福尔摩斯-恐怖谷 The Valley of Fear（9）

Chapter II.,The Bodymaster,McMurdo was a man who made his mark quickly. Wherever he was the folk around soon knew it. Within a week he had become infinitely ¹ the most important person at Shafter's. There were ten or a dozen boarders there; but they were honest foremen or commonplace clerks from the stores, of a very different calibre from the young Irishman. Of an evening when they gathered together his joke was always the readiest, his conversation the brightest, and his song the best. He was a born boon ² companion, with a magnetism ³ which drew good humour from all around him.,And yet he showed again and again, as he had shown in the railway carriage, a capacity for sudden, fierce anger, which compelled the respect and even the fear of those who met him. For the law, too, and all who were connected with it, he exhibited a bitter contempt which delighted some and alarmed others of his fellow boarders.,From the first he made it evident, by his open admiration ⁵, that the daughter of the house had won his heart from the instant that he had set eyes upon her beauty and her grace. He was no backward suitor. On the second day he told her that he loved her, and from then onward ⁶ he repeated the same story with an absolute disregard of what she might say to discourage him.,“Someone else? ” he would cry. “Well, the worse luck for someone else! Let him look out for himself! Am I to lose my life's chance and all my heart's desire for someone else? You can keep on saying no, Ettie: the day will come when you will say yes, and I'm young enough to wait.
”,Then he was versed ¹⁰ in the life of the cities of the North, of Detroit, and the lumber ¹¹ camps of Michigan, and finally of Chicago, where he had worked in a planing mill. And afterwards came the hint of romance, the feeling that strange things had happened to him in that great city, so strange and so intimate that they might not be spoken of. He spoke ¹² wistfully of a sudden leaving, a breaking of old ties, a flight into a strange world, ending in this dreary ¹³ valley, and Ettie listened, her dark eyes gleaming with pity and with sympathy—those two qualities which may turn so rapidly and so naturally to love.,McMurdo had obtained a temporary job as bookkeeper; for he was a well-educated man. This kept him out most of the day, and he had not found occasion yet to report himself to the head of the lodge ¹⁴ of the Eminent ¹⁵ Order of Freemen. He was reminded of his omission ¹⁶, however, by a visit one evening from Mike Scanlan, the fellow member whom he had met in the train. Scanlan, the small, sharp-faced, nervous, black-eyed man, seemed glad to see him once more. After a glass or two of whisky he broached ¹⁷ the object of his visit.,“Say, McMurdo,” said he, “I remembered your address, so l made bold to call. I'm surprised that you've not reported to the Bodymaster. Why haven't you seen Boss McGinty yet? ”,“Well, I had to find a job. I have been busy.”,“You must find time for him if you have none for anything else. Good Lord, man! you're a fool not to have been down to the Union House and registered your name the first morning after you came here! If you run against him—well, you mustn't, that's all!
”,The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。,A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便 。