章节正文
musingly. "What sort of paper is this you miss? It must be
valuable--"
"Yes, it's valuable all right. Come on, now! Quit your fooling
and get down to business. I'm going to have that paper."
"Do you know, Mr. Tausig," I said impulsively, "if I were you,
and anybody had stolen a valuable paper from me, I'd have him
arrested. I would. I should not care a rap what the public
exposure did to his reputation, so long--so long," I grinned
right up at him, "so long as it didn't hurt me, myself, in the
eyes of the law."
Mad? Oh, he was hopping! A German swear-word burst from him.
I don't know what it meant, but I can imagine.
"Look here, I give you one more chance," he squeaked; "if you
don't--"
"What'll you do?"
I was sure I had him. I was sure, from the very whisper in which
he had spoken, that the last thing in the world he wanted was to
have that agreement made public by my arrest. But I tripped up on
one thing. I didn't know there was a middle way for a man with
money.
His manner changed.
"Nance Olden," he said aloud now, "I charge you with stealing
a valuable private paper of mine from my desk. Here, Sergeant!"
I hadn't particularly noticed the Sergeant standing at the other
door with his back to us. But from the way he came at Tausig's
call I knew he'd had a private talk with him, and I knew he'd
found the middle way.
"This girl's taken a paper of mine. I want her searched,"
Tausig cried.
"Do you mean," I said, "that you'll sign your name to such a
charge against me?"
He didn't answer. He had pulled the Sergeant down and was
whispering in his ear. I knew what that meant. It meant a special
pull and a special way of doing things and--
"You'll do well, my girl, to give up Mr. Tausig's property to
him," the Sergeant said stiffly.
"But what have I got that belongs to him?" I demanded.
He grinned and shrugged his big shoulders.
"We've a way of finding out, you know, here. Give it up or--"
"But what does he say I've taken? What charge is there against
me? Have you the right to search any woman who walks in here? And
what in the world would I want a paper of Tausig's for?"
"You won't give it up then?" He tapped a bell.
A woman came in. I had a bad minute there, but it didn't last; it
wasn't the matron I'd brought the baby to.
"You'll take this girl into the other room and search her
thoroughly. The thing we're looking for--" The Sergeant turned
to Tausig.
"A small paper," he said eagerly. "A--a contract--just a
single sheet of legal cap paper it was type-written and signed by
myself and some other gentlemen, and folded twice."
The woman looked at me. She was a bit hard-mouthed, with
iron-gray hair, but her eyes looked as though they'd seen a lot
and learned not to flinch, though they still felt like it. I knew
that kind of look--I'd seen it at the Cruelty.
"What an unpleasant job this of yours is," I said to her,
smiling up at her for all the world as that tike of a baby had
smiled at me, and watching her melt just as I had. "I'll not
make it a bit harder. This thing's all a mistake. Which way? . .
. I'll come back, Mr. Tausig, to receive your apology, but you
can hardly expect me to go to lunch after this."
He growled a wrathful, resenting mouthful. But he looked a bit
puzzled just the same.
He looked more puzzled yet, even bewildered, when we came back
into the main office a quarter of an hour later, the woman and I,
and she reported that no paper of any kind had she found.
Me? Oh, I was sweet amiability personified with the woman and
with the Sergeant, who began to back-water furiously. But with
Tausig--
What? You don't mean to say you're not on, Mag? Oh, dear, dear,
it's well you had that beautiful wig of red hair that puts even
Carter's in the shade; for you'd never have been a success in--in
other businesses I might name.
Bamboozled the woman? Not a bit of it; you can't deceive women
with mouths and eyes like that. It was just that I'd had a flash
of genius in the minute I heard Tausig's voice, and in spite of
my being so sure he wouldn't have me arrested I'd-- Guess, Mag,
guess! There was only one way.
The baby, of course! In the moment I had--it wasn't long--I'd
stooped down, pretending to kiss that cherub good-by, and in a
jiffy I'd pinned that precious paper with a safety-pin to the
baby's under-petticoat, preferring that risk to--
Risk! I should say it was. And now it was up to Nance to make
good.
While Tausig insisted and explained and expostulated and at last
walked out with the Sergeant--giving me a queer last look that
was half-cursing, half-placating--I stood chatting sweetly with
the woman who had searched me.
I didn't know just how far I might go with her. She knew the
paper wasn't on me, and I could see she was disposed to believe I
was as nice as she'd have liked me to be. But she'd had a lot of
experience and she knew, as most women do even without
experience, that if there's not always fire where there is smoke,
it's because somebody's been clever enough and quick enough to
cover the blaze.
"Well, good-by," I said, putting out my hand. "It's been
disagreeable but I'm obliged to you for--why, where's my purse!
We must have left it--" And I turned to go back into the room
where I'd undressed.
"You didn't have any."
The words came clear and cold and positive. Her tone was like an
icicle down my back.
"I didn't have any!" I exclaimed. "Why, I certainly--"
"You certainly had no purse, for I should have seen it and
searched it if you had."
Now, what do you think of a woman like that?
"Nancy Olden," I said to myself, more in sorrow than in anger,
"you've met your match right here. When a woman knows a fact and
states it with such quiet conviction, without the least
unnecessary emphasis and not a superfluous word, 'ware that
woman. There's only one game to play to let you hang round here a
bit longer and find out what's become of the baby. Play it!"
I looked at her with respect; it was both real and feigned.
"Of course, you must be right," I said humbly. "I know you
wouldn't be likely to make a mistake, but, just to convince me,
do you mind letting me go back to look?"
"Not at all," she said placidly. "If I go with you there's no
reason why you should not look."
Oh, Mag, it was hard lines looking. Why?--Why, because the place
was so bare and so small. There were so few things to move and it
took such a short time, in spite of all I could do and pretend to
do, that I was in despair.
"You must be right," I said at length, looking woefully up at
her.
"Yes; I knew I was," she said steadily.
"I must have lost it."
"Yes."
There was no hope there. I turned to go.
"I'll lend you a nickel to get home, if you'll leave me your
address," she said after a moment.
Oh, that admirable woman! She ought to be ruling empires instead
of searching thieves. Look at the balance of her, Mag. My best
acting hadn't shaken her. She hadn't that fatal curiosity to
understand motives that wrecks so many who deal with--we'll call
them the temporarily un-straight. She was satisfied just not to
let me get ahead of her in the least particular. But she wasn't
mean, and she would lend me a nickel--not an emotionally
extravagant ten-cent piece, but just a nickel--on the chance that
I was what I seemed to be.
Oh, I did admire her; but I'd have been more enthusiastic about
it if I could have seen my way clear to the baby and the paper.
I took the nickel and thanked her, but effusiveness left her
unmoved. A wholesome, blue-gowned rock with a neat, full-bibbed
white apron; that's what she was!
And still I lingered. Fancy Nance Olden just heartbroken at being
compelled to leave a police station!
But there was nothing for it. Go, I had to. My head was a-whirl
with schemes coming forward with suggestions and being dismissed
as unsuitable; my thoughts were flying about at such a dizzy rate
while I stood there in the doorway, the woman's patient hand on
the knob and her watchful eyes on me, that I actually--
Mag, I actually didn't hear the matron's voice the first time she
spoke.
The second time, though, I turned--so happy I could not keep the
tremor out of my voice.
"I thought you had gone long ago," she said.
Oh, we were friends, we two! We'd chummed over a baby, which for
women is like what taking a drink together is for men. The
admirabledragon in the blue dress didn't waver a bit because her
superior spoke pleasantly to me. She only watched and listened.
Which puts you in a difficult position when your name's Nance
Olden--you have to tell the truth.
"I've been detained," I said with dignity, "against my wish.
But that's all over. I'm going now. Good-by." I nodded and
caught up my skirt. "Oh!" I paused just as the admirabledragon
was closing the door on me. "Is the baby asleep? I wonder if I
might see her once more."
My heart was beating like an engine gone mad, in spite of my
careless tone, and there was a buzzing in my ears that deafened
me. But I managed to stand still and listen, and then to walk
off, as though it didn't matter in the least to me, while her
words came smashing the hope out of me.
"We've sent her with an officer back to the neighborhood where
you found her. He'll find out where she belongs, no doubt. Good
day."
IV.
Ah me, Maggie, the miserable Nance that went away from that
station! To have had your future in your grasp, like that one of
the Fates with the string, and then to have it snatched from you
by an impish breeze and blown away, goodness knows where!
I don't know just which way I turned after I left that station.
I didn't care where I went. Nothing I could think of gave me any
comfort. I tried to fancy myself coming home to you. I tried to
see myself going down to tell the whole thing to Obermuller. But
I couldn't do that. There was only one thing I wanted to say to
Fred Obermuller, and that thing I couldn't say now.
But Nance Olden's not the girl to go round long like a molting
hen. There was only one chance in a hundred, and that was the one
I took, of course.
"Back to the Square where you found the baby, Nance!" I cried
to myself. "There's the chance that that admirabledragon has
had her suspicions aroused by your connection with the baby,
which she hadn't known before, and has already dutifully notified
the Sergeant. There's the chance that the baby is home by now,
and the paper found by her mother will be turned over to her
papa; and then it's good-by to your scheme. There's the chance
that--"
But in the heart of me I didn't believe in any chance but
one--the chance that I'd find that blessed baby and get my
fingers just once more on that precious paper.
I blew in the A.D's nickel on a cross-town car and got back to
valuable--"
"Yes, it's valuable all right. Come on, now! Quit your fooling
and get down to business. I'm going to have that paper."
"Do you know, Mr. Tausig," I said impulsively, "if I were you,
and anybody had stolen a valuable paper from me, I'd have him
arrested. I would. I should not care a rap what the public
exposure did to his reputation, so long--so long," I grinned
right up at him, "so long as it didn't hurt me, myself, in the
eyes of the law."
Mad? Oh, he was hopping! A German swear-word burst from him.
I don't know what it meant, but I can imagine.
"Look here, I give you one more chance," he squeaked; "if you
don't--"
"What'll you do?"
I was sure I had him. I was sure, from the very whisper in which
he had spoken, that the last thing in the world he wanted was to
have that agreement made public by my arrest. But I tripped up on
one thing. I didn't know there was a middle way for a man with
money.
His manner changed.
"Nance Olden," he said aloud now, "I charge you with stealing
a valuable private paper of mine from my desk. Here, Sergeant!"
I hadn't particularly noticed the Sergeant standing at the other
door with his back to us. But from the way he came at Tausig's
call I knew he'd had a private talk with him, and I knew he'd
found the middle way.
"This girl's taken a paper of mine. I want her searched,"
Tausig cried.
"Do you mean," I said, "that you'll sign your name to such a
charge against me?"
He didn't answer. He had pulled the Sergeant down and was
whispering in his ear. I knew what that meant. It meant a special
pull and a special way of doing things and--
"You'll do well, my girl, to give up Mr. Tausig's property to
him," the Sergeant said stiffly.
"But what have I got that belongs to him?" I demanded.
He grinned and shrugged his big shoulders.
"We've a way of finding out, you know, here. Give it up or--"
"But what does he say I've taken? What charge is there against
me? Have you the right to search any woman who walks in here? And
what in the world would I want a paper of Tausig's for?"
"You won't give it up then?" He tapped a bell.
A woman came in. I had a bad minute there, but it didn't last; it
wasn't the matron I'd brought the baby to.
"You'll take this girl into the other room and search her
thoroughly. The thing we're looking for--" The Sergeant turned
to Tausig.
"A small paper," he said eagerly. "A--a contract--just a
single sheet of legal cap paper it was type-written and signed by
myself and some other gentlemen, and folded twice."
The woman looked at me. She was a bit hard-mouthed, with
iron-gray hair, but her eyes looked as though they'd seen a lot
and learned not to flinch, though they still felt like it. I knew
that kind of look--I'd seen it at the Cruelty.
"What an unpleasant job this of yours is," I said to her,
smiling up at her for all the world as that tike of a baby had
smiled at me, and watching her melt just as I had. "I'll not
make it a bit harder. This thing's all a mistake. Which way? . .
. I'll come back, Mr. Tausig, to receive your apology, but you
can hardly expect me to go to lunch after this."
He growled a wrathful, resenting mouthful. But he looked a bit
puzzled just the same.
He looked more puzzled yet, even bewildered, when we came back
into the main office a quarter of an hour later, the woman and I,
and she reported that no paper of any kind had she found.
Me? Oh, I was sweet amiability personified with the woman and
with the Sergeant, who began to back-water furiously. But with
Tausig--
What? You don't mean to say you're not on, Mag? Oh, dear, dear,
it's well you had that beautiful wig of red hair that puts even
Carter's in the shade; for you'd never have been a success in--in
other businesses I might name.
Bamboozled the woman? Not a bit of it; you can't deceive women
with mouths and eyes like that. It was just that I'd had a flash
of genius in the minute I heard Tausig's voice, and in spite of
my being so sure he wouldn't have me arrested I'd-- Guess, Mag,
guess! There was only one way.
The baby, of course! In the moment I had--it wasn't long--I'd
stooped down, pretending to kiss that cherub good-by, and in a
jiffy I'd pinned that precious paper with a safety-pin to the
baby's under-petticoat, preferring that risk to--
Risk! I should say it was. And now it was up to Nance to make
good.
While Tausig insisted and explained and expostulated and at last
walked out with the Sergeant--giving me a queer last look that
was half-cursing, half-placating--I stood chatting sweetly with
the woman who had searched me.
I didn't know just how far I might go with her. She knew the
paper wasn't on me, and I could see she was disposed to believe I
was as nice as she'd have liked me to be. But she'd had a lot of
experience and she knew, as most women do even without
experience, that if there's not always fire where there is smoke,
it's because somebody's been clever enough and quick enough to
cover the blaze.
"Well, good-by," I said, putting out my hand. "It's been
disagreeable but I'm obliged to you for--why, where's my purse!
We must have left it--" And I turned to go back into the room
where I'd undressed.
"You didn't have any."
The words came clear and cold and positive. Her tone was like an
icicle down my back.
"I didn't have any!" I exclaimed. "Why, I certainly--"
"You certainly had no purse, for I should have seen it and
searched it if you had."
Now, what do you think of a woman like that?
"Nancy Olden," I said to myself, more in sorrow than in anger,
"you've met your match right here. When a woman knows a fact and
states it with such quiet conviction, without the least
unnecessary emphasis and not a superfluous word, 'ware that
woman. There's only one game to play to let you hang round here a
bit longer and find out what's become of the baby. Play it!"
I looked at her with respect; it was both real and feigned.
"Of course, you must be right," I said humbly. "I know you
wouldn't be likely to make a mistake, but, just to convince me,
do you mind letting me go back to look?"
"Not at all," she said placidly. "If I go with you there's no
reason why you should not look."
Oh, Mag, it was hard lines looking. Why?--Why, because the place
was so bare and so small. There were so few things to move and it
took such a short time, in spite of all I could do and pretend to
do, that I was in despair.
"You must be right," I said at length, looking woefully up at
her.
"Yes; I knew I was," she said steadily.
"I must have lost it."
"Yes."
There was no hope there. I turned to go.
"I'll lend you a nickel to get home, if you'll leave me your
address," she said after a moment.
Oh, that admirable woman! She ought to be ruling empires instead
of searching thieves. Look at the balance of her, Mag. My best
acting hadn't shaken her. She hadn't that fatal curiosity to
understand motives that wrecks so many who deal with--we'll call
them the temporarily un-straight. She was satisfied just not to
let me get ahead of her in the least particular. But she wasn't
mean, and she would lend me a nickel--not an emotionally
extravagant ten-cent piece, but just a nickel--on the chance that
I was what I seemed to be.
Oh, I did admire her; but I'd have been more enthusiastic about
it if I could have seen my way clear to the baby and the paper.
I took the nickel and thanked her, but effusiveness left her
unmoved. A wholesome, blue-gowned rock with a neat, full-bibbed
white apron; that's what she was!
And still I lingered. Fancy Nance Olden just heartbroken at being
compelled to leave a police station!
But there was nothing for it. Go, I had to. My head was a-whirl
with schemes coming forward with suggestions and being dismissed
as unsuitable; my thoughts were flying about at such a dizzy rate
while I stood there in the doorway, the woman's patient hand on
the knob and her watchful eyes on me, that I actually--
Mag, I actually didn't hear the matron's voice the first time she
spoke.
The second time, though, I turned--so happy I could not keep the
tremor out of my voice.
"I thought you had gone long ago," she said.
Oh, we were friends, we two! We'd chummed over a baby, which for
women is like what taking a drink together is for men. The
admirabledragon in the blue dress didn't waver a bit because her
superior spoke pleasantly to me. She only watched and listened.
Which puts you in a difficult position when your name's Nance
Olden--you have to tell the truth.
"I've been detained," I said with dignity, "against my wish.
But that's all over. I'm going now. Good-by." I nodded and
caught up my skirt. "Oh!" I paused just as the admirabledragon
was closing the door on me. "Is the baby asleep? I wonder if I
might see her once more."
My heart was beating like an engine gone mad, in spite of my
careless tone, and there was a buzzing in my ears that deafened
me. But I managed to stand still and listen, and then to walk
off, as though it didn't matter in the least to me, while her
words came smashing the hope out of me.
"We've sent her with an officer back to the neighborhood where
you found her. He'll find out where she belongs, no doubt. Good
day."
IV.
Ah me, Maggie, the miserable Nance that went away from that
station! To have had your future in your grasp, like that one of
the Fates with the string, and then to have it snatched from you
by an impish breeze and blown away, goodness knows where!
I don't know just which way I turned after I left that station.
I didn't care where I went. Nothing I could think of gave me any
comfort. I tried to fancy myself coming home to you. I tried to
see myself going down to tell the whole thing to Obermuller. But
I couldn't do that. There was only one thing I wanted to say to
Fred Obermuller, and that thing I couldn't say now.
But Nance Olden's not the girl to go round long like a molting
hen. There was only one chance in a hundred, and that was the one
I took, of course.
"Back to the Square where you found the baby, Nance!" I cried
to myself. "There's the chance that that admirabledragon has
had her suspicions aroused by your connection with the baby,
which she hadn't known before, and has already dutifully notified
the Sergeant. There's the chance that the baby is home by now,
and the paper found by her mother will be turned over to her
papa; and then it's good-by to your scheme. There's the chance
that--"
But in the heart of me I didn't believe in any chance but
one--the chance that I'd find that blessed baby and get my
fingers just once more on that precious paper.
I blew in the A.D's nickel on a cross-town car and got back to
- valuable [´væljuəbəl, -jubəl]
a.有价值的，贵重的 (初中英语单词) - stolen [´stəulən] steal 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- whisper [´wispə] v.耳语 n.低语；沙沙声 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- agreement [ə´gri:mənt] n.同意；一致；协议 (初中英语单词)
- arrest [ə´rest] vt.逮捕 n.逮捕；停止 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- eagerly [´i:gəli] ad.渴望地，急切地 (初中英语单词)
- deceive [di´si:v] vt.欺骗，欺诈 (初中英语单词)
- genius [´dʒi:niəs] n.天才(人物)；天赋 (初中英语单词)
- conviction [kən´vikʃən] n.定罪；确信，信服 (初中英语单词)
- convince [kən´vins] vt.使确信；使认识错误 (初中英语单词)
- pretend [pri´tend] v.假装；借口；妄求 (初中英语单词)
- shaken [´ʃeikən] shake的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- curiosity [,kjuəri´ɔsiti] n.好奇；奇事；珍品 (初中英语单词)
- doorway [´dɔ:wei] n.门口 (初中英语单词)
- actually [´æktʃuəli] ad.事实上；实际上 (初中英语单词)
- dragon [´drægən] n.龙 (初中英语单词)
- dignity [´digniti] n.尊严，尊贵；高官显贵 (初中英语单词)
- neighborhood [´neibəhud] n.邻居；邻近；附近 (初中英语单词)
- miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
- breeze [bri:z] n.微风；不费力的事 (初中英语单词)
- goodness [´gudnis] n.优良；美德；精华 (初中英语单词)
- connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)
- scheme [ski:m] n.计划；阴谋，诡计 (初中英语单词)
- sergeant [´sɑ:dʒənt] n.警官；军士 (高中英语单词)
- finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
- learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
- unpleasant [ʌn´plezənt] a.不愉快的；不合意的 (高中英语单词)
- furiously [´fjuəriəsli] ad.狂怒地；有力地 (高中英语单词)
- sweetly [´swi:tli] ad.甜蜜地；美妙地 (高中英语单词)
- positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)
- emphasis [´emfəsis] n.强调；重点 (高中英语单词)
- nickel [´nikəl] n.镍 vt.把...镀镍 (高中英语单词)
- admirable [´ædmərəbəl] a.极佳的，值得赞美的 (高中英语单词)
- enthusiastic [inθju:zi´æstik] a.热情的，热心的 (高中英语单词)
- wholesome [´həulsəm] a.有益于健康的 (高中英语单词)
- pleasantly [´plezntli] ad.令人愉快地；舒适地 (高中英语单词)
- reputation [repju´teiʃən] n.名誉；名声；信誉 (英语四级单词)
- matron [´meitrən] n.主妇；护士长 (英语四级单词)
- apology [ə´pɔlədʒi] n.道歉(的话)；辩解 (英语四级单词)
- mouthful [´mauθful] n.一口；少量 (英语四级单词)
- superfluous [su:´pə:fluəs, sju:-] a.过剩的，多余的 (英语四级单词)
- humbly [´hʌmbli] ad.恭顺地，谦卑地 (英语四级单词)
- thieves [θi:vz] thief的复数 (英语四级单词)
- temporarily [´tempərərili] ad.暂时地 (英语四级单词)
- watchful [´wɔtʃfəl] a.注意的；戒备的 (英语四级单词)
- blessed [´blesid] a.享福的；神圣的 (英语四级单词)
- cherub [´tʃerəb] n.小天使 (英语六级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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