CHAPTER XVIII THE EMERGENCY CASE

 When, after what seemed hours of waiting, Marty finally returned without the doctor or the promise of one, the little band fell again to wailing¹ and weeping that their mother would surely die before their father would come home. The sick woman had not revived sufficiently² to reassure³ them, and even Gloria, who insisted that she would be all right as soon as the doctor would arrive, now felt helpless indeed.

“But the girl will come,” panted Marty. “I got some one on the phone who said she’d be out right away.”

“Wasn’t she home?” asked Gloria eagerly.

“Not then, but comin’,” insisted the boy hopefully. Again he was so like Tommy.

During all this time Gloria became more and more anxious about her Aunt Hattie. She had not dared ask Marty to phone her, lest his message frighten the nervous woman, but recalling how ill she had looked that morning she realized that perhaps she had not wanted her to go out, else why had she asked would she be away long? Gloria felt trapped and helpless in the emergency.

“Where’s the nearest phone?” she asked, anxiety now getting the better of her.

“There ain’t any,” declared Ellen.

“There must be one somewhere. Isn’t there one in any of the big barns?” persisted Gloria.

“No,” scoffed⁴ little May, who, it seemed, must have often been called upon to relay messages, tiny tot that she was.

At this point the baby started to scream. It had really been neglected, and Ellen immediately began fixing its complicated food. The mother stirred and finally opened her eyes.

“Sh-s-s-s-h!” whispered Marty. He crept noiselessly over to the bed, put a brown hand on the white brow and looked so lovingly at the stricken woman that Gloria’s heart leapt. To have a mother, even a sick mother! What a blessing⁵!

“Better, ma?” asked the boy close to the rumpled⁶ pillow.

“Yes—dearie,” replied the woman, in tones stronger than might have been expected. “She’s an angel.” This was meant for Gloria.

“Ye-ah, that’s it,” agreed Marty eagerly, while the other little ones gathered around beaming and exclaiming. Their mother was awake and she was better! What else was there to ask for? Their spirits rebounded⁷ electrically.

“Her nourishment⁸?” pressed Gloria. “This is the time she must have that.”

The baby was dropped unceremoniously into May’s lap, but having the “bottle” made up for that discomfit⁹. Ellen and Gloria heated the small saucepan of broth¹⁰ (left by Mrs. Berg the day previous) and without delaying longer than the time necessary to put the broth on a saucer and to put the saucer and spoon on a new pie pan, used as a tray, the two emergency nurses timidly began their feeding.

Gloria knew, instinctively¹¹, that the woman would now show decided¹² improvement. The sleep and semi-coma from the overdose of her medicine had been spent, and now, perhaps, all would be well, and she, Gloria, might get back to her own urgent affairs.

During the past hour she could not get the white face of her Aunt Hattie out of her mind. It seemed to call her—to plead with her.

“Jumpy, as Millie would say,” Gloria tried to reassure herself. But when a “honk” from outside shrilly¹³ announced the arrival of Trixy and her car, a great wave of relief enveloped¹⁴ the good Samaritan.

“I’m so glad!” she sighed.

Every one of the small group of dingy¹⁵ windows was immediately darkened with eager little faces.

“Here she is! Here she is!” cried a chorus.

“And—yep, here’s the doctor too!” announced Marty.

“And it’s a great big swell¹⁶ car—hers,” chirped¹⁷ up May.

“You bet!” confirmed the little fellow called Dick. He was so small and so humble¹⁸ he seldom was called, or did he make his presence felt. Dick was about as big as a watch charm and looked like one from India.

The doctor and Trixy appeared at the door, simultaneously¹⁹. With that hushed awe²⁰ significant of his presence, the man with the small black bag went directly to the bed, while Trixy and Gloria clung to each other in the briefest, if warmest, embrace.

In the general room all the children, automatically collected as did all the family cares, but now Gloria, and the ever prompt and responsive Trixy, quickly gathered the fluttering brood, like so many little chirping²¹ chickens, and crowded them into the slant²² roofed kitchen. Ellen stayed with the doctor. Evidently she was accustomed to that office.

Neither Gloria nor Trixy gasped²³ nor exclaimed. They were too sensible and too serious. That she had come in the big car with her chauffeur²⁵ was easy to understand, for having received Gloria’s urgent message and knowing that she would only be out at Gorman’s in a real emergency, Trixy took no chances of being hampered²⁶ with her own little runabout.

“You have been having a dreadful time, I know,” said Trixy. “I was so sorry I happened to be out.”

“But you lost precious little time in getting here,” said her grateful companion. “Trixy!” there was a gasp²⁴ with this. “I feel like a human churn. I am scared to death about Aunt Hattie—and my nerves are just churning.”

“Oh, she’s better. Doctor Daly said so—”

“Better! Was she—sick?”

“Didn’t you know? Of course you didn’t. They have been looking to the ends of the earth for you,” added Trixie. “Why, yes, the doctor was with her most of the afternoon. She had a sort of hysteria. You know she is subject to such spells. I am sure she will be all right.”

