Now that the strain was over, Thorpe experienced a great weariness. The long journey through the forest, his sleepless1 night on the train, the mental alertness of playing the game with shrewd foes2 all these stretched his fibers3 out one by one and left them limp. He accepted stupidly the clerk's congratulations on his success, left the name of the little hotel off Fort Street as the address to which to send the deeds, and dragged himself off with infinite fatigue4 to his bed-room. There he fell at once into profound unconsciousness.
He was awakened5 late in the afternoon by the sensation of a strong pair of young arms around his shoulders, and the sound of Wallace Carpenter's fresh voice crying in his ears:
"Wake up, wake up! you Indian! You've been asleep all day, and I've been waiting here all that time. I want to hear about it. Wake up, I say!"
Thorpe rolled to a sitting posture6 on the edge of the bed, and smiled uncertainly. Then as the sleep drained from his brain, he reached out his hand.
"You bet we did 'em, Wallace," said he, "but it looked like a hard proposition for a while."
"How was it? Tell me about it!" insisted the boy eagerly. "You don't know how impatient I've been. The clerk at the Land Office merely told me it was all right. How did you fix it?"
While Thorpe washed and shaved and leisurely7 freshened himself, he detailed8 his experiences of the last week.
"And," he concluded gravely, "there's only one man I know or ever heard of to whom I would have considered it worth while even to think of sending that telegram, and you are he. Somehow I knew you'd come to the scratch."
"It's the most exciting thing I ever heard of," sighed Wallace drawing a full breath, "and I wasn't in it! It's the sort of thing I long for. If I'd only waited another two weeks before coming down!"
"In that case we couldn't have gotten hold of the money, remember," smiled Thorpe.
"That's so." Wallace brightened. "I did count, didn't I?"
"I thought so about ten o'clock this morning," Thorpe replied.
"Suppose you hadn't stumbled on their camp; suppose Injin Charley hadn't seen them go up-river; suppose you hadn't struck that little mill town JUST at the time you did!" marvelled9 Wallace.
"That's always the way," philosophized Thorpe in reply. "It's the old story of 'if the horse-shoe nail hadn't been lost,' you know. But we got there; and that's the important thing."
"We did!" cried the boy, his enthusiasm rekindling10, "and to-night we'll celebrate with the best dinner we ran buy in town!"
Thorpe was tempted11, but remembered the thirty dollars in his pocket, and looked doubtful.
Carpenter possessed12, as part of his volatile13 enthusiastic temperament14, keen intuitions.
"Don't refuse!" he begged. "I've set my heart on giving my senior partner a dinner. Surely you won't refuse to be my guest here, as I was yours in the woods!"
"Wallace," said Thorpe, "I'll go you. I'd like to dine with you; but moreover, I'll confess, I should like to eat a good dinner again. It's been more than a year since I've seen a salad, or heard of after-dinner coffee."
"Come on then," cried Wallace.
Together they sauntered through the lengthening15 shadows to a certain small restaurant near Woodward Avenue, then much in vogue16 among Detroit's epicures17. It contained only a half dozen tables, but was spotlessly clean, and its cuisine18 was unrivalled. A large fireplace near the center of the room robbed it of half its restaurant air; and a thick carpet on the floor took the rest. The walls were decorated in dark colors after the German style. Several easy chairs grouped before the fireplace, and a light wicker table heaped with magazines and papers invited the guests to lounge while their orders were being prepared.
Thorpe was not in the least Sybaritic in his tastes, but he could not stifle19 a sigh of satisfaction at sinking so naturally into the unobtrusive little comforts which the ornamental20 life offers to its votaries21. They rose up around him and pillowed him, and were grateful to the tired fibers of his being. His remoter past had enjoyed these things as a matter of course. They had framed the background to his daily habit. Now that the background had again slid into place on noiseless grooves22, Thorpe for the first time became conscious that his strenuous23 life had indeed been in the open air, and that the winds of earnest endeavor, while bracing24, had chilled. Wallace Carpenter, with the poet's insight and sympathy, saw and understood this feeling.
"I want you to order this dinner," said he, handing over to Thorpe the card which an impossibly correct waiter presented him. "And I want it a good one. I want you to begin at the beginning and skip nothing. Pretend you are ordering just the dinner you would like to offer your sister," he suggested on a sudden inspiration. "I assure you I'll try to be just as critical and exigent as she would be."
Thorpe took up the card dreamily.
"There are no oysters25 and clams26 now," said he, "so we'll pass right on to the soup. It seems to me a desecration27 to pretend to replace them. We'll have a bisque," he told the waiter, "rich and creamy. Then planked whitefish, and have them just a light crisp, brown. You can bring some celery, too, if you have it fresh and good. And for entree28 tell your cook to make some macaroni au gratin, but the inside must be soft and very creamy, and the outside very crisp. I know it's a queer dish for a formal dinner like ours," he addressed Wallace with a little laugh, "but it's very, very good. We'll have roast beef, rare and juicy;--if you bring it any way but a cooked red, I'll send it back;--and potatoes roasted with the meat and brown gravy29. Then the breast of chicken with the salad, in the French fashion. And I'll make the dressing30. We'll have an ice and some fruit for dessert. Black coffee."
"Yes, sir," replied the waiter, his pencil poised31. "And the wines?"
"A rich red Burgundy," he decided33, "for all the dinner. If your cellar contains a very good smooth Beaune, we'll have that."
"Yes, sir," answered the waiter, and departed.
Thorpe sat and gazed moodily34 into the wood fire, Wallace respected his silence. It was yet too early for the fashionable world, so the two friends had the place to themselves. Gradually the twilight35 fell; strange shadows leaped and died on the wall. A boy dressed all in white turned on the lights. By and by the waiter announced that their repast awaited them.
Thorpe ate, his eyes half closed, in somnolent36 satisfaction. Occasionally he smiled contentedly37 across at Wallace, who smiled in response. After the coffee he had the waiter bring cigars. They went back between the tables to a little upholstered smoking room, where they sank into the depths of leather chairs, and blew the gray clouds of smoke towards the ceiling. About nine o'clock Thorpe spoke38 the first word.
"I'm stupid this evening, I'm afraid," said he, shaking himself. "Don't think on that account I am not enjoying your dinner. I believe," he asserted earnestly, "that I never had such an altogether comfortable, happy evening before in my life."
"I know," replied Wallace sympathetically.
"It seems just now," went on Thorpe, sinking more luxuriously39 into his armchair, "that this alone is living--to exist in an environment exquisitely40 toned; to eat, to drink, to smoke the best, not like a gormand, but delicately as an artist would. It is the flower of our civilization."
Wallace remembered the turmoil41 of the wilderness42 brook43; the little birch knoll44, yellow in the evening glow; the mellow45 voice of the summer night crooning through the pines. But he had the rare tact46 to say nothing.
"Did it ever occur to you that what you needed, when sort of tired out this way," he said abruptly47 after a moment, "is a woman to understand and sympathize? Wouldn't it have made this evening perfect to have seen opposite you a being whom you loved, who understood your moments of weariness, as well as your moments of strength?"
"No," replied Thorpe, stretching his arms over his head, "a woman would have talked. It takes a friend and a man, to know when to keep silent for three straight hours."
The waiter brought the bill on a tray, and Carpenter paid it.
"Wallace," said Thorpe suddenly after a long interval48, "we'll borrow enough by mortgaging our land to supply the working expenses. I suppose capital will have to investigate, and that'll take time; but I can begin to pick up a crew and make arrangements for transportation and supplies. You can let me have a thousand dollars on the new Company's note for initial expenses. We'll draw up articles of partnership49 to-morrow."
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sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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fibers
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| 光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rekindling
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| v.使再燃( rekindle的现在分词 ) | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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volatile
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| adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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epicures
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| n.讲究饮食的人( epicure的名词复数 ) | |
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cuisine
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| n.烹调，烹饪法 | |
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stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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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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votaries
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| n.信徒( votary的名词复数 )；追随者；（天主教）修士；修女 | |
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grooves
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| n.沟( groove的名词复数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏v.沟( groove的第三人称单数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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clams
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| n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 ) | |
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desecration
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| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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entree
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| n.入场权，进入权 | |
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gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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somnolent
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| adj.想睡的，催眠的；adv.瞌睡地；昏昏欲睡地；使人瞌睡地 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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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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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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49
partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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