Chapter 34 Rex Rises To The Occasion

"It's wonderful. I never heard anything like it." This was Mrs. Fox's exclamation¹ when the four were left alone in the front room again.

"All the credit belongs to you, Mr. Pell," she went on, turning to Sydney. "It was you thought of this way of doing things."

"Oh, he might have recognized him any other way just as quickly," returned Sydney. "And now some one must tell him about Mr. Tyler's legacy," he added. "I want to get that off my mind."

"I guess he can't stand that to-night, Mr. Pell," returned the old lady. "You'd better leave it till tomorrow. I'll keep Miles here with him to-night-- there's room-- and then they can both go to see you to-morrow."

"Yes, that will be the best way," Sydney agreed. "But I had hoped to get it off my mind by this time. Come, boys."

"I trust I shall see you both again," said Mrs. Fox, as she shook hands with the twins.

Then the three Pells went out and homeward. It was only nine o'clock.

"Mother ought to know, don't you think so, Syd?" said Roy.

"Yes, she must know to-night. But I don't see how I can tell her. I don't see how I can. She trusts me so fully²."

"Then let me tell her," suggested Roy.

"No, no. I must confess myself. I shall do it now as soon as we get home. Then I can be ready to put myself in Mr. Darley's hands to-morrow."

"Do you think he will-- will--" Rex began and came to a sudden stop.

"Send me to jail?" Syd finished for him. "He may. He has a right to do it. I deserve to go. Oh, boys, I wonder how you can bear to be with me."

"You did it for our sakes, Syd," responded Roy.

But Rex said nothing.

When they reached the house they found Eva and Jess in the parlor³, entertaining company.

"Come in, boys," Eva called as they passed the door.

Roy and Rex obeyed the summons, leaving Sydney to go up to Mrs. Pell in the library.

They found Mr. Keeler to be the caller. Rex started when he saw who it was.

"Why, where is Miles?" asked Jess.

"He stayed with his father," replied Rex.

"His father!" echoed both girls. "Why, has he found him?"

"Yes," answered Roy, "Syd found him. There's a story for you, Mr. Keeler, a regular romance."

Rex began to look nervous. He feared that his escapade with Harrington was about to be related. But Roy skillfully told the main points in Miles's career without encroaching on this.

Mr. Keeler stayed until ten o'clock, and while they were talking and laughing in the parlor, the twins were thinking of what was going on in the room above.

When they went to kiss their mother good night they saw that she knew. The girls exclaimed at once at sight of her face.

"You are ill," cried Eva.

"No, Eva," rejoined Mrs. Pell, "it is worse than illness."

The tears welled up in her eyes. She could say no more.

Sydney was not with her, neither was he in his room. The girls were clamorous⁴ to know what was the matter.

"Tell them, Roy, I can't," Mrs. Pell at last found voice to say.

Rex could not stay to hear. And Roy never suffered as he did in the few moments it took him to relate his foster brother's crime. It seemed as though it were as cruel as to drive nails into the fair flesh of the young girls. And yet they must know.

"How could he do it, how could he?" Eva murmured again and again.

"Perhaps he didn't," Jess suddenly exclaimed. "He's nothing to show for it-- the second will, I mean. Perhaps there's something wrong with his brain, and he only imagines there was one and he destroyed it."

But Roy shook his head. There was Ann to prove, if necessary, that she had signed the other document.

For a long while they sat there. It seemed as if black despair had settled upon them and there was no way out.

For years Mrs. Pell had leaned upon Sydney. In an emergency like the present, he would be just the one to whom she would go for counsel. And now-- he had failed her utterly⁵.

"What did you say to him, mother?" asked Roy after a while. "Were-- were you kind to him?"

"I tried to be. I tried to remember that he had done all for our sakes, but I feel like a ship without a rudder."

Roy left his seat near Eva and slipped into a chair next his mother, who had bowed her head on the desk in front of her.

She had been writing a note to a charitable society of which she was a member. The check she was to send them lay all signed, ready to be inclosed.

"Moms," whispered Roy, using the pet name Rex had invented and pressing one of his mother's hands tightly in his, "you have us. We are growing fast. I am sure we shall get along."

"Bless you, my boy." His mother kissed him on the forehead, then lifted her eyes reverently⁶, as she added: "Yes, and I must not forget that there is One who is always a friend to the needy⁷. And now, children, we must go to bed. To-morrow we will decide what to do."

Roy stopped at Rex's door, went in and found his brother tossing in bed.

"Have you told the girls?" he asked.

"Yes."

"How did they take it?"

"Better than I expected they would."

"But what are we going to do, Roy?" Rex went on. "We can't stay here."

"No, of course not."

"But what will people say? Won't there be a terrible scandal?"

"You mustn't talk that way, Rex. Remember that you and I are the ones mother must depend on now. If she sees us looking on the dark side it'll make it so much the harder for her."

"That's it," returned Rex. "Life is something you must go ahead with. You can't lay it down when you get tired. All right; I'll remember what you say, Roy, but it's an awful come down."

Rex, however, "came up to the scratch," as he himself would have expressed it, nobly the next day.

Nobody went to church, and about half past eleven the door bell rang and "Mr. Darley and son" were announced.

Miles, as we shall continue to call him, sent up word to know if he could come up to Rex's room.

"Do you know?" asked Reginald, as he met him in the doorway⁸.

"Yes; Mr. Sydney came around to us this morning. I can't understand it. But I don't want you to feel--"

Miles hesitated. It was very embarrassing for him to express just what he wanted to say. Rex helped him out.

"I'm awfully⁹ glad for you, old fellow," he said heartily¹⁰. "And I don't want you to worry about us. We'll get along some way."

"But that won't do," Miles persisted. "If it hadn't been for you I might have been a common tramp now and never found my father."

"And if it hadn't been for you I would probably have been dead long ago," Rex retorted. "So you see we're quits."

"No, we're not, and I don't want that we should, till I give you what I think you ought to have. Father says I may and--"

"Miles Harding-- Darley, I mean, if you do that I'll-- I'll never speak to you again. There, take your choice-- quits or my friendship."

Rex's pride conquered. Miles was still his slave.

"I'll never say another word about it, Rex," he replied meekly¹¹, and for the first time Reginald felt that he could face poverty bravely.

1 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

4 clamorous   

adj.吵闹的，喧哗的

参考例句：

• They are clamorous for better pay.他们吵吵嚷嚷要求增加工资。
• The meeting began to become clamorous.会议开始变得喧哗了。

5 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

6 reverently   

adv.虔诚地

参考例句：

• He gazed reverently at the handiwork. 他满怀敬意地凝视着这件手工艺品。
• Pork gazed at it reverently and slowly delight spread over his face. 波克怀着愉快的心情看着这只表，脸上慢慢显出十分崇敬的神色。

7 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

8 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

9 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

10 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

11 meekly   

adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地

参考例句：

• He stood aside meekly when the new policy was proposed. 当有人提出新政策时，他唯唯诺诺地站 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He meekly accepted the rebuke. 他顺从地接受了批评。 来自《简明英汉词典》