Pat had stopped off for a couple of drinks on the way, but his first words: ‘How’ya Duchess?’ failed to set a jovial4 note for the occasion.
‘Well, Mr Hobby,’ she said coolly, ‘it’s nice of you to spare me an afternoon.’
‘We don’t work too hard in Hollywood,’ he assured her. ‘Everything is “Ma?ana”— in Spanish that means tomorrow.’
She led him forthwith into a rear apartment where an easel stood on a square of canvas by the window. There was a couch and they sat down.
‘I want to get used to you for a minute,’ she said. ‘Did you ever pose before?’
‘Do I look that way?’ He winked5, and when she smiled he felt better and asked: ‘You haven’t got a drink around, have you?’
The Princess hesitated. She had wanted him to look as if he needed one. Compromising, she went to the ice box and fixed6 him a small highball. She returned to find that he had taken off his coat and tie and lay informally upon the couch.
‘That is better,’ the Princess said. ‘That shirt you’re wearing. I think they make them for Hollywood — like the special prints they make for Ceylon and Guatemala. Now drink this and we’ll get to work.’
‘Why don’t you have a drink too and make it friendly?’ Pat suggested.
‘I had one in the pantry,’ she lied.
‘Married woman?’ he asked.
‘I have been married. Now would you mind sitting on this stool?’
Reluctantly Pat got up, took down the highball, somewhat thwarted7 by the thin taste, and moved to the stool. ‘Now sit very still,’ she said.
He sat silent as she worked. It was three o’clock. They were running the third race at Santa Anita and he had ten bucks8 on the nose. That made sixty he owed Louie, the studio bookie, and Louie stood determinedly9 beside him at the pay window every Thursday. This dame10 had good legs under the easel — her red lips pleased him and the way her bare arms moved as she worked. Once upon a time he wouldn’t have looked at a woman over twenty-five, unless it was a secretary right in the office with him. But the kids you saw around now were snooty — always talking about calling the police.
‘Please sit still, Mr Hobby.’
‘What say we knock off,’ he suggested. ‘This work makes you thirsty.’
The Princess had been painting half an hour. Now she stopped and stared at him a moment.
‘Mr Hobby, you were loaned me by Mr DeTinc. Why don’t you act just as if you were working over at the studio? I’ll be through in another half-hour.’
‘What do I get out of it?’ he demanded, ‘I’m no poser — I’m a writer.’
‘Your studio salary has not stopped,’ she said, resuming her work. ‘What does it matter if Mr DeTinc wants you to do this?’
‘It’s different. You’re a dame. I’ve got my self-respect to think of.’
‘What do you expect me to do — flirt11 with you?’
‘No — that’s old stuff. But I thought we could sit around and have a drink.’
‘Perhaps later,’ she said, and then, ‘Is this harder work than the studio? Am I so difficult to look at?’
‘I don’t mind looking at you but why couldn’t we sit on the sofa?’
‘You don’t sit on the sofa at the studio.’
‘Sure you do. Listen, if you tried all the doors in the Writers’ Building you’d find a lot of them locked and don’t you forget it.’
She stepped back and squinted12 at him.
‘Locked? To be undisturbed?’ She put down her brush. ‘I’ll get you a drink.’
When she returned she stopped for a moment in the doorway13 — Pat had removed his shirt and stood rather sheepishly in the middle of the floor holding it toward her.
‘Here’s that shirt,’ he said. ‘You can have it. I know where I can get a lot more.’
For a moment longer she regarded him; then she took the shirt and put it on the sofa.
‘Sit down and let me finish,’ she said. As he hesitated she added, ‘Then we’ll have a drink together.’
‘When’ll that be?’
‘Fifteen minutes.’
She worked quickly — several times she was content with the lower face — several times she deliberated and started over. Something that she had seen in the commissary was missing.
‘Been an artist a long time?’ Pat asked.
‘Many years.’
‘Been around artists’ studios a lot?’
‘Quite a lot — I’ve had my own studios.’
‘I guess a lot goes on around those studios. Did you ever —’
He hesitated.
‘Ever what?’ she queried14.
‘Did you ever paint a naked man?’
‘Don’t talk for one minute, please.’ She paused with brush uplifted, seemed to listen, then made a swift stroke and looked doubtfully at the result.
‘Do you know you’re difficult to paint?’ she said, laying down the brush.
‘I don’t like this posing around,’ he admitted. ‘Let’s call it a day.’ He stood up. ‘Why don’t you — why don’t you slip into something so you’ll be comfortable?’
The Princess smiled. She would tell her friends this story — it would sort of go with the picture, if the picture was any good, which she now doubted.
‘You ought to revise your methods,’ she said. ‘Do you have much success with this approach?’
Pat lit a cigarette and sat down.
‘If you were eighteen, see, I’d give you that line about being nuts about you.’
‘But why any line at all?’
‘Oh, come off it!’ he advised her. ‘You wanted to paint me, didn’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, when a dame wants to paint a guy —’ Pat reached down and undid15 his shoe strings16, kicked his shoes onto the floor, put his stockinged feet on the couch. ‘— when a dame wants to see a guy about something or a guy wants to see a dame, there’s a payoff, see.’
The Princess sighed. ‘Well I seem to be trapped,’ she said. ‘But it makes it rather difficult when a dame just wants to paint a guy.’
‘When a dame wants to paint a guy —’ Pat half closed his eyes, nodded and flapped his hands expressively17. As his thumbs went suddenly toward his suspenders, she spoke18 in a louder voice.
‘Officer!’
There was a sound behind Pat. He turned to see a young man in khaki with shining black gloves, standing19 in the door.
‘Officer, this man is an employee of Mr DeTinc’s. Mr DeTinc lent him to me for the afternoon.’
The policeman looked at the staring image of guilt20 upon the couch.
‘Get fresh?’ he inquired.
‘I don’t want to prefer charges — I called the desk to be on the safe side. He was to pose for me in the nude21 and now he refuses.’ She walked casually22 to her easel.’ Mr Hobby, why don’t you stop this mock-modesty — you’ll find a turkish towel in the bathroom.’
Pat reached stupidly for his shoes. Somehow it flashed into his mind that they were running the eighth race at Santa Anita —
‘Shake it up, you,’ said the cop. ‘You heard what the lady said.’
Pat stood up vaguely23 and fixed a long poignant24 look on the Princess.
‘You told me —’ he said hoarsely25, ‘you wanted to paint —’
‘You told me I meant something else. Hurry please. And officer, there’s a drink in the pantry.’
. . . A few minutes later as Pat sat shivering in the centre of the room his memory went back to those peep-shows of his youth — though at the moment he could see little resemblance. He was grateful at least for the turkish towel, even now failing to realize that the Princess was not interested in his shattered frame but in his face.
It wore the exact expression that had wooed her in the commissary, the expression of Hollywood and Vine, the other self of Mr DeTinc — and she worked fast while there was still light enough to paint by.
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1
reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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2
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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3
bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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4
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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5
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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6
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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7
thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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8
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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9
determinedly
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| adv.决意地；坚决地，坚定地 | |
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10
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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11
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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12
squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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13
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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14
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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15
Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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16
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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17
expressively
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| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
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18
spoke
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| 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 | |
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19
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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20
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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21
nude
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| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
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22
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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23
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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24
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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25
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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