunt Hattie’s,” declared Gloria, a challenge in her voice. She felt guilty in listening. It was her aunt who should have told her all this.
“Oh, yes. I knew all three sisters. They were all fine girls. I knew your mother too. She was like Lottie, gentle and trusting—” ruminated46 the romantic squire.
“Do you think—I look like—my mother?” faltered Gloria, glad to change the subject.
“Not much. Just the same curly little mouth, and yes, you have got that famous Macumber dimple right in the middle of your chin.”
Gloria blushed at the close-up criticism. She had always wondered if she did look like her mother. Jane said so, but Jane usually agreed on pleasant questions.
“And you didn’t know about that fancy house that the Board of Health condemned47?” asked the lawyer.
“Built on a swamp. Couldn’t drain the cellar. You see, a company started a big boom, promised wonders and what-not to investors50. Your Aunt Hattie had put too much fixings in the house on Maple51 Street. I don’t know how much she paid for the decoratin’ of her daughter’s room, but folks around here know. It was talked over pretty generally. So I suppose she hoped to retrench52.”
This was what those children had meant! It was the house built upon the swamp, of course, decided the startled Gloria.
“And couldn’t anything be done with it?” She found herself saying.
“Seems not.” Squire Hanaford scratched his head meditatively53.
“And they have another house?” Gloria could not quite grasp this startling fact.
“Now, you listen to me, little girl, and make no mistake,” said the legal man. “There ain’t nothin’ wrong about your Aunt Hattie. Folks blame her a lot, for indulgin’ her fastid-i-ous daughter and the like-o-that, but they don’t know everything,” he insisted. “The fact is, your aunt wanted to turn five hundred dollars into one thousand. The offer was made her an’ a lot of others—she ain’t to blame alone. Others bit just as hard. Well, here’s what happened. This speculator was a young man, a likable chap. He thought he saw a good thing, bought up that strip of land and made a little picture book park out of it. And I’ll say this for him, he worked hard himself.”
Mr. Hanaford paused for breath. Also for a moment’s reflection, and Gloria seized upon the space to insert a question of her own.
“Did they call it Echo Park?” she asked eagerly.
“The very name. Wasn’t that fanciful? Just like a magazine picture and the whole thing now is—a swamp.”
“I’ve heard of the place,” said Gloria like one dazed. “It is out near where my—my friend, Miss Jane Morgan, is visiting her sister. Wasn’t it too bad? And did poor Aunt Hattie lose the money in that venture?”
“That’s where it went to,” said Homer Hanaford with finality.
Here indeed was a new problem.
What could a girl do to satisfy such a claim as the Gorman children so rudely pressed?
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1
peeved
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| adj.恼怒的，不高兴的v.（使）气恼，（使）焦躁，（使）愤怒( peeve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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unpaid
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| adj.未付款的，无报酬的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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6
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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7
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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10
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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intimidate
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| vt.恐吓，威胁 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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16
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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17
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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belligerently
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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20
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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23
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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24
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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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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27
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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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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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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30
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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31
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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intake
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| n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口 | |
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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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35
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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36
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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amend
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| vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿 | |
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38
squinting
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| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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39
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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40
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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41
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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42
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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43
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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44
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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45
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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46
ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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47
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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48
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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49
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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50
investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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51
maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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52
retrench
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| v.节省，削减 | |
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53
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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