"Will you come thisway, sir?" she said.

I followed her into thedrawing-room. The blinds were partly drawn to darken the room, and Mrs.Strickland was sitting with her back to the light. Her brother-in-law, ColonelMacAndrew, stood in front of the fireplace, warming his back at an unlit fire.To myself my entrance seemed excessively awkward. I imagined that my arrivalhad taken them by surprise, and Mrs. Strickland had let me come in only becauseshe had forgotten to put me off. I fancied that the Colonel resented theinterruption.

"I wasn't quite sure ifyou expected me, " I said, trying to seem unconcerned.

"Of course I did. Annewill bring the tea in a minute. "

Even in the darkened room, Icould not help seeing that Mrs. Strickland's face was all swollen with tears.Her skin, never very good, was earthy.

"You remember mybrother-in-law, don't you? You met at dinner, just before the holidays. "

We shook hands. I felt soshy that I could think of nothing to say, but Mrs. Strickland came to myrescue. She asked me what I had been doing with myself during the summer, andwith this help I managed to make some conversation till tea was brought in. TheColonel asked for a whisky-and-soda.

"You'd better have onetoo, Amy, " he said.

"No; I prefer tea."

“请您跟我来，先生，”她说。

我跟在她后面走进客厅。为了使室内光线暗淡，窗帘没有完全拉开。思特里克兰德太太的姐夫麦克安德鲁上校正站在壁炉前面，在没有燃旺的火炉前边烤自己的脊背。我觉得我闯进来是一件极其尴尬的事。我猜想我到这里来一定很出他们意料之外，思特里克兰德太太只是忘记同我另外约会日子才不得不让我进来。我还想，上校一定为我打扰了他们非常生气。

“我不太清楚，你是不是等着我来，”我说，故意装作一副若无其事的样子。

“当然我在等着你。安妮马上就把茶拿来。”

尽管屋子里光线很暗，我也看出来思特里克兰德太太的眼睛已经哭肿了。她的面色本来就不太好，现在更是变成土灰色了。

“你还记得我的姐夫吧？度假以前，你在这里吃饭的那天和他见过面。”

我们握了握手。我感到忐忑不安，想不出一句好说的话来。但是思特里克兰德太太解救了我；她问起我怎样消夏的事。有她提了这个头，我多少也找到些话说，直捱到使女端上茶点来。上校要了一杯苏打威士忌。

“你最好也喝一杯，阿美，”他说。

“不，我还是喝茶吧。”