The baron took his first good look at the boy. He seemed to be a shy, undeveloped, nervous little fellow, about twelve years old. His movements were jerky, his eyes dark and restless, and he made the impression, so often produced by children of his age, of being scared, as if he had just been roused out of sleep and placed in strange surroundings. His face was not unbeautiful, but still quite undecided. The struggle between childhood and young manhood seemed just about to be setting in. Everything in him so far was like dough2 that has been kneaded but not formed into a loaf. Nothing was expressed in clean lines, everything was blurred3 and unsettled. He was at that hobbledehoy age when clothes do not fit, and sleeves and trousers hang slouchily, and there is no vanity to prompt care of one’s appearance.
The child made a rather pitiful impression as he wandered about the hotel aimlessly. He got in everybody’s way. He would plague the porter with questions and then be shoved aside, for he would stand in the doorway4 and obstruct5 the passage. Apparently6 there were no other children for him to play with, and in his child’s need for prattle7 he would try to attach himself to one or other of the hotel attendants. When they had time they would answer him, but the instant an adult came along they would stop talking and refuse to pay any more attention to him.
It interested the baron to watch the child, and he looked on smiling as the unhappy little creature inspected everything and everybody curiously8, while he himself was universally avoided as a nuisance. Once the baron intercepted9 one of his curious looks. His black eyes instantly fell, when he saw himself observed, and hid behind lowered lids. The baron was amused. The boy actually began to interest him, and it flashed into his mind that he might be made to serve as the speediest means for bringing him and his mother together. He could overcome his shyness, since it proceeded from nothing but fear. At any rate, it was worth the trial. So when Edgar strolled out of the door to pet, in his child’s need of tenderness, the pinkish nostrils10 of one of the ’bus horses, the baron followed him.
Edgar was certainly unlucky. The driver chased him away rather roughly. Insulted and bored, he stood about aimlessly again, with a vacant, rather melancholy11 expression in his eyes. The baron now addressed him.
The child turned fairly purple and looked up in actual alarm, drawing his arms close to his body and twisting and turning in embarrassment13. For the first time in his life a stranger was the one to address him and not he the stranger.
“You do? I’m surprised,” the baron laughed. “It’s a dull place, especially for a young man like you. What do you do with yourself all day long?”
Edgar was still too confused to give a ready answer. Could it be true that this stranger, this elegant gentleman, was trying to pick up a conversation with him—with him, whom nobody had ever before cared a rap about? It made him both shy and proud. He pulled himself together with difficulty.
“I read, and we do a lot of walking. Sometimes we go out driving, mother and I. I am here to get well. I was sick. I must be out in the sunshine a lot, the doctor said.”
Edgar spoke15 the last with greater assurance. Children are always proud of their ailments16. The danger they are in makes them more important, they know, in the eyes of their elders.
“Yes, the sun is good for you. It will tan your cheeks. But you oughtn’t to be standing17 round the whole day long. A fellow like you ought to be on the go, running, jumping, playing, full of spirits, and up to mischief18, too. It strikes me you are too good. With that big fat book under your arm you look as though you were always poking19 in the house. By jingo, when I think of the kind of fellow I was at your age, I used to raise the devil, and every evening I came home with torn knickerbockers. Don’t be so good, whatever you are.”
Edgar could not help smiling, and the consciousness of his own smile removed his fear. Now he was anxious to say something in reply, but it seemed self-assertive and impudent20 to answer this affable stranger, who spoke to him in such a friendly way. He never had been forward and was easily abashed21, so that now he was in the greatest embarrassment from sheer happiness and shame. He would have liked to continue the conversation, but nothing occurred to him. Luckily the great yellow St. Bernard belonging to the hotel came up and sniffed22 at both of them and allowed himself to be petted.
“Do you like dogs?” asked the baron.
“Oh, very much. Grandma has one in her villa23 at Bains. When we stop there he stays with me the whole time. But that’s only in the summer when we go visiting.”
“We have a lot of dogs at home on our estate, a full two dozen, I believe. If you behave yourself here I’ll make you a present of one, brown with white ears, a pup still. Would you like to have it?”
“I should say so.”
The words fairly burst from his lips in an access of eagerness. Then he caught himself up and stammered25 in distress26 and as if frightened:
“But mother won’t allow me to have a dog. She says she won’t keep a dog in the house. It’s too much of a nuisance.”
The baron smiled. The conversation had at last come round to the mother.
“Is your mother so strict?"
The child pondered and looked up for an instant as if to find out whether the stranger was to be trusted on such slight acquaintance.
“No,” he finally answered cautiously, “she’s not strict, and since I’ve been sick she lets me do anything I want. Maybe she’ll even let me keep a dog.”
“Shall I ask her?”
“Oh, yes, please do,” Edgar cried delightedly. “If you do I’m sure she’ll give in. What does he look like? White ears, you said? Can he do any tricks yet?”
“Yes, all sorts of tricks.” The baron had to smile at the sparkle of Edgar’s eyes. It had been so easy to kindle27 that light in them.
All at once the child’s constraint28 dropped away, and all his emotionalism, kept in check till then by fear, bubbled over. In a flash the shy, intimidated29 child of a minute before turned into a boisterous30 lad.
“If only his mother is transformed so quickly,” the baron thought. “If only she shows so much ardor31 behind her reserve.”
Edgar went at him with a thousand questions.
“What’s the dog’s name?”
“Caro.”
“Caro!” he cried happily, somehow having to answer every word with a laugh of delight, so intoxicated32 was he with the unexpectedness of having someone take him up as a friend. The baron, amazed at his own quick success, resolved to strike while the iron was hot, and invited the boy to take a walk with him. This put Edgar, who for weeks had been starving for company, into a fever of ecstasy33.
During the walk the baron questioned him, as if quite by the way, about a number of apparent trifles, and Edgar in response blurted34 out all the information he was seeking, telling him everything he wanted to know about the family.
Edgar was the only son of a lawyer in the metropolis35, who evidently came of a wealthy middle-class Jewish family. By clever, roundabout inquiries36 the baron promptly37 elicited38 that Edgar’s mother had expressed herself as by no means delighted with her stay in Summering and had complained of the lack of congenial company. He even felt he might infer from the evasive way in which Edgar answered his question as to whether his mother wasn’t very fond of his father that their marital39 relations were none of the happiest. He was almost ashamed at having been able to extract these family secrets from the unsuspecting child, for Edgar, very proud that anything he had to say could interest a grown-up person, fairly pressed confidences upon his new friend. His child’s heart beat with pride—the baron had put his arm on his shoulder while they were walking—to be seen in such close intimacy40 with a “man,” and gradually he forgot he was a child and talked quite unconstrainedly, as if to an equal.
From his conversation it was quite clear that he was a bright boy, in fact, a bit too precocious41, as are most sickly children who spend much time with their elders, and his likes and dislikes were too marked. He took nothing calmly or indifferently. Every person or thing was discussed with either passionate42 enthusiasm or a hatred43 so intense as to distort his face into a mean, ugly look. There was something wild and jerky about his manner, accentuated44 perhaps by the illness he was just recovering from, which gave his talk the fieriness45 of fanaticism46. His awkwardness seemed to proceed from the painfully suppressed fear of his own passion.
Before the end of half an hour the baron was already holding the boy’s throbbing47 heart in his hands. It is so infinitely48 easy to deceive children, those unsuspecting creatures whose love is so rarely courted. All the baron needed to do was to transport himself back to his own childhood, and the talk flowed quite naturally. Edgar felt himself in the presence of an equal, and within a few minutes had lost all sense of distance between them, and was perfectly49 at ease, conscious of nothing but bliss50 at having so unexpectedly found a friend in this lonely place. And what a friend! Forgotten were all his mates in the city where he lived, those little boys with their thin voices and inexperienced chatter51. This one hour had almost expunged52 their faces. All his enthusiasm and passion now belonged to this new, this big friend of his.
On parting the baron invited him to take a walk with him again the next morning. Edgar’s heart expanded with pride. And, when from a little distance away the baron waved back to him like a real playmate, it was probably the happiest moment in his life. It is so easy to deceive children.
The baron smiled as he looked after the boy dashing away. The go-between had been won. Edgar, he knew, would bore his mother with stories of the wonderful baron and would repeat every word he had said. At this he recalled complacently53 how cleverly he had woven in some compliments for the mother’s consumption. “Your beautiful mother,” he had always said. There was not the faintest shadow of doubt in his mind that the communicative boy would never rest until he had brought him and his mother together. No need now to stir a finger in order to shorten the distance between himself and the lovely Unknown. He could dream away idly and feast his eyes on the landscape, for a child’s eager hands, he knew, were building the bridge for him to her heart.
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1
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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2
dough
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| n.生面团；钱，现款 | |
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blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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4
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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obstruct
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| v.阻隔，阻塞(道路、通道等)；n.阻碍物，障碍物 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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7
prattle
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| n.闲谈；v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话；发出连续而无意义的声音 | |
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8
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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9
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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10
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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12
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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13
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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14
stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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15
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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ailments
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| 疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 ) | |
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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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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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20
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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21
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
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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23
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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24
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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25
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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27
kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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28
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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29
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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30
boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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31
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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32
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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33
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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34
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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36
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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37
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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38
elicited
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| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
marital
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| adj.婚姻的，夫妻的 | |
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40
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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41
precocious
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| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
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42
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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43
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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44
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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45
fieriness
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| 猛烈，火性子 | |
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46
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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47
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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48
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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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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50
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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51
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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52
expunged
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| v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 )；除去；删去；消除 | |
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53
complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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