Dark Avenues / Темные аллеи. Книга для чтения на английском языке

“But what’s the matter?”

“Oh, leave me alone…”

“But what’s happened?”

She whispers:

“Nothing…”

And jumping down from the window ledge, she runs away.

He shrugs his shoulders:

“Stupid to the point of saintliness!”

В В В В 3rd October 1940

The Visitor

The visitor rang once, twice – it was quiet on the other side of the door, no reply. He pressed the button again, ringing for a long time, insistently, demandingly – heavy running footsteps were heard – and a short wench, sturdy as a fish, all smelling of kitchen fumes, opened up and looked in bewilderment: dull hair, cheap turquoise earrings in thick earlobes, a Finnish face covered in ginger freckles, seemingly oily hands filled with blue-grey blood.

“Why on earth don’t you open up? Asleep, were you?”

“No, sir, you can’t hear a thing in the kitchen, the stove’s ever so noisy,” she replied, continuing to gaze at him in confusion: he was thin, swarthy, with big teeth, a coarse black beard and piercing eyes; he had a grey silk-lined overcoat on his arm, and a grey hat tilted back off his forehead.

“We know all about your kitchen! You’ve probably got a fireman boyfriend sitting with you!”

“No, sir…”

“Well, there you are, then, just you watch out!”

As he spoke, he quickly glanced from the entrance hall into the sunlit drawing room, with its rich red velvet armchairs and, between the windows, a portrait of Beethoven with broad cheekbones.

“And who are you?”

“How do you mean?”

“The new cook?”

“Yes, sir…”

“Fekla? Fedosya?”

“No, sir… Sasha.”

“And the master and mistress aren’t at home, then?”

“The master’s at the newspaper and the mistress has gone to Vasilyevsky Island… to that, what’s it called? Sunday school.

“That’s annoying. Well, never mind, I’ll drop by again tomorrow. So, tell them, say: a frightening dark man came, Adam Adamych. Repeat what I said.”

“Adam Adamych.”

“Correct, my Flemish Eve. Make sure you remember. And for the time being, here’s what…”

He looked around again briskly and threw his coat onto a stand beside a chest:

“Come over here, quickly.