"Elrod, P N - I, Strahd 2 - War Against Azalin e-txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

"All right," he said after considerable grimacing, which was apparently an aid
to his thought processes. "Read it then." He stood back and crossed his arms,
waiting.
"This will take awhile. Perhaps several hours."
"I thought maybe I could watch you read, an' maybe see how to do it myself."
"That is a very admirable aspiration, but unhappily one doesn't learn reading in
that manner. Were it true, I'd have many more customers."
"Oh." He seemed quite let down.
"But I've a suggestion for you on how to pass the time. There is a very
reasonable victuals shop at the end of the street. ManyЧerЧgentlemen in a
similar line of work as yourself gather there to socialize. Perhaps you might
even hear of another noble needing to fill a vacancy in his guards."
"Oh, well, that's fair kind of you to mention it, ma'am. An' now that it's been
mentioned I am feeling pretty hollow on the inside. But I shouldn't like to
leave my property behind."
"Goodness me, what am I going to do with it? Run away?"
Milos eventually admitted that it wasn't a likely action for her to take.
"You'll keep good care of it?"
"The best," she promised.
He finally removed his saddlebags from her counter and left, not without a few
backward glancesЧand nearly bowled over Dr. Van Richten who was coming into the
shop again.
"Excuse me!" said Van Richten, giving the appearance of being flustered by their
near collision.
Milos grunted with mild disgust and left the shop, shutting the door behind him
with more force than was probably necessary. The moment he was out of sight Mrs.
Heywood whisked out a dusting cloth and put it to swift use. Her workplace in
order again, she now faced Van Richten squarely. She realized, much to her
consternation, that he had his back to her. He was peering out the window,
apparently following the progress of her latest customer.
"Forgive me, Mrs. Heywood, but I seem to have forgotten my receipt," he said
abstractedly, not turning around.
"Humph."
Van Richten straightened after a moment. "Is there something amiss?"
She shook her head at his show of innocence. "I know very well that you left it
on purpose to have an excuse to return."
He produced a rueful smile in response. "Indeed, I did. Guilty as charged, good
lady. It's only that I had a feeling I should see what he was up to."
"Smelling wood smoke, were you?"
"You might say that." He looked at the book on her counter as a starving man
might at a fresh loaf of bread. He started to reach for it, but checked himself.
"May I?"
Sensing a quick turnover sale in the air, she nodded. "Of course."
He spun the book sideways, allowing them both to study the title. The lettering
was very ornate and old, of a style that had been in brief use in Barovia some
fifty years earlier, brief because it was so ornate as to be nearly impossible
to read. Van Richten opened the cover. The inside script, on a different kind of
paper, was much more legible, with lines of firm black ink marching across the
pages. Not from a printer's press, but real handwriting. Its style was of a
quite unique sort and very puzzling to her.