Hallowe'en Party / Вечеринка на Хэллоуин. Книга для чтения на английском языке

A smallish boy entered in some condition of shyness.

�Mummy sent these mirrors to see if they’d do,’ he said in a slightly breathless voice.

Mrs Drake took them from him.

�Thank you so much, Eddy,’ she said.

�They’re just ordinary looking hand-mirrors,’ said the girl called Ann. �Shall we really see our future husbands’ faces in them?’

�Some of you may and some may not,’ said Judith Butler.

�Did you ever see your husband’s face when you went to a party—I mean this kind of a party?’

�Of course she didn’t,’ said Joyce.

�She might have,’ said the superior Beatrice. �E.S.P. they call it. Extra sensory perception[13 - Extra sensory perception – экстрасенсорное восприятие],’ she added in the tone of one pleased with being thoroughly conversant with the terms of the times.

�I read one of your books,’ said Ann to Mrs Oliver. �The Dying Goldfish. It was quite good,’ she said kindly.

�I didn’t like that one,’ said Joyce.

�There wasn’t enough blood in it. I like murders to have lots of blood.’

�A bit messy,’ said Mrs Oliver, �don’t you think?’

�But exciting,’ said Joyce.

�Not necessarily,’ said Mrs Oliver.

�I saw a murder once,’ said Joyce.

�Don’t be silly, Joyce,’ said Miss Whittaker, the school-teacher.

�I did,’ said Joyce.

�Did you really?’ asked Cathie, gazing at Joyce with wide eyes, �really and truly see a murder?’

�Of course she didn’t,’ said Mrs Drake.

�Don’t say silly things, Joyce.’

�I did see a murder,’ said Joyce. �I did. I did. I did.’

A seventeen-year-old boy poised on a ladder looked down interestedly.

�What kind of a murder?’ he asked.

�I don’t believe it,’ said Beatrice.

�Of course not,’ said Cathie’s mother. �She’s just making it up.’

�I’m not. I saw it.’

�Why didn’t you go to the police about it?’ asked Cathie.

�Because I didn’t know it was a murder when I saw it.

It wasn’t really till a long time afterwards, I mean, that I began to know that it was a murder. Something that somebody said only about a month or two ago suddenly made me think: Of course, that was a murder I saw.’

�You see,’ said Ann, �she’s making it all up. It’s nonsense.’

�When did it happen?’ asked Beatrice.

�Years ago,’ said Joyce. �I was quite young at the time,’ she added.