Chapter 6 chapter Five

Neither Lola nor the twins could figure out why Briony had given up rehearsals, and they didn't even know she had quit halfway.They were playing the hospital bed scene.Arabella, who was ill in bed, welcomed the prince who pretended to be a good doctor into her attic for the first time.The rehearsal went relatively smoothly, at least not worse than usual.The twins also speak their lines less fluently than before.As for Lola, she didn't want to lie on the floor and dirty her cashmere sweater, so she collapsed into a chair, and the director didn't quite object to her.The older girl gave herself so much to her coldness and gentleness that she felt that she could not be blamed.As Briony patiently guided Jackson, she stopped suddenly, frowned, as if to correct herself, and walked away.At that time, there were no critical mistakes, and she didn't get angry, nor did she leave in a huff.She just turned around and walked out slowly, as if to go to the bathroom.Everyone else waited there, unaware that the whole project had fallen through.The twins thought they were playing hard, especially Jackson - who felt a disgrace that he lived with the Talliss - who thought he might gradually improve his situation by wooing Briony.

While everyone waited, the twins kicked blocks like soccer balls, while their sister stared out the window, humming softly to herself.After a long time, she came to the corridor and walked to the end.There was a door leading to an abandoned bedroom.From there she could see the road and the lake, and across it a column of shimmering light, a hot white light towards dusk.By this white light she could only dimly see Briony standing by the water, at the other end of the island from the temple.In fact, she might have been standing in the water the whole time—it was really easy to see in such a bright light.She looked like she was gone forever.When Lola came out of the room, she saw a men's suitcase next to the bed, tan leather, heavy straps, and faded shipping tags.It reminded her vaguely of her father.She stopped in front of the box, smelling a faint smell of soot from a train car.She pressed one of the locks with her thumb and turned it gently.The polished metal was icy cold, and her touch left little congealed concretions of moisture.The button snapped, with a loud, thick sound that startled her.She pushed the box back and hurried out of the room.

The children have nothing to do for the rest of the time.They were uncomfortable with the adults around, so Laura asked the twins to go downstairs to see if the pool was empty.The twins came back and wanted to tell her that Cecilia was with the other two adults, only to find that Lola was no longer in the nursery.She has returned to her small bedroom, combing her hair in front of the small mirror by the window sill.The twins scratched, wrestled and howled loudly in her cramped bed.She didn't bother to send them back to their rooms.Now that there are no plays and the swimming pool is being used again, the idle time makes them feel very depressing.When Piero said he was hungry, they suddenly felt homesick.It's going to be a few hours before dinner is served, and it's not the right time to go downstairs and order food.The boys didn't want to go into the kitchen either, because they were really afraid of Betty--they had seen her on the stairs carrying the rubber mat as she walked towards their room with such a fierce look.

After a while, the three of them involuntarily returned to the nursery.They feel that it is the only place they have a right to be, other than their own bedroom.The worn blue blocks are still in their place, and everything is still the same. They stand.Suddenly, Jackson said, "I don't like it here." Such a simple sentence made his brother suddenly upset.He went to the wall and tapped the skirting boards with his toes, looking for something interesting. Laura put an arm around Pierrot's shoulder and said, "Don't worry. We'll be home in a minute." Her arms were not as strong as her mother's.Piero whimpered.He didn't cry aloud, because he knew that he had to be polite all the time in a strange place.

Jackson was also teary-eyed, but he was still able to speak. "Go home right away? This is just what you said, we can't go home..." He paused, and finally mustered up his courage. "They're divorced!" Both Piero and Laura were stunned. The word "divorce" has never been used in front of the children, nor has it ever been spoken out of the children's mouths.These soft consonants seem to suggest ulterior meanness, and the hiss at the end of the word seems to whisper the shame of the family.After blurting out the word, Jackson himself was in a state of disorientation, but once the word was spoken, it was hard to follow.In any case, he felt that saying the word aloud was as heinous a crime as the act of divorce.None of them—including Lola—could quite understand this.Lola pressed forward, her green eyes squinting like a cat's.

