Chapter 13 AILY IS SURPRISING

Chapter 13 AILY IS SURPRISING
Aily was not shy this time. She did not run away when Julian opened the door. She was still dressedin the same few clothes, but her face glowed, and she certainly didn't look cold!
'Hallo, Aily!' said Julian. 'Come along in. We're having dinner - and there is plenty for you!'
The dog ran right up to the door and into the room, when he smelt¹ the dinner there. Timmy lookedmost surprised, and gave a very small growl².
'No, Tim, no - he's your guest,' said George. 'Remember your manners, please!'
The small dog wagged his tail vigorously. 'There, Timmy! He's telling you not to be afraid of him; hewon't hurt you!' said Anne, which made everyone laugh. Timmy wagged his tail vigorously, too, andthe pair were friends at once.
Aily came in then, the lamb in her arms, in case Timmy might object to him. But Timmy didn't.
He was very interested in the little creature, and when Aily set him down and let him run about theroom, Timmy ran sniffing³ after him, his tail still wagging fast.
Anne offered the untidy little girl some of the meat but she shook her head and pointed⁴ at the cheese.
'Aily like,' she said, and looked on in delight as Anne cut her a generous piece. She sat down on thefloor to eat it, and the lamb came along and nibbled⁵ at it too. It really was a dear little thing.
'Fany bach!' said the child, and kissed his little nose.
' 'Bach' is Welsh for 'dear', isn't it?' said Anne. She touched Aily on the arm. 'Aily bach!' she said, andthe child smiled a sudden sweet smile at her.
'Where did you sleep last night, Aily?' asked George. 'Your mother was looking for you.'
But she had spoken too quickly, and Aily didn't understand. George repeated her words slowly.
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Aily nodded. 'In the hay,' she said. 'Down at Magga Farm.'
'Aily, listen - who lives at Old Towers?' asked Julian, speaking as slowly and clearly as he could.
'Many peoples,' said Aily, pointing to the cheese, to show that she wanted another piece. 'Big mans,little mans. Big dog, too. More big than him!' and she pointed at Timmy.
The others looked at one another in surprise. Many men! Whatever were they doing at Old Towers?
'And yet that caretaker fellow said he was the only one there!' said George.
'Aily, listen - is there - an - old - lady - there?' asked Julian, slowly. 'An - old - lady?'
Aily nodded her head. 'Yes - one old lady I see her high up in tower - sometime she not see Aily.
Aily hide.'
'Where do you hide?' asked Dick, curiously⁶.
'Aily not tell, never not tell,' said the child, looking through half-closed eyes at Dick, as if she kepther secrets behind them.
'Did you see the old lady when you were in the fields?' asked Julian. Aily considered this, and shookher head.
'Well, where then?' asked Julian. 'Look - you shall have some of this chocolate if you can tell me.' Heheld the bar of chocolate just out of her reach. She looked at it with bright eyes.
Obviously chocolate was a rare treat for her. She reached out suddenly for it, but Julian was too quickfor her.
'No. You tell me what I ask you,' he said. 'Then you shall have the chocolate.'
Aily suddenly hit out with her hands and gave him a good punch in the chest. He laughed and tookboth her small hands in his big one.
'No, Aily, no. I am your friend. You do not hit a friend.'
'I know where you were, when you saw the old lady!' said Dick, slyly. 'Aily - you were in thegrounds - in the garden!'
'How you know?' cried Aily. She dragged her hands out of Julian's hand, and leapt to her feet, facingDick, looking furious and frightened.
'Here - don't get so upset,' said Dick, astonished.
'How you know?' demanded Aily again. 'You not tell no one?'
'Of course I've told no one,' said Dick, who had only just thought of the idea that very moment.
'Aha! So you get into the grounds of Old Towers, do you? How do you get in?'
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'Aily not tell,' said the little girl, and suddenly burst into tears. Anne put her arm round her to comforther, but the child pushed it roughly away. 'He - Dave - went there, not me, not Aily.
Poor Dave - big dog bark, wuff-wuff, like that - and... and...'
'And so you went in to get Dave, didn't you?' said Dick. 'Good little Aily, brave Aily.'
The little girl rubbed her tears away with a grubby hand, and left black streaks⁷ down her cheeks.
She smiled at Dick, and nodded. 'Good Aily!' she repeated, and took the little dog on her knee andhugged him. 'Poor Dave bach!'
'So she got into the grounds, did she?' said Julian, in a low voice to Dick. 'I wonder how?
Through the hedge perhaps. Aily - we want to see this old lady. Can we get through the hedge roundthe garden?'
'No,' said Aily, shaking her head vigorously. 'Fence there - big high fence that bites.'
Everyone laughed at the idea of a biting fence. But George guessed what she meant. 'An electricfence!' she said. 'So that's what they've put round. My word - the place is like a fort! Locked gates, afierce dog, an electric fence!'
'How on earth did Aily get in, then?' said Dick. 'Aily - have you seen this old woman many times?
Has she seen you?'
Aily didn't understand and he had to ask his questions again, more simply. The child nodded herhead. 'Many times Aily see her - up high - and one time she see Aily. She throw out papers -little bits - out of the window.'
'Aily - did you pick them up?' said Julian, sitting up straight at once. 'Was there writing on them?'
Everyone waited for Aily's answers. She nodded her head. 'Yes. Writings like they do at school -pen writings.'
'Did you read any of them?' asked Dick.
Aily suddenly wore a hunted expression. She shook her head - then she nodded it. 'Yes, Aily readthem,' she said. 'They say 'Good morning, Aily. How are you, Aily?' '
'Does the old woman know you then?' asked Dick, surprised.
'No, she not know Aily - only Aily's Mam,' said the child. 'She say on her papers 'Aily, you good girl.
Aily, you very good!' '
'She's not telling the truth now,' said Dick, noticing that the child would not look at them when shespoke. 'I wonder why?'
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'I think I know,' said Anne. She took a piece of paper and wrote on it clearly. 'Good morning, Aily.'
Then she showed it to the child. 'Read that, Aily,' she said.
But Aily couldn't! She had no idea what was written on the paper.
'She can't even read,' said Anne. 'And she was ashamed, so she pretended she could. Never mind,Aily! Listen - have you any of those bits of paper that the old woman dropped?'
Aily felt about in her few clothes, and at last produced a piece of paper that looked as if it had beentorn from the top of a page in a book. She gave it to Dick.
All the four bent⁸ over it, reading what was written there, in small, rather illegible⁹ writing.
'I want help. I am a prisoner here, in my own house, while terrible things go on. They have killed myson. Help me, help me! Bronwen Thomas.'
'Good gracious!' said Julian, very startled. 'I say - this is extraordinary, isn't it! Do you think we oughtto show it to the police?'
'Well - there is probably only one policeman shared between three or four of these little places,'
said Dick. 'And there's another thing - the old lady might be off her head, you know. What she saysmay not be true.'
'How can we possibly find out if it is or not?' said George.
Dick turned to Aily. 'Aily - we want to see the old lady - we want to take her something nice to eat -she is all by herself, she is sad. Will you show us the way into the grounds?'
'No,' said Aily, shaking her head vigorously. 'Big dog there - dog with teeth like this!' And she baredher own small white teeth and snarled¹⁰, much to Timmy's astonishment¹¹. The children laughed.
'Well - we can't make her tell us,' said Julian. 'And anyway, even if we got into the grounds, that dogwould be there - and - I don't fancy him, somehow.'
'Aily show you way into house,' suddenly said the small girl, much to everyone's astonishment.
They all stared at her.
'Into the house!' said Dick. 'But - you'd have to show us the way into the grounds first if we are to getinto the house, Aily!'
'No,' said Aily, shaking her head. 'Aily show you way to house. Aily do that. No big dog there!'
Just then Timmy began to bark, and someone came by the door, looking in as she passed. It wasAily's mother, who had again been to take some things to her shepherd husband. She saw Aily sittingon the floor and gave an angry shout. Then standing¹² at the door she poured out a long 58string of Welsh words which the children didn't understand. In a great fright Aily ran straight to acupboard, her dog and lamb with her.
But it was no good. Her mother stormed into the hut and dragged Aily out, shaking her well.
Timmy growled¹³, but Aily's little dog was as frightened as she was, and the lamb bleated¹⁴ pitifully inthe child's arms.
'I take Aily home!' said her angry mother, glaring at the four children as if she thought they wereresponsible for the child's keeping away from home. 'I whip her well!'
And out she went, holding the protesting child firmly by one arm. The children could do nothing.
After all, she was Aily's mother, and the child really was a little monkey, the way she wanderedround the country.
'You know - I think we'd better go down to the farm and tell Morgan what we know,' said Julian,making up his mind. 'I really do. If this thing is serious - and if the old lady is really a prisoner - Idon't see how we can do a thing - but Morgan might be able to. He'd know the police for one thing.
Come on - let's go down now. We can stay at the farm for the night if it gets dark. Buck¹⁵ up- let's go straightaway!'

