Crane and Peck each drew a deep, swift sigh of relief upon seeing her, for the sense of guilt4 in their breasts had been horrible. They had by tacit conspiracy5 prevented any examination of Eagle’s Nest, for they dreaded6 what might be disclosed. Of course they did not mean to hide the awful fate of the poor girl, nor would they willingly have shifted the weight of their dreadful responsibility, but it was all so much like a vivid dream, so utterly7 strange and theatrical8 as it arose in their memories, that they could not fully9 believe in it.
Miss Crabb looked quite ludicrous perched behind the tall mountaineer on such a dwarfish10 mule. Especially comical was the effect of the sun-bonnet11 she wore. She had accepted this article of apparel from Tolliver’s mother, and it appeared to clutch her head in its stiff folds and to elongate13 her face by sheer compression.
Everybody laughed involuntarily, as much[63] for joy at her safe return as in response to the demand of her melodramatic appearance.
“I’ve brung back yer runerway,” said Tolliver cheerily, as he helped the young woman to dismount. “She clim down the mounting by one pertic’ler trail an’ I jes’ fotch her up by t’other.”
Miss Crabb spoke14 not a word, but ran into the hotel and up to her room without glancing to the right or to the left. In her great haste the stiff old sun-bonnet fell from her head and tumbled upon the ground.
“Wush ye’d jes’ be erbligin’ enough ter han’ thet there head-gear up ter me, Mister,” said Tolliver addressing Crane, who was standing15 near. “My mammy’d raise er rumpage ef I’d go back ’thout thet ther bonnet.”
With evident reluctance16 and disgust Crane gingerly took up the fallen article and gave it to Tolliver, who thanked him so politely that all the onlooking17 company felt a glow of admiration18 for the uncouth19 and yet rather handsome cavalier.
“Thet gal20,” he observed, glancing in the direction that Miss Crabb had gone, “she hev the winnin’est ways of any gal I ever seed in my life. Ye orter seen ’er up inter21 thet there bush a writin’ in ’er book! She’d jes’ tumbled kerwhummox down the clift an’ hed lodged22 ther’ in them cedars23; but as she wer’ a writin’ when she started ter fall w’y she struck a writin’ an’ jes’ kep’ on at it same’s if nothin’ had happened. She’s game, thet ole gal air, I tell[64] ye! She don’t propose for any little thing like fallin’ off’n a clift, ter interfere24 with w’at she’s a doin’ at thet time, le’ me say ter ye. Lord but she wer’ hongry, though, settin’ up ther a writin’ all night, an’ it’d a done ye good to a seen ’er eat thet chicken and them cake-biscuits my mammy cooked for breakfast. She air a mos’ alarmin’ fine gal, for a fac’.”
At this point Dufour came out of the hotel, and when Tolliver saw him there was an instantaneous change in the expression of the mountaineer’s face.
“Well I’ll ber dorged!” he exclaimed with a smile of delight, “ef ther’ haint the same leetle John the Baptis’ what bapsonsed me down yer inter the branch! Give us yer baby-spanker, ole feller! How air ye!”
Dufour cordially shook hands with him, laughing in a jolly way.
“Fust an’ only man at ever ducked me, I’m here ter say ter ye,” Tolliver went on, in a cheery, half-bantering tone, and sitting sidewise on the mule. “Ye mus’ hev’ a sight o’ muscle onto them duck legs and bantam arms o’ your’n.”
He had the last word still in his mouth when the little beast suddenly put down its head and flung high its hind2 feet.
Dufour leaped forward to see if the man was[65] hurt, but Tolliver was upright in an instant and grinning sheepishly.
“Thet’s right, Bonus,” he said to the mule which stood quite still in its place, “thet’s right ole fel, try ter ac’ smart in comp’ny. Yer a beauty now, ain’t ye?”
He replaced his hat, which had fallen from his head, patted the mule caressingly26 on the neck, then lightly vaulting27 to the old saddle-tree, he waved his hand to the company and turning dashed at a gallop28 down the mountain road, his spurs jingling29 merrily as he went.
“What a delicious character!”
“What precious dialect!”
“How typically American!”
“A veritable hero!”
“How like Tolstoi’s lovely Russians he is!” observed Miss Fidelia Arkwright, of Boston, a near-sighted maiden31 who did translations and who doted on virile32 literature.
“When I was in Russia, I visited Tolstoi at his shoe-shop—” began Crane, but nobody appeared to hear him, so busy were all in making notes for a dialect story.
“Tolstoi is the greatest fraud of the nineteenth century,” said Peck. “That shoe-making pretence33 of his is about on a par12 with his genius in genuineness and sincerity34. His novels are great chunks35 of raw filth36, rank, garlic garnished37 and hideous38. We touch them only because the[66] French critics have called them savory39. If the Revue de Deux Mondes should praise a Turkish novel we could not wait to read it before we joined in. Tolstoi is remarkable40 for two things: his coarseness and his vulgar disregard of decency41 and truth. His life and his writings are alike crammed42 with absurdities43 and contradictory44 puerilities which would be laughable but for their evil tendencies.”
“But, my dear sir, how then do you account for the many editions of Tolstoi’s books?” inquired the historian, R. Hobbs Lucas.
“Just as I account for the editions of Cowper and Montgomery and Wordsworth and even Shakespeare,” responded Peck. “You put a ten per cent. author’s royalty45 on all those dear classics and see how soon the publishers will quit uttering them! If Tolstoi’s Russian raw meat stories were put upon the market in a fair competition with American novels the latter would beat them all hollow in selling.”
“Oh, we ought to have international copyright,” plaintively46 exclaimed a dozen voices, and so the conversation ended.
Strangely enough, each one of the company in growing silent did so in order to weigh certain suggestions arising out of Peck’s assertions. It was as if a score of semi-annual statements of copyright accounts were fluttering in the breeze, and it was as if a score of wistful voices had whispered:
“How in the world do publishers grow rich when the books they publish never sell?”
Perhaps Gaspard Dufour should be mentioned as appearing to have little sympathy with Peck’s theory or with the inward mutterings it had engendered47 in the case of the rest of the company.
If there was any change in Dufour’s face it was expressed in a smile of intense self-satisfaction.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
hind
|
|
| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
mule
|
|
| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
guilt
|
|
| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
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： |
|
|
|
|
7
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
theatrical
|
|
| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
dwarfish
|
|
| a.像侏儒的，矮小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
bonnet
|
|
| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
par
|
|
| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
elongate
|
|
| v.拉长，伸长，延长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
reluctance
|
|
| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
onlooking
|
|
| n.目击，旁观adj.旁观的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
18
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
uncouth
|
|
| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
gal
|
|
| n.姑娘，少女 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
inter
|
|
| v.埋葬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
lodged
|
|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
cedars
|
|
| 雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
sprawling
|
|
| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
caressingly
|
|
| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
vaulting
|
|
| n.（天花板或屋顶的）拱形结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
gallop
|
|
| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
jingling
|
|
| 叮当声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
droll
|
|
| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
virile
|
|
| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
pretence
|
|
| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sincerity
|
|
| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
chunks
|
|
| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
filth
|
|
| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
garnished
|
|
| v.给（上餐桌的食物）加装饰( garnish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
savory
|
|
| adj.风味极佳的，可口的，味香的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
decency
|
|
| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
crammed
|
|
| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
absurdities
|
|
| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
contradictory
|
|
| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
royalty
|
|
| n.皇家，皇族 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
plaintively
|
|
| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
engendered
|
|
| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |