Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Hatty

Tom seldom saw the three boys in the garden.They either come out to play with air guns, or come to the garden to pick fruit to eat.The second time Tom saw them was when they were out picking apples.They lazily walked out of the building, followed by a dog, walked aimlessly up a side path, and came to the vegetable garden in the kitchen. The three of them surrounded a precocious apple tree in unison. "They just won't let us pick apples," said Hubert. "Come on, lads, shake the tree and shake the apples down." Hubert and James grabbed the tree and shook it back and forth.An apple fell to the ground, and then several more fell.

Edgar picked up the apple from the ground.Suddenly, he stopped, his sharp eyes shot towards the nearby bushes, and shouted: "There are spies!" Sure enough, there was a child in the bushes, and it was Hattie.Anyway, she couldn't hide anymore, so she walked out. "Give me an apple, please!" she begged. "Or you'll tell, won't you?" cried Edgar. "You're a spy, spy!" "Well, give her one, she won't speak ill of us!" said James.Seeing that Edgar refused, he threw one to Hatty, who wrapped the apple in her apron. "Hatty, don't you spit the apple core on the ground like you did last time, or everyone will be in trouble."

Hatty nodded.She gnawed on an apple as she approached them.Each of the three boys had an apple in their hands, and they ate it with great gulp.When they left, they kept wiping away the footprints on the ground with their feet.After walking a few steps they stopped again and finished the apples.By this time they were very close to Tom, with their backs to him.The dog walked around them, sniffing, and getting closer and closer to Tom.At this time, it seemed to have found Tom. Facing Tom, the hairs on its neck stood up one by one, barking continuously. Hubert called, "Pincher, what's the matter?" He turned and looked in Tom's direction, but saw nothing.

Edgar had already turned quickly, looking left and right where Tom stood, without missing anything.Then James turned around too, and finally, even Hattie turned around.All four of them stared intently in Tom's direction, the dog barking at their feet. Tom found it very rude and ill-bred in them to think of him that way, and he was very displeased.He made up his mind to pay back, since no one could see him anyway.So he stuck out his tongue at them. Little girl Hatty stuck out her tongue at Tom too. Tom was stunned.He didn't believe his eyes, but he saw that the little girl did stick her tongue out at him, and it was true.She could see Tom.

"Hatty, why are you sticking out your tongue?" Edgar asked.His eyes are so sharp that he can see everything. "The tongue is too hot in the mouth, let it cool down and let some fresh air in." Harper's witty answer was beyond Tom's expectation. "Don't make up some excuses to deceive people!" "Edgar, leave her alone," James said. Later, the three of them lost interest in the dog's barking and Hattie's strange behavior and started walking back.Tom followed them back.The dog walked between the three boys and Tom, looking around warily and purring in its throat.

Hatty walked ahead of them. Tom followed excitedly, biding his time. When they passed through the greenhouse and the narrow path under the boxwood tree, they could only file one by one.Hatty went first, then the three boys, and Tom followed the three boys.When they came out of the path and onto the lawn, there were only three boys left. "Where's Hattie?" James asked.He is tailed. "Going into the woods," Edgar answered casually.The three of them continued to walk towards the building. Tom was left alone on the lawn.He looked around with wide eyes, angry and unconvinced.He said to himself: "Hatty thinks she can slip through my fingers, but it's not so easy! I must find her, and see who can!"

So he started looking for Hattie.He searched everywhere he could think of: in the bushes, on the trees, behind the boiler room next to the conservatory, beside the hazel stump, under the arch of the villa, under the gooseberry net.Wait behind the bean stand.Couldn't find Hattie, nowhere... Suddenly, Hattie's voice came from behind Tom: "Gooooooooooooo!" A few steps away from Tom stood Hattie, her eyes on Tom, and they looked at each other.Tom said in a voice so soft that only he could hear, "I know you were spying on me just now." She could have pretended not to hear Tom, just as she had pretended not to see him.However, she could not help showing herself off, so she cried out contemptuously: "Just now! Well, I have been spying on you often. I saw you running along the hazel stump, and then along my secret road in the fence. Passage to the pasture! You waved to Susan from the top of the yew tree while Susan was dusting the window! And you went through the closed orchard gate, hey, I saw it all!" Here she stopped, as if She didn't know what to say for a while, and after a while, she said in a rambling manner: "Hmph, I see you often, often, often! But you don't know at all!"

It turned out that the footprints Tom saw on the lawn the first day were hers!On the yew tree across the lawn, he saw the figure of the person in the bedroom on the second floor opposite, and it was her!No wonder he often felt as if someone was watching him when he was in the garden. Tom felt admiration for the little girl spontaneously.He said to Hattie; "It's not easy for a girl to hide so well." Unexpectedly, this sentence angered her instead. So he said hastily, "My name is Tom Lang." Hatty didn't say anything, and seemed to find the name insignificant. Tom was very angry, and stabbed her: "I know your name, what is your name Hatty?" There was a tone of disapproving contempt in the words.It was just revenge on her.

The little girl held her head high without hesitation, and told Tom solemnly: "Please call me Princess Hatty. I am a princess."