داستان لرد همپتون

Chapter eight

Lord Hampton’s Story

“When I was very young, I lived in a village where the people were very poor. I worked on a farm picking fruit and planting vegetables.

Every day, at lunchtime, a young girl brought me fresh bread and some cheese to eat. She was a very pretty girl and she wore a beautiful diamond heart round her neck. This jewel was so pretty that I could not stop thinking about it. Late one night, I went to her house, sneaked in and stole the diamond heart which was beside her on a pillow.

The next morning, I left the village. I sold the diamond heart and I used the money to buy clothes. Then I went to work for a rich old man. I worked hard for many years and became very close to him. I often thought about the girl whose diamond heart I had stolen, but I never went back to my village to see her. One day, the old man asked me to visit him in his house. He said to me, ‘I have no family. You are a good man and I want you to have my business and this house. After I die, everything I have is yours.’

Soon after he died. I inherited his money and became a very rich man. Everyone called me Lord Hampton and were afraid of me as I had become a cruel master who treated people in a terrible way.

One day, the girl whose diamond heart I had stolen years before came to my house. She was cold and hungry and needed work. Now the time had come for me to help her, just as the diamond heart I had stolen from her had helped me in the past. After all, I owed her so much! But instead, when I saw that she did not recognise me in my fine new clothes, my cruel self-made me send her down to the basement, where she had to work long, hard hours.

Every day she had to carry water from the well, boil it in huge pots and then wash my clothes in it. Then she had to hang them outside to dry and press them with the heavy iron. She worked hard all day for a bowl of soup and a piece of dry bread. Then, exhausted, she slept on the wet floor for a few hours. The only person that gave her some happiness was a kind young man who finally married her. When this happened, I felt sad for some time because I had memories from the time we were both young and poor and she cared for me so much. But my sadness quickly went away. What did I want from a poor miserable girl? My house was beautiful, I had many rich friends and there was always good food on my table. so, you can imagine my surprise, when years later, when I was an old man, the girl came to me in a dream and said:.

‘Many of your servants have died of cold and hunger. The ones who lived to be old were sent away when they could not work anymore and they, too, died of hunger. Now YOU must suffer before you can find peace. You will know when the time has come, because a young girl will come to your house. If she eats at your table and you speak to her honestly of your past cruelty and selfishness, then you will be free to leave this house and find peace.’

In the morning I found the diamond heart on the pillow beside me and I knew it had not been a dream! Soon, what she had told me became true. All my servants were old and tired. One by one they left but no new ones came to work for me. My beautiful house started falling apart. My rich friends no longer wanted to visit me.

For endless years, I have wandered from room to room, always waiting for a young girl to come and free my soul from its suffering. Now, I can finally find peace.”

There was a long sigh after “the voice” stopped speaking. Kathy felt cold and lonely as she stood in the middle of the empty room. Suddenly, the fire went out.

“Don’t leave me here alone!”

Kathy cried, but there was no answer. She walked slowly across the dark room to the front door. There, she turned and looked once more at the two chairs beside the fireplace. Then she left the house. It was still raining and nobody was waiting outside the gates for her. Kathy felt lonely and sad as she walked home.