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Chapter 3
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But Alec Loding’s main interest in the Ashby coming-of-age was to blow the celebrations sky-high. Indeed, he was at this moment actively1 engaged in pulling strings2 to that end.

Or, rather, trying to pull strings. The strings weren’t pulling very well.

He was sitting in the back room at the Green Man, the remains3 of lunch spread before him, and beside him sat a young man. A boy, one would have said, but for something controlled and still that did not go with adolescence4. Loding poured coffee for himself and sugared it liberally; casting a glance now and then at his companion, who was turning an almost empty beer glass round and round on the table. The movement was so deliberate that it hardly came under the heading of fidgeting.

“Well?” said Loding at last.

“No.”

Loding took a mouthful of coffee.

“Squeamish?”

“I’m not an actor.”

Something in the unaccented phrase seemed to sting Loding and he flushed a little.

“You’re not asked to be emotional, if that is what you mean. There is no filial devotion to be simulated, you know. Only dutiful affection for an aunt you haven’t seen for nearly ten years — which one would expect to be more dutiful than affectionate.”

“No.”

“You young idiot, I’m offering you a fortune.”

“Half a fortune. And you’re not offering me anything.”

“If I’m not offering it to you, what am I doing?”

“Propositioning me,” said the young man. He had not raised his eyes from his slowly-turning beer.

“Very well, I’m propositioning you, to use your barbarous idiom. What is wrong with the proposition?”

“It’s crazy.”

“What is crazy about it, given the initial advantage of your existence?”

“No one could bring it off.”

“It is not so long since a famous general whose face was a household word — if you will forgive the metaphor5 — was impersonated quite successfully by an actor in broad daylight and in full view of the multitude.”

“That is quite different.”

“I agree. You aren’t asked to impersonate anyone. Just to be yourself. A much easier task.”

“No,” said the young man.

Loding kept his temper with a visible effort. He had a pink, collapsed6 face that reminded one of the underside of fresh mushrooms. The flesh hung away from his good Ledingham bones with a discouraged slackness, and the incipient7 pouches8 under his eyes detracted from their undoubted intelligence. Managers who had once cast him for gay young rakes now offered him nothing but discredited9 roués.

“My God!” he said suddenly. “Your teeth!”

Even that did not startle the young man’s face into any expression. He lifted his eyes for the first time, resting them incuriously on Loding. “What’s the matter with my teeth?” he asked.

“It’s how they identify people nowadays. A dentist keeps a record of work, you know. I wonder where those kids went. Something would have to be done about that. Are those front teeth your own?”

“The two middle ones are caps. They were kicked out.”

“They went to someone here in town, I remember that much. There was a London trip to see the dentist twice a year; once before Christmas and once in the summer. They went to the dentist in the morning and to a show in the afternoon: pantomime in the winter and the Tournament at Olympia in the summer. These are the kind of things you would have to know, by the way.”

“Yes?”

The gentle monosyllable maddened Loding.

“Look, Farrar, what are you frightened of? A strawberry mark? I bathed with that kid in the buff many a time and he hadn’t as much as a mole10 on him. He was so ordinary that you could order him by the dozen from any prep. school in England. You are more like his brother at this moment than that kid ever was, twins though they were. I tell you, I thought for a moment that you were young Ashby. Isn’t that good enough for you? You come and live with me for a fortnight and by the end of it there won’t be anything you don’t know about the village of Clare and its inhabitants. Nor anything about Latchetts. I know every last pantry in it. Nor anything about the Ashbys. Can you swim, by the way?”

The young man nodded. He had gone back to his glass of beer.

“Swim well?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you ever qualify a statement?”

“Not unless it needs it.”

“The kid could swim like an eel11. There’s the matter of ears, too. Yours look ordinary enough, and his must have been ordinary too or I should remember. Anyone who has worked in a life-class notices ears. But I must see what photographs of him exist. Front ones wouldn’t matter, but a real close-up of an ear might be a give-away. I think I must take a trip to Clare and do some prospecting12.”

“Don’t bother on my account.”

Loding was silent for a moment. Then he said, reasonably: “Tell me, do you believe my story at all?”

“Your story?”

“Do you believe that I am who I say I am, and that I come from a village called Clare, where there is someone who is practically your double? Do you believe that? Or do you think that this is just a way of getting you to come home with me?”

“No, I didn’t think it was that. I believe your story.”

