Кентервильское привидение. Человек-невидимка / The Canterville Ghost. The Invisible Man. Оскар Уайльд

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make his way home through the flues and chimneys, arriving at his own room in a terrible state of dirt, disorder, and despair.

      After this he was not seen again on any nocturnal expedition.[74] The twins lay in wait for him on several occasions, and strewed the passages with nutshells every night to the great annoyance of their parents and the servants, but it was of no avail.[75] It was quite evident that his feelings were so wounded that he would not appear. Mr. Otis consequently resumed his great work on the history of the Democratic Party, on which he had been engaged for some years; Mrs. Otis organized a wonderful clam-bake, which amazed the whole county; the boys took to euchre, poker, and other American national games,[76] and Virginia rode about the lanes on her pony, accompanied by the young Duke of Cheshire, who had come to spend the last week of his holidays at Canterville Chase. It was generally assumed that the ghost had gone away, and, in fact, Mr. Otis wrote a letter to that effect[77] to Lord Canterville, who, in reply, expressed his great pleasure at the news, and sent his best congratulations to the Minister’s worthy wife.

      The Otises, however, were deceived, for the ghost was still in the house, and though now almost an invalid, was by no means ready to let matters rest,[78] particularly as he heard that among the guests was the young Duke of Cheshire, whose grand-uncle, Lord Francis Stilton, had once bet a hundred guineas with Colonel Carbury that he would play dice[79] with the Canterville ghost, and was found the next morning lying on the floor of the card-room in such a helpless paralytic state that, though he lived on to a great age,[80] he was never able to say anything again but “Double Sixes.” The story was well known at the time, though, of course, out of respect to[81] the feelings of the two noble families, every attempt was made to hush it up, and a full account of all the circumstances connected with it will be found in the third volume of Lord Tattle’s Recollections of the Prince Regent and his Friends. The ghost, then, was naturally very anxious to show that he had not lost his influence over the Stiltons, with whom, indeed, he was distantly connected,[82] his own first cousin having been married, en secondes noces,[83] to the Sieur de Bulkeley, from whom, as every one knows, the Dukes of Cheshire are descended. Accordingly, he made arrangements[84] for appearing to Virginia’s little lover in his celebrated impersonation of “The Vampire Monk, or the Bloodless Benedictine,” a performance so horrible that when old Lady Startup saw it, which she did on one fatal New Year’s Eve, in the year 1764, she went off into the most piercing shrieks,[85] which culminated in violent apoplexy, and died in three days, after disinheriting the Cantervilles, who were her nearest relations, and leaving all her money to her London apothecary. At the last moment, however, his terror of the twins prevented his leaving his room,[86] and the little Duke slept in peace under the great feathered canopy in the Royal Bedchamber, and dreamed of Virginia.

      Exercises

      1. Answer the questions:

      1. Why did the ghost decide to give up the point of the blood-stain on the library floor?

      2. What was the ghost’s duty?

      3. What did the ghost do one night while the family were at dinner?

      4. What happened on the 19th of September?

      5. What is a clam-bake?

      6. Why did Lady Barbara Modish break off her engagement with the present Lord Canterville’s grandfather?

      7. What did the ghost find on reaching the room occupied by the twins?

      8. What did the ghost look like when he was creeping about the passages?

      9. Who accompanied Virginia while she was riding about the lanes on her pony?

      10. What did Mr. Otis write in his letter to Mr. Canterville?

      2. True or false?

      1. The ghost kept his room for ten days.

      2. The ghost got extremely nervous.

      3. The ghost didn’t use the Rising Sun Lubricator for oiling his chains and continued to make terrible noise at night.

      4. One day the ghost determined to visit the twins in his celebrated character of “Reckless Rupert.”

      5. Lady Barbara Modish married Jack Castletown and they lived happily ever after.

      6. When the ghost flung the door open a heavy jug of water fell right down on him.

      7. Next day the ghost fell ill.

      8. The ghost gave up all hope of ever frightening this rude American family.

      9. The final blow he received occurred on the 16th of September.

      10. Mr. Otis resumed his great work on the history of the Republican Party, on which he had been engaged for some years.

      3. Find in the text the English equivalents to the following words and expressions:

      не выходил из комнаты, существование, неспособный, бархатная накидка, прошмыгнул, в некоторой степени, побуждать, сумерки, во всех отношениях, производить подготовку, приоткрытый, последствия, удостовериться, объятый паникой, восхитительный пикник у моря, воплощение, ближайшие родственники.

      4. Write questions to the following answers.

      1. He kept his room for five days.

      2. He slipped into Mr. Otis’s bedroom and carried off the bottle.

      3. The ghost determined to visit the twins in his celebrated character of “Reckless Rupert.”

      4. A heavy jug of water fell right down on him, wetting him to the skin.

      5. The next day he was laid up with a severe cold.

      6. The final blow he received occurred on the 19th of September.

      7. He was dressed in a long shroud, spotted with churchyard mould.

      8. The young Duke of Cheshire spent the last week of his holidays at Canterville Chase.

      9. Lord Canterville expressed his great pleasure at the news.

      10. Lady Startup left all her money to her London apothecary.

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