CHAPTER IV. THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE.

 When the superintendent¹ accepted Captain Rushton's money, he did not intend to act dishonestly. He hailed it as a present relief, though he supposed he should have to repay it some time. His accounts being found correct, he went on with his speculations². In these he met with varying success. But on the whole he found himself no richer, while he was kept in a constant fever of anxiety.

 

After some months, he met Mrs. Rushton in the street one day.

 

"Have you heard from your husband, Mrs. Rushton?" he inquired.

 

"No, Mr. Davis, not yet. I am beginning to feel anxious."

 

"How long has he been gone?"

 

"Between seven and eight months."

 

"The voyage is a long one. There are many ways of accounting³ for his silence."

 

"He would send by some passing ship. He has been to Calcutta before, but I have never had to wait so long for a letter."

 

The superintendent uttered some commonplace phrases of assurance, but in his own heart there sprang up a wicked hope that the Norman would never reach port, and that he might never set eyes on Captain Rushton again. For in that case, he reflected, it would be perfectly⁴ safe for him to retain possession of the money with which he had been intrusted. The captain had assured him that neither his wife nor son knew aught of his savings⁵. Who then could detect his crime? However, it was not yet certain that the Norman was lost. He might yet have to repay the money.

 

Six months more passed, and still no tidings of the ship or its commander. Even the most sanguine⁶ now gave her up for lost, including the owners. The superintendent called upon them, ostensibly in behalf of Mrs. Rushton, and learned that they had but slender hopes of her safety. It was a wicked thing to rejoice over such a calamity⁷, but his affairs were now so entangled⁸ that a sudden demand for the five thousand dollars would have ruined him. He made up his mind to say nothing of the special deposit, though he knew the loss of it would leave the captain's family in the deepest poverty. To soothe⁹ his conscience—for he was wholly destitute¹⁰ of one—he received Robert into the factory, and the boy's wages, as we already know, constituted their main support.

 

Such was the state of things at the commencement of our story.

 

When the superintendent reached home in the evening, he was at once assailed¹¹ by his wife and son, who gave a highly colored account of the insult which Halbert had received from Robert Rushton.

 

"Did he have any reason for striking you, Halbert?" asked the superintendent.

 

"No," answered Halbert, unblushingly. "He's an impudent¹² young scoundrel, and puts on as many airs as if he were a prince instead of a beggar."

 

"He is not a beggar."

 

"He is a low factory boy, and that is about the same."

 

"By no means. He earns his living by honest industry."

 

"It appears to me," put in Mrs. Davis, "that you are taking the part of this boy who has insulted your son in such an outrageous¹³ manner."

 

"How am I doing it? I am only saying he is not a beggar."

 

"He is far below Halbert in position, and that is the principal thing."

 

It occurred to the superintendent that should he make restitution¹⁴ Robert Rushton would be quite as well off as his own son, but of course he could not venture to breathe a hint of this to his wife. It was the secret knowledge of the deep wrong which he had done to the Rushtons that now made him unwilling¹⁵ to oppress him further.

 

"It seems to me," he said, "you are making too much of this matter. It is only a boyish quarrel."

 

"A boyish quarrel!" retorted Mrs. Davis, indignantly. "You have a singular way of standing¹⁶ by your son, Mr. Davis. A low fellow insults and abuses him, and you exert yourself to mate excuses for him."

 

"You misapprehend me, my dear."

 

"Don't 'my dear' me," said the exasperated¹⁷ lady. "I thought you would be as angry as I am, but you seem to take the whole thing very coolly, upon my word!"

 

Mrs. Davis had a sharp temper and a sharp tongue, and her husband stood considerably¹⁸ in awe¹⁹ of both. He had more than once been compelled to yield to them, and he saw that he must make some concession²⁰ to order to keep the peace.

 

"Well, what do you want me to do?" he asked.

 

"Want you to do! I should think that was plain enough."

 

"I will send for the boy and reprimand him."

 

"Reprimand him!" repeated the lady, contemptuously. "And what do you think he will care for that?"

 

"More than you think, perhaps."

 

"Stuff and nonsense! He'll be insulting Halbert again to-morrow."

 

"I am not so sure that Halbert is not in fault in some way."

 

"Of course, you are ready to side with a stranger against your own son."

 

"What do you want me to do?" asked the superintendent, submissively.

 

"Discharge the boy from your employment," said his wife, promptly²¹.

 

"But how can he and his mother live?—they depend on his wages."

 

"That is their affair. He ought to have thought of that before he raised his hand against Halbert."

 

"I cannot do what you wish," said the superintendent, with some firmness, for he felt that it would indeed be a piece of meanness to eject from the factory the boy whom he had already so deeply wronged; "but I will send for young Rushton and require him to apologize to Halbert."

 

"And if he won't do it?" demanded Halbert.

 

"Then I will send him away."

 

"Will you promise that, father?" asked Halbert, eagerly.

 

"Yes," said Mr. Davis, rather reluctantly.

 

"All right!" thought Halbert; "I am satisfied; for I know he never will consent to apologize."

 

Halbert had good reason for this opinion, knowing, as he did, that he had struck the first blow, a circumstance he had carefully concealed²² from his father. Under the circumstances he knew very well that his father would be called upon to redeem²³ his promise.

 

The next morning, at the regular hour, our hero went to the factory, and taking his usual place, set to work. An hour passed, and nothing was said to him. He began to think that Halbert, feeling that he was the aggressor, had resolved to let the matter drop.

 

But he was speedily undeceived.

 

At a quarter after eight the superintendent made his appearance, and after a brief inspection²⁴ of the work, retired²⁵ to his private office. Ten minutes later, the foreman of the room in which he was employed came up to Robert and touched him on the shoulder.

 

"Mr. Davis wishes to see you in his office," he said.

 

"Now for it!" thought Robert, as he left his work and made his way, through the deafening²⁶ clamor of the machinery²⁷, to the superintendent's room.

1 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

2 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》

3 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

6 sanguine   

adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的

参考例句：

• He has a sanguine attitude to life.他对于人生有乐观的看法。
• He is not very sanguine about our chances of success.他对我们成功的机会不太乐观。

7 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

8 entangled   

adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The bird had become entangled in the wire netting. 那只小鸟被铁丝网缠住了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 soothe   

v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承

参考例句：

• I've managed to soothe him down a bit.我想方设法使他平静了一点。
• This medicine should soothe your sore throat.这种药会减轻你的喉痛。

10 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

11 assailed   

v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对

参考例句：

• He was assailed with fierce blows to the head. 他的头遭到猛烈殴打。
• He has been assailed by bad breaks all these years. 这些年来他接二连三地倒霉。 来自《用法词典》

12 impudent   

adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的

参考例句：

• She's tolerant toward those impudent colleagues.她对那些无礼的同事采取容忍的态度。
• The teacher threatened to kick the impudent pupil out of the room.老师威胁着要把这无礼的小学生撵出教室。

13 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

14 restitution   

n.赔偿；恢复原状

参考例句：

• It's only fair that those who do the damage should make restitution.损坏东西的人应负责赔偿，这是再公平不过的了。
• The victims are demanding full restitution.受害人要求全额赔偿。

15 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 exasperated   

adj.恼怒的

参考例句：

• We were exasperated at his ill behaviour. 我们对他的恶劣行为感到非常恼怒。
• Constant interruption of his work exasperated him. 对他工作不断的干扰使他恼怒。

18 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

19 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

20 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

21 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

22 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

23 redeem   

v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等）

参考例句：

• He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
• The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。

24 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

25 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

26 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

27 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。