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Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, Chapter 18. Prisms

Chapter 18. Prisms

As the warm August days passed, Pollyanna went very frequently to the great house on Pendleton Hill. She did not feel, however, that her visits were really a success. Not but that the man seemed to want her there--he sent for her, indeed, frequently; but that when she was there, he seemed scarcely any the happier for her presence--at least, so Pollyanna thought.

He talked to her, it was true, and he showed her many strange and beautiful things--books, pictures, and curios. But he still fretted audibly over his own helplessness, and he chafed visibly under the rules and 'regulatings' of the unwelcome members of his household. He did, indeed, seem to like to hear Pollyanna talk, however, and Pollyanna talked, Pollyanna liked to talk--but she was never sure that she would not look up and find him lying back on his pillow with that white, hurt look that always pained her; and she was never sure which--if any--of her words had brought it there. As for telling him the 'glad game,' and trying to get him to play it--Pollyanna had never seen the time yet when she thought he would care to hear about it. She had twice tried to tell him; but neither time had she got beyond the beginning of what her father had said--John Pendleton had on each occasion turned the conversation abruptly to another subject.

Pollyanna never doubted now that John Pendleton was her Aunt Polly's one-time lover; and with all the strength of her loving, loyal heart, she wished she could in some way bring happiness into their to her mind--miserably lonely lives. Just how she was to do this, however, she could not see. She talked to Mr. Pendleton about her aunt; and he listened, sometimes politely, sometimes irritably, frequently with a quizzical smile on his usually stern lips. She talked to her aunt about Mr. Pendleton--or rather, she tried to talk to her about him. As a general thing, however, Miss Polly would not listen--long. She always found something else to talk about. She frequently did that, however, when Pollyanna was talking of others--of Dr. Chilton, for instance. Pollyanna laid this, though, to the fact that it had been Dr. Chilton who had seen her in the sun parlor with the rose in her hair and the lace shawl draped about her shoulders. Aunt Polly, indeed, seemed particularly bitter against Dr. Chilton, as Pollyanna found out one day when a hard cold shut her up in the house.

"If you are not better by night I shall send for the doctor," Aunt Polly said. "Shall you? Then I'm going to be worse," gurgled Pollyanna. "I'd love to have Dr. Chilton come to see me!" She wondered, then, at the look that came to her aunt's face. "It will not be Dr. Chilton, Pollyanna," Miss Polly said sternly. "Dr. Chilton is not our family physician. I shall send for Dr. Warren--if you are worse." Pollyanna did not grow worse, however, and Dr. Warren was not summoned.

"And I'm so glad, too," Pollyanna said to her aunt that evening. "Of course I like Dr. Warren, and all that; but I like Dr. Chilton better, and I'm afraid he'd feel hurt if I didn't have him. You see, he wasn't really to blame, after all, that he happened to see you when I'd dressed you up so pretty that day, Aunt Polly," she finished wistfully. "That will do, Pollyanna. I really do not wish to discuss Dr. Chilton--or his feelings," reproved Miss Polly, decisively. Pollyanna looked at her for a moment with mournfully interested eyes; then she sighed:

"I just love to see you when your cheeks are pink like that, Aunt Polly; but I would so like to fix your hair. If--Why, Aunt Polly!" But her aunt was already out of sight down the hall.

It was toward the end of August that Pollyanna, making an early morning call on John Pendleton, found the flaming band of blue and gold and green edged with red and violet lying across his pillow. She stopped short in awed delight.

"Why, Mr. Pendleton, it's a baby rainbow--a real rainbow come in to pay you a visit!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together softly. "Oh--oh--oh, how pretty it is! But how did it get in?" she cried.

The man laughed a little grimly: John Pendleton was particularly out of sorts with the world this morning.

