Chapter IV. ALL ABOUT A JAM PUFF.

 It was Easter week, and Mrs. Tulliver's cheese-cakes were even more light than usual, so that no season could have been better for a family party to consult Sister Glegg and Sister Pullet and Sister Deane about Tom's going to school.

 

On Wednesday, the day before the aunts and uncles were coming, Tom and Maggie made several inroads into the kitchen, where great preparations were being made, and were induced to keep aloof¹ for a time only by being allowed to carry away some of the good things to eat.

 

"Tom," said Maggie, as they sat on the boughs² of the elder tree, eating their jam puffs⁵, "shall you run away to-morrow?"

 

"No," said Tom slowly—"no, I shan't."

 

"Why, Tom? Because Lucy's coming?"

 

"No," said Tom, opening his pocket-knife and holding it over the last jam puff⁴, with his head on one side. "What do I care about Lucy? She's only a girl; she can't play at bandy."

 

"Is it the tipsy-cake, then?" said Maggie, while she leaned forward towards Tom with her eyes fixed⁶ on the knife.

 

"No, you silly; that'll be good the day after. It's the pudding. I know what the pudding's to be—apricot roll-up—oh, my buttons!"

 

With this the knife came down on the puff, and in a moment that dainty lay in two; but the result was not pleasing to Tom, and after a few moments' thought he said,—

 

"Shut your eyes, Maggie."

 

"What for?"

 

"You never mind what for. Shut 'em, when I tell you." Maggie obeyed.

 

"Now which'll you have, Maggie—right hand or left?"

 

"I'll have that with the jam run out," said Maggie, keeping her eyes shut to please Tom.

 

"Why, you don't like that, you silly. You may have it if it comes to you fair, but I shan't give it you without. Right or left?—you choose, now. Ha-a-a!" said Tom, as Maggie peeped. "You keep your eyes shut, now, else you shan't have any."

 

So Maggie shut her eyes quite close, till Tom told her to "say which," and then she said, "Left hand."

 

"You've got it," said Tom, in rather a bitter tone.

 

"What! the bit with the jam run out?"

 

"No; here, take it," said Tom firmly, handing the best piece to Maggie.

 

"Oh please, Tom, have it. I don't mind; I like the other. Please take this."

 

"No, I shan't," said Tom, almost crossly.

 

Maggie began to eat up her half puff with great relish⁷; But Tom had finished his own first, and had to look on while Maggie ate her last morsel⁸ or two without noticing that Tom was looking at her.

 

"Oh, you greedy thing!" said Tom, when she had eaten the last morsel.

 

Maggie turned quite pale. "O Tom, why didn't you ask me?"

 

"I wasn't going to ask you for a bit, you greedy. You might have thought of it without, when you knew I gave you the best bit."

 

"But I wanted you to have it—you know I did," said Maggie, in an injured tone.

 

"Yes; but I wasn't going to do what wasn't fair. But if I go halves, I'll go 'em fair—only I wouldn't be a greedy."

 

With this Tom jumped down from his bough³, and threw a stone with a "hoigh!" to Yap, who had also been looking on wistfully while the jam puff vanished.

 

Maggie sat still on her bough, and gave herself up to misery⁹. She would have given the world not to have eaten all her puff, and to have saved some of it for Tom. Not but that the puff was very nice; but she would have gone without it many times over sooner than Tom should call her greedy and be cross with her.

 

And he had said he wouldn't have it; and she ate it without thinking. How could she help it? The tears flowed so plentifully¹⁰ that Maggie saw nothing around her for the next ten minutes; then she jumped from her bough to look for Tom. He was no longer near her, nor in the paddock behind the rickyard. Where was he likely to be gone, and Yap with him?

 

Maggie ran to the high bank against the great holly¹¹-tree, where she could see far away towards the Floss. There was Tom in the distance; but her heart sank again as she saw how far off he was on his way to the great river, and that he had another companion besides Yap—naughty Bob Jakin, whose task of frightening the birds was just now at a standstill.

 

It must be owned that Tom was fond of Bob's company. How could it be otherwise? Bob knew, directly he saw a bird's egg, whether it was a swallow's, or a tom-tit's, or a yellow-hammer's; he found out all the wasps¹²' nests, and could set all sorts of traps; he could climb the trees like a squirrel, and had quite a magical power of finding hedgehogs and stoats; and every holiday-time Maggie was sure to have days of grief because Tom had gone off with Bob.

 

Well, there was no help for it. He was gone now, and Maggie could think of no comfort but to sit down by the holly, or wander lonely by the hedgerow, nursing her grief.

1 aloof   

adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的

参考例句：

• Never stand aloof from the masses.千万不可脱离群众。
• On the evening the girl kept herself timidly aloof from the crowd.这小女孩在晚会上一直胆怯地远离人群。

2 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

3 bough   

n.大树枝，主枝

参考例句：

• I rested my fishing rod against a pine bough.我把钓鱼竿靠在一棵松树的大树枝上。
• Every bough was swinging in the wind.每条树枝都在风里摇摆。

4 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

5 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

6 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

7 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

8 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

9 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

10 plentifully   

adv. 许多地，丰饶地

参考例句：

• The visitors were plentifully supplied with food and drink. 给来宾准备了丰富的食物和饮料。
• The oil flowed plentifully at first, but soon ran out. 起初石油大量涌出，但很快就枯竭了。

11 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

12 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中