"I've made my play," he said through his teeth, "and I don't holler because I've lost the big stakes. Now I'm going to give you something to show that I'm not a piker—some free advice, Dave!"
"O man of many lies," said David. "Peace! For when I hear you there is a great will come on me to take you by the throat and hear your life go out with a rattle4."
"A minute ago," said Connor coolly enough, "I was scared, and I admit it, but I'm past that stage. I've lost too much to care, and now you're going to hear me out to the last damned word!"
"God of Paul and Matthew," said David, his voice broken with rage, "let temptation be far from me!"
The blind fury sent David a long step nearer, but he checked himself even as one hand rose toward Connor.
"It is the will of God that you live to be punished hereafter."
"No matter about the future. I'm chattering6 in the present. I'm going to come clean, not because I'm afraid of you, but because I'm going to clear up the girl. Abraham had the cold dope, well enough. I came to crook8 you out of a horse, Dave, my boy, and I did it. But after I'd got away with the goods I tried to play hog9, and I came back for the rest of the horses."
He paused; but David showed no emotion.
"You take the punishment very well," admitted Connor. "There's a touch of sporting blood in you, but the trouble is that the good in you has never had a fair chance to come to the top. I came back, and I brought Ruth with me.
"I'll tell you about her. She's meant to be an honest-to-God woman—the kind that keeps men clean—she's meant for the big-time stuff. And where did I find her? In a jay town punching a telegraph key. It was all wrong.
"She was made to spend a hundred thousand a year. Everything that money buys means a lot to her. I saw that right away. I like her. I did more than like her. I loved her. That makes you flinch10 under the whip, does it? I don't say I'm worthy11 of her, but I'm as near to her as you are.
"I admit I played a rotten part. I went to this girl, all starved the way she was for the velvet12 touch. I laid my proposition before her. She was to come up here and bamboozle13 you. She was to knock your eye out and get you clear of the valley with the horses. Then I was going to run those horses on the tracks and make a barrel of coin for all of us.
"You'd think she'd take on a scheme like that right away; but she didn't. She fought to keep from going crooked14 until I showed her it was as much to your advantage as it was to ours. Then she decided15 to come, and she came. I worked my stall and she worked hers, and she got into the valley.
"But this voice of yours in the Room of Silence—why didn't it put you wise to my game? Well, David, I'll tell you why. The voice is the bunk16. It's your own thoughts. It's your own hunches17. The god you've been worshiping up here is yourself, and in the end you're going to pay hell for doing it.
"Well, here's the girl in the Garden, and everything going smooth. We have you, and she's about to take you out and show you how to be happy in the world. But then she has to go into your secret room. That's the woman of it. You blame her? Why, you infernal blockhead, you've been making love to her like God Almighty18 speaking out of a cloud of fire! How could she hear your line of chatter7 without wanting to find out the secrets that made you the nut you are?
"Well, we went in, and we found out. We found out what? Enough to make the girl see that you're 'noble,' as she calls it. Enough to make me see that you're a simp. You've been chasing bubbles all your life. You're all wrong from the first.
"Those first four birds who started the Garden, who were they? There was John, a rich fellow who'd hit the high spots, had his life messed up, and was ready to quit. He'd lived enough. Then there was Luke, a gent who'd been double-crossed and was sore at the world on general principles.
"Paul would have been a full-sized saint in the old days. He was never meant to live the way other men have to live. And finally there's a guy who lies in the grass and whistles to a bird—Matthew. A poet—and all poets are nuts.
"Well, all those fellows were tired of the world—fed up with it. Boil them down, and they come to this: they thought more about the welfare of their souls than they did about the world. Was that square? It wasn't! They left the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, the friends, everything that had brought them into the world and raised 'em. They go off to take care of themselves.
"That wasn't bad enough for 'em—they had to go out and pluck you and bring you up with the same rotten hunches. Davie, my boy, d'you think a man is made to live by himself?
"You haven't got fed up with the world; you're no retired19 high liver; you haven't had a chance to get double-crossed more than once; you're not a crazy poet; and you're a hell of a long ways from being a martyr20.
"I'll tell you what you are. You're a certain number of pounds of husky muscle and bone going to waste up here in the mountains. You've been alone so much that you've got to thinking that your own hunches come from God, and that'd spoil any man.
"Live alone? Bah! You've had more happiness since Ruth came into this valley than you've ever had before or you'll ever have again.
"Right now you're breaking your heart to take her in your arms and tell her to stop crying, but your pride won't let you.
"You tried to make yourself a mystery with your room of silence and all that bunk. But no woman can stand a mystery. They all got to read their husband's letters. You try to bluff21 her with a lot of fancy words and partly scare her. It's fear that sent the four men up here in the first place—fear of the world.
"And they've lived by fear. They scared a lot of poor unfortunate men into coming with them for the sake of their souls, they said. And they kept them here the same way. And they've kept you here by telling you that you'd be damned if you went over the mountains.
"And you still keep them here the same way. Do you think they stay because they love you? Give them a chance and see if they won't pack up and beat it for their old homes.
"Now, show me that you're a man and not a fatheaded bluff. Be a man and admit that what you call the Voice is just your pride. Be a man and take that girl in your arms and tell her you love her. I've made a mess of things; I've ruined her life, and I want to see you give her a chance to be happy.
"Because she's not the kind to love more than one man if she lives to be a thousand. Now, David Eden, step out and give yourself a chance!"
It had been a gallant22 last stand on the part of Connor. But he was beaten before he finished, and he knew it.
"Are you done?" said David.
"I'm through, fast enough. It's up to you!"
"Joseph, take the man and his woman out of the Garden of Eden."
The last thing that Connor ever saw of David Eden was his back as he closed the door of the Room of Silence upon himself. The gambler went to Ruth. She was dry-eyed by this time, and there was a peculiar23 blankness in her expression that went to his heart.
Secretly he had hoped that his harangue24 to David would also be a harangue to the girl and make her see through the master of the Garden; but that hope disappeared at once.
He stayed a little behind her when they were conducted out of the patio25 by the grinning Joseph. He helped her gently to her horse, the old gray gelding, and when he was in place on his own horse, with the mule26 pack behind him, they started for the gate.
She had not spoken since they started. At the gate she moved as if to turn and look back, but controlled the impulse and bowed her head once more. Joseph came beside the gambler and stretched out his great palm. In the center of it was the little ivory ape's head which had brought Connor his entrance into the valley and had won the hatred27 of the big Negro, and had, eventually, ruined all his plans.
"It was given freely," grinned Joseph, "and it is freely returned."
"Very well."
Connor took it and hurled28 it out of sight along the boulders29 beyond the gate. The last thing that he saw of the Garden of Eden and its men was that broad grin of Joseph, and then he hurried his horse to overtake Ruth, whose gelding had been plodding30 steadily31 along the ravine.
He attempted for the first time to speak to her.
"Only a quitter tries to make up for the harm he's done by apologizing. But I've got to tell you the one thing in my life I most regret. It isn't tricking David of Eden, but it's doing what I've done to you. Will you believe me when I say that I'd give a lot to undo32 what I've done?"
She only raised her hand to check him and ventured a faint smile of reassurance33. It was the smile that hurt Connor to the quick.
They left the ravine. They toiled34 slowly up the difficult trail, and even when they had reached such an altitude that the floor of the valley of the Garden was unrolling behind them the girl never once moved to look back.
"So," thought Connor, "she'll go through the rest of her life with her head down, watching the ground in front of her. And this is my work."
He was not a sentimentalist, but a lump was forming in his throat when, at the very crest35 of the mountain, the girl turned suddenly in her saddle and stopped the gray.
"Only makes it worse to stay here," muttered Connor. "Come on, Ruth."
But she seemed not to hear him, and there was something in her smile that kept him from speaking again.
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1
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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2
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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3
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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4
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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5
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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6
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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7
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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8
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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9
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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10
flinch
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| v.畏缩，退缩 | |
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11
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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12
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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13
bamboozle
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| v.欺骗，隐瞒 | |
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14
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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15
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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16
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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17
hunches
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| 预感，直觉( hunch的名词复数 ) | |
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18
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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19
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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21
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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24
harangue
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| n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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25
patio
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| n.庭院，平台 | |
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26
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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27
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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28
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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29
boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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30
plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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31
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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32
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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33
reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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34
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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35
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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