Gail Sargent became suddenly and acutely aware of an entirely2 new and ethnological subdivision of the human race. She had known of Caucasians, Mongolians, Ethiopians, and the others, but now she was to meet the representatives of the gay, carefree, and entirely uncurbed metropolitan3 press! They figuratively swarmed4 from the ground, dropped from the eaves, and wriggled5 from under the rugs!
Immediately after Gail had reached home from the accident in the subway, and had been put to bed and given tea, and had repeatedly assured the doctor there was nothing the matter with her, they brought, at her urgent request, copies of the “extras,” which were already being yelled from every street corner and down every quiet residence block.
The accounts were, in the main, more or less accurate, barring the fact that they started with the assumption that there had been one hundred in Allison’s party, all killed. Later issues, however, regretfully reduced the number of dead to forty, six, and finally none, at which point they became more or less coherent, and gave an exact list of the people who were there, the cause of the accident, and a most appreciatively accentuated8 history of the heroic work of the men. Although she regretted that her picture had by this time crept into the public prints, grouped with the murders and defalcations of the day, she was able to overlook this personal discomfort9 as one of the minor10 penalties which civilisation11 has 151paid for its progress; like electric light bugs12 and electric fan neuralgia, and the smell of gasolene.
Long before this period, however, the reporters had tracked her to her lair13; so long before, in fact, that there had been three of them waiting on the doorstep when she was brought into the house, eager young men, with a high spirit of reverence14 and delicacy15, which was concentrated entirely on their jobs. They would have held her on the doorstep until she fainted or dropped dead, if, by so doing, they could have secured one statement, or hint of a statement, upon which they could have fastened something derogatory to her reputation, or the reputation of any of her family or friends; for that was great stuff, and what the public wanted; and they would have photographed her gleefully in the process of expiring. Aunt Helen Davies, being a woman of experience, snatched Gail into the house before they had taken more than eight or nine photographs of her, but, from that instant, the doorbell became a nuisance and the telephone bell a torture! Both were finally disconnected, but, at as late an hour as one A.M., the house was occasionally assaulted.
By that time Gail had telegrams of frantic16 inquiry17 from all her friends back home, including the impulsive18 Clemmens, and particularly including a telegram from her mother, stating that that highly agitated19 lady could not secure a reservation on the first train on account of its being Saturday night, but that she would start on the fast eleven-thirty the next morning, whereat Gail kissed the telegram, and cried a little, and gave way to the moist joy of homesickness.
In the meantime, the representatives of the gay and carefree and absolutely uncurbed metropolitan press, were by no means discouraged by the fact that they 152had not been able to secure much, except hectic20 imaginings from the exterior21 of the Sargent house. They were busy in every other possible direction, with the same commendable22 persistence23 which we observe in an ant trying to drag a grasshopper24 up and down a cornstalk on the way home. They secured a straight story from Allison, a modest one from the rector, and variously viewed experiences from other male members of the party, and collected huge piles of photographs, among them the charming pictures of Gail, which had previously25 been printed on the innocent pages of arrivals at Palm Beach and the Riviera and other fashionable winter resorts, the whole spread being headed “What Society Is Doing.”
So far the explosion editors of the various papers had seen nothing to particularly commend in the work of their fevered emissaries, and even the heavy-jawed genius who gathered, from silent cogitation26 over four cigarettes and a quart of beer, the purple fiction that the explosion had cracked the walls of every subway in the city, which were likely to cave in at any time, only received the compliment of a grateful grunt27.
Little Miss Piper, of the Morning Planet, however, was possessed28 of a better thought. She was a somewhat withered29 and puckered30 little woman, who had sense enough to dress so as to excite nothing but pity, and she quietly slipped on her ugly little bonnet31 with the funny ribbon bow in the back, and hurried out to the magnificent residence of Mrs. Phyllis Worthmore, who loathed32 publicity33 and had photographs taken once a month for the purpose.
Mrs. Phyllis Worthmore was invariably sweet and gracious to working women, for, after all, they were her sisters, you know; and she excused herself from a 153caller in order to meet little Miss Piper in Mr. Worthmore’s deserted34 den1. Mrs. Worthmore was highly agitated over the news of the explosion, and she required no particular urging to jabber35 on and on about her dear friends who had been in that terrible catastrophe36, and she was ultra enthusiastic when the name of Gail was mentioned.
“Oh, Miss Sargent is quite the sensation of the season!” she gushed37. “Her people are fairly well to do, I believe; but her beauty makes up for the absence of any extravagant38 fortune. It is commonly conceded that none of the eligibles39 in our set are available until Miss Sargent has made her choice. Positively40 all of them are at her feet!” and, at puckered little Miss Piper’s later request, she lightly enumerated41 a few of the eligibles in their set; after which Miss Piper took to furtive42 glances at her watch, and to feeling the excessively modulated43 voice of Mrs. Phyllis Worthmore pounding into her brain like the clatter44 of a watchman’s rattle45.
The result of that light-hearted and light-headed interview, in which Mrs. Phyllis Worthmore, by special request, was not quoted, suddenly sprang on the startled eyes of Gail, when she leaped through the Sunday Morning Planet at eight o’clock next morning. An entire page, embellished46 in the centre with a beautifully printed photograph, was devoted47 to the sensational48 beauty from the middle-west! Around her were grouped nine smaller photographs; Allison, Dick Rodley, Willis Cunningham, Houston Van Ploon, the Reverend Smith Boyd, a callow youth who had danced with her three times, a Count who had said “How do you do?” and sailed for Europe, and two men whom she had never met. All these crack eligibles were classified 154under the general head of “Slaves to Her Witching Smile,” and a big, boxed-in list was given, in extremely black-faced type, stating, in dollars and cents, the exact value in the matrimonial market of each slave; and the lively genius who had put together this symposium49, by a toweringly happy thought conceived in the very height of the rush hours, totalled the whole, and gave it as the commercial worth of Gail’s beauty and charm. It ran into thirteen figures, including the dollar mark and the two ciphers50 for cents.
Nor was this all! A lightning fingered artist had depicted51, at the bottom of the group, outline sketches52 of the nine suitors, on their knees in a row, holding up, towards the beautiful picture of Gail in the centre, their hearts in one hand and their bags of money in the other; and, even though overworked, the artist had not forgotten to put the Cross of the Legion of Honour on the breast of the Count, nor the sparse53 Van Dyke54 on Willis Cunningham. Flowing with further facile fancy, he had embellished the upper right-hand corner of the group with an extremely lithe55 and slim-waisted drawing of the streaming haired Gail, as a siren fishing in the sea; and the sea, represented by many frothing curls, was, in the upper left-hand corner, densely56 populated by foolish little gold fish, rushing eagerly to the dangling57 bait of the siren. Any one of the parties mentioned could have sued the Planet for libel; but they would not, and they would have been made highly ridiculous if they had, which was the joke of the whole matter, and left the metropolitan press more and more highly uncurbed; which was a right sturdily to be maintained in a land of free speech!
When Lucile Teasdale and Arly Fosland arrived at Jim Sargent’s house at ten o’clock, and had been let in 155at the side entrance, they found Gail dabbing58 her eyes with a powder puff59, taken from a little black travelling bag which stood open at her side. Arlene was a second later than Lucile in clasping Gail in her arms, because she had to lift a travelling veil. The two girls expressed their condolence and their horror of the outrage60, and volubly poured out more sympathy; then they sat down and shrieked61 with laughter.
Gail’s chin quivered.
“There should be a law against such things,” she broken-heartedly returned, in a voice which wavered and halted with the echoes of recent sobs64.
“I’ll put the Planet out of business!” stormed Jim Sargent, stalking up and down the library, with his fists clenched65 and his face purple. “I’ll bankrupt them!” and he paused, as he passed, to reassuringly66 pat the shoulder of poor Aunt Grace, who sat perfectly67 numb7 holding one thumb until the bone ached. Her eyes were frankly68 red, and the creases69 of worry had set into her brow so deeply that they must have scarred her skull70. “I’ll hunt up the whelp who wrote that stuff, and the cur who drew it, and the dog who inserted it!” frothed the raging Jim. “I’ll—”
“The press is the palladium of our national liberty, Uncle Jim,” drawled the soothing71 voice of Ted6.
“You can’t do a thing about it,” counselled Gerald Fosland, a stiff looking gentleman who never made a mistake of speech, or manner, or attire72.
“Shucks, Gail!” suddenly remembered Lucile. “The big Faulker reception is this week, and your gown was to be so stunning73. Don’t go home!”
“Have you no sense of propriety75, Lucile?” she warned. “Gail, very naturally, can not remain here under the circumstances. It does great credit to her that, immediately upon realising this horrible occurrence, she telegraphed to her mother, without consulting any of us, that she was returning.”
“I just wanted to go home,” said Gail, her chin quivering and her pretty throat tremulous with breath pent from sobbing76.
“It’ll all blow over, Gail,” argued Uncle Jim, in deep distress77 because she was going so soon. If she had only stopped long enough to pack up, they might have persuaded her to stay. “Just forget it, and have a good time.”
“Jim,” ordered the stern voice of Aunt Helen, “will you be kind enough to see if any one is out in front?”
“Certainly,” agreed Jim, wondering why his wife’s sister was suddenly so severe with him.
“It’s time to start,” called Ted, with practised wisdom allowing ten minutes for good-byes, parting instructions, and forgotten messages.
The adieus were said. Aunt Grace, clasping Gail in her arms, began to sob63, out of a full heart and a general need for the exercise. Gerald Fosland took the hand of his wife and kissed it, in most gallant78 fashion.
“I shall miss you dreadfully, my dear,” he stated.
“I shall be thinking of you,” responded Arlene, adjusting her veil.
Mrs. Davies drew Arlene into the drawing room.
“It was so sweet of you to agree to accompany Gail,” she observed. “It would be useless to attempt 157to influence her now, but I look to you to bring her back in a week. Her prospects79 are really too brilliant to be interrupted by an unfortunate episode of this nature.”
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1
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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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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3
metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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4
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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5
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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8
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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9
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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10
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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11
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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12
bugs
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| adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误 | |
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13
lair
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| n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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15
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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hectic
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| adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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grasshopper
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| n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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cogitation
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| n.仔细思考，计划，设计 | |
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grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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28
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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29
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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30
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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34
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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jabber
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| v.快而不清楚地说；n.吱吱喳喳 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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37
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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38
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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eligibles
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| 合格者（eligible的复数形式） | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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43
modulated
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| 已调整[制]的，被调的 | |
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44
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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45
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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46
embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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47
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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48
sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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49
symposium
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| n.讨论会，专题报告会；专题论文集 | |
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50
ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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51
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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52
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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53
sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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54
dyke
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| n.堤，水坝，排水沟 | |
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55
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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56
densely
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| ad.密集地；浓厚地 | |
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57
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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58
dabbing
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| 石面凿毛，灰泥抛毛 | |
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59
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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60
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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61
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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63
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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64
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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65
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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67
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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69
creases
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹 | |
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70
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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71
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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72
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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73
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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74
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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75
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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76
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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77
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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78
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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