“Aunt Maria!” said Helen, in an aghast voice. “Aunt Maria absolutely come—and father away! Nursie, I must fly down—you will understand about those flannels3. Oh! I am sorry Aunt Maria has come. What will Polly say?”[Pg 51]
Helen felt a curious sinking at her heart as she descended4 the stairs; but she was a very polite and well-mannered girl, and when she went up to Mrs. Cameron she said some pretty words of welcome, which were really not overdone5. Mrs. Cameron was a short, stout6 person; she always wore black, and her black was always rusty7. She stood now in the middle of the drawing-room, holding Scorpion8 in her arms, with her bonnet-strings untied9, and her full, round face somewhat flushed.
“No, my dear, you are not particularly glad to see me,” she said, in answer to Helen’s gentle dignified10 greeting. “I don’t expect it, child, nor look for it; and you need not waste untruths upon me, for I always see through them. You are not glad to see me, and I am not surprised, for I assure you I intend to make myself disagreeable. Helen, your father is a perfect fool. Now, my dear, you need not fire up; you would say so if you were as old as me, and had received as idiotic11 an epistle from him.”
“But I am not as old as you, and he is my father,” said Helen, steadily12. “I don’t tell untruths, Aunt Maria, and I am glad to see you because—because you were fond of mother. Will you come into the dining-room now, and let me get you some tea?”
Helen’s lips were quivering, and her dark blue eyes were slightly lowered, so that Aunt Maria should not notice the tears that filled them. The old lady, however, had noticed these signs of emotion, and brave words always pleased her.
“You aren’t a patch on your mother, child,” she said. “But you remind me of her. Yes, take me to my room first, and then get me a good substantial meal, for I can tell you I am starving.”
Helen rang the bell.
“Alice,” she said to the parlor13 maid, who speedily answered the summons, “will you get the rose room ready as quickly as possible? My aunt, Mrs. Cameron, will stay here for the night. And please lay supper in the dining-room. Tell Mrs. Power—oh, I forgot—see and get as nice a supper as you can, Alice. You had better speak to Miss Polly.”
“Yes, Miss,” said Alice. Then she paused, hesitated, colored slightly, and said, in a dubious14 manner, “Is it the rose room you mean, Miss Helen? That’s the room Miss Polly is getting ready for Miss Virginy, and there ain’t no curtains to the window nor to the bed at present.”
“Then I won’t sleep in that bed,” said Mrs. Cameron. “I must have a four-poster with curtains all round, and plenty of dark drapery to the windows. My eyes are weak, and I don’t intend to have them injured with the cold morning light off the moor15.”
“Oh, Aunt Maria, the mornings aren’t very light now,” answered Helen. “They are——”
But Mrs. Cameron interrupted her.[Pg 52]
“Don’t talk nonsense, child. In a decent place like Bath I own the day may break gradually, but I expect everything contrary to civilized16 existence here. The very thought of those awful commons makes me shiver. Now, have you, or have you not, a four-poster, in which I can sleep?”
Helen smothered17 a slight sigh. She turned once again to Alice.
“Will you get my father’s room ready for Mrs. Cameron,” she said, “and then see about supper as quickly as possible? Father is away for a few days,” she added, turning to the good lady. “Please will you come up to Polly’s and my room now to take off your things?”
“And where is Polly?” said Mrs. Cameron. “And why doesn’t she come to speak to her aunt? There’s Kate, too, she must be a well-grown girl by now, and scarcely gone to bed yet. The rest of the family are, I presume, asleep; that is, if there’s a grain of sense left in the household.”
“Yes, most of the children are in bed,” replied Helen. “You will see Polly and Katie, and perhaps the twins, later on, but first of all I want to make you comfortable. You must be very tired; you have had a long journey.”
“I’m beat out, child, and that’s the truth. Here, I’ll lay Scorpion down in the middle of your bed; he has been a great worry to me all day, and he wants his sleep. He likes to get between the sheets, so if you don’t mind I’ll open the bed and let him slip down.”
“If you want me to be truthful18, I do mind very much,” said Helen. “Oh, you are putting him into Polly’s bed. Well, I suppose he must stay there for the present.”
Mrs. Cameron was never considered an unamiable person; she was well spoken of by her friends and relations, for she was rich, and gave away a great deal of money to various charities and benevolent20 institutions. But if ever any one expected her to depart in the smallest particular from her own way they were vastly mistaken. Whatever her goal, whatever her faintest desire, she rode roughshod over all prejudices until she obtained it. Therefore it was that, notwithstanding poor Helen’s protest, Scorpion curled down comfortably between Polly’s sheets, and Mrs. Cameron, well pleased at having won her point, went down to supper.
Alas21, and alas! the supper provided for the good lady was severe in its simplicity22. Alice, blushing and uncomfortable, called Helen out of the room, and then informed her that neither Polly nor Maggie could be found, and that there was literally23 nothing, or next to nothing, in the larder24.
“But that can’t be the case,” said Helen, “for there was a large piece of cold roast beef brought up for my tea, and a great plate of hot cakes, and an uncut plum cake. Surely, Alice, you must be mistaken.”
“No, Miss, there’s nothing downstairs. Not a joint25, nor a cake, nor nothing. If it wasn’t that I found some new-laid eggs in the hen-house, and cut some slices from the uncooked[Pg 53] ham, I couldn’t have had nothing at all for supper—and—and——”
“Tut, tut!” suddenly exclaimed a voice in the dining-room. “What’s all this whispering about? It is very rude of little girls to whisper outside doors, and not to attend to their aunts when they come a long way to see them. If you don’t come in at once, Miss Helen, and give me my tea, I shall help myself.”
“Find Polly, then, as quick as you can, Alice,” exclaimed poor, perplexed26 Helen, “and tell her that Aunt Maria Cameron has come and is going to stay.”
Alice went away, and Helen, returning to the dining-room, poured out tea, and cut bread-and-butter, and saw her aunt demolishing27 with appetite three new-laid eggs, and two generous slices of fried ham.
“Your meal was plain; but I am satisfied with it,” she said in conclusion. “I am glad you live frugally28, Helen; waste is always sinful, and in your case peculiarly so. You don’t mind my telling you, my dear, that I think it is a sad extravagance wearing crape every day, but of course you don’t know any better. You are nothing in the world but an overgrown child. Now that I have come, my dear, I shall put this and many other matters to rights. Tell me, Helen, how long does your father intend to be away?”
“Until Monday, I think, Aunt Maria.”
“Very well; then you and I will begin our reforms to-morrow. I’ll take you round with me, and we’ll look into everything. Your father won’t know the house when he comes back. I’ve got a treasure of a woman in my eye for him—a Miss Grinsted. She is fifty, and a strict disciplinarian. She will soon manage matters, and put this house into something like order. I had a great mind to bring her with me; but I can send for her. She can be here by Monday or Tuesday. I told her to be in readiness, and to have her boxes packed. My dear, I wish you would not poke19 out your chin so much. How old are you? Oh, sixteen—a very gawky age. Now then, that I am refreshed and rested, I think that we’ll just go round the house.”
“Will you not wait until to-morrow, Aunt Maria? The children are all asleep and in bed now, and Nurse never likes them to be disturbed.”
“My dear, Nurse’s likes or dislikes are not of the smallest importance to me. I wish to see the children asleep, so if you will have the goodness to light a candle, Helen, and lead the way, I will follow.”
Helen, again stifling29 a sigh, obeyed. She felt full of trepidation30 and uneasiness. Why did not Polly come in? Why had all the supper disappeared? Where were Katie and the twins? How strangely silent the house was.
“I will see the baby first,” said Mrs. Cameron. “In bed? Well, no matter, I wish to look at the little dear. Ah, this is the nursery; a nice, cheerful room, but too much light in[Pg 54] it, and no curtains to the windows. Very bad for the dear baby’s eyes. How do you do, Nurse? I have come to see baby. I am her aunt, her dear mother’s sister, Maria Cameron.”
Nurse curtseyed.
