CHAPTER V. NELSON SPEAKS HIS MIND.

 Locking the front door to the lunch-room, Pepper came to the rear of the place, poured himself a glass of liquor and tossed it off, and then sank in a chair by the last table.

 

"Sit down, Nelson," he said.

 

The boy sat down and gazed curiously¹ at the man before him. Instinctively² he realized that a crisis in his life was approaching. He felt that the old life was speedily to become a thing of the past.

 

"Nelson, aint you often wondered who you was?" went on Pepper.

 

"To be sure I have!" cried the boy. "But you will never tell me anything," he added bitterly.

 

"Well, I kept the secret for your own good, my boy."

 

"How?"

 

"When I came to New York and settled on the East Side I made up my mind to lead an honest[Pg 36] life and bring you up honestly. I did it, too; didn't I?"

 

"So far as I know, yes."

 

"I did it, but it was hard scratching, and you know it. Many were the times I didn't know how to turn myself, and if it hadn't been for some friends helping³ me, I would have gone under. Those friends were the only ones I ever knew. They weren't honest, but—well, we'll let that pass. They helped me, and I aint going back on 'em."

 

"But what about me?"

 

"I'm coming to that, Nelson. As I said before, I wanted to bring you up honestly; for your mother was honest, even if your father wasn't."

 

"My father!" ejaculated the newsboy. "What was he?"

 

"He was a good-hearted man, Nelson—a fine-hearted man, who did lots of good."

 

"But you said he wasn't honest."

 

"No, he wasn't, if you must know. He was a burglar, and made his living by taking from the rich what they didn't deserve to have. He was my friend, and he was one of the men who helped me when I lost all I had at the yacht races."

 

"But—but I don't understand," faltered⁴ Nelson. "What was his name?"

 

"I can't tell you that."

 

"Is he dead?"

 

[Pg 37]

 

"Yes; he died when you was a little kid not more than three years old. We both lived in another city then—I won't tell you where. Your father was shot while entering a house to rob a man who had once robbed him when he was in business. Your father died in a hospital, and I was with him. Your mother was dead, and he didn't know what to do with you. I said I'd take you, and he made me promise to go to sea first and then to another city and bring you up the best I could. He didn't want you to know your name, and so I got to calling you Nelson after the English admiral, and you can sign yourself Nelson Pepper after this, if you want to."

 

"Then you won't tell me where I came from?"

 

"No; excepting that it was a good many miles from here. It wouldn't do any good to rake up old scores. If your father hadn't died of the shot, he would have been sent to prison for ten or fifteen years."

 

"What was the name of the man who shot him?"

 

"It won't do you any good to know that, either—he's dead and gone, too."

 

There was a pause, and the newsboy gave something like an inward groan⁵. The revelation that Pepper had made was truly a shocking one, and the boy was so dazed and bewildered he could[Pg 38] scarcely think. His father a burglar, and shot down while in the act of committing a robbery! What a degradation⁶!

 

"I've told you all this for a purpose," went on the man. "Now I've got some more to tell you, if you'll promise to keep your mouth shut."

 

"What else is there?"

 

"Will you keep silent if I tell you?"

 

"Yes."

 

"And do you promise not to say a word of what I have just told you?"

 

"Why should I—it wouldn't be anything to my credit," answered Nelson.

 

"But I want you to promise."

 

"All right; I promise."

 

"That's good. I know if you give your word you'll keep it. Now, I've got a plan in my head to square accounts, so to speak, and git rich at the same time."

 

"What plan?"

 

"Well, you see, it's like this: There's a rich gent lives up near Central Park. I won't give you his name, but I don't mind telling you that he's a distant relative of the fellow who shot your father, and he used to help that other man in his dealings against your father. I don't know as he remembers your father now, but he's a man you ought to get square on, anyway."

 

[Pg 39]

 

"How?"

 

"I'm coming to that, my boy. This man is old and feeble and has something of an office in his library at home. There is a safe in the library, but it's old-fashioned and can easily be opened. In that safe the old man keeps thousands of dollars all the time, for it's too much for him to go back and forth⁷ to the bank, and he aint the one to trust anybody else."

 

Sam Pepper paused suggestively and looked Nelson full in the eyes. Then he began to whistle softly to himself.

 

"Do you mean that you think I ought to rob that safe?" questioned our hero.

 

"You won't have to do the job alone, lad; I'll be on hand to help you."

 

"But I—I never stole anything in my life."

 

"It won't be stealing, exactly. That man owes you something. If it hadn't been for him and his relative your father might have been rich and never got into any burglary. I have looked the ground over, and the job will be dead easy. There is a back alley⁸ and an iron fence that both of us can climb over without half trying. Then I can git a diamond cutter for the window glass, and the rest will be just as easy as wink⁹."

 

"And if you are caught, what then?"

 

"We won't git caught, Nelson. The old man[Pg 40] has only a niece living with him, a girl of seventeen or eighteen, and an old housekeeper¹⁰ who is half deaf. The rest of the help comes in the morning and leaves after supper."

 

There was another pause. Nelson sank beside the table, with his face in his hands. Suddenly he looked at Sam Pepper again.

 

"Did you say that man had robbed my father—I mean the man who shot him?"

 

"Sure he did, Nelson."

 

"Then perhaps my father wasn't a burglar, after all. Perhaps he was entering the house to get evidence against the man."

 

"No, he went in to—er—well, to steal, if you must have it straight."

 

"Sam Pepper, I don't believe you!"

 

"Nelson!"

 

"I don't believe you, so there! You won't tell me my name, or where I came from, or anything, and you are only trying to make out my father was a thief so as to get me to turn thief, too."

 

"I've told you the truth, lad."

 

"And I repeat I don't believe you. What is more, I won't help you in your plans of robbery. I've been honest so far, and I mean to remain honest. You ought to be ashamed of yourself for trying to make me a thief."

 

The newsboy had risen to his feet and, as he[Pg 41] spoke¹¹, his face glowed with earnestness. Now Sam Pepper sprang up, his features full of baffled passion.

 

"How dare you talk to me, you miserable¹² pup?" he roared. "I've a good mind to thrash you well for this! Haven't I clothed and fed you for years? And this is what I git for it! I've told you the truth about yourself, only I didn't paint your father as black as I might, not wishing to hurt your feelings. He was a burglar, and before he was shot he served two sentences in prison."

 

"I don't believe it—and I never will," retorted Nelson, but with quivering lips. "Where was this? Tell me, and I'll soon find out if it is true."

 

"I won't tell you a thing more—unless you promise to help me as you should."

 

"I won't help you—and that's the end of it."

 

"You owe me something for keeping you all these years."

 

"I don't believe you would have kept me if you weren't paid for it."

 

"I never received a cent—not a penny. You've got to pay me back somehow."

 

"Well, I am not going to do it by stealing," answered Nelson doggedly¹³.

 

"Then how are you going to do it?"

 

"I don't know yet."

 

[Pg 42]

 

"I'm going to give this place up soon, and of course the living rooms will go, too."

 

"I can find another place to live."

 

"You want to git out of paying me that five dollars a week, don't you?" sneered¹⁴ Pepper.

 

"I can't pay five dollars. But I'll pay what I can. How much do you think I owe you?"

 

"A good deal—seeing that I've kept you ten years or longer."

 

"Didn't my father leave anything?"

 

"About forty dollars—not enough to keep you three months."

 

"He hadn't any property?"

 

"Nothing."

 

"Well, as I said before, I'll do what I can—when I am able."

 

"And you won't help me to——" Pepper paused.

 

"I won't steal—I'll starve first," returned Nelson, and taking up his hat, he unlocked the door, and walked away from the lunch-room.

1 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

2 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》

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

5 groan   

vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音

参考例句：

• The wounded man uttered a groan.那个受伤的人发出呻吟。
• The people groan under the burden of taxes.人民在重税下痛苦呻吟。

6 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

9 wink   

n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁

参考例句：

• He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
• The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间，那颗卫星就消失了。

10 housekeeper   

n.管理家务的主妇，女管家

参考例句：

• A spotless stove told us that his mother is a diligent housekeeper.炉子清洁无瑕就表明他母亲是个勤劳的主妇。
• She is an economical housekeeper and feeds her family cheaply.她节约持家，一家人吃得很省。

11 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。

12 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

13 doggedly   

adv.顽强地，固执地

参考例句：

• He was still doggedly pursuing his studies.他仍然顽强地进行着自己的研究。
• He trudged doggedly on until he reached the flat.他顽强地、步履艰难地走着，一直走回了公寓。

14 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。