As Barney made his way toward a harbor of refreshment3 he wondered about Old Jimmie—not in the manner Larry had wondered about a father bringing his daughter up into crooked4 ways—but he wondered what kind of a man beneath his shrewd, yielding, placating5 manner Old Jimmie really was, how far he was to be trusted, whether he was in this game on the level or whether he was playing some very secret hand of his own. Though he had known and worked with Old Jimmie for years, Barney had never been admitted to the inner chambers6 of the older man's character. He sensed that there were hidden rooms and twisting passages; and of this much he was certain, that Old Jimmie was sly and saturnine7.
Well, he would be on guard that Old Jimmie didn't put anything over on your obliging servant, Barney Palmer!
This was the era of legal prohibition8, but thus far Barney had not been severely9 discommoded by the action of the representatives of America's free institutions in Washington, for Barney knew his New York. In an ex-saloon on Sixth Avenue, which nominally10 sold only the soft drinks permitted by the wise men of the Capital, Barney leaned at his ease upon the bar and remarked: “Give me some of the real stuff, Tim, and forget that eye-dropper the boss bought you last week.” Barney had a drink of the real stuff, and then another drink, in the measuring of neither of which had an eye-dropper been involved.
After that, much heartened, he put two dollars upon the bar and went his way. His course took the dapper Barney into three of the gayest restaurants in the Times Square section; and in these Barney paused long enough to speak to a few after-theater supper-parties. For this was the hour when Barney paid his social calls; he was very strict with himself upon this point. Barney was really by way of being a rising figure in this particular circle of New York society composed of people who had or believed they had an interest in the theater, of expensively gowned women the foreground of whose lives was most attractive, but whose background was perhaps wisely kept out of the picture, and of moneyed young men who gloried in the idea that they were living the life. These social calls from gay table to gay table, at all of which Barney was welcome—for here Barney showed only his most attractive surfaces, his most brilliant facets—were in truth a very important part of Barney's business.
A little later, alone at a corner table in a quieter restaurant, Barney was eating his supper and making an inventory11 of his prospects12. He was in a very exultant13 mood. The whiskey he had drunk had given broad wings to his self-satisfaction; and what he was now sipping14 from his tea-cup—it was not tea, for Barney was on the proper terms with his waiter here—this draught15 from his tea-cup tipped these broad wings at a yet more soaring angle.
Yes, he had certainly put it over so far. And Maggie would certainly prove a winner. Those fair women he had chatted with as he had moved from table to table, why, they'd be less than dirt compared to Maggie when Maggie was rigged out and readied up and the stage was set. And it had been he, Barney Palmer, who had been the first to discover Maggie's latent possibilities!
He had an eye beyond mere16 surfaces, had Barney. He had used women in the past in putting over many of his more private transactions (and had done so partly for the reason that using women so was eminently17 “safe”—this despite his violent outburst of sneering18 disdain19 at Larry when the latter had spoken of safety): some of them professional sharpers, some unscrupulous actresses of the lower flight—such women as he had just chatted with in the restaurants where he had made his brief visits. But such, he now recognized, were rather BLASEES, rather too obvious. They were the blown rose. But Maggie was fresh, and once she was properly broken in, she would be his perfect instrument. Yes, perfect!
Barney's plans soared on. Some day, when it fitted in just right with his plans, he was going to marry Maggie, It was only recently that he had seen her full charms, and still more recently that he had determined20 upon marriage. That decision had materially altered certain details of the career Barney had blue-printed for himself. Barney had long regarded marriage as an asset for himself; a valuable resource which he must hold in reserve and not liquidate21, or capitalize, until his own market was at its peak. He knew that he was good-looking, an excellent dancer, that he had the metropolitan22 finish. He had calculated that sometime some rich girl, perhaps from the West, who did not know the world too well, would fall under the spell of his charms; and he would marry her promptly23 while she was still infatuated, before she could learn too much about him. Such had been Barney's idea of marriage for himself; which is very similar to ideas held by thousands of gentlemen, young and otherwise, in this broad land of ours, who consider themselves neither law-breakers nor adventurers.
But that was all changed now. Now it was Maggie, though Maggie in pursuit of their joint24 advantage might possibly first have to go through the marriage ceremony with some other man. Of course, a very, very rich man! Barney already had this man marked. He hoped, though, they would not have to go so far as marriage. However, he was willing to wait his proper turn. As he had told Maggie, you could not put over a big thing in a hurry.
As for Larry, he'd certainly handled that business in swell25 fashion! He'd certainly put a crimp in what had been developing between Larry and Maggie. And he'd get Larry in time, too. The drag-net was too large and close of mesh26 for Larry to hope to escape it. The word he'd slipped that boob Gavegan had sure done the business! And the indirect way he had tipped off the police about Red Hannigan and Jack27 Rosenfeldt and had then made his pals28 think Larry had squealed—that was sure playing the game, too! Jack and Red would get off easy—there was nothing on them; but little old Barney Palmer had certainly used his bean in the way he had set the machinery29 of the police and the under-world in motion against Larry!
While other occupants of the cafe, particularly the women, stole looks at the handsome, flawlessly dressed, interesting-looking Barney, Barney had yet another of those concoctions30 which the discreet31 waiter served in a tea-cup. He'd done a great little job, you bet! Not another man in New York could have done better. He was sure going to put Maggie across! And in doing so, he was going to do what was right by yours truly.
All seemed perfect in Barney's world....
And while Barney sat exulting32 over triumphs already achieved and those inevitably33 to be achieved, Maggie lay in her new bed dreaming exultant dreams of her own: heedless of the regular snoring which resounded34 in the adjoining room—for the excellent Miss Grierson, while able to keep her every act in perfect form while in the conscious state, unfortunately when unconscious had no more control of the goings-on of her mortal functions than the lowliest washwoman. Maggie's flights of fancy circled round and round Larry. She stifled35 any excuses or insurgent36 yearnings for him. He'd deserved what he had got. Already, contrary to his predictions, she had made a tremendous advance into her brilliant future. She would show him! Yes, she would show him! Oh, but she was going to do things!
But while she dreamed thus, shaping a magnificent destiny—an independent, self-engineered young woman, so very, very confident of the great future she was going to achieve through the supremacy37 of her own will and her own abilities—no slightest surmise38 came into her mind that Barney Palmer was making plans by which her will was to count as naught39 and by which he was to be the master of her fate, and that the furtive40, yielding Old Jimmie was also dreaming a patient dream in which she was to be a mere chess-piece which was to capture a long-cherished game.
And yet, after all, Maggie's dreams, aside from the peculiar41 twist life had given them, were fundamentally just the ordinary dreams of youth: of willful confident youth, to whom but a small part of the world has yet been opened, who in fact does not yet half know its own nature.
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1
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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2
frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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3
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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4
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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5
placating
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| v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的现在分词 ) | |
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6
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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7
saturnine
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| adj.忧郁的，沉默寡言的，阴沉的，感染铅毒的 | |
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8
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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9
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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10
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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11
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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13
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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14
sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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15
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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16
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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18
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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19
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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liquidate
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| v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产 | |
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metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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24
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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mesh
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| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
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27
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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28
pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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29
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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concoctions
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| n.编造，捏造，混合物( concoction的名词复数 ) | |
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31
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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32
exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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33
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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34
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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35
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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36
insurgent
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| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
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37
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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38
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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39
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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40
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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41
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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