Chapter 9 chapter 2

"I was, I think, a very vicious person," Simeon Lee said. He was leaning back in his chair, and he lifted his chin, stroking it with his hands unconsciously.In front of him, the raging flames were dancing and flickering.Next to him sits Pilar, holding a small piece of cardboard.She used it to shield her face from the flames.From time to time, she nimbly turned her wrist and flapped it lightly, Simeon looked at her with satisfaction. He went on, speaking more to himself than to the girl, only intensified by her presence. "Yes," he said, "I was a wicked man. What do you think, Pilar?"

Pilar shrugged."All men are bad, that's what the nuns say, so we should pray for them," she said. "Ah, but I'm worse than most people." Simeon laughed. "I don't regret it, you know. No, I don't regret it at all. I had a great time...every moment! They say you'll regret it when you're old. It's all bullshit, and I don't regret it! Like I told you, I've done everything...everything bad, I've cheated and stolen People... oops, yes! And women - I'm always a flirt. Someone once told me that an Arab sheik had a guard of forty men made up of his sons - and it was pretty much the same age, aha! forty! i may not have forty, but i bet if i kept going, i'd have a pretty sizeable guard like that! pilar, what do you think? Jump?"

Pilar opened his eyes wide. "No, why should I be surprised? Men always need women. My father, too. That's why the wives are so often unhappy and go to church to pray." Old Simeon frowned. "I made Adelaide very unhappy," he said.He murmured to himself in a voice almost whispering: "My God, what a woman that is! When I married her, she was rosy and rosy, as beautiful as the person in the painting. But then, always sobbing and wiping away the tears. When a man's wife weeps endlessly, it stirs up the bestiality in him. She has no courage and guts, and that's Adelaide The problem. If only she could stand up to me! She never did - not once. When I married her, I figured I was going to settle down and provide for a family - and make a clean break with the old life...  "

His voice faded away.He stared at the flames rising from the fire. "To raise a family—goodness, what a family it is!" he let out a fit of angry, high-pitched laughter. "Look at them—look at them! Not a single child to inherit from me! What's the matter with them? Don't they have my blood on them? Not a single one, legitimate or illegitimate, just say Alf Red - for God's sake I'm killing him! He's always looking at me pleadingly and ready to do what I tell him. God what a fool! His wife - Leigh Dia—I like Lydia. She's got courage, though, and she doesn't like me. Yes, she doesn't like me, but she's got to live with it, for that fool Alfred." He Looking at the girl by the fire, "Pilar—remember—there's nothing more tiresome than giving your heart and soul."

She made him smile.He went on, her youth and femininity pleasing to him." "George? What's George? A piece of wood! A salt cod! A brainless, contentless, pompous fellow--knows money! Davy? Davy's always been a fool--fool and daydreamer." David has always been just his mother's baby. The smartest thing he did was to marry that burly, pleasing looking woman." He slapped the edge of the chair hard with his hand. "Harry is the best of them all. Poor old Harry, a rascal! But he's alive anyway!" Pilar agrees. "Yes, he's very nice. He's always laughing—laughing loudly—with his head thrown back. Oh, yes, I like him."

The old man looked at her. "You like him, don't you, Pilar? Harry always has a hand with girls, and that's like me." He laughed, a low wheezy chuckle. "I've had a good life—very good. I don't want anything." "In Spain we have a proverb that goes something like: 'God says: you can do what you want, and you'll pay for it,'" says Pilar. Simeon pats the armrest of the chair approvingly. "That's right, that's the way it is. Do whatever you want...that's what I've done—always have done all my life—whatever I want to do..."

Pilar said, her voice high-pitched, clear and aggressive: "So you paid for it?" Simmis stopped laughing, sitting up and staring at her.He said, "What did you say?" "I said, did you pay for it, Grandpa?" Simeon said slowly, "I—don't know..." Then he thumped the arm of the chair and flew into a rage. "Who taught you to talk like that, girl? Who told you to talk like that?" "I -- just wanted to know," Pilar said. She held the cardboard in her hand and stood there, her eyes dark and mysterious. Sitting there with her head slightly thrown back, fully aware of her femininity, Simeon said, "You damn yellow-haired girl..."

She said softly, "But you like me, Grandpa. You like me sitting here with you." Simeon said, "Yes, I do. It's been a long time since I've seen a girl as young and beautiful as you... It's good for me, it warms my old bones... And You're my blood again... Jennifer's not bad, it turns out she's one of the best after all." Pilar sat there, smiling. "Be careful, you can't fool me," Simeon said. "I know why you sit here and listen to me babbling so hard. It's for money—it's all for money. . . . Do you love your grandpa very much?"

Pilar said: "No, I don't love you, but I like you, I like you very much. You must believe it, because it's true. I think you were bad before, but I like that too. You More real than the rest of the house, and the things you say are interesting, and you travel and live an adventurous life. If I were a man, I'd like to live like that." Simeon nodded, "Yes, I'm sure you will... The legend has it that there is gypsy blood in our family, which doesn't show much in my children - except for Harry - but I think it's in you It's revealed. Mind you, I'm very patient when necessary. I've waited fifteen years to get revenge on someone who cheated on me. This is another characteristic of the Li family - they don't take it easy Forget, they must have their revenge even if they had to wait years. A man lied to me, and I waited fifteen years for my chance—and then I struck, and I ruined him and left him bankrupt!"

He smiled softly. Pilar said, "Is that in South Africa?" "Yes, a very nice country." "You went back later, didn't you?" "I went back for five years after I got married and that was the last time I was there." "But before that? How many years have you been there?" "yes." "Tell me about it." He began to speak, and Pilar covered his face and listened. He spoke slowly and looked tired: "Wait a minute, I'll show you something." He stood up cautiously.Then, leaning on his cane, he limped slowly across the room.He opened the big safe, turned around, and beckoned Pilar over.

"Here, look at these. Feel them and let them roll through your fingers." He looked at her questioning face and smiled. "Do you know what they are? Diamonds, boy, are diamonds." Pilar's eyes widened, and she said as she bent down, "But these are only pebbles, nothing else." Simeon laughed. "They are rough diamonds, that's how they are when they are mined." Pilar asked in disbelief: "If you cut them open, are they real diamonds?" "of course!" "Do they shine and flash?" "It will sparkle," Pilar said childishly. "Oh-oh-oh, I can't believe it!" He was amused. "It's absolutely true." "Are they worth a lot?" "Very valuable, it's hard to say exactly how much they're worth until they're cut up, but at any rate this small handful would be worth a few thousand pounds." Pilar paused: "Thousand-thousand-pounds?" "Let's say nine thousand or ten thousand pounds—they're big diamonds, you see." Pilar's eyes widened as she asked, "Then why don't you sell them?" "Because I like having them here." "That's a lot of money?" "I'm not short of money." "Oh, I see." Pilar looked rather shocked. She said, "But why don't you cut them up and make them prettier?" "Because I like them better that way." His face tightened, his face turned to the side and he began to say to himself, "They take me back to the past—touching them, feeling them with my fingers... the past It all comes back, the sun, the smell of the prairie, the cows grazing—old Abby—all the brothers—the nights…” At this time, there was a light knock on the door. Simeon said, "Put them back in the safe and close the door." Then he called, "Come in." Holbury walked in respectfully. "The afternoon tea downstairs is ready," he said.