Chapter 9 Chapter 8 Three Cousins

Hubert was the oldest of the three boys Tom had seen in the garden.Actually, Tom shouldn't have called him "boy" in his letter to Peter, because he was already a lad.A sparse black beard had begun to grow on his lips, and sometimes he would stroke it proudly, lest the beard suddenly disappear.He was as tall as an adult, but his body was not yet fully developed. Both James and Edgar are older than Tom.James' voice is relatively soft, with a very guttural voice, and his voice will suddenly lose his voice when he is talking, which makes him feel embarrassed, and often screams, his face turns red, and he stops suddenly. , even in front of his own brothers.

The youngest was Edgar, who had brown hair and eyes.The two eyeballs turned back and forth, and nothing could escape his eyes.He spoke quickly and his voice was high-pitched.Although Edgar was the closest in age to Tom, Tom disliked him the least of the three boys. One day the three of them went out into the garden, and Tom was already in the garden.The three of them were followed by a little girl in a blue apron with ruffles, and her hair fell down to her shoulders.Using the three words "follower" to describe her couldn't be better.She was always following the three boys, circling around them to be annoying, to see their faces and hear their words.The three boys were talking about shooting mice with the air gun tonight: the mill owner had asked them to go, after dark, of course, with Bertie Codlin and maybe little Barty.They were to bring hurricane lamps and air rifles.Regrettably.The three of them had only one gun, if only each had one!

Tom hid in a nearby grove and listened with gusto. The little girl circled around them.Suddenly Hubert said: "Let's run and get rid of Hattie!" and he ran away quickly. James also laughed and ran away from Hattie, and Edgar also ran away. Hattie seems to have become accustomed to this kind of practice, and has already taken quick small steps to catch up.Edgar turned a corner, then stooped, and flung the hazelnut tongs in his hand towards her, not hitting Hatty, he was only trying to frighten her. Hatty stumbled and fell forward on the grass, crying. James ran back when he heard the crying, and helped Hatty up, and nudged her gently, saying, "You! You're so stupid! You're always so clumsy!"

Tom was a little bit on Hattie's side. If someone suddenly threw something at your feet and tripped you, how could you be blamed? "My aunt is going to scold me again when she finds out!" Hattie cried, pointing to the green stains on the apron that were stained by grass. James clapped his hand a few times, but he lost his patience and said, "Who told you to fall!"Watch your feet when you walk!I can't help it, I don't care! "Speaking, he ran into the bushes and chased the other two boys. Hatty followed, whimpering half-crying, and ran to the bushes and garden paths to find them.She kept looking around, and soon stopped crying, and listened attentively with her head on one side.Tom saw that she was quite experienced in finding them. It seemed that they had played this game often in the past.

Tom decided to follow her to find out. She met the gardener by the pond and asked, "Abel, please tell me. Have you seen Hubert and brother James? I don't want brother Edgar." "They're not here, Miss Hatty. They're playing hide-and-seek with you again, aren't they?" "They're only willing to play this game with me." "Why didn't you let them come to you this time?" "That won't work, I can't run as fast as them." "They can let you run first." With a smile on her face, she said, "Hey, if they really let me run first, it will be hard for them to find me if I hide. I hide better than them." She jumped up and down in front of the gardener. , began to brag. "I know better secret places than they do. I know many, many secret places! And I hide and don't make a sound, not like them. I don't make a sound at all, and no one will know that I am in the garden."

"Can you hide from me now?" The gardener pretended to admire, and Tom thought he was trying to curry favor with Hatty. "Where I hide I can't see anyone, but I can see everyone," Hatty said more and more proudly. Suddenly in the woods behind her came the sound of "gu-gu--".Both Hatty and Tom turned away in unison.It was Edgar who showed his head, and made Hatty come after them. Although Hattie had said that she did not want Edgar, she ran immediately in the direction in which he was hiding.Almost at that moment the other two boys showed up.They ran back across the lawn towards the house.They could easily run home before Hatty.Tom was afraid that he, and poor little Hatty, would not catch up with them.James was the last of the three to run.Tom liked him better, and he thought it would be nice to have a boy like James for company when climbing trees or playing other games.Besides, tonight, James is going to fight mice!

"Hello!" Tom called, coming out of the woods and galloping forward briskly. "Hi! James!" it was the first time Tom yelled out in the garden.Several birds were startled when they heard the sound.But Tom yelled so loudly, but James didn't respond.Tom ran after him, and barred his way with another cry, which James could neither see nor hear.James thumped up the steps and disappeared into the building.All three are gone. Tom was greatly disappointed.Tom didn't care that the others, the maid, the stern-faced woman, the gardener and the little girl, even Hubert and Edgar couldn't see him.But James couldn't see him either, he was very sad, he really wanted to get to know James, so that he could go on adventures together in the future.

Tom was not reconciled, he slowed down and followed into the building.He'd gone upstairs like this before, of course, when he'd had enough fun in the garden and went back upstairs to sleep at Kitson's.But this time, he deliberately did not close the back door, because he knew from experience that as soon as the door was closed, the building returned to its original state.He wanted to go to another building this time, the one with the garden.So, leaving the back door open, he went into the hall, and he went to the wooden shelf for the umbrellas and the barometer, then to the marble shelf and the glass case with stuffed animals and birds.He held his breath, thinking that this time he might be able to walk into the building that only appeared at midnight and explore the secrets inside.

Tom walked quickly down the hall, and he wanted to go upstairs.Because he heard the laughter of boys upstairs, he walked quickly, but all the decorations in the hall disappeared even faster.He hadn't reached the middle of the hall, except for the big clock, everything else was gone.When he walked to the center of the hall and looked at the stairs next to him, he found that the carpet on the stairs was gone, and it became exactly the same as the stairs that his uncle, aunt, and others walked during the day.The only way he could go up this staircase was to get back to his bed. "Damn luck!" cried Tom.He turned his head and walked towards the back door. From the back door, the garden was still the same.He stepped over the threshold and looked back into the building. Those things came back again. There were shelves, barometers, glass boxes, shelves for umbrellas, gongs, hammers for striking gongs, etc. Of course, the big clock was always there.

Tom was very annoyed, but he was determined not to let it interfere with his enjoyment of playing in the garden.He simply forgot about James and the others, and forgot about the little girl Hatty.Hatty did not follow her cousin across the lawn back to the building.For some reason, she decided not to chase them.Tom didn't think about where she was hiding or what she was doing.