"Pharer come agin last night, Daddy."
"I thought he would, Sally."
"'Baby must have a name given to her,' says Pharer, and it's got to be done proper.' 'What name?' says I. 'I don't know,' says Pharer----"
"Not much of a spirit," murmured Seth; "not by any means what I should call a tiptop spirit."
"'There's only one man,' says Pharer," continued Sally, somewhat discomposed, "'as can give baby a proper name, and that man's Daddy Dumbrick.'"
"Oh, oh!" exclaimed Seth. "He knows my new title already."
"Spirits know everythink," observed Sally oracularly. "Then Pharer takes me downstairs. And it's night, and there's more than one candle alight; and the fish in the quarian is swimming about, wide awake, salamanders and all; and there's a party."
Seth gave a long, soft whistle. "That's a mistake, Sally. There couldn't be a party."
"There was," said Sally positively2.
"Men and women?"
"No; boys and gals3."
"Ah, ah! That's bad enough, but it's better than t'other."
"There was Jane Preedy, and Betsy Newbiggin, and Ann Taylor, and Jimmy Platt, and a lot more, all dressed out; and there was baby dressed out splendider than all of 'em put together, and there was me, and you."
"What was I doing?"
"You was giving baby a name. 'And mind,' says Pharer, baby's a little lady, and she's got to have a grand name, better than mine, or your'n, or anybody else's.'"
"When was this party given, Sally?"
"The party was given next Monday," replied Sally in utter defiance4 of all natural rules and laws, "next Monday as ever was."
"It must be done, I suppose," said Seth, with a sigh of comical resignation, "or Pharaoh'll never come to you again."
"Never," declared Sally.
"Then there's no help for it. You can ask all the little ragamuffins in the neighbourhood to the christening."
"O, Daddy, you are good--you are good!" and out of the depth of her gratitude5 Sally put her arms round Seth's neck, and kissed him half-a-dozen times without meeting with any opposition6.
In good truth Seth was enjoying this new state of things, and would not have liked, now that he had tasted the sweets of companionship, to be compelled to relapse into his old ways. There was nothing to regret in his past life; he had never loved, and therefore had no melancholy7 remembrance to make the present bitter. He had contracted neither violent friendships nor violent enmities. He had never been wronged--which frequently leads a generous nature to misanthropy; he had never wronged--which often leads to meanness many a nature capable of higher development. Thus, having escaped rocks upon which other men are wrecked8, or soured, or embittered9 for life, he found himself a middle-aged10 man, the tenderest chords of whose nature had never till now been touched.
Sally's kisses thrilled him tenderly. He did not return them, nor did he exhibit any feeling, but every pulse of his being responded to this mark of affection.
"Daddy," said Sally.
"Yes, Sal."
"You're sure?"
"About next Monday? Oh, yes. We'll have the christening."
"I want to tell you somethink."
"Out with it."
"I've got two shillings."
"Saved up in my frock. Feel 'em."
Seth felt them.
"Mother give 'em to me before she went away. I may spend 'em, mayn't I?"
"For the christening?"
"For baby."
"Well, no; I should say not. Here's two shillings more; spend them, and keep yours."
"But I want to--I want to! It's my money, and I want to spend it on baby."
"You're an obstinate11 little sinner," said Seth, after some consideration, "but it appears to me that you've generally a reason for what you do. So do it. You can take my money as well, and spend it all if you like."
"We'll have a regular feast," said Sally gleefully.
Issuing forth12 the next morning, Sally commenced operations. The first acquaintance she met was Betsy Newbiggin. Betsy was pursuing her usual avocation13 of selling liquorice-water, at the rate of two teaspoonfuls for one pin. This industrious14 trader was a genius in her way, and displayed unusual qualifications for driving a good bargain. The bosom15 of her frock was half full of pins, and she trotted16 about with her breastplate as proud as an Indian of his trophy17 of scalps.
Not often did Betsy Newbiggin meet with her match in the way of trade, but she met with it this morning, in Sally. Our little sallow-faced mother had the natural cravings of a daughter of Eve for sweet things, and she cast a longing18 glance at Betsy's bottle of liquorice-water. Betsy observing the glance, scented19 a customer, and she carelessly shook the bottle two or three times, and removing the paper cork20 applied21 it to her tongue with an air of great enjoyment22.
"Is it nice, Betsy?" inquired Sally anxiously.
"I should rather think it was," replied Betsy, placing the bottle close to Sally's nose; "smell it. How many pins have yer got?"
Sally passed her hand over the bosom of her frock, and found never a pin.
"Trust us," pleaded Sally.
Betsy laughed scornfully, and made a feint of moving away to more profitable pastures.
"Stop a bit, Betsy," cried Sally, "I want to tell you somethink. I live at Mr. Dumbrick's, you know--me and my baby. And, oh! it's such a place! There never was nothink like it. It's full of the most beautifullest things as ever was, and there's a large glass river with all sorts of fish a swimming about--wouldn't you like to see it?"
"I'd like to," said Betsy.
"It's better than a show, and Mr. Dumbrick he tells such stories--wouldn't you like to hear 'em?"
"I'd like to," repeated Betsy.
"Well, now," said Sally in unconscious imitation of Seth Dumbrick's manner of speaking, "I don't know. Perhaps I'll let you--perhaps I won't. Will you trust us two pins'orth?"
"Yes, I will, I will," exclaimed Betsy eagerly, and measured out four teaspoonfuls of the precious beverage23, and gave full measure, mainly in consequence of Sally's watchful24 eyes being upon her. Long parleying took place thereafter between the cunning and wily Sally and the shrewd but in this instance over-reached Betsy, for before they parted, Sally had emptied every drop of liquorice-water in the bottle, and had besides wheedled25 Betsy out of twelve pins, to be returned at some remote and convenient period. But Betsy had her reward, in perspective, for she received the first invitation to the feast on Monday evening, in Seth's cellar, and she departed in a glow of triumph to boast of the invitation to her acquaintance. There is no person in the world, however insignificant26 or humble27, who does not build for himself a dunghill upon which he delights to crow, to the exaltment of himself and the depreciation28 of his neighbours.
By noon all Sally's invitations were issued by word of mouth; and the news spreading with amazing rapidity, the excitement among the juvenile29 population of Rosemary Lane became most intense. Those who were invited walked about with pride and superiority in their bearing, and those who were not were proportionately humbled30 and vexed31. The circumstance that Seth Dumbrick, the hermit32, the crab33, had consented to receive in his cave a certain number of children, and to give them a feast, was really an event in the neighbourhood, and even some of the grown-up people said they would like to go to the party.
The eventful evening arrived, and Seth, sitting in his stall, received his guests, and passed them down to Sally. The first to arrive was Betsy Newbiggin; then followed Ann Taylor, Jimmy Platt, Jane Preedy, Young Stumpy, and others, making in all a round dozen.
The cellar presented a splendid appearance. Everything was polished up, the hearth34 was whitened, the stove was blackened. There was not a speck35 on the glass of the aquarium36; but this latter attraction was covered with a blanket. Seth, who, during the day, had refused to come into the dwelling-room, knowing that Sally was busy, and wished to give him a surprise, gazed around with satisfaction. His eyes meeting Sally's, which were watching him anxiously, he patted her approvingly on the shoulder, which caused her to colour with pleasure. When Seth made his appearance among his guests, they were all demurely37 seated on two benches which Sally had found in the back yard, and cleaned for the occasion. They were a very respectable party indeed, and behaved themselves quite genteelly. They were in holiday attire38 too, for, duly impressed with the importance of the event, they had taken pains to personally adorn39 themselves with any little oddment they could lay their hands on. True, that in some instances the will had to be taken for the deed; as in the case of Young Stumpy, the rents in whose garments would not admit of the entire concealment40 of his shirt, which peeped out in unwarrantable places, and who was much distressed41 by his companions slyly pulling at it, and further exposing him; and in the case of Jane Preedy, one of whose feet was buried in a very large old shoe, and the other squeezed into a boot too small to admit of lacing up. But for the matter of that, Sally Chester, if brought before a jury, would have been found guilty of rents, tatters, and incongruities42 in her attire; so busy had she been that--without inquiring as to whether she had the means--she had no time to make herself smart. On the table were displayed threepennyworth of oranges cut into very small pieces, threepennyworth of whitey-brown seedcakes, threepennyworth of the delectable43 cake known as the jumble44, and threepennyworth of expressionless men and women and blatant45 cocks and hens fashioned out of the native gingerbread of the neighbourhood. Upon this splendid feast the eyes of the company were eagerly fixed46, wandering occasionally away to the dark corners of the cellar and to the blanket which concealed47 the fish in the aquarium.
"Where's baby, Sally?" asked Seth.
"Not yet, please," said Sally imploringly48. "May we commence, Daddy?"
"Yes."
The entertainment was opened by the drawing up of the curtain, or rather by the withdrawal49 of the blanket from the aquarium, and the sudden and brilliant display of fish swimming about caused a chorus of Oh's! of all shapes and sizes to issue from the throats of the delighted guests. Entering at once into the humour of the affair, Seth Dumbrick constituted himself showman, and proceeded to point out the different fish to the audience, who thronged50 around the lecturer, and listened open-mouthed to the wonderful things he told them. He took advantage, it must be confessed, of the limited knowledge of his hearers, and imposed upon them as the veriest mountebank51 would have done. Marvellous were the qualities of the water-beetles; dreadful were the stories he told of the voracious52 silver pike, saying how fortunate it was that there was not room for them to grow in the aquarium, or there was no telling what would occur; the gold and silver fish were real gold and silver--"Do you think I'd keep sham53 ones?" he asked, receiving vociferous54 vindication55 of his genuineness in the answers: "In course not, Mr. Dumbrick;" "Not you, Mr. Dumbrick;"--and as for the salamanders, which they gazed upon with a kind of horrible fascination56, he explained how that fire wouldn't burn them, and expressed his opinion--with downward pointing finger--that they come from the place where wicked boys and girls went to, unless they saw the error of their ways, and repented57 in good time. So impressed with gloomy forebodings were the guests--all of whom, according to the oft-repeated testimony58 of their nearest relations, were as bad as bad could be--at this peroration59 to Seth Dumbrick's discourse60, that it was found necessary to revive their sinking spirits. This was successfully accomplished61 by a circulation of the oranges and cakes, after discussing a portion of which they became the most defiant62 of young sinners, and figuratively snapped their fingers at fate. Then the principal feature of the evening was heralded63 by Sally, who, retiring into the recess64 which had been partitioned off for her sleeping apartment, returned in triumph with baby.
Holding Sally by the hand, she walked in like a little queen.
Of Sally's four shillings, one had been spent on the pleasures of the table; the remaining three had been expended65 on the child's dress. Heaven only knows what had influenced Sally in her whim66, but from the moment she had obtained Seth Dumbrick's permission to hold the feast, she had run about from shop to shop, and street to street, hunting up cheap little bits of finery with which to deck her treasure for the important occasion. Small remnants of silk, bits of ribbon, faded artificial flowers, whatever her eye lighted on in rag and second-hand67 clothes' shops in the way of colour, Sally had purchased, cheapening and bargaining for them with the zeal68 and tact69 of a grown-up woman. The result was a great heap of odds70 and ends, which Sally had washed, and ironed, and pieced, and patched, with so much industry and ingenuity71 that her treasure-baby looked like a May-day Queen or an oddly-assorted rainbow. There was no harmony of design in the fashioning or arrangement of the dress, but the general effect was so pretty and unexpected, and the child's face, flushed with pleasure and excitement, was so beautiful, that her appearance in the cellar was like the revelation of a bright cloud, and Seth Dumbrick held his breath for a moment or two in wonder and admiration72. The guests clapped their hands in unrestrained delight, and the child, standing in the midst of her admiring audience, received their applause with perfect grace--as though she was used to this sort of thing, and it was naturally her due. There was a rosy73 glow in her fair cheeks, her flaxen hair hung upon her shoulders like golden silk, her blue eyes sparkled with beauty. Sally stood by her side, like a little sallow gipsy. Seth drew the two children aside, and lifted them on his knees.
"Sally," he said, "you're a little wonder."
"No, no," protested Sally; "she is. I ain't nobody. That's the way I saw her in my dream. You've got to give her a name, you know."
"It's a puzzle, Sally. There's no name I'm acquainted with that would match her."
"But you've got to do it."
"Didn't Pharer say anything about it?"
Sally considered.
"Pharer's a king. She's good enough to be a queen."
"We've got one Queen, Sal, and those that have seen her say she's pretty, too. There's princesses and duchesses----"
"A duchess, a duchess!" cried Sally, clapping her hands. "If she can't be a queen, make her a duchess!"
"So be it, Sally. We'll call her a duchess. The Duchess of Rosemary Lane."
Sally slid off his knees, and brought a cup of water. "You must sprinkle her, you know. That's the way. Now no one can't call her nothink else."
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Seth, addressing the company with mock dignity, "allow me to present to you the Duchess of Rosemary Lane."
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收听单词发音
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1
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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2
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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gals
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| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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5
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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8
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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9
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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11
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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12
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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avocation
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| n.副业，业余爱好 | |
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14
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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15
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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16
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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17
trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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18
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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19
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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20
cork
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| n.软木，软木塞 | |
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21
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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22
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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23
beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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24
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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25
wheedled
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| v.骗取（某物），哄骗（某人干某事）( wheedle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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28
depreciation
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| n.价值低落，贬值，蔑视，贬低 | |
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29
juvenile
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| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
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30
humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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31
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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32
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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33
crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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34
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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35
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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36
aquarium
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| n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸 | |
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37
demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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38
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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39
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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40
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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41
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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42
incongruities
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| n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 )；不一致；不适合；不协调的东西 | |
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43
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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44
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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45
blatant
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| adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的 | |
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46
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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47
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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48
imploringly
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| adv. 恳求地, 哀求地 | |
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49
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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50
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
mountebank
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| n.江湖郎中；骗子 | |
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52
voracious
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| adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的 | |
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53
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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54
vociferous
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| adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的 | |
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55
vindication
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| n.洗冤，证实 | |
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56
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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57
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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59
peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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60
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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61
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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62
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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63
heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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64
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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65
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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66
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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67
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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68
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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69
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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70
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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71
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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72
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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73
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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