【英文读物】The Yacht Club.docx

上传人:破*** 文档编号:5316948 上传时间:2022-01-01 格式:DOCX 页数:150 大小:179.66KB
返回 下载 相关 举报
【英文读物】The Yacht Club.docx_第1页
第1页 / 共150页
【英文读物】The Yacht Club.docx_第2页
第2页 / 共150页
点击查看更多>>
资源描述

《【英文读物】The Yacht Club.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《【英文读物】The Yacht Club.docx(150页珍藏版)》请在得力文库 - 分享文档赚钱的网站上搜索。

1、【英文读物】The Yacht ClubPREFACE.The Yacht Club is the second volume of the Yacht Club Series, to which it gives a name; and like its predecessor, is an independent story. The hero has not before appeared, though some of the characters of Little Bobtail take part in the incidents: but each volume may be

2、read understandingly without any knowledge of the contents of the other. In this story, the interest centres in Don John, the Boat-builder, who is certainly a very enterprising young man, though his achievements have been more than paralleled in the domain of actual life.Like the first volume of the

3、 series, the incidents of the story transpire on the waters of the beautiful Penobscot Bay, and on its shores. They include several yacht races, which must be more interesting to those who are engaged in the exciting sport of yachting, than to others. But the principal incidents are distinct from th

4、e aquatic narrative; and those who are not interested in boats and boating will find that Don John and Nellie Patterdale do not spend all their time on the water.6The hero is a young man of high aims and noble purposes: and the writer believes that it is unpardonable to awaken the interest and sympa

5、thy of his readers for any other than high-minded and well-meaning characters. But he is not faultless; he makes some grave mistakes, even while he has high aims. The most important lesson in morals to be derived from his experience is that it is unwise and dangerous for young people to conceal thei

6、r actions from their parents and friends; and that men and women who seek concealment choose darkness because their deeds are evil.Harrison Square, Boston,May 22, 1873.CHAPTER I. DON JOHN OF BELFAST, AND FRIENDS.Why, Don John, how you frightened me! exclaimed Miss Nellie Patterdale, as she sprang up

7、 from her reclining position in a lolling-chair.It was an intensely warm day near the close of June, and the young lady had chosen the coolest and shadiest place she could find on the piazza of her fathers elegant mansion in Belfast. She was as pretty as she was bright and vivacious, and was a gener

8、al favorite among the pupils of the High School, which she attended. She was deeply absorbed in the reading of a story in one of the July magazines, which had12 just come from the post-office, when she heard a step near her. The sound startled her, it was so near; and, looking up, she discovered the

9、 young man whom she had spoken to close beside her. He was not Don John of Austria, but Donald John Ramsay of Belfast, who had been addressed by his companions simply as Don, a natural abbreviation of his first name, until he of Austria happened to be mentioned in the history recitation in school, w

10、hen the whole class looked at Don, and smiled; some of the girls even giggled, and got a check for it; but the republican young gentleman became a titular Spanish hidalgo from that moment. Though he was the son of a boat-builder, by trade a ship carpenter, he was a good-looking, and gentlemanly fell

11、ow, and was treated with kindness and consideration by most of the sons and daughters of the wealthy men of Belfast, who attended the High School. It was hardly a secret that Don John regarded Miss Nellie with especial admiration, or that, while he was polite to all the young ladies, he was particul

12、arly so to her. It is a fact, too, that he blushed when she turned her startled gaze upon him on the13 piazza; and it is just as true that Miss Nellie colored deeply, though it may have been only the natural consequence of her surprise.I beg your pardon, Nellie; I did not mean to frighten you, repli

13、ed Donald.I dont suppose you did, Don John; but you startled me just as much as though you had meant it, added she, with a pleasant smile, so forgiving that the young man had no fear of the consequences. How terribly hot it is! I am almost melted.It is very warm, answered Donald, who, somehow or oth

14、er, found it very difficult to carry on a conversation with Nellie; and his eyes seemed to him to be twice as serviceable as his tongue.It is dreadful warm.And so they went on repeating the same thing over and over again, till there was no other known form of expression for warm weather.How in the w

15、orld did you get to the side of my chair without my hearing you? demanded Nellie, when it was evidently impossible to say anything more about the heat.I came up the front steps, and was walking around on the piazza to your fathers library. I14 didnt see you till you spoke, replied Donald, reminded b

16、y this explanation that he had come to Captain Patterdales house for a purpose. Is Ned at home?No; he has gone up to Searsport to stay over Sunday with uncle Henry.Has he? Im sorry. Is your father at home?He is in his library, and there is some one with him. Wont you sit down, Don John?Thank you, ad

