【英文读物】The Candle and the Cat.docx

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1、【英文读物】The Candle and the CatCHAPTER I CARO AND TROLLEYAt the entrance to the driveway leading to the residence occupied by the President of the Theological Seminary were two flat-topped stone pillars, and upon one of these on a certain bright September day, Trolley sat sunning himself.His handsome c

2、oat, shading from a delicate fawn color to darkest brown, glistened like satin; his paws were tucked comfortably away beneath him, his long tail hung down behind, and his golden eyes were almost closed; only the occasional movement of his small aristocratic ears showed him to be awake.When Caro came

3、 dancing down from the house he turned his head for a moment and watched her sleepily till she was safely on top of the other pillar, where she seated herself Turk-fashion,2 her blue ruffles spread out carefully, for Aunt Charlotte had cautioned her not to rumple them. Caro had also been told not to

4、 go out without her hat, so it dangled by its elastic from her arm, while the sun shone down without hindrance upon the fair little face with its smiling blue eyes, and its crown of short brown curls.“Trolley,” she announced presently, “here comes the Professor of something that begins with Ex,I nev

5、er can remember, it is such a funny word. It sounds like the book in the Bible where the Commandments are.”Dr. Wells, the dignified Professor of New Testament Exegesis unbent a little at sight of the novel ornaments on the presidents gateposts. “Why Miss Caro, you must have wings!” he said, smiling

6、up at her.“Why no, I havent; and neither has Trolley. He just jumps, but I have to climb. You see that ledge there?and this place?”“Yes, my dear, that will do. Arent you afraid you will fall?” the professor exclaimed uneasily, as Caro leaned over to point out her way of ascent. “I really think you h

7、ad better get down.”3“But it is very nice up here; you can see so much,” the little girl assured him serenely, and Dr. Wells went his way wondering if he ought not to go up to the house and tell someone of her dangerous position.“I am not a bit afraid Ill fall. Theres not the least danger; is there

8、Trolley?” Caro continued.Trolley opened his eyes, yawned scornfully and closed them again.“There is one thing I am afraid ofat least I dont like it, and that is the dark. I spose you dont mind it cause you can seeI shouldnt either if I could see in the dark. Aunt Charlotte says I mustnt have a light

9、 to go to sleep by, and I love a light,I just love it!” Caros eyes had grown sorrowful and her voice had in it the sound of tears.On the porch of the house back among the trees Aunt Charlotte had waylaid the president. “I dont know what to do with Caro, Charles. She isnt exactly naughty,and yet you

10、couldnt say she was good either”“You surprise me,” he replied, as his sister hesitated. “She impresses me as a decided character for one so young.”4“Decided! I should say so! You know” Aunt Charlotte continued, “Elinor put her in my charge to be dealt with as seemed to me best, and I did think after

11、 bringing up your five that I knew something about it, but my hand has lost its cunning. You know I have never allowed a child a light to go to sleep by, but Caro insists upon having one, and lies awake and cries without it. What am I to do? Let her cry?”“Oh no, I shouldnt do that!” answered her bro

12、ther hastily, gazing into his hat as if he hoped to find there some solution of the problem. “Suppose you let me consider the matter,” he added, as the striking of the hall clock reminded him of his engagement; “Ill talk to her.”“Much good it will do,” said Aunt Charlotte.With a book under his arm D

13、r. Barrows started out, so absorbed in thought of his small granddaughter that he passed through the gate without seeing her till she called, “Goodby grandpa!”“Why Caro! Arent you afraid you will fall?”5Caro shook her curls vigorously, and then leaning forward she said plaintively, “Grandpaplease do

14、nt let Aunt Charlotte make me sleep in the dark.”“I fear you are a foolish little girl,” replied the president meaning to look stern, but succeeding only in smiling fondly at the witch on the pillar, who appropriated the smile and ignored the words.“You know God made the darkness, Caro,” he continue

15、d, conscious that the remark was not quite original.“Yes” unwillinglythen “but grandpa, He put stars in His dark!”As Dr. Barrows walked down the street he reflected that he should have but a divided mind to give to seminary matters, if the present state of affairs continued, and the seminary needed

16、his close attention just now.It was two weeks since his granddaughter had arrived to spend several months in his home while her father and mother were traveling. “I am afraid we have spoiled her a little,” his daughter Elinor wrote, “and hard as it is for me to give her up I feel sure it will be goo

