登陆注册
5230100000076

第76章 CHAPTER XXVI(3)

"Wreckers' lights. Behold! Yonder is a highly nutritious whisky blinking its bloomin' farewell. Do you chew gum? Even if you don't, in a few minutes I'll give you a cud for thought. Chewing gum was invented by a man with a talkative wife. He missed the physiological point, however, that a body can chew and talk at the same time. Come on!"

They went on uptown, Hawksley highly amused, exhilarated, but frequently puzzled. The pungent irony of her observations conveyed to him that under this gayety was a current of extreme bitterness.

"I say, are all American girls like you?"

"Heavens, no! Why?"

"Because I never met one like you before. Rather stilted - on their good behaviour, I fancy."

"And I interest you because I'm not on my good behaviour?" Kitty whipped back.

"Because you are as God made you - without camouflage."

"The poor innocent young man! I'm nothing but camouflage to-night.

Why are you risking your life in the street? Why am I sharing that risk? Because we both feel bound and are blindly trying to break through. What do you know about me? Nothing. What do I know about you? Nothing. But what do we care? Come on, come on!"

Tumpitum - tump! tumpitum - tump! drummed the Elevated. Kitty laughed. The tocsin! Always something happened when she heard it.

"Pearls!" she cried, dragging him toward a jeweller's window.

"No!" he said, holding back. "I hate - jewels! How I hate them!"

He broke away from her and hurried on.

She had to run after him. Had she hesitated they might have become separated. Hated jewels? No, no! There should be no questions, verbal or mental, this night. She presently forced him to slow down.

"Not so fast! We must never become separated," she warned. "Our safety - such as it is - lies in being together."

"I'm an ass. Perhaps my head is ratty without my realizing it. I fancy I'm like a dog that's been kicked; I'm trying to run away from the pain. What's this tomb?"

"The Metropolitan Opera House."

As they were passing a thin, wailing sound came to the ears of both.

Seated with his back to the wall was a blind fiddler with a tin cup strapped to a knee. He was out of bounds; he had no right on Broadway; but he possessed a singular advantage over the law. He could not be forced to move on without his guide - if he were honestly blind. Hundreds of people were passing; but the fiddler's "Last Rose of Summer" wasn't worth a cent. His cup was empty.

"The poor thing!" said Kitty.

"Wait!" Hawksley approached the fiddler, exchanged a few words with him, and the blind man surrendered his fiddle.

"Give me your hat!" cried Kitty, delighted.

Carefully Hawksley pried loose his derby and handed it to Kitty.

No stab of pain; something to find that out. He turned the instrument, tucked it under his chin and began "Traumerei." Kitty, smiling, extended the hat. Just the sort of interlude to make the adventure memorable. She knew this thoroughfare. Shortly there would be a crowd, and the fiddler's cup would overflow - that is, if the police did not interfere too soon.

As for the owner of the wretched fiddle, he raised his head, his mouth opened. Up there, somewhere, a door to heaven had opened.

True to her expectations a crowd slowly gathered. The beauty of the girl and the dark, handsome face of the musician, his picturesque bare head, were sufficient for these cynical passers-by. They understood. Operatic celebrities, having a little fun on their own.

So quarters and dimes and nickels began to patter into Cutty's ancient derby hat. Broadway will always contribute generously toward a novelty of this order. Famous names were tossed about in undertones.

Entered then the enemy of the proletariat. Kitty, being a New Yorker born, had had her weather eye roving. The brass-buttoned minion of the law was always around when a bit of innocent fun was going on. As the policeman reached the inner rim of the audience the last notes of Handel's "Largo" were fading on the ear.

"What's this?" demanded the policeman.

"It's all over, sir," answered Kitty, smiling.

"Can't have this on Broadway, miss. Obstruction." He could not speak gruffly in the face of such beauty - especially with a Broadway crowd at his back.

"It's all over. Just let me put this money in the blind man's cup."

Kitty poured her coins into the receptacle. At the same time Hawksley laid the fiddle in the blind man's lap. Then he turned to Kitty and boomed a long Russian phrase at her. Her quick wit caught the intent. "You see, he doesn't understand that this cannot be done in New York. I couldn't explain."

"All right, miss; but don't do it again." The policeman grinned.

"And please don't be harsh with the blind man. Just tell him he mustn't play on Broadway again. Thank you!'

She linked her arm in Hawksley's, and they went on; and the crowd dissolved; only the policeman and the blind man remained, the one contemplating his duty and the other his vision of heaven.

"What a lark!" exclaimed Hawksley.

"Were you asking me for your hat?"

"I was telling the bobby to go to the devil!"

They laughed like children.

"March hares!" he said.

"No. April fools! Good heavens, the time! Twenty minutes to seven. Our dinner!"

"We'll take a taxi.... Dash it!"

"What's wrong?"

"Not a bally copper in my pockets!"

"And I left my handbag on the sideboard! We'll have to walk. If we hurry we can just about make it."

Meantime, there lay in wait for them - this pair of April fools - a taxicab. It stood snugly against the curb opposite the entrance to Cutty's apartment. The door was slightly ajar.

The driver watched the south corner; the three men inside never took their gaze off the north corner.

"But, I say, hasn't this been a jolly lark?"

"If we had known we could have borrowed a dollar from the blind man; he'd never have missed it."

同类推荐
  • 大乘理趣六波罗蜜多经

    大乘理趣六波罗蜜多经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 积聚门

    积聚门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Henry V

    Henry V

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重订产孕集

    重订产孕集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大云经请雨品第六十四

    大云经请雨品第六十四

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 绝代废材倾天下

    绝代废材倾天下

    她,华夏M国罗刹阁首席杀手,因为拥有神器,被从小抚养长大的亲大伯逼迫自爆。她,莫云大陆柳云城柳家二小姐,自幼被称为废物。当华夏的她转生为她时,废物?有看到过一出手就是灵丹的炼药师废物吗?有看到过一人单挑一个世家的废物吗?神器?我自己会炼神药?我自己会炼神兽?我屁股后面端茶倒水的是什么?他,魔王弑天,甘愿成为她的契约兽。“女人,你是我的,没有我的允许,你休想离开我”他,莫云国第二个皇子,莫青天,甘愿为她遮风挡雨。“雨儿,我愿为你撑起一片天地,只求你不要离开我的视线。”他,无极宗少宗主,无悔,只愿一世跟随,“小雨,我愿一世跟随你,做你的小跟班”契约,升级,练武,炼器,炼药,我样样不落。且看我柳小雨翻手云覆手雨,打遍天下无敌手,坑遍天下所有人。
  • 情深厚爱:鲜妻很抢手

    情深厚爱:鲜妻很抢手

    一夜醒来,身旁竟躺着个令人一望室息的优等极品男人,才几天的时间他们又重演了一遍那晚疯魔的种种……可是她是他的大嫂,两人意外在一起到底是陷害还是……某日外出,言浅浅盯着身后不要脸的男人。“你给我滚!避嫌知不知道!男女有别!”“不知好歹的女人!”语毕,他霸道的抬起她的下巴,浅浅的在她樱唇上落下一吻。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 步寸心

    步寸心

    时空穿梭机将两个人送到了一个完全不一样的世界,这里会发生什么样的事情是没有人知道的,可是不管是什么年代什么时空,总有一种感情会让人无法控制,那就是爱。风流倜傥的三皇子,阴郁狠绝的辰王,还有那个将她带入这个时空一直相守的学长,谁才是她心中所爱!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 世界经典民间故事全集:百姓闲聊的故事

    世界经典民间故事全集:百姓闲聊的故事

    我们编辑的这套《世界经典民间故事全集》包括《清官能吏的故事》、《书生才子的故事》、《农夫诙谐的故事》、《工匠谈闻的故事》、《百姓闲聊的故事》、《儿童趣事的故事》、《世俗流言的故事》、《动物王国的故事》、《万物戏说的故事》和《自然传说的故事》等10册内容,精选了古今中外各种幻想故事、动物故事、生活故事、民间寓言和民间笑话等数百则,是启迪智慧,增长知识,扩大视野的良好读物,也是青少年学习和研究民间故事的最佳版本,非常适合各级图书馆收藏和陈列。
  • 尸衣

    尸衣

    贪便宜在网上买到一件死人衣服,身边接连出现诡异事件。凡是穿过它的人,都有点怪怪的……
  • 你若安好,那还得了

    你若安好,那还得了

    我爱你时你是我手心的宝。我不爱你你又算是哪根草?我爱你时为你含躬鞠腰。我不爱你抬手捅上三刀。你说我无情我笑你傻逼。你说我想你我说快滚你。天若有情天亦老,我若无情你算吊。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 流泪的百合花

    流泪的百合花

    《流泪的百合花》是当代文学史上第一个小小说的系统出版工程,是广大读者特别是青少年读者认识社会人生、充实人文精神,提升文化素养,增强写作能力的最佳读本。
  • 翠缺

    翠缺

    大战曾强奸过年幼的翠缺,翠缺后来到他的家具厂打工时,他居然还想乘机逼其就范,结果被翠缺用剪刀刺死……
  • 法军侵台档案补编

    法军侵台档案补编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 冰上舞蹈的黄玫瑰

    冰上舞蹈的黄玫瑰

    全书共分四卷,第一卷是失乐园,包括了失乐园、北京的平民主义、冰糖葫芦、去北海吃信膳、花鸟人生、与毒蛇拔河、方言、祈雨、香水、最初的鹰、踏雪寻梅、抚摸苏州、北京文人的书房、时装与时代、面前的艾青、火星四溅、馋、黑匣子等。第二卷介绍了古典英雄,包括古典英雄、青春无敌、西部诗人、骑手的天堂、轮盘赌等。第三卷介绍插花,第四卷是最后一个乡下人。