Любимые повести на английском / Best Short Novels

’

John drew himself up proudly.

�Some of them do,’ he answered, �but not me. Girls don’t do that sort of thing – in Hades.’

Side by side they walked back toward the house.

VI

John stood facing Mr. Braddock Washington in the full sunlight. The elder man was about forty with a proud, vacuous face, intelligent eyes, and a robust figure. In the mornings he smelt of horses – the best horses. He carried a plain walking-stick of gray birch with a single large opal for a grip. He and Percy were showing John around.

�The slaves’ quarters are there.’ His walking-stick indicated a cloister of marble on their left that ran in graceful Gothic along the side of the mountain. �In my youth I was distracted for a while from the business of life by a period of absurd idealism. During that time they lived in luxury. For instance, I equipped every one of their rooms with a tile bath.’

�I suppose,’ ventured John, with an ingratiating laugh, �that they used the bathtubs to keep coal in.

�The opinions of Mr. Schnlitzer-Murphy are of little importance, I should imagine,’ interrupted Braddock Washington, coldly. �My slaves did not keep coal in their bathtubs. They had orders to bathe every day, and they did. If they hadn’t I might have ordered a sulphuric acid shampoo. I discontinued the baths for quite another reason. Several of them caught cold and died. Water is not good for certain races – except as a beverage.

John laughed, and then decided to nod his head in sober agreement. Braddock Washington made him uncomfortable.

�All these negroes are descendants of the ones my father brought North with him. There are about two hundred and fifty now. You notice that they’ve lived so long apart from the world that their original dialect has become an almost indistinguishable patois. We bring a few of them up to speak English – my secretary and two or three of the house servants.

�This is the golf course,’ he continued, as they strolled along the velvet winter grass. �It’s all a green, you see – no fairway, no rough, no hazards.’

He smiled pleasantly at John.

�Many men in the cage, father?’ asked Percy suddenly.

Braddock Washington stumbled, and let forth an involuntary curse.

�One less than there should be,’ he ejaculated darkly – and then added after a moment, �We’ve had difficulties.