"Excuse me," began Roy, leaning over the gate and taking off his broad brimmed straw hat, "do you know a boy named Rex Pell?"
He had decided1 that this would be the shortest way of getting at things.
The woman looked up quickly, resting her chin on the top of her broom handle.
"Do you think I look as if I knew much about boys?" she replied. "Well, I don't and I don't want to."
"Excuse me," said Roy, and he hurried on, glad to get away.
The next house was a larger one. There was a good deal of piazza2 around it and some pretensions3 were made at keeping the lawn in good condition.
Roy's knock at the door was answered so promptly4 that he was fain to believe that some one must have been peeping through the shutters5 watching his approach.
A tall woman with light hair received him very effusively6.
"I've been expecting you," she said, with an expansive smile. "I thought you'd come on that train."
"This must be the place," thought Roy. "She knows Rex sent the dispatch and thought some of us would come on."
"I suppose you'd like to go straight up stairs?" she continued, when she had taken his hat and hung it on the stand in the hall.
"Yes, I would," and Roy's heart sank.
Rex must be sick, he decided, and not able to leave his bed. He followed the light haired woman to the floor above, where she threw open the door of a room with a sort of flourish.
Roy halted on the threshold. There was a double bed inside, but nobody on it nor was anybody to be seen in the apartment.
"Where is my brother?" he asked.
"Your brother?" exclaimed the woman. "I did not understand that there were two of you. Your father's letter mentioned only one son. Wait, I will get--"
"No, there must be some mistake," Roy interposed. "I thought my brother, Rex Pell, might be here."
"What, you are not Eric Levens, then?"
"No, indeed, and don't you know anything about my brother? I am so sorry."
"I thought you were the young gentleman I expected who was to look at this room to see whether he liked it well enough to stay while his father went to Europe. But why are you sorry that I do not know anything about your brother? Have you lost him?"
"In a sort of a way, yes," and Roy told his story, or as much of it as he could, without bringing in the fact of Rex's having run away from home.
"Oh, I guess I can help you," exclaimed the woman, when he had finished. "Maybe he is the young fellow who is staying at the Raynors'. I heard about it last Sunday at church."
"About it? About what?"
Roy's face grew pale. The woman looked a little uncomfortable.
"Don't be too anxious," she replied. "He must be better now if he could send a message. But he's had the intermittent7 fever. He was found on the piazza of the house one rainy evening about ten days ago by Florence Raynor. A trampish looking young fellow had carried him in out of the wet, and they say he's been devoted8 to him ever since."
"Where do the Raynors live?" asked Roy, already impatient to be off.
"Come here to the window and I can show you the house. It is clear at the end of this street beyond all the others. You can just see the chimneys above the trees."
Roy was soon hurrying away in the direction pointed9 out.
Although he feared that Rex might have been ill, the certainty of it made his heart very sore for his brother.
"Sick among strangers!" was his thought. "I wish mother had come with me."
A young girl was reading on the piazza when he opened the gate and walked up the path between the box hedges.
"Is my brother Rex here?" he said, pausing at the foot of the steps, his hat in his hand.
She had raised her head as the gate latch10 clicked, and now their eyes met. Even in that moment Roy noted11 how very pretty she was.
"You are the Roy that he sent the telegram to?" she exclaimed. Then paused suddenly, and blushed.
"Yes, I'm Roy, and I've had a hard time to find him. How is he?"
"He's better. He was asleep just now. If you will come in I will call mother."
"Rex has certainly fallen into good hands," thought Roy when he was left alone.
Mrs. Raynor came out in a moment and greeted Roy most cordially.
"I'm glad you came," she said. "It will do your brother good to see you,"
"You've been very, very kind to him," answered Roy.
"No; it wasn't any trouble, because we all took to him so. It was a pleasure to do for him."
"But why didn't he let us know before where he was?" asked Roy.
"Bless you, he only knew himself yesterday. He's had a hard tug12 of it, and not a scrap13 or a card could we find about him, only the letters R. B. P. P, on his linen14."
"Then he's been out of his head?"
"Yes; and you must be prepared to find him greatly changed. But he'll come around again all right, the doctor says. I'll go up now and see if he is awake and call you."
The summons to ascend15 came a few minutes later, and presently Roy found himself standing16 by his brother's bedside. Mrs. Raynor considerately withdrew and left the two together, warning them that she should be back in ten minutes to prevent her patient from becoming unduly17 excited.
Rex had changed. There was no longer any plumpness in his cheeks, and his face was very white. But so were his teeth, and his eyes were as lustrous18 as ever.
"Roy!" He uttered the one word in a weak voice, and held tightly in both of his the hands that his brother extended to him.
A moment of the precious ten was lost to silence as the two looked at each other, but in that look was that which hours of speech could not have expressed. Roy read in it true repentance19, a pleading for forgiveness, and Rex saw that there was no chiding20 for him from those at home, only love and pity.
"Do you know all, Roy; the very worst?" Rex then whispered.
"Don't think of that now, Reggie. It is all right. I want to talk about yourself-- your sickness."
"But I must think of it. I have been thinking of it ever since I came to my senses yesterday. Did you know that I told you lies, that I acted them, that I took the money I had been saving up for mother's present to pay the expenses of this wretched trip?"
"But you didn't go all the way, Reggie. I found that out. You turned back. What happened to you then?"
Rex told the terrible tale of the robbery, of the awful night he had passed riding back and forth21 across the river, and had got as far as his falling asleep on the train when Mrs. Raynor appeared and smilingly announced that time was up.
"Miles will tell you the rest, Roy," said Rex. "He's the best fellow. I don't know what would have become of me if it hadn't been for him. And Mrs. Raynor, too. When I get well they must all come to Philadelphia and we'll give them the very best time."
There was a touch of his old self in the heartiness22 with which he uttered these words. Roy's coming and comforting words had lifted a heavy burden from his heart.
They left him to try to get to sleep again. Roy went down stairs with Mrs. Raynor.
"I ought to go home at once and tell my mother about Rex," he said.
"Why not send a message and stay with him?" suggested the other. "We should be very glad to have you. There is plenty of room in the house. Or send word for your mother to come on. I know she must be anxious to see her son."
Roy hesitated. He scarcely knew what to do. Then he remembered Sydney's absence and reflected that the girls could not very well be left alone. He decided to stay himself till Monday, and to send word that Rex was all right now.
He hurried off to the station to write his dispatch and came back as quickly to the Raynors'. He recollected23 that he had not yet seen the Miles of whom Rex spoke24, the fellow who could tell him the continuation of his brother's adventures.
He asked Florence, whom he found on the lawn, where he could find Miles.
"He's out in the field now," she replied, "digging potatoes. But it's almost twelve. He'll be in then for his dinner. He just adores that brother of yours."
"But who is he?" Roy persisted.
"Well, he hasn't told us his story yet. We took him on trust, and he's turned out all right so far. But there he comes now."
"Excuse me," said Roy. "I'll go and see him." And he hurried off around the corner of the house.
The next minute he stood face to face with the youth who is destined25 to play a highly important part in the remainder of this tale.
收听单词发音 |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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effusively
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| adv.变溢地，热情洋溢地 | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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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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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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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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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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chiding
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| v.责骂，责备( chide的现在分词 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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