"Well, I suppose it 'got in' through the bevelled edge of that glass thermometer in the window," he said wearily. "The sun shouldn't strike it at all but it does in the morning." "Oh, but it's so pretty, Mr. Pendleton! And does just the sun do that? My! if it was mine I'd have it hang in the sun all day long!" "Lots of good you'd get out of the thermometer, then," laughed the man. "How do you suppose you could tell how hot it was, or how cold it was, if the thermometer hung in the sun all day?" "I shouldn't care," breathed Pollyanna, her fascinated eyes on the brilliant band of colors across the pillow. "Just as if anybody'd care when they were living all the time in a rainbow!" The man laughed. He was watching Pollyanna's rapt face a little curiously. Suddenly a new thought came to him. He touched the bell at his side.

"Nora," he said, when the elderly maid appeared at the door, "bring me one of the big brass candle-sticks from the mantel in the front drawing-room." "Yes, sir," murmured the woman, looking slightly dazed. In a minute she had returned. A musical tinkling entered the room with her as she advanced wonderingly toward the bed. It came from the prism pendants encircling the old-fashioned candelabrum in her hand.

"Thank you. You may set it here on the stand," directed the man. "Now get a string and fasten it to the sash-curtain fixtures of that window there. Take down the sash-curtain, and let the string reach straight across the window from side to side. That will be all. Thank you," he said, when she had carried out his directions. As she left the room he turned smiling eyes toward the wondering Pollyanna.

"Bring me the candlestick now, please, Pollyanna." With both hands she brought it; and in a moment he was slipping off the pendants, one by one, until they lay, a round dozen of them, side by side, on the bed.

"Now, my dear, suppose you take them and hook them to that little string Nora fixed across the window. If you really want to live in a rainbow--I don't see but we'll have to have a rainbow for you to live in!" Pollyanna had not hung up three of the pendants in the sunlit window before she saw a little of what was going to happen. She was so excited then she could scarcely control her shaking fingers enough to hang up the rest. But at last her task was finished, and she stepped back with a low cry of delight.

It had become a fairyland--that sumptuous, but dreary bedroom. Everywhere were bits of dancing red and green, violet and orange, gold and blue. The wall, the floor, and the furniture, even to the bed itself, were aflame with shimmering bits of color.

"Oh, oh, oh, how lovely!" breathed Pollyanna; then she laughed suddenly. "I just reckon the sun himself is trying to play the game now, don't you?" she cried, forgetting for the moment that Mr. Pendleton could not know what she was talking about. "Oh, how I wish I had a lot of those things! How I would like to give them to Aunt Polly and Mrs. Snow and--lots of folks. I reckon then they'd be glad all right! Why, I think even Aunt Polly'd get so glad she couldn't help banging doors if she lived in a rainbow like that. Don't you?" Mr. Pendleton laughed.

"Well, from my remembrance of your aunt, Miss Pollyanna, I must say I think it would take something more than a few prisms in the sunlight to--to make her bang many doors--for gladness. But come, now, really, what do you mean?" Pollyanna stared slightly; then she drew a long breath.

"Oh, I forgot. You don't know about the game. I remember now." "Suppose you tell me, then." And this time Pollyanna told him. She told him the whole thing from the very first--from the crutches that should have been a doll. As she talked, she did not look at his face. Her rapt eyes were still on the dancing flecks of color from the prism pendants swaying in the sunlit window.

"And that's all," she sighed, when she had finished. "And now you know why I said the sun was trying to play it--that game." For a moment there was silence. Then a low voice from the bed said unsteadily:

"Perhaps; but I'm thinking that the very finest prism of them all is yourself, Pollyanna." "Oh, but I don't show beautiful red and green and purple when the sun shines through me, Mr. Pendleton!" "Don't you?" smiled the man. And Pollyanna, looking into his face, wondered why there were tears in his eyes.

"No," she said. Then, after a minute she added mournfully: "I'm afraid, Mr. Pendleton, the sun doesn't make anything but freckles out of me. Aunt Polly says it does make them!" The man laughed a little; and again Pollyanna looked at him: the laugh had sounded almost like a sob.

