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CHAPTER 39
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 Long after midnight Chester had not returned to his room. He could not tolerate the confinement1 even of the narrow streets round about it.
 
Far out Esplanade Avenue, uncompanioned, he was walking mile after mile beside a belt line of trolley-cars, or more than one, while at home, in Bourbon Street, Cupid slept.
 
But now the child awoke, startled. Four small feet were on one of his arms, and Marie Madeleine was purring, at the top of her purr, in his ear. Drowsily2 he crowded her away. Purring on, she slowly walked across his stomach and dropped to the floor. But soon she leaped up again to that sensitive region and purred into his nose, not at all as if to claim attention, but as though lost in thought. When he pushed her aside she dropped again to the floor, with such a quadruple thump3 that he looked after her, and as she loitered across his view with tail as straight up as Cleopatra's Needle, he observed just beyond her a condition of affairs that appalled4 him.
 
Cold from his small fingers and toes to his ample heart, he rose, stole into the next room, and stood by the bed where lay Mlles. Corinne and Yvonne as they had lain every night since their earliest childhood.
 
"Ah! oh! h'nn!" Mlle. Corinne sprang to an elbow, nervously5 whispering: "What is it?"
 
"My back do'," he murmured, "stan'in' opem."
 
"Oh, little boy, no, it cannot be! I bolt' it laz' evening when you was praying. You know?"
 
"Yass'm, but it opem now; Marie Madeleine dess gone out thu it."
 
Mlle. Yvonne sprang up dishevelled beside her dishevelled sister: "Mon dieu! where is Aline?"
 
Colder than ever in hands and feet, the wee grandson of the intrepid6 Sidney responded: "Stay still tell I go see."
 
"Yes!" whispered Mlle. Corinne, slipping to the floor and tenderly pushing him, "go! safest for everybody! And if you see a burglar don' threaten him!"
 
"No'm, I won't."
 
"No, but juz' run quick out the back door and fron' gate and holla 'fire'! Go!"
 
At the crack of the door she listened after him while her sister crowded close, whispering: "Ah, pauvre Aline, always wise! Like us, silent! And tha'z after all the bravezt!"
 
In a moment Cupid was back, less frozen yet trembling: "She am' dah. Seem' like 'tis her leave de do' opem."
 
"Her clothes--they are gone?"
 
"No'm, all dah 'cep' de cloak she tuck on de machine. Reckon she out in de honey-sucker bower7 whah dey sot together Sunday evenin'. Reckon Marie Madeleine gone dah. I'll go see."
 
"Ah, fearlezz boy, yes! Make quick!"
 
This time both women pushed, single file, all the way to the garden door. There they strained their sight down the path, beyond him, but the bower was quite dark. "Corinne, chére, ought not one of us to go, yo'seff?--to spare her feelings--from that li'l' negro? You don' think one of us ought to go, yo'seff?"
 
"No, to sen' him, that is to spare those feel'--listen! . . . Ah, Yvonne, grâce au ciel, she's there!"
 
They frankly8 wept. "Thangg the good God!"
 
"Yvonne, chère, you know, we are the cause of this. 'Tis biccause juz'--you and me. And she's gone yonder juz' for one thing; to be as far from her misérie as she can."
 
"Yes, chère, I billieve that. I think even, she muz' not see us when she's riturning." No footfall sounded, but the cat came in, tail up, purring. Back in their chamber9, with wet cheeks on its unlatched door, the sisters listened.
 
"I know what we muz' do, Yvonne, as soon as to-morrow. Tha'z strange I never saw that biffo'!"
 
Cupid came and was let in. "She was al-lone, of co'se?" the pair asked from the edge of their bed.
 
"Oh, yass'm, o' co'se; in a manneh, yass'm."
 
"Mon dieu! li'l boy. In a manner? But how in a manner? Al-lone is al-lone! What she was doing?"
 
"Is I got to tell dat?"
 
"Ah, 'tit garçon! Have you not got to tell it?"
 
"Well, she 'uz--she 'uz prayin'."
 
"And tha'z the manner she was not al-lone?"
 
"Yas'm, dass all." The little fellow dropped to his knees, clutched a knee of either questioner, and wept and sobbed10.
 

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1 confinement qpOze     
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限
参考例句:
  • He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
  • The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。
2 drowsily bcb5712d84853637a9778f81fc50d847     
adv.睡地,懒洋洋地,昏昏欲睡地
参考例句:
  • She turned drowsily on her side, a slow creeping blackness enveloping her mind. 她半睡半醒地翻了个身,一片缓缓蠕动的黑暗渐渐将她的心包围起来。 来自飘(部分)
  • I felt asleep drowsily before I knew it. 不知过了多久,我曚扙地睡着了。 来自互联网
3 thump sq2yM     
v.重击,砰然地响;n.重击,重击声
参考例句:
  • The thief hit him a thump on the head.贼在他的头上重击一下。
  • The excitement made her heart thump.她兴奋得心怦怦地跳。
4 appalled ec524998aec3c30241ea748ac1e5dbba     
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的
参考例句:
  • The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
  • They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 nervously tn6zFp     
adv.神情激动地,不安地
参考例句:
  • He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇,努力忍着不哭出来。
  • He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。
6 intrepid NaYzz     
adj.无畏的,刚毅的
参考例句:
  • He is not really satisfied with his intrepid action.他没有真正满意他的无畏行动。
  • John's intrepid personality made him a good choice for team leader.约翰勇敢的个性适合作领导工作。
7 bower xRZyU     
n.凉亭,树荫下凉快之处;闺房;v.荫蔽
参考例句:
  • They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。
  • Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。
8 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
9 chamber wnky9     
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所
参考例句:
  • For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说,牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
  • The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。
10 sobbed 4a153e2bbe39eef90bf6a4beb2dba759     
哭泣,啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 ); 哭诉,呜咽地说
参考例句:
  • She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
  • She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。


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