The morning of the third day after the failure of the search, and of the sixth since McCarthy's disappearance1, had arrived. During that time Percy Darrow, apparently2 insensible to fatigue3, had maintained an almost sleepless4 vigil. His meals Jack5 Warford brought in to him; he dozed6 in his chair or on the couch. Never did he appear to do anything.
The very persistent7 quietude of the man ended by making its impression. To all questions, however, Darrow returned but the one reply, delivered always in a voice full of raillery:
"I couldn't bear to miss a single step of Eldridge's masterly work."
About half past nine of the morning in question, through the door to the wireless8 office, always half opened, somebody looked hesitatingly into the room. Instantly Darrow and Jack were on their feet and in the hallway.
"Helen!" cried Jack.
"What is it? Anything happened?" demanded Darrow.
She surveyed them both amusedly.
"You certainly look like a frowzy9 tramp, Jack," she told her brother judiciously10, "and you need sleep," she informed Darrow.
The young scientist bowed ironically, his long lashes11 drooping12 over his eyes in his accustomed lazy fashion as he realized that the occasion was not urgent. Helen turned directly to him.
"When are you going to stop this?" she demanded.
"You needn't look at me like that. You said you could lay your hands on Monsieur X at any moment; why don't you do it?"
"Eldridge is too amusing."
"Too amusing!" echoed the girl. "All you think of is yourself."
"Is it?" drawled Darrow.
"Have you been out in the city? Have you seen the people? Have you seen men out of work? Families leaving their homes? Panic spreading slowly but surely over a whole city?"
"Those pleasures have been denied me," said Darrow blandly14.
The girl looked at him with bright angry eyes. Her cheeks were glowing, and her whole figure expressed a tense vibrant15 life in singular contrast to the apparent indolence of the men at whom she was talking.
"You are insufferable!" She fairly stamped her foot in vexation. "You are an egoist! You would play with the welfare of four million people to gratify your little personal desire for getting even!"
"Steady, sis!" warned Jack.
Darrow had straightened, and his indolent manner had fallen from him.
"I have said I would permit no harm to come to these people, and I mean it," said he.
"No harm!" cried Helen. "What do you call this--"
Darrow turned to the window looking out over the city.
"This!" he said. "Why, this isn't harm! There isn't a man out there who is not better off for what has happened to him. He has lost a little time, a little money, a little sleep, and he has been given a new point of view, a new manhood. As a city dweller16 he was becoming a mollusk17, a creature that could not exist without its shell. The city transported him, warmed him, fed him, amused him, protected him. He had nothing to do with it in any way; he didn't even know how it was done. Deprived of his push-buttons, he was as helpless as a baby. Beyond the little stunt18 he did in his office or his store, and beyond the ability to cross a crowded street, he was no good. He not only didn't know how to do things, but he was rapidly losing, through disuse, the power to learn how to do things. The modern city dweller, bred, born, brought up on this island, is about as helpless and useless a man, considered as a four-square, self-reliant individual, as you can find on the broad expanse of the globe. I've got no use for a man who can't take care of himself, who's got to have somebody else to do it for him, whenever something to which he hasn't been accustomed rises up in front of him!"
His eye was fixed19 somberly on the city stretching away into the haze20 of the autumn day.
"You blame me for letting this thing run!" he went on. "Of course it tickles21 me to death to see Eldridge flounder; but that isn't all. This is the best thing that could happen to them out there! I'm just patriotic22 enough to wish them more of it. It's good medicine! At last every man jack of them is up against something he's got to decide for himself. The police are useless; the fire department is useless; the railroads and street-cars are crippled. If a man is going to take care of his life and property, he must do it himself. He's buying back his self-reliance. Self-reliance is a valuable property. He ought to pay something for it. Generally he has to pay war or insurrection or bloody23 riot. In the present instance he's getting off cheap."
He turned back from the open window. His eye traveled beyond Helen's trim figure down the empty hall. "Wait right here, Jack," he shot over his shoulder, and rushed along the hall and down the stairway before either the young man or his sister could recover from their astonishment24.
收听单词发音 |
1
disappearance
|
|
| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
fatigue
|
|
| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sleepless
|
|
| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
dozed
|
|
| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
persistent
|
|
| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
wireless
|
|
| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
frowzy
|
|
| adj.不整洁的；污秽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
judiciously
|
|
| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
lashes
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
drooping
|
|
| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
blandly
|
|
| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
vibrant
|
|
| adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
dweller
|
|
| n.居住者，住客 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
mollusk
|
|
| n.软体动物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
stunt
|
|
| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
tickles
|
|
| （使）发痒( tickle的第三人称单数 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
patriotic
|
|
| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |