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首页 » 儿童英文小说 » Timothy Crump's Ward A Story of American Life » CHAPTER XIV. DOUBTS AND FEARS.
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CHAPTER XIV. DOUBTS AND FEARS.
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 “WELL, what kept you so long?” asked Peg1, impatiently, as Ida rejoined her at the corner of the street, where she had been waiting for her. “And where's your gingerbread?”
“He wouldn't let me have it,” said Ida.
“And why not?”
“Because he said the money wasn't good.”
“Stuff! it's good enough,” said Peg, hastily. “Then we must go somewhere else.”
“But he said the dollar I gave him last week wasn't good, and I promised to bring him another to-morrow, or he wouldn't have let me go.”
“Well, where are you going to get your dollar to carry him?”
“Why, won't you give it to me?” said Ida, hesitatingly.
“Catch me at such nonsense! But here we are at another shop. Go in and see whether you can do any better there. Here's the money.”
“Why, it's the same piece.”
“What if it is?”
“I don't want to pass bad money.”
“Tut, what hurt will it do?”
“It is the same as stealing.”
“The man won't lose anything. He'll pass it off again.”
“Somebody'll have to lose it by and by,” said Ida, whose truthful2 perceptions saw through the woman's sophistry3.
“So you've taken up preaching, have you?” said Peg, sneeringly4. “Maybe you know better than I what is proper to do. It won't do to be so mighty5 particular, and so you'll find out if you live with me long.”
“Where did you take the dollar?” asked Ida, with a sudden thought; “and how is it that you have so many of them?”
“None of your business,” said her companion, roughly. “You shouldn't pry6 into the affairs of other people.”
“Are you going to do as I told you?” she demanded, after a moment's pause.
“I can't,” said Ida, pale but resolute7.
“You can't,” repeated Peg, furiously. “Didn't you promise to do whatever I told you?”
“Except what was wicked,” interrupted Ida.
“And what business have you to decide what is wicked? Come home with me.”
Peg, walked in sullen8 silence, occasionally turning round to scowl9 upon the unfortunate child, who had been strong enough, in her determination to do right, to resist successfully the will of the woman whom she had every reason to dread10.
Arrived at home, Peg walked Ida into the room by the shoulder.
Dick was lounging in a chair, with the inevitable11 pipe in his mouth.
“Hilloa!” said he, lazily, observing his wife's movements, “what's the gal12 been doing, hey?”
“What's she been doing?” repeated Peg; “I should like to know what she hasn't been doing. She's refused to go in and buy some gingerbread of the baker13, as I told her.”
“Look here, little gal,” said Dick, in a moralizing vein14, “isn't this rayther undootiful conduct on your part? Ain't it a piece of ingratitude15, when we go to the trouble of earning the money to pay for gingerbread for you to eat, that you ain't willing to go in and buy it?”
“I would just as lieves go in,” said Ida, “if Peg would give me good money to pay for it.”
“That don't make any difference,” said the admirable moralist; “jest do as she tells you, and you'll do right. She'll take the risk.”
“I can't!” said the child.
“You hear her?” said Peg.
“Very improper16 conduct!” said Dick, shaking his head. “Put her in the closet.”
So Ida was incarcerated17 once more in the dark closet. Yet, in the midst of her desolation, there was a feeling of pleasure in thinking that she was suffering for doing right.
When Ida failed to return on the expected day, the Crumps, though disappointed, did not think it strange.
“If I were her mother,” said Mrs. Crump, “and had been parted from her so long, I should want to keep her as long as I could. Dear heart! how pretty she is, and how proud her mother must be of her!”
“It's all a delusion18,” said Aunt Rachel, shaking her head. “It's all a delusion. I don't believe she's got a mother at all. That Mrs. Hardwick is an imposter. I knew it, and told you so at the time, but you wouldn't believe me. I never expect to set eyes on Ida again in this world.”
“I do,” said Jack19, confidently.
“There's many a hope that's doomed20 to disappointment,” said Aunt Rachel.
