Be lessons right severe—,
There’s wit there, ye’ll get there,
Ye’ll find nae other where.”
B
ROWN'S sodas2 are the best in town, if they do come high,—and the girls know it," Miss Billy had jeered3 a few weeks before. Theodore repeated the words now with a wholly sober grimace5, as he scrambled6 into his clothes at half past six of an early July morning. Vacation had brought him a permanent position in the drug store, at four dollars a week, but the skeleton still walked. It was not a very hideous7 skeleton, to be sure,—just a half dozen or so of remarkably8 round and robust-171- young misses,—but it had a prodigious9 appetite for the confection known as ice-cream soda1, and it never happened to have any money of its own.
Theodore, red in the face from the growing heat and his hurried exertions10, frowningly continued his unpleasant reflections.
"There are two or three of those girls that have treated me contemptibly11 of late,—probably because I no longer live in a fourteen-room house. That Myrtle Blanchard is a notable example. She scarcely takes the trouble to see me on the street, but she manages to get around to the soda fountain every day, either alone, or with the crowd of girls."
He was lacing his shoes now, and another side of the subject presented itself.
"These are the shoes I vowed12 to buy with my own earnings13, or go without. Father bought them. I've learned to crow before my tail feathers have grown enough to tell whether I'm going to be a Brahma rooster or a Bantam hen. Well, I'm through cackling-172- now: anyway, till I get rid of those girls, and save some money. Then I'll have something to cackle over."
He swung down to breakfast, taking time to eat only his "bale of hay"—the shredded14 wheat biscuit the faithful Maggie put before him,—and hurried off to work. At the gate he encountered John Thomas Hennesy, going his way, with a broken bridle15 in his hand.
"Mornin'," said John Thomas cheerfully.
"Good-morning," returned Theodore. "Going my way? Then you'll have to keep up with my stride. I'm late this morning."
"Workin' at Brown's steady now, ain't yer?" inquired John Thomas, with friendly curiosity. "Much in it?"
"Four dollars a week as a starter," said Theodore, firmly pressing the skeleton back into its closet. "It's easy work, and they are beginning to give me a little collecting and bookkeeping of late."
John Thomas gave his companion a covert16 stare that took in the neat blue serge suit and-173- immaculate tie, the jaunty17 straw hat and well-polished shoes. He noted18 that Theodore's eyes were grey like Miss Billy's, and his teeth were white. Then he shoved his own stubby hands into his pockets, and lapsed19 into silence. Grudgingly20 to himself he admitted that Theodore was a "swell21." He had soft hands, and clean finger nails, and white teeth. He polished his shoes every day, wore stand-up collars through the hot weather, and liked easy jobs.
John Thomas's chin squared itself into the bulldog pattern of his father's, and his hands shut tight in his pockets.
There was Miss Billy now. She and Theodore were as alike in looks as two peas. But Miss Billy was no swell. Her teeth and nails were awful clean, too,—but then, she was a girl,—and she liked work. She'd do anything,—even if she had clean hands, and finger nails, and——
John Thomas was measuring the length of his stubby legs with Theodore's long swinging-174- stride. "Driving team for your father, this vacation, aren't you?" inquired Theodore, in turn. "Pretty hot in the sun, isn't it?"
"It's hot,—yes," admitted John Thomas, the bulldog chin slowly melting under the friendly glance of the grey eyes,—"but its good pay,—a dollar a day, and the day's work over at six o'clock."
Theodore repressed a whistle. "Why, you'll save money, John Thomas, if the job lasts all summer."
"It'll last all summer, all right, and longer too. Father's got more work than he can attend to. He's bought another team and he's going to hire another man to drive it. I worked for father all last summer, and I've got sixty dollars saved in the bank now. I'll make it a hundred before school commences in September."
It was Theodore, now, whose critical glance took in John Thomas,—a sturdy square-set figure, with baggy22 trousers and rusty23 shoes, the true Hennesy freckles24 and turned-up nose,-175-—offset by keen blue eyes and the resolute25 chin. "He's a man!" thought Theodore. "He's neither afraid or ashamed of honest work,—and he saves his money, too. I wonder what he'd do in my place now, if he had a crowd of girls to treat every day with his hard earnings?"
But it was difficult to imagine the figure at his side presiding at a soda fountain, and handing out refreshment26 to a bevy27 of young beauties, so Theodore gave it up with a sigh. John Thomas, unpleasantly aware of the scrutiny28, bore it unflinchingly, but his chin squared itself again, and he thought, "He's a tenderfoot, that's what he is. He never had dirty hands in his life. I guess he's wonderin' who my tailor is."
When Theodore reached the store he changed his coat for a linen29 one, dusted the counters, lifted the ice into the soda fountain, and gave all the glasses and spoons an extra polish. The recollection of John Thomas lingered with him, together with the sixty dol-176-lars in the bank which would be one hundred by September. "I'm in a false position," he thought angrily. "I'm making those girls believe I have all the money I want, and other people believe I'm an industrious30 and deserving young man. I'd change jobs with John Thomas Hennesy in a hurry if I could."
The day was very warm, and by nine o'clock the soda water trade was brisk. Myrtle Blanchard was one of the early callers. She was a miss of fashion, like her older sisters, and aptly imitated their mincing31 ways.
"Oh, isn't it just too dreadfully warm?" she gasped32, fanning herself with her lace handkerchief and sinking onto one of the stools. "I really couldn't have gone another step without resting, if I had been paid for it."
"It's hot," acquiesced33 Theodore, preparing a glass of orange phosphate for another customer. "Mr. Brown," he called over to the proprietor34, who was sitting at the desk, "do you want me to collect that bill I was told to call for this morning?"
-177-
"Yes," answered Mr. Brown, "you'd better go right away. We've had to wait long enough for that money. Frank, you take Theodore's place at the fountain."
Miss Myrtle's face assumed a look of hauteur35. She was not accustomed to being pushed aside, even for business. But she hastened to say, "Oh, I am so warm! I believe I'll have a cherry phosphate. I came away without my purse this morning, but please don't charge such a small amount to papa."
Theodore prepared the phosphate and placed it before her. His eyes took on the steady, level expression that Miss Billy's habitually36 wore, but his voice was cool and bland37 as he said aloud, "Frank, please make a charge against Miss Myrtle Blanchard,—one phosphate, ten cents."
The other customers gazed in astonishment38 at this unheard of publicity39 in entering a charge. Miss Myrtle turned from pink to crimson40, and slowly back to pink,—but she philosophically41 concluded to drink her phos-178-phate and think the matter out afterward42. Theodore, meantime, had taken his hat, and getting the bill and some change from Mr. Brown, left the store.
"The mean thing!" inwardly raged Miss Myrtle. "He meant that for a snub,—I know he did. And he never so much as glanced at me as he went out. Just wait! I'll get even with him."
Out in the hot sunshine Theodore's other conscience was accusing him. "It's a mean thing to use a girl that way! But if it has to be done, I'm glad Myrtle Blanchard got it first. Yet it's all my own fault! If I hadn't treated them at the first, they wouldn't have come to expect it. But I feel as mean as a cur that's stolen another cur's bone."
A walk of half a mile brought Theodore to a handsome house in a fashionable street. He ascended43 the steps, touched the bell, and heard a voice on the inside distinctly say, "If that's that boy from Brown's, Nora, tell him I'm not at home."
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The door opened and a maid in a white cap glibly44 repeated the message: "Mrs. Thorpe isn't at home this morning. Won't you call again?"
"She expects me this morning," said Theodore, firmly,—"so with your permission, I'll wait." As he spoke45, he entered and seated himself in the reception hall.
"My time is my own," interrupted Theodore. "Mrs. Thorpe expected me, so I'll wait."
There was a rustle47 of skirts above, and a whispered consultation48. In fifteen minutes' time Mrs. Thorpe descended49 the stairs, looking cool and beautiful in a pale blue silken wrapper.
"The maid was quite mistaken," she asserted sweetly. "I was taking a little rest, and she thought I had gone out. Oh, yes,—you have that bill. How troublesome for you to have had the long walk for so small an-180- amount! Fifteen dollars, is it? Please receipt the bill. And you have change there! May I trouble you to change this five-dollar bill for me, as well?"
Theodore tucked the fifteen dollars, three crisp notes, into his pocket, with satisfaction, and receipted the bill for the silken lady. Then he counted out to her five dollars in change, and taking his hat, bowed himself out. He was flushed with pride at having outwitted the notorious Mrs. Thorpe. The other clerks at the store had tried innumerable times to collect this bill. He hurried over the hot pavements toward the store, the success of this undertaking50 driving Myrtle Blanchard and the other girls, for the time, from his mind.
Mr. Brown was still at the desk when he reached the store. He handed in the three bills with conscious triumph. "And the five dollars in change, I gave you?" suggested Mr. Brown pleasantly.
"Oh, I exchanged that for——" he stopped suddenly, with a startled air. He had given-181- Mrs. Thorpe the five dollars in silver, but she had given him no bill in return. He remembered now, distinctly. He was perfectly51 sure.
"You may have lost it," corrected Mr. Brown gravely. "You must be careful not to attribute its loss to Mrs. Thorpe. She is one of our wealthiest customers. However, you may go back and inquire."
Mrs. Thorpe rustled52 down at Theodore's second summons. Certainly, she had given him the bill! He had probably lost it on the street. Then she rustled upstairs again, and Nora, the maid, showed him out.
The brick buildings that radiated the heat, and the dusty streets with their clanging cars, swam before his tired and angry eyes. "A woman that would lie, might steal," he reflected fiercely. "Mrs. Thorpe has that five-dollar bill, together with the change I gave her, in her purse!"
He took his way back, in helpless anger and misery53, to the store, and reported once more at the desk.
-182-
"No," said Mr. Brown. "I didn't think Mrs. Thorpe had it. You must be extremely careful what you say. You have either carelessly lost it, or——"
"Or what?" demanded Theodore angrily.
Mr. Brown flushed in return. "I have noticed since you have been in my employ," he said coldly, "that you have extravagant54 habits, as well as extravagant friends. It is the shortest road to dishonesty, although I make no accusations55. Of course you will make this loss good. Is there any money coming to you?"
"Very little. What was coming to me I drew Saturday night," said Theodore, the colour all gone from his face. "Mr. Brown, you are doing me an injustice56. I was extremely careless. It is right that I should return the money because of that carelessness. But I am honest, and I have been taught to be truthful57. I beg you to believe me when I say that the money is, knowingly or unknowingly,-183- with Mrs. Thorpe. I distinctly remember that she did not give me the bill."
Mr. Brown's voice was like ice: "I do not wish to have any more discussion of the matter. The money will be charged to your father until you repay its loss. You may go to dinner."
Mr. Hennesy and John Thomas, seated on a little hillock of dirt, were eating their dinner from a bountifully filled dinner pail, when a noontide visitor strode in upon them. The horses looked mildly up from their improvised58 feed boxes upon Theodore, who, reckless of the polished shoes and blue serge suit, seated himself upon another hillock in their midst.
"Mr. Hennesy," he said, coming straight to the point, "have you hired a man yet, to drive that new team you've bought?"
"Well," said Mr. Hennesy warily59, and confining his gaze to a generous crescent his teeth had described in a quarter of an apple pie, "there's a red-headed man that's been afther the job, an' there's another that's as bald as an acorn——"
-184-
"If you'll give it to me," broke in Theodore, "I'll do my best to please you, and I'll work cheaper than a man. I have handled horses before. Try me for a week, Mr. Hennesy, and if I don't give satisfaction you needn't pay me a cent, and there will be no hard feeling."
Mr. Hennesy's first shock of surprise expanded slowly into a grin. John Thomas's eyes were like saucers.
"Why-ee—" gurgled Mr. Hennesy, "ye'd burn the shkin all off av yer nose, an' tan yer neck, an' blishter yer han's so yer own mother wouldn't be afther knowin' ye. Ye couldn't niver——"
"Come now, Mr. Hennesy," said Theodore, rising abruptly60, "if I look like a fool, I assure you I'm not one. Will you give me the chance?"
Mr. Hennesy's grin vanished, and his chin squared.
"Thot I will!" he said, extending his hand cordially. "Ye can go to work in the morn-185-in'. But moind me,—ye'll do yer full dhuty, or ye'll git fired!"
Theodore was gone, as suddenly as he had come, and John Thomas still sat, the picture of helpless surprise.
"Well—I'll—be blowed!" he ejaculated, at last. "I wouldn't have thought it of him. He looked too good to spoil his hands. Somethin' must have gone wrong at the drug store."
"Which same ye'll not be mintionin' to him, John Thomas," said Mr. Hennesy, with the true instincts of a gentleman.
"As if I would!" returned John Thomas scornfully.
Dinner was over, and Miss Billy was out weeding the pansy bed when her brother reached home. The long walk from the outskirts61 of the town where Mr. Hennesy was working, and the noontide heat of the day, had failed to bring the colour back to his pale face. He seemed to have grown taller, and older, in a single morning. Miss Billy, look-186-ing up from her flowers, instantly read the trouble in his face, and sprang to her feet.
"Wilhelmina," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder and looking down into her face (it was the first time in his life he had called her that), "I've got to borrow your Christmas gold piece. I never thought I'd come down so low, but,—well, I have! I'm in trouble, and I've got to have it to square myself."
"Is that all?" cried Miss Billy, brightening. "It can't be a very great trouble that that paltry62 gold piece can drive away. And I'm so glad to let you have it, Ted4."
"No,—that's not all," went on Theodore, in a hard voice. "Mr. Brown thinks I'm a sneak63, if not a thief!—and I've quit my job. Don't tell father and mother,—not yet, I mean."
"Theodore!" There was anguish64 in Miss Billy's tones that brought the tears for the first time to Theodore's eyes.
-187-
"But I've hired out to Mr. Hennesy to drive a team, and start to work in the morning."
"Brother, you can't do that!" Miss Billy, in spite of herself, was crying now.
"Do you remember," said Theodore, "we were reading the other day that a man is as great—not as his father's money, or his grandfather's name, but as the force within himself? Miss Billy, I have force enough to drive Mr. Hennesy's team, and stick to it! Inasmuch as that, I am a man."
Miss Billy looked up, overawed. Laziness, heedlessness, vanity, had dropped away as a mantle65, and from the steady grey eyes looked the serious spirit of a man.
Like a rainbow of promise, Miss Billy smiled through her tears. "Theodore Lee," she said, wiping the last drop off her nose, "Theodore Lee, I'm proud of you!"
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1
soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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sodas
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| n.苏打( soda的名词复数 )；碱；苏打水；汽水 | |
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jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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contemptibly
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| adv.卑鄙地，下贱地 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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earnings
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| n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得 | |
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shredded
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| shred的过去式和过去分词 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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grudgingly
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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mincing
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| adj.矫饰的；v.切碎；切碎 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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glibly
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| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
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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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faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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improvised
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| a.即席而作的,即兴的 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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