登陆注册
5243600000044

第44章 CHAPTER 4(2)

"Nor did I when I joined it at Philadelphia. It was just a benefit club and a meeting place for one's fellows. Then I heard of this place- curse the hour that the name first fell upon my ears!- and I came to better myself! My God! to better myself! My wife and three children came with me. I started a drygoods store on Market Square, and I prospered well. The word had gone round that I was a Freeman, and I was forced to join the local lodge, same as you did last night. I've the badge of shame on my forearm and something worse branded on my heart. I found that I was under the orders of a black villain and caught in a meshwork of crime. What could I do? Every word I said to make things better was taken as treason, same as it was last night. I can't get away; for all I have in the world is in my store.

If I leave the society, I know well that it means murder to me, and God knows what to my wife and children. Oh, man, it is awful- awful!" He put his hands to his face, and his body shook with convulsive sobs.

McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "You were too soft for the job," said he. "You are the wrong sort for such work."

"I had a conscience and a religion; but they made me a criminal among them. I was chosen for a job. If I backed down, I knew well what would come to me. Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe it's the thought of my poor little woman and the children that makes me one. Anyhow I went. I guess it will haunt me forever.

"It was a lonely house, twenty miles from here, over the range yonder. I was told off for the door, same as you were last night. They could not trust me with the job. The others went in. When they came out their hands were crimson to the wrists. As we turned away a child was screaming out of the house behind us. It was a boy of five who had seen his father murdered. I nearly fainted with the horror of it, and yet I had to keep a bold and smiling face; for well I knew that if I did not it would be out of my house that they would come next with their bloody hands, and it would be my little Fred that would be screaming for his father.

"But I was a criminal then, part sharer in a murder, lost forever in this world, and lost also in the next. I am a good Catholic; but the priest would have no word with me when he heard I was a Scowrer, and I am excommunicated from my faith. That's how it stands with me. And I see you going down the same road, and I ask you what the end is to be.

Are you ready to be a cold-blooded murderer also, or can we do anything to stop it?"

"What would you do?" asked McMurdo abruptly. "You would not inform?"

"God forbid!" cried Morris. "Sure, the very thought would cost me my life."

"That's well," said McMurdo. "I'm thinking that you are a weak man and that you make too much of the matter."

"Too much! Wait till you have lived here longer. Look down the valley! See the cloud of a hundred chimneys that overshadows it! I tell you that the cloud of murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads of the people. It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn. Wait, young man, and you will learn for yourself."

"Well, I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more," said McMurdo carelessly. "What is very clear is that you are not the man for the place, and that the sooner you sell out- if you only get a dime a dollar for what the business is worth-the better it will be for you. What you have said is safe with me; but, by Gar! if I thought you were an informer-"

"No, no!" cried Morris piteously.

"Well, let it rest at that. I'll bear what you have said in mind, and maybe some day I'll come back to it. I expect you meant kindly by speaking to me like this. Now I'll be getting home."

"One word before you go," said Morris. "We may have been seen together. They may want to know what we have spoken about."

"Ah! that's well thought of."

"I offer you a clerkship in my store."

"And I refuse it. That's our business. Well, so long, Brother Morris, and may you find things go better with you in the future."

That same afternoon, as McMurdo sat smoking, lost in thought, beside the stove of his sitting-room, the door swung open and its framework was filled with the huge figure of Boss McGinty. He passed the sign, and then seating himself opposite to the young man he looked at him steadily for some time, a look which was as steadily returned.

"I'm not much of a visitor, Brother McMurdo," he said at last. "I guess I am too busy over the folk that visit me. But I thought I'd stretch a point and drop down to see you in your own house."

"I'm proud to see you here, Councillor," McMurdo answered heartily, bringing his whisky bottle out of the cupboard. "It's an honour that I had not expected."

"How's the arm?" asked the Boss.

McMurdo made a wry face. "Well, I'm not forgetting it" he said; "but it's worth it."

"Yes, it's worth it," the other answered, "to those that are loyal and go through with it and are a help to the lodge. What were you speaking to Brother Morris about on Miller Hill this morning?"

The question came so suddenly that it was well that he had his answer prepared. He burst into a hearty laugh. "Morris didn't know I could earn a living here at home. He shan't know either, for he has got too much conscience for the likes of me. But he's a good-hearted old chap. It was his idea that I was at a loose end, and that he would do me a good turn by offering me a clerkship in a drygoods store."

"Oh, that was it?"

"Yes, that was it."

"And you refused it?"

"Sure. Couldn't I earn ten times as much in my own bedroom with four hours' work?"

"That's so. But I wouldn't get about too much with Morris."

"Why not?"

"Well, I guess because I tell you not. That's enough for most folk in these parts."

"It may be enough for most folk, but it ain't enough for me, Councillor," said McMurdo boldly. "If you are a judge of men, you'll know that."

The swarthy giant glared at him, and his hairy paw closed for an instant round the glass as though he would hurl it at the head of his companion. Then he laughed in his loud, boisterous, insincere fashion.

同类推荐
  • 佛说大方等顶王经

    佛说大方等顶王经

    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。
  • 佛说梵摩难国王经

    佛说梵摩难国王经

    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。
  • An Essay on Man

    An Essay on Man

    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。
  • 三鱼堂剩言

    三鱼堂剩言

    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。
  • buttered side down

    buttered side down

    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
  • 人生哲理枕边书

    人生哲理枕边书

    生活是自己创造的。每个人都会时常面临来自生活、工作和社会的各种各样的问题。我们的处世方法、工作态度、努力程度、思维方式和心态信念等等决定了我们一生的成败。不论干什么,我们都希望自己能够成功,都试图尽量避免失败或走弯路。《人生哲理枕边书(经典珍藏版)》正是你成功奔向自己理想、轻松而潇洒地生活的一盏明灯。
  • 豪门绝恋,总裁独宠美艳妻

    豪门绝恋,总裁独宠美艳妻

    三年前,她被一个恶魔占为己有,并且总是在事后她一颗避孕药。有一天,他也厌倦了,大发善心将她放走,可是那被折磨的日夜,却牢牢的刻在了她的心上。她牺牲一切,只为只为救自己在这世上唯一的亲人,只是老天是不公平的,最亲的弟弟还是走了。而那一夜,她还失去了自己另外一位至亲……殷虹的血迹,从楚以宣的腿间流下。楚以宣流产了。“宫尚溪,我肚子里的孩子加上我弟弟两条人命,我不欠你什么了!”多年后……“妈妈,这个叔叔长得好好看哦,妈妈,就让他做我的爸爸吧!”楚以宣一直拒绝,而宫尚溪恢复了自己的健康之后,一直在穷追猛打着。而楚晗晗这个小丫头,人小鬼大。不仅将自己的妈妈给卖了,还坑的一手准爸爸!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 让你感动的300篇小小说(影响一生的故事全集)

    让你感动的300篇小小说(影响一生的故事全集)

    本系列丛书从感动的视角出发,撷取生活中最受广大读者关注的亲情、友情、爱情、做人、沟通等几大方面的素材与故事,用最优美的语言传递人世间最真挚的情感,用最恰当的方式表述生活中最正确的做人与做事箴言。
  • 喉科集腋

    喉科集腋

    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。
  • 艺术眼系列:凡尔赛宫原来可以这样看(新版)

    艺术眼系列:凡尔赛宫原来可以这样看(新版)

    本书精选凡尔赛宫30件馆藏艺术珍品,完全以孩子的视角、孩子的问题、孩子的语言对经典艺术发问,是第一本真正写给孩子看的艺术书!第一部分讲述了凡尔赛宫的点点滴滴,以及如何能轻松而有效地游览凡尔赛宫?第二部分是作品赏析,针对三个年龄阶段的孩子设置了不同程度的问答,很容易就找到适合不同年龄孩子的解答。第三部分则是参观凡尔赛宫的实用建议。
  • 书辑

    书辑

    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。
  • 少女与老人最后的拍拖

    少女与老人最后的拍拖

    小说讲述了一个老人与少女的畸恋故事。已近垂暮之年的翁行天一生中曾邂逅了很多女性。正是这些女性,使他的触觉、嗅觉、听觉、味觉得到了极大的拓展,使他成为生命意义上的出类拔萃者。所以他吸引了青春少女桑乐。少女对老人的爱在老人的家庭里激起了一连串的变故,而翁行天对少女桑乐的爱其实质乃是对生命的依恋,带着这种不悔的依恋,他演出了生命最后的浪漫。小说的另一条故事线索曲折跌宕,悬念丛生。它叙述的是桑乐的精神创伤及桑乐对童年时父亲死因的追探。青春少女桑乐复杂的童年和复杂的家事,表现了人性的复杂和人类性心理的复杂。毋庸赘言,婚外情既酿下苦酒,又给家庭与社会埋下了不安定的因素。
  • 重生之末世求生法则

    重生之末世求生法则

    末世最可怕的不是丧尸,是人心。世界大洗牌,活下去才是赢家。
  • 家庭革命

    家庭革命

    一位独生子女的父亲,在儿子长到20岁的时候,非要逼迫儿子签一份协议。这份协议条款不过76个字,概括它的精神就是“四不管”。这“四不管”规定了“协议”一旦生效,父母从此可以在四个方面不管儿子;儿子也可以不管父母。正常人实在很难想像这位父亲为什么要在自己家里鼓捣出这么一件立刻要引起“战争”的事情。中国几千年文明历史,家庭生活和父子亲情组合着一种一成不变的内涵,用现在的法律来解释就是:“父母有养育子女的责任和义务,子女也有赡养父母的责任和义务”。而这位独生子女的父亲全然不顾几千年的古老传统,执意要在自己家里来一场革命,“革”儿子的命,也“革”自己的命。
  • 剑侠灵盗录

    剑侠灵盗录

    武之侠者,所谓敢爱敢恨,有恩报恩,有仇复仇。爱恨情仇,喋喋不休,一入江湖,至死方休