登陆注册
4606100000004

第4章 GRAYSON'S BABY(1)

The first snow sifted in through the Gap that night, and in a ``shack'' of one room and a low loft a man was dead, a woman was sick to death, and four children were barely alive; and nobody even knew. For they were hill people, who sicken, suffer, and sometimes die, like animals, and make no noise.

Grayson, the Virginian, coming down from the woods that morning, saw the big-hearted little doctor outside the door of the shack, walking up and down, with his hands in his pockets. He was whistling softly when Grayson got near, and, without stopping, pointed with his thumb within. The oldest boy sat stolidly on the one chair in the room, his little brother was on the floor hard by, and both were hugging a greasy stove. The little girl was with her mother in the bed, both almost out of sight under a heap of quilts. The baby was in a cradle, with its face uncovered, whether dead or asleep Grayson could not tell. A pine coffin was behind the door. It would not have been possible to add to the disorder of the room, and the atmosphere made Grayson gasp. He came out looking white. The first man to arrive thereafter took away the eldest boy, a woman picked the baby girl from the bed, and a childless young couple took up the pallid little fellow on the floor. These were step-children. The baby boy that was left was the woman's own. Nobody came for that, and Grayson went in again and looked at it a long while. So little, so old a human face he had never seen. The brow was wrinkled as with centuries of pain, and the little drawn mouth looked as though the spirit within had fought its inheritance without a murmur, and would fight on that way to the end. It was the pluck of the face that drew Grayson. ``I'll take it,'' he said. The doctor was not without his sense of humor even then, but he nodded. ``Cradle and all,'' he said, gravely. And Grayson put both on one shoulder and walked away.

He had lost the power of giving further surprise in that town, and had he met every man he knew, not one of them would have felt at liberty to ask him what he was doing. An hour later the doctor found the child in Grayson's room, and Grayson still looking at it.

``Is it going to live, doctor?''

The doctor shook his head. ``Doubtful.

Look at the color. It's starved.

There's nothing to do but to watch it and feed it. You can do that.''

So Grayson watched it, with a fascination of which he was hardly conscious. Never for one instant did its look change--the quiet, unyielding endurance that no faith and no philosophy could ever bring to him. It was ideal courage, that look, to accept the inevitable but to fight it just that way. Half the little mountain town was talking next day--that such a tragedy was possible by the public road-side, with relief within sound of the baby's cry. The oldest boy was least starved. Might made right in an extremity like his, and the boy had taken care of himself. The young couple who had the second lad in charge said they had been wakened at daylight the next morning by some noise in the room. Looking up, they saw the little fellow at the fireplace breaking an egg. He had built a fire, had got eggs from the kitchen, and was cooking his breakfast. The little girl was mischievous and cheery in spite of her bad plight, and nobody knew of the baby except Grayson and the doctor.

Grayson would let nobody else in. As soon as it was well enough to be peevish and to cry, he took it back to its mother, who was still abed. A long, dark mountaineer was there, of whom the woman seemed half afraid. He followed Grayson outside.

``Say, podner,'' he said, with an unpleasant smile, ``ye don't go up to Cracker's Neck fer nothin', do ye?''

The woman had lived at Cracker's Neck before she appeared at the Gap, and it did not come to Grayson what the man meant until he was half-way to his room. Then he flushed hot and wheeled back to the cabin, but the mountaineer was gone.

同类推荐
  • 桐花阁词钞

    桐花阁词钞

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Marriages

    The Marriages

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 南华真经拾遗

    南华真经拾遗

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说净意优婆塞所问经

    佛说净意优婆塞所问经

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Conquest of New France

    The Conquest of New France

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 王牌大记者

    王牌大记者

    有位前辈告诉我:做记者简单,做一名好记者太难,难在有没有良心。一开始,我还不懂,甚至嗤之以鼻。但,采访过各种奇奇怪怪的事情之后,我懂了,在这个物欲横流、人情冷漠的社会中,良心是多么的可贵。我叫卓峰,我没有那么高尚,没有那么无私,但我还是有点良心,甚至还有点冲动,有点疯狂,这就是我的故事。一个疯子记者的职业生涯。
  • 以你为名的花在心底盛放

