Chapter 59

    Stamp Paid was still fingering the ribbon and it made a little motion in his pants pocket.

　　Paul D looked up, noticed the side pocket agitation¹ and snorted. "I can't read. You got any morenewspaper for me, just a waste of time."Stamp withdrew the ribbon and sat down on the steps. "No. This here's something else." Hestroked the red cloth between forefinger² and thumb. "Something else."Paul D didn't say anything so the two men sat in silence for a few moments.

　　"This is hard for me," said Stamp. "But I got to do it. Two things I got to say to you. I'm a take theeasy one first."Paul D chuckled³. "If it's hard for you, might kill me dead.""No, no. Nothing like that. I come looking for you to ask your pardon. Apologize.""For what?" Paul D reached in his coat pocket for his bottle. "You pick any house, any housewhere colored live. In all of Cincinnati. Pick any and you welcome to stay there. I'mapologizingbecausetheydidn'tofferortellyou.Butyou(one) welcome anywhere you want to be. Myhouse is your house too. John and Ella, Miss Lady, Able Woodruff, Willie Pike — anybody. Youchoose. You ain't got to sleep in no cellar, and I apologize for each and every night you did. I don'tknow how that preacher let you do it. I knowed him since he was a boy.""Whoa, Stamp. He offered.""Did? Well?""Well. I wanted, I didn't want to, I just wanted to be off by myself a spell. He offered. Every time Isee him he offers again.""That's a load off. I thought everybody gone crazy."Paul D shook his head. "Just me.""You planning to do anything about it?""Oh, yeah. I got big plans." He swallowed twice from the bottle. Any planning in a bottle is short,thought Stamp, but he knew from personal experience the pointlessness of telling a drinking mannot to. He cleared his sinuses and began to think how to get to the second thing he had come tosay. Very few people were out today. The canal was frozen so that traffic too had stopped. Theyheard the dop of a horse approaching. Its rider sat a high Eastern saddle but everything else abouthim was Ohio Valley. As he rode by he looked at them and suddenly reined⁶ his horse, and came upto the path leading to the church. He leaned forward.

　　"Hey," he said.

　　Stamp put his ribbon in his pocket. "Yes, sir?""I'm looking for a gal⁷ name of Judy. Works over by the slaughterhouse.""Don't believe I know her. No, sir.""Said she lived on Plank⁸ Road.""Plank Road. Yes, sir. That's up a ways. Mile, maybe.""You don't know her? Judy. Works in the slaughterhouse.""No, sir, but I know Plank Road. 'Bout⁴ a mile up thataway."Paul D lifted his bottle and swallowed. The rider looked at him and then back at Stamp Paid.

　　Loosening the right rein⁵, he turned his horse toward the road, then changed his mind and cameback.

　　"Look here," he said to Paul D. "There's a cross up there, so I guess this here's a church or used tobe. Seems to me like you ought to show it some respect, you follow me?""Yes, sir," said Stamp. "You right about that. That's just what I come over to talk to him about. Justthat."

1 agitation   

n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动

参考例句：

• Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
• These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。

2 forefinger   

n.食指

参考例句：

• He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
• He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。

3 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

4 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

5 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

6 reined   

勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理

参考例句：

• Then, all of a sudden, he reined up his tired horse. 这时，他突然把疲倦的马勒住了。
• The officer reined in his horse at a crossroads. 军官在十字路口勒住了马。

7 gal   

n.姑娘，少女

参考例句：

• We decided to go with the gal from Merrill.我们决定和那个从梅里尔来的女孩合作。
• What's the name of the gal? 这个妞叫什么？

8 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。