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.“ ‘Let him be,’ I said to her.‘Just let him be.I’ll take care of him.’“Her mouth contorted.‘I’ll throw you all out of here, out into that dark, if you don’t stop.’ She was too weary for this, too close to some breaking point herself.But then she turned her back on us, drawing her shawl tight around her, and padded softly out, the men who’d gathered at the door making way for her.“The Englishman was crying.“I could see what I must do, but it wasn’t only that I wanted so much to learn from him, my heart pounding with silent excitement.It was heartrending to see him this way.Fate brought me too mercilessly close to him.“ ‘I’ll stay with you,’ I offered.And I brought two chairs up beside the table.He sat down heavily, his eyes on the flickering candle at his side.I shut the door, and the walls seemed to recede and the circle of the candle to grow brighter around his bowed head.He leaned back against the sideboard and wiped his face with his handkerchief.Then he drew a leatherbound flask from his pocket and offered it to me, and I said no.“ ‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’“He nodded.‘Perhaps you can bring some sanity to this place,’ he said.‘You’re a Frenchman, aren’t you? You know, I’m English.’“ ‘Yes,’ I nodded.“And then, pressing my hand fervently, the liquor so dulling his senses that he never felt the coldness of it, he told me his name was Morgan and he needed me desperately, more than he’d ever needed anyone in his life.And at that moment, holding that hand, feeling the fever of it, I did a strange thing.I told him my name, which I confided to almost no one.But he was looking at the dead woman as if he hadn’t heard me, his lips forming what appeared to be the faintest smile, the tears standing in his eyes.His expression would have moved any human being; it might have been more than some could bear.“ ‘I did this,’ he said, nodding.‘I brought her here.’ And he raised his eyebrows as if wondering at it.“ ‘No,’ I said quickly.‘You didn’t do it.Tell me who did.’“But then he seemed confused, lost in thought.‘I’d never been out of England,’ he started.‘I was painting, you see…as if it mattered now…the paintings, the book! I thought it all so quaint! So picturesque!’ His eyes moved over the room, his voice trailing off.For a long time he looked at her again, and then softly he said to her, ‘Emily,’ and I felt I’d glimpsed something precious he held to his heart.“Gradually, then, the story began to come.A honeymoon journey, through Germany, into this country, wherever the regular coaches would carry them, wherever Morgan found scenes to paint.And they’d come to this remote place finally because there was a ruined monastery nearby which was said to be a very well-preserved place.“But Morgan and Emily had never reached that monastery.Tragedy had been waiting for them here.“It turned out the regular coaches did not come this way, and Morgan had paid a farmer to bring them by cart.But the afternoon they arrived, there was a great commotion in the cemetery outside of town.The farmer, taking one look, refused to leave his cart to see further.“ ‘It was some kind of procession, it seemed,’ Morgan said, ‘with all the people outfitted in their best, and some with flowers; and the truth was I thought it quite fascinating.I wanted to see it.I was so eager I had the fellow leave us, bags and all.We could see the village just up ahead.Actually it was I more than Emily, of course, but she was so agreeable, you see.I left her, finally, seated on our suitcases, and I went on up the hill without her.Did you see it when you were coming, the cemetery? No, of course you didn’t.Thank God that carriage of yours brought you here safe and sound.Though, if you’d driven on, no matter how bad off your horses were…’ He stopped.“ ‘What’s the danger?’ I urged him, gently.“ ‘Ah…danger! Barbarians!’ he murmured.And he glanced at the door.Then he took another drink from his flask and capped it.“ ‘Well, it was no procession.I saw that right off,’ he said.‘The people wouldn’t even speak to me when I came up—you know what they are; but they had no objection to letting me watch.The truth was, you wouldn’t have thought I was standing there at all.You won’t believe me when I tell you what I saw, but you must believe me; because if you don’t, I’m mad, I know it.’“ ‘I will believe you, go on,’ I said.“ ‘Well, the cemetery was full of fresh graves, I saw that at once, some of them with new wooden crosses and some of them just mounds of earth with the flowers still fresh; and the peasants there, they were holding flowers, a few of them, as though they meant to be trimming these graves; but all of them were standing stock-still, their eyes on these two fellows who had a white horse by the bridle—and what an animal that was! It was pawing and stomping and shying to one side, as if it wanted no part of the place; a beautiful thing it was, though, a splendid animal—a stallion, and pure white.Well, at some point—and I couldn’t tell you how they agreed upon it, because not a one of them said a word—one fellow, the leader, I think, gave the horse a tremendous whack with the handle of a shovel, and it took off up the hill, just wild.You can imagine, I thought that was the last we’d see of that horse for a while for sure.But I was wrong.In a minute it had slowed to a gallop, and it was turning around amongst the old graves and coming back down the hill towards the newer ones.And the people all stood there watching it.No one made a sound.And here it came trotting right over the mounds, right through the flowers, and no one made a move to get hold of the bridle.And then suddenly it came to a stop, right on one of the graves.’“He wiped at his eyes, but his tears were almost gone.He seemed fascinated with his tale, as I was.“ ‘Well, here’s what happened,’ he continued.‘The animal just stood there.And suddenly a cry went up from the crowd.No, it wasn’t a cry, it was as though they were all gasping and moaning, and then everything went quiet.And the horse was just standing there, tossing its head; and finally this fellow who was the leader burst forward and shouted to several of the others; and one of the women—she screamed, and threw herself on the grave almost under the horse’s hooves.I came up then as close as I could.I could see the stone with the deceased’s name on it; it was a young woman, dead only six months, the dates carved right there, and there was this miserable woman on her knees in the dirt, with her arms around the stone now, as if she meant to pull it right up out of the earth.And these fellows trying to pick her up and get her away.“ ‘Now I almost turned back, but I couldn’t, not until I saw what they meant to do.And, of course, Emily was quite safe, and none of these people took the slightest notice of either of us.Well, two of them finally did have that woman up, and then the others had come with shovels and had begun to dig right into the grave.Pretty soon one of them was down in the grave, and everyone was so still you could hear the slightest sound, that shovel digging in there and the earth thrown up in a heap.I can’t tell you what it was like.Here was the sun high above us and not a cloud in the sky, and all of them standing around, holding onto one another now, and even that pathetic woman…’ He stopped now, because his eyes had fallen on Emily.I just sat there waiting for him.I could hear the whiskey when he lifted the flask again, and I felt glad for him that there was so much there, that he could drink it and deaden this pain.‘It might as well have been midnight on that hill,’ he said, looking at me, his voice very low.‘That’s how it felt [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]