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儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Hidden Painting CHAPTER 6 Another Strange Visit

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The next morning Aunt Jane was out in the garden cutting flowers while the Aldens ate breakfast. “We have to see Mrs. Newton this morning,” Jessie said. “Soon Grandfather will want us to come home. I know he misses us.”

Violet1 said, “We’ll have to call her first.”

“I don’t know,” Henry said, thoughtfully2. “Maybe we should just go without calling her.”

Violet shook her head. “It isn’t polite to do that,” she said.

“Well, it isn’t polite for her to have our grandmother’s necklace, either,” Benny said firmly.

Jessie and Henry laughed and even Violet had to smile. “You know, Benny’s right,” Henry said.

They finished their breakfast of cold cereal3, buttered toast with jam, and milk, and went upstairs to dress. “We all have to look spic-and-span,” Jessie said. “So we can impress Mrs. Newton with what nice children we are.”

Jessie and Violet both put on flowered skirts and blouses. Jessie’s was sparkling4 white and Violet’s lavender. Benny and Henry wore khaki pants and white shirts. When they came downstairs, Aunt Jane was arranging her flowers.

“I can guess where you’re going,” she said. “But did you call Mrs. Newton?”

Jessie and Henry exchanged a guilty look. “We thought we’d just go. Just for a few minutes,” he added quickly. “We won’t stay long.”

Aunt Jane smiled. “I know I shouldn’t agree, but just promise you won’t stay long.”

“Absolutely,” Jessie said.

“Positively,” Benny added.

The Aldens followed the directions Aunt Jane gave them to Mrs. Newton’s house. They gasped5 when they arrived. The house was three stories high with big columns6 at the front and a circular7 driveway leading up to it. There were beautiful rosebushes on either side. The Aldens rode up, left their bikes in the grass, and rang the doorbell. A woman opened the door and looked at the Aldens. Her face was unsmiling. She was silent for a moment.

“Yes?” she finally said.

Jessie looked at her sister and brothers and then said, “I’m Jessie Alden. These are my brothers and my sister. We wondered if we could talk to Mrs. Lorraine Newton. Are you her?”

“No,” the woman answered. “I’m her daughter, Laura Newton Garrison8. My mother is out on the back patio9. Follow me. We’ve been expecting you.”

Inside the house, Violet asked, “You’ve been expecting us?”

“Yes,” Laura Garrison said. “Mr. Mason called yesterday and said that you had been at the museum, asking a lot of questions. He was sure you would pay us a visit.”

Mrs. Garrison led the Aldens through a large living room out onto a sunny patio. A white-haired woman in a flowered summer dress was sitting stiffly10 in a green wicker chair. She looked at the Alden children coldly.

“Tell me what you want,” she ordered.

Once again, the Aldens told the tale of the necklace. “I don’t have the drawing I made,” Violet said. “Mr. Mason said someone must have thrown it away. So you can’t see just what we mean. But … ”

Benny looked at Mrs. Newton and said, “Our grandfather would be so happy if we could find his necklace and give it—”

Laura Garrison interrupted Benny and looked at her mother. “Mother, maybe we should—” There was a sad tone11 to her voice.

“Laura!” Mrs. Newton said, as if she were warning her daughter.

“You children have been imagining this whole necklace story. It is definitely12 not your grandmother’s. I know it. The necklace has been in my family for generations. It has been handed down from one generation to another.”

“What’s a generation?” Benny whispered to Henry.

“I’ll tell you later,” Henry replied.

Laura looked at her mother again. “Mother, I think it is time—”

“I think it is time,” Mrs. Newton said, “for these children to have some juice and then go home.” She remained unsmiling. She leaned forward and poured a glass of grape juice from a pitcher13 on the table in front of her. She handed a glass to each of the Aldens. When she reached over to give Jessie hers, it slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground. Drops of the purple juice splattered all over Jessie’s white blouse.

“Oh,” Jessie cried out. She stood up and wiped at her blouse. Somehow, she felt this had not been an accident.

Mrs. Newton handed Jessie a napkin and said, “I think you should go home and wash your shirt immediately. That will get the stains14 out.”

“But the necklace,” Violet said. “What about … ”

Mrs. Newton stood up. “My dear child, the necklace was mine. I gave it to the museum. That’s the end of the story. You must simply give up your silly ideas. We have talked about this enough.”

The children all stood. “Thank you for seeing us,” Henry said.

Mrs. Newton nodded. “I hope you will all go back to Greenfield now and forget about this.”

Laura led the Aldens to the front hall. “I know my mother can be rather cold sometimes. She doesn’t mean to be. She really doesn’t.”

Jessie stopped at a mirror over a table in the hall and looked in to see how stained15 her shirt was. She glanced down at the table and saw an unopened envelope. It was addressed to Mrs. Lorraine Newton, but the return address was a Mrs. Susan Barstow at 1600 Hudson Lane16 in Silver City. Silver City was the town next to Greenfield.

Jessie didn’t say anything to the other Aldens about the letter she’d seen. She wanted to think about it first. When they reached Aunt Jane’s they told her about Mrs. Newton.

“Well,” Aunt Jane said, “I guess that is that. The necklace must belong to Mrs. Newton.”

Violet nodded. “I guess you’re right. I think we should call Grandfather and tell him we are coming home tomorrow. I miss him a lot.”

Aunt Jane agreed. “I’ll be sorry to see you all go, but I think Violet is right. You should go home.”

Henry frowned17. “I hate to go like this. I guess this will just have to be one mystery we aren’t going to solve. It sure is a disappointment!”

Jessie called Mr. Alden. When she hung up she was smiling. “He sounded so happy that we were coming home. He said he’d tell Watch to expect us, too.”

The next day they all kissed Aunt Jane good-bye. “Call me and let me know you got home safely,” she said to them at the bus stop.

“We will,” Benny promised.

At home Grandfather welcomed them. He had left his mill18 early so that he could meet his grandchildren at the Greenfield bus stop. He drove them to the house and they all sat outside in the late afternoon sun, drinking lemonade. Watch ran from one child to the other, nuzzling their hands, happy to have his family around.

“Tell me what you did at Aunt Jane’s,”Grandfather said.

The children exchanged a quick look.

“Well,” Benny said, “we swung in an old tire at the pond.”

“We went to Kenniston Park,” Violet carefully said.

“And we went to the museum,” Jessie added.

“Twice,” Benny said.

Mr. Alden looked impressed. “I think that’s fine, having that much of an interest in the Elmford Museum.”

“It certainly was interesting,” Benny said, smiling.

When Mrs. McGregor called them in for dinner, Mr. Alden said, “I want you to stop in the living room first and see something.”

When they reached the door of the room, Violet gasped. “Look!”

Over the mantelpiece was their grandmother’s portrait. “I thought it was time to put it up again,” Mr. Alden said. “Even though I don’t have the necklace, I do have the picture. We should enjoy it.”

“I wish we had the necklace, too,” Benny said.

“So do I,” Grandfather said in agreement. “So do I.”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 violet 8h3wm     
adj.紫色的;n.紫罗兰
参考例句:
  • She likes to wear violet dresses.他喜欢穿紫色的衣服。
  • Violet is the color of wisdom,peace and strength.紫色是智慧的,和平的和力量的颜色。
2 thoughtfully aoiwf     
ad.考虑周到地
参考例句:
  • She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. 她若有所思地抚摩着下巴。
  • The man pulled thoughtfully at his pipe before commenting on our proposal. 那人若有所思地吸了口烟,然后就我们的建议发表自己的见解。
3 cereal Wrzz1     
n.谷类,五谷,禾谷
参考例句:
  • I have hot cereal every day for breakfast.我每天早餐吃热麦片粥。
  • Soybeans are handled differently from cereal grains.大豆的加工处理与谷类的加工处理不同。
4 sparkling xvYwy     
adj.发火花的,闪亮的;灿烂的,活泼的;闪闪发光的,闪烁的;起泡沫的v.闪光,闪耀(sparkle的现在分词)
参考例句:
  • the calm and sparkling waters of the lake 平静的波光粼粼的湖水
  • Other sparkling wines are often considered the poor relations of champagne. 其他起泡的葡萄酒通常被认为较香槟酒为次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 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》
6 columns columns     
n.柱( column的名词复数 );纵队;栏;(舰队的)纵列
参考例句:
  • The temple is supported by marble columns. 这座庙宇由大理石柱支撑。
  • There are two columns on each page of this dictionary. 这本词典每一页有两栏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 circular MnHy4     
adj.圆(形)的,环形的;循环的;n.传单,通报
参考例句:
  • The bright boy altered it to a circular form.这个聪明的男孩把它改成了圆形。
  • The lamp stands on a circular base.这盏台灯是装在圆形底座上的。
8 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。
9 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。
10 stiffly ihBz7W     
adv. 顽固地, 硬
参考例句:
  • His manner was stiffly formal.他的举止十分僵硬。
  • He got out of bed stiffly.他手脚不灵便地起了床。
11 tone bqFyP     
n.语气,音调,气度,色调;vt.(up)增强
参考例句:
  • There was a tone of mockery in his voice.他说话的语气含有嘲笑的意味。
  • Holmes used an informal,chatty tone in his essays.霍姆斯在文章中语气轻松随便。
12 definitely RuJzx0     
adv.一定地,肯定地;明确地,确切地
参考例句:
  • The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛,这个队肯定会输。
  • I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前,我一定回家。
13 pitcher S2Gz7     
n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐;(棒球)投手
参考例句:
  • He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
  • Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。
14 stains 9047a137e3c1d55f1d108c98d3e3f38a     
(使)染色( stain的第三人称单数 ); 褪色,变污; 玷污,败坏(名声)
参考例句:
  • It was said that washing powders containing enzymes remove stains more efficiently. 据说加酶洗衣粉除污更有效。
  • Be quick, cover the blood stains over. 快!把血迹全遮盖起来。
15 stained phDzhj     
adj.污染的,玷污的
参考例句:
  • My dress was stained. 我的连衣裙弄上了污渍。
  • The doors are then stained and varnished. 这些门还要染色涂清漆。
16 lane i2kxH     
n.(乡间)小路(巷);车(跑,泳)道;航道
参考例句:
  • There is a shop at the end of this lane.这条胡同的顶头有一家商店。
  • The champion is running in lane five.冠军跑在第五跑道上。
17 frowned fdfd04918425477a66e031069e013e79     
皱眉( frown的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She frowned in puzzlement. 她迷惑地蹙着眉。
  • The mother frowned when her son failed in his exam. 儿子考试不及格时,母亲皱着眉。
18 mill rDYxf     
n.磨坊,碾磨机;制造厂,工厂;vt.磨,碾
参考例句:
  • The rice mill was wrecked by the enemy bombing.碾米厂遭到了敌机的轰炸。
  • The farmer took his grain to the mill.这个农民把谷子送到磨房。
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