Chapter Twelve GEORGE IN TROUBLE

Chapter Twelve GEORGE IN TROUBLE
　　'WHAT'S the matter?' asked George, as the three children tore up to her. 'Has something happened?'
　　'Yes, George. Someone has taken three most important pages out of your father's book!' pantedJulian. 'And broken the test-tubes he was making an experiment with. Mr. Roland thinks you mighthave had something to do with it!'
　　'The beast!' said George, her blue eyes deepening with anger. 'As if I'd do a thing like that! Whyshould he think it's me, anyway?'
　　'Well, George, you left that bottle of oil in the study fender,' said Anne. 'I haven't told anyone at allwhat you told me happened last night - but somehow Mr. Roland guessed you had something to dowith the bottle of oil.'
　　'Didn't you tell the boys how I got Timmy indoors?' asked George. 'Well, there's nothing much to tell,Julian, I just heard poor old Tim coughing in the night, and I half-dressed, went down, and took himinto the study, where there was a fire. Mother keeps a bottle of oil that she used to rub her chest withwhen she has a cough - so I thought it might do Timmy's cold good, too. I got the oil and rubbed himwell - and we both fell asleep by the fire till six o'clock. I was sleepy when I woke up, and forgot theoil. That's all.'
　　'And you didn't take any pages from the book Uncle Quentin is writing, and you didn't break anythingin the study, did you?' said Anne.
　　'Of course not, silly,' said George, indignantly. 'How can you ask me a thing like that? You must bemad.'
　　George never told a lie, and the others always believed her, whatever she said. They stared at her, andshe stared back.
　　'I wonder who could have taken those pages then?' said Julian. 'Maybe your father will come acrossthem, after all. I expect he put them into some safe place and then forgot all about them.
　　And the test-tubes might easily have over-balanced and broken themselves. Some of them look veryshaky to me.'
　　'I suppose I shall get into trouble now for taking Tim into the study,' said George.
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　　'And for not coming into lessons this morning,' said Dick. 'You really are an idiot, George. I neverknew anyone like you for walking right into trouble.'
　　'Hadn't you better stay out a bit longer, till everyone has calmed down a bit?' said Anne.
　　'No,' said George at once. 'If I'm going to get into a row, I'll get into it now! I'm not afraid!'
　　She marched over the cliff path, with Timmy running round her as usual. The others followed. Itwasn't nice to think that George was going to get into such trouble.
　　They came to the house and went up the path.
　　Mr. Roland saw them from the window and opened the door. He glanced at George.
　　'Your father wants to see you in the study,' said the tutor. Then he turned to the others, lookingannoyed.
　　'Why did you go out without me? I meant to go with you.'
　　'Oh did you, sir? I'm sorry,' said Julian, politely, not looking at Mr. Roland. 'We just went out on thecliff a little way.'
　　'Georgina, did you go into the study last night?' asked Mr. Roland, watching George as she took offher hat and coat.
　　I’ll answer my father's questions, not yours,' said George.
　　'What you want is a good spanking,' said Mr. Roland. 'And if I were your father I'd give it to you!'
　　'You're not my father,' answered George. She went to the study door and opened it. There was no onethere.
　　'Father isn't here,' said George.
　　'He'll be there in a minute,' said Mr. Roland. 'Go in and wait. And you others, go up and wash forlunch.'
　　The other three children felt almost as if they were deserting George as they went up the stairs.
　　They could hear Timmy whining¹ from the yard outside. He knew his little mistress was in trouble,and he wanted to be with her.
　　George sat down on a chair, and gazed at the fire, remembering how she had sat on the rug there withTim last night, rubbing his hairy chest. How silly of her to have forgotten the bottle of oil!
　　Her father came into the room, frowning and angry. He looked sternly at George.
　　'Were you in here last night, George?' he asked.
　　'Yes, I was,' answered George at once.
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　　'What were you doing in here?' asked her father. 'You know you children are forbidden to come intomy study.'
　　'I know,' said George. 'But you see Timmy had a dreadful cough, and I couldn't bear it. So I creptdown about one o'clock and let him in. This was the only room that was really warm, so I sat hereand rubbed his chest with the oil Mother uses when she has a cold.'
　　'Rubbed the dog's chest with camphorated oil!' exclaimed her father, in amazement². 'What a madthing to do! As if it would do him any good.'
　　'It didn't seem mad to me,' said George. 'It seemed sensible. And Timmy's cough is much bettertoday. I'm sorry for coming into the study. I didn't touch a thing, of course.'
