One glance showed them the boy safely perched on top of the plank, but the girl was bending backward. She threw out her arms in a vain endeavor to save herself, and with a low cry toppled and plunged2 swiftly toward the ground.
There was little time for the men to consider their actions. Involuntarily they tried to catch Patricia, whose body struck them sharply, felling them to the ground, and then bounded against the hedge and back to the pavement.
When, half dazed, they scrambled3 to their feet, the girl lay motionless before them, a stream of red blood welling from a deep cut in her forhead, her eyes closed as if in sleep.
A moment more and the boy was kneeling beside her, striving to stay the bleeding with his handkerchief.
"Do something! For God's sake try to do something," he wailed4, piteously. "Can't you see she's killed herself to save me?"
Uncle John knelt down and took the still form in his arms.
"Quiet, my lad," he said. "She isn't dead. Get Nora, and fetch the doctor as soon as you can."
The boy was gone instantly, his agony relieved by the chance of action, and followed by the lawyer, Uncle John carried his niece to the rose chamber5 and laid her upon her white bed.
Misery6 met them, then, and following her came Louise and Beth, full of horror and pity for the victim of the dreadful accident.
Jane Merrick had promptly7 recovered consciousness, for fainting spells were foreign to her nature. Her first words to Phibbs, who was bending over her, were:
"Is she dead?"
"Who, Miss Jane?"
"Patricia."
"I don't know, Miss Jane. Why should she be dead?"
"Run, you idiot! Run at once and find out. Ask my brother—ask anyone—if Patricia is dead!"
And so Phibbs came to the rose chamber and found the little group bending over the girl's unconscious form.
"Is she dead, sir? Miss Jane wants to know," said the old servant, in awe-struck tones.
"No," answered Uncle John, gravely. "She isn't dead, I'm sure; but I can't tell how badly she is hurt. One of her legs—the right one—is broken, I know, for I felt it as I carried the child in my arms; but we must wait until the doctor comes before I can tell more."
Misery was something of a nurse, it seemed, and with the assistance of Louise, who proved most helpful in the emergency, she bathed the wound in the girl's forehead and bandaged it as well as she was able. Between them the women also removed Patricia's clothing and got her into bed, where she lay white and still unconscious, but breathing so softly that they knew she was yet alive.
The doctor was not long in arriving, for Kenneth forced him to leap upon Nora's back and race away to Elmhurst, while the boy followed as swiftly as he could on the doctor's sober cob.
Dr. Eliel was only a country practitioner10, but his varied11 experiences through many years had given him a practical knowledge of surgery, and after a careful examination of Patricia's injuries he was able to declare that she would make a fine recovery.
"Her leg is fractured, and she's badly bruised," he reported to Aunt Jane, who sent for him as soon as he could leave the sick room. "But I do not think she has suffered any internal injuries, and the wound on her forehead is a mere12 nothing. So, with good care, I expect the young lady to get along nicely."
"Do everything you can for her," said the woman, earnestly. "You shall be well paid, Dr. Eliel."
Before Patricia recovered her senses the doctor had sewn up her forehead and set the fractured limb, so that she suffered little pain from the first.
Louise and Beth hovered13 over her constantly, ministering to every possible want and filled with tenderest sympathy for their injured cousin. The accident seemed to draw them out of their selfishness and petty intrigues14 and discovered in them the true womanly qualities that had lurked15 beneath the surface.
Patsy was not allowed to talk, but she smiled gratefully at her cousins, and the three girls seemed suddenly drawn16 nearer together than any of them would have thought possible a few hours before.
The boy paced constantly up and down outside Patricia's door, begging everyone who left the room, for news of the girl's condition. All his reserve and fear of women seemed to have melted away as if by magic. Even Beth and Louise were questioned eagerly, and they, having learned the story of Patricia's brave rescue of the boy, were very gentle with him and took pains not to frighten or offend him.
Toward evening Louise asked Patricia if she would see Kenneth for a moment, and the girl nodded a ready assent17.
He came in awkward and trembling, glancing fearfully at the bandaged forehead and the still white face. But Patricia managed to smile reassuringly18, and held out a little hand for him to take. The boy grasped it in both his own, and held it for several minutes while he stood motionless beside her, his wide eyes fixed20 intently upon her own.
Then Louise sent him away, and he went to his room and wept profusely21, and then quieted down into a sort of dull stupor22.
The next morning Uncle John dragged him away from Patricia's door and forced him to play chess. The boy lost every game, being inattentive and absorbed in thought, until finally Uncle John gave up the attempt to amuse him and settled himself on the top stair for a quiet smoke. The boy turned to the table, and took a sheet of paper from the drawer. For an hour, perhaps, neither of these curious friends spoke23 a word, but at the end of that time Uncle John arose and knocked the ashes from his pipe. Kenneth did not notice him. The man approached the table and looked over the boy's shoulder, uttering an exclamation24 of surprise. Upon the paper appeared a cleverly drawn pencil sketch25 of Patricia lying in her bed, a faint smile upon her face and her big blue eyes turned pleasantly upon a shadowy form that stood beside her holding her hand. The likeness26 was admirable, and if there were faults in the perspective and composition Uncle John did not recognize them.
He gave a low whistle and turned thoughtfully away, and the young artist was so absorbed that he did not even look up.
"How is Miss Patsy this morning, sir?" It was the name she had given, and preferred to be called by.
"She's doing finely," said Uncle John.
"A brave girl, sir!"
"Yes, Donald."
"And the boy?"
"Why, he seems changed, in some way, Donald. Not so nervous and wild as usual, you know. I've just left him drawing a picture. Curious. A good picture, too."
"Ah, he can do that, sir, as well as a real artist."
"Have you known him to draw, before this?"
"Why, he's always at it, sir, in his quieter moods. I've got a rare good likeness o' myself, as he did long ago, in the harness-room."
"May I see it?"
"With pleasure, sir."
Donald led the way to the harness-room, and took from the cupboard the precious board he had so carefully preserved.
Uncle John glanced at it and laughed aloud. He could well appreciate the humor of the sketch, which Donald never had understood, and the caricature was as clever as it was amusing. He handed the treasure back to Donald and went away even more thoughtful than before.
A few days later a large package arrived at Elmhurst addressed to Kenneth Forbes, and Oscar carried it at once to the boy's room, who sat for an hour looking at it in silent amazement28. Then he carefully unwrapped it, and found it to contain a portable easel, a quantity of canvas and drawing-paper, paints and oils of every description (mostly all unknown to him) and pencils, brushes and water colors in profusion29.
Kenneth's heart bounded with joy. Here was wealth, indeed, greater than he had ever hoped for. He puzzled his brain for weeks to discover how this fairy gift had ever come to him, but he was happier in its possession than he had ever been before in all his life.
Patricia improved rapidly. Had it not been for the broken leg she would have been out of the house in a week, as good as ever; but broken limbs take time to heal, and Dr. Eliel would not permit the girl to leave her bed until ten days had passed.
Meantime everyone delighted to attend her. Louise and Beth sat with her for hours, reading or working, for the rose chamber was cheery and pleasant, and its big windows opened upon the prettiest part of the gardens. The two girls were even yet suspicious of one another, each striving to win an advantage with Aunt Jane; but neither had the slightest fear that Patricia would ever interfere30 with their plans. So they allowed their natural inclinations31 to pet and admire the heroine of the hour full sway, and Patsy responded so sweetly and frankly32 to their advances that they came to love her dearly, and wondered why they had not discovered from the first how lovable their Irish cousin could be.
Kenneth, also came daily to the sick room for a visit, and Patsy had a way of drawing the boy out and making him talk that was really irresistible33. After his fairy gift arrived he could not help telling the girls all about it and then he brought the things down and displayed them, and promised Patsy he would make a picture of the garden for her.
Then, after the girl got better, he brought his easel down to her room, where she could watch him work, and began upon the picture, while the cousins joined him in speculations34 as to who the mysterious donor35 could he.
"At first," said Kenneth, "I thought it was Mr. Watson, for he's alway been very good to me; but he says he knows nothing about it. Then I though it might be Uncle John; but Uncle John is too poor to afford such an expensive present."
"I don't believe he has a penny in the world," said Louise, who sat by with some needle-work.
"All he owns," remarked Beth, with a laugh, "is an extra necktie, slightly damaged."
"But he's a dear old man," said Patsy, loyally, "and I'm sure he would have given all those things to Kenneth had he been able."
"Then who was it?" asked the boy.
"Why, Aunt Jane, to be sure," declared Patsy.
"She wouldn't do anything to please me, even to save her life," he growled37. "She hates me, I know that well enough."
"Oh, no; I'm sure she doesn't," said Patsy. "Aunt Jane has a heap of good in her; but you've got to dig for it, like you do for gold. 'Twould be just like her to make you this present and keep it a secret."
"If she really did it," replied the boy, slowly, "and it seems as if she is the only one. I know who could afford such a gift, it stands to reason that either Uncle John or Mr. Watson asked her to, and she did it to please them. I've lived here for years, and she has never spoken a kindly38 word to me or done me a kindly act. It isn't likely she'd begin now, is it?"
Unable to make a reassuring19 reply, Patsy remained silent, and the boy went on with his work. He first outlined the picture in pencil, and then filled it in with water color. They all expressed admiration39 for the drawing; but the color effect was so horrible that even Patsy found no words to praise it, and the boy in a fit of sudden anger tore the thing to shreds40 and so destroyed it.
"But I must have my picture, anyhow," said the girl. "Make it in pen and ink or pencil, Ken8. and I'm sure it will be beautiful."
