The means of raising the requisite1 amount of money became, during the next few weeks, the anxious theme of all Ralph's thoughts. His lawyers' enquiries soon brought the confirmation2 of Clare's surmise3, and it became clear that--for reasons swathed in all the ingenuities4 of legal verbiage--Undine might, in return for a substantial consideration, be prevailed on to admit that it was for her son's advantage to remain with his father.
The day this admission was communicated to Ralph his first impulse was to carry the news to his cousin. His mood was one of pure exaltation; he seemed to be hugging his boy to him as he walked. Paul and he were to belong to each other forever: no mysterious threat of separation could ever menace them again! He had the blissful sense of relief that the child himself might have had on waking out of a frightened dream and finding the jolly daylight in his room.
Clare at once renewed her entreaty5 to be allowed to aid in ransoming6 her little cousin, but Ralph tried to put her off by explaining that he meant to "look about."
"Look where? In the Dagonet coffers? Oh, Ralph, what's the use of pretending? Tell me what you've got to give her." It was amazing how his cousin suddenly dominated him. But as yet he couldn't go into the details of the bargain. That the reckoning between himself and Undine should be settled in dollars and cents seemed the last bitterest satire7 on his dreams: he felt himself miserably8 diminished by the smallness of what had filled his world.
Nevertheless, the looking about had to be done; and a day came when he found himself once more at the door of Elmer Moffatt's office. His thoughts had been drawn9 back to Moffatt by the insistence10 with which the latter's name had lately been put forward by the press in connection with a revival11 of the Ararat investigation12. Moffatt, it appeared, had been regarded as one of the most valuable witnesses for the State; his return from Europe had been anxiously awaited, his unreadiness to testify caustically13 criticized; then at last he had arrived, had gone on to Washington--and had apparently14 had nothing to tell.
Ralph was too deep in his own troubles to waste any wonder over this anticlimax15; but the frequent appearance of Moffatt's name in the morning papers acted as an unconscious suggestion. Besides, to whom else could he look for help? The sum his wife demanded could be acquired only by "a quick turn," and the fact that Ralph had once rendered the same kind of service to Moffatt made it natural to appeal to him now. The market, moreover, happened to be booming, and it seemed not unlikely that so experienced a speculator might have a "good thing" up his sleeve.
Moffatt's office had been transformed since Ralph's last visit. Paint, varnish16 and brass17 railings gave an air of opulence18 to the outer precincts, and the inner room, with its mahogany bookcases containing morocco-bound "sets" and its wide blue leather arm-chairs, lacked only a palm or two to resemble the lounge of a fashionable hotel. Moffatt himself, as he came forward, gave Ralph the impression of having been done over by the same hand: he was smoother, broader, more supremely19 tailored, and his whole person exhaled20 the faintest whiff of an expensive scent21. He installed his visitor in one of the blue arm-chairs, and sitting opposite, an elbow on his impressive "Washington" desk, listened attentively22 while Ralph made his request.
"You want to be put onto something good in a damned hurry?" Moffatt twisted his moustache between two plump square-tipped fingers with a little black growth on their lower joints24. "I don't suppose," he remarked, "there's a sane25 man between here and San Francisco who isn't consumed by that yearning26."
Having permitted himself this pleasantry he passed on to business. "Yes--it's a first-rate time to buy: no doubt of that. But you say you want to make a quick turn-over? Heard of a soft thing that won't wait, I presume? That's apt to be the way with soft things--all kinds of 'em. There's always other fellows after them." Moffatt's smile was playful. "Well, I'd go considerably27 out of my way to do you a good turn, because you did me one when I needed it mighty28 bad. 'In youth you sheltered me.' Yes, sir, that's the kind I am." He stood up, sauntered to the other side of the room, and took a small object from the top of the bookcase.
"Fond of these pink crystals?" He held the oriental toy against the light. "Oh, I ain't a judge--but now and then I like to pick up a pretty thing." Ralph noticed that his eyes caressed29 it.
"Well--now let's talk. You say you've got to have the funds for your--your investment within three weeks. That's quick work. And you want a hundred thousand. Can you put up fifty?"
Ralph had been prepared for the question, but when it came he felt a moment's tremor30. He knew he could count on half the amount from his grandfather; could possibly ask Fairford for a small additional loan--but what of the rest? Well, there was Clare. He had always known there would be no other way. And after all, the money was Clare's--it was Dagonet money. At least she said it was. All the misery31 of his predicament was distilled32 into the short silence that preceded his answer: "Yes--I think so."
"Well, I guess I can double it for you." Moffatt spoke33 with an air of Olympian modesty34. "Anyhow, I'll try. Only don't tell the other girls!"
He proceeded to develop his plan to ears which Ralph tried to make alert and attentive23, but in which perpetually, through the intricate concert of facts and figures, there broke the shout of a small boy racing35 across a suburban36 lawn. "When I pick him up to-night he'll be mine for good!" Ralph thought as Moffatt summed up: "There's the whole scheme in a nut-shell; but you'd better think it over. I don't want to let you in for anything you ain't quite sure about." "Oh, if you're sure--" Ralph was already calculating the time it would take to dash up to Clare Van Degen's on his way to catch the train for the Fairfords'.
His impatience37 made it hard to pay due regard to Moffatt's parting civilities. "Glad to have seen you," he heard the latter assuring him with a final hand-grasp. "Wish you'd dine with me some evening at my club"; and, as Ralph murmured a vague acceptance: "How's that boy of yours, by the way?" Moffatt continued. "He was a stunning38 chap last time I saw him.--Excuse me if I've put my foot in it; but I understood you kept him with you...? Yes: that's what I thought.... Well, so long."
Clare's inner sitting-room39 was empty; but the servant, presently returning, led Ralph into the gilded40 and tapestried41 wilderness42 where she occasionally chose to receive her visitors. There, under Popple's effigy43 of herself, she sat, small and alone, on a monumental sofa behind a tea-table laden44 with gold plate; while from his lofty frame, on the opposite wall Van Degen, portrayed45 by a "powerful" artist, cast on her the satisfied eye of proprietorship46.
Ralph, swept forward on the blast of his excitement, felt as in a dream the frivolous47 perversity48 of her receiving him in such a setting instead of in their usual quiet corner; but there was no room in his mind for anything but the cry that broke from him: "I believe I've done it!"
He sat down and explained to her by what means, trying, as best he could, to restate the particulars of Moffatt's deal; and her manifest ignorance of business methods had the effect of making his vagueness appear less vague.
"Anyhow, he seems to be sure it's a safe thing. I understand he's in with Rolliver now, and Rolliver practically controls Apex49. This is some kind of a scheme to buy up all the works of public utility at Apex. They're practically sure of their charter, and Moffatt tells me I can count on doubling my investment within a few weeks. Of course I'll go into the details if you like--"
"Oh, no; you've made it all so clear to me!" She really made him feel he had. "And besides, what on earth does it matter? The great thing is that it's done." She lifted her sparkling eyes. "And now--my share--you haven't told me..."
He explained that Mr. Dagonet, to whom he had already named the amount demanded, had at once promised him twenty-five thousand dollars, to be eventually deducted50 from his share of the estate. His mother had something put by that she insisted on contributing; and Henley Fairford, of his own accord, had come forward with ten thousand: it was awfully51 decent of Henley...
"Even Henley!" Clare sighed. "Then I'm the only one left out?"
Ralph felt the colour in his face. "Well, you see, I shall need as much as fifty--"
Her hands flew together joyfully52. "But then you've got to let me help! Oh, I'm so glad--so glad! I've twenty thousand waiting."
He looked about the room, checked anew by all its oppressive implications. "You're a darling...but I couldn't take it."
"I've told you it's mine, every penny of it!"
"Yes; but supposing things went wrong?"
"Nothing CAN--if you'll only take it..."
"I may lose it--"
"_I_ sha'n't, if I've given it to you!" Her look followed his about the room and then came back to him. "Can't you imagine all it will make up for?"
The rapture53 of the cry caught him up with it. Ah, yes, he could imagine it all! He stooped his head above her hands. "I accept," he said; and they stood and looked at each other like radiant children.
She followed him to the door, and as he turned to leave he broke into a laugh. "It's queer, though, its happening in this room!"
She was close beside him, her hand on the heavy tapestry54 curtaining the door; and her glance shot past him to her husband's portrait. Ralph caught the look, and a flood of old tendernesses and hates welled up in him. He drew her under the portrait and kissed her vehemently55.
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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ingenuities
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| 足智多谋，心灵手巧( ingenuity的名词复数 ) | |
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entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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ransoming
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| 付赎金救人，赎金( ransom的现在分词 ) | |
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satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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caustically
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| adv.刻薄地；挖苦地；尖刻地；讥刺地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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anticlimax
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| n.令人扫兴的结局；突降法 | |
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varnish
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| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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32
distilled
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| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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39
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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tapestried
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| adj.饰挂绣帷的，织在绣帷上的v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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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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portrayed
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| v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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proprietorship
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| n.所有（权）；所有权 | |
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47
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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48
perversity
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| n.任性；刚愎自用 | |
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49
apex
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| n.顶点，最高点 | |
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50
deducted
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| v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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52
joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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53
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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54
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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