Chapter Two THE STRANGE COUSIN

Chapter Two THE STRANGE COUSIN
　　The children's aunt had been watching for the car. She came running out of the old wooden door assoon as she saw it draw up outside. The children liked the look of her at once.
　　"Welcome to Kirrin!" she cried. "Hallo, all of you! It's lovely to see you. And what big children!"There were kisses all round, and then the children went into the house. They liked it. It felt old andrather mysterious somehow, and the furniture was old and very beautiful.
　　"Where's Georgina?" asked Anne, looking round for her unknown cousin.
　　"Oh, the naughty girl! I told her to wait in the garden for you," said her aunt. "Now she's gone offsomewhere. I must tell you, children, you may find George a bit difficult at first— she's always beenone on her own, you know. And at first may not like you being here. But you mustn't take 6any notice of that— she'll be all right in a short time. I was very glad for George's sake that you wereable to come. She badly needs other children to play with.""Do you call her 'George'?" asked Anne, in surprise. "I thought her name was Georgina.""So it is," said her aunt. "But George hates being a girl, and we have to call her George, as if she wasa boy. The naughty girl won't answer if we call her Georgina."The children thought that Georgina sounded rather exciting. They wished she would come. But shedidn't. Their Uncle Quentin suddenly appeared instead. He was a most extraordinary looking man,very tall, very dark, and with a rather fierce frown on his wide forehead.
　　"Hallo, Quentin!" said Daddy. "It's a long time since I've seen you. I hope these three won't disturbyou very much in your work."
　　"Quentin is working on a very difficult book," said Aunt Fanny. "But I've given him a room all tohimself on the other side of the house. So I don't expect he will be disturbed."Their uncle looked at the three children, and nodded to them. The frown didn't come off his face, andthey all felt a little scared, and were glad that he was to work in another part of the house.
　　"Where's George?" he said, in a deep voice.
　　"Gone off somewhere again," said Aunt Fanny, vexed¹. "I told her she was to stay here and meet hercousins."
　　"She wants spanking," said Uncle Quentin. The children couldn't quite make out whether he wasjoking or not. "Well, children, I hope you have a good time here, and maybe you will knock a littlecommon-sense into George!"
　　There was no room at Kirrin Cottage for Mother and Daddy to stay the night, so after a hurriedsupper they left to stay at a hotel in the nearest town. They would drive back to London immediatelyafter breakfast the next day. So they said goodbye to the children that night.
　　Georgina still hadn't appeared. "I'm sorry we haven't seen Georgina," said Mother. "Just give her ourlove and tell her we hope she'll enjoy playing with Dick, Julian and Anne."Then Mother and Daddy went. The children felt a little bit lonely as they saw the big car disappearround the corner of the road, but Aunt Fanny took them upstairs to show them their bedrooms, andthey soon forgot to be sad.
　　The two boys were to sleep together in a room with slanting² ceilings at the top of the house. It had amarvellous view of the bay. The boys were really delighted with it. Anne was to sleep with Georginain a smaller room, whose windows looked over the moors³ at the back of the house. But 7one side-window looked over the sea, which pleased Anne very much. It was a nice room, and redroses nodded their heads in at the window.
　　"I do wish Georgina would come," Anne said to her aunt. "I want to see what she's like.""Well, she's a funny little girl," said her aunt. "She can be very rude and haughty—but she's kind atheart, very loyal and absolutely truthful⁴. Once she makes friends with you, she will always be yourfriend— but she finds it very difficult indeed to make friends, which is a great pity."Anne suddenly yawned. The boys frowned at her, because they knew what would happen next.
　　And it did!
　　"Poor Anne! How tired you are! You must all go to bed straight away, and have a good long night.
　　Then you will wake up quite fresh tomorrow," said Aunt Fanny.
　　"Anne, you are an idiot," said Dick, crossly, when his aunt had gone out of the room. "You knowquite well what grown-ups think as soon as we yawn. I did want to go down on the beach for awhile."
　　"I'm so sorry," said Anne. "Somehow I couldn't help it. And anyway, you're yawning now, Dick, andJulian too!"
　　So they were. They were as sleepy as could be with their long drive. Secretly all of them longed tocuddle down into bed and shut their eyes.
　　"I wonder where Georgina is," said Anne, when she said good-night to the boys, and went to her ownroom. "Isn't she queer— not waiting to welcome us— and not coming in to supper— and not even inyet! After all, she's sleeping in my room— goodness knows what time she'll be in!"All the three children were fast asleep before Georgina came up to bed! They didn't hear her openAnne's door. They didn't hear her get undressed and clean her teeth. They didn't hear the creak of herbed as she got into it. They were so tired that they heard nothing at all until the sun awoke them in themorning.
　　When Anne awoke she couldn't at first think where she was. She lay in her little bed and looked up atthe slanting ceiling, and at the red roses that nodded at the open window— and suddenly rememberedall in a rush where she was! "I'm at Kirrin Bay— and it's the holidays." she said to herself, andscrewed up her legs with joy.
　　Then she looked across at the other bed. In it lay the figure of another child, curled up under the bed-clothes. Anne could just see the top of a curly head, and that was all. When the figure stirred a little,Anne spoke⁵.
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　　"I say! Are you Georgina?"
　　The child in the opposite bed sat up and looked across at Anne. She had very short curly hair, almostas short as a boy's. Her face was burnt a dark-brown with the sun, and her very blue eyes looked asbright as forget-me-nots in her face. But her mouth was rather sulky, and she had a frown like herfather's.
　　"No," she said. "I'm not Georgina."
　　"Oh!" said Anne, in surprise. "Then who are you?""I'm George," said the girl. "I shall only answer if you call me George. I hate being a girl. I won't be.
　　I don't like doing the things that girls do. I like doing the things that boys do. I can climb better thanany boy, and swim faster too. I can sail a boat as well as any fisher-boy on this coast.
