The conversion1 and adoption2 of Mr. Heathcote, as Hobart called it, was a pleasant incident in several senses, bringing much quiet gratification to them all, and particularly and obviously to the candidate. A hostile element, one intended by others to be hostile and interfering3, had become friendly, which, of itself, was a great gain. Moreover, the smoothness of social intercourse4 was increased, and there, too, was a new type, adding to the variety and interest of the group.
The only one not pleased was Churchill, who had expected much from Mr. Heathcote, and who now, as he considered it, saw the committeeman turn traitor5. It was not a matter that he could handle fully6 in his despatches to the _Monitor_, being too intangible to allow of bald assertion, and he was reduced to indirect statement. This not satisfying him at all, he wrote a long letter to Mr. Goodnight, both for the sake of the cause and for the sake of his own feelings, which had been much lacerated. Its production cost him a great deal of thought and labor8; but he had his reward, as its perusal9 after completion proved to him that it was a masterpiece.
Churchill showed quite clearly to Mr. Goodnight the steady decay of the candidate's character and the lower levels to which his campaign was falling. In the security of a private letter it was not necessary for him to spare words, and Churchill spoke10 his mind forcibly about the manner in which Jimmy Grayson was pandering11 to the "common people," the "ignorant mob," the "million-footed." Churchill himself, although not old, had taken long ago the measure of these foolish common people, and he despised them, his contempt giving him a very pleasant conviction of his own superiority.
He also poured a few vials of wrath12 upon the head of Mr. Heathcote, whom he characterized as a coward, not able to stand up against petty persecution13, and from the committeeman he passed on to others of Mr. Grayson's immediate14 following, taking "King" Plummer next. Mr. Plummer, in his opinion, was an excellent type of democracy run to riot. He was one of the "boys" in every sense. He was wofully wanting in personal dignity, speaking to everybody in the most familiar manner, and encouraging the same form of address towards himself; he failed utterly15 to recognize the superiority of some other men, and he was grossly ignorant, knowing nothing whatever of Europe and the vast work that had been done there for civilization and order. Moreover, he could not be induced, even by the well-informed, to take any interest in the Old World, and once had had the rudeness to say to Churchill himself, "What in the devil is Europe to us?"
Churchill thus subjected the views of "King" Plummer to the process of elaboration because they had made a vivid impression upon him. He and the "King" had never been able to get on together, the mountaineer treating him with rough indifference16, and Churchill returning it with a hauteur17 which he considered very effective. To Churchill men of "King" Plummer's type seemed the greatest danger the country could have. Their lack of respect for diplomacy18, their want of form and ceremony, their brutal19 habit of calling things by their names, were in his opinion revolutionary. He did not see how dealings with foreign nations, which always loomed20 very large to him, could be conducted by such men. Always in his mind was the question, What would they say in London and Vienna and Berlin? and the _Monitor_, which he served faithfully, confirmed him through its tone in this mental state. Still drawing his inspiration from the _Monitor_, he regarded a sneer21 as invariably the best weapon; if you were opposed to anything, the proper way to attack it was by sneering22 at it; then, not having used argument, you never put yourself in a position to have your arguments refuted.
From "King" Plummer, Churchill passed to some of his associates--like the _Monitor_, he never hesitated to befoul his own nest--and he told Mr. Goodnight how the candidate was using them, how they had wholly fallen under the spell of his undeniable charm of manner, and how they wrote to please him rather than to tell the truth.
As he sealed his long letter, Churchill felt the conscious glow of right-doing and stern self-sacrifice. He had written thus for the good of the party and the good of the country, and he was strengthened, too, by the feeling that he could not possibly be wrong. The _Monitor_ cultivated the sense of omniscience23, which it communicated in turn to all the members of its staff.
He passed Sylvia Morgan on his way from the hotel reading-room to the lobby to mail his letter, and when he met her he quickly turned down the address on the envelope, in order that she might not see it. It was done by impulse, and Churchill, for the first time, had a feeling of guilt24 that made him angry.
"That must be a love letter, Mr. Churchill," said Sylvia, teasing him with the easy freedom of the West. "Do you write her twenty-four pages, or only twenty?"
"Is that a permanent affection, or a passing fancy?"
Her face expressed the most eager interest, as if she could not possibly be happy until she had Churchill's answer. The words were frivolous26, but her manner was most deferential27, and Churchill concluded that she was expressing respect in as far as what he considered her shallow nature could do so.
"It is, I hope, a permanent passion, Miss Morgan," he replied, gravely. "There is a pleasure in doing one's duty, particularly under disagreeable circumstances, which I am happy to say I have felt more than once, and custom usually strengthens one who walks in the right path."
Still in this mood of contemplation, he regarded her, and he thought he saw a slight look of awe28 appear in her eyes. His opinion of her rose at once. While not able to show merit of the highest degree, she could perceive it in others, and this differentiated29 her from the rest of the group. Churchill allowed himself to see that she had a fine face and a slender, beautiful figure, and he felt it a pity that she should be thrown away on a crude, rough old mountaineer like Plummer.
"I often think, Miss Morgan," he said, "that if you had lived in the East awhile you could have been quite a match for any woman whom I have ever known."
"Thank you," she replied, humbly30. "Oh, if I could only have lived in the East just a little while!"
"But I assure you, Miss Morgan, I have met some very remarkable31 women."
"I do not doubt it, and they have had an equal good-fortune."
Churchill looked suspiciously at her, but there was the same touch of deference32 in her manner, and he still honored her with his conversation. He permitted himself to discourse33 a little upon the affairs which he had embodied--"embodied" he felt was the word--in his letter, and she, with all a woman's intuition, and much of masculine reasoning power, guessed what the letter contained, although she did not know to whom it was going. Nor did she feel it wrong to be very attentive34, as Churchill talked, because he was doing it of his own free will, and she had the fate of her uncle deeply at heart.
Churchill spoke of the campaign, venturing upon polite criticisms of certain features that seemed objectionable to him, and, listening to him, she confirmed her opinion that he was the personal representative with Mr. Grayson of the chief elements within the party that could cause trouble. And she felt sure, too, that the letter he held in his hand would add fuel to the fire already burning. She happened also to be present several days later when a messenger-boy handed him a telegram, and, when he opened it, he made an involuntary motion to hide it, just as he had done with the letter. She pretended not to see, and walked away, but she knew as well as if he had told her that the telegram was the reply to the letter.
Mr. Goodnight himself sent the despatch7, and he thanked Churchill warmly for the very important information told so luminously35 in his letter. The solid and respectable portion of the party had hoped much from the presence of Mr. Heathcote, but as he had yielded to the influence of another, instead of exerting his own, it would be necessary to take additional action later. Meanwhile he requested Mr. Churchill to keep him accurately36 and promptly37 informed of everything, and Churchill at once telegraphed: "Despatch received. Will be glad to comply with your request."
Then he congratulated himself, and felt good, his complacent38 demeanor39 forming a contrast to that of several others in the party. The latter were "King" Plummer, Sylvia Morgan, and John Harley, all of whom were unhappy.
Harley was troubled by his conscience, and he could not do anything to keep it from sticking those little pins into him. Sylvia Morgan, despite herself, drew him on, not the less because his first feeling towards her had been one of hostility40. She had a piquant41 touch, a manner full of unconscious allurement--the radiation of a pure soul, though it was--that he had never seen in any other woman, and the harder he fought against it, the more surely it conquered him. He took from his valise a copy of that old Chicago newspaper, with her picture on the front page, and wondered how he could have intimated that she was the cause of its being there. As he knew her better, he knew that she could not have done it, and he knew, too, that she would have scornfully resented any insinuation of having done so by refusing to deny it.
The "King" was unhappy, too, in his way, and that was very bad indeed for him. He had tried an effusive42 gallantry, and it did not seem to succeed any better than obedience43 to his own impulses--on the whole, rather worse; and now, not knowing what else to do, he sulked. It was not any sly sulking, but genuine, open sulking in his large, Western way, thus leaving it apparent to all that the great "King" Plummer was sad. And that meant much to the party, because in a sense it was now personally conducted by him. In his joyous44 mood, which was his usual mood until the present, he had a large and pervasive45 personality that was a wonderful help to travel and social intercourse. They missed his timely, if now and then a trifle rough, jests, his vast knowledge of the mountains, which had some good story of every town to which they came, and his infinite zest46 and humor, which also communicated more zest and humor to every one with him. It was a grievous day for them all when "King" Plummer began to mourn. More than one guessed the cause, but wisely they refrained from any attempt to remove it. They could do nothing but endure the gloom in silence, until the clouds passed, as they hoped they would pass.
The candidate, too, was troubled, and sought the privacy of the special car's drawing-room more than usual. Sylvia Morgan had given him a hint that attacks upon him from a certain source were likely to be renewed, and, moreover, would increase in virulence47. He soon found that she was right, as the copies of the _Monitor_ that they now obtained were frankly48 cynical49 and unbelieving. All of its despatches from the West, Churchill's as well as others, were depreciatory50. The candidate was invariably made to appear in a bad light--which is an easy matter to do, in any case, without sacrifice of the truth--that is, verbally, only the spirit being changed--and the editor reinforced them with strong criticisms, in which quotations51 from English writers and a French phrase now and then were freely employed. The whole burden of it was, "We support this candidate; but, oh, how hard it is for us to do it, how badly we feel about it, and how much easier it would be for us to support any other man!" It also printed many contributions from readers, in all of which the contributors spoke of themselves as belonging by nature and cultivation52 to the select few, "the saving remnant," who really knew what was good for the country. Here much latitude53 of expression was allowed, as the paper was not directly responsible for what these gentlemen said. They wrote of the way in which the dignity of a great party had been destroyed by the uncouth54 and talkative Westerner who had been lucky enough to secure the nomination55. They felt that they had been shamed in the face of the world, and more than once asked the burning and painful question, "What will Europe say?" They asked, also, if it were yet too late to amend56 the error, and they threw forth57 the suggestion that the intelligent and cultured minority within the party might refrain from voting, when election day came, or, in a pinch, might vote for the other man.
These communications were signed, sometimes, with Latin names, and sometimes with names in modern English, but always they indicated a certain sense of superiority and of detachment from the crowd on the part of the signers.
The annoyance58 of the candidate increased as he read copies of the _Monitor_, which were sent to him in numbers. He knew that the paper was the chief spokesman of an influential59 minority within the party, and the divergence60 between the majority and the minority was already manifest. It was evident, too, that it was bound to become greater, and that was why the candidate was troubled. He wished to become President; it was his great desire, and he did not seek to conceal61 it; he considered it a legitimate62, a noble ambition, one that any American had a right to have, and he was in the first flush of his great powers, when such a position would appeal most to a strong man. Now, even when the fight, with a united party, was desperate at best, he foresaw a defection, and hot wrath rose up in his veins63 against Goodnight, the _Monitor_, and all their following.
But the worst of the whole position to a man of Grayson's open and direct temperament64 was the necessity to keep silent, even to dissemble, or, at least, to do that which seemed to him very near to dissembling. Although he was under so fierce a fire, he would not allow any one to find fault with Churchill for his despatches; and this was not always easy to do, because many of the local politicians, who were on the train from time to time, would grow hot at sight of the criticisms, and want to attack the writer. But Jimmy Grayson always interfered65, and reminded them that it was the right of the press to speak so if it wished. Churchill still wondered, why he was not a martyr66, and wasted his regrets. Mrs. Grayson and Sylvia maintained an eloquent67 silence.
Meanwhile, an event destined68 to give Churchill and the _Monitor_ a yet greater shock was approaching.
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1
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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7
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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8
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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10
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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11
pandering
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| v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的现在分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物 | |
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12
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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13
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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14
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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21
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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omniscience
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| n.全知，全知者，上帝 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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grandiose
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| adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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deferential
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| adj. 敬意的，恭敬的 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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30
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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31
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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luminously
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| 发光的； 明亮的； 清楚的； 辉赫 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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40
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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41
piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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42
effusive
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| adj.热情洋溢的；感情(过多)流露的 | |
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43
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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45
pervasive
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| adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的 | |
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46
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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47
virulence
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| n.毒力，毒性；病毒性；致病力 | |
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48
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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49
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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50
depreciatory
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| adj.贬值的，蔑视的 | |
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51
quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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52
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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53
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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54
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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55
nomination
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| n.提名，任命，提名权 | |
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56
amend
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| vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿 | |
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57
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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58
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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59
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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divergence
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| n.分歧，岔开 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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62
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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67
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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