First thing in the morning there was general excitement over the breaking of the beautiful fernery. It had been one of Lady Betty’s pet pieces, and one of her bridal gifts. Also, Margot herself had tended and coaxed1 the beautiful ferns and flowers in the long, narrow basket to their fullest perfection, so that Margot felt a sense of personal loss in its destruction.
And it had really been destroyed; not only knocked over and broken, but the fine enameled2 pottery3 was completely demolished4, and the beautiful growing stuff crushed to a pulp5!
No prowling dog could have been so thorough in its work, everyone said, but only179 Nancy knew who had been prowling about, and only Nancy knew who, that very evening, had said things against the luxuries of the rich. And the fernery was a luxury.
Already the secret, which had been so curiously6 thrust upon her, was bringing its bitter penalty to Nancy. She had acted from the highest and most honorable motives7, and yet, that little intrigue8 with Orilla, secretly knowing that she had been not only on the premises9 but actually in the house, through the rooms—all this brought to Nancy a sense of guilt10.
Then, the broken fernery! Was that a part of Orilla’s depredation11? Would she really destroy things in her dislike for the people of Fernlode? It was before lunch that Rosa, first intent upon a swim, suddenly changed her mind and without explanation ran off some place; where, Nancy didn’t know.
“Back in a jiffy!” Rosa had called as she went as fast as her weight allowed, toward Gar’s waiting car.
And she hadn’t even invited Nancy to go along!
180 From that time until the lunch bell rang, Nancy could not entirely12 fight down her feelings.
“I don’t have to be treated this way,” she decided13, “I can go to Manny at any time. Manny made me promise I would, if I were not happy here.”
But, when Rosa came back just in time for lunch, and made her take a pretty new fan she had bought for the evening’s dance, reasonably, Nancy had to excuse her.
The postponed14 swim was taken in the afternoon, Rosa going out to the big rock and perching herself like a nice, fat bird upon it, while Nancy spent most of her time practising diving from the long dock.
All along the banks of the summer colony young folks were enjoying the water sports, and Nancy quite forgot her new anxieties as she too indulged in the pleasant aquatic15 exercise.
Just once Rosa became confidential16. She asked Nancy if she knew anything about reducing systems.
181 “Why?” laughed Nancy. “You are not going to try one, I hope.”
“One!” exclaimed Rosa. “I’ve tried dozens of them. Want to see me do the twelve-pound roll?” and without waiting for any encouragement Rosa raced out of the water, ran up the little sandy road that led from a hill down to the water’s edge, and then proceeded to roll!
“Oh, don’t, Rosa!” yelled Nancy. “You might strike a rock!”
But Rosa was rolling on.
Down, down she came, gathering17 speed with every turn and adding to her peril18 with it.
“Oh, Rosa! Grab something!” yelled Nancy. “You’ll hit your head on those rocks!”
“No—no—I won’t,” Rosa managed to eject, each little word puffing19 out like a small explosion.
“I’ll stop you,” offered Nancy, jumping out in the path of the whirlwind.
“No, don’t! I must—go—all—the way!”
“But how silly! You’re a cloud of dust182 and—and—just see those rocks!” entreated20 Nancy.
Still Rosa kept on tumbling along, first down the very steep sand slope, and then over a sharp turn not intended to be used as a road. It was the end of the hill slope that twined in to the boat house, and the lakeside drive did not connect with this, as the lake and its drive were at right angles.
It was over that sharp edge of rocks that Rosa tumbled, then, with one more blind turn, her heavy little body splashed into the lake at least ten feet below!
“Oh, Rosa!”
Nancy’s yell was one of terror, but she did not wait to hear its effect, for the next moment she too was over the dock and into the water, grappling with the stunned21 girl, who seemed prone22 to go under the water every time Nancy attempted to assist her.
“Put your hand on my shoulder,” Nancy ordered, “but don’t grab me. Rosa! Rosa! Can’t you hear?”
Then, realizing that her cousin must indeed183 be stunned, Nancy shouted lustily for help.
“Help! Help! At the landing!” she screamed, meanwhile getting hold of Rosa’s little skirt and trying desperately23 to raise the girl to the surface of the water.
The moments were agonizing24, but Nancy tried to keep up her courage, calling as she struggled. But there was very little hope for immediate25 response, since each estate encompassed26 a large strip of territory and the bathers were now scattered27, in canoes, most of them following the sun to dry out, down near the big float.
Finally, Nancy heard the welcome sound of disturbed water, and then saw approaching the Fernlode dock, a small launch.
“This way! This way!” she yelled frantically28, her own strength ebbing29 from her continued paddling to keep afloat, and grabbing for a better hold on Rosa, for the water off the big bank at the side of the dock was suddenly deep, and decidedly treacherous30, real depth being necessary for boat landings.
The launch was now alongside.
184 “Oh, quickly, please!” begged Nancy. “I think she’s stunned.”
Then she saw that the boat was being run by Orilla! And she was, as usual, alone.
“Don’t get so excited,” snapped the girl. “I don’t see what you’re so scared of. She could wade31 out of there.”
“But she hasn’t spoken. Oh, Orilla, please get hold of her. I tell you she’s—stunned!”
In spite of her seeming indifference33, Orilla was leaning over the side of the launch, and with her help Nancy had managed to get Rosa to the surface. She opened her eyes, sputtered34 water from her mouth, gasped35, gagged and gurgled as if she were almost choked with water. Holding to the low side of the launch, Nancy ordered and bossed like a real life saver, but Rosa, although now able to help herself, made little headway at doing so.
Orilla scolded and grumbled36. She hadn’t time for such foolishness, and a girl who couldn’t get up on her own dock ought to drown—according to her.
“She’s got to get into your boat,” insisted185 Nancy, “she can’t climb to the dock.”
“All right, then, get in,” growled37 Orilla, “and be quick about it. I’ve got to hurry!”
“You always have,” retorted Nancy, none too pleasantly. “It seems to me, you might try to be—human, once in a while.”
“Good enough for you to talk,” flung back the other girl. “But you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes,” Rosa managed to gurgle, “and it’s all your fault, Orilla Rigney, I’ve never had any—any peace since—”
“Cut it!” yelled the red-haired girl, so sharply that even Nancy, who was on the end of the dock, turned suddenly to see the girl’s face masked in rage.
Rosa was now in the launch, Nancy sat, exhausted38, on the end of the dock, but Orilla, at the engine, looked so peculiarly excited that instinctively39 Nancy shouted:
“Wait! Don’t—start!”
But the engine had picked up and that launch was steaming off, Rosa still apparently186 too stunned to protest, and Nancy was powerless!
“Where are you going?” Nancy shouted, quickly as she could recover from her surprise.
But no answer came back; nothing but the chug-chug of the engine, and the boat’s daring cut through the water.
“Rosa!” yelled the distracted Nancy. “Come back—”
Rosa turned and waved a fluttering hand, not gayly but sort of resignedly. And Nancy knew that all she, herself, could do was to—wait!
Certainly Orilla was heading her boat across the narrow end of the lake, at which point the water was sucked up by any number of little land patches, hills and foothills of the mountains. To land in any one of these would mean almost complete seclusion—for the thick evergreens40 made tiny forests of the islands. It was among these little islands that Nancy watched, impotently, for the last speck41 of color that identified the launch.
“Oh, what shall I do!” she moaned aloud.187 “Rosa is not fit to go off with that girl. And who can go after her?”
The memory of Mrs. Pixley’s plight42 out on No Man’s Land, the evening that Rosa and Nancy went to her rescue, now came back to Nancy, with Rosa placed in the same predicament.
“If she ever leaves her out there alone,” she worried, this time without speaking aloud, “we may not be able to find the spot.”
“Hello! What’s the mermaid43 pondering—”
“Oh, Gar!” gasped Nancy, turning to find their friend almost beside her upon the dock. “That girl, Orilla, has gone off with Rosa. And Rosa had been stunned from a fall down the hill into the water.”
“Seems to me, Nancy, you’re pretty well stunned yourself,” spoke32 up the boy. “You look all in.”
“Don’t mind me, please! But think, quickly! What can we do to get—Rosa!”
“What makes you so dreadfully worried?”
Then poor Nancy tried to explain what had happened. As she talked she did feel her own188 loss of strength, as Gar had said, she was almost exhausted herself.
“Don’t worry,” comforted the boy. “I’ll get Paul and we’ll race out in our launch. I guess Orilla Rigney can’t beat the Whitecap and I guess she doesn’t know any more about mushroom islands than I do. You want to come along, Nancy?”
“Oh, yes, I couldn’t stand the anxiety of waiting,” Nancy answered. “I’ll get into dry things—”
“And I’ll pull in here for you in a couple of jiffs,” Gar assured her, offering her his hand as she left the dock by the shortest cut—the hill that had proved too much for Rosa’s rolling exercise.
“Do you think I had better tell Margot?” Nancy asked, when they had reached the point where their paths divided.
“Oh, no, better not. You see, when we get Rosa and fetch her back she’ll just think we have all been off for a sail.”
And Nancy knew as he spoke, that here was another boy with a disposition44 very much like Ted’s.
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收听单词发音
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1
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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2
enameled
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| 涂瓷釉于，给…上瓷漆，给…上彩饰( enamel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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pulp
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| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
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6
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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7
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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8
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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9
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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depredation
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| n.掠夺，蹂躏 | |
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12
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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13
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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14
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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15
aquatic
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| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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17
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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18
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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19
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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20
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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24
agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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25
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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26
encompassed
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| v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括 | |
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27
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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28
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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29
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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30
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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31
wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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32
spoke
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| 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 | |
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33
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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34
sputtered
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| v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的过去式和过去分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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35
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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36
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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37
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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38
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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39
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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40
evergreens
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| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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41
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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42
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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43
mermaid
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| n.美人鱼 | |
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44
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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