The Majestic1 came gliding2 into New York harbor on an April morning. She sniffed3 at the tugboats and turtle-gaited ferries, winked4 at a gaudy5 young yacht, and ordered a cattle-boat out of her way with a snarling6 whistle of steam. Then she parked at her private dock with all the fuss of a stout7 lady sitting down, and announced complacently8 that she had just come from Cherbourg and Southampton with a cargo9 of the very best people in the world.
The very best people in the world stood on the deck and waved idiotically to their poor relations who were waiting on the dock for gloves from Paris. Before long a great toboggan had connected the Majestic with the North American continent, and the ship began to disgorge these very best people in the world—who turned out to be Gloria Swanson, two buyers from Lord & Taylor, the financial minister from Graustark with a proposal for funding the debt, and an African king who had been trying to land somewhere all winter and was feeling violently seasick10.
The photographers worked passionately11 as the stream of passengers flowed on to the dock. There was a burst of cheering at the appearance of a pair of stretchers laden12 with two Middle-Westerners who had drunk themselves delirious13 on the last night out.
The deck gradually emptied, but when the last bottle of Benedictine had reached shore the photographers still remained at their posts. And the officer in charge of debarkation14 still stood at the foot of the gangway, glancing first at his watch and then at the deck as if some important part of the cargo was still on board. At last from the watchers on the pier15 there arose a long-drawn "Ah-h-h!" as a final entourage began to stream down from deck B.
First came two French maids, carrying small, purple dogs, and followed by a squad16 of porters, blind and invisible under innumerable bunches and bouquets17 of fresh flowers. Another maid followed, leading a sad-eyed orphan18 child of a French flavor, and close upon its heels walked the second officer pulling along three neurasthenic wolfhounds, much to their reluctance19 and his own.
A pause. Then the captain, Sir Howard George Witchcraft20, appeared at the rail, with something that might have been a pile of gorgeous silver-fox fur standing21 by his side.
Rags Martin-Jones, after five years in the capitals of Europe, was returning to her native land!
Rags Martin-Jones was not a dog. She was half a girl and half a flower, and as she shook hands with Captain Sir Howard George Witchcraft she smiled as if some one had told her the newest, freshest joke in the world. All the people who had not already left the pier felt that smile trembling on the April air and turned around to see.
She came slowly down the gangway. Her hat, an expensive, inscrutable experiment, was crushed under her arm, so that her scant22 boy's hair, convict's hair, tried unsuccessfully to toss and flop23 a little in the harbor wind. Her face was like seven o'clock on a wedding morning save where she had slipped a preposterous24 monocle into an eye of clear childish blue. At every few steps her long lashes25 would tilt26 out the monocle, and she would laugh, a bored, happy laugh, and replace the supercilious27 spectacle in the other eye.
Tap! Her one hundred and five pounds reached the pier and it seemed to sway and bend from the shock of her beauty. A few porters fainted. A large, sentimental28 shark which had followed the ship across made a despairing leap to see her once more, and then dove, broken-hearted, back into the deep sea. Rags Martin-Jones had come home.
There was no member of her family there to meet her, for the simple reason that she was the only member of her family left alive. In 1913 her parents had gone down on the Titanic29 together rather than be separated in this world, and so the Martin-Jones fortune of seventy-five millions had been inherited by a very little girl on her tenth birthday. It was what the consumer always refers to as a "shame."
Rags Martin-Jones (everybody had forgotten her real name long ago) was now photographed from all sides. The monocle persistently30 fell out, and she kept laughing and yawning and replacing it, so no very clear picture of her was taken—except by the motion-picture camera. All the photographs, however, included a flustered31, handsome young man, with an almost ferocious32 love-light burning in his eyes, who had met her on the dock. His name was John M. Chestnut33, he had already written the story of his success for the American Magazine, and he had been hopelessly in love with Rags ever since the time when she, like the tides, had come under the influence of the summer moon.
When Rags became really aware of his presence they were walking down the pier, and she looked at him blankly as though she had never seen him before in this world.
"Rags," he began, "Rags——"
"John M. Chestnut?" she inquired, inspecting him with great interest.
"Of course!" he exclaimed angrily. "Are you trying to pretend you don't know me? That you didn't write me to meet you here?"
She laughed. A chauffeur34 appeared at her elbow, and she twisted out of her coat, revealing a dress made in great splashy checks of sea-blue and gray. She shook herself like a wet bird.
"I've got a lot of junk to declare," she remarked absently.
"So have I," said Chestnut anxiously, "and the first thing I want to declare is that I've loved you, Rags, every minute since you've been away."
"Please! There were some young Americans on the boat. The subject has become a bore."
"My God!" cried Chestnut, "do you mean to say that you class my love with what was said to you on a boat?"
His voice had risen, and several people in the vicinity turned to hear.
"Sh!" she warned him, "I'm not giving a circus. If you want me to even see you while I'm here, you'll have to be less violent."
But John M. Chestnut seemed unable to control his voice.
"Do you mean to say"—it trembled to a carrying pitch—"that you've forgotten what you said on this very pier five years ago last Thursday?"
Half the passengers from the ship were now watching the scene on the dock, and another little eddy36 drifted out of the customs-house to see.
"John"—her displeasure was increasing—"if you raise your voice again I'll arrange it so you'll have plenty of chance to cool off. I'm going to the Ritz. Come and see me there this afternoon."
Then the watchers on the dock were treated to a curious sight. A beautiful lady in a checkered38 dress of sea-blue and gray took a brisk step forward so that her hands came into contact with an excited young man by her side. The young man retreating instinctively39 reached back with his foot, but, finding nothing, relapsed gently off the thirty-foot dock and plopped, after a not ungraceful revolution, into the Hudson River.
A shout of alarm went up, and there was a rush to the edge just as his head appeared above water. He was swimming easily, and, perceiving this, the young lady who had apparently40 been the cause of the accident leaned over the pier and made a megaphone of her hands.
"I'll be in at half past four," she cried.
And with a cheerful wave of her hand, which the engulfed41 gentleman was unable to return, she adjusted her monocle, threw one haughty42 glance at the gathered crowd, and walked leisurely43 from the scene.
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收听单词发音
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1
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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2
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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3
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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8
complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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seasick
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| adj.晕船的 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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14
debarkation
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| n.下车，下船，登陆 | |
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15
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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16
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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17
bouquets
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| n.花束( bouquet的名词复数 )；（酒的）芳香 | |
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18
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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19
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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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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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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23
flop
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| n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下 | |
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24
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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25
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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26
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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27
supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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28
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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titanic
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| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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31
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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32
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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33
chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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34
chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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35
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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36
eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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37
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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38
checkered
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| adj.有方格图案的 | |
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39
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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40
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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41
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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43
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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