1 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。

2 growl   

v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣

参考例句：

• The dog was biting,growling and wagging its tail.那条狗在一边撕咬一边低声吼叫，尾巴也跟着摇摆。
• The car growls along rutted streets.汽车在车辙纵横的街上一路轰鸣。

3 sniffing   

n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；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：

• We all had colds and couldn't stop sniffing and sneezing. 我们都感冒了，一个劲地抽鼻子，打喷嚏。
• They all had colds and were sniffing and sneezing. 他们都伤风了，呼呼喘气而且打喷嚏。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 nibbled   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• She nibbled daintily at her cake. 她优雅地一点一点地吃着自己的蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Several companies have nibbled at our offer. 若干公司表示对我们的出价有兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

7 streaks   

n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• streaks of grey in her hair 她头上的绺绺白发
• Bacon has streaks of fat and streaks of lean. 咸肉中有几层肥的和几层瘦的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 illegible   

adj.难以辨认的，字迹模糊的

参考例句：

• It is impossible to deliver this letter because the address is illegible.由于地址字迹不清，致使信件无法投递。
• Can you see what this note says—his writing is almost illegible!你能看出这个便条上写些什么吗？他的笔迹几乎无法辨认。

10 snarled   

v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说

参考例句：

• The dog snarled at us. 狗朝我们低声吼叫。
• As I advanced towards the dog, It'snarled and struck at me. 我朝那条狗走去时，它狂吠着向我扑来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 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。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

13 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》

14 bleated   

v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的过去式和过去分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说

参考例句：

• The lost lamb bleated. 迷路的小羊咩咩的叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She bleated her disapproval of her son's marriage to Amy. 她用颤抖的声音表示不赞成儿子与艾米的婚事。 来自辞典例句

15 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。