Chapter 10 SID'S WONDERFUL EVENING

　　Chapter 10 SID'S WONDERFUL EVENING
　　Sid, the paper-boy, was most amazed to find himself yanked quickly through the front door by Julian.
　　He was even more amazed to find his very lurid¹ check cap snatched off his head, and his bag ofpapers torn from his shoulder.
　　'Ere!' he said feebly. 'What you doing?'
　　'It's all right, Sid,' said Julian, holding him firmly. 'Just a joke. We've got a little treat in store for you.'
　　Sid didn't like jokes of this sort. He struggled, but soon gave it up. Julian was big and strong and verydetermined. Sid turned and watched Dick stride out with his bright check cap sideways on his head,and his paper-bag over his shoulder. He gasped² when he saw Dick leap on the bicyle that he, Sid, hadleft by the gate, and go sailing off up the lane on it.
　　'What's he doing?' he asked Julian, amazed. 'Funny sort of joke this.'
　　'I know. Hope you don't mind,' said Julian, leading him firmly into the sitting-room³.
　　'Somebody betted him he wouldn't deliver the papers, maybe?' said Sid. 'So he's taken the bet on?'
　　'You're clever, you are, Sid,' said Julian, and Sid beamed all over his round, simple face.
　　'Well, I hope he'll deliver them all right,' he said. 'Anyway, there's only two more, up at the farm.
　　Yours is the last house but one that I go to. When's he coming back?'
　　'Soon,' said Julian. 'Will you stay and have supper with us, Sid?'
　　Sid's eyes nearly fell out of his head. 'Supper with you folks?' he said. 'Coo! That'd be a rare treat!'
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　　'All right. You sit and look at these books,' said Julian, giving him two or three story books belongingto Anne. 'I'll just go and tell our cook to make a specially⁴ nice supper for you.'
　　Sid was all at sea about this unexpected treat, but quite willing to accept a free meal and sit down. Hesat beaming on the couch, turning over the pages of a fairy-story book. Coo! What would his mothersay when she heard he'd had supper at Kirrin Cottage? She wouldn't half be surprised, thought Sid.
　　And now Julian had to tackle Joan, and get her to join in their little plot. He went into the kitchen andshut the door. He looked so grave that Joan was startled.
　　'What's the matter?' she said.
　　Julian told her. He told her about the kidnapping of George, and the strange note. He gave it to her toread. She sat down, her knees beginning to shake.
　　'It's the kind of thing you read in the papers, Master Julian,' she said, in rather a shaky voice. 'But it'squeer when it happens to you! I don't like it - that's flat, I don't.'
　　'Nor do we,' said Julian, and went on to tell Joan all they had arranged to do. She smiled a waterysmile when he told her how Dick had gone off as the paper-boy in order to watch who took thenotebook that night, and described how surprised Sid was.
　　'That Sid!' she said. 'We'll never hear the last of it, down in the village - him being invited here tosupper. He's simple, that boy, but there's no harm in him.
　　'I'll get him a fine supper, don't you worry. And I'll come and sit with you tonight in the lighted room- we'll play a card game, see? One that Sid knows - he's never got much beyond Snap and HappyFamilies.'
　　'That's a very good idea,' said Julian, who had been wondering how in the world they could amuseSid all the evening. 'We'll play Snap - and let him win!'
　　Sid was quite overcome at his wonderful evening. First there was what he called a 'smasher of asupper,' with ham and eggs and chip potatoes followed by jam tarts⁵ and a big chocolate mould, ofwhich Sid ate about three-quarters.
　　'I'm partial to chocolate mould,' he explained to Anne. 'Joan knows that - she knows I'm partial toanything in the chocolate line. She's friendly with my Mum, so she knows. The things I'm partial to Ilike very much, see?'
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　　Anne giggled⁶ and agreed. She was enjoying Sid, although she was very worried and anxious. But Sidwas so comical. He didn't mean to be. He was just enjoying himself hugely, and he said so everyother minute.
　　In fact, he was really a very nice guest to have. It wasn't everybody who could welcome everythingwith so much gusto and say how wonderful it was half a dozen times on end.
　　He went out to the kitchen after supper and offered to wash up for Joan. 'I always do it for Mum,'
　　he said. 'I won't break a thing.' So he did the washing up and Anne did the drying. Julian thought itwas a good thing to give her as much to do as possible, to stop her worrying.
　　Sid looked a bit taken-aback when he was asked to play games later on. 'Well - I dunno,' he said.
　　'I'm not much good at games. I did try to learn draughts⁷, but all that jumping over one another got memuddled. If I want to jump over things I'll play leap-frog and do the thing properly.'
　　'Well - we did think of playing Snap,' said Julian, and Sid brightened up at once.
　　'Snap! That's right up my street!' he said. And so it was. His habit of shouting snap and collecting allthe cards at the same moment as his shout, led to his winning quite a lot of games. He was delighted.
　　'This is a smasher of an evening,' he kept saying. 'Don't know when I've enjoyed myself so much.
　　Wonder how that brother of yours is getting on - hope he brings my bike back all right.'