“So there is,” said Jack. “I was hoping mother would have apple-pudding for dinner to-day, but she didn't.”
The next day passed, and still no tidings of Ida. There was a cloud of anxiety, even upon Mr. Crump's usually placid21 face, and he was more silent than usual at the evening meal.
At night, after Rachel and Jack had both retired22, he said, anxiously, “What do you think is the cause of Ida's prolonged absence, Mary?”
“I don't know,” said Mrs. Crump, seriously. “It seems to me, if her mother wanted to keep her longer than the time she at first proposed, it would be no more than right that she should write us a line. She must know that we would feel anxious.”
“Perhaps she is so taken up with Ida that she can think of nothing else.”
“It may be so; but if we neither see Ida to-morrow, nor hear from her, I shall be seriously troubled.”
“Suppose she should never come back,” said the cooper, sadly.
“Oh, husband, don't think of such a thing,” said his wife, distressed24.
“We must contemplate25 it as a possibility,” returned Timothy, gravely, “though not, I hope, as a probability. Ida's mother has an undoubted right to her; a better right than any we can urge.”
“Then it would be better,” said his wife, tearfully, “if she had never been placed in our charge. Then we should not have had the pain of parting with her.”
“Not so, Mary,” said the cooper, seriously. “We ought to be grateful for God's blessings26, even if he suffers us to possess them but a short time. And Ida has been a blessing27 to us, I am sure. How many hours have been made happy by her childish prattle28! how our hearts have been filled with cheerful happiness and affection when we have gazed upon her! That can't be taken from us, even if she is, Mary. There's some lines I met with in the paper, to-night, that express just what I feel. Let me find them.”
The cooper put on his spectacles, and hunted slowly down the columns of the paper, till he came to these beautiful lines of Tennyson, which he read aloud,—
  “I hold it true, whate'er befall;
  I feel it when I sorrow most;
  'Tis better to have loved and lost,
  Than never to have loved at all.”
 
“There, wife,” said he, as he laid down the paper; “I don't know who writ23 them lines, but I'm sure it's some one that's met with a great sorrow, and conquered it.”
“They are beautiful,” said his wife, after a pause; “and I dare say you're right, Timothy; but I hope we mayn't have reason to learn the truth of them by experience. After all, it isn't certain but that Ida will come back. We are troubling ourselves too soon.”
“At any rate,” said the cooper, “there is no doubt that it is our duty to take every means to secure Ida if we can. Of course, if her mother insists upon keeping her, we can't say anything; but we ought to be sure, before we yield her up, that such is the case.”
“What do you mean, Timothy?” asked Mrs. Crump, with anxious interest.
“I don't know as I ought to mention it,” said her husband. “Very likely there isn't anything in it, and it would only make you feel more anxious.”
“You have already aroused my anxiety,” said his wife. “I should feel better if you would tell me.”
“Then I will,” said the cooper. “I have sometimes doubted,” he continued, lowering his voice, “whether Ida's mother really sent for her.”
“And the letter?” queried29 Mrs. Crump, looking less surprised than he supposed she would.
“I thought—mind it is only a guess on my part—that Mrs. Hardwick might have got somebody to write it for her.”
“It is very singular,” murmured Mrs. Crump, in a tone of abstraction.
“What is singular?”
“Why, the very same thought occurred to me. Somehow, I couldn't help feeling a little suspicious of Mrs. Hardwick, though perhaps unjustly. But what object could she have in obtaining possession of Ida?”
“That I cannot conjecture30; but I have come to one determination.”
“And what is that?”
“Unless we learn something of Ida within a week from the time she left here, I shall go on to Philadelphia, or send Jack, and endeavor to get track of her.”

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1 peg p3Fzi     
n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定
参考例句:
  • Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
  • He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
2 truthful OmpwN     
adj.真实的,说实话的,诚实的
参考例句:
  • You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心,他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
  • I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。
3 sophistry OwWwG     
n.诡辩
参考例句:
  • Sophistry cannot alter history.诡辩改变不了历史。
  • No one can be persuaded by sophistry.强词夺理不能折服人。
4 sneeringly ffa6f8b8590d036547dae88a112a204e     
嘲笑地,轻蔑地
参考例句:
  • Guan and Zhang had nothing more to say, But they walked away sneeringly. 关羽、张飞无话,冷笑着走了。
5 mighty YDWxl     
adj.强有力的;巨大的
参考例句:
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
6 pry yBqyX     
vi.窥(刺)探,打听;vt.撬动(开,起)
参考例句:
  • He's always ready to pry into other people's business.他总爱探听别人的事。
  • We use an iron bar to pry open the box.我们用铁棍撬开箱子。
7 resolute 2sCyu     
adj.坚决的,果敢的
参考例句:
  • He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
  • The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。
8 sullen kHGzl     
adj.愠怒的,闷闷不乐的,(天气等)阴沉的
参考例句:
  • He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
  • Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐,因为昨晚没睡好。
9 scowl HDNyX     
vi.(at)生气地皱眉,沉下脸,怒视;n.怒容
参考例句:
  • I wonder why he is wearing an angry scowl.我不知道他为何面带怒容。
  • The boss manifested his disgust with a scowl.老板面带怒色,清楚表示出他的厌恶之感。
10 dread Ekpz8     
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧
参考例句:
  • We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
  • Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。
11 inevitable 5xcyq     
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
参考例句:
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
12 gal 56Zy9     
n.姑娘,少女
参考例句:
  • We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
  • What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么?
13 baker wyTz62     
n.面包师
参考例句:
  • The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
  • The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。
14 vein fi9w0     
n.血管,静脉;叶脉,纹理;情绪;vt.使成脉络
参考例句:
  • The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
  • The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。
15 ingratitude O4TyG     
n.忘恩负义
参考例句:
  • Tim's parents were rather hurt by his ingratitude.蒂姆的父母对他的忘恩负义很痛心。
  • His friends were shocked by his ingratitude to his parents.他对父母不孝,令他的朋友们大为吃惊。
16 improper b9txi     
adj.不适当的,不合适的,不正确的,不合礼仪的
参考例句:
  • Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
  • Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。
17 incarcerated 6f3f447e42a1b3e317e14328c8068bd1     
钳闭的
参考例句:
  • They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间,他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
  • I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白
18 delusion x9uyf     
n.谬见,欺骗,幻觉,迷惑
参考例句:
  • He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症,认为自己是拿破仑。
  • I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。
19 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
20 doomed EuuzC1     
命定的
参考例句:
  • The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
  • A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。
21 placid 7A1yV     
adj.安静的,平和的
参考例句:
  • He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
  • You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。
22 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
23 writ iojyr     
n.命令状,书面命令
参考例句:
  • This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
  • You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。
24 distressed du1z3y     
痛苦的
参考例句:
  • He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑,无法回答他们的问题。
  • The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。
25 contemplate PaXyl     
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视
参考例句:
  • The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了,真不堪细想。
  • The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。
26 blessings 52a399b218b9208cade790a26255db6b     
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福
参考例句:
  • Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马,焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
27 blessing UxDztJ     
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿
参考例句:
  • The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
  • A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。
28 prattle LPbx7     
n.闲谈;v.(小孩般)天真无邪地说话;发出连续而无意义的声音
参考例句:
  • Amy's happy prattle became intolerable.艾美兴高采烈地叽叽喳喳说个不停,汤姆感到无法忍受。
  • Flowing water and green grass witness your lover's endless prattle.流水缠绕,小草依依,都是你诉不尽的情话。
29 queried 5c2c5662d89da782d75e74125d6f6932     
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问
参考例句:
  • She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事?”琴向觉民问道,她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
30 conjecture 3p8z4     
n./v.推测,猜测
参考例句:
  • She felt it no use to conjecture his motives.她觉得猜想他的动机是没有用的。
  • This conjecture is not supported by any real evidence.这种推测未被任何确切的证据所证实。


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