CHAPTER XX.

 "He wrote that he was coming home this week," said Pennoyer.

 

"Did he?" asked Florinda indifferently.

 

"Yes. Aren't you glad?"

 

They were still watching her face.

 

"Yes, of course I'm glad. Why shouldn't I be glad?" cried the girl with defiance¹.

 

They grinned.

 

"Oh, certainly. Billie Hawker is a good fellow, Splutter. You have a particular right to be glad."

 

"You people make me tired," Florinda retorted. "Billie Hawker doesn't give a rap about me, and he never tried to make out that he did."

 

"No," said Grief. "But that isn't saying that you don't care a rap about Billie Hawker. Ah, Florinda!"

 

It seemed that the girl's throat suffered a slight contraction². "Well, and what if I do?" she demanded finally.

 

"Have a cigarette?" answered Grief.

 

Florinda took a cigarette, lit it, and, perching herself on a divan³, which was secretly a coal box, she smoked fiercely.

 

"What if I do?" she again demanded. "It's better than liking⁴ one of you dubs⁵, anyhow."

 

"Oh, Splutter, you poor little outspoken⁶ kid!" said Wrinkle in a sad voice.

 

Grief searched among the pipes until he found the best one. "Yes, Splutter, don't you know that when you are so frank you defy every law of your sex, and wild eyes will take your trail?"

 

"Oh, you talk through your hat," replied Florinda. "Billie don't care whether I like him or whether I don't. And if he should hear me now, he wouldn't be glad or give a hang, either way. I know that." The girl paused and looked at the row of plaster casts. "Still, you needn't be throwing it at me all the time."

 

"We didn't," said Wrinkles indignantly. "You threw it at yourself."

 

"Well," continued Florinda, "it's better than liking one of you dubs, anyhow. He makes money and——"

 

"There," said Grief, "now you've hit it! Bedad, you've reached a point in eulogy⁷ where if you move again you will have to go backward."

 

"Of course I don't care anything about a fellow's having money——"

 

"No, indeed you don't, Splutter," said Pennoyer.

 

"But then, you know what I mean. A fellow isn't a man and doesn't stand up straight unless he has some money. And Billie Hawker makes enough so that you feel that nobody could walk over him, don't you know? And there isn't anything jay about him, either. He's a thoroughbred, don't you know?"

 

After reflection, Pennoyer said, "It's pretty hard on the rest of us, Splutter."

 

"Well, of course I like him, but—but——"

 

"What?" said Pennoyer.

 

"I don't know," said Florinda.

 

Purple Sanderson lived in this room, but he usually dined out. At a certain time in his life, before he came to be a great artist, he had learned the gas-fitter's trade, and when his opinions were not identical with the opinions of the art managers of the greater number of New York publications he went to see a friend who was a plumber⁸, and the opinions of this man he was thereafter said to respect. He frequented a very neat restaurant on Twenty-third Street. It was known that on Saturday nights Wrinkles, Grief, and Pennoyer frequently quarreled with him.

 

As Florinda ceased speaking Purple entered. "Hello, there, Splutter!" As he was neatly⁹ hanging up his coat, he said to the others, "Well, the rent will be due in four days."

 

"Will it?" asked Pennoyer, astounded¹⁰.

 

"Certainly it will," responded Purple, with the air of a superior financial man.

 

"My soul!" said Wrinkles.

 

"Oh, shut up, Purple!" said Grief. "You make me weary, coming around here with your chin about rent. I was just getting happy."

 

"Well, how are we going to pay it? That's the point," said Sanderson.

 

Wrinkles sank deeper in his chair and played despondently¹¹ on his guitar. Grief cast a look of rage at Sanderson, and then stared at the wall. Pennoyer said, "Well, we might borrow it from Billie Hawker."

 

Florinda laughed then.

 

"Oh," continued Pennoyer hastily, "if those Amazement¹² people pay me when they said they would I'll have the money."

 

"So you will," said Grief. "You will have money to burn. Did the Amazement people ever pay you when they said they would? You are wonderfully important all of a sudden, it seems to me. You talk like an artist."

 

Wrinkles, too, smiled at Pennoyer. "The Eminent¹³ Magazine people wanted Penny to hire models and make a try for them, too. It would only cost him a stack of blues¹⁴. By the time he has invested all his money he hasn't got, and the rent is three weeks overdue¹⁵, he will be able to tell the landlord to wait seven months until the Monday morning after the day of publication. Go ahead, Penny."

 

After a period of silence, Sanderson, in an obstinate¹⁶ manner, said, "Well, what's to be done? The rent has got to be paid."

 

Wrinkles played more sad music. Grief frowned deeper. Pennoyer was evidently searching his mind for a plan.

 

Florinda took the cigarette from between her lips that she might grin with greater freedom.

 

"We might throw Purple out," said Grief, with an inspired air. "That would stop all this discussion."

 

"You!" said Sanderson furiously. "You can't keep serious a minute. If you didn't have us to take care of you, you wouldn't even know when they threw you out into the street."

 

"Wouldn't I?" said Grief.

 

"Well, look here," interposed Florinda, "I'm going home unless you can be more interesting. I am dead sorry about the rent, but I can't help it, and——"

 

"Here! Sit down! Hold on, Splutter!" they shouted. Grief turned to Sanderson: "Purple, you shut up!"

 

Florinda curled again on the divan and lit another cigarette. The talk waged about the names of other and more successful painters, whose work they usually pronounced "rotten."

 

1 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

2 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

3 divan   

n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集

参考例句：

• Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed.亨利勋爵伸手摊脚地躺在沙发椅上，笑着。
• She noticed that Muffat was sitting resignedly on a narrow divan-bed.她看见莫法正垂头丧气地坐在一张不宽的坐床上。

4 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

5 dubs   

v.给…起绰号( dub的第三人称单数 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

6 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

7 eulogy   

n.颂词；颂扬

参考例句：

• He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. 他不需要我或者任何一个人来称颂。
• Mr.Garth gave a long eulogy about their achievements in the research.加思先生对他们的研究成果大大地颂扬了一番。

8 plumber   

n.(装修水管的)管子工

参考例句：

• Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗？
• The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。

9 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

10 astounded   

v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶

参考例句：

• His arrogance astounded her. 他的傲慢使她震惊。
• How can you say that? I'm absolutely astounded. 你怎么能说出那种话？我感到大为震惊。

11 despondently   

adv.沮丧地，意志消沉地

参考例句：

• It had come to that, he reflected despondently. 事情已经到了这个地步了，他沉思着，感到心灰意懒。 来自辞典例句
• He shook his head despondently. 他沮丧地摇摇头。 来自辞典例句

12 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

13 eminent   

adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的

参考例句：

• We are expecting the arrival of an eminent scientist.我们正期待一位著名科学家的来访。
• He is an eminent citizen of China.他是一个杰出的中国公民。

14 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

15 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

16 obstinate   

adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的

参考例句：

• She's too obstinate to let anyone help her.她太倔强了，不会让任何人帮她的。
• The trader was obstinate in the negotiation.这个商人在谈判中拗强固执。