Chapter Five IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Chapter Five IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
　　MRS. STICK was in such a bad temper that evening that there was no supper at all. Julian went toask about some, but he found the kitchen door locked.
　　He went back to the others with a gloomy face, for they were all hungry. "She's locked the door,"he said. "She really is a dreadful creature. I don't believe we'll get any supper tonight.""We'll have to wait till she goes to bed," said George. "We'll go down and hunt in the larder¹ then, andsee what we can find."
　　They went to bed hungry. Julian listened for Mrs. Stick and Edgar to go to bed, too. When he heardthem going upstairs, and was sure their doors had shut, he slipped down into the kitchen. It was darkthere, and Julian was just about to put on the light when he heard the sound of someone breathingheavily. He wondered who it could be. Was it Stinker? No - it couldn't be the dog. It sounded like ahuman being.
　　Julian stood there, his hand over the light switch, puzzled and a little scared. It couldn't be a burglar,because burglars don't go to sleep in the house they have come to rob. It couldn't be Mrs.
　　Stick or Edgar. Then who was it?
　　He snapped on the light. The kitchen was flooded with radiance, and Julian's eyes fastened on thefigure of a small man lying on the sofa. He was fast asleep, his mouth wide open.
　　He was not a very pleasant sight. He had not shaved for some days, and his cheeks and chin werebluish-black. He didn't seem to have washed for even longer than that, for his hands were black, andso were his finger-nails. He had untidy hair and a nose exactly like Edgar's.
　　"Must be dear Edgar's father," thought Julian to himself. "What a sight! Well, poor Edgar hadn'tmuch chance to be decent with a father and mother like his."The man snored. Julian wondered what to do. He badly wanted to go to the larder, but on the otherhand he didn't particularly want to wake up the man and have a row. He didn't see how he could turnhim out - for all he knew his aunt and uncle might have agreed to Mrs. Stick's husband coming therenow and again, though he hardly thought so.
　　Julian was very hungry. The thought of the good things in the larder made him snap off the lightagain and creep towards the larder door in the dark. He opened the door. He felt along the 21shelves. Good! - that felt like a pie of some sort. He lifted it up and sniffed². It smelt³ of meat. A meat-pie - good!
　　He felt along the shelf again and came to a plate on which were what he thought must be jam-tarts⁴,for they were round and flat, and had something sticky in the middle. Well, a meat-pie and jam-tartsought to be all right for four hungry children!
　　Julian picked up the meat-pie and the dish of tarts, and made his way carefully out of the larder.
　　He pushed the door to with his foot. Then he turned to go out of the room.
　　But in the dark he went the wrong way, and by bad luck walked straight into the sofa! The dish oftarts got a sudden jerk and one of them fell off. It landed on the open mouth of the sleeping man, andwoke him up with a start.
　　"Blow!" said Julian to himself, and began to back away quietly, hoping that the man would turn overand go to sleep again. But the sticky jam-tart sliding down his chin had startled the man, and he satup with a jerk.
　　"Who's there? That you, Edgar? What are you doing down here?"Julian said nothing but sidled towards what he hoped was the door. The man leapt up and lurchedover to where he thought the light switch was. He found it and switched it on. He stared in thegreatest astonishment⁵ at Julian.
　　"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
　　"Just what I was about to ask you? said Julian, coolly. "What do you think you're doing here, sleepingin my uncle's kitchen?"
　　"I've a right to be here," said the man, in a rude voice. "My wife's cook here, isn't she? My ship's inand I'm on leave. Your uncle arranged with my wife I could come here then, see?"Julian had feared as much. How awful to have a Mr. Stick as well as a Mrs. and Master Stick in thehouse! It would be quite unbearable⁶.
　　"I can ask my uncle about it when he telephones in the morning," said Julian. "Now get out of myway, please. I want to go upstairs."
　　"Ho!" said Mr. Stick, eyeing the meat-pie and jam-tarts that Julian was carrying. "Ho! Stealing out ofthe larder, I see! Nice goings-on I must say."Julian was not going to argue with Mr. Stick, who evidently felt that he was top-dog. "Get out of myway," he said. "I will talk to you in the morning after my uncle has telephoned."22
　　Mr. Stick didn't seem as if he was going to get out of the way at all. He stood there, a nasty little man,not much taller than Julian, a sarcastic⁷ smile on his unshaven face.
　　Julian pursed up his lips and whistled. There came a bump on the floor above. That was Timothyjumping off George's bed! Then there came the pattering of feet down the stairs, and up the kitchenpassage. Timmy was coming!
　　He smelt Mr. Stick in the doorway⁸, put up his hackles, bared his teeth and growled⁹. Mr. Stick hastilyremoved himself from the doorway and then neatly¹⁰ banged the door in the dog's face. He grinned atJulian.
　　"Now what are you going to do?" he said.
　　"Shall I tell you?" said Julian, his temper suddenly rising. "I'm going to hurl¹¹ this nice juicy meat-piestraight into your grinning face!"
　　He raised his arm, and Mr. Stick ducked.
　　"Now don't you do that," he said. "I'm only pulling your leg, see? Don't you waste that nice meat-pie.
　　You can go upstairs if you want to."
　　He moved away to the sofa. Julian opened the door and Timothy bounded in growling¹². Mr. Stickeyed him uncomfortably.
　　"Don't you let that nasty great dog come near me," he said. "I don't like dogs.""Then I wonder you don't get rid of Stinker," said Julian. "Come here, Timmy! Leave him alone.
　　He's not worth growling at."
