Ex. IX, p. 164

I

1. At noon, more dead than alive, David reached the outskirts of Dover. He felt faint (weak and faint) with hunger and fatigue. No wonder, he had been walking to Dover a whole week.

Before he started his search for his aunt (started looking for his aunt),, Miss Betsy Trotwood, David decided to have a rest (to rest a bit) and wait till it grew cooler. As he sat in the shade of a large tree he thought of his future. "And what (what shall 1 do) if my aunt does not allow me to stay (let me stay) with her? And what if she sends me back to Mr. Murdstone?" This thought drove him to despair.

2. When he came to the town he began to ask passers-by if they knew where Miss Betsy Trotwood lived, but everybody took him for a beggar and refused to talk to him. David had been wandering about the streets of the town for a long time when at last he came to a garden gate (he stopped before a garden gate). A woman was working in the garden. On seeing David she cried: "Go away, boy! I don't want any beggars here!"

David did not move. He had a feeling that he had found the right person (the very person) who would be able to help him. "I'm looking for Miss Betsy Trotwood, but nobody knows where she lives... I've lost all hope of ever seeing her..."

The woman stopped her work (working) and came up to David. "What do you want Miss Betsy for? She does not like boys," the woman said staring so hard at David that he felt ill at ease. "I'm David Copperfield, I have run away from home, they have treated me so badly there, I..." and David burst into tears.

What happened then surpassed all David's expectations. He had hardly uttered these words when Miss Betsy Trotwood, for it was none other than her, gripped David by the collar and David felt himself being dragged somewhere.

3. David must have fainted from nervous excitement for when he came to he found himself lying on a couch in a very light room.

The next morning when David woke up it took him a long time to understand where he was. He sat up in bed and looked around. "Where am I? Can I be imagining all this?" He got hurriedly up, went.over to the door and.listened. He heard the already familiar voice. Now he remembered what had happened to him. He had run away from the Murdstones and found his aunt.

II

1. I had been wandering about London for a few hours already, hungry and miserable, when my attention was attracted to a window of a restaurant. I could not help stopping in front of it. "I wish I could go in and have a good dinner," I.thought, looking, at the delicious things displayed in the window. But I could not afford even a cup of coffee!

2. Suddenly I felt I was being watched (somebody was watching me). I looked around and saw a tall, grey-haired man who looked like a manservant. He came over to me and. said, pointing to the house next to the restaurant. "Would you mind coming up to the second floor with me?"

3. As I walked up the stairs after him I could not help wondering what it was all about (what it all meant). I was shown into a richly-furnished dining-room where two gentlemen were having breakfast. I at once felt faint with hunger. I stared at the foodi hoping that they would give rne something to eat, but the gentlemen had no intention of sharing their breakfast with me!

However, they shook hands with me and asked my name and my occupation. They seemed to like my answers and one of them said: "We have-decided to offer

you a job. We won't go into details. "This letter explains everything. I can only say that if you don't live up to my hopes I'll lose my bet."

4. I was given a large envelope (a large envelope was handed over to me) and I had no time to recover from my amazement when the servant showed me to the front door, and I again found myself in the street. I was choking with indignation. "I won't have anybody treating me like this! What do they want from (of) me? I don't want to be mixed up in any affair! If I had known that it would end like that I would never have gone there... I shouldn't have taken the envelope either... 1 wonder what's there in it..."

III

1. By one o'clock Mrs. Hall's visitor had rung the bell several times demanding breakfast. But Mrs. Hall did not pay any attention to his calls. She had made up her mind not to give him anything to eat until he had paid his bill. He had fallen behind again.

2. "1 wish I could get rid of him," she said to her neighbour. His strange behaviour gets on my nerves. The other day I made inquiries about him, but nobody knows where he lived before he came to Iping."

3. At a quarter past one Mrs. Hall heard her new lodger's bell again. Taking his bill she said: "I'll go and speak to him (have the matter out), I must settle the question once and for all."

"Excuse me, sir. Did you ring?" - "Yes, I'm hungry (I'm starving). I've been waiting for breakfast all morning. You must have forgotten about me." - "Not at all, I think you have forgotten that bills should be paid in time. I'm very sorry that I gave you the best room in my inn..."

The stranger quickly came over to her. "I won't have you talking to me like.this. You don't know who I am... I... I'm a scientist..."

4. But Mrs. Hall was not frightened this time. She said: "I have no doubt that you're a brilliant scientist, but I need my money. I can't afford to keep you for nothing, I'll be ruined. I insist that you pay at once. Here is your bill," Mrs. Hall held it out to him without looking at him. - "And here's your money," said the stranger. Mrs. Hall looked up. The next moment she nearly fainted. There was a headless man standing in front of her!

