CHAPTER XXX. GILBERT BECOMES A NEWSBOY.

At an early hour the next morning Gilbert took his stand near the office of the daily “Times.” He attracted immediate¹ attention from the members of the new profession in which he had enrolled² himself without permission.

“What are you doin’ here?” asked Jim Noonan, a tall newsboy, with red hair and freckled³ face.

“I am selling papers,” answered Gilbert, quietly.

“What business have you here anyhow? That’s my place.”

“I shall not interfere⁴ with you.”

“You’d better not,” said Jim, pugnaciously⁵, under the impression that Gilbert was apologising. “Just you leave here!”

Gilbert eyed him quietly.

“I shall not interfere with you,” he repeated; “nor 267will I allow you to interfere with me,” he added, firmly.

Jim looked at him attentively⁶, and his opinion of him was somewhat altered.

“What does a boy with good clothes want selling papers?” he asked.

“He wants to make a living,” said Gilbert. “Paper, sir?”

The man addressed purchased a four-cent paper. Gilbert made change in a business-like manner, and directly afterwards sold another, while Jim Noonan looked on enviously⁷.

“I’ve a good mind to bust⁸ your head,” he said, angrily.

“Better go to work and look for customers,” suggested Gilbert, coolly.

Jim eyed him with angry discontent. He would like to have pitched into him, but Gilbert was compactly made, and, though smaller than his fellow-newsboy, looked difficult to handle. Jim had hoped to frighten him; but his success was not encouraging.

Gilbert, on the whole, succeeded beyond his anticipations⁹. 268Probably his appearance was in his favor, and attracted customers. But this was not all. He was quick and alert in manner, and kept a good look-out for trade.

“How many papers have you sold?” asked Jim, after a while.

“Fifty,” answered Gilbert.

“Fifty!” ejaculated Jim; “why, I aint sold but twenty.”

“You haven’t attended to business as closely as I have.”

“Ef it hadn’t been for you I’d have sold a good many more.”

“That isn’t the reason. You would have sold as many as I if you had tried as hard.”

“It’s mean, a boy like you comin’ down, and takin’ away a poor boy’s business.”

“I shan’t sell papers any longer than I have to. I hope next week to go into something else.”

Just then a gentleman inquired for a paper which Gilbert was out of.

269“I think he’s got it,” said Gilbert, pointing to Jim, thereby¹⁰ obtaining a customer for the latter.

“We may as well help each other,” said Gilbert. “There’s no use in quarrelling.”

“Do you mean that?” asked Jim, doubtfully.

“Yes, I do.”

“You aint as mean as I thought you was,” said Jim, his dislike beginning to evaporate.

“I hope you’ll stick to that opinion,” said Gilbert, good-humoredly. “When I go out of this business I’ll recommend my friends to patronize you.”

Thus far Gilbert had seen no one whom he knew. That trial was yet to come. I call it a trial, because Gilbert was quite aware that in becoming a newsboy he had made a descent in the social scale. He had taken the step as a matter of necessity, and not because he liked it. He knew very well how it would be regarded by his acquaintances, and he rather dreaded¹¹ the expressions of surprise which it would elicit¹².

The first acquaintance to greet him was Alphonso Jones.

270“Good gracious, Greyson!” he exclaimed, “what are you doing here?”

“Selling papers,” answered Gilbert, flushing a little.

“I thought you was in a broker’s office.”

“So I was, and hope to be again; but just now I’m out of a place, so I’ve gone into business on my own account.”

“But, good gracious, how can you sell papers?”

“It’s the only thing that offered, and I must earn my living.”

“Suppose the Count Ernest de Montmorency should see you,—what would he say?”

“I hope he would buy a paper of me,” returned Gilbert, smiling.

“And your friends, the Vivians,—they would be awfully¹³ shocked.”

“I can’t help it. I must earn a living. Won’t you have a paper, Mr. Jones? I’ve got all the morning papers—‘Times,’ ‘Tribune,’ ‘Herald,’ ‘Sun.’”

“I’m afraid I haven’t got any change,” said Alphonso, whose large expenditure¹⁴ for clothing compelled 271him to economize¹⁵ on minor¹⁶ matters. “But, really, now, you aint going to keep the thing up, are you?”

“Till I get something better,” said Gilbert, firmly. “I hope that will be soon. I don’t like it myself.”

“It’s so—so ungentlemanly a business.”

“I don’t agree with you, Mr. Jones; I think it perfectly¹⁷ respectable.”

“Oh, yes, of course; but it is not high-toned, you’ll admit that.”

“Perhaps not,” said Gilbert, with a smile. “I don’t pretend to be a judge of what is high-toned. I hope you won’t cut my acquaintance, Mr. Jones, because I am a newsboy.”

“Oh, no, of course not; but I am afraid your friends, the Vivians, will.”

“I hope not,” said Gilbert.

Alphonso Jones departed, and next in order came John,—Gilbert’s successor at the broker’s.

“Oh, my eye!” he exclaimed, in genuine astonishment¹⁸; “you don’t mean to say you’ve turned newsboy?”

272“Yes, I have. Will you buy a paper?”

“Haven’t got a cent. How’s business?” asked John, with a grin.

“Pretty good.”

“Hope you’ve got a permanent situation.”

“I think not. I don’t expect to sell papers more than a week.”

“What are you going to do then?”

“Going back into the office.”

“What office?”

“Mr. Sands’ office.”

“Do you think he’d take back a—”

“Stop there!” said Gilbert, sternly. “You know very well the charge against me is false. Fortunately I am in a position to prove it.”

“You are?” asked John, in alarm.

“Yes.”

“How can you prove it?”

“I will let you know when the time comes.”

John was not disposed to continue the conversation. He walked back to the office, and told Simon Moore that Gilbert was selling papers in the square.

273“I am glad his pride is brought low,” said Moore, with satisfaction.

“But it isn’t,” said John. “He is as proud as ever. He says he is coming back here.”

“Let him talk,” said the book-keeper, contemptuously. “That is all it will amount to.”

But John did not feel quite certain of this.

1 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

2 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 freckled   

adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was freckled all over. 她的脸长满雀斑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Her freckled skin glowed with health again. 她长有雀斑的皮肤又泛出了健康的红光。 来自辞典例句

4 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

5 pugnaciously   

参考例句：

6 attentively   

adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神

参考例句：

• She listened attentively while I poured out my problems. 我倾吐心中的烦恼时，她一直在注意听。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She listened attentively and set down every word he said. 她专心听着，把他说的话一字不漏地记下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 enviously   

adv.满怀嫉妒地

参考例句：

• Yet again, they were looking for their way home blindly, enviously. 然而，它们又一次盲目地、忌妒地寻找着归途。 来自辞典例句
• Tanya thought enviously, he must go a long way south. 坦妮亚歆羡不置，心里在想，他准是去那遥远的南方的。 来自辞典例句

8 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

9 anticipations   

预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物

参考例句：

• The thought took a deal of the spirit out of his anticipations. 想到这，他的劲头消了不少。
• All such bright anticipations were cruelly dashed that night. 所有这些美好的期望全在那天夜晚被无情地粉碎了。

10 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

11 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

12 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

13 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

14 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

15 economize   

v.节约，节省

参考例句：

• We're going to have to economize from now on. 从现在开始，我们不得不节约开支。
• We have to economize on water during the dry season. 我们在旱季不得不节约用水。

16 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

17 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

18 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。