　　'Oh, he will,' said Julian, dealing⁸ out the cards for the sixth game of Snap. They were all in the lightedsitting-room now, sitting round a table in the window - Julian, Joan, Anne and Sid.
　　Anyone watching would see them clearly - and would certainly not guess that Sid, the fourth one,was the paper-boy and not Dick.
　　At eleven o'clock Julian left to put the parcel that Anne had carefully wrapped up under the stone atthe bottom of the garden. She had found a big notebook she thought would do, one that didn't seem atall important, and had wrapped it in paper and tied it with string. Julian had slipped a note inside.
　　Here is the notebook. Please release our cousin at once. You will get into serious trouble if you holdher any longer.
　　He slipped down the garden and shone his torch on the crazy paving there. When he came to the laststone he found that it had been loosened. He lifted it up easily and put the parcel into a 40hollow that seemed to have been prepared ready for it. He took a cautious look round, wondering ifDick was hidden anywhere about, but could see no one.
　　He was back in the lighted sitting-room in under two minutes, yelling 'Snap' with the others. Heplayed stupidly, partly because he wanted the delighted Sid to win and partly because he waswondering about Dick. Was he all right?
　　An outbreak of owls⁹ hooting¹⁰ loudly made them all jump. Julian glanced at Joan and Anne, and theynodded. They guessed that it was the signal to tell them that the parcel had been found and collected.
　　Now they could get rid of Sid, and wait for Dick.
　　Joan disappeared and came back with cups of chocolate and some buns. Sid's eyes gleamed. Talkabout an evening!
　　Another hour was spent in eating and drinking and hearing Sid relate details of all the most excitinggames of Snap he had ever played. He then went on to talk of Happy Families and seemed inclined tostay a bit longer and have a game at that.
　　'Your Mum will be getting worried about you,' said Julian, looking at the clock. 'It's very late.'
　　'Where's my bike?' said Sid, realizing with sorrow that his 'smasher of an evening' was now over.
　　'Hasn't that brother of yours come back yet? Well, you tell him to leave it at my house in time for mypaper-round tomorrow morning. And my cap, too. That's my Special Cap, that is. I'm very partial tothat cap - it's a bit of a smasher.'
　　'It certainly is,' agreed Julian, who was now feeling very tired. 'Now listen, Sid. It's very late, andthere may be bad folks about. If anyone speaks to you, run for your life, and don't stop till you gethome.'
　　'Coo,' said Sid, his eyes nearly falling out of his head. 'Yes, I'll run all right.'
　　He shook hands solemnly with each of them and departed. He whistled loudly to keep his spirits up.
　　The village policeman came unexpectedly round a corner on rubber soles and made him jump.
　　'Now then, young Sid,' said the policeman, sternly. 'What you doing out this time of night?'
　　Sid didn't wait to answer. He fled and when he got home there was his bicycle by the front gate,complete with checked cap and paper-bag. 'That was a bit of all right!' thought Sid.
　　He glanced in disappointment at the dark windows of his house. Mum was in bed and asleep.
　　Now he would have to wait till morning to tell her of his most remarkable¹¹ evening.
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　　And now, what had happened to Dick? He had shot out of the house and sailed away on Sid's bicycle,with Sid's dazzling cap on his head. He thought he saw a movement in the hedge nearby and guessedsomeone was hidden there, watching. He deliberately¹² slowed down, got off his bicycle and pretendedto do something to the wheel. Let the watcher see his bag of papers and be deceived into thinking hewas without any doubt the paper-boy.
　　He rode to the farm and delivered the two papers there, then down to the village where he left Sid'sthings outside his house. Then he went into the cinema for a long while - until it was dark and hecould safely creep back to Kirrin Cottage.
　　He set off at last, going a very roundabout way indeed. He came to the back of Kirrin garden.
　　Where should he hide? Was anyone already hidden there? If so, the game was up - and he'd becaught, too!

1 lurid   

adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的

参考例句：

• The paper gave all the lurid details of the murder.这份报纸对这起凶杀案耸人听闻的细节描写得淋漓尽致。
• The lurid sunset puts a red light on their faces.血红一般的夕阳映红了他们的脸。

2 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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。

4 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

5 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

6 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 draughts   

n. <英>国际跳棋

参考例句：

• Seal (up) the window to prevent draughts. 把窗户封起来以防风。
• I will play at draughts with him. 我跟他下一盘棋吧！

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

10 hooting   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩

参考例句：

• He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
• The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。

11 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

12 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。