牛津書蟲《難忘米蘭達(dá)》2．第一個秘密

The first secret
　　The weather changed, and that autumn was warm and beautiful. Nearly every day I walked with the children along the beach. The sea was blue and friendly, and the trees, with their red and yellow autumn colours, looked beautiful in the sunlight. One afternoon we walked across the field and down the hill to the beach. Susan ran in front of Tim. They sang and laughed because they liked playing on the beach.
　　'Hello, Cathy. How are you?' someone said behind me.
　　I stopped. It was Nick, the tall farmer with the blue eyes. 'I'm well, thank you.'
　　'You look lonely,' he said, and smiled. 'You need some friends. Shall we meet in Cromer one day and have dinner?'
　　And so the next evening I drove to Nick's farm and we went into Cromer for dinner, and then we walked through the town to the gardens near the beach. I liked Nick. He was friendly and interesting. We didn't talk about the Harvey family all evening.
　　But before we said goodnight, Nick asked about Duncan. 'Are you going to tell Duncan about this evening?'
　　'No,' I said quickly. Then I stopped. 'Duncan is in London this month,' I went on slowly. 'Mrs Harvey told me - you and Duncan...'
　　Nick laughed quietly. 'So you have a secret now,' he said. 'Be careful, Cathy, at Beach House.'
　　'I don't understand,' I said. 'Why don't you like Duncan?'
　　'I can't talk about it,' Nick said.
　　I didn't tell Mrs Harvey about Nick, and perhaps that was wrong. But I did tell Juliet.
　　'I like Nick very much,' I told her. 'I want to see him again.' But Juliet was quiet and didn't talk much that afternoon.
　　That evening I put the children to bed and read them a story. Then I went slowly downstairs. I thought about Nick. I wanted to see him again.
　　Mrs Harvey sat quietly in her big chair in the kitchen. 'Cathy, I must talk to you, my dear,' she said. 'Come and sit down here.'
　　I sat down near her. I didn't want to talk - I wanted to finish my work in the kitchen and go upstairs to watch TV in my room.
　　'You're a good girl,' Mrs Harvey began kindly. 'Susan and Tim like you, and I'm very happy with your work in the house.'
　　I smiled, and waited for the 'but'. It arrived immediately.
　　'But I must talk to you about Nick Watson. Perhaps you are lonely here, with the children and me. Duncan is very quiet, I know that, and he's in London much of the time. But Nick doesn't like Duncan, and Duncan hates Nick. It's a long story and I don't want to talk about it. I'm not going to tell Duncan about your evening with Nick, but I don't want you to see Nick again.'
　　My face felt hot and my hands felt cold. Mrs Harvey knew about my dinner with Nick! Who told her? And why? I felt angry with Mrs Harvey because I wanted to see Nick again. But I didn't want to lose my job.
　　'I don't understand,' I began quietly.
　　Mrs Harvey stood up. 'Why must you understand?' she asked angrily. 'Don't see Nick Watson again! Do you hear me?'
　　'Grandma!'
　　We looked up, and saw Susan and Tim on the stairs. 'Children! What are you doing!' Mrs Harvey said. She took her stick and began to walk slowly across the room.
　　'Tim was afraid,' Susan said. 'He couldn't sleep, and so we came to call Cathy.'
　　'I wasn't afraid - you were afraid, because of Nick,' Tim said, and he pushed Susan.
　　'No, Tim!' Mrs Harvey shouted. Her face went white. 'Don't do that! Cathy, please go upstairs and put them back to bed.'
　　I ran upstairs and took the children back to their room. Tim put his little hands on my face and kissed me. 'Goodnight, Cathy,' he said. 'I like you.'
　　I smiled. 'I like you, too,' I said.
　　I said goodnight to Susan. 'I don't want Grandma to be angry with you,' she said quietly.
　　'Why are you afraid of Nick?' I asked.
　　'I don't know,' Susan said. 'Daddy hates him, but I don't know why.'
　　'He's a bad man,' Tim said. 'Grandma told me.'
　　And so I didn't see Nick again for a long time.

hill n. a raised area of land, not as high as a mountain, and not usu. as bare or rocky 小山
perhaps adv. possibly; maybe 也許
upstairs adv. on or to the upper floor(s) of a building 向樓上
immediately adv. without delay; at once 立刻
hate v. to have very strong dislike of 憎恨
stairs n. a set of steps 樓梯
shout v. make a loud sound with the voice 喊；大叫
kiss v. to touch with the lips as a sign of love or as a greeting 親吻