But hunger at last began to tell upon her, and she[48] eagerly hailed a boy who passed through the train with a basket of sandwiches on his arm.
She looked at the coins she still held loosely in her hand, and found to her dismay that, with the exception of two pieces of silver, she held a handful of gold dollars.
"His pocket-pieces," she sobbed6. "Oh, if I had known that, I would have refused to take them; but—but I will work and earn money, and—and pay him back double their value. Poor fellow—poor fellow!" and she laid her face on the window-sill, sobbing7 as though her heart would break.
Suddenly she heard a voice in the seat back of her say:
"You seem very much distressed8, poor girl. Is there any way in which I can serve you?"
The deep, musical voice was so kind, so humane9, so sympathetic, that Ida May turned around with a start to see who it was who had asked the question.
She saw directly back of her a fair, handsome young man who had evidently just entered the car, and who was depositing his grip-sack and umbrella in the rack above his head.
At the first glance a faint shriek10 broke from her lips. She was just about to cry out, "Royal Ainsley—great Heaven!—do we meet again?" when she saw her error in time. Although bearing a certain resemblance to the lover who had so cruelly betrayed her, a second glance told her it was not him.
It was a moment ere she recovered herself sufficiently11 to answer, then she faltered12, piteously:
"I am in sorrow, sir, so great that I do not think[49] any young girl but me could ever pass through it—and live."
"I do not wish to pry13 into your private affairs," said the young man, courteously14, "but I wish to repeat, if you will tell me what troubles you, and I can be of service to you, I shall be only too pleased. Although a stranger, you will find me worthy15 of your confidence, my poor child!"
There was something about the handsome, kindly16, blue-eyed young man that caused Ida May's heart to go out to him at once. His was a face that women always trusted, and no one had ever had cause to regret it.
"I am going to New York in search of work," faltered the girl, clasping her little hands closely together.
"That is certainly reason enough to weep," he replied earnestly. "May I ask if you have friends there to whom you are going until you can find employment?"
Ida May shook her head, her breast heaved, her white lips quivered, while great tears welled up to the great dark eyes, so like purple velvet17 pansies drowned in rain.
"I have no friends—no one. I am all alone in the world, sir," she sobbed. "My mother is dead—dead. I have just left her grave. She and I were all in all to each other; now she is gone, and I—Oh, only the angels know that no sorrow is so bleak18, so pitiful, so awful, as to be all alone in the world."
"I can understand the situation perfectly," he answered in a low voice, "and I can pity you. Although not quite alone in the world myself, I am almost as badly off. But to return to yourself: I may be able[50] to serve you. What kind of employment were you intending to search for? In some store, or dress-making or millinery establishment?" he queried19.
She looked blankly up into his fair, handsome, earnest face.
"I do not know how to do anything of that kind," she answered, simply. "I thought perhaps I might find employment in some telegraph office."
"Why, yes, indeed. I wonder that that idea did not occur to me before. A friend of mine is superintendent20 of a large branch of the Western union, up Broadway. I will give you a note to him, and I have no doubt he will do all in his power to aid you, providing he has a vacancy21."
"Oh, thank you a thousand times, sir," cried Ida May, thankfully; "I shall be so grateful—oh, so very grateful!"
"Mind, it is not a certainty, you know," admonished23 the stranger earnestly; "I can only write the letter. But that is not assuring you of a situation—we can only hope for it."
He tore out a leaf from his memorandum24, and taking a gold pencil from his vest pocket, hastily jotted25 down a few lines upon it.
"I am sorry I am not going through to New York; otherwise I would take you there myself," he said, courteously, as he folded up the note and handed it to her.
At that moment his station was reached. He had barely time to touch his hat to her, gather up his parcels, and alight, ere the train moved out again. The young man looked after it and the sweet, tearful young[51] face pressed against one of the windows until it was out of sight.
"By all that is wonderful!" he ejaculated in a very troubled voice, "I am almost positive that I forgot to sign my name to that note, and it was written so badly on that jolting26 car, Ernscourt won't be able to make it out or know whose writing it is. Poor little girl! I hope she will find a position there. What a terrible thing it is to be young and desolate27 in the great wicked city of New York! She is so young, guileless and innocent, I hope no ill will befall her. I must remember to look up my friend Ernscourt to learn if he gave her a position or not. I declare, if it were not that I am betrothed28 to the sweetest girl in all the world, I am afraid I should commit the desperate folly29 of falling in love with that beautiful, dark-eyed little stranger. Now that I think of it, it did not occur to me to even ask her name or where she was from."
His reverie was somewhat rudely interrupted by a hearty30 slap on the shoulder and a hearty voice calling out gayly:
"Why, Royal, how are you, old fellow? What, in the name of all that's amazing, brings you to Yonkers?"
"Why, Hal, is this you?" cried the other, in astonishment31 and delight. "This is an additional pleasure, meeting my old college chum fully22 a thousand miles from where I would never have imagined finding him. But a word in your ear, my dear boy: It's two years since you and I parted at college, old fellow, and a great deal has happened in that time. We will walk up the street while I inform you."
"With the greatest of pleasure, Royal," returned his companion.
[52]
"Tut! tut! Don't call me Royal—Royal Ainsley. I'm that no longer, you know—no, I suppose you don't know; but that's exactly what I want to talk to you about."
"I am too astonished for utterance," declared his friend.
"Why, the explanation is certainly simple enough," declared the other, with a good-natured, mellow32 little laugh; adding: "Why, you, my college chum, knew what many another friend of mine does not know, namely, that there are two Royal Ainsleys, or, rather, there was up to the present year. It's a bit of secret family history; but I am obliged to take you into my confidence, in order that you may fully understand my most peculiar33 position. Two brothers, who were almost enemies born, married about the same time, and to each of the gentlemen—namely, my uncle and my father, was born a son—my cousin and myself.
"These gentlemen had an eccentric elder brother who had money to burn, as the saying is, and what should each of these younger brothers do but name their sons after the wealthy old Royal Ainsley, if you please, each hoping that his son would be the old uncle's heir.
"A pretty mess these two belligerent34 gentlemen made of the affair, I assure you. Two Royal Ainsleys, each resembling the other to an unpleasantly startling degree, of almost the same age, being born scarcely a week apart.
"We were constantly getting into all manner of scrapes, a case of being continually taken for the fellow that looks like me, as the song goes. Each disputed with the other the right to bear the name, and neither would put a handle to it or do anything to cause it to[53] differ in any way from the cognomen35 of the famous old uncle, who was certainly quite as bewildered as any one else.
"As we two lads grew older, I took to books, my cousin to sports and the pretty faces of girls. When his folks died and he was left to follow the bent36 of his own inclination37, in spite of my earnest admonition and my uncle's combined, he jumped the traces of home restraint altogether, and started out to see life on his own hook. The last I heard of him he was with some distant relative, clerking in a New York importing house.
"Now for my side of the story. From the hour he defied uncle and shook off his restraint, old Royal Ainsley's hatred38 of him grew so bitter we dared not mention my wayward cousin, Royal Ainsley, in his presence. My uncle actually forced me to change my name through legislative39 enactment40 to make it legal. He insisted upon naming me Eugene Mallard, declaring that my cousin would be sure to disgrace the name of Royal Ainsley through the length and breadth of the land before he stopped in his mad downward career.
"Well, to make a long story short, my uncle sent me to Europe on business for him, and his sudden death brought me hurriedly home this week, to find that he has left me his entire fortune, with the proviso that not one dollar shall ever go to my cousin, who, in all probability, does not yet know of his sad plight41.
"Now, last but by no means least, on the steamer coming back from London I met a beautiful young girl, Miss Hildegarde Cramer. It was a case of love at first sight between us. You know I'm a very impulsive42 fellow. I proposed, and she accepted me on the[54] spot; but mind, she knows me as Eugene Mallard, and so she shall know me to the end of her sweet life, bless her.
"Now you know the whole story. Mind, I'm not Royal Ainsley, but, instead, Eugene Mallard, at your service.
"Hildegarde is visiting in Yonkers, so I ran up to see my sweetheart. Sounds like a romance or a comedy, doesn't it?"
"I hope there will be no tinge43 of tragedy in it," laughed his friend, thoughtlessly.
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1
cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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8
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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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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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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memorandum
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| n.备忘录，便笺 | |
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jotted
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| v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下 | |
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jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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28
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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32
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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belligerent
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| adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者 | |
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cognomen
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| n.姓；绰号 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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37
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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38
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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39
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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40
enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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41
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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42
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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43
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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