儿童英语读物 The Canoe Trip Mystery CHAPTER 11 Mr. Withington

The following day, Grandfather drove the family station wagon¹ up a long, winding² gravel³ driveway. Ahead, the Aldens could see a very large brick house with white shutters⁴.

A maid met them at the door. She led them to a comfortable living room with a large bay window overlooking a rose garden. A kind-looking gentleman greeted them.

“I’m so happy you came.” Mr. Withington shook Grandfather’s hand warmly. “Rob told me so much about your family.”

Mr. Withington turned to Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny, and Aunt Jane. “I can’t thank you enough for finding my coin collection. It really means so much to me.” He beamed at all the Aldens.

Benny was busy looking at a large tray with a chocolate layer cake and strawberries on it. Suddenly, the doorbell rang again. A moment later, the maid came in with Rob.

After greeting everyone, Rob helped himself to some tea from the silver tea set on the piano. Mr. Withington sat in a comfortable armchair by the fireplace. The others settled themselves around him.

Rob reached in his jacket and brought out the leather pouch⁵ of coins. “Here they are,” he said, handing them to Mr. Withington.

Mr. Withington accepted the coins gratefully, but he looked a little sad just the same. “I still can’t really believe Eliza and Matt were responsible for all of this.”

“Yes, unfortunately they were.” Rob looked sad, too. “They planned this robbery long before they started working here.They’re both wanted for burglary in other states.”

“I wonder why they left the coins in the woods in the first place,” Jessie said as she helped herself to some lemonade the maid brought.

“They wanted to hide them until all the publicity⁶ had died down a bit,” Rob explained.

“If Angela knew where the coins were, why didn’t she just take them out of their hiding place in the woods after Matt and she broke up?” Henry asked.

“It’s almost impossible to travel to Timberwolf Lake in the winter,” Rob explained. Mr. Withington nodded. “They had to wait until the spring before they could go and get the coins.

“Besides, Angela is the type of person who likes to play games. She liked the idea of scaring Matt almost as much as she wanted the coins,” Rob said.

“She sure did a good job scaring us, too,” Benny mentioned. He took the big glass ofmilk the maid handed him. His glass had little red canoes all over it.

Mr. Withington opened the pouch of coins and spread them out on the coffee table in front of him. Violet picked up a pretty silver coin with a willow⁷ tree on it and held it up to the light.

“That was one of the first coins to be minted in the colonies,” Mr. Withington explained to her.

Violet smiled at him. “You know,” she said, turning to Rob, “I still don’t understand how Angela had time to steal all our canoe equipment at the bunkhouse.”

“She moved very quickly. She saw you arrive in the canoe and stole everything before she even went to the bunkhouse to meet you.” Rob had picked up a large gold doubloon and was examining it.

“She must have thought her job was over with Matt and Bill off the trail,” Mr. Withington remarked.

“Yes, she never dreamed she’d have so many people to scare off, this early in the canoeing season. That was the trouble. She had no time to take the coins out of their hiding place. She never thought some children would be able to find them.” Rob smiled at the Aldens.

“What about the attempted robbery in the local museum?” Grandfather wondered. He poured more milk into his tea.

“Oh, Angela did that, too,” Rob said. “She thought they might have some rare colonial coins that would add to the value of Mr. Withington’s collection.”

“Goodness, she thought of almost everything,” Mr. Withington said.

“Yes, she even knew where Matt and Bill were. We picked them up this morning. They’re still itching⁸ from their poison ivy,” Rob chuckled⁹.

“Will we ever get our camping equipment back?” Benny asked.

“I’m afraid it sank with Angela’s canoe,” Rob said.

Mr. Withington cleared his throat. “I’m planning to replace the equipment you lost,” he said. “It’s the least I could do.”

“Thank you, Mr. Withington.” Violet beamed.

“Ernie will thank you, too,” Henry said, smiling.

“Now, why don’t you all have something to eat, if you’re hungry,” Mr. Withington said.

“Oh, I’m always hungry,” Benny said. He helped himself to some chocolate cake and took a big bite. “You know, the hot dogs on the trail were good,” he said. “But this is much better!”

Everyone laughed.

1 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

2 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

3 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

4 shutters   

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。

5 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。

6 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

7 willow   

n.柳树

参考例句：

• The river was sparsely lined with willow trees.河边疏疏落落有几棵柳树。
• The willow's shadow falls on the lake.垂柳的影子倒映在湖面上。

8 itching   

adj.贪得的，痒的，渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The itching was almost more than he could stand. 他痒得几乎忍不住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My nose is itching. 我的鼻子发痒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。