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Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery, XXII Odds and Ends

XXII Odds and Ends

"So you had tea at the stone house with Lavendar Lewis?" said Marilla at the breakfast table next morning. "What is she like now? It's over fifteen years since I saw her last . it was one Sunday in Grafton church. I suppose she has changed a great deal. Davy Keith, when you want something you can't reach, ask to have it passed and don't spread yourself over the table in that fashion. Did you ever see Paul Irving doing that when he was here to meals?" "But Paul's arms are longer'n mine," brumbled Davy. "They've had eleven years to grow and mine've only had seven. 'Sides, I DID ask, but you and Anne was so busy talking you didn't pay any 'tention. 'Sides, Paul's never been here to any meal escept tea, and it's easier to be p'lite at tea than at breakfast. You ain't half as hungry. It's an awful long while between supper and breakfast. Now, Anne, that spoonful ain't any bigger than it was last year and I'M ever so much bigger." "Of course, I don't know what Miss Lavendar used to look like but I don't fancy somehow that she has changed a great deal," said Anne, after she had helped Davy to maple syrup, giving him two spoonfuls to pacify him. "Her hair is snow-white but her face is fresh and almost girlish, and she has the sweetest brown eyes . such a pretty shade of wood-brown with little golden glints in them . and her voice makes you think of white satin and tinkling water and fairy bells all mixed up together." "She was reckoned a great beauty when she was a girl," said Marilla. "I never knew her very well but I liked her as far as I did know her. Some folks thought her peculiar even then. DAVY, if ever I catch you at such a trick again you'll be made to wait for your meals till everyone else is done, like the French." Most conversations between Anne and Marilla in the presence of the twins, were punctuated by these rebukes Davy-ward. In this instance, Davy, sad to relate, not being able to scoop up the last drops of his syrup with his spoon, had solved the difficulty by lifting his plate in both hands and applying his small pink tongue to it. Anne looked at him with such horrified eyes that the little sinner turned red and said, half shamefacedly, half defiantly,

"There ain't any wasted that way." "People who are different from other people are always called peculiar," said Anne. "And Miss Lavendar is certainly different, though it's hard to say just where the difference comes in. Perhaps it is because she is one of those people who never grow old." "One might as well grow old when all your generation do," said Marilla, rather reckless of her pronouns. "If you don't, you don't fit in anywhere. Far as I can learn Lavendar Lewis has just dropped out of everything. She's lived in that out of the way place until everybody has forgotten her. That stone house is one of the oldest on the Island. Old Mr. Lewis built it eighty years ago when he came out from England. Davy, stop joggling Dora's elbow. Oh, I saw you! You needn't try to look innocent. What does make you behave so this morning?" "Maybe I got out of the wrong side of the bed," suggested Davy. "Milty Boulter says if you do that things are bound to go wrong with you all day. His grandmother told him. But which is the right side? And what are you to do when your bed's against the wall? I want to know." "I've always wondered what went wrong between Stephen Irving and Lavendar Lewis," continued Marilla, ignoring Davy. "They were certainly engaged twenty-five years ago and then all at once it was broken off. I don't know what the trouble was but it must have been something terrible, for he went away to the States and never come home since." "Perhaps it was nothing very dreadful after all. I think the little things in life often make more trouble than the big things," said Anne, with one of those flashes of insight which experience could not have bettered. "Marilla, please don't say anything about my being at Miss Lavendar's to Mrs. Lynde. She'd be sure to ask a hundred questions and somehow I wouldn't like it . nor Miss Lavendar either if she knew, I feel sure." "I daresay Rachel would be curious," admitted Marilla, "though she hasn't as much time as she used to have for looking after other people's affairs. She's tied home now on account of Thomas; and she's feeling pretty downhearted, for I think she's beginning to lose hope of his ever getting better. Rachel will be left pretty lonely if anything happens to him, with all her children settled out west, except Eliza in town; and she doesn't like her husband." Marilla's pronouns slandered Eliza, who was very fond of her husband. "Rachel says if he'd only brace up and exert his will power he'd get better. But what is the use of asking a jellyfish to sit up straight?" continued Marilla. "Thomas Lynde never had any will power to exert. His mother ruled him till he married and then Rachel carried it on. It's a wonder he dared to get sick without asking her permission. But there, I shouldn't talk so. Rachel has been a good wife to him. He'd never have amounted to anything without her, that's certain. He was born to be ruled; and it's well he fell into the hands of a clever, capable manager like Rachel. He didn't mind her way. It saved him the bother of ever making up his own mind about anything. Davy, do stop squirming like an eel." "I've nothing else to do," protested Davy. "I can't eat any more, and it's no fun watching you and Anne eat." "Well, you and Dora go out and give the hens their wheat," said Marilla. "And don't you try to pull any more feathers out of the white rooster's tail either." "I wanted some feathers for an Injun headdress," said Davy sulkily. "Milty Boulter has a dandy one, made out of the feathers his mother give him when she killed their old white gobbler. You might let me have some. That rooster's got ever so many more'n he wants." "You may have the old feather duster in the garret," said Anne, "and I'll dye them green and red and yellow for you." "You do spoil that boy dreadfully," said Marilla, when Davy, with a radiant face, had followed prim Dora out. Marilla's education had made great strides in the past six years; but she had not yet been able to rid herself of the idea that it was very bad for a child to have too many of its wishes indulged. "All the boys of his class have Indian headdresses, and Davy wants one too," said Anne. " I know how it feels . I'll never forget how I used to long for puffed sleeves when all the other girls had them. And Davy isn't being spoiled. He is improving every day. Think what a difference there is in him since he came here a year ago." "He certainly doesn't get into as much mischief since he began to go to school," acknowledged Marilla. "I suppose he works off the tendency with the other boys. But it's a wonder to me we haven't heard from Richard Keith before this. Never a word since last May." "I'll be afraid to hear from him," sighed Anne, beginning to clear away the dishes. "If a letter should come I'd dread opening it, for fear it would tell us to send the twins to him." A month later a letter did come. But it was not from Richard Keith. A friend of his wrote to say that Richard Keith had died of consumption a fortnight previously. The writer of the letter was the executor of his will and by that will the sum of two thousand dollars was left to Miss Marilla Cuthbert in trust for David and Dora Keith until they came of age or married. In the meantime the interest was to be used for their maintenance.

"It seems dreadful to be glad of anything in connection with a death," said Anne soberly. "I'm sorry for poor Mr. Keith; but I AM glad that we can keep the twins." "It's a very good thing about the money," said Marilla practically. "I wanted to keep them but I really didn't see how I could afford to do it, especially when they grew older. The rent of the farm doesn't do any more than keep the house and I was bound that not a cent of your money should be spent on them. You do far too much for them as it is. Dora didn't need that new hat you bought her any more than a cat needs two tails. But now the way is made clear and they are provided for." Davy and Dora were delighted when they heard that they were to live at Green Gables, "for good." The death of an uncle whom they had never seen could not weigh a moment in the balance against that. But Dora had one misgiving.

"Was Uncle Richard buried?" she whispered to Anne.

"Yes, dear, of course." "He . he . isn't like Mirabel Cotton's uncle, is he?" in a still more agitated whisper. "He won't walk about houses after being buried, will he, Anne?"

XXII Odds and Ends XXII De bric et de broc XXII Desventuras e Desfechos

"So you had tea at the stone house with Lavendar Lewis?" 「それで、あなたはLavendar Lewisと一緒に石造りの家でお茶を飲んだのですか?」 said Marilla at the breakfast table next morning. "What is she like now? It's over fifteen years since I saw her last . it was one Sunday in Grafton church. I suppose she has changed a great deal. Davy Keith, when you want something you can't reach, ask to have it passed and don't spread yourself over the table in that fashion. Davy Keith、手が届かないものが欲しいときは、それを通過させ、そのようにしてテーブルの上に自分自身を広げないでください。 Did you ever see Paul Irving doing that when he was here to meals?" ポールアーヴィングが食事のためにここにいたときにそれをやっているのを見たことがありますか?」 "But Paul's arms are longer'n mine," brumbled Davy. "Mais les bras de Paul sont plus longs que les miens", a marmonné Davy. 「しかし、パウロの腕は私のものではなくなりました」とデイビーはつぶやいた。 "They've had eleven years to grow and mine've only had seven. "Ils ont eu onze ans pour grandir et les miens n'en ont eu que sept. 「彼らには11年の歳月があり、私のたった7年に過ぎません。 'Sides, I DID ask, but you and Anne was so busy talking you didn't pay any 'tention. « D'ailleurs, j'ai demandé, mais toi et Anne étiez tellement occupés à parler que vous n'y avez prêté aucune attention. 'Sides, Paul's never been here to any meal escept tea, and it's easier to be p'lite at tea than at breakfast. You ain't half as hungry. It's an awful long while between supper and breakfast. Now, Anne, that spoonful ain't any bigger than it was last year and I'M ever so much bigger." Anne, cette cuillerée n'est pas plus grosse que l'année dernière et je suis toujours plus grande." "Of course, I don't know what Miss Lavendar used to look like but I don't fancy somehow that she has changed a great deal," said Anne, after she had helped Davy to maple syrup, giving him two spoonfuls to pacify him. "Bien sûr, je ne sais pas à quoi ressemblait Miss Lavendar, mais je ne pense pas qu'elle ait beaucoup changé", a déclaré Anne, après avoir aidé Davy à préparer du sirop d'érable, lui donnant deux cuillerées pour apaiser lui. "Her hair is snow-white but her face is fresh and almost girlish, and she has the sweetest brown eyes . such a pretty shade of wood-brown with little golden glints in them . une si jolie nuance de brun bois avec de petits reflets dorés. and her voice makes you think of white satin and tinkling water and fairy bells all mixed up together." そして彼女の声はあなたに白いサテンとほのかに輝く水と妖精の鐘がすべて混じり合っていると思わせる。」 "She was reckoned a great beauty when she was a girl," said Marilla. "I never knew her very well but I liked her as far as I did know her. "Je ne l'ai jamais beaucoup connue, mais je l'ai appréciée tant que je l'ai connue. Some folks thought her peculiar even then. Certaines personnes la trouvaient étrange même à l'époque. DAVY, if ever I catch you at such a trick again you'll be made to wait for your meals till everyone else is done, like the French." DAVY, si jamais je t'attrape encore une fois à faire une pareille ruse, tu seras obligé d'attendre ton repas jusqu'à ce que tout le monde ait fini, comme les Français. Most conversations between Anne and Marilla in the presence of the twins, were punctuated by these rebukes Davy-ward. In this instance, Davy, sad to relate, not being able to scoop up the last drops of his syrup with his spoon, had solved the difficulty by lifting his plate in both hands and applying his small pink tongue to it. En l'occurrence, Davy, malheureusement, n'ayant pas pu ramasser les dernières gouttes de son sirop avec sa cuillère, avait résolu la difficulté en soulevant son assiette à deux mains et en y appliquant sa petite langue rose. この例では、関係のあることに悲しい、スプーンでシロップの最後の一滴をすくい上げることができなかったDavyは、両手で彼のプレートを持ち上げてそれに彼の小さなピンクの舌を当てることによって困難を解決しました。 Anne looked at him with such horrified eyes that the little sinner turned red and said, half shamefacedly, half defiantly, アンはそのような恐ろしい目で彼を見て、小さな罪人は赤くなり、半分は恥ずかしく、半分は反抗的に言った

"There ain't any wasted that way." "Il n'y a pas de gaspillage de cette façon." "People who are different from other people are always called peculiar," said Anne. 「他の人とは違う人はいつも特殊と呼ばれています」とアンは言いました。 "And Miss Lavendar is certainly different, though it's hard to say just where the difference comes in. 「そして、Lavendar嬢は確かに違いますが、違いがどこにあるのかを言うのは難しいです。 Perhaps it is because she is one of those people who never grow old." 彼女は年をとったことがない人の一人だからだろう」と語った。 "One might as well grow old when all your generation do," said Marilla, rather reckless of her pronouns. "Autant vieillir quand toute votre génération le fait", a déclaré Marilla, plutôt insouciante de ses pronoms. "If you don't, you don't fit in anywhere. Far as I can learn Lavendar Lewis has just dropped out of everything. Pour autant que je sache, Lavendar Lewis s'est retiré de tout. She's lived in that out of the way place until everybody has forgotten her. Elle a vécu dans cet endroit isolé jusqu'à ce que tout le monde l'ait oubliée. That stone house is one of the oldest on the Island. Old Mr. Lewis built it eighty years ago when he came out from England. Le vieux M. Lewis l'a construite il y a quatre-vingts ans, lorsqu'il est venu d'Angleterre. Davy, stop joggling Dora's elbow. Davy, arrête de tripoter le coude de Dora. Davy、Doraの肘の動きを止めてください。 Oh, I saw you! You needn't try to look innocent. What does make you behave so this morning?" 今朝、あなたの行動をどうさせるのですか?」 "Maybe I got out of the wrong side of the bed," suggested Davy. 「多分私はベッドの裏側から出ました」とデイビーは示唆した。 "Milty Boulter says if you do that things are bound to go wrong with you all day. 「ミルティボールターは、あなたがそうするなら、物事は一日中あなたとうまくいかないことになっています。 His grandmother told him. 彼の祖母は彼に言った。 But which is the right side? And what are you to do when your bed's against the wall? I want to know." "I've always wondered what went wrong between Stephen Irving and Lavendar Lewis," continued Marilla, ignoring Davy. "They were certainly engaged twenty-five years ago and then all at once it was broken off. I don't know what the trouble was but it must have been something terrible, for he went away to the States and never come home since." Je ne sais pas quel était le problème, mais ce devait être quelque chose de terrible, car il est parti aux États-Unis et n'est jamais revenu depuis." "Perhaps it was nothing very dreadful after all. I think the little things in life often make more trouble than the big things," said Anne, with one of those flashes of insight which experience could not have bettered. Je pense que les petites choses de la vie causent souvent plus de problèmes que les grandes", a déclaré Anne, avec un de ces éclairs de perspicacité que l'expérience n'aurait pas pu améliorer. "Marilla, please don't say anything about my being at Miss Lavendar's to Mrs. Lynde. 「Marilla、LavendarさんからLynde夫人への私の居場所については、何も言わないでください。 She'd be sure to ask a hundred questions and somehow I wouldn't like it . Elle ne manquerait pas de poser une centaine de questions et, d'une manière ou d'une autre, je n'aimerais pas cela. 彼女は必ず100の質問をするだろうし、どういうわけか私はそれを好まないだろう。 nor Miss Lavendar either if she knew, I feel sure." "I daresay Rachel would be curious," admitted Marilla, "though she hasn't as much time as she used to have for looking after other people's affairs. 「私はレイチェルに興味があることを願っています」とマリラは認めました。 She's tied home now on account of Thomas; and she's feeling pretty downhearted, for I think she's beginning to lose hope of his ever getting better. Rachel will be left pretty lonely if anything happens to him, with all her children settled out west, except Eliza in town; and she doesn't like her husband." Rachel se retrouvera bien seule s'il lui arrive quelque chose, tous ses enfants étant installés dans l'Ouest, à l'exception d'Eliza qui est en ville ; et elle n'aime pas son mari". Marilla's pronouns slandered Eliza, who was very fond of her husband. Les pronoms de Marilla calomniaient Eliza, qui aimait beaucoup son mari. "Rachel says if he'd only brace up and exert his will power he'd get better. "Rachel dit que s'il se préparait et exerçait sa volonté, il irait mieux. But what is the use of asking a jellyfish to sit up straight?" Mais à quoi bon demander à une méduse de se redresser ?" continued Marilla. "Thomas Lynde never had any will power to exert. "Thomas Lynde n'a jamais eu de volonté à exercer. His mother ruled him till he married and then Rachel carried it on. It's a wonder he dared to get sick without asking her permission. But there, I shouldn't talk so. Rachel has been a good wife to him. He'd never have amounted to anything without her, that's certain. Il n'aurait jamais été rien sans elle, c'est certain. 彼は彼女なしでは何にもならなかったでしょう、それは確かです。 He was born to be ruled; and it's well he fell into the hands of a clever, capable manager like Rachel. Il est né pour être gouverné, et c'est une bonne chose qu'il soit tombé entre les mains d'une gestionnaire intelligente et compétente comme Rachel. He didn't mind her way. Il ne se souciait pas de son chemin. It saved him the bother of ever making up his own mind about anything. Davy, do stop squirming like an eel." Davy, arrête de te tortiller comme une anguille." "I've nothing else to do," protested Davy. "I can't eat any more, and it's no fun watching you and Anne eat." "Well, you and Dora go out and give the hens their wheat," said Marilla. "And don't you try to pull any more feathers out of the white rooster's tail either." "I wanted some feathers for an Injun headdress," said Davy sulkily. « Je voulais des plumes pour une coiffe injun », dit Davy d'un air boudeur. "Milty Boulter has a dandy one, made out of the feathers his mother give him when she killed their old white gobbler. "Milty Boulter en a une superbe, faite avec les plumes que sa mère lui a données lorsqu'elle a tué leur vieux coq de bruyère. You might let me have some. That rooster's got ever so many more'n he wants." Ce coq en a toujours plus qu'il n'en veut." "You may have the old feather duster in the garret," said Anne, "and I'll dye them green and red and yellow for you." "Vous pouvez avoir le vieux plumeau dans le grenier", a déclaré Anne, "et je vais les teindre en vert et en rouge et en jaune pour vous." "You do spoil that boy dreadfully," said Marilla, when Davy, with a radiant face, had followed prim Dora out. "Tu gâtes terriblement ce garçon", dit Marilla, quand Davy, le visage radieux, eut suivi la prim Dora à la sortie. Marilla's education had made great strides in the past six years; but she had not yet been able to rid herself of the idea that it was very bad for a child to have too many of its wishes indulged. L'éducation de Marilla avait fait de grands progrès au cours des six dernières années, mais elle n'avait pas encore réussi à se débarrasser de l'idée qu'il était très mauvais pour un enfant de voir ses désirs trop souvent exaucés. "All the boys of his class have Indian headdresses, and Davy wants one too," said Anne. " I know how it feels . I'll never forget how I used to long for puffed sleeves when all the other girls had them. Je n'oublierai jamais à quel point j'avais envie de manches bouffantes quand toutes les autres filles en avaient. And Davy isn't being spoiled. He is improving every day. Think what a difference there is in him since he came here a year ago." "He certainly doesn't get into as much mischief since he began to go to school," acknowledged Marilla. "Il est certain qu'il ne fait plus autant de bêtises depuis qu'il va à l'école", reconnaît Marilla. "I suppose he works off the tendency with the other boys. But it's a wonder to me we haven't heard from Richard Keith before this. Mais je m'étonne que nous n'ayons pas entendu Richard Keith avant cela. Never a word since last May." "I'll be afraid to hear from him," sighed Anne, beginning to clear away the dishes. "If a letter should come I'd dread opening it, for fear it would tell us to send the twins to him." A month later a letter did come. But it was not from Richard Keith. A friend of his wrote to say that Richard Keith had died of consumption a fortnight previously. The writer of the letter was the executor of his will and by that will the sum of two thousand dollars was left to Miss Marilla Cuthbert in trust for David and Dora Keith until they came of age or married. L'auteur de la lettre était l'exécuteur testamentaire et, par ce testament, la somme de deux mille dollars a été laissée à Miss Marilla Cuthbert en fiducie pour David et Dora Keith jusqu'à ce qu'ils atteignent l'âge adulte ou se marient. In the meantime the interest was to be used for their maintenance.

