“Billy,” she called.
“Don’t, mother! Mother, don’t come in here! Don’t come in the same room with me,—I’m not fit for— O mother, I’ve hurt Jimmy for life!”
Mrs. Bennett caught the despair in his words, and knew this could be no ordinary trouble to be petted away with a few caresses1. Some crisis had come that must be wisely met. She entered, knelt by the bed, and put her arms around him. The spring starlight dimly outlined his head on the pillow but gave no hint of its bruises2. “Billy, dear, nothing you can ever do will be bad enough to keep your mother away from you. What is it, my son?”
The gentle words, the tender touch, the comfort and hope in her words, unlocked his lips and he told what he had thought to keep forever untold3.
He kept his hands from hers, and begged her not to touch the handkerchief he had bound around his head; but before his story was finished, a growing stain on the pillow had oozed4 into sight.
“Billy! You said you weren’t hurt, but you are!” Alarmed, she rose and switched on the light, pulled off the bandage, and turned faint at the wreck5 of the bright, clean boy who had left her that afternoon. “My boy! You’re dreadfully hurt! I must send for Doctor Carter, and—”
“But you may have broken bones—be seriously injured.”
She took a step, but he caught her hand. “I don’t care if I am, he mustn’t see—no one must,—I didn’t mean you should. Besides, I walked home and brought my wheel; I’ll live, I guess,—I’m too mean to kill.” He put his stiff, swollen8 hand over his face. “It’s Jimmy that’s in danger.” A new note of terror came into his voice as he remembered the pale face and limp arm; he had never seen a fighting boy look so before. “I’m afraid Jimmy’s hurt inside, mother. What if he should die?”
Mrs. Bennett knew better than Billy how much thumping9 a boy could live through; and reassured10 him while she took off his soiled garments, and started below for hot water and remedies.
“Don’t tell—must Edith and May Nell know?” he called after her. “Oh, all the town will—mother!” The anguish11 in his words halted her. “Mother, this wasn’t a boys’ scrap12 at all. I didn’t think of you or—or anything; an’ something must have squelched13 Betsey, she never peeped. Mother, I felt—I felt mad enough to kill him!” He whispered the awesome14 words.
“But you don’t feel so now, my son. Jimmy will soon be well; you, too. Then you can talk with him about it. Rest, now; that is your first duty,” she comforted, and left him.
Hot water, lotions15, a mother’s tender hands, best of all, a mother’s comprehending heart,—it is wonderful what cures these can make. In an hour Billy was comparatively at ease. His sore body still ached, and his eyes “felt like red fire on the Fourth,” he said; but the world seemed less dark, and he was glad his mother had not taken him at his word and left him to bear his trouble alone.
Yet he could not long keep his mind from the struggle. “Mother, won’t you find out soon about Jimmy, how bad he’s hurt? An’ I wish I knew if Vilette ’n Evelyn ’re all right; it looked awful to see ’em hit with a horsewhip.”
“I’ll get word from them in the morning. Don’t worry any more, but rest; sleep if you can. You can’t help them till you have helped yourself.”
Still, since Billy had broken his resolution of silence, he was feverishly16 eager to talk. His thoughts were erratic17, now in the present, again flying back to the past. “O mother, you should be lickin’ me ’nstead of petting me!” he broke out passionately18.
“Why, Billy? I don’t believe in whipping unless all else fails.”
“Well, papa did. If he was alive he’d be giving it to me about now, good and plenty.”
“Why do you think he would have whipped you?”
“Don’t you remember the first day I went to school, he took me between his knees,—I was a little kid then,—and said, ‘Billy, if I[133] know that you ever jump on a boy first to fight him, I’ll lick you. And if another boy jumps on you first, and you don’t fight back, no matter how big he is, I’ll lick you then.’”
“I guess he didn’t say ‘lick,’ Billy.”
“Yes, he did. And he said, awfully19 solemn, ‘Remember, Billy, no one but a coward strikes his foe20 in the back. A boy of mine who could do that,—I don’t think I should wish him to wear this.’ And he pointed21 to his Loyal Legion button. O mother, I hit Jimmy first, I hit him in the back, and I—I kicked him in the stomach! I’ve disgraced papa’s button forever!” His last words were a groan6, and he hid his face.