　　Julian went upstairs with Timothy close at his heels. The others crowded round him, wondering whathad happened, for they had heard the voices downstairs. They laughed when Julian told them how hehad nearly thrown the meat-pie at Mr. Stick.
　　"It would have served him right," said Anne, "though it would have been a great pity, because weshouldn't have been able to eat it. Well, Mrs. Stick may be simply horrible, but she can cook.
　　This pie is gorgeous."
　　The children finished all the pie and the tarts, too. Julian told them all about Mr. Stick coming onleave from his ship.
　　"Three Sticks are a lot too much," said Dick thoughtfully. "Pity we can't get rid of them all andmanage for ourselves. George, can't you possibly persuade your father tomorrow to let us get rid ofthe Sticks and look after ourselves?"
　　23
　　"I'll try," said George. "But you know what he is like - awfully¹³ difficult to argue with. But I'll try.
　　Golly, I'm sleepy now. Come on, Timmy, let's get to bed! Lie on my feet. I'm hardly going to let youout of my sight now, in case those awful Sticks poison you!"Soon the four children, now no longer hungry, were sleeping peacefully. They did not fear the Stickscoming up to their rooms, for they knew that Timmy would wake and warn them at once.
　　Timmy was the best guard they could have.
　　In the morning Mrs. Stick actually produced some sort of breakfast, which surprised the children verymuch. "Guess she knows your father will telephone, George," said Julian, "and she wants to keepherself in the right. When did he say he would "phone? Nine o'clock, wasn't it? Well, it's half-pasteight now. Let's go for a quick run down to the beach and back."So off they went, the five of them, ignoring Edgar, who stood in the back garden ready to make someof his silly faces at them. The children couldn't help thinking he must be a bit mad. He didn't behaveat all like a boy of Julian's age.
　　When they came back it was about ten minutes to nine. "We'll sit in the sitting-room¹⁴ till the telephonerings," said Julian. "We don't want Mrs. Stick to answer it first."But to their great dismay, as they reached the house, they heard Mrs. Stick using the telephone in thehall!
　　"Yes, sir," they heard her say, "everything is quite all right. I can manage the children, sir, even ifthey do make things a bit difficult. Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Well, sir, it's lucky my husband is home onleave from his ship, sir, because he can help me round, like, and it makes things easier.
　　Don't you worry about anything, sir, and don't you bother to come back till you're ready. I'll manageeverything."
　　George flew into the hall like a wild thing, and snatched the receiver out of Mrs. Stick's hand.
　　"Father! It's me, George! How's Mother? Tell me quick!""No worse, George," said her father's voice. "But we shan't know anything definite till tomorrowmorning. I'm glad to hear from Mrs. Stick that everything is all right. I'm very upset and worried, andI'm glad to feel I can tell your Mother that you are all right, and everything is going smoothly¹⁵ atKirrin Cottage."
　　"But it isn't," said George, wildly. "It isn't. It's all horrid¹⁶. Can't the Sticks go and let us manage thingsby ourselves?"
　　24
　　"Good gracious me, of course not," said her father's voice, surprised and annoyed. "What can you bethinking of? I did hope, George, that you would be sensible and helpful. I must say...""You talk to him, Julian," said George, helplessly, and thrust the receiver into Julian's hand. The boyput it to his ear and spoke¹⁷ into the telephone in his clear voice.""Good morning, sir. This is Julian! I'm glad my aunt is no worse.""Well, she will be if she thinks things are going wrong at Kirrin Cottage," said Uncle Quentin, in anexasperated voice. "Can't you manage George and make her see reason? Good gracious, can't she putup with the Sticks for a week or two? I tell you frankly¹⁸, Julian, I am not going to sack the Sticks inmy absence - I want the house ready for me to bring back your aunt. If you can't put up with them,you had better find out from your own parents if they can take you back for the rest of the holidays.
　　But George is not to go with you. She is to stay at Kirrin Cottage. That's my last word on thesubject."
　　"But, sir," began Julian, wondering how in the world he could deal properly with his hot-tempereduncle, "I must tell you that . . ."
　　There was a click at the other end of the "phone. Uncle Quentin had put down his receiver and gone.
　　There was no more to be said. Blow! Julian pursed up his mouth and looked round at the others,frowning.
　　"He's gone!" he said. "Cut me off just as I was trying to reason with him.""Serves you right!" said Mrs. Stick's harsh voice from the end of the hall. "Now you know where youstand. I'm here and I'm staying here, on your uncle's orders. And you're all going to behaveyourselves, or it'll be the worse for you."

1 larder   

n.食物贮藏室，食品橱

参考例句：

• Please put the food into the larder.请将您地食物放进食物柜内。
• They promised never to raid the larder again.他们答应不再随便开食橱拿东西吃了。

2 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

4 tarts   

n.果馅饼( tart的名词复数 )；轻佻的女人；妓女；小妞

参考例句：

• I decided to make some tarts for tea. 我决定做些吃茶点时吃的果馅饼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They ate raspberry tarts and ice cream. 大家吃着木莓馅饼和冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

5 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

6 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

7 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

8 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

9 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

11 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

12 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。

13 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。

14 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

15 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

16 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

17 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。

18 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。