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(adapted) by Evelyn Waugh
Miss Annabel Rochfort-Doyle Fleace, to give her the full name, was the last of her family. She was over eighty, very untidy and very red. The present home had been built in the eighteenth century, when the family was still rich. It could not, of course, compare with Gordon town, where the American Lady Gordon had all modern conveniences: electric light, central heating and a lift.
In the winter before the one we are talking of, she had been dangerously ill. In April she was better, but slower in her movements and mind. In June, for the first time, she invited her heir to visit her. Bella* disliked him from the moment he arrived. One day he came to Bella carrying several books from the library.
"I say, did you know you had these?" he asked.
"I did," Bella lied.
"AH first editions."
"You put them back where you found them."
Bella had often heard that books cost a lot of money. So she wrote a letter to a Dublin bookseller. He came to see the library. When he left, he paid her a thousand pounds for the six books.
And so it happened that Bella decided to give a party. She called her butler and explained the idea to him.
Bella started the preparations. Cheerfully she wrote the names of the guests on the cards and addressed the envelopes. She did not include the names of several people on her list.
On the day of the ball she woke up early, nervous with excitement, turning over in her mind every detail of the preparations.
At a quarter to eight Bella took her place at the head of the stairs. The house looked wonderful in the candlelight.
The clock struck eight. Bella waited. Nobody came.
At half past twelve Bella got up from her chair. "Riley, I think I will have some supper. I don't feel well." But just as she was leaving the dining-room there was some movement. Guests were arriving. Riley met them and announced:
"Lord and Lady Mockstock, Sir Samuel and Lady Gordon."
On the stairs, facing her, were the two women she had not invited - Lady Mockstock the draper's* daughter, Lady Gordon the American.
She looked at them with her colourless eyes.
"I had not expected this honour," she said. "Please forgive me if I am unable to entertain you."
Miss Fleace suddenly sat down and said, "I don't know what's going on." Riley and two of the servants carried the old lady to a sofa. A day after she died. Mr Banks came from London. Among the things he found in her desk were the invitations to the ball, stamped, addressed, but unposted.
Notes:
'Bella — short for Annabel
'draper — торговец мануфактурой
Rochfort-Doyle Fleace ['rokfo: 'doil 'fli:s]
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