Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

It was the afternoon of the second day, and I was walking quite quickly through the darkest part of the wood, where the shadows of the pines were darker than anywhere else, when I saw a tall woman standing in the driveway.Impulsively I jumped off the path, thinking it must be our old gypsy woman, but when I recognized who it was, I suddenly flinched back, it was mother!She stood there with white hair, a tall figure, and a serious expression on her face. "Jesus," I said, "mother, you gave me such a fright. What are you doing here? Come to see us? We've got enough of you, haven't we?"

We didn't actually ask, I offered a rather lukewarm invitation, and that's it.I am very sure about the way of that invitation, my mother will not agree to come.I don't want her to come here, and I never want her to come here. "You're right," she said, "I've come to see you at last, to see if everything is fine. So this is the deep house you built, and it's also a magnificent house." She said, His eyes were on my back. In my mother's tone, I noticed her sour taste of disapproval. "Too imposing for someone my size, isn't it?" I said.

"Son, I didn't say that." "But you think so." "That's not what you should have when you were born. It won't do you any good if you break away from a person's status in life." "If anyone will listen to you, you will get nowhere." "Ha, I know that's what you think and what you say, but what ambition does to anyone, I don't know! It's dead sea fruit in your mouth for such a thing." "Oh, for God's sake, don't be so mean," I said, "Well, come and see our stately house for yourself, and turn your nose up at it, and come and see your Majestic daughter-in-law, if you dare, turn your nose at her again."

"Daughter-in-law? I've seen her before." "What do you mean by that? Have you seen her already?" I asked pressingly. "So she hasn't told you, has she?" "What?" I asked again. "She came to see me." "Did she come to see you?" I asked, dismayed. "Yes, one day she stood outside the door ringing the bell, looking a little frightened, and she was a pretty little girl, very nice, in all the fine clothes. She said, 'You're Mike Mother, is it not?' And I said: 'Yes, who is the lady? She said: 'I am his wife.' And said: 'I must come and see you, I do not know the mother of Mike , it doesn't seem like...' I said, 'I bet he doesn't want you to get to know me.' She hesitated, and I said, 'You don't have to tell me that, I know my kids, he I know what to do and what not to do." She said: "You think—maybe he's ashamed of you, because he and you are poor and I'm rich, but that's not the case at all, he doesn't Not that kind of person, no, to be honest, he is not that kind of person.” I said again: “Miss, you don’t need to tell me, I know all about my son’s shortcomings, it’s not him He is not embarrassed by his own mother, nor is he embarrassed by his own background."

"'He's not ashamed of me,' I said to her: 'if anything, he's afraid of me, do you understand, I know him too much.' These words seemed to amused her She said: 'I expect mothers always feel that way - they know everything about their sons, and I expect sons to feel embarrassed because of that!'" "As I said, that statement may be quite true. When you were a child, you always pretended to put on a play for the world. I always remember, when I was a child, in my aunt's room, on the wall of my bed, there was a painting of A picture of a big, big, big eye. It says, 'God sees me.' Whenever I go to bed, it makes me hairy and chills down my spine."

"Ellie should have told me, since she's seen you," I said. "I don't see why she's keeping it a big secret. She should have told me." I'm very hot, very hot, and I didn't know that Ellie would even keep this kind of thing a secret from me. "My child, she may have been a little horrified at what she did to herself, but it must not be said that she was afraid of you." "Come on," I said, "come and see our house." I don't know if mom likes our house or not, maybe not.Looked from house to house, raised his eyebrows, and went into the balcony room where Ellie and Galina were sitting.They had just returned from the outside, and Galina had a crimson woolen cloak half-draped over her shoulders.Mom looked at the two of them for a while, and stood still, as if rooted there.Ellie jumped up and walked across the room to us.

"Oh, it's Mrs. Law," she said, turning to Galina. "This is Meck's mother. It's very nice to come and see our house and see us! This is my friend Galina. " She put both hands out to take Mama's, and Mama looked at her, then at Galina behind her, staring. "I see," she said to herself, "I see." "What do you understand?" Ellie asked. "I've been wondering," said my mother, "what's going on with everything here." She looked around: "Yes, this house is very nice, with nice curtains, nice chairs, and nice paintings."

"You must want some tea," said Ellie. "Looks like you've all finished your tea." "The tea never needs to be finished," said Ellie, and then to Galina, "Galina, I'm not going to ring the bell, will you go into the kitchen and make a fresh pot of tea?" "Of course, dear," said Galina, and went out of the room, casting a sharp, almost frightened glance over her mother's shoulder. Mom sat down. "Where's your luggage?" said Allie. "Are you coming to live here? I hope so." "No, miss, I'm not staying, I'm going back by train in half an hour, I just want to see you." Then she added quickly, perhaps because she wanted to say it before Galina returned:" Now, my dear boy, you needn't worry; I told him all about the time you came to see me."

"Mike, I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Allie said firmly, "I just thought it would be better not to tell you." "She's kind in her heart, she is," Ma said, "Mike, you married a nice girl, and she's very pretty. Yes, a very pretty one." Then she added softly: "I'm very sorry." "Sorry?" Ellie said, vaguely puzzled. "I'm sorry for my thoughts on many things in the past," said the mother, with a slightly nervous expression on her face: "Well, as you said, mothers are like that, and they are always suspicious of their daughter-in-law. But As soon as I saw you, I knew my son was blessed, and it seemed to me that it was too good to be true, and it is."

"It's too literary," I said, but when I told her I smiled and said, "I've always had the best taste." "You've always had expensive taste, that's what you mean," said the mother, looking at the brocade curtains. "Having expensive taste, I really don't think it's a bad thing." Allie said to her mother with a slight smile. "You'll have to ask him to save a little money now and then," said Mother. "It'll do his character a favor." "I'd never let my personality be improved," I said. "The good thing about having a wife is that she thinks you're perfect in everything you do, doesn't it, Ellie?"

Ally's face was now happy again, and she laughed and said, "Mike, you're pretentious again, you're so conceited." At this time, Galina came back with the teapot. We had just overcome our original uneasiness. For some unknown reason, the tension returned as soon as Galina came back.Mother did not agree to Ellie's wish to keep her, and after a while, she stopped insisting.She and I walked with Mom along the winding drive through the woods to the gate. "What do you call this place?" Mom asked suddenly. Ellie said, "Gypsy Village." "Well," said the mother, "it's true, there are a lot of gypsies around here, aren't there?" "How do you know?" I asked. "I saw one when I came, and she looked at me oddly, just like that." "Actually, she won't have anything," I said. "It's kind of upside down, that's all." "Why do you say that she is upside down? When she looked at me, she had a funny look. Did she oppose you because of her suffering?" "I don't think it's real," Ellie said. "It's all her imagination, that we kicked her off her land, or something like that." "I figured she wanted money," said mother, "Gypsies are like that, sometimes they sing and dance like that, watch them sing and dance, but their itchy hands When I have money, I immediately stop singing and dancing.” "You don't like gypsies," Ellie said. "They are a gang of gnawing fleas. They don't work for a long time, and they are always unwilling to let go of their hands for things that are not theirs." "Oh, well," said Ellie, "we—we don't worry about anything now." Mother said good-bye, and added, "Who is that lady who lives with you?" Allie explained how Galina had been with her for three years before she married, and what a miserable life she would have had had it not been for Galina. "Galina is an amazing person who does everything to help us," Allie said. "I don't know how to live without her." "Does she live here? Or is she a guest?" "Well, well," said Ellie, avoiding the question, "she—she's living with us now, because I sprained my foot, and someone has to take care of me, but I'm fine now." "When a young couple gets married, it's best to be just the two of them at first," said the mother. "We stood in front of the gate of the house and watched my mother stride down the mountain." "She's a very strong old man," Ellie said. I was very angry with Ellie, really mad, because she went to find my mother and didn't tell me when she saw her.But when she turned around and looked at me gracefully, with one eyebrow raised a little bit, and a cute little girl's smile half shy and half satisfied, I couldn't stop it. Lianxiangxiyu. "You're such a little liar," I said. "Well," said Ellie, "you know, sometimes I have to." "It was like a Shakespeare play I saw, performed at my school," I unknowingly quoted this line: "'She has deceived her father, and she may deceive you, too.'" "Which part are you playing—Othello?" "No," I said, "I was the girl's father, and I think that's why I remember the speech, especially since it was the only one I said." "'She has deceived her father, and she may deceive you, too.'" Allie said thoughtfully: "Besides, as far as I am concerned, I have never deceived my father. .” "I don't think he will be very kind when it comes to marrying you and me," I said, "it won't be better than your stepmother." "He won't," Ellie said. "I don't think he'll be unkind." "It doesn't matter much now," Ellie said. "I dare say that's a good idea, but it's not good advice for you, Meeker. You're not one to settle down, and you don't want to." To be smooth and stable, what is needed is to travel around the world, to see and do things——to stand on the top of this world.” "I just want to stay in this house with you," I said. "Maybe for a while...and I think—I think you'll always want to come back here, and I will, too. I think we'll come back here once a year, and we'll come back here more often than anywhere else." Happy. But you still have to travel all over the world, travel, sight-see, and buy things. Maybe you can conceive new patterns, build a garden here, maybe we go abroad to see Italian gardens, Japanese gardens, and various landscapes Let's go to the garden." "Ellie, you make life look so colorful," I said, "I'm sorry I'm so stupid." "Oh, I don't mind if you're stupid," said Ellie, "I'm not afraid of you." Then she added, frowning, "Your mother doesn't like Galina." "A lot of people don't like Galina," I said. "Including you." "Well, Ellie, listen to me, you keep saying that, and it's not true. At first I was a little jealous of her, that's all, and now we get on very well." I went on Said: "I think maybe it's because she made others take defensive actions." "Mr. Li doesn't like her either, does he? He thinks Galina has too much influence on me." Allie said. "yes?" "I wonder why you're asking that? Yes, I think he is. He's a very old-fashioned guy, I think." Then she gave her cute little girly smile again: "Because I thought I'd have to be like Daisy Like Demana, I lied to my father, followed you to the next world, and escaped." "Ellie, why do you want to see my mother so much?" I asked, eager to find out. "It's not so much that I'm anxious to see her old man," Ellie said. "It's more that I don't do anything about it, and I feel very uncomfortable. You don't often mention mother, but I understand her old man for You, always do everything, rescue all kinds of things wrong, hard work to get you more education, and such things. I think it seems too bad and too rich to not approach her old man .” "Well, that's not your fault," I said, "that's all my fault." "That's right," Ellie said, "I can understand that maybe you don't want me to see her old man." "Do you think I have an inferiority complex because of my mother? That's not the case at all, Ellie, I assure you that's not the case now, and it wasn't the case in the past." "No," Ai Li said thoughtfully: "Now I know, it's because you don't want her old man to read a lot of mother's scriptures." "Is your mother's scripture?" I asked. "Well," said Ellie, "I can see she's the type of person she's supposed to be, and knows very well what to do to other people, I mean what she's going to ask you to do." Occupation, which jobs." "Correct answer," I said, "stable career, start a family and settle down." "Naturally. She has quite a dominant personality, and I must have someone I can trust and lean on, who can defend me." "And take care of you on your own way?" I asked her with a laugh.We walked into the house arm in arm. I don't know why. It looked gloomy that afternoon. I think the sun just left the balcony and left a gloomy feeling behind. Ellie said: "Mike, what's going on?" "I don't know," I said, "it just suddenly felt like someone was walking over my grave." "A goose walks over your grave, that's what the real saying is, isn't it?" said Ellie. Galina was not anywhere, and the servants said she had gone for a walk. Now that Mom knew all about my marriage and met Ellie, I did what I sometimes really want to do—send her a big check and tell her to move into a nicer house. Go around the house and add new furniture as you like.Of course, I doubt my mom would accept the money, since I didn't earn it from my job, and I can't pretend to be honest.As I expected, her old man sent back the check—teared into two parts, with a rough handwritten note, which said: "I want this money for nothing, I know now, you It will never change, God bless you." I threw the letter in front of Ellie. "Do you understand who mother is?" I said, "My son married a rich girl and lived on the rich wife's money. The old lady disapproved." "Don't worry," Ellie said, "a lot of people think so, and her old man won't care about it in the future, Meek, her old man loves you very much." She added. "Then why does she keep trying to mold me? To make me into her mold, I am myself, not someone else's mold. I'm not mother's little baby to be molded into the mold she likes. I It's me, I'm a grown-up, I am me!" "You are you," said Ellie, "and I love you." At this point, perhaps to distract me, Ellie said something that disturbed me quite a bit. "Our new male servant," she said, "how do you like it?" I hadn't thought of anything at all about this servant, what would he have?I like this one better. The former male servant looked down on my social status and never tried to hide it. "He's fine," I said, "Why?" "I was just wondering, could he be a security guy?" "A security guy? What do you mean?" "A detective, Uncle Ender, I think." "Why did he send detectives?" "That's—I think, there's probably going to be kidnapping. In America, you know, we usually have guards—especially in the country." There are so many inconveniences when people have money. This is another item that I never knew! "What a wicked thought!" "Oh, I don't know . . . I guess I'm used to it. What does it matter? People don't pay any attention to it." "Isn't his wife here too?" "I think, although she cooks well, there must be something wrong, and I think Uncle Leander, or Laustein, whichever thought of it, must have paid our old manservant to leave. , Let these two servants prepare to take over, this kind of thing is quite easy to do." "You didn't even tell you?" I still couldn't believe it. "They wouldn't even dream of telling me that I might make a mess of things. Besides, maybe I'm completely wrong," she went on dreamily. "It's just a person who is used to being around all the time." It’s just a feeling you get from someone you’re in.” "Poor little rich daughter." I said cruelly. Allie didn't mind that at all. "I think that's pretty clear," she said. "I've learned all these things from you all the time, Ellie," I said.