"You need instruction, to do water color properly," suggested Louise.
"Then I can never do it," he replied, bitterly. But he adopted Patsy's suggestion and sketched41 the garden very prettily42 in pen and ink. By the time the second picture was completed Patsy had received permission to leave her room, which she did in Aunt Jane's second-best wheel chair.
Her first trip was to Aunt Jane's own private garden, where the invalid43, who had not seen her niece since the accident, had asked her to come.
Patsy wanted Kenneth to wheel her, but the boy, with a touch of his old surly demeanor44, promptly refused to meet Jane Merrick face to face. So Beth wheeled the chair and Louise walked by Patsy's side, and soon the three nieces reached their aunt's retreat.
"Well, girl, how do you like being a fool?" she demanded, as Patsy's chair came to a stand just opposite her own.
"It feels so natural that I don't mind it," replied Patsy, laughing.
"You might have killed yourself, and all for nothing," continued the old woman, querulously.
Patsy looked at her pityingly. Her aunt's face had aged9 greatly in the two weeks, and the thin gray hair seemed now almost white.
"Are you feeling better, dear?" asked the girl.
"I shall never be better," said Jane Merrick, sternly. "The end is not far off now."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear you say that!" said Patsy; "but I hope it is not true. Why, here are we four newly found relations all beginning to get acquainted, and to love one another, and we can't have our little party broken up, auntie dear."
"Five of us—five relations," cried Uncle John, coming around the corner of the hedge. "Don't I count, Patsy, you rogue47? Why you're looking as bright and as bonny as can be. I wouldn't be surprised if you could toddle48."
"Not yet," she answered, cheerfully. "But I'm doing finely, Uncle
John, and it won't be long before I can get about as well as ever."
"And to think," said Aunt Jane, bitterly, "that all this trouble was caused by that miserable49 boy! If I knew where to send him he'd not stay at Elmhurst a day longer."
"Why, he's my best friend, aunt," announced Patsy, quietly. "I don't think I could be happy at Elmhurst without Kenneth."
"He has quite reformed," said Louise, "and seems like a very nice boy."
"He's a little queer, yet, at times," added Beth, "but not a bit rude, as he used to be."
Aunt Jane looked from one to the other in amazement. No one had spoken so kindly of the boy before in years. And Uncle John, with a thoughtful look on his face, said slowly:
"The fact is, Jane, you've never given the boy a chance. On the contrary, you nearly ruined him by making a hermit50 of him and giving him no schooling51 to speak of and no society except that of servants. He was as wild as a hawk52 when I first came, but these girls are just the sort of companions he needs, to soften53 him and make him a man. I've no doubt he'll come out all right, in the end."
"Perhaps you'd like to adopt him yourself, John," sneered54 the woman, furious at this praise of the one person she so greatly disliked.
Her brother drew his hands from his pockets, looked around in a helpless and embarrassed way, and then tried fumblingly55 to fill his pipe.
"I ain't in the adopting business, Jane," he answered meekly56. "And if I was," with a quaint46 smile, "I'd adopt one or two of these nieces o' mine, instead of Tom Bradley's nephew. If Bradley hadn't seen you, Jane, and loved your pretty face when you were young, Kenneth Forbes would now be the owner of Elmhurst. Did you ever think of that?"
Did she ever think of it? Why, it was this very fact that made the boy odious57 to her. The woman grew white with rage.
"John Merrick, leave my presence."
"All right, Jane."
He stopped to light his pipe, and then slowly walked away, leaving an embarrassed group behind him.
Patsy, however, was equal to the occasion. She began at once to chatter58 about Dr. Eliel, and the scar that would always show on her forehead; and how surprised the Major, her father, would be when he returned from the visit to his colonel and found his daughter had been through the wars herself, and bore the evidence of honorable wounds. Louise gracefully59 assisted her cousin to draw Aunt Jane into a more genial60 mood, and between them they presently succeeded. The interview that had begun so unfortunately ended quite pleasantly, and when Patricia returned to her room her aunt bade her adieu almost tenderly.
"In fact," said Louise to Beth, in the privacy of the latter's chamber, "I'm getting rather worried over Aunt Jane's evident weakness for our Cousin Patsy. Once or twice today I caught a look in her eye when she looked at Patsy that she has never given either you or me. The Irish girl may get the money yet."
"Nonsense," said Beth. "She has said she wouldn't accept a penny of it, and I'm positive she'll keep her word."
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收听单词发音
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1
plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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scrambled
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| 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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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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7
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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15
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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donor
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| n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体 | |
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scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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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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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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41
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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47
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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48
toddle
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| v.（如小孩）蹒跚学步 | |
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49
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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50
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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51
schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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52
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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53
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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54
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
fumblingly
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| 令人羞辱地 | |
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56
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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57
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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58
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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59
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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