Short Stories in English for Beginners

Chapter 2 – Belfast
A few hours later, Walter arrived safely in Northern Ireland. The city of
Belfast was full of people. There were many exciting things to do and see.
But Walter had a mission. He knew just where to go.
Walter called a taxi. He told the driver a local address. They agreed on a
rate. It was in a faraway part of Belfast. After some time, he arrived at a
large house.
The house looked very 
expensive
. The owner took good care of it. It was
probably owned by someone rich. It had a very large garden. There were
several dogs running around in it. The house even had a tennis court!
Walter stood outside. He simply looked at the house for a while. Then he
rang the doorbell. He rang again and waited for someone to answer.
‘Hello?’ he called. Nobody came. No one seemed to be home. The old man
looked around. He decided to wait.
Walter pulled out the photo of the chest. He looked at it closely and
smiled. He put the photo back inside his 
jacket
. He waited some more.
Walter heard a car approaching. As expected, it was an expensive car.
There was a woman inside it. She wore big 
sunglasses
. She didn’t see
Walter.
The woman pressed a 
button
. The garage door opened. She slowly drove
in. She still didn’t see Walter.
The woman reached for the button again. She was closing the garage
door. Walter might miss her!
‘Excuse me! Wait!’ called Walter.
At last the woman saw Walter. She stopped immediately. The garage
door remained open.
‘Yes? Who are you?’ she asked.
‘Can I talk to you for a moment, please?’ asked Walter.
The woman looked at him suspiciously. She walked out of the garage. A
butler
came up from the garden. He looked at the woman and said, ‘Miss
Murray? Shall I take care of your car?’

---

‘Yes, Brian. Thank you.’
‘Miss Lucy Murray, am I correct?’ asked Walter.
‘Yes, that’s me.’ Lucy looked at Walter closely.
‘I’ve come to talk to you. It’s important.’
‘Important? If it’s business I can refer you to my office …
‘No, it's not business,’ replied Walter.
‘What could it be?’ Lucy asked. Walter only smiled. ‘Well, whatever it is,
come with me. Come into the house, please.’
Walter followed the woman inside. The house was very big. In fact, it
was huge. It was also very beautiful.
‘Is this all yours?’ asked Walter.
‘Yes,’ she answered. ‘I’m a professional designer. At age 19, I started a
company.’ She paused and looked around. ‘What can I say? I’ve done very
well.’
‘I can see that. Wow! You have must have done a lot of work.’
‘Yes. I have worked very hard.’ She started walking again. ‘Come this
way, please.’
Walter and Lucy went up some steps. They came to a large door. The
door was 
wooden
 and very pretty. It was an old design.
‘Is your house very old?’ asked Walter.
Lucy smiled. ‘No, it’s not. But it was built to an old design. I have very