He made money. It was rather amazing. After college he went to the city from which Black Bear Lake draws its wealthy patrons. When he was only twenty-three and had been there not quite two years, there were already people who liked to say: "Now there's a boy—" All about him rich men's sons were peddling7 bonds precariously8, or investing patrimonies9 precariously, or plodding10 through the two dozen volumes of the "George Washington Commercial Course," but Dexter borrowed a thousand dollars on his college degree and his confident mouth, and bought a partnership11 in a laundry.
It was a small laundry when he went into it but Dexter made a specialty12 of learning how the English washed fine woollen golf-stockings without shrinking them, and within a year he was catering13 to the trade that wore knickerbockers. Men were insisting that their Shetland hose and sweaters go to his laundry just as they had insisted on a caddy who could find golf-balls. A little later he was doing their wives' lingerie as well—and running five branches in different parts of the city. Before he was twenty-seven he owned the largest string of laundries in his section of the country. It was then that he sold out and went to New York. But the part of his story that concerns us goes back to the days when he was making his first big success.
When he was twenty-three Mr. Hart—one of the gray-haired men who like to say "Now there's a boy"—gave him a guest card to the Sherry Island Golf Club for a week-end. So he signed his name one day on the register, and that afternoon played golf in a foursome with Mr. Hart and Mr. Sandwood and Mr. T. A. Hedrick. He did not consider it necessary to remark that he had once carried Mr. Hart's bag over this same links, and that he knew every trap and gully with his eyes shut—but he found himself glancing at the four caddies who trailed them, trying to catch a gleam or gesture that would remind him of himself, that would lessen15 the gap which lay between his present and his past.
It was a curious day, slashed16 abruptly17 with fleeting18, familiar impressions. One minute he had the sense of being a trespasser—in the next he was impressed by the tremendous superiority he felt toward Mr. T. A. Hedrick, who was a bore and not even a good golfer any more.
Then, because of a ball Mr. Hart lost near the fifteenth green, an enormous thing happened. While they were searching the stiff grasses of the rough there was a clear call of "Fore14!" from behind a hill in their rear. And as they all turned abruptly from their search a bright new ball sliced abruptly over the hill and caught Mr. T. A. Hedrick in the abdomen19.
"By Gad20!" cried Mr. T. A. Hedrick, "they ought to put some of these crazy women off the course. It's getting to be outrageous21."
A head and a voice came up together over the hill:
"Do you mind if we go through?"
"You hit me in the stomach!" declared Mr. Hedrick wildly.
"Did I?" The girl approached the group of men. "I'm sorry. I yelled 'Fore!'"
"Did I bounce into the rough?"
It was impossible to determine whether this question was ingenuous23 or malicious24. In a moment, however, she left no doubt, for as her partner came up over the hill she called cheerfully:
"Here I am! I'd have gone on the green except that I hit something."
As she took her stance for a short mashie shot, Dexter looked at her closely. She wore a blue gingham dress, rimmed25 at throat and shoulders with a white edging that accentuated26 her tan. The quality of exaggeration, of thinness, which had made her passionate27 eyes and down-turning mouth absurd at eleven, was gone now. She was arrestingly beautiful. The color in her cheeks was centred like the color in a picture—it was not a "high" color, but a sort of fluctuating and feverish28 warmth, so shaded that it seemed at any moment it would recede29 and disappear. This color and the mobility30 of her mouth gave a continual impression of flux31, of intense life, of passionate vitality—balanced only partially32 by the sad luxury of her eyes.
She swung her mashie impatiently and without interest, pitching the ball into a sand-pit on the other side of the green. With a quick, insincere smile and a careless "Thank you!" she went on after it.
"That Judy Jones!" remarked Mr. Hedrick on the next tee, as they waited—some moments—for her to play on ahead. "All she needs is to be turned up and spanked33 for six months and then to be married off to an old-fashioned cavalry34 captain."
"My God, she's good-looking!" said Mr. Sandwood, who was just over thirty.
"Good-looking!" cried Mr. Hedrick contemptuously, "she always looks as if she wanted to be kissed! Turning those big cow-eyes on every calf35 in town!"
"She'd play pretty good golf if she'd try," said Mr. Sandwood.
"She has no form," said Mr. Hedrick solemnly.
"She has a nice figure," said Mr. Sandwood.
Later in the afternoon the sun went down with a riotous38 swirl39 of gold and varying blues40 and scarlets41, and left the dry, rustling42 night of Western summer. Dexter watched from the veranda43 of the Golf Club, watched the even overlap44 of the waters in the little wind, silver molasses under the harvest-moon. Then the moon held a finger to her lips and the lake became a clear pool, pale and quiet. Dexter put on his bathing-suit and swam out to the farthest raft, where he stretched dripping on the wet canvas of the spring-board.
There was a fish jumping and a star shining and the lights around the lake were gleaming. Over on a dark peninsula a piano was playing the songs of last summer and of summers before that—songs from "Chin-Chin" and "The Count of Luxemburg" and "The Chocolate Soldier"—and because the sound of a piano over a stretch of water had always seemed beautiful to Dexter he lay perfectly45 quiet and listened.
The tune46 the piano was playing at that moment had been gay and new five years before when Dexter was a sophomore47 at college. They had played it at a prom once when he could not afford the luxury of proms, and he had stood outside the gymnasium and listened. The sound of the tune precipitated48 in him a sort of ecstasy49 and it was with that ecstasy he viewed what happened to him now. It was a mood of intense appreciation50, a sense that, for once, he was magnificently attune51 to life and that everything about him was radiating a brightness and a glamour52 he might never know again.
A low, pale oblong detached itself suddenly from the darkness of the Island, spitting forth53 the reverberate54 sound of a racing55 motor-boat. Two white streamers of cleft56 water rolled themselves out behind it and almost immediately the boat was beside him, drowning out the hot tinkle57 of the piano in the drone of its spray. Dexter raising himself on his arms was aware of a figure standing58 at the wheel, of two dark eyes regarding him over the lengthening59 space of water—then the boat had gone by and was sweeping60 in an immense and purposeless circle of spray round and round in the middle of the lake. With equal eccentricity61 one of the circles flattened62 out and headed back toward the raft.
"Who's that?" she called, shutting off her motor. She was so near now that Dexter could see her bathing-suit, which consisted apparently63 of pink rompers.
The nose of the boat bumped the raft, and as the latter tilted64 rakishly he was precipitated toward her. With different degrees of interest they recognized each other.
"Aren't you one of those men we played through this afternoon?" she demanded.
He was.
"Well, do you know how to drive a motor-boat? Because if you do I wish you'd drive this one so I can ride on the surf-board behind. My name is Judy Jones"—she favored him with an absurd smirk65—rather, what tried to be a smirk, for, twist her mouth as she might, it was not grotesque66, it was merely beautiful—"and I live in a house over there on the Island, and in that house there is a man waiting for me. When he drove up at the door I drove out of the dock because he says I'm his ideal."
There was a fish jumping and a star shining and the lights around the lake were gleaming. Dexter sat beside Judy Jones and she explained how her boat was driven. Then she was in the water, swimming to the floating surf-board with a sinuous67 crawl. Watching her was without effort to the eye, watching a branch waving or a sea-gull flying. Her arms, burned to butternut, moved sinuously68 among the dull platinum69 ripples70, elbow appearing first, casting the forearm back with a cadence71 of falling water, then reaching out and down, stabbing a path ahead.
They moved out into the lake; turning, Dexter saw that she was kneeling on the low rear of the now uptilted surf-board.
"Go faster," she called, "fast as it'll go."
Obediently he jammed the lever forward and the white spray mounted at the bow. When he looked around again the girl was standing up on the rushing board, her arms spread wide, her eyes lifted toward the moon.
"It's awful cold," she shouted. "What's your name?"
He told her.
"Well, why don't you come to dinner to-morrow night?"
His heart turned over like the fly-wheel of the boat, and, for the second time, her casual whim72 gave a new direction to his life.
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1
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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prospering
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的现在分词 ) | |
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precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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snobbish
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| adj.势利的，谄上欺下的 | |
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prohibitions
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| 禁令，禁律( prohibition的名词复数 )； 禁酒； 禁例 | |
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peddling
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| 忙于琐事的，无关紧要的 | |
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precariously
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| adv.不安全地；危险地；碰机会地；不稳定地 | |
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patrimonies
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| n.祖传的财物，继承物，遗产( patrimony的名词复数 ) | |
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plodding
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| a.proceeding in a slow or dull way | |
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partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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specialty
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| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
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catering
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| n. 给养 | |
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14
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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16
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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abdomen
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| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
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gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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rimmed
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| adj.有边缘的，有框的v.沿…边缘滚动；给…镶边 | |
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accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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27
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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mobility
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| n.可动性，变动性，情感不定 | |
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flux
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| n.流动；不断的改变 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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33
spanked
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| v.用手掌打( spank的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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36
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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37
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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38
riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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40
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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41
scarlets
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| 鲜红色，猩红色( scarlet的名词复数 ) | |
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42
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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43
veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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44
overlap
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| v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠 | |
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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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46
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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47
sophomore
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| n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的 | |
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48
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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49
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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50
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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51
attune
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| v.使调和 | |
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52
glamour
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| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
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53
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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54
reverberate
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| v.使回响，使反响 | |
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55
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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56
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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58
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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59
lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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60
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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61
eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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62
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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63
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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64
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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65
smirk
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| n.得意地笑；v.傻笑；假笑着说 | |
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66
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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sinuous
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| adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的 | |
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68
sinuously
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| 弯曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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69
platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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70
ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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71
cadence
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| n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫 | |
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whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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