He had found in the girl an ally of unexpected strength. He expected only a difficult tool filled with scruples5, drawing back, imperiling his plans with her hesitation6. Instead, she was on fire with the plan. He thought well to fan that fire and keep it steadily7 blazing.
"It's better for David; better for him than it is for us. Look at the poor fool! He's in prison here and doesn't know it. He thinks he's happy, but he's simply kidding himself. In six months I'll have him chatting with millionaires."
"Let a barber do a day's work on him first."
"No. It's just the long-haired nuts like that who get by with the high-steppers. He has a lingo8 about flowers and trees that'll knock their eye out. I know the gang. Always on edge for something different—music that sounds like a riot in a junk shop and poetry that reads like a drunken printing-press. Well, David ought to be different enough to suit 'em. I'll boost him, though: 'The Man that Brought Out the Eden Grays!' He'll be headline stuff!"
He laughed so heartily9 that he did not notice the quick glance of criticism which the girl cast at him.
"I'm not taking anything from him, really," went on Connor. "I'm simply sneaking10 around behind him so's I can pour his pockets full of the coin. That's all there is to it. Outside of the looks, tell me if there's anything crooked11 you can see?"
"I don't think there is," she murmured. "I almost hope that there isn't!"
She was so dubious13 about it that Connor was alarmed. He was fond of Ruth Manning, but she was just "different" enough to baffle him. Usually he divided mankind into three or four categories for the sake of fast thinking. There were the "boobs," the "regular guys," the "high steppers," and the "nuts." Sometimes he came perilously14 close to including Ruth in the last class—with David Eden. And if he did not do so, it was mainly because she had given such an exhibition of cool courage only a few moments before. He had finished his peroration15, now, with a feeling of actual virtue16, but the shadow on her face made him change his tactics and his talk.
He confined himself, thereafter, strictly17 to the future. First he outlined his plans for raising the cash for the big "killing18." He told of the men to whom he could go for backing. There were "hard guys" who would take a chance. "Wise ones" who would back his judgment19. "Fall guys" who would follow him blindly. For ten percent he would get all the cash he could place. Then it remained to try out the grays in secret, and in public let them go through the paces ridden under wraps and heavily weighted. He described the means of placing the big money before the great race.
And as he talked his figures mounted from tens to hundreds to thousands, until he was speaking in millions. In all of this profit she and David and Connor would share dollar for dollar. At the first corner of the shore they turned she had arrived at a snug20 apartment in New York. She would have a housekeeper21-companion. There would be a cosy22 living room and a paneled dining room. In the entrance hall of the apartment house, imitation of encrusted marble, no doubt.
But as they came opposite a little wooded island in the lake she had added a maid to the housekeeper. Also, there was now a guest room. Some one from Lukin would be in that room; some one from Lukin would go through the place with her, marveling at her good fortune.
And clothes! They made all the difference. Dressed as she would be dressed, when she came into a room that queer, cold gleam of envy would be in the eyes of the women and the men would sit straighter!
Yet when they reached the place where the shore line turned north and west her imagination, spurred by Connor's talk, was stumbling along dizzy heights. Her apartment occupied a whole floor. Her butler was a miracle of dignity and her chef a genius in the kitchen. On the great table the silver and glass were things of frosted light. Her chauffeur23 drove a monster automobile24 with a great purring engine that whipped her about the city with the color blown into her cheeks. In her box at the opera she was allowing the deep, soft luxury of the fur collar to slide down from her throat, while along the boxes, in the galleries, there was a ripple25 of light as the thousand glasses turned upon her. Then she found that Connor was smiling at her. She flushed, but snapped her fingers.
"This thing is going through," she declared.
"You won't weaken?"
"I'm as cold as steel. Let's go back. He'll probably be in the house by this time."
Time had slipped past her unnoticed, and the lake was violet and gold with the sunset as they turned away; under the trees along the terraces the brilliant wild flowers were dimmed by a blue shadow.
"But I never saw wild flowers like those," she said to Connor.
"Nobody else ever did. But old Matthew, whoever he was, grew 'em and kept crossing 'em until he got those big fellows with all the colors of the rainbow."
"Hurry! We're late!"
"No, David's probably on top of that hill, now; always goes up there to watch the sun rise and the sun set. Can you beat that?"
He chuckled26, but a shade had darkened the face of the girl for a moment. Then she lifted her head resolutely27.
"I'm not going to try to understand him. The minute you understand a thing you stop being afraid of it; and as soon as I stop being afraid of David Eden I might begin to like him—which is what I don't want."
"What's that?" cried Connor, breaking in on her last words. When Ruth began to think aloud he always stopped listening; it was a maxim28 of his to never listen when a woman became serious.
"It's that strange giant."
"Joseph!" exclaimed Connor heavily. "Whipping did him no good. He'll need killing one of these days."
"Do you think he worships the sun?"
"I don't think. Try to figure out a fellow like that and you get to be just as much of a nut as he is. Go on toward the house and I'll follow you in a minute. I want to talk to big Joe."
He turned aside into the trees briskly, and the moment he was out of sight of the girl he called softly: "Joseph!"
He repeated the call after a trifling30 wait before he saw the big man coming unconcernedly through the trees toward him. Joseph came close before he stopped—very close, as a man will do when he wishes to make another aware of his size, and from this point of vantage, he looked over Connor from head to foot with a glance of lingering and insolent31 criticism. The gambler was somewhat amused and a little alarmed by that attitude.
"Now, Joseph," he said, "tell me frankly32 why you're dodging33 me about the valley. Waiting for a chance to throw stones?"
"Benjamin," answered the deep, solemn voice, "I know all!"
It made Connor peer into those broad features as into a dim light. Then a moment of reflection assured him that Joseph could not have learned the secret.
