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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Hidden Painting CHAPTER 7 No More Clues?

时间:2017-07-11 07:55来源:互联网 提供网友:qing   字体: [ ]
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The next afternoon the children were in the boxcar, playing Monopoly. Suddenly Jessie put the dice1 down. “I have something to tell you,” she said.

“What?” Benny shouted. “It sounds like another mystery.”

“It’s the same mystery,” Jessie said. “Do you remember when we were leaving Mrs. Newton’s, I stopped to look in the mirror?”

“I remember,” Violet answered.

“Well,” Jessie continued. “There was a letter on the table under the mirror. It was addressed to Mrs. Newton, but the return address was a Mrs. Susan Barstow in Silver City.”

“That’s right near here,” Henry said. “But I don’t see what’s so strange about that. What are you thinking?”

Jessie shrugged2. “I don’t know. It just seemed funny to me. Mrs. Newton getting a letter from a place so near here.”

“I don’t follow you, Jessie,” Henry said. “What do you want to do?”

“I thought, maybe, we could just bike ride over there and well … ”

“Do what?” Violet asked.

“Just look at the house, I guess,” Jessie answered.

“What are you looking for?” Benny asked.

“I just can’t believe we are at a dead end,” Jessie said. “Maybe we’ll see something at Mrs. Barstow’s. I don’t know what. But it can’t hurt to look.”

“I guess it can’t hurt,” Violet agreed.

“Let’s go!” Benny said.

They ran up to the house and into the kitchen where Mrs. McGregor was making spaghetti sauce. “We’re going for a bike ride,” Jessie said.

Mrs. McGregor looked away from the pot she was stirring. “Be careful and don’t be late for dinner.”

“We won’t,” Henry said.

“Was that a lie?” Benny asked, as they all took their bikes from the garage.

“No, it wasn’t, Benny. We are going for a bike ride,” Henry said.

“We just didn’t say where we’re going,” Violet said.

“And Mrs. McGregor didn’t ask, so that’s okay,” Henry added.

“Okay,” Benny said.

They rode along, enjoying the warm sun and the fresh smells of summer grass. When they got to Silver City they stopped and asked a policeman the way to 1600 Hudson Lane. It was small and white with blue shutters3 and a neat little garden in front. The Aldens stopped behind a hedge to the left of the house and got off their bikes.

“Now that we’re here,” Henry said, “what are we looking for?”

Jessie said, “I guess I really don’t know. I just didn’t want to give up.”

They waited for five minutes, but no one came out of the house. “I’m bored,” Benny said.

Violet laughed. “At least you’re not hungry.”

“I’m hungry, too,” Benny said, smiling mischievously4.

Just then a car pulled up. “Look!” Jessie whispered.

Laura Garrison5 walked up the path to the house and rang the bell. The door opened and she went inside.

“I wonder what she’s doing here?” Violet said.

“Well, if Mrs. Barstow writes to Mrs. Newton, Laura might know her, too. So it’s not so strange if she visits Mrs. Barstow,” Henry said.

They waited silently, watching the house.

Finally, Laura Garrison came out. The Aldens couldn’t see who was in the doorway6, but a woman’s voice was loud enough for them to hear. “I will never agree to what you want, Laura. Never!”

“I think you’re wrong, Susan—you and my mother,” Laura replied.

Then she went back to her car and drove away.

“What do you suppose that meant?” Jessie said, thoughtfully.

“I don’t think we’ll ever know,” Henry answered. “Let’s go home.”

“Maybe we should talk to Mrs. Barstow?” Jessie said.

“Jessie, what would you say to her?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know. I just hate to go without talking to her,” Jessie said.

Henry frowned slightly. “Chances are Mrs. Garrison is just a friend of this Mrs. Barstow. Nothing more than that. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

Jessie shook her head, disagreeing. “Then why did she shout at Mrs. Garrison and say, ‘I will never agree to what you want’?”

“That didn’t sound very friendly to me,” Benny said.

The Aldens stood in silence for a few minutes. Then Henry said, “Well if we did go in, what would you ask her?”

“I’d just ask if she knew anything about the necklace,” Jessie answered.

“How can we just go up and ring her bell? We don’t even know her,” Violet said. “That’s very rude.”

“We went to Mrs. Newton without calling,” Benny reminded them.

“Right,” Violet said, “and I thought that wasn’t polite, either.”

Jessie looked so downcast that Violet touched her arm and said, “All right, Jessie, we’ll do it.”

A smile lit up Jessie’s face. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll do all the talking.”

The children went up the walk to Mrs. Barstow’s house and rang the bell. Soon a tall, thin woman with dark brown hair opened the door. She smiled and said, “I’m sorry but I’ve bought all the cookies I can manage to eat in the next year.”

Benny looked at her in awe7. “You have?”

