She was delighted with herself when she assisted Miss Maybright to descend10 from her bed-room window, and to escape with her on to the moor11, but her delight and sense of triumph had not been proof against the solitude12 of the sad moor, against the hunger which was only to be satisfied with berries and spring water, and, above all, against the terrible apparition13 of the wife of Micah Jones. What Maggie went, through in the hermit’s hut, what terrors she experienced, were only known to Maggie’s own heart. When, however, Mrs. Ricketts got back her daughter from that terrible evening’s experience, she emphatically declared that “Mag were worse nor useless; that she seemed daft-like, and a’most silly, and that never, never to her dying day, would she allow Mag to set foot on them awful lonely commons again.”
Mrs. Ricketts, however, was not a particularly obstinate14 character, and when Polly’s bright face peeped round her door, and Polly eagerly, and almost curtly15, demanded that Maggie should that very moment accompany her on a delightful picnic to Troublous Times Castle, and Maggie herself,[Pg 114] with sparkling eyes and burning cheeks, was all agog16 to go, and was now inclined to pooh-pooh the terrors she had endured in the hermit’s hut, there was nothing for Mrs. Ricketts to do but to forget her vow17 and send off the two young people with her blessing18.
“Eh, but she’s a dear young lady,” she said, under her breath, apostrophizing Miss Maybright. “And Mag do set wonderful store by her, and no mistake. It ain’t every young lady as ’ud think of my Maggie when she’s going out pleasuring; but bless Miss Polly! she seems fairly took up with my poor gel.”
No face could look more radiant than Maggie’s when she started for the picnic, but, on the other hand, no young person could look more thoroughly19 sulky and downcast than she did on her return. Mrs. Ricketts was just dishing up some potatoes for supper when Maggie flung open the door of the tiny cottage, walked across the room, and flung herself on a little settle by the fire.
“You’re hungry, Mag,” said Mrs. Ricketts, without looking up.
“No, I bean’t,” replied Maggie, shortly.
“Eh, I suppose you got your fill of good things out with the young ladies and gentlemen. It ain’t your poor mother’s way to have a bit of luck like that, and you never thought, I suppose, of putting a slice or two of plum cake, or maybe the half of a chicken, in your pocket, as a bit of a relish20 for your mother’s supper. No, no, that ain’t your way, Mag; you’re all for self, and that I will say.”
“No, I ain’t mother. You has no call to talk so. How could I hide away chicken and plum cake, under Miss Polly’s nose, so to speak. I was setting nigh to Miss Polly, mother, jest about the very middle of the feast. I had a place of honor close up to Miss Polly, mother.”
“Eh, to be sure!” exclaimed Mrs. Ricketts.
She stopped dishing up the potatoes, wiped her brow, and turned to look at her daughter, with a slow expression of admiration21 in her gaze.
“Eh,” she continued, “you has a way about you, Mag, with all your contrariness. Miss Polly Maybright thinks a sight on you, Mag; seems to me as if maybe she’d adopt you, and turn you into a real lady. My word, I have read of such things in story-books.”
“You had better go on dishing up your supper, mother and not be talking nonsense like that. Miss Polly is a very good young lady, but she hasn’t no thought of folly22 of that sort. Eh, dear me,” continued Maggie, yawning prodigiously23 “I’m a bit tired, and no mistake.”
“That’s always the way,” responded Mrs. Ricketts. “Tired and not a word to say after your pleasuring; no talking about what happened, and what Miss Helen wore, and if Miss Firefly has got on her winter worsted stockings yet, and not a mention of them foreigners as we’re all dying to hear[Pg 115] of, and not a word of what victuals24 you ate, nor nothing. You’re a selfish girl, Maggie Ricketts, and that I will say, though I am your mother.”
“I’m sleepy,” responded Maggie, who seemed by no means put out by this tirade25 on the part of her mother. “I’ll go up to bed if you don’t mind, mother. No, I said afore as I wasn’t hungry.”
She left the room, crept up the step-ladder to the loft26, where the family slept, and opening the tiny dormer window, put her elbows on the sill and gazed out on the gathering27 gloom which was settling on the moor.
The news of the calamity28 which had befallen Polly had reached Maggie’s ears. Maggie thought only of Polly in this trouble; it was Polly’s baby who was lost, it was Polly whose heart would be broken. She did not consider the others in the matter. It was Polly, the Polly whom she so devotedly29 loved, who filled her whole horizon. When the news was told her she scarcely said a word; a heavy, “Eh!—you don’t say!” dropped from her lips. Even George, who was her informer, wondered if she had really taken in the extent of the catastrophe30; then she had turned on her heel and walked down to her mother’s cottage.
She was not all thoughtless and all indifferent, however. While she looked so stoical and heavy she was patiently working out an idea, and was nerving herself for an act of heroism31.
Now as she leant her elbows on the sill by the open window, cold Fear came and stood by her side. She was awfully32 frightened, but her resolve did not falter34. She meant to slip away in the dusk and walk across Peg-Top Moor to the hermit’s hut. An instinct, which she did not try either to explain away or prove, led her to feel sure that she should find Polly’s baby in the hermit’s hut. She would herself, unaided and alone, bring little Pearl back to her sister.
It would have been quite possible for Maggie to have imparted her ideas to George, to her mother, or to some of the neighbors. There was not a person in the village who would not go to the rescue of the Doctor’s child. Maggie might have accompanied a multitude, had she so willed it, to the hermit’s hut. But then the honor and glory would not have been hers; a little reflection of it might shine upon her, but she would not bask35, as she now hoped to do, in its full rays.
She determined36 to go across the lonely moor which she so dreaded37 alone, for she alone must bring back Pearl to Polly.
Shortly before the moon arose, and long after sunset, Maggie crept down the attic38 stairs, unlatched the house door, and stepped out into the quiet village street. Her fear was that some neighbors would see her, and either insist on accompanying her on her errand, or bring her home. The village, however, was very quiet that night, and at nine[Pg 116] o’clock, when Maggie started on her search, there were very few people out.
She came quickly to the top of the small street, crossed a field, squeezed through a gap in the hedge, and found herself on the borders of Peg-Top Moor. The moon was bright by this time, and there was no fear of Maggie not seeing. She stepped over the ground briskly, a solitary40 little figure with a long shadow ever stalking before her, and a beating, defiant41 heart in her breast. She had quite determined that whatever agony she went through, her fears should not conquer her; she would fight them down with a strong hand, she would go forward on her road, come what might.
Maggie was an ignorant little cottager, and there were many folk-lore tales abroad with regard to the moor which might have frightened a stouter42 heart than hers. She believed fully33 in the ghost who was to be seen when the moon was at the full, pacing slowly up and down, through that plantation43 of trees at her right; she had unswerving faith in the bogey44 who uttered terrific cries, and terrified the people who were brave enough to walk at night through Deadman’s Glen. But she believed more fully still in Polly, in Polly’s love and despair, and in the sacredness of the errand which she was now undertaking45 to deliver her from her trouble.
From Mrs. Ricketts’ cottage to the hermit’s hut there lay a stretch of moorland covering some miles in extent, and Maggie knew that the lonely journey she was taking could not come to a speedy end.
She knew, however, that she had got on the right track and that by putting one foot up and one foot down, as the children do who want to reach London town, she also at last would come to her destination.
The moon shone brightly, and the little maid, her shadow always going before her, stepped along bravely.
Now and then that same shadow seemed to assume gigantic and unearthly proportions, but at other times it wore a friendly aspect, and somewhat comforted the young traveler.
“It’s more or less part of me,” quoth Maggie, “and I must say as I’m glad I have it, it’s better nor nought46; but oh ain’t the moon fearsome, and don’t my heart a-flutter, and a pit-a-pat! I’m quite sure now, yes, I’m quite gospel sure that ef I was to meet the wife of Micah Jones, I’d fall flat down dead at her feet. Oh, how fearsome is this moor! Well, ef I gets hold of Miss Pearl I’ll never set foot an it again. No, not even for a picnic, and the grandest seat at the feast, and the best of the victuals.”
The moon shone on, and presently the interminable walk came to a conclusion. Maggie reached the hermit’s hut, listened with painful intentness for the baying of some angry dogs, pressed her nose against the one pane47 of glass in the one tiny window, saw nothing, heard nothing, finally lifted the latch39, and went in.
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收听单词发音
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1
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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2
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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3
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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6
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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7
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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8
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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10
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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12
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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agog
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| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
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17
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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18
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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19
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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20
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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21
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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22
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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23
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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24
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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tirade
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| n.冗长的攻击性演说 | |
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26
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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28
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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29
devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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31
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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32
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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34
falter
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| vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚 | |
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35
bask
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| vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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37
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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38
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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40
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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41
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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42
stouter
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| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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43
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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44
bogey
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| n.令人谈之变色之物；妖怪，幽灵 | |
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45
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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46
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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47
pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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