, swallowing everything else. The big ballroom was filled with familiar ghosts who had come to cheer on her birthday.Kate Blackwell watched them mingle with flesh and blood.In her mind, it was a dreamlike vision: these uninvited guests from another time and another world, in the ballroom with guests in black ties and sparkling evening gowns, without doubts. dance to tune.At the ball at Pine Ridge, Duck Harbor, Maine, there were a hundred people in attendance. "That's not counting those ghosts!" Kate thought, feeling a little melancholy in her heart. She was a slender, petite woman, whose dignified posture made her appear much taller than she really was.She had a haunting countenance, a proud bone structure, light gray eyes and a recalcitrant chin, a Scotch-Dutch trait.She used to have black hair hanging on her shoulders, but now it is covered with silver, but with her milky white velvet dress and her smooth skin, which is rare for an elderly person, she is really charming. !

"I don't think it's ninety," Kate Blackwell mused.Where did the passing years go?She gazed at the dancing ghosts. "They know the past. They've been there. They've been part of those years, part of my life." She saw Banda, beaming on his proud black face.She also saw Davy, tall and handsome young, Davy dear.It was still the same as when she first fell in love with him.He is smiling at her.She thought, "Soon, honey, soon." How she wished David could see his great-grandson with his own eyes! Kate's eyes searched the halls and finally found him.He stood next to the symphony orchestra, watching the musicians intently.A handsome, nearly eight-year-old, blond man in a black velvet jacket and plaid trousers, he seemed cast from the same mold as the portrait of his great-great-grandfather Jamie McGregor that hung over the marble mantelpiece of.Robert seemed to sense her staring at him, and turned away.Kate greeted him with her finger.Her ring was set with a perfect twenty-carat diamond that her father had dug up in the sand a hundred years earlier.Diamonds glisten alluringly under chandeliers.She watched Robert with relief as he came towards her through the dancing crowd.

"I am the past," thought Kate, "he is the future. One day my great-grandson will run Kruger-Brent Ltd." He moved closer.She made room for him to sit down beside her. "Did you have a good birthday? Grandma Zeng." "Very pleasant. Thank you, Robert." "The symphony orchestra is fantastic, the conductor is a mess." Kate looked at him, puzzled for a moment, then the eyebrows on her forehead parted, "Oh, I guess you mean he's great." Robert smiled at her. "Yes. You look nothing like ninety." Kate Blackwell laughed. "Just to tell you in private, I don't think I'm ninety years old."

He put his hand in hers, and the two sat there peacefully in silence.The eighty-two-year age gap gave them an easy intimacy.Kate turned to look at her granddaughter who was dancing.There is no doubt that the granddaughter and grandson-in-law are the most beautiful couple in the ballroom. Robert's mother saw her son sitting with his great-grandmother and couldn't help thinking, "What an incredible woman! She never looks old, and no one can guess what she has been through." The music stopped, and the conductor said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to ask Master Robert to play for you."

Robert squeezed his great-grandmother's hand, stood up, and walked to the piano.He sat down in front of the piano with a serious and focused expression on his face, his fingers flying over the keys.What he played was a piece by the Russian composer Scriabin, and the music was like breaking waves on the water under the moonlight. His mother listened and thought, "He's such a genius. He's going to be a great musician." He was no longer her baby, but he would belong to the world.As soon as Robert finished playing, there was warm and heartfelt applause from around. This was preceded by a dinner party, held outdoors.The big garden was decorated with lights and festoons, and ribbons and balloons were hung everywhere.Musicians played music in the corridors, and servants and servants waited at the tables.Silently and swiftly, they refilled the expensive glasses and plates.A telegram from the President of the United States was read out at the dinner.A Supreme Justice toasted Kate.

The governor's speech hailed her "... as one of the most remarkable women in the history of our country. Kate Blackwell's generosity to thousands of charities around the world has become legendary. The Blackwell Foundation also Substantial sums have been donated to health and welfare organizations in more than fifty countries. I am here to borrow a quote from the late Sir Winston Churchill: 'Never were so many people so much indebted to one person.' 'I am deeply honored to have known Kate Blackwell...” "To hell with it!" thought Kate, "no one really knows me. He's talking about a saint. If they really knew Kate Blackwell, what would these people say?" I was the child of burglars, kidnapped when I was less than a year old. How would they feel if I showed them the gunshot wounds on my body?"

She turned her head and glanced at the man who had tried to kill him.Then she stared at the veiled woman standing in the shadows.Over thunder in the distance, Kate heard the Governor had finished his speech and was introducing her to the guests.She stood up and looked at the crowd of guests.When she spoke, her voice was firm and powerful. "I'm older than any of you. Although the youth of today would say it's nothing, I'm glad I've reached that age, because otherwise, I wouldn't be here today with my dear friends I know some of you have come from faraway countries to spend the night with me. You must be tired from your travels, and I can't expect everyone to have my energy." There was a burst of laughter in the hall and they applauded her.

"Thank you for arranging such a memorable evening for me. I will never forget it. If anyone wants to rest, the room is ready. If you don't want to rest, there is a dance in the ballroom." At this time, it sounded again. There was a burst of thunder. "I suggest that you all get inside before getting drenched by the famous Maine thunderstorms that are here." ※※※ At this moment, the banquet is over, and the dance is over.The guests leave, leaving Kate alone, accompanied by the ghosts of the house.She sat in the study, recalling the past, and suddenly a feeling of depression came to her heart. "No one will call me Kate now," she thought, "they're all gone." Her world had shrunk.Didn't Longfellow once say, "The leaves of memory rustle in the dark, shaking down with infinite melancholy"?Soon she will step into darkness, but not yet. "I have one more important thing to do in my life," Kate thought. "Be patient, David. I'll be with you soon."

"grandmother……" Kate opened her eyes.The whole family walked into the room.She watched them one by one, her eyes like a relentless camera, missing nothing. "This is my flesh and blood," thought Kate, "a symbol of what I will always be. A murderer, an ugly, a psychopath. These are the bones of the Blackwells! and the final end of the years of suffering?" Her granddaughter is standing next to her. "How are you? Grandma." "I'm a bit tired, kids. I think I'm going to bed." She stood up and headed for the stairs when suddenly there was a thunderstorm and a storm, and the rain was pattering like a machine gun window.The whole family watched the grandma climb to the top of the stairs, her body was still straight, with a graceful and luxurious temperament!There was a flash of lightning in the sky, followed by a deafening thunder.Kate Blackwell turned to look at them again and said in her ancestral accent, "In South Africa we usually call this thunder."

Once again past and present are confused.She walked down the hallway to the bedroom, surrounded by familiar and familiar ghosts.

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