The Gypsy
continued from No. 12III
'Good Lord, my nerves are in a rotten state,' muttered Macfarlane, as he awoke the following morning. He reviewed the events of the afternoon before dispassionately. The motor, the short-cut to the inn and the sudden mist that had made him lose his way with the knowledge that a dangerous bog was no distance off. Then the chimney pot that had fallen off the inn, and the smell of burning in the night which he had traced to a cinder on his hearthrug. Nothing in it at all! Nothing at all – but for her words, and that deep unacknowledged certainty in his heart that she knew...
He flung off his bedclothes with sudden energy. He must go up and see her first thing. That would break the spell. That is, if he got there safely ... Lord, what a fool he was!
He could eat little breakfast. Ten o'clock saw him starting up the road. At ten-thirty his hand was on the bell. Then, and not till then, he permitted himself to draw a long breath of relief.
'Is Mr Haworth in?'
It was the same elderly woman who had opened the door before. But her face was different – ravaged with grief.
'Oh! sir, oh! sir, you haven't heard then?'
'Heard what?'
'Miss Alistair, the pretty lamb. It was her tonic. She took it every night. The poor captain is beside himself, he's nearly mad. He took the wrong bottle off the shelf in the dark... They sent for the doctor, but he was too late – '
And swiftly there recurred to Macfarlane the words: 'I've always known there was something dreadful hanging over him. I ought to be able to prevent it happening – if one ever can – 'Ah! but one couldn't cheat Fate ... Strange fatality of vision that had destroyed where it sought to save...
The old servant went on: 'My pretty lamb! So sweet and gentle she was, and so sorry for anything in trouble. Couldn't bear anyone to be hurt.' She hesitated, then added: 'Would you like to go up and see her, sir? I think, from what she said, that you must have known her long ago. A very long time ago, she said...'
Macfarlane followed the old woman up the stairs, into the room over the drawing-room where he had heard the voice singing the day before. There was stained glass at the top of the windows. It threw a red light on the head of the bed... A gypsy with a red handkerchief over her head... Nonsense, his nerves were playing tricks again. He took a long last look at Alistair Haworth.
EXERCISES
1. Translate the following word combinations into Russian. Describe the situations in which they were used.
• in a rotten state
• to review the events
• to break the spell
• to draw a long breath of relief
• ravaged with grief
• to be beside oneself
2. Put the sentences in the right order.
a. Ten o'clock saw him starting up the road.
b. …but one couldn't cheat Fate...
c. He reviewed the events of the afternoon before dispassionately.
d. It was the same elderly woman who had opened the door before.
e. He took a long last look at Alistair Haworth.
f. Macfarlane followed the old woman up the stairs, into the room over the drawing-room where he had heard the voice singing the day before.
g. He flung off his bedclothes with sudden energy.
Answers: 1. c; 2. g; 3. a; 4. d; 5. b; 6. f; 7. e
3. Say why:
1. Macfarlane’s nerves were in a rotten state.
2. Macfarlane rushed to Mrs. Haworth.
3. Mrs. Haworth died.
4. Comment on the words: ‘But one couldn’t cheat Fate.’
5. Tell what happened in the third part from the point of view of
– Macfarlane
– Maurice
– the elderly servant
IV
'There's a lady to see you, sir.'
‘Eh?' Macfarlane looked at the landlady abstractedly. 'Oh! I beg your pardon, Mrs. Rowse, I've been seeing ghosts.'
'Not really, sir? There's queer things to be seen on the moor after nightfall, I know. There's the white lady, and the Devil's blacksmith, and the sailor and the gypsy –'
'What's that? A sailor and a gypsy?'
'So they say, sir. It was quite a tale in my young days. Crossed in love they were, a while back... But they've not walked for many a long day now.'
'No? I wonder if perhaps – they will again now...'
'Lord! sir, what things you do say! About that young la-dy – '
'What young lady?'
'The one that's waiting to see you. She's in the parlour. Miss Lawes, she said her name was.'
'Oh!'
Rachel! He felt a curious feeling of contraction, a shifting of perspective. He had been peeping through at another world. He had forgotten Rachel, for Rachel belonged to this life only ... Again that curious shifting of perspective, that slipping back to a world of three dimensions only.
He opened the parlour door. Rachel – with her honest brown eyes. And suddenly, like a man awakening from a dream, a warm rush of glad reality swept over him. He was alive – alive! He thought: 'There's only one life one can be sure about! This one!'
'Rachel!' he said, and, lifting her chin, he kissed her lips.
EXERCISES
1. Translate the following words and word combinations into Russian. Describe the situations in which they were used.
• to look abstractedly
• a shifting of perspective
• to peep through at another world
• dimension
• to awaken from a dream
2. What role does the story of long-gone ghosts seen on the moor play?
3. Comment on Macfarlane’s words: ‘There’s only one life one can be sure about! This one!’
4. Continue the story. Imagine what will happen to the characters in the future.
KEY:
Across: 3. pallor; 4. maternity; 8. fate; 10. reincarnation; 11. dimension; 13. engagement; 15. spell; 17. operation; 18. terror; 19. gift; 21. craving; 22. victim; 23. dream
Down: 1. gypsy; 2. nurse; 5. magnificence; 6. aversion; 7. marble; 9. anaesthetic; 12. relief; 14. nightmare; 16. moor; 20. trick
Final Discussion
Task 1. Answer the following questions:
1. What is the main idea of the story?
2. Do you believe in fate? Why?
3. Do you believe in second sight? Why?
4. Can people change or cheat their fate?
5. Would you like to know your future? Why?
Task 2. Read and translate the quotations below. Choose one of them and say if you agree or disagree with the author’s point of view. Expand his idea.
• Fate will find a way. (Virgil)
• It is usually more important how a man meets his fate than what it is. (Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt)
• Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds. (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
• Just because Fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you get to their maximum potential. (Les Brown)
• I believe that fate is choices – it's not chance. (Wayne Newton)
• Fate, or some mysterious force, can put the finger on you or me, for no good reason at all. (Martin Goldsmith)
• Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat. (Elizabeth Bowen)
• If you can't change your fate, change your attitude. (Charles Revson)
• There is no armor against fate. (James Shirley)
• Fate determines many things, no matter how we struggle. (Otto Weininger)
Revision
Solve the crossword.
Across:
3. When someone's skin is very pale in a way that makes them look weak or unhealthy.
4. Relating to a woman who is pregnant or who has just had a baby.
8. A power that is believed to control what happens in people's lives.
10. The belief that after someone dies their soul lives again in another body.
11. A direction in space that is at an angle of 90 degrees to two other directions.
13. An agreement between two people to marry.
15. A piece of magic that someone does, or a power that attracts, interests, and influences you very strongly.
17. The process of cutting into someone's body to repair or remove a part that is damaged.
18. A feeling of extreme fear.
19. An ability that is given to you by God.
21. An extremely strong desire for something.
22. A person or animal that is killed and offered as a sacrifice to a god.
23. A wish to do, be, or have something.
Down:
1. A member of a group of people originally from India, who traditionally live and travel around in caravans, and who now live all over the world.
2. Someone whose job is to look after people who are ill or injured, usually in a hospital.
5. A quality of being very good or beautiful, and very impressive.
6. A strong dislike of something or someone.
7. A type of hard rock that becomes smooth when it is polished, and is used for making buildings, statues etc.
9. A drug that stops you feeling pain.
12. A feeling of comfort when something frightening, worrying, or painful has ended or has not happened.
14. A very frightening dream, or a very difficult, unpleasant, or frightening experience or situation.
16. A wild open area of high land, covered with rough grass or low bushes and heather, that is not farmed because the soil is not good enough.
20. Something that makes things appear to be different from the way they really are.