Jo's Boys - Charter 21

It was curious to see the change which came over Dan after that talk. A weight seemed off his mind; and though the old impetuous spirit flashed out at times, he seemed intent on trying to show his gratitude ¹ and love and honour to these true friends by a new humility ² and confidence very sweet to them, very helpful to him. After hearing the story from Mrs Jo, the Professor and Mr Laurie made no allusion ³ to it beyond the hearty ⁴ hand-grasp, the look of compassion ⁵, the brief word of good cheer in which men convey sympathy, and a redoubled kindness which left no doubt of pardon. Mr Laurie began at once to interest influential ⁶ persons in Dan's mission, and set in motion the machinery ⁷ which needs so much oiling before anything can be done where Government is concerned. Mr Bhaer, with the skill of a true teacher, gave Dan's hungry mind something to do, and helped him understand himself by carrying on the good chaplain's task so paternally ⁸ that the poor fellow often said he felt as if he had found a father. The boys took him to drive, and amused him with their pranks ⁹ and plans; while the women, old and young, nursed and petted him till he felt like a sultan with a crowd of devoted ¹⁰ slaves, obedient to his lightest wish. A very little of this was enough for Dan, who had a masculine horror of 'molly-coddling', and so brief an acquaintance with illness that he rebelled against the doctor's orders to keep quiet; and it took all Mrs Jo's authority and the girls' ingenuity ¹¹ to keep him from leaving his sofa long before strained back and wounded head were well. Daisy cooked for him; Nan attended to his medicines; Josie read aloud to while away the long hours of inaction that hung so heavily on his hands; while Bess brought all her pictures and casts to amuse him, and, at his special desire, set up a modelling-stand in his parlour and began to mould the buffalo ¹² head he gave her. Those afternoons seemed the pleasantest part of his day; and Mrs Jo, busy in her study close by, could see the friendly trio and enjoy the pretty pictures they made. The girls were much flattered by the success of their efforts, and exerted themselves to be very entertaining, consulting Dan's moods with the feminine tact ¹³ most women creatures learn before they are out of pinafores. When he was gay, the room rang with laughter; when gloomy, they read or worked in respectful silence till their sweet patience cheered him up again; and when in pain they hovered ¹⁴ over him like 'a couple of angels', as he said. He often called Josie 'little mother', but Bess was always 'Princess'; and his manner to the two cousins was quite different. Josie sometimes fretted ¹⁵ him with her fussy ¹⁶ ways, the long plays she liked to read, and the maternal ¹⁷ scoldings she administered when he broke the rules; for having a lord of creation in her power was so delightful ¹⁸ to her that she would have ruled him with a rod of iron if he had submitted. To Bess, in her gentler ministrations, he never showed either impatience ¹⁹ or weariness, but obeyed her least word, exerted himself to seem well in her presence, and took such interest in her work that he lay looking at her with unwearied eyes; while Josie read to him in her best style unheeded., ,Mrs Jo observed this, and called them 'Una and the Lion', which suited them very well, though the lion's mane was shorn, and Una never tried to bridle ²⁰ him. The elder ladies did their part in providing delicacies ²¹ and supplying all his wants; but Mrs Meg was busy at home, Mrs Amy preparing for the trip to Europe in the spring, and Mrs Jo hovering ²² on the brink ²³ of a 'vortex' - for the forthcoming book had been sadly delayed by the late domestic events. As she sat at her desk, settling papers or meditatively ²⁴ nibbling ²⁵ her pen while waiting for the divine afflatus ²⁶ to descend ²⁷ upon her, she often forgot her fictitious ²⁸ heroes and heroines in studying the live models before her, and thus by chance looks, words, and gestures discovered a little romance unsuspected by anyone else., ,The portiere between the rooms was usually drawn ²⁹ aside, giving a view of the group in the large bay-window - Bess at one side, in her grey blouse, busy with her tools; Josie at the other side with her book; and between, on the long couch, propped ³⁰ with many cushions, lay Dan in a many-hued eastern dressing-gown presented by Mr Laurie and worn to please the girls, though the invalid ³¹ much preferred an old jacket 'with no confounded tail to bother over'. He faced Mrs Jo's room, but never seemed to see her, for his eyes were on the slender figure before him, with the pale winter sunshine touching ³² her golden head, and the delicate hands that shaped the clay so deftly ³³. Josie was just visible, rocking violently in a little chair at the head of the couch, and the steady murmur ³⁴ of her girlish voice was usually the only sound that broke the quiet of the room, unless a sudden discussion arose about the book or the buffalo., , ,Josie was called away one day, and Bess, tired of working, offered to take her place if he cared for more reading., ,'I do; your reading suits me better than Jo's. She goes so fast my stupid head gets in a muddle ⁴² and soon begins to ache. Don't tell her; she's a dear little soul, and so good to sit here with a bear like me.', ,She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来 。,Humility often gains more than pride.谦逊往往比骄傲收益更多
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