174 ALL THE YEARS OF HER LIFE"
So now you think you'll tell me a lie, eh? What kind of a sap do I look like, huh? I don't know what goes on in my own store, eh? I tell you you've been doing this pretty steady," Sam Carr said as he went over and stood behind the cash register. Ever since Alfred had left school he had been getting into trouble wherever he worked. He lived at home with his mother and his father, who was a printer. His two older brothers were married and his sister had got married last year, and it would have been all right for his parents now ifAlfred had only been able to keep a job While Sam Carr smiled and stroked the side of his face very deli- cately with the tips of his fingers, Alfred began to feel that familiar terror growing in him that had been in him every time he had got into such trouble"I liked you," Sam Carr was saying. "I liked you and would have trusted you, and now look whatI got to do." While Alfred watched with his alert, frightened blue eyes, Sam Carr drummed with his fingers on the counter. don't like to call a cop in point-blank," he was saying as he looked very worried. "You're a fool, and maybe I should call your father and tell him you're a fool. Maybe i should let them know I'm going to have you locked up"My father's not athome. He's a printer. He works nights," Alfred said"Who's at home?" "My mother, I guess. "Then we'll see what she says, n Carr went to the phone and dialed the number. Alfred was not so much ashamed, but there was that deep fright growing in him, and he blurted out arrogantly, like a strong, "Just a minute. You don't need to draw anybody c full-grown man, in. You don't need to tell her." e wanted to sound like a swaggering, big guy who could look after himself, yet the old, childish hope was in him, the longing that someone at home would come and help him. "Yeah, that's right, he's in trouble," Mr. Carr was saying. "Yeah, your boy works for me. You'd better come down in a hurry." And when h was finished Mr. Carr went over to the door and looked out at the street and watched the people passing in the late summer night. Tllkeep my eye out for a cop," was all he said Alfred knew how his mother would come rushing in: she would rush in with her eyes blazing, or maybe she would be crying, and she would push him away when he tried to talk to her, and make him feel her dreadful contempt; yet he longed that she Inightcome before Mr. Carr saw the cop on the beat passing the door. While they waited-and itseemed a long time they did not speak and when at last they heard someone tapping on the closed door, Mr. Carr, turning the latch, said crisply, "Come in, Mrs. Higgins. He looked hard-faced and stern. Mrs. Higgins must have been going to bed when he telephoned, for her hair was tucked in loosely under herhat, and her handat her throat held her light coat tight across her chest so her dress would not show. She came in, large and plump, with a little smile on her friendly face. Most of the store lights had been turned out and at first she didnot see Alfred, who was standing in the shadow at the end of the counter. Yet as soon as she saw him she did not look as Alfred thought she would look: she smiled, her blue eyes never wavered, and with a calmness and dignity that made them forget that her clothes seemed to have been thrown on her, she put out her hand to Mr. Carr and said politely, "I'm Mrs. Higgins. I'm Alfred's mother. Mr. Carr was a bit embarrassed by her lack of terror and her sim plicity, and he hardly knew what to say to her, so she asked, "Ts Alfred in trouble? "He is. He's been taking things from the store. I caught him red- handed. Little things like compacts and toothpaste and lipsticks. Stuff he can sell easily," the proprietor said As she listened Mrs. Higgins looked at Alfred sometimes and nodded her head sadly, and when Sam Carr had finished she said gravely, "Is it so, Alfred? "Yes Why have you been doing i"I been spending money, I guess. "On what?" "Going around with the grys, I guess," Alfred said. Mrs. Higgins put out her hand and touched Sam Carr's arm with an understanding gentleness, and speaking as though afraid of dis- turbing him, she said, "If you would only listen to me before doing anything." Her simple earnestness made her shy; her humility made her falter and look away, but in a moment she was smiling gravely again, and she said with akind of patient dignity,"What did you intend to do, Mr. Carr?" "I was going to get a cop. That's what I ought to do"Yes, I suppose so. It's not for me to say, because he's my son. YetI ometimes think a little good advice is the best thing for a boy when he's at a certain period in his life," she said. Alfred couldn't understand his mother's quiet composure, for if they had been at home and someone had suggested that he was going to be arrested, he knew she would be in a rage and would cry out against him. Yet now she was standing there with that gente, pleading smile on her face, saying, "I wonder if you don't think itwould be better just to let him come home with me. He looks like a big fellow, doesn't he? It takes some of them a long time to get any sense and they both stared at Alfred, who shifted away with a bit of light shining for a moment on his thin face and the tiny pimples over his cheekbone. But even while he was turning away uneasily Alfred was realizing that Mr. Carr had become aware that his mother was really a fine woman; he knew that Sam Carrwas puzzled by his mother, as if he had expected her to come in and plead with him tearfully, and instead he was being made to feel a bit ashamed by her vast tolerance.
ทั้งหมด 174 ปีชีวิตของเธอ"So now you think you'll tell me a lie, eh? What kind of a sap do I look like, huh? I don't know what goes on in my own store, eh? I tell you you've been doing this pretty steady," Sam Carr said as he went over and stood behind the cash register. Ever since Alfred had left school he had been getting into trouble wherever he worked. He lived at home with his mother and his father, who was a printer. His two older brothers were married and his sister had got married last year, and it would have been all right for his parents now ifAlfred had only been able to keep a job While Sam Carr smiled and stroked the side of his face very deli- cately with the tips of his fingers, Alfred began to feel that familiar terror growing in him that had been in him every time he had got into such trouble"I liked you," Sam Carr was saying. "I liked you and would have trusted you, and now look whatI got to do." While Alfred watched with his alert, frightened blue eyes, Sam Carr drummed with his fingers on the counter. don't like to call a cop in point-blank," he was saying as he looked very worried. "You're a fool, and maybe I should call your father and tell him you're a fool. Maybe i should let them know I'm going to have you locked up"My father's not athome. He's a printer. He works nights," Alfred said"Who's at home?" "My mother, I guess. "Then we'll see what she says, n Carr went to the phone and dialed the number. Alfred was not so much ashamed, but there was that deep fright growing in him, and he blurted out arrogantly, like a strong, "Just a minute. You don't need to draw anybody c full-grown man, in. You don't need to tell her." e wanted to sound like a swaggering, big guy who could look after himself, yet the old, childish hope was in him, the longing that someone at home would come and help him. "Yeah, that's right, he's in trouble," Mr. Carr was saying. "Yeah, your boy works for me. You'd better come down in a hurry." And when h was finished Mr. Carr went over to the door and looked out at the street and watched the people passing in the late summer night. Tllkeep my eye out for a cop," was all he said Alfred knew how his mother would come rushing in: she would rush in with her eyes blazing, or maybe she would be crying, and she would push him away when he tried to talk to her, and make him feel her dreadful contempt; yet he longed that she Inightcome before Mr. Carr saw the cop on the beat passing the door. While they waited-and itseemed a long time they did not speak and when at last they heard someone tapping on the closed door, Mr. Carr, turning the latch, said crisply, "Come in, Mrs. Higgins. He looked hard-faced and stern. Mrs. Higgins must have been going to bed when he telephoned, for her hair was tucked in loosely under herhat, and her handat her throat held her light coat tight across her chest so her dress would not show. She came in, large and plump, with a little smile on her friendly face. Most of the store lights had been turned out and at first she didnot see Alfred, who was standing in the shadow at the end of the counter. Yet as soon as she saw him she did not look as Alfred thought she would look: she smiled, her blue eyes never wavered, and with a calmness and dignity that made them forget that her clothes seemed to have been thrown on her, she put out her hand to Mr. Carr and said politely, "I'm Mrs. Higgins. I'm Alfred's mother. Mr. Carr was a bit embarrassed by her lack of terror and her sim plicity, and he hardly knew what to say to her, so she asked, "Ts Alfred in trouble? "He is. He's been taking things from the store. I caught him red- handed. Little things like compacts and toothpaste and lipsticks. Stuff he can sell easily," the proprietor said As she listened Mrs. Higgins looked at Alfred sometimes and nodded her head sadly, and when Sam Carr had finished she said gravely, "Is it so, Alfred? "Yes Why have you been doing i"I been spending money, I guess. "On what?" "Going around with the grys, I guess," Alfred said. Mrs. Higgins put out her hand and touched Sam Carr's arm with an understanding gentleness, and speaking as though afraid of dis- turbing him, she said, "If you would only listen to me before doing anything." Her simple earnestness made her shy; her humility made her falter and look away, but in a moment she was smiling gravely again, and she said with akind of patient dignity,"What did you intend to do, Mr. Carr?" "I was going to get a cop. That's what I ought to do"Yes, I suppose so. It's not for me to say, because he's my son. YetI ometimes think a little good advice is the best thing for a boy when he's at a certain period in his life," she said. Alfred couldn't understand his mother's quiet composure, for if they had been at home and someone had suggested that he was going to be arrested, he knew she would be in a rage and would cry out against him. Yet now she was standing there with that gente, pleading smile on her face, saying, "I wonder if you don't think itwould be better just to let him come home with me. He looks like a big fellow, doesn't he? It takes some of them a long time to get any sense and they both stared at Alfred, who shifted away with a bit of light shining for a moment on his thin face and the tiny pimples over his cheekbone. But even while he was turning away uneasily Alfred was realizing that Mr. Carr had become aware that his mother was really a fine woman; he knew that Sam Carrwas puzzled by his mother, as if he had expected her to come in and plead with him tearfully, and instead he was being made to feel a bit ashamed by her vast tolerance.
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