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Маленькая хозяйка большого дома / The Little Lady Of The Big House
Маленькая хозяйка большого дома / The Little Lady Of The Big House
© Матвеев С. А., адаптация текста, комментарии, упражнения, словарь, 2018
© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2018
1
“Paula[1],” Dick Forrest[2], a rich rancher, said to his wife, a vivacious, athletic, and self-aware woman. “My best friend, Evan Graham[3], will arrive tomorrow morning. Tell the servant to put him in the watchtower[4]. I hope he will work on his book.”
“Graham?—Graham?” Paula asked. “Do I know him?”
“You met him once two years ago, in Santiago[5]. He had dinner with us.”
“Oh, one of those naval officers?”
Dick shook his head.
“The civilian[6]. Don’t you remember that big blond fellow—you talked about music with him for half an hour?”
“Oh, to be sure,” Paula vaguely recollected. “He’d met you somewhere before … South Africa[7], wasn’t it? Or the Philippines[8]?”
“That’s right. South Africa, it was. Evan Graham. Next time we met was on the boat on the Yellow Sea[9].”
“But who about him[10], and what about him?” Paula queried. “And what’s the book?”
“Well, first of all, beginning at the end[11], he’s broke[12]—that is, for him, he’s broke. He’s got an income of several thousand a year left, but all that his father left him is gone. But he doesn’t whimper. He’d graduated from the university. His book covers last year’s trip across South America[13], West coast to East coast. The Brazilian government voluntarily gave him an honorarium of ten thousand dollars for the information concerning unexplored portions of Brazil[14]. Oh, he’s a man, a real man! You know the type—clean, big, strong, simple; been everywhere, seen everything, knows most of a lot of things, straight, looks you in the eyes—well, in short, a real man, indeed!”