Маленькие мужчины / Little men. Уровень 4. Луиза Мэй Олкотт
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you like it?” began Jack.
“I shan’t stay if I don’t,” said Dan coolly.
“Where will you go?” asked Nat.
“I may go to sea, or out west, or to California,” answered Dan, with a reckless air.
“Oh, don’t! Stay with Mr. Page awhile and then come back here; do, Dan,” pleaded Nat.
“I don’t care where I go, or how long I stay, And I won’t come here again,” with which wrathful speech Dan went away to put up his things, everyone of which Mr. Bhaer had given him.
The wagon stood at the door, and Mrs. Bhaer came out to speak to Dan, looking so sad that his heart smote him, and he said,
“May I say good-bye to Teddy?”
“Yes, dear; go in and kiss him, he will miss his Danny very much.”
He heard Mrs. Bhaer say pleadingly,
“Can’t we give the poor lad one more trial, Fritz?” and Mr. Bhaer answer,
“My dear, let him go where he can do no harm to others, while they do good to him, and by and by he will come back, I promise you.”
Dan heard Mrs. Bhaer sigh, and he wanted to ask for one more trial himself, but his pride did not let him, and he came out with the hard look on his face, shook hands without a word, and drove away with Mr. Bhaer, leaving Nat and Mrs. Jo with tears in their eyes.
A few days afterwards they received a letter from Mr. Page, saying that Dan was doing well, and they all rejoiced. But three weeks later came another letter, saying that Dan had run away, and nothing had been heard of him. Mr. Bhaer said,
“Perhaps I could give him another chance.”
Mrs. Bhaer, however, nodded wisely and answered,
“Don’t be troubled, Fritz; the boy will come back to us, I’m sure of it.”
But time went on and no Dan came.
Naughty Nan
“Fritz, I’ve got a new idea,” cried Mrs. Bhaer, as she met her husband one day after school.
“Well, my dear, what is it?” and he waited willingly to hear the new plan, for some of Mrs. Jo’s ideas were droll, though usually they were quite sensible.
“Daisy needs a companion, and the boys will be the better with another girl among them. They pet and tyrannize Daisy, and she is getting spoilt. Then they must learn to be gentle, and improve their manners.”
“You are right, as usual. Now, who shall we have?” asked Mr. Bhaer.
“Little Annie Harding.”
“What! Naughty Nan, as the lads call her?” cried Mr. Bhaer, looking very much amused.
“Yes, she is wild at home since her mother died, and is a bright child indeed. When I met her father in town I asked him why he did not send her to school. He said he would gladly if he could find a good school for girls.”
“Do you really want to take this little gypsy to torment you?” asked Mr. Bhaer, patting the hand that lay on his arm.
“Oh dear, no,” said Mother Bhaer, briskly. “I like her. You see, Fritz, I feel a great sympathy for Nan, because I was such a naughty child myself that I know all about it. She is full of spirits. The tricksy midget will soon become a happy child. I know how to manage her, for I remember how my blessed mother managed me.”
“I only hope she won’t be another trouble-maker.”
“My poor Dan! I never can quite forgive myself for letting him go,” sighed Mrs. Bhaer.
At the sound of the name, little Teddy, who had never forgotten his friend, trotted to the door, and then trotted back again,
“My Danny will come soon.”
“Then I may have Nan, may I?” asked Mrs. Jo.
“A dozen Nans if you want them, my dear,” answered Mr. Bhaer.
When Mrs. Bhaer returned from her drive that afternoon, a small girl into the house, shouting,
“Hi, Daisy! Where are you?”
Daisy came, and looked pleased to see her guest, but also a trifle alarmed, when Nan said,
“I’m going to stay here always, papa says I may, and my box is coming tomorrow, all my things had to be washed and mended, and your aunt came and carried me off. Isn’t it great fun?”
“Why, yes. Did you bring your big doll?” asked Daisy.
“Yes, she’s somewhere here,” said Nan. “I want to see the boys and the barn,” and ran off.
“Hello! Nan!” cried the boys.
“I’m going to stay.”
“Hooray!” bawled Tommy from the wall on which he was perched.
“What’s the matter with Stuffy?” asked Nan, whose quick eyes were roving from face to face.
“The ball hurt his hand; that’s why he is crying,” answered Jack scornfully.
“I don’t, I never cry, no matter how I’m hurt; it’s babyish,” said Nan, loftily.
“Pooh! I could make you cry in two minutes,” returned Stuffy.
“See if you can.”
“Go and pick that bunch of nettles, then,” and Stuffy pointed to that prickly plant growing by the wall.
Nan instantly grasped the nettle, pulled it up, and held it with a defiant gesture, in spite of the almost unbearable sting.
“Good for you,” cried the boys.
Stuffy said tauntingly,
“You poke your hands into everything. Now go and bump your head real hard against the barn, and see if you don’t howl then.”
“Don’t do it,” said Nat, who hated cruelty.
But Nan ran to the barn. She gave her head a blow that sounded like a battering-ram[19]. Then she staggered up, saying stoutly, though her face was drawn with pain,
“That hurt, but I don’t cry.”
“Do it again,” said Stuffy angrily.
Nan was ready, but Nat held her; and Tommy flew at Stuffy like a little cock,
“Stop it, or I’ll throw you over the barn!” and he shook and hustled poor Stuffy.
“It is awfully bad to hurt a little girl,” said Demi, reproachfully.
“Ho! I don’t mind; I’m not a little girl, I’m older than you and Daisy,” cried Nan, ungratefully.
“How do you do, Madge Wildfire?” said Mr. Bhaer, as Nan came in with the rest to supper. “Give the right hand, little daughter,” he added, as Nan offered him her left.
“The other hurts me.”
“The poor little hand! Why those blisters?” he asked, drawing it from behind her back.
Before Nan could think of any excuse, Daisy told the whole story, during which Stuffy tried to hide his face in a bowl of bread and milk. Mr. Bhaer looked down the long table towards his wife, and said with a laugh in his eyes,
“This is your business, my dear.”
Mrs. Jo said,
“Do you know why I asked Nan to come here?”
“To plague me,” muttered Stuffy.
“To make little gentlemen of you. And I think you have shown that some of you need it.”
Here Stuffy retired into his bowl again, and did not emerge. Demi said,
“How can she, when she’s such a boy herself?”
“She needs help
battering-ram – стенобитное орудие