作者：(美)马克·吐温（Twain,M.）
出版社：清华大学出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
百万英镑(插图·中文导读英文版)试读：
前言
马克·吐温（Mark Twain，1835—1910），美国著名作家，被誉为“美国文学界的林肯”、“美国文学之父”。
1835年11月30日，马克·吐温出生于美国密西西比河畔小城汉尼拔一个贫穷的律师家庭，原名塞缪尔·郎荷恩·克列门斯，马克·吐温是他的笔名。他从小离家独立谋生，当过排字工人、密西西比河水手、士兵和记者，还从事过木材、矿产和出版等行业的工作，但他最出色的工作是从事文学创作。
马克·吐温一生著作颇丰，代表作有《汤姆·索亚历险记》、《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》、《竞选州长》、《百万英镑》等。他的创作大致可分为三个时期：早期作品表现了对美国民主所存的幻想，以短篇小说为主，幽默与讽刺结合，如《竞选州长》、《哥尔斯密的朋友再度出洋》等；中期作品以长篇小说为主，讽刺性加强，如《镀金时代》、《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》及《傻瓜威尔逊》等；后期作品则由幽默讽刺转到愤怒的揭发、谴责，甚至带有悲观的情绪，如《赤道环行记》、《败坏了哈德莱堡的人》、《神秘来客》等。他的作品对后来的美国文学产生了深远的影响，人们普遍认为马克·吐温是美国文学史上里程碑式的人物。他的主要作品大多已有中文译本。
本书精选了马克·吐温的短篇小说10篇，采用中文导读英文版的形式出版。在中文导读中，我们尽力使其贴近原作的精髓，也尽可能保留原作的故事主线。我们希望能够编出为当代中国读者所喜爱的经典读本。读者在阅读英文故事之前，可以先阅读中文导读，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。同时，为了读者更好地理解故事内容，书中加入了大量插图。我们相信，该经典著作的引进对加强当代中国读者，特别是青少年读者的人文修养是非常有帮助的。
本书主要内容由王勋、纪飞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、熊金玉、李丽秀、熊红华、王婷婷、孟宪行、胡国平、李晓红、贡东兴、陈楠、邵舒丽、冯洁、王业伟、徐鑫、王晓旭、周丽萍、熊建国、徐平国、肖洁、王小红等。限于我们的科学、人文素养和英语水平，书中难免会有不当之处，衷心希望读者朋友批评指正。百万英磅导读第一章
二十七岁那年，我给纽约的一位矿业经纪人当办事员，对证券交易颇为熟悉。一天，我独自划小船出游，不幸遭遇风暴，多亏一条驶向伦敦的双桅船搭救，我才得以生还。后来我便随船来到了伦敦。
当时，我身上几乎分文皆无，生活十分困窘。正当我在大街上准备伸手去捡水沟里的一只烂梨时，两个很阔气的绅士将我叫到他们的家里。Chapter Ⅰhen I was twenty-seven years old, I was a mining broker's clerk in San Francisco, and an expert in all the details of stock traffic. WI was alone in the world, and had nothing to depend upon but my wits and a clean reputation；but these were setting my feet in the road to eventual fortune, and I was content with the prospect.这张百万英磅的钞票将美丽、可爱的波西娅带给了我
My time was my own after the afternoon board, Saturdays, and I was accustomed to put it in on a little sail-boat on the bay. One day I ventured too far, and was carried out to sea.Just at nightfall, when hope was about gone, I was picked up by a small brig which was bound for London.It was a long and stormy voyage, and they made me work my passage without pay as a common sailor.When I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and shabby, and I had only a dollar in my pocket.This money fed and sheltered me twenty four hours.During the next twenty-four I went without food and shelter.
About ten o'clock on the following morning, seedy and hungry, I was dragging myself along Portland Place, when a child that was passing, towed by a nurse-maid, tossed a luscious big pear-minus one bite-into the gutter. I stopped, of course, and fastened my desiring eye on that muddy treasure.My mouth watered for it, my stomach craved it, my whole being begged for it.But every time I made a move to get it some passing eye detected my purpose, and of course I straightened up then, and looked indifferent, and pretended that I hadn't been thinking about the pear at all.This same thing kept happening and happening, and I couldn't get the pear.I was just getting desperate enough to brave all the shame, and to seize it, when a window behind me was raised, and a gentleman spoke out of it, saying：
“Step in here, please.”
I was admitted by a gorgeous flunkey, and shown into a sumptuous room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting. They sent away the servant, and made me sit down.They had just finished their breakfast, and the sight of the remains of it almost overpowered me.I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food, but as I was not asked to sample it, I had to bear my trouble as best I could.第二章
这两位绅士是兄弟俩，他们在银行里有一张面值为一百万英镑的巨额存款。一天，他们闲来无事，突发奇想：如果一个忠厚、聪明，而又一无所有的外乡人拿到这张百万巨钞，他的命运会怎么样？哥哥说他会饿死，弟弟说他愿意拿出两万英镑做赌注，赌这位外乡人能够依靠这张钞票至少活一个月。
于是兄弟两人到银行取来巨额钞票，并选中了我作为实验对象。他们弄清楚了我的身世，便将一个信封交给我，告诉我拆开便知缘由。Chapter Ⅱow, something had been happening there a little before, which I did not know anything about until a good many days afterwards, Nbut I will tell you about it now. Those two old brothers had been having a pretty hot argument a couple of days before, and had ended by agreeing to decide it by a bet, which is the English way of settling everything.
You will remember that the Bank of England once issued two notes of a million pounds each, to be used for a special purpose connected with some public transaction with a foreign country. For some reason or other only one of these had been used and canceled；the other still lay in the vaults of the Bank.Well, the brothers, chatting along, happened to get to wondering what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent stranger who should be turned adrift in London without a friend, and with no money but that million-pound bank-note, and no way to account for his being in possession of it.Brother A said he would starve to death；Brother B said he wouldn't.Brother A said he couldn't offer it at a bank or anywhere else, because he would be arrested on the spot.So they went on disputing till Brother B said he would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty days, anyway, on that million, and keep out of jail, too.Brother A took him up.Brother B went down to the Bank and bought that note.Just like an Englishman, you see；pluck to the backbone.Then he dictated a letter, which one of his clerks wrote out in a beautiful round hand, and then the two brothers sat at the window a whole day watching for the right man to give it to.
