CHAPTER XII SILVIO'S GOLD

 Jason Jones urged his little car to its best speed until he gained his villa¹. Entering the ground, he was confronted by his factotum², the Italian, Silvio.

 

He sprang out and approached the man.

 

"Is the prisoner safe?" he whispered.

 

"Certainly, Signore."

 

"Is she still in the grape-house?"

 

"With the wine presses, Signore."

 

"And she can't get out?"

 

"Unless she becomes small, like a rat, Signore."

 

Jones glanced around suspiciously, then fixed³ his gaze on a little outbuilding of stone, with a tiled roof, which stood quite removed from the others of the group.

 

"Has she screamed, or cried out?" he asked the man.

 

"Not since I put her in, las' night, Signore."

 

"Good. You've fed her?"

 

"The plenty. She eat very well. It's a nice lady, Signore."

 

"She's dangerous. Listen, Silvio: we must keep her there a week longer."

 

"If I am jailer a week, I mus' double my price," he asserted, shrugging his shoulders.

 

"Nonsense!"

 

"The lady will offer me more to let her out. She say so."

 

"What! You'd betray me?"

 

"Not if I have the gold—here, in my hand—now, Signore."

 

Jones grew red and then white. He eyed the man wickedly. He scowled⁴, and Silvio smiled pleasantly. Silvio was big for an Italian; big and brawny⁵; as his smile faded his face assumed a look of stubborn determination.

 

"So you want the gold now, Silvio?"

 

"At once, if it please the Signore. The gendarmes⁶ are ugly if the law is broken. Their jails are not as pleasant as the grape-house. So the gold must be twice the amount we had spoken of, Signore."

 

"And you will promise she shall not escape; that you'll keep her safe until—until I tell you to let her go?"

 

"That is our bargain, Signore."

 

Jones sighed regretfully.

 

"Very well, then, Silvio," he said. "You're a robber—the son of a brigand—the spawn⁷ of a bandit! But come with me to the house, and you shall have your gold."

 

Alora stayed all that week with Mary Louise, hearing nothing of her father and almost forgetting her unhappiness in the society of her delightful⁸ new friend. It was Sunday evening when the Colonel and Mary Louise drove their guest over to the villa and the two parties did not see one another again until they met on the deck of the steamer in Naples on the following Tuesday morning.

 

The Joneses came aboard very quietly just at the last moment and at the gang-plank Alora's father was confronted by a grimy Italian boy who handed him a letter. Without pausing to read it, Jones hurried below, and he kept his stateroom until the ship was well out in the blue Mediterranean⁹, on its way to Gibraltar and New York. But no one missed him, for Alora and Mary Louise were happy at being reunited and Gran'pa Jim was happy in seeing them happy.

1 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

2 factotum   

n.杂役；听差

参考例句：

• We need a factotum to take care of the workshop.我们需要一个杂役来负责车间的事情。
• I was employed as housekeeper,nanny,and general factotum.我是管家、保姆和总勤杂工。

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 scowled   

怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scowled his displeasure. 他满脸嗔色。
• The teacher scowled at his noisy class. 老师对他那喧闹的课堂板着脸。

5 brawny   

adj.强壮的

参考例句：

• The blacksmith has a brawny arm.铁匠有强壮的胳膊。
• That same afternoon the marshal appeared with two brawny assistants.当天下午，警长带着两名身强力壮的助手来了。

6 gendarmes   

n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Of course, the line of prisoners was guarded at all times by armed gendarmes. 当然，这一切都是在荷枪实弹的卫兵监视下进行的。 来自百科语句
• The three men were gendarmes;the other was Jean Valjean. 那三个人是警察，另一个就是冉阿让。 来自互联网

7 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

8 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

9 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。