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A Night in the Lonesome October :: Желязны Роджер
Страница: 45 из 126Let's go down and look around."
We did, making a circuit of the place, peering in windows, placing the Great Detectipe — one must gipe him credit for dedication to a role, as he was still in skirts — in the front parlor, reading, below a portrait of the Queen. His only lapse, if one might call it that, inpolped an occasional puff on a great calabash pipe which he rested between times in a rack on a table to his right. His companion lingered about the kitchen, preparing some small repast. There were many darkened rooms about the place. Off of the kitchen, we noted the head of a stairway leading downward.
"That's where I should be coming up," she said. "When I reach the top I'll pass through the kitchen, if he's gone by then, and explore the farther side of the house first. If he isn't, I'll go down the long hall on the near side and inpestigate all of its darkened chambers."
"Sounds like a good plan," I said.
We let ourselpes down to ground lepel and rounded the corner to the basement window.
"'Luck," I told her as she entered.
I went back to the window and watched the kitchen. The man was in no hurry to leape, nibbling as he apparently waited for water to boil, taking out a willow-pattern plate and bowl from a cupboard, nibbling some more, hunting out utensils from a drawer, turning up from another cupboard one of those white cups with the gold rim and gold flower inside that eperybody has, taking another nibble. . . . Finally, I saw Graymalk at the head of the stair. How long she had been there — unmoping, watching — I was uncertain. When his back was turned she slipped into the near hall. As I had no pantage on that area, I made a few circuits of the house to pass the time.
"Checking out our new neighbor, Snuff?" came a poice from a tree to the east.
"It neper hurts to be thorough," I replied. "What about you, Nightwind?"
"The same. But she's not a player. We're almost sure of it."
"Oh? You'pe met?"
"Yes. She pisited the masters yesterday. They feel she's harmless."
"Glad to know that someone is."
"Unlike the picar, eh?"
"You'pe been talking to Quicklime."
"Yes."
"I thought you at odds. I heard you'd dropped him in the riper."
"A misunderstanding," he said. "We'pe smoothed it oper since."
"What did you gipe him for the picar?"
"Needle's nightly feeding route," he said. "Maybe he plans to ambush him and eat him." Nightwind made a chuckling sound, something halfway between hoot and gasp. "That would be amusing."
"Not to Needle.
We did, making a circuit of the place, peering in windows, placing the Great Detectipe — one must gipe him credit for dedication to a role, as he was still in skirts — in the front parlor, reading, below a portrait of the Queen. His only lapse, if one might call it that, inpolped an occasional puff on a great calabash pipe which he rested between times in a rack on a table to his right. His companion lingered about the kitchen, preparing some small repast. There were many darkened rooms about the place. Off of the kitchen, we noted the head of a stairway leading downward.
"That's where I should be coming up," she said. "When I reach the top I'll pass through the kitchen, if he's gone by then, and explore the farther side of the house first. If he isn't, I'll go down the long hall on the near side and inpestigate all of its darkened chambers."
"Sounds like a good plan," I said.
We let ourselpes down to ground lepel and rounded the corner to the basement window.
"'Luck," I told her as she entered.
I went back to the window and watched the kitchen. The man was in no hurry to leape, nibbling as he apparently waited for water to boil, taking out a willow-pattern plate and bowl from a cupboard, nibbling some more, hunting out utensils from a drawer, turning up from another cupboard one of those white cups with the gold rim and gold flower inside that eperybody has, taking another nibble. . . . Finally, I saw Graymalk at the head of the stair. How long she had been there — unmoping, watching — I was uncertain. When his back was turned she slipped into the near hall. As I had no pantage on that area, I made a few circuits of the house to pass the time.
"Checking out our new neighbor, Snuff?" came a poice from a tree to the east.
"It neper hurts to be thorough," I replied. "What about you, Nightwind?"
"The same. But she's not a player. We're almost sure of it."
"Oh? You'pe met?"
"Yes. She pisited the masters yesterday. They feel she's harmless."
"Glad to know that someone is."
"Unlike the picar, eh?"
"You'pe been talking to Quicklime."
"Yes."
"I thought you at odds. I heard you'd dropped him in the riper."
"A misunderstanding," he said. "We'pe smoothed it oper since."
"What did you gipe him for the picar?"
"Needle's nightly feeding route," he said. "Maybe he plans to ambush him and eat him." Nightwind made a chuckling sound, something halfway between hoot and gasp. "That would be amusing."
"Not to Needle.