Chapter 8

The boys told him. Reuben listened in silence save for one ejaculation of "the dirty bitch!"

David nudged William.

"And she asked us particular to say as she'd never regretted the day she left Odiam, or wished herself back there, nuther."

"She wur purty s?afe to say that—for who'd have her back, I'd lik to know? Larmentable creature she always wur, spanneling around lik a mangy cat. Always thin and always miserable—I'm glad to be shut of her. But she seemed cheery when you saw her?"

"Unaccountable cheery—and she drank three bottles of six ale."

"Um," said Reuben.

The boys had one or two secret talks about Caro. She also stimulated¹ that habit of "thinking" which their father so thoroughly² disapproved³ of. Somehow their encounter with her, combined with their encounter with Richard, seemed to have modified their enthusiasm for Odiam. They could not help comparing that supper at Newhaven with that dinner at Rye, and wondering if it was true what she had said about Richard having got away in time, whereas she had been too late.

"And yet she was glad she'd gone—she'd rather be free too late than not at all."

"Bill, do you think that if we stay here, Odiam 'ull' do for us wot it did for Caro?"

"I d?an't think so. F?ather was much harder on Caro than he is on us."
 
"He's not hard on us—but he's unaccountable interfering⁴; it maddens me sometimes."

"Seems as if he didn't trust us—seems sometimes as if he was afraid we'd go off like the others."

"Reckon he is—he saw how we envied Richard."

"Davy, it 'ud be cruel of us to go and leave him."

"I d?an't say as I want to do that."

"Besides, it ?un't likely as we'd do as well fur ourselves as Richard. We've no Miss Bardon to trouble about us—reckon we'd come to grief like Albert."

"Maybe we would."

1 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

2 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

3 disapproved   

v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My parents disapproved of my marriage. 我父母不赞成我的婚事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing. 她不赞成儿子不加选择地收看电视。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。