"Little May," who, in spite of her height, was still in frocks an inch from the ground, was not troubled by any such scruples2. She scampered3 up to her mother, and hailed her breathlessly—"Mother, we want you to let us—Rose and me—go with Ella and Phyllis Carey a walk to the Beeches4. Ella says she saw some periwinkles and young ferns there, and we need, oh! ever so many fresh roots for the rockery. We should have gone without coming home to tell you, because you wouldn't mind, but we might have kept tea waiting, and we'll be horribly late. Besides, we are
[73]
not coming home for tea; Ella and Phyllis say we must go up with them to the Bank House."
"No, no, my dears, you can't do that," said Mrs. Millar, hurriedly but decidedly. "I am sorry that you should be disappointed, but you must not think of such a thing. Ella and Phyllis don't understand—don't know—that their mother is particularly engaged this afternoon. She will not wish to have people in the house, not even in the schoolroom."
Rose and May looked in wonder at their mother, discomposed enough in her own person, sitting leaning back in her chair doing nothing; she whose motherly hands were wont5 to be busy with some little bit of sewing or knitting.
Annie, too, was sitting idle at a short distance, with her hat thrown on the bed, but still wearing her jacket; and Dora, in her walking dress, was standing6 like a lady-in-waiting, or a sentry7, behind Mrs. Millar's chair.
Annie and Dora remained silent, looking at the intruders in a peculiar8 manner. At the same time the first pair did not tell the second more or less curtly9, as the elder girls had been in the habit of doing not so very long ago, to go away and leave grown-up people to finish important discussions in peace.
What other new thing could have come about?
[74]
Was there a fresh wooer in the field, a second offer of marriage to be laid at reluctant feet? Was it Annie, their beauty, who was in request this time? Who was the lover? not Cyril Carey, with his plush waistcoat and gold chains and odious10 snuff-box? He had no means of keeping a wife, unless his father took him into partnership11 in the bank, and their father would not hear of Cyril; besides, Annie held him in supreme12 disdain13. She had more patience with Tom Robinson and "the shop" than with the nineteenth century dandy, whom she pronounced a mistaken revival14 of one of the many curiosities of Queen Anne's reign15.
But Rose and May had no certainty that Annie was the object of pursuit. She was pretty enough, they had all pinned their faith to her beauty, yet already Dora had been preferred before her, though it was only by the head of "Robinson's." Was it possible that now it might be Rose, unsuspecting, unconsulted? Could her own mother and sisters be so unfair as to arrogate16 to themselves the settlement of her affairs without her consent or knowledge, without so much as admitting her into the conclave17?
Annie took the initiative, she was sufficiently18 quick to see both behind and before her. She had a head for directing and managing which her mother did not possess.
"Mother, don't you see they had better be told
[75]
at once?" she said, with the aplomb19 of a girl who, however young and irresponsible, is capable of arriving at independent conclusions and reversing existing conditions. "They are, as Rose says, all but grown up; indeed not so very much younger than Dora and I. I think Rose and May are entitled to be told."
Annie was proceeding20 to act upon the permission implied in her mother's nod. She was not without some small sense of personal importance in being the mouthpiece which was to announce the calamity21 to her younger sisters. She did it in a very different fashion from that in which their mother had broken the news to her and Dora.
"What we are going to speak to you about is not a thing that can be long concealed22. It will not be a secret for more than a few days, if for so long. But that does not mean that you are not to shut this room door which you have left wide open. Thanks, May. Don't bang it! You are not to show that you know what is going to happen. And, after it has happened, you are not to chatter23 about it before the servants or to your companions. We are trusting you because you have almost come to the years of discretion24, and ought to have a notion how to behave under the circumstances."
"Well, this is too bad of you, Annie!" cried Rose, showing instant symptoms of revolt. "What
[76]
have May and I done that we should be spoken to as if we were a pair of tell-tales, or babies—and geese into the bargain? Dora and you are not so much older, as you confess; neither are you so much wiser with all your pretensions26. If something of so much consequence to everybody is on the eve of happening, I think we might have been told before. Surely mother is not afraid that we should repeat anything which we ought not to mention," and she glanced with burning reproach at her mother.
Rose was both high-spirited and touchy27. She was not disposed to play the second part without a murmur28 like Dora. She was not content, with her art as a balance to Annie's beauty and May's budding scholarship. Rose desired everybody to acknowledge her mother-wit and trustworthiness.
Dora and Mrs. Millar spoke25 together in reply. "Mother only told Annie and me this afternoon," said the general peacemaker.
"It was not such a pleasant piece of information for me to give, or you to receive, child, that you and May should grudge29 my keeping it from you as long as I could, as I dared," was the mother's weary reply. "Besides, your father did not wish it spoken about before; it would have been wrong, a great risk to many others as well as to ourselves, to have mentioned such a thing."
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"Then don't tell us now if you don't care to, mother, and if father disapproves30 of our hearing it," said Rose magnanimously, for she was dying to be at the bottom of the mystery.
