CHAPTER XII. A REAL ESTATE OFFICE.

 About eight o'clock on Monday morning Chester, accompanied by his friend Conrad, turned down Fourteenth Street from Sixth Avenue and kept on till they reached an office over which was the sign:

 

"Clement¹ Fairchild, Real Estate."

 

"This is the place, Chester," said the artist. "I will go in and introduce you."

 

They entered the office. It was of fair size, and contained a high desk, an office table covered with papers, and several chairs. There was but one person in the office, a young man with black whiskers and mustache and an unamiable expression. He sat on a high stool, but he was only reading the morning paper. He turned lazily as he heard the door open, and let his glance rest on Mr. Conrad.

 

"What can I do for you?" he asked, in a careless tone.

 

"Is Mr. Fairchild in?" asked the artist.

 

"No."

 

"When will he be in?"

 

"Can't say, I am sure. If you have any business, I will attend to it."

 

"I have no special business, except to introduce my young friend here."

 

"Indeed!" said the clerk, impudently². "Who is he?"

 

"He is going to work here," returned Mr. Conrad, sharply.

 

"What?" queried³ the bookkeeper, evidently taken by surprise. "Who says he is going to work here?"

 

"Mr. Fairchild."

 

"He didn't say anything to me about it."

 

"Very remarkable⁴, certainly," rejoined Conrad. "I presume you have no objection."

 

"Look here," said the bookkeeper, "I think there is some mistake about this. The place was all but promised to my cousin."

 

"You'll have to settle that matter with your employer. Apparently⁵ he doesn't tell you everything, Mr. ——"

 

"My name is Mullins—David Mullins," said the bookkeeper, with dignity.

 

"Then, Mr. Mullins, I have the pleasure of introducing to you Chester Rand, late of Wyncombe, now of New York, who will be associated with you in the real estate business."

 

"Perhaps so," sneered⁶ Mullins.

 

"He will stay here till Mr. Fairchild makes his appearance."

 

"Oh, he can sit down if he wants to."

 

"I shall have to leave you, Chester, as I must get to work. When Mr. Fairchild comes in, show him this note from me."

 

"All right, sir."

 

Chester was rather chilled by his reception. He saw instinctively⁷ that his relations with Mr. Mullins were not likely to be cordial, and he suspected that if the bookkeeper could get him into trouble he would.

 

After the artist had left the office, Mr. David Mullins leisurely⁸ picked his teeth with his pen-knife, and fixed⁹ a scrutinizing¹⁰ glance on Chester, of whom he was evidently taking the measure.

 

"Do you knew Mr. Fairchild?" he at length asked, abruptly¹¹.

 

"No, sir."

 

"It's queer he should have engaged you as office boy."

 

Chester did not think it necessary to make any reply to this remark.

 

"How much salary do you expect to get?"

 

"Five dollars a week."

 

"Who told you so?"

 

"The gentleman who came in with me."

 

"Who is he?"

 

"Mr. Herbert Conrad, an artist and draughtsman."

 

"Never heard of him."

 

Mr. Mullins spoke¹² as if this was enough to settle the status of Mr. Conrad. A man whom he did not know must be obscure.

 

"So, Mr. Fairchild engaged you through Mr. Conrad, did he?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"Do you know anything about the city?"

 

"Not much."

 

"Then I can't imagine why Mr. Fairchild should have hired you. You can't be of much use here."

 

Chester began to feel discouraged. All this was certainly very depressing.

 

"I shall try to make myself useful," he said.

 

"Oh, yes," sneered Mr. Mullins, "new boys always say that."

 

There was a railing stretching across the office about midway, dividing it into two parts. The table and desk were inside. The remaining space was left for the outside public.

 

A poor woman entered the office, her face bearing the impress of sorrow.

 

"Is Mr. Fairchild in?" she asked.

 

"No, he isn't."

 

"I've come in about the month's rent."

 

"Very well! You can pay it to me. What name?"

 

"Mrs. Carlin, sir."

 

"Ha! yes. Your rent is six dollars. Pass it over, and I will give you a receipt."

 

"But I came to say that I had only three dollars and a half toward it."

 

"And why have you only three dollars and a half, I'd like to know?" said Mullins, rudely.

 

"Because my Jimmy has been sick three days. He's a telegraph boy, and I'm a widow, wid only me bye to help me."

 

"I have nothing to do with the sickness of your son. When you hired your rooms, you agreed to pay the rent, didn't you?"

 

"Yes, sir; but——"

 

"And you didn't say anything about Jimmy being sick or well."

 

"True for you, sir; but——"

 

"I think, Mrs. Carlin, you'll have to get hold of the other two dollars and a half some how, or out you'll go. See?"

 

"Shure, sir, you are very hard with a poor widow," said Mrs. Carlin, wiping her eyes with the corner of her apron¹³.

 

"Business is business, Mrs. Carlin."

 

"If Mr. Fairchild were in, he'd trate me better than you. Will he be in soon?"

 

"Perhaps he will, and perhaps he won't. You can pay the money to me."

