Early Monday morning Bobby was afoot and on his way to the Ottawa Hotel. He ran fast until within a block of it; then unexpectedly his gait slackened to a walk, finally to a loiter. He became strangely reluctant, strangely bashful about approaching the place. This was not to be understood.
Usually when he wanted to go play with any one, he simply went and did so. Now all sorts of barriers seemed to intervene, and the worst of it was that these barriers he seemed to have spun1 from out his own soul. Then too a queer feeling suddenly invaded his chest, exactly like that he remembered to have experienced during the downward rush of a swing. Bobby could not comprehend these things; they just were. He was fairly to the point of deciding to go back and look at the Flobert Rifle, in the shop window, when a group of children ran out from the wide office doors to the croquet court at the side.
Among them Bobby made out Celia, a different Celia from her of the picnic. Her curls danced as full of life and light as ever; the biscuit brown of her complexion2 glowed as smooth and clean; even from a distance Bobby could see the contrast of her black eyes; but on her head she wore a brown chip hat; her gown was of plain blue gingham; her slim straight legs were encased in heavy strong stockings. She looked like a healthy, lively little girl out for a good time; and the sight cheered Bobby's wavering courage as nothing else could. His vague ideas of retreat were discarded.
But he did not know how to approach. The children inside the low rail fence were placing the brilliantly-striped wooden balls in a row in order to determine by 'pinking' at the stake who should have the advantageous3 last shot. Bobby, irresolute4, halted outside, shifting uneasily, wanting to join the group, but withheld5 by the unwonted bashfulness. Amid shouts and exclamations6 each clicked his mallet7 against his ball, and immediately ran forward with the greatest eagerness to see how near the stake he had come. At last the group formed close. A moment's dispute cleared. Celia had won, and now stood erect9, her cheeks flushing, her eyes dancing with triumph. In so doing she caught sight of Bobby hesitating outside.
"Why, there's Bobby!" she cried. "Come on in, Bobby, and play!"
At the sound of her voice, all his timidity vanished. He entered boldly and joined the others.
"This is Bobby," announced Celia by way of general introduction, "and this," she continued, turning to Bobby, "is Gerald, and Morris, and Kitty and Margaret."
"Hullo," said Morris, "Grab a mallet, and come on."
Bobby liked Morris, who was a short, redheaded boy of jolly aspect. Gerald, a youth of perhaps twelve years of age, rather tall and slender, of very dark, clear, pale complexion, nodded carelessly. Bobby took an immediate8 distaste for him. He looked altogether too superior, and sleepy and distinguished--yes, and stylish10. Bobby was very young and inexperienced; but even he could feel that Gerald's round straw hat, and norfolk-cut jacket, and neat, loose, short trousers buckled11 at the knee contrasted a little more than favourably12 with his own chip hat, blue blouse and tight breeches. Also he was already dusty, while Gerald was immaculate.
As to Kitty and Margaret, they were nice, neat, clean, pretty little girls--but not like Celia!
Bobby found a mallet and ball in the long wooden case, and joined the game. He was not skilful13 at it, and soon fell behind the others in the progress through the wickets. Indeed, when, after two strokes, he had at last gained position for the "middle arch," he met Gerald coming the other way. Gerald shot for his ball; hit it; and then, with a disdainful air, knocked Bobby away out of bounds across the lawn. This was quite within the rules, but it made Bobby angry just the same. As he trudged14 doggedly15 away after his ball, he felt himself very much alone under what he thought must be the derisive16 eyes of all the rest. The game ended before he had gained the turning stake.
"Skunked," remarked Morris cheerfully.
Gerald said nothing, did not even look; but Bobby liked Morris's comment better than Gerald's assumed indifference18.
"Let's have another game--partners," suggested Gerald to Celia.
But Bobby, to his own great surprise, found courage to speak up.
"Let's not play croquet any more," said he. "Let's have a game of Hi-Spy."
"It's too hot," interposed Gerald quickly.
The others said nothing, but with the child's keen instinct for the drama, had drawn19 aside in favour of the principal actors. Gerald stood by the stake, leaning indolently on his mallet, his long black lashes20 down-cast over the dark pallor of his cheeks, very handsome, very graceful21. Bobby had drawn near on Celia's other side. The comparison showed all his freckles22 and the unformed homeliness23 of his rather dumpy, sturdy figure; it showed also the honest dull red of his cheeks and the clear unfaltering gray of his eyes. Celia, between them, looked down, tapping her croquet ball with the tip of her shoe.
"I don't think it's very hot," she said at last, looking up. "Let's play Hi-Spy."
A wave of glowing triumph rushed through Bobby's soul. Gerald merely shrugged24 his shoulders.
But unmixed joy was to be a short-lived emotion with Bobby as far as Celia was concerned. He knew lots of fine hiding-places about the grounds of the Ottawa, and he promised himself that he would take Celia to them. They could hide together; and that would be delightful25.
Morris counted out first to be "it." He leaned his arm against a post, his head against his arm, and closed his eyes.
"Ten-ten-double-ten-forty-five-fifteen" he repeated over ten times as rapidly as possible. That was his way of counting a thousand.
The other children scurried26 off as fast as their legs could carry them in order to reach concealment27 before the end of the count. And somehow, against his will, Bobby found himself cast in the hurry of the moment with Kitty instead of with Celia. And Celia he saw disappear in Gerald's convoy28.
"Coming!" roared Morris, uncovering his eyes.
"Oh dear, he's coming!" cried Kitty in distress29, "and we're not hid! Where shall we go? Don't you know any good places?"
But Bobby, still confused over his disappointment, had not the wits wherewith to think in so pressing an emergency. He vacillated between pillar and post; and so was espied30 by the goal-keeper. Morris immediately set himself in rapid motion for the "home."
"One, two, three for Bobby Orde!" he cried, striking the post vigorously. "One, two, three for Kitty Clark!"
The two reluctantly appeared.
"There, now, you got us caught," accused Kitty sulkily.
"Never mind," consoled Bobby, "anyway he saw me first. I'm it!"
Morris was off prowling after more prey31. As he disappeared around the corner of the building a rapid flash of skirts was visible from the other. Morris caught it; and, turning, raced with all his might back to the home goal. But Margaret had too good a head start. She arrived first; and immediately began to dance around and around, her long legs twinkling, her two thick braids flying.
"In free! In free!" she shrieked32 over and over again.
There still remained Celia and Gerald. Morris set himself very carefully to find them, prowling into all likely places, but returning abruptly34 every moment or so in order to forestall35 or discourage attempts to get in. He proved unsuccessful; nor did his absence seem to afford the others chances to run home. The other three watched with growing impatience36.
"Oh, Morris, let them in!" begged Kitty. Bobby felt a glow of kindliness37 toward her for making the suggestion. He would not have proffered38 it himself for worlds. Morris, however, was obstinate39. He continued his search for at least ten minutes. At last he had to give in.
"All sorts in free!" he called at the top of his voice.
Celia and Gerald appeared smiling and unruffled. They refused to divulge40 their hiding-place.
"We'll save it until next time," said Celia.
Bobby blinded his eyes and counted. He had no interest in the game, and experienced inside himself a half-sick, hollow feeling unique in his experience. Morris, Kitty and Margaret got in free, simply because his attention was too lax. Gerald and Celia had once more disappeared. After a decent interval41 the others became clamorous42 again for general amnesty.
"Blind again, Bobby," they urged, "let them in free."
But Bobby continued to search beyond the places he had already looked. His further knowledge of the hotel grounds was a negligible quantity; so he began, consistently to eliminate all possibilities. From one corner he zigzagged43 back and forth44, testing every nook and cranny that might contain a human being. Thus he examined every foot of the place; but without results. He was puzzled; but he would not give up. Methodically, and to the vast disgust of the others, he began over again at the corner from which he had started. No results.
"No fair outside the grounds!" he shouted. To this of course, no answer came.
"Give it up!" urged the others.
"I won't!" insisted Bobby doggedly.
He did not know where to search next, so he looked up. The hotel was provided with a broad shady flat-roofed verandah. At the edge of this roof, projecting the least bit above, Bobby glimpsed a fold of blue. The pair were evidently lying at full length in the spacious45 water gutter46. The blue could be nothing but the gingham of Celia's dress. Nevertheless Bobby walked to goal and calmly announced.
"One, two, three for Gerald--on the verandah roof!" And then, after a deliberate pause, "All sorts in free!"
Gerald blinded. Bobby, with determination, took Celia's hand, and breathlessly the pair sped away. The little boy's first move was to place the hotel building between himself and Gerald.
"Can you climb a fence?" he asked hurriedly.
"If it isn't too high."
"Come on then, I know a dandy place."
Bobby attacked the board fence behind the hotel. Two packing-boxes of different heights made the problem of ascent47 easy. But the other side was a sheer drop; and Celia was afraid.
"I can't!" she cried. "It's too far!"
"Just drop," advised Bobby desperately48. "Hurry up! He'll be around the corner!"
"I daren't!" cried poor Celia. "You go first."
Promptly49 Bobby dangled50; and dropped.
"See; it's easy. Come on, I'll catch you!"
Finally Celia wiggled over the edge, shut her eyes, and let go. She landed directly on Bobby, and the two went down in a heap.
"Come on!" whispered Bobby. "Scoot!"
Before them rose a whitewashed51 barn. Celia's hand in his, Bobby darted52 in at the open doorway53, and more by instinct than by sight, found a rickety steep flight of stairs and ascended54 to the hay-mow.
"There, isn't that great?" he whispered.
They sank back on the soft fragrant55 hay, and breathed luxuriously56 after the haste of the last few moments. A score of mice had scurried away at their abrupt33 entrance; and the fairy-like echoes of these animals' tiny feet seemed to linger in the twilight57. Through cracks long pencils of sunlight lay across the hay and the dim criss-cross of the rafters above. Dust motes58 crossed them in lazy eddies59, each visible for a golden moment as it entered the glow of its brief importance, only to be blotted60 into invisibility as it passed.
"Is this a fair hide?" whispered Celia. "This is outside the grounds."
"It's the hotel barn," replied Bobby. "I bet he doesn't find us here."
They fell silent, because they were hiding, and in that silence they unconsciously drew nearer to each other. The delicious aroma61 of the hay overcame their spirits with a drowsiness62. New sensations thronged63 on Bobby's spirit, made receptive by the narcotic64 influences of the tepid65 air, the mysterious dimness, the wands of gold, the floating brief dust-motes. He wanted to touch Celia; and he found himself diffident. He wanted to hear her voice; and he suddenly discovered in himself an embarrassment66 in addressing her which was causeless and foolish. He wanted to look at her; and he did so; but it was not frankly67 and openly, as he had always looked at people before. His shy side-glances delighted in the clear curve of her cheeks; the soft wheat-colour of her curls; the dense68 black of her half-closed eyes; the brown of her complexion; the sweet cleanliness of her. A faint warm fragrance69 emanated70 from her. Bobby's heart leaped and stood still. All at once he knew what was the matter. It is a mistake to imagine that children do not recognize love when it comes to them. Love requires no announcement, no definition, no description. Only in later years when the first fresh purity of the heart has gone, we may perhaps require of him an introduction.
At once Bobby felt swelling71 within his breast a great longing72, a hunger which filled his throat, a yearning73 that made him faint. For what? Who can tell. The idea of possession was still years distant; the thought of a caress74 had not yet come to him; the bare notion that Celia could care for him had not as yet unfolded its dazzling wings; even the desire to tell her was not yet born. Probably at no other period of a human being's life is the passion of love so pure, so divorced from all considerations of the material, or of self, so shiningly its ethereal spiritual soul. Yet love it is; such love as the grown man feels for his mate; with all the great inner breathless longings75 of the highest passion.
The two lay curled side by side in their nests of hay. Time passed, but they did not know of it. The little boy was drowned in the depths of this new thing that had come to him. Celia filled the world to him. His reverie brimmed with her. Yet somehow also there came to him other things, unsought, and floated about him, and became more fully17 part of him than they had ever been before. It was an incongruous assortment76; some of the knights77 of Sir Malory; the River above the booms, with the brown logs; a plume78 of white steam against the dazzling blue sky; the mellow79 six-o'clock church bell to which he arose every morning; the snake-fence by the sandhill as it was in winter, with the wreaths of snow; and all through everything the feel of the woods he had seen at the picnic, their canopy80 of green so far above, their splashes of sunlight through the rifts81, the friendly summer warmth of their air, their hot, spicy82 wood-smells wandering to and fro; their tall trunks, their undergrowth, with the green tunnels far through them, the flashes of their birds' wings, their green transparent83 shadows. These came to him, vaguely84, and their existence seemed explained. They were because Celia was. And so, in the musty loft85 of an ill-kept stable, Bobby entered another portion of the beautiful heritage that was some day to be his.
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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mallet
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| n.槌棒 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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stylish
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| adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的 | |
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buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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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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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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lashes
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| 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 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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homeliness
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| n.简朴，朴实；相貌平平 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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scurried
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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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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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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forestall
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| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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divulge
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| v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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zigzagged
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| adj.呈之字形移动的v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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narcotic
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| n.麻醉药，镇静剂；adj.麻醉的，催眠的 | |
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tepid
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| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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74
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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75
longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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76
assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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77
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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78
plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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79
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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80
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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81
rifts
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| n.裂缝( rift的名词复数 )；裂隙；分裂；不和 | |
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82
spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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83
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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84
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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85
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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