Coming down the last of the stone steps, Sarah Ellen's mother regarded the baby with interest and sympathy.
“Poor little mite5!” she said; “that doesn't know what he's lost and what's going to happen to him. Seems to me we might keep him a spell till we're sure his father's deserted6 him for good. Want to come to Aunt Sarah, baby?”
Jack-o'-lantern turned from Rebecca and Emma Jane and regarded the kind face gravely; then he held out both his hands and Mrs. Cobb, stooping, gathered him like a harvest. Being lifted into her arms, he at once tore her spectacles from her nose and laughed aloud. Taking them from him gently, she put them on again, and set him in the cushioned rocking chair under the lilac bushes beside the steps. Then she took one of his soft hands in hers and patted it, and fluttered her fingers like birds before his eyes, and snapped them like castanets, remembering all the arts she had lavished7 upon “Sarah Ellen, aged8 seventeen months,” years and years ago.
Motherless baby and babyless mother,
Bring them together to love one another.
Rebecca knew nothing of this couplet, but she saw clearly enough that her case was won.
“The boy must be hungry; when was he fed last?” asked Mrs. Cobb. “Just stay a second longer while I get him some morning's milk; then you run home to your dinners and I'll speak to Mr. Cobb this afternoon. Of course, we can keep the baby for a week or two till we see what happens. Land! He ain't goin' to be any more trouble than a wax doll! I guess he ain't been used to much attention, and that kind's always the easiest to take care of.”
At six o'clock that evening Rebecca and Emma Jane flew up the hill and down the lane again, waving their hands to the dear old couple who were waiting for them in the usual place, the back piazza9 where they had sat so many summers in a blessed companionship never marred10 by an unloving word.
“Where's Jacky?” called Rebecca breathlessly, her voice always outrunning her feet.
“Go up to my chamber11, both of you, if you want to see,” smiled Mrs. Cobb, “only don't wake him up.”
The girls went softly up the stairs into Aunt Sarah's room. There, in the turn-up bedstead that had been so long empty, slept Jack-o'-lantern, in blissful unconsciousness of the doom12 he had so lately escaped. His nightgown and pillow case were clean and fragrant13 with lavender, but they were both as yellow as saffron, for they had belonged to Sarah Ellen.
“I wish his mother could see him!” whispered Emma Jane.
“You can't tell; it's all puzzly about heaven, and perhaps she does,” said Rebecca, as they turned reluctantly from the fascinating scene and stole down to the piazza.
It was a beautiful and a happy summer that year, and every day it was filled with blissful plays and still more blissful duties. On the Monday after Jack-o'-lantern's arrival in Edgewood Rebecca founded the Riverboro Aunts Association. The Aunts were Rebecca, Emma Jane, Alice Robinson, and Minnie Smellie, and each of the first three promised to labor14 for and amuse the visiting baby for two days a week, Minnie Smellie, who lived at some distance from the Cobbs, making herself responsible for Saturday afternoons.
Minnie Smellie was not a general favorite among the Riverboro girls, and it was only in an unprecedented15 burst of magnanimity that they admitted her into the rites16 of fellowship, Rebecca hugging herself secretly at the thought, that as Minnie gave only the leisure time of one day a week, she could not be called a “full” Aunt. There had been long and bitter feuds17 between the two children during Rebecca's first summer in Riverboro, but since Mrs. Smellie had told her daughter that one more quarrel would invite a punishment so terrible that it could only be hinted at vaguely18, and Miss Miranda Sawyer had remarked that any niece of hers who couldn't get along peaceable with the neighbors had better go back to the seclusion19 of a farm where there weren't any, hostilities20 had been veiled, and a suave21 and diplomatic relationship had replaced the former one, which had been wholly primitive22, direct, and barbaric. Still, whenever Minnie Smellie, flaxen-haired, pink-nosed, and ferret-eyed, indulged in fluent conversation, Rebecca, remembering the old fairy story, could always see toads23 hopping24 out of her mouth. It was really very unpleasant, because Minnie could never see them herself; and what was more amazing, Emma Jane perceived nothing of the sort, being almost as blind, too, to the diamonds that fell continually from Rebecca's lips; but Emma Jane's strong point was not her imagination.
