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第8章

susy, a story of the plains-第8章

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San Francisco。  I'm glad to see that you are at least your own

master here;〃he glanced at the wagon。  〃You are selling things; I

suppose?  For yourself; or another?  Is that team yours?  Come;〃 he

added; still pleasantly; but in an older and graver voice; with

perhaps the least touch of experienced authority; 〃be frank; Jim。

Which is it?  Never mind what things you've told IN THERE; tell ME

the truth about yourself。  Can I help you in any way?  Believe me; I

should like to。  We have been old friends; whatever difference in

our luck; I am yours still。〃



Thus adjured; the redoubtable Jim; in a hoarse whisper; with a

furtive eye on the house; admitted that he was traveling for an

itinerant peddler; whom he expected to join later in the settlement;

that he had his own methods of disposing of his wares; and (darkly)

that his proprietor and the world generally had better not interfere

with him; that (with a return to more confidential lightness) he had

already 〃worked the Wild West Injin〃 business so successfully as to

dispose of his wares; particularly in yonder house; and might do

even more if not prematurely and wantonly 〃blown upon;〃 〃gone back

on;〃 or 〃given away。〃



〃But wouldn't you like to settle down on some bit of land like this;

and improve it for yourself?〃 said Clarence。  〃All these valley

terraces are bound to rise in value; and meantime you would be

independent。  It could be managed; Jim。  I think I could arrange it

for you;〃 he went on; with a slight glow of youthful enthusiasm。

〃Write to me at Peyton's ranch; and I'll see you when I come back;

and we'll hunt up something for you together。〃  As Jim received the

proposition with a kind of gloomy embarrassment; he added lightly;

with a glance at the farmhouse; 〃It might be near HERE; you know;

and you'd have pleasant neighbors; and even eager listeners to your

old adventures。〃



〃You'd better come in a minit before you go;〃 said Jim; clumsily

evading a direct reply。  Clarence hesitated a moment; and then

yielded。  For an equal moment Jim Hooker was torn between secret

jealousy of his old comrade's graces and a desire to present them as

familiar associations of his own。  But his vanity was quickly

appeased。



Need it be said that the two women received this fleck and foam of a

super…civilization they knew little of as almost an impertinence

compared to the rugged; gloomy; pathetic; and equally youthful hero

of an adventurous wilderness of which they knew still less?  What

availed the courtesy and gentle melancholy of Clarence Brant beside

the mysterious gloom and dark savagery of Red Jim?  Yet they

received him patronizingly; as one who was; like themselves; an

admirer of manly grace and power; and the recipient of Jim's

friendship。  The farmer alone seemed to prefer Clarence; and yet the

latter's tacit indorsement of Red Jim; through his evident previous

intimacy with him; impressed the man in Jim's favor。  All of which

Clarence saw with that sensitive perception which had given him an

early insight into human weakness; yet still had never shaken his

youthful optimism。  He smiled a little thoughtfully; but was openly

fraternal to Jim; courteous to his host and family; and; as he rode

away in the faint moonlight; magnificently opulent in his largess to

the farmer;his first and only assertion of his position。



The farmhouse; straggling barn; and fringe of dusty willows; the

white dome of the motionless wagon; with the hanging frying pans and

kettles showing in the moonlight like black silhouettes against the

staring canvas; all presently sank behind Clarence like the details

of a dream; and he was alone with the moon; the hazy mystery of the

level; grassy plain; and the monotony of the unending road。  As he

rode slowly along he thought of that other dreary plain; white with

alkali patches and brown with rings of deserted camp…fires; known to

his boyhood of deprivation; dependency; danger; and adventure; oddly

enough; with a strange delight; and his later years of study;

monastic seclusion; and final ease and independence; with an easy

sense of wasted existence and useless waiting。  He remembered his

homeless childhood in the South; where servants and slaves took the

place of the father he had never known; and the mother that he

rarely saw; he remembered his abandonment to a mysterious female

relation; where his natural guardians seemed to have overlooked and

forgotten him; until he was sent; an all too young adventurer; to

work his passage on an overland emigrant train across the plains; he

remembered; as yesterday; the fears; the hopes; the dreams and

dangers of that momentous journey。  He recalled his little playmate;

Susy; and their strange adventuresthe whole incident that the

imaginative Jim Hooker had translated and rehearsed as his ownrose

vividly before him。  He thought of the cruel end of that pilgrimage;

which again left him homeless and forgotten by even the relative he

was seeking in a strange land。  He remembered his solitary journey

to the gold mines; taken with a boy's trust and a boy's fearlessness;

and the strange protector he had found there; who had news of his

missing kinsman; he remembered how this protectorwhom he had at

once instinctively lovedtransferred him to the house of this

new…found relation; who treated him kindly and sent him to the

Jesuit school; but who never awakened in him a feeling of kinship。

He dreamed again of his life at school; his accidental meeting with

Susy at Santa Clara; the keen revival of his boyish love for his old

playmate; now a pretty schoolgirl; the petted adopted child of

wealthy parents。  He recalled the terrible shock that interrupted

this boyish episode: the news of the death of his protector; and the

revelation that this hard; silent; and mysterious man was his own

father; whose reckless life and desperate reputation had impelled

him to assume a disguise。



He remembered how his sudden accession to wealth and independence

had half frightened him; and had always left a lurking sensitiveness

that he was unfairly favored; by some mere accident; above his less

lucky companions。  The rude vices of his old associates had made him

impatient of the feebler sensual indulgences of the later companions

of his luxury; and exposed their hollow fascinations; his sensitive

fastidiousness kept him clean among vulgar temptations; his clear

perceptions were never blinded by selfish sophistry。  Meantime his

feeling for Susy remained unchanged。  Pride had kept him from

seeking the Peytons。  His present visit was as unpremeditated as

Peyton's invitation had been unlooked for by him。  Yet he had not

allowed himself to be deceived。  He knew that this courtesy was

probably due to the change in his fortune; although he had hoped it

might have been some change in their opinion brought about by Susy。

But he would at least see her again; not in the pretty; half…

clandestine way she had thought necessary; but openly and as her

equal。



In his rapid ride he seemed to have suddenly penetrated the peaceful

calm of the night。  The restless irritation of the afternoon trade

winds had subsided; the tender moonlight had hushed and tranquilly

possessed the worried plain; the unending files of wild oats; far

spaced and distinct; stood erect and motionless as trees; something

of the sedate solemnity of a great forest seemed to have fallen upon

their giant stalks。  There was no dew。  In that light; dry air; the

heavier dust no longer rose beneath the heels of his horse; whose

flying shadow passed over the field like a cloud; leaving no trail

or track behind it。  In the preoccupation of his thought and his

breathless retrospect; the young man had ridden faster than he

intended; and he now checked his panting horse。  The influence of

the night and the hushed landscape stole over him; his thoughts took

a gentler turn; in that dim; mysterious horizon line before him; his

future seemed

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