"Hossy," said Calvin as he drove out of the yard, "what do you think of that young woman?"
(Mary Sands was nearer forty than thirty, but she will be young at seventy.) The brown horse shook his head slightly as Calvin flicked1 the whip past his ear.
"Well, there you're mistaken!" said Calvin. "There's where you show your ignorance, hossy. I tell you that young woman is A 1 and clipper built if ever I see such. Yes, sir! ship-shape and Bristol fashion, live-oak frame, and copper2 fastenin's, is what I call Miss Hands, and a singular name she's got. Most prob'ly she'll be changin' it to Sill one of these days, and one of them two lobsters3 will be a darned[Pg 49] lucky feller. I wonder which she'll take. I wonder why in Tunkett she should want either one of 'em. I wonder—hello!"
"What say, sonny?" said Calvin.
"Be you the candy man?" cried the child.
"That's what! be you the candy boy? lozenges, tutti-frutti and pepsin chewin' gum, chocolate creams, stick candy—what'll you have, young feller?"
"I want a stick of checkerberry!" said the boy.
"So do I!" cried a little girl in a pink gingham frock, who had run out from the house and climbed on the other gate-post. She was a pretty curly little creature, and the boy was an engaging compound of flaxen hair, freckles5 and snub nose. Calvin regarded them benevolently6, and pulled out a drawer under the seat of the wagon7.[Pg 50]
"Here you are!" he said, taking out a glass jar full of enchanting8 red and white sticks.
"Best checkerberry in the State of Maine; cent apiece!" and he held out two sticks.
"Not any money!" echoed the little girl.
"I didn't!" said the boy. "I just said I wanted it."
Calvin looked from him to the girl, and then at the candy, helplessly.
"Well, look here!" he said. "Say! where do hossy and me come in? We've got to get our livin', you see."
"Could you get much living out of two sticks?" asked the little girl.[Pg 51]
Calvin looked again at the round wistful eyes.
"This ain't no kind of way to do business!" he remonstrated11. "You've got to airn it some way, you know. Tell you what! Let me see which can holler loudest, and I'll give you a stick apiece."
"That's first rate!" said Calvin. "Good lung power there, young uns! go it again!"
The children roared like infant bulls of Bashan. At this moment the door of the house flew open and a woman appeared wild-eyed.
"What's the matter?" she cried. "Susy, be you hurt? Eben, has something bit you?"
"Don't you be scairt, Marm!" said Calvin affably. "They was just showin' off their lung power, and they've got a first rate article of it."[Pg 52]
The woman's eyes flashed, and she hurried toward the gate. "You come along and be spanked13!" she cried to the children; "scarin' me into palpitations, and your Aunt Mandy layin' in a blue ager! And as for you," she addressed Calvin directly, "the best thing you can do is to get out of this the quickest you know how. When I want peddlers round here I'll let you know."
The children were hurried into the house, shrieking14 now in good earnest, but clutching their candy sticks. Calvin gazed after them ruefully.
"Well, hossy, that didn't seem to work real good, did it?" he said. "Fact is, we ain't got the hang of this business, no way, shape or manner. Try to please the kids and you get 'em a spankin' instead. Well, they got their candy anyway. 'Pears as if their Ma needed somethin', howsomever."
He sat pondering with his eyes fixed15 anxiously on the house; finally he rummaged[Pg 53] among his drawers, and taking out a small package, he climbed laboriously16 out over the wheel, and making his way up to the house, knocked at the door. The woman opened it with a bounce, and snorted when she saw him.
"Say, lady!" he said gravely; "I'd like to make you a present of these cardamom seeds. They do say they're the best thing goin' for the temper; kind o' counter-irritant, y' know; bite the tongue, and—"
The door banged in his face. He smiled placidly19, and returning to his wagon clambered in again and chirruped cheerily to the brown horse.
"Gitty up, hossy!" he said. "I feel a sight better now. Gitty up!"
They jogged on for some time, Calvin mostly silent, though now and then he broke out into song.[Pg 54]
"Now Renzo was a sailor;
That's what Renzo was, tiddy hi!
He surely warn't a tailor,
So haul the bowline, haul!
He went adrift in Casco Bay,
Mate to a mud-scow haulin' hay,
And he come home late for his weddin' day,
So haul the bowline, haul!"
Rounding a curve in the road, he saw a man walking in the same direction in which he was going; a young man, slight and wiry, walking with quick, jerky strides. Calvin observed him.
"That young feller's in a hurry, hossy," he said. "See him? he's takin' longer steps than what his legs are, and that's agin' natur'. What say about givin' him a lift, hey?"
The brown horse, his ear being flicked, shook his head decidedly. "Sho!" said Calvin, "you don't mean that, hossy. Your bark—well, not exactly bark—is worse than your—not precisely20 bite, but[Pg 55] you know what I mean. He's in a hurry, and he's in trouble too, and you and me ain't neither one nor 'tother. Say!" he called as he came within hailing distance. "Want a lift?"
The man stopped with a start, and turned a pale face on Calvin. He had red hair, and his blue eyes burned angrily.
"Yes!" he said. Calvin stopped, and he jumped quickly into the wagon. Calvin looked at him expectantly a moment; then "Much obliged!" he said. "Real accommodatin' of you!"
The young man colored like a girl. "I beg your pardon!" he said. "I'm forgetting my manners and everything else, I guess. Much obliged to you for takin' me up. I'm in a terrible hurry!" he added, looking doubtfully at the brown horse, who was jogging peacefully along.
"Four legs is better than two!" said Calvin. "Gitty up, hossy! He makes better[Pg 56] time than what he appears to, hossy does. He's a better ro'der than you be. We'll git there!"
