“Bev, are you asleep?” came in the Story Girl’s whisper.
“No, what is it?”
“S-s-h. Get up and dress and come out. I want you.”
With a good deal of curiosity and some misgiving2 I obeyed. What was in the wind now? Outside in the hall I found the Story Girl, with a candle in her hand, and her hat and jacket.
“Hush4. I’ve got to go to the school and you must come with me. I left my coral necklace there. The clasp came loose and I was so afraid I’d lose it that I took it off and put it in the bookcase. I was feeling so upset when the concert was over that I forgot all about it.”
The coral necklace was a very handsome one which had belonged to the Story Girl’s mother. She had never been permitted to wear it before, and it had only been by dint5 of much coaxing6 that she had induced Aunt Janet to let her wear it to the concert.
“But there’s no sense in going for it in the dead of night,” I objected. “It will be quite safe. You can go for it in the morning.”
“Lizzie Paxton and her daughter are going to clean the school tomorrow, and I heard Lizzie say tonight she meant to be at it by five o’clock to get through before the heat of the day. You know perfectly7 well what Liz Paxton’s reputation is. If she finds that necklace I’ll never see it again. Besides, if I wait till the morning, Aunt Janet may find out that I left it there and she’d never let me wear it again. No, I’m going for it now. If you’re afraid,” added the Story Girl with delicate scorn, “of course you needn’t come.”
Afraid! I’d show her!
“Come on,” I said.
We slipped out of the house noiselessly and found ourselves in the unutterable solemnity and strangeness of a dark night. It was a new experience, and our hearts thrilled and our nerves tingled8 to the charm of it. Never had we been abroad before at such an hour. The world around us was not the world of daylight. ‘Twas an alien place, full of weird9, evasive enchantment10 and magicry.
Only in the country can one become truly acquainted with the night. There it has the solemn calm of the infinite. The dim wide fields lie in silence, wrapped in the holy mystery of darkness. A wind, loosened from wild places far away, steals out to blow over dewy, star-lit, immemorial hills. The air in the pastures is sweet with the hush of dreams, and one may rest here like a child on its mother’s breast.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” breathed the Story Girl as we went down the long hill. “Do you know, I can forgive Sara Ray now. I thought tonight I never could—but now it doesn’t matter any more. I can even see how funny it was. Oh, wasn’t it funny? ‘DEAD’ in that squeaky little voice of Sara’s! I’ll just behave to her tomorrow as if nothing had happened. It seems so long ago now, here in the night.”
Neither of us ever forgot the subtle delight of that stolen walk. A spell of glamour11 was over us. The breezes whispered strange secrets of elf-haunted glens, and the hollows where the ferns grew were brimmed with mystery and romance. Ghostlike scents12 crept out of the meadows to meet us, and the fir wood before we came to the church was a living sweetness of Junebells growing in abundance.
Junebells have another and more scientific name, of course. But who could desire a better name than Junebells? They are so perfect in their way that they seem to epitomize the very scent13 and charm of the forest, as if the old wood’s daintiest thoughts had materialized in blossom; and not all the roses by Bendameer’s stream are as fragrant14 as a shallow sheet of Junebells under the boughs15 of fir.
There were fireflies abroad that night, too, increasing the gramarye of it. There is certainly something a little supernatural about fireflies. Nobody pretends to understand them. They are akin16 to the tribes of fairy, survivals of the elder time when the woods and hills swarmed17 with the little green folk. It is still very easy to believe in fairies when you see those goblin lanterns glimmering18 among the fir tassels19.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” said the Story Girl in rapture20. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. I’m glad I left my necklace. And I am glad you are with me, Bev. The others wouldn’t understand so well. I like you because I don’t have to talk to you all the time. It’s so nice to walk with someone you don’t have to talk to. Here is the graveyard21. Are you frightened to pass it, Bev?”
“No, I don’t think I’m frightened,” I answered slowly, “but I have a queer feeling.”
“So have I. But it isn’t fear. I don’t know what it is. I feel as if something was reaching out of the graveyard to hold me—something that wanted life—I don’t like it—let’s hurry. But isn’t it strange to think of all the dead people in there who were once alive like you and me. I don’t feel as if I could EVER die. Do you?”
“No, but everybody must. Of course we go on living afterwards, just the same. Don’t let’s talk of such things here,” I said hurriedly.
When we reached the school I contrived22 to open a window. We scrambled23 in, lighted a lamp and found the missing necklace. The Story Girl stood on the platform and gave an imitation of the catastrophe24 of the evening that made me shout with laughter. We prowled around for sheer delight over being there at an unearthly hour when everybody supposed we were sound asleep in our beds. It was with regret that we left, and we walked home as slowly as we could to prolong the adventure.
“Let’s never tell anyone,” said the Story Girl, as we reached home. “Let’s just have it as a secret between us for ever and ever—something that nobody else knows a thing about but you and me.”
“We’d better keep it a secret from Aunt Janet anyhow,” I whispered, laughing. “She’d think we were both crazy.”
“It’s real jolly to be crazy once in a while,” said the Story Girl.
点击收听单词发音
1 eerie | |
adj.怪诞的;奇异的;可怕的;胆怯的 | |
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2 misgiving | |
n.疑虑,担忧,害怕 | |
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3 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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4 hush | |
int.嘘,别出声;n.沉默,静寂;v.使安静 | |
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5 dint | |
n.由于,靠;凹坑 | |
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6 coaxing | |
v.哄,用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 );巧言骗取;哄劝,劝诱;“锻炼”效应 | |
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7 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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8 tingled | |
v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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10 enchantment | |
n.迷惑,妖术,魅力 | |
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11 glamour | |
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住 | |
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12 scents | |
n.香水( scent的名词复数 );气味;(动物的)臭迹;(尤指狗的)嗅觉 | |
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13 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
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14 fragrant | |
adj.芬香的,馥郁的,愉快的 | |
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15 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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16 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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17 swarmed | |
密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 ); 云集; 成群地移动; 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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18 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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19 tassels | |
n.穗( tassel的名词复数 );流苏状物;(植物的)穗;玉蜀黍的穗状雄花v.抽穗, (玉米)长穗须( tassel的第三人称单数 );使抽穗, (为了使作物茁壮生长)摘去穗状雄花;用流苏装饰 | |
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20 rapture | |
n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜 | |
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21 graveyard | |
n.坟场 | |
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22 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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23 scrambled | |
v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 );攀登;争夺;(军事飞机)紧急起飞 | |
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24 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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