CHAPTER II LOOKING FORWARD

 "I don't believe you've heard a word I've been saying, Jack¹ Welles!"

 

The boy on his knees before the tangled² fishing tackle spread out on the lowest porch step, looked up alertly.

 

"Sure I heard," he protested. "Something or other is 'perfectly⁴ adorable.'"

 

Rosemary laughed. She had been sitting in the porch swing and now she came and camped on the middle step, chin in hand, regardless of the hot sunshine that turned her bronze hair to red gold.

 

"I suppose I did say that," she admitted. "But it really is, Jack. I don't believe Mother would call it an exaggeration."

 

Jack Welles frowned at a tangle³ of line. "I heard you," he said again, "but I didn't get where this place is—I saw you and your mother going off with Hugh in the car this morning," he added.

 

"I'll untangle that for you," offered Rosemary, holding out her hand for the line. "We went to see Rainbow Hill and now Mother is crazy to go there for the summer. Hugh is as pleased as pleased can be, for he wants her to go somewhere before Mr. Greggs starts the work here."

 

"Where's Rainbow Hill?" asked Jack, watching the slim fingers as they worked at the waxed silk thread so woefully knotted.

 

"That's the best part of the whole plan," Rosemary assured him, taking his knowledge of a plan for granted. "It's only about eight or nine miles from here and twelve from Bennington. Hugh can easily come out in the car. You must have seen the house, Jack—it is right on the tip-top of that hill to the right, the little white clapboarded house you see as soon as you pass the cross-roads."

 

"I've seen it," said Jack.

 

"Well, you may have seen it, but you can't tell how lovely it is until you go through it," declared Rosemary, winding⁵ a free length of line about her slender wrist for safe-keeping. "There's no front porch—you step into the living-room right from the lawn. But there is a side porch with awnings⁶ and screens that Mother will just love."

 

"Where are the folks who live there?" demanded the practical Jack.

 

"They're going to California, to visit their married daughter," Rosemary explained. "They're patients of Hugh's—Mr. and Mrs. Hammond. And they wanted to rent the house because they didn't like the idea of closing it for almost three months with all their nice furniture and a piano and everything in it. So—wasn't it lucky—they happened to ask Hugh if he knew of anyone who would rent the place furnished and he saw right away it would be just the thing for us."

 

"Whereupon they insisted that he take it as a gift, with a maid and two butlers thrown in," recited Jack, who knew in what affection Doctor Hugh's patients held him.

 

"Not exactly," dimpled Rosemary, "but they did say that if Mother would live there during the summer they would consider it a favor and wouldn't dream of charging rent. Mrs. Hammond said she knew she wouldn't have to worry about her things if Doctor Hugh's mother would be there to look after them. But, of course, Hugh wouldn't listen to that—he said business was business and as soon as he and Mr. Hammond had the rent fixed⁷, Hugh took Mother and me to see Rainbow Hill. And it's too lovely for words."

 

"Any butlers?" suggested Jack.

 

"Not a butler," answered Rosemary firmly. "Winnie beats all the butlers I ever saw—or read about," she emended, remembering that her actual experience with butlers was limited.

 

"Winnie won't take kindly⁸ to pumping water from the well every morning," said Jack, sorting fish hooks with a practised hand.

 

"There's no water to pump," was the prompt and cheerful response. "It's an old-fashioned house, but the plumbing⁹ is new—Hugh found that out before he even mentioned Rainbow Hill to Mother. It will be such fun to show the place to Sarah and Shirley—I can hardly wait."

 

Jack looked up at the vivid, glowing face above him.

 

"I can imagine Sarah let loose on a farm," he said drily. "They'd better tie up the pigs and nail down the cows—I wouldn't trust that girl within ten feet of a live animal."

 

"You think you're smart, Jack Welles!" broke in the wrathful voice of Sarah as that young person hurled¹⁰ herself around the side of the house and confronted them indignantly. "You think you're smart, don't you?"

 

"'Scuse me, Sarah, I didn't know you were within hearing distance," apologized Jack with proper contriteness¹¹. "Don't be mad at me, Sally, for here you are going away—when are you going?"

 

"Monday," said Sarah sullenly¹².

 

"You're going away Monday," went on Jack, "and you may not see me till September; can't we part friends, Sarah?"

 

Sarah regarded him suspiciously, but he surveyed her over his fish hooks and was apparently¹³ quite serious.

 

"I'll be glad to leave some people in this neighborhood," stated Sarah with peculiar¹⁴ distinctness. "I'm going to do just as I please at Rainbow Hill."

 

"Then I take it that Hugh won't be there?" said Jack, but Rosemary hastened to act as peacemaker.

 

"Don't fuss," she advised them wisely. "Jack, I may learn how to fish this summer myself—Mr. Hammond told Hugh that Mr. Hildreth is a great fisherman."

 

Jack asked who Mr. Hildreth was and Sarah answered that he was the tenant¹⁵ farmer.

 

"And his wife is the tenant farmeress," said Sarah importantly. "They live in another house and plant things—Hugh told me."

 

"Yes'm, I don't doubt it," agreed Jack, when he had assimilated this remarkable¹⁶ information, "but how come a farmer and a farmeress have time to give lessons in fishing?"

 

Rosemary began on the last knot in the line. "Don't be silly, Jack," she begged. "There'll be two boys there—Mrs. Hildreth says her husband gets two students from the State Agricultural College to help him every summer. They'll want to go fishing and Sarah and I can go along."

