Chapter 45 Chapter Forty-Four

I took Rosie's letter in my hand and was deeply moved, but before I could consider these letters, I had to make a statement. ""Helen," I said, turning to her, "I know that sometimes you think I don't believe your birth story, and sometimes I do, so forgive me. " "I'm as surprised as you are," replied Helen in a low voice. "My mother never told me she had Rosie's letters, but they weren't addressed to her, were they? At least not the top one." "Yes," I said, "but I know the name. He's a great student of English literature—the eighteenth century. I read one of his books in college, and Rossi was telling me mentioned him in his letter."

Helen looked puzzled, "What does this have to do with Rosie and my mother?" "Maybe it's related. Don't you see? He must be Rosie's friend Hedges—that's what Rosie called him, remember? Rosie must have written to him from Romania, though that explains I don't know why these letters are in your mother's hands." Helen's mother said, "She said she would tell you everything." Helen's voice choked, and I held my breath. "I lived as a child in the small village of P in Transylvania, very close to the Arges River. I had many brothers and sisters, most of whom still live in that area. My father always said that we were old and A descendant of a noble family, but the family is ruined.

"When I was eighteen years old, a witch came to our village from a village in the upper reaches of the mountain. She was a witch doctor and had supernatural powers. She could foresee the future. Later, when I went to draw water from the well in the village, I saw her Standing there, I gave her water and bread. She blessed me and told me that I was kinder than my father and that she would repay my generosity. She took a small coin from her waist pocket and put it in In my hand, told me to hide it because it belonged to our family. She also said that the coin came from a castle in the upper Arges River. On one side of the coin was a quirky thing with a curled tail, and on the other side was a bird and a Small cross.

"That's how I lived before I met Professor Rossi. It's rare for a stranger to come to the village, especially from afar. One day, everyone was talking about a guy from Bucharest going to a tavern. , and a foreigner came with him. They were asking about the villages along the river, and about the castle ruins in the mountains upriver. I was curious, so I went out to fetch water, so that I could hear more news. I came to In the village square, I saw strangers sitting at a table outside the tavern, talking to an old man who was always there. One of the strangers was tall, dark, like a gypsy in city clothes The other had a brown jacket of a style I had never seen before, and I was on the other side of the square, not far from the well, from where I couldn't see the stranger's face.

"As we passed the tavern, the foreigner glanced up at us, and I was surprised to see him young and handsome, smoking his pipe, and talking calmly to his companions. "The next morning there was a rumor in the village that a stranger in a tavern gave some money to a young man to show him the way to the ruins of the castle called Poyenari, far above the Arges. They would leave One night. I heard my father tell one of his friends that they were looking for King Vlad's castle. 'I can't see the coffin without tears,' my father said angrily. "My father's words reminded me of the little coin the old woman gave me, and I thought guiltily that what I had should have gone to my father, but a rebellious thought came to me. Since the handsome stranger was looking for treasure in the castle, I decided to find a way to give him the coin. I took a chance and took it out of its hiding place and hid it in the corner of a square scarf which I tied around my apron.

"The stranger didn't show up for two days, and I was very sad. I didn't think I had a chance to hand him the coin. But luck came that night, and I saw him alone at the edge of the woods, with his head bowed and his hands behind his back. "I stood there, waiting, for what seemed like a long, long time. He must haven't noticed me until we'd almost bumped into each other. Suddenly he looked up, very surprised. I summoned up my courage and said hello to him. The look on his face And demeanor doesn't scare me at all, but shyness almost scares me. "Before I lost my nerve, I untied the kerchief from my belt, opened it, took out the coin, and handed it to him without a word, and he took it from me, turned it over, and looked carefully. Suddenly, a flash across his face There was a bright light, and he glanced at me again, that sharp gaze seemed to be able to see through my heart, and I trembled all over.

"Deunde?—from where?" He gestured to explain his question, and I wondered if he seemed to be able to say a few words about us. He tapped the ground lightly, and I get it, dug it out of the ground?I shake my head. "Deunde?" "I gestured, trying to make him understand. He laughed for the first time, bowed to me, and for a split second, I felt like heaven opened up before my eyes. "Multumesc," he said. "Thank you. My name is Bartholomew Rossi, Voi?" he said. "What's your name?" I told him and he repeated and laughed again. "Familia? What's your last name?" He seemed to be searching for words.

"Gez," I told him. "He seemed very surprised and then said de la curia, which I knew meant 'of the dragon' but didn't know what he was trying to say. He kept reading and slowly asking me if I still saw Passed other coins, like the one I gave him. I said no. He said the monster on the coin was a dragon, and asked me if I had seen such a dragon in any house or book, and I said I had it on my shoulder. "At first he didn't understand what I was talking about. The stranger's dictionary confused me, but together we found the word shoulder. He looked puzzled and asked again, "Delacour? He held up the coin. I touched the shoulder of my shirt and nodded. He looked down and blushed. Suddenly, feeling brave, I unbuttoned my woolen vest, took it off, and unbuttoned the collar of my shirt. My heart was beating wildly, but something controlled me, and I couldn't stop. He turned his head away, but I pulled off my clothes and pointed to my shoulder.

"This little dark green dragon has been on me for as long as I can remember. My mother said that every generation of my father's family has a person with this dragon, and he picked me because he thought I would grow up Ugliest. He said his grandfather told him that the only way to keep evil spirits out of the house was to do it. I only heard about it once or twice because my dad generally didn't like to talk about it, and I didn't even know that in his That generation, who had this mark on him, was it on him, or was it on one of his brothers and sisters. The dragon on me was very different from the dragon on the coin, so until a stranger asked me if I still Something has dragons on it, and I don't even connect those two things.

"The stranger looked carefully at the dragon on my shoulder and put the dragon on the coin next to it for comparison, but didn't touch me or even come closer. He asked who put that dragon on me. I said yes My father did it, an old woman in the village, a witch doctor helped him. He asked if he could talk to my father about it, and I shook my head so hard it made him flush again. He told with difficulty I, my family is descended from an evil king who built that castle up the river. This king was called "Son of the Dragon" and he killed many people. He said that this king became a vampire. I plan I made the sign of the cross and asked Our Lady to bless me. He asked me if I knew the story, and I said I didn't.

"Finally, I pointed to the sun. The sun was about to set, and I told him I had to go home, and he stood up immediately, with a serious expression on his face. He handed me his hand and helped me to stand up. I almost jumped on my fingertips. I was in a daze and turned around quickly. I suddenly felt that he was too interested in evil spirits and might be dangerous. Maybe I could give him something to protect himself. I pointed The ground and the sun. "Come tomorrow," I said. He hesitated, then finally smiled. "I went to the well the next morning to draw water, and he was in the tavern with some old men, writing again. I think I saw him staring at me, but making no sign of recognizing me, and I was glad, Because I knew he was keeping a secret between us. In the afternoon, when my parents and siblings were away, I did something bad. I opened my parents' wooden cabinet and took out a small silver dagger that I had seen there before Its a few times. My mother used to say that if a vampire comes to harass people or livestock, use it to kill them. I also pulled a handful of garlic flowers from my mother's vegetable garden and hid them in a handkerchief before heading out to the fields up. "When I found the stranger I was very nervous and I sat down and showed him what I had brought. He was taken aback when he saw the dagger and I explained to him that it could be used to kill vampires and he was intrigued. He would not accept it, but I begged him firmly to accept it, and he stopped smiling, thoughtfully wrapped the dagger in my square scarf and put it in his knapsack. I gave him garlic flowers and told him he should put A little in the jacket pocket. "I asked him how long he was going to stay in our village, and he held up five fingers—five days. I asked him where he was going when he left our village in five days. He said he was going to a place called The country of Greece—I heard about it, and I went home, back to my village. He drew in the woodland his country called England, which was an island far from us. He told me his Where is the university - I don't know what he's talking about - still writing the name of the university on the ground. I still remember the letters: OXFORD (Oxford). Later, I sometimes wrote them down and looked and looked, and it was Weirdest word I've ever seen. "Suddenly it dawned on me that he was leaving soon and I would never see him again, nor anyone like him, and my eyes were filled with tears. He looked very sad, from his I took a white handkerchief out of my coat pocket and gave it to me. He hugged me and we kissed. At that moment, I knew what love is. I knew it was wrong, it was a sin, but I felt happy . "On the last night he left the village, I started crying as soon as we met. He pulled a little silver ring off his finger with a seal on it. I don't know what it was, but I think now it was him University seal. He begged me to marry him, for which he must have studied his dictionary, for I understood it immediately. "At first it seemed impossible, and thinking about it made me cry again - I was very young - but then I agreed. I should be happy, but I have a feeling that the ghost has come out, I was terrified of what might happen to keep him from coming back. Finally, I kissed Rosie again, checked his pockets for garlic flowers, and left him. "The next morning I heard that Bartholomew had left the village, and had gone to Targoviste with a peasant in his carriage. In the evening I went to the place where we met, and remained there alone. I was amazed to find a pack of letters, in an envelope. I don't understand what is written in the letter, the letter is addressed to someone, but his beautiful name is printed on the cover, like in a book Same. I realized that these letters must have fallen out of his rucksack when he took the dagger and coins I gave him. I decided to save the letter until he came back. "It went like this for four weeks. On the fifth weekend, I felt bad, and I was sure that the vampire king had killed him. At one point I even thought that my lover turned into a vampire and came back to me. "By the sixth and seventh weeks, I began to feel hopeless. At the eighth week, it dawned on me, from many signs I heard among married women, that I was having a baby. I quietly put my hands on my stomach and felt Without Bartholomew's love, I believe it is impossible for him to forget me. "I knew I had to get out of the village before my family was ashamed, before my father got angry. I wrote to my sister, Eva, telling her about my situation and begging her to pick me up. Five weeks later, she wrote She said I would leave the village on foot, go to the next village about five kilometers away, and take a horse-drawn carriage or car to Targoviste. There, I can find a car to Bucharest. From Bucharest I take the train To the Hungarian border. Her husband will meet me at the immigration office in T city on September 20th. "I put the few things I had in a small bag, good shoes for the train ride, a letter dropped by Bartholomew, his silver ring. Eva was waiting for me at the Budapest train station, She was wearing a suit and a beautiful hat and I thought she looked like a queen. We hugged each other and kissed for a long time. My baby was born in the best hospital in Budapest. I want to name her Eva, but Eva said she wanted to name her herself, and she called her Elena. "I waited until after the baby was born to write to him because I wanted to tell him we had a real baby and not just tell him I was pregnant. When Elena was a month old, I asked my brother-in-law to help me Found the address of Oxford University where Bartholomew was, and I wrote those weird words on the envelope myself. My brother-in-law helped me write the envelope in German, and I signed it myself. I told him that no matter what happens, I will All love him. "Then I waited again, this time for a long, long time. Elena was learning to walk, and there was a letter from Bartholomew. It was not from England, but from America, and it was written in German. My brother-in-law translated this letter for me in a very gentle tone, but I can see that he was honest and did not change the content of the letter. Bartholomew said in the letter that he had received me at his old home in Oxford. He told me politely that he had never heard of me or met me and that he had never been to Romania, so the child I was talking about could not be his. He felt so sad to hear such a sad story. Sad, he wished me a better life. The letter was not long, the tone was kind, there were no harsh words, but there was no indication anywhere that he knew me. "I brought up Elena with the help of my relatives, and she became a beautiful and intelligent girl. I knew it was because she had Bartholomew blood. I told her about her father—I never Didn't lie to her. Maybe I didn't tell her enough, but she was too young to know that love blinds people and makes them fools. She went to college and I'm so proud of her. She told me, She heard that her father was a university student in the United States. I hope she can meet him one day, but I don't know that he is at the school you go to." Helen's mother turned to her daughter almost reproachfully, and added this sentence .And just like that, her story came to an abrupt end. At first, the three of us sat at the table in silence. After a while, Helen turned to me and gestured resignedly to the bundle of letters before us. I get it, I've been thinking the same thing, "Why didn't she send some of these letters to Rosie to prove that he spent time with her in Romania?" "I thought about doing that, but his letter made me realize that his heart has completely changed. I know that sending the letter will not change anything, it will only cause me more pain, and I will lose some. As much as I can keep of his." Helen wanted a challenge, though her mother didn't, "Why didn't she give me these letters a long time ago?" Her question was pointed. She immediately asked the question to her mother, and the old man shook his head. "She said," Helen relayed to me stiffly, "that she knew I hated my father, and that she was waiting for someone who would love him." I might add, as much as she loves him now. After a while Mother Helen asked me in her usual gentle voice how she could help me find Rosie. "Tell her she's already helped me and I'll read the letters as soon as we leave to see if they can help us go further." "Ask her, if she knows about vampires, can she help us?" After Helen translated the question, her mother turned her face away and made a sign of the cross, "She said, you must remember that vampires can change shape and can appear in front of you in many forms." I wondered exactly what that meant, but Helen's mother had already started feeding us with a trembling hand. In the evening, we were saying goodbye by the side of the road, and to my surprise, she grabbed my hand and shoved something small and hard into it. I spread my fingers and saw a silver ring with a small badge on it.I immediately understood that it belonged to Rosie, and she wanted to return it to him through me.I saw a tear on the old man's face. The book says that there is no such thing as a tear in the world, it is just an old metaphor.Maybe not, because her tear was accompanied by mine.