I sat there, on the grass by the stream among the water flowers with thelittle paths and the stepping stones all round us. A good many other peoplewere sitting round about us, but we didn’t notice them or even see theywere there, because we were like all the others. Young couples, talkingabout their future. I stared at her and stared at her. I just couldn’t speak.
“Mike,” she said. “There’s something, something I’ve got to tell you.
Something about me, I mean.”
“You don’t need to,” I said, “no need to tell me anything.”
“Yes, but I must. I ought to have told you long ago but I didn’t want tobecause—because I thought it might drive you away. But it explains in away, about Gipsy’s Acre.”
“You bought it?” I said. “But how did you buy it?”
“Through lawyers,” she said, “the usual way. It’s a perfectly1 good invest-ment, you know. The land will appreciate. My lawyers were quite happyabout it.”
It was odd suddenly to hear Ellie, the gentle and timid2 Ellie, speakingwith such knowledge and confidence of the business world of buying andselling.
“You bought it for us?”
“Yes. I went to a lawyer of my own, not the family one. I told him what Iwanted to do, I got him to look into it, I got everything set up and in train.
There were two other people after it but they were not really desperateand they wouldn’t go very high. The important thing was that the wholething had to be set up and arranged ready for me to sign as soon as I cameof age. It’s signed and finished.”
“But you must have made some deposit3 or something beforehand4. Hadyou enough money to do that?”
“No,” said Ellie, “no, I hadn’t control of much money beforehand, but ofcourse there are people who will advance you money. And if you go to anew firm of legal advisers5, they will want you to go on employing them forbusiness deals once you’ve come into what money you’re going to have sothey’re willing to take the risk that you might drop down dead before yourbirthday comes.”
“You sound so businesslike,” I said, “you take my breath away!”
“Never mind business,” said Ellie, “I’ve got to get back to what I’m tellingyou. In a way I’ve told it you already, but I don’t suppose really you realizeit.”
“I don’t want to know,” I said. My voice rose, I was almost shouting.
“Don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to know anything about what you’vedone or who you’ve been fond of or what has happened to you.”
“It’s nothing of that kind,” she said. “I didn’t realize that that was whatyou were fearing it might be. No, there’s nothing of that kind. No sexsecrets. There’s nobody but you. The thing is that I’m—well—I’m rich.”
“I know that,” I said, “you’ve told me already.”
“Yes,” said Ellie with a faint smile, “and you said to me, ‘poor little richgirl.’ But in a way it’s more than that. My grandfather, you see, wasenormously rich. Oil. Mostly oil. And other things. The wives he paid ali-mony to are dead, there was only my father and myself left because histwo other sons were killed. One in Korea and one in a car accident. And soit was all left in a great big huge trust and when my father died suddenly,it all came to me. My father had made provision6 for my stepmother before,so she didn’t get anything more. It was all mine. I’m—actually one of therichest women in America, Mike.”
“Good Lord,” I said. “I didn’t know…Yes, you’re right, I didn’t know itwas like that.”
“I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want to tell you. That was why I wasafraid when I said my name—Fenella Goodman. We spell it G-u-t-e-m-a-n,and I thought you might know the name of Guteman so I slurred7 over itand made it into Goodman.”
“Yes,” I said, “I’ve seen the name Guteman vaguely8. But I don’t think I’dhave recognized it even then. Lots of people are called names rather likethat.”
“That’s why,” she said, “I’ve been so hedged around all the time andfenced in, and imprisoned9. I’ve had detectives guarding me and youngmen being vetted10 before they’re allowed even to speak to me. WheneverI’ve made a friend they’ve had to be quite sure it wasn’t an unsuitable one.
You don’t know what a terrible, terrible prisoner’s life it is! But now that’sall over, and if you don’t mind—”
“Of course I don’t mind,” I said, “we shall have lots of fun. In fact,” I said,“you couldn’t be too rich a girl for me!”
We both laughed. She said: “What I like about you is that you can be nat-ural about things.”
“Besides,” I said, “I expect you pay a lot of tax on it, don’t you? That’sone of the few nice things about being like me. Any money I make goesinto my pocket and nobody can take it away from me.”
“We’ll have our house,” said Ellie, “our house on Gipsy’s Acre.” Just for amoment she gave a sudden little shiver.
“You’re not cold, darling,” I said. I looked up at the sunshine.
“No,” she said.
It was really very hot. We’d been basking11. It might almost have been theSouth of France.
“No,” said Ellie, “it was just that—that woman, that gipsy that day.”
“Oh, don’t think of her,” I said, “she was crazy anyway.”
“Do you think she really thinks there’s a curse on the land?”
“I think gipsies are like that. You know—always wanting to make a songand dance about some curse or something.”
“Do you know much about gipsies?”
“Absolutely nothing,” I said truthfully. “If you don’t want Gipsy’s Acre,Ellie, we’ll buy a house somewhere else. On the top of a mountain inWales, on the coast of Spain or an Italian hillside, and Santonix can buildus a house there just as well.”
“No,” said Ellie, “that’s how I want it to be. It’s where I first saw youwalking up the road, coming round the corner very suddenly, and thenyou saw me and stopped and stared at me. I’ll never forget that.”
“Nor will I,” I said.
“So that’s where it’s going to be. And your friend Santonix will build it.”
“I hope he’s still alive,” I said with an uneasy12 pang13. “He was a sick man.”
“Oh yes,” said Ellie, “he’s alive. I went to see him.”
“You went to see him?”
“Yes. When I was in the South of France. He was in a sanitorium there.”
“Every minute, Ellie, you seem to be more and more amazing. Thethings you do and manage.”
“He’s rather a wonderful person I think,” said Ellie, “but rather frighten-ing.”
“Did he frighten you?”
“Yes, he frightened me very much for some reason.”
“Did you talk to him about us?”
“Yes. Oh yes, I told him all about us and about Gipsy’s Acre and aboutthe house. He told me then that we’d have to take a chance with him. He’sa very ill man. He said he thought he still had the life left in him to go andsee the site, to draw the plans, to visualize14 it and get it all sketched15 out. Hesaid he wouldn’t mind really if he died before the house was finished, butI told him,” added Ellie, “that he mustn’t die before the house was finishedbecause I wanted him to see us live in it.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He asked me if I knew what I was doing marrying you, and I said ofcourse I did.”
“And then?”
“He said he wondered if you knew what you were doing.”
“I know all right,” I said.
“He said ‘You will always know where you’re going, Miss Guteman.’ Hesaid ‘You’ll be going always where you want to go and because it’s yourchosen way.’
“‘But Mike,’ he said, ‘might take the wrong road. He hasn’t grown upenough yet to know where he’s going.’
“I said,” said Ellie, “‘He’ll be quite safe with me.’”
She had superb16 self-confidence. I was angry though at what Santonixhad said. He was like my mother. She always seemed to know more aboutme than I knew myself.
“I know where I’m going,” I said. “I’m going the way I want to go andwe’re going it together.”
“They’ve started pulling down the ruins of The Towers already,” said El-lie.
She began to talk practically.
“It’s to be a rush job as soon as the plans are finished. We must hurry.
Santonix said so. Shall we be married next Tuesday?” said Ellie. “It’s a niceday of the week.”
“With nobody else there,” I said.
“Except Greta,” said Ellie.
“To hell with Greta,” I said, “she’s not coming to our wedding. You and Iand nobody else. We can pull the necessary witnesses out of the street.”
I really think, looking back, that that was the happiest day of my life….
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1
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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timid
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| adj.胆怯的，害羞的 | |
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deposit
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| n.定金，存款，矿藏；vt.使沉淀，寄存，储蓄 | |
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beforehand
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| adj.事先，预先，提前地，超前地 | |
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advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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6
provision
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| n.供应，预备，条款[pl.]给养，口粮 | |
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7
slurred
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| 含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
vetted
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| v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的过去式和过去分词 )；调查；检查；诊疗 | |
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11
basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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uneasy
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| adj.心神不安的，担心的，令人不安的 | |
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13
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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14
visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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15
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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superb
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| adj.高贵的，壮丽的，极好的 | |
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