Bob's obvious course was to talk the whole matter over with his superior officer, and that is exactly what he intended to do. Instead, he hunted up Amy. He justified1 this course by the rather sophistical reflection that in her he would encounter the most positive force to the contrary of the proposition he had just received. Amy stood first, last and all the time for the Service; her heart was wholly in its cause. In her opinion he would gain the advantage of a direct antithesis2 to the ideas propounded3 by his father. This appeared to Bob an eminently4 just arrangement, but failed to account for a certain rather breathless excitement as he caught sight of Amy's sleek5 head bending over a pan of peas.
"Amy," said he, dropping down at her feet, "I want your advice."
She let fall her hands and looked at him with the refreshing6 directness peculiarly her own.
"Father wants me to take charge of the Wolverine Company's operations," he began.
"Well?" she urged him after a pause.
"What do you think of it?"
"I thought you had worked that all out for yourself some time ago."
"I had. But father and Mr. Welton are getting a little too old to handle such a proposition, and they are looking to me--" he paused.
"That situation is no different than it has been," she suggested. "What else?"
Bob laughed.
"You see through me very easily, don't you? Well, the situation is changed. I'm being bribed7."
"Bribed!" Amy cried, throwing her head back.
"Extra inducements offered. They make it hard for me to refuse, without seeming positively8 brutal9. They offer me complete charge--to do as I want. I can run the works absolutely according to my own ideas. Don't you see how I am going to hurt them when I refuse under such circumstances?"
"Refuse!" cried Amy. "Refuse! What do you mean!"
"Do you think I ought to leave the Service?" stammered10 Bob blankly.
"Why, it's the best chance the Service has ever had!" said Amy, the words fairly tumbling over one another. "You must never dream of refusing. It's your chance--it's our chance. It's the one thing we've lacked, the opportunity of showing lumbermen everywhere that the thing can be made to pay. It's the one thing we've lacked. Oh, _what_ a chance!"
"But--but," objected Bob--"it means giving up the Service--after these years--and all the wide interests--and the work----"
"You must take it," she swept him away, "and you must do it with all your power and all the ability that is in you. You must devote yourself to one idea--make money, make it pay!"
"This from you," said Bob sadly.
"Oh, I am so _glad_!" cried Amy. "Your father is a dear! it's the one fear that has haunted me--lest some visionary incompetent11 should attempt it, and should fail dismally12, and all the great world of business should visit our methods with the scorn due only his incompetence13. It was our great danger! And now it is no longer a danger! You can do it, Bob; you have the knowledge and the ability and the energy--and you must have the enthusiasm. Can't you see it? You _must!_"
She leaned over, her eyes shining with the excitement of her thought, to shake him by both shoulders. The pan of peas promptly14 deluged15 him. They both laughed.
"I'd never looked at it that way," Bob confessed.
"It's the only way to look at it."
"Why!" cried Bob, in the sudden illumination of a new idea. "The more money I make, the more good I'll do--that's a brand new idea for you!"
He rose to his feet, slowly, and stood for a moment lost in thought. Then he looked down at her, a fresh admiration16 shining in his eyes.
"Yours is the inspiration and the insight--as always," he said humbly17. "It has always been so. I have seemed to myself to have blundered and stumbled, groping for a way; and you have flown, swift as a shining arrow, straight to the mark."
"No, no, no, no!" she disclaimed18, coming close to him in the vigour19 of her denial. "You are unfair."
She looked up into his face, and somehow in the earnestness of her disclaimer, the feminine soul of her rose to her eyes, so that again Bob saw the tender, appealing helplessness, and once more there arose to full tide in his breast the answering tenderness that would care for her and guard her from the rough jostling of the world. The warmth of her young body tingled20 in recollection along his arm, and then, strangely enough, without any other direct cause whatever, the tide rose higher to flood his soul. He drew her to him, crushing her to his breast. For an instant she yielded to him utterly21; then drew away in a panic.
"My dear, my dear!" she half whispered; "not here!"
收听单词发音 |
1
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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antithesis
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| n.对立；相对 | |
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propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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7
bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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8
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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deluged
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| v.使淹没( deluge的过去式和过去分词 )；淹没；被洪水般涌来的事物所淹没；穷于应付 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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18
disclaimed
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| v.否认( disclaim的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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tingled
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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