Several afternoons Corinne went alone to the Charlton Street house and sat long with Margaret, going over and over the old account-book story. For neither of them did interest in the matter ever wane4. And even though they appeared to have reached an insurmountable115 barrier, it did not utterly5 discourage them. The mystery was always there, and the unsolved riddle6 proved a constant lure7.
Then one day Corinne came in, accompanied by the twins, and all seemed in rather high spirits.
"What's the news?" demanded Margaret at once. "Have you discovered something, Corinne?"
"Yes, I have. And while it may not be of any great help, at least it's another link in the chain."
The twins, once more condescending8 to interest themselves in the affair, exclaimed: "Do tell us about it! We cut a basket-ball match to come home this afternoon!"
"Well, as I said, it isn't much, but it's something. Yesterday I was up at the Forty-second Street Library, browsing9 around among the old reference-books on New York City history, when I suddenly came across this. You remember, several times Alison spoke10 about the housekeeper11, 'Mistress Ph?be'? Well, I've found out who she is!"
116
"You have!" they chorused.
"Yes, and I guess it's positive, for two books mention it. She was Ph?be Fraunces, the daughter of Sam Fraunces who kept the famous 'Fraunces' Tavern12.' The building, by the way, is still in existence down on Pearl and Broad Streets. It has been restored to look just the way it used to, and is the headquarters of the Sons of the Revolution. Sam Fraunces was a fine man and a great admirer of Washington—"
"Yes, Alison said so!" interposed Margaret, half under breath.
"—and he was afterward13 the household steward14 for Washington when he lived in New York as President. One book says Ph?be played quite a part in the plot—preventing it, that is! That's all I found out, but it's interesting."
"It certainly is!" assented15 Bess, after a moment's thought, "and it's just one more proof that we're on the right track. But still I don't see that it helps very much in finding out what became of Alison, or anything about her!"
117
"No, it doesn't!" agreed Corinne ruefully. "And that's just where it's so disappointing. But there's this about it. In a puzzle like this, every little bit helps along. Sometimes, what really doesn't seem to amount to anything at all, leads at last to the most important discovery. For instance, that song—'The Lass of Richmond Hill.' That didn't impress us so much when we came across it, yet it really led to all the discoveries we've made. I propose that this afternoon we go over the whole thing again, just as carefully as we can, and see if there isn't some little clue that we may have constantly overlooked. Of course, I've done that by myself dozens of times, and so has Margaret. But four heads are better than one! Who knows but this time we may light on the very thing?"
She was so hopeful and enthusiastic about it that they all settled down to the work, reading over the old diary very slowly and discussing every point that seemed to offer the least suggestion of a clue. They had reached the entry which announced Washington's arrival, and118 were hotly debating the question whether or not Madame Mortier could be concerned in the plot against him, when suddenly they were electrified16 by hearing the loud crow of a rooster, coming apparently17 from the darkness at the far end of the room. (They had been talking and reading by the light of the open fire only.) Every one jumped, and Margaret caught her hand to her heart. But Bess instantly recovered herself, darted19 across the room, dived behind the curtains, and returned dragging into the circle a grinning, giggling20 small boy.
"It's Alexander, of course!" was her brief remark. Her captive was certainly an extraordinary-looking youngster! Wiry, and undersized for his age (he was thirteen), he possessed21 a snub-nose, a shock of brilliant red hair, and a quantity of freckles22 that literally23 "snowed under" his grinning countenance24. His appearance was rendered all the more remarkable25 by the fact that he had cut a series of holes in an old, round, soft hat, and his brilliant hair stuck straight up through these in119 astonishing red bunches. Not one whit26 did he seem to resent the publicity27 into which his recent exploit had brought him! Rather did he appear to glory in the situation.
"Aren't you ashamed to be eavesdropping28 behind the curtains?" demanded Bess, shaking him by his collar, of which she still retained her hold.
Alexander straightened himself and made this cryptic29 reply:
"I don't get yer! But if yer mean piking off this chinning contest,—no, I ain't!"
At the foregoing remarkable explosion of slang, Corinne suddenly went off into a peal30 of laughter.
"Oh, Alexander, you're rich!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad to make your acquaintance. Teach me some of that, will you!"
The boy turned to her with an appreciative31 and understanding twinkle in his eye: "Sure thing! I'll put you wise, any old time!"
But Jess suddenly broke into this exchange of amenities32. "Do you girls realize what has happened? Alexander Corwin has been listening120 to all the proceedings of our secret society, and now he knows just as much as we do! Oh, I could scalp you!" she ended, making a sudden dart18 at her cousin, who, though still in the grasp of Bess, ducked and evaded33 her. There had been unceasing warfare34 between Alexander and the twins ever since he came to reside with them. He teased them unmercifully, and they sought frantically35, and always in vain, to retaliate36. There seemed nothing they could devise that affected37 him in the slightest. This, the most recent outrage38, constituted to them, therefore, the last straw! Suddenly Margaret intervened:
"Wait a minute! Maybe Alec wasn't really trying to overhear what we said. Perhaps he only meant to give us a scare. How about it, Alec?"
"You got the right dope!" affirmed the young rascal39. "D'ye think I'd waste my valuable time listening to the chatter40 of a lot of Sadies? Nix on that! I just crept in there to give the glad whoop41 and raise you out of your chairs!"
121
Alexander never teased Margaret. Her pathetic confinement42 to her invalid-chair appealed to his rowdy little soul, and between them there had always been an unspoken compact of peace.
"But how much did you hear?" reiterated43 Jess.
"Well, I couldn't help getting wise to some!" admitted Alexander wickedly, conscious that this same admission was gall44 and wormwood to the souls of the twins. "Heard a lot of stuff about finding a book in our attic45, and George Washington, and a swell46 guy called Madame something-or-other and some kind of a dinky sapphire47 thing, and a kid called Alison. Say! she must have been some girl! But, gosh!—you needn't think I wanted to hear it! I was only waiting for the chance to give you the merry ha-ha!"
Dismay fell once more on the circle. Bess had now released him, and he stood upright, jammed his hands in his pockets, and grinned on them with a curious mixture of triumph, defiance48, and pure impishness. It was Corinne122 who became suddenly inspired with a brilliant idea.
"Look here, girls! I vote that we make Alexander a member of the club! What do you say?"
"Gee49! I don't want to be!" exclaimed the boy in a panic, making a sudden dive to escape.
"Oh, yes you would, if you knew all about it! Wouldn't he, Margaret? It's just the kind of thing a boy would go crazy about. There's so much adventure in it!"
At the word "adventure," Alexander pricked50 up his ears.
"What's a lot of girls got to do with adventures?" he inquired skeptically.
"Just wait till you hear!" declared Corinne, and Margaret seconded her with:
"Oh, dear, Alec, you'll just go wild over this! And it ought to have a boy in it, too! Oughtn't it, girls?" But the twins remained obdurate51. To allow their declared enemy to share their most cherished secret seemed to them the height of madness. But while Margaret123 was reasoning with Alexander, Corinne whispered to them:
"You'd better do it, I tell you! He knows too much already, and you don't know but what he might give the whole thing away to Sarah sometime!" And this final argument brought them speedily round to her point of view.
"All right!" they agreed. "Alexander, you can become a member of our secret society if you want to, and Corinne will tell you all about it."
And Alexander, his curiosity now thoroughly52 aroused, offered no further objection to the honor thus thrust upon him.
Corinne undertook to explain the whole matter to him, showed him their discovery, explained how they had deciphered the code, and then proceeded to read him the translation. His pat, slangy comments on it often moved her to laughter, and when it came to the mention of the song, he immediately wanted to hear it, for—it was Alexander's chief merit—he loved music with the appreciation53 of a born musician. It happened that among the books124 Corinne had brought Margaret was the collection of old songs, containing the one in question. She hunted this up now, and, going to the piano, played it over for him, while he stood at her side whistling the air.
"Say, I like that!" he commented when she had finished. "That's a great old tune54! The words are a back-number of course, but they go with it fine!" He hummed it over again.
"Isn't it queer!" exclaimed Corinne. "Alexander is the only one who has exhibited the least interest in learning or even hearing that song!"
After this intermission, the story proceeded, the boy growing more and more absorbed with every word. But when it came to the disclosure that Richmond Hill had stood just about where they were now sitting, he leaped to his feet with a whoop.
"Say! Wouldn't that jolt55 you! Gee! I didn't have any hunch56 that you girls had a thing like this up your sleeve!" Then, with snapping eyes, he settled down to hear the remainder of the tale. When Corinne had finished,125 he sat cross-legged before the fire for several minutes, chewing meditatively57 the cap he had riddled58 with air-holes.
So long was he silent, that Margaret exclaimed, finally: "Well?" Then he got up, stretched his legs, and inquired: "When you going to have the next meeting of this joint59?"
"The day after to-morrow," answered Margaret, who was disappointed that after all he did not seem to have any interested comments to make. "Why?"
"Because," he answered in his remarkable jargon60 of slang, "you can ring me in on the fest, and—I may have a new piece of dope!"
When the meaning of this remark had dawned on them, they all demanded eagerly: "What? What? Can't you tell us, Alec?"
"Nothing doing—till the day after to-morrow!" he called back as he made a hasty exit down the hall.
And after his departure they all agreed that they had possibly done a rather good day's work in admitting the rowdy Alexander to the Antiquarian Club!
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
subsided
|
|
| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
wane
|
|
| n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
riddle
|
|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
condescending
|
|
| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
browsing
|
|
| v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
housekeeper
|
|
| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
tavern
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
steward
|
|
| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
electrified
|
|
| v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 )；使兴奋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
dart
|
|
| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
darted
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
giggling
|
|
| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
freckles
|
|
| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
whit
|
|
| n.一点，丝毫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
publicity
|
|
| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
eavesdropping
|
|
| n. 偷听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
cryptic
|
|
| adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
peal
|
|
| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
appreciative
|
|
| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
amenities
|
|
| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
evaded
|
|
| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
warfare
|
|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
frantically
|
|
| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
retaliate
|
|
| v.报复，反击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
rascal
|
|
| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
whoop
|
|
| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
confinement
|
|
| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
reiterated
|
|
| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
gall
|
|
| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
attic
|
|
| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
swell
|
|
| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
sapphire
|
|
| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
gee
|
|
| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
pricked
|
|
| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
obdurate
|
|
| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
appreciation
|
|
| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
jolt
|
|
| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
hunch
|
|
| n.预感，直觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
meditatively
|
|
| adv.冥想地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
riddled
|
|
| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
joint
|
|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
jargon
|
|
| n.术语，行话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |