Lesson Fourteen

TEXT A

After Twenty Years O. Henry

Pre-class Work I

Read the text once for the main idea. Do not refer to the notes, dictionaries or the glossary yet.

The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was normal and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely ten o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had almost emptied the streets.
Trying doors as he went, swinging his club with many clever movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye down the peaceful street, the officer, with his strongly built form and slight air of superiority, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The area was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.
When about midway of a certain block, the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him, the man spoke up quickly.
"It's all right, officer," he said, confidently. "I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands — 'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."
"Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then."
The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His tiepin was a large diamond, oddly set.
"Twenty years ago tonight," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe' Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best friend, and the finest man in the world. He and I were brought up here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our fate worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."
"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meetings, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"
"Well, yes, for a time we wrote," said the other. " But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big place, and I kept running around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, best old friend in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."
The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set with small diamonds.
"Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten o'clock when we parted here at the restaurant door."
"Did pretty well out West, didn't you?" asked the policeman.
"You're right! I hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of slow man, though, good fellow as he was. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest brains going to get my money. A man gets stuck in New York. It takes the West to make a man really keen."
The policeman swung his club and took a step or two.
"I'll be on my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Are you going to leave immediately?"
"I should say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long, officer."
"Good night, sir," said the policeman, passing on along his beat.
There was now a fine, cold rain falling, and the wind had risen to a steady blow. The few foot passengers in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.
About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting man.
"Is that you, Bob?" he asked, doubtfully.
"Is that you, Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.
"Bless my heart! "exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! — twenty years is a long time. The old restaurant's gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated you, old man?"
"It has given me everything I asked it for. You've changed lot, Jimmy. I never thought you would get so tall."
"Oh, I grew a bit after I was twenty."
"Doing well in New York, Jimmy?"
"Moderately. I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob; we'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk about old times."
The two men started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, full of pride at his success, was beginning to outline the history of his career. The other, hidden in his overcoat, listened with interest.
At the corner stood a chemist's, brilliant with electric lights. When they came into this brightness each of them turned simultaneously to gaze upon the other's face.
The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.
"You're not Jimmy Wells," he said sharply. "Twenty years is a long time, but not long enough to change the size of a man's nose."
"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one," said the tall man. "You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob. Chicago thinks you may have come over our way and telegraphs us she wants to have a chat with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand to you. You may read it here at the window. It's from Policeman Wells."
The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed to him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a little by the time he had finished. The note was short.
Bob: I was at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light your cigar, I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago. Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job.

Read the text a second time. Learn the new words and expressions listed below.

Glossary

avenue
n. a wide street

barely
adv. only just; no more than; hardly; almost

brilliant
adj. very bright 光亮夺目的

cast
v. to throw; to ～ an eye: to look at

chat
n. an informal and friendly conversation

chemist
n. (BrE) a person who works in a drugstore and is trained to prepare drugs and medicines 药店里的药剂师；a ～ 's: 药店

club
n. a heavy thick stick, used to hit people or things with 棍棒

compete
v. 竞争；对抗

confident
adj. feeling certain 有信心的

darken
v. to make or become dark

dine
v. to eat dinner

doorway
n. 门口

doubtful
adj. having doubts about sth. ; feeling unsure

empty
v. to make empty

exclaim
v. to speak or say suddenly and loudly because you are surprised, angry or excited

eyebrow
n. the line of hair above your eye 眉毛

guardian
n. a person who guards 保护人；卫士

gust
n. a ～ of wind: a sudden, strong movement of wind 一阵狂风

hardware
n. 这里指五金制品（如锅、钉、锁等）

impressively
adv. in a way that gives a deep impression 给人印象深刻地