登陆注册
15420600000011

第11章 THE INHERITANCE(11)

"If you want a drink of water thar's a bucket in the porch," said Fletcher, as he opened the back door and reached out into the moonlight."Wait thar a second and I'll hand you the dipper."He stepped out upon the porch, and a moment later Carraway heard a heavy stumble followed by a muttered oath.

"Why, blast the varmints! I've upset the boy's cage of white mice and they're skedaddling about my legs.Here! hold the lamp, will you--I'm squashing a couple of 'em under each of my hands."Carraway, leaning out with the lamp, which drew a brilliant circle on the porch, saw Fletcher floundering helplessly upon his hands and knees in the midst of the fleeing family of mice.

"They're a plagued mess of beasts, that's what they are," he exclaimed, "but the little lad sets a heap of store by 'em, and when he comes down tomorrow he'll find that I got some of 'em back, anyway."He fastened the cage and placed it carefully beneath the bench.

Then, closing and bolting the door, he took the lamp from Carraway and motioned him up the dusky staircase to the spare chamber at the top.

CHAPTER V.The Wreck of the Blakes When Christopher left Blake Hall, he swung vigorously in the twilight across the newly ploughed fields, until, at the end of a few minutes' walk, he reached the sunken road that branched off by the abandoned ice-pond.Here the bullfrogs were still croaking hoarsely, and far away over the gray-green rushes a dim moon was mounting the steep slope of bluish sky.

The air was fresh with the scent of the upturned earth, and the closing day refined into a tranquil beauty; but the young man, as he passed briskly, did not so much as draw a lengthened breath, and when presently the cry of a whip-poor-will floated from the old rail fence, he fell into a whistling mockery of the plaintive notes.The dogs at his heels started a rabbit once from the close cover of the underbrush, and he called them to order in a sharp, peremptory tone.Not until he reached the long, whitewashed gate opening before the frame house of the former overseers did he break the easy swing of his accustomed stride.

The house, a common country dwelling of the sort used by the poorer class of farmers, lost something of its angularity beneath the moonlight, and even the half-dried garments, spread after the day's washing on the bent old rose-bushes, shone in soft white patches amid the grass, which looked thick and fine under the heavy dew.In one corner of the yard there was a spreading peach-tree, on which the shriveled little peaches ripened out of season, and against the narrow porch sprawled a gray and crippled aspen, where a flock of turkeys had settled to roost along its twisted boughs.

In one of the lower rooms a lamp was burning, and as Christopher crunched heavily along the pebbled path, a woman with a piece of sewing in her hand came into the hall and spoke his name.

"Christopher, you are late."

Her voice was deep and musical, with a richness of volume which raised deluding hopes of an impassioned beauty in the speaker--who, as she crossed the illumined square of the window-frame, showed as a tall, thin woman of forty years, with squinting eyes, and a face whose misshapen features stood out like the hasty drawing for a grotesque.When she reached him Christopher turned from the porch, and they walked together slowly out into the moonlight, passing under the aspen where the turkeys stirred and fluttered in their sleep.

"Has her cat come home, Cynthia?" were the young man's first anxious words.

"About sunset.Uncle Boaz found her over at Aunt Daphne's, hunting mice under the joists.Mother had fretted terribly over the loss.""Is she easier now?"

"Much more so, but she still asks for the port.We pretend that Uncle Boaz has mislaid the key of the wine-cellar.She upbraided him, and he bore it so patiently, poor old soul!"Christopher quickly reached into the deep pocket of his overalls and drew out the scanty wages of his last three days' labour.

"Send this by somebody down to Tompkins," he said, "and get the wine he ordered.He refuses to sell on credit any longer, so Ihad to find the money."

She looked up, startled.

"Oh, Christopher, you have worked for Fletcher?"Tears shone in her eyes and her mouth quivered."Oh, Christopher!" she repeated, and the emotional quality in her voice rang strong and true.He fell back, angered, while the hand she had stretched out dropped limply to her side.

"For God's sake, don't snivel," he retorted harshly."Send the money and give her the wine, but dole it out like a miser, for where the next will come from is more than I can tell.""The pay for my sewing is due in three days," said Cynthia, raising her roughened hand on which the needle-scars showed even in the moonlight."Mother has worried so to-day that I couldn't work except at odd moments, but I can easily manage to sit up to-night and get it done.She thinks I'm embroidering an ottoman, you see, and this evening she asked to feel the silks."He uttered a savage exclamation.

"Oh, I gave her some ravellings from an old tidy," she hastened to assure him."She played with them awhile and knew no better, as I told her the colours one by one.Afterward she planned all kinds of samplers and fire-screens that I might work.Her own knitting has wearied her of late, so we haven't been obliged to buy the yarn.""She doesn't suspect, you think?"

Cynthia shook her head."After fifteen years of deception there's no danger of my telling the truth to-day.I only wish I could,"she added, with that patient dignity which is the outward expression of complete renouncement.When she lifted her tragic face the tears on her cheeks softened the painful hollows, as the moonbeams, playing over her gown of patched and faded silk, revived for a moment the freshness of its discoloured flowers.

同类推荐
  • 匡谬正俗

    匡谬正俗

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 摄大乘论章卷第一

    摄大乘论章卷第一

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 难经古义

    难经古义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 偃溪广闻禅师语录

    偃溪广闻禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 治期篇

    治期篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 帕拉丁传奇

    帕拉丁传奇

    北欧古时,在一个叫做"佑拉"的大陆上,存在着以剑术来制裁邪恶武士们.他们,被誉为是茉莉安女神的"帕拉丁".一场神魔战争使茉莉安女神遗憾的消逝了.即使在若干年后,人们也从没忘记过带来幸福与和平的茉莉安女神,信仰依旧如故.随着时间的推移,帕拉丁一代代的传下来.而我们的故事,就在这样一个背景下展开了……
  • 网游之神级主角

    网游之神级主角

    2488年第三次世界大战过后,人类进入了新的纪元!随着科技的不断进步,终于,一款新的划时代的游戏《幻境》即将问世。李青云,一个身世未知的男孩!利用其强大的黑客技术成为了《幻境》第1001位内测玩家。更是掌握无数人不知道的秘密!科技与古武并存,大家族之间的争斗,更有外国势力入侵,且看主角如何在众多势力中脱引而出,最后封神!
  • 星战银河

    星战银河

    什么是道义,什么是对错,什么是权力,什么是造化。我不入地狱谁入地狱。
  • 大罗天仙在都市

    大罗天仙在都市

    他,圣天仙君,是修仙界天道十三位仙君之首,统辖二十四位灵道仙君,三十六位人道仙君,以及无数的仙将,权力至高无上。无奈,却遭人暗算,夺取仙君首位,被迫轮回转世。没想到这一转,却转出了别样的人生。她,只是一名普普通通的高三学生,每天都要在学海之中奔波。可是,自从遇到他之后,她的人生,发生了巨大的变化。高考,鬼怪,美女,只要遇到,通通搞定!
  • 守护你成神

    守护你成神

    亿万年来唯二之一成神了的仙兽,为复活爱人散尽神力,涅槃重生,记忆全失,重新开始生活。守护了一万年的龙皇,深爱着自己的“哥哥”,放荡不羁的黎月帝国皇子……到底谁才是真爱?真相大白时,是谁伤了谁的心,又是谁为谁设的局?
  • 修仙恩仇记

    修仙恩仇记

    每一个读修仙小说的人都有一个修仙梦,《修仙恩仇记》就是我的一个修仙梦
  • 神遗灭

    神遗灭

    神之浩劫,百灭绝;强者一怒,血贱千里。神亦魔,亦在一息之间。神秘的极灵湖,让人颤抖的荒古遗渊!一把不知是何种品级的血灵剑。为何有那么多迷,吾将一一解开。
  • 最温暖

    最温暖

    谁会在乎我过得好不好?庆余,我在乎,晏宁在心里又重复了一遍,我在乎。一个是传说中的高岭之花,一个是墙边的烂泥巴。论男神如何眼瞎看上她。
  • 伪娃娃的冰山老板

    伪娃娃的冰山老板

    为你绽放,为你凋谢,失去了缘分的人,即使在同一个城市里也不太容易碰到。(各位读者,我不太会写简介,你们喜欢就进来读一下^O^)谢谢了
  • 那年一起走过的路

    那年一起走过的路

    六年青春,六年陪伴,六年情谊,青春不散!不完美我们,不完美的生活,不完美的一切,可是,那又如何?不完美的世界!小学最后一年,永远不散!那些年我们一起走过的路,一起经历过的风雨...