“I knew it! I felt it!” sighed Gloria. “Isn’t it hard to know where one’s duty lies? Here I have been with strangers,” she swept her eyes over the forlorn place, “and Aunt Hattie did not know where I was.”

“But they needed you most. Your aunt was not buried in a wilderness²⁷ like this,” whispered Trixy.

As if she were a fairy queen, the children gazed spellbound at Trixy’s fur coat, her smart feathered turban, and above all they felt her magnetic personality. She was more fortunate than to be just pretty. She was fascinating. The youngsters had by now been accustomed to Gloria, and with their juvenile²⁸ inconstancy they turned to the worship of the stranger.

“Trixy,” again whispered Gloria, “you know I was coming to—try to do something. I had found out about their father’s loss—”

“Yes, I know, kiddie,” said the taller girl, considerately. “And that was what I suspected. Had I only been in town when they sent the bell ringers out after you I should have guessed here the first shot.”

Gloria sighed with relief. Trixy always understood. But the doctor was leaving the bedside. Both girls stirred to meet him.

“Well, young lady,” he smiled into Gloria’s face, “this is where you have been, is it? I won’t make you vain or proud, but I will say it is a lucky thing you found these little ones when you did. Their mother might have slept, or she might have—well, it is a good thing you gave her the coffee, at any rate. She has been so weakened, the extra dose of medicine might have been hard to fight against.” He was rubbing his hands as all doctors do, a way that May once said was the scraping off of his sick touch.

“I am sorry I gave folks a scare. I did not intend to disappear,” said Gloria finally. “But there was really no time nor any way of getting word back.”

Doctor Daly did not raise his head. He was thinking very seriously and seemed greatly perplexed²⁹.

Trixy broke the silence. “What now?” she asked critically.

“I don’t know. This little woman—”

“Can she be taken to a hospital?” asked Gloria, eagerly.

“She could—but how?”

“Right in my car,” responded Trixy, decisively. “That was why I sent for Trixy,” exclaimed Gloria. Then they waited for the opinion of the physician. The children listened from their corners, fearing, they knew not what. Ellen, the manager, poked³⁰ her head under the doctor’s elbow.

“Oh, you can’t take her away till father comes,” she exclaimed. “He would be wild!”

“Hush,” cautioned Gloria. “Ellen, the doctor knows best. You surely want your mother to have help?”

“Oh, yes, but you’re here.”

“She can’t stay here,” promptly³¹ spoke³² up Trixy. “I suppose none of you has had anything to eat all day.”

“Come outside a moment,” suggested Gloria in a subdued³³ voice. “Ellen, you keep the others in here,” she then ordered quite authoritatively³⁴.

At the door, in the early dusk, the doctor and his two young aids quickly consulted. He showed his own relief when the hospital prospect³⁵ loomed³⁶ into a possibility.

“I have been afraid to leave her here,” he explained. “But that little witch Ellen—”

“She seemed to think her mother just couldn’t die unless her father said so,” injected Gloria, whimsically.

“Well, as long as you think it is safe we shall just bundle her in my car—” proposed Trixy.

“But the trouble is—” The doctor paused and turned his head aside thoughtfully.

“What?” asked Gloria.

“I am afraid we can’t get her into a ward³⁷. I’ve been trying, but they’re packed.”

“I have the money to pay for a private room,” spoke up Gloria, at the moment bringing from her blouse a very fat bill fold. She opened it and displayed two fifty dollar bills.

“Why, Glory Doane!” exclaimed Trixy. “Been holding up a bank?”

“No, it’s every cent mine,” replied Gloria rather breathlessly. “It was with the money I came here. We owe it to them—”

“Never was money more in order,” exclaimed Dr. Daly, accepting the two yellow bills Gloria offered him.

“But why should I take your money, child?” he presently asked Gloria, as if “the case” had completely obscured his reasoning on that point in the first place.

“Oh, it’s all right, in fact it’s theirs,” faltered³⁸ Gloria, feeling her face burn and biting her lip to hold it from trembling. “I came out here to bring them this money—”

“I heard Mrs. Gorman say she expected something of the kind,” interrupted the physician. “Well, it has come just in time. Even a hospital can do things for money,” and as he turned to his task, Dr. Daly proved himself to be the man of power his many admirers claimed him, for in less than half an hour the sick woman was on the back seat of Trixy’s big car, with so many robes around her that Trixy kept one hand anxiously near the small white face, lest too much covering should exclude all the air.

Jennings, the chauffeur, had assisted willingly, and with orders from Gloria that she could collect Jane at Logan Center on her way back, Beatrice Travers, the capable daughter of Sandford’s most esteemed³⁹ manufacturer, gave the word for the cortege to proceed.

Dr. Daly rode in his own small car on ahead.

“They’re gone!” gasped Ellen, leaning miserably⁴⁰ against Gloria.