 

"When you farm, you farm," said Jack sententiously. "You don't hoe the potatoes one day and then go fishing for a week. But I may be wrong at that and if you find Mr. Hildreth needs an extra hired man, Rosemary, one to go fishing, I mean, ask him to send for me. I'll come right up and fish and look after the garden in my odd moments."

 

"Hugh's coming to spend two weeks in August," announced Sarah. "And he'll come out as many week-ends as he can; will you really come, Jack?"

 

"I always did yearn¹⁷ to be a hired man," Jack answered earnestly, "and they tell us there is no time like the present to put one's ambition in training. I'm awfully¹⁸ afraid I'll have to earn my living after I leave school and a nice trade, like that of hired man, might be useful in my later life. I'll think it over and let you know, Sarah; but don't let Mr. Hildreth build on my coming—I can't face his grief and disappointment in case I fail to turn up."

 

"You think you're smart!" was Sarah's retort and Rosemary said to herself that it was impossible to tell when Jack was in earnest.

 

Winnie came out and told them that lunch was ready just then, and Jack took his fishing tackle and retreated to his own home which was next door, first thanking Rosemary fervently¹⁹ for the unknotted line she handed him.

 

There were times during the days of preparation for the eventful Monday when Mrs. Willis wondered whether they were really wise to go to so much trouble, times when she thought wearily that her own home, noisy as it might be, would be far preferable to the effort required to adapt her family to a new environment.

 

Rosemary put the feeling into words one noon when the doctor came home to lunch and found her sitting on the floor beside a trunk with a lapful of rusty²⁰ keys.

 

"Nothing fits," complained Rosemary. "All the keys to everything are lost. And I don't see what good a restful summer will do Mother if she has nervous prostration²¹ before she gets off."

 

Doctor Hugh settled several difficulties in as many minutes—he had a gift for that—by dispatching Sarah to the locksmith with soft-soap impressions of the keyless locks and orders to get keys to fit them and insisting that his mother must stay quietly in her room the remainder of the day and be served with luncheon²² and supper there.

 

"You girls try to talk all at once," he told his three sisters when they sat down at last to Winnie's rice waffles, "and that is enough to tire anyone.

 

"Can't I take the cat, Hugh?" urged Sarah anxiously. "You can take it in the car for me and I know fresh country air will be good for poor Esther."

 

"Esther wouldn't appreciate Rainbow Hill," said Doctor Hugh with conviction. "Cats don't like to change their homes, Sarah. Besides, you'll have all the animals you want once you are on the farm. And that reminds me I want to say one thing to you."

 

"I suppose," remarked Sarah plaintively²³, "you're going to scold."

 

"Not exactly," said her brother, smiling in spite of himself. "But while I want you to have a happy summer, Sarah, and 'collect' snakes and bugs²⁴ and insects to your heart's content, I want you to understand clearly that the menagerie is to be kept outside of the house. Mother and Winnie mustn't be expected to get used to finding snakes in boxes and spiders in bottles, and the place to study a colony of ants is outside, not in the front hall. If I find you can't remember this one rule, you'll have to come back to Eastshore and stay with me during the week."

 

Sarah, with an unhappy recollection of the furore she had created the week before when she had bodily transplanted a thriving colony of ants to the hall rug, promised to remember.

 

"Jack Welles said he might come up for a couple of weeks and be a hired man," announced Rosemary, smiling.

 

"I hope he does," approved the doctor promptly²⁵. "He'll find it an endurance test and a particularly valuable one. Yes, Winnie?"

 

"I wish you'd step out and look at the canna bed," said Winnie grimly. "Every single plant pulled out and left dying in the sun."

 

"Why, I did that," declared Shirley in her clear little voice that always reminded Winnie of a robin's chirp²⁶. "I thought Mother would want to take the cannas to Rainbow Hill with us—we can plant them around the porch there."

 

Doctor Hugh pushed back his chair, his mouth twitching²⁷.

 

"Whatever happens this summer, Winnie," he said gravely, "something tells me that you won't be bored."

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

3 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

6 awnings   

篷帐布

参考例句：

• Striped awnings had been stretched across the courtyard. 一些条纹雨篷撑开架在院子上方。
• The room, shadowed well with awnings, was dark and cool. 这间屋子外面有这篷挡着，又阴暗又凉快。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

9 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 contriteness   

n.悔悟

参考例句：

12 sullenly   

不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地

参考例句：

• 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢？”汤姆绷着脸说。
• Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完，想不出能找点什么事做，只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。

13 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

14 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

15 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

16 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

17 yearn   

v.想念；怀念；渴望

参考例句：

• We yearn to surrender our entire being.我们渴望着放纵我们整个的生命。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

18 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

19 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

20 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

21 prostration   

n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳

参考例句：

• a state of prostration brought on by the heat 暑热导致的虚脱状态
• A long period of worrying led to her nervous prostration. 长期的焦虑导致她的神经衰弱。

22 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

23 plaintively   

adv.悲哀地，哀怨地

参考例句：

• The last note of the song rang out plaintively. 歌曲最后道出了离别的哀怨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds cry plaintively before they die, men speak kindly in the presence of death. 鸟之将死，其鸣也哀；人之将死，其言也善。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

24 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

26 chirp   

v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫

参考例句：

• The birds chirp merrily at the top of tree.鸟儿在枝头欢快地啾啾鸣唱。
• The sparrows chirp outside the window every morning.麻雀每天清晨在窗外嘁嘁喳喳地叫。

27 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》