17、d for her to be in Aunt Charlottes hands6 for a time. I know you will love her and forgive her little failings, as you always did those of“Your devoted daughter.”Love her! he was fairly bewitched by her. He had thought a child in the house after so many years of quiet might be annoying, but on the c

18、ontrary he would have liked to have her always with him.Aunt Charlotte was ready and anxious to do anything and everything for her dear Elinors child, but somehow her theories which had worked so well with her brothers children did not seem to fit the next generation.The truth was that in her southe

19、rn home Caro had been under a very different rule. Mammy Riah who had nursed her father before her, had, to use her own words “Taught her pretty manners,” and petted and scolded and worshipped her. The result puzzled Aunt Charlotte and delighted her brother.“I cant explain it,” he said, “but the chi

20、ld has that something,her grandmother had it” and here the president fell to musing over7 those far-away days when he had fallen in love with a pretty southern girl.“Please dont let her make me sleep in the dark:”Caros grandfather felt positively chivalrous in his determination to protect herfrom wh

21、at? His own dear sister in whose wisdom and devotion he had rested all these years!CHAPTER II THE SILVER CANDLESTICKIt is not for a moment to be supposed that Trolley appeared in the first chapter simply because he was picturesque. He was undoubtedly handsome, and had a remarkable gift for elegant a

22、ttitudes. He would pose as dignity and wisdom personified in the presidents arm chair, or stretch himself in careless grace on Aunt Charlottes choicest divan, and had even been known to make a mantel ornament of himself in an aspiring mood.But above all else Trolley had a mind of his own. For exampl

23、e he had chosen his home. He began life at the Graysons on Grayson avenue, but as soon as he was old enough to choose for himself he took up his abode with the President of the Seminary.Aunt Charlotte did not particularly care for cats, and furthermore did not covet anything that was her neighbors,

24、so again and again9 Trolley was sent back, all to no purpose, and at length he was allowed to have his way.This was just at the time when the Graysons and some others were bringing suit to prevent the laying of a trolley line on the avenue, and between the progressive people who wished more rapid tr

25、ansportation than the stage which passed back and forth once an hour, and the old-fashioned residents who feared to have the beauty of their street destroyed, and their quiet disturbed by clanging bells and buzzing wheels, feeling had grown exceedingly bitter.Dr. Barrows himself had no special inter

26、est in the matter, but some members of his family were warm supporters of the railway, and when the suit was decided in its favor one of his nephews named the cat in honor of the event.As Trolley he was known from that hour, and he grew so large and handsome that even Aunt Charlotte came to take pri

27、de in him. He was amiable in disposition, but distant in manner to all except Caro, who had won his heart as he had won hers, at first sight.He forgot his dignity and raced with her in the garden like a frolicsome kitten, when she was tired he allowed himself to be made a pillow10 of, and to all her

28、 confidences he listened with a sympathetic purr. In fact he did all he could to keep her from being homesick.There were of course times when his own affairs demanded his attention. Bobby Brown a yellow cat who lived two doors away needed an occasional setting down for instance, and other matters of

29、 this kind sometimes kept him away for a day. It was on one of these occasions that Caro quite tired out with searching for him sat down on the doorstep and began to miss mamma and the boys“just dreadfully.”“I am going to do some shopping; do you want to come?” asked her grandfathers voice behind he

30、r.The clouds flew from her face in a minute, for shopping with grandfather always meant something interesting, if only a glass of ice cream soda.As they walked down town together, Caro chattered away without a pause.“Are you going to buy something for me, grandpa?” she asked as they entered a large

31、grocery.“I want to see some wax candles in different11 colors,” Dr. Barrows said to the clerk who came forward.“Why that sounds like Christmas or a birthday,” exclaimed Caro.But the candles brought out were too large for Christmas trees, or cakes. They were of all colors, and some were plain, others

32、 fluted.“What color do you prefer, Caro?” her grandfather asked.It was difficult to decide among so many pretty ones, and she hung over them with a finger on her lip and an expression of great earnestness on her face.“The pink is lovelyand so is the blue, only not quite so pretty,and the green, andy

