Chapter 60 landlady

Mrs. Hobbs has never been to China, and she doesn't like China very much, but we can see that she has the old Chinese taste.She said that people laughed at her mother and daughter as Victorians, and that was old-fashioned; but she admitted that they were, and she didn't care about that. Indeed, in her bleak dining-room on Christmas afternoon, the furniture, the characters, the conversation, were old, not modern.At this time she was still living in Finchley Road, a northern suburb of London.It was a road from a wealthy family; but the mortgage on her house had expired, and the manager had set up a wooden sign on the side of the road in front of her door with a price tag, but no one had asked for it for more than half a year.The wooden sign is about the size of a basketball stand, but lower; you can see it as soon as you walk to the door.At the dinner table, she heard a scream in the kitchen, she hurriedly went to see it, and came back and said that the turkey was a bit dry, but unfortunately, it weighed twenty-two pounds, and it was bought by selling a few pieces of furniture.She pity'd the turkey, not the furniture; but we didn't eat the withered place at all.

She loves to talk, and can talk, and she can talk endlessly; she will tell you about betting on houses, selling furniture, etc.But I can only tell you happily, or at least plainly, and never get downcast or sigh.It is interesting for her to speak, and it is also interesting for us to obey (in her words, her dead husband and son are alive, and some of her residents are alive); Don't get bored.Once at breakfast, she said that there was a poem, Forgot Whose It Was, which could be her tombstone. The poem goes: Here is a poor woman, She never shut up in this world. God said she would rise again,

We hope she never does. We actually hope she does. She is a real good wife and mother; here you can see the old Chinese taste.She was originally a wealthy lady, and she was sent to Belgium to be educated since she was a child, learning French and piano.I'm probably familiar with the piano, but I don't know French.She said that if a Frenchman asked her a question on the street, she thought that when she answered the question, the person might have already turned the corner.When she got married, she received a large inheritance from her aunt; relying on this inheritance, she supported the family for more than twenty years.Mr. Hobs graduated from Cambridge University, wanted to be a poet, and lived in a fog all day long.For twenty years he only stayed at home, occasionally teaching a few students.His poems were sent to the Cambridge publications, but the manuscript was sent back with a polite letter.He also printed a small collection of poems at his own expense, stating on the cover that he hoped that the publisher would accept and print them, but there was no response.My wife often advises my husband to delete lines of poetry, for example, you can delete three lines out of four;

Mr. Hobs can speak several languages.After the war, my wife took my husband and lady, and a friend to visit Italy; staying in a hotel and renting a boat, etc., were all handled by the poet's husband, because he could speak Italian.Fortunately nothing went wrong.Before boarding the train, on the platform, he disappeared.Seeing that the car was about to leave, the wife's urgency was no small matter, and she couldn't tell others, so she had to teach the young lady to take a look, but she was not allowed to go away.Finally Mr. got out, calmly, it turned out that he was going to the "locker room".

The wife was most saddened by her son.He is also a college student, and he looks talented.I went to join the army during the war; I came home occasionally during training, and cherished the solemn uniform very much, and never taught it a trick.When the war was almost over, bad news came, and he had done his duty.What saddens the wife the most is this kind of news at this time. She lived in a daze for several days amidst the whole world celebrating the truce.Later, when I visited Italy, it was just to relieve my boredom.At that time, she even couldn't bear to claim the pension that she should have received--after the deadline passed, even if she wanted to receive it, it would be useless.

Mademoiselle was her only family now; she lived for this girl.In the morning, we tidy up the house together, after breakfast, we go for a walk in the street together, and when we come back, we sit in the dining room, talk, read popular novels, and the day passes.Sleep in one room at night.I also go out to watch movies once or twice a week.The young lady is about twenty-four or twenty-five, tall, always about five feet ten inches, with a crab-shell face, showing teeth, but a kind face.He loves to laugh, and speaks innocently like a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl.After Mr. died, his student Ellis loved Mrs. Hobs very much and wanted to marry her several times, but she refused.Ellis was a biographer, with a little reputation.Back then, the poet Delamé talked about the creation of literature at University College London, and he mentioned his book.He was delighted, and made a point of mentioning it at Mrs. Shebs' dinner table.But the wife said his book was dry and tasteless, and when he brought it, they only turned through three or five pages and put it aside.She said that she hates cats and is afraid of dogs, even the dogs printed in the book, but Ellis has a lot of them.Her daughter loved movies the most, but Alice despised them.She doesn't marry, no matter how poor she is, half of it is for her daughter.

The house has been attracting tenants since the days of Mr. Hobs.At that time, only one person was charged, and breakfast and dinner were provided every day, and the accommodation fee was five pounds per week, which was eighty or ninety yuan, which was quite expensive.The ad was published, the Japanese were the first to come, and they agreed.Another Spaniard came the next day, but he had to decline.Since then, there have always been many Japanese people living in this house; after the husband died, there were more residents, and later it was named "Japanese House".One or two of these Japanese had women outside, and one of them was cheated by a woman. They all came back to report at the dinner table, and their wives listened sympathetically.Once, a man suddenly talked about free love at the dinner table, and he seemed to be talking about the lady.This made the wife angry.After the meal, I told that person and asked him to find another room to live in.This man left, but the Japanese had a club, and he probably reported something in the club, and the number of Japanese people coming to live in the club became less and less.The room is always empty, and my wife's savings have long been exhausted; I can only make up my mind on the house, and then mortgage it.At that time, I naturally hoped to be redeemed, but the days passed and the situation did not improve.The house was finally put up for sale, and shortly after Christmas, it was sold to a Jew.She thought about the recession, and no one wanted the house. Who knew that the Jews had money and wanted to go, and the manager gave up the house within a time limit.It was almost due, and she said it was too late.The manager told the court again, and the court issued a subpoena to teach her to go.She went, supported by her daughter; she never went to court, and the judge said that she owed money and refused to give up the house, so she would go to jail.She was so angry and frightened that she almost fainted in the classroom; in the end, she had to agree to step up her search for a room.All these are for her daughter, she has no regrets at all.

An Italian and a Spaniard lived in her family successively, and they both had sex with the lady; the Spaniard was also engaged to the lady, but somehow broke off the engagement.The young lady was still thinking about him, saying, "What a good-looking figure!" But the wife said, "That's a bad guy!" Later, there seemed to be another "bad guy", and it was the wife who moved to Jinshutai's house to live.He is British, his name is Cade, and he is in his forties.First he worked as a company salesman, selling electrical cleaners door to door for a living.One day, he ran into his wife's old house. He wanted to show his wife a sweeper, but she stopped him, saying no, she had no money;Cade said that he could introduce a company to buy it; his wife was very happy that night, thinking that he must be a college graduate.Within two days, sure enough, I introduced a company and bought the furniture.He used to live at his sister's house, but moved to his wife's house.He had no salary, but depended on the commission of sales; and the electric cleaner was very expensive, and it was not easy to sell.So I put it away.This man is just a businessman, not a college graduate.He had been poor for more than a day. He had a wife who looked after children in France, but she had no money and could not take them back. She lived in an older sister's house, and because of poverty, she was invited out.When I moved to Jinshutai, at first I paid for the whole room and food, but then I owed half and half of the payment piecemeal, and then I simply couldn't pay.Not only do they not pay, but sometimes they even have to eat lunch.If this happened for more than two months, his wife had no choice but to drive him out.After returning to China, I followed the letter from my wife, only to find out that the lady likes Cade, a "bad guy", and probably still has a relationship with him.The wife is most worried about this matter, the young lady is her life, and her life must not be handed over to a "bad guy".

Miss was teaching English to a Japanese lady when Fenqi was on her way.At that time, the Japanese lady seemed to be very concerned about the Japanese gentlemen living in the Hobs family, always asking questions about this and that; she seemed very affectionate when she saw them.Mrs. Hobs didn't like it very much. She thought this woman was a little frivolous.Cade's niece is back one day, a modern girl.As usual, she tucked the handkerchief over the garter, and let her wife see it when she took it out to use.Afterwards, I murmured behind my back, "What an indecent look!" My wife is very sensitive about small things.One evening the Irish maid served food in the dining room without the brim of her white hat.The wife was very upset and told us that this insulted the host as well as the guests.But the maid, being a "socialist" greedy person, probably didn't think of wearing a hat brim in her haste;I remember that time the maid brought her boyfriend to Jinshutai, she was an unemployed worker.At that time, I had just moved, and I had to be alone for some trivial things.The wife asked the worker to help and give some money every day.This is to kill two birds with one stone, each wished.Unexpectedly, the maid said to her face that the wife had taken advantage of the poor boy.When my wife heard it, she was a little puzzled.

My wife doesn't go to church, but she's superstitious.Although she is a Protestant, once she lost something, she lit a piece of wax at home according to the method passed down by others, knelt on one knee, and recited the holy name of Anthony, saying that she got the thing out in this way.Worshiping saints is a trick of the old religion, but she doesn't care.Every time I dream, I always look through the dream book at breakfast.She has three dream books; sometimes she laughs at herself; the three books say different things, or even the opposite.Drinking a bowl of tea, she also likes to look at the tea leaves in the bowl; if you look at the initials, you will know what the surname is.She's not looking for visitors, she's looking for guests.When we arrived at Jinshutai, the former landlady introduced a British resident to continue to live.But the half-old resident felt that there were too few guests, even fewer female guests, and that there were no smiles or jokes at the dinner table, and he only watched Mrs. Hobbs' one-man show, nagging like an old mother, always the same set.He finally excused himself and moved elsewhere.We also left England soon, and the house was almost empty.Last year, I received a letter from Mrs. Hubbs, she and her daughter have become housekeepers; a high-class woman in the "Victorian era", this world is no longer hers.

Made on April 27-28, 1937. (Originally published in "Literary Magazine", Volume 1, Issue 2, June 1, 1937)