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

rampant carnality." He consulted his pocket watch. "We have until Friday."



"I don't think I need to stay here until Friday," Olivia said. She cast the

latest of a series of nervous looks around the common room. Every man-jack of

the GreaterAmbrosians there present and enjoying the evening pint looked like a

minor genetic variation on Granny Bones, theBloodwells , and the village

blacksmith, whose name so happened to be HamDethalter . "I would prefer to

return to London. I -- I still have some holiday shopping to do and--"



"Afraid, Miss Drummond?" Father Herrick'sravenwing brows lifted just a trifle.

"No longer the scoffer at poorStilby -Nash'svanishment that you were?"



Olivia stiffened. "I am not afraid," she said. She lied, she knew it, they all

knew it, but neither Father Herrick norTelemachus was tactless enough to call

her on it. "It's simply that -- well, having come here I see that this village

shelters a wealth of folkloric subject matter in its nearly pristine state. I

have had a word with Granny Bones concerning local songs, traditions, and

beliefs, and it is my considered opinion that this area is almost entirely free

of any urban contagion. As a matter of fact, Granny said that they have never

had a single citizen of Greater Ambrose leave the village to settle elsewhere,

and the last person to serve in the armed forces was thisPraxter fellow."



"He of the tarred rope ladder?." The vicar tapped his lower lip. "Amazing,

particularly in light of the robust health our host's son, the amiably bovine
WensleyBloodwell, seems to enjoy. Why was he not taken up into the service