"Simon Hawke - Wizard 7 - The Wizard of Camelot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

hiding
something from you andтАФ"

I interrupted quickly. "No, no, of course not, darling, don't be silly."

"Tom, you do believe me, don't you, when I say that none of it was there
before?"

"Of course I believe you," I replied. "There simply must be some other, more
rational explanation."

"Like what?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

I shook my head, at a complete loss to explain it. "I'll be damned if I know,"
I
said. "Perhaps some secret benefactor snuck in somehow and put all that stuff
there while you and the girls were sleeping. It sounds improbable, perhaps,
but
I can't think of any other logical explanation."

"But why?" she asked. "And how? Tom, it would have taken hours to stack all
that
wood, much less to bring in all that food. And how could anyone possibly have
done it without waking me? It seems impossible."

"And his being Merlin, the court wizard to King Arthur; seems possible to
you?"
I said.

"What about his pipe?" she asked. "Did you notice that the scent of his
tobacco
kept on changing? And I never saw him use a lighter or a match. Did you
notice
that, as well? "

"Yes, I noticed," I admitted. "But perhaps he really is a magician, you know,
a
stage magician, and he was using sleight of hand. Perhaps his delusion stems
from that, I don't know, but he cannot possibly be who he says he is. Magic
simply doesn't exist, for God's sake! There's no such thing. Besides, if he
really were King Arthur's Merlin, that would make him several thousand years
old, and frankly, he doesn't look a day over seventy"

' 'Very funny,'' Jenny said wryly ' 'But even if all that is true, it still
doesn't change the fact that you've brought a crazy old man into our home and
now it seems we're stuck with him."

"Yes, I know," I said, frowning. "Well, we'll simply have to keep an eye on
him.
For tonight, at least. In the morning, I'm sure he'll be on his way."