CHAPTER XIV. ON THE TRACK OF NUMBER 91.

 The policeman’s sudden appearance can be easily explained. He and his family occupied rooms in the same house with Mrs. Barclay, and he happened to be passing the door of her apartment when he heard the cry.

“What’s all this?” he demanded once more.

“None of your business!” returned Barclay, indignantly. “What call have you to intrude¹ where you’re not wanted?”

“I often do that,” said the policeman, grimly. “Mrs. Barclay, who is this man?”

“My husband, sir.”

“There, do you hear that?” demanded Barclay. “I have a right to be here.”

“What were you about to do to your wife? What made her cry out?” asked the policeman, sharply. “I ask you that question, Mrs. Barclay.”

“My husband was carrying off that dress to pawn² it,” replied the wife. “It does not belong to me, and it would have got me into trouble.”

“What have you to say to that?” asked the officer, turning to Barclay.

“My wife would give me no money,” answered Barclay, sullenly³, “and I threatened to pawn her dress.”

“She says it was not her dress.”

“I thought it was,” said Barclay.

[82]

“O, James,” began his wife, but a threatening look from her husband stopped her words.

“And then you treated her roughly, it seems!”

“No, I didn’t. I just took her by the arm, to stop her getting the dress.”

“Have you any complaint to make, Mrs. Barclay?” asked the officer.

“Not if he will give me the dress back. It doesn’t belong to me, and I don’t want to lose it.”

“Take the dress,” said Barclay, throwing it down.

“Mind you make no more trouble,” said the policeman in a warning voice, as he left the room.

“Where did the cop come from?” asked Barclay.

“He lives in the house.”

“Then I wish he’d move out of it. Cops are no company for decent people.”

It is small wonder that James Barclay did not enjoy the company of a class of men who, first and last, had given him considerable trouble.

His wife did not reply, but picked up the rumpled⁴ dress and began to smooth it.

“Now, Ellen,” said Barclay, changing his tone out of policy, “I’ll make a bargain with you. I want to go over to New York, and hunt up that telegraph boy. Through him I can track my father and get some money. See, this is all I have in the world,” and he drew out four pennies from his pocket.

“But the children, James.”

“The children can get along on half of it. Give me fifty cents, and I will give you ten dollars as soon as I make a raise. That’s pretty good interest, hey, old woman?”

Mrs. Barclay drew from her pocket two silver quarters and handed them to her husband.

“There, take them, James,” she said, “and don’t forget your promise. I made that money by hard work.”

[83]

“It will be all right, Ellen,” said Barclay, thrusting the money carelessly into his vest pocket. “You can’t raise a crop without seed, you know.”

He put on his hat and left the house whistling.

Arrived in New York, James Barclay lost no time in returning to his father’s old lodgings⁵. Mrs. O’Connor, one of the tenants⁶, chanced to be just coming out of the house with a bundle of clean clothes, which she was about to carry to a customer.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” said Barclay, politely, for he could be polite when he saw fit, “I believe you knew an old man who moved away from here recently?”

“Old Jerry? Yes, I knew him well. He lived here ever since I did, and what took him away so sudden I can’t tell.”

“I am sorry not to find him, for I know of something to his advantage.”

“He didn’t leave word where he was going, more’s the pity. I wish he had, for I’d like to have called to see him and the bye some time.”

“There was a boy, then, who lived with him? I believe I have heard him mentioned before.”

“Yes, sir, and a nice bye he was, and a smart one. He was rale kind to the old man, Paul was, and I don’t think old Jerry could have got along without him.”

“He was employed in a store, wasn’t he?” asked Barclay, assuming less knowledge than he possessed⁷.

“No, indade. Paul is a telegraph bye, and has been for ’most two years. He’s a favorite with the company, I’m thinkin’, as he ought to be, for he always attinds to his duties, and is up early and late.”

“So he’s a telegraph boy!” said Barclay, musingly⁸. “I should like to see him, especially as you speak so well of him. He has a number, hasn’t he? I notice the boys have a number on their caps.”

[84]

“Yes, sir. Paul is Number 91.”

“Number 91?” returned Barclay, briskly. “I think I can remember that. I’m much obliged to you, my good lady.”

“Shure, and you’re a very polite gintleman,” said Mrs. O’Connor, who was flattered at being called a lady.

“Why shouldn’t I be polite to a lady like you?” said Barclay. “Perhaps you can give me a little more information.”

“Shure, and I will if I can, sir.”

“At what office can I find this Paul—Number 91, as you call him? I should like to speak to him about my aged⁹ relative.”

“I can’t just recollect¹⁰ the number, sir, but the office where Paul goes is on Broadway, same side as the St. Nicholas Hotel, and not far away from it.”

“Thank you very much. You are really the most obliging lady I have met for a long time.”

“Shure, sir, you flatter me. You must have kissed the blarney stone, I’m a thinkin’!”

“No, ma’am, I haven’t; but I hope I know enough to be polite to a lady. You don’t seem like a stranger to me, for you are the image of a lady I used to know on the other side of the water, the Countess of Galway.”

Mrs. O’Connor smiled and simpered, for she had never before been compared to a countess.

“And can I do any more for you, sir?” she said.

“No, thank you. You have given me all the information I require. Good day!”

As Barclay walked away, Mrs. O’Connor followed him with her eyes.

“He isn’t dressed very nice,” she said to herself, “but in his manners he’s a perfect gintleman. I’d like to see that Countess of Galway, that I look so much like.”

1 intrude   

vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰

参考例句：

• I do not want to intrude if you are busy.如果你忙我就不打扰你了。
• I don't want to intrude on your meeting.我不想打扰你们的会议。

2 pawn   

n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押

参考例句：

• He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
• It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。

3 sullenly   

不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地

参考例句：

• 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢？”汤姆绷着脸说。
• Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完，想不出能找点什么事做，只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。

4 rumpled   

v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She rumpled his hair playfully. 她顽皮地弄乱他的头发。
• The bed was rumpled and strewn with phonograph records. 那张床上凌乱不堪，散放着一些唱片。 来自辞典例句

5 lodgings   

n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍

参考例句：

• When he reached his lodgings the sun had set. 他到达公寓房间时，太阳已下山了。
• I'm on the hunt for lodgings. 我正在寻找住所。

6 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

7 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

8 musingly   

adv.沉思地，冥想地

参考例句：

9 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

10 recollect   

v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得

参考例句：

• He tried to recollect things and drown himself in them.他极力回想过去的事情而沉浸于回忆之中。
• She could not recollect being there.她回想不起曾经到过那儿。