"Alcott, Louisa May - Little Women - March Family 01 - Little Women" - читать интересную книгу автора (Alcott Louisa May)

"Put them on the table, and bring her in and see her open the bundles.
Don't you remember how we used to do on our birthdays?" answered Jo.

"I used to be so frightened when it was my turn to sit in the chair
with the crown on, and see you all come marching round to give the
presents, with a kiss. I liked the things and the kisses, but it was
dreadful to have you sit looking at me while I opened the bundles," said
Beth, who was toasting her face and the bread for tea at the same time.

"Let Marmee think we are getting things for ourselves, and then
surprise her. We must go shopping tomorrow afternoon, Meg. There is so much
to do about the play for Christmas night," said Jo, marching up and down,
with her hands behind her back, and her nose in the air.

"I don't mean to act any more after this time. I'm getting too old for
such things," observed Meg, who was as much a child as ever about
`dressing-up' frolics.

"You won't stop, I know, as long as you can trail round in a white
gown with your hair down, and wear gold-paper jewelry. You are the best
actress we've got, and there'll be an end of everything if you quit the
boards," said Jo. "We ought to rehearse tonight. Come here, Amy, and do the
fainting scene, for you are as stiff as a poker in that."

"I can't help it. I never saw anyone faint, and I don't choose to make
myself all black and blue, tumbling flat as you do. If I can go down
easily, I'll drop. If I can't, I shall fall into a chair and be graceful. I
don't care if Hugo does come at me with a pistol," returned Amy, who was
not gifted with dramatic power, but was chosen because she was small enough
to be borne out shrieking by the villain of the piece.

"Do it this way. Clasp your hands so, and stagger across the room,
crying frantically, `Roderigo` Save me! Save me! and away went Jo, with a
melodramatic scream which was truly thrilling.

Amy followed, but she poked her hands out stiffly before her, and
jerked herself along as if she went by machinery, and her "Ow!" was more
suggestive of pins being run into her than of fear and anguish. Jo gave a
despairing groan, and Meg laughed outright, while Beth let her bread burn
as she watched the fun with interest.

"It's no use! Do the best you can when the time comes, and if the
audience laughs, don't blame me. Come on, Meg."

"Then things went smoothly, for Don Pedro defied the world in a speech
of two pages without a single break. Hagar, the witch, chanted an awful
incantation over her kettleful of simmering toads, with weird effect.
Roderigo rent his chains asunder manfully, and Hugo died in agonies of
remorse and arsenic, with a wild,"Ha! Ha!"