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CHAPTER III GRANDMA'S LETTER
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 While the other children, being too young to understand much about Daddy Bunker's worry, ran down to play in the yard, Russ and Rose stayed on the porch1 with their father and mother. They heard Mrs. Bunker ask:
 
"What sort of papers were they you lost?
 
"Well, I don't know that I have exactly lost them," said Mr. Bunker slowly, as though trying to think what really had happened, "I had some real estate2 papers in my desk at the office. They were about some property I was going to sell for a man, and the papers were valuable. But a little while ago, when I went to look for them, I couldn't find them. It means the loss of considerable3 money."
 
"Perhaps they are in your desk here," said Mrs. Bunker, for her husband sometimes did business at his home in the evening, and had a desk in the sitting-room4.
 
"Perhaps they are," said the father of the six little Bunkers. "That is why I came home so early—to look."
 
He went into the house, followed by his wife and Russ and Rose. Mr. Bunker stepped over to his desk, and began looking through it. He took out quite a bundle5 of books and papers, but those he wanted did not seem to be there.
 
"Did you find them?" asked his wife, after a while.
 
"No," he answered with a shake of his head, "I did not. They aren't here. I'm sorry. I need those papers very much. I may lose a large sum of money if I don't find them. I can't see what could have happened to them. I had them on my desk in the office yesterday, and I was looking at them when Mr. Johnson came along to see about buying some lumber6 from the pile in the yard next to my office."
 
"Perhaps Mr. Johnson might know something about the papers," suggested Mrs. Bunker.
 
Her husband did not answer her for a moment. Then he suddenly clapped his hands together as a new thought came to him, and he said:
 
"Oh, now I remember! I left those papers in my old coat."
 
"Your old coat!" repeated Mrs. Bunker with interest.
 
"Yes. That old ragged7 one I sometimes wear at the office when I have to get things down from the dusty shelves. I had on that coat when I was holding the papers in my hand, and then Mr. Johnson came along. I wanted to go out in the lumberyard with him, to look at the boards he wanted to buy, so I stuck the papers in the pocket of the old coat."
 
"Then that's where they must be yet," said Mrs. Bunker. "Where is the coat?"
 
"Oh, I always keep it hanging up behind the office door. Yes, that's it. I remember now. When Mr. Johnson came in and I went out to look at the lumber with him, I stuck the papers in the inside pocket of the old, ragged coat. And then I forgot all about them until just now, when I had to have them. I'll hurry back to the office and get the papers out of the pocket of the coat."
 
"May we come with you?" asked Russ.
 
"Please let us," begged Rose.
 
Mr. Bunker, who did not seem quite so worried now, looked at his wife.
 
"Take the children, if you have time," she said. "At least Rose and Russ. The others are playing in the sand," for that's what they were doing. Vi, Laddie, Margy and Mun Bun were digging in a pile of sand at one end of the yard.
 
"All right, come along, Little Flower, and you, too, Whistler," said Mr. Bunker, giving Russ a pet name he used occasionally8.
 
The two children, delighted to be out after the rain, went down the street with their father, leaving their smaller brothers and sisters playing in the sand. Russ and Rose felt they were too old for this—especially just now.
 
"Did you hear what happened to us?" asked Russ, as he walked along, holding one of his father's hands, while Rose took the other.
 
"What happened when?" asked Mr. Bunker.
 
"When I made a steamboat partly out of a barrel9," went on Russ. "It got broken when Laddie was inside it and I was outside. But we didn't any of us get hurt."
 
"Well, I'm glad of that," said Mr. Bunker with a smile.
 
"And Laddie made up a funny riddle10 about the barrel" went on Rose. "Jerry told it to him, though. It's like this—'Why does a barrel eat a roll for breakfast?'"
 
"Why does a barrel eat a roll for breakfast?" repeated Mr. Bunker. "I didn't know barrels11 ate rolls. I thought they always took crackers12 or oatmeal or something like that."
 
"Oh, she hasn't got it right!" said Russ, with a laugh at his sister. "The riddle is, 'When is a barrel hungry?' and Laddie says Jerry told him it was when the barrel takes a roll before breakfast."
 