    以你为名的花在心底盛放

    短篇言情小说集。无论是发生在遥远的古代,还是眼前的现在,都希望能和你相遇,让我参与你的人生,谱写动人的故事。
  • 用人格开启成功之门

    用人格开启成功之门

    人格是个人在社会中的地位和作用的统一,是个人的尊严、名誉、价值的总和。人格魅力就是一种独立于外貌和才能之外的关于思想和世界观的修炼,是一种导引,是一种震撼,让人向往。人格高度决定人生的高度。由浅入深地阐述了人格对人生的重大意义,从人格的基本概念及内涵入手,介绍了人格与生活、人格与情感、人格与事业的关系,以及人格在社会中的影响地位等内容。
  • 芳菲的花瓣儿

    芳菲的花瓣儿

    自己送给自己的,也是北京送给我的。我知道这是一种“冒失”,比较无知和低幼的那种,但是,我喜欢这种无来由的依赖和追索,大约,是源于文字的气味吧。真的很偶然。在苏联电影人塔可夫斯基的著作《时光中的时光》里,塔可夫斯基不厌其烦地若干次提到黑塞,并小学生似的引用了他的作品《玻璃球游戏》里的话,许多许多,基本上证明了粉丝与偶像之间的“铁杆”关系。
  • 逍遥不死身

    逍遥不死身

    超出三界六道,不在五行之中,我,永生不死!
  • 法医穿越:爷,我不要这容颜

    法医穿越:爷,我不要这容颜

    为了一抹温暖,葬送了自己,却不想意外穿越。谁曾想穿越异世的她,又一次尝到了背叛的滋味……本就是一个决绝的女子,毁去容颜,划清界限……只为逃避掉那一抹受伤。二年里,一个男子不离不弃的跟在她的身边总是露出八颗牙齿的笑意,渐渐的温暖着她……【完结】【本书纯属虚构新文绝代残颜:法医王妃请支持!】
  • 烧情

    烧情

    天意弄人,她和他遇见的那一刻就注定了她不能平静的生活。这是命运的安排,她开始拒绝命运的安排,故意躲避他,离他远远的,有他的地方她不去,有他声音的地方她捂着耳朵,有他含情脉脉的眼光她低着头。可是命运却愈是的作弄她,愈是躲避的东西愈是出现在你面前。她认为是爷爷的在天的一方安排他来帮她度劫的。
  • S级独家暖宠通缉令

    S级独家暖宠通缉令

    本文又名《爷的星妻爷来罩》诺爷说:纪若,你要记住以下几条:一、出席宴会时,上不露胸,下不露腿,不能透明;二、片场拍戏时,不许接吻,不许乱摸,不许花痴;三、遭人欺负时,必须还手,无须打死,打残就行;“来,签字画押!”婚后一个月,男人递来一张写着诺爷三大准则的纸,温声细语念出以上内容。纪姑娘瞪眼,小脸愠怒。“顾诺贤,做到这些对我有什么好处?”诺爷俯身,亲吻女人可爱的耳垂,道:“好处是我给你衣食无忧,考试不挂,另附赠独家至上的宠爱,期限是——”“一辈子!”男人俯身高高在上睨着她,红唇勾浅笑,双眼布寒光,纪姑娘心跳漏一拍,诺爷太粗暴!*顾诺贤,十八岁成立C市最大的娱乐公司‘雅诺娱乐’,十九岁坐上G&X国际总裁宝座。初遇纪若,顾诺贤怎么也没想到自己一手提拔栽培的小明星,竟是让他抓狂了许久的女盗!初见,她盗他车,盗他画;再见,她盗他吻,盗他身;又见,她夺他心,取他命!PS:本文属于先婚后爱+娱乐圈宠文+女强盗!
  • 异世之圣痕

    异世之圣痕

    一个意想不到的世界,一段丰富多彩的经历,一篇古怪搞笑的故事。
  • 网游之终结

    网游之终结

    无意中接触到网游,从此一发不可收拾,一个什么都不懂的小混混是怎么样在虚拟网游的海洋中乘风破浪的故事。