Chapter 15. Dr. Chilton Chapitre 15. Le Dr Chilton

The great gray pile of masonry looked very different to Pollyanna when she made her second visit to the house of Mr. John Pendleton. Большая серая громада каменной кладки показалась Поллианне совсем другой, когда она во второй раз посетила дом мистера Джона Пендлтона. Windows were open, an elderly woman was hanging out clothes in the back yard, and the doctor's gig stood under the porte-cochere. Окна были открыты, пожилая женщина развешивала одежду на заднем дворе, а под порто-кошером стоял жигуленок доктора. As before Pollyanna went to the side door. This time she rang the bell--her fingers were not stiff to-day from a tight clutch on a bunch of keys.

A familiar-looking small dog bounded up the steps to greet her, but there was a slight delay before the woman who had been hanging out the clothes opened the door. Знакомая маленькая собака поднялась по ступенькам, чтобы поприветствовать ее, но прежде чем женщина, развешивавшая одежду, открыла дверь, произошла небольшая задержка.

"If you please, I've brought some calf's-foot jelly for Mr. Pendleton," smiled Pollyanna. "Thank you," said the woman, reaching for the bowl in the little girl's hand. "Who shall I say sent it? And it's calf's-foot jelly?" The doctor, coming into the hall at that moment, heard the woman's words and saw the disappointed look on Pollyanna's face. He stepped quickly forward.

"Ah! Some calf's-foot jelly?" he asked genially. "That will be fine! Maybe you'd like to see our patient, eh?" "Oh, yes, sir," beamed Pollyanna; and the woman, in obedience to a nod from the doctor, led the way down the hall at once, though plainly with vast surprise on her face. "О, да, сэр", - обрадовалась Поллианна; и женщина, повинуясь кивку доктора, сразу же пошла по коридору, хотя на ее лице было написано огромное удивление. Behind the doctor, a young man (a trained nurse from the nearest city) gave a disturbed exclamation. Позади доктора молодой человек (обученный медбрат из ближайшего города) издал взволнованный возглас.

"But, Doctor, didn't Mr. Pendleton give orders not to admit--any one?" "Но, доктор, разве мистер Пендлтон не отдал приказ не принимать никого?" "Oh, yes," nodded the doctor, imperturbably. "But I'm giving orders now. I'll take the risk." Then he added whimsically: "You don't know, of course; but that little girl is better than a six-quart bottle of tonic any day. Затем он причудливо добавил: "Вы, конечно, не знаете, но эта маленькая девочка в любой день лучше, чем шестифунтовая бутылка тоника. If anything or anybody can take the grouch out of Pendleton this afternoon, she can. That's why I sent her in." "Who is she?" For one brief moment the doctor hesitated.

"She's the niece of one of our best known residents. Her name is Pollyanna Whittier. I--I don't happen to enjoy a very extensive personal acquaintance with the little lady as yet; but lots of my patients do--I'm thankful to say!" У меня... у меня пока не очень обширное личное знакомство с этой маленькой леди, но многие мои пациенты знакомы - с благодарностью могу сказать!" The nurse smiled.

"Indeed! And what are the special ingredients of this wonder-working--tonic of hers?" The doctor shook his head.

"I don't know. As near as I can find out it is an overwhelming, unquenchable gladness for everything that has happened or is going to happen. At any rate, her quaint speeches are constantly being repeated to me, and, as near as I can make out, 'just being glad' is the tenor of most of them. All is," he added, with another whimsical smile, as he stepped out on to the porch, "I wish I could prescribe her--and buy her--as I would a box of pills;--though if there gets to be many of her in the world, you and I might as well go to ribbon-selling and ditch-digging for all the money we'd get out of nursing and doctoring," he laughed, picking up the reins and stepping into the gig. Pollyanna, meanwhile, in accordance with the doctor's orders, was being escorted to John Pendleton's rooms. Her way led through the great library at the end of the hall, and, rapid as was her progress through it, Pollyanna saw at once that great changes had taken place. The book-lined walls and the crimson curtains were the same; but there was no litter on the floor, no untidiness on the desk, and not so much as a grain of dust in sight. Стены, обложенные книгами, и малиновые занавески остались прежними, но на полу не было ни соринки, на столе не было ни малейшего беспорядка, не было видно ни пылинки. The telephone card hung in its proper place, and the brass andirons had been polished. Телефонная карточка висела на своем месте, а латунные андироны были начищены. One of the mysterious doors was open, and it was toward this that the maid led the way. A moment later Pollyanna found herself in a sumptuously furnished bedroom while the maid was saying in a frightened voice: Через мгновение Поллианна оказалась в роскошно обставленной спальне, а горничная испуганным голосом произнесла:

"If you please, sir, here--here's a little girl with some jelly. The doctor said I was to--to bring her in." Доктор сказал, что я должен... привести ее сюда". The next moment Pollyanna found herself alone with a very cross-looking man lying flat on his back in bed. В следующее мгновение Поллианна оказалась наедине с мужчиной, лежащим на спине в постели.

"See here, didn't I say--" began an angry voice. "Видите ли, разве я не сказал...", - начал сердитый голос. "Oh, it's you!" it broke off not very graciously, as Pollyanna advanced toward the bed. не очень любезно прервался, когда Поллианна подошла к кровати.

"Yes, sir," smiled Pollyanna. "Oh, I'm so glad they let me in! You see, at first the lady 'most took my jelly, and I was so afraid I wasn't going to see you at all. Then the doctor came, and he said I might. Wasn't he lovely to let me see you?" In spite of himself the man's lips twitched into a smile; but all he said was "Humph!" "And I've brought you some jelly," resumed Pollyanna; "--calf's-foot. I hope you like it?" There was a rising inflection in her voice. В ее голосе прозвучала нарастающая интонация.

"Never ate it." The fleeting smile had gone, and the scowl had come back to the man's face. Мимолетная улыбка исчезла, и на лицо мужчины вернулась угрюмость. For a brief instant Pollyanna's countenance showed disappointment; but it cleared as she set the bowl of jelly down. На короткое мгновение на лице Поллианны появилось разочарование, но оно прояснилось, когда она поставила миску с желе на место. "Didn't you? Well, if you didn't, then you can't know you don't like it, anyhow, can you? Ну, если вы этого не сделали, то вы не можете знать, что вам это не нравится, так или иначе, не так ли? So I reckon I'm glad you haven't, after all. Так что, думаю, я рад, что вы этого не сделали. Now, if you knew--" "Yes, yes; well, there's one thing I know all right, and that is that I'm flat on my back right here this minute, and that I'm liable to stay here--till doomsday, I guess." "Да, да; ну, есть одна вещь, которую я знаю точно, и это то, что я лежу на спине прямо здесь в эту минуту, и что я останусь здесь - до Судного дня, я думаю". Pollyanna looked shocked.

"Oh, no! It couldn't be till doomsday, you know, when the angel Gabriel blows his trumpet, unless it should come quicker than we think it will--oh, of course, I know the Bible says it may come quicker than we think, but I don't think it will--that is, of course I believe the Bible; but I mean I don't think it will come as much quicker as it would if it should come now, and--" Это не может произойти до Судного дня, когда ангел Гавриил затрубит в свою трубу, если только это не произойдет быстрее, чем мы думаем... О, конечно, я знаю, что Библия говорит, что это может произойти быстрее, чем мы думаем, но я не думаю, что это произойдет... То есть, конечно, я верю Библии, но я имею в виду, что я не думаю, что это произойдет намного быстрее, чем если бы это произошло сейчас, и..." John Pendleton laughed suddenly--and aloud. The nurse, coming in at that moment, heard the laugh, and beat a hurried--but a very silent--retreat. He had the air of a frightened cook who, seeing the danger of a breath of cold air striking a half-done cake, hastily shuts the oven door. У него был вид испуганного повара, который, видя опасность того, что дуновение холодного воздуха ударит в полуготовый пирог, поспешно закрывает дверцу духовки.

"Aren't you getting a little mixed?" "Не слишком ли вы смешались?" asked John Pendleton of Pollyanna.

The little girl laughed.

"Maybe. But what I mean is, that legs don't last--broken ones, you know--like lifelong invalids, same as Mrs. Snow has got. Но я имею в виду, что ноги недолговечны - сломанные, знаете ли - как у пожизненных инвалидов, как у миссис Сноу. So yours won't last till doomsday at all. I should think you could be glad of that." "Oh, I am," retorted the man grimly. "Да, я такой", - мрачно ответил мужчина. "And you didn't break but one. You can be glad 'twasn't two." Pollyanna was warming to her task.

"Of course! So fortunate," sniffed the man, with uplifted eyebrows; "looking at it from that standpoint, I suppose I might be glad I wasn't a centipede and didn't break fifty!" Так удачно, - фыркнул мужчина, приподняв брови, - если посмотреть на это с такой точки зрения, то, наверное, я могу радоваться, что я не сороконожка и не разбил пятьдесят!" Pollyanna chuckled.

"Oh, that's the best yet," she crowed. "I know what a centipede is; they've got lots of legs. "Я знаю, что такое сороконожка; у них много ног. And you can be glad--" "Oh, of course," interrupted the man, sharply, all the old bitterness coming back to his voice; "I can be glad, too, for all the rest, I suppose--the nurse, and the doctor, and that confounded woman in the kitchen!" "О, конечно, - резко перебил мужчина, в его голос вернулась вся прежняя горечь, - я могу быть рад и за всех остальных, я полагаю, - за медсестру, и за доктора, и за эту проклятую женщину на кухне!" "Why, yes, sir--only think how bad 'twould be if you didn't have them!" "Да, сэр, только подумайте, как было бы плохо, если бы у вас их не было!". "Well, I--eh?" he demanded sharply.

"Why, I say, only think how bad it would be if you didn't have 'em--and you lying here like this!" "А что, - говорю, - подумай только, как было бы плохо, если бы у тебя их не было - а ты лежишь здесь вот так!". "As if that wasn't the very thing that was at the bottom of the whole matter," retorted the man, testily, "because I am lying here like this! "Как будто это не было тем самым, что лежало в основе всего дела, - ответил мужчина с вызовом, - ведь я лежу здесь вот так! And yet you expect me to say I'm glad because of a fool woman who disarranges the whole house and calls it 'regulating,' and a man who aids and abets her in it, and calls it 'nursing,' to say nothing of the doctor who eggs 'em both on--and the whole bunch of them, meanwhile, expecting me to pay them for it, and pay them well, too!" И все же вы ожидаете, что я скажу, что я рада из-за глупой женщины, которая разваливает весь дом и называет это "регулированием", и мужчины, который помогает и пособничает ей в этом и называет это "уходом", не говоря уже о враче, который кормит их обоих яйцами - и вся их кучка, в то же время, ожидает, что я буду платить им за это, и платить хорошо!" Pollyanna frowned sympathetically.

"Yes, I know. That part is too bad--about the money--when you've been saving it, too, all this time." "When--eh?" "Saving it--buying beans and fish balls, you know. "Экономия - покупка фасоли и рыбных котлет, знаете ли. Say, do you like beans?--or do you like turkey better, only on account of the sixty cents?" Скажи, ты любишь фасоль? Или тебе больше нравится индейка, только из-за шестидесяти центов?". "Look a-here, child, what are you talking about?" "Смотри-ка, дитя, о чем ты говоришь?". Pollyanna smiled radiantly.

"About your money, you know--denying yourself, and saving it for the heathen. "О твоих деньгах, ты знаешь - обременять себя и откладывать их для язычников. You see, I found out about it. Видите ли, я узнал об этом. Why, Mr. Pendleton, that's one of the ways I knew you weren't cross inside. Мистер Пендлтон, это один из способов, с помощью которого я узнала, что внутри у вас нет креста. Nancy told me." The man's jaw dropped. "Nancy told you I was saving money for the--Well, may I inquire who Nancy is?" "Нэнси сказала вам, что я откладываю деньги на... Ну, могу я поинтересоваться, кто такая Нэнси?" "Our Nancy. She works for Aunt Polly." "Aunt Polly! Well, who is Aunt Polly?" "She's Miss Polly Harrington. I live with her." The man made a sudden movement.

"Miss--Polly--Harrington!" he breathed. вздохнул он. "You live with-- her! " "Yes; I'm her niece. She's taken me to bring up--on account of my mother, you know," faltered Pollyanna, in a low voice. Она взяла меня на воспитание... из-за моей матери, вы знаете, - замялась Поллианна, понизив голос. "She was her sister. And after father--went to be with her and the rest of us in Heaven, there wasn't any one left for me down here but the Ladies' Aid; so she took me." А после того, как отец отправился с ней и со всеми нами на небеса, для меня здесь не осталось никого, кроме женской помощи, и она взяла меня". The man did not answer. His face, as he lay back on the pillow now, was very white--so white that Pollyanna was frightened. Его лицо, когда он откинулся на подушку, было очень белым - таким белым, что Поллианна испугалась. She rose uncertainly to her feet. Она неуверенно поднялась на ноги.

"I reckon maybe I'd better go now," she proposed. "I--I hope you'll like--the jelly." The man turned his head suddenly, and opened his eyes. Мужчина внезапно повернул голову и открыл глаза. There was a curious longing in their dark depths which even Pollyanna saw, and at which she marvelled. В их темных глубинах была любопытная тоска, которую увидела даже Поллианна и которой она удивилась.