“Excuse me, Mrs. Barstow, but we aren’t selling anything. I wondered if we could talk to you for just a few minutes?” Jessie asked politely.

Susan Barstow looked surprised. “About what?” she asked.

“About our grandmother’s necklace,” Benny said quickly.

The smile left Susan Barstow’s face. “What necklace?” she asked.

Violet asked shyly, “Couldn’t we come in for just a little while?”

Mrs. Barstow thought for a minute and then said, “Just for a few minutes. But I can tell you right away that I don’t know anything about any necklace.”

She led them into a small living room and beckoned8 to them to sit down. Jessie, in as few words as possible, told the story again of the Alden necklace and their visits to Mrs. Harkins and Mrs. Newton.

Susan Barstow didn’t meet the children’s eyes. She looked out of the window and carefully said, “I can’t help you at all. I’ve never heard of the necklace you’re talking about.”

Suddenly a whistling sound came from the kitchen. “My teakettle is boiling,” Mrs. Barstow said. “I’ll be right back.”

When Mrs. Barstow was out of the room, Jessie looked around. Suddenly she jumped up and walked over to the mantelpiece. “Look,” she cried.

The other children ran over to her. Jessie pointed9 to a large framed picture on the mantel. It was of Mrs. Newton and two small boys. It was an old picture, but Mrs. Newton was easily recognizable.

“It’s that Mrs. Newton,” Benny said.

“Yes,” Jessie replied. “See.”

The teakettle stopped whistling and Henry whispered, “Jessie, what does that picture prove?”

“Well,” Jessie answered, “they do know each other.”

“We guessed that before,” Violet whispered.

Mrs. Barstow came back into the room. It seemed to the Alden children that she paled a little when she saw them looking at the picture. “I don’t have much time,” she said.

Jessie pointed to the photograph. “Isn’t that Mrs. Newton?”

Susan Barstow nodded. “Yes, it is. She’s a very good friend of mine, and has been for years. That’s a picture of her with my children, taken a number of years ago.”

“Oh,” Jessie said. She didn’t know anything else to say or ask.

Mrs. Barstow’s face softened10 a little. “You children should just go home and forget about the necklace nonsense. If someone stole your grandfather’s necklace, I can’t give you any help. I don’t know anything about it.”

Jessie said softly, “That was Laura Garrison who was here. We saw her before we came in.”

The softness left Mrs. Barstow’s face. “Laura is a friend of mine also. Now I have to ask you all to leave, and I also must ask you not to bother me or Mrs. Newton anymore.”

“We’re sorry if we bothered you,” Violet said apologetically. “We won’t do it again.”

The children left and started biking home. “I think she’s hiding something,” Jessie said.

“Jessie,” Henry replied, “everything she said could be true: Mrs. Newton is her friend. If Mrs. Newton is her friend, she would certainly know Laura Garrison. Maybe we are imagining things.”

“I believe Jessie,” Benny said loyally.

“I don’t know,” Violet said. “I think maybe Jessie is right. But there’s nothing else we can do anyway.”

After dinner that night, Mr. Alden took his grandchildren to town to a big ice cream parlor11. They all ordered double cones13 and, as they were leaving, Laura Garrison came in with a man. When she saw the Aldens she smiled slightly. “This is my husband. We had dinner in Greenfield tonight,” she said. She turned to her husband. “These are the Alden children I told you about.”

Mr. Garrison looked at his wife. “Maybe we should all sit down and talk.”

Mrs. Garrison stared at him for a moment and her cheeks got paler. “I don’t think so. Mother wouldn’t … ”

She stopped talking, took her husband’s arm, and walked away with him.

“Who was that?” Mr. Alden asked.

“We met her in Elmford,” Jessie explained.

“She seems like a very nervous lady,” Mr. Alden said. But then his mind strayed from Laura Garrison to Benny, who had just dropped his ice cream cone12 on the street and was looking very surprised.

“Grandfather,” Benny shouted. “My cone! And I hardly had more than four licks.”

Grandfather laughed and took Benny’s hand. “Don’t worry Benny. I’ll buy you another one.”

For the next few days Jessie tried to forget about the necklace. The children agreed that since they had no more clues to follow, they might as well not think about it. Instead, they continued their planning for Mr. Alden’s birthday party.

“I think,” Benny said, “we should have a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate ice cream.”

The other children laughed.

“I haven’t decided14 yet what I’m going to play on my violin. I know Grandfather loves waltzes, but I don’t know one to play,” Violet said.

“I’ve decided to decorate the dining room with balloons and streamers and especially a big sign that says ‘Happy Birthday,’ ” Jessie said.

“And here is my poem,” Henry announced. “It’s not very good but at least it’s all mine.

“Poems are very hard to write,
And I have tried both day and night.
But this is what I want to say,
Grandfather, have the best birthday.”

“I think it’s very good,” Benny said.

“Me, too,” the girls agreed.

