The butler looked again at the card the visitor had given him. Quick suspicion flashed into his tired eyes—the same suspicion that had all Paris mad.
"Ger-son—Mademoiselle Ger-son. That name, excuse me, if I say it—that name ees——"
"It sounds German; yes. Haven1't I had that told me a thousand times these last few days?" The girl's shoulders drooped2 limply, and she tried to smile, but somehow failed. "But it's my name, and I'm an American—been an American twenty-two years. Please—please!"
"Madam the ambassador's wife; she ees overwhelm wiz woark." The butler gave the door an insinuating3 push. Jane Gerson's patent-leather boot stopped it. She made a quick rummage4 in her bag, and when she withdrew her hand, a bit of bank paper crinkled in it. The butler pocketed the note with perfect legerdemain5, smiled a formal thanks and invited Jane into the dark cool hallway of the embassy. She dropped on a skin-covered couch, utterly6 spent. Hours she had passed moving, foot by foot, in an interminable line, up to a little wicket in a steamship7 office, only to be told, "Every boat's sold out." Other grilling8 hours she had passed similarly before the express office, to find, at last, that her little paper booklet of checks was as worthless as a steamship folder9. Food even lacked, because the money she offered was not acceptable. For a week she had lived in the seething10 caldron that was Paris in war time, harried11, buffeted12, trampled13 and stampeded—a chip on the froth of madness. This day, the third of August, found Jane Gerson summoning the last remnants of her flagging nerve to the supreme14 endeavor. Upon her visit to the embassy depended everything: her safety, the future she was battling for. But now, with the first barrier passed, she found herself suddenly faint and weak.
"Madam the ambassador's wife will see you. Come!" The butler's voice sounded from afar off, though Jane saw the gleaming buckles15 at his knees very close. The pounding of her heart almost choked her as she rose to follow him. Down a long hall and into a richly furnished drawing-room, now strangely transformed by the presence of desks, filing cabinets, and busy girl stenographers; the click of typewriters and rustle16 of papers gave the air of an office at top pressure. The butler showed Jane to a couch near the portières and withdrew. From the tangle17 of desks at the opposite end of the room, a woman with a kindly18 face crossed, with hand extended. Jane rose, grasped the hand and squeezed convulsively.
"You are——"
"Yes, my dear, I am the wife of the ambassador. Be seated and tell me all your troubles. We are pretty busy here, but not too busy to help—if we can."
Jane looked into the sympathetic eyes of the ambassador's wife, and what she found there was like a draft of water to her parched19 soul. The elder woman, smiling down into the white face, wherein the large brown eyes burned unnaturally20 bright, saw a trembling of the lips instantly conquered by a rallying will, and she patted the small hand hearteningly.
"Dear lady," Jane began, almost as a little child, "I must get out of Paris, and I've come to you to help me. Every way is closed except through you."
"So many hundreds like you, poor girl. All want to get back to the home country, and we are so helpless to aid every one." The lady of the embassy thought, as she cast a swift glance over the slender shoulders and diminutive21 figure beneath them, that here, indeed, was a babe in the woods. The blatant22, self-assured tourist demanding assistance from her country's representative as a right she knew; also the shifty, sloe-eyed demi-vierge who wanted no questions asked. But such a one as this little person——
"You see, I am a buyer for Hildebrand's store in New York." Jane was rushing breathlessly to the heart of her tragedy. "This is my very first trip as buyer, and—it will be my last unless I can get through the lines and back to New York. I have seventy of the very last gowns from Poiret, from Paquin and Worth—you know what they will mean in the old town back home—and I must—just simply must get them through. You understand! With them, Hildebrand can crow over every other gown shop in New York. He can be supreme, and I will be—well, I will be made!"
The kindly eyes were still smiling, and the woman's heart, which is unchanged even in the breast of an ambassador's wife, was leaping to the magic lure23 of that simple word—gowns.
"But—but the banks refuse to give me a cent on my letter of credit. The express office says my checks, which I brought along for incidentals, can not be cashed. The steamship companies will not sell a berth24 in the steerage, even, out of Havre or Antwerp or Southampton—everything gobbled up. You can't get trunks on an aeroplane, or I'd try that. I just don't know where to turn, and so I've come to you. You must know some way out."