"It seems dreadful to be glad of anything in connection with a death," said Anne soberly. "Cela semble affreux d'être heureux de quoi que ce soit en relation avec une mort", a déclaré Anne sobrement. "I'm sorry for poor Mr. Keith; but I AM glad that we can keep the twins." "It's a very good thing about the money," said Marilla practically. "I wanted to keep them but I really didn't see how I could afford to do it, especially when they grew older. The rent of the farm doesn't do any more than keep the house and I was bound that not a cent of your money should be spent on them. Le loyer de la ferme ne fait rien de plus que de garder la maison et j'ai tenu à ce que pas un centime de votre argent ne soit dépensé pour eux. You do far too much for them as it is. Vous en faites déjà beaucoup trop pour eux. Dora didn't need that new hat you bought her any more than a cat needs two tails. Dora n'avait pas besoin de ce nouveau chapeau que vous lui avez acheté, pas plus qu'un chat n'a besoin de deux queues. But now the way is made clear and they are provided for." Mais aujourd'hui, la voie est tracée et ils sont pris en charge". Davy and Dora were delighted when they heard that they were to live at Green Gables, "for good." The death of an uncle whom they had never seen could not weigh a moment in the balance against that. La mort d'un oncle qu'ils n'avaient jamais vu ne pouvait pas peser un instant dans la balance. But Dora had one misgiving. Mais Dora a un doute.

"Was Uncle Richard buried?" she whispered to Anne.

"Yes, dear, of course." "He . he . isn't like Mirabel Cotton's uncle, is he?" in a still more agitated whisper. dans un murmure encore plus agité. "He won't walk about houses after being buried, will he, Anne?"