"Haneemar, whom you know," continued Joseph, "has told me about you."
"And where," asked Connor, completely at sea, "did you learn of Haneemar?"
"From Abraham. And I know that this is the head of Haneemar."
He brought out in his palm the little watch-charm of carved ivory.
"Of course," nodded Connor, feeling his way. "And what is it that you know from Haneemar?"
"That you are evil, Benjamin, and that you have come here for evil. You entered by a trick; and you will stay here for evil purposes until the end."
"You follow around to pick up a little dope, eh?" chuckled Connor. "You trail me to find out what I intend to do? Why don't you go to David and warn him?"
"Have I forgotten the whip?" asked Joseph, his nostrils35 trembling with anger. "But the good Haneemar now gives me power and in the end he will betray you into my hands. That is why I follow you. Wherever you go I follow; I am even able to know what you think! But hearken to me, Benjamin. Take back the head of Haneemar and the bad luck that lives in it. Take it back, and I shall no longer follow you. I shall forget the whip. I shall be ready to do you a service."
He extended the little piece of ivory eagerly, but Connor drew back. His superstitions36 were under the surface of his mind, but, still, they were there, and the fear which Joseph showed was contagious37.
"Why don't you throw it away if you're afraid of it, Joseph?"
"You know as I know," returned Joseph, glowering38, "that it cannot be thrown away. It must be given and freely accepted, as I—oh fool—accepted it from you."
There was such a profound conviction in this that Connor was affected39 in spite of himself. That little trinket had been the entering wedge through which he had worked his way into the Garden and started on the road to fortune. He would rather have cut off his hand, now, than take it back.
"Find some one else to take it," he suggested cheerily. "I don't want the thing."
"Then all that Abraham told me is true!" muttered Joseph, closing his hand over the trinket. "But I shall follow you, Benjamin. When you think you are alone you shall find me by turning your head. Every day by sunrise and every day by the dark I beg Haneemar to put his curse on you. I have done you no wrong, and you have had me shamed."
"And now you're going to have me bewitched, eh?" asked Connor.
"You shall see."
The gambler drew back another pace and through the shadows he saw the beginning of a smile of animal-cunning on the face of Joseph.
"The devil take you and Haneemar together," he growled40. "Remember this, Joseph. I've had you whipped once. The next time I'll have you flayed41 alive."
Instead of answering, Joseph merely grinned more openly, and the gambler, to forget the ape-face, wheeled and hurried out from the trees. The touch of nightmare dread42 did not leave him until he rejoined Ruth on the higher terrace.
They found the patio glowing with light, the table near the fountain, and three chairs around it. David came out of the shadow of the arcade43 to meet them, and he was as uneasy as a boy who had a surprise for grown-ups. He had not even time for a greeting.
"You have not seen your room?" he said to Ruth. "I have made it ready for you. Come!"
He led the way half a pace in front, glancing back at them as though to reprove their slowness, until he reached a door at which he turned and faced her, laughing with excitement. She could hardly believe that this man with his childish gayety was the same whose fury had terrified the servants that same afternoon.
"Close your eyes—close them fast. You will not look until I say?"
She obeyed, setting her teeth to keep from smiling.
"Now come forward—step high for the doorway44. So! You are in. Now wait—now open your eyes and look!"
She obeyed again and saw first David standing45 back with an anxious smile and the gesture of one who reveals, but is not quite sure of its effect. Then she heard a soft, startled exclamation46 from Connor behind her. Last of all she saw the room.
It was as if the walls had been broken down and a garden let inside—it gave an effect of open air, sunlight and wind. Purple flowers like warm shadows banked the farther corners, and out of them rose a great vine draping the window. It had been torn bodily from the earth, and now the roots were packed with damp moss47, yellow-green. It bore in clusters and single flowers and abundant bloom, each blossom as large as the mallow, and a dark gold so rich that Ruth well-nigh listened for the murmur12 of bees working this mine of pollen48. From above, the great flowers hung down against the dull red of the sunset sky; and from below the distant treetops on the terrace pointed49 up with glimmers50 of the lake between. There was only the reflected light of the evening, now, but the cuplike blossoms were filled to the brim with a glow of their own.
She looked away.
A dapple deerskin covered the bed like the shadow under a tree in mid-day, and the yellow of the flowers was repeated dimly on the floor by a great, tawny51 hide of a mountain-lion. She took up some of the purple flowers, and letting the velvet52 petals53 trail over her finger tips, she turned to David with a smile. But what Connor saw, and saw with a thrill of alarm, was that her eyes were filling with tears.
"See!" said David gloomily. "I have done this to make you happy, and now you are sad!"
"Because it is so beautiful."
"Yes," said David slowly. "I think I understand."
But Connor took one of the flowers from her hand. She cried out, but too late to keep him from ripping the blossom to pieces, and now he held up a single petal54, long, graceful55, red-purple at the broader end and deep yellow at the narrow.
"Think of that a million times bigger," said Connor, "and made out of velvet. That'd be a design for a cloak, eh? Cost about a thousand bucks56 to imitate this petal, but it'd be worth it to see you in it, eh?"
She looked to David with a smile of apology for Connor, but her hand accepted the petal, and her second smile was for Connor himself.
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1
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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patio
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| n.庭院，平台 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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7
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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8
lingo
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| n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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perilously
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| adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地 | |
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peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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17
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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18
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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19
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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20
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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26
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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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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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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33
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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38
glowering
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| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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40
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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41
flayed
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| v.痛打( flay的过去式和过去分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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42
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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43
arcade
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| n.拱廊；(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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44
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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45
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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46
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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47
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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48
pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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50
glimmers
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| n.微光，闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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51
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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52
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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53
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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54
petal
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| n.花瓣 | |
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55
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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56
bucks
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| n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃 | |
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