CHAPTER XXIV. A TANTALIZING REVELATION

 “I shall have something to tell you in the orchard¹ this evening,” said the Story Girl at breakfast one morning. Her eyes were very bright and excited. She looked as if she had not slept a great deal. She had spent the previous evening with Miss Reade and had not returned until the rest of us were in bed. Miss Reade had finished giving music lessons and was going home in a few days. Cecily and Felicity were in despair over this and mourned as those without comfort. But the Story Girl, who had been even more devoted² to Miss Reade than either of them, had not, as I noticed, expressed any regret and seemed to be very cheerful over the whole matter.

 

“Why can’t you tell it now?” asked Felicity.

 

“Because the evening is the nicest time to tell things in. I only mentioned it now so that you would have something interesting to look forward to all day.”

 

“Is it about Miss Reade?” asked Cecily.

 

“Never mind.”

 

“I’ll bet she’s going to be married,” I exclaimed, remembering the ring.

 

“Is she?” cried Felicity and Cecily together.

 

The Story Girl threw an annoyed glance at me. She did not like to have her dramatic announcements forestalled³.

 

“I don’t say that it is about Miss Reade or that it isn’t. You must just wait till the evening.”

 

“I wonder what it is,” speculated Cecily, as the Story Girl left the room.

 

“I don’t believe it’s much of anything,” said Felicity, beginning to clear away the breakfast dishes. “The Story Girl always likes to make so much out of so little. Anyhow, I don’t believe Miss Reade is going to be married. She hasn’t any beaus around here and Mrs. Armstrong says she’s sure she doesn’t correspond with anybody. Besides, if she was she wouldn’t be likely to tell the Story Girl.”

 

“Oh, she might. They’re such friends, you know,” said Cecily.

 

“Miss Reade is no better friends with her than she is with me and you,” retorted Felicity.

 

“No, but sometimes it seems to me that she’s a different kind of friend with the Story Girl than she is with me and you,” reflected Cecily. “I can’t just explain what I mean.”

 

“No wonder. Such nonsense,” sniffed⁴ Felicity. “It’s only some girl’s secret, anyway,” said Dan, loftily. “I don’t feel much interest in it.”

 

But he was on hand with the rest of us that evening, interest or no interest, in Uncle Stephen’s Walk, where the ripening⁵ apples were beginning to glow like jewels among the boughs⁶.

 

“Now, are you going to tell us your news?” asked Felicity impatiently.

 

“Miss Reade IS going to be married,” said the Story Girl. “She told me so last night. She is going to be married in a fortnight’s time.”

 

“Who to?” exclaimed the girls.

 

“To”—the Story Girl threw a defiant⁷ glance at me as if to say, “You can’t spoil the surprise of THIS, anyway,”—“to—the Awkward Man.”

 

For a few moments amazement⁸ literally⁹ held us dumb.

 

“You’re not in earnest, Sara Stanley?” gasped¹⁰ Felicity at last.

 

“Indeed I am. I thought you’d be astonished. But I wasn’t. I’ve suspected it all summer, from little things I’ve noticed. Don’t you remember that evening last spring when I went a piece with Miss Reade and told you when I came back that a story was growing? I guessed it from the way the Awkward Man looked at her when I stopped to speak to him over his garden fence.”

 

“But—the Awkward Man!” said Felicity helplessly. “It doesn’t seem possible. Did Miss Reade tell you HERSELF?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I suppose it must be true then. But how did it ever come about? He’s SO shy and awkward. How did he ever manage to get up enough spunk¹¹ to ask her to marry him?”

 

“Maybe she asked him,” suggested Dan.

 

The Story Girl looked as if she might tell if she would.

 

“I believe that WAS the way of it,” I said, to draw her on.

 

“Not exactly,” she said reluctantly. “I know all about it but I can’t tell you. I guessed part from things I’ve seen—and Miss Reade told me a good deal—and the Awkward Man himself told me his side of it as we came home last night. I met him just as I left Mr. Armstrong’s and we were together as far as his house. It was dark and he just talked on as if he were talking to himself—I think he forgot I was there at all, once he got started. He has never been shy or awkward with me, but he never talked as he did last night.”

 

“You might tell us what he said,” urged Cecily. “We’d never tell.”

 

The Story Girl shook her head.

 

“No, I can’t. You wouldn’t understand. Besides, I couldn’t tell it just right. It’s one of the things that are hardest to tell. I’d spoil it if I told it—now. Perhaps some day I’ll be able to tell it properly. It’s very beautiful—but it might sound very ridiculous if it wasn’t told just exactly the right way.”

 

“I don’t know what you mean, and I don’t believe you know yourself,” said Felicity pettishly¹². “All that I can make out is that Miss Reade is going to marry Jasper Dale, and I don’t like the idea one bit. She is so beautiful and sweet. I thought she’d marry some dashing young man. Jasper Dale must be nearly twenty years older than her—and he’s so queer and shy—and such a hermit¹³.”

 

“Miss Reade is perfectly¹⁴ happy,” said the Story Girl. “She thinks the Awkward Man is lovely—and so he is. You don’t know him, but I do.”

 

“Well, you needn’t put on such airs about it,” sniffed Felicity.

 

“I am not putting on any airs. But it’s true. Miss Reade and I are the only people in Carlisle who really know the Awkward Man. Nobody else ever got behind his shyness to find out just what sort of a man he is.”

 

“When are they to be married?” asked Felicity.

 

“In a fortnight’s time. And then they are coming right back to live at Golden Milestone¹⁵. Won’t it be lovely to have Miss Reade always so near us?”

 

“I wonder what she’ll think about the mystery of Golden Milestone,” remarked Felicity.

 

Golden Milestone was the beautiful name the Awkward Man had given his home; and there was a mystery about it, as readers of the first volume of these chronicles will recall.

 

“She knows all about the mystery and thinks it perfectly lovely—and so do I,” said the Story Girl.

 

“Do YOU know the secret of the locked room?” cried Cecily.

 

“Yes, the Awkward Man told me all about it last night. I told you I’d find out the mystery some time.”

 

“And what is it?”

 

“I can’t tell you that either.”

 

“I think you’re hateful and mean,” exclaimed Felicity. “It hasn’t anything to do with Miss Reade, so I think you might tell us.”

 

“It has something to do with Miss Reade. It’s all about her.”

 

“Well, I don’t see how that can be when the Awkward Man never saw or heard of Miss Reade until she came to Carlisle in the spring,” said Felicity incredulously, “and he’s had that locked room for years.”

 

“I can’t explain it to you—but it’s just as I’ve said,” responded the Story Girl.

 

“Well, it’s a very queer thing,” retorted Felicity.

 

“The name in the books in the room was Alice—and Miss Reade’s name is Alice,” marvelled¹⁶ Cecily. “Did he know her before she came here?”

 

“Mrs. Griggs says that room has been locked for ten years. Ten years ago Miss Reade was just a little girl of ten. SHE couldn’t be the Alice of the books,” argued Felicity.

 

“I wonder if she’ll wear the blue silk dress,” said Sara Ray.

 

“And what will she do about the picture, if it isn’t hers?” added Cecily.

 

“The picture couldn’t be hers, or Mrs. Griggs would have known her for the same when she came to Carlisle,” said Felix.

 

“I’m going to stop wondering about it,” exclaimed Felicity crossly, aggravated¹⁷ by the amused smile with which the Story Girl was listening to the various speculations¹⁸. “I think Sara is just as mean as mean when she won’t tell us.”

 

“I can’t,” repeated the Story Girl patiently.

 

“You said one time you had an idea who ‘Alice’ was,” I said. “Was your idea anything like the truth?”

 

“Yes, I guessed pretty nearly right.”

 

“Do you suppose they’ll keep the room locked after they are married?” asked Cecily.

 

“Oh, no. I can tell you that much. It is to be Miss Reade’s own particular sitting room.”

 

“Why, then, perhaps we’ll see it some time ourselves, when we go to see Miss Reade,” cried Cecily.

 

“I’d be frightened to go into it,” confessed Sara Ray. “I hate things with mysteries. They always make me nervous.”

 

“I love them. They’re so exciting,” said the Story Girl.

 

“Just think, this will be the second wedding of people we know,” reflected Cecily. “Isn’t that interesting?”

 

“I only hope the next thing won’t be a funeral,” remarked Sara Ray gloomily. “There were three lighted lamps on our kitchen table last night, and Judy Pineau says that’s a sure sign of a funeral.”

 

“Well, there are funerals going on all the time,” said Dan.

 

“But it means the funeral of somebody you know. I don’t believe in it—MUCH—but Judy says she’s seen it come true time and again. I hope if it does it won’t be anybody we know very well. But I hope it’ll be somebody I know a LITTLE, because then I might get to the funeral. I’d just love to go to a funeral.”

 

“That’s a dreadful thing to say,” commented Felicity in a shocked tone.

 

Sara Ray looked bewildered.

 

“I don’t see what is dreadful in it,” she protested.

 

“People don’t go to funerals for the fun of it,” said Felicity severely¹⁹. “And you just as good as said you hoped somebody you knew would die so you’d get to the funeral.”

 

“No, no, I didn’t. I didn’t mean that AT ALL, Felicity. I don’t want anybody to die; but what I meant was, if anybody I knew HAD to die there might be a chance to go to the funeral. I’ve never been to a single funeral yet, and it must be so interesting.”

 

“Well, don’t mix up talk about funerals with talk about weddings,” said Felicity. “It isn’t lucky. I think Miss Reade is simply throwing herself away, but I hope she’ll be happy. And I hope the Awkward Man will manage to get married without making some awful blunder, but it’s more than I expect.”

 

“The ceremony is to be very private,” said the Story Girl.

 

“I’d like to see them the day they appear out in church,” chuckled²⁰ Dan. “How’ll he ever manage to bring her in and show her into the pew? I’ll bet he’ll go in first—or tramp on her dress—or fall over his feet.”

 

“Maybe he won’t go to church at all the first Sunday and she’ll have to go alone,” said Peter. “That happened in Markdale. A man was too bashful to go to church the first time after getting married, and his wife went alone till he got used to the idea.”

 

“They may do things like that in Markdale but that is not the way people behave in Carlisle,” said Felicity loftily.

 

Seeing the Story Girl slipping away with a disapproving²¹ face I joined her.

 

“What is the matter, Sara?” I asked.

 

“I hate to hear them talking like that about Miss Reade and Mr. Dale,” she answered vehemently²². “It’s really all so beautiful—but they make it seem silly and absurd, somehow.”

 

“You might tell me all about it, Sara,” I insinuated²³. “I wouldn’t tell—and I’d understand.”

 

“Yes, I think you would,” she said thoughtfully. “But I can’t tell it even to you because I can’t tell it well enough yet. I’ve a feeling that there’s only one way to tell it—and I don’t know the way yet. Some day I’ll know it—and then I’ll tell you, Bev.”

 

Long, long after she kept her word. Forty years later I wrote to her, across the leagues of land and sea that divided us, and told her that Jasper Dale was dead; and I reminded her of her old promise and asked its fulfilment. In reply she sent me the written love story of Jasper Dale and Alice Reade. Now, when Alice sleeps under the whispering elms of the old Carlisle churchyard, beside the husband of her youth, that story may be given, in all its old-time sweetness, to the world.

 

 

1 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 forestalled   

v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She forestalled their attempt. 她先发制人，阻止了他们的企图。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I had my objection all prepared, but Stephens forestalled me. 我已做好准备要提出反对意见，不料斯蒂芬斯却抢先了一步。 来自辞典例句

4 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ripening   

v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成

参考例句：

• The corn is blossoming [ripening]. 玉米正在开花[成熟]。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• When the summer crop is ripening, the autumn crop has to be sowed. 夏季作物成熟时，就得播种秋季作物。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 boughs   

大树枝( bough的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of dew. 绿枝上闪烁着露珠的光彩。
• A breeze sighed in the higher boughs. 微风在高高的树枝上叹息着。

7 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

8 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 spunk   

n.勇气，胆量

参考例句：

• After his death,the soldier was cited for spunk.那位士兵死后因作战勇敢而受到表彰。
• I admired her independence and her spunk.我敬佩她的独立精神和勇气。

12 pettishly   

参考例句：

• \"Oh, no,'she said, almost pettishly, \"I just don't feel very good.\" “哦，不是，\"她说，几乎想发火了，\"我只是觉得不大好受。” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Then he tossed the marble away pettishly, and stood cogitating. 于是他一气之下扔掉那个弹子，站在那儿沉思。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

13 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

14 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

15 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

16 marvelled   

v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I marvelled that he suddenly left college. 我对他突然离开大学感到惊奇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I marvelled at your boldness. 我对你的大胆感到惊奇。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 aggravated   

使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火

参考例句：

• If he aggravated me any more I shall hit him. 假如他再激怒我，我就要揍他。
• Far from relieving my cough, the medicine aggravated it. 这药非但不镇咳，反而使我咳嗽得更厉害。

18 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》

19 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

20 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

21 disapproving   

adj.不满的，反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mother gave me a disapproving look. 母亲的眼神告诉我她是不赞成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her father threw a disapproving glance at her. 她父亲不满地瞥了她一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 vehemently   

adv. 热烈地

参考例句：

• He argued with his wife so vehemently that he talked himself hoarse. 他和妻子争论得很激烈，以致讲话的声音都嘶哑了。
• Both women vehemently deny the charges against them. 两名妇女都激烈地否认了对她们的指控。

23 insinuated   

v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入

参考例句：

• The article insinuated that he was having an affair with his friend's wife. 文章含沙射影地点出他和朋友的妻子有染。
• She cleverly insinuated herself into his family. 她巧妙地混进了他的家庭。 来自《简明英汉词典》