"Elgin,.Suzette.Haden.-.Ozark.-.01.-.Twelve.Fair.Kingdoms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elgin Suzette Haden)

had the male fondness for Mules, and they had anyone's dislike
for the idea of suddenly falling out of the air like a stone, which
is where they could see it might well lead.

"It has to do, I believe," said Patience slowly, "with the
Jubilee. That's coming up fast now, and anybody with the idea
of putting it in bad odor would have to get at it fairly soon and
move with some dispatch. I do believe that's what this is all
about."

She was right, but they'd listen better if she was doing the
talking, so I left it to hec

"Go on," I said. "Please."

"I'm telling you nothing you don't know already," she said.
"The Confederation of Continents is not popular, nor likely to
be, especially with the Kingdoms of Purdy, Guthrie, and
Farson. And Tinaseeh is in worse state. The Travellers hate any
kind of government; they are still so busy just hacking back the
Wilderness that they don't feel they can spare time for anything
else, and they for sure don't want the Jubilee. A Jubilee would
give a kind of endorsement to the Confederation, and they are
dead set against that. And then there're all the wishy-washy
ones waiting around to see which way the wind blows."

Twelve Fair Kingdoms 9

" 'A thing celebrated is a thing vindicated,'" quoted Ruth of
Motley. "They all know that as well as anybody."

"The idea," Patience went on, "would be to make it appear
that there's so much trouble on the continent of Maiktwain
... so much trouble in the Kingdom of Brighlwater specifi-
cally . . . that it would not really be safe for the other
Families to send their delegations to the Jubilee."

My conscience jabbed me, for she was right; and it had been
niggling at the back of my mind for some time. though I'd
managed to ignore it up to now by worrying about dust on the
banisters and coffee for deliveries for Mizzurah.

Donald Patrick scooted his chair back and stared at me, and
then scooted it up again, and said damnation to boot, and my
grandmother went "Ttch," with the tip of her tongue.

"Five years of work it's cost us," he said, glaring around the
table. "Five years to convince them even to let us schedule the
Jubilee! Surely all that work can't be set aside by some spoiled
milk and a few smashed mirrors!"