“You can stow away what's in 'em in the drawers,” said the boy. “I suppose you didn't notice the drawers,” he added, at her look of inquiry3. He went into her room, and pushing aside the valance of the lower berth4 showed four deep drawers below the bed; the charming snugness6 of the arrangement brought a light of housewifely joy to the girl's face.
“Why, it's as good as a bureau. They will hold everything.”
“Yes,” exulted7 the boy; “they're for two persons' things. The captain's daughters, they both had this room. Pretty good sized too; a good deal the captain's build. You won't find a better stateroom than this on a steamer. I've been on 'em.” The boy climbed up on the edge of the upper drawer, and pulled open the window at the top of the wall. “Give you a little air, I guess. If you want I should, the captain said I was to bear a hand helping8 you to stow away what was in your trunks.”
“No,” said Lydia, quickly. “I'd just as soon do it alone.”
“All right,” said the boy. “If I was you, I'd do it now. I don't know just when the captain means to sail; but after we get outside, it might be rough, and it's better to have everything pretty snug5 by that time. I'll haul away the trunks when you've got 'em empty. If I shouldn't happen to be here, you can just call me at the top of the gangway, and I'll come. My name's Thomas,” he said. He regarded Lydia inquiringly a moment before he added: “If you'd just as lives, I rather you'd call me Thomas, and not steward9. They said you'd call me steward,” he explained, in a blushing, deprecating confidence; “and as long as I've not got my growth, it kind of makes them laugh, you know,—especially the second officer.”
“I will call you Thomas,” said Lydia.
“Thank you.” The boy glanced up at the round clock screwed to the cabin wall. “I guess you won't have to call me anything unless you hurry. I shall be down here, laying the table for supper, before you're done. The captain said I was to lay it for you and him, and if he didn't get back in time you was to go to eating, any way. Guess you won't think Captain Jenness is going to starve anybody.”
“Have you been many voyages with Captain Jenness before this?” asked Lydia, as she set open her trunk, and began to lay her dresses out on the locker10. Homesickness, like all grief, attacks in paroxysms. One gust11 of passionate12 regret had swept over the girl; before another came, she could occupy herself almost cheerfully with the details of unpacking13.
“Only one before,” said the boy. “The last one, when his daughters went out. I guess it was their coaxing14 got mother to let me go. My father was killed in the war.”
“Was he?” asked Lydia, sympathetically.
“Yes. I didn't know much about it at the time; so little. Both your parents living?”
“No,” said Lydia. “They're both dead. They died a long while ago. I've always lived with my aunt and grandfather.”
“I thought there must be something the matter,—your coming with your grandfather,” said the boy. “I don't see why you don't let me carry in some of those dresses for you. I'm used to helping about.”
“Well, you may,” answered Lydia, “if you want.” A native tranquil15 kindness showed itself in her voice and manner, but something of the habitual16 authority of a school-mistress mingled17 with it. “You must be careful not to rumple18 them if I let you.”
“I guess not. I've got older sisters at home. They hated to have me leave. But I looked at it this way: If I was ever going to sea—and I was—I couldn't get such another captain as Captain Jenness, nor such another crew; all the men from down our way; and I don't mind the second mate's jokes much. He doesn't mean anything by them; likes to plague, that's all. He's a first-rate sailor.”
Lydia was kneeling before one of the trunks, and the boy was stooping over it, with a hand on either knee. She had drawn19 out her only black silk dress, and was finding it rather crumpled20. “I shouldn't have thought it would have got so much jammed, coming fifty miles,” she soliloquized. “But they seemed to take a pleasure in seeing how much they could bang the trunks.” She rose to her feet and shook out the dress, and drew the skirt several times over her left arm.
The boy's eyes glistened21. “Goodness!” he said. “Just new, ain't it? Going to wear it any on board?”
“Sundays, perhaps,” answered Lydia thoughtfully, still smoothing and shaping the dress, which she regarded at arm's-length, from time to time, with her head aslant22.
“I suppose it's the latest style?” pursued the boy.
“Yes, it is,” said Lydia. “We sent to Boston for the pattern. I hate to pack it into one of those drawers,” she mused23.
“You needn't,” replied Thomas. “There's a whole row of hooks.”
“I want to know!” cried Lydia. She followed Thomas into her state-room. “Well, well! They do seem to have thought of everything!”
“I should say so,” exulted the boy. “Look here!” He showed her a little niche24 near the head of the berth strongly framed with glass, in which a lamp was made fast. “Light up, you know, when you want to read, or feel kind of lonesome.” Lydia clasped her hands in pleasure and amaze. “Oh, I tell you Captain Jenness meant to have things about right. The other state-rooms don't begin to come up to this.” He dashed out in his zeal25, and opened their doors, that she might triumph in the superiority of her accommodations without delay. These rooms were cramped26 together on one side; Lydia's was in a comparatively ample corner by itself.
She went on unpacking her trunk, and the boy again took his place near her, in the same attitude as before. “I tell you,” he said, “I shall like to see you with that silk on. Have you got any other nice ones?”
“No; only this I'm wearing,” answered Lydia, half amused and half honest in her sympathy with his ardor27 about her finery. “They said not to bring many clothes; they would be cheaper over there.” She had now reached the bottom of her trunk. She knew by the clock that her grandfather could hardly have left the city on his journey home, but the interval28 of time since she had parted with him seemed vast. It was as if she had started to Boston in a former life; the history of the choosing and cutting and making of these clothes was like a dream of preëxistence. She had never had so many things new at once, and it had been a great outlay29, but her aunt Maria had made the money go as far as possible, and had spent it with that native taste, that genius for dress, which sometimes strikes the summer boarder in the sempstresses of the New England hills. Miss Latham's gift was quaintly30 unrelated to herself. In dress, as in person and manner, she was uncompromisingly plain and stiff. All the more lavishly31, therefore, had it been devoted32 to the grace and beauty of her sister's child, who, ever since she came to find a home in her grandfather's house, had been more stylishly33 dressed than any other girl in the village. The summer boarders, whom the keen eye of Miss Latham studied with unerring sense of the best new effects in costume, wondered at Lydia's elegance34, as she sat beside her aunt in the family pew, a triumph of that grim artist's skill. Lydia knew that she was well dressed, but she knew that after all she was only the expression of her aunt's inspirations. Her own gift was of another sort. Her father was a music-teacher, whose failing health had obliged him to give up his profession, and who had taken the traveling agency of a parlor35 organ manufactory for the sake of the out-door life. His business had brought him to South Bradfield, where he sold an organ to Deacon Latham's church, and fell in love with his younger daughter. He died a few years after his marriage, of an ancestral consumption, his sole heritage from the good New England stock of which he came. His skill as a pianist, which was considerable, had not descended36 to his daughter, but her mother had bequeathed her a peculiarly rich and flexible voice, with a joy in singing which was as yet a passion little affected37 by culture. It was this voice which, when Lydia rose to join in the terrible hymning of the congregation at South Bradfield, took the thoughts of people off her style and beauty; and it was this which enchanted38 her father's sister when, the summer before the date of which we write, that lady had come to America on a brief visit, and heard Lydia sing at her parlor organ in the old homestead.
Mrs. Erwin had lived many years abroad, chiefly in Italy, for the sake of the climate. She was of delicate health, and constantly threatened by the hereditary39 disease that had left her the last of her generation, and she had the fastidiousness of an invalid40. She was full of generous impulses which she mistook for virtues41; but the presence of some object at once charming and worthy42 was necessary to rouse these impulses. She had been prosperously married when very young, and as a pretty American widow she had wedded43 in second marriage at Naples one of those Englishmen who have money enough to live at ease in Latin countries; he was very fond of her, and petted her. Having no children she might long before have thought definitely of poor Henry's little girl, as she called Lydia, but she had lived very comfortably indefinite in regard to her ever since the father's death. Now and then she had sent the child a handsome present or a sum of money. She had it on her conscience not to let her be wholly a burden to her grandfather; but often her conscience drowsed. When she came to South Bradfield, she won the hearts of the simple family, which had been rather hardened against her, and she professed44 an enthusiasm for Lydia. She called her pretty names in Italian, which she did not pronounce well; she babbled45 a great deal about what ought to be done for her, and went away without doing anything; so that when a letter finally came, directing Lydia to be sent out to her in Venice, they were all surprised, in the disappointment to which they had resigned themselves.
Mrs. Erwin wrote an epistolary style exasperatingly46 vacuous47 and diffuse48, and, like many women of that sort, she used pencil instead of ink, always apologizing for it as due now to her weak eyes, and now to her weak wrist, and again to her not being able to find the ink. Her hand was full of foolish curves and dashes, and there were no spaces between the words at times. Under these conditions it was no light labor49 to get at her meaning; but the sum of her letter was that she wished Lydia to come out to her at once, and she suggested that, as they could have few opportunities or none to send her with people going to Europe, they had better let her come the whole way by sea. Mrs. Erwin remembered—in the space of a page and a half—that nothing had ever done her so much good as a long sea voyage, and it would be excellent for Lydia, who, though she looked so strong, probably needed all the bracing50 up she could get. She had made inquiries,—or, what was the same thing, Mr. Erwin had, for her,—and she found that vessels51 from American ports seldom came to Venice; but they often came to Trieste, which was only a few hours away; and if Mr. Latham would get Lydia a ship for Trieste at Boston, she could come very safely and comfortably in a few weeks. She gave the name of a Boston house engaged in the Mediterranean52 trade to which Mr. Latham could apply for passage; if they were not sending any ship themselves, they could probably recommend one to him.
This was what happened when Deacon Latham called at their office a few days after Mrs. Erwin's letter came. They directed him to the firm dispatching the Aroostook, and Captain Jenness was at their place when the deacon appeared there. The captain took cordial possession of the old man at once, and carried him down to the wharf53 to look at the ship and her accommodations. The matter was quickly settled between them. At that time Captain Jenness did not know but he might have other passengers out; at any rate he would look after the little girl (as Deacon Latham always said in speaking of Lydia) the same as if she were his own child.
Lydia knelt before her trunk, thinking of the remote events, the extinct associations of a few minutes and hours and days ago; she held some cuffs54 and collars in her hand, and something that her aunt Maria had said recurred55 to her. She looked up into the intensely interested face of the boy, and then laughed, bowing her forehead on the back of the hand that held these bits of linen56.
The boy blushed. “What are you laughing at?” he asked, half piteously, half indignantly, like a boy used to being badgered.
“Oh, nothing,” said Lydia. “My aunt told me if any of these things should happen to want doing up, I had better get the stewardess57 to help me.” She looked at the boy in a dreadfully teasing way, softly biting her lip.
“Oh, if you're going to begin that way!” he cried in affliction.
“I'm not,” she answered, promptly58. “I like boys. I've taught school two winters, and I like boys first-rate.”
Thomas was impersonally59 interested again. “Time! You taught school?”
“Why not?”
“You look pretty young for a school-teacher!”
The boy thought he must have been, and was consoled. “Well, you began it,” he said.
“I oughtn't to have done so,” she replied with humility61; “and I won't any more. There!” she said, “I'm not going to open my bag now. You can take away the trunk when you want, Thomas.”
“Yes, ma'am,” said the boy. The idea of a school-mistress was perhaps beginning to awe2 him a little. “Put your bag in your state-room first.” He did this, and when he came back from carrying away her trunk he began to set the table. It was a pretty table, when set, and made the little cabin much cosier62. When the boy brought the dishes from the cook's galley63, it was a barbarously abundant table. There was cold boiled ham, ham and eggs, fried fish, baked potatoes, buttered toast, tea, cake, pickles64, and watermelon; nothing was wanting. “I tell you,” said Thomas, noticing Lydia's admiration65, “the captain lives well lay-days.”
“Lay-days?” echoed Lydia.
“The days we're in port,” the boy explained.
“Well, I should think as much!” She ate with the hunger that tranquillity66 bestows67 upon youth after the swift succession of strange events, and the conflict of many emotions. The captain had not returned in time, and she ate alone.
After a while she ventured to the top of the gangway stairs, and stood there, looking at the novel sights of the harbor, in the red sunset light, which rose slowly from the hulls68 and lower spars of the shipping69, and kindled70 the tips of the high-shooting masts with a quickly fading splendor71. A delicate flush responded in the east, and rose to meet the denser72 crimson73 of the west; a few clouds, incomparably light and diaphanous74, bathed themselves in the glow. It was a summer sunset, portending75 for the land a morrow of great heat. But cool airs crept along the water, and the ferry-boats, thrust shuttlewise back and forth76 between either shore, made a refreshing77 sound as they crushed a broad course to foam78 with their paddles. People were pulling about in small boats; from some the gay cries and laughter of young girls struck sharply along the tide. The noise of the quiescent79 city came off in a sort of dull moan. The lamps began to twinkle in the windows and the streets on shore; the lanterns of the ships at anchor in the stream showed redder and redder as the twilight80 fell. The homesickness began to mount from Lydia's heart in a choking lump to her throat; for one must be very happy to endure the sights and sounds of the summer evening anywhere. She had to shield her eyes from the brilliancy of the kerosene81 when she went below into the cabin.
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1
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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snugness
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exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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12
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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13
unpacking
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| n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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14
coaxing
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| 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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15
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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17
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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18
rumple
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| v.弄皱，弄乱；n.褶纹，皱褶 | |
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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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crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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21
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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24
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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30
quaintly
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| adv.古怪离奇地 | |
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lavishly
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| adv.慷慨地，大方地 | |
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32
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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stylishly
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| adv.时髦地，新式地 | |
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34
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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36
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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38
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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39
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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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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41
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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42
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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43
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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45
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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46
exasperatingly
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47
vacuous
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| adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的 | |
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48
diffuse
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| v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的 | |
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49
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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50
bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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51
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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52
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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53
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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54
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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55
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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56
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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57
stewardess
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| n.空中小姐，女乘务员 | |
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58
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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59
impersonally
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| ad.非人称地 | |
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60
astutely
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| adv.敏锐地；精明地；敏捷地；伶俐地 | |
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61
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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62
cosier
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| adj.温暖舒适的( cosy的比较级 )；亲切友好的 | |
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63
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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64
pickles
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| n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 )；处于困境；遇到麻烦；菜酱 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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68
hulls
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| 船体( hull的名词复数 )； 船身； 外壳； 豆荚 | |
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69
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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71
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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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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diaphanous
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| adj.(布)精致的，半透明的 | |
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portending
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| v.预示( portend的现在分词 )；预兆；给…以警告；预告 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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78
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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quiescent
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| adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的 | |
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80
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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kerosene
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| n.(kerosine)煤油，火油 | |
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