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

where the mural waited. It was just such a land-devouring stride that had

brought her afoot down from London toStaddle -upon-Truss, solely on the casual

comment of a friend who was, like Olivia, a spinster of independent means who

filled her life with the holy mission of seeking out and salvaging her nation's

fading native traditions.



"Oh, look, a letter fromTilly ," Rowena had said, holding the onionskin inches

from her nose. "His pa and mine used to go up to Scotland together to do horrid
things to salmon. You'd probably like him,Livvie . Tolerate him, anyway. He's

clear mad on the old musty-rustles, too, and he writes that he's found something

worth nosing into in the old church atStaddle . Won't say what, the mean

creature."



That had been enough for Olivia, and she had set off. The something proved to be

the wall painting which she foundTelemachus Battle-Purfittin the throes of

restoring to its original brilliance. Father John Herrick was in splendid

attendance, digging up a wealth of documents and making frequent researching

forays to Oxford, Cambridge, and London while his milk-blooded curate tended to

the spiritual health of theStaddlefolk .



Olivia was immediately fascinated by what she saw. Being Olivia, she immediately

presented her credentials as an amateur student of old folkways and

preservationist of endangered cultural treasures. Her privately printed

collection, NeglectedStirpicultural Carols of Yorkshire, so impressed the

Ladies' Altar Guild that there was no need for her to follow it up by