"De Camp, L Sprague - RK 1 - The Undesired Princess UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Camp L Sprague)

The apparition himself answered in bell-like tones: "It is true, O man, that my temporal name is Hoimon. But kindly do not use the term 'mister.' I am informed that it is derived from 'master.' Such an epithet is most repugnant to my humility; I do not wish to have superiority over any living thing ascribed to me."

"Well," said Rollin Hobart, flustered for the first time in a couple of years. "George, what'sЧ"

"Hoimon will explain, Roily," answered Prince.

Hoimon smiled a sweet, patient smile. "May I," he tolled, "recline?"

THE UNDESIRED PRINCESS 7

"UhЧoh, sure!"

The old man unsnapped the clasps of his wooden contraption and unfolded it, whereat it was seen to be a collapsable bed of nails or spikes. Hoimon set the thing down with a solid wooden sound, shucked off the overcoat (under which he wore a towel-like piece of textile around his middle) and settled himself at length on the spikes with a luxurious sigh.

For some seconds he sprawled silently. His eyes swept Hobart's room, taking in the shelves of textbooks, the adding machine, the large iron dumbbells, and the photograph of Frederick Winslow Taylor on the wall.

When he spoke, it was to Prince: "O George," he said, "is this man indeed possessed of a keen and logical mind?"

"Keenest and logicalest I know," replied Prince. "One of M.I.T.'s best. Least, when it's something he's interested in. Outside his special fields you'll find him a bit narrow-minded. Frinstance he thinks Thomas Dewey's a wild radical."

Hoimon waved aside the question of Mr. Dewey's radicalism. He asked: "Is he intact physically?"

"If you mean is he healthy, yes. I think he's had his appendix yankedЧ"

"Look here," snapped the subject of the discourse, "what the hell's the ideaЧ"

Hoimon ignored him, and spoke again to Prince: "And his departure would not wreak grievous harm or sorrow on those near him?"

"Guess not. Some of his friends would say they wished old Roily was around to lend his crushing ironies to the conversation, but they wouldn't go into a decline on account of him being gone. He's a good, steady sort of guy, but not exactly gemuetlich."

Hobart cleared his throat, and interjected: "What

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L. Sprague de Camp

my misguided young friend means, Mr. Hoimon, is that I value my independence."

Hoimon gave him merely a brief glance, and inquired of Prince: "He has, then, no wives or oflspring?"

"My gosh no! You ought to hear him on the subjectЧ"

Roltin Hobart, who had been polishing his glasses in a marked manner, now interrupted: "George, I admit you pique my curiosity with this ingenious nonsense. But I've got work to do; this defense boom isn't going to last forever, and Higgins and I have got to make hay. When I want a character analysis I'll go to a psychiaЧ"

"He is also, I see," boomed Hoimon, "a person of strong and determined character. He will do, I think. But one more thing: Is he adept at the solution of paradoxes?"

Prince looked blank; Hobart frowned, then grinned a little. The engineer remarked: "Now how did you know I was a puzzler? Hobby of mine, as a matter of fact." He picked a small white magazine entitled The Engima out of a pile and handed it to Hoimon. "I was president of the National Puzzler's League, last year. Haven't time for that sort of stuff now, though. What is it I'll 'do' for? Solving a paradox?"

"Precisely," responded Hoimon. "It is without doubt by the providence of Nois that I was led to the one man in the three-answer world who can best assist us. Arise, O Rollin, and come with me to Logaia. There is not a minute of your finite time to be lost!"