They saw many honest faces go by that were not intelligent enough；many that were intelligent, but not honest enough；many that were both, but the possessors were not poor enough, or, if poor enough, were not strangers. There was always a defect, until I camealong；but they agreed that I filled the bill all around；so they elected me unanimously, and there I was now waiting to know why I was called in.They began to ask me questions about myself, and pretty soon they had my story.Finally they told me I would answer their purpose.I said I was sincerely glad, and asked what it was.Then one of them handed me an envelope, and said I would find the explanation inside.I was going to open it, but he said no；take it to my lodgings, and look it over carefully, and not be hasty or rash.I was puzzled, and wanted to discuss the matter a little further, but they didn't；so I took my leave, feeling hurt and insulted to be made the butt of what was apparently some kind of a practical joke, and yet obliged to put up with it, not being in circumstances to resent affronts from rich and strong folk.第三章
我来到一个无人的街角，拆开信封，一眼就看见了里面的钞票。饥饿的驱使使我顾不上那么多，我拿着信封立刻向最近的小吃店奔去。当我坐下来，想要仔细看看到底有多少钱时，巨额的面值差点把我吓晕过去，我足足愣了一分钟。等我清醒过来，我看见小店的老板的眼睛直直地盯着钞票，一动不动。当我递过钞票叫老板找钱时，老板连碰都不敢碰一下，仿佛这张钞票是什么圣物一样，不容亵渎。老板满脸堆笑对我说，我想吃什么就吃什么，想吃多少就吃多少，没有零钱可以记账，我这样的百万富翁光顾他的小店是他的荣幸。
我走出小店，立刻向两兄弟家跑去，我觉得他们一定是将这百万英镑当成一英镑施舍给我了。Chapter Ⅲ would have picked up the pear now and eaten it before all the world, but it was gone；so I had lost that by this unlucky business, and the Ithought of it did not soften my feeling towards those men. As soon as I was out of sight of that house I opened my envelope, and saw that it contained money！My opinion of those people changed, I can tell you！I lost not a moment, but shoved note and money into my vest pocket, and broke for the nearest cheap eating house.Well, how I did eat！When at last I couldn't hold any more, I took out my money and unfolded it, took one glimpse and nearly fainted.Five millions of dollars！Why, it made my head swim.
I must have sat there stunned and blinking at the note as much as a minute before I came rightly to myself again. The first thing I noticed, then, was the landlord.His eye was on the note, and he was petrified.He was worshiping, with all his body and soul, but he looked as if he couldn't stir hand or foot.I took my cue in a moment, and did the only rational thing there was to do.I reached the note towards him, and said, carelessly：
“Give me the change, please.”
Then he was restored to his normal condition, and made a thousand apologies for not being able to break the bill, and Icouldn't get him to touch it. He wanted to look at it, and keep on looking at it；he couldn't seem to get enough of it to quench the thirst of his eye, but he shrank from touching it as if it had been something too sacred for poor common clay to handle.I said：
“I am sorry if it is an inconvenience, but I must insist. Please change it；I haven't anything else.”
But he said that wasn't any matter；he was quite willing to let the trifle stand over till another time. I said I might not be in his neighborhood again for a good while；but he said it was of no consequence, he could wait, and, moreover, I could have anything I wanted, any time I chose, and let the account run as long as I pleased.He said he hoped he wasn't afraid to trust as rich a gentleman as I was, merely because I was of a merry disposition, and chose to play larks on the public in the matter of dress.By this time another customer was entering, and the landlord hinted to me to put the monster out of sight；then he bowed me all the way to the door, and I started straight for that house and those brothers, to correct the mistake which had been made before the police should hunt me up, and help me do it.I was pretty nervous；in fact, pretty badly frightened, though, of course, I was no way in fault；but I knew men well enough to know that when they find they've given a tramp a million-pound bill when they thought it was a one-pounder, they are in a frantic rage against him instead of quarreling with their own near-sightedness, as they ought.As I approached the house myexcitement began to abate, for all was quiet there, which made me feel pretty sure the blunder was not discovered yet.I rang.The same servant appeared.I asked for those gentlemen.第四章
我来到他们家，仆人告诉我，两位主人已经出国旅行去了，至少一个月才能回来。我不知道如何是好，忽然想起那封信来。信上说：
钱是我们借给你的，期限为三十天。之后来我们这汇报情况。我拿你打了一个赌，如果我赢了，你可以申请我职权范围内的任何一个你可以胜任的职位。
我陷入困惑之中，不知道他们葫芦里到底卖的是什么药。Chapter Ⅳhey are gone.”This in the lofty, cold way of that fellow's tribe.“Gone？Gone where？”“T
“On a journey.”
“But whereabouts？”
“To the Continent, I think.”
“The Continent？”
“Yes, sir.”
“Which way—by what route？”
“I can't say, sir.”
“When will they be back？”
“In a month, they said.”
“A month！Oh, this is awful！Give me some sort of idea of how to get a word to them. It's of the last importance.”
“I can't, indeed. I've no idea where they've gone, sir.”
“Then I must see some member of the family.”
“Family's away, too；been abroad months—in Egypt and India, I think.”
“Man, there's been an immense mistake made. They'll be back before night.Will you tell them I've been here, and that I will keep coming till it's all made right, and they needn't be afraid？”
“I'll tell them, if they come back, but I am not expecting them. They said you would be here in an hour to make inquiries, but I must tell you it's all right, they'll be here on time and expect you.”
So I had to give it up and go away. What a riddle it all was！I was like to lose my mind.They would be here“on time.”What could that mean？Oh, the letter would explain, maybe.I had forgotten the letter；I got it out and read it.This is what it said：
“You are an intelligent and honest man, as one may see by your face. We conceive you to be poor and a stranger.Enclosed you will find a sum of money.It is lent to you for thirty days, without interest.Report at this house at the end of that time.I have a bet on you.If I win it you shall have any situation that is in my gift—any, that is, that you shall be able to prove yourself familiar with and competent to fill.”
No signature, no address, no date.
