"Esther M. Friesner - Chicks 04 - The Chick Is In The Mail" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friesner Esther M)

Sergeant Gorse inserted his words where he could. "I wanted to thank you . . . for getting us in. Some
mistake . . . just as we thought . . . "

"My pleasure," Mirabel said, ducking under his upraised arm twice forShe turned herself about again,
as shy maids often do , and caught sight of Krystal in the middle of the next row. She was dancing with
Harald, and Mirabel almost tripped to see the same look given to Krystal that he had given to her. Then
she shruggedтАФwhat did she expect from a smooth-tongued stranger at the ball? She continued the figure
with her usual enthusiasm, all the way toAnd so you see, dear children, was never such a sight, as
Gramps and Granny Morely, upon their wedding night , which ended with a whirling embrace.

"You dance as well as you . . . er . . . look," Sergeant Gorse said.

"My turn, Quill," said Sergeant Dogwood. He bowed to Mirabel. "If I might have the honor."

Mirabel spent the next five dances with the sergeants, one after the other; by then she wanted a rest.
Though the sales booths hid the alcoves, she managed to squeeze in behind the patchwork animals,
where she lounged sideways on the bench with her feet up. The freckled girl looked at her.

"I don't know if you're supposed to be here. Miss Primula saidтАФ"

"Miss Primula hasn't been dancing with six sergeants, child; my feet hurt."

From her vantage point, she could peek over the pile of patchwork animals and see the dancers. At one
side of the ballroom, the King and Queen sat on a dais, pointedly not looking at each other. Sophora had
collected another two ministers and the Duke of Mandergash. Then she spotted Harald by his red beard,
and next to him Krystal.

Krystal leaned gracefully against a pillar, her followers around her . . . two barbarians, a man dressed in
leather straps and chains, half a dozen pirates, and someone wearing a long plaid skirt with his face
painted green and a green target painted on his naked chest. Krystal herself wore a gown like nothing
Mirabel had ever seenтАФit might have been painted on, glittering silver mesh slit up the side to reveal her
tall dress boots. She was, Mirabel had to admit, incredibly beautiful.

"Mirabel Stonefist, whatare you doing back there lounging at your ease while the rest of usтАФ" Primula
glared over the stack of stuffed animals.

"I tried to tell her, Miss Primula," bleated the freckled girl. "She wouldn't listen."

"She never does," Primula said to the girl. Then to Mirabel, "Come right out of there; I need to talk to
you."

"My feet hurt," Mirabel muttered, but she knew it would do no good. She got up and squeezed back
past the corner post of the booth.

"I had to go to the office for my master lists," Primula said, "I have them here." She waved a sheaf of
papers.

"And now, majesties, lords and ladies, gentlemen and women of quality, it's time to vote for the
Queen of the BallтАФ" That was Lord Mander Thunderblatt. "We honor the Ladies' Aid and Armor
Society, by choosing one among them to reign as queen for a nightтАФmeaning no disrespect to