The baron gave the child rough answers. That eternal lying in wait, those silly questions—in short, the boy’s unsolicited passion—began to annoy him. He was tired of going about all day long with a puppy of twelve, talking nonsense. All he cared for now was to strike while the iron was hot and get the mother by herself, the very thing it was difficult to do with this child forever inflicting7 his presence. For the first time the baron cursed his incautiousness in having inspired so much affection, for he saw no chance, on this occasion at least, to rid himself of his too, too devoted8 friend.
At any rate it was worth the trial. The baron waited until ten o’clock, the time Edgar’s mother had agreed to go out walking with him. He sat beside the boy, paying no attention to his chatter9 and even glancing through the paper, though every now and then tossing the child a crumb10 of talk so as not to insult him. When the hour hand was at ten and the minute hand was just reaching twelve, he asked Edgar, as though suddenly remembering something, to do him a favor and run across to the next hotel and find out if his cousin, Count Rosny, had arrived. Delighted at last to be of service to his friend, the unsuspecting child ran off as fast as his legs would carry him, careering down the road so madly that people looked after him in wonder.
Count Rosny, the clerk told him, had not arrived, nor had he even announced his coming. Edgar again made post haste back to bring this information to his friend. But where was his friend? Nowhere in the hall. Up in his room perhaps. Edgar dashed up the stairs and knocked at his door. No answer. He ran down again and searched in the music-room, the café, the verandas11, the smoking room. In vain. He hurried to his mother’s room to see if she knew anything about the baron. But she was gone, too. When finally, in his despair, he applied12 to the porter, he was told the two had gone out together a few minutes before.
Edgar waited for their return patiently. He was altogether unsuspecting and felt quite sure that they would come back soon because the baron wanted to hear whether or not his cousin had arrived. However, long stretches of time went by, and gradually uneasiness crept upon him. Ever since the moment when that strange, seductive man had entered his little life, never as yet tinged13 by suspicion, the child had spent his days in one continual state of tension and tremulousness and confusion. Upon such delicate organisms as those of children every emotion impresses itself as upon soft wax. Edgar’s eyelids14 began to twitch15 again, and he was already a shade or two paler.
He waited and waited, patiently, at first, then in wild excitement, on the verge16 of tears. Yet no suspicion crept into his child’s soul. So blindly trustful was he of his wonderful friend that he fancied there must have been some misunderstanding, and he tortured himself fearing he had not executed his commission properly.
But, when they came home at last, how odd that they lingered at the threshold talking gaily17 without showing the faintest surprise and without, apparently18, having missed him very much.
“We went out expecting to meet you, Eddie,” said the baron, forgetting to ask if the count had arrived. When Edgar, in consternation19 that they must have been looking for him on the way between the two hotels, eagerly asseverated20 that he had taken the straight road and questioned them about the direction they had gone, his mother cut him off short with, “All right, Edgar, all right. Children must be seen and not heard.”
There, this was the second time, Edgar thought, flushing with anger, that his mother had so horridly22 tried to make him look small in front of his friend. Why did she do it? Why did she always want to set him down as a child when, he was convinced, he was no longer a child? Evidently she was jealous of his friend and was planning to get him all to herself. Yes, that was it, and it was she who had purposely led the baron the wrong way. But he wouldn’t let her treat him like that again, he’d show her. He was going to be spiteful, he wasn’t going to say a word to her at table, and he would speak only to his friend.
However, it was not so easy to keep quiet as he thought it would be. Things went in a most unanticipated way. Neither his mother nor the baron noticed his attitude of spitefulness. Why, they did not even pay the slightest attention to him, who, the day before, had been the medium of their coming together. They talked over his head and laughed and joked as though he had disappeared under the table. His blood mounted to his head and a lump came into his throat. A horrid21 sense of his impotence overwhelmed him. Was it his doom23 to sit there quietly and look on while his mother stole away from him his friend, the one man he loved, while he, Edgar, made no movement in self-defence and used no other weapon than silence? He felt as though he must get up and pound the table with his clenched24 fists, just to make them take notice of him. But he restrained himself and merely put down his knife and fork and stopped eating. Even this it was a long time before they observed. It was not until the last course that his mother became conscious that he had not tasted his food and asked him if he were not feeling well.
“Disgusting,” he thought. “That’s all she ever thinks of, whether I’m sick or not. Nothing else about me seems to matter to her.”
He told her shortly that he wasn’t hungry, which quite satisfied her. Nothing, absolutely nothing forced them to pay attention to him. The baron seemed to have forgotten him completely, at least he never addressed a single remark to him. His eyeballs were getting hot with suppressed tears, and finally he had to resort to the childlike device of raising his napkin like a screen to hide the traitorous25 drops that rolled down his cheeks and salted his lips. When the meal finally came to an end, he drew a sigh of relief.
During the meal his mother had proposed a drive to an interesting spot in the neighborhood and Edgar had listened with his lips between his teeth. So she was not going to allow him a single moment alone with his friend any more. But now, as they got up from table, came something even worse, and Edgar’s anger went over into a fury of hate.
“Edgar,” said his mother, “you’ll be forgetting everything you learned at school. You had better stay here this afternoon while we’re out driving and do a little studying.”
He clenched his small fists again. There she was at it again, humiliating him in front of his friend, publicly reminding him that he was still a child who had to go to school and whose presence was merely tolerated by his elders. This time, however, her intentions were altogether too obvious, and Edgar was satisfied to turn away without replying.
“Insulted again,” she said, smiling, and then to the baron, “Do you really think it’s so bad for him to spend an hour studying once in a while?”
To this—something in the child’s heart congealed—to this the baron, who called himself his friend and who had made fun of him for being a bookworm, made answer that an hour or two really couldn’t do any harm.
“My father,” said the boy, his eyes flashing anger, “forbade my studying here. He wants me to get my health back here.” Edgar hurled27 this out with all his pride in his illness, clinging desperately28 to his father’s dictum and his father’s authority. It came out like a threat, and to his immense astonishment29 it took effect, seeming actually to have made both of them uncomfortable, his mother especially, for she turned her eyes aside and began to drum on the table nervously30 with her fingers. For a while there was a painful silence, broken finally by the baron, who said with a forced laugh:
“It’s just as you say, Eddie. I myself don’t have to take examinations any more. I failed in all my examinations long ago.”
Edgar gave no smile, but looked at the baron with a yearning31, searching gaze, as if to probe to the innermost of his being. What was taking place in the baron’s soul? Something between him and Edgar had changed, and the child knew not what or why. His eyes wandered unsteadily, in his heart went a little rapid hammer, his first suspicion.
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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
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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3
pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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4
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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6
demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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7
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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8
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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10
crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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11
verandas
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| 阳台，走廊( veranda的名词复数 ) | |
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12
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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13
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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15
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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18
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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19
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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asseverated
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| v.郑重声明，断言( asseverate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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22
horridly
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| 可怕地，讨厌地 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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24
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
traitorous
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| adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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27
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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28
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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31
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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