　　'George, something very serious has happened,' said her father, looking gravely at her. 'Some of mytest-tubes with which I was doing an important experiment, have been broken - and, worse than that,three pages of my book have gone. Tell me on your honour that you know nothing of these things.'
　　'I know nothing of them,' said George, looking her father straight in the eyes. Her own eyes shonevery blue and clear as she gazed at him. He felt quite certain that George was speaking the truth. Shecould know nothing of the damage done. Then where were those pages?
　　'George, last night when I went to bed at eleven o'clock, everything was in order,' he said. 'I read overthose three important pages and checked them once more myself. This morning they are gone.'
　　'Then they must have been taken between eleven o'clock and one o'clock,' said George. 'I was herefrom that time until six.'
　　'But who could have taken them?' said her father. 'The window was fastened, as far as I know.
　　And nobody knows that those three pages were so important but myself. It is most extraordinary.'
　　'Mr. Roland probably knew,' said George, slowly.
　　'Don't be absurd,' said her father. 'Even if he did realize they were important, he would not have takenthem. He's a very decent fellow. And that reminds me - why were you not at lessons this morning,George?'
　　'I'm not going to do lessons any more with Mr. Roland,' said George. 'I simply hate him!'
　　'George! I will not have you talking like this!' said her father. 'Do you want me to say you are to loseTim altogether?'
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　　'No,' said George, feeling shaky about the knees. 'And I don't think it's fair to keep trying to force meto do things by threatening me with losing Timothy. If - if -you do a thing like that - I'll - I'll runaway³ or something!'
　　There were no tears in George's eyes. She sat bolt upright on her chair, gazing defiantly⁵ at her father.
　　How difficult she was! Her father sighed, and remembered that he too in his own childhood had beencalled 'difficult'. Perhaps George took after him. She could be so good and sweet - and here she wasbeing perfectly⁶ impossible!
　　Her father did not know what to do with George. He thought he had better have a word with his wife.
　　He got up and went to the door.
　　'Stay here. I shall be back in a moment. I want to speak to your mother about you.'
　　'Don't speak to Mr. Roland about me, will you?' said George, who felt quite certain that the tutorwould urge terrible punishments for her and Timmy. 'Oh, Father, if only Timothy had been in thehouse last night, sleeping in my room as usual, he would have heard whoever it was that stole yoursecret - and he would have barked and roused the house!'
　　Her father said nothing, but he knew that what George had said was true. Timmy wouldn't have letanyone get into the study. It was funny he hadn't barked in the night, if anyone from outside hadclimbed in at the study window. Still, it was the other side of the house. Maybe he had heard nothing.
　　The door closed. George sat still on her chair, gazing up at the mantelpiece, where a clock tickedaway the time. She felt very miserable⁷. Everything was going wrong, every single thing!
　　As she gazed at the panelled overmantel, she counted the wooden panels. There were eight.
　　Now, where had she heard of eight panels before? Of course - in that Secret Way. There were eightpanels marked on the roll of linen⁸. What a pity there had not been eight panels in a wooden over-mantel at Kirrin Farmhouse⁹!
　　George glanced out of the window, and wondered if it faced east. She looked to see where the sunwas - it was not shining into the room - but it did in the early morning - so it must face east.
　　Fancy - here was a room facing east and with eight wooden panels. She wondered if it had a stonefloor.
　　The floor was covered with a large thick carpet. George got up and went to the wall. She pulled upthe edge of the carpet there - and saw that the floor underneath¹⁰ was made of large flat stones.
　　The study had a stone floor too!
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　　She sat down again and gazed at the wooden panels, trying to remember which one in the roll oflinen was marked with a cross. But of course it couldn't be a room in Kirrin Cottage - it must be inKirrin Farmhouse where the Secret Way began.
　　But just suppose it was Kirrin Cottage! Certainly the directions had been found in Kirrin Farmhouse -but that was not to say that the Secret Way had to begin there, even though Mrs.
　　Sanders seemed to think it did.
　　George was feeling excited. 'I must tap round about those eight panels and try to find the one that ismarked on the linen roll,' she thought. 'It may slide back or something, and I shall suddenly see theentrance opening!'