They talked more about the party, enjoying all the plans. After dinner, they went up to Henry’s room and talked about what they would wear from the attic15. Finally, they agreed they were all tired and they wanted to go to bed.

Jessie woke up in the middle of the night and sat up in bed. Was that a noise from downstairs? It was. She just knew it. She got out of bed, quietly opened her door, and looked out.

Henry opened his door at the same time. He knew he had heard sounds from the living room. He looked over toward Jessie’s room and saw her standing16 in the doorway in her white nightgown and bare feet. He tiptoed over to her.

“I heard something,” she whispered.

“I did, too,” Henry said. “I’m going downstairs.”

“Maybe we should get Grandfather,” Jessie said.

Henry disagreed. “It could be Watch. How can we wake Grandfather because our dog is walking around?”

Henry started down the stairs. “I’m coming, too,” Jessie whispered.

Together they walked down, very slowly, holding hands. They tried to make sure the steps didn’t creak. When they got to the bottom, they looked toward the living room. Jessie gasped17. A light was moving in the room. Jessie put her arm around Henry’s shoulders and they stood still, watching the light glide18 around the room.

Then, before he knew what he was doing, Henry cried out, “Who’s there?” The light went out and there was silence. “I think we should get Grandfather,” Jessie said, sounding frightened.

Henry tiptoed into the room and turned on the light. The room was empty. Suddenly Mr. Alden was coming down the stairs with Violet and Benny behind him.

“What’s going on?” he asked when he saw Jessie and Henry.

“We heard some noises, and we saw a light, too,” Jessie said. “I think you should call the police.”

Grandfather looked around the room. “Nothing has been touched,” he said. He went to the desk and took an envelope out of a drawer. He counted the money in it. “There’s no money missing either.”

“What could it have been, Grandfather?” Jessie asked.

“Well, the noise could have been Watch. And the lights could have come from cars on the road.”

Henry said, “Someone could have come in the patio19 door.”

Grandfather looked around again. “Henry, I left my camera on that table. It’s still there. Wouldn’t a thief have taken it?”

“I guess you’re right,” Henry said.

Violet eyes opened wide. “Look,” she said, pointing to the mantelpiece. “The picture is crooked20.”

Mr. Alden laughed. “Well, that proves Mrs. McGregor doesn’t miss a thing when she dusts.”

But the children weren’t so sure that’s what it meant.

Upstairs, in bed, Jessie pulled her blankets up high, snuggled under them, and hoped that whoever had been in the house wouldn’t come back.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 dice iuyzh8     
n.骰子;vt.把(食物)切成小方块,冒险
参考例句:
  • They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
  • A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。
2 shrugged 497904474a48f991a3d1961b0476ebce     
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 shutters 74d48a88b636ca064333022eb3458e1f     
百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 ); (照相机的)快门
参考例句:
  • The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
  • The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。
4 mischievously 23cd35e8c65a34bd7a6d7ecbff03b336     
adv.有害地;淘气地
参考例句:
  • He mischievously looked for a chance to embarrass his sister. 他淘气地寻找机会让他的姐姐难堪。 来自互联网
  • Also has many a dream kindheartedness, is loves mischievously small lovable. 又有着多啦a梦的好心肠,是爱调皮的小可爱。 来自互联网
5 garrison uhNxT     
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防
参考例句:
  • The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
  • The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。
6 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
7 awe WNqzC     
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧
参考例句:
  • The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
  • The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。
8 beckoned b70f83e57673dfe30be1c577dd8520bc     
v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He beckoned to the waiter to bring the bill. 他招手示意服务生把账单送过来。
  • The seated figure in the corner beckoned me over. 那个坐在角落里的人向我招手让我过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
10 softened 19151c4e3297eb1618bed6a05d92b4fe     
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰
参考例句:
  • His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
  • The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。
11 parlor v4MzU     
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅
参考例句:
  • She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
  • Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店?
12 cone lYJyi     
n.圆锥体,圆锥形东西,球果
参考例句:
  • Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
  • The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。
13 cones 1928ec03844308f65ae62221b11e81e3     
n.(人眼)圆锥细胞;圆锥体( cone的名词复数 );球果;圆锥形东西;(盛冰淇淋的)锥形蛋卷筒
参考例句:
  • In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
  • Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句
14 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
15 attic Hv4zZ     
n.顶楼,屋顶室
参考例句:
  • Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
  • What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理?
16 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
17 gasped e6af294d8a7477229d6749fa9e8f5b80     
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
参考例句:
  • She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
  • People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
18 glide 2gExT     
n./v.溜,滑行;(时间)消逝
参考例句:
  • We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着,眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
  • So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞,宛如滑翔。
19 patio gSdzr     
n.庭院,平台
参考例句:
  • Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子,我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
  • They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。
20 crooked xvazAv     
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的
参考例句:
  • He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指,示意我们到他那儿去。
  • You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。
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