I n the drawing room at Yewtree Lodge1, the whole Fortescue family was assembled. Percival Fortescue, leaningagainst the mantelpiece, was addressing the meeting.
“It’s all very well,” said Percival. “But the whole position is most unsatisfactory. The police come and go and don’ttell us anything. One supposes they’re pursuing some line of research. In the meantime everything’s at a standstill.
One can’t make plans, one can’t arrange things for the future.”
“It’s all so inconsiderate,” said Jennifer. “And so stupid.”
“There still seems to be this ban against anyone leaving the house,” went on Percival. “Still, I think amongourselves we might discuss future plans. What about you, Elaine? I gather you’re going to marry—what’s-his-name—Gerald Wright? Have you any idea when?”
“As soon as possible,” said Elaine.
Percival frowned.
“You mean, in about six months’ time?”
“No, I don’t. Why should we wait six months?”
“I think it would be more decent,” said Percival.
“Rubbish,” said Elaine. “A month. That’s the longest we’ll wait.”
“Well, it’s for you to say,” said Percival. “And what are your plans when you are married, if you have any?”
“We’re thinking of starting a school.”
Percival shook his head.
“That’s a very risky2 speculation3 in these times. What with the shortage of domestic labour, the difficulty of gettingan adequate teaching staff—really, Elaine, it sounds all right. But I should think twice about it if I were you.”
“We have thought. Gerald feels that the whole future of this country lies in right education.”
“I am seeing Mr. Billingsley the day after tomorrow,” said Percival. “We’ve got to go into various questions offinance. He was suggesting that you might like to make this money that’s been left to you by Father into a trust foryourself and your children. It’s a very sound thing to do nowadays.”
“I don’t want to do that,” said Elaine. “We shall need the money to start up our school. There’s a very suitablehouse we’ve heard of for sale. It’s in Cornwall. Beautiful grounds and quite a good house. It would have to be builtonto a good deal—several wings added.”
“You mean—you mean you’re going to take all your money out of the business? Really, Elaine, I don’t thinkyou’re wise.”
“Much wiser to take it out than leave it in, I should say,” said Elaine. “Businesses are going phut all over the place.
You said yourself, Val, before Father died, that things were getting into a pretty bad state.”
“One says that sort of thing,” said Percival vaguely4, “but I must say, Elaine, to take out all your capital and sink itin the buying, equipping and running of a school is crazy. If it’s not a success, look what happens? You’re left withouta penny.”
“It will be a success,” said Elaine, doggedly5.
“I’m with you.” Lance, lying sprawled6 out in a chair, spoke7 up encouragingly. “Have a crack at it, Elaine. In myopinion it’ll be a damned odd sort of school, but it’s what you want to do—you and Gerald. If you do lose your moneyyou’ll at any rate have had the satisfaction of doing what you wanted to do.”
“Just what one might have expected you to say, Lance,” said Percival, acidly.
“I know, I know,” said Lance. “I’m the spendthrift prodigal8 son. But I still think I’ve had more fun out of life thanyou have, Percy, old boy.”
“It depends on what you call fun,” said Percival coldly. “Which brings us to your own plans, Lance. I supposeyou’ll be off again back to Kenya—or Canada—or climbing Mount Everest or something fairly fantastic?”
“Now what makes you think that?” said Lance.
“Well, you’ve never had much use for a stay-at-home life in England, have you?”
“One changes as one gets older,” said Lance. “One settles down. D’you know, Percy my boy, I’m quite lookingforward to having a crack at being a sober business man.”
“Do you mean. . . .”
“I mean I’m coming into the firm with you, old boy.” Lance grinned. “Oh, you’re the senior partner, of course.
You’ve got the lion’s share. I’m only a very junior partner. But I have got a holding in it that gives me the right to bein on things, doesn’t it?”
“Well—yes—of course, if you put it that way. But I can assure you, my dear boy, you’ll be very, very bored.”
“I wonder now. I don’t believe I shall be bored.”
Percival frowned.
“You don’t seriously mean, Lance, that you’re coming into the business?”
“Having a finger in the pie? Yes, that’s exactly what I am doing.”
Percival shook his head.
“Things are in a very bad way, you know. You’ll find that out. It’s going to be about all we can do to pay outElaine her share, if she insists on having it paid out.”
“There you are, Elaine,” said Lance. “You see how wise you were to insist on grabbing your money while it’s stillthere to grab.”
“Really, Lance,” Percival spoke angrily, “these jokes of yours are in bad taste.”
“I do think, Lance, you might be more careful what you say,” said Jennifer.
Sitting a little way away near the window, Pat studied them one by one. If this was what Lance had meant bytwisting Percival’s tail, she could see that he was achieving his object. Percival’s neat impassivity was quite ruffled9.
He snapped again, angrily:
“Are you serious, Lance?”
“Dead serious.”
“It won’t work, you know. You’ll soon get fed up.”
“Not me. Think what a lovely change it’ll be for me. A city office, typists coming and going. I shall have a blondesecretary like Miss Grosvenor—is it Grosvenor? I suppose you’ve snaffled her. But I shall get one just like her. ‘Yes,Mr. Lancelot; no, Mr. Lancelot. Your tea, Mr. Lancelot.’ ”
“Oh, don’t play the fool,” snapped Percival.
“Why are you so angry, my dear brother? Don’t you look forward to having me sharing your city cares?”
“You haven’t the least conception of the mess everything’s in.”
“No. You’ll have to put me wise to all that.”
“First you’ve got to understand that for the last six months—no, more, a year, Father’s not been himself. He’s donethe most incredibly foolish things, financially. Sold out good stock, acquired various wildcat holdings. Sometimes he’sreally thrown away money hand over fist. Just, one might say, for the fun of spending it.”
“In fact,” said Lance, “it’s just as well for the family that he had taxine in his tea.”
“That’s a very ugly way of putting it, but in essence you’re quite right. It’s about the only thing that saved us frombankruptcy. But we shall have to be extremely conservative and go very cautiously for a bit.”
Lance shook his head.
“I don’t agree with you. Caution never does anyone any good. You must take a few risks, strike out. You must gofor something big.”
“I don’t agree,” said Percy. “Caution and economy. Those are our watchwords.”
“Not mine,” said Lance.
“You’re only the junior partner, remember,” said Percival.
“All right, all right. But I’ve got a little say-so all the same.”
Percival walked up and down the room agitatedly10.
“It’s no good, Lance. I’m fond of you and all that—”
“Are you?” Lance interpolated. Percival did not appear to hear him.
“. . . but I really don’t think we’re going to pull together at all. Our outlooks are totally different.”
“That may be an advantage,” said Lance.
“The only sensible thing,” said Percival, “is to dissolve the partnership11.”
“You’re going to buy me out—is that the idea?”
“My dear boy, it’s the only sensible thing to do, with our ideas so different.”
“If you find it hard to pay Elaine out her legacy12, how are you going to manage to pay me my share?”
“Well, I didn’t mean in cash,” said Percival. “We could—er—divide up the holdings.”
“With you keeping the gilt-edged and me taking the worst of the speculative13 off you, I suppose?”
“They seem to be what you prefer,” said Percival.
Lance grinned suddenly.
“You’re right in a way, Percy, old boy. But I can’t indulge my own taste entirely14. I’ve got Pat here to think of.”
Both men looked towards her. Pat opened her mouth, then shut it again. Whatever game Lance was playing, it wasbest that she should not interfere15. That Lance was driving at something special, she was quite sure, but she was still alittle uncertain as to what his actual object was.
“Line ’em up, Percy,” said Lance, laughing. “Bogus Diamond Mines, Inaccessible16 Rubies17, the Oil Concessionswhere no oil is. Do you think I’m quite as big a fool as I look?”
Percival said:
“Of course, some of these holdings are highly speculative, but remember, they may turn out immensely valuable.”
“Changed your tune19, haven’t you?” said Lance, grinning. “Going to offer me father’s latest wildcat acquisition aswell as the old Blackbird Mine and things of that kind. By the way, has the inspector20 been asking you about thisBlackbird Mine?”
Percival frowned.
“Yes, he did. I can’t imagine what he wanted to know about it. I couldn’t tell him much. You and I were children atthe time. I just remember vaguely that Father went out there and came back saying the whole thing was no good.”
“What was it—a gold mine?”
“I believe so. Father came back pretty certain that there was no gold there. And, mind you, he wasn’t the sort ofman to be mistaken.”
“Who got him into it? A man called MacKenzie, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. MacKenzie died out there.”
“MacKenzie died out there,” said Lance thoughtfully. “Wasn’t there a terrific scene? I seem to remember . . . Mrs.
MacKenzie, wasn’t it? Came here. Ranted21 and stormed at Father. Hurled22 down curses on his head. She accused him, ifI remember rightly, of murdering her husband.”
“Really,” said Percival repressively. “I can’t recollect23 anything of the kind.”
“I remember it, though,” said Lance. “I was a good bit younger than you, of course. Perhaps that’s why it appealedto me. As a child it struck me as full of drama. Where was Blackbird? West Africa wasn’t it?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“I must look up the concession18 sometime,” said Lance, “when I’m at the office.”
“You can be quite sure,” said Percival, “that Father made no mistake. If he came back saying there was no gold,there was no gold.”
“You’re probably right there,” said Lance. “Poor Mrs. MacKenzie. I wonder what happened to her and to those twokids she brought along. Funny—they must be grown-up by now.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
lodge
|
|
| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
risky
|
|
| adj.有风险的，冒险的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
speculation
|
|
| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
doggedly
|
|
| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
sprawled
|
|
| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
prodigal
|
|
| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ruffled
|
|
| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
agitatedly
|
|
| 动摇，兴奋； 勃然 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
partnership
|
|
| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
legacy
|
|
| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
speculative
|
|
| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
inaccessible
|
|
| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
rubies
|
|
| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
concession
|
|
| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
inspector
|
|
| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
ranted
|
|
| v.夸夸其谈( rant的过去式和过去分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hurled
|
|
| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
recollect
|
|
| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |