“Why don’t you locate on the ground-floor instead of making people walk up those blamed awkward steps?” he asked.
“I can see better from here what’s going on,” Aynsley explained. “I find it saves me a little money now and then.”
Clay beamed upon him.
“There was a time when I didn’t expect to hear you talk like that. However, you have a pretty good mill-boss and secretary, haven’t you? Do you think you could leave them to look after matters for a little while?”
“I suppose I could,” Aynsley answered dubiously10. “They know more about the business than I do; but, for all that, I’d rather be on the spot. Things seem to go wrong unless you look closely after them.”
“They do; you’re learning fast, my son. It looks as if the mill is getting hold of you.”
Aynsley took a plan of some buildings from a drawer.
“What do you think of this?” he asked. “We could keep the new saws busy, but the job would cost about twenty thousand dollars. Could you let me have the money, or shall I go to the bank?”
Clay inspected the plan carefully.
“It’s a good scheme,” he declared. “If trade keeps steady, you’ll soon get the cost back. I could lend you the money easily but perhaps you’d better try the bank. You’ve got to stand by yourself sooner or later; and it seems to me that you’re getting pretty steady on your feet. Guess you’re not sorry now I made you work?”
Aynsley pondered the question. In some respects the business was not to his taste, but in spite of this it was rapidly engrossing11 his attention. There was a fascination12 in directing, planning for the future, and bringing about results.
“No,” he said. “In fact, I’m getting a good deal more satisfaction out of it than I expected.”
“That should help you in another matter. You won’t take your not getting Osborne’s girl quite so hard.”
For a few moments Aynsley sat still with knitted brows. It was his habit to be honest with himself, and he saw that to some extent his father was right. He thought of Ruth with deep tenderness and regret, and he believed that he would always do so, but the poignant13 sense of loss which he had at first experienced had gone. He did not think that he was fickle14 or disloyal to her, but his new interests had somehow dulled the keenness of his pain.
“I suppose that’s true,” he answered quietly.
“Your real trouble will begin when you see her getting fond of another man. What are you going to do about it then?”
“It’s rather hard to speak about, but, if the fellow’s fit for her, I’ll try to bear it and wish them well.”
“You’ll make good,” Clay commented with dry approval. “But I’ve been getting off the track. You have been sticking to your work pretty closely, and, as things are going, you can leave it without much risk. I want you to take me North for a few weeks in the yacht. The doctor recommends the trip.”
It struck Aynsley that his father was not looking well. He had lost his high color, his face had grown pouchy16 under the eyes, and he had a strained, nervous look. Aynsley had some business on hand which demanded his personal attention, but he recognized his duty to his father. Then, the North had its fascination, and the thought of another grapple with gray seas, smothering17 fog, and biting gales18 appealed to him.
“Very well,” he said. “When do you want to go?”
“As soon as we can get away. Next week, if possible. You had better tell the captain to get his crew and coal on board.”
Aynsley called his secretary, and when Clay left he had arranged to meet him at Victoria in a fortnight.
The time was, however, extended; for on getting the yacht ready for sea some repairs to rigging and engines were found needful, and these took longer than the skipper expected. At last Clay received word that they would be finished in a few days, and he paid a visit to Osborne. Reaching the house in the evening, he sat talking with his host in the library after dinner. A shaded lamp stood on a table laid out with wine and cigars, but this was the only light and beyond its circle of illumination the large room was shadowy. The floor was of polished wood, but a fine rug stretched from near the table to the door, where heavy portières hung. The men spoke19 in quiet, confidential20 voices as they smoked.
“The Farquhar gang have separated, and I’ve lost track of them, but if they can scrape up three or four hundred dollars between them I’ll be surprised,” Clay said. “They’re going to have some trouble in fitting out their boat; and she’s a very small thing, anyway. Though the delay has worried me, we should get up there long before they do, and we only need a few days of fine weather to finish the job.”
“There’s some risk in your taking the diver and Aynsley,” Osborne cautioned. “You may have some difficulty in keeping both in the dark.”
“It oughtn’t to be hard. I take the owner’s berth21 with the small sitting-room22 attached, and everything we bring up will go straight in there—and I’ll keep the key. The diver’s business ends when he puts the stuff on deck, and after it’s stowed nobody will touch it but myself.”
“Aynsley may want to see it, and ask questions.”
“Then he won’t be gratified. I have him pretty well drilled, and he knows when to stop. Besides, I’ll find him useful. When anything needs talking over, I’ll have him to consult with instead of a paid man. The skipper’s more of a sailing-master. Aynsley takes command.”
“Still, you can’t keep everything from him,” Osborne persisted. “It seems to me there are too many people who must, to some extent, be taken into your confidence. That’s where Farquhar has the advantage. He has only two partners, whom he can rely upon.”
“Shucks! You get to imagining trouble! Some of the gold is there all right, and, if it’s needful, I can make a show with that. For all that, I’d like a companion who knew as much as I did, and I feel a bit sore because I have to go without. It’s your place to see me through, but you’ve got so blamed fastidious lately.”
“I’m not going,” Osborne answered softly, for Clay had raised his voice. “I’ve had enough to do with the wreck23.”
Clay indicated the handsome room and its rich fittings with a wave of his hand.
“You have had your share of the plunder24, and you hadn’t a shack25 to call your own when I first got hold of you. Now, when I’m up against an awkward job, you go back on me. However, if I wanted you—”
He broke off, looking up sharply as a draught26 of colder air entered the room; and Osborne, turning with a start, saw Ruth standing27 on the rug. Her face was in shadow, for she was outside the direct illumination of the shaded lamp, but so far as he could discern, her attitude was easy and natural.
“Walter has just come back with the car and brought this telegram,” she said. “I thought it might be important.”
Osborne was partly reassured28 by her voice. She spoke in her normal tone, but he wished he could see her better.
“Thank you,” he said, opening the envelope. “We’ll have finished our talk before very long.”
Ruth went out in silence, and Clay looked hard at Osborne.
“Could she have heard?”
“I don’t think so. I hope not.”
“I’d soon have found out if it had been a man,” Clay said grimly. “Anyhow, all she could have picked up wouldn’t give her much of a clew.”
He was wrong. Ruth’s suspicions had already been aroused, and now Clay had justified29 them out of his own mouth. She knew that he was going north where Jimmy, who had spoken of some plan for improving his fortune, had been engaged at the wreck. Clay had mentioned a share of the plunder, so something was far from straight. Worse still, he seemed to have been urging her father to go with him.
It had cost her an effort to maintain her composure when she gave him the telegram, and her face was pale when she went downstairs and sat in a corner of the empty hall. Ruth had had a shock. Until lately she had given her indulgent father her wholehearted affection and respect. His life had long been hard, but she believed he had at last achieved success by courage and integrity. Then she began to distrust his association with Clay, and by degrees perplexing doubts had grown up. She was imaginative, and when she began to form a theory, odd facts that had accidentally come to her knowledge had fitted in. Vessels31, she knew, were sometimes lost by their owners’ consent and frauds perpetrated on the underwriters. It was horrible to think that, but what Clay had said indicated something of the kind.
Then, as she recovered from the shock, she felt pitiful, and tried to make excuses for her father. He must have been hard pressed when he yielded to temptation, and his partner had, no doubt, placed it in his way. She was filled with a desire to protect him. He must be saved from the evil influence that had led him into wrong. She remembered that Clay had declared he owed her a debt of gratitude32. She would remind him of it. He must release her father from whatever hold he had on him; she had a curious confidence that he would do so if she begged it.
She waited, nerving herself for the effort, until he came downstairs and then she beckoned33 him into the empty drawing-room.
“I suppose my father’s busy?”
“Yes; he has a letter to write.”
Clay leaned carelessly on a chair-back, watching her as she stood quietly confronting him. The intentness of her expression and her stillness were significant. She suspected something, and he was sorry for her; if he could remove her suspicions, he would do so.