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Chapter 18. Prisms Chapitre 18. Les prismes 18장. 프리즘 Capítulo 18. Prismas Глава 18. Призмы Bölüm 18. Prizmalar 第 18 章棱镜

As the warm August days passed, Pollyanna went very frequently to the great house on Pendleton Hill. По мере того как проходили теплые августовские дни, Поллианна очень часто ходила в большой дом на Пендлтон-Хилл. She did not feel, however, that her visits were really a success. Однако она не чувствовала, что ее визиты были действительно успешными. Not but that the man seemed to want her there--he sent for her, indeed, frequently; but that when she was there, he seemed scarcely any the happier for her presence--at least, so Pollyanna thought. |||||||||||||||thường xuyên|||||||||||||||sự hiện diện||||| Не только то, что мужчина, казалось, хотел ее присутствия - он действительно часто посылал за ней; но и то, что, когда она была там, он, казалось, не был более счастлив от ее присутствия - по крайней мере, так думала Поллианна.

He talked to her, it was true, and he showed her many strange and beautiful things--books, pictures, and curios. Он разговаривал с ней, это правда, и показывал ей много странных и красивых вещей - книги, картины и диковинки. But he still fretted audibly over his own helplessness, and he chafed visibly under the rules and 'regulatings' of the unwelcome members of his household. ||||có thể nghe thấy||||sự bất lực||||một cách rõ r||||||||||||hộ gia đình Но он все еще сильно переживал из-за собственной беспомощности, и его заметно раздражали правила и "регламенты" нежелательных членов его семьи. He did, indeed, seem to like to hear Pollyanna talk, however, and Pollyanna talked, Pollyanna liked to talk--but she was never sure that she would not look up and find him lying back on his pillow with that white, hurt look that always pained her; and she was never sure which--if any--of her words had brought it there. Однако ему, похоже, нравилось слушать, как Поллианна говорит, а Поллианна говорила, Поллианна любила говорить - но она никогда не была уверена, что не поднимет глаза и не увидит его лежащим на подушке с тем белым, обиженным взглядом, который всегда причинял ей боль; и она никогда не была уверена, какое - если вообще какое - из ее слов привело к этому. As for telling him the 'glad game,' and trying to get him to play it--Pollyanna had never seen the time yet when she thought he would care to hear about it. Что касается того, чтобы рассказать ему об "игре в радость" и попытаться заставить его сыграть в нее - Поллианна еще не видела времени, когда, как она думала, он захочет услышать об этом. She had twice tried to tell him; but neither time had she got beyond the beginning of what her father had said--John Pendleton had on each occasion turned the conversation abruptly to another subject. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||đột ngột||| Она дважды пыталась рассказать ему об этом, но ни разу ей не удалось продвинуться дальше начала того, что сказал ее отец - Джон Пендлтон каждый раз резко переводил разговор на другую тему.

Pollyanna never doubted now that John Pendleton was her Aunt Polly's one-time lover; and with all the strength of her loving, loyal heart, she wished she could in some way bring happiness into their to her mind--miserably lonely lives. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||cô đơn khổ|| Теперь Поллианна не сомневалась, что Джон Пендлтон был одноразовым любовником ее тети Полли, и со всей силой своего любящего, преданного сердца желала, чтобы она могла каким-то образом привнести счастье в их, по ее мнению, безумно одинокие жизни. Just how she was to do this, however, she could not see. Однако как она должна была это сделать, она не могла понять. She talked to Mr. Pendleton about her aunt; and he listened, sometimes politely, sometimes irritably, frequently with a quizzical smile on his usually stern lips. ||||||||||||||một cách cáu|thường xuyên|||nhướng mày|||||nghiêm khắc| She talked to her aunt about Mr. Pendleton--or rather, she tried to talk to her about him. |||||||||cụ thể hơn|||||||| As a general thing, however, Miss Polly would not listen--long. Однако, как правило, мисс Полли не слушала - долго. She always found something else to talk about. She frequently did that, however, when Pollyanna was talking of others--of Dr. Chilton, for instance. |||||||||||||||ví dụ Однако она часто делала это, когда Поллианна говорила о других - о докторе Чилтоне, например. Pollyanna laid this, though, to the fact that it had been Dr. Chilton who had seen her in the sun parlor with the rose in her hair and the lace shawl draped about her shoulders. |đổ lỗi|||||||||||||||||||phòng khách|||||||||khăn choàng ren||||| Однако Поллианна объяснила это тем, что именно доктор Чилтон видел ее в солнечной гостиной с розой в волосах и кружевной шалью, накинутой на плечи. Aunt Polly, indeed, seemed particularly bitter against Dr. Chilton, as Pollyanna found out one day when a hard cold shut her up in the house. Тетя Полли, действительно, была особенно озлоблена против доктора Чилтона, о чем Поллианна узнала однажды, когда сильная простуда заставила ее остаться дома.

