55 Most Commonly Used British and American Slang Words and Their Meanings!!!

It is probably one of the hardest aspects of the English language to learn, because there are so many variations in each small town, let alone in different English-speaking countries!
People use slang to sound less formal. Slang is mainly used because it relaxes the mouth, and allows people to speak in a more comfortable way. It is a lot easier to use slang than ‘perfect English’, which is probably why it’s so common!

1. UNREAL

Something that is unbelievably cool or brilliant

I love this party, it’s just unreal!

2. PROPS

This means respect, recognition

I know he failed the test, but you’ve got to give him props for trying.

3. KUDOS

Another word for respect, recognition

Kudos for organising this party. It’s brilliant!

4. BOTTOM LINE

The main point

The bottom line is we just don’t have enough money to make it work.

5. DISS

When a person disrespects someone else

Stop dissing her behind her back. Show some respect!

6. DIG

To really like something

Hey, I dig your new style. Where did you buy that T-shirt?

7. BOB’S YOUR UNCLE

This is a well-used phrase in the UK. It is added to the end of sentences, and means something like and that’s it!

• How did you make this cake? It’s delicious!
• Well, I just mixed in the batter thoroughly, poured it into a cake pan, baked it for 30 minutes and Bob’s your uncle!

8. BUDGE UP

When you ask someone to move and make space for you

 I want to sit down too, could you budge up a little please?

9. ACE

This has two meanings, something that is awesome, really cool
Or to achieve something with perfection, really easily 

– Ace! I just got a promotion at work!
– Robert aced his physics exam!

10. ALL RIGHT?

This means ‘hello, how are you?’

• All right?
• Good thanks, you all right?

11. FULL OF BEANS

This means to have loads of energy

All the children were full of beans at the party today. I couldn’t get any of them to sit still!

12. BLATANT

Something that is really obvious

She’s blatantly very annoyed, everyone can see it apart from you.

13. PEAR SHAPED

This means something has become a disaster

I was trying to organise a surprise birthday party for her, but it’s all gone pear shaped!

14. PIECE OF CAKE

When someone is boasting or they think something is extremely easy to do, they would use this

• What did you think of the exam? I thought it was really difficult.
• No, it was a piece of cake!

15. BLIMEY

This is an exclamation of surprise

Blimey, look at all this mess here! I’d only left the house for an hour, and look what you’ve done!

16. BOTCH

There are two ways of using this expression –‘to botch something up’ or ‘to do a botch job’. They both mean that the work done was not of a high standard, or was clumsy workmanship

The builder did a terrible job on the roof. He just botched it up, and it still leaks every time it rains!

17. CHEERS

Used when drinking with friends to salute or make a toast (raise your glasses and clink them together)

Cheers everyone! Happy birthday to John!

18. SMASHING

This means something is terrific, brilliant

I had a smashing time on holiday, it was so much fun!

19. SOD’S LAW

This is another name for Murphy’s Law – whatever can go wrong, will go wrong

• I wore my pretty new dress, because it was a sunny day, but as soon as I stepped out of the house, it started raining, and I got completely soaked!
• Sod’s Law!

20. CHIN WAG

This means having a nice, long chat with someone. You can probably tell why!

I saw Mary after such a long time yesterday! We had a lovely chin wag together, like the good old days.

21. CHUFFED

Used when someone is really pleased about something

My mum bought me a fantastic car when I passed my driving test. I was chuffed to bits!

22. CRAM

This means to study hard in a very short period of time

I was so busy with my family before the exam, that I only had three days to cram in all the revision work!

23. NICE ONE

Can be used when someone does something particularly impressive

• I published my first book last year, and I’ve already started working on the sequel!
• Nice one! You’re doing really well.

24. CRIKEY

An exclamation of surprise

• I went shopping today! (comes in with lots of bags)
• Crikey! Have you spent all of our savings??!!

25. DEAR

Something that is expensive 

I avoid going shopping into the town centre nowadays, everything is so dear!

26. FAFF

This is when someone procrastinates, or wastes time wondering around

Come on we have to go now. Stop faffing around, we’re going to be late!

27. DO

Another word for a party

Are you going to Lizzie’s birthday do next week? 

28. FLOG

To sell something

I managed to flog my car for a really good price!

29. FORTNIGHT

Two weeks. This comes from an abbreviation of ‘fourteen nights’

I’ve been really ill for the past fortnight, and still haven’t recovered.

30. GOBSMACKED

This means amazed (your gob is your mouth, and if you smack your gob, it would be out of amazement!)

I can’t believe I passed that exam! I thought I was going to fail, I’m completely gobsmacked!

31. SPLASH OUT

When you spend far too much money                                

I wanted to give Sarah a special treat for her birthday, so I splashed out on a very romantic weekend away.

32. GRUB / NOSH

Both these words mean food                                                                                                    

I’m going to get some grub for myself from the local takeaway. Do you want anything?

33. BEE’S KNEES

Something or someone fabulous, spectacular

– You should see my new sound-system, it’s the bee’s knees!– I don’t like Harvey very much, he thinks he’s the bee’s knees!

34. GUTTED

When someone is really upset or disappointed

I’m so gutted I failed my driving test, again!

35. PEANUTS

When something is cheap, financially low

– I hate my job. I have to work such long hours, and I get paid peanuts.– You should buy your clothes on-line. You can find some great designs for peanuts! 

36. HAGGLE

To argue over, and try to negotiate the price of something you want to buy

– The last time I went shopping with my mum, she was haggling for something that was already really cheap!
– I managed to haggle the price of this shirt down by 25%!

37. JOLLY

You might hear people use this in all sorts of ways, but basically it means ‘very’. So “jolly good” would mean ‘very good’

• Don’t worry, I will pay you back before the end of this month.
• I should jolly well think so!

38. THROW A SPANNER IN THE WORKS

This is an expression that means to wreck something

I managed to keep the surprise a secret, right up until the day before my sister’s birthday, then he threw a spanner in the works by telling her!

39. KIP 

A short sleep, forty winks, a nap, a power nap, or a snooze.

Why don’t you try and have a kip before everyone gets here? You won’t have time to rest later.

40. WIND UP

This has a couple of meanings. If something you do is a ‘wind up’ it means you are making fun of someone – you could be called a wind-up merchant if you do this.
However, if you are ‘wound up’ it means you are annoyed.

– John really is a wind-up merchant, but the girl he was picking on was so gullible!
– I was just winding her up for fun, but she took offence to it and got really angry!

41. MATE

This means friend, chum, pal, or buddy.

I’m going to the cinema with my mates tonight.

42. NOT MY CUP OF TEA

This is a common saying which means that something is not to your liking.

I don’t really like this sort of music. It’s just not my cup of tea.

43. PORKIES

This means telling lies. It comes from cockney rhyming slang. Short for ‘porky pies’, meaning ‘pork pies’, which rhymes with lies!

Don’t listen to her, she’s telling porkies!

44. ROW

This means an argument (rhymes with ‘cow’)

My brother had a huge row with his girlfriend yesterday. He’s really upset!

45. DONKEY’S YEARS

If someone says ‘I haven’t seen you in donkey’s years’, it means they haven’t seen you for a very long time!

Hi Sarah! What a surprise to see you here. I haven’t seen you in donkey’s years! How have you been?

46. EASY PEASY

A childish term for something very easy

I could make that for you, if you like? It’s easy peasy!

47. SORTED

When someone asks you about a problem you have already fixed, you could say this.
You can also say “get it sorted”, when you are telling someone to get on with something they have to do.

• What’s happening about that roof leak then?
• Oh that’s sorted now. I found a really good builder to do the job.

48. STROP

If someone is sulking or being particularly miserable, you would say they are ‘being stroppy’, or ‘throwing a strop’

Janet would you please cheer up? It’s your birthday, don’t be so stroppy!

49. CHEERIO

This is a friendly way of saying goodbye

Right, I have to go now, see you soon. Cheerio!

50. WANGLE

This is used to say some people have all the luck

I can’t believe he managed to wangle an upgrade on their airline seats, AND the honeymoon suite in their hotel!

51. BLINDING

If something is a blinding success, it means it was awesome, brilliant

They had a blinding party after their wedding ceremony. Everyone had such a great time!

52. WONKY

If something is shaky or unstable, you might say it is wonky.

I can’t eat my dinner at this table. It’s wonky and won’t stop wobbling!

53. ZONKED

If someone is zonked or ‘zonked out’ it means they are totally knackered, or exhausted

He had a lot of fun at his birthday party earlier, but he’s completely zonked out now!

54. DODGY

If someone or something is a bit dodgy, it is not to be trusted.

I saw a few dodgy-looking people standing around along that quiet street near our house, so just to be on the safe side, I notified the police.
This food looks a bit dodgy, it might have passed its expiry date. I don’t think we should eat it.

55. LEG IT

This is a way of saying ‘run’ or ‘run for it’

I went out on Halloween night, and someone jumped out from behind a bush to scare me. I was so frightened, that I just legged it all the way back home!

SHOPPING Phrases, Dialogs and Phrasal Verbs!

 

Here is what you will find in this article. Click on any topic you want to read more about!

1. Shopping Vocabulary
2. Finding the right store / shop
3. Opening times
4. Selecting goods
5. Making Payment
6. Returns and complaints
7. Things written on signs
8. Using a credit card
9. Prices and numbers
10. Making comparisons
11. Different ways of asking someone to SHOW you something
12. When you want to TRY something
13. If you’d like the shop assistant to give you a DIFFERENT SIZE OR COLOUR
14. When you finally decide what you want to BUY
15. Example conversations between a shop assistant, customer and cashier
16. Phrasal verbs related to shopping

 

Whether you love shopping, or just shop when you need to, you can practice your English at the same time!
Shopping is a great way to communicate with lots of different people, and it really helps to boost your confidence in speaking English!
You might hesitate or make mistakes to begin with, if you’re a bit nervous, but that’s completely normal. You may even find it hard to understand what the shop assistant is saying to you, if you don’t understand all the words!
If you familiarise yourself with the phrases and vocabulary in this blog, then you’ll know what you should expect to hear from the people you talk to on your shopping spree. It’ll make shopping a more enjoyable experience, and improve your English too!
The more you do it, the easier it will get, and the more natural it will feel!.
People:

• Customer
• Cashier / clerk
• Attendant / assistant
• Manager

Shopping:

• Wallet (male)
• Purse (female)
• Scale
• Till / Counter
• Barcode
• Receipt
• Gift receipt
• Aisle
• Shelf / shelves
• Trolley / s
• Basket / s
• Lift / s
• Escalator / s
• Bag / s
• Fitting rooms / changing rooms

Ways to Pay:

• Cheques
• Cash
• Notes
• Coins
• Card machine
• Chop and pin machine
• Credit cards / debit cards
• Loyalty card

Where to Buy:

• convenience store / general store / newsagents / department store / shop / store
• chemist / pharmacy
• toy shop / toy store
• book shop
• ladies clothing shop / boutique
• men’s clothing shop / tailor
• shoe shop / cobbler’s
• jeweller’s / jewellery store
• opticians / optometrists
• electrical store
• record shop
• ironmonger’s / ironmongery
• charity shop / second hand shop
• haberdasher’s / haberdashery
• shopping centre
• shopping mall / mall
• market
• florist / botanist
• butcher’s
• fishmonger’s / seafood store
• greengrocers / grocery store
• baker’s / bakery
• delicatessen
• grocer’s
• DIY store / home supply store
• hardware store
• off-licence
• post office
• supermarket
• gardening store / gardening centre

USEFUL PHRASES THAT A CLERK OR CUSTOMER MIGHT USE

1. Finding the right store / shop


Questions:

• Can you recommend a good toy shop/store?
• Is there a chemist / pharmacy in this area?
• Where can I get pet food from?
• Where is the nearest shopping centre?
• Could you direct me to the nearest post office please?
• Do you know where the nearest hardware store is?

Responses:

• There is a really good book shop just around the corner.
• You can buy that here in the hotel.
• The nearest one is a few mile away.
• The best toy shop is in the shopping centre.
• The post office isn’t open on Sundays.
• The convenience store on the corner might sell that.
• 2. Opening times 
  Questions:
• What time are you open until?
• What time do you close today?
• Are you open on the weekends?
• Are you open all day?
• What are your opening hours?
• Are you open on Sundays?
• Are you open every day during the week?
• What time do you open tomorrow?

Responses:

• We’re open from 9am to 6pm.
• We’re open on weekdays only (Monday to Friday).
• We’re open from 10am to 8pm.
• We’re open 7 days a week.
• We’re open 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).
• We’re closed at lunchtime, between 12pm and 2pm.
• We’re closed on Bank Holidays (national holidays).
•  
•  
• Selecting goods Clerk’s / Assistant’s Questions:
• Can / May I help you?
• Can I help you find something?
• What colour would you like?
• What size would you like?
• Is there anything else I can help you with?
• Would you like to try it on?
• Is that any good?
• What can I do for you?
• How does it fit?
• How about this one?
• Anything else?
• Would you like anything else?

Customer’s Questions:

• Excuse me, do you work here?
• Could you help me please?
• I’m looking for a ….
• I’m trying to find a ….
• Could you tell me where the …. is, please?
• How much is this?
• How much are these?
• How much does this cost?
• How much is that …. in the window?
• Where can I find the …. ?
• Do you sell …. ?
• Do you have any … ?
• Would you have this in another colour?
• Have you got anything cheaper?
• Do you have something less pricey (expensive)?
• Do you have this item in stock?
• Do you have a smaller/bigger/larger size?
• Do you know where else I could try?
• Does it come with a guarantee/warranty?
• Where is the changing/fitting room?
• Is there somewhere I can try it/this/them on, please?
• Where can I weigh my groceries?
• Do/Can you deliver?
• Do you have a refund policy?
• Is this in the sale? 
• 
  
• 
  Clerk’s / Assistant’s Responses:
• I’m afraid that’s the only colour we have.
• Sorry, we don’t have any more in stock.
• Sorry, we don’t sell those / them here.
• I’m afraid we don’t have any more left.
• I have exactly what you’re looking for.
• This one is on sale right now!
• It comes with a manufacturer’s warranty.
• It comes with a 1-year guarantee.
• The changing / fitting rooms are that way.
• The scales are by the counter over there. That’s where you can weigh your groceries.
• That one is ….(price).
• They’re ….(price) each.
• You can get a refund if you keep the receipt safe, and bring it back within 2 weeks.
•  
• 4. Making payment 
  
  Cashier’s / Clerk’s Questions:
• Are you in the queue?
• Are you being served?
• Who’s next?
• Next, please!
• How would you like to pay?
• Will that be cash or credit?
• Do you have a loyalty card?
• Would you like a bag?
• Can I help you with anything else?
• Will that be all?
• Would you like a gift receipt for that?
• Would you like me to gift wrap it for you?
• Would you like that gift wrapped?
• Would you like any cashback?
• Put your card into the machine, please.
• Enter your PIN, please.
• That comes to ….(price), please.
• The total is ….(price).
• That’s ….(price), please.

Customer’s Questions:

• Do you take credit cards?
• Can I pay by cheque, please?
• Could I have a receipt, please?
• Could I have a gift receipt, please?
• Could you gift wrap that for me please?
• Can I put one item back, please? I’ve changed my mind about this one.
• Could I leave my bags here, and pick them up later, please?
• Do you offer a cash discount?
• Does it have a warranty / guarantee?

Cashier’s / Clerk’s Responses:

• We take / accept all major credit cards.
• Sorry, we don’t accept cheques.
• I’m afraid we take cash only.
• We’re offering 6 months credit, with no deposit, if you’re interested.

Customer’s Responses:

• I’ll pay in cash
• I’ll pay by card
• Here’s ….(money), keep the change!
• That’s it for today.
• That’s all, thanks.
• Thank you. Have a good day!
•  
•  
• 5. Returns and complaints
  Questions:
• Who can I speak to about making a complaint?
• Could I have a refund please?
• Can I speak to the manager please?
• I’d like to return this please.
• I’d like to make a complaint.
• I’d like to change this for a different size please.
• Do you have the original receipt?
• Did you buy it from one of our other stores?
• Can I ask why you’re returning it please?
• Can I ask why you’ve changed your mind please?

Responses:

• It doesn’t work.
• It doesn’t fit.
• It was a gift, but I don’t like it.
• It was a gift, but the person I bought it for doesn’t like it.

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THE LOVE CHARM

 THE LOVE CHARM


 Phoebe, too, lowered her voice, but the full sweetness of its quality
thrilled out.
"Mary Frances Giles is going to be married next week. I've been down to
see her things. She's real pleased."
"You don't suppose they'll ask father to
marry 'em?" Miss Dorcas spoke
quite eagerly.
"Oh, no, they can't! It's a real wedding, you know. It's got to be at the
house."
"Yes, of course it's got to! I knew that myself, but I couldn't help hoping.
Well, goodnight. You come Sunday."
Phoebe lifted her pink skirts about her, and stepped, rustling and stately,
down the garden walk. Miss Dorcas drew one deep breath of the outer
fragrance, and turned back into the house. A thin voice, enfeebled and
husky from old age, rose in the front roo
m, as she entered:
"Dorcas! Dorcas! you had a caller?"
Her father, old Parson True, lay in the great bed opposite the window. A
thin little twig of a man, he was still animated, at times, by the power of a
strenuous and dauntless spirit. His hair, brus
hed straight back from the
overtopping forehead, had grown snowy white, and the eager, delicate
face beneath wore a strange pathos from the very fineness of its
nervously netted lines. Not many years after his wife's death, the parson
had shown some wander
ing of the wits; yet his disability, like his loss,
had been mercifully veiled from him. He took calmly to his bed, perhaps
through sheer lack of interest in life, and it became his happy invention
that he was "not feeling well," from one day to another, b
ut that, on the
next Sunday, he should rise and preach. He seemed like an unfortunate
and uncomplaining child, and the village folk took pride in him as
something all their own; a pride enhanced by his habit, in this weak
estate, of falling back into the h
omely ways of speech he had used long
ago when he was a boy "on the farm." In his wife's day, he had stood in
the pulpit above them, and expounded scriptural lore in academic English;
now he lapsed into their own rude phrasing, and seemed to rest content
i
n a tranquil certainty that nothing could be better than Tiverton ways and
Tiverton's homely speech.
"Dorcas," he repeated, with all a child's delight in his own cleverness,
"you've had somebody here. I heard ye!"
Dorcas folded the sheet back over the
quilt, and laid her hand on his hair,
with all the tenderness of the strong when they let themselves brood over
the weak.
"Only Phoebe, on her way home," she answered, gently. "The doctor
visited her school to
-
day. She thinks he may drop in to see you to
-
night. I
guess he give her to understand so."
The minister chuckled.
"Ain't he a smart one?" he rejoined. "Smart as a trap! Dorcas, I 'ain't
finished my sermon. I guess I shall have to preach an old one. You lay me
out the one on the salt losin' its s
avor, an' I'll look it over."
"Yes, father."
The same demand and the same answer, varied but slightly, had been
exchanged between them every Saturday night for years. Dorcas replied
now without thinking. Her mind had spread its wings and flown out into
the sweet stillness of the garden and the world beyond; it even hastened
on into the unknown ways of guesswork, seeking for one who should be
coming. She strained her ears to hear the beating of hoofs and the rattle
of wheels across the little, bridge. Th
e dusk sifted in about the house,
faster and faster; a whippoorwill cried from the woods. So she sat until
the twilight had vanished, and another of the invisible genii was at hand,
saying, "I am Night."
"Dorcas!" called the parson again. He had been asl
eep, and seemed now
to be holding himself back from a broken dream. "Dorcas, has your
mother come in yet?"
"No, father."
"Well, you wake me up when you see her down the road; and then you go
an' carry her a shawl. I dunno what to make o' that cough!" His voice
trailed sleepily off, and Dorcas rose and tiptoed out of the room. She felt
the blood in her face; her ears thrilled
noisily. The doctor's, wagon, had
crossed the bridge; now it was whirling swiftly up the road. She stationed
herself in the entry, to lose no step in his familiar progress. The horse
came lightly along, beating out a pleasant tune of easy haste. He was
dr
awn up at the gate, and the doctor threw out his weight, and jumped
buoyantly to the ground. There was the brief pause of reaching for his
medicine
-
case, and then, with that firm step whose rhythm she knew so
well, he was walking up the path. Involuntarily
, as Dorcas awaited him,
she put her hand to her heart with one of those gestures that seem so
melodramatic and are so real; she owned to herself, with a throb of
appreciative delight, how the sick must warm at his coming. This new
doctor of Tiverton was n
o younger than Dorcas herself, yet with his erect
carriage and merry blue eye she seemed to be not only of another
temperament, but another time. It had never struck him that they were
contemporaries. Once he had told Phoebe, in a burst of affection and
pi
tying praise, that he should have liked Miss Dorcas for a maiden aunt.
"Good evening," he said, heartily, one foot on the sill. "How's the
patient?"
At actual sight of him, her tremor vanished, and she answered very
quietly,
--
"Father's asleep. I tho
ught you wouldn't want he should be disturbed; so I
came out."
The doctor took off his hat, and pushed back his thick, unruly hair.
"Yes, that was right," he said absently, and pinched a spray of
southernwood that grew beside the door. "How has he seem
ed?"
"About as usual."
"You've kept on with the tonic?"
"Yes."
"That's good! Miss Dorcas, look up there. See that moon! See that wisp of
an old blanket dragging over her face! Do you mind coming out and
walking up and down the road while we talk? I
may think of one or two
directions to give about your father."
Dorcas stepped forward with the light obedience given to happy tasking.
She paused as! quickly.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I can't. Father might wake up. I never leave him
alone."
"Never mind
, then! let's sit right down here on the steps. After all,
perhaps it's pleasanter. What a garden! It's like my mother's. I could pick
out every leaf in the dark, by the smell. But you're alone, aren't you? I'm
not keeping you from any one?"
"Oh, no! I'm
all alone, except father."
"Yes. The fact is, I went into your school to
-
day, and the teacher said she
was coming here to
-
night. She offered to bring you a message, but I said
I should come myself. I'm abominably late. I couldn't get here any
earlier."
"Oh, yes! Phoebe! She was here over an hour ago. Phoebe's a real
comfort to me." She was seated on the step above him, and it seemed
very pleasant to her to hear his voice, without encountering also the
challenge of his eyes.
"No, is she though?" The doctor suddenly faced round upon her. "Tell me
about it!"
Then, quite to her surprise, Dorcas found herself talking under the spell of
an interest so eager that it bore her on, entirely without her own
guidance.
"Well, you see
there's a good many things I keep from father. He never's
been himself since mother died. She was the mainstay here. But he thinks
the church prospers just the same, and I never've told him the
attendance dropped off when they put up that 'Piscopal buildin
g over to
Sudleigh. You 'ain't lived here long enough to hear much about that, but
it's been a real trial to him. The summer boarders built it, and some rich
body keeps it up; and our folks think it's complete to go over there and
worship, and get up and d
own, and say their prayers out loud."
The doctor laughed out.
"I've heard about it," said he. "You know what Brad Freeman told Uncle
Eli Pike, when they went in to see how the service was managed?
Somebody found the places in the prayer
-
book for them,
and Brad was
quick
-
witted, and got on very well; but Eli kept dropping behind. Brad
nudged him. 'Read!' he said out loud. 'Read like the devil!' I've heard that
story on an average of twice a day since I came to Tiverton. I'm not tired
of it yet!"
Miss D
orcas, too, had heard it, and shrunk from its undisguised profanity.
Now she laughed responsively.
"I guess they do have queer ways," she owned. "Well, I never let father
know any of our folks go over there. He'd be terrible tried. And I've made
it my pa
rt in our meeting to keep up the young folks' interest as much as
I can. I've been careful never to miss my Sunday
-
school class. They're all
girls, nice as new pins, every one of 'em! Phoebe was in it till a little while
ago, but now she comes here and sit
s in the kitchen while I'm gone. I
don't want father to know that, for I hope it never'll come into his head
he's so helpless; but I should be worried to death to have him left alone.
So Phoebe sits there with her book, ready to spring if she should hear
a
nything out o' the way."
The doctor had lapsed into his absent mood, but now he roused himself,
with sudden interest.
"That's very good of her, isn't it?" he said "You trust her, don't you?"
"Trust Phoebe! Well, I guess I do! I've known her ever sinc
e she went to
Number Five, and now she's keeping the school herself. She's a real noble
girl!"
"Tell me more!" said the doctor, warmly. "I want to hear it all. You're so
new to me here in Tiverton! I want to get acquainted."
Miss Dorcas suddenly felt a
s if she had been talking a great deal, and an
overwhelming shyness fell upon her.
"There isn't much to tell," she hesitated. "I don't know's anything'd
happened to me for years, till father had his ill
-
turn in the spring, and we
called you in. He don't
seem to realize his sickness was anything much.
I've told the neighbors not to dwell on it when they're with him. Phoebe
won't; she's got some sense."
"Has she?" said the doctor, still eagerly. "I'm glad of that, for your sake!"
He rose to go, but stood a moment near the steps, dallying with a
reaching branch of jessamine; it seemed persuading him to stay. He had
always a cheery manner, but to
-
night it w
as brightened by a dash of
something warm and reckless. He had the air of one awaiting good news,
in confidence of its coming. Dorcas was alive to the rapt contagion, and
her own blood thrilled. She felt young.
"Well!" said he, "well, Miss Dorcas!" He to
ok a step, and then turned
back. "Well, Miss Dorcas," he said again, with an embarrassed laugh,
"perhaps you'd like to gather in one more church
-
goer. If I have time
tomorrow, I'll drop in to your service, and then I'll come round here, and
tell your fathe
r I went."
Dorcas rose impulsively. She could have stretched out her hands to him,
in the warmth of her gratitude.
"Oh, if you would! Oh, how pleased he'd be!"
"All right!" Now he turned away with decision. "Thank you, Miss Dorcas,
for staying out. I
t's a beautiful evening. I never knew such a June. Good
-
night!" He strode down the walk, and gave a quick word to his horse, who
responded in whinnying welcome. An instant's delay, another word, and
they were gone.
Dorcas stood listening to the scatter o
f hoofs down the dusty road and
over the hollow ledge. She sank back on the sill, and, step by step, tried
to retrace the lovely arabesque the hour had made. At last, she had some
groping sense of the full beauty of living, when friendship says to its
mate
, "Tell me about yourself!" and the frozen fountain wells out, every
drop cheered and warmed, as it falls, in the sunshine of sympathy. She
saw in him that perfection of life lying in strength, which he undoubtedly
had, and beauty, of which he had little o
r much according as one chose to
think well of him. To her aching sense, he was a very perfect creature,
gifted with, infinite capacities for help and comfort.
But the footfalls ceased, and the garden darkened by delicate yet swift
degrees; a cloud had g
one over the moon, fleecy, silver
-
edged, but still a
cloud. The waning of the light seemed to her significant; she feared lest
some bitter change might befall the moment; and went in, bolting the
door behind her. Once within her own little bedroom, she loo
sened her
hair, and moved about aimlessly, for a time, careless of sleep, because it
seemed so far. Then a sudden resolve nerved her, and she stole back
again to the front door, and opened it. The night was blossoming there,
glowing now, abundant. It was s
o rich, so full! The moonlight here, and
star upon star above, hidden not by clouds but by the light! Need she
waste this one night out of all her unregarded life? She stepped forth
among the flower
-
beds, stooping, in a passionate fervor, to the blossoms
s
he could reach; but, coming back to the southernwood, she took it in her
arms. She laid her face upon it, and crushed the soft leaves against her
cheeks. It made all the world smell of its own balm and dew. The
fragrance and beauty of the time passed into
her soul, and awakened
corners there all unused to such sweet incense. She was drunken with the
wine that is not of grapes. She could not have found words for the
passion that possessed her, though she hugged it to her heart like
another self; but it was e
lemental, springing from founts deeper than
those of life and death. God made it, and, like all His making, it was
divine. She sat there, the southernwood still gathered into her arms, and
at last emotion stilled itself, and passed into thought; a wild tem
ptation
rose, and with its first whisper drove a hot flush into her cheeks, and
branded it there. Love! she had never named the name in its first natal
significance. She had scarcely read it; for romance, even in books, had
passed her by. But love! she kne
w it as the insect knows how to spread
his new sun
-
dried wings in the air for which he was create. Sitting there,
in a happy drowse, she thought it all out. She was old, plain, unsought;
the man she exalted was the flower of his kind. He would never look o
n
her as if she might touch the hem of wifehood's mantle; so there would
be no shame in choosing him. Just to herself, she might name the Great
Name. He would not know. Only her own soul would know, and God who
gave it, and sent it forth fitted with delica
te, reaching tentacles to touch
the rock set there to wound them. She began to feel blindly that God was
not alone the keeper of eternal Sabbaths, but the germinant heat at the
heart of the world. If she were a young girl, like Phoebe, there would be
shame
. Even a thought of him would be a stretching forth her hand to
touch him, saying, "Look at me! I am here!" but for her it was quite
different. It would be like a dream, some grandmother dreamed in the
sun, of rosy youth and the things that never came to p
ass. No one would
be harmed, and the sleeper would have garnered one hour's joy before
she took up her march again on the lonesomest road of all,
--
so lonesome,
although it leads us, home! Thus she thought, half sleeping, until the
night
-
dews clung in drops
upon her hair; then she went in to bed, still
wrapped about with the drapery of her dreams.
Next morning, when Dorcas carried in her father's breakfast, she walked
with a springing step, and spoke in a voice so full and fresh it made her
newly glad.
"
It's a nice day, father! There'll be lots of folks out to meeting."
"That's a good girl!" This was his commendation, from hour to hour; it
made up the litany of his gratitude for what she had been to him. "But I
dunno's I feel quite up to preachin' to
-
da
y, Dorcas!"
"That'll be all right, father. We'll get somebody."
"You bring me out my sermon
-
box after breakfast, an' I'll pick out one,"
said he, happily. "Deacon Tolman can read it."