小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 经典英文小说 » 秘密花园 The Secret Garden » Chapter 2 Mistress Mary Quite Contrary
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
Chapter 2 Mistress Mary Quite Contrary
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。

Mary had liked to look at her mother from a distanceand she had thought her very pretty, but as she knewvery little of her she could scarcely have been expectedto love her or to miss her very much when she was gone.

  She did not miss her at all, in fact, and as she was aself-absorbed child she gave her entire thought to herself,as she had always done. If she had been older she wouldno doubt have been very anxious at being left alone inthe world, but she was very young, and as she had alwaysbeen taken care of, she supposed she always would be.

  What she thought was that she would like to know if she wasgoing to nice people, who would be polite to her and giveher her own way as her Ayah and the other native servantshad done.

  She knew that she was not going to stay at the Englishclergyman's house where she was taken at first. She didnot want to stay. The English clergyman was poor and hehad five children nearly all the same age and they woreshabby clothes and were always quarreling and snatchingtoys from each other. Mary hated their untidy bungalowand was so disagreeable to them that after the first dayor two nobody would play with her. By the second daythey had given her a nickname which made her furious.

  It was Basil who thought of it first. Basil was a littleboy with impudent2 blue eyes and a turned-up nose, and Maryhated him. She was playing by herself under a tree,just as she had been playing the day the cholera3 broke out.

  She was making heaps of earth and paths for a gardenand Basil came and stood near to watch her. Presently hegot rather interested and suddenly made a suggestion.

  "Why don't you put a heap of stones there and pretendit is a rockery?" he said. "There in the middle,"and he leaned over her to point.

  "Go away!" cried Mary. "I don't want boys. Go away!"For a moment Basil looked angry, and then he began to tease.

  He was always teasing his sisters. He danced roundand round her and made faces and sang and laughed.

  "Mistress Mary, quite contrary,How does your garden grow?

  With silver bells, and cockle shells,And marigolds all in a row."He sang it until the other children heard and laughed, too;and the crosser Mary got, the more they sang "Mistress Mary,quite contrary"; and after that as long as she stayedwith them they called her "Mistress Mary Quite Contrary"when they spoke4 of her to each other, and often when theyspoke to her.

  "You are going to be sent home," Basil said to her,"at the end of the week. And we're glad of it.""I am glad of it, too," answered Mary. "Where is home?""She doesn't know where home is!" said Basil,with seven-year-old scorn. "It's England, of course.

  Our grandmama lives there and our sister Mabel was sentto her last year. You are not going to your grandmama.

  You have none. You are going to your uncle. His name isMr. Archibald Craven.""I don't know anything about him," snapped Mary.

  "I know you don't," Basil answered. "You don't know anything.

  Girls never do. I heard father and mother talking about him.

  He lives in a great, big, desolate5 old house in thecountry and no one goes near him. He's so cross he won'tlet them, and they wouldn't come if he would let them.

  He's a hunchback, and he's horrid6." "I don't believe you,"said Mary; and she turned her back and stuck her fingersin her ears, because she would not listen any more.

  But she thought over it a great deal afterward7; and whenMrs. Crawford told her that night that she was goingto sail away to England in a few days and go to her uncle,Mr. Archibald Craven, who lived at Misselthwaite Manor8,she looked so stony9 and stubbornly uninterested thatthey did not know what to think about her. They triedto be kind to her, but she only turned her face awaywhen Mrs. Crawford attempted to kiss her, and heldherself stiffly when Mr. Crawford patted her shoulder.

  "She is such a plain child," Mrs. Crawford said pityingly,afterward. "And her mother was such a pretty creature.

  She had a very pretty manner, too, and Mary has the mostunattractive ways I ever saw in a child. The childrencall her `Mistress Mary Quite Contrary,' and thoughit's naughty of them, one can't help understanding it.""Perhaps if her mother had carried her pretty faceand her pretty manners oftener into the nursery Marymight have learned some pretty ways too. It is very sad,now the poor beautiful thing is gone, to remember thatmany people never even knew that she had a child at all.""I believe she scarcely ever looked at her,"sighed Mrs. Crawford. "When her Ayah was dead therewas no one to give a thought to the little thing.

  Think of the servants running away and leaving her allalone in that deserted11 bungalow1. Colonel McGrew said henearly jumped out of his skin when he opened the doorand found her standing10 by herself in the middle of the room."Mary made the long voyage to England under the care ofan officer's wife, who was taking her children to leavethem in a boarding-school. She was very much absorbedin her own little boy and girl, and was rather glad to handthe child over to the woman Mr. Archibald Craven sentto meet her, in London. The woman was his housekeeperat Misselthwaite Manor, and her name was Mrs. Medlock.

  She was a stout13 woman, with very red cheeks and sharpblack eyes. She wore a very purple dress, a blacksilk mantle14 with jet fringe on it and a black bonnetwith purple velvet16 flowers which stuck up and trembledwhen she moved her head. Mary did not like her at all,but as she very seldom liked people there was nothingremarkable in that; besides which it was very evidentMrs. Medlock did not think much of her.

  "My word! she's a plain little piece of goods!" she said.

  "And we'd heard that her mother was a beauty. She hasn'thanded much of it down, has she, ma'am?" "Perhaps shewill improve as she grows older," the officer's wifesaid good-naturedly. "If she were not so sallow and hada nicer expression, her features are rather good.

  Children alter so much.""She'll have to alter a good deal," answered Mrs. Medlock.

  "And, there's nothing likely to improve children atMisselthwaite--if you ask me!" They thought Mary was notlistening because she was standing a little apart from themat the window of the private hotel they had gone to.

  She was watching the passing buses and cabs and people,but she heard quite well and was made very curious abouther uncle and the place he lived in. What sort of a placewas it, and what would he be like? What was a hunchback?

  She had never seen one. Perhaps there were none in India.

  Since she had been living in other people's housesand had had no Ayah, she had begun to feel lonelyand to think queer thoughts which were new to her.

  She had begun to wonder why she had never seemed to belongto anyone even when her father and mother had been alive.

  Other children seemed to belong to their fathers and mothers,but she had never seemed to really be anyone's little girl.

  She had had servants, and food and clothes, but no onehad taken any notice of her. She did not know that thiswas because she was a disagreeable child; but then,of course, she did not know she was disagreeable.

  She often thought that other people were, but she did notknow that she was so herself.

  She thought Mrs. Medlock the most disagreeable personshe had ever seen, with her common, highly colored faceand her common fine bonnet15. When the next day they setout on their journey to Yorkshire, she walked throughthe station to the railway carriage with her head upand trying to keep as far away from her as she could,because she did not want to seem to belong to her.

  It would have made her angry to think people imagined shewas her little girl.

  But Mrs. Medlock was not in the least disturbed by herand her thoughts. She was the kind of woman who would"stand no nonsense from young ones." At least, that iswhat she would have said if she had been asked. She hadnot wanted to go to London just when her sister Maria'sdaughter was going to be married, but she had a comfortable,well paid place as housekeeper12 at Misselthwaite Manorand the only way in which she could keep it was to doat once what Mr. Archibald Craven told her to do.

  She never dared even to ask a question.

  "Captain Lennox and his wife died of the cholera,"Mr. Craven had said in his short, cold way. "Captain Lennoxwas my wife's brother and I am their daughter's guardian17.

  The child is to be brought here. You must go to Londonand bring her yourself."So she packed her small trunk and made the journey.

  Mary sat in her corner of the railway carriage and lookedplain and fretful. She had nothing to read or to look at,and she had folded her thin little black-gloved hands inher lap. Her black dress made her look yellower than ever,and her limp light hair straggled from under her blackcrepe hat.

  "A more marred-looking young one I never saw in my life,"Mrs. Medlock thought. (Marred is a Yorkshire word andmeans spoiled and pettish18.) She had never seen a childwho sat so still without doing anything; and at last shegot tired of watching her and began to talk in a brisk,hard voice.

  "I suppose I may as well tell you something about whereyou are going to," she said. "Do you know anythingabout your uncle?""No," said Mary.

  "Never heard your father and mother talk about him?""No," said Mary frowning. She frowned because sheremembered that her father and mother had never talkedto her about anything in particular. Certainly theyhad never told her things.

  "Humph," muttered Mrs. Medlock, staring at her queer,unresponsive little face. She did not say any more fora few moments and then she began again.

  "I suppose you might as well be told something--toprepare you. You are going to a queer place."Mary said nothing at all, and Mrs. Medlock looked ratherdiscomfited by her apparent indifference19, but, after takinga breath, she went on.

  "Not but that it's a grand big place in a gloomy way,and Mr. Craven's proud of it in his way--and that'sgloomy enough, too. The house is six hundred years oldand it's on the edge of the moor20, and there's near a hundredrooms in it, though most of them's shut up and locked.

  And there's pictures and fine old furniture and thingsthat's been there for ages, and there's a big park roundit and gardens and trees with branches trailing to theground--some of them." She paused and took another breath.

  "But there's nothing else," she ended suddenly.

  Mary had begun to listen in spite of herself. It all soundedso unlike India, and anything new rather attracted her.

  But she did not intend to look as if she were interested.

  That was one of her unhappy, disagreeable ways. So shesat still.

  "Well," said Mrs. Medlock. "What do you think of it?""Nothing," she answered. "I know nothing about such places."That made Mrs. Medlock laugh a short sort of laugh.

  "Eh!" she said, "but you are like an old woman.

  Don't you care?""It doesn't matter" said Mary, "whether I care or not.""You are right enough there," said Mrs. Medlock.

  "It doesn't. What you're to be kept at Misselthwaite Manorfor I don't know, unless because it's the easiest way.

  He's not going to trouble himself about you, that's sureand certain. He never troubles himself about no one."She stopped herself as if she had just remembered somethingin time.

  "He's got a crooked21 back," she said. "That set him wrong.

  He was a sour young man and got no good of all his moneyand big place till he was married."Mary's eyes turned toward her in spite of her intentionnot to seem to care. She had never thought of thehunchback's being married and she was a trifle surprised.

  Mrs. Medlock saw this, and as she was a talkative womanshe continued with more interest. This was one wayof passing some of the time, at any rate.

  "She was a sweet, pretty thing and he'd have walkedthe world over to get her a blade o' grass she wanted.

  Nobody thought she'd marry him, but she did,and people said she married him for his money.

  But she didn't--she didn't," positively22. "When she died--"Mary gave a little involuntary jump.

  "Oh! did she die!" she exclaimed, quite without meaning to.

  She had just remembered a French fairy story she had onceread called "Riquet a la Houppe." It had been about a poorhunchback and a beautiful princess and it had made hersuddenly sorry for Mr. Archibald Craven.

  "Yes, she died," Mrs. Medlock answered. "And itmade him queerer than ever. He cares about nobody.

  He won't see people. Most of the time he goes away,and when he is at Misselthwaite he shuts himself up inthe West Wing and won't let any one but Pitcher23 see him.

  Pitcher's an old fellow, but he took care of him when hewas a child and he knows his ways."It sounded like something in a book and it did not makeMary feel cheerful. A house with a hundred rooms,nearly all shut up and with their doors locked--a house onthe edge of a moor--whatsoever a moor was--sounded dreary24.

  A man with a crooked back who shut himself up also! Shestared out of the window with her lips pinched together,and it seemed quite natural that the rain should have begunto pour down in gray slanting25 lines and splash and streamdown the window-panes26. If the pretty wife had been aliveshe might have made things cheerful by being somethinglike her own mother and by running in and out and goingto parties as she had done in frocks "full of lace."But she was not there any more.

  "You needn't expect to see him, because ten to one you won't,"said Mrs. Medlock. "And you mustn't expect that therewill be people to talk to you. You'll have to playabout and look after yourself. You'll be told what roomsyou can go into and what rooms you're to keep out of.

  There's gardens enough. But when you're in the housedon't go wandering and poking27 about. Mr. Craven won'thave it.""I shall not want to go poking about," said sour littleMary and just as suddenly as she had begun to be rathersorry for Mr. Archibald Craven she began to cease to besorry and to think he was unpleasant enough to deserveall that had happened to him.

  And she turned her face toward the streaming panes of thewindow of the railway carriage and gazed out at the grayrain-storm which looked as if it would go on forever and ever.

  She watched it so long and steadily28 that the graynessgrew heavier and heavier before her eyes and she fell asleep.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 bungalow ccjys     
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房
参考例句:
  • A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。
  • The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子,搬进了小平房。
2 impudent X4Eyf     
adj.鲁莽的,卑鄙的,厚颜无耻的
参考例句:
  • She's tolerant toward those impudent colleagues.她对那些无礼的同事采取容忍的态度。
  • The teacher threatened to kick the impudent pupil out of the room.老师威胁着要把这无礼的小学生撵出教室。
3 cholera rbXyf     
n.霍乱
参考例句:
  • The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
  • Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。
4 spoke XryyC     
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:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
5 desolate vmizO     
adj.荒凉的,荒芜的;孤独的,凄凉的;v.使荒芜,使孤寂
参考例句:
  • The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
  • We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后,我们都觉得万分孤寂。
6 horrid arozZj     
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的
参考例句:
  • I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
  • The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃,她咽不下去。
7 afterward fK6y3     
adv.后来;以后
参考例句:
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
8 manor d2Gy4     
n.庄园,领地
参考例句:
  • The builder of the manor house is a direct ancestor of the present owner.建造这幢庄园的人就是它现在主人的一个直系祖先。
  • I am not lord of the manor,but its lady.我并非此地的领主,而是这儿的女主人。
9 stony qu1wX     
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的
参考例句:
  • The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干,而且布满了石头。
  • He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。
10 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
11 deserted GukzoL     
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
参考例句:
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
12 housekeeper 6q2zxl     
n.管理家务的主妇,女管家
参考例句:
  • A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
  • She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家,一家人吃得很省。
14 mantle Y7tzs     
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红
参考例句:
  • The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
  • The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。
15 bonnet AtSzQ     
n.无边女帽;童帽
参考例句:
  • The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光,使之不刺眼。
  • She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽,帽上缀着褪了色的假花。
16 velvet 5gqyO     
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的
参考例句:
  • This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
  • The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。
17 guardian 8ekxv     
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
参考例句:
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
18 pettish LNUxx     
adj.易怒的,使性子的
参考例句:
  • I can't act in pettish to you any further.我再也不能对你撒娇了。
  • He was getting more and more pettish and hysterical.他变得越来越任性,越来越歇斯底里。
19 indifference k8DxO     
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎
参考例句:
  • I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
  • He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。
20 moor T6yzd     
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊
参考例句:
  • I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
  • There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。
21 crooked xvazAv     
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的
参考例句:
  • He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指,示意我们到他那儿去。
  • You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。
22 positively vPTxw     
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实
参考例句:
  • She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
  • The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。
23 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
24 dreary sk1z6     
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的
参考例句:
  • They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
  • She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。
25 slanting bfc7f3900241f29cee38d19726ae7dce     
倾斜的,歪斜的
参考例句:
  • The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
  • The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。
26 panes c8bd1ed369fcd03fe15520d551ab1d48     
窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The sun caught the panes and flashed back at him. 阳光照到窗玻璃上,又反射到他身上。
  • The window-panes are dim with steam. 玻璃窗上蒙上了一层蒸汽。
27 poking poking     
n. 刺,戳,袋 vt. 拨开,刺,戳 vi. 戳,刺,捅,搜索,伸出,行动散慢
参考例句:
  • He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
  • He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。
28 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
参考例句:
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533