Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Six

The doorbell rang again.The death of Dr. LeLoves made Anna mournful. She murmured: "Oh, my God! My God!" She opened the door, and outside was Ottilie Stern de Welt and Adele Tacoma.Yi Na came to meet them in the hallway, they did not know the doctor's death.When they heard the news and saw Dan and Harold in the living room, they let out an exclamation -- restrained, because Mum was upstairs -- and a round of questioning followed, amidst grief and confusion. , everyone is asking each other what to do: tell mom the bad news, or not tell her... "We can't stop talking forever," said Ottilie Steyn, "Mum didn't even know about Mr. Tacoma...and now it's happening again! Oh, it's horrible, my God! Adai Le, do you want to go up?"

"No, no," said Adele Tacoma, flinching, knowing the truth. "No, Ottilie, I have to go home. Your mother has many guests besides me." After learning the bad news, she tried to avoid seeing the old lady.Although she came to the house with Ottilie Steyn, she would not go upstairs. "Ottilie," said Dan Dirks to her sister, "you'd better tell her about Dr. LeLoves . . . " "Me?" said Ottilie Sterne, startled and surprised.While they were talking, suddenly a figure came from the street and leaned over the window to look in. "That's Styne," said Harold disappointedly.

Steyn rang the doorbell and was ushered in.No one has ever seen him so angry, so rude that he didn't even say hello, and went straight to his wife: "I knew you were here!" he growled at her in a low voice. "I saw your precious son. He came with you from London!" Ottilie straightened her body and said arrogantly, "Oh? And then?" "Why did you conceal from me the visit of this young gentleman, insisting that I meet him in the street as a surprise?" "Hugh came with me, why should I tell you?" "Why is he here?" "What does this have to do with you? If you want to know, ask him yourself."

"Hey, whenever you have money, he will show up!" "Fine, it's for the money. It's not your money anyway!" The two men glared at each other, but Steyn didn't want to continue discussing the money because Ottilie had inherited part of Mr. Tacoma's estate.Hugh Chavelly could smell where the money was at any time of the day.Not that Steyn took his wife's money as his own, but, as executor of the old Tacoma's will, he was ashamed that his wife's son was after the money so quickly... He paused , remained silent, but his eyes betrayed the hatred ignited in his heart.

Harold took his hand and whispered, "France, Dr. LeLoves is dead." "Dead?" Steyn repeated, dumbfounded. Ina watched coldly from the sidelines, paying attention to their conversation.There was so much going on this afternoon.Even if she knew nothing about that, she heard all sorts of other things: she heard that the doctor had died suddenly, that Aunt Therese was coming from Paris, that Hugh Chavelly was now in The Hague.Now, she almost heard something about the old gentleman's legacy.He must have left some money for Aunt Ottilie, but how much?Is it a large inheritance... Just like that, so many things are packed all afternoon, her eyes no longer have a tired look, but sparkle like a basilisk...

Here, the brothers are discussing with Steyn: What do you think?Should I tell my mother about Dr. LeLoves' death, or keep it a secret from her?They pondered in silence.At this moment, it suddenly rained outside, icy rain; the wind was blowing, and the dark clouds pressed down.Inside the fire glowed red and crackled and crackled behind panes of mica, sparkling in the fading twilight.At the same time, the past came... staring at Harold, his eyes almost completely closed in pain.Harold knew about it when he was a child; Dan only heard about it in the last few months, when he came back from the East India to find his brother; upstairs, the old woman knew about it. Stephanie and Anton also vaguely guessed something, but they were unwilling to find out what happened, so as not to be disturbed in their current life; however, Adele and Styne downstairs also knew about it because the letter, which the old gentleman did not tear up, was torn in two, four, eight; The petty officer knew too... but it was a secret that could not be told, a secret that was fading--Harold and Dan didn't know that Adele and Steyn knew it; Thérèse in Paris also knew about it; Stein and Adele didn't know that the petty officials in East India knew about it, didn't know that Dahn also knew about it, didn't know that Harold had been hiding it for a long time... But Ina had heard about the little official, and she knew something had happened, though she knew nothing about Adele and Steyn, and never suspected that they knew too... They never mentioned it, yet This matter has always affected them, if there is anything.The only one who knew nothing and had no guesses at all was Ottilie Sterne, who grieved with all her heart over her lost life: when men paid her so much attention and admired her, it was true. Live with passion.In the past, she was the beautiful Liche; now, she is just an old woman who hates her three husbands, but she hates Styne the most!Perhaps because she was the least affected by that incident, Harold took her hand gently and subconsciously said:

"Yes, Ottilie, you...you have to tell mother about the death of Dr. LeLoves. Although it will be a bolt from the blue to her, we can't, we can't hide it from her... As for Tacoma The news of his death, oh, mother will know soon, even if no one tells her..." In his gentle voice calming the frustration and confusion of all, Ottilie said: "Harold, if you think, I can tell her...then I'll go upstairs and try...I'll try to tell her...but if I can't tell her in the middle of the conversation...then I won't ...I won't tell her..." She walked upstairs, innocent as a child, she didn't know anything.She didn't know that her mother had participated in a murder more than sixty years ago, and it was the deaf old doctor who helped her hide it; she knew that Tacoma was her biological father, but what she didn't know was that she Her biological father, along with her mother, murdered her brother's father, who was also the biological father of her sister Therese.She went upstairs, and when she went into the living room, Stephanie and Anton got up and left so that Mom wouldn't have too many guests at once.

At this time, as long as the "children" don't come to disturb at the same time, the old lady will be happy to chat with the guests, or sit quietly comfortably, without feeling tired.She was a little happy to see those two little lives, they were the children of Lily Van Wely.She told Stephanie and Anton about them, and she didn't know that the babies were their godson and goddaughter: because no one had told her.She really thought a little Nita's name was Ottilice and called her Little Liche: they knew who she was talking about. Ottilie Steyn was left alone with her mother.Not too many words, just sitting next to my mother, holding her hand quietly... Ah, her heart was touched!Over there, where the old lady had been staring, was an empty chair, and old Mr. Tacoma couldn't sit there anymore... her father!She loves him like a daughter loves her father!She had inherited 100,000 guilders from him, but he would never hand her a 100-guilder note again, with his usual tenderness.

The old lady seemed to have guessed what her daughter was thinking. She pointed to the chair and said, "Old Mr. Tacoma is sick." "Yes," said Ottilie Steyn. The old lady shook her head sadly, and sighed: "I don't expect to see him again this winter." "He'll be fine..." "Even if he recovers, he won't be able to go out..." "No," said Ottilie feebly. "Maybe it'll be all right, Mom..." She held those bony hands tightly... She knew that her brothers downstairs were waiting for her; Stephanie might be waiting too;

"Mom," she called out to her mother suddenly, "do you know anyone else is sick too?" "I don't know, who is it?" "It's Dr. Rolfes." "Relofs? By the way, I haven't seen him... haven't seen him for two days." "Mother," said Ottilie Sterne, turning her sad little face--it was a pretty face--to look at her mother with those blue childlike eyes, "It's very sad, but..." No, she couldn't really say it.She really wanted to take back what she had just said, instead of continuing, but the old lady grasped the key point of these few words at once.

"Is he dead?" she asked quickly. Her voice seemed to tear Ottilie Styne's heart apart, and she didn't even have the strength to deny it: she forced a smile and nodded, heartbroken. "Ah!" The old lady sighed, at a loss. She stared fixedly at the tacoma's chair.She was old, and she couldn't even squeeze a tear from her dry eyes, so she could only stare at the chair.She was motionless, sitting upright in the chair.Fragments of the past appeared before her eyes, and her mind was buzzing.But she still sat upright, staring straight ahead. "When did he leave?" Finally, she finally asked this sentence. Ottilie Steyn told her briefly.She cried, but her mother didn't have a tear.This old woman saw herself sixty years ago, that's when she gave Relofs her whole being to keep him quiet...and he never said that...he always It was her friend who had been loyal and consistent for so many years, who had carried the ugly past with her and the old Tacoma.No, he never said...they're old, no...no one will ever know...no one knows about that, including her children...in the past, there were people who talked about it from time to time, in the corner Whispering inside: That was the past, all is gone, nothing is left... No one knows but Tacoma himself, because poor LeLoves is dead.He asked her a high price, but he did keep silent... Ottilie Sterne was sobbing, she held her mother's hand tightly, and could not say a word... It was late: the escort came in, the lamp was lit... The wind was howling outside the window, the rain was heavy The window sill was knocked hard, and the cold damp made Ottilie very uncomfortable, as if there was always a cold air flowing in the room; the flames in the stove were jumping sparsely, because the old woman could not bear the high temperature. temperature.In the middle of the room, the chandelier on the table cast a halo of light, and the rest of the room was still in darkness: the surrounding walls, the chairs, and the empty chair opposite.The escort had already left, and the old woman suddenly asked: "Ottilie, Mr. Tacoma?" "What? Mom..." "Is he, he is also sick?" The daughter was taken aback by her mother's expression, and her mother's black eyeballs were distracted... "Mom, mom, what's wrong with you?" "Is he sick? Or...he also..." "Sick? Ah yes, he is sick, mom..." She really couldn't continue. Her mother stared straight ahead of her, at the empty chair opposite, hidden in the shadow of the wall.Ottilie was a little frightened, and her mother now finally raised her arm tremblingly from her leg, made a stiff and very difficult movement, and pointed at a place with her bony fingers trembling... "Mom, mom, what is that..." The old woman stared intently, pointing to the empty chair. "There... right there!" she stammered, "There!" The old woman continued to stare, pointing in that direction, without saying a word, but she was watching.She stood up slowly, her eyes didn't move away, her hand was still pointing there, and she slowly retracted, slowly, slowly... Ottilie rang the bell twice, and the escort immediately rushed Entering the room, there was a flurry of noises from downstairs, faint shouts, and Anna's murmurs of "Oh, my, my, my God."Yi Na, Dan and Stephanie went upstairs together, they didn't enter the door, and the escort signaled that they didn't need to come in... The old woman's stiff arm slowly retracted to her side, but she still stared there, slowly retracting her body... Finally, she was no longer as horrified as Ottilie had seen before. Her eyes were no longer able to see, but her other senses were still there. The only sentence she uttered was: "I'm going to sleep! Sleep!" She spit out these words very tiredly.Anna and the escort helped her to the bed, but she didn't say a word, her thin lips were tightly closed, and her eyes were still wide open.But her heart is very clear... She knows, she knows, Emir Takma, the man she loved so much, the man she loved forever, left her forever, he died ...