"If you are not better by night I shall send for the doctor," Aunt Polly said. "Shall you? Then I'm going to be worse," gurgled Pollyanna. "I'd love to have Dr. Chilton come to see me!" She wondered, then, at the look that came to her aunt's face. |thắc mắc|||||||||| Она удивилась, увидев выражение лица своей тети. "It will not be Dr. Chilton, Pollyanna," Miss Polly said sternly. ||||||||||một cách nghiêm "Dr. Chilton is not our family physician. I shall send for Dr. Warren--if you are worse." Pollyanna did not grow worse, however, and Dr. Warren was not summoned.

"And I'm so glad, too," Pollyanna said to her aunt that evening. "Of course I like Dr. Warren, and all that; but I like Dr. Chilton better, and I'm afraid he'd feel hurt if I didn't have him. "Конечно, мне нравится доктор Уоррен, и все такое; но доктор Чилтон мне нравится больше, и я боюсь, что ему будет больно, если я его не возьму. You see, he wasn't really to blame, after all, that he happened to see you when I'd dressed you up so pretty that day, Aunt Polly," she finished wistfully. ||||||chịu trách nhiệm||||||||||||||||||||||một cách nuối Видишь ли, он не очень-то виноват, в конце концов, что случайно увидел тебя, когда я так красиво нарядила тебя в тот день, тетя Полли", - с тоской закончила она. "That will do, Pollyanna. "Сойдет, Поллианна. I really do not wish to discuss Dr. Chilton--or his feelings," reproved Miss Polly, decisively. |||||||||||||||một cách dứ Я действительно не хочу обсуждать доктора Чилтона и его чувства, - решительно заявила мисс Полли. Pollyanna looked at her for a moment with mournfully interested eyes; then she sighed: Поллианна мгновение смотрела на нее скорбно-заинтересованными глазами, потом вздохнула:

"I just love to see you when your cheeks are pink like that, Aunt Polly; but I would so like to fix your hair. "Я просто обожаю смотреть на тебя, когда у тебя такие розовые щеки, тетя Полли; но я бы так хотела поправить твои волосы. If--Why, Aunt Polly!" But her aunt was already out of sight down the hall. Но ее тетя уже скрылась из виду в коридоре.

It was toward the end of August that Pollyanna, making an early morning call on John Pendleton, found the flaming band of blue and gold and green edged with red and violet lying across his pillow. |||||||||||||||||||rực rỡ|||||||||||||||| В конце августа Поллианна, придя рано утром к Джону Пендлтону, обнаружила, что на его подушке лежит пламенная лента из синего, золотого и зеленого цветов с красной и фиолетовой окантовкой. She stopped short in awed delight. Она замерла от восторга.

"Why, Mr. Pendleton, it's a baby rainbow--a real rainbow come in to pay you a visit!" "Почему, мистер Пендлтон, это детская радуга - настоящая радуга пришла нанести вам визит!". she exclaimed, clapping her hands together softly. "Oh--oh--oh, how pretty it is! But how did it get in?" she cried.

The man laughed a little grimly: John Pendleton was particularly out of sorts with the world this morning. |||||một cách u á|||||||||||| Мужчина мрачновато рассмеялся: Джон Пендлтон сегодня утром был особенно не в духе.

"Well, I suppose it 'got in' through the bevelled edge of that glass thermometer in the window," he said wearily. "Ну, я полагаю, она "попала" через скошенный край стеклянного термометра в окне", - устало сказал он. "The sun shouldn't strike it at all but it does in the morning." |||chiếu sáng||||||||| "Солнце не должно бить в него вообще, но утром оно бьет". "Oh, but it's so pretty, Mr. Pendleton! And does just the sun do that? My! if it was mine I'd have it hang in the sun all day long!" "Lots of good you'd get out of the thermometer, then," laughed the man. "Много пользы вы получите от термометра", - рассмеялся мужчина. "How do you suppose you could tell how hot it was, or how cold it was, if the thermometer hung in the sun all day?" "I shouldn't care," breathed Pollyanna, her fascinated eyes on the brilliant band of colors across the pillow. "Меня это не должно волновать", - вздохнула Поллианна, ее завороженные глаза смотрели на яркую полосу цветов на подушке. "Just as if anybody'd care when they were living all the time in a rainbow!" "Как будто кому-то есть до этого дело, когда он все время живет на радуге!" The man laughed. He was watching Pollyanna's rapt face a little curiously. Suddenly a new thought came to him. He touched the bell at his side. Он коснулся колокольчика на своем боку.

"Nora," he said, when the elderly maid appeared at the door, "bring me one of the big brass candle-sticks from the mantel in the front drawing-room." "Нора, - сказал он, когда пожилая горничная появилась в дверях, - принеси мне один из больших медных подсвечников с камина в передней гостиной". "Yes, sir," murmured the woman, looking slightly dazed. ||thì thầm||||| In a minute she had returned. A musical tinkling entered the room with her as she advanced wonderingly toward the bed. Вместе с ней в комнату вошел музыкальный звон, когда она с удивлением направилась к кровати. It came from the prism pendants encircling the old-fashioned candelabrum in her hand. Он исходил от призматических подвесок, окружавших старомодный канделябр в ее руке.

"Thank you. You may set it here on the stand," directed the man. Вы можете поставить его здесь, на подставке", - распорядился мужчина. "Now get a string and fasten it to the sash-curtain fixtures of that window there. "Теперь возьмите веревку и привяжите ее к креплениям створки-шторы вон того окна. Take down the sash-curtain, and let the string reach straight across the window from side to side. Опустите створчатую штору, и пусть струна протянется прямо через окно из стороны в сторону. That will be all. Thank you," he said, when she had carried out his directions. Спасибо, - сказал он, когда она выполнила его указания. As she left the room he turned smiling eyes toward the wondering Pollyanna.

"Bring me the candlestick now, please, Pollyanna." With both hands she brought it; and in a moment he was slipping off the pendants, one by one, until they lay, a round dozen of them, side by side, on the bed. Обеими руками она поднесла его, и через мгновение он уже снимал подвески одну за другой, пока они не легли на кровать, круглой дюжиной, бок о бок.

"Now, my dear, suppose you take them and hook them to that little string Nora fixed across the window. "Теперь, моя дорогая, предположим, что ты возьмешь их и зацепишь за ту маленькую веревочку, которую Нора закрепила на окне. If you really want to live in a rainbow--I don't see but we'll have to have a rainbow for you to live in!" Если ты действительно хочешь жить в радуге... Я не вижу, но мы должны иметь радугу, чтобы ты в ней жил!". Pollyanna had not hung up three of the pendants in the sunlit window before she saw a little of what was going to happen. Не успела Поллианна повесить три подвески на освещенное солнцем окно, как увидела немногое из того, что должно было произойти. She was so excited then she could scarcely control her shaking fingers enough to hang up the rest. But at last her task was finished, and she stepped back with a low cry of delight. Но наконец ее задача была выполнена, и она отступила назад с негромким возгласом восторга.