5. "God!" screamed Mrs. Hall, trembling with fear., She wanted to call for help but she could not utter a word. She tried to pull herself together. She straightened up and took a deep breath, but it did not help. Then she felt herself being pushed (that she A'as being pushed) towards the door.

When she came to, she saw that she was again standing in the passage in front of the door of the stranger's room. "I can't have dreamt all that. Can the rumours about an Invisible Man really be true?" she whispered. It took her a long time to come to herself again.

IV

1. Crane was slowly riding through the forest with his head down. He was in low spirits. Katrina had again refused to talk to him. And he had gone to the party with the intention of proposing to her! "Can she be in love with Brom?" he thought. It took him a long time to calm down.

The night was dark. There was nobody to be seen around. The silence began to tell on Crane's nerves. Crane had never felt so lonely!

2. As he rode (was riding) through the dark forest, the legend of the headless horseman came back to him (he remembered the legend of the headless horseman). He had heard the legend at a party given by Katrina's father. It was none other than Brom who had told the story. "And what if it is (were) true?" He was panic-stricken.

3. Suddenly the silence of the night was broken by a strange noise. Crane looked up (raised his head) and saw a headless horseman facing him. Crane nearly fainted. "Who are you?" he asked in a trembling voice. - "The man who has long been waiting for a chance to take his revenge on you (looking forward to the day when he will be able to. take his revenge on you)..."

4. Brom burst into silent laughter when he saw Crane galloping away. "Bet he'll never return to ihe village," Brom said, very pleased with his joke.

5. Whenever Brom was asked whether he knew what had happened to the teacher he would stick (stuck) to his story which was that he had seen the headless horseman carrying the poor teacher away. Nobody doubted the truth of the story as Crane was never after seen in the village.

V

1. "I'll tell you how once we kidnapped Johnny, the son of a rich farmer in 'the hope of getting a big ransom for him. We had long been thinking of buying a small tavern, but we were short of money. We needed another thousand dollars. It was then that an idea of genius occurred to Bill. He suggested kidnapping a rich farmer's son and demanding a big ransom for him. At first I welcomed the idea, but then... Oh, well, let me tell you everything in detail (every little detail).

2. We took Johnny to a cave in the mountains where we had prepared to hide him. But after less than an hour we realized what a silly thing we had done (an hour had not passed before we realized...). Johnny was a regular devil. He scared us with terrible cries, played cruel jokes on us and did not give us a minute's peace.

The first night Johnny kept bothering us with silly questions. "How long have you lived in this cave? Why are you staring at me, Bill? What's the matter with your eye, Sam? Did you have an accident? How did it happen? Are there many snakes here? Your cave needs (wants) whitewashing! Are you taking treatment (under treatment) for some illness, Sam? Why is your nose red? Have you got a cold? Do you want me to cure you of your running nose, Sam?" And so on and so forth. Naturally neither Sam nor I slept a wink (had a wink of sleep) that night.

3. In the morning I went to the village to make inquiries about Mr. Dorset and find out what was happening. To my surprise everything was quiet. Nothing disturbed the silence of the summer morning. The village seemed to be dozing in the sun. I saw neither the policeman nor Johnny's parents running to and fro in search of their lost son. "They have not yet discovered that the boy has disappeared. I'd better write a letter to Mr. Dorset and state our terms at once."

4. I must tell you that when we received a message from Mr. Dorset we were panic-stricken. The message ran: "I'm very sorry, gentlemen, but I can't accept your terms (agree to your terms). However, I suggest doing as follows (the following): if you bring me two hundred and fifty dollars, I'll agree to take the boy back. It would be better if you brought the boy late at night when my neighbours are fast asleep... They may take it out on you if they see that you have brought the boy back..."

5. The letter had such an effect on us that for a while we sat silent. Then Bill who had been driven to despair during these three days, said: "I wish we had not kidnapped this little devil! I'm the one who is to blame. I shouldn't have given you that advice. What a pity we shall have to part with the money we have been saving a whole year!"

6. In the evening Bill came and told Johnny that his father had bought him a rifle to hunt bears and would be waiting for him at home that night. "And will you bring me back?" Johnny asked, looking us up and down with suspicion. - "Certainly, certainly," I answered, trying to keep my presence of mind. I saw Bill shudder at the word.

7. We took every precaution to prevent Johnny from learning what we were going to do. If he had found out the truth he would have run away from us. Late that night we were through with the job, and in spite of the fact that we had lost our money we felt the happiest men on earth.

PART II

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