The character of Robert Ford1 may be divined without much difficulty from the glimpses which have already been given. He was an amiable2 man, but strikingly deficient3 in those practical traits which usually mark our countrymen and command success even under the most unpromising circumstances. He was not a man to succeed in business, nor suited for the rough jostling with the world which business men must expect. He ought rather to have been a quiet scholar, and dreamed away long days in his library,—“the world forgetting, by the world forgot.” Such would have been his choice if his circumstances had been easy. Under the pressure of necessity he had turned aside from the ordinary paths of money-making to devote himself to a chimerical4 plan by which he hoped to attain5 wealth and distinction.
No man of a well balanced mind would have labored7 with such sanguine8 expectations of success on a project so uncertain as the invention of a flying machine. But Mr. Ford had not a well balanced mind. He was much given to theorizing, and, like many amiable but obstinate9 persons, it was as difficult to dislodge from his mind a purpose which had once gained entrance there as to convert him by some miraculous10 transformation11 into a sharp man of the world. Had he lived in the middle ages it is very probable that his tastes and the habits of his mind would have led him to devote himself to alchemy, or some other recondite12 science, which 17would have consumed his time and money without any adequate return.
We will now suppose three months to have elapsed since the events recorded in our first chapter; three months in which the flowers of June had been exchanged for the fruits of September, and the mellow13 beauty of autumn had succeeded the glory of early summer.
During this time Helen has become an established favorite with all the inmates14 except M’lle Fanchette, who yet, finding the tide of general opinion against her, is content with privately15 stigmatizing16 the child as an “upstart,” and a “forward hussy,” though in truth it would be difficult to imagine anything more modest or retiring than her conduct. She and her father still occupy the little room in the fourth story back. Nothing has come of Mr. Ford’s invention yet, though he has filled the room with strange, out-of-the-way appliances, wheels, and bits of machinery17, on which he labors18 day after day in the construction of his proposed flying machine. His repeated failures have little effect in damping his spirits. He has the true spirit of a discoverer, and is as sanguine as ever of ultimate success. He has learned the difficult lesson of patience.
“With such an end in view,” he sometimes exclaims with enthusiasm, half to himself, half to Helen, “what matter a few months or years! Rome was not built in a day, nor is it to be expected that a discovery which is to affect the whole world in its consequences, should be the result of a few hours’ or days’ labor6.”
Helen, whose veneration19 for her father is unbounded, listens with the fullest confidence, to his repeated assurances. It pains her to find that others are more skeptical20. Even Mother Morton who, though some find her rough, is invariably kind to Helen, looks upon the father as a visionary, since she has discovered the nature of his labors. She one 18day intimated this to Helen. It was some time before the latter could understand that a doubt was entertained as to her father’s success, and when the conviction came slowly, it brought such an expression of pain to her face, that the landlady21 resolved never in future to venture upon an allusion22 which should grieve the child, whom she could not but love the better for her filial trust and confidence.
Meanwhile the rent of the apartment which they occupy, and the cost of living, simple as is their fare, have sensibly diminished their scanty23 supply of money. This Helen, who is the steward24 and treasurer25, cannot help seeing, and she succeeds in obtaining work from the slop-shops. Her father does not at first discover this. One day, however, he said abruptly26, as if the idea had for the first time occurred to him, “Helen, you always seem to be sewing, lately.”
The child cast down her eyes in some embarrassment27.
“You cannot be sewing so much for yourself,” continued her father. “Why, what is this?” taking a boy’s vest from her reluctant fingers. “Surely, this is not yours.”
“No, papa,” answered Helen, laughing; “you don’t think I have turned Bloomer, do you?”
“Then what does it mean?” questioned her father, in real perplexity.
“Only this, papa, that being quite tired of sitting idle, and having done all my own sewing, I thought I might as well fill up the time, and earn some money at the same time by working for other people. Is that satisfactory?” she concluded, playfully.
“Surely this was not necessary,” said Mr. Ford, with pain. “Are we then so poor?”
“Do not be troubled, papa,” said Helen, cheerfully. “We could get along very well without it; but I wanted something to do, and it gives me some pocket-money for myself. You must know that I am getting extravagant28.”
19“Is that all?” said her father, in a tone of relief, the shadow passing from his face. “I am glad of it. I could not bear to think of my little Helen being compelled to work. Some day,” passing his hands fondly over her luxuriant curls; “some day she shall have plenty of money.”
This thought incited29 him to fresh activity, and with new zeal30 he turned to the odd jumble31 of machinery in the corner.
The evening meal was studiously simple and frugal32, though Helen could not resist the temptation of now and then purchasing some little delicacy33 for her father. He was so abstracted that he gave little heed34 to what was set before him, and never noticed that Helen always abstained35 from tasting any luxury thus procured36, confining herself strictly37 to the usual frugal fare.
After tea it was the custom for father and daughter to walk out, sometimes in one direction sometimes in another. Often they would walk up Broadway, and Helen, at least, found amusement in watching the shifting scenes which present themselves to the beholder38 in that crowded thoroughfare. Life in all its varieties, from pampered39 wealth to squalid poverty, too often the fruit of a mis-spent life jostled each other upon the sidewalk, or in the street. The splendid equipage dashes past the humble40 handcart; the dashing buggy jostles against the loaded dray. Broadway is no exclusive thoroughfare. In the shadow of the magnificent hotel leans the foreign beggar, just landed on our shores, and there is no one to bid him “move on.” The shop windows, too, are a free “World’s Fair Exhibition,” constantly changing, never exhausted41. Helen and her father had just returned from a leisurely42 walk, taken at the close of a day of labor and confinement43, and paused to rest for a moment on the west side of the Park.
While they were standing44 there, a handsome carriage drove past. Within were two gentlemen. One was already 20well advanced in years, as his gray hairs and wrinkled face made apparent. He wore an expression of indefinable sorrow and weariness, as if life had long ago ceased to have charms for him. His companion might be somewhat under forty. He was tall and spare, with a dark, forbidding face, which repelled45 rather than attracted the beholder.
As the carriage neared the Park, the elder of the two looked out to rest his gaze, wearied with the sight of brick and stone, upon the verdure of this inclosure. This, be it remembered, was twenty years since, before the Park had so completely lost its fresh country look. He chanced to see Mr. Ford and Helen. He started suddenly in visible agitation46.
“Look, Lewis!” he exclaimed, clutching the arm of his companion, and pointing to Mr. Ford.
The younger man started almost imperceptibly, and his face paled, but he almost instantly recovered himself.
“Yes,” he said, carelessly; “the Park is looking well.”
“Not that, not that,” said the old man, hurriedly. “That man with the little girl. He is,—he must be Robert, my long-lost son. Stop the carriage. I must get out.”
“My dear uncle,” expostulated the younger man, who had been addressed as Lewis, “you are laboring47 under a strange hallucination. This man does not in the least resemble my cousin. Besides, you remember that we have undoubted proof of his death in Chicago two years since.”
“You may be right,” said the old man, as he sank back into his seat with a sigh, “but the resemblance was wonderful.”
“But, uncle, let me suggest that more than fifteen years have passed away since my cousin left home, and even if he were living, he must have changed so much that we could not expect to recognize him.”
“Perhaps you are right, Lewis; and yet, when I looked at 21that man, I was startled by a look that brought before me my dead wife,—my precious Helen. I fear I have dealt harshly with her boy.”
He relapsed into a silence which his companion did not care to disturb. He watched guardedly the expression of the old man, and a close observer might have detected a shade of anxiety, as if there were something connected with his uncle’s present mood which alarmed him. After a short scrutiny48 he himself fell into thought, and as we are privileged to read what is concealed49 from all else, we will give the substance of his reflections.
“Here is a new danger to be guarded against, just at the most critical time, too. Shall I never attain the object of my wishes? Shall I never be paid for the years in which I have danced attendance upon my uncle? I must succeed by whatever means. He cannot last much longer.”
The evident weakness of his uncle seemed to justify50 his prediction. He looked like one whose feet are drawing very near the brink51 of that mysterious river which it is appointed to all of us at some time to cross.
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1
Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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chimerical
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| adj.荒诞不经的，梦幻的 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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6
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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recondite
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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14
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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stigmatizing
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| v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的现在分词 ) | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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skeptical
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| adj.怀疑的，多疑的 | |
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landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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31
jumble
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| vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆 | |
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32
frugal
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| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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35
abstained
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| v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票） | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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39
pampered
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| adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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41
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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42
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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43
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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44
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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45
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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46
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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47
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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48
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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49
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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50
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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51
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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