Mrs. Bennett leaned over him without speaking for a minute, but stroked his hair softly. “Remember, with One there is no ‘forever.’ As long as we live we have a chance to retrieve22. Rest on that, my child. Now you must sleep.” She kissed him and was silent, for a drop glistened23 on his cheek she knew he would not wish her to notice.
She thought he should be in a warmer room, but he begged so hard to stay that she yielded. She put a bell near, that he might call her, and went to him several times before she slept, finding him somewhat restless, yet too profoundly asleep to be wakened by her light touch. Outraged24 nature was in charge now.
It must have been hours past midnight when Billy’s chattering25 voice startled his mother. She had heard no bell; the boy himself stood by her bedside; she could see him dimly against the window.
“I don’t know what’s the matter,—I’m drowned, I guess.” His teeth rattled26, and the hand he put out to her was icy cold.
“Billy! You’re freezing!” She sprang up and turned on the light.
He was a queer figure with his bandaged head, one eye peering out, and a long, dripping red quilt trailing behind him. “I found the bed flooded, and put the comfort round me; but someway that’s wet, too.” He could hardly speak for shivering.
She clapped him into her own warm bed, and incredibly soon things were sizzling over the alcohol lamp.
“The tank must have run over, Billy. You forgot to shut it off.”
“No, I didn’t forget; the water was low, and I left it running on purpose. But it’s that west wind; she’s a hummer. She can pump faster ’n the old waste pipe can discharge.”
“How in the world did you ever sleep through it, Billy?” his mother asked, coming in from the tank-room where she had been to investigate. “There is a small flood there. I should think the first drop would have wakened you.”
“It came to me feet foremost, I guess, and soaked the quilt in instalments. I had a tough dream, too; couldn’t wake up in the middle. I dreamed I was on a ship in a bang-up storm, and the vessel28 lunged like a bucking29 horse.”
“Yes, I can see that the wind, the shaking tower, the creaking mill, would bring such dreams,” his mother said. “Hear the wind howl now!”
“And I thought all the crew were washed overboard like chips,” he went on; “and I was left alone. And she shipped water in mountains. And I was cold as the North Pole. And at last she foundered30, and I went down with her. And when I couldn’t choke any more I woke up.”
“Poor little Billy! You’ve had a hard night of it.”
“Kinder rocky.”
He smiled wanly31, and her heart ached for him; but she knew sympathy was unsafe just then. “If you could see that comical, crooked32 eye of yours blinking at me, like a chicken asking your intentions, you’d laugh, Billy.”
He did laugh, yet was sober again. She was tucking the clothes close about him, preparing to lie down by his side. But he reached his arms out suddenly and flung them around her neck. “O mamma, the awfullest thing in the world next to doing a crime, must be not to have a mother. I must jolly May Nell more. And, mamma—mother, I don’t know why,—” his voice was very low and shy, “why God’s looked out for me so good; but anyway, you’re—you’re the whole bunch!”
She pressed him closer and kissed him. And soon he slept.
But his mother watched out the night.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
caresses
|
|
| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
bruises
|
|
| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
untold
|
|
| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
oozed
|
|
| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
wreck
|
|
| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
groan
|
|
| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
swollen
|
|
| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
thumping
|
|
| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
anguish
|
|
| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
scrap
|
|
| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
squelched
|
|
| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
awesome
|
|
| adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
lotions
|
|
| n.洗液，洗剂，护肤液( lotion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
feverishly
|
|
| adv. 兴奋地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
erratic
|
|
| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
passionately
|
|
| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
foe
|
|
| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
retrieve
|
|
| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
glistened
|
|
| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
outraged
|
|
| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
friction
|
|
| n.摩擦，摩擦力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
vessel
|
|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
bucking
|
|
| v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的现在分词 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
foundered
|
|
| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
wanly
|
|
| adv.虚弱地；苍白地，无血色地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
crooked
|
|
| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |