A WHITE HERON
Sarah Orne Jewett
I.
The woods were already filled with shadows one June evening, just before eight o'clock, though a bright sunt still glimmered faintly 生日会场布置among the trunks of the trees. A little girl was driving home her cow, a plodding, dilatory, provoking creature in her behavior, but a valued companion for all 代表的英语that. They were going away from whatever light there was, and striking 男朋友不听话怎么办deep into辅酶q10用量 the woods, but their feet were familiar with the path, and it was no matter whether their eyes could e it or not.
There was hardly a night the summer through when the old cow could be found waiting at the pasture bars; on the contrary, it was her greatest pleasure to hide herlf away among the huckleberry bushes, and though she wore a loud bell she had made the discovery that if one stood perfectly still it would not ring. So Sylvia had to hunt for her until she found her,
and call Co' ! Co' ! with never an answering Moo, until her childish patience was quite spent. If the creature had not given good milk and plenty of it, the ca would have emed very different to her owners. Besides, Sylvia had all the time there was, and very little u to make of it. Sometimes in pleasant weather it was a consolation to look upon the cow's pranks as an intelligent attempt to play hide and ek, and as the child had no playmates she lent herlf to this amument with a good deal of zest. Though this cha had been so long that the wary animal herlf had given an unusual signal of her whereabouts, Sylvia had only laughed when she came upon Mistress Moolly at the swamp- side, and urged her affectionately homeward with a twig of birch leaves. The old cow was not inclined to wander farther, she even turned in the right direction for once as they left the pasture, and stepped along the road at a good pace. She was quite ready to be milked now, and ldom stopped to brow. Sylvia wondered what her grandmother would say becau they were so late. It was a great while since she had left home at half-past five o'clock, but everybody knew the difficulty of making this errand a short one. Mrs. Tilley had chad the hornéd torment too many summer evenings herlf to blame a
ny one el for lingering, and was only thankful as she waited that she had Sylvia, nowadays, to give such valuable assistance. The good woman suspected that Sylvia loitered occasionally on her own account; there never was such a child for straying about out-of-doors since the world was made! Everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herlf, it emed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm. She thought often with wistful compassion of a wretched geranium that belonged to a town neighbor.
"'Afraid of folks,'" old Mrs. Tilley said to herlf, with a smile, after she had made the unlikely
choice of Sylvia from her daughter's houful of children, and was returning to the farm. "'Afraid of folks,' they said! I guess she won't be troubled no great with 'em up to the old place!" When they reached the door of the lonely hou and stopped to unlock it, and the cat came to purr loudly, and rub against them, a derted pussy, indeed, but fat with youn
g robins, Sylvia whispered that this was a beautiful place to live in, and she never should wish to go home.
The companions followed the shady wood-road, the cow taking slow steps and the child very fast ones. The cow stopped long at the brook to drink, as if the pasture were not half a swamp, and Sylvia stood still and waited, letting her bare feet cool themlves in the shoal water, while
the great twilight moths struck softly against her. She waded on through the brook as the cow moved away, and listened to the thrushes with a heart that beat fast with pleasure. There was a stirring in the great boughs overhead. They were full of little birds and beasts that emed to be wide awake, and going about their world, or怎样炒虾好吃又简单 el saying good-night to each other in道德标准 sleepy twitters. Sylvia herlf felt sleepy as she walked along. However, it was not much farther to the hou, and the air was soft and sweet. She was not often in the woods so late as this, and it made her feel as if she were a part of the gra
y shadows and the moving leaves. She was just thinking how long it emed since she first came to the farm a year ago, and wondering if everything went on in the noisy town just the same as when she was there, the thought of the great red-faced boy who ud to cha and frighten her made her hurry along the path to escape from the shadow of the trees. Suddenly this little woods-girl is horror-stricken to hear a clear whistle徐永发 not very far away.
Not a bird's-whistle, which would have a sort of friendliness, but a boy's whistle, determined, and somewhat aggressive. Sylvia left the cow to whatever sad fate might await her, and stepped discreetly aside into the bushes, but she was just too late. The enemy had discovered her, and called out in a very cheerful and persuasive tone, "Halloa, little girl, how far is it to the road?" and trembling Sylvia answered almost inaudibly, "A good ways."
She did not dare to look boldly at the tall young man, who carried a gun over his shoulder, but she came out of her bush and again followed the cow, while he walked alongside.
"I have been hunting for some birds," the stranger said kindly, "and I have lost my way, and need a friend very much. Don't be afraid," he added gallantly. "Speak up and tell me what your name is, and whether you think I can spend the night at your hou, and go out gunning early in the morning."
