So this was how it happened that the Dean's letter went forth1 to Gilead, and produced the hour when Kit2 stood on the platform of the union Station in Chicago, looking around her to discover any one who might appear to be seeking a small boy.
Gradually the long platform that led up to the concourse cleared. Kit went leisurely4 on, following the porter who carried her suit-case. She was looking for some one who might resemble either the Dean or Miss Daphne from her mother's description of them.
"As I remember him," Mrs. Robbins had said, "the Dean was very tall, rather sparely built, but broad-shouldered and always with his head up to the wind. His hair was gray, worn rather long and curly at the ends, and he had the old-fashioned Gladstone whiskers. Miss Daphne was like a little bird, a gentle, plump, busy Jenny Wren5, with bright brown eyes and a little smile that never left her lips. I am sure you can't mistake them, Kit, for in their way they are very distinctive6."
Yet Kit was positive now that neither the Dean nor his sister had come to meet her. She stood in the waiting-room quite unconscious of the attention she attracted, for Kit would have been singled out from the multitude anywhere by reason of what Jean called "her unique individuality."
She wore a dark tan serge traveling coat with a brown service cap to match that set a bit rakishly on her red curls. There was about her an air of buoyant and friendly self-possession, which always ingratiated her with any casual acquaintances. Therefore it was no wonder that Mr. Bellamy glanced at her several times with interest, even while his gaze sought through the crowd for a young New England type of boy, bound for Delphi, Wis.
But Kit noticed Mr. Bellamy. Noticed his alert anxiety as he walked up and down, eyeing every newcomer. He was eighteen or nineteen, and unmistakably looking for some one. Even while Kit watched him, she saw a girl of about her own age hurry up to him. Her voice reached her plainly, as she said:
"I've looked up and down that end, and I'm positive he isn't there. Oh, but the Dean will lecture you, Rex, if you miss him."
At this identical moment, Rex's eyes met a pair of dancing, mischievous7 ones, and Kit crossed over to where they stood.
"I do believe you must be looking for me," she said. "I'm Kit Robbins."
"Oh, but we were expecting your brother," exclaimed the other girl, eagerly.
"I know, the whole family have," said Kit, placidly8, "for years and years. But there aren't any boys at all in our family," and here she smiled sweetly, and quite innocently. "I'm afraid the Dean made a little mistake, didn't he? Do you think he'll mind so very much when he sees me?"
"Mind?" repeated Mr. Bellamy. "Why, I think he'll be perfectly9 delighted. My name is Rex Wade10 Bellamy, Miss Robbins, and this is my sister, Anne. We're close neighbors of the Dean and Miss Daphne, and as we happened to be coming in town to-day they asked us to be sure to meet your——" Here he hesitated.
"My brother," laughed Kit. "Well, here I am, and I only hope that mother's letter reached them this morning, explaining everything. Of course, they did write for a boy, and it takes so long for a letter to get out here and be answered, that I told mother and Dad I knew it would be perfectly all right for me to come instead. Don't you think it will be?"
Anne's blue eyes were brimful of merriment.
"Oh, dear," she exclaimed. "I do wish I could go back with you, so I could see their faces when they find out. I don't live in Delphi. Mother and I have been here all summer so I could keep up my music at the conservatory11. Rex has had to 'batch12 it' alone, but we'll be back in a week, so I'll see you then, and anyway, we're sure to visit back and forth. I'm awfully13 glad you're a girl."
"But I won't be here all winter," Kit answered. "I've only come for a couple of months. On trial, you know. Maybe it'll only be a couple of days, if they're fearfully disappointed."
Anne exchanged quick glances with her brother and he smiled as he led the way to the waiting car.
"You don't know the elaborate plans the Dean has laid out for your education," he said. "It will take you all winter long to live up to them, but I'm sure he will not be disappointed."
Kit had her own opinion about this, still it was impossible for her to feel apprehensive14 or unhappy, as the car sped over towards the Lake Shore Drive. The novelty of everything after two years up in the Gilead hills of rest was wonderfully stimulating15. But it was not until they had left the city and river behind and had reached Lincoln Park that she really gave vent16 to her feelings. It was a wonderful day and the lake lay in sparkling ripples17 beyond the long stretch of shore.