"No, don't, mother dear, please don't, if it will hurt you," said May affectionately, with something of a childish ring in her voice. Her mother took her hand at the words and clasped it tightly.
"Mother has made up her mind and father has given her leave to speak," said Annie with determination, "because you must hear soon anyhow. There is something wrong with the bank, Mr. Carey's bank. We have all, even May, read and heard of bank failures, and have some idea how disastrous31 they are."
"The Carey's bank!" cried Rose, with sufficient intelligence in her astonishment32. "I understand now why we were not to go home with Ella and Phyllis."
"Then somebody must run over and tell them that we are not coming," interrupted May. "Do let Bella take the message, mother, in case I should look as if I knew something. Poor Mr. Carey! he was always so kind to us. I am so sorry; but the bank has not anything to do with us; father is not the banker, he is just a doctor like grandfather," ended May composedly.
"O May, you are a baby, though you read the Greek Testament33 and have something to say to
[78]
Tacitus in the original," exclaimed Annie indignantly.
"Your father has shares in the bank, my dear," explained her mother with patient reiteration34. "He bought them with his savings35, and he will get nothing for them. Nobody will buy them from him again, they will be no better than waste paper. But that is not the worst. The shares make him responsible for the bank's debts—I am sure I cannot tell you how far; he told me, I daresay, but I was so grieved for him and for all of you, and so confused, I could not take it in. But he says that what he will have to pay up will be as much as he can do, with a hard fight, for the rest of his days."
"I am so sorry for father," murmured May in an awed36 tone, but with a little of a parrot note, just as she had pitied Mr. Carey, who was only an old acquaintance and the father of her friends. The fact was that the young girl, brought away suddenly from her girlish interests and her whole past experience, and plunged37 into the cares of older people, was thoroughly38 staggered and bewildered, in spite of a small head which was capable of construing39 Latin and conjugating40 Greek.
There was a moment's pause. "Will it make a great difference to father and the rest of us?" asked Rose, in spite of her quickness, and in spite of what her mother had said.
[79]
"Certainly," Annie took it upon her to answer, with a mixture of fire and conviction, "we'll all have to earn our living."
"Oh, don't make such sweeping41 statements, Annie, frightening your sisters," said their mother reproachfully; and unquestionably May looked scared, and dropped her gloves without noticing it. "You must do what you can to help your poor dear father, and I am sure you'll do that willingly, but so long as he is spared to work for all of us——" She stopped short, unable to say any more.
Then her daughters closed round her, from the youngest to the eldest42, and told her in concert that she was not to be concerned for them. They were ready for the occasion and equal to it, and they would not mind in the very least.
"Mind!" declared Rose, with her eyes beginning to shine and her cheeks to flush like Annie's. "Why, it is the one great comfort that we'll have to make our way in the world, and push our fortunes like boys. We'll have plenty of adventures and rise triumphant43 over them all, and be such a help to you and father. Think of that, May, you little coward," appealing to her younger sister who, in spite of her small dabbling44 in masculine acquirements, did not look as if the prospect45 of pushing her fortune like a boy was full of unmixed charm
[80]
for her. But she brightened up at the visionary honour and delight of being a great help to their father and mother, and cried, "Yes, yes, Rose," with subdued46 enthusiasm.
Dora also echoed the "yes" with a quiet intensity47.
Annie, on her part, graciously approved of her juniors, and rewarded them by patronizing them tremendously.
"That is right. I don't very well know yet what Dora and I can do, but we'll find something. However, you two young ones are the geniuses of the family, and we'll look to you. I suspect Dora and I will have to march under your wings. You, Rose, must be quick and paint Academy pictures, get them hung on the line, and have them sold before the opening day. May must pass all her examinations in no time, gain a scholarship, and be appointed classical mistress to a Girls' Day-school, of which she will eventually become the head. Fancy 'little May' a full-blown school ma'am."
"Dear! what creatures girls are! They are jesting and laughing already over their own and other people's misfortunes. It is little they know of life, it is little they guess what will befall them," sighed Mrs. Millar to herself. Nevertheless, in the middle of her anxiety and sorrow, she was in some respects a happy woman, and she had a dim but consoling perception of the truth.
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1
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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2
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3
scampered
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
beeches
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| n.山毛榉( beech的名词复数 )；山毛榉木材 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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7
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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8
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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14
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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15
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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16
arrogate
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| v.冒称具有...权利，霸占 | |
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conclave
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| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
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18
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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19
aplomb
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| n.沉着，镇静 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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24
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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25
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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26
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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27
touchy
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| adj.易怒的；棘手的 | |
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28
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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29
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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30
disapproves
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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32
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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33
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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34
reiteration
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| n. 重覆, 反覆, 重说 | |
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35
savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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36
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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38
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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39
construing
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的现在分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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40
conjugating
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| vt.使结合（conjugate的现在分词形式） | |
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41
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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42
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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43
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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44
dabbling
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| v.涉猎( dabble的现在分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
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45
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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46
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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47
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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