　　You're to call me George. Then I'll speak to you. But I shan't if you don't.""Oh!" said Anne, thinking that her new cousin was most extraordinary. "All right! I don't care what Icall you. George is a nice name, I think. I don't much like Georgina. Anyway, you look like a boy.""Do I really?" said George, the frown leaving her face for a moment. "Mother was awfully⁶ cross withme when I cut my hair short. I had hair all round my neck; it was awful."The two girls stared at one another for a moment. "Don't you simply hate being a girl?" askedGeorge.
　　"No, of course not," said Anne. "You see— I do like pretty frocks— and I love my dolls— and youcan't do that if you're a boy."
　　"Pooh! Fancy bothering about pretty frocks," said George, in a scornful voice. "And dolls! Well, youare a baby, that's all I can say."
　　Anne felt offended. "You're not very polite," she said. "You won't find that my brothers take muchnotice of you if you act as if you knew everything. They're real boys, not pretend boys, like you.""Well, if they're going to be nasty to me I shan't take any notice of them," said George, jumping outof bed. "I didn't want any of you to come, anyway. Interfering⁷ with my life here! I'm quite happy onmy own. Now I've got to put up with a silly girl who likes frocks and dolls, and two stupid boy-cousins!"
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　　Anne felt that they had made a very bad beginning. She said no more, but got dressed herself too.
　　She put on her grey jeans and a red jersey⁸. George put on jeans too, and a boy's jersey. Just as theywere ready the boys hammered on their door.
　　"Aren't you ready? Is Georgina there? Cousin Georgina, come out and see us."George flung open the door and marched out with her head high. She took no notice of the twosurprised boys at all. She stalked downstairs. The other three children looked at one another.
　　"She won't answer if you call her Georgina," explained Anne. "She's awfully queer, I think. She saysshe didn't want us to come because we'll interfere⁹ with her. She laughed at me, and was rather rude."Julian put his arm round Anne, who looked a bit doleful. "Cheer up!" he said. "You've got us to stickup for you. Come on down to breakfast."
　　They were all hungry. The smell of bacon and eggs was very good. They ran down the stairs and saidgood-morning to their aunt. She was just bringing the breakfast to the table. Their uncle was sitting atthe head, reading his paper. He nodded at the children. They sat down without a word, wondering ifthey were allowed to speak at meals. They always were at home, but their Uncle Quentin lookedrather fierce.
　　George was there, buttering a piece of toast. She scowled¹¹ at the three children.
　　"Don't look like that, George," said her mother. "I hope you've made friends already. It will be fun foryou to play together. You must take your cousins to see the bay this morning and show them the bestplaces to bathe."
　　"I'm going fishing," said George.
　　Her father looked up at once.
　　"You are not," he said. "You are going to show a few good manners for a change, and take yourcousins to the bay. Do you hear me?"
　　"Yes," said George, with a scowl¹⁰ exactly like her father's.
　　"Oh, we can go to the bay by ourselves all right, if George is going fishing," said Anne, at once,thinking that it would be nice not to have George if she was in a bad temper.
　　"George will do exactly as she's told," said her father. "If she doesn't, I shall deal with her."So, after breakfast, four children got ready to go down to the beach. An easy path led down to thebay, and they ran down happily. Even George lost her frown as she felt the warmth of the sun andsaw the dancing sparkles on the blue sea.
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　　"You go fishing if you want to," said Anne when they were down on the beach. "We won't tell talesof you. We don't want to interfere with you, you know. We've got ourselves for company, and if youdon't want to be with us, you needn't."
　　"But we'd like you, all the same, if you'd like to be with us," said Julian, generously. He thoughtGeorge was rude and ill-mannered, but he couldn't help rather liking¹² the look of the straight-backed,short-haired little girl, with her brilliant blue eyes and sulky mouth.
　　George stared at him. "I'll see, she said. "I don't make friends with people just because they're mycousins, or something silly like that. I only make friends with people if I like them.""So do we," said Julian. "We may not like you, of course.""Oh!" said George, as if that thought hadn't occurred to her. "Well— you may not, of course.
　　Lots of people don't like me, now I come to think of it."Anne was staring out over the blue bay. At the entrance to it lay a curious rocky island with whatlooked like an old ruined castle on the top of it.
　　"Isn't that a funny place?" she said. "I wonder what it's called.""It's called Kirrin Island," said George, her eyes as blue as the sea as she turned to look at it. "It's alovely place to go to. If I like you, I may take you there some day. But I don't promise. The only wayto get there is by boat."
　　"Who does the funny island belong to?" asked Julian.
　　George made a most surprising answer. "It belongs to me," she said. "At least, it will belong to me—some day! It will be my very own island— and my very own castle!"

1 vexed   

adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论

参考例句：

• The conference spent days discussing the vexed question of border controls. 会议花了几天的时间讨论边境关卡这个难题。
• He was vexed at his failure. 他因失败而懊恼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 slanting   

倾斜的，歪斜的

参考例句：

• The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
• The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。

3 moors   

v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• the North York moors 北约克郡的漠泽
• They're shooting grouse up on the moors. 他们在荒野射猎松鸡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

7 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

10 scowl   

vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容

参考例句：

• I wonder why he is wearing an angry scowl.我不知道他为何面带怒容。
• The boss manifested his disgust with a scowl.老板面带怒色，清楚表示出他的厌恶之感。

11 scowled   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scowled his displeasure. 他满脸嗔色。
• The teacher scowled at his noisy class. 老师对他那喧闹的课堂板着脸。

12 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。