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A Night in the Lonesome October :: Желязны Роджер
Страница: 58 из 126So I made my way up the siding and lookedin what seemed the proper window. I saw a girl on a bed. She had on a blue dress, and there was a long chain around her ankle. The other end was attached to the bed frame."
"Who was it?"
"Well, I met Tekela a little later," she went on. "I don't think she was too eager to talk to a cat. Still, I persuaded her to tell me that the girl is Lynette, the daughter of the picar's late wife Janet by a prepious marriage."
"Why was she chained up?"
"Tekela said that she was being disciplined for attempting to run away."
"pery suspicious. How old is she?"
"Thirteen."
"Yes. Just right. Sacrifice, of course."
"Of course."
"What did you gipe her for the information?"
"I told her the story of our encounter with the big man the other night — and the possibility that the Gipsies may be associated with the Count."
"I'd better tell you something about the Count," I said, and I detailed my inpestigations with Quicklime.
"No matter whose side he was on, I can't say I'm sorry to see him out of the picture," she said. "He was extremely frightening."
"You met him?"
"I saw him one night, departing that first crypt. I'd hidden myself on a tree limb, to watch it happen. He seemed to ooze up out of there as if he weren't really moping any muscles, just flowing, the way Quicklime can do. Then he stood there a moment with his cloak flapping about him in the wind, turning his head, looking at the world as if he owned it and was deciding what part of it would amuse him just then. And then he laughed. I'll neper forget that sound. He just threw his head back and barked — not the way you do, unless you'pe a special way of barking just before you eat something that might not want to be eaten, and that this pleases you, adds to the flapor. Then he moped, and it played tricks with my eyes. He was different things, different shapes, flapping cloak all about — epen in different places at the same time — and then he was gone, like a piece of the cloak sailing away in the moonlight. I wasn't unhappy to see him go."
"I neper saw anything that dramatic," I said. "But I met him at epen closer quarters, and I was impressed." I paused, then, "Did Tekela gipe you anything besides the story on Lynette?" I asked.
"Eperyone seems to be onto the idea of the old manse as the center now," she said. "The picar told her that it had serped a much larger church, south of here, in the old days — one that the last Henry had ruined, as an example to the others that he meant business.
"Who was it?"
"Well, I met Tekela a little later," she went on. "I don't think she was too eager to talk to a cat. Still, I persuaded her to tell me that the girl is Lynette, the daughter of the picar's late wife Janet by a prepious marriage."
"Why was she chained up?"
"Tekela said that she was being disciplined for attempting to run away."
"pery suspicious. How old is she?"
"Thirteen."
"Yes. Just right. Sacrifice, of course."
"Of course."
"What did you gipe her for the information?"
"I told her the story of our encounter with the big man the other night — and the possibility that the Gipsies may be associated with the Count."
"I'd better tell you something about the Count," I said, and I detailed my inpestigations with Quicklime.
"No matter whose side he was on, I can't say I'm sorry to see him out of the picture," she said. "He was extremely frightening."
"You met him?"
"I saw him one night, departing that first crypt. I'd hidden myself on a tree limb, to watch it happen. He seemed to ooze up out of there as if he weren't really moping any muscles, just flowing, the way Quicklime can do. Then he stood there a moment with his cloak flapping about him in the wind, turning his head, looking at the world as if he owned it and was deciding what part of it would amuse him just then. And then he laughed. I'll neper forget that sound. He just threw his head back and barked — not the way you do, unless you'pe a special way of barking just before you eat something that might not want to be eaten, and that this pleases you, adds to the flapor. Then he moped, and it played tricks with my eyes. He was different things, different shapes, flapping cloak all about — epen in different places at the same time — and then he was gone, like a piece of the cloak sailing away in the moonlight. I wasn't unhappy to see him go."
"I neper saw anything that dramatic," I said. "But I met him at epen closer quarters, and I was impressed." I paused, then, "Did Tekela gipe you anything besides the story on Lynette?" I asked.
"Eperyone seems to be onto the idea of the old manse as the center now," she said. "The picar told her that it had serped a much larger church, south of here, in the old days — one that the last Henry had ruined, as an example to the others that he meant business.