“This Larry—what sort of chap is he, Maggie?” As with most artists, talking did not interfere6 with Hunt's painting.
Warm color slowly tinted7 Maggie's cheeks. “He's clever,” she said positively8. “You already know that. But I was only a girl when he was sent away.”
Hunt smiled at her idea of her present maturity9, implied by her last sentence. “But you lived with the Duchess for a year before he was sent away. You must have seen a lot of him, and got to know him well.”
“Oh, he used to come down now and then to see his grandmother—I was only fifteen or sixteen then—just a girl, and he didn't pay much attention to me. Father can tell you better just how smart he is.”
Old Jimmie spoke up promptly10. He knew Hunt was not a police stool, and he liked the painter as much as it was in him to like any man; so he felt none of the reserve or caution that might have controlled him in other company.
“You bet Larry's smart! Got the quickest brain of any con11 man in the business—and him only about twenty-seven now. Some think I'm a smooth proposition myself, but Larry puts it all over me. That's why I'm willing to let him be my boss. He's a wonder at thinking up new stunts12, and then at working out safe new ways of putting them across.”
“But the police landed him at last,” commented Hunt.
“Yes, but that was only because another man muffed his end of the job.”
The handsome Barney Palmer had been restless during Old Jimmie's eulogy13. “Oh, Larry's all to the good—but he's not the only party that's got real ideas.”
“Huh!” grunted14 Old Jimmie. “But you'll remember that we haven't put over any big ones since Larry's been in stir.”
“That's been because you wouldn't listen to any of my ideas!” retorted Barney. “And I handed out some peaches.”
Even during the period of Larry's active reign15 it had irked Barney to accept another man as leader, and it had irked him even more during the interregnum while Larry was guest of the State. For Barney believed in his own Napoleonic strain.
“Don't let yourself get sore, Barney,” Old Jimmie said appeasingly. “You'll have plenty of chances to try out your ideas as the main guy before you cash in. You know the outfit16 wanted to lay low for a while, anyhow. But we'll be putting over a lot of the big stuff when Larry gets out.”
Hunt had noted17 a quick light come into Maggie's dark eyes while her father praised the absent leader. He himself suddenly perceived a new possibility.
“Maggie, ever think about teaming up with Larry?” he demanded, with his audacious keenness.
She flushed, and hesitated. He did not wait for her slow-coming reply, but turned to her father.
“Jimmie, did Larry ever use women in his stunts?”
“Never. Whenever we suggested using a skirt, Larry absolutely said there was nothing doing. That's one point where he was all wrong. Nothing helps so much, when the sucker is at all sentimental18, as a clever, good-looking woman. And Larry'll come around to it all right. He'll see the sense of it, now that he's older and has had two years to think things over.”
Old Jimmie nodded, showing his yellow teeth in a sly grin. “You said something a second ago: Maggie and Larry! They'll make a wonder of a team! I mean that she'll work under him with the rest of us. I've been thinking about it a long while. Mebbe you haven't guessed it, but we've been coaching her for the part, and she's just about ripe. She's got the looks, and we can dress her right for whatever job's on hand. Oh, Larry'll put over some great things with Maggie!”
If Hunt felt that there was anything cynically19 unpaternal in this father planning for his daughter a career of crime, he gave no sign of it. His attention was just then all on Maggie. He saw her eyes grow yet more bright at these last sentences of her father: bright with the vision of approaching adventure.
“The idea suits you, Maggie?” he asked.
“Sure. It'll be great—for Larry is a wonder!”
Barney Palmer suddenly rose, his face twisted with anger. “I'm all fed up on this Larry, Larry, Larry! Come on, Jimmie. Let's get uptown.”
Wise Old Jimmie saw that Barney was near an outburst. “All right, Barney, all right,” he said promptly. “Not much use waiting any longer, anyhow. If Larry comes, we'll fix it with the Duchess to meet him tomorrow.”
“Then so-long, Maggie,” Barney flung at her, and that swagger ex-jockey, gambler, and clever manipulator of the confidence of people with money, slashed20 aside the shabby burlap curtains with his wisp of a bamboo walking-stick, and strode out of the room.
“Good-night, daughter,” and Old Jimmie crossed and kissed her. She kissed him back—a perfunctory kiss. Maggie had never paused to think the matter out, but for some reason she felt little real affection for her father, though of course she admired his astuteness21. Perhaps her unconscious lack of love was due in part to the fact that she had never lived with him. Ever since she remembered he had boarded her out, here and there, as he was now boarding her at the Duchess's—and had only come to visit her at intervals22, sometimes intervals that stretched into months.
“Barney is rather sweet on you,” remarked Hunt after the two were gone.
“I know he is,” conceded Maggie in a matter-of-fact way.
“And he seems jealous of Larry—both regarding you, and regarding the bunch.”
“He thinks he can run the bunch just as well as Larry. Barney's clever all right, and has plenty of nerve—but he's not in Larry's class. Not by a million miles!”
Hunt perceived that this daring, world-defying, embryonically23 beautiful model of his had idealized the homecoming nephew of the Duchess into her especial hero. Hunt said no more, but painted rapidly. Night had fallen outside, and long since he had switched on the electric lights. He seemed not at all finicky in this matter of light; he had no supposedly indispensable north light, and midday or midnight were almost equally apt to find him slashing24 with brush or scratching with crayon.
Presently the Duchess entered. No word was spoken. The Duchess, noteworthy for her mastery of silence, sank into a chair, a bent25 and shrunken image, nothing seemingly alive about her but her faintly gleaming, deep-set eyes. Several minutes passed, then Hunt lifted the canvas from the easel and stood it against the wall.
“That's all for to-day, Maggie,” he announced, pushing the easel to one side. “Duchess, you and this wild young thing spread the banquet-table while I wash up.”
He disappeared into a corner shut off by burlap curtains. From within there issued the sound of splashing water and the sputtering26 roar of snatches of the Toreador's song in a very big and very bad baritone.
Maggie put out a hand, and kept the Duchess from rising. “Sit still—I'll fix the table.”
Silently the Duchess acquiesced27. Maggie had never felt any tenderness toward this strange, silent woman with whom she had lived for three years, but it was perhaps an indication of qualities within Maggie, whose existence she herself never even guessed, that she instinctively28 pushed the old woman aside from tasks which involved any physical effort. Maggie now swung the back of a laundry bench up to form a table-top, and upon it proceeded to spread a cloth and arrange a medley29 of chipped dishes. As she moved swiftly and deftly31 about, the Duchess watching her with immobile features, these two made a strangely contrasting pair: one seemingly spent and at life's grayest end, the other electric with vitality32 and giving off the essence of life's unknown adventures.
Hunt stepped out between the curtains, pulling on his coat. “You'll find that chow in my fireless cooker will beat the Ritz,” he boasted. “The tenderest, fattest kind of a fatted calf33 for the returned prodigal34.”
Maggie started. “The prodigal! You mean—Larry is coming?”
“Sure,” grinned Hunt. “That's why we celebrate.”
Maggie wheeled upon the Duchess. “Is Larry really coming?”
“Yes,” said the old woman.
“But—but why the uncertainty35 about when he was coming back? Father and Barney thought he was due to get out yesterday.”
“Just a mistake we all made about his release. His time was up this afternoon.”
“But you told Barney and my father you hadn't heard from him.”
“I had heard,” said the Duchess in her flat tone. “If they want to see him they can see him to-morrow.”
“When—when will he be here?”
“Any minute,” said the Duchess.
Without a word Maggie whirled about and the next moment she was in her room on the floor below. She did not know what prompted her, but she had a frantic36 desire to get out of this plain shirt-waist and skirt and into something that would be striking. She considered her scanty37 wardrobe; her father had recently spoken of handsome gowns and furnishings, but as yet these existed only in his words, and the pseudo-evening gowns which she had worn to restaurant dances with Barney she knew to be cheap and uneffective.
Suddenly she remembered the things Hunt had given her, or had loaned her, the evening four months earlier when he had taken her to an artists' masquerade ball—though to her it had been a bitter disappointment when Hunt had carried her away before the unmasking at twelve o'clock. She tore off the offending waist and skirt, pulled from beneath the bed the pasteboard box containing her costume; and in five minutes of flying hands the transformation38 was completed. Her thick hair of burnished39 black was piled on top of her head in gracious disorder40, and from it swayed a scarlet41 paper flower. About her lithe42 body, over a black satin skirt, swathing her in its graceful43 folds, clung a Spanish shawl of saffron-colored background with long brown silken fringe, and flowered all over with brown and red and peacock blue, and held in place by three huge barbaric pins jeweled with colored glass, one at either hip30 and upon her right shoulder, leaving her smooth shoulders bare and free. With no more than a glance to get the hasty effect, she hurried up to the studio.
Hunt whistled at sight of her, but made no remark. Flushed, she looked back at him defiantly44. The Duchess gave no sign whatever of being aware of the transformation.
Maggie with excited touches tried to improve her setting of the table, aquiver with expectancy45 and suspense46 at the nearness of the meeting—every nerve of audition47 strained to catch the first footfall upon the stairs. Hunt, watching her, could but wonder, in case Larry was the clever, dashing person that had been described, what would be the outcome when these two natures met and perhaps joined forces.
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1
blustering
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| adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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2
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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3
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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5
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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6
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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7
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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8
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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11
con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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12
stunts
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| n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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14
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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15
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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16
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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17
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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18
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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19
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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20
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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21
astuteness
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| n.敏锐；精明；机敏 | |
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22
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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embryonically
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| 萌芽期地；胚胎地 | |
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24
slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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25
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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26
sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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27
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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29
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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30
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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31
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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32
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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33
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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34
prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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35
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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36
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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37
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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38
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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39
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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40
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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41
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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42
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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43
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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44
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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45
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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46
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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47
audition
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| n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等) | |
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