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

of FatherHerricks . The vicar was blown, good and proper.



"But -- but that makes no sense!" he protested. "Wensleyis the youngest person

I've yet seen in this godforsaken hamlet, and if he's sixty-five--"



"If I was permitted access to the church records, I have no doubt that you may

come along and see them for yourself,"Telemachus said.



The church of Greater AmbroseSurlesard was a Romanesque structure so blocky as

to make stolid Norman architecture look like the airy stone fantasies of the

High Gothic. A light snow was falling as the three visitors trudged across the

village green -- carefully skirting Hob'sChimbley -- to seek confirmation of

Telemachus' extraordinary discovery.



"The parish records are kept in a locked cabinet in the vestry,"Telemachus

explained as they entered the musty portal. "There's a kindly old gentleman

about the place who showed them to me when I asked. He has the key, of course,

although whether he is the sexton, the curate, or the vicar himself, I couldn't

say."



"Vicar?" Father Herrick was pleased to be sarcastic. "A vicar to tend to the

spiritual wants of this hotbed of ancient agricultural festivity? I am

astonished at your innocence,Tilly . The dark, tellurian forces which reign over

Greater Ambrose long since must have demanded the sacrifice of any

representative of the Established Church."
"Well," saidTelemachus , craning his neck to peer into the unlit depths of the