17、ded Donald, seating himself in a rustic chair. It is very warm this afternoon.Nellie actually laughed, for she was conscious of the difficulties of the situationmore so than her visitor. But we must do our herofor such he isthe justice to say, that he did not refer to the exhausted topic with the in

18、tention of confining the conversation to it, but to introduce the business which had called him to the house.It is intensely hot, Don John, laughed Nellie.But I was going to ask you if you would not like to take a sail, said Donald, with a blush. With your father, I mean, added he, with a deeper blu

19、sh, as he realized that he had15 actually asked a girl to go out in a boat with him.I should be delighted to go, but I cant. Mother wont let me go on the water when the sun is out, it hurts my eyes so, answered Nellie; and the young man was sure she was very sorry she could not go.Perhaps we can go

20、after sunset, then, suggested Donald. I am sorry Ned is not at home; for his yacht is finished, and father says the paint is dry enough to use her. We are going to have a little trial trip in her over to Turtle Head, and, perhaps, round by Searsport.Is the Sea Foam really done? asked Nellie, her eye

21、s sparkling with delight.Yes, she is all ready, and father will deliver her to Ned on Monday, if everything works right about her. I thought some of your folks, especially Ned, would like to be in her on the first trip.I should, for one; but I suppose it is no use for me to think of it. My eyes are

22、ever so much better, and I hope I shall be able to sail in the Sea Foam soon.I hope so, too. We expect she will beat the Skylark; father thinks she will.16I dont care whether she does or not, laughed Nellie.Do you think I could see your father just a moment? asked Donald. I only want to know whether

23、 or not he will go with us.I think so; I will go and speak to him. Come in, Don John, replied Nellie, rising from her lolling-chair, and walking around the corner of the house to the front door.Donald followed her. The elegant mansion was located on a corner lot, with a broad hall through the centre

24、 of it, on one side of which was the large drawing-room, and on the other the sitting and dining-rooms. At the end of the great hall was a door opening into the library, a large apartment, which occupied the whole of a one-story addition to the original structure. It had also an independent outside

25、door, which opened upon the piazza; and opposite to it was a flight of steps, down to the gravel walk terminating at a gate on the cross street. People who came to see Captain Patterdale on business could enter at this gate, and go to the library without passing through the house. On the present occ

26、asion, a horse and wagon stood at the gate, which indi17cated to Miss Nellie that her father was engaged. This team had stood there for an hour, and Donald had watched it for half that time, waiting for the owner to leave, though he was not at all anxious to terminate the interview with his fair sch

27、oolmate.Nellie knocked at the library door, and her father told her to come in. She passed in, while Donald waited the pleasure of the rich man in the hall.He was invited to enter. Captain Patterdale was evidently bored by his visitor, and gave the young man a cordial greeting. Donald stated his bus

28、iness very briefly; but the captain did not say whether he would or would not go upon the trial trip of the Sea Foam. He asked a hundred questions about the new yacht, and it was plain that he did not care to resume the conversation with his visitor, who walked nervously about the room, apparently v

29、exed at the interruption, and dissatisfied thus far with the result of his interview with the captain.What would have appeared to be true to an observer was actually so. The visitor was one Jacob Hasbrook, from a neighboring town, and his reputation for honesty and fair dealings was not the18 best i

30、n the world. Captain Patterdale held his note, without security, for thirteen hundred and fifty dollars. Hasbrook had property, but his creditors were never sure of him till they were paid. At the present interview he had astonished Captain Patterdale by paying the note in full, with interest, on th

31、e day it became due. But it was soon clear enough to the rich man that the payment was only a blind to induce him to embark in a doubtful speculation with Hasbrook. The nature and immense profits of the enterprise had been eloquently set forth by the visitor, and his own capacity to manage it enlarg

32、ed upon; but the nabob, who had made his fortune by hard work, was utterly wanting in enthusiasm. He had received the money in payment of his note, which he had expected to lose, or to obtain only after resorting to legal measures, and he was fully determined to have nothing more to do with the man.

33、 He had said all this as mildly as he could; but Hasbrook was persistent, and probably felt that in paying an honest debt he had thrown away thirteen hundred and fifty dollars.He would not go, though Captain Patterdale19 gave him sufficient excuse for doing so, or even for cutting his acquaintance.

34、The rich man continued to talk with Don John, to the intense disgust of the speculator, who stood looking at a tin box, painted green, which lay on a chair. Perhaps he looked upon this box as the grave of his hopes; for it contained the money he had just paid to the captainthe wasted money, because

35、the rich man would not embark with him in his brilliant enterprise, though he had taken so much pains, and parted with so much money, to prove that he was an honest man. He appeared to be interested in the box, and he looked at it all the time, with only an impatient glance occasionally at the nabob

36、, who appeared to be trifling with his bright hopes. The tin chest was about nine inches each way, and contained the private papers and other valuables of the rich man, including, now, the thirteen hundred and fifty dollars just received.Captain Patterdale was president of the Twenty-first National

37、Bank of Belfast, which was located a short distance from his house. The tin box was kept in the vaults of the bank; but the owner had taken it home to examine some documents at his leisure, intending to return it to the bank20 before night. As it was in the library when Mr. Hasbrook called, the mone

38、y was deposited in it for safe keeping over night.Im afraid I cant go with you, Donald, said Captain Patterdale, after he had asked him all the questions he could think of about the Sea Foam.I am sorry, sir; for Miss Nellie wanted to go, and I was going to ask father to wait till after sunset on her

39、 account, added the young man.Mr. Hasbrook began to look hopeful; for the last remark of the nabob indicated a possible termination of the conversation. Donald began his retreat toward the hall of the mansion, for he wanted to see the fair daughter again; but he had not reached the door before the c

40、aptain called him back.I suppose your father wants some more money to-night, said he, feeling in his pocket for the key to open the tin box.He didnt say anything to me about it, sir, replied Donald; I dont think he does.Hasbrook looked hopeless again; for Captain Patterdale began to calculate how mu

41、ch he had paid, and how much more he was to pay, for the yacht. While he was doing so, there was a21 knock at the street door, and, upon being invited to do so, Mr. Laud Cavendish entered the library with a bill in his hand.Mr. Laud Cavendish was a great man in his own estimation, and a great swell

42、in the estimation of everybody else. He was a clerk or salesman in a store; but he was dressed very elegantly for a provincial city like Belfast, and for a counter-jumper on six or eight dollars a week. He was about eighteen years old, tall, and rather slender. His upper lip was adorned with an inci

43、pient mustache, which had been tenderly coaxed and colored for two years, without producing any prodigious result, though it was the pride and glory of the owner. Mr. Cavendish was a dreamy young gentleman, who believed that the Fates had made a bad mistake in his case, inasmuch as he was the son of

44、 an honest and industrious carpenter, instead of the son and heir of one of the nabobs of Belfast. He believed that he was fitted to adorn the highest circle in society, to shine among the aristocracy of the city, and it was a cruel shame that he should be compelled to work in a store, weigh out tea

45、 and sugar, carry goods to the elegant mansions where he ought to be ad22mitted at the front, instead of the back, door, collect bills, and perform whatever other service might be required of him. The Fates had blundered and conspired against him; but he was not without hope that the daughter of som

46、e rich man, who might fall in love with him and his mustache, would redeem him from his slavery to an occupation he hated, and lift him up to the sphere where he belonged. Laud was soaring after the infinite, and so he rather neglected the mundane and practical, and his employer did not consider him

47、 a very desirable clerk.Mr. Laud Cavendish came with a bill in his hand, the footing of which was the sum due his employer for certain necessary articles just delivered at the kitchen door of the elegant mansion. Captain Patterdale opened the tin box, and took therefrom some twenty dollars to pay th

48、e bill, which Laud receipted. Mr. Hasbrook hoped he would go, and that Don John would go; and perhaps they would have gone if a rather exciting event had not occurred to detain them.Father! father! exclaimed Miss Nellie, rushing into the library.Whats the matter, Nellie? demanded her23 father, calmly; for he had long been a sea captain, and was used to emergencies.Michael has just dropped down in a fit! gasped Nellie.Where is he?In the yard.Captain Patterdale, followed by his three visitors, rushed through the hall, out at the front door, near which the unf

展开阅读全文
相关资源
相关搜索

当前位置:首页 > 教育专区 > 大学资料

本站为文档C TO C交易模式,本站只提供存储空间、用户上传的文档直接被用户下载,本站只是中间服务平台,本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。本站仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理,对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私,请立即通知得利文库网,我们立即给予删除!客服QQ:136780468 微信:18945177775 电话:18904686070

工信部备案号:黑ICP备15003705号-8 |  经营许可证:黑B2-20190332号 |   黑公网安备:91230400333293403D

© 2020-2023 www.deliwenku.com 得利文库. All Rights Reserved 黑龙江转换宝科技有限公司 

黑龙江省互联网违法和不良信息举报
举报电话:0468-3380021 邮箱:hgswwxb@163.com