It was little Hen who recovered first, and with a shrill4 shriek5 of rage she charged to the attack.
“You horrid6 old thing!” she cried, one hand clenched7 and making frantic8 gestures in the air while the other tugged9 wildly in a vain attempt to free itself from Jessie’s grip upon it. “You know that’s a wicked fib, you do! That’s why you said it! Oh, just wait till I get at you! Oh—oh——” Jessie’s hand closed firmly over her mouth, choking off the furious words.
“Stop it, Henrietta!” she commanded. “You only make it worse by talking like that. Come on, Amy, let’s get away from here.”
“Going to meet Darry and Burd, I suppose,” sneered10 Belle, not moving from the path.
“I think it is simply disgraceful—” added the sharp voice of Sally Moon, who could always be depended upon to back up the girl she fawned11 upon, “I think it is a shame the way you kids run after those two boys——”
“Especially since one of them happens to be my brother,” said Amy, disgustedly. “Really, you girls are too absurd.”
Seeing that Belle and Sally were just warming up to a fresh display of rudeness and knowing that Amy would soon lose her temper completely, Jessie started once more to pass Belle. The latter did not budge12 an inch, but looked at Jessie with such sneering13 disdain14 that even her mild temper gave way to exasperation15.
“Are you going to let me pass, Belle Ringold?” she asked, in a low tone.
“I would like to know why I should,” retorted the other girl, with an impudent16 toss of her head. “I don’t see why I should get out of the way for a person who passes counterfeit17 bills. As a matter of fact, I expect them to get out of my way.” This was too much for Henrietta. Her face was red with fury and every freckle18 seemed to stand out upon it in a little brown blotch19.
“Let me go, Miss Jessie! Just let me get at her! I’ll scratch her eyes out, I will, the mean old thing!”
“Oh, Henrietta, Henrietta, hush20. Don’t say any more.” And while she tried to quiet the frantic child Jessie was conscious of Amy’s voice, saying furiously:
“If you don’t get out of the way and let us by, Belle Ringold, I’ll——” But the threat was destined21 never to be finished.
There was the familiar growl22 of a motor horn, and as the girls looked around they saw the long low body of a touring car glide23 up to the curb24 and slow to a standstill. At the wheel was Burd Alling, a grin upon his cheery countenance25, and in the tonneau was Darry and a lady whom the girls did not recognize. However, it was sufficient that, at that moment, they recognized Darry and Burd!
“Hello!” sang out the latter in a tone that showed he had estimated the situation perfectly26. “Just in time to give you a lift, girls.”
“What did I tell you?” snapped Belle, chagrined27 at the interruption. “Didn’t I say they had a date with Darry and Burd?”
“Always tagging around,” Sally Moon’s voice reached them, as, without another word, the Radio girls, with Bertha and Henrietta in tow, turned toward the car. “Just like big kids——”
“Sorry we can’t take you all, girls,” called Burd to Belle and her crowd as he shifted the lever to low and the car moved slowly forward. “But, you see, we have a pretty good load as it is.”
Darry introduced the strange lady as Miss Alling, “Aunt Emma,” and the girls were delighted at this opportunity to make her acquaintance. The lady who was to chaperone them on the two weeks’ jaunt28 to Forest Lodge29 was not at all the type of person that the inconsequential chatter30 of the boys had led them to expect.
To be sure, Miss Alling was thin, but hers was not the thinness of the dried-up spinster but rather the slenderness of an athletic31 woman who has kept herself physically32 fit. Her face was not handsome, but it was humorously alert and alive. Only around her mouth was a hint of the obstinacy33 for which Burd gave her credit.
Miss Alling was unmistakably enthusiastic about having the young folks with her at Forest Lodge, greeting them, as Burd had prophesied34, as “gifts from heaven.”
When they were nearing Nell Stanley’s house, Jessie suddenly remembered the ice-cream cones35 they had promised to bring the young ones at the parsonage, and insisted that the boys stop long enough to pay a visit to a convenient candy store.
By that time little Hen was once more becoming an “empty void,” or at least she declared herself to that effect, so the entire party trooped into the store for ice cream.
Later they stopped at the parsonage, but did not stay long as “Aunt Emma” Alling declared herself in a tremendous hurry to get home. But Miss Alling met Nell and gave her in person a cordial invitation to join the party at Forest Lodge.
They saw Henrietta and Bertha to the very door of Mrs. Foley’s shack36 in Dogtown (for Henrietta had evinced a strong desire to visit her former guardian), thereby37 arousing a good deal of interest and admiration38 on the part of the dwellers39 there. “My, but that Henrietta Haney had come up in the world, with her fine friends, and all. Her ownin’ an island and visitin’ on it and drivin’ around in automobiles40 and the like. It’s a credit to the neighborhood, she’s getting to be.” So tongues clacked and heads wagged in Dogtown.
As for Henrietta, you would have thought she was a princess at least by the way she held her freckled41 little nose to the sky upon entering the humble42 abode43 of Mrs. Foley.
The girls chuckled45 as the machine left the squalid streets of Dogtown and entered the exclusive residential46 district of Roselawn.
Jessie, Amy and Darry alighted at the gates of the Norwood estate, after gaining a promise from Miss Alling that she would visit Jessie the following evening and see the wireless47 set “in action.”
When the car bearing Burd and “Aunt Emma” had departed, the three young people turned with common consent toward the Norwood porch.
“What were Belle Ringold and Sally Moon up to?” queried48 Darry, as they reached the house. “They looked mad enough to bite nails when we first caught a glimpse of them.”
“Humph, I guess we were the ones who should have looked mad,” grumbled49 Amy as she settled herself comfortably in one of the big chairs on the porch. “Belle Ringold has called us just about every name in the calendar, but to-day she thought up a new one.”
“She said we were passing counterfeit money,” added Jessie, a shadow crossing her face as she thought of that accusation50.
“She said what?” asked Darry again, staring. And when Jessie repeated Belle’s words he threw back his head and roared with laughter.
“Well, that is rich!” he said, when he had recovered his breath.
“I don’t see anything to laugh about,” said Jessie, seriously. “We did not feel very much like laughing at the time.”
“We were more inclined to throw bricks,” agreed Amy. “Those girls are getting impossible, Darry!”
“I know they are,” returned the young fellow, seriously. “But what I was wondering about,” he added, curiously51, “was how in time they got hold of the information that Amy got stung with the counterfeit bill!”
“I don’t know,” said Amy, indifferently, adding with a chuckle44: “I’m sure there is one girl who hasn’t told about it, and that is the tall thin girl who gave the bill to me.”
“I have been wondering about her a good deal,” Jessie confessed. “I have a feeling that that girl is in trouble——”
“Well, if she isn’t, she ought to be,” returned Amy, vehemently52. “Just think of my five dollars and you won’t pity her so much.”
“But she looked sick—almost as if she hadn’t had enough to eat,” insisted Jessie. “She was so tall and thin, and that white face against her coal black hair looked ghastly.”
“Hold on a minute!” cried Darry, leaning forward and regarding Jessie intently. “Did this girl have blue eyes and unusually long, black lashes53?”
“Good gracious, Darry! do you suppose we studied the length of the girl’s lashes at a time like that?” drawled Amy. “Do have a heart!” But Jessie had made an impatient gesture.
“She did have long lashes, Darry—black like her hair,” she said, eagerly. With a low whistle Darry sank back in his chair.
“Gosh,” he muttered, “I wonder if that could have been Link’s sister!”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
slanderer
|
|
| 造谣中伤者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
smirking
|
|
| v.傻笑( smirk的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
belle
|
|
| n.靓女 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
shrill
|
|
| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
shriek
|
|
| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
frantic
|
|
| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
tugged
|
|
| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sneered
|
|
| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
fawned
|
|
| v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的过去式和过去分词 )；巴结；讨好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
budge
|
|
| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
sneering
|
|
| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
disdain
|
|
| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
impudent
|
|
| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
counterfeit
|
|
| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
freckle
|
|
| n.雀簧；晒斑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
blotch
|
|
| n.大斑点；红斑点；v.使沾上污渍，弄脏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
hush
|
|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
destined
|
|
| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
growl
|
|
| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
glide
|
|
| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
curb
|
|
| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
chagrined
|
|
| adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
jaunt
|
|
| v.短程旅游；n.游览 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
lodge
|
|
| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
athletic
|
|
| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
obstinacy
|
|
| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
prophesied
|
|
| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
cones
|
|
| n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
shack
|
|
| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
dwellers
|
|
| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
automobiles
|
|
| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
freckled
|
|
| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
abode
|
|
| n.住处，住所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
chuckle
|
|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
residential
|
|
| adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
wireless
|
|
| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
queried
|
|
| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
accusation
|
|
| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
vehemently
|
|
| adv. 热烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
lashes
|
|
| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |