She was standing1 slenderly upright. Her head was imperiously high, her black eyes defiant2. Neither spoke3 at once. More than before was he impressed by her present and her potential beauty. Till this night he had thought of her only casually4, as merely a young girl; he was not now consciously in love with her—her young woman-hood had burst upon him too suddenly for such a consciousness—but a warm tingling5 went through him as he gazed at her imperious, self-confident youth. Part of his mind was thinking much the same thought that Hunt had considered a few hours earlier: here were the makings of a magnificent adventuress.
“Maggie,” he mused6, “you didn't get your looks from your father. You must have had a fine-looking mother.”
“I don't know—I never saw her,” she returned shortly.
“Poor kid,” Larry mused on—“and with only Old Jimmie for a father.” She did not know what to say. For a long time she had dreamed of this man as her hero; she had dreamed of splendid adventures with him in which she should win his praise. And now—and now—
He switched to another subject.
“So you have decided7 to string along with your father and Barney?”
“I have.”
“Don't you do it, Maggie.”
“Don't you preach, Larry.”
“I'm not preaching. I'm just talking business to you. The same as I talked business to myself. The crooked8 game is a poor business for a woman who can do something else—and you can do something else. I've known a lot of women in the crooked game. They've all had a rotten finish, or are headed for one. So forget it, Maggie. There's more in the straight game.”
She had swiftly come to feel herself stronger and wiser than her ex-hero. In her tremendous pride and confidence of eighteen, she regarded him almost with pitying condescension10.
“Something's softened11 your brain, Larry. I know better. The people who pretend to go straight are just fakes; they're playing a different kind of a smooth game, that's all. Everybody is out to get his, and get it the easiest and quickest way he can. You know that's so. And that's just what I am going to do.”
Larry had once talked much the same way, but it seemed puzzlingly strange just now to hear such talk from a young girl. Then he understood.
“You couldn't help having such ideas, Maggie, living among crooks12 ever since you were a kid. Why, Old Jimmie could not have used better methods, or got better results, if he had set out consciously to make you a crook9.” Then a sudden possibility came to him. “D'you suppose he could always have had that plan—to make you into a crook?” he asked.
“What difference does that make?” she demanded shortly.
“A funny thing for a father to do with his own child,” Larry returned. “But whether Jimmie intended it or not, that's just what he's done.”
“What I am, I am,” she retorted with her imperious defiance13. Just then she felt that she hated him; she quivered with a desire to hurt him: he had so utterly14 destroyed her romantic hero and her romantic dreams. Her hands clenched15.
“You talk about going straight—it's all rot!” she flamed at him. “A lot of men say they're going straight, but no one ever does! And you won't either!”
“You think I won't?”
“I know you won't! You don't know how to do any regular work. And, besides, no one will give a crook a chance.”
She had unerringly placed her finger upon his two great problems, and Larry knew it; he had considered them often enough.
“All the same, I'm going to make good!” he declared.
“Oh, no, you're not!”
Perhaps he was stirred chiefly by the sting of her taunting16 tongue, by the blaze of her dark, disdainful eyes; and perhaps by the changed feeling toward this creature whom he had left a half-grown girl and returned to find a woman. At any rate, he crossed and seized her wrists and gazed fiercely down upon her.
“I tell you, I'm going to go straight, and I'm going to make a success of it! You'll see!” And then he added dominantly17: “What's more, I'm going to make you go straight, too!”
She made no attempt to free herself, but blazed up at him defiantly18. “You'll make me do nothing. I'm going to be just what I said, and I'm going to make a success of it. Just wait—I'll prove to you what I can do! And you—you'll be a failure, and will come slinking back and beg us to take you in!”
They glared at each other silently, angrily, their aroused wills defying each other. For a moment they stood so. Then something—a mixture of his desire to dominate this defiant young thing and of that growing change in him toward her—surged madly into Larry's head. He caught Maggie in his arms and kissed her.
All the rigidity19 went suddenly from her figure and she hung loose in his embrace. Their gazes held for a moment. She went pale, and quivering all through she looked up at him in startled, wide-eyed silence. As for Larry, a dizzying, throbbing20 emotion permeated21 his whole astonished being.
Suddenly she pushed herself free from his relaxing arms, and backed away from him.
“What did you do that for?” she whispered huskily.
But she did not wait for his answer. She turned and hurried for the stairway. Three steps up she turned again and gazed down upon him. Her cheeks were once more flushed and her dark eyes blazing.
“It's going to be just as I said!” she flung at him. “I'm going to succeed—you're going to fail! You just wait and see!”
She turned and ran swiftly up the stairway and out of sight. Neither of them had been aware that the Duchess, a drab figure merged22 into a drab background, had regarded them fixedly23 during all this scene. And Larry was still unconscious that the old eyes were now watching him with their deep-set, expressionless fixity.
Motionless, Larry stood gazing at where Maggie had been. Within him was tumult24; he did not yet understand the significance of that impulsive25 kiss... He began to walk the floor, his mind and will now more in control. Yes, he was going to go straight; he was going to make good, and make good in a big way! And he was going to make Maggie go straight, too. He'd show her! It wasn't going to be easy, but he had his big plan made, and he had determination, and he knew he'd win in the end. Yes, he'd show her!...
Up before the mirror Maggie sat looking intently at herself. Part of her consciousness was wondering about that kiss, and part kept fiercely repeating that she'd show him—she'd show him—she'd show him!...
Looking thus into their futures26 they were both very certain of themselves and of the roads which they were to travel.
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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3
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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4
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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5
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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6
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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7
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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8
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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9
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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10
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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11
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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12
crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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14
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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15
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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17
dominantly
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| 有统治权地，占优势地 | |
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18
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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19
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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20
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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21
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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22
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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23
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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24
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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25
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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26
futures
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| n.期货，期货交易 | |
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