原文
The next evening found them treading resolutely the herring-bone walk
through the tiny garden. The April wind was filling the pine trees with
its roundelay, and the grove was alive with robins--great, plump, saucy
fellows, strutting along the paths. The girls rang rather timidly, and
were admitted by a grim and ancient handmaiden. The door opened directly
into a large living-room, where by a cheery little fire sat two other
ladies, both of whom were also grim and ancient. Except that one looked
to be about seventy and the other fifty, there seemed little
difference between them. Each had amazingly big, light-blue eyes behind
steel-rimmed spectacles; each wore a cap and a gray shawl; each was
knitting without haste and without rest; each rocked placidly and looked
at the girls without speaking; and just behind each sat a large white
china dog, with round green spots all over it, a green nose and green
ears. Those dogs captured Anne's fancy on the spot; they seemed like the
twin guardian deities of Patty's Place.
語彙など
- tread:〜を歩く
- resolutely:堅く心に決めて
- herringbone:矢筈模様
- walk:歩道
- roundelay:小鳥のさえずり
- grove:木立果樹園
- robin:コマドリ
- plump:ぽっちゃりした
- saucy:元気の良い
- strut:気取って歩く
- timidly:こわごわ
- grim:気味の悪い
- handmaiden:=handmaid((女性の)お手伝い),召使い
- steel:鋼
- rimmed:〜の縁の
- spectacles:メガネ
- shawl:ショール
- without haste:気長に
- without rest:休みなく
- placidly:穏やかに
- china:(陶)磁器
- fancy:想像力
- on the spot:その場で
- deity:神様