The
Red House Mystery es la única novela de misterio de A.
A. Milne, publicada en 1922
In the drowsy heat of the
summer afternoon the Red House was taking its siesta. There was a lazy murmur
of bees in the flower-borders, a gentle cooing of pigeons in the tops of the
elms. From distant lawns came the whir of a mowing-machine, that most restful
of all country sounds; making ease the sweeter in that it is taken while others
are working.
It was the hour when even
those whose business it is to attend to the wants of others have a moment or
two for themselves. In the housekeeper’s room Audrey Stevens, the pretty parlour-maid, re-trimmed her best hat,
and talked idly to her aunt, the cook-housekeeper of Mr. Mark Ablett’s bachelor
home.
“For Joe?” said Mrs. Stevens
placidly, her eye on the hat. Audrey nodded. She took a pin from her mouth,
found a place in the hat for it, and said, “He likes a bit of pink.”
“I don’t say I mind a bit of
pink myself,” said her aunt. “Joe Turner isn’t the only one.”
“It isn’t everybody’s colour,”
said Audrey, holding the hat out at arm’s length, and regarding it
thoughtfully. “Stylish, isn’t it?”
“Oh, it’ll suit you all right,
and it would have suited me at your age. A bit too dressy for me now, though
wearing better than some other people, I daresay. I was never the one to
pretend to be what I wasn’t. If I’m fifty-five, I’m fifty-five—that’s what I
say.”
“Fifty-eight, isn’t it,
auntie?”
“I was just giving that as an
example,” said Mrs. Stevens with great dignity.
Audrey threaded a needle, held
her hand out and looked at her nails critically for a moment, and then began to
sew.
“Funny thing that about Mr.
Mark’s brother. Fancy not seeing your brother for fifteen years.” She gave a
self-conscious laugh and went on, “Wonder what I should do if I didn’t see Joe
for fifteen years.”
“As I told you all this
morning,” said her aunt, “I’ve been here five years, and never heard of a
brother. I could say that before everybody if I was going to die to-morrow.
There’s been no brother here while I’ve been here.”
“You could have knocked me
down with a feather when he spoke about him at breakfast this morning. I didn’t
hear what went before, naturally, but they was all talking about the brother
when I went in—now what was it I went in for—hot milk, was it, or toast?—well,
they was all talking, and Mr. Mark turns to me, and says—you know his
way—‘Stevens,’ he says, ‘my brother is coming to see me this afternoon; I’m
expecting him about three,’ he says. ‘Show him into the office,’ he says, just
like that. ‘Yes, sir,’ I says quite quietly, but I was never so surprised in my
life, not knowing he had a brother. ‘My brother from Australia,’ he says—there,
I’d forgotten that. From Australia.”
“Well, he may have been in
Australia,” said Mrs. Stevens, judicially; “I can’t say for that, not knowing
the country; but what I do say is he’s never been here. Not while I’ve been
here, and that’s five years.”
“Well, but, auntie, he hasn’t
been here for fifteen years. I heard Mr. Mark telling Mr. Cayley. ‘Fifteen
years,’ he says. Mr. Cayley having arst him when his brother was last in
England. Mr. Cayley knew of him, I heard him telling Mr. Beverley, but didn’t
know when he was last in England—see? So that’s why he arst Mr. Mark.”
“I’m not saying anything about
fifteen years, Audrey. I can only speak for what I know, and that’s five years
Whitsuntide. I can take my oath he’s not set foot in the house since five years
Whitsuntide. And if he’s been in Australia, as you say, well, I daresay he’s
had his reasons.”
“What reasons?” said Audrey
lightly.
“Never mind what reasons.
Being in the place of a mother to you, since your poor mother died, I say this,
Audrey—when a gentleman goes to Australia, he has his reasons. And when he
stays in Australia fifteen years, as Mr. Mark says, and as I know for myself
for five years, he has his reasons. And a respectably brought-up girl doesn’t
ask what reasons.”… (The Red House Mystery, by A. A. Milne)
Maid cleaning, 1912 |
Para saber
Parlour-maid: In former times, a parlourmaid was a female servant in a private house whose job
involved serving people at table.
En la era Victoriana el servicio doméstico era la
segunda categoría más grande de empleos en Inglaterra, después del de
agricultura.
House-maid
or housemaid: era el nombre genérico para las mucamas.
Cuando habían más mucamas se subdividían en: Parlour maid, Chamber maid, Laundry
maid, Under house parlour maid.
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