THE three children downstairs felt very sorry for George. Uncle Quentin had forbidden them to goup and see her.
'A little time for thinking out things all alone may do George good,' he said.
'Poor old George,' said Julian. 'It's too bad, isn't it? I say - look at the snow!'
The snow was falling very thickly. Julian went to the window and looked out. 'I shall have to go andsee that Timmy's kennel1 is all right,' he said. 'We don't want the poor old fellow to be snowed up! Iexpect he is wondering what the snow is!'
Timothy was certainly very puzzled to see everywhere covered with soft white stuff. He sat in hiskennel and stared out at the falling flakes2, his big brown eyes following them as they fell to theground. He was puzzled and unhappy. Why was he living out here by himself in the cold?
Why didn't George come to him? Didn't she love him any more? The big dog was very miserable3, asmiserable as George!
He was delighted to see Julian. He jumped up at the boy and licked his face. 'Good old Tim!' saidJulian. 'Are you all right? Let me sweep away some of this snow and swing your kennel round a bitso that no flakes fly inside. There - that's better. No, we're not going for a walk, old thing - not now.'
The boy patted the dog and fussed him a bit, then went indoors. The others met him at the sitting-room4 door.
'Julian! Mr. Roland is going out for a walk by himself. Aunt Fanny is lying down, and Uncle Quentinis in his study. Can't we go up and see George?'
'We were forbidden to,' said Julian, doubtfully.
I know,' said Dick. 'But I don't mind risking it for the sake of making George feel a bit happier. Itmust be so awful for her, lying up there all alone, knowing she can't see Tim for days.'
'Well - let me go up, as I'm the eldest5,' said Julian. 'You two stay down here in the sitting-room andtalk. Then Uncle Quentin will think we're all here. I'll slip up and see George for a few minutes.'
'All right,' said Dick. 'Give her our love and tell her we'll look after Timmy.'
67
Julian slipped quietly up the stairs. He opened George's door and crept inside. He shut the door, andsaw George sitting up in bed, looking at him in delight.
'Sh!' said Julian. 'I'm not supposed to be here!'
'Oh Julian!' said George joyfully6. 'How good of you to come. I was so lonely. Come this side of thebed. Then if anyone comes in suddenly, you can duck down and hide.'
Julian went to the other side of the bed. George began to pour out to him all she had been thinking of.
'I believe Mr. Roland is the thief, I really do!' she said. 'I'm not saying that because I hate him, Julian,really I'm not. After all, I did find him snooping round the study one afternoon - and again in themiddle of the night. He may have got to hear of my father's work, and come to see if he could steal it.
It was just lucky for him that we needed a tutor. I'm sure he stole those pages, and I'm sure he wantedTimmy out of the house so that he could do his stealing without Tim hearing him and growling7.'
'Oh, George - I don't think so,' said Julian, who really could not approve of the idea of the tutor doingsuch a thing. 'It all sounds so far-fetched and unbelievable.'
'Lot's of unbelievable things happen,' said George. 'Lots. And this is one of them.'
'Well, if Mr. Roland did steal the pages, they must be somewhere in the house,' said Julian. 'He hasn'tbeen out all day. They must be somewhere in his bedroom.'
'Of course!' said George, looking thrilled. I wish he'd go out! Then I'd search his room.'
'George, you can't do things like that,' said Julian, quite shocked.
'You simply don't know what things I can do, if I really want to,' said George, setting her mouth in afirm line. 'Oh - what's that noise?'
There was the bang of a door. Julian went cautiously to the window and peeped out. The snow hadstopped falling for a time, and Mr. Roland had taken the chance of going out.
'It's Mr. Roland,' said Julian.
'Oooh - I could search his room now, if you'll keep watch at the window and tell me if he comesback,' said George, throwing back the bedclothes at once.
'No, George, don't,' said Julian. 'Honestly and truly, it's awful to search somebody's room like that.
And anyway, I dare say he's got the pages with him. He may even be going to give them tosomebody!'
68
'I never thought of that,' said George, and she looked at Julian with wide eyes. 'Isn't that sickening?
Of course he may be doing that. He knows those two artists at Kirrin Farmhouse8, for instance. Theymay be in the plot too.'
'Oh, George, don't be silly,' said Julian. 'You are making a mountain out of a mole-hill, talking ofplots and goodness knows what! Anyone would think we were in the middle of a big adventure.'
'Well, I think we are,' said George, unexpectedly, and she looked rather solemn. 'I sort of feel it allround me - a Big Adventure!'
Julian stared at his cousin thoughtfully. Could there possibly be anything in what she said?
'Julian, will you do something for me?' said George.
'Of course,' said the boy, at once.
'Go out and follow Mr. Roland,' said George. 'Don't let him see you. There's a white mackintoshcloak in the hall cupboard. Put it on and you won't be easily seen against the snow. Follow him andsee if he meets anyone and gives them anything that looks like the pages of my father's book- you know those big pages he writes on. They're very large.'
'All right,' said Julian. 'But if I do, promise you won't go and search his room. You can't do thingslike that, George.'
'I can,' said George. 'But I won't, if you'll just follow Mr. Roland for me. I'm sure he's going to handover what he has stolen to others who are in the plot! And I bet those others will be the two artists atKirrin Farmhouse that he pretended not to know!'
'You'll find you're quite wrong,' said Julian, going to the door. 'I'm sure I shan't be able to follow Mr.
Roland, anyway - he's been gone five minutes now!'
'Yes, you will, silly - he'll have left his footmarks in the snow,' said George. 'And oh, Julian - I quiteforgot to tell you something else exciting. Oh dear, there isn't time now. I'll tell you when you comeback, if you can come up again then. It's about the Secret Way.'
'Really?' said Julian, in delight. It had been a great disappointment to him that all their hunting andsearching had come to nothing. 'All right - I'll try and creep up again later. If I don't come, you'llknow I can't, and you must wait till bed-time.'
He disappeared and shut the door quietly. He slipped downstairs, popped his head into the sitting-room and whispered to the others that he was going out after the tutor.
'Tell you why, later,' he said. He put the white mackintosh cloak around him and went out into thegarden. Snow was beginning to fall again, but not yet heavily enough to hide Mr. Roland's 69deep footsteps. He had had big Wellington boots on, and the footmarks showed up well in the six-inch-deep snow.
The boy followed them quickly. The countryside was very wintry-looking now. The sky was low andleaden, and he could see there was much more snow to come. He hurried on after Mr.
Roland, though he could not see a sign of the tutor.
Down the lane, and over the path that led across the common went the double row of footmarks.
Julian stumbled on, his eyes glued to the foot-prints. Suddenly he heard the sound of voices andstopped. A big gorse bush lay to the right and the voices came from there. The boy went nearer to thebush. He heard his tutor's voice, talking in low tones. He could not hear a word that was said.
'Whoever can he be talking to?' he wondered. He crept up closer to the bush. There was a hollowspace inside. Julian thought he could creep right into it, though it would be very prickly, and peer outof the other side. Carefully the boy crept into the prickly hollow, where the branches were bare andbrown.
He parted the prickly branches slowly and cautiously - and to his amazement9 he saw Mr. Rolandtalking to the two artists from Kirrin Farmhouse - Mr. Thomas and Mr. Wilton! So George was right.
The tutor had met them - and, as Julian watched, Mr. Roland handed over to Mr. Thomas a doubledup sheaf of papers.
'They look just like pages from Uncle Quentin's book,' said Julian to himself. 'I say - this is mightyqueer. It does begin to look like a plot - with Mr. Roland as the centre of it!'
Mr. Thomas put the papers into the pocket of his overcoat. The men muttered a few more words,which even Julian's sharp ears could not catch, and then parted. The artists went off towards KirrinFarmhouse, and Mr. Roland took the path back over the common. Julian crouched10 down in thehollow of the prickly gorse bush, hoping the tutor would not turn and see him. Luckily he didn't. Hewent straight on and disappeared into the snow, which was now falling thickly. It was also beginningto get dark and Julian, unable to see the path very clearly, hurried after Mr.
Roland, half-afraid of being lost in the snow-storm.
Mr. Roland was not anxious to be out longer than he could help, either. He almost ran back to KirrinCottage. He came to the gate at last, and Julian watched him go into the house. He gave him a littletime to take off his things and then, giving Timothy a pat as he went by, he went to 70the garden door. He took off his mackintosh cloak, changed his boots, and slipped into the sitting-room before Mr. Roland had come down from his bedroom.
'What's happened?' asked Dick and Anne, seeing that Julian was in a great state of excitement.
But he could not tell them, for at that moment Joanna came in to lay the tea.
Much to Julian's disappointment, he could not say a word to the others all that evening, because oneor other of the grown-ups was always in the room. Neither could he go up to see George. He couldhardly wait to tell his news, but it was no good, he had to.
'Is it still snowing, Aunt Fanny?' asked Anne.
Her aunt went to the front door and looked out. The snow was piled high against the step!
'Yes,' she said, when she came back. 'It is snowing fast and thickly. If it goes on like this we shall becompletely snowed up, as we were two winters ago! We couldn't get out of the house for five daysthen. The milkman couldn't get to us, nor the baker11. Fortunately we had plenty of tinned milk, and Ican bake my-own bread. Poor children - you will not be able to go out tomorrow - the snow will betoo thick!'
'Will Kirrin Farmhouse be snowed up too?' asked Mr. Roland.
'Oh yes - worse than we shall be,' said Aunt Fanny. 'But they won't mind! They have plenty of foodthere. They will be prisoners just as much, and more, as we shall.'
Julian wondered why Mr. Roland had asked that question. Was he afraid that his friends would not beable to send those pages away by the post - or take them anywhere by bus or car? The boy felt certainthis was the reason for the question. How he longed to be able to talk over everything with the others.
'I'm tired!' he said, about eight o'clock. 'Let's go to bed.'
Dick and Anne stared at him in astonishment12. Usually, as he was the eldest, he went to bed last of all.
Tonight he was actually asking to go! Julian winked13 quickly at them, and they backed him up atonce.
Dick yawned widely, and so did Anne. Their aunt put down the sewing she was doing. 'You do soundtired!' she said. 'I think you'd better all go to bed.'
'Could I just go out and see if Timmy is all right?' asked Julian. His aunt nodded. The boy put on hisrubber boots and coat, and slipped out through the garden door into the yard. It was very deep insnow, too. Tim's kennel was half-hidden in it. The dog had trampled15 a space in front of the kenneldoor, and stood there, looking for Julian as he came out of the house.
71
'Poor old boy, out here in the snow all alone,' said Julian. He patted the dog, and Timmy whined16.
He was asking to go back with the boy.
'I wish I could take you back with me,' said Julian. 'Never mind, Timothy. I'll come and see youtomorrow.'
He went indoors again. The children said good night to their aunt and Mr. Roland, and went upstairs.
'Undress quickly, put on dressing-gowns and meet in George's room,' whispered Julian to the others.
'Don't make a sound or we'll have Aunt Fanny up. Quick now!'
In less than three minutes the children were undressed, and were sitting on George's bed. She wasvery pleased to see them. Anne slipped into bed with her, because her feet were cold.
'Julian! Did you follow Mr. Roland all right?' whispered George.
'Why did he follow him?' asked Dick, who had been dying to know.
Julian told them everything as quickly as he could - all that George suspected - and how he hadfollowed the tutor - and what he had seen. When George heard how Julian had watched him giving asheaf of papers to the two artists, her eyes gleamed angrily.
