登陆注册
8778300000060

第60章 23From the Cabby’s Seat(2)

Inside the cab the fare sat up straight on the cushions,looking to right and left at the lights and houses. Even inthe shadowed hansom her eyes shone like stars at twilight.

When they reached Fifty-ninth street Jerry’s head wasbobbing and his reins were slack. But his horse turned inthrough the park gate and began the old familiar nocturnalround. And then the fare leaned back, entranced, andbreathed deep the clean, wholesome odours of grass andleaf and bloom. And the wise beast in the shafts, knowinghis ground, struck into his by-the-hour gait and kept tothe right of the road.

Habit also struggled successfully against Jerry’s increasingtorpor. He raised the hatch of his storm-tossed vessel andmade the inquiry that cabbies do make in the park.

“Like shtop at the Cas-sino, lady? Gezzer r’freshm’s, ’nlish’n the music. Ev’body shtops.”

“I think that would be nice,” said the fare.

They reined up with a plunge at the Casino entrance.

The cab doors flew open. The fare stepped directly uponthe floor. At once she was caught in a web of ravishingmusic and dazzled by a panorama of lights and colours.

Some one slipped a little square card into her hand onwhich was printed a number—34. She looked around andsaw her cab twenty yards away already lining up in its placeamong the waiting mass of carriages, cabs and motor cars.

And then a man who seemed to be all shirt-front dancedbackward before her; and next she was seated at a littletable by a railing over which climbed a jessamine vine.

There seemed to be a wordless invitation to purchase;she consulted a collection of small coins in a thin purse, andreceived from them license to order a glass of beer. Thereshe sat, inhaling and absorbing it all—the new-coloured,new-shaped life in a fairy palace in an enchanted wood.

At fifty tables sat princes and queens clad in all the silksand gems of the world. And now and then one of themwould look curiously at Jerry’s fare. They saw a plain figuredressed in a pink silk of the kind that is tempered by theword “foulard,” and a plain face that wore a look of love oflife that the queens envied.

Twice the long hands of the clocks went round,Royalties thinned from their al fresco thrones, and buzzedor clattered away in their vehicles of state. The musicretired into cases of wood and bags of leather and baize.

Waiters removed cloths pointedly near the plain figuresitting almost alone.

Jerry’s fare rose, and held out her numbered card simply:

“Is there anything coming on the ticket?” she asked.

A waiter told her it was her cab check, and that sheshould give it to the man at the entrance. This man tookit, and called the number. Only three hansoms stood inline. The driver of one of them went and routed out Jerryasleep in his cab. He swore deeply, climbed to the captain’sbridge and steered his craft to the pier. His fare entered,and the cab whirled into the cool fastnesses of the parkalong the shortest homeward cuts.

At the gate a glimmer of reason in the form of suddensuspicion seized upon Jerry’s beclouded mind. One ortwo things occurred to him. He stopped his horse, raisedthe trap and dropped his phonographic voice, like a leadplummet, through the aperture:

“I want to see four dollars before goin’ any further on th’

thrip. Have ye got th’ dough?”

“Four dollars!” laughed the fare, softly, “dear me, no. I’veonly got a few pennies and a dime or two.”

Jerry shut down the trap and slashed his oat-fed horse.

The clatter of hoofs strangled but could not drown thesound of his profanity. He shouted choking and gurglingcurses at the starry heavens; he cut viciously with his whipat passing vehicles; he scattered fierce and ever-changingoaths and imprecations along the streets, so that a latetruck driver, crawling homeward, heard and was abashed.

But he knew his recourse, and made for it at a gallop.

At the house with the green lights beside the stepshe pulled up. He flung wide the cab doors and tumbledheavily to the ground.

“Come on, you,” he said, roughly.

His fare came forth with the Casino dreamy smilestill on her plain face. Jerry took her by the arm and ledher into the police station. A gray-moustached sergeantlooked keenly across the desk. He and the cabby were nostrangers.

“Sargeant,” began Jerry in his old raucous, martyred,thunderous tones of complaint. “I’ve got a fare herethat—”

Jerry paused. He drew a knotted, red hand across hisbrow. The fog set up by McGary was beginning to clearaway.

“A fare, sargeant,” he continued, with a grin, “that I wantto inthroduce to ye. It’s me wife that I married at ouldman Walsh’s this avening. And a divil of a time we had, ’tisthrue. Shake hands wid th’ sargeant, Norah, and we’ll beoff to home.”

