“I sell all in the street,” he explained in answer to their looks of astonishment4. With a wave of his hand he indicated rough board counters where a miscellaneous assortment5 of human beings were pawing over a stock in trade as varied6 as themselves.
Now and again one would hold up an article in one hand, a coin in the other, and a bargain was speedily made.
142
“I don’t see how he lives,” Petite Jeanne whispered.
“He’s been doing this for twenty years, and he’s not bankrupt yet,” Merry whispered back.
They were led next to the shop of Kay King. This boasted of some little magnificence. There were shelves and tables and one glass showcase. Since his principal stock was composed of second-hand books, the wall was lined with them.
“A curious place for a book store, this Maxwell Street,” Dan Baker7 mused8.
“I don’t do so badly,” Kay King smiled. “The poor wish to read. And here for a nickel, a dime9, a quarter, I sell them a lamp to their feet, a light to their pathway.”
“Truly a missionary10 enterprise in a city wilderness,” the gentle old man murmured.
As for Petite Jeanne, her eyes had roamed up and down the dusty rows of books and had come to rest at last upon a badly hung pair of portieres at the back of the room.
“That,” she told herself, “is where he sleeps when the day is done, a dark and dingy11 hole.
143
“And yet,” she mused, “who can help admiring him? Here in his dingy little world he is master of his own destiny. While others who sell books march down each morning to punch a clock and remain bowing and scraping, saying ‘Yes mam’ this and ‘Yes mam’ that to females who think themselves superior beings, he moves happily among his own books selling when and as he chooses.”
Her reflections were broken off by a word from Kay King himself.
“There’s a story in every one.” He nodded toward the row of trunks and bags they had come to inspect.
“Little does one dream as he packs his trunk for a journey that he may never see that trunk again. Sad as it may seem, this is often the case.
“So, all unconscious of curious prying13 eyes, we tuck the very stories of our lives away in our trunks and watch them go speeding away in a motor van.”
“How?” Petite Jeanne asked.
144
“How? Look at this. Here is one I purchased some time ago.” He swung a large, strongly built wardrobe trunk about, threw it open and produced a bundle of letters. “This,” he explained, “is a young man. These letters are from his mother. And these,” he produced another packet, “are from other women. Still others are from his pals14. They tell his story. And what a story! Bright, well educated, from a good family. But oh, such a rotter! He betrays his employer, his sweetheart, his pals. He deludes15 his trusting mother. And, how he lies to her!
“It is all written here.” He patted the letters.
“I had a letter from him yesterday,” he continued. “He wants the trunk; says it is a treasure and an heirloom; wants the contents, too; says sentiment makes him treasure these things. Sentiment!” He fairly stormed. “He knows but one emotion! He loves; ah yes, he loves himself supremely16! He has not a redeeming17 trait.
145
“He wants this trunk because he is afraid. Afraid of me!” His laugh was bitter. “Me! I never hurt a flea18. I only wish I could; that I were hard and ruthless as some men are, stamping their way through, trampling19 over others to fortune!
“But he shall pay,” he went on more calmly after a moment. “I mean to charge him twenty dollars.
“Then,” he smiled, “I shall return this one to its owners free.” He placed a hand on a sturdy little army locker20. “This one belongs to a little family. How many trunks do! Father, mother and the little ones, all their clothes in one trunk! And then lost!
“There should be a society for the return of lost baggage to poor people.
“There are many like these. People come to a strange city for work. There is no work. They leave their trunks in the depot21. Storage piles up. They cannot pay.
“But this must bore you!”
“No, no! Please go on.”
146
“There is not much more to tell. See!” He lifted the lid of the trunk. “Everything is spotlessly clean. A man’s shirts, a woman’s house dresses, little frocks and rompers for two tiny girls. Poor folks they are, like you and me. He was a soldier, too. There is a sharp-shooter’s medal on a pin cushion. There’s a child’s birth certificate, a doll with its nose kissed white, and a small Bible. They lost all that.
“And I—I shall send it back.”
“They will pay you,” said Petite Jeanne.
“They will not pay. They cannot. Some are always poor. These are like that.
“But this one—” His lips curled in sudden scorn. “This big boy who goes strutting22 through the world, he shall pay, and I shall pass it on to these who need and perhaps deserve it.
“But I am keeping you here!” he cried. “Here are the trunks we have saved for your own eyes. You will see that Weston has spoken truthfully. They are filled for the most part with junk. But now and then there is a story, a real story of some romantic life. See, this one opens easily. I have found a key for it.”
147
“Wait!” On Jeanne’s face was a look almost of distress23. “You have told me so much. It seems so cruel that we should pry12 into their lives. It—it’s like coming upon people in the dark. I—I’m afraid. I—”
“Oh, come!” he laughed. “It’s not half as bad as that. Probably we won’t come upon anything of interest at all. Indeed that’s almost sure to be the case, and I am inclined to repent24 inviting25 you here.” So saying, he lifted the lid of the first of the row of trunks, and the show began.
点击收听单词发音
1 second-hand | |
adj.用过的,旧的,二手的 | |
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2 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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3 bleak | |
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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4 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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5 assortment | |
n.分类,各色俱备之物,聚集 | |
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6 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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7 baker | |
n.面包师 | |
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8 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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9 dime | |
n.(指美国、加拿大的钱币)一角 | |
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10 missionary | |
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士 | |
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11 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
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12 pry | |
vi.窥(刺)探,打听;vt.撬动(开,起) | |
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13 prying | |
adj.爱打听的v.打听,刺探(他人的私事)( pry的现在分词 );撬开 | |
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14 pals | |
n.朋友( pal的名词复数 );老兄;小子;(对男子的不友好的称呼)家伙 | |
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15 deludes | |
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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16 supremely | |
adv.无上地,崇高地 | |
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17 redeeming | |
补偿的,弥补的 | |
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18 flea | |
n.跳蚤 | |
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19 trampling | |
踩( trample的现在分词 ); 践踏; 无视; 侵犯 | |
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20 locker | |
n.更衣箱,储物柜,冷藏室,上锁的人 | |
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21 depot | |
n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站 | |
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22 strutting | |
加固,支撑物 | |
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23 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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24 repent | |
v.悔悟,悔改,忏悔,后悔 | |
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25 inviting | |
adj.诱人的,引人注目的 | |
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