"Raymond E. Feist - Faerie Tale" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

The boys tugged at Bad Luck's collar and began to
hike back up the gully. As they rounded the corner, Sean
cast a backward look toward the bridge and for an in-
stant felt as if he was being watched by someone ... or
something . . . deep within the gloom beneath the
rocky arch.

3

Gloria regarded the grotesque carvings cut into the roof
lintel over the front porch and shook her head in dismay.
She gazed at the odd-looking creatures who squatted be-
low the eaves of the roof and muttered, "Just what every
girl dreams of, living in Notre Dame." Upon first seeing
the house, she had inquired into her husband's mental
health, only partially joking. It was all the good things he
saw, sturdy turn-of-the-century construction, hardwoods
used throughout, and every joint dovetailed and pegged,
with nails only an afterthought. It was made of materials
a modern builder could only dream of: ash, oak, and
spruce now rock-hard with age, marble and slate, teak
floors, and copper wires and pipes throughout. But Phil
couldn't see that it was also a living exercise in graceless-
ness, a testimony to Herman Kessler's father's knowing
what he liked without the benefit of taste. The first Kess-
ler had built an architectural hodgepodge. A gazebo,
stripped from some antebellum plantation and shipped
north to this gentleman's farm, sat off to the left of the
house, under the sightless gaze of Gothic windows. Re-
gency furniture clashed headlong with Colonial, while a
stuffed tiger's head hung upon the wall of what was going
to be Phil's study, looking balefully down upon the ugli-
est Persian rug Gloria had ever seen. All in all, Gloria
decided it would be a good year's work fixing up Old
Man Kessler's place.

She entered the house and moved quickly toward the
back door, expecting to have to shout for the boys for ten
minutes before they'd put in an appearance. But just as
she was about to open the screen door Patrick's voice cut
through the late afternoon air. "Maaa!"

She pushed open the door, a half-smile on her lips as
she watched her twins approach from the woods behind
the house. Bad Luck loped alongside the boys and a

young man walked behind. He was dressed in jeans and a
flannel shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and practical-
looking boots.