"Robin Hobb - The Inheritance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

warned me against trusting handsome young men. While I lived with
her, she would not permit anyone to court me. So I think that-тАЩ
тАШYou think that her heart was broken when she was young. And
you are correct. Aubretia did grow up in a family that had substance if
not real wealth. Her father died when she was young. The Lantis family
had little wealth save their name but her mother was wise, and set
aside an inheritance for her youngest daughter. It was her intention
that her child need never marry for wealth, only for love. I told them I
did not see why the two could not go hand in hand, but they both
dismissed it as a jest. When your great-grandmother was on her
deathbed, she passed me to her daughter. And she left this world in
peace, knowing she has passed on both worldly wealth and a secret
counsellor to Aubretia.тАЩ
I tugged my blanket closer around my shoulders and leaned back
against the largest rock. It still held some small heat from the day. I
drew my knees up and set the pendant upon them to listen to her tale.
Night crept closer around us.
тАШFor a time, she lived wisely and well. Then she met a young
man, a lovely young man. He was new to Bingtown, come to the great
trading city to make his fortune. Howarth was a younger son, with no
fortune to his name but rich in ambition. Aubretia would have married
him a day after she met him, but he would not take her so. тАШWhen I
have made a fortune of my own, then I will claim you as a bride. I will
not have folk say I wed you for your money.тАЩ And so Howarth courted
her with bouquets of simple wayside flowers, and sat in her house
before her fire and told her daily of how hard he struggled to wrest out
a living as a clerk in a mercantile. He often scoffed at the fellow who
owned the store where he worked, for he said the man had no
imagination in his dealings, and that he might easily be twice as


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successful if he had but a bit of daring and imagination. Howarth
planned that as soon as he had money enough to finance it, he would
go on a trading journey to far Jamaillia, and bring back fine goods such
as all Bingtown would clamour to buy. On his dreams were your
grandmotherтАЩs dreams founded.
тАШBut her dreams and his were a long time in coming true. Your
grandmotherтАЩs lover saved his coins, true, but Howarth no sooner had
one to stack upon two than he had to spend it for new boots or a winter
cloak. Your grandmother despaired that he would ever wed her. She
begged him to marry her, saying she did not care if he was penniless,
that with his job her inheritance would be sufficient for them both. But
again he refused, saying he would not wed until he had built a fortune
of his own.тАЩ
The pendant fell silent for a time, the small face gone pensive. I
waited.
The small face pursed its lips in disapproval. тАШThen Aubretia had
an idea. I warned her against it. In vain, I tried to persuade her to let
this young man go his own way, but she would not listen. She went to