Дом с привидениями. Уровень 2 / A Haunted House

You are spinning a web through which God himself… Hush, don’t think of God! How firm the stitches are! You must be proud. Let nothing disturb her. Let the light fall gently. Let the clouds show an inner vest of the first green leaf. Let the sparrow perch on the twig and shake the raindrop. Why look up? Was it a sound, a thought? Oh, heavens!

Back again to the thing you did. Back again to the plate glass with the violet loops?

But Hilda will come. Ignominies, humiliations, oh! Close the breach.

Minnie Marsh mended her glove.

She laid it in the drawer. She shuts the drawer with decision. I saw her face in the glass. Next she laces her shoes. Then she touches her throat. What’s your brooch? Mistletoe? And what is happening? The moment is coming. The threads are racing. Niagara’s ahead. Here’s the crisis!

Heaven be with you! Down she goes. Courage, courage! Face it, be it! For God’s sake don’t wait on the mat now! There’s the door! I’m on your side. Speak! Confront her. Confound her soul![9 - confound her soul! – чтоб ей пусто было!]

“Oh, I beg your pardon! Yes, this is Eastbourne.

I’ll reach it down for you. Let me try the handle.”

But Minnie, I know you—I’m with you now.

“That’s all your luggage?”

“Much obliged, I’m sure.”

But why do you look about you? Hilda won’t come to the station, nor John. Moggridge is driving at the far side of Eastbourne.

“I’ll wait by my bag, ma’am. That’s safe. He will meet me.

Oh, there he is! That’s my son.”

So they walk off together.

Well, but I’m confounded. Surely, Minnie, you know better! A strange young man. Stop! I’ll tell him—Minnie! Miss Marsh! I don’t know though. There’s something queer in her cloak as it blows. Oh, but it’s untrue, it’s indecent. . Look how he bends as they reach the gateway. She finds her ticket. What’s the joke? Off they go[10 - off they go – они уходят], down the road, side by side. Well, my world is ruined.

What do I stand on? What do I know? That’s not Minnie. There never was Moggridge. Who am I? Life is bare.

The last look of them. He is stepping from the kerb and she is following him. Mysterious figures! Mother and son. Who are you? Why do you walk down the street? Where will you sleep tonight? Where will you sleep tomorrow? Oh, how it whirls and surges! I start after them. People drive this way and that. The white light splutters and pours.