CHAPTER 34

 "Do you think we'd better tell dad?"

 

They had gathered an armful of the roses and loitered along the winding¹ paths, and were standing² at last by the curb³, waiting for the car.... She carried a few of the roses in her hand. She looked down at them thoughtfully. And suddenly the look of Miss Canfield, the nurse, flashed back to him.

 

"We don't want to upset him," she said slowly.

 

"I don't believe it will—upset him.... Do you know, I believe he wants it—I half suspect he's been planning it all along!"

 

"Do you? What makes you think so?" She had turned to him curiously⁴.

 

He shook his head.

 

"Father's deep! I can't tell exactly why I think he knows.... But I never got very far ahead of him yet!"

 

"Very well—we will tell him."

 

[Pg 250]

 

"To-night?"

 

"If you like."

 

"I want him to see you like this— There's the car!" He hailed it.

 

So they came into Herman Medfield's room and stood before him with the armful of flowers. And he looked up at them—and smiled.

 

"God bless you, my children!" he said, after a critical glance at their smiling faces. "That is the proper thing to say, isn't it?" His eyes dwelt on them fondly.

 

Julian glanced at her. "I told you!" he said meaningly.

 

"What did you tell her?"

 

"That you knew all along, sir. I told her I never fooled you yet!"

 

"Well, you have tried hard enough.... Come here, please, Daughter."

 

So she went over and stood beside him and bent⁵ a little for him. And he kissed her, and looked at the delicate color that came and went in her face, and at the slender freshness of her figure as it straightened itself.

 

"I am glad my boy has done so well," he said quietly.... "I think I'll go to bed,[Pg 251] when my nurse comes back. I am a little tired, I find."

 

"She will be here in a minute, sir—as soon as she changes her gown." She nodded to him and was gone.

 

And the boy and his father sat facing each other, with the light lessening⁶ in the room.

 

"How was the garden?" asked Medfield.

 

"Fine! I never saw it look so well!" The boy's voice was happy.

 

Medfield's eyes twinkled. "Perhaps you were not altogether fitted to judge." He was leaning back in his chair and looking at the light in his son's face.

 

"Perhaps not. I was never so happy in my life—I know that!" And his voice was serious now, with a deeper note in it than his father had heard.

 

And Herman Medfield began to speak of the business and of Dalton, and of his purpose to see Dalton.... They could use him, perhaps, in some minor⁷ capacity and see how he did.

 

"I have an idea that he may be the very man for your secretary—for your personal work, you know. I've always depended a[Pg 252] good deal on Sully. You must have some one of your own.... Suppose you see this man Dalton yourself. See him to-morrow. Get the address from Aunt Jane—" He paused.... A look came to his face.

 

"You told Munson to send the roses, did you?"

 

"I told him. Yes. He'll send them to-night." The reply was absent. The young man's mind was reaching out to business and to the responsibilities that he saw his father would lay on him.

 

His shoulders straightened a little as he stood up. "I feel as if I had just come home," he said. "I've never felt at home before—anywhere!... It is curious to feel that way in a hospital, isn't it?"

 

His father's eyes were fixed⁸ on him dreamily. "I've been feeling 'at home,' too. And I have an idea a good many people feel that way—in the Berkeley House of Mercy." He said the last words slowly and softly, as if they pleased him.

 

"Why should they, I wonder?" said the boy.

 

"I wonder—" said Herman Medfield.[Pg 253] "Perhaps I shall be able to tell you some day. I feel as if I were beginning to understand a good many things I never knew before.... If you will just give me your arm now, across the room, I think I'll get to bed."

1 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。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

4 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 lessening   

减轻，减少，变小

参考例句：

• So however much he earned, she spent it, her demands growing and lessening with his income. 祥子挣多少，她花多少，她的要求随着他的钱涨落。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The talks have resulted in a lessening of suspicion. 谈话消减了彼此的怀疑。

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

8 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。