"How far you goin'?" asked the man.
"Oh, down along a piece!" said Calvin. "Where be you?"
"I'm going to Tinkham," said the red-haired man with angry emphasis; "to Lawyer Filcher21. If there was any lawyer nearer I'd go to him."
"No!" the man broke out. "I'm goin' to get a bill!"
Now in our part of the country a "bill" means a bill of divorce. Calvin shook his head with sympathetic interest.
"Sho!" he said. "A young feller like you? now ain't that a pity?"
"I can't stand it any longer!" the lad cried, and his hands worked with passion. "Nor yet I won't, I tell you. No man[Pg 57] would. This ends it. We was mismated from the first, and this is the last."
"Well!" said Calvin. "Ain't that a pity now? If it's so, it's so, and mebbe a bill is the best thing. Awful homely23, is she?"
The lad turned upon him, and his blue eyes flashed.
"Homely?" he said roughly. "What you talkin' about? she was Katie Hazard."
"Nice name!" said Calvin. "Come from these parts?"
"I guess you don't!" retorted the lad, "or you wouldn't have to be told. She was called the prettiest girl in the county when I married her, and she hasn't got over it yet."
"You don't say!" said Calvin placidly. "Well, good looks is pleasant, I always maintain; I'd full rather have a woman good-lookin' if other things is 'cordin' to.[Pg 58] I suppose likely she's a poor cook? A man has to have his victuals24, you know!"
"She's the best cook in the State!" said the young man doggedly25. "I'd back her riz bread or doughnuts or pies against any woman's from Portland to 'Roostick."
"Quite a ways," said Calvin. "S'pose likely she's slack, hey? house cluttered26 up? calicker wrapper and shoes down at the heel? that kind?"
The blue eyes flared27 at him. "I don't want none o' this kind o' talk!" he said sharply. "Slack! I'd sooner eat off Katie's kitchen floor than any other woman's parlor28 table that ever I see. You find me a speck29 o' dust or a spot o' dirt round our house and I'll find you a blue hen."
"I see!" said Calvin. "Another fellow, is there?"
"No!" shouted the young man, and he turned savagely30 on Calvin. "I'd like to know why you're sayin' this kind of thing,[Pg 59] when you never see nor heard of me nor my wife before."
"Well!" said Calvin comfortably. "I've been wonderin' ever since you got in whether you was an ill-used man or a darned fool, and now I've found out. Why, you loony, if you've got a wife like all that, why in Tunkett are you goin' to get a bill?"
His voice rang out like a ship's trumpet31. The lad shrunk down in his seat, and his face grew dogged and set.
"We was mismated, I tell you!" he said. "She's got a temper!"
"Well, how about you?" asked Calvin. "You ain't got that red hair for nothin', son."
"I know! I have one too," the lad admitted; "and each one stirs the other up and makes it worse. It's no use, I tell you! We get jawin' and the house won't hold us both, so I'm going to clear out."
"Sho!" said Calvin.[Pg 60]
They were silent for a few moments, the young husband brooding over his wrongs, Calvin meditating33. At last he said slowly, "Young feller, I ain't no lawyer, nor yet wishful to be; but I expect I can cure your case."
"What do you mean?" asked the lad.
"I expect I can cure your case," Calvin repeated deliberately34, "for less money by a good sight, and more agreeable all round. Lemme see! two and two is four, and seven times four is twenty-eight, and two more—yes, sir! I'll undertake to cure your case for thirty cents, and do it handsome."
He opened a drawer, and after a careful inspection35 took out two small objects which he held up. "See them?" he said. "This is your article. All Day Suckers, they're called, and well named. The candy fills the mouth and yet don't crowd it any; the stick is to hold on by, and take it out when necessary. Pure sugar, no glucose36 in it;[Pg 61] not a mite37! Pure sugar, cream o' tartar killed, and flavored with fruit surrup. Now, young feller, you take fourteen of them suckers. They're two cents apiece, that's two for every day in the week. Every time you two find you're beginnin' to jaw32, in goes your sucker, and you keep it there till you feel pleasant again. Keep that up for a week, and finish up at the end with a Purity Kiss—fifteen cents a dozen, call it two cents apiece, and I'll lay my next lo'd—what's that?"
A sharp rattle38 was heard. Both men turned round, and saw a light wagon whirling toward them. The horse was galloping39; the driver, a young woman in a cloud of red gold hair, was urging him on with whip and voice.
"Well!" said Calvin Parks.
"Great hemlock40!" cried the young man. "Katie, stop!" He leaped out over the wheel, and set off running toward the advancing[Pg 62] wagon. The young woman pulled up with a jerk.
"Joe!" she cried. "Oh, Joe! come back! I—I'm sorry I bit you!"
She jumped out—over the wheel too—and the two red heads flamed together.
Calvin gazed for a moment, then turned round with a smile.
"I guess they won't need them suckers after all!" he said. "Gitty up, hossy!"
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收听单词发音
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1
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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2
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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3
lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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4
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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6
benevolently
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| adv.仁慈地，行善地 | |
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7
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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8
enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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9
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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10
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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11
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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12
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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13
spanked
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| v.用手掌打( spank的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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15
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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16
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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17
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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18
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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19
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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21
filcher
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| 小偷 | |
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sociably
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| adv.成群地 | |
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23
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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24
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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26
cluttered
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| v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满… | |
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27
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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28
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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29
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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30
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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31
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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32
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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33
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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34
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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35
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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36
glucose
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| n.葡萄糖 | |
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37
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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38
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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39
galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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40
hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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