"Esther M. Friesner - A Beltaine And Suspenders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friesner Esther M)

Staddle, but now--" he giggled " -- now I do find it rather titillating. The

sense of peril and all that, you know."



"Peril?" Now there was a glimmer of true emotion that had somehow managed to

storm the barricades of Lady Battle-Purfitt'simpregnable aplomb. "Telemachus,

you never told me there was any peril involved. As I understand it, you go
somewhere and you scrape the plaster off a church wall until something surfaces

or they throw you out. Either that or you nose out some old people and you have

them sing you some dreadful ballads with half the words in a dialect thicker

than grapefruit marmalade. My opinion has always been that the gaffers make up

those silly, picturesque lyrics as a joke and laugh all winter about how they

pulled the wool over the eyes of you poor, gullible researchers. No offense

meant." She said this last in a way intended to convey the idea that there had

better not be any offense taken if some people knew what was good for them.

"Where is the peril in that?"



"No peril, your ladyship," Olivia said soothingly. "None at all."



Lady Battle-Purfitt'seye narrowed. "Are you calling my son a liar? Under my

roof? After what I have reason to believe was an excellent dinner and a passable

breakfast? I am asking merely for my own information, you understand."



The barricades were down, there was no escape.Rotter though he was, even Father

Herrick retained a large enough measure of compassion for a cornered lady to

come to Olivia's aid.