Something had happened, and it had come through that long business envelope with the typewritten address that seemed so harmless. One reading of the contents had brought Terry out of his chair with an exclamation6. Then, without explanation of any sort, he had gone to his room and stayed there. She would have followed to find out what was the matter, but the requirements of dinner and her guests kept her downstairs.
Immediately after dinner Vance, at a signal from her, dexterously7 herded8 everyone into the living room and distributed them in comfort around the big fireplace; Elizabeth Cornish bolted straight for the room of Terence. She knocked and tried the door. To her astonishment9, the knob turned, but the door did not open. She heard the click and felt the jar of the bolt. Terry had locked his door!
A little thing to make her heart fall, one would say, but little things about Terry were great things to Elizabeth. In twenty-four years he had never locked his door. What could it mean?
It was a moment before she could call, and she waited breathlessly. She was reassured10 by a quiet voice that answered her: "Just a moment. I'll open."
The tone was so matter-of-fact that her heart, with one leap, came back to normal and tears of relief misted her eyes for an instant. Perhaps he was up here working out a surprise for the next day—he was full of tricks and surprises. That was unquestionably it. And he took so long in coming to the door because he was hiding the thing he had been working on. As for food, Wu Chi was his slave and would have smuggled11 a tray up to him. Presently the lock turned and the door opened.
She could not see his face distinctly at first, the light was so strong behind him. Besides, she was more occupied in looking for the tray of food which would assure her that Terry was not suffering from some mental crisis that had made him forget even dinner. She found the tray, sure enough, but the food had not been touched.
She turned on him with a new rush of alarm. And all her fears were realized. Terry had been fighting a hard battle and he was still fighting. About his eyes there was the look, half-dull and half-hard, that comes in the eyes of young people unused to pain. A worried, tense, hungry face. He took her arm and led her to the table. On it lay an article clipped out of a magazine. She looked down at it with unseeing eyes. The sheets were already much crumbled12. Terry turned them to a full- page picture, and Elizabeth found herself looking down into the face of Black Jack13, proud, handsome, defiant14.
Had Vance been there, he might have recognized her actions. As she had done one day twenty-four years ago, now she turned and dropped heavily into a chair, her bony hands pressed to her shallow bosom15. A moment later she was on her feet again, ready to fight, ready to tell a thousand lies. But it was too late. The revelation had been complete and she could tell by his face that Terence knew everything.
"Terry," she said faintly, "what on earth have you to do with that—"
"Listen, Aunt Elizabeth," he said, "you aren't going to fib about it, are you?"
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"Why were you so shocked?"
She knew it was a futile16 battle. He was prying17 at her inner mind with short questions and a hard, dry voice.
"It was the face of that terrible man. I saw him once before, you know.
On the day—"
"On the day he was murdered!"
That word told her everything. "Murdered!" It lighted all the mental processes through which he had been going. Who in all the reaches of the mountain desert had ever before dreamed of terming the killing18 of the notorious Black Jack a "murder"?
"What are you saying, Terence? That fellow—"
He picked up the photograph and stood back so that the light fell sharply on his face and on the photograph which he held beside his head. He caught up a sombrero and jammed it jauntily20 on his head. He tilted21 his face high, with resolute22 chin. And all at once there were two Black Jacks23, not one. He evidently saw all the admission that he cared for in her face. He took off the hat with a dragging motion and replaced the photograph on the table.
"I tried it in the mirror," he said quietly. "I wasn't quite sure until I tried it in the mirror. Then I knew, of course."
She felt him slipping out of her life.
"What shall I say to you, Terence?"
"Is that my real name?"
"Good. Do you remember our talk of today?"
"What talk?"
"I said that what these people lacked was the influence of family—of old blood!"
He made himself smile at her, and Elizabeth trembled. "If I could explain—" she began.
"Ah, what is there to explain, Aunt Elizabeth? Except that you have been a thousand times kinder to me than I dreamed before. Why, I—I actually thought that you were rather honored by having a Colby under your roof. I really felt that I was bestowing26 something of a favor on you!"
"Terry, sit down!"
He sank into a chair slowly. And she sat on the arm of it with her mournful eyes on his face.
"Whatever your name may be, that doesn't change the man who wears the name."
He laughed softly. "And you've been teaching me steadily27 for twenty-four years that blood will tell? You can't change like this. Oh, I understand it perfectly28. You determined29 to make me over. You determined to destroy my heritage and put the name of the fine old Colbys in its place. It was a brave thing to try, and all these years how you must have waited, and waited to see how I would turn out, dreading30 every day some outbreak of the bad blood! Ah, you have a nerve of steel, Aunt Elizabeth! How have you endured the suspense31?"
She felt that he was mocking her subtly under this flow of compliment.
But it was the bitterness of pain, not of reproach, she knew.
She said: "Why didn't you let me come up with you? Why didn't you send for me?"
"I've been busy doing a thing that no one could help me with. I've been burning my dreams." He pointed32 to a smoldering33 heap of ashes on the hearth34.
"Terry!"
"Yes, all the Colby pictures that I've been collecting for the past fifteen years. I burned 'em. They don't mean anything to anyone else, and certainly they have ceased to mean anything to me. But when I came to Anthony Colby—the eighteen-twelve man, you know, the one who has always been my hero—it went pretty hard. I felt as if—I were burning my own personality. As a matter of fact, in the last couple of hours I've been born over again."
Terry paused. "And births are painful, Aunt Elizabeth!"
At that she cried out and caught his hand. "Terry dear! Terry dear! You break my heart!"
"I don't mean to. You mustn't think that I'm pitying myself. But I want to know the real name of my father. He must have had some name other than Black Jack. What was it?"
"Are you going to gather his memory to your heart, Terry?"
"I am going to find something about him that I can be proud of. Blood will tell. I know that I'm not all bad, and there must have been good in Black Jack. I want to know all about him. I want to know about—his crimes."
"Because—I had a hand in every one of those crimes! Everything that he did is something that I might have done under the same temptation."
"But you're not all your father's son. You had a mother. A dear, sweet- faced girl—"
"Don't!" whispered Terry. "I suppose he broke—her heart?"
"She was a very delicate girl," she said after a moment.
"And now my father's name, please?"
"Not that just now. Give me until tomorrow night, Terry. Will you do that? Will you wait till tomorrow night, Terry? I'm going to have a long talk with you then, about many things. And I want you to keep this in mind always. No matter how long you live, the influence of the Colbys will never go out of your life. And neither will my influence, I hope. If there is anything good in me, it has gone into you. I have seen to that. Terry, you are not your father's son alone. All these other things have entered into your make-up. They're just as much a part of you as his blood."
"Ah, yes," said Terry. "But blood will tell!"
It was a mournful echo of a thing she had told him a thousand times.
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收听单词发音
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1
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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2
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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3
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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4
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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5
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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6
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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7
dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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8
herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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9
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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10
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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11
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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12
crumbled
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| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
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13
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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14
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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15
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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16
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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17
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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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
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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jauntily
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| adv.心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地 | |
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21
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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23
jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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24
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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26
bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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27
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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29
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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30
dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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31
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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32
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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33
smoldering
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| v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 ) | |
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34
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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35
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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