It had become a fairyland--that sumptuous, but dreary bedroom. ||||||||buồn tẻ| Она превратилась в сказочную страну - эта роскошная, но унылая спальня. Everywhere were bits of dancing red and green, violet and orange, gold and blue. Повсюду были кусочки танцующих красных и зеленых, фиолетовых и оранжевых, золотых и синих цветов. The wall, the floor, and the furniture, even to the bed itself, were aflame with shimmering bits of color.

"Oh, oh, oh, how lovely!" breathed Pollyanna; then she laughed suddenly. "I just reckon the sun himself is trying to play the game now, don't you?" "Я просто думаю, что само солнце сейчас пытается играть в эту игру, не так ли?". she cried, forgetting for the moment that Mr. Pendleton could not know what she was talking about. воскликнула она, забыв на мгновение, что мистер Пендлтон не мог знать, о чем она говорит. "Oh, how I wish I had a lot of those things! "О, как бы я хотела иметь много таких вещей! How I would like to give them to Aunt Polly and Mrs. Snow and--lots of folks. I reckon then they'd be glad all right! Why, I think even Aunt Polly'd get so glad she couldn't help banging doors if she lived in a rainbow like that. Думаю, даже тетя Полли была бы так рада, что не могла бы не стучать дверью, если бы жила в такой радуге. Don't you?" Mr. Pendleton laughed.

"Well, from my remembrance of your aunt, Miss Pollyanna, I must say I think it would take something more than a few prisms in the sunlight to--to make her bang many doors--for gladness. "Ну, судя по моим воспоминаниям о вашей тете, мисс Поллианна, я должен сказать, что, думаю, потребуется нечто большее, чем несколько призм в солнечном свете, чтобы... чтобы заставить ее стучать во многие двери от радости. But come, now, really, what do you mean?" Но пойдемте, правда, что вы имеете в виду?" Pollyanna stared slightly; then she drew a long breath. Поллианна слегка задумалась; затем она сделала длинный вдох.

"Oh, I forgot. You don't know about the game. I remember now." "Suppose you tell me, then." And this time Pollyanna told him. She told him the whole thing from the very first--from the crutches that should have been a doll. As she talked, she did not look at his face. Her rapt eyes were still on the dancing flecks of color from the prism pendants swaying in the sunlit window. Ее восторженные глаза все еще смотрели на танцующие цветные блики от призматических подвесок, качающихся в освещенном солнцем окне.

"And that's all," she sighed, when she had finished. "And now you know why I said the sun was trying to play it--that game." For a moment there was silence. Then a low voice from the bed said unsteadily:

"Perhaps; but I'm thinking that the very finest prism of them all is yourself, Pollyanna." "Возможно; но я думаю, что самая лучшая призма из всех - это ты, Поллианна". "Oh, but I don't show beautiful red and green and purple when the sun shines through me, Mr. Pendleton!" "Don't you?" smiled the man. And Pollyanna, looking into his face, wondered why there were tears in his eyes. ||||||thắc mắc||||||| А Поллианна, глядя ему в лицо, удивлялась, почему в его глазах стоят слезы.

"No," she said. Then, after a minute she added mournfully: "I'm afraid, Mr. Pendleton, the sun doesn't make anything but freckles out of me. |||||||||||||||||tàn nhang||| Затем, через минуту, она скорбно добавила: "Боюсь, мистер Пендлтон, что солнце не делает из меня ничего, кроме веснушек. Aunt Polly says it does make them!" Тетя Полли говорит, что это их делает!". The man laughed a little; and again Pollyanna looked at him: the laugh had sounded almost like a sob. Мужчина негромко рассмеялся, и Поллианна снова посмотрела на него: смех прозвучал почти как всхлип.