JК
Sharpes Havoc :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 78 из 242„He was a strange man, my father. He made wine, but wouldn’t drink it. He said God didn’t approve. The cellar here is full of good wine and he added to it every year and he never opened a bottle for himself.” She shivered and leaned toward the fire. „I remember it was always cold in England. I hated it, but my parents didn’t want me schooled in Portugal.”
„Why not?”
„They feared I might be infected with papism,” she said, fidgeting with the tassels on the edge of her shawl. „My father was very opposed to papism,” she continued earnestly, „which is why, in his will, he insisted I must marry a communicant of the Church of England, or else.”
„Or else?”
„I would lose my inheritance,” she said.
„It’s safe now,” Sharpe said.
„Yes,” she said, looking up at him, the light from the small fire catching in her eyes, „yes, it is.”
„Is it an inheritance worth keeping?” Sharpe asked, suspecting the question was indelicate, but driven to it by curiosity.
„This house, the vineyards,” Kate said, apparently unoffended, „the lodge where the port is made. It’s all held in trust for me at the moment, though my mother enjoys the income, of course.”
„Why didn’t she go back to England?”
„She’s lived here for over twenty years,” Kate said, „so her friends are here now. But after this week?” She shrugged. „Maybe she will go back to England. She always said she’d go home to find a second husband.” She smiled at the thought.
„She couldn’t marry here?” Sharpe asked, remembering the good-looking woman climbing into the carriage outside the House Beautiful.
„They are all papists here, Mister Sharpe,” Kate said in mock reproof. „Though I suspect she did find someone not so long ago. She began to take more trouble with herself. Her clothes, her hair, but maybe I imagined it.” She was silent for a moment. The cook’s needles clicked and a log collapsed with a shower of sparks. One spat over the wire fireguard and smoldered on a rug until Sharpe leaned forward and pinched it out. The Tompion clock in the hall struck nine. „My father,” Kate went on, „believed that the women in his family were prone to wander from the straight and narrow path which is why he always wanted a son to take over the lodge. It didn’t happen, so he tied our hands in the will.”
„You had to marry a Protestant Englishman?”
„A confirmed Anglican, anyway,” Kate said, „who was willing to change his name to Savage.
„Why not?”
„They feared I might be infected with papism,” she said, fidgeting with the tassels on the edge of her shawl. „My father was very opposed to papism,” she continued earnestly, „which is why, in his will, he insisted I must marry a communicant of the Church of England, or else.”
„Or else?”
„I would lose my inheritance,” she said.
„It’s safe now,” Sharpe said.
„Yes,” she said, looking up at him, the light from the small fire catching in her eyes, „yes, it is.”
„Is it an inheritance worth keeping?” Sharpe asked, suspecting the question was indelicate, but driven to it by curiosity.
„This house, the vineyards,” Kate said, apparently unoffended, „the lodge where the port is made. It’s all held in trust for me at the moment, though my mother enjoys the income, of course.”
„Why didn’t she go back to England?”
„She’s lived here for over twenty years,” Kate said, „so her friends are here now. But after this week?” She shrugged. „Maybe she will go back to England. She always said she’d go home to find a second husband.” She smiled at the thought.
„She couldn’t marry here?” Sharpe asked, remembering the good-looking woman climbing into the carriage outside the House Beautiful.
„They are all papists here, Mister Sharpe,” Kate said in mock reproof. „Though I suspect she did find someone not so long ago. She began to take more trouble with herself. Her clothes, her hair, but maybe I imagined it.” She was silent for a moment. The cook’s needles clicked and a log collapsed with a shower of sparks. One spat over the wire fireguard and smoldered on a rug until Sharpe leaned forward and pinched it out. The Tompion clock in the hall struck nine. „My father,” Kate went on, „believed that the women in his family were prone to wander from the straight and narrow path which is why he always wanted a son to take over the lodge. It didn’t happen, so he tied our hands in the will.”
„You had to marry a Protestant Englishman?”
„A confirmed Anglican, anyway,” Kate said, „who was willing to change his name to Savage.