Dark Avenues / Темные аллеи. Книга для чтения на английском языке

”

She went up to him and kissed his hand, and he kissed hers.

“Order the horses…”

When they had set off on their way, he thought gloomily: “Yes, how delightful she was! Magically beautiful!” He remembered with shame his final words and the fact that he had kissed her hand, and was immediately ashamed of his shame. “Isn’t it the truth, then, that she gave me the best moments of my life?”

Close to setting, a pale sun had peeped out. The coachman drove at a trot[9 - at a trot – рысцой], ever shifting from one black rut to another, choosing the less muddy ones, and thinking about something too.

Finally he said with serious rudeness:

“She kept on looking out of the window, Your Excellency, as we were leaving. You’ve probably been good enough to know her a long time?”

“A long time, Klim.”

“That woman’s got her head on her shoulders. And they say she keeps on getting richer. She lends money on interest[10 - to lend money on interest – давать деньги в рост].

”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“What do you mean, it doesn’t! Who doesn’t want to live a bit better! If you lend with a conscience, there’s nothing much wrong with that. And they say she’s fair on that score. But she’s a harsh one! If you haven’t repaid on time, you’ve only yourself to blame.”

“Yes, that’s right, you’ve only yourself to blame… Keep driving on, please, I’m afraid we might miss the train…”

The low sun shone yellow on the empty fields, the horses splashed steadily through the puddles.

He gazed at the fleetingly glimpsed horseshoes, his black brows knitted, and thought:

“Yes, you’ve only yourself to blame. Yes, of course they were the best moments. And not merely the best, but truly magical! �All round the scarlet dog rose bloomed, the avenues of dark limes stood…’[11 - All round… dark limes stood: A slightly inaccurate quotation from the poem �An Ordinary Tale’ (1842) by Nikolai Platonovich Ogaryov (1813–77): “all round” should be “nearby”.

(РїСЂРёРј. перев.) «Кругом шиповник алый цвел, стояли темных лип аллеи… В» (РІ повести Р?. Рђ. Бунина) «Вблизи шиповник алый цвел, стояла темных лип аллея» (оригинальный текст Рќ. Рџ.