“She'll be there in her kitchen; she'll hear you the minute you call; 'twont give you no delay,” said Mrs. Todd to the doctor. “Yes, Mis' Dennett's right there, with the windows all open. It isn't as if my fore4 door opened right on the road, anyway.” At which proof of composure Mrs. Blackett smiled wisely at me.
The doctor seemed delighted to see our guest; they were evidently the warmest friends, and I saw a look of affectionate confidence in their eyes. The good man left his carriage to speak to us, but as he took Mrs. Blackett's hand he held it a moment, and, as if merely from force of habit, felt her pulse as they talked; then to my delight he gave the firm old wrist a commending pat.
“You're wearing well; good for another ten years at this rate,” he assured her cheerfully, and she smiled back. “I like to keep a strict account of my old stand-bys,” and he turned to me. “Don't you let Mrs. Todd overdo5 to-day,—old folks like her are apt to be thoughtless;” and then we all laughed, and, parting, went our ways gayly.
“I suppose he puts up with your rivalry6 the same as ever?” asked Mrs. Blackett. “You and he are as friendly as ever, I see, Almiry,” and Almira sagely7 nodded.
“He's got too many long routes now to stop to 'tend to all his door patients,” she said, “especially them that takes pleasure in talkin' themselves over. The doctor and me have got to be kind of partners; he's gone a good deal, far an' wide. Looked tired, didn't he? I shall have to advise with him an' get him off for a good rest. He'll take the big boat from Rockland an' go off up to Boston an' mouse round among the other doctors, one in two or three years, and come home fresh as a boy. I guess they think consider'ble of him up there.” Mrs. Todd shook the reins8 and reached determinedly9 for the whip, as if she were compelling public opinion.
Whatever energy and spirit the white horse had to begin with were soon exhausted10 by the steep hills and his discernment of a long expedition ahead. We toiled11 slowly along. Mrs. Blackett and I sat together, and Mrs. Todd sat alone in front with much majesty12 and the large basket of provisions. Part of the way the road was shaded by thick woods, but we also passed one farmhouse13 after another on the high uplands, which we all three regarded with deep interest, the house itself and the barns and garden-spots and poultry14 all having to suffer an inspection15 of the shrewdest sort. This was a highway quite new to me; in fact, most of my journeys with Mrs. Todd had been made afoot and between the roads, in open pasturelands. My friends stopped several times for brief dooryard visits, and made so many promises of stopping again on the way home that I began to wonder how long the expedition would last. I had often noticed how warmly Mrs. Todd was greeted by her friends, but it was hardly to be compared with the feeling now shown toward Mrs. Blackett. A look of delight came to the faces of those who recognized the plain, dear old figure beside me; one revelation after another was made of the constant interest and intercourse16 that had linked the far island and these scattered17 farms into a golden chain of love and dependence18.
“Now, we mustn't stop again if we can help it,” insisted Mrs. Todd at last. “You'll get tired, mother, and you'll think the less o' reunions. We can visit along here any day. There, if they ain't frying doughnuts in this next house, too! These are new folks, you know, from over St. George way; they took this old Talcot farm last year. 'Tis the best water on the road, and the check-rein's come undone—yes, we'd best delay a little and water the horse.”
We stopped, and seeing a party of pleasure-seekers in holiday attire19, the thin, anxious mistress of the farmhouse came out with wistful sympathy to hear what news we might have to give. Mrs. Blackett first spied her at the half-closed door, and asked with such cheerful directness if we were trespassing20 that, after a few words, she went back to her kitchen and reappeared with a plateful of doughnuts.
“Entertainment for man and beast,” announced Mrs. Todd with satisfaction. “Why, we've perceived there was new doughnuts all along the road, but you're the first that has treated us.”
Our new acquaintance flushed with pleasure, but said nothing.
“They're very nice; you've had good luck with 'em,” pronounced Mrs. Todd. “Yes, we've observed there was doughnuts all the way along; if one house is frying all the rest is; 'tis so with a great many things.”
“I don't suppose likely you're goin' up to the Bowden reunion?” asked the hostess as the white horse lifted his head and we were saying good-by.
“Why, yes,” said Mrs. Blackett and Mrs. Todd and I, all together.
“I am connected with the family. Yes, I expect to be there this afternoon. I've been lookin' forward to it,” she told us eagerly.
“We shall see you there. Come and sit with us if it's convenient,” said dear Mrs. Blackett, and we drove away.
“I wonder who she was before she was married?” said Mrs. Todd, who was usually unerring in matters of genealogy21. “She must have been one of that remote branch that lived down beyond Thomaston. We can find out this afternoon. I expect that the families'll march together, or be sorted out some way. I'm willing to own a relation that has such proper ideas of doughnuts.”
“I seem to see the family looks,” said Mrs. Blackett. “I wish we'd asked her name. She's a stranger, and I want to help make it pleasant for all such.”
“She resembles Cousin Pa'lina Bowden about the forehead,” said Mrs. Todd with decision.
We had just passed a piece of woodland that shaded the road, and come out to some open fields beyond, when Mrs. Todd suddenly reined22 in the horse as if somebody had stood on the roadside and stopped her. She even gave that quick reassuring23 nod of her head which was usually made to answer for a bow, but I discovered that she was looking eagerly at a tall ash-tree that grew just inside the field fence.
“I thought 'twas goin' to do well,” she said complacently24 as we went on again. “Last time I was up this way that tree was kind of drooping25 and discouraged. Grown trees act that way sometimes, same's folks; then they'll put right to it and strike their roots off into new ground and start all over again with real good courage. Ash-trees is very likely to have poor spells; they ain't got the resolution of other trees.”
I listened hopefully for more; it was this peculiar26 wisdom that made one value Mrs. Todd's pleasant company.
“There's sometimes a good hearty27 tree growin' right out of the bare rock, out o' some crack that just holds the roots;” she went on to say, “right on the pitch o' one o' them bare stony28 hills where you can't seem to see a wheel-barrowful o' good earth in a place, but that tree'll keep a green top in the driest summer. You lay your ear down to the ground an' you'll hear a little stream runnin'. Every such tree has got its own livin' spring; there's folk made to match 'em.”
I could not help turning to look at Mrs. Blackett, close beside me. Her hands were clasped placidly29 in their thin black woolen30 gloves, and she was looking at the flowery wayside as we went slowly along, with a pleased, expectant smile. I do not think she had heard a word about the trees.
“I just saw a nice plant o' elecampane growin' back there,” she said presently to her daughter.
“I haven't got my mind on herbs to-day,” responded Mrs. Todd, in the most matter-of-fact way. “I'm bent31 on seeing folks,” and she shook the reins again.
I for one had no wish to hurry, it was so pleasant in the shady roads. The woods stood close to the road on the right; on the left were narrow fields and pastures where there were as many acres of spruces and pines as there were acres of bay and juniper and huckleberry, with a little turf between. When I thought we were in the heart of the inland country, we reached the top of a hill, and suddenly there lay spread out before us a wonderful great view of well-cleared fields that swept down to the wide water of a bay. Beyond this were distant shores like another country in the midday haze32 which half hid the hills beyond, and the faraway pale blue mountains on the northern horizon. There was a schooner33 with all sails set coming down the bay from a white village that was sprinkled on the shore, and there were many sailboats flitting about it. It was a noble landscape, and my eyes, which had grown used to the narrow inspection of a shaded roadside, could hardly take it in.
“Why, it's the upper bay,” said Mrs. Todd. “You can see 'way over into the town of Fessenden. Those farms 'way over there are all in Fessenden. Mother used to have a sister that lived up that shore. If we started as early's we could on a summer mornin', we couldn't get to her place from Green Island till late afternoon, even with a fair, steady breeze, and you had to strike the time just right so as to fetch up 'long o' the tide and land near the flood. 'Twas ticklish34 business, an' we didn't visit back an' forth35 as much as mother desired. You have to go 'way down the co'st to Cold Spring Light an' round that long point,—up here's what they call the Back Shore.”
“No, we were 'most always separated, my dear sister and me, after the first year she was married,” said Mrs. Blackett. “We had our little families an' plenty o' cares. We were always lookin' forward to the time we could see each other more. Now and then she'd get out to the island for a few days while her husband'd go fishin'; and once he stopped with her an' two children, and made him some flakes36 right there and cured all his fish for winter. We did have a beautiful time together, sister an' me; she used to look back to it long's she lived.
“I do love to look over there where she used to live,” Mrs. Blackett went on as we began to go down the hill. “It seems as if she must still be there, though she's long been gone. She loved their farm,—she didn't see how I got so used to our island; but somehow I was always happy from the first.”
“Yes, it's very dull to me up among those slow farms,” declared Mrs. Todd. “The snow troubles 'em in winter. They're all besieged37 by winter, as you may say; 'tis far better by the shore than up among such places. I never thought I should like to live up country.”
“Why, just see the carriages ahead of us on the next rise!” exclaimed Mrs. Blackett. “There's going to be a great gathering38, don't you believe there is, Almiry? It hasn't seemed up to now as if anybody was going but us. An' 'tis such a beautiful day, with yesterday cool and pleasant to work an' get ready, I shouldn't wonder if everybody was there, even the slow ones like Phebe Ann Brock.”
Mrs. Blackett's eyes were bright with excitement, and even Mrs. Todd showed remarkable39 enthusiasm. She hurried the horse and caught up with the holiday-makers ahead. “There's all the Dep'fords goin', six in the wagon,” she told us joyfully40; “an' Mis' Alva Tilley's folks are now risin' the hill in their new carry-all.”
Mrs. Blackett pulled at the neat bow of her black bonnet-strings, and tied them again with careful precision. “I believe your bonnet's on a little bit sideways, dear,” she advised Mrs. Todd as if she were a child; but Mrs. Todd was too much occupied to pay proper heed41. We began to feel a new sense of gayety and of taking part in the great occasion as we joined the little train.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
valiant
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bestowed
|
|
| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
fore
|
|
| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
overdo
|
|
| vt.把...做得过头，演得过火 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
rivalry
|
|
| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sagely
|
|
| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
reins
|
|
| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
determinedly
|
|
| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
toiled
|
|
| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
farmhouse
|
|
| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
poultry
|
|
| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
dependence
|
|
| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
attire
|
|
| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
trespassing
|
|
| [法]非法入侵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
genealogy
|
|
| n.家系，宗谱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
reined
|
|
| 勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
reassuring
|
|
| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
complacently
|
|
| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
drooping
|
|
| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
stony
|
|
| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
placidly
|
|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
woolen
|
|
| adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
schooner
|
|
| n.纵帆船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
ticklish
|
|
| adj.怕痒的；问题棘手的；adv.怕痒地；n.怕痒，小心处理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
flakes
|
|
| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
besieged
|
|
| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
joyfully
|
|
| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
heed
|
|
| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |