Imagine that you are Daphne. Tellus about your visit to the morning-room.

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CHAPTER 7

When I heard the sound of the car in the drive, I got up in sudden panic, glancing at the clock, for I knew that it meant Beatrice and her husband had arrived. They were much earlier than I had expected. And Maxim was not yet back. I wondered if it would be possible to hide, to get out of the window, into the garden so that Frith, bringing them to the morning-room, would say, "Madam must have gone out", and it would seem quite natural.

I went quickly into the big drawing-room and made for a door near me on the left. It led into a long dark corridor that I had not seen before, and I ran along it until I came to a little alcove, set in an outside wall,

where a broad window gave me light at last. I looked out and saw below me the grass lawns stretching to the sea, and the sea itself.

It was closer than I had thought, much closer. I knew that I had made the round of the house, and was stand­ing in the corridor of the west wing. Yes, Mrs. Danvers was right. You could hear the sea from here. Somehow I was glad my rooms were in the east wing. I preferred the rose-garden to the sound of the sea. I went back to the landing, and prepared to go down, when I heard the door behind me open, and it was Mrs. Danvers. We stared at one another for a moment without speaking, and I felt the colour come up into my face.

"I lost my way," I said, "I was trying to find my room."

"You have come to the opposite side of the house," she said; "this is the west wing." "Yes, I know," I said.

"Perhaps you would like me to show you all over the west wing?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I'd rather not," I said. "No, I must go downstairs." I began to walk down the stairs, and she came with me, by my side, as though she were a guard, and I was a prisoner.

I went down the big stairway into the hall, knowing she was standing there above me, her eyes watching me. I knew I had to go back now, to the morning-room, and meet Maxim's sister and her husband. I could not hide in my bedroom now.

I stood for a moment outside the morning-room with my hand on the door, listening to the hum of voices. Maxim had returned, while I had been upstairs, bringing his agent with him I suppose, for it sounded to me as if the room was full of people. I turned the handle of the

door and was met at once, it seemed, with a sea of faces and a general silence.

"Here she is at last," said Maxim. "Where have you been hiding? We were thinking of sending out a search party. Here is Beatrice, and this is Giles, and this is

Frank Crawley."

Beatrice was tall, broad-shouldered, very handsome, very much like Maxim about the eyes, but not as snobbish as I had expected, much simpler. She did not kiss me. She shook hands very firmly, looking me straight in the eyes, and then turned to Maxim. "Quite different from what I expected. Doesn't answer to your description at all."

Everyone laughed, and I joined in, not quite certain if the laugh was against me or not, wondering secretly what it was she had expected, and what had been Max­im's description.

She was examining me from head to foot, as I had expected, but in a direct, straightforward fashion, not maliciously like Mrs. Danvers, not with unfriendliness. She had a right to judge me, she was Maxim's sister, and Maxim himself came to my help, putting his arm through mine, giving me confidence.

We were discussing our journey to Italy when the door opened and Frith announced that lunch was served. We all got up and walked through the drawing-room to the hall, Beatrice and I a little ahead of the men. She was taking my arm.

"You know," she said, "you are even younger than 1 had expected. Maxim told me your age, but you're an absolute child. Tell me, are you very much in love

with him?"

I was not prepared for this question, and she must have seen the surprise in my face, for she laughed light­ly, and squeezed my arm.

"Don't answer," she said. "I can see what you feel. You mustn't mind me. I'm devoted to Maxim, you know, though we always bicker like cat and dog when we meet. I congratulate you on his looks. We were all very wor­ried about him this time last year, but of course you know the whole story." I wondered what Beatrice would say if she realized that I knew nothing of that preceding year, no details of the tragedy that had happened there, in the bay, that Maxim kept these things to himself and I never questioned him.

Lunch passed off better than I had dared to hope. When it was over Maxim said, "Beatrice, take her out in the garden; she hasn't seen the place yet."

We went out to the terrace and walked down to the green lawns.

"Tell me about yourself," said Beatrice; "what were you doing in the south of France? Living with some shocking American woman, Maxim said."

I explained about Mrs. Van Hopper, and she seemed sympathetic but listened a little absently, as though she were thinking of something else.

"Yes," she said, when I paused, "it all happened very suddenly, as you say. But of course we were all delight­ed, my dear, and I do hope¹ you will be happy."

"Thank you, Beatrice," I said, "thank you very much."

"When Maxim wrote me," she went on, taking my arm, "that he had discovered you in the south of France, and you were very young, very pretty, I must admit it gave me a bit of shock. We all expected a so­cial butterfly, very modern and plastered with make­up, the sort of girl you expected to meet in those sort

of places. When you came into the morning-room be­fore lunch, you could have knocked me down with

a feather¹.

She laughed, and I laughed with her. But she did not say whether or not she was disappointed by my ap­pearance or relieved.

"Poor Maxim," she said, "he went through an awful time, and let's hope you will make him forget about it. Of course he adores Manderley. By the way, how do you get on with Mrs. Danvers?" she asked suddenly.

I bent down and began stroking Jasper's ears. "I have not seen very much of her," I said; "she frightens me

a little."

"Did she seem friendly?"

"No," I said. "No, not very."

"I dare say she will get over it in time," said Beat­rice, "but it may make things rather unpleasant for you at first. Of course she's insanely jealous."

"Why?" I asked, looking up at her. "Why should she be jealous? Maxim does not seem to be particularly fond

of her."

"My dear child, it's not Maxim she's thinking of," said Beatrice; "I think she respects him and all that², but nothing more. She resents your being here, that's

the trouble."

"Why?" I said. "Why should she resent me?"

"I though you knew. I thought Maxim had told you. She simply adored Rebecca."

"Oh," I said. "Oh, I see."

We both went on stroking Jasper, who, unaccustomed to such attention, rolled over on his back in ecstasy.

I do hope — я очень надеюсь (глагол do служит для уси­ления)

¹ to knock down with a feather — ошеломить

² and all that — и все такое

"Here are the men," said Beatrice, "let's have some chairs out and sit under the chestnut."

We all went and sat down under the chestnut tree. Prom time to time I caught Beatrice's eye upon me as though she were saying to herself: "What on earth does Maxim see in her?" but it was kind, not unfriendly.

I listened to the conversation, leaning against Max­im's arm. He stroked my hand absently, talking to Bea­trice.

"That's what I do to Jasper," I thought. "I'm be­ing like Jasper now, leaning against him. He pats me now and again¹ when he remembers, and I'm pleased. He likes me in the way he likes Jasper."

"Well, I suppose we ought to be off," said Beatrice, brushing the grass from her skirt. We got up. "Come and see us if you feel like it," she said. "I always expect people to come without invitations. Life is too short to send out invitations."

"Thank you very much," I said. Beatrice took my hand, and bending down gave me a swift kiss on my cheek. "Good-bye," she said; "forgive me if I've asked you a lot of rude questions, my dear, and said all sorts of things I shouldn't. Tact never was my strong point, as Maxim will tell you. And, as I told you, you're not a bit what I expected." She looked at me direct and then took a cigarette from her bag, and flashed her lighter.

"You see," she said walking down the stairs, "you are so different from Rebecca."

And we came out on to the steps and found that the sun had gone behind a cloud, a little thin rain was fall­ing, and Frith was hurrying across the lawn to bring in the chairs.

¹ now and again — время от времени

Activities

Pre-reading Task

Practise the pronunciation of the following words:

alcove, guard, dare, jealous, feather, maliciously. ['aslkauv] [ga:d] [des] ['d3ebs] ['ґебо] [ms'hjbsli]

Щ Vocabulary and Grammar Tasks

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1407