- •I wrapped my hanky round my thumb and got myself organized. George
- •I was known as Needle.
- •I stood silently among the people, watching. As you will see, I wasn't in a
- •I took a good look at this man accompanying Kathleen. It was her husband.
- •It was not for me to speak to Kathleen, but I had a sudden inspiration which
- •I must explain that I departed this life nearly five years ago. But I did not
- •Inspired to it. Indeed it's one of the things I can't do now — to speak out,
- •I taught in a private school in Kensington, for almost three months, very
- •I didn't love Skinny so I gave him back the ring.
- •I accompanied the party as a sort of secretary. Skinny vouched for me, he
- •I had broken off our engagement, lectured me about this, but still he took me
- •I'm busy in the hat-shop and being presented. You would think he hadn't
- •I must say I was myself a bit off-put by this news about the brown woman. I
- •Intelligent than a mule and sturdier than a horse. But I'm not having any
- •I was able to live on the fee I got for writing a gossip column in a local
- •I met George once more in a hotel in Bulawayo. We drank highballs and
- •I had half a mind to marry Skinny; perhaps, I thought, when his studies
- •I had already heard about the baby girl. Coal black, by repute, with
- •Impotence and need I secreted a venom which infected all my life for days on
- •I was nearly sick. One, because of my Scottish upbringing. Two, because of
- •I returned to England with Skinny's party just before the war.
- •I did not see George again till just before my death, five years ago.
- •I was waiting to write about life and it seemed to me that the good fortune lay in
- •I thought of my type of luck after I became a Catholic and was being
- •I visited Skinny twice in the two years that he was in the sanatorium. He was
- •Very close friends. We met several times each week, and after our Saturday-
- •If we had felt moved to do so.
- •I ought to get in touch with poor George. But then I think he would write
- •I did not speak of George's marriage, nor of any of his confidences in the
- •Impatience with him in former days; she said,
- •In the course of the morning he had told her of his wartime nightclub in
- •I was curious to see this version of George, but I was leaving for Scotland
- •Visited at week-ends; this old lady lived a few miles from Kathleen's aunt,
- •I should go ahead of her in the early afternoon to see to the provisions for our
- •I said no, I liked an empty house.
- •It was like a treasure hunt as I followed clue after clue through the cool silent
- •I found myself speaking to him almost as if he were a child.
- •I giggled, and looked at him. His face had grown much larger, his lips full, wide,
- •I still kept up. They referred to her as "George's Dark Lady" and of course
- •I said, "If Kathleen intends to marry you, I shall tell her that you're already
- •Vest year. Unfortunately, the byreman's hands were even brawnier and
- •If I hadn't been wearing my long-sleeved cardigan, it was said, the bruises
- •I dashed his hopes. I said, "Hallo, George!"
- •In that convivial street. I thought to myself. "He looks as if he had a mouthful
- •I might have been inspired to say more on that agreeable morning, but he
- •I doubt if George will ever see me again in the Portobello Road. He broods
- •Its few drooping tenants. They huddled together like birds in a storm; their
- •I was waiting for friends to come and pick me up on their way to Venice.
- •Importance was permitted to dawn upon strangers.
- •In the garden, strangely standing on a path between the flowers for
- •I climbed the lower slopes of the mountains while the experts in their boots
- •I was moved by the sight. The girl called Mitzi was watching me as I stood
- •In the kitchen doorway. "Coffee?'' she said.
- •I saw a black lacquered cabinet inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and just
- •I went into the polished dining-room, and Mitzi brought my coffee there.
- •It was that very day that the nuisance occurred. The double windows of my
- •It was a cold day. I sat in my room writing letters. I glanced out of the
- •I looked up a few moments later, and this time Herr Stroh was seated on a
- •I left my room and went down to complain to Frau Lublonitsch.
- •I returned to my room. Herr Stroh still sat in position, the field-glasses in
- •In his doorway blinking up at the roof of the Guest-house Lublonitsch. He
- •I didn't want to draw his attention by following the line of his gaze but I
- •In Frau Lublonitsch's splendid bedroom.
- •I turned the comer just as Herr Stroh gave up his gazing; he went indoors,
- •It while I waited for someone to come. I did not have to wait long, for two
- •Indeed were there, but invisible.
- •In the peeling pastel stucco of the little town, the unnecessary floral balconies,
- •Intrigued her.
- •Impassive neck.
- •Is she —"
- •Insurance manager. The successful kind."
- •I think twenty-two. I am twenty-two so far as Richard's concerned. I don't
- •If you want to be successful with men you have to hang on to your youth."
- •Invitation must come from Richard."
- •Valley.
- •I felt the need of his support. "
- •Including Gwen. The one called Grace was quite pretty, with a bewildered
- •I put on my dark glasses to shield my eyes from the sun and conceal my
- •It is discouraging to put on sun glasses in the middle of someone's intimate
- •I was sent to have my eyes tested. He took me into the darkened interior
- •I had seen Miss Simmonds once before, at a garden fete, where she stood on
- •I stopped looking round. I said. "Read what?" for I had been told I would
- •I recall reading the letters correctly down to the last few lines, which were
- •I broke the glasses by sitting on them during my school holidays two years
- •I washed my hair the night before and put a wave in it. Next morning at
- •I smiled and put my hand in my blazer pocket.
- •I formed an idea of his private life. "Dorothy" I speculated, "and Basil." I let
- •Is it to her?"
- •I invented for myself a recurrent scene in which brother and sister
- •I was sent for to try on my new reading glasses. I had the hat-pin with me I
- •I said, "Grandmother said to inquire after your mother."
- •I took to giving Basil a charming smile when I passed him in the street on
- •I took walks before supper round the back lanes, ambling right round the
- •Visible from the window. He laid it side by side with another sheet of paper
- •Ink and started writing on the bottom of the sheet of paper before him,
- •I shivered in my soaking wet clothes. Dorothy looked with her eye at the
- •I took them into Mr. Simmonds early that afternoon.
- •I had smeared them with cold cream first.
- •Interrupted:
- •I noted her correct phrase, "Are these they?" and it seemed just over the
- •Vicious, in the wrong.
- •I started screaming when I got home, and was given a sedative. By evening
- •It was put down to an accident. There was a strong hope that Miss
- •I said, "The bottle may have been tampered with, have you thought of
- •I was attended by our woman doctor, the widow of the town's former
- •I saw Dr. Gray leaving the Simmonds' at six o'clock one evening. She must
- •I walked on, certain that he had known my guilty suspicions all along.
- •I had come to the summer school to lecture on history and she on
- •Inmost lives. This is probably because they spend so much time hearing out
- •It and myself looked back at myself through the dark water. I looked at Dr.
- •I took them off for a moment. I rather liked her for her innocence in not
- •I had my glasses on again, and was walking on.
- •I thought, neither had I.
- •I said, "He might have stopped seeing eyes if you'd taken him at his word."
- •I could hardly believe she was shouting, who previously had been so calm.
- •I think it was then she recognised me.
- •It there and then. You see, he had to do it while it was still wet."
- •Vestments, or at least lace veil.
- •Vestments.
- •Instance, when a local Town Councillor resigned his office Raymond said,
- •In this particular, from the prejudices of that middle class to which they as
- •Introduce them to so many people." For the dark pair had, within a month,
- •In eyes, skin, teeth, which made him seem all the more eager. He called out
- •Irritated Lou, though she kept her peace.
- •Very well by Elizabeth." They had pulled up outside the house where
- •I'm not going to leave my kids in no nursery. I'm not going to send them to no
- •In that he took a tubercular turn, which was followed by a religious one. He
- •Very delicate question. She was amazed when, within three weeks, Oxford
- •In previous numbers, various references to the Black Madonna, how she had
- •It was the Saturday before that Sunday when Lou had her first sick turn.
- •In the next parish magazine. "Another case has come to light of the kindly
- •In fact, it was a very easy birth, a girl. Raymond was allowed in to see Lou
- •In the late afternoon. She was half asleep. "The nurse will take you to see the
- •In the other cots. "Far more so than the others."
- •Isn't hers, which is ridiculous."
- •Very long chance. I've never known it happen in my experience, but I've
- •Inquire after Lou. He rather regretted smashing up the cot in his first fury.
- •It white."
- •It must be back in the olden days the nigro some ansester but it is only nature.
- •I thank the almighty it has missed my kids and your hubby must think it was
Inspired to it. Indeed it's one of the things I can't do now — to speak out,
unless inspired. And, most extraordinary, on that morning as I spoke, a degree
of visibility set in. I suppose from poor George's point of view it was like
seeing a ghost when he saw me standing by the fruit barrow repeating in so
friendly a manner, "Hallo, George!"
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We were bound for the south (мы направлялись на юг; to be bound for some
place (to bind — вязать); south — юг). When our education (когда наше
образование), what we could get of it from the north (все, что мы могли
получить от него на севере; north — север), was thought to be finished (как
полагали, было закончено: «было подумано быть оконченным»), one by one
(один за другим) we were sent or sent for to London (мы были отправлены или
приглашены в Лондон; to send (sent, sent) — отправить, to send for —
пригласить, послать за кем-либо). John Skinner whom we called Skinny (Джон
Скиннер, которого мы звали Скинни; Skinny — тощий, кожа да кости: skin
— кожа) went to study more archaeology (уехал изучать археологию дальше:
«больше археологии»), George to join his uncle's tobacco farm (Джордж /уехал/,
чтобы присоединиться к своему дяде на табачной плантации: «ферме»),
Kathleen to stay with her rich connexions (Кэтлин /уехала/, чтобы погостить у
богатых родственников; to stay with smb; connexions — связи, знакомства) and
to potter intermittently (и периодически бездельничать; to potter — заниматься
ерундой; intermittently — периодически; прерываясь) in the Mayfair hat-shop (в
шляпном магазине, расположенном в районе Мэйфэр; hat (шляпа) + shop
(магазин); Mayfair — фешенебельный район Лондона) which one of them
owned (которым владел один из них (т.е. родственников)). A little later
(немного позже) I also went to London to see life (я тоже отправилась в Лондон
посмотреть жизнь), for it was my ambition to write about life (так как моей
мечтой было писать о жизни; ambition — честолюбие, стремление), which
first I had to see (которую /жизнь/ я сперва должна была увидеть).
archaeology ["Q:kI'OlqGI] tobacco [tq'bxkqV] connexion [kq'nekS(q)n]
intermittently ["Intq'mIt(q)ntlI]
We were bound for the south. When our education, what we could get of it
from the north, was thought to be finished, one by one we were sent or sent
for to London. John Skinner whom we called Skinny went to study more
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archaeology, George to join his uncle's tobacco farm, Kathleen to stay with
her rich connexions and to potter intermittently in the Mayfair hat-shop which
one of them owned. A little later I also went to London to see life, for it was my
ambition to write about life, which first I had to see.
"We four must stick together," (мы четверо должны держаться вместе; stick
together) George said very often (Джордж говорил очень часто) in that yearning
way of his (в своей жалобной манере; to yearn — томиться, тосковать (for,
after — по ком-л., чем-л.)). He was always desperately afraid of neglect (он всегда
отчаянно боялся быть покинутым друзьями: «забвения»). We four looked
likely to shift off (мы четверо кажется, были готовы разъехаться: «выглядели
вероятно переместиться») in different directions (в разных направлениях) and
George did not trust the other three of us (и Джордж не доверял нам троим:
«другим трем нам») not to forget all about him (что мы его не забудем: «не
забыть все о нем»). More and more (еще и еще = все больше и больше) as the
time came for him (как подходило время ему) to depart for his uncle's tobacco
farm in Africa (отправляться на табачную плантацию своего дяди в Африке)
he said (он говорил),
"We four must keep in touch (мы четверо должны поддерживать связь друг с
другом; a touch — прикосновение, касание)."
yearning ['jq:nIN] desperately ['desp(q)rItlI] touch [tAC]
"We four must stick together," George said very often in that yearning way
of his. He was always desperately afraid of neglect. We four looked likely to
shift off in different directions and George did not trust the other three of us
not to forget all about him. More and more as the time came for him to depart
for his uncle's tobacco farm in Africa he said,
"We four must keep in touch."
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19
And before he left (и до того, как он уехал) he told each of us anxiously (он
сказал каждому из нас с волнением),
"I'll write regularly (я буду писать регулярно), once a month (раз в месяц). We
must keep together (мы должны держаться вместе) for the sake of the old times
(во имя прошлого: «старых времен»)." He had three prints taken from the
negative (он сделал три отпечатка с негатива) of that photo on the haystack (той
фотографии на стоге сена), wrote on the back of them (написал на обороте
каждой из них), "George took this (Джордж сделал эту фотографию: «Джордж
взял это») the day that Needle found the needle (в день, когда Игла нашла
иголку)" and gave us a copy each (и дал нам каждому по копии). I think we
all wished (я думаю, что мы все хотели) he could become a bit more callous
(чтобы он мог стать немного более черствым).
anxiously ['xNkSqslI] wish [wIS] callous ['kxlqs]
And before he left he told each of us anxiously,
"I'll write regularly, once a month. We must keep together for the sake of the
old times." He had three prints taken from the negative of that photo on the
haystack, wrote on the back of them, "George took this the day that Needle
found the needle" and gave us a copy each. I think we all wished he could
become a bit more callous.
During my lifetime I was a drifter (в течение моей жизни я была бродягой; life
(жизнь) + time (время); to drift — медленно передвигаться, плыть по
течению),
nothing
organized
(никакой
стабильности:
«ничего
организованного»). It was difficult for my friends (друзьям было сложно: «это
было трудно для моих друзей») to follow the logic of my life (следовать логике
моей жизни). By the normal reckonings (с обычной точки зрения: «при обычном
расчете») I should have come to starvation and ruin (я должна была прийти к
голоданию и разорению), which I never did (чего я никогда не сделала = не
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20
пришла к этому). Of course (конечно), I did not live to write about life as I
wanted to do (я не смогла заниматься описанием жизни, как я того хотела: «не
сделала жить чтобы писать о жизни»). Possibly that is why (возможно вот
почему) I am inspired to do so now (у меня есть вдохновение: «я вдохновлена»
делать это /описывать жизнь/ сейчас) in these peculiar circumstances (при этих
странных обстоятельствах).
drifter ['drIftq] logic ['lOGIk] reckoning ['rekqnIN] peculiar [pI'kju:lIq]
During my lifetime I was a drifter, nothing organized. It was difficult for my
friends to follow the logic of my life. By the normal reckonings I should have
come to starvation and ruin, which I never did. Of course, I did not live to
write about life as I wanted to do. Possibly that is why I am inspired to do so
now in these peculiar circumstances.
I taught in a private school in Kensington (я преподавала в частной школе в
Кенсингтоне; to teach (taught, taught), Kensington — район в Лондоне) for
almost three months (почти три месяца), very small children (очень маленьких
детей). I didn't know what to do with them (я не знала, что делать с ними) but I
was kept fairly busy (но я была полностью занята; to keep smb busy — занимать
кого-либо) escorting incontinent little boys to the lavatory (сопровождая
маленьких мальчиков, страдающих недержанием, в туалет) and telling the
little girls to use their handkerchiefs (и говоря маленьким девочкам пользоваться
своими носовыми платками). After that I lived a winter holiday in London on my
small capital (после того, как я провела: «прожила» зимние каникулы в Лондоне,
на свой небольшой: «маленький» капитал) and when that had run out (и когда он
кончился; to run — бежать, to run out — выбегать, кончаться) I found a
diamond bracelet in the cinema (я нашла бриллиантовый браслет в кинотеатре)
for which I received a reward of fifty pounds (за который я получила
вознаграждение в пятьдесят фунтов; pound — зд. фунт стерлингов).
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incontinent [In'kOntInqnt] lavatory ['lxvqt(q)rI] handkerchief ['hxNkqCIf]