"Heinlein, Robert A - Magic Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

contract, charging accordingly, and sublet it to one of the expensive,
first-line magicians. But by and large my business uses magic only in the side
issues - perishable items and doodads which people like to buy cheap and change
from time to time.
So I was not worried about magic in my business, but about what magic could do
to my business - if someone set out deliberately to do me mischief. I had the
subject of magic on my mind, anyhow, because of an earlier call from a chap
named Ditworth - not a matter of vicious threats, just a business proposition
that I was undecided about. But it worried me, just the same,
I closed up a few minutes early and went over to see Jedson - a friend of mine
in the cloak-and-suit business. He is considerably older than I am, and quite a
student, without holding a degree, in all forms of witchcraft, white and black
magic, necrology, demonology, spells, charms, and the more practical forms of
divination. Besides that, Jedson is a shrewd, capable man in every way, with a
long head on him. I set a lot of store by his advice.
I expected to find him in his office, and more or less free, at that hour, but
he wasn't. His office boy directed me up to a room he used for sales
conferences. I knocked and then pushed the door.
Hello, Archie,' he called out as soon as he saw who it was. Come on in. I've got
something.' And he turned away.
I came in and looked around. Besides Joe Jedson there was a handsome, husky
woman about thirty years old in a nurse's uniform, and a fellow named August
Welker, Jedson's foreman. He was a handy all-around man with a magician's
licence, third class. Then I noticed a fat little guy, Zadkiel Feldstein, who
was agent for a good many of the second-rate magicians along the street, and
some few of the first-raters. Naturally, his religion prevented him from
practising magic himself, but, as I understand it, there was no theological
objection to his turning an honest commission. I had had dealings with him; he
was all right.
This ten-percenter was clutching a cigar that had gone out, and watching
intently Jedson and another party, who was slumped in a chair.
This other party was a girl, not over twenty-five, maybe not that old. She was
blonde, and thin to the point that you felt that light would shine through her.
She had big, sensitive hands with long fingers, and a big, tragic mouth. Her
hair was silver-white, but she was not an albino. She lay back in the chair,
awake but apparently done in. The nurse was chafing her wrists.
What's up?' I asked. The kid faint?'
Oh no,' Jedson assured me, turning around. She's a white witch - works in a
trance. She's a little tired now, that's all.'
What's her speciality?' I inquired.
Whole garments.'
Huh?' I had a right to be surprised. It's one thing to create yard goods;
another thing entirely to turn out a dress, or a suit, all finished and ready to
wear. Jedson produccd and merchandised a full line of garments in which magic
was used throughout. They were mostly sportswear, novelty goods, ladies'
fashions, and the like, in which style, rather than wearing qualities, was the
determining factor. Usually they were marked One Season Only', but they were
perfectly satisfactory for that one season, being backed up by the consumers'
groups.
But they were not turned out in one process. The yard goods involved were made