“Take care of yourself, Billy,” she called, as he started off.
“Sure,” he answered, turning his face to her over his shoulder.
Her heart leaped at the smile. It was his old, unsullied love-smile which she wanted always to see on his face—for which, armed with her own wisdom and the wisdom of Mercedes, she would wage the utmost woman's war to possess. A thought of this flashed brightly through her brain, and it was with a proud little smile that she remembered all her pretty equipment stored at home in the bureau and the chest of drawers.
Three-quarters of an hour later, supper ready, all but the putting on of the lamb chops at the sound of his step, Saxon waited. She heard the gate click, but instead of his step she heard a curious and confused scraping of many steps. She flew to open the door. Billy stood there, but a different Billy from the one she had parted from so short a time before. A small boy, beside him, held his hat. His face had been fresh-washed, or, rather, drenched3, for his shirt and shoulders were wet. His pale hair lay damp and plastered against his forehead, and was darkened by oozing4 blood. Both arms hung limply by his side. But his face was composed, and he even grinned.
“It's all right,” he reassured5 Saxon. “The joke's on me. Somewhat damaged but still in the ring.” He stepped gingerly across the threshold. “—Come on in, you fellows. We're all mutts together.”
He was followed in by the boy with his hat, by Bud Strothers and another teamster she knew, and by two strangers. The latter were big, hard-featured, sheepish-faced men, who stared at Saxon as if afraid of her.
“It's all right, Saxon,” Billy began, but was interrupted by Bud.
“First thing is to get him on the bed an' cut his clothes off him. Both arms is broke, and here are the ginks that done it.”
He indicated the two strangers, who shuffled6 their feet with embarrassment7 and looked more sheepish than ever.
Billy sat down on the bed, and while Saxon held the lamp, Bud and the strangers proceeded to cut coat, shirt, and undershirt from him.
“He wouldn't go to the receivin' hospital,” Bud said to Saxon.
“Not on your life,” Billy concurred8. “I had 'em send for Doc Hentley. He'll be here any minute. Them two arms is all I got. They've done pretty well by me, an' I gotta do the same by them.—No medical students a-learnin' their trade on me.”
“But how did it happen?” Saxon demanded, looking from Billy to the two strangers, puzzled by the amity9 that so evidently existed among them all.
“Oh, they're all right,” Billy dashed in. “They done it through mistake. They're Frisco teamsters, an' they come over to help us—a lot of 'em.”
The two teamsters seemed to cheer up at this, and nodded their heads.
“Yes, missus,” one of them rumbled10 hoarsely11. “It's all a mistake, an'... well, the joke's on us.”
“The drinks, anyway,” Billy grinned.
Not only was Saxon not excited, but she was scarcely perturbed12. What had happened was only to be expected.
It was in line with all that Oakland had already done to her and hers, and, besides, Billy was not dangerously hurt. Broken arms and a sore head would heal. She brought chairs and seated everybody.
“Now tell me what happened,” she begged. “I'm all at sea, what of you two burleys breaking my husband's arms, then seeing him home and holding a love-fest with him.”
“An' you got a right,” Bud Strothers assured her. “You see, it happened this way—”
“You shut up, Bud,” Billy broke it. “You didn't see anything of it.”
Saxon looked to the San Francisco teamsters.
“We'd come over to lend a hand, seein' as the Oakland boys was gettin' some the short end of it,” one spoke13 up, “an' we've sure learned some scabs there's better trades than drivin' team. Well, me an' Jackson here was nosin' around to see what we can see, when your husband comes moseyin' along. When he—”
“Hold on,” Jackson interrupted. “Get it straight as you go along. We reckon we know the boys by sight. But your husband we ain't never seen around, him bein'...”
“As you might say, put away for a while,” the first teamster took up the tale. “So, when we sees what we thinks is a scab dodgin' away from us an' takin' the shortcut14 through the alley15—”
“The alley back of Campbell's grocery,” Billy elucidated16.
“Yep, back of the grocery,” the first teamster went on; “why, we're sure he's one of them squarehead scabs, hired through Murray an' Ready, makin' a sneak17 to get into the stables over the back fences.”
“We caught one there, Billy an' me,” Bud interpolated.
“So we don't waste any time,” Jackson said, addressing himself to Saxon. “We've done it before, an' we know how to do 'em up brown an' tie 'em with baby ribbon. So we catch your husband right in the alley.”
“I was lookin' for Bud,” said Billy. “The boys told me I'd find him somewhere around the other end of the alley. An' the first thing I know, Jackson, here, asks me for a match.”
“An' right there's where I get in my fine work,” resumed the first teamster.
“What?” asked Saxon.
“That.” The man pointed18 to the wound in Billy's scalp. “I laid 'm out. He went down like a steer19, an' got up on his knees dippy, a-gabblin' about somebody standin' on their foot. He didn't know where he was at, you see, clean groggy20. An' then we done it.”
The man paused, the tale told.
“Broke both his arms with the crowbar,” Bud supplemented.
“That's when I come to myself, when the bones broke,” Billy corroborated21. “An' there was the two of 'em givin' me the ha-ha. 'That'll last you some time,' Jackson was sayin'. An' Anson says, 'I'd like to see you drive horses with them arms.' An' then Jackson says, 'let's give 'm something for luck.' An' with that he fetched me a wallop on the jaw—”
“No,” corrected Anson. “That wallop was mine.”
“Well, it sent me into dreamland over again,” Billy sighed. “An' when I come to, here was Bud an' Anson an' Jackson dousin' me at a water trough. An' then we dodged22 a reporter an' all come home together.”
“The reporter-guy just insisted on samplin' it,” he said. Then, to Billy: “That's why I cut around Ninth an' caught up with you down on Sixth.”
A few minutes later Doctor Hentley arrived, and drove the men from the rooms. They waited till he had finished, to assure themselves of Billy's well being, and then departed. In the kitchen Doctor Hentley washed his hands and gave Saxon final instructions. As he dried himself he sniffed24 the air and looked toward the stove where a pot was simmering.
“I didn't buy them,” replied Saxon. “I dug them myself.”
“Yes.”
“Throw them away. Throw them out. They're death and corruption27. Typhoid—I've got three cases now, all traced to the clams and the marsh.”
When he had gone, Saxon obeyed. Still another mark against Oakland, she reflected—Oakland, the man-trap, that poisoned those it could not starve.
“If it wouldn't drive a man to drink,” Billy groaned28, when Saxon returned to him. “Did you ever dream such luck? Look at all my fights in the ring, an' never a broken bone, an' here, snap, snap, just like that, two arms smashed.”
“Oh, it might be worse,” Saxon smiled cheerfully.
“I'd like to know how.
It might have been your neck.”
“An' a good job. I tell you, Saxon, you gotta show me anything worse.”
“I can,” she said confidently.
“Well?”
“Well, wouldn't it be worse if you intended staying on in Oakland where it might happen again?”
“I can see myself becomin' a farmer an' plowin' with a pair of pipe-stems like these,” he persisted.
“Doctor Hentley says they'll be stronger at the break than ever before. And you know yourself that's true of clean-broken bones. Now you close your eyes and go to sleep. You're all done up, and you need to keep your brain quiet and stop thinking.”
He closed his eyes obediently. She slipped a cool hand under the nape of his neck and let it rest.
“That feels good,” he murmured. “You're so cool, Saxon. Your hand, and you, all of you. Bein' with you is like comin' out into the cool night after dancin' in a hot room.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Oh, nothin'. I was just thinkin'—thinking of them mutts doin' me up—me, that's done up more scabs than I can remember.”
Next morning Billy awoke with his blues31 dissipated. From the kitchen Saxon heard him painfully wrestling strange vocal32 acrobatics33.
