CHAPTER XXXII. TOMMY’S INNOCENT TRICK.

 It was not till supper-time that Andy was introduced to the members of Mr. Brackett’s family.

“I hope you’ll do better than the last boy,” said Mrs. Brackett.

“I hope so,” said Andy.

Here Mr. Dodge¹ entered the room.

“Father, I’ve hired a new boy,” said Mr. Brackett.{191}

“I see you have,” replied the old man, demurely², looking at Andy as if he had never seen him before. “What’s his name?”

“Henry Miller³.”

“I am glad to see you, Henry,” said the old gentleman, with a smile.

“Thank you, sir!”

Just then Andy felt his next neighbor at the table, Tommy, trying to stick a pin into his leg. It was one of the engaging tricks of Mr. Brackett’s promising⁴ heir.

Now, Andy was not inclined to submit to anything of the kind, and he forcibly took the pin from the hands of the young mischief-maker.

“Gimme my pin!” screamed Tommy.

For answer, Andy stuck it into his coat lapel on the opposite side.

“Have you got Tommy’s pin?” asked Mrs. Brackett, angrily.

“Yes, ma’am,” answered Andy.

“Give it right back to him!”

“So I will, after supper; but I object to his using my leg for a pincushion,” answered our hero, coolly.

Mrs. Brackett’s temper was not of the best.

“Do you hear that, Mr. Brackett?” she snapped.

“Hear what, Lucinda?”

“Hear that boy defy me to my face?”

“I guess you’d better give Tommy his pin,”{192} said Mr. Brackett, who stood in awe⁵ of his wife.

“You must excuse me, sir, unless you give him a different place at the table,” said Andy, firmly, but with perfect politeness.

“Come here and sit by your mother, my angel!” said Mrs. Brackett.

As Tommy rose to obey, Andy, with a smile, restored to him his pin.

I am sorry to relate the sequel. Tommy, emboldened⁶ by his success, seized an opportunity playfully to prick⁷ his mother, and found that he had made a decided⁸ blunder. The lady instantly seized the young culprit by the collar and dragged him from the room, shaking him vigorously.

“I’ll learn you to play tricks on your ma!” she exclaimed, angrily. “Not another mouthful shall you have to eat to-night, you saucy⁹ little imp¹⁰! But what can be expected when your father upholds you in your bad actions?”

“Really, Lucindy,” exclaimed Mr. Brackett, justly astonished, “I don’t understand you!”

Mrs. Brackett volunteered no explanation, but flounced back to her seat, and the remainder of the meal was passed in solemn and dreary¹¹ silence.

Andy was very much amused at the sudden change in Mrs. Brackett’s sentiments toward her angel boy, but of course said nothing.

Later in the evening he got a chance to{193} speak a few words, unobserved, with the old gentleman.

“You did right, Henry,” said Mr. Dodge—(It was decided from motives¹² of prudence¹³ that he had better call our hero by this name)—“in showing that young torment¹⁴ that he couldn’t play tricks on you. He is about the worst behaved boy I know.”

“Does he ever trouble you, sir?”

“ ‘No; not much. His parents think it would not be politic¹⁵ to let him.”

“Mrs. Brackett seems a very agreeable woman,” said Andy, laughing.

“She’s a good deal worse than her husband. She is very bad-tempered¹⁶, mean and disagreeable. She isn’t lazy, like her husband, but he is better natured than she. How do you think you shall like staying here?”

“I wouldn’t stay a day longer if it were not for you, sir.”

“Thank you, Henry! You are a good boy. I shan’t stay long myself, but there are some things I must attend to before I can go away.”

Here Brackett came in sight, and the two separated, not wishing to excite his suspicions.

1 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。

2 demurely   

adv.装成端庄地，认真地

参考例句：

• "On the forehead, like a good brother,'she answered demurely. "吻前额，像个好哥哥那样，"她故作正经地回答说。 来自飘（部分）
• Punctuation is the way one bats one's eyes, lowers one's voice or blushes demurely. 标点就像人眨眨眼睛，低声细语，或伍犯作态。 来自名作英译部分

3 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

5 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

6 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 prick   

v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛

参考例句：

• He felt a sharp prick when he stepped on an upturned nail.当他踩在一个尖朝上的钉子上时，他感到剧烈的疼痛。
• He burst the balloon with a prick of the pin.他用针一戳，气球就爆了。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 saucy   

adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的

参考例句：

• He was saucy and mischievous when he was working.他工作时总爱调皮捣蛋。
• It was saucy of you to contradict your father.你顶撞父亲，真是无礼。

10 imp   

n.顽童

参考例句：

• What a little imp you are!你这个淘气包！
• There's a little imp always running with him.他总有一个小鬼跟着。

11 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

12 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

13 prudence   

n.谨慎，精明，节俭

参考例句：

• A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
• The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

14 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

15 politic   

adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政

参考例句：

• He was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage.他很聪明，不会与这么重要的人争吵。
• The politic man tried not to offend people.那个精明的人尽量不得罪人。

16 bad-tempered   

adj.脾气坏的

参考例句：

• He grew more and more bad-tempered as the afternoon wore on.随着下午一点点地过去，他的脾气也越来越坏。
• I know he's often bad-tempered but really,you know,he's got a heart of gold.我知道他经常发脾气，但是，要知道，其实他心肠很好。