A shaky perambulator was found in Mrs. Perkins's wonderful attic25; shoes and stockings were furnished by Mrs. Robinson; Miss Jane Sawyer knitted a blanket and some shirts; Thirza Meserve, though too young for an aunt, coaxed26 from her mother some dresses and nightgowns, and was presented with a green paper certificate allowing her to wheel Jacky up and down the road for an hour under the superintendence of a full Aunt. Each girl, under the constitution of the association, could call Jacky “hers” for two days in the week, and great, though friendly, was the rivalry27 between them, as they washed, ironed, and sewed for their adored nephew.
If Mrs. Cobb had not been the most amiable28 woman in the world she might have had difficulty in managing the aunts, but she always had Jacky to herself the earlier part of the day and after dusk at night.
Meanwhile Jack-o'-lantern grew healthier and heartier29 and jollier as the weeks slipped away. Uncle Jerry joined the little company of worshipers and slaves, and one fear alone stirred in all their hearts; not, as a sensible and practical person might imagine, the fear that the recreant30 father might never return to claim his child, but, on the contrary, that he MIGHT do so!
October came at length with its cheery days and frosty nights, its glory of crimson31 leaves and its golden harvest of pumpkins32 and ripened33 corn. Rebecca had been down by the Edgewood side of the river and had come up across the pastures for a good-night play with Jacky. Her literary labors34 had been somewhat interrupted by the joys and responsibilities of vice-motherhood, and the thought book was less frequently drawn35 from its hiding place under the old haymow in the barn chamber.
Mrs. Cobb stood behind the screen door with her face pressed against the wire netting, and Rebecca could see that she was wiping her eyes.
All at once the child's heart gave one prophetic throb36 and then stood still. She was like a harp37 that vibrated with every wind of emotion, whether from another's grief or her own.
She looked down the lane, around the curve of the stone wall, red with woodbine, the lane that would meet the stage road to the station. There, just mounting the crown of the hill and about to disappear on the other side, strode a stranger man, big and tall, with a crop of reddish curly hair showing from under his straw hat. A woman walked by his side, and perched on his shoulder, wearing his most radiant and triumphant38 mien39, as joyous40 in leaving Edgewood as he had been during every hour of his sojourn41 there—rode Jack-o'-lantern!
Rebecca gave a cry in which maternal42 longing43 and helpless, hopeless jealousy44 strove for supremacy45. Then, with an impetuous movement she started to run after the disappearing trio.
Mrs. Cobb opened the door hastily, calling after her, “Rebecca, Rebecca, come back here! You mustn't follow where you haven't any right to go. If there'd been anything to say or do, I'd a' done it.”
“He's mine! He's mine!” stormed Rebecca. “At least he's yours and mine!”
“He's his father's first of all,” faltered46 Mrs. Cobb; “don't let's forget that; and we'd ought to be glad and grateful that John Winslow's come to his senses an' remembers he's brought a child into the world and ought to take care of it. Our loss is his gain and it may make a man of him. Come in, and we'll put things away all neat before your Uncle Jerry gets home.”
Rebecca sank in a pitiful little heap on Mrs. Cobb's bedroom floor and sobbed47 her heart out. “Oh, Aunt Sarah, where shall we get another Jack-o'-lantern, and how shall I break it to Emma Jane? What if his father doesn't love him, and what if he forgets to strain the milk or lets him go without his nap? That's the worst of babies that aren't private—you have to part with them sooner or later!”
“Sometimes you have to part with your own, too,” said Mrs. Cobb sadly; and though there were lines of sadness in her face there was neither rebellion nor repining, as she folded up the sides of the turn-up bedstead preparatory to banishing48 it a second time to the attic. “I shall miss Sarah Ellen now more'n ever. Still, Rebecca, we mustn't feel to complain. It's the Lord that giveth and the Lord that taketh away: Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
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1
monologue
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| n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白 | |
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2
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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3
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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4
chuckles
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的名词复数 ) | |
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5
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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6
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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7
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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12
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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13
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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14
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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15
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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16
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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17
feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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18
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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19
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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20
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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21
suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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22
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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23
toads
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 ) | |
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24
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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25
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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27
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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28
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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29
heartier
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| 亲切的( hearty的比较级 )； 热诚的； 健壮的； 精神饱满的 | |
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30
recreant
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| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
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31
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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32
pumpkins
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| n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊 | |
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33
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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35
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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36
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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37
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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38
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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39
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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40
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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41
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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42
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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43
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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44
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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45
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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46
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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47
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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48
banishing
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的现在分词 ) | |
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