Chapter 17 Chapter Seventeen

Sleep is such a wonderful, mysterious thing, and you go to bed worrying about gypsies, secret enemies, agents planted in your mansion, the possibility of kidnapping, and a hundred other things things.But sleep wipes you away from all that, and you travel far away without knowing where you are, but when you wake up, it is a completely new world.No worries, no worries.Also, when I awoke on the morning of September 17th, I was extremely excited. "What a day," I said confidently to myself, "today is going to be a day." I was right, people are like those people in the commercials, willing to go anywhere, Do anything.There are many plans in my mind, and I have already made arrangements. There will be a big auction in a country house 25 kilometers away, and I will meet with Major Fei there.Some of the stuff up for auction is pretty good, I've already marked two or three items in the auction catalogue, and I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.

Major Fee was very knowledgeable about furniture, silver, and other such things from all dynasties, not because he loved beauty—he was a hunter through and through—but because he knew , his whole family are know-it-alls. Over breakfast, I was flipping through the auction catalogue.Ellie came down in a riding outfit.Now she rides mostly in the morning—sometimes alone, sometimes with Hallauday.She had the American habit of eating nothing but coffee and a glass of orange juice for lunch.And now my stomach, because it doesn't need to be restricted, is in every way like a Victorian squire!I like the many cooked vegetables in the pantry. This morning I had kidney, sausage, and bacon. It was delicious!

"Galina, what are you going to do?" I asked. Galina said she was going to pick up Halauday at the station in Chadway Market.We went to London to participate in a "white auction", and I asked what the "white auction" was all about. "Is it true that only white things are auctioned there?" I asked. Galina looked contemptuously and said: "White auction" means the auctioneer of tablecloths, blankets, bath towels, bed sheets and so on.Pender owns a special store, some items are very cheap, and she has already received a catalog. I said to Ellie, "Okay, if Galina is going to London today, why don't you drive into the city and meet us at George's in Paddington? The food there is very good, that's what old Fei said .He suggested that you might as well go. One o'clock, you drive past Chadway Market, and turn about five kilometers, I think, there is a traffic sign for the road there."

"Okay," Ellie said, "I'll be there then." I helped her mount her horse, and she rode off through the trees and through the woods.Ellie loves horseback riding very much. She rides up a winding mountain trail and then rides down the mountain.I left the coupe with Ally because it was easier to park, and I drove the Chrysler.Before the auction started, they rushed to the "Paddington Mansion".Major Fei had already arrived and had reserved a seat for me. "There's some pretty good stuff here," he said. "One or two good paintings, one by Romney and one by Renoir. I wonder if you'd be interested?"

I shook my head. At that time, my taste was completely focused on the works of modern painters. "There are several brokers here," Lao Fei said, "Two of them are from London. See that thin one with the mouth pursed? That's Ke Ruisheng, very famous. There is no Mrs. Zun come?" "No," I said. "She's not very smart about auctions. Besides, I don't want her this morning." "Oh, why?" "I'm going to surprise Ellie," I said. "Didn't you see number forty-two?" He glanced at the catalog, then across the room.

"Well, a papier-mâché desk? Yes, it's a pretty little thing. It's the best papier-mâché I've ever seen, and desks are especially rare. There are a lot of hand desks like that on the desk. But it's a very early look, and I've never seen anything like it before." This small piece is inlaid with the pattern of Windsor Castle, but on several sides there are patterns of bouquets of roses, thistles, and sorrel. "The condition is very good," said Major Fei, and he looked at me curiously: "I never thought of this as your hobby before, but—" "Oh, that's not it," I said, "it's a little too dainty and sissy for me. But Elle likes it, her birthday is next week, and I'm going to treat it as a A birthday present for her, a surprise item, that's why I don't want her to know, I made an offer today to buy it. But I know that I have given her something, and there is nothing she will love more than this She will be really pleasantly surprised!"

We went in and sat down, and the auction started, and actually the thing I wanted was going for a lot of money, and the two dealers from London, who seemed to be very good at it, presumably one of them had an idea for it. The item is very realistic and conservative, you can't detect the slightest movement on his catalog, but the auctioneer has observed it very carefully.I also bought a Chippendale chair.I thought it would look great in our living room and bought some nice brocade curtains. "Well, it looks like you can really enjoy it, all right," Major Fei said, and when the auctioneer finished the morning's auction, he stood up: "Are you still coming this afternoon?"

I shake my head. "I'm not coming. I don't have what I want for the auction this afternoon. Most of them are bedroom furniture, carpets, and the like." "Yeah, I don't think you're interested, um..." He looked at his watch—"We'd better go together, isn't Ellie going to meet us at George's?" "Yes, she'll be there." "And... um... where's Miss Galina?" "Oh, Galina's gone to London," I said. "She's going to what they call the 'White Auction,' with Miss Ha, I think." "Well, by the way, Halaudie said the other day how cheap these days are sheets and that sort of thing? Do you know how much a pillow case costs? Three dollars and a half. You can buy what you have for sixty cents."

"You're pretty darn good at buying household goods," I said. "Well, I heard my wife complaining a lot about these things." Lao Fei smiled slightly: "Meike, you look very good, and you are as happy as a fairy." "That's because I got that papier-mâché desk," I said, "or, as you say, that's part of my excitement. I woke up this morning feeling happy, you know Everything in the world seems to be going well these days." "Heh," Lao Fei said, "Be careful, this is called Le Ji." "Happy?" I said. "It's a Scottish word, isn't it?"

"My good brother, extreme joy brings sorrow," Lao Fei said, "It's best to restrain your energy." "Oh, I don't believe in such stupid superstitions!" said I. "You don't even believe the gypsy prophets, do you?" "Haven't seen our gypsy lately," I said. "Well, at least a week." "Perhaps she has already left this place." Old Fei said. He asked if I could give him a ride in the car, and I said yes. "No need to drive them both, you can drop me off here on the way back, okay? How's Ellie? Will she come in her own car?"

"Yeah, she can drive that little car." "I hope George's restaurant will serve a good meal," Major Fei said, "I'm hungry." "Did you buy anything?" I asked, "I was so excited that I didn't notice it!" "Yes, when you bid, of course you have to put all your energy into it. You have to pay attention to what those brokers do. I didn't buy anything. I made a bid once or twice, but the bid for each item was too high." It's higher than my price." I speculated that Lao Fei owned a large piece of real estate nearby, but his actual income was not much, even though he was a big landowner.You might describe him as poor.Only by selling a large part of his land can he have money to spend, and he is unwilling to sell the land. He likes the land very much. When we got to George's there were already a lot of cars parked—some might have come from the auction, but I didn't see Ellie's car.We approached the restaurant and I looked around for her, but she still didn't show up.However, it was just after one o'clock. While we were waiting for Ellie to come, we went to drink in the wine room. It was quite crowded, and I looked into the dining room, and they still had a table for us.There are many local people here, I don't know very well, but the person sitting at a table by the window seems to be very familiar to me, I guarantee that I know him, but I can't remember when and where I met him I met him, and I don't think he is a local. From the fact that his clothes don't match the people in these places, I'm sure he's a stranger.Of course, I have met so many people in my life that it is easy to remember them all, but it is not possible.But I thought it was a face I had seen recently.As far as I can remember, I have not seen him at this auction. The lady owner who presides at George's restaurant.Wearing a pretentious Edwardian silk black dress that he often wore, he walked over and said: "Mr. Luo, you will be seated soon. There are one or two people waiting." "My wife will be here in a minute or two," I said. I walked back to being with Major Fee again, and I thought maybe Ellie was hurt. "We'd better go," I said, "they seem fretful about being late, and they've got a lot of guests today," I added, "I'm afraid Ellie isn't the most punctual person." .” "Oh," Fei said in his old-fashioned manner, "it's reasonable for the ladies to keep us waiting, isn't it? Well, Mike, if that doesn't matter to you, let's go in and start eating." We walked into the restaurant, ordered steak and a loin pie from the menu, and ate. "It's too bad Ellie wants us to wait for her like this," I added, probably because Galina had gone to London. "You know, Ellie is very used to Galina helping her keep her appointments, reminding her, getting her there on time, and all that sort of thing." "Is she very dependent on Miss Galina?" "In that case, yes," I said. We went on and on, from steaks to kidney pies to apple pie with an unashamed slice of cheap crust. "I wonder if she just forgot about it," I said suddenly. "Perhaps you'd better call." "Yeah, I think it's better." I went out and dialed, and it was Mrs. Carson, our cook, who answered. "Oh, Mr. Luo, it's you. Mrs. Luo hasn't come home yet." "What do you mean? Haven't you come home yet? From where?" "Mrs. Luo has ridden out and hasn't come home yet!" "But riding is after breakfast. She can't ride all morning." "Mrs. Luo didn't say anything else. I'm still waiting for her to come back!" "Why didn't you call earlier and let me know about it?" I asked. "Well, I don't know where to find you. I don't know where you have been." I told her.I'm at George's in Paddington now, and I gave her my phone number to call as soon as Allie got home, or if I had any news.Then I went back to Lao Fei, and he immediately saw from the look on my face that something was wrong. "Ellie ain't home," I said. "She went out for a ride this morning. She usually rides in the morning, but she only rides for half an hour or an hour each time." "You needn't worry now, boy," he said softly, "you know it's lonely where you live, and maybe her horse is lame, and she's walking home, up the woods. It's all wild and hilly, and there's no one in that place to deliver a letter or anything." "If she decides to change her mind and ride to see somebody, or anything," I said, "she'll call up here and leave a message for us." "Well, there's no need to be in a hurry," Lao Fei said, "I think it's better for us to go now, let's go immediately and see what we can find." As we were coming out to the parking lot, a car drove away and the man in the car, whom I had seen in the restaurant, suddenly remembered who he was, Raustein, or A guy who looks so much like him, I wondered, what is he doing here, is he here to see us?If so, it would be strange not to let us know.There was a woman with him in the car who looked a lot like Hallauday, but she must be in London at the moment, shopping with Galina, and all this confuses me... We drove out, Lao Fei looked at me once or twice, I looked at him, and said quite painfully: "Well, you told me in the morning that I was very happy." "Well, don't think about that, maybe she rode a horse and twisted her ankle or something like that. But she rides well," he said. Accident." I said: "People have misfortunes and blessings." We drove very fast, and finally we were on the road above our property overlooking the hills, and as we drove, we looked around, stopping every now and then to ask people.There was a man digging peat, and we stopped to ask him, and got the first word. "I saw a horse that no one rode," he said. "Two hours ago, or maybe more. I'm going to get it!" "It's best to drive home," Lao Fei suggested, "Maybe there's news about her at home." We drove home and there was no news, so we got the groom and sent him out on horseback to look for Ellie in the moor.Lao Fei called back to his home and sent one of his own people.He and I took a path through the woods, the path Ellie used to take, and out of the woods we got to the hills over there. Seen nothing at first, and then we walked along the edge of the woods, where another path came out, and so—we found her.We saw what looked like a mess of clothes, and the horse had come back and was standing beside the mess, eating sprouts.I ran over, and Lao Fei ran after me, running very fast, faster than I thought he could maintain at his age. There she was--lying there in a mess, her little white face turned to the sky.I say: "I can't—I can't—" I just turned my face away. Lao Fei came over, squatted beside her, and stood up almost immediately. "We're going to the doctor," he said, "Dr. Xiao, he's the closest. But, Mike, it's useless." "You mean—is she dead?" "That's right," he said, "it's no good trying to pretend it's anything else..." "Oh, my God!" I said, turning away. "I can't believe it's not Ellie." "Here, have a drink." Lao Fei said. He took out a bottle from his pocket, unscrewed the cap and handed it to me, and I took a deep gulp from the mouth of the bottle. "Thank you." I said. The groom also came at this time, and Lao Fei sent him to invite Dr. Xiao.