"Are we going all the way in the car?" she asked, eagerly.
Rex shook his head.
"No, only as far as Evanston. We'll drop Anne off, and have lunch with mother and then catch the train to Delphi. I have an errand for the Dean out at the University."
"You know," said Kit, "we lived right on the edge of Long Island Sound before we moved up to Connecticut, and ever since I was in rompers, I can remember going away somewhere to the seashore every summer, but I think your lake is ever so much more interesting than the ocean. Somehow it seems to belong to one more. I always felt with the ocean as if it just condescended18 to come over to my special beach, after it had rambled19 all over the world, and belonged to everybody."
"But you have all the shells and the seaweed, and we haven't," demurred20 Anne. "Before I ever went East, we had a couple of clam21 shells, just plain every-day old round clam shells, that had come from Cape22 May, and I used to think they were perfectly wonderful because they had belonged in the real ocean."
After the rugged23 landscape of New England, Kit found this level land very attractive. They passed through one suburb after another, with the beautiful Drive following the curving shore line out to Evanston. Here she caught her first glimpse of the Northwestern University, its terra-cotta hued24 buildings showing picturesquely25 through the beautiful giant willows26 around the campus.
They left Rex at the main entrance and drove on to where Mrs. Bellamy was stopping. The houses made Kit think of those back at the Cove3, with their spacious27 lawns and large restful homes of plenty. Mrs. Bellamy was filled with amusement when she heard the story of Kit's substitution of herself for the boy the Dean had asked for. She was a tall, slender woman with ashen28 gold hair and gray eyes, who seemed almost like an elder sister of Anne's. They occupied a suite29 of rooms near the campus.
"It is ever so much pleasanter than living in the heart of the city," she said, "and Rex has so many friends among the boys out here that it makes it pleasant for both of the children. We used to live in North Evanston before Mr. Bellamy took the chair of modern history up at Delphi. I wish that you were going to live here for Anne's sake."
"Well, that's almost selfish, mother, because Delphi is a hundred times more fun than Evanston," Anne declared, "and we're sure to see a lot of each other, anyway, when school opens. Kit's promised to tell me all about her sisters and Greenacres. It must be awfully queer to live up in the hills like that."
"Queer?" repeated Kit, laughingly. "It's a joy to the soul and a discipline to the body, Cousin Roxy says."
Anne immediately wanted to know who Cousin Roxy was, and Kit waxed eloquent30 on her favorite topic.
"She's an angel in a gingham apron31, we girls think," she concluded, "and yet she can take off the gingham apron and stand up and address any kind of a meeting. I just can't tell you all that she's been to us since we lived there."
Early in the afternoon Rex returned, and they caught the 2:45 local up to Delphi. Kit could hardly keep from looking out of the car window all the time. Every now and then the rich blueness of the lake would flash through the trees in the distance, and to the westward32 there stretched long level vistas33 of prairie land, dipping ravines which unexpectedly led one into woodland ways. Gradually the bluffs34 heightened as they neared the Wisconsin line above Waukegan, and just beyond the state line, between the shore and the region of the small lakes, Oconomowoc and Delevan, they came suddenly upon Delphi. It stood high upon the bluff35, its college dominating the shady serenity36 of its quiet avenues.
"The Dean doesn't keep a carriage or car," said Rex as they alighted at the gray stone station covered with clambering vines. "Besides, he thought I was bringing a boy, who would not mind the hike up the hill!"
"I don't mind a bit," returned Kit. "I like it. It seems so good to find real hills after all. I thought everything out here was just prairie. I do hope they won't be watching for us. It will be ever so much easier if I can just walk in before they get any kind of a shock, don't you know."
Rex did not tell her which was the house until they came to the two tall sentinel poplars at the entrance to the drive. Kit caught the murmur37 of the waves as they broke on the shore below and lifted her chin eagerly.
"Oh, I like it," she cried. "This is it, isn't it? Isn't it a dear, drowsy38 dreamful place? I only hope they'll let me stay."
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1
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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wren
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| n.鹪鹩；英国皇家海军女子服务队成员 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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conservatory
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| n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的 | |
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batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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rambled
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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hued
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| 有某种色调的 | |
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picturesquely
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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