登陆注册
5392600000003

第3章

I walked on.The morning was a beautiful one.Beside the path, on the landward side, the bayberry and beach-plum bushes were in bud, the green of the new grass was showing above the dead brown of the old, a bluebird was swaying on the stump of a wild cherry tree, and the pines and scrub oaks of the grove by the Shore Lane were bright, vivid splashes of color against the blue of the sky.At my right hand the yellow sand of the bluff broke sharply down to the white beach and the waters of the bay, now beginning to ebb.

Across the bay the lighthouse at Crow Point glistened with new paint and I could see a moving black speck, which I knew was Ben Small, the keeper, busy whitewashing the fence beside it.Down on the beach Zeb Kendrick was overhauling his dory.In the distance, beyond the grove, I could hear the carpenters' hammers on the roof of the big Atwater mansion, which was now the property of James Colton, the New York millionaire, whose rumored coming to Denboro to live had filled the columns of the country weekly for three months.The quahaug boats were anchored just inside the Point; a clam digger was wading along the outer edge of the sedge; a lobsterman was hauling his pots in the channel; even the bluebird on the wild cherry stump had a straw in his beak and was plainly in the midst of nest building.Everyone had something to do and was doing it--everyone except Lute Rogers and myself, the "birds of a feather." And even Lute was working now, under compulsion.

Ordinarily the sight of all this industry would not have affected me.I had seen it all before, or something like it.The six years I had spent in Denboro, the six everlasting, idle, monotonous years, had had their effect.I had grown hardened and had come to accept my fate, at first rebelliously, then with more of Lute's peculiar kind of philosophy.Circumstances had doomed me to be a good-for-nothing, a gentleman loafer without the usual excuse--money--and, as it was my doom, I forced myself to accept it, if not with pleasure, at least with resignation.And I determined to get whatever pleasure there might be in it.So, when I saw the majority of the human race, each with a purpose in life, struggling to attain that purpose, I passed them by with my gun or fishing rod on my shoulder, and a smile on my lips.If my remnant of a conscience presumed to rise and reprove me, I stamped it down.It had no reasonable excuse for rising; I wasn't what I was from choice.

But, somehow, on this particular morning, my unreasonable conscience was again alive and kicking.Perhaps it was the quickening influence of the spring which resurrected it; perhaps Luther's quotation from the remarks of Captain Jedediah Dean had stirred it to rebellion.A man may know, in his heart, that he is no good and still resent having others say that he is, particularly when they say that he and Luther Rogers are birds of a feather.Ididn't care for Dean's good opinion; of course I didn't! Nor for that of any one else in Denboro, my mother excepted.But Dean and the rest should keep their opinions to themselves, confound them!

The path from our house--the latter every Denboro native spoke of as the "Paine Place"--wound along the edge of the bluff for perhaps three hundred yards, then turned sharply through the grove of scrub oaks and pitch pines and emerged on the Shore Lane.The Shore Lane was not a public road, in the strictest sense of the term.It was really a part of my land and, leading, as it did, from the Lower Road to the beach, was used as a public road merely because mother and I permitted it to be.It had been so used, by sufferance of the former owner, for years, and when we came into possession of the property we did not interfere with the custom.Land along the shore was worth precious little at that time and, besides, it was pleasant, rather than disagreeable, to hear the fish carts going out to the weirs, and the wagons coming to the beach for seaweed, or, filled with picnic parties, rattling down the Lane.We could not see them from the house until they had passed the grove and emerged upon the beach, but even the noise of them was welcome.

The Paine Place was a good half-mile from the Lower Road and there were few neighbors; therefore, especially in the winter months, any sounds of society were comforting.

I strode through the grove, kicking the dead branches out of my way, for my mind was still busy with Luther and Captain Dean.As Icame out into the Lane I looked across at the Atwater mansion, now the property of the great and only Colton, "Big Jim" Colton, whose deals and corners in Wall Street supplied so many and such varied sensations for the financial pages of the city papers, just as those of his wife and family supplied news for the society columns;I looked across, I say, and then I stopped short to take a longer look.

同类推荐
  • 西岩了慧禅师语录

    西岩了慧禅师语录

    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。
  • 天变邸抄

    天变邸抄

    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。
  • 大乘显识经卷上

    大乘显识经卷上

    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。
  • Ayala'  s Angel

    Ayala' s Angel

    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。
  • 大乘方广总持经

    大乘方广总持经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 洞玄灵宝河图仰谢三十六天斋仪

    洞玄灵宝河图仰谢三十六天斋仪

    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。
  • 原阳子法语

    原阳子法语

    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。
  • 妖孽王爷毒上我

    妖孽王爷毒上我

    她是先帝册封的郡主,还嫁给了身份最尊贵的王爷,却阴差阳错的死于非命……她睁开眼看到的是他妖孽的容颜,听到的是他最冰冷的话语……邻国公主的挑衅,太后姑妈的威逼,还有美男皇上的暧昧,又是谁欠下的冤孽……妖孽夫君为救她中毒!他毒发,她做戏,伤了身,掉了心……被占便宜还卖乖,被逼与他同床共枕,还得对他那妖孽的脸免疫……身边美男云集,各色花儿争奇斗艳。某王爷满脸愤然,毒气发作,勾唇嫣笑间妖孽气质表露无疑,“娘子,还不速速与为夫回府研究解药!”【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 千古圣君:李世民

    千古圣君:李世民

    唐太宗李世民,是唐朝第二位皇帝,他名字的意思是“济世安民”。唐太宗开创了历史上的“贞观之治”,经过主动消灭各地割据势力,虚心纳谏、在国内厉行节约、使百姓休养生息,终于使得社会出现了国泰民安的局面,为后来全盛的开元盛世奠定了重要的基础,将中国传统农业社会推向鼎盛时期。本书介绍了千古圣君——李世民的传奇一生。
  • 针灸按摩一本通(居家生活宝典)

    针灸按摩一本通(居家生活宝典)

    针灸与按摩互相配合,对于养生而言,不仅方法简便,疗效确切,且无痛苦,只要找对穴位,手法得当,几乎没有什么不良反应,多能手到病自除。正是基于针灸按摩保健治病的实用性、便捷的操作性和治疗的有效性,还有就是人们对于养生的困惑。
  • 小公司如何长大:从员工管理开始

    小公司如何长大:从员工管理开始

    本书是写给那些已经是小公司老板的。或是有做小公司老板想法的人,再者喜欢研究、关注小公司的人……他们之中有的也许已经拥有了员工管理的观念,而有的也许仍旧忙于缓解公司的燃眉之急,没有把员工管理放到重点。无论怎样,小公司要想做大、做强,经历员工管理这个独特的阶段是必然的。希望本书的上市能够提前为他们揭开员工管理的序幕,为他们公司的成长打下基础!
  • 娇妃难猜:腹黑王爷追妻路

    娇妃难猜:腹黑王爷追妻路

    新书《逆天医妃:邪魅毒王心尖宠》已发布,坑品有保证哦~欢迎大家继续跳坑~页面右侧,点击作者其它作品,可直接看到进入哦!作为新世纪最为年轻有为的中医圣手,穿越到这个从没听说过的朝代,且看她如何大显身手据说是因为叶子依被那个渣男退了婚,而渣男刚好在太后面前显示他“兄友弟恭”,就把自己这个“倒霉鬼”换给了羽穆珩大婚当日,羽穆珩连她的门槛都没进,就在门外告诉她,他这辈子都不会碰她。本以为没有夫婿管教的自由而美好的生活就要开始了!可是王爷,您不是说您这辈子最讨厌我这样的被当做羞辱您的工具的女人吗?为什么如今却赖在我的床上不下去了呢?本书书友群:63643953敲门砖:书中任意主要角色名
  • 天龙策(中)

    天龙策(中)

    公元1601年,努尔哈赤励精图治,欲问鼎中原,为了控制情报系统,命精通汉文的孙女赫梅蓝下嫁都护府总管大明叛将李永芳。孰料赫梅蓝嫁入李府后决死不圆房,却与武长春产生恋情。武长春是李永芳的女婿,明朝锦衣卫安插在后金的高级卧底间谍。李永芳觉察出两人的暧昧关系,想方设法离间二人灭掉武长春。大明国土辽阔人才济济,努尔哈赤和四贝勒皇太极精心制定“天龙策”,旨在离间大明君臣,绝杀大明高级将帅精英人才。武长春冒死盗取“天龙策”,送交大明锦衣卫指挥使田尔耕。但大明高层忙于内斗一盘散沙,阉党魏忠贤与东林党的酸儒们竟然置国家安危于不顾,将极为重要的战略情报“天龙策”抛在一边……
  • 假面骑士exaid后传

    假面骑士exaid后传

    新手上路,本人喜欢假面骑士exaid,本书是以假面骑士exaid原作为基础重写的一部exaid剧情,因经验不足,一万字成为了写作的终点。希望大家能继续支持我,谢谢
  • 蓝薄荷拉面

    蓝薄荷拉面

    清凉蓝薄荷?拉面?究竟会擦出怎样的火花?