Jimmy stared hungrily across the table. The room was empty to him but for that gleaming mass of gems. He breathed softly and quickly through clinched6 teeth.
"Jimmy!" whispered a voice.
It seemed infinitely7 remote.
A hand shook his elbow gently. He started.
"Don't stare like that, please. What is the matter?"
Molly, seated at his side, was looking at him wide-eyed. Jimmy smiled with an effort. Every nerve in his body seemed to be writhing8.
"Sorry," he said. "I'm only hungry. I always look like that at the beginning of a meal."
"Well, here comes Keggs with some soup for you. You'd better not waste another moment. You looked perfectly9 awful."
"No!"
"Like a starved wolf."
"You must look after me," said Jimmy, "see that the wolf's properly fed."
* * * * *
The conversation, becoming general with the fish, was not of a kind to remove from Jimmy's mind the impression made by the sight of the pearls. It turned on crime in general and burglary in particular.
Spennie began it.
"Oh, I say," he said, "I forgot to tell you, mother. Number Six was burgled the other night."
Number Six-a, Easton Square, was the family's London house.
"Burgled!"
"Well, broken into," said Spennie, gratified to find that he had got the ear of his entire audience. Even Lady Blunt was silent and attentive10. "Chap got in through the scullery window about one o'clock, in the morning. It was the night after you dined with me, Pitt."
"And what did our Spennie do?" inquired Sir Thomas.
"Oh, I—er—I was out at the time," said Spennie. "But something frightened the feller," he went on hurriedly, "and he made a bolt for it without taking anything."
Jimmy, looking down the table, became conscious that his host's eye was fixed11 gloomily upon him. He knew intuitively what was passing in McEachern's mind. The ex-policeman was feeling that his worst suspicions had been confirmed. Jimmy had dined with Spennie—obviously a mere12 excuse for spying out the land; and the very next night the house had been burgled. Once more Mr. McEachern congratulated himself on his astuteness13 in engaging the detective from Wragge's Agency. With Jimmy above stairs and Spike Mullins below, that sleuthhound would have his hands full.
"Burglary," said Wesson, leaning back and taking advantage of a pause, "is the hobby of the sportsman and the life work of the avaricious14."
Everybody seemed to have something to say on the subject. One young lady gave it as her opinion that she would not like to find a burglar under her bed. Somebody else had known a man whose father had fired at the butler, under the impression that he was a housebreaker, and had broken a valuable bust15 of Socrates. Spennie knew a man at Oxford16 whose brother wrote lyrics17 for musical comedy, and had done one about a burglar's best friend being his mother.
"Life," said Wesson, who had had time for reflection, "is a house which we all burgle. We enter it uninvited, take all that we can lay hands on, and go out again."
"This man's brother I was telling you about," said Spennie, "says there's only one rhyme in the English language to 'burglar', and that's 'gurgler'. Unless you count 'pergola', he says——"
"Personally," said Jimmy, with a glance at McEachern, "I have rather a sympathy for burglars. After all, they are one of the hardest-working classes in existence. They toil18 while everybody else is asleep. They are generally thorough sportsmen. Besides, a burglar is only a practical socialist19. Philosophers talk a lot about the redistribution of wealth. The burglar goes out and does it. I have found burglars some of the decentest criminals I have ever met. Out of business hours they are charming."
"I despise burglars!" ejaculated Lady Blunt, with a suddenness which stopped Jimmy's eloquence20 as if a tap had been turned off. "If I found one coming after my jewels and I had a gun handy, I'd shoot him. I would."
"My dear Julia!" said Lady Jane. "Why suggest such dreadful things? At any rate, this house has never been burgled, and I don't think it's likely to be."
"Beroofen!" said Jimmy, touching21 the back of his chair. As he did so, he met McEachern's eye, and smiled kindly22 at him. The ex-policeman was looking at him with the gaze of a baffled but malignant23 basilisk.
"I take very good care no one gets a chance at my jewels," said Lady Blunt. "I've had a steel box made for me with a special lock which would drive the cunningest burglar on this earth mad before he'd been at it ten minutes. It would. He'd go right away and reform."
Jimmy's lips closed tightly, and a combative24 look came into his eye at this unconscious challenge. This woman was too aggressively confident. A small lesson. He could return the jewels by post. It would give her a much-needed jolt25.
Then he pulled himself up.
"James, my boy," he said to himself, with severity, "this is hypocrisy26. You know perfectly well that is not why you want those pearls. Don't try and bluff27 yourself, because it won't do."
The conversation turned to other topics. Jimmy was glad of it. He wanted to think this thing over.
From where he sat, he had an excellent view of the rope of pearls which was tugging28 him back to his old ways. And when he looked at them he could not see Molly. The thing was symbolical29. It must be one or the other. He was at the crossroads. The affair was becoming a civil war. He felt like a rudderless boat between two currents. Eight years of gem4 collecting do not leave a man without a deep-rooted passion for the sport. As for that steel box, that was all nonsense. It was probably quite a good steel box, and the lock might very well be something out of the ordinary; but it could not be a harder job than some of those he had tackled.
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1
stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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6
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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7
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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11
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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12
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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13
astuteness
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| n.敏锐；精明；机敏 | |
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14
avaricious
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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15
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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16
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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17
lyrics
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| n.歌词 | |
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18
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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19
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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20
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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21
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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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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23
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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combative
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| adj.好战的；好斗的 | |
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25
jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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26
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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27
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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28
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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29
symbolical
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| a.象征性的 | |
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30
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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