井戸The Well

What you'll learn

Jevons Benson and his cousin Wilfrid Cade converse in the billiard room. Wilfrid, in financial trouble, threatens to sell compromising letters from Benson to a woman unless Benson lends him 1500 pounds. After a tense exchange, Benson storms off. Later, Benson's mother visits, and she learns Wilfrid has left.

Benson and his fiancée Olive stroll through the garden and visit an old well. Olive accidentally drops her mother's diamond bracelet into the well. Benson promises to retrieve it by morning and asks Olive not to tell anyone. That night, he attempts to fish it out but instead catches a key ring, then fails again. He leaves the fishing line in the well and returns home disturbed.

Benson wakes early and goes to the stable. He orders his servant George and Bob to prepare ropes and a candle for a descent into the well. Despite George's offer to go down, Benson insists on going himself. The chapter ends as they prepare to descend.

Key vocabulary

Grammar points you'll meet

• ～てしまう N4Expresses completion or regret; 'end up doing'.
  とっくに、おちぶれてるんでしょうね。
• ～かもしれない N4Expresses possibility; 'might' or 'maybe'.
  食べるものも住むところもなくなっちまうかもしれないんだ
• ～てくれる N4Someone does something for the speaker (or the speaker's in-group).
  渡してくれたっていいじゃないか
• ～たところで N1Even if ~, no matter ~; emphasizes futility.
  もし君かクリーサスくらい金持だったら、見方も違っていたかもしれないが

Cultural notes

• Billiard Room in English CountrysideThe story is set in a large rural estate with a billiard room, typical of 19th-century English aristocratic homes. Billiards was a popular pastime among gentlemen.
• Fishing for a Bracelet in a WellThe scene where Benson tries to retrieve Olive's bracelet from a well with a fishing line reflects a common literary motif of a cherished object lost in a dark, symbolic pit.

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Topics

Short Storyghost storyconversationmysterymelancholyphilosophicalaozora bunko