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

Howarth and offered him money. He could take her money off to
Jamaillia to buy the trade goods that would make them both wealthy.
Half of whatever profits they made would be his, and then they could be
married. He quickly agreed. Far too quickly for my liking.
тАШHowarth took her money and sailed away. Months passed, and
Aubretia pined, but I was relieved, knowing that even though her money
was gone, he was gone with it. She still had enough left to get on with,
and now perhaps was wiser. But just when she began to put memories
of him aside, he returned. He wore fine clothes and brought gifts with
him, perfumes and silk, but little else. Most of the coin, he told her, had
been spent to court trading partners in that distant city. All was in
readiness, now, and as soon as he had worked hard and saved a bit of
money, he could go south and make their fortune.тАЩ My heart sank in
me. I thought of my gentle grandmother and the unspoken sorrows that
had seemed to live behind her eyes. тАШShe believed him?тАЩ I murmured.


9
 тАШOf course. And she persuaded him to take more of her money
and set out again immediately. Aubretia kept back only the tidy little
house she lived in, some family jewels, and enough to support herself
until he returned. When over a year passed with no word from him, she
admitted to me she had been a fool. More, she admitted it to her friends
and they aided her, not only with money but with introductions to
suitable young men. But she swore her love would not be easily won
again. She lived quietly and simply and alone.тАЩ
тАШUntil she met my grandfather?тАЩ I guessed.
The charm scowled at me. тАШYour grandfather was a hard-handed,
flinty-hearted man. He married your grandmother solely to have
someone to tend to his squalling son and keep his house in order after
his first wife died of his ill treatment. She married him solely to have a
place to rest her head at night. But he does not come into this story.
Not yet.тАЩ
Ignoring my shocked silence, the pendant spoke on. тАШOne cold
wet evening, who should come and knock at her door but her wayward
suitor. I thought surely Aubretia would drive him away, but she
welcomed him in and unquestioningly embraced him. Howarth wept,
telling her that all had gone awry for him, and that he had been too
ashamed to come home and face her, but finally his heart could stand
to be parted from her no longer. He had come back, to beg her
forgiveness.тАЩ The little face gave a disdainful snort. тАШAnd she believed
him.тАЩ
тАШBut you did not?тАЩ
тАШI believed he had spent all her money, that it was not his heart
that had brought him back, but his greed. She told him it mattered
nothing to her, that all would be well if he would but marry her. Side by
side they could toil and still make a good, if simple life for themselves.
She still had her house and some family jewellery and somehow they
would manage.тАЩ
I closed my eyes, pitying my grandmother that she could love so