JК
Sharpes Havoc :: Корнуэлл Бернард
Страница: 79 из 242”
„So it’s Colonel Savage now,is it?”
„He will be,” Kate said. „He said he would sign a paper before a notary in Oporto and then we’ll send it to the trustees in London. I don’t know how we send letters home now, but James will find a way. He’s very resourceful.”
„He is,” Sharpe said dryly. „But does he want to stay in Portugal and make port?”
„Oh yes!” Kate said.
„And you?”
„Of course! I love Portugal and I know James wants to stay. He declared as much not long after he arrived at our house in Oporto.” She said that Christopher had come to the House Beautiful in the New Year and he had lodged there for a while, though he spent most of his time riding in the north. She did not know what he did there. „It wasn’t my business,” she told Sharpe.
„And what’s he doing in the south now? That’s not your business either?”
„Not unless he tells me,” she said defensively, then frowned at him. „You don’t like him, do you?”
Sharpe was embarrassed, not knowing what to say. „He’s got good teeth,” he said.
That grudging statement made Kate look pained. „Did I hear the clock strike?” she asked.
Sharpe took the hint. „Time to check the sentries,” he said and he went to the door, glancing back at Kate and noticing, not for the first time, how delicate her looks were and how her pale skin seemed to glow in the firelight, and then he tried to forget her as he started on his tour of the picquets.
Sharpe was working the riflemen hard, patrolling the Quinta’s lands, drilling on its driveway, working them long hours so that the little energy they had left was spent in grumbling, but Sharpe knew how precarious their situation was. Christopher had airily ordered him to stay and guard Kate, but the Quinta could never have been defended against even a small French force. It was high on a wooded spur, but the hill rose behind it even higher and there were thick woods on the higher ground vhich could have soaked up a corps of infantry who would then have)een able to attack the manor house from the higher ground with the idded advantage of the trees to give them cover. But higher still the trees;nded and the hill rose to a rocky summit where an old watchtower crum-jled in the winds and from there Sharpe spent hours watching the coun-:ryside.
He saw French troops every day.
„So it’s Colonel Savage now,is it?”
„He will be,” Kate said. „He said he would sign a paper before a notary in Oporto and then we’ll send it to the trustees in London. I don’t know how we send letters home now, but James will find a way. He’s very resourceful.”
„He is,” Sharpe said dryly. „But does he want to stay in Portugal and make port?”
„Oh yes!” Kate said.
„And you?”
„Of course! I love Portugal and I know James wants to stay. He declared as much not long after he arrived at our house in Oporto.” She said that Christopher had come to the House Beautiful in the New Year and he had lodged there for a while, though he spent most of his time riding in the north. She did not know what he did there. „It wasn’t my business,” she told Sharpe.
„And what’s he doing in the south now? That’s not your business either?”
„Not unless he tells me,” she said defensively, then frowned at him. „You don’t like him, do you?”
Sharpe was embarrassed, not knowing what to say. „He’s got good teeth,” he said.
That grudging statement made Kate look pained. „Did I hear the clock strike?” she asked.
Sharpe took the hint. „Time to check the sentries,” he said and he went to the door, glancing back at Kate and noticing, not for the first time, how delicate her looks were and how her pale skin seemed to glow in the firelight, and then he tried to forget her as he started on his tour of the picquets.
Sharpe was working the riflemen hard, patrolling the Quinta’s lands, drilling on its driveway, working them long hours so that the little energy they had left was spent in grumbling, but Sharpe knew how precarious their situation was. Christopher had airily ordered him to stay and guard Kate, but the Quinta could never have been defended against even a small French force. It was high on a wooded spur, but the hill rose behind it even higher and there were thick woods on the higher ground vhich could have soaked up a corps of infantry who would then have)een able to attack the manor house from the higher ground with the idded advantage of the trees to give them cover. But higher still the trees;nded and the hill rose to a rocky summit where an old watchtower crum-jled in the winds and from there Sharpe spent hours watching the coun-:ryside.
He saw French troops every day.