‘Leave the old thing,’ suggested Micky; ‘very likely she’ll forget to ask for it to-morrow as she did for my declension.’
‘I can’t—she put me on my honour,’ said Kitty, kicking the table-leg angrily.
‘Putting people on their honour is a horridly4 mean dodge,’ growled5 Micky.
‘I wonder whether, when people wanted to go lovely secret expeditions to take food to Prince Charlie, they ever had to do stupid exercises instead?’ said Kitty, giving another vicious kick to the table.
At that moment Emmeline entered, in hat and gloves. ‘I’ve taken the extra money-box money,’ she told them, breathlessly; ‘it’s two shillings and ninepence. That ought to last him nearly three weeks. About a shilling a week is all we can reckon on, I’m afraid, though it doesn’t seem much even for Omnibus Nuts. To be sure, there’s birthday money, but that won’t be yet, and even when we get it, it will be wanted for bedclothes and things. If only we could earn some more, somehow!’
‘Diamond Jubilee shall have all my egg-money,’ said Kitty eagerly. She had a little family of bantams, and was allowed to sell the eggs to the cook.
‘But there have been hardly any eggs lately,’ said Emmeline.
‘There’s only one hen now Whitey’s dead,’ said Kitty, rather injured. ‘I’m sure Specky does her best. It’s such a pity that last set of eggs Whitey hatched all turned out gentlemen. If only they had been ladies we might have had heaps of eggs.’
‘What are Omnibus Nuts, Emmeline?’ asked Micky five minutes later, as they were ‘ralking’ to the village. (‘Ralking’ was a word of their own used to describe a peculiar6 cross between walking and running, specially7 invented by Micky for occasions like coming back from Church, when running was forbidden.)
[124]
‘Oh, they’re a wonderful new food that’s just been invented, and that’s ever so much cheaper than any of the ordinary foods. A person could manage to live on them for ninepence a week, it says,’ explained Emmeline. ‘They’re called Omnibus Nuts because they contain all the things which are of use in all the other foods we eat. I read all about them in that Vegetarian9 Magazine which came the other day. I think Diamond Jubilee ought really to do quite well if he has nine-pennyworth of Omnibus Nuts every week, and three-pennyworth of chocolate, which everyone says is about the most nourishing thing you can eat.’
‘Well, the chocolate will be decent, anyway,’ said Micky, with conviction.
A quarter of an hour’s ‘ralking’ brought them into the village.
‘Omnibus Nuts?’ said Mrs. Freeman, the fat and rather aggressive woman who kept the shop which supplied the Woodsleigh people with the less interesting wants of life—for exciting things like Christmas dinners or new hats they usually went into Eastwich—‘no, we don’t keep them. What’s more, I never heard tell of them.’
Emmeline’s face fell. According to the advertisement, all England was munching10 Omnibus Nuts; it was very tiresome11 of Woodsleigh to be the one exception.
[125]
‘How long would it take you to order them for us?’ she asked anxiously.
‘There’s the carrier coming from Eastwich to-morrow, but you’d not get such things there, I don’t suppose, and it wouldn’t be worth our while to order them special from London, not the little quantity you’d want. I suppose it isn’t Miss Bolton who’s ordering them, by the way?’
‘No, but we shall want a very large quantity,’ said Emmeline, drawing herself up—‘nine-pennyworth every week.’
‘Yes,’ chimed in Micky, ‘we shall want a quite enormous quantity—somebody’s going to live just on Omnibus Nuts and chocolate.’
‘Well I never!’ ejaculated Mrs. Freeman, while Emmeline frowned and pressed Micky’s foot hard.
‘Well, can you order them for us?’ she asked hastily, hoping by a return to more formal business relations to avert12 suspicions.
‘Well, I don’t know, I’m sure,’ said Mrs. Freeman, eyeing her customers doubtfully. ‘You see, we should have to order them special from London.’
‘I don’t suppose you would,’ said Emmeline, impatiently; ‘you’d be almost sure to get them in Eastwich. Besides, once you’d got them in stock, everybody in the village would be buying them—they’re like meat, and milk, and vegetables[126] all put together, it says, and they don’t cost hardly anything, and there’s no need to cook them.’
Mrs. Freeman looked stolidly14 incredulous, and Emmeline was fast losing what remained of her temper, when there came an unexpected interruption. A bright-looking youth suddenly poked15 his head out of the half-open door which divided the shop from an inner room, and joined in the conversation.
‘So you want Omnibus Nuts?’ he said. ‘Wonderful things! I know them well. Pity they’re out of stock. Still, a famous specialist has just discovered that monkey-nuts have exactly the same nutritious16 properties. Wouldn’t you like some of them?’
Mrs. Freeman abruptly17 turned her back on the children, and Emmeline, who could not see her grin, was much impressed by the young man’s long words and confident air.
‘You’re quite sure they’re as good as Omnibus Nuts?’ she asked, with only a slight touch of doubt in her voice. ‘They would really do instead of meat and vegetable and all the other things?’
‘I’ve lived on them myself for six weeks together, and felt as chirpy as could be at the end of the time,’ said the young man, gravely.
‘Well, then, I think they must be all right,’ decided18 Emmeline, with a sigh of relief ‘so we’ll take some, please.’
[127]
The last part of Emmeline’s sentence was addressed to Mrs. Freeman, but that lady had become suddenly and unaccountably busy with something in a dark corner of the shop, and it was the youth who came forward to serve them.
‘What quantity would you like?’ he asked, politely.
‘Well,’ began Emmeline, ‘I meant to have spent two-and-threepence on the Omnibus Nuts.’
‘You shall have our entire stock of monkey-nuts for two-and-threepence,’ said the young man, promptly19. ‘It comes cheaper buying them in large quantities, you know; but, of course, we can sell you a smaller amount if you prefer.’
‘Oh, I think we’ll take them all. I know it comes cheaper in the long run,’ said Emmeline, feeling herself quite an experienced housekeeper20.
She had often heard grown-up people talk of things being cheaper in the long run.
‘Shall we send them for you?’ asked the young man, as he reached down the jar containing the monkey-nuts.
‘Oh no, we’ll take them with us, please,’ said Emmeline hastily.
‘I’ll make two parcels of them then. They’d be rather a lot for one to carry. Now, is there anything else we can do for you, to-day?’ he added, as he poured out the monkey-nuts into two large, stout21 paper-bags.
[128]
‘I’ll have sixpennyworth of milk-chocolate please,’ said Emmeline. ‘I suppose it is more nourishing than plain chocolate?’
‘Most nourishing thing you can eat next to monkey-nuts, and, of course, Omnibus Nuts,’ said the youth cheerfully, as he served her with it.
‘George Albert, I’m ashamed of you—telling such crams22!’ exclaimed Mrs. Freeman, as soon as the children had left the shop.
‘It was all in the way of business,’ said George Albert, ‘and I dare say monkey-nuts will do every bit as well as Omnibus Nuts, whatever they may be.’
Emmeline meantime gave Micky a little lecture as they walked away from the shop.
‘I do wish you would be more careful,’ she was saying. ‘You very nearly let out about Diamond Jubilee just now.’
‘I never said his name even,’ said Micky indignantly; ‘I’ve been most frightfully careful.’
‘You said quite enough to let out, if anyone had been paying much attention,’ said Emmeline, severely23. ‘Luckily Mrs. Freeman seemed thoroughly24 stupid, but I don’t feel sure that sharp young man mayn’t have guessed something.’
Micky thought it as well to change the subject.
‘We seem to have got a great many monkey-nuts for one boy,’ he remarked, peering into his[129] bag. ‘Don’t you think he’ll get rather tired of them before they’re done?’
‘Oh no, Micky. What silly ideas you have!’ said Emmeline impatiently. ‘You must remember that Diamond Jubilee isn’t like us. I expect he’s often been used to going days and days without the least little scrap25 of food; so he ought to be only too thankful to have plenty of nice, nourishing monkey-nuts.’
They had got well outside the village, and were just passing a farm famous for its apple-orchard26, when Emmeline was startled, and Micky interested, by sounds of wrath27 and battle.
‘Get out, you young varmint!’ shouted an angry voice; ‘and if ever I catch you in my orchard again I’ll give you such a warming——’
Emmeline lost the rest of the sentence in her fright and dismay at being almost knocked down by a ragged28, dirty, and altogether disreputable little tramp, who rushed out into the road looking the very picture of guilt29.
‘Diamond Jubilee!!!!!!’ she gasped30, with at least six notes of horror in her voice, but terror of the promised warming had lent wings to Diamond Jubilee’s usually laggard31 feet, and he flew past her quite unheeding. He never once stopped till forty good yards lay between himself and the farm; then he turned round, and after making quite sure that he was not being pursued, gave[130] vent8 to language which it was just as well Micky and Emmeline were too far off to catch. As it was they merely got the benefit of the eloquent32 gesture—a favourite one in Diamond Jubilee’s circle—by which he expressed his utter and unspeakable contempt for the farmer.
Perhaps it was then for the first time that Emmeline fully13 realised the appalling33 amount of training her adopted son would need before he would be at all a satisfactory missionary34.
‘Micky, he’s a dreadful little boy!’ she gasped.
Indignation caused her to quicken her pace, and as Diamond Jubilee, now no longer in fear of pursuit, was sauntering along like the proverbial snail35, they soon overtook him. He greeted them with a cool ‘Hello!’
‘Diamond Jubilee, I can’t tell you how ashamed and grieved I am,’ began Emmeline, in the voice which she considered suitable to a sorrow-stricken and virtuous36 parent addressing an unworthy child.
Diamond Jubilee gave her an impudent37 stare.
‘Garn!’ he said. ‘What are you getting at me for?’
‘I’m much too upset to “get” at you as you call it,’ said Emmeline, sorrowfully. ‘To think of you robbing an orchard, Diamond Jubilee, and after all I said to you this morning, too!’
It is painful to have to relate what followed, but[131] as this is a true history of Diamond Jubilee Jones and of Micky, his adopted father, the regrettable incident cannot be shirked. Instead of being moved to penitence38 by Emmeline’s appeal, Diamond Jubilee’s only answer was to jerk his forefinger39 and thumb into a repetition of his former gesture, only this time it was pointed40 not towards the farm, but at Emmeline herself.
The sight was too much for Micky’s sense of chivalry41.
‘I’ll teach you to cheek my sister!’ he shouted, flinging down his bag of nuts and rushing at Diamond Jubilee with doubled fists. ‘You little beast, you!’
Now Diamond Jubilee, though older and a trifle taller than Micky, was in nothing like as good form. Moreover, his recent visit to the apple-orchard had been a bad preparation for a stand-up fight; so in another minute he was lying on his back in the dusty road, while Micky was seated firmly aside his prostrate42 body.
‘No, I shan’t get up till you’ve apologised,’ said Micky sternly.
‘Ow! You’re hurting me!’ squealed43 Diamond Jubilee.
‘Micky, do get up,’ said Emmeline. ‘You may really hurt him.’
‘Don’t care if I do. Shan’t get up till he’s apologised,’ said Micky.
[132]
‘I’m sure he’s very sorry, aren’t you, Diamond Jubilee!’ said Emmeline.
‘Ow!’ squealed Diamond Jubilee again.
‘Say after me, “I humbly44 apologise for being a cad,”’ said Micky, relentlessly45.
‘I humbly Polly’s eyes——’ gasped Diamond Jubilee, who would have said anything required of him at that moment. ‘Ow! Get off, can’t you?’
‘Say “for being a cad,”’ persisted Micky, ‘then I’ll get off.’
‘Micky, do get off,’ pleaded Emmeline, who was beginning to be really unhappy.
‘For being a cad,’ repeated Micky, firmly.
‘For being a cad,’ groaned46 Diamond Jubilee; on which Micky sprang up with the suddenness of a triumphant47 Jack-in-the-box.
‘Shake hands,’ commanded Micky, stretching out his paw as Diamond Jubilee rose from the ground slowly and rather sulkily. For a moment the street-arab seemed to hesitate. Then, sheepish but not unfriendly, he put his very grimy little hands into Micky’s.
‘That’s the sporting way to end a fight,’ explained Micky; ‘and now Emmeline and I will have to go home to dinner or we’ll be late, and though Aunt Grace went to London this morning, so that there isn’t her to think of, there’ll be a row with Jane, which is much worse.’
‘Yes, and we had better give you your own[133] dinner, as we have met you,’ said Emmeline, ‘here it is—chocolate and monkey-nuts. They are quite the best foods there are,’ she added hastily; ‘anyone who eats them could do perfectly48 well without anything else.’
In spite of what she had said to Micky, a sneaking49 doubt as to whether Diamond Jubilee would approve of being the person to try the experiment, made Emmeline keep to general terms. There would be time enough to break to him that chocolate and monkey-nuts were to form his sole and lasting50 diet when he had already become fat and flourishing on them.
He accepted the two big bags of monkey-nuts and a small piece of milk chocolate (she had judged it best to break off a fraction of that dainty rather than to entrust51 him with the whole fortnight’s portion), without any particular sign, either of pleasure or disgust. Probably his half hour in the apple-orchard had made him unusually indifferent to what he ate.
‘I shan’t give you any more nuts for three weeks,’ Emmeline told him, ‘so you must be careful of them and not eat too many now. Can I trust you, I wonder? I’d keep them for you only it wouldn’t be convenient.’
It would not have been at all convenient. Jane had a tiresome habit of prying52 into cupboards and under beds and in all sorts of other places, which[134] the children felt ought to have been considered private; and as another annoying trait in her character was a strong theory that nuts of all kinds were bad for young people, the presence, however unobtrusive, of two large bags of monkey-nuts in the house, would almost certainly have led to trouble.
‘Garn! I aren’t that fond of them monkey-nuts,’ said Diamond Jubilee mildly. He had not the faintest suspicion, poor boy, that they were expected to be his staple53 food even for that day, let alone for an indefinite number of days to come!
They left him sitting under a hedge eating his chocolate, and with a bag of monkey-nuts on either side of him. Numbers of other nuts which had been spilt out of Micky’s bag when he flung it down, lay scattered54 about the road, but Diamond Jubilee had made no effort to pick them up.
‘We forgot to tell him anywhere to meet us this afternoon,’ remarked Micky, as he and Emmeline were crossing the garden.
‘Oh, I don’t know that I want to meet him again,’ said Emmeline wearily—‘I mean not this afternoon,’ she added quickly, as Micky looked up at her with round-eyed surprise.
“OH, WHAT SHALL WE DO?” SHE SOBBED55.
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收听单词发音
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1
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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jubilee
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| n.周年纪念；欢乐 | |
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horridly
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| 可怕地，讨厌地 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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vegetarian
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| n.素食者；adj.素食的 | |
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munching
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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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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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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nutritious
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| adj.有营养的，营养价值高的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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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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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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crams
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| v.塞入( cram的第三人称单数 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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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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laggard
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| n.落后者；adj.缓慢的，落后的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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snail
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| n.蜗牛 | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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squealed
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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50
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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51
entrust
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| v.信赖，信托，交托 | |
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prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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53
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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54
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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55
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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