登陆注册
5698000000008

第8章

"If you are going near a carpenter's shop you might get a new shutter for my window;it blew away last night.""It did,miss?"

"Yes,"said the shrill voice of Aunt Sally,from the doorway,"in course it did!Ye must be crazy,Jeff,for thar it stands in No.8,whar ye must have put it after ye picked it up outside."Jeff,conscious that Miss Mayfield's eyes were on his suffused face,stammered "that he would attend to it,"and put spurs to the mare,eager only to escape.

It was not his only discomfiture;for the blacksmith,seeing Jeff's nervousness and anxiety,was suspicious of something wrong,as the world is apt to be,and appeased his conscience after the worldly fashion,by driving a hard bargain with the doubtful brother in affliction--the morality of a horse trade residing always with the seller.Whereby Master Jeff received only eighty dollars for horse and outfit--worth at least two hundred--and was also mulcted of forty dollars,principal and interest for past service of the blacksmith.

Jeff walked home with forty dollars in his pocket--capital to prosecute his honest calling of innkeeper;the blacksmith retired to an adjoining tavern to discuss Jeff's affairs,and further reduce his credit.Yet I doubt which was the happier--the blacksmith estimating his possible gains,and doubtful of some uncertain sequence in his luck,or Jeff,temporarily relieved,boundlessly hopeful,and filled with the vague delights of a first passion.The only discontented brute in the whole transaction was poor Rabbit,who,missing certain attentions,became indignant,after the manner of her sex,bit a piece out of her crib,kicked a hole in her box,and receiving a bad character from the blacksmith,gave a worse one to her late master.

Jeff's purchases were of a temporary and ornamental quality,but not always judicious as a permanent investment.Overhearing some remark from Miss Mayfield concerning the dangerous character of the two-tined steel fork,which was part of the table equipage of the "Half-way House,"he purchased half a dozen of what his aunt was pleased to specify as "split spoons,"and thereby lost his late good standing with her.He not only repaired the window-shutter,but tempered the glaring window itself with a bit of curtain;he half carpeted Miss Mayfield's bed-room with wild-cat skins and the now historical bear-skin,and felt himself overpaid when that young lady,passing the soft tabbyskins across her cheek,declared they were "lovely."For Miss Mayfield,deprecating slaughter in the abstract,accepted its results gratefully,like the rest of her sex,and while willing to "let the hart ungalled play,"nevertheless was able to console herself with its venison.The woods,besides yielding aid and comfort of this kind to the distressed damsel,were flamboyant with vivid spring blossoms,and Jeff lit up the cold,white walls of her virgin cell with demonstrative color,and made--what his aunt,a cleanly soul,whose ideas of that quality were based upon the absence of any color whatever,called--"a litter."The result of which was to make Miss Mayfield,otherwise lanquid and ennuye,welcome Jeff's presence with a smile;to make Jeff,otherwise anxious,eager,and keenly attentive,mute and silent in her presence.Two symptoms bad for Jeff.

Meantime Mr.Mayfield's small conventional spirit pined for fellowship,only to be found in larger civilizations,and sought,under plea of business,a visit to Sacramento,where a few of the Mayfield type,still surviving,were to be found.

This was a relief to Jeff,who only through his regard for the daughter,was kept from open quarrel with the father.He fancied Miss Mayfield felt relieved too,although Jeff had noticed that Mayfield had deferred to his daughter more often than his wife--over whom your conventional small autocrat is always victorious.It takes the legal matrimonial contract to properly develop the first-class tyrant,male or female.

On one of these days Jeff was returning through the woods from marketing at the Forks,which,since the sale of Rabbit,had became a foot-sore and tedious business.He had reached the edge of the forest,and through the wider-spaced trees,the bleak sunlit plateau of his house was beginning to open out,when he stopped instantly.

I know not what Jeff had been thinking of,as he trudged along,but here,all at once,he was thrilled and possessed with the odor of some faint,foreign perfume.He flushed a little at first,and then turned pale.Now the woods were as full of as delicate,as subtle,as grateful,and,I wot,far healthier and purer odors than this;but this represented to Jeff the physical contiguity of Miss Mayfield,who had the knack--peculiar to some of her sex--of selecting a perfume that ideally identified her.Jeff looked around cautiously;at the foot of a tree hard by lay one of her wraps,still redolent of her.Jeff put down the bag which,in lieu of a market basket,he was carrying on his shoulder,and with a blushing face hid it behind a tree.It contained her dinner!

He took a few steps forwards with an assumption of ease and unconsciousness.Then he stopped,for not a hundred yards distant sat--Miss Mayfield on a mossy boulder,her cloak hanging from her shoulders,her hands clasped round her crossed knees,and one little foot out--an exasperating combination of Evangeline and little Red Riding Hood in everything,I fear,but credulousness and self-devotion.She looked up as he walked towards her (non constat that the little witch had not already seen him half a mile away!)and smiled sweetly as she looked at him.So sweetly,indeed,that poor Jeff felt like the hulking wolf of the old world fable,and hesitated--as that wolf did not.The California faunae have possibly depreciated.

