登陆注册
19633600000175

第175章 CHAPTER LXIII(1)

It was evening when Philip took the cars at the Ilium station. The news of, his success had preceded him, and while he waited for the train, he was the center of a group of eager questioners, who asked him a hundred things about the mine, and magnified his good fortune. There was no mistake this time.

Philip, in luck, had become suddenly a person of consideration, whose speech was freighted with meaning, whose looks were all significant.

The words of the proprietor of a rich coal mine have a golden sound, and his common sayings are repeated as if they were solid wisdom.

Philip wished to be alone; his good fortune at this moment seemed an empty mockery, one of those sarcasms of fate, such as that which spreads a dainty banquet for the man who has no appetite. He had longed for success principally for Ruth's sake; and perhaps now, at this very moment of his triumph, she was dying.

"Shust what I said, Mister Sderling," the landlord of the Ilium hotel kept repeating. "I dold Jake Schmidt he find him dere shust so sure as noting."

"You ought to have taken a share, Mr. Dusenheimer," said Philip.

"Yaas, I know. But d'old woman, she say 'You sticks to your pisiness.

So I sticks to'em. Und I makes noting. Dat Mister Prierly, he don't never come back here no more, ain't it?"

"Why?" asked Philip.

"Vell, dere is so many peers, and so many oder dhrinks, I got 'em all set down, ven he coomes back."

It was a long night for Philip, and a restless one. At any other time the swing of the cars would have lulled him to sleep, and the rattle and clank of wheels and rails, the roar of the whirling iron would have only been cheerful reminders of swift and safe travel. Now they were voices of warning and taunting; and instead of going rapidly the train seemed to crawl at a snail's pace. And it not only crawled, but it frequently stopped; and when it stopped it stood dead still and there was an ominous silence. Was anything the matter, he wondered. Only a station probably.

Perhaps, he thought, a telegraphic station. And then he listened eagerly. Would the conductor open the door and ask for Philip Sterling, and hand him a fatal dispatch?

How long they seemed to wait. And then slowly beginning to move, they were off again, shaking, pounding, screaming through the night. He drew his curtain from time to time and looked out. There was the lurid sky line of the wooded range along the base of which they were crawling.

There was the Susquehannah, gleaming in the moon-light. There was a stretch of level valley with silent farm houses, the occupants all at rest, without trouble, without anxiety. There was a church, a graveyard, a mill, a village; and now, without pause or fear, the train had mounted a trestle-work high in air and was creeping along the top of it while a swift torrent foamed a hundred feet below.

What would the morning bring? Even while he was flying to her, her gentle spirit might have gone on another flight, whither he could not follow her. He was full of foreboding. He fell at length into a restless doze.

There was a noise in his ears as of a rushing torrent when a stream is swollen by a freshet in the spring. It was like the breaking up of life;he was struggling in the consciousness of coming death: when Ruth stood by his side, clothed in white, with a face like that of an angel, radiant, smiling, pointing to the sky, and saying, "Come." He awoke with a cry--the train was roaring through a bridge, and it shot out into daylight.

When morning came the train was industriously toiling along through the fat lands of Lancaster, with its broad farms of corn and wheat, its mean houses of stone, its vast barns and granaries, built as if, for storing the riches of Heliogabalus. Then came the smiling fields of Chester, with their English green, and soon the county of Philadelphia itself, and the increasing signs of the approach to a great city. Long trains of coal cars, laden and unladen, stood upon sidings; the tracks of other roads were crossed; the smoke of other locomotives was seen on parallel lines; factories multiplied; streets appeared; the noise of a busy city began to fill the air; --and with a slower and slower clank on the connecting rails and interlacing switches the train rolled into the station and stood still.

It was a hot August morning. The broad streets glowed in the sun, and the white-shuttered houses stared at the hot thoroughfares like closed bakers' ovens set along the highway. Philip was oppressed with the heavy air; the sweltering city lay as in a swoon. Taking a street car, he rode away to the northern part of the city, the newer portion, formerly the district of Spring Garden, for in this the Boltons now lived, in a small brick house, befitting their altered fortunes.

He could scarcely restrain his impatience when he came in sight of the house. The window shutters were not "bowed"; thank God, for that. Ruth was still living, then. He ran up the steps and rang. Mrs. Bolton met him at the door.

"Thee is very welcome, Philip."

"And Ruth?"

"She is very ill, but quieter than, she has been, and the fever is a little abating. The most dangerous time will be when the fever leaves her. The doctor fears she will not have strength enough to rally from it. Yes, thee can see her."

Mrs. Bolton led the way to the little chamber where Ruth lay. "Oh,"

said her mother, "if she were only in her cool and spacious room in our old home. She says that seems like heaven."

Mr. Bolton sat by Ruth's bedside, and he rose and silently pressed Philip's hand. The room had but one window; that was wide open to admit the air, but the air that came in was hot and lifeless. Upon the table stood a vase of flowers. Ruth's eyes were closed; her cheeks were flushed with fever, and she moved her head restlessly as if in pain.

同类推荐
  • 樵谈

    樵谈

    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。
  • 鸳鸯牒

    鸳鸯牒

    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。
  • 阿毗达磨藏显宗论

    阿毗达磨藏显宗论

    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。
  • The Lodger

    The Lodger

    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。
  • 道咸同光四朝奏议选辑

    道咸同光四朝奏议选辑

    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。
热门推荐
  • 独家溺爱,缠上失忆新娘

    独家溺爱,缠上失忆新娘

    相恋五年的未婚夫,和别的女人有了孩子!黎沐晨悲愤买醉,却被陌生男人圈进怀里,“跟我结婚,我给你想要的一切!”他,帝国总裁,叱咤风云,要娶她这个单亲妈妈为妻?等等!这个男人,这张脸,不就是他们家乐宝的升级版吗?!
  • 我和他,和他的前任

    我和他,和他的前任

    你正在考虑和某个男人约会吗?他什么都很好,只有一个问题,他有个前任,对他影响太深。你的新恋情将会面临独特的挑战,这与你和普通男人约会不同。为了让恋情顺利展开,这个人将不得不把对前任的感情放在一边,而把注意力放在你身上。但你怎么知道他已经准备好走这一步了? 他到底喜不喜欢你?情感专家艾贝尔·基奥凭借自己的经验,以独特的方式让你深入了解心仪的这个男子的所想所感。本书包含了诸多和你相同处境的女子身上发生的真实故事。它能帮你确认,你正在约会的男子是否已经准备好开始一段新的恋情;另外,对你来说,和他约会是否一个正确的选择。
  • 兵临都市护女神

    兵临都市护女神

    兵王君临都市,守护万千女神。动若地狱修罗,静如天堂美男。俘获美人芳心,逍遥都市之行!
  • 皮影戏

    皮影戏

    《中国文化知识读本:皮影戏》中优美生动的文字、简明通俗的语言、图文并茂的形式,把中国文化中的物态文化、制度文化、行为文化、精神文化等知识要点全面展示给读者。
  • 桃花绝色霸王妃

    桃花绝色霸王妃

    王府内独身一人生存。经过十年的栖伏,早已蜕变,昔日默默无闻,今朝霸气回归,神医妙手,资产倾国!雪王府小王爷,八岁带兵出征,离京十年,策马啸西风,铁血强势,武艺卓绝,貌若天神,所到之处,万民臣服。两强相遇,你追我逐,妙语生花,嬉笑怒骂,历尽各种惊心动魄的磨难,斗皇帝,整皇子,五国合,除尽身边渣男庶女,救过无数困苦弱小,终于是了却了前世今生的神话情缘!
  • 上古世纪之新的征程

    上古世纪之新的征程

    两千年前,一场神与英雄之间爆发的战争,让原本生活安逸的原大陆种族们被迫离开这片充满了光辉的大陆,迁途到了遥远的诺伊亚大陆和哈里拉大陆!两千年后,当种族之间再次爆发战争之时,那个曾经被各大种族遗忘了的破碎记忆再次将人们唤醒,从而踏上了寻找一条寻找上古之谜的回归之路!
  • 艾泽拉斯没啥事

    艾泽拉斯没啥事

    现在可以透露的情报:我叫萧强·烈酒,三年前穿越到艾泽拉斯(我挺不愿意的)。一个叫大地母亲的神,告诉我,我得帮他接待一些个艾泽拉斯两个纪元前的英灵。我的第一个客人是巫妖王……
  • 终极系列之炎者

    终极系列之炎者

    他本是篮球界中的新星,却意外在庆祝比赛胜利的路上发生意外,醒来发现自己在角声满天的战场中,而自己却变成了5岁的小孩,而旁边的人却半跪在地上喊着:“少主”。这位未来的篮球界新星可以在这里打拼出怎样的天地呢?而他心里却又如此的一句话:“我便是主宰,若人逆我,我便杀人,若神逆我,我便弑神,若魔逆我,我便屠魔,我才是真正的神。”
  • 冷情总裁的失忆情人

    冷情总裁的失忆情人

    姐姐的阴谋推入一场卖与买的交易中失去贞洁,与魔鬼相碰在一起,却遇到心爱之人只是在她逃出这牢笼之时却把心忘在了那。(片段如下)1、“我会等你把心门打开”男人的手指敲了敲她的心脏“那抱歉,永远不可能!”2、“你这个魔鬼,是你杀死了你的孩子!”那夜他坐在婴儿室里一夜3、“只要你说你是真的不爱我,一点也。。”“是!我早就说过了,你又何必自欺欺人,我只爱他"“好!许诺你就算是块石头也该捂热了既然如此。。。”说完冷冷转过身向门外走去,起初有些蹒跚的步子渐渐变得坚定走到门外时他侧脸说道“诺诺,我不等你了。”只是那夜许诺才知道,人可以有那么多流不完的泪。作者第一次写文多多关照,喜欢的,收藏,评论!
  • 致命潜伏

    致命潜伏

    恶梦一般的丝状脑炎病毒,一旦感染将会影响人的神智,感染者极富攻击性,超长的潜伏期,不确定的爆发时间,身边的同伴随时可能变成致命的杀手!没有三分三不敢上梁山,手下没两把刷子,凭什么在危机处处的世界里生存?幸存者又该何去何从?(本书无进化无变异,依旧是小人物的求生故事。)