CHAPTER XXXVII. DAN IS DISCOVERED.

 Donovan had two customers. One was an Irishman, the other a German. Both had evidently drank more than was good for them. Dan looked in vain for Althea. Mrs. Donovan had taken her up stairs.

 

"Well, boy, what do you want?" asked Donovan, rather roughly.

 

"Will you have yer musique?" asked Dan, uncertain whether he was talking as an Italian boy might be expected to.

 

"No; I don't want to hear any fiddle¹-scraping."

 

"Shure, let him play a little, Mister Donovan," said the Irishman.

 

"Just as you like," said Donovan, carelessly, "only I have no money for him."

 

"Faith, thin, I have. Here boy, play something."

 

Dan struck up his one tune—Viva Garibaldi—but the Irishman did not seem to care for that.

 

"Oh, bother ould Garibaldi!" he said. "Can't you play something else?"

 

"I wish I could," thought Dan. "Suppose I compose something."

 

[Pg 265]

 

Accordingly he tried to play an air popular enough at the time, but made bad work of it.

 

"Stop him! stop him!" exclaimed the German, who had a better musical ear than the Irishman. "Here, lend me your fiddle, boy."

 

He took the violin, and in spite of his inebriety², managed to play a German air upon it.

 

"Shure you bate³ the boy at his own trade," said the Irishman. "You must be dhry. What'll you have now?"

 

The German indicated his preference, and the Irishman called for whisky.

 

"What'll you have, Johnny?" he asked, addressing Dan.

 

"I no drink," answered our hero, shaking his head.

 

"Shure you're an Italian wonder, and it's Barnum ought to hire you."

 

"I no understand English," said Dan.

 

"Then you're a haythen," said Pat Moriarty.

 

He gulped⁴ down the whisky, and finding it more convenient to sit than to stand, fell back upon a settee.

 

"I wish Althea would come in," thought Dan.

 

At that moment a heavy fall was heard in the room overhead, and a child's shrill⁵ scream directly afterward⁶.

 

"Something's happened to my wife," muttered Donovan. "She's drunk again."

 

[Pg 266]

 

He hurried up stairs, and the German followed. This gave Dan an excuse for running up, too.

 

Mrs. Donovan had been drinking more copiously⁷ than usual. While in this condition she imprudently got upon a chair to reach a pitcher⁸ from an upper shelf. Her footing was uncertain, and she fell over, pitcher in hand, the chair sharing in the downfall.

 

When her husband entered the room she was lying flat on her back, grasping the handle of the pitcher, her eyes closed, and her breathing stertorious. Althea, alarmed, stood over her, crying and screaming.

 

"The old woman's taken too much," said Donovan. "Get up, you divil!" he shouted, leaning over his matrimonial partner. "Ain't you ashamed of yourself, now?"

 

Mrs. Donovan opened her eyes, and stared at him vacantly.

 

"Where am I?" she inquired.

 

"On your back, you old fool, where you deserve to be."

 

"It's the whisky," murmured the fallen lady.

 

"Of course it is. Why can't you drink dacent like me? Shure it's a purty example you're settin' to the child. Ain't you ashamed to lie here in a hape before them gintlemen?"

 

This called Althea's attention to the German and[Pg 267] Dan. In spite of Dan's disguise, she recognized him with a cry of joy.

 

"Oh, Dan! have you come to take me away?" she exclaimed, dashing past Donovan, and clasping her arms round the supposed Italian.

 

Have you come to take me away

"Oh, Dan! Have you come to take me away?" Althea exclaimed.

 

"Hillo! what's up?" exclaimed Donovan, looking at the two in surprise.

 

"Oh, it's my brother Dan," exclaimed Althea. "You'll take me away, won't you, Dan? How funny you look! Where did you get your fiddle?"

 

"So that's your game, my young chicken, is it?" demanded Donovan, seizing our hero roughly by the shoulder. Then pulling off Dan's hat, he added: "You're no more Italian than I am."

 

Dan saw that it would be useless to keep up the deceit any longer. He looked Donovan full in the face, and said, firmly:

 

"You are right, Mr. Donovan, I have come here for my sister."

 

1 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

2 inebriety   

n.醉，陶醉

参考例句：

• His only opportunities for ineBriety were the visits to town. 他只有进城的机会才能开怀畅饮，一醉方休。 来自互联网

3 bate   

v.压制；减弱；n.（制革用的）软化剂

参考例句：

• The cruel landlord would bate him no rent.那个狠心的地主不肯给他减租。
• I was unable to bate my enthusiasm.我无法抑制自己的热切的心情。

4 gulped   

v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住

参考例句：

• He gulped down the rest of his tea and went out. 他把剩下的茶一饮而尽便出去了。
• She gulped nervously, as if the question bothered her. 她紧张地咽了一下，似乎那问题把她难住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

6 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

7 copiously   

adv.丰富地，充裕地

参考例句：

• She leant forward and vomited copiously on the floor. 她向前一俯，哇的一声吐了一地。 来自英汉文学
• This well-organized, unified course copiously illustrated, amply cross-referenced, and fully indexed. 这条组织完善，统一的课程丰富地被说明，丰富地被相互参照和充分地被标注。 来自互联网

8 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。