“I got a new song you never heard,” he told her when she came in with a cup of coffee. “I only remember the chorus though. It's the old man talkin' to some hobo of a hired man that wants to marry his daughter. Mamie, that Billy Murphy used to run with before he got married, used to sing it. It's a kind of a sobby song. It used to always give Mamie the weeps. Here's the way the chorus goes—an' remember, it's the old man spielin'.”
And with great solemnity and excruciating flatting, Billy sang:
“O treat my daughter kind-i-ly; An' say you'll do no harm, An' when I die I'll will to you My little house an' farm—My horse, my plow29, my sheep, my cow, An' all them little chickens in the ga-a-rden.
“It's them little chickens in the garden that gets me,” he explained. “That's how I remembered it—from the chickens in the movin' pictures yesterday. An' some day we'll have little chickens in the garden, won't we, old girl?”
“An' I'll be the old geezer sayin' them same words to the hired man,” Billy carried the fancy along. “It don't take long to raise a daughter if you ain't in a hurry.”
“And I've a song you never heard, Billy. Tom's always singing it. He's crazy about taking up government land and going farming, only Sarah won't think of it. He sings it something like this:
“We'll have a little farm, A pig, a horse, a cow, And you will drive the wagon36, And I will drive the plow.”
“Only in this case I guess it's me that'll do the plowin',” Billy approved. “Say, Saxon, sing 'Harvest Days.' That's a farmer's song, too.”
After that she feared the coffee was growing cold and compelled Billy to take it. In the helplessness of two broken arms, he had to be fed like a baby, and as she fed him they talked.
“I'll tell you one thing,” Billy said, between mouthfuls. “Once we get settled down in the country you'll have that horse you've been wishin' for all your life. An' it'll be all your own, to ride, drive, sell, or do anything you want with.”
And, again, he ruminated37: “One thing that'll come handy in the country is that I know horses; that's a big start. I can always get a job at that—if it ain't at union wages. An' the other things about farmin' I can learn fast enough.—Say, d'ye remember that day you first told me about wantin' a horse to ride all your life?”
Saxon remembered, and it was only by a severe struggle that she was able to keep the tears from welling into her eyes. She seemed bursting with happiness, and she was remembering many things—all the warm promise of life with Billy that had been hers in the days before hard times. And now the promise was renewed again. Since its fulfillment had not come to them, they were going away to fulfill38 it for themselves and make the moving pictures come true.
Impelled39 by a half-feigned fear, she stole away into the kitchen bedroom where Bert had died, to study her face in the bureau mirror. No, she decided40; she was little changed. She was still equipped for the battlefield of love. Beautiful she was not. She knew that. But had not Mercedes said that the great women of history who had won men had not been beautiful? And yet, Saxon insisted, as she gazed at her reflection, she was anything but unlovely. She studied her wide gray eyes that were so very gray, that were always alive with light and vivacities, where, in the surface and depths, always swam thoughts unuttered, thoughts that sank down and dissolved to give place to other thoughts. The brows were excellent—she realized that. Slenderly penciled, a little darker than her light brown hair, they just fitted her irregular nose that was feminine but not weak, that if anything was piquant41 and that picturesquely42 might be declared impudent43.
She could see that her face was slightly thin, that the red of her lips was not quite so red, and that she had lost some of her quick coloring. But all that would come back again. Her mouth was not of the rosebud44 type she saw in the magazines. She paid particular attention to it. A pleasant mouth it was, a mouth to be joyous45 with, a mouth for laughter and to make laughter in others. She deliberately46 experimented with it, smiled till the corners dented47 deeper. And she knew that when she smiled her smile was provocative48 of smiles. She laughed with her eyes alone—a trick of hers. She threw back her head and laughed with eyes and mouth together, between her spread lips showing the even rows of strong white teeth.
And she remembered Billy's praise of her teeth, the night at Germanic Hall after he had told Charley Long he was standing49 on his foot. “Not big, and not little dinky baby's teeth either,” Billy had said, “... just right, and they fit you.” Also, he had said that to look at them made him hungry, and that they were good enough to eat.
She recollected50 all the compliments he had ever paid her. Beyond all treasures, these were treasures to her—the love phrases, praises, and admirations. He had said her skin was cool—soft as velvet51, too, and smooth as silk. She rolled up her sleeve to the shoulder, brushed her cheek with the white skin for a test, with deep scrutiny52 examined the fineness of its texture53. And he had told her that she was sweet; that he hadn't known what it meant when they said a girl was sweet, not until he had known her. And he had told her that her voice was cool, that it gave him the feeling her hand did when it rested on his forehead. Her voice went all through him, he had said, cool and fine, like a wind of coolness. And he had likened it to the first of the sea breeze setting in the afternoon after a scorching54 hot morning. And, also, when she talked low, that it was round and sweet, like the 'cello55 in the Macdonough Theater orchestra.
He had called her his Tonic56 Kid. He had called her a thoroughbred, clean-cut and spirited, all fine nerves and delicate and sensitive. He had liked the way she carried her clothes. She carried them like a dream, had been his way of putting it. They were part of her, just as much as the cool of her voice and skin and the scent57 of her hair.
And her figure! She got upon a chair and tilted58 the mirror so that she could see herself from hips59 to feet. She drew her skirt back and up. The slender ankle was just as slender. The calf60 had lost none of its delicately mature swell61. She studied her hips, her waist, her bosom62, her neck, the poise63 of her head, and sighed contentedly64. Billy must be right, and he had said that she was built like a French woman, and that in the matter of lines and form she could give Annette Kellerman cards and spades.
He had said so many things, now that she recalled them all at one time. Her lips! The Sunday he proposed he had said: “I like to watch your lips talking. It's funny, but every move they make looks like a tickly kiss.” And afterward65, that same day: “You looked good to me from the first moment I spotted66 you.” He had praised her housekeeping. He had said he fed better, lived more comfortably, held up his end with the fellows, and saved money. And she remembered that day when he had crushed her in his arms and declared she was the greatest little bit of a woman that had ever come down the pike.
She ran her eyes over all herself in the mirror again, gathered herself together into a whole, compact and good to look upon—delicious, she knew. Yes, she would do. Magnificent as Billy was in his man way, in her own way she was a match for him. Yes, she had done well by Billy. She deserved much—all he could give her, the best he could give her. But she made no blunder of egotism. Frankly67 valuing herself, she as frankly valued him. When he was himself, his real self, not harassed68 by trouble, not pinched by the trap, not maddened by drink, her man-boy and lover, he was well worth all she gave him or could give him.
Saxon gave herself a farewell look. No. She was not dead, any more than was Billy's love dead, than was her love dead. All that was needed was the proper soil, and their love would grow and blossom. And they were turning their backs upon Oakland to go and seek that proper soil.
“Oh, Billy!” she called through the partition, still standing on the chair, one hand tipping the mirror forward and back, so that she was able to run her eyes from the reflection of her ankles and calves69 to her face, warm with color and roguishly alive.
“Yes?” she heard him answer.
“I'm loving myself,” she called back.
“Because you love me,” she answered. “I love every bit of me, Billy, because... because... well, because you love every bit of me.”
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收听单词发音
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1
marketing
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| n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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4
oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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5
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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6
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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concurred
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| 同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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amity
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| n.友好关系 | |
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rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
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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shortcut
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| n.近路，捷径 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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elucidated
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| v.阐明，解释( elucidate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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groggy
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| adj.体弱的；不稳的 | |
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corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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abraded
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| adj.[医]刮擦的v.刮擦( abrade的过去式和过去分词 )；（在精神方面）折磨（人）；消磨（意志、精神等）；使精疲力尽 | |
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24
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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clams
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| n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 ) | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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giggle
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| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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acrobatics
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| n.杂技 | |
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amplified
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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picturesquely
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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rosebud
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| n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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dented
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| v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
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48
provocative
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| adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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52
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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53
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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54
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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55
cello
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| n.大提琴 | |
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56
tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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57
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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58
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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59
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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60
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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61
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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62
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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63
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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64
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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65
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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66
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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67
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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68
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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69
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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