"Look here, Burton," said old John Ellis in an ominous1 tone of voice, "I want to know if what that old busybody of a Mary Keane came here today gossiping about is true. If it is—well, I've something to say about the matter! Have you been courting that niece of Susan Oliver's all summer on the sly?"
Burton Ellis's handsome, boyish face flushed darkly crimson2 to the roots of his curly black hair. Something in the father's tone roused anger and rebellion in the son. He straightened himself up from the turnip3 row he was hoeing, looked his father squarely in the face, and said quietly,
"Not on the sly, sir, I never do things that way. But I have been going to see Madge Oliver for some time, and we are engaged. We are thinking of being married this fall, and we hope you will not object."
Burton's frankness nearly took away his father's breath. Old John fairly choked with rage.
"You young fool," he spluttered, bringing down his hoe with such energy that he sliced off half a dozen of his finest young turnip plants, "have you gone clean crazy? No, sir, I'll never consent to your marrying an Oliver, and you needn't have any idea that I will."
"Then I'll marry her without your consent," retorted Burton angrily, losing the temper he had been trying to keep.
"Oh, will you indeed! Well, if you do, out you go, and not a cent of my money or a rod of my land do you ever get."
"What have you got against Madge?" asked Burton, forcing himself to speak calmly, for he knew his father too well to doubt for a minute that he meant and would do just what he said.
"She's an Oliver," said old John crustily, "and that's enough." And considering that he had settled the matter, John Ellis threw down his hoe and left the field in a towering rage.
Burton hoed away savagely4 until his anger had spent itself on the weeds. Give up Madge—dear, sweet little Madge? Not he! Yet if his father remained of the same mind, their marriage was out of the question at present. And Burton knew quite well that his father would remain of the same mind. Old John Ellis had the reputation of being the most contrary man in Greenwood.
When Burton had finished his row he left the turnip field and went straight across lots to see Madge and tell her his dismal5 story. An hour later Miss Susan Oliver went up the stairs of her little brown house to Madge's room and found her niece lying on the bed, her pretty curls tumbled, her soft cheeks flushed crimson, crying as if her heart would break.
Miss Susan was a tall, grim, angular spinster who looked like the last person in the world to whom a love affair might be confided6. But never were appearances more deceptive7 than in this case. Behind her unprepossessing exterior8 Miss Susan had a warm, sympathetic heart filled to the brim with kindly9 affection for her pretty niece. She had seen Burton Ellis going moodily10 across the fields homeward and guessed that something had gone wrong.
"Now, dearie, what is the matter?" she said, tenderly patting the brown head.
Madge sobbed11 out the whole story disconsolately12. Burton's father would not let him marry her because she was an Oliver. And, oh, what would she do?
"Don't worry, Madge," said Miss Susan comfortingly. "I'll soon settle old John Ellis."
"Why, what can you do?" asked Madge forlornly.
Miss Susan squared her shoulders and looked amused.
"You'll see. I know old John Ellis better than he knows himself. He is the most contrary man the Lord ever made. I went to school with him. I learned how to manage him then, and I haven't forgotten how. I'm going straight up to interview him."
"Are you sure that will do any good?" said Madge doubtfully. "If you go to him and take Burton's and my part, won't it only make him worse?"
"Madge, dear," said Miss Susan, busily twisting her scanty13, iron-grey hair up into a hard little knob at the back of her head before Madge's glass, "you just wait. I'm not young, and I'm not pretty, and I'm not in love, but I've more gumption14 than you and Burton have or ever will have. You keep your eyes open and see if you can learn something. You'll need it if you go up to live with old John Ellis."
Burton had returned to the turnip field, but old John Ellis was taking his ease with a rampant15 political newspaper on the cool verandah of his house. Looking up from a bitter editorial to chuckle16 over a cutting sarcasm17 contained therein, he saw a tall, angular figure coming up the lane with aggressiveness written large in every fold and flutter of shawl and skirt.
"Old Susan Oliver, as sure as a gun," said old John with another chuckle. "She looks mad clean through. I suppose she's coming here to blow me up for refusing to let Burton take that girl of hers. She's been angling and scheming for it for years, but she will find who she has to deal with. Come on, Miss Susan."
Miss Susan reached the steps and skimmed undauntedly up them. She did indeed look angry and disturbed. Without any preliminary greeting she burst out into a tirade19 that simply took away her complacent20 foe's breath.
"Look here, John Ellis, I want to know what this means. I've discovered that that young upstart of a son of yours, who ought to be in short trousers yet, has been courting my niece, Madge Oliver, all summer. He has had the impudence21 to tell me that he wants to marry her. I won't have it, I tell you, and you can tell your son so. Marry my niece indeed! A pretty pass the world is coming to! I'll never consent to it."
Perhaps if you had searched Greenwood and all the adjacent districts thoroughly22 you might have found a man who was more astonished and taken aback than old John Ellis was at that moment, but I doubt it. The wind was completely taken out of his sails and every bit of the Ellis contrariness was roused.
"What have you got to say against my son?" he fairly shouted in his rage. "Isn't he good enough for your girl, Susan Oliver, I'd like to know?"
"No, he isn't," retorted Miss Susan deliberately23 and unflinchingly. "He's well enough in his place, but you'll please to remember, John Ellis, that my niece is an Oliver, and the Olivers don't marry beneath them."
Old John was furious. "Beneath them indeed! Why, woman, it is condescension24 in my son to so much as look at your niece—condescension, that is what it is. You are as poor as church mice."
"We come of good family, though," retorted Miss Susan. "You Ellises are nobodies. Your grandfather was a hired man! And yet you have the presumption25 to think you're fit to marry into an old, respectable family like the Olivers. But talking doesn't signify. I simply won't allow this nonsense to go on. I came here today to tell you so plump and plain. It's your duty to stop it; if you don't I will, that's all."
"Oh, will you?" John Ellis was at a white heat of rage and stubbornness now. "We'll see, Miss Susan, we'll see. My son shall marry whatever girl he pleases, and I'll back him up in it—do you hear that? Come here and tell me my son isn't good enough for your niece indeed! I'll show you he can get her anyway."
"You've heard what I've said," was the answer, "and you'd better go by it, that's all. I shan't stay to bandy words with you, John Ellis. I'm going home to talk to my niece and tell her her duty plain, and what I want her to do, and she'll do it, I haven't a fear."
Miss Susan was halfway26 down the steps, but John Ellis ran to the railing of the verandah to get the last word.
"I'll send Burton down this evening to talk to her and tell her what he wants her to do, and we'll see whether she'll sooner listen to you than to him," he shouted.
Miss Susan deigned27 no reply. Old John strode out to the turnip field. Burton saw him coming and looked for another outburst of wrath28, but his father's first words almost took away his breath.
"See here, Burt, I take back all I said this afternoon. I want you to marry Madge Oliver now, and the sooner, the better. That old cat of a Susan had the face to come up and tell me you weren't good enough for her niece. I told her a few plain truths. Don't you mind the old crosspatch. I'll back you up."
By this time Burton had begun hoeing vigorously, to hide the amused twinkle of comprehension in his eyes. He admired Miss Susan's tactics, but he did not say so.
"All right, Father," he answered dutifully.
When Miss Susan reached home she told Madge to bathe her eyes and put on her new pink muslin, because she guessed Burton would be down that evening.
"Oh, Auntie, how did you manage it?" cried Madge.
"Madge," said Miss Susan solemnly, but with dancing eyes, "do you know how to drive a pig? Just try to make it go in the opposite direction and it will bolt the way you want it. Remember that, my dear."
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1
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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turnip
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| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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6
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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7
deceptive
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| adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的 | |
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8
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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9
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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11
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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12
disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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13
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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gumption
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| n.才干 | |
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rampant
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| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
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16
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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19
tirade
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| n.冗长的攻击性演说 | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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