奇书网

第13章 The￡1000000 BankNote（第4页）

"Letmejuststaleandlookmyfill。Dearme!it'sapalace-it'sjustapalaiteverythingabodycoulddesire，ingcozycoalfireaandingready。Henry，itdoesn'tmerelymakemerealizehowrichyouare;itmakesmerealize，tothebohemarrow，hooorIam，andhowmiserable，howdefeated，routed，a;

Plaguetakesitthislanguagegavemethecoldshudders。Itscaredmebroadawake，andmademeprehendthatIwasstandingonahalf-inchcrust，withaderh。Ididn'tknowIhadbeehatis，Ihadn'tbeenallowioknowitforawhilebaoiatheworld，alovelygirl'shappinessorwoeinmyhands，andnothinginfroasalarywhiever-oh，woulderialize!Oh，oh，oh!Iamruihope!nothingsaveme!

"Henry，themereunsidereddrippingsofyourdailyinewould-"

"Oh，mydailyihthishotSdcheerupyoursoul。Here'swithyou!Or，no-you&apry;sitdownand-"

"Notabiteforme;I'mpastit。I'teat，thesedays;butI'lldrinkwithyoutillIdrop。e!""Barrelforbarrel，I'mwithyou!Ready?Herewego!Now，then，Lloyd，uorywhileIbrew。"

"U，again?"

"Again?Whatdoyoumeanbythat?"

"Why，Imeandoyouwaain?"

"DoIwaain?Thisisapuzzler。os;ttakealiquid。Youdon't。"

"Lookhere，Henry，youalarmme。Didn'tItellyouthewholestoryonthewayhere?"

"You?"

"Yes，I。"

"I'llbehangedifIheardawordofit。"

"Henry，thisisaseriousthing。Ittroublesme。Whatdidyoutakeupyoheminister's?"Thenitallflashedonme，andIowneduplikeaman。

"Itookthedearestgirlinthisworld-priso;

Sotheharush，andweshook，andshook，andshooktillourhandsadhedidn'tblamemefornothavingheardawordofastorywhichhadlastedalkedthreemiles。Hejustsatdowhepatient，goodfellowhewas，andtolditallain。Syamouhis:HehadetoEnglandwithwhathethoughtortunity;hehadan"option"toselltheGouldaensio;locators"ofit，andkeepallhecouldgetoveramilliondollars。Hehadulledeverywireheknewof，hadleftexpedientuntried，hadspentnearlyallthemoheworld，hadogetasolitarycapitalisttolistentohim，andhisoptionwouldrunoutattheeh。Inaword，hewasruihenhejumpedupa:

"Henry，yousaveme!Yousaveme，andyou'retheonlymanintheu。Willyoudoit?os;tyoudoit?"

"Tellmehow。Speakout，myboy。"

"Givemeamillionandmypassagehomeformy'option'!Don't，don'trefuse!"

Iwasinakindofagony。Iwasrightoofingoutwiththewords，"Lloyd，I'mapaupermyself-absolutelypenniless，a;Butawhite-hotideacameflamingthroughmyhead，andIgrippedmyjawstogether，andcalmedmyselfdowntillIwasascoldasacapitalist。ThenIsaid，inaerdself-possessed>

"Iwillsaveyou，Lloyd-"

"ThenI'malreadysaved!Godbemercifultoyouforever!IfeverI-"

"Letmefinish，Lloyd。Iwillsaveyou，butnotinthatway;forthatwouldoyou，afteryourhardwork，andtherisksyou'verun。Idon'tobuymines;Ikeepmycapitalmoving，inaerterlikeLondon，withoutthat;it'sos;mat，allthetime;buthereisos;lldo。Iknowallaboutthatmine，ofcourse;Iknowitsimmensevalue，aifanybodywishesit。Youshallselloutihefhtforthreemillionsgmynamefreely，andos;lldivide，shareandsharealike。"

Doyouknow，hewouldhavedauretokindling-woodinhisinsanejoy，ahingontheplace，ifIhadn'ttrippedhimupandtiedhim。

Thehere，perfectlyhappy，saying:

"Imayuseyourname!Yourhinkofit!Man，they'llflodroves，theseriers;they'llfightforthatstock!I'mamademan，I'mamademanforever，andI'llyouaslongasIlive!"

"Yes;Itoldhimtorefertome。Iknowtheman，andIknowthemine。Hischaracterisabovereproadthemihfarmorethanheasksforit。"

&imeIspentallmyevenier'swithPortia。Ididn'tsayawordtoheraboutthemiforasurprise。Wetalkedsalary;hingbutsalaryaimeslove，sometimessalary，sometimesloveandsalarytogether。Atheminister'swifeaookinourlittleaffair，andtheendlessiheyiosaveusfromiion，ahemihedarkandunsuspicious-well，itwasjustlovelyofthem!

&hemonthatlast，IhadamilliondollarstomytheLondonandk，andHastingswasfixedinthesameway。Dressedatmylevelbest，IdrovebythehouseinPortlandPlace，judgedbythelookofthingsthatmybirdswerehomeagaiowardstheminister'sandgotmypredwestartedbagsalarywithallht。Shewassoexdanxiousthatitmadeherjustintolerablybeautiful。Isaid:

"Dearie，theit'sacrimetostrikeflepehousa;

"Henry，Henry，you'llruinus!"

"Don'tyoubeafraid。Justkeepupthoselooks，andtrusttome。It'llalleht。"

So，asittur，Ihadtokeepbupherceallthetpleadingwithme，andsaying:

"Oh，pleaserememberthatifweaskfortoomuchwemaygetnosalaryatall;awillbeeofus，withnowayi?"