Well, here was a coil to be in！You are posted on what had preceded all this, but I was not. It was just a deep, dark puzzle to me.I hadn't the least idea what the game was, nor whether harm was meant me or a kindness.I went into a park, and sat down to try to think it out, and to consider what I had best do.第五章
这张百万钞票对我没有任何实际用处，巨大的面额决定我一定花不出；而我又不能将它存入银行或者抵押借款，因为我对这张钞票的来历说不清楚。我现在可以做的，就是按照他们所说的那样，一个月后，去他们那里申请我的职位。
现在，我还是一贫如洗的穷光蛋。我衣衫褴褛地在街上闲逛，看见路旁一家服装店。经过若干次思想斗争，我最终硬着头皮走了进去。Chapter Ⅴ
t the end of an hour my reasonings had crystallized into this
verdict.A
Maybe those men mean me well, maybe they mean me ill；no way to decide that—let it go. They've got a game, or a scheme, or an experiment, of some kind on hand；no way to determine what it is—let it go.There's a bet on me；no way to find out what it is—let it go.That disposes of the indeterminable quantities；the remainder of the matter is tangible, solid, and may be classed and labeled withcertainty.If I ask the Bank of England to place this bill to the credit of the man it belongs to, they'll do it, for they know him, although I don't；but they will ask me how I came in possession of it, and if I tell the truth, they'll put me in the asylum, naturally, and a lie will land me in jail.The same result would follow if I tried to bank the bill anywhere or to borrow money on it.I have got to carry this immense burden around until those men come back, whether I want to or not.It is useless to me, as useless as a handful of ashes, and yet I must take care of it, and watch over it, while I beg my living.I couldn’t give it away, if I should try, for neither honest citizen nor highwayman would accept it or meddle with it for anything.Those brothers are safe.Even if I lose their bill, or burn it, they are still safe, because they can stop payment, and the Bank will make them whole；but meantime I’ve got to do a month’s suffering without wages or profit—unless I help win that bet, whatever it may be, and get that situation that I am promised.I should like to get that；men of their sort have situations in their gift that are worth having.
I got to thinking a good deal about that situation. My hopes began to rise high.Without doubt the salary would be large.It would begin in a month；after that I should be all right.Pretty soon I was feeling first-rate.By this time I was tramping the streets again.The sight of a tailor-shop gave me a sharp longing to shed my rags, and to clothe myself decently once more.Could I afford it？No；I had nothing in the world but a million pounds.So I forced myself togo on by.But soon I was drifting back again.The temptation persecuted me cruelly.I must have passed that shop back and forth six times during that manful struggle.At last I gave in；I had to.I asked if they had a misfit suit that had been thrown on their hands.The fellow I spoke to nodded his head towards another fellow, and gave me no answer.I went to the indicated fellow, and he indicated another fellow with his head, and no words.I went to him, and he said：第六章
我问店员是否有人家不要的衣服。店员鄙夷地看了我一眼，把我领进后面一个屋子里，在一堆顾客不要的衣服里挑了一套最寒酸的衣服递给了我。
我告诉店员，我手头没有零钱。店员用挖苦的口气说，早料到我这样的人身上也不会有零钱的。他的神态和语调激怒了我，我掏出那张百万钞票，递给店员让他找钱。店员一下子就呆住了。Chapter Ⅵ end to you presently.”I waited till he was done with what he was at, then he took “Tme into a back room, and overhauled a pile of rejected suits, and selected the rattiest one for me. I put it on.It didn't fit, and wasn't in any way attractive, but it was new, and I was anxious to have it；so I didn't find any fault, but said, with some diffidence：
“It would be an accommodation to me if you could wait some days for the money. I haven't any small change about me.”
The fellow worked up a most sarcastic expression of countenance, and said：
“Oh, you haven't？Well, of course, I didn't expect it. I'd only expect gentlemen like you to carry large change.”
I was nettled, and said：
“My friend, you shouldn't judge a stranger always by the clothes he wears. I am quite able to pay for this suit；I simply didn't wish to put you to the trouble of changing a large note.”
He modified his style a little at that, and said, though still with something of an air：
“I didn't mean any particular harm, but as long as rebukes are going, I might say it wasn't quite your affair to jump to the conclusion that we couldn't change any note that you might happen to be carrying around. On the contrary, we can.”
I handed the note to him, and said：
“Oh, very well；I apologize.”
He received it with a smile, one of those large smiles which goes all around over, and has folds in it, and wrinkles, and spirals, and looks like the place where you have thrown a brick in a pond；and then in the act of his taking a glimpse of the bill this smile froze solid, and turned yellow, and looked like those wavy, wormy spreads of lava which you find hardened on little levels on the sideof Vesuvius. I never before saw a smile caught like that, and perpetuated.The man stood there holding the bill, and looking like that, and the proprietor hustled up to see what was the matter, and said, briskly：
“Well, what's up？what's the trouble？what's wanting？”
I said：“There isn't any trouble. I'm waiting for my change.”
“Come, come；get him his change, Tod；get him his change.”第七章
这时老板走过来，一眼就瞥见了钞票的面值。他迅速地扎进一堆高档的衣服里，一面为我一件件挑选合身衣服，一面咒骂店员不识时务。很快，一套高档时髦合身的衣服就穿在了我的身上。老板还记下了我的身型尺码，要给我量身缝制一套衣服，亲自送到我的府上。Chapter Ⅶod retorted：“Get him his change！It's easy to say, sir；but look at the bill yourself.”T
The proprietor took a look, gave a low, eloquent whistle, then made a dive for the pile of rejected clothing, and began to snatch it this way and that, talking all the time excitedly, and as if to himself：
“Sell an eccentric millionaire such an unspeakable suit as that！Tod's a fool—a born fool. Always doing something like this.Drives every millionaire away from this place, because he can't tell a millionaire from a tramp, and never could.Ah, here's the thing I amafter.Please get those things off, sir, and throw them in the fire.Do me the favor to put on this shirt and this suit；it's just the thing, the very thing—plain, rich, modest, and just ducally hobby；made to order for a foreign prince—you may know him, sir, his Serene Highness the Hospodar of Halifax；had to leave it with us and take a mourning—suit because his mother was going to die—which she didn't.But that’s all right；we can’t always have things the way we—that is, the way they—there！trousers all right, they fit you to a charm, sir；now the waistcoat；aha, right again！now the coat—Lord！look at that, now！Perfect—the whole thing！I never saw such a triumph in all my experience.”
I expressed my satisfaction.
“Quite right, sir, quite right；it'll do for a makeshift, I'm bound to say. But wait till you see what we'll get up for you on your own measure.Come, Tod, book and pen；get at it.Length of leg，32"”—and so on.Before I could get in a word he had measured me, and was giving orders for dresssuits, morning suits, shirts, and all sorts of things.When I got a chance I said：
“But, my dear sir, I can't give these orders, unless you can wait indefinitely, or change the bill.”
“Indefinitely！It's a weak word, sir, a weak word. Eternally-that's the word, sir.Tod, rush these things through, and send them to the gentleman's address without any waste of time.Let the minor customers wait.Set down the gentleman's address and—”第八章
就这样，我利用这种方式，靠这张百万钞票置办了所有的生活日用品和奢侈品，并住进了一家高档的酒店。但是，我的早餐仍旧在我用百万钞票享受第一顿饭的那家小店吃。我的光顾使这家小店迅速名声鹊起，顾客满堂。
我现在已经成为了这个大都会的风云人物，每份报纸上每天都会报道一点关于那个“身揣百万英镑的富豪”的琐事。我走到哪里，都会有人忍不住大声喊叫：“就是他，他在那里！”我沉浸在这种虚荣之中不能自拔。Chapter Ⅷm changing my quarters. I will drop in and leave the new address.”“Quite right, sir, quite right. One moment—let me show you “I'out, sir.There—good day, sir, good day.”
Well, don't you see what was bound to happen？I drifted naturally into buying whatever I wanted, and asking for change. Within a week I was sumptuously equipped with all needful comforts and luxuries, and was housed in an expensive private hotel in Hanover Square.I took my dinners there, but for breakfast I stuck by Harris's humble feeding house, where I had got my first meal on my million-pound bill.I was the making of Harris.The fact had gone all abroad that the foreign crank who carriedmillion-pound bills in his vest pocket was the patron saint of the place.That was enough.From being a poor, struggling, little hand-to-mouth enterprise, it had become celebrated, and overcrowded with customers.Harris was so grateful that he forced loans upon me, and would not be denied；and so, pauper as I was, I had money to spend, and was living like the rich and the great.I judged that there was going to be a crash by and by, but I was in now and must swim across or drown.You see there was just that element of impending disaster to give a serious side, a sober side, yes, a tragic side, to a state of things which would otherwise have been purely ridiculous.In the night, in the dark, the tragedy part was always to the front, and always warning, always threatening；and so I moaned and tossed, and sleep was hard to find.But in the cheerful daylight the tragedy element faded out and disappeared, and I walked on air, and was happy to giddiness, to intoxication, you may say.
And it was natural；for I had become one of the notorieties of the metropolis of the world, and it turned my head, not just a little, but a good deal. You could not take up a newspaper, English, Scotch, or Irish, without finding in it one or more references to the“vest-pocket million-pounder”and his latest doings and saying.At first, in these mentions, I was at the bottom of the personal-gossip column；next, I was listed above the knights, next above the baronets, next above the barons, and so on, and so on, climbingsteadily, as my notoriety augmented, until I reached the highest altitude possible, and there I remained, taking precedence of all dukes not royal, and of all ecclesiastics except the primate of all England.But mind, this was not fames；as yet I had achieved only notoriety.Then came the climaxing stroke—the accolade, so to speak—which in a single instant transmuted the perishable dross of notoriety into the enduring gold of fame：Punch caricatured me！Yes, I was a made man now；my place was established.I might be joked about still, but reverently, not hilariously, not rudely；I could be smiled at, but not laughed at.The time for that had gone by.Punch pictured me all a-flutter with rags, dickering with a beef-eater for the Tower of London.Well, you can imagine how it was with a young fellow who had never been taken notice of before, and now all of a sudden couldn't say a thing that wasn't taken up and repeated everywhere；couldn't stir abroad without constantly overhearing the remark flying from lip to lip，“There he goes；that's him！”couldn't take his breakfast without a crowd to look on；couldn’t appear in an operabox without concentrating there the fire of a thousand lorgnettes.Why, I just swam in glory all day long—that is the amount of it.第九章
在我出名后的第十天，我去拜访美国公使。在聊天的过程中，我知道他是我父亲的大学同学。我很欣慰，如果百万英镑的骗局被揭穿，我也不至于走投无路，至少我还可以前来投奔他。这些日子，我到处举债，但实际上，我把我的花销严格控制在我的支付能力范围之内。如果一个月后，我帮助那位绅士赌赢，我就会得到一份正当的工作，最多两年的薪金就可以还清这之前欠下的所有债务。Chapter Ⅸ
ou know, I even kept my old suit of rags, and every now and then
appeared in them, so as to have the old pleasure of buying trifles, Y
and being insulted, and then shooting the scoffer dead with the million-pound bill. But I couldn't keep that up.The illustrated papers made the outfit so familiar that when I went out in it I was at once recognized and followed by a crowd, and if I attempted a purchase the man would offer me his whole shop on credit before I could pull my note on him.
About the tenth day of my fame I went to fulfil my duty to my flag by paying my respects to the American minister. He received me with the enthusiasm proper in my case, upbraided me for being so tardy in my duty, and said that there was only one way to get his forgiveness, and that was to take the seat at his dinner-party that night made vacant by the illness of one of his guests.I said I would, and we got to talking.It turned out that he and my father had been schoolmates in boyhood, Yale students together later, and always warm friends up to my father's death.So then he required me to put in at his house all the odd time I might have to spare, and I was verywilling, of course.
In fact, I was more than willing；I was glad. When the crash should come, he might somehow be able to save me from total destruction；I didn't know how, but he might think of a way, maybe.I couldn't venture to unbosom myself to him at this late date, a thing which I would have been quick to do in the beginning of this awful career of mine in London.No, I couldn't venture it now；I was in too deep；that is, too deep for me to be risking revelations to so new a friend, though not clear beyond my depth, as I looked at it.Because, you see, with all my borrowing, I was carefully keeping within my means—I mean within my salary.Of course, I couldn't know what my salary was going to be, but I had a good enough basis for an estimate in the fact, that if I won the bet I was to have choice of any situation in that rich old gentleman's gift provided I was competent—and I should certainly prove competent；I hadn’t any doubt about that.And as to the bet, I wasn’t worrying about that；I had always been lucky.Now my estimate of the salary was six hundred to a thousand a year；say, six hundred for the first year, and so on up year by year, till I struck the upper figure by proved merit.At present I was only in debt for my first year’s salary.Everybody had been trying to lend me money, but I had fought off the most of them on one pretext or another；so this indebtedness represented only 300 borrowed money, the other 300 represented my keep and my purchases.I believed my second year’s salary would carry methrough the rest of the month if I went on being cautious and economical, and I intended to look sharply out for that.My month ended, my employer back from his journey, I should be all right once more, for I should at once divide the two years’salary among my creditors by assignment, and get right down to my work.第十章
当天晚上，我参加了一次宴会。宴会上，我爱上了公使女儿的一位闺中密友，一位二十二岁的英国女郎，叫波西娅·兰厄姆。我看得出来，她也深深地爱上了我。
我还遇到了我在纽约的一位同事劳埃德·黑斯汀斯，开始他显得十分惊讶，谁也不会想到，当初为了一点加班费而拼命熬夜的办事员现在成为了百万富翁。Chapter Ⅹt was a lovely dinner-party of fourteen. The Duke and Duchess of Shoreditch, and their daughter the Lady Anne-Grace-Eleanor-ICeleste-and-so-forth-and-so-forth-de-Bohun, the Earl and Countess of Newgate, Viscount Cheapside, Lord and Lady Blatherskite, some untitled people of both sexes, the minister and his wife and daughter, and his daughter's visiting friend, an English girl of twenty-two, named Portia Langham, whom I fell in love with in two minutes, and she with me—I could see it without glasses.There was still another guest, an American—but I am a little ahead of my story.While the people were still in the drawing-room, whetting up for dinner, and coldly inspecting the late comers, the servant announced：
“Mr. Lloyd Hastings.”
The moment the usual civilities were over, Hastings caught sight of me, and came straight with cordially outstretched hand；then stopped short when about to shake, and said, with an embarrassed look：
“I beg your pardon, sir, I thought I knew you.”
“Why, you do know me, old fellow.”
“No. Are you the—the—”
“Vest-pocket monster？I am, indeed. Don't be afraid to call me by my nickname；I'm used to it.”
“Well, well, well, this is a surprise. Once or twice I've seen your own name coupled with the nickname, but it never occurred to me that you could be the Henry Adams referred to.Why, it isn't six months since you were clerking away for Blake Hopkins in Frisco on a salary, and sitting up nights on an extra allowance, helping me arrange and verify the Gould and Curry Extension papers and statistics.The idea of your being in London, and a vast millionaire, and a colossal celebrity！Why, it's the Arabian Nights come again.Man, I can't take it in at all；can't realize it；give me time to settle the whirl in my head.”
“The fact is, Lloyd, you are no worse off than I am. I can't realize it myself.”
“Dear me, it is stunning, now isn't it？Why, it's just three months today since we went to the Miners'restaurant—”
“No；the What Cheer.”
“Right, it was the What Cheer；went there at two in the morning, and had a chop and coffee after a hard six-hours, grind over those Extension papers, and I tried to persuade you to come to London with me, and offered to get leave of absence for you and pay all your expenses, and give you something over if I succeeded in making the sale；and you would not listen to me, said I wouldn't succeed, and you couldn't afford to lose the run of business and be no end of time getting the hang of things again when you got back home. And yet here you are.How odd it all is！How did you happen to come, and whatever did give you this incredible start？”第十一章
他问我是如何做到的，我告诉他这个月底他就会知道真相。
他当初辞了纽约的工作，来到伦敦闯荡。我问他来到这边状况如何，劳埃德顿时一脸愁容。我让他今晚到我家去住，好好谈谈。Chapter Ⅺh, just an accident. It's a long story—a romance, a body may say.I'll tell you all about it, but not now.”“O
“When？”
“The end of this month.”
“That's more than a fortnight yet. It's too much of a strain on a person's curiosity.Make it a week.”
“I can't. You'll know why, by and by.But how's the trade getting along？”
His cheerfulness vanished like a breath, and he said with a sigh：
“You were a true prophet, Hal, a true prophet. I wish I hadn't come.I don't want to talk about it.”
“But you must. You must come and stop with me tonight, when we leave here, and tell me all about it.”
“Oh, may I？Are you in earnest？”and the water showed in his eyes.
“Yes；I want to hear the whole story, every word.”
“I'm so grateful！Just to find a human interest once more, in some voice and in some eye, in me and affairs of mine, after what I've been through here—lord！I could go down on my knees for it！”
He gripped my hand hard, and braced up, and was all right and lively after that for the dinner—which didn't come off. No；the usual thing happened, the thing that is always happening under that vicious and aggravating English system—the matter of precedence couldn't be settled, and so there was no dinner.Englishmen always eat dinner before they go out to dinner, because they know the risks they are running；but nobody ever warns the stranger, and so he walks placidly into trap.Of course, nobody was hurt this time, because we had all been to dinner, none of us being novices excepting Hastings, and he having been informed by the minister at the time that he invited him that in deference to the English custom he had not provided any dinner.Everybody took a lady and processioned down to the dining-room, because it is usual to go through the motions；but there the dispute began.The Duke of Shoreditch wanted to take precedence, and sit at the head of the table, holding that he outranked a minister who represented merely a nation and not a monarch；but I stood for my rights, and refused to yield.In the gossip column I ranked all dukes not royal, and said so, and claimed precedence of this one.It couldn't be settled, of course, struggle as we might and did, he finally（and injudiciously）trying to play birth and antiquity, and I“seeing”his Conqueror and“raising”him with Adam, whose direct posterity I was, as shown by my name, while he was of a collateral branch, as shown by his, and by his recent Norman origin；so we all processioned back to the drawing-room again and had a perpendicular lunch-plate of sardines and a strawberry, and you group yourself and stand up and eat it.Here the religion of precedence is not so strenuous；the two persons of highest rank chuck up a shilling, the one that wins has first go at his strawberry, and the loser gets the shilling.The next two chuck up, then the next two, and so on.After refreshment, tables were brought, and we all played cribbage, sixpence a game.The English never play any game for amusement.If they can't make somethingor lose something—they don't care which—they won’t play.第十二章
我和波西娅在那个晚会上度过了一段非常愉快的时光。我告诉她，我实际上是一个一文不名的平民小辈，只是因为有了那张被炒得沸沸扬扬的百万钞票，才一夜成名。我把事情的来龙去脉原原本本地告诉了波西娅。波西娅听完，笑得前仰后合。Chapter Ⅻe had a lovely time；certainly two of us had, Miss Langham and I. I was so bewitched with her that I couldn't count my hands if Wthey went above a double sequence；and when I struck home I never discovered it, and started up the outside row again, and would have lost the game every time, only the girl did the same, she being in just my condition, you see；and consequently neither of us ever got out, or cared to wonder why we didn't；we only just knew we were happy, and didn't wish to know anything else, and didn't want to be interrupted.And I told her—I did, indeed—told her I loved her；and she—well, she blushed till her hair turned red, but she liked it；she said she did.Oh, there was never such an evening！Every time I pegged I put on a postscript；every time she pegged she acknowledged receipt of it, counting the hands the same.Why, I couldn't even say“Two for his heels”without adding，“My, how sweet you do look！”and she would say，“Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, and a pair are eight, and eight are sixteen—do you think so？”—peeping out aslant from under her lashes, you know, so sweet and cunning.Oh, it was just too-too！
Well, I was perfectly honest and square with her；told her I hadn't a cent in the world but just the million-pound note she'd heard so much talk about, and it didn't belong to me, and that started her curiosity；and then I talked low, and told her the whole history right from the start, and it nearly killed her laughing. What in the nation she could find to laugh about I couldn't see, but there it was；every half-minute some new detail would fetch her, and I would have to stop as much as a minute and a half to give her a chance to settle down again.Why, she laughed herself lame—she did, indeed；I never saw anything like it.I mean I never saw a painful story—a story of a person's troubles and worries and fears—produce just that kind of effect before.So I loved her all the more, seeing she could be so cheerful when there wasn’t anything to be cheerful about；for I might soon need that kind of wife, you know, the way things looked.Of course, I told her we should have to wait a couple of years, till I could catch up on my salary；but she didn’t mind that, only she hoped I would be as careful as possible in the matter of expenses, and not let them run the least risk of trenching on our third year’s pay.Then she began to get a little worried, and wondered if we were making any mistake, and starting the salary on a higher figure for the first year than I would get.This was goodsense, and it made me feel a little less confident than I had been feeling before；but it gave me a good business idea, and I brought it frankly out.第十三章
我请求她这个月末陪我一起去见那两位绅士，这样我可以想办法抬高薪金。波西娅愉快地答应了。我知道，她从心底喜欢我，她不在乎我现在以及将来的处境如何。
回家的路上，劳埃德一直喋喋不休，可是我半个字都没有听进去。我对前途陷入迷茫之中，我不确定我是否能给波西娅真正的幸福。Chapter ⅩⅢortia, dear, would you mind going with me that day, when I confront those old gentlemen？”“P
She shrank a little, but said：
“N-o；if my being with you would help hearten you. But—would it be quite proper, do you think？”
“No, I don't know that it would-in fact, I'm afraid it wouldn't；but, you see, there's so much dependent upon it that—”
“Then I'll go anyway, proper or improper，”she said, with a beautiful and generous enthusiasm.“Oh, I shall be so happy to think I'm helping！”
“Helping, dear？Why, you'll be doing it all. You're so beautifuland so lovely and so winning, that with you there I can pile our salary up till I break those good old fellows, and they'll never have the heart to struggle.”
Sho！you should have seen the rich blood mount, and her happy eyes shine！
“You wicked flatterer！There isn't a word of truth in what you say, but still I'll go with you. Maybe it will teach you not to expect other people to look with your eyes.”
Were my doubts dissipated？Was my confidence restored？You may judge by this fact：privately I raised my salary to twelve hundred the first year on the spot. But I didn't tell her；I saved it for a surprise.
All the way home I was in the clouds, Hastings talking, I not hearing a word. When he and I entered my parlor, he brought me to myself with his fervent appreciations of my manifold comforts and luxuries.
“Let me just stand here a little and look my fill. Dear me！it's a palace—it's just a palace！And in it everything a body could desire, including cosy coal fire and supper standing ready.Henry, it doesn't merely make me realize how rich you are；it makes me realize, to the bone, to the marrow, how poor I am—how poor I am, and how miserable, how defeated, routed, annihilated！”
Plague take it！this language gave me the cold shudders. It scared me broad awake, and made me comprehend that I wasstanding on a half-inch crust, with a crater underneath.I didn't know I had been dreaming—that is, I hadn't been allowing myself to know it for a while back；but now—oh, dear！Deep in debt, not a cent in the world, a lovely girl's happiness or woe in my hands, and nothing in front of me but a salary which might never—oh, would never—materialize！Oh, oh, oh！I am ruined past hope！Nothing can save me！第十四章
劳埃德跟我讲述了他的经历：他来到英国之后，因为获得了“执行契约权”，帮助一家矿业公司销售股票，销售额超出一百万美元的部分全部归他所有。可到现在为止，他还没有找到一个资本家听他的游说，而他的执行权到这个月底就要到期了。
劳埃德急得发疯，忽然想起我这个“百万富翁”或许能够帮助他。Chapter ⅩⅣenry, the mere unconsidered drippings of your daily income would—”“H“Oh, my daily income！Here, down with this hot Scotch, and cheer up your soul. Here's with you！Or, no—you're hungry；sit down and—”
“Not a bite for me；I'm past it. I can't eat, these days；but I'll drink with you till I drop.Come！”
“Barrel for barrel, I'm with you！Ready？Here we go！Now, then, Lloyd, unreel your story while I brew.”
“Unreel it？What, again？”
“Again？What do you mean by that？”
“Why, I mean do you want to hear it over again？”
“Do I want to hear it over again？This is a puzzler. Wait；don't take any more of that liquid.You don't need it.”
“Look here, Henry, you alarm me. Didn't I tell you the whole story on the way here？”
“You？”
“Yes, I.”
“I'll be hanged if I heard a word of it.”
“Henry, this is a serious thing. It troubles me.What did you take up yonder at the minister's？”
Then it all flashed on me, and I owned up like a man.
“I took the dearest girl in this world prisoner！”
So then he came with a rush, and we shook, and shook, and shook till our hands ached；and he didn't blame me for not having heard a word of a story which had lasted while we walked three miles. He just sat down then, like the patient, good fellow he was, and told it all over again.Synopsized, it amounted to this：He had come to England with what he thought was a grand opportunity；he had an“option”to sell the Gould and Curry Extension for the“locators”of it, and keep all he could get over a million dollars.He had worked hard, had pulled every wire he knew of, had left nohonest expedient untried, had spent nearly all the money he had in the world, had not been able to get a solitary capitalist to listen to him, and his option would run out at the end of the month.In a word, he was ruined.Then he jumped up and cried out：
“Henry, you can save me！You can save me, and you're the only man in the universe that can. Will you do it？Won't you do it？”第十五章
他说他可以将“执行契约权”转让给我。我不想向他摊明我的底牌，但我又不能置之不理。忽然，我想到一个好主意，我让他以我的名义来卖股票，我保证两三个星期就可以赚到三百万，那时我们就将利润对半分。Chapter ⅩⅤell me how. Speak out, my boy.”“Give me a million and my passage home for my‘option'！“TDon't, don't refuse！”
I was in a kind of agony. I was right on the point of coming out with the words，“Lloyd, I'm a pauper myself—absolutely penniless, and in debt！”But a white-hot idea came flaming through my head, and I gripped my jaws together, and calmed myself down till I was as cold as a capitalist.Then I said, in a commercial and self-possessed way：
“I will save you, Lloyd—”
“Then I'm already saved！God be merciful to you forever！If ever I—”
“Let me finish, Lloyd. I will save you, but not in that way；for that would not be fair to you, after your hard work, and the risks you've run.I don't need to buy mines；I can keep my capital moving, in a commercial center like London, without that；it's what I'm at, all the time；but here is what I'll do.I know all about that mine, of course；I know its immense value, and can swear to it if anybody wishes it.You shall sell out inside of the fortnight for three millions’cash, using my name freely, and we’ll divide, share and share alike.”
Do you know, he would have danced the furniture to kindling-wood in his insane joy, and broken everything on the place, if I hadn't tripped him up and tied him.
Then he lay there, perfectly happy, saying：
“I may use your name！Your name—think of it！Man, they'll flock in droves, these rich Londoners；they'll fight for that stock！I'm a made man, I'm a made man forever, and I'll never forget you as long as I live！”
In less than twenty-four hours London was abuzz！I hadn't anything to do, day after day, but sit at home, and say to all comers：
“Yes；I told him to refer to me. I know the man, and I know the mine.His character is above reproach, and the mine is worth far more than he asks for it.”
Meantime I spent all my evenings at the minister's with Portia. I didn't say a word to her about the mine；I saved it for a surprise.We talked salary；never anything but salary and love；sometimes love, sometimes salary, sometimes love and salary together.And my！the interest the minister's wife and daughter took in our little affair, and the endless ingenuities they invented to save us from interruption, and to keep the minister in the dark and unsuspicious—well, it was just lovely of them！第十六章
月底终于来临了，我的银行户头上已经有一百万的存款了，劳埃德也拥有一样的数目。我穿着最体面的衣服，带着波西娅驱车前往两兄弟家。我没有告诉波西娅矿业公司的事情，路上我们谈论着薪金的事情，她还忠告我不要开得太高。
见到两位绅士，我交给他们百万钞票，弟弟兴奋地拍着哥哥的肩膀说：“我赢了！”Chapter ⅩⅥhen the month was up at last, I had a million dollars to my credit in the London and County Bank, and Hastings was fixed in the Wsame way. Dressed at my level best, I drove by the house in Portland Place, judged by the look of things that my birds were home again, went on towards the minister's and got my precious, and we started back, talking salary with all our might.She was so excited and anxious that it made her just intolerably beautiful.I said：
“Dearie, the way you're looking it's a crime to strike for a salary a single penny under three thousand a year.”
“Henry, Henry, you'll ruin us！”
“Don't you be afraid. Just keep up those looks, and trust to me.It'll all come out right.”
So, as it turned out, I had to keep bolstering up her courage all the way. She kept pleading with me, and saying：
“Oh, please remember that if we ask for too much we may get no salary at all；and then what will become of us, with no way in the world to earn our living？”
We were ushered in by that same servant, and there they were, the two old gentlemen. Of course, they were surprised to see that wonderful creature with me, but I said：
“It's all right, gentlemen；she is my future stay and helpmate.”
And I introduced them to her, and called them by name. It didn't surprise them；they knew I would know enough to consult the directory.They seated us, and were very polite to me, and very solicitous to relieve her from embarrassment, and put her as much at her ease as they could.Then I said：
“Gentlemen, I am ready to report.”
“We are glad to hear it，”said my man，“for now we can decide the bet which my brother Abel and I made. If you have won for me, you shall have any situation in my gift.Have you the million-poundnote？”
“Here it is, sir，”and I handed it to him.
“I've won！”he shouted, and slapped Abel on the back.“Now what do you say, brother？”
“I say he did survive, and I've lost twenty thousand pounds. I never would have believed it.”
“I've a further report to make，”I said，“and a pretty long one. I want you to let me come soon, and detail my whole month's history；and I promise you it's worth hearing.Meantime, take a look at that.”第十七章
当绅士弟弟问我想要什么职位时，我告诉他我已经不需要了，因为我利用那张百万钞票赚了二十万英镑，现在正存在我的户头上。两位绅士都感觉不可思议，波西娅也大吃一惊。
就在我转身要离开时，接下来发生的事情令我大吃一惊。原来，绅士弟弟是波西娅的继父，怪不得她当时听到我叙述百万英镑的来历时，大笑不止。这时，我告诉波西娅的继父，我很想应聘他这里的一个职位。Chapter ⅩⅦhat, man！Certificate of deposit for 200，000. Is it yours？”“Mine. I earned it by thirty days'judicious use of that little “Wloan you let me have.And the only use I made of it was to buy trifles andoffer the bill in change.”
“Come, this is astonishing！It's incredible, man！”
“Never mind, I'll prove it. Don't take my word unsupported.”
But now Portia's turn was come to be surprised. Her eyes were spread wide, and she said：
“Henry, is that really your money？Have you been fibbing to me？”
“I have, indeed, dearie. But you'll forgive me, I know.”
She put up an arch pout, and said：
“Don't you be so sure. You are a naughty thing to deceive me so！”
“Oh, you'll get over it, sweetheart, you'll get over it；it was only fun, you know. Come, let's be going.”
“But wait, wait！The situation, you know. I want to give you the situation，”said my man.
“Well，”I said，“I'm just as grateful as I can be, but really I don't want one.”
“But you can have the very choicest one in my gift.”
“Thanks again, with all my heart；but I don't even want that one.”
“Henry, I'm ashamed of you. You don't half thank the good gentleman.May I do it for you？”
“Indeed, you shall, dear, if you can improve it. Let us see you try.”
She walked to my man, got up in his lap, put her arm round his neck, and kissed him right on the mouth. Then the two old gentlemen shouted with laughter, but I was dumfounded, just petrified, as you may say.Portia said：
“Papa, he has said you haven't a situation in your gift that he'd take；and I feel just as hurt as—”
“My darling, is that your papa？”
“Yes；he's my step-papa, and the dearest one that ever was. You understand now, don't you, why I was able to laugh when you told me at the minister's, not knowing my relationships, what trouble and worry papa's and Uncle Abel's scheme was giving you？”
Of course, I spoke right up now, without any fooling, and went straight to the point.
“Oh, my dearest dear sir, I want to take back what I said. You have got a situation open that I want.”第十八章
这个职位就是：女婿。
后来，那张百万钞票在我和波西娅的婚礼上赠给了我们。从此以后，那张百万巨钞就安置在镜框里，放在我家最神圣的地方。正是这张百万巨钞，把美丽、可爱的波西娅带给了我。一八九三年Chapter ⅩⅧame it.”“Son-in-law.”“N
“Well, well, well！But you know, if you haven't ever served in that capacity, you, of course, can't furnish recommendations of a sort to satisfy the conditions of the contract, and so—”
“Try me—oh, do, I beg of you！Only just try me thirty or forty years, and if—”
“Oh, well, all right；it's but a little thing to ask, take her along.”
Happy, we two？There are not words enough in the unabridged to describe it. And when London got the whole history, a day or two later, of my month's adventures with that bank-note, and how they ended, did London talk, and have a good time？Yes.
My Portia's papa took that friendly and hospitable bill back to the Bank of England and cashed it；then the Bank canceled it and made him a present of it, and he gave it to us at our wedding, and it has always hung in its frame in the sacredest place in our home ever since. For it gave me my Portia.But for it I could not have remained in London, would not have appeared at the minister's, never should have met her.And so I always say，“Yes, it's a million-pounder, as you see；but it never made but one purchase in its life, and then got the article for only about a tenth part of its value.”[Written about 1893]卡拉韦勒斯郡的著名跳蛙导读
应一个朋友的请求，我拜访了性情温和善良的西蒙·韦勒，向他打听朋友的朋友莱昂尼达斯·斯麦利的一些事情。以下所讲的，便是这次拜访的结果。
我来到安杰尔矿区，在一家破旧不堪的酒吧的一个角落里发现了西蒙·韦勒，他是一个身体肥胖、秃顶、面容安详而质朴的老头。我向他说明了来意，告诉他我来打听莱昂尼达斯·斯麦利神父的一些事情。西蒙一听到“斯麦利”，立刻就陷入了对吉姆·斯麦利的回忆之中。于是，他开始一本正经地跟我谈起吉姆·斯麦利的往事。
吉姆·斯麦利是这个矿区上出了名的赌棍，他总能想方设法地同别人打赌，无论什么事情，只要有人敢赌，他就奉陪。赛马、斗狗、斗鸡全不在话下，甚至篱笆上停落的鸟儿哪只先飞，一只屎壳郎要走多久才能到达目的地，他都会和别人赌上一把。而且他的运气出奇的好，十之八九总能获胜。
斯麦利养了一匹母马，身体羸弱、疾病缠身，人们戏称为‘一刻钟的驽马’。然而就是这匹驽马，为斯麦利赚了不少钱。在比赛中，人们总让斯麦利的马先跑两三百码，这匹驽马利用先跑的优势，在临近终点时拼命加速，总是比其他赛马提前一步到达终点。丹尼尔是跳得最高的青蛙
斯麦利还有一只叫安德鲁·杰克逊的小斗犬，平时一副灰溜溜的神情，可一到斗狗场上，转瞬间便脱胎换骨，精神抖擞、龇牙咧嘴、眼露凶光。它的绝招就是一口上去，死死咬住对手的后腿关节，直到对手屈服才松口。小斗犬的这一绝招，屡试不爽。直到有一天，碰到一只没有后腿的对手，当安德鲁像往常一样一口扑上去时，发现上当了。这成了安德鲁的最后一场比赛，比赛刚结束，这只可怜的小斗犬就死了。“斯麦利曾经逮到过一只青蛙，他用了三个月的时间，没日没夜地训练这只名叫丹尼尔·韦伯斯特的蛙跳跃、翻筋斗、捉苍蝇，卡拉韦勒斯郡没有一只青蛙比丹尼尔跳得高。斯麦利带着丹尼尔到处找人打赌，赚了不少钱。一天，矿区来了一个外乡人，不巧遇到了斯麦利提着青蛙笼子散步。斯麦利拉住人家，非得要和这个外乡人赌这只青蛙是否是卡拉韦勒斯郡蹦得最高的跳蛙。在斯麦利代劳外乡人去田地捉青蛙的空当儿，这个外乡人给丹尼尔灌了一肚子打鸟用的铁砂。丹尼尔像钉在砧板上一般，动弹不得，比赛结果可想而知。当斯麦利意识到受骗时，外乡人早已无影无踪。”
西蒙没完没了地向我絮叨吉姆·斯麦利的陈年往事，我毫无兴趣，而且与我所要了解的莱昂尼达斯·斯麦利毫无关系。于是，我逮了个机会，匆匆离去。一八六五年n compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, Iand inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result.I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W.Smiley is a myth；that my friend never knew such a personage；and that he only conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him, it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and as tedious as it should be useless to me.If that was the design, it succeeded.
I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the dilapidated tavern in the decayed mining camp Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up, and gave me good day.I told him that a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W.Smiley—Rev.Leonidas W.Smiley, a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time resident of Angel's Camp.I added that if Mr.Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev.Leonidas W.Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.
Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from thegentle flowing key to which he tuned his initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm；but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in‘finesse.'I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once.
“Rev. Leonidas W.H'm, Reverend Le—well, there was a feller here, once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of'49—or maybe it was the spring of'50—I don't recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big
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