Before stepping into the cab Norah sighed profoundly.

“I’ve had such a nice time, Jerry,” said she.

同类推荐
  • 大学英语六级听力训练

    大学英语六级听力训练

    本书针对听力的每种题型进行了详细的分析,让考生透彻地了解听力考试的测试方向、命题规律。同时,还提供了相应的应试技巧,帮助考生正确理解和解答听力题。本书将练习和测试相结合,一步一个台阶地提高听力水平。
  • 课外英语-美国总统演讲选萃(下)(双语版)

    课外英语-美国总统演讲选萃(下)(双语版)

    美国总统,大牌人物,品读他们就职的演讲词,能更深入感受领袖风采。
  • 《21世纪大学英语》配套教材.阅读.3

    《21世纪大学英语》配套教材.阅读.3

    本系列教材是普通高等教育国家级重点教材《21世纪大学英语》的配套系列教材,包括《阅读》、《口语》和《词汇》三种,每一种分一、二、三册,供大学非英语专业的基础英语课堂教学和练习使用。《阅读》以提高学生的阅读能力为目的。第一册和第二册每册十单元。每一单元介绍一种阅读技能,并带针对性训练。各单元还配有三篇快速阅读,旨在通过反复训练以帮助学生掌握阅读技能,提高阅读速度。第三册以介绍文学名著为主,通过对各种不同文体和风格的文字进行讲解与分析,以增强学生对文学作品的欣赏能力。
  • 美丽英文:那些触动我心扉的故事

    美丽英文:那些触动我心扉的故事

    每一次阅读,都犹如自我的映照,每一次回味,都会有别样的感悟。人生最好的启示,皆来自于生活中的故事。
  • 老人与海(英文原版)

    老人与海(英文原版)

    《老人与海(鲸歌英文原版)》是海明威于1951年在古巴写的一篇中篇小说,于1952年出版。它是海明威创作并在他还在世时出版的很后一部主要的虚构作品。作为他很有名的作品之一,它围绕一位老年古巴渔夫,与一条巨大的马林鱼在离岸很远的湾流中搏斗。虽然对它有不同的文学评价,但它在20世纪小说和海明威的作品中是值得注目的,奠定了他在世界文学中的突出地位,对于他1954年获得诺贝尔文学奖也起了重要作用。同时该书也被评为影响历史的百部经典之一;美国历目前里程碑式的32本书之一。
热门推荐
  • 一曲乾坤

    一曲乾坤

    他是天妖皇子,却背负血海深仇;他本应一人之下万人之上,却成为山野间小小修士;他本应冷血无情血洗山河,却仗义豪情狂放不羁;一边是江山恨,一边是儿女情,他将如何抉择?是携佳人花前月下?是持长剑荡剑八荒?还是是身披战甲君临天下?......
  • 树蝉听晚风

    树蝉听晚风

    十年前爱而不得的少年,十年后山水再相逢,同一屋檐下生活,会擦出怎样的火花?
  • 霸道暖心哥哥

    霸道暖心哥哥

    在学校他是校草,而她只是一个小学妹,在家里他是她的哥哥。多年后,在一次事故中,发现原来妹妹不是自己亲身妹妹,之后却发现自己爱上了他的妹妹…
  • 全能明皇

    全能明皇

    一个末流修仙门派的平凡弟子,在一次偶然遭遇霸道白富美之后,被逼入绝境。反而激发潜力,从此奇遇连连,意外收获上古五雷宗的全能修仙习题,终于踏上成神之路!
  • 重生之枪灵

    重生之枪灵

    姜辰是一名大学生,穿越到了一个奇异的大陆,结果发现自己变成了一块废铁。被人打造成一把灵枪,它的传奇一生开始了。
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 复兴之路

    复兴之路

    二十五年前,临近高考的几个学子因酒后冲突导致命案发生,人生轨迹因此而改变。二十五年后再次相会,前程、财富、亲情、友情、爱情,炙烤出人性的黑暗与光明。日出日落,天道永恒。QQ群136803444
  • 太古武魄

    太古武魄

    武穹大陆,万宗林立。陨落天才,再度崛起。一人一剑,荡破苍穹。天地之间,唯我独尊。
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!