三早晨,约翰醒来时发现自己直接处在阳光的照耀下,紫檀木大房间有一半的墙边已经消失。一个穿白制服的黑人恭敬地站在他旁边。在这个黑人的安排下,约翰睡的床一端翘起,约翰顺着床变成的斜板滑下一面墙壁,墙壁自动打开,约翰便直接来到了另外一个房间的大浴池里。水的温度刚好,四周都是好看的水族箱。约翰先洗了热的玫瑰浴和泡泡浴,然后用冷盐水浴清醒了一下。期间,闪光的喷水效果让约翰欣喜不已,黑人还提议看电影放映机,约翰礼貌地拒绝了,耳边传来动听的音乐。等约翰再走进起居室时,早餐和佩西都已经在那里等着了。orning. As he awoke he perceived drowsily that the room had at the same moment become dense with sunlight. The ebony panels of one wall had slid aside on a sort of track, leaving his chamber half open to the day. A large negro in a white uniform stood beside his bed.Good-evening, muttered John, summoning his brains from the wild places.Good-morning, sir. Are you ready for your bath, sir? Oh, dont get upIll put you in, if youll just unbutton your pajamasthere. Thank you, sir.John lay quietly as his pajamas were removedhe was amused and delighted; he expected to be lifted like a child by this black Gargantua who was tending him, but nothing of the sort happened; instead he felt the bed tilt up
来到浴池
slowly on its sidehe began to roll,startled at first, in the direction of the wall, but when he reached the wall its drapery gave way, and sliding two yards farther down a fleecy incline he plumped gently into water the same temperature as his body.He looked about him. The runway or rollway on which he had arrived had folded gently back into place. He had been projected into another chamber and was sitting in a sunken bath with his head just above the level of the floor. All about him, lining the walls of the room and the sides and bottom of the bath itself, was a blue aquarium, and gazing through the crystal surface on which he sat, he could see fish swimming among amber lights and even gliding without curiosity past his outstretched toes, which were separated from them only by the thickness of the crystal. From overhead, sunlight came down through sea-green glass.I suppose, sir, that youd like hot rosewater and soapsuds this morning, sirand perhaps cold salt water to finish.The negro was standing beside him.Yes, agreed John, smiling inanely, as you please. Any idea of ordering this bath according to his own meagre standards of living would have been priggish and not a little wicked.The negro pressed a button and a warm rain began to fall, apparently from overhead, but really, so John discovered after a moment, from a fountain arrangement near by. The water turned to a pale rose color and jets of liquid soap spurted into it from four miniature walrus heads at the corners of the bath. In a moment a dozen little paddlewheels, fixed to the sides, had churned the mixture into a radiant rainbow of pink foam which enveloped him softly with its delicious lightness, and burst in shining, rosy bubbles here and there about him.Shall I turn on the moving-picture machine, sir? suggested the negro deferentially. Theres a good one-reel comedy in this machine to-day, or I can put in a serious piece in a moment, if you prefer it.No, thanks, answered John, politely but firmly. He was enjoying his bath too much to desire any distraction. But distraction came. In a moment he was listening intently to the sound of flutes from just outside, flutes dripping a melody that was like a waterfall, cool and green as the room itself, accompanying a frothy piccolo, in play more fragile than the lace of suds that covered and charmed him.After a cold salt-water bracer and a cold fresh finish, he stepped out and into a fleecy robe, and upon a couch covered with the same material he was rubbed with oil, alcohol, and spice. Later he sat in a voluptuous chair while he was shaved and his hair was trimmed.Mr. Percy is waiting in your sitting-room, said the negro, when these operations were finished. My name is Gygsum, Mr. Unger, sir. I am to see to Mr. Unger every morning.John walked out into the brisk sunshine of his living-room, where he found breakfast waiting for him and Percy, gorgeous in white kid knickerbockers, smoking in an easy chair.??
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The Diamond asBig as the Ritz
The Diamond asBig as the Ritz
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