The Woman in White / Женщина в белом

”

I remember that she escapes from an Asylum – a place where mad people are kept.

“You don’t think I should go back there, do you?” she said, looking at me worriedly. “I’m not mad and I’ve done nothing wrong. I was shut up in the Asylum by a man who is very cruel.”

“Certainly not. I am glad you escaped from it – I am glad I helped you.”

“Yes, yes, you did help me indeed,” she went on. “It was easy to escape. They never suspected me as they suspected the others. I was so quiet, and so obedient, and so easily frightened.

“Had you no father or mother to take care of you?”

“Father? – I never saw him – I never heard mother speak of him. Father? Ah, dear! he is dead, I suppose.”

“And your mother?”

“I don’t get on well with her.[43 - I don’t get on well with her. – Я с ней не лажу.] We are a trouble and a fear to each other. Don’t ask me about mother.

Suddenly she looked at me with a new expression. “How is Miss Fairlie?” she asked.

“I’m afraid Miss Fairlie was not very well or very happy this morning,” I said.

She murmured a few words, but they were spoken in such a low tone, that I could not even guess at what they meant.

“Miss Fairlie has received your letter this morning. You did write that letter, didn’t you, Anne?”

* * *

“How do you know?” she said faintly. “Who showed it to you?” The blood rushed back into her face.

“Yes,” I said, “you wrote it, and you know about it. It was wrong to send such a letter, it was wrong to frighten Miss Fairlie. If you had anything to say that it was right and necessary for her to hear, you should have gone yourself to Limmeridge House – you should have spoken to the young lady with your own lips.”

Anne sank down on her knees with her arms round the cross, and made no reply.

“Miss Fairlie will keep your secret,” I went on, “and not let you come to any harm. Will you see her tomorrow at the farm? Will you meet her in the garden at Limmeridge House?”

“Oh!” Her lips murmured the words close on the grave-stone. “You know how I love your child! Oh, Mrs. Fairlie! Mrs. Fairlie! Tell me how to save her. Be my darling and my mother once more, and tell me what to do for the best.”

I heard her lips kissing the stone.