 

"I won't, sir, beggin' your pardon. I'd rather wait and see him."

 

"Very well! you can take the consequences," and Mr. Mullins eyed the widow with an unpleasant and threatening glance.

 

She looked very sad, and Chester felt that he should like to give the bookkeeper a good shaking. He could not help despising a man who appeared to enjoy distressing¹⁴ an unfortunate woman whose only crime was poverty.

 

At this moment the office door opened, and a gentleman of perhaps forty entered. He was a man with a kindly¹⁵ face, and looked far less important than the bookkeeper. Mr. Mullins, on seeing him, laid aside his unpleasant manner, and said, in a matter-of-fact tone:

 

"This is Mrs. Carlin. She owes six dollars rent, and only brings three dollars and a half."

 

"How is this, Mrs. Carlin?" inquired Mr. Fairchild, for this was he.

 

Mrs. Carlin repeated her story of Jimmy's illness and her consequent inability to pay the whole rent.

 

"When do you think Jimmy will get well?" asked the agent, kindly.

 

"He's gettin' better fast, sir. I think he'll be able to go to work by Wednesday. If you'll only wait a little while, sir——"

 

"How long have you been paying rent here?" asked Mr. Fairchild.

 

"This is the third year, sir."

 

"And have you ever been in arrears¹⁶ before?"

 

"No, sir."

 

"Then you deserve consideration. Mr. Mullins, give Mrs. Carlin a receipt on account, and she will pay the balance as soon as she can."

 

"Thank you, sir. May the saints reward you, sir! Shure, I told this gentleman that you'd make it all right with me. He was very hard with me."

 

"Mr. Mullins," said the agent, sternly, "I have before now told you that our customers are to be treated with consideration and kindness."

 

David Mullins did not reply, but he dug his pen viciously into the paper on which he was writing a receipt, and scowled¹⁷, but as his back was turned to his employer, the latter did not see it.

 

When Mrs. Carlin had left the office, Chester thought it best to introduce himself.

 

"I am Chester Rand, from Wyncombe," he said. "Mr. Conrad came round to introduce me, but you were not in."

 

"Ah, yes, you have come to be my office boy. I am glad to see you and hope you will like the city. Mr. Mullins, you will set this boy to work."

 

"He told me he was to work here, but as you had not mentioned it I thought there must be some mistake. He says he doesn't know much about the city."

 

"Neither did I when I first came here from a country town."

 

"It will be rather inconvenient¹⁸, sir. Now, my cousin whom I mentioned to you is quite at home all over the city."

 

"I am glad to hear it. He will find this knowledge of service—in some other situation," added Mr. Fairchild, significantly.

 

David Mullins bit his lip and was silent. He could not understand why Felix Gordon, his cousin, had failed to impress Mr. Fairchild favorably. He had not noticed that Felix entered the office with a cigarette in his mouth, which he only threw away when he was introduced to the real estate agent.

 

"I'll have that boy out of this place within a month, or my name isn't David Mullins," he said to himself.

 

Chester could not read what was passing through his mind, but he felt instinctively that the bookkeeper was his enemy.

 

 

1 clement   

adj.仁慈的；温和的

参考例句：

• A clement judge reduced his sentence.一位仁慈的法官为他减了刑。
• The planet's history contains many less stable and clement eras than the holocene.地球的历史包含着许多不如全新世稳定与温和的地质时期。

2 impudently   

参考例句：

• She was his favorite and could speak to him so impudently. 她是他的宠儿，可以那样无礼他说话。 来自教父部分
• He walked into the shop and calmly (ie impudently and self-confidently) stole a pair of gloves. 他走进商店若无其事地偷了一副手套。 来自辞典例句

3 queried   

v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问

参考例句：

• She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事？”琴向觉民问道，她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 sneered   

讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sneered at people who liked pop music. 他嘲笑喜欢流行音乐的人。
• It's very discouraging to be sneered at all the time. 成天受嘲讽是很令人泄气的。

7 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 leisurely   

adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的

参考例句：

• We walked in a leisurely manner,looking in all the windows.我们慢悠悠地走着，看遍所有的橱窗。
• He had a leisurely breakfast and drove cheerfully to work.他从容的吃了早餐，高兴的开车去工作。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 scrutinizing   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His grandfather's stern eyes were scrutinizing him, and Chueh-hui felt his face reddening. 祖父的严厉的眼光射在他的脸上。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• The machine hushed, extraction and injection nozzles poised, scrutinizing its targets. 机器“嘘”地一声静了下来，输入输出管道各就各位，检查着它的目标。 来自互联网

11 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

12 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

14 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

15 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

16 arrears   

n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作

参考例句：

• The payments on that car loan are in arrears by three months.购车贷款的偿付被拖欠了三个月。
• They are urgent for payment of arrears of wages.他们催讨拖欠的工钱。

17 scowled   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scowled his displeasure. 他满脸嗔色。
• The teacher scowled at his noisy class. 老师对他那喧闹的课堂板着脸。

18 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？