介绍:
Chapter 1 The four hungry children (II)
Henry thanked her politely.
“We are all pretty tired and hungry,” he said.
The children sat down on the floor. Henry cut one of the loaves of bread into four pieces with his knife, and the children began to eat.
“Delicious!” said Henry.
“Well, I never!” said the woman.
She went into the next room and shut the door.
“I’m glad she is gone,” remarked Benny, eating. “She doesn’t like us.”
“Sh, Benny!” said Jessie. “She is good to let us sleep here.”
After supper the children lay down on their red benches, and Violet and Benny soon went to sleep.But Jessie and Henry could hear the woman talking to the baker.
She said, “I’ll keep the three older children. They can help me. But the little boy must go to the Children’s Home. He is too little. I cannot take care of him.”
The baker answered, “Very well. Tomorrow I’ll take the little boy to the Children’s Home. We’ll keep the others for awhile, but we must make them tell us who their grandfather is.”
Jessie and Henry waited until the baker and his wife had gone to bed. Then they sat up in the dark.
“Oh, Henry!” whispered Jessie. “Let’s run away from here!”
“Yes, indeed,” said Henry. “We’ll never let Benny go to a Children’s Home. Never, never! We must be far away by morning, or they will find us. But we must not leave any of our things here.”
Jessie sat still, thinking.
“Our clothes and a cake of soap and towels are in the big laundry bag,” she said. “Violet has her little workbag. And we have two loaves of bread left. Have you your knife and the money?”
“Yes,” said Henry. “I have almost four dollars.”
“You must carry Benny,” said Jessie. “He will cry if we wake him up. But I’ll wake Violet.
“Sh, Violet! Come! We are going to run away again. If we don’t run away, the baker will take Benny to a Children’s Home in the morning.”
The little girl woke up at once. She sat up and rolled off the bench. She did not make any noise.
“What shall I do?” she whispered softly.
“Carry this,” said Jessie. She gave her the workbag.
Jessie put the two loaves of bread into the laundry bag, and then she looked around the room.
“All right,” she said to Henry. “Take Benny now.”
Henry took Benny in his arms and carried him to the door of the bakery. Jessie took the laundry bag and opened the door very softly. All the children went out quietly. They did not say a word. Jessie shut the door, and then they all listened. Everything was very quiet. So the four children went down the street.
亨利很有礼貌地向她道了谢。
“大家一定都又累又饿了。”亨利说。
四个饥肠辘辘的孩子就地坐了下来，亨利用小刀把面包 切成四块，分给弟弟妹妹们。
“太好吃了！ ”亨利说。
“真没出息！ ”面包师的妻子不屑地哼了一声。
她走进旁边的一个房间，关上了门。
“太好啦，她终于走了！”班尼边吃边说，“我看得出来，她 不喜欢我们。”
“嘘——班尼！”杰西说，“她能让咱们在这儿睡上一晚， 已经很不错了。”
吃完晚饭后，孩子们在红凳子上躺了下来，维莉和班尼很 快就进入了梦乡。
杰西和亨利却没有睡着，因为他们听到老板娘和她的面 包师丈夫在窃窃私语。
老板娘说:“我打算留下三个大的，让他们帮我干活儿。但是那个小东西，一定得送到孤儿院去。他太小了，什么也干不了，我可不想白白养着他。”面包师附和道：“好，明天我就把小不点送到孤儿院去，我们留下三个大的，但是必须让他们说出自己的爷爷是谁。”杰西和亨利一直等到面包师和他妻子都去睡觉了，才在黑暗中坐了起来。
“亨利，”杰西轻声说，“咱们赶紧逃吧！”
“当然要逃，”亨利斩钉截铁地说，“绝对不能让他们把班尼送到孤儿院去！决不！决不！天亮之前咱们就逃得远远的，要不然被他们找到就惨了。对了，千万要小心，一定不能落下什么东西。”
杰西静静地坐在那儿盘算着。
“我们的衣服、肥皂和毛巾都在大洗衣袋里，”她说，“维莉那儿有个小工具袋,我们还剩了两条面包。对了，你拿好小刀 和钱了么？”
“拿好了，”亨利说，“我这里还有差不多四块钱。”
“你得抱着班尼，”杰西提醒道，“如果把他弄醒的话，他会 哭的。我来叫醒维莉。”“唬——维莉，听我说，我们要逃跑啦！要不然，面包师一大早就要把班尼送到孤儿院去了。”
小女孩立刻惊醒了。她坐起来，一骨碌爬下凳子，没弄出一点儿声音。
“我该怎么做？ ”她细声问姐姐。
“拿着这个。”杰西说着把工具袋递给了她。
杰西将剩下的两条面包装进洗衣袋，然后在屋子里仔细查看了一圈。
“一切都没问题，”她对亨利说，“你快抱上班尼，咱们现在就出发！”
亨利把班尼抱在怀里，走到面包房的门口。杰西拿着洗衣袋，轻轻地打开门。他们蹑手蹑脚地出了门，没发出一点儿 声响。杰西轻轻地掩上门，几个孩子仔细地听了听，一切都很 安静。于是，他们沿着街道出发了。
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