登陆注册
5270300000083

第83章 XXXVIII.(4)

She remained to clear away the table, when the rest left it, and Westover followed Mrs. Durgin into the parlor, where she indemnified herself for refraining from any explicit allusion to Jeff before Cynthia. "The boy,"she explained, when she had made him ransack his memory for every scrap of fact concerning her son, "don't hardly ever write to me, and I guess he don't give Cynthy very much news. I presume he's workin' harder than ever this year. And I'm glad he's goin' about a little, from what you say. I guess he's got to feelin' a little better. It did worry me for him to feel so what you may call meechin' about folks. You see anything that made you think he wa'n't appreciated?"After Westover got back into his own room, some one knocked at his door, and he found Whitwell outside. He scarcely asked him to come in, but Whitwell scarcely needed the invitation. "Got everything you want?

I told Cynthy I'd come up and see after you; Frank won't be back in time." He sat down and put his feet on top of the stove, and struck the heels of his boots on its edge, from the habit of knocking the caked snow off them in that way on stove-tops. He did not wait to find out that there was no responsive sizzling before he asked, with a long nasal sigh, "Well, how is Jeff gettin' along?"He looked across at Westover, who had provisionally seated himself on his bed.

"Why, in the old way." Whitwell kept his eye on him, and he added:

"I suppose we don't any of us change; we develop."Whitwell smiled with pleasure in the loosely philosophic suggestion.

"You mean that he's the same kind of a man that he was a boy? Well, Iguess that's so. The question is, what kind of a boy was he? I've been mullin' over that consid'able since Cynthy and him fixed it up together.

Of course, I know it's their business, and all that; but I presume I've got a right to spee'late about it?"He referred the point to Westover, who knew an inner earnestness in it, in spite of Whitwell's habit of outside jocosity. "Every right in the world, I should say, Mr. Whitwell," he answered, seriously.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way," said Whitwell, with a little apparent surprise. "I don't want to meddle, any; but I know what Cynthy is--I no need to brag her up--and I don't feel so over and above certain 't I know what he is. He's a good deal of a mixture, if you want to know how he strikes me. I don't mean I don't like him; I do; the fellow's got a way with him that makes me kind of like him when I see him. He's good-natured and clever; and he's willin' to take any amount of trouble for you; but you can't tell where to have him." Westover denied the appeal for explicit assent in Whitwell's eye, and he went on: "If I'd done that fellow a good turn, in spite of him, or if I'd held him up to something that he allowed was right, and consented to, I should want to keep a sharp lookout that he didn't play me some ugly trick for it. He's a comical devil," Whitwell ended, rather inadequately. "How d's it look to you? Seen anything lately that seemed to tally with my idee?""No, no; I can't say that I have," said Westover, reluctantly. He wished to be franker than he now meant to be, but he consulted a scruple that he did not wholly respect; a mere convention it seemed to him, presently.

He said: "I've always felt that charm in him, too, and I've seen the other traits, though not so clearly as you seem to have done. He has a powerful will, yes--"He stopped, and Whitwell asked: "Been up to any deviltry lately?""I can't say he has. Nothing that I can call intentional.""No," said Whitwell. "What's he done, though?""Really, Mr. Whitwell, I don't know that you have any right to expect me to talk him over, when I'm here as his mother's guest--his own guest--?""No. I ha'n't," said Whitwell. "What about the father of the girl he's goin' to marry?"Westover could not deny the force of this. "You'd be anxious if I didn't tell you what I had in mind, I dare say, more than if I did." He told him of Jeff's behavior with Alan Lynde, and of his talk with him about it. "And I think he was honest. It was something that happened, that wasn't meant."Whitwell did not assent directly, somewhat to Westover's surprise. He asked: "Fellow ever done anything to Jeff?""Not that I know of. I don't know that they ever met before."Whitwell kicked his heels on the edge of the stove again. "Then it might been an accident," he said, dryly.

Westover had to break the silence that followed, and he found himself defending Jeff, though somehow not for Jeff's sake. He urged that if he had the strong will they both recognized in him, he would never commit the errors of a weak man, which were usually the basest.

"How do you know that a strong-willed man a'n't a weak one?" Whitwell astonished him by asking. "A'n't what we call a strong will just a kind of a bull-dog clinch that the dog himself can't unloose? I take it a man that has a good will is a strong man. If Jeff done a right thing against his will, he wouldn't rest easy till he'd showed that he wa'n't obliged to, by some mischief worse 'n what he was kept out of. I tell you, Mr. Westover, if I'd made that fellow toe the mark any way, I'd be afraid of him." Whitwell looked at Westover with eyes of significance, if not of confidence. Then he rose with a prolonged "M--wel-l-l! We're all born, but we a'n't all buried. This world is a queer place. But I guess Jeff 'll come out right in the end."Westover said, "I'm sure he will!" and he shook hands warmly with the father of the girl Jeff was going to marry.

Whitwell came back, after he had got some paces away, and said: "Of course, this is between you and me, Mr. Westover.""Of course!"

"I don't mean Mis' Durgin. I shouldn't care what she thought of my talkin' him over with you. I don't know," he continued, putting up his hand against the door-frame, to give himself the comfort of its support while he talked, "as you understood what she mean by the young ladies at Boston keepin' up with the fellows in college. Well, that's what Cynthy's doin' with Jeff, right along; and if he ever works off them conditions of his, and gits his degree, it' ll be because she helped him to. I tell you, there's more than one kind of telepathy in this world, Mr. Westover. That's all."

同类推荐
  • 情史

    情史

    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。
  • 大乘法苑义林章

    大乘法苑义林章

    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。
  • 使东川·邮亭月

    使东川·邮亭月

    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。
  • The Discovery of Guiana

    The Discovery of Guiana

    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。
  • Iphigenia in Tauris

    Iphigenia in Tauris

    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
  • 村庄传

    村庄传

    天地21世纪初的中国有一位诗人叫陈二,他身份证上名字是陈多宝。那个时候大多数中国诗人都有一个笔名,有些还有好几个笔名。诗人陈二,也就是陈多宝,1971年出生于浙东台州一个叫山根陈村的小山村。据《海东陈氏族谱》记载,陈氏祖先从南宋淳熙年间开始在此生息繁衍,经过了七八百年,陈多宝出生时依然只有六七十户人家。中国人选择聚居的地方都要看风水,好风水最简单的模式是:村后有靠山,村前有流水。
  • 与孩子一起成长:聪明父母,智慧育儿

    与孩子一起成长:聪明父母,智慧育儿

    《与孩子一起成长》没有将目光完全局限在孩子成长的过程里,而是从给孩子智慧、关注孩子心理、父母付出关爱等全方位教育的立场出发,力图让父母们在阅读《与孩子一起成长》的同时,能够找出*适合自己孩子的教育方法。书中结合了实际的事例,探讨了家庭教育中经常遇到的问题。并介绍了切实可行的教育方法,以引起父母们的关注与重视。
  • 飞云掣电:雷电灾害的防范自救

    飞云掣电:雷电灾害的防范自救

    本系列主要内容包括“自然灾害”、“火场危害”、“交通事故”、“水上安全”、“中毒与突发疾病”、“突发环境污染”等,书中主要针对日常生活中遇到的各种灾害问题作了详细解答,并全面地介绍了防灾减灾的避险以及自救的知识。居安思危,有备无患。我们衷心希望本书能够帮助青少年迅速掌握各种避险自救技能。
  • 松窗梦语

    松窗梦语

    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。
  • 天才科学家

    天才科学家

    二十三世纪天才科学家重生了,他用一项项科技改变世界,他拥有无数的荣誉,他俯视爱因斯坦,他拥有数之不尽的财富,他每天被无数美女诱惑包围。新书:《天生科技狂》请大家去看看。
  • 终是有情人

    终是有情人

    他是个医生,她是个医学院的学生。她对他一见钟情,他却茫然不知所爱。为了她,他和不爱的女人结了婚。新婚之夜他却发现自己不能同房,受尽凌辱之后,他消失了。两年后的归来,他摇身一变成了归国富商,更成了一个冷酷无情的复仇者......
  • 小小火辣妃

    小小火辣妃

    冰瀚王朝阳春三月,暖阳高照、和风徐徐,正是迎亲嫁娶的大好日子。普天同庆、万民欢腾,今儿乃是冰瀚国最受宠爱的公主——烟霞公主的大喜之日。烟霞公主是冰瀚国唯一嫡出的公主,乃当今皇后所出。不仅才貌双全,且善解人意,没有公主的骄纵之气,深得一对帝后的欢心。烟霞公主下嫁给素有冰瀚国第一才子之称的沈玉寒。沈玉寒一表人才、性格温和,家世更是一流,乃是宰相沈庆光的长子。如此金玉良缘,也难怪会隆重万……
  • 总裁前妻不准逃

    总裁前妻不准逃

    六年前扯证但是素未蒙面的丈夫莫名找上她说要离婚,原因是他婚内“出轨”喜欢上了六年后化名叶小嘉的自己?!叶晓乐强势反对亲生妈咪接受亲生爹地的追求:“叶小嘉,那个男人婚内出轨,是不忠!生我却不养我们,是不负责任!”叶小嘉白眼:“宝贝儿子,那个男人出轨的是他的原配,重点是他是你爹!再有他充其量就是借了个种……”顾盛爵拉开叶小嘉:“五百万,买断我前妻的后半生,够不够?”叶晓乐:“一千万!系统支持买一送一,划不划算?”顾盛爵:“……你说了算。”
  • 三国十讲

    三国十讲

    在大众文化的讨论范围里面,“三国”不过是一群杰出人才汇集的场所,没有那些人才,他们眼中就没有三国。而真实的三国,是一段时间,是一种历史,是一类共同命运。本书既有人们惯性思维下的“三国”,也客观阐述了真实的三国时代,让历史的原果实和演绎后的榨汁儿饮品共同留存于我们的记忆!
  • 白石道人诗说

    白石道人诗说

    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。