Surely it is useless to follow the sequel in detail, to tell how Hilda persuaded Thorpe to take her money. She aroused skillfully his fighting blood, induced him to use one fortune to rescue another. To a woman such as she this was not a very difficult task in the long run. A few scruples1 of pride; that was all.
"Do not consider its being mine," she answered to his objections. "Remember the lesson we learned so bitterly. Nothing can be greater than love, not even our poor ideals. You have my love; do not disappoint me by refusing so little a thing as my money."
"I hate to do it," he replied; "it doesn't look right."
"You must," she insisted. "I will not take the position of rich wife to a poor man; it is humiliating to both. I will not marry you until you have made your success."
"That is right," said Thorpe heartily2.
"Well, then, are you going to be so selfish as to keep me waiting while you make an entirely3 new start, when a little help on my part will bring your plans to completion?"
She saw the shadow of assent4 in his eyes.
"How much do you need?" she asked swiftly.
"I must take up the notes," he explained. "I must pay the men. I may need something on the stock market. If I go in on this thing, I'm going in for keeps. I'll get after those fellows who have been swindling Wallace. Say a hundred thousand dollars."
"Why, it's nothing," she cried.
"I'm glad you think so," he replied grimly.
She ran to her dainty escritoire, where she scribbled5 eagerly for a few moments.
"There," she cried, her eyes shining, "there is my check book all signed in blank. I'll see that the money is there."
Thorpe took the book, staring at it with sightless eyes. Hilda, perched on the arm of his chair, watched his face closely, as later became her habit of interpretation6.
"What is it?" she asked.
Thorpe looked up with a pitiful little smile that seemed to beg indulgence for what he was about to say.
"I was just thinking, dear. I used to imagine I was a strong man, yet see how little my best efforts amount to. I have put myself into seven years of the hardest labor7, working like ten men in order to succeed. I have foreseen all that mortal could foresee. I have always thought, and think now, that a man is no man unless he works out the sort of success for which he is fitted. I have done fairly well until the crises came. Then I have been absolutely powerless, and if left to myself, I would have failed. At the times when a really strong man would have used effectively the strength he had been training, I have fallen back miserably8 on outer aid. Three times my affairs have become critical. In the crises I have been saved, first by a mere9 boy; then by an old illiterate10 man; now by a weak woman!"
She heard him through in silence.
"Harry11," she said soberly when he had quite finished, "I agree with you that God meant the strong man to succeed; that without success the man hasn't fulfilled his reason for being. But, Harry, ARE YOU QUITE SURE GOD MEANT HIM TO SUCCEED ALONE?"
The dusk fell through the little room. Out in the hallway a tall clock ticked solemnly. A noiseless servant appeared in the doorway12 to light the lamps, but was silently motioned away.
"I had not thought of that," said Thorpe at last.
"You men are so selfish," went on Hilda. "You would take everything from us. Why can't you leave us the poor little privilege of the occasional deciding touch, the privilege of succor13. It is all that weakness can do for strength."
"And why," she went on after a moment, "why is not that, too, a part of a man's success--the gathering14 about him of people who can and will supplement his efforts. Who was it inspired Wallace Carpenter with confidence in an unknown man? You. What did it? Those very qualities by which you were building your success. Why did John Radway join forces with you? How does it happen that your men are of so high a standard of efficiency? Why am I willing to give you everything, EVERYTHING, to my heart and soul? Because it is you who ask it. Because you, Harry Thorpe, have woven us into your fortune, so that we have no choice. Depend upon us in the crises of your work! Why, so are you dependent on your ten fingers, your eyes, the fiber15 of your brain! Do you think the less of your fulfillment for that?"
So it was that Hilda Farrand gave her lover confidence, brought him out from his fanaticism16, launched him afresh into the current of events. He remained in Chicago all that summer, giving orders that all work at the village of Carpenter should cease. With his affairs that summer we have little to do. His common-sense treatment of the stock market, by which a policy of quiescence17 following an outright18 buying of the stock which he had previously19 held on margins20, retrieved21 the losses already sustained, and finally put both partners on a firm financial footing. That is another story. So too is his reconciliation22 with and understanding of his sister. It came about through Hilda, of course. Perhaps in the inscrutable way of Providence23 the estrangement24 was of benefit,--even necessary, for it had thrown him entirely within himself during his militant25 years.
Let us rather look to the end of the summer. It now became a question of re-opening the camps. Thorpe wrote to Shearer26 and Radway, whom he had retained, that he would arrive on Saturday noon, and suggested that the two begin to look about for men. Friday, himself, Wallace Carpenter, Elizabeth Carpenter, Morton, Helen Thorpe, and Hilda Farrand boarded the north-bound train.
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1
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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2
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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3
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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7
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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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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9
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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10
illiterate
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| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
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11
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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12
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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14
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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fiber
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| n.纤维，纤维质 | |
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16
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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17
quiescence
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| n.静止 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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margins
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| 边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数 | |
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21
retrieved
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| v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息） | |
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22
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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23
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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24
estrangement
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| n.疏远，失和，不和 | |
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militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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26
shearer
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| n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机 | |
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