He wondered in the clear light of noon at the folly3 of his panic the night before. The fighting instinct in him had always been the dominant4 one. He smiled now at his silly collapse5 and his quick brain began to plan his line of defense6.
The girl was in his house, yes. But she had been here in spirit, a living, breathing threat over his life, every moment the past twenty years. No scene of pain or struggle could come but that he had already lived it a thousand times. There was a kind of relief in facing these phantoms8 for the first time in flesh and blood. They couldn't be more formidable than the ghosts he had fought.
He shaved and dressed with deliberation—dressed with unusual care—his brain on fire now with the determination to fight and win. The instincts of the soldier were again in command. And the first thing a true soldier did when driven to desperation and surrounded by an overwhelming foe9 was to reconnoitre, find the strength of his enemy, and strike at their weakest spot.
He must avoid Cleo and find the exact situation of[Pg 285] Tom and Helen. His safest way was again to cultivate Andy's knowledge of the house in his absence.
He rang for him and waited in vain for his appearance. He rang again and, getting no response, walked down stairs to the door and searched the lawn. He saw Cleo beside a flower bed talking to Helen. He caught a glimpse of the lovely young face as she lifted her eyes and saw him. He turned back quickly into the house to avoid her, and hurried to the library.
Andy had been watching carefully until Norton went through the front door. Sure that he had strolled out on the lawn to see Helen, with a sigh of relief the negro hurried back to the mirror to take another admiring glance at his fine appearance in the new suit.
Norton's sudden entrance completely upset him. He tried to laugh and the effort froze on his lips. He saw that Norton had recognized the stolen suit, but was too excited to see the amusement lurking10 behind his frown:
"Where were you a while ago, when I was calling?"
"I been right here all mornin', sah," Andy answered with forced surprise.
"You didn't hear that bell?"
"Nasah, nebber hear a thing, sah."
Norton looked at him severely11:
"There's a bigger bell going to ring for you one of these days. You like to go to funerals, don't you?"
Andy laughed:
"Yassah—odder folk's funerals—but dey's one I ain't in no hurry to git to——"
"That's the one—where were you when I rang just now?"
The negro looked at his master, hesitated, and a[Pg 286] broad grin overspread his black face. He bowed and chuckled12 and walked straight up to Norton:
"Yassah, major, I gwine tell yer de honest truf now, cose honesty is de bes' policy. I wuz des embellishin' mysef wid dis here ole suit er close dat ye gimme, sah, an' I wants ter specify13 my 'preciation, sah, at de generosity14 wid which yer always treats me, sah. I had a mos' particular reason fer puttin' dis suit on dis mornin'——"
Norton examined the lapel of the coat, his lips twitching15 to suppress a smile:
"My suit of broadcloth——"
Andy rubbed his hands over the coat in profound amazement16:
"Is dis de broadcloth? De Lawd er mussy!"
Norton shook his head:
"You old black hound——"
Andy broke into a loud laugh:
"Yassah, yassah! Dat's me. But, major, I couldn't find the vest!"
"Too bad—shall I get it for you?"
"Nasah—des tell me whar yer put it!"
Norton smiled:
"Did you look in my big cedar17 box?"
"Thankee, sah—thankee, sah. Yer sho is good ter me, major, an' yer can always 'pend on me, sah."
"Yes, I'm going to send you to the penitentiary18 for this——"
Andy roared with laughter:
"Yassah—yassah—cose, sah! I kin7 see myse'f in dat suit er stripes now, but I sho is gwine ter blossom out in dat double-breasted vest fust!"[Pg 287]
When the laughter had died away Norton asked in good-natured tones:
"You say I can depend on you, Andy?"
"Dat yer kin, sah—every day in the year—you'se de bes frien' I ebber had in de world, sah."
"Then I want to ask you a question."
"Yassah, I tells yer anything I know, sah."
"I'm just a little worried about Tom. He's too young to get married. Do you think he's been really making love to Miss Helen?"
Norton watched the negro keenly. He knew that a boy would easily trust his secrets to such a servant, and that his sense of loyalty19 to the young would be strong. He was relieved at the quick reply which came without guile20:
"Lawdy, major, he ain't got dat far, sah. I bin21 er watchin' 'em putty close. He des kinder skimmin' 'round de edges."
"You think so?"
"Yassah!" was the confident reply. "He 'minds me er one er dese here minnows when ye go fishin'. He ain't swallowed de hook yit—he des nibblin'."
Norton smiled, lighted a cigar, and quietly said:
"Go down to the office and tell Mr. Tom that I'm up and wish to see him."
"Yassah—yassah—right away, sah."
Andy bowed and grinned and hurried from the house.
Norton seated himself in an armchair facing the portrait of the little mother. His memory lingered tenderly over the last beautiful days they had spent together. He recalled every smile with which she had looked her forgiveness and her love. He felt the presence of her spirit and took courage.[Pg 288]
He lifted his eyes to the sweet, tender face bending over her baby and breathed a prayer for guidance. He wondered if she could see and know in the dim world beyond. Without trying to reason about it, he had grown to believe that she did, and that her soul was near in this hour of his trial.
How like this mother the boy had grown the past year—just her age when he was born. The color of his blonde hair was almost an exact reproduction of hers. And this beautiful hair lent a peculiar22 distinction to the boy's fine face. He had developed, too, a lot of little ways strikingly like the mother's when a laughing school girl. He smiled in the same flashing way, like a sudden burst of sunlight from behind a cloud. His temper was quick like hers, and his voice more and more seemed to develop the peculiar tones he had loved.
That this boy, around whose form every desire of life had centered, should be in peril23 was a thought that set his heart to beating with new energy.
He heard his quick step in the hall, rose and laid down his cigar. With a rush Tom was in the room grasping the outstretched hand:
"Glad to see you back, Dad!" he cried, "but we had no idea you were coming so soon."
"I got a little homesick," the father replied, "and decided24 to come in for a day or two."
"I was awfully25 surprised at Miss Helen's popping in on us so unexpectedly—I suppose you forgot to tell me about it in the rush of getting away."
"I really didn't expect her to come before my return," was the vague answer.
"But you wrote her to come at once."
"Did I?" he replied carelessly.[Pg 289]
"Why, yes, she showed me your letter. I didn't write you about her arrival because you told me under no circumstances, except of life or death, to tell you of anything here and I obeyed orders."
"I'm glad you've made that a principle of your life—stick to it."
"I'm sorry you're away in this dangerous campaign so much, Dad," the boy said with feeling. "It may end your career."
The father smiled and a far-away look stole into his eyes:
"I have no career, my boy! I gave that up years ago and I had to lead this campaign."
"Why?"
The look in the brown eyes deepened:
"Because I am the man to whom our danger has been revealed. I am the man to whom God has given a message—I who have been tried in the fires of hell and fought my way up and out of the pit—only the man who has no ambitions can tell the truth!"
The boy nodded and smiled:
"Yes, I know your hobby——"
"The big tragic26 truth, that the physical contact of the black race with the white is a menace to our life"—his voice had dropped to a passionate27 whisper as if he were talking to himself.
A laugh from Tom roused him to the consciousness of time and place:
"But that isn't a speech you meant for me, Dad!"
The father caught his bantering28 tone with a light reply:
"No."[Pg 290]
And then his tall form confronted the boy with a look of deep seriousness:
"To-morrow I enter on the last phase of this campaign. At any moment a fool or a madman may blow my brains out."
Tom gave a start:
"Dad——"
"Over every mile of that long drive home last night, I was brooding and thinking of you——"
"Of me?"
"Wondering if I had done my level best to carry out the dying commands of your mother——"
He paused, drew a deep breath, looked up tenderly and continued:
"I wish you were settled in life."
The boy turned slightly away and the father watched him keenly and furtively29 for a moment, and took a step toward him:
"You have never been in love?"
With a shrug30 and a laugh, Tom dropped carelessly on the settee and crossed his legs:
"Love—hardly!"
The father held his breath until the light answer brought relief and then smiled:
"It will come some day, my boy, and when it hits you, I think it's going to hit hard."
The handsome young head was poised31 on one side with a serious judicial32 expression:
"Yes, I think it will—but I guess my ideal's too high, though."
The father spoke33 with deep emotion:
"A man's ideal can't be too high, my boy!"
Tom didn't hear. His mind was busy with his ideal.[Pg 291]
"But if I ever find her," he went on dreamily, "do you know what I'll want?"
"No."
"The strength of Samson!"
"What for?"
He shook his head with a smile:
"To reach over in California, tear one of those big trees up by the roots, dip it in the crater34 of Vesuvius and write her name in letters of fire across the sky!"
He ended with a wide, sweeping35 gesture, showing just how he would inscribe36 it.
"Really!" the father laughed.
"That's how I feel!" he cried, springing to his feet with an emphatic37 gesture, a smile playing about his firm mouth.
The father slipped his arm around him:
"Well, if you should happen to do it, be sure to stand in the ocean, because otherwise, you know, if the grass should be dry you might set the world on fire."
The boy broke into a hearty38 laugh, crossed to the table, and threw his leg carelessly over the corner, a habit he had gotten from his father. When the laugh had died away, he picked up a magazine and said carelessly:
"I guess there's no danger, after all. I'm afraid that the big thing poets sing about is only a myth after all"—he paused, raised his eyes and they rested on his mother's portrait, and his voice became a reverent39 whisper—"except your love for my mother, Dad—that was the real thing!"
He was looking the other way and couldn't see the[Pg 292] cloud of anguish40 that suddenly darkened his father's face.
"You'll know its meaning some day, my son," was the even reply that came after a pause, "and I only demand of you one thing——"
He laid his hand on the boy's shoulder:
"That the woman you ask to be your wife bear a name without shadow. Good blood is the noblest inheritance that any father or mother ever gave to a child."
"I'm proud of mine, sir!" the boy said, drawing his form erect41.
The father's arm stole around the young shoulders and his voice was very low:
"Fools sometimes say, my son, that a man can sow his wild oats and be all the better for it. It's a lie. The smallest deed takes hold on eternity42 for it may start a train of events that even God can't stop——"
He paused and fought back a cry from the depths of his soul.
"I did something that hurt your mother once"—his voice dropped—"and for twenty years my soul in anguish has begged for forgiveness——"
The boy looked at him in startled sympathy and his own arm instinctively43 slipped around his father's form as he lifted his face to the shining figure over the mantel:
"But you believe that she sees and understands now?"
Norton turned his head away to hide the mists that clouded his eyes. His answer was uttered with the reverence44 of a prayer:
"Yes! I've seen her in dreams sometimes so vividly45 and heard her voice so plainly, I couldn't believe that[Pg 293] I was asleep"—his voice stopped before it broke, his arm tightening46 its hold—"and I know that her spirit broods and watches over you——"
And then he suddenly decided to do the most cruel thing to which his mind had ever given assent47. But he believed it necessary and did not hesitate. Only the vague intensity48 of his eyes showed his deep feeling as he said evenly:
"Ask Miss Helen to come here. You'll find her on the lawn with Cleo."
The boy left the room to summon Helen, and Norton seated himself with grim determination.
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收听单词发音
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1
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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2
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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3
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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4
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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5
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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6
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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7
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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8
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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9
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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10
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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11
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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12
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
specify
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| vt.指定，详细说明 | |
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14
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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15
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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16
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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17
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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18
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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19
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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20
guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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21
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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22
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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23
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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24
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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25
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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26
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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27
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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28
bantering
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| adj.嘲弄的v.开玩笑，说笑，逗乐( banter的现在分词 )；（善意地）取笑，逗弄 | |
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29
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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30
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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31
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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32
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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33
spoke
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| 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 | |
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34
crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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35
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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36
inscribe
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| v.刻；雕；题写；牢记 | |
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37
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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38
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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39
reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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40
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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41
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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42
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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43
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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44
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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45
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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46
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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47
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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48
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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