I never see them, but somebody saw them last year. A man and his wife. They were very
unhappy about it. But what can I do? I can’t stop Elena and Carl coming on the
train.’
The guard
looked at Mr Harris’s white face. ‘You need a drink,’ he said. ‘Come and have a
vodka with me.’ Mr Harris didn’t usually drink vodka, but he felt afraid. When
he closed his eyes, he could see again Elena’s long knife and could hear her
terrible cry. So he went with the guard to the back of the train.
After the vodka, Mr Harris felt better. He didn’t want to sleep, and the guard was happy
to talk. So Mr Harris stayed with the guard and didn’t go back to his carriage.
‘Yes,’ the guard said, ‘it’s a famous story. I don’t remember it all. It
happened a long time ago, of course. Elena’s father was a famous man here in
Finland. He was very rich once, but he had three or four wives and about eight
children. And he liked the good things of life. So there wasn’t much money for
the children. Carl, the oldest son, was a bad man, people say. He wanted an easy
life and money in his hands all the time.’ The train hurried on to Oulu through
the black night and the guard drank some more vodka.