　　She got up to try her luck - but at that moment the door opened again and her father came in. Helooked very grave.
　　'I have been talking to your mother,' he said. 'She agrees with me that you have been verydisobedient, rude and defiant⁴. We can't let behaviour like that pass, George. You will have to bepunished.'
　　George looked anxiously at her father. If only her punishment had nothing to do with Timothy!
　　But, of course, it had.
　　'You will go to bed for the rest of the day, and you will not see Timothy for three days,' said herfather. 'I will get Julian to feed him and take him for a walk. If you persist in being defiant, Timothywill have to go away altogether. I am afraid, queer as it may seem, that that dog has a bad influenceon you.'
　　'He hasn't, he hasn't!' cried George. 'Oh, he'll be so miserable if I don't see him for three whole days.'
　　'There's nothing more to be said,' said her father. 'Go straight upstairs to bed, and think over all I havesaid to you, George. I am very disappointed in your behaviour these holidays. I really did think theinfluence of your three cousins had made you into a normal, sensible girl. Now you are worse thanyou have ever been.'
　　He held open the door and George walked out, holding her head high. She heard the others havingtheir dinner in the dining-room. She went straight upstairs and undressed. She got into bed andthought miserably¹¹ of not seeing Tim for three days. She couldn't bear it! Nobody could possiblyknow how much she loved Timothy!
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　　Joanna came up with a tray of dinner. 'Well, Miss, it's a pity to see you in bed,' she said cheerfully.
　　'Now you be a sensible girl and behave properly and you'll soon be downstairs again.'
　　George picked at her dinner. She did not feel at all hungry. She lay back on the bed, thinking of Timand thinking of the eight panels over the mantelpiece. Could they possibly be the ones shown in theSecret Way directions? She gazed out of the window and thought hard.
　　'Golly, it's snowing!' she said suddenly, sitting up. I thought it would when I saw that leaden sky thismorning. It's snowing hard! It will be quite thick by tonight - inches deep. Oh, poor Timothy.
　　I hope Julian will see that his kennel¹² is kept clear of the drifting snow.'
　　George had plenty of time to think as she lay in bed.
　　Joanna came and took the tray away. No one else came to see her. George felt sure the other childrenhad been forbidden to go up and speak to her. She felt lonely and left-out.
　　She thought of her father's lost pages. Could Mr. Roland have taken them? After all, he was veryinterested in her father's work and seemed to understand it. The thief must have been someone whoknew which were the important pages. Surely Timothy would have barked if a thief had come infrom outside, even though the study was the other side of the house. Timmy had such sharp ears.
　　'I think it must have been someone inside the house,' said George. 'None of us children, that's certain- and not Mother or Joanna. So that only leaves Mr. Roland. And I did find him in the study that othernight when Timmy woke me by growling¹³.'
　　She sat up in bed suddenly. 'I believe Mr. Roland had Timothy put out of the house because hewanted to go poking¹⁴ round the study again and was afraid Tim would bark!' she thought. 'He was sovery insistent¹⁵ that Tim should go out of doors - even when everyone else begged for me to have himindoors. I believe -1 really do believe - that Mr. Roland is the thief!'
　　The little girl felt very excited. Could it be that the tutor had stolen the pages - and broken thoseimportant test-tubes? How she wished that the others would come and see her, so that she could talkthings over with them!

1 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

2 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

3 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

4 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

5 defiantly   

adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地

参考例句：

• Braving snow and frost, the plum trees blossomed defiantly. 红梅傲雪凌霜开。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

8 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

9 farmhouse   

n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房）

参考例句：

• We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
• We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

10 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

11 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 kennel   

n.狗舍，狗窝

参考例句：

• Sporting dogs should be kept out of doors in a kennel.猎狗应该养在户外的狗窝中。
• Rescued dogs are housed in a standard kennel block.获救的狗被装在一个标准的犬舍里。

13 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

14 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

15 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。