“Stand out of the way, please. He needs air.”
The words were English; the accent unmistakably American. Barth pinched his lids together in a sturdy determination not to manifest any interest in his alien champion. For that reason, he missed the imperative5 gesture which explained the words to the crowd; he missed the anxious, kindly6 light in Nancy Howard’s eyes, as she elbowed her way to his side and bent7 down over him.
Even in this strait, Barth remained true to his training. He opened his eyes for the slightest possible glance at the broad black hat above him. Then he shut them languidly once more.
“Rather!” he answered, with equal brevity.
The corners of Nancy’s mouth twitched9 ominously10. It was not thus that her ministrations were wont11 to be received. Accustomed to fulsome12 gratitude13, the absolute indifference14 of this stranger both amused and piqued15 her.
“You are American?” she asked.
This time, Barth’s eyes remained open.
“English,” he returned laconically16.
Again Nancy’s lips twitched.
“I beg your pardon. I might have known,” she answered, with a feigned17 contrition18 whose irony19 escaped her companion. “But you speak French?”
“Not this kind. I shall have to leave it to you.” In spite of the racking pain in his ankle, Barth was gaining energy to rebel at his short sight and the loss of his glasses. It would have been interesting to get a good look into the face of this intrepid20 young woman who had come to his rescue.
She received his last statement a little blankly.
“But I don’t speak any French of any kind,” she confessed.
“How unusual!” Barth murmured, with vague courtesy.
Nancy rose from her knees and dusted off her skirt.
“I don’t see why. I’ve never been abroad, and we don’t habitually21 speak French at home,” she answered a little resentfully.
Barth made no reply. All the energy he could spare from bearing the pain of his ankle was devoted22 to the study of how he could get himself out of his present position. His gravelly resting-place was uncomfortable, and it appeared to him that his foot was swelling24 to most unseemly dimensions. Nevertheless, he had no intention of throwing himself upon the mercy of a strange American girl of unknown years and ancestry25. Raising himself on his elbow, he addressed the bystanders in the best Parisian French at his command. The bystanders stared back at him uncomprehendingly.
Standing26 beside him, Nancy saw his dilemma27, saw, too, the bluish ring about his lips. Her amused resentment28 gave place to pity.
“I am afraid you are badly hurt,” she said gently.
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“My ankle.”
“Sprained?”
“Broken, I am afraid.” Barth’s answers still were brief; but now it was the brevity of utter meekness29, not of arrogance30.
“Oh, I hope not!” she exclaimed. “You can’t walk at all?”
“I am afraid not. It was foolish to faint; but I hit my head as I went down, and the blow knocked me out.”
As he spoke33, he bent forward and tried to reach the laces of his shoe. With a swift gesture, Nancy forestalled34 him and deftly35 slipped the shoe from the swollen36 ankle. Her quick eye caught the fact that few of her friends at home could match the quality of the stocking within. Then her glance roved to his necktie, and she smiled approvingly to herself. In her girlish mind, Barth would pass muster37.
Nevertheless, there was nothing especially heroic about him, as he sat there on the gravel23 with his ankle clasped in his hands and the color rising and dying in his cheeks. A man barely above the middle height, spare and sinewy38 and without an ounce of extra flesh, Cecil Barth was in no way remarkable39. His features were good, his hair was tawny40 yellow, and his near-sighted eyes were clear and blue.
“Where can I find a surgeon?” he asked, after a little pause.
“I don’t know, unless—” Nancy hesitated; then she added directly, “My father is a doctor.”
He nodded.
Nancy bravely suppressed her laughter.
“New York English,” she replied gravely.
And Barth answered with perfect good faith,—
“That will do. They are not so very different, and we can understand each other quite well, I dare say. Where is he?”
“He is at the Gagnier farm.”
“May I trouble you to send some one for him?” Barth asked courteously45.
She glanced about her at the group of French faces, and she shook her head.
“I never can make them understand,” she objected. “I’d better go, myself.”
But, in his turn, Barth offered an objection.
“Oh, don’t go and leave me,” he urged a little piteously. “I might go off again, you know.”
“But you just said you couldn’t walk?” Nancy responded, in some surprise, for, granted that the stranger was able to remove himself, she could see no reason whatsoever46 that he should not feel free to do so.
“Oh, no. I can’t walk a step. My foot is broken,” he answered rather testily47, as a fresh twinge ran through his ankle.
“Then how can you go off, I’d like to know.”
Barth stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment. Then a light broke in upon his brain.
“Oh, I see. You don’t understand. I meant that I might faint away,” he explained.