"How dare you say that!" "It's true," he murmured, looking away.He knew he was in trouble, but he deserved it.He was about to run away when Laura grabbed him by the ear.She brought her face close to his. "If you hit me," he said hastily, "I'll tell my parents." But he himself had neutralized the spell, and was only a ruined totem of a lost golden age. "You swore to me never to use that word again, did you hear me?" He nodded in shame.Laura let him go. The boys were frightened to tears.At this time, Piero, as usual, hurried out to ease the atmosphere."What shall we do now?" he asked cheerfully.

"I always ask myself that." A tall man dressed in white appeared at the door.He may have been standing there for several minutes, and it's entirely possible he heard Jackson say the word.It was this thought—rather than his unexpected presence—that made Lola momentarily overwhelmed.Does he know anything about their family? They'll just have to wait and see.He stepped forward and held out a hand. "My name is Paul Marshall." Pierrot was closest to him.He shook hands with him silently, as did his brother.When it was Laura's turn, she said, "I'm Laura Quincy. This is Jackson, and that's Pierrot."

"What a nice name. But how can I tell the two of you apart?" "People generally think I'm more likable," Pierrot said.It was a family joke, a line her father had devised.Whenever a stranger asks such a question, this answer will cause roars of laughter.But the man didn't even smile after hearing that.He said, "Aren't you cousins ​​from the north?" The kids waited nervously to hear what else he knew.They watched him walk across the smooth floor, lean over and pick up a block, then toss it into the air and grab it with a dash.The blocks crackled against the skin.

"I live in a room down the corridor." "I know," said Lola, "Aunt Venus' room." "That's right, her old room." Paul Marshall sat down in the armchair the wounded Arabella had just used.What a strange face, Lola thought, as if all the expressions were squeezed around the brows, and the big, hollow chin resembled that of Dan the Desperado.His face is fierce, but his manner is very elegant.This combination is quite attractive.While adjusting the folds on his trousers, he looked at the three siblings one by one.Laura's attention has obviously been attracted by his black and white cutout leather boots.He saw that she liked it very much, so he shook his head and feet deliberately and rhythmically.

"I'm sorry to hear that your play can't be made." The twins couldn't help but move closer.As if waking up from a dream, they thought that if he knew anything other than their rehearsals, he must know something else.Jackson spoke their minds. "Do you know our parents?" "The Quincys?" "yes!" "I've read about them in the papers." The children were dumbfounded when they heard this, because they knew that the newspapers were full of major events: earthquakes, train crashes, the daily affairs of the government and the country, whether Hitler should invest more in guns when he attacked Britain. So much money... It's amazing, but not entirely unexpected, that their family disaster should be compared to these day-to-day events.In this way, it has become an established fact.

To stay calm, Lola put her hands on her hips.Her heart beat painfully.Although she knew she had to say something, she was really not sure if she would be able to.She felt that they were playing a game she could not understand, but it was certain that there were elements of irrationality, even insult, in the game.She opened her mouth, but couldn't make a sound, so she cleared her throat vigorously, and spoke again: "What did you read?" He raised his thick and tightly frowned eyebrows, and inadvertently spit out a deep voice from his lips: "I don't know. It's nothing. It's a boring thing." "If you don't make irresponsible remarks in front of the children, I have to thank you very much." She must have overheard the phrase before, and she had said it unconsciously, like an apprentice babbling a wizard's incantation. That seems to work.Realizing that he had said the wrong thing, Marshall could not help retreating.He leaned over to the twins and said, "You two listen carefully. We all know that your parents love you so much, they care about you every moment. It's amazing!" Jackson and Piero nodded deeply.Marshall then turned his attention back to Lola.After two strong gin cocktails with Leon and his sister in the living room, Marshall went upstairs, found his room, unpacked, changed and ate.He was stretched out on the big four-poster bed with his shoes on.Soothed by the tranquility of the countryside, the warmth of the evening, and the power of wine, he gradually fell asleep.In his dream, he saw his four sisters all sitting around his bed, chatting, touching him, and pulling his clothes.He woke up, reluctantly woken up, feeling hot and uncomfortable in his chest and throat, not knowing for a moment where he was.As he was sitting on the edge of the bed drinking water, he heard a loud noise.He thought they must have lulled him to sleep.He walked down the creaking corridor to the nursery and saw three small children.It was only then that he saw that the girl was almost a little lady... She was calm, haughty and majestic, with bracelets, curly hair, dyed nails, and velvet bands, like a former lady. Fei Er's little princess. He said to her: "You have quite a good taste in clothes, and I think these trousers are especially suitable for you." She was very happy to hear that, without the slightest embarrassment.She ran her fingers lightly over the slightly raised fibers around her slender hips and said, "I bought it at Liberty when my mother took me to a show in London." "What show?" "Hamlet." They were actually seeing a matinee pantomime at the Miracle Theater in London.During the play, Lola spilled strawberries all over her dress, and Liberty was just across the street. "Hamlet is one of my favorite plays," Paul said.Like her, he had neither read the script nor seen the performance.He studies chemistry.This comforted her.But he was able to put on a pensive look and say: "To be, or to die..." "That's the problem." She picked it up. "By the way, I really like your shoes." He tilted his foot to examine the shoemaker's workmanship. "Yeah. Duck on Turtle Street. They made a wooden model of your foot and left it on the shelf forever. There were thousands of them in the basement, and most of the customers were long gone. " "too terrifying." "I'm hungry," repeated Pierrot. "Well, well," said Paul Marshall, patting his pocket, "if you can guess what I do for a living, I'll show you something." "You sing," said Pierrot, "at least you have a fine voice." "Thank you for saying that, but you guessed wrong. You know, you remind me of my favorite sister..." Jackson cut him off. "You're a worker in a chocolate factory." Before Jackson could be complacent, Piero hastily added: "We heard what you said by the swimming pool." "That's not a guess." From his pocket he took a rectangular strip about four inches long by an inch wide, wrapped in greaseproof paper.He put it on his lap, carefully unwrapped the paper, and held it up for them to examine.They leaned forward very politely and found it had a smooth tea-green shell.It made a rattling sound when he scratched it with his fingernail. "It's icing, see? It's milk chocolate inside. It's delicious, even melted." He raised his hand higher and tightened his grip.They could see his fingers shaking from the squeeze of the chocolate bar. "Every Army soldier has one of these chocolates in his backpack. That's the rule, all the time." The twins looked at each other.They know that adults are not interested in chocolate."Soldiers don't eat chocolate," Pierrot said. His brother added: "What they like is cigarettes." "Anyway, why do the soldiers get candy but the kids don't?" "Because they want to fight for their country." "But my father said there would be no more wars." "Well, then he was wrong!" Marshall became a little irritable.Laura quickly comforted: "Maybe there will be a war." He smiled up at her and said, "This war is called Armor's Army." "Amo amas amat," she said. "Exactly." Jackson asked inexplicably, "Why do all the things you buy end with O?" "Yeah, it's so boring," Piero said. "Like Polo and Aero." "And Oxo and Brillo." "I think they're trying to tell me they don't want anything," said Paul Marshall, handing Lola the chocolate. Laura took it over with a serious face, and then gave the twins a look, as if to say "you deserve it".They get the point.They can no longer argue for Amo now.They saw her tongue turn green as it rolled through the icing.Paul sat in the armchair, leaned back, leaned his hands in a steeple shape on his face, and watched her intently. He crossed his legs, put them down again, and then took a deep breath. "Take a bite," he said softly. "You have to take a bite." When the candy was bitten open by her sharp white teeth, it made a crisp cracking sound, revealing the white icing layer and dark chocolate.At this moment, they heard a woman downstairs calling to the upstairs, and then heard her calling several times, her voice became more determined.This time, they finally recognized the voice, and a burst of panic suddenly passed over their faces. With a mouthful of Amo's chocolates in her mouth, Laura smiled and said, "It's Betty who's looking for it. It's bath time. Go, go!"