When Mr. Prohack, in his mature but still rich velvet1 jacket, came down to dinner, he found his son Charlie leaning against the mantelpiece in a new dark brown suit, and studying The Owner-Driver. Charlie seemed never to read anything but motor-car and light-car and side-car and motor-bicycle periodical literature; but he read it conscientiously2, indefatigably3, and completely—advertisements and all. He read it as though it were an endless novel of passion and he an idle woman deprived of the society her heart longed for. He possessed4 a motor-bicycle which he stabled in a mews behind the Square. He had possessed several such machines; he bought, altered, and sold them, apparently5 always with profit to himself. He had no interest in non-mechanical literature or in any of the arts.
"Your mother's gone to bed with a headache," said Mr. Prohack, with a fair imitation of melancholy6.
"Is this the latest?" asked his father, indicating the new brown suit. "My respectful congratulations. Very smart, especially at the waist."
For a youth who had nothing in the world but what remained of his wound gratuity9 and other trifling10 military emoluments11, and what he made out of commerce in motor-bicycles, Charlie spent a lot in clothes. His mother had advised his father to "speak to him about it." But his father had declined to offer any criticism, on the ground that Charlie had fought in Mesopotamia, Italy and France. Moreover, Charlie had scotched12 any possible criticism by asserting that good clothes were all that stood between him and the ruin of his career. "If I dressed like the dad," he had once grimly and gloomily remarked, "it would be the beginning of the end for me."
"Smart?" he now exclaimed, stepping forward. "Look at that." He advanced his right leg a little. "Look at that crease13. See where it falls?" The trouser-crease, which, as all wise men know, ought to have fallen exactly on the centre of the boot-lacing, fell about an inch to the left thereof. "And I've tried this suit on four times! All the bally tailors in London seem to think you've got nothing else to do but call and try on and try on and try on. Never seems to occur to them that they don't know their business. It's as bad as staff work. However, if this fellow thinks I'm going to stick these trousers he'll have the surprise of his life to-morrow morning." The youth spoke14 in a tone of earnest disgust.
"My boy," said Mr. Prohack, "you have my most serious sympathy. Your life must be terribly complicated by this search for perfection."
"Yes, that's all very well," said Charlie.
"Where's Sissie?"
"Hanged if I know!"
"I heard her playing the piano not five minutes since."
"So did I."
Machin, the house-parlourmaid, then intervened:
"Miss Sissie had a telephone call, and she's gone out, sir."
"Where to?"
"She didn't say, sir. She only said she wouldn't be in for dinner, sir. I made sure she'd told you herself, sir."
The two men, by means of their eyes, transmitted to each other a unanimous judgment15 upon the whole female sex, and sat down to dine alone in the stricken house. The dinner was extremely frugal16, this being the opening day of Mrs. Prohack's new era of intensive economy, but the obvious pleasure of Machin in serving only men brightened up somewhat its brief course. Charlie was taciturn and curt17, though not impolite. Mr. Prohack, whose private high spirits not even the amazing and inexcusable absence of his daughter could impair18, pretended to a decent woe19, and chatted as he might have done to a fellow-clubman on a wet Sunday night at the Club.
At the end of the meal Charlie produced the enormous widow's cruse which he called his cigarette-case and offered his father a cigarette.
"No," answered desperately21 Charlie, puffing.
"Ring the bell, will you?"
"Machin," said he to the incoming house-parlourmaid, "see if you can find some port."
"Yes, sir," said the house-parlourmaid, vivaciously25, and whisked away her skirts, which seemed to remark:
"You're quite right to have port. I feel very sorry for you two attractive gentlemen taking a poor dinner all alone."
Charlie drank his port in silence and Mr. Prohack watched him.
II
Mr. Prohack's son was, in some respects, a great mystery to him. He could not understand, for instance, how his own offspring could be so unresponsive to the attractions of the things of the mind, and so interested in mere27 machinery28 and the methods of moving a living or a lifeless object from one spot on the earth's surface to another. Mr. Prohack admitted the necessity of machinery, but an automobile29 had for him the same status as a child's scooter and no higher. It was an ingenious device for locomotion30. And there for him the matter ended. On the other hand, Mr. Prohack sympathised with and comprehended his son's general attitude towards life. Charlie had gone to war from Cambridge at the age of nineteen. He went a boy, and returned a grave man. He went thoughtless and light-hearted, and returned full of magnificent and austere31 ideals. Six months of England had destroyed these ideals in him. He had expected to help in the common task of making heaven in about a fortnight. In the war he had learnt much about the possibilities of human nature, but scarcely anything about its limitations. His father tried to warn him, but of course failed. Charlie grew resentful, then cynical32. He saw in England nothing but futility33, injustice34 and ingratitude35. He refused to resume Cambridge, and was bitterly sarcastic36 about the generosity37 of a nation which, through its War Office, was ready to pay to studious warriors38 anxious to make up University terms lost in a holy war decidedly less than it paid to its street-sweepers. Having escaped from death, the aforesaid warriors were granted the right to starve their bodies while improving their minds. He might have had sure situations in vast corporations. He declined them. He spat39 on them. He called them "graves." What he wanted was an opportunity to fulfil himself. He could not get it, and his father could not get it from him. While searching for it, he frequently met warriors covered with ribbons but lacking food and shelter not only for themselves but for their women and children. All this, human nature being what it is, was inevitable40, but his father could not convincingly tell him so. All that Mr. Prohack could effectively do Mr. Prohack did,—namely, provide the saviour41 of Britain with food and shelter. Charlie was restlessly and dangerously waiting for his opportunity. But he had not developed into a revolutionist, nor a communist, nor anything of the sort. Oh, no! Quite the reverse. He meditated42 a different revenge on society.
Mr. Prohack knew nothing of this meditated revenge, did not suspect it. If he had suspected it, he might have felt less compassion43 than, on this masculine evening with the unusual port, he did in fact feel. For he was very sorry for Charlie. He longed to tell him about the fortune, and to exult44 with him in the fortune, and to pour, as it were, the fortune into his lap. He did not care a fig45, now, about advisable precautions. He did not feel the slightest constraint46 at the prospect47 of imparting the tremendous and gorgeous news to his son. He had no desire to reflect upon the proper method of telling. He merely and acutely wanted to tell, so that he might see the relief and the joyous48 anticipation49 on his son's enigmatic and melancholy face. But he could not tell because it had been tacitly agreed with his wife that he should not tell in her absence. True, he had given no verbal promise, but he had given something just as binding50.
"Nothing exciting to-day, I suppose," he said, when the silence had begun to distress51 him in his secret glee.
"No," Charlie replied. "I got particulars of an affair at Glasgow, but it needs money."
"What sort of an affair?"
"Oh! Rather difficult to explain. Buying and selling. Usual thing."
"What money is needed?"
"I should say three hundred or thereabouts. Might as well be three thousand so far as I'm concerned."
"Where did you hear of it?"
"Club."
Charlie belonged to a little club in Savile Place where young warriors told each other what they thought of the nature of society.
"I expect I could let you have three hundred."
"You couldn't!"
"I expect I could." Mr. Prohack had never felt so akin26 to a god. It seemed to him that he was engaged in the act of creating a future, yea, a man. Charlie's face changed. He had been dead. He was now suddenly alive.
"When?"
"Well, any time."
"Now?"
"Why not?"
Charlie looked at his watch.
"Well, I'm much obliged," he said.
III
Mr. Prohack had brought a new cheque-book from the Bank. It lay in his hip-pocket. He had no alternative but to write out a cheque. Three hundred pounds would nearly exhaust his balance, but that did not matter. He gave Charlie the cheque. Charlie offered no further information concerning the "affair" for which the money was required. And Mr. Prohack did not choose to enquire53. Perhaps he was too proud to enquire. The money would probably be lost. And if it were lost no harm would be done. Good, rather, for Charlie would have gained experience. The lad was only a child, after all.
The lad ran upstairs, and Mr. Prohack sat solitary54 in delightful55 meditation56. After a few minutes the lad re-appeared in hat and coat. Mr. Prohack thought that he had heard a bag dumped in the hall.
"Where are you off to?" he asked.
"Glasgow. I shall catch the night-train."
He rang the bell.
"Machin, run out and get me a taxi, sharp."
"Yes, sir." Machin flew. This was the same girl of whom Mrs. Prohack dared to demand nothing. Mr. Prohack himself would have hesitated to send her for a taxi. But Charlie ordered her about like a slave and she seemed to like it.
"Rather sudden this, isn't it?" said Mr. Prohack, extremely startled by the turn of events.
"Well, you've got to be sudden in this world, guv'nor," Charlie replied, and lit a fresh cigarette.
Mr. Prohack was again too proud to put questions. Still, he did venture upon one question:
"Have you got loose money for your fare?"
The lad laughed. "Oh, don't let that worry you, guv'nor...!" He looked at his watch once more. "I wonder whether that infernal girl is manufacturing that taxi or only fetching it."
"What must I say to your mother?" demanded Mr. Prohack.
"Give her my respectful regards."
The taxi was heard. Machin dashed into the house, and dashed out again with the bag. The lad clasped his father's hand with a warm vigour57 that pleased and reassured58 Mr. Prohack in his natural bewilderment. It was not consistent with the paternal59 dignity to leave the dining-room and stand, valedictory60, on the front-doorstep.
"Well, I'm dashed!" Mr. Prohack murmured to himself as the taxi drove away. And he had every right to be dashed.
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1
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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indefatigably
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| adv.不厌倦地，不屈不挠地 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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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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apathetically
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| adv.不露感情地；无动于衷地；不感兴趣地；冷淡地 | |
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8
disillusioned
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| a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的 | |
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9
gratuity
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| n.赏钱，小费 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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emoluments
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| n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
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scotched
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| v.阻止( scotch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止（车轮）转动；弄伤；镇压 | |
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13
crease
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| n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱 | |
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14
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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15
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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frugal
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| adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的 | |
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17
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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18
impair
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| v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少 | |
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19
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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20
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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21
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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22
secreted
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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23
fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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25
vivaciously
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| adv.快活地；活泼地；愉快地 | |
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26
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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27
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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28
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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29
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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30
locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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31
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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32
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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33
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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35
ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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36
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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37
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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38
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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39
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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40
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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41
saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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42
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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43
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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44
exult
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| v.狂喜，欢腾；欢欣鼓舞 | |
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45
fig
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| n.无花果(树) | |
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46
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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47
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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48
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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49
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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50
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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51
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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52
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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53
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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54
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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55
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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56
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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57
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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58
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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59
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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60
valedictory
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| adj.告别的；n.告别演说 | |
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