"And so you are--Miss Polly Harrington's niece," he said gently. "Yes, sir." Still the man's dark eyes lingered on her face, until Pollyanna, feeling vaguely restless, murmured: Темные глаза мужчины не отрывались от ее лица, пока Поллианна, чувствуя смутное беспокойство, не пробормотала: "I--I suppose you know--her." John Pendleton's lips curved in an odd smile. "Oh, yes; I know her." He hesitated, then went on, still with that curious smile. "But--you don't mean--you can't mean that it was Miss Polly Harrington who sent that jelly--to me?" "Но вы же не имеете в виду, что это мисс Полли Харрингтон послала это желе мне?" he said slowly.

Pollyanna looked distressed. Поллианна выглядела расстроенной.

"N-no, sir: she didn't. She said I must be very sure not to let you think she did send it. Она сказала, что я должен быть очень уверен, чтобы вы не подумали, что это она прислала. But I--" "I thought as much," vouchsafed the man, shortly, turning away his head. "Я так и думал", - коротко ответил мужчина, отворачивая голову. And Pollyanna, still more distressed, tiptoed from the room. И Поллианна, еще больше расстроенная, на цыпочках вышла из комнаты.

Under the porte-cochere she found the doctor waiting in his gig. Под порто-кошером она обнаружила доктора, который ждал ее в своем автомобиле. The nurse stood on the steps. Медсестра стояла на ступеньках.

"Well, Miss Pollyanna, may I have the pleasure of seeing you home?" "Ну, мисс Поллианна, могу я иметь удовольствие проводить вас домой?" asked the doctor smilingly. "I started to drive on a few minutes ago; then it occurred to me that I'd wait for you." "Несколько минут назад я собирался ехать дальше; потом мне пришло в голову, что я подожду вас". "Thank you, sir. I'm glad you did. I just love to ride," beamed Pollyanna, as he reached out his hand to help her in. Я просто обожаю ездить верхом", - восторгалась Поллианна, когда он протянул руку, чтобы помочь ей войти. "Do you?" smiled the doctor, nodding his head in farewell to the young man on the steps. "Well, as near as I can judge, there are a good many things you 'love' to do--eh?" "Ну, насколько я могу судить, есть много вещей, которые вы "любите" делать, а?" he added, as they drove briskly away.

Pollyanna laughed.

"Why, I don't know. I reckon perhaps there are," she admitted. Думаю, возможно, они есть", - признала она. "I like to do 'most everything that's living . "Мне нравится делать "почти все, что живет". Of course I don't like the other things very well--sewing, and reading out loud, and all that. But they aren't living ." "No? What are they, then?" Кто же они?" "Aunt Polly says they're 'learning to live,' sighed Pollyanna, with a rueful smile. Тетя Полли говорит, что они "учатся жить", - вздохнула Поллианна с горькой улыбкой. The doctor smiled now--a little queerly.

"Does she? Well, I should think she might say--just that." "Yes," responded Pollyanna. "But I don't see it that way at all. I don't think you have to learn how to live. I didn't, anyhow." The doctor drew a long sigh.

"After all, I'm afraid some of us--do have to, little girl," he said. "В конце концов, я боюсь, что некоторым из нас... придется, девочка", - сказал он. Then, for a time he was silent. Pollyanna, stealing a glance at his face, felt vaguely sorry for him. Поллианна, украдкой взглянув на его лицо, почувствовала смутную жалость к нему. He looked so sad. She wished, uneasily, that she could "do something." It was this, perhaps, that caused her to say in a timid voice: Возможно, именно это заставило ее сказать робким голосом:

"Dr. Chilton, I should think being a doctor would, be the very gladdest kind of a business there was." "Доктор Чилтон, я думаю, что быть врачом - самое приятное занятие на свете". The doctor turned in surprise.

" 'Gladdest'!--when I see so much suffering always, everywhere I go?" he cried.

She nodded.

"I know; but you're helping it--don't you see?--and of course you're glad to help it! And so that makes you the gladdest of any of us, all the time." The doctor's eyes filled with sudden hot tears. The doctor's life was a singularly lonely one. He had no wife and no home save his two-room office in a boarding house. У него не было ни жены, ни дома, кроме двухкомнатного кабинета в пансионате. His profession was very dear to him. Его профессия была ему очень дорога. Looking now into Pollyanna's shining eyes, he felt as if a loving hand had been suddenly laid on his head in blessing. Глядя в сияющие глаза Поллианны, он чувствовал себя так, словно на его голову в знак благословения внезапно положили любящую руку. He knew, too, that never again would a long day's work or a long night's weariness be quite without that new-found exaltation that had come to him through Pollyanna's eyes. "God bless you, little girl," he said unsteadily. Then, with the bright smile his patients knew and loved so well, he added: "And I'm thinking, after all, that it was the doctor, quite as much as his patients, that needed a draft of that tonic!" Затем, с яркой улыбкой, которую так хорошо знали и любили его пациенты, он добавил: "И я думаю, в конце концов, что именно доктор, так же как и его пациенты, нуждался в порции этого тоника!". All of which puzzled Pollyanna very much--until a chipmunk, running across the road, drove the whole matter from her mind. Все это очень озадачило Поллианну - пока бурундук, перебегавший дорогу, не выкинул все эти мысли из головы.

The doctor left Pollyanna at her own door, smiled at Nancy, who was sweeping off the front porch, then drove rapidly away.

"I've had a perfectly beautiful ride with the doctor," announced Pollyanna, bounding up the steps. "У меня была прекрасная прогулка с доктором", - объявила Поллианна, поднимаясь по ступенькам. "He's lovely, Nancy!" "Is he?" "Yes. And I told him I should think his business would be the very gladdest one there was." "What!--goin' ter see sick folks--an' folks what ain't sick but thinks they is, which is worse?" Nancy's face showed open skepticism. Pollyanna laughed gleefully.

"Yes. That's 'most what he said, too; but there is a way to be glad, even then. Guess!" Nancy frowned in meditation. Nancy was getting so she could play this game of "being glad" quite successfully, she thought. She rather enjoyed studying out Pollyanna's "posers," too, as she called some of the little girl's questions. "Oh, I know," she chuckled. "It's just the opposite from what you told Mis' Snow." "Это прямо противоположно тому, что вы сказали мисс Сноу". "Opposite?" repeated Pollyanna, obviously puzzled.

"Yes. You told her she could be glad because other folks wasn't like her--all sick, you know." Вы сказали ей, что она может радоваться, потому что другие люди не такие, как она - все больные, вы знаете". "Yes," nodded Pollyanna. "Well, the doctor can be glad because he isn't like other folks--the sick ones, I mean, what he doctors," finished Nancy in triumph. "Ну, доктор может радоваться, потому что он не похож на других людей - на больных, я имею в виду, на тех, кого он лечит", - закончила Нэнси с триумфом. It was Pollyanna's turn to frown. "Why, y-yes," she admitted. "Of course that is one way, but it isn't the way I said; and--someway, I don't seem to quite like the sound of it. "Конечно, это один из способов, но это не тот способ, о котором я говорил; и... какой-то способ, похоже, мне не очень нравится, как он звучит. It isn't exactly as if he said he was glad they were sick, but--You do play the game so funny, sometimes Nancy," she sighed, as she went into the house. Это не совсем так, как если бы он сказал, что рад их болезни, но... Ты иногда так забавно играешь, Нэнси, - вздохнула она, заходя в дом. Pollyanna found her aunt in the sitting room.

"Who was that man--the one who drove into the yard, Pollyanna?" questioned the lady a little sharply.

"Why, Aunt Polly, that was Dr. Chilton! Don't you know him?" "Dr. Chilton! What was he doing--here?" "He drove me home. Oh, and I gave the jelly to Mr. Pendleton, and--" Miss Polly lifted her head quickly. Мисс Полли быстро подняла голову.

"Pollyanna, he did not think I sent it?" "Oh, no, Aunt Polly. I told him you didn't." Miss Polly grew a sudden vivid pink. Мисс Полли внезапно окрасилась в яркий розовый цвет.

"You told him I didn't!" Pollyanna opened wide her eyes at the remonstrative dismay in her aunt's voice. Поллианна широко раскрыла глаза, услышав в голосе тети предостерегающее беспокойство. "Why, Aunt Polly, you said to!" "Почему, тетя Полли, вы же сами сказали!" Aunt Polly sighed.

"I said , Pollyanna, that I did not send it, and for you to be very sure that he did not think I did! --which is a very different matter from telling him outright that I did not send it." And she turned vexedly away.

"Dear me! Well, I don't see where the difference is," sighed Pollyanna, as she went to hang her hat on the one particular hook in the house upon which Aunt Polly had said that it must be hung. Ну, я не вижу разницы, - вздохнула Поллианна, собираясь повесить шляпу на тот самый крючок в доме, на котором, как сказала тетя Полли, она должна висеть.