SECȚIA TRADUCERE ȘI INTERPRETARE SPECIALIZAREA: ENGLEZĂ -GERMANĂ LUCRARE DE LICENȚĂ ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK “WHAT LIES BENEATH” , BY… [630741]

UNIVERSITATEA DIN BUCUREȘTI
FACULTATEA DE LIMBI ȘI LITERATURI STRĂINE
SECȚIA TRADUCERE ȘI INTERPRETARE
SPECIALIZAREA: ENGLEZĂ -GERMANĂ

LUCRARE DE LICENȚĂ

ANALYSIS AND TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK
“WHAT LIES BENEATH” , BY SARAH RAYNE
ANALIZA ȘI TRADUCEREA CĂRȚII „ DINCOLO DE
APARENȚE ”, DE SARAH RAYNE

Candidată: BĂCANU ALEXANDRA -MARIA

Coordonator științific:
Prof. dr. Nadina Vișan

BUCUREȘTI
IUNIE 2020

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………1
CHAPTER 1: Sarah Rayne and What Lies Beneath ……………………………………………………….. 3
1.1. The Life and Works of Sarah Rayne………………………………………………………………… .3
1.2. What Lies Beneath…………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
CHAPTER 2: The P ractice of Translation ……………………………………………………………………… 8
2.1. The History of Translation from Antiquity until 1950……………… ………………………….9
2.2. Translation Studies after 1950…… …………………………………………………………………… 15
CHAPTER 3: Translating What Lies Beneath ……………………………………………………………….. 27
CONCLUSIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 49
MY TRANSLATION OF What Lies Beneath …………………………………. …………… ……………. ….52
WORKS CITED ………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………….11 3

1 INTRODUCTION

Since ancient times, literature and its translation have been essential elements, both in the
culture a certain text originates from, and in the culture of the language in which it is transposed
afterwards, but most importantly, in increasi ng the level of knowledge of people around the
world. However, from antiquity to present there have been different opinions regarding literary
translation that have highlighted two issues: not to deviate from the original text and to be on the
same line wi th the reader's expectations. There have been demands that have influenced
translators' perceptions, more or less, at different times in history. For instance, when the Bible
and other religious books were the only works that were translated, more precisel y in the Middle
Ages, literal translation was crucial, while from the 16th century until present translators relied
on adaptive tendencies, trying to reproduce the meaning of the source texts, rather than
translating the texts word for word. Over time, it has been found that between the concept of
loyalty to the text and its adaptation in another language, there are factors of linguistic
intersection.
Regarding literature, each country has its own history of literary translation, which
implies an approximately equal number of translations as literary works. As literature evolves,
translations are considered creations of writers from different countries, who deal exclusively
with rendering source texts in their own language, by using helpful methods and procedures that
fulfill the purposes of translation, but also to create an absolute comprehension for readers. Thus,
in this paper I intend to demonstrate that literature can be translated by various methods that a
translator must deeply understand and apply wisely. In order to accomplish this, I decided to
translate the mystery -thriller novel What Lies Beneath by Sarah Rayne, a 73 -year-old English
author w ho has made a name for herself among contemporary writers in her country.
As for the content of this paper, in the first chapter I will talk about the life of the writer
Sarah Rayne, her most notable works and also about her inspiration to write a chilli ng, but
mesmerising novel, by using a series of sources, such as interview excerpts and personal notes
on What Lies Beneath that I have managed to acquire directly from her; at the end of this chapter
I will additionally explain the book's belonging to the literary genre. The second chapter will
consist of a brief presentation of the concept of translation in the beginning, which I will explain

2 later using the theories of certain linguists and scholars who stood out before and after 1950. In
the same chapte r I will particularly talk about their careers as translators and the influences they
have had on each other over time. In the third chapter I will capture fragments and paragraphs,
both from the source text and from the target text that I have created, wh ich I will use in order to
exemplify a series of theories and procedures used by linguists relevant to the post -1950 period.
At the end of this paper I will offer a few conclusions on the process of writing this thesis, but
especially a short summary of ea ch theory explained in the second chapter and applied in the
third.

3 CHAPTER 1

The first chapter is focused on the author of the thriller novel which I have chosen to
translate and analyse, more exactly What Lies Beneath by Sarah Rayne. Therefore I will be
mainly talking about her life as a writer and her bibliography, since she has not exposed her
personal life too much but fully dedicated her existence to the world of literature. Due to this
situation, I was able to get in contact with her and request more details about her past, her life as
a growing writer and what sparked the ori ginal idea for the novel’s plot. I will start with a brief
introduction, followed by information about her life and most notable works and, later on, a few
notes of the author on writing this book in particular; the next paragraphs will be also supported
by interview excerpts.

1.1. The Life and Works of Sarah Rayne
Great Britain is one of the most important centers of literature by having hundreds of
remarkable writers existing over the centuries. Of course, we could endlessly talk about William
Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Agatha Christi e and so many other
famous British writers of so many genres that have stolen the spotlight throughout history.
Personally, I think that ‘in a man’s world’ women had a big impact on literature, especially in
contemporaneity, whether we are talking about J. K. Rowling whose Harry Potter fantasy series
was a huge international success, or Sarah Rayne, the English award -winning author I will be
talking about in this chapter, whose psychological thrillers and haunted house books moved
those passionate about tens ion, fear and mystery, including myself. Rayne has managed to stand
out among British writers on the strength of her hard work since 1982, when her first novel came
to the limelight, until present. Her unique style of challenging the fiction lovers to read her dark
and frightening stories for almost four decades has brought her so many good reviews, even from
other writers as Alison Weir, English bestselling author of The Captive Queen (2010): ”It was
hard choosing just one of Rayne’s supernatural thrillers — they are all superb”.
Sarah Rayne has written since she was a teenager, and after a convent education,
including written plays for the Lower Third to be performed at school, she embarked on different

4 jobs1. For so many years, Rayne organized her time so that she could write books, but also to
work in property, which means that while most people were trying to take it easy after a hard
work day, she was constantly pounding a typewriter after midnight, with Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart playing in the backgrou nd for company. She published her first novel in 1982, Mask of
the Fox , after three years of trying, which was a quite short time in publishing, according to one
of her interview excerpts. Since then, she has written almost 30 books, including eight
psycho logical thrillers, several contemporary horror books, four fantasies and two separate series
— the haunted house series which had begun with the novel Property of a Lady (2011) , starring
the don of Oxford, Michael Flint and also the antiques trader, Nell W est, and the music mysteries
series which marked its debut with the Death Notes novel, having the music historian and
researcher, Phineas Fox, as central character. Her most notable works include The Chessmen
(1983), Rose Window (1985), Wolfking (1991), The Death Chamber (2008), The Sin Eater
(2012), Song of the Damned (2018) and many others. Her books have been published all around
the world but they have been translated only in languages such as Dutch, Turkish, German and
Russian.
Rayne’s father was a n Irish comedy actor and she was as passionate about theatre as he
was, being active in this area for many years. Drama, music and history were a few of her
biggest inspirations to start writing such terrifiant but beautiful plots. She has mentioned in one
of her interviews that creating such dark, horror and scary content is more interesting than
creating hero stories or happy ever after endings. Another great deal of inspiration for her came
from the histories and atmospheres of old buildings to which she added ghost stories; music also
influenced her imagination.

1.2. What Lies Beneath
According to the notes that she has sent me personally and referring to the inspiration for
her novel What Lies Beneath (2011), Sarah Rayne said: ”It’s often difficult to pinpoint exactly
where the inspiration for a plot originally came from — plots are everywhere, and sometimes it’s
the smallest fragment of something — a news item, the tail -end of a conversation overheard in
the supermarket — that can spark an idea for a p lot. However, the idea for What Lies Beneath
was definitely sparked by a particular local venue. The trouble is that it went slightly wrong, and

1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsK22l6bTUQ

5 I ended up writing a completely different book”. The author has mentioned that quite near to
where she lives is a large, man -made reservoir, which has a wonderful local legend of how a
drowned village lies at its depths. ”It’s even said that when the water level is low, a church spire
can be seen protruding from the water”, said the writer. Therefore, Rayne found t he idea of a
drowned village and what might have happened there very alluring. But partway through drafting
the plot she discovered that the concept had been alluring to a number of other writers, as well.
There’s even a genre and it has a suggestive name — it’s known as reservoir noir . Sadly, she had
to abandon the initial idea for the plot of a drowned village and tried to search for another way to
‘lose’ a village instead — to blot out its history, its people and its secrets. Eventually, Rayne
started to think about all the places that have been the subject of strange, even macabre
experiments, especially in the United Kingdom. ”There’s Gruinard Island — the ‘anthrax isle’ in
the Scottish Highlands — which was sealed off from the world for almost half a c entury. And
there are places such as Porton Down and Sellafield whose sometimes -contentious, occasionally –
mysterious, research has become uneasily etched onto the fabric of England’s lore. There will, of
course, be many similar places across the world — each with its own intriguing story”, said the
73-year-old. The idea of a secret experiment took hold of her mind — but she thought that it had
to be an experiment that would go disastrously wrong, so that the village would have to be sealed
off. Within it, all of its strange and sinister secrets would be sealed up, as well, including the
ancient Cadence Manor and the family who lived there.
As if to give even further impetus to this idea, Sarah Rayne claims that she discovered
Oliver Goldsmith’s poem from t he mid 1700’s — The Deserted Village . Goldsmith had
witnessed the demolition of an ancient village and the destruction of its farms to clear the land
purely to create a garden for a wealthy and powerful man. Therefore he was outraged and upset
because he f eared that the local communities would be ruined. Almost a hundred years later,
Goldsmith’s poem was turned into an opera with the same name, by an Irish composer called
John William Glover.
Rayne observed and managed to figure out how these two works cou ld be used within the
frame of her own gradually emerging plot, and so, slowly and cautiously, and with a good deal of
mind -changing, Priors Bramley became not a drowned village as it was supposed to, but the
victim of the ill -fated Geranos trial — it beca me a poisoned village. ”The research for the book
— in particular the early 20th century sections focussing on the Cadence family — took me into

6 some very dark places. The treatments for syphilis and the barbaric practices that took place
during the Great War made for grim reading. But threads and shreds of the facts found their way
into the story”, said the author. The following chapters of the book and those four that I have
translated, outline Jamie Cadence and the diaries of this strange, ultimately -doomed character,
whose journey had been the most absorbing part to write for Sarah Rayne. He falls into the
typology of villains of which the writer is fascinated; she considers that they could leave you
hanging more than any other positive character. By w riting in a first -person narrative, Rayne
wanted the readers to project themselves into the flawed mind of Jamie Cadence and to gradually
realize his murderous intentions, while keeping his identity hidden for most of the book. ”I drew
up several flow char ts, so that I could keep track of the story’s progress — but at the same time
tried to plant the clues that something very macabre and violent was being plotted”, mentioned
the writer.
Sixty years later after the isolation of Priors Bramley in 1950, the vi llage had been
reopened and declared safe again, even though people living nearby prefered that the past should
have remained buried forever. At that moment, Ella Haywood, who used to play in the village
when she was a child, is plagued by the discovery of two corpses. Before Priors Bramley got
sealed off, Ella and her two childhood friends , Clementine Poulter and Veronica Campion, had
seen a terrifying, human -looking but deformed figure playing the organ in the St. Anselm’s
church, who followed and tried t o hurt them. Even though they had promised each other to keep
it a secret, the past kept coming back to the present, forcing Ella to recourse to extreme measures
in order to make sure that no one would find out what really happened there. The poisoned
village, surrounded by mystery, fear and agony, had raised interest for everyone except the three
friends who tried to hide their almost fatal little trip to Priors Bramley.
In my opinion, Sarah Rayne’s thriller novel falls into the literary genre due to its prose
form which focuses on characters and plot and it has complete sentences organized into
paragraphs; the book is a lso full of fiction because the author uses a complex figurative language
in order to enlarge the reader’s imagination limits — a fictional work may incorporate imaginary
and fantastical ideas from real life. Rayne’s unique style of writing provides the bo ok more
subgenres such as mystery, thriller, and horror — its mystery is characterised by strangeness,
solving a puzzling situation and facing the unknown; the thriller genre is defined by darkness,

7 suspense and lack of humor and the horror genre of the no vel is given by the fear, danger and
shock that the characters are coping with throughout the story.

8 CHAPTER 2

This chapter represents the theoretical framework of my paper, containing various aspects
related to the practice and history of translation over time, which many theorists and scholars
have been able to explain through a set of key theories. Down the centuries, people have
discovered different ways to enrich and broaden their knowledge limits, and translatin g from one
language to another was one of them. The transition from a source language to a target language
was made possible by linguists and translators who studied the functions and main elements of a
text. The process of changing a given text entirely i nto the same context but in a different
language, grammar and lexis, also means the replacement of the source material into the target
material. In the first part of this chapter I will talk about the ones who laid the foundations of the
field of translati on and who remained extremely relevant from ancient times until the 21st
century, including Cicero, Horace, St. Jerome, Dryden, Martin Luther and Étienne Dolet. In the
second part of this chapter I will mention and explain theories of translation after 195 0,
especially the theories of Jean -Paul Vinay, Jean Darbelnet, Eugene Nida, Peter Newmark,
Hervey and Higgins, whose work has represented an essential piece in the process of founding
the translation studies.
As we all know, the term ‘translation’ has seve ral meanings and it may refer to a final
result, more precisely the transition between the source language and the target language, it may
refer to the process due to which the translation is made possible or even to the field of
translation studies itself which could cover all possible meanings of this subject. The history of
translation theory can be seen as a system of links created between the autonomy of the
translated text or the various methods used by the translator and two major key elements, namel y
function and equivalence. These two concepts are the main components of translation and create
a close connection between the original and the translated text. They have been understood over
time as a possibility for the text to release multiple effects, such as delivering information and
reproducing a very similar response to the one at the base of the foreign text. If we refer to the
history of translation, these effects have always been socially, economically, culturally or
politically valued, but also from the point of view of the development of languages, literatures
and literary movements. In certain periods of time there was a limitation of the autonomy of the
translation due to the concept of equivalence, while the functionalism of the texts came a s a

9 solution to this impasse; there were periods of time when the autonomy was limited by the
abundance of functionalisms, and equivalence was again considered to be a beneficial factor in
the translation process.

2.1. The History of Translation from Ant iquity to 1950
However, the first significant documents and writings on the study of translation date
back to Roman antiquity. Those who brought arguments and explanations to differentiate word –
for-word and sense -for-sense translations were Marcus Tullius Cicero (106BC -43BC), a Roman
statesman, lawyer, orator and philosophe r, and Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known as Horace
(65BC -8BC), a Roman lyric poet, satirist, and critic. They both strongly claimed that the
meaning of the original text should rema in unchanged and not resort to a verbo pro verbum
translation.
As it is conspicuous, translation theory was not one of the most well -known topics in
antiquity, and the theories that emerged at the time were considered 'unfounded' observations and
belonged to the discipline of rhetoric. The initiators of the field of translation were Cicero and
Horace, who thought that this process was a pedagogical exercise that raises the issue of word –
for-word and sense -for-sense translations.
In the form of a dialogue, Cicero’s De Optimo Genere Oratorum (52BC) exposes the
orator's vision as master of all linguistic communications, highlighting its important role in the
Roman society and politics. Commenting on the translation of the Greek orators Demosthenes
and Aeschine s, Cicero states in his book: ”I did not translate as an interpreter, but as an orator,
keeping the same ideas and the forms, or as one might say, the figures of thought, but in a
language which conforms to our usage and in so doing, I did not hold it nece ssary to render
word -for-word, but I expressed the general style and the force of language”.
On the other hand, Ars Poetica (18BC) is Horace’s book, which was originally written in
dactylic hexameter, and later translated into prose; it was an epistle pre sented as an informal
letter to the Piso family. Horace's advice in this book constantly refers to the practice and
approach of translation, highlighting the issue of an extremely similar result to the original text,
often losing its sense. ”A theme that i s familiar can be made your own property so long as you do
not waste your time on a hackneyed treatment; nor should you try to render your original word
for word like a slavish translator, or in imitating another writer plunge yourself into difficulties

10 from which shame, or the rules you have laid down for yourself, prevent you from extricating
yourself”, said Horace, engaging critical feedback.
To sum up these two quotations, Cicero claims to have translated the speeches in the
book as an orator, not an interpreter, keeping his 'figures of thought' untouched. He did not want
the translation to have a verbo pro verbum result, but to preserve the e xpressiveness of the
language. The philosopher considered that an interpreter is meant to do literally translations, but
an orator has to impress the public by using a characteristic speech.
As for Horace, we can say that his ideal, in terms of translatio n, is that the original text
has to be translated into the target language in a stylistic manner. The purpose of the translator is
to produce a version of the original text based on the principle of non verbum e verbo, sed
sensum expresere de sensu (of exp ressing not word for word, but sense for sense), for readers
passionate about these classic works.
Speaking of sense -for-sense translations, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, known as St.
Jerome (c. 347 -420), had a natural talent, being able to speak, under stand and write Latin, Greek
and Hebrew — he was ‘trilingual’. Jerome also studied Aramaic and could read it capably, even
though he admitted having pronunciation problems; he could also speak Syriac and had a few
link-ups with Arabic. Heading forward to t he 4th century AD, translation was evolving and
contributing to the transition from one language to another for the Bible. It has been translated
for over a thousand years, and over time there have been countless translators of the Bible,
including St. Jer ome. He is the best known Latin priest, confessor, theologian, and historian who
translated the Bible into Latin, which later became known as the Vulgate , due to its Greek and
Hebrew originals. Jerome distinguished himself as a theorist of translation, add ressing other
scholars with a series of letters full of comments and observations on the process. He was
strongly influenced by Latin classics, including Cicero, from whom he took the title for the letter
regarding his own reflections on translation: Epist le LVII. Ad Pammachium De Optimo Genere
Interpretandi (Letter LVII. To Pammachius on the Best Method of Translating). The Latin priest
shared a few thoughts on translating in Letter LVII : ”In the above remarks I have assumed that I
have made alterations in the letter and that a simple translation may contain errors though not
wilful ones. As, however the letter itself shows that no changes have been made in the sense, that
nothing has been a dded, and that no doctrine has been foisted into it, ‘obviously their object is
understanding to understand nothing;’ and while they desire to arrange another's want of skill,

11 they betray their own. For I myself not only admit but freely proclaim that in t ranslating from the
Greek (except in the case of the holy scriptures where even the order of the words is a mystery) I
render sense for sense and not word for word.”
Jerome takes his inspiration from Cicero and Horace and continues to express his ideas,
while trying to stay as far away from a word -for-word translation as possible; he quotes from the
work of Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of Antony , which was initially created in the Greek
language, but later rendered in Latin by a bishop of Antioch: ”A lit eral translation from one
language into another obscures the sense; the exuberance of the growth lessens the yield. For
while one's diction is enslaved to cases and metaphors, it has to explain by tedious
circumlocutions what a few words would otherwise ha ve sufficed to make plain. I have tried to
avoid this error in the translation which at your request I have made of the story of the blessed
Antony. My version always preserves the sense although it does not invariably keep the words of
the original. Leave others to catch at syllables and letters, do you for your part look for the
meaning” ( Letter LVII).
Although the Bible itself has a difficult syntax, Jerome opted for a sense -for-sense
translation and defended himself against critics who accused him of do ing his work incorrectly.
He claims that the verbo pro verbum translation has led to illogical structures, while the one he
supports renders the clear meaning of the original text. Even nowadays there are debates
regarding literally translations or those w hich demonstrate the deep sense of a text. Even though
Jerome's idea was supported for a long time, there were people who refused to work the same
way for Bible translations.
A thousand years later, Martin Luther (1483 -1546) c ame to represent the Protestant
Reformation in the 16th century, being a preacher, orator, translator, theologian, teacher and
composer. Probably Luther's greatest accomplishment was translating the Bible into German. His
work has had a huge impact on Germ any’s development and heritage down the ages. In Luther's
time, German was a whole combination of dialects similar to the language spoken at the
Habsburg and Luxembourg emperor's courts. By uniting all dialects, raising the middle class and
inventing the p rinting press, the German society was able to evolve, but the key element in its
evolution was Martin Luther's Bible.
During late antiquity, the Bible was translated into various languages, so that Christians
had access to the information it contained. Al though the Latin language was evolving, Jerome's

12 version of the Bible, the Volgate , remained an essential source for liturgy or even scholarships.
At that time, translators did their work based on a strong idea — to treat the text of the Bible
with great c aution, so as not to detract from its ‘correct’ sense; the Roman Catholic Church made
sure that this was not happening, since the faithfulness to the text was a major priority for
Christians. As the role of the Bible became more important in the 13th and 14th centuries, It was
able to be translated into many more languages for church parishioners. However, people who
had translated the Scriptures following the concept of literal translation were severely punished
because, for the Church, it meant pure bl asphemy.
Thus, Martin Luther was able to translate the Bible into a common dialect in Germany
and also contributed to the evolution of the German language of today. On this occasion, Luther
was able to expose his knowledge in the present field and added n ew principles in the translation
process. He did so in a letter entitled Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (”Circular Letter on
Translation”), in which he emphasized that the message must reach his readers clearly and
directly. ” We do not have to ask the literal L atin how we are to speak German […]. Rather we
must ask the mother in the home, the children on the street, the common man in the marketplace.
We must be guided by their language, by the way they speak, and do our translating accordingly.
Then they will understand it and recognize that we are speaking German to them. […] The literal
Latin is a great obstacle to speaking good German”, said Martin Luther in 1530. Luther's letter
contains many fragments from his translation of the Bible, in which he mentio ned the criteria on
which his translations are based. A first principle refers to the attention he pays to his readers,
trying to use a language as accessible as possible for them. A second principle indicates that the
translator must know the language ver y well, in this case the German language. The third idea
that Luther set out in his letter refers to the originality of the expressive language that a translator
needs and the replacement of vernacular words in order to be understood in the target language .
Another principle shows that literally translation may be used, but only in particular cases, where
the terminology may present difficulties. The fifth principle consists in the precise understanding
of the message by the translator, and the last idea em phasizes the simplicity that a translated text
needs in order to be understood by anybody.
Over time, Luther was accused of adding new terms that later changed the significance of
the Latin text, leading to a misinterpretation of the true religious meanin g. Similar to St. Jerome

13 and his predecessors, Martin Luther supported the sense -for-sense translation, to the detriment of
the word -for-word one.
One of the first writers to create a translation theory was a French scholar , translator and
printer , namely Étienne Dolet (1509 -1546) and also known as ”the first martyr of the
Renaissance”. Throughout his lifetime, Dolet was a controversial figure — he was burned at the
stake for heresy because of a misinterpretation of one of Plato‘s dialogues, which could have
been unders tood as a rejection of believing in the immortality of the soul. The scholar was
condemned by the theological faculty of the Sorbonne for adding the ”rien du tout” line
(translated a s ”anything at all”) in one of Plato’s dialogues regarding life after death — “Since it
is certain that death is not at all among the living: and as for the dead, they no longer are:
therefore, death touches them even less. And hence death can do nothing t o you, for you are not
yet ready to die, and when you have died, death will also not be able to do anything, since you
will no longer be anything at all”2. Therefore Dolet was accused of blasphemy for claiming that
immortality does not exist at all, his l ife ending tragically afterwards. In 1546, on his 37th
birthday, he was executed in the Place Maubert and is said to have composed the pentameter Non
dolet ipse Dolet, sed pia turba dolet (Dole t himself does not suffer, but the pious crowd grieves)
on his way to his death sentence.
Dolet did not approach the option of translating his texts literally, a technique that, for
example, St. Jerome supports only in religious texts and about which he says that the order of the
words in sentences is mysterious and specific to the Bible. Thus he corresponds to Martin
Luther’s manner of approaching an original text, being a supporter of colloquial and fluent
language too. In his 1540 publication La manière de bien traduire d'une langue en aultre (“How
to Translate from One Language to Another”) Dolet established five principles for the translator:
The first principle indicates a full understanding of the meaning that the author conveys,
although he has the freedom to explain the ambiguity. The second principle involves knowing
both languages in order to be able to reproduce ideas correctly. The third principle states that
word -for-word rendering of the original text in the target language should be avoided as much as
possible. The last two ideas show the need to use words from a colloquial langu age in order to be
understood and to choose the right order of these words to produce the right tone.

2 https://letrario.pt/etienne -dolets -five-essential -translation -principles/

14 Although these five essential principles cost him his life, Étienne Dolet managed to
capture through his theory the importance of understanding the source text and avoiding a verbo
pro verbum translation.
Over more than a hundred years later, a hugely successful English poet, literary critic,
translator, and playwright named John Dryden (1631 -1700) had become a significant figure on
the literary scene in t he later 17th century. Dryden was the first Poet Laureate in 1668 and had
shown his appreciation towards the Stuart kings, despite their not -always -peaceful rule. After
1688, when King James II of England was dethroned, Dryden refused to be loyal and faith ful to
William and Mary, so he was looked down upon. Immediately afterwards, he was stripped of the
title of Poet Laureate, but not because of the new regime in which he did not trust, but because
the new royals did not support his work. Dryden had to repl ace his sources of income with
another profession, namely in the field of translation. In 1694 he began to apply himself to a
work of literature that shaped his career as a translator, namely The Works of Virgil . The
publication of Dryden’s translation was a success, bringing him a total of £1,400. His last works
appeared in the volume Fables Ancient and Modern (1700), including a series of translations on
Boccaccio, Homer and Ovid, as well as changes to a more modern style on Geoffrey Chaucer’s
works, comb ined with his own poems — as a translator, he helped numerous English readers to
understand and enjoy literary works, originally written in old languages.
Dryden described the translation process as a blending of three possibilities of phrasing
— metaphra se (literal translation, namely the word -for-word or line -for-line translation ),
paraphrase (restatement with other words and what is followed more strictly is the sense and not
the words) and imitation ( free translation and would nearly mean adaptation). “When
words appear literally graceful, it were an injury to the author that they should be changed. But
since what is beautiful in one language is often barbarous, nay sometimes nonsense, in another, it
would be unreasonable to limit a translator to the na rrow compass of his author’s words: it is
enough if he chooses out some expression which does not vitiate the sense”, wrote the English
poet and the fragment being cited in Christopher Kasparek’s The Translator’s Endless Toil
(1983).
Although Dryden had many admirers of his work, critical opinion did not hesitate to
emerge. Mark Van Doren, an American poet, writer and critic, objected, stating: “a fund of
phrases with which he could expand any passage that seemed to him curt”. The Engl ish

15 translator claimed that Latin is a short and comprehensive language itself and it cannot be
compared to the large number of words that English implies. His translations are based on a
precise intention and a smooth language. Regarding this issue, Dryde n claimed: ” Where I have
taken away some of expressions, and cut them shorter, it may possibly be on this consideration,
that what was beautiful in the Greek or Latin, would not appear so shining in the English; and
where I have enlarged them, I desire the false Critics would not always think that those thoughts
are wholly mine, but that either they are secretly in the Poet, or may be fairly deduced from him;
or at least, if both those considerations should fail, that my own is of a piece with his, and that if
he were living, and an Englishman, they are such as he would probably have written”.
Starting with the 1950s, the theory of translations approaches new features and addresses
especially the problem of translatability. Well -known figures in fields such as literary and
linguistic criticism have considered creating a solution that will eliminate the differences in
language and culture from all sides and thus be able to unite them. The translation methods are
accurately formulated and the difficulties encou ntered during the process cannot be ignored or
unapproached.

2.1. Translation Studies after 1950
In 1958 the two Canadian linguists Jean Paul -Vinay (1910 -1999) and Jean Darbelnet
(1904 -1990) published for the first time one of the most influential works on translation theory.
The two laid the foundations of the various translation methods that are still used today; in their
paper they approached the field of comparative stylistics using a translation from French to
English. Their work was an essential and absolutely necessary element in the process of training
translators from that period until the next four decades. Therefore, with the help of a guiding
manual, the two describe methods of translation through which the differences between
languages and c ultures are transformed into a semantics based on experience. They call it
”equivalence of messages” and it refers to an overview or background image due to which
translators can create an indefinite reality. They also encourage future translators to look upon
the meaning of the text and consider it as a factor in the cultural construction, then to create a
bond between linguistic processes and ”metalinguistic information” — “the current state of
literature, science, politics, etc. of both language communit ies”, said Vinay and Darbelnet. The
works of Vinay and Darbelnet have always been a point of reference when it comes to

16 translatability, because they offered pedagogical and practical value. The various translation
procedures and methods that Vinay and Dal bernet use are seven, each describing the degree of
difficulty that a particular situation presents; they can be used individually or even reciprocally.
Translators can choose to work using two essential methods, namely literal or oblique
translation. In c ertain cases, the message in the source language can be transposed into the target
language, element by element, because this transfer can be done through parallel categories,
more precisely the structural or conceptual parallels. Obviously, there may be e llipses in the
target language that need to be replaced by elements that help the reader understand the same
message from the original text. It may happen that certain structures cannot be translated due to
the stylistic effects present in one language, bu t not in the other. In such cases, more complex
procedures are needed, which may initially seem difficult, but which give the translator control
over his work — these methods involve oblique translation. Of the seven procedures I will
present now, the firs t three are direct and the other four are oblique.
If an unknown concept emerges in the translation process, more precisely a gap, a first
helpful and practical procedure is borrowing. Translators often use it and it is a common method
in their work. This procedure brings as final result elements specific to the culture of a nation, in
order to give a stylistic note, but also to put the reader exactly in the picture; for example,
specific American terms may appear, such as ”dollars” or even the Russian word ”sputnik”,
which means ”satellite”. If there is a trademark, the decision to use the borrowing procedure
must be thought in advance. In translation, a balance must be found between all the meanings of
the words and the need to specify the nationality of t he object within that brand. Preserving the
term in its original language can often mean an act of cultural imperialism.
Also, some borrowings are so well established that they are taken in their original form
and kept in the target language; for example, there are borrowings from French such as ”menu”
or ”chic”, but also expressions such as ”déjà vu”, which are very frequently used in English
texts. It should be noted that many borrowings make their debut in a target language through
translation, as do semantic borrowings, which must be fully understood in advance.
A second method is called ”calque”, meaning ”copy”, and is a ‘special type of
borrowing’ that is made by using an expression from another language and then translating it,
element by ele ment, into the target language. The result can be either a lexical calque, respecting
the syntactic structure of the target language, while introducing a new approach of expression —

17 for instance, an English -French lexical calque is ”Adam’s apple”, transl ated as ”pomme
d’Adam” — or structural calque, introducing a new structure into the target language; for
example, ”Science -Fiction” from English is exactly the same in French or any other language.
These calques can also undergo a semantic change, turning them into false friends; it is
preferable to create a new lexical form, using Latin or Greek roots or to use conversion.
Translators are interested in finding new expressions and words, instead of using old and already
existing borrowings — for example, it would be great to avoid structures, such as ”l’homme dans
la rue” and ”the man in the street”, in this case the correct form would have been ”l'homme de la
rue”.
The third direct procedure is the literal translation, also called word -for-word translation,
and involves the direct altering of the original text and transposition into the target language —
”who are you with?” is translated in French as ”avec qui êtes -vous?”. This can be tested by
translating the text back into its original language, and the pr ocess can even be made easier if
both languages come from the same lexical family or have similar cultures — for instance,
French and Italian. If there are literal translations between French and English, for example, this
is due to common metalinguistic c oncepts and physical coexistence; it is called bilingualism with
a conscious imitation or not.
Vinay and Dalbernet consider that translation can resort to oblique procedures only if the
three direct procedures presented above cannot give meaning to the or iginal text, the structure
cannot be rendered, the expressions do not have a correspondent in the target language or there is
some expression, however, but does not belong to the same register.
The first oblique method is called ”transposition” and consis ts in changing the
grammatical value of the words, but without changing the message of the original text. This
strategy can also be applied in the same language, where a common expression can be replaced
by a less common one. For instance, the French struc ture ”L’économie n’a cessé de croître” is
usually translated as ”The economy did not stop growing”, even though it should have been
translated using a verb and adverb, like ”The economy grew steadily”. From a stylistic point of
view, the original and the t ransposed expression do not have the same grammatical value. Thus,
translators must decide which option is more appropriate, in order to make the reader understand
the text in its entirety — they can transpose the expression if it fits stylistically better in the target
language.

18 Modulation is the second oblique process that involves a change in the initial message,
but more precisely in a point of view. This procedure is used in cases where a transposed or
literal translation has an unusual result in the target language. In this case, there are optional or
free and obligatory or fixed modulations; a free modulation can become fixed, if it is used
considerably and documented in various dictionaries — more exactly metonymy, synecdoche,
metaphor. Obligatory modulation, on the other hand, can already be found in dictionaries, as
opposed to the optional one. There is a difference in degree between the two modulations. Those
who know and speak very well bo th the source language and the target language use fixed
modulation more often, as they are provided by the information given by a dictionary or the
grammar of each language. In cases of free modulation, there is no accuracy and the procedure
must be check ed every time; however, when used correctly, the target text should have the same
characteristics and meanings as the source text. But in order to get there, the result of optional
modulation should make the reader satisfied with the understanding of the t ext. An example for
this procedure can be the English structure ”you can have it” and the French translation ”je vous
le laisse”, which caused a reversal of terms.
Vinay and Dalbernet’s sixth procedure, namely equivalence, refers to the fact that a
certain situation can be transposed from one language to another through various methods and
strategies, in order to achieve a text in the target language equivalent to the text in the source
language. The best targets for this procedure are the onomatopoeias, pr overbs and expressions of
a certain language. For example, as onomatopoeias we can use ”thump -thump” for the sound of
the heart beat and the French equivalent is ”poum -poum” or we can refer to animal sounds, such
as ”quack -quack” for the French ”coin -coin” . As for proverbs, they are fixed and have a
syntagmatic nature and a strong impact on the message transmitted — for example, for the
French proverb ”il pleut à seaux/des cordes” there is an equivalent in English, more exactly ”it is
raining cats and dogs” . However, the translator is not obliged to endure the consequences of
introducing calques in a fairly well -developed language. Subsequently, they might be accused of
using them in the translation process and that is the reason why it is highly recommended to use
traditional expressions.
The last but not least procedure, adaptation or situational equivalence, is used in cases
where the situation referred to in the source language text is completely unknown in the target
language culture. Therefore, the tra nslator is forced to improvise and create a new situation that

19 could be equivalent to the initial one — the adaptation can be used as a last resort solution and as
a situational equivalence. Vinay and Dalbernet's approach can be seen as an attempt to give the
translator the opportunity to use other strategies to reach a mutual sense with the source text. The
two emphasize the importance of knowing both languages, their grammar, but also their
stylistics. Here we can see the movies or books that have acquire d different names and titles,
although the information at the base of the source is being kept — for example, the French
book’s ”Le grand Meaulnes” title is translated as ”The Wanderer” in English. If a translator
decides not to use the method of adaptatio n in his works, its absence is clearly noticeable; the
syntactic structure, the dilation of many ideas and the way they are exposed within the text are
affected.
The two linguists created a division into three sections between translation strategies: the
category of strategies related to the aspects of vocabulary, the one referring to the way words are
delivered in sentences, thus creating the syntax of the text and the last one which implies the
connection between the message and the internal factors of th e text, such as context, situation,
meaning, stylistics, the presented information and the impact of the view of the world. All these
ideas that Vinay and Dalbernet support allow the message to be conveyed to the public, but at the
same time they emphasize that the situation, experience and reality will be interpreted differently
from the original text, due to different forms and structures in each language. This makes it
obvious that languages have a minor connection between them and also common features .
It is well known that two languages cannot be identical, because the meaning of certain
elements of one language can never fully correspond to elements of another language, regardless
of their role and place in a syntactic process — this explains why a translation cannot be exactly
the same as its source. There is, of course, a closeness of meaning and a resemblance between
the two, but there will never be an exact translated copy of the original text. Since the theory of
the principles of correspondence cannot be complete without the linguists and theorists who
support it, Eugene Nida (1914 -2011) was one of those who presented different approaches to the
sense of a translated text and who insisted that there are no words that have a fixed meaning in a
different language. He wanted to define the functional purpose of the meaning whereby words
acquire sense in various contexts and induce moods or thoughts to the public, depending on the
culture of each nation.

20 Like the linguists before him, Nida distinguish ed himself as a translator by addressing
religious themes in the Bible. His ideas underlie the translation theory and were presented in two
significant works, namely Towards a Science of Translating , published in 1964, and The Theory
and Practice of Transl ation , from 1969. Nida wanted to follow up already existing linguistic
theories and carry them out to a scientific sphere, borrowing a series of concepts from the
generative grammar theory of the American ‘father of modern linguistics’, Avram Noam
Chomsky, but also from the new theories of pragmatics and semantics. According to Chomsky,
words are based on meanings that can be linguistic, referential (the denotative meaning found in
the dictionary), or emotional (words based on a connotative meaning). In ord er to find the
meaning of the linguistic elements, the translator can use related techniques — for example, the
referential meaning is established by the analyzed structures of words, by the differences
between them and by other units existing in the same semantic field. We can mention the
hierarchical structuring that creates a differentiation of words, depending on their level — for
example, the noun ”flower” is a hypernym, and the nouns ”rose”, ”tulip” or ”daisy” are its
hyponyms. There is also another i mportant aspect, namely the compositional analysis of words
that distinguishes them according to certain features — gender (female or male), generation (the
same, once, twice or three times removed), lineage (ancestor and direct or indirect descendent).
These features represent an essential element in such analyzes that translators work on, being
helpful when it comes to languages where the terms from the same semantic field are different.
Nida supports another technique, namely the analysis of the semant ic structure, through which
all the meanings of a word are separated in contrasting categories — the noun ”bachelor” has
various meanings, such as graduate, licensed, celibate, fellow, knight, gallant, etc. This implies
the countless meanings and the seman tic complexity that a word can have, being able afterwards
to select what we need in a given context. In communication, the context has an essential role,
because there may be cases such as idioms or metaphors, in which the meaning of the expression
may se em bizarre at first, but has a completely different meaning — for instance, ”wrapping
your head around something” means to understand something slightly complicated.
Eugene Nida, whose most important activity and contribution to the theory of translation
were based on his Bible translations, has created an innovative concept called dynamic
equivalence, which later advanced into functional equivalence. This theory has had an auspicious
impact in this field, going beyond a word -for-word equivalent. Nida beli eves that the message of

21 an original text can be transposed into a translated text, if the main ideas are preserved and
appropriately explained, so that the new audience can observe the essence of the text as the
audience of the original text — “The transl ator must strive for equivalence [between the source
and target languages, resulting in] the closest natural equivalent of the source -language message,
first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” (Nida: 1969: 12)
Nida seems to have used dyn amic and formal equivalence in a way that is fundamentally
perceived in the same way as word -for-word and sense -for-sense translations. Still, Nida's
original definition of dynamic equivalence shows that the translator has to manage things in such
a way th at readers of the target text have no doubt and can understand the text as much as
possible. Therefore, this theory served to secure the understanding of the texts present in the
Bible. He disagrees with the fact that formal translators focus their attenti on on the idea of
rendering a poetic, metaphorical content, and subsequently lose the true meaning of the text.
According to Nida, the one who makes a dynamic translation can perceive ”more fully and
satisfactorily the meaning of the original text” (Nida , 1964).
If we were to refer to equivalence itself, any feature of the translation would focus on the
word as a basic unit, because it is effortless for a word to be able to correspond to another word,
than a sentence to another sentence, as well in the c ase of paragraphs and texts. Therefore,
Eugene Nida managed to develop a technique based on a componential analysis that has
remained extremely relevant and used nowadays — it determines the degree of equivalence
between words, they are divided into their own components and leads to a very accurate
translation of them. It is important not to neglect the character of the component analysis by
reducing it to the level of concept, but to treat it as an absolute statement of meaning. Also,
another aspect that s hould not be skipped is the fact that there is a difference between the
meanings of words when they are translated individually or in a certain context. Both words and
sentences mean more than an equivalent stringing; they are elements that have not been g iven
enough importance in the past.
Nida managed to explain in detail the link between communication and translation,
highlighting all their aspects; he talks about communication in various of his books and often
mentions the information theory or, someti mes called the communication theory. Nida considers
that translation belongs to the field of communication, in general, and his concepts on the
communication code model are based on two main hypotheses: any message can be delivered to

22 any reader, regardles s of language, providing an appropriate way of expression for anyone to
understand; people worldwide have an already existing base of universal experiences that allow
communication to exist. “Language […] is essentially a code in operation, or, in other words, a
code functioning for a specific purpose or purposes. Thus we must analyze the transmission of a
message in terms of a dynamic dimension”, said the American linguist. Starting from this idea of
communication code, Nida continues to explain: “This a nalysis is especially important for
translating, since the production of equivalent messages is a process, not merely of matching the
parts of utterances, but also of reproducing the total dynamic character of the communication [of
the message]”.
As for th e University of Surrey’s English professor of translation Peter Newmark (1916 –
2011) and his ideas regarding equivalence, he considers the success of this concept an illusion.
Two of his works, Approaches to Translation (1981) and A Textbook of Translation (1988) had a
major impact on the translation scene and were extensively used, starting with Nida's concepts of
creating a direct path towards the reader. Newmark comes up with a new proposal in the field of
translation and suggests replacing previous conce pts with concepts of communicative and
semantic translation. Communicative translation consists in trying to bring the public of readers
of the target language texts to the same level as the public of the original texts and thus his
theory resembles Nida's dynamic equivalence, due to certain aspects. Semantic translation, on
the other hand, tries to reproduce the meaning of the original texts, depending on how permissive
the semantic and syntactic structures in the target language are, making this concept s imilar to
the formal equivalence of Nida. Of these two, the semantic translation is closer to the
equivalence theory, trying to provide the same semantic values in the source text without losing
its sense at the same time. The communicative translation can be considered a cultural adaptation
of the text, to some extent, in order to facilitate the reader's understanding of the target text. But
before this step, there is a chance that the reader will not understand certain words, so the
semantic translation r emains a recommended option to stay as close as possible to the original
text, especially if the author stands out with a special style of writing. Communicative translation
comes with the risk of keeping the translator away from the original meaning of th e text and also
creating confusion. Usually the serious works of literature can be translated semantically,
because the author keeps his personal style, while the fiction type literature can be directed
towards a communicative translation. Of course, seman tic translation is generally precise and

23 exact, but it may not communicate properly, and communicative translation fulfills its role, but it
cannot be accurate everytime. Newmark claims that "[w]hile translation methods relate to whole
texts, translation p rocedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language" (Newmark
1988: 81), thus creating a distinction between translation procedures and translation methods.
The word -for-word translation is the first method he mentioned, which maintains the order of the
words in the source language and also their most common meanings by translating them
individually, out of context. The second method is the literal translation that transposes the
constructions and grammatical values from the source language i nto an equivalent as close as
possible to the target language, and the lexical words are translated again individually. Faithful
translation aims to reproduce the original meaning exactly, depending on the grammatical
structures of the source language. The semantic translation, mentioned earlier, differs from the
faithful translation, only if it has to be improved by stylistics and aesthetics in the source
language. Then comes the adaptation that involves rewriting the original text in favor of the
culture of the source language, being also the most unrestricted method of translation. The free
translation can deviate from the style, content or form of the original text. Idiomatic translation is
another method that recreates the message of the original text, but there is a probability of
distancing from sense by using colloquialisms and idioms that are not found in the original text.
The last method is called communicative translation and it refers to the identical rendering of the
original context, so that th e language and content of the translation should be simple for the new
audience to figure out.
In addition to these main translation methods, Newmark mentions other new methods —
naturalization, which first adapts the words in the source language to a norm al pronunciation,
then to the normal morphology of the target language; the descriptive equivalent refers to the
process of explaining in more details words from the culture of the source language to the target
language; the recognized translation is appli ed when the translator uses an official translation of
an institutional term in order to translate it into the new language; compensation refers to the loss
of the meaning of a sentence somewhere within it, but is later completed elsewhere; couplets
occurs when the translator uses two procedures in their translation at the same time, etc.
During a long -lasting debate between the two theories of translation, namely word -for-
word and sense -for-sense, Newmark has been criticized countless times for supporting verbo pro
verbum translations. On the one hand, he supports the leading tradition by which translation "is

24 rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the
text," but on the other hand, Newmark states that “we do translate words, because there is
nothing else to translate; there are only the wor ds on the page; there is nothing else there”
(Newmark 1988: 73). But that was not enough for him: ”We do not translate isolated words, we
translate words all more or less (and sometimes less rather than more, but never not at all) bound
by their syntactic, collocational, situational, cultural and individual idiolectal contexts. (…) The
basic thought -carrying element of language is its grammar. But since the grammar is expressed
only in words, we have to get the words right” (Newmark 1988: 73).
Therefore, words are not considered isolated elements of language, but are understood
and transposed into the target language, depending on the connection between words. Newmark
tried to explain that the simplest and most efficient solution would be literal translati on, although
it has been rejected since ancient times — ”words must stretch and give only if the thought is
threatened”, ”you only deviate from literal translation when there are good semantic and
pragmatic reasons for doing so”, said the English professor . ”I am not making any plea for literal
or one -to-one translation, since, if it is translationese (and there is far too much translationese
published), it is wrong. But the re -creative part of translation is often exaggerated, and the literal
part underest imated (…)” (Newmark 1988: 73).
Since the late 1980s, translation scholars have attempted more rigorously to define
another crucial concept that has marked the translation studies, namely compensation. Notable
among these are Sándor G. J. Hervey and Ian Higgins, who have been developing it since 1992.
An entire section in the Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (1997) has been dedicated to this
concept. Its definition was first given by Vinay and Darbelnet in 1958, including it in
grammatical operations, while Harvey and Higgins considered it a lexical operation and stated
the following: ”techniques of making u p for the loss of important source text features through
replicating source text effects approximately in the target text by means other than those used in
the source text” (Hervey and Higgins 1992: 35).
As a standard comprehension of compensation, it cre ates a lexical transfer through which
the various meanings found in the source language get dim in the translation process, but are
subsequently rendered in another form or by other means in the target language. Hervey and
Higgins distinguish four categori es: compensations in kind , in which different linguistic devices
are used in the target text to recreate an effect in the source text; compensation in place , if the

25 effect in the target text is in a different place from the source; compensation by merging , where
the characteristics of the source text are condensed into the target text; compensation by splitting ,
where the meaning of a source text word must be widened to a longer extent of the target text.
Hervey and Higgins suggest that these four types of compensation may occur. It should be noted,
however, that the last two seem to be mutually exclusive by definition.
Harvey questions the status of the last two categories as examples of compensation,
objecting to those examples of merging and splitting th at aim at the mismatch between the
source and target languages. For example, Hervey and Higgins discuss the splitting of French
'papillons' into moths and butterflies in an article regarding lepidoptera, in the English language.
Harvey considers it a conse quence of a systemic feature of the different lexical nature of French
and English and not a stylistic feature that he wishes to reserve for compensation.
Differences of opinion are clearly existing among scholars when it comes to spotting an
example of co mpensation in relation to a corresponding loss. Peter Newmark's definition is more
specific and suggests that compensation occurs close to the point of loss: ”This [compensation] is
said to occur when loss of meaning, sound -effect, metaphor or pragmatic ef fect in one part of a
sentence is compensated in another part or in a contiguous sentence” (Newmark 1988: 90).
Harvey wanted to bring every definition given by scholars and put them together in a descriptive
framework which identifies three points in a va riety of possibilities. Compensation can be
parallel, contiguous or displaced in relation to a certain example of loss. However, it can be
obvious that instances of displaced compensation are not always easy to differentiate from a
more generalized type of compensation. In this case, stylistic features can be seen in the target
text having the purpose of transforming the source text into a more natural -understanding text for
the target language text readers.
Therefore, compensation is a method of translati ng which involves 'making up' for the
loss of the source language effect by creating a similar effect in the target language through
different means that are more specific to the target language and readers. It is used when certain
aspects cannot be transl ated perfectly, but can be explained and expressed differently in the
target text. It is a strategy worth considering, because it can be used in dealing with idioms and it
can be really helpful in compensating for the lost effect of the source text and lan guage. The
preservation of idioms from a certain language in a whole different language can be quite
complex, therefore many translators use compensation as a last resort. That might lead to an

26 omission and replacing it with an idiom but in another place, in order to maintain the styling of
the source text in the target text as well.
Compensation can present plenty of challenges to translators, such as in translating
culture, riddles, invented words, acronyms, dialects and many others; all of these have be en dealt
with by various translators that had been forced to change the meaning of the initial text in order
to adapt to the culture and comprehension of foreign readers.

27 CHAPTER 3

This present chapter focuses on the version of the Romanian translation of Sarah Rayne’s
novel What Lies Beneath. It is a version that I decided to provide due to the fact that Rayne’s
books have never been translated into languages other than Russian, Dut ch, Turkish and German.
The following commentary on my translation will be structured this way: I will select and count
significant paragraphs from the original text and put them side by side with my Romanian
versions, then I will apply on my translation a few selected theories of linguists that I have
explained and detailed in Chapter 2. The main theorists that I will be mentioning will be those
whose procedures and methods have helped the entire field of translation, namely Jean -Paul
Vinay, Jean Darbelnet , Peter Newmark, Sándor G. J. Hervey and Ian Higgins, notable figures
after the second half of the 20th century.

1.
Source Text Target Text
Ella Haywood was in the delicatessen
counter queue at the supermarket when
she heard the news that ripped open her
life and brought her childhood nightmares
gibbering back.

Ella Haywood se afla la coada de
delicatese ale supermarketului, când auzi
vestea care i-a dat viața peste cap și care i –
a adus înapoi coșmarurile înfiorătoare din
copilărie.

As it can be seen, from the very beginning of Rayne's novel there were certain structures
that had to be transposed in Romanian in different ways. For example, ”ripped open her life” is
an expression that cannot sound very native -like in Romanian, therefor e I used ”i -a dat viața este
cap” to facilitate the reader’s understanding and also used the word ‘viața’, which can be found
in both expressions from both languages and point out the exact same sense. In order to recreate
this expression, I have used Vina y and Dalbernet’s modulation to avoid an unwanted and
unusual result in the target language, still preserving the sense. Then I chose to replace the term

28 ‘gibbering’ by adding an adjective to the word ‘coșmaruri’ to intensify the mood of the character
in the debut scene and to recreate the same effect from the source text, using Hervey and
Higgins’ compensation in kind.

2.
Source Text Target Text
She had not been expecting those
particular ghosts to come boiling out of
the past while she was waiting for her
farmhouse Cheddar to be cut and weighed,
but a gossipy shopper just ahead of her
was telling anyone who cared to listen that
Priors Bramley was to be reopened –
imagine that, after all these years they
were going to let peopl e back into the
Poisoned Village.
Nu se aștepta ca acele amintiri
obsedante să revină din trecut , în timp ce
aștepta să -i fie tăiată și cântărită brânza
Cheddar , însă o clientă din fața ei, dornică
de bârfă, spunea oricui era interesat că
Priors Bramley a r urma să fie redeschis –
imaginați -vă cum după toți acești ani,
oamenilor urma să li se permită să se
întoarcă în satul otrăvit.

As in the first paragraph, there is a structure that in Romanian would not make sense at
all, so a replacement was needed; ”particular ghosts” might be an expression in English that
Romanian readers may not be able to understand at first sight – as it is suggested, the word
‘ghosts’ refers to something haunted, obsessive and hard to erase from mind and existence. For
this instance, I have used the structure ”amintiri obsedante”, which indicates a similar sense. I
also used the same method for the structure ”to come boiling out of the past”, replacing the
author's version with ”să revină din trecut”, by making the proce ss of reading and comprehension
easier for the public. Subsequently, I have decided to get rid of the term ‘farmhouse’ associated
with the word ‘Cheddar’ and add the noun ‘brânza’ in order to be more specific of its meaning.
Also, ‘Cheddar’ is a borrowing from English that had to be preserved in the target language,
because it is an international name for this type of cheese. Vinay and Dalbernet’s borrowing
method had been helpful to fulfill this purpose.

29
3.
Source Text Target Text
‘Always providing they aren’t
worried about breathing in whatever’s still
lingering on the air ,’ said a sepulchral
voice from the end of the queue.
‘Oh, nothing’s lingered there for
years ,’ said the gossipy one cheerfully.
‘The authorities simply forgot to take
down the barbed wire and the notices,
that’s all. It’s a piece of the past being
reclaimed ,’ she added romantically.
-Firește, asta în condițiile în care
nu le e teamă să respire aerul ăla plin de
porcării , spuse o voce mormântală de la
sfârșitul cozii.
-O, dar aerul este respirabil de ani
de zile ”, spuse voios clienta flecară.
Autoritățile pur și simplu au uitat să scoată
sârma ghimpată și avertismentele, atâta
tot. A venit vremea să revendicăm
trecutul , adăugă ea romanțios.

In order to sound more natural in Romanian, the structure ”Always providing” needed a
change in such a way as to make it easier for the readers. I have translated it as ”Firește, asta în
condițiile în care (…)”, using Peter Newmark’s descriptive equivale nce, by adding a few words
and explaining the structure in detail, so it can make sense in the target language. I also replaced
”whatever’s still lingering in the air” with ”aerul ăla plin de porcării” to maintain the meaning of
the structure and to emphas ize the toxicity of the most important place in Rayne’s novel, that
characters have to deal with. For this part I have used the adaptation method, provided by Vinay
and Dalbernet, that implies changing the author’s initial wording in order to be more preci se in
the target language. The same problem can be seen in the second dialogue, in which the same
topic is present – the original structure whose grammatical value has been slightly changed in
Romanian, more exactly ”nothing’s lingered there for years” int o ”aerul este respirabil de ani de
zile”. This is another method that I have used and is supported by Vinay and Dalbernet, namely
transposition, having a defining role in the translation process, regardless of language.
Afterwards, the structure ”It’s a pi ece of the past being reclaimed” had to be stylistically and
grammatically changed to ”A venit vremea să revendicăm trecutul”, because in the first instance,

30 a preference for the third person can be observed, while in Romanian the whole sentence seems
more natural if it is written in the first person.

4.
Source Text Target Text
‘Reclaimed and then bulldozed and
covered with concrete,’ said the
pragmatist , to which the shopper tossed
her head , said some people had no soul,
and went off with her veal and ham pie.
-Îl revendicăm, apoi îl demolăm și
îl acoperim cu beton, interveni celălalt
client mai realist , căruia clienta îi aruncă
priviri și îi spuse că unii oameni nu au
suflet, după care se îndepărtă nervoasă cu
plăcinta cu șuncă și carne de vițel.

This paragraph, which consists of a dialogue, presents the situation in an objective
manner, using the third person, while in Romanian the first person sounds more natural in a
structure like this one. After that, I have considered that a short explanati on for the structure
”said the pragmatist” would be ”interveni celălalt client mai realist”, so that the sense is exactly
the same but more detailed now. The new added noun, ‘client’, shows an important detail of
sense that at first glance any foreign pers on could have misunderstood. Subsequently I have
decided to translate the English structure ”tossed her head” as ”îi aruncă priviri”, preserving the
same meaning but using a quite different expression which is often seen in the Romanian
language.

5.
Source Text Target Text
Back at home, panic clutched at
Ella’s stomach . She pictured in her mind’s
eye Cadence Manor – huge rusting iron Ajunsă înapoi acasă, Ella își simți
stomacul cum se strânge de groază . Văzu
conacul Cadence cu ochiul minții – porți

31 gates, the sunshine glinting on them…
Ivy-covered walls, crumbling brickwork
and an air of brooding desolation… The
images rose up sharply , and with them
came the memory of her mother declaring
the Cadence family had been a bunch of
villains, never mind th ey were supposed to
be respected city bankers, rich and
influential. ‘ Not to be trusted ,’ she always
said. ‘Not a one of them.’ uriașe de f ier ruginit, lumina soarelui
strălucind pe ele…Ziduri acoperite de
iederă, cărămizi care se prăbușesc și un
aer de pustiire contemplativă… Imaginile
apăruseră brusc , iar odată cu ele și
amintirea mamei ei, declarând că în
familia Cadence era o haită de răufăcători,
deși ar fi trebuit să fie bancheri respectați,
bogați și influenți ai orașului.
-Nu-s de încredere , spunea ea
întotdeauna. Nici măcar unul din ei.

In the selected paragraph we can notice an English expression, ”panic clutched at Ella’s
stomach”, which in Romanian would have had a totally different meaning, so it needed a
replacement, such as ”Ella își simți stomacul cum se strânge de groază”. For this part I have used
Vinay and Dalbernet’s modulation to shun an undesirable result. After that, the author used the
”rose up sharply” structure to express the inconvenience that one of the main characters is
experiencing by having uncomfortable thoughts. I have replaced Rayne’s formation with
”apăruseră brusc” in my translation, which is not actually a literal translation, but a quite similar
and more stylistical result. As for one of the last lines in this paragraph, ”Not to be trusted”
would sound more accurate if it is translated as ”Nu -s de încredere”, pointing out exactly who
Ella’s mother is talking about.

32 6.
Source Text Target Text
But one of Derek’s philosophies
was that you never troubled trouble until
trouble troubled you .

Dar una dintre filozofiile lui Derek
era aceea că nu e bine să cauți necazul cu
lumânarea .

For this part of Rayne’s novel I have used Vinay and Dalbernet’s equivalence, which
came in handy since Romanian possesses various other proverbs that would render the same
meaning. The English proverb is based on repetition and on conversion and is very effective.
This stylistic effect is irretrievable in Romanian, which means that I had to deal with translation
loss. The equivalent proverb that I adjusted fo r this particular context is however expressive
enough so as to partially compensate for the loss in question.

7.
Source Text Target Text
Amy, their granddaughter, had
once asked Ella how she had put up with
Gramps’s little sayings for so long, but
Amy’s generation did not understand
about marriage – not the permanent kind,
such as Ella had entered into . Amy
thought that because Gran was you ng in
the 1960s she must have had a permissive,
flower -power time, but flower power and
the permissive society had never actually
reached Bramley , and Derek was then, as
now, an auditor at the County Council, Amy, nepoata lor, o întrebase cândva pe
Ella cum rezistase să asculte vorbele de
duh ale Bunicului atâta timp, însă
generația lui Amy nu înțelegea căsătoria,
nu în mod permanent, nu genul de căsnicie
în care se afla Ella . Amy credea că fiindcă
Bunica fusese tânără în anii ‘60, avusese
parte de vremuri liberale, pașnice, doar că
astfel de vremuri ocoliseră Bramley , iar
Derek era pe atunci, ca și acum, un auditor
al Consiliului Județean și, de asemenea, o
stea în devenire în Societatea de Operă

33 and a rising star in the local Operatic
Society as well, so flower power and
permissiveness had never really been an
option.
locală; așadar pacea și liberalismul nu
fuseseră niciodată o opțiune.

In this context, we can notice a less common expression in the target language, namely
”little sayings”, which translated as word -for-word would lose its meaning. Instead of a literal
translation, I chose the Romanian ”vorbe de duh” alternative, because it makes the reader th ink
of the old man's wisdom. Further, in the structure ”not the permanent kind, such as Ella had
entered into” I preferred to be precise and explain a little more by saying ”nu în mod permanent,
nu genul de căsnicie în care se afla Ella"”, by adding an ext ra synonym for ”marriage”, so it can
be easier to understand. As for the ”flower power” structure, I managed to replace it with an
adjective that explains its meaning, namely ”pașnic”, because the author’s initial wording could
not be translated into Roman ian literally and preserve the same sense. It is possible to see below
in the paragraph that the same structure is repeated but in order to avoid that in my translation, I
have decided to fully change it into ”astfel de vremuri”, by using Hervey and Higgin s’
compensation by merging to condense the information and ease the process of comprehension
and reading in the target language. I have also altered the verb ”to reach” by saying ”a ocoli”,
which may be kind of an opposite for the original term, but can ma ke sense at the same time in
Romanian.

