Una joven en uniforme V.A.D. llegó hasta el lugar. Era Cynthia
Murdoch. Una pelirroja muy bonita. Me senté a su lado. Me explicó que
trabajaba en el dispensario de Tadminster. La señora Inglethorp requirió su
asistencia para escribir una carta. Cynthia se levantó presta a cumplir su
deber. Luego la señora Inglethorp dirigiéndose a mí me informó que nada en la
casa se desperdiciaba, para apoyar el esfuerzo de la guerra. John me mostraría mi habitación.
A young
girl in V. A. D. uniform ran lightly
across the lawn.
"Why,
Cynthia, you are late to-day. This is Mr. Hastings—Miss Murdoch."
Cynthia
Murdoch was a fresh-looking young creature, full of life and vigour. She tossed off her little V. A. D. cap, and
I admired the great loose waves of her auburn
hair, and the smallness and whiteness of the hand she held out to claim her
tea. With dark eyes and eyelashes she would have been a beauty.
She flung herself down on the ground beside
John, and as I handed her a plate of sandwiches she smiled up at me.
"Sit
down here on the grass, do. It's ever so much nicer."
I dropped
down obediently.
"You
work at Tadminster, don't you, Miss Murdoch?"
She nodded.
"For
my sins."
"Do
they bully you, then?" I asked, smiling.
"I
should like to see them!" cried Cynthia with dignity.
"I
have got a cousin who is nursing," I remarked. "And she is terrified
of 'Sisters'."
"I
don't wonder. Sisters are, you know, Mr. Hastings. They simp—ly are! You've no
idea! But I'm not a nurse, thank heaven, I work in the dispensary."
"How
many people do you poison?" I asked, smiling.
Cynthia
smiled too.
"Oh,
hundreds!" she said.
"Cynthia,"
called Mrs. Inglethorp, "do you think you could write a few notes for
me?"
"Certainly,
Aunt Emily."
She jumped
up promptly, and something in her manner reminded me that her position was a
dependent one, and that Mrs. Inglethorp, kind as she might be in the main, did
not allow her to forget it.
My hostess
turned to me.
"John
will show you your room. Supper is at half-past seven. We have given up late
dinner for some time now. Lady Tadminster, our Member's wife—she was the late
Lord Abbotsbury's daughter—does the same. She agrees with me that one must set
an example of economy. We are quite a war household; nothing is wasted
here—every scrap of waste paper, even, is saved and sent away in sacks."
I expressed
my appreciation, and John took me into the house and up the broad staircase,
which forked right and left half-way
to different wings of the building. My room was in the left wing, and looked
out over the park.
Vocabulario:
V. A. D.: organización dedicada a prover servicios de enfermería,
principalmente en hospitales, en Gran Bretaña y otros países del imperio
británico.
Tossed:
tiró.
Auburn: pelirrojo.
Flung: fling:
se dejó caer.
Forked: se
bifurcaba.
Inglés con los clásicos. Gral Guemes 561, local 9. Tel.
0387-4249159/155723965. 4400 Salta. Argentina
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario
Deja aquí tus mensajes, comentarios o críticas. Serán bienvenidos