The sun did not precisely2 shine for Horace Boyce in the weeks which now ensued, but at least the crisis that had threatened to engulf3 him was curiously4 delayed. Mr. Tenney did not even ask him, on that dreaded5 Monday, what decision he had arrived at. A number of other Mondays went by, and still no demand was made upon him to announce his choice. On the few occasions when he met his father’s partner, it was the pleasure of that gentleman to talk on other subjects.
The young man began to regain6 his equanimity7. The February term of Oyer and Terminer had come and gone, and Horace was reasonably satisfied with the forensic8 display he had made. It would have been much better, he knew, if he had not been worried about the other thing; but, as it was, he had won two of the four cases in which he appeared, had got on well with the judge, who invited him to dinner at the Dearborn House, and had been congratulated on his speeches by quite a number of lawyers. His foothold in Thessaly was established.
Matters about the office had not gone altogether to his liking9, it was true. For some reason, Reuben seemed all at once to have become more distant and formal with him. Horace could not dream that this arose from the discoveries his partner had made at the milliner’s shop, and so put the changed demeanor10 down vaguely11 to Reuben’s jealousy12 of his success in court. He was sorry that this was so, because he liked Reuben personally, and the silly fellow ought to be glad that he had such a showy and clever partner, instead of sulking. Horace began to harbor the notion that a year of this partnership13 would probably be enough for him.
The Citizens’ Club had held two meetings, and Horace felt that the manner in which he had presided and directed the course of action at these gatherings14 had increased his hold upon the town. Nearly fifty men had now joined the club, and next month they were to discuss the question of a permanent habitation. They all seemed to like him as president, and nebulous thoughts about being the first mayor of Thessaly, when the village should get its charter, now occasionally floated across the young man’s mind.
He had called at the Minster house on each Tuesday since that conversation with Miss Kate, and now felt himself to be on terms almost intimate with the whole household. He could not say, even to himself, that his suit had progressed much; but Miss Kate seemed to like him, and her mother, whom he also had seen at other times on matters of business, was very friendly indeed.
Thus affairs stood with the rising young lawyer at the beginning of March, when he one day received a note sent across by hand from Mr. Tenney, asking him to come over at once to the Dearborn House, and meet him in a certain room designated by number.
Horace was conscious of some passing surprise that Tenney should make appointments in private rooms of the local hotel, but as he crossed the street to the old tavern15 and climbed the stairs to the apartment named, it did not occur to him that the summons might signify that the crisis which had darkened the first weeks of February was come again.
He found Tenney awaiting him at the door, and after he had perfunctorily shaken hands with him, discovered that there was another man inside, seated at the table in the centre of the parlor16, under the chandelier. This man was past middle-age, and both his hair and the thick, short beard which covered his chin and throat were nearly white. Horace noted17 first that his long upper lip was shaven, and this grated upon him afresh as one of the least lovely of provincial18 American customs. Then he observed that this man had eyes like Tenney’s in expression, though they were blue instead of gray; and as this resemblance came to him, Tenney spoke19:
“Judge Wendover, this is the young man we’ve been talking about—Mr. Horace Boyce, son of my partner, the General, you know.”
The mysterious New Yorker had at last appeared on the scene, then. He did not look very mysterious, or very metropolitan20 either, as he rose slowly and reached his hand across the table for Horace to shake. It was a fat and inert21 hand, and the Judge himself, now that he stood up, was seen to be also fat and dumpy in figure, with a bald head, noticeably high at the back of the skull22, and a loose, badly fitted suit of clothes.
“Sit down,” he said to Horace, much as if that young man had been a stenographer23 called in to report a conversation. Horace took the chair indicated, not over pleased.
“I haven’t got much time,” the Judge continued, speaking apparently24 to the papers in front of him. “There’s a good deal to do, and I’ve got to catch that 5.22 train.”
“New Yorkers generally do have to catch trains,” remarked Horace. “So far as I could see, the few times I’ve been there of late years, that is always the chief thing on their minds.”
Judge Wendover looked at the young man for the space of a second, and then turned to Tenney and said abruptly25:
“I suppose he knows how the Thessaly Mfg. Company stands? How it’s stocked?” He pronounced the three letters with a slurring26 swiftness, as if to indicate that there was not time enough for the full word “manufacturing.”
Horace himself answered the question: “Yes, I know. You represent two hundred and twenty-five to my clients’ one hundred and seventy-five.” The young man held himself erect27 and alert in his chair, and spoke curtly28.
“Just so. The capital is four hundred thousand dollars—all paid up. Well, we need that much more to go on.”
“How ‘go on’? What do you mean?”
“There’s a new nail machine just out which makes our plant worthless. To buy that, and make the changes, will cost a round four hundred thousand dollars. Get hold of that machine, and we control the whole United States market; fail to get it, we go under. That’s the long and short of it. That’s why we sent for you.”
“I’m very sorry,” said Horace, “but I don’t happen to have four hundred thousand dollars with me just at the moment. If you’d let me known earlier, now.”
The Judge looked at him again, with the impersonal29 point-blank stare of a very rich and pre-occupied old man. Evidently this young fellow thought himself a joker.
“Don’t fool,” he said, testily30. “Business is business, time is money. We can’t increase our capital by law, but we can borrow. You haven’t got any money, but the Minster women have. It’s to their interest to stand by us. They’ve got almost as much in the concern as we have. I’ve seen the widow and explained the situation to her. She understands it. But she won’t back our paper, because her husband on his death-bed made her promise never to do that for anybody. Curious prejudice these countrymen have about indorsing notes. Business would stagnate31 in a day without indorsing. However, I had another plan. Let her issue four hundred thousand dollars in bonds on the iron-works. That’s about a third what they are worth. She’ll consent to that if you talk to her.”
“Oh, that’s where I come in, is it?” said Horace.
“Where else did you suppose?” asked the Judge, puffing32 for breath, as he eyed the young man.
No answer was forthcoming, and the New Yorker went on:
“The interest on those bonds will cost her twenty-four thousand dollars per year for a year or two, but it will make her shares in the Mfg. Company a real property instead of a paper asset. Besides, I’ve shown her a way to-day, by going into the big pig-iron trust that is being formed, of making twice that amount in half the time. Now, she’s going to talk with you about both these things. Your play is to advise her to do what I’ve suggested.”
“Why should I?” Horace put the question bluntly.
“I’ll tell you,” answered the Judge, who seemed to like this direct way of dealing33. “You can make a pot of money by it. And that isn’t all. Tenney and I are not fishing with pin-hooks and thread. We’ve got nets, young man. You tie up to us, and we’ll take care of you. When you see a big thing like this travelling your way, hitch34 on to it. That’s the way fortunes are made. And you’ve got a chance that don’t come to one young fellow in ten thousand.”
“I should think he had,” put in Mr. Tenney, who had been a silent but attentive35 auditor36.
“What will happen if I decline?” asked Horace.
“She will lose her one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars and a good deal more, and you will lose your business with her and with everybody else.”
“And your father will lose the precious little he’s got left,” put in Mr. Tenney.
Horace tried to smile. “Upon my word, you are frank,” he said.
“There’s no time to be anything else,” replied the Judge. “And why shouldn’t we be? We simply state facts to you. A great commercial transaction, involving profits to everybody, is outlined before you. It happens that by my recommendation you are in a place where you can embarrass its success, for a minute or two, if you have a mind to. But why in God’s name you should have a mind to, or why you take up time by pretending to be offish about it, is more than I can make out. Damn it, sir, you’re not a woman, who wants to be asked a dozen times! You’re a man, lucky enough to be associated with other men who have their heads screwed on the right way, and so don’t waste any more time.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” said Horace, “I haven’t thanked you for recommending me.”
“You needn’t,” replied the Judge, bluntly. “It was Tenney’s doing. I didn’t know you from a side of sole-leather. But he thought you were the right man for the place.”
“I hope you are not disappointed,” Horace remarked, with a questioning smile.
“A minute will tell me whether I am or not,” the New York man exclaimed, letting his fat hand fall upon the table. “Come, what is your answer? Are you with us, or against us?”
“At all events not against you, I should hope.”
“Damn the man! Hasn’t he got a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in him?—Tenney, you’re to blame for this,” snapped Wendover, pulling his watch from the fob in his tightened37 waistband, and scowling38 at the dial. “I’ll have to run, as it is.”
He rose again from his chair, and bent39 a sharp gaze upon Horace’s face.
“Well, young man,” he demanded, “what is your answer?”
“I think I can see my way to obliging you,” said Horace, hesitatingly. “But, of course, I want to know just how I am to stand in the—”
“That Tenney will see to,” said the Judge, swiftly. He gathered up the papers on the table, thrust them into a portfolio40 with a lock on it, which he gave to Tenney, snatched his hat, and was gone, without a word of adieu to anybody.
“Great man of business, that!” remarked the hardware merchant, after a moment of silence.
Horace nodded assent41, but his mind had not followed the waddling42 figure of the financier. It was dwelling43 perplexedly upon the outcome of this adventure upon which he seemed to be fully44 embarked45, and trying to establish a conviction that it would be easy to withdraw from it at will, later on.
“He can make millions where other men only see thousands, and they beyond their reach,” pursued Tenney, in an abstracted voice. “When he’s your friend, there isn’t anything you can’t do; and he’s as straight as a string, too, so long as he likes a man. But he’s a terror to have ag’in you.”
Horace sat closeted with Tenney for a long time, learning the details of the two plans which had been presented to Mrs. Minster, and which he was expected to support. The sharpest scrutiny46 could detect nothing dishonest in them. Both involved mere47 questions of expediency—to loan money in support of one’s stock, and to enter a trust which was to raise the price of one’s wares—and it was not difficult for Horace to argue himself into the belief that both promised to be beneficial to his client.
At the close of the interview Horace said plainly to his companion that he saw no reason why he should not advise Mrs. Minster to adopt both of the Judge’s recommendations. “They seem perfectly48 straightforward,” he added.
“Did you expect anything else, knowing me all this while?” asked Tenney, reproachfully.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
inevitably
|
|
| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
engulf
|
|
| vt.吞没，吞食 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
dreaded
|
|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
regain
|
|
| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
equanimity
|
|
| n.沉着，镇定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
forensic
|
|
| adj.法庭的，雄辩的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
liking
|
|
| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
demeanor
|
|
| n.行为；风度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
jealousy
|
|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
partnership
|
|
| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
gatherings
|
|
| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
tavern
|
|
| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
parlor
|
|
| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
provincial
|
|
| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
metropolitan
|
|
| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
inert
|
|
| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
skull
|
|
| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
stenographer
|
|
| n.速记员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
slurring
|
|
| 含糊地说出( slur的现在分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
curtly
|
|
| adv.简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
impersonal
|
|
| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
testily
|
|
| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
stagnate
|
|
| v.停止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
puffing
|
|
| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
hitch
|
|
| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
attentive
|
|
| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
auditor
|
|
| n.审计员，旁听着 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
tightened
|
|
| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
scowling
|
|
| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
portfolio
|
|
| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
assent
|
|
| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
waddling
|
|
| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
embarked
|
|
| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
scrutiny
|
|
| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |