"Eric Flint - 1633" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

The Tyrant (with David Drake)
The Belisarius series,
with David Drake:
An Oblique Approach
 Part I

That is no country for old men
 Chapter 1
"How utterly delightful!" exclaimed Richelieu. "I've never seen a cat with such delicate features.
The coloration is marvelous, as well."
For a moment, the aristocratic and intellectual face of France's effective ruler dissolved into
something much more youthful. Richelieu ignored Rebecca Stearns entirely, for a few seconds, as his
forefinger played with the little paws of the kitten in his lap. Rebecca had just presented it to Richelieu
as a diplomatic gift.
He raised his head, smiling. "A 'Siamese,' you call it? Surely you have not managed to establish
trade relations with southeast Asia in such a short time? Even given your mechanical genius, that
would seem almost another miracle."
Rebecca pondered that smile, for a moment, while she marshaled her answer. One thing, if nothing
else, had become quite clear to her in the few short minutes since she had been ushered in to a private
audience with the cardinal. Whatever else he was, Richelieu was possibly the most intelligent man she
had ever met in her life. Or, at least, the shrewdest.
And quite charming, in personтАФthat she had not expected. The combination of that keen intellect
and the personal warmth and grace was disarming to someone like Rebecca, with her own basically
intellectual temperament.
She reminded herself, very firmly, that being disarmed in the presence of Richelieu was the one
thing she could least afford. For all his brains and his charm, the cardinal was almost certainly the most
dangerous enemy her nation faced at the moment. And while she did not think Richelieu was cruel by
nature, he had demonstrated before that he was quite prepared to be utterly ruthless when advancing
what he considered the interests of his own nation. La gloire de France was a phrase which rang
splendidlyтАФbut, like a sword, had a sharp edge to those who stood in the way.
She decided to pursue the double meaning implicit in the cardinal's last sentence.
" 'Another' miracle?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "An interesting term, Your Eminence. As I
recall, the most recent characterization you gave the Ring of Fire was 'witchcraft.' "
Richelieu's gentle smile remained as steady as it had been since she entered his private audience
chamber. "A misunderstanding," he insisted, wiggling his fingers dismissively. Then, paused for a
moment to admire the kitten batting at the long digits. "My error, and I take full responsibility for it.
Always a mistake, you know, to jump to conclusions based on scant evidence. And I fear I was perhaps
too influenced at the time by the views of Father Joseph. You met him yesterday, I believe, during your
audience with the king?"
Another double meaning was buried in that sentence as well. Subtly, Richelieu was reminding
Rebecca that her alternative to dealing with him was the rather childish King Louis XIIIтАФor, even
worse, the religious fanatic Father Joseph. The Capucin monk was close to Richelieu, and was also the
leader of the harshly intolerant Catholic lay organization of France known as the Company of the Holy
Sacrament.
Rebecca controlled the natural impulse of an intellectual to talk. In this, as in so many things, her
far less intellectual husband had trained her. Mike Stearns was a trade union leader in his origins. So,
unlike Rebecca, he had learned long ago that the best tactic in negotiations is often simply to say
nothing.
"Let the other side do most of the talking," he'd told her. "On average, I'd say anyone's twice as