'The thief! They must have been the lost pages! And to think my father has been so friendly to him.
Oh, what can we do? Those men will get the papers away as quickly as they can, and the secretFather has been working on for ages will be used by someone else - for some other country,probably!'
'They can't get the papers away,' said Julian. 'You've no idea how thick the snow is now, George.
We shall be prisoners here for a few days, if this snow goes on, and so will the people in KirrinFarmhouse. If they want to hide the papers, they will have to hide them in the farmhouse! If only wecould get over there and hunt round!'
'Well, we can't,' said Dick. 'That's quite certain. We'd be up to our necks in snow!'
The four children looked gloomily at one another. Dick and Anne could hardly believe that the jollyMr. Roland was a thief - a spy perhaps, trying to steal a valuable secret from a friendly scientist. Andthey couldn't stop it.
'We'd better tell your father,' said Julian at last.
'No,' said Anne. 'He wouldn't believe it, would he, George?'
'He'd laugh at us and go straight and tell Mr. Roland,' said George. 'That would warn him, and hemustn't be warned. He mustn't know that we guess anything.'
72
'Sh! Aunt Fanny's coming!' whispered Dick, suddenly. The boys slipped out of the room and intobed. Anne hopped17 across to her own little bed. All was peace and quiet when the children's aunt cameinto the bedroom.
She said good night and tucked them up. As soon as she had gone down, the four children mettogether again in George's room.
'George, tell me now what you were going to say about the Secret Way,' said Julian.
'Oh yes,' said George. 'Well, there may be nothing in my idea at all - but in the study downstairs,there are eight wooden panels over the mantelpiece - and the floor is of stone - and the room faceseast! A bit queer, isn't it? Just what the directions said.'
'Is there a cupboard there too?' asked Julian.
'No. But there is everything else,' said George. 'And I was just wondering if by any chance theentrance to the Secret Way is in this house, not in the farmhouse. After all, they both belonged to myfamily at one time, you know. The people living in the farmhouse years ago must have known allabout this cottage.'
'Golly, George - suppose the entrance was here!' said Dick. 'Wouldn't it be simply marvellous!
Let's go straight down and look!'
'Don't be silly,' said Julian. 'Go down to the study when Uncle Quentin is there? I'd rather meettwenty lions than face Uncle! Especially after what has happened!'
'Well, we simply MUST find out if George's idea is right; we simply must,' said Dick, forgetting towhisper.
'Shut up, idiot!' said Julian, giving him a punch. 'Do you want to bring the whole household up here?'
'Sorry!' said Dick. 'But, oh golly, this is exciting. It's an Adventure again.'
'Just what I said,' said George, eagerly. 'Listen, shall we wait till midnight, and then creep down tothe study when everyone is asleep, and try our luck? There may be nothing in my idea at all -but we'll have to find out now. I don't believe I could go to sleep till I've tried one of those panelsover the mantelpiece to see if something happens.'
'Well, I know I can't sleep a wink14 either,' said Dick. 'Listen - is that someone coming up? We'd bettergo.
Come on, Julian! Meet in George's room at midnight - and we'll creep down and try out George'sidea!'
73
The two boys went off to their own room. Neither of them could sleep a wink. Nor could George. Shelay awake, and went over and over in her mind all that had happened those holidays.
'It's like a jigsaw18 puzzle,' she thought. 'I couldn't understand a lot of things at first - but now they arefitting together, and making a picture.'
Anne was fast asleep. She had to be awakened19 at midnight. 'Come on!' whispered Julian, shaking her.
'Don't you want to share in this adventure?'
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收听单词发音
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1
kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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2
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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5
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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6
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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7
growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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8
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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9
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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12
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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13
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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14
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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15
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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16
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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17
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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18
jigsaw
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| n.缕花锯，竖锯，拼图游戏；vt.用竖锯锯，使互相交错搭接 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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