She waited, holding her breath. She was not quite sure of her cap—she put up her hands to it cautiously, adjusting and smoothing it.... The figure by the table moved across to the bell and rang it sharply.
His face was toward her now. She saw that he was smiling a little.
Aunt Jane nodded shrewdly. Number 16 was better!... From her place in the dark, she watched the man move about the room. He was humming softly—a half-meaningless little tune1, with a tumty-tumty refrain, and his face was absent.
A nurse appeared in the door and looked at him inquiringly.
He glanced at her. "I want Mrs. Holbrook—yes."
[Pg 265]
"Aunt Jane? I don't know where she is. I thought she came into her office."
"Well—she isn't here. You can see she isn't here, can't you? Find her—please."
Aunt Jane behind her crack, shivered a little as the girl turned. But the nurse had eyes and ears only for the surgeon and his impatience2. She hurried away.
Aunt Jane drew a free breath.
The surgeon crossed to her desk and halted there. His eye rested absently on the great bunch of roses. Presently his face lighted up; he was seeing the roses! He looked at them with an air of appreciation3. The little smile was still on his lips, and the tumty-tumty tune.... Slowly he leaned forward, on tiptoe, and—smelled of them and nodded approval.
Aunt Jane's hands made swift, darting4 touches at her cap and her apron5 and her hair and she got up quickly.... Perhaps he would go away! But Dr. Carmon's eye had fallen on the little card under the vase and he took it up—and read the name with near-sighted curious gaze, and turned it over——
[Pg 266]
He wheeled—the card in his hand.
"Oh! You're here! I just sent for you." He waved the card.
"I know. I was busy."
"Funny, I didn't hear you come in!" He looked at her thoughtfully.
"You were thinking of something else, maybe," said Aunt Jane tranquilly8. She came up to the desk.
"What is the matter?" he asked.
"Nothing," responded Aunt Jane. "Do I look as if anything was the matter?" The face under its ink stains was serene10.
Dr. Carmon regarded it critically. "Soap and water—" he suggested. He pointed11 a helpful finger at the smudge of ink on her cheek.
She lifted a quick hand.
He nodded grimly. "And there's a little over there by your left ear," he said wickedly.
She rubbed at the place blindly. "I must have got ink on me—when I was making up my book—" Her glance flitted toward it.
[Pg 267]
Dr. Carmon's eye fell on the open page and on the smudge of Room 36. He bent12 forward, tapping the place with the card in his hand, and laughed out.
"I never saw your book look like that!" He gazed at it and then at Aunt Jane's face—a little suspiciously.
She leaned forward to inspect it.
"Somebody must have spilled water—or something on it!" she said casually13. "Folks are so careless here!" She laid a blotter methodically across the smudge and closed the book and put it away.
Dr. Carmon surveyed the roses. "Handsome bunch of flowers!" he said carelessly. He waved the card at them.
"They look nice," admitted Aunt Jane. "They're some Mr. Medfield sent—they came from his garden." Her tone was quiet and businesslike—there was no nonsense about those roses. She looked at them impersonally14.
"I saw it was his card." Dr. Carmon's hand motioned with the card and dropped it to the desk. He might almost have been said to fling it from him—as if it were a challenge.
[Pg 268]
"Who did he send them to?" he asked.
"Why—to me!" said Aunt Jane.
She tried her best to look commonplace and unconcerned—as if she had been receiving roses all her life—as if she had large bunches of them every day, flaming away there on her desk.
"Humph!" he said.
"How is Number 16?" asked Aunt Jane.
"Fine!" Dr. Carmon's face lighted with it. He forgot roses—"He's going to pull through all right—I think."
"That's good! I kind of reckoned he'd come through." She had turned a leisurely15 glance to the door.
The nurse stood there.
"I can't—" she began. "Oh—you're here! I looked everywhere for you!"
"Yes, I'm here. I've been here quite a spell," said Aunt Jane.
The nurse withdrew and Dr. Carmon and Aunt Jane and the roses were left alone.
He looked suspiciously and grudgingly16 at the roses and shrugged17 his shoulders and[Pg 269] turned away. He took his hat. "I want you to look in on Number 16—sometime later."
"I was planning to go in by and by—along about four o'clock," she said kindly. "That's the time he'll need somebody most, I guess!"
Dr. Carmon looked again at the roses. "I shall want Suite19 A, Friday—for a new patient," he said abruptly20.
Aunt Jane's mouth opened—and closed.
"Medfield's well enough to go," said Dr. Carmon. He nodded to the roses—as if they knew of Herman Medfield's health. "He'll be better off at home!" he said shortly—and shot out the door.
Aunt Jane gazed after him, a minute.
She took up the card from the desk and held it off and looked at it severely21 and shook it a little—as if it might have known better—and dropped it into a small drawer behind the roses and locked the drawer—and put the key in her pocket.
[Pg 270]
Then she turned off the lights and left the room. And the great bunch of roses that had flamed up so bravely, lost their color in the dark.
Perhaps they went to sleep.
All night the fragrance22 of the roses stole out into the room and filled it—as if little flitting dreams of roses came and went there in the dark.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
appreciation
|
|
| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
placidly
|
|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
placid
|
|
| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tranquilly
|
|
| adv. 宁静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
casually
|
|
| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
impersonally
|
|
| ad.非人称地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
grudgingly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
suite
|
|
| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
severely
|
|
| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
fragrance
|
|
| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |