Under the Lilacs - Chapter 15

Great was the mourning for Sancho, because his talents and virtues ¹ made him universally admired and beloved. Miss Celia advertised, Thorny ² offered rewards, and even surly Pat kept a sharp look-out for poodle dogs when he went to market; but no Sancho or any trace of him appeared. Ben was inconsolable, and sternly said it served Bab right when the dogwood poison affected ³ both face and hands. Poor Bab thought so, too, and dared ask no sympathy from him, though Thorny eagerly prescribed plantain leaves, and Betty kept her supplied with an endless succession of them steeped in cream and pitying tears. This treatment was so successful that the patient soon took her place in society as well as ever, but for Ben's affliction there was no cure, and the boy really suffered in his spirits., ,"I don't think it's fair that I should have so much trouble, - first losing father and then Sanch. If it wasn't for Lita and Miss Celia, I don't believe I could stand it," he said, one day, in a fit of despair, about a week after the sad event., ,"Oh, come now, don't give up so, old fellow. We'll find him if he s alive, and if he isn't I'll try and get you another as good," answered Thorny, with a friendly slap on the shoulder, as Ben sat disconsolately ⁵ among the beans he had been hoeing., , ,"Try some other sort of pet, then. You may have any of mine you like. Have the peacocks; do now," urged Thorny, full of boyish sympathy and good-will., ,"They are dreadful pretty, but I don't seem to care about em, thank you," replied the mourner., ,She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教 。,The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题
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