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第7章 跳崖

　　"Hurry up, now," said the other policeman.

　　"Oh, it's as fine as it can be."

　　"Good-bye," she answered, taking his proffered hand.

　　Carrie had no excellent home principles fixed upon her. If shehad, she would have been more consciously distressed. Now thelunch went off with considerable warmth. Under the influence ofthe varied occurrences, the fine, invisible passion which wasemanating from Drouet, the food, the still unusual luxury, she

　　He really strolled about, thinking, and then, the weather beingcold, stepped into a hotel. He knew hotels well enough to knowthat any decent individual was welcome to a chair in the lobby.This was in the Broadway Central, which was then one of the mostimportant hotels in the city. Taking a chair here was a painfulthing to him. To think he should come to this! He had heardloungers about hotels called chairwarmers. He had called themthat himself in his day. But here he was, despite thepossibility of meeting some one who knew him, shielding himselffrom cold and the weariness of the streets in a hotel lobby.

　　"Oh, dear," said Carrie, with whom the sufferings of FatherGoriot were still keen. "That's all you think of. Aren't yousorry for the people who haven't anything to-night?"

　　"You don't say so! How did that happen?"

　　While he was gazing, she turned and, looking at the remarkablecompany, sent her escort over. He came, holding a bill in hisfingers, all elegant and graceful.

　　Carrie looked at the card handed by the boy and suffered a shockof surprise.