“Baby is asleep, ma‘am,” she said. “I have just settled her in her little crib for the night. She’s a good, healthy child, and no trouble to any one. Yes, ma‘am, she has a look of her dear blessed ma. I’ll just hold down the sheet, and you’ll see. Please, ma‘am, don’t hold the light full in the babe’s eyes, you’ll wake her.”
“My good woman, I handled babies before you did. I had this child’s mother in my arms when she was a baby. Yes, the infant is well enough; you’re mistaken in there being any likeness31 to your late mistress in her. She seems a plain child, but healthy. If you don’t watch her sight, she may get delicate eyes, however. I should recommend curtains being put up immediately to these windows, and you’re only using night-lights when she sleeps. It is not I that am likely to injure the baby with too much light. Good evening, Nurse.”
Nurse muttered something, her brow growing black.
“Now, Helen,” continued Mrs. Cameron, “we will visit the other children. This is the boys’ room, I presume. I am fond of boys. What are your brothers’ names, my dear?”
“We call them Bob and Bunny.”
“Utterly ridiculous! I ask for their baptismal names, not for anything so silly. Ah! oh—I thought you said they were in bed: these beds are empty.”
So they were; tossed about, no doubt, but with no occupants, and the bedclothes no longer warm; so that it could not have been quite lately that the truants32 had departed from their nightly places of rest. On further investigation33, Firefly’s bed was also found in a sad state of déshabillé, and it was clearly proved, on visiting their apartments, that the twins and Katie had not gone to bed at all.
“Then, my dear, where are the family?” said Mrs. Cameron. “You and that little babe are the only ones I have yet seen. Where is Mary? where is Katharine? Where are your brothers? My dear Helen, this is awful; your brothers and sisters are evidently playing midnight pranks34. Oh, there is not a doubt of it, you need not tell me. What a good thing it is that I came! Oh! my poor dear sister; what a state her orphans35 have been reduced to! There is nothing whatever for it but to telegraph for Miss Grinsted in the morning.”
“But, my dear auntie, I am sure, oh! I am sure you are mistaken,” began poor Helen. “The children are always very well behaved—they are, indeed they are. They don’t play pranks, Aunt Maria.”
“Allow me to use my own eyesight, Helen. The beds are empty—not a child is to be found. Come, we must search the house!”
Helen never to her dying day forgot that eerie36 journey through the deserted37 house, accompanied by Aunt Maria. She never forgot the sickening fear which oppressed her, and the certainty which came over her that Polly, poor, excitable Polly, was up to some mischief38.
Sleepy Hollow was a large and rambling39 old place, and it was some time before the searchers reached the neighborhood of the festive40 garret. When they did, however, there was no longer any room for doubt. Wild laughter, and high-pitched voices singing many favorite nursery airs and school-room songs made noise enough to reach the ears even of the deafest. “John Peel” was having a frantic41 chorus as Helen and her aunt ascended42 the step-ladder.
“For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
And the cry of his hounds which he ofttimes led,
Peel’s ‘View Hulloo!’ would awaken43 the dead,
Or the fox from his lair44 in the morning.”
“Very nice, indeed,” said Aunt Maria, as she burst open the garret door. “Very nice and respectful to the memory of your dear mother! I am glad, children, that I have come to create decent order in this establishment. I am your aunt, Maria Cameron.”
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1
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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2
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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3
flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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4
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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5
overdone
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| v.做得过分( overdo的过去分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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8
scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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9
untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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10
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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12
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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13
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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14
dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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15
moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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16
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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17
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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18
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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19
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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20
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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21
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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22
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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24
larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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25
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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26
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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27
demolishing
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| v.摧毁( demolish的现在分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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28
frugally
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| adv. 节约地, 节省地 | |
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29
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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30
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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31
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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32
truants
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| n.旷课的小学生( truant的名词复数 )；逃学生；逃避责任者；懒散的人 | |
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33
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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34
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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35
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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36
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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37
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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38
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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39
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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40
festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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41
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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42
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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44
lair
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| n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处 | |
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