儿童英语读物 The Mystery at Peacock Hall CHAPTER 6 Gone!

Jessie scooped¹ up the fragile scrap². “What’s this?”

“It fell out of the desk when you pulled the drawer,” Benny said.

The others gathered around to examine the paper.

“It looks really old,” Henry said, handling the paper carefully. “The writing is faded in some places.”

Benny turned his head sideways. “I can’t read that funny printing.”

“It’s not printing,” Jessie told him. “In the old days, people wrote in a fancy way.”

The children studied the paper in the lamplight, but no one could make out the wavery writing.

“Let’s take it downstairs and show Grandfather,” said Jessie. “I bet he can read it.”

They ran down the stairs to the living room.

Grandfather was just jumping one of Althea’s pieces. “King me,” he said. “What have you children got there?”

Jessie handed the yellowed paper to him. “We found this in an old desk. Can you read it?”

Grandfather pushed his glasses up on his nose. “This is very old, judging from the paper and ink. ‘Receipt for’ . . . something, something . . . ‘England.’ That’s all I can read.”

“Let me try,” Althea said, adjusting her own glasses. “Is that a date at the bottom? I can’t read it any better than you, James.”

“It’s obviously a receipt for an item. Possibly something bought in England,” Grandfather said. “Do you want to put this away, Althea?”

“Oh, heavens, let the children have it. They found it.” Althea rummaged³ in a drawer and gave Jessie an envelope. “Keep it in this, dear.”

Benny jumped up and down. “Is this the treasure?”

“I’m afraid not,” Henry said.

Violet felt her little brother’s disappointment. “Well find the treasure, Benny. We’ll just keep looking.”

“You children are exactly right!” Althea told them. “Tomorrow I’ll help you search for that old Randolph treasure. Now you’ve got me excited about it!”

Grandfather glanced at the mantel clock. “Tomorrow will be here sooner than you think. Run on up to bed and you’ll be fresh for the search in the morning.”

The children kissed their grandfather and Cousin Althea good night, then went upstairs.

As the clock struck nine, Jessie leaned over the banister to watch the little wooden figures in the clock. There were so many neat things in Peacock Hall.

“We have to save this house,” she said solemnly. “We just have to.”

The next morning, Grandfather left early for town. Althea cooked breakfast, then insisted on cleaning up.

“You children take a walk before you start poking⁴ around this dusty old place. Enjoy the sunshine!”

Henry had an idea. “We’ll show Tate the old paper from the desk. Maybe he knows what it is. He’s worked here a long time.”

Outside they found Tate pulling weeds from the tulip border. Violet admired the colors of the tulips — yellow and bright red. Her fingers itched⁵ to paint the scene.

“Hi,” Henry said to the old man.

“Oh.” The gardener didn’t even look up from his task. “It’s you kids.”

“We want to show you something we found.” Jessie pulled the yellowed paper from the envelope she stored it in. “It was in a desk on the second floor. Do you know what it is?”

Tate squinted⁶ at the faded paper. “Looks like Latin,” he said after a moment. “Never studied Latin. Can’t read a word of it.”

“It’s not Latin,” Henry told him. “Grandfather read a few words and they’re in English.”

Tate handed the paper back to Jessie. “I don’t have time for riddles⁷, miss. I’ve got to get these weeds out before they choke the tulips.”

Kneeling, Benny stroked the velvety⁸ petal⁹ of a yellow tulip. “How come nobody picks these?”

Tate rocked back on his heels. “Good question, young man. In the old days, my flowers would be in vases all over the house. But now it’s just Mrs. Randolph and me. And we don’t bother cutting flowers. It’s all we can do to keep the roof from falling in!”

“Tell us about the old days,” Jessie said. “What was it like? Was the yard pretty?”

“Oh, it was grand!” Tate answered, warming to the subject. “And the Randolphs gave fancy parties. At night, the driveway was lined with Japanese lanterns. They sparkled like fireflies!”

“Did a lot of people come?” Violet asked.

“You bet! Roscoe Janney loved to visit. When he was about your age, Benny, he’d follow me around like a puppy dog. He always wanted to live in Peacock Hall.”

Benny couldn’t believe Roscoe Janney was ever his age! Cousin Althea’s great-nephew was no fun at all!

“Do you know anything about the treasure?” Henry asked.

Tate bent¹⁰ to his chore again. “I don’t have time for foolishness.”

Henry wondered why the old man was friendly one minute and unfriendly the next.

Benny wandered over to the empty fish pond. Climbing over the crumbling¹¹ ledge¹², he stood next to the goldfish fountain. The statue stood on its tail. Water was supposed to spout¹³ from the open mouth.

Rubbing his fingers over the carved scales, Benny felt something. He looked closer.

Two letters had been scratched in the granite¹⁴ — R.J.

Roscoe Janney.

“Look what I found!” he cried, waving the others over.

“I bet those are Roscoe Janney’s initials,” Henry said.

“Good work, Benny,” Violet said. “That proves what Tate was saying — that Roscoe came here a lot when he was a kid.”

“But why would he carve his initials on the fish statue?” Benny wondered.

Henry replied, “It’s a way of saying, ‘I was here.’ ”

Violet touched the marks on the statue. “I wonder if this was Roscoe’s way of saying, ‘This is mine.’ ”

Jessie remembered the way Roscoe had guiltily left the restaurant last night. “You may have a point, Violet. I bet Roscoe is up to something. He seems to want to buy Peacock Hall pretty badly. Tate said Roscoe loved the house.”

“Do you think Tate was our prowler?” Violet asked. “He has ladders and things in his garden shed.”

Jessie pulled the scrap of denim¹⁵ from her pocket. “We still don’t know about those jeans on the clothesline. They might be hanging up now. I’d like to compare this piece of material to the hole.”

Henry nodded.

The children hurried across the lawn to the smokehouse. The peacock was scratching around the pen, but paid no attention to the Aldens.

“Why won’t the big one put his tail up?” Benny asked. He still longed to have a peacock feather.

“He only does it to show off in front of the peahen,” Jessie replied. “And she’s not around.”

“Well, he could show off in front of us,” Benny said.

Henry laughed. “I think he does, sometimes. Peacocks are vain birds. They like to be admired.”

Benny wondered if the peacock knew the secret of the house. After all, the place was named after the bird.

By now they had rounded the corner of the smokehouse. Sure enough, clean laundry flapped in the spring breeze.

Violet stared at the clothes pegged¹⁶ to the line. Shirts, jeans, socks — all for someone about her size.

“That shirt,” she said suddenly. “The red-striped one near the end — David was wearing it when he ran from us.”

“You’re right!” Jessie exclaimed. “These are David’s clothes! I wonder why David’s laundry is hanging on a line at Tate’s house.”

Just then Tate himself hustled¹⁷ around the corner.

“What are you kids doing around this place? Didn’t I tell you to stay away?”

“We just —” Benny began.

But Tate wouldn’t let him finish. “Go on!” he yelled. “You don’t have any business around here!”

“Let’s go,” Henry said to the others. There was no point in arguing. Tate would only get angrier, he figured. “There’s only one way to clear up this mystery.”

Violet caught on instantly. “Go back to Heather’s stand! She can tell us why David’s clothes are here.”

It didn’t take them long to hike across the dandelion-dotted field.

But the stand was deserted¹⁸.

No wreaths decorated the front, no bunches of fragrant¹⁹ herbs hung invitingly²⁰ from the rafters. Heather and David were nowhere in sight.

“They’re gone!” Violet cried.

Jessie ran her hand over the board counter. “It’s as if they were never here. What happened to them?”

“They must be in Tate’s smokehouse,” Henry concluded.

“David’s clothes are at the smokehouse,” Jessie corrected. “We don’t know where Heather and David are.”

Henry turned toward the path across the field. “We don’t have time to solve this mystery. Not if we want to help Cousin Althea keep Peacock Hall.”

Grandfather was pulling into the driveway as the children crossed the lawn.

“You look like you have news,” he said to them.

“We do,” said Henry. “We went to Heather’s stand, but it’s empty. And Heather and David are gone.”

Grandfather sighed. “I saw Heather Olsen at the courthouse earlier today. She was arguing with someone in the license²¹ bureau. Apparently²² she doesn’t have a business license and someone reported her to the county. County officials shut down her stand.”

Jessie glanced at Violet. They knew who reported Heather — nosy²³ Marlene Sanders.

“So she’s out of business?” Henry asked.

“Until she obtains a proper license, I’m afraid so,” Grandfather said.

Benny frowned. “But that’s not fair. I like Heather.”

“I like her, too,” Grandfather said. “But some things in life aren’t fair.”

Jessie glanced up at Peacock Hall. Cousin Althea was on the verge²⁴ of losing her home. And they were running out of time. Some things were definitely not fair.

As if reading his sister’s mind, Benny said, “Let’s get back to looking for the treasure. Today well find it!”

As they went into the house, Violet said, “We have so many things to look for — Heather and David, the treasure. And all we’ve found is an old piece of paper nobody can read!”

“Let’s see the paper again, Jessie,” Henry said.

Jessie pulled out the envelope. “I still can’t make heads or tails out of it.”

“Heads or tails?” Benny echoed.

“It’s an expression,” Jessie explained. “It means it’s a mystery to me!”

“What’s a mystery?” boomed a voice from the doorway²⁵.

The Aldens looked up to see Roscoe Janney striding into the room.

“What’s a mystery?” the young man repeated, smiling.

Jessie didn’t trust that smile. “Uh — nothing,” she said, slipping the old receipt into a drawer behind her.

Henry knew what she was doing. “We were just wondering why the sun comes up in the east,” he said as a distraction²⁶. “It’s a mystery to us!”

“Not really. You see, the earth rotates around the sun —” Then Roscoe laughed. “It’s too nice a day to think about science. That’s why I came by.”

“Why did you come by?” Althea asked, entering the room with Grandfather.

“To take you and your guests on an outing,” Roscoe said. “To Natural Bridge! It’ll be fun!”

“I guess that’ll be all right,” Grandfather said.

Henry was suspicious of Roscoe Janney. He was too nice, all of a sudden. Did Roscoe see Jessie hide the receipt?

If Roscoe was with them on a trip, he couldn’t do any harm, Henry decided²⁷.

But the Aldens would keep an eye on Althea’s great-nephew.

1 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

3 rummaged   

翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查

参考例句：

• I rummaged through all the boxes but still could not find it. 几个箱子都翻腾遍了也没有找到。
• The customs officers rummaged the ship suspected to have contraband goods. 海关人员仔细搜查了一艘有走私嫌疑的海轮。

4 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

5 itched   

v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Seeing the children playing ping-pong, he itched to have a go. 他看到孩子们打乒乓，不觉技痒。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He could hardly sIt'still and itched to have a go. 他再也坐不住了，心里跃跃欲试。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 squinted   

斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• Pulling his rifle to his shoulder he squinted along the barrel. 他把枪顶肩，眯起眼睛瞄准。
• I squinted through the keyhole. 我从锁眼窥看。

7 riddles   

n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜

参考例句：

• Few riddles collected from oral tradition, however, have all six parts. 但是据收集的情况看，口头流传的谜语很少具有这完整的六部分。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• But first, you'd better see if you can answer riddles. 但是你首先最好想想你会不会猜谜语。 来自辞典例句

8 velvety   

adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的

参考例句：

• a velvety red wine 醇厚的红葡萄酒
• Her skin was admired for its velvety softness. 她的皮肤如天鹅绒般柔软，令人赞叹。

9 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

10 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

11 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

12 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

13 spout   

v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱

参考例句：

• Implication in folk wealth creativity and undertaking vigor spout.蕴藏于民间的财富创造力和创业活力喷涌而出。
• This acts as a spout to drain off water during a rainstorm.在暴风雨季，这东西被用作喷管来排水。

14 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

15 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

16 pegged   

v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的过去式和过去分词 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• They pegged their tent down. 他们钉好了账篷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She pegged down the stairs. 她急忙下楼。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 hustled   

催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He grabbed her arm and hustled her out of the room. 他抓住她的胳膊把她推出房间。
• The secret service agents hustled the speaker out of the amphitheater. 特务机关的代理人把演讲者驱逐出竞技场。

18 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

19 fragrant   

adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的

参考例句：

• The Fragrant Hills are exceptionally beautiful in late autumn.深秋的香山格外美丽。
• The air was fragrant with lavender.空气中弥漫薰衣草香。

20 invitingly   

adv. 动人地

参考例句：

• Her lips pouted invitingly. 她挑逗地撮起双唇。
• The smooth road sloped invitingly before her. 平展的山路诱人地倾斜在她面前。

21 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

22 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

23 nosy   

adj.鼻子大的，好管闲事的，爱追问的；n.大鼻者

参考例句：

• Our nosy neighbours are always looking in through our windows.好管闲事的邻居总是从我们的窗口望进来。
• My landlord is so nosy.He comes by twice a month to inspect my apartment.我的房东很烦人，他每个月都要到我公寓视察两次。

24 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

25 doorway   

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。

26 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

27 decided   

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。