"Come here!"she cried,in a small head voice,not unlike a bird's twitter.

Jeff lumbered on clumsily.His high boots had become suddenly very heavy.

同类推荐
  • 佛祖正传古今捷录并拈颂

    佛祖正传古今捷录并拈颂

    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。
  • 刘子

    刘子

    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。
  • 佛说兜调经

    佛说兜调经

    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。
  • 体玄真人显异录

    体玄真人显异录

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说胞胎经

    佛说胞胎经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家微型小说精品

    诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家微型小说精品

    诺贝尔文学奖是世界上对文学作品的最高肯定,是世界各国文化的精髓。《诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家短篇小说精品》共收录了1905年至2010年诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家短片小说精品40余篇,为所有读者提供一份可供学习、欣赏、借鉴的世界短篇小说经典之作。该书1995年12月初版,现经修订整理后再版。《诺贝尔文学奖获奖作家短篇小说精品》由毛信德和李遵进担任编著。
  • 文物背后的中国历史

    文物背后的中国历史

    华夏历史悠久,文物世代传承,鸿殖丰厚,仓促之笔不能尽显中华数千年瑰宝之美。所选文物挂一漏万,每篇文章寥寥千字难以绘出她们的容姿丽质。传世之国宝重器,包含了众多轶闻野史,甄别缕析,稽古钩沉,实非易事。在《文物·图像·历史系列:文物背后的中国历史》的撰写过程中,首先由衷地感激我的同事杜卫民兄长的无私帮助,杜兄博学多识、殚见洽闻,有深厚的文物知识,他为《文物·图像·历史系列:文物背后的中国历史》的文物进行了遴选,并奉献出数篇自己的佳作。
  • 重生拥你入怀

    重生拥你入怀

    新书《重生后我有了美颜系统》已开,求收藏求推荐票求宠爱哦~~~重生空间回到青春年华,她誓要改变自己:养的起自己、买的起洋房、斗得过极品、狠得下心肠!她:我这算不算跟土豪站在一块土地上?某人:何止?你已经站在土豪的脚上!
  • 云朵上的歌

    云朵上的歌

    钢琴少女唐云朵和哥哥夏时,妈妈唐欣在生活在一个叫长乐的城市。可是她的记忆,有十年空白。在寻找记忆的途中,她认识了大明星曲方歌,自此一切开始转变——夏时的真实身份,唐欣的欲盖弥彰,好友的躲躲藏藏。十年的记忆背后到底暗藏了一个怎样的秘密?她与哥哥夏时,曲方歌又陷入怎样的感情漩涡中……
  • 农女医妃:逆天蜕变

    农女医妃:逆天蜕变

    她从没想过自己会这么倒霉,被人莫名其妙地捅死,苏醒后穿越到满脸脓包的嫡女身上,好不容易搞清楚罪魁祸首,又被赶了出去。为了生存,躲到村庄,卖卖草药、治治病、开个药铺、开个药膳酒楼……小日子逐渐好转,谁知上天看她不顺眼,又来一场天灾!
  • 你的职业我的经

    你的职业我的经

    这是一个考量智商与情商的时代。人生大舞台每天都在上演不同的节目,从老板、上司到中层管理者,再到普通员工,有的尽职尽责,而有的却是作秀、表演,令你真假难辨。惟有跳出圈子,俯视舞台,方能参悟其中的玄机。你在本书一个个发生在你我身边的故事中,一定能找到你的影子,从而认识自己,看清他人,掌控全局,驾驭命运,在职场中立于不败之地!打开这本书,你将收获意想不到的惊喜!
  • 重逢娱乐圈:相顾有言

    重逢娱乐圈:相顾有言

    《相遇就在一起》是一部明星恋爱综艺节目开播前的热搜评论:【听说这个恋爱综艺是顾影帝自己要参加的】【赌我20斤肥肉,肯定是为了绯闻女友沈蔷】节目播出后的热搜评论:【我天!顾远居然和一个新人一组!十分钟之内我要彦旬末的资料】【怎么还有点甜?搞到真的了】她是初出茅庐的新人演员,几年前因为突然发生的变故那些不能和他实现的愿望,是她深藏心底的遗憾;他是炙手可热的全能影帝,几年前的那道强势照进他生命的明媚阳光,是的他念念不忘。几年后,当他们各自带着绯闻对象在相亲综艺节目中相遇,这是巧合还是精心布置的命中注定?“你好!再次相遇,我们还要不要在一起?”
  • 燕山外史

    燕山外史

    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。
  • 星际争霸之欧雷加的黑暗帝国

    星际争霸之欧雷加的黑暗帝国

    他们呼我为永堕的暗堂,以正义之名追逐我的影子。而我预言那终将降临的黑暗,星灵帝国的军队燃起战火,一直烧到宇宙的尽头。书友群:793763463
  • 武道神荒

    武道神荒

    万千武域,强者为尊。天骄并起,万世争霸,聆听着自己的葬歌。是时代的泯灭,还是强者的归来?一切尽在武域之中。