“Then he won’t be down for some minutes,” she said. “I have something to say—you have been trying to make him go North with you?”
“No; not exactly. I’m not sure I could make him; he’s pretty determined34. Don’t you want him to go?”
“No!” she cried. “You mustn’t take him! And in future you must leave him alone. I can’t let you force him to do things he hates!”
“It looks as if you suspected me of leading him astray. Now, in a sense, that’s hardly fair to either of us. Don’t you think your father has a will of his own?”
“I know you have some power over him, and I beg you not to use it.”
Clay pulled out a chair.
“I think you had better sit down while we talk this thing over. To begin with, your father and I are old friends; we have faced hard times together and shared very rough luck. It seems to me that gives us some claim on each other.”
“That is not what I mean,” Ruth said firmly.
Clay was determined to spare her as far as he could.
“Then, if you suspect some other influence, I’d better warn you that you’re too young and inexperienced to form a reliable opinion. You hear something that startles you, and, without understanding it, you make a blind guess. Take it from me that your father is known as one of the straightest business men in this State.” He paused and laughed. “In fact, he’s getting too particular for me. I’m ‘most afraid I’ll have to drop him.”
“That is what I want you to do; I mean as a business partner.”
“Then you wouldn’t quite bar me out as a private acquaintance?”
“No,” Ruth answered slowly. “Somehow, I feel that you might prove a good friend.”
“Thanks. Now I want you to listen. I’m not going to defend my commercial character. I’ve taken up a good many risky36 deals and put them through, fighting the men who meant to down me as best I could; but all my business hasn’t been a raid on somebody else’s property. In fact, you can’t play the bold pirate too often. Very well; now and then, when I was doing an innocent trade, I wanted a respectable associate as a kind of guarantee, and asked your father to stand in. He’s known as a straight man, and my having him helped to disarm37 suspicion; I’ll admit that I found him useful in that respect. I hope I’ve said enough to satisfy you?”
Though his manner was humorous, Ruth felt somewhat comforted. His explanation sounded plausible38, and she was glad to make the most of it; but it did not banish39 all her doubts.
“I don’t want him to have anything to do with your northern trip,” she persisted.
“Why?”
Ruth hesitated, and Clay felt moved to sympathy. There was distress40 and perplexity in her face, but what touched him most was something in her manner that suggested confidence in his ability to help her.
“I’m afraid; I feel that no good can come of it,” she said with an appealing look. “You mustn’t let him have any part in it.”
“Very well.” Clay leaned forward, speaking in an earnest tone. “Set your mind at rest. You have my word that your father shall have no share in what I hope to do at the wreck. What’s more, he doesn’t know all my plans about her. There’s nothing in them that can injure him; on the contrary, if I can carry them out, it will be to his benefit, in a way that he doesn’t expect and that you could find no fault with.”
Ruth felt that he was speaking the truth; giving her a pledge of greater importance than she could gage30. His manner had impressed her, and she was conscious of keen relief.
“Thank you,” she said, getting up. “You must forgive my frankness—it seemed needful.”
“It’s a compliment, because it shows that, after all, you have some faith in me.” He added, with a smile, “You won’t regret it.”
Ruth left him with a lighter41 heart. She did not know whether she had been too hard on Clay or not, but she felt that she could trust him.
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收听单词发音
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1
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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2
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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3
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4
resinous
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| adj.树脂的，树脂质的，树脂制的 | |
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5
scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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7
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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8
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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9
smear
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| v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑 | |
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10
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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11
engrossing
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| adj.使人全神贯注的，引人入胜的v.使全神贯注( engross的现在分词 ) | |
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12
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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14
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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15
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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16
pouchy
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| adj.多袋的，袋状的，松垂的 | |
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17
smothering
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的现在分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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18
gales
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| 龙猫 | |
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19
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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20
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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21
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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22
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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23
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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24
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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25
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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26
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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27
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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28
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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29
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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30
gage
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| n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge] | |
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31
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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32
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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33
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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35
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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36
risky
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| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
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37
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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38
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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39
banish
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| vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除 | |
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40
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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41
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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