“Well, thank heaven for that, at least,” Loding said with a quirk13 of his eyebrow14. “I know that my looks are not what they were, but I should be shattered to find that they suggested the predatory. Well, then. That settled, do you believe that you are as like young Ashby as I say?”

For a whole turn of the glass there was no answer. “I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“On your own showing it is some time since you saw him.”

“But you don’t have to be young Ashby. Just look like him. And believe me you do! My God, how you do! It’s something I wouldn’t have believed unless I saw it with my own eyes; something I have imagined only happened in books. And it is worth a fortune to you. You have only to put out your hand and take it.”

“Oh, no, I haven’t.”

“Metaphorically speaking. Do you realise that except for the first year or so your story would be truth? It would be your own story; able to stand up to any amount of checking.” His voice twisted into a comedy note. “Or — would it?”

“Oh, yes, it would check.”

“Well, then. You have only to stow away on the Ira Jones out of Westover instead of going for a day trip to Dieppe, et voilà!”

“How do you know there was a ship called the Ira Jones at Westover about then?”

“‘About then’! You do me scant15 justice, amigo. There was a ship of that repellent title at Westover the day the boy disappeared. I know because I spent most of the day painting her. On canvas, not on her plates, you understand. And the old scow went out before I had finished; bound for the Channel Islands. All my ships go out before I have finished painting them.”

There was silence for a little.

“It’s in your lap, Farrar.”

“So is my table napkin.”

“A fortune. A charming small estate. Security. A——”

“Security, did you say?”

“After the initial gamble, of course,” Loding said smoothly16.

The light eyes that looked at him for a moment held a faint amusement.

“Hadn’t it occurred to you at all, Mr. Loding, that the gamble was yours?”

“Mine?”

“You’re offering me the sweetest chance for a double-cross that I ever heard of. I take your coaching, pass the exam, and forget about you. And you wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. How did you figure to keep tabs on me?”

“I hadn’t. No one with your Ashby looks could be a double-crosser. The Ashbys are monsters of rectitude.”

The boy pushed away the glass.

“Which must be why I don’t take kindly17 to the idea of being a phoney. Thank you for my lunch, Mr. Loding. If I had known what you had in mind when you asked me to lunch with you, I wouldn’t have ——”

“All right, all right. Don’t apologise. And don’t run away; we’ll go together. You don’t like my proposition: very good: so be it. But you, on the other hand, fascinate me. I can hardly take my eyes off you, or believe that anything so unique exists. And since you are sure that my improper18 proposal to you has nothing of the personal in it, there is nothing against our walking as far as the Underground together.”

Loding paid for their lunch, and as they walked out of the Green Man he said: “I won’t ask where you are living in case you think I want to hound you. But I shall give you my address in the hope that you will come to see me. Oh, no; not about the proposition. If it isn’t your cup of tea then it isn’t your cup of tea; and if you felt like that you certainly wouldn’t make a success of it. No, not about the proposition. I have something in my rooms that I think would interest you.”

He paused artistically19 while they negotiated a street crossing.

“When my old home, Clare, was sold — after my father’s death — Nancy bundled together all the personal things in my room and sent them to me. A whole trunkful of rubbish, which I have never had the energy to get rid of, and a large proportion of it consists of snapshots and photographs of the companions of my youth. I think you would find it very interesting.”

He glanced sideways at the uncommunicative profile of his companion.

“Tell me,” he said as they stopped at the entrance to the Underground, “do you play cards?”

“Not with strangers,” said the young man pleasantly.

“I just wondered. I had never met the perfect poker20 face until now, and I should be sorry if it was being wasted on some nonconformist abstainer21. Ah, well. Here is my address. If by any chance I have fled from there the Spotlight22 will find me. I am truly sorry I couldn’t sell you the idea of being an Ashby. You would have made an excellent master of Latchetts, I feel. Someone who was at home with horses, and used to an outdoor life.”

The young man, who had made a gesture of farewell and was in the act of turning away, paused. “Horses?” he said.

“Yes,” Loding said, vaguely23 surprised. “It’s a stud, you know. Very well thought of, I understand.”

“Oh.” He paused a moment longer, and then turned away.

Loding watched him as he went down the street. “I missed something,” he was thinking. “There was some bait he would have risen to, and I missed it. Why should he have nibbled24 at the word horse? He must be sick of them.”

Ah, well; perhaps he would come to see what his double looked like.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 actively lzezni     
adv.积极地,勤奋地
参考例句:
  • During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
  • We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。
2 strings nh0zBe     
n.弦
参考例句:
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
3 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
4 adolescence CyXzY     
n.青春期,青少年
参考例句:
  • Adolescence is the process of going from childhood to maturity.青春期是从少年到成年的过渡期。
  • The film is about the trials and tribulations of adolescence.这部电影讲述了青春期的麻烦和苦恼。
5 metaphor o78zD     
n.隐喻,暗喻
参考例句:
  • Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方,我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
  • In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。
6 collapsed cwWzSG     
adj.倒塌的
参考例句:
  • Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
  • The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。
7 incipient HxFyw     
adj.起初的,发端的,初期的
参考例句:
  • The anxiety has been sharpened by the incipient mining boom.采矿业初期的蓬勃发展加剧了这种担忧。
  • What we see then is an incipient global inflation.因此,我们看到的是初期阶段的全球通胀.
8 pouches 952990a5cdea03f7970c486d570c7d8e     
n.(放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的)小袋( pouch的名词复数 );(袋鼠等的)育儿袋;邮袋;(某些动物贮存食物的)颊袋
参考例句:
  • Pouches are a peculiarity of marsupials. 腹袋是有袋动物的特色。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Under my eyes the pouches were heavy. 我眼睛下的眼袋很深。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 discredited 94ada058d09abc9d4a3f8a5e1089019f     
不足信的,不名誉的
参考例句:
  • The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷,不得人心。
  • Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。
10 mole 26Nzn     
n.胎块;痣;克分子
参考例句:
  • She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
  • The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。
11 eel bjAzz     
n.鳗鲡
参考例句:
  • He used an eel spear to catch an eel.他用一只捕鳗叉捕鳗鱼。
  • In Suzhou,there was a restaurant that specialized in eel noodles.苏州有一家饭馆,他们那里的招牌菜是鳗鱼面。
12 prospecting kkZzpG     
n.探矿
参考例句:
  • The prospecting team ploughed their way through the snow. 探险队排雪前进。
  • The prospecting team has traversed the length and breadth of the land. 勘探队踏遍了祖国的山山水水。
13 quirk 00KzV     
n.奇事,巧合;古怪的举动
参考例句:
  • He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪,把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
  • The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。
14 eyebrow vlOxk     
n.眉毛,眉
参考例句:
  • Her eyebrow is well penciled.她的眉毛画得很好。
  • With an eyebrow raised,he seemed divided between surprise and amusement.他一只眉毛扬了扬,似乎既感到吃惊,又觉有趣。
15 scant 2Dwzx     
adj.不充分的,不足的;v.减缩,限制,忽略
参考例句:
  • Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
  • Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候,许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。
16 smoothly iiUzLG     
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地
参考例句:
  • The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作,所以工作进展顺利。
  • Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。
17 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
18 improper b9txi     
adj.不适当的,不合适的,不正确的,不合礼仪的
参考例句:
  • Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
  • Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。
19 artistically UNdyJ     
adv.艺术性地
参考例句:
  • The book is beautifully printed and artistically bound. 这本书印刷精美,装帧高雅。
  • The room is artistically decorated. 房间布置得很美观。
20 poker ilozCG     
n.扑克;vt.烙制
参考例句:
  • He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌,把钱都输光了。
  • I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了,可以玩些花样。
21 abstainer fc860c3bfb50b9711fba0da0e8537877     
节制者,戒酒者,弃权者
参考例句:
  • Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. 戒酒者:一个意志薄弱的人,经不起拒绝享受的诱惑。
  • Abstainer: a weak person who yield to the temptation of deny himself a pleasure. 戒酒(烟)者,是经不起要他放弃某一乐趣的诱惑而屈服的弱者。
22 spotlight 6hBzmk     
n.公众注意的中心,聚光灯,探照灯,视听,注意,醒目
参考例句:
  • This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
  • The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。
23 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地,暖昧地
参考例句:
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面,对一切都视而不见。
24 nibbled e053ad3f854d401d3fe8e7fa82dc3325     
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的过去式和过去分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬
参考例句:
  • She nibbled daintily at her cake. 她优雅地一点一点地吃着自己的蛋糕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Several companies have nibbled at our offer. 若干公司表示对我们的出价有兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》


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