"Oh, I see!" laughed Mr. Bunker. "Well, that's pretty good. Now I have a riddle for you. 'How many lollypops can you buy for two pennies?'" and he stopped in front of a little store with the two children—one on each side of him.
 
Russ looked at Rose and Rose looked at Russ. Then they smiled and looked at their father.
 
"I think we can find the answer to that riddle in here," went Mr. Bunker, as he led the way into the candy store, for it was that kind.
 
And Russ and Rose soon found that they could each get a lollypop for a penny.
 
"You used to get two for a cent," said Russ. "But I guess, on account of everything being so high, they only give you one."
 
"Well, one at a time is enough, I should think," said Mr. Bunker, as they went out of the store. "If you had two lollypops I'd be afraid you wouldn't know which one to taste first, and it would take so long to make sure that you might grow old before you found out, and then you wouldn't have any fun eating them."
 
"Oh, you're such a funny daddy!" laughed Rose.
 
They walked down Main Street, and soon came to Mr. Bunker's real estate office. He hurried inside, followed by the children.
 
Mr. Bunker looked behind the door in the little room where he had his desk. The office was made up of three rooms, and in the large, outer one, were several clerks, writing at desks. Some of them knew the two little Bunker children and nodded and smiled at them.
 
"Where's that old coat of mine I sometimes wear?" asked Mr. Bunker of one of his clerks, when the office door had been opened but no garment was found hanging behind it.
 
"Do you mean that ragged one?" asked the clerk, whose name, by the way, was Donlin—Mr. Donlin.
 
"That's the one I mean," said Mr. Bunker. "I stuck some real estate papers in the pocket of that coat yesterday when I went out to the lumber pile with Mr. Johnson, and now I want them. I must have left them in the pocket of the old, ragged coat."
 
"If you did they're gone, I'm afraid," said Mr. Donlin.
 
"Gone? You mean those papers are gone?"
 
"Yes, and the old coat, too. They're both gone. If there were any papers in the pocket of that old coat they're gone, Mr. Bunker."
 
"But who took them?" asked the real estate man, much worried.
 
"Why, it must have been that old tramp13 lumberman," answered the clerk. "Don't you remember?"
 
"What tramp lumberman?" asked Mr. Bunker.
 
"It was this way," said Mr. Donlin. "After you went out to the lumber pile with Mr. Johnson—and I saw you had on the old coat—you came back in here and hung it up behind the door."
 
"And the valuable papers were in the pocket," said Mr. Bunker. "I remember that."
 
"Well, perhaps they were," admitted the clerk. "Anyhow, you hung the ragged coat behind the door. And just before you went home for the night an old tramp came in. Don't you remember? He was red-haired."
 
"Yes, I remember that," said the children's father.
 
"Well, this tramp said he used to be a lumberman, but he got sick and had to go to the hospital, and since coming out he couldn't find any work to do. He said he was in need of a coat, and you called to me to give him your old one, as you were going to get another. Do you remember that?"
 
"Oh, yes! I certainly do!" cried Mr. Bunker. "I'd forgotten all about the tramp lumberman! And I did tell you to give him my old coat. I forgot all about having left the papers in it. I was so busy talking to Mr. Johnson that I never thought about them. And did the tramp take the coat?"
 
"He did, Mr. Bunker. And he said to thank you and that he was glad to get it. He went off wearing it."
 
"And my papers—worth a large sum of money—were in the pocket!" exclaimed14 Mr. Bunker. "I never thought about them, for I was so busy about selling Mr. Johnson the lumber. It's too bad!"
 
"I'm sorry," said the clerk. "If I had known the papers were in the old coat I'd have looked through the pockets before I gave it to the tramp."
 
"Oh, it wasn't your fault," said Mr. Bunker quickly. "It was my own. I should have remembered about the papers being in the coat. But do you know who that tramp was, and where he went?"
 
"I never saw him before," replied Mr. Donlin, "and I haven't seen him since. Maybe the police could find him."
 
"That's it! That's what we'll have to do!" cried Mr. Bunker. "I shall have to send the police to find the old lumberman; not that he has done anything wrong, but to get back my papers. He may keep the coat. Very likely he hasn't even found the papers. Yes, I must tell the police!"
 
But before Mr. Bunker could do this in came the postman with the mail. There were several letters for the real estate dealer15, and when he saw one he exclaimed:
 
"Ah, this is from Grandma Bell! We must see what she has to say!"
 
Daddy Bunker opened the letter, which was written to him by his wife's mother—the children's grandmother—and when he had read a few lines, he exclaimed:
 
"Oh, ho! Here is news indeed! Good news!"
 
"Oh, what is it?" asked Russ. "Did grandma tell you in the letter that the tramp lumberman left your papers at her house?"

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 porch ju9yM     
n.门廊,入口处,走廊,游廊
参考例句:
  • There are thousands of pages of advertising on our porch.有成千上万页广告堆在我们的门廊上。
  • The porch is supported by six immense pillars.门廊由六根大柱子支撑着。
2 estate InSxv     
n.所有地,地产,庄园;住宅区;财产,资产
参考例句:
  • My estate lies within a mile.我的地产离那有一英里。
  • The great real estate brokers do far more than this.而优秀的房地产经纪人做得可比这多得多。
3 considerable xYtyQ     
a.相当多的,相当大的,相当重要的
参考例句:
  • He saved the child at considerable risk to himself. 他冒着极大的生命危险救了那个孩子。
  • The flood resulted in a considerable reduction in production. 这次水灾造成相当大的减产。
4 sitting-room sitting-room     
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室
参考例句:
  • The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
  • Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。
5 bundle bsmz6     
n.捆,包,束;一堆,一批;v.把…扎成一捆
参考例句:
  • My uncle sent me a large bundle on my birthday.我生日时叔父给我寄来一个大包裹。
  • Dad found a bundle of spelling mistakes in my composition.爸爸在我作文里找出一大堆拼写错误。
6 lumber a8Jz6     
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
参考例句:
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
7 ragged KC0y8     
adj.衣衫褴褛的,粗糙的,刺耳的
参考例句:
  • A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
  • Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。
8 occasionally EInxn     
adv.偶然地;非经常地
参考例句:
  • He went on talking,occasionally wiping at his face with a towel.他继续说着,偶尔用毛巾擦一下脸。
  • I like playing football best,but occasionally I play table tennis,too.我最喜欢踢足球,偶尔也打打乒乓球。
9 barrel FN8zF     
n.圆桶;一桶的量;枪管;vt.把...装桶
参考例句:
  • I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel.我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。
  • The man rolled the barrel into the yard.那个人把圆桶滚进院子。
10 riddle WCfzw     
n.谜,谜语,粗筛;vt.解谜,给…出谜,筛,检查,鉴定,非难,充满于;vi.出谜
参考例句:
  • The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
  • Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。
11 barrels 9bd814996b6f66fd3373d33c6807be9a     
n.桶( barrel的名词复数 );枪[炮]管;一桶(的量);桶(石油计量单位,相当于120 到159 升)
参考例句:
  • The farmers put up the apples in barrels. 农夫们把苹果装入箱内。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The wine is aged for almost a year in oak barrels. 这葡萄酒已经在橡木桶里存放近一年了。 来自辞典例句
12 crackers nvvz5e     
adj.精神错乱的,癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 );薄脆饼干;(认为)十分愉快的事;迷人的姑娘
参考例句:
  • That noise is driving me crackers. 那噪声闹得我简直要疯了。
  • We served some crackers and cheese as an appetiser. 我们上了些饼干和奶酪作为开胃品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 tramp XJ8z1     
n.流浪者,步行,跋涉;v.步行,跋涉
参考例句:
  • She wants to go for a tramp in the country.她想去乡间远足。
  • A tramp came to the door and asked for food.一个流浪汉来到门前讨饭吃。
14 exclaimed 68e477dcdab3965d2189fb7276ee5041     
vt.exclaim的过去式v.呼喊,惊叫,大声说( exclaim的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • "We have a good chance of winning," he exclaimed optimistically. “我们很可能获胜。”他乐观地喊道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She exclaimed in delight when she saw the presents. 她见到礼品高兴得叫了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 dealer GyNxT     
n.商人,贩子
参考例句:
  • The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
  • The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。


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