“The very first thing we ought to do when we get started is to have that hall painted,” said Diana, as they drove past the Avonlea hall, a rather shabby building set down in a wooded hollow, with spruce trees hooding1 it about on all sides. “It’s a disgraceful looking place and we must attend to it even before we try to get Mr. Levi Boulder2 to pull his house down. Father says we’ll never succeed in DOING that. Levi Boulter is too mean to spend the time it would take.”
“Perhaps he’ll let the boys take it down if they promise to haul the boards and split them up for him for kindling3 wood,” said Anne hopefully. “We must do our best and be content to go slowly at first. We can’t expect to improve everything all at once. We’ll have to educate public sentiment first, of course.”
Diana wasn’t exactly sure what educating public sentiment meant; but it sounded fine and she felt rather proud that she was going to belong to a society with such an aim in view.
“I thought of something last night that we could do, Anne. You know that three-cornered piece of ground where the roads from Carmody and Newbridge and White Sands meet? It’s all grown over with young spruce; but wouldn’t it be nice to have them all cleared out, and just leave the two or three birch trees that are on it?”
“Splendid,” agreed Anne gaily5. “And have a rustic6 seat put under the birches. And when spring comes we’ll have a flower-bed made in the middle of it and plant geraniums.”
“Yes; only we’ll have to devise some way of getting old Mrs. Hiram Sloane to keep her cow off the road, or she’ll eat our geraniums up,” laughed Diana. “I begin to see what you mean by educating public sentiment, Anne. There’s the old Boulter house now. Did you ever see such a rookery? And perched right close to the road too. An old house with its windows gone always makes me think of something dead with its eyes picked out.”
“I think an old, deserted7 house is such a sad sight,” said Anne dreamily. “It always seems to me to be thinking about its past and mourning for its old-time joys. Marilla says that a large family was raised in that old house long ago, and that it was a real pretty place, with a lovely garden and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter and songs; and now it is empty, and nothing ever wanders through it but the wind. How lonely and sorrowful it must feel! Perhaps they all come back on moonlit nights . . . the ghosts of the little children of long ago and the roses and the songs . . . and for a little while the old house can dream it is young and joyous8 again.”
Diana shook her head.
“I never imagine things like that about places now, Anne. Don’t you remember how cross mother and Marilla were when we imagined ghosts into the Haunted Wood? To this day I can’t go through that bush comfortably after dark; and if I began imagining such things about the old Boulter house I’d be frightened to pass it too. Besides, those children aren’t dead. They’re all grown up and doing well . . . and one of them is a butcher. And flowers and songs couldn’t have ghosts anyhow.”
Anne smothered9 a little sigh. She loved Diana dearly and they had always been good comrades. But she had long ago learned that when she wandered into the realm of fancy she must go alone. The way to it was by an enchanted10 path where not even her dearest might follow her.
A thunder-shower came up while the girls were at Carmody; it did not last long, however, and the drive home, through lanes where the raindrops sparkled on the boughs11 and little leafy valleys where the drenched12 ferns gave out spicy13 odors, was delightful14. But just as they turned into the Cuthbert lane Anne saw something that spoiled the beauty of the landscape for her.
Before them on the right extended Mr. Harrison’s broad, gray-green field of late oats, wet and luxuriant; and there, standing15 squarely in the middle of it, up to her sleek16 sides in the lush growth, and blinking at them calmly over the intervening tassels17, was a Jersey18 cow!
Anne dropped the reins19 and stood up with a tightening20 of the lips that boded21 no good to the predatory quadruped. Not a word said she, but she climbed nimbly down over the wheels, and whisked across the fence before Diana understood what had happened.
“Anne, come back,” shrieked23 the latter, as soon as she found her voice. “You’ll ruin your dress in that wet grain . . . ruin it. She doesn’t hear me! Well, she’ll never get that cow out by herself. I must go and help her, of course.”
Anne was charging through the grain like a mad thing. Diana hopped24 briskly down, tied the horse securely to a post, turned the skirt of her pretty gingham dress over her shoulders, mounted the fence, and started in pursuit of her frantic25 friend. She could run faster than Anne, who was hampered26 by her clinging and drenched skirt, and soon overtook her. Behind them they left a trail that would break Mr. Harrison’s heart when he should see it.
“Anne, for mercy’s sake, stop,” panted poor Diana. “I’m right out of breath and you are wet to the skin.”
“I must . . . get . . . that cow . . . out . . . before . . . Mr. Harrison . . . sees her,” gasped27 Anne. “I don’t . . . care . . . if I’m . . . drowned . . . if we . . . can . . . only . . . do that.”
But the Jersey cow appeared to see no good reason for being hustled28 out of her luscious29 browsing30 ground. No sooner had the two breathless girls got near her than she turned and bolted squarely for the opposite corner of the field.
“Head her off,” screamed Anne. “Run, Diana, run.”
Diana did run. Anne tried to, and the wicked Jersey went around the field as if she were possessed31. Privately32, Diana thought she was. It was fully4 ten minutes before they headed her off and drove her through the corner gap into the Cuthbert lane.
There is no denying that Anne was in anything but an angelic temper at that precise moment. Nor did it soothe33 her in the least to behold34 a buggy halted just outside the lane, wherein sat Mr. Shearer35 of Carmody and his son, both of whom wore a broad smile.
“I guess you’d better have sold me that cow when I wanted to buy her last week, Anne,” chuckled36 Mr. Shearer.
“I’ll sell her to you now, if you want her,” said her flushed and disheveled owner. “You may have her this very minute.”
“Done. I’ll give you twenty for her as I offered before, and Jim here can drive her right over to Carmody. She’ll go to town with the rest of the shipment this evening. Mr. Reed of Brighton wants a Jersey cow.”
Five minutes later Jim Shearer and the Jersey cow were marching up the road, and impulsive37 Anne was driving along the Green Gables lane with her twenty dollars.
“What will Marilla say?” asked Diana.
“Oh, she won’t care. Dolly was my own cow and it isn’t likely she’d bring more than twenty dollars at the auction38. But oh dear, if Mr. Harrison sees that grain he will know she has been in again, and after my giving him my word of honor that I’d never let it happen! Well, it has taught me a lesson not to give my word of honor about cows. A cow that could jump over or break through our milk-pen fence couldn’t be trusted anywhere.”
Marilla had gone down to Mrs. Lynde’s, and when she returned knew all about Dolly’s sale and transfer, for Mrs. Lynde had seen most of the transaction from her window and guessed the rest.
“I suppose it’s just as well she’s gone, though you DO do things in a dreadful headlong fashion, Anne. I don’t see how she got out of the pen, though. She must have broken some of the boards off.”
“I didn’t think of looking,” said Anne, “but I’ll go and see now. Martin has never come back yet. Perhaps some more of his aunts have died. I think it’s something like Mr. Peter Sloane and the octogenarians. The other evening Mrs. Sloane was reading a newspaper and she said to Mr. Sloane, ‘I see here that another octogenarian has just died. What is an octogenarian, Peter?’ And Mr. Sloane said he didn’t know, but they must be very sickly creatures, for you never heard tell of them but they were dying. That’s the way with Martin’s aunts.”
“Martin’s just like all the rest of those French,” said Marilla in disgust. “You can’t depend on them for a day.” Marilla was looking over Anne’s Carmody purchases when she heard a shrill39 shriek22 in the barnyard. A minute later Anne dashed into the kitchen, wringing40 her hands.
“Anne Shirley, what’s the matter now?”
“Oh, Marilla, whatever shall I do? This is terrible. And it’s all my fault. Oh, will I EVER learn to stop and reflect a little before doing reckless things? Mrs. Lynde always told me I would do something dreadful some day, and now I’ve done it!”
“Anne, you are the most exasperating41 girl! WHAT is it you’ve done?”
“Sold Mr. Harrison’s Jersey cow . . . the one he bought from Mr. Bell . . . to Mr. Shearer! Dolly is out in the milking pen this very minute.”
“Anne Shirley, are you dreaming?”
“I only wish I were. There’s no dream about it, though it’s very like a nightmare. And Mr. Harrison’s cow is in Charlottetown by this time. Oh, Marilla, I thought I’d finished getting into scrapes, and here I am in the very worst one I ever was in in my life. What can I do?”
“Do? There’s nothing to do, child, except go and see Mr. Harrison about it. We can offer him our Jersey in exchange if he doesn’t want to take the money. She is just as good as his.”
“I daresay he will. He seems to be an irritable43 sort of a man. I’ll go and explain to him if you like.”
“No, indeed, I’m not as mean as that,” exclaimed Anne. “This is all my fault and I’m certainly not going to let you take my punishment. I’ll go myself and I’ll go at once. The sooner it’s over the better, for it will be terribly humiliating.”
Poor Anne got her hat and her twenty dollars and was passing out when she happened to glance through the open pantry door. On the table reposed44 a nut cake which she had baked that morning . . . a particularly toothsome concoction45 iced with pink icing and adorned46 with walnuts47. Anne had intended it for Friday evening, when the youth of Avonlea were to meet at Green Gables to organize the Improvement Society. But what were they compared to the justly offended Mr. Harrison? Anne thought that cake ought to soften48 the heart of any man, especially one who had to do his own cooking, and she promptly49 popped it into a box. She would take it to Mr. Harrison as a peace offering.
“That is, if he gives me a chance to say anything at all,” she thought ruefully, as she climbed the lane fence and started on a short cut across the fields, golden in the light of the dreamy August evening. “I know now just how people feel who are being led to execution.”
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1
hooding
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| v.兜帽( hood的现在分词 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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11
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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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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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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tassels
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| n.穗( tassel的名词复数 )；流苏状物；（植物的）穗；玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 )；使抽穗， （为了使作物茁壮生长）摘去穗状雄花；用流苏装饰 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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boded
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| v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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25
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
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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28
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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luscious
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| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
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30
browsing
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| v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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34
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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35
shearer
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| n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机 | |
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36
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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38
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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39
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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40
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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41
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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42
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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43
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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44
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
concoction
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| n.调配(物)；谎言 | |
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46
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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47
walnuts
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| 胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木 | |
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48
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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49
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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