Nancy’s reply struck him as being a trifle unsympathetic.
“Well, what if you did?” she demanded. “I can’t be in two places at once, and these people won’t eat you up. Make up your mind that you won’t faint, and then you probably won’t.”
Barth peered up at her uneasily.
Nancy’s laugh rang out gayly.
“Didn’t I say my father was a doctor?” she reminded him. “Now please do lie still and save your strength, and I’ll see what I can do about it all.”
She was gone from his side only for a moment. Then she came flying back, flushed and eager.
“Such luck!” she said. “Right at the foot of the hill, I found Père Gagnier and the cabbage cart, just coming home from market. He will be here in a minute, and he talks French. Some of these people will carry you to the cart, and you can be driven right up to the door. That will take so much less time than the sending for my father; and, besides, even if he came down, you couldn’t be left lying here on the gravel walk for an indefinite period. You would be arrested for blocking the path of the pilgrims, to say nothing of having relays of cripples crutching49 themselves along over you.”
In her relief at having solved the situation, she paid no heed50 to the stream of nonsense coming from her lips. Barth’s stare recalled her to self-consciousness.
“No, really,” he answered stiffly.
“Well, daddy?”
At the question, Dr. Howard looked up. Still a little breathless and dishevelled by her hurried scramble51 up the hill, Nancy stood before him, anxiety in her eyes and a laugh on her lips.
“How is the British Lion?”
“Most uncommonly52 disagreeable,” the doctor answered, with unwonted energy.
“Bad. For his own sake, I wish he had broken it outright55. Nancy, what am I going to do with the fellow?”
“Cure him,” she answered nonchalantly.
“It takes two to make a cure.”
“Then hire Père Gagnier to cart him back to Sainte Anne again, and let her try her finger upon him.”
In spite of himself, the doctor laughed. Then he grew grave again.
“It’s not altogether funny, Nancy. You have unloaded a white elephant on my hands, and I can’t see what to do with it.”
“How do you mean?” she questioned, for she was quick to read the anxiety in her father’s tone.
“The man speaks no French that these people here can understand, and he is going to be helpless for a few days. How is he going to have proper care?”
“Send him in to Quebec. There must be a hospital there.”
“I won’t take the risk of moving him; not for ten days, at least.”
“Hm!” Nancy’s falling inflection was thoughtful. “And you came here to get away from all professional worry. Daddy, it’s a shame! I ought never to have had him brought here.”
Pausing in his tramp up and down the room, Dr. Howard rested his hand on the pile of auburn hair.
“It was all you could do, Nancy. One must take responsibilities as they come.”
Nancy broke the pause that followed. Rising, she pinned on her hat.
“Where are you going?”
“To the station. I’ll telegraph to Quebec for a nurse. We can have one out here by night. Good by, daddy; and don’t let the Lion eat you up.”
“No use, daddy! I have exhausted60 every chance, and there’s not a nurse to be had. Quebec appears to be in the throes of an epidemic61. However, I have made up my mind what to do next.”
“What now?”
“I shall turn nurse.”
“Nancy, you can’t!”
“I must. You’re not strong enough, and such a curiosity as this man mustn’t be left to die alone. Besides, it will be fun, and Mother Gagnier will help me.”
“But you don’t know anything about nursing.”
“I won’t kill him. You can coach me behind the scenes, and I shall scramble through, some way or other. Besides, the Good Sainte Anne will help me. I’ve just been tipping her, for the way she has come to my relief. Only this morning, I promised her half a dollar, if she would deign62 to give me a little excitement.” Then the girl turned still more directly to her father, and looked up at him with wayward, mocking, tender eyes. “Daddy dear, this isn’t the only emergency we have met, side by side. Mother Gagnier shall do all the rougher part; the rest you shall leave to me. Truly, have you ever known me to fail you at the wrong time?”
And the doctor answered, with perfect truthfulness,—
“No, Nancy; I never have.”
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1
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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sprained
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| v.&n. 扭伤 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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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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8
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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fulsome
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| adj.可恶的，虚伪的，过分恭维的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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15
piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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laconically
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| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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20
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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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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dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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gritting
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| v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的现在分词 )；咬紧牙关 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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33
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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forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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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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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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44
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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45
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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46
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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47
testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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48
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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49
crutching
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| 防蝇去毛，结块污毛，（剪毛前）羊身除下的粪污碎毛 | |
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50
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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51
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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52
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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53
lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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54
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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55
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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56
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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57
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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58
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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59
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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60
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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61
epidemic
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| n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的 | |
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deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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