There are individuals in every community, too, who are bold enough to mention a delicate topic even to those most sensitively concerned, and as old Walton was going to the bank on the morning in question Bailey Thornton, a man of great size, who kept a grocery where the banker bought his supplies, essayed a jest as he passed the old man’s morning cigar to him over the showcase. The bystanders thoroughly5 understood what was meant, as was evinced by the hearty6 laugh which went round, but the old man didn’t.
“Don’t be hard on the boy, Mr. Walton,” Thornton added, and he smiled broadly enough to explain any ordinary innuendo7. “Remember your own young days. I’ll bet Fred came by it honestly. The whole town knows the truth; there is no good in trying to hide it. Tell him it is all right, and make him come back home.”
Old Simon grunted8 and walked on, flushing under the irritating chorus of laughter which followed him out of the store. “Come by it honestly!” he repeated. “What could the meddling9 fool mean? The whole town knows the truth!”
He fell to quivering, and almost came to a dead halt in the street. Surely the circumstance of the bank’s loss was not leaking out, after all his caution? He decided10 that he would at once sound Toby Lassiter. Perhaps Fred had confided11 in others. The bare chance of the shortage being known and used against him by the rival bank alarmed him. In fancy he saw the report growing and spreading through the town and country till an army of half-crazed depositors, egged on by his enemies, was clamoring at the door, and demanding funds which had been put out on collateral12 security, and could not be drawn13 in at a moment’s notice.
As he was passing along the corridor by the counting-room, where, beyond the green wire grating, the bookkeepers were at work, he caught Lassiter’s glance, and with a wild glare in his eyes he nodded peremptorily14 toward the rear. He had just hung up his old slouch hat and seated himself in his chair when the clerk joined him, a look of wonder in his mild eyes.
“Say, Toby, sit down—no, shut the door!” Simon ordered; and when the clerk had obeyed and taken a chair near the desk, the banker leaned toward him.
“I want to know,” he panted, “if the report is out about Fred’s shortage?”
“Why, no, Mr. Walton,” the clerk said, astonished in his turn; “that is, not to my knowledge. I haven’t heard a word that would indicate such a thing. In fact, they all seem so busy with—” But Lassiter colored deeply, and suddenly checked himself.
“Well, something is in the wind, I know,” Simon went on, his lip quivering. “It may be that Thornton only had reference to the boy’s general extravagance, or he may have heard false reports about my own bringing-up; but I am not sure, Toby, but that the thing we are trying to hide is out.” Thereupon old Simon, his anxious eyes fixed15 on the face of his clerk, recounted in detail all that the grocer had said, and exactly how it had come up.
“Oh, I see!” Lassiter exclaimed, in a tone of relief. “He didn’t refer to the money, Mr. Walton. He meant—” It was loyalty16 to his absent friend which again checked the conscientious17 Toby, who was trying to reconcile two adverse18 duties, and now sat twirling his thumbs in visible embarrassment19.
“You see what?” old Simon demanded, fiercely. “Don’t you begin shifting here and there, and keeping things from me. I want to know what’s took place, and I will! You and I have always got on harmoniously20, but I don’t like your shillyshallying whenever that boy’s name is mentioned. The other day, when I sent for the sheriff—well, you happened to be right in stopping me that time, I’ll admit, but I want to know what you think Bailey Thornton meant by what he said. Do you know?”
The clerk looked down. His face was quite grave and rigid21.
“Mr. Walton,” he faltered22, “I don’t like to carry tales about matters which don’t concern me, and when a nasty report gets in the air I try to keep from having anything to do with it.”
“I’m talking to you about business now!” Old Simon raised his voice to a shrill23 cry, which, had it not stranded24 in his throat, would have reached the adjoining room.
“The report touches on my affairs here in this house, and if you don’t tell me, if you don’t aid me with whatever knowledge you may have run across, you can draw your pay and quit.”
Lassiter saw the utter futility25 of remaining silent longer, and with a desperate look on his face he answered: “I didn’t want to make the poor boy’s case any worse, Mr. Walton, and so I hoped it would turn out untrue before it got to you; but they say the girl admits the whole thing. The minister of the church where she plays the organ told me it was true.”
“Girl? What girl?” the banker gasped26. “Why do you take all day to get at a thing?”
Then, as Lassiter told the story which was on every tongue, old Simon stared, his mouth falling open and his unlighted cigar seesawing27 between his jagged stumps28 of teeth.
“So you are plumb29 sure it wasn’t the money that Thornton was talking about!” he exclaimed, with a deep breath of relief.
“Yes, I am sure of that, Mr. Walton. They have been so full of chatter30 about the girl that not a word has been said about money, although some think you actually furnished the ready cash for him to get away on.” The two sat silent for several minutes; then, shaking his tousled head and shrugging his gaunt shoulders in his faded black alpaca coat, the banker said, with grim finality of tone: “He’s a bad egg, Toby. That fellow is rotten to the core. This last discovery really helps us hide the other matter, but the two of them put together will wipe his name off the slate31 of this town forever. He’ll never dare to show his face here again. He might have tried to get around me and live down the shortage, but I reckon both things coming to a head at once kind o’ broke his courage, and he decided to skedaddle. I have no pity for the girl neither—not a smidgin; a woman that would give in to a scamp like him don’t deserve any man’s pity. Say, Toby, I’m a peculiar32 in some ways: as long as I felt that I owed something to that boy as his father his doings kind o’ lay on my mind, but he has plumb cancelled that obligation. I can get along without worry over him if he is put clean out of my calculations, so after this I don’t want no human being to mention his name to me. I’ll let ‘em know that they can’t joke with me about it on the street. I want you to go this minute to Bailey Thornton’s store and ask him for my account up to date. Then I’ll send him my check, and do my trading with Pete Longley. He will be trotting33 in to apologize, but keep him away from me. Huh! he can’t sneer34 at me as I walk along the public highways of this town; his account with us isn’t worth ten cents a month, and he’s shaky, anyway. I wish I’d hit him in the mouth as he stood there gloating over his dirty joke!”
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1
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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2
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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3
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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4
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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5
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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6
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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7
innuendo
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| n.暗指，讽刺 | |
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8
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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9
meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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10
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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11
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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12
collateral
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| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
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13
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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14
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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15
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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16
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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17
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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18
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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19
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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20
harmoniously
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| 和谐地，调和地 | |
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21
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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22
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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23
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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24
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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25
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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26
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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27
seesawing
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| v.使上下（来回）摇动( seesaw的现在分词 )；玩跷跷板，上下（来回）摇动 | |
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28
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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29
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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30
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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31
slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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32
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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33
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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34
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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