McClintock gave voice to low moans and flew other signals of distress7, but Miss Delight was obdurate8 to his more or less frenzied9 expostulations and remarked that while she was disturbed at having to disappoint her “dear, lovely, friendly public,” she felt that her health was the prime consideration. The manager was in a surly mood when he left her to seek out the stage director.
“Who’s the understudy?” he inquired.
“She calls herself Lolita Murphy,” replied the director, “but I understand there’s a certain party connected with the publicity10 department who calls her even flossier names than that.”
“Jimmy’s gal11, eh?” commented the manager. “Well, she’s there with the looks anyway. Has she had a rehearsal12?”
“She’s been through the thing roughly with the rest of the understudies, but I can have the whole troupe13 called for tomorrow morning, and we can run straight through. We’ll get out the dirigible and go through with the rescue stunt14. We mustn’t fall down on that. The little lady seems to be there with the nerve, but I’d like to try it out.”
Jimmy was permitted to break the news to Lolita. He met her after the performance that night and imparted the glad tidings. When he left he gave her a final word of caution.
“Keep the little old nerve up, girlie,” he said earnestly, “and we’ll wake up the whole country on Monday morning.”
“I’ll try, Jimmy,” she whispered. “You’re just the—well, just the dearest boy I’ve ever known.”
On the following morning Lolita, athrill with excitement and a little nervous, assumed the title role in “Secret Service Sallie” at a rehearsal to the complete satisfaction of McClintock, the stage director and Jimmy Martin. The latter watched her with adoring eyes, and when she successfully essayed the sensational15 rescue scene he was moved to wild and clamorous16 applause which sounded a bit startling in the great empty auditorium17. Under Bobby Wilkins’ expert direction the big clumsy dirigible was manoeuvred around the edge of the roof and Lolita was lifted into the car by the former ace18 with such adroit19 ease that the whole thing seemed to be simply part of a casual everyday occurrence. When it was over Lolita had been safely landed back on earth and had received the congratulations of everyone concerned, she drew Jimmy aside and clutched at his arm for support.
“I’m ready to faint,” she said weakly. “I believe I would have up on the roof when I saw that big thing coming towards me if that fellow hadn’t grabbed me off so quickly.”
“You need a little nap,” responded Jimmy soothingly20. “The worst is over and the best is yet to come. Don’t forget that young Mr. Arthur H. Opportunity has a date with you this afternoon, and that the big splash is due tomorrow morning. Now you go in and get a little sleep and I’ll have a talk with my friend, the handsome lieutenant21. I fixed22 things with him last night, but I’ve got to go over some details again.”
A few minutes later the press agent was closeted with Bobby Wilkins in the hangar in which the dirigible was housed. The park gates had just been opened for the day and crowds of holiday merry-makers were surging through them in quest of the fifty-seven varieties of feverish23 and hectic24 entertainment which Jollyland provided for those in search of diversion.
If anyone had called Jimmy Martin a “psychotherapist” he would have denied the soft impeachment25 promptly26, and then asked for a dictionary and an explanatory blueprint27. And yet, as a direct result of a random28 idea which had bobbed into his active mind a few weeks before, he was unconsciously serving in that capacity for a large and ever increasing throng29 of metropolitan30 society women of varying ages who flocked to Jollyland in search of a new thrill which he had provided. The winding31 up of war charity work which had followed close upon the return to these shores of the larger part of the American army had turned many of these women back upon their own resources and their innate32 restless activity, which had found such an altruistic33 outlet34 in new channels for several years, now imperiously demanded fresh excitement, and it was this that Jimmy offered them.
On the occasion in question, Jimmy had overheard a coy young debutante35 who was watching a performance of “Secret Service Sallie” remark to a group of friends who accompanied her that she’d “just love to go up on the stage and mix with the crowd.” That was enough for the press agent. Ten minutes later, during the intermission, he escorted the entire party behind the scenes, and, under his guidance, they participated in the London episode which concluded the show. They mingled36 with the crowd of supernumeraries and entered into the proceedings37 attendant upon the thrilling dirigible rescue with such gusto that the stage manager gave Jimmy carte blanche to encourage the idea.
It happened that in this particular party were several of the socially elect and the papers next morning carried extensive stories chronicling the event coupled with the announcement that the park management would, throughout the season, be pleased to extend the privilege of participating in the entertainment to other groups who might wish to take advantage of the opportunity for this unusual form of entertainment. Society seized upon the idea voraciously38 and Jollyland parties gave a new filip to the summer season at all the Long Island resorts. Elderly matrons of ample girth vied with the members of the younger set in setting the pace and in many instances came again and again to become a part of the great spectacle. For the first time in its history Jollyland began to figure in the society columns of the daily press and great was the prestige which Jimmy enjoyed in McClintock’s eyes as a result.
The particular luminary39 of the Long Island season at the moment and the prospective40 lion of the month of August at Newport was none other than the Hon. Betty Ashley, daughter of the second Lord Norbourne, and the most talked about young woman in English society for a period the beginnings of which antedated41 the war by several years. Before the great European conflagration42 the Hon. Betty, though then still in her early twenties, was a European celebrity43. Spirited, impulsive44, and headstrong by nature she had early rebelled against the ultra-conservative traditions of her family and had so thoroughly45 flouted46 convention that her name was on the tip of the tongue of everyone in the tight little island. She began it by publicly slapping the face of a certain deposed47 kinglet who had sought refuge and a safe haven48 in England and whose sole offense49 had been a mild protestation of love made at a fashionable garden party. There had followed her sensational and entirely50 unarranged presentation of a petition for woman’s suffrage51 to England’s monarch52 himself at a formal court (an incident which sent her dignified53 father to his bed for two weeks); her arrest on suspicion of being implicated54 in a militant55 attempt to set fire to the parliament buildings and her subsequent acquittal after she had refused to make any defense56 against a damaging array of circumstantial evidence; her jilting of the Earl of Maidsley in an explanatory and derisive57 letter to the Times; her winning of the amateur tennis championship and a host of other incidents of a distinctly unconventional nature. Then the war had come and she had gone over to France in the first months as a motor driver and had still managed to keep in the public eye for five years despite the somewhat considerable amount of attention devoted58 by the newspapers to the main phases of the great struggle itself. She had, for one thing, won a D.S.O. for bravery under fire in the first battle of Ypres and she had, for another, been reprimanded in orders for organizing a ball at a certain chateau59 occupied by the staff of a certain corps60 during the absence of the commanding general at a conference at G.H.Q.
Now she had come to the United States for the first time and had materially assisted in putting zest61 and “punch” into a round of festive62 house parties on Long Island given by prominent members of the swiftest moving coterie63 of the so-called smart set. Small wonder that when she heard of the expeditions to Jollyland which were enjoying such a vogue64 that she should elect to organize one herself.
“I’m not entirely a rank amateur, my dear,” she confided65 to her hostess when the party was preparing to depart. “I went on for two nights running in the chorus at the Alhambra last winter on a five pound wager66, and I’d have stuck it out for a whole week for the fun of it if the pater’s blood pressure hadn’t been running abnormally high. The old dear would have gone all to smash if he had found out and he might if I’d kept on.”
The Hon. Betty, her dark beauty set off by a rose-pink silk sweater and a Tam o’ Shanter to match, was in the first car of the string of six which disgorged a laughing crowd of merry-makers in front of Jollyland on Sunday afternoon. They made for the big arena67 immediately as it was within a few minutes of the advertised time for the ringing up of the curtain on the great spectacle. The Hon. Betty let it be known to an usher69, who was duly impressed by her air of authority, that she craved70 an immediate68 interview with the manager. McClintock, still disturbed at the defection of the capricious Miss Delight, responded begrudgingly71; was apprised72 of the identity and mission of the distinguished73 visitor and sought out Jimmy Martin in great excitement. He found the press agent back on the stage.
“Say, young fellow,” he said enthusiastically, “I’ve got a Monday morning story for you already made and ready to try on. This Betty Ashley who’s been grabbing off space all over the world for a long time and who’s the big noise with the real folks over here this summer, is out in front with a crowd right out of the social register, and she wants to go on in the London scene. I told her she could. Get busy now and prepare for a general assault on the helpless press.”
Jimmy received this intelligence with a glumness74 that rather annoyed McClintock.
“What did she want to pick out today for?” he inquired uneasily.
“What’s the matter with today? It’s the best day possible for a good break for us. The papers are always glad of anything that makes a noise like a story on Sunday. What’s the matter?”
“Oh, nothin’,” replied Jimmy absent-mindedly, “only I wish she’d waited until the middle of the week. I was kinda figurin’ on—oh, never mind, it’ll be all right.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dressing
|
|
| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
impending
|
|
| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
prostration
|
|
| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sniffed
|
|
| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
massaged
|
|
| 按摩，推拿( massage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ordeal
|
|
| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
obdurate
|
|
| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
frenzied
|
|
| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
publicity
|
|
| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
gal
|
|
| n.姑娘，少女 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
rehearsal
|
|
| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
troupe
|
|
| n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
stunt
|
|
| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
sensational
|
|
| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
clamorous
|
|
| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
auditorium
|
|
| n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
ace
|
|
| n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
adroit
|
|
| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
soothingly
|
|
| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
feverish
|
|
| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
hectic
|
|
| adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
impeachment
|
|
| n.弹劾；控告；怀疑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
blueprint
|
|
| n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
throng
|
|
| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
metropolitan
|
|
| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
innate
|
|
| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
altruistic
|
|
| adj.无私的，为他人着想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
outlet
|
|
| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
debutante
|
|
| n.初入社交界的少女 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
voraciously
|
|
| adv.贪婪地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
luminary
|
|
| n.名人，天体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
prospective
|
|
| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
antedated
|
|
| v.（在历史上）比…为早( antedate的过去式和过去分词 )；先于；早于；（在信、支票等上）填写比实际日期早的日期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
conflagration
|
|
| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
celebrity
|
|
| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
impulsive
|
|
| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
flouted
|
|
| v.藐视，轻视( flout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
deposed
|
|
| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
haven
|
|
| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
offense
|
|
| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
suffrage
|
|
| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
monarch
|
|
| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
implicated
|
|
| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
militant
|
|
| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
defense
|
|
| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
derisive
|
|
| adj.嘲弄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
chateau
|
|
| n.城堡，别墅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
zest
|
|
| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
festive
|
|
| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
coterie
|
|
| n.(有共同兴趣的)小团体，小圈子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
Vogue
|
|
| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
confided
|
|
| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
wager
|
|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
arena
|
|
| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
usher
|
|
| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
craved
|
|
| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
begrudgingly
|
|
| 小气地，吝啬地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
apprised
|
|
| v.告知，通知( apprise的过去式和过去分词 )；评价 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
glumness
|
|
| n.忧郁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |