登陆注册
5160500000002

第2章 Chirp the First(2)

That this song of the kettle's was a song of invitation and welcome to somebody out of doors: to somebody at that moment coming on, towards the snug small home and the crisp fire: there is no doubt whatever.Mrs.Peerybingle knew it, perfectly, as she sat musing before the hearth.It's a dark night, sang the kettle, and the rotten leaves are lying by the way; and, above, all is mist and darkness, and, below, all is mire and clay; and there's only one relief in all the sad and murky air; and I don't know that it is one, for it's nothing but a glare; of deep and angry crimson, where the sun and wind together; set a brand upon the clouds for being guilty of such weather; and the widest open country is a long dull streak of black; and there's hoar-frost on the finger-post, and thaw upon the track; and the ice it isn't water, and the water isn't free; and you couldn't say that anything is what it ought to be; but he's coming, coming, coming! -And here, if you like, the Cricket DID chime in! with a Chirrup, Chirrup, Chirrup of such magnitude, by way of chorus; with a voice so astoundingly disproportionate to its size, as compared with the kettle; (size! you couldn't see it!) that if it had then and there burst itself like an overcharged gun, if it had fallen a victim on the spot, and chirruped its little body into fifty pieces, it would have seemed a natural and inevitable consequence, for which it had expressly laboured.

The kettle had had the last of its solo performance.It persevered with undiminished ardour; but the Cricket took first fiddle and kept it.Good Heaven, how it chirped! Its shrill, sharp, piercing voice resounded through the house, and seemed to twinkle in the outer darkness like a star.There was an indescribable little trill and tremble in it, at its loudest, which suggested its being carried off its legs, and made to leap again, by its own intense enthusiasm.Yet they went very well together, the Cricket and the kettle.The burden of the song was still the same; and louder, louder, louder still, they sang it in their emulation.

The fair little listener - for fair she was, and young: though something of what is called the dumpling shape; but I don't myself object to that - lighted a candle, glanced at the Haymaker on the top of the clock, who was getting in a pretty average crop of minutes; and looked out of the window, where she saw nothing, owing to the darkness, but her own face imaged in the glass.And my opinion is (and so would yours have been), that she might have looked a long way, and seen nothing half so agreeable.When she came back, and sat down in her former seat, the Cricket and the kettle were still keeping it up, with a perfect fury of competition.The kettle's weak side clearly being, that he didn't know when he was beat.

There was all the excitement of a race about it.Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket a mile ahead.Hum, hum, hum - m - m! Kettle making play in the distance, like a great top.Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket round the corner.Hum, hum, hum - m - m! Kettle sticking to him in his own way; no idea of giving in.Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket fresher than ever.Hum, hum, hum - m - m!

Kettle slow and steady.Chirp, chirp, chirp! Cricket going in to finish him.Hum, hum, hum - m - m! Kettle not to be finished.

Until at last they got so jumbled together, in the hurry-skurry, helter-skelter, of the match, that whether the kettle chirped and the Cricket hummed, or the Cricket chirped and the kettle hummed, or they both chirped and both hummed, it would have taken a clearer head than yours or mine to have decided with anything like certainty.But, of this, there is no doubt: that, the kettle and the Cricket, at one and the same moment, and by some power of amalgamation best known to themselves, sent, each, his fireside song of comfort streaming into a ray of the candle that shone out through the window, and a long way down the lane.And this light, bursting on a certain person who, on the instant, approached towards it through the gloom, expressed the whole thing to him, literally in a twinkling, and cried, 'Welcome home, old fellow!

Welcome home, my boy!'

This end attained, the kettle, being dead beat, boiled over, and was taken off the fire.Mrs.Peerybingle then went running to the door, where, what with the wheels of a cart, the tramp of a horse, the voice of a man, the tearing in and out of an excited dog, and the surprising and mysterious appearance of a baby, there was soon the very What's-his-name to pay.

Where the baby came from, or how Mrs.Peerybingle got hold of it in that flash of time, I don't know.But a live baby there was, in Mrs.Peerybingle's arms; and a pretty tolerable amount of pride she seemed to have in it, when she was drawn gently to the fire, by a sturdy figure of a man, much taller and much older than herself, who had to stoop a long way down, to kiss her.But she was worth the trouble.Six foot six, with the lumbago, might have done it.

'Oh goodness, John!' said Mrs.P.'What a state you are in with the weather!'

He was something the worse for it, undeniably.The thick mist hung in clots upon his eyelashes like candied thaw; and between the fog and fire together, there were rainbows in his very whiskers.

'Why, you see, Dot,' John made answer, slowly, as he unrolled a shawl from about his throat; and warmed his hands; 'it - it an't exactly summer weather.So, no wonder.'

'I wish you wouldn't call me Dot, John.I don't like it,' said Mrs.Peerybingle: pouting in a way that clearly showed she DIDlike it, very much.

'Why what else are you?' returned John, looking down upon her with a smile, and giving her waist as light a squeeze as his huge hand and arm could give.'A dot and' - here he glanced at the baby - 'a dot and carry - I won't say it, for fear I should spoil it; but Iwas very near a joke.I don't know as ever I was nearer.'

同类推荐
  • TWENTY-THREE TALES

    TWENTY-THREE TALES

    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 Children of the Night

    The Children of the Night

    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。
  • 金楼子

    金楼子

    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。
  • 明伦汇编家范典甥舅部

    明伦汇编家范典甥舅部

    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。
  • 全秦文

    全秦文

    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
  • 夜访吸血鬼(纪念版)

    夜访吸血鬼(纪念版)

    新奥尔良,浓馥花丛掩埋着腥腐尸骸,苍白的贵族世界上演着凄美的场景。幽暗力量从斑斓城市之下乘虚而入,掀起一段交织着绝望、妖艳与迷乱的壮丽波澜。吸血鬼王子莱斯特,忧郁的贵族后裔路易,吸血鬼女孩克劳迪娅,纠缠着度过十九世纪的癫狂、绝美时代。
  • 让心灵深呼吸的小故事

    让心灵深呼吸的小故事

    一本好书,让你呼吸更自由。有呼吸就有希望,我们不能拒绝呼吸,更不能拒绝希望。能得到的感动是那么多,就像你所呼吸的新鲜空气一样充足。打消你心灵的“口罩意识”,给自己内心一个自由的呼吸环境。
  • 末世净土游戏

    末世净土游戏

    楚言(义正言辞):“姐,过两天真的是末世,你把钱给我买物资,我养你。”楚辞:“……你最近脑残了?”楚言:“你看门外大雪!”楚辞:“快醒醒,今天开太阳了。”楚言:“这和剧情不符!”――――――――楚辞:我的弟弟脑子有问题,整天哔哔说末世。楚言:重生一把不容易,套路不按剧情来!艹!―――――――――by:全世界都在拯救这个地球
  • 做人要有“心机”

    做人要有“心机”

    成功的机会对每个人都是均等的,他不可能比你多,你也不会比他少,你唯一能胜过别人的地方就是你的“心机”。如果你缺少“心机”,就只能默默无闻、暗淡无光地走完一生。如果你不甘落寞,期待富有、高质量的生活,就一定要有“心机”。“心机”是做人的智慧和谋略,是助你通往成功的桥梁。化敌为友祸从口出忌功高盖主切忌自我炫耀你好我好大家好要善于“伪装”自己吃小亏是为了占大便宜打人不打脸,揭人不揭短该退则退,该让则让巧用“含糊其辞”礼多人不怪伸手不打笑脸人冤家宜解不宜结不必和小人划清界线学会爱你的敌人该说谎时就说谎 做事要方,做人要圆防备突然升温的友情异性朋友更有安全感我为人人,人人才能为我。
  • 完美恋人:会长大人是冰山

    完美恋人:会长大人是冰山

    她是众人眼中最完美的人,人们只看到她人前的光鲜,却没人看到她背后付出的辛酸。她(他)们是众人眼中最佳的情侣组合,却不知,他男装下面娇小的身子,多年来的换装,只为了那一刹那的守候。他是众人眼中的冰山会长,多年来无人接近,却只为她笑的温柔。他是被压制着的问题学生,爆发的边缘被她那一瞬间的笑容救赎。他是她多年来寻找生活中唯一的支柱。千里寻亲,只为了那一句“虽说上天对每个人都是公平的,当他给予你什么时,必定会收回你的另一样东西做为替换。它给了我们完美的面容,却收去我们的亲情,给了我们友情,同样收去了我们的安逸生活……已经过去的洛肖无力改变,洛肖只希望将来,当老天复予你爱情时,它必须收回的替代品,由我来出。”
  • 船妮

    船妮

    那天中午,船妮驾驶一条帆船驶入微山湖不久,突然,她闻到了一股刺鼻的酒味,便朝父亲喊道:“爹,哪来的这么大的酒味,你下去看看舱里的酒坛子,是不是有的裂啦?”父亲光棍福大盘腿坐在船头那儿,听到闺女的叫喊赶忙哎了一声,磕了磕烟斗里其实已灭了许久的烟灰,站起来几步就走到舱口那儿,用一只光脚丫子推开钉着两层苇席的木盖子,然后踩着吱呀作响的木梯进入到船舱的里面。光棍福大的眼睛看上去不大,但目光却是极其犀利的,他在船舱里面扫视了几个来回,一个缝隙也不放过,没有发现那些裹着草包的酒坛子有开裂的。
  • 我的世界之全能镇长

    我的世界之全能镇长

    文小轩来到了MINECRAFT的世界里。在这里,他招收手下,建立小镇,成立城市和国家,称霸方块大陆。然而,文小轩遇到了一个又一个的困难,他是否可以克服这些困难呢?
  • 情不由己:总裁大人离婚吧

    情不由己:总裁大人离婚吧

    渣男出轨,她被南海市最有钱的男人接手,娶她为妻。人都说楼羽命好,有乔斯言百般呵护,万般宠爱,可只有她知道,乔斯言真正在乎的其实是...怀孕六月,她带着未出世的孩子仓皇而逃,本以为从此山高路远,再不相见,却不想重逢来的那般快。他咬牙切齿:“逃了这么久,你还想去哪儿?”楼羽怒瞪:“我们已经离婚了,我干什么你都管不着。”“离婚?我不签字,你永远都只能是我的女人!”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 汉语的世界:中国文化演讲录

    汉语的世界:中国文化演讲录

    本书是著名作家、茅盾文学奖获得者熊召政先生的新演讲集,内容涉及语言、文学、历史等领域,如文学的江湖、茶中的故乡、兴亡千载说昭君、苏东坡的历史观、汉语的世界、不住象牙塔要坐冷板凳、文化自信是一切自信的前提和中华传统文化对当今世界的影响等。
  • 都市生活蜕变女孩逆袭爱情

    都市生活蜕变女孩逆袭爱情

    伊雪,一个很普通的女孩,平平无其的样貌,小小的眼睛,微黄的脸,一头毛躁的长发,总是因为自己长的不够漂亮而自卑,直到一场梦改变了她的外貌……看她如何恢复自信活的风生水起,潇洒漂亮!暮黎,一个从十多岁开始就拼搏在s市的男孩,直到有一天,遇到了完美蜕变的伊雪,摩擦出爱情……“其实我原来长的并不是这么漂亮,只是因为一场神奇的梦改变了我原本的容貌”……“我爱你不是因为你有多漂亮,而是因为你就是你”……