The girl had never before had to do with any mature man. She was therefore at a disadvantage in every way, and her total lack of experience emphasised the odds2.
Nobody had ever before pointedly3 preferred her, paid her undivided attention; no man had ever sought her, conversed4 with her, deferred5 to her, interested himself in her. It was entirely6 new to her, this attention which Brandes paid her. Nor could she make any comparisons between this man and other men, because she knew no other men. He was an entirely novel experience to her; he had made himself interesting, had proved amusing, considerate, kind, generous, and apparently7 interested in what interested her. And if his unfeigned preference for her society disturbed and perplexed8 her, his assiduous civilities toward her father and mother were gradually winning from her far more than anything he had done for her.
His white-faced, odd little friend had gone; he himself had taken quarters at the Gayfield House, where a car like the wrecked9 one was stabled for his use.
He had already taken her father and mother and herself everywhere within motoring distance; he had accompanied them to church; he escorted her to the 72movies; he walked with her in the August evenings after supper, rowed her about on the pond, fished from the bridge, told her strange stories in the moonlight on the verandah, her father and mother interested and attentive10.
For the career of Mr. Eddie Brandes was capable of furnishing material for interesting stories if carefully edited, and related with discretion11 and circumspection12. He had been many things to many men—and to several women—he had been a tinhorn gambler in the Southwest, a miner in Alaska, a saloon keeper in Wyoming, a fight promoter in Arizona. He had travelled profitably on popular ocean liners until requested to desist; Auteuil, Neuilly, Vincennes, and Longchamps knew him as tout13, bookie, and, when fitfully prosperous, as a plunger. Epsom knew him once as a welcher; and knew him no more.
He had taken a comic opera company through the wheat-belt—one way; he had led a burlesque14 troupe15 into Arizona and had traded it there for a hotel.
“When Eddie wants to talk,” Stull used to say, “that smoke, Othello, hasn’t got nothing on him.”
However, Brandes seldom chose to talk. This was one of his rare garrulous16 occasions; and, with careful self-censorship, he was making an endless series of wonder-tales out of the episodes and faits divers17 common to the experience of such as he.
So, of moving accidents by flood and field this man had a store, and he contrived18 to make them artistically19 innocuous and perfectly20 fit for family consumption.
Further, two of his friends motored over from Saratoga to see him, were brought to supper at the Carews’; and they gave him a clean bill of moral health. They were, respectively, “Doc” Curfoot—suave21 haunter of 73Peacock Alley22 and gentleman “capper”—whom Brandes introduced as the celebrated23 specialist, Doctor Elbert Curfoot—and Captain Harman Quint, partner in “Quint’s” celebrated temple of chance—introduced as the distinguished24 navigating25 officer which he appeared to be. The steering26 for their common craft, however, was the duty of the eminent27 Doc.
They spent the evening on the verandah with the family; and it was quite wonderful what a fine fellow each turned out to be—information confidentially28 imparted to the Reverend Mr. Carew by each of the three distinguished gentlemen in turn.
Doc Curfoot, whose business included the ability to talk convincingly on any topic, took the Reverend Mr. Carew’s measure and chose literature; and his suave critique presently became an interesting monologue29 listened to in silence by those around him.
Brandes had said, “Put me in right, Doc,” and Doc was accomplishing it, partly to oblige Brandes, partly for practice. His agreeable voice so nicely pitched, so delightfully30 persuasive31, recapitulating32 all the commonplaces and cant33 phrases concerning the literature of the day, penetrated34 gratefully the intellectual isolation35 of these humble36 gentlepeople, and won very easily their innocent esteem37. With the Reverend Mr. Carew Doc discussed such topics as the influence on fiction of the ethical38 ideal. With Mrs. Carew Captain Quint exchanged reminiscences of travel on distant seas. Brandes attempted to maintain low-voiced conversation with Rue39, who responded in diffident monosyllables to his advances.
Brandes walked down to their car with them after they had taken their leave.74
“What’s the idea, Eddie?” inquired Doc Curfoot, pausing before the smart little speeder.
“It’s straight.”
“Oh,” said Doc, softly, betraying no surprise—about the only thing he never betrayed. “Anything in it for you, Eddie?”
“Yes. A good girl. The kind you read about. Isn’t that enough?”
“Minna chucked you?” inquired Captain Quint.
“She’ll get her decree in two or three months. Then I’ll have a home. And everything that you and I are keeps out of that home, Cap. See?”
“Certainly,” said Quint. “Quite right, Eddie.”
Doc Curfoot climbed in and took the wheel; Quint followed him.
“Say,” he said in his pleasant, guarded voice, “watch out that Minna don’t double-cross you, Eddie.”
“How?”
“—Or shoot you up. She’s some schutzen-fest, you know, when she turns loose––”
“Ah, I tell you she wants the divorce. Abe Grittlefeld’s crazy about her. He’ll get Abe Gordon to star her on Broadway; and that’s enough for her. Besides, she’ll marry Maxy Venem when she can afford to keep him.”
“You never understood Minna Minti.”
“Well, who ever understood any German?” demanded Brandes. “She’s one of those sour-blooded, silent Dutch women that make me ache.”
Doc pushed the self-starter; there came a click, a low humming. Brandes’ face cleared and he held out his square-shaped hand:
“You fellows,” he said, “have put me right with the old folks here. I’ll do the same for you some day. 75Don’t talk about this little girl and me, that’s all.”
“All the same,” repeated Doc, “don’t take any chances with Minna. She’s on to you, and she’s got a rotten Dutch disposition40.”
“That’s right, Doc. And say, Harman,”—to Quint—“tell Ben he’s doing fine. Tell him to send me what’s mine, because I’ll want it very soon now. I’m going to take a month off and then I’m going to show Stein how a theatre can be run.”
“Eddie,” said Quint, “it’s a good thing to think big, but it’s a damn poor thing to talk big. Cut out the talk and you’ll be a big man some day.”
The graceful41 car moved forward into the moonlight; his two friends waved an airy adieu; and Brandes went slowly back to the dark verandah where sat a young girl, pitifully immature42 in mind and body—and two old people little less innocent for all their experience in the ranks of Christ, for all the wounds that scarred them both in the over-sea service which had broken them forever.
“A very handsome and distinguished gentleman, your friend Dr. Curfoot,” said the Reverend Mr. Carew. “I imagine his practice in New York is not only fashionable but extensive.”
“Both,” said Brandes.
“I assume so. He seems to be intimately acquainted with people whose names for generations have figured prominently in the social columns of the New York press.”
“Oh, yes, Curfoot and Quint know them all.”
Which was true enough. They had to. One must know people from whom one accepts promissory notes to liquidate43 those little affairs peculiar44 to the temple 76of chance. And New York’s best furnished the neophytes for these rites45.
“I thought Captain Quint very interesting,” ventured Ruhannah. “He seems to have sailed over the entire globe.”
“Naval men are always delightful,” said her mother. And, laying her hand on her husband’s arm in the dark: “Do you remember, Wilbour, how kind the officers from the cruiser Oneida were when the rescue party took us aboard?”
“God sent the Oneida to us,” said her husband dreamily. “I thought it was the end of the world for us—for you and me and baby Rue—that dreadful flight from the mission to the sea.”
His bony fingers tightened46 over his wife’s toilworn hand. In the long grass along the creek47 fireflies sparkled, and their elfin lanterns, waning48, glowing, drifted high in the calm August night.
The Reverend Mr. Carew gathered his crutches49; the night was a trifle damp for him; besides, he desired to read. Brandes, as always, rose to aid him. His wife followed.
“No, mother.”
Brandes came back. Departing from his custom, he did not light a cigar, but sat in silence, his narrow eyes trying to see Ruhannah in the darkness. But she was only a delicate shadow shape to him, scarcely detached from the darkness that enveloped51 her.
He meant to speak to her then. And suddenly found he could not, realised, all at once, that he lacked the courage.
This was the more amazing and disturbing to him 77because he could not remember the time or occasion when the knack52 of fluent speech had ever failed him.
He had never foreseen such a situation; it had never occurred to him that he would find the slightest difficulty in saying easily and gracefully53 what he had determined54 to say to this young girl.
Now he sat there silent, disturbed, nervous, and tongue-tied. At first he did not quite comprehend what was making him afraid. After a long while he understood that it was some sort of fear of her—fear of her refusal, fear of losing her, fear that she might have—in some occult way—divined what he really was, that she might have heard things concerning him, his wife, his career. The idea turned him cold.
And all at once he realised how terribly in earnest he had become; how deeply involved; how vital this young girl had become to him.
Never before had he really wanted anything as compared to this desire of his for her. He was understanding, too, in a confused way, that such a girl and such a home for him as she could make was going not only to give him the happiness he expected, but that it also meant betterment for himself—straighter living, perhaps straighter thinking—the birth of something resembling self-respect, perhaps even aspiration55—or at least the aspiration toward that respect from others which honest living dare demand.
He wanted her; he wanted her now; he wanted to marry her whether or not he had the legal right; he wanted to go away for a month with her, and then return and work for her, for them both—build up a fortune and a good reputation with Stein’s backing and Stein’s theatre—stand well with honest men, stand well 78with himself, stand always, with her, for everything a man should be.
If she loved him she would forgive him and quietly remarry him as soon as Minna kicked him loose. He was confident he could make her happy, make her love him if once he could find courage to speak—if once he could win her. And suddenly the only possible way to go about it occurred to him.
His voice was a trifle husky and unsteady from the nervous tension when he at last broke the silence:
“Miss Rue,” he said, “I have a word to say to your father and mother. Would you wait here until I come back?”
“I think I had better go in, too––”
“Please don’t.”
“You will wait, then?” he asked.
“I was going in.... But I’ll sit here a little while.”
He rose and went in, rather blindly.
Ruhannah, dreaming there deep in her splint armchair, slim feet crossed, watched the fireflies sailing over the alders58. Sometimes she thought of Brandes, pleasantly, sometimes of other matters. Once the memory of her drive home through the wintry moonlight with young Neeland occurred to her, and the reminiscence was vaguely59 agreeable.
Listless, a trifle sleepy, dreamily watching the fireflies, the ceaseless noise of the creek in her ears, inconsequential thoughts flitted through her brain—the vague, aimless, guiltless thoughts of a young and unstained mind.
She was nearly asleep when Brandes came back, and 79she looked up at him where he stood beside her porch chair in the darkness.
“Miss Rue,” he said, “I have told your father and mother that I am in love with you and want to make you my wife.”
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1
efface
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| v.擦掉，抹去 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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5
deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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7
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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8
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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10
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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14
burlesque
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| v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿 | |
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15
troupe
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| n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团 | |
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16
garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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17
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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18
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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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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21
suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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24
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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29
monologue
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| n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白 | |
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delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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32
recapitulating
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| v.总结，扼要重述( recapitulate的现在分词 ) | |
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cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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34
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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35
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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40
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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immature
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| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
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43
liquidate
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| v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产 | |
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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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45
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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46
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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47
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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48
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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49
crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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50
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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51
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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53
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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54
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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55
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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56
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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57
surmising
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的现在分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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58
alders
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| n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
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59
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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60
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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