8.
Source Text Target Text
Ella always listened round -eyed to
Amy’s tales. None of the things Amy
described would have been remotely
thinkable in Ella’s own life. But then some
of the things in Ella’s life would not be Ella asculta întotdeauna cu ate nție
poveștile lui Amy. Niciunul dintre
lucrurile descrise de Amy nu erau de
conceput în viața Ellei. E drept că nici
anumite lucruri din viața Ellei nu erau de

34 remotely thinkable to Amy – it was
important to remember that.
conceput pentru Amy – era important să
nu se uite acest lucru.

The present paragraph consists of an expression in the beginning, namely ”round -eyed”,
which I have translated using Vinay and Darbelnet’s equivalence as ”cu atenție”, because it is a
way of saying seen more often in Romanian; transposing it into the target language l iterally
would have seemed unnatural. As for the structure ”But then”, it was more adequate to say ”E
drept”, since there is a relation of reciprocity between the two characters of the novel. I have also
replaced ”to remember” with ”să nu se uite” in Roman ian for stylistic reasons. The impersonal
construction in Romanian has a very categorical tone and seemed appropriate in this context.

9.
Source Text Target Text
‘I thought that was why you
phoned,’ said Veronica. ‘It’s a bit
worrying, I suppose. It’s good about the
motorway, but opening up the village
made me feel quite shivery . Didn’t you
feel shivery , Clem?’
‘Well, personally I seldom shiver
over any thing these days.’
-M-am gândit eu că de aceea ai
sunat, zise Veronica. Este un pic
îngrijorător, presupun. E în ordine cu
autostrada, dar deschiderea satului mi-a
cam dat fiori . Tu nu te simți la fel , Clem?
-Ei bine, personal, rareori mă
cutremură ceva în zilele noastre.

In this dialogue between two of the main characters, we can see the ”made me feel quite
shivery” expression, which, in my Romanian version, was translated as ”mi -a cam dat fiori”.
The method that I have used for this example was Newmark’s communicative translation, having
the purpose of an identical rendering and to facilitate the meaning for people reading it. In order
to avoid repetition, I have transformed the next line from ”Didn’t you feel shivery” to ”Tu nu te

35 simți la fel” by changing the grammati cal value, because it was clearly that the character was
referring to the same frightening story mentioned above. As in the previous example, I have
managed to find a synonym in Romanian for the same verb, namely ”to shiver”, by saying ”mă
cutremură”, whic h is more of a literal translation.

10.
Source Text Target Text
Here was the little shop that sold
bull’s -eyes and sherbet dab with liquorice
sticks , and next to it was the wool shop
where Ella’s mother bought knitting yarn
and patterns. Aici era micul magazin care
vindea bomboane de mentă și șerbet cu
bețișoare de lemn dulce , iar lângă el se
afla magazinul de lână, unde mama Ellei
cumpăra ață de tricotat și șabloane.

In this paragraph there are two types of sweets that seem to have a less common name for
the readers of the target text, so I used the descriptive equivalent of Peter Newmark, which
explains and gives more details regarding the new information. For the two English structures
”bull’s -eyes” and ”sherbet dab with liquo rice sticks” I used a more explicit translation, such as
”bomboane de mentă” and ”șerbet cu bețișoare de lemn dulce”.

11.
Source Text Target Text
There was no time to think or plan.
They ran straight towards the house and
half fell through the main doors. Ella’s
heart was racing and she thought she
might be sick from fear , but they had to
get away from the man, they absolutely
had to . . . As they w ent into the great Nu era timp de gândire sau de
plănuit ceva anume. Alergară direct spre
casă și aproape că se prăbușiră prin uș ile
principale. Inima Ellei bătea cu putere și
mai să leșine de frică , însă trebuiau să se
îndepărteze de bărbat, trebuiau fără
discuție să o facă…Intrând în sala mare și

36 ruined hall, the smell of damp and dirt and
loneliness reared up like a wall. Veronica
flinched, but Clem dragged her inside.
dărăpănată, mirosul umezelii, murdăriei și
singurătății se înălțase ca un zid. Veroni ca
tresări, dar Clem o trase înăuntru.

The present paragraph contains expressions, such as ”heart was racing” that does not
have a perfectly literal form in Romanian, but can be translated as ”bătea cu putere” using Vinay
and Darbelnet’s equivalence, maintaining the initial sense and accentuating the fear of the main
character. The next structure needed the exact same method to be translated, because ”might be
sick from fear” cannot be delivered literally in the target language, so I had t o use it as ”mai să
leșine de frică” to preserve the original meaning. Also, for ”absolutely” I have used the
Romanian expression ”fără discuție” to emphasize the character’s necessity to escape from a
horrifying situation.

12.
Source Text Target Text
They went cautiously up the stairs;
they were rickety and the wood had rotted
completely away in places so it was
necessary to tread carefully. Veronica was
crying, a snuffly whining cry , that made
Ella say sharply , ‘Do shut up or he’ll hear
you.’
Urcară cu precauție pe scări; erau
șubrede și lemnul putrezise complet pe
alocuri, așa că era necesar să calce cu
atenție. Veronica plângea, un smiorcăit
jalnic , care o făcu pe Ella să se răstească la
ea:
-Taci odată, că ne aude !

This whole fragment is defined by fear and the characters were desperate to find a way to
leave the house, therefore one of them had ”a snuffly whining cry”, structure that needed
modulation in order to be explained in the target language as ”un smiorcăit jalnic”. I have
considered the adjective ”jalnic” to fit perfectly in such context, creating more tension. I also

37 replaced ”say sharply” with ”să se răstească”, being a rough but suitable equivalent for the
original wording. The whole last line, ”Do shut u p or he’ll hear you”, had to be changed into
”Taci odată, că ne aude”, since Romanian has different strategies of intensification (there is no
emphatic do -support in Romanian). However I believe that I have managed to obtain the desire
stylistic effect.

13.
Source Text Target Text
He was outside the door now – the
handle was being turned . The door swung
inwards and he was there, staring into the
room, and of course he was not here to
warn them at all. His eyes glared with
madness, and a smile – a truly dreadful
smile – widened his face. Ella pressed
down into the tiny corner, but he knew
where she was, of course – he knew where
they all were. There was a movement over
her head, and when she looked up , the
nightmare face was over the top of the
broken brickwork . The smile came again,
and one hand reached down.
Era în afara ușii acum – se putea
observa mișcarea mânerului . Ușa se
deschise pe interior, iar el apăru în prag
fix în cameră și, desigur, nu venise aici
pentru a -i avertiza, deloc. Ochii săi
priveau cu demență și un zâmbet – un
zâmbet cu adevărat înfricoșător – îi lățea
chipul. Ella se ghemui în colțul strâmt,
însă el știa unde se află, desigur – știa unde
sunt toți. Simțise o mișcare deasupra
capului ei, iar atunci când ridică privirea ,
chipul de coșmar se uita la ea de peste
bucățile de cărămidă spartă . Zâmbetul
apăru din nou și o mână se întinse spre ea.

The paragraph consists of structures, such as ”the handle was being turned” that needed a
little bit of styling in the target language by recreating it as ”se putea observa mișcarea
mânerului”. The oblique method, namely transposition, had an essential rol e in making it
possible for this structure to be changed in order to keep the original meaning by modifying a
few grammatical values. After that, more styling was added to the target text, by replacing ”she
looked up” with ”ridică privirea”, a more adequat e structure than the literal translation that could

38 have been ”se uită în sus”. However, subsequently I have used the literal translation to transform
”the nightmare face” into ”chipul de coșmar”, because it creates the same tension as the initial
structur e. Right after that, I did change the structure ”was over the top of the broken brickwork”
by translating it as ”se uita la ea de peste bucățile de cărămidă spartă” and by using transposition
once again.

14.
Source Text Target Text
‘Can you see him?' said Veronica,
fearfully.
‘Um, yes, I think so. He's lying all
sort of broken ’, said Clem. 'He's right at
the bottom.' When he looked back at them
his face was white and he seemed as if he
might be about to be sick .
-Îl vezi? întrebă speriată Veronica.
-Cred că da. Stă întins pe jos ca o
păpușă stricată , zise Clem. Este chiar în
partea de jos. Când se uită înapoi la ele,
fața lui era ca varul , de parcă era gata să
vomite.

In this dialogue between two of the main characters it is quite noticeable that a few
structures, such as ”all sort of broken” could not be transposed in the target language word by
word, so I used a bit of styling for this idea, by saying ”ca o păpușă stricată” – in this case, the
Romanian translation can create a vis ual image for the reader and facilitate their understanding.
The English structure ”his face was white” reminds the Romanian readers of an old, classic and
specific expression, which I have used here – ”fața lui era ca varul”. The end of this fragment is
marked by the construction ”as if he might be about to be sick”, which would have not made
sense at all in the target language, but somehow managed to sound more natural translated as ”de
parcă era gata să vomite”.

39 15.
Source Text Target Text
'I have,' said Clem. 'I saw my
grandmother. I went to say goodbye to her
in the funeral place.'
‘We know you did, you went on
about it for ages afterwards .'
'Well, she looked like he looks
now,' said Clem, peering warily into the
room. 'People die with thei r eyes open and
you have to close them or they go on
staring at nothing forever .' -Eu da, spuse Clem. Am văzut -o
pe bunica mea. M -am dus să îmi iau rămas
bun de la ea la capelă.
-Știm că ai facut -o, ai vorbit despre
asta foarte mult timp după .
-Ei bine, arăta cum arată el acum,
zise Clem, aruncând o privire precaută
prin cameră. Oamenii mor cu ochii
deschiși și trebuie să îi închizi, altfel vor
continua să se uite în gol pentru totdeauna .

As for the present fragment which is made up of dialogues, we can easily observe the
construction ”you went on about it for ages afterwards”, which suggests the emphasize of a truly
sad feeling that one of the characters went through. However, to be more specific in the target
language, I have translate d it as ”ai vorbit despre asta foarte mult timp după” to make it sound as
natural as possible. At the same time, a similar structure is present at the end of the third line,
more exactly ”they go on staring at nothing forever” which may sound a bit unusual in the target
language, so it had to be translated as ”vor continua să se uite în gol pentru totdeauna”, although
the meaning is still the same; both of them have been translated by using the equivalence of
Vinay and Darbelnet.

16.
Source Text Target text
The three of them ran for all they
were worth , scrambling out of Cadence
Manor, and going full pelt towards the Cei trei o tuliră afară din conacul Cadence
și alergând cu iuțeală spre zidul care
înconjura terenul. Avionul sosea; se auzea

40 wall enclosing the grounds. The plane was
approaching; they could hear the purr of
its engine , building to a menacing growl
as it came closer. Once Veronica clapped
her hands over her ears, but Ella snatched
her hands away because they needed all
their energy to run.
intensitatea motorului său, amplificându –
se la un huruit amenințător , pe măsură ce
se apropia. O singură dată Veronica își
duse mâinile la urechi, însă Ella i le
smulse de acolo, deoarece aveau nevoie de
toată energia ca să poată alerga.

For the construction ”ran for all they were worth” I have used Hervey and Higgins’
compensation by merging, because it was needed for a ”condensation” to take place, so that the
translation in the target language could be simple and adequate – ”o tuliră”. This short but
efficient construction might include ”scrambling out” as well, since it has the same meaning as
the structure before it. Although the author used the word ”purr” to suggest the sound of a plane
engine, in this translation I had to g ive a few details in order to make it understandable for
everybody – ”se auzea intensitatea motorului”. For this example I have used the descriptive
equivalence of Peter Newmark, whose purpose is to explain a certain aspect, so confusion cannot
exist. Afte r that, I tried to give an accurate equivalent for the structure ”building to a menacing
growl” and the result led to ”amplificându -se la un huruit amenințător”.

17.
Source Text Target Text
The thought of that ugly confused
music thrumming all by itself in the
deserted village was almost more than Ella
could bear. She stared down at the cluster
of buildings and at the thin moisture that
lay everywhere. When they had looked
down at the man's body lying in its Gândul la acea muzică
amenințătoare și nedeslușită , care
zdrăngănea singură în satul pustiu, era
aproape mai mult decât putea Ella să
suporte. Privi jos la duiumul de clădiri și
la stratul de umezeală care se întind ea
peste tot. Când priviseră în jos corpul

41 broken -doll tumble inside the chimney
shaft she had been sure he was dead. Now
she was not. His legs had stuck out at
painful angles as if they were broken and
his head was twisted to one side. But what
if he had only been knocked out, and had
come round and dragged himself as far as
the church, hoping to get help?
bărbatului, întins după o căzătură mortală,
precum o păpușă ruptă , în interiorul
coșului de fum, Ella fusese sigură că este
mort. Acum nu mai era la fel de sigură.
Picioarele îi erau înțepenite în unghiuri
dureroa se, ca și cum ar fi fost rupte, iar
capul îi era răsucit într -o parte. Dar dacă
nu fusese decât doborât și simțise să se
târască până la biserică, sperând să obțină
ajutor?

As for the present paragraph, it can be observed that the first construction, namely ”ugly
confused music” could have been translated word for word, but I personally preferred use a
coordinated structure by translating it into Romanian as ”muzică amenințătoare și nedeslușită”;
the descriptive translation of Peter Newma rk is present in this example and also in the next one.
The following construction that I have chosen to translate was ”the man's body lying in its
broken -doll tumble”. For more styling, I have decided to add a few words in order to create the
construction ”întins după o căzătură mortală, precum o păpușă ruptă”, which definitely gives the
target text readers more explicit details on the event.

18.
Source Text Target Text
Ella was not sure what pretentious meant,
but she was careful to do what her mother
said, even though people at school
laughed, and said la-di-da and swank , and
who did Ella Ford think she was? Ella nu era sigură ce înseamnă să fii
pretențios, dar era aten tă să facă ce îi
spunea mama ei, deși colegii de școală
râdeau și spuneau „săru -mâna, coniță” și
„domnia voastră” și se întrebau cine se
crede Ella Ford.

42
This fragment is made up of simple constructions, like ”people at school”, even though it
is actually obvious that the author refers to Ella’s classmates. I have translated this by using
Vinay and Darbelnet’s literal translation, by saying ”colegii de școală”. As for the next example,
the two structures ”la -di-da” and ”swank” are specific to the E nglish language, therefore it had
been quite difficult to find an adequate equivalent in the target language. The result turned out to
be ”săru -mâna, coniță” and ”domnia voastră”, since they are typical of Romanian language. For
these two I have used the o blique method, equivalence, because there are lots of expressions
worldwide that have an equivalent in many languages.

19.
Source Text Target Text
Here was the church . The red
sunset was here as well , washing the
leaves and the old grey stones of the walls
with crimson. Ella went through the lich-
gate, thinking if the door was open she
would just peep inside the church. It
would be all right ; churches were places
where people were always welcome, even
tatty ol d churches like this one.
Iată și biserica . Iată și apusul roșu
de soare , luminând cu culoarea sa stacojie
frunzele și pietrele vechi, cenușii ale
pereților. Ella intră pe poartă , gândindu -se
că, dacă ușa clădirii era deschisă, doar va
arunca un ochi pe furiș în interiorul
bisericii. Nu făcea nimic rău ; bisericile
erau locuri în care oamenii erau
întotdeauna bineveniți, chiar și bisericile
vechi și dărăpănate ca aceasta.

As in this paragraph, it is visible that in a Romanian translation a few structures from the
source text would have been quite unclear, therefore I chose to change the grammatical value for
a moment; instead of a literal translation, like ”aici era biseric a”, I preferred to retouch it by
translating it as ”iată și biserica”, using an imperative -like verb, rather than an adverbial of place.
Right after, I have done the exact same thing with the construction ”The red sunset was here as
well”, changing it into ”Iată și apusul roșu de soare”. This transition to the verb helps the

43 translation to flow coherently and in a more stylistic manner. As for the styling of the translation
for the next structure, ”washing the leaves and the old grey stones of the walls wit h crimson”, the
verb would not turn out to be as natural as we wished, thus I have changed it into ”luminând” by
using modulation and making a more precise reference to the light. Further, the author has
repeatedly used the term ”lich -gate” throughout the book, suggesting the gate at the entrance to a
cemetery that goes right round a church. To avoid a recurrence in my translation, I preferred to
make it as simple as possible for the public by saying only ”poartă”; the information is somehow
more compact no w. Later on, I also wanted to retouch the verb ”to peep” from the initial
construction, turning it into the target language as ”va arunca un ochi”. The structure ”It would
be all right” suggested to me the fact that it needs to divert to the main character in the target
language. Therefore, I have continued to write as if I were still talking about Ella, saying ”Nu
făcea nimic rău”.

20.
Source Text Target Text
On her left was a low archway
with a narrow stairway beyond . That must
be the stair up to the organ loft. But before
she could think whether to go up there or
not, the music started to change; it began
to be frightening, as if something was
creeping into the notes – like giants
shouting, 'Fee-fi-fo-fum', like evil
creatures in forests beckoning wit h long
crooked fingers . Ella thought it might be
better not to go up there after all. She was
just tiptoeing towards the door when the
notes stumbled and made a series of
jarring sounds. Mingling with the music
came the sound of dreadful harsh sobbing, În stânga ei era o arcadă joasă, prin care se
ajungea la o scară îngustă . Aceea trebuie
să fi fost scara care ducea la locul unde se
află orga . Dar înainte să se poată hotărî
dacă să urce acolo sau nu, muzica începu
să se schimbe; începea să fie
înfricoșătoare, ca și cum ceva se strecura
printre note – ca niște uriași care strigau
„bau-bau” , ca niște creaturi malefice din
păduri, care încercau să te ademenească cu
degetele lor lungi și strâmbe. Ella se gândi
că poate ar fi mai bine să nu urce acolo,
până la urmă. Tocmai se îndrepta spre ușă,
tiptil, atunci când notele se poticniră și se
transformară într-o serie de sunete

44 as if the organist could not bear to hear the
music, or could not bear to have played it
so badly. It went on for quite a long time,
that sobbing, filled with pain and anger,
and it made Ella's entire skin prickle .
What would make someone cry like that?
She was afraid to move in case the
organist heard her and came down the
stairs, so she stood where she was, hardly
daring to breathe.
stridente. Împreună cu muzica veni
sunetul unui plânset cu suspine, crud și
înspăimântător, de parcă cântărețul de
orgă nu putea suporta să asculte muzica
sau nu putea suporta să o fi cântat atât de
prost. Continuase destul de mult timp acel
suspin, plin de durere și mânie, care îi
dădea Ellei fiori . Ce ar putea face pe
cineva să plângă în acest fel? Acesteia îi
era teamă să se miște, să nu cumva să o
audă organistul și să coboare pe scări, așa
că rămase unde era, abia îndrăznind să
respire.

In this long descriptive paragraph we are able to see constructions, such as ”with a
narrow stairway beyond”, which could be more explicit if they are widened by adding a few
extra details – ”prin care se ajungea la o scară îngustă”. I have chosen to translate the present
example this way because it would definitely be easier for the public to imagine and sketch the
place with their minds while reading the plot. As in the following structure, ”That must be the
stair up to th e organ loft”, the same situation can be noticed; I have translated this part as ”Aceea
trebuie să fi fost scara care ducea la locul unde se află orga” to amplify the original idea.
Subsequently, a sort of onomatopoeia can be noticed, namely ”Fee -fi-fo-fum”for which an
equivalent was almost impossible to find, for cultural reasons. For this problem I have used
Vinay and Darbelnet’s oblique equivalence, because it shows that there are certain sounds or
onomatopoeias that have a strict translation in every la nguage around the world – the final result
equivalent was ”bau -bau”. Later on, for the construction ”evil creatures in forests beckoning” I
have chosen to use the literal translation in the target language and the result turned out to be
”creaturi malefice din păduri, care încercau să te ademenească”, by also making a reference to
the second person, as it is addressed to the reader directly. As for the next structure, more exactly
”the notes stumbled and made a series of jarring sounds”, beside the literal translation that I have
used for translating the rest of it, I have concentrated upon the verb ”to make” especially. In the

45 target language, this verb sounds more natural and normal if it is translated as ”se transformă” –
the final translation for this st ructure was ”notele se poticniră și se transformară într -o serie de
sunete stridente”. The next construction seems to be an English expression – ”it made Ella's
entire skin prickle”, which can easily be translated into Romanian as ”îi dădea Ellei fiori”,
preserving the same meaning that Rayne wanted to share with her readers. The final structure
present in this paragraph is ”in case the organist heard her”, which in the target language would
sound a little odd. In order to solve this problem, I have thought about adding negation to it, so it
could be more logical – ”să nu cumva să o audă organistul”.

21.
Source Text Target Text
Ella gave a sob and pulled to get
outside before the unseen musician found
her, but he was already coming down the
narrow stair. He moved slowly and he
sounded as if he was fumbling his way
out, like someone creeping out of a very
dark place, dazzled by the sudden light
outside. As he reached the foot of the stair ,
the crimson -tinged shadows fell across his
face, and Ella felt as if a fist had thumped
into her throat. There was something
dreadfully wrong about the face, only she
could not make out what it w as because
the shadows were slithering all around
him and it was difficult to see properly.
She gasped, and this time managed to drag
the door open and tumble outside. She ran
down the path to the lich -gate, but as she
reached it a compulsion to see if he was Ella suspină și trase de mâner
pentru a ieși înainte ca muzicianul nevăzut
să o găsească, însă acesta cobora deja pe
scara îngustă. Se mișca încet și suna de
parcă își croia drumul cu stângăcie , ca
cineva c are iese pe furiș dintr -un loc foarte
întunecat, amețit de lumina tumultoasă de
afară. Când acesta ajunse la poalele scării ,
umbrele înfricoșătoare îi cădeau pe față,
iar Ella se simți ca și cum ar fi primit un
pumn în gât. Era ceva înspăimântător de
greși t cu fața lui, doar că nu putea să -și
dea seama ce era, deoarece umbrele
șerpuiau în jurul lui și nu se vedea nimic
cum trebuie. Ea tresări, iar de această dată
reuși să tragă de ușă și să facă un salt în
afară. Alergă pe calea către poarta
bisericii, îns ă odată ce ajunsese, o cuprinse
o dorință nestăpânită de a se uita dacă

46 still there gripped her, and she turned
back. bărbatul încă se afla acolo, așa că s -a
întors.

The present fragment consists of constructions that needed styling and a bit of retouches.
For example, I have translated the English structure ”he was fumbling his way out” into ”își
croia drumul cu stângăcie”. At first sight, there is nothing unusual with this translation, but I
preferred to change the verb into ”își croia (drumul)”, because it is actually a typical expression
of the target language. The oblique equivalence and literal translation made the comprehension
of this structure easier for the Romanian public. As for the structure ”sudden light”, I have
managed to slightly change the adjective that suggests something un anticipated and transform
the whole construction into ”lumina tumultoasă” in order to create translation aesthetics. The
next construction that needed to be modified, so that it could sound more adequate in the target
language was ”the foot of the stair”. In this case, a literal translation of this could have been
easier but unusual for the readers; therefore I did change it into ”la poalele scării”. Right after,
the structure ”crimson -tinged shadows” was a bit difficult to translate and to make it seem
natural in the target language, so I have replaced the adjectival part with ”înfricoșătoare” to add
more tension, adrenaline and preserved the meaning at the same time.

22.
Source Text Target Text
'It was an accident,' said Veronica.
'It wasn't anybody's fault.' She sneaked a
surreptitious glance at her watch because
all this was getting in the way of the rather
exciting date she had later tonight; a new
man, about whom she was not yet telling
anyon e. She wanted to get home and set
the scene for his arrival – scented candles
and mood music , and wine chilling in the -A fost un accident, spuse Veronica. Nu a
fost vina nimănui.
Ea aruncă o privire pe furiș la
ceasul ei, pentru că toată vorbăraia asta o
întârzia de la o întâlnire mai interesantă,
pe care o avea mai târziu, în acea seară; un
bărbat nou, despre care încă nu voia să
spună nimănui. Aceasta voia să ajungă
acasă și să pregătească atent detaliile

47 ice bucket. Some people would say that
was a bit cheesy , but Veronica did not
think it cheesy in the least . What she did
think was that it was annoying to put up
with this stupid boring meeting.

pentru sosirea lui – lumânări parfumate și
muzică languro asă, și vin pus în găleata cu
gheață. Unii oameni ar spune că era cam
de prost gust , însă Veronica nu era deloc
de această părere . Credea în schimb că
această întrunire începuse s -o calce pe
nervi.

The present fragment contains the structure ”She sneaked a surreptitious glance”, which
is an expression that can find a semantic equivalent in the target language – ”Ea aruncă o privire
pe furiș”. For this situation I have used the literal translation of Vinay and Dalbernet because it
provides the most simple solutions a translator needs. Later on, the source text construction ”all
this was getting in the way” could have been more detailed so the readers could understand it
better. Therefore, instead of ”toată aceasta iî apărea în cale”, more exactly the literal translation
of this construction, I have used a more explicative form – ”toată vorbăraia asta o întârzia”. The
noun ”vorbăraie” refers to the actual moment of speaking, as one of the main characters is ready
to leave and could not bear the topic a nymore; also the verbal part, ”o întârzia” is more accurate
and precise for the present situation. As for the English expression ”to set the scene”, I have
thought about a more common wording, namely ”să pregătească atent detaliile”. As for the
constructio n ”mood music” I could not find a better translation for it than ”muzică languroasă”,
which made me think that the author actually suggested the predisposition to melancholy and
day-dreaming of her character. Veronica’s date preparing process was often see n as ”chessy” by
everyone and for that adjective I have managed to find an equivalent that makes the readers
understand Rayne’s actual meaning – ”de prost gust”. For the following structure, ”but Veronica
did not think it cheesy in the least”, I personally thought that in the target language it would be
better if we try to avoid the repetition of the word ”cheesy”, so in my translation the final result
was: ”nu era deloc de această părere”. In the last sentence we can see the construction ”annoying
to put u p with (this meeting)”, which could not have been translated any better than ”începuse să
o calce pe nervi” in the target language.

48 23.
Source Text Target Text
Veronica saw that Ella was
looking really ill , almost as if the flesh of
her face had fallen away from the bones .
This was so dreadful she drank some more
wine while she tried to think what to say.
Perhaps Clem would think of something .
Veronica looked at him hopefully, but
Clem was simply staring at Ella in goggle –
eyed silence .
Veronica văzu că Ella se albise la
față, aproape ca și cum carnea îi căzuse de
pe oase . Era atât de cumplit, încât mai bău
o înghițitură de vin , gândindu -se ce să -i
spună. Poate o găsi Clem ceva . Veronica îl
privi cu speranță, însă Clem se holbă la
Ella, într -o liniște plină de surpriză .

This last fragment is full of expressions that I was able to translate into the target
language and the first one is ”Ella was looking really ill”. This structure suggests the moment of
illness that the main character is going through, which made me think instantly of the Romanian
expression ”a se albi la față” – this wording fits the context perfectly. As for the next structure,
”the flesh of her face had fallen away from her bones”, we can tell that it is quite unusual f or the
target language readers to understand, but using the literal translation, it turned out to express the
same terrifying meaning – ”carnea îi căzuse de pe oase”. The following construction that we can
observe in the text is ”she drank some more wine”, whose Romanian equivalent was more based
on stylistics and naturalness – ”mai bău o înghițitură de vin”. After that, the whole sentence
”Perhaps Clem would think of something” had to be translated as simply as possible for the
target text readers, by chan ging only the verb from ”to think” to ”to find”; therefore the result
looked like this: ”Poate o găsi Clem ceva”. The last expression, ”goggle -eyed silence”, clearly
defines the meaning behind it and it was easy to find a correspondent for it, by using Vin ay and
Dalbernet’s oblique equivalence: ”liniște plină de surpriză”. I admit, however, that much of the
expressiveness of the original has been lost.

49 CONCLUSIONS

Literature is considered to be the only art accessible to those who profoundly master a
certain language with all its twists and bends and figures of speech; in the process of literary
translation, the language has more than a connective, social and commun icative purpose.
Therefore, I decided to dedicate this paper to literary translation, as I have sincerely tried to
discover its characteristics and elements that make it original, beside other types on the wide
translation scene. This thesis could not have been done without the astonishing and outstanding
talent of the English author Sarah Rayne, whose contemporary literature novels have been such a
big inspiration to me. Throughout the years she has focused her entire career on a darker part of
literature, by creating villain and ghost stories that have gradually brought her success since
1982. Due to her passion for these frightening stories, in 2011 Rayne published her mystery,
horror and thriller novel What Lies Beneath , which I have translated using the ories and methods
provided by scholars and linguists who laid the foundations of today's translation theory.
I have chosen for my paper a few theorists who have demonstrated over the years various
ways in which the translation process can be accomplished, starting with Cicero and Horace,
who relied on a transposition of the source text into the target language while preserving its
expressiveness and sense, and not by translating each idea word for word. Having a similar
mindset, St. Jerome was a priest, th eologian and historian who shared the same opinion with his
predecessors, transforming the meaning of the original text into the most important element of
the target text. He made a display of his talent by translating the Bible into Latin, although he
was often criticized for his decision not to translate it word -for-word, as he argued that such a
procedure could lead to a meaningless result. Speaking of the sense -for-sense translation of the
Bible, the successor of St. Jerome was the preacher, orator and translator Martin Luther, whose
most successful achievement was translating the Bible into German and developing the language
this way, at the same time.
The same intention was maintained during the Renaissance, when the scholar Étienne
Dolet supported a series of principles whose purpose was to avoid literal translation as much as
possible. Then, a hundred years later, the poet and literary critic John Dryden argued that
translation could be accomplished using three possibilities of phrasing, namely those mentioned
above, but also imitation that is considered to be a sort of adaptation.

50 Subsequently, I chose to talk about a few linguists whose theories were relevant and very
helpful in creating my own translation and analysis of Sarah Rayne’s novel, becau se their
methods and procedures are more actual and popular, being significant since 1950 until present,
but also much more explicit and detailed. Thus, I used the procedures of the two Canadian
linguists, Jean Paul -Vinay and Jean Darbelnet, which fall int o two broad categories: direct or
oblique. The first category involves methods such as borrowing, ‘calque’ which refers to
universal expressions translated word for word regardless of language, and literal translation.
The second category is based on the m eaning of the texts and includes methods such as
transposition, modulation, equivalence and adaptation. Although it would have been easier to use
direct methods more in my translation, the oblique ones were much more practical for me. The
next linguist, wh ose theories are essential and have had a major influence among today's
translators, is Eugene Nida. He focused on the functional purposes of the meanings that words
can acquire due to the context in which they occur. Similar to Martin Luther and St. Jerom e,
Nida devoted much of his activity to Bible translation.
Peter Newmark, an English professor of translation, was also a notable figure on the
translation scene, supporting concepts of communicative and semantic translation.
Communicative translation involves bringing readers on the same line of comprehension, both
from the source language and from the target language, while semantic translation refers to
preserving the meaning from the source text, depending on how permissive the syntax of the
target language is. However, Newmark believes that semantic translation cannot fail in terms of
meaning, while communicative translation cannot be precise every time.
Last but not least, the two scientists Sándor G. J. Hervey and Ian Higgins focused o n the
concept of compensation. This theory assumes a lexical transfer by which the initial meaning in
the source language is slightly blurred in the target language, but later resumed in another form.
In order to detail this idea, the two relied on four ca tegories of compensation: compensation in
kind, in place, by merging and by splitting. Each of them involves a resumption of the effect of
the source text and its placement in a different spot, in a different form of explanation.
All these procedures have represented the most essential part of my analysis in the third
chapter of my paper, which I have managed to create by selecting various paragraphs and
fragments that I was able to explain following the research of the ideas in chapter two. In order
to wr ite this paper and provide the most important and accurate information, I have consulted a

51 series of books, links and an interview; I also had the opportunity to personally contact the
author of the novel, Sarah Rayne, because I could not find enough detai ls about her personal life,
her life as a writer and her own thoughts on writing this book.

52 MY TRANSLATION OF ”WHAT LIES BENEATH”,
BY SARAH RAYNE

Chapter 1
Ella Haywood was in the delicatessen
counter queue at the supermarket when she
heard the news that ripped open her life and
brought her childhood nightmares gibbering
back.
She had not been expecting those
particular ghosts to come boiling out of the
past while she was waiting for her farmhouse
Cheddar to be cut and weighed, but a gossipy
shopper just ahead of her was telling anyone
who cared to listen that Priors Bramley was to
be reopened – imagine that, after all these years
they were going to let people back into the
Poisoned Village.
The Poisoned Village. The words fell
on Ella’s mind like hammer -blows and for
several minutes everything else was blotted
out. Priors Bramley, the tiny village abandoned
fifty years earlier when a government
department had planned to route a motorway
through it, and had peremp torily rehoused all
the residents elsewhere. The motorway had
never been built, though, because another
department had seized on the deserted village Capitolul 1
Ella Haywood se afla la coada de
delicatese ale supermarketului, când auzi
vestea care i -a dat viața peste cap și care i -a
adus înapoi coșmarurile înfiorătoare din
copilărie.
Nu se aștepta ca acele amintiri
obsedante să revină din trecut, în timp ce
aștepta să -i fie tăiată și cântărită brânza
Cheddar, însă o clientă din fața ei, dornică de
bârfă, spunea oricui era interesat că Priors
Bramley ar urma să fie redeschis – imaginați –
vă cum după toți acești ani, oamenilor urma să
li se permită să se întoarcă în satul otrăvit.
Satul otrăvit. Cuvintele cădeau în
mintea Ellei ca niște lovituri de ciocan și timp
de câteva min ute, orice altceva dispăruse
complet. Priors Bramley, micul sat abandonat
cu cincizeci de ani înainte, cand un
departament guvernamental plănuise să
construiască o autostradă prin el și mutase toți
locuitorii în altă parte, fără să stea la tocmeală.
Autost rada nu fusese niciodată construită,
totuși, căci un alt departament pusese
sechestru pe satul pustiu pentru un teren

53 for an experimental site. Priors Bramley had
been drenched in an ill -judged and macabre
cocktail of chemic als, which meant the village
had had to be sealed off. And no one had been
there since.
The gossipy shopper knew all the facts.
That long -planned motorway was finally going
to be built, she said, very self -important, and in
a few days, Priors Bramley would be
decontaminated. People would be able to walk
down the village street again, right up to the
gates of Cadence Manor, if they wanted.
‘Always providing they aren’t worried
about breathing in whatever’s still lingering on
the air,’ said a sepulchral voice from the end of
the queue.
‘Oh, nothing’s lingered there for years,’
said the gossipy one cheerfully. ‘The
authorities simply forgot to take down the
barbed wire and the notices, that’s all. It’s a
piece of the past being reclaimed,’ she added
romanticall y.
‘Reclaimed and then bulldozed and
covered with concrete,’ said the pragmatist, to
which the shopper tossed her head, said some
people had no soul, and went off with her veal
and ham pie.
Back at home, panic clutched at Ella’s
stomach. She pictured in he r mind’s eye
Cadence Manor – huge rusting iron gates, the
sunshine glinting on them… Ivy -covered walls, experimental. Priors Bramley fusese
impregnat de un cocktail nechibzuit și
macabru de substanțe chimice, ceea ce
însemna că satul trebuise să fie închis. Și
nimeni nu mai pusese piciorul acolo de atunci.
Clienta bârfitoare era informată.
Autostrada, de mult planificată, urma să fie
construită, afirmă ea, plină de importanță, iar
în câteva zile, Priors Bramley va fi
decontaminat. Oamenii vor putea să meargă pe
strada satului din nou, chiar până la porțile de
la conacul Cadence, dacă își doresc.
-Firește, asta în condițiile în care nu le
e teama să respire aerul ăla plin de porcării,
spuse o voce mormântală de la sfârșitul cozii.
-O, dar aerul este respirabil de ani de
zile”, spuse voios clienta flecară. Autoritățile
pur și simplu au uitat să scoată sârma
ghimpată și avertismentele, atâta tot. A venit
vremea să revendicăm trecutul, adăugă ea
romanțios.
-Îl revendicăm, apoi îl demolăm și îl
acop erim cu beton, interveni celălalt client mai
realist, căruia clienta îi aruncă priviri și îi
spuse că unii oameni nu au suflet, după care se
îndepărtă nervoasă cu plăcinta cu șuncă și
carne de vițel.
Ajunsă înapoi acasă, Ella își simți
stomacul cum se strânge de groază. Văzu
conacul Cadence cu ochiul minții – porți uriașe
de fier ruginit, lumina soarelui strălucind pe

54 crumbling brickwork and an air of brooding
desolation… The images rose up sharply, and
with them came the memory of her mother
declaring the Cadence fam ily had been a bunch
of villains, never mind they were supposed to
be respected city bankers, rich and influential.
‘Not to be trusted,’ she always said. ‘Not a one
of them.’
Still, what had lain behind those
festoons of barbed wire all this time surely
could not damage Ella – not now. There was
nothing she need do about it. Derek would
certainly have agreed with that if he knew what
was beyond those spiky defences, which he did
not. But one of Derek’s philosophies was that
you never troubled trouble until trouble
troubled you.
Amy, their granddaughter, had once
asked Ella how she had put up with Gramps’s
little sayings for so long, but Amy’s generation
did not understand about marriage – not the
permanent kind, such as Ella had entered into.
Amy thought tha t because Gran was young in
the 1960s she must have had a permissive,
flower -power time, but flower power and the
permissive society had never actually reached
Bramley, and Derek was then, as now, an
auditor at the County Council, and a rising star
in the local Operatic Society as well, so flower
power and permissiveness had never really
been an option. ele…Ziduri acoperite de iederă, cărămizi care
se prăbușesc și un aer de pustiire
contemplativă… Imaginile apăruseră brusc, iar
odată cu ele și amintirea mamei ei, declarând
că în familia Cadence era o haită de
răufăcători, deși ar fi trebuit să fie bancheri
respectați, bogați și influenți ai orașului.
-Nu-s de încredere, spunea ea
întotdeauna. Nici măcar unul din ei.
Totuși, ce zăcea în spatele acelor
ghirlande de sârmă ghimpată, în tot acest timp,
cu siguranță nu o putea afecta pe Ella – nu
acum. Nu trebuia să facă nimic în legătură cu
asta. Derek ar fi fost cu siguranță de acord
dacă ar fi știut ce se află dincolo de acele
garduri cu țepi, doar că habar n -avea. Dar una
dintre filozofiile lui Derek era aceea că nu e
bine să cauți necazul cu lumânarea.
Amy, nepoata lor, o întrebase cândva
pe Ella cum rezistase să asculte vor bele de duh
ale Bunicului atâta timp, însă generația lui
Amy nu înțelegea căsătoria, nu în mod
permanent, nu genul de căsnicie în care se afla
Ella. Amy credea că fiindcă Bunica fusese
tânără în anii ‘60, avusese parte de vremuri
pașnice, liberale, doar că astfel de vremuri
ocoliseră Bramley, iar Derek era pe atunci, ca
și acum, un auditor al Consiliului Județean și,
de asemenea, o stea în devenire în Societatea
de Operă locală; așadar pacea și liberalismul
nu fuseseră niciodată o opțiune.

55 Amy was coming to stay in a couple of
weeks’ time, at the start of the Easter holidays.
It would be nice to see her and hear about her
life at university; E lla always listened round –
eyed to Amy’s tales. None of the things Amy
described would have been remotely thinkable
in Ella’s own life. But then some of the things
in Ella’s life would not be remotely thinkable
to Amy – it was important to remember that.
By that evening, Ella felt better.
Probably all that talk about opening up the
village and finally building the motorway was
just a rumour, or an item on a vague council
agenda and unlikely actually to happen. There
could be protest groups at the destruction of
green belt – all kinds of things that would
prevent the whole thing.
But the next morning a council leaflet
slapped through the letterbox, horridly explicit.
Government approval had been given for the
revival of the 1950s motorway scheme, said
the leaf let, and added firmly that this was very
good news for everyone. The motorway would
not actually go through Priors Bramley, but a
link road would, which meant the demolition
of the major part of the village. Preliminary
plans could be inspected at the coun cil’s
offices between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. any
weekday. Local residents could be assured
there was no longer any danger from the
chemical trials carried out in the 1950s, but to Amy urma să vină peste două
săptămâni, la începutul sărbătorilor de Paște.
Ce frumos avea să fie s -o vadă și să asculte
poveștile ei de la facultate; Ella asculta
întotdeauna cu atenție poveștile lui Amy.
Niciunul dintre lucrurile descrise de Amy nu
erau de conceput în via ța Ellei. E drept că nici
anumite lucruri din viața Ellei nu erau de
conceput pentru Amy – era important să nu se
uite acest lucru.
La venirea serii, Ella se simțea mai
bine. Probabil că toate acele discuții despre
deschiderea satului și construirea, în ce le din
urmă, a autostrăzii fuseseră doar un zvon sau
un subiect vag de pe o agendă a consiliului și
este puțin probabil să se întâmple. Ar putea
exista grupuri de protest împotriva distrugerii
centurii verzi – tot felul de lucruri care ar putea
împiedica t otul.
Însă a doua zi dimineață, un pliant al
consiliului a aterizat în cutia de scrisori, într –
un mod îngrozitor de explicit. Fusese dată
aprobarea guvernului pentru repunerea în
vigoare a proiectului autostrăzii din anii 1950,
scria pe pliant, și era adău gat cu fermitate
faptul că era o veste foarte bună pentru toată
lumea. Autostrada avea să treacă, de fapt, prin
Priors Bramley, dar un drum de legătură da,
ceea ce însemna demolarea unei mari părți a
satului. Planurile preliminare puteau fi
verificate la b irourile consiliului între orele

56 be on the safe side a team of decontamination
experts would go in on the tenth of this month.
The information about there being no danger
was repeated so many times Ella thought most
people reading it would keep their windows
and doors closed for the next six months.
She did not take in much of the
scientific information about decontam ination
or the original chemical experiment – she had
never been very good at science at school. A
boys’ subject, her mother used to say.
Concentrate on the cookery classes: that’s what
will get you a husband. In those days getting a
husband had been the p rime goal for girls. Ella
sometimes wondered what her mother would
have thought of Amy, currently rioting through
three years at Durham University, studying
archaeology and anthropology.
She threw the council’s leaflet in the
bin, but when even Derek began to talk about
the Poisoned Village being opened for the new
motorway, Ella knew the past was surging
forward, and it was a dark and dangerous past.
She would have to do something.

Entries From an Undated Journal
The time has come when I will have to nouă și șaptesprezece, în orice zi a săptămânii.
Localnicii să stea liniștiți; nu mai există niciun
pericol din cauza experimentelor chimice
efectuate în anii 1950, dar pentru siguranța lor,
o echipă de experți în decontami nare va veni
pe data de 10 a acestei luni. Informațiile
referitoare la inexistența vreunui pericol au
fost repetate de atâtea ori, încât Ella a crezut
că majoritatea oamenilor care le citesc își vor
ține geamurile și ușile închise în următoarele
șase luni.
N-a priceput prea multe din
informațiile științifice despre decontaminare
sau despre experimentul chimic inițial – nu
fusese niciodată foarte bună la chimie. O
materie a băieților, obișnuia mama ei să o
numească. Concentrați -vă pe orele de gătit:
asta vă va asigura un soț. Pe vremea aceea, a te
mărita era scopul principal al fetelor. Ella se
întreba uneori ce ar fi crezut mama ei despre
Amy, care în prezent se agită, de trei ani la
Universitatea Durham, să studieze arheologia
și antropologia.
Ella aruncă p liantul consiliului în coșul
de gunoi, însă chiar și atunci când Derek
începu să vorbească despre faptul că satul
otrăvit se deschide pentru noua autostradă, ea
știa că trecutul va urma să dea buzna, un trecut
întunecat și periculos și că va trebui să fac ă
ceva.

57 do something…
Because in seven days I’m going to die.
There! I’ve written it at last. I am going
to die. And now I see it set down on the page,
it’s suddenly and dreadfully real.
I’m afraid of dying but I’m equally
afraid of going mad while waiting for death –
and by mad I don’t mean those spells of
darkness that sometimes close down over me
like a stifling curtain… They never lasted long,
those darknesses – no, I’ll amend that – they
never seemed to last long, and in any case it’s
important to remember I always managed to
fight my way back up into the light.
By going mad, I mean the real thing.
The tumble all the way down into an endless,
unforgiving blackness – the blackness you see
staring out of the empty eyes of the poor
creatures locked away in Bedlam: drained,
husked -out fragments of humanity who were
once people. So let’s make it very clear at the
outset that I was never mad in that way.
I’m hoping that writing everything
down will stop me speculating what’s ahead.
(Will it be quick? Will I struggle?) And
although I don’t suppose anyone will ever read
this journal, you never know, so I’ll write it as
well as possible. I used to have the way of
turning a good phrase at one ti me – it’s vanity
to say it, but I don’t care – although I never had
any romantic dreams about writing books. But Intrări dintr -un jurnal nedatat
A venit timpul când va trebui să fac
ceva…
Pentru că în șapte zile voi muri.
Iată! Am scris -o în cele din urmă. O să
mor. Și acum că văd scris negru pe alb, e brusc
și îngrozitor de real.
Mi-e frică de moarte, dar mi -e la fel de
frică să nu înnebunesc în timp ce o aștept – și
prin înnebunit nu mă refer la acele momente
de întuneric care uneori mă înconjoară ca o
perdea înăbușitoare…Niciodată nu au durat
mult, acele forțe malefice – nu, rectific – nu
păreau niciodată să dureze mult și, în orice
caz, este important să -mi amintesc că mereu
am reușit să -mi găsesc calea înapoi spre
lumină.
Prin înnebunit, mă refer la adevăratul
sens al cuvântului. Căderea până la capăt într –
o nesfârșită, neiertătoare întune cime, pe care o
vezi ieșind din privirile goale ale sărmanelor
creaturi închise la Balamuc: fragmente
secătuite și măcinate ale umanității care au fost
și ei cândva ființe omenești. Așa că hai să
lămurim de la început că nu am fost niciodată
nebună cum sun t ei.
Sper că scriind totul, o să mă opresc
din a mă gândi la ce urmează. (Va fi rapid? Mă
voi chinui?) Și deși nu cred că cineva va citi
vreodată acest jurnal, nu se știe niciodată, așa
că îl voi scrie cât mai bine. Pe vremuri mă

58 I’ve had my romantic moments, that’s
something else I’d like understood.
I’ll count the seven days ahead of me,
of course, although I’ll try no t to count the
hours. But there’s a clock in here and I can
hear it ticking the seconds away. I suspect I
might have to find a way to muffle that clock
before the end.
I don’t think it will be a very
comfortable death and if I had any courage I’d
find a wa y of putting a swift and clean end to
myself beforehand. But there are no sharp
knives here, no cut -throat razors, no pills that
could be downed in huge quantities. No gas
ovens to turn on or lengths of rope to fashion
into a noose. And there’s just a chan ce I’ll
escape, and although I was never a gambler in
the accepted sense, I’m certainly going to
gamble on that tiny chance.
I’ll think I’ll be reasonably comfortable
in the time that’s left. It’s knowing what’s
ahead that might tip me over the edg e. That
and the ticking clock. I could simply not wind
it, but then I might lose all track of the days
and I don’t think I can do that.
Perhaps I can pretend the ticking is
something else – something small and
unthreatening and friendly? A small mouse
behind the wall, or an energetic house martin
building its new home under the eaves
somewhere. Yes, I’ll create a pretence that it’s pricepeam la scris -poate că e o vanitate, dar
nu-mi pasă – cu toate că nu am avut niciodată
visuri romantice de a scrie cărți. Dar am avut
momentele mele romantice, ăsta este un alt
lucru pe care aș vrea să -l știe lumea.
Voi număra cele șapte zile care
urmează, bineînțeles, deși voi încerca să nu
număr orele. Însă este un ceas aici și îl pot auzi
marcând secundele. Presupun că, până se va
termina cu toate, voi găsi o cale de a înăbuși
acest ticăit.
Nu cred că va fi o moarte prea
confortabilă și, dacă aș avea curaj, aș găsi o
modal itate de a -mi pune capăt zilelor rapid și
curat dinainte. Însă aici nu există cuțite
ascuțite, nici brici, nici pastile care ar putea fi
înghițite în cantități uriașe. Nu există cuptoare
pe gaz pe care să le poți porni sau o frânghie
lungă cu care să impro vizez un ștreang. Există
doar o șansă să scap și chiar dacă nu am fost
jucător de noroc în sensul convențional, cu
siguranță voi miza pe această șansă minusculă.
Cred că îmi va fi rezonabil de bine
timpul rămas. Doar că știu ce urmează, iar asta
s-ar putea să mă facă să o iau razna. Asta sau
ticăitul ceasului. Pur și simplu nu aș putea să -l
întorc, dar după aș putea pierde urmărirea
timpului și nu cred că pot face asta.
Poate aș putea pretinde că ticăitul este
altceva – ceva mic, neamenințător și prietenos?
Un mic șoricel în spatele peretelui sau un

59 a house martin, flying to and fro.
Actually, when I look back I can see I
was always very clever at pretence. I certainly
fooled all the Cadences – the entire smug, self –
satisfied clan. Or did I? I’d have to say there
were times when I wondered if Crispian sensed
what I was thinking. He had a way of looking
at people, a sort of speculative appraisal.
I knew from quite an early age I was
going to kill Crispian Cadence, and I suppose if
you’re intent on killing someone, it’s possible
your victim might sense danger, even without
realizing the exact nature of the danger.
Danger. It was remarkable how
anything I ever had to do with Crispian always
spelled danger.

The Present
Ella’s mother used to say anything to
do with the Cadences, no matter how remote,
always spelled danger.
Faced with the unsealing of Priors
Bramley, Ella was forced to admit her mother
had been right. This was a danger she wanted
to ignore, but other people were involved – two
other people to be exact, and both were still
here living in Upper Bramley. She invited them
to her house that evening, confident they would
accept; they had always looked to her for
guidance and leadership, right from childhood. lăstun de casă plin de energie care își
construiește casa sub o streașină, undeva. Da,
voi avea ca pretext că este o rândunică, care
zboară încolo și încoace.
De fapt, când privesc înapoi, îmi dau
seama că întotd eauna m -am priceput să mă
prefac. Cu siguranță i -am păcălit pe toți
membrii familiei Cadence – întreg clanul
încrezut și mulțumit de sine. Sau poate nu am
făcut -o? Aș spune că au fost momente în care
m-am întrebat dacă Crispian și -a dat seama ce
gândesc. A vea un stil de a privi oamenii, un
fel de apreciere speculativă.
Știam încă de la o vârstă fragedă că îl
voi ucide pe Crispian Cadence și, presupun că,
dacă intenționezi să omori pe cineva, este
posibil ca victima ta să poată simți pericol,
chiar și fără să realizeze exact natura
pericolului.
Pericol. Era remarcabil cum ori de câte
ori aveam de -a face cu Crispian, era rost de
pericol.

Prezentul
Mama Ellei obișnuia să spună că orice
avea legătură cu membrii familiei Cadence,
oricât ar fi de îndepărtați, în totdeauna
presupune pericol.
Față în față cu deschiderea satului, Ella
a fost silită să recunoască faptul că mama ei
avea dreptate. Acesta a fost un pericol pe care

60 Derek would be safely out of the way because
he had a rehearsal with the Operatic Society.
They were doing The Mikado this year, and
Derek was playing Nanki -Poo, the hero. He
was a bit stout for the part, but Ella would
make sure he slimmed down in time. Some
people said he was a bit old as well, but there
was nothing anyone could do about his age .
She tidied and polished her sitting
room, which Derek still called ‘the lounge’
despite all her reminders, opened a bottle of
wine, and set out a few canapés. They were
actually bought frozen from the supermarket,
but no one would know that. Arranged on good
china plates they looked home -made and quite
classy.
Clement Poulter was the first to arrive,
and although he was not exactly nervous, he
was certainly not very comfortable. Ella
noticed a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead
and the top of his head w here the hair was
thinning.
‘I suppose this is about the reopening of
Priors Bramley,’ he said.
‘It is,’ said Ella, firmly. ‘I thought we
should have a little meeting about it. Just the
three of us. In case of any… awkwardness that
might be ahead. They r eally are going to bring
it out of quarantine, aren’t they?’ She had tried voia să -l ignore, dar au fost implicați și alți
oameni – alte două persoane mai exact, și
amândouă încă locuiau aici, în Upper
Bramley. În acea seară i -a invitat la ea acasă,
încrezătoare că vor accepta; mereu au contat
pe ea pentru îndrumare și autoritate, încă din
copilărie. Derek ar fi scăpat fără grijă,
deoarece avea o repetiție la Societat ea de
Operă locală. Jucau muzicalul Mikado3 anul
acesta, iar Derek juca personajul erou, Nanki –
Poo. Era puțin corpolent pentru rol, însă Ella
avea să aibă grijă că va slăbi în timp util. Unii
oameni spuneau că este și puțin cam bătrân,
dar nu se putea face nimic în această privință.
Își curăță și lustrui camera de zi, pe
care Derek încă o numea „salon”, în ciuda
tuturor amintirilor ei, deschise o sticlă de vin
și servi câteva antreuri. Fuseseră cumpărate
congelate, de fapt, de la supermarket, dar
nimeni nu știa asta. Aranjate pe farfurii de
bună calitate, chinezești, păreau făcute în casă
și destul de sofisticate.
Clement Poulter a fost primul care a
sosit și, deși nu era chiar neliniștit, cu
siguranță nu se simțea în largul lui. Ella
observase o strălucire discretă de transpirație
pe frun tea lui și în vârful capului unde părul i
se rărise.
-Presupun că este vorba despre

3 Mikado (sau „Orașul Titipu”), 1885 – operă comică în două acte cu muzică de Arthur Sullivan și libret
de W. S. Gilbert

61 out several acceptable phrases before lighting
on this one, which seemed to reduce the whole
thing to nothing worse than a dose of
chickenpox.
‘They are,’ said Clem, nodding.
‘They’ re going to fumigate it, sterilize it,
disinfect it – however you want to word it. But
I’m seeing it as the village being brought out of
purdah.’
‘Whatever you call it, it’s being done
on the tenth,’ said Ella, before Clem could
become carried away with on e of his annoying
fantasies.
‘I know. We were sent a poster to
display in the library. I’m going to arrange one
of my little exhibitions – the village before
they poisoned it.’ Clem liked arranging little
exhibitions at his library; he always had one for
the Operatic Society’s productions, with
photographs of the cast and notes about the
plot. ‘I shan’t call it that, of course,’ he said.
‘Just “Old Bramley”, or something like that.
And it’d be a shame not to make some kind of
written record of Priors Bramle y before they
demolish it. There’s masses of material lying
around. Remember that local ghost story about
people hearing organ music from within the old
church on some nights? I do love that tale,
don’t you?’ redeschiderea satului Priors Bramley, spuse el.
-Într-adevăr, confirmă Ella. Am crezut
că ar trebui să avem o mică întâlnire cu scopul
acesta. Doar noi trei. În cazul oric ărei…situații
jenante care ar putea urma. Îl vor scoate din
carantină, nu -i așa?
Încercase mai multe fraze acceptabile
înainte să o spună pe asta, care părea să
minimalizeze totul la nimic mai rău decât o
doză de varicelă.
-Așa e, spuse Clem, încuviințâ nd din
cap. Îl vor curăța prin fumigare, îl vor steriliza,
dezinfecta – cum vrei să o numești. Dar eu îl
văd ca pe un sat ieșit din purdah.4
-Oricum ai numi -o, se va întâmpla în
data de 10, spuse Ella, înainte să poată fi
purtat Clem de una dintre fantezi ile sale
enervante.
-Știu. Ni s -a trimis un afiș pentru a -l
afișa în bibliotecă. Voi organiza una dintre
micile mele expoziții – satul înainte de a fi
otrăvit.
Lui Clem îi plăcea să organizeze mici
expoziții la biblioteca sa; mereu organiza câte
una pentr u producțiile Societății de Operă, cu
fotografii ale distribuției și însemnări despre
intrigă.
-Nu o numesc așa, bineînțeles, zise el.
Doar „Vechiul Bramley” sau ceva de genul

4 purdah – practică religioasă și socială a izolării femeilor, predominantă în rândul unor comunități
musulmane

62 ‘That’s just people’s imagination,’ said
Ella. It was typical of Clem to miss the threat
in all this – to focus on unimportant details: the
stupid ghost tales that had grown up about the
village, and his diaries, which he was always
telling people about.
‘Yes, but people like a ghost story,’
Clem was s aying. ‘Specially something about a
really old church like St Anselm’s.’
St Anselm’s church. Despite the warm
April evening, Ella shivered.
‘If you walk to the highest point of
Mordwich Bank you can see the sun glinting
on the stained -glass windows,’ said Clem. ‘It
looks sort of remote and unreal. The lost
church in the Poisoned Village.’ He
contemplated this phrase approvingly for a
moment. ‘It’s absolutely classic English ghost
stuff.’
‘Derek says the only people who hear
anything are the o nes walking home from the
Red Lion late at night,’ said Ella tartly. She had
never told Derek or anyone else that she
sometimes dreamed she could hear the organ
chords, menacing and achingly lonely.
‘Yes, but it’s still a good story,’ said
Clem. ‘Is Veroni ca coming?’
‘Yes, of course. She should be here by
now.’
‘Oh, she’ll be late. She always is – she
likes to make an entrance.’ asta. Și ar fi păcat să nu faci un fel de
consemnare despre Priors Bramley înai nte să
fie distrus. Există o mulțime de materiale. Îți
amintești acea poveste locală cu fantome
despre oamenii care auzeau muzică de orgă
din biserica veche în unele nopți? Chiar îmi
place povestea asta, ție nu?
-Asta e doar imaginația oamenilor,
spuse Ell a. Era tipic pentru Clem să rateze
amenințarea din toate acestea – să se
concentreze pe detalii neimportante: poveștile
stupide cu fantome care înfloreau despre sat, și
jurnalele lui, despre care le spunea mereu
oamenilor.
-Da, dar oamenii apreciază o pov este
cu fantome, spunea Clem. Mai ales una despre
o biserică cu adevărat veche, cum este Sfântul
Anselm.
Biserica Sfântul Anselm. În ciuda serii
călduroase de aprilie, Ella tremura.
Dacă mergi până în cel mai înalt punct
la Mordwich Bank, poți vedea soare le
strălucind în vitralii, spuse Clem. Pare cam
izolată și ireală. Biserica pierdută din Satul
Otrăvit.
Contemplă această expresie aprobator.
-Sună de -a dreptul clasic.
-Derek spune că singurii oameni care
aud ceva sunt cei care merg pe jos spre casă
noaptea târziu, de la Red Lion, zise Ella cu
asprime.

63 But Veronica was not particularly late,
although Ella was sorry to see that as usual she
was overdressed for the occasion.
‘I see you’ve got some of those frozen
canapés,’ said Veronica, having ostentatiously
arranged her unsuitably short skirt over her
thighs. ‘They’re good, aren’t they? I bought
some last week for a – a friend who was
coming to supper.’
There was no call for Veroni ca to bat
her eyelashes in that simpering fashion: it was
clear she meant a man. Nor was there any need
for Veronica to say the canapés had been on
special offer. ‘Two for the price of one; they’re
very cheap, aren’t they?’
Ella handed Veronica a glass of wine,
and said, ‘We need to talk about Priors
Bramley.’
‘I thought that was why you phoned,’
said Veronica. ‘It’s a bit worrying, I suppose.
It’s good about the motorway, but opening up
the village made me feel quite shivery. Didn’t
you feel sh ivery, Clem?’
‘Well, personally I seldom shiver over
anything these days.’
‘Did either of you ever tell anyone what
happened that morning?’ said Ella.
‘Oh God, no.’ But Clem poured himself
another glass of wine with a ha nd that shook.
Without even being asked, thought Ella,
annoyed, but she only said, ‘Veronica?’ Nu îi spusese lui Derek sau nimănui
altcuiva că uneori visa că aude coardele de
orgă, amenințătoare și dureros de singuratice.
-Da, dar tot este o poveste bună, spuse
Clem. Vine Veronica?
-Da, bineînțeles. Ar fi trebuit să fie aici
până acum.
-O, va întârzia. Mereu întârzie – îi place
să-și facă intrarea.
Însă Veronica nu întârziase în mod
deosebit, cu toate că Ellei îi păru rău să vadă
că și de această dată se îmbracase prea elegant
pentru ocaz ie.
-Observ că ai niște antreuri din acelea
înghețate, zise Veronica, care își aranjă
ostentativ fusta nepotrivit de scurtă pe coapse.
Sunt bune, nu -i așa? Am cumpărat săptămâna
trecută pentru un – un prieten care venea la
cină.
Nu era nevoie ca Veronica să-și fluture
genele în acea manieră falsă: era clar că se
referea la un bărbat. Nu era nevoie nici ca
Veronica să spună că acele antreuri erau la
ofertă specială.
-Două la preț de una; sunt foarte
ieftine, nu -i așa?
Ella îi întinse Veronicăi un pahar de
vin și spuse:
-Trebuie să vorbim despre Priors
Bramley.
-M-am gândit eu că de aceea ai sunat,

64 ‘I’ve never told a soul,’ said Veronica
at once. ‘Not a soul. We said we’d take it to the
grave with us, and I shall do so. We made a
pact, don’t you remember? We swore on all we
held sacred never to tell.’
‘I don’t think we did that exactly,’ said
Ella. ‘There’s no need to be so dramatic. What
we did was to promise each other we would
never tell anyone.’
The promise had been made over fifty
years earlier, when the three of them were
children. It had started with a dare, although
afterwards none of them could remember
whose idea that had been.
A plane was going to fly over Priors
Bramley that Saturday in order to drop a small
explosive device . But it was not a bomb,
people said firmly. It was the planned and
precise dispersing of chemical substances; a
geological and botanical experiment. Whatever
it was called, it was quite a big event for the
area; people talked about it avidly. It helped
balance the shock the Priors Bramley residents
had received when they were told they had to
leave their homes.
Clem’s Great -aunt Rose had lived in a
cottage in Priors Bramley all her life. ‘She had
to move out, though,’ he said, as they walked
out of Upper B ramley that Saturday morning.
‘She said she doesn’t mind giving way to
progress, but she doesn’t hold with folk zise Veronica. Este un pic îngrijorător,
presupun. E în ordine cu autostrada, dar
deschiderea satului mi -a cam dat fiori. Tu nu
te simți la fel, Clem?
-Ei bine, personal, rareori mă
cutremură ceva în zilele noastre.
-Ați povestit cuiva ce s -a întâmplat în
dimineața aia? zise Ella.
-Dumnezeule, nu.
Dar Clem își turnă încă un pahar de vin
cu o mână tremurândă.
Fără să o întrebe măcar, se gândi Ella,
enervată, însă nu spuse decât:
-Veronica?
-Nu am spus niciodată nimănui,
răspunse imediat Veronica. Niciunui suflet.
Am spus că vom duce secretul cu noi în
mormânt, iar eu voi face acest lucru. Am făcut
un pact, nu -ți amintești? Am jurat pe tot ce am
avut sacru că nu vom spune.
-Nu cred că am făcut exact asta, zise
Ella. Nu e nevoie să fii atât de dramatică. Ceea
ce am făcut a fost să ne promitem reciproc că
nu vom spune nimănui.
Promisiunea fusese făcută cu mai mult
de 50 de ani în urmă, când toți tre i erau copii.
Începuse ca o provocare, cu toate că după
aceea niciunul din ei nu -și putea aduce aminte
a cui a fost ideea.
Un avion urma să zboare peste Priors
Bramley în acea sâmbătă, pentru a lansa un

65 careering along roads at fifty miles an hour.
And the money they gave her wouldn’t buy a
dog kennel, never mind a decent house for folk
who had to put up with six years of fighting
Hitler.’ He put on a voice like a cross old lady
when he said this, and Veronica giggled
nervously.
‘The lady in the wool shop told my
mum she’d spent all those years dodging
German bombs and now they’re going to drop
one right on her own village,’ put in Ella.
‘It isn’t a real bomb, though, is it?’ said
Veronica worriedly. ‘It’s only to spray
chemical stuff into the village to see what
happens to the plants and things. Then they’ll
build the road. We had a letter throug h the door
telling us about it.’
‘So did we,’ said Clem. ‘But my father
says they aren’t telling us the truth. He reckons
it’ll be ages before they get round to making
the motorway, and he says they’re
experimenting with nerve agents, like that
place near Boscombe Down. They’ve got
laboratories and whatnot there, and it’s all
really secret.’
‘What’s a nerve agent?’
‘I think it’s stuff they might want to use
if there’s a war. My father doesn’t think it’s a
good idea at all; he says those things make
people r eally ill or grow two heads. He’s pretty
worried about the Russians, though. Well, he’s mic dispozitiv exploziv. Însă nu era o bombă,
spuneau oamenii ferm. Era dispersarea
planificată și precisă a substanțelor chimice;
un experiment geologic și botanic. Oricum s –
ar fi numit, era un eveniment destul de mare
pentru zonă; oamenii vorbeau despre asta cu
aviditate. Aceasta ajuta la echilibrar ea șocului
pe care îil primiseră locuitorii din Priors
Bramley atunci când li se spusese că trebuie să
plece din propriile case.
Sora unuia din bunicii lui Clem
locuise toată viața într -o căsuță din Priors
Bramley.
-Totuși, a trebuit să se mute, spusese
el, în timp ce ieșiseră din Upper Bramley în
acea dimineață de sâmbătă. Mi -a spus că nu o
deranjează să se retragă în favoarea
progresului, dar nu este de acord ca oamenii să
gonească pe șosele cu 80 de kilometri pe o ra.
Iar banii pe care i i -au oferit nu i -ar putea
cumpăra nici măcar un coteț de câine, cu atât
mai puțin o casă decentă pentru oameni care
au trebuit să suporte șase ani de luptă cu
Hitler.
Încercase să -și prefacă vocea ca a unei
bătrâne supărate când sp usese asta, iar
Veronica chicotise agitată.
-Doamna din magazinul de lână i -a
spus mamei mele că a petrecut toți acei ani
ascunzându -se de bombele germane, iar acum
vor arunca una chiar în satul ei, zise Ella.

66 pretty worried about a lot of people in the
world.’
‘I don’t want an atom bomb to be
dropped on Bramley,’ said Veronica. ‘Atom
bombs burn your bones. I heard my parents
talk about it.’
‘They aren’t dropping an atom bomb,’
said Clem in exasperation.
‘Whatever they’re dropping, they aren’t
doing it until midday, anyway,’ said Ella. ‘So
we could walk through the village one last
time, couldn’t we? I’d like to do that.’
‘I w ould too,’ said Clem eagerly. ‘I
could write about it in my diary. Did I tell you
I was given a diary for Christmas?’
‘Yes, about a million times.’
‘It’d be a pretty good thing to write.
“The Last Day of a Doomed Village”, that’s
what I’d call it. And it could be an adventure
for Ella’s birthday.’
Ella’s tenth birthday was the day
before, which was important because of being
double figures. Veronica’s mother had said it
was a landmark, and added it was a pity Ella’s
mother had not let her have a party.
‘She’s got too much to do to be having
parties,’ Ella told her friends. ‘But she’ll make
sandwiches and we can have a picnic on
Mordwich Bank. After the dare, I mean.’
Veronica was still not sure about the
bomb, but they generally did what Ella said on -Nu este însă o bombă adevărată, nu?
spuse Ver onica îngrijorată. Este doar pentru a
pulveriza substanțe chimice în sat, cu scopul
de a vedea ce se întâmplă cu plantele și cu
restul lucrurilor. Apoi vor construi șoseaua.
Am primit o scrisoare prin ușă, care ne spunea
asta.
-La fel și noi, zise Clem. Da r tatăl meu
crede că nu ne zic adevărul. El consideră că
vor trece ani de zile până să construiască
autostrada așa cum intenționau de la bun
început și mai spune că fac experimente cu
agenți chimici, ca în acel loc în apropiere de
Boscombe Down. Au laborat oare și câte și mai
câte, iar totul este strict secret.
-Ce sunt agenții chimici?
-Cred că sunt substanțe pe care ar putea
să le folosească dacă va exista un război. Tatăl
meu nu crede ca este o idee bună deloc: spune
că acele substanțe îi fac pe oameni cu adevărat
bolnavi sau să le crească două capete. Totuși,
este destul de îngrijorat de ruși. Ei bine, este
destul de îngrijorat de mulți oameni din lume.
-Nu vreau ca o bombă atomică să fie
lansată în Bramley, spuse Veronica. Bombele
atomice îți ard oasele . I-am auzit pe părinții
mei vorbind despre asta.
-Nu lansează nicio bombă atomică,
spuse Clem cu exasperare.
-Orice ar lansa, nu o să o facă până la
amiază, oricum, zise Ella. Deci, am putea

67 accoun t of her being the eldest, so she said it
would be a good thing to walk down the village
street on its last day.
They set off at half -past ten, which
Clem thought would give them masses of time
for the dare.
‘I had to tell my mother a lie about
where we’re going,’ said Veronica, as they
went over the old railway bridge, which was
called the Crinoline Bridge, and from there into
Sparrowfeld Lane, which was fringed with big
horse chestnut trees, and where they came to
collect conkers every autumn. ‘And I had to
promise we weren’t going anywhere near
Priors Bramley, on account of the plane and the
bomb.’
‘It isn’t a bomb —’
‘Well, whatever it is, how long will we
be doing this dare?’
‘Not long. It’s twenty to eleven now,’
said Ella, who had been given a watch fo r her
birthday. ‘We could do the walk in half an hour
and we’d be in Mordwich Meadow for half –
past eleven easily. We’ll see the plane go over
while we eat our sandwiches.’
They went down Mordwich Bank
towards the village in its saucer -shaped piece
of land. For several weeks the area around
Priors Bramley had buzzed with all kinds of
activity – people moving out of their shops and
houses, like Clem’s great -aunt Rose, and men merge prin sat pentru ultima oară, nu -i așa?
Mi-aș dori să facem asta.
-Și eu mi -aș dori, spuse Clem cu
nerăbdare. Aș putea scrie despre asta în
jurnalul meu. Ți -am spus că am primit un
jurnal de Crăciun?
-Da, de aproape un milion de ori.
-Ar fi un lucru destul de bun de scris.
Ultima zi a unui sat condamnat, așa l -aș numi.
Și ar putea fi o aventură pentru ziua de naștere
a Ellei.
A zecea zi de naștere a Ellei avusese
loc cu o zi în urmă și era importantă, pentru că
ajunsese la o cifră cu două zecimale. Mama
Veronicăi spusese că este importantă și
adăugase că era păcat ca mama Ellei să nu o
lase pe aceasta să dea o petrecere.
-Are prea multe de făcut ca să dea
petreceri, le spusese Ella prietenilor ei. Dar va
face sandwich -uri și putem organiza un picnic
pe Mordwich Bank. După provocare, vreau să
spun.
Veronica încă nu era sigură de
bombă, dar procedau în general cum spunea
Ella, datorită faptului că era cea mai în vârstă,
așa că le spuse că ar fi un lucru bun să meargă
pe strada satului în ultima zi.
Au pornit la zece și jumătate, ceea ce ,
credea Clem, avea să le lase o grămadă de
timp pentru provocare.
-A trebuit să -i spun mamei mele o

68 unwinding immense rolls of barbed wire to
fence the village in and keep people out, and
nailing up notices that said ‘Danger!’ and
‘Keep Out!’.
‘It’s very quiet,’ said Veronica
nervously as they went round the curve in the
lane.
‘That means we’ll hear the plane
coming.’
‘Good, because I don’t want to be
sprayed with poison or grow two hea ds.’
‘It’s just for the plants, I told you. And
you’d better take that red hair ribbon off,’ said
Ella suddenly. ‘It’ll show up on the hillside,
and we don’t want to be seen.’

Chapter 2
Even without Veronica’s red hair
ribbon to advertise their presence they had to
be careful, but as they approached the lane that
wound straight into Priors Bramley, the only
two people they saw were a workman knocking
nails into a big notice board, and a policeman
talking to him.
They pressed back into the hedge a nd
Clem said, in a whisper, that they could
squeeze through it. ‘Then we can scurry along
until we find a break in the wire. I bet there’ll
be a bit where we can wriggle through.’
‘I don’t want to wriggle on the grass. minciună despre locul unde mergem, zise
Veronica, în timp ce treceau peste podul vechi
de cale ferată, care se numea Podul Crinolinei,
iar de acolo pe Spar rowfeld Lane, care era
mărginită de castani sălbatici mari și unde
veneau să strângă castane în fiecare toamnă.
-Și a trebuit să promit că nu vom
merge nicăieri în apropiere de Priors Bramley,
din cauza avionului și a bombei.
-Nu este o bombă –
-Ei bine , orice ar fi, cât timp ne va lua
această provocare?
-Nu mult. Este unsprezece fără
douăzeci de minute acum, spuse Ella, care
primise un ceas de ziua ei. Am putea face
plimbarea într -o jumătate de oră și am putea fi,
fără îndoială, la unsprezece și jumătat e în
Mordwich Meadow. Vom vedea avionul
trecând deasupra noastră în timp ce ne
mâncăm sandwich -urile.
Coborâră Mordwich Bank spre sat, pe
bucata lui de pământ în formă concavă. Timp
de câteva săptămâni, zona din jurul lui Priors
Bramley forfotise de tot fe lul de activități –
oameni care se mutau din magazinele și casele
lor, ca de pildă stră -mătușa lui Clem, și bărbați
care desfăceau rulouri imense de sârmă
ghimpată pentru a -și închide satul și pentru a -i
ține pe oameni afară, și care prindeau
avertismente în cuie, pe care scria „Pericol!” și
„Nu intrați!”

69 I’ve got my pink frock on,’ objected Veronica.
‘That’s your silly fault.’
They squeezed through the hedge and
ran along the sides of the spiky wire, keeping
as low as they could. Ella’s heart was racing
and she expected to hear the policeman shout
to them at any minute. But nothing happened
and everywhere was silent.
It was Clem who found a place where
they could edge through the sharp coils of wire.
‘But keep flat to the ground,’ he said. ‘I don’t
think that policeman can see us from where he
is, but you never know.’
Tacked to the fence was a nother
warning sign. This one was in scarlet lettering.

Government Notice
DANGER – KEEP OUT!
This village is the subject of important
trials for the testing of the compound
Geranos. Unauthorized persons must not
enter beyond this point.

Veronica faltered at the sight of this,
but Ella grabbed her hand and hurried her
along the road because if they were going to do
this they didn’t have time to waste. From
within the village came the chime of St
Anselm’s church clock. Eleven chimes.
‘That might be the last time we ever
hear that clock chime,’ said Veronica. ‘That’s -Este prea multă liniște, spuse
Veronica agitată în timp ce mergeau pe strada
care șerpuia.
-Asta înseamnă că vom auzi avionul
când vine.
-Bine, pentru că nu vreau să fiu stropită
cu otravă sau să -mi crea scă două capete.
-Ți-am spus, este doar pentru plante. Și
ar fi bine să -ți dai jos funda roșie din păr,
spuse Ella deodată. Se va vedea clar pe coasta
dealului și nu vrem să fim văzuți.

Capitolul 2
Chiar și fără funda de păr roșie a
Veronicăi care să le anunțe prezența, trebuiau
să fie atenți, dar cum se apropiau de calea care
duce direct în Priors Bramley, singurele două
persoane pe care le văzură erau un muncitor
care bătea cuie într -un avertisment mare și un
polițist vorbind cu el.
Se traseră înapoi s pre gard, iar Clem
spuse, în șoaptă, că își pot face loc prin el.
-Apoi putem alerga de -a lungul lui
până găsim o gaură în sârmă. Pariez că va mai
fi un spațiu mic prin care ne putem strecura.
-Nu vreau să mă strecor prin iarbă. Am
rochia roz pe mine, obi ectă Veronica.
-Din vina ta!
Se strecuraseră prin gard și alergaseră
de-a lungul părților laterale ale sârmei
ghimpate, rămânând cât se poate de discreți.

70 sad, isn’t it?’
‘They aren’t going to poison the clock,’
said Ella. ‘It’ll go on for ages. Anyway, we’ll
hear it chime the quarters. A single bong for
the quarter and two bongs for the ha lf-hour.’
‘It’s still sad, however many bongs it
is.’
‘And anyway,’ said Clement, ‘St
Anselm’s hasn’t been used for years and years.
I’m surprised they’ve still got the clock going
at all. The church has got deathwatch beetle or
something. That’s why every one goes to St
Michael’s on Sundays.’
But it is used, thought Ella. None of
you knows it, but when no one is around
somebody goes inside the church and fills it
with music. I’ve heard it.
‘Where now?’ said Veronica, as they
reached the village street.
‘Cad ence Manor,’ said Ella. ‘That’s
what we said. It isn’t far.’
‘We’d better keep as close to the
buildings as we can so we won’t be seen.’
Veronica kept looking nervously over her
shoulder.
‘That’s my great -aunt Rose’s house,
just along there,’ said Clem, stopping to point
down a winding little lane near the bakery. ‘I
used to go there for Saturday tea every week.
We had fresh currant bread from the bakery.’
The village street was silent and still, Inima Ellei bătea repede și se aștepta să audă
polițistul strigând la ei în orice moment. Însă
nu pă țiră nimic și peste tot era liniște.
Clem fu cel care găsi un loc în care să
poată trece prin bobinele ascuțite ale sârmei.
-Stați întinși pe burtă, spuse el. Nu cred
că polițistul ne poate vedea de unde se află,
dar nu se știe niciodată.
Lipit de gard era un alt avertisment.
Acesta avea litere de un roșu aprins.

Înștiințare de la Guvern
PERICOL – NU INTRAȚI!
Acest sat face obiectul unor experimente
importante pentru testarea compusului
Geranos. Persoanele neautorizate nu au voie să
treacă de acest punc t.

Veronica șovăi la vederea anunțului,
însă Ella o trase repede după ea pe drum, căci,
dacă aveau de gând să facă asta, nu aveau timp
de pierdut. Din interiorul satului se auzi
clopotul ceasului bisericii Sfântul Anselm.
Unsprezece dangăte de clopot.
-Asta ar putea fi ultima oară când mai
auzim vreodată acest dangăt de clopot, zise
Veronica. Este trist, nu -i așa?
-Nu vor strica ceasul, spuse Ella. Va
continua să meargă ani întregi. Oricum, vom
auzi dangătele la sferturi de oră. Un singur
sunet pentru sfertul de oră și două sunete

71 and Veronica whispered that it was like a ghost
town.
‘Maybe we’ll become the ghosts,’ said
Clem.
‘Oh, no!’
‘It’d be good.’ Clem was well away on
a new story. ‘We’d be the three children who
haunt the deserted village. And when they
build the motorway, sometimes drivers will see
us, wandering down the road a t midnight.’
‘It’s eleven o’clock in the morning,’
said Ella repressively.
‘I know, but you only get ghosts at
midnight.’
They all knew the village quite well,
which Ella thought should have made their
walk ordinary, but somehow it did not. Priors
Bramley seemed to have changed: it felt as if
eyes watched from the deserted shops, and
invisible people peered out from behind the
shuttered windows. It’s waiting to die, she
thought. It knows what’s going to happen.
Here was the little shop that sold bull’s –
eyes and sherbet dab with liquorice sticks, and
next to it was the wool shop where Ella’s
mother bought knitting yarn and patterns.
With a show of bravado Clem pushed
open the door of the sweet shop, and the little
bell over the door clanged tinnily . It made them
all jump, and Clem, who had been going to
make a joke about asking for a quarter of pentru jumătățile de oră.
-Tot este trist, indiferent de câte sunete
sunt.
-Și oricum, spuse Clement, Sfântul
Anselm nu a mai fost folosită de ani și ani.
Sunt surprins că ceasul încă funcționează. În
biserică există o specie de gândac care
infestează lemnele structurale sau cam așa
ceva. De aceea toată lumea merge duminica la
biserica Sfântul Michael.
Dar este încă folosită, se gândi Ella.
Niciunul dintre voi nu știe, dar când nimeni nu
este în jur, cineva intră în bise rică și o învăluie
cu muzică. Am auzit -o eu.
-Acum unde mergem? întrebă
Veronica, când ajunseră pe șoseaua satului.
-Conacul Cadence, zise Ella. Așa am
hotărât. Nu este departe.
-Ar fi bine să stăm cât mai aproape de
clădiri, ca să nu fim văzuți.
Veronica continuă să arunce priviri
speriate în spate.
-Aceea este casa lui Rose, stră -mătușa
mea, chiar acolo, spuse Clem, oprindu -se să le
arate o mică șerpuire a drumului de lângă
brutărie. Obișnuiam să merg acolo pentru
ceaiul de sâmbătă, în fiecare săptămână.
Cumpăram pâine cu stafide proaspătă de la
brutărie.
Strada satului era lipsită de zgomot și
pustie, iar Veronica șopti că părea a fi un oraș

72 fudge, backed away.
‘What’ll happen to the sweets and wool
and everything?’ asked Veronica, in a half –
whisper as they walked along the street. ‘They
won’t be poisoned, will they?’
‘My great -aunt Rose said all the shop
people packed everything away in wooden
boxes and some vans came and took the boxes
away. Buck up, Veronica, think how brave
you’ll feel when we’re up in Mordwich
Meadow, scoffing our sandwiches. ’
‘We’ll sing “Happy Birthday to Ella”,’
said Veronica, trying not to let her voice
wobble.
St Anselm’s was ahead of them, and
Ella’s heart was starting to beat very fast. The
lich-gate leading to the ancient, disused church
was surrounded by trees – old c edars and
English oaks. In the morning sunlight the
leaves cast dappled shadows on the ground,
and Clem paused to stare along the rutted
driveway leading to the church itself.
‘My father says lich means corpse,’ he
said. ‘Dead body. They used to carry the
bodies up to the church and rest them on the
lich-gate for the first bit of the funeral.’
‘That’s really creepy,’ said Veronica,
shuddering. ‘Your father tells you horrid
things.’
‘They used to ring a lich bell too,
sometimes. Death bell,’ said Clem. fantomă.
-Poate noi vom fi fantomele, spuse
Clem.
-O, nu!
-Ar fi bine.
Clem începuse o nouă poveste:
-Am fi cei trei copii care bântuie satul
pustiu. Și când construiesc autostrada, unii
șoferi ne vor vedea rătăcind pe drum la miezul
nopții.
-Este ora unsprezece dimineața, îi tăie
Ella avântul.
-Știu, dar fantome vezi doar la miezul
nopții.
Toți știau destul de bine satul, ceea ce,
Ella credea, ar fi trebuit să le facă plimbarea
obișnuită, dar cumva nu se întâmplă. Priors
Bramley părea să se fi schimbat: se simțea ca
și cum erai privit din interiorul magazinelor
părăsite, ia r oameni invizibili priveau din
spatele ferestrelor închise. Orașul așteaptă să
moară, se gândi ea. Știe ce urmează să i se
întâmple.
Aici era micul magazin care vindea
bomboane de mentă și șerbet cu bețișoare de
lemn dulce, iar lângă el se afla magazinul de
lână, unde mama Ellei cumpăra ață de tricotat
și șabloane.
Plin de bravadă, Clem împinse ușa
magazinului de dulciuri, iar micul clopoțel de
deasupra ușii răsună. Tresăriră cu toții, iar

73 ‘Well , whatever they used to ring, let’s
get on,’ said Ella, who was hating being so
near to the shadowy church.
‘It’s a nice old church, isn’t it?’ said
Veronica, not moving.
‘My father says it’s tragic the way it’s
been left to rot,’ said Clem. ‘Can you see t he
coloured windows? There look, through the
trees.
‘One of the windows is broken,’ said
Veronica. ‘And —’ She broke off, her eyes
widening, and grabbed Clem’s arm. ‘Did you
hear that?’
‘What? I can’t hear anything,’ said Ella,
but her heart was starting to race.
‘Listen ,’ said Veronica urgently.
‘Someone’s in there.’
From within the abandoned church
came the sound of footsteps.
An icy hand closed round Ella’s heart,
and her skin prickled with fear.
‘Veronica’s right,’ said Clem, still
looking bac k at the church. ‘There is someone
in there.’
‘Yes, but whoever it is, is only doing
what we’re doing,’ said Veronica. ‘Saying
goodbye to the church.’
‘Probably the vicar,’ said Ella, walking
towards the manor, hoping the others would
follow.
‘Shouldn’t we go in there and tell Clem, care avea de gând să facă o glumă și să
ceară un sfert de kil ogram de ciocolată de
casă, dădu înapoi.
-Ce se va întâmpla cu dulciurile, cu
lâna și cu restul? întrebă Veronica încet de -a
lungul străzii. Nu vor fi otrăvite, nu?
-Stră-mătușa mea, Rose, a spus că toți
proprietarii magazinelor au împachetat totul în
cutii de lemn, iar niște dube au venit să le ia.
Adună -te, Veronica, gândește -te cât de
curajoasă te vei simți când vom ajunge sus, în
Mordwich Meadow, înfulecându -ne sandwich –
urile.
-Îi vom cânta la multi ani Ellei, spuse
Veronica, încercând să nu -i tremure vocea.
Biserica Sfântul Anselm era în fața lor,
iar inima Ellei începu să bată foarte repede.
Poarta cu acoperiș, care ducea spre biserica
antică și scoasă din uz, era înconjurată de
copaci – cedri bătrâni și stejari englezi.
Dimineața, în lumina soarelui, frunzele
aruncau umbre întunecate pe pământ, iar Clem
se opri să privească de -a lungul șoselei care
ducea la biserică.
-Tatăl meu vorbea despre un cadavru,
zise el. Un corp neînsuflețit. Obișnuiau să
ducă cadavrele la biserică și să le așeze sub
poarta a coperită a bisericii, în prima parte a
înmormântării.
-Foarte sinistru, spuse Veronica,
tremurând. Tatăl tău îți spune lucruri

74 whoever it is to come out?’ said Veronica,
starting back towards the lich -gate.
Ella turned and ran after her, grabbing
her arm. ‘Veronica, we can’t, we’re not
supposed to be here.’ She risked a glance along
the path. There was the lo w door, black with
age, slightly open, and it was possible to see
the shadows lying thickly across the stone floor
just inside. Pulling Veronica away, she said,
‘We mustn’t go in there, we really mustn’t.’
‘Anyway, whoever it is, he’ll know
about the plane coming over at twelve o’clock
and the bomb. Everyone knows,’ said Clem.
‘It’s a bit creepy, though, isn’t it?’
‘No. Let’s keep walking to Cadence
Manor, like we said. Just up to the gates.
Whoever’s in there won’t see us – the road
goes round to the left after those houses.’
‘I thought this would be an adventure,
but it isn’t,’ said Veronica, as they went on,
leaving the church behind. ‘I don’t like it,’ she
said, but she walked between the other two,
around the left -hand curve of the street and
across the cobblestones that had once been part
of an old coaching inn.
‘The church clock’s striking again –
one chime. Is that for the quarter -hour?’ she
asked.
‘Yes. Quarter -past eleven. We’ve got
masses of time yet,’ said Ella.
‘How much further is it?’ înfiorătoare.
-Obișnuiau să bată și un clopot al
cadavrelor câteodată. Clopotul morții, zise
Clem.
-Ei bine, orice obișnuiau să facă,
haideți să mergem mai departe, spuse Ella,
care nu dorea deloc să fie aproape de biserica
întunecată.
-Este o biserică veche și frumoasă, nu -i
așa?, spuse Veronica, fără să clintească.
-Tatăl meu spune că este tragic felul în
care a fost lăsată să putrezească, afirmă Clem.
Vedeți vitraliile? Uitați, acolo, printre copaci.
-Unul din ele este spart, zise Veronica.
Și- se opri, ochii i se măriseră și îi apucă brațul
lui Clem. Ați auzit asta?
-Ce anume? Nu aud nimic, spuse Ella,
însă inima îi bătea nebunește.
-Auziți! zise Veronica, pe un ton
alarmant. Se află cineva înăuntru.
Din interiorul bisericii abandonate se
auzea un sunet asemănător unor pași. O mână
de gheață îi strânse Ellei inima, iar pielea ei
furnica de frică.
-Veronica are dreptate, afirmă Clem,
privind în continuare spre biserică. Este cineva
înăuntru.
-Da, dar oricine ar fi, face ce facem și
noi, zise Veronica. Își ia la revedere de la
biserică.
-Probabil este preotul, spuse Ella,

75 ‘Not far. There are the gates. They’re
huge, aren’t they?’
The gates to Cadence Manor were tall
and tipped here and there with gold, but there
were patches of rust on the black scrollwork.
The manor itself was hidden by a high wall and
trees.
‘My father said they u sed to be really
rich, those Cadences, only they were
moneylenders and you shouldn’t trust people
like that,’ said Clem.
‘My mother says they were Italian
bankers,’ said Veronica. ‘She said they used to
have grand parties here, years and years ago,
before the war. They went on for a whole
weekend, sometimes, the parties. But they gave
a lot of money to the children’s home at
Bramley Gate.’
‘Well, my mother said the Cadences
were a bunch of villains,’ said Ella. ‘She said
you couldn’t trust a one of them, ne ver mind
they were rich and all the rest.’
‘That’s the old lodge house,’ said Clem,
pointing to the square grey building on the left
of the gates.
‘It’s a bit crumbly, isn’t it? And the
gardens are all overgrown.’
‘If the Cadences really were a bunch of
villains, like my mother says, I think it serves
them right if their house crumbles.’
‘Let’s just go in through the gates, so luând -o spre conac și sperând că ceilalți o vor
urma.
-Nu ar trebui să intrăm și să spunem
oricui ar fi acolo să iasă? spuse Veronica,
începând să meargă înapoi spre poarta
bisericii.
Ella se întoarse și alergă după ea,
apucând -o de braț.
-Veronica, nu putem, nu ar trebui să
fim aici.
Aruncă o p rivire temătoare pe alee.
Era o ușă joasă, înnegrită de timp, ușor
deschisă, prin care se puteau vedea umbrele
care se întindeau dens peste podeaua de piatră,
chiar în interior. Trăgând -o pe Veronica,
spuse:
-Nu ar trebui să intrăm acolo, chiar nu
ar treb ui.
-Oricum, oricine ar fi, trebuie să știe
despre avionul care va survola la ora
doisprezece și despre bombă. Toată lumea știe,
zise Clem.
-Totuși, este puțin straniu, nu?
-Nu. Haideți să continuăm să mergem
spre conacul Cadence, așa cum am stabilit.
Doar până la poartă. Oricine este înăuntru,
acolo, nu ne va vedea – drumul merge în curbă
spre stânga după acele case.
-Am crezut că aceasta va fi o aventură,
dar nu este, spuse Veronica, în timp ce
avansau, lăsând biserica în urmă. Nu îmi

76 we can say we’ve been to Cadence Manor
before it was poisoned by the Geranos stuff
and crunched up for the motorway,’ said Clem.
‘Then we’ll go home.’
‘We’d better go along Meadow Lane,’
said Ella. ‘We can climb the wall and get over
the stile to Mordwich Bank. We can’t go near
the house itself anyway.’
‘Why not?’
‘We haven’t got time.’
‘What if there’s another policeman
there?’
‘The re won’t be – they won’t think
anyone would climb over the wall.’
The gates were stiff and almost rusted
into place, but when Clem pushed hard, one of
them swung inwards, the hinges squealing like
an animal. The sound tore across the quiet
morning, and Ell a jumped and glanced behind
her in case anyone had heard and was coming
to catch them.
Stepping through the massive black and
gilt gates felt like entering another world. They
all looked nervously towards the windows of
the lodge. Curtains still hung at se veral of the
windows. Ella thought one of them moved, but
before she could be sure they heard a shout
from the street – outside the gates.
‘Someone’s coming,’ said Clem. ‘Let’s
get out before we’re caught.’ He grabbed the
girls’ hands. place, zise ea, dar continuă să meargă între cei
doi, dând curba din stânga străzii și peste
pietrele care făcuseră cândva parte dintr -un
vechi han.
-Ceasul bisericii sună din nou – un
dangăt. Acesta anunță sfertul de oră? întrebă
ea.
-Da. Unsprezece și un sfert. Încă avem
o grămadă de timp, zise Ella.
-Cât de departe este?
-Nu prea departe. Acolo sunt porțile.
Imense, nu?
Porțile conacului Cadence erau înalte
și placate pe ici și colo cu aur, însă pe
ornamentele negre, spiralate, existau pete de
rugină. Conacul, în sine, era ascuns de un zid
înalt și de copaci.
-Tatăl meu spunea că membrii familiei
Cadence erau foarte bogați, doar că erau
cămătari și nu ar trebui să ai încredere în
oamenii de genul acesta, spuse Clem.
-Mama mea spunea că erau bancheri
italieni, zise Veronica. Spunea că obișnuiau să
aibă petreceri mărețe aici, cu ani și ani în
urmă, înainte de război. Petrecerile țineau un
weekend întreg, câteodată. Dar donau foarte
mulți bani casei de copii din Bramley Gate.
-Ei bine, mama mea spunea că familia
Cadence era o ș leahtă de răufăcători, zise Ella.
Spunea că nu puteai avea încredere în niciunul
din ei, chiar dacă erau bogați și toate celelalte.

77 ‘Where?’
‘Towards th e house,’ said Clem. ‘Come
on. We can climb over the wall and be back in
the lane, like Ella said.’
‘It’ll be the policeman,’ gasped
Veronica. ‘Or that workman banging up the
notices.’
‘Or whoever was creeping around in
the church.’
‘Oh, no…’
‘Never mind who it is, we mustn’t be
caught!’ said Ella. ‘Come on!’
They were halfway along the tree -lined
drive, still holding hands and running as hard
as they could towards the manor itself, when
there was a movement within the trees, and the
figure of a man stepp ed out and stood in front
of them. The sunlight was behind him,
silhouetting him against the brightness.
They had been running at full pelt, but
they skidded to a sudden stop, and stood
uncertainly. The man did not speak, and Ella
felt Veronica’s hand tigh ten around hers. She
shuddered, staring at the man, trying to think of
something to say.
It was Clem who finally spoke. He said,
quite politely, ‘I’m very sorry if we shouldn’t
be here. We just wanted to – um – take one last
walk through the village. But w e’ll go now, we
really will.’
The worst part was that the man did not -Aceasta este căsuța veche, zise Clem,
arătând spre clădirea pătrată și cenușie din
stânga porților.
-Este un pic năruită, nu -i așa? Și
grădinile sunt toate năpădite de buruieni.
-Dacă familia Cadence ar fi fost într –
adevăr o adunătură de răufăcători, cum spunea
mama mea, cred că așa le trebuie, să li se
năruie casa.
-Haideți să intrăm pe porți, ca să putem
spune că a m fost la conacul Cadence înainte să
fie întoxicat de compusul Geranos și dărâmat
pentru autostradă, spuse Clem. Apoi vom
merge acasă.
-Ar fi bine să mergem pe Meadow
Lane, zise Ella. Putem urca zidul și să trecem
peste barieră spre Mordwich Bank, că de ca să
oricum nu ne putem apropia.
-De ce nu?
-Nu avem timp.
-Dacă mai e un polițist pe acolo?
-Nu o să fie – nu o să se gândească
nimeni că îi dă cuiva prin cap să se cațere pe
zid.
Porțile erau înțepenite și complet
ruginite, dar când Clem împinse tare, una
dintre ele se deschise în interior, balamalele
scârțâind ca un animal. Sunetul sfâșiase
liniștea dimineții, iar Ella sări și aruncă o
privire în spate, în caz că cineva auzise și
venea să îi prindă.

78 reply. He took a step or two nearer – he doesn’t
walk, he sort of shambles, thought Ella, horror
sweeping over her – and they could all see
there was something wrong about his face. He
did not come any closer, but he peered at them
intently as if he was trying to decide what to
do. Clem tightened his hold on both girls’
hands, and ran towards the trees, pulling them
along with him.
They ran as hard as they could, until
they were deep in t he undergrowth that had
grown up around the deserted manor.
‘Oh, please stop,’ gasped Veronica.
‘I’ve got a stitch – I can’t run any more . . .’
She bent over to touch her toes.
‘Has he gone?’ said Clem, panting and
looking back through the trees.
‘I think so. I can’t see him.’
‘Who was he? He wasn’t the
policeman, was he? Was he the workman?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Ella.
‘There was something wrong with his
face,’ said Veronica, straightening up. ‘And did
you see the way he stared and stared at us, as if
he wanted to do something very bad to us? My
mother says you have to be careful of men in
case they try to – you know – touch you.’
‘We’d better go round the side of the
house,’ said Ella. ‘We’ll climb over the wall
like Clem said.’
They forced their way through the thick Se simțeau de parcă pătrunseseră într -o
altă realitate d upă ce intrară pe porțile acelea
uriașe, negre cu auriu. Priviră speriați spre
ferestrele casei. Încă erau perdele atârnate la
mai multe ferestre. Ella i se păru că se
mișcaseră, dar înainte să se lămurească, se auzi
un strigăt din stradă – în afara porțil or.
-Vine cineva, spuse Clem. Haideți să
plecăm până nu ne prind. Acesta le apucă pe
fete de mâini.
-Unde?
-Spre casă, zise Clem. Haide. Putem să
urcăm peste zid și să ne întoarcem pe șosea,
cum a spus Ella.
-Va fi polițistul, spuse Veronica
speriată. Sau acel muncitor care bătea cuie în
tăblițele cu avertismente.
-Sau cine se furișa prin biserică.
-O, nu…
-Nu contează cine este, nu trebuie să
fim prinși! zise Ella. Haideți!
Se aflau la jumătatea drumului
delimitat de copaci, încă ținându -se de mâini și
alergând cât puteau de repede către conac,
când ceva se mișcă printre copaci, iar silueta
unui bărbat ieși și se opri în fața lor. Razele
soarelui erau în spatele lui, punându -l în
contrast cu lumina.
Alergaseră cu viteză maximă, dar se
opriseră brusc, răm ânând nesiguri. Bărbatul nu
spuse nimic, iar Ella simți cum mâna

79 rank grass, sending thistle -heads flying,
trampling down the rose -bay willowherb, no
longer caring if the man heard them, intent
only on getting to the wall that backed onto
Meadow Lane. Once Veronica stumbled and
half-turned her ankle on a stone, but Clem
hauled her up again and they went on and came
out onto a rutted and cracked terrace. There,
before them, were the rearing stones of
Cadence Manor. Ella stared at it in fear.
Then two things happened almost at
exactly the same time. The f irst was that they
heard the man coming through the trees
towards them.
The second was the sound of St
Anselm’s church clock, chiming the half -hour
before midday.
There was no time to think or plan.
They ran straight towards the house and half
fell through the main doors. Ella’s heart was
racing and she thought she might be sick from
fear, but they had to get away from the man,
they absolutely had to . . . As they went into
the great ruined hall, the smell of damp and dirt
and loneliness reared up like a wa ll. Veronica
flinched, but Clem dragged her inside.
No sunlight came into the hall and there
was a bad moment when none of them could
see anything. But as their eyes adjusted they
saw there were doors opening off and a wide
stairway directly ahead. The ban isters were Veronicăi i -o strânge tare pe a ei. Ea se
cutremură, privindu -l pe bărbat, încercând să
se gândească la ce să îi spună.
Clem vorbi în cele din urmă. Spuse,
destul de politicos:
-Îmi pare foa rte rău dacă nu ar trebui să
fim aici. Am vrut doar să facem o ultimă
plimbare prin sat. Dar vom pleca acum,
promitem.
Cel mai cumplit lucru însă era că
bărbatul nu scotea nici un cuvânt. Făcu un pas
sau doi mai aproape – nu mergea, se târșâia
într-un fel , se gândi Ella, cuprinzând -o spaima
– și se vedea că era ceva în neregulă cu fața lui.
Nu se apropie mai mult, dar îi privi cu atenție,
ca și cum încerca să decidă ce să facă. Clem le
strânse de mână pe fate și o luă la fugă spre
copaci, trăgându -le după el.
Alergară cât îi țineau puterile, până se
adânciră în frunzișul care crescuse în jurul
conacului părăsit.
-O, te rog, oprește -te, zise Veronica.
Am un junghi – nu mai pot alerga…
Se aplecă să -și atingă degetele de la
picioare.
-A plecat? întrebă Clem, respirând cu
greutate și uitându -se înapoi printre copaci.
-Cred că da. Nu se mai vede.
-Cine era? Nu era polițistul, nu? Era
muncitorul?”
-Nu stiu, zise Ella.

80 sagging and some of the stairs were missing.
‘In there?’ gasped Clem, pointing to a
room with a half -open door.
‘No!’ said Ella at once.
‘Why not?’
Ella stared at him. Because that’s where
the ghosts are, she thought. Terrible ghosts. It’s
the place where I mustn’t go, not ever. But she
managed to say, ‘Because we’d be trapped.
Let’s go up the stairs. We can hide on the
landing and if he comes in to look for us, we’ll
wait until he goes into one of the rooms —’
‘But the plane,’ said Veronica in a
frightened voice. ‘How long is it until the plane
comes?’
‘Half an hour,’ said Clem. ‘We’ve got
plenty of time. Once he’s gone we’ll run back
downstairs and outside. We’ll be on Mordwich
Bank ages before the plane comes.’
They went cautiously up the s tairs; they
were rickety and the wood had rotted
completely away in places so it was necessary
to tread carefully. Veronica was crying, a
snuffly whining cry, that made Ella say
sharply, ‘Do shut up or he’ll hear you.’
They reached the landing, which had
tall narrow windows with seats set into them,
and crouched down behind the banisters.
‘He’s coming,’ whispered Ella
suddenly. ‘I can hear his footsteps.’
The footsteps came nearer and a figure -Era ceva în neregulă cu fața lui, spuse
Veronica, îndreptându -se. Și ați văzut felul în
care ne -a tot privit, ca și cum ar fi vrut să ne
facă ceva foarte rău? Mama spune că ar trebui
să fii atent la bărbați, în cazul în care încearcă
să – știi – să te atingă.
-Hai să ocolim ca sa, spuse Ella. Să ne
cățărăm pe zid, cum a spus Clem.
Își croiră drum prin iarba groasă și
abundentă, împrăștiind capete de ciulini,
călcând în picioare răscoage și fără a le mai
păsa dacă bărbatul îi auzea, nepăsându -le decât
să ajungă la zidul care duce a înapoi la
Meadow Lane. Odată Veronica se împiedică și
își suci glezna pe o piatră, dar Clem o ajută să
se ridice și merseră mai departe, ieșind pe o
terasă crăpată și brăzdată de făgașe. Acolo,
înaintea lor, se înălțau zidurile conacului
Cadence. Ella îl privi cu frică.
Apoi două lucruri se întâmplară
aproape exact în același timp. Primul fu faptul
că îl auziră pe bărbat venind spre ei, printre
copaci.
Al doilea lucru fu sunetul ceasului
bisericii Sfântul Anselm, sunând cu jumătate
de oră înainte de amiaz ă.
Nu era timp de gândire sau de plănuit
ceva anume. Alergară direct spre casă și
aproape că se prăbușiră prin ușile principale.
Inima Ellei bătea cu putere și mai să leșine de
frică, însă trebuiau să se îndepărteze de bărbat,

81 stood in the doorway below. It was too dim to
see him very clear ly, but Ella knew they were
all remembering his face – it had been
somehow misshapen as if a hand had wiped
over it before it had quite set and smeared
some of the features. She shuddered and
pressed back into the shadows, her heart
thudding. Clem was grip ping the banisters,
staring down at the man, and Veronica’s face
was tear -stained. If Veronica did not start
crying again they would probably be all right –
the man would think they had run off into the
grounds and he would go away.
But he did not. He stood very still for a
moment – as if he’s sniffing the air like an
animal, thought Ella in horror – and then, very
deliberately, as if he knew exactly where they
were, he crossed the hall towards the stairs.

Chapter 3
For a dreadful moment none of them
knew what to do, but as the man stepped on the
first stair a shaft of sunlight from one of the
narrow windows fell across him and they saw
again the frightening stare in his eyes and the
dreadful wrongness of his face. Ella could not
bear it. She looked bac k at the wide passage
behind them. There were five or six doors,
some half -open, others hanging crookedly on
their hinges, but one near the far end was trebuiau fără discuție să o f acă…Intrând în
sala mare și dărăpănată, mirosul umezelii,
murdăriei și singurătății se înălțase ca un zid.
Veronica tresări, dar Clem o trase înăuntru.
Lumina soarelui nu pătrundea în conac și
urmase un moment neplăcut în care niciunul
din ei nu putea vede a nimic. Însă, în timp ce
vederea lor se adapta, observară că erau uși
care se deschideau și o scară largă, drept în
față. Stâlpii balustradei stăteau să se
prăbușească, și o parte din trepte lipseau.
-Acolo înăuntru? gâfâi Clem, arătând
spre o cameră cu o ușă pe jumătate deschisă.
-Nu! exclamă Ella deodată.
-De ce nu?
Ella se uită la el. Pentru că acolo se
aflau fantomele, se gândi ea. Fantome
înspăimântătoare. Este locul unde nu trebuie
să merg, niciodată. Dar reuși să spună:
-Pentru că am fi prinși. Hai să urcăm
scările. Ne putem ascunde pe coridor și dacă
va intra să ne caute, vom aștepta până va intra
într-una dintre camere –
-Dar avionul, zise Veronica cu o voce
speriată. Cât timp mai este până vine avionul?
-Jumătate de oră, spuse Clem. Avem
destul t imp. Odată ce pleacă bărbatul, vom
fugi înapoi la parter și apoi afară. Vom ajunge
pe Mordwich Bank cu mult timp înainte de a
veni avionul.
Urcară cu precauție pe scări; erau

82 firmly closed. She touched Veronica’s hand,
then Clem’s, and pointed to it.
They tiptoed towards the clo sed door.
The man was coming quite slowly up the stairs.
Sunshine poured in through the windows so it
was just possible he could not see them
through its glare. Praying the door would not
squeak, Ella opened it. It did squeak, but only
faintly, and they tu mbled inside, closing it. The
room was empty. There was a deep bay
window and a massive chimney breast, which
had half fallen away from the wall; there were
piles of bricks and bits of timber, and a gaping
blackness where the hearth would have been.
'Will he come in after us? whispered
Veronica, cramming her fist into her mouth.
'He might, but we'll hide behind that
crumbly brick -work by the chimney,' said
Clem. 'Have you still got that red hair ribbon,
Vron? Put it in that far corner so he'll think
we're over there. Then we'll dodge out while
he's looking, and run for our lives. All right?'
'But will we get out before the plane
comes?' whispered Veronica, doing as Clem
said.
‘Yes, there's masses of time.' Ella said
this confidently, but she had glanced a t her
watch and seen with horror it was already
twenty to twelve. Her heart thumped with
panic. What would happen to them if they did
not get out before the plane sent its dreadful șubrede și lemnul putrezise complet pe
alocuri, așa că era necesar să calce cu at enție.
Veronica plângea, un smiorcăit jalnic, care o
făcu pe Ella să se răstească la ea:
-Taci odată, că ne aude!
Ajunseseră pe palierul care avea
ferestre înalte și înguste, cu scaune puse în ele,
și se ghemuiseră în spatele stâlpilor
balustradei.
-Vine, șopti Ella brusc. Îi aud pașii.
Pașii se apropiau și o siluetă se ivi în
pragul ușii de jos. Era prea întunecat ca să -l
poată vedea foarte clar, însă Ella știa că toți își
aminteau fața lui – era oarecum diformă, ca și
cum o mână o șter sese înainte ca aceasta să se
fi remodelat, cât de cât, și să aibă unele
trăsături. Ea se cutremură și se înghesui înapoi
în umbră, inima bătându -i cu putere. Clem își
încleștase mâna pe balustradă, se uita fix la
bărbat, iar fața Veronicăi era înlăcrimată . Dacă
Veronica nu avea să înceapă să plângă din
nou, probabil că vor scăpa – bărbatul va crede
că au fugit prin grădină și va pleca.
Însă nu se întâmplă așa. Acesta rămase
nemișcat pentru o clipă – de parcă ar fi
îndulmecat aerul ca un animal, se gândi E lla
cu groază – și apoi, foarte deliberat, ca și cum
ar fi știut exact unde sunt, traversă salonul
către scări.

Capitolul 3

83 bomb onto the village?
Grabbing Veronica's hand, she pulled
her into the sm all space behind the chimney
breast. They had to squeeze to get in. A sooty
stench came up from the hole in the floor and
Veronica shuddered. Clem tried to squash in
with them, but there was no room, and he
looked frantically about him, then ran across to
a tall bookcase and crammed in behind it.
'He's coming down the passageway,'
whispered Ella, urgently.
They waited in terrified silence, their
hearts pounding, hardly daring to breathe. The
footsteps paused at each door and then moved
on. Ella stared at the dull surface of the closed
door, willing the man to walk past it, to decide
it would just be another empty room. But
empty rooms had things in them, things that
must never be seen…
Next to her, Veronica was trembling and Ella
put an arm round her. As she did so, a faint
sound came to them from the village, and fear
swept over her again. It was St Anselm's clock
chiming the quarter -hour.
There were only fifteen minutes left
before the plane came with its dreadful cargo.
What would happen if they were st ill here
then? Was Clem's father right, and did the
plane really have all that stuff that could give
people dreadful diseases? The notice board had
said it was called Geranos. If they breathed in Pentru o clipă îngrozitoare, niciunul
dintre ei nu știu ce să facă, însă în timp ce
bărbatul pășea pe prima treaptă, o rază de
soare dintr -o fereastră îngustă, căzu peste el,
iar ei îi văzură din nou privirea
înspăimântătoare din ochi și nepotrivirea
îngrozitoare a feței lui. Ella simți că nu mai
poate. Se uită la holul larg din spatele lor. Erau
cinci sau șase uși, unele pe jumătate deschise,
altele atârnând strâmb pe balamalele lor, însă
una, aproape de capătul îndepărtat, era ferm
închisă. Îi atinse mâna Veronicăi, apoi pe a lui
Clem și arătă spre ea.
O luară tiptil spre ușa închisă.
Bărbatul urca destul de încet pe scă ri. Soarele
intra prin ferestre, așa că era posibil să nu îi
poată vedea prin strălucirea orbitoare.
Rugându -se ca ușa să nu scârțâie, Ella o
deschise. Ușa nu scârțâi decât o clipă, iar ei
făcură un salt înăuntru, închizând -o. Camera
era goală. Era o ferea stră boltită, mare, și un
șemineu masiv , din care o parte se prăbușise
de pe perete; erau grămezi de cărămizi și
bucăți de cherestea și un hău negru acolo unde
ar fi trebuit să fie.
-Oare o să vină după noi? șopti
Veronica, îndesându -și pumnul în gură.
-S-ar putea, dar ne vom ascunde în
spatele acelei lucrări de cărămidă sfărâmată de
lângă coș, spuse Clem. Mai ai acea fundă roșie
de păr, Vron? Pune -o în acel colț îndepărtat,

84 the Geranos would they die? If they ran out
now they would h ave plenty of time to
scramble over the wall of Cadence Manor and
be up the hillside and far enough away to be
safe. But they could not run out because of the
man. Perhaps he might not mean them any
harm: he might be trying to find them to warn
them to run out before the plane flew over. But
then why hadn't he simply called out?
He was outside the door now – the
handle was being turned. The door swung
inwards and he was there, staring into the
room, and of course he was not here to warn
them at all. His eye s glared with madness, and
a smile – a truly dreadful smile – widened his
face. Ella pressed down into the tiny corner,
but he knew where she was, of course – he
knew where they all were. There was a
movement over her head, and when she looked
up, the nigh tmare face was over the top of the
broken brickwork. The smile came again, and
one hand reached down.
Veronica let out a scared whimper and tried to
cower back, but Ella was suddenly angry. A
fierce burning anger scalded through her entire
body and made he r feel ten feet high and as
strong as a giant. She sprang up and flew at the
man, pushing him as hard as she could,
screaming at him to leave them alone. His eyes
widened with shock and, caught off balance, he
stumbled back, missing his footing and half astfel încât el va crede că suntem pe acolo.
Apoi vom scăpa în timp ce el caută și vom
fugi pentru a ne salva viețile. În regulă?
-Dar vom ieși înainte ca avionul să
ajungă? șopti Veronica, făcând cum îi spusese
Clem.
-Da, avem o grămadă de timp.
Ella spuse asta cu încredere, dar
aruncă o privire la ceas și văzu cu groază că
mai erau douăzeci de minute până la ora
doisprezece. Inima îi bătea de panică. Ce avea
să se întâmple cu ei dacă nu ieșeau înainte ca
avionul să -și trimită terifianta bombă în sat?
Apucând mâna Veronicăi, o trase pe
aceasta în spațiul mic din spatele
coronam entului de coș. Trebuiră să se
înghesuie pentru a putea intra. Din gaura din
podea venea un miros greu, iar Veronica se
cutremură. Clem înceră să se înghesuie cu ele,
însă nu mai era spațiu și se uită frenetic de jur –
împrejur, apoi fugi spre o bibliotecă î naltă și
se înghesui în spatele ei.
-Vine pe coridor, șopti Ella cu
disperare.
Așteptară într -o liniște terifiantă, cu
inimile lor bătând, neîndrăznind nici măcar să
respire. Pașii se opreau la fiecare ușă și apoi
mergeau mai departe. Ella fixa suprafața
întunecată a ușii închise, își dorea ca bărbatul
să treacă pe lângă ea, crezând că ar fi doar o
altă cameră goală. Însă camerele goale aveau

85 falling against the bricks of the collapsed
chimney breast. The anger gave way to
triumph and Ella ran straight at him, her hands
clenched into fists, shouting to Veronica and
Clem to help her, yelling that they had only ten
minutes left to get out.
Veronic a hung back, but Clem, his eyes
huge with panic and excitement, ran from
behind the bookcase and kicked the man,
sending him slithering a little way across the
floor.
'Harder!' shouted Ella, and Veronica
came out from the hiding place.
This time, in the p anic and confusion,
one of them must have kicked a bit harder
because the man rolled all the way across the
floor to where the floorboards had collapsed
over the old hearth, right onto the edge of the
black jagged hole. He made a scrabbling
movement at the ground with his hands to stop
himself from toppling into the yawning
blackness. Ella heard Clem and Veronica both
gasp in horror and she thought Clem started
forward as if to help the man. But the anger
was still filling Ella up, and before either Clem
or Veronica could do anything, she bent down
and pushed the man as hard as she could. With
a dreadful kind of grunting scream, he fell
down, down into the bad -smelling blackness of
the chimney shaft. There was a whoosh of
sound as he fell, and clouds of soot and dust lucruri în ele, lucruri care nu trebuiau văzute
niciodată…
Lângă ea, Veronica tremura, iar Ella își
puse brațul în jurul ei. În timp ce făcea acest
lucru, un sunet vag din sat ajunse la ei, iar
frica o copleși din nou. Era ceasul bisericii
Sfântul Anselm, indicând sfertul de oră.
Mai erau doar cincisprezece minute
înainte ca avionul să vină cu încărcătura lui
terifiantă. Ce se va întâmpla dacă ei vor fi încă
aici? Oare avea dreptate tatăl lui Clem și
avionul chiar avea toate acele substanțe care ar
putea cauza oamenilor boli cumplite?
Avertismentul spunea că substanța se numește
Geranos. Dacă ar inhala Geranos, ar muri?
Dacă ar ieși acum, ar avea destul timp să se
cațere pe zidul conacului Manor și să ajungă
pe coasta dealului, suficient de departe pentru
a fi în siguranță. Însă nu puteau fugi din cauza
bărbatului. Poate că nu avea nicio intenție de
a-i răni: poate că încerca să îi găsească pentru
a-i avertiza să fugă înainte ca avionul să
zboare de asupra lor. Dar atunci de ce nu le -a
vorbit pur și simplu?
Era în afara ușii acum – se putea
observa mișcarea mânerului. Ușa se deschise
pe interior, iar el apăru în prag fix în cameră
și, desigur, nu venise aici pentru a -i avertiza,
deloc. Ochii săi prive au cu demență și un
zâmbet – un zâmbet cu adevărat înfricoșător –
îi lățea chipul. Ella se ghemui în colțul strâmt,

86 and fragments of bird skeletons flew upwards.
Ella and the other two flinched, coughing and
gasping, then Clem scrambled to the edge of
the hole and peered down.
‘Can you see him?' said Veronica,
fearfully.
‘Um, yes, I think so. He's lying all s ort
of broken’, said Clem. 'He's right at the
bottom.' When he looked back at them his face
was white and he seemed as if he might be
about to be sick.
‘We'd better go down to see,' said Ella.
'We haven't got time,' said Clem,
sounding frightened. 'It's n early twelve
o'clock.'
‘We'll run for all we're worth,' said Ella.
'But we need to know if he's dead.’
They ran down the stairs, their footsteps
echoing loudly in the empty old house, leaving
prints behind them. 'Which is the room
underneath?' gasped Cl em.
‘In here.'
'How do you know? Mightn't it be that
one?'
‘No,' said Ella quickly. 'No, it's this
one, I'm sure.' Before Clem could argue she
pushed open a door on the ground floor and
peered in. 'Yes,' she said. "That's the room.'
‘Is he there?'
'Yes. The chimney's half fallen away –
there’re bricks all over the floor, but I can see însă el știa unde se află, desigur – știa unde
sunt toți. Simțise o mișcare deasupra capului
ei, iar atunci când ridică privirea, chipul de
coșmar se uita la ea de peste bucățile de
cărămidă spartă. Zâmbetul apăru din nou și o
mână se întinse spre ea.
Veronica scoase un scâncet speriat și
încercă să se ghemuiască la loc, însă Ella se
enervă brusc. O furie arzătoare și feroce
fierbea în întregu l ei corp și o făcea să se simtă
înaltă de trei metri și la fel de puternică
precum un uriaș. Se ridică și se repezi către
bărbat, împingându -l cât putu de tare și țipând
la el să îi lase în pace. Ochii bărbatului se
măriră din cauza șocului și, prins pe p icior
greșit, făcu un pas greșit înapoi, pierzându -și
echilibrul și căzând pe jumătate pe cărămizile
dărâmate ale coronamentului de coș. Furia lăsa
loc triumfului, iar Ella alergă direct spre el, cu
mâinile încleștate în pumni și urlând către
Veronica și C lem să o ajute, zbierând totodată
faptul că mai aveau doar zece minute pentru a
ieși.
Veronica se ținea mai în spate, însă
Clem, cu ochii uriași de panică și emoție,
alergă din spatele bibliotecii și îl lovi cu
piciorul pe bărbat, făcându -l să alunece puț in
pe podea.
-Mai tare! strigă Ella, iar Veronica
ieșea din ascunzătoare.
De data aceasta, din panică și confuzie,

87 him. He's sort of wedged inside it like Clem
said.'
'Is he really dead?' asked Veronica.
'I think so. But we ought to make sure.'
‘I’m not going to,' said Veronica a t
once. I’ve never seen a dead person.
'I have,' said Clem. 'I saw my
grandmother. I went to say goodbye to her in
the funeral place.'
‘We know you did, you went on about
it for ages afterwards.'
'Well, she looked like he looks now,'
said Clem, peering warily into the room.
'People die with their eyes open and you have
to close them or they go on staring at nothing
forever.'
‘Shut up about dead people,' said Ella
on a sob, and Clem looked at her curiously.
But he only said, 'I think he's dead, but
we oug ht to get somebody to make sure. A
doctor or something.’
'There's no time,' began Ella, then
stopped, because from outside the old manor
house, on the hillside above them, came the
sound of St Anselm's clock, this time chiming
twelve. The sounds were slow and measured,
pealing out into the deserted village street. But
through the chimes came another sound – a
faint, far -off growl. For a moment none of
them realized what it was. Then in a voice of
horrified fear, Clem said, 'It's the plane. It's unul dintre ei trebuie să fi lovit un pic mai
tare, deoarece bărbatul se rostogoli pe toată
podeaua, până unde se prăbușiseră scândurile
de parchet peste șemineul vechi, chiar pe
marginea găurii negre zimțate. Acesta dădu să
se agațe cu ghearele de podea, ca să nu se
răstoarne în întunericul profund. Ella îi auzi pe
Clem și Veronica gâfâind amandoi de groază
și i se păru că băiatul avea de gân d să-l ajute
pe bărbat. Însă furia încă o copleșea, iar
înainte ca Veronica sau Clem să poată face
ceva, Ella se aplecă și îl împinse pe bărbat cât
de tare putu. Cu un soi înfricoșător de urlet
mormăitor, acesta căzu, în întunecimea urât
mirositoare a coșu lui. Se auzi un șuierat în
timp ce cădea, iar nori de funingine, praf și
fragmente de schelete de păsări se înălțară în
aer. Ella și ceilalți doi tresară, începură să
tușească și să se înece, după care Clem se
apropie de buza gropii și privi în jos.
-Îl vezi? întrebă speriată Veronica.
-Cred că da. Stă întins pe jos ca o
păpușă stricată, zise Clem. Este chiar în partea
de jos. Când se uită înapoi la ele, fața lui era ca
varul, de parcă era gata să vomite.
-Ar fi bine să coborâm să vedem, spuse
Ella.
-Nu av em timp, zise Clem, părând
înspăimântat. „E aproape ora douăsprezece.”
-Vom alerga cât ne țin puterile, zise
Ella. Dar trebuie să știm dacă este cu adevărat

88 exactly on t ime.'
The plane that carried a sinister cargo – a cargo
that might poison and even kill every living
thing in Priors Bramley – was coming towards
them.
The three of them ran for all they were
worth, scrambling out of Cadence Manor, and
going full pelt towards the wall enclosing the
grounds. The plane was approaching; they
could hear the purr of its engine, building to a
menacing growl as it came closer. Once
Veronica clapped her hands over her ears, but
Ella snatched her hands away because they
needed a ll their energy to run.
'There's the wall,' gasped Clem.
'We can get to it in time -' We can't,'
cried Veronica. 'And what if there's barbed
wire?'
'There won't be,' said Ella. 'And once
we're over the wall it'll be all right – come on,
Veronica!'
Afterwa rds, they did not remember how
they had managed to climb the wall and drop
down onto the grass on the other side.
‘No barbed wire,' gasped Clem, as they
ran towards the stile. 'They'd think the wall was
enough.'
‘Never mind the wall, hurry up!' Later,
Ella found her hands and knees were bloodied
and torn, but at the time there was only the
frantic need to get away. They got to the stile, mort.
Alergară în jos pe scări, iar pașii lor
răsunau puternic în vechea casă goală și lăsau
urme î n spatele lor.
-Care este camera de dedesubt?
întrebă Clem, cu suflarea întretăiată.
-Asta.
-De unde știi? Nu o fi aia de colo?
-Nu, zise Ella repede. „Nu, este
aceasta, sunt sigură.”
Înainte să poată spune ceva Clem, ea
deschise o ușă la parter și aruncă o privire.
-Da, zise ea. Aceasta este camera.
-Și? E acolo?
-Da. Șemineul a căzut pe jumătate –
sunt cărămizi peste tot pe podea, dar îl văd.
Stă blocat acolo, cum spunea Clem.
-Este într -adevăr mort? întrebă
Veronica.
-Așa cred. Dar ar trebui să ne
asigurăm.
-Eu una nu am de gând, zise Veronica
dintr -odată. Nu am văzut niciodată o persoană
decedată.
-Eu da, spuse Clem. Am văzut -o pe
bunica mea. M -am dus să îmi iau rămas bun
de la ea la capelă.
-Știm că ai facut -o, ai vorbit despre
asta foarte mult timp după.
-Ei bine, arăta cum arată el acum, zise
Clem, aruncând o privire precaută prin

89 and scrambled over it, then ran all the way up
the hillside to Mordwich Meadow, flinging
themselves down on the grass, s obbing for
breath, but with their eyes turned up to the
sky.
The plane was almost directly over the
village now, and as they watched, it began to
circle. 'It's an Auster,' said Clem, awed. 'My
uncle told me it would be – he was in the RAF
in the war. They use that kind of plane for
observation – mapping battlefields and things
like that. It's got high wings so the pilot can see
straight down to the ground.'
As he said this the plane swooped low
over the village in its shallow valley and,
against the bright ness of the morning,
something white and billowing came looping
down. They could see a black and lumpen
parcel attached to it.
'That's it,' said Clem. 'That's the bomb.
‘It's on the end of a parachute,' said
Veronica.
‘That's to give the pilot time to g et
clear. My uncle said there would be a canister
of Geranos, or maybe two canisters, and they'd
explode when the plane gets clear.'
The plane was going away; they could
see the outline against the clear sky.
'How long before the bomb goes off?’
asked Ve ronica worriedly.
'I don't know. Not long, I shouldn't cameră. Oamenii mor cu ochii deschiși și
trebuie să îi închizi, altfel vor continua să se
uite în gol pentru totdeauna.
-Încetează cu oamenii morți, spuse Ella
cu un suspin, iar Clem o privi curios, iar el
răspunse.
-Cred că a murit, dar ar trebui să
aducem pe cineva să ne asigure. Un doctor sau
așa ceva.
-Nu este timp, începu Ella, apoi se
opri, că ci din afara vechiului conac, pe coasta
dealului de deasupra lor, se auzea sunetul
ceasului de la Sfântul Anselm, de data aceasta
indicând ora doisprezece. Sunetele erau lente
și regulate, răsunând pe strada satului pustiu.
Dar printre dangătele clopotului se auzea un
alt sunet – un huruit slab și îndepărtat. Pentru o
clipă, niciunul din ei nu realiză despre ce este
vorba. Apoi, cu un glas de teamă îngrozitoare,
Clem spuse:
-Este avionul. A venit exact la timp.
Avionul care transporta o încărcătură
sinistr ă – o încărcătură care ar putea otrăvi și
chiar ucide fiecare vietate din Priors Bramley –
venea spre ei.
Cei trei o tuliră afară din conacul
Cadence și alergând cu iuțeală spre zidul care
înconjura terenul. Avionul sosea; se auzea
intensitatea motorului său, amplificându -se la
un huruit amenințător, pe măsură ce se
apropia. O singură dată Veronica își duse

90 think.'
‘It can't reach us up here, can it? That
Geranos stuff, I mean?'
'I shouldn't think so.'
As Clem said this, the air seemed to stir
and shiver, and there was the distant sound of
glass shatte ring somewhere within the village.
A thin mist gusted upwards, like the spray from
a churning lake.
Ella shuddered and clenched her fists,
but Veronica sat up straighter and said,
'Listen.'
'What?’
'Didn't you hear it? Just very faintly?’
‘I can't hear anything,' began Ella, then
stopped, because she could hear it as well.
A jangling discordance of music rose
above the sounds of masonry falling and glass
smashing and the fading note of the plane:
music coming from the ancient church deep
inside the dying village.
They sat in Mordwich Meadow for a
long time. They were too upset to eat the
sandwiches Ella's mother had made, but Ella
said it would be wasteful to throw them away
and Veronica said it would be bad manners, so
in the end they crumbled them up for the birds.
Below them, Priors Bramley had settled back
into its remote silence, although the mist
lingered in wisps and curls on the air.
‘I did hear it,' said Veronica stubbornly. mâinile la urechi, însă Ella i le smulse de
acolo, deoarece aveau nevoie de toată energia
ca să poată alerga.
-Uite zidul! gâfâi Clem. Putem ajunge
la el la timp –
-Nu putem, strigă Veronica. Și dacă
este sârmă ghimpată?
-Nu va fi, zise Ella. Și odată ce trecem
de zid, va fi bine – haide, Veronica!
După aceea, nu -și mai aminteau cum
reușiseră să urce zidul și să cadă pe iarbă, pe
cealaltă parte.
-Fără sârmă ghimpată, gâfâi Clem, în
timp ce alergau spre gard. Nici nu și -au
imaginat că zidul n -ar fi suficient de ajuns.
-Nu are nicio importanță zidul, grăbiți –
vă!
Mai târziu, Ella observă că mâinile și
genunchii săi erau însângerați și sfâșiați, dar la
momentul respectiv nu mai exista decât nevoia
de a fugi. Ajunseră la gard, se cățărară și -l
săriră, apoi alergară pe coasta de deal până la
Mordwich Meadow, azvârlindu -se pe iarbă și
abia respirând, dar cu ochii ațintiți spr e cer.
Avionul era aproape exact deasupra
satului și, în timp ce priveau, începu să se
miște circular.
-Este un Auster, zise Clem,
impresionat. Unchiul meu mi -a spus că acesta
va fi – a fost în Forțele Aeriene, în război.
Folosesc acel tip de avion pentru supraveghere

91 "That music. I did.'
‘I heard it too,' said Clem.
‘Then he’s alive , that man.’ Veronica’s
eyes were round with the horror of it. “He got
into the church and he’s playing the music.
That's the creepiest thing Ive ever heard of. But
we'll have to tell somebody. They'll have to go
in to get him out.'
‘Vron, he's dead,' said Clem. 'His back
was all twisted and his eyes were open.
'Then who was making that music?’
‘It wasn't real music,' said Clem. ‘It was
just a lot of jumbled notes. I think it was the
organ pipes shuddering from the explosion.
Like when you twang a string and it goes on
thrumming for ages. The pipes might go on
thrumming and twanging for ages.’
The thought of that ugly confused
music thrumming all by itself in the deserted
village was almost more than Ella could bear.
She stared down at the cluste r of buildings and
at the thin moisture that lay everywhere. When
they had looked down at the man's body lying
in its broken -doll tumble inside the chimney
shaft she had been sure he was dead. Now she
was not. His legs had stuck out at painful
angles as if they were broken and his head was
twisted to one side. But what if he had only
been knocked out, and had come round and
dragged himself as far as the church, hoping to
get help? – cartografierea câmpurilor de luptă și lucruri
de acest soi. Are aripi înalte, astfel încât
pilotul să poată vedea direct pe pământ.
În timp ce spunea aceste lucruri,
avionul se înclina deasupra satului, în valea sa
puțin adânc ită și, în contrast cu luminozitatea
dimineții, ceva alb și vălurit șerpuia în jos. Se
vedea un pachet negru și greoi legat de el.
-Asta e, zise Clem. Asta e bomba.
-Este la capătul unei parașute, zise
Veronica.
-Asta este pentru a oferi timp pilotului
să plece. Unchiul meu a spus că va exista o
canistră de Geranos, sau poate două canistre, și
vor exploda când avionul va pleca.
Avionul se îndepărta; se vedea
conturul pe cerul senin.
-Cât timp mai este până la detonarea
bombei? întrebă Veroni ca îngrijorată.
-Nu știu. Nu mult, cred.
-Nu ne poate ajunge aici, nu? Mă refer
la substanța Geranos.
-Nu cred.
În timp ce Clem spunea asta, aerul
părea să se agite și să se cutremure, iar undeva
în sat se auzea sunetul îndepărtat al unei sticle
care s e spulbera. O ceață subțire se împrăștie
în sus, ca aburul fin de pe un lac învolburat.
Ella se înfioră și își încleștă pumnii,
însă Veronica se ridică în picioare și spuse:
-Ascultă.

92 But even if he had, it was too late now.
The village was sealed and no one w ould go
there for a very long time. It might be a year
before the motorway was started, or even
longer. If the man was alive he might scream
for help until his throat burst, but there would
be no one to hear him. And eventually he
would die in there, he wo uld die…
Ella was suddenly aware of two things.
One was that she was quite hungry after all,
and it was a pity they had fed all the
sandwiches to the birds.
The other was that she was very glad
indeed she had managed to kill the man in
Cadence Manor. She h ad been terrified of him
for a long time.
It was nearly a whole year since she
had first seen the man. She and her mother had
walked into Priors Bramley to the wool shop. It
was late afternoon Saturday and not many
people were around. 'Which is why it's a good
time for us to come,' said Ella's mother. 'The
shops are still open, but people are all in their
houses by this time, making their supper.'
Most people called the evening meal 'tea', but
Ella's mother said 'supper' was the correct term.
They would n ot aspire to dinner in the evening,
which would have sounded pretentious, but
supper was quite acceptable. Ella was not sure
what pretentious meant, but she was careful to
do what her mother said, even though people at -Ce anume?
-Nu ai auzit? Nici măcar vag?
-Nu aud nimic, începu Ella, apoi se
opri, pentru că putea auzi și ea.
Un zornăit discordant se intensifica
peste sunetele zidăriei în cădere, sticlei ce se
sfărâma și zgomotului în scădere al avionului:
muzică ce venea din biserica antică, adânc din
interiorul sa tului muribund.
Pierduseră mult vremea în Mordwich
Meadow. Erau prea supărați să mănânce
sandwich -urile făcute de mama Ellei, însă Ella
spusese că ar fi o risipă să le arunce, iar
Veronica era de părere că nu este de bun simț,
așa că în final le -au fărâmi țat pentru păsări.
Sub ei, Priors Brambley revenise la tăcerea sa
izolată, deși ceața zăbovea în nori și vârtejuri,
în aer.
-Chiar am auzit -o, spuse Veronica cu
încăpățânare. Acea muzică. Am auzit -o.
-Și eu am auzit -o, afirmă Clem.
-Atunci acel bărbat este în viață.
Ochii Veronicăi erau rotunjiți de
groază.
-A intrat în biserică și cântă. Este cel
mai înfricoșător lucru despre care am auzit
vreodată. Dar va trebui să spunem cuiva. Va
trebui ca cineva să intre și să -l scoată af ară.
-Vron, este mort, spuse Clem. Spatele
îi era strâmb cu totul și ochii îi erau deschiși.
-Atunci cine făcea acea muzică?

93 school laughed, and said la -di-da and swank,
and who did Ella Ford think she was?
It took Mum ages to buy the wool. All
the colours had to be looked at and then there
was a discussion as to which was the best
quality. Ella became bored. She thought she
would walk along the street and look at the
church. Clem said it was really old and there
were lots of interesting things in it: his father
had told him all about it.
‘Well, come straight back,' said her
mother, when Ella asked if it would be all right
to walk along to St Anselm's. 'Don't sp eak to
anyone you don't know.'
Ella did not speak to anyone as she
walked along because there was no one to
speak to. She went slowly, liking the jumbly
little shops of Priors Bramley and the jutting –
out windows. The sun was setting, so there was
a red gl ow in the sky, which made the village
feel like something out of a fairy tale.
Here was the church. The red sunset
was here as well, washing the leaves and the
old grey stones of the walls with crimson. Ella
went through the lich -gate, thinking if the doo r
was open she would just peep inside the
church. It would be all right; churches were
places where people were always welcome,
even tatty old churches like this one.
She was halfway along the path when
she realized someone was playing music inside -Nu a fost muzică reală, zise Clem.
Erau doar o grămadă de note învălmășite. Cred
că erau tuburile de orgă care se cutremurau de
la explozie. Ca atunci când ciupești o coardă și
continuă să zăngăne o veșnicie. Tuburile ar
putea să răsune și să vibreze pentru foarte mult
timp.
Gândul la acea muzică amenințătoare
și nedeslușită, care zdrăngănea singură în satul
pustiu, era aproape mai m ult decât putea Ella
să suporte. Privi jos la duiumul de clădiri și la
stratul de umezeală care se întindea peste tot.
Când priviseră în jos corpul bărbatului, întins
după o căzătură mortală, precum o păpușă
ruptă, în interiorul coșului de fum, Ella fusese
sigură că este mort. Acum nu mai era la fel de
sigură. Picioarele îi erau înțepenite în unghiuri
dureroase, ca și cum ar fi fost rupte, iar capul
îi era răsucit într -o parte. Dar dacă nu fusese
decât doborât și simțise să se târască până la
biserică, sper ând să obțină ajutor?
Dar chiar dacă ar fi făcut -o, era prea
târziu acum. Satul era închis și nimeni nu avea
să mai meargă acolo, pentru foarte mult timp.
S-ar putea să treacă un an întreg până să
înceapă construcția autostrăzii, mai mult chiar.
Dacă bărb atul era în viață, ar putea striga după
ajutor până când gâtul lui ar exploda, însă nu l –
ar auzi nimeni. Și în cele din urmă o să moară
acolo, va muri…
Ella își dădu seama de două lucruri.

94 the ch urch. It was organ music, of course, like
they had at St Michael's. Ella liked the music at
St Michael's; she enjoyed the hymns. She had
never been in the organ loft there because the
vicar would not allow children to go in, so it
would be really good if s he could peep into St
Anselm's organ loft; she could be one up on
Clem and the others.
The church was quite a small one,
much smaller than St Michael's, but Ella saw at
once it was not tatty in the least, in fact it was
beautiful. She looked round, trying to see
everything so she could tell Clem and Veronica
on Monday. There were stone arches and
carved panels with stories from the Bible. And
there were narrow windows at the sides and
behind the altar, with beautiful pictures in vivid
blues and scarlets and greens. The sunset
shadows lay everywhere, making soft
harlequin patterns on the floor, the stained –
glass colours of the windows glinting through
them like jewels.
The music was still going on. It was
happy music that made Ella think of things like
harve st festivals and daffodils.
It echoed and bounced all round the
church, in and out of the stone arches and
carvings, and Ella looked about her to see if
she could get nearer.
On her left was a low archway with a
narrow stairway beyond. That must be the st air Unul era faptul că până la urmă i se făcuse
destul de foame și era păcat, căci hrăniseră
păsările cu sandwich -urile lor. Celălalt lucru
era faptul că, într -adevăr, se bucura foarte
mult, că reușise, să -l omoare pe bărbatul din
conacul Cadence. De multă vrem îi era frică de
el.
Trecuse aproape un an de când îl
văzuse p e bărbat pentru prima oară. Ea și
mama ei se duseseră la Priors Bramley, la
magazinul de lână. Era târziu, după amiază –
într-o sâmbătă – și nu se aflau prea mulți
oameni în jur.
-De aceea este un moment bun să
mergem acolo”, spuse mama Ellei. Magazinele
sunt încă deschise, dar oamenii sunt la casele
lor în timpul acesta, pregătind cina.
Majoritatea oamenilor numeau masa de
seară „ceai”, dar mama Ellei spunea că
termenul corect este „cină”. N -aveau cum
aspira să ia cina seara, ceea ce ar fi sunat
pretenți os, însă masa de seară era destul de
acceptabilă. Ella nu era sigură ce înseamnă să
fii pretențios, dar era atentă să facă ce îi
spunea mama ei, deși colegii de școală râdeau
și spuneau „săru -mâna, coniță” și „domnia
voastră” și se întrebau cine se crede Ella
Ford.
A durat o veșnicie până ce -a cumpărat
mama lână. Toate culorile trebuiau controlate,
iar apoi urma o discuție despre care din ele era

95 up to the organ loft. But before she could think
whether to go up there or not, the music started
to change; it began to be frightening, as if
something was creeping into the notes – like
giants shouting, 'Fee -fi-fo-fum', like evil
creatures in forests beckoning with long
crooked fingers. Ella thought it might be better
not to go up there after all. She was just
tiptoeing towards the door when the notes
stumbled and made a series of jarring sounds.
Mingling with the music came the sound of
dreadful hars h sobbing, as if the organist could
not bear to hear the music, or could not bear to
have played it so badly. It went on for quite a
long time, that sobbing, filled with pain and
anger, and it made Ella's entire skin prickle.
What would make someone cry li ke that? She
was afraid to move in case the organist heard
her and came down the stairs, so she stood
where she was, hardly daring to breathe.
But the music started again, slower and
somehow sadder now, and Ella managed to get
to the door, which had swung shut when she
came in. She reached for the handle, but it was
old and stiff, and when she tugged it, it
screeched loudly. The music stopped at once
and there was the sound of someone moving
across the upper floor.
Ella gave a sob and pulled to get
outside before the unseen musician found her,
but he was already coming down the narrow de calitate. Ella se plictisise. Se gândea să se
plimbe de -a lungul străzii și să arunce o privire
la biserică . Clem spunea că este foarte veche și
că în interiorul ei se aflau foarte multe lucruri
interesante: tatăl său îi spusese totul despre
asta.
-Ei bine, să te întorci imediat, zise
mama ei, când Ella întrebă dacă este în regulă
să meargă spre biserica Sfântu l Anselm. Nu
vorbi cu nimeni pe care nu -l cunoști.
Ella nu vorbi cu nimeni pe drumul său,
căci nu era nimeni cu care să poată vorbi.
Mergea încet, admirând amestecul de
magazine mici din Priors Bramley și ferestrele
ieșite în relief. Soarele apunea, astfel încât pe
cer se vedea o strălucire roșie, care făcea satul
să se simtă ca un loc desprins dintr -un basm.
Iată și biserica. Iată și apusul roșu de
soare, luminând cu culoarea sa stacojie
frunzele și pietrele vechi, cenușii ale pereților.
Ella intră pe poa rtă, gândindu -se că, dacă ușa
clădirii era deschisă, doar va arunca un ochi pe
furiș în interiorul bisericii. Nu făcea nimic rău;
bisericile erau locuri în care oamenii erau
întotdeauna bineveniți, chiar și bisericile vechi
și dărăpănate ca aceasta.
Era la jumătatea drumului când își
dădu seama că cineva cânta înăuntrul bisericii.
Era muzică de orgă, bineînțeles, precum cea de
la Sfântul Michael. Ellei îi plăcea muzica de la
Sfântul Michael; se bucura de cântecele

96 stair. He moved slowly and he sounded as if he
was fumbling his way out, like someone
creeping out of a very dark place, dazzled by
the sudden light outside. As he reached the foot
of the stair, the crimson -tinged shadows fell
across his face, and Ella felt as if a fist had
thumped into her throat. There was something
dreadfully wrong about the face, only she
could not make out what it was because the
shadows were slithering al l around him and it
was difficult to see properly. She gasped, and
this time managed to drag the door open and
tumble outside. She ran down the path to the
lich-gate, but as she reached it a compulsion to
see if he was still there gripped her, and she
turned back.
He was there. He was coming after her.
He moved slowly and it was as if the shadows
clung to him and moved along with him. Ella
sobbed, and ran out through the lich -gate and
back to the wool shop. She paused before
going inside, because she could not let Mum
see her like this, all teary and out of breath. If
she told Mum what had happened, Mum might
say Ella should not have gone into the church,
specially not when someone was already in
there. But it was all right now. The street was
empty and whoe ver he had been, that man, he
had not followed her. So Ella took several deep
breaths, tidied her hair with her hands,
smoothed down the skirt of her frock, and went religioase. Nu fusese niciodată acolo, în l ocul
unde se afla orga, deoarece preotul nu le
permitea copiilor să intre, așadar ar fi foarte
bine dacă ar putea arunca o privire în acea
zonă a bisericii; ar putea fi în avantaj față de
Clem și de ceilalți.
Biserica era destul de mică, mult mai
mică decât Sfântul Michael, însă Ella văzu
imediat că nu era în niciun caz deteriorată, era
chiar frumoasă. Privi în jur, încercând să
observe totul, ca să le poată povesti lui Clem și
Veronicăi. Erau arcade de piatră și panouri
sculptate cu povești din biblie. Erau ferestre
înguste pe părțile laterale și în spatele
altarului, cu imagini frumoase în albastru viu,
stacojiu și verde. Umbrele apusului se
întindeau peste tot, creând modele difuze de
arlechin pe podea, culorile vitraliilor strălucind
prin ele ca nișt e bijuterii.
Muzica continua, încă. Muzica veselă
o făcu pe Ella să se gândească la lucruri
precum festivaluri de strâns recolta și
narcisele. Răsuna și vibra în toată biserica, în
interiorul și în afara arcadelor și sculpturilor de
piatră, iar Ella se u ită în jurul ei să vadă dacă
se poate apropia.
În stânga ei era o arcadă joasă, prin
care se ajungea la o scară îngustă. Aceea
trebuie să fi fost scara care ducea la locul unde
se află orga. Dar înainte să se poată hotărî dacă
să urce acolo sau nu, muzic a începu să se

97 inside the shop.
She and her mother walked home, her
mother talking about the wool she had bought.
It was all ordinary and safe, and Ella felt better.
But she was glad when they reached Upper
Bramley and the lane where they lived. Their
cottage was not very big but Ella's mother
always said they were lucky to have it, what
with property still s o difficult to find. There
were four cottages all huddled together and
theirs was the end one, looking out over
Bramley Fields.
I'm safe now, thought Ella, as they went inside.
He won't know where I live. As long as I don't
go inside St Anselm's church I' ll never see him
again. I haven't got anything to worry about.

Chapter 4

The Present
'You do understand what I'm worrying
about,' said Ella, refilling the glasses of her two
guests.
'The opening of the village,' said Clem,
holding out his glass for the top -up. 'Yes,' said
Ella, and for a moment, the shared memory of
that fear -filled morning shivered between
them.
Then Veronica said dismissively, 'But that was
years ago. It can't possibly matter now.' She schimbe; începea să fie înfricoșătoare, ca și
cum ceva se strecura printre note – ca niște
uriași care strigau „bau -bau”, ca niște creaturi
malefice din păduri, care încercau să te
ademenească cu degetele lor lungi și strâmbe.
Ella se gândi că poate ar fi mai bine să nu urce
acolo, până la urmă. Tocmai se îndrepta spre
ușă, tiptil, atunci când notele se poticniră și se
transformară într -o serie de sunete stridente.
Împreună cu muzica veni sunetul unui plânset
cu suspine, crud și înspăimântăto r, de parcă
cântărețul de orgă nu putea suporta să asculte
muzica sau nu putea suporta să o fi cântat atât
de prost. Continuase destul de mult timp acel
suspin, plin de durere și mânie, care îi dădea
Ellei fiori. Ce ar putea face pe cineva să
plângă în ace st fel? Acesteia îi era teamă să se
miște, să nu cumva să o audă organistul și să
coboare pe scări, așa că rămase unde era, abia
îndrăznind să respire.
Însă muzica începu din nou, mai lent și
cumva mai tristă acum, iar Ella reuși să ajungă
la ușa, care se închisese atunci când intrase ea.
Atinse mânerul, însă era vechi și rigid, iar
atunci când îl apucă, scârtâi tare. Muzica se
opri deodată și se auzi zgomotul cuiva care se
mișca la etajul superior.
Ella suspină și trase de mâner pentru a
ieși înainte ca mu zicianul nevăzut să o
găsească, însă acesta cobora deja pe scara
îngustă. Se mișca încet și suna de parcă își

98 thought Ella always had to make a fuss about
things.
'But surely you realize that when they
go in they'll find the body?' said Ella.
'People have been in since then, though,
haven't they? Wasn't that the point? They
drenched the village with that stuff – Geranos –
and then government scientists were going in
after a few months to check the results.'
'They did go in,' said Clem. 'I think it
was about six months later – don’t you
remember? That was when they realized the
Geranos was far more harmful than they had
thought, so they closed the village and shelved
the motorway scheme until everything had
dispersed or dried out. If they’d found a body
we’d have heared about it.’
'It won't matter if they do find it,' said
Veronica. 'They won't connect it to us.
‘She's right' said Clem, looking back at
Ella. ‘No one even knew we were there that
day. It really was empty – everyone had been
moved out weeks earlier. People who owned
property were given compulsory purchase
orders. Most of them went out to the new
town.’
'Of course no one knew we wer e there,'
said Veronica. She drank her wine and wished
Ella would not buy cheap supermarket plonk,
because it was not as if she couldn't afford
better. 'He was just some nasty old tramp and croia drumul cu stângăcie, ca cineva care iese
pe furiș dintr -un loc foarte întunecat, amețit de
lumina tumultoasă de afară. Când acesta
ajunse la poalele scării, umbrele înfricoșătoare
îi cădeau pe față, iar Ella se simți ca și cum ar
fi primit un pumn în gât. Era ceva
înspăimântător de greșit cu fața lui, doar că nu
putea să -și dea seama ce era, deoarece umbrele
șerpuiau în jurul lui și nu se ved ea nimic cum
trebuie. Ea tresări, iar de această dată reuși să
tragă de ușă și să facă un salt în afară. Alergă
pe calea către poarta bisericii, însă odată ce
ajunsese, o cuprinse o dorință nestăpânită de a
se uita dacă bărbatul încă se afla acolo, așa că
s-a întors.
Era acolo. Venea după ea. Se mișca
încet și parcă umbrele se agățau de el și se
mișcau odată cu acesta. Plângând în hohote,
Ella alergă pe poarta bisericii înapoi la
magazinul de lână. Se opri înainte de a intra,
căci nu o putea lăsa pe mama ei să o vadă așa,
cu ochii înlăcrimați și abia suflând. Dacă i -ar fi
spus mamei ce s -a întâmplat, aceasta poate că
i-ar fi zis că nu ar fi trebuit să intre în biserică,
mai ales când cineva era deja acolo. Dar era
totul în ordine acum. Strada era goal ă, iar
oricine era acel bărbat, nu o urmărise. Așa că
Ella respiră adânc, își aranjă părul, își netezi
partea de jos a rochiei și intră în magazin.
O luară înapoi spre casă, iar mama ei
vorbi tot drumul despre lâna cumpărată. Totul

99 he liked the idea of two little girls. He wanted
to – well, do wha t my mother used to call
"interfere" with us. Don't snigger, Clem, it is
what it was called then.’
'Ah, the euphemistic days of our youth’
said Clem.
‘I wish you'd take this seriously,' said
Ella.
'There's nothing to worry about,' said
Veronica. 'We pushed him away and he fell
down the chimney. I don't see why you need
laugh about that, Clem. It's what happened.
'It's the falling down the chimney part,' said
Clem apologetically. 'Like a nursery rhyme or
Father Christmas being sozzled.
'It was an acc ident,' said Veronica. 'It
wasn't anybody's fault.' She sneaked a
surreptitious glance at her watch because all
this was getting in the way of the rather
exciting date she had later tonight; a new man,
about whom she was not yet telling anyone.
She wanted to get home and set the scene for
his arrival – scented candles and mood music,
and wine chilling in the ice bucket. Some
people would say that was a bit cheesy, but
Veronica did not think it cheesy in the least.
What she did think was that it was annoying to
put up with this stupid boring meeting.
Clem said slowly, 'Do you know what
I've sometimes thought, since that day?"
'What?' Ella was handing round the era obișnuit și sigur, i ar Ella se simțea mai
bine. Se bucură, însă, când ajunseră la Upper
Bramley și pe strada pe care locuiau. Căsuța
lor nu era foarte mare, însă mama Ellei spunea
întotdeauna că erau norocoase s -o aibă, mai
ales că se găseau greu casele de cumpărat.
Erau patr u căsuțe îngrămădite laolaltă, iar a lor
era ultima, cu vedere spre terenurile din
Bramley.
Sunt în siguranță acum, se gândi, Ella,
în timp ce intrau în casă. Nu va ști unde
locuiesc. Atâta timp cât nu intru în biserica
Sfântul Anselm, nu îl voi mai vedea niciodată.
Nu am de ce să îmi fac griji.

Capitolul 4

Prezentul
-Înțelegi ce mă îngrijorează, spuse Ella,
umplând paharele celor doi invitați.
-Redeschiderea satului, zise Clem,
întinzându -și paharul să -i fie umplut.
-Da, afirmă Ella, iar pentru o clip ă,
amintirea împărtășită a acelei dimineți pline de
teamă îi cutremură pe amândoi.
Apoi Veronica spuse disprețuitor:
-Dar asta a fost cu ani în urmă. Nu
poate conta acum. Întotdeauna crezuse că Ella
e genul care face nazuri la orice.
-Dar îți dai seama că vor găsi trupul, cu
siguranță, atunci când vor intra? zise Ella.

100 defrosted canapés again.
‘Supposing the man wasn't dead when
we left him? And don't say you never thought
about that,’ said Clem, 'because I bet we all
did.
'I didn't,' said Veronica at once.
'Of course he was dead,' said Ella. 'We
knew he was.
'Did we? You were ten – Vron and I
were nine.
'Excuse me, I was only eight,' said
Veronica, who was not having anybody add
even one year to her age.
'Well, none of us was old enough to tell
if somebody was dead,' said Clem, ignoring the
interruption. ‘We didn't even go up to him to
check his heart or anything.’
'We didn't have time! The church clock was
chiming twelve and the plane was coming!'
said Ella.
'You don't really think he was alive, do
you?' said Veronica nervously, because this
really was the grisliest idea to put in a person's
mind. It was to be hoped it was not going to
spoil her anticipation of the evening planned
for later. She had bought new silk underwear
and everything.
'But what if he was alive?' said Clem. 'I
used to have nightmares about that, you know.
About how he might have come round just as
the bomb went off. How he m ight have lain -Oamenii au intrat încă de atunci,
totuși, nu -i așa? Nu asta era ideea? Au umplut
satul cu acele substanțe – Geranos – iar apoi
oamenii de știință ai guvernului intrau după
câteva luni pentru a verifica rezultatele.
-Au intrat deja, zise Clem. Cred că a
fost cam șase luni mai târziu – nu-ți amintești?
Atunci au realizat că Geranos este mult mai
dăunător decât au crezut, așa că au închis satul
și au suspendat proiectul autostrăzii până când
totul s -a dispersat sau s -a uscat. Dacă ar fi
găsit vreun cadavru, am fi auzit asta.
-Nu va conta dacă, într -adevăr, îl vor
găsi, spuse Veronica. Nu vor face legătura cu
noi.
-Are dreptate, spuse Clem, privind
înapoi spre Ella. N -a știut nimeni că am fost
acolo în acea zi. Era pustiu – toată lumea se
mutase cu săptămâni înainte. Oamenilor care
dețineau proprietăți li s -au dat ordine de
achiziție obligatorie. Cei mai mulți dintre ei s –
au dus în orașul nou.
-Bineînțeles că nimeni nu știa că eram
acolo, zise Veronica.
Își băuse vinul și iși dorea ca Ella să nu
mai cumpere vin prost și ieftin din
supermarket, căci nu era ca și când nu și -ar
putea permite ceva mai bun.
-Era doar un vagabond bătrân și
dezgustător , căruia îi plăcea ideea că poate
pune mâna pe două fetițe. Voia – ei bine, ceea

101 there, with all that poisonous stuff choking
him.'
They looked at each other, then Ella
said very firmly, ‘That's nonsense. His neck
was broken.’
There was a rather awkward silence,
then Clem gave another of the nervous giggles.
'This is s tarting to be like a film about three
middle -aged people meeting in a teashop to
discuss covering up a murder they committed.'
‘It's not a matter for silly jokes,' said
Ella sharply.
‘I know, but on the other hand there’s
no need to get it out of proport ion,' said Clem.
'Or to lose our sense of humour. Or have you
mislaid yours?’
‘I think that's very unkind of you, Clem.
I have a very good sense of humour,' said Ella.
'Derek and I often have a good laugh over all
kinds of things.’
‘Im sorry. I was only thinking if anyone
filmed this, my part could be played by
Anthony Hopkins,' said Clem.
'And I'll be Meryl Streep or Helen
Mirren,' put in Veronica eagerly, because this
was a much more interesting turn of the
conversation, and anything that would push
away the really horrid memories was welcome.
'Somebody with cheekbones.' In case anyone
was still adding anything to her age, she
finished by saying that, of course, she was a ce mama mea numea, „să facă ceva” cu noi.
Nu râde, Clem, este chiar cum se spunea pe
atunci.
-Ah, zilele eufemistice ale tinereții
noastre, spuse Clem.
-Mi-aș do ri să iei situația mai în serios,
zise Ella.
-Nu avem de ce să ne facem griji, zise
Veronica. L -am împins și a căzut pe coșul de
fum. Nu văd de ce simți nevoia să râzi de asta,
Clem. Asta s -a întâmplat.
-Scuze, m -a amuzat asta cu căzutul pe
coș, spuse Cl em. Ca în poeziile din copilărie
sau ca un Moș Crăciun turmentat.
-A fost un accident, spuse Veronica.
Nu a fost vina nimănui.
Ea aruncă o privire pe furiș la ceasul
ei, pentru că toată vorbăraia asta o întârzia de
la o întâlnire mai interesantă, pe care o avea
mai târziu, în acea seară; un bărbat nou, despre
care încă nu voia să spună nimănui. Aceasta
voia să ajungă acasă și să pregătească atent
detaliile pentru sosirea lui – lumânări
parfumate și muzică languroasă, și vin pus în
găleata cu gheață. Unii oameni ar spune că era
cam de prost gust, însă Veronica nu era deloc
de această părere. Credea în schimb că această
întrunire începuse s -o calce pe nervi.
Clem spuse încet:
-Știți la ce m -am gândit uneori, din
ziua aceea?

102 good deal younger than Helen Mirren.
Ella banged down the canapé plate with
irrita ble vigour and said, ‘I wish you'd take this
seriously. They'll find the body – because of
course he was dead – and when they do they
might find something to link it to us.’
'Like what? Ella, it's over fifty years!’
'You're just being silly,' said Veronica .
Ella said, 'But there is something that
might link us.
‘Oh God, what?'
Veronica saw that Ella was looking
really ill, almost as if the flesh of her face had
fallen away from the bones. This was so
dreadful she drank some more wine while she
tried to t hink what to say. Perhaps Clem would
think of something. Veronica looked at him
hopefully, but Clem was simply staring at Ella
in goggle -eyed silence.
In a tight, dry little voice Ella said, ‘My
wristwatch. I’d been given it the day before for
a birthday present. Don't you remember – we
checked the time on it?'
'Vaguely. What about it?’
‘When we got back to Mordwich Bank,'
said Ella, ‘I hadn't got it on.'
This time the silence lasted much longer, but in
the end Clem said, 'You mean you lost it w hile
we were in Cadence Manor?'
‘I must have done.'
‘You never said.' -La ce? întrebă Ella, care le întindea
din nou farfuria cu antreuri congelate.
-Să presupunem că omul nu era mort
atunci când l -am părăsit? Și nu spuneți că nu
v-ați gândit niciodată la asta, zise Clem,
Pentru că sunt sigur că toți am făcut -o.
-Eu nu, zise Veronica deodată.
-Bineînțeles că era mort, zise Ella.
Știam că este.
-Chiar știam? Aveai zece ani – eu și
Vron aveam nouă ani.
-Scuză -mă, aveam doar opt ani, spuse
Veronica, care nu lăsa pe nimeni să adauge
nici măcar un an la vârsta ei.
-Ei bine, niciunul dintre noi nu era
suficient de mare să -și dea seama dacă cineva
murise! spuse Clem, ignorând întreruperea.
Nici măcar nu ne -am dus la el să -i verificăm
pulsul sau mai știu eu ce.
-Nu aveam timp! Ceasul bisericii suna
de douăsprezece, și venea avionul, zise Ella.
-Doar nu crezi că era viu! spuse
Veronica agitată, pentru că aceasta era într –
adevăr cea mai cruntă idee pe care poți să i -o
bagi cuiva în cap. Spera că nu îi va strica
anticiparea serii planificate mai târziu. Își
cumpărase lenjerie nouă de mătase și multe
altele.
-Dar dacă era în viață? spuse Clem.
Obișnuiam să am coșmaruri despre asta, știi.
Despre cum s -ar fi putut trezi exact când

103 ‘There was no need to worry about it
while Priors Bramley was sealed off.'
'But…it's only a watch,' said Veronica.
'It won't have survived all those years, and
even if it did, nobod y will know it was yours.’
‘It had my initials engraved on it, and
the date,' said Ella.
‘Well, I suppose a date might be traced
back, but initials aren't very recognizable.'
'Mine were,' said Ella. 'E.L.F. – don't
you remember? I was Ella Lilian Ford in those
days. Have you forgotten how I used to be
teased at school about an elf? And as for the
watch not surviving – it was gold. Gold
survives everything.'
‘Yes, but are you sure it was gold? I
don't mean to be rude or anything, but gold's
frightf ully expensive.' Veronica did not want to
say it was unlikely that Ella's mother could
have afforded gold, but everybody knew the
family had been really hard up.
'Yes, I am sure,' said Ella, her mouth set
in the stubborn line Veronica recognized only
too w ell. 'My mother saved up for it for ages
because it was a special birthday – double
figures – and she wanted to mark it. She did
double shifts in the Railwayman's Arms for
months beforehand.' She broke off,
compressing her lips, and Veronica knew Ella
must be very upset indeed, because she hardly
mother had worked as a barmaid in an bomba era detonată. Cum ar fi putut să stea
întins acolo cu toate acele substanțe
otrăvitoare, care îl sufocau.
Se uitară unul la celălalt, apoi Ella
spuse foarte ferm:
-E o prostie. Avea gâtul rupt.
Se lăsă o liniște destul de
stingheritoare, apoi Clem începu iar să
chicotească agitat.
-Începe să fie ca un film despre trei
oameni de vârstă mijlocie, care se întâlne sc
într-o ceainărie, pentru a discuta despre cum ar
putea ascunde o crimă pe care au comis -o.
Nu este ceva despre care să faci glume
prostești, zise Ella tăios.
-Știu, dar pe de altă parte nu trebuie să
exagerați atât, spuse Clem. Sau să ne pierdem
simțul umorului. Sau poate voi vi l -ați pierdut
pe al vostru?
-Cred că este foarte răutăcios din
partea ta, Clem. Am un simț al umorului foarte
dezvoltat, zise Ella. Eu și Derek râdem adesea
de tot felul de lucruri.
-Îmi pare rău. Mă gândeam doar dacă
cineva ar fi filmat asta, rolul meu ar fi putut să
fie jucat de Anthony Hopkins, spuse Clem.
-Iar eu voi fi Meryl Streep sau Helen
Mirren, spuse Veronica cu nerăbdare, deoarece
conversația luase o întorsătură mult mai
interesantă și orice ar fi îndepărtat amin tirile
cu adevărat înfiorătoare era binevenit.

104 adjoining village. Genteel poverty was the
usual pitch, generally on the lines of, ‘My
family lost their money in the First World
War'. Clem's father had once said that far from
losing their money in any war, the Fords had
never had any money at all, and had been
reduced to all kinds of straits to make ends
meet. In fact, in certain quarters Ella's mother
had been known as Barrack Room Brenda.
Veronica had never given any of this much
credence, because Clem's father liked to make
up dramatic stories.
My mother wanted me to have
something I'd keep for years and years,' said
Ella, and added rather waspishly that this being
so, it was a pity she had to lose the watch the
day after be ing given it. ‘Gold's indestructible,'
she said. 'So if they find the watch near the
man's body, they'll trace it back to me.’ She
looked at the other two. 'And that means to the
two of you, as well,’ she said. ‘So you’ve both
got to promise me that you'll keep to the vow
we made all those years ago.
‘I promise,' said Clem after a moment,
and Veronica, who wished Ella would not be
so intense, because, for goodness' sake, nothing
was very likely to happen to any of them,
shrugged and said, 'I promise as well.' Then she
finished her wine and hoped that her exciting
evening could now proceed without any more
interruptions. -Cineva cu pomeți proeminenți.
Și, de teamă să nu o creadă cineva mai
bătrână decât era,, termină prin a spune,
bineînțeles, că era mult mai tânără decât Helen
Mirren.
Ella trânti platoul cu antreuri, cu o
vigoare irascibilă și zise:
-Mi-aș dori să iei asta mai în serios.
Vor găsi cadavrul – căci, desigur, era mort – și
când o vor face, vor putea găsi ceva care să -l
lege de noi.
-Ce anume? Ella, au trecut peste
cincizeci de ani!
-Îți faci griji complet degeab a! zise
Veronica.
-Dar există ceva care ne poate lega de
asta, spuse Ella.
-Dumnezeule, ce anume?
Veronica văzu că Ella se albise la față,
aproape ca și cum carnea îi căzuse de pe oase.
Era atât de cumplit, încât mai bău o înghițitură
de vin, gândindu -se ce să-i spună. Poate o găsi
Clem ceva. Veronica îl privi cu speranță, însă
Clem se holbă la Ella, într -o liniște plină de
surpriză.
-Ceasul meu de mână. Mi -a fost oferit
drept cadou de zi de naștere, cu o zi înainte.
Nu țineți minte – cum am verificat ora cu el?
zise Ella cu o voce subțire, fermă și seacă.
-Vag. Ce -i cu el?
-Când ne -am întors la Mordwich Bank,

105 In the event, Veronica's evening was
very good indeed. The scented candles burned
alluringly and the chilled wine and neat little
snacks went down well. Veronica smiled to
herself, remembering Ella's pretentious frozen
canapés. She thought she was so great, that
Ella. It was a pity she could not see Veronica
now serving this elegant little supper,
embarking on the first exciting steps in a new
love affair.
There was nothing quite like the start of
a romance — Veronica liked the word
'romance'; she always used it in preference to
anything earthier – when you were both finding
out about one another. You planned what you
would wear for each m eeting, and you devised
sexy romantic games to play. It was an
adventure, and if Ella wanted to look down her
nose and consider Veronica a slut, Veronica
did not care.
When the food had been removed and
the glasses topped up, there was nothing slutty
about permitting a civilized embrace. It was a
testing of the water, as it were, the first steps in
establishing how far things could go.
After a while, the embrace became
fevered, and after a longer while it became
insistent. Veronica giggled suddenly, and he
drew back at once. spuse Ella, Nu îl mai aveam.
De data aceasta, tăcerea dură mult mai
mult, dar în final Clem întrebă:
-Vrei să spui că l -ai pierdut când eram
la conacul Cadence?
-Probabil!
-Nu ai menționat asta niciodată.
-Nu aveam de ce să ne îngrijorăm atâta
timp cât Priors Bramley era închis.
-Dar…e doar un ceas, spuse Veronica.
Nu avea cum să reziste toți acești ani, și chiar
dacă a făcut -o, nimeni nu va ști că era al tău.
-Avea inițialele mele gravate pe el și
data, zise Ella.
Ei bine, bănuiesc că data ar putea fi
identificată, însă inițialele nu pot fi ușor de
recunoscut.
-Ale mele erau, spuse Ella. E.L.F.5 – nu
țineți minte? Eram Ella Lilian Ford pe vremea
aceea. Ai uitat cum obișnuiau să mă tachineze
la școală că sunt un spiriduș? Iar în ceea ce
privește ceasul care nu rezistă – era din aur.
Aurul rezistă la orice.
-Da, dar ești sigură că era din aur? Nu
intenționez să fiu nepoliticoasă, dar aurul este
teribil de scump.
Veronica nu voia să spună că este puțin
probabil ca mama Ellei să -și fi putut permite
aurul, însă toată lumea știa că familia ei nu

5 ELF – ființă supranaturală aflată în slujba vrăjitoarelor sau a diavolului (spiriduș); în acest
context inițialele personajului fac referire la caracter ul său neastâmpărat și vioi.

106 'Is something wrong?' Giggling at such
a moment had been a very bad move. It was
partly nerves, of course, but men not like being
laughed at, especially when they were revving
up to be amorous. He looked angry, and
Veronica sought frant ically for a way to
retrieve the situation and his dignity, and found
it.
‘Nothing's wrong at all. I was just
thinking you have unsuspected depths.’
'Oh, you'd be surprised,' he said.
It was all right; he sounded mollified.
She said, 'No, but really. You almost seem like
a different person.'
Well, let's explore those depths and that
different person, shall we? Do you want to do
that?'
‘Now? Tonight?'
‘Isn't that what this is about?'
And even though one was still not a
slut, this was the twenty -first c entury and
Veronica was a modern woman, quite capable
of giving those pert twenty – and thirty -year-
olds a run for their money. She had kept her
figure and looked after her skin, and in a dim
light she could pass for a lot younger than she
actually was.
In any case, she had spring -cleaned the
bedroom that morning and put lavender -ducea un trai prea bun.
-Da, sunt sigură, zise Ella, strâ ngându –
și buzele cu încăpățânare, gest pe care
Veronica îl știa prea bine. Mama mea a
economisit pentru el foarte mult timp, căci era
o zi de naștere specială – două cifre – și voia să
fie memorabilă. Cu câteva luni înainte, lucrase
în două schimburi la Ra ilwayman's Arms.
Se opri din vorbit, strângându -și buzele
din nou, iar Veronica știa că Ella trebuie să fie
într-adevăr supărată, deoarece cu greu a
recunoscut vreodată că mama ei a lucrat drept
chelneriță la bar, într -un sat învecinat. „Sărăcie
cu dichis ” era ce spunea ea de obicei, în
general pe aceeași lungime de undă cu
„Familia mea și -a pierdut banii în Primul
Război Mondial”. Tatăl lui Clem spusese
cândva că, departe de a -și pierde banii în orice
război, familia Ford nu avusese niciodată bani
și că t răise de azi pe mâine. De fapt, în unele
părți ale orașului, mama Ellei era cunoscută
drept Brenda de la Baracă6. Veronica nu
dăduse niciodată crezare acestui fapt, căci tatăl
lui Clem avea o plăcere de a inventa povești
dramatice.
-Mama își dorea să am ș i eu ceva pe
care l -aș păstra ani de zile, zise Ella și adăugă,
mai degrabă furioasă, că a fost un păcat să
piardă ceasul la o zi după ce l -a primit. Aurul

6 Barrack Room – clădire destinată locuinței și instruirii militarilor (cazarmă).

107 scented sheets on the bed, and it would be a
pity to waste all that effort.

Entries From an Undated Journal
I had to expend a good deal of effort
hiding what I came to call 'the darknesses'. I
think I managed it very well, though. I don't
think even Crispian, with his perceptive mind,
knew about that side of my nature. I often
thought Serena knew, but she never referred to
it. She was a cold -hearted bitch, Serena
Cadence. I d idn't hate her, but I didn't much
care for her.
I hated Crispian, though. It was partly
because he stood in the way of things I wanted,
but also because he had all the attributes I
longed to possess. I used to look at him, and
think: how does he exert that charm over
everyone he meets? He was not especially
good -looking, you understand, in fact you'd
have said no one would afford him a second
glance. Brown hair, the colour of clear honey,
and eyes to match, and the characteristic
slanting cheekbones of so m any of the Cadence
men. But people did give him that second
glance and they usually gave him a third, as
well.
The curious thing was that my decision
to murder him never shocked me. It didn't even
frighten me, and it certainly never worried me
in… in any m oral sense, I mean. I believed este indestructibil, spuse ea. Așadar, dacă
găsesc ceasul în apropierea cadavrului, îmi vor
lua mie urma, zise privindu -i pe ceilalți doi. Și
asta înseamnă că și vouă. De aceea trebuie să –
mi promiteți amândoi că veți păstra jurământul
pe care l -am făcut, cu toți acești ani în urmă.
-Promit, spuse Clem după o clipă, iar
Veronica, care își dorea ca Ella să nu mai fie
atât de sensibilă, deoarece, pentru numele lui
Dumnezeu, nimic nu avea să i se întâmple
niciunuia dintre ei.
-Promit și eu, zise ridicând din umeri.
Apoi își termină vinul și spera că seara ei
palpitantă putea continua acum fără alte
întrerupe ri.
Seara Veronicăi se dovedi excelentă.
Lumânările parfumate arseră în mod îmbietor,
iar vinul rece și gustările făcute cu bun gust
căzură bine. Veronica zâmbi de una singură,
amintindu -și de antreuri congelate și
pretențioase ale Ellei. Ella se vedea așa de
elegantă! Era păcat că nu o putea vedea pe
Veronica servind acum această mică cină
elegantă, începând cu primii pași plini de
emoție într -o nouă aventură sentimentală.
Nu exista nimic similar cu începutul
unei povești de dragoste – Veronicăi î i plăcea
cuvântul „romantism”; îl folosise pe acesta în
loc de un cuvânt mai pământean – când
amândoi află lucruri unul despre celălalt.
Planifici ce ai purta la fiecare întâlnire și

108 then and I believe now that I had logical and
sane reasons for it. I really was, and still am,
entirely sane. Although as the hours tick away
in here, I'm not sure if I'll remain sane.
Sane…
I wonder if anyone who reads this will
be familiar with the novel by Robert Louis
Stevenson – The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde ? It was fashionable in the closing
years of the nineteenth century and it's a
chilling tale. I’ve sometimes had the eerie
feeling that Stevenson was able to look ahead
over the years and see straight into my own
mind. His tortured misguided Henry Jekyll
went through the agonies I go through, and as
for the evil -intentioned Hyde…
To those who encounter him, Edward
Hyde gives the impression of repulsive
deformity, but without having any actual
malformation. He speaks in a husky whisper,
but with a murderous tone of timidity and
boldness (Stevenson certainly knew how to put
opposites together to good purpose!), and lives
a callous and cruel life, but does so in the
shadows.
The ill -starred Dr Jekyll unleashed his
dark alter ego by means of a powerful drug,
which he compounded in his own workshop – a
drug intended to separate good from evil in a
personality. But, drinking its smoky potency,
he caused his dreadf ul inner self to come alive. concepi jocuri romantice și sexy. Era o
aventură, iar dacă Ella voia să o privească de
sus pe Veronica și să o considere o femeie
ușoară, acesteia nu îi păsa.
După ce luase de pe masă mâncarea și
umpluse paharele, nu i se păru nimic nelalocul
lui în a permite o îmbrățișare amoroasă,
civilizată. Era o testare de teren, ca să -i
spunem așa, primii pași pentru a stabili cât de
departe ar putea ajunge lucrurile.
După un timp, îmbrățișarea devenise
febrilă și după mai mult timp, devenise
insistentă. Veronica chicotise brusc, iar el se
retrăsese imediat.
-Este ceva în neregulă?
Chicoti tul într -un astfel de moment
fusese o mișcare foarte proastă.Din cauză că
era prea emoționată, bineînțeles, însă
bărbaților nu le plăcea să se râdă de ei, mai
ales atunci când se pregătesc de amor. El
păruse furios, iar Veronica căutase frenetic o
modalita te de a remedia situația și demnitatea
lui, și o găsise.
-Dimpotrivă, nu este nimic în neregulă.
Mă gândeam că ești un om cu multe fațete și
talente!
-O, ai fi surprinsă, zise el.
Era totul în ordine; el suna îmbunat.
-Nu, serios. Pare că ești aproape o
persoană diferită, zise ea.
-Ei bine, haide să explorăm acele

109 The change happened in me in much the same
way, although of its own accord. A deep
apprehension would stir in the dimmest
recesses of my mind, and moments later it was
as if greedy ogre -hands reached down and took
hold of my mi nd, wrenching it mercilessly,
deforming it, until it lay bleeding and panting
in a wholly different shape; altering the essence
of what I really was. And if I looked in the
mirror —
I can't bring myself to write a
description of what during those darknesses
and, after the first time, I never looked
voluntarily in the glass. It was not me who
looked back out of the silvered depths. And
while the darkness was on me, my mirror
showed me I was not safe and no one was safe
from me…
I make no apologies for the
melodramatic nature of those last two
paragraphs. A man facing death is allowed a
few extravagances in his journal.

talente și acea persoană diferită, nu? Ți -ai dori
asta?
-Acum? În seara aceasta?
-Nu despre asta este vorba?
Și cu toate că nu era o femeie ușoară,
acesta era secolul al XXI -lea, iar Veronica er a
o femeie modernă, destul de capabilă să le facă
unora mai tinere ca ea concurență. Își păstrase
silueta și își îngrijise pielea, iar într -o lumină
slabă, putea trece drept mult mai tânără decât
era cu adevărat.
În orice caz, în acea dimineață își
făcuse în dormitor curățenia de primăvară și își
pusese lenjerei de pat cu parfum de lavandă și
era păcat să irosească tot acest efort.

Consemnări dintr -un jurnal nedatat
Am fost nevoit să depun foarte mult
efort,să ascund ceea ce ajunsesem să numesc
„întunericul din mine”. Cred însă că am
gestionat acest lucru foarte bine. Cred că nici
măcar Crispian, cu spiritul lui de observație,
nu știa despre această latură a firii mele.
Deseori am crezut că Serena știa, însă
niciodată nu a dat semnale afirmative. Serena
era o nemernică fără suflet, Serena Cadence.
Nu o uram, dar nu -mi păsa prea mult de ea.
Cu toate acestea, îl uram pe Crispian.
Se datora, într -o oarecare măsură, faptului că
stătea în calea lucrurilor pe care mi le doream,
dar și faptului că avea toate calitățile după care

110 tânjeam. Obișnuiam să mă uit la el și să mă
gândesc: cum exercită acel farmec asupra
celor pe care îi întâlnește? Nu era deosebit de
chipeș, înțelegi, chiar ai fi spus că nimeni nu s –
ar uita de două ori la el. Păr castaniu, de
culoarea mierii limpezi, ochii se armonizau cu
acesta și pomeți înclinați, caracteristici atâtor
bărbați din familia Cadence. Totuși, oamenii îi
acordau a doua privire și, de obicei, chiar și pe
a treia.
Curios era faptul că decizia mea de a -l
omorî nu m -a șocat niciodată. Nici măcar nu
m-a speriat și, cu siguranță, nu m -a îngrijorat
niciodată… mă refer, în niciun sens moral.
Am crezut atunci și cred și acum că aveam
motive logice și raționale să o fac. Am fost și
încă sunt complet sănătos mintal. Cu toate c ă
orele se scurg aici, nu sunt sigur că voi rămâne
la fel de rațional.
Rațional…
Mă întreb, dacă cineva care citește asta
știe romanul lui Robert Louis Stevenson –
„Straniul caz al doctorului Jekyll și al
domnului Hyde”? Era la modă în ultimii ani ai
secolului al XIX -lea, fiind o poveste
înfiorătoare. Uneori am avut strania senzație
că Stevenson a putut să privească în viitor, de –
a lungul anilor, și să intre direct în propriile
mele gânduri. Personajul său, torturat și prost
îndrumat, trecea prin agoniile prin care trec eu,
iar în ceea ce -l privește pe Hyde, cel cu intenții

111 malefice…
Celor care îl întâlnesc pe Edward
Hyde, acesta le dă impresia că are o deformare
respingătoare, dar fără a suferi de vreo
malformație reală. Vorbește răgușit în șoaptă,
însă pe un ton ucigător de timiditate și
impertinență (Stevenson știa, cu siguranță, să –
și îmbine opozițiile pentru un scop bun!) și
trăiește o viață crudă și chinuitoare, dar face
asta în umbră.
Ghinionistul Doctor Jekyll și -a
dezlănțuit alter ego -ul întuneca t cu ajutorul
unui medicament puternic, pe care l -a compus
în propriul atelier – un medicament destinat să
separe binele de rău într -o personalitate. Dar
și-a stârnit sinele interior și terifiant să prindă
viață, pentru că a băut medicamentul acela
puterni c. Schimbarea a avut loc la mine în
același mod, însă de la sine. O teamă profundă
îmi tulbură cele mai întunecate gânduri,
ascunse, iar câteva clipe mai târziu, era ca și
cum mâinile hrăpărețe ale unui uriaș se
întinseră până la mine și îmi puseră stăpâni re
pe conștiință, smulgând -o fără milă,
deformând -o, până când sângera și se înălța cu
totul într -o altă formă; modificând esența a
ceea ce eram cu adevărat. Iar dacă mă uitam în
oglindă –
Nu mă pot convinge să descriu ceea ce
am văzut în oglindă, când se manifesta
„întunericul din mine”, iar după prima privire,

112 nu m -am mai uitat de bună voie în oglindă
niciodată. Nu eram eu cel care mă privea
înapoi din adâncurile argintate. Și în timp ce
forța aceea mă domina, nu eram în siguranță și
nimeni nu era în sigu ranță cu mine…
Nu îmi cer scuze pentru caracterul
melodramatic al ultimelor două paragrafe.
Unui om care se confruntă cu moartea i se
permit câteva extravaganțe în jurnalul său.

113 WORKS CITED

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Webography
1. http://www.sarahrayne.co.uk/project/what -lies-beneath
2. https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Literary+Translation
3. https://letrario.pt/etienne -dolets -five-essential -translation -principles/
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5. https ://marielebert.wordpress.com/2019/09/20/translation -timeline/
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsK22l6bTUQ