The six months which followed Richard's installment1 in the office at Slocum's Yard were so crowded with novel experience that he scarcely noted2 their flight. The room at the Durgins, as will presently appear, turned out an unfortunate arrangement; but everything else had prospered3. Richard proved an efficient aid to Mr. Simms, who quietly shifted the pay-roll to the younger man's shoulders. This was a very complicated account to keep, involving as it did a separate record of each employee's time and special work. An ancient bookkeeper parts lightly with such trifles when he has a capable assistant. It also fell to Richard's lot to pay the hands on Saturdays. William Durgin blinked his surprise on the first occasion, as he filed in with the others and saw Richard posted at the desk, with the pay-roll in his hand and the pile of greenbacks lying in front of him.
"I suppose you'll be proprietor4 next," remarked Durgin, that evening, at the supper table.
"When I am, Will," answered Richard cheerily, "you will be on the road to foreman of the finishing shop."
"Thank you," said Durgin, not too graciously. It grated on him to play the part of foreman, even in imagination, with Dick Shackford as proprietor. Durgin could not disconnect his friend from that seedy, half-crestfallen figure to whom, a few months earlier, he had given elementary instruction on the Marble Workers' Association.
Richard did not find his old schoolmate so companionable as memory and anticipation5 had painted him. The two young men moved on different levels. Richard's sea life, now that he had got at a sufficient distance from it, was a perspective full of pleasant color; he had a taste for reading, a thirst to know things, and his world was not wholly shut in by the Stillwater horizon. It was still a pitifully narrow world, but wide compared with Durgin's, which extended no appreciable6 distance in any direction from the Stillwater hotel. He spent his evenings chiefly there, returning home late at night, and often in so noisy a mood as to disturb Richard, who slept in an adjoining apartment. This was an annoyance7; and it was an annoyance to have Mrs. Durgin coming to him with complaints of William. Other matters irritated Richard. He had contrived8 to replenish9 his wardrobe, and the sunburn was disappearing from his hands, which the nature of his occupation left soft and unscarred. Durgin was disposed at times to be sarcastic10 on these changes, but always stopped short of actual offense11; for he remembered that Shackford when a boy, amiable12 and patient as he was, had had a tiger's temper at bottom. Durgin had seen it roused once or twice, and even received a chance sweep of the paw. Richard liked Durgin's rough wit as little as Durgin relished13 Richard's good-natured bluntness. It was a mistake, that trying to pick up the dropped thread of old acquaintance.
As soon as the permanency of his position was assured, and his means warranted the step, Richard transported himself and his effects to a comfortable chamber14 in the same house with Mr. Pinkham, the school-master, the perpetual falsetto of whose flute15 was positively16 soothing17 after four months of William Durgin's bass18. Mr. Pinkham having but one lung, and that defective19, played on the flute.
"You see what you've gone and done, William," remarked Mrs. Durgin plaintively20, "with your ways. There goes the quietest young man in Stillwater, and four dollars a week!"
"There goes a swell21, you'd better say. He was always a proud beggar; nobody was ever good enough for him."
"You shouldn't say that, William. I could cry, to lose him and his cheerfulness out of the house," and Mrs. Durgin began to whimper.
"Wait till he's out of luck again, and he'll come back to us fast enough. That's when his kind remembers their friends. Blast him! he can't even take a drop of beer with a chum at the tavern22."
"And right, too. There's beer enough taken at the tavern without him."
"If you mean me, mother, I'll get drunk tonight."
"No, no!" cried Mrs. Durgin, pleadingly, "I didn't mean you, William, but Peters and that set."
"I thought you couldn't mean me," said William, thrusting his hands into the pockets of his monkey-jacket, and sauntering off in the direction of the Stillwater hotel, where there was a choice company gathered, it being Saturday night, and the monthly meeting of the Union.
Mr. Slocum had wasted no time in organizing a shop for his experiment in ornamental23 carving24. Five or six men, who had worked elsewhere at this branch, were turned over to the new department, with Stevens as foreman and Richard as designer. Very shortly Richard had as much as he could do to furnish the patterns required. These consisted mostly of scrolls25, wreaths, and mortuary dove-wings for head-stones. Fortunately for Richard he had no genius, but plenty of a kind of talent just abreast26 with Mr. Slocum's purpose. As the carvers became interested in their work, they began to show Richard the respect and good-will which at first had been withheld27, for they had not quite liked being under the supervision28 of one who had not served at the trade. His youth had also told against him; but Richard's pleasant, off-hand manner quickly won them. He had come in contact with rough men on shipboard; he had studied their ways, and he knew that with all their roughness there is no class so sensitive. This insight was of great service to him. Stevens, who had perhaps been the least disposed to accept Richard, was soon his warm ally.
"See what a smooth fist the lad has!" he said one day holding up a new drawing to the shop. "A man with a wreath of them acorns29 on his head-stone oughter be perfectly30 happy, damn him!"
It was, however, an anchor with a broken chain pendent--a design for a monument to the late Captain Septimius Salter, who had parted his cable at sea--which settled Richard's status with Stevens.
"Boys, that Shackford is what I call a born genei."
After all, is not the one-eyed man who is king among the blind the most fortunate of monarchs31? Your little talent in a provincial32 village looms33 a great deal taller than your mighty34 genius in a city. Richard Whackford working for Rowland Slocum at Stillwater was happier than Michaelangelo in Rome with Pope Julius II. at his back. And Richard was the better paid, too!
One day he picked up a useful hint from a celebrated35 sculptor36, who had come to the village in search of marble for the base of a soldiers' monument. Richard was laboriously37 copying a spray of fern, the delicacy38 of which eluded39 his pencil. The sculptor stood a moment silently observing him.
"Why do you spend an hour doing only passably well what you could do perfectly in ten minutes?"
"I suppose it is because I am stupid, sir," said Richard.
"No stupid man ever suspected himself of being anything but clever. You can draw capitally; but nature beats you out and out at designing ferns. Just ask her to make you a fac-simile in plaster, and see how handily she will lend herself to the job. Of course you must help her a little."
"Oh, I am not above giving nature a lift," said Richard modestly.
"Lay a cloth on your table, place the fern on the cloth, and pour a thin paste of plaster of Paris over the leaf,--do that gently, so as not to disarrange the spray. When the plaster is set, there's your mold; remove the leave, oil the matrix, and pour in fresh plaster. When that is set, cut away tdhe mold carefully, and there's your spray of fern, as graceful40 and perfect as if nature had done it all by herself. You get the very texture41 of the leaf by this process."
After that, Richard made casts instead of drawings for the carvers, and fancied he was doing a new thing, until he visited some marble-works in the great city.
At this period, whatever change subsequently took place in his feeling, Richard was desirous of establishing friendly relations with his cousin. The young fellow's sense of kinship was singularly strong, and it was only after several repulses42 at the door of the Shackford house and on the street that he relinquished43 the hope of placating44 the sour old man. At times Richard was moved almost to pity him. Every day Mr. Shackford seemed to grow shabbier and more spectral45. He was a grotesque46 figure now, in his napless hat and broken-down stock. The metal button-holes on his ancient waistcoat had worn their way through the satin coverings, leaving here and there a sparse47 fringe around the edges, and somehow suggesting little bald heads. Looking at him, you felt that the inner man was as threadbare and dilapidated as his outside; but in his lonely old age he asked for no human sympathy or companionship, and, in fact, stood in no need of either. With one devouring48 passion he set the world at defiance49. He loved his gold,--the metal itself, the weight an color and touch of it. In his bedroom on the ground-floor Mr. Shackford kept a small iron-clamped box filled to the lid with bright yellow coins. Often, at the dead of night, with door bolted and curtain down, he would spread out the glittering pieces on the table, and bend over them with an amorous50 glow in his faded eyes. These were his blond mistresses; he took a fearful joy in listening to their rustling51, muffle52 laughter as he drew them towards him with eager hands. If at that instant a blind chanced to slam, or a footfall to echo in the lonely court, then the withered53 old sultan would hurry his slaves back into their iron-bound seraglio, and extinguish the light. It would have been a wasted tenderness to pity him. He was very happy in his own way, that Lemuel Shackford.
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1
installment
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| n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper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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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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8
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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9
replenish
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| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
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10
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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12
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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relished
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| v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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14
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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15
flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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16
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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17
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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18
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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22
tavern
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| n.小旅馆，客栈；小酒店 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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24
carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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25
scrolls
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| n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕 | |
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26
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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28
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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30
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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31
monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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looms
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| n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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34
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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35
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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36
sculptor
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| n.雕刻家，雕刻家 | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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38
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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39
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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40
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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41
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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42
repulses
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| v.击退( repulse的第三人称单数 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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43
relinquished
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| 交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃 | |
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44
placating
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| v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的现在分词 ) | |
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45
spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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46
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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47
sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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48
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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49
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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50
amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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51
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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52
muffle
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| v.围裹；抑制；发低沉的声音 | |
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53
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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