“Yes,” said Gloria, “but my friend will soon be back, and I hope she brings with her some one who can take care of you. Jane was my own dear old nurse.”

Marty stood in the small door like a little corporal. He had a way of appeasing⁴¹ the children, and of doing things capably.

“Glory,” he said, raising his brave young eyes to the girl coming back from the gateway⁴², “I’m awful sorry—about the stones. We didn’t mean you a-tall. It was them other folks.”

“I know,” said Gloria, smiling her forgiveness. “But my aunt didn’t mean to wrong you. And she’s sick—has been sick all day. Oh, Marty, I am so worried I can hardly wait for the car to come back.”

“Then—you’re goin’?” he asked, wistfully.

“Oh, yes, I must. But don’t worry, for you won’t be left alone.”

A tumult⁴³ within demanded the attention of both Marty and Gloria.

What could be worse than a family of helpless little ones bereft⁴⁴ of their mother through the unknown terror of a hospital?

“If father could only know!” wailed⁴⁵ Ellen. “I’ll send him word somehow,” promised Gloria.

1 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

2 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

3 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

4 scoffed   

嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scoffed at our amateurish attempts. 他对我们不在行的尝试嗤之以鼻。
• A hundred years ago people scoffed at the idea. 一百年前人们曾嘲笑过这种想法。

5 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

6 rumpled   

v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She rumpled his hair playfully. 她顽皮地弄乱他的头发。
• The bed was rumpled and strewn with phonograph records. 那张床上凌乱不堪，散放着一些唱片。 来自辞典例句

7 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。

8 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

9 discomfit   

v.使困惑，使尴尬

参考例句：

• He will be particularly discomfited by the minister's dismissal of his plan.部长对他计划的不理会将使他特别尴尬。
• The opposition leader has regularly discomfited him in parliament.反对派领导人常搞得他在国会中下不来台。

10 broth   

n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等)

参考例句：

• Every cook praises his own broth.厨子总是称赞自己做的汤。
• Just a bit of a mouse's dropping will spoil a whole saucepan of broth.一粒老鼠屎败坏一锅汤。

11 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 shrilly   

尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的

参考例句：

• The librarian threw back his head and laughed shrilly. 图书管理员把头往后面一仰，尖着嗓子哈哈大笑。
• He half rose in his seat, whistling shrilly between his teeth, waving his hand. 他从车座上半欠起身子，低声打了一个尖锐的唿哨，一面挥挥手。

14 enveloped   

v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was enveloped in a huge white towel. 她裹在一条白色大毛巾里。
• Smoke from the burning house enveloped the whole street. 燃烧着的房子冒出的浓烟笼罩了整条街。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

16 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。

17 chirped   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 )

参考例句：

• So chirped fiber gratings have broad reflection bandwidth. 所以chirped光纤光栅具有宽的反射带宽，在反射带宽内具有渐变的群时延等其它类型的光纤光栅所不具备的特点。
• The crickets chirped faster and louder. 蟋蟀叫得更欢了。

18 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

19 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

20 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

21 chirping   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫，把我们吵醒了。
• The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。

22 slant   

v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向

参考例句：

• The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
• The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。

23 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 gasp   

n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说

参考例句：

• She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
• The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。

25 chauffeur   

n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车

参考例句：

• The chauffeur handed the old lady from the car.这个司机搀扶这个老太太下汽车。
• She went out herself and spoke to the chauffeur.她亲自走出去跟汽车司机说话。

26 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

27 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

28 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

29 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

30 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

31 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

32 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

33 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

34 authoritatively   

命令式地，有权威地，可信地

参考例句：

• "If somebody'll come here and sit with him," he snapped authoritatively. “来个人到这儿陪他坐着。”他用发号施令的口吻说。
• To decide or settle(a dispute, for example) conclusively and authoritatively. 判定结论性、权威性地决定或解决（纠纷等）

35 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

36 loomed   

v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• A dark shape loomed up ahead of us. 一个黑糊糊的影子隐隐出现在我们的前面。
• The prospect of war loomed large in everyone's mind. 战事将起的庞大阴影占据每个人的心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

37 ward   

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

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

38 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

39 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

40 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

41 appeasing   

安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争）

参考例句：

• Mr. Chamberlain had cherished the hope of appeasing and reforming him and leading him to grace. 张伯伦先生则满心想安抚他，感化他，教他温文知礼。
• A pleasing preacher is too often an appeasing preacher. 一昧讨好的传道人通常是姑息妥协的传道人。

42 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

43 tumult   

n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹

参考例句：

• The tumult in the streets awakened everyone in the house.街上的喧哗吵醒了屋子里的每一个人。
• His voice disappeared under growing tumult.他的声音消失在越来越响的喧哗声中。

44 bereft   

adj.被剥夺的

参考例句：

• The place seemed to be utterly bereft of human life.这个地方似乎根本没有人烟。
• She was bereft of happiness.她失去了幸福。

45 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句