Chapter 3 Chapter Two Relatives

Charles tiptoed upstairs and knocked on his sister's door.She said "Come in" at once, and he entered the room. Theresa sat up in bed and yawned. Charles sat down on the edge of the bed. He said appreciatively, "What a woman you are, Teresa." Teresa asked slyly: "What happened?" Charles grinned and said: "You're so cunning, aren't you? Well, I'm one step ahead of you, my dear sister! I thought I'd be there first, to take advantage of it." "what's the result?" Charles spread his hands in a negative gesture. "Nothing at all! Aunt Emily gave me a hard time. She told me she had no illusions about why people in her beloved family surrounded him! She also said that her beloved family The people in it will be very disappointed. She will give them nothing but affection—no more than that!"

"You should just wait for a while." Teresa said coldly. Charles grinned again and said: "I'm afraid you or Tanios will take my lead. I'm very afraid. Teresa, my dear sister, it's all over this time. Old Emily's not a fool." "I never thought she was a fool." "I tried to frighten her." "What do you mean?" asked his sister sharply. "I told her she might be murdered. She can't take the money to heaven. Why not let go now?" "Charles, you're an idiot!" "No, I'm not a fool. I'm acting like a psychologist. It's no use trying to please the old woman. She's going to be tough. I'm right. When she dies, we'll have all the money—after he's gone." Before we die, it makes sense to divide us up a bit! Now is the time to induce the old lady to understand this truth."

"Did she get your point?" Theresa asked.Her tender mouth was turned up in contempt. "I'm not sure. She didn't say so. She just thanked me for my advice, but in a dirty way. She said she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. 'Well,' I said to her, 'I'm just reminding You.' She said: 'I remember.'" Teresa said angrily: "Charles, you are a complete fool." "Theresa, damn me, I'm a little too impatient! The old lady's alive - just alive. I bet she can't even spend a tenth of her income - what's left How does she spend it? It's our generation—the prime of life, when it's time to enjoy the good life—unfortunately, she may live to be a hundred years old... How I wish for the good life now... you the same……"

Theresa nodded. She said in a low tone, out of breath: "They don't know us—old people don't know us...they can't know us...they don't know what life is!" The siblings were silent for a while. Charles stood up at last. "Well, my dear, I wish you success. I have my doubts, though." Theresa says: "I'm counting on Rex to figure something out now. If I can make old Emily realize what a talented young man he is, and how much he needs a chance to keep himself from becoming a mortal... Oh Charles, now we need only a few thousand pounds of capital to change the world we live in!"

"I wish you could get that money, but I don't see you getting it. You've spent a considerable amount of money in your life of debauchery. Teresa, do you think that poor Bella or that Suspicious Tanios won't get anything, will he?" "I don't see money doing Bella any good. She walks around in what looks like a rag sack, and her preferences are entirely centered on household chores." "Oh, here," said Charles vaguely, "I think she's hoping to get her children, who have nothing, something to put them to school, get them good braces, and some musical education. But anyway, It wasn't Bella's idea - it was Tanios' idea. I'm sure he's jealous of the money! The Greeks are like that. You know he took most of Bella's money? With the money Engage in speculation and lose everything."

"Do you think he can get the money from old Emily?" Charles said viciously, "I'll stop him, and he won't get it." He left the house and walked nonchalantly downstairs.Bob is in the living room.It hurried to Charles happily.Dogs love Charles. It ran to the door of the reception room and turned to look at Charles. "What's the matter?" Charles asked, following close behind it. Bob hurried into the reception room and sat beside a small desk, as if expecting something. Charles strode up to it. "what is the problem?" Bob wagged his tail, fixed his eyes on the desk drawer, and let out several beseeching screams.

"You want something from the drawer?" Charles opened the top drawer of the desk.His eyebrows were raised. "My dear. My dear," he said. On one side of the drawer was a small stack of bills. Charles picked up the stack of bills and counted them.With a grin, he pulled out three one-pound notes and two ten-shilling notes, and put them in his pocket.He carefully put the rest of the money back where he found it. "Your idea isn't bad, Bob," he said. "Your Uncle Charles has money to spend at last. Small money is always a good thing." When Charles pushed the drawer in, Bob the puppy let out a few dissatisfied little barks.

"Sorry, old man," Charles apologized to Bob.He opened the next drawer.Bob's ball is in the corner of the drawer.He got the ball out. "Here's the ball, play to your heart's content!" Bob ran out of the room with the ball in his mouth, and soon he heard the sound of the ball banging downstairs. Charles strode out of the house and into the garden.It was a sunny morning and the air was fragrant with lilacs. Dr. Tanios was sitting beside Miss Arundell.He was talking about the superiority of an English education--a noble education for children, and he was very sorry that he could not afford such a luxury for his own children.

Charles smiled slightly, with a smug look in his smile.He joins their conversation cheerfully, deftly turning the subject to infinity. Emily Arundell smiled benevolently at him, and he thought again. His tactics must have kept the old man at school.The old man is also subtly encouraging them. Charles was in high spirits, maybe before he left... Charles is an incurable optimist. That afternoon Donaldson drove up to Theresa in his car and drove her to Worthwood Church, one of the prettiest places in the area.They set off straight from the church and into the jungle bushes. There, Rex Donaldson gushed about his medical theories and the latest experiments.She was not at all stupid, but she listened to him intently, thinking at the same time:

"How clever Rex is - how admirable!" Her fiancé paused, and said incredulously: "Theresa, I think what I'm talking about is too dry for you." "My dear, you've spoken very well," said Teresa firmly. "Go on. You're not talking about taking some blood from a sick mouse..." Dr. Donaldson went on. This time Teresa sighed deeply and said: "My dear, work is too important to you." "Naturally," said Dr. Donaldson. In Teresa's view, this was not natural.Few of her friends worked, and if they did, they were not so lucky.

She was thinking, as she had thought more than once in the past, how incongruous she and Rex Donaldson were in love.Why did such a thing, such a comic frenzy, happen?This is a difficult question to answer.It happened to her. She frowned tightly, not knowing where her thoughts were drifting.A group of her former friends had lived such a happy life - but they all looked at life with cold eyes!Love is of course indispensable in life, but why take it so seriously?People fall in love, and the love gradually fades and disappears. But her feelings for Rex Donaldson were different, growing stronger.She instinctively felt that their love would not fade away or disappear... Her need for him was pure and deep, and everything about him made her feel at ease.His calm, detached manner was so different from her overzealousness; his command of life, his clear, logical scientific mind, and other things she could not fully understand.There was a mysterious strength about him: courteousness, a little pedantry, but she felt and recognized it instinctively. Rex Donaldson was a genius - the fact that his medical profession took up a major part of his life and she was only a part - albeit a necessary one - of his existence made her even more attractive to him force.She finds that her selfish demands of first agreeing to a love life that leads her to nothing but joy take second place.The prospect of the future captivated her heart.She would do anything for Rex - anything! "How annoying it is to have no money," she said hastily. "If Aunt Emily died now, we might be able to get married right away, and you could go to London and set up a lab with laboratory equipment and experiments." Children with mumps and old men with hepatitis won't bother you with a guinea-pig laboratory." Dr. Donaldson said: "There's no reason why your aunt couldn't live a few more years—if she took care of herself." Frustrated, Theresa said, "I know..." In a bedroom with old-fashioned oak furniture, with a double bed, Dr. Tanios was saying to his wife: "I think I've laid a solid foundation with you, and now it's your turn, my dear." He was pouring water from an old-fashioned copper jug ​​into a rose-coloured enamel basin. Bella Tanios sat at her dresser, brushing her hair according to Theresa's style.But somehow I couldn't get my hair cut like Theresa's! It was a long time before she replied, "I don't think I wish to—ask Aunt Emily for money." "It's not for your money, Bella, it's for the children. I'm so unlucky with my investments." He turned, but he didn't see that she had glanced at him--a furtive, timid look. She said softly and firmly: "Anyway I don't think I would...it would make it hard for Aunt Emily. She's generous, but she doesn't like being asked for money." Tanios dried his hands, walked over to the wash stand, and said: "Is that true? Bella, you don't seem like a stubborn person. So why are we here?" She muttered: "I'm not—I never meant to be—I'm not here for the money..." "You too have thought that if our children are to be given a strict education, the only hope is that your aunt can help us." Bella Tanios didn't answer.She walked up and down restlessly. Her facial expression was submissive yet stubborn, and the shrewd husband knew it would take a lot of effort to reverse the look of his stupid wife. She said: "Perhaps Aunt Emily herself would suggest..." "It's possible, but we haven't seen signs of it so far." She added: "If only we had brought the children this time. Aunt Emily couldn't help liking our Mary. Our Edward is bright too." Tanios said coldly: "I don't think your aunt is a very child-loving person. It probably makes the same difference whether the children are here or not." "Oh, Jacob, but..." Bella said. "Yes, yes, my dear. I know your feelings. But these pitiless English spinsters—yuck! They're inhuman. We'd do all we could for our Mary and ours, wouldn't we? Yes. It would be no trouble for Miss Rundle to do us that little favor." Mrs. Tanios turned, flushed cheeks, "Oh, Jacob, I beg you, please, don't talk this time. I'm sure. It's not wise to talk this time. I'm very I don’t want to talk about it this time.” Tanios stood behind her, close to her, with his arm around her shoulders.She shuddered for a moment, then became firm—almost motionless. Still in a cheerful tone he said: "Anyway, Bella, I think you'll do what I ask you to do...you know, that's how you often do-and in the end you'll...yes, I think you'll do what I tell you to do... ..."