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He took the money and gave it to another clerk.

He made me write the sum on a slip and sign my name in a book. I no longer knew what I was doing. The bank swam before my eyes.

"Is it deposited?" I asked in a hollow, vibrating voice. "It is," said the accountant.

"Then I want to draw a cheque."

My idea was to draw out six dollars of it for present use. Someone gave into a cheque-book through a wicket and someone else began telling me how to write it out. The people in the bank had the impression that I was invalid millionaire I wrote something on the cheque and thrust it in at the clerk. He looked at it.

"What! Are you drawing it all out again?" he asked in surprise. Then I realized that 1 had written fifty-six instead of six. I was too far gone to reason now. I had a feeling that it was impossible to explain the thing. All the clerks had stopped writing to look at me.

Reckless with misery, I made a plunge. "Yes, the whole thing."

"You withdraw your money from the bank?"

"Every cent of it."

"Are you not going to deposit any more?" said the clerk, astonished. "Never."

An idiot hope struck me that they might think something had insulted me while I was writing the cheque and that I had changed my mind. I made a wretched attempt to look like a man with a fearfully quick temper.

The clerk prepared to pay the money. "How will you have it?" he said. "What?"

"How will you have it?"

"Oh," I caught his meaning and answered without even trying to think: " – in fifties."

He gave me a fifty-dollar bill.

"And the six?" he asked dryly. "In sixes," I said.

He gave it to me and I rushed out.

As the big door swung behind me I caught the echo of a roar of laughter that went up to the ceiling of the bank. Since then I bank no more. I keep my money in cash in my trousers pocket and my savings in silver dollars in a sock [4].

3.7.1 Vocabulary notes

get rattled – терять спокойствие, нервничать

wicket – окошко (кассы)

to transact business – вести дела

to shamble – волочить ноги, тащиться

to open an account – открывать счет

accountant – бухгалтер

sepulchral voice – замогильный голос

to prompt – побуждать, толкать, подсказывать

to draw a cheque – выписывать чек

to withdraw money from а bank – изымать деньги из банка

cash – наличные деньги, наличность

savings – сбережения

4 Part three

4.1 Text 1

IF TOMORROW COMES After Sidney Sheldon

Tracy Whitney was young, beautiful, intelligent and about to marry into wealth and glamour. She was on top of the world. Until suddenly, betrayed by her own innocence, she was in prison, framed by a ruthless Mafia gang, abandoned by the man she loved.

Beaten and broken, but kept going by her dazzling ingenuity, Tracy emerged from her savage ordeal determined to revenge herself on those who had destroyed her life and to fight back against a society that denied her success and happiness. No one would ever cheat her again.

From New Orleans to London and on to Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam, with intelligence and beauty her only weapons, Tracy played for the highest stakes in a deadly game, matching her wits against the successful and the unscrupulous.

Only one man can challenge her. He’s handsome and persuasive and just as daring. And only one man can stop her. An evil genius who shadows her every move – a man whose only hope of salvation is Tracy’s destruction…

Tracy met Charles Stanhope at a financial symposium where Charles was the guest speaker. He ran the investment house founded by his great-grand-father, and his company did a good deal of business with the bank Tracy worked for. After his lecture, Tracy went up to disagree with his analysis of the ability of third-world nations to repay the staggering sums of money they borrowed from commercial banks worldwide and western governments. Charles at first was amused then intrigued by the impassioned arguments of the beautiful young woman before him. Their discussion continued through dinner at the old Bookbinder’s restaurant.

In the beginning, Tracy was not impressed with Charles Stanhope even though she was aware that he was considered Philadelphia’s prize catch. Charles was thirtyfive and a rich and successful member of one of the oldest families in Philadelphia. Five feet ten inches, with thinning sandy hair, brown eyes, and an earnest, pedantic manner, he was, Tracy thought, one of the boring rich.

As though reading her mind, Charles leaned across the table and said, “My father is convinced they gave him the wrong baby at the hospital.”

“What?”

“I’m a throwback. I don’t happen to think money is the end-all and be-all of life. But please don’t ever tell my father I said so.”

There was such a charming unpretentiousness about him that Tracy found herself warming to him. I wonder what it would be like to be married to someone like him – one of the establishment. And what am I going on about like an idiot?

Talk about ego. A man asks me out to dinner and I’m deciding whether I want to marry him. We’ll probably never even see each other again.’ Charles was saying, “I hope you’re free for dinner tomorrow…?” Philadelphia was a dazzling cornucopia of things to see and do. On Saturday nights Tracy and Charles went to the ballet or watched Riccardo Muti conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra. During the week they explored New Market and the unique collection of shops in Society Hill. They ate cheese steaks at a pavement table at Geno’s and dined at the Cafe Royal, one of the most exclusive restaurants in Philadelphia. They shopped at Head House Square and wandered through the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rodin Museum.

4.1.1 Vocabulary notes

guest speaker – приглашенный докладчик

to run – управлять, руководить

investment house – инвестиционная компания

to found – основать

ability – способность, возможность

staggering sums of money – огромные суммы денег

to be aware – понимать, осознавать

to consider – рассматривать

to convince – убеждать

to wonder – хотеть знать

to wander – бродить

leisure – досуг

cornucopia – рог изобилия

4.1.2 Fill in the gaps with the following prepositions: with, by, of, from, after, in

1 His company did a good deal … business … the Philadelphia Trust and Fidelity Bank.

2 The investment house was founded … his great-grandfather.

3 Third-world nations borrow money … commercial banks worldwide and western governments.

4 … the beginning Tracy was not impressed … Charles Stanhope. 5 … Charles’s lecture Tracy went up to disagree with his analysis.

4.1.3 Fill in the gaps with the following words: beautiful, at first, financial, business, investment, successful

1 Charles was amused, then intrigued.

2 Tracy was a … woman of her mid-twenties with lovely, intelligent face. 3 Tracy met Charles at a… symposium.

4 Charles was a rich and … member of one of the oldest families in Philadelphia.

5 Charles ran the … house.

6 His company did a good deal of… with the bank Tracy worked for.

4.1.4 Answer the questions

1 Where did Tracy meet Charles Stanhope?

2 What company did Charles Stanhope run?

3 What bank did Charles’ company do a good deal of business with?

4 Why did Tracy go to Charles Stanhope after his lecture at the financial symposium?

5 What sums of money did third-world nations borrow from commercial banks worldwide and western governments?

6 How did Tracy and Charles spend their leisure?

4.1.5 What do you think about the main characters of the extract?

4.1.6 What is in store for Tracy and Charles?

4.1.7 Make up a dialogue between Tracy and Charles

– After his presentation at the financial symposium in the bank Tracy worked for;

– During dinner at the restaurant.

4.1.8 Describe the appearance of: a) Charles; b) Tracy

4.1.9 Write five sentences using the following expressions: financial symposium; to run the investment house; to disagree with; to do a good deal of business; to repay the staggering sums of money

4.2 Text 2

IF TOMORROW COMES After Sidney Sheldon (to be continued)

As Tracy approached the bank, she glanced at her watch. Eight-twenty.

The doors of the Philadelphia Trust and Fidelity Bank would not be open to employees for another ten minutes but Clarence Desmond, the bank’s senior vicepresident in charge of the international department, was already turning off the outside alarm and opening the door. Tracy enjoyed watching the morning ritual. She stood in the rain waiting as Desmond entered the bank and locked the door behind him.

Banks the world over have arcane safety procedures and the Philadelphia Trust and Fidelity Bank was no exception.

Clarence Desmond was checking the lavatories, storeroom, safe-deposit area. Only when he was fully satisfied that he was alone would the Venetian blind be raised as a sign that all was well.

The senior bookkeeper was always the first of the employees to be admitted. He would take his place next to the emergency alarm until the other employees were inside then lock the door behind them.

Tracy smiled and went to work. She was in charge of the cable-transfer department. Until recently the transfer of money from one bank to another and from one country to another had been a slow, laborious process requiring multiple forms to be filled out and dependent on national and international postal services. With the advent of computers the situation had changed dramatically and enormous amounts of money could be transferred instantaneously. It was Tracy’s job to extract overnight transfers from the computer and to make computer transfers to other banks. All transactions were in code, changed regularly to prevent unauthorized access. Each day millions of electronic dollars passed through Tracy’s hands. It was fascinating work, the life-blood that fed the arteries of business all over the globe, and until Charles Stanhope the Third had come into Tracy’s life, banking had been the most exciting thing in the world for her. The Philadelphia Trust and Fidelity Bank had a large international division and at lunch Tracy and her fellow workers would discuss each morning’s activities. It was heady conversation.

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