What Katy Did. Susan Coolidge. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Susan Coolidge
Издательство: HarperCollins
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Классическая проза
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9780007502752
Скачать книгу
and always sat in the rocking-chair when there was one. It was no matter where she sat, Miss Petingill told people, but Tom was delicate, and must be made comfortable. A big family Bible always came too, and a special red merino pin-cushion, and some “shade pictures” of old Mr. and Mrs. Petingill and Peter Petingill, who was drowned at sea, and photographs of Mrs. Porter, who used to be Marcia Petingill, and Mrs. Porter’s husband, and all the Porter children. Many little boxes and jars came also, and a long row of phials and bottles filled with home-made physics and herb teas. Miss Petingill could not have slept without having them beside her, for, as she said, how did she knew that she might not be “took sudden” with something, and die for want of a little ginger-balsam or pennyroyal?

      The Carr children always made so much noise, that it required something unusual to make Miss Petingill drop her work, as she did now, and fly to the window. In fact there was a tremendous hubbub, hurrahs from Dorry, stamping of feet, and a great outcry of shrill glad voices. Looking down, Miss Petingill saw the whole six—no seven, for Cecy was there too—stream out of the wood-house door—which wasn’t a door, but only a tall open arch—and rush noisily across the yard. Katy was at the head, bearing a large black bottle without any cork in it, while the others carried in each hand what seemed to be a cookie.

      “Katherine Carr! Kather-ine!” screamed Miss Petingill, tapping loudly on the glass. “Don’t you see that it’s raining? You ought to be ashamed to let your little brothers and sisters go out and get wet in such a way!” But nobody heard her, and the children vanished into the shed, where nothing could be seen but a distant flapping of pantalettes and frilled trousers, going up what seemed to be a ladder, farther back in the shed. So, with a dissatisfied cluck, Miss Petingill drew back her head, perched the spectacles on her nose, and went to work again on Katy’s plaid alpaca, which had two immense zigzag rents across the middle of the front breadth. Katy’s frocks, strange to say, always tore exactly in that place.

      If Miss Petingill’s eyes could have reached a little farther, they would have seen that it wasn’t a ladder up which the children were climbing, but a tall wooden post, with spikes driven into it about a foot apart. It required quite a stride to get from one spike to the other; in fact, the littler ones couldn’t have managed it at all had it not been for Clover and Cecy pushing very hard from below, while Katy, making a long arm, clawed from above. At last they were all safely up, and in the delightful retreat which I am about to describe.

      Imagine a low, dark loft without any windows, and with only a very little light coming in through the square hole in the floor, to which the spiky post led. There was a strong smell of corn-cobs, though the corn had been taken away; a great deal of dust and spider-web in the corners, and some wet spots on the boards, for the roof always leaked a little in rainy weather.

      This was the place, which for some reason I have never been able to find out, the Carr children preferred to any other on rainy Saturdays, when they could not play out-doors. Aunt Izzie was as much puzzled at this fancy as I am. When she was young (a vague, far-off time, which none of her nieces and nephews believed in much), she had never had any of these queer notions about getting off into holes and corners and poke-away places. Aunt Izzie would gladly have forbidden them to go the loft, but Dr. Carr had given his permission, so all she could do was to invent stories about children who had broken their bones in various dreadful ways by climbing posts and ladders. But these stories made no impression on any of the children except little Phil, and the self-willed brood kept on their way, and climbed their spiked posts as often as they liked.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEB AQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEB AQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAf/AABEICWYF3AMBEQACEQED EQH/xAGiAAABBQEBAQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAQIDBAUGBwgJCgsQAAIBAwMCBAMFBQQEAAABfQECAwAE EQUSITFBBhNRYQcicRQygZGhCCNCscEVUtHwJDNicoIJChYXGBkaJSYnKCkqNDU2Nzg5OkNERUZH SElKU1RVVldYWVpjZGVmZ2hpanN0dXZ3eHl6g4SFhoeIiYqSk5SVlpeYmZqio6Slpqeoqaqys7S1 tre4ubrCw8TFxsfIycrS09TV1tfY2drh4uPk5ebn6Onq8fLz9PX29/j5+gEAAwEBAQEBAQEBAQAA AAAAAAECAwQFBgcICQoLEQACAQIEBAMEBwUEBAABAncAAQIDEQQFITEGEkFRB2FxEyIygQgUQpGh scEJIzNS8BVictEKFiQ04SXxFxgZGiYnKCkqNTY3ODk6Q0RFRkdISUpTVFVWV1hZWmNkZWZnaGlq c3R1dnd4eXqCg4SFhoeIiYqSk5SVlpeYmZqio6Slpqeoqaqys7S1tre4ubrCw8TFxsfIycrS09TV 1tfY2dri4+Tl5ufo6ery8/T19vf4+fr/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AP4IQhPXI/CgB3l+/wCn/wBegByj aMdeaAJFGT9OaAJqAHoOc+n9aAJ1G7jOKAHeX7/p/wDXoAljQYPP+SMetADwmCDnofT/AOvQBYQd /wAP5UASUAOUZP05oAtLGT9fTj+eaALMcW3JGTjntxx9fw4/WgB9AEQJbgnr7D6+3pQBKLcsp69P bnI475oAbHH5Bxz1B5oA14GEgHUev48+tAF0RDHB4Pt6/jQA+OFQepz1/KgCfy/f9P8A69AB5fv+ n/16ALa/dH0/lxQAtABQBIq9Dn9PT8aAEfr+H9TQA0dfzH5jFAERtiTnn9P8aALEEJXI56fXv7H1 /nQBop0I9/8AP8qAFckDj1oAj3t6/oP8KALCjcM5x07ev40ASFcgDPTH6CgCSPg49j/jQBNQA5Ru 4zigB3l+/wCn/wBegByjaMdeaAJlXoc/p6fjQBJQAh5BHqKAFRByM89en/16AJNnTnoPT3J9fegC VEGMZ6e3/wBegB/l+/6f/XoAPL9/0/8Ar0ASUAV5BuJHTkfyoAQDAx/nrQBLGoJ5+n58UAWUQJxn OaAJHiJ6fn/9bNACrHgY6frn9aAJRwAPQUAKsIIzk/pQAvkD+8aAJhwAPQUAOAycUAP8v3/T/wCv QA8cAD0FAC0ARMhzkc5J9sfrQA/O1RnPYUARPLg8Z6egoAj8we/6f40ASZVcEk9R2/8Ar0ASCcdA T+QoAmVVkzycH2H8X40PZgZt9bbfmXPb/PX61yvdkmGk7xuR747f59/0pAaKEzAHv7Drn+XP4UwL 8cBGCAT7cZ4/HtXStl6FGlHEQ