33、es I like the violet too”“Well have to take one of each, I see,” said the president; and this greatly simplified the matter. Six candles were selectedblue, pink, green, red, violet and yellow, and these were done up in a white paper parcel and handed to Caro.“Now grandpa, what are we going to do wit

34、h them?” she asked when they were on the street again.“That is a secret.”12Caro gave a little jump of excitement. “I love secrets;” “Please tell me what it is.”“Then it wouldnt be a secret any longer.”“Buttwo people can know a secret, and I promise truly, bluely, Ill not tell.”“Ill see about it when

35、 we get home,” her grandfather replied, thereby causing her to be in such a flutter of anticipation that as he told her, he might as well have tried to keep step with a yellow butterfly.When at last they reached the study, Caro looked on with deep interest while her grandfather unlocked a cabinet an

36、d took from it a small silver candlestick of beautiful design.“How pretty! Is it to put the candles in?”Dr. Barrows glanced up at the portrait of a sweet-faced young woman in an old-fashioned gown, as he replied.“This candlestick belonged to your grandmother, Caro, when she was a little girl, and no

37、w I am going to give it to another little girl who has her name, and who sometimes reminds me of her. You are to put one of the candles in it and put it on your dressing table, and when the gas is out after you go to bed you can13 have a little candle-light to keep you from being lonely.”“You are th

38、e dearest, sweetest, goodest grandpa in the world!” Caro exclaimed with a ferocious hug. “The dear little candlestick! Ill never be lonesome any more.”Aunt Charlotte shook her head and called it a compromise, when the plan was explained to her, but made no real objection to it.There was a faculty me

39、eting that evening in the presidents study, and two of the members had arrived and were talking with their host when a shrill voice was heard crying: “Go away Jane, I will call him! O grandpa!”Dr. Barrows rose hastily and left the room, saying: “Excuse me gentlemen, my little granddaughter is callin

40、g me.”From the hall he had a vision of Caroher small red slippers peeping out from her long white gown, her curly head looking over the stair rail. Behind her was Jane, the upstairs maid whispering sternly, “Come back Caro this minute, you are a naughty girl!”“I just want you to see my candle lighte

41、d, grandpa,” Caro said hopping down three steps to meet him, and taking his hand while Jane14 retired shaking her head. She stood in great awe of the president, and in her eyes a faculty meeting was almost as sacred as a church service.“You can turn the gas out, grandpa,” Caro said, as after leading

42、 the way into her room, she merrily kicked off the red slippers and bounded into the middle of the bed.From the door Jane saw the president laughing as he stooped to kiss the saucy face.Caro snuggled down beneath the cover and when the gas was turned out, from the dressing table came the clear, soft

43、 light of the candle.“It is my little candle-star, grandpa, and I dont mind the dark now, cause I can see it, and it is soft and nice.”“You are a funny child, Caro,” her grandfather said, stroking her hair. “Suppose you try to be a little candle yourself.”“Why how could I?” Caro sat up much interest

44、ed.“Well talk about it to-morrow; they are waiting for me in the study, I must go.”“Well I think Ill be a pink one,” remarked Caro meditatively, and Dr. Barrows went down stairs with a smile on his lips.CHAPTER III THE GATE IN THE ORCHARDCaro was in great haste to tell Marjorie about her candle, and

45、 when she went skipping around the corner next morning she met Marjorie skipping in her direction.“Why I was coming to see you,” they both exclaimed.Marjories father was a younger brother of Caros grandfather, and their home was not far from the seminary. The little girls had already become good fri

46、ends, but as Marjorie had been out of town with her mother they had not seen each other for several days.“You come to my house, Caro, for I have something to show you,” her cousin said.“Well, lets go to the orchard then,” Caro suggested.One of the many pleasant things about Charmington was that it c

47、ombined the delights of city and country. Down on Main street16 there were stores large enough to supply all reasonable desires, and yet five minutes walk in any direction brought you to the region of wide lawns and forest trees; and back of some of the pretty dwellings were orchards and gardens in

48、which you could easily forget there was a town anywhere about. So it was in the Barrows orchard, for years a favorite playground for the children of the family.Marjorie had some paper dolls and a new book to show Caro, and these they carried with them.“Lets run, so Tom wont see us and want to come,” she said.Little Tom Turner who lived next door, was in her opinion only useful as a playmate when she had no one else, or to make up the necessary number in some