Jane unconsciously clasped her hands in supplication25, and upon her face, flushed now with the warmth of her pleading, was the dawning of hope. It was as if the girl were assured that once the ambassador's wife heard her story, by some magic she could solve the difficulties. The older woman read this trust, and was touched by it.
"Have you thought of catching26 a boat at Gibraltar?" she asked. "They are not so crowded; people haven't begun to rush out of Italy yet."
"But nobody will honor my letter of credit," Jane mourned. "And, besides, all the trains south of Paris are given up to the mobilization. Nobody can ride on them but soldiers." The lady of the embassy knit her brows for a few minutes while Jane anxiously scanned her face. Finally she spoke27:
"The ambassador knows a gentleman—a large-hearted American gentleman here in Paris—who has promised his willingness to help in deserving cases by advancing money on letters of credit. And with money there is a way—just a possible way—of getting to Gibraltar. Leave your letter of credit with me, my dear; go to the police station in the district where you live and get your pass through the lines, just as a precaution against the possibility of your being able to leave to-night. Then come back here and see me at four o'clock. Perhaps—just a chance——"
Hildebrand's buyer seized the hands of the embassy's lady ecstatically, tumbled words of thanks crowding to her lips. When she went out into the street, the sun was shining as it had not shone for her for a dreary28 terrible week.
At seven o'clock that night a big Roman-nosed automobile29, long and low and powerful as a torpedo30 on wheels, pulled up at the door of the American embassy. Two bulky osier baskets were strapped31 on the back of its tonneau; in the rear seat were many rugs. A young chap with a sharp shrewd face—an American—sat behind the wheel.
The door of the embassy opened, and Jane Gerson, swathed in veils, and with a gray duster buttoned tight about her, danced out; behind her followed the ambassador, the lady of the embassy and a bevy32 of girls, the volunteer aids of the overworked representative's staff. Jane's arms went about the ambassador's wife in an impulsive33 hug of gratitude34 and good-by; the ambassador received a hearty35 handshake for his "God speed you!" A waving of hands and fluttering of handkerchiefs, and the car leaped forward. Jane Gerson leaned far over the back, and, through cupped hands, she shouted: "I'll paint Hildebrand's sign on the Rock of Gibraltar!"
Over bridges and through outlying faubourgs sped the car until the Barrier was gained. There crossed bayonets denying passage, an officer with a pocket flash pawing over pass and passport, a curt36 dismissal, and once more the motor purred its speed song, and the lights of the road flashed by. More picket37 lines, more sprouting38 of armed men from the dark, and flashing of lights upon official signatures. On the heights appeared the hump-shouldered bastions of the great outer forts, squatting39 like huge fighting beasts of the night, ready to spring upon the invader40. Bugles41 sounded; the white arms of search-lights swung back and forth42 across the arc of night in their ceaseless calisthenics; a murmuring and stamping of many men and beasts was everywhere.
The ultimate picket line gained and passed, the car leaped forward with the bound of some freed animal, its twin headlights feeling far ahead the road to the south. Behind lay Paris, the city of dread43. Ahead—far ahead, where the continent is spiked44 down with a rock, Gibraltar. Beyond that the safe haven from this madness of the millions—America.
Jane Gerson stretched out her arms to the vision and laughed shrilly45.
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1
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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2
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
insinuating
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| adj.曲意巴结的，暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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4
rummage
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| v./n.翻寻，仔细检查 | |
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5
legerdemain
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| n.戏法，诈术 | |
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6
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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7
steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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8
grilling
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| v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问 | |
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9
folder
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| n.纸夹，文件夹 | |
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10
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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11
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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12
buffeted
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| 反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去 | |
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13
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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14
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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15
buckles
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| 搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 ) | |
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16
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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17
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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18
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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19
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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21
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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blatant
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| adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的 | |
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23
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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24
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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25
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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26
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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27
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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28
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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29
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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30
torpedo
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| n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏 | |
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31
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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32
bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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33
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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34
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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35
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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36
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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37
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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38
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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39
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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40
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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41
bugles
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| 妙脆角，一种类似薯片但做成尖角或喇叭状的零食； 号角( bugle的名词复数 )； 喇叭； 匍匐筋骨草； （装饰女服用的）柱状玻璃（或塑料）小珠